"
IV.
An Indian city that has yet to have its mysterie's laid bare and
banished by electric light is a stage deliberately set for massacre.
The bazaars run criss-crosswise; any way at all save parallel, and
anyhow but straight. Between them lies always a maze of passages,
and alleys, deep sided, narrow, overhung by trellised windows and
loopholed walls and guarded stairways.
For every square inch where the sun can shine there are a hundred
where a man could hide unseen. Through century piled on suspicious
century, no designer, no architect, no builder has neglected to provide
a means of secret ingress, and still more secret egress, to each new
house. And the newest house is built on secret passages that hid
conspirators against the kings of men who lived before the oldest
house was thought of.
After the Mutiny of '57 came broader roads--so that a cannon might
be trained along them.
But in '57, Jailpore was a nest of winding alley-ways and blind bat
and rat holes, where weird smells and strange unlisted poisons and
prophecies were born.
Pages:
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55