Get ebook downloads in full at ebookmeta.

com

Commercialization of Hinterland and Dynamics of

Class Caste and Gender in Rural India 1st Edition
Supriya Singh

https://ebookmeta.com/product/commercialization-of-
hinterland-and-dynamics-of-class-caste-and-gender-in-rural-
india-1st-edition-supriya-singh/

OR CLICK BUTTON

DOWNLOAD NOW

Explore and download more ebook at https://ebookmeta.com

 Recommended digital products (PDF, EPUB, MOBI) that
you can download immediately if you are interested.

Autonomy and Power The Dynamics of Class and Culture in

Rural Bolivia Maria L. Lagos

https://ebookmeta.com/product/autonomy-and-power-the-dynamics-of-
class-and-culture-in-rural-bolivia-maria-l-lagos/

ebookmeta.com

Brown saviors and their others race caste labor and the
global politics of help in India 1st Edition Arjun Shankar

https://ebookmeta.com/product/brown-saviors-and-their-others-race-
caste-labor-and-the-global-politics-of-help-in-india-1st-edition-
arjun-shankar/
ebookmeta.com

The Routledge Companion to Caste and Cinema in India 1st

Edition Joshil K. Abraham

https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-routledge-companion-to-caste-and-
cinema-in-india-1st-edition-joshil-k-abraham/

ebookmeta.com

Engineering Mathematics - Volume I, Second Edition Sandeep

https://ebookmeta.com/product/engineering-mathematics-volume-i-second-
edition-sandeep/

ebookmeta.com
Theorizing Race in the Americas Douglass Sarmiento Du Bois
and Vasconcelos 1st Edition Juliet Hooker

https://ebookmeta.com/product/theorizing-race-in-the-americas-
douglass-sarmiento-du-bois-and-vasconcelos-1st-edition-juliet-hooker/

ebookmeta.com

A Prefect s Uncle 1st Edition P G Wodehouse

https://ebookmeta.com/product/a-prefect-s-uncle-1st-edition-p-g-
wodehouse/

ebookmeta.com

Novel Strategies and Approaches in Hypertension Therapy

1st Edition Hafize Uzun

https://ebookmeta.com/product/novel-strategies-and-approaches-in-
hypertension-therapy-1st-edition-hafize-uzun/

ebookmeta.com

Trouble on Paradise Craig Alanson

https://ebookmeta.com/product/trouble-on-paradise-craig-alanson/

ebookmeta.com

Professional C and NET 2021st Edition Nagel

https://ebookmeta.com/product/professional-c-and-net-2021st-edition-
nagel/

ebookmeta.com
Public-Private Partnerships in Transitional Nations :
Policy, Governance and Praxis 1st Edition Nikolai
Mouraviev
https://ebookmeta.com/product/public-private-partnerships-in-
transitional-nations-policy-governance-and-praxis-1st-edition-nikolai-
mouraviev/
ebookmeta.com
Commercialization
of Hinterland and
Dynamics of Class,
Caste and Gender
in Rural India
Commercialization
of Hinterland and
Dynamics of Class,
Caste and Gender
in Rural India
By

Supriya Singh
Commercialization of Hinterland and Dynamics of Class, Caste
and Gender in Rural India

By Supriya Singh

This book first published 2017

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2017 by Supriya Singh

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-4438-8647-5

ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-8647-5
 CONTENTS

List of Figures and Tables ......................................................................... vii

Abbreviations ............................................................................................. ix

Foreword .................................................................................................... xi
Rajesh Misra

Preface ....................................................................................................... xv

Chapter One................................................................................................. 1
Sociology of Land Transactions and Acquisitions: Relevant Concepts,
Theoretical Frameworks and Questions
Theoretical and Substantive Contexts of the Study
Land Reforms, the Green Revolution and Social Mobility
Urbanization, Industrialization and Rural Social Mobility
Land Prices, Acquisition, Transactions and Social Mobility
Relevant Sociological Issues and Questions
Lucknow: A Socioeconomic Profile

Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 37

Political Economy of Land Transactions and Acquisitions:
From Country to Countryside
Land and State in History
Contemporary Political Economy of India
Urbanization and Land
Land Acquisition Laws
Land Markets
Price Rise in Lucknow and Neighbouring Areas
Networking in Land Transactions
Escalating Land Transactions in the Villages: Factors and Conditions
Necessary Condition
Sufficient Condition
Contributive Condition
vi Contents

Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 63

Changing Rural Social Life in the Neighbourhood of Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh: A Socio-Economic Outline
Lucknow: A Fast-Growing Metropolis
Nearby Rural Towns and Selected Villages:
Economy, Society and Polity

Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 83

Caste and Trends of Social Mobility
Land Transactions and Change in Life Chances
Land Transactions and Change in Life Style
Land Transactions and Changing Power Structure

Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 97

The Rise of Rural Middle Class
Depeasantization and the Growth of a Rural Middle Class
Embourgeoisement and the Growth of Rural Middle Class
The Nature and Dynamics of the Emerging Rural Middle Class

Chapter Six .............................................................................................. 107

Land Transactions and Rural Women
Land Transactions and Social Mobility among Women

Chapter Seven.......................................................................................... 119

Land Transactions and Social Mobility: Trends and Issues
Conclusions

Appendix ................................................................................................. 127

Case Studies

References ............................................................................................... 139

Index ........................................................................................................ 147

 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figures
3.1 Percentage of Rural-Urban Population in India, Uttar Pradesh and
Lucknow
3.2 Map of Uttar Pradesh
4.1 Patterns of Farming at New Places Among Different Castes
4.2 Caste Distribution of Consumption Goods
4.3 The Size of Houses in Different Castes after Land Transactions (in
Square Feet)
6.1 Decision-Making Regarding Agriculture in Different Castes

Tables
2.1 Land Use Distribution, Basic Statistics
2.2 Comparison of Census Data of BKT Block
2.3 Price of Property and Land in Urban Areas
2.4 Participation in Market and Non-Market Land Transactions between
1981 and 1999
2.5 Price and Growth of Residential Land in Lucknow (1998–2002)
2.6 Market and Government Value of Residential Land in Lucknow
during 1999 and 2002
2.7 Recent Rates of Residential and Commercial Land in Different Areas
of Lucknow, Effective from 1-2-2013
2.8 Land Bank of LDA, Lucknow (in Acres)
3.1 Annual Compound Growth Rate of Rural Non-Farm Employment in
Uttar Pradesh and India
3.2 Lucknow at a Glance
3.3 A Brief Profile of BKT Block
3.4 The Villages at a Glance
3.5 Number of Boys and Girls Enrolled in the Village Schools Belonging
to Different Castes
4.1 Share of Non-agricultural Occupation in Total Rural Employment
4.2 Occupational Representation of Different Castes in Two Villages
4.3 All-India Proportion of Households of Different Social Groups
Possessing One Hectare of Land (in Percent)
viii List of Figures and Tables

4.4 Distribution of Land by Middle and Lower Castes before and after
Land Transactions
6.1 Land Transactions and Ownership of Newly Purchased Land
 ABBREVIATIONS

ASHA Accredited Rural Health Activist

BA Bachelor of Arts
BKT Bakshi Ka Talab
BJP Bharatiya Janata Party
BPL Below Poverty Line
BSP Bahujan Samajwadi party
CA Commercial Area
DM District Magistrate
KGMU King George Medical University
LDA Lucknow Development Authority
MA Master of Arts
NGO Non-Governmental Organizations
NSS National Sample Survey
NSSO National Sample Survey Organization
OBC Other Backward classes
SC Scheduled Castes
SP Samajwadi Party
SIA Social Impact Assessment
SCZ Special Economic Zones
SUV Sports Utility Vehicle
UP Uttar Pradesh
 FOREWORD

