The Adventures of Kathlyn

"Mr. Bruce, I am sure Ahmed has some information regarding father. I

don't know what. Who knows? They may have lied to me. He may be

alive, alive!"

"I'll return and find out, once I've got you safe. I don't blame you

for thinking all this a nightmare. God knows it is nightmarish. Do

you know, I've been thinking it over. It appears to me that the king

latterly took a dislike to his protege, Umballa, and turned this little

trick to make him unhappy. I dare say he thought your father wise

enough to remain away. Umballa hangs between wind and water; he can go

neither forward nor backward. But poor Ramabai back there will lose

his gold for this."

"Ramabai has always been very kindly to the poor, and the poor man

generally defends his benefactor when the night-time comes. To Umballa

I was only a means to the end. If he declared himself king, that would

open up the volcano upon which he stands; but as my prince consort,

that would leave him fairly secure."

"Only a means," mused Bruce inwardly, stealing a glance at her sad yet

lovely profile. Umballa was a man, for all his color; he was human;

and to see this girl it was only human to want her. "Your father was

one of the best friends I had. But, oddly enough, I never saw a

photograph of you. He might have been afraid we young chaps . . ." He

paused embarrassedly. "If only you had taken me into your confidence

on board the _Yorck_!"

"Ah, but did you offer me the chance?" she returned.

"I never realized till now that a chap might be too close lipped

sometimes. Well, here we are, in flight together!"

That night for the first time in many hours Kathlyn closed her eyes

with a sense of security. True, it was not the most comfortable place

to sleep in, the howdah; there were ceaseless rollings from side to

side, intermingled with spine racking bumps forward, as the elephant

occasionally hastened his stride. Kathlyn succeeded in stealing from

the god of sleep only cat naps. Often the cold would awaken her, and

she would find that Bruce had been bracing her by extending his arm

across the howdah and gripping the rail.

"You mustn't do that," she protested feebly. "You will be dead in the

morning."

"You might fall out."

"Then I shan't go to sleep again till the journey ends. You have been

so good and kind to me!"

"Nonsense!"

They came out into the scrub jungle, and the moonlight lay magically

over all things. Sometimes a shadow crossed the whitened sands;

scurried, rather; and quietly Bruce would tell her what the animals

were--jackals, with an occasional prowling red wolf. They were not

disturbed by any of the cat family. But there was one interval of

suspense. Bruce spied in the distance a small herd of wild elephants.

So did Rajah, who raised his trunk and trumpeted into the night. The

mahout, fully awake to the danger, beat the old rascal mightily with

his goad. Yet that would have failed to hold Rajah. Bruce averted the

danger by shooting his revolvers into the air. The wild elephants

stampeded, and Rajah, disgruntled, was brought to the compass.