EAST IS EAST EAST IS EAST STORIES OF INDIAN LIFE BY Maj.-Gen. T. D. PILCHER, C.B. AUTHOR OF "A GENERAL'S LETTERS TO HIS SON" JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD LIMITED LONDON MCMXXH PRINTED BY MORRISON AN'P GIBB LTD., EDINBURGH CONTENTS A Matter of Degree . . . . i A Romance of Jeytana . . . . .89 Samson and Delilah . . . . . 181 < ^ A MATTER OF DEGREE CHAPTER I " Trust a snake before a harlot, Trust a harlot before a Pathan, Trust a Pathan before a Brahman." SO says the old Indian proverb. Now, in the No Man's Land where this story opens, all the men are Pathans excepting, of course, a Hindu or so per village who comes into this wild territory to carry on his trade as a money-lender ; but although not mentioned in the above proverb these Hindus are no more worthy to be trusted out of sight than are even the Pathans, who, it is to be noted, com.e third down the list in order of trust- worthiness. This " No Man's Land," which is neither Afghanistan nor British India, is the country through which the Bara Mastura and Khanki Rivers run. In the dry season these are only rivulets careering between the bottoms of different sets of mountains. At times they are raging torrents, and again at others they trickle unperceived under the snow bridges which cover East is East them. The peaks of the mountains from which they come are as high as the Alps, the country they traverse is as wild and savage as are the men who inhabit it, and, to carry on the simile, the climate is as fickle and changeable as are the hearts of the women on whose account the men slay each other, for the cold wind on the hilltops, even on a hot day, peels the skin off the face, whilst the heat in the narrow valleys is as oppressive as the sides of the hills are high. The slopes of these hills are bare, and even a mountain goat finds it hard to fill his stomach on what he finds there, for it is seldom that the valley broadens out sufficiently to allow of much cultivation by the sides of the rivers which are so variable in their moods. There is no place in the world that the lines : " Let him take who has the might and Let him keep who can " are more religiously observed than in this land, where might is right, and where blood-feuds, which end in the extermination of whole families, are still the order of the day. Sometimes the feud originates in a murder committed over a dispute for a piece of ground, sometimes on account of a quarrel over the right A Matter of Degree 5 Sfe to draw water for irrigation purposes, sometimes merely about a woman. But whatever the original cause, in most cases the feud " snow- balls " to such an extent that, in order to satisfy it, half a dozen male relations of the interested person would have to be accounted for. Such was the case with Mir WaU, a Pathan of the tribe of Jowaki Afridis. The building in which he lived was half-cottage and half-stronghold, for though it only contained two small rooms, the walls were of stone and buUet-proof and it was surrounded by a stone wall. It was built in the centre of his little patch of ground, but this season his wife had had to do all the tilling, for if he had gone on to the ground himself by day he would assuredly have fallen to the rifle of one or other of his enemies who could have found suitable cover in the rocks which abound on the adjacent hills. Mir Wali had been married some four years, and his wife was tall, well-developed and power- ful, with a magnificent carriage. Her com- plexion was comparatively fair, her hair was brown, whilst her face had a Semitic cast. Taken all in all she was a splendid animal, and a hand- some woman, though the hard manual labour East is East she had been obhged to perform was ageing her prematurely. She was preparing the midday meal when her husband, Mir Wali, said to her : " This life is not worth living ! For months I have not been out by day. I only have an old rifle, but even if I had a better one I should have but little chance, for there are five men none of whom can hold up their heads until I am killed." " What willst thou do, then ? " she replied. " We must go down into British territory," was his answer, " where we shall all be safe, as no one will dare to follow and murder me there ; for if he does, so he will assuredly be hanged by the Sirkar." " But how about the land ? Am I to stay and look after that or am I to accompany thee ? " " Thou must come with me," said Mir Wali. " I will not leave thee here." He had no brother nor near male relation in whose charge to place her, and he had small trust in women. Moreover, if during his absence she should be persuaded to be unfaithful to him, he would be obliged, by tradition, to court certain death in order to avenge his honour. Indeed, one of the subtlest and best methods which can A Matter of Degree be adopted is to persuade an enemy's wife to elope, for this generally so infuriates him that he is apt to forget all caution and to lay himself open to easy attack. Mir Wali was, as he had said, tired of lying up Hke a fox unable to put his nose out of his earth except by night ; but, if the odds against him had not been so great, he would not have minded, for a feud where the chances are level undoubtedly gives zest to the otherwise monotonous life of a Pathan. The frankolin and other hill partridges hunt the insect, the hawk hunts the partridge, and he himself has to take care not to interfere with the rights of the eagle. Between the animals there is everlasting feud, so why should man, who is also a fighting animal, fear death which is the heritage of all that lives ? Let the grasping Hindu hanyia ^ live in dread of a sudden end, but not so a Pathan, who should be able to sleep well though the sword of Damocles hang over him. All he asked for was a fair sporting chance, but such he had not here, and that is why he had determined to leave. " Thou didst lately say," his wife remarked, 1 Tradesman. 8 Rast is East " that there was no freedom on British territory. What didst thou mean ? " "It is true that I said so, for Rosen Khan lately told me that in British India a man was not even allowed to kill his own wife, and in a country with such laws there is no freedom ; but, as I have at present no intention of killing thee, I have decided to take thee with me and to start to-night." " But why to-night ? " she asked her husband. " Because no one thinks I am going to-night," he replied, " so be ready to start with Mir Wazir AU an hour after sundown. Where is the child ? " " He was in the room but five minutes ago," she said. Looking out at the door she called to a fair- haired boy of three to come to her, but he did not move. " What is he doing ? " she asked, and ran out of the hut. The boy was stooping and holding something in his hand. As she approached she saw a long, Uthe form crawling away. She rushed to the child, picked him up and said, " Art thou hurt ? " and then called louder to her husband, to say A Matter of Degree that a large cobra had just made off as she had run to her child. " No, I am not hurt," said the boy ; " we are friends. I was giving him milk as I did yesterday and the day before. To-day I stroked him." " Praise Allah that it was a cobra and neither a viper nor a krite ! " said Mir Wali, " for the cobra will not bite the hand that feeds him." CHAPTER II THREE years had elapsed since Mir Wali, travelling by night and lying up by day, accompanied by his wife and little son, had arrived in Kohat. Since then things had gone well with him. A stroke of luck had put him in possession of two strong camels, and he had hired more, and with these he brought the firewood which grew in profusion over the Jowaki border, and sold it to contractors in the cantonment. The first thing he did when he had acquired sufficient money, was to buy the best pattern of Martini-Henri rifle procurable. This weapon had doubtless undergone many vicissitudes, and could have told wondrous stories of smugghng since it left Europe and reached him via the Persian Gulf. One of his enemies he had already shot with it. On another occasion he arranged things so well that an antagonist who followed him into British territory was apprehended by the police, and had A Matter of Degree 1 1 been sentenced to a long term of penal servitude in the Andaman Islands. In his blood-feuds he was now well up on the opposite party, and his enemies not only feared to meet him openly, but had for the present even abandoned their idea of secret assassination. It was too risky. Mir Wali's success was reflected in his demean- our, and, as befitted a proud Pathan, he became more and more overbearing in his manner. The Border is a democratic place, and the nouveau riche is proverbially an unpleasant and hectoring individual. He had a house near the Kohat Cantonment, where he kept his new wife. His son's mother had died, and he had married Mumtazan, a girl whose beauty was reputed to be unsurpassed. His taste in women was undeniable. Although a Mahomedan is allowed to have four legitimate wives, this is not a privilege of which the Pathan often avails himself. It complicates things ; they require so much looking after. Besides his home in the cantonments, he had a tower some sixteen miles across the Border which in reality was a small fortress and capable of standing a siege of several weeks, and his power I 2 Rast is East and influence had indeed grown to be looked on as a bulwark of defence for the whole village which had grown up around it, and which, under his rule as headman, enjoyed exceptional tran- quillity. All was going well with him. One day he had just concluded a most profit- able bargain with a contractor, and was convers- ing, when he suddenly looked up, and was surprised to see coming towards him his cousin, Amal Din, a quiet, retiring man who had no particular busi- ness in that neighbourhood. He seemed to walk somewhat hurriedly, as if he were in search of someone, and to be relieved when his eyes fell on Mir Wall. The usual salutations were exchanged. " Be not tired, Amal Din," and " May you not grow poor," repHed his cousin, bending forward as he took his hand. The full salutations " Are you well and hearty, and is all well in the village ? " were not ex- changed. Instinctively Mir Wall grasped that his cousin was the bearer of bad news. They walked aside together, and Amal Din said : " Ahmed Khan, the barber, from Amar China village, was admitted into your house near Kohat A Matter of Degree i 3 last night by your wife and did not leave it until dawn. He has, I think, gone back to Amar China village which, as you know, is outside the British frontier and where his home is. Two men besides myself saw it, and they are already talking about it in the bazaar." Amal Din said this in a cold matter-of-fact tone. The words struck Mir Wali like a rush of muddy snow water in a mountain torrent, and he stepped back when he heard them as if he had literally stepped into an icy stream. The thing seemed inconceivable. That his wife, the loveliest woman in the valley, one of the few wives who were not forced to work in the fields by their husbands, should be untrue to him and have a liaison with a barber, too ! A miserable menial of no birth ! What struck him most of all at the moment was the f eeUng that Amal Din himself was showing his scorn for him ; his words had been abrupt, and his manner in breaking the news appeared to Mir Wah as a veiled insult. As a matter of fact there was no intended gibe in the words, for Amal Din hated his mission. His own nervousness and dislike at being the bearer of the bad jnews led him to speak as^brusquely as he did. 14 E^ast is East Mir Wall turned aside quickly and glanced down the street. His late companions were looking at him curiously ; they realized that something untoward had happened, though they did not, of course, as yet know the horrible truth. Mir Wali laughed a mirthless laugh. They would know soon enough, and he, the proudest man in the Shindand Valley, would presentlx be the laughing-stock of the Jowaki country. Well, there was only one thing to be done and little time to lose if he were not to be fooled in that too. An hour later he entered the narrow outer gate of his fortlike house and stumbled into the deserted courtyard. It seemed to him as if the news must have leaked out and that his frightened relations regarded him with awe as if wondering whether his baulked revenge would be wrecked on them. He called for food, ate it quickly, and did not stint himself, for he had a long journey in front of him. To the offer of help, as he took down his Martini-Metford from a nail over his bed and stuck a Waziri peshkary, or dagger, into his belt, he shook his head. He was going alone and at night ; the risks of the road were nothing to him. A Matter of Degree i 5 As he stepped quickly out of the door in the mud wall of the courtyard, he paused and glanced round cautiously. Nothing was to be seen, the \illage watch-dogs were silent. Then, looking back at his own domain, he saw the outer wall with a sort of chevaux de frise of babul thorn near the top. It stood out in a straight line across the sky until at one corner it was broken by a large loop-holed tower built of stones. But in this, his stronghold, no one had ever dared to attack him. The blow which brought him down from his high estate had come, not from outside, not from a formidable conspiracy of hostile Pathans in some distant valley, but from within his gates. Had it been his own son who had struck him he might have understood it — for a son to a Pathan is always a potential enemy — but this was a visitation of evil he had never even contemplated. The night was cold and a chill wind blew down from the pass across which he had to go. The path he followed was the ordinary track of the trans-frontier country, an unmade trail leading up from the valley towards a gap in the range. At first the way lay along a broad, well-beaten, smooth track, where it passed through the fields 1 6 East is East in the level portion of the valley. On either side were dry thorn hedges to keep the cattle off the fields. An occasional bare mulberry tree over- hung the way, for it was early in the year and the leaves had not begun to show yet. Presently he looked back, and saw the pole star suspended over the pass which he had crossed, and, inverted above it, were the pointers of the Great Bear, the two constellations appearing like a giant hand holding a dagger just poised above the throat of some sleeping body. Mir Wali paused for a moment and looked keenly at the low-hung pole star, but no senti- mental idea of this sort entered his mind. He was merely making quite sure that he could see the pole star — " Kutb," as the Mahomedans call it ; for the Pathan, fearless in every other way, was not free from superstition, and he remembered the saying that the man who cannot see " Kutb " in the heavens has not long to live. The star twinkled bravely in the dry frosty air, and Mir Wali passed quietly on into the deep shadows where an overhanging cliff flanked the track. His grey figure moved absolutely without noise. On his feet were a newly made pair of A Matter of Degree i 7 grass shoes, tucked into his girdle was another pair, for these grass sandals last but a short time on the sharp limestone rocks, and a bare- footed man may cut himself and become foot- sore and unable to keep up his speed, Mir Wall's mission was one on which a man must be able to out-distance his foes before all else, since he went alone to commence a blood- feud against a whole village. " He travels fastest who travels alone," the frontier adage runs. Just as the false dawn (" Dawn's left hand," as Omar Khayyam has it) was paling the stars in the eastern sky, Mir Wall crossed the shallow, ice-cold stream which ran at the foot of the rise on which stood Amar China village. The name means " Pomegranite spring," and there, in a cleft in the rocks, loomed up the dark mass of the fruit trees from below the roots of which the spring welled out, which gave its name to the place. The terraced fields laden with corn were divided by rough stone walls, and between these a narrow track ran from the spring up to the collection of bare high-walled houses and court- yards which constituted the village. I 8 Kast is East The black darkness of the lane swallowed up Mir Wall's ghost-like figure, and the dawn wind soughing over the rustling green corn deadened every other sound. A door opened in a blank wall and a muffled figure stepped cautiously out and turned to go down to the spring. The man had not gone a dozen paces when he was pulled up short, a strong left hand gripped his shoulder, and though he could not see it he knew that a Waziri knife was pointing up at the pit of his stomach. " Chup sha / " hissed Mir WaU in his face. " Be silent ! " No need for the caution, the man's instinct told him that silence here was the only course, and the same subtle sense informed him that his assailant meant no personal harm, for had it been an enemy he knew well enough there would have been no challenge, and that the knife blow would have been given in silence from behind, not face to face. He waited. There was a lull in the breeze. When the rustle of the corn heralded the next gust, Mir Wali said what he had to say quickly but clearly ; not a sound could have reached the hearing of any third party. A Matter of Degree 19 The newcomer turned slowly and pointed to the door he had left, now more clearly seen in the gathering hght, sa^dng : " That is his house, but he is not there. He has not returned ; something is keeping him in Kohat." As he turned away he smiled, then quickly drew his mantle over his jaw to hide the smile from Mir Wah. The latter, however, his sus- ceptibilities sharpened by the recent blow to his pride, noted the smile, and recognized the veiled jeer in it. There was no time now, though, for harbouring petty slights. If an unknown stranger, chance- met in the dawn, could not repress a smile that might have cost him his life, what would people be saying in his own village behind his back ? What would they say in the bazaars in Kohat to his face, where the Sirkar's cursed police- system deprived an honest man of the right of defending his honour ? The very courtesans would laugh at him and treat him with no more respect than they showed to Mathra Dass, the fat Hindu, and with less consideration since he had not the hunyia's money-bags. He had not come so far, however, to be put 20 Rast is East off by what might be a he, and he pushed the door, which swung open, and let it clang noisily and jangle its chain as he sprang across the narrow courtyard. No need now for secrecy or caution. He had reached his goal, and his victim could not escape if he were inside. But the man had not lied ; the house was empty except for an old crone, who turned fiercely towards Mir Wall, as he vainly searched for his enemy. What was he to do ? He was indeed between the devil and the deep sea. Unless he killed Ahmed Khan he was a disgraced man, and again, if he killed him in British territory, his life would be demanded by those cursed police, and even if he escaped them by slipping over the border, all the property he had accumulated by years of hard work would be forfeited. Suddenly light seemed to dawn on him. He had a splendid idea and would act on it. It was nearly midday when he entered his house in Kohat, and was greeted by his wife as if nothing had happened. He could hardly bring himself to believe that she had been unfaithful to him. Was it not all a bad dream ? On the other hand, he could not doubt his cousin's A Matter of Degree 2 i word, and, as confirmatory evidence, had not more than one man given him a veiled sneer ? He was not accustomed to beat about the bush, and at once accused his wife of infidelity. She denied everything and protested her in- nocence. He drew his knife and threatened her with instant death unless she confessed. At the point of his dagger she told him all, but still maintained that Ahmed Khan had originally overcome her by brute force. She pleaded for forgiveness and for her life. It was then that he played his trump card. " Thy life I will grant thee," he said, " but on one condition, and that is that thou takest that of Ahmed Khan. He is too great a coward to leave British territory when he knows that Mir Wali wants his blood, and thou must kill him. I leave thee my dagger. Make an appoint- ment with him for to-night, and at the moment at which he is most defenceless, stab him, and let it be told that thou didst it to save the honour which thou hast not got ! I shall now go to my village, but will return to-morrow. K thou hast not done as I bid thee, I shall take 2 2 Rast is East thee away with me, and in a free country a man may do as he will with his wife." It was with reason that Mumtazan was re- garded as the handsomest woman in the valley. Tall, perfectly proportioned and athletic, with a carriage not seen in one among ten thousand carefully nurtured ladies, her eyes could either dart fire or return the passion which she seemed made to inspire. Mumtazan's very beauty might have gone far to obtain her forgiveness from any but a cruel Afghan mate. She was full-breasted and ripe for caresses, but for her fierce and arrogant owner, who had to all intents and purposes bought her, she had rather loathing and fear than affection. She had sinned, and she knew the laws of the tribesmen. He might, if his revenge were satisfied, simply divorce her by sa5dng in the presence of a witness, " I divorce thee, thou art no longer my wife " ; otherwise he would assuredly kill her, and she could not bear the idea of death, for she felt that life could mean so much and give so much ! For her paramour she cared but little, and her story to her husband that on the first occasion A Matter of Degree 23 he had overcome her by brute force was per- fectly true. She knew that there would be but little chance of his escaping Mir Wall's revenge, and, since he must die anyhow, what was the use of her losing her own life as well ? She had been brought up in an atmosphere of blood-feuds, murder and intrigue. Many of her female as well as the majority of her male relations had died by the hands of others. Her mind was made up. She hoisted the signal which she knew would bring her paramour. The hours until his arrival crept away very slowly. At last she heard footsteps, and he came. It was about midnight that the neighbours heard shrieks coming from Mir Wali's house, and, knowing that he was away and his wife unpro- tected, they rushed in and found Ahmed Khan, the barber, expiring as the result of an upward stab from a dagger in the abdomen. His last words were, " Trust a snake before a harlot." Proper inquiries were instituted by the police, with the result that the official verdict was that Mir Wali's wife had been assaulted during her husband's absence, and that the blow delivered 24 East is East with her husband's dagger had been struck in self-defence. It is true that certain bazaar rumours were current, but nothing tangible reached the ears of the cantonment magistrate, and a small sum judiciously spent by Mir Wali insured that the native police would abstain from making needless inquiries into a matter which had already been dealt with. Mir Wah flattered himself that he had managed the affair with extraordinary dexterity, for al- though he had been obUged to forego the pleasure of personal revenge, he had not incurred the ire of the British authorities, and the man who had to die had been duly killed and by the hand of a woman. Not even an extra blood-feud had been entailed. He had, moreover, in his own estimation, behaved with quite extraordinary generosity in not killing his wife but in merely divorcing her, giving her a small sum of money and telling her to begone and not to tarry too long in Kohat, lest some evil should befall her. CHAPTER III "Trust a harlot before a Pathan." MUMTAZAN could have sought refuge in her father's tower, but for this she had no wish, knowing, that if she did so, she would only be sold again in marriage without having a say in the matter herself, so she pre- ferred to stay where she was and to take her chance. Even in so remote a place as Kohat, however, knight-errants were not difficult to find who were anxious to become guardians to so fair a woman, and it chanced that among the first to hear of her plight was a young sergeant of police, a Pathan by birth, who happened to be on leave from the town of Nagra in the United Provinces where he was stationed. In comparison with the tribesman he was a polished gentleman. He had a certain small position, drew a fixed salary and was a smart and handsome young fellow, and it was with characteristic Pathan dash and gal- lantry that he pushed his suit. Mumtazan, as 26 Rast is East remembering Mir Wali's words of warning, con- sented before long to accompany him to Nagra. No form of marriage was gone through. Al- though the laws of Mahomed permitted him four wives, Abdulla Khan was loth to bind himself, when emergencies were such that he could obtain Mumtazan's companionship without the ceremony. A fortnight later, after breaking the journey a couple of times en route, they arrived at Nagra, where Abdulla Khan obtained a suitable dwelling some half-mile or so from the police barracks. Like most Orientals he did not care for his private affairs to become public property, and, further, Mumtazan would have gained but small com- panionship from the society of down-country women, who spoke another language, with whom she could, consequently, only converse with the greatest difficulty, and whose whole manner of thought had little in common with hers. Nagra was the chief town of a district, and had for its white population a collector, Mr. J. Bell ; his assistant, Mr. Frank Smart, who was acting in his place ; Dr. Coates ; Lieut. Nigel Jones, a Royal Engineer officer in charge of Public Works ; and a police officer, Mr. James Flint. With the A Mattel^ of Degree 27 latter, who was his immediate superior, AbduUa Khan stood well. By far the most important man in the stationy however, was a Brahman of the name of Raj Narain, who was the collector's Sherishtadar or factotum. This man had his finger on the pulse of every activity in the town and district, and had agents in every department who knew that his smile could promote or his frown damn them. He was, moreover, possessed of suave manners and great tact, and — to use a collo- quiaUsm — had forgotten more than anyone else connected with the place had ever known, omitting, perhaps, Mr. Bell, who was away. Besides this, he was known to be a wealthy man, although his pay was not such as to enable him to amass a fortune. We are not, however, immediately concerned with Raj Narain, who was far above interfering with such small fry as police-sergeants unless they got into his way, but to speak of Nagi-a without mentioning him would be like talking of a great ship ploughing her way through the ocean, taking notice of the screw, the useless masts and the smoking funnels, but forgetting the engine which was doing all the propelling. 28 East is East In order to continue the simile, the engine should in this case be compared to a Silent Knight, which did its work noiselessly but none the less very surely. The whole journey had been a source of wonder to Mumtazan. The rail, the roads, the canals, and the fact that people could go about unpro- tected without fear of being ambushed were all marvels. At first these wonders were reasons for delight, but soon she began to long for the hills with a yearning which only the mountaineer can understand. The everlasting plains without even a hillock and only varied by the different sorts of crops — some sugar cane, some castor-oil plant, some wheat and some mustard — seemed to her as monotonous as they were fiat. Assuredly the country was rich, but she loved the rugged and bare mountains better, and she liked the small dark-complexioned inhabitants no better than she did their country. Besides this, she had no female companionship, no stories of murders and raids, and only accounts from AbduUa Khan of his police work carried on under conditions which she could hardly under- stand, and dealing principally with petty thefts and litigations. True, Abdulla Khan was also A Matter of Degree 29 a Pathan, but many years in Hindustan had rendered him used to this monotonous, civihzed hfe. Again, although she loved him more than she had ever loved any other human being, he had not yet married her. This being the case, she felt that she was a free agent, and she quietly determined to see a httle more of life if she found the opportunity of doing so. Such was the state of her mind when, one day, to her surprise, her brother, Rafat Khan, appeared at her door. He had come down from the border with a gang of dealers, bringing Kabuli horses for sale. " Greetings, my sister ! " said the fair, hand- some, wild and unkempt-looking Pathan, dressed in a long coat, with baggy pyjamas and a dirty pugaree rolled round a conical cap. " Rafat Khan ! What dost thou here ? " Her first thought was one of fear, for, bored as she was with her monotonous life, she had no wish to be taken back to her paternal roof, and she knew how little her own protests would be heeded by her brother. " It is a lucky day that I have found thee," he said. " I have longed to see thy fair face again. How goes it with thee ? Is Abdulla 30 Kast is East Khan, thy husband, good to thee, and where is he now ? " " He is doing his work, but will soon be back." His question regarding her marriage she avoided. It was not long before Abdulla Khan returned, and his first words on hearing who his guest was, were to bid him welcome. He now wished that he had gone through the ceremony of marriage with Mumtazan, for he did not desire for complications. " Thou wilt, of course, live under my roof whilst at Nagra," he said, and turning to Mumtazan added, " I will kill the fatted kid, and do thou prepare dal ^ and sweetmeats." Rafat Khan fared as he had seldom fared before. The cuisine over the Border is not for gourmets. That night Abdulla Khan said to Mumtazan : " Long have I wished to make thee my wife, but have waited to do so until an opportunity occurred for performing the ceremony without advertising the fact that we are not yet married." " Why didst thou not do it long ago ? " " Because, since I have really known thee, no fitting chance has presented itself." ^ A species of rice. A Mattel^ of Degree 3 i " I note that thou dost not talk of marriage until my brother arrives." " Nevertheless I have long determined in my heart to marry thee." " But why dost thou then speak of it now for the first time ? " " In order that thou canst assure thy brother of my intention if he demands to see the certifi- cate of marriage." " That is all very well, but if I had had it already in my possession it would have prevented possible complication." The next day Rafat Khan discovered from his sister that no wedding had taken place, but he was silent on the matter to his host, remained under his roof and partook Uberally of his hospi- tahty, and at night, after Mumtazan had retired, said to him : " My sister, the most beautiful woman in our valley, is living with thee, and it is, I understand, thy intention to marry her, but no marriage portion has been paid to her family. Canst thou give me fifty rupees, of which I am in immediate want ? " Now fifty rupees represented to Abdulla Khan some three months' pay, but he was anxious to 32 East is East be on good terms with his future brother-in-law, and repUed : " I think that I have this sum which, for Mumtazan's sake, I will give to thee. When dost thou want it ? " "It is all important that I should have it before to-morrow morning. Canst thou let me have it now ? " " Yes, I can give it to thee now. I do it for the sake of Mumtazan, whom I intend to wed." So saying he went into an inner room, and presently came out with the money. " For ever shall I be beholden to thee and for ever will I befriend thee through thick and thin," was Rafat Khan's reply. The next day