The Adventures of Kathlyn

Umballa began to go about cheerfully. He no longer doubted his star.

Gutter born, was he? A rat from the streets? Very well; there were

rats and rats, and some bit so deep that people died of it. He

sometimes doubted the advisability of permitting Colonel Hare's head

man Ahmed to roam about; the rascal might in the end prove too sharp.

Still it was not a bad idea to let Ahmed believe that he walked in

security. All Umballa wanted was the colonel, Kathlyn and the young

hunter, Bruce. It would be Ahmed, grown careless, who would eventually

lead him or his spies to the hiding-place.

That the trio were in the city Umballa did not doubt in the least, nor

that they were already scheming to liberate the younger sister. All

his enemies where he could put his hand on them!

Cheerful was the word.

The crust of civilization was thin; the true savage was cracking out

through it. In the days of the Mutiny Umballa would have been the Nana

Sahib's right hand. He would have given the tragedy at Cawnpur an

extra touch.

Ten thousand rupees did not go far among soldiers whose arrears called

for ten times that sum. So he placed it where it promised to do the

most good. It was a capital idea, this of cutting Ramabai's throat

with his own money. The lawless element among the troops was his,

Umballa's; at least his long enough for the purpose he had in mind.

When the multitude round the platform dissolved and Winnie was led to

her chamber in the zenana, Umballa treated himself to a beverage known

as the king's peg--a trifle composed of brandy and champagne. That he

drank to stupefaction was God's method of protecting that night an

innocent child--for Winnie was not much more than that.

Alone, dazed and terrified, she dropped down upon the cushions and

cried herself to sleep--exactly as Kathlyn had done. In the morning

she awoke to find tea and food. She had heard no one enter or leave.

Glancing curiously round her prison of marble and jasper and porphyry,

she discovered a slip of white paper protruding through a square in the

latticed window which opened out toward the garden of brides.

Hope roused her into activity. She ran to the window and snatched the

paper eagerly. It was from Kathlyn, darling Kit. The risk with which

it had been placed in the latticed window never occurred to Winnie.

The note informed her that the woman doctor of the zenana had been

sufficiently bribed to permit Kathlyn to make up like her and gain

admittance to the zenana. Winnie must complain of illness and ask for

the doctor, but not before the morning of the following day. So far as

she, Kathlyn, could learn, Winnie would be left in peace till the

festival of the car of Juggernaut. Ill, she would not be forced to

attend the ceremonies, the palace would be practically deserted, and

then Kathlyn would appear.