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diff --git a/36606.txt b/36606.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b334f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/36606.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8028 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ruby Sword, 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 Ruby Sword + A Romance of Baluchistan + +Author: Bertram Mitford + +Illustrator: Harold Pifford + +Release Date: July 3, 2011 [EBook #36606] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUBY SWORD *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The Ruby Sword +A Romance of Baluchistan +By Bertram Mitford +Illustrations by Harold Pifford +Published by F.V. White and Co, London. +The Ruby Sword, by Bertram Mitford. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +THE RUBY SWORD, BY BERTRAM MITFORD. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +THE GHAZIS. + + "We love to roam, the wide world our home, + As the rushing whirlwind free; + O'er sea and land, and foreign strand, + Who would not a wanderer be! + + "To the far off scenes of our youthful dreams + With a lightsome heart we go; + On the willing hack, or the charger's back, + Or the weary camel slow." + +Thus sang the wayfarer to himself as he urged a potentially willing, but +certainly very tired hack along the stony, sandy road which wound +gradually up the defile; now overhanging a broad, dry watercourse, now +threading an expanse of stunted juniper--the whole constituting a most +depressing waste, destitute alike of animal, bird--or even insect--life. + +The wayfarer sang to keep up his spirits, for the desolation of the +surroundings had already begun to get upon his nerves. He was +thoroughly tired out, and very thirsty, a combination of discomfort +which is apt to get upon one's temper as well. His steed, a sorry +quadruped at best, seemed hardly able to put one leg before another, +wearied out with a long day's march over arid plains, where the sun +blazed down as a vast burning-glass upon slabs of rock and mounds of dry +soil, streaked white here and there with gypsum--and now the ascent, +gradual as it was, of the mountain defile had about finished both horse +and rider. + +Twice had the latter dismounted, with a view to sparing his worn-out +steed by leading it. But the exasperating quadruped, in shameful +disregard of the superabundant intelligence wherewith popular +superstition persists in endowing that noble--but intensely stupid-- +animal the horse, flatly refused to be led; standing stockstill with +every attempt. So his efforts in the cause of combined humanity and +expediency thus defeated, the wayfarer had no alternative but to keep +his saddle, where, sitting wearily, and with feet kicked limply from the +stirrups, he now and then swung a spur-armed heel into the bony ribs-- +which incentive had about as much effect as if applied to an ordinary +jog the while he went on half singing, half humming, to himself: + + "There's a charm in the crag, there's a charm in the cloud, + There's a charm in the earthquake's throe; + When the hills are wrapt in a moonlit shroud + There's a charm in the glacier's snow. + + "We bask in the blaze of the sun's bright rays + By the murmuring river's flow; + And we scale the peak of the mountain steep, + And gaze on the storms below. + +"For use around a snug camp fire, that would be an excellent traveller's +song," said this one to himself--"But in the present instance I fear it +will be `gaze on the storms _above_,' and I don't like it." + +Away up the pass a dark curtain of cloud, ominous and now growing inky +black in the subdued light following upon sunset, seemed to justify the +wayfarer's foreboding. It was distant enough as yet, but hung right +over what would surely be the said wayfarer's path. + +"No, I don't like it," he went on, talking out loud to himself as he +frequently did when travelling alone. "It looks very like a night in +the open; nothing to eat, though there'll be plenty to drink presently +in the shape of rain-water, no shelter unless one can light upon an +overhanging rock. A sweet country to be landed down in without any of +the appliances of civilisation, and, from all accounts, not altogether a +safe one for the homeless wanderer. Decidedly the prospect is gaudy. +It positively corruscates with cheerfulness." + +For which grim irony there was ample justification. Sundown had brought +no abatement of the boding oppressive heat, wherein not a breath of air +was stirring. Great hills shot up to the fast glooming sky on either +hand; now from the edge of the road itself, now from the valley bottom, +in no part of great width--beyond the stony bed of the dry watercourse; +their sides cleft here and there from base to summit by a jagged, +perpendicular rift--black and cavernous--their serrated ridges piled on +high in a confused jumble of sharp peak and castellated formation--the +home of the markhoor and mountain sheep. Here a smooth, unbroken slab +of rock, sloping at the well nigh precipitous angle of a high-pitched +roof--there, at an easier slant, a great expanse of rock face, seamed +and criss-crossed with chasms, like the crevasses on a glacier. No +vegetation, either, to relieve the all pervading, depressing greyness, +save where a ragged juniper or pistachio had found anchor along a ledge, +or fringed the lip of some dark chasm aforesaid. + +No turn of the road brought any relief to the eye--any lifting of the +unconscious oppression which lay upon the mind; ever the same hills, +sheering aloft, fearsome in their dark ruggedness, conveying the idea of +vast and wellnigh untrodden fastnesses, grim, repellent, mysterious. +Nor below did variety lie; the same lifeless juniper forest, its dreary +trees set wide apart, its stoniness in places concealed by a coarse +growth of grass, or sparse and stunted shrub. For of such are the wild +mountain tracts of Baluchistan. + +From an adjacent crag a raven croaked. The hoarse "cauk-cauk" cleft the +air with a startling suddenness, breaking in as it did upon the lifeless +and boding silence. High overhead a huge bird of prey circled in the +now glooming twilight, as though searching with lingering reluctance for +some sign of life, where there was no life, ere seeking its roost among +the black recesses of yon cliff-walled chasm. + +"The sole signs of life emblems of fierce predatoriness and death--" +thought the wayfarer to himself. Very meet, indeed, for the +surroundings in which they were set. Below, ere leaving the plain +country, he had passed flocks of black-haired goats grazing, in charge +of armed herdsmen; or now and again a string of camels and asses--the +motive power of a party of wandering Baluchis. Some had given him the +"_Salaam_," and some had scowled resentfully at him as an intruder and +an infidel; but even of these he would almost gladly have welcomed the +sight now, so entirely depressing was the utter lifelessness of this +uninhabited land. Yet it could not be entirely uninhabited, for here +and there he had passed patches of corn land in the valley bottom, which +must have been under cultivation at one time, though now abandoned. + +The cloud-curtain away in front began to give forth red fitful gleams, +and once or twice a low boom of distant thunder stirred the atmospheric +stillness. But the double crash that burst from the hillside now--those +red jets of flame--meant no war of the elements. At the same time, with +a buzzing, humming noise, something passed over the wayfarer's head. + +Even the weary, played out steed was startled into a snort and a shy. +The rider, on his part, was not a little startled too, as he recalled +the evil reputation of the hill tribesmen, and realised that he himself +was at that moment constituting a target to some of these. Still, he +would not show alarm if he could help it. + +"_Salaam_!" he shouted, raising his right hand with the palm outward and +open; a peace sign recognised by other barbarians among whom he had at +one time moved. "_Salaam_!" And his gaze was fixed anxiously upon the +group of boulders whence the shots had been fired. + +For a moment there was no answer--Then it came--took shape, indeed, +after a fashion that was sufficiently alarming. Five figures sprang +from their place of concealment--five tall, copper-coloured, hook-nosed +barbarians, their fierce eyes gleaming with fanatical and racial +hatred--their black hair flowing in long locks beneath their ample white +turbans. Each held aloft a wicked looking, curved sword, and two +carried jezails, whose muzzles still smoked from the shots just fired +from them. + +All this the wayfarer took in as in a lightning flash, as these wild +beings whirled down upon him. Their terrific aspect--the white quiver +of the naked swords, their ferocious yells stunning his ears, conveyed +meaning enough. He realised that this was a time to run--not to fight. + +Luckily the horse, forgetting for the moment its weariness in the terror +of this sudden onslaught, sprang forward without waiting for the spurs +now rammed so hard and deep into its ribs. But the assailants had +chosen their ground well. The road here made a sudden descent--and was +rough and stony withal. The fleet-footed mountaineers could travel as +fast as the horse. Their flight over that rugged ground seemed as the +flight of a bird. + +The foremost, wellnigh alongside, held his sword ready for a fatal +sweep. The awful devilish look on the face of this savage appalled the +traveller. It was now or never. He put his hand behind him; then, +pointing the revolver straight at his assailant, pressed the trigger. +The pistol was small, but hard driving. At such close quarters it could +not miss. The barbarian seemed to double up--and fell backwards on to +his head, flinging his arms in the air--his sword falling, with a +metallic clang, several yards away among the stones. + +Just that brief delay saved the traveller. His assailants, now reduced +to four, halted but momentarily to look at their stricken comrade, and +by dint of rowelling the sides of his steed until the blood flowed +freely, he was able to keep the exhausted animal as near to a gallop as +it was capable of attaining. But the respite was brief. Their +bloodcurdling yells perfectly demoniacal now, the barbarians leaped +forward in pursuit. They seemed to fly. The tired horse could never +hope to outstrip them. + +And as he thus fled, the wayfarer felt the cold shadow of Death's portal +already chill upon his brow, for he realised that his chances were +practically _nil_. He had heard of the "Ghazi" mania, which combined +the uncontrollable fighting frenzy of the old Norse Berserk with the +fervid fury of religious fanaticism. There was no warfare then existing +with any of the tribes of Baluchistan. These people, therefore, were +Ghazis, the most desperate and dangerous enemies to deal with, because +utterly fearless, utterly reckless. He had still five chambers in his +pistol, but the weapon was small, and quite unreliable, save at point +blank--in which case his enemies would cut him down before he had time +to account for more than one of themselves. + +All this flashed through his mind. Then he realised that the ferocious +yelling had ceased. He looked back. A turn in the road hid the +pursuers from view, and now it was nearly dark. But the darkness +brought hope. Had they abandoned the pursuit? Or could he not conceal +himself in some of the holes and crevices on the stony hillside until +they should be tired of searching? + +Still keeping his steed at its best speed--and that was not great--so as +to ensure a good start, he held on, warily listening for any sound of +his pursuers--and thus covered about two miles. A thunder peal rolled +heavily--its echoes reverberating from crag to crag--and the +cloud-curtain in front was alive with a dazzle of sheeting flame, which +lit up the road and the dreary landscape like noonday. By its light he +looked back. Still no sign of the pursuers, whose white flowing +garments could not have failed to catch his eye. Hope--strong hope-- +rekindled within him. + +But not for long. His horse, thoroughly blown, dropped into a walk. A +walk? A crawl rather, for the poor beast staggered along, its flanks +heaving violently, swaying at times, as though the mere effort to drag +one leg after another would bring it down, and once down well its rider +knew there would be no more rising. And then? One man--alone, +dismounted, inadequately armed--in the vast heart of an unknown country, +tracked down by fleet-footed pitiless destroyers, stung to a frenzy of +massacre by a twofold incentive--blood feud for a comrade slain, and the +fanatical dictates--or supposed dictates--of the most merciless religion +in the world. There could be but one end. + +Again he dismounted. The horse, relieved of so much weight, seemed to +pant less distressingly. Every moment thus lost was a moment gained by +his bloodthirsty enemies to come up with him, yet he felt it to be the +wisest policy to spare his steed to the very utmost. Then he climbed +into the saddle once more. + +Now the storm was wellnigh overhead. The thunder roared and crashed, +and great drops of rain shone like silver in the momentary dazzle of the +lightning gleam--In that livid flare, too, the peaks stood forth on +high, silhouetted against the heavens, and every bough of the ragged +juniper trees was clearly and delicately defined. + +Something else, too, was clearly but appallingly defined--to wit, four +white-clad figures--with bronzed faces and flowing hair and flaming +eyes; and the sheen and flash of four curved naked swords. They had +been running in silence hitherto--but now--with a deafening howl they +hurled themselves forward on their prey-- + +Without even cocking his revolver, the hunted man dropped it to the +present and pressed the trigger. It would not move. Then he drew up +the hammer--no--tried to--It, too, would not move. The cylinder was +jammed. The cartridges--which he had purchased at one of those large +co-operative stores, where they sell many things, but nothing reliable-- +were too tight a fit. The weapon was as useless as a bit of stick. + +With a bitter curse upon the pettifogging dishonesty of his trading +fellow countrymen, the now desperate man wrenched off one of the +stirrups--not a bad weapon at a pinch--But once more fortune befriended +him. The horse, spurred by terror to one more effort, plunged down the +road, which now made a sudden descent. The stunning report of a jezail, +which the Ghazis had presumably stopped to reload, added to its terror, +but the missile hummed harmlessly by. And now in the ceaseless gleam of +the lightning, the fugitive saw right before him at the base of the +slope, the wide stony bed of a watercourse. + +On, on, on, anyhow--though where safety lay was too great a hope to +enter his despairing brain--Then, drawing nearer and nearer from the +hills on his right came a strange, swirling, rushing roar. It was not +the thunder. It had a note of its own as it boomed louder and louder +with every second. It was as the breaking of surf against the base of +an echoing cliff. And as another vivid lightning flash lit up the whole +landscape with a noonday flare, the traveller beheld a sight that was +appalling in its wild terror. + +A wall of water was sweeping down the dry nullah--a vast brown muddy +wave, many feet high. His escape was cut off. Yet not. So far it had +not reached the point where the road crossed. Could he be before it +there was safety. Otherwise death, either way. + +In the nullah now, the slipping, stumbling horsehoofs were flashing up +showers of sparks in the blackness--Then another lightning gleam. The +fugitive glanced to the right, then wished he had not. The advancing +flood, tossing against the livid sky, was so awful as to unnerve him, +and he was just half way across. The four Ghazis arrived on the bank, +but even they shrank back from the roaring terror of that wave wall. +But the remaining loaded jezail spoke--and the miserable steed, stricken +by the missile, plunged forward, throwing the rider hard upon his head. + +The wild triumph scream of the furious fanatics, leaping like demons in +the lightning's glare, was drowned by the bellowing voice of the flood. +It poured by--and now the whole wide bed of the watercourse was a very +hell of seething roaring waves. But on the further side from the +bloodthirsty Ghazis lay the motionless form of a man--He lay at full +length, face downwards, and the swirling eddies on the extreme edge of +the furious flood were just washing the soles of his riding boots, and +leaving little wisps of twigs and straws sticking in his upturned spurs. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +THROUGH FLOOD. + +Ernest Aurelius Upward was the chief official in charge of the +Government forests of Baluchistan. + +Now the said "forests" had about as much affinity to the idea of sylvan +wildness conveyed by that term as many of the Highland so-called deer +forests; in that they were mainly distinguishable by a conspicuous lack +of trees; such trees as there were consisting wellnigh entirely of the +stunted, profitless, and utterly unpicturesque juniper, which straggling +over the slopes of the hills and devoid of undergrowth imparted to the +arid and stony landscape somewhat of the aspect of a vast continental +burying-ground, badly kept and three parts forgotten. + +Being thus devoid of undergrowth, the land was proportionately depleted +of wild life, since game requires covert. This added not to its +attractions in the eyes of Ernest Aurelius, who was a keen Nimrod. He +had been a mighty slayer of tiger during an experience of many years +spent in the Indian forest service. Long indeed was the death roll of +"Stripes" when that energetic official was around with rifle and camp +outfit among the jungly hills of his North West Province section. Of +panther he had long since ceased to keep count, while cheetul or +blackbuck he reckoned in with such small game as partridge or snipe. We +have said that the great rugged slopes and towering crags of his present +charge still held the markhor and wild mountain sheep; but Upward was +not so young as he had been and remembering the fine times he had had +with the far easier _shikar_ of the lower country, frankly declared his +distaste for the hard labour involved in swarming up all manner of +inaccessible heights at all sorts of unearthly hours of the day or night +on the off-chance of one precarious shot. So the _gadh_ and markhor, so +far as he was concerned, went unmolested. + +But its lack of sport notwithstanding, his present charge had its +compensations. Life in camp among these elevated mountain ranges was +healthful and not unpleasant. At an altitude of anything up to 8,000 +feet the air stirred keen and fresh, and the climate of Shalalai, the +cantonment station where he had his headquarters in the shape of a snug, +roomy bungalow and a garden in which he took much pride, was appreciated +alike by himself and others, to whom recollection was still vivid of the +torrid, enervating exhaustion of plains stations. Furthermore his term +of retirement was not many years distant and on the whole, Upward found +no great reason for discontent. + +And now as we first make his personal acquaintance, he is riding slowly +across the valley bottom towards his camp. His mackintosh is streaming +with wet, and the collar tucked up to his ears, for the rain is falling +in a steady pitiless downpour. Two men of his Pathan forest guard walk +behind, one carrying his master's gun, the other a few brace of chikor +or grey partridge, an abominable unsporting biped, whom no amount of +education will convince of his duty to rise and be shot. The evening +has closed in wet and stormy, and the lightning gleam sheds its red +blaze upon the white tents of the camp. These tents, in number about a +dozen, are pitched among the trees of an apricot tope, whose leafage is +just beginning to bud forth anew after the devastations of a flight of +locusts. In front the valley bottom is open and comparatively level but +behind, the mountain range rises rugged and abrupt--its face cleft by +the black jaws of a fine _tangi_, narrow, but with perpendicular sides +rising to an altitude of several hundred feet. This picturesquely +forbidding chasm acts in rainy weather as a feeder to the now dry +watercourse on whose bank the camp is pitched. + +The lamps are already lighted, and in one of the larger tents a lady is +seated reading. She looks up as Upward enters. + +"What sport have you had, Ernest?" + +"Only seven brace and a half." + +"Oh come, that's not so bad. Are you very wet?" + +"No--but my Terai hat is about spoiled; wish I had put on another," +flinging off the soaked headgear in question. "These beastly storms +crop up every afternoon now, and always at the same time. There's no +fun in going out shooting. Khola, _Peg lao_." + +The well trained bearer, who has been assisting his master out of his +soaked mackintosh, moves swiftly and noiselessly in quest of the needed +"peg." + +"Well, I'll go and change. Where are the girls?" + +"In their own tent. Hurry up though. Dinner must be quite ready." + +By the time Upward is dried and toiletted--a process which does not take +him long--"the girls" are in. Two of them are not yet out of the short +frock stage. These are his own children, and are aged fourteen and +twelve respectively. The third, however, who is a couple of years +beyond her teens, is no relation, but a guest. + +"Did you have any sport, Mr Upward?" says the latter, as they sat down +to table. + +"No--there's no sport in chikor shooting. The chikor is the most +unsporting bird in the world. He won't rise to be shot at." + +"What on earth do we stay on here for then?" says the elder of the two +children, who, like many Indian and colonially raised children, is not +slow to volunteer an opinion. "I wish we were going back to Shalalai +to-morrow." + +"So do I," cuts in the other promptly. + +"Oh--do you!" responds her parent mingling for himself a "peg"--"Why, +the other day you were all for getting into camp. You were sick of +Shalalai, and everybody in it." + +"Well, we are not now. It's beastly here, and always raining," says the +younger one, teasing a little fox terrier under the table until it yelps +and snarls. + +"Do go on with your dinner, Hazel, and leave the dog alone," urges her +mother in the mildest tone of gentle remonstrance. + +"Oh, all right," with a pout and flounce. She is a queer, +dark-complexioned little elf is Hazel, with a vast mane of hair nearly +as large as herself--and loth to accept reproof or injunction without +protest--The other laughs meaningly, and then a squabble arises--for +they are prone to squabbling--which is finally quelled. + +"Well, and what do you think, Miss Cheriton?" says Upward turning to +their guest, when this desirable result has been achieved. "Are you +sick of camp yet?" + +"N-no--I don't think I am--At least--of course I'm not." + +"I'm afraid Nesta does find it slow," puts in Mrs Upward--But before +Nesta Cheriton can utter a disclaimer, the other of the two children +gives a whistle. + +"Lily, my dear girl!" expostulates her mother. + +"I can't help it. Slow? I should think Nesta did find it slow. Why, +she was only saying this morning she'd give ten years of her life for a +little excitement." + +"Lily is simply `embroidering,' Mr Upward," pleads Nesta, with a bright +laugh. "I said--at anytime--not only now or here." + +"We could have found you excitement enough in some of my other +districts. You could have come after tiger with me." + +"Oh no--no! That isn't the kind of thing I mean--And I can't think how +Mrs Upward could have done it"--with a glance at the latter. For this +gentle, refined looking woman with the pretty eyes and soft, charmful +manner, had stood by her husband's side when the striped demon of the +jungle, maddened with his wounds, ears laid back and eyes flashing green +flame, had swooped upon them in lightning charge, uttering that awful +coughing roar calculated to unnerve the stoutest of hearts--to drop, as +though lightning-struck, before the heavy Express bullet directed by a +steady hand and unflinching brain. + +"Well, the kind of excitement you mean will roll up in a day or two in +the shape of Bracebrydge and Fleming"--replies Upward, with a genial +twinkle in his eyes--"they want to come after the chikor. It's rather a +nuisance--This place won't carry two camps. But I say, Miss Cheriton, +those fellows wont do any chikor shooting." + +"Why not?--Isn't that what they are coming for?" + +"Oh, yes. But then, you see, when the time comes to go out, each of +them will make some excuse to remain behind--or to double back. Neither +will want to leave the field open to the other." + +"Ah, but--I don't care for either of them," laughed Nesta, not +pretending to misunderstand his meaning. + +"Not? Why everybody is in love with Bracebrydge--or he thinks they +are--There's only one thing I must warn you against, and that is not to +spell his name with an `I'. There are two girls in Shalalai to my +knowledge who wrecked all their chances on that rock." + +"Nonsense Ernest"--laughed his wife. "How can you talk such a lot of +rubbish? To talk sense now. I wonder when Mr Campian will turn up?" + +"Any day or no day. Campian's such an uncertain bird. He never knows +his own plans himself. If he didn't know whether he was coming overland +from Bombay or round by sea to Karachi, I don't see how I can. Anyway, +I wrote him to the B.I. agents at Karachi telling him how to get to +Shalalai, and left a letter there for him telling him how to get here. +I couldn't do more. Khola, cheroot, _lao_." + +Dinner was over now, and very snug the interior of the tent looked in +the cheerful lamplight, as Upward, selecting a cheroot from the box the +bearer had just deposited in front of him, proceeded to puff away +contentedly. The rain pattered with monotonous regularity on the +canvas, and, reverberating among the crags, the thunder rolled in +deep-toned boom. + +"Beastly sort of night," said Upward, flicking the ash from his cheroot. +"The storm's passing over though. By Jove! I shouldn't wonder if it +brought the _tangi_ down. It must be falling heavy in that catchment +area." + +A shade of alarm came into Nesta Cheriton's face. + +"Should we be--er--quite safe here if it did?" she asked. + +"Rather," said Upward. "The water comes through the _tangi_ itself like +an express train, but the nullah widens out below and runs off the +water. No fear. It has never been up as high as this. In fact, it +couldn't. By George! What was that?" + +The two younger girls had got out cards and were deep in some game +productive of much squabbling. The conversation among their elders had +been carried on in an easy, placid, after-dinner tone. But through all +there came, distinctly audible, the sound of a sharp, heavy report, not +so very distant either. + +"That's a shot, I'll swear!" cried Upward excitedly, rising to his feet +and listening intently. "Thunder? No fear. It's a shot. No mistaking +a shot. But who the deuce would be firing shots here and at this time +of night? Shut up Tinkles--shut up you little _soor_!" as the little +fox terrier charged savagely towards the purdah, uttering shrill, +excited barks. + +Various emotions were manifest on the countenances of the listeners--one +or two even expressing a shade akin to fear. As they stood thus, with +nerves at tension, a new sound rushed forth upon the silence of the +night--a sort of hollow, bellowing roar--nearer and nearer--louder and +louder. + +"The _tangi_!" cried Upward. "By George! the _tangi_ is down." + +"Hurrah! hurrah!" crowed Lily, clapping her hands. "Let's go and look +at it. Come along, Nesta. Here's some excitement at last!" + +"Wait for the lantern. Wait--wait--do you hear?" cried her mother. +"It's very dark; you might tumble in." + +"Oh, hang the lantern," grumbled Lily. "The water will have passed by +that time, and I want to see it rush out." + +She had her wish, however, for the lantern being quickly lighted, the +whole party stepped forth into the rain and the darkness. At first +nothing was visible, but as the radius of light struck upon the vertical +jaws of the great black chasm, they stopped for a moment, awed, +appalled--almost instinctively stepping back. + +Forth from those vertical jaws vomited a perfect terror of roaring, +raging water. It was more like a vast spout than a mere stream was this +awful flood; of inky blackness save where the broken waves, meeting a +projection, seethed and hissed; and, amid the deafening tumult, the +rattle of rocks, loosened from their bed, and shot along like timber by +the velocity of the waters, mingled with the crash of tree trunks +against the smooth cliff walls of the rift. In a moment, with a roar +like a thunder burst, it had spread itself over the dry face of the +nullah, which was now rolling many feet deep of mountainous swirling +waves. + +For a few moments they stood contemplating the wild tumult by the light +of the lantern. Then Mrs Upward, her voice hardly audible through the +bellowing of the waters, said: + +"Now girls, we'd better go in. It's raining hard still." + +This drew a vehement protest from Hazel and Lily. It was such fun +watching the flood, they urged. What did it matter about a little rain? +and so forth. But Tinkles, the little fox terrier, was now barking +furiously at something or other unseen, keeping, however, very close to +her master's legs, for all her expenditure of vocal ferocity. Then a +voice came out of the darkness--a male voice which, although soft and +pleasing, caused Nesta Cheriton to start and cling involuntary to +Upward's arm. + +"_Huzoor_!" [A form of greeting more deferential than the better known +"Sahib."] + +"What is it, Bhallu Khan?" said Upward, as the voice and the light of +the lantern revealed the chief forest guard. + +The latter now began speaking quickly in Hindustani. Had the _Huzoor_ +heard anything? Yes? Well there was something going on yonder. Just +before the _tangi_ came down there was a shot fired. It was on the +other side of the nullah. Something was going on. + +Now Bhallu Khan was inclined to be long-winded in his statements. It +was raining smartly, and Upward grew impatient. + +"I don't see what we can do," he bellowed through the roar of the water. +"We can't even go and see what's up. The _tangi_ is down, and the +_tumasha_, whatever it is, was on the other side." + +"Not all the time, _Huzoor_," urged the forest guard. "While the roar +of the water was yet distant, we heard a strange noise--yes, a very +strange noise--It was as the clatter of hoofs in the bed of the dry +nullah, of shod hoofs. And then there was another shot--and the +hoof-strokes seemed to cease. Then the water came down and we could +hear no more of anything." + +"Eh! another shot!" cried Upward, now thoroughly startled. "Why, what +the devil is the meaning of it?" This last escaped him in English--and +it brought the whole party around him, now all ears, regardless of the +rain. Only Nesta was out of it--not understanding Hindustani. + +It was where the road crosses the nullah, Bhallu Khan explained. He +could not tell what it might be, but thought he had better inform the +_Huzoor_. It might even be worth while going that far to see if there +was anything to find out. + +"Yes, let's go!"--cut in Lily. "Hurrah! here's a new excitement!" + +"Let's go!" echoed her father sharply. "To bed, you mean. So off you +go there, both of you. Come--clear in--quick! Likely one wants a lot +of children fooling about in the dark on a night like this." + +Heedless of their grumbling protest, Upward dived into his tent, and, +quickly arming himself with his magazine rifle and revolver, he came +forth. Bhallu Khan he instructed to bring another of the forest guard +to accompany them while a third was left to look after the camp. + +In the darkness and rain they took their way along the bank of the +flood--Upward hardly knowing what he was expecting to find. The country +was wild, and its inhabitants wilder still. Quite recently there had +been an upheaval of lawlessness among a section of the powerful and +restless Marri tribe. What if some bloody deed of vendetta, or tribal +feud, had been worked out here, almost at his very door? He stumbled +along through the wet, coarse tussocks, peering here and there as the +forest guard held the lantern before him--his rifle ready. He hardly +expected to find anything living, but there was a weird creepiness about +this nocturnal quest after something sinister and mysterious that moved +him by sheer instinct to defensive preparation. Twice he started, as +the dark form of a half-stranded tree trunk with its twisted limbs +suggested the find of some human body--ghastly with wounds--distorted +with an agonising death. Suddenly Bhallu Khan stopped short, and with a +hurried and whispered exclamation held up the lantern, while pointing to +something in front. + +Something which lay half in, half out of the water. Something which all +felt rather than saw had had life, even if life were no longer in it. +No tree trunk this time, but a human body. Dead or alive, however, they +were only just in time, for even as they looked the swirl of an eddy +threw a volume of water from the middle of the trunk right over the +neck--so quickly had the flood risen. + +"Here--give me the lantern--And you two pull him out, sharp," said +Upward. + +This, to the two stalwart hillmen, was but the work of a moment. Then +an exclamation escaped Bhallu Khan. + +"It is a sahib!" he cried. + +Upward bent over the prostrate form, holding the light to the face. +Then it became his turn to start in amazement. + +"Good God! it's Campian!" he exclaimed--"Campian himself. But how the +devil did he get here like this, and--Is he alive or dead?" + +"He is alive, _Huzoor_," answered Bhallu Khan, who had been scrutinising +the unconscious features from the other side. