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diff --git a/36605.txt b/36605.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..459a023 --- /dev/null +++ b/36605.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6497 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sirdar's Oath, by Bertram Mitford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sirdar's Oath + A Tale of the North-West Frontier + +Author: Bertram Mitford + +Release Date: July 3, 2011 [EBook #36605] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SIRDAR'S OATH *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The Sirdar's Oath +A Tale of the North-West Frontier +By Bertram Mitford +Published by F.V. White and Co Ltd, London. +This edition dated 1904. +The Sirdar's Oath, by Bertram Mitford. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +THE SIRDAR'S OATH, BY BERTRAM MITFORD. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +"THE STRANGER WITHIN THY GATES." + +"Yer--Kroojer! Kroojer. Go'n get yer whiskers shyved." + +"Ere, chaps. 'Ere's old Kroojer!" + +And the section of the crowd among whom originated these remarks closed +up around the object thereof. + +The latter, though clad in the frock-coat of European civilisation, was +obviously an Oriental. He was a man of fine presence, tall and +dignified, handsome in the aquiline-featured type, and wearing a full +beard just turning grey. Hence it will be seen that his resemblance to +the world-famed President was so striking as to commend itself at once +to the understanding of his molesters. + +It was night, and the flare of the street lamps, together with a few +impromptu illuminations, lit up the surging, tossing, roaring multitude, +which filled to packing point the whole space in front of the Mansion +House, each unit of the same bent on shouting himself or herself hoarse; +for the tidings of the relief of Mafeking had just been received, and +the inauguration of the public delirium was already in full swing. Hats +and caps flew in the air by showers, the wearers of silk hats not +hesitating to hurl on high their normally cherished and protected +headgear, those who did so hesitate being speedily relieved of all +responsibility on that point by their obliging neighbours, to the +accompaniment of such shouts as "Ooroar for B.P. Good old B.P.," while +the strains of "Soldiers of the Queen" rose in leathern-lunged rivalry +with those of "The Absent-minded Beggar"--save when, in staccato +volleyings of varied timelessness and tunelessness, those of "Rule +Britannia" availed to swamp both. Thus the multitude rejoiced, +characteristically, therefore, for the most part, roughly. + +"Wot cher, myte?" drawled an evil rough, shouldering against the +Oriental. "You ortn't to be 'ere. You ort to be in the Trawnsvawl, you +ort. Why you're Kroojer, you are." + +"I sy, Bill!" shrilled a girl to her swain. "Let's shyve 'is whiskers, +shall we?" + +The pair had exchanged hats, and while the speaker's oily fringe was +set-off by a bowler, wide and curly of brim, the ugly face of the other +leered red and beery from beneath a vast structure of nodding ostrich +plumes. + +"Rawther. Come on, cheps. Let's shyve old Kroojer's whiskers!" And +reaching over, as a preliminary to that process, he snatched the +Oriental's high, semi-conical black cap--the only article of un-European +wear about him--from his head, and flung it high in the air, emitting a +raucous yell. + +At this assault, delivered from behind, the stranger turned, his eyes +flashing with resentment and hate. As he did so a violent push, again +from behind, sent him staggering, would have brought him to the ground +indeed but that the crowd was too dense, and its only effect was to +bring him right against the rough who had snatched off his cap. In a +moment the long, brown sinewy fingers had shot out and closed round the +bull throat of the cad, while with the snarl of a wild beast, the +Oriental flashed forth something from his breast pocket. A roar of +warning broke from the bystanders, likewise of rage, for these lovers of +fair play were virtuously indignant that one well-nigh defenceless man, +and a stranger, should protect himself as best he might when set upon by +numbers. In a second the weapon was knocked from his hand, and he was +violently wrenched back from the man whose throat he had gripped; and +well indeed for the latter that such was the case. Then he was hustled +and punched and kicked, his beard pulled out in wisps--the virago who +had first instigated the assault, and who fortunately was separated from +him by the crowd, struggling and screaming in the language of the slums +to be allowed to get at him--only just once. + +"Let him alone, cawn't yer?" cried a voice, that of another woman. "He +ain't Kroojer! 'E's a bloomin' Ingin. Any fool could see that." + +"'E's a blanked furriner--it's all the syme. And didn't 'e try to knife +my Bill," retorted the other, making renewed efforts to reach him--and +the vocabulary of this young person earned the delighted appreciation of +even the toughest of her audience. Then a diversion occurred. + +"Myke wy? Oo are you tellin' of to myke wy?" rose a voice, in angry and +jeering expostulation, followed immediately by the sound of a scuffle. +The attention of the crowd was diverted to this new quarter, which +circumstance enabled the luckless Oriental to gain his feet, and he +stood staggering, glaring about him in a frenzy of wrath and +bewilderment. Then he was knocked flat again, this time by the pressure +of those around. + +What followed was worth seeing. Straight through the mass of roughs +came upwards of a dozen and a half of another species, in strong and +compact order, hitting out on either side of them, scrupulously +observing the Donnybrook principle, "When you see a head hit it"--only +in the present instance it was a face. Most of these were members of an +athletic club, who had been dining generously and had caught the +prevailing excitement. They had seen the predicament of the Oriental +from afar, and promptly recognised that to effect his rescue would +furnish them with just the fun and fight for which they were spoiling. + +"Make way, you blackguards. Call yourselves Englishmen, all packing on +to one man? What? You won't? That'll settle you." + +"That" being a "knock-out" neatly delivered, the recipient, he who had +begun the assault. Still crowned with his female companion's headgear +the abominable rough sank to the ground, permanently disabled. + +"Here--you, sir--get up. Hope you're not much the worse," cried the +foremost, dragging the stranger to his feet. + +"I thank you, gentlemen," said the latter, in excellent English. "No, +not much, I think." + +"That's right," cried the foremost of his rescuers, admiring his pluck. +For undoubtedly the stranger was considerably the worse for what he had +gone through. His cheek bones were swollen, and one eye was bunged up, +and his now tattered beard was matted with blood flowing from a cut on +the lip; and as he stood, with somewhat unsteady gait, the forced smile +wherewith he had greeted his deliverers changed to a hideous snarl of +hate, as his glance wandered to the repulsive and threatening +countenances of his late assailants. Here, obviously, was no shrinking, +effeminate representative of the East, rather a scion of one of its fine +and warrior races, for there was a mingled look of wistfulness and +aroused savagery in his eyes as instinctively he clenched and unclenched +his defenceless fingers as though they ought to be grasping a weapon. + +But the moral effect of the first decisive rush having worn off, the +rough element of the crowd, roughest of all just here, began to rally. +After all, though they had science, the number of these new arrivals +constituted a mere mouthful, so puny was it. Yells, and hoots, and +catcalls arose as the surging rabble pressed upon the gallant few, now +standing literally at bay. Those in the forefront were pushed forward +by the weight of numbers behind, and the pressure was so great that +there was hardly room to make free play with those fine, swinging +out-from-the-shoulder hits--yet they managed partially to clear a way-- +and for a few moments, fists, feet, sticks, everything, Teere going in +the liveliest sort of free fight imaginable. The while, over the +remainder of the packed space, shrill cheers and patriotic songs, and +the firing off of squibs and crackers were bearing their own part in +making night hideous, independently of the savage rout, here at the top +of King William Street. + +"Kroojer! Kroojer! 'Ere's Kroojer!" yelled the mob, and, attracted by +its vociferations, others turned their attention that way. And while +his deliverers had their hands very full indeed, a villainous-looking +rough reached forward and swung up what looked like a slender, harmless +roll of brown paper above the Oriental's head. Well was it for the +latter that this move was seen by one man, and that just in time to +interpose a thick malacca cane between his skull and the descending gas +pipe filled with lead, which staff, travelling down to the wrist of him +who wielded the deadly weapon, caused the murderous cad to drop the +same, with a howl, and weird language. + +"A good `Penang lawyer' is tough enough for most things," muttered the +dealer of this deft stroke. "Here, brother, take this," he went on, in +an Eastern tongue, thrusting the stick into the stranger's hand. + +The effect was wondrous. The consciousness of grasping even this much +of a weapon seemed to transform the Oriental completely. His tall form +seemed to tower, his frame to dilate, as, whirling the tough stick +aloft, he shrilled forth a wild, fierce Mohammedan war-cry, bounding, +leaping, in a very demoniacal possession, charging those nearest to him +as though the stick were a long-bladed, keen-edged tulwar. Whirling it +in the air he brought it down with incredible swiftness, striking here +and there on head and face, while looking around for more to smite. And +then the rabble of assailants began to give way, or try to. "Cops" was +the cry that now went up, and immediately thereupon a strong posse of +the splendid men of the City Police had forced their way to the scene of +disturbance--or very nearly. + +Crushed, borne along by the swaying crowd, the man who had so +effectually aided the distressed Oriental had become separated from his +friends. For his foes he cared nothing, and, indeed, these had all they +could think of to effect their own retreat, the motive being not so much +fear of immediate consequences as the consciousness with many of them +that they were desperately wanted by the police in connection with other +matters, which would infallibly assert their claims once identity was +established. At last, to his relief, he found himself in a side street +and outside the crowd. + +"You're better 'ere, sir," said a gruff voice, whose owner was +contemplating him curiously. + +"Yes, rather. I've been in a bit of a breeze yonder." + +"So I should say, sir," answered the policeman, significantly. +"Thank'ee, sir. Much obliged." + +"They were mobbing a stranger, and I and some others went to help him." + +"Was it a Hindian gent, sir, with a high black sort of 'at? I seen him +go by here not long since." + +"Yes. That was the man. Well, I suppose he's all right by now. +Good-night, policeman." + +"Good-night, sir, and thank'ee, sir." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +An hour and a half later one corner of the supper-room in the Peculiar +Club was in a state of unwonted liveliness, even for that by no means +dull institution, where upwards of a dozen more or less damaged members +were consuming devilled bones and champagne. + +Damaged, in that bunged up eyes and swelled noses--and here and there a +cut lip--were in evidence; but all were in the last stage of +cheerfulness. + +"Why isn't Raynier here, I wonder?" was asked. + +"He? Oh, I expect he went on taking care of that Indian Johnny. He +likes those chaps, you know, has to do with them out there. He'll turn +up all right--never fear." + +"Don't know. Don't like losing sight of him," said another. + +"Oh, he'll turn up all right. He knows jolly well how to take care of +himself." + +But as the night became morning, and the frantic howling of patriotism +gone mad rent the otherwise still hours, Raynier did not turn up. Then +the revellers and quondam combatants became uneasy--such of them, that +is, as were still capable of reflection in any form. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +THE DAY AFTER. + +Raynier awoke in his club chambers the next morning, feeling, as he put +it to himself, exceedingly cheap. + +When we say awoke, rather are we expressing a recurring process which +had continued throughout the few remaining night hours since, by force +of circumstances and the swaying of the crowd, he had become separated +from his companions, and had wisely found his way straight to bed +instead of to the Peculiar Club. On this at any rate he congratulated +himself; and yet hardly any sleep had come his way. The howling of +patriotic roysterers had continued until morning light, and, moreover, +his head was buzzing--not by reason of last night's revelry, for in such +he never got out of hand, but an ugly lump on one side of his forehead, +and a swelled eye, reminded him that it is hard to rescue a maltreated +stranger from the brutality of a London mob, and emerge unscathed +oneself. + +"Well, I do look a beauty," he soliloquised as he stood before his +glass, surveying the damage. "I shall have a bump the size and colour +of a croquet ball for the next fortnight, and an eye to match. How a +man of my age and temperament could have cut in with those young asses +last night, I can't think. Might have known what the upshot would be. +And now I've got to go down to Worthingham to-day. Wonder what nice +remark Cynthia will have to make. Perhaps she'll give me the chuck. +The fact of my being mixed up in a street row may prove too much for her +exceeding sense of propriety." And a faintly satirical droop curled +down the corners of the thinker's mouth. + +Having fomented his bruises, and tubbed, and otherwise completed his +toilet Raynier went down to breakfast, soon feeling immeasurably the +better for the process. But in the middle a thought struck him; struck +him indeed with some consternation. The malacca cane--the instrument +with which he had almost certainly saved the life of the assailed +Oriental, and which he had put into the hands of the latter as a weapon. +It was gone, and--it was a gift from his _fiancee_. + +Apart from such association he was fond of the stick, which was a +handsome one and beautifully mounted. How on earth was he to recover +it? His initials were engraved on the head; that, however, would +furnish but faint clue. How should he find the man whom he had +befriended--and even if he did, it was quite possible that the other had +lost possession of the stick during the scrimmage. It might or might +not find its way to Scotland Yard, but to ascertain this would take +time. He could make inquiries at the police stations adjacent to the +scene of last night's _emeute_, or advertise, but that too would take +time and he was urgently due at the abode of his _fiancee_ that very +day, for his furlough was rapidly drawing to a close, and his return to +India a matter of days rather than of weeks. + +Herbert Raynier served his country in the capacity of an Indian +civilian, but most of his time of service had been passed in hot Plains +stations, engendering an amount of constitutional wear and tear which +caused him to look rather more than his actual age, such being in fact +nearly through the thirties, but the sallowness of his naturally dark +complexion had given way to a healthier bronze since he had come home on +furlough five months back. By temperament he was a quiet man, and +somewhat reserved, and this together with the fact that his countenance +was not characterised by that square-jawed aggressiveness which is often +associated in the popular estimation with parts, led people to suppose, +on first acquaintance, that there was not much in him. Wherein they +were wrong, although at the present moment there were chances of such +latent abilities as he possessed being allowed to stagnate under sheer, +easy-going routine: a potentiality which he himself recognised, and that +with some concern. Physically he stood about five foot ten in his +boots, and was well set up in proportion. He was fond of sport, though +not aspiring to anything beyond the average in its achievement, and was +not lacking in ideas nor in some originality in the expression of the +same. + +As he sat finishing his after-breakfast cheroot in the club smoking-room +there entered two of his brethren-in-arms of the night before. + +"There you are, Raynier, old chap. That's all right. Why didn't you +roll up at the Peculiar after the fun? We were all there--Steele and +Waring were doosid uneasy about you--thought you'd come to grief, that's +why we thought we'd look in early and make sure you hadn't." + +"Early?" + +"Why, yes. It's only eleven. But I say, you jolly old cuckoo. You +_have_ got a damaged figurehead." + +"Yes, it's a bore," pronounced Raynier, pushing the bell, to order +"pegs." "And the worst of it is I've got to go down to the country this +afternoon--to an eminently respectable vicarage, too." + +"Remedy's easy. Don't go." + +"That's no remedy at all. I must." + +"Stick a patch over the eye, then." + +"But he can't stick a patch over his head as well," said the other. + +"You two chaps have come off with hardly a scratch," said Raynier--"and +yet you were just as much in the thick of it as I was." + +"So we were. But I say, Raynier, I believe it's a judgment on a staid +old buffer like you for `mafeking' around with a lot of lively sparks +like us. Ha--ha--that wasn't bad, I say, don't-cher-know. `Mafeking!' +See it? Ah--ha--ha!" + +"Oh, go away. It's an outrage. At how many people's hands have you +courted destruction by firing that on them this morning?" + +"Not many. But it's awfully good, eh, old sportsman? Why I invented +it." + +"Then you deserve death," returned Raynier. "Oh, Grice, take him away, +and drown him, will you; but stay--let him have his `peg' first--since +here it comes." + +"Anyone know what became of that interesting stranger?" went on Raynier, +after the necessary pause. + +"The Indian Johnny? Not much. We all got mixed up in the mob, and what +with all the `bokos' that were hit, and the claret flying, and then the +bobbies rushing the lot, none of us knew what had happened to anyone +else until we all found ourselves snug and jolly at the Peculiar." And +then followed an animated account of wounds and casualties received and +doughty deeds effected. + +"We thought you were taking care of the Indian Johnny, Raynier," +concluded Grice, "and that was why you didn't turn up." + +"I wish I knew where to lay finger on the said Indian Johnny," was the +rejoinder. + +"Why? Was he some big bug?" + +"I don't know. But he's got my stick--or had it." + +"Rather. And didn't he just lay about with it too. Looked as if he was +quite accustomed to that sort of thing." + +"The worst of it is I rather value it," went on Raynier. "In fact I'd +give a trifle to recover it. Given me, you understand." + +"Oh--ah--yes, I understand," said the other, with a would-be knowing +wink. + +"Why not try the police stations?" suggested the self-styled creator of +the above vile pun. "The darkey may have been run in with a lot more +for creating a disturbance." + +"Or the pawnbrokers," said Grice--"for if it was captured by the enemy, +why that honest fellow-countryman would lose no time in taking a +bee-line for the nearest pawnshop with it. All that yelling must have +been dry work." + +"But, I say, old chappie. What a juggins you were to give it him," +supplemented the other, sapiently. + +"Oh, he didn't know how to use his fists, and the poor devil was +absolutely defenceless. And a good `Penang lawyer' in a row of that +kind is a precious deal better than nothing at all." + +"The darkey seemed to find it so," said he named Grice. "Why it might +have been a sword the way he laid about with it. I bet that chap's good +at single-stick. Wonder who he is. Some big Rajah perhaps. I say +Raynier, old chap. You'll have some of his following finding you out +directly, with no end of lakhs of rupees, as a slight mark of gratitude, +and all that sort of thing. Eh?" + +"If so the plunder ought to be divided," cut in the other gilded youth. +"We all helped to pull him through, you know." + +"All right, so it shall," said Raynier, "when it comes. As to which +doesn't it occur to you fellows that `some big Rajah' is hardly likely +to be found frisking around in the thick of an especially tough London +crowd all by his little alones? But if he'd find me out only to return +my stick it would be a `mark of gratitude' quite sufficient for present +purposes." + +"Why don't you buy another exactly like it, old chap?" said Grice, who +knew enough about his friend to guess at the real reason of the latter's +solicitude on account of the lost article. "Nobody would know the +difference." + +Here was something of an idea, thought Raynier. But then the mounting +and the engraving--that would take time, even if he could get it done +exactly like the other, which he doubted. It was not alone on the score +of an unpleasant moment with the donor that his mind misgave him. She +would be excusably hurt, he reflected, remembering that the thing must +have been somewhat costly, and under the circumstances represented a +certain amount of self-denial. Decidedly he was in a quandary. + +"Well, ta-ta, old chap," said Grice, as the two got up to go. "We'll +try and find out something about the Rajah--in fact it's our interest to +do so, having an eye to those lakhs of rupees." + +"Yes--and let me know when you've made an end of Barker, here, as you're +bound to do if he fires off that `Mafeking' outrage much more." + +"Raynier's jealous," said that wag. "I say, don't go firing it off as +your own down in the country, Raynier." + +"No show for me, because about one hundred thousand people scattered +over the British Isles have awoke this morning to invent the same +insanity." + +Speeding along in the afternoon sunshine, looking out upon the country +whirling by, pleasant and green in its rich dress of early summer, +Raynier was conscious of a feeling of relief in that he was leaving +behind him the heat and dust of London, likewise the racket and uproar +of a city gone temporarily mad; albeit a more or less profuse display of +bunting in every station the express slid through, notified that the +delirium was already spreading throughout the length and breadth of the +land. He had the compartment to himself, which was more favourable to +the vein of thought upon which he had embarked. When he had arrived +home five months previously he had no more notion of returning an +engaged man than he had of building a balloon and starting upon a voyage +of discovery to Saturn. Yet here he was, and how had it come about? He +supposed he ought to feel enraptured--most men of his acquaintance +were--or pretended to be--under the circumstances. Yet he was not. How +on earth had he and Cynthia Daintree ever imagined that they were suited +to go through life together, the fact being that there was no one point +upon which they agreed? But now they were under such compact, hard and +fast; yet--how had it come about? Her father, the Vicar of Worthingham, +had been a sort of trustee of his, long ago, and on his arrival in +England had invited him to spend as much of his furlough at that +exceedingly pretty country village as he felt inclined. And he had felt +inclined, for he knew but few people in England, and the quiet beauty of +English rural scenery appealed to his temperament, wherefore, +Worthingham Vicarage knew how to account for a good deal of his time, +and so did the Vicar's eldest daughter. Here, then, was the answer to +his own retrospective question--not put for the first time by any means. +Propinquity, opportunity, circumstances and surroundings favourable to +the growth and development of such--idiocy--he was nearly saying. All +of which points to a fairly inauspicious frame of mind on the part of a +man who in half an hour or so more would meet his _fiancee_. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +"ABOVE RUBIES." + +"What's the matter, Cynthia?" said the Vicar, looking up from his +after-breakfast newspaper, spread out in crumpled irregularity of +surface, upon the table in front of him. + +"Nothing, father, unless--well, I do wish people would learn to be a +little more regular. The world would be so much more comfortable a +place to live in." + +The Vicar had his doubts upon that subject. However, he only said,-- + +"Well, it's only once in a way, and won't hurt anybody. And you can't +ask a man to stay with you, and then tie him down to rigid hours like a +schoolboy." + +The time was nine o'clock on the second morning after Herbert Raynier's +arrival. It need hardly be said that he was the offender against +punctuality. + +Cynthia frowned, rattling the crockery upon the tea-tray somewhat +viciously. + +"Why not? I hate irregularity," she answered. "I should have thought +regular habits would have been the first essential in Herbert's +department--towards getting on in it, that is." + +"Well, he has got on in it, regular habits or not. You can't deny that, +my dear, at any rate." + +"It delays everything so," went on the grievance-monger. "The servants +can't clear away, or get to their work. Herbert knows we have breakfast +at half-past eight and now it's after nine, and there's no sign of him. +I can't keep the house going on those lines, so it's of no use trying." + +"Well, you'll soon be in a position to reform him to your heart's +content," said the Vicar with a twinkle in his eye--and there came a +grim, set look about the other's rather thin-lipped mouth which augured +ill for Raynier's domestic peace in the future. + +Cynthia Daintree had just missed being pretty. Her straight features +were too coldly severe, and her grey eyes a trifle too steely, but her +brown hair was soft and abundant, and there were occasions when her face +could light up, and become attractive. She was tall, and had a +remarkably fine figure, and as she managed to dress well on somewhat +limited resources, the verdict was that she was a striking-looking girl. +But she had a temper, a very decided temper--which, it was whispered, +was accountable for the fact that now, at very much nearer thirty than +twenty, her recent engagement to Herbert Raynier was by no means her +first. + +Now the offender entered, characteristically careless. + +"Morning, Cynthia. Hallo, you look disobliged. What's the row? +Morning, Vicar." + +This was not the best way of throwing oil upon the troubled sea, but +then the whole thing was so incomprehensible to Raynier. He could not +understand how people could make a fuss over such a trifle as whether +one man ate a bit of toast, and played the fool with a boiled egg, half +an hour sooner or half an hour later. There was no train to catch, no +business of vital importance to be transacted, here in this sleepy +little country place. His _fiancee_ could have had precious little +experience of the graver issues of life if that sort of thing disturbed +her. + +"You've only yourself to thank if everything's cold," answered Cynthia, +snappishly. + +"I don't mind--even if there isn't anything to get cold. Feeding at +this end of the day isn't in my line at all. I hardly ever touch +anything between _chota hazri_ and tiffin over there." + +"Well, but over here you might try to be a little more punctual." + +"Too old. Besides, I'm on furlough," returned Raynier, maliciously +teasing. It was the only way of veiling his resentment. He did not +take kindly to being perpetually found fault with, and still less so the +first thing in the morning. "Don't you agree with me, Vicar? A man on +furlough should be allowed a few venial sins?" + +"Oh, I think so," said Mr Daintree, with a laugh. And then he began to +discuss the war news in that morning's paper, which soon led round to +the events wherewith our story opens. + +"That must have been after the fashion of our old Town and Gown rows at +Oxford," said the Vicar. "They are a thing of the past now, I'm told." + +"And a good thing too," struck in his daughter. "What horrid savage +creatures men are. Never happy unless they are fighting." + +"Don't know. I much prefer running away," said Raynier. + +"Pity you didn't carry out your preference. Then you wouldn't have come +down here looking such a sight," with a glance at his somewhat +disfigured visage. + +"And there'd have been one Oriental the less in the world. Phew! that +was a vicious mob if ever there was one. By the way there's a saying +that if you rescue anybody he's bound to do you a bad turn. Wonder if +it'll hold good here, and if in the order of fate that chap and I will +meet again out there. Stranger things have come off." + +"Only in books," said Cynthia, contemptuously. + +"No--in real life. I could tell you of at least three remarkable if not +startling circumstances of the kind that have come to my knowledge, but +I won't, for two reasons--one that they wouldn't interest you--two, that +you wouldn't believe a word of them." + +"What are you going to do to-day, Herbert?" said the Vicar. + +"Fish. You coming with me, Cynthia?" + +"No." + +"Meaning I'm not fit to be seen with," answered Raynier, interpreting +her glance. + +"If you will go getting yourself disfigured in common street brawls you +must expect to suffer for it. So low, I call it." + +She was in a horrible humour that morning--so much was evident. Raynier +wondered how she would receive the news of the loss of the malacca cane, +and felt steeled to tell her about it then and there. In another moment +he would have done so when an interruption occurred. A girl's voice +came singing down the passage, and its owner burst into the room. + +"Hallo, Herbert. You're jolly late again. I expect you have been +catching it," with a glance at the thunder-cloud on her elder sister's +face. This was the Vicar's youngest daughter, aged nineteen; there were +two between her and the other, both married, likewise sons, helping to +buttress up the Empire in divers colonies. + +"Right you are. I have. I'm going to try for a trout or two, Silly. +Feel like coming along?" + +"I sha'n't if you call me that," answered the girl, with a shade of her +sister's expression coming over her face; "that," however, not being an +epithet but a teasing abbreviation of her own name--Sylvia. + +"All right. I withdraw the Silly." + +"Then I'll go. But isn't Cynthia going?" + +"She says I'm too ugly just at present," returned Raynier, tranquilly. +"And I believe I am." + +"Yes. You're rather a sight," with a deliberate glance at his damaged +figurehead. "Never mind. There's no one to see us here. Where are we +going?" + +"How about the hole below Blackadder Bridge?" + +"That's it," returned Sylvia. "There was a regular `boil' on there the +day before you came, but that was in the evening. I took out seven +trout in twenty-five minutes. Then the `boil' stopped and you couldn't +move a fish. But we'd better start soon." + +"All right. I'll go and get my rod." + +The Vicar went out on to the lawn to see them off, and smoke his +after-breakfast pipe. + +"Cynthia, my dear," he called. "Come outside and walk up and down a +bit." + +She made some excuse about seeing to the things being cleared away. +However she soon joined him. + +"That nest of young thrushes is gone," he said, peering into the ivy +which hid the garden wall. "Some cat has found them, I expect. By the +way, Cynthia, do you really intend to marry Herbert Raynier?" + +"Why, what on earth do you mean, father?" she answered, resentment and +astonishment being about evenly divided in her tone. + +"Precisely what I say, dear--no more and no less. Because if you don't +you're going the right way to work to let him see it." + +"If I don't. But I do--of course I do. I can't think what you're +driving at." + +"Oh, it's simple enough. Couldn't you manage now and then, if only for +a change, to give him a civil word? Men don't like to be perpetually +found fault with and hauled over the coals," pronounced the Vicar, +speaking with some feeling, moved thereto by sundry vivid recollections +of his own, for he was a widower. Cynthia coloured. + +"But they require it--and--it's only for their good," she answered. + +"No deadlier motive could be adduced," returned her father, drily. +"Because, you see, if you use the whip too much they're apt to kick. +And I descry symptoms of such a tendency on the part of Herbert I +thought I'd give you a hint, that's all. It would be a pity to lose +him. His position is excellent and his prospects ditto; besides, he's a +thoroughly good fellow into the bargain." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The pool beneath Blackadder Bridge was wide enough for a rod on each +side, so that neither interfered with the other, but Raynier and his +future sister-in-law had met with scant sport. The surroundings, +however, were lovely: the soft roll of the wooded hills resounding with +the joyous shout of the cuckoo, the blue haze of spring beneath the +cloudless sky, and meadows spangled with myriad butter cups; while, hard +by, skipping perkily in and out of their knob-like nest against the +hoary mossiness of the buttressed bridge, a pair of water-ouzels took no +count whatever of their human disturbers. The bleating of young lambs +was in the air, mingling with the tuneful murmur of the brown water +purling out from the breadth of the deep pool into a miniature rapid. + +"Well, you two? What have you got to show for yourselves?" + +Raynier looked up, almost startled, so amazed was he. For the voice was +Cynthia's--and it was quite pleasant, even affectionate. And there was +Cynthia herself, looking exceedingly attractive in her plain, and +therefore tasteful, country attire. In her hand was a basket. + +"I thought I'd bring you something better for lunch than those dry old +sandwiches," she said, smilingly, as she proceeded to unpack its +contents. And Raynier, wondering, thought, could this be the same +Cynthia whom he had last seen, acid and disagreeable, who, indeed, had +scarcely had a civil word to throw to him since his arrival. + +"Beastly bad luck," screamed Sylvia, from the other side, reeling in her +line, preparatory to coming over to join in the lunch. + +This proved quite enjoyable. What on earth had happened to Cynthia +between then and breakfast time, thought Raynier. No trace of acidity +was there about her now. Her manner was soft, indeed affectionate, and +she looked up into his disfigured countenance quite delightfully, +instead of turning from it in aversion as heretofore. Why on earth +couldn't she be like this always, he thought regretfully, feeling +softened and relenting, under the combined influence of the soothing +surroundings and an excellent lunch. + +In the afternoon sport mended, and more than once a "boil" came on the +water, for a few minutes only, but so lively while it lasted that they +took out trout almost with every cast, and then he noticed how carefully +in the background Cynthia kept, and when he hung up his cast in that +confounded elder tree just as the rise began, she it was who came to the +rescue of his impatience, and so deftly and quickly disentangled the +flies. Why on earth could not she always be like that? And then, +during the two-mile walk home together in the glowing beauty of the +cloudless evening there was simply no comparison between the delightful +attractiveness of this woman, and the frowning, shrewish scold of the +opening of the day, and again and again he thought,--"If only she were +always like this!" + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +A TIMELY RECONSIDERATION. + +For a few days matters ran smoothly enough. The weather was lovely, +ideal May weather, in fact, and Raynier keenly appreciated the soft +beauty of this typical English landscape, seen at its best at the +loveliest time of the year--the fresh green of the foliage and the +yellow-spangled meadows; the cool lanes, shaded with hawthorn blossoms; +the snug farmhouses with their blaze of glowing flower-beds and the +background of picturesque ricks; the faint hum of the mill at the end of +the village, and the screech of swifts, skirring and wheeling round the +church tower, seen beyond the wall of the Vicarage garden. Such homely +sights and sounds appealed to him the more by contrast to the brassy +skies and baked aridity for which he would so soon be bound to exchange +them. For his furlough was drawing very near its end. + +Strange that, under the circumstances, it should be almost entirely this +that constituted his regret. Cynthia seemed to forget her chronic +ill-temper, and became quite affectionate; yet the recollection of her +outbursts remained. Even when at her best Raynier could not for the +life of him rid his mind of such recollections. That sort of nature +does not change, he told himself, and the prospect of spending his days +with the life-long accompaniment of such was as a very weight. And his +was not one of those easy-going, quickly-forgiving dispositions; far +from it. + +For one circumstance, as time went on, he felt devoutly thankful, +although at first he had reproached her with it, and that was that +Cynthia was not of a demonstrative temperament, and to this extent the +necessity of make-believe was spared him. He observed, too, in the +course of their conversations she seldom spoke of the future, or dwelt +upon their life together, and, observing it, he more than met her +half-way; and as they went about together, both in speech and demeanour +they were more like two people of very recent and ordinary acquaintance +than a betrothed couple whom a few days more were to separate by nearly +half the width of the globe. + +At the actual state of things the Vicar, for his part, shrewdly guessed, +but being a sensible man forebode to interfere. Cynthia was quite old +enough to manage her own affairs, and so too was Raynier. Possibly, +when the thing was irrevocable they would hit it off together as well as +most people did under the circumstances, which, to be sure, was not +saying much. Cynthia, with her faults, had her good points, and of +Raynier he entertained a very high opinion. It would turn out right +enough, he decided, but if he had any misgiving, the Vicar was forced to +own to himself that it was not on behalf of his daughter. + +"Curious thing that will of old Jervis Raynier's," he said one day, when +he and his son-in-law elect were walking up and down smoking their +pipes. "He left a good deal, and all to a girl who was hardly any +relation at all. You only come in after her." + +"Which is tantamount to not at all. But the same holds good of myself +in the matter of relationship. I'm only a distant cousin--so distant as +hardly to count." + +"You're a Raynier, at any rate. But she--By the way, do you ever think +about it, Herbert? My advice to you is not to. The chances are too +slight. The girl is young, they tell me, and attractive. She's bound +to marry, and then where do you come in?" + +"Nowhere, unless I were to marry her myself," laughed Raynier. "But +that's scratched now. By the bye--who is she, Vicar--?" + +"Herbert! Oh, there you are," shrilled the voice of Sylvia at this +juncture, followed by its owner, somewhat hot, and armed with two +trout-rods. "They told me you had gone on, and I got half-way down the +village before I found out you hadn't. Here's your rod. Come along. +We're losing the best part of the morning." + +There was no gainsaying the crisp decisiveness of these orders, and with +an apology to the Vicar, he started off. He was forced to own to +himself that these expeditions with the younger girl constituted his +best times. It never occurred to Cynthia to be jealous of her sister, +not in the ordinary sense, although once or twice she was rather acid on +the subject of his preferring so much of the latter's society. The fact +was, Sylvia was lacking in feminine attractions, being plain and +somewhat angular. But she was always lively and good-natured, and to +that extent a positive relief from the other, albeit an effective foil +to her in looks. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Sunday had come round, and Cynthia had got up in a bad temper--we have +observed that upon some people the first day of the week has that +effect--consequently, when Raynier hinted at the possibility of his not +going to church it exploded. The idea of such a thing! Why, of course +he must go, staying at the Vicarage as he was. What would be said in +the parish? + +"But it didn't matter what was said in the parish last Sunday. You +wouldn't let me come then because I was too ugly," he urged, with a +mischievous wink at Sylvia. + +"Well, so you were, but your face is nearly all right again now," +answered Cynthia, briskly, and with acerbity, for she had no sense of +fun. + +"Not it. You'll see it'll keep all the choir boys staring, and they +can't warble with their heads cocked round at right angles to the rest +of them." + +Sylvia spluttered. + +"All the more reason why you should come, Herbert," she said. "I want +to see that. It'll be good sport." + +"If you were a boy you'd be a typical parson's son, Silly," he laughed. + +"Shut up. I'll throw something at you if you call me that." + +"Do, and you'll keep up the part," he returned. + +Worthingham Church was in close resemblance to a thousand or so other +village churches of its size and circumstance, in that it was old and +picturesque, and gave forth the same flavour of mould and damp stones. +There was the same rustic choir with newly-oiled heads and clattering +boots and skimpy surplices, singing the same hackneyed hymns, and the +Vicar's sermon was on the same level of prosiness, not that he could not +have done better, but he had long since ceased to think it worth while +taking the trouble. But Cynthia Daintree, seated in the front pew, well +gowned and tastefully hatted, and withal complacently conscious of the +same, was the presiding goddess, at whom the rustics aforesaid never +seemed tired of furtively staring--in awe, which somewhat outweighed +their admiration--therein well-nigh overlooking the discoloured +countenance of her _fiance_. + +"Cynthia always looks as if she'd bought up the whole show," pronounced +Sylvia, subsequently and irreverently. + +Raynier had answered one or two inquiries after his "bicycle accident"-- +Cynthia having deftly contrived to let it be understood, though not in +so many words, that such was the nature of his mishap--and they were +re-entering the garden gate. Suddenly she said,-- + +"Where's your stick, Herbert? The malacca one. Why, you haven't used +it at all this time." + +It was all up now, he thought. As a matter of fact his main reason for +endeavouring to avoid going to church that morning was that it would be +one opportunity the less for her to miss that unlucky article. + +"No, I haven't. The fact is I've lost it." + +"Lost it? Oh, Herbert!" + +She looked so genuinely hurt that he felt almost guilty. + +"Yes. I'm awfully sorry, Cynthia. I wouldn't have lost it for +anything, but even as it is I'm sure to get it back again. I'm having +inquiries made, and offering rewards, in short doing all I can do. +It'll turn up again. I'm certain of that." + +"But--how did you lose it, and where?" + +He told her how; that being a detail he had purposely omitted in +previous narration of the incident. It was but frowningly received. + +"I didn't think you would attach so little value to anything _I_ had +given you, and yet I might have known you better." + +What is there about the English Sunday atmosphere that is apt to render +contentious people more quarrelsome still, and those not naturally +contentious--well, a little prickly? Raynier felt his patience ebbing. +She was very unreasonable over the matter, and, really--she was quite +old enough to have more sense. + +"I don't think you're altogether fair to me, Cynthia," he answered, his +own tone getting rather short. "The thing was unavoidable, you see. +Unless you mean you would rather the man's brains had been knocked out +by that bestial mob than that I should have given him some means of +defending himself. I value the stick immensely, and am doing all I can +to recover it, but I should have thought even you would hardly have +valued it at something beyond the price of a man's life." + +"Only a blackamoor's," she retorted, now white and tremulous with anger. + +"Sorry I can't agree with you," he answered shortly, for he was +thoroughly disgusted. "I have seen rather too much of that sort of +`blackamoor,' as you so elegantly term it, not to recognise that he, +like ourselves, has his place and use in his own part of the world. I +repeat, I am as sorry as you are the stick should have been lost, but I +should have thought that, under the circumstances, no woman--with the +feelings of a woman--would have held me to blame." + +"That's right. Sneer at me; it's so manly," she retorted, having +reached the tremulous point of rage. "But why didn't you tell me of it +at first? Rather underhand, wasn't it?" + +"Oh, no. I don't deal in that sort of ware, thanks. I did not tell +you, solely out of consideration for your feelings. I had hoped the +thing might have been recovered by this time--then I would have told +you. And look here, Cynthia. Would it surprise you to learn that I am +getting more than a little sick of this sort of thing. I am not +accustomed to being found fault with and hectored every minute of the +day. In fact, I'm too old for it, and much too old ever to grow used to +it. And since I've been down here this time there's hardly a moment you +haven't been setting me to rights and generally finding fault with me. +Well, if that's the order of the day now, what will it be if we are to +spend our lives together? Really, I think we'd better seriously +reconsider that programme." + +She looked at him. Just her father's warning. But she was too angry +for prudent counsel to prevail. + +"Do you mean that?" she said, breathing quickly. + +"Certainly I do. It is not too late to warn you that mine is not the +temperament to submit to perpetual dictation." + +"Very well, then. It is your doing, your choice, remember." And +turning from him she passed into the house. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +MURAD AFZUL, TERROR. + +Peaks--jagged and lofty, peaks--stark and pointed, cleaning up into the +unclouded but somewhat brassy blue. Rock-sides, cleft into wondrous, +criss-cross seams; loose rocks again, scattering smoother slopes of +shale, where the white gypsum streaks forced their way through. +Beneath--far beneath--winding among these, a mere thread--the white dust +of a road. Of vegetation none, save for coarse, sparse grass bents, and +here and there a sorry attempt at a pistachio shrub. A great black +vulture, circling on spreading wing, over this chaos of cliff and chasm, +of desolation and lifelessness, turns his head from side to side and +croaks; for experience tells him that its seeming lifelessness is but +apparent. + +"Ya, Allah! and are we to wait here until the end of the world? In +truth, brother, we had better seek to serve some other chief." + +Thus one dirty-white-clad figure to another dirty-white-clad figure-- +both resembling each other marvellously. The same bronze visage, the +same hooked nose and rapacious eyes, the same jetty tresses on each side +of the face, and the same long and shaggy beard, characterised these two +no less than the score and a half other precisely similar figures lying +up among the interstices of this serrated ridge, watching the way +beneath. The dirty-white turbans had been laid aside in favour of a +conical dust-coloured _kulla_, the neutral hue of which headgear blended +with the sad tints of the surrounding rocks and stones. + +"I know not, brother," rejoined the second hook-nosed son of the +wilderness. "Yet it seems that since the _Sirkar_ [Note 1] has been +changed at Mazaran, a great change too has come over our father the +Nawab." + +"Nawab!" repeated the first speaker, with disgust. "Nawab! How can our +chief take such a dirty title, only fit for swine of Hindu idolators. +It is an insult on the part of the accursed Feringhi to offer such a +title to a freeborn son of the mountains; and such a one as the chief of +the Gularzai. Nawab!" and the speaker spat from between his closed +teeth, with a sort of hiss of contempt. + +"Yet, if it serves to place him higher in the estimation of the Feringhi +and of the tribes our neighbours, what matter?" returned the other. +"The Nawab Mahomed Mushim Khan sounds great in the ears of such." + +The sneering laugh which rattled from the other's throat was checked, +for now the attention of all became concentrated on a cloud of dust +coming into view, and advancing along the thread of road winding +beneath. Eagerly now, thirty pairs of fierce eyes were bent on that +which moved beneath their gaze--a passing of men, mounted and armed, to +the number of about three score; and fierce brows bent in hatred, as +they scowled upon the representative of that irresistible Power, which, +with all its failings and errors of judgment, yet in the long run held +in salutary restraint the excesses of their wild and predatory race. +For this was the escort of the British Political Agent, returning from +an official visit to their tribal chieftain. + +A squad of Levy Sowars rode in front, and a larger one of Native +Cavalry, the official himself, with two or three attendants being +between; the servants with camp necessaries and furniture bringing up +the rear, yet taking apparent care to keep somewhat close upon the heels +of the armed escort. Upon this array the wild hillmen gazed with many a +muttered curse. The time for that might come, in the orderings of Allah +and His Prophet; but it was not to-day--was the thought that possessed +several of their minds. + +The cavalcade held on its way, winding round a high precipitous spur, to +reappear again further on, small and distant, then to vanish entirely +where a great _tangi_ cleft the heart of the mountain. And look! +Below, once more, in the direction whence it had first appeared, whirled +another cloud of dust, insignificant this time compared with before. + +The eyes of the marauders gleamed from beneath shaggy brows, and a stir +ran through their numbers. Brown, claw-like hands gripped the barrels +of firearms--no antiquated, if picturesque jezails these, but +Lee-Metford magazine rifles up to date, save for a few Martinis--while +tulwars were half drawn from their scabbards, and gazed at with lovingly +murderous graze ere being replaced again. Yet the group of figures +which emerged into view on the road beneath was not formidable, +consisting in fact of but four human beings. + +Two were mounted, and two on foot, and between them they were driving +several pack animals, laden to their fullest capacity. At sight of +these, the band, all its tactics prearranged, moved down from its +eyrie-like lurking place, dividing, as it did so, into three. + +Chand Lall, general trader, who was mounted, and his two assistants who +were afoot, were uneasy, and the former was secretly cursing his own +avarice which had prevented him from purchasing an extra pack animal or +two, which would have enabled him and his possessions to have kept +beneath the wing of the Political Agent's escort, whereas now he was +very considerably behind the tail of the same. But the fourth of the +group, the other mounted man, was quite cool; indeed, it looked as +though he actually preferred the solitude of their wild surroundings-- +and perhaps he did. + +"Be at peace, brother," this one was saying. "Are we not safe, for we +are in the hand of Allah? Wherefore then this hurry? Nothing can be +but what is written. But there, I forget, my memory groweth old with +its owner. Thou art not of the number of true believers." And he +deliberately and leisurely dismounted, as though discovering a sudden +lameness in the near foreleg of his horse. + +"That is all very well, Ibrahim, who art a Moslem," said the fat Hindu, +whose distressed impatience was painfully manifest. "None will harm +thee. But I--" + +The words died in his throat, choked there by the sight of a number of +stealing figures, flitting down from rock to rock. The countenance of +the unfortunate trader grew a dirty leaden white. Already the road +before him was barred. Wildly he gazed around. That behind him was +barred too. His companion, quite unmoved, was still examining the hoof +of his horse. High overhead, a speck in the ether, above the gnomelike +crags, the black vulture still turned his head from side to side and +croaked. + +Already the marauders had seized the pack animals. The two young men +who drove them had fallen flat and were grovelling and wailing for +mercy. Rough hands had flung the Hindu from his saddle, and he lay on +the ground, moaning with fear, and quaking in every limb, as he stared +frantically at the dull flash of razor-edged tulwars, brandished over +him, the savage, hairy faces glowering down upon him, fell and +threatening with religious hate and racial contempt. + +"Rise up, fat dog," said one of the marauders, kicking him. "Rise up, +and come with us." + +"Mercy, Sirdar Sahib, and suffer me to go my way," whined the terrified +man, as he tremblingly obeyed the first clause of the injunction. "I am +but a poor trader, but have ever been generous to such as ye. Take +therefore of my poor store, yet leave me a little that I may begin life +again." + +The leader of the band laughed evilly and spat. + +"Thy poor store! Ha! We will take all and afterwards skin thee of yet +more, thou usurer, who comest into our country but to leave it poorer." + +"Not so, Sirdar Sahib," expostulated the trader, plucking up a little +courage by virtue of the name he was about to invoke. "What I have, I +have from the Nawab--the Nawab Mushim Khan--given in honest trade. +Shall I then suffer ill-treatment at the Nawab's very gates?" + +"The Nawab. Ha--ha!" jeered the leader, spitting again. "Walk, fat +infidel dog. Dost hear?" + +And a buffet on the side of the head, which nearly felled him, convinced +the unfortunate trader that this was no time for further expostulation; +and, accordingly, panting, wheezing, stumbling, he strove his painful +utmost to keep pace up the steep hill with his perilous and unwelcome +escort. His attendants were undergoing but little ill-treatment. They +were young and lithe, and gave no trouble; moreover, they had little or +nothing to lose, so feared nothing. Ibrahim, who happened to be a +_mullah_, and whom the other had subsidised for the supposed protection +of his own company, to whom no violence whatever had been offered, was +leading his steed tranquilly over the rough, stony slope, chatting and +laughing familiarly with the band; and at the sight the unhappy Chand +Lall's soul grew more bitter within him. Why had he been so ready to +accept this plausible rogue's benevolent sanctity, he thought, as now +fifty instances occurred to him of delays, slight at the time, but on +colourable pretext, to retard him more and more--to increase subtly and +imperceptibly more and more the distance between him and the armed force +with which he had obtained permission to travel. Bitterly he reproached +himself. He saw through it now--in fact, he did not believe that +Ibrahim was a _mullah_ at all; but _mullah_ or not, certain it was that +he was the confederate and decoy of the ferocious and predatory gang who +had so daringly swooped down upon himself and his goods, almost within +call of the Political Agent's armed escort. + +On they fared, higher and higher, until at length, utterly exhausted, +Chand Lall realised that he lay powerless and beyond all reach or hope +of aid in one of the fastnesses of his captors, away in the most savage +and frowning recesses of the mountain world. And then something in the +very hopelessness of it all as he saw the fruits of a long and toilsome +expedition utterly thrown away, moved the wretched man to a sort of +desperation. He threatened. + +"See you," he said, "I am not a man who can be smuggled away and no +inquiries made. I am not a man who can be ill-treated with impunity. I +am a man of consequence, and of importance to the _Sirkar_. I am a +friend of the Nawab--" + +He stopped short. There was that in the look of the leader--to whom he +had addressed these words--which seemed to freeze the half delirious +desperation within him. + +"A friend of the Nawab! Ha--ha! Hearken, O man of consequence and of +importance to the _Sirkar_," bending down a savage face to note and +revel in the terror he was about to strike into his victim. "Is it +possible that thou hast never yet heard the name of Murad Afzul? Is it +possible, I say? Ya, Allah! is it possible?" + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. Government ordinarily. In this instance the representative of +Government. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +THE VICTIM. + +The effect of his mere name upon his prisoner answered the robber +chief's own question, nor had the latter any reason to feel disappointed +over the method of its reception. The wretched trader's countenance +became ghastly, and his mouth fell open, while the perspiration oozed +from him at every pore. He would about as soon have fallen into the +power of the Enemy of mankind. + +"Mercy, Sirdar Sahib. Take what I have and suffer me to depart," was +all he could articulate, slobberingly. + +Murad Afzul laughed, and a harsh evil laugh it was. He was a +fine-looking man, tall and with good features, which would have been +pleasing, but for the quick, predatory look, and the savage scowl which +would cloud them upon very slight provocation. + +"Tell me, fat dog," he said. "Canst thou name one of thy sort who fell +into my hands and came forth again?" + +The trader fairly howled with terror, for this was just where his +position came home to him. If there was one thing for which this Murad +Afzul and his band were known and dreaded, it was for their absolute +mercilessness. Mere death was the greatest mercy their victims could +expect. True, there were some who had come forth alive, but so +hideously maimed and shattered that they had better have been dead, and +with awful tales to tell of torture and horror either witnessed or +undergone. Indeed, such a scourge had these freebooters become, that +strong pressure was brought to bear upon the chief of the Gularzai, and +in the result these outrages had ceased, in recognition of which prompt +compliance Mahomed Mushim Khan had been invested by the Indian +Government with the title of Nawab--somewhat to the contempt of these +fierce mountaineers, as we heard them express it. + +With all of this was the unfortunate Hindu so well acquainted that he +would never have dreamed of trusting his person or possessions in these +mountain solitudes, but that he, like others, was under the impression +that Murad Afzul had taken himself and his depredations clean away to +the territory of some other potentate, and the possibility of that +redoubted outlaw taking advantage of the advent of a new Political Agent +to break out afresh had escaped him altogether. + +Now, under the direction of their chief, the freebooters were rifling +the packs--and at first found not much in them, for they were for the +most part stuffed out with dummy matter, to convey the idea that their +owner had done so bad a trade as not to be worth plundering. But +everything that could possibly conceal a coin was promptly laid open by +the expeditious process of a blow with a stone hammer or the slash of a +tulwar, and soon a goodly pile of rupees lay heaped up ready for +division. Murad Afzul grinned with delight. + +"God is good," he said, rubbing his hands. "The spoils of the infidel +hath he delivered to the true believer. Yet, O fat pig, it is not +enough. Ha! not enough." + +"Not enough? But it is my all, Sirdar Sahib; yea, my all," groaned the +trader. + +"Wah-wah! but I am poor, and have not the wherewith to start life +afresh." + +"It is not enough," repeated the other, the glitter of his eyes and the +fell meaning of his tone becoming terrible in its significance. "Ten +thousand rupees must be added to it." + +"Ten thousand! How can I find such a sum, Sirdar Sahib, I who am but a +poor man? I have not a tenth of it." + +"Now art thou blowing up the fire which shall consume thine own limbs, +yet slowly, thou foul dog. Wait. Thou shalt taste how it feels." + +At a signal the prisoner was seized and bound. The while, others were +heating an old gun-barrel in a fire which had been kindled when they +first halted. Then they brought it towards him. At the sight the +miserable wretch uttered a loud scream of terror and despair. + +"Squeal louder, pig," jeered Murad Afzul. "There is none to hear thee +save these rocks, and they are accustomed to such sounds. Ha! ha!" + +The miserable man struggled frantically, promising to pay anything if +they would refrain from torturing him. But the lust of cruelty, now +awakened in those ferocious natures, would not be allayed, and the hot +iron was laid hissing to the thigh of their victim, whose frenzied and +agonising yells rang in deafening and fiend-like echoes from the +surrounding rocks, grim and pitiless as though rejoicing in the act of +savagery upon which they glared down. Then Murad Afzul, too experienced +in such matters to prolong the agony unduly, made a sign that it should +cease. + +"How likest thou that, pig?" he said. "Did not thy fat frizzle? I have +a mind to send a slice of it to the swine-eating Feringhi at Mazaran. +Did it hurt, the kiss of the hot iron? Yet that was but the beginning. +How would it feel lasting the whole day. Think, for thou wilt now have +a little time." + +It was the hour of prayer, and now the whole band, with their shoes off, +and their chuddas spread on the ground, facing in the direction of +Mecca, were going through the prescribed prostrations and formulae of +the Moslem ritual. Ibrahim the _mullah_, a little in front of the rest: +led the devotions, intoning each strophe in a nasal, droning key, the +others ranged behind him in rows, now kneeling, now rising, responded +somewhat after the manner of the recital of a litany, but perhaps, to an +outside observer, the absolute and wholehearted devoutness of their +demeanour would have constituted the strangest part of it. Not a shadow +of compunction had they for the hideous act of barbarity in which they +had a moment ago indulged, and which they would almost certainly repeat. +Why should they, indeed? What was the agony of an infidel dog more or +less to them or to Heaven? Why, the very cries of such must be as music +in the ears of the latter. So they continued laying this brick in the +edifice of their salvation; and, having concluded, resumed their shoes +and turned their attention once more to their victim. + +The latter, the while, had been thinking if haply some hope of rescue +might not occur to him. The Sahib had known of his presence, for he +himself had given him permission to travel under his protection. Would +he not miss him, and, as a consequence, order a body of men to ride back +to his rescue? These would assuredly come upon the scene of his capture +and follow upon his tracks. But--would they? The Levy Sowars were +drawn from the same region and were of the same faith as his captors, of +whom they would know the strength and resource, and with whom they would +certainly avoid engaging in a fight on behalf of such as he. Besides-- +and again Chand Lall had reason to curse his own stinginess, in that he +had been more than "near" in bestowing the expected _dasturi_ upon the +Sahib's chuprassis, wherefore these would infallibly take care that no +suspicion of his disaster should reach their master's ears. Further, +was it not a matter of absolute certainty that, rather than allow his +rescue, Murad Afzul would give orders for his throat to be cut from ear +to ear? No, there was no hope--not a ray. + +"Talk we again of the rupees," began Murad Afzul. "I am moved to +require double the amount now, but Allah is merciful, and shall I be +less so? I will be content with ten thousand. Wherefore, O dog, thou +shalt write and deliver to Ibrahim, our brother--who is holy and +learned--a letter which shall cause those who guard the fruits of thine +avarice and usury, to pay over to him that sum. Yet think not to write +aught that shall render this void, for Ibrahim is learned as well as +holy, and can read in many tongues. Further, should he not return to +us, thine own fate shall be even as though thou wert already writhing in +the lowest depths of Jehanum." + +"It were better, Sirdar Sahib, that I myself travelled to Mazaran to +procure it, for our people are distrustful of strangers." Murad Afzul +laughed evilly. "But we are doubly so, O worshipper of debauched +idols," he said. "So thou wouldst fain fare forth thyself? Ha, ha, +then how long would it be before we beheld thee again, or one single one +of the ten thousand rupees?" + +"Why, as soon as I could collect them, and to do that I would spare no +pains, no trouble, Sirdar Sahib, although it would leave me a poor man, +and in debt for life," replied Chand Lall, eagerly thinking, poor fool, +that his jailor was going to set him free on so slender a security as +his bare word. But the shout of laughter that went up from all who +heard quickly undeceived him. + +"Who having a caged bird of value turns that bird loose to stretch his +wings in the hope that it will return to its cage?" said the chief. +"Thou art to us a caged bird of value, thou eater of money--wherefore we +keep thee until thou hast no further value. Show him," he added, +turning to his followers. + +In obedience to this somewhat mysterious mandate one of them turned and +dived into a cleft, producing therefrom an object which he gleefully +unrolled, and held up before the gaze of the horrified captive--and +well, indeed, might the latter quake, for it was the skin of a man. + +It had been most deftly taken off. Face, head, ears--everything in +fact. Staring at the horrid thing, Chand Lall felt his very marrow melt +within him. + +"See," said Murad Afzul. "He did not die, even then. He lived to taste +of fire and boiling ghee." And the rest of the band laughed like +fiends, but the wretched Hindu covered his face and shook. + +"Well mayst thou tremble," went on his pitiless tormentor. "For should +Ibrahim return without ten thousand rupees, or not return at all, by the +setting of the third sun, thine own skin shall dry beside that one." + +The victim uttered a loud cry. + +"The third sun! Why, Sirdar Sahib, that will be impossible. I can +never have so much money collected in so short a time. Make it the +sixth sun." + +Murad Afzul consulted a moment with his followers. Then he said,-- + +"Allah is merciful, and so, too, will I be. I will say then by the +setting of the fifth sun after this one. Yet try not to play us any +false trick, thou dog, for it will be useless, and for what it will mean +to thyself, look on yonder and be assured," and, as though to emphasise +the chief's words, he who held the horrible human skin shook it +warningly and suggestively in the face of the thoroughly terrified +hostage. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The Political Agent, having dined well in his evening camp, was going +over some official papers by the light of the tent lamp. + +"Oh, Sunt Singh," he said, looking up as a chuprassi entered, "what +became of that trader who was with us? I didn't see him when we first +camped." + +"_Huzoor_, he is camped just below the sowars' tents, I believe." + +"Yes? You may go," and the official resumed what he was doing, without +further thought for the luckless Chand Lall, who certainly was not where +the lying chuprassi had said. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +A SURPRISE. + +Herbert Raynier ran lightly up the steps of his verandah, feeling +intensely satisfied with himself and things in general. + +Though summer, the air was delightfully balmy, and the glow of the +sunset reddening the heads of the mountains surrounding the basin in +which lay Mazaran, was soothing and grateful to the eye. The bungalow +was roomy and commodious, and stood in the midst of a pleasant garden, +where closing flowers distilled fragrant scents upon the evening air-- +all this sent his mind back in thankful contrast to hot, steaming, +languid Baghnagar, its brassy skies and feverish exhalations, where even +at this late hour the very crows lining the roof would be open-billed +and gasping. And thus contrasting the new with the old order of things +he decided for the fiftieth time that the luckiest moment of his life +was when he opened the official letter--which met him on landing at +Bombay--appointing him Political Agent at Mazaran. + +Hardly less in contrast between the climate of his new station and the +last, were the people with whom he now had to deal. There was nothing +whatever in common between the meek subservient native he had hitherto +ruled and the stalwart independence of these wild mountain tribes, whose +turbulent and predatory instincts needed nice handling to keep in +efficient control. But all this appealed to him vividly, and he threw +himself into his new duties with an eager zest which caused those who +had known his predecessor to smile. He recognised that here at least +was a chance; here he might find scope for such latent ability which the +stagnant routine of his old Department had been in danger of stifling +altogether. In fact, he was inclined to regret the abnormally tranquil +state of things, when Jelson, his predecessor, had congratulated him +upon the fact that Mushim Khan, the chief of the powerful, and often +turbulent, Gularzai tribe, had become so amenable since the Government +had created him a Nawab that the meanest _bunniah_ might almost walk +through the Gularzai country alone and with his pockets bulging with +rupees, in perfect safety. + +Herbert Raynier flung himself into a comfortable chair on the verandah +and lighted a cheroot. He had half an hour to spare before it should be +time to dress and go out to dinner, and how should such be better spent +than in a restful smoke: yet, while enjoying this, his thoughts were +active enough. His prospects, rosy as the afterglow which dwelt upon +the surrounding peaks, kept him busy for a time, and over all was a +sense of great relief. If he had saved the life of an unknown Oriental +at the hands of a particularly brutal mob, assuredly he had been repaid +to the full, for, but for that circumstance, matters would never have +come to a head with Cynthia. He would still be bound hard and fast by a +chain of which he only realised the full weight since he had broken it. +For he had broken it--finally, irrevocably, unmistakably, he told +himself. Since that last scene in the Vicarage garden he and Cynthia +had exchanged no word. The remainder of that day had not been of a +pleasant nature, and he had left by an early train on the following +morning, to return three days later to India. No letter, either of +farewell, or reproach or recrimination--as he had half feared--reached +him at the last, and it was with feelings of genuine relief that he +watched the shores of the mother country fade into the invisible. + +Tarleton, the Civil Surgeon, at whose bungalow Raynier was dining, was +somewhat of a trying social unit, in that he was never even by chance +known to agree with any remark or proposition, weighty or trivial, put +forward by anybody, or if there was no conceivable room for gainsaying +such, why then he would append some brisk aggressive comment in rider +fashion. As thus,-- + +"How do, Raynier? How did you come over? Didn't walk, did you?" + +"No. Biked." + +"Ho! Bicycle's not much use up here, I can tell you." + +Raynier remarked that he found the machine useful for getting about the +station with, and that the roads in and immediately around the same were +rather good. + +"Well, you didn't expect to find them all rocks and stones, did you?" +came the prompt rejoinder. + +Tarleton was white-haired and red-faced, which caused him to look older +than his actual years. Another of his peculiarities was that he was +continually altering his facial appearance. Now he would grow a beard; +then suddenly, without a word to anybody, would trim it down to what +they call in Transatlantic a "chin-whisker," or shave it altogether. +Or, one day he would appear with a long, carefully-waxed moustache, and +the next with that appendage clipped to the consistency of a toothbrush. +And so on. + +Just at this stage, however, Raynier, recognising that he was on the +high road to cordially detesting the man, had laid himself out to be +extra long-suffering. + +"Wonder if those women ever mean to come in?" went on Tarleton, with a +fidgety glance at the clock, for the two were alone in the drawing-room +just before dinner. + +"Oh, one has to give the ornamental sex a little `law,'" said the other, +good-humouredly. + +"Well, you can't expect them to put on their clothes and all that as +quickly as we can," was the rejoinder to this accommodating speech. And +just then "those women," in the shape of Mrs Tarleton and a guest, +entered. The first was a good-humoured, pleasant-looking little +Irishwoman, the second-- + +"How d'you do, Miss Clive? Why, this is a surprise," began Raynier, +without waiting for an introduction. + +"I like surprises," laughed the hostess. "They're great fun. We +thought we'd give you one, Mr Raynier." + +"They are, if, as now, they are pleasant ones," he answered. + +"Why, Mr Raynier, I didn't think that kind of speech-making was at all +in your line," said the "Surprise," demurely. + +She was a tallish girl, rather slight, with refined and regular +features, which nineteen out of twenty pronounced "cold." She had a +great deal of dark brown hair, and very uncommon eyes; in fact, they +were unequivocally and unmistakably green. Yet framed in their dark, +abundant lashes, they might be capable of throwing as complete an +attraction, a fascination, as the more regulation blue or hazel ones. +She was not popular with men. Not enough "go" in her, they declared. +Seemed more cut out for a blue-stocking. + +She and Raynier had been fellow-passengers out; but had had little to +say to each other on board. He had danced with her three or four times, +which was rather remarkable in view of that being a form of exercise +which he favoured but little. Both had this in common, that they held +aloof from the usual 'board-ship amusements, yet they had not come +together at all. It was only when they landed at Bombay, and the +friends she had expected to meet her had not arrived, that Raynier, +noticing the look of intense consternation, of bewilderment even, upon +the girl's face, as she realised how she was stranded, a total stranger +in a very strange land, had come to the rescue--had even foregone his +train and remained over until the next day to be of service to her. +This he had done out of sheer kindness--the other passengers having gone +their respective ways without giving her a thought--and having handed +her over to her friends who had been unavoidably delayed, had bidden her +good-bye and had gone his own--he, too, scarcely giving her another +thought. + +"Hilda says you were so kind to her at Bombay, Mr Raynier," went on his +hostess. + +"Oh, no--that's nothing, Mrs Tarleton. Glad to have been of any +service, of course," he replied, in that hurried, half-confused way to +be expected of a man of his disposition under the circumstances. + +"But it isn't nothing," struck in the girl, decidedly. "Do you know, +Mrs Tarleton, Mr Raynier even waited till the next day to look after me. +And it's odd, because we hardly knew each other on the ship." + +"Oh, well," mumbled Raynier, jerkily, "you can't see anybody stranded +like that--a lady especially--in a totally strange place without doing +something to straighten things out for them." + +Hilda Clive smiled. + +"None of the others seemed to be of that opinion, at any rate," she +said. + +Snapped Tarleton, "Well, you can't expect a lot of people just landed +from a voyage to think about anything but themselves and their own +belongings." + +For once Raynier felt frankly grateful to the contentious one--if only +that it was sufficient for Tarleton to lay down a statement on any given +subject to cause his ordinary hearers to drop that subject like a +red-hot bar. Wherefore these promptly turned to another. + +Sunt Singh and Kaur Singh, chuprassis, were aroused from the drowsy +enjoyment of their hubble-bubbles by a very unwonted intruder in the +Political Agent's compound late at night, and were well-nigh speechless +with supercilious amazement. The fat trader they had left on the road! +See the _Huzoor_! At that time of night! It was the Police Station the +fool wanted. Something of the highest importance? Let him come in the +morning. It would keep until then. Besides, the _Huzoor_ was out +dining. + +In a direful state of fear and perplexity Chand Lall, thus rebuffed, got +out into the road again, and with a scared look over each shoulder, took +his way as quickly as he could from the gate. But this was not quick, +for even in the darkness it might have been seen that he walked with a +painful limp. In the darkness too, something else might have been +seen--two figures stealing along in the deeper shade of the tamarisk +hedge. He whom they shadowed saw them not--at first--then having chosen +their spot, they quickened their pace, and darting forward flung +themselves upon him. + +The yell which the assailed man opened his mouth to utter died in his +throat as the white light of a long knife blade streaked before his +eyes. + +"Silence or thou art dead," snarled a harsh voice. "So, dog, thou +wouldst betray us?" + +In the dirty-white turbans and hairy, hook-nosed faces, Chand Lall knew +only too well who were these. Already they had begun to drag him +swiftly along. Then in his frenzy of terror at the recollection of the +fate he had escaped from and which certainly waited him now, even the +fear of instant death did not avail. A loud, quavering shriek for aid +rang from his lips. + +But it died in a choking gasp. The white knife blade disappeared, to +emerge again red--and this not once only. A corpse lay wallowing in the +road, and two loosely-clad figures vanished into the darkness, even as +they had come out of it. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +THE MARK OF MURAD AFZUL. + +Raynier was wondering over several things. He was wondering how anyone +living could stand Tarleton for life--as his wife did; how anyone could +stand him for a week, or two or three--as his guest was doing; or for +two or three hours--as he himself was trying to do. Then, constantly +observing Hilda Clive--opposite him, for they were a party of four--he +was wondering how it was that she had held out so little attraction to +him hitherto. For nearly three weeks they had been pent up together in +the close proximity of shipboard--yet he had hardly been aware of her +existence. While he was looking after her at Bombay, she had seemed +more attractive, but not much. Yet now, meeting her again and +unexpectedly, he was conscious of this or that subtle trait which +interested him. + +Still, why had he not discovered it before? Time, opportunity--all had +been favourable. He supposed it was that the recollection of Cynthia +Daintree had left a bitter taste in his mouth, and that he had been +passing through a misogynistic stage accordingly. + +"I don't believe these `budmashes' are as quiet as they seem," Tarleton +was saying. "Or if they are, it's because they are hatching devilment. +I've been longer among them than you have, Raynier, and Mushim Khan +isn't the sort to turn into a lamb all of a sudden, as he seems to have +done lately." + +They were talking over Raynier's visit to the Nawab, and Tarleton, as +usual, was contradictious. + +"What is the Nawab like, Mr Raynier?" said Hilda Clive. + +"Rather a fine-looking man--in fact, very." + +"And is his palace very splendid?" + +Raynier stared. + +"Very splendid?" he repeated--"Oh, I see! The idea is quite a natural +one. But, as a matter of fact, he hasn't got any `palace' at all. He +lives in a mud-walled village." + +"No. Not really?" + +"Miss Clive thinks he ought to wear a crown and go about blazing with +jewels," said Tarleton. + +"Well, that isn't an inexcusable mistake," rejoined Raynier, +"considering the ideas people generally associate with his title. You +see, Miss Clive, the Gularzai are almost savages--fine savages, but +still savages--something akin to our ideas of the desert Arab." + +"Well, they can't help that, can they?" struck in Tarleton, apparently +for no earthly reason, unless that nobody had dreamed of saying they +could. + +"I should like to see something of these people in their own homes," +said the girl. "They must be rather interesting. I admire these I see +walking about the station. It is a fine type of face. Are they +Gularzai, Mr Raynier?" + +"Fine type of face!" cut in Tarleton. "Why, they're the most +villainous-looking scoundrels unhung. Any one of them would cut your +throat for eight annas." + +"A good many are Gularzai, Miss Clive," answered Raynier. "But all +these mountain tribes are very much alike in appearance." + +Now Tarleton broached a subject which an hour or two earlier would have +been unwelcome to the other in the last degree. Raynier was going on a +camping expedition very shortly--together with Haslam, the Forest +Officer--and Tarleton was anxious to join it. + +"There's precious little to shoot," was the answer, "though one might do +a clamber after markhor. But it would give Miss Clive the very +opportunity she was wanting." + +"Eh? How?" said Tarleton. + +"Why she'd see something of the country, and incidentally of the +people." + +This was putting matters in a new light to Tarleton. He had not +proposed to include his womenkind in the scheme. But now both his wife +and their guest declared the prospect a delightful one, and as there was +no valid reason against it, Tarleton, for a wonder, consented. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It was midnight when Raynier bade his entertainers good-bye, and as he +bowled along the smooth high road he found himself wondering again--and +this time over two things. One was that he had spent an uncommonly +pleasant evening at Tarleton's; the other that he should actually have +welcomed the prospect of Tarleton's society for a matter of a couple of +weeks or so, on the projected camping expedition. Well, as to the +latter he need not see much of Tarleton. + +His bicycle ran smoothly, and, absorbed in his thoughts, he was nearly +passing his own compound, when--what was that? A cry--a little distance +further on--and it expressed terror. Passing his own gate he whirled +straight on, and in a moment, there in the middle of the road lay a +human form. But before he could dismount, another sound caught his ear. +Without giving the man who lay there another thought he started in +pursuit. + +The stripe of the road lay before him in the darkness, dim yet clearly +defined. At the side of it, under the high tamarisk hedge, he made out +two figures. Peremptorily, and in Hindustani, he called upon them to +halt. They obeyed. But so far from such compliance affording Raynier +any satisfaction, he felt at that moment that he would give a great deal +to see them get through the hedge somehow, and disappear from his sight +for ever. In a flash he realised that he had embarked on a very +dangerous and foolhardy undertaking, as he recognised that a brace of +tall, savage, mountain desperadoes were waiting to receive him, he being +totally unarmed, and the road as lonely at that hour of the night as any +wild peak he could see looming dimly against the stars around. + +A bicycle, moreover, is a desperately bad steed to fight on, but knowing +this he realised at the same time that it is an excellent one to run +away on, given a clear road ahead. But would they allow him such? No, +they would not. + +It was all done in a flash. Raynier saw the two figures, in half-bent, +crouching attitude, glide suddenly into the middle of the road--and he +knew that each held a long knife. There was no time to stop. He saw +his bicycle strike one of them full in the chest, as he put it at him at +full speed--then became conscious that he himself was whirling through +the air to land with a crash beneath the tamarisk hedge. He saw the +other of them coming towards him knife in hand; saw in a moment the +shaggy tresses, and the savage eyes glaring beneath the great turban, +and then--there crashed forth a couple of shots, seemingly over his +head. + +His assailant had disappeared. At the moment he realised the position. +The occurrence had taken place just in front of the Forest Officer's +compound, and the Forest Officer being a very great sportsman, his +bungalow was a miniature arsenal of weapons of all sorts. Moreover, he +was a man of experience and quick wit. He too had heard the expiring +yell of the murdered man, and had come forth to investigate, armed with +a large and business-like revolver which he well knew how to use. In +this instance, however, the darkness, and some fear of hitting the wrong +man, had spoiled his shots. But of either at whom they were directed +there remained no sign. Both had made themselves scarce. + +"What's all the bobbery about?" sang out this friend in need, descrying +the doubled-up figure under the hedge. "Who is it?" + +"Me--Raynier." + +"The devil! Not hurt, are you?" + +"Someone up the road is--that's why I was chevying those `budmashes.' +Come along up there and we'll investigate." + +The Forest Officer shouted lustily to his servants to bring a lantern, +and they, aroused by the shots, were not long in doing so. Raynier +picked himself up, somewhat gingerly. + +"I say--you did get a toss," said the other. "Not hurt, eh?" + +"N-no. I think not. Shaken up a bit--like a tonic bottle." + +Strange to say the bicycle had received little or no damage either. + +"These Pathans are tough," said the Forest Officer. "Fancy being able +to clear out after a collision like that." + +They reached the spot where the dead man was lying. A shout or two from +Raynier brought out his own people, with more lanterns. It was not a +nice sight to gaze upon at midnight--the ghastly fear and agony stamped +upon the dead face, and the great pool of blood still welling forth +afresh as they turned the body over. Raynier could not help contrasting +it in his mind with the scene he had just left hardly more than a +quarter of an hour ago. + +"I seem to know the face too," he said, in a puzzled way. "Who is he, +Kaur Singh? Do you know?" + +"_Ha, Huzoor_. It is the trading man whom your Highness allowed to +travel on the skirt of your protection when we had been visiting Mushim +Khan." + +But the rascal took very good care to say nothing about having turned +him away from the gate that very night. The man was dead, and therefore +he himself was safe. But the offender was happily ignorant of the +fateful consequences that rebuff was destined to entail upon his master, +upon others--and, perchance, upon himself. + +For what they gazed upon here was but a beginning. It was the mark of +Murad Afzul. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +A LEGACY OF VENGEANCE. + +The Nawab Mahomed Mushim Khan, commonly known as Mushim Khan, Chief of +the Gularzai, was seated beneath the shade of an apricot tope, +discussing affairs of state with his brother and vizier, Kuhandil Khan. + +The hour of prayer was just over, yet here and there a group of belated +worshippers was still engaged in the prescribed ceremonial, bowing down, +low and oft, in the direction of the Holy City, while others were +wending their way towards the gate in the long low mud wall behind which +stood the village. Here and there, too, knelt camels, in process of +being loaded for a journey, eternally snarling and roaring, as is the +way of those cross-grained, hideous, but essentially useful animals, and +flocks of black goats and of fat-tailed Persian sheep moved lazily off +to their browsing grounds attended by tall, shaggy herdsmen armed with +their long-barrelled, sickle-stocked guns--and accompanied by great +savage dogs, a match for wolf or panther, and far more dangerous than +either to any human being not well armed, who should incur their +hostility. Even as Raynier had set forth, there was not anything here +of the jewelled gorgeousness and architectural splendour popularly +associated with the conventional Nawab, yet it was Mushim Khan's +principal and favourite place of abode. + +It lay in a basin-like hollow. Overhead and around, a grim array of +chaotic peaks towered to a considerable height--the slopes lined with +cliffs, and strewn with tumbled rocks, representing a vastness of area +which the unaccustomed eye took some time to appreciate. Through this +valley a small river flowed, having for its outlet a narrow, cliff-hung +pass, which was, in fact, the principal access to the great natural +amphitheatre. + +In describing the chief's personal appearance Raynier had not +exaggerated. Mushim Khan was unquestionably a fine-looking man. Tall +and straight, his powerful frame was well set off by the flowing +whiteness of his garments, and the symmetrical folds of his snowy turban +made an effective framework to the strong and dignified face. It was a +finer face than those possessed by most of his countrymen, being +somewhat fuller, and, though regular of feature, yet had not that +hawk-like and predatory expression engendered by the lean and +exaggeratedly aquiline cast of profile of the rest. His full beard and +the two long tresses hanging low down on either side of his broad chest +were jet black, but in view of the custom of dyeing such his age would +be hard to determine approximately. His brother, the Sirdar Kuhandil +Khan, was scarcely his inferior in appearance--in fact, there was so +strong a family likeness between them that they might easily have been +mistaken for each other. + +"I know not why we should join in this _jihad_," the chief was saying, +"nor do I know who is this Hadji Haroun who is stirring it up. He comes +from the Orakzai, and he had better return to them in peace." + +"That had he," agreed the other. "And yet, wherever he goes unrest +remains behind him on his path. It seems that he of Kabul has too many +_mullahs_, and when such become troublesome he sends them forth to stir +up unrest among such as need them not." + +"And our people are being inflamed by unrest, brother?" + +"Are they not?" answered Kuhandil Khan. "Murad Afzul is here among them +again, and it seems that he is drawing all men with him." + +"Murad Afzul?" and the chief's brows darkened. "Murad Afzul! I have a +mind to make an end of that robber. To what purpose should we allow +such as he to draw us into war with the Feringhi? And what should come +of such war? Will our land grow fat beneath it or our people increase?" + +"It would not be good to make an end of him at this moment," said the +vizier. "His following is large and powerful, and our people are ever +turbulent. For long has he been teaching them to cast eyes upon +Mazaran, whose garrison is weak, and where there is much plunder." + +"Then Murad Afzul is chief of the Gularzai," said Mushim Khan, bitterly. +"Well, we shall see, for I will order him to take his possessions and +depart." + +"The omen is favourable," said the vizier, lifting his eyes. "Lo--here +he comes?" + +Two men were approaching--one tall and of middle age, the other of +medium height and old. These drew near and salaamed, yet without the +obsequious servility customary on approaching the presence of the more +despotic Eastern ruler; for these mountain chiefs ruled more by +patriarchal prestige than despotic power. Mushim Khan gave them peace, +and they seated themselves. + +With the taller and younger of the two we are already acquainted. The +other was lean and wrinkled, with fierce eyes staring restlessly out +from beneath shaggy brows. He had also a trick of clenching and +unclenching his claw-like fingers as though gripping something, and +this, together with his bony, hawk-like countenance and rolling eyes, +gave him an indescribably cruel, not to say demoniacal, aspect. + +"Peace to the chief of the Gularzai," began this man, in a nasal grating +snuffle. "Peace to him whom the Feringhi hath created a Nawab, for men +say he loves peace." + +"And on you peace, who have beheld the tomb of the Prophet," returned +Mushim Khan, in deep tones, for he was not pleased to behold this +stranger, this interfering _mullah_, who stirred up strife whichever way +he went, and was, in fact, engaged in preaching _jihad_ throughout the +mountain tribes. + +The _mullah_, Hadji Haroun, was possessed of a very evil gift of +eloquence, evil because invariably turned towards the stirring up of +strife, and the sowing of plot and intrigue. For long he spoke, +unfolding his plan, the design of which was to involve the Gularzai in +common with other of the mountain tribes in an aggressive war with the +Indian Government. An insignificant military expedition was then on +foot against an insignificant unit of these, and here was a grand +opportunity to assert themselves, and enjoy some sport in the shape of +the slaughter of infidels, which would be pleasing to Allah at the same +time--and the seizing of considerable loot, which would be pleasing to +themselves. The opportunity was here. The Feringhi were unsuspicious +that any hostility could be in existence against them, for had not the +_Sirkar_ just created Mushim Khan a Nawab. The town of Mazaran simply +lay in the hand of the Gularzai, and could be taken without a blow, +captured by a clever surprise. + +What tribe or combination of tribes had ever prevailed in the end when +pitted against the _Sirkar_? No--not in the end, but which of them was +any the worse? Soldiers were sent. There was a fight or two, and peace +was made. Then things were just as they had been before. The Gularzai +would soon become as women, and forget what battle was, if they sat +still much longer. + +To all of this the chief listened gravely. He distrusted the speaker, +and wholly disapproved of the plan, for he had already been sounded on +the matter, and that not once. Murad Afzul spat from time to time, +nodding his evil head in approval as he gloated in anticipation over the +delights in store--of the bazaar in Mazaran running with blood, and the +camel loads of choice loot which should find their way to his mountain +retreat. Oh, there were merry times ahead. + +Yet assuredly disappointment awaited, for Mushim Khan, having heard all +that had been said, absolutely declined to join in the plot. He had +given the _Sirkar_ assurances of his friendship. The new Sahib who had +come as representative of the _Sirkar_, had treated him +straightforwardly and as a brother, and he refused to behave towards him +treacherously and as a liar. Infidel or not, to act thus towards him +would not be pleasing to Allah, nor could it be justified out of the +teaching of His Prophet. + +"As a brother?" repeated the crafty _mullah_, now about to throw his +trump card. "And was not the Sirdar Allahyar Khan a brother of the +Nawab?" + +"Surely," answered Mushim Khan, looking slightly puzzled, for he saw no +coherence in the question. + +"And his end--peace to his soul?" went on the _mullah_. "And his end, +what was it?" + +"His end was that of a brave man if a mistaken one," replied the chief, +in a deep voice, and frowning, for he disliked and resented the raking +up of this matter. But Hadji Haroun nodded, looking as though awaiting +further particulars. + +"He died fighting the Feringhi, by whom he was shot--and is now in +Paradise," supplemented Kuhandil Khan. + +"But if he was not so shot?" pursued the _mullah_, a gleam of triumphant +malice darting from his cruel eyes. + +"Then he is alive?" + +The words broke simultaneously from the chief and his brother. But the +_mullah_ dropped his eyes to the ground, and for a moment kept silence. +Then he said,-- + +"Would that he were. Would that his end had been that of a soldier. +But it was not. Ya, Mahomed! What an end was his! Wah-wah! what an +end!" + +And the crooked, claw-like fingers clenched and unclenched upon empty +air. Murad Afzul, who had been prepared for this psychological moment, +now rose, and having salaamed, moved away, for it was not fitting that +he should hear the terrible disclosure about to be made to the two +brothers. + +"The Sirdar Allahyar Khan was a havildar in one of the regiments serving +under the Feringhi at the time of the great rising?" went on the +_mullah_, in a kind of slow monotone. + +"And by them he was shot, by reason of the part he took against them in +the rising," said the chief. "And, after all, it was what he might +expect, for many of the Feringhi were then slain." + +"By them he was not shot, O Chief of the Gularzai whom the Feringhi have +named Nawab," returned the _mullah_. "By them he was hanged." + +"Hanged?" broke from both, in incredulous horror. "Now that cannot be. +The Feringhi would never put to so shameful a death a man of his +descent." + +"Yet he was hanged, O chiefs--hanged in such fashion as is not to be +named--hanged with a portion of swine flesh tied to his body." + +Both the listeners had half sprung to their feet, and all unconsciously +had struck a crouching, wild-beast attitude--and in truth their faces +were in keeping. Their lips had gone back from their teeth and their +eyes were glaring. + +"Is this a lie, old man?" gasped Mushim Khan. "For if it is thou shalt +die. Yes, thou shalt die the death of the boiling fat unless thou canst +prove its truth, and this wert thou a hundred times a _mullah_ or even +the grandson of the Prophet himself." + +But the other did not quail. + +"It is no lie. Ya, Mahomed! To such a death did they put a Sirdar of +the Gularzai. Many were so put to death by the Feringhi, they declaring +that such had slain their women and children, having first been lashed, +and so also did Allahyar Khan die. But before he died there was one who +stood by to whom he whispered his bequest of vengeance, and from that +one at his own death came the knowledge to me. Read; here is proof." + +He drew a soiled, faded parchment from beneath his clothing, and +tendered it to the chief. It was traced in Pushtu characters, and set +forth how the Sirdar Allahyar Khan, havildar in a regiment recruited +from all the border tribes, having been accused--and falsely--of being +concerned in the murders of women and children, was adjudged to be +hanged as the speaker had described; but the name of the officer in +command who had ordered this savage retribution was somewhat difficult +to decipher. Watching the two brothers, their heads meeting over the +scroll, their features perfectly convulsed with horror and fury, Hadji +Haroun smiled evilly to himself, though his countenance wore rather a +snarl than a smile. + +"The name?" they growled, looking up. "The name, the name?" + +"General Raynier Sahib," answered the _mullah_, fairly quivering with +delight. "Say now, Chief of the Gularzai. Is the Sahib yonder at +Mazaran still as thy brother?" + +"What has _he_ to do with this?" thundered the chief. + +"Ya, Allah! Observe, O Nawab. He who is now as the _Sirkar_ at Mazaran +is named Raynier Sahib. He is the son of the man who thus slew the +brother of the chief of the Gularzai. Say; is he still as thy brother?" + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +THE SYYED'S TANGI. + +"Are you superstitious, Miss Clive?" + +"Well, I don't know. Not more than other people, I suppose." + +"That is tantamount to an answer in the affirmative," rejoined Raynier. +"Believer in `luck.' Observances connected with the new moon--the +finding of a horse-shoe. Things of that kind." + +"Oh no, I'm not," she answered decidedly. + +"What? You would really upset the salt, and omit to throw some over +your shoulder--or walk under a ladder?" + +"As to that, I'd make sure there was no one on it with a paint-pot +first." + +"That's better. And you're not afraid of ghosts, eh?" + +"Well, I've never seen one," she answered, demurely mischievous. And +then they both laughed. + +It was near sundown--also near the camp. They were returning from an +afternoon ride, and the rest of the party, Haslam and the Tarletons to +wit, were some way on ahead. These two were alone together. + +This they had frequently been, since accident had thus thrown them +together, and in that brief period of time Raynier had fallen to +wondering more and more what there was about Hilda Clive that already he +had begun to think how he would miss her later on, and how on earth they +could have been shut up together on board a ship all the time they had, +and yet that he should hardly have taken any notice of her. Now in +their daily intercourse she was so companionable and tactful--and withal +feminine. She was really attractive too, he thought, not for the first +time, as he looked at her and noticed how well she sat her horse. As an +actual fact she really had improved in the point of appearance, and that +vastly; for the healthy outdoor life in that high climate had added a +colour to her face which gave it just that amount of softness in which +it had seemed lacking before. + +"If you are absolutely sure you are free from superstition," went on +Raynier, "I'd like to show you something that's worth seeing." + +"What is it?" + +"There's a real thrill of curiosity in that question," he laughed. +"It's a _tangi_--and a haunted one." + +"Oh, I must see it. Where is it, Mr Raynier?" + +"Close here. But before you venture you had better think over the +penalty. The belief is that whoever enters it meets his death in some +shape or form before the end of the next moon." + +"That's creepy, at any rate. But is the idea borne out by fact?" + +"They say it is, without exception. You would not get any of the people +here to set foot in it on any consideration whatever." + +"Then none of them ever set foot in it?" + +"I should rather think not." + +"Then how do they know what would happen if they did?" + +"They know what _has_ happened--at least, they say so. This is the +place." + +They had been riding over a nearly level plain, sparsely grown with +stunted vegetation, and shut in by hills, stony and desolate, breaking +up here and there into a network of chasms. Under one of these and at +the further edge of the plain was pitched their camp, and from where +they now halted they could distinguish the smoke of the fires rising +straight upward on the still air, could make out the glimmer of a white +tent or two. Right in front of them reared a mountain side, steep and +lofty, rising in terraced slopes--and, cleaving this there yawned the +entrance of a gigantic rift. + +"I'm not surprised they should weave all sorts of superstitions about +such a place as this," said Hilda Clive, as she gazed up, with +admiration not unmixed with awe, at the sheer of the stupendous rock +portals, so regular in their smooth immensity as almost to preclude the +possibility of being the work of Nature unaided. + +"Well, now, I've warned you what the penalty is," went on the other. +"Do you still want to go in?" + +"Why, you are so solemn over it, Mr Raynier, that anyone would think you +believed in it yourself." + +"They could hardly think that, could they, seeing that I've been through +it already." + +"Been through it? Have you really? How long ago?" + +"From end to end. A couple of days after we came up here." + +"But did you know the tradition?" + +"Yes. Haslam told me. I questioned Mehrab Khan about it, and he is a +firm believer in it. In fact, all the people are. That's the reason I +sent him on to the camp now. I didn't want him to know what we were +going to do, if only that there's nothing to be gained by jumping with +both feet upon other people's prejudices, especially natives'. And +these might look upon it as a desecration." + +"Has Mr Haslam been through it himself?" + +Raynier whistled, then laughed. + +"Haslam! Why, he'd about as soon go into it as Mehrab Khan." + +"Really, Mr Raynier, I couldn't have believed you people out here were +so superstitious. You are as bad as the natives themselves. I suppose +you get it from them." + +"`You'? Count me out, please. Didn't I just say I'd been through the +place? I'm doomed anyhow, you see," he added banteringly, "but there's +no reason why you should be. So now we'll get back to camp." + +"No. I want to go through it too." + +"Quite sure you won't feel uncomfortable about it afterwards?" he said. +"You might, you know." + +But a strange expression had come over her face, the set, far-away look +of one whose thoughts were not with her words. In after times that look +came back to him. + +"I want to go through it too," she repeated. + +"Very well, then--you've been warned." + +As they entered the grim portal the sun was just touching the horizon, +but it occurred to neither of them that it might be pitch dark before +they emerged. At first the slant of the rock walls caused one of these +to overhang, shutting out the sky, but the rift gradually widening, they +could see the brow of these stupendous cliffs, far above against the sky +at a dizzy height. Unconsciously the tones of both were lowered as they +conversed. + +"It isn't healthy taking too long to get through a _tangi_ like this +when there are rain storms going about," Raynier was saying. "It makes +a most effective waterway for ten, twenty, forty feet of flood. Ah, I +thought so. Look." + +High over their heads, caught here and there in a crevice of the rock, +was a wisp of withered grass or a few sticks. There was no mistaking +how these objects had got there, and the awful magnitude of the flood +which at times bellowed through this grisly rift. + +"Why is the place supposed to be haunted?" said Hilda Clive. "You +didn't tell me." + +"The usual thing--a curse. There was a man killed here by the people of +the neighbourhood--not an incident of very great moment in this country, +you would think. But this one was a great character in the sanctity +line of business--a Syyed or a Hadji, or something of the sort--and so +his ghost appeared and took it out of the neighbourhood, and indeed the +human race in general, by planting a rigid embargo on the place. And it +was a pretty practical way of taking it out of them too, for they used +this _tangi_ as a thoroughfare--it's scarcely a mile long, you know-- +whereas now they've got to go round the mountain instead of through it, +which makes a difference of at least eight." + +"It's an eerie place, anyhow," said the girl, looking up a little +awe-stricken at the immensity of the cliff walls. The sun had gone off +the world now, and a tomb-like twilight prevailed here in the heart of +the mountain. It was chilling enough to have begotten a whole volume of +grim legends. + +"Wonder if the old Syyed's ghost is on hand now," said Raynier, who was +cynically and frankly sceptical in such matters. "We'll give him the +salaam anyhow." Then, raising his voice but very slightly, he +exclaimed,-- + +"Salaam, Syyed!" + +What was this? The whole of the immense vault was roaring and bellowing +with sound. In waves it rolled, now running along the ground at their +feet, now tossed on high as though escaping into outer air. "Salaam, +salaam, salaam!" it replied in every conceivable tone and key, then +roared along the cliffs again as in a peal of thunder, the whole +accompanied by a mighty rattling. The noise was simply appalling. + +Raynier, the sceptical, was more than startled. Not to put too line a +point on it, he was just a little bit scared, though no manifestation of +it escaped him. The horses of both, too, were backing and snorting, +evincing a degree of terror not at all calculated to soothe the nerves +of their riders. The suddenness of it all, the booming of the spectral +voices here in the grisly depths, was rather startling. + +He looked at his companion somewhat apprehensively, expecting to see her +pale and shaking, perhaps hysterical. To his surprise she was laughing. +His first thought even then was that this was a form of hysteria. + +"Don't you see?" she said. + +"Don't you see? Don't you see?" boomed the vault around. "Don't you +see? Don't you see?" shrieked and wailed the heights above. And then +Raynier felt secretly more than a little ashamed of himself--for he did +see. + +As they were talking they had rounded a sudden bend in the defile, and +the salute he had jocosely directed to the dead Syyed--if such a person +had ever existed in fact--had been caught up by a most astounding echo, +which, for no apparent reason, was given forth precisely at that spot. +Still, it was not a little curious that they should have entered within +its scope simultaneously with the utterance of the half-mocking words, +which, mingling with the rattle of the horses' hoofs upon the loose +stones of the _tangi_, had produced the horrible din. + +Now it was she who said in a whisper,-- + +"We had better not talk out loud or these horses will go quite mad. It +is all I can do to stay on mine as it is." + +In fact the animals were in the wildest stage of snorting, trembling +fear, and could hardly be persuaded to proceed at all. Their shying and +plunging created a rattle which the echo reproduced and magnified as +before. At length they quieted down. + +"We may be through the sphere of the echo," said Raynier, tentatively +raising his voice a little. And the result showed that they were. + +"How is it the same thing did not happen when you came through here +before?" said Hilda Clive, as soon as it became safe to converse again. + +"Easily explained. I left my horse at the entrance and walked. I +always wear very silent boots, and I had nobody to talk to. Look, we +are through now, but we sha'n't have much time to admire the view on the +other side because it's rather late, and we ought to get back to camp." + +A tower of light now rose in front of them, light only in comparison to +the gloom of the _tangi_. It was the exit at the other end, similar in +every particular to the entrance. + +They stood looking out over a wild wide valley shut in by the same +eternal hills. From far beneath among the gloomy rifts and sparse +vegetation arose the long-drawn howl of a wolf. + +"What a wilderness!" exclaimed the girl. "Do you know, it's splendid. +I'm so glad I came." + +She had turned her eyes full upon his face. What wonderful eyes they +were, he thought--and they were fascinating too. How on earth had he +been so long in making the discovery? He thought, too, how she had been +the one whose nerves had remained entirely unshaken during that very +startling surprise--how she it was--not he--who had at once seen through +its perfectly natural solution, and he felt small accordingly. But his +admiration for her had strangely increased. + +They turned to retrace their way, hardly able to make it out in the +gloom. They had been descending all the time, and now it took a little +longer, for the floor of the _tangi_ was stony and rough. + +"I'm not surprised they have set up a ghost here," said Raynier, when +they had passed the echo point. "That is one of the most extraordinary +effects I have ever experienced." + +"Is it not?" she answered quietly. "Don't look up just yet--it has +disappeared--but there was the head of someone watching us just over the +ledge a little above you on the right. There. Now look." + +Raynier could hardly repress a start, as his hand went instinctively to +his pistol pocket nor did he feel any the easier because, by some +inadvertence, it was empty. Then he looked up. + +Right over the way they were to pass was a small ledge, apparently +inaccessible to mortal foot, or incapable of sustaining a single human +being could such attain to it. Yet, there was the head again--huge, +shaggy, menacing--staring down upon them in the gloom. Then it again +disappeared. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +CONCERNING THE OCCULT. + +"How would it be to move camp to-morrow?" Tarleton was saying. "We've +been here long enough, and there's nothing to shoot, or next to nothing. +What do you think, Raynier?" + +"No great hurry, is there? It's breezy and picturesque here, and has +its advantages. What do _you_ think, Haslam?" + +"I'm with Tarleton," said the Forest Officer. "All our fellows are +grumbling. They say it's an unlucky place." + +It was the evening after the somewhat eventful ride just recorded, and +they were all assembled within the large tent which was used as a common +dining-room. Dinner was over and cheroots were being discussed. + +"Yes. My Babu was telling me something of the kind only to-day," +rejoined Raynier, tranquilly. "By the way, Haslam, how is it all this +while we've never been through that _tangi_? You know, the one you were +telling me the yarn about?" + +Haslam stared. + +"Well, you know, old chap--I--I told you the yarn, didn't I? Well, that +explains it." + +"But you don't really mean to say you believe in such arrant +tomfoolery?" + +"I don't know about believing in it. But--well, it's best to be on the +safe side." + +"Goodness gracious, I should think so," struck in Mrs Tarleton. "Why, I +wouldn't go into that place if anyone were to offer me a million +pounds." + +"Well, I wish they'd offer it to me, that's all," said Raynier. "For I +mean to go through it to-morrow, gratis. Who'll volunteer? What do you +say, Miss Clive?" + +"I'll go, with pleasure," was the answer. + +It will be seen that these two had kept their former experience to +themselves, and this they had done by mutual agreement, mainly to get +some fun out of the rest of the party, and it was to this object Raynier +was now leading up. The head which both had seen watching them they had +since accounted for by optical delusion, even as the startling sounds +had been accounted for by perfectly natural causes. + +Mrs Tarleton gave a cry of genuine consternation. + +"Hilda, you must not go," she implored. "Oh, Mr Raynier, don't take +her--if only as a favour to me." + +"But I'm not in the least superstitious, Mrs Tarleton," said the girl, +looking up from the work she was engaged upon. "In fact, I like to +demonstrate the absurdity of these childish beliefs. Why, I can hardly +count the number of times I've got up first of thirteen from table." + +"Well, there must be something in these ideas, I suppose, or else they +wouldn't be so universally accepted," cut in Tarleton. + +"No? Then of course the world has only lately become round, seeing that +for ages it was `universally accepted' as flat," said Raynier. + +"Ah, but that's quite a different thing." + +Then Haslam told a weird and wonderful story or two illustrating the +strange power of native prophecy, which interested Hilda, and Tarleton +would cap such with the coincidence type of anecdote, such as the first +of thirteen at table--and at these she laughed. + +"None of those instances come anywhere near carrying conviction," she +said. "Now, remember. In good time I will supply you with just such an +instance to the contrary. No; I won't tell you anything about it now. +But you'll see at the right time." + +"I believe Miss Clive means to go into the _tangi_," said Haslam. + +"No, I don't," Hilda answered. "I won't go into it now. I don't want +to frighten all you poor creatures." + +They laughed, rather weakly it must be owned--all but Raynier, that is, +for he was in the know, and was enjoying the situation immensely. How +well she looked when she was animated and her face lighted up like +that--was what he was thinking as he sat watching her. Somebody touched +on the subject of clairvoyance. In a moment Hilda's manner changed. +She became grave, almost earnest. + +"Hullo!" cried Tarleton. "We've got hold of something at last that Miss +Clive does believe in." + +"To a certain extent, yes." + +"I remember going to a _seance_ once," said Mrs Tarleton. "There was a +dreadful woman going into trances, and pointing out people's dead +relations standing behind their chairs. She described them, and all +sorts of things. It made me feel quite creepy." + +"Yes, but how many times was she wide of the mark for every time she +made a good shot?" said Raynier. + +"Hardly once. It is quite wonderful." + +"There's nothing in that sort of clairvoyance; it's sheer quackery," +said Hilda, speaking in a decisive, authoritative tone that astonished +her hearers. + +"I should think so," said Raynier. "Whatever may be the state or +locality of the dead, it is not to be supposed that they would be +empowered, or would even wish, to appear in London, to enable a cad in a +second-hand dress-suit to take up so much a head in gate money, nor a +female fraud either, for the matter of that." + +"Well, but I don't see why they shouldn't," cut in Tarleton, +characteristically. + +"No! It doesn't strike you as improbable?" said Hilda, with a pitying +look. + +"Why should they be quacks?" persisted Tarleton. "Why shouldn't there +be anything in what they do?" + +"I don't know why there shouldn't be, I only know there isn't," she +replied. "Why, the gift--for clairvoyance is a gift--is so rare that it +is hardly surprising its very existence is disbelieved in. I know it-- +at least, I mean--er--anybody can reason out the matter for themselves." + +The concluding words were lame and stammering, and the change from the +firmness and decision of tone which had marked her utterances hitherto, +as though she had suddenly found herself out in saying too much, could +not but strike her hearers as strange, to say the least of it. To +Raynier it suggested a new idea, which indeed came to him with a sort of +mental start. But he came to the rescue. + +"Its existence is undoubted, though as rare as Miss Clive says. Why, +that feeling that comes to us sometimes of having done or said some +given thing before, or found ourselves in some given place, is a sort of +an approach to the art, or gift, or whatever you like to call it." + +"Oh, I don't know what that is," said Mrs Tarleton. "Thank goodness +that sort of thing doesn't come my way. But we've been talking about +creepy things all the evening. I'm sure I shall dream. Ugh!" with a +shiver. "What is it like outside?" + +It was time to separate for the night, but they lingered a while +chatting in front of the tent. There was a very wildness of desolation +in this sudden transition from light to darkness. All within the camp +was silent, and away beyond, the loom of the hills was just discernible, +black against the stars. The ghostly cry of a night bird echoed from +the craggy height which overhung the camp, and far away over the plain a +most weird and melancholy howling was borne upon the night wind. + +"That's a wolf--or wolves," said Haslam, his _shikari_ instincts +metaphorically pricking up his ears. "Aren't you afraid, Miss Clive? +There's nothing between you and them but a strip of canvas, all night +through." + +Hilda laughed. + +"Afraid?" she repeated. "Why, this is positively delightful. It is +such a contrast. Inside the tents--why, we might be in Mazaran, or even +in London. Outside--the very ideal of savage wildness. Afraid? Why, +I'm positively revelling in it. I like to hear that. Hark! There it +is again. I'd like to see those wolves close--to watch them prowling +for prey and doubling back and signalling to each other--if only I could +get near enough to observe them without scaring them." + +"My goodness, child! Why, they'd eat you," said Mrs Tarleton. + +"Not they." And Hilda laughed again. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"I say, old chap," said Haslam, later, as Raynier lounged into his tent +for another "peg" and a final smoke, "that's a strange sort of girl the +Tarletons have picked up. Who is she? Do you know?" + +"No more than you do." + +"Well, there's something dashed uncanny about her. The way she talks-- +there's something sort of creepy about it. Eh? And did you ever see +such eyes as she's got? Eh?" + +"N-no, I don't think I ever did," answered Raynier, slowly and between +puffs, but in no wise with the same meaning as Haslam had in his mind. + +"I say, she'd make a rum sort of a wife for most fellows, with those rum +uncanny ideas of hers. Eh?" And then the speaker stopped rather short, +remembering, all of a sudden, that Raynier and the object of his remarks +had been getting a bit thick of late. But, then, Raynier was rather a +queer chap himself, he reflected. Anyway, he felt a trifle embarrassed, +as though he had been putting his foot in it. + +"I daresay," answered Raynier, equably. "`Most fellows' are like shot-- +assorted into sizes, and might safely be numbered in the same way." At +bottom, however, the remark jarred upon him, and set him wondering for +the fiftieth time what insidious fascination the strange personality of +Hilda Clive was beginning to set up within his innermost being, and that +such was the case he was only beginning to admit, hugging to himself the +very secrecy of the thought, and the subtle stimulus it afforded. Yet, +what did it all mean? He was not in love with Hilda Clive, but some +strange fascination radiated from her. It might be uncanny--as Haslam +had said--yet he liked it--nor would he have bartered it for the artless +advances of conventional attractions, and of such he was not without +experience, for natural and unassuming as he constitutionally was, the +Political Agent of Mazaran, on the right side of forty, was something of +a _parti_, by reason of his position and its emoluments; and when, added +to this, he who filled the one and enjoyed the other was in the prime of +physical health and strength, why, then, so much the more eligible did +that _parti_ become. + +Haslam the while had turned in, and was yawning profusely--in fact, +could hardly give a coherent answer to any question or remark, wherefore +Raynier adjourned to his own tent. But not the slightest inclination +was on him to follow Haslam's example. He felt extraordinarily wide +awake, wherefore he got out a camp-chair, and, having extinguished the +lamp within his tent, lit another cheroot and sat there to enjoy the +beauty of the night and think. + +It was very still. What little wind there had been had dropped +completely. A glow had begun to suffuse the velvety darkness of the +star-gemmed sky, and, widening, the black loom of a rocky ridge away +beyond the plain became clearly defined, then a rim of fire, and lo!--a +broad moon soared majestically upward. + +It was beautiful. The white tents lay like blocks of marble in its +light, which silvered over the plain and the scant foliage of a few +scattered junipers. The crunch, crunch of ruminating camels, and the +stamp and snort of a horse, alone broke the stillness, save for the +long-drawn howl still heard from time to time over the wilderness afar, +where wolves prowled. Dark peaks, in softened outline, stood clear +against the sky. + +His thoughts ran back to the time of his furlough, to England and what +had transpired there. Again and again he congratulated himself that he +was free from that bond; how on earth he could ever have entered into it +seemed more incomprehensible than ever. And what a long while ago it +seemed, and-- + +What was this? A figure moving in the moonlight, a figure clothed in +white draperies. In a brief flash the solution of a midnight marauder-- +the first of others--occurred to him, and his hand went to his pistol +pocket--this time not empty. But he quickly withdrew it. For as the +figure glided swiftly among the tents he knew it--knew it for that of +Hilda Clive. + +Heavens! What was she doing, what was she bent upon, just as she had +risen from bed like this? She was walking, erect and rather swiftly, +and now in a straight line; stepping forward, looking neither to the +right nor to the left, yet there was something about the gait that was +not usual, a something as though she was walking unconsciously. And-- +she had left the tents behind her now, and was walking swiftly and +straight for the open country. He gazed for a moment, dumbfounded, +after the receding form, then, rising, started to follow. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +A STRANGE MIDNIGHT RAMBLE. + +She was walking in her sleep. + +This was the conclusion Raynier instinctively arrived at as he followed +stealthily and noiselessly behind; and to his mind the problem occurred +as to what he had better do. He had always been under the impression +that to awaken a person under such circumstances was likely to produce +an alarming, if not rather a disastrous, shock. But what on earth was +to be done? She could not be suffered to walk on like this, Heaven knew +where. Should he go back and rouse up Tarleton? But at the pace she +was going she would be away and out of sight by the time he had hammered +into the understanding of that contentious idiot the urgency of the +situation, and this was no sort of country for any woman to go wandering +about in at night. There were wolves around, too, for had they not been +making themselves heard? and however chary such were of letting +themselves be seen if anyone were anxious to get the sights of a rifle +upon them, a solitary woman was a different story--and he was cognisant, +moreover, of the fact that even the most skulking of wild animals are, +strangely enough, far less afraid of the female of the human species. +No, he must follow on after her, and that at once. + +But where on earth was she going to lead him? On, on, she pressed, +walking swiftly, and although the ground itself was, in places, none of +the smoothest, yet, while not seeming to notice the way, she sped over +it almost quicker than he did, looking carefully where he was going. It +was a weird sort of undertaking. He could see in the moonlight her +splendid hair streaming like a mantle about her shoulders, and noted the +grace and ease with which she walked. On--ever. They were nearing the +edge of the plain--and lo!--there in front of them rose the mountain +which was cleft by the great _tangi_--the haunted _tangi_, equally +feared seemingly by the enlightened and highly-educated Europeans who +were his fellow-travellers as by the superstitious natives of the land. + +Straight for this the unconscious pedestrian was heading. What strange +influence was drawing her thither, thought he who followed: and for the +first time something of the superstitious shrinking which caused them to +shun the place began to creep over him. He glanced over his shoulder +with some faint hope that others might have discovered the girl's +absence and be following, but no. All was dead and silent. Nothing +moved in the silvery moonlight. + +And now in front rose the great rock portal--and on, ever on, kept the +white and gliding figure before him. He saw it stand forth whiter than +ever against the gloom of the entrance, then disappear, swallowed within +the cavernous blackness of the great chasm. + +Would the sudden change both of light and atmosphere awaken her? Would +she come rushing forth wild with terror, instinctively making for the +light? For a moment he waited in case this should be so--then plunged +within the darkness of the place. + +Raynier felt that here her wandering would end. Some strange +psychological wave, acting with their experience of the day before, +stimulated by the subject of their conversation that evening, had moved +her to rise in her sleep and come hither. But to what end? There was +something uncanny about her, Haslam had remarked, but Raynier was +conscious of a very lively sense of thankfulness that he had been awake, +and thus ready to follow and watch over her on this eerie and far from +safe adventure upon which she had all unconsciously embarked. + +The light from without hardly penetrating here, Raynier found himself +slipping and stumbling in the gloom, yet, with it all, his quick ears +could hear the footsteps in front moving easily and firmly without trip +or stumble. It was marvellous--nor did the noise he made on the +rattling stones seem in any way to disturb her whom he followed. + +Now it grew light again in front. The white figure had reached the +point where the rock walls widened out, and--had halted. The moon, +immediately overhead now, darted down its light right into the chasm. +Should he go forward and gently awaken her, if indeed she were not +already awake? Surely she must be, for now she turned slowly round and +faced him. He could see her great eyes, wide open and stamped with a +wondering look; then, as he was about to advance and address her, she +turned again and moved slowly onward. + +And then a sound struck upon Raynier's ears which caused every drop of +blood within him to freeze, and well it might, for well he knew that +sawing, grating cough drawing nearer. A panther was coming up the +_tangi_. Heavens, and the girl was between it and him. + +Then the brute appeared--and with it a cub. Raynier knew with what +deadly peril the situation was now fraught, for a revolver, save in the +hand of a thorough expert, is an uncertain weapon, especially in an +indifferent light. At sight of them the brute stopped, then crouched, +uttering a hideous, purring snarl. In that second of time the scene was +photographed upon his mind; the ghostly moonlight glinting down between +the great rock walls, the spotted, sinuous shape of the savage beast, +every muscle quivering as it crouched there ready for its spring, its +tail softly waving to and fro, and the white gliding figure advancing +straight upon it; straight upon destruction in the most horrible of +forms. Yes, in a flash the whole scene was before him as, pointing the +pistol past her, he steadied his nerves to take the best possible aim. + +But--what was this? Instead of edging forward preparatory to making its +fatal rush, as he had often seen a cat do when stealing upon a bird or +mouse, the brute was stealthily backing. Was it fear of the strange +sight that was actuating the beast? Was there indeed some latent +magnetic force about those wide open eyes? For the gliding white figure +advanced unwaveringly, and as it did so the crouching brute shrank back +more and more--now in unmistakable alarm. Then suddenly snatching up +its cub in its mouth, it turned and bounded away beyond the elbow of +rock wall round which it had first appeared. + +Every nerve in the spectator's being thrilled to the revulsion produced +by this sudden removal of the awful tension of those few moments. At +all risks he must awaken her and take her back to the camp. But as he +advanced to do this, she halted again, turned round, passed a hand over +her brow and face, looked upward at the great cliffs, then down again at +him. Then she spoke,-- + +"So we are here together again." + +That was all. Her tone was even, placid, and evinced no astonishment +whatever, as though it were the most natural thing in the world to get +up in the middle of the night, and take a moonlight stroll away over a +particularly wild, and, as the recent incident showed, somewhat +dangerous country, or to wake to consciousness in the heart of a vast +rock chasm of awe-inspiring and savage grandeur and enjoying an eerie +reputation. To her listener this was well-nigh the most astounding part +of the whole adventure. Was she conscious? was his first thought. + +Again she passed a hand over her brow, and her great eyes rested calmly +upon his face. + +"Now I remember," she said, in the same even tones. "Something +threatened me--there, just now," looking toward the spot where the +panther had crouched. "It was an animal--a panther. But--it went," she +added, with a slight smile. + +"That it certainly did," rejoined Raynier, "and thank Heaven it did. Do +you know that that was about the tightest situation I have ever heard or +read of--a panther with a cub--with a cub, mind, for in that lay nearly +the whole of the peril--coming along this narrow tube where there's no +possible means of getting out of its way--and you walking straight into +its jaws. And this, under the circumstances, is a precious unreliable +weapon," showing the revolver he still held in his hand. "You or both +of us might have been horribly mauled before it even began to take +effect." + +"So we might. But I had a better plan with it, don't you think so? +Anyhow, the thing got in my way, and--it had to get out of it." + +The same cool tone, the same confident, but rather captivating smile. +Two subjects of wonderment were at that moment crowding Herbert +Raynier's mind to the exclusion of all others. What was there about +this girl--what magnetic compelling power had enabled her, by the sheer, +unflinching fearlessness of her presence, to put to flight what, under +the circumstances--the narrowness of the place to wit, the suddenness of +the encounter, and, above all, the cub--was one of the most dangerous +and formidable of wild beasts? This was one. The other was, how on +earth he could ever have passed her by as being without attractiveness, +and that not once, but day after day. Here, standing before him in the +moonlight, looking tall in her loose white wrapper--for her strange +excursion had not been so impromptu as he at first supposed--her +splendid hair flowing in masses over her shoulders, her great eyes +smiling upon him with something of the compelling force which had given +her power over the brute, he decided that she was scarcely, if anything, +short of beautiful. And then the somewhat uncommon circumstances of +this interview came back upon him. + +"What made you come here?" he said, the lameness of the remark striking +him even while he uttered the words. + +"The very question I was going to ask you." + +"Well, the answer to that should be obvious," he said. "I saw you start +out, and thought you were walking in your sleep--and I need hardly +remind you that this is not an over-safe part of the world for that kind +of exercise." + +"And you came to take care of me? That was very sweet of you." + +"If I had gone back to wake up Tarleton, you might have got to Heaven +knows where by the time he was under way," went on Raynier, conscious +that her tone and manner had become insidiously alluring. Was he going +to drift into the common idiocy? he thought, with something of dismay. +"You might have altered your course and got right away from us. Then, +when I did come up with you I didn't like to wake you, because I thought +it might give you a shock of sorts." + +"But I was not asleep--at least, I don't think I was." + +Raynier stared. + +"Not asleep? But you won't mind my saying that that is--er--rather an +unusual kind of walking attire." + +She laughed, glancing at her wrapper. + +"Isn't it? The fact is I hadn't gone to bed yet I was sitting reading +in the tent, and some impulse moved me to come to this place again--I +can't explain it, but it was there. Yet, I must have been asleep at +times, when I walked. But I was half conscious, too, that you were near +to me." + +"Well, you did not seem surprised when you woke up, so to say, and found +I was." + +"No. And in a way it was a waking-up. I can't explain it--unless it +was a kind of sleeping consciousness." + +"What a strange girl you are, Miss Clive. Somehow I can't make you out +at all." + +"No? And yet you wish you could. Am I right?" + +The smile she flashed at him was inexpressibly winning and sweet. +Raynier recalled Haslam's dictum. Something uncanny about her, he had +said--something sort of creepy. Well, there might be from the point of +view of some, even of most. But what would have repelled most men +appealed to him, and the proof of it was that he was conscious of no +inclination to terminate this interview--rather the reverse. Still, it +had to be done. + +"We ought to return to the camp, I think," he said, in the same +unconcerned tone as though suggesting a return from an ordinary walk or +ride. And she acquiesced. + +"I want you to promise me something," Raynier said, rather earnestly, +and perhaps a little tenderly, as they wended their way back over the +moon-lit wildness of the plain, and the tents of the sleeping camp were +quite near, "and that is not to repeat to-night's adventure. It's +anything but safe. And if the same impulse comes over you, you must +combat it." + +"I'll almost promise that. Do you know, you are awfully unlike other +men. For instance, all this time you have scarcely given a single +thought to the awkwardness of this situation. Most men would have been +fidgety and thinking what everyone would say, and so on." + +He laughed. + +"Magician as you are, that is not difficult to divine," he said. "What +I want to get at is, how do you know I have not?" + +"There's no magic in knowing that. It is almost like setting yourself +out to prove a negative. I can see--by the absence of all signs of it. +Shall I tell you why that strange place has a fascination for me? +Something warns me there will come a day when our knowledge of it will +make all the difference between life and death. There--the thought has +gone, nor can I pick up the thread of it. It has left me." + +That same movement of the hand as though clearing away an invisible mist +from before her eyes. Upon her face, earnest and serious in the +moonlight, there rested that same look which he had seen there when they +were discussing clairvoyance and things occult, during the evening, and +he felt just a little awed. Did she really possess the gift of seeing +into the future? + +"Good-night now, and get a good rest," he said in a low tone and +somewhat concernedly, as they regained the tents. And with a bright nod +she disappeared within hers. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +OF THE DAK--AND MEHRAB KHAN. + +"Halloa, Raynier. I see the _dak_ coming," cried Haslam, putting his +head into the tent where the other was sitting, going over some official +papers with his Babu; for, even though this was a sort of holiday trip, +there were things to be attended to, and every day a Levy Sowar rode +into and out from Mazaran, a distance of about forty miles. To the rest +of the party this daily post was a daily event. They got English mail +letters--or news from the outside world. Haslam, for instance, whose +family was away in England, was wont to wax excited over the event. But +to Raynier it was more of a nuisance than otherwise. It brought him +official correspondence, but as for English letters he never got any, +and did not want any. So Haslam's announcement failed to awaken any +interest within him. + +A little later there entered a chuprassi bearing a leather bag. This +Raynier unlocked, and proceeded to extract the contents by the simple +process of turning it upside down. The usual official matter--but--what +was this? An English mail letter? + +There it lay amid the heap of long envelopes, and even before he took it +up a frown came over Raynier's face, for it was directed in the +handwriting of Cynthia Daintree. + +What on earth could she have to write to him about? The envelope had +been re-directed on from Baghnagar, so she was evidently ignorant of his +transfer and promotion. He sat staring at the envelope, and the frown +deepened. He felt in no hurry to explore its contents, for his +instincts warned him that they would certainly prove unpleasant, +possibly mischievous. Well, it had to be done. + +The letter was long and closely written, and a feeling of weariness and +repulsion came over him at the anticipation of having to wade through +all this. And--it began affectionately. + +But before he had read far the mystified expression upon his face became +one of blank astonishment and dismay. + +"Great Scott! The woman must be mad," he ejaculated, bringing his hand +down upon the table; all of which afforded huge if secret delight to the +Babu, whose keen native scent for an intrigue had led him to put two and +two together--the receipt of the letter in a feminine hand, and the +bewilderment and disgust evoked thereby in his master. + +Good cause indeed had the latter for both. For the writer, after +referring to their quarrel, lightly, daintily and in a prettily +repentant way, proceeded to set forth that an excellent opportunity to +join him having now occurred in the shape of some friends who were +returning to India, she was coming out immediately--would, in fact, +already have sailed by the time he received this letter, and that they +could be married at Bombay when she landed, or from her friends' house +at Poonah. Then there was a good deal that was very high sounding and +gracious about turning over a new leaf and learning to understand each +other better and so forth, with a deft rounding off of affection to +close the missive effectively and clinchingly. No wonder he was dazed. + +"You can go now, Babu," he said. + +The Bengali rose and salaamed. There was going to be some fun now about +some mem-sahib, he was thinking to himself with an inward chuckle, for +he had seen that kind of thing before. + +Raynier sat there thinking, and thinking hard. What on earth was the +meaning of it all? He went over in his own mind that parting scene. +There was no sort of ambiguity about it, he decided; no loophole or +possibility of doubt that it was absolute and final. He recalled her +own words, "Very well, then. It is your doing, your choice, remember." +There was no sort of reserve, no double meaning there, even if her +silence ever since had not shown that she had considered her +acquiescence final. And now she wrote coolly announcing her intention +of coming out, and marrying him straight off hand. Marrying him! + +It is possible that never until that moment had he so completely +realised the intense feeling of emancipation which had been with him day +and night since the breaking off of that most mistaken understanding. +Of late, too, it had been stronger still upon him, yet now it was the +strongest of all. + +The thing was preposterous--in fact, preposterous was hardly the word +for it. But what was to be done? To suffer himself to be led as a +sheep to the slaughter was simply and entirely out of the question. But +the unpleasantness of it all, the scandal it would create, the +ridiculous and even scurvy position in which it would place himself-- +why, it was intolerable! + +He scanned the letter. Even as she had said, she was well on her way +now. It was absolutely too late to cable and stop her--even if he knew +where, for he did not fail to notice that so important a little detail +as the name of the ship, or even of the Line, was deftly omitted. How +then could he meet her? Easily enough. She would cable him from Aden +as to the time of her arrival, she had said. And Aden was the last port +of call. + +For all that he would cable on the off-chance of being in time to stop +her. Such messages were expensive, and he had an idea that it would in +this case prove a sheer waste of money. Ha! That was it. He would +send the message to the Vicar direct. He of course would know the ship +Cynthia was on board of, and would send after her to the first port of +call, and thus avoid humiliation for herself and all concerned. He got +out telegraph forms, and rapidly, though carefully, indited a couple of +messages. Then he lifted up his voice,-- + +"_Koi hai_!" + +There entered a chuprassi. + +"Take those at once, and tell Mehrab Khan he is to send them in to +Mazaran, now, immediately. Let him pick out the man with the best +horse, and tell that man to _ride_ it. You hear?" + +"_Ha, Huzoor_." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +To another in the camp the post had seemingly brought tidings of moment. +Hilda Clive, in the seclusion of her tent, was scrutinising her +correspondence with anything but indifference. Several envelopes were +opened, their contents just glanced at, and thrown down. Then a quick, +eager look came into her face as she drew one sheet from its cover, and +settled herself to read. As she read on the look of interest deepened, +and a very soft, velvety glow rendered her eyes dangerously fascinating +and winning had any been there to see them. + +"Just as I have thought," she said to herself, as she came to the end of +the communication. + +"Now it will all come right. And yet--and yet--do things ever come +right? Well, this shall--yes, it shall." And the smile that parted her +lips and the light in her eyes rendered her face positively radiant, as +she rose, and with extra care locked away the correspondence she had +just been perusing with such happy effect. And ten minutes later +Raynier's bearer was notifying him, with profuse apologies for presuming +to intrude upon the notice of the great, that the Miss Sahib was +waiting, and ready to start upon the ride they were to take together. + +Hilda Clives spirits were simply bubbling over, for she had just +discovered something she had set herself to find out, and the result was +in every way satisfactory. But they had not been long on the road +before she discovered something else--viz, that her escort, usually so +equable, and full of ideas and conversation, was to-day not himself. He +would give random answers, and his thoughts seemed to be running on +something entirely outside; in short, it took no more than a couple of +searchingly furtive glances to convince her that he had something on his +mind. + +Their objective was the village of a sirdar of the Gularzai, and their +way lay through ten miles mostly of craggy mountain, all tumbled and +chaotic--shooting upward in a sea of jagged peaks. The path by which +they threaded the labyrinthine passes was in places none too safe, +frequently overhanging, as it did, the boulder-strewn bed of a mountain +torrent, now nearly dry. All of this Hilda Clive thoroughly enjoyed, +although she had to dismount while Mehrab Khan led her horse. This +Mehrab Khan was jemadar of the Levy Sowars, and wore a sort of khaki +uniform and a blue turban and _kulla_. For the rest, he was a very +smart and intelligent man, and by nationality was a Baluchi of the Dumki +tribe. By some intuition Raynier had at once singled him out as one to +be trusted. He liked to have him in attendance on such expeditions as +the present one, and would talk with him for hours at a time, and of +this preference the man was intensely proud. + +As they emerged from the mountain passes upon the more open country, +they approached a camp of four or five shaggy herdsmen, who would hardly +give the salaam, but scowled evilly at them, leaning on their queer long +guns with sickle-shaped stocks. Hardly had they gone by than there was +a rush of two great dogs--guardians of the flocks pasturing along the +mountain side. Open-mouthed, with one ferocious bay, they came straight +for Hilda, who was riding on that side. In a moment she would have been +dragged from her horse, for Raynier's steed had taken fright, and it was +all he could do to keep the idiotic beast from incontinently bolting, +let alone come to her assistance. But Mehrab Khan, who was behind, +spurred alongside of her, and with a lightning-like sweep of his tulwar +cut down the foremost beast, nearly severing it in half. + +The other sheered off, growling. But a savage, vengeful shout behind +told of a new danger. The herdsmen they had just passed came running +up, and it could be seen that two or three of them had drawn their +swords. + +"Stay, brothers," called out Mehrab Khan. "Stay. It is the _Sirkar_." + +Would they stop? It was little enough these wild mountaineers cared for +the _Sirkar_. The situation was critical. There were five of these +fierce, fanatical savages, fired with hate for the infidel intruder, +burning with a desire for revenge upon the destroyers of their property. +Raynier had got in front of Hilda Clive, whispering hurriedly to her on +no account to move, while Mehrab Khan and the other Levy Sowar, with +their rifles ready, faced the oncomers. + +The latter, not liking the look of things, slackened their speed and +came to a halt, spitting curses. + +"Why do they keep savage animals to rush out at people?" Raynier asked, +for, though he could talk Pushtu fairly well, he chose to put it through +Mehrab Khan. "Dogs of that kind are more dangerous than a pack of +wolves." + +The men answered scowlingly that they were kept to protect the flocks, +and that dogs were of no use at all for such a purpose unless they were +fierce. Besides, they were not accustomed to strangers in a strange +dress. + +"There's something in that," said Raynier. + +"Would not the Huzoor pay for the property he had destroyed?" the +spokesman asked. "Such a dog as that was valuable." + +Raynier replied that he would, but they must send or come to the camp to +receive it, as he did not carry money about with him. Then a bargain +was struck, allowing a trifle over for their trouble in travelling that +distance, and with a surly salaam, the herdsmen withdrew. + +"Of course I might have refused to pay a single pice," Raynier said, as +he explained to the girl what had transpired. "But it is not sound +policy invariably to stand stiffly on one's rights, and it's better to +pay a few rupees than make enemies of these people. Besides, poor +devils, it is a loss to them." + +Hilda agreed, only insisting that, as the liability was incurred in her +defence, she ought to be allowed to discharge it--a proposal which was +laughed to scorn. + +"You see, now, what might have happened during that little moonlight +stroll of yours," Raynier went on. "And I don't think you'd find these +brutes so ready to turn tail as that panther was. By the way, I daresay +you'd rather turn back now?" + +"Of course not. Why?" + +"Only that you must have seen enough of the interesting Gularzai at +close quarters for one day." + +"Then I haven't," she answered gaily. "I wouldn't give up this visit to +a real native magnate for the world." + +"It was well done, Mehrab Khan," said Raynier, in Pushtu. "Thy stroke +was a worthy one, strong and swift." + +And the Baluchi, proud and pleased, murmured his thanks. + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +A VISIT--AND ITS SEQUEL. + +Sarbaland Khan's village was similar in every particular to that of the +greater potentate which we have already seen. Many eyes were watching +the approach of the party of four from the loop-holed mud walls, and the +glances directed at them as they entered the central courtyard, if not +uniformly expressive of good will, were visibly so of curiosity. For +these wild beings, to whom raids and forays and blood feuds were as the +very salt of existence, now beheld a strange sight--that of a man and a +woman--Feringhi infidels--with no other protection than a couple of Levy +Sowars, entering their village, quietly, fearlessly, unconcernedly, as +though in their own town at Mazaran, and the man was of importance, for +he represented the _Sirkar_ at Mazaran; yet here he walked alone into +their midst, and to all appearances unarmed. Ya, Allah! but these +Feringhi were a mad race--mad and incomprehensible. So pondered these +wild mountaineers, salaaming gravely, as they peered at the strangers +from beneath their shaggy brows. + +The chief received them courteously, inviting them at once into his +house. Sarbaland Khan was a tall man with a fine presence and dignified +manner, and was clad in snowy white from head to foot. But the +appointments of his dwelling were plain in the extreme--the only +ornaments being a curious lamp or two, and a beautifully decorated +sword, which last, together with a couple of good magazine rifles, hung +on the wall. Three or four of his relatives helped to entertain them, +and Hilda Clive was vastly impressed with their natural dignity--indeed, +she could hardly believe they were of the same race as the shaggy, +scowling savages who had so lately threatened them. Tea was brought in, +served after the Russian method, and preserved fruits, and then she +asked if she could visit the chief's wives. + +"I can do more than even you can, you see, Mr Raynier," she said gaily, +as permission having been given, she rose to follow the veiled figure +who was summoned to guide her. "So now for the mysteries of the harem." + +Raynier's talk with the chief was purely non-official, this being a +merely friendly visit. He was asked about his predecessor, whom these +people seemed to have held in some estimation--and then they talked +about _shikar_. There were plenty of markhor in the mountains around +his village, declared Sarbaland Khan, and if Raynier Sahib would like to +come and stalk some, he would certainly find some sport. Then he sent +for some fine heads that had been recently shot to show his guest, and +presently these two, the up-to-date Englishman and the mountain +chieftain, having got upon this one grand topic in common, set to +discussing this branch of sport as animatedly as though fellow-members +of an English house party. In the