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Show I -fmm HE bg black-maned 'JffitfCZl lion, Tippo Tib, prov- ,9n?V, ed an excellent 'Lry f "draw" for the "Ben- JotO ' gal Hoppodrome on jj,, account of Its treach-jjrfe treach-jjrfe I eroua habits and: f fecfX lightning flashes of 4 rage. Futtah, the 1 Wfy trainer, was nover i w quite sure of thiB an- I imal. Often he would leave the cage with Tlppo'a claws striking at hiB tasseled sleeve, while at other times the beast would exhibit j a frolicsome humor tho moment he entered. On the day of the Hoppodromo's en-S en-S try into Serampore an Afghan camel-breeder, camel-breeder, by name of Mahomet Khan, had joined the company of native keepers and tent-shifters. His knowledge knowl-edge of beasts gained him the immediate immedi-ate favor of the Hippordrome proprietors. proprie-tors. Big-limbed and nervously alert, be exhibited a tlrelesB strength that moved wagons and circus lumber with the ease of a Clydesdale horse The lion-tamer, Fnttah Singh, regarded re-garded him with curiosity when thev foregathered each midday under the cool awning of the back of the camels jj ! quarters. The Afghan was a quick : talker, and he soon found a ready listener lis-tener in the white-bearded tamer, whoso wonder and curiosity increased at tho fellow's astounding reminis-ences. reminis-ences. He had once been attached to one of the guards of native infantry which accompanied ac-companied the notorious Nana Sahib Into Cawnpore. And amid the squeal-lag squeal-lag of circus ponies and the grunting of camels he recited the story of the massacro of white women and children within the Blbigarh house, while the listening tamer almost shrank away In fear and loathing "This talk of thine. Mahomet Khan. goeB beyond me a little." he gasped. 'Art thou not ashamed?" "Ashamed! I was but the servant of the Nana. The work was given to us five men, or it would not have been done " "The work?" burst from the palpitating palpi-tating tamer. "What work, Mahomet Khan? Some part of thy talk hath escaped me." The Afghan polBed himself on the bale while his muscle-packed shoulders swayed forward from time to time. OutBlde the sunflared above the town A fetid warmth clung to tho surrounding surround-ing cages. "Thou speakest of five men," prompted prompt-ed the tamer gently. "Were there not more?" i Tho camel breeder cracked five Angers with terrible vigor until they sounded liko small-shot in the ears ef tho llstenln tamer. "So many and no more. Futtah Slngb," he laughed I "The Nana desired more, but they would not go in " "Where? go in where?" questioned the other He was like one afraid lest a Jarring word or sound might shatter the spell that hung over the talkative , ex-mutineer. "Into the Blbigarh. Thou knowest that tho Sepoys were first sent to the house. And because they had the hearts of Christian dogs they fired at 1 the ceiling. That was no good. We five were sent." Futtah regarded tho man while speech fell dead between them. "Dost thou mean," he gasped after a while, "that thou thou art one of the five who U6ed the knife Inside that house on those 200 memsahibs and children'.' chil-dren'.' Dost thou mean ?" "There were more than 200 inside the Blbigarh. Sometimes I forget, sometimes I remember. But they were all in the Blbigarh, all except tho white men who were shot by Nairn's Na-irn's guard as they walked to the hotel Yes, I have fought the sahib in the open, Futtah Singh, I have cast down rocks upon their bayonets in the passes But in the Blbigarh it waa all dark. And the women had not lit the lamps. I was first in among them. Once inside, I found I could do better on my hands and knees. The wolf i works that way among the sheep and lambs." The Afghan drew breath, still holding hold-ing his brow as though to knit thought and picture in the dying flashes of his memory. "The women smothered me in their arms," be went on, "until my wrist got I free, and they went under me as fast j as my knife moved. Yes, there was not much room with all those women, Futtah Fut-tah Singh. Two hundred packed in the Blbigarh. "Tho sahibs have been too much our masters," he added. "We were not dogs lo be defiled. And there were the fllthv cartridges and the ewine grease for men of