"But there will be many of my friends there," said the bewildered
Ramabai. Who was this strange man who seemed to know everything?
"Put the mines in the center of the arena. What we want is merely terror
and confusion. Pouf! Bang! There's your miracle. And a little one
under the royal pavilion. And Umballa and the council sleep in Shaitan's
arms. Welcome, my lambs!" And Ahmed laughed noiselessly.
"By the lord!" gasped Bruce. "But the fuses? No, no, Ahmed; it can not
be done."
"In the house of my friend Lal Singh there is a cellar full of strange
magic--magic with copper wires that spit blue fires. Eh, Sahib? You and
I know; we have traveled."
"Batteries, here, in this wilderness?"
"Even so. To you, Ramabai, the powder; to me, the spitting wires; to
you, Bruce Sahib, patience. Umballa shall yet wear raw the soles of his
feet in the treadmill. He shall grind the poor man's corn. I know what
I know. Now I must be off. I shall return to-morrow night and you,
Ramabai, shall gather together your fellow conspirators (who would blow
up the palace!) and bring the mines to the arena."
And while Kathlyn gazed through the marble lattice at the bright stars
another gazed at the sunny heavens in a far country, a sprite of a girl
with dark tearful eyes. Father gone, sister gone; silence.
But a few yards away from Kathlyn a man plucked at his chains, praying to
God that he might not lose his reason. With the finished cruelty of the
East, Umballa had not visited Colonel Hare again. There is nothing like
suspense to squeeze hope and courage from the heart of man.
* * * * * * On the night before the ordeal men moved cautiously about the elephant
arena. It was only after much persuasion and argument could Bruce hold
the men. At the testing of Lal Singh's wires and batteries they had
started to fly. This was devil's fire.
At the end of the arena, in a box which Bruce was to occupy, by order of
the council (where they proposed to keep an eye upon Umballa and to wring
his heart), the key to the wires was laid. This box was directly over a
wooden canopy where the mahouts loafed between fights. Back of this
canopy was a door which led outside. Through this Bruce proposed to lead
Kathlyn during the confusion created by the explosion. They had carried
off the keeper (who was also guardian of the arena), and the key to this
door reposed in Bruce's pocket.
On the day of the ordeal only the bedridden remained at home. The
temples, the palaces, the bazaars, all were deserted as thoroughly as if
the black wings of the plague had swept through the city. Even the crows
and the kites were there, the one chattering; the other soaring high
above.