THE CENTRE REPORTER. CENTRE HALL. Pa. SITS [ mare on the path below missed her | assured them that, ridiculous though 18 | was not a Rangar at all. but fhe, and footing and fell a dozen feet. only to! CHAPTER XXIi-—Continued. ee Ge But out of the corner of his eye, and once ar twice by erately, King saw that Ismail was taking the members of his new band What he said was a mystery, but as they talked each man looked at King. And the more they talked the better pleased they seemed. And as the day wore on the more deferential they grew. By midday if King wanted to dismount there were three at least to hold his stirrup and ten to help him mount again. Four thousand men with women and children and baggage do not move so swiftly as one man or a dozen, espe- clally in the *“*Hills,” where discipline is reckoned beneath a proud honor, There were many miles to go before Khinjan when night fell and the mullah bade them camp. He b: them camp because they would have done it otherwise in any case, When the evening meal was eaten, and sentries had been set at every van- tage point, there another order the mullah. The women and children were to be left in camp next dawn, and to remain there until sent for. There was murmuring that round the camp, and especially among sing's contingent. King lauizhed, “It is good !” he said, “Why? How they him “Bid your women make for the Khy- yer soon after the mulinh marches to- norrow. Bid them the Shyber until we and they meet!” “But—"" “Please yourselves, The 1kim's air was one of supremest in- lifference. “As for me, 1 leave vomen behind me in the mountains { am content.” They murmured znve the to King watched the w Even as Yasmin! h ried him before temj the must wen the East ent Ismail for ikely that her course v As. If he falled, she wi alm. If he succeeded in est strong position of his own, s vleld. With or without with or without his enmi control his eighty lip to the mullah, and he went at once ibout the best to do both, “We will go he “That sentry yonder hig back turned. He 1 We will rush © it good runnin betw and the muliah” Surprised into obedien lighted the pros wonder why they sh de came from + nt ark »ut gee aul ad 807 asked ravel down gahibs! a while, they their omen nod, orders nd tester be watel repeats that ablishing men in ns im and pt een us , and too de- action to at made ready. horse and he King's word al the I wWRY They tossed him over sorefnm an on either shouted, they 8 of + t knew SWoop on gentry ¢ him unawares. the cliff, too thougt them startled to sentries and wind-bl nlarm; and hand heard were gone like before t} lead men 1e mullah even what was happening. They did not ha: not one of could rman another yard, King his horse to find a footing long the cliff-tops, and to the wen to find the way. iit until them trusting to CHAPTER XXII. “Whither?” one whispered to King. “To Khinlan!” he answered: and that was enough Each wh to the other, and th all fired with curiosity more potent than money bribes, When he halted at last and dis- nounted and sat down and the strag- tlers caught up, panting. they held a ouncill of war nll together, Jae nall sitting at King's back and leaning t chin on his shoulder in order to hear witer. Bone pressed on bone, and the slice grew numb; King shook him off 1 dozen : but each time Ismail wt his chin back on the same spot, as 2 dog will that listens to his master. Yet he insisted he was her man, and wt King's, “Now men of the 'Hills'” sald King, “listen to me who am politieal- offender - with - reward - for - enpture- ered!” That was a gem of a title, it fired thelr imaginations. “1 know things that no soldier would find out in a thousand years, and [ will tell you some of what I know.”. Now he had to be eareful. If he were to Invent too much they might denounce him as non traitor to the "Hills" in general. If he were to tell them too little they would ine terest and might very well desert him nt the firsi pinch. He must feel for the middle way and upset no preju- dices “Sue has discovered that this mule Ink Muhammad Anim is no true mus. fim, but an wvnbelleving dog of a for «laner from Farangistan! She has fiscovered that he pisas to make him sell an emper: r in these hills, and to sell hillmen 1%to slavery!” Might as well serve swe muliah dp hot while ghout it! Havonda .ny doubt not much more than u mile away the wullah was ane red became ey with times ye loae re By TALBOT MUNDY Copyright by the Bobbe-Merrill Company getting even by condemning the lot of | them to death. “An eye for the risk of an eye!" say the unforgiving “Hills.” “If one of us should go back Into Breathing deeply In the darkness, | they nodded, as If the dark had eyes, ! Ismail's chin drove a fraction deeper Into his shoulder. “Now ye know—for all men know—— that the entrance into Khinjan caves Is free to any man who ean tell a lle without flinching. It is the way out aguin that is not free. How many men do ye know that have entered and never returned?’ They all nodded again. It was com- | mon knowledge that Khinjan was a very graveyard of the presumptuous. | “She has set a trap for the mullah. She will let him and all his men enter and will never let them out again!” “How knowest thou?’ This from | two men, one on either hand. | “Was I never In Khinjan caves? he | retorted. “Whence came I? I am her | man, sent to help trap the mullah! 1 would have trapped all of you, but for being weary of these ‘Hills’ and wish- ful to go back to India and be par who I amm! That is 1 ’ TY, donned! hat how I kn 18 ys 17° Ow breath reatl and weut sibl- the darkness was alive with nt they thought them- warriorlike to utter. nt ill she do then?” aske aelr came intly, and item “And what does she intend?” asked him suddenly. “She? Ask Allah, who put the spirit in her! How should I know?” “We will march again, my brothers!” King shouted, and they streamed along behind him, now with no advance guard, but with the Orakzal Pathen striding beside King's horse, with a Like the others, he seemed decided in his mind King much chance to escape. Just as the dawn was tinting the they topped a ridge, and Khinjan lay below them across the mile-wide bone dry valley. And while they watched, and the Khinjan men were beginning to murmur (for they needed no last rup. He tugged and King backed his “She sends this message,” sald Is- il, showing his teeth in the peculiar grin that surely the “Hills ever witnessed. “Many of her men, who have never been in the army, are none the less true to her, and she will not leave them to the mullah's mm They will leave the caves in Httle while, and will come up here. They are to go down into India and be made prisoners if the sirkar will not them, “Ia nm most eTrey a enlist that all her message? King hed his memory "et FTL i ¢*} came back ¥ iit » hurgying Jjezailchi the Khyber pass, and the man's words, pot,” he sald, “that loag leave to all who ate salt the salt? rave the ber jezalichis leave to fight against Be sure, whatever she does, stand man and his ana in “Know ye ngo she gave to be true to She she between no she lead a jihad? We will her!" i " sald King, drawing his breath | i a kuife Ismail's against 's chin felt like and clutched his arm, his coilar bone, ils hostage to Dame For | Indian | in the matter of into 20 dor go down fice thou art a very great liar * man w “The Pathan w back. Whnt ho lacked part and Te vol Om pr me!” sald King. “if 1 co proof, how can I escape have you you?” They all grunted agreement as to King used his elbow to hit the ribs, He did not dare but now was the time for Ismail to carry information to her, supposing that to be his job. And after small rolled oto a shadow King gave him twenty letting his men rest their the mul Yasn } ur or that. mail in SNnenx gone, minutes’ start, their and Now that he was out of utet and he hes uid know of it legs esercise tongues suspected an before dawn in any event within two. and he began to feel like a player in a game f chess who foresces his opponent pate in SO many moves, If Yasin 1h is men into the enves nnd to loin th him In there, he would at » time to hurry back to India ighty and give warni have time to call up the Khy- the enves hive could swarm, and he think of the hope of that. hand, if there was to he a battle royal hetween Yasminl and the mulnh, he would be there to watch it and to comfort India with the news, | “Now we will go on again, in order | to be close to Khinjan at break of day,” | he said, and they all got up and obeyed him if his word had been law to them for years, Of all of them he was the only man in doubt—he who seemed most confident of all, They ung along into the darkness under raifing behind ‘s horse, with only half a dozen of ym a hundred yards or so ahead as advance guard, and all of them ex- pecting to see Khinlan loom above bach next valley, for d nrees and darkness are deceptive in the "HIlIR” even to trained Suddenly the advance guard halted. but did not shoot. And as King eaught up with them he saw they were talking with someone. He had to ride up close before he recognized the Orakzal Pathan. “Salaam! sald the fellow with a grin, “I bring one hundred and eleven As he spoke graveyard shadows rose ont of the darkness nround and leaned | on rifles, “Be ye men nll exsoldiors of the rm}? King asked them. “Ave!” they growled in chorns, “Who gave you leave to come? King | naked, “None! He told us of the pardons | and we came I” | “Aye!” sald the Orakzal Pathan, | drawing King aside. “But she gave me leave to seek them out and tempt to let the mul with ng. Ho nn men ani and blockade the to he f ore chuckled On the other as a low-hung sturs, an even “Nay. That Is none of it! This is message: THOU SHALT KNOW DAY, THOU ENGLISHMAN, WHETHER OR NOT SHE TRULY LOVED THEE! THERE SHALL BE PROOF SUCH AS EVEN THOU SHALT UNDERSTAND!" Ismail slipped away and lost himself the men, and none of them wed to that he had been and had come again. It n more than hour after de wn 1 the chilled rocks were beginnin~ to warmer when the head of a pro- sfon came out of Khinjan gate n rted toward m o the all more than vy ndred erged and about a hundred women ind children. Then: “Muhammad Anim comes!” ce from a crag top. mong Seen notice way ittie was in the ver val In shouted iley snuggled Into better hiding. 