= v By Mundy CHAPTER XVii—Continued. wn] Jn Morning looks down into Khinjan hours after the sun has risen, because the precipices shut it oat. But the | peaks on every side are very heacons | of the range at the earliest peep of dawn. In silence they watched day's | herald touch the peaks with rosy jew- | eled fingers—she waiting as if she ex- | pected the marvel of it all to make King speak. It was cold. She came and snug- gled close to him, and if was so they watched the sparkle of dawn's jewels die and the peaks grow gray again, she with an arm on his shoulder and strands of her golden hair blown past his face. “Of what are asked him at last. “Of India, princess.” “What of India?” “She lies helpless.” “Ah! You love India?" “Yes “You shall love me better! You shall love me better than your life! Then, | for love of me, you shall own the India | you think you love! This letter shall | go!" She tapped her bosom. “It best 3 You shall lose that you may win!” She got up and in the gap smiling mockingly, framed in the dark ness of the cave behind, “1 understand!” think you hate never shall see!” Her hands slipped into his, wion; her ey and | held them. And they did =o King sank. like a sack half-empty and top- pled over sidewise on He neither dre inything, ¢ i * you thinking?" she | is to stood “You and You sald. Love side. she are my enemy. side lived by ft soft 1 ana res fas tened on his ' the floor { "Ty asleep. amed but ought mesmerism har han he knew, Sts nor 8 con. like n her pt against itesmen, outlaws, and n early alwa) their big mistakes recover. Very n an apparently little mi most damage in the unnoticeable at the tal Stiike end, in geometrical stead of plus. Yasmini minute mesmerize power. weary. orders in his slee long thi volces, CHAPTER XVIIL When King awoke lay on a com- fortable bed in a ca ye had never yet seen, but » of Yas- ini f have how had sle 1 probed knew the whole irpose for which thous; had been ithering still. lawless and were Jt thwart tha the beginnii Behin of the with a less the the onl} fn high ledge above a dizzying ! ng the huge waterfall He } the upper rim K Ke Reems d not more than a quarter of a mile above him. that m below, very eag of Or lound the corner, ten feet from the entrance, stood a guard, armed to the with a rifle and a long curved Khyber knife handy in Lis girdle. As he looked, a teeth, n sword, two pistols stuck out to see the Cavern of Earth's Drink. The temptation was to fimg the brute after his victim. The tempta- tion always is to do the wrong thing— to cap wrath with wrath, injustice with | vengeance, That way wars begin and are never ended. King beckoned him into the eave, and bent over the chest of medical supplies. Then, finding the light better for his purpose at the en- trance, he called the man back and made him sit down on the box. The business of lancing boils is not especially edifying In itself : but that particular minor operation probably | jut for hope of it the man with the bolls would never have stood two turns on guard hand run-| ning and let the rellef sleep on; 80 he | n ‘ VAEN TF Who inl Liest! it was Got the Head That Else Why Are Thou My Men Let Thee Herel” uld not have been o ne to car heen man, expert with a k no tt ner and £0 place ir him (10, watch done well, and in with boils offered no fight. rifle and his In a moment the Orakzni in command of two rifles, ing from the in he seemed to regard as his plun pped his threw was King among women too. en appeared su ly Indifferent in any event, Won King A friend is and rare is nemy. warn a living In we mullah, swayioR | ng King “Why art | 1d slowly devouri yos. and ith eruel calculating « thou here?” “1 slew a man,” sald King. “Thou Hest! It was my me the head that let thee in! who got Speak ! man, came up the ledge. The man was armed. but the women were burdened with his own belongings-—the medicine | chest—his saddle and bridle—his un- rifled mul They came past the dumb man on guard and lald them all | at King's feet just inside the cave. fie smiled. with that genial, face transforming smile of his that has so often melted a road for him through | jut the man in charge | the women did not grin. He was suffering. He growled at the women and they fm minis, e-pack. gullen crowds, of went away like obedient half-way down the and awalt further orders. He hims ir follow them, and the drab man on guard did not pay much attention : bella nim, «t=pping one pace forward townrd the edge to That was his act in this wo. ld With a suddenness that disarmed all opposition the other humped himself against the whl and bucked ints the dumb man's back, sending to sit jedge made as to make more precipiee to the caverns into which tl Wee siked back to where King stood, “Now hen) wer my he sald grinning at las doubtless from pica ure 1 { the prospect, man who had stood on epard nt the Hates when King bola" sonve” {smail led But King did not answer. The mul inh resumed. “He who brought me the message who had it from a third, that thon art ere because she plans a simultaneous rising in India, and thou art from the Punjab