Abdulla Khan was suddenly ordered to a remote part of the district on police duty which, he was told, would probably keep him several days from home. Before going, he bid Mumtazan continue to entertain her brother, who he hoped would be a protection to her. All the same he was not quite happy in his own mind. This was the first time he had been absent from his home since his return, and the idea of being away from Mumtazan made him realize how deeply he still was in love with her, and the A Matter of Degree 3 3 fact that he was not married to her and had no legal right to control her made him uneasy and uncomfortable. It was in the late afternoon and some hours after Abdulla Khan had left that Rafat Khan said to his sister : " Hast thou ever been into the bazaar here, and wouldst thou like to see the Serai where are all our horses ? " " Indeed should I like to, for it is dull here ; but would Abdulla Khan like me to go ? " " Why should he object ? Surely thy brother is sufficient escort." " He himself has never taken me." " He is jealous lest some other eye should fall on the fair woman whom he has not even made his wife." " Talk not thus. He has very good reasons for the delay, and will now soon have the ceremony performed." " I know better men, who would demand nuptials within twelve hours of seeing thee. But no matter, get ready and we will go." Half an hour later, closely veiled, Mumtazan and her brother sallied forth. The time was spring and the days had already begun to get 3 34 East is East hot, but the cooler air of the evening and the exercise of walking after her confinement in the vicinity of her cottage raised Mumtazan's spirits. " Surely that is an elephant ? Never have I seen one before, and look, he carries a man on his head ! " " It is but a small cow elephant. Lately at a tamasha ^ did I see two large bulls fighting, each carr5dng but one hght man, who urged his beast to butt the other until one was forced upon his knees." " What else didst thou see there ? " " I saw rams with great horns fighting. They rushed at one another as fast as the fire-carriages which the white men drive, but as soon as one had the advantage over the other and was about to butt his side and kill him, he was caught by the hind legs and the combat was stopped. It was a mild spectacle suited for the mild people looking on." " Was there nought else of interest ? " " Yes, there was wrestling, and that was really good. I saw one Sikh take another and by a certain grip throw him right over his head on to 1 An entertainment. A Matter of Degree 35 the ground. Some of these Sikhs are fine big men to look at, but they have not the fire that we have, and they hke us no better than we hke them. — Get out of my hght ! " he said, as he pushed his way through a crowd in the bazaar which they had now reached. " Make way for a man ! " Then, turning again to his sister, " These Bengalis and Bunyiahs," said he, "a hundred of whom I could take on alone, behave here as if the whole place belonged to them, and the thing that beats me is that these Angles! aUow it." " Who is that riding ? " said Mumtazan. " That is the only Anglesi in the place whom I know. He is the pohce officer and ^'flint Sahib is his name," was Rafat Khan's reply, putting the " e " in front of the initial consonant which he could not otherwise pronounce. " But that is Abdulla Khan's Sahib ! I must look at him. He is a comely man and sits his horse hke a real horseman." " Yes, he can ride well enough. That I know ! " FHnt also turned and noticed the pair, who were both head and shoulders above the crowd, and although the woman's face was closely 36 F^ast is East covered, he remarked the graceful lines of her figure. They entered an enclosure in which were al) manner of men and beasts and which was sur- rounded by high walls, and Rafat Khan ex- claimed : " This is the Serai, and there are the twenty-two horses we have still left. We brought thirty-five down with us." The animals he pointed out were strong, heavy shouldered Kabuli cobs among which grey was the predominant colour. " That is the man who can really ride," said Rafat Khan, as he pointed to a man galloping through the Serai in a cloud of dust. " Look how he manages his horse as he sits Mdthout a saddle, and with only a small bit in the horse's mouth ! " It is true that the bit was light, but the mouthpiece was covered with sharp spikes and the poor brute's mouth was bleeding. " Yes, Rahman Khan is what I call a man. He has himself killed twelve of his enemies in blood- feuds, he is the richest Afghan trader I know and, moreover, is generous." " Thou hast not spoken of him before," his sister said. " Perhaps not, but it is to him that all these A Matter of Degree 37 horses belong, and he is the kind of man I should have chosen for thee as a husband. See, he Cometh this way ! " Presently Rahman Khan, a handsome Pathan by far better dressed than the men who accom- panied him, entered into conversation with her brother, and he was quite close by when Rafat Khan seemed to trip and, in trying to save him- self, caught hold of Mumtazan's sari^ which fell from her head, leaving her fair face open to the public gaze until she could replace it. Rafat Khan was full of apologies, but Mumtazan noticed that from 'that moment Rahman Khan's eyes were fixed on her until she herself left the Serai. She had had a very dull time lately, and more than once she directed a glance towards the handsome Pathan through the folds of her veil. It was at all events interesting to see that she could still excite admiration. After leaving his sister at her home and par- taking of the evening meal, Rafat Khan returned to the Serai, and Rahman Khan without ado at once said to him : " Tell me more about her ; thou sayest that she is not married ? " * A long wrap. 38 East is East " Thou speakest the truth. She escaped with this pohce-sergeant Abdulla Khan to avoid the anger of Mir WaH, who, after divorcing her, told her to leave Kohat." " Where is Abdulla Khan now ? " " He is away on duty for a few days." " I must have her. I will marry her at once so that he can have no further claim on her. Arrange it thou must." " But what if she does not wish it ? " " Not wish it indeed ! Why should she not wish it ? I will give her a waiting-maid, and by thy hand I will now send her a necklace of turquoises, and to thee will I give any two of the horses in the Serai. Which wouldst thou have ? " " I will take the chestnut with the white off- fore, and the dark grey at the end of the line." " Thou art no bad judge. They are good horses and should bring thee at least five hundred rupees. The day I wed thy sister they shall be thine ; but make haste or they may be sold." Rafat Khan went back on his errand with a happy heart. From the hour in which he heard that Mir Wall had divorced his sister, he had regretted that he had not been on the spot to A Matter of Degree 39 appropriate her. True, things had looked up a httle, and he had already got fifty rupees out of Abdulla Khan, but he was not squeamish, and neither an oath nor gratitude entered into his consideration when a better bargain offered itself. How fortunate that Abdulla Khan had been sent away on duty ! His greatest hopes were being exceeded. Not only did he see the chance of a handsome commission, but to have so powerful a man as Rahman Khan as a brother-in-law would, in itself, be an immense advantage to him. It was late when he got back to his sister's house, but he at once aroused her and told her of the message which he bore. " These turquoises are the finest I have ever seen and must be worth a great price." She took them, looked at and admired them, and then returned them to her brother. " Why dost thou not keep them ? They are thine." " Only if I am wilhng to pay the price of their purchase." " But about that there surely can be no doubt. Thou wilt be the honoured wife of a rich and powerful man instead of the mistress of a poor police-sergeant." 40 East is East " This is not the way thou spakest of him when he gave thee the fifty rupees, I overheard all the conversation." " Surely he owed me that since he has lived with thee for all these months." " Am I indeed a harlot and dirt that thou, my brother, dost hire me out and take my earnings ? No, Rafat Khan, begone ! Thou hast said too much ! " " Be not so foolish ! Listen to reason ! This great man offers to make thee his wife and to load thee with " " Begone, I say to thee, out of AbduUa Khan's house before I strike thee ! " said Mumtazan, moving towards him with clenched fists. It was no good arguing with her. He felt that he had played his cards badly, and, crestfallen, he returned to the Serai. He had, however, no in- tention of allowing himself to be beaten and of losing the two horses. After all, was he not Mum- tazan's brother, and as she had no husband could he not do as he liked with her ? Once she had slipped away without her family reaping any advantage from her beauty, but now he had found her, and under circumstances which A Matter of Degree 4 1 greatly favoured his projects, and he was not going to lose his opportunity a second time. It was midnight when, a hundred yards from Abdulla Khan's cottage, two camels were forced amidst groans to lie down that their riders might dismount. These camels were not ordinary pack animals such as are used for transport where there are no roads, but their small heads and clean limbs bespoke them to be thoroughbreds which could trot fourteen miles an hour, and could keep going for many consecutive hours, and they were as different to the ordinary camel as is a high-caste Arab to a cart-horse. One of these camels was equipped with a comfortable saddle on which a woman might ride with ease. All was still, and it was with bare feet that Rahman Khan, preceded by Rafat Khan, ap- proached. Nobody was within call, but even if there had been there was nothing to fear, for when two Pathans are out on business, low-caste down-countrymen know that the best policy is neither to hear nor to see anything, and to be thoroughly satisfied if they themselves can get away with whole skins. But this was not a case merely of Pathans against Bunyiahs but of Greek meeting Greek, although the odds were altogether 42 East is East uneven, for on one side there were two men and on the other merely a defenceless and beautiful woman. When Rafat Khan had left her, Mumtazan was in a furious passion. True, she had no objection to being admired by Rahman Khan — such an admiration gave a little zest to life — but she genuinely loved Abdulla Khan, and however tact- fully his rival's overtures had been made, it is not likely that she would have listened to them seriously. Rafat Khan's management had absolutely destroyed whatever chances her new admirer might have had. For a short time she tried to rest, but as she could not sleep she sat up and listened. She knew that it was quite possible that her brother and Rahman Khan might try to kidnap her, and in order to be prepared she armed herself with a long Afghan knife which she had seen among Abdulla Khan's effects. It was midnight when she thought that she heard the groan of a camel followed by a curse at the noisy beast. A few minutes later she dis- tinctly heard footsteps approaching. The door was barred. Presently she heard someone calling on her to open, but she remained still. A Matter of Degree 43 The knocking became more persistent ; still she did not move. There was only this one entrance. Presently the knocking ceased and was succeeded by attempts to force the door. Her heart beat fast. The door was strong — would it hold ? For half an hour all was quiet and she felt inclined to try to escape, knowing that the men would be certain to return, but after all she had no place to fly to. Nearly an hour had gone by when she again heard her brother shouting to her to open the door before he broke it down, but she said not a word. Then there was a heavy thud against the door as if it were being struck by a crowbar or a heavy hammer, then another and another. The door gave way. When the men entered they saw her sitting in a corner of the room on a stool. " What does this mean ? " she said. " Did not thy brother tell thee that my heart is on fire and that I cannot live without thee ? " said Rahman Khan. " And the way you show your love is to break down my door at midnight." " That is not an inappropriate time for a visit from him who would be thy husband." 44 Rast is East " I do not desire thee as my husband." " Did not Rafat Khan deUver my message ? I fear that he is but a poor ambassador." " I do not want you. Pray begone ! " Rafat Khan now interfered and said : " I, thy brother, have told Rahman Khan that he may wed thee. Come with us gently and all will be well." " Never will I come with you. Begone ! " " Then we must take thee by force, for come with us thou must." " Never whilst I live," she said. He approached her and she drew her knife, and by the light of the lantern the men saw the glimmer of the blade and also the flash in her dark eyes. " If thou approachest this shall first pierce thy heart, and if that doth not suffice it shall be buried in my own ere I will be forced to accompany thee and the man to whom thou wouldst sell me. This arm can strike hard, as Ahmed Khan found out to his cost." " It is useless," said Rahman Khan. " Leave the woman ; fair as she is I desire her no longer." " Thou hast been a curse to thy father's house- hold," said her brother. " First didst thou A Matter of Degree 45 betray Mir Wall, then didst thou Hve as the mistress of a wretched pohce-sergeant, and now that thou hast honourable marriage offered thee by a great and wealthy man, thou preferest to remain a harlot." " And thou didst receive money from this man with whom I lived, didst sware him eternal gratitude, and within three days of doing so hast basely deceived him. The proverb is indeed true which says, ' Trust a harlot before a Pathan.'" Wliether Rafat Khan would have given up all further attempt to take his sister away is uncertain, but it so happened that Lieut. Nigel Jones of the Royal Engineers, a tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed, sport-loving subaltern, who was in charge of Public Works at Nagra, had been on a few days' shooting leave, and, having dined with some friends en route, was very late getting back, and the sound of his horse's hoofs was heard by Mumtazan as his cart passed. " Save me ! Help, help 1 " she shrieked out with all her might. The horse was pulled up, and a tall Englishman walked into the hut, slipping a couple of cart- ridges into the shot-gun which he held in his 46 E^ast is East hands as he did so, for it is always as well to be prepared for emergencies when interfering with Pathans, and especially at night. " What is it ? " he demanded. " These men have been trying to take me away by force. My husband is a police-sergeant but he is away, and I am alone. I pray thee. Sahib, for protection ! " "It is a lie ! She is not married and I am her brother," said Rafat Khan. " What would you have me do ? " said the EngUshman. " Pray take me to some place of safety." " But what will your husband say ? " was his reply, as he looked at the most beautiful native woman he had ever seen. " He will thank your Highness from the bottom of his heart." "It is unnecessary for you to interfere," said Rahman Khan. " We will not molest her." " Surely that is you, Rahman Khan, from whom I bought a horse only last week ? " " Yes, it is he," said Mumtazan, " but pray take me away, I beseech your Highness. Do not believe him ! " A Matter of Degree 47 " All right ! Jump into my cart and sit behind with the syce." A quarter-of-an-hour's trotting brought Jones to his bungalow, where he handed Mumtazan over to his old Mahomedan khitmadgar,^ telling him to see her cared for by his own women-folk in the hut in which he lived in the compound. On AbduUa Khan's return he married Mum- tazan without further delay, and took an oppor- tunity of thanking Jones for his kindness to his wife and of swearing eternal gratitude to him. ^ Table servant. CHAPTER IV "Trust a Pathan before a Brahman." IT was some ten days later than the events recorded in the last chapter. The weather at Nagra was beginning to get hot, and those whose duties enabled them to do so were departing for the Hills, when, very early one morning, Nigel Jones rode to a spot some three miles from the station in order to go into a question of water supply. He was on his way back and was cogitating over his new project, when he heard shrieks proceeding from a hut only a few yards from the road. Neither misfortunes nor any other events seem to come singly, he thought to himself; but, without further deliberation, he fastened his pony's bridle to a tree and went towards the hut from which the cries were proceeding. As he approached he heard a man say: " Sign the paper and we will let you down." " I can't sign it." 48 A Matter of Degree 49 " Then take this," and he heard the swish of a cane. Jones pushed open the door and saw a man suspended to the rafters by his thumbs. Two men wearing the uniform of Chuprassies ^ of the Civil Administration were looking on, and one held a cane in his hand. " What are you doing ? " said Jones. " Let that man down." " It is no business of yours," was the reply. The word used to him as " yours " being " tum- hara," which, in itself, was an insult. " Cut him down, I say ! " The men looked defiant and did not obey, but one of them said : "It is unwise even for a Sahib to interfere with other people's business." Jones pulled out his pocket-knife and cut the strings by which the poor wretch was hanging. His nails were black and his thumbs twice their ordinary size. " What is that paper you hold in your hand ? Give it to me," he ordered, turning to one of the torturers. " I cannot give it to you." ^ Messengers or minor officials. 4 so East is East " I will tell your Honour what it is," said the man whom he had rescued. " You will be unwise to talk much," interposed the Chuprassie. " The arm of your enemy is long," " Hold your tongue and give me that paper ! " As he said this, Jones moved towards him. The man, however, evaded him. Jones then saw the other Chuprassie walking towards his pony as if to loose it from the tree to which it was tethered. Jones rushed and seized the bridle himself. " I did but intend to bring you your horse," said the man. Whilst Jones was out of hearing, the other Chuprassie whispered to the tortured man, " If thou talkest thou wilt lose thy hfe instead of merely thy thumbs." Then, making mock salaams, both Chuprassies disappeared. Jones afterwards blamed himself for not getting on to his pony, riding the Chuprassies down and making them deliver up the paper they carried, but at the time he had no idea of the consequences of this ten minutes' work. Turning to the man whom he had rescued, he said : A Matter of Degree 5 i " Now tell me what all this was about ? " " I am the humble servant of the Protector of the Poor. My name is Pernassi Dass of Jatter- garh, and I am a contractor. A week ago I put in a tender to build the new addition to the jail for fourteen thousand rupees. Some wealthy friends, who believe in my capability, were finding most of the money. My tender was refused and one for thirty thousand was accepted." " But what has this to do with your being tortured ? " " If the Sahib has patience he shall hear. Now the name of the man to whom the contract was given was Bansi Ram, and Bansi Ram has since offered me a sub-contract of twelve thousand to do the whole work for which thirty thousand will be paid by the Government. As soon as I received his offer I went to Nagra to see the Collector Sahib, but could not obtain an audience, and, from what I have since discovered, I do not think that I ever shall get one. When I went to the Collector Sahib's office I was indignant with the injustice which had been done, and foohshly expressed my sentiments somewhat strongly." " But the tenders are given into my office and 52 Kast is East the box is opened by me myself, Wliat you say is impossible." " Nevertheless, your Honour, it is true. You must not forget that your head clerk is a Brahman and has near relations in high places." " But the box is sealed." " Brahmans understand a great deal about seals. Did your Highness open the box your- self ? " " No, unfortunately I was away that afternoon. Go on with your story." " Well, this morning I was coming into Nagra, as is my custom on Wednesday mornings, when the two Chuprassies whom you saw seized me and ordered me to sign a paper, which was carefully worded and which, if I had signed, would have completely put me out of court." " Will you come with me now to Nagra and tell the Collector Sahib what you have told me ? I will myself take you in to see him." " I am an old man, Sahib, and what I have gone through this morning has been too much for me. I beseech you to let me return to my house, which lies in the opposite direction, and, really. Sahib, I should prefer to let the whole matter drop. Those who are against me are too powerful." A Matter of Degree 53 " I cannot let it drop," was the hot-headed EngUshman's reply. " Justice must be done. Either you are lying to me, or the Government is being swindled by some d d scoundrels who must be brought to book, and, at all events, these men must be punished whom I saw tor- turing you." " The Sahib will be wise if he lets things remain as they are. Neither the Sahib nor I shall gain anything by pushing the matter further." " Impossible ! It must be sifted out, and I will see that you are protected." " The Sahib is a great man, but it would be better to do nothing." Jones made a note of the man's habitation, and himself cantered into Nagra, swallowed his breakfast quickly and then went into the Court- house, where Mr. Smart — who, as has previously been related, was acting for the Collector, Mr. Bell, during his absence — was dispensing justice. A case had just been concluded, and Jones walked up to Mr. Smart and told him that he had something of importance for his private ear. It was stuffy in the Court-house and the flies were very persistent and annoying, and this is why, when all other natives had left the room, 54 East is East a Chuprassie remained behind the Collector's chair with a hand punkah, keeping the pests off the great man's head. " Are you sure that your punkah wallah does not understand English ? " said Jones. " Not a word," was the reply. " You may speak State secrets in his presence with impunity. There are two men whom I especially chose for this punkah work because they don't under- stand a single word of English." The native's face showed no signs whatever, either of intelligence or of interest, in the con- versation ; he was wrapt in the pursuit of flies. Thus reassured, Jones told all that had befallen that morning, and did not fail to mention Pernassi Dass's insinuations that Raj Narain was at the back of the whole business, though he was careful to avoid mentioning his name in the presence of the punkah wallah. Smart was interested, but it was evident that he was not willing to believe anything against his factotum, Raj Narain, in whom he had the most complete confidence. After hearing all that Jones had to relate, he replied : " You do seem to be having a lot of adventures ! The other night you rescued a beautiful woman A Matter of Degree 55 from two fierce Pathans, and now you have saved this unfortunate man from torture. You have done more knight-errantry in ten days than I have in ten years. At all events I'll look very carefully into the matter. Give me the address of the man, Pernassi Dass, before you go. Can you wait whilst I call in Raj Narain and question him about the matter ? " " No, I'm afraid I can't. I have an important appointment, and I would much rather that you took no further steps until to-morrow, when I'll be here at any hour you Hke." With that he departed. He changed his riding-kit in time which would have done credit to Dan Leno, and, twenty minutes later, pulled up his pony-cart in front of Dr. Coates's bungalow. Mr. Bell, the Commissioner of Nagra, had left his daughter in charge of Mrs. Coates for the cold weather, whilst he was himself away on special duty ; and it was to Nancy Bell that Nigel Jones had lost his heart, and all that was needed to make her his affianced bride was her father's consent. This was the morning on which she, with Mrs. Coates, was to depart for the cool breezes of 56 Rast is East Naini Tal, for the season had changed, and the power of the midday sun was beginning to assert itself very unpleasantly at Nagra. When Nigel was ushered into the bungalow, he was welcomed by two ladies whose appearance formed a striking contrast, for Mrs, Coates was a sensible, matter-of-fact-looking woman in the early forties, whose complexion told of many years spent under the Indian sun ; whilst Nancy, with her slight figure, was the embodiment of bright English girlhood. She was taller than the older woman by half a head, and her auburn hair formed a bewitching background to the blue eyes which so much bewildered poor Nigel that he never knew whether to believe them or the words formed by her lips when they contradicted each other. " We expected you earlier. Captain Jones," said Mrs. Coates. " We have to be off in five minutes. What has kept you ? I'm sure it was something very important," she added, smiling. " Yes, I've had quite an exciting morning," he replied, and then went on to relate his adventure. When he had finished, Mrs. Coates said • " How splendid of you ! But do you really A Matte?^ of Degree 5 7 think that Raj Narain had an3Athing to do with the matter ? He is always so civil and polite that I can hardly imagine it," Nancy only said, " I'm sorry, Nigel." " But why sorry ? Would you have had me do otherwise ? " was the young man's answer. " No," repHed the girl. " I should be ashamed of you if you had not acted as you did, but all the same I'm sorry that it happened." "But why?" replied Nigel. "You surely aren't afraid of Raj Narain ? " " No. I'm not afraid of him, but he is a man I should rather have you avoid. I don't know why I say this. It's only a sort of an instinct which prompts me." Five minutes later the carriage was on its way to the railway station, and it was with a lump in his throat that Nigel drove back to his bungalow, where he had men waiting to interview him. He knew he would have to spend many weary, weary hot -weather days eating his heart out before he saw Nancy again ; but he little imagined what the next few months had in store for him or how great a part this bright slip of a girl was to play in his immediate future. 58 Rast is East A few minutes after Jones left the Court-house, the Chuprassie who had so assiduously kept the flies from alighting on the Collector's head asked that he might be relieved by the man who shared this important duty with him, and the dreary morning's work went on. It was half an hour later that Mr. Smart remarked on the absence of Raj Narain, and received the reply that he had been called away on some important business, but would assuredly put in an appearance later on. But it was not until noon that a portly Brahman of middle age and dignified appearance, clad in spotless white linen, made a deep salaam as he entered Mr. Smart's presence. His clean clothes were notice- able, for it was the feast of the Holi, during which Hindus smear their clothes with red and generally present a very dishevelled appearance. " Oh, here you are at last ! " said the pompous little man, his manner suggesting annoyance. " I trust that my absence has not put you to any inconvenience, sir," said Raj Narain, with a further obsequious and somewhat exaggerated bow. " But there was a troublesome dispute between some fanatical Mahomedans and a bigoted Hindu which I think I have managed to A Matter of Degree 59 settle, and hope that I have thereby saved much of your Honour's valuable time." " I thought you must have had some good reason for not being here." " Your Honour might assuredly give me credit for so much. There is a man outside of the name of Pernassi Dass of Jattergarh, who says that he is most anxious to see your Honour. May I bring him in ? " " What does he want to see me about ? " " As far as I can understand, sir, it has some- thing to do with some Sahib whom he saw this morning. The man wishes to leave Nagra by the afternoon train, and I promised to endeavour to get your Honour to see him. If I may be permitted to make a suggestion, it is perhaps best that he should state his own case." No sign of annoyance on the part of Mr. Smart could hurry the Brahman or induce him to curtail the length of his well-rounded sentences. " All right ! Bring him in ! " said the Collector. " I am the most humble servant of the Pro- tector of the Poor," the newcomer announced. " What have you got to tell me ? " " This morning, your Honour, as is my custom on Wednesdays, I was coming into Nagra, and. 6o East is East on the way in, met two Chuprassies who are now outside, one of whom is an old friend of mine whom I have not seen for a long while, and, as I had started earlier than usual and had a little time to spare, we went into an unused hut which was at the side of the road. We were talking and laughing there when a tall Sahib with a very red face and angry expression rushed into the hut. We could not understand what he said, but he seemed to become more and more incensed, and threatened the two Chuprassies with his hunting-crop, and indeed tried to hit one who went to fetch his horse for him." " At what time did all this happen ? " " At about eight," was the reply. " Come here and give me your hands to look at." As he examined the man's hands, looking especially at the thumbs, a significant smile passed over Smart's face. " Were you bound when the Sahib came into the hut ? " "No, certainly not ; but we were playing, and my old friend put some string round my thumbs to show a new way he had heard of tying up a malefactor." A Matter of Degree 6 1 The speaker was a sad-faced little man, and it seemed somewhat unlikel}^ that he would have entered into a practical joke, nor did the Chiip- rassies who were brought in later look like prac- tical jokers ; but Mr. Smart allowed this remark to pass without comment, and went on to say : " The men did not hurt you, then ? " " Wliy should they hurt me ? We were friends." " Did they ask you to sign a paper ? " " No, certainly not." " Had they a paper with them ? " " Yes, they said they were going to deUver a summons." " Why did you come to tell me this story since you have no complaint to make ? " " Because I went to take the afternoon train to Meerut, and as the Sahib said he was going to make a report to your Honour and I did not want to be called back, I thought it best to make my statement now." " How did you know that the Sahib was going to make a report to me ? " " Because he said so." " But I thought you said you couldn't under- stand him." 62 East is East " That is all of his conversation that I did understand. Have I your Honour's permission to depart for Meerut ? " " I should prefer that you did not go until to- morrow." "It is for my son's wedding that I am going. Five hundred rupees have been spent and the festival cannot be postponed. I most urgently request leave to depart." " According to the customs of his caste, sir," interposed Raj Narain, " it would be very hard on him to be detained, and if I may say so, especially after he has come here and voluntarily made this statement." " Well, will you be responsible for his produc- tion if I want him ? " " Barring illness I think I can undertake that, sir," was the Sherishtadar's reply. That afternoon when they met at tennis. Smart said, " I am afraid, Jones, that you found only a mare's nest this morning." " What do you mean ? " was the reply. " Why, Pernassi Dass came to Court and told me the whole story. There's nothing in it. You evidently misunderstood him, and all he said was confirmed by the two Chuprassies. You got hold A Matter of Degree 63 of the wrong end of the stick altogether, my friend. We may not carry out justice with quite the same punctiliousness at Nagra as is done in Bow Street, but believe me, Jones, such flagrant cases of torture and robbery as you have lately been coming across do not really take place." Mr. Smart said this with an air of official superi- ority. The other, conscious of the fact that he could speak the vernacular, which he was constantly using both in the course of his work and during his sporting expeditions, as well as any European in the district, greatly resented this attitude taken up by a man who was only a few years his senior, and in whose ability and discernment he had but small confidence. Jones was doubly determined not to let the matter drop. Four days later, as Nigel had finished his dinner, Abdulla Khan, the police sergeant, appeared on the verandah, bringing the news that some villagers had just told him that a tiger had killed a cow only six miles away in broad dayUght. Abdulla Khan wished to show his gratitude and knew that nothing would be more acceptable to such a keen shikari as early khubher ^ of a tiger 1 Information. 