Argosy, Vol. 147, No. 1 — page 130: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

y the black plague upon all the Pin- who are dogs that worship a false Je toward the water, the soldiers, fl a hand on either arm, marching be- 2 him. On the clay bank he put his _to his forehead, calling in. a loud e: “Kali Mia, receive me!” Then he ged head first into the pool. ‘ery of “ Allah! Allah!” went up from usand throats as the Bagree shot ‘om view, smothered in the foam of the fled stream. And beyond the waters vere churned by huge ghoulish forms that od of goats had gathered there. Five om the bank the ugly head of Les > FS f a appeared. A brown arm flashed 1 the fingers clutched a knife that ‘red with fresh blood. The water shed to foam; the tail of a giant wgger shot out and struck flat upon the ace of the river like the crack of a jl. Again the head, and then the shoul- of the swimmer were seen, and as if thing dragged the torso below, two ; shot out from the water, gyrated spas- lly, and disappeared. ow waited, his soul full of horror, e was nothing more. Just a little wn in the basin of the sluggish pool pous protrusions above the water crocodile, either gorged or dis- J, floated lazily. silence reigned—no one spoke. sand eyes stared out across the 1 x m the voice of Kassim was heard, and deep, saying: ‘“‘ The covenant mn kept, and Allah has avenged the 43 . 4 JER KASSIM touched Bar- e arm. “Captain Sahib, ne. The death of that ot be a id oe » MOU te ake ai i. horror, he was compelled involuntarily to admit that it had been a most just punish- ment; less brutal, even more impressive— almost taking on the aspect of a religious execution—than if the Bagree had been tortured to death, hacked to pieces by the tulwars of the outraged Pindaris. He had been executed with no evidence of passion in those who witnessed his death. And as to the subtlety of the commander in ob- taining that confession, that, too, accord- ing to the ethics of Hindustan, was meri- torious, not a thing to be condemned. Hunsa’s animal cunning had been over- matched by the clear intellect of this wise soldier. “ We will walk back to the chamber of audience,” Kassim said, “ for now there are things to relate.” He spoke to a soldier to have his horse led behind, and as they walked he ex- plained: “ With us, sahib, as at the death of a Rana of Mewar, there is no interreg- num; the dead wait upon the living, for it is dangerous that no one leads, even for an hour, men whose guard is their sword. So, Amir Khan waits yonder, where his body lies to be taken on his way to the arms of Allah in Paradise, they who have the wel- fare of our people at heart, have selected one to lead, and one and all, the jamadars and the hazaris, have decreed that I shall, unworthily, sit upon the throne that was Amir Khan’s, though with us it 1s but the back of a horse. And we have taken un- der advisement the message thou brought. It has come in good time, for the Mahrattas | are like wolves that have turned upon each other. Sindhia, Rao Holkar, both eaten by your armies, now fight among themselves, and suck like vampires the life blood of the Rajputs. And Holkar has become insane. But lately, retreating through Mewar, he went to the shrine of Krishna, and prostrat- ing himself before his heathen image, Te viled the god as the cause of his disaster. When the priests, aghast at the profanity, expostulated, he levied a fine of three hun- dred thousand rupees upon them, and when, fearing an outrage infidels call a god, they jaipur, ne W na the men Wileo 4 =. ee a ‘ai ET —* § TT ‘és () ~ comicbooks.com to the image these