caste to lick. Think of It, Futtah Singh!" "I have thought . . of tho children, too." The tamer's lips merely mere-ly Bhaped the words The starkness of the deed ran like poison through his I nerves. "Thou didst chango thy name." he said faintly, "after thy escape." The Afghan shrugged a little wearl- j ly; the frost of the Himalayas was j still in his blood, and the heat of So-ramporS So-ramporS filled him with a basking indolence. in-dolence. "A namo matters little," he muttered. Then, heaving himself from the bale of camels' hay, he shook the clinging wisps from his hip and shoulder shoul-der with a soldierly regard for his appearance. ap-pearance. The tamer watched, half-hypnotised by each movement of the colossal limb. "The Nana chose big men for his work," he ventured caressingly, his eyes questing over the muscles that leaped and flinched at every movement of the arm and torso "Let me see thy hand, Mahomet Khan, the hand that struck so well Into the pack of English women and children. Thou art not of my caste, Mahomet, but we of India know what thy work meant Thy hand. Mahomet; let me see. . . ." The Afghan yawned indolently and thrust out his hand to the stooping figure before blm. Futtah Singh held it critically and examined the dark veins and sinews with the craft of a seer. "A good hand, Mahomet Khan." he said quaveringly. "Hard at the back, soft In the palm, as a fighter's should be. A good knife-hand, eh?" A hand that knows its trade. Futtah Singh. "But those llttlo white children!" protested the Hindoo "Didst thou not feol . . .?" "Nothing They were not of our blood those Cbristwomen. Peaco thou, Futtah Slngb. Give me help to water my beasts, some day when there is need I may help thee with thine." The night brought heat upon tho town with a low drifting smoke from the ghats Futtah's lion awoke from his afternoon sleep displaying an unusually un-usually Irascible temper that resembled resem-bled a soured actor pcrparlog for his evening turn. Through the long night's performance perform-ance the Afghan's story of the massacre massa-cre flowed through Futtah's brain. He could not drive away the shadow of his strong, merciless hand, the black veins and sinewy fingers that beeined capable of strangling a wolf or tiger. Futtah Singh was not without imagination, imagina-tion, and ai ring tho long evening he ptctused the scene within the Biblgaih when Mahomet Khan and LhC other chosen assassins had done their work. After the performance. Tippo Tib's cage had been drawn within the dark semicircle at wagons near the hippodrome hippo-drome ntraoco. The bazugars aud ring saicc-a had retired to the compound, com-pound, outside the canvas enclosure, enclos-ure, where the elephant and ponies w ere picketed for the night Mahomet Klian had spent an hour In tho town visiting the houses of cer-tain cer-tain horse thieves and camel breeders When he returned lo the hippodrome all the lights were out and most of j the tent-coolies asleep The compound was deserted save for the weary bazugars stretched under the double-ringed awning. A mahout curled up inside the big fodder-bin blinked drowsily at the stalwart Afghan. I "No coffee for thee tonight, Mahomet Ma-homet Khan," he piped querulously. "No coffee!" The Mahommedan glanced resentfully at the smouldering , fire in the compound "Thy frond Futtah hath the coffee I In his tent." volunteered the mahout "He was there, with his pet, a little i w hile." The Afghan made no reply. His I great bulk flung an ominous shadow-across shadow-across the sleepers in the compound, j But even in their dreams the weary tent-coolies and bazugars seemed to shrink from his sandalled feet ns he passed Into the dark hippodrome. A sound of breathing attracted him tho little grunting noises of a man in distress. A dozen steps showed him Futtah Singh stooping over the wheel of his lion-hoiiBe, his right hand fumbling fum-bling inside the cage bars The Afghan's Af-ghan's eyes grew nimble with curiosity curi-osity "This is not the way to clean the house of a royal beast, Futtah Singh. Let me bring thee a water-hose and a light," be said quickly "The floor of the house Is not In need of a hose, Mahomet Khan. The light, as thou canst see, is on the floor " The tamer indicated