64 Rast is East Plans were being discussed when Nigel's bearer approached saying that there was a villager out- side who most urgently begged for a few words with the Sahib. " Probably more news about this very tiger. Bring him to the verandah," was Nigel's reply. The man refused to speak until Abdulla Khan had moved out of hearing, but as soon as he had satisfied himself that there were no eavesdroppers, he said : " Pernassi Dass is dying and begs your Honour to come and see him at once." " Pernassi Dass ! I heard he had gone to Meerut." " Nay, Sahib, he is dying in his own home at Jattergarh. Will you drive there and I will show the way ? We must be quick." Ten minutes later the cart was brought round. The syce was told that he was not wanted, and in his place Nigel took Abdulla Khan with him, thinking that he might be useful as a witness. Forty minutes fast driving brought them to their destination. They entered a bare room with a mud floor containing only a couple of stools and a charpoy, on which a man, evidently in great pain, was lying. Loud sounds of weeping pro- A Matte?^ of Degree 65 ceeded from an inner room, and as Nigel seated himself by the bedside, the man muttered : " It would have been better if the Sahib had taken my ad\'ice and had said no more about the matter of the other morning, I told the Sahib that our enemies were too powerful for us. In an hour I shall be dead, and if the Sahib persists some terrible fate will overtake him also." Nigel was very much moved, for he felt sure that the poor man at all events himself believed in the truth of what he was saying. " What can I do for you ? " " My wife and children are unprovided for and I am dying. If the Sahib had done as I desired — and, after all, I was the aggrieved person — I should probably have many more years to live. Will the Sahib pro\dde for my wife and children ? " " If you die, which I hope and trust you will not, I will see that they get ten rupees a month until all the children are grown up," was Nigel's reply. He was a poor man, but ten pounds a year would not make a very vital difference to him one way or another, and this promise would enable Pernassi Dass to die happy, and after all there might be some truth in what he said. 66 Rast is East " What is your disease and how long have you been suffering ? " " I tell the Sahib I am going to die, — it is no good sa}dng that I shall get well, — I am going to die, and the disease I have is the same as all men die of whom Raj Narain wishes to be put out of the way. I have been suffering since my dinner, which to-day, thank God, I had alone." " When did you come back from Meerut ? " " Meerut ? I have never been to Meerut and have not left the village since I saw your Honour on Wednesday." • •••••• An inquest was duly held at Nagra, and the finding was that the man had died from natural causes, and that it was probably a case of sporadic cholera. It is only bunglers who employ minerals, which leave traces, when vegetable poisons which leave none are at least as efficacious, and easy enough to obtain if one knows where to go for them. The Chuprassies who had been present on the previous Wednesday morning, and again in the Magistrate's court later in the day, swore that they had never seen the man whose corpse was in front of them. And although Nigel Jones, A Matter of Degree 67 heedless of the d5dng man's advice, gave a full statement of what had passed at his death-bed, this did not influence the decision, for it was beginning to be whispered about that Nigel was becoming subject to hallucinations ; and the only effect when Abdulla Khan, the police sergeant, corroborated Nigel's statement, was for those who heard his evidence to consider the former a very fooUsh man to make enemies for himself, when he could easily have stated that he did not hear what the dying man was saying, thus keep- ing in with the Sahib and giving offence to nobody. But Abdulla Khan hated the Sherish- tadar, and did not fear him when he had a Sahib backing him up. Moreover, although he was a Pathan, he was not going to leave in the lurch a man to whom he was as much beholden as he considered himself to be to Nigel. • ••'••• • Two months had passed and the rains had broken. Nigel Jones was sitting in his bungalow under close arrest. The general court-martial had sat for two days and had adjourned until Monday. The case for the prosecution was very strong indeed, and it hardly seemed possible that the prisoner could answer the charges brought 68 East is East against him, A native of high standing had sworn that he had sent in a contract to build the new college at a cost of two lakhs of rupees, or about £20,000, and his evidence was confirmed by two unimpeachable witnesses, whereas the contract had been awarded by Jones to a man whose character certainly did not stand higher and whose figure was nearly a lakh more. Another fact which went far to confirm the charge against him was that about the middle of June, that is, shortly after the contract was given, a sum of something over fifty thousand rupees had been paid into his private banking account. Jones's explanation was that he had won this sum over a quarter-share in a ticket on the Calcutta Derby Sweep ; but the money had been paid in by a native banker, whose answers as to the source from which he had received it appeared very unconvincing. Moreover, the man to whom the contract had been given was him- self not to be found, and the evidence of his clerk was certainly not favourable to the prisoner. It is very seldom indeed that a British official is accused of accepting a bribe, and those who A Matter of Degree 69 knew the frank, honest -looking R.E. officer could not beUeve him wilfully guilty in spite of the facts arrayed against him ; but the opinion which gained most credence was that he was not responsible for his actions, although this was a line of defence which Nigel had himself in- dignantly refused to take up. From the day when Nancy Bell left for the Hills, Nigel had written to her very regularly, giving her all details of his hfe, and retaiUng at length his interviews with Pernassi Dass and with Mr. Smart, a man whom she particularly dis- liked. With the intuition of a clever woman, she had feared that there would be some disagreeable sequel to Nigel's interference with Raj Narain's evil doings ; she, moreover, felt certain that any action upon which Raj Narain decided would be taken before her father resumed the reins of ofhce. For he was a man of far greater astute- ness and knowledge of character than was his locum-tenens . With regard to Nigel's innocence she never had a moment's doubt, and his adversity fanned rather than quenched the flame of the love she felt for him. 70 East is East Her father had joined her in the Hills, and was deeply distressed to see Nancy's cheeks getting thinner and paler every day. She had tried to persuade him to go to Nagra, but although he would gladly have forfeited his leave if he had felt that any good purpose would have been ful- filled by doing so, there was no use in going to the plains simply to hsten to a case with regard to which he had no jurisdiction. The trial had already commenced when one day, going through all Nigel's letters, Nancy came across a postscript in one of them, giving the number of the winning ticket he had been allotted in the Calcutta Turf Club Derby Sweep. Why had she never thought of this before ? The letter was dated a week before the Derby and several days before the drawing of the horses in Calcutta. She rushed to her father and took him the letter. " We must go to Nagra at once." " Impossible, my child, in this heat. Your pale cheeks will get paler and you will get fever to a certainty." " Father, I'm surprised at you. Read this ! We will start to-night. If I were to get ill and even to die, what would that be compared with A Matter of Degree 7 i the honour of the man I love and whom I hope I can save from his l3^ng accusers." " What will the Protector of the Poor be pleased to take ? " said a splendid-looking Khit- madgar, dressed in Mr. Bell's livery, as on the next morning he filled his master's coffee-cup at his house at Nagra. " Besides this Mahseer^ which ^flint Sahib has sent, there is pillau with eggs to follow." " Listen, Papa," said Nancy. " Although it is not yet nine the brain-fever birds are already competing as to which can reach the highest note. Sometimes I feel inclined to join in the scale and go one better. Did you say that Mr. Flint, the police officer, was coming to see you, Papa ? Wlien he does come, will you ask him to spare me a few minutes ? There are one or two things I should like to ask him." " Tell the punkah coolie to pull properly," said Mr. Bell, and then, turning to his daughter as the Khitmadgar left the room, " Be careful what you say in front of the servants ; they often understand much more English than they pretend to. Certainly, I'll tell Mr. Flint, and would ^ Indian salmon. 72 East is East you like to see Mr. Smart too ? He is also coming." " No, thank you, Papa." Half an hour later, Mr. Bell said to his locum-tenens : " Please remember that my visit here is en- tirely unofficial and that I only came as escort to my daughter, who has some evidence which she thinks it her duty to give at the court martial, which I understand was on Saturday adjourned until 9 a.m. to-morrow." " I'm afraid that Miss Bell, in the kindness of her heart, has taken a wearisome journey for nothing." " How so ? " " There is no possible manner of doubt that Jones is guilty. The evidence is over- whelming." " I've heard of certain matters leading up to the case from my daughter, but should very much like you to confirm one or two points. First of all, what proof have you that the man whom 370U saw and who told you that he was Pernassi Dass was the same man as Jones said he saw being tortured ? " " The evidence of the two Chuprassies and A Matter of Degree 73 also that of Raj Narain, who has known him for many years." " Again, when at the inquest, Jones and the police-sergeant both swore to the man's dying statement, which was evidently given in immedi- ate fear of death, and as such was admissible in a Court of Law, why did you return a finding of death from natural causes ? " " Honestly, sir, I did not believe what Jones told me. He had on previous occasions made statements to me in my official capacity which were woefully inaccurate, and in the face of ten witnesses who swore that the corpse was that of a man named Dass Lai, I could not come to any conclusion but the one which I did. Still, all this is not to the point, for although Jones tried to bring it up in the court martial, it was very properly ruled out by the president as irrelevant. Besides this, subsequent events have shown that the poHce-sergeant, Abdulla Khan, is a man of bad character whose word is not to be trusted." " Please tell me more about him." " I will not enter into the details of the case, but suffice it to say that he was only convicted three days ago of the not unusual native poUce offence of inventing a crime which had never 74 Rast is East taken place, in order to obtain the credit of detecting it." " Where did this happen ? " " Here in Nagra, and on this occasion Raj Narain himself was one of the principal witnesses. He caught the vndiii flagrante delicto." " Where is AbduUa Khan now ? " " He is temporarily in the local jail." " May I send for him this afternoon and have a talk with him ? My daughter is very upset, and I know that she would Uke me to do this." " Of course, sir, you can do what you like, but I have not the slightest doubt about the guilt either of Lieutenant Jones or of this police- sergeant." Mr. Bell turned the subject and said no more, though he thought a great deal. In her boudoir, Nancy was in the meantime sa5dng to the police officer : " Can't we help him, Mr. FUnt ? We both of us know that he is innocent. My evidence may do something on his behalf, but it all looks so black." " I've racked my brain over and over again, but can think of nothing. I am convinced of his innocence, but unfortunately the court martial A Matter of Degf^ee 75 has to go not by conviction but by the evidence before them." "I'm sure that Raj Narain is at the bottom of it all," she said. " Tell me, have there been any other suspicious deaths with the same symptoms as in Pernassi Dass's case ? " " Yes, several have come to my notice, and, now that you call my attention to it, two out of four that I can now think of have been the deaths of men who were required as important witnesses in cases which were pending." " Can't you find out where the poison comes from ? " " It would be very difhcult indeed." " It's at all events worth trying." " No one would bear witness against Raj Narain. Many people may hate him, but his power is so widespread that they will not enter into the hsts against him." " Are there then so few people in this world with moral courage ? " " It is not a very common quality anywhere, and it is the training of the native to avoid any situation which is likely to lead to trouble. No wonder, if there is any chance of the enmity of Raj Narain being incurred ! " 76 Rast is East "If we could only find out where the poison comes from we might get some clue. I've thought, and oh ! how I have prayed for justice for Nigel ! But I get no inspiration." " All the same, Miss Bell, I'm not sure that you have not put an idea into my head. At all events I'll try it. Now, good-bye." James Flint went back to his bungalow and called his bearer. " How long have you been in my service, Khudda Buckhs ? "he said. " Twelve years, your Highness, and I also nursed you in my arms when I was your father's servant. But why do you ask ? " " Will you do something for me ? " " There is nothing I would not do." " Well, there is somebody in this town who supplies a poison which kills without leaving any trace. Who is it ? " " How should I know, if your Highness, who is the head of the police, does not know ? " " You are evading my question." " I am a peaceful man and know nothing of such things." " I know I can speak to you in absolute con- fidence. I believe that Raj Narain, the Sherish- A Matter of Degree 77 tadar, traffics with this man whoever he may be." " Sahib, pray be careful what you say. The very walls have ears when this man's name is spoken. You are to me both a father and a mother, and I beseech of you to do nothing to cross this man's path. Look at Jones Sahib, it is known that his trouble is of this man's making," " That is just why I ask you this question." " I beg you not to press me, Sahib. I have a wife and family and am a quiet man who love not strife." " If you really feel for me the affection which you profess, I ask of you to tell me the name of the man who you think supplies this poison. I promise not to go near him myself and only to have him approached in the most discreet manner." " Your Highness, I like not the business." " Nevertheless, tell me any man whom you suspect." " From what I heard said a few nights ago I think that if a holy man of the name of Sadhu Pir ]\Iahomed, who lives in a hut near the cross- roads, were offered a sufficient sum, he would 78 East is East possibly procure the poison ; but I have no proof at all of this, it is only hearsay, and I beg of yonr Highness to let the matter alone." Mr. FHnt leant back in his chair and thought the matter over. There were obstacles, great obstacles to surmount. Whom should he get to approach this man and — what was far more difficult — whom should he get to appear against him and the man behind him ? It must be some one totally uncon- nected with any European, who was desperate and at the same time fearless. " Salaam, Sadhugi," ^ said a tall, thickly veiled woman in broken Hindustani as the sun was setting. " What dost thou want, woman ? My days for seeking the company of fair women are long past." " It is thy help that I want, Sadhugi." " How can I give thee help ? Thou art not even of this country." " It is true that I come from the land of ever- lasting snows and am even now returning, but 1 " Gi " means Mr., and is used instead of Sahib in address- ing persons of minor position. A Matter of Degree 79 before I go I must have the means of ridding myself of an enemy whom I hate." " But how can I help thee in this ? " " I know that thou art a wise and learned man, and I thought thou mightst have some charm that thou couldst give me, which would be efficacious and at the same time leave no traces. I have money." " How much hast thou ? " " I have two rupees." " Two rupees ! That is nothing for my ex- pensive medicine." As he said this he gave a sardonic smile. " It is possible I might give thee three." " Where is the drug to be used ? " " On the other side of the frontier." " Wilt thou swear to that ? " " I wiU." " I must apologize for coming in so late, sir," said Flint, as he walked on to the verandah where Mr. Bell and his daughter were sitting, " but I have something of importance to tell you." He went on to relate how Mumtazan, who cared for neither man nor devil in her endeavours to procure the release of her husband, had succeeded 8o East is East in procuring a poison from the Sadhu, which he beUeved to be the same as that of which Pernassi Dass had died. He also went on to say that a pariah dog had been given meat in which this poison was concealed and was already dead. " Now, do you believe in inspiration, Miss Bell ? If you had not given me the hint I should never have thought of this." " Have you anything more to tell me, Flint ? " asked the Collector. " This may have some bearing on Jones's case." " Yes, sir, I have. Just after dark I went up to the Sadhu's hut with two of my men whom I think I can thoroughly trust to hold their tongues, and had the inmate confined in a go- down in my own compound, where no one knows that he is. The Sadhu was quiet and dignified in his manner when arrested, but in my own bungalow, when I interviewed him, he was indignant and asked for the reason of his arrest. I told him that I had arrested him at Raj Narain's instigation for complicity in a murder which had taken place during the feast of the Holi, which is the time when Pernassi Dass was murdered. I hope I may be pardoned for using A Matter of Degree 8 1 this subterfuge. When he heard Raj Narain's name, he became furious, said that he could prove that the former was the instigator of at least six murders, and much more that should go towards bearing out his accusations." " Thank you, Flint," was Mr. Bell's answer. " I think you will be forgiven for your subter- fuge ! You have done a good day's work. See that nobody speaks to the Sadhu to-night." Presently Mr. Bell sent for a telegraph form, and wrote on it : " Urgent. " To the LIEUT.-GOVERNOR, " United Provinces. " I wish the remainder of my leave cancelled, and request permission to resume my duties as Collector of Nagra from to-morrow morning. " John Bell." He sent a copy of this by hand to Mr. Smart. Raj Narain felt a little uncomfortable when, on arriving at the Court-house on the following morning, he heard that Mr. Bell had given up the remainder of his leave and had returned to his duties. It would be going too far to say that he was alarmed. He felt sure that his 6 82 Rast is East plans were all too well laid to permit of mishap, and his tracks too well covered to allow of their being exposed. Besides this, there was not a man in Nagra who would run the chance of his displeasure by attempting to turn against him ; but all the same he wished that Mr. Smart had been allowed to remain in ofhce until the court martial on Jones had pronounced its sentence and had been confirmed. He felt that Jones was, to all intents and purposes, dead as far as doing any harm was concerned ; but, like the man with the disagreeable mother-in-law, he was anxious to see a good heavy tombstone in the shape of a confirmation of the court-martial proceedings by the Commander-in-Chief, prevent for ever the chance of resuscitation on the part of the corpse. Although these were Raj Narain's inward thoughts, when he entered the Collector's presence he allowed no trace of his uneasiness to show itself, and his manner was self-composed and suave. " It is a great pleasure to us all, sir, to see you back again amongst us. We were all afraid that the promotion which is the lot of able men might have deprived us at Nagra of the great admini- A Matter of Degree 83 strator whom we love and respect. If I may be allowed to say so, your Highness is looking in better health than when you left. I hope also I may be respectfully allowed to express a hope that all is well in your exalted household." It is permissible and polite among Indians when speaking to a gentleman to ask after his household as a whole, although this may only consist of a wife or a daughter, but to ask directly af cer any of his female relations is not etiquette. " I am obliged for your good wishes, but I have, I regret to say, certain questions to put to you. Raj Narain, which I hope you will be able to answer satisfactorily, and as these questions refer to events which have occurred during my absence, I have, as you see, asked Mr. Smart to be present during this inquiry." The first witness examined was Abdulla Khan, who was brought up under escort, and gave evidence which gravely incriminated Raj Narain. " May I remark, sir," said Raj Narain, " that I consider I am not being treated with the con- sideration that I have always previously experi- enced. I am a Brahman of the highest caste and have grown grey in the service of the State, and — without any reason as far as I can ascertain 84 East is East — a matter is brought up which occurred and was settled months ago, and I am treated as a prisoner, when the witness you have thought fit to produce against me is a condemned criminal, and, more- over, a Pathan, a man of a race whose disregard for the truth is proverbial." Abdulla Khan here interposed with " True, I am a Pathan, but the proverb goes, ' Trust a Pathan before a Brahman.' " It was here that Mr. Bell dispatched the follow- ing message to the President of the court martial which was just commencing its sitting. " Certain events are now in the process of being disclosed at this Court which have a bearing on the charges on which Lieutenant Jones is being tried, and I hope that you will allow me to suggest that you order an adjournment." Raj Narain had been somewhat taken aback when he found himself faced with Abdulla Khan, a man who was a condemned prisoner, and who, being beyond the Brahman's clutches, had much to gain and nothing to lose by appearing against him. But he felt confident of his ability to refute his adverse evidence, and was not seriously dis- concerted. When the statement made by Sadhu Pir Mahomed to Mr. Flint, the police officer, was A Matter of Degree 85 read to him, however, and the man himself appeared and confirmed his statements and was evidently more intent on convicting Raj Narain than on exculpating himself, the Brahman began to lose heart. The turn things had taken quickly became known throughout the town. Now that a strong man sat on the judicial chair in the place of Smart, witnesses were not hard to procure, and, during the course of the morning, the evidence against Raj Narain became overwhelming. A few parasites, who saw their means of live- lihood disappearing, deplored the fall of the Brahman, but hundreds rejoiced to be free from his tentacles. The only man who was really surprised at the disclosures made during the morning was Mr. Frank Smart, and the exposure of the manner in which he had been led by the nose and of his own credulity was a blow from which he did not recover, until a few months later he was appointed to the Secretariat at Simla, where his refusal ever to see anything except through the spectacles worn by his official superiors, and his strict adlierence to red tape, gained him rapid promotion. Raj Narain left the Court-house as a prisoner. 86 East is East arraigned on charges of complicity in murder and the manufacture of false evidence against both Lieutenant Jones and Abdulla Khan. Never had he heard of a fall so sudden and dramatic as his own ! He was far too astute a man to be blind to the fact that his fate was sealed and that, if he escaped the rope, the rest of his life would be spent in the Andamans. No, to this fate he would not submit ! He was a Brahman, and one course was still open to him. He could bring curses on those who had brought about his downfall. In his own eyes all that he had done was justifi- able. Of what import were the lives of a few villagers compared with the welfare of one who, by the right of birth, was higher than the minor gods. What did the deaths of a few sudras matter ? — men who, according to the laws of his reUgion, were liable to suffer decapitation if they approached within three paces of his semi-divine person. It was still in his power to avoid the laws of these foreigners whom it had suited him to serve. To his escort he said : " Allow me to go and draw myself some water. There is no man here from whose vessel I can drink without defilement." Thus sa5ring he A Matter of Degree 87 walked to the deep, open masonry well which was in the middle of the courtyard, and standing on the brink he cried in a loud voice : " I, a Brahman, of the highest caste, do call curses on those who are prosecuting and unjustly accusing me. On this Court-house and on all who dwell or do their work in it, I cast a spell. They have forced a Brahman to take his life, and they and all connected with them will be cursed, not only in their present but in many future incarnations." Having said this he stepped backwards into the well. Frantic efforts were made to rescue the Brahman and avert his curse, but his head struck a stone, and Satan was not to be cheated. • •••••• It is said that Raj Narain's spirit still haunts the compound, but no great misfortune occurred to any of those who are principally connected with this story. For Sir John Bell, at the time this is being written, is paying a visit to Colonel and Mrs. Nigel Jones ; and Jemadar Abdulla Khan, whose household (we will still continue to speak thus respectfully of the female belongings of a Mahomedan officer) has considerably increased. 88 East is East for besides daughters he has a son entering a dis- tinguished Pathan regiment. The Jemadar never forgets twice a year to write to Mrs. Jones. Had it not been for her, and for her alone, he as well as Colonel Jones would have been disgraced men. A ROMANCE OF JEYTANA 89 CHAPTER I " For Agra is the hottest place in all this world of Ind, It was founded by a Mussulman who damnably had sinned." SO goes the song, and there is an old saw which relates that a Great Mogul, who had previously had certain transactions with his Satanic majesty, when called upon to hand in his cheques, petitioned for another year on earth, and was promised this respite on con- dition that he should build a place hotter than anything which was in store for him. And the story goes that when he built Agra Fort, his Master, to whom he had sold his soul, was so pleased with his effort that he gave him not one but ten extra years on earth. Undoubtedly these years of grace had been earned, for the red stone walls of the Agra Fort imbibe so much heat during a hot-weather day that even after sunset they will blister the finger which touches them ; but never did a rough shell contain a fairer kernel. These rude bastions and galleries enclose some of the most beautiful 91 92 East is East mosques and halls ever built by the hand of man. Truly has it been said that the Moguls designed like Titans and finished like jewellers. There are baths and chambers of pure white marble where the great Sultans used to delight in the beauty of their queens and princesses, and on which no other male eye was allowed to fall. There are also state apartments, some in pure marble and others inlaid with precious stones, to which princes, nobles and warriors were admitted in audience. It was, however, not its hidden treasures but only the rude shell which presented itself to the view of a quartette of men sitting on a verandah and drinking long and well-earned whiskies-and- sodas after some hard sets at tennis. Their coats had been resumed, for it was the middle of the cold weather, and the temperature had dropped some thirty degrees as the sun went below the horizon. Said one of them : " Yes, it is extraordinary ! Last year the news of our defeat at Maiwand was known in the bazaar here at Agra before the Commander- in-Chief at Simla had received word of it, and Lord Roberts's entry into Candahar not many weeks later was also passed down country by the A Romance of yeytana 93 same method, whatever it may be. How it is done I don't know, but there can be no doubt whatever that natives have some means of conveying news with hghtning rapidity. Hullo ! It is already half-past five, and Johnson and I must be off." The speaker rose to his feet and signed to his friend. Together they made their way to a bamboo cart, which was being held by a syce, jumped in and drove off. For a few minutes there was silence between the remaining pair, but presently the elder. Sir James Black, the Agent-General for the whole of Jeytana, broke the spell. " So you've decided to accept the appointment of Resident to the State of Nanpur ; and I'm very glad that you have done so. I can promise you that your work will certainly be interesting, and that you will find it anything but mono- tonous." It was under Sir James's instructions that the poUtical agents to the many native States in Jeytana acted. The man addressed was Surgeon Captain Michael MacNamara of the Indian Medical Service. " As you know," continued Sir James, " the 94 Rast is East present Rajah Rattan Singh is a child, and I want you, in addition to your other duties, gener- ally to supervise his education and to look after his health ; and it is well that you should bear in mind that there are many persons who would benefit by his death. When your name came up for consideration for the appointment, the fact that you were a medical man weighed very much in your favour." " Did you know the late Maharajah yourself, sir ? " asked the younger man. " Yes, I saw quite a good deal of him. As a youngster he was a sportsman, a brilliant man after a pig, a good big-game shot, and, had he been living now, would undoubtedly have had a fine polo team ; but, as so often happens with Indian potentates, when he grew up he found hundreds of courtiers ready to pander to his worst instincts, and in a very few years pro- fligacy and debauchery ruined his health, whilst his estate became impoverished. His ministers and officials filled their pockets, and the poor were squeezed hke the lemon which Lord Wolse- ley has been talking about. I was sorry for the Maharajah, for he was once a most promising and delightful boy, but when he died six months A Romance of yeytana g 5 ago, he was a wreck, both morally and physically, and his death was a blessed relief." " And when did Colonel Warren give up his appointment as Resident ? " said MacNamara. " Colonel Warren went home on leave about two months ago, and soon afterwards it was decided that he was not to return. I don't want to say anything unkind about him, especially as he is an old gentleman who has himself never been unkind to anyone in his hfe, but he was so easy-going, so identified with the whole state of things at Nanpur, and such good friends with the State officials, that we felt a new broom was required in order to make a clean sweep of all the bribery and corruption which has been going on there for years, and in which everyone, from the Dewan to the ofi&ce chuprassie, had a hand." " It seems to me that I shall have all my work cut out," replied Mike MacNamara, " and a pretty thorny time to boot." " Yes, I agree that you haven't a bed of roses to look forward to ; but what does a man of your age want with a bed of roses ? It is the thorns and the pricks that make life interesting and worth Uving — at least that's my point of view, 96 East is East and yours, too, unless I'm a bad reader of character." But Sir James was no bad judge of men, and Mike MacNamara, with his curly red hair, his bright hazel eyes, his prominent cheek bones and his six-foot-two of energetic virility, certainly did not look like one whose ideal was a hfe of dolce far niente, or who would hesitate firmly to grasp a stinging nettle. " What will my chief duties be ? " went on MacNamara. " For one thing you must see that the State revenues are actually spent on the works for which they are earmarked. Large sums which last year were allocated to irrigation, canals and railways did not get much farther than the pockets of the State officials, and now the little Maharajah's minority offers a good opportunity for pulling things round." " What can you tell me of the boy ? " " He comes from a sporting stock, and ought to take to polo and pig-sticking like a duck does to water, and I want you to bring him up as a sportsman." " That you may trust me to do," was Mac- Namara's reply. A Ro7nance of yeytana 97 " He will be subjected to many temptations, for at a native court those who wish to get into favour with a young potentate do not hesitate to pander to all his worst instincts, and often go so far as to use their own zenanas to this end, and it is good sporting instincts which are best calculated to counteract such influences." " Do you know anything of the Dowager Maharani, sir ? " asked MacNamara. " Only that she is a Rajput by birth and apparently a woman of some character, and it will be well for you to keep in her good graces ; so try to do this and to avoid treading on her toes, as she may possibly bring a good deal of influence to bear on the affairs of the State as well as on the mind of her son. And now that we are on the subject of women," Sir James went on, " let me warn you in all earnestness to have no truck whatever with any of the ladies of the State, and that if you should trip in this respect I can do nothing for you. The Maharani is the only one," he said, " whose society I can countenance your cultivating." As he said this the Agent-General looked the younger man straight in the face, and 7 9 8 East is East did so with intent, for rumour had it that in the past MacNamara had not always been unsusceptible to the attractions of the other sex. His looks and bearing were not those of an ascetic. CHAPTER II YOU honour me, gentlemen, by coming to talk over with me the important matters of State which I shall presently expound to you," said Lai Ram, the Dewan (or Prime Minister) of Nanpur, to Gopi Chunder, Minister for the Interior, and to Moh Singh, the Minister for PubHc Works, " but in the meantime please be seated." " We cannot possibly sit down until the Dewan Sahib has already done so," was the reply. The three men were typical of the castes to which they belonged, Lai Ram, the Dewan ^ a Jhat by caste, was tall and muscular and between fifty and sixty. His face was certainly not re- markable for its intelligence, but he looked a man of strength and determination. Moli Singh, the Minister of Works, was a Rajput, and like most of his race was small-limbed but wiry, and looked a very thoroughbred animal, as indeed was only to be expected seeing that for a thousand years his ancestors had been princes or doughty warriors. 