CHAPTER XV
THE FEAST OF THE GODDESS KALI
The Rains were nearing their end, and with them the Darjeeling Season wasdrawing to a close. To Noreen Daleham it had lost its savour since Dermot'sdeparture. Her feelings towards Ida had undergone a radical change; heradmiration of and affection for her old schoolfellow had vanished. Her eyeswere opened, and she now saw plainly the true character of the woman whomonce she was proud to call her friend. The girl wondered that she couldhave ever been deceived, for she now understood the many innuendoes thathad been made in her hearing against Mrs. Smith, as well as many things inthat lady's own behaviour that had perplexed her at the time.
But towards the man her feelings were frankly anger and contempt. He hadrudely awakened her from a beautiful dream; for that she could neverforgive him. Her idol was shattered, never again to be made whole, so shevowed in the bitterness of her desolate soul. It was not friendship thatshe had felt for him--she realised that now. It was love. She had given himher whole heart in a girl's first, pure, ideal love. And he had despisedthe gift and trampled it in the mire of unholy passion. She knew that itwas the love of her life. Never could any man be to her what he had been.
But what did it matter to Dermot? she thought bitterly. She had passed outof his life. She had never been anything in it. He had been amused for anidle moment by her simplicity, tool that she was. What he had done, hadrisked for her, he would have done and risked for any other woman. Why didhe not write to her after his departure as he might have done? She almosthoped that he would, so that she could answer him and pour out on him, ifonly on paper, the scorn and disgust that filled her. But no; she would notdo that. The more dignified course would be to ignore his letteraltogether. If only she could hurt him she felt that she would accept anyother man's offer of marriage. But even then he wouldn't care. He hadalways stood aside in Darjeeling and let others strive for her favour. Andshe was put to the test, for first Charlesworth and then Melville hadproposed to her.
Though Noreen's heart was frozen towards her quondam friend, Ida neverperceived the fact. For the elder woman was so thoroughly satisfied withherself that it never occurred to her that any one whom she honoured withher liking could do aught but be devoted to her in return. And against thegranite of her self-sufficiency the iron of the girl's proud anger brokeuntil at length, baffled by the other's conceit, Noreen drifted back intothe semblance of her former friendliness. And Ida never remarked anydifference.
A hundred miles away Dermot roamed the hills and forest again. Theinterdict of the Rains was lifted, and the game was afoot once more.
The portents of the coming storm were intensified. Much that the DivisionalCommander, General Heyland, had revealed to him in their confidentialinterviews at Darjeeling was being corroborated by happenings in otherparts of the Peninsula, in Afghanistan, in China, and elsewhere. Signs werenot wanting on the border that Dermot had to guard. Messengers crossing andre-crossing the Bhutan frontier were increasing in numbers and frequency;and he had at length succeeded in tracking some of them to a destinationthat first gave him a clue to the seat and identity of the organisers ofthe conspiracy in Bengal.
For one or two Bhutanese had been traced to the capital of the Native Stateof Lalpuri, and others, having got into Indian territory, had been met byHindus who were subsequently followed to the same ill-famed town. But onceinside the maze of its bazaars their trail was hopelessly lost. It wasuseless to appeal to the authorities of the State. Their reputation and thecharacter of their ruler were so bad that it was highly probable that theRajah and all his counsellors were implicated in the plot. But how to bringit home to them Dermot did not know. By his secret instructions several ofthe messengers to and from Bhutan were the victims of apparent highwayrobbery in the hills. But no search of them revealed anything compromising,no treasonable correspondence between enemies within and without. The menwould not speak, and he could not sanction the proposals made to him bywhich they should be induced so to do.
The planters began to report to him a marked increase in the mutinousspirit exhibited by their coolies; arms were found in the possession ofthese men, and there was reason to fear a combined rising of the labourerson all the estates of the Duars. Dermot advised Rice to send his wife toEngland, but the lady showed no desire to return to her loudly-regrettedLondon suburb.
Every time that the Major met Daleham he expected to be told of Noreen'sengagement, perhaps even her wedding. But he heard nothing. When hefound that Fred was beginning to arrange for her return to Malpura andthat--instigated by Chunerbutty--he refused to consider the advisabilityof her remaining away until conditions were better in the Terai, Dermotpersuaded him to replace his untrustworthy Bengali house-servants byreliable Mussulman domestics, warlike Punjaubis, whom the soldierprocured. They were men not unused to firearms, and capable of defendingthe bungalow if necessary.