1 there was no thought now of caw the mullah should go by needed an effort to quiet them when mullah rose into view a rise and paused for a minute at Khinjan before lead his four thousand down and on- nrd. He was silent as an Image, en roared like a river in flood snd no effort to check them. ismounted, for he } his r to the the air of an emperor be fore last ab to re feross ins nearest man And he led the way down the cliffside without tation, striding like a mountaineer, men followed him noisily. It was thirty minutes after the I: the mullah's men had through the gate, and his own men orens and twenties were scattered at “Thou Shalt Know This Day, Thou Englishman, Whether or Not She Truly Loves Thee” along the cliff-top arguing against de- lay with growing rancor, when a lone horseman galloped out of Khinjan gate and started across the valley. He rede He was either panic In a minute King bad recognized the mare, and so had the eyes of fifty men around him. No man with half to recognize that black mare, having ever seen her once. In another two minutes King had recognized the Ran- Moat of the men were staring down- ward nt the Rangar's head as he urged explanation of Yasmini's eame, It was only King, some intuition, who had his on Khinjan, There came a shock thit actually swaved tha Will they stood. on. The message urged by eyes fixed hand devils were behind her, the Ran- fn race, slice of Khinjan dust burst | bling erust, upward through the [the waiting elements were gathering {and scarcely breathed, Rewn Gunga | gnined the summit and, dismounting, stood by King with the reins over his arm, The mare was too blown to do anything but stand and tremble, but stare, “That is what n woman can do for a man!" safd Rewa Gunga grimly. dynamite. There were tons of it! galleries must have fallen in, one on | the other! A thousand men {for a thousand years could never get | Into Khinjan now, and the only way out is down Earth's Drink! She hade me come and bid you goodby, sahib. 1 { would have stayed in there, but commanded me, She sald, “Tell | sahlb my love was true. Tell {glve him India and all Asia | were at my mercy!" she King him I that | three more earth tremors In swift suc- cession, and a thunder out of Khinjan ns If the very “Hills” were coming to an end. The mare grew frantic and the Rangar summoned six men to hold her. Suddenly, right over the top of Khin- Jan's upper rim, where only the eagles ever perched, there burst a column of that for a It rose water, immeasurable, huge, moment blotted out the sun in a milllon-ton deluge on to and Into Khinjan valley, roaring and thundering. Earth's Drink had been blocked by the explosion and had found a new way over the barrier before plunging down ‘ of the The one sky-flung leap it made as its burst down A mountain to blot out Khinjan for. ever, and what had been a dry, mile shallow lake with and rubbish floating Khinlan hissing and again Into the howels world welght wall wag enough vide moat was a death's rack the surface. The earth rocked. King was up on bis feet In a second and faced | The Rangar laughed, “80 ends the ‘Heart of the Hills" ™ “Think kindly of her, sahib She thought well enough of you!” he sald, black mare, speak or and before King wondrous speed along the Ire ¥ i “dice ber pass and India. Two of the who had come out of Khinjan mounted and spurred after him King collected his men and the wom en and children, were numb from what they nested and dazed by fear wur he had them { marching. had wit. In half an mustered and § ———— CHAPTER XXIIL., nnd were fed at All Masjid fort, after had whispered to the officer command. ing. But he did not change into Fu ropean clothes yet, and none of his fol lowing suspected him of being an Eng- lishman. down the pass ahead of you in a hur ry.” they told him at All Maslid. “He had two men with him and food enough, make his business known.” “What did he say his business 187” i asked King. “He sign and sald a word that satisfied us on that point I "Oh!" said King the pass?” Surely.” “Courtenay at Jaomrud? “Yes, In charge there and tired of doling nothing” gave a down growing down and ask him to have ready for me that I spoke Goodby.” So he left All Masjid at the hea 1 motley procession that Tie and more confident every hour. Issn began to grow more