99 lOO East is East But by far the most intelligent-looking of the trio was Gopi Chunder, a short but stout Brahman, whose intellectual forehead was covered with coloured caste marks ; but his physiognomy suggested cunning, and this fact did much to dis- count the favourable impression made by his pohshed manners. Both he and the Rajput wore the sacred thread which is the mark of " twice- born " high-caste men. Nanpur was a Jhat State. In ancient days the Rajputs (which name means sons of Rajahs), the princely and highest fighting caste, were owners of the soil and the Jhats were farmers ; but for many centuries there have now been Jhat princes, and among these were the rulers of Nanpur. The late Maharajah had married a Rajput lady of the bluest blood. She was a daughter of impoverished parents, who, in spite of caste pre- judices, had been induced to give their daughter to wed a wealthy prince, although loss of caste was thereby entailed. It is generally believed in Europe that women in India play but a small part in State affairs. This is, however, far from the fact. It is true that women remain in the background, but A Romance of jfeytana loi " Cherchez la femme " is just as applicable to complications in the Far East as it is in the country where it was first said. Instead of her- self entering the arena, woman in the East uses man as her instrument, and in most cases it will be found that the ruler's wife, his mother or his mistress has a very important say in State affairs ; and at Nanpur the Maharani was already begin- ning to show that she had no intention of allowing the powers entrusted to her on her husband's death to be usurped. " It is much to be deplored," said the Dewan, " that Colonel Warren Sahib has been retired. He was a just man, knew how to Uve and let hve, was a great sahib, and never interfered with the conduct of the affairs of the State which did not concern him. What, Moli Singh, is the outcome of your inquiries \vith regard to Captain Mac- Namara who has been appointed in place of our worthy friend ? " " As the result of conversations which have been overheard at the dinner-table of the Agent- General Sahib and of other inquiries, I fear that the intention of the Government is to endeavour to demand a much greater supervision of the funds of the State than used to obtain, and that they I02 Kast is East have chosen this young doctor as a fit instrument to overthrow all old-established customs, much to the detriment of worthy pillars of the State such as ourselves." " Have you evidence of this ? " " Unfortunately I have, and indeed, Dewan Sahib, if this young man be allowed to have his way, there will soon be nothing left to you and to me, and indeed to all those who have given their life's work to the late Maharajah's service, except the miserable stipend which is quite inadequate to keep up the pomp demanded by the exalted rank of great State officials." " What," said Gopi Chunder, " can be the object of the Sirkar (the British Government) in doing this ? The roads in the State have been good enough for the heroes of yore who passed along them, and the fields have produced enough to feed the people ; why not leave well alone ? God intended that famines should come periodi- cally. If he had not intended this, he would not have withheld the rain ; and to try and prevent famine and always to ensure a water supply, when it is evident that famines are ordained by the Almighty, is working directly against the will of God, and for this reason alone all such innovations A Romance of Jeytana 103 should be combated. Have you seen the new Resident ? " " Yes," was the Dewan's reply. " He made an appointment and paid me an official call two days ago, which I purposely did not return until I had had the opportunity of consulting you, my principal colleagues. What shall be our attitude? " " It appears to me," said Moli Singh, " that Gopi Chunder Sahib has spoken with great wisdom. Nanpur is an independent State, and as long as it is loyal to the British Raj (Sove- reignty) the latter should not dictate how State money should be spent. It also appears to me only reasonable that we should have a voice in the choice of the Resident whom the British Government sends to us to have in our midst. What say you, Dewan Sahib ? " " I thoroughly agree ; but what shall we do to get rid of this man who, I am sure, will not fall in with our views ? What does our worthy Brahman colleague say ? " "If we were to write to the Agent-General Sahib," Gopi Chunder replied, " and say we do not like this man, please remove him, his answer assuredly would be unfavourable, and we should I04 Rast is East prejudice our case. Let us rather endeavour to get some definite ground on which to ask for his removal. He is, fortunately, a young man, and few young men can resist temptations cunningly put before them." " I quite agree," said Lai Ram. " Let these be our tactics, and, in offering temptations, let us all remember that it is for the good of the com- munity that we are doing so, and that we should not be too squeamish in what we undertake. We can, of course, try bribes deftly wrapped up ; but although he is poor, being an Anglese, he is not hkely to succumb to these. He is, however, young, looks fiery, and, Hving a lonely Ufe, it is only natural that he should find it difficult to resist other temptations which we ought with care to be able to throw in his way." " I agree with your opinion," said MoH Singh. " We did everything we could to make Warren Sahib's sojourn in our midst comfortable and happy ; but to treat this interloper with the same degree of consideration and courtesy which was extended to our old friend is unnecessary." " You have both spoken wisely," remarked the Brahman, " and I do not consider it improbable that if these tactics be carefully pursued he may A Romance of Jeytana \ o 5 before long provide us with a means to proceed against him. We must, however, be careful to give him nothing to catch hold of definitely or we shall forge a weapon to be used against ourselves." The Dewan nodded approval and went on : " I consider that the worthy Brahman's advice is wise and statesmanhke, and does credit to the long line of illustrious men from whom he is descended. Let us carry out the principles on which we have decided, and to do this will be my own special province. In the meantime let us continue to make inquiries into Captain Mac- Namara's antecedents." CHAPTER III ON the afternoon following the meeting recorded in the preceding chapter, MacNamara was sitting at his writing- table when Ghulam Hussein, his Mahomedan bearer (or body-servant), who had been in his employment over ten years, entered the room. He approached him and said : " The Dewan Sahib's servant wishes to deliver a message to your Honour. May he be permitted to enter your presence ? " " Wlio is the man ? " asked MacNamara. " He is a Hindu of low caste." " I do not take messages from Hindus of low caste. Tell him to inform his master that messages sent to the representatives of the Sirkar ^ must be sent by fitting messengers." The Residency at Nanpur was a large square building surrounded by a verandah supported on massive stone pillars. The apartments were spacious, fitted with every contrivance ^ British Government. 1 06 A Romance of jfeyta^ia loy to minimize heat, and suitably furnished for the occupation of a high official whose station necessitated the keeping up of that show and appearance which so much impresses the Oriental mind. In front of the house were lawn-tennis courts made of mud and plaster, and the spacious garden was watered by pipes and water-courses running from a well at which two pairs of oxen were alternately always at work, and from which came the screeching noise which those who have heard it must always connect with the rope and chains of an Indian well. This well, besides furnishing the water required for the house and for the stables, also supplied a swimming-bath which adjoined the Residency. MacNamara was still writing when, about two hours later, Ghulam Hussein again came in and said : " The Dewan Sahib says that he regrets that you were not satisfied with the quality of the last messenger, and has sent another, who craves an audience with your Highness." "Who is he? " " His name is Ramji Lai. He is a Jhat, and is the Dewan Sahib's head servant." io8 East is East " I do not receive messages from the Dewan Sahib's servants," said the Resident. " Tell him so." Soon after this MacNamara went out for his evening ride. He took with him his orderly, Mahomed Khan, a retired trooper from his former native cavalry regiment, who carried in his hand two light spears on the chance of their coming across a wild boar. His two Rampiir hounds, strong dogs not unlike grey- hounds, but larger, fiercer and more powerful though not quite so swift, also followed him. About six miles from the Residency, Mahomed Khan entered into conversation with some villagers, and MacNamara was annoyed at his remaining behind so long. In order to kill time he let his hounds draw a small square field of sugar-cane, out of which an old dog wolf broke, with the hounds barely ten yards behind him. A loud " tally ho ! " brought Mahomed Khan up, and the hunt began. It is very seldom that a wolf is run down. He lollops along, never seeming to go very fast, but still hounds do not gain on him. On this occasion the start the hounds got v/as so good that the wolf had no chance of getting his second A Roma?tce of yeytana 1 09 wind ; nevertheless, after they had been galloping ten minutes over ground as hard as iron, the grey form was still fifty yards in front. Suddenly two village curs headed the wolf, and Fly, the bitch, which was faster but not so strong as Bryan, cut a corner and managed to get in a powerful snap at her formidable antagonist's flanks. He turned at her but missed her, and this cost him several strides. She was at his flanks again. This time his retaliation was more determined, and her side was soon covered with blood. Bryan, the dog, was devoted to his mate, and with a supreme effort rushed in, and getting him sideways bowled the wolf right over, A grey and yellow mass was struggling on the ground when Mahomed Khan's spear put an end to the encounter. Half the adjoining village turned out and rejoiced. Mike dismounted and ran his hands down the legs of his favourite Australian horse, the " Badger," for the hard ground was a trial on sinews and tendons. In the Punjab and United Provinces of India more human beings (princi- pally children) are kiUed by wolves than by any other sort of wild animal, and the loss yearly runs into tens of thousands. 1 1 Rast is East When Mahomed Khan rejoined his master, the latter said to him : " Well, I haven't enjoyed anything for months as much as I have this gallop. What say you ? " " It was splendid. Sahib, and makes up for many disagreeables." " What do you mean ? " " The Sahib must know what I mean. I am subjected to all the petty annoyances which these Hindus can inflict on me, but as the Sahib has to put up with the same sort of thing, it is not for me to grumble." MacNamara ignored this remark. " What did the villagers tell you ? " he asked. " At each village they spoke about the same things. Of the fear that is spread through the district by a man-eating tiger, which, during the last six months, has killed either a hundred and one or a hundred and two people, and the other thing they spoke about was irrigation." " And what did they say about irrigation ? " " They said that there were now big canals in Government territory which have converted what used to be deserts into fertile land, and they asked whether the new Resident Sahib A Romance of yeytana i 1 1 was going to try to get the same done for them, and whether, if it is done, they themselves would be allowed to derive benefit from it, or whether it would all go to the Maharajah ? " On his return to the Residency, MacNamara found still another messenger awaiting him. On this occasion it was a native gentleman of good family, and he consented to receive him, but, before doing so, bathed and changed his clothes. The young man was eventually ushered into MacNamara's presence. " I am the bearer of an important message from the Dewan Sahib," he said, " and time presses. I have been waiting here two hours to see the Sahib. The Dewan Sahib has already sent two previous messengers, but for some obscure reason it did not suit the Sahib to receive them. The Dewan Sahib bids me to tell you that the roof of the Residency requires to be repaired, and that it will be necessary for the Sahib to move into the Dak Bungalow as the builders have orders to start work to- morrow." In old days, before hotels existed, dak bun- galows, or rest-houses, were built for the use of 112 Kast is East European travellers, and kept up under Govern- ment supervision. They are as a rule small buildings, poorly furnished, and containing at the outside four or five small rooms, and though affording all the accommodation necessary for a night or two, such a dwelling would be quite inappropriate as a residence for a prolonged stay by a high European official. It was from the first quite obvious to Mac- Namara that the Dewan's object in trying to force him into the dak bungalow was to incon- venience him, and to endeavour to damage his izzat (dignity and standing) in the eyes of the natives by whom he was surrounded ; for Mike knew from his experience of the country that to perform such an action with such an object would be a thoroughly native proceeding. He therefore repUed, " Please remind the Dewan Sahib that I called on him three days ago, and that he has not yet returned my call. Moreover, I refuse to take from a subordinate a message demanding that I should vacate my house at a few hours' notice. You may further tell the Dewan Sahib that in my dealings with natives of this country I have always been struck by the fact that any lack of courtesy on the part of a gentleman has A Romance of yeytana 1 1 3 invariably been intentional and never the conse- quence of carelessness. You say that for some obscure reason I refused to receive the former messengers the Dewan Sahib sent me. In the circumstances I am at a loss to know whether the Dewan Sahib does not know the customs of native gentlemen, or, whether knowing them, he deliberately defies them. If the Dewan Sahib wiU make an appointment to-morrow, I shall be happy to receive him." It is in India looked on as an insult to send a message or even a letter by the hand of a low-caste man, and, absurd as it may appear, a gentleman who submits to breaches of etiquette, himself loses caste in the eyes of the numerous natives by whom he is surrounded, for a native of position never commits a breach of etiquette by accident. The next day, at the appointed hour, the Dewan arrived to make his formal caU at the Residency, and was ceremoniously received by Mike. His manners were polite and his presence was stately and dignified, but he lacked the air of breeding which was such a marked characteristic in Moli Singh, nor did he appear entirely at his ease. 8 114 Bjust is East As usual with natives he commenced his inter- view by conversing on subjects quite foreign to the matter he really wished to speak about. He, moreover, felt that he had lost the first game in the rubber, and knew that if Gopi Chunder, the astute Brahman, had been in his place he would have done better. The old rhyme : " Derby born, Derby bred, Strong in the arm, thick in the head," might equally well be applied to the Jhats, who, as soldiers, are real " stickers " when things are going wrong, but of whom other natives say that their skulls are as thick as those of the oxen they drive. " It was a splendid performance killing the wolf last night, Sahib," the Dewan said, " but a young man like you should not be satisfied until you have killed the man-eater." What an inspiration ! The brute had already killed four shikaries who had been out after him, and this would indeed be an easy way of getting rid of this troublesome Resident. " What a pity there are now no elephants," he continued. " The Sirkar had them sold on account of expense." This was a foolish and deliberate falsehood, for A Romance of jfeytana i i 5 there were still two elephants, as MacNamara knew, though it did not suit Ram Lai's book to say so. All this time MacNamara unconsciously felt that he was gaining a moral ascendancy. Like the proverbial postcript which contains the really important part of a lady's letter, just as he was making preparations to depart the Dewan re- marked : " It really pains me to put you to the incon- venience of having to turn you out of your house." " Please explain yourself." " I thought my messenger told you last night that the Residency must be repaired," said the Dewan, shifting uneasily in his seat as he spoke. " Yes, and I told him that it was a subject on which I could take no verbal messages, but that if there were anything to be said to me about it, it was better that you should say it yourself." As he said this he looked the Dewan straight in the face and spoke with an air of decision which there was no mistaking. " Well, Sahib, it will be necessary to move you out, as the roof requires repair and must be seen 1 1 6 Rast is East to before the rains, which will be here in June and it is already nearly May." This reply was given in an awkward hesitating manner. " When, may I ask, was the Residency com- pleted ? " " About six years ago." " Exactly, and, according to some papers I have been looking at, five thousand rupees were paid to the Minister for Public Works only last year for repairs, I fear, Dewan Sahib, that this is a matter which I shall have to report to the Agent-General, for five thousand rupees properly expended twelve months ago should surely ensure a watertight roof for a year. I presume that you are to a certain extent responsible for the appointment of this official. These are questions all of which I must be in a position to answer the Agent-General when he comes here to visit me, which I understand it is his intention to do very shortly, for I know that he invariably holds high officials responsible for the work done by those whom they have ap- pointed to positions of trust." Now the last thing which the Dewan desired was that a representation such as MacNamara A Romance of yeytana i i 7 suggested should be made to the Agent-General. He had, as a matter of fact, not even spoken to Moli Singh on the matter, and was now only too anxious to back out of the position into which he had placed himself. He took the first step towards this end by saying, " There is undoubtedly much in what you say. Sahib. May I send special inspectors to go into the whole matter to-morrow, and to report again whether it will be necessary actually to turn you out, or whether the repairs can be carried out while you remain in the house ? " Having said this, he, according to native custom, asked for permission to depart, and was told that he " might remove his exalted presence." There was a formal inspection of the Residency on the following day, and a pretence of doing some work was made, but MacNamara never heard another word about leaving his house. That evening the Dewan informed Gopi Chunder of what had befallen, and the wily Brahman told him that he strongly advised him in the future to leave plotting to more facile brains than those which he himself possessed. CHAPTER IV THE next few days passed without in- cident, except that a state carriage MacNamara had ordered to convey him to the railway station on a certain occasion was very late, and was badly horsed. Moreover, the gates at the level-crossing were closed, and he consequently missed his train. He felt certain that these contretemps were not the consequence of chance, but although sorely irritated he kept his temper, and the hot-headed disposition on which his enemies were counting did not on this occasion lead him into difficulty. He had, a few days previously, sent a formal request that the little Maharajah Rattan Singh might be sent to him every morning for an hour ; but excuses were made, and for many days the hour named passed without the child's appear- ance. Eventually one morning a handsome boy of eight years old was brought in shrieking, and calling out in a paroxysm of rage : ii8 A Romance of yeytana 1 1 g " I will not go to him, he is a devil. Everyone says he is a devil and will bewitch me. He has red hair and a red moustache like the worst devils. My mother told me to avoid him. He is not like Warren Sahib, who was good, but this man is a monster." At the end of half an hour, by means of some pictures of lions and tigers, and of charging soldiers, MacNamara had quietened the boy, and he seemed in no hurry to say good-bye. The next morning MacNamara had a row of little earthenware jars, called chattis, filled with water, and placed in front of a wall some twenty yards from the verandah. He shot at them with a rook rifle. The jars burst and threw the water into the air when the bullets hit them. He then taught the child how to shoot, and in this way quite captured his heart, for the boy came from a sporting stock. Every day the httle Maharajah came and stayed an hour with Mike, and instead of dreading this time looked forward to it ar- dently. One day MacNamara received a letter written in the most flowery style from Moli Singh, the Minister of PubHc Works. In it he said that the doctor Sahib's skill as a physician was far I 20 Rast is East renowned, that a member of his own family was suffering from a painful ailment, and he begged him to visit her. Mike could hardly refuse such a request, and made an appointment to visit the lady. Half-an-hour's drive brought him to a spacious bungalow surrounded by trees, where he was ushered into a beautiful apartment, the walls of which were covered with draperies and purdahs, and into which a lady and her attendant presently entered. The lady, who was heavily veiled, explained that she was the widow of Moli Singh's brother and was living under her brother- in-law's roof. As is well known, the case of a Hindu widow is a very hard one. She is not allowed to re- marry and is regarded more or less as an outcast, and, as child marriages are the custom, it often happens that a girl is a widow before she has reached womanhood. " My ailment. Sahib," she said, " is a small lump on my breast which gives me extreme pain." " May I see it ? " was MacNamara's reply. " Certainly, but it will surely be better that my attendant should withdraw. Her presence may disturb you." A Roma7tce of jfeyta^ta i 2 i " No," said MacNamara ; " please let her stay here." " Let it be as the Sahib desires." When the clothing was removed a small boil was to be seen, but when he touched it she gave a httle shriek, and her veil fell off, showing the fair skin of a high-caste woman and two of the most lustrous eyes he had ever beheld. She did not replace her veil, but shyly remarked, " Does the Sahib still wish my attendant to remain ? I feel certain that the Sahib could do what he has to do better if my maid were to withdraw." In spite of his red hair, he said, " No, let her stay." A touch with a lancet followed by another little shriek ended the scene, and he withdrew. The trap laid by MoU Singh was very trans- parent. CHAPTER V MIKE MACNAMARA had been at Nanpiir some five weeks when Lai Ram, Moli Singh and Gopi Chunder were again in conclave. The last, but by far the most astute of the trio, the Brahman, Gopi Chunder, said, " So the plans which both my colleagues have devised have failed, and all that has been done is to put the young man on the alert. It is a true proverb which saith, ' In vain doth the fowler spread the net in sight of the bird.' The hands of the Rajput and the Jhat are more fitted for the use of the sword than are their brains for diplomacy. Subtler means must be taken if the young man's fall is to be accompHshed." "It is easy to blame us, Mahraj Sahib" (a Brahman is often so addressed by men of other castes), " but you have done nothing." " It is better to do nothing prematurely than to show one's hand." " Have you any methods to suggest ? " said A Romance of fey tan a i 2 3 Moli Singh, evidently nettled by the other's remarks. " Immediately the Sahib came here I instituted inquiries as to his family, his tastes, his pursuits, and his strong and weak points," was Gopi Chunder's reply. " And what have you discovered ? " " I find that his father was the colonel of the 80th Frontier Horse, that he also wished to become a Cavalry officer, but had no money, and therefore went into the Medical Service." " What else have you discovered ? Is he married ? " "He is not married. He paid a good deal of attention to the Mem-sahib of a Railway Sahib at Simla, called Atkins Sahib, but many other Sahibs appear to have done the same." " Has he no vices ? He is young, six feet high, good-looking and has a passionate face, surely he is not a saint ? " " I don't believe in soldier saints," blurted Lai Ram, who also resented the Brahman's tone of superiority. " He drinks a whisky-and-soda or two with his meals," said the Brahman, " but he never exceeds, and, in fact, the only weak point I have I 24 East is East been able to find is that he owes upwards of ten thousand rupees to Benarssi Dass, a shroff at Meerut, and I beUeve that this debt worries him considerably. He spends all he has on polo, pig-sticking and shooting, and he loves a good horse." " You have been wise in making these in- quiries, but from what you say he is a warrior after my own heart, and I wish our interests did not make it necessary to rid ourselves of him," said Moli Singh. " What shall we do, then ? " " We should gradually change our tactics, not too suddenly or he will notice the change. He must be treated with every poUteness, for the pin-prick pohcy instituted by the Dewan has failed." " But this will be a complete volte-face." " Never mind," went on the Brahman ; " he must be given to understand that we were at first bitterly disappointed that an exception was not made in the case of Colonel Warren, and that he whom we loved so well was not allowed to have his period here extended. We must then say that now we find that the Govern- ment's decision is irrevocable, we are very pleased A Romance of yeytana 125 that we have had sent to us a gentleman of good family and a sportsman. All this must be tactfully hinted at rather than said outright." " But this cannot be all," said the Dewan. " Surely we must try to incriminate him in some way." " Yes ; and his most assailable points would seem to be his love for horse-flesh and his want of money. All things come to those who wait, and surely the Almighty will soon provide us with a fitting opportunity for trjdng our hands." " I only wish that the man-eater would get him," said the Dewan. "He is continually out after sunset, but the brute instead of doing something useful only takes harmless villagers. He has now killed one hundred and thirty. It is getting dark and we had better get home." CHAPTER VI THE little Maharajah continued to come to the Residency and was evidently becoming very attached to MacNamara, who was naturally fond of children and who laid himself out to amuse the boy. One day the child said, " I told my mother that the people who said you were a demon are liars, and that you are really wise and kind, and that I am very fond of you, and she said she would like to see you. Why don't you go and see her ? " Mike had twice applied for an audience and had on each occasion been met by a blank refusal ; but on the strength of what the child said, he applied again, and was told that the Maharani would receive him on the next day. At the appointed hour he was given an audience, and the Maharani spoke to him from behind a curtain, so arranged that though she could see him he could not see her ; but her voice was 136 A Romance of yeyta7ia 127 melodious and sweet, though her whole manner of expressing herself was very stiff, and, indeed, to begin with seemed hostile. Mike spoke of the child, praising him, and saying that he should make a fine man, and soon she softened a little. He then went on to say that the boy ought to have a tutor, or, even better, a good English governess, who could be always with him. The Maharani said she would consider the matter, and the interview was closed. From that time on MacNamara had a formal interview with her once a week, and on each occasion she seemed to unbend a little more. From the way she spoke it soon became evident that her ministers were reckoning without their host if they considered that she was a mere puppet. It was now approaching the end of May and was terribly hot. With every care and with the aid of kuskus tatties and thermantidotes, grass mats fitted into the frames of windows and doors, which are always kept wet and through which a draught is forced, it was difficult to get the interior of the house to less than ninety-eight degrees during the day, and the verandahs were fifteen or twenty degrees hotter. 