Agricultural land and issues concerning land are critical in a society

like India, where approximately 70 percent of the population depends on
agriculture. Right from the beginning of British colonialism in India, land
relations began to change due to various land settlements introduced by
the British rule in order to extract as much tax as possible. Initially, they
enacted the Permanent Zamindari Act in 1793, which brought about
significant changes in land relations, commencing the process of class
formation and social mobility in rural India.
For a century, the British Raj experimented with other kinds of
settlements and land acquisition acts, primarily for extracting surplus and
other commercial drives but occasionally for public purposes as well, e.g.,
railways, roads and canals. This unleashed processes of change and social
mobility at the village level in particular and the wider level in general. It
is also responsible for the initiation of the commodification of agricultural
land in India and the commencement of the land market. After a century,
the British government replaced various previous acts of land acquisition
with the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which continued even after India’s
independence. It was replaced only recently by The Right to Fair
Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Act, 2013. The British policies, over a period of time,
prompted the process of socioeconomic mobility as well as many
dysfunctional consequences for the rural society in India. It can be
considered the first phase of the social mobility and change in the agrarian
structure in modern India.
After independence, all provincial governments abolished earlier land
settlement acts, sooner or later, particularly the Permanent Zamindari Act.
The state initiated other land reforms, giving rise to a transformation in the
agrarian structure and the land market and having considerable effects on
the village society in India. This may be envisaged as the second phase of
the rural social mobility in India, bringing both the consequences –
upward mobility and downward mobility – simultaneously. It demolished
the intermediary class of landlords but at the same time gave rise to the
independent peasantry and entrepreneurial farmers. The land market
expanded too. With it there developed the fissiparous propensities in the
xii Foreword

rural social structure, resulting in peasant unrests and caste-cum-class

conflicts in rural India.
The third phase of rural social mobility started in the aftermath of the
state-directed globalization and neo-liberalization after 1991. Far-reaching
“economic reforms” were introduced, swaying all sectors of
socioeconomic life, including the agrarian sector. State intervention in
terms of various initiatives, acts, and policies created a valorized land
market throughout the nation, particularly in the metropolises, near large
cities and highways. Land acquisitions either by the government itself or
by private companies and land dealings for commercial purposes have
emerged as overpowering activities in urban fringes. Their impact on the
economy and society of nearby villages is rather prominent and can be
witnessed in the rise of the Gesellschaft, the rural middle class, heightened
social mobility and social disorganization in urban neighbourhoods.
Situated against this backdrop, the present volume is a sociological
appraisal of rural social mobility and the changing forms of social
stratification, with special reference to class, caste and gender, in the
selected fringe villages of a north Indian metropolis. The study is based on
the intensive study of households, and provides in-depth details. The
analysis of the nature of rural social mobility in terms of a rising rural
middle class and women’s empowerment in the domestic sphere is
noteworthy and a fresh perspective in the field. The commodification of
land and the charm of urban life and consumer culture act as catalytic
factors for more land coming to the market all the time. Increasing
urbanization and commercialization have opened up numerous prospects
for land transactions, making it a lucrative business. Successively, crony
capitalism keeps exerting pressure on the state agencies to acquire land for
the ulterior motive of earning profits, as much as possible, through land
dealings as well as the establishment of industries and other business
organizations. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land
Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, can be understood
as a balancing apparatus between the penetration of capital in the rural
land market on the one hand and, on the other, the interests of the rural
masses. The book deals with the social consequences of this phenomenon,
analyzing its implications for rural society in terms of downward and
upward rural social mobility and providing an overview of the land and
the state relationship over a longer period of time.
The authentic account and the fresh analytical perspective of the
volume make it useful to policy makers, planners, researchers and
concerned people. I hope that the present volume based on a
comprehensive study of the selected villages in a backward province of
 Commercialization of Hinterland and Dynamics of Class, Caste xiii
and Gender in Rural India

India will be appreciated by readers for its fresh viewpoint and insight into
land transactions and their concomitant effects on the social structure of
Indian villages.