midst of which discussion Hilda Clive +returned. + +So strange are the writings in the book of Fate. At that very moment a +horseman was spurring--his objective the village of Sarbaland Khan. No +great time would it take him to reach it either, and did he do so with +the message he bore while this friendly conversation was in progress, +why, then, Herbert Raynier would never leave Sarbaland Khan's village +alive. + +Yet now they took leave of each other with great cordiality--Raynier +expressing the hope of welcoming the Sirdar at the _jirga_, or assembly +of all the chief's and maliks, to be held shortly at Mazaran; and so +they fared forth. + +"You have given me a most delightfully interesting experience, Mr +Raynier," said Hilda Clive, as they rode campward. "And I admire the +chief's taste. Two of his wives were very pretty, indeed, one quite +beautiful." + +"How many has he got?" + +"Only three. I expected he would have had about thirty." + +Raynier laughed. + +"They're only allowed four apiece by the Koran," he said. "But I +believe they find ways of driving a coach-and-six through that +enactment. Fine fellow Sarbaland Khan, isn't he?" + +"Very. Why, he's a perfect gentleman. Really he's quite a +splendid-looking man." + +"Many of these people answer to that description, that's why they are so +interesting. Tarleton describes them as `niggers.' But then the +British are first-rate at misnomers." + +"I should think so. But how well you talk to them, Mr Raynier. Is it a +difficult language to learn. Anything like Hindustani, for instance?" + +"No. There's a lot of Persian in it. I went in for learning Pushtu +some years ago, thinking it might come in useful--and it has. By the +way, a strange thing happened in London not long before I came back. I +can't help thinking that the man belonged to one of these tribes--but I +never saw him again, nor yet the stick I armed him with." + +Then he proceeded to tell her about the incident of the Oriental in the +crowd on Mafeking night, and the part he and others had borne in his +rescue. Hilda listened, keenly interested. + +"And you never got back the stick?" she said. + +"No, never. I was going to say--worse luck--but it wasn't. On the +contrary, it was the only `lucky' part of the whole business." + +The dry, satirical tone did not escape his listener's abnormally acute +perceptions. But the recollection seemed to revive the abstraction of +thought which had characterised him when they had first set out, and +which the incidents of their expedition had gone far to dispel. Now it +all seemed to return. This, too, did not escape her, and she was +striving to piece the two circumstances together. But as yet all +connectedness failed. + +They were returning by a somewhat different route, and were already +about half-way to the camp. The sun was sinking, and the barren and +rugged surface of rock and stunted vegetation was taking on a softer +tinge as the westering glow toned down its asperities. But there was a +feel in the air as of impending change, and the wind, which had died +down altogether, now began to rise in fitful puffs, raising thin spiral +columns like dust waterspouts, which whirled along at intervals on the +plain around. + +"Is there going to be a storm?" said Hilda. + +"Yes. But not before we are in camp again." + +He subsided into silence. It was possible that the strange +oppressiveness in the atmosphere affected him, to the exaggeration of +that which was on his mind, to wit the very disagreeable burden of the +news he had just received. Or it may have been that the certainty was +brought home to him that a month ago it would not have affected him to +any appreciable extent. The unpleasantness, the scandal, would have +been just the same, but, somehow, it would have mattered little then. +Now it did. But why? + +What was to be done? was his ever-present thought. It was simply +abominable that he should be pursued in this way. Had the woman no +sense of shame? Evidently not. He had heard of ships going down at sea +with all on board; was he tempted to feel that this was clearly too good +a piece of luck--seen from his point of view--to happen to the one which +comprised among its passengers Cynthia Daintree? + +What was to be done? He looked at his companion. Should he frankly put +the case to her? She was like no other woman he had ever known for +clear insight into and ready grasp of the main facts or probabilities of +any given question--at least, so he had found reason to decide during +their somewhat short acquaintance--which, somehow or other, did not seem +short. She could not be more than five or six and twenty at the +outside, and yet the knowledge of human nature and capacity for the +analysis of human motives she displayed was simply wonderful. He could +put it to her as the case of a third party, or simply a case in the +abstract, such as they had often debated and threshed out together, and +then he laughed at himself in bitter contempt. Where were the qualities +with which he had just been endowing her, that she could fail for one +single instant to see through so miserable a device? He must put it to +her frankly or not at all; and somehow Hilda Clive was the last person +in the world to whom he desired to put it at all. + +She, for her part, riding beside him, perforce in silence, was thinking +of him and his unwonted taciturnity. Some trouble had come upon him-- +that was certain, and she connected it with the arrival of the mail. +Could she but induce him to confide in her? Yet, why should he? She +did not know. Still, she wanted him to; for a strange indefinable +instinct moved her to the conviction that she could help him. During +their acquaintance she had learnt to hold him in high esteem. She +admired him, too, for his unassuming nature, the more so that she was +able to gauge the real depth of quiet power that lay beneath it. She +had noted the ease of his intercourse with these wild and turbulent, but +interesting people--for this visit to Sarbaland Khan's village was not +the first time she had been among them in Raynier's company--and noting +it, knew that it bore testimony to the estimation in which he was held +by them; for these sons of the desert and mountain, in common with all +barbarians, are quick readers of character, and have no respect for that +which is weak. And yet, could she have divined what was troubling him +then it would have assumed such trivial proportions to her mind, so +simple a solution, as to make her laugh outright. And she knew a great +deal more about him than he did about her; indeed, the news she had +received that morning, and which had somewhat elated her, mainly +concerned him. + +"What abstruse problem is weighing on your mind, Mr Raynier? Do you +know that since we left the chief's village you have hardly spoken a +word. And we are almost home again." + +He started. + +"I beg your pardon. How very remiss of me. Well, I was thinking of +something. As a matter of fact, it's something that's worrying me more +than a little." + +"You had bad news?" + +"Yes. And yet hardly in the sense of what people understand by bad +news. But it was something of an extremely vexatious and worrying +nature, and likely to cause me no end of unpleasantness." + +"I'm so sorry," she said, in a tone which invited further confidence. +It decided him. He would tell her. + +A high ridge rose between them and the camp. This they were the while +ascending by a rough road leading to the kotal by which it was crossed. +Now, from the other side of this, there boomed forth a long, low, +rattling thunder roll. + +"Hallo! The storm is a great deal nearer than I thought," he exclaimed, +looking up. "We must hurry on, Miss Clive. I don't want you to get +caught in the thick of it." + +No time for confidences was this, he decided. All women were afraid of +thunder and lightning, though all would not admit it. What, then, would +be the use of consulting this one on a delicate and highly unpleasant +matter what time her thoughts would be running on how quickly at the +earliest they could reach the camp? + +Another peal rolled forth, dull and distant, tailing off into a sort of +staccato rapping rattle. + +"Well, these mountains do give out the most extraordinary thing in +echoes I ever struck," he said. "Or else that's about the strangest +peal of thunder I ever heard." + +A clinking sound behind caused both to turn. Mehrab Khan, who, with the +other sowar, had been some way behind, was galloping to overtake them, +and that at a pace which is hardly put on in ascending such an acclivity +unless under weighty necessity. But even before he could come up with +them, the dark figure of a horseman appeared on the kotal above, and +came flying down the rough and stony road. They made him out to be +another of the Levy Sowars. + +The pace was too great, or the rider too weak. He was flung off, almost +at their very feet--a terrible sight, covered with blood and dust. With +a word to Hilda Clive to wait where she was, Raynier and Mehrab Khan +went forward to examine the man. + +They were only just in time. He could gasp forth a few words, and then +fell back dead. Raynier's voice was very serious as he returned to the +girl. + +"We cannot go back to camp now, Miss Clive," he said. "We must travel +the other way. But keep up your courage--you have plenty of it--and we +will bring you through all safe." + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +"A LAND OF SURPRISES." + +"Raynier may be a smart chap, and a smart official, and all that, but he +doesn't know this country a little hang. He oughtn't to get wandering +about all alone as he does. It isn't safe--and--it isn't _pukka_!" + +And Haslam, having delivered himself of the above opinion, drained his +"peg" and yelled for his bearer to bring him another. + +"But he isn't all by himself," objected Tarleton. "He's got Miss Clive +with him, and two Levy Sowars." + +"Oh, as to the first, that of course," returned the Forest Officer, +looking knowing, "he generally has. Think that'll be a _bundobust_, +Tarleton?" + +"I don't know--and don't care. It's no concern of mine." + +"Don't care what?" said Mrs Tarleton, joining the two, who, seated in +long chairs and clad in easy attire, were indulging in "pegs" and +cheroots. + +"We were talking about Raynier, Mrs Tarleton," said Haslam. "We agreed +he oughtn't to go and look up a man like Sarbaland Khan attended by only +two Levy Sowars." + +"And Miss Clive, Haslam said," appended Tarleton. + +"It isn't _pukka_, you know," repeated Haslam, "nor is it altogether +safe." + +"Mercy on us, Mr Haslam! Why, he'd never go taking Hilda anywhere +that's dangerous, surely? Besides, the country's quite quiet now, and +the people friendly." + +"Yes. Still, you never know exactly what may happen next. This is a +land of surprises. I don't trust these _soors_ any further than I can +see them, and however friendly it may suit them to be for the moment +they hate us like poison underneath it all." + +"Why, you quite frighten me," said Mrs Tarleton, anxiously. "I wish +they'd come back. It's getting late too. Oh, what if anything should +happen!" + +"Something is going to happen, and that before long," growled Tarleton, +looking up, "and that'll be a thunderstorm. Phew! how close it is. I +must have another `peg.'" And he, too, shouted for his bearer. + +It was even as he had said, close--close and brooding. The sun was +getting low, but the blue of the sky on the northern side had merged +indefinably into a leaden, vaporous opacity which was gradually and +insidiously creeping upward to the zenith. Against this, the peaks +stood up, black and bizarre, and here and there, caught by a fitful wind +puff, a trail of red dust would stream outward from the summit of a +ridge, to lose itself in midair, or perchance to mingle with one of the +column-like "dust-devils" which rose gyrating from the plain. Something +was bound to come of it--an earthquake, a tornado, or a thunderstorm-- +probably the latter, for a muffled boom in the direction of the +advancing blackness now became audible. + +"We're going to get it," said Haslam, looking upward. "I only hope it +isn't a blow--we don't want the tents suddenly whirled away over our +heads. Rather not." + +"I wish those two were back," repeated Mrs Tarleton, looking out over +the forbidding waste, now more forbidding than ever. "I have a +presentiment something is going to happen. Do you think these Levy +Sowars are reliable, Mr Haslam?" + +"I say, Mrs Tarleton, I believe Miss Clive has been infecting you with +her forecasts and clairvoyance and all that sort of thing. I don't know +about the Catch-'em-alive-ohs being reliable--but I don't believe they +could hit a town-hall unless they were put inside it and all the doors +locked. Even then they'd miss it by the windows." + +"Well, but--surely they must be some good or they wouldn't be enlisted," +objected Tarleton. + +"I remember trying a chap once. There was an old door stuck on end +about sixty yards off. I got him to take three shots at it with his +Martini, and he missed it clean twice, the third time just knocking a +chip off one of the top corners." + +"Well, but you can't judge them all by one," objected Tarleton. + +"Hallo. Here comes somebody," cried Haslam. + +"Oh, I'm so glad," said Mrs Tarleton. Then, disappointedly, "It isn't +them at all. It's some horrid natives. It's not in the right +direction, either." + +Down amid the sparse vegetation, below the camp on the more open side, +the troop horses and baggage camels were grazing, and here it was that a +group of figures appeared, surrounding a central one who was mounted on +a fine camel. It could be seen that all were armed to the teeth, having +Lee-Metfords and Martinis, over and above the inevitable curved sword, +but there was nothing unusual in this. It was a national custom among +these wild northern tribes. + +The group had come to a halt just outside the camp. Haslam sent down +one of his forest guards to inquire who was there, and what could be +done for them. But it might have been seen that the section of the camp +occupied by the Levy Sowars was the scene of some little excitement. +The occupants had turned out to a man, and were gazing attentively at +the new arrivals. + +Soon Haslam's envoy returned to say that a Sirdar of the Gularzai was +anxious to salaam to Raynier Sahib, but, as the latter was absent, +perhaps the jungle wallah Sahib would confer with him instead. No, the +Sirdar could not rest at their camp. He was journeying on a matter of +family and religious importance, and must push on immediately. But he +had a communication of official import to make. Perhaps the jungle +wallah Sahib would hear it in the absence of the Government's +representative, and transmit it. + +"Here's a `dik,'" [bother--perplexity--nuisance] grumbled Haslam. "I +don't want to be `dikked' with Raynier's official affairs. As if I +hadn't enough of my own. Wonder what he wants--and who he is. Well, +here goes." And gulping down the remainder of his "peg" he strolled +down towards the group, doing so, moreover, with a leisureliness of gait +that was rather put on, being designed to impress the Sirdar with a +sense of his condescension in thus going to him at all. + +The man on the camel did not dismount, nor did he cause the beast to +kneel. This, again, aroused Haslam's resentment. What business had a +native to remain seated, and talk down to him, so to say? Not only +that, but the man on the camel returned his salaam somewhat coldly and +haughtily--and the salute of his followers was equally curt. Haslam +began to feel downright angry. + +"Where is the _Sirkar_ Sahib?" began the chief--his voice taking +additional haughtiness, coming down, as it did, from his rather lofty +eminence. + +"You have been told. He is away," returned the Forest Officer no less +curtly, and speaking in Hindustani. + +"Where?" + +Haslam did not answer immediately. He stared. He was boiling with +rage. To be addressed in this way, and in such a tone. Moreover, he +thought to detect an evil grin on the faces of the hook-nosed, turbaned +savages standing around, who seemed to be fingering their rifles in a +manner that was unpleasantly suggestive. + +"Are you the jungle wallah?" went on the man on the camel. + +"The jungle wallah _Sahib_" blared forth Haslam, white with fury. But +what was the use? and then he remembered that he had not even his +revolver upon him. He had thrown it down upon his camp bed, and there +it was. And an unarmed man is a demoralised man. + +The chief laughed evilly and spat. + +"Well, jungle wallah _Sahib_," he said. "I asked--Where is the _Sirkar_ +wallah _Sahib_? I am not accustomed to repeat a question twice." + +"Oh, you are not, your Mightiness, and lord of all the world," answered +Haslam, adopting the other's sneering tone. "Salaam to you then, for +you are far too great a king for me to talk with," and he turned to go. + +"Move not." + +The order came, sharp and stern. Haslam's first impulse was to ignore +it, but a second, and perhaps a safer one, caused him to halt, and half +turn. It was high time. Four rifles were levelled straight at him at +the distance of a few yards. + +Haslam was as brave a man as ever lived, yet at that moment, gazing at +the deadly muzzles and the scowling, shaggy visages behind them, well +might he have quailed, for his peril was great indeed. But he returned +the threatening stare of the chief firmly and unflinchingly. + +For a few moments both thus looked at each other in silence. Then +Haslam, who had none of the imperturbability of the Oriental, thought he +might as well say something, if only to show them he was not cowed. + +"Who is the Sirdar with whom I am talking?" he asked. + +"Murad Afzul, Gularzai." + +Then Haslam felt more than uncomfortable. The name of this noted border +ruffian was known to him, likewise some of his deeds. But it was +supposed that he had disappeared from that side of the country for some +time past. + +"Look now at thy camp," went on the latter. "But move not, or thou art +dead." + +The words were nearly drowned in what followed. A long, rattling roll +as of thunder, from the ridge overhanging the camp--then another, and +lo! the slope was alive with rushing white figures, and the flash of +waving tulwars, as the crowd of fierce assailants charged down with +lightning speed upon the practically defenceless camp. Many of the Levy +Sowars--upon whose especial side of the camp the volleys had been +poured--were dead, or writhing in death agonies and wounds. The remnant +huddled for a moment like sheep, then made a rush for their horses, but +between these and them was Murad Afzul's bodyguard--practised marksmen. +Coolly, and with deliberate aim, they picked off the units of the +demoralised force, bringing the whole to a standstill--and a sorry whole +it was by now. + +Not all, however--not quite all--were demoralised. One, a brave man, a +clansman of Mehrab Khan, who had been detailed for _dak_ duty, leaped on +his horse, which was standing ready saddled and bridled, and dashed off +at full gallop, to warn the _Sirkar_ Sahib and, incidentally, his +fellow-tribesman. Bullets were rained after him, but now, in the +excitement of immediate massacre and loot, aim had become wild. Yet, +had they looked more closely, a tell-tale squirm or quiver might have +told those marksmen that of the multitude of the bullets, one or two--or +perchance more--had found a billet. + +It was all over very quickly. There was no question of defence. In a +moment the whole crowd of copper-coloured, frenzied savages was +overrunning the camp. Those that were left of the Levy Sowars, being +Moslems, appealed to their assailants in the name of Allah and the +Prophet for quarter, and were spared. But the other camp servants-- +bearers, kitmutghars, syces, and the rest, being Hindus, were cut down +without mercy, those who had striven to hide being dragged forth and +butchered--and the barbarians, yelling aloud in the madness of their +blood lust, surged to and fro, brandishing aloft their red and reeking +swords, looking around for more to slay. But there were none. + +Throughout the attack and massacre Tarleton had been too staggered to do +anything at all. As for his wife, the sight of the butchery of the +wretched servants, cut to pieces before her eyes, in spite of their +heartrending yells for mercy, had been too much for her, and she saved +all trouble on her account by incontinently fainting. He reckoned his +only chance was to sit quiet, wherein perhaps he was wise, for, although +many pressed, cursing and threatening, around them both, none offered +them violence, and indeed it looked as if such abstention were part of +their orders. But what was the whole bobbery about, he kept putting to +himself, for there was no open war with any of the tribes? He was soon +to know. + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +HOW TARLETON YIELDED. + +"This is a land of surprises," Haslam had said, and indeed if ever words +had been vividly, literally and luridly borne out, here was an instance. +Within one short half hour of their utterance this camp, then the very +embodiment of peaceful repose and fancied security, had been overrun by +savage massacre and turned into a reeking human shambles. Corpses, many +of them horribly hacked, lay in every attitude of agonised contortion, +and great smears of blood spattered the canvas of the tents, as also the +dirty-white garments of the assailants. As for the hapless Europeans, +though for the moment alive and uninjured, they were helpless captives +in the power of the most notoriously cruel and unsparing brigand of the +whole northern border. Of a truth this was a land of surprises. + +The first idea that occupied Haslam and Tarleton was to attend to the +unfortunate lady, and this they did, as carefully as though it was an +ordinary fainting fit, and there were no barbarous enemies within a +thousand miles of them. + +"She'd better not come to again just yet," Tarleton said. "We'd better +get her into a tent, if they'll let us." + +Permission to do this was granted gruffly, but two of their captors were +ordered to enter with them lest they should possess themselves of +weapons, nor was this precaution superfluous, for they had fixed upon +Haslam's tent as being the nearest, and Haslam's revolver lay upon his +charpoy. At the sight he stifled a deep and muttered curse, as the +Gularzai pounced greedily upon it. He had reason to curse deeper still +as they ordered him to at once deliver up any arms and ammunition he +might have in his possession. Inwardly he groaned again as he saw his +beautiful shot gun and Mannlicher rifle in the eager grip of the hooked +claws of these copper-hued brigands. Then he was ordered outside again. + +Murad Afzul had not dismounted from his fine camel, and from the +altitude of his seat--for he had ridden into the centre of the camp--was +directing operations. Several of his followers were ransacking the +tents, trundling out their contents; and soon trunks and despatch boxes, +bags and tins of provisions, articles of clothing and kitchen utensils +were piled together in promiscuous heaps. But what delighted the +warrior soul of the freebooter was the sight of four or five good, +up-to-date rifles and a brace of revolvers. The shotguns, too, he +contemplated with satisfaction, but the rifles appealed to him most, and +these he caused to be handed up to him one after the other as he sat on +his camel, and each he would bring to his shoulder, sighting it at some +object far or near, away over the plain. The weapons of his followers +were good, but they were only Martinis. But these--magazine and +repeating guns, spick and span, and of first-rate workmanship! Ya, +Mahomed, what a find! + +Now he beckoned Haslam to him. The Forest Officer, standing there under +this arch-brigand looking down upon him from the height of his towering +camel, felt that humiliation was indeed his lot to-day. + +"So, jungle wallah," began Murad Afzul, speaking in Hindustani, and +sneeringly withal, "so, jungle wallah, I told you I was not accustomed +to ask the same question twice; yet this time I will give you yet +another chance, and ask it the third time. Where is Raynier?" + +"That I can't tell, for I don't know," answered Haslam, with perfect +truth. + +The chief bent over, and whispered instructions to some of his followers +on the off-side of his camel. These came round, and laying a hand on +Haslam's shoulder ordered him to go with them. Resistance was +absolutely useless, and Haslam was marched away. They were taking him +in the direction of the Levy Sowars' camp, he noticed, of course to +execute him there. His time had come, he concluded. Rapidly, as he +walked to his doom, his past life flashed through his recollection. He +had been a careless sort of chap, he supposed, like others, no better-- +he would have shrunk from the imputation of making any other claim--but, +he hoped, no worse. He had not troubled his head much about what lay +beyond the grave, nor had he ever shrunk from death when duty or +dangerous sport had brought him within gazing distance of it. Perhaps, +if all that was taught of what came after it were true, or even a +portion, why, he was surrendering his life rather than give information +which should place the lives of others in danger, and it might be taken +into consideration. But of mercy at the hands of yon ruthless +freebooter he had no hope. At any rate, he would meet a swift death-- +they would shoot or behead him, and they might have done him to death by +slow torture. He thought of his wife and young family away in England. +Would they miss him much, and, more important still, would the +Government do anything for them over and above the rather moderate +pension which they would draw from the fund to which he had subscribed +throughout his term of service? It was not probable. Government was +seldom liberal. Then his thoughts were broken in upon. They had +reached the tents of the Levy Sowars, and into one of these he was +ordered. + +Wonderingly he obeyed. What did it mean? Were they not going to put +him to death after all, for it occurred to him they would hardly have +brought him into a tent for such a purpose? But he was ordered to seat +himself, and remain perfectly still--and informed that any movement he +might make, or sound that he should utter, would be his last. And then, +immediately outside the canvas which screened him from the outer world, +he heard the loud sharp, double report of a rifle. + +One other heard it too, and that one was Tarleton. To his mind it +suggested but one solution--possible rescue to wit--acting upon which +idea he did what a man of his bull-headed temperament would be expected +to do, but which, had his idea been correct, was the very worst possible +thing he could have done. He came to the tent door, and looked eagerly +and anxiously out. + +Murad Afzul still sat there on his great camel, his countenance as cold +and impassive as the graceful folds of his snowy turban, while upon his +followers a strange hush had fallen. At sight of the Feringhi it was +broken--broken by muttered curses and threats. But--where was Haslam? + +The chief beckoned him forward, and he had to obey. Yes, obey. There +was no mincing the word. He was in the power--absolutely in the power +of this man, this "nigger," as he would have described him about half an +hour ago. + +"You heard those shots," said the Gularzai, haughtily, from the +loftiness of his tall steed. "Yes? Look around. Where is the jungle +wallah?" + +Tarleton did look around--with some alacrity, moreover. But no sign of +Haslam rewarded his glance. He began to see the grim drift of the +injunction. + +"You will see your friend no more," went on the chief. "I asked him a +question--for the third time. He would not answer--so he was shot--over +there." + +He paused, with intent to let the full weight of his words sink deep in +the other's mind. Like most wild or semi-civilised people, the Gularzai +freebooter was a character reader, and knew his man. But, before the +other had time to answer, an interruption occurred, as startling as it +was unforeseen. + +All were watching the result of the dialogue between the chief and the +prisoner. Fierce eyes glared beneath shaggy brows, claw-like fingers +felt the edge of tulwars, foul and sticky with blood that had already +been shed. Eagerly heads were bent forward, awaiting the word that +should hand this Feringhi over to their scarcely-glutted blood lust and +hate. + +"Hear me, O great Sirdar," cried a voice, pitched in loud, harsh tones. +"Hear me, I can give the information thou requirest, O Sword of the +Prophet." + +The Levy Sowars who had surrendered, to the number of about a dozen, +were grouped on the outskirts of the freebooters. From one of these the +voice proceeded. + +"Let him come forward," said Murad Afzul. + +Way being made the speaker advanced. He was a youngish man, tall and +well built, with aquiline features and a short curling beard. + +"Who art thou?" said the chief, shortly. + +"Mahomed Afa, Waziri," answered the man. + +"Well, what dost thou know?" + +"This, O great Sirdar, Murad Afzul. This, this. That as thou didst +slay my father Mahomed Jan, so now enter Jehanum by the hand of his +son." + +Quick as thought, while uttering these words he had snatched a rifle +from the loose, unguarded grasp of the man next to him, and without +waiting to raise it to his shoulder discharged the piece well-nigh point +blank at the chief. But the ball hummed viciously past, just ruffling +the edge of Murad Afzul's voluminous turban. For the camel, whether +acting under the influence of the ineradicable cussedness which is +inherent in its species, or irritated by the harsh vociferation right at +its ear, had suddenly reached round its head with a resentful grunt, +making a vicious snap at the would-be slayer, with the double effect of +somewhat marring his aim and moving its rider by just the few inches +requisite to the saving of his life. In a twinkling the man was seized. + +"Ya, Allah!" he mouthed, struggling furiously in the grasp of those who +held him. "Avenge me of this robber-dog, this vulture-bred coward who +only strikes those who are too weak to oppose his numbers. Mahomed +Prophet! strike him down into the burning pit of Hawiyat, where his +gnawing vitals shall consume for ever and ever." + +The declamatory voice had risen to a wild scream. Murad Afzul, seated +on his camel, had not moved throughout the whole scene. Now he spoke. + +"So thou art the son of Mahomed Jan, that Waziri thief and enemy of +Allah?" he said, gazing down upon his would-be slayer. "Allah is great +and His Prophet has rendered thee as unskilful in the use of weapons as +others of thy kind. Well, ye twain, father and son, have been parted +long enough, so now thou shalt join thine in Jehanum, yet not at once, +for I think I will show thee some foretaste of its fires here." + +He signed to those who held the frantic man--then something in the +aspect of the latter caused him to change his intention. For he +recognised that the Waziri's mind had given way, in short, that he had +become a frenzied maniac, and to harm him as such would be clean +contrary to all tribal tradition and sanction. Yet he had no intention +of letting him off scot free. + +"I will spare him the fire," he said, "for of that he will have plenty. +So--shorten him by the head." + +Willing feet sprang to do his bidding. Willing hands seized the +mouthing, cursing maniac, who by dint of a camel halter was forced to +stretch forth his neck. Then the flash of a keen tulwar in the air, and +the deluging, headless corpse was writhing and squirming right at +Tarleton's feet. + +Tarleton, surgeon though he was, turned sick at the horrid sight, the +more so that in all probability it presaged his own fate. The voice of +Murad Afzul recalled him to this. + +"You have seen, Feringhi. Now, that is thy fate, if my question is +unanswered. Where is Raynier?" + +Tarleton looked at the gushing, headless corpse, then at the stern, +uncompromising countenance of the chief. He noted, too, the eager, +cruel visages of those around, who seemed to hang upon his answer. Life +was as good to him as to anybody else, nor did he feel the least +inclination to part with it at that moment. Besides, what would become +of his wife, now lying unconscious in the tent behind him, if left alone +and at the mercy of these ruthless barbarians? Haslam was dead, and +thus no one need ever know, for no one was left to witness against him, +and if ever there was a case of "every man for himself" this was surely +it. So he replied,-- + +"He has gone to visit Sarbaland Khan." + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +"BETTER THAN NOTHING." + +"What has happened?" said Hilda, quickly, gazing from one to the other, +and then at the dead man who lay a little way off. + +"Our camp has been rushed by Ghazis, and they are in possession." + +"But--has there been a fight? Have they killed anybody?" + +"They had killed some of the servants when that poor fellow broke away +to warn us. He was one of Mehrab Khan's tribesmen. But our people were +alive, he says." + +"But we can't leave them, Mr Raynier." + +"That is not spoken with your usual sense. Are we going to walk +straight into the jaws of the enemy and say, `Here we are'? No. I am +responsible for your safety, Miss Clive, and you may be sure I shall do +the uttermost in my power to secure it." + +Even while he had been speaking his mind had rapidly reviewed the +situation, and it was one that filled him with the gravest misgiving and +concern. He knew that a _jihad_, or fanatical rising, was being +fomented among the tribes further along the border, but that the +Gularzai could by any possibility take part in it he had reckoned as +clean out of the question. He had trusted Mushim Khan thoroughly, had +reckoned the Nawab as no more likely to take up arms against the +Government than he himself. But that a bold outrage on a large scale +could thus take place here right under the nose of the Nawab without the +knowledge and therefore sanction of that potentate, he could not +believe. What a fool he had been, and how utterly blind not to have +seen some sign or warning of the dangerous unrest having spread. Well, +this was no time for regrets, but for action--and to this end he would +consult Mehrab Khan. + +But what then? Would the Baluchi be true to his salt? All these border +tribes were akin. Ties of friendship, of gratitude, of honour, of +self-interest even, all were swept aside when they made common cause +together against the Feringhi and the infidel--and the acquaintance +between himself and Mehrab Khan was of the shortest. + +But the latter, even at that moment, was giving some indication of what +line he was going to take in the crisis. For the other Levy Sowar had +been gradually edging away. These two Feringhis would soon be found and +cut to pieces, _Sirkar_ or not, argued this man, and he had no intention +of identifying himself with them any further, and thus sharing their +fate; wherefore he resolved, while there was yet time, to effect his own +escape. But Mehrab Khan, who knew the workings of his mind, was equally +resolved that he should not. + +To this end Mehrab Khan dismounted, and levelling his rifle called upon +him to stop. The result of this order was to cause the defaulter to ram +his spurs into his horse's flanks, and start off along the hillside at a +gallop. Now Mehrab Khan was an old and practised stalker of markhor and +wild sheep, consequently now, when, without further warning, he pressed +the trigger, the runaway toppled heavily from his saddle, and lay +without a kick. + +"He would have betrayed us, _Huzoor_," said the Baluchi, laconically, as +he slipped a fresh cartridge into his piece. "Now he will not." + +To Raynier's plan of returning straight to Sarbaland Khan's village, and +not only placing themselves under the protection of that chief, but even +ordering him, by virtue of his own office as representative of the +Government, to collect a strong force and safeguard those in the camp, +if any were left there, or pursue the aggressors if they were not, +Mehrab Khan was strongly opposed. He was somewhat mysterious on the +point; mysterious but emphatic. On no account must they go there, +indeed, he had been glad to get out of the place when they were there +before. + +Was Sarbaland Khan disaffected then? That he could not say exactly. +But the _Huzoor_ must trust him. He had seen signs which might have +meant much or little. By the light of what had happened he now knew +they meant much. The _Huzoor_ knew his people, and he, Mehrab Khan, +knew his. The gist of all of which was that they must go at once into +hiding, and the sooner the better. + +All this, however, took far quicker to decide than it has taken to +narrate, and now, Mehrab Khan taking the lead, they moved, under his +guidance, down into the valley, turning their backs on the site of the +camp altogether. + +"I shall never forgive myself for getting you into this fix, Miss +Clive," said Raynier, with great concern, as he thought on the hardships +the coming night would entail upon her, even if it were not the first of +many such nights. + +"There is no necessity for you to do anything of the sort," she +answered. "You could not help it. You could not have foreseen things." + +"But that is just what I ought to have done," he answered bitterly. "I +have simply acted like a fool, and have made an utter mess of the whole +situation." + +"No--no. I am sure you have not. Things may not be so bad as you +think--and if they are, you are not to blame." + +What was this? He looked at her strangely. There was not so much in +the words--but the tone, the soothing sympathy of it, as if she +realised, even as he did, that, apart from their imminent and common +danger, the result for him would be something like official ruin. The +colour had returned to her face--for she had gone rather white as she +witnessed Mehrab Khan's grimly successful shot--and there was a look in +her eyes which, combined with the tone of her voice, went far to +compensate for all. It struck him, too, that she showed no alarm, no +anxiety whatever on her own account. Afterwards it was to occur to him +how easily