128 Rast is East One morning MacNamara received the follow- ing letter : " Honoured Sir, — I am a poor man, and the debt owing by your honour, with interest at 25 per cent., now amounts to rupees 11,556, annas 12 and pies 6, and I must ask for immediate pay- ment. It is impossible that a gentleman holding your high position cannot pay such a sum, and as I must have the money, I shall be obliged to write to the Lord Sahib if I am not at once paid. " I daily pray for your health and prosperity. — Your humble servant, " Benarssi Dass {Shroff). " SuDDER Bazaar, Meerut." During the last few weeks the general tone of the State officials towards him had quite changed, for the pin-pricks had ceased, and but for his pecuniary difficulties all appeared clear saihng. These, however, were a weight on his mind which he could never forget, and this letter seemed to bring them to a cUmax, and what made things worse was that his greatest friends in his old regiment, whom he might have applied to for help, were, to his knowledge, all on leave either in England or in Kashmir. A Roma?7ce of yeytaria 129 It was two days later, on 27th May, that he received a most flowery epistle from the Dewan, saying that the State officials had discovered that it was his birthday, and offering him their con- gratulations. The letter went on to say that the late Maharajah had owned a high -caste Arab horse which nobody now rode, and which was consequently being wasted, and that His late Highness, who was a sportsman, would rather have seen the horse in the hands of another sportsman, who knew how to use him, than an3rwhere else, and especially as this sportsman was bringing up his son in the right way. The letter ended by begging MacNamara to accept the gift of the Arab. The horse, a grey, which was waiting outside, was a picture, and his broad forehead and jaw, his great eyes, small muzzle and clean legs, bespoke him of the purest blood. It was a great temptation, for he felt that if he took him he could sell his Austrahan horse and that would go some way towards meeting Benarssi Dass's demands. On the other hand, he knew that in accepting the horse he would be putting himself into the Dewan's hands. For some time he pondered, but eventually wrote a polite letter saying that he would much 9 I30 East is East esteem being allowed to ride the Arab some- times, but must refuse him as a gift. This was the day for his weekly visit to the Maharani. He conversed with her as usual about the little Rajah, and expressed himself as very pleased with the way the child remembered all he had told him, and at the same time urged the necessity for giving him regular and proper instruction. It was evident that the Maharani had herself broached to the Dewan the question of having an English governess for the child, and that the latter had raised a hundred and one obstacles to a scheme which would undoubtedly result in the boy being brought up with European views of right and wrong, and would undermine the influence which he hoped himself to obtain over him. These obstacles were repeated by the Maharani to MacNamara, who did his best to persuade her of their absurdity, but he tact- fully refrained from pressing the subject too vehemently. Presently she said to him, " I have heard from many sources that the Sahib is a great physician. I am troubled with a gathering on the lobe of my ear which was torn by an ear- ring. The native doctors who have attended A Roma?ice of yeyta7ia i 3 i to it have only made it worse. Will the Sahib have the kindness to look at it for me ? " The examination, of course, made it necessary for her to emerge from behind the curtains which had covered her, and Mike saw a figure of excep- tional grace and beauty, and could not help wishing that the veil did not conceal her face, and the fact that he caught a gUmpse of one piercing black eye only made him wish that he could see the other too. Her ear was finely shaped, as was to be expected in the case of a lady who could trace her unblemished lineage for thirty- eight generations, and who was, according to tradition, descended from the Family of the Sun. If he had been treating the Dewan and had had no desire for further attendance on his patient, it is possible that with a cut from his lancet he could have rendered further treatment unnecessary ; but such was not the case, and instead of adopting so drastic a course, he merely employed a palliative which would render other visits necessary. It is uncertain whether at the moment he forgot Sir James's advice, or whether he only remembered the exception he had made in favour 132 East is East of the Maharani, but however that may be, the fact remains that although the Maharani expressed herself as much relieved, her ear required daily treatment. On the following day the Maharani said to her son, " About what does the Resident Sahib talk to thee ? " " About many things," answered the boy. " He seems to know all that there is to be known, except that he does not know the names of native sweetmeats." " What does he talk about ? " " About his country and all its wonders ; about ships as big as his house ; about big cannons ; about tigers and about guns and rifles. I wish you would buy me a little rifle." Presently picking up a flower and pulling it to pieces whilst she spoke, she said : " Does he tell thee of his home ? Where is his wife, and how many children has he ? " " I don't know, but I will ask him." " On no account let him know that I told thee to ask him." " But why not, mother ? " " Because I do not wish it, and if thou dost tell him thou shalt not have a little rifle." A Roma?ice of yeytana i 3 3 " That means that if I don't I am to have one ! Shabash ! " " What photographs has he in his house ? " " He has many ; nearly all of them are of men in miiform." " Are there any others ? " " Why do you want to know, mother ? " " I don't really want to know, but just asked out of curiosity." " Well, I'll look more carefully and tell you." " Remember that if you say that I told you to do so you won't get the httle rifle." CHAPTER VII IT is hard for anyone who has not lived through a hot weather in the plains of India to picture to himself, even vaguely, the length of the " long, long Indian day," The routine is that your bearer presents himself at your bedside at 5 a.m. with a cup of tea, for aU work has to be done early, as by eight or eight-thirty the power of the sun is intense. Office-work continues until ten or eleven, and then, as far as possible, things close down, and the world does not move again until five or so, when the sun has lost its power. During the long days, Mike brooded over his position. He was harassed by money difficulties, and had nobody with whom to talk over his troubles, nor indeed had he any friends with whom he could even play a game of billiards or a game of tennis, and although the attitude of the State officials towards him had altered, he had an inward feeling that they were in reality none the less hostile to him. 134 A Romance of Jeyiana 135 One afternoon when he was thinldng over the state of his affairs and was feehng desperate, the faithful Ghulam Hussein came in to say that a local banker of the name of Bansi Lai demanded the favour of an audience. The man who was ushered in was most respectful in his demeanour, and said : " I hear that the Protector of the Poor is being bothered by a wretched money-lender of the name of Benarssi Dass, who lives at Meerut. I was there last week, and it came to my ears that the man, who is a vile creature and one whose ways of transacting business I detest, is saying the most dishonourable things about the Sahib, and all this made my blood boil. The Resident at Nanpur has a great position, and to hear him spoken of thus offended my dignity as a citizen of Nanpur. I have come, therefore, to offer to lend the Sahib the money necessary to pay off this debt. He wiU confer a favour on me by allowing me to do this. I will lend it at eight per cent, instead of twenty-five per cent., and that wretch will no longer have it in his power to blacken the face of Nanpur." This was a way out of his trouble, but, impetu- ous as he was by nature, Mike hesitated before 136 Kast is East accepting, and replied, " It is very kind of you to make this offer, and I am sure that you are insti- gated by only the best motives, but I should like twenty-four hours to think the matter over before accepting." The native replied, " Many things may happen within twenty-four hours. Benarssi Dass may write letters to the authorities, which I hear he threatens to do, and this would jeopardize your position here, which we should all regret, whereas if you will only sign the enclosed note-of-hand which I have brought, I will arrange the whole matter by telegram with Benarssi Dass." The very eagerness he displayed, however, instead of inducing MacNamara to accept his offer determined him to think the matter over carefully before acting, and so again thanking Bansi Lai for his proffered assistance, he dismissed him, called his bearer and had a tub, ordered the " Badger," and told his orderly, Mahomed Khan, to be ready to accompany him in half an hour. CHAPTER VIII SOME incidents now took place which must be given in the order in which they occurred, and in which the hand of Gopi Chunder, the Brahman, may be seen. He had laughed at his fellow Ministers, the Rajput and the Jhat, for setting their nets in view of the bird. His own devices were more subtle and his plots more deeply laid. Nothing occurred either at the Palace or at the Residency of which he was not duly informed, and he considered that his first object must be to nip in the bud the friendly relations which were evidently developing between the Resident and the Maharani, for were they to work together, he foresaw an end of the state of things on which he and his fellows had so long battened. One morning Mike received a letter written in the ornate style customary in the East from Gopi Chunder. It contained many flattering epithets and concluded with a request that Mike would for a few hours forget that he was the Resident, 137 138 East is East ' and would condescend to come and see his mother, a very old lady whom he dearly loved, and who, he was convinced, was being wrongly treated by her native doctor. In this letter he referred in flowery language to Mike's skill as a physician, which he said was so well known, as well as to the humane feehngs which he said were such a marked feature in the English gentlemen he had met. After his last experience of visiting a purdah lady, Mike determined to be very careful what he did, but it was next to impossible for him to refuse a request so politely made. At the appointed hour he was met by Gopi Chunder on the doorstep of his house, as native custom prescribes on the arrival of an important and expected guest, and, after some remarks such as ceremony demanded, Mike was ushered into a room, where refreshments were offered to him. He knew that the glass from which he drank his sherbet would be broken as defiled after he had put his lips to it, but nevertheless he partook of it and also of the fruit which was offered to him. The apartment into which he had been shown was superbly furnished in Eastern style, and here the Brahman left him. A Romance of yeytana 139 Presently a young woman entered the room ; she was only partially veiled, was fair of skin and of decided beauty. She salaamed as she entered and moved some chairs, and whilst doing so she gave MacNamara a couple of sidelong glances from under her long eyelashes, and then dis- appeared. A few minutes later she and an older woman re-entered, supporting between them a stately old lady whom they placed in an easy-chair. MacNamara, who could both speak and write Hindustani fluently, asked the latter the ordinary questions put by a physician to his patient, and having done so could not refrain from an expres- sion of surprise at the treatment which had been recommended for her, and promised to come again. He paid two more visits during the next week. Each time the handsome girl, whom he had seen on his first visit, again appeared, and on both occasions she again addressed him on some subject connected with his patient. On his last visit she was alone in the room with him for some few minutes. From her manner her interest in the questions she put to him did not seem to be entirely impersonal, but he took care to give her no 140 East is East encouragement. It was after the third of these visits that the following incidents took place. The weather was extremely hot, and it was not until after sunset that Hfe was bearable. One evening the little Maharajah, whom Mike encouraged to treat him as a friend, came and asked him to walk over with him to his own garden, for there was a small enclosure in the grounds of the Palace which the boy looked on as his own special domain. He said he wanted to show Mike a new contrivance his servants had made for hanging chattis full of water to shoot at. It was Mike who had taught him to shoot, although he now practised under the care of Ressaldar Pertab Singh, a retired captain in the Native Cavalry. This man had served under MacNamara's father, had known him himself as a child, and had that attachment for him which natives so often have for the relations of those whom they have loved and respected. The little Maharajah looked on his new toy as a matter of importance, and wanted to consult his friend the Resident Sahib with regard to it, for on such matters as guns, rifles and all per- A Romance of yeytana 141 taining to them, his opinion was, in the child's eyes, paramount. They went together, and had been ten minutes in the boy's garden when piercing shrieks from women were heard on the other side of a high wall. " Help ! We shall all be killed ! Will no one rescue us ? " " It is my mother crying for help," said Rattan Singh ; " but we can't get through, the door is locked. Oh, what shall we do ? " The wall was twelve feet high and insur- mountable, but the door was of native workman- ship, and this is seldom consistently good. Mac- Namara, without a moment's hesitation, rushed at it. A kick, delivered with all his might and with the flat of his foot three feet from the ground, shook the door, another kick and some vigorous shoulder-work broke it down. But it was on all fours that he half walked and half fell into the sacred precincts kept for the ex- clusively private use of the Maharani and her ladies. It only took him a second to see what had happened. In front of him was a beautifully kept and 142 East is East carefully laid out garden with fountains, and paths between them. The garden was spacious, but in one place narrowed, and here fountains on either side caused the path to pass through a kind of a defile ten yards long but not more than a yard or two wide. A female attendant carrying a tray with refreshments was at one end of this, and at the other were three ladies, two of whom were too terrified to move, for the defile was held by a cobra sitting up, with his hood extended and quite as alarmed as were the women, although he had not lost his presence of mind, and instead of screaming was only hissing, though he was doing this most effectively. The snake was a good four feet long and thick ; but a cobra is only dangerous when it takes you unawares, and half a dozen bounds brought Mike to it. The brute tried to make off, and started at a great pace towards where the Court ladies were standing, but a cut or two across the tail from Mike's stick partially paralysed it, and to finish it off was then an easy matter. Its markings were sombre but beautiful. Indeed, there are few more perfect examples of exquisite colourings than are found on the A Romance of yeyta7ta 143 skins of snakes. Some are more and some less showy, but all are painted with the unerring taste of nature, and, moreover, harmonize with the colour of the surroundings they frequent far better than would be the case if they were of one uniform colour, thus rendering their presence more difficult to detect and more dangerous to man. The cobra lay dead, and the Maharani, who alone of the ladies had remained calm, came forward and expressed her gratitude to Mac- Namara for coming to the rescue. He felt that the part he had played was being made too much of, and by saying so he acquired a reputa- tion for great modesty. Little Rattan Singh was very excited, and persuaded his mother, somewhat against pre- cedent, to ask Mike to sit in the garden. The air was heavy with the scent of tropical plants. The night was clear and the moon was full. Presently came the sound of a pack of jackals in full cry. At first it was faint and then became louder until they must have come almost to the walls of the garden, then the sound became gradually fainter and fainter until it ceased, but only soon to start again. It is a wild, weird cry. 144 F^ast is East It was the hour for owls and bats, and the world seemed more alive than it had been during the day, when all had seemed asleep except the flies and the brain-fever birds with their ascending scale of cries. One of these birds always seems to be competing with another in the distance to touch a higher note than his rival. The result is exasperating to the man who hears it, and the bird is well-named. The young Maharajah had never before seen a cobra, and asked innumerable questions with regard to them and to other snakes. The Maharani was evidently much impressed by the influence which the Resident seemed to exercise over the boy, and, after he had been sent to bed, she spoke of him and of his future. When MacNamara had made his unceremonious entry into the garden the Maharani had been uncovered, and he was amazed at her beauty. He had always thought that the veils with which she covered herself hid the face of a hand- some woman, but what he saw had quite taken him aback. Moreover, the Maharani had been the only one of the assembly of women who had not completely lost their heads, and this attracted him. A Roma?ice of yeytana 145 From the child the conversation drifted to the bringing up of children in England, and then to other things connected with that far-off and wonderful country of which she could form no conception. She was now again veiled, but the soft cadence of her voice v/as music in Mike's ear, and he dwelt on it and drank in its sweetness. The gardens and grottos of the Palace had been constructed for other purposes than for killing cobras, and it is probable that the hour they spent in converse was not less sweet to the Maharani than it was to her companion. It was getting late when she bade him good-night, and in doing so for the first time gave him her hand. Ghulam Hussein, Mike's old Mahomedan bearer, had asked for a fortnight's leave, and had already been away for over a week, his work as Mike's head servant being done by a man called Pernatti, a Hindu, who had been in Colonel Warren's service, and who appeared to be a most capable servant. It was late on the evening following that on which Mike had killed the cobra in the Maharani 's garden that the little Maharajah, accompanied 10 146 East is East by his bearer, came to the Residency and said to Mike, " I want you to show me your Express rifle." " But why do you come now ? " was Mike's reply. "It is ten o'clock and time you were in bed. You must go to bed early if you want to grow up and become a strong man." " There will be a festival in about two months," said the boy, " and I want my mother to make me a present of a little rifle like yours, and I want her to send a letter and to order it by the mail which goes to-morrow. My bearer told me I had better come and ask you to let me see yours now, and also find out the name of the people to write to, didn't you, Mungli ? " he said, turning to the bearer. " It was your Highness's wish to come now, and not mine," was the servant's reply. " No ; you did tell me to come now, you know you did," said the boy. " But why say any more about it, for I know he will let me see the rifle, and I'm very glad I came. You will show it to me, won't you ? " he went on, turning to Mike as he took his hand. MacNamara led him to his bedroom where he kept his guns. As they entered the door,, what A Romance of yeytmta 147 should he behold in front of him but the woman whom he had seen at Gopi Chunder's house. She salaamed deeply as he entered. " What does this mean ? " he exclaimed. " How did you get here ? " " Surely I came in accordance with the Resident Sahib's request," she repUed. " It is false. I have never asked you to come. It is an absolute lie ! " The woman drew herself up and said, " So this is the way a Sahib behaves. When you visited Gopi Chunder's house you compromised me by speaking to me for several minutes. Whether our actual conversation was or was not heard I do not know, but I do know that several people heard that we were conversing, and I have been severely taken to task for talking to you." MacNamara here interrupted her, and, turning to Pernatti his bearer, said : " Why did you admit this woman ? " The man salaamed low and said, " I only did so on her giving me a chit in your Highness's own handwriting, saying come at ten o'clock." " Let me see it ? " The bearer handed him a slip of paper he had 148 East is East that morning sent to Bansi Lai, the money- lender, and which was certainly written and signed by himself. " This was not meant for her, and you might have known it. Have I ever given orders for any woman to be admitted to my chamber ? " " Your Highness must remember," the man rephed, " that it is only for a week that I have acted as your body- servant, and do not know the habits of the Protector of the Poor." The httle Maharajah was dragged away by his bearer, but not until he had taken in all that was going on, MacNamara spent a miserable night. His enemies had certainly put him in a very difficult position, and the worst of it was that he had no proof as to who they really were. The next morning he announced himself at the Palace, but the Maharani refused him audience. Gopi Chunder, on the other hand, had a long interview with her, during which it may be pre- sumed that he did not fail to make the most of the fact that the Resident, whom he had intro- duced to his own household, had, as he, Gopi Chunder, had himself heard, carried on a long A Romance of jfeytana 149 conversation with his mother's attendant, had induced her to visit him, and had moreover brought the httle Maharajah, whose guardian he was, to witness his profligacy. Added to all this were the feehngs which the Maharani herself was beginning to entertain for Mike. Her heart was full of just resentment as well as pique, but she said little. It was just ten o'clock. The fierce June sun had asserted its power, and Mike was sitting under a punkah when Mahomed Khan, his orderly, came in to see him, " I don't like the look of the 'Badger's' off fore," he said, " and I wish that your Highness would deign to come and look at it," " He was all right yesterday afternoon," Mike rephed, " and I don't understand what can have gone wrong. He only did very gentle exercise. You had better bring him round to the house, I don't want to have to go to the stable in this heat," Mahomed Khan did not seem satisfied, but looking round and seeing that Mike's bearer was still in the room as if waiting for further orders, he repHed, " It shall be as the Protector of the Poor commands." 150 East is East During the five minutes which elapsed before the "Badger" was brought round, the idea crossed MacNamara's mind that Mahomed Khan might have wished to speak to him in private, and this idea was confirmed when Mahomed Khan, pulHng bandage after bandage off the horse's leg, asked him to come with him to the stable where there would be no eavesdroppers. When they were alone, Mahomed Khan said, " I know all that has happened. Your acting bearer, Pernatti, is in the Dewan's pay and a near relation of Mungli, the Uttle Maharajah Sahib's bearer. I have telegraphed for your own man, Ghulam Hassein, to return at once. I want your Highness to order horses for a ride this afternoon and to bring the dogs as if for shikar. It is of importance. Will it suit your Highness to start at five o'clock ? " Pernatti at this moment appeared on some trivial pretext, and Mike returned to the house, but before doing so said, "I'm afraid I shan't be able to ride the ' Badger ' this afternoon, but have the pony ready for me at five o'clock. Be ready to come with me yourself, and bring the dogs." This was the longest long, long Indian day that A Ro7?tance of yeyta?2a 151 MacNamara had ever lived through. The whole earth seemed to be scorched and thirsty for rain. Never before had the brain-fever birds been so persistent or the flies and mosquitoes so anno5dng. He lay on his bed with a towel attached to the punkah so that it came within an inch of his nose and kept off these pests, but no rest came to him. He was tired and harassed on all sides, and Sir James Black's words, in which he said " but should you be weak enough to succumb to the attractions of the ladies of the State I can do nothing for you," continually rang in his ears. Would Sir James belive his story in the face of all the circum- stantial evidence which would be brought against him ? All things have an end, even an Indian hot- weather day on the plains, and at last five o'clock came. " Go towards Bangipur, Sahib," said Mahomed Khan as he held his master's stirrup. They had ridden a mile and were well away from observation when MacNamara called Mahomed Khan to him and said : " What is all this about ? " " I must crave pardon for interfering in the business of the Protector of the Poor, but I have I 5 2 Rast is East eaten your Honour's salt for many years, and cannot allow traps to be set for your Highness without taking some steps to counteract them, and if I have offended in what I have done, I hope I may be pardoned." " First tell me what you have done," was Mike's reply. " I know what happened last night. It was all Gopi Chunder's doing. For deep-laid plots there is nobody like a Brahman. Moli Singh and the Dewan are but amateurs, whilst he is a past master." " But what has this to do with my coming out riding with you this afternoon ? " " I crave that your Honour will have patience and I will explain all. " The first object of the Sahib's enemies is to discredit him in the eyes of the Maharani Sahiba, and it was with this intent that last night's plot was laid. Now it is hard for the Protector of the Poor to obtain her ear, and she can best be ap- proached through the wife of Ressaldar Pertab Singh, who is a Rajput lady of the Family of the Sun. The Ressaldar Sahib will meet us two miles from here. It would never have done for him to have come openly to the Residency, for it is not A Romance of yeytana i 5 3 well that your Honour's enemies should know who your friends are. The Ressaldar is coming by a circuitous route." Pertab Singh was at the appointed place, and, on the Resident's arrival, dismounted and offered him the handle of his sword to touch as a token of fealty and of respect. He then assured him that he was heart and soul with him, and begged MacNamara to tell him exactly what had hap- pened, undertaking to have it all conveyed to the Maharani. Pertab Singh was able to supplement much that MacNamara told him by stories that he had heard of the Dewan's discomfiture on different occasions. Having made everything clear, they rode back again by the ways they had come out. MacNamara had only been at home half an hour, when his old and trusted body-servant, Ghulam Hussein, turned up, several days before his leave of absence had expired. Pernatti seemed surprised and vexed at being superseded, but was paid for his week's work and ceremoni- ously escorted out of the compound. It was three days later that the httle Maharajah came over in the early morning, not with Mungli his old bearer, whom he said had been discharged, I 5 4 Rast is East but with a new man, and told Mike that his mother hoped he would find time to go to her for an audience that morning. When the Resident entered he was surprised to find that he was ushered, not into the room where he was generally received, but into the audience hall, and here he found the Maharani so thickly veiled that she might as well have been behind a purdah. She was stiff and formal, but when Mike, after five minutes' conversation, during which he made no allusion whatever to the events of the past week, made a move to depart, she begged him to remain, and at that moment the Dewan, Moh Singh and Gopi Chunder were ushered in. The Maharani asked them to be seated but herself remained standing. There was a pause. No one seemed to know what was going to happen. Presently the Maharani in a quiet but firm voice said the following words : " When His Highness the late Maharajah died, the British Government and I were appointed sole guardians of his son and administrators of his estate. You three gentlemen have for some time past held the three chief offices in the State, and I have not been satisfied with the manner in which A Romafice of Jeytana i 5 5 these offices have been administered. Moreover, events which have occurred during the past few weeks have decided me to reheve you all three of the posts which you hold. Do you, sir," she said, turning to Mike, " concur on the part of the British Government in the steps which I am taking ? " " As far as I am concerned," said the Resident, " I thoroughly approve of your Highness's action." " Then, gentlemen, you are dismissed. The interview is closed." And, saying this, the little lady stood still whilst the three ex-ministers, surprised and crestfallen, but too well-bred to indulge in protests, withdrew by one door, whilst the Resident passed out by another. CHAPTER IX " t^~U A HE 'Badger' is not looking so bad, I Mahomed Khan, in spite of the -"" heat," said MacNamara to his orderly on the afternoon after the Dewan and his colleagues had been dismissed. " Nor is your own little mare either." " No, Sahib, the 'Badger' comes from thorough- bred English stock, and the little mare, as you can tell by her ears which turn inwards at the points, is a pure Waziri, and it is always the well- bred ones which stand the heat best. The coarse animals neigh and buck, and are full of gas in the cold weather when they are fresh, but it is the placid, demure ones which are to be relied on when, either from fatigue or from heat, the cock- tails have lost their courage. I have your Highness's Express rifle ; shall I let the dogs come with us ? " " No, it is too hot. I've heard that there is a black buck with twenty-five-inch horns near Juttake Nugger. Let us go there and see whether we cannot get^> shot at him." 156 A Romance of Jeytana i 