ou would not
want any one to know."

"Are you without mercy?"

"Mercy? I know not the word. But I have an ambition which surpasses
all other things. My wife you shall be, or worse. But legally, always
legally!" He laughed again and swiftly caught her in his arms. She
struggled like a tigress, but without avail. He covered her face and
neck with kisses, then thrust her aside. "Poor little fool! If you
had whined and whimpered I should have let you go long since. But
there burns within you a spirit I must conquer, and conquer I will!"

Kathlyn stood panting against a pillar. Had she held a weapon in her
hand she would have killed him without compunction, as one crushes a
poisonous viper.

"Legally! Why, all the crimes in Hind are done under that word. It is
the shibboleth of the British Raj. Legally! Come!"

"I will not stir!"

"Then be carried," he replied, beckoning his servants.

"No, no!"

"Ah! Well, then, we'll ride together in the palanquin."

To struggle would reward her with nothing but shame and humiliation; so
she bent her head to the inevitable. A passionate longing to be
revenged upon this man began to consume her. She wanted the feel of
his brown throat in her fingers; wanted to beat him down to his knees,
to twist and crush him. But she was a woman and she had not the
strength of a man.

"Behold!" cried Umballa later, as he entered the presence of the
council, "behold a slave of mine!" He pushed Kathlyn forward. "This
day I bought her for five thousand rupees."

The council stirred nervously.

"Do you not recognize her?" exultantly.

The council whispered to one another.

"Legally she is mine, though she has been a queen. But by running away
she has forfeited her rights to the law of the ordeals. Am I not
right?"

The council nodded gravely. They had not yet wholly recovered from
their bewilderment.

"On the other hand, her identity must remain a secret till I have
developed my plans," continued Umballa.

"You are all courting a terrible reprisal," said Kathlyn. "I beg of
you to kill me at once; do not prolong my torture, my misery. I have
harmed none of you, but you have grievously harmed me. One even now
seeks aid of the British Raj; and there are many soldiers."

The threat was ill timed.

The head of the council said to Umballa: "It would be wise to lock her
up for the present. We all face a great complication."

"A very wise counsel," agreed Umballa