The Elephant God Part 13
He grinned at his son's ill-temper and replied briefly:
"The Rajah wishes to see thee, son."
"Why? Is there anything new?"
"I do not know. Thou art angry at being torn from the side of the English girl. Art thou to marry her? Why not be satisfied to wed one of thine own countrywomen?"
The younger man spat contemptuously.
"I would not be content with a fat Hindu cow after having known English girls. Thou shouldest see those of London, old man. How they love us of dark skin and believe our tales that we are Indian princes!"
The father leered unpleasantly.
"Thou hast often told me that these white women are shameless. Is it needful to pay the price of marriage to possess this one?"
"I want her, if only to anger the white men among whom I live," replied his son sullenly. "Like all the English out here they hate to see their women marry us black men."
"There is a white man in the Palace who is not like that."
"A white man in the Palace?" echoed his son. "Who is he? What does he here?"
"A Parliamentary-_wallah_, who is visiting India and will go back to tell the English monkeys in his country what we are not. He comes here with letters from the _Lat Sahib_."
"From the Viceroy?"
"Yes; thou knowest that any fool from their Parliament holds a whip over the back of the _Lat Sahib_ and all the white men in this land. This one hath no love for his own country."
"How knowest thou that?"
"Because the _Dewan Sahib_ loves him. Any foe of England is as welcome to the _Dewan_ as the monsoon rain to the _ryot_ whose crops are dying of drought. Thou wilt see this one, for he is ever with the _Dewan_, who has ordered that thou goest to him before seeing the Rajah.
"Ordered? I am sick of his orders," replied the son, petulantly. "Am I his dog that he should order me? I am not a Lalpuri now. I am a British subject."
"Thy father eats the Rajah's salt. Thou forgettest that the _Dewan_ found the money to send thee across the Black Water to learn thy trade."
The younger man frowned discontentedly.
"Well, I see not the colour of his money now. Why should I obey him? I will not."
"Softly, softly, son. There be many knives in the bazaars of the city that will seek out any man's heart at the _Dewan's_ bidding. Thou art a man of Lalpuri still."
His son rose discontentedly from his chair.
"_Kali_ smite him with smallpox. I suppose it were better to see what he wants. I shall go."
Admitted to the presence of the _Dewan_, Chunerb.u.t.ty's defiant manner dropped from him, for he had always held that official in awe. His swagger vanished; he bent low and his hand went up to his head in a salaam. The Premier of the State, a wrinkled old Brahmin, was seated on the ground propped up by white bolsters, with a small table, a foot high, crowded with papers in front of him. He was dressed simply and plainly in white cotton garments, a small coloured _puggri_ covering his shaved head. Although reputed the possessor of finer jewels than the Rajah he wore no ornaments.
Sprawling in an easy chair opposite him was a fat European in a tight white linen suit b.u.t.toned up to the neck. He evidently felt the heat acutely, and with a large coloured handkerchief he incessantly wiped his red face, down which the sweat rolled in oily drops, and mopped his bald head.
When Chunerb.u.t.ty entered the apartment the _Dewan_, without any greeting indicated him, saying:
"This, Mr. Macgregor, is an example of what all we Indians shall be when relieved of the tyranny of British officials and allowed to govern ourselves."
His English was perfect.
The bearer of the historic Highland name, whose appearance suggested rather a Hebrew patronymic, removed from his mouth the cigar that he was smoking and asked in a guttural voice:
"Who is the young man?"
The _Dewan_ briefly explained, then, turning to Chunerb.u.t.ty, he said:
"This is Mr. Donald Macgregor, M.P., a member of the Labour Party and a true friend of India. You may speak freely before him. Sit down."
The engineer looked around in vain for another chair. The _Dewan_ said sharply in Bengali, using the familiar, and in this case contemptuous, "thou":
"Sit on the floor, as thy fathers before thee have done, as thou didst thyself before thou began to think thyself an Englishman and despise thy country and its ways."
Chunerb.u.t.ty collapsed and sat down hastily on a mat. Then in English the _Dewan_ continued:
"Have you any news?"
"No; I have forwarded as they came all letters and messengers from Bhutan.
The troops--" He stopped and looked at the Member of Parliament.
"Continue. There is no need of secrecy before Mr. Macgregor," said the _Dewan_. "I have said that he is a friend of India."
"It's all right, my boy," added the Hebrew Highlander encouragingly. "I am a Pacifist and a socialist. I don't hold with soldiers or with keeping coloured races enslaved. 'England for English and India for the Indians' is my motto."
"Well, I have already informed you that there is no truth in the reports that troops were to be sent again to Buxa Duar," said Chunerb.u.t.ty, rea.s.sured. "On the frontier there are only the two hundred Military Police at Ranga Duar. They are Punjaubi Mohammedans. I made the acquaintance of the officer commanding them last night."
"Ah! What is he like?" enquired the _Dewan_, interested.
"Inquisitive, but a fool--like all these officers," replied the engineer contemptuously. "He noticed Narain Da.s.s on our garden and saw that he was a Bengali. He learned that others of us were employed on our estate and was surprised that Brahmins should do coolie work. But he suspected nothing."
"You are sure?" asked the _Dewan_.
"Quite certain."
The _Dewan_ shook his head doubtfully.
"These English officers are not always the fools they seem," he observed.
"We must keep an eye on this inquisitive person. Now, how goes the work among the garden coolies? Are they ripe for revolt?"
"Not yet on all the estates. They are ignorant cattle, and to them the Motherland means nothing. But on our garden our greatest helper is the manager, a drunken bully. He ill-treats the coolies and nearly kicked one to death the other day."
"That's how the Englishman always treats the native, isn't it?" asked the Hebrew representative of an English const.i.tuency.
"Always and everywhere," replied the engineer unhesitatingly, wondering if Macgregor were really fool enough to believe the libel, which one day's experience in India should have shown him to be false. But this foreign Jew turned Scotchman hated the country of his adoption, as only these gentry do, and was ready to believe any lie against it and eager to do all in his power to injure it.