l
who came, even to the sick man, who ere the day was done was brought
to the Residency, and, out of danger and in his right mind, lay in the
shade of a banyan tree, thinking of nothing save the joy of living.

VIII. THE CHOOSING OF THE DAKOON

It was noon again. In the Hall of the Heavenly Hours all the chiefs and
great people of the land were gathered, and in the Palace yard without
were thousands of the people of the Bazaars and the one-storied houses.
The Bazaars were almost empty, the streets deserted. Yet silken banners
of gorgeous colours flew above the pink terraces, and the call of the
silver horn of Mandakan, which was made first when Tubal Cain was young,
rang through the long vacant avenues. A few hundred native troops and
a handful of hillsmen rode up and down, and at the Residency fifty
men kept guard under command of Sergeant Doolan of the artillery--his
superior officers and the rest of his comrades were at the Palace.

In the shade of a banyan tree sat the recovered victim of the Red Plague
and the beggar of Nangoon, playing a game of chuck-farthing, taught them
by Sergeant Doolan, a bowl of milk and a calabash of rice beside them,
and cigarettes in their mouths. The beggar had a new turban and robe,
and he sat on a mat which came from the Palace.

He had gone to the Palace that morning as Colonel Cumner had commanded,
that he might receive the thanks of the Dakoon for the people of
Mandakan; but he had tired of the great place, and had come back to play
at chuck-farthing. Already he had won everything the other possessed,
and was now playing for his dinner. He was still chuckling over his
victory when an orderly and two troopers arrived with a riderless horse,
bearing the command of Colonel Cumner for the beggar to appear at once
at the Palace. The beggar looked doubtfully at the orderly a moment,
then rose with an air of lassitude and languidly mounted the horse.
Before he had got half-way to the Palace he suddenly slid from the horse
and said:

"Why should I go? The son of the great Cumner promised for the Dakoon.
He tells the truth. Light of my soul, but truth is the greatest of all!
I go to play chuck-farthing."

So saying, he turned and ran lazily back to the Residency and sat down
beneath the banyan tree. The orderly had no commands to bring him by
force, so he returned to the Palace, and entered it as the English
Governor was ending his speech to the people. "We were in danger,"
sai