Rajesh Misra
Professor
Department of Sociology
University of Lucknow
Other documents randomly have
different content
His body was doubled so that he could not use his hands to tear the
bag or strike out.
In two minutes he had relinquished all hope.
He began to wish that he had never heard of the Mahdi, or the
Mameluke.
But regrets were useless.
He knew he had to die.
Had it been on the battlefield, pitted against a foe, he would have
been proud to die—because he knew no disgrace would be attached
to it.
But to die in a sack, like a mangy dog or vicious cat, was so hurtful to
his self-respect and so humiliating that he cried with vexation.
The water got to his lungs. His stomach was full of it. His brain grew
dizzy.
The singing in his ears had become like the roaring of the waters of
a great cataract.
Mercifully unconsciousness came, and had not the conspirators
been discussing their schemes of rioting and rebellion at night by the
banks of the Nile, Madcap Max would never have been the hero of
this story.
Shula rubbed Max briskly.
He straightened out the madcap’s body and laid it face downward.
The conspirators began kneading the poor fellow’s back—sitting on
it, treading it, kneeling on it, and using every means of which they
knew to restore life.
“Get out of that and meet a fellow face to face.”
The words startled the conspirators.
They were uttered by Max, who, black and blue with the treatment
he had been subjected to, had revived with great suddenness.
He did not realize where he was, but he knew he was being hurt,
hence his calling out.
He jumped to his feet.
“Shula!” he exclaimed.
“Max!”
“Yes. How did you find me? Was I drowned? Where am I?”
“You are not drowned; you are by the Nile’s water, and the less you
say the longer you will be likely to live. Come—let us get home. Can
you walk?”
“Of course I can.”
Max started forward, but before his legs had moved a dozen times
he fell on his face.
The conspirators lifted him up, and as no conveyances were to be
found in Kordofan at that hour of the night, they had to carry him to
Shula’s residence.
Before morning’s dawn he had told his adventures and laughed at
the escapade.
“If ever the Mahdi rules in Kordofan I am going to see Lalla,” he said.
“I want to know more about her.”
“Not even the prophet could give you the right to enter any man’s
harem,” said Shula.
“Then your Mahdi must be a queer sort of fellow.”
Max was unable to talk longer, for he was naturally weak from his
struggles in the Nile.
Twenty-four hours elapsed before he was able to feel that he was
the strong athlete again.
When he awoke on the morning of the third day he heard cries which
roused him:
“Allah il Allah!”
“Long live the Mahdi!”
“Down with the foreigner!”
“The Mahdi has come!”
Max looked at Shula, but the merchant did not speak.
His face was white as that of a corpse. He knew that he had staked
all his property and his life on the riot which was then in progress.
“Is it true? Has the Mahdi come?”
“No, Max, but the people are expecting him.”
A heavy fusillade was heard on the streets, the windows were
shaken, and some panes of glass broken.
“What does it mean?”
“They are fighting,” answered Shula.
 CHAPTER XXX.
THE MAHDI’S JUSTICE.