He and Badshah, who was happy to have his man with him again, keptindefatigable watch and ward along the frontier. Sometimes Dermot assembledthe herd, which had learned to obey him almost like a pack of hounds, and,concealed among them, penetrated across the border into Bhutan and exploredhidden spots where hostile troops might be concentrated. Only rarely awandering Bhuttia chanced to see him, and then the terrified man would veilhis eyes, fearing to behold the doings of the terrible Elephant God.
The constant work and preoccupation kept Dermot from dwelling much onNoreen. Nevertheless, he thought often of the girl and hoped that she wouldbe happy when she married the man she was said to have chosen. He felt nojealousy of Charlesworth; on the contrary, he admired him as a goodsportsman and a manly fellow, as well as he could judge from the littlethat he had seen of him. The very fact that the girl who was his friend hadchosen the Rifleman as her husband, according to Mrs. Smith, made him readyto like the man. He was not in love with the girl and had no desire tomarry, for he was wedded to his profession and had always held that asoldier married was a soldier marred.
Thus while Dermot thought far seldomer of Noreen, whom he acknowledged tohimself he liked more than any other woman he had ever met, she, whoassured herself every day that she hated and despised him, could not keephim out of her mind. And all the more so as she began to have doubts of thetruth of Ida's story. For the girl, who could not resist watching herfriend's post every day, much as she despised herself for doing it,observed that no letter ever came to Mrs. Smith in Dermot's handwriting.And, although Ida had talked much and sentimentally of him for days afterhis departure, she appeared to forget him soon, and before long wasengrossed in a good-looking young civilian from Calcutta. Bain had longsince left Darjeeling.
Could it all have been a figment of the woman's imagination andvanity?--for Noreen now realised how colossally vain she was. Had shemisunderstood or, worse still, misrepresented him? But that thought wasalmost more painful to the girl than the certainty of his guilt. For ifit were true, how cruelly, how vilely unjust she had been to the man whohad saved her at the peril of his life, the man who had called her hisfriend, who had trusted in her loyalty! No, no; better that he wereproved worthless, dishonourable. That thought were easier to bear.
Sometimes the girl almost wished that she could see him again so that shemight ask him the truth. She could learn nothing now from Ida, who calmlyignored all attempts to extract information from her. Yet how could shequestion him, Noreen asked herself. She could not even hint to him that shehad any knowledge of the affair, for her friend had divulged it to her inconfidence. If only she were back at Malpura! He might come to her againthere and perhaps of his own free will tell her what to believe of him. Butwhen in a letter she broached the subject of her return to her brother,Fred bade her wait, for he hoped that he might be able to join her inDarjeeling for a few days during the Puja holidays.
During the great festival of Durga-Puja, or the Dussera, as it is variouslycalled, no Hindu works if he can help it, especially in Bengal. As allGovernment and private offices in Calcutta are closed for it, everyEuropean there, who
can, escapes to Darjeeling, twenty-four hours away byrail, and the Season in that hill-station dies in a final blaze ofsplendour and gaiety in the mad rush of revelry of the Puja holidays. AndFred hoped that he might he there to see its ending, if Parry would keepsober long enough to let his assistant get away for a few days. When hereturned, Daleham wrote, he would bring Noreen back with him.
Dermot's activities on the frontier were not passing unmarked by the chiefconspirators in Lalpuri. His measures against their messengers focussedattention on him. The _Dewan_, a far better judge of men and things thanChunerbutty, did not make the mistake of despising him merely because hewas a soldier. The old man realised that it was not wise to count Britishofficers fools. He knew too well how efficient the Indian MilitaryIntelligence Department had proved itself. So he began to collectinformation about this white man who might seriously inconvenience them orderange their plans. And he came to the conclusion that the inquisitivesoldier must be put out of the way.
Assassination can be raised to a fine art in a Native State--where a man'slife is worth far less than a cow's if the State be a Hindu one--providedthat the prying eyes of British Political Officers are not turned that way.True, Dermot was in British territory, but in such an uncivilised part ofit that his removal ought not to be difficult considering his habit ofwandering alone about the hills and jungle.
So thought the _Dewan_. But the old man found to his surprise that itwas very difficult to put his hand on any one willing to attemptDermot's life. No sum however large could tempt any Bhuttia on eitherside of the border-line, or any Hindu in the Duars. Even the Brahminextremists acting as missionaries on the tea-gardens fought shy of him.Superstition was his sure shield.