where the Sikhs ail wait to | Is that true?” “Thy man sald it,” answered King. “Then hear me!” said the mullah ‘Listen, thou.” But he did not begin | to speak yet. He tried to see past King into the cave and to peer about into | the shadows, “Where is ghe? rise, he nsked. “Her the Khyber. But where is she?” So he had slept the clock round! | King did not answer, He blocked the | mullah, pmong The Orakzal Pathan crouched | eo women, and the women | grinned waltan stared Into King's face. with the scrutiny of a trader nnnraising loot, Fire leapod vp And with- wy A five Perhaps he knew It perhaps she snatched the keer 2 of the secret fromm him, At an he knew It and recognized fiing's likeness to the Sleeper. for his of the Sleeper. ing events ves hetenved him, He began to stroke his beard monotonously with one hand. | The rifle, that he pretended to be hold- ing, really leaned against his back and with the free hand he was making sig- nals, King knew well he was making sig- nals. But he knew that in Yas- mini's power, her prisoner, he had no chance at all of interfering with her plans. Having grounded on the bot- tom of impotence, so to speak, any tide that would take him off must be a good | tide. He pretended to be aware of | nothing, and to be particularly un- | aware that the Pathan, with a rifle in each hand, was pretending to come casually up the path, In a minute he was covered by a rifle. In another the mullah hands. In five minutes | more the women were loaded again | with his belongl too minute ngs and they were all | half-way down the track in single file, | the mullah bringing up the rear, de scending backward with rifle ready zninst surprise, as If he expected Yaos- nin! and her men to pounce out any to the rescue, They entered a tunnel and wound i it, stepping at short intervals bodies of three stabbed sen- The Pathan spurned them with ils heel as he pn In the glare at mouth King tripped over surth man and fell with 1e i of a the tries, Ww i sed. tho } ' ¢ fl fe in beyond pice, tl sheer vy were on a ledge above the wa- having throt the cliffs side, f¢ n is all rat-rus aga'n, come igh tion on WHS B ordered reas! two British medals, 1. “1 served the . yes!” he lnughed wos the aid in y eleven years.” you leave It?" King asked, loved t un Qo is a devil ling India consists ted on scorpions nt men 1king much of the gold that over id the There cold in the character of any man who in seeking dross, is ‘Hills! I am minded to go back and geek that pardon! It would feel good to stand in the ranks again, with a stiff-Hacked sahib ont in front of me, and the thunder of the gun-wheels go- ing by. The salt was good! Come thou with me!” “The pardon is for deserters” Eing objected, “not for political offenders.” down his flat hand hard on the hakim’s thigh. *“I will attesv} to that for thee. I will obtain my purdon first will I lead thee by the hand to knrnal sahib and lle to him and say, “This is the one who persuaded me against my will to come back to the nent!'"” “Thou art a dreamer!” sald King. “Untie my hands; the thong cuts me." The Pathon obey “Dreamer, such reg ad ni dreams, to see that drean ul who , and I who am ¢ y Bot win Th touched thee? 1 the ahd it n fight first on one side, then on other, being to either side while the ¢ the makings the “Hills,” nodded. ue antract lasts, In all there must of many regiments a them had worn them xe two,” he sald, ¢ speak with LOf and dost, a8 10 fifty 0 mene for The Pathan him back so hard that his eyes watered. “We wou h h tion.” King advi able to speak ¢ “Aye! it he would hav if she heard He thumped on the ave 10 use mud sed him, when he was gain, If Bull-with-a-beard got wi ified. of ¢ Us Crud comj wns silent ant of "we ng fi beside and K memory still er the long 14] 41 memory of , and of r and decency wii hand ‘ days do | orde nd sundry by gentlemen ed ou ! nk themselves (00 go wi yo tlic pent's uniform. the drill or,” he sald at last, was silend again for Af. more. “I could always * he murmured ; “I could aly to weara n “In two days ould do rain Af We there 4 ys When Muhammad Anim irgotten {to rep % ry 1 He mui “Come!” he ordered, with a sidewise obeyed. They marched downward “What Is Under Thy Shirt?” King Asked, enlistment ment, in a British-Indian regis It may need experience to lay a “I heard,” said King, “as I came to- ward the Khyber in great haste (for the police were at my heels)" “Ah, the police!” the Pathan grinned pleasantly. The inference was that at some time or other he had left his mark on the police, “f heard.” said King, “that the sirkar hns offered pardons to all deserters | who return.” “Heh! But thou art a hakim, not a | soldier I” “True 1” mad King. “In India I enrned my salt, I cweyed the law, Just before they entered it two of the muliah’'s men came up with them, leading horses. One horse King mount the other, showing him more respect than is usually shown a prisoner in the “Hills.” tunnel, and he seemed in deadly fear. him. He eyed each hole in the roof as If Yasmini might be expected to shoot down at him or drench him with boll ing oil and