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +THE FOREST CAMP. + +The following morning broke bright and clear, and save that there was a +coolness in the air, and the bed of the _tangi_ which had poured forth +its black volume of roaring destruction the night before was wet and +washed out--no trace of the wild whirl of the elements would now be +visible. + +Campian awoke, feeling fairly restored, though as he opened his eyes +after his sound and heavy sleep he could hardly recall where he was, or +what had happened--nor in fact, did he particularly care whether he +could recall it or not. This frame of mind lasted for some time, then +his faculties began to reassert themselves. The events of the previous +night came back to him--the long, wearisome journey, the exhausted +steed, the sudden onslaught of the Ghazis, the pursuit--then that last +desperate effort for life--the rolling flood, the jezail shot, and-- +oblivion. Now a thought struck him. Where was he? In a tent. But +whose tent? Was he a captive in the hands of his recent assailants? +Hardly. This was not the sort of treatment he would have met at their +hands, even if the unmistakably European aspect of all the fittings and +tent furniture did not speak for themselves. And at that moment, as +though to dispel all further grounds of conjecture, the purdah was moved +aside and somebody stole softly in. Campian closed his eyes, surveying +this unexpected visitant through the lids. Then he opened them. + +"That you, Upward, or am I dreaming?" + +"It's me right enough, old chap. How are you feeling--eh? A bit buzzy +still? How's the head?" + +"Just as you put it--a bit buzzy. But I say, where are we?" + +"In camp, at Chirria Bach." + +"So? And where the devil might Chirria Bach be? I was bound for +Gushki. Thought you were there." + +"Didn't you get my letter at Shalalai, saying we were going into camp?" +said Upward. + +"Not any. I got one--There was nothing about camp in it--It told me to +come on to Gushki. But I fell in with two Johnnies there who were going +on a chikor shoot, and wanted me to cut in--I did--hence concluded to +find my way here across country instead of by the usual route. I'm fond +of that sort of thing, you know." + +"Where are your things--and how is it you are all alone? This isn't the +country to ride around in like that--all alone--I can tell you." + +"So I've discovered." And then he narrated the events of the previous +day's journey up to the time of his falling unconscious in the riverbed. + +"Well you've had a devilish narrow squeak, old chap," pronounced Upward, +when he had done. "Do you know, if it hadn't been for old Bhallu Khan, +my head forest guard, hearing your gee scrambling through the nullah, +you would never have been seen again. We heard the first shot. It +seemed fishy, but it was no use bothering about it, because it was on +the other side of the water. Then the _tangi_ coming down kicked up +such a row that we couldn't hear ourselves speak, let alone hear the +other shot. You were more than half in the water when we found you, +and--I've been down to the place this morning--and the water has been +over more than twice your own length from where you were lying when we +hauled you out. Lucky old Bhallu Khan heard the racket--eh?" + +"Rather. But, I say, Upward, I shot one of those brigands. Likely to +be trouble raised over that?" + +Upward looked grave. "You never can tell," he said. "You see, in a +case of that sort, the Government has a say in the matter. Don't give +away anything about the shooting to anybody for the present, and we'll +think over what is best to be done--or not done--Perhaps you only winged +your man." + +"I hope so, if it will save any further bother. But, it's a dashed cool +thing assailing a peaceable traveller in that way. There's no sort of +war on here?" + +"No, but the fact of your being alone and unarmed--unarmed, at least, so +far as they could see--was a temptation to those devils. They hate us +like poison since we took over the country and prevented them--or tried +to prevent them--from cutting each other's throats, so they are not +likely to let slip an opportunity of cutting ours instead." + +"And after that first shot, practically I was unarmed, thanks to the +swindling rascality of the British huckster in guaranteeing ammunition +that jammed in the pistol. No more co-operative stores for me, thanks." + +Now again the purdah was lifted, and the bearer appeared, bringing in +tea and toast. Salaaming to Campian, he told his master that the +_mem-sahib_ would like to see him for a moment Upward, responding to the +call, promptly received a lecture for not merely allowing, but actively +inducing, the patient to talk too much. It could not be good for one +just recovering from a shock to the head to talk--especially on exciting +topics--and so on--and so on. + +Meanwhile in another tent Nesta Cheriton and the two younger girls were +discussing the somewhat tragic arrival of the expected guest. To the +former, however, his personality appealed more than the somewhat +startling manner of his arrival. + +"But what is he like, Lily?" she was saying--not quite for the first +time. + +"Oh! I told you before," snapped Lily, waxing impatient, and burying +her nose in a book--She was wont to be petulant when disturbed in the +midst of an absorbing tale. + +"He's rather fun," replied Hazel. "He isn't young, though. He's not as +old as father--still he isn't young." + +"I expect he's quite an old fogey," said Lily. "I don't want to talk +about him any more," which reply moved Hazel to cackle elfishly, while +cutting weird capers expressive of the vein mischievous. + +"Rather. He's quite an old fogey. Isn't he, Lily?" + +"I wish you'd shut up," snapped that young person. "Can't you see I +want to read?" + +But later on, viz about tiffin time, Campian being recovered enough to +put in an appearance, Nesta found good and sufficient reasons for the +reversal of her former verdict. As Hazel had said, the new arrival was +not young; yet her own term, "quite an old fogey," in no sense applied. +And the reversal of her said verdict took this form: "He'll do." + +This indeed, in its not very occult meaning, might have held good were +the stranger even less qualified for her approval than she decided at a +glance he was--for they had been quite a fortnight in camp, and on any +male--save Upward, middle-aged and _range_, Nesta Cheriton's very +attractive blue eyes had not rested during precisely that period. And +such deficiency had to her already come to spell boredom. + +In Shalalai the British army of all branches of the service had been at +her feet, and this for obvious reasons. She was young, attractive +beyond the ordinary, and a new importation. Now the feminine +counterpart of the British army as represented in Shalalai, though in +some cases young, was unattractive wellnigh without exception. +Furthermore, it was by no means new--wherefore Nesta had things all her +own way; for Shalalai, for social and every other purpose, _was_ the +British army--Upward and the agent to the governor-general being nearly +the only civilians in the place. So in Shalalai Nesta was happy, for +the British army, having as usual when not in active service, nothing +particular to do, swarmed around her in multifold adoration. + +"Last time we saw each other we hardly reckoned to meet in such tragic +fashion, did we, Mrs Upward?" said Campian, as they sat down to tiffin. +"I only hope I haven't drawn down the ire of a vast and vendetta +nourishing tribe upon your peaceful camp." + +"Oh, we're not nervous. The people who attacked you belong in all +probability right the other end of the country," she answered, easily. + +"I sent over to Gushki to let the political agent know about it," said +Upward. "Likely they'll send back a brace of Levy sowars to have a +look round. Not that that'll do any good, for these darned +`catch-'em-alive-ohs' are all tarred with the same brush. They're +raised in the same country, you see." + +"Seems to me a right casual section this same country," said Campian. +"You are all never tired of laying down what entirely unreliable +villains these border tribes are, yet you simply put yourselves at their +mercy. I'll be bound to say, for instance, that there's no such thing +as a watch kept over this camp at night, or any other." + +"No, there isn't Tinkles here, though, would pretty soon let us know if +any one came too close." + +"Yes, but not until they were on you. Say four or five like those who +tackled me--or even more--made up their minds to come for you some +night, what then? Why, they'd be in the tents hacking you to bits +before you had time to move a finger." + +"Ghazis don't go to work that way, Campian. They come for you in the +open, and never break out with the premeditation a rush upon a camp +would involve." + +"I've often thought the same," struck in Nesta. "I get quite nervous +sometimes, lying awake at night. Every sound outside makes me start. +Fancy nothing between you and all that may be in that horrible darkness, +but a strip of canvas. And the light seems to make it worse. I can +never shake off the idea that I can be seen." + +"Why don't you put out the light then, Miss Cheriton?" + +"Because I'm more frightened still to be in the dark. Ah now--you're +laughing at me"--she broke off, in a pretty gesture of protest. + +The stranger was contemplating her narrowly, without seeming to. Good +specimen of her type was his decision, but these fair haired, blue-eyed +girls, though pretty enough as pictures, have seldom any depth. Self +conscious at every turn, though not aware of it, or, at any rate of +showing that she was. Pretty? Oh, yes, no mistake about that--knows +what suits her, too. + +Whether this diagnosis was entirely accurate remains to be seen--that +its latter part was, a glance at Nesta left no doubt. She was attired +in white and light blue, which matched admirably her eyes and golden +hair, and she looked wonderfully attractive. The suspicion of sunbrown +which darkened her complexion had the effect of setting off the vivid +whiteness of her even teeth when she smiled. And then her whole face +would light up. + +"What would you like to do this afternoon, old chap?" said Upward, as +tiffin over, the bearer placed the cheroot box on the table. "Don't +feel up to going after chikor, I suppose?" + +"Well, I don't know. I think I do. But I left my shot gun down at +Chotiali with my other things." + +"You'd much better sit still and keep yourself quiet for the rest of the +day, Mr Campian," warned Mrs Upward. "A nasty fall on the head isn't +a thing to be trifled with, especially in hot climates. I've seen too +much of that sort of thing in my time." + +But the warning was overruled. Campian declared himself sufficiently +recovered, provided there was no hard climbing to be done. Tiffin had +set him up entirely. + +"Do just as you like, old chap," said Upward. "You can use my gun. I +don't care about chikor. They are the rottenest form of game bird I +know. Won't rise, for one thing." + +"Let's all go," suggested Lily. "We can keep behind. And we shall see +how many misses Mr Campian makes," she added, with her natural +cheekiness. + +"It's hardly fair," objected the proposed victim--"I, the only gunner, +too--Why, all this `gallery' is bound to get on my nerves." + +"Never mind--you can put it down to your fall, if you do miss a lot," +suggested Nesta. + +"Well, we'd better start soon, and not go too far either, for I +shouldn't wonder if this evening turned out as bad as last," said +Upward, rising from table. "Khola--Call Bhallu Khan." + +The bearer replied that he was in front of the tent. + +"So this is the man whose sharp hearing was the saving of my life?" said +Campian, as the head forester extended his salaam to him--And he put out +his hand. + +The forester, a middle-aged Pathan of the Kakar tribe, was a fine +specimen of his race. He looked picturesque enough in his white loose +garments, his head crowned with the "Kulla," or conical cap, round which +was wound a snowy turban. He had eyes and teeth which a woman might +have envied, and as he grasped the hand extended to him, the expression +of his face was pleasing and attractive in the extreme. + +"By Jove, Upward, this man is as different a type to the ruffians who +came for me last night as the proverbial chalk and cheese simile," +remarked Campian, as they started for the shooting place. "They were +hook-nosed scoundrels with long hair and the expression of the devil, +whereas this chap looks as if he couldn't hurt a fly. He has an awfully +good face." + +"Oh, he has. Still, with Mohamedans you never can be absolutely +certain. Any question of fanaticism or semi-religious war, and they're +all alike. We've had too many instances of that." + +"Oh, come now, Ernest. You mustn't class good old Bhallu Khan with that +sort of native," struck in his wife. "If there was any sort of rising I +believe he'd stand by us with his life." + +"I believe so too. Still, as I say, with Mohamedans you can never tell. +Look, Campian, this is where we found you last night. Here's where you +were lying, and here's where the water came up to during the night." + +Campian looked somewhat grave as he contemplated the jagged edge of +sticks and straws which demarcated the water-line, and remembered that +awful advancing wave bellowing down upon him. + +"Yes--It was a near thing," he said--"a very near thing." + +But a word from the forester dispelled all such weighty reflections, and +that word was "Chikor!" + +In and out among the grass and stones the birds were running--_running_. +The more they were shouted at the more they ran. At last several of +them rose. It was a long shot, but down came one. + +This was repeated again and again. All the shots were long shots, and +there were as many misses as birds. There were plenty of birds, but +they persistently forebore to rise. + +"Now you see why I'm not keen on chikor shooting, old chap," said +Upward, as after a couple of hours this sport was voted hardly worth +while. And subsequently Bhallu Khan expressed the opinion to his master +that the strange sahib did not seem much of a shikari. He might have +made quite a heavy bag--there were the birds, right under his feet, but +he would not shoot--he would wait for them to rise--and they invariably +rose much too far off to fire at with any chance of bringing them down. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +INCIDENTAL. + +"I'm afraid, Nesta, my child, that your soldier friends will have to +alight somewhere else if they want any chikor," pronounced Campian, +subsiding upon a boulder to light his pipe. "We've railroaded them +around this valley to such purpose that you can't get within a couple of +hundred yards. When are they due, by the way--the sodgers, not the +chikor?" + +"To-day, I think. They have been threatening for the last fortnight." + +"Threatening! Ingrate! Only think what a blessing their arrival will +shed. You will hear all the latest `gup' from Shalalai, and have a +couple of devoted poodles, all eagerness to frisk, and fetch and carry-- +wagging their tails for approving pats, and all that sort of thing. And +you must be tired of this very quiet life, unrelieved save by a couple +of old fogies like yours truly and Upward?" + +"Ah, I'm tired of the `gup' of Shalalai. I'm not sure I'm not quite +tired of soldiers." + +"That begins to look brisk for me, my dear girl, I being--bar Upward-- +nearly the only civilian in Baluchistan. The only flaw in this to me +alluring vista now opened out is--how long will it last? First of all, +sit down. There's no fun in standing unnecessarily." + +She sat down on the boulder beside him, and began to play with the +smoothness of the barrels of the gun, which leaned against the rock +between them. It was early morning. These two had strolled _off_ down +the valley together directly after _chota hazri_--as they had taken to +doing of late. A couple of brace of chikor lay on the ground at their +feet, the smallness of the "bag" bearing out the accuracy of Campian's +prognostication as to the decadence of that form of sport. The sun, +newly risen, was flooding the valley with a rush of golden ether; +reddening the towering crags, touching, with a silver wand, the carpet +of dewdrops in the valley bottom, and mist-hung spider webs which +spanned the juniper boughs--while from many a slab-like cliff came the +crowing of chikor, pretty, defiant in the safety of altitude--rejoicing +in the newly-risen dawn. + +Some fifty yards off, Bhallu Khan, having spread his chuddah on the +ground, and put the shoes from off his feet--was devoutly performing the +prescribed prostrations in the direction of the Holy City, repeating the +while the aspirations and ascriptions wherewith the Faithful--good, bad +and indifferent--are careful to hallow the opening of another day. + +"You were asserting yourself tired of the garrison," went on Campian. +"Yes? And wherefore this--caprice, since but the other day you were +sworn to the sabre?" + +"Was I? Well perhaps I've changed my mind. I may do that, you know. +But I don't like any of those at Shalalai. And--the nice ones are all +married." + +This escaped her so spontaneously, so genuinely, that Campian burst out +laughing. + +"Oh that's the grievance, is it?" he said. "And what about the others +who are--not nice?" + +"Oh, I just fool them. Some of them think they're fooling me. I let it +go far enough, and then they suddenly find out I've been fooling them. +It's rather a joke." + +"Ever taken anyone seriously?" + +"That's telling." + +"All right, then. Don't tell." + +She looked up at him quickly. Her eyes seemed to be trying to read his +face, which, beyond a slightly amused elevation of one eyebrow, was +absolutely expressionless. + +"Well, I have then," she said, with a half laugh. + +"So? Tell us all about it, Nessita." + +She looked up quickly--"I say, that's rather a good name--I like it. It +sounds pretty. No one ever called me that before." + +"Accept it from me, then." + +"Yes, I will. But, do you know--it's awful cheek of you to call me by +my name at all. When did you first begin doing it, by the way?" + +"Don't know. I suppose it came so natural as not to mark an epoch. +Couldn't locate the exact day or hour to save my life. Shall I return +to `Miss Cheriton?'" + +"You never did say that. You never called me anything--until--" + +"Likely. It's a little way I have. I say--It's rather fun chikor +shooting in the early morning. What?" + +"That means, I suppose, that you're tired of talking, and would like to +go on." And she rose from her seat. + +"Not at all. Sit down again. That's right. For present purposes it +means that you won't go out with me any more like this of a morning +after those two Johnnies come." + +"You won't want me then. You can all go out together. I should only be +in the way." + +"That remark would afford nine-tenths of the British Army the +opportunity of retorting, `_You_ could never be that.' I, however, will +be brutally singular. Very probably you would be in the way--" + +"Thanks." + +"_If_ we all went out together--I was going to say when you interrupted +me." + +A touch on the arm interrupted _hint_. It came from Bhallu Khan, who, +having concluded his devotions was standing at Campian's side, making +vehement gesticulations of warning and silence. + +"Eh--what is it?" whispered Campian, looking eagerly in the direction +pointed at by the other. + +The forester shook his head, and continued to gesticulate. Then he put +both forefingers to his head, one on each side above the ears, pointing +upwards. + +"Does he mean he has seen the devil?" said Campian wonderingly. "I +guess he's trying to make us understand `horns.'" + +Nesta exploded in a peal of laughter, which, though melodious enough to +human ears, must have had a terrifying effect on whatever had been +designated by Bhallu Khan. He ceased to point eagerly through the +scrub, but his new gesticulations meant unmistakably that the thing, +whatever it might be, was gone. + +All the Hindustani they could muster between them--and that wasn't +much--failed to make the old forester understand. He smiled talked-- +then smiled again. Then they all laughed together--But that was all. + +Although actually on the scene of his midnight peril, Campian gave that +experience no further thought. Nearly a fortnight had gone by since +then, and no further alarm had occurred. Bhallu Khan had made inquiries +and in the result had learned that the adjacent and then somewhat +dreaded Marri tribe was innocent of the playful little event which had +so nearly terminated Campian's allotted span of joys and sorrows. The +assailants were Brahuis, of a notoriously marauding clan of that tribe, +located in the Khelat district. What they were doing here, so far away +from their own part of the country, however, he had not learned, or, if +he had, for reasons of his own he kept it to himself. This intelligence +lifted what shadow of misgiving might have lingered in the minds of +Upward and his wife, as showing that the incident was a mere chance +affair, and no indication of restlessness or hostility on the part of +the tribesmen in their own immediate neighbourhood. + +Another fact gleaned by Bhallu Khan was that the man who had fallen to +Campian's shot was not killed--nor even fatally wounded. This relieved +all their minds, especially that of the shooter. It saved all sorts of +potential trouble in the way of investigation and so forth--likewise it +dispelled sundry unpleasant visions of a blood feud, which now and then +would obtrude in spite of all efforts at reasoning them away; for these +fierce fanatical mountaineers were hardly the men to suffer bloodshed to +pass unavenged. However, no one was much hurt, and the marauders had +taken themselves off to their own side of the country. Thus for about +ten days had life in Upward's camp held on its way just as though no +narrow escape of grim tragedy had thrown the visitor into its midst. +Its inmates rejoiced in the open air life, and, save at night or for an +afternoon siesta, were seldom indoors. The male section thereof, +notwithstanding plentiful denunciation of the wily chikor and its ways, +devoted much time to the pursuit of that exasperating biped, and all +would frequently join hands in exploring the surrounding country--tiffin +accompanying--to be laid out picnic fashion at some picturesque spot, +whether of breezy height or in the cool shade of a _tangi_. Thus did +Upward perform his forest inspections, combining business with +pleasure--and everybody was content. + +And this statement we make of set purpose. No more aspirations after a +return to Shalalai were now in the air. The infusion of a new element +into the daily life of the camp seemed to make a difference. Campian +and the two younger girls were friends of old. He did not mind their +natural cheekiness--he had a great liking for them, and it only amused +him; moreover, it kept things lively. And Nesta Cheriton--sworn +worshipper of the sabre, speedily came to the conclusion that all that +was entertaining and companionable was not a monopoly vested in the +wearers of Her Majesty's uniform. + +For between her and the new arrival a very good understanding had been +set up--a very good understanding indeed. But he, in the maturity of +years and experience, made light of what might have set another man +thinking. They were thrown together these two--and camp life is apt to +throw people very much together--He was the only available male, +wherefore she made much of him. Given, however, the appearance of two +or three lively subalterns on the scene, and he thought he knew how the +land would lie. But the consciousness in no wise disquieted him; on the +contrary it afforded him a little good-humouredly cynical amusement. He +knew human nature, as peculiar to either sex no less than as common to +both, and he had reached a point in life when the preferences of the +ornamental sex, for any permanent purpose, mattered nothing. But the +study of it as a mere subject of dissection did afford him a very great +amount of entertainment. + +Mature cynic as he was, yet now, looking down at the girl at his side as +they took their way back through the wild picturesque valley bottom, the +dew shining like silver in the fast ascending sun, a moist woodland +odour arising from beneath the juniper trees, he could not but admit to +himself that her presence here made a difference--a very great +difference. She was wondrously pretty, in the fair, golden-haired +style; had pretty ways too--soft, confiding--and a trick of looking up +at one that was a trifle dangerous. Only that he felt rather sure it +was all part of her way with the male sex in general, and not turned on +for his benefit in particular, he might have wondered. + +"Well?" she said, looking up suddenly, "what is it all about?" + +"You. I was thinking a great deal about you. Now you are going to say +I had much better have been talking to you." + +"No. But tell me what you were thinking." + +"I was thinking how deftly you got away from that question of mine-- +about the one occasion when you _did_ take someone seriously. Now tell +us all about it." + +"Ah--I'm not going to tell you." + +"Not, eh?" + +"No--no--no! Perhaps some day." + +"Well you'll have to look sharp, for I'm off in a day or two." + +"No? you're not!" she cried, in a tone very like that of real +consternation. "Ah, you're just trying to crowd it on. Why, you're +here for quite a long time." + +"Very well. You'll see. Only, don't say I never told you." + +"But you mustn't go. You needn't. Look here--You're not to." + +"That sounds rather nice--Very nice indeed. And wherefore am I not to +go, Nessita, mine angel?" + +"Because I don't want you to. You're rather a joke, you know, and--" + +"--And--what?" + +"Nothing." + +"That ought to settle it. Only I don't flatter myself my departure will +leave any gap. Remaineth there not a large garrison at Shalalai--horse, +foot, and artillery?" + +"Oh, hang the garrison at Shalalai! You're detestable. I don't like +you any more." + +"No? Well what will make you like me any more?" + +"If you stay." + +"That settles it. I cannot depart in the face of that condition," he +answered, the gravity of his words and tone simply belied by a whimsical +twinkle of the eyes. She, looking up, saw this. + +"Ah, I believe you've been cramming all the time. I'll ask Mr Upward +when we get in, and if you have, I'll never forgive you." + +"Spare thyself the trouble O petulant one, for it would be futile in any +case. If I have been telling nasty horrid wicked little taradiddles, +Upward won't give me away, for I shall tip him the masonic wink not to. +_You_ won't spot it, though you are staring us both in the face all the +time. So you'll have to keep your blind faith in me, anyhow. Hallo! +Stay still a minute. There are some birds." + +In and out among the grass and stones, running like barn-door fowl was a +large covey. This time a whoop and a handful of gravel from Bhallu Khan +was effective. The covey rose with a jarring "whirr" as one bird. A +double shot--a bird fell to each. + +"Right and left. That's satisfactory. I'm getting my hand in," +remarked Campian. "They're right away," looking after the covey, "and I +feel like breakfast time. Glad we are almost back." + +The white tents half-hidden in the apricot tope, and sheltered by the +fresh and budding green, looked picturesque enough against a background +of rugged and stony mountain ridge, the black vertical jaws of the +_tangi_, now waterless, yawning grim like the jaws of some silent +waiting monster. Native servants in their snowy puggarees, flitted to +and fro between the camp and the cook-tent, whence a wreath of blue +smoke floated skyward. A string of camels had just come in, and were +kneeling to have their loads removed, keeping up the while their hoarse +snarling roar, each hideous antediluvian head turning craftily on its +weird neck as though watching the chance of getting in a bite. But +between them and their owners, three or four wild looking Baluchis-- +long-haired and turban-crowned--the understanding, whether of love or +fear, seemed complete, for these went about their work of unloading, the +normal expression of impassive melancholy stamped upon their copper-hued +countenances undergoing no change. + +"Well, how many did you shoot?" cried Hazel, running out from the tents +as the two came in. "Only six!" as Bhallu Khan held up the "bag." +"Pho! Why we heard about twenty shots. Didn't we, Lily?" + +"More. I expect they were thinking of you when they named this place," +said the latter. + +"Thought something cheeky was coming," remarked Campian tranquilly. +"The `cow-catcher' adorning thy most speaking countenance, Lilian my +cherub, has an extra upward tendency this morning. No pun intended, of +course." + +"Oh--oh--oh!" A very hoot was all the expression that greeted this +disclaimer. But a sudden summons to breakfast cut short further +sparring. + +"Upward, what's the meaning of Chirria Bach?" asked Campian when they +were seated. Lily and Hazel clapped their hands and cackled. Upward +looked up, with a laugh. + +"It means `miss a bird' old chap. Didn't you know?" + +"No. I never thought of it. Very good, Lilian my seraph. Now I see +the point of that extra smart remark just now. What do you think, Mrs +Upward? she said this place must have been named after me." + +"They're very rude children, both of them," was the laughing reply. +"But I can't sympathise. I'm afraid you make them worse." + +A wild crow went up from the two delinquents. Campian shook his head +gravely. + +"After that we had better change the subject," he said. "By the way, +Upward, old Bhallu Khan went through an extraordinary performance this +morning. I want you to tell me the interpretation thereof." + +"Was he saying his prayers? Have another chikor, old chap?" + +"No--not his prayers. Thanks, I will. They eat rather better than they +shoot. Nesta and I were deep in the discussion of scientific and other +matters--" + +"Oh, yes." + +This from Lily, meaningly. + +"Lilian, dearest. If you can tell the story better than I can"--with +grave reproach. + +"Never mind--go on--go on"--rapped out the delinquent. + +"--In the discussion of scientific and other matters," resumed Campian, +eyeing his former interruptor, "when Bhallu Khan suddenly enjoined +silence. He then put his fingers to his head--so--and mysteriously +pointed towards the nullah. It dawned on me that he meant something +with horns; but I knew there couldn't be _gadh_ or markhor right down +here in the valley, and close to the camp. Then Nesta came to the +rescue by suggesting that he must have seen the devil." + +"Ah, I didn't suggest it!" cried Nesta. But her disclaimer was drowned +in a wild yelp of ecstasy that volleyed forth from the two younger +girls; in the course of which Hazel managed to swallow her tea the wrong +way, and spent the next ten minutes choking and spluttering. + +Upward was shaking in quiet mirth. + +"He didn't mean the devil at all, old chap, only a hare," he explained. + +"A hare?" uttered Campian. + +The blankness of his amazement started the two off again. + +"Only a hare! Good heavens! But a hare, even in Baluchistan, hasn't +got horns." + +"He meant its ears. Come now, it was rather smart of him--wasn't it? +Old Bhallu Khan is smart all round. He _buks_ a heap, and is an old +bore at times, but he's smart enough." + +"Yes. It was smart. Yet the combined intelligence of Nesta and myself +couldn't get beyond the devil." + +"Speak for yourself then," she laughed. And just then Tinkles, rushing +from under the table, darted forth outside, uttering a succession of +fierce and fiery barks. + +"I expect it's those two Johnnies arriving," said Upward, rising. "Yes, +it is," as he lifted the "chick" and looked outside. + +They all went forth. Two horsemen were turning off the road and making +for the camp. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +CONCERNING TWO FOOLS. + +"Major Bracebrydge--Captain Fleming"--introduced Upward. The first +lifted his hat punctiliously to Campian, the second put out his hand. +To the rest of the party both were already known. + +"Well--ar--Upward--lots of chikor, eh?" began the first. + +"Swarms. But they've become beastly wild. Campian has been harrying +them ever since we found him one dark night half in half out of the +nullah in flood." + +"Oh, yes; we heard something of that I suppose--ar--Mr Campian--it +wasn't one magnified by half-a-dozen--ah, ha--ha. You were travelling +after dinner, you know--ah--ha--ha?" + +A certain amount of chaff in fair good fellowship Campian didn't mind. +But the element of _bonhomie_ was lacking alike in the other's tone and +demeanour. The laugh too, was both fat and feeble. He did not deem +this specimen of garrison wit worthy of any answer. The other seemed +disappointed. + +"I see our camels have turned up," he went on. "By Jove, Upward, I've +got a useless lot of servants. That new bearer of mine wants kicking +many times a day. Look at him now--over there. Just look at the +brute--squatting on his haunches when he ought to be getting things +together. I say though, you've got all the best of it here"--surveying +the apricot _tope_, which was incapable of sheltering even one more +tent--"we shall get all the sun." + +"Sorry they didn't plant more trees, old chap," said Upward. "But then +we are here for a longish time, whereas it's only a few days with you. +Come in and have a `peg.' Fleming--how about a `peg'?" + +"Oh, very much about a `peg,'" responded Fleming with alacrity. He had +been renewing his acquaintance with Nesta about as volubly as time +allowed. + +"Well, what _khubbur_ from below?" asked Upward, when they were seated +in the large dining tent, discussing the said "pegs." + +"Oh, the usual thing," said Bracebrydge. "Tribes restless Khelat way-- +that's nothing--they always are restless." + +"Ever since you've been in the country, old chap?" rejoined Upward, with +a dry smile, the point of which lay in the fact that the man who +undertook to give an exhaustive and authoritative opinion on the country +was absolutely new to it. He was not quartered at Shalalai, nor +anywhere else in Baluchistan; but was up, on furlough, from a hot +station in the lower plains. + +"There is some talk of disturbance, though," said Fleming. "Two or +three of the Brahui sirdars sent a message to the A.G.G., which was +offhand, not to say cheeky. Let them. We'll soon smash 'em up." + +"You may do," said Upward. "But there'll be lively times first. Then +there's all that disaffection in lower India. Things are looking +dicky--devilish dicky. I shouldn't wonder if we saw something before +long. I've always said so." + +Then they got away from the general question to _gup_ of a more private +nature--even station _gup_. + +"When are you coming back to Shalalai, Miss Cheriton?" said Fleming, in +the midst of this. + +"I don't know. I've only just left it," Nesta answered. "Not for a +long time, I think." + +"That's awful hard lines on Shalalai, Miss Cheriton--ah--ha--ha," said +Bracebrydge, twirling the ends of his moustache, which, waxed out on a +level with the line of his mouth, gave him a sort of barber's block +expression, which however, the fair of the above city, and of elsewhere, +deemed martial and dashing to a degree. This effect, in their sight, +was heightened by a jagged scar extending from the left eye to the lower +jaw, suggestive of a sword slash at close quarters, "facing the foe"-- +and so forth. As a matter of hard fact this honourable wound had been +received while heading a storming party upon the quarters of a +newly-joined and rather high tempered subaltern, for "hazing" purposes. +The latter, anticipating such attentions had locked his door, and on the +arrival of the "hazing" party, had given out that the first man to enter +the room was going to receive something he wouldn't like in the least. +The door was burst open, and with characteristic gallantry the first man +to enter was Bracebrydge, who found the destined victim to be as good as +his word, for he received a heavy article of crockery, deftly hurled, +full in the face--and he didn't like it in the least--for it cut him so +badly right along the cheek that he had to retire perforce, bleeding +hideously. The next day the newly-joined subaltern sent in his papers, +saying he had no wish to belong to a service wherein it was necessary to +take such measures to defend oneself against the overgrown schoolboy +rowdyism of "brother" officers, and subsequently won distinction and the +V.C. as a daring and gallant leader of irregular horse in other parts of +Her Majesty's dominions. + +"I suppose you fellows will want to give the birds a turn," said Upward, +after tiffin. "We'll get the ponies and start shooting from about four +miles down the valley. I'm afraid they're beastly wild until we get +that far." + +"Don't know that I feel up to it," said Fleming. "Beastly fag the ride +up this morning. Think I'll just take it easy here in camp, Upward. +You and Bracebrydge can go. It'll be all the better for yourselves; +three guns are sure to have more sport than four." + +Campian, who was in the joke, caught a sly wink from Upward, and +mightily enjoyed it. Here was the latter's prediction being already +fulfilled. + +"What sort of fellow are you, Fleming?" said Bracebrydge. "What's the +good of coming up here on purpose to shoot, and then hanging up in camp? +Now I had thought of not going out. The fact is, I want to fetch a +snooze." + +"Oh you don't want a snooze. You snored for ten hours at a stretch the +way up last night," retorted Fleming. "Now I didn't, and feel cheap in +consequence. You go along now, or you'll spoil the party. Upward and +Mr Campian are both keen on it." + +"Rather. One of you fellows must come," declared Upward, bent on +keeping up the fun. "We might spare one of you, but not both. Three +guns we must have, to cover the ground properly." + +"Then Fleming had better go," said Bracebrydge. "I'm sleepy." + +"No fear, I'm going to remain in camp," declared Fleming. "I'm sleepy, +too." + +"Why don't you toss for it?" suggested Upward. "Sudden death--the +winner to do as he likes." + +The idea took on, and Fleming came out the winner. + +"All right, Bracebrydge," said the latter, jubilant. "I'll have my +snooze while you sacrifice yourself in the cause of others--and sport." + +The latter snarled, but even he drew the line at backing out of his +pledge. + +Meanwhile Campian, no longer able to restrain a roar, had hurried from +the dining tent. + +"What's the joke, now?" called out Nesta, who, with Mrs Upward, was +seated beneath the trees. + +"Yes, it _is_ a joke." + +"Well, we're spoiling to hear it; go on." + +"Ssh--ssh! little girls shouldn't be impatient. The joke is this--Wait. +They're coming," with a look over his shoulder. + +"No. They're not. Quick quick. What is it?" + +"Well, the spectacle of two fellows old enough to know better, who have +come all the way up here on purpose to shoot, both keenly competing as +to who shall have the privilege of remaining in camp, is comical--to say +the least of it." + +"Ah, I don't believe it--" said Nesta. + +"Not, eh? Well they have even gone so far as to toss for the +privilege." + +"And who won?" + +"Him they call Fleming. Where are you going to take him for his +afternoon stroll, Nessita? I warn you _we_ are going _down_ the +valley." + +"Then _we_ will go up it," laughed the girl. "Yes, I think he is the +best fun of the two." + +"A pair of great sillies, both of them," laughed Mrs Upward. + +"Steady. Here comes Fleming. But you won't see much of him. He is +only remaining behind with the express object of having an afternoon +snooze. Ta-ta--I'm off." + +Fleming, who was at that moment emerging from the dining tent came over +to the two ladies, and throwing himself on the ground, lighted another +cheroot and began to talk. He was still talking animatedly when the +shooters started. + +"I say, Fleming, when are you going to have your snooze?" called out +Bracebrydge nastily. "You don't look so sleepy now as you did--Ar--ha-- +ha!" The shooters proceeded on the plan laid down, except that +Bracebrydge suggested they should leave the ponies much sooner than was +at first intended. Then, being in a villainous temper, he shot badly, +and wondered what the devil they had come to such an infernally rotten +bit of shooting for, and cursed the attendant forest guard, and made a +studiously offensive remark or two to Campian, who received the same +with the silence of utter contempt. Before they had been at it an hour, +he flung down his gun and burst out with: + +"Look here Upward, I can't shoot a damn to-day, and my boot is chafing +most infernally. I shall be lame for a month if I walk any more. +Couldn't one of these fellows fetch my pony? I'll go back to camp." + +"All right, old chap; do just as you like," replied Upward, giving the +necessary orders. + +"Why not get on the gee, and ride on with us"--suggested Campian, +innocently. "The scenery is rather good further down." + +"Oh, damn the scenery! Look here though. I don't want to spoil you two +fellows' shoot. You go on. Don't wait for me. The nigger will be here +with the horse directly." + +"No. There's no point in waiting," assented Upward. "We'll go on eh, +Campian? So long, Bracebrydge." + +The two resumed their shoot, cutting down a bird here and a bird there, +and soon came together again. + +"That's a real show specimen, that man Bracebrydge," remarked Campian. +"What made you freeze on to him, Upward?" + +"Oh, I met him in the Shalalai club. I never took to the man, but he +was in with some others I rather liked. It was Fleming who brought him +up here." + +"So? But, do you know, it's a sorrowful spectacle to see a man of his +age--already growing grey--making such an egregious ass of himself. +Mind you, I'm not surprised at him being a little `gone'--she's a very +taking little girl--but to give himself away as he does, that's where +the lunacy of the affair comes in." + +Upward chuckled. + +"Bless your life, old chap, Bracebrydge isn't really `gone' there." + +"Not, eh? Then he's a bigger idiot than even I took him for, letting +himself go like that." + +"It's his way. He does just the same with every woman he comes across, +if she's at all decent-looking, and what's more is under the impression +she must be wildly `gone' on him; and by the way, some of them have +been. Wait till we get back to Shalalai; you may see some fun in that +line." + +"They must be greater fools even than himself. I'm not a woman-hater, +but really the sex can roll out some stupendous examples of defective +intelligence--but then, to be fair, so can our own--as for instance +Bracebrydge himself. What sort of place is this, Upward?" he broke off, +as they came upon a low tumble-down wall surrounding a tree; the +enclosure thus formed was strewn with loose horns, as of sheep and +goats, and yet not quite like them. + +"Why, it's a sort of rustic shrine, rigged up to some Mohammedan saint. +Isn't it, Bhallu Khan?" translating the remark. + +The forester reached over the wall, and picking up a markhor horn, worn +and weather-beaten, held it towards them. + +"He says it's where the people come to make offerings," translated +Upward. "When they want to have a successful stalk they vow a pair of +markhor horns at a place like this." + +"And then deposit it here, and then the noble Briton, if in want of such +a thing to hang in his hall, incontinently bones it, and goes home and +lies about it ever after," cut in Campian. "Isn't that how the case +stands?" + +"I don't think so. The horns wouldn't be good enough to make it worth +while." + +"I suppose not," examining the one tendered him by the forester. "I +didn't know the cultus of Saint Hubert obtained among Mohammedans. Do +these people have legends and local ghosts, and all that kind of thing?" + +"Rather. You just set old Bhallu Khan yarning--pity you can't +understand him though. Look. See that very tree over there?" pointing +out a large juniper. "He has a yarn about a fakir who used to jump +right over the top of it every day for a year." + +"So? What did he do that for? As a pious exercise?" + +"Something of the kind. But the joke of it is, the thing happened a +devil of a time ago. When I pointed out to him that any fool could have +done the same, considering that the tree needn't have been more than a +yard high, even then he hardly sees it." + +"I should doubt that, Upward. My opinion is that our friend Bhallu Khan +was endeavouring to pull his superior's leg when he told that story." + +"They are very stupid in some ways, though sharp as the devil in others. +And the odd part of it is that most of their local sacred yarns are of +the most absurd kind--well, like the tree and fakir story." + +"They are rather a poor lot these Baluchis, aren't they? They don't go +in for a lot of jewels, on their clothes and swords, like the Indian +rajahs?" + +"No. Some of the Afghan sirdars do, though--or at any rate used to." + +"So? And what became of them all?" + +"They have them still--though wait--let me see. There are yarns that +some are hidden away, so as not to fall into the hands of other tribes +as loot. There was a fellow named Keogh in our service who made a good +haul that way. A Pathan brought him an old battered sword belt, +encrusted with rough looking stones, which he had dug up, and wanted ten +rupees for it Keogh beat him down to five, and brought the thing as a +curio. How much do you think he sold it for?" + +"Well?" + +"Four thousand. The stones were sapphires." + +"Where was this?" asked Campian quickly. "Anywhere near here?" + +"No. Out the other side of Peshawur. You seem keen on the subject, old +chap! You haven't got hold of a notion there's anything to be done in +that line around here, eh?" + +"Hardly. This sort of country doesn't grow precious stones, I guess, +except precious big ones." + +"Where's Bracebrydge?" queried Upward, on their return to camp two hours +later. + +"He isn't back yet," replied Nesta, with a very mischievous laugh. + +"What? Why, he left us more than a couple of hours ago. What can have +become of the chap? He ought to have been back long before us." + +"He was back, but he started off again," said Mrs Upward. "This time +he went the other way"--whereat both Nesta and Fleming laughed +immoderately. + +"I think he started to hunt us up, didn't he, Mrs Upward?" spluttered +the latter. + +"Oh, I don't know. But--I believe you saw him and gave him the go-by"-- +whereat the inculpated pair exchanged glances, and spluttered anew. + +"I see," said Upward, amusing himself by beginning to tease Tinkles-- +whose growls and snaps afforded him considerable mirth. "How's his +chafed foot now--Oh-h!" The last as the little terrier, getting in a +bite, half play, half earnest, nipped him through his trousers. + +"He didn't say anything about his chafed foot. Why, here he comes." + +A very sulky looking horseman rode up and dismounted. Upon him Fleming +turned a fire of sly chaff; which had the effect of rendering +Bracebrydge sulkier than ever, and Bracebrydge sulky was not a pleasant +fellow by any means. He retorted accordingly. + +"Never mind, old chap," cut in Upward. "It's all right now, and nearly +dinner time. Let's all have a `peg.' Nothing like a `peg' to give one +an appetite." + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +OF THE RUBY SWORD. + +Not without reasons of his own had Campian made such careful and minute +inquiries as to the traditions and legends of the strange, wild country +in which his lot was temporarily cast, and the key to those reasons was +supplied in a closely-written sheet of paper which he was intently +studying on the morning after the above conversation. It was, in fact, +a letter. + +Not for the first or second time was he studying this. It had reached +him just after his arrival in the country, and the writer thereof was +his father. + +The latter had been a great traveller in his younger days, and was +brimful of Eastern experience; full too, of reminiscence, looking back +to perilous years passed among fierce, fanatical races, every day of +which represented just so many hours of carrying his life in his hand. +Now he was spending the evening of life in peace and quiet. This was +the passage which Campian was now studying: + +"It came to me quite as a surprise to hear you were in Afghanistan; had +I known you thought of going, there are a few things we might have +talked over together. I don't suppose the country is much changed. +Oriental countries never do change, any more than their people. + +"You remember that affair we have often talked about, when I saved the +life of the Durani emir, Dost Hussain, and the story of the hiding of +the ruby sword. It--together with the remainder of the treasure--was +buried in a cave in a long narrow valley called Kachin, running almost +due east and west. The mountain on the north side is pierced by a very +remarkable _tangi_, the walls of which, could they be closed, would fit +like the teeth of a steel trap. I never saw the place myself, but Dost +Hussain often used to tell me about it when he promised me half of the +buried valuables. I was not particular to go into the subject with him +in those days, for I had a strong repugnance to the idea of being paid +for saving a man's life; indeed I used to tell him repeatedly I did not +need so costly a gift. But he would not hear of my objections, +declaring that when he was able to return for his property half of it +should be mine, and I fully believe he would have kept his word, for he +was a splendid fellow--more like an Arab that an Asiatic. But Dost +Hussain was killed by the Brahuis, and, so far as I was concerned, the +secret of the hidden valuables died with him. The only man I know of +who shared it was his brother, the Syyed Ain Asraf, but he is probably +dead, or, at any rate must have recovered it long ago. The sword alone +would have been of immense value. I saw it once. Both hilt and +scabbard were encrusted with splendid rubies and other stones, but +mostly rubies--and there were other valuables. + +"It occurs to me that all this must have been hidden somewhere about +where you are now, and, if so, you might make a few inquiries. I would +like to know whether the sword was ever found or not. Find out if Ain +Asraf is still alive. If so, he must be very old now. It would be +interesting to me to hear how that affair ended, and would give an +additional object to your travels..." Then the letter went on to touch +upon other matters, and concluded. + +As we have said, it was not the first time Campian had pondered over +these words, but every time he did so something in them seemed to strike +him in a fresh light. Well he remembered hearing his father tell the +story by word of mouth, but at such time it had interested him _as_ a +story and no more. Now, however, that he was in the very scene of its +enactment, it seemed to gain tenfold interest. What if this buried +treasure had never been recovered, had lain hidden all these years. The +affair dated back to the forties. Afghanistan his father had called +it--but this was Afghanistan then. In those days it owned allegiance to +the Amir of Kabul. + +A long, narrow valley running almost due east and west! There were many +such valleys. And the _tangi_? Why the very _tangi_ at whose mouth +their camp was pitched was the only one cleaving the mountain range on +the northern side, and its configuration was exactly that of the one +described in his father's letter. He could not resist a thrill of the +pulses. What if this splendid treasure were in reality right under his +hand--if he only knew where to lay his hand upon it? There came the +rub. The mountain sides here and there were simply honeycombed with +caves. To strike the right one without some clue would be a forlorn +quest indeed; and he could talk neither Baluch nor Hindustani. The very +wildness of the possibility availed to quell any rising excitement to +which he might have felt inclined upon the subject; besides, was it +likely that this treasure--probably of double value, both on account of +its own worth, and constituting a sort of heirloom--would have been +allowed to lie buried for forty years or so, and eventually have been +forgotten? Somebody or other must have known its hiding place. No; any +possibility to the contrary must be simply chimerical. + +Just then the "chik" was lifted, and Upward's head appeared within the +tent. + +"Can I come in, old chap? Look here, we are all going on a little +expedition, so you roll out and come along. There's a bit of new +enclosed forest I want to look at and report on, so we are going to make +a picnic of it. There's a high _kotal_ between cliffs, which gives one +a splendid view; then we can go down into the valley, and home again +round another way, through a fine _tangi_ which is well worth seeing." + +"I'm right on, Upward. I'll roll out. Do you mind sending Khola in +with the bath?" + +"That's it. We are going to have breakfast a little earlier, and start +immediately afterwards. Will that suit you?" + +"To a hair!" + +The start was duly made, and Lily and Hazel found immense fun in +watching the efforts of the two knights of the sabre to secure the +privilege of riding beside Nesta, with the result that, as neither would +give way, the path, when it began to narrow, became inconveniently +crowded. The girl was looking very pretty in a light blouse and habit +skirt; her blue eyes dancing with mischievous mirth over the +recollection of the wild rush they had made to assist her to mount; and +how she, having accorded that privilege to Fleming, the other had +promptly taken advantage of it by manoeuvring his steed to the side of +hers, thus, for the time being, effectually "riding out" the much +disgusted Fleming. + +"What's the real name of this place, Upward?" said Campian, when they +were fairly under way. + +"Chirria Bach," said Lily. "We told you before. It was named after +you." + +"Not of thee did I humbly crave information, mine angelic Lil. I record +the fact more in sorrow than in anger," he answered. + +"It's called that on the Government maps," said Upward. "I think it has +another name--Kachin, I believe they call it--don't they, Bhallu Khan?" + +"_Ha, Huzoor_, Kachin," assented the forester, who was riding just +behind. + +"Is it the whole district, or only just this valley?" went on Campian. + +"Only just this valley," translated Upward, who had put the question to +the old Pathan. + +"Strange now--that I should be here, isn't it? I've heard my father +speak of this place. You know he was out here a lot--years ago--I +suppose there isn't another of the same name, is there?" + +"He says, nowhere near this part of the country," said Upward, rendering +Bhallu Khan's reply. "But what made your father mention this place in +particular? Was he in any row here?" + +"Perhaps he `missed birds' here, too," cut in the irrepressible Lily. +"I know. It was named after him--not you." + +"That's it. Of course it was. Now, I never thought of that before," +assented Campian, with a stare of mock amazement. "I believe, however, +Upward, that as a matter of fact, he remembered the rather remarkable +formation of that _tangi_ behind the camp." + +Then he dropped out of the conversation, and thought over what he had +just heard. Truly this thing was becoming interesting. He had located +the very place. There could be no mistake about that. He had been on +the point of asking if Bhallu Khan had heard the story of the flight of +the Durani chief, or of Syyed Ain Asraf, but decided to let that alone +for the present. + +"Who is that bounder, Campian?" Bracebrydge was saying. "Does anyone +know?" + +"He isn't a `bounder,'" returned Nesta shortly. "He's awfully nice." + +"Oh, awfully nice--ah--ha--ha--ha!" sneered Bracebrydge, with his +vacuous laugh. "Very sorry. Didn't know he was such a friend of +yours." + +"But he is." + +"Pity he goes about looking such a slouch then, isn't it?" + +"It would be--if he did. But then everybody doesn't see the sense of +knocking about among rocks and stones got up as if he was just turned +out of a band box, Major Bracebrydge," she returned, quite angrily. + +"Oh. Sorry I spoke--ah--ha--ha!" he retorted, recognising a shaft +levelled at his own immaculate turnout. Fleming came to the rescue. + +"Don't know what's wrong with this fellow, Miss Cheriton. He's been so +crusty the last day or two. He ought to be invalided. Bracebrydge, old +man, buck up." + +A couple of hours of easy riding, and the whole party gained the +_kotal_, to which we heard Upward make reference, and his eulogy of the +view afforded therefrom was in no sense undeserved. Right in front the +ground fell abruptly, well nigh precipitously, to a great depth; and in +the valley, or basin beneath, here and there a plot of flat land under +cultivation stood out green among the rolling furrows of grey rock and +sombre vegetation. Opposite rose a mighty mass of mountain, piled up +tier upon tier of great cliffs, and beyond this, far away to the left, a +lofty range dark with juniper, swept round to meet the heights which +shut in the amphitheatre from that side. Down into this the bridle path +over the _kotal_ wound, looking like a mere crack in a wall. A great +crag towered right overhead, its jutting pinnacles and ledges standing +defiantly forth against the sky. + +"Not a bad spot for a picnic, is it?" said Upward complacently, as, +having dismounted, they stood taking in the view. + +"By Jove, no," said Fleming. "Phew! what an idea of depth it conveys, +looking right down into that hole. Look Miss Cheriton. There are some +people moving down there. They seem about as big as flies." + +"How big are flies? I always thought flies were small?" cut in Lily, +the irrepressible. + +"Not always. Depends upon the fly," murmured Campian. + +"Well, I shall have to leave you people for a while," said Upward. +"There's a new plantation up the hill I want to look at. Sha'n't be +more than an hour, and we can have tiffin then. It's quite early yet." + +"I'll go with you, Upward," said Campian. And the two started, attended +by Bhallu Khan, mounted on his wiry Baluch pony. + +"I'm getting deadly sick of that fellow Bracebrydge," began Upward. "I +wish to heaven he'd clear. He always wants to boss the whole show as if +it belonged to him. Did you hear him trying to dictate where we were to +pitch the tiffin camp?" + +"Yes." + +"He always does that sort of thing, or tries to be funny at somebody +else's expense. I'm getting jolly sick of it." + +He was still more sick of it, when, on returning, he found that +Bracebrydge had carried his point, and actually had caused a removal of +the said site. However, Upward was of an easy going disposition, though +addicted to occasional fidgety fits, so he came to the conclusion that +it couldn't be helped now, and didn't really matter after all, and the +tiffin was plenteous and good, and the soda water well cooled. So they +fed, and chatted, and had a good time generally. + +"I say, Upward. Can't someone throw a few bottles at that brute?" +remarked Bracebrydge, as, cheroots having been lit, the male element +stretched at full length on the ground, was lazily puffing at the same. +"He'll crack the drum of one's blessed ears directly, the howling +lunatic." + +The noise complained of was a soft, melancholy, wailing sound, something +between a flute and a concertina, and it proceeded from one of the +forest guard, who was tootling into some instrument of native make. + +"Does it _dik_ you, old chap?" replied Upward good naturedly. "I can +shut him up, but we rather like it. Bulbul Khan swears he invented that +instrument himself, and is immensely proud of it. We look upon him as +our Court minstrel of sorts. He's always tuning up when we go out +anywhere. Never without his pipes." + +"What did you say the _soor's_ name was?" growled Bracebrydge. + +"Bulbul Khan. That's my name for him," laughed Upward. "His real +name's Babul Han, but I christened him Bulbul Khan, because he's always +making melody. Not bad, eh?" + +"Oh yes--beastly funny--Ah--ha--ha--ha!" sneered Bracebrydge. + +Now the trampling of horse hoofs arrested the attention of the party, +and about a dozen mounted Baluchis, riding at a foot's pace, emerged +from the juniper forest. They made a picturesque group enough in their +white flowing garments and great turbans. + +"Why, who can these be?" said Nesta, gazing upon the new arrivals with +some interest. "Who are they, Mrs Upward?" + +"I'll ask Bhallu Khan." Then--"He says it is a sirdar of the Marris, +who has been up to Gushki to see the Political Agent, and is on his way +home." + +"So?" said Campian, interested. "Wonder if he'd stop and have a talk. +Upward, roll up, old man. I want you to interview this very big swell." + +"We don't want to be `dikked' by a lot of niggers," grunted Bracebrydge, +in an audible aside. + +The cavalcade had halted some threescore yards away, and one of the men +now came forward to ask if the "jungle-wallah sahib" was there, because +the Sirdar Yar Hussain Khan would be glad to have a talk with him on an +official matter. + +"Yar Hussain Khan?" repeated Upward, choking back a yawn. "I say, +Campian, you'd better take a good look at this fellow. He's no end of a +big chief among the Marris, though he's really of Afghan descent. Come +along with me and meet him." Then, turning to the Baluchi, he gave the +necessary answer. + +All the party were armed with the inevitable tulwar--four of their +number, who were in immediate attendance on the chief, with Martini +rifles as well. These, however, they laid down, as, having dismounted, +they advanced to meet Upward. + +The sirdar himself was a man of stately presence, standing over six +feet. His strong, handsome face, with its flowing black beard, was well +set off by the great turban wound round a blue _kulla_, whose conical +peak was just visible above the snowy folds. Two jetty tresses of long +hair fell over his broad chest, almost to the hem of a rich vest of blue +velvet embroidered with gold; the only colour which relieved his white +garments. Campian, for his part, as he returned the other's handshake, +and noted the free, full fearlessness of the glance which met his, +decided that here indeed was a noble specimen of an Oriental chieftain. + +The subject of the latter's official talk with Upward was of no especial +importance, relating merely to certain grazing rights in dispute between +a section of his tribesmen and the Government. Then he accepted an +invitation to sit down and smoke a cigarette. But with the remainder of +the party he did not offer to shake hands, acknowledging their presence +by a dignified salute. + +Upward, talking in Hindustani, brought round the conversation to matters +semi-political. "Was there anything in the rumours that had got about, +that the tribes were becoming restless all over the country?" + +"The tribes always had been restless," was Yar Hussain's reply. "The +English had taken over the country not so very long ago. Was it likely +that the people could change their nature all at once? The English +sahibs found sport in stalking markhor or tiger shooting or in other +forms of _shikar_. The Baluchis found it in raiding. It was their form +of _shikar_." + +Campian, who perforce had to await Upward's interpretation, had been +carefully observing their visitors, and noted that one among the chiefs +attendants was gazing at him with a most malevolent stare. This man +never took his glance off him, and when their eyes met that glance +became truly fiendish. + +"That's a first-class explanation, and a candid one," was the comment he +made on Upward's rendering. "Tell him I hope they won't take any more +potshots at me when I'm wandering about alone--like they did that night +I arrived at your camp, Upward. Tell him I rather like the look of +them, and wish I could talk, so I could go in and out among them." + +A slight smile came over the dignified gravity of the sirdar's features +as this was interpreted to him, and he replied. + +"He says," translated Upward, "he will be very pleased if at any time +you should visit his village. The shooting at you he knows nothing +about, but is sure it could not have been done by any of his people." + +Campian, looking up, again met the hostile glance above mentioned. The +man, who was seated a little behind his chief, was regarding him with a +truly fiendish scowl, and noting it he decided upon two things--that Yar +Hussain was a very fine fellow indeed, but that if he had any more +followers of the stamp of this malignant savage, it were better for +himself or any other infidel who desired to live out his length of days +to pause ere accepting this cordially worded invitation. Then, after a +few more interchanges of civilities, the sirdar and his followers rose +to take their leave. + +Now the diabolical scowl wherewith that particular Baluchi had greeted +him, Campian at first set down to the natural hatred of a more than +ordinarily fanatical Moslem for the infidel and the invader. But as the +other drew nearer, spitting forth low envenomed curses, he half expected +the Ghazi mania would prove too much for the man, even in the presence +of his chief, and his hand instinctively moved behind him to his pistol +pocket. The fellow however, seemed to think better of it. + +"Fine specimen, that sirdar, isn't he?" said Upward, as they watched the +party defiling down the steep hill path into the valley beneath. + +"He is. By the way, did you notice the infernal scowl that hook-nosed +brigand of his turned on for my benefit all the time you were talking?" + +"I thought he wasn't looking at you very amiably when they went away. +He can see you're a stranger, I suppose, and some of these fanatical +devils hate a stranger." + +"There was more in it than that, Upward. Did you happen to notice he +walked with a slight limp?" + +"No; I hardly--er yes, by the way, now I think of it, I did." + +"Well, what if he should turn out to be the very identical cuss I winged +that night?" + +"Phew!" whistled Upward. "But then, Bhallu Khan says they were Brahuis. +These are Marris." + +"There may have been both among them. What is the sirdar's name, +again?" + +"Yar Hussain Khan." + +"Yes. Well, Sirdar Yar Hussain Khan seems a very nice fellow, and I +should much like to see him again; but probably I sha'n't, for the +simple reason that I don't in the least want ever to behold that +particularly abominable follower of his again." + +But he little thought under what circumstances he was destined to behold +both again. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +THE TANGI. + +"It's a thundering mistake allowing these fellows to wander all over the +country armed, like that," said Upward, commenting on their late +visitors, while preparations were being made for a start. "They are +never safe while they carry about those beastly tulwars. A fellow may +take it into his head to cut you down at any moment. If he has nothing +to do it with he can't; if he has he will. Government ought to put the +Arms Act into force." + +"Then there'd be a row," suggested Campian. + +"Let there be. Anything rather than this constant simmering. Not a +week passes but some poor devil gets stuck when he least expects it--in +broad daylight, too--on a railway station platform, or in the bazaar, or +anywhere. For my part, I never like to have any of these fellows +walking close behind me." + +"No, I don't want either of you. I've had enough of you both for +to-day. I'm going to ride with Mr Campian now. I want to talk to him +a little." + +Thus Nesta Cheriton's clear voice, which of course carried far enough to +be heard by the favoured one, as she intended it should. The pair of +discomfited warriors twirled their moustaches with mortification, but +their way of accepting the situation was characteristic, for while +Fleming laughed good-humouredly, if a trifle ruefully, Bracebrydge's +tone was nasty and sneering, as he replied: + +"Variety is charming, they say, Miss Cheriton. Good thing for some of +us we are not all alike--ah--ha--ha!" + +"I quite agree with you there," tranquilly remarked Campian, at whom +this profoundly original observation was levelled. Then he assisted +Nesta to mount. + +The path down from the _kotal_ was steep and narrow, and the party was +obliged to travel single file. Finally it widened out as they gained +the more level valley bottom. Here were patches of cultivation, and +scattered among the rocks and stones was a flock of black goats, herded +by a wild looking native clad in a weather-beaten sheepskin mantle, and +armed with a long _jezail_ with a sickle shaped stock. Two wolfish curs +growled at the passers by, while their master uttered a sulky "salaam." +A blue reek of smoke rose from in front of a misshapen black tent, +consisting of little more than a hide stretched upon four poles, beneath +whose shelter squatted a couple of frowsy, copper-faced women. Two or +three more smoke wreaths rising at intervals from the mountain side, and +the distant bark of a dog, betokened the vicinity of other wandering +herdsmen. + +"I never seem to see anything of you now," said the girl suddenly, +during a pause in the conversation, which up till then had been upon the +subject of the surrounding and its influences. + +"Really? That sounds odd, for I have been under the impression that we +are looking at each other during the greater portion of every day, and +notably when we sit opposite each other at the not very wide, but +pre-eminently festive board." + +"Don't be annoying. You know what I mean." + +"That we don't go out chikor shooting together any more. You may +remember I foretold just such a possibility on the last occasion of our +joint indulgence in that pastime." + +"Well but--why don't we?" + +"For exactly the reason I then foretold. You seem better employed. I +amuse myself watching the fun instead." + +She looked at him quickly. Was he jealous? Nesta Cheriton was so +accustomed to be spoiled and adored and competed for and quarrelled over +by the stronger sex, that she could hardly realise any member of the +same remaining indifferent to her charms. As a matter of fact, this one +was not indifferent. He appreciated them. Her blue-eyed, golden-haired +prettiness was pleasant to behold, in the close, daily intercourse of +camp life. He liked to notice her pretty ways, and there was something +rather alluring in her half affectionate and wholly confidential manner +towards himself. But--jealous? Oh no--no. He had lived too long, and +had too much experience of life for that phase of weakness. Nesta was +disappointed. She read no symptoms of the same in his face, her ear +detected no trace of bitterness or resentment in the tone. + +"But I want to go out with you sometimes," she said. "Why do you avoid +me so of late?" + +"My dear child, you never made a greater mistake in your life than in +thinking that. Here we are, you see, all crowded up together. We can't +all be talking at once--and--I thought you rather enjoyed the fun of +playing those two Johnnies off against each other." + +"Ah, I'm sick of them. I wish they'd go back to Shalalai." + +"I don't altogether believe that. Which is the favoured one, by the +way?" + +"No, really. I rather like Captain Fleming, though." She laughed, +branching off with the light-hearted inconsequence of her type. "And--I +don't know what to do. He's awfully gone on me." + +"And are you `awfully gone' on him?" + +"Of course not. But I rather like him. I don't know what to do about +it." + +"You don't know whether to buckle yourself for life to some one you +`rather like'--or not. Is that the long and short of it?" + +"Yes." + +"If you are a little idiot, Nessie, you will do it--if you are not, you +won't. You are dreadfully lacking in ballast, my child, even to dream +of such a thing, are you not?" + +"I suppose so. I don't care a straw for anybody for more than a week or +so. Then I am just as sick of them as I can be. That's how I am." + +"Except on that solitary occasion when you did take someone seriously. +Tell me about that, Nessita." + +"No--no!" + +"But you promised to, one of these days. Why not now?" + +"What a tease you are. I won't tell it you now. No--nor ever. +There!--Hark! Wasn't that thunder?" she broke off suddenly. + +"Yes. It's a long way off, though, travelling down yonder ridge. Won't +come near us." + +Away along the summit of the further range a compact mass of cloud now +rested, and from this came a low distant peal. It represented one of +the thunderstorms common at that time of year, restricted in locality, +and of limited area. They gave it no further thought, and the +conversation running on from one subject to another, now grave, now gay, +carried them a long way over the road. The rest of the party were far +ahead. Bracebrydge was consoling himself by teasing Lily, and receiving +from that young person, not unaided by Hazel, many a repartee fully up +to the viciousness of his own thrusts. Fleming was riding with Mrs +Upward, while Upward and Bhallu Khan were constantly diverging from the +road, inspecting various botanical subjects with professional eye. Thus +Nesta and Campian, whether by accident or design of the former, +gradually dropped behind. Again, a long low boom of thunder pealed out +upon the stillness of the air. + +"That's much nearer?" exclaimed the girl, looking up. "I say! I wish +it wouldn't! I don't like thunder." + +"Scared of it?" + +"Rather. What shall we do if it comes right over?" + +"There may be some shelter of sorts further on. Meanwhile, don't think +about it. Go on talking to me. What subject shall we find to wrangle +about?" + +She laughed, and very soon found a subject; and thus they continued +their way, until the path opened out from the narrow, stony, +juniper-grown valley they had been descending, on to a wide, open plain, +utterly destitute of foliage of any kind. The bulk of the party were +now visible again, further in advance, looking mere specks, nearly three +miles distant. + +"They will be in the _tangi_ directly," said Nesta, shading her eyes to +watch the distant figures. "There, they are in it now," as the latter +disappeared in what looked like the mountain side itself, for no rift +was discernible from where these two now rode. + +"We had better get on, hadn't we?" urged Campian. + +"Oh no. I hate hurrying, and there's no earthly reason why we should." + +So they held on at the same foot's pace over the plain, which stretched +its weary desolation far on either side of them. Here and there a great +hump of earth, streaked with white gypsum, relieved the dead level +monotony, but not a living thing--man, beast or bird--was in sight. Not +even a sound was audible, except the deep-toned growl of the thunder, +growing louder as they neared the mountain wall. + +"Good study for a subject illustrating the jaws of Death," remarked +Campian, as, now before them, the mountain seemed to yawn apart in a +vertical fissure, which the stupendous height of the cliffs on either +hand caused to appear as a mere slit. + +"Yes. And--it's beginning to rain." + +Large drops were pattering down as they entered the jaws of the great +chasm, but once within them there was shelter for a space, for the +cliffs took an abrupt slant over at about a hundred feet above, so that +the sky was no longer visible. A trickle of muddy water was already +running down the stony footway. This should have warned Campian, at any +rate; but then his experience of the country and this particular feature +thereof, was not large. Nesta shivered. + +"I don't like this at all," she said. "It is horrible. What if the +_tangi_ should come down?" + +The other glanced upward. The cliff walls were smooth and straight. +Not a sign of ledge or projection to afford a foothold, no clinging +shrub or tree anchored in a cleft. + +"Shall we go back?" he said. "There must be some way over." + +"No, no. I came through here once before, and I remember Mr Upward +saying it would take a whole day to cross over the mountain. The +_tangi_ is only about a mile long." + +"That means twenty minutes riding slow. Come along. We shall soon do +it." + +But, even as his tone was, an ugly picture came before the speaker's +mind--that of a rush of black water many feet high, syphoned between +those smooth walls. Anxiously but furtively his glance scanned them as +they rode along. + +As the narrowness of the passage wound and widened a little, the sky +once more became visible overhead. The sky? But it had clouded over, +and the rain fell somewhat smartly now upon the two wayfarers. A blue +gleam of lightning shot down into the depths, and the reverberating peal +which followed was as though telephoned in menacing boom through this +tube-like chasm. Hundreds and hundreds of feet they towered up now, +those iron-bound walls. It was like penetrating deeper and deeper into +the black heart of the mountain. + +"See that place up there?" said Nesta, pointing to a kind of slanting +ledge quite twenty feet above and which might be reached by a strong +climber, though even then with difficulty. "Last time we came through +here, Bhallu Khan told us that two men had been overtaken by a rush, and +succeeded in getting to that point; but even there the water had reached +one of them and swept him away. Horrible, isn't it?" + +"Very likely he invented the whole thing. He has an excellent +imagination, has our friend Bhallu Khan." + +This he said to reassure her, not that he thought the incident +improbable. Indeed, glancing up at the spot indicated, he saw that +evidence in the shape of sticks and straws was not wanting to show that +the water had at some time reached that altitude, and the idea was not +pleasant. In the vivid sunshine of a cloudless day it would have added +interest to their way; now, with a gathering storm breaking over their +heads, and another half mile of what might at any moment become a raging +death-trap before them, it was dismal. + +Another turn of the chasm, and the way, which had hitherto been level +and pebbly, now led up over steep and slippery slabs. It became +necessary to dismount, and here--Nesta's pony which she was leading, for +it became necessary to adopt single file, slipped and fell badly on its +side. By the time the terrified beast was on its legs again, shivering +and snorting, and sufficiently soothed down to resume the way, some +precious minutes had been lost. + +"We might mount again now," said Campian, noting that the way was +smoother. "Come. Jump up." + +But instead of placing her foot in the hand held ready to receive it, +the girl stood as though turned to stone. Every drop of blood had +forsaken her face, which was now white as that of a marble statue, her +lips ashy and quivering. + +"Hark!" she breathed, rather than uttered. "It is coming! We are +lost!" + +His own countenance changed, too. He had heard it as soon as herself-- +that dull raving roar, echoing with hollow metallic vibration along the +rock walls. His heart almost died within him before the awfulness of +this peril. + +"Oh no, nothing like that," he replied. "We must race it. We shall +distance it yet, if we only keep our heads." + +The while he had put her into the saddle. Then taking the bridle, he +began to lead her pony over the dangerous point of the way. The brute +slipped and stumbled, now sliding, now about to pitch headlong, but both +got through. + +"Now for it, Nessie. Give him all the pace you can, but keep him in +hand. We'll race it easily." + +Down the _tangi_ now, giving their steeds all the rein they dared, these +two rode for dear life. Then Nesta's pony stumbling over a loose stone, +came right down, unhorsing his rider. + +"Don't leave me! Oh don't leave me!" she shrieked despairingly. "I +can't move, my skirt is caught." + +"Leave you. Is it likely? What do you take me for?" came his reply, as +in a moment he was dismounted and beside her. "Keep your head. It will +be all right in a moment. There!" as a vigorous tug brought the skirt +clear of the fallen animal, which lay as though stunned. + +But as she gained her feet, the dull hollow booming, which had been +deepening ever behind them, became suddenly a roar of such terrible and +appalling volume, that Campian's steed, with a wild snort of alarm +jerked the bridle rein from his hand, and bolted wildly down the pass. +It all came before him as in a lightning flash. The utter hopelessness +of the situation. The flood had turned the corner of the reach they +were now in. He saw it shoot out from the projecting ridge, and hurl +itself with thunderous shock against the opposite rock face. Hissing +and bellowing it sprung high in the air, then, flung back, amid a vast +cloud of spray, it roared down upon them. One glance and only one, lest +the terror of the sight should paralyse him, and he realised that in +about two or three minutes that flood would be hurling their lifeless +bodies from side to side against those grim rock walls. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +THE DARK JAWS OF DEATH. + +All as in a lightning flash some flicker of hope returned. For he saw +they were underneath the place which Nesta pointed out to him as having +afforded refuge to at any rate one in their position. It was their only +chance. Hope well nigh died again. To climb there alone would be +something of an undertaking--but with a helpless girl-- + +Yet he reached that point of refuge, but how he did so Campian never +knew--never will know to his dying day. The superhuman effort; the +hellish deafening din of the black flood as it shot past, so near as to +splash them, clinging there to the steep rock face, not more than half +way up to the place of refuge; of the words of encouragement which he +whispered to his half-fainting charge athwart the thunder-roar of the +waters, as he literally dragged her up beside him; of the tearing +muscles and cracking joints, and blazing, scintillating brain--of all +these he has a dim and confused recollection, and can only attribute the +accomplishment of the feat to a well nigh superhuman mania of +desperation. + +Higher still! No time for a pause or rest--no permanent foothold is +here--and the waters are still rising. He dared not so much as look +down. The daze of the lightning striking upon the rock face aided his +efforts. The crash of the thunder peal was as entirely drowned in the +bellowing and strident seething of this huge syphoned flood, as though +it were silent. + +The refuge at last, but what a refuge! Only by the most careful +distribution of weight could two persons support themselves on it for +any length of time. It was hardly even a ledge, hardly more than a mere +unevenness in the rock's surface. Yet, one of these two persons was a +terribly frightened and far from robust girl; the other seemed to have +expended air the strength within him in the effort of getting there at +all. Thus they clung, mere pigmy atoms against this stupendous cliff +wall; suspended over the seething hell of waters that would have churned +the life out of them within a moment or so of reaching its surface. + +"There! We are safe now!" he gasped, still panting violently after the +exertion. "We have only to wait until the water runs off. It will soon +do that, you know." + +"No, it will not," she replied, her blue eyes wide with terror, and +shudderingly turning her face to the cliff to avoid the awfulness of the +sight. "It may take days. The _tangi_ by the camp took a whole night +once. It was the night you came." + +"Well, even then? Upward will have had time to get through safely, +ample time, and at the first opportunity they will come for us." + +"They won't find us," she moaned. "You know that place I showed you +where Bhallu Khan told us the water had risen high enough to sweep a man +off. It was higher than this." + +"I think not I think this is the higher of the two," he answered +mendaciously. In her fear she had not recognised the place, and he +would not undeceive her. For his part, he blessed the chance that had +put the idea into his head. But for her having narrated the incident as +they rode past, it might never have occurred to him that the attempt was +feasible, and--what then? + +"We mustn't discount the worst," he went on. + +"The chances of it rising any higher are _nil_, and even if it does, +there is plenty of margin before it reaches us. It isn't as if it were +a case of an incessant and regular downpour. It is only one of those +sharp afternoon thunder showers that run off these great slab-like rocks +as off a roof on a huge scale. My dear little girl, you must be brave, +and thank Heaven we were able to fetch this place at all. Look, I +believe it has run off a little lower already." + +"Oh, no--no! I can't look. It is horrible--horrible!" she answered, as +venturing one peep forth, she again hid her face, shuddering. + +And in truth her terror was little to be wondered at. It was growing +dusk now in the world without, and the roar and hiss of the vast flood +coursing with frightful velocity between those grim, cavernous cliffs in +the shades, would have tried the nerves of anybody contemplating the +scene from the impartial vantage ground of a place of safety. How then +did it seem to these two, crouching on a steep slant of rock, whose +unevenness alone sustained them in position; cowering over this awful +flood, which might at any moment, rising higher, sweep them into a +horrible death? And then, that the situation should lose nothing of its +terror, Campian noticed, with a sinking of the heart, that the water +actually was rising. + +Yes. A mark upon the iron-bound face of the opposite cliff, which had +caught his attention on first being able to look round, was now covered. +Was it the gathering gloom, or had the scratch been washed away? No. +The latter was stratified. The water had risen nearly two feet. + +The depth at first he judged to be about ten feet. Two more had been +added. He fixed another mark. The roaring was already so fearful it +could hardly be increased. The hissing, boiling eddies of the rush, +leaped over the new mark, then subsided--leaped again, and this time did +not subside. They streamed over, hiding it completely. And still the +rain poured down pitilessly, and he thought he could detect a peal of +thunder above the roar of the waters, which suggested a renewed burst +over the very catchment area which had supplied this flood. Well, he +had done what he could. The end was not in his hands. + +"Oh-h--how cold it is!" moaned Nesta. + +"Of course; I was forgetting," he replied, with great difficulty +divesting himself of his coat, for hardly so much as a finger could be +spared in the effort involved to hold himself--to hold both of them--in +position. But it was done at last, and the garment, all too light, he +wrapped around the girl's shivering form. She uttered a feeble protest, +which took not much overruling. + +"What a precious pair of drowned rats we must look, Nessita," he said; +"and what a sight we shall be when they find us in the morning." + +"But they never will find us in the morning--not me, at any rate." + +"Won't they? They will though, and you will be the first to think of +the appearances. Why, that pretty curled fringe that I and those two +sodger Johnnies were eager to die for a little while ago is all over the +shop. You should just see it now." + +Thus he bantered, as though they were in the snug dining tent at +Upward's camp instead of amid a raving hell of terror and of imminent +death. But the while the man's heart died within him, for in the last +faint touch of light he noticed that yet another mark, higher than the +rest, had disappeared. + +"I wonder which of those two Johnnies aforesaid would give most to be +able to change places with me now," he went on, still bantering. "Or, +at any rate, won't they just say so to-morrow? Here, you must get up +close to me," he said, drawing her right to him. "It will serve the +double purpose of keeping you from going overboard and keeping you +warmer, and me too, perhaps." + +If ever there was time and place for conventionality, assuredly it was +not here. Her violent shivering quieted down as she nestled against +him. The warmth of the contact and the additional sense of protection +combined to work wonders. + +"Now, talk to me," he said; "or try and go to sleep, if you would +rather. I'll take care you don't fall over." + +"Sleep? I don't suppose I shall ever sleep again." + +"Rather, you will. And, Nessie, shall I tell you something you'd rather +like to hear? The water is already beginning to go down." + +"What else has it been doing ever since we came up here?" + +"That's right!" he cried, delighted at this little spark of the old fun +loving nature reasserting itself. "But, bar jokes, it really is +lowering. I have kept an eye upon certain marks that were covered just +now. They are visible again." + +The rain had ceased. The bellowing of the flood was as loud as ever, +and but that they were talking into each other's ears, their voices +would have been well nigh inaudible. What he had said was true, and +with a great gladness of heart, he recognised the fact. + +"No, no! You are only saying that to make me think it is all right," +she answered, the wild eagerness in her tone betraying something of the +strain she had undergone. "It can't be really--is it? Say--is it +really?" + +"It is really, so far as I can judge. But it has turned so confoundedly +dark, one can hardly see anything. Keep up your spirits, child. You +have had an adventure, that's all." + +"Well, you are a good one to share it with," she murmured. "Tell me, +were you ever afraid of anything in your life?" + +"I should rather think I was, of heaps of things. I should have been +hideously so before we started to climb up here, only there wasn't time. +Oh don't make any mistake about me. I know what funk is, and that of +the bluest kind." + +Thus he talked on, lightly, cheerily, and the girl, if she could not +quite forget her numbness and terror and exhaustion, was conscious of no +small alleviation of the same. It was pitch dark now, but the thunder +of the waters, and the cavernous rattle of the stones and pebbles swept +along by their rush, seemed to have abated in volume. An hour went by, +then two. Nesta, half asleep, was answering drowsily. The gloom of the +great chasm lightened. A full moon had risen over the outside world, +and its rays were penetrating even to these forbidding depths. The +roaring of the flood had become a mere purling ripple. The water had +almost run off. + +Campian was becoming frightfully exhausted. Not much longer could he +support this strain. Would Upward never arrive? He had succeeded, +providentially, in climbing up here, under stress of desperation, but to +descend safely now, cramped and exhausted as they both were, would be +impossible. A broken neck, or a broken limb or two, would be the sure +and certain result of any such attempt. + +As the moon-rays brightened, he could make out the bottom of the +_tangi_, and it looked hideously far down, almost as if the rush of +water had worn it deeper. It was all seamed and furrowed up, and the +water was now babbling down in several little streams. Would help never +arrive! + +Ha! At last! Voices--native voices--then, although talking in an +Oriental tongue, other voices, recognisable as European ones. The sound +was coming down the _tangi_. + +"Wake up, Nessita. Here they are, at last." + +But the girl had already heard, and started up with a suddenness which +would have hurled her to the base of the cliff but for his restraining +grasp. + +"Wait, wait!" he urged. "Be doubly careful now. We don't want to break +our necks after a narrow shave of drowning." Then lifting up his voice, +he gave forth a mighty shout. + +It was answered--answered by several voices. In the moonlight they +could make out figures hurrying down the _tangi_. + +"Where are you?" sung out Upward, who led the way. Then he stopped +short, with an ejaculation of amazement, as the answer revealed the +objects of his search high overhead. "Good heavens! how did you get up +there?" + +"Never mind now. What _we_ want to know is how to get down." + +But with Bhallu Khan and one of his forest guard were two or three +sturdy Baluchis, who had joined the party--all wiry mountaineers--and by +dint of making a kind of human pyramid against the rock wall, the pair +were landed safely beneath. + +Then many were the questions and answers and ejaculations, as the full +peril of the situation became apparent. Those who had undergone it had +not much to say. Nesta seemed half dazed with exhaustion and recent +terror, while Campian declared himself too infernally tired to talk. +Fleming however produced a flask, which went far to counteract the cold +and wet. The whole party was there. They had got safely through the +_tangi_, when the rain began to come down in torrents, and in an +incredibly short space of time the slab-like slopes of the hills had +poured down a vast volume into the dry nullah, which drained the valley +area. They themselves were through only just in time, but had felt no +great anxiety on account of the other two, reckoning them so far behind +that the impassability of the _tangi_ would be obvious to them directly +they reached it. Of course they would not attempt it. But to find them +here, half way through--saved as by a miracle, and then with the loss of +two horses--no, they had not reckoned upon that. + +All this Upward explained. Then, looking up at their place of refuge: + +"I don't suppose there's another place in the whole length of the +_tangi_ you could have taken refuge in, and how the mischief you ever +got to this one is a mystery to me." + +"Well, for the matter of that, so it is to me, Upward," rejoined +Campian. "I'm perfectly certain I couldn't do it again for a thousand +pounds." + +"Why, that's the place a man was swept off from the year before last. +Isn't it, Bhallu Khan?" + +"_Ha, Huzoor_!" asserted the forester, taking in the burden of their +talk. + +"Well, you've had a narrow escape, old chap--both of you have. I don't +know how you did it, but here you are. We were coming back to look for +you, thinking you had got turned round, and might get trying some other +way back, and this isn't an over-safe country for a couple of strangers +to get lost in at night. By the way, I can't make out why you got so +far behind. More than once we kept signalling you to come on. It +occurred to us you might miss the way. Didn't you see us?" + +"No." + +"None so blind as those who won't see--ah--ha--ha--ha!" sneered +Bracebrydge, tailing off his vacuous laugh in would-be significance. +But of this remark Campian took absolutely no notice. It was not the +first time Bracebrydge had rendered himself offensive and quarrelsome in +the presence of ladies, and the inherent caddishness of this gallant +worthy was best recognised by the silence of contempt. + +It was late before the party reached camp--later still when they got to +bed. All was well that ended well--so far, that is, for Nesta +Cheriton's nervous system had received a shock, which rendered her more +or less out of sorts for some time, during which time, however, +Bracebrydge and Fleming were recalled to Shalalai. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +AFTER LONG YEARS. + +"Let's get the ponies, and jog over and look up Jermyn. Shall we, +Campian?" said Upward, during breakfast a few mornings later. + +"I'm on. But--who's Jermyn when he's at home?" + +"He isn't at home. He's out here now," cut in Lily. + +"Smart young party, Lil," said Campian, with an approving nod. "And who +is he when he's out here now?" + +"Why, Jermyn, of course." + +"Thanks. That's precisely what I wanted to know. Thanks, fair Lilian. +Thine information is as terse as it is precise." + +"_I_ should say _Colonel_ Jermyn if I were you, Lily," expostulated that +young person's mother; whereat Hazel crowed exultantly, and Campian +laughed. The latter went on: + +"As I was saying, Upward, before we were interrupted, who is Jermyn?" + +"Oh, he's a Punjab cavalry man up here on furlough. He's had fever bad, +and even Shalalai wasn't high enough for him, though he doesn't want to +go home, so he rented my forest bungalow for the summer. It's about +eight miles in the Gushki direction. You haven't been that way yet." + +"So? And what does Jermyn consist of?" + +"Eh? Ah, I see. Himself and a niece." + +"What sort of a niece?" + +"Hideous," cut in Hazel. + +"Really, I can't allow that sort of libel to pass, even for a joke," +said Mrs Upward. "She isn't hideous at all. Some people admire her +immensely." + +"Pff!" ejaculated Lily, tip tilting her nose in withering scorn. "Too +black." + +"Mr Campian likes them that way," cackled Hazel. "At least, he used +to," added this imp, with a meaning look across the table at Nesta. "I +was only humbugging. She isn't really hideous. We'll ride over too, +eh, Lil?" + +"No, you won't--not much," retorted Upward decisively. "You two are a +precious deal too fond of running wild as it is, and you can just stay +at home for once. Besides, we don't want you at all. We may take on +some chikor on the way, or start after some from Jermyn's. Shall you be +ready in half an hour, Campian?" + +The latter replied in the affirmative, and they rose from the table. +While they were preparing to start, he observed Nesta standing alone +under the trees. + +"Well, Nessita, and of what art thou thinking?" he said, coming behind +her unnoticed. She started. + +"Of nothing. I never think. It's too much trouble." + +"Phew! Don't take it so much to heart. They'll soon be back." + +"What a tease you are," she retorted petulantly. "I hope they won't. +If you only knew how sick I am of the pair of them." + +"That so? I was going to say you'd have to make shift with me for the +next few days, but--There, it's a sin to tease her. What's the matter? +You're not looking up to your usual brilliancy of form and colouring, +little girl." + +"Oh, I've got a most beastly headache. I'm going to try and go to sleep +all day, if those two wretched children will let me." + +"Poor little girl! Shall I persuade Upward to let them come with us?" + +"No, no. It doesn't matter. You'd better go now, or you'll start Mr +Upward fussing." + +"And cussing?" + +"Yes, that too. I'm going in now. Good-bye." + +"Nesta looks very much below par this morning, Upward," said Campian, as +they rode along. + +"Does she? Finds it dull, perhaps, now, without those two jokers. +She's never happy without a lot of them strung around her." + +"_So_? These blue-eyed, fluffy headed girls usually are that way, I +have observed. They are wonderfully taking, but--lacking in depth." + +"Thought at one time she was rather stringing _yours_ on to her +collection of scalps, old chap," said Upward, with a sly chuckle. + +"Because we went out chikor shooting together once or twice?" replied +Campian tranquilly. "Talk of the devil--there _are_ some chikor." And +the next few minutes were spent in dismounting--a rapid fifty paces +through the sparse herbage--a whirr of wings--the triple crack of guns-- +and a brace and a half of birds retrieved by the attendant forest guard; +while the remainder of the covey, having gained the mountain side, was +crawling up the rock slopes like spiders on a wall. + +"See that hole, Campian?" said Upward, soon after they had resumed their +way. "That's the markhor cave. There's always a markhor there, the +people say." + +"Let's go and see if he's at home now, except that we've only got shot +guns," replied Campian, looking up at the black fissure pointed out, and +which cleft the rock face some distance overhead, seeming to start from +a grassy ledge. It looked by no means an inaccessible sort of place. + +"Bhallu Khan says he wouldn't be in now," said Upward, who had been +talking in Hindustani to the old Pathan. "He only sleeps there." + +"So? Well, I don't believe in his markhor then, Upward. If the brute +was so regular in his habits as all that, he'd have been shot long ago." + +"Very likely. But Bhallu Khan says the people are afraid of him. They +don't believe he is a real markhor, but a spirit that takes the form of +one. He is guarding some buried treasure, and it's unlucky to go near +the place." + +"It wouldn't be unlucky if they found the treasure, by Jove! What does +it consist of?" + +Upward spoke again to the old forester, whose answer, translated to +Campian, caused the latter fairly to start in his saddle, his scepticism +dispersed. + +"He says it is supposed to be old sword hilts and things, encrusted with +the most priceless jewels. Hallo! You seem to believe in it, old +chap?" + +"Not I. Only it reminded me of something else. But I suppose they have +a yarn of the kind attached to pretty nearly every hole and corner of +the land, eh?" + +"Yes. I have heard of others; but, curiously enough, now I think of it, +this jewelled sword hilt idea doesn't seem to come into them. It's +generally a case of tons of gold mohurs, and all that sort of thing." + +"I suppose so," asserted Campian tranquilly. But his tranquillity was +all outward, for as they continued their way, his mind was very lively +indeed. Was there really something in the legend? Had he struck upon +the clue at last--not merely a clue, but the actual spot? How he wished +he had learned Hindustani, so as to be able to communicate, at first +hand, with those who might be able to furnish other clues. All save the +wild Baluchis of the more remote and nomad clans spoke that language, +and it was of primary importance to obtain information of this kind at +first hand, and unfiltered through a third party. + +"Campian's very _chup_ to-day," thought Upward, peering furtively at his +companion, who, during the last couple of miles, had hardly spoken, +except in monosyllables. "I wonder if the sly old dog is really smashed +on Nesta, and is thinking it over--I wonder?" + +He would have wondered more could he have read the thoughts of "the sly +old dog" aforesaid, for they ran not upon love but upon lucre. + +"There's the bungalow," said Upward presently, pointing out a white +low-roofed dwelling high up on the hillside. "Not a bad little place +for a while, but most confoundedly out of the way." + +The path wound around the spurs, ascending more abruptly, mostly in the +shade of the junipers, here growing to greater size, and more thickly. +Presently they came out upon a small plateau, and the bungalow. + +"Hallo, Upward! Glad to see you. Don't get many visitors up here." + +"How do, colonel? This is Mr Campian--stopping with me. Nearly got +shot by some Pathan budmashes, and then drowned by the _tangi_ coming +down, on the night he arrived. You may have heard about it." + +"Not a word--not a word. Haven't seen a soul for weeks. Glad to meet +you, Mr Campian. Fine view from here, isn't there?" + +"Splendid," assented Campian, who had been taking in both the speaker +and the view. The former was of the pleasant, genial type of soldier-- +elderly, grizzled, upright, well-groomed. The latter--well, it was +fine--uncommonly so. From its eyrie-like position, the bungalow +commanded a vast sweep of mountain and valley. Embedded against a +background of juniper slope the front of the plateau looked out upon a +scene, the leading idea conveyed by which was that of altitude and +vastness. Opposite, a line of great mountains shot up in craggy heads +to the sky; their slopes alternating in slab-like cliffs and gloomy +chasms running up into lateral valleys. Juniper forest, more or less +sparse, straggled along the base; and but for the aridity of the all +prevailing stone and the scattered vegetation, the view would have been +lovely. As it stood, it was only immense. Circling kites, uttering +their plaintive whistle, floated in clouds against the blue of the sky, +or, gracefully steering themselves with their long forked tails, soared +out over the valley. + +"Fine air, too," went on Colonel Jermyn. "After the awful heat of some +of those plains stations you can appreciate it, I can tell you. But I +daresay, you got a taste of that on your way up?" + +"Rather. Coming through Sindh, for instance, if you leaned back +suddenly in the train against the back of the seat, it was like leaning +against a lot of fizzling Vesuvian heads." + +"Ah, prickly heat. We know what that is down below--don't we, Upward?" + +But the reply was lost in the soft rustle of draperies, and a softer +voice: + +"How do you do, Mr Upward?" As the three rose, it needed not the +formal introduction. The colonel's words seemed to sound from far away +in Campian's ears. "My niece--Miss Wymer." + +The first utterance had been enough for Campian. There was no other +such voice in the world. And as he stood there, exchanging the formal +hand-clasp of ordinary every-day greeting with Vivien Wymer, small +wonder that his self-possession should be shaken to the core. For, five +years earlier, these two had parted--in anger and bitterness on the side +of one, a whole world of heart-consuming love on that of both. They had +parted, agreeing to be strangers thenceforward, and had been so, nor had +they set eyes on each other since. Now, by the merest of chances, and +totally unprepared, they met again amid the craggy mountain ranges of +wild Baluchistan. + +"We were talking about the prickly heat, Vivien," went on the colonel. +"Mr Campian says it was like leaning against burning match-heads coming +up in the train--ha, ha! You look a trifle below par even now," turning +to Campian. "Won't you have a `peg'? Upward, excuse me--what a +forgetful ass I am. So seldom I see anyone up here I'm forgetting my +manners. After your long, hot ride, too!" + +"Not feeling fit to-day. A new climate sometimes does knock me out at +first," replied Campian mendaciously, he being both by constitution and +practice as hard as nails. He was savage with himself for losing his +self-possession, even for a moment. "No lack of that article on the +other side, anyway," he thought bitterly. + +Outwardly there was not. Vivien Wymer's manner in greeting him had been +so perfectly free and unconcerned that not one in ten thousand would +have dreamed she had ever set eyes on him before. Nor, as she sat there +talking to Upward, could the keenest ear have detected a trace of flurry +in her soft-voiced, flowing tones; and what ear could be keener than +that of the man who sat there, straining to catch every word--every +tone--while endeavouring to avoid replying at random to the conversation +of his host. + +"That'll pick you up," said the latter, as the bearer appeared with a +tray containing very tall tumblers and a bottle and syphons. "Nothing +like a `peg' after a hot ride. We can't get ice up here, but I always +have the stuff kept in a cooler. Mix for yourself." + +"You must come down to our camp for a day or two, Miss Wymer," Upward +was saying. "You'll come, too, won't you, colonel? There are still +some birds left. It's rotten shooting, but all there is here." + +Thereupon the conversation turned on _shikar_ in general, and tiger in +particular, and Campian felt relieved, for now he could drop out of it. +Five years ago it was that he and Vivien had parted--yes, exactly five +years--and now, as he sat watching her, it seemed as though but five +days had passed over her, for all the change they had brought-- +outwardly, at any rate. All was the same--the poise of the head--even +the arrangement of the rippling waves of soft dark hair had undergone +but slight alteration; the quick lifting of the eyelids, the glance, +straight and full, of the heavily fringed eyes. Yet, if taken feature +by feature, Vivien Wymer could not have been summed up as beautiful. +Was it a certain grace of movement inseparable from a perfect symmetry +of form--an irresistible, sensuous attractiveness side by side with a +rare refinement--that would have set her on the highest pinnacle, while +other women, beautiful as a dream, would have been passed by unnoticed? +He could not say. He only knew that she had appealed to him as no other +woman had ever done before or since; that the possession of her would +fill every physical and mental want--we desire to emphasise the latter +phase, in that it was a question of no wild whirlwind of infatuated +passion. She had drawn out in him--as regarded herself, at any rate-- +all that was best; had even been the means of implanting within him +qualities wholly beneficial, and which he would have repudiated all +capacity for entertaining. In her he had recognised his destined +counterpart. He might live a thousand years and never again meet with +such. He was no longer young. He had known varied and eventful +experiences, including a sinister matrimonial one, mercifully for +himself, comparatively short. But Vivien Wymer had been the one love of +his life, and the same held good of him as regarded herself, yet they +met again now as strangers. One thing he decided. They were to keep up +the _role_. Since she wished it--and evidently she did wish it--he +would offer no enlightenment. + +"Is your friend keen on sport, Upward?" the colonel was saying. "You +ought to take him to try for a markhor." + +"Don't know that I care much for sport in that form," cut in Campian. +"It represents endless bother and clambering; all for the sake of one +shot, and that as likely as not a miss. The knowledge that it is going +to be your one and only chance is bound to make you shoot nervous. Now, +I like letting off the gun a great deal, not once only." + +"Yes, it means a lot of hard work. Well, you've come to the wrong +country for sport." + +"By the way, colonel," said Upward, "my head forester points out a cave +on the way here, where they say there's always a markhor. It doesn't +seem difficult to get at I don't believe in it myself, because there's a +legend attached." And thereupon he went into the whole story. + +Vivien was listening with deepening interest. + +"I should like to see that place," she said. "Anything to do with the +legends of the people and country is always interesting. Could we not +arrange to go and explore it? You say it is easy to get at?" + +"I think so," answered Upward. "We might make a picnic of it. Two +fellows from Shalalai who joined camp with me are coming back to-morrow +or the next day, and we might all go together. What do you say, +colonel?" + +"Oh, I don't mind. Getting rather old for clambering, though. Come +along in to tiffin; that's the second gong." + +Throughout that repast, Vivien addressed most of her conversation to +Upward. Campian, however, who had pulled himself together effectually +by now, was observing her keenly. When she did have occasion to answer +some remark of his, it was as though she were talking to a perfect +stranger, beheld that morning for the first time. Very good. If that +were the line she desired to keep to, not in him was it to encroach upon +it. He had his share of pride, likewise of vindictiveness, and some of +the aggrieved bitterness of their parting was upon him now. But he +remembered also that the ornamental sex are consummate actors, and felt +savage with himself for having let down his own guard. And this +impassiveness he kept up throughout the ordeal of again saying good-bye. + +"Well, and what did you think of Colonel Jermyn, Mr Campian?" queried +Mrs Upward, when they were seated at dinner that evening. The two men +had returned late, having fallen in with more chikor on the way, and she +had had no opportunity of catechising him before. + +"He seems a pleasant sort of man," returned Campian. "There was some +scheme of cutting them into a kind of exploration picnic, wasn't there, +Upward?" he went on, with the idea of diverting an inevitable +cross-examination. + +"_Them_! You saw the niece, then?" rapped out Hazel. "What did you +think of her?" + +"Think? Why, that you are a shocking little libellist, Hazel, +remembering your pronouncement." + +"It wasn't me who said she was too black; it was Lily." + +"_He's_ mashed too," crowed that young person, grinning from ear to ear. + +"Why `too,' Lilian? Is the name of those in that hapless plight +legion?" + +"Rather. You haven't a ghost of a show. Down at Baghnagar she had +three regiments at her feet. But she wouldn't have anything to say to +any of them." + +"That looks as if one _had_ a ghost of a show, Lil," replied Campian, +serenely bantering. In reality, he had two objects to serve--one to +cover the situation from all eyes, the other, haply to extract from the +chatter of this hapless child anything that might throw light on +Vivien's life since they parted. + +"Pff! not you," came the reply, short and sharp. "There was _one_-- +once. She chucked him. No show for anybody now." + +"What a little scandalmonger it is," said Campian, going off into a +shout of laughter. He had to do it, if only to relieve his feelings. +The information thus tersely rapped out by Lily, and which drew down +upon the head of that young person a mild maternal rebuke for +slanginess, had sent his mind up at the rebound. "Where did she get +hold of that for a yarn, Mrs Upward?" + +"Goodness knows. Things leak out. Even children like that get hold of +them in this country;" whereupon Lily sniffed scornfully, and Hazel +fired off a derisive cackle. "Do you think her good looking, Mr +Campian?" + +"Decidedly; and thoroughbred at every point." The humour of the +situation came home to the speaker. Here he was, called upon to give a +verdict offhand as to the one woman who for years had filled all his +thoughts, who still--before that day to wit--had occupied a large +portion of them, and he did so as serenely and unconcernedly as though +he had never beheld her before that day. "Why did she chuck--the other +fellow?" he went on, moved by an irresistible impulse to keep them to +the subject. + +"He turned out a rip, I believe," struck in Upward. "Lifted his elbows +too much, most likely. A lot of fellows out here do." + +"You've got it all wrong, Ernest," said his wife. "You really shouldn't +spread such stories. It was for nothing of the sort, but for family +reasons, I believe; and the man was all right. And it wasn't out here +either." + +"Oh, well, I don't know anything about it, and I'll be hanged if I +care," laughed Upward. "I asked them to come down here for a few days +soon, and they said they would. Then you can get it out of her +yourself." + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +THE MARKHOR CAVE. + +"There is a large section of our fellow subjects that votes Alpine +climbing the most incomprehensible form of lunacy known to science, on +the ground that to spend half one's life, and putting the whole of it in +pawn, scrambling up rocks and ice and snow, for the sake of getting to +the top of some pinnacle which a hundred people have already got to, and +thousands more eventually will, is to place one's self beyond the pale +of ordinary intelligence. But I wonder what such would say of a being +of mature age, and laying claim to the possession of ordinary +intelligence, who skips up in the middle of the night, and under the +guidance of an Asiatic whom he can't understand, and who can't +understand him, spends several hours crawling over boulders and along +blood curdling precipices, on the off-chance of one shot--and the +certainty of a miss--at an infernal wild goat, which is of no earthly +use to you when you get him, except to stick up his head and brag about +it ever after. The Alp-climber would have to cede to him the proud +distinction of prize imbecile, I guess." + +Thus mused Campian, as, following in the wake of Bhallu Khan, he wormed +himself warily around an elbow of rock, between which and space, was a +foothold just twenty inches as to width, and precarious as to stability, +he bearing in mind the while two considerations--firstly, the +desirability of refraining from dislodging so much as a pebble; +secondly, the necessity of refraining from dislodging himself. The +first grey of early dawn was just breaking upon the mountain world, and +here he was spread-eagled against a cliff of dizzy height and well nigh +perpendicular formation: raked by a piercing wind, and wondering whether +he should eventually get off it by the ordinary tedious process of slow +and sure progression or by the rapid one of a false step--leading to +pulverisation. As to one consideration, however, he laboured under no +ambiguity of mind. Nothing on earth should induce him to return by the +way he had come, even if it must needs take a week to go round by some +safer way. + +In due course however, the situation improved. The rock face grew less +perpendicular, the path wider, and finally they found themselves in a +steep gully. Here the old Pathan, pointing upward began signalling +vehemently, the gist of which Campian took to be that he must proceed +more noiselessly than ever, and that the ridge above being gained, they +would find markhor. + +A clamber of a hundred feet--one pebble dislodged with a clatter, +bringing his heart to his mouth, and a reproachful glance from Bhallu +Khan--and they were cowering behind the top of the ridge. Campian +wanted a few moments to steady himself after their long, hard climb. He +could not shoot straight in a state of breathlessness, he declared. + +It was quite light up here now, but the sun had not risen above the +eastern mountain-tops. As they peered over the ridge, the valley +beneath still lay in the grey half-dawn. But between it and their point +of vantage, on the rock-strewn slopes beneath, something was moving, and +it needed not the touch on the arm from the old Pathan and the barely +articulated whisper to set Campian's nerves tingling. He had already +taken the rifle from the forester so as to be in readiness. + +"Markhor," he whispered. + +Bhallu Khan nodded. A solitary ram, with fine horns, was browsing +unconcernedly. There was no getting any nearer. Campian set the sight +at four hundred yards. Then resting the rifle upon the rock in front of +him, he took a steady aim and drew trigger. + +The roar of the piece among the echoing stillness of the craggy +solitudes was like a peal of thunder. The markhor gave one wild bound +into the air, and a thrill of exultation went through the shooter. But +the disappointed headshake of Bhallu Khan would promptly have undeceived +him, even had not the quarry taken to its heels and gone bounding down +the slope at a flying gallop. He let go a couple more shots from the +magazine, but wider than the first. Then he threw up the rifle in +mingled disgust and resignation, the markhor now being a mere bounding +and very badly frightened speck. + +"No good!" he exclaimed. "Can't do anything with certainty over two +hundred yards, and that brute was nearer five than four. Well, I didn't +expect to, so am not disappointed, and it doesn't really matter a little +damn." + +The only word of this reflection understood by Bhallu Khan being the +last, he smiled, and proceeded to expatiate in Hindustani, profusely +illustrating his harangue with signs. But of this, for his part, +Campian understood not even the last word. + +He cared the less for his failure to bring down the game in that this +had not been his primary object. The pretext of sport had been a +pretext only. He wanted to explore the markhor cave, and that quietly +and by himself, wherefore, when a couple of days after their visit to +Jermyn he had suggested to Upward a markhor stalk, the latter, +remembering his expressed views on the subject of hard toil inadequately +rewarded, had evinced considerable surprise, but excused himself from +joining on that very ground, which was exactly what Campian had +expected. + +Now they were no great distance above that cave, and he soon signalled +Bhallu Khan his desire to proceed thither. Somewhat to his surprise, +remembering the superstition attached, the old Pathan cheerfully +acquiesced, and a downhill climb of about three quarters of an hour +brought them to a position commanding its entrance. Signing him to +remain there and watch, the forester crawled round to the rock above the +gaping black fissure, where by dint of making a considerable noise, and +rattling down showers of stones, he hoped to drive forth its inmate. +But there came forth nothing. + +"This markhor is a fraud, anyway," said Campian to himself. And he +signalled Bhallu Khan to return just as that estimable Asiatic had +himself arrived at the conclusion that there was no point in making +further efforts to scare out of a hole something which was not within +it. Then they sat on the rock together and conversed, as best they +could by signs, while Campian breakfasted on some sandwiches and the +contents of a business-like flask. + +The sun had risen now, and was reddening the great craggy pinnacles on +high with the new glow of day. Later on these would bear an arid and +depressing aspect, but now they seemed to soar up proudly to the +deepening blue. Meditatively Campian watched the line of light as it +dropped lower and lower, soon to flood the valley with its fierce +heatwave. Now it had reached the _kotal_, now it was just touching the +junipers which embedded the forest bungalow. He could not see the +latter from his present position, it being shut off by a rounded spur; +but the immediate surroundings of it drew his glance. Not that they +reminded him--oh, no! He had needed no mere reminder since that chance +meeting three days ago. Bother thinking! Thinking was worse than +useless. Springing to his feet, he signed Bhallu Khan that he wanted to +explore the cave. + +The fissure was easily approached, opening as it did on to a grass +ledge. Campian produced a couple of candles, thereby betraying +premeditation in this quest, and, lighting one, gave the other to the +old Pathan. Then they advanced into the darkness. + +The fissure ran at a slant for about ten yards, then it widened out, +with a tolerably level floor, to an irregularly shaped rock chamber, +seeming to extend about thirty yards back. The light was flickering and +uncertain, and Campian, who was a little in front, felt his arm suddenly +and violently seized, and a voice vociferated in his ear. For a brief +fraction of a second the idea of treachery flashed through his mind; +then he recognised in Bhallu Khan's tone the vehemence not of menace but +of warning. + +He had been about to step on a broad, black stripe which lay across the +floor of the cavern. Now he halted, his foot already raised. He +lowered his candle. The broad, black stripe was a fissure--a crevasse. +Of no great width was it--at that point only just wide enough to admit +his own body--still it _was_ wide enough. But what of its depth? + +Motioning him to stand still, the forester picked up a handful of loose +stones, and dropped them in one by one. Both listened. The stones took +some time to strike anything, and then it was very far down. There was +yet a further and fainter concussion. Bhallu Khan smiled significantly, +and shook his head. Campian whistled. Both looked at each other. Then +they examined the crevasse again. No current of air arose, which argued +no outlet. But the thing was of ghastly depth. + +"Your markhor is a fraud, Bhallu Khan," said Campian, as they inspected +the floor of the cave, and emphasising the statement by signs. "There +is no trace of such a thing ever having been into it." + +The other smiled again, and nodded assent. But just then a sound +outside made them start and look at each other. It was that of a human +voice. Bhallu Khan blew out his light, and Campian followed his +example. Thus for a moment they waited. + +Footsteps were advancing into the cave. Then the striking of a match. +They made out the figure of a man approaching--a native--bearing a +lighted candle, which he shaded with his hand. Behind him came another +figure, which they could not make out. + +"Salaam, brother," said Bhallu Khan in Hindustani, at the same time +lighting his own candle. + +The effect on the newcomer was disturbing. He gave a violent start, +dropping the candle, which went out. But by their own light Campian +could see a business-like revolver pointed straight at him, while a +full, clear, feminine voice cried out in purest English: + +"Don't move, or I fire!" + +It was his turn to start now. That voice! There was no other like it +in the world. He replied calmly: + +"Yes. Pull off. You may as well. It won't really matter much." + +"Oh!" Just a little cry escaped Vivien Wymer. She lowered the weapon, +then laughed, and there was a note in her laugh which, in one less self +possessed, less self reliant, might almost have been taken for +hysterical. "Who would have thought of finding you--anyone--here?" she +went on. "But I believe I was the more startled of the two." + +"Yes, I am sure you were," he replied, advancing now into the light. +"We haven't said `How d'you do?' yet, and it's as well to keep up the +conventionalities." + +She put forth her hand to meet his, and again they clasped hands. Again +they had met under strange and unlooked for circumstances--here, in the +semi-gloom of the mountain cave. + +"I was so interested in hearing about this place," she said. "Mr +Upward's account of it seemed to hold my imagination, and I felt moved +to explore it for myself. I did not feel inclined to wait for a scheme +that might never come off. Besides, the associations of mystery and a +touch of eeriness would have no effect in the midst of an every day, +sceptical crowd." + +"Great minds jump together! That was precisely my own idea. But who is +with you? Surely you are not alone, with only one servant, and not a +very reliable one at that, judging from his behaviour just now. It is +hardly safe, is it?" + +"Yes, it is. All these northern border tribes are of the best type of +Mohammedan, and respect women. No, I am not afraid." + +"You did not seem so just now, at any rate. But it is not only of that +sort of danger I was thinking. A gloomy hole like this might conceal +all kinds of hidden peril. It might be the den of a panther, or a wolf, +or even a snake. For instance, look at this. Keep behind me, though." + +He led the way--it was only a few steps--to the scene of his own narrow +escape. There yawned the cleft, black and hideous. + +"Keep back," he said, extending an arm instinctively, as though to bar a +nearer advance, and in doing so his hand accidentally closed upon hers. +He did not let it remain there, but it seemed as though a magnetic touch +were conveyed from frame to frame, and there came a softness into his +tone which accorded well with the protecting, shielding attitude. + +"Is it very deep?" asked Vivien, holding her candle over the brim, and +peering down into the blackness. + +"Well, judging by the sound, it takes a stone a good while to get to the +bottom. I should have been there myself long before this but for Bhallu +Khan here. In fact, I was placidly walking into it when he laid violent +hands on me." + +"Really? How horrible! Let's leave it now, and go outside. The idea +of such a thing oppresses one in here." + +She turned away. Her voice was unshaken. Beyond just a faint +quickening in her tone, she might have been listening to some mere +abstract risk run by somebody she had never seen or heard of before, and +Campian could not see her face. + +"Just take one more look around before you go outside," he said. "The +idea of those hidden valuables being here won't wash. Both floor and +walls are of solid rock. There is no possibility of burying anything." + +"Hardly, I should think," she answered, after a few moments' critical +survey of the interior. "But, this is not an artificial cavern, +surely?" + +"No. I have seen others rather like it, though none quite of its size. +But if you follow out the formation of the place, it is all on the same +slant. The crevasse, to be sure, is at something of a different angle, +but that is nothing to go by here, where the whole side of a mountain is +seamed and criss-crossed with the most irregular network of fissures." + +"What if the things are at the bottom of that cleft?" said Vivien. + +At the bottom of it! This was a new idea. Was it a new light? But he +replied: + +"Then they will remain there till the crack of doom. The hole is of +immense depth--Bhallu Khan and I sounded it from every point--and is +sure to contain noxious gas at a certain distance below the surface. Do +you mind if I ask you a favour?--oh nothing very great!" seeing her +start. "It is not to talk about this, or speculate before others as to +the possibility of such a thing existing." + +"Why, of course, if you wish it! But--do you believe in it, then?" + +"Perhaps partly. But it may be that I have something to go upon. When +I have more I will tell you more--but--I am forgetting--how on earth can +it interest you?" + +"But it will interest me very much--and--" "you know it," she was going +to add, but substituted: "life is prosaic enough for a romantic search +of this sort to add new interest to it. How is it I did not know you +were here?" + +"Here--on this spot, or in this country?" + +"On this spot, I mean. The other is easily understood. We have been +living out of the way so long, and I see so few people. And you have +only recently arrived?" + +"Yes. As to being in here, I had no pony to leave outside. I have been +climbing the mountains after markhor, hence a tolerably disreputable old +Khaki suit, and a battered and general air of not having been to bed all +night." + +"Did you have any success?" + +"No. I got in one shot, but missed it of course, just as I was saying +when up at your place the other day. However, what I really wanted to +do was to come in quietly here and explore." + +"So did I. Where is my syce, I wonder? There is my pony," looking +around, for they had regained the entrance of the cave. "Ah! I see +him. He is at his prayers. Your man has joined him." + +"Yes. Old Bhallu Khan is a whale at piety. I should think he stood a +first-class chance of the seventh heaven." + +"These people are very devout," said Vivien, looking towards the two +Mohammedans, who, with their shoes off, and their chuddas spread on the +ground as praying carpets, were prostrating their foreheads to the +earth, and otherwise following out the prescribed formula--facing +towards the holy city. "I sometimes wonder if it is all on the +surface." + +"I don't know why it should be. We make a good deal of show, too, +though in a different way; but I doubt if we are any better than they. +In fact, it is more than possible we are actually worse. But John Bull +has a fine, hearty, overgrown, schoolboy contempt for anything he can't +understand, and to him the bowings and prostrations enjoined by the +Moslem form of worship is sheer nonsense. For my part, I am not sure it +is not even too refined for him." + +"Perhaps. I have often thought that to these people we must seem +something worse than Pagans. I hardly wonder at their fanatical hatred +of us." + +"Neither do I, the more so that our attitude towards them is for the +most part well exemplified in the remark made to me by a fine wooden +specimen of John Bull the other day coming down the Red Sea. Two or +three of these travelling traders had got up on the forecastle, and were +praying towards Mecca. `Ever see such humbug in your life?' says this +chump. I said I had, and far greater humbug; in fact, couldn't see any +humbug in the present performance at all. Oh, but it was all on the +surface! How did he know that? I asked him. Oh, because they would +lie and cheat and so forth. But so would nine-tenths of the English +commercially engaged, I answered. Whereat he snorted, and moved off. +He thought I was a fool. I knew he was one." + +"Very much so," assented Vivien. "I detest that wooden-headedness which +no amount of moving about the world will ever teach to think. And now +that those two good people are through with their devotions, it is time +I got home again. Oh, Meran Buksh, _ghora lao_!" + +The syce sprang to execute this order, and in a minute Vivien's pony was +before her, ready to mount. + +"Why this is the first time you have ever put me on a horse," she said, +as Campian seemed to be arranging her skirt with minute care, "and how +well you did it." + +"Thanks," he said. "There. I hope you will not have too hot a ride +home. Good-bye." + +"Good-bye. You will be coming up to see us again soon, I suppose, or we +shall be going to see Mrs Upward. You are going to make some stay, are +you not?" + +He replied in the affirmative, and, looking at her as she sat there with +easy grace, he felt that never had his self-possession been in greater +peril. Cool and fresh and sweet in her light blouse and riding-skirt-- +her glance full and serene meeting his--the flush of health mantling +beneath the soft skin, she was a picture in her dark, brilliant +attractiveness, framed against the background of savage rocks and ragged +junipers. + +"Good-bye," was all he said. + +A pressure of the hand, and she turned her pony and rode away at a walk, +the syce following. + +Campian watched her out of sight. Then he did a curious thing--at any +rate for a man of mature age and judgment. He returned to the cave and +picked up a small rough stone, quite an ordinary stone it was, but while +they had stood talking Vivien had been rolling this stone absently to +and fro beneath the sole of her boot. Now he picked it up, and, +glancing at it for a moment, put it in his pocket. But he seemed to +change his mind, for, pulling it forth again, he hurled it away far over +the rocks. + +Then he started out in the direction of Upward's camp, old Bhallu Khan, +carrying the rifle, following close at his heels. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +INTROSPECT. + +"You're late, child. Had a long ride?" said Colonel Jermyn, who was +already at breakfast when Vivien entered. + +"Not very. The mountain paths here are so rough, you have to keep +almost entirely to a walk. And I met Mr Campian, so we stopped and +chatted a little." + +"Did you? Where?" + +"Somewhere on the side of the mountain. I don't know the localities +here yet," replied Vivien, with perfect ease. She had been about to +say, "at the markhor cave," but remembering Campian's hint, refrained. +"He had been out after markhor, with that nice-looking old forester of +Mr Upward's, and was on his way back." + +"Did he get any shots?" + +"One, and missed it. He was quite unconcerned about it though, and +didn't go out of his way to invent half a hundred excuses for having +missed it." + +"Ha, ha!" laughed the colonel. "So many of these young fellows--and old +ones too--are always full of reasons of that kind. A stone slipped from +under their foot, or the _shikari_ sneezed, or something. There is +something I rather like about that man. Who is he? Do you know +anything about him?" + +This was shooting the bolt home with a vengeance. But Vivien's +self-possession was equal to the strain. + +"Isn't there a family of that name in Brackenshire?" she asked +carelessly. + +"I believe there is. Yes, very likely. I thought we might ask him to +come and stay a week or so when he has done with the Upwards, or even +before. What do you think about it, Vivien?" + +"Wouldn't he find it desperately slow here, Uncle Edward?" she said, as +serenely as before. + +"Perhaps; I don't know. If he did, he could always take himself off +again. And now, if you'll excuse me, dear, I'll do likewise, for that +confounded Levy sowar will be here directly for the _dak_, and I've got +a whole pile of letters to write. It's mail day, too." + +Left to herself, Vivien moved about the room arranging here, dusting a +little there. No flowers were obtainable in this arid region of rocks, +save a few wild ones, but even of these she had made the best; and what +with little touches of feminine tastefulness in the arrangement of the +rooms, the old forest bungalow, rough and racketty, and hardly better +than a mere rest-house, stood quite transformed. Then, passing into her +own room, she shut the door, and sat down to think. + +Far away from wild, craggy Baluchistan her thoughts went back. A chance +call, a chance introduction in a room full of people. A few minutes of +ordinary conversation as between strangers who met for the first time, +and--she had learned the mystery of life when life is young--though not +always then--had gazed within the golden gates of love; had trodden the +flower-springing sod of that radiant and mystic realm; and not only +that, but she had known, with a wondrous magnetic instinct, that in the +same moment of time another had learned that mystery too. Then she had +begun to live; then she had begun to realise what life could contain. + +Other scenes rose before her as she sat here thinking--a vision of the +Park corner, in all the joyous glow and brilliancy of the London season +at its height--with one ever at her side--one who there in the midst of +all the varied types of beauty, and style and attractiveness of the +kingdom collected together, never--as she used to tell him half +playfully, but all proudly--never had eyes for any but herself. Ah, it +was something to be loved like that; and yet this was not the perfervid +enthusiasm, the red-hot glow of youthful adoration, but the love of one +considerably past that illusive stage; whose experiences had been +multifold, and frequently bitter. Again, she saw the green glories of +the Cliveden woods, mirrored in the broad placid surface, as she and one +other floated down that loveliest of lovely reaches in the fire-path of +the westering sunlight, alone together, the murmur of their voices and +the dipped wing of the hovering swallow blending with the lazy splash of +the sculls. Again, in the opera box, while the most splendid staging +perhaps that "Faust" had ever been put on with, held the entranced and +densely packed multitude in the lowered light, _she_ dwelt in a paradise +all her own, for had she not the presence, even the contact of that one? +Many and many a scene came before her now. Ah, that year! It had been +indeed a year of love. And in every such scene, in every such +recollection he had been ever the same. Never a moment of time that he +could spare but had been spent with her--indeed not a few also that he +could not--and throughout it all how perfectly free and happy together, +how thoroughly at home with each other they had been. + +Why, then, had such a state of things been allowed to come to a close? +Heavens! It is a rare--well nigh unique--one, in all conscience. Had +he deceived her--disappointed her? Not any. But there had come +stalking along that goggle-eyed, sheet-and-turnip bogey hight Duty--that +Juggernaut which has crushed far more lives than it has ever fortified, +and now, in her retrospect, Vivien Wymer realised, not for the first +time, and no less bitterly, that this is just what it had done for hers. +For at the period to which her thoughts went back, she owned a mother-- +and a selfish one, as mothers now and again are, all cant to the +contrary notwithstanding--and this devoted parent could not do without +her daughter, although she had another. Here was the jagged rock +beneath the surface of their unruffled sea, and upon it their freight of +happiness had been wrecked and cast away. + +At the time Vivien had thought herself passing strong, and the +consciousness of this had done much to buoy her up amid such an +experience of agony and heartbreak that even now she hardly cares to +look back to. That had been five years ago. She was young then, and +now that she is nearer thirty than twenty she is able to realise that +she acted insanely; is able to realise that the love which that one had +lavished upon her was worth more than that of all the kindred in the +world ten times over, let alone such a consideration as an imaginary +duty towards a thoroughly selfish and exacting woman, merely because the +latter happened to be her nearest relation. She has come to realise the +absolute truth of his words, and the realisation brings with it no +solace, for, like most other experiences worth gaining, it has come too +late. Her mother has been dead for three years past, and her younger +sister, now married, is not eager to see too much of her; and to Duty, +as represented by these, Vivien has sacrificed her life. + +But he--will he not relent and return? Can he live without her? Well, +five years have passed since they parted, and he has kept to their +agreement. She knows his nature--unswerving, vindictive--indeed the +very contrast afforded between this and the completeness of his love for +herself had not a little to do with drawing her to him. His words +during that awful parting had been few, and their raging bitterness to +some degree suppressed, and that he should come second to anything or +anybody, was what he never could and never would forgive. + +Would he relent? Never. She went back to their chance meeting in the +markhor cave but a few hours ago, recalled every word of their +conversation. The very tone of his voice had never swerved. Her ear, +quick to detect any change, had detected none--not even by the smallest +inflection. His manner had been kind, friendly, full of a certain +modicum of regard--but that was all. Had he not often told her that a +lost illusion was gone for ever? Never could it be set up again. His +love was dead, and she had killed it. + +But--was it? Surely not. It was only sleeping, deeply perhaps, but +would re-awaken. She would re-awaken it. It was impossible that such a +love as theirs had been could die in either of them as long as life +should last. Then a blank misgiving seized her. They had not met for +five years. Then she was twenty-three. What changes had the +intervening period effected in her? + +She gazed into her mirror long and steadily. Yes, she was growing old-- +old and plain, decidedly, she told herself with an aching bitterness of +heart. The soft sprightliness of five years earlier was no longer in +her face. It had gone. Alone with herself she need not dissimulate. +In those days the bright and sunny spirits of rejoicing youth had +radiated from her eyes; now, though her eyes were as lustrous and +brilliant as ever, their glance was a tired one, reflecting but the +sadness of a lonely and disappointed woman. Undoubtedly the change had +struck him, and with startling force. No; his love would never +re-awaken now. Why should it? In the day of her power she had let it +go; now her power had departed. + +Then another thought came to her. That blue-eyed girl staying with the +Upwards--she was wondrously pretty. Vivien had seen her once in +Shalalai. The two would be thrown together day after day, and all day +long--had been so thrown together. They had even shared a common peril. +And she had youth on her side. What sort of tone would his voice have +taken while talking to her, Vivien wondered, again recalling the perfect +composure of his conversation but an hour or two ago in the cave. No +reference--not even a veiled one--to the past; no remark upon the +unexpectedness of their first meeting. True, he had seemed a trifle +disconcerted on the occasion of that meeting; but that was only +natural--and momentary. Yes, Nesta Cheriton was wonderfully pretty and +taking. Thus she tortured herself. + +But while she could do that alone and with her own thoughts, Vivien +would rather have died than have allowed any glimmering of their gist to +be so much as suspected by any living soul, let alone the object of +them. She forgot to wonder at her own self-possession on the occasion +of that first meeting; and indeed on that of the subsequent one. It had +proved even more complete than his own, and she forgot to speculate as +to whether he might not be taking his cue from her and playing up to her +lead. That is the worst of introspection of the vehement kind, it is +absolutely blinding as regards the attitude towards the object which +inspires it. + +Then, by a curious twist in her meditations, pride sprang into arms. If +one man could so completely dismiss her from his heart and memory, there +were others who could not. She unlocked a drawer of her writing-table +and took out a letter. Spreading it open before her, she glanced +through it. It was from one who was the owner of a fine old country +place and a good many thousands a year, and contained a passionate +appeal to her to reconsider her former refusals. This letter she had +intended to answer last week. But now? + +She read it through again. Why should she continue to throw away life, +grieving over what was past and done with; what was inevitable; what was +dead and buried? It was more sensible to take life as it is, and make +the best of things. She would accept the man. There was no reason why +she should not, and every reason why she should. + +She drew a sheet of paper to her, but before she had got further than +the address, a new thought struck her. What if she had so replied by +last mail--that is to say, the day before this other had been so +unexpectedly thrown back into her life? Nay, worse. What if she had so +replied to a like appeal from the same quarter nearly a year ago? That +decided her. She wrote her reply--and it was in the negative, very +unequivocally so--stamped and directed it, and threw it aside. + +Then she did a strange--and in view of her former meditations--an +utterly inconsequent thing. She took another sheet of paper and wrote: + +"We were to be strangers to each other. Had we not better remain so? +You will understand my meaning fully within the next few days. Of +course I have no right to try and influence your movements, so must +leave it to your own judgment to order them in what seems to me the only +rational and sensible way. + +"Vivien." + +This she put into an envelope, which she sealed, but did not stamp. +Then she directed it to "Howard Campian, Esquire, Chirria Bach." + +No; she could not bear it. To be under the same roof with him for days, +possibly weeks at a time, and keep up the _role_ of strangers to each +other, would be too great a strain. Now, when he should receive her +uncle's invitation he would know what to do. On the face of such an +intimation there was but one course open to him. A rap came at the +door, and her uncle's voice: + +"Got any letters to send, Viv? The Levy sowar is here." + +"Only one," she answered, opening the door, and handing him the one +bearing the English address. "The other I want to go in the opposite +direction. The man can take it this evening when he passes here with +the Upwards' _dak_." + +"All right." And in a moment more the clatter of the horse's hoofs died +away down the path, and the swarthy Baluchi, in his Khaki uniform, +jogged indifferently upon his way, as though he were not the bearer of +that which by a turn or freak of thought had just escaped being an +agency for entailing solemn consequences upon one or more lives. + +"By George! this hill air seems to suit you, child," cried the jolly +colonel, gazing upon his niece with undisguised admiration. "I can't +make out what all these young fellows--young fools, I call them--are +about. Eh?" + +"Have I not got a dear old uncle, who talks shocking nonsense on +privileged occasions?" returned Vivien, slipping her hand within his +arm. "Why, I am getting as old as the hills, and am `going off' +perceptibly every hour. Do I not own a looking-glass?" + +"A looking-glass? Pooh! it's a lying one then. We'll pitch it over the +_khud_, and send Der' Ali down to the bazaar for one that is more +truthful. But, then--I am forgetting. This isn't Baghnagar, and +there's no bazaar." + +"No, there isn't, and a good thing too, if it is going to conduce to +such scandalous waste," retorted Vivien brightly. + +"I believe it's not fair, eh? It seems hard lines on you, child, +shutting you up here, with no one to talk to but a prosy old fellow like +me, eh?" + +"Now, Uncle Edward, it is you who will have to go over that _khud_ +instead of my poor, unoffending, candid looking-glass, if you persist in +talking such a prodigious quantity of nonsense." + +That evening the Levy sowar arrived in due course, with Colonel Jermyn's +post, and clattered off, bearing that of Upward. But the letter +addressed to Howard Campian, at Chirria Bach, still lay upon Vivien's +writing-table. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +UMAR KHAN--FREEBOOTER. + +Umar Khan was a Baluchi who bore a very bad record indeed. + +One of his earlier exploits, in fact, that which was destined to start +him in his career of _budmashi_, and ultimately, in all probability, +land him on the scaffold and faggot pyre [Note 1], had taken place many +years before the events narrated in our story. He had been summoned +before the Political Agent to answer for complicity--real or alleged--in +the raiding upon and blackmailing of certain wandering herdsmen, +belonging to a weaker clan. The British official found him guilty, and +sentenced him to a term of imprisonment, a terrible punishment to the +free, wild man of the deserts and mountains. + +The manner in which this one received the penalty to which he was doomed +was characteristic. His eyes blazed, and, his features working with +demoniacal fury, he spat forth a volume of curses and threats. + +"What does he say?" inquired the Political Agent. + +The interpreter replied that, apart from calling down all the most +forcible anathemas known to the Moslem creed upon the heads of those +concerned in his then discomfiture, the substance of the prisoner's +declaration was as follows:--The _Sirkar_ [Ruling power, _i.e._, +Government] was strong, but those who had borne witness against him were +not. Let them beware. He would have ten lives for that day's work. +The _Sirkar_ could not shut him up for ever. It could kill him, but +there were plenty left--several, even, who heard him that day--who would +accept his legacy of vengeance; and the witnesses against him had better +go across the wide sea, if haply they might, for no corner of the land +wherein they now dwelt was remote enough to hide them from the vengeance +of Umar Khan. + +To this manifesto the Political Agent replied in words of weighty +warning. As the prisoner had said, the _Sirkar_ was strong--strong to +punish, as he had already discovered. If, on the expiration of his term +of imprisonment he continued his evil ways, or made any attempt to +fulfil his threat, he would speedily find that there was no corner of +the land remote enough to hide him from the vengeance of the _Sirkar_, +which in that case would be swift, condign, and terrible--in fact the +most terrible that could overtake him, viz: death with ignominy. + +So Umar Khan duly served his term, and in the fulness of time was +released. For a while the authorities kept an eye on him, and all went +well. He was in no hurry, this wild, brooding, vindictive mountaineer. +He employed his period of enforced quietude in secretly locating every +one of those who had borne witness against him, and when the +surveillance over his movements had relaxed, he became as good as his +word. One night he started for some of the objects of his feud, and, +taking them by surprise, killed three. Two more he found in a +neighbouring village, and these also felt the weight of his _tulwar_. +But now things grew too lively. With half of his account of vengeance +settled, Umar Khan found himself forced to flee, unless he were prepared +to forego--and that forever--the other half. So flee he did, both fast +and far, hotly pursued by the Political Agent and a strong posse of Levy +sowars. + +Now, the said Political was a staff corps man who had seen some service, +and, moreover a very energetic and zealous official; consequently, he +allowed the fugitive no more start than he could help, with the result +that the latter had no time to collect any following so as to afford him +the satisfaction of selling his life dearly. So day and night fled Umar +Khan; but turn and double as he would, the avenging force pressed him +hard, for the Levy sowars were men of the country, and knew all the +twists and turns of the mountains as well as he did; and their commander +was a seasoned campaigner, and as hard as nails. However, fortune +favoured him, and the hunted man succeeded in reaching a place of refuge +and of safety--as he thought. + +As he thought! For, persistent as bloodhounds, that avenging band held +steadily upon his track. Finally they came up with him. Umar Khan was +in a tent asleep. Stealthily the pursuers drew up in crescent +formation, and their commander summoned Umar to come forth. For a +moment there was dead silence. Then swift as thought, a rifle muzzle +was poked through the flap of the tent. A loud report, and a bullet +sang past the official's ear. The latter, more than ever bent on +securing his prisoner alive, reiterated the summons, with the +alternative in the event of noncompliance, of ordering a volley to be +fired into the tent. The reply came as before, in the shape of another +bullet, which this time killed the horse of one of the sowars. The +order was given to fire. + +The rattle and smoke of the volley rolled away--and lo! the sides of the +tent were riddled like a sieve. There was a moment or two of silence, +and again the officer challenged any who might be left alive to come +forth. There emerged from the tent door, a figure clad in the full +voluminous draperies and close veil of an Afghan woman. + +She did not even look at the troop. She fled away over the plain as +fast as her legs could carry her, uttering shrill screams. Those who +looked on were filled with wild amaze. How could any living thing have +escaped that volley? A movement made to pursue her was simultaneously +checked, and then the Political Agent and some of the sowars entered the +tent, but cautiously. + +Their caution in this instance was unnecessary. One human being alone +was in that tent--lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Such rude +furniture and utensils as there were had been riddled, and the ground +itself ploughed up with bullets. The human figure was limp and +lifeless, and--it was that of another woman. + +An idea struck the official. He leaped outside the tent; his gaze +directed at the fast fleeing figure, now some distance away. He--and +those present--saw it drag out a horse from among the rocks and stones +of a dry nullah, and, flinging off the female attire, spring upon the +animal's back. Then darting forth a hand with defiant gesture, and +hurling back a final curse and menace, the fugitive--a wiry, muscular +male--flogged his steed into a furious gallop, and was speedily out of +range of the hurried volley sent after him. + +The officer stared, and, we fear, cursed. The Levy sowars stared, and +certainly invoked Allah and his Prophet; while laughing at both, yet +storing up deeper vengeance for the slaughter of one of his most +faithful wives--who had shared and aided his flight, and eventually laid +down her life for him--fled Umar Khan far over the plains of +Afghanistan--further and further into that welcome land of refuge. + +There lay the rub. They dare not pursue him further. Already a +violation of international law had been committed in carrying the +pursuit thus far. Well might the official feel foolish. That their +bird should be allowed to skip off right under their very noses in the +garb of the supposed female whom they had so very humanely spared was +enough to make him feel foolish. But he was destined to feel more so +subsequently, when an acrid representation from the Amir of Kabul +entailed upon him a Departmental wigging, although but a technical one. +After all, a man may be too zealous. + +After that Umar Khan disappeared for a while. The Amir of Kabul, when +mildly requested to hand him over, declined crustily, on the ground that +an armed force had pursued a fugitive over his border without so much as +a by-your-leave. If the English attempted to police his country and +failed, he was not going to step in where they left off. + +So the years went by, and Umar Khan was lost sight of and forgotten. +Then, suddenly, he reappeared in his old haunts. + +Changes of administration had supervened. The Government did not care +to bother itself over a man who had been a desperate outlaw under its +predecessors, as long as he behaved himself and showed a disposition to +amend the error of his ways. Moreover, he was a member of one of the +most powerful and turbulent tribes in Baluchistan. The _Sirkar_ +concluded to let sleeping dogs lie. So it shut its eyes, and Umar Khan +was left in peace. + +In peace? Yes, so far as he was concerned. But he fixed his dwelling +among the wildest and most impracticable of mountain deserts--always +ensuring for himself a safe retreat--and thence he began to prey upon +all and any who had the wherewithal to pay up smartly for further +immunity. + +Then complaints began to reach Shalalai. Peaceable _banyas_ had been +plundered of all the gains they had made during a travelling trade. +Merchants on a larger scale trading with Kabul had been relieved on a +proportionate scale, or even held to ransom. Umar Khan adopted a method +of his own for putting a stop to the complaints of such. It was the +method best expressed by the saw, "Dead men tell no tales"--and by way +of doing the thing thoroughly, he seized the whole of the plunder +instead of merely the half as heretofore, but took care that the owner +should not be on hand to lay any complaint. And leaving out many other +unchronicled misdeeds, we think we have said enough to establish our +opening statement, viz: that Umar Khan was a Baluchi who bore a very bad +record indeed. + +He was not a sirdar, nor even a malik. He was, in fact, a nobody, who-- +as not unfrequently happens among barbarian races--had raised himself to +a sort of sinister eminence by a daring fearlessness and a combination +of shrewdness and luck in evading the consequences of his countless acts +of aggression. Added to this, his enforced outlawry and the exploits, +half mythical, wherewith rumour credited him during that period, had +thrown a kind of halo around him in the eyes of his wild, predatory +fellow-tribesmen. Nominally he lived under and was responsible to the +Sirdar Yar Hussain Khan, who was chief over a large section of the +powerful Marri tribe; actually he was responsible to nobody in the wide +world. His own particular following was made up of all the "tough" +characters of the tribe, which is saying much, for the Marris bore the +reputation of numbering in their midst some very "tough" characters. + +The saw relative to the endowment of anybody with a sufficiency of rope +was beginning to hold good in the matter of Umar Khan. Things were +going badly with him. He had been obliged to be more than liberal with +his ill-gotten gains in order to retain the adherence of his following, +and the shoe was beginning to pinch. Then his tribal chief had given +him a hint to sit tight; in short, had given him two alternatives-- +either to behave himself or clear out. + +He had about concluded to embrace the latter of these--and the motive +which had led him up to this conclusion was dual--and akin to that which +tells with like effect upon men far more civilised than the Baluchi +ex-outlaw. Umar Khan was hard up; likewise he was hipped. He was +perfectly sick of sitting still. Times were too peaceful altogether. +So he sold what few possessions he had left, and with the proceeds laid +in a stock of Snider rifles and ammunition. + +Umar Khan sat in his village at sunrise. It was the hour of prayer, and +several of the faithful, dotted about, were devoutly prostrating +themselves, in the most approved fashion; indeed Umar himself had only +just finished the performance of his devotions, for your Moslem is a +logician in such matters, and has no idea of heaping up great damnation +to himself by committing two sins instead of one, as would be the case +were he to omit the prescribed devotion simply because he had just cut +somebody's throat. The low, flat, mud-walled houses were in keeping +with the surroundings--looking indeed as if they had but been dumped +down and left to dry, like other piles of earth and stones which had +rolled down the arid slopes and remained where they fell. A flock of +black goats and fat-tailed sheep, mingled together, was scattered over +the plain, though where they could find sustenance in such a desert, +Heaven alone knew. Camels, too, were stalking around, also making what +seemed an ironical attempt at browsing. + +The sun had just risen beyond the far off limit of the desert plain, +tinging blood-red the line of jagged peaks shooting skyward behind the +village. Umar Khan sat in gloomy silence, smoking a narghileh, and, +like most Orientals, indulging in much expectoration. His grim, +hawk-like face, with the shaggy hanging brows meeting over his hooked +nose, looked more cruel and repulsive than ever, as he stroked his +beard, or pulled at the long black tresses, which hung down on each side +of his face. Then he looked up. A fellow-tribesman was coming towards +him. Umar Khan's glance now lit up with animation. The man came to him +and sat down. Their talk was short, but the ex-outlaw's expression of +countenance grew positively radiant, as the new arrival went on +unfolding his tidings. + +Umar Khan rose and ordered his best horse to be saddled. As he rose, it +might have been noticed that he suffered from a slight limp. Then +taking with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself--if that +were possible--he rode forth. + +For many hours they fared onward, avoiding the more frequented ways, and +travelling over precipitous mountain path and through wild _tangi_, by +routes well known to themselves, halting at convenient places to rest +and water their horses. All had rifles, as well as their curved +tulwars, and this savage band of hook-nosed, scowling copper-coloured +ruffians, armed to the teeth, looked about as forbidding, even terror +striking a crew as the peaceable wayfarer would _not_ wish to meet--say +half way through a _tangi_ where there was precious little room to pass +each other. + +The sun was now considerably past the meridian, and at length the band, +at a word from Ihalil Mohammed--the man who had brought the news which +had led to this undertaking--halted amid some rock overlooking a broad +high-road. + +Far away along its dusty length a speck appeared, growing larger as it +drew rapidly nearer, until it took the shape of a vehicle, containing +but one man, and he the driver. It was an ordinary "gharri," or hackney +cab. To meet this Ihalil and four others now rode down. + +"Salaam, brother," they exclaimed, drawing up across the road. + +"Salaam, Sirdar sahib," returned the driver, in tremulous tones, turning +pale at the sight of these fierce armed figures barring his way. The +man was an ordinary specimen of the low caste Hindu, and as such held in +utter contempt by these stalwart sons of the desert, and in repulsion as +a heathen and an idolater. + +"Who art thou, brother; and whither faring?" queried Ihalil. + +The man replied, in quaking tones, that he was but a poor +"gharri-wallah" hired to meet a certain holy _mullah_ who was travelling +from Shalalai to a village away far out in the desert. He was to bring +him on a stage of his journey, and expected to meet him not far from +that point. + +"Good. Now turn thine old box on wheels out of the road and follow to +where we shall lead thee," commanded Ihalil. + +The poor wretch dared not so much as hesitate, and presently the rickety +old rattle trap was drawn up behind the rocks. At sight of the rest of +the band the miserable Hindu gave himself up for dead. + +"Salaam, Sirdar sahib," he faltered, cowering before the grim stare of +Umar Khan. + +The latter then questioned him, in process of which one of the +freebooters stole up behind, his tulwar raised. The badly scared +"gharri-wallah," his eyes starting from his head, had no attention to +spare from the threatening scowl and searching questions of Umar Khan; +and of danger from behind was utterly unconscious. Then, at a nod from +Umar Khan, down came the tulwar upon the neck of the doomed Hindu. + +It was badly aimed and did not sever the head, but cut far and deep into +the neck and shoulder. The miserable wretch fell to the ground, deluged +with a great spout of blood, but yet wailing dismally in agony and +terror. In a moment two more tulwars swung through the air, and the +sufferings of the murdered man--literally cut to pieces--were over, +though his limbs still beat the ground in convulsive struggles. + +Umar Khan spat in derision, while the other barbarians laughed like +demons over this atrocious deed. The murderers wiped their swords on +the garments of their victim, and examined the keenly-ground edges +solicitously, lest they should be in any way notched or turned. But now +their attention was diverted. Another speck was growing larger and +larger on the road, this time advancing from the direction in which +their late victim had been proceeding. Drawing nearer it soon took +shape. Another "gharri" similar to the one whose driver they had +slaughtered. + +The whole band rode down to meet it. Besides the driver it contained +another man. + +"Peace, my sons," said the latter as they drew up. + +"And on you peace," returned Umar Khan. "But first--for this dog. +Hold--Alight, both of ye." + +There was that about the aspect of these armed brigands that would admit +of no hesitation. Both obeyed. This driver, too, was a low caste +Hindu. His "fare" was an old man, white-bearded, and wearing a green +turban. + +No sooner were both fairly out of the "gharri," than Ihalil Mohammed +rode at the Hindu and cut him down. Others fell upon him with their +tulwars, and the miserable wretch, like his fellow-craftsman, was +literally hewn to pieces then and there. With savage shouts the +murderers waved their bloodstained weapons aloft, curvetting their +steeds around the survivor. + +The latter turned pale. Quick as thought, however, he had drawn a +volume of the Koran from beneath his garments, and placed it upon his +head. + +"La illah il Allah"--he began. + +"--Mohammed er rasool Allah," [Note 2] chorused the blood thirsty +savages, as though in one fierce war shout, turning to hack once more at +the mangled carcase of the miserable Hindu. + +"Hearken, my father," said Umar Khan, pointing his rifle at the +traveller. "A true believer is safe at the hands of other believers. +But, father, delay not to deliver over the seven hundred rupees which +are in thy sash." + +The other turned paler still. + +"Seven hundred rupees?" he exclaimed, holding up his hands. "What +should a poor _mullah_ do with such a sum?" + +"Thou hast said it, my father. What indeed?" sneered Umar Khan. "What +indeed, save as alms for the poor, and the debtors and the insolvent, as +enjoins the holy Koran? And such thou seest before thee. Wherefore we +will receive them, father, and pray the blessing of Allah, and a rich +place in the seventh heaven for thee and thine." + +"Do ye not fear God, O impious ones, that ye would rob His servant?" +said the _mullah_, waxing wroth in his desperation. + +"We fear nobody," returned Umar Khan, with an evil sneer. "Yet, my +father, delay not any longer, lest this gun should go off by accident." + +"Wah--wah!" sighed the _mullah_. "Be content my children--it may be ye +are poorer than I. Receive this packet, and the blessing of a servant +of the Prophet go with it. And now I will proceed upon my way." + +"Wait but a few moments," replied Umar Khan, receiving the bag which the +other tendered him, and which he immediately handed to Ihalil with one +word--"Count!" + +"It may not be, for the hour of evening prayer draws near. Peace be +with you, my children." And he made as though to move on. + +"We will say it together then," replied Umar Khan, barring the way. +"What is this? Two hundred and fifty rupees? Two more packets hast +thou forgotten, my father, and--delay not, for the hour of evening +prayer draws near." + +There was a grim, fell significance in the speaker's tone and +countenance. The _mullah_ no longer hesitated. With almost trembling +alacrity he drew forth the remaining bags, which being counted, were +found to contain the exact sum named. + +"We give thee five rupees as an alms, my father," said Umar Khan, +tendering him that amount. Gloomily the _mullah_ pocketed it. "And +surely God is good to thee, that in these days thou hast been able to +relieve the necessities of Umar Khan." + +A start of surprise came over the face of the other, at the mention of +the name of the dreaded ex-outlaw. He had more than a shrewd suspicion +that but for his sacred office he would be now even as his Hindu +driver--which went far to console him for the loss of his substance. + +"Wah--wah!" he moaned, sitting down by the roadside. "My hard earned +substance which should comfort my old age--all gone! all gone!" + +"The faithful will provide for thine old age, my father. And now, peace +be with thee, for we may not tarry here. But,"--sinking his voice to a +bloodcurdling whisper--"it is well to give alms in secret, for he who +should boast too loud of having bestowed them upon Umar Khan, not even +the holy sanctuary of Mecca would avail to shelter him." + +"Blaspheme not, my son," cried the _mullah_, affecting great horror, and +putting his fingers to his ears--though, as a matter of fact, the +warning was one which he thoroughly understood. + +They left him seated there by the roadside, despondent over his loss. +They left the two mangled bodies of their victims to the birds and +beasts of prey, and gave vent to their glee as they dashed off, in +shouts and blood thirsty witticisms. They were in high good humour, +those jovial souls. They had slain a couple of human beings--that was +to keep their hands in. They had robbed another of seven hundred +rupees--that would replenish the wasted exchequer for a time; and now +they cantered off to see if they could not do a little more in both +lines--and the goal for which they were heading was the Kachin valley. + +Umar Khan had burnt his boats behind him. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. To lend additional terror to capital punishment in the eyes of +Moslems on the northern border, the dead bodies of those executed for +fanatical murder were sometimes burned. + +Note 2. "God is the God of gods--Mohammed the Prophet of God."--The +Moslem confession of faith. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +EXPERIMENTAL. + +The days had gone by, and now Campian was installed in the forest +bungalow. Colonel Jermyn's invitation had gone forth, but the missive +which would have counteracted it had not, so here he was. + +Not without some deliberation had he decided on accepting it. He had +thought himself safe; had reckoned he had safely parted with all +illusions, as conducive only to disturbance and anxiety, and the +greatest of all illusions was Vivien Wymer. But the sudden and unlooked +for reappearance of the latter had reopened a wound. Yet why? She was +the same as before. She had failed him once. She had sacrificed him to +others once, and would of course do so again unhesitatingly. Why not? +There was no such thing as love as they two had once looked at it--had +once imagined it. A mere illusion; pleasant while it lasted, painful +when its illusoriness became evident. But then the wrench, though +painful, even agonising, was over--and in its effect salutary. Five +years make a difference in a man's life. He had not been young then; he +was older now. Sensibility was blunted. The capacity for self-torment +was no longer his. + +Love, the ever endurable! He had believed in that once. He was no +misogynist, even now. His experience of the other sex had been +considerable. He was ready to accord the members thereof the possession +of many delightful qualities. As friends they were staunch, as +companions unrivalled. Life unbrightened by feminine presence and +feminine influences would be a dull affair. But as exponents of Love, +the ever endurable, they were a failure; and exactly as he came to +appreciate this did he come to appreciate the other sex the more because +he had ceased to expect too much. + +His experiences had been many and varied, and took in all types of the +softer sex, and he had found them wonderfully similar. The fire and +passion of to-day became chill and indifference a year hence. Then +Vivien Wymer had come into his life, and lo, all was changed. Here was +a glorious exception to the rather soulless rule. She met his every +want; she appealed to him as he could never have believed any woman +could, and by some strange, magnetic instinct, his own personality +appealed to hers. They seemed made for each other--and yet--he had been +sacrificed. Not even there was he to be all in all--to be first and +everything. + +They had seen each other again once since that chance meeting in the +markhor cave. The colonel and his niece had ridden over to Upward's +camp to tiffin, and it was on that occasion that the hearty old soldier +had pressed him to come and pay them a visit. He had not even glanced +at Vivien, striving to read to what extent she would second the +invitation, but had accepted on the spot, yet not without a mental +reservation. + +For there was one point which he desired to debate within himself, and +that was the very one which had occurred to Vivien. How could they two +be together under the same roof, in close, daily intercourse as mere +acquaintances, they two who had been so much to each other? How could +they bear the strain, how keep up the _role_? + +Then when his meditations had reached this point, a strange exultant +thrill seemed to disturb the balance of his clearer judgment. Why +should the _role_ be kept up? After being parted for five years, they +had met again--nay, more--had been thrown together again in this +strange, wild country, that in former times had been to either of them +no more than a mere geographical name. Both were unchanged. There was +a softening in Vivien's voice, when off her guard, as on the last +occasion of their meeting, which seemed to point to the fact that she +was. For himself--well, he had grown older, wiser--and, he imagined, +harder. Still, the wound did seem to be reopening. Why, the whole was +almost as though Fate had gone out of her way to bring they two together +again. + +Yes, he had grown harder. Love, the ever endurable! Ridiculous! She +had sacrificed him before, and would do so again if occasion arose. If +she did not do so it would be because occasion had not arisen, and this +consideration constituted a state of potential unreliability, which was +not reassuring. The idea even served to re-awaken much of the old +bitterness and rankling resentment, and he decided that it would be an +interesting, if coldblooded, study in character to observe how Vivien +herself would come out under such an ordeal as the close, intimate +intercourse which life beneath the same roof could not but involve. + +Once there, he had no cause to regret his decision. The colonel was a +fine old soldier of the very best type. Most of his life had been spent +in India, and he was full of anecdote and reminiscence. He had served +through the Mutiny, and in several frontier disturbances, and his +knowledge of the country and its natives was intelligent and exhaustive. +He had been a sportsman, too, in his time--and, in short, was a man +whom it was a pleasure to talk with. He and Campian took to each other +immensely, and the two would sit together under the verandah of an +evening, smoking their cheroots and exchanging ideas, while Vivien +discoursed music through the open doors, upon a cottage piano which had +been lugged up, at some risk to its tuning and general anatomy, on board +the hideous necessary camel. + +Decidedly it was very close quarters, indeed, this party of three, +isolated there in that remote forest bungalow, away among the chaotic, +piled up mountain deserts of wild Baluchistan; but there was no element +of monotony about it; indeed, how could there be when to two out of the +three life thus represented an ordeal that meant so much, that might +mean indeed so much more. Yet it spoke volumes for the self control of +both that no suspicion should have entered the mind of the third that +they had ever beheld each other elsewhere, and under very near +circumstances. Their intercourse was free and unrestrained, but it was +the easy intercourse of two people who had ideas in common and liked +each other's society, and totally devoid of any symptom of covering a +warmer feeling. They would frequently take rides or walks together +through the juniper forest, or to some point overlooking a new or wider +view of the great chaotic mountain waste, and it spoke volumes for their +self control that no allusion was ever made to the past. They would not +have been human if occasionally some undercurrent of feeling had not now +and then come unguardedly near the surface, but only to be instantly +repressed. It was as though both were engaged in a diplomatic game +requiring a high degree of skill, and in which each was watching the +next move of the other with a jealous eye. + +Once, in course of their rides together, the two were threading a +_tangi_, and the sense of being shut within those high rock walls moved +Vivien to broach the subject of the adventure which had so nearly ended +in tragedy for her companion and his. + +"It must have been a dreadful experience," she said, looking up at the +cliffs overhead. + +"Yes. It was awkward. I've no use for a repetition of it." + +His tone was discouraging, as though he would fain have changed the +subject. But she seemed to cling to it. + +"I think that was a splendid feat," she went on, looking straight at +him. "I wish I knew what it was like never to be afraid." + +"So do I--most heartily. But I simply don't believe in the existence of +that enviable state; if you can talk of the existence of a negative, +that is." + +"But you do know what it is. Were you ever afraid of anything in your +life?" + +The very words Nesta had used. Then he had not taken them in a +complimentary sense. He had thought the remark a foolish one. Now +coming from this woman, who had idealised him--who did still--with her +wide luminous eyes turned full upon his face, and that unguarded +softening which had again crept into her tone, there was a subtle +flattery in it which was delicious, but enervating. As a matter of fact +he really thought nothing of the feat, beyond what a lucky thing it was +they should have been able to save both their lives. He answered so +shortly as to seem ungracious. + +"Very much and very often. I would rather run away than fight any day. +Fact." + +"I don't believe you." + +"No? People don't, I find. Some day I may do that very thing--then +when everybody is howling me down I can always turn round and say--`I +told you so, and you wouldn't believe me.'" + +"But do you want them to believe you?" + +"Why, of course. You don't know me at all, Vivien, even now." Then, as +if to hurry away from a dangerous slip. "By the by, I never can +understand the insane way in which even civilised and thinking people +elect to deify what they call courage or pluck. There is no such thing +really. It is purely a matter of opportunity or temperament--in short, +sheer accident. To get out of a tight place a man has got to do +something. While doing it he has no time to think. If he had, in nine +cases out of ten he'd run away." + +"Yes? And what about when he has to go into a tight place?" + +"Why, then he's got to go. And as a matter of fact it is funk that +drives him in. The opprobrium and possibly material penalty, he would +incur by backing out constitute the more formidable alternative of the +two. So of the two evils man, being essentially a self preserving +animal, instinctively chooses the least." + +"Plausible, but not convincing," returned Vivien, with a laugh. "And is +there not something of what they call a `crank' underlying that +philosophy?" + +"`They' are apt to say that of any application of the principles of +common sense,"--"as I have so often told you before," he was nearly +adding. + +"Was Miss Cheriton very much scared that day? She says she'll never get +over it as long as she lives." + +"Poor little girl. It must have been a ghastly experience. She behaved +very well; was no more scared than any other woman would have been, and +a good deal less so than some." + +"What a pretty girl she is." + +"Very--of her type." + +Vivien was conscious of two emotions--swift, simultaneous as a lightning +flash; first a pang over the readiness with which he endorsed her +remark, then a heartbeat of relief, for those three words constituted a +whole saving clause. + +"You must have seen a great deal of her?" + +No sooner uttered than Vivien would have given anything to recall the +remark. What construction would he put upon it other than jealousy of +this blue-eyed, golden-haired girl, who had several years of youth the +advantage over herself? + +"That depended upon circumstances. Nesta Cheriton has a great +_penchant_ for the British Army, and the British Army thoroughly +reciprocates the predilection. While the British Army was represented +at Chirria Bach I saw not much of her, over and above the occasions when +one had to meet in ordinary life. While it was unrepresented she seemed +to make herself equally happy in going chikor shooting with me. On the +whole, I rather like the little girl. She is bright and amusing, and +acts, I suppose, as a passing tonic to one's jaded and middle-aged +spirits." + +His tone had been that of absolute and unaffected ease, and now it +occurred to him suddenly, and for the first time, that Vivien was +putting him through something of a catechism. The moral dissection +which he had promised himself in risking a sojourn beneath the same roof +with her had already begun, and this was only a phase of it. At such +times the old feeling of rankling bitterness would come upon him, and +with it a wave of desolation and heart-emptiness. Why had she failed +him--she his destined counterpart? Why had she proved so weak under a +not very strong ordeal? He had indeed become hard, when he could go +through day after day in closest companionship with her, and yet keep on +the mask, never once be betrayed into letting down his guard. + +One consideration had acted as a salutary cold douche in the event of +the smouldering fires of his nature rising too near their restraining +rock crust. One day Vivien was telling him all about her uncle and how +she came to be keeping house for him. She had done so since her aunt's +death, and supposed she would go on doing so. He was such a dear old +man, she said--so thoughtful and kind and unselfish, and he had no one +to look after him but her. All of which her listener, even from his +short opportunity of observation, was inclined to endorse; but the sting +lay in the concluding consideration, for it recalled that other time. +In it had lain the pretext for sacrificing him to an imaginary duty. He +was not going to risk a repetition of what he had then undergone. The +iron entered deeper and deeper. + +Once an incident occurred which nearly availed to shatter and melt it. +Vivien had gone into his room during his absence, as she frequently did, +to see if there was not some little touch she could add to its comfort +or attractiveness. An object on his table caught her attention. She +picked it up and examined it, and her eyes filled. Yet it was only an +old tobacco pouch, and a very worn and weather-beaten one at that--so +worn and frayed that hardly more than a few threads of the original +embroidery still hung to the cover. Then she did an extraordinary +thing. Instead of replacing it she took it away with her. That night +she sat up late, and lo, in the course of the day, going into his room +Campian found that the old battered pouch for which he had hunted high +and low was replaced by a beautiful new one, the embroidery of which was +a perfect work of art. + +"Why did you take so much trouble?" he said when next they met. "You +could not have known I had lost the other." + +"Is that why we were so glum last night?" she returned, a glad light, +struggling with a mischievous one, in her eyes. "Never mind. This is a +much better one." + +"I loved that one. I would give a great deal to recover it, as you +ought to know." + +"Wait a moment." She left him and returned almost immediately. + +"Here it is--or what is left of it. Now--? What will you give?" + +She held it out to him--then drew it back. Her eyes were raised to his. +Her voice was soft and caressing as ever he had heard it in the old +days. Just one of those trivial accidents bringing about the most +crucial moment in two lives--when, as usual, the most trivial of causes +availed utterly to mar its effect. That most trivial of causes was the +voice of Colonel Jermyn, followed by the entrance of its jolly +possessor. + +"Here's the _dak_ just come from Upward. They're all going back to +Shalalai the day after to-morrow Campian, and want to know if you've had +enough of us yet. If you have they say they are leaving early and you'd +better be down at the camp to-morrow night. If you haven't--why--all +the better for us." + +"The point is whether you haven't had enough of me, Colonel." But while +he made the laughing remark his glance travelled round to Vivien's face. +It was one of those moments when her guard was down. The interruption +had come so inopportunely. Decidedly the study he had promised himself +was bearing rich results. + +"Pooh! Of course we haven't. Why, you've only just come. Besides, you +can get to Shalalai at any time. That's settled then. But I have an +idea. We might go down to Mehriab station and see them off. There are +some things I am getting up, and that idiot of a Babu in charge can't +send an intelligent answer to any question I write him. It's not a bad +sort of ride down there, and we'll kill two birds with one stone. What +do you say, Viv?" + +"I beg to second it, Uncle Edward. The idea is an extremely good one." + +To him who watched it, while not seeming to, there was an entire +revelation in Vivien's face during that momentary lifting of the veil. +She was as anxious to prolong the time as--he was. Yes, that is what it +amounted to. The experiment, from its coldblooded side, seemed to have +failed. + +"We shall be up here some weeks longer, Campian"--went on the +Colonel--"but of course if you have to go, it is easy enough to get to +Shalalai. Meanwhile my boy, as long as you can make yourself happy here +we are only too glad." + +"Oh, I can do that all right, Colonel. And I'm not tied to time in any +way either." + +Again that relieved look on Vivien's face. Some weeks! What might not +be the result of those weeks was the thought that was in the minds of +both of them? What might not transpire within those weeks? Ah, if they +had only known. + +"By the way there's another item of _kubbar_ in Upward's letter," went +on the Colonel, fumbling for that missive. "A _budmash_ named Umar Khan +has started out on a Ghazi expedition down Sukkaf way. He and several +others rode out along the road and cut down a couple of poor devils of +gharri-wallahs. Killed 'em dead as a door nail. There was a _mullah_ +in one of the gharris, and they plundered him. He got out a Koran and +put it on his head--singing out that he was a _mullah. `Mullah_ or +not,' says Umar Khan--`hand out those seven hundred rupees you've got on +board.' And he had to hand them out. Sacrilegious scamps--ha, ha! But +if he hadn't been a _mullah_ they'd have cut him up too. Well these +_budmashes_ will have to swing for it. They'll soon be run to earth. +Nice country this, eh, Campian?" + +"Rather. It seems to me only half conquered, and not that." + +"Yes. It's run at a loss entirely. A mere buffer State. We hold it on +the principle of grabbing as much as we can and sticking to it, all the +world over--and in this particular instance putting as much as we can +between the Russians and India." + +"And what if Umar Khan is not speedily run to earth?" + +"Oh, then he'll knock around a bit and make things generally unpleasant. +Do a little dacoity from time to time. But we are bound to bone him in +the long run." + +"There's an uncommonly queer closeness in the air this evening," said +the Colonel as they were sitting out under the verandah a little later. +"As if there was a storm of sorts working up. Yet there's no sign of +thundercloud anywhere. Don't you notice it, Vivien?" + +"I think so. It has a dispiriting effect on one, as if something was +going to happen." + +The sun had gone down in a lurid haze, which was not cloud, and the +jagged peaks of the opposite range were suffused in a hot, vaporous +afterglow, while the dark depth of juniper forest in the deep, narrow +valley seemed very far down indeed. What little air there was came in +warm puffs. + +"We all seem rather _chup_ this evening," said the Colonel. "Viv, how +would it be to play us something lively to wake us up?" + +She rose and went inside. Campian could still see her as she sat at the +piano, rattling off Gilbert and Sullivan at their liveliest. He could +continue the very favourite occupation in which he had been indulging-- +that of simply watching her--noting every movement, the turn of the +head, the droop of the eyelids, the sweet and perfect grace which +characterised her most trivial act. This woman was simply perfect in +his sight--his ideal. Yet to all outward intent they were on the easy, +friendly terms of two people who merely liked each other and no more. + +"Come and have a `peg,' Campian," said the Colonel presently. + +"No thanks--not just now." + +"Well, I'm going to," and away he went to the dining room. + +Then Campian, sitting there, was conscious of a very strange and +startling phenomenon. There was a feeling as though the world were +falling away from beneath his feet, together with a dull rumble. There +was a clatter of glass and table ornaments in the drawing room, and he +could see Vivien sway and nearly fall from the music-stool. He sprang +to his feet to rush to her aid, and seemed hardly able to preserve his +own balance. Both staggering they met in the doorway. + +"Oh, Howard, what is it?" she cried, seizing in both of hers the hand +which he had stretched out to help her. + +"Quick. Come outside," was all he said. They were able to walk now, +and he drew her outside the verandah, right into the open. Then again +came that cavernous rumble, and the earth fairly reeled beneath their +feet. + +"That's what all this heaviness in the air has been about," he said, as +the ground felt firm again. "A shock of earthquake." + +"Is it over? Will there be any more?" she gasped, her white face and +dilated eyes turned up to his. She still held his hands, in her sudden +terror, casting all considerations of conventionality to the winds. + +"I don't think so," he answered, a very tremble of tenderness in his +voice as he strove to reassure her. "These shocks generally go in twos +or threes, like waves. And even if there are any more we are all right +outside." + +Here the humorous element asserted itself, in the shape of Colonel +Jermyn choking and coughing in the verandah. In his hand he held a tall +tumbler, nearly empty. + +"Look at this, Campian," he cried. "A man can't even have a `peg' in +his own house without the whole world rising up against it. Flinging it +in his face, and half choking him, by George." + +"Some awful big teetotaler must have gone below, Colonel, to raise +racket enough to knock your `peg' out of your hand. I hope you'll take +warning and forswear `pegs.'" + +"Ha, ha! Well, Viv? Badly scared, child?" + +She laughed, but the colour had not yet come back to her cheeks. + +"I predicted something was going to happen, didn't I?" she said. + +"And it has happened--and now there's another thing going to happen, and +that is dinner, so we'd better go inside and begin to think about it. +What? Is it safe? Of course, though, my dear, I don't wonder at it if +you were a little scared. It's an experience that is apt to be alarming +at first." + +The while the speaker was chuckling to himself. He had been a witness +both by ear and eye to the foregoing scene, having overheard Vivien's +alarmed apostrophe. + +"So? It has come to that, has it?" he was saying to himself. +"`Howard,' indeed? But how dark they've kept it. Well, well. They're +both of them old enough to look after themselves. `Howard,' indeed!" +and the jolly Colonel chuckled to himself, as with kindly eyes he +watched the pair that evening, reading their easy unrestrained +intercourse in an entirely new light. + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +THE TRAGEDY AT MEHRIAB. + +Mehriab station, on the Shalalai line of railway, was situated amid +about as wild, desolate and depressing surroundings as the human mind +could possibly conceive. + +A narrow treeless plain--along which the track lay, straight as a wall-- +shut in by towering arid mountains, rising to a great height, cleft here +and there by a chasm overhung by beetling cliffs--black, frowning and +forbidding. At the lower end of the plain rose sad-hued mud humps, +streaked with gypsum. There was nothing to relieve the eye, no speck of +vivid green standing out from the parched aridity prevailing; but on the +other hand all was on a vast scale, and the little station and +rest-house looked but a tiny toy planted there beneath the stupendous +sweep of those towering hills. + +In the latter of the buildings aforesaid, a tolerably lively party was +assembled, discussing tiffin, or rather having just finished discussion +of the same. It had been done picnic fashion, and the room was littered +with plates, and knives and forks, and lunch baskets, and paper, and all +the accompaniments of an itinerant repast. + +"Have another `peg,' Campian," Upward was saying. "No? Sure? You +will, Colonel? That's right. We've plenty of time. No hurry whatever. +Hazel, don't kick up such a row, or you'll have to go outside. Miss +Wymer, don't let them bother you. What was I saying just now?" + +He took up the thread of what he had been saying, and in a moment he and +the Colonel were deep in reminiscences of _shikar_. Vivien and Nesta +had risen and were strolling outside, and there Campian joined them. +The _dak_ bungalow extended its accommodation to travelling natives, for +whom there was a department opposite. Camels--some standing, some +kneeling, but all snarling--filled the open space in front of this, and +wild looking Baluchis in their great white turbans and loose garments +were squatting around in groups, placidly chatting, or standing alone in +melancholy silence. + +"Look at this!" said Campian. "It makes quite a picture, taken against +the background of that loop-holed mud wall, with the great sweep of +mountain rising behind." + +Several camels, some ready laden, some not, were kneeling. On one a man +was adjusting its load. He was a tall, shaggy, hook-nosed black bearded +ruffian, who from time to time cast a sidelong, malevolent glance at the +lookers on as he continued his work. In business-like manner he +proceeded to adjust each bale and package, then when all was complete, +he lifted from the ground a Snider carbine and hung it by its ring to a +hook on the high wooden pack saddle. Then he took up his curved sword; +but this he secured to the broad sabretache over his shoulder. + +"Isn't that a picture in itself?" went on Campian. "Why, adequately +reproduced it would bring back the whole scene--the roaring of the +camels, the midday glow, the burning heat of this arid hole. I wonder +who they are by the way"--for others who had similarly accoutred their +camels were jerking the animals up, and preparing for the start. + +Vivien turned to Bhallu Khan who was just behind, and translated his +answer. + +"He says they are Brahuis from the Bolan side, going further in." + +"Why are they all armed like that? Don't they trust their own people?" + +"He says they may have heard that Umar Khan is on the warpath, and they +are not of his tribe. Nobody knows who anybody is who is not of his +tribe--meaning that he doesn't trust them." + +It was something of a contrast to turn from these scowling, brigandish +looking wayfarers, to the beaming, benevolent, handsome countenance of +the old forest guard. They strolled around a little more, then voted it +too hot, and returned to the welcome coolness of the _dak_ bungalow. + +Campian, always analytical, was conscious of a change, or rather was it +a development? Now that they were together--in a crowd--as he put it to +himself, there was a certain feeling of proprietary right that seemed to +assert itself in his relations with Vivien. It was something akin to +the feeling which was over him in the old time when they moved about +together. And yet, why? Well, the close intimate intercourse of the +last ten days or so had not been without its effect. Not without an +inward thrill either, could he recognise that this intercourse had but +begun. They were returning together, and to be candid with himself that +hot stifling arid afternoon here on one of the wildest spots on earth's +surface, he could not but recognise that this elation was very real, +very exhilarating indeed. + +"I think we'd better stroll quietly up to the station," said Upward, as +they re-entered. "We may as well have plenty of time to get all this +luggage weighed and put right." Then relapsing into the vernacular: +"Khola, you know what goes in and what has to be weighed." + +"_Ha, Huzoor_," assented the bearer. + +"Then get away on ahead and do it." + +The rest-house was about half a mile distant from the station. On the +way to the latter Campian found himself riding beside Nesta Cheriton. + +"You don't seem elated over the prospect of returning to Shalalai," he +said. "Five thousand of the British Army--horse, foot, and artillery! +Just think what that represents in the shape of its heroic leaders, +Nessita--and yet you are just as _chup_ as if you were coming away from +it all." + +"Oh, don't bother--just at the last, too," retorted the girl, almost +petulantly. "Besides--that joke is becoming rather stale." + +"Is it? So it is. So sorry. What about that other joke--is it stale +too? The one time you ever took anybody seriously. Won't you tell me +now, Nessie?" + +"No, I won't," she said, this time quite petulantly. "Come along. We +are a long way behind." + +"Then you will tell me when next we meet, in Shalalai in a week or two." + +"No, I won't. And look here--I don't want to hear any more about it." +Then, with apparent inconsequence--"It was mean of you to desert us like +that. You might just as well have put off your stay up there until +now." + +They had reached the station and were in the crowd again by now. And +there was somewhat of a crowd on the platform. Long-haired Baluchis, +all wearing their curved swords, stood about in threes and fours; +chattering Hindus with their womenkind, squatting around upon their +bundles and packages; a native policeman in Khaki uniform armed with a +Snider rifle--with which he probably could not have hit the traditional +haystack--and the joint party with their servants and two or three of +the forest guard, constituted quite a crowd on the ordinarily deserted +platform; for the arrival of the train--of which there was but one daily +each way--was something of an event. + +Having arranged for the luggage and tickets, Upward was chatting with +the stationmaster--a particularly civil, but very ugly Babu from down +country--as to the state of the country. The