“Fighting, and you here? Why are not you at the head of the Mahdi’s
friends?”
“I—stayed—with you.”
“Come! where is my sword?”
“It is here; but don’t go out. You will be killed—the soldiers wouldn’t
join the Mahdi, and they are shooting the people down.”
“Give me my Winchester and my sword.”
“It is madness.”
“Well, I am the madcap,” laughed Max; “but if I wasn’t I’d scorn to be
a coward.”
“A coward?”
“Yes, I said so, and I repeat—a coward.”
“Why do you call me that? I have fought in the army of Egypt.”
“Perhaps so. But did you not stir up this riot and are now afraid——”
“I am not afraid; but is it policy to risk so much?”
“Risk all—if by that means you save your honor.”
“But the people have no chance against the soldiers.”
“All the more reason why you should not desert them.”
“See what it means to me—loss of property, perhaps life.”
“Do as you like, most excellent Shula, but I am going to fight.”
“It is madness!”
“Give me my rifle and my sword.”
Max seized the weapons and rushed into the street.
He saw the rioting, and felt that Shula was right—the people had but
scant chance.
That made Max all the more determined.
He waved his sword above his head and rushed into the thickest of
the fight.
“Long live the Mahdi!”
At the sight of the paleface the soldiers fell back.
“I am an American,” shouted Max, “but I am with you. The Mahdi is a
native of your country, he is no foreigner. Strike for him, and let your
cry be Egypt for the Egyptian, the Soudan for the Soudanese!”
The people lost their fear.
Like demons they sprang on the soldiers, but the soldiers did not
return the fire.
Instead, they reversed their guns and retired.
The Egyptian officer was enraged.
“I’ll shoot the first man who deserts!” he shouted.
A number of the soldiers again shouldered arms, but the majority
kept them reversed.
Max saw the advantage he had gained.
He caught the bridle of a horse whose rider had fallen in the mêlée.
Vaulting into the saddle, he looked proud and defiant as he sat there,
like a veritable centaur.
“Soldiers, you believe in Mahomet! Hark ye! I have fought with the
great Mahdi. I have seen the thousands of Fashoda beaten back
when he waved his wand. He has no need of sword or scimiter; he
fights with his eyes, and when he waves his hand, armies fall back.”
The enthusiasm was great.
Max had won over most of the soldiers, and the others were
undecided.
The officer was furious.
“Ready!” he shouted, but very few of his men obeyed the call.
“Load! Aim! Fire!”
Half a dozen rifle shots were fired, but Max saw to his great joy that
the aim was too high to do any damage.
“Men! soldiers of the crescent!” he called out, “our fight is not against
you. The Mahdi is of your faith. Nay, more, he will restore the great
Mameluke kingdom. Every soldier of his will be greater than a pasha,
for the Mahdi is the last of the Mamelukes.”
The speech was listened to by soldiers and people, who wondered
who this young paleface could be.
The result was electrical.
Every rifle was reversed.
The officer was left alone to return to the fort—a commander without
soldiers.
At the time when Max so eloquently proclaimed the Mahdi,
Mohammed Achmet was close to the gates of the city. He heard the
cheering and the firing.
His face paled visibly, for he disliked bloodshed.
Half an hour later, riding between the Persian Sherif el Habib and the
Arab Mohammed, the Mahdi rode into the main street of Kordofan.
“The Mahdi!”
“The Mahdi has come!”
The cheers rose on the air.
Songs were sung—the soldiers fraternized with the people.
Everywhere the enthusiasm was intense.
Even the garrison joined in the cheering, and the officer handed his
sword to the Mahdi.
“I cannot fight without men,” he said, “so take my sword and use it
for truth and our faith.”
The Mahdi took the weapon, and immediately handed it back,
saying:
“General, you are a brave man. Take the sword, for you will use it as
only a brave man can.”
The fires of joy were lighted.
Houses were thrown open, and everywhere the Mahdi was
welcomed.
Mahmoud Achmet, when he saw that the Mahdi was triumphant,
came to offer the hospitality of his house to the conqueror.
Max recognized him, and after the man had said all he intended,
came forward.
“You threw a young man into the Nile. You enveloped him in a sack,
and drowned him.”
“It is he! I know it! The Mahdi is the Mahdi. He has raised this man
from the dead. All my wealth is his,” exclaimed Mahmoud.
Max saw the mistake the man had made. He, however, did not
contradict him, but allowed him to think that the power of the Mahdi
had indeed raised him from the dead.
He spoke privately to the Mahdi.
“Let him give me Lalla,” said Max.
“You spoke of your wealth,” said the Mahdi; “give this man the girl
called Lalla.”
Mahmoud fell to the ground.
He tore his hair and pulled out his beard.
“Woe is me, I cannot!”
“She is dead?” queried the Mahdi.
“Indeed it is true. Inshallah!”
Mahmoud then admitted that he was jealous of Max, and after
throwing him into the river, Lalla had refused to be comforted, had
called him a murderer, and refused to allow him to approach her.
Then it was that in his anger he ordered her to be drowned.
Max told of the brutal way in which Mahmoud acted.
The Mahdi called the pashas and beys together, and in the presence
of a great concourse of citizens, said:
“One of your number, Mahmoud Achmet, has at times made away
with such of his wives that displeased him. Now, therefore, to prove
to you how abhorrent such a thing is, it is my order that Mahmoud
Achmet be taken from here in the sack which he has provided for
others, and that he be thrown into the Nile.”
“Mercy!” cried the wealthy man—“mercy! I will give you wealth.”
“I do not want it.”
“All I have shall be yours!”
“It is mine already.”
One of the eunuchs connected with Mahmoud’s harem testified how
the wives were constantly beaten with whips.
“The same measure shall be meted out to Mahmoud,” said the
Mahdi; “it is fate.”
The man pleaded for his life, but the Mahdi was inexorable.
Mahmoud suffered the scourging from the hands of his own eunuch,
and was drowned in the Nile.
“It is fate! It is justice!” exclaimed the people, who were more than
ever enthused with the prophet and his cause.
 CHAPTER XXXI.
VICTORY ALL ALONG THE LINE.