she was reassured as to the safety of those they had left in +the camp. + +Darker and darker it grew, as they threaded their way behind their guide +through those lonely defiles, for now the sky was black and overcast, +and a lurid flash or two lit their way--and the accompanying boom +rolled, deep voiced, among the cliffs and chasms. + +"Here we should halt, Mehrab Khan," said Raynier, at last, as two or +three great drops splashed down upon them. "The Miss Sahib will get wet +through if we go further, and here under this rock is shelter." + +But the Baluchi shook his head. + +"See there, _Huzoor_," pointing upward. + +"We are in a sort of _tangi_, only it is closed at one end. If it +should rain here, and rain hard, the water would roll off the smooth +rock slopes above, and sweep us out of this like wisps of dried grass. +We cannot rest here. We must go on and upward." + +The horses were needing rest badly, yet on they struggled. It was quite +dark now, but their way was lit by the red flashes. Rain had begun to +fall, hard, heavy rain, as, stumbling over the slippery stones, they +held on their wet and weary way. And through it all Raynier did not +fail to notice that from the girl at his side there came no word of +complaint, no sigh of weariness--whereat he marvelled. + +He himself was feeling the strain: but with him the strain was as much a +mental as a physical one. He felt weighed down with responsibility. If +this rising took large and destructive proportions he it was who should +have foreseen and coped with it, yet he had gone off, easily and +carelessly, upon a pleasure trip, and that right into the heart of the +very peril itself. And now the safety of this girl beside him was in +his hands; and by way of a beginning to the adventure she would have to +spend the livelong night, wet and cold and hungry, lying out among the +rocks, for, of course, they had not taken a food supply when starting +upon an afternoon ride. And what a contrast it was. The highest +official of the district, with, but a few hours ago, servants and armed +sowars at his beck and call, surrounded by every comfort and not a few +luxuries, was now a fugitive in the heart of a hostile land, soaked by a +drenching rain, with no prospect of either food or shelter at the end of +it all. It was a contrast, but he was hard and could worry through it-- +but what of his companion in adversity? She was not inured to rude +hardships of this kind. She was not even representative of the stalwart +type of her sex, who could scull a boat or play golf all day. She was +high couraged and cool of nerve; he had seen enough to convince him of +that, yet, physically, she did not look altogether strong. But still no +word of complaint escaped her as, stumbling onward and upward through +the darkness and the rain, they held on their way. + +"Here we will rest, _Huzoor_," said Mehrab Khan at last. + +They must be among the mountain tops now, Raynier reckoned. The air +blew raw and piercing, and tall slimy rocks glistened around in the red +glare of the now more distant lightning. Dismounting, with stiffened +limbs, he aided Hilda Clive from her saddle. To his surprise she slid +off as lightly as though returning from an ordinary ride. + +"I believe you are more tired than I am," she said, with something like +a laugh, as she let her hand rest just a moment in his after he had +assisted her down. "Tell me. Did you ever have fever?" + +"Yes. Why?" + +"Oh, nothing. Only you are very wet. Shall we be able to make a fire?" + +"I'm afraid not. There's nothing to make it with." + +"That's a pity. You ought to get dry. Let me think it out." + +Raynier marvelled, and well he might. What sort of a woman was this? +Any other woman who had ever come within his experience would not have +behaved like this. She would probably have begun by abusing him roundly +for ever bringing her into such a hobble at all. Once in it, she would +have grumbled and whined, or hysterically howled. She would have been +full of herself and her own miserable plight, and what _she_ should do, +and what would become of _her_, and so forth. But this one--her chief +thought seemed to be for him. She didn't seem to think of herself at +all. + +"Great Heavens, Miss Clive!" he burst forth, "what does it matter +whether _I_ am dry or wet. It is of you I am thinking--of you, who have +to get through this abominable night somehow. Why, it is nothing to +me--but what about you?" + +"But I have never had fever." + +The answer came so equably, so matter-of-fact in tone, yet Raynier's +quick ear thought to detect something further. He turned straightway +and began vehemently haranguing Mehrab Khan. + +The place to which the latter had brought them afforded shelter from the +rain, though little or none from the piercing wind. A great slab of +rock overhung, yawning outward like an open mouth. Now Mehrab Khan +astonished them still further, for, from a cleft at the back of the +hole, he produced some billets of dry juniper wood. It would burn +wretchedly, he explained apologetically, but was better than nothing. +The place had been an old resort of mountain herdsmen, and the wood had +been kept ready stored for emergencies. And then, still further +amazement followed, for Mehrab Khan produced--this time from his own +store--a little rice and corn meal tied up in a rag. Would the _Huzoor_ +deign to accept it for himself and the Miss Sahib? he said. It was poor +fare, but it might be better than nothing. + +This, then, was the man for whose good faith he had feared, thought +Raynier, inwardly ashamed, and then again came the whimsical thought of +contrast, and the highest official in the district becoming dependent on +the Levy Sowar's humble store, yet not for himself. But Hilda Clive +looked at it, then beamed on the giver. + +"What will he do?" she asked. "It is all he has." + +"What then? Let the Miss Sahib take what Allah provides through His +slave and praise Him. More can be provided, and will be," was the +answer of the follower of the Prophet to the follower of the Redeemer. +Said the latter,-- + +"The blessings of Allah be upon you, Mehrab Khan, and that of His +Prophet." + +And Raynier again translating, the fine face of the Baluchi beamed in +turn. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +IN THE MIST. + +A more wretched night than that passed by the fugitives--two of them, at +any rate--it would be hard to imagine. The wind blew piercingly cold at +that altitude; the juniper wood, which at its best is about the worst +fuel in the world, would not burn, but made up for the deficiency in the +fabrication of abundant smoke. There was no way of baking or doing +anything with the frugal aliment which Mehrab Khan had so unexpectedly +produced, and so generously withal, for he might easily have kept it for +himself. Wherefore it had to be consumed in the form of a raw paste +mixed with rain water, and even this, both men, the European and the +Oriental--whose creed ignorant people imagine to teach that women have +no souls--refused to touch until Hilda insisted, and then they made a +pretence. + +Towards dawn, but while it was yet dark, Mehrab Khan sallied forth to +obtain provisions somehow or other, and, haply, intelligence, leaving +the most stringent injunctions that on no account short of actual +discovery were they to move from their hiding-place. Shortly after +sunrise he returned with both. A kid was slung behind his saddle, and a +bag of grain in front, but he did not think it necessary to state that +the owner, having been injudicious enough to refuse to give or sell +either, and further, to manifest suspicion on the subject of himself, he +had incontinently slain the said owner, and borne away the spoil--a feat +which, to his wild Baluchi nature, represented an adequate commingling +of business with pleasure, but which he knew that these Feringhis would +regard in another light. The latter noticed, however, that he no longer +wore his khaki, but was attired in the loose garments and turban of the +Gularzai, and this he explained was for reasons of safety. + +The intelligence which he had gleaned was partly satisfactory to them, +and partly the reverse. Murad Afzul had surprised the camp, but the +sahibs had not been injured, although carried away as prisoners. The +Gularzai had raised the standard of the Prophet and joined in the +_jihad_--the Nawab Mahomed Mushim Khan being one of its most earnest and +enthusiastic supporters. Sarbaland Khan, too, had joined, and the Nawab +had appointed Murad Afzul one of his principal leaders. In brief, the +whole country was up in arms, and a large force had been sent to +surprise and overpower Mazaran. + +"Well, that's cheering sort of _kubbur_ at any rate," said Raynier, as +he translated the burden of this communication to his companion. "One +thing, it's possible we are better off here than we would be in Mazaran, +for the garrison there is no great shakes, and Polwarth the biggest ass +that was ever given command even of a box of tin soldiers." + +Polwarth, it may be observed incidentally, was the commanding officer at +Mazaran, and he and the new Political Agent did not love each other. + +There was one item of news which Mehrab Khan had not thought necessary +to disclose to his superior, and this was that the Nawab had issued +orders to secure Raynier Sahib alive and at all costs, but alive. Great +reward was promised to whoever should accomplish this, and bring him +unharmed to Mushim Khan, but should any slay him the reward should be +death. But he who should deliver him up alive, the reward would make +him a man of consequence for the rest of his days. And this was within +the Baluchi's power to earn. + +"How is it you still cleave to us, Mehrab Khan?" Raynier said half +bitterly, half affectionately. "All your fellow tribesmen and fellow +believers are up against us. Why are you not with them?" + +The man smiled. No well-simulated horror did he affect, for he felt +none. The question struck him as practically and nakedly natural. Nor +did he break into vehement protestations of fidelity, and so forth. He +merely replied,-- + +"It is written, _Huzoor_." + +And the high Government official answered the Levy Sowar,-- + +"Be it so, my brother." + +Shut off from the world for days they remained thus in their lofty eyrie +among the crags. A better shelter was found, and this not before it was +needed, for the rainy weather continued and the cold at night was more +than uncomfortable. Then Mehrab Khan went forth upon the maraud one +night and stole a blanket or two and a _poshtin_--a sort of ulster made +of soft leather and fur-lined--as well as some more food. But from +their hiding-place he steadfastly refused to allow them to budge. + +On Hilda Clive these conditions of hardship, which would have driven the +average civilised and cultured woman nearly out of her senses, seemed to +have no effect at all--neither on her spirits nor on her health. As to +the latter they positively seemed to suit her. She had acquired a +colour and a brightness of eye such as had never lit up her face under +conditions of civilisation, and Raynier, looking at her, would wonder +twenty times a day how he could ever have passed her every day of his +life for about three weeks, and taken no notice of her whatever. So +much for looks. But as a companion, as a fellow castaway, she was +perfect, he decided. She was full of ideas. She could converse on +every subject under the sun, no matter what; the only topic she seemed +to avoid, he was prompt to observe, being herself. More, he thought to +notice even that she purposely avoided it, yet in such wise as to convey +no idea of purposely concealing anything, but rather as not choosing to +be drawn. She would beguile the time, too, in trying to learn +Hindustani and Pushtu, under the joint tuition of himself and Mehrab +Khan, frequently to the amusement of both. + +Thus, as the days wore on, something uncommonly like a very real +contentment settled down upon these two, here in the solitude of their +vast mountain world--nay, more. Their converse began to take on a sort +of insidiously familiar, not to say caressing, form of confidence, alike +on the part of the one as on that of the other. Raynier began to forget +that they were fugitives from a whole countryside, eager for their +blood. To forget the perils to be encountered ere they should once more +mingle among their kind. To forget the havoc and massacre and misery +that had come about since last they had so mingled. And, more difficult +still to forget, perhaps, the official ruin which would most probably +await himself. Strangely enough, the only thing he could not forget, +the only thing that would force itself upon his memory, and that with a +horrid and most discordant jar, was the fact that Cynthia Daintree was +on her way out to claim him--to claim him, upon whom she had absolutely +no claim at all; would, in fact, by this time soon be landing. + +Without, the elements stormed and raged. For two whole days at a time +they would be unable to see outside their mountain abode, so thick and +unyielding were the mists that encompassed it, and the rain poured down +unceasingly, while now and again the roll of intermittent thunder would +shake the mountain peaks in stunning reverberation the night through, +and the red gleam seek out every corner of their cave abode. And when +the mists parted, they gazed down upon shiny rock surfaces labyrinthed +with ragged black chasms, or the dark wildness of a juniper forest swept +by the wreaths of the flying scud. + +But this state of comparative peace was not to last--was, in fact, +destined to be brought to a most startling termination. One morning +Mehrab Khan, who had been away on a foraging expedition, failed to +return. The day passed, and still no Mehrab Khan. Night likewise +failed to bring him, and now things began to look serious for these two, +for their food supply was all but exhausted. As for the Baluchi, there +was only one conclusion to be arrived at--he had been found by the +enemy, and either killed or detained as a prisoner. As for themselves, +something must be done, for it was clear they could not remain there to +starve. With his own knowledge of the country, supplemented by further +detail which Mehrab Khan had given him, Raynier thought he could find +the way to Mazaran. + +It was scarcely daylight when they started from their place of refuge. +The weather had cleared overhead, but the ground was miry and slippery +to the last degree, so much so indeed that, until they should reach +smoother and more level ground, the horses were of more hindrance than +help. But at the start Raynier discovered that his steed had gone dead +lame to such an extent that to ride it would be downright dangerous +here, where cliffs and slippery slopes abounded. It was decided to +abandon the animal. + +"Seems as if our troubles were beginning over again," he said ruefully. +"By Jove, it looks as if the story about the Syyed's _tangi_ was going +to prove true again in our case." + +He spoke half jestingly, glancing at her the while. To his surprise she +was looking very serious. + +"No," she answered. "I don't think so. At least, unless--No--it's of +no use. I can't see." + +She had passed her hand over her eyes, as he had seen her do on that +strangely memorable night, and her face wore the same dreamy look. +That, he knew, accounted for the seeming incoherence of her words. For +Hilda Clive possessed in some degree the gift of clairvoyance, and what +she saw now in front of them she preferred not to tell him just then. +Whatever it was it took no definite shape in her own mind, hovering +there vague but ominous. He looked at her curiously. + +"Well, we'll cheat that superstition yet," he said, with a gaiety that +was just a trifle forced. + +They made but sorry headway, the horse slipping and stumbling to such an +extent that Hilda preferred to walk, so that by the time day had fairly +dawned they were scarcely more than three miles from their +starting-point. It was deemed advisable to go into hiding once more, +and here they were forced to finish what little food remained. + +Towards dusk they started again. An unaccountable and wholly unwonted +depression had come upon Hilda, while her escort, walking beside her +horse, began to feel strangely weak and faint. He supposed it was the +result of recent bad living and want of exercise, and then, with a chill +of dismay, he recognised the infallible symptoms of his old fever. No-- +this would never do. He must pull himself together; and by way of doing +this, he stumbled and fell dizzily forward. + +With a little cry of alarm Hilda was off her horse in a moment and was +beside him. She raised his head, laying a hand upon the damp and clammy +brow. + +"There, there! Do you feel better now?" she exclaimed, with a rush of +tenderness in her tone. + +"What an idiot I am," he answered, but the smile was a sickly one as he +tried to raise himself. "I shall be all right in a minute. Heavens! +the horse! Hilda--quick--go after the silly brute. It would never do +to lose it." + +In her anxiety to reach his side, Hilda had let the reins go, and now +the animal was walking steadily off. She tried to coax it, but the +result only seemed to be to accelerate its pace. She was quite a little +way off now. Raynier had staggered to his feet, and had managed to take +a few steps after her. Then he sank down in a dead faint. + +The horse stopped. Now she would have it. Speaking soothingly, Hilda +drew near. She had all but got her hand on the bridle rein, when the +perverse brute slewed round. This manoeuvre he repeated three or four +times and then resumed his stroll. After him again she went. + +No--it was too bad. She would try no further. She must have come quite +far already, but how far? She stopped and looked back. Great Heaven! +what was this? The cloud which had encompassed the hilltop had +extended, stealing silently and insidiously downward, blotting out the +whole mountain side, blotting out the way she had come, blotting out +everything save three or four yards of slimy wet ground immediately +around her. How would she find her way back to where she had left her +companion, and--what if she could not? + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +IN STRANGE QUARTERS. + +Murad Afzul was in high glee, for which he had good reason. The +Tarletons and Haslam he had released, conditionally on the promise of +payment of a good round sum of rupees. True, the promise was so far on +paper only, but curiously enough Murad Afzul, robber and general +freebooter as he was himself, entertained a high opinion of the promises +of the Sahibs--Feringhi infidels as they were; besides, there was just +this amount of additional security, that did they repudiate their +promise in this instance, why then, they had better go away and dwell +right at the further end of India, and that at a day's notice, even if +they did not put the sea between them and him, for any closer proximity +would certainly prove fatal to their health. As it was, the terms were +satisfactory all round, for all observation had gone to convince that +shrewd marauder that though it might be safe sport flaying and burning +such of his Asiatic fellow-subjects who should fall into his hands, it +did not pay to extend such operations to the Sahibs. They would stand +robbery, but at the murder of themselves they drew the line. So a +_bundobust_ was entered into, and for what was, under the circumstances, +a moderate ransom, the British captives were allowed to return to +Mazaran, and they, reckoning that the Government would pay, deemed +themselves mighty lucky in getting off so cheap. But Murad Afzul could +afford to be moderate just then, for he was standing in for a stroke of +business beside which the gains already secured were as a fleabite, and +this was the capture of Herbert Raynier, and the reward offered by the +Nawab for that feat. + +Incidentally Murad Afzul had other kine to milk--which in their way +would give a good, rich, profitable yield. The wily freebooter had +issued orders that two men should be exempted from the slaughter which +had taken place of the camp servants, and these two were Raynier's +chuprassis. He knew his way about, did Murad Afzul, whereupon he argued +that if any man was likely to be the possessor of a considerable hoard +of ill-gotten gains, that man would be a Government chuprassi. +Accordingly he named a good round sum apiece, which Sunt Singh and Kaur +Singh were invited to disgorge, and on their protesting their utter +inability to do so, were immediately treated to an instalment of the +consequences of such refusal duly persisted in. + +It is curious how, even outside the covers of a book, or off the stage, +poetic justice will sometimes overtake delinquents, and that as a sheer +matter of cause and effect, and now for instance, as they yelled and +writhed, each with a red-hot coal bound up within his left armpit--not +the right, lest they should be unable to indite the requisite document +authorising payment of their ransom--it did not, of course, occur to +Sunt Singh and Kaur Singh that this was indirect result of their +supercilious repulse of Chand Lall from their master's audience, because +they were unaware of the nature of his errand. But it is none the less +certain that had that luckless trader been able to communicate that +Murad Afzul and his gang of "budmashes" were out in the district, and +dacoity in full blast, Raynier would never have ventured forth thus on a +practically defenceless camping expedition, nor suffered others to do so +either, in which contingency the events just recorded would, so far, +never have taken place. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Raynier, awaking to consciousness, stared at the opposite wall, then at +the furniture, then at the window, then closed his eyes again. A +confused medley was flitting through his clouded brain. He seemed to +see, but as if in a far-off time, the hiding-place among the mountain +tops, the rain and mist and wild storms, to feel in a dull and uneasy +form of sense the oppression of some peril hanging over him, but +sequence of thought refused to come. Events chased each other in wild +phantasmagoria through his mind, a sense of being hurled through space, +a shock of some sort, a ring of shaggy fierce countenances and the flash +of uplifted tulwars. Then, of a sudden, his mind cleared. He +remembered the runaway horse and how his last sense had been that of +being whirled into space, wrapped in a chill mist. But Hilda? What of +her? Where was she? Had she been found too. Was she here, and--where +on earth was he? + +He opened his eyes wide now, and stared around the room. Yes, it was a +room, but a strange one. The walls were of a dull brown colour, and +unpapered. The window was a tall, narrow embrasure, glazed and partly +open. In the doorway was a _chik_ of fine split bamboo, draped by faded +curtains, and a lamp of strange, but very artistic, design hung from the +ceiling. Where was he? And he made a movement to spring out of bed. + +A figure glided to his side, a figure clad in white and wearing a +turban, and a hand was laid upon his wrist. + +"Do not move, Sahib. The Sahib must lie quiet. The Sahib has been +ill." + +The words were spoken in Hindustani, and now Raynier answered in the +same tongue,-- + +"I suppose I have been. But where am I, and--who are you?" + +"I am a Hakim [native physician.]. The Sahib must not talk," was the +answer, ignoring the first part of the question. This the patient did +not fail to notice. + +"That is all right, Hakim Sahib"--Raynier was always polite in his +address with natives, and if they had any title or rank never failed to +give them the benefit of it. "But what I want to know is, where am I?" + +The question was asked with some impatience. The doctor, seeing that he +was likely to become excited, which would be highly prejudicial to the +patient, and therefore equally so to his own interest, replied,-- + +"You are in the house of his Greatness the Nawab." + +"What?" almost shouted Raynier. + +"In the house of the Nawab Mahomed Mushim Khan," repeated the Hakim. + +"Oh, then, I am in good hands. The Nawab and I are friends. Is the +Miss Sahib here too?" + +Even if the doctor had not turned away to conceal it, Raynier would not +have noticed the strange look which had come over his face, as indeed +how should he? + +"Yes, yes," was the hurried answer. "Now the Sahib must not talk any +more." + +"But I must see her if only for a minute. She will come, I know. Bring +her to me, Hakim Sahib, then I will be as quiet as you wish." + +"That cannot be," was the answer. "She is getting on well, but not well +enough to talk to the Sahib. In a few days, perhaps. Now the Sahib +must rest quiet or he will not get well enough to see her at all." + +Raynier sighed. There was sense in what the other said, he supposed, +yet it was hard. Hilda would naturally have suffered from reaction, and +could conceivably be anything but well. Why, he himself was as weak as +a cat, as the sapient simile for some inscrutable reason puts it, the +harmless, necessary domestic feline being, proportionately, of the +strongest and most wiry of the animal creation. + +"Can I see the Nawab, then?" he said. + +"The Nawab is absent." + +"Then his brother, the Sirdar Kuhandil Khan? Will he not come and see +me?" + +"He too is absent, Sahib. In a few days, perhaps, when the Sahib is +well." + +With this answer Raynier must fain be content. A drowsiness stole over +him, begotten of the exertion of talking, and a great sense of security +and comfort Mushim Khan was his friend, and although he might have been +drawn into the present bobbery--all these mountain tribes dearly loved +the fun of fighting--why, he and Hilda would be perfectly safe under his +roof. Hilda, of course, had been found at the same time as himself, and +brought here. They would meet in a day or two, as the doctor had said, +and when the fighting was over, why, then, they would return to Mazaran, +and--good Heavens! why would the thought of Cynthia Daintree obtrude +itself? And as, in consequence, he began to turn restlessly, the Hakim +glided to his side. + +"Drink this," he said, pouring something from a phial. Raynier did so, +and in another moment was slumbering hard and peacefully. + +For two or three days longer was Raynier thus tended, but day and night +the Hakim was with him, or in the room which lay behind the _chik_, or, +if absent for a while, his place was supplied by an attendant. But not +by any chance, not for one single instant was he ever left alone. Had +he been a criminal awaiting the gallows he could not have been more +closely and continuously watched. He tried to obtain information as to +what was going on outside, but without avail. On general subjects the +doctor or the attendant would converse, but let him once touch that of +the present disturbance and they were closeness itself. Then he thought +it was time to insist on seeing Hilda. + +With deprecatory words, and far from easy in his mind, the Hakim told +him that the Miss Sahib was not there. He had told him the contrary, it +was true, but he was very weak and ill, and good news is better for a +sick man than bad news, wherefore he had told him what he had. + +What, then, had become of Miss Sahib? Raynier asked. Had she not been +found at the same time as himself? He was repressing a murderous desire +to leap upon and throttle this liar of a Hakim, and only the knowledge +that violence would serve no good purpose whatever availed to restrain +him. He controlled his voice, too, striving to speak calmly. + +No, she had not been found, the doctor answered. It was not even known +that there was a Miss Sahib with him at all. He had been found by a +party of Gularzai in the early morning lying unconscious on the mountain +side, and brought here. But there was nobody with him. And then the +Hakim, looking at him with something like pity, it might have been +thought, suggested that the time had come when the Sahib might take a +little fresh air. + +A few moments ago, and how welcome the idea would have been. He was +longing to see something beyond the four walls of his room--of his +prison; and from his window nothing was visible but another wall. But +now the shock was too great, too stunning. He had pictured Hilda here +with him, here in security, and, after their hardships, in some degree +of comfort. And all the time this infernal Hakim had been feeding him +on lies. What had become of her? He remembered how she had gone after +the horse, but of the descent of the mist he remembered nothing. Had +she wandered too far and been unable to find him again? Great Heaven! +how awful. A defenceless woman, alone, lost, in that savage mountain +solitude, with night coming on, and that woman Hilda Clive. And then by +a strange inspiration came a modicum of comfort in the thought that it +was Hilda Clive; for it brought back to him certain recollections. He +remembered her bizarre midnight walk in a semi-trance, the perilous +episode in the _tangi_ and the consummate nerve and utter unconcern she +had displayed. She had qualities, properties, gifts, what you will, +which placed her utterly outside any other woman he had ever known--and +these might now carry her through where another would succumb. + +Following the Hakim and the attendant mechanically, Raynier found +himself in a kind of courtyard, rather was it a roof, flat and walled +in. He could see two or three other similar roof courtyards, with +people on them. But where was he? He had been in Mushim Khan's +dwelling, an ordinary mud-walled village similar in every way to a +hundred others inhabited by the Gularzai and kindred border tribes, but +this place was akin to a castle or rock fortress. He could not see much +of it, but it seemed to him that the place he was in crowned the summit +of a rock eminence, into which it was partly built. Had Mushim Khan +another dwelling, then--a mountain stronghold which he used in times of +disturbance? It looked so. + +How blue the sky was, how bracing the air. Raynier drew in deep +draughts of the latter. He felt recovered already, and earnestly he +longed for the return of the Nawab, that he might be set at liberty, and +at once start in search of Hilda. Little he cared now about his +official prospects or anything of the kind. This girl who had been his +companion in danger and hardship filled all his thoughts. + +And then immediately beneath him arose an outburst of the most awful +cries and shrieks, such as could have been wrung only from a human being +undergoing the extremity of anguish and bodily torture. With blanched +face and chilled blood he rushed to the parapet and looked over. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +THE MULLAH AGAIN. + +Beneath, at a distance of some thirty feet, ran a narrow alley way, and +on the opposite side of this were doors. Round one of these several men +were clustered, as though gazing upon and rather enjoying something that +was going on within. And it was from this door that those horrible +shrieks and screams proceeded. + +Raynier's blood ran chill within him. What act of devilish cruelty was +going on within that sinister chamber? He noticed that a kind of thin +steam was issuing from the upper part of the door, wafting up a nauseous +and greasy odour to where he stood. He could hear a mutter of voices +within the place, and a plashing sound, then the shrieks of agony broke +forth afresh louder than ever till he was forced to stop his ears. + +Still, a horrible fascination kept him riveted--his gaze fixed on that +grisly door. What did it all mean? Then he was conscious that the +yelling had ceased, and now those clustering around parted to give way +to several persons who issued from the place. Among them was a tall, +fine-looking man, who had the air and importance of a chief. At him +Raynier looked somewhat curiously, for he thought he was acquainted with +all the Sirdars of the Gularzai. Then this man stopped, and +half-turned, and Raynier saw dragged forth between two others a limp, +quaking figure, its quivering features expressing an extremity of terror +that was akin to mania. And in this object he recognised his quondam +smart, well-groomed--and, to all but himself, somewhat arrogant-- +chuprassi, Kaur Singh. This was the man they had been torturing, then. +But the words of the chief told him the next moment that it was not. + +"Dog of an idolater," the latter said, "thou hast seen the torments in +which thy brother has died, which are but the beginning of what he is +now undergoing. Wherefore, if thou wouldst preserve thy miserable +carcase a little longer I advise thee to write that which shall hurry +those who are collecting thine ill-gotten gains." + +The answer was an abject whine, and the follower of Brahma wallowed and +cringed before the follower of Mahomed. + +Raynier remained rooted to the spot, gazing after the receding forms of +those beneath. That the unfortunate Sunt Singh had just been put to +some ghastly and lingering form of death within that gruesome chamber, +his brother being forced to look on, he now gathered. The motive, too, +was apparent, and now he deduced that the man who had spoken must be the +far-famed Murad Afzul; and the discovery inspired him with a very +genuine misgiving on his own account. What if the Nawab and his brother +never returned? What if they were killed or captured in some +engagement, and he were thus left at the mercy of this ruffian, whose +barbarities were a byword upon that border? What would be his own fate, +helpless in such hands? He rejoiced now that Hilda did not share his +captivity, the more so that a conviction had been growing upon him that +she must have found her way into safety. Then he remembered that Mehrab +Khan had learned that Murad Afzul had released Haslam and the Tarletons +for money, which looked as though that arch-dacoit deemed it bad luck to +murder Europeans. If the worst came to the worst, he, too, might find +safety and deliverance that way. + +He turned quickly. An interruption, sudden and somewhat startling, had +broken in upon his meditations, a most venomous curse to wit, hurled at +himself. Framed in the doorway by which he himself had entered this +roof courtyard, stood a figure. The face was aged and lined, and the +beard grey and undyed. A ragged green turban crowned the head, while +the immense hooked nose and the opening and shutting of the extended +claw-like hands suggested some weird and exaggerated bird of prey. +Raynier recognised that he had to do with some professional fanatic, a +_mullah_ most likely. + +"Why dost thou curse me, father?" he said in Pushtu. "What harm have I +done thee or thine?" + +"Hear him!" cried the _mullah_. "Ya Allah! he calls me father, this son +of countless generations of infidels. Hear him, Mahomed, Prophet of +Allah ever blessed! Me, thy servant Hadji Haroun, who has three times +visited the sacred and inviolable Temple, who has kissed the sacred +Stone, this unbeliever calls `father.'" + +And he spat forth a renewed and envenomed string of curses, pausing now +and again to raise his eyes heavenward, clasping and unclasping his +hooked claws--and then, as though having gained new inspiration, +breaking forth afresh. + +Raynier felt annoyed. He was not altogether unfamiliar with this rabid +and aggressive type of fanaticism, though he had found it more among +Hindu fakirs than Mahomedans. He answered shortly,-- + +"I thought but to please thee, old man, but since I offended thee, +though I am sorry, it might be good to depart and leave me in peace." + +At this the _mullah_ broke forth into fresh curses--but something of a +tumult beneath seemed to interrupt him, for with his head on one side he +paused and listened. There was a confused murmur of voices--almost a +roar--mingled with the trampling of horses. Of what was going on +beneath Raynier could see nothing, nor did he care to turn his back--for +longer than the briefest of glances--upon the fanatical _mullah_. + +"In peace!" repeated the latter, echoing his last words. "In peace! +Here is he who will give thee peace, O infidel dog. Now will the blood +of Allahyar Khan--whom the Prophet console in Paradise--be avenged." + +"I know not of what thou art talking, old man," returned Raynier, +shortly. "Thy curses matter not greatly, but if thou namest me `dog' +again I will throw thee over yon parapet even though thou hadst visited +the sacred and inviolable Temple thirty times instead of three." + +At these words the other uttered a wild, shrill yell, and turning fled +down the stairs crying that the Feringhi dog was insulting the tomb of +the Prophet and threatening one who had kissed the sacred Stone--and +Raynier began to realise that he had made a grave mistake in losing his +temper with this old fool, whom he should have allowed to abuse him till +to-morrow morning rather than give him any pretext for raising the +fanatical hatred of these fierce and easily-roused tribesmen in whose +power he was. It was too late now, for already there was an approaching +hubbub on the stairs and several of them rushed in, their fierce +countenances blazing with wrath. But that their weapons were undrawn +Raynier would have expected to be cut to pieces. As it was they flung +themselves upon him, and he was dragged and hustled to the door, and +down the stairs--along passages and through doorways, with incredible +force and rapidity. Totally unarmed, and weakened by his recent +illness, resistance was out of the question. He supposed his time had +come and that he was being dragged to his death. + +They had halted. He was in a large open courtyard, surrounded by the +doors of dwellings built apparently into high walls, except on the +further side, which was constituted by a solid cliff face, towering up +high overhead. This he took in at a glance, but what was more to the +point, the place was full of armed men, and there in the midst was +Mushim Khan. + +The Nawab and his brother had just dismounted from horseback, and a +follower was leading away their steeds, fine animals showing blood and +muscle in every movement. In spite of the rough and undignified +treatment of which he had just been a victim Raynier was mindful of the +dignity of his high office, and his attitude and tone were not lacking +in this when, having waited for the buzz which greeted his appearance to +subside, he gave the chief's the salaam. + +To his surprise and inward dismay, neither replied. They stood +contemplating him in stern and hostile silence. He felt utterly +nonplussed, especially having regard to the good treatment and +hospitality which had been extended to him hitherto. Ah! the _mullah_ +of course. That was it. He had been stirring up their fanatical +animosity, and once touch that you never know where you are with an +Oriental. There was the old villain over there, glaring at him with his +beady eyes. + +"There has been a mistake, Nawab Sahib," began Raynier, perfectly cool +and collected. + +"Yon holy man declares I spoke against the Prophet and his tomb, but it +is not so. You who know me are aware I am not one to do any such thing. +The _mullah_ is quite mistaken." + +But the stern hostility on the countenances of the chiefs relaxed not +one atom--that upon those of their followers deepened, and mutterings of +hate rumbled forth from the rows of grim and shaggy faces which +encompassed him. Sinewy fingers instinctively tightened round sword +hilts and rifle locks. Raynier went on,-- + +"Believers, although of another creed, we are all the children of one +Father, for such is the teaching of the Prophet as revealed to him and +set forth in the Holy Koran. And I have seen enough of the followers of +the Prophet to respect their faith, and never have I uttered word +against that faith--no, not even now. But yon _mullah_ cursed me and +named me dog--me, the representative of the _Sirkar_. Should I accept +that meekly, think you?" + +But all the reply that this drew was a deeper and renewed execration. + +"What of Allahyar Khan?" hissed the _mullah_ at the chief's side. "What +of the Sirdar Allahyar Khan?" + +The effect upon the Nawab was as that of a sting. Yet he spoke coldly, +as though striving to suppress the rage that consumed him. + +"Answer me, Raynier Sahib. Was General Raynier Sahib, who commanded +troops at the time of the great rising thy father?" + +"Surely, Nawab Sahib. But that is a long past and forgotten misfortune. +Why revive it?" + +"And he commanded the troops that came to Grampur after it had been +reconquered?" + +It was impossible but that Raynier's natural perceptions, let alone his +experience of Orientals, should have failed to convince him that here, +and not in any tale told by the _mullah_, lay the secret of Mushim +Khan's changed attitude towards him. Some of their people had been +killed at that time, was the solution, and this rascally _mullah_ had +stirred up the recollection. He knew how the blood feud can be tossed +on from generation to generation among these mountain tribes. Still, +there was only one answer possible. + +"I believe he did, Nawab Sahib," he answered. "But why rake up these +dead and buried tales of strife?" + +"Dead and buried!" yelled Hadji Haroun, clasping and unclasping his +claws. "Ya Mahomed! hear him. Dead and buried! What of Allahyar +Khan--what of the dog who sent him defiled to his death, the father of +this dog standing here?" + +Then for the first time Raynier realised the imminence of his peril, for +he saw that no common incident in the fortune of war lay behind this. +The noble expression of the Nawab's countenance had disappeared, giving +way to one of hate and cruelty, and the same held good of that of his +brother, Kuhandil Khan. A roar of execration arose from the close ranks +of the Gularzai, and tulwars were drawn, and flashed in the sun. Mushim +Khan turned, and in an undertone gave directions to some of those +nearest to him. These advanced upon Raynier. + +"There is no need to lay hands upon me, Chief of the Gularzai," he cried +in a firm tone. "I am in your power, you who have professed friendship +for me. Say what your will is." + +But Mushim Khan answered no word. Raynier was seized and violently +dragged away, a roar of execration and hate going up from the gathering, +and, rising above it, he could distinguish the high, venomous tones of +the _mullah_, shrilling forth,-- + +"The blood of Allahyar Khan! The blood of Allahyar Khan! Now will it +be avenged. Ya Mahomed! Now! Now!" + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +LEFT ALONE. + +We must now go back a little. + +Standing there on the mountain side, enveloped in the thick mist, +nothing visible but a few yards of wet ground, Hilda Clive felt as +though she were turned into stone. + +How far had she come? how retrace her steps? It occurred to her that +she had better not move until she had thoroughly made up her mind which +direction to take. To this end she lifted up her voice in a loud, clear +call. No answer. + +Again she lifted up her voice, and on the principle that a person will +more readily catch his own name than any other word she called to her +companion by his. Still no answer. + +She tried another plan. She thought of every kind of call that she +could sound on the highest of notes, so as to produce the most carrying +effects. All useless. Still, no answer. + +Should she move, or would not her best plan be to remain exactly where +she was? The mist might lift, and then she could find her way back, +whereas if she began wandering about she might lose her bearings +entirely. She knew she was in a mountain cloud, and such lift as +suddenly as they come down. On the other hand, they are apt to hang +about the slopes for days. And as though to emphasise this side of the +question the dark folds seemed to close in around her darker and darker. + +She tried her voice again, this time turning to every point of the +compass as she sent forth her clear, high-pitched calls. Then her heart +seemed to hammer within her as though it would burst. She heard an +answer. + +Faint and far away it sounded, coming from a little above her. +Impulsively she took a few steps in that direction then called again. +The answer came this time louder and more distinct. + +Poor Hilda! She could have sunk to the ground with sheer heart sickness +and despair as she stood there listening. The answer was the mere echo +of her own voice. She tried it again and again to make sure of this, +and then two or three tears forced themselves from her eyes, and a sob +escaped her. It was too terrible, too heart-breaking altogether. + +No. It was clearly of no use standing still; besides, she felt the cold +and damp. She must move if only to keep off the deadly shivers which +were creeping upon her. But in what direction? And as though the +bewildering effect of the mist was not enough she remembered that in +trying to catch the horse she had been drawn to describe a complete +circle, and that three times: in fact the perverse brute had done for +her exactly what is done for the blindfolded one in blind man's buff, +when he or she is started upon his or her quest, and with exactly the +same effect. + +Darker it grew. Night was coming on, and far down in the valley beneath +a wolf howled--then another and another. Hilda remembered how they had +listened to the cry of the ravening beasts there in the lighted security +of the camp, could almost have smiled to herself as she pictured Mrs +Tarleton, or any other woman of her acquaintance, here, in her own +plight, with the certainty before her of a night in the awful loneliness +of these savage mountain solitudes, surrounded, for all she could tell, +by prowling beasts of prey. That such would hardly do less than simply +expire she firmly believed, and in truth the situation was fraught with +every terrifying and exhausting element even for her. + +Yet Hilda Clive thought but little of herself in the matter. What would +become of her companion, left alone on the wet hill side--ill, fainting, +fever-stricken? and this was the idea that caused her to raise her hand +to her head and press her brows hard as though to control the working of +the busy brain within the limits of coherency. + +What should she do, and how do it? Again and again all sorts of +expedients would suggest themselves. She would walk a given distance in +each direction--not down, for she had been descending slightly in her +pursuit of the horse--then retrace her steps, and try another. She +would walk all night if necessary--but she would find him. And then, +with a terrible heart sinking, two considerations occurred to her--one +that she might pass him within a few yards in the darkness and mist, the +other that she herself was beginning to feel faint with fatigue and +hunger. No matter. If will power could carry anyone through, it should +her. + +Then an idea came to her--swept in upon her mind like a lighthouse flash +in the gloom; for it seemed just the idea she had been groping after. +The quarter of the wind! + +It had blown upon her right ear she remembered during her pursuit of the +horse--yet rather from behind. She remembered it because of an escaped +tress of hair which had played about her cheek. Now by getting it upon +her left ear from in front, and keeping it there, she would be able to +retrace her steps. Thrilling with renewed thankfulness and hope she +started to put this plan into immediate execution. + +But alas! for poor Hilda. There was now no wind at all, or but faint +breaths of it, and these she thought to perceive were coming from any +and every direction. Then she remembered that in following the horse +the rise of the slope was on her right. By keeping it on her left she +might find her way. Anything rather than remain inactive. + +It was quite dark now, but the cloud showed no disposition to lift. +Stumbling onward, every now and then lifting her voice in a call, Hilda +pressed on, with a determination and endurance well-nigh superhuman. +Twice she fell, bruising herself among the stones, then up and on again. +He would die if he were not found, would die, fever-stricken, helpless, +alone. Die! The word seemed ringing in her brain, and then--and then-- +what was this? She was beginning to go _downhill_. + +Downhill! That could not be. She had kept steadily upward, and yet, +without swerving in the least from the course she had been following, +she was plainly and unmistakably walking downhill, and this fact once +established, the significance of the situation became clear. She was +hopelessly and entirely out of her reckoning, and had no more idea as to +where she had left Herbert Raynier than she had as to where she herself +now stood. And then nature asserted itself over mind. Overwhelmed with +despair and hunger and exhaustion poor Hilda sank to the ground in a +faint that was more than half slumber. + +When she awoke the mist had entirely disappeared, and the sun was well +up in the blue sky. A shadow was between it and her, and she started +somewhat as her eyes rested on a dark face, crowned by a voluminous +turban. A man was bending over her, a man clothed in the loose garments +of the Gularzai, and armed with a sword and rifle, and the startled look +gave place to one of intense relief as she recognised Mehrab Khan. + +"Where is the _Huzoor_?" was her first question in the best Hindustani +she could command. Then Mehrab Khan proceeded to explain the situation, +partly by signs, partly in Hindustani, of which latter Hilda understood +a good deal more than she could talk. The _Huzoor_ had been found by a +party of Gularzai, lying ill upon the mountain side. They had not +harmed him, but had carried him away--probably to the Nawab's village; +which intimation filled poor Hilda with unspeakable relief and +thankfulness. For Herbert Raynier had the highest opinion of Mushim +Khan and his brother. He had often talked to her about them, and +promised she should see them on the occasion of the next _jirga_ at +Mazaran. If he was the Nawab's prisoner, he was safe, she decided. But +if Mehrab Khan knew otherwise, his Oriental inscrutability did not +betray the fact. + +The Baluchi was reproachful, however, that they had left their +hiding-place before his return, and he managed to convey to his hearer +that he had got in with some people whom it had been impossible to leave +at his own convenience without exciting suspicion. When he had found +the place deserted he had followed on their track, but the cloud had +baffled him, even as it had them. He had found the runaway steed, and +now his plan was to take the Miss Sahib into Mazaran at once. The way +was clear just now and they ought to take advantage of it. + +Refreshed with some food, which Mehrab Khan produced, Hilda felt almost +light-hearted. And then, going back over her wanderings now in the +clear sunny daylight, she saw that, though the direction taken was not +so greatly at fault, she had ascended much too high, and had gained a +kotal over which she was passing into another valley, when she had +detected the declivity of the ground. + +Mazaran made a great deal of Hilda Clive when she returned safe and +sound. What an experience she had had, and that poor Mr Raynier, gushed +the feminine side of Mazaran. Well, he would soon be back among them +again. Mushim Khan had too much to lose to incur deposition, if not +destruction, by allowing harm to happen to so important a representative +of the Government as the Political Agent, pronounced Mazaran, and +especially Colonel Polwarth C.O., who was not in a position to weaken +the garrison by a single man, it being none too strong as it was. +Indeed the station was in a state of siege, its European inhabitants +spending each night within the fort, and the bearded, long-haired +tribesmen, formerly conspicuous in the streets and bazaar, were now +conspicuous by their absence. Meanwhile, reinforcements were anxiously +awaited, and it looked as if they might be so for long, for a very large +force was in the field further along the border, where, according to the +reports that came in, fighting was abundant and brisk. + +Tarleton was somewhat subdued since his return, and whereas Haslam was +rather fond of expatiating upon their adventures, the Civil Surgeon was +more inclined to shelve the subject when it was broached. It wasn't a +thing to _bukh_ about, he declared, nor could he understand how that +fellow Haslam could _bukh_ about nothing else. They had neither of them +cut so great a figure in it for the matter of that, and he for his part +didn't seem to care if he never heard it mentioned again. Inwardly he +was relieved that so far no harm had come to Raynier through the +disclosure wrung from him by Murad Afzul. + +"Just fancy, dear," Mrs Tarleton exclaimed, when she had fussed over +Hilda enough by way of welcome back. "Who do you think has arrived, +just as poor Mr Raynier is away too? Isn't it sad?--and he not here to +welcome her?" + +"To welcome whom?" said Hilda, tranquilly. + +"Why, his _fiancee_, of course." + +"I didn't know he'd got one." + +"No more did we, no more did any of us," rejoined Mrs Tarleton, glancing +curiously at the girl, yet feeling intensely relieved at the nonchalance +of her reply, for she too had noticed, in common with Haslam, how +Raynier and her guest had been getting, as the Forest Officer put it, +uncommonly thick together. "He was remarkably close on the subject, I +must say." + +"Well, he naturally would be. That trick of gushing on the subject and +running about showing the latest photograph and all that, is idiotic, +and I can't imagine Mr Raynier being idiotic. Who is she?" + +"A Miss Daintree. Rather a stylish-looking girl, handsome too. She's +staying with the Croftons." + +"Yes? Well, they'll have a happy reunion and live happy ever after." + +Mrs Tarleton felt more relieved than ever. The light laughing badinage +of the girl's tone could never have been assumed, she decided. There +was nothing between them, then. + +But Hilda Clive was putting two and two together. She remembered +Raynier's absence of mind and unwonted depression the day they had set +forth on their ride which had ended so tragically. This, then, was the +news which had disconcerted him. The impending arrival of the girl to +whom he was engaged gave him no pleasure--rather the reverse--and if so, +why? The puzzle was no difficult one to piece together; indeed, to her +perceptions, it constituted no puzzle at all. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +AT MAZARAN. + +Cynthia Daintree had heard of Raynier's transfer immediately on landing, +and had lost no time in proceeding to Mazaran, which move was +facilitated by the fact that the friends with whom she had come out had +relatives in the frontier station, to whom they duly passed her on, and +with whom she was now staying. + +She had received Raynier's telegram at Aden. Her father had forwarded +it, without comment, and although its burden caused her a little +temporary annoyance it neither surprised nor disconcerted her, for of it +she there and then resolved to take no notice at all. More than ever +now she congratulated herself that the angry letter she had been on the +point of sending him after he had left her so brutally--as she put it-- +had remained unsent; more than ever did she rejoice that no further +communication had passed between them, and that therefore he could claim +no formal release. What had passed between them she would choose to +regard as a mere tiff, which the magnanimity of her disposition moved +her unconditionally to condone, and this she would give out if +necessary. For the rest, she reckoned on his easy-going nature, which, +by reason of his extraordinary forbearance as regarded herself, she had +come to regard as weak, and despised accordingly. There was no other +woman in the case, she was sure of that, otherwise he might have turned +restive. As it was, she would have things all her own way, and he would +yield unconditionally. + +Another point in her favour was that she would take him more or less by +surprise, for she had carefully arranged that the letter which we have +seen him receive, should only reach him a few days before her own +arrival. But when she arrived, only to learn that the border war had +blazed forth in the very neighbourhood of Mazaran itself, and that the +man she had come to find was missing, her wrath and chagrin knew no +bounds. The first she was forced to conceal, the second she passed off +in concern and anxiety on behalf of her _fiance's_ peril. Attempts on +all sides were made to reassure her. The missing official would have +thrown himself on the protection of someone or other of the chiefs who +had not joined in the _jihad_--Sarbaland Khan, for instance, who would +certainly remain loyal--and to whose interest it would be to ensure the +safety of so high a representative of the _Sirkar_. But if she allowed +herself to be reassured on that point, there was a new and wholly +unlooked-for aspect of the situation, which in her heart of hearts was +fraught with possibilities. With the missing man was the Tarletons' +girl guest. Only to think how they would be thrown together, and that +day after day, in their wanderings and possible dangers! What was the +girl like? She set herself to find out. + +It happened that the Tarletons had no portrait of Hilda Clive, but on +the subject of the latter's attractions Cynthia was in a great measure +reassured. When, apparently in pursuance of a natural interest in the +missing girl, she inquired on the point, the answer was never more +enthusiastic than "Oh, so-so," with a sort of covert implication that +she was not in it with the inquirer herself. For Hilda had made no +impression upon the male side of the station, to whom she conveyed an +idea of coldness and reserve even when not, as Haslam put it, one of +uncanniness. So Cynthia was reassured, and managed to get through time +fairly contentedly; and while ever manifesting a becoming degree of +anxiety on behalf of her _fiance_--as she gave him out to be--on the +whole the station regarded her as a decided acquisition. And then Hilda +Clive had reappeared, alone. + +Among the first to visit her was naturally Cynthia, and the consequent +reassurance as to Raynier's temporary safety hardly rejoiced her so much +as the first glance at his fellow refugee. Why, the girl was downright +plain--if not hideous, she decided. She had green eyes, to begin with; +large and well-lashed certainly, but--green; green and uncanny, like a +cat's. Then, she was white and haggard looking. As for her dress, +Cynthia could not judge, for Hilda had only agreed to see her under +protest and had appeared in a tea-gown; for she was suffering from +lassitude and nervous reaction, following upon physical hardship and the +immense mental strain she had undergone. Small wonder indeed if she +were not looking her best. Wherefore, Cynthia decided that here was no +possibility of rivalry, and having so decided she set to work to make +the best of the situation. + +Mazaran was practically in a state of siege, yet a matter of twenty-four +hours sufficed to accustom its social side to that state of things; and, +if it was unsafe to venture beyond the lines, the social side aforesaid +took care to amuse itself to the best of its ability within them. And +here Cynthia Daintree was in great request. She was a novelty, she was +stylish and well dressed, and well looking. She kept up a certain +modicum of carefully regulated concern for her missing fiance, but she +allowed herself to be drawn, albeit under protest into all that went on. +The general consensus of opinion was--especially among the garrison-- +that the missing Raynier was a deuced lucky fellow, but why the mischief +had he kept his engagement so dark? + +Not quite all, however, were so minded. Haslam, the Forest Officer, for +instance, was not so sure on the point; possibly, because Cynthia had +not thought it worth while laying herself out to captivate him, possibly +not. Anyway, he remarked at the Tarletons' one day,-- + +"I wonder if Raynier will weep for joy when he gets back or not?" + +"Why, what do you mean, Mr Haslam?" said his hostess. + +"Nothing. Only that I shouldn't like to be in his shoes." + +"Sour grapes, Mr Haslam," laughed Mrs Tarleton, not meaning it, for she +happened to be one of those who did not take the new arrival at her own +valuation. + +Haslam chuckled. + +"That's just it. You've hit it, Mrs Tarleton. There will be found a +good deal of acidity about that particular bunch, and that's why I don't +envy Raynier." + +"Well, you can't expect anyone to be perfect, can you?" struck in +Tarleton, inconsequently oppositious as usual. + +"Never said I could," answered Haslam, lighting another cheroot. "What +do you think about her, Miss Clive?" + +"How can I give an opinion on a `brother woman,' Mr Haslam, especially +to a man?" laughed Hilda. "If I don't say she's perfect, you'll go away +and tell everybody I'm jealous. If I do you won't believe me." + +"Hallo. That's rather good," said the Forest Officer, who liked Hilda +Clive, and resented the fact of the other coming there to cut her out, +as he persisted on looking at it. "But, I say. Talking of--er--who we +were talking about--it's my belief she's hedging." + +"What the doose do you mean by that Haslam?" said Tarleton. The other +cackled. + +"Why, she's making running up there in the garrison. Supposing Raynier +never came back, poor chap--eh? Or supposing he was hauled over the +coals for not foreseeing this _tumasha_, as it's not impossible he may +be, and sent back to some beastly Plains station--what then? Young +Beecher for instance--they say he has no end of expectations. Eh? They +do a good deal together." + +"Now, really, Mr Haslam, you are a regular scandalmonger," laughed Mrs +Tarleton, who was thoroughly enjoying the Forest Officer's strictures. +"I'm sure Miss Daintree is a very nice, sweet, affectionate girl, and Mr +Raynier is to be congratulated." + +"Affectionate dev--h'm, h'm. She's got a cold eye." + +"A what?" + +"A cold eye. Look at it next time. It's the eye of a fish--a shark for +choice." + +"Well, you couldn't expect her to have a warm one, could you?" drowsed +Tarleton, who was half asleep. Whereat they all roared. + +Now in all of this there was more than a little, for, apart from her +natural inclination to have as good a time as possible, here amid +entirely new conditions of life, and forming as they did a marked +contrast to those of a country vicarage, Cynthia had kept her ears open +as well as her eyes. Even station _gup_ had not as yet linked Raynier's +name with that of Hilda Clive. But it had speculated as to the view +that would be taken at headquarters of the Political Agent allowing +himself to be lulled into a state of absolute blindness on the subject +of the ill-affectedness of the Gularzai; the most important and powerful +tribe within his jurisdiction. All of which Cynthia had not been slow +to take in; and Captain Beecher, who was always on hand with his +dogcart, or a very sleek and serviceable Waler--of which she was +secretly afraid--if she preferred riding, was very devoted, and +substantially sound, and Cynthia was verging on thirty. And a live and +frisky dog was very much better than a dead and reduced lion, and Haslam +was an abominable cynic who knew his India, and the dominant population +thereof, thoroughly. + +Hilda Clive, watching this state of things, said nothing, only thought. +So completely did she say nothing in fact, that the station decided that +in view of the circumstances of the case, she was singularly lacking in +appreciation, not to say gratitude. She and Raynier had been together +through the winnowing of a common danger. She had come out of it safe +and sound, he had not. Yet she seemed to give him no further thought. + +Did she not? + +"All are forgetting him," she said to herself, in the bitterness of her +intense self-concentration. "All are forgetting him--even decrying him, +and there are those hungrily ready to step into his shoes. All the more +reason to show him that here is one who is not." + +She thanked Heaven she was well off; indeed, for a single woman, almost +rich. Nothing can be done in this world without filthy lucre. She had +been endowed with this if not with the art of drawing men round her like +flies around a jar of stale marmalade. Money can buy anything within +certain limits, even life. Yet how many there would have expended say +one thousand rupees to purchase that of Herbert Raynier's? + +But she? She shut herself up in her own room a good deal just then, +shut herself up with business papers--which, by the way, she thoroughly +understood. And running through all her calculations and correspondence +were certainly recollections of a time spent in a free _al fresco_ life; +and subsequently, in an _al fresco_ life which was anything but free, +and hedged round with hardship at every turn, and somehow it seemed that +that time was not the least enjoyable period of her existence. Then she +would push away all the business matter in front of her, and pass her +hands over her brows, and if anyone had broken in upon her at that time +it would have been to see upon Hilda Clive's face a look that rendered +it wondrously soft and lovable and attractive. + +But through it all there mingled a puzzled and half-distressed state of +mind. Her strange powers of foresight seemed to hover around, and yet +refuse to be called into definite action. There was something to be +done, they told her, and she was the one to do it; yet what, and how? +Ah, now it was clear. Money would purchase anything--even life. + +The first thing she had done on her return to Mazaran was to present +Mehrab Khan with such a substantial sum in rupees as to cause that +faithful Mussulman to stare. Then she had set to work to obtain for him +a sort of indefinite furlough, so that he could attach himself wholly +and entirely to her service, which he was by no means loth to do. It +had not been difficult, because, as it happened, his term of enlistment +had all but expired, and Mehrab Khan was far too valuable a jemadar of +Levy Sowars to part with at that juncture; wherefore, through Haslam, +who, as we have seen, stood her friend, and others, she contrived that +the authorities should allow her the use of him _pro tem_. To what she +would turn that use we shall see anon. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +OF THE SIRDAR'S OATH. + +The unhappy prisoner, forced along by strong and ruthless hands, +recognised that he was in the alley way upon which he had looked down +from the parapet, what time the shrieks of the tortured man had forced +him to stop his ears. Heaven help him! To what death of lingering +torment were these barbarians going to put him? There was the very +door, and through it he was now dragged. + +The horrible greasy fumes which had sickened him before hung about the +place, which, entering as he did from the light, seemed to lie in a +semi-gloom, suggestive of all sorts of hideous imaginings. At the +further end was something that looked like a long iron coffin, raised +about eighteen inches from the floor. To this he was forced forward. + +Raynier's blood curdled within him as the full horror of this awful +object broke upon him. No coffin was it, but a bath--and the iron rings +and chains let into its sides, two at each end, told their own tale. So +too, did the ashes of a dead fire underneath. The upper end was padded. +The sufferer might not dash out his own brains; might not seek relief +from his frightful torment that way. + +Faint and sick, his senses in a whirl, he gazed stupidly at the horrid +thing. Was his brain giving way? It seemed so. Hardly knowing how he +got there he was outside in the air again. + +"Our bathroom does not please thee, Feringhi," said a voice. Looking +up, his eyes met the baleful sneering ones of Murad Afzul. + +"I have been ill with fever of late. You forget," he answered, +instinctively striving to disguise the despair and terror which the +sight of the horrid place had stamped upon his countenance. Then he +fainted. + +When he came to himself again he was in semi-darkness. A man was +bending over him, and seemed to be trying to revive him. He recognised +the Hakim. + +"Where am I? Oh!" + +He had tried to rise, only to discover that he was chained by the ankles +to an iron ring in the stone floor. His hands, however, were free. He +saw further that he was in a damp and gloomy apartment akin to a +dungeon, a grating above the door serving to let in air and light. + +"Take away your remedies, Hakim Sahib," he said, bitterly. "I have no +wish to be revived for the purpose of being tortured, and I suppose it +was for that reason I was taken care of before?" + +"It is the Nawab's orders," answered the other. "Ill would it fare with +me did I not carry them out." + +"Well, I will not help you, then." + +"You will not be helping yourself in that case, Sahib," said the Hakim, +"for then they would work their will on you at once. See--there is +food. Bethink. Is there no object in gaining time?" + +"If so, I know not what it can be," answered Raynier. And then an idea +seized him. This man might help him to escape, of course, for a large +reward. But when it was put to him the Hakim shook his head. It was +impossible. Besides, what would be his own fate were it suspected he +had even thought of such a thing! And as though terrified at the idea +he went out, leaving the prisoner alone. + +Raynier pondered over the Hakim's words. Was there significance in +them? It might be so. But why should he renew his strength in order +the longer to endure the tortures which Mushim Khan, whom he had thought +his friend but now proved to be a most bitter and vindictive enemy, had +in store for him? There was the food beside him, within his reach. +There, too, was wine, which struck him as a strange circumstance, +remembering that he was in the midst of rigid Mahomedans. Clearly he +was to be fatted up for the sacrifice, and yet--and yet--Nature was +strong. He needed the stimulant badly, and--took it. + +Immediately thereafter he fell asleep. Sleep, too, he needed badly. In +spite of his constrained attitude he slumbered hard and soundly. Once +more he was with Hilda, and now it seemed that his whole being was bound +up with hers. The horrors he had gone through, the privations and +perils they had both gone through, were far behind. They knew each +other now, and heart and mind were laid bare to each other as they +stood, the world outside, they two, alone. The strong, sweet dream-wave +rolled over his soul, and all was forgotten save that they two were +together--together for all time. + +The harsh creaking of the door, flung open, aroused him. The delusion +sped in demoniacal mockery. The prison, the chains, the impending +torture were realities. + +Three persons had entered--Mushim Khan, his brother, and a third. +Raynier sat up to confront them with what dignity he was able. The +Nawab spoke. + +"I will not waste words on thee, Feringhi. Know, then, that as our +brother, the Sirdar Allahyar Khan, was put to death by thy father at the +time of the great rising, so must thy father's son suffer death at the +hands of the brothers of Allahyar Khan, even ourselves, a life for a +life, for thus is it written in the Holy Koran. Moreover, I have sworn +it." + +The words were uttered deliberately, almost with a judicial solemnity, +but the savage hatred upon the face of the speaker seemed to be +struggling with the solemnity of their utterance. + +"What proof have ye of this, O Chief of the Gularzai, whom I had +reckoned my friend?" answered Raynier, "for the Prophet likewise orders +that none be condemned without proof." + +"Here is proof." And the speaker handed him the parchment he had +received from Hadji Haroun. + +Raynier took it, studying it long and earnestly. He was conversant with +Pushtu, and could write it almost as well as he could speak it: and the +perusal of the document only served to convince him that its substance +was, in all probability, correct; and that his father had, in his +capacity of commanding officer, sanctioned the execution of the Gularzai +sirdar as described. As to the circumstances of ignominy attendant upon +the execution, well, he knew that such things had been done in the +Mutiny. Moreover, his recollections of his father were such as to +convince him that at such a time the latter was not likely to have erred +on the side of leniency. Then an idea struck him. + +"It may be as you say, Chief of the Gularzai. It is long ago, and who +can say for certain what happened then? If it be so, I deplore it. But +you have cited the Koran. Hear now the words of the sacred revelation: +`O true believers, the law of retaliation is ordained for the slain: the +free shall die for the free, and the servant for the servant, and a +woman for a woman: but he whom his brother shall forgive may be obliged +to make satisfaction for what is just, and a fine shall be set on him, +with humanity. This is indulgence from your Lord, and mercy.' Will ye +not, therefore, forgive me, my brothers?" + +There was nothing abject in his tone, no suspicion of cringing. For a +few moments his listeners stood as though thunderstruck. This +unbeliever quoted glibly from the holy volume. Then the third of the +trio, who had kept somewhat in the background and of whom Raynier had +not taken much notice, spoke. + +"Feringhi, thou hast evidently studied the revelations of Mahomed--the +blessed of Allah. Wilt thou not now make profession of the faith?" + +Here was a loophole. Raynier thought of what he had undergone, of how +completely he was in the power of this unsparing and vengeful people; of +the horrors he had witnessed, and of what might be in store for himself. +He thought of Hilda Clive, and how life might hold out for him a long +vista of its fairest and brightest, and the temptation was great. But +he thought, too, on the opinions he had more than once expressed when +discussing such "conversions," and how they were dishonouring to the +British name. He was not an ostentatiously religious man, but when it +came to forswearing Christianity, the line had to be drawn. So he +answered,-- + +"I could not do that, for it would be to forswear myself. I honour your +religion, but were I to profess it I should be speaking a lie." + +Now, while he said this, Raynier's eye had rested on something-- +something that was in the hand of the man who had spoken last. _It was +a malacca cane_. + +The blood rushed wildly through his being. He stared at the thing. +There it was, a stout, silver-topped malacca cane--a very unwonted +article in the hand of a white-clad, turbaned Gularzai. Heavens! what +did it mean? He stared at the man who carried it--a tall, handsome, +commanding-looking representative of his race--and then his mind rushed +back from the stronghold of the Chief of the Gularzai, to the shouting, +roaring, riotous mob in the heart of the city of London. And this was +the man he had rescued from its uproarious violence. + +"Do you not remember me, brother?" he said, in English, his heart +seeming to burst in the revulsion of returning hope. "That is the stick +I armed you with when you were beset by numbers. Look! In the middle +of it is the dent made by the falling iron which would otherwise have +crushed your head in." + +He stopped short. No flash of recognition lit up the features of the +Gularzai, not the faintest sign even of having understood. He paused. +Then he said, in Pushtu,--"Who is yon sirdar, Nawab Sahib?" + +"Shere Dil Khan. He is my son." The answer was curt and cold. Raynier +went on,-- + +"If my father put thy brother to death, Nawab Sahib, I saved the life of +thy son, Shere Dil Khan. The dent in that stick was made by the iron +which would have crushed his head. Upon the knob are the letters of my +name. May I handle it for a moment? It is not a weapon--and, am I not +chained?" + +The man who held it stepped forward and placed it in his hand. As he +did so, with his face close to the prisoner, Raynier recognised him +completely. It was the man he had rescued in the midst of the rough and +exasperated crowd. But for all the recognition on the face of the other +it might have been a mask. + +Raynier took the stick. One glance at it was sufficient. There, on the +massive silver head, were intertwined the letters H.R.