The Adventures of Kathlyn

"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.