Then the _Dewan_ fell back on the bazaar of Lalpuri City. But in that denof criminals there was not one cut-throat that did not know of the terribleElephant God-Man and the appalling vengeance that he had wreaked on theRajah's soldiers in the forest. The _Dewan_ might cajole or threaten, butthere was not one ruffian in the bazaar who did not prefer to risk hisanger to the certainty of the hideous fate awaiting the rash mortal thatcrossed the path of this dread being who fed his magic elephants on theliving flesh of his foes.
The _Dewan_ was not baffled. If the local villains failed him an assassinmust be imported from elsewhere. So the extremist leaders in Calcutta,being appealed to, sent more than one fanatical young Brahmin from thatcity to Lalpuri, where they were put in the way to remove Dermot. But whenin bazaar or Palace his reputation reached their ears they drew back. Onewas sent direct from Calcutta to the Terai, so that he would not be scaredby the foolish tales of the men of Lalpuri. But his first enquiries amongthe countryfolk as to where to find Dermot brought him such illuminatinginformation that, not daring to return unsuccessful to those who had senthim, he turned against his own breast the weapon that he had meant for theBritish officer.
Then the _Dewan_ sent for Chunerbutty and took counsel with him, as beingmore conversant with European ways. And the result was a cunning andelaborate plot, such as from its very tortuousness and complexity wouldappeal to the heart of an Oriental.
The Rajah of Lalpuri, being of Mahratta descent, tried to copy in manythings the great Mahratta chiefs in other parts of India, such as theGaekwar of Baroda and the Maharajah Holkar of Indore. He had long beenanxious to imitate Holkar's method of celebrating the Dussera or DurgaFestival, particularly that part of it where a bull is sacrificed in publicby the Maharajah on the fourth day of the feast. The _Dewan_ had alwaysopposed it, but now he suddenly veered round and suggested that it shouldbe done. In Indore all the Europeans of the cantonment and many of theladies and officers from the neighbouring military station of Mhow werealways invited to be present on the fourth day. The old plotter proposedthat, similarly, some of the English community of the Duars, the CivilServants and planters, should receive invitations to Lalpuri. It would seemonly natural to include the Officer Commanding Ranga Duar. And to temptDermot into the trap Chunerbutty suggested Noreen as a bait, undertaking topersuade her brother to bring her.
The Rajah was delighted at the thought of her presence in the Palace. The_Dewan_ smiled and quoted two Hindu proverbs:
"Where the honey is spread there will the flies gather," said he. "Any lureis good that brings the bird to the net."
The consequence of the plotting was that Noreen Daleham, fretting inDarjeeling at having to wait for her brother to come there for the Pujaholidays, received a letter from him saying that he had changed his mindand had accepted an invitation from the Rajah of Lalpuri for her andhimself to be present at the celebrations of the great Hindu festival atthe Palace. She was to pack up and leave at once by rail to Jalpaiguri,where he would meet her with a motor-car lent him for the purpose by theLalpuri Durbar, or State Council. If Mrs. Smith cared to accompany her aninvitation for her would be at once forthcoming. Fred added that he wasmaking up a party from their district which included Payne, Granger, andthe Rices. From Lalpuri Noreen would return with him to Malpura.
The girl was delighted at the thought of leaving Darjeeling sooner than shehad expected. To her surprise Ida announced her intention of accompanyingher to Lalpuri. But the fact that her Calcutta friend was returning to thecity on the Hoogly and that by going with Noreen she could travel with himas far as Jalpaiguri explained it.
Chunerbutty, deputed by the Rajah to act as host to his European guests,met Daleham's party when they arrived at the gates of Lalpuri andconducted them to the Palace. They passed through the teeming city withits thronged bazaar, its narrow, winding streets hemmed in by theoverhanging houses with their painted walls and closely-latticed windowsthrough which thousands of female eyes peered inquisitively at the whitewomen, the brightly dressed crowds flattening themselves against thewalls to get out of the way of the two cavalry soldiers of the Rajah'sBodyguard who galloped recklessly ahead of the car. Soon they reachedthe _Nila Mahal_, or Blue Palace, as His Highness's residence wascalled, with its iron-studded gates, carved doors, and countless woodenbalconies. A swarm of retainers in magnificent, if soiled, gold-lacedliveries filled the courtyards, and bare-footed sepoys in red coats,generally burst at the seams and lacking buttons, and old shakoes withwhite cotton flaps hanging down behind, guarded the entrance.