5 7 They rode along a sandy track, and the horses kicked up columns of dust as they trotted along. The fields on either side were almost bare of crops and the country was as fiat as a billiard-table, and although evening was approaching the sun was still fierce. Spiral columns of dust, called devils, a hundred feet high, every now and then waltzed over the plain, carrying up to the top of the tower which they formed any leaves or other light rubbish over which they danced. An hour's hack brought them to the level- crossing near the railway station, and another quarter of an hour to the grounds where they hoped to find the antelope. There were several herds to be seen. One to the left contained over a hundred young bucks and does accompanied by half a dozen shootable bucks, but none of them with horns approaching 25 inches. On the right was another small herd, but the buck sought for did not appear to be there either. There is no more graceful animal in the world than the black buck which abounds on the Indian plains. The does and young bucks are fawn coloured, but as they get older the bucks become darker until the back and sides of the old buck are as black as ink, while his belly I 5 8 Rast is East remains white. The black bucks carry their heads with extreme grace, and, as already stated, are one of the most beautiful as well as probably the swiftest of the antelope tribe. The height of a full-grown buck is about that of a large goat. Further search disclosed five bucks, three jet-black ones couchant and two younger ones standing. They were unaccompanied by does. The commander-in-chief and his two chief staff officers were ruminating, whilst the two aide-de- camps kept guard. This little herd was within 80 yards of a crop some 3 feet high. MacNamara and his orderly remounted and rode to a grove of mango trees a few hundred yards behind this field, where they again dis- mounted, and Mike handed his horse to his orderly. Then, making use of every bit of cover, he stealthily approached to the far edge of the crop. There certainly was no doubt as to which was the big buck. Three of the five had horns of 20 inches in length, but those of one of the trio were at least 7 inches longer than were those of the others. Unfortunately this animal was lying end on, with his tail towards MacNamara, giving him A Romance of fey tan a 159 but a small target. Mike lay down and got into a comfortable position. The range was about 80 yards, and his target, as the buck was now lying, including the neck, was less than a square foot. Should he fire ? Suddenly one of the young bucks threw up his head and gave a snort. This brought the recum- bent antelope to their feet, and all stood broad- side for nearly half a minute, before the expiration of which a shot rang out, but, marvellous to behold, the best buck which he had fired at streaked away, whilst another which was stand- ing behind him lay prostrate. Mike watched the remaining four race together for 150 yards, then suddenly one staggered and fell. The big buck had been shot through the heart, and, as sometimes happens with all animals when shot in the heart, had galloped off as if untouched before collapsing. The second buck was still living when Mahomed Khan galloped up with the horses and, saying the orthodox words necessary to render a slain animal fitting food for righteous Mahomedans, drew his knife across his throat ; but the father of the herd was stone dead, and could only be eaten by unbeUeving Englishmen or Hindus. i6o East is East An hour had passed, and it was nearly dark by the time the cooUes had been collected to carry home the bucks. MacNamara and his orderly mounted their horses and rode towards home. The excitement of the stalk had driven the thoughts of his pecuniary difficulties from Mike's brain, and he felt rested in spite of the physical exertion, for in the height of the hot weather every exertion is a fatigue. As they reached the level-crossing they saw a man gesticulating violently. " Sahib, Sahib, the Adamkhor (the man-eater) has killed a coohe at Lilgarh station, five miles up the line. The babu at the station here has just received a message on the wire." Inquiries from the Bengali babu, who was in the telegraph office with the doors locked, elicited the fact that ten minutes previously he had re- ceived a telegram from Lilgarh couched in the following language : " Tiger eating chuprassie (messenger) on platform. What shall we do ? Situation not provided for by regulations." A subsequent telegram stated that the tiger and chuprassie were no longer on the platform, A Romance of yeytana 1 6 1 but the babu refused to leave the telegraph office to pursue further investigations. The wretched Bengali stationmaster Mac- Namara was talking to was so upset by events that it was difficult to get him to do anything ; but before long he and his orderly between them got hold of a hght trolley, used for being pushed along the hne, and succeeded in getting four Jhat peasants to undertake to convey them on it to the next station. There was no road parallel to the railway hne along which they could have ridden, and besides it was now dark. Two of the Jhats pushed and two rode on the trolley, taking it in turns. One of those who were on the trolley said, " It is indeed an evjl beast. He has devoured many bad men, and they say that the spirit of Inch Lai, the money-lender, whom he ate, has entered into him, and that it is on this account that he is so cunning." " No, brother," said the other Jhat, " though he is cunning he is also brave, and it is the spirit of Mahmud Buckhs, the butcher, who had certainly committed three murders, which makes him so bloodthirsty." " Stop your wrangling and push the trolley," II 1 62 Rast is East said a third man, who jumped on to the car. " He has more than human intelhgence. He is a devil. Has he not now killed six shikaries, who have gone out to shoot him, by springing on them from behind ! It were better that the Sahib should not go. Nevertheless the reward for shooting him is great." "It is fortunate that we heard so quickly of the man being killed," said Mahomed Khan, " for if we had delayed many hours these idola- trous Hindu villagers would certainly have col- lected and have driven the tiger from the corpse before he had satisfied his hunger, thinking thereby to save the soul of the dead man. As a result the tiger would have been hungry again to-morrow." The Mahomedan can seldom refrain from a smack at the Hindu. They were now fast approaching Lilgarh, and alighted from the trolley. The Bengali station- master was still locked up in the telegraph office when they arrived, and on their asking for admittance, took many steps to assure himself that it was not the tiger in human shape who was knocking, before he opened the door. Mahomed Khan, who was a brave man and A Romance of yeytana 1 6 3 who had that faculty for finding his way about in the dark which is so common among natives, insisted on taking a walk around the station, whilst Mike tried to elicit information from the quivering babu. In a few minutes Mahomed Khan came back and said that he distinctly heard bones being crunched under a peepal tree not more than a hundred yards from the station. Towards this noise Mike and he went together. Tigers which have taken to man-eating always become preternaturally cunning and at the same time very fearless, as they soon develop a contempt for a creature which is really so de- fenceless as is man. They were within forty yards of the tree when the crunching noise ceased, and a few seconds later they heard soft, heavy footsteps approach- ing them. There was, fortunately, a moon which shone from behind them. Suddenly Mahomed Khan touched his master and, pointing, said, " There he is, not ten yards away. Does your Honour see his eyes flashing in the moonhght ? " MacNamara fired both barrels almost simul- taneously. It was a case of now or never. A 164 Rast is East roar which was commenced was never finished. He slipped in two more cartridges, and they walked up to the carcass. Now everyone was brave, and lights appeared from the station. One bullet had hit the tiger in the chest and the other in the neck. This latter had probably killed him instantaneously. It was fortunate for Mike and his orderly that the tiger had not merely been shot through the heart, as had the black buck, for a spring on his part would surely have killed one of them at least. The British Government had promised a reward of one thousand rupees to the man who slew this man-eater, and the Nanpur Government another five hundred rupees. Mike slept well that night. CHAPTER X THE little Maharajah was at the Residency at a very early hour the next morning, and was full of congratulations. He said that his mother wished to see the tiger, which had killed so many of her subjects, before he was skinned, and asked MacNamara to try to arrange for the beast to be brought to a certain spot which was visible from her window. This was arranged. He then himself went to pay his daily visit to his fair patient. Never before had she shown such unconcealed pleasure at his visit. She said she loved brave men, and told him how her grandfather had once gone stark naked into a tiger's den by night and pulled out a whisker whilst the brute slept. This is a feat which many Rajputs claim to have performed, and the belief is, that if a man goes without a particle of clothing on him, the tiger does not wind him and is insensible of his approach. 1 66 Rast is East She made him tell her the particulars of his adventure in full detail, and said that she would now entirely place her son's education in his hands, as she considered that the first thing was that he should be brought up as a brave man. On returning to the Residency, Mike found Bansi Lai, the money-lender, awaiting him, who said, " My congratulations to the Captain Sahib Bahadur (the Brave) on kilUng the man- eater. Has the Protector of the Poor decided to accept my offer of a loan ? " " Whilst much appreciating your kindness in making me the offer, I have, on the contrary, decided to refuse it." " But surely your Highness will wish to have money for an entertainment to celebrate the occasion ! I have the cash actually with me. I am the Sahib's servant and wish to make everything easy for him." Why was this man so importunate ? Now that he had obtained rewards amounting to fifteen hundred rupees by shooting the man- eater, the situation was temporarily relieved, and he felt certain he could cope with the future. He definitely refused the proffered assistance. A Romance of yeytana 167 for he now realized that for the Resident of Nanpur to be in debt to a local money-lender would put him into a much worse position than the one in which he at present found himself. CHAPTER XI THE Maharani's ear took a long time to j get well. In fact the duration of the ■ treatment was unprecedented in the case of such a slight ailment. | On the occasion of MacNamara's next visit he must have hurt her when he touched it, for she winced, and the veil fell from her head, which she did not replace. " Your Highness's ear is nearly well, and I am sorry," he said, " for I shall have no further excuse for coming to see you." " Do you really want to see me ? Do I mean anything to you ? " she rephed. " There are surely Enghsh ladies whom you love. Why do you say you will miss seeing me ? " " I love no Enghsh lady," he rephed. " What am I to do. Sahib ; tell me ? " she said. " I was married as a child and came to live with my husband when I was sixteen. A year later my son was born. I am still young and capable of love, but according to our laws i68 A Romance of jfeytana 1 69 cannot re-marry. There is a great weight on my shoulders, and I am surrounded by men who are incessantly intriguing for their own interests. Will you help me to carry my burden ? If you will help me I can carry it, but alone I cannot." As she spoke the Maharani rose from her chair and reached out her hand. He rose, took it and drew her towards him. His lips met hers. Byron says that the potency of a kiss is best judged by its length, and a kiss into which so many pent-up feelings were poured out was not of short duration. Prudence was cast to the winds. His red hair had, for the nonce, asserted itself. " I must see the Resident Sahib at once ! " came in a masculine voice through the door. "He is having audience and must not be dis- turbed," answered a female attendant. " I tell you the Agent-General Sahib is at the Residency, wants breakfast, and can only stay a short time," followed in the man's voice, to which the reply was : " Let him order his own breakfast. I have been commanded never to intrude unless sum- moned." 170 Kast is East " Alas, bliss is always brief ! " exclaimed the Maharani, as she replaced her veil and told her attendant to enter. " Didn't you get my telegram ? " asked Sir James Black as MacNamara entered the Residency. " Perhaps this is it. Yes, it was sent on Sunday afternoon, and has only just arrived. I am dehghted to see you, sir, and hope you had no trouble in getting here." " The conveyance I got at the station was not exactly first class, but here I am, and can only stay exactly an hour. I was passing Nanpur, and found I could look you up without losing my connection at Toondla. I'm glad to see from your reports that you are getting on well, but you may have things to say about which you did not care to write. Have you much to tell me?" " Yes, sir, a great deal. All that you pro- phesied has come about, and things have happened that I never even contemplated." " And have you followed my advice ? " Sir James inquired. " Yes, I have — in every way." A Romance of yeytana i 7 i " Do you remember what it was ? " " Yes. You told me that it was my duty to see the State revenues used for the purposes for which they were earmarked ; that I was to bring the Maharajah up as a gentleman and a sports- man ; and that I myself was to be most careful to keep clear of any entanglements with native ladies and at the same time to try to get into the good books of the Maharani, in whose favour you made an exception." " And have you done all this ? " " I think I can positively say I have." " Are there many details which you think I ought to know ? " " Yes, sir, a good many, and more than I can get through in an hour, part of which will be taken up with your tub and your breakfast. I'm not sure whether after all I can stick to this job." " Good heavens, man, why ? You seem to have done brilliantly, and after you have got over your greatest difficulties you say you doubt whether you can stick to your job. Come up with me now for ten days to Simla, and we'll talk the whole thing over. You are run down by the heat and are not yourself." I 7 2 East is East " But how can I get away ? There is so much to be done." " A minute ago you were talking of throwing up the job, and now you don't hke to leave it for ten days. You are out of sorts. Bearer, you are to pack the Resident Sahib's things. He is coming to Simla with me for ten days. That's settled, my boy." During breakfast Sir James made MacNamara tell him all details regarding the death of the man-eater. " You will find that you will be almost wor- shipped as a demi-god," he commented, " for having killed the brute, and that supernatural powers will be attributed to you by the villagers. I couldn't under any circumstances think of allowing you to throw up the appointment. It would be faihng in your duty to think of doing so. We won't talk of Nanpur any more until you've been a day or two at Simla." It was midnight when they reached Umballa, where they got into a landau especially provided for the Agent-General, and for which changes of horses had been laid out at convenient distances. They reached Kalka at the foot of the Himalayas about dawn, where breakfast was arranged for A Romance of yeytana i 7 3 them, and they were met by chuprassies arrayed in scarlet and gold, who radiated the glory of Headquarters and were provided by a beneficent Government for its chief officials. These gorgeous beings took charge of all arrangements, and escorted Sir James and his guest to a special tonga. Away galloped the ponies, up hill and down dale for six miles, where they were pulled out, and a fresh pair took their places. Five hours' hard driving brought them to Simla. Oh, the joy of a breath of really cool, fresh air and of the smell of the deodars after the scorching heat of the plains ! This was life once more ! Here, far away from Nanpur, MacNamara felt he could consider the circum- stances in which he found himself more ob- jectively than he had been able to do in the plains. It was true that he had overcome most of the difficulties with which he had been faced, and his pecuniary troubles, although very worrying, were now no longer insurmountable. With regard to the subject which occupied his thoughts most, his love for the Maharani, he could, however, find no satisfactory solution. 174 East is East If he were to take up his duties at Nanpur and were to become her lover, there was httle chance of their relations immediately coming to the ears of authority, and the beneficent autocracy which they would together exercise would un- doubtedly be to the advantage of the State. He was free, as was also the Maharani, — though caste rules forbade her re-marriage, — and if he had not held an official position he would probably have accepted the situation ; but he felt that his position as British Resident entirely altered the case. On the other hand, he was desperately in love. Her beauty, her dignity and her courage all appealed to him ; but what moved him even more was that he felt, in spite of the virile qualities which she possessed, she was feminine enough to need him as a support in the task she had in front of her. He did not believe in the fusion of races. He had always refused to speak to a white woman who had married an Indian whatever his position. It seemed to him that by such an action an English lady cast a slur on her whole race. For a man who married a native he had not the same feehng of abhorrence, but the swarthy progeny of such an alUance always seemed to inherit the bad A Romance of Jeytana i 7 5 qualities of both parents and the strong points of neither. But then all the half-castes he had known had been the children of soldiers borne by low-caste women. In his case, however, it was, of course, different. A lady of such blue blood as the Maharani would be a fitting mate for a prince. What was the good of these thoughts, however ? There could be no question of marriage. He would throw up his appointment. True, this would, no doubt, put an end to his career in the diplomatic service, but he felt that he really had no alternative. What was he to say to his chief ? One afternoon, after tiffin. Sir James made MacNamara relate to the Lieutenant-Governor of the United Provinces his experiences at Nanpur. "It is always intrigue, intrigue, and nothing but intrigue at a native Court," said the latter. " One rehgion against another, and one caste against another, and every man for fiUing his own pockets. All our grandiose schemes for the improvement of the peasant's lot are bound to come to nought unless not only supervised but actually carried out by Enghshmen whom we can trust." 176 Kast is East " Yes," Sir James nodded. " That is why dis- tricts under native sovereignty ask to be brought under British control, and why in many divisions they bargain for a British collector, in spite of his being a man of another race and sometimes a little unsympathetic. But this is an old subject. You, MacNamara," he turned to him, "have- done splendidly, and as to your chucking up your appointment, we simply won't allow it. The matter we were speaking about this morning can be easily arranged." Earher in the day MacNamara had spoken to his chief about his pecuniary embarrassment, thinking to make this an excuse for resignation, but Sir James pooh-poohed the idea and showed him an easy way out. MacNamara was at his wits' end. As a gentleman he could not give his real reasons, and no others were acceptable to authority. After all, wouldn't it be best to take the easy course into which fate seemed to push him, and to accept without demur the joy which was ready to meet him with outstretched arms ? That afternoon he went out for a ride rrund Jacko alone. Cantering along he overtook two ladies riding with one cavaher. " And how long have you been here, and A Romance of yeytana 177 why haven't you come to see me. Captain MacNamara ? " " How d'ye do, Mrs. Atkins ? I've only been here three days." " Are you coming to the Viceregal ball to- night ? " How he hated this banal conversation and the silly gossip with which she regaled him ! How could he ever have wasted his time with her ? An interruption obviated an answer, for: " Hullo, MacNamara ! " ejaculated a man who nearly colUded with his pony as he was turning a corner. " Hullo, Colonel ! I'm very pleased to see you, although you nearly knocked me down. How long are you up for ? " " This is my last afternoon. Cholera has broken out at Agra and also in many parts of Jeytana, and I start back at dawn to-morrow." " Good heavens, sir ! Has it reached Nanpur ? " " All that I know is that it has broken out all over Jeytana." " Good-bye, Mrs. Atkins," said MacNamara. " I must find out about this." 12 178 Rast is East Inquiries at Headquarters established the fact that Nanpur had not escaped the epidemic. All scruples must now be cast aside. There was only one thing for him to do. First of all, as Resident it was his duty to be at the post of danger ; secondly, his medical skill might be of use. " It is said that five hundred have died in the town since yesterday morning, your Highness," said Mahomed Hussein to MacNamara, on his arrival at the Residency. " And how is the httle Maharajah ? " " Both he and the Maharani Sahiba are stricken," was the reply. " Good Lord ! " No man ever worked harder than did Mac- Namara during the epidemic, but it was as a physician and not as the Resident that he was so often at the Palace. Fate, which seemed to have woven for him a problem for which he could find no solution himself, stepped in and solved it for him. The lady he loved so weU died in his arms, and her last words were, " Perhaps it is better thus, but it is hard, very hard." The villagers said that the Resident slaved A Roma?tce of yeytana 179 among them regardless of his own hfe, almost as if he were seeking death ; but the Plague god refused to take him as a victim, and spared him to be virtual regent of the State until the coming of age of the Maharajah, who was so brought up under his loving tutelage that during his short reign he proved himself a model prince. Both his memory and that of the Resident are still cherished as those of ancient heroes whose attri- butes become more godlike with each recital of their deeds. SAMSON AND DELILAH i8i CHAPTER I IT was the autumn of 1913 and new snow had melted on the peaks of the Safaid Koh, the range of mountains which forms the border- hne dividing Afghanistan from British India. The sun was topping the hills and lighting up the bare, rugged valleys and watercourses to the west of two huts, constructed of mud and stone, around which were a few acres of cultivated ground. The whole scene was wild, and in this respect was in harmony with the looks of two men who were conversing. One was saying : " Greeting to thee, O Mahmud Khan, my brother," — to which the other replied : " Greeting to thee, Afzul Khan. What news didst thou hear yesterday in Nimlabagh ? " The brothers were Afridis of the tribe of Zakkha Khels, a turbulent, lawless race, which neverthe- less has supplied many stalwart warriors to the British Empire. " The first piece of news is that the price of corn has risen, and that thou shouldst get a good price 183 184 Rast is East for thy crop. The second is that Mahomed Jan Khan of Lalpura was hanged in a pigskin and then burnt by the Anglesi three days ago. He had turned Ghazzi, and tried to kill an English officer who was surveying ; and would certainly have done so if Khan Mustafa Khan, the son of the Khan of Durvat, who was escort to the English- man, had not seized him just as he was thrusting his knife into the Sahib. The consequence was he was hanged on the next morning by Rattray Sahib, the Warden of the Khyber Pass." " It was surely a disgraceful act for a Ma- homedan of the Khan Sahib's high lineage to send the soul of another follower of the Prophet to damnation by seizing him just as he was in the act of obtaining a certain entry into Paradise by killing an infidel." " I am not too fond of the Durvat people, for they are always hostile to us Afridis," said Afzul Khan, " and I hear that the Mullahs have already placed a reward of a thousand rupees on Khan Mustafa Khan's head for assisting in the ever- lasting damnation of the soul of a Mahomedan. All the same I have Httle sympathy with Mahomed Jan Khan ; he was a bad lot. He murdered and robbed a dozen Hindus last time he went to Samson and Delilah 1 8 5 Hindustan, but of that I take no account. He had no right, however, to shoot Nur Khan of his own tribe after inducing his wife to forsake him, or to kill his own brother and his uncle in order to obtain possession of the family plot of land." " His acts were wicked, but surely these men have gone to Paradise, as he also would have done if he had but killed the infidel." " The truth is," rephed Afzul Khan, " that this world became too hot to hold him, so he tried to take a short cut to a better one by kiUing an Anglesi who had done him no harm. It was a risk he took, and he's gone to perdition instead. Personally I'm not sorry." " I wonder whether the Mullah's reward will bring in Khan Mustafa Khan's head ? " " If he comes on to this side of the border he can hardly escape being killed. But he is danger- ous game and valuable game too, for he is sure to carry his Lee-Metford rifle, which is worth fifteen hundred rupees, as well as his pistols ; but the devil can fight." Practically all the Mahomedans who inhabit Afghanistan and the North-West frontiers of India are Pathans. They are divided into many 1 86 East is East sub-tribes and are, generally speaking, wild, lawless people. All Pathans have the tribal designation " Khan " after their first name, but " Khan " in front of a name designates a chieftain. Peaceable, down-country Mahomedans also sometimes, when they increase in prosperity, assume the termination " Khan," to which they have no right, but which they consider gives them distinction. Both Afzul Khan and his brother, Mahmud Khan, were tall, straight-Hmbed men, and Afzul Khan, who had long fair hair and blue eyes, was as lithe and as powerful as a panther. They wore turbans wound round peaked skull-caps on their heads, had long Afghan knives stuck into their belts, and, in spite of looking as if they had never since their birth made the acquaintance of soap and water, were extraordinarily handsome speci- mens of manhood. A few hours later the sun had disappeared over the hills to the west, and a light wind was blowing down the valley which, during the middle hours of the day, had been hot and airless. The breeze which had sprung up as the shadows fell seemed intermittently hot and cold, for the Samson a7id Delilah 1 8 7 mountain air was tempered by the heat given out by the rocks which had imbibed the rays of the fierce sun throughout the day. Two women sat outside the door of Afzul Khan's strongly built stone cottage, which was only a few yards from his brother's. Gulabi (Rose), Mahmud Khan's wife, was speaking. Both women were of great beauty, of a type which has often proved disastrous to Enghshmen who have come into contact with it. For a Pathan woman knows revenge as well as love. The women were of a complexion not much darker than that of Spanish ladies ; but whereas Gulabi was of commanding stature, and had brown hair and eyes, her sister-in-law, Mooktee — Afzul Khan's wife — was of medium height and had red hair, whilst her green eyes and her supple figure suggested a beautiful tiger-cat. The carriage of both was superb and had that perfect balance which is never attained except by those races which continually carry heavy weights on their heads, as the women of Afghanistan carry water. " So Afzul Khan returned last night," said Gulabi. " Did he bring thee anything from Nimlabagh ? " 1 88 East is East " Yes, he brought me these turquoises," was Mooktee's reply; "but they are of but Httle worth. vSeyd Mir Khan, my brother, gives his women gold and pearls." " But all the pearls in Ind could not make those ungainly cows as fair as thou. Does not thy husband know this ? " " He continually says he does," was Mooktee's reply. " In fact he bores me with his admiration, while he at the same time continually gives me offence. But this, I suppose, we cannot help, for after all he is a man of no lineage, whereas my brothers, Seyd Mir Khan and Seyd Ali Khan, can, as shown by their names, prove their descent straight from the Prophet, Afzul Khan is indeed good to look at, but I tire of him, and I know that thou also lovest not his brother, thy husband, Mahmud Khan, too well." " We have both of us married below us," said Gulabi, " and we are both childless, and for that Allah be praised, for I would not bear children to a man who is not my equal. As thou knowest, I am a Durani by birth, but as I was fatherless and penniless, my mother gave me in marriage to my present husband. As thou also well knowest, the Duranis are one of the five noble Samson and Delilah 189 houses from which the Amirs of Afghanistan are chosen, and the late Amirs, fearing rivals, made away with all my male relations. My fate is hard and so is thine. Allah alone knows what is in store for us. Here come our husbands, and together." A fortnight had passed and more snow had fallen on the mountains. With the help of his brother, Mahmud Khan had gathered his crops. Afzul Khan's hut consisted of one large room with a curtain drawn across it, into which his wife could retire should a stranger enter. She was sitting by his side, and he gazed at her adoringly, for he loved her with all the ardent ferocity of his ungoverned passions. " It fills my heart with sorrow," he said to her, " but it is, I fear, necessary that I should leave thee and go and sell merchandise in Hindustan during the approaching winter. My soul will indeed be sore without thee, but money we must have. Maybe that I shall have good fortune and shall bring thee jewels and ornaments which are really fitting to bedeck thee." " It is perhaps best that thou shouldst go," was Mooktee's reply. " Say wilt thou miss me ? " said the Pathan. I go East is East " Of course I shall miss thee," and with this assurance he had perforce to be satisfied. " What wilt thou do ? How wilt thou get money to trade with ? " she continued. " The Hindu in Lalpura has, on the security of this plot of ground for which Mahmud Khan has given him a bond, advanced me a con- siderable sum to buy goods to re-sell in the Indian Plains ; but for this loan I shall have to repay him three hundred rupees for every two hundred I have borrowed." The lending of money in the turbulent frontier provinces is always carried on by down-country Hindus, and it is looked on as a point of honour that the villagers to whom the Hindu acts as banker should give him protection even at the risk of their own lives. If this were not the case, they would be entirely without means of obtain- ing cash, for anything to do with money-lend- ing is against the Mahomedan religion, besides being a pursuit for which the lawless and un- tutored Pathans are quite unsuited. " Thou wilt indeed have to sell thy goods well to make a profit," was her reply. A few days later, after a farewell to his wife, which he at all events felt deeply, and an Samson and Delilah 1 9 1 affectionate adieu to his brother, Afzul Khan departed, with his pony and the boy who led it, for Lalpura and Peshawar. The early mornings were beginning to be cold, the nights long and the days short, by the time Afzul Khan reached Lahore. His merchandise consisted of poshteens — coats made of the skin of mountain goats, with the hair turned inside, the outsides of which were elaborately embroidered with yellow silk and faced with rough astrakhan. These he sold to Enghshmen to put on after polo in the cold weather, when the temperature drops forty degrees in the half-hour which heralds the departure of the sun. He had small ornaments such as the tails of yaks mounted in silver for British officers to use to whisk flies from their horses ; but most of the money he had borrowed had been expended in the purchase of small carpets and rugs which came from the centre of Asia. On reaching Lahore, he took up quarters in the Serai, a huge circular yard covering several acres and surrounded by a wall twenty feet high and six feet thick, inside which all sorts and conditions of men and animals were ' collected. I g 2 BjUSt is East There were Kabuli horse-dealers with ponies of many breeds — ^pointed-eared Waziris, mares from Kattewar with dark stripes down their backs and across their loins, similar to the marks which tradition says have been inherited by the progeny of the donkey that our Lord rode, and on. whose back He made the sign of the cross. There were heavy-shouldered animals from Kabul, there were horses from Baluchistan and one or two Arabs whose rare descent was, in the eyes of their vendors, regarded as proved by their having on their quarters the mark of the thumb of the Prophet, which is only inherited by the descendants of the five mares ridden by Mahomed himself. There were women belonging to the oldest profession in the world, who had erected booths in quiet alcoves, and these looked not unkindly at the handsome Pathan and his well-laden pony ; but Afzul Khan did not return their glances, although Mahomedan ethics by no means forbade his doing so. The Serai also gave shelter to long-haired, wild-looking men from Baluchistan with their camels, as well as to a few South-country Hindus who, for want of other resting-place, took refuge Samso?t and Delilah 193 there, although they seemed sadly out of place and uncomfortable among the fierce Northerners. It was indeed a cosmopolitan assembly. One noticeable figure was that of a huge Sikh from Amritsar, who himself must have weighed two hundred and fifty pounds of hard flesh and muscle, but who was loaded with bangles, anklets and other ornaments all of which were made of iron or steel, and which were distributed over his huge person in every conceivable fashion, and, besides these ornaments, he wore an armoury of swords and daggers. He was a Grunti, or Sikh priest, Gopal Singh by name, and had sworn an oath never to refuse a gift of iron or of steel. Iron and steel are the metals which the fighting Sikh promises to worship in preference to gold or silver when he takes the Oath which, on reaching manhood, it is incumbent on him to swear. Afzul Khan had been in Lahore two days, and had just sold some of his wares to the British officers in the Mian Mir Cantonment, which is situated five miles from Lahore City, when, on returning to the Serai, a fellow-tribesman, Hussain Khan, drew him aside and asked him for a few words in private. 