Umballa showed his teeth in what was an attempt to smile. He still saw
flashes of fire before his eyes, and it was yet difficult to breathe
naturally. Still, he could twist this white man's heart, play with him.
"Take him away. Put him outside the city gates and let him go."
Bruce was greatly astonished at this sign of clemency.
"But," added Umballa, crossing his lips with his tongue, "place him
against a wall and shoot him if he is caught within the city. He is
mad, and therefore I am lenient. There is no white woman in the palace
or in the royal zenana. Off with him!"
"You lie, Durga Ram! You found her in the slave mart to-day."
Umballa shrugged and waved his hand. He could have had Bruce shot at
once, but it pleased him to dangle death before the eyes of his rival.
He was no fool; he saw the trend of affairs. This young white man
loved Kathlyn Hare. All the better, in view of what was to come.
Bruce was conducted to the gate and rudely pushed outside. He turned
savagely, but a dozen black officers convinced him that this time he
would meet death. Ah, where was Ali, and Ahmed, and the man Lal Singh,
who was to notify the English? He found Ali at camp, the chief mahout
having been conducted there in an improvised litter. He recounted his
experiences.
"I was helpless, Sahib."
"No more than I am, Ali. But be of good cheer; Umballa and I shall
meet soon, man to man."
"Allah is Allah; there is no God but God."
"And sometimes," said Bruce, moodily, "he watches over the innocent."
"Ahmed is at Hare Sahib's camp."
"Thanks, Ali; that's the best news I have heard yet. Ahmed will find a
way. Take care of yourself. I'm off!"
When Umballa appeared before the council their astonishment knew no
bounds. The clay tinted skin, the shaking hands, the disheveled
garments--what had happened to this schemer whom ill luck had made
their master?
He explained. "I went too near our prisoner. A flash of strength was
enough. They shall be flogged."
"But the woman!"
"Woman? She is a tiger-cat, and tiger-cats must sometimes be flogged.
It is my will. Now I have news for you. There is another sister,
younger and weaker. Our queen," and he salaamed ironically, "our queen
did not know that her father lived, and there I made my first mistake."
"But she will now submit to save him!"
"Ah, would indeed that were the case. But tiger-cats are always
tiger-cats, and nothing will bend this maid; she must be broken,
broken. It is my will," with a flash of fire in his eyes.
The council salaamed. Umballa's will must of necessity be theirs, hate
him darkly as they might.