The Diamond of Kali

by O. Henry

　　

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The original news item concerning the diamond of the goddess Kali washanded in to the city editor. He smiled and held it for a moment abovethe wastebasket. Then he laid it back on his desk and said: "Try theSunday people; they might work something out of it." The Sunday editor glanced the item over and said: "H'm!" Afterward he sentfor a reporter and expanded his comment. "You might see General Ludlow," he said, "and make a story out of this ifyou can. Diamond stories are a drug; but this one is big enough to befound by a scrubwoman wrapped up in a piece of newspaper and tucked underthe corner of the hall linoleum. Find out first if the General has adaughter who intends to go on the stage. If not, you can go ahead withthe story. Run cuts of the Kohinoor and J. P. Morgan's collection, andwork in pictures of the Kimberley mines and Barney Barnato. Fill in witha tabulated comparison of the values of diamonds, radium, and veal cutletssince the meat strike; and let it run to a half page." On the following day the reporter turned in his story. The Sunday editorlet his eye sprint along its lines. "H'm!" he said again. This time thecopy went into the waste-basket with scarcely a flutter. The reporter stiffened a little around the lips; but he was whistlingsoftly and contentedly between his teeth when I went over to talk with himabout it an hour later. "I don't blame the 'old man'," said he, magnanimously, "for cutting itout. It did sound like funny business; but it happened exactly as I wroteit. Say, why don't you fish that story out of the w.-b. and use it?Seems to me it's as good as the tommyrot you write." I accepted the tip, and if you read further you will learn the facts aboutthe diamond of the goddess Kali as vouched for by one of the most reliablereporters on the staff. Gen. Marcellus B. Ludlow lives in one of those decaying but venerated oldred-brick mansions in the West Twenties. The General is a member of anold New York family that does not advertise. He is a globe-trotter bybirth, a gentleman by predilection, a millionaire by the mercy of Heaven,and a connoisseur of precious stones by occupation. The reporter was admitted promptly when he made himself known at theGeneral's residence at about eight thirty on the evening that he receivedthe assignment. In the magnificent library he was greeted by thedistinguished traveller and connoisseur, a tall, erect gentleman in theearly fifties, with a nearly white moustache, and a bearing so soldierlythat one perceived in him scarcely a trace of the National Guardsman. Hisweather-beaten countenance lit up with a charming smile of interest whenthe reporter made known his errand. "Ah, you have heard of my latest find. I shall be glad to show you what Iconceive to be one of the six most valuable blue diamonds in existence." The General opened a small safe in a corner of the library and broughtforth a plush-covered box. Opening this, he exposed to the reporter'sbewildered gaze a huge and brilliant diamond -- nearly as large as ahailstone. "This stone," said the General, "is something more than a mere jewel. Itonce formed the central eye of the three-eyed goddess Kali, who isworshipped by one of the fiercest and most fanatical tribes of India. Ifyou will arrange yourself comfortably I will give you a brief history ofit for your paper. General Ludlow brought a decanter of whiskey and glasses from a cabinet,and set a comfortable armchair for the lucky scribe. "The Phansigars, or Thugs, of India," began the General, "are the mostdangerous and dreaded of the tribes of North India. They are extremistsin religion, and worship the horrid goddess Kali in the form of images.Their rites are interesting and bloody. The robbing and murdering oftravellers are taught as a worthy and obligatory deed by their strangereligious code. Their worship of the three-eyed goddess Kali is conductedso secretly that no traveller has ever heretofore had the honour ofwitnessing the ceremonies. That distinction was reserved for myself. "While at Sakaranpur, between Delhi and Khelat, I used to explore thejungle in every direction in the hope of learning something new aboutthese mysterious Phansigars. "One evening at twilight I was making my way through a teakwood forest,when I came upon a deep circular depression in an open space, in thecentre of which was a rude stone temple. I was sure that this was one ofthe temples of the Thugs, so I concealed myself in the undergrowth towatch. "When the moon rose the depression in the clearing was suddenly filledwith hundreds of shadowy, swiftly gliding forms. Then a door opened inthe temple, exposing a brightly illuminated image of the goddess Kali,before which a white-robed priest began a barbarous incantation, while thetribe of worshippers prostrated themselves upon the earth. "But what interested me most was the central eye of the huge wooden idol.I could see by its flashing brilliancy that it was an immense diamond ofthe purest water. "After the rites were concluded the Thugs slipped away into the forest assilently as they had come. The priest stood for a few minutes in the doorof the temple enjoying the cool of the night before closing his ratherwarm quarters. Suddenly a dark, lithe shadow slipped down into thehollow, leaped upon the priest; and struck him down with a glitteringknife. Then the murderer sprang at the image of the goddess like a catand pried out the glowing central eye of Kali with his weapon. Straighttoward me he ran with his royal prize. When he was within two paces Irose to my feet and struck him with all my force between the eyes. Herolled over senseless and the magnificent jewel fell from his hand. Thatis the splendid blue diamond you have just seen -- a stone worthy of amonarch's crown." "That's a corking story," said the reporter. "That decanter is exactlylike the one that John W. Gates always sets out during an interview." "Pardon me," said