added from
time to time showers of scalding water. We saw red heads bobbing up
and down in the hut. The family of Namgay Doola were aiding their
sire, and blood-curdling yells of defiance were the only answers to
our prayers.

'Never,' said the King, puffing, 'has such a thing befallen my State.
Next year I will certainly buy a little cannon.' He looked at me
imploringly.

'Is there any priest in the Kingdom to whom he will listen?' said I,
for a light was beginning to break upon me.

'He worships his own God,' said the Prime Minister. We can starve him
out.'

'Let the white man approach,' said Namgay Doola from within. All
others I will kill. Send me the white man.'

A rabbit-faced villager, with a blush-rose stuck behind his ear,
advanced trembling. He had been in the conspiracy, but had told
everything and hoped for the King's favour.

The door was thrown open and I entered the smoky interior of a
Thibetan hut crammed with children. And every child had flaming red
hair. A raw cow's tail lay on the floor, and by its side two pieces
of black velvet--my black velvet--rudely hacked into the semblance of
masks.

'And what is this shame, Namgay Doola?' said I.

He grinned more winningly than ever. 'There is no shame,' said he. 'I
did but cut off the tail of that man's cow. He betrayed me. I was
minded to shoot him, Sahib. But not to death. Indeed not to death.
Only in the legs.'

'And why at all, since it is the custom to pay revenue to the King?
Why at all?'

'By the God of my father I cannot tell,' said Namgay Doola.

'And who was thy father?'

'The same that had this gun.' He showed me his weapon--a Tower musket
bearing date 1832 and the stamp of the Honourable East India Company.

'And thy father's name?' said I.

'Timlay Doola,' said he. 'At the first, I being then a little child,
it is in my mind that he wore a red coat.'

'Of that I have no doubt. But repeat the name of thy father thrice or
four times.'

He obeyed, and I understood whence the puzzling accent in his speech
came. 'Thimla Dhula,' said he excitedly. 'To this hour I worship his
God.'

'May I see that God?'

'In a little while--at twilight time.'

'Rememberest thou aught of thy father's speech?'

'It is long ago. But there is one word which he said often. Thus
"_Shun_." Then I and my brethren stood upon our feet, our hands to
our sides. Thus.'

'Even so. And what was thy mother?'

'A woman of the hills. We be Lepchas of