1896. 



TlIK AMEIUCAN BEE-KKEPKR. 



141 



dure. He acciinipaiiied Miss Vezzis to 

 mass one Sunday, and after ma-ss, walk- 

 ing home thr<nigh the hot stale dust 

 with her hand in his, he swore by sev- 

 eral saints — whose names would not in- 

 terest you — never to forget Miss Vezzis, 

 and she swoix^ by her honor and the 

 saints — the oath i-nns rather curiously, 

 "In nomine sanctissimaB" — (whatever 

 the name of the she saint is) and so 

 forth, ending with a kiss on the fore- 

 head, a kiss on the left cheek, and a 

 kiss on the mouth — never to forget Mi- 

 chele. 



Next week Michele was transferred, 

 and Miss Vezzis dropped tears upon the 

 window sa.'^h of the "intermediate" 

 compartuK lit as he left the station. 



If you look at the telegi*aph map of 

 India, you will see a long line skirting 

 the coast from Baekcrgunge to Madi'as. 

 Michele was crdcred to Tibasu, a little 

 suboffice cne-third down this line, to 

 send messages on from Berhampur to 

 Chicacola, and to think of Miss Vezzis 

 and his chances of getting 50 rupees a 

 month out of office hours. He had the 

 noise of the bay of Bengal and a Ben- 

 gali baboo for company — nothing more. 

 He sent foolish letters, with crosses 

 tucked inside the flaps of the envelopes, 

 to Mi.ss Vezzis. 



"When he had been at Tibasu for 

 nearly three weeks, his chance came. 



Never forg(H that unless the outward 

 and visible signs of our authority are 

 always beft.re a native he is as incapa- 

 ble as a child of understanding what 

 authority means or where is the danger 

 of disobeying it. Tibasu was a forgotten 

 little place vv'ith a few Orissa Moham- 

 taedajis. i:^ it. TJiese. hearins nothing 

 of the collector sahib for some time and 

 heartily deS'pisiug the Hindoo subjudge, 

 iarranged to .^lart a little Mohurrum riot 

 of their own. But the Hindoos turned 

 out and broke their heads. Wlieu, find- 

 ing lawlessness pleasant, Hindoos and 

 Mohammedr.ns together rai.sed an aim- 

 less sort Oi Bonny brook just to see how 

 far they could go. They looted each 

 other's shops, and paid off private 

 grudges in the regulai* way. It was a 

 nasty little riot, but not worth putting 

 in the newspapers. 



Michele v.-as working in his office 

 •when he heard the sound that a man 

 never forgp'.s all his life — the "ah yah!" 



Oi an ;;. .-^. e^.v, a. (WLen Ihaf sound 

 drops ab.-ut tliree tones and changes to 

 a thick, droning ut, (he man who hears 

 it had bettci' go av.'ay if he is alone. ) 

 The native police inspector ran in and 

 told Micheln that the town was in an 

 uproar and coming to wreck the tele- 

 graph oi^iee. The baboo put on his cap 

 and quietly dropped out of the window, 

 while the police inspector, afraid, but 

 obeying the old race instinct, which 

 recognizes a drop of white blood as far 

 as it can be diluted, said, "What orders 

 does the sahib give?" 



The saliib decided Michele. Though 

 hon-ibly frightened, ho felt that for the 

 hour he, the man with the Cochin Jew 

 and the menial uncle in his pedigree, 

 was the only repre.^entative of English 

 authority in the place. Then he thought 

 of Miss Vezzis and the 50 rupees, and 

 took the situation on himself. There 

 were seven native policemen in Tibasu, 

 and four crazy smoothbore muskets 

 among them. All the men were gray 

 with fear, but not beyond leading. Mi- 

 chele dropped the key of the telegraph 

 instrument and went out at the head of 

 his army to meet the mob. As the shout- 

 ing crew came round a corner of the 

 road he dropped and fired, the men be- 

 hind him loosing instinctively at 'the 

 same time. 



The whole crowd — curs to the back- 

 bone — yelled and ran, leaving one man 

 dead and another dying in the road. Mi- 

 chele was sweating with fear, but he 

 kept his weakness under, and went 

 down into the town past the house 

 where the subjudge had barricaded him- 

 self. The streets were empty. Tibasu 

 was more frightened than Michele, for 

 the mob had been taken at the right 

 time. 



Michele returned to the telegraph of- 

 fice and sent a message to Chicacola 

 asking for liclp. Before an answer came 

 he received a deputation of the elders of 

 Tibasu, telling him that the subjudge 

 Baid his actions generally were "uncon- 

 Btitutional" and trying to bully him. 

 But the heart of Michele d'Cruze was 

 big and white in his breast because of 

 his love for Miss Vezzis, the nursegirl 

 and because he had tasted for the first 

 time responsibility and .success. Those 

 tPWO make an intoxicating drink, and 

 have ruined more men thim ever has 

 •^v^hisky. Michele answered that the sub- 