13 194 Rast is East Said Hussain Khan : " This trading work, Brother, is not fit for men Uke you and me. It is all very well for the feeble and faint-hearted men of the plains. Were it not for these Anglesi, both you and I would be rich, for we have strong arms which can take, and we can keep what we have taken. What say you ? " " To fight against an infidel," replied Afzul Khan, " and to despoil him is certainly a quick way of becoming rich and one which is not against the law of the Prophet, as, for instance, is usury, by which these hunyias ^ accumulate much wealth." " Thou hast spoken the word, Brother. Now, near Muridke, there lives a hunyia who, in a place in his house of which I have been informed, has concealed at least five hundred rupees. He was seen counting them by a low-caste Hindu who did some work for him, but whom he refused to remunerate." " How many are there dwelling in the house ? " asked Afzul Khan. " There are only four who sleep there — and the house is two hundred yards from the rest of the village — the man, his wife and two sons ; 1 Traders and small money-lenders. Samson and Delilah 195 but one of us could hold up a hundred bunyias. It is improbable that we shall even have to kill them, if we cover our features. We can bind them and leave them until the morning. This is a quicker and a better way of getting rich than selling goods to infidels. What sayest thou, Brother, wilt thou stand in with me ? " Afzul Khan was silent and remained in thought. Presently Hussain Khan shouted out : " Come here, thou Hindu ! " Then, turning to Afzul Khan, he said, "This is the sweeper who saw Ram Nath, the bunyia, counting his rupees." " What didst thou see ? Tell us again." All this took place in a corner of the Serai, but Afzul Khan noticed that the episode was seen by a man who looked very much Hke some Serai official, and he knew that these Serai officials were in touch with the police, and that, if his surmise were correct, the fact of two Pathans talking with a low-caste Hindu was unlikely to escape the man's notice. Besides, although not over- squeamish and quite ready, if necessity or honour demanded, to kill a hundred Hindus, the idea of murder with the object of robbery did not appeal ig6 Rast is East to him. He, therefore, made the following diplomatic reply : " The sum is probably exaggerated, and why shouldst thou share it with me when thou and the lad thou hast with thee are alone well able to secure the booty ? Thou art generous to me, but let the old proverb, which says, ' Do not use two where one suffices,' guide thee. It is better that I should not participate." Afzul Khan knew that Hussain Khan was pretty certain before long to commit some serious breach of the law, and as he had been seen in his company under what might be considered as compromising circumstances, he decided to avoid suspicion by leaving Lahore at once. He conse- quently departed that same evening for Amritsar, and took good care to ask some questions at the police station when he passed south-east through Mian Mir, in order to prove his identity. Muridke, where the robbery was to take place, was to the north and in the opposite direction. He disposed of a few articles at Amritsar, the Sikh capital, but the Sikhs do not love Pathans, and of this he had evidence when he was half-way to Patiala. He, his pony and his lad were travelling alone. Samson a7id Delilah ig^j for his hurried exit from Lahore had precluded his making arrangements to join other fellow- countrymen who were going south. One morning, before he reached Patiala, he made a temporary halt near a village. He had off-saddled the pony, and was taking a stroll, when he saw a kid which had evidently strayed. He had not tasted meat for several days, and quickly caught it and drew a pocket-knife across its throat, sa3dng the three necessary words by which he rendered the flesh of his victim " halal " — that is, clean and eatable by a true Mahomedan. He had wiped and laid down his knife, and was proceeding to conceal the body of the kid in the kummerband, or cloth which he had bound round his waist, when a strapping Sikh stepped in front of him and shouted : " I saw you, you thieving son of burnt fore- fathers ! " To be thus addressed is one of the greatest insults which can be offered to a Mahomedan, and no Pathan can stand abuse. FHnging himself on the Sikh, Afzul Khan cried out : " Thou art as bovine as the cow thou dost worship, thou idol -monger ! " ig8 East is East The Sikh was a stalwart fellow and, moreover, a fine wrestler. The tussle was fierce and pro- longed. Once the Sikh, by a well-known throw, pitched Afzul Khan right over his head, but instead of landing on his back the lithe Pathan lit on his feet, and presently had his opponent on his back and his hands round his throat. It was then that a lad with a lathi, which is a heavily loaded stick carried by the Sikhs, came to his brother's rescue, and, striking Afzul Khan on the head, left him insensible. A few hours later, having recovered his senses, he continued his journey, and at the end of December reached Delhi. As he intended to proceed to Calcutta by road, it was necessary to sell his pony and to dispose of those of his goods which he himself and a hired man could not carry. For the poshteens he knew he would find no market in the south, and he wished also to sell the less valuable of his rugs even at a reduced price. Purchasers were, however, not easy to find, and his stay in Delhi was somewhat prolonged. The bazaar at Delhi is at least as cosmopolitan as that of Lahore, for though Northern tribes may be less numerously repre- sented, they are by no means absent, and Rajputs, Samson and Delilah 199 Jhats, Maharattas, as well as low-caste Hindus, mingle with the population, which consists princi- pally of Punjaubi and Hindustani Mahomedans, — the descendants of low-caste Hindus converted to Mahomedanism at the point of the sword by the Moguls who so long had their throne at Delhi. There were also Rangars, or turncoats as they are called,-— the sons, not of low-caste men, but of blue-blooded Rajputs who, in contradiction to others of their race, preferred the alternative of embracing the Mahomedan faith to being put to death. It was two years after King George had announced that Delhi was to be the new capital, and the foundations of a fourth city of Delhi were being laid on a site which, according to Indian superstition, was inauspicious. For had not the other cities, founded on the same side of the river, each in turn been destroyed by the hands of Afghan, Tartar, Persian and Mogul conquerors ? It was true that the buildings erected by the Moguls still stood, but their masters had vanished. One day, when strolling near the Kashmir Gate, Afzul Khan overheard a conversation carried on between a Bengali and some natives of Delhi. One of the latter said, " This is the gate where a 200 East is East naked Angles! woman was crucified in the Mutiny, and it was along this road that Hodson Sahib rode before he shot the Delhi princes." Pleased to see his audience increased, the BengaU turned to Afzul Khan and said, " Was it not characteristic of the brutal Enghsh for Hodson to shoot the two innocent boys ? He was a despicable man." Now Hodson of Hodson's Horse who, by shoot- ing the princes when a rescue was contemplated, undoubtedly saved a renewal of a bloody strife and thousands of Uves, was one of the only Englishmen whose name Afzul Khan had ever heard, and, when heard, it had always been mentioned with great respect ; for it is still a name to conjure by. Pushtu was Afzul Khan's native language, but he knew quite enough Hindustani to understand the gist of the conversation and to be able to reply : " Hadson Sahib of Hadson's Horse ? What do you say of him ? " He was a base pig," rephed one of the crowd. My father was in his regiment," cried Afzul Khan, " and they rode down four regiments of down-country curs. Hadson Sahib himself on one occasion engaged five mounted mutineers and Samson and Delilah 201 killed them all with his sword. There was no man like him. I will teach you cowardly pigs to abuse my father's Colonel Sahib," and, with a spring Uke a panther, Afzul Khan caught the last speaker by the throat with one hand, and the BengaH by the neck with the other, and banged their heads together until their faces were like pulp. CHAPTER II WHEN, a few days later, he took the train for Benares, Afzul Khan had disposed of all his poshteens but not of all the rugs he had made up his mind to seU. The boy who had accompanied him he had sent back with some tribesmen returning to his own country. His principal thought on leaving Delhi was one of regret that his father had brought away so little loot when he had had such a fine oppor- tunity, and he felt that he could himself have done better. Much more, however, did dreams of loot enter into his heart when he reached Benares, for he felt that to ransack that city and to destroy the temples and idols of the Hindus would be not only a lucrative but a holy work, and one which would bring him blessing and perhaps the son he so much wished for. But, however laudable his wishes, he knew there was no chance of putting them into effect without trouble with the Anglesi Government, which so foolishly and ridiculously protected Samson a72d Delilah 203 these infidel Hindus who, according to the divine decrees of Allah, only existed for the benefit and exploitation of true believers. It was necessary to take things as they were ; and as these dreams of wealth easily to be acquired by the strength of his right arm were at present impossible of accomplishment, he must perforce follow the pursuit of trade, so he hired a man to help carry the remnant of his wares towards Calcutta, which was to be his ultimate destination. The cooUe he hired at Benares, with difficulty staggered one day's march with his load, and then decamped with the twopence he had taken as half -pay in advance. The next morning Afzul Khan impressed another carrier, but this man broke down before he had half completed the march. Afzul Khan had to carry the whole load himself, and it was very heavy. He would have minded the weight much less if the paths had been mountainous, but incessantly trudging along the dusty level track, which passed between fields artificially irrigated and now bearing winter crops, wearied him. It was late in the afternoon when, tired and covered with dust, he arrived at Bangipur, a large village consisting of small houses constructed 204 East is East of mud and thatch. In the centre was a large shady banyan tree, which, with its many roots, covered nearly half an acre, and near it was a well. It was under the shade of this tree that the village elders met and discussed their affairs. There was one main street, along which, at open booths, the vendors of sweets and other eatables displayed their wares, which were in most cases black with fhes. A Brahmini bull, let free to roam about when he was a calf by a Hindu (who hoped by this deed of piety to acquire merit), wandered about this street and gave the provision dealers much trouble. To strike this sacred beast and drive him away would, on the part of a Hindu, have been a cardinal crime, whereas to allow him to help himself was costly ; and the only popular thing that Afzul Khan did while in Bangipur was on one occasion to drive the bull right out of the village, thereby giving relief to the hunyias. To the displeasure of the Hindu gods the Pathan was indifferent. Under the shade of the banyan tree Afzul Khan laid out the burden he had carried, and then rested. Presently he said to a passer-by : " Where does the Headman live ? " Samson a7id Delilah 205 " That is his house." " Then go and fetch him," commanded the Pathan, " Why dost thou not go thyself ? " " Because I can't leave these valuable wares until I have made him responsible for them. Go!" The man went. Presently a short but portly man, wearing no head-dress, but with hair profusely greased with coconut-oil, and dressed in spotless white linen, draped as is the fashion with Hindus, but which was in distinct contrast to Afzul Khan's dirty loose trousers and long coat, approached and said : " Who are you who thus send for me, the Headman of this village, and what do you want ? " " I am a Pathan, by name Afzul Khan." " We do not Hke Pathans here, and shall be pleased when you move on." " I dare say you wiU, but all the same I shall not go one hour before I wish to, and what is more I demand that you look after my interests while I am here." As he said this Afzul Khan stood up, and 2o6 Kast is East from his six feet looked down contemptuously on the Bengali. " What do you mean ? " " Simply what I say. Among other things I have with me four rugs and other valuable merchandise, and I hold you responsible that it is not stolen. If it is, I shall look to you for its value." " Never have I heard such talk," said the Bengali. " The Commissioner Sahib himself would never make such a demand." " I know nothing about the Commissioner Sahib, but I repeat what I have said, so you had better just look over these things of mine and take stock of what you are responsible for." He moved forward a step, and the Headman stepped back. " I disclaim all responsibility; neither regula- tions nor custom demand it of me," he protested angrily. " Your disclaiming responsibility does not affect the fact that I shall look to you to repair any loss I sustain. I shall leave these things here, so I advise you to have them guarded." " Your claim is preposterous ! " " What ! Do you dare to speak to me so ? " Samson and Delilah 207 Afzul Khan's hand moved down as if to reach a dagger concealed in his belt. This time the Bengah's movement to the rear was a very quick waddle, and as he showed terror Afzul Khan's demands increased. He went on : " I wish to call your special attention to those four beautiful rugs, which I want you to buy. I will sell them for twenty rupees each." " I do not want rugs. What should I do with rugs ? " He was frightened, and in order to pacify the Pathan, said, " I hope you will be comfortable here, but rugs I do not want." " They are heavy to carry and are worth twice what I am asking for them, so you had better get me customers for them." " But what should poor villagers want rugs for ? " " That is not the question," said Afzul Khan, growing more and more insistent as the other showed timidity. " The fact is, I have no in- tention of moving from here until the rugs are sold. I'll give you time to get the money, which I will call for on my way back to Calcutta, but dispose of them here I must, and what is the good of you as Headman if you cannot arrange such a simple matter as getting me purchasers ? " 2o8 East is East " What you demand is impossible." " Impossible, indeed ! " Afzul Khan retorted, with a look of contempt. " I've no more to say, except that I shall stay on here until the rugs have been disposed of, and I again warn you that I hold you responsible for the safety of my effects." As he said this he strode off, with a heart swelling with pride at the idea of the superiority of his own people as compared with this race of monkeys. Presently, at the far corner of the banyan tree, the Headman was joined by other elders of the village. Their talk was voluble and loud, and they laughed at the Pathan's threats, but when, half an hour later, he stalked through their midst, their voices became more subdued and they all made way. It was the next morning when he went to a small store and said : " Bunyia, what is the price of those sweet- meats ? " The bunyia did not at once reply, but on the question being repeated said, " Four annas." " Nonsense ! Don't think you can cheat a foreigner; half an anna is ample," said the Samson and Delilah 209 Pathan, and, throwing down the coppers, put the sweetmeats into his pocket. " PoHce, poUce ! You are a thief ! " yelled the hunyia, but the sentence was unfinished, for on Afzul Khan making a movement towards him, the hunyia fled into his house. The cries of " PoUce ! Thief ! " had been taken up, and presently two undersized men in police uniform appeared. Afzul Khan said to them : " This wretched hunyia was trying to over- charge a foreigner, and complains because I paid him the correct price." The policemen, looking at the speaker and con- sidering that discretion was the better part of valour, agreed with him as to the iniquity of overcharging strangers, and took care not to come again into contact with him during his stay in Bangipur. During the next three days Afzul Khan Hved like a fighting cock, pouncing on a store and paying from a tenth to a twentieth of the price demanded. On one occasion he saw a woman on the out- skirts of the village whom he thought better- looking than the majority, and spoke to her. She was alarmed and called for help. Some 14 2 I o East is East twenty men came in response to her cries. Afzul turned and faced them, saying : " I'll wring the neck of any man who advances a step." Nobody moved. He then said to the woman, " Come with me." She followed him. No, he would despoil the Bengalis, but with the women he would have no truck. To in- timidate the village and to make his presence there thoroughly obnoxious was, however, part of his plan. " To-day," he told her, " thou mayst go, but see what feeble protection thy kinsmen give thee ! " She looked at him as if she only half thanked him for her liberty, and departed. That evening the Headman came to see him, and asked him how long he intended to remain in Bangipur. His demeanour was most urbane and respectful. " I shall stay until I have sold my rugs," was the reply. " But nobody wants them, and we are poor men." " Then I remain. But I repeat that I am wilhng to trust you and that I do not require Samson and Delilah 21 I cash, but will call for my debt on my way back from Calcutta in some six weeks' time. Think it over." " \Vhat do you suggest I should do ? " asked the Headman. "As I have already told you," Afzul Khan replied, " I have four rugs for sale, which I am wiUing to dispose of very cheaply. I suggest that you take one, that the bunyia Mookorjee " — mentioning the man with whom he had had an altercation about the sweetmeats — " should take another, and that the remaining two should be bought by those whose names I will give you. I will be back in six weeks, when I expect their prices to be forthcoming." Afzul's continued presence in Bangipur was insupportable, and the unfortunate Headman, in conclave with the other men principally con- cerned, agreed to his terms. In Calcutta, whither he went by train, Afzul Khan met many fellow-countrymen. He thought it a wonderful city. What a place to loot ! and if it were only Bengalis they had to deal with, a few hundred tribesmen would suffice. But it was no good giving way to day-dreams, for the Anglesi were there and held sway. 2 12 Kast is East These Anglesi, what wonderful and what extraordinary people they were ! They made the telegraph, the rail, the electric Ught, the tram-cars in the streets, the ships in the harbour, big guns which could fire miles, and it was re- ported that they could fly in the air, though that he had never seen. Yet they treated the Bengalis almost as equals, and on more than one occasion he had heard Bengalis speak to an Englishman in a way that they would not have dared to address him, Afzul Khan. Wherever the Pathan went, room was made for him, but he saw Englishmen, and more especially English women, jostled on the pavement. It was in- comprehensible to him, for did not Risaldar Ayub Khan and Jemadar Karim Khan, great men for whom he had the deepest respect, always speak to their Sahibs as to superiors and with the greatest deference ? It was only to be accounted for by the fact that the Anglesi, though very clever, must be mad. In Calcutta he disposed of the remainder of his goods, and in six weeks' time, true to his word, was back at Bangipur, Immediately on arrival he proceeded to the village well, where, as he expected, he found the Headman, Mookorjee Samson and Delilah 213 and two of his other creditors, sitting under the great banyan tree. It was no good their trying to sHp away, for he was in the midst of them. " I have come for my money," he said. " We have been thinking the matter over and wish to return the rugs, which have been carefully wrapped up and which we have no use for," was the reply. " Do you want to break your bargain ? " said Afzul Khan. " We cannot pay," said Mookorjee, " and it is only fair that you should take back the rugs." " You try to impose upon me because I am a stranger," said the Pathan, "but it won't do." Without another word he seized the fat bunyia, took him by the ankles, Hfted him up at arm's length, and shook him. Silver ornaments and coin fells from his clothes. These Afzul Khan pocketed and, turning to the Headman and to another of his creditors, said, " I shall keep you both here as hostages and shall treat you as I have treated that base-born defrauder if the money owed me is not forthcoming in half an hour. I know where you all live ; none of you can escape me " 2 1 4 East is East This took place in the centre of the village. A hundred looked on but no one interposed. Presently the money arrived, and, having pocketed it, Afzul Khan made straight for the nearest station en route for Agra, where he duly arrived without incident. CHAPTER III WHILST Afzul Khan was amusing and enriching himself at the expense of BengaUs, things were not going well for his interests in the mountain home he had left. Bored as Mooktee declared herself to be when her husband was with her, she found life even more monotonous during his absence, and continually went to the tower where her brothers hved. One day, about the New Year, Mahmud Khan, Afzul Khan's brother, who, as already related, lived in a cottage built of mud and stone within a few yards of Afzul Khan's, was called away on a week's business, and on the day of his departure Mooktee persuaded her sister- in-law, Gulabi, to accompany her on a visit to her brothers' women-folk. " Let us see thy jewels ? " said Mooktee to her brother's wife. Such things as she had were really of small value, but appeared wonderful in the eyes of the women who had none, and they were duly paraded. axs 2 1 6 East is East After the jewels, dresses were brought out, and at Mooktee's suggestion Gulabi was induced to bedeck herself in this finery, Gulabi, who was a beautiful woman, looked superb in her borrowed plumes, and the women of the household, who were themselves unattractive and ill-favoured, did not find it easy to conceal their feelings of envy, and were anxious that Gulabi should quickly assume her own sombre attire. But Mooktee, who was the leading spirit, was bent on mischief. She made the others promise to remain as they were until she returned, and, leaving the room, sought her brother, Seyd Mir Khan, to whom she promised to show something wonderful if he would come with her to the women's apartment. It is doubtful whether he would have acted on her suggestion had he been aware of Gulabi's presence there, for to see the wife of any but a near relation uncovered is a grave breach of con- vention among Mahomedans. Be that as it may, he did accompany her, and his inflammable nature was at once set on fire by the beauty of the woman who was unveiled, and who, either intentionally or unintentionally, found it difficult to get any wrap to throw over her face. When Samson and Delilah 2 i 7 she did so she took care to have one bright eye peeping out of a corner. " What lovely garments ! " said the handsome Pathan. " Didst thou come here in them ? Surely the sun must have been envious of so much beauty ! " " The clothes are not hers, but mine," said his lawful spouse. " They become her so well that I give them to her," was her husband's reply. " I will buy thee others when I next go to Lalpura." " No. These clothes, as well as the ornaments, are my own, and thou shalt not give them away." " Who talks of ' shall ' in my tower ? " said the man, with a fierce look at his wife. " And what is the use of giving clothes to thee whom they become so badly ? Here they are placed on profitable soil." He smiled as he looked at Gulabi. " She does indeed look a dream of beauty," said Mooktee, who had no love for her brother's wife, and knew this dart would fester. " Seest thou how it is snowing, my brother ? " she pro- ceeded. " I hardly think we shall be able to get back to-night. What shall we do ? " " A foot of snow has already fallen," he repUed, 2 1 8 Rast is East " and as I have sprained my ankle and cannot accompany you back, you must perforce remain here until morning, for two women cannot go alone." " But what will Mahmud Khan say ? It matters not for me, — I am thy sister, — but with Gulabi it is different." " Allah has so willed it. Come to the room, Mooktee, which thou willst occupy with thy sister-in-law," said Seyd Mir Khan. " Such beauty I have never before seen. My head is on fire," he said, moving to Gulabi, after his sister had discreetly left them alone. " Thou must not talk thus, Seyd Sahib. What would my husband say ? " " What care I for thy husband ! Kismet has arranged it that thou shouldst sleep in my tower, and who am I that I should refuse what the gods have sent me ? " When the snowstorm abated two days later, Mooktee returned to her hut, but she went alone, and on Mahmud Khan's return it was from her lips that he heard a not very veracious account of what had happened. To him there was only one course open, for until Seyd Mir Khan was killed he would be looked on as an outcast. CHAPTER IV THE morning after Afzul Khan arrived at Agra he had occasion to go to Secundra, some five miles distant, where one of the great Mogul emperors had built a wonderful tomb surrounded by gardens of exquisite beauty ; but these did not interest Afzul Khan half so much as the fact that he saw on the outskirts of the village a boy of about ten years old who was reported to have been brought up by a she-wolf, — if indeed he was not half a wolf, — which seemed not improbable. He could not speak, went on all fours, and tore flesh which was thrown to him like an animal. On his way back to Agra, Afzul Khan overtook a native officer with a beard dyed red, whom he at once recognized to be a Pathan, and whom he saluted, addressing him in Pushtu, his native language. His name, he said, was Subadar (Captain) Jusuf Khan, also a Zakka Khel from Lalapura, and Afzul Khan had often heard him spoken of with respect. 