hurried pas each of them at a trot, only to draw rein immediate- ly afterward because the noise was too great, It became evident that his men had been at work here too, for at intervals along the passage Iny dead bgdies, Yas. mini must have posted the men there, but where was she? Each of them lay dead with a knife wound in his back, and the mullah's men possessed them solves of rifles and knives and car tridges, wiping off blood that had searcely coo'ed yet, When they came to the end of the tunnel it was to find the door into the mosque open mm front of them, ano twenty nore of Muhammad Aoim's nen standing guard over the eyelash. They bad bound and gagged him. At a word from Muham- mad Anim they loosed him; and at a threat the hairless one gave a signal that brought the great stone door slid. ing forward on its olled bronze grooves, Then, with a dozen jests thrown to the hairless for consolation, and an utter indifference to the sacredness of the mosque floor, they sought outer air, and Muham i] Anim led them up the Street of the Dwellings Khinjan's outer rai reached the outer dent and hurried valley beyond it. the wv the string of beads. was pra; to have many one in valle mul ing to one got Prayers of determined treache ks of his 1 creed that King rode all bu w of thel irdism. There Nn were \ expri “he shall keep lngt now and | unconscious v was not is treating ive on come to CHAPTER XIX. The march we "ne ot fas 5 on in sin died down in splendid i fury that Laas the orev $ began to be wind ° fn en were allowed no rest. At last at a pls gan to widen, the mullah ride beside him fn wished to be communi » Were thin veg ings 3 ¥ 1 beckoned + . thant ant ha 0ne King did not answer, but butt 3 his coat cioser the against keen wind. | t mullah mist the shudder for ¥ ’ One ol “Ind tace?" ook ind, thee only for thy “Did she not con- Does she love thee enough to ransom thee?” Again King did not answer, but he hed the mullahs face keenly In another k hy od she choo he asked. gider thy courage? $4 mic He decided the man was in doubt-—even racked by Indecision. “Should she not ransom thee, hakim, thou shalt have a chance to show my men how a man out of India can die! to send to her, gage clear Better make the mes- and urgent! Thou shalt own cause in the same letter. My He motioned with one sweep of his far below them. As they approached it the rock clove in two and became two great pillars, with a man on en h. J And between the pillars they looked | down into a valley lit by fires that burned before a thousand hide tents, with shadows by the hundred flitting back and forth between them. A dull roar, like the voice of an army, rose out of the gorge. “More than four thousand men!” gaid the mulleh proudly. “What are four thousand for a raid into India?’ ¢ ered King, greatly daring. “Wait and see!” growled the mullah; but he seemed depressed, Ie led the way downward, getting off his horse and giving the reins to a man. King copied him, and partway gliding, part stumbling down they found thelr way along the dry bed of a water-course between two spurs of a hillside, untli they stotd at last in the midst of a cluster of a dozen sentries, close to a tamarisk to which a man's body hung spiked. That the man had been spiked to It alive was suggested by the body's attitude, Without a word the mullah led on down a lane th st of open to gentries the roy ugh the toward great bonfire Watchers si ned at “So Thou Art to Ape the His Bronze Mail, Slecper in Eh!” own rifle In) Wiley h and ana € fre. “Oh, I chall for you this “HTL ' 8 each aried. Bal Ob attered into outer glo and then kneel to him and beg him wit curse, He kicked them and drove them aw: silhouetted in the cave mx glow of the fire before him, he st with folded dared shoot, After five minvtes of angry plation of the camp he turned on a contemptuous heel and came back to the fire, throwing on more fuel great pile in a corner. There was an fron®*pot In the embers. He seized a stick and stirred the contents furious. ly, then set the pot between his knees and ate like an animal. He passcd the pot to King when he had finished, but fingers had passed too many times through what was left in it and the very thought of eating the mess made his gorge rise: se King thanked him and set the pot aside. Then, “That is thy place!” Muham- mad Anim growled, pointing over his shoulder to a ledge of rock, like a shelf in the far wail, But though he was al- lowed to climb up and le down, he was not allowed to sleep-—nor did he want to sleep—for more than an hour to come, The mullah come over from the fire again and stood beside him, glaring like a great animal and grumbling in his beard. “Does she surely love thee? he psked at last, and King nodded, be cause he knew he was on the trail of information, “Qo thou art to ape the Sleeper In Lites bronze mail, eh? Thou art to come to life, ne she was sald to coms to life, and the two of you are to plunder India? Is that itY” (10 BE COMTINUR ¥ ore his rage, came , with the wore} them arms and contem- from a
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