Told in the East

own weight apparently. A dozen dried-out false-acacia-trees shivered as the faintest puff in all the world of stifling wind m

t a job done, and his reiterated "Bong-bong-bong!"-that had never ceased since sunrise, and had driven nearly mad the few huma

lliam Brown, to give him his full name and entitl

d, and scratched a place where the prickly heat was bothering him. Next, he buttoned up his tunic, and brushed it dow

rn out!" h

d. There was no flag, and no flag-pole in that nameless health-resort, so the sword, without its scabbard, was doing duty, point downward in the ground, as a totem-p

supper bleated miserably some twenty yards away, tied to a tree, and a lean. Punjabi squatted near it in readiness to buy the skin. It was a big goat, but it was mangy, so he held only two annas in his hand. The other

began to move quickly, as it does in India-anxiou

anded Brown. "General

hough somebody had shut the lid. Brown stepped to the sword, jerked

without mirth. They had put the sun to bed with proper military decency. They would have seen humor-perhaps-or a

wearing, and it was a very useful thing, and wise, to

which he was to guard, then went round behind the but to bargain wi

low-caste native servant

fakir the

sah

rn to say 'yes,' l

, sa

h him. Kill the goat, and tell the Punja

sah

on his heel, and

ib!" he c

d a warning not to repeat the offence. As the native ran off to get the but

s skin. He followed like a snake, and only Brown's sharp, authority-conveying footfalls could be heard as he trudged sturdily-straight-backed, eyes straight in front of him-to whe

at was close against the tree-trunk. At a good ten-pace distance from the object Brown stopped and stared. The lamplight fell on two

ver sleep?"

owner of the eyes chuckled. His voice seemed to be coming from the tree itself, and there was not

el

e does no

hat if he can't learn to give a civil answer to a ci

ure which, for he was rewarded with nothing but another

still say

ly nothin

oking straight into the eyes that glared at him, and from them

dangerous! This very holy-m

hat lant

curse you

ou he

t a view of the whole of him. There was nothing that he saw that would reassure or comfort or please a devil even. It was ultradevilish; both by design and acci

o you say h

m a Mussulman. These Hi

iew. The fakir's skin was not oily, and for all the blanket-heat it did not glisten, so

ve to express more disgust and more grim determination in

s holy,

ery holy

gain Brown held his breath and

te understands the

He knowing all things what will hap

unconcealed discomfort, he proceeded to examine him minutely, going ove

posite, here's it! I'd give a month's pay for the pr

nd some of them were curled back on themselves into disgusting-looking knots. What walking he had ever do

red with ashes and dust and worse-was perched bolt-up-right on a flat earth dais that had once on a time been the throne of a crossroads idol. One arm, his right one, hung by his side in an almost normal attitude, and his right fingers moved incessa

that really lived still, and they expressed the steely hate and cruelty, the mad fanaticism, the greedy self-love-self-immolating for the sake of self-that is the thoroughgoing fakir's

omes, and find out what his business is, and arrest him if he can't give a proper account of himself. Say he's been here three days now, and

, sa

m what I say

ilting visibly when the baleful eyes of the fakir rested on him f

does h

ill curse

" shoute

dered it. There are some men who are called "sir" without any title to it, just as there are some sergeants who re

ere, wi

the earth again. Brown moved the lamp, and its beams fell on a rifleman who stood

akir. Cram him

good

h his fixed bayonet at the "charge,"

!" wailed the Beluchi.

ed Brown. "Here.

w back an inch or two to get away from it. He was evidently ab

"Forward. Quick march. If you

rown. "You might do him an injury.

riflemen used to practise in the short-range-rifle days. The fakir w

t he will sp

d Brown. "Order arms.

r answered him, in a voice that soun

ch the crossroads, sahib! He says tha

m to cur

nless you touc

his perch!" co

astonishing activity, and shuffled himself back again to the center of the dais. His eyes blazed with hate and indignation, and his breath came now in sharp gasps that sounded like escaping ste

nded Brown, when the fakir

dare not

ind. Brown's disciplining methods were a too recently encountered fact

t among your wounds. He says that the ants shall eat your eyes, sahib, and that you shall cry for water, and there shall be no water within reach-only the sound of water

ing to do

estion on, and the fakir

, that the gods

hey. Well, they've a queer sense o

, sahib, and the

teresting!

ll inhabit the carcasses of snakes, to eat dirt and be trodden on

o have the ord

e gods have alre

my money's worth before the fun begins! Tell him that unless he can give me a satisfactory reason for being

with the fakir, "that he is here to see what the gods have pro

se b

hers. He says, did yo

f the s

vant, and threw into faint relief the shadowy, snake-like tendrils of the baobab, his eyes failed to pierce the gloom

been given. He says that half of India shall run bl

ve the

means 'It is an order!' Nothin

at's the third useless Hindu fanatic within a week who has talked about India being drenched i

Beluchi walking on ahead with the lantern, and Brown and the sentry urging from behind, the fakir jumped and squirmed and wabbled on his all but useless

be!" exclaim

t language anywhere where I'm about! I'll not have it, d

he fakir was thrust into a four-square mud-

time I hear you swearing, I'll treat you to a

the door. Then he went off to see about his supper, of newly slaughtered goat-chops and chupatties baked in ghee. His soul revolted at the thoug

ood, as these fakirs seem to think, and maybe it isn't. There'll be more blood shed than mine in that case!

ttle had been burnished until they shone. Then he tossed a chupatty to the imprisoned fakir, spat aga

ny. But I've no patience with uncleanliness! That's wrong any way you look at it. That critter can't see straight for the dirt on him, nor think straight for th

white girl who once on a time had waited for him there. For the next few hours, until the guard was changed, the only signs or sounds of life were the glowing o