man grinned all over his +pockmarked countenance. What would the Sahib have? A Government berth +was not one to throw up because it was now and then dangerous, and so +many only too eager to jump into it. Umar Khan was not likely to +trouble him. Why should he? No defences? No. There was an iron door +to the waiting room, loop-holed, but the policeman was the only man +armed. Upward proceeded to inspect the said iron door. + +"Look at this, Colonel," he said. "Just look, and tell me if ever you +saw anything more idiotic in all your life. Here's a thick iron door, +carefully set up for an emergency, loop-holed and all, but the window is +utterly unprotected. Just look at it. And there's no one armed enough +to fire through either, except one policeman, who'd be cut down on the +first outbreak of disturbance." + +"You're right, Upward. Why, the window is as open as any English +drawing room window. There's a loft though, and an iron ladder. Well, +you'd be hard put to it if you were reduced to that." + +"Rather. That's how we British do things. I'll answer for it the +Russians wouldn't. Why, every one of these stations ought to be a young +fort in itself. It would be if the Russians had this line. And they'll +have it too, one of these days at this rate." + +And now a vehement ringing of the bell announced the train. On it came, +looking, as it slowed down, like a long black centipede, in contrast to +the open vastness of Nature; the engine with its cup shaped chimney, +vomiting white smoke, its pointed cow-catcher seeming as a living head +of the monster. The chattering Hindus were loading up their bundles and +hastening to follow; heads of all sorts and colours protruded from the +windows, but Mehriab was not a station where passengers often alighted, +so none got out now. The Upwards were busy looking after their +multifold luggage--and good-byes were being exchanged. + +"Now, Ernest, get in," called out Mrs Upward. "We are just off." + +"No hurry. Where's Tinkles? Got her on board?" + +"Yes, here she is," answered Hazel--hoisting up the little terrier to +the window, from which point of vantage it proceeded to snarl valorously +at a wretched pariah cur, slinking along the platform. + +"All right. Well, good-bye, Colonel. Good-bye, Miss Wymer. Campian, +old chap, I suppose we'll see you at Shalalai in a week or two. Ta-ta." + +The train rumbled slowly away, quickening its pace. Our trio stood +looking after it, Vivien responding to the frantic waving of +handkerchiefs from Lily and Hazel. + +The train had just disappeared within a deep rift which cut it off from +the Mehriab valley like a door. The station master had retired within +his office. The Colonel and his niece were in the waiting room +collecting their things. Campian, standing outside on the platform, was +shielding a match to light a cheroot, when--Heavens! What did this +mean? + +A band of savage looking horsemen came clattering up--ten or a dozen, +perhaps--advancing from the open country the other side of the line. +They seemed to have sprung out of the earth itself, so sudden was their +appearance. All brandished rifles. They dashed straight for the +station, springing from their horses at the end of the platform. Then +they opened fire on the armed policeman, who was immediately shot dead. +The stationmaster ran outside to see what the disturbance was about. He +received a couple of bullets the moment he showed himself, and fell, +still groaning. Three coolies walking unsuspectingly along the line +were the next. A volley laid them low. Then, with wild yells, +expressive of mingled fanaticism and blood thirst, the savage Ghazis +rushed along the platform waving their naked swords, and looking for +more victims. They slashed the wretched Babu to pieces where he lay-- +and then seeing that their other victims were not quite dead--rushed +upon them, and cut and hacked until there seemed not a semblance of +humanity left. Whirling their dripping weapons on high in the bright +sun, they looked heavenward, and yelled again in sheer mania as they +tore back on to the platform. + +The whole of this appalling tragedy had been enacted in a mere flash of +time; with such lightning celerity indeed, that Campian, standing +outside, could hardly realise that it had actually happened. It was a +fortunate thing that three or four tall Marris, standing together in a +group, happened to be between him and the assassins or he would have +received the first volley. Quick to profit by the circumstance, he +sprang within the waiting room. + +"Back, back," he cried, meeting the other two in the doorway. "There's +a row on, of sorts, and they are shooting. Help me with the door, +Colonel." + +It was a fortunate circumstance that Upward had called their attention +to this means of defence, and that they had all looked at it, and partly +tried it. Now it swung to without a hitch--and no sooner had it done so +than four of those without flung themselves against it with a savage +howl. These were the Marris who had unconsciously been the means of +saving Campian's life--and realising that fact, promptly decided to join +their Ghazi countrymen, and repair if possible the error. And, indeed, +the same held good of the others on the platform. They were there by +accident, but, being there, their innate savagery and fanaticism blazed +up in response to the maddening slogan of the Ghazis, with whom, almost +to a man, they decided to make common cause. If ever a sharp and vivid +contrast was to be witnessed it was here. The peaceful, prosaic, +commonplace railway station platform of a few moments ago, was now a +very hell of raging shaggy demons, yelling with fury and fanatical hate, +rolling their eyes around in search of more victims, as they splashed +and slipped in the blood of those they had already massacred. + +Then someone brought news that there were more coolies, hiding for their +lives behind a wood pile a little way up the line. With howls of +delight, a dozen barbarians started to find some fresh victims, and the +defenceless wretches were butchered as they grovelled on the ground and +shrieked for mercy. + +Those left on the platform now got an inspiration. They had killed the +Babu in charge, but there would be others. Fired with this idea, they +rushed into the station master's office. Nobody! Into an inner room. +Still nobody. They were about to turn and leave, when one, more knowing +than the rest, noticed that a large chest was standing rather far out +from the wall, and that a shower of dust was still falling from the top +of it. He looked behind. Just as he suspected. A man was crouching +there, and now quickly they hauled him forth. It was the Eurasian +telegraph and ticket clerk, who had hoped to hide away and escape. His +yellow face was pale with terror, and he shook in every limb at the +sight of those fierce faces and blood dripping tulwars. One of the +latter was about to descend upon his head, when somebody in authority +intervened, and the murderous blade was lowered. + +"The money--where is it?" said this man in Hindustani. "Give us over +the rupees." + +"You shall have them, Sirdar sahib. Don't let them kill me!" he +pleaded, frantic with fear. Then he began fumbling for the safe keys. +In his terror he could not find them. + +"Hurry up, thou son of a pig and a dog!" urged the one who seemed to be +the leader; "else will I have thee slain inch by inch, not all at once." + +The wretched Eurasian went nearly mad with fear at this threat, but just +then, by good luck, he found the keys. His hand, however, shook so much +he could hardly open the safe. When he did so, it was found to contain +less than they had expected. + +"Where is the remainder, thou son of Shaitan? Quick, lest we flay thee +alive, or broil thee on red-hot coals," growled the leader. + +Frantic with fear, the miserable wretch fumbled wildly everywhere. A +few loose rupees, and a bag or two containing no great sum were found, +but no more. + +"And is that all, food for the Evil One? Is that all?" + +"Quite all, Sirdar sahib." + +"Good." And, with the word, the barbarian raised his rifle and shot the +other dead. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +HARD TERMS. + +Meanwhile those in the waiting room were doing all they could to make +good their position, and that was not much. Their first attempt at +forcing an entrance having failed, the four Marris had rushed among +their countrymen who had firearms, striving to bring them against the +door in force, or rake the room with a volley through the window, but +their attention at the time was taken up with other matters, which +afforded the beleaguered ones a brief respite. + +"Non-combatants up here," said Campian, pointing to the ladder and the +trap door which has been mentioned. "Isn't that the order, Colonel?" + +"Yes, certainly. Up you go, Vivien." + +But Vivien refused to stir. + +"I can do something at close quarters, too," she said, drawing her +revolver. + +"Give it to me. I've not got mine with me. Now--go upstairs." + +"I may be of use here. Here's the pistol, though," handing it over. + +"Will you obey orders, Viv? What sort of a soldier's niece are you?" + +"Do go," said Campian, looking at her. "Well, I will, then." + +As she ascended the iron ladder Campian followed her up, under pretext +of aiding her. In reality he managed so he should serve to screen her +from any shot that might be fired, for the ladder was in full view of +the window. + +"I know why you came up behind me," she whispered as she gained the +loft. "It was to shield me in case they fired." + +Then, before he had time to begin his descent, she bent her head and +kissed him, full on the lips. + +Not a word did he speak as he went down that ladder again. The blood +thrilled and tingled through his frame. Not all the fury of fanaticism +which spurred the Ghazis on to mania could surpass the exaltation of +fearlessness which was upon him as he tried to treasure up the warm +sweetness of that kiss--and after five years! + +"Campian, confound it! We have only a dozen shots among us," growled +the Colonel. "What an ass I am to go about without a pistol." + +"We can do a lot with a dozen shots. And Der' Ali has his tulwar." + +Der' Ali was the Colonel's bearer, who had been within at the time of +the onslaught. He had been a trooper in his master's old regiment, and +they had seen service together on more than one occasion. What had +become of the two syces and the forest guard, who were outside, they did +not then know, for then the whole volume of the savage fanatics came +surging up to the door. In their frenzy they fired wild shots at the +solid iron plates. + +"Tell them, Der' Ali," growled Colonel Jermyn, in Hindustani, "that they +had better clear out and leave us alone. The _Sirkar_ will hang every +man Jack of their tribe if they interfere with us. And the first man in +here we'll shoot dead; and the rest of them to follow." + +The bearer, who understood Baluchi well, rendered this, not minimising +the resource and resolution of those within as he did so. A wild yell +greeted his words. Then one, more frenzied or enterprising than the +rest, pushed his rifle through the window, and the smashing of glass +mingled with the report as he blazed into the room. But those within +were up to that move. The window being on a line with the door, they +had only to flatten themselves against the wall, and the bullet smashed +harmless. + +Then there was a rush on the window. Two men crashed through, badly cut +by the glass. Before they could recover themselves they were shot dead. +Even Campian's wretched stores revolver did its work on this occasion. +That halted the rest--for the moment. + +Only for the moment. By a rapid movement, crawling beneath the level of +the window sill, several managed to discharge their rifles well into the +room. Narrowly the bullets missed the defenders. + +"Look here. This is getting hot," growled the Colonel. "Let's give +them one more volley and go into the loft. There one of us can hold the +place for ever against the crowd." + +Campian had his doubts about the strategical wisdom of this. However, +just then there was another rush through the window, and this time his +revolver jammed. Outside were thirty furious Ghazis, urging each other +on with wild fanatical yells. If they two were cut down what of Vivien? +That decided him. She could hold that trap door against the crowd. + +"All right, Colonel. Up you go. I and Der' Ali will hold the window." + +"You and Der' Ali be damned," growled the staunch old veteran. "Obey +orders, sir." + +"No, no. You forget I'm only a civilian, and not under orders. And-- +you must be with Vivien." + +No time was this for conventionalities, but even then the old man +remembered the evening of the earthquake. "Well, I'll cover your +retreat from the ladder," he said, and up he went. + +Campian, by a wrench, brought the cylinder of his weapon round. Then, +sighting the head of a Ghazi thrust prominently forward, he let go. It +was a miss, but a near one. Under cover of it both he and the bearer +gained the loft. A strange silence reigned. The assailants seemed to +have drawn off. + +It was a breathing space, and surely these needed it. The excitement +and energetic action brought a relapse. So sudden was the change from a +quiet ordinary leave taking to this hell of combat and bloodshed, that +it told upon the nerves more than upon the physical resources. Then, +too, they could sum up their position. Here they were beyond all +possibility of relief. It was only three o'clock in the afternoon. No +train would be due at Mehriab until eleven the next morning. Meanwhile +these bloodthirsty barbarians would stick at nothing to reach their +victims. These were cut off from human aid as entirely, to all intents +and purposes, as though thousands of miles within the interior of Africa +instead of in the heart of a theoretically peaceful country, over which +waved the British flag. + +"If only the telegraph clerk had been able to send a wire," said the +Colonel. "But even if the poor devil wasn't cut down at the start, he'd +have been in too big a scare to be able to put his dots and dashes +together." + +Suddenly, with an appalling clatter, two or three logs were hurled +through the window on to the floor of the waiting room below. Then some +more, followed by a splash of liquid and a tin can. But the throwers +did not show. + +"By the Lord, they are going to try burning us out," said Campian, in a +low tone, watching the while for an enemy to show himself. + +Then came more logs. They were old sleepers which had been piled up +beside the line, and were as dry as lucifer matches. On to them came a +great heap of tattered paper--the return forms and books found in the +station offices. The assailants could load up a great pyre thus without +incurring the slightest risk to themselves--could set it alight, too. +That was what came of the British way of doing things--a heavily +armoured and loop-holed door, and, alongside of it, an open and entirely +unprotected window. Truly Upward had been right when he conjectured the +Russians would have had a different way. No nation under the sun is +more wedded to shortsightedness and red tape than that which is +traditionally supposed to rule the waves. + +Now indeed a feeling of blank despair came into the hearts of at any +rate two out of the four as they watched these preparations. Vivien, +fortunately, could not see them, for with splendid patience she sat +quite still, and refrained from hampering her defenders, even with +useless questions. The reek of paraffin rose up strong and sickening. +The assailants had flung another can of it upon the pile of +combustibles. All this they could do without exposing themselves in the +least. + +"Heavens I are we to be roasted or smoked in a hole?" growled the +Colonel. "Cannot we cut our way through?" + +Campian said nothing. His thoughts were too bitter. He had some belief +that these barbarians would not harm Vivien. But death had never been +less welcome than at that moment. + +"Could we not propose terms to them, Colonel? Offer a big ransom, say?" + +"Nothing like trying. Der' Ali, ask the _budmashes_ how many rupees +they want to clear out and leave us alone." + +The bearer, who spoke Baluchi well, did as he was told. The reply came +sharp and decided. "Not any." + +"Try again, Der' Ali. Tell the fools they'll be none the better for +killing us, and we'll promise to do nothing towards having them caught. +In fact, promise them anything." + +Then Der' Ali, who was no fool, put the offer before them in its most +tempting light. Everyone knew the Colonel Sahib. His word had never +been broken, why should it be this time? The rupees would make them +rich men for life, and would be paid with all secrecy. A Moslem +himself, Der' Ali quoted the Koran voluminously. It was not for +themselves that they feared death, it was on account of the mem-sahib, +for if they were slain what would become of her? And what said the Holy +Koran? "If ye be kind towards women, and fear to wrong them, God is +well acquainted with what ye do." + +For a time there was silence. The suspense of the beleaguered ones was +terrible. Then the reply came. + +"If the Colonel Sahib would give his promise to pay over the sum of five +thousand rupees to an accredited messenger at a certain spot in eight +days' time he and the mem-sahib and their servant should be spared. But +the other sahib must come down and deliver himself into their hands." + +"That's all right," said Campian cheerfully, when this had been +rendered. "They want me as a hostage. Things are looking up. When +they finger the rhino they'll turn me adrift again, and meanwhile I +shall see something of the inner life of the wily Baluch." + +"Tell them we'll double the sum if they let all four of us go," said the +Colonel. + +Der' Ali put this, but the reply of the leader was again prompt and +decided. It was in the negative. The other sahib must come and deliver +himself into their hands. + +"The question is, can we trust them?" said the Colonel. "Will they keep +to their conditions in any case? Once we are out of this we are at +their mercy." + +"Are we less so here?" said Campian. "A match put to that nice little +pile and we shall be smoked or roasted in no time. No. Strike while +the iron's hot, say I. Der' Ali, make them swear by all that they hold +sacred to keep faith with us, and then I'll come down." + +"Who is your leader, brothers?" called out the bearer. + +"I, Ihalil Mohammed Khan," returned the same deep voice that had before +spoken. + +Then Der' Ali put to him the most binding oath he could call to mind, +and Ihalil accepted it without hesitation. He bound himself by all the +virtues of the Prophet, by the Koran, and by the holy Caaba, faithfully +to observe the conditions he had laid down--in short, he almost swore +too much. + +"Say we accept, Der' Ali. I'm coming down." + +"God bless you, my boy," said the Colonel, as he wrung the other's hand +in farewell. "If it was only ourselves, I'd say let's all hang +together. But for Vivien's sake. There, good-bye." + +"Rather--so long, we'll say," was the cheerful reply. "I'll show up +again in a few days." + +Vivien said nothing. A silent pressure of the hands was the extent to +which she could trust herself. + +For all his assumed cheerfulness it was a critical moment for Campian, +as once more he stood upon the floor of the waiting room, and, stumbling +over the heaped-up combustibles, stepped outside into the full glare of +daylight. His nerves were at their highest tension. The chances that +he would be cut to pieces or not the moment he showed his face were +about even. As in a flash, that question as to whether he was ever +afraid of anything darted through his mind. At that moment he was +conscious of feeling most horribly and unheroically afraid. + +No one would have thought it to look at him, though--certainly not those +into whose midst he now stepped. + +"Salaam, brothers!" he said in Hindustani, with a glance at the ring of +shaggy scowling faces which hemmed him in. + +The salute was sullenly returned, and then Ihalil, beckoning him to +follow, led the way down the platform, surrounded by the whole party. +They passed the body of the murdered policeman and that of the +stationmaster, and at these some of the barbarians turned to spit, with +muttered curses; and the platform, smeared and splattered with blood, +was like the floor of a slaughter-house. Even the dirty white garments +of the murderers were splashed with it. + +Out through the gate at the end of the platform they went. Heavens, was +the whole thing a dream--a nightmare? Why, it was less than an hour ago +they had entered that gate all so light hearted and unthinking. He +remembered the _badinage_ he had been exchanging with Nesta as they +passed in through it--and more than one reference as to meeting in +Shalalai in a week or two. Now--who could say whether he would meet +anybody again--in a week or two or ever? And then his sight fell upon +that which caused him well nigh to give up hope. + +In the shade before the station master's private quarters, a man was +squatting--a wild, fierce-looking Baluchi. Before him the whole party +now halted, treating him as with the deference due to a leader. But one +glance at the grim, cruel face and eagle beak, and shaggy knotted brows, +sufficed. In him Campian recognised the man who had scowled so +demoniacally upon him in the retinue of the Marri sirdar--the man he had +wounded and lamed for life when set upon by the Ghazis in the Kachin +valley. And this man was no other than the celebrated outlaw Umar Khan, +and now, he was his prisoner. + +And at that very moment it occurred to those left behind in the loft +that any sort of stipulation as to the said prisoner being returned +unharmed on the payment of the sum agreed upon had been entirely left +out of the covenant. + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +AT SHALALAI. + +"By Jove, but it is good to be back again!" said Upward, in tones of +intense satisfaction as he sat down to tiffin in his bungalow at +Shalalai. "The garden is looking splendid, and then all the greenery in +the different compounds after those beastly stones and junipers--I'm +sick of the whole circus. Only a year or two more, thank goodness." + +"Yes, it is always nice to be at home again," assented his wife. "Nesta +must be sick of roughing it, too." + +"Well, I won't say that," answered the girl. "I'll only agree that I am +rather glad to be back again." + +"So they will be at the club this afternoon," laughed Upward. "By the +way, why don't those children come in? They are always late. It's a +perfect nuisance." + +A wrangle of voices, and the children did come in. Racket in hand, they +were disputing vehemently as to the rights and wrongs of a game they had +been obliged to break off in the middle of. + +"Wonder how long Campian will stick at Jermyn's? I believe the old +chap's getting a bit smashed there." + +"Nonsense, Ernest," laughed his wife. "You're always thinking someone +or other must be getting `smashed.'" + +"Why shouldn't he? She's a deuced fine girl that niece of Jermyn's--and +then just think what a lot they'll see of each other. What do you think +about it, Miss Cheriton?" + +"Oh, I don't know. I've never thought about it." + +"Too black," put in Lily the irrepressible. "If he could run the +gauntlet of Nesta all this time, I don't think he's likely to go smash +there." + +"Of course you're an authority on such matters, Lily," laughed her +mother. "Ernest, you see now what notions you put into the children's +heads." + +"I don't want any tiffin," pronounced Hazel. "I only want to get at +those nectarines. They just are good. Bother camp! I like it much +better here." + +The large, lofty, cool room in which they were was hung around with +trophies of the chase, all spoils of their owner's unerring rifle. One +end of the room was hung with the skin of an immense tiger, draped, as +it were, from ceiling to floor, the other with that of a somewhat +smaller one, which had clawed a native out of a tree and killed him +before Upward could get in a shot. Hard by was a finely marked +panther-skin whose erewhile wearer had badly mauled Upward himself! +Panther and jungle cat and cheetul and others were all represented, and +with horns of the blackbuck and sambur, tastefully disposed, produced an +effect that was picturesque and unique. It served another purpose, too, +as Upward used to say in his dry way. It gave people something to talk +about when they came to tiffin and dinner. It was sure to set them +comparing notes, or swearing they had seen or shot much bigger ones, and +so forth. At any rate, it kept them going. + +The bungalow was surrounded on three sides by a garden of which Upward +was justly proud, for it was all of his own making. In front a trim +lawn, bright with flower beds, and beyond this a tennis court, of which +his neighbours did him the favour to make constant use. They likewise +did him the favour to plant their bicycles, dogs, and other impedimenta, +about his flower beds, or against the great crimson and purple +convolvulus blossoms entwining his summer-house, whereat he fumed +inwardly, but suffered in silence, from a misplaced good nature; and, +after all, it was a little way they had in Shalalai. Peaches and +nectarines and plums attained a high degree of excellence in their own +department, likewise every kind of green vegetable--and the verandah was +green and cool with all sorts of ferns. + +"I wonder none of the garrison have been up, Miss Cheriton," he went on. +"They can't have got wind that you're back. What's that? Some of them +already?" For Tinkles, suddenly leaping from her chair, darted out into +the hall, barking shrilly and making a prodigious fuss. At the same +time steps were heard on the verandah. + +"That's Fleming," said Upward, recognising the voice--then going out +into the hall. "Come in here, old chap. Well, what's the news?" + +"There is some news, but--Hallo! Excuse me, Mrs Upward. Didn't know +you were at tiffin." + +"It's all right. We're just done. Get into that chair and have a +`peg'--and then we can hear the _kubbur_." + +"Well, it's not very definite as yet," replied Fleming, subsiding into +the chair indicated. "Thanks, Upward--only a small one, I've just had +one at the club. They say--By the bye, didn't you come in from Mehriab +yesterday?" + +"Yes, of course. But why?" + +"Was it all right?" + +"Was what all right?" + +"Why, the look of things?" + +"We didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Jermyn and his niece and +Campian came down with us to see us off. There was nothing wrong then. +But why? What do they suspect?" + +"Dunlop had occasion to wire officially to the stationmaster at Mehriab +yesterday afternoon and could get no reply. He kept on wiring, but it +was no good." + +"Maybe some _budmash_ has been playing gooseberry with the wire." + +"Cutting it? No. The communication is quite all right with the +stations next to Mehriab on either side." + +"It was all right yesterday at Mehriab, for I sent a couple of wires +myself," said Upward. "Perhaps the telegraph clerk is taken ill." + +"It might be that of course. But there's a rumour flying around the +bazaar this morning that Umar Khan has been raiding up the Kachin +valley. What if he has stuck up Mehriab station to plunder the safe?" + +Upward whistled. + +"Yes--that might be," he said. "Only I wish he had done it while we +were all there. I had two rifles and a shot gun and a six shooter. I +think among us all--myself and Campian and old Jermyn and my two +foresters--we'd have given Mr Umar Khan very particular what for. But +what should bring him up to those parts? He was supposed to be making +the other way when he cut up those two `gharri-wallahs.'" + +"I don't know. It's only bazaar rumour, mind." + +"Now I think of it," went on Upward, "there did seem rather more than +usual of the evil-looking _soors_ hanging about the platform. They'd +all got tulwars too. By Jove--what if they were only waiting till the +train had left to break out, and Ghazi the whole show? Oh, Lord! That +puts things in a new light. There were enough of them to do it too." + +Fleming looked grave. "Then what about your friend and the Jermyns?" he +said. + +"Heavens, yes. Perhaps the _soors_ waited until they had gone. Hallo, +Miss Cheriton. What's the matter?" + +For Nesta had gone as pale as death--looking as if she would faint dead +away. + +"It's nothing. I shall be all right again in a minute. Why do you +suggest such horrible things?" she broke off quite angrily. "It is +enough to upset one." + +Both men looked foolish--and all stared. The outburst was so unlike +her. + +"Let's go and see if we can get at something definite," said Upward, +jumping up. "Did you drive here, Fleming?" + +"No--biked." + +"All right I'll jump on mine and we'll spin round to McIvor's. He may +have got _kubbur_ of sorts--but these Politicals are so dashed close." + +A three minutes' spin along the level military road brought the two men +to the Acting Political's. That official looked grave at sight of +Upward. He guessed his errand--and at once handed him a telegram. + +"This is the latest," he said. + +It was a long message, but the substance of it was that on the arrival +of the train due at Mehriab that morning at eleven, not a living soul +was in sight, nor was any signal down. The engine-driver slowed down +and advanced cautiously, when the fact of the massacre became apparent. +Then they had been signalled by Colonel Jermyn and his niece, who were +in a great state of horror and distress, and reported that their guest +had been taken away as prisoner by the Ghazis. They and the Colonel's +bearer were taken on to the next station beyond Mehriab, whence they +would return to Shalalai by the afternoon train. + +"What's going to be done about it?" said Upward. + +"We've started a strong body of Police after them, and two troops of +Sindh Horse are to follow," said the Political. + +"Yes, and then they'll cut Campian's throat. In fact I wonder they +didn't already. It looks as if they wanted him ransomed, and if so--by +George--the way to do for him is to start dusting a lot of Police after +them." + +The Political was a man of few words. He shrugged his shoulders, and +observed that the matter did not rest with him. He could give them all +the information he had at his disposal, but that was all. + +"This wants thinking out, Fleming," said Upward, as they were spinning +along on their bicycles again. "What can be done? What the devil _can_ +be done? As sure as they run those Ghazis close--then, goodnight to +Campian. But Jermyn will be here this evening--then we shall get at the +whole story." + +The evening train arrived in due course, bringing with it the three +survivors of the outbreak. The Ghazis had kept faith with them, and had +retired, leaving them without further molestation. But the whole night +had to be got through, and a very trying one it was, for they were not +without fear lest some of the people in the neighbourhood, becoming +affected with the contagion of bloodshedding, should come and complete +what the Ghazis had left undone. Fortunately there was the _dak_ +bungalow for them to retire to--and they were thus enabled to escape +from the immediate proximity of the ghastly slaughter-house scenes which +the platform, and indeed the railway station generally, presented. No +further alarm however had come their way, and they had been picked up by +the morning train, as detailed in the telegram. + +They had come away, of course, with scarcely any luggage, but Upward's +bungalow was elastic, and therein they were promptly installed. Vivien, +now that the tension was relaxed, succumbed to a nervous reaction that +prostrated her for days--and which, indeed, was not entirely due to the +horrors she had gone through. The Colonel was loud on Campian's +praises. But for him they would never have got out of the mess, by +Jove, he declared. The fellow's coolness in venturing among those +cut-throats was splendid--and so on. When he got back again in a week +or two he would have some experiences, and he seemed the sort of fellow +who was partial to experiences. Thus the Colonel. But Upward, +listening, was not so easy in his mind. He hoped Campian would be back +among them in a week or two, but--Heavens! what if he were not? The +Marris were a savage lot, and these particular ones were a combination +of Ghazi and brigand. He felt uneasy--most infernally uneasy--in which +predicament he did two things--he sent for Bhallu Khan, and consulted +long and oft with the authorities. + +The latter were not so eager to fall in with his views as he considered +they ought to be. It might be true, as he said, that aggressive action +against Umar Khan would imperil the life of the hostage, but on the +other hand, were they to sit supine for eight days, while that notorious +ruffian raided and plundered and murdered at will all over the country. + +The knot of the difficulty however was cut, as is frequently the case, +by circumstances. Each movement against him, undertaken with great +promptitude and spirit, resulted in failure, whereat Upward, and others +interested in the fate of the hostage rejoiced. It was not likely that +such a ruthless barbarian as Umar Khan was known to be, would allow his +