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"And thou, Ramabai, beware!" "Of what, Captain?" coolly. "Thou, too, hast meddled; and meddlers burn their fingers." "I am innocent of any crime," said Ramabai. "I am watched, I know; but there is still some justice in Allaha." "Bully for you!" said Bruce in English. The captain eyed him malevolently. "Search the animal cages," he ordered. Bruce, Ramabai and Pundita followed the captain.
Bruce saw the futility of shooting at the beast. The only thing he could do was to mount up beside Ramabai and Pundita and give chase; and this he did in short order, dragging up the bruised and shaken mahout with him. The pursuing elephant, with this extra handicap, never brought Rajah into sight. But the trail was clear, and they followed. Surely that poor girl was marked for misfortune.
"It is your life, Kit, I am certain. Everything depends upon their finding out that Bala Khan will strike if you call upon him. At most, all he'll do will be to levy a tribute which Ramabai, once Pundita is on the throne, can very well pay. Those priests are devils incarnate. They will leave no stone unturned to do you injury, after to-day's work. You have humiliated and outplayed them."
"No, Mem-sahib. Ahmed will have me carried to within a few yards of the gate, and after that it will be easy to find Durga Ram. Ah, Mem-sahib, if you but knew how I hate him!" After Pundita had departed Ahmed brought in the leopard. Kathlyn petted it and crooned, and the magic timbre of her tones won over the spotted cat. He purred. And now they must wait. An hour flew past.
Lowly and quickly Pundita translated for Kathlyn so that she might miss none of the conversation. "The Colonel Sahib looks worn." "I am." "Now, in my travels I have been to Bombay, and there I dressed like you white people. I have the complete. Perhaps the Colonel Sahib would be pleased to see if he can wear it? And also the use of my barber?"
She can never remarry, no matter how young she may be at the beginning of her widowhood. It was to ameliorate this condition of affairs that Pundita Ramabai set herself many years ago. She gathered child-widows under her protection, surrounded them with Christian influences, and gave them a Christian education.
'Why did she hate your mother? asked Sunni. 'How stupid you are to-day! You have heard the story two hundred times! Because she thought that she should have been chosen to be queen instead of my mother. It is true that she was more beautiful, but my mother was a pundita. And she was not chosen. She is only second in the palace. And she has no children, while my mother was the mother of a king.
"I am my Lord's chattel; but I would despise him if he took the base course." "And so should I, flower of my heart!" Ramabai folded his arms and stared down moodily at the man who, had he lived, could have made Pundita his successor. "Pundita, I have not yet dared tell you all; but here, in the presence of death, truth will out. We can not leave.
Do we that, and we are free to leave Allaha." Pundita smiled. "My Lord is not capable of so vile an act." "No." And hand in hand they stood before the catafalque forgetting everything but the perfect understanding between them. "Ai, ai!" It was but a murmur; and the two turned to witness the approach of the woman of the zenana.
Before the high tribunal of priests, before the unhappy Kathlyn, before the astonished Umballa, appeared Ramabai and Pundita, between them the young woman of the zenana, now almost dead with terror. "Hold!" cried Ramabai when the soldiers started toward him to eject him from the temple. "What!" said Umballa; "will you recant?" "No, Durga Ram. I stand here before you all, an accuser!
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