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Updated: June 17, 2025
He took the jeweled triangle from Umballa's turban. "Go, Ramabai," said Kathlyn, strangely tender all at once; "go bring my father back to me. Rest assured that if aught happens to you, Umballa shall pay." "With his head," supplemented Bruce. "Look not so eagerly toward the west, Umballa. Your troopers will remain at the edge of the clearing.
Without the royal signature the treasury could not be touched, and now the soldiers should be paid in full. From the soldiers about came wild huzzahs. Ahmed and Lal Singh, packed away in the heart of the crowd, exchanged gloomy looks. Once the army was Umballa's, they readily understood what would follow: Umballa would acclaim himself, and the troops would back him.
Ramabai lost no time in taking this news to Kathlyn. "Ramabai, I have saved your life; save mine. Go at once to him and tell him that I am a prisoner but am called a queen; tell him I am Colonel Hare's daughter, she who traveled with him on the same ship from Hongkong to Singapore. Go! Tell him all, the death of my father and Umballa's treachery. Hasten!"
Here for the first time the council flatly refused to fall in with Umballa's plans. And they gave very good reasons. Yes, Ramabai was a menace, but till the soldiery was fully paid, to touch Ramabai would mean the bursting forth of the hidden fire and they would all be consumed. "Open the treasury door for me, then!" "We dare not. The keepers understand.
We must search Umballa's house thoroughly. I wish to see Ramabai and Pundita in the shadow of their rights. Can't destroy a document offhand and make a new one without legally destroying the first. Well, let us be getting back to the bungalow. We'll talk it over there." At the bungalow everything was systematically being prepared for the homeward journey.
A low murmur rippled over the pressing crowd; it grew in volume; and a frown of doubt flitted over Umballa's brow. The soldiers were swaying restlessly. Kathlyn saw this sign and was quick to seize upon its possibilities. She renewed her gesture toward them. It seemed that she must burst forth in their maddening tongue: "I appeal to the chivalry of Allaha! . . . Soldiers, you now wear my uniform!
"With this stipulation: Ramabai is yours, but the white people are to be mine." The priests signified assent. And Umballa smiled in secret. Ramabai would be dead on the morrow. "There remains the king," said the chief priest. Umballa shrugged. The chief priest stared soberly at the lamp above his head. The king would be, then, Umballa's affair. "He is ill?"
Later Umballa, dulled and stupefied from his immersion, stood on the shore, with but nine of the twenty soldiers he had brought with him. Evidently, his star had faltered. Very well; he would send for the other sister. She was the Colonel Sahib's daughter, and young; she would be as wax in his hands. A passion remained in Umballa's heart, but it was now the passion of revenge.
Umballa smiled. All this was exactly what he had reason to expect. Seven days of authority; it would amuse him to watch her. "Tell me your story," urged Kathlyn kindly. "Be not afraid of these men. I shall make you my lady in waiting . . . so long as I am queen," with a searching glance at Umballa's face. She learned nothing from the half smile there.
I shall depart as I came, a free man." "You talk like that to me?" furiously. "Even so. Shall I go out on the balcony and declare that I know what a certain dungeon holds?" Umballa's fury vanished, and sweat oozed from his palms. "You?" "Yes, I know. A truce! The people are muttering and murmuring against you because they were forbidden to attend your especial juggernaut.
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