lively and to have a good many orders to fling to the rest “You mourn like a dog.” Kinz told him. “Three howls and a whine and a little sulking—and then forgetful | ness!” | Tema! looked nasty at that but did not answer, although he seemed {have a hot word ready. And thence { forward he hung his head more, and at least tried to seem bereaved. But his manner was unconvincing none the legs, and King found It food for thought. | The ex-soldiers and would-be soldiers | marched in four behind him, growing | hourly more like drilled men, and talk- | ing. with each stride tit brought | them nearer India, more as men do i who have an interest In law and or ider. Behind them tramped the wom- en from Khinjan, carrying thelr ba- bies and their husbands’ londs: and | behind them again were the other { women, who had been told they would | he overtaken in the Khyher, but who bath 1000, re iglor { raw-footed in order to eatch up. { Down the Khyber have comme oon {querors, a dozen conquering kings, and i ns many beaten armies; but surely no stranger host than this ever trudged between the echoing walle, The very engles screamed at them, Signals pre- rode up the pass to greet them. At Jamrud they were given food and their rifles were taken away from them and A guard was set to watch them. But the guard only consisted of two men, both of whom were Pathans wis ihey willing to forgive thelr enemies and to pardon all deserters who applied for i pardon on condition of good faith in| the future, i and talked-—-and talked until the stars | grew blg us moons to wenry eyes and they slept at last, to dream of khaki uniforms and karnel salibs who knew said things that were so. It 18 a mad world to the Himulayazm hillman where men In authority tell truth unadorned with- out shame and without conslderation— pleasant while the dréam lasts, Over in the fort Courtenay placed | a bath at King's disposal and lent him clean clothes and a razor. But he was not very cordial. “Tell me all the war news!” King, splashing im the tub, And Cour- tenay told him, passing him another | ecnke of soup when the first was fin- ished. After all, there was not much to tell~butchery in Belglum—Huns and guns--und the everlastingly glori- ous stand that saved Paris and France said going the records one better. 1 think that's all,” sald « ourtenay, “Then why the stiffness?” King. “Why am I talked to at end of a tube, 80 to speak?’ “You're under nay. asked “The dence IT arn ™ “I'm taking care of you myself to obviate the necessity of putting a sen- try on guard over you." “Good of you, I'm sure all about?” “I don't mina 18 rather you'd The were sighted word was headquarters, and the will be up here by “Very well,” gar? Got a black o better!” He was out of that What's (it tolling rd wens S Wa you, but wait, minute wired general himse train any net said bered mint clgar Naked, shaved, wi he did) leaving removed us he tpeterish smoke of a fat Trict poll. And then the & 2 Intnea is lungs wi y sa) neral came and di brrre f get dressed and was still (like hing was getting burst lato the hands with fm while naked and asked ! gut Bathroom he ten questions 3 3 ling gun) while 18 divining each answer after the third word and waving the rest aside, . “And why ema I ;rrested, gir? King the moment he could slip nsked the “Oh, yes, of course. Try the case here as well as anywhere, What this mean?” Out of his pocket duced a k tk does the general smelt strongly He spread it out on a table and King read. It was Yasmini's*letter that she had sent down the Khyber to hot to hold him. “Too bad shout your brother” said the general. “The body buried. How much is true about the head 7 King told him. “Where's she 7 King did not waited, “I don't know, mir.” “Ask the Rangar.”™ gested. “Where Is he?" asked King “Caught him coming down the Khy- ber on his black moare and arrested He's in ext room! I hope he's to be hanged. So that | ean buy the mare,” he added cheerfully. King whistled softly to himself, and we general looked him through I{clos] eyes. Pro of $ ter xt nized make India too is axked the general. srswer, T Courtenay sug- 4 > = thie » % i at “Go in and talk to him, King. Let the result.” He had picked King to go up the Khyber on that errand not for noth- He knew King and he knew the Withasit answering him King obeyed. He went out of the room & dark corridor and rapped on door of the mext room to the right. There was a mufled answer from within, Courtenay shouted some- thing to the sentry outside the door and he called another man, who fitted a key in the lock. King walked into a room in which one lamp was burn- ing and the door slammed shut be | hind him, i He was in there an hour, and it never did transpire just what passed. for he can hold his tongue on any sub- ject like a clam, and the general, §f anything, can go hin one better. Coarse tenay was placed under