The Adventures of Kathlyn

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.