Now I must e'en send him seventy miles across the hills
to be tried, and his keep for that time would be upon the state. And the
elephant eats everything."
"What be the man's crimes, Rajah Sahib?" said I.
"Firstly, he is an 'outlander,' and no man of mine own people. Secondly, since
of my favor I gave him land upon his coming, he refuses to pay revenue. Am I
not the lord of the earth, above and below--entitled by right and custom to
one-eighth of the crop? Yet this devil, establishing himself, refuses to pay a
single tax . . . and he brings a poisonous spawn of babes."
"Cast him into jail," I said.
"Sahib," the king answered, shifting a little on the cushions, "once and only
once in these forty years sickness came upon me so that I was not able to go
abroad. In that hour I made a vow to my God that I would never again cut man or
woman from the light of the sun and the air of God, for I perceived the nature
of the punishment. How can I break my vow? Were it only the lopping off of a
hand or a foot, I should not delay. But even that is impossible now that the
English have rule. One or another of my people"--he looked obliquely at the
director-general of public education--"would at once write a letter to the
viceroy, and perhaps I should be deprived of that ruffle of drums.
Pages:
1253
1254
1255
1256
1257
1258
1259
1260
1261
1262
1263
1264
1265
1266
1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277