They see these things, and though they cannot explain
them, they persist in treating us all as if we were mere jugglers.
"They prefer to deny the evidence of their own senses rather than
admit that we have powers such as they have not; and so, even in
the eyes of our own countrymen, we have lost our old standing and
position, while the whites would bribe us with money to divulge
the secrets in which they profess to disbelieve. No wonder that
we hate you, and that we long for the return of the old days, when
even princes were glad to ask favors at our hands. It is seldom
that we show our powers now. Those who aid us, and whose servants
we are, are not to be insulted by the powers they bestow upon us
being used for the amusement of men who believe in nothing.
"The Europeans who first came to India have left records of the
strange things they saw at the courts of the native princes. But such
things are no longer done for the amusement of our white masters.
Thus, then, for years I have worked against you; and just as I
saw that our work was successful, just as all was prepared for the
blow that was to sweep the white men out of India, you saved my
daughter; then my work seemed to come to an end. Would any of my
countrymen, armed only with a whip, have thrown themselves in the
way of a tiger to save a woman--a stranger--one altogether
beneath him in rank--one, as it were, dust beneath his feet?
That I should be ready to give my life for yours was a matter of
course; I should have been an ungrateful wretch otherwise.
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