General Ludlow, "for forgetting hospitality in theexcitement of my narrative. Help yourself." "Here's looking at you," said the reporter. "What I am afraid of now," said the General, lowering his voice, "is thatI may be robbed of the diamond. The jewel that formed an eye of theirgoddess is their most sacred symbol. Somehow the tribe suspected me ofhaving it; and members of the band have followed me half around theearth. They are the most cunning and cruel fanatics in the world, andtheir religious vows would compel them to assassinate the unbeliever whohas desecrated their sacred treasure. "Once in Lucknow three of their agents, disguised as servants in a hotel,endeavoured to strangle me with a twisted cloth. Again, in London, twoThugs, made up as street musicians, climbed into my window at night andattacked me. They have even tracked me to this country. My life is neversafe. A month ago, while I was at a hotel in the Berkshires, three ofthem sprang upon me from the roadside weeds. I saved myself then by myknowledge of their customs." "How was that, General?" asked the reporter. "There was a cow grazing near by," said General Ludlow, "a gentle Jerseycow. I ran to her side and stood. The three Thugs ceased their attack,knelt and struck the ground thrice with their foreheads. Then, after manyrespectful salaams, they departed." "Afraid the cow would hook?" asked the reporter. "No; the cow is a sacred animal to the Phansigars. Next to their goddessthey worship the cow. They have never been known to commit any deed ofviolence in the presence of the animal they reverence." "It's a mighty interesting story," said the reporter. "If you don't mind I'll take another drink, and then a few notes." "I will join you," said General Ludlow, with a courteous wave of his hand. "If I were you," advised the reporter, "I'd take that sparkler to Texas.Get on a cow ranch there, and the Pharisees --" "Phansigars," corrected the General. "Oh, yes; the fancy guys would run up against a long horn every time theymade a break." General Ludlow closed the diamond case and thrust it into his bosom. "The spies of the tribe have found me out in New York," he said,straightening his tall figure. "I'm familiar with the East Indian cast ofcountenance, and I know that my every movement is watched. They willundoubtedly attempt to rob and murder me here." "Here?" exclaimed the reporter, seizing the decanter and pouring out aliberal amount of its contents. "At any moment," said the General. "But as a soldier and a connoisseur Ishall sell my life and my diamond as dearly as I can." At this point of the reporter's story there is a certain vagueness, but itcan be gathered that there was a loud crashing noise at the rear of thehouse they were in. General Ludlow buttoned his coat closely and sprangfor the door. But the reporter clutched him firmly with one hand, whilehe held the decanter with the other. "Tell me before we fly," he urged, in a voice thick with some inwardturmoil, "do any of your daughters contemplate going on the stage?" "I have no daughters -- fly for your life -- the Phansigars are upon us!"cried the General. The two men dashed out of the front door of the house. The hour was late. As their feet struck the side-walk strange men of darkand forbidding appearance seemed to rise up out of the earth and encompassthem. One with Asiatic features pressed close to the General and dronedin a terrible voice: "Buy cast clo'!" Another, dark-whiskered and sinister, sped lithely to his side and beganin a whining voice: "Say, mister, have yer got a dime fer a poor feller what --" They hurried on, but only into the arms of a black-eyed, dusky-browedbeing, who held out his hat under their noses, while a confederate ofOriental hue turned the handle of a street organ near by. Twenty steps farther on General Ludlow and the reporter found themselvesin the midst of half a dozen villainous-looking men with high-turned coatcollars and faces bristling with unshaven beards. "Run for it!" hissed the General. "They have discovered the possessor ofthe diamond of the goddess Kali." The two men took to their heels. The avengers of the goddess pursued. "Oh, Lordy!" groaned the reporter, "there isn't a cow this side ofBrooklyn. We're lost!" When near the corner they both fell over an iron object that rose from thesidewalk close to the gutter. Clinging to it desperately, they awaitedtheir fate. "If I only had a cow!" moaned the reporter -- "or another nip from thatdecanter, General!" As soon as the pursuers observed where their victims had found refuge theysuddenly fell back and retreated to a considerable distance. "They are waiting for reinforcements in order to attack us," said GeneralLudlow. But the reporter emitted a ringing laugh, and hurled his hat triumphantlyinto the air. "Guess again," he shouted, and leaned heavily upon the iron object. "Yourold fancy guys or thugs, whatever you call 'em, are up to date. DearGeneral, this is a pump we've stranded upon -- same as a cow in New York(hic!) see? Thas'h why the 'nfuriated smoked guys don't attack us --see? Sacred an'mal, the pump in N' York, my dear General!" But further down in the shadows of Twenty-eighth Street the marauders wereholding a parley. "Come on, Reddy," said one. "Let's go frisk the old 'un. He's beenshown' a sparkler as big as a hen egg all around Eighth Avenue for twoweeks past." "Not on your silhouette," decided Reddy. "You see 'em rallyin' round ThePump? They're friends of Bill's. Bill won't stand for nothin' of thiskind in his district since he got that bid to Esopus." This exhausts the facts concerning the Kali diamond. But it is deemed notinconsequent to close with the following brief (paid) item that appearedtwo days later in a morning paper. "It is rumored that a niece of Gen. Marcellus B. Ludlow, of New York City,will appear on the stage next season. "Her diamonds are said to be extremely valuable and of much historicinterest."

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