a gleaming gleam-ing subBtnnce lying almost in the center cen-ter of the cage floor. "My diamond fell from my turban tonight while I performed with my beast. I did not miss it until now." Again he strained forward, his fingers almost touching the elusive gem. The Afghan smiled good-naturedly at his friend's futilo efforts "A man of thy occupation should not strain the muscles of him arm." he said blandly. Then turning the blue cloth about his own wrist he beckoned the tamer aside. "Get thou the coffee, friend Futtah, and let me reach for thy stone " He paused with his right hand on the slide bar. and allowed the glance to wander to the dark recess. "Where Is thv beast?" he whispered cautiously. cautious-ly. "Asleep In the cool house beyond after bis night's work. Do not fear him, Mahomet Khan; he would not hurt thee of all men. who knoweth the ways of lions bo well." "Not enough to keep the king of beasts from licking up thy jewel if he hath a dry tongue tonight," laughed the other. Stooping over the wheel, his long black arm shot under the side bar toward to-ward the softly flowing diamond in the center of the floor. For several moments he strained forward. hi3 whole weight pressing against the cage front Then a strango thing happened; the two upright stancions which supported j the framework of bars slid down about I five inches, pinning his arm to tho I floor of the cage. Suppressing a shout , of pain, he braced his shoulder against tho wheel aud sought with berserker strength to raise tho mass of iron the fraction of an inch. Sweat dripped from his brow and 'throat; the sinews of his imprisoned 1 forearm knotted and quivered under ; the terrific strain. With toes inturned , and shoulders hunched, he struggled silently for a while, only to discover that his writhing movements drew the merciless weight of iron deeper into his flesh. "Help me, Futtah Singh," he panted. "Quick . thou! This Iron is i stronger than my arm." But the tamer had slipped away into the shadows Of the Hippodrome, and the lonllness that afflicts men in the presence of unseen carnivore assailed Mahomet Khan. There arose in him a thought of the lion dozing within the open recess at the back of the cage. His call for help would surely bring the inquisitive brute to the bars For no seconds he leaned panting against the wheel of the cage, afraid to raise his voice or shake the mountainous moun-tainous weight of Iron that crunched into his flesh and bones. Iu bis day Mahomet Khan had endured en-dured the hunger and cold of naked Himalayan spaces, but his nerves leaped at the purring snarl that seeped seep-ed to run along the floor of the cage He pressed close to the wheel, breathing breath-ing in stifled groanB The snarling ceased within the recess; a black shadow with a towzled mane moved out, stopped, crept nearer, it 3 head flung up in lionesque wonder The head of Mahomet Khan shrank down to the level of the cage floor from the two glowing balls of Qre that stole cat-like towards him. Halfway across the cage the beast halted, and for the millionth fraction of time lion and man snarled at each other "Away, thou toothless dog! Away!" He shook his free hand at the glowing eyes, then smote with clenched fist through the bars For a moment it B emed as though his shut hand would batter itself to pulp against the lowered low-ered head and jaw. He ceased nB the lion crouched down deliberately before bim. and passed its dry. heavy tongue over his imprisoned hand. The strange contact, the dry, flexing I motion on tho back of his weather-toughened weather-toughened fist brought a scream of laughter from him at first hysterlacl, irrepressible, as the great red tongue scoured into his soft, fleshy palm. His sobbing laughter ceased abruptly, abrupt-ly, ended in a whimper of pain at the second stroke of the flesh-stripping tongue. The flst closed convulsively, but the tongue whipped it open, lapped I deeper with its blade-edge surface into the flinching brown palm. Again he sought with bis free hand to thrust away the great jaws, his fingers fin-gers dragging at the beast's lower lip. "Away, thou cur of Jehannum! Away!" To his maddened senses the great head had become as a glowing furnace, the outshooting tongue a mere strip of