"What occurs to mine does not in the least concern you! You are occupying yourself with my affairs. I will not permit it. Am I explicit enough?"
"You are explicit enough."
Skag wheeled on the path and walked away from the police commissioner under a sharp revelation that if he didn"t get away at once, he would do a thing he had never been inclined to do before. He was amazed by his own fury. Unconsciously he spoke aloud:
"I never wanted to----"
"_Remember, it is not necessary to touch the unclean._"
Low tones of strange vibration. Skag looked up. A brown-robed man stood before him. (The long straight lines of the garment were made of a material hand-woven of camel"s hair, known in the High Himalayas as _puttoo_.) The quiet face was in chiselled lines. The level dark eyes were looking deep into the place where Skag"s soul lived. Skag was intensely conscious that he stood in a Presence. He endured the eyes.
They made him feel better. The robed man spoke again:
"I speak to give you a.s.surance that those you have served will be cared for. Also, a responsibility may fall upon you. If you accept, a great good will come to you in this life."
"I will do what I can."
"_Peace be with thee._"
"Shall I see you again?"
"Never."
Skag stood aside and the robed man walked toward the tent.
Skag went back to Poona. Carlin"s eldest brother Roderick Deal had not come yet. Still waiting, a week later, he walked one morning on the stone causeway, which is a most attractive unit in the architecture of Poona"s great waterworks, and filled his eyes with the Ghat vistas toward the north and west. Joyous dog tones made him glance back. It was Nels, straining forward on a heavy chain-leash in the old cook"s hand.
"Let him go."
Now Skag noticed that the dog moved with some effort, possibly with some pain; but when he arrived, Nels reared his mighty body and set his paws on Skag"s two shoulders. Skag hugged him and eased him down. The old cook handed Skag a note. It read:
To the Wonder Man, by the hand of Bhanah the cook, who is a gift to the Man from the G.o.ds. Together with Nels the beautiful, a gift to the Man from Eleanor Beatrice (Hichens)--who is free!
Bhanah the cook will tell his master the rest. Save this, that Eleanor Beatrice is grateful with her full heart to the Man.
He is to remember that he has been adopted by Nels. He is to walk softly because he is on the way to be adopted--of course it is past belief, but also it is past question--by the mightiest of all mystic orders, whose messengers have accomplished this thing.
N.B. The Sahib is to enquire of his servant Bhanah what is the native meaning of "walk softly." He will find Bhanah entirely trustworthy in all matters of information.
Skag looked up and the old cook spoke:
"I, who am speaking to Sanford Hantee Sahib, am Bhanah--entered into covenant before the G.o.ds that I am his servant to serve him with my strength, so long as I endure to live.
"I bring from the shining lady who was my mistress, whom may the G.o.ds protect! certain messages for him alone.
"The child is dead. Her body lies deep in a metal case beside her mother"s, near one of the old bungalows."
"I am sorry to hear that."
"Death does not snare the soul. If she were still here, Nels would not be free to come to my master. And my master has become his heart"s desire."
"I am glad to have him and you."
The old cook laid his hand on his forehead and bent low before Skag.
"The lady-beautiful will sail from Bombay in a few days, returning to her own mother"s house. She is forever free from Police Commissioner Hichens Sahib, who was my master only for her sake and for the sake of Nels. The lady"s own ayah will go with her to her own country, to serve her as I serve thee.
"These things are accomplished by a Power which works through those who are seldom seen and never known of men.
"I have spoken and it is finished. Have I permission to take Nels to my quarters where he can rest? He is well; but not yet fully strong.
If my master will tell us his place, we will come to him in the morning."
Skag told them. The recognition of Nels as a personality amused him; but he did not quarrel with it.
CHAPTER VII
_The Hunting Cheetah_
Since Bhanah and Nels had come to him, Skag had fallen into the way of taking Nels out quite early for a full day"s tramp through the broken shelving Ghats. (This helped to bear the weight of the days till Carlin"s eldest brother should reach Poona.) The contours were different from anything he had seen along the top or toward the sea; as if in the beginning the whole range had been dropped on the planet and its own weight had shattered the eastern side, to settle from the cracks or roll over upon the plains. Nels would travel close beside him for hours; but if he ever did break away, Skag had only to call quietly, "Nels, steady!" and Nels would return joyfully. He never sulked.
Every morning now, Bhanah carefully stowed in Skag"s coat, neat packets of good and sufficient food for himself and the dog at noontime. Skag had never been cared for in his life; he had neither training nor inclination to direct a servant. But there was no need. Bhanah knew perfectly well what was right to be done; and he was committed with his whole heart to do it.
The order of Skag"s life was being softly changed; but he only knew his servant did many kind things for him which were very comfortable. He was a little bothered when Bhanah called him "My Master"--having not yet learned that servants in India never use that t.i.tle, excepting in affection which has nothing to do with servitude.
The morning came, when Roderick Deal arrived. Carlin had said that all arrangements must be made with her eldest brother; and some tone within her tone had impressed Skag with concern which amounted to apprehension. But when he walked into Roderick Deal"s office and met the hand of Carlin"s eldest brother--there was a light in his eye which that Indian Sahib found good to see.
Roderick Deal overtopped the American by two inches. He was slender and lithe. His countenance was extraordinary to Skag"s eye for its peculiar pallor; as if the dense black hair cast a shadow on intensely white flesh--especially below the temples and across the forehead.
There was attraction; there was power. Skag saw this much while he found the eyes; then he saw little else. He decided that Sanford Hantee had never seen really black eyes before; the size startled him, but the blackness shocked. (It was in the fortune of his life that he should never solve the mystery of those eyes.) Skag felt the impact of dynamic force, before he spoke:
"You will not expect enthusiasm from me, my son, when as the head of one of the proudest families in all India, I render official consent, upon conditions, to your marriage with my sister Carlin. . . . You are too different from other men."
Skag had something to say, but he found no words.
"You are to be informed that the only sister of seven brothers is a most important person. She is called the Seal of Fortune in India; which is to say that good fortune for all her brothers is vested in her. If calamity befalls her, there is no possible escape for them.
This is the established tradition of our Indian ancestors.
"We smile among ourselves at this tradition, as much as you do; but there are reasons why we choose to preserve it, among many things from those same Indian ancestors. We have no cause to hate them. Hate is not in our family as in others of our cla.s.s; but we never forget that it is _our cla.s.s_."
The brooding pain in the man was a revelation. Carlin had said, ". . .
there are things you must understand."
"You are already aware that we are English and Indian. But you do not conceive what that means. It is my duty to speak. All life appears to me first from the English standpoint; but you see the _shadow of India under my skin_. All life appears to my sister first in the Indian concept; but you will not easily find the shadow of India under her skin. We have one brother--darker than the average native. . . . Are you prepared to find such colour in one of your own?"
The question was gently spoken, but the eyes were like destiny.