Part 7 (2/2)
”They could do that in the h coal to please the-or some such name If they take it into their heads to have you all shot, doubt not they will shoot!”
”Yet in that case,” said I, ”we should not be traitors”
”I will tell you a story,” said he, and we held our breath to listen, for this was his oldrecruits at ease and ofa squadron understand In that ot they had ever suspected him
”When I was a little one,” said he, ”, told me this tale There was a pack of wolves that hunted in a forest near a village In the village lived a man ished to be headman Abdul was his naht levy toll ary and very proud Now Abdul was a cunning hunter, and his sons were strong So he took thought, and chose a season carefully, and set his sons to dig a great trap And so well had Abdul chosen-so craftily the six sons digged-that one night they caught all that wolf-pack in the trap And they kept theer and thirst and grow amenable
”Then Abdul leaned above the pit, and peered down at the wolves and began to bargain with the and your jaws be strong, and I wish to be heade' And they answered, 'Speak, Abdul, for these walls be high, and our throats be dry, and ish to hunt again!' So he bade theo they would seek and slay the present headht be headman in his place And the wolves promised Then when he had made them swear by a hundred oaths in a hundred different ways, and had bound them to keep faith by God and by earth and sky and sea and by all the holy things he could remember, he stood aside and bade his six sons free the wolves
”The sons obeyed, and helped the wolves out of the trap And instantly the wolves fell on all six sons, and slew and devoured them Then they ca with blood
”'Oh, wolves,' said he, treer, 'ye are traitors! Ye are forsworn! Ye are faithless ones!'
”But they answered hie treason?' and forthwith they slew him and devoured him, and went about their business
”Nohich had the right of that-Abdul or the wolves?”
”We are no wolves!” said Gooja Singh in a whining voice ”We be true h answered hi of a clock ”This is a story the same old woman, my mother's aunt, told me when I was very little
”There was a arden, and in it a fish-pond But in the fish-pond were no fish Abdul craved fish to swih he tried ti he had better fortune, and when he eary one day of fishi+ng and laid his net on land he caught a dozen birds
”'So-ho!' said Abdul, being a ain 'Oh, birds,' said he, 'are ye willing to be fish? For I have no fishes swireatly So if ye are willing to be fish and will stay inyou but instead will set you in the pond and let you live'
”So the birds, ere very terrified, declared the to be fish, and the birds swore even reatly pleased and very confident Therefore he used not very e the birds into the water, and the instant he let go of them the birds with feathers scarcely wet fleay and perched on the trees about hirew very furious 'Oh, birds,' said he, 'ye are traitors Ye are forsworn! Ye are liars-breakers of oaths-deceitful ones!' And he shook his fist at therieved at their deception
”But the birds answered hiyves and a captive's oath are one, and he who rivets on the one must keep the other!' And the birds fleay, but Abdul went to seek his advocate to have the law of them! Nohat think ye was the advocate's opinion in the matter, and what remedy had Abdul?”
Has the sahib ever seen three hundredconscious of the sa, nor anyof the feet There was nothing on which a watchful er Yet between one second and the next they were not the sah's eyes as if he were my opponent in a duel, saw that he are of what had happened, although not surprised But he n except the shadow of one that I detected, and he did not change his voice-as yet
”As for ain, ”I wrote once on the seashore sand and signed my name beneath A day later I came back to look, but neither name nor words remained I hat I had been, and stood where the sea had been, but what I had written in sand affected ht I, if one had lent me money on such a perishable note the courts would now hold him at fault, not me; they would demand evidence, and all he could show theained for Now it occurs to ues, and blackmail, and tyranny perhaps are one!”
Eye met eye, all up and down both lines ofof hearts, and so in low tones So I spoke up and voiced aloud what troubled then this paper, sahib,” said I, ”hoe know they will not findit to the notice of the British?”
”We do not know,” he answered ”Let us hope Hope is a great good thing If they chained us, and we broke the chains, they ht send the broken links to London in proof of what thieves we be Who would gain by that?”
I saw a very little fro and knew that he judged it tih turned his back on Ranjoor Singh