A wing of the Palace had been cleared out and hastily furnished in anattempt to suit European tastes. The guests were accommodated in roomsfloored with marble, generally badly stained or broken. Two large chamberstiled and wainscoted with wonderfully carved blackwood panels wereapportioned as dining-hall and sitting-room for the English visitors. Allthe windows of the wing, many of them closely screened, looked on an innercourtyard which was bounded on two sides by other buildings of the Palace.The fourth side was divided off from another courtyard by a high blank wallpierced by a large gateway, the leaves of the gate hanging broken anduseless from the posts.
Ida and Noreen were given rooms beside each other and were amused at theheterogeneous collection of odd pieces of furniture in them. The oldfour-posted beds with funereal canopies and moth-eaten curtains hadprobably been brought from England a hundred years before. In smallchambers off their rooms, with marble walls and floors, and windowsfilled with thin slabs of alabaster carved in the most exquisite traceryas delicate as lace, galvanised iron tubs to be used as baths lookedsadly out of place.
When they had freshened themselves up after their long motor drive theywent down to the dining-hall, where lunch was to be served. And when sheentered the room the first person that Noreen saw was Dermot, seated at asmall table with Payne and Granger.
On his return from a secret excursion across the Bhutan border the Majorhad found awaiting him at Ranga Duar the official invitation of the LalpuriDurbar. He was very much surprised at it; for he knew that the State hadnever encouraged visits from Europeans, and had, when possible, invariablyrefused admission to all except important British officials, who could notbe denied. Such a thing as actually entertaining Englishmen of its ownaccord was unknown in its annals. So he stared at t
he large card printed ingold and embossed with the coat-of-arms of Lalpuri in colours, and wonderedwhat motive lay behind the invitation. That it betokened a fresh move inthe conspiracy he was certain; but be the motive what it might he was gladof the unexpected opportunity of visiting Lalpuri and meeting those whom hebelieved to be playing a leading part in the plot. So he promptly wrote anacceptance.
He reached the Palace only half an hour before Daleham's party arrived fromanother direction, and had just met his two planter friends when Noreenentered the room. He had not known that she was to be at Lalpuri. The threemen rose and bowed to her, and Dermot looked to see if Charlesworth werewith her. But only the two women and Daleham followed Chunerbutty as he ledthe way to a table at the far end of the room.
There were about twenty English guests altogether, eight or nine of whomwere from the district in which Malpura was situated, the Rices among them.The rest were planters from other parts of the Duars, a few members of theIndian Civil Service or Public Works Departments, and a young DeputySuperintendent of Police from Jalpaiguri.
At Chunerbutty's table the party consisted of the Rices, one of the CivilServants, the Dalehams, and Noreen's friend. The planter's wife neglectedthe man beside her to stare at Mrs. Smith, taking in every detail of herdress, while Ida chattered gaily to Fred, whose good looks had attractedher the moment that she first saw him on the platform of Jalpaiguristation. She was already apparently quite consoled for the loss of herCalcutta admirer.
Noreen sat pale and abstracted beside Chunerbutty, answering his remarks inmonosyllables, eating nothing, and alleging a headache as an explanation ofher mood. The unexpected sight of Dermot had shaken her, and she dreadedthe moment when she must greet him. Yet she was anxious to witness hismeeting with Ida, hoping that she might glean from it some idea of howmatters really stood between them.
After _tiffin_ a move was made into the long chamber arranged as theguests' lounge. Here introductions between those who had not previouslyknown each other and meetings between old acquaintances took place; andwith an inward shrinking Noreen saw Dermot approaching. She was astonishedto observe that Ida's careless and indifferent greeting was responded to byhim in a coldly courteous manner almost indicative of strong dislike. Thegirl wondered if they were both consummate actors. Dermot turned to her. Hespoke in his usual pleasant and friendly manner; but she seemed to detect atrace of reserve that he had never showed before. She was almost tooconfused to reply to him and turned with relief to shake hands with Payneand Granger, who had come up with him.
Chunerbutty played the host well, introduced those who were strangers toeach other, and saw that the Palace servants, who were unused to Europeanhabits, brought the coffee, liqueurs, and smokes to all the guests, wherethey gathered under the long punkah that swung lazily from the paintedceiling and barely stirred the heated air.
As soon as it was cool enough to drive out in the State carriages andmotor-cars that waited in the outer courtyard, the afternoon was devoted tosight-seeing. Chunerbutty, in the leading car with Noreen and the DistrictSuperintendent of Police, acted as guide and showed them about the city.Dermot noted the lowering looks of many of the natives in the narrowstreets, and overhead more than one muttered insult to the English racefrom men huddling against the houses to escape the carriages.
