Part 22 (1/2)

”Aho, child!”

”Come, Miss Kathlyn,” Bruce called anxiously

Kathlyn then climbed up to the , and Bruce lifted her into his howdah, bidding her to lie lo strong he was, she thought Ah, so had whispered to her day by day that he would corow hot with sharass dress Till this ht There had been things so much more vital But youth, and there is ever the way of a man with a maid

Now, Kathlyn did not love this quiet, resourceful young man, at least if she did she was not yet aware of it; but the touch of his hand and the sound of his voice sent a shi+ver over her that was not due to the chill of the night She heard hiive his orders, low voiced

”Do not lift your head above the howdah rile And don't worry about your father He's alive, and that's enough for Ahe world it is, and how fate shuffles us about! Forward!”

The curse: what did her father mean by that? It seeain

”Now you rass! You poor girl!” He took off his coat and threw it across her shoulders, and was startled by the contact of her warm flesh

”I can not thank you in words,” she said faintly

”Don't Pshaw, it was nothing I would have gone----” He stopped embarrassedly

”Well?” Perhaps it was coquetry which i deeper

He laughed ”I was going to say that I would have gone into the depths of hell to serve you We'll be at your father's bungalow in a minute or so, and then the final stroke Umballa is not dependable He ht I can only pray that he will come down the moht U his prisoners flogged; but, Oriental that he was, he went about the ed his clothes and dallied in the zenana for an hour The rascal had h study of the word ”suspense”; he knew the exquisite torture ofhis passion for Kathlyn had subsided He desired above all things just than revenge for the hu experience in the ceil; he wanted to put pain and terror into her heart Ah, she would be on her knees, begging, begging, and her father would struggle in vain at his shackles Spurned; so be it

She should have a taste of his hate, the black man's hate Two should hold her by the arer seared the white soft back of her She would soon co He had been too kind The lash of the zenana, it should bite into her soft flesh He would break her spirit and her body together and fling her into his own zenana to let her gnaw her heart out in suspense She should be the least of his woe

First, however, the lash should bite the father till he dropped in his chains; thus she would be able to anticipate the pain and degradation

And always there would remain the little dark-haired sister She would marry him; she would do it to save her father and sister Then the filigree basket heaped with rubies and pearls and emeralds and sapphires! As for the other, what cared he if he rotted? It gave hi council Master he would be; he would blot out all things which stood in his path A king, till he had gathered what fortune he needed Then let the jackals howl

Accoer, he led the way to the cell and flung open the door triumphantly For a h yonder ! hell of all hells of Hind! She was gone, and he was robbed!

”Out of your reach this time, you black devil!” cried the colonel ”Go on Do what you please to me, I'm ready”

Umballa ran to the tabouret and jurass Elephants And these doubtless had come from the colonel's camp He jumped off the tabouret and dashed to the door

”Follow me!” he cried ”Later, Colonel Hare, later!” he threatened

The colonel remained silent

Up above, in the palace, Uave them explicit orders He was quite confident that Kathlyn would be carried at once to her father's bungalow, if only for a change of clothes It was a shrewd guess

As the iron door changed upon the sill Colonel Hare leaned against the pillar and closed his eyes, praying silently

At the bungalow Pundita fell at Kathlyn's feet and kissed them