Early on the following morning a man, riding at hot haste, asked for
the Mahdi.
He bore a letter to the prophet, and another to Sherif el Habib.
When the dispatch was opened the Mahdi read:
“To the illustrious Mahomet Ahmed, the Prophet, Imaum
and Mahdi:
“Greeting: Senaar resisted for several hours, but the flag
of the Mahdi floats over its fortress. The day is ours.
“Ibrahim.”
Sherif el Habib handed his document to the Mahdi.
“Dear uncle, we have fought and won,” ran the letter. “I
was wounded in the right foot and lost two toes, but that
was better than my life. The people were all with us, but
the soldiers fought bravely. It was a tough battle. The
commander gave me his sword, which I will send to the
Mahdi when I hear from him. How is Girzilla? Give her my
love. Is Max the Madcap alive? Of course he is. Tell him
not to play any pranks in Kordofan.
“Your loving nephew,
“Ibrahim.”
When the Mahdi had read the letters aloud to his staff, he called Max
to him.
“It was your plan which we adopted,” he said, “and we are victorious.
You are Max Pasha; and your nephew”—turning to Sherif—“is also
pasha, and is made governor of Senaar, while Max, here, shall be
governor of Kordofan.”
The people cheered the young governor.
Turning to the Mahdi, Max said:
“I thank you for the honor, but I am about to decline it.”
“You must not.”
“I am about to decline it after to-morrow. I want to be governor and
pasha for one day, because I am going back to America, and if I ever
go on the lecture platform the people will sooner pay a dollar to hear
a real live pasha, than a quarter if the speaker is only Madcap Max.”
The Mahdi laughed.
“Still thinking of the dollars?” he said.
“Yes,” answered Max; “and whenever you get tired of being the
Mahdi come over to New York and I will trot you round, and—oh, my!
won’t the dollars just flow into our pockets.”
But before the Mahdi could reply another dispatch was placed in his
hands.
It was from a trusty agent in the North.
“Giegler Pasha has placed the army of Khartoum under the
command of Yussuf Pasha Hassan,” it read, “and is marching with
five thousand men against you. Hicks Pasha, an Englishman, with
three thousand men, is marching from the northeast. You are to be
cut in two by these armies.”
“No! by the prophet—no!” exclaimed the Mahdi. “We will attack both
and exterminate them.”
The bugles called the army together and the march was ordered.
With a speed accelerated by the most fanatical enthusiasm, the
followers of the Mahdi started to meet Yussuf Pasha Hassan.
The soldiers of Khartoum were well disciplined veterans, but they
lacked enthusiasm.
The Mahdi—still without weapon—rode at the head of his people
and gave the words of command.
Like a cyclone tearing everything before it on a Western prairie, the
army of the Mahdi swept on the veterans commanded by Yussuf.
The Egyptians made a stubborn resistance at first, but the Mahdists
were more like fiends.
They seized the soldiers by their hair and deliberately cut their
throats.
It was a horrible carnage.
The Mahdi never struck a blow, never made any effort to defend
himself, but was ever in the thickest of the fight.
His brow shone as though it were gold.
His presence was remarkable.
Max fought with desperate valor.
At times he stood up in the stirrups to give himself more power in
striking a blow.
“The Mahdi forever!” he shouted, with every savage blow.
Yussuf saw the young fellow and knew that, next to the Mahdi, Max
was the most powerful leader.
Yussuf would not touch the Mahdi.
He was a trifle superstitious.
If Mohammed was the Mahdi, steel weapons could not kill him, and
Yussuf would not risk an encounter; so he rode through the fighting
demons until he reached the side of Max.
“The Mahdi forever!” shouted Max, as he suddenly wheeled round
and aimed a blow at Yussuf’s head.
The veteran officer parried the blow and made a lunge at Max.
But the American’s sword swung round with cyclonic speed, and
Yussuf’s sword merely struck the air.
As the heavy scimiters clashed together sparks of fire flew out, and
seemed to keep fiery time to the music of the steel.
Yussuf got angry.
“Do you also bear a charmed life?” he sneeringly asked, during a
pause in the duel.
“I am an American,” answered Max, “and fight for liberty.”
Again the fight was resumed.
Great heaps of dead were to be found in every direction.
The horses ridden by Yussuf and Max often had to kick and trample
down the dead and dying.
It was a fearful sight.
Yussuf fought bravely.
His left arm had been broken by Max, just below the shoulder, but he
would not give in.
“Surrender!”
“Never!”
“Then die!”
“I will, but you will go first.”
Max was of a different opinion, and he kept swinging round his
heavy scimiter with the strength of a giant.
Once, when Yussuf parried a blow, the weapon struck the horse’s
neck, almost severing the head from the body.
Yussuf was now at a disadvantage.
Max leaped from the saddle and stood by the Egyptian’s side.
“We are equal,” he said.
But it was scarcely the truth, for Yussuf had only one arm to fight
with.
The Egyptian slipped in a pool of blood, and as he did so a sword
still grasped by a dead man pierced his side.
The brave man could stand no more.
“I surrender!” he gasped, but it was not a surrender to Max, but to
the Great Creator, for as the man uttered the words the breath left
his body.
Out of four thousand seven hundred men—hale, hearty veterans—
who had marched under the crescent of Egypt that morning, only two
hundred and one survived at night.
The Mahdists did not lose more than four hundred men all told.
They did not stop to care for the wounded or bury the dead.
Another blow had to be struck, and this time at Hicks Pasha.
It was a two days march to Tokar.
At that place Hicks, with three thousand seven hundred and forty-six
men, met the advance guard of the Mahdists, led by Sherif el Habib
and Max.
The fighting was desperate, but seemed to be as favorable to the
Egyptians as the Mahdists, until the Mahdi himself arrived.
There was a charm and magnetism about the man which made him
irresistible.
His presence was equal to a thousand men.
In less than an hour the unfortunate Hicks was dead, and two
thousand three hundred and seventy-three of his men lay stiffening
under the tropical sun.
The defeat was a thorough one.
The Mahdi was now master of all the Soudan except Khartoum and
Equatoria, over which Emin Bey presided.
The people flocked to the Mahdi’s tent.
Dervishes proclaimed him to be the promised Imaum. In the
mosques his name was mentioned with that of the prophet, and the
people prostrated themselves when reference was made to him.
 CHAPTER XXXII.
“ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.”

