ative. At length priest
turned to priest, and the wrinkled faces became more wrinkled still:
smiles.

"Highness," said the eldest, "we had thought of this, but you did not
make us your confidant."

"Till an hour gone it had not occurred to me. Shall Ramabai, then,
become your master, to set forth the propaganda of the infidel?"

"No!" The word was not spoken loudly, but sibilantly, with something
resembling a hiss. "No!"

"And shall a king who has no mind, no will, no strength, resume his
authority? Perhaps to bring more white people into Allaha, perhaps to
give Allaha eventually to the British Raj?"

Again the negative.

"But the method?"

Umballa smiled. "What brings the worshiper here with candles and
flowers and incense? Is it love or reverence or superstition?"

The bald yellow heads nodded like porcelain mandarins.

"Superstition," went on Umballa, "the sword which bends the knees of
the layman, has and always will through the ages!"

In the vault outside a bell tinkled, a gong boomed melodiously.

"When I give the sign," continued the schemer, "declare the curse upon
all those who do not bend. A word from your lips, and Ramabai's troops
vanish, reform and become yours and mine!"

"While the king lives?" asked the chief priest curiously.

"Ah!" And Umballa smiled again.

"But you, Durga Ram?"

"There is Ramabai, a senile king, and I. Which for your purposes will
you choose?"

There was a conference. The priests drifted away from Umballa. He did
not stir. His mien was proud and haughty, but for all that his knees
shook and his heart thundered. He understood that it was to be all or
nothing, no middle course, no half methods. He waited, wetting his
cracked and swollen lips. When the priests returned to him, their
heads bent before him a little. It represented a salaam, as much as
they had ever given to the king himself. A glow ran over Umballa.

"Highness, we agree. There will be terms."

"I will agree to them without question."

Life and power again; real power! These doddering fools should serve
him, thinking the while that they served themselves.

"Half the treasury must be paid to the temple."

"Agreed!" Half for the temple and half for himself; and the
abolishment of the seven leopards. "With this stipulation: Ramabai is
yours, but the white people are to be mine."

The priests signified assent.

And Umballa smiled in secret. Ramabai would be dead on the mor