The visitors were invited by Chunerbutty to enter an ornate temple ofKali, in which a number of Hindu women squatted on the ground before agigantic idol representing the goddess in whose honour the Puja festivalis held. The image was that of a fierce-looking woman with ten arms,each hand holding a weapon, her right leg resting on a lion, her left ona buffalo-demon.
"I say, Chunerbutty, who's the lady?" asked Granger. "I can't say I likeher looks."
"No, she certainly isn't a beauty," said the Brahmin with a contemptuouslaugh. "Yet these superstitious fools believe in her, ignorant people thatthey are."
He indicated the female worshippers, who had been staring with malevolentcuriosity at the English ladies, the first that most of them had ever seen.So these were the _mem-logue_, they whispered to each other, theseshameless white women who went about openly with men and met all the worldbrazenly with unveiled countenances. And the whisperers modestly drew their_saris_ before their own faces.
"She is the goddess Kali or Durga, the wife of Shiva, one of the HinduTrinity. She is supposed to be the patron of smallpox and lots of otherunpleasant things, so no wonder she is ugly," continued Chunerbutty.
"Oh, you have goddesses then in the Hindu religion," observed Idacarelessly.
"Yes, Mrs. Smith; but these are the sort we have in India," he answeredwith an unpleasant leer. "The English people are more fortunate, for theyhave you ladies."
The remark was one that would have gained him smiles and approbation fromhis female acquaintances in the Bayswater boarding-house, but Ida glaredhaughtily at him and most of the men longed to kick him.
Dreading a cutting and sarcastic speech from her friend, Noreen hurriedlyinterposed.
"Isn't the Puja festival in her honour, Mr. Chunerbutty?"
"Yes, Miss Daleham, it is. It is another of these silly superstitions ofthe Hindus that make one really ashamed of being an Indian. The festival ismeant to commemorate the old lady's victory over a buffalo-headed demon.Hence the weird-looking beast under her left leg."
"And do these people really believe in that sort of rot?" asked Mrs. Rice.
"Oh, yes, lots of the ignorant, uneducated lower class do," replied theatheistical Brahmin. "Durga is the favourite deity. Her husband and Krishnaand old Brahma are back numbers. The fact is that the common people areafraid of Kali. They think she can do them such a lot of harm."
"What does the festival consist of, old chap?" asked Daleham. "What do theHindus do?"
"Well, the image is worshipped for nine days and then chucked into thewater," replied the engineer. "Tomorrow, the fourth day, is the one onwhich the sacrifices are made--sheep, buck goats, and buffaloes are used.Their heads are cut off before this idol and their heads and blood areoffered to it. Tomorrow you'll see the Rajah kill the bull that is to bethe sacrifice. At least, he'll start the killing of it. Now, we'll go alongback to the Palace."
The visitors' dinner that night was quite a magnificent affair. Thecatering for the time of their stay had been confided to an Italian firmin Calcutta. The cooking was excellent, but the waiting by the awkwardPalace retainers was very bad. The food was eaten off the Rajah's Statesilver service, made in London for his father for the entertainment of aViceroy. The wine was very good. So the guests enjoyed their meal, andmost of them were quite prepared to think the Rajah a most excellentfellow when, at the conclusion of the meal, he entered the dining-roomand came to the long table to propose and drink the health of theKing-Emperor. He left the room immediately afterwards. This is the usualprocedure on the part of Hindu rulers in India, since they are precludedby their religion and caste-customs from eating with Europeans.
After dinner the guests went to the lounge, where coffee was served. Theybroke up into groups or pairs and sat or stood about the room chatting.Mrs. Rice, who had been much impressed by Ida's appearance and expensivegowns, secured a chair beside her and endeavoured to monopolise her,despite many obvious snubs. At last Ida calmly turned her back on her andcalled Daleham to talk to her. Then the planter's wife espied Dermotsitting alone and pounced on him. He had tried to speak to Noreen afterdinner, but it was so apparent that she wished to avoid him that he gave upthe attempt. He endured Mrs. Rice's company with admirable resignation, butwas thankful when the time for "good-night" came at last.
The men stayed up an hour or two later, and then after a final "peg" wentoff to bed. Dermot walked upstairs with Barclay, the young police officer,who was his nearest neighbour, although the Major's room was at the end ofthe building and separated from his by a long, narrow passage and severalempty chambers.
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