A week of peace after the storm of war was delightful.

The army of the Mahdists was large enough to crush any force which
could be sent against it.
The officers took things easy.
Mohammed had brought his harem to the Mahdi’s headquarters, and
Ibrahim had received a furlough or leave of absence for two months.
This gave him plenty of time to be with Girzilla.
One day Girzilla sought out Max and whispered:
“I have found him.”
“Whom do you refer to?”
“The last of the Mamelukes.”
“And he is——”
“The Mahdi.”
“Are you sure, Girzilla?”
“Yes; by secret signs I discovered him, and he will restore the glories
of his race and bring the whole world to believe in Mahomet.”
Max went to the Mahdi and told him of his mission.
The tears came into the warrior prophet’s eyes as he heard Max tell
his story; how he had lost his father in the caves of the bandits, and
had been rescued by Girzilla.
When Max narrated how he had become enthused over the story of
the great Mameluke who escaped from Mohammed Ali, the Mahdi
embraced him.
“For my ancestors’ sake, you are doubly dear to me. Stay with me,
my son, and share in my triumph.”
“No—the work is done. I shall go back to my own land, and shall do
as other Americans have done before me—write a book, or tell on
the platform the story of the Mahdi, and the Mameluke.”
Max wanted to start at once, but Ibrahim pleaded with him to stay
until after his wedding with Girzilla.
This Max consented to do, and three weeks later a most impressive
wedding took place in the vestibule of a mosque at Kordofan.
The couple were united and blessed by the Mahdi.
The Imaum made some pertinent remarks, which were worthy of the
great prophet himself.
To Ibrahim, after praising his courage, he said:
“You have taken to yourself a wife. The Koran permits you to take
three others; but take my advice—cleave to the one. It is better, and
a new dispensation will so order. Treat Girzilla, not as others of our
race have been treated, but let her be your equal; for it is now written
that if you be faithful to her on earth the gates of Paradise will open
for you both, and she shall be your bride through all eternity.”
After spending the customary seven days in prayer and religious
observances, Ibrahim obtained permission to take his dusky bride on
a trip up the Nile in company with Max.
The cataracts were passed, and Cairo reached.
Girzilla pleaded so earnestly to continue the journey that her loving
husband accompanied her to Suez, where they bade farewell to
Madcap Max as the Peninsular and Oriental steamer steamed out of
the port.
Max had not noticed that it was the very vessel he had made the
journey on three years before.
He made himself known to the captain, and the tedium of the journey
was broken by the story of adventure told by the madcap.
When Max reached New York he found himself the head of the firm,
and the cares of business life caused him to relinquish the thought of
“coining dollars” on the lecture platform; but he made a solemn
promise to the author that some day he would tell him the story of his
life.

