Kathlyn stepped upon the parapet. A great volume of smoke obscured her
for a moment. Out of the windows the vivid tongues of flame darted,
flashing upward. She summoned all her courage and waited for the call
of the man she loved. Inside a floor gave way with a crash and the
collateral walls of the building swayed ominously. A despairing roar
accompanied the thunder of falling beams. The lions had gone to their
death.
"Jump!"
Without hesitation Kathlyn flung herself into space. A murmur ran
through the crowd which had, for the moment, forgot its own danger in
the wonder of this spectacle. The men holding the net threw themselves
backward as Kathlyn struck the mesh. Even then her body touched the
street cobbles and she was bruised and shaken severely, but, oh, alive,
alive! There rose the great shouting which Umballa and the dancing
girl had heard.
Shortly after the house collapsed. The fire spread to the houses on
each side.
Bruce seized the bearer by the arm. "Now, the house which Umballa
entered?"
Eagerly enough the slave directed him. For all the abuse and beatings
the slave was to have his hour. But they found the house empty, except
for a chattering monkey and a screaming parrakeet, both attached to
pedestal perches. Bruce liberated them and returned to the colonel.
"Gone! Well, let him hide in the jungle, a prey to fear and hunger.
At least we are rid of him. But I shall die unhappy if in this life we
two fail to meet again. Kit!"
"John!" She withdrew from her father's arms and sought those of the
man who loved her and whom she loved, as youth will and must. "Let him
go. Why should we care? Take me to my sister."
Ahmed smiled as he and his men rolled the net. This was as it should
be. For what man was a better mate for his golden-haired Mem-sahib?
And then he thought of Lal Singh, and he choked a little. For Lal
Singh and he had spent many pleasant hours together. They had worked
together in play and in war, shared danger and bread and glory, all of
which was written in the books of the British Raj in Calcutta.
It was the will of Allah; there was but one God, and Mahomet was His
prophet. Then Ahmed dismissed Lal Singh and the past from his
thoughts, after the philosophical manner of the Asiatic, and turned to
the more vital affairs under hand.
At Ramabai's house there was a happy reunion; and on her knees Pundita
confessed to her lord how near she had been to Christian damnation.
She had fallen from grace; she had reverted to the old customs of her
race, to whom suicide was no sin, Ramabai took her in his arms and
touched the forehead with his lips.