--his initials. + +Somehow, hope died again within him. It might be that Shere Dil Khan +had forgotten his English, or he might be under some vow not to use it-- +and, acting on this idea, Raynier told the whole story in their own +tongue. Still no sign of recognition, of corroboration lit up that +impassive countenance. He could see that the story was aiding him not +in the smallest degree, even if it were believed at all. + +"Well," he concluded, realising this, "there is no gratitude in the +world. If you save a man's life, he is the one to seek out your own." + +"Thou hast appealed to our mercy, Feringhi," said Mushim Khan, "and not +in vain. Thou hast been shown some small glimpse of the torments we had +designed for thee, but Allah is merciful and shall we be less so? +Wherefore, these we remit and thou shalt only suffer death--death by the +sword, at the rising of to-morrow's sun, in the presence of the warriors +of the Gularzai assembled here. For it has been sworn, and who may +break an oath?" + +And the three chiefs went forth, leaving the prisoner alone. This, +then, was how he next saw the silver-mounted stick which had saved the +life of a man--and that man the son of his executioner. Was there such +a thing as gratitude in the world? + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +ON THE GRAVE'S DARK BRINK. + +When, immediately on leaving his prisoner, Mushim Khan was informed that +a believer had been brought in, escorting a woman, veiled, who had come +far to communicate with him upon a matter of importance, the Nawab +betrayed no surprise, nor did the statement that the woman, although +dressed as one of their own women, was a Feringhi, elicit any, either. +He coldly directed that they should be conducted to his durbar hall, +and, accompanied by his son and Kuhandil Khan, he proceeded thither. + +Hilda Clive dropped her veil as she came into the presence of the +chiefs. They returned her salaam gravely, eyeing her with the same +furtive curiosity as that which she felt with regard to them. What +stately men they were, she thought. The very simplicity of their snowy +garments and beautifully-folded turbans added a dignity from which any +barbaric splendour of jewels and colours would have detracted. So this +was Mushim Khan, she thought, instinctively recognising the Nawab. He +was indeed a noble-looking man--and, although cold and stern at that +moment, his face was not a cruel one--and the same held good of the +others. Surely she would obtain that for which she was here. + +And how came it that she was here? Simply one of those strange +impressions of prevoyance to which she was at times given. It had been +borne in upon her with a vivid and startling suddenness that the missing +man was in great peril; so incisive and convincing indeed was this +impression as to dispel forthwith the idea that he was a +courteously-treated prisoner of war in the hands of a generous and +honourable enemy. She, and she alone, had power to save him. All +Orientals were fond of money, she had heard--fortunately, she had +plenty. She would literally redeem him, would buy his release, even +though it cost her every farthing she had in the world. + +The plan once conceived, she lost no time in carrying it out. She said +no word about it to anybody, for fear of being interfered with, but, +leaving a note for the Tarletons, she started off with Mehrab Khan for +the Nawab's stronghold. + +The Baluchi had raised no objection. He took it as quite a matter of +course that she should require him to accompany her alone into the midst +of a hostile tribe. So, having adopted the Gularzai attire and being +well armed, he had brought her in safety hither. + +But now poor Hilda found herself in a quandary at the off-set. Her +knowledge of Hindustani was of the slightest, and Mehrab Khan's +knowledge of English _nil_. She could make him understand her in +ordinary matters, but as an interpreter she feared he might prove of +little use. But here aid came from an unlooked-for quarter. + +"If you will allow me to be your interpreter, madam, I will strive to +convey to my father what you wish to say." + +Hilda stared. It was Shere Dil Khan who had spoken, and his English was +well-nigh faultless. She thanked him, and then without waste of words +set forward the object of her visit. But it was hardly necessary for +him to interpret the Nawab's reply. She knew that it was a stern and +emphatic refusal. + +"Who is this woman, and what is she to the prisoner?" asked Mushim Khan. +"Is she his wife?" + +This, though more courteously rendered, brought the colour to Hilda's +face, and she replied that she was not--but only a distant relation. +She thought it was time delicately to hint at the question of ransom. + +Delicately--yes--because there was that about these stately chiefs that +seemed to render the subject as difficult of approach as though they +were Europeans of social equality. + +"I know that it is not unusual, Sirdar Sahib, to ransom prisoners of +war," she said. "This I am prepared with. Will a lakh of rupees +satisfy the Nawab?" + +"I cannot put that to my father," said Shere Dil Khan. + +"Is it not enough? Well, name your own price." Her colour came and +went, and she spoke eagerly and quickly. + +"It is not that, but--" + +"Well, put it, put it!" returned Hilda, unable to restrain an impatient +stamp of the foot. "Put it, I entreat you." + +He looked at her hesitatingly for a moment, then complied. A change +came over the features of Mushim Khan as he listened, and his eyes +fairly blazed with wrath. + +"Am I a vile Hindu trader to be approached with such an offer?" he said. +"Is the blood of my brother--the ignominy of his death--a mere question +of rupees, of a lakh more or less? Tell this woman that all the rupees +in the treasury of the _Sirkar_ for a hundred years would not redeem the +man whose father put to death with ignominy one of our house. He dies +at sunrise to-morrow. As for her, she came alone and trusting to my +protection. Praised be Allah, it shall be extended to her, and to her +attendant. Let refreshment be given her, and with my safe conduct let +her depart." + +This Shere Dil Khan duly rendered. But Hilda did not move. Great tears +rose to her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. + +"He must not die, ah--he must not die," she said. "Listen, Sirdar +Sahib. Tell the Nawab I offer him all I have in the world, five lakhs +of rupees, in redemption of this life. See, I have braved all and every +danger, and travelled alone here to save it. He is brave, he must be +generous. Oh, make him relent." + +Animation made all the difference in the world to Hilda Clive's +appearance. When she was animated to this extent she was beautiful-- +moreover, the Gularzai dress became her well. Shere Dil Khan looked at +her with pity and concern. But the faces of the other two remained hard +as granite. + +"I have said and I have no more to say," answered the Nawab, when this +had been translated to him. "He dies at sunrise. I have sworn it. And +now, let her depart." + +Hilda stood for a few moments in silence, her great eyes fixed upon the +Nawab's face. Then she said,-- + +"May I not see him? May I not bid him farewell? That will not break +the chief's oath." + +Mushim Khan pondered for a moment and frowned. The terrible vendetta +spirit had entirely warped his nature, which was not naturally a harsh +or cruel one, rendering him utterly merciless. But he answered,-- + +"She can see him until the hour of prayer. Then she must depart as she +came." + +Hilda thanked the Nawab, then, having directed her Baluchi escort to +wait for her there, without the loss of a moment, turned to follow Shere +Dil Khan, who had been chosen to accompany her. As they drew near the +place of Raynier's confinement he said,-- + +"I have been ordered to be present throughout your interview, but I will +not carry out that literally. You shall see your relation alone. This +is the place." + +She entered the door he held open, then closed it behind her. She and +Herbert Raynier were alone together. + +"Great Heavens!" cried the latter, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with +amazement. "Great Heavens! Hilda!" + +"Yes, Hilda," she answered, her eyes brimming again. + +He had never seen her like this, and down went every barrier of +conventionality. He had risen to his shackled feet, and now without +further words she was locked in his close embrace. + +"How and when did they capture you?" he asked at length. + +"They did not capture me: I am free." + +"Free?" And his glance rested on her Gularzai attire, and seemed to +freeze. + +"I am a thought reader, remember," she said, with a wan smile, as she +followed his glance. "No, it is not as you think. I put on this +disguise for safety's sake." And then, in as few words as possible, for +time was valuable, she told him of her plan, and how it had failed. + +"But it has not failed," he answered emphatically. "It has given me the +sight of your dear self once more. Oh, darling, to think that you +should have undertaken such a thing--and for me. There is no other +woman under the sun who would have done it." + +"Not if she--" + +"Say it, say it," he urged, holding her more closely. + +"Loved you. There. I will say it. I would say anything now. Listen, +Herbert, can nothing be done? Can we not bribe some of them? I have +money--plenty of it. Think quickly--time is so short. This one who +speaks English so well, the Nawab's son. Is he to be bought?" + +"Oh, then he does speak English?" + +"Yes. Shall I offer him what his father refused? Shall I? Shall I?" + +"What did his father refuse?" + +"All I am worth--five lakhs of rupees. He said a million would be +equally useless." + +"Hilda! You did not do this?" + +"I did. I would not have told you at any other time. But now--nothing +seems to matter. Nothing--nothing." + +Words failed him, failed them both--but their understanding was +complete; even as it had been during their wanderings together. Then +nothing had been said, but every tone, every glance, had been an +understanding in itself. And time was so precious. + +"Listen, Herbert. I have a plan. You shall put on my clothes, and pass +out instead of me. By stooping a little you can diminish your height. +And the veil will do the rest." + +"And these?" he said, clinking his fetters. + +"Ah, I forgot. Heaven help me, I forgot," she cried. + +"Do you think, in any case, I would have agreed to save my precious skin +at the price of leaving you in their power? Why, Hilda, I wonder you +thought me worth stirring a finger for, at all." + +She looked at him, long and earnestly and hopelessly, as though to +photograph his image in her brain. How ill he looked, pale and haggard, +and hollow cheeked. It was not much of a time for thinking of +appearances, but he felt thankful that the advantages of the Mahomedan +injunctions of cleanliness had been extended to him--a prisoner. + +"Sweetheart, God bless you for coming to me at the last," he went on. +"It was grand--intrepid. Tell me, Hilda. You have known all the time +that I loved you?" + +"Yes, I knew," she answered chokingly. Then, with forced gaiety, "You +did not on the voyage, though." + +"Was I not a born fool? Oh, my darling, what happiness might have been +ours. What might not our lives have been but for this?" + +A thought of Cynthia Daintree crossed her mind, of Cynthia Daintree +amusing herself at Mazaran, while claiming this man's bond. An impulse +came upon her to ask about that affair, but she forebore. Nothing of a +disturbing nature must come between them now. And time was so short, so +precious. + +Then for a short sacred half hour they talked--and their words, uttered +on the brink of the grave of one of them, were so deep, so sacred as not +to bear intrusion. And then Shere Dil Khan's voice was heard outside, +proclaiming that the time had come for the interview to end. + +"We have found our happiness only to lose it," whispered Raynier. "But +that is better than never having known it. Is it not?" + +"Yes, yes--a thousand times. God bless you, O my love, my love!" + +To the end of her life Hilda will never know how she tore herself from +the last close embrace. And Heaven was deaf to the cry of her widowed +soul, deaf as the polite but impassive Oriental who conducted her forth +from that chamber of heartbreak and despair. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +DE TALIONE. + +"There _is_ gratitude left in the world." + +Herbert Raynier was lying in the damp and pitchy gloom of his dungeon, +sleeping as soundly and as peacefully as though he were not to be led +forth and beheaded with the rising of the morrow's sun. That last +interview had calmed and soothed him, and now his slumbers were bright-- +for he was amid beautiful scenes, far away, and Hilda was beside him. +Then he started up--and with the first flash of awaking consciousness +came the thought that the time had come, and the hand that had dropped +on his shoulder in the darkness was that which should lead him forth to +his doom. + +"There _is_ gratitude left in the world." + +The words were uttered softly, and--in good English. Was he dreaming? +But immediately a shaded light rendered things visible. Hands were busy +about his shackles, and lo! they fettered his ankles no more. + +"I have come to save you, brother," went on the whispered voice. "If +you obey me implicitly you will be free immediately. Put on these, and +until I give leave, do not speak so much as one little word." + +Raynier obeyed him in both particulars. In a moment or two he was +arrayed in the white loose garments and turban of the border tribes. +For the other injunction, he whispered but one name,-- + +"Shere Dil Khan?" + +"Yes. Now--silence." Following his guide, to Raynier it seemed they +were traversing endless and labyrinthine passages. With something of a +shudder he recognised that horrible door through which he had passed +during those acute moments of living death, then the Sirdar opened +another door, and the cool free air of the desert, blowing upon them, +told that they were outside the walls. + +Still preserving the most rigid silence, they held on, downward, by a +steep path. Turning his head, Raynier could make out the loom of the +great mountain mass against the stars, and was conjecturing on the ease +and absence of obstacle which had characterised his deliverance at the +hands of the Nawab's son, for not a soul did they encounter, no guard +challenged them; and it occurred to him that, in the strength of his +fetters, his safe keeping had lain, wherefore no watch was placed over +him; and this was the real meaning of it. + +For about half an hour they had been walking swiftly and in silence, +when Shere Dil Khan stopped. Before them was a rude herdsman's shelter, +and from within came a sound. + +They entered this, and, was it imagination? but Raynier thought to +perceive a human figure dart out at the other end. But here stood two +horses, saddled and bridled. + +"Mount," said Shere Dil Khan, breaking the silence. And he thrust a +rifle into the other's hand. "It is a Lee-Metford, and the magazine is +fully loaded, but here are other cartridges." + +"You might well have thought that gratitude was dead in the world, my +brother," resumed the Sirdar, as they rode on through the night. "But +had I shown any recognition of you then, you would not be here now, for, +the Nawab's suspicions once aroused, you would have been strongly +guarded. Even to the lady I dared not give the slightest encouragement +to hope." + +"I misjudged you, brother, forgive me. But would not the Nawab have +reckoned what I was able to do for you as a set-off against what my +father is supposed to have done." + +"He would not, for he had sworn, and an oath is binding. Now that you +have escaped he will not be sorry, when he learns how you saved me from +the murderous rabble in your country. But, brother, get your Government +to remove you from this border, because now it is the duty of every +Gularzai to take your life." + +Raynier thought that his Government would not require much "getting" +under all the circumstances, and perhaps it was as well. + +"But you, brother? Will not you have to suffer for this?" + +"No. My father will be displeased, but although he would not have +spared you, at heart he will be glad you have escaped, having saved the +life of his son." + +It had been midnight when they started. Towards daybreak they paused to +rest their horses, then on again. + +"Yonder is she who would have redeemed you, brother," said Shere Dil +Khan. + +In front were discernible two mounted figures. Raynier's heart leaped, +and he well-nigh blessed his peril, by reason of that which it had drawn +forth. But the meeting between the two was subdued, for there were +others present Shere Dil Khan and the Baluchi were deep in earnest +conference. + +"Farewell now, brother," said the former. "I can go no further. Allah +be with ye! I think the way is open, yet do not delay, and avoid others +if possible." And with a farewell handclasp the Sirdar turned his horse +and cantered swiftly away. + +Twice they sighted parties of Gularzai, but these were distant and +unmounted, moreover, they themselves being in native attire attracted no +attention. The sun rose over the chaos of jagged peaks, and to those +wanderers it seemed that he never rose upon a fairer and brighter +world--yet they were in a desert of arid plain, and cliff, and hump-like +hills streaked white with gypsum. Mehrab Khan thought that by swift +travelling they might reach Mazaran by the middle of the next night. +All seemed fair and promising. + +On the right front rose a great mountain range, broken and rugged, and +now they were crossing a long narrow plain. Then, at the end of this +they became aware of something moving. + +"Horsemen--and Gularzai," pronounced Mehrab Khan. + +Were they pursued? was the first thought of his hearers. For they made +out that this was a party four or five dozen strong perhaps. Yet, why +should they attract the attention of these any more than of other groups +they had passed? They forgot one thing. Hilda, though in native +costume, was riding European fashion, side saddle. + +Further scrutiny did not tend to reassure. The horsemen were heading in +their direction, and riding rapidly. It began to wear an ugly look of +pursuit. This might prove to be a stray wandering band, but even that +did not seem to mend matters. + +Raynier and Mehrab Khan held rapid consultation. It would look less +suspicious to ride on if they had been seen, they decided, and there was +nowhere to hide, if they had not. But soon a glimpse behind placed the +question beyond all doubt. The distance between themselves and the +horsemen had diminished perceptibly. The latter, strung out over the +plain, were coming for them at a gallop. + +As they put their steeds to a corresponding pace, it seemed to Raynier +that all he had gone through was as nothing to that moment. They would +be captured, for, bearing in mind the pace at which they had hitherto +travelled, their steeds were urgently in need of a blow. Just as they +had reckoned on having gained safety at last, and now--all was lost. + +On, on, swept this wild chase, and now the pursuers were near enough to +shout to them to halt Hilda's steed was beginning to show signs of +giving in. Then its rider uttered breathlessly,-- + +"Herbert, I see a chance. That bend of rock just ahead. Beyond it--the +_tangi_--the Syyed's _tangi_." + +"A chance, indeed," he answered, all athrill at the discovery. "The +only thing is will they fight shy of it now, as they did in cold blood?" + +"They will--they will," she panted. + +Now they had gained the rock portal--towering up grim and frowning +overhead, and the pursuers had nearly gained it too. But these last, +the foremost of them, drew up a little way from the entrance. So did +others who came up. It was evident they recognised the place, and the +force of superstition was strong. + +Crouched among the boulders the three fugitives could just see what was +going on. One who seemed a leader was evidently urging them forward-- +riding up and down their line haranguing and gesticulating vehemently. +At last six or seven men broke from the others, and, followed by these, +the chief advanced towards the mouth of the chasm. + +"Murad Afzul, _Huzoor_," whispered Mehrab Khan. + +"It is his last quarter of an hour," grimly answered Raynier, sighting +his rifle. And then an inspiration came to him, and he whispered some +hurried instructions to Mehrab Khan. The Baluchi immediately left his +side, and retired further into the chasm. + +"Hilda, dearest, do you think you could hold the horses, in case they +get a bit of a scare?" he said. "I have a plan which will save us, if +anything will. Stand behind that elbow of rock with them." + +Without a word she obeyed, and now the Gularzai were already within the +mouth of the _tangi_, Murad Afzul leading. What followed was weirdly +startling. The whole of the grim and gloomy chasm roared with the most +appalling sounds, mingled with shriekings and wailings. To and fro-- +tossed along those gigantic cliff walls the echoes bellowed, giving +forth strange mouthings, and then, over all, from the dim inner recesses +of the cavernous rift spake an awful voice. + +"O unbelievers, violators of my sanctuary, retire, or ye die--die even +as those three now lying here, whom none may find until the ending of +the world. He who makes one step forward, that moment he dies. In the +name of the Great, the Terrible One." + +The suddenness of it, the awful appalling din, the sombre repute of the +place, and the consciousness that they were knowingly venturing on +sacrilege, had an effect upon the intruders which was akin to panic. +They stopped short, reining in their horses cruelly, lest they should +accidentally make that one step forward, and their fierce shaggy visages +seemed petrified with the terror that was in them. But Murad Afzul's +horse at that moment, wildly plunging, half stumbled on a round stone, +and the jerk of the bit, and the savage sting of the hide whip, +instinctively administered, caused it to take a bound forward. Then it +stopped dead still, and its rider half stood up in his stirrups with a +quick jerk, then, throwing up his arms, toppled heavily, and with a +crash, on to the stones. + +One terrified glance at the set face and glazing eyes, and the whole +half-dozen venturesome ones turned and stampeded wildly from the +terrible spot, muttering citations from the Koran to avert further evil. +What could be clearer? Their leader had made a forbidden step forward +and--and he had died, even as the ghost of the holy one whose sanctuary +it was, had threatened. He had died, stricken by the powers of the air +at the bidding of the Syyed. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Raynier, his nerves all athrill with this passing of the crisis, +withdrew his rifle, feeling something of savage satisfaction and pride +in his successful shot. But it did not at once occur to him that the +wild and deafening din of the reverberations had so completely drowned +the report of his piece that no shadow of a suspicion lay upon the minds +of the now discomfited pursuers that their leader had met his death by +mortal agency, or by any other than that of the powers of the unseen. +It was left to Hilda to suggest, and the idea was a reassuring one, +because it meant that no further pursuit would be undertaken. Her he +found struggling with the bridles of the scared and refractory horses, +and at the same time convulsively laughing. + +"It was so comical," she explained. "Fancy our being able to turn that +echo to such account. It was clever of you to hit upon that idea." +Then gravely, "Do you remember what I said that night, Herbert, the +second time we were in here together? `Something warns me there will +come a day when our knowledge of this place will make all the difference +between life and death.' Well, has it made that difference?" + +"I should rather think so. But what puzzles me is how on earth you knew +we were anywhere near the place. We entered it now, mind you, by the +end furthest from the camp, and we never went outside that on either of +those occasions." + +"I knew it by that split rock and the little one beside it, rising up +out of the nullah down there. I noticed them opposite this entrance the +first time we were here." + +"Wonderful! Do you know, Hilda, Haslam says there's something uncanny +about you, and I begin to believe there is." + +"Only _begin_ to believe?" And she laughed gaily, happily. + +The comedy side of what had come near being tragedy did not appeal to +Mehrab Khan in the least. They found that estimable Baluchi in a +serious and gloomy vein. In the first place he had penetrated here and +had thus incurred the consequent penalty; in the next by taking the +voice of the dead Syyed he had committed an act of sacrilege. Raynier +strove to reassure him. + +"If Allah used this place as a means of saving our lives," he said, "he +does not intend that it shall be the means of our losing them, and it +was written that they should be saved here. Besides, O believer, it was +upon the people of this country that the dead Syyed laid the curse, not +upon us, who are not of this country." + +And this, perhaps, was what went furthest towards reassuring Mehrab +Khan. He repeated sententiously,-- + +"It was written." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +A DEED OF GIFT. + +At Mazaran Hilda Clive was the heroine of the hour, and the station did +not know which to do most--admire her pluck and resolution, or marvel +how it could have regarded her all this while as of no account. She had +done a wonderful thing, this quiet, retiring girl, on whom the popular +verdict had been "Oh, so-so." She had ventured alone into the +stronghold of one of the fierce, fanatical tribes then engaged in the +border war, and had brought back their prisoner, the man whom they had +doomed to death. She had saved his life. + +But Hilda declared emphatically that she had done nothing of the kind-- +on the contrary, her errand had failed signally. He had been released +by a different and unexpected agency altogether, and it was only by +accident that they had travelled back together. To this side of the +story not much attention was given. The fact remained that she had set +out to effect his release, and had returned with him, and not without +him. And now the station metaphorically winked, and pronounced Raynier +a lucky fellow indeed. + +Yes, but what about that other time when it had so pronounced him, and +the reason thereof? Well, on that head it had seen cause to change its +mind. For Cynthia Daintree had not been careful to keep up her part. +She had flirted outrageously with Captain Beecher what time the man to +whom she declared herself engaged was in daily peril of his life, and +had incidentally offended more than one whose good word was worth +having. Yet how would Raynier dispose of her, she having come all the +way out from home; moreover, she would be rather a difficult subject to +negotiate? Clearly there were complications ahead, and the station +looked forward to no end of fun. + +It was disappointed, however. Raynier, with a promptitude and decision +for which she had not given him credit gave Cynthia to understand that +he did not consider himself in the very least bound to her, nor had he +since that last interview in the Vicarage garden. As for her action in +coming out there to claim him, under the circumstances, he preferred not +to express an opinion, for fear he might say too much. + +He had anticipated a wild and stormy scene. To his surprise she seemed +to acquiesce. The only thing was that if he repudiated her after what +she had given out, what sort of a figure would she cut? She had better +let it be known that she had discovered they were not suited to each +other, and so had better part, she suggested. + +There was something in this. He could hardly show her up--for every +reason. He was intensely annoyed, but finally agreed; resolving, +however, that there was one person at any rate who should know the +truth. + +But now official business claimed Raynier's time and attention to the +exclusion of all else. Reinforcements arrived at Mazaran, and field +operations were to be opened immediately against the Gularzai, and on +the eve of these, Raynier had the good fortune to capture, with the aid +of Mehrab Khan and a few Levy Sowars, the _mullah_ Hadji Haroun, he +having obtained secret information that that pestilent agitator was +travelling in disguise and almost unguarded. This was a stroke of luck +indeed. There was no question at headquarters of superseding him now, +the more so that immediately afterwards he succeeded, through his +friendship with Shere Dil Khan, in opening up communications with the +Nawab. The Gularzai chief had been drawn into the war unwillingly, as +we have seen. The tribes further along the border had suffered +severely, and more reinforcements were moving up to reduce him. He had +entered upon it mainly as an opportunity of wreaking his vengeance upon +Raynier, only to find that the latter had saved the life of his son and +successor. Shere Dil Khan, too, had cast doubts on the genuineness of +the document used by the _mullah_ to secure the adherence of the +Gularzai--in fact, believed it to be a downright forgery. + +Raynier was an important personage at that juncture, and, in truth, he +deserved any prestige he may have earned. For, again trusting to Mushim +Khan's safe conduct, he had placed himself alone in the power of the +Gularzai chief, with the result that he returned having obtained the +Nawab's submission. The Gularzai had taken no very active part as yet +in the rising, and the Government were only too glad to receive the +submission of so important and powerful a chief as Mushim Khan, +wherefore there was peace, and Raynier was marked out for recognition; +albeit the military element cursed him roundly among themselves as one +of those infernal meddling Politicals who had done them out of a nice +little campaign. + +Hilda Clive seemed to have become quieter and more retiring than ever, +and the station--whose attempt to lionise her she had resolutely +evaded--decided that anxiety about Raynier was her motive, for it was +universally opined that "that would be a _bundobust_" once the border +trouble was over. + +One day she said to the Tarletons,--"Do you remember how scared you all +were for fear I should go through the Syyed's _tangi_ with Mr Raynier?" + +"Rather," said Haslam, who was there, helping Tarleton to reduce Mushim +Khan--in theory. + +"How long ago was that?" + +They fell to discussion; deciding that it was quite two months. + +"Well, then, I ought to be dead by now. The tradition says before the +end of the second moon. And even when we were talking about the place, +I had already been through it once. I have been through it twice since. +The third time it saved our lives, as you know." + +The story of this latter event in its completeness they had agreed to +keep to themselves, only giving out that the Gularzai had shrunk from +following them into the _tangi_ from superstitious motives. + +"I told you I'd prove that superstition nonsensical," she went on, her +eyes dancing with fun. "Well, what have you got to say for yourselves?" + +"You'd already been through it before that night, Miss Clive?" said +Haslam. "Well, I'm jiggered!" + +"Yes. But what about the rule?" she persisted. "I'm not dead yet." + +Snapped Tarleton, "Well, you can't expect there to be no exception to +every rule, can you?" + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Hilda had been giving herself over to business of late, for each mail +brought her enclosures, bulky and blue, and of unequivocally legal +aspect. With such documents she would shut herself up in Tarleton's +den, which he had made over to her for the purpose, and she was so +engaged one morning, when Raynier was announced. He had returned to +Mazaran the day before, and they had met--in public; but this visit was +one of arrangement--of her arrangement. + +Hilda looked up from the papers she had been busy with as he entered--in +fact made a guilty and trepidatious attempt at sweeping them out of +sight, which suggested a weakness entirely foreign to her. + +"Well, how are things going?" she asked gaily. + +"Things are going quite right. We have that pestiferous _mullah_, Hadji +Haroun, safe by the heels, and Mushim Khan has cut out of all further +part in the _jihad_. That's good enough to begin with." + +"Yes--and you? You know, you must get removed from here. The blood +feud will overtake you sooner or later." + +"No, I think not. I believe Mushim Khan was wound up by that sweep of a +_mullah_. Now he only remembers what I did for his son. And he has +done nothing beyond what he did to me individually, and Murad Afzul is +dead, so the Government will not be hard on him, and things will be as +they were." + +"Yes. And who has he--who have we all got to thank for that? Herbert, +had you no thought for me, when you put yourself into their power again? +If I could not get you out of it before, could I again, do you think?" + +"Darling, it was because I had every thought for you that I worried +along at the official business for all I knew how. I wanted to +straighten out the muddle they'd be sure to put down to me. And now I +believe I have." + +"Yes, indeed, you have." + +"And the stir and work knocked me together again, and all that fever has +cleared out of my system. I can never forget what an abject invalid I +was, just when I ought to have been taking care of you." + +"Can't you? But I can, and have." + +She was standing beside him now, one hand toying absently with a button +on his coat, a half-absent, half-serious expression in her large eyes +that was very sweet. Her mind went back to the period to which he +referred, when he was ill and fevered and fainting on the cloud-swept +hill side. What a contrast! She saw him now, dominant, restored in +every way, having ended the disturbance here in his own jurisdiction by +sheer personal intrepidity and weight of influence--the calm, strong, +cool-headed official, to whom all looked up. + +"Tell me about Cynthia Daintree," she said. + +"Just the very thing I've wanted to do. By the way, incidentally, she +has hooked that young ass, Beecher. Whether she'll land him is another +matter." + +"I know. I know, too, what you wanted to tell me that day we went to +visit Sarbaland Khan. Well, we met with a very uncommon interruption +then." + +"Hilda, Hilda. What a witch you are. Is there anything you don't +know?" + +"Yes, plenty. But I won't bother you to go over all that again, because +I know it already. In fact, I knew it on that very day, though not +through you. Remember the _dak_ may bring me momentous communications +as well as you. Oh, by the way, I have a little present here for you. +Will you take it?" + +"Will I? Will I value anything from you! Darling, how can you ask?" + +She did not return his kiss. Her manner was constrained--almost +awkward. Turning to the table she placed in his hands a document-- +large, parchmenty, legal-looking. Then she turned away. + +"Why, what on earth is this?" he said as he read through it, and at +length mastered how it set forth, amid infinite legal terminology, how +shares and property and cash to the amount of thirty-seven thousand +pounds was conveyed to "the said Herbert Raynier by his said cousin, the +said Hilda Clive." + +"Great Scott! What does it all mean?" + +"What it says, dear," she answered, still somewhat constrained. "I +always thought you had been hardly treated in Cousin Jervis's will. You +were much nearer to him than I was, and a Raynier to boot. So I made up +my mind to go halves with you--until--until--well, lately. Then I +thought you ought to have the whole. I was always reckoned rather +eccentric, you know. But I kept a little, just a little for myself. +You won't mind that, will you?" + +He was staring blankly at her, then at the document. + +"I don't quite understand. What is this thing?" + +"Well, it's a restoration of what ought to have gone to you. The +lawyers call it a deed of gift. It has to be put that way, you know," +she added shyly, apologetically. + +Still Raynier was staring at her as though he had taken leave of his +senses. For there suddenly rushed in upon his mind a scrap of a certain +conversation with Mr Daintree in the Vicarage garden. This, then, was +the distant cousin, Hilda Clive! He had not even known her name--and +then he remembered how he would have learned it then and there but for +the younger girl's boisterous interruption. He remembered, too, the +Vicar's remark. "She's bound to marry, and then where do you come in?" +and his own answer, lightly, banteringly given, "Nowhere, unless I were +to marry her myself," and then-- + +There was a harsh, staccato sound of tearing. The parchment lay upon +the floor, crumpled, and torn in several pieces. But she who had handed +it to him seemed to share its violent treatment, for she was crushed to +him in a close embrace. + +"Hilda, darling, I wonder if you have anything approaching a parallel in +the world. I never heard of such an act of magnificent generosity. +But, unfortunately, it is all thrown away. I don't want that," pointing +to the tattered deed. "I want you. I would rather be back in Mushim +Khan's prison, with all it involved, and you as you were then, than take +what you wanted me to there--without you. The only deed of gift I will +accept is yourself. Yourself, do you hear? Am I to have it?" + +She was thinking. Almost the spirit of her clairvoyance was in the +vivid picture of the dread prison in the Gularzai stronghold that rose +before her mind. Then she had stood with him on the brink of his grave, +and soul had met soul undisguised. Then it was death--now life--life +and such happiness! Her cheek was against his, her lips at his ear. +She whispered,-- + +"Yes. You know you are." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The End. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sirdar's Oath, by Bertram Mitford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SIRDAR'S OATH *** + +***** This file should be named 36605.txt or 36605.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/6/0/36605/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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