Two years passed, and the author asked the well-known and highly
respected merchant to tell the story.
“To-morrow come to us, be our guest for a week, and you shall know
all.”
“But——”
“My wife will welcome you as an old friend.”
Max had married a fairer woman than Girzilla, but many a time he
declared that no more true one ever lived than the Arab maiden.
When the author reached the Gordon uptown mansion on the
following day he was surprised to find so many evidences of the
Orient everywhere; but when, an hour later, Max took the author by
the hand and led him into a large parlor, he was still more surprised,
for there stood, waiting to receive him, Ibrahim and Girzilla.
Sherif el Habib was dead. His nephew had sold the shawl
manufactory, and found himself extremely wealthy.
He at once determined to make the “grand tour” of the world, and so
infatuated was he with the remembrance of Max, that nothing would
satisfy him but to commence the journey proper from New York.
That was how this story came to be written.
Max narrated it, but Ibrahim and Girzilla insisted on a more lavish
praise of the madcap than he would acknowledge he deserved.
Never was there a happier couple than the Persian and his lovely
bride, who does not look so dark and dusky in the modern American
clothing as she did on the deserts of Africa.
Ibrahim accepted the advice of the Mahdi, and declares that Girzilla
occupies every bit of his heart, and he could not take three more
wives, even if his religion ordered it.
Our story is told. All has ended happily for our madcap and his
friend, and although his heart turns sick sometimes as he thinks of
the carnage he witnessed, yet he says he shall always look back
with pride to the intimacy he had with Mohammed Ahmed, the Mahdi
and the Mameluke, the result of his trip “In the Volcano’s Mouth.”

THE END.
 TALES OF VICTORIES
Gained in the Pre-Revolutionary wars by lads of pluck
and intelligence. Every true boy will be fascinated with
these stories of the exciting adventures of boys who
gladly gave their lives to freedom’s cause.

BOYS OF LIBERTY LIBRARY

3.—The Young Ambassador. By John De Morgan
7.—The Young Guardsman. By John De Morgan
11.—Fighting Hal. By John De Morgan
15.—By Order of the Colonel. By Lieut. Lounsberry
19.—A Call to Duty. By Lieut. Lounsberry
23.—The Young Patriot. By Lieut. Lounsberry
26.—The Trader’s Captive. By Lieut. Lounsberry

Only Ten Cents Per Copy

At All Newsdealers
If ordered by mail, add four cents to cover
postage.
STREET & SMITH, Publishers
NEW YORK
 BOUND TO WIN A weekly publication devoted to high-class literature
LIBRARY for boys. Sept 14, 1905.

NO. 134

Charles Garvice’s New Stories

If you are a novel reader, you certainly must be waiting for the
appearance of a new novel from the pen of Charles Garvice. We
are glad to inform you that you will find it in

SMITH’S MAGAZINE
In the future, all of Charles Garvice’s new stories will appear in
this magazine, as he is under contract to write for it exclusively.
“DIANA’S DESTINY” is the title of a bright, original story, of
absorbing interest. It began in the April number and is still being
published.
If you are one of the vast army who have depended upon
cheap, occasional issues of early non-copyrights, of which there
are now no more by this author, you will find this new tale
distinctly refreshing.
In addition to a long installment of the Garvice story, there are
other features which make SMITH’S MAGAZINE one of the best
and most pleasing of all ten-cent publications.

PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED BY THE BEST

ARTISTS

PRICE, TEN CENTS Sold by all Newsdealers

156 FIFTH AVENUE
THE SMITH PUBLISHING HOUSE, NEW YORK
 Transcriber’s Notes:
Punctuation has been made consistent.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in the original
publication, except that obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
The following change was made:
p. 211: Korfodan changed to Kordofan (street of Kordofan.)