smiled, half disdainfully, half uneasily, and silence reigned
for a spell.

III. WHAT THE STARS ORDAINED

TOLD BY THE ASTROLOGER

"And now, master star-gazer, your proffered story," said the
tax-collector, bestirring the company from its meditative mood.

"As I have promised," responded the astrologer, "I shall recount an
experience that shows how the stars, if read aright, can tell us the
influences for good or for evil that weigh upon a man and inevitably
determine his destiny at the critical moments of his life. What is
written is written, and it is impossible to strive against fate."

"Nay," objected the Rajput, "that is a teaching of helplessness to which
I cannot subscribe--the pitiful excuse of the coward who folds his hands
in the hour of danger, or of the self-indulgent weakling who yields to
seductive temptation because his heart inclines to seize the pleasure of
the moment even when his conscience counsels otherwise. I hold that man
is the master of his own fate. Most assuredly have I been the master of
mine," he added with a proud smile, his fingers closing significantly on
the handle of a dagger at his belt.

"Be it so," answered the astrologer. "But as Allah knows everything that
is to happen, so must it happen."

"Which does not forbid the exercise of my own free will," argued the
Rajput. "The Supreme Being, the presiding power of creation, call him
Allah if you will, understanding my heart as he understands all things,
knows beforehand what choice of action I shall make at the moment of an
emergency. But that still leaves me responsible for the deed which I
elect to do. Such is my understanding of destiny. It gives
fore-knowledge to God, but leaves free will to man."

"From all of which I do not dissent," rejoined the astrologer. "It is
only the ignorant or the base that makes kismet the excuse for
helplessness or for wrongdoing. But as the stars under which a man is
born influence that man's acts, then does the reading of the stars guide
us as to what the future has in store."

"I know little about your stars," replied the Rajput. "But let us have
the story," he added, crossing his hands on his knees in an attitude of
expectancy. The astrologer, saluting his audience generally with a bow
of acquiescence, thus began:

* * * * *

"By your courtesy let me first explain, as necessary to the
understanding of the tale which is to follow, that I am from Pers