The whole business is put up from beginning to end. Jove! It
almost astonishes ME! That Bronckhorst-beast isn't fit to live."
There was uproar and shouting, and Biel said:--"How are you going to prove it?
You can't say that you've been trespassing on Bronckhorst's compound in
disguise!"
"No," said Strickland. "Tell your lawyer-fool, whoever he is, to get up
something strong about 'inherent improbabilities' and 'discrepancies of
evidence.' He won't have to speak, but it will make him happy. I'M going to run
this business."
Biel held his tongue, and the other men waited to see what would happen. They
trusted Strickland as men trust quiet men. When the case came off the Court was
crowded. Strickland hung about in the verandah of the Court, till he met the
Mohammedan khitmatgar. Then he murmured a faquir's blessing in his ear, and
asked him how his second wife did. The man spun round, and, as he looked into
the eyes of "Estreeken Sahib," his jaw dropped. You must remember that before
Strickland was married, he was, as I have told you already, a power among
natives. Strickland whispered a rather coarse vernacular proverb to the effect
that he was abreast of all that was going on, and went into the Court armed
with a gut trainer's-whip.
Pages:
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780