219 2 20 East is East " Why dost thou not enhst ? " he inquired. " I have a company of Zakka Khels, and surely, serving under the Sirkar (Government) as a soldier is worthier of a man such as thou than is the trade of selling carpets. Let me take thee to the Adjutant Sahib and have thee enlisted." " First," said Afzul Khan, " may I ask you some questions, Subadar Sahib ? Is there any chance of my having to serve under a Sikh officer ? I hate the Sikhs and all Hindus and would not submit to them. I don't mind serving under an Anglesi, but to take orders from a Hindu I refuse." " Not in the 130th Pathans," was the Subadar's reply. " We are all Mahomedans." "Is it true that the Anglesi are going to put BengaUs and Mahrattas to govern the country ? " " I have heard some such talk, but do not beheve it," said the Subadar. " Thou hast been in Bengal thyself, and canst thou fancy thyself taking orders from those chatterers ? The men we soldiers have to deal with are Enghsh officers. Some we like more and some less, but all those in my regiment are straight, honest men, only you must never lie to them." Samso?z and Delilah 2 2 i The result of the conversation was that Afzul Khan agreed to be taken straight to the adjutant. The interview with Captain Brown was satis- factory, but the formal enlistment was postponed until the morrow. In the afternoon he strolled into the bazaar, which is as cosmopoUtan in its composition as are those of Lahore and Delhi, and there he met several Afridis, who told him that one Ahmed Khan, whom he knew well, was serving in " A " Company of the 140th, and would be sure to be in his quarters that evening, and Afzul Khan was, moreover, instructed how to obtain admittance. Afzul Khan then purchased for his beloved Mooktee some httle trinkets which he hoped would give her great joy, for they were far finer than anything he had previously been able to give her. From the bazaar he wandered to the old railway station and, had not a sentry prevented him, would have entered the fort, which is a huge mediaeval edifice built of red stone, and which contains marble halls picked out with jewels, mirror palaces and chess-boards of black and 222 Rast is East white squares on which the game was played with living pieces by Mogul Emperors. It was in this fort that Shah Jahan was con- fined by his son Aurungzebe, and spent his last days at a window of the temple of pearls, con- templating hour by hour the pure white beauty of the Taj — that most perfect of all works of human hands — which he had himself caused to be built, and of the beauty of which he was so jealous that, according to the legend, he ordered the eyes of its Italian architect to be put out lest he should be persuaded to build for some other potentate a work to rival it. When the evening came, Afzul Khan was greeted by his fellow-tribesman, Ahmed Khan, who had just returned from special leave, and who saluted him with a very grave face and with the words : " I am very sorry for your misfortune, my brother. When dost thou return to perform thy duty ? " " What meanest thou, Ahmed Khan ? " " Where hast thou been that thou hast not heard the news from thy home ? I felt sure thou hadst not heard it, for thou art no shirker, although across the border all are talking of Samson and Delilah 223 thy long absence. Knowest thou not that thy brother was killed two months ago by Seyd Mir Khan ? " " What sayest thou ? How did it happen ? " " Thy brother left his house for a few days, and, when he returned, found that his wife, the daughter of the Durani woman, had fled with Seyd Mir Khan to his tower. Thy brother tried to shoot him, but, as thou knowest, had only an old Snider rifle with a bullet which truly makes a great hole but has a flight as curved as that of an arrow. His enemy had a Martini- Henry rifle, and the combat ended in thy brother receiving a bullet through the head. It is a disgrace to the Prophet that one of his own descendants should take another man's wife, but, as thou knowest, his blood is now on thee, and thou canst not smoke with, nor be received into the assembly of thy equals until thou hast slain thy brother's slayer, and thou wilt indeed have but a short hfe unless thou slayest his brother as well, who otherwise will surely kill thee. It is truly best to have a wife who is not too beautiful." Afzul Khan was aghast at the news, but he was a man of quick decision, and the next 2 24 East is East morning explained to his acquaintance, the Subadar, the circumstances in which he found himself placed. To the adjutant he said that he had just had news of most urgent private affairs calling for his presence at home, and that he must defer his enlistment until these affairs were settled. A demand for leave on such grounds is always granted in a Pathan regiment, for a refusal only means that the man will desert and that the sympathy of the whole regiment will be with him if he does so ; but he takes no Government rifle with him. The next thing that Afzul Khan had to do was somehow to procure a Lee-Metford rifle. This is the rifle with which all British troops are armed, and is, as a weapon, as superior to the Martini-Henry — with which weapon Seyd Mir Khan had shot Mahmud Khan — as the Martini he used was superior to the latter's Snider. The difficulty was to obtain such a prize. The sale of rifles to natives except for sporting pur- poses is absolutely prohibited in British India, and across the frontier a service rifle in good condition, when procurable (which was not very Samson and Delilah 225 often), at that time fetched fifteen hundred rupees, the equivalent of £100, though its actual value was not much over £2. To obtain a rifle by purchase was out of the question, and evidently the only way to procure one was to steal it, but to do this was not easy, and the penalty, if caught, was very heavy. In the Agra bazaar Afzul Khan bought thirty cartridges which had been picked up on the rifle range, paying a rupee each for them. He was quite determined to get a rifle, but where should he make his attempt to obtain it ? The nearer the frontier the greater were the precautions, the better the arm-racks and the more numerous the sentries. On the other hand, if he stole a rifle in Agra, how should he get it away ? Afzul Khan having sworn that on no account would he attempt a theft from the 130th Pathans, Ahmed Khan explained to him the different sorts of arm-racks and the way to extract a rifle from most of them. All the different regiments in the north of India were discussed, and also the different stations and the faciUties for getting away with stolen rifles. 15 2 26 Rast is East It was eventually decided that he should go to Rawal Pindi, and that St. Patrick's night might, with luck, afford a favourable opportunity for stealing a rifle from the King's County Light Infantry, which regiment was encamped at that place. CHAPTER V AFZUL KHAN reached Rawal Pindi on 7th March, ten days before St. Patrick's Day. One company of the regiment was in tents, close to a nullah, or dry watercourse, and he decided that it was here that he would make his attempt, Rawal Pindi is a large city situated on the plains, but only forty miles from the Himalayas, and is the headquarters of a British division. It possesses no buildings of historic interest ; but Afzul Khan saw more troops there than he had ever seen in his life, and also some big guns which it took either two elephants or thirty-two bullocks to draw, and he thought more of those than of all the tombs which had ever been built. A game of polo, in which three Mahomedan officers and one Sahib were playing against four Sahibs, also filled him with excitement. He had, however, come to Rawal Pindi not for amusement but for a set purpose, which had as 227 2 28 East is East its object the holy duty of revenge and of wiping a stain from his family honour. So, leaving the polo grounds before the game was over, he strolled to the camp to which he had decided to devote his attentions, and tried to enter it on the pretence of selling some wares. But a dapper-looking soldier with a stick in his hand promptly ordered him off, and made some remarks which he could not understand but which were evidently the reverse of compli- mentary. In moving off he took careful note of every- thing in sight, and saw the guard-tent, with the sentry marching up and down in front of it. It woiild not, he thought, be difficult to spring on him as he was turning and to wrest the rifle from him, but the chances of getting away would be small. Subtler tactics must be tried. He now saw a bhisH, or water-carrier, entering the camp carrying a mussock made of a sheep-skin and full of water. Afzul Khan at once recognized this man as a down-country Mahomedan. He was a little man of poor physique, but from continued practice he was able to carry his heavy mussock without fatigue. He was well aware that the regimental hhistie often did little errands for Samson and Delilah 229 the men, and knew them intimately, so he at once decided to endeavour to get an ally in the enemy's camp, and made him a sign to join him later. To speak to him where he was would never have done. After this he sat down behind a tree, keeping the camp in sight. He had not waited half an hour when the hhisti walked towards the bazaar, passing only fifty yards from where Afzul Khan was sitting. He followed. When he approached, the hhisti said : " Do not speak to me here ; Maloney, the regimental poUceman, who turned you out of camp, is not far behind us. Follow me." Eventually the hhisti went into a small house and beckoned Afzul Khan to enter. " Here we can speak alone," he said. " What is thy name ? " asked Afzul Khan. " I am Nur Buckhs," the man replied, " the hhisti of H Company. What dost thou want of me ? " " I want a rifle, and thou must help me to get one. I will give a large reward." " How can I, who have served the Sirkar ^ for many years, help in the theft of its property ? It cannot be done. Nevertheless, I am a poor man." * The Government. 230 East is East " I will give thee a large reward, and it is only right that thou shouldst help another Mussulman." At last it was arranged that for fifty rupees — half paid in advance — Nur Buckhs should give his help. Afzul Khan did not omit to tell of the terrible ends of men who had played false to some of his friends. The next consideration was the selection of the tent which was to be the object of the attack, and of the date and hour. The date was a matter which required but little discussion. It must be St. Patrick's Day. All the Company tents from Nos. i to 8 were carefully discussed, and No. 3 was eventually settled on. Firstly, because it was nearest to the nullah, or dry watercourse, from which Afzul Khan intended to make his dash, and secondly, because Nur Buckhs said he could guarantee that all the men in the tent except one would have honoured their patron saint to such an extent that by midnight they would be incapable ! " How about the one man for whom you cannot answer ? " Afzul Khan asked. " Ah ! That man M'Dougall ! " said the bhisti. " I can, I think, manage him. I know Samson and Delilah 231 I can get him away, but whether he will be able to get a pass to stay over midnight I don't know. I can only do my best." " What is thy plan ? " " I know of a Kashmiri woman of great beauty whom I will show to him to-morrow, and with whom I will make an appointment for him for St. Patrick's night, but this will cost at least five rupees." He demanded another five rupees for liquor, which he said he would drug and keep for use if necessary. Afzul Khan felt that he was having to pay too much for everything. He did not like to trust this man, for whom he felt the greatest contempt, with sums which, howiver paltry from our point of view, to the hhhti repre- sented in all something like half a year's pay. A few days later Afzul Khan met in Rawal Pindi a fellow-tribesman bent on a similar errand as himself, and on the condition that he would act entirely under his orders, and should afterwards refund him half his disbursements, Afzul Khan agreed that they should work to- gether. The time for putting their plans into execution was at hand. 232 East is East The hhisti had, at midnight, answered to a call for water from a neighbouring tent, and had given the man who called for it a drink of the drugged whisky, for which Afzul Khan had paid, taldng four annas for it. He gave a similar drink to the only half-sober man in tent No, 3. At one o'clock Afzul Khan and his mate crept to the tent and quietly undid some of the ropes. The last four they slashed through with their sharp knives, and then rushed in, lifted the poles and turned the tent right over. The rifles were fastened to the poles. Afzul Khan extracted one, but his mate seized two, and his greed proved his undoing, for being hampered by the second rifle he had no free hand when Private M'Dougall, on his way back from his assignation, heard the hue and cry and hit him a blow with his fist w^hich he could not guard. But Afzul Khan ran up the nullah like a goat, and before dawn was far away in the moun- tains. He laid up during daylight but made good headway when the shadows began to fall, and by the third morning was beyond pursuit. Once again on his native hills, with a Lee- Metford and thirty rounds of ammunition in his hand, he felt himself invincible. Samson and Delilah 233 The first thing was to try the sighting of his rifle at different ranges. He put up a mark, but it took him ten rounds to satisfy himself as to its shooting at all ranges up to six hundred yards. Having done this, he felt thoroughly prepared, for he was certain that he could do his business with less than twenty rounds. He thought and thought of the best way of circumventing his enemies. He thought of them in the plural, for if he ever intended to live again in his own community it was just as necessary for him to kill Seyd Ali Khan as his brother, Seyd Mir Khan, his own brother's actual murderer. Cunning and deception were necessary. As long as his enemies were unaware of his return he was himself fairly safe, and would have a great advantage over them ; but he feared that he would not be able to keep the news of his home-coming secret for very long, though in order to do so he had crossed the border, not by the Khyber but by the Kohat Pass. It was of the greatest importance that the fact of his being in possession of a Lee-Metford rifle should be most carefully concealed from every- one ; for, if it were known that he had one, Seyd Mir Khan would undoubtedly alter his tactics 2 34 East is East when it came to an actual encounter, whereas, if he beheved him to be armed with nothing better than a Snider, he would be bold, and ready to engage at ranges at which his Martini would give him a great advantage if only opposed by a Snider, but which really would be in favour of Afzul Khan's Lee-Metford. Now Afzul Khan knew a man living at Kala- bagh, some twenty miles from his own hut, which was near Nimlabagh, who possessed a Snider rifle, and to him he went after dark. He did not attempt to conceal his purpose in asking for the rifle, but overcame its owner's scruples by point- ing out first his own close relationship to his brother's murderer, and the pecuhar baseness of the crime, — for there is honour even among thieves, — and secondly, by giving out of his earn- ings an adequate price for the hire of the weapon, and a much larger one altogether above the value of the obsolete rifle, to be held as forfeit in case of its not being returned. By giving so much money to be held as forfeit, he rendered it practically certain that the lender of the Snider (who, like all other Afghans, put but small value on human life) would inform his enemy of his arrival, for he knew that very few Samson and Delilah 235 of his countrymen would be able to withstand the temptation of such a good bargain as would be achieved by his death. What he aimed at was a few hours' start so as to have a chance of getting Seyd Mir Khan unawares, and also, that if his plan failed, the latter should be falsely informed as to his real armament. He had heard scuffling and cries when he left the camp at Rawal Pindi, and felt sure that his com- panion in theft had been caught and was unable, even if willing, to give him away. It was not yet dawn when Afzul Khan rested on a rock two miles from his own hut. The fresh mountain air had brought vigour and strength to his sinews, and he romped up the rough hill paths which, in the dim light of the moon, would have been well-nigh impassable to a plainsman. He did not feel like the same being who, three months before, had staggered, weary and tired, into Bangipur. Lawless savage as he was, he was yet capable of great feeling. He had loved his brother, who had always stood by him, and he had a passionate adoration for his wife whom he would now, in less than an hour, clasp in his arms. He felt for her deeply, for he knew that she 236 East is East loved her brothers, and it was to kill them that he had returned so hurriedly. He would not ask her assistance, but that she would be absolutely faithful to him he was convinced. Her brothers had brought the retribution which it was his duty to mete out on to their own heads. He was help- less in the matter ; tribal customs must be obeyed, and his wife must, he felt, understand all this. He was encumbered with two rifles and, more- over, wished to see his Mooktee before he com- menced the grim work he had before him, and he consequently approached his hut by a somewhat circuitous route. He concealed his Lee-Metford under a rock in a cave in which he had often played with his murdered brother as a boy. The sun was just peeping over one hill as, from the crest of another, he saw his home and the patch of ground which was now his. At this moment the object of his thoughts was lying on her couch thinking over the events of the last four months. After Mahmud Khan's murder, she had, as a result of consultation with her brothers, got an old woman and her httle grand- daughter of seven to Hve with her, and it was at Seyd Mir Khan's desire that she continued to live Samso72 and Delilah 237 in her hut, so that she might by a signal give them the earhest news of Afzul Khan's return. " Light of my life ! " said Afzul Khan as he burst into the hut. The old woman and the child he dismissed, telling them, on pain of death, not to go farther than the next hut. He approached Mooktee with outstretched arms and eyes hungry for her love, but she said : " Nay, rumours have reached me of thy doings in Lahore and in Delhi. How about that Kashmiri woman at the Agra Gate ? " " What sayest thou, and what dog has told thee lies ? " " Anyone can storm, but storming is no proof of innocence. It is better that thou shouldst tell me the truth," she repUed, withdrawing a step and looking through a fold of the chudder with which she had covered her head. " Tell me the name of the liar who brought thee such inventions ? It must be Jasuf Khan. Surely he shall pay heavily for this ! " " I will not tell thee who it was, but I do know that I, a daughter of the Prophet, will not share thy love with any woman." " Nor shalt thou ever do so. My love is all 238 Kast is East thine and thine alone. I have thought of no woman but thee." " Very hkely, isn't it ? You must indeed be a pattern husband and a very exceptional Pathan." " I swear," he said, as he again approached her. " No, the morning is not the time for love ! " She pushed him from her. " I will think things over, and though I believe thee not, perhaps later on I will forgive thee. But do not press me now. Sit down and tell me of thy adven- tures." He obeyed perforce, and presently gave her the trinkets he had bought for her. With these she seemed pleased and appeared to relent a little. Her object was to get him to confide in her. She felt he was as water in her hands. She made him speak of the task he had in front of him, and, though she admitted her horror of it, she induced him to beUeve that her feehngs were all for him, and that, as it was either he or her brothers that must die, she would work for him, though she begged him not to ask her to take any active part. Never did a Dehlah Samson and Delilah 239 do her work more thoroughly. Afzul Khan's secrets were all hers except the theft of the Lee- Metford rifle. Of its possession he said nothing to her. " Even thou must want rest, Afzul Khan, after thy long night's walk. Thou must keep vigorous and well for the work thou hast in front of thee. How terrible it all is ! But thy welfare is my chief care. Sleep. I will watch over thee." He was moved by her soUcitude, and a feeUng of rest, repose and thankfulness crept into his wild heart. Mooktee was indeed a pearl among women. She waited until he was fast asleep, and then, creeping out of the hut, made the pre-arranged signal to her brothers. They lived together not more than two miles from Afzul Khan's abode, and occupied a tower, which gave some protection in case of an attack, such as is occupied by those Afghans who can afford something which approaches a small fortress. It was now two hours since her signal had been given and replied to, and Afzul Khan still slept soundly. 240 East is East Mooktee thought she would be safe in sHpping out to meet her brother, who, she felt sure, would now be approaching. It was best to get the bloody business over and done with. To live with Afzul Khan in the circumstances, even for a few days, would be repugnant to her, and it might indeed be a matter not only of days but of months. The old crone in the next hut was neither so stupid nor so blind as she was supposed to be. When she saw Mooktee disappear in the direction of the tower and, creeping into Afzul Khan's hut, saw him asleep, she put two and two together. She loved neither Seyd Mir Khan nor his sister, though circumstances had perforce made her beholden to them. They had treated her meanly with regard to some arrangement they had come to ; whereas she remembered how, some time previously, both Afzul Khan and his murdered brother had done httle kind- nesses both to her and to other members of her family. Some half a mile away there was a pass over which anyone coming from the Seyd's tower must approach, and on this she told her grand- child to keep her eyes fixed. When the girl's Sams 072 and Delilah 241 eyes wandered, her grandmother called her to task. " Keep thine eyes glued on the pass." " I don't see anything on the pass," said the child, " but I see someone on this side of it. I think it is a woman. It looks like Mooktee." " Watch, child, watch ! " was the old crone's reply, A few minutes later the child said : " I now see a man, who is coming over the pass ; but why does he stoop as if to conceal himself ? " " Tell nobody of what thou hast seen," the old woman warned her, " nor that I bid thee watch, and do not move from here but continue to watch." Having said this, she slipped through the back of the hut and into the next, moving behind a wall which concealed her movement. Entering the hut in which Afzul Khan slept, she called him, but he did not move. She then shook him and said : " Man, bestir thyself, unless thou wouldst meet the same fate as thy brother ! " " What meanest thou ? Where is my wife ? " " She has gone on to the hill," was the reply. 16 242 Fjust is East " She promised to keep watch," he said. " Truly did the Prophet say that a man must beware of those of his own house." " Wliat meanest thou, woman ? " said Afzul Khan indignantly. " I mean that thou wouldst do well to look to thine own safety rather than be angry with an old woman who is thy friend. Take thy rifle and get behind the wall." A stone wall some four feet high ran between the two huts, and behind this Afzul Khan crept, taking with him his Snider rifle, and also a pouch containing fifteen cartridges which he had thrown aside when he slept. He looked through a niche in the wall and saw his enemy, Seyd Mir Khan, stealthily approach- ing across the level patch which, if his brother had been alive, would have been under cultiva- tion. Surely Allah had been good to him ! He could now kill his enemy, for at such a range a Snider rifle was all that he asked for, and even the theft of the Lee-Metf ord had been unnecessary. Seyd Mir Khan was now within fifty yards of him. Suddenly he heard a cry from the hill in front of him, from the top of which his move- ments could, to a certain extent, be seen. It Samson a7id Delilah 243 was the voice of a woman. Seyd Mir Khan looked round ; at this moment Afzul Khan fired, but instead of the loud report he expected there was only a httle fizz, and the bullet struck the ground a yard or two in front of him. He quickly put in another cartridge and fired again, with the same result. He then pulled out a round, which he had tied in the corner of his garment, and that gave a proper report, and this time the Snider gave a violent kick ; but by now Seyd Mir Khan had regained the rocks on the other side of the valley. He then carefully examined his cartridges, and saw that the thirteen remaining in the pouch were slightly different to those he had concealed on his person. He pulled out some of the former to examine them, and found that they all contained damp and useless powder. He had paid a good price for the twenty rounds of Snider ammunition, and was ready to swear that when he examined them only a few hours previously all the twenty he had purchased had been absolutely similar. He was, of course, unaware that Mooktee had extracted those that were in his pouch and had inserted others in their place whilst he 244 FjUst is East was asleep. He remained where he was for half an hour. The same cry which he had heard as he fired was now repeated and repeated in- cessantly. Fearing to be ambushed if he went himself, he sent the old woman to discover the cause. She was slow in her movements, and an hour had elapsed before she returned with Mooktee, who rushed to him, saying, " Didst thou hear me crying to warn thee ? My brother bound me hand and foot, fearing that I should make his presence known to thee, and I could not loosen myself until the old woman arrived. Why didst thou miss him ? Has the air of Hindustan unnerved thee ? Thou wast never wont to miss." Never for an instant did Afzul Khan doubt his Mooktee, but he had had an hour to think matters over, and as his Afghan training had taught him to be suspicious of all and to trust none, he kept his own council. He was inclined to think that the old woman had in some way betrayed him, but that also seemed unlikely when, if it had not been for her, he would assuredly have had Seyd Mir Khan's knife through his heart as he slept. Samson and Delilah 245 He only replied, " It would have been better if thou hadst remained with me while I slept, for women should keep out of that which is man's business. I cannot remain here in this hut now that thy brother knows of my return. He lives in a tower where he is safe from attack, whilst this place is no fit refuge for a hunted man. I will to the hills. It pains my heart to leave thee again, but here I must not stay." He embraced her passionately and departed. It was near midnight, the stars were bright, the wind had dropped and the world seemed at peace. Afzul Khan was watching the hut which contained his treasure. Presently he would go and surprise her. He felt sure that by now she must have relented towards him, and to be with her for an hour was worth the risk it en- tailed. But first he would sit and watch. His eyesight was good even for one of his own race, and that is sajdng a great deal. Surely someone was approaching his home. It was a sHm figure like that of a woman. It entered. Presently he saw the glimmer of a Hght showing through the rough curtain which had been pulled across what served for a window. He sHpped down and managed to peep in. Could he believe his 246 Fjust is East eyes ? It was Gulabi, his brother's former wife and the cause of all the mischief, who was talking with Mooktee, to whom she handed something in a small piece of paper. He could not hear what was said, and she only remained there some five minutes and then slipped away as noiselessly as she had come. What could it all mean ? Some communica- tion had evidently to be made to Mooktee by her brothers, or something had to be handed to her, and Gulabi had been sent as she could be trusted to find her way to the place, where she had lived so long, even by night, for it was certain that a Pathan would not kill a woman. Were " the Philistines ploughing with his heifer " ? And was his wife working against him ? He would go and see. Half an hour after Gulabi had left, Afzul Khan slipped into his hut. Mooktee seemed pleased to see him. " Thou must be tired and hungry," she said. " Where are the old woman and the little child ? " he asked. " I sent them to sleep in the next hut, thinking that thou mightest visit me," she rephed. Presently she brought him food and some coffee. Sams 071 and Delilah 247 He pressed her to put her lips to the coffee first, but she refused to touch it, saying that she had already eaten and drunk. In the room there was a half-grown kid, and Afzul Khan quickly seized it, and, forcing its mouth open, poured some of the coffee down its throat. " Why dost thou waste the coffee ? " cried Mooktee, but as she said it she turned pale. Presently the kid turned over and never moved again. " Is that the'^effect^of thy coffee ? " said Afzul Khan. Whatever she was, Mooktee was no coward. Drawing herself up to her full height and baring her bosom, she cried : " If thou hadst drunk that coffee thou wouldst have been as dead as that kid, and before dawn Seyd Mir Khan's knife would have been in thy heart. For, hating thee as I do, I would not have had it known that thou hadst died by the hands of a woman. Now, strike ! Here is my heart ! " But Afzul Khan did not strike. He afterwards thought that what he should have done was to have bound her, and, acting on the information she had given him, should have shot Seyd Mir 248 Rast is East Khan when he came to the hut the next morning, but what he actually said was : " And thou art a daughter of the Prophet ! No, I will not slay thee. I make thee free and divorce thee. Never will I set my eyes on thee again, and woe to the man to whom thou goest ! It were better for him that he should kill himself than that he should drink of thy poisonous beauty." But no man ever again sought Mooktee. Afzul Khan left, taking his rifle with him. It was early dawn when, from a point some seven hundred yards from Seyd Mir Khan's tower, and where he had the sun behind him, — a great advantage in rifle shooting, — Afzul Khan cried out : " Seyd Mir Khan, thou art a disgrace to thy lineage ! Thou canst seduce a fickle woman but art afraid to come out in the open and fight a man." Presently a bullet struck the ground some fifty yards behind him. He thereupon took cover, and opened fire with his Snider, which fired black powder and made a terrific report. Several shots were exchanged, and he wormed himself a little forward. His own shots all Samson and Delilah 249 went wide of the mark. This encouraged Seyd Mir Khan to come out of his tower and skirmish towards him. Afzul Khan allowed him to advance to within five hundred yards' distance, and then, dropping the Snider, opened fire with his deadly Lee-Metford. With the second shot he killed his opponent. • a • • a • a As soon as her husband had left her, braving the perils of the night Mooktee fled to her brothers and told them of what had occurred. Their welcome was not warm, for they trusted her much less than her husband had done, and were by no means certain that she was not playing a double game. Had not Afzul Khan been awake and ready, and not asleep, when Seyd Mir Khan had, at his sister's signal, gone to the hut on the previous morning ? Now this other plan had miscarried. They did not like it, and took no pains to conceal their suspicion. During the encounter Seyd Ali Khan looked on, ready to assist his brother should occasion offer, but as there was only one rifle he could take no active part. He had locked Mooktee up as soon as Afzul Khan appeared, for he would take no risks. 250 East is East When Afzul Khan first showed himself and commenced firing with his Snider, both brothers were confident of the result of the unequal combat, carried on at a range at which they knew a Snider rifle to be hopelessly inaccurate ; but when the sharp ping of the Lee-Metford was heard, and his brother fell at the second shot, Seyd Ali Khan's suspicions of treachery were confirmed, and his rage knew no bounds, and, rushing into the chamber where Mooktee was confined, he cried : " False harlot ! Why didst thou not openly espouse thy husband's cause instead of thus plajdng double ? Thou saidst he told thee everything, and yet didst thou conceal the fact that he had two rifles though thou knewest it." Before Mooktee could make any protest, he flung with all his might into her face a huge rough boulder which he had in his hand, shout- ing as he did so : " Never shall man again wish to look into thy face ! " CHAPTER VII AFZUL KHAN had done his duty, but he was a heartbroken man. He knew that if he Uved in his own country his Ufe would be in danger until Seyd AU Khan was also accounted for, but he felt that he never again wanted to see the hills he had loved so much. He would leave Seyd AU Khan to the reproach which would cling to him as the brother of an unavenged man, and would himself leave the mountains he now hated, never to return. Three weeks later Afzul Khan walked into the orderly room of the 140th Pathans at Agra, and said to the adjutant : " Your Highness, I have successfully trans- acted the Httle family affair I had to settle in my own country, and have come to enlist." ... • • • • Afzul Khan's bones, with those of the adjutant and of many thousands of other brave men, are now bleaching on the plains of Mesopotamia. 251 MAKI. By R. J. MINNEY. 7s. 6d. net. The life story of a native Indian girl. "Described with much realistic force." — Times. " There is skill and insight in Mr. Minney's story.' —British Weekly. "'Maki' is worth reading for its descriptions of Indian theatre lifs and for its frank acceptance of Indian standards of value." Daily News. " A story of distinctive hea.\ity."— Glasgow Bulletin. life THE CIVILIAN'S SOUTH INDIA. By "CIVILIAN." Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net. 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