Nevertheless, it was hard work to keep that promise. Bala Khan stormed
and swore that death was too good for the watery hearts of his camel
men. They should be crucified on the wall. Kathlyn's diplomacy alone
averted the tragedy. Finally, with a good deal of reluctance, Bala
Khan gave his word.
So Bruce and Kathlyn planned to return to Allaha, and it was the Khan
himself who devised the method. The two young people should stain
their skins and don native dress. He would give them two camels
outright, only they would be obliged to make the journey without
servants.
"But if harm comes to you, and I hear of it, by the beard of the
prophet, I'll throw into Allaha such a swarm of stinging bees that all
Hind shall hear of it. Now go, and may Allah watch over you, infidels
though you be!"
* * * * * * Umballa sent a messenger on before, for he loved the theatrical, which
is innate in all Orientals. He desired to enter the city to the
shrilling of reeds and the booming of tom-toms; to impress upon this
unruly populace that he, Durga Ram, was a man of his word, that when he
set out to accomplish a thing it was as good as done. His arrival was
greeted with cheers, but there was an undertone of groans that was not
pleasant to his keen ears. Deep in his heart he cursed, for by these
sounds he knew that only the froth was his, the froth and scum of the
town. The iron heel; so they would have it in preference to his
friendship. Oh, for some way to trap Ramabai, to hold him up in
ridicule, to smash him down from his pedestal, known but as yet unseen!
He wondered if he would find any more of those anonymous notes relating
to the inviolable person of Ramabai. Woe to him who laid them about,
could he but put his hand upon him! He, Durga Ram, held Allaha in the
hollow of his hand, and this day he would prove it.
So he put a rope about the waist of Colonel Hare, and led him through
the streets, as the ancient Romans he had read about did to the
vanquished. He himself recognized the absurdity of all these things,
but his safety lay in the fact that the populace at large were
incapable of reasoning for themselves; they saw only that which was
visible to the eye.
On the palace steps he harangued the people, praising his deeds. He
alone had gone into the wilderness and faced death to ransom their
lawful king. Why these bonds? The king had shirked his duty; he had
betrayed his trust; but in order that the people should be no longer
without a head, this man should become their prisoner king; he should
be forced to sign laws for their betterment. Without the royal
signature the treasury could not be touched, and now the soldiers
should be paid in full.