Literature.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 78, 6 April 1904, Page 4

Literature.

' ' THE WOOING OF KASIM THE <; I STRANGLER. , (By George Griffith.) • This ijk the story of Kasira the j of Stranglers, as iie was tkowitjlb the brave old days when the servants of Bhowonee, Mother of .the World, and punisher of iiuman ■ins, roved the.land from the slopes et Himalaya to the Cape of Comorlm, doing her bidding with little let gr hindrance from the law of the un-beKcversr-may the graves of their i ancestors be defiled. I was the foster-son of Kadini AH Khan, whose people had been solctiera of forjtune, robbers—sometimes MM and sometimes both, since the dajs when the great Geaghis led the . Faithful into Hindostan. Until my twentieth birthday I bad Wondered with ever-growing wonder how it came to . pass that my unele, Who was wont to curse so deeply the ■ exaction* of the usurers to whom he had mortgaged what was left of his *M«stra] patrimony in Sangore,could live and travel in such state as he did. I had come to learn, too, that he travelled in many guises and under many different names. When he laade jouraeys in the far south and east, on many of which I accompanied him as I grew older, it seemed as! though each other name had brought him better fortunes, for he ever came back from his travels ricHfer than he had set out. There was another circumstance .Which struck me as very strange until I became initiated into the secrets of his mysterious and terrible craft. Although he travelled always as a merchant with a strong escort, u the great traders were forced to do in the days when men were men, and each, had to take his kismet in Us own hands, he set out with little merchandise and less money, and yet, so well did he trade, as I thought, in the days of my innocenae, jthaC scarce a village or town did ,we pass but the loads of our asses and pack-horses became heavier and heavier, and our dresses and the equipment of our escort more splendid.

I hod olten noticed, too, that when ,we camped outside the towns where jre halted on our route—they being |U) loth to receive so many armed lodgers aa we were to put ourselves in the power of the Nawab and Gojrernors—other travelling merchants ■nit officials of the Rajahs and Nizams of districts and provinces would 'Join us for company and protection, seeing in what state we travelled 1 and how well armed our men were. These would joiirney with us for one or two or'three days and nights, and then my uncle would tell me they had left very early—before I was •wake—on their way to go to their own destination, which lay one or two days' journey, as the case .night be, away from our own route. Yet I could not but notice that at Mich ol these departures our baggage train gttew heavier, and our company geemed. better content with themselves and in higher spirits. At length it came about that one night—which was the eve of my twentieth birthday—when we were in camp in a pleasant little tree-shaded yalley a short day's mareh from the jtown of Malwur, my uncle called me •side after he had eaten the meal whioh follows evening prayer, and ■aid, as he walked beside me with bis arm on my shoulder : "Kasim, son of my brother, tojaorrow rises the first sun of thy manhood. Manhood learns the truth of many things which to youth are mysteries ; and to-night I shall ufeke plain to you certain things which so . far have been strange to you, but jvhich, if your father's blood flows through yom veins, shall not only be plain to you when I have spoken, but shall also be to you an incentive ito actions which, if you would be a man like him, shall lead you to ■peedy wealth, and, If our Goddess jriH it so, to revenge as well." ." But what have I to raveage, my ancle ?" I replied. "Until now X have known only benefits. I have no knowledge of- wrongs. You have clothed me and fed me and trained me in. manly exercises and the use of arms. You are my father and »y mother, for I have never known other parent than you. You have taken me on many wonderful journeys und shown me many lands, and at the end of each journey you have given me finer clothes and better weapons than before, so that I coufd take my place .with, more credit in the hunts. "Tou remember the new gun, the one you bought from the FeiTngh'ee captain which loads from behindSnider, the Unbelievers call it—and how I broke the tiger's neck with a bullet from it just as it was springing on old Hoosein Khan, for Which he thanked me, and told me in somewhat strange words that one day be Jfould repay me when everything waa made plain to me ?" " Even so," said my uncle, laughing and patting me on the shoulder, ''and now the time haß come, iCasim, When many things that have been dark to thee shall be made light. So far thou hast wandered, as we are ,wand«ring now. at night. The trees about us and the hills in the distance tie only dim and shadowy •hapes to our eyes ; yet if we saw them u we shall do to.morrow, with jtfae fait radiapce of the sun shining upon them, tliey would be clear and distinct in every outline; and, so, Coo, if thou hast faith and courage, ■halt thou see as in the sunlight the things which so fan Mlou has »e<n in the twilight or not at all in tfce darkness." " But if I may presume, Fathev of tbe Fatheiiess," I . asked in a humble tone, for his words had caused a feeling of awe to come over me, "what has that to do with a revenge that I know nothing of ?" " I wiH tell you, Kasim, son of my bljpthcr," he replied, keeping his hand stHI on my "shoulder. " Your fattier died beeause your mother was too beautiful. Well worthy was she to be the mother of such a man as thou art ! and because, in an evil and unguarded moment the eyes of a another and more powerful man ncuton her beauty, his hired ban'dits killed hiki and carried oil your mother when you were scarce a ysar old. I rescued you and her a few weeks later. She died and you lived. Dost thou understand, son of my Lroth- «?' J

" Ye#,!' I said, through my clenched:- tooth ; nip hand stealing of its own aocord: to ray girdle and clenching- a dagger-hilt. " I have heard iaave two things only ; his name and where he may be found." " To-morrow or the next day vou Bball see him," replied my uncle, his grip tightening upon my shoulder, {'and.a few hours after, if the omens are favourable, anti the great (!oddeßs given her permission, the cup of revenge shall be filled by thine own band. But before that thou lutst much ,tt> do and much to learn." "All. that thou canst teaoh I will learn; all that men can do I will 'do V- I said hotly, for his words had tyred, my. blood. "Allah be my witless I On my head be the price of failurei il l 'ail !" " Allib-11-Allfth !" said my uncie, raising Jiip. right hand above bis head, "itis an oath ! Kasim, tliou hast ever heard men talk of the Stranglera, the sons of the great Bhowanee, Mothsr of the World, .whose especial children they are." " TYuJy I have, my father !" I exclaimed, a great light breaking suddenly uppn my soul, for here in these lew words was the secret of the strange wanderings of our band. My upcle and foster-father was a Thug, a leader in that mysterious sect whose name was a word of terror throughout Hindostan ; but whose desds, done in the dark, ™re kno-.m to none but themselves. This, then, was why travellers who had sought our protection had vanished, leaving no trace behind them, and this, too, was why, after each such disappearance, our baggage train grow heavier. X trembled at the thought under my uncle's hand, for, though there was not a more daring hunter in the land than I, I had never yet Blaln a man. Yet all these months I had been travelling in company uncle's words had any meaning, I .was to become one of them. •* Thou art trembling, boy," said he somewhat sharply, "tell me not that it is for fear !" JTo be continued).