University of Oregon monthly., November 01, 1908, Image 24

2$
U niversity
of
O regon M onthly
“Billy, do you know where the ruined temple of Muk Ru is?
It stands in the middle of a thick jungle, where the minra and the
snake-weëd grow. They’ll tell you ifc*g haunted, ..Billy, and don’t you
laugh at them, don’t you laugh. I laughed at them when they told
me. They couldn’t scare me . with their heathen story. They said
that in the early days the high priest Ram had killed the dancing
girl of the Punja Bakru when, she came there to worship, and since
then no one,'has passed through the gatgS^f the- ruined temple and
not gone mad. I laughed at them, Billy, when they'Told me. They
•couldn’t scare me with their heathenish sipry. They cotffdn’t-*-”
I saw that 'O ’Hean was becoming excited, .so I tried to change
this subject by asking him to pass me the decanter. > jBe filled my
glass and his hand shook like an old man with the palsy. He took
up the1 decanter, which was about half full, and throwing back his
head drank the remaining half almost at a’ swallow. Then he placed
it oh the table with a eiysh and turning,- cursed the waiter roundly
dor not bringing him a full one.
waiter looked at me inquir­
ingly and I raised my eyebrows slightly. kJJe.took the decanter and
■noiselessly left the room. O’Hean nervously lighted the cigar which
Tpassed to- him, and with a gravity that cpme^iBnly from old age or
strong drink, began wiping off the liquor he had spilt; on the-sleeve
,àï his coat. >Np'' sooner had the-'waiter returned with the filled de­
canter than O’Hean began his steady sip, sip, sip, and continued fpr
at least a quarter of an hour.
i B | went ►out to the Temple of -Mak Ru, Billy, ^boùt dusk.
Were you,ever in the jungle about duskr'^W ay in,deep, where the
.light just filters through the? "green tangle and everything is still,
where even the trees don’t seem to sound in the'w in’d, but juSt
wave and wave? You wouldn’t' like the tooks of the, Temple, Billy,
I didn’t like it. 'ïWHiîl fallen in, and the moss grOws,'over the idols
on the gate. Even the little creçk that runs over the rocks b^?he
side of the temple doesn’t make any sound, but just runs and runs.
I didn’t want to go inside, but they weren’t going to“- scare nié' with
their heathen story. S u t T*Was afraid to go in, Billy, I was afraid
to go in?’
I’lkWihit that O ’Hean had gotten On my nerves by $M^;time,
and Î-tried to persuadé him to take a.w§ik with me,' down Broadway.
ÉEiê , didn’t seem'to hear me, but kept Oh in the same monotonous
drawl, his blood-shot eyes shifting'1 now to one side Of thé room,