flame that scorched and devoured sinew and bone. His scream for help was answered from the shadows of a near caravan. "Remember the little ones in the Blbigarh at Cawnpore. Mahomet Khan Remember the women. Know thou what they felt when the dogs of Nana Sahib were driven into them" Strange noises happened within the hippodrome. A flock of vultures perched on the butcher's wagon rose In the darkness crying hoarsely Sultana, the elephant, rocked uneasily a' her picket-chain, and trumpeted shrilly as she plucked the sleeping mahout by the slee e The baggage coolies rose wearily at I the shouts for help; and then crawled from beneath the wagon "Allah be merciful! What has happened?" cried one. Entering the hippodrome armed with hay forks and bars of heated iron they discovered Mahomet Khan huddled over the wheel of the lion house, his head suuk forward. The proprietors of the Bengal hlp-' hlp-' podrome expressed iudignation and I surprise at the occurrence. All day I they were visited by detachments of native police, who exhibited a tireless i energy in piecing together details of I the affair It was discovered that tho heavy slidebarB of the lionhouse had been I tampered with. Holes had been drilled ' In the woodwork beneath the cage front, causing the ponderous iron frame to sink several inches the moment mo-ment it was shaken. Futtah Singh had vanished mysteriously mysteri-ously with his diamond If was suggested sug-gested by the police that he had grown tired of his occupation, like scores of other native animal tamers Kor weeks Mahomet Khan lingered between life and death in the little white-walled hospital at Seranpore. His abnormal vitality triumphed in the end and he emerged at the beginning of the Julv rains with his right hand missing. He was met by one of the hippodrome proprietors: who greeted him with guarded effusiveness "There has been evil talk circulated about thee of late, Mahomet Khan." he began gently. "That Biblgarh affair." "It is a lie!" burst from the emaciated emaci-ated fghan. "But I am none the less a braggart and a liar. Never was such a thing done by roe. The story I came to me from my father, who scrv-I scrv-I ed under the most noble Havelock. I l i will bring proof to tho most noble circus sahib that I was never in Cawn-' Cawn-' pore.'" Hereat the circus sahib offered him I a gift of 100 rupees to settle all claims j for the consideration Mahomet Khan i , pushed aside the money with his bandaged band-aged arm. "This silver is but dirt to me, sahib," i he "protested. "Give me work now that j I am strong again Give me thy lion j I to "tame, the one that spoiled this arm ; of mine, or by Allah I will cry out my j wrong to the government " In fear lest a heavy lawsuit might 1 be brought against them by the voluble and energetic Mohammedan, the proprietors pro-prietors of the Bengal Hippodrom ! gave him their lion to tame. DISCOUXAGIHG. Eva "And now some Danish scientist has discovered that there are germs in tears." Katharine "Gracious! With germs In tears and germs In kisses they must be trying to deprive poor worn-an worn-an of all pleasures in life " VANISHED WITH THE FROST. "Where are the knives and forks of last summer?" grumbled t j old farmer farm-er as he counted up the tableware after the last boarder bad left for the city i "And where are the "spoons' of la3t summer?" laughed the farmer's daughter as she gazed out at the j empty benches and hammocks. TEX DOLLARS A LEAK. "And when my day's work is through." said the fat plumber, "there is nothing I enjoy so much as dropping drop-ping off to sleep and dreaming." "And what are your favorite dreams9" asked the bosom friend. "Why. pipe dreams." What Struck Him. "Did anything about the defendant strike you as being out of the ordinary?" ordi-nary?" asked tho Judge of the plaintiff plain-tiff in a case of assault and battery. "Yes, your honor.'' was tho reply. "What was it?" queried the judge. "His flst," answered the plaintiff. They had been making hay while ths sun shone, and when they had finished finish-ed a high haystack the farmer's boy shouted from the top: "Say, mister, how am I going to get down?" The farmer considered the problem and flnallv solved it: i "Oh. jest shet yer ye an' walk around a bit" |