orders not to talk, #0 those who say they know ex- actly what happened in the room be- tween the time when the door was shut on King and the time when he knocked to have it opened and called are not telling the truth, ! What is known §s that finally the | general hurried through the door and | ejaculated, “Well, I'm d—d!” be- | fore he could close it again. The sen | try (Punjabl Mussuiman) has sworn to that over a dozen camplires since | the day. And It Is known, too, for the sentry | has taken oath on it and has told the story 80 many tizoes without much | variation that no one who knows the | man's record doubts any longer--it is | known that whem the door opened again King and the general walked | out with the Rangar between Shama. | ! tne Know ing ag. symptoms, into the bot carried it unwound io his hand, Aufl Hit foiden hale fell busy to his koeew aud changed whole appear ance, Au ho was weeplig. And he her for a man, even In man's clothes and with her skin darkened, was be- yond the sentry's power to guess, He for one, ete, But nobody be- lieved that part of his tale. As Yussuf bin AH sald over the campfire up the Khyber later on, “When she gets out to disguise her- gelf, she is what she will be, and he who says he thinks otherwise has two | tongues and no conscience!” What is surely true 1s that the four of them~-Yasminl, the general, Cour . » » children lost and found. The women crooned love-songs to thelr bables over | room in the fort, talking together, | while a succession of sentries over strained their ears endeavoring to hear through keyholes. And the sentries jut Partan Singh, the Sikh, whe carried in bread and cocoa to them at about five the next morning, ané be no jihad in these parts. There] be sporadic ralds, of course, but nothing a brigade can't deal with. The heart of the holy war's torn out and thrown away.” “Very well,” sald the general. “You can go up the Khyber again and join your regiment” But by that time the Rangar's tur | ban was on again and the tears were dry, and it was Partan Singh whe He Said He Was Nearly Sure He Heard Weeping. threw most doubt « | about { sentry n the sentry's tale the golder the said, fis was jealous, ™ » ae7 tever that the «hs ¢ is no doubt wha general went back to Pe train at el ao v Rang rity TF rr or x arin ght o'¢ with ith out a dozen hill- who had went men chosen from among come down with King. And it hes went King had o talk with the Rangar in a room alone, which tiog. however, the sentry reported that he did ot hear and he ha to the d that He beard weeping is certain that before they conversa- oP. erward word : with a he was neg (se 3.8 cold in his h arly But on the oth both of them come that both were smi It qui King went the official never lie 1 { rode a ¢ i { called him “Chi s is quite Some say the Ranga Some say Yasmin gay no. But it is quite certain that be- fore he up the showed Courtenay no gre: started Khyber King t gold brace- let that he had under his sleeve. Five men saw him do it And If that was really Rewsa Gunga in the general's train, why the general so painfully polite to him? And why did Ismail insist on riding in the train, Instead of accepting King's offer to go up the Khyber with him? One thing is very certain. King was right about the fihad. There has been none in spite of all Turkey's and Ger- many's efforts. There have been spo- radie raids, much as usual, but nothing one brigade could not ensily deal with, the press to the contrary notwithstand- ing. King of the Khyber rifles is now a major, for you can see that by turning up the army list, But if you wish to know just what transpired in the room In Jamrud Fort while the general and Courtenay waits #1. you must ask King—if you dare: for only he knows, and one other. It is not likely you ean find the other. Jut it is likely that you may hear from both of them again, for “A wom- an and intrigue are one!™ as India says. The war seems long, and the world 1s large, and the chances for in- trigues are almost Infinite, given such combination as King and Yasmin! and a love affair. And as King says on occasion: “Kuch dar nahin hal! There {8 no such thing as fear!" Another one might say, “The roof's the limit 1™ And bear in mind, for this is impor tant: King wrote to Yasmin! a letter in Urdu from the mullah’s eave. in which he as good as gave her his word of honor to be her “lowval servant” should she choose to return to her alle glance. He Is no splitter of hairs, ne quibbler. His word i8 good on the darkest night or wherever he casts s shadow in the san. “A man and his promise-——a woman and lntrigue—are one” (THE ENDO A ———————— Invented Cherokee Alphabet Sequoyah, Inventor of the \ alptabet. was wne of tre great men of the Indian race He was a malt. bree, whose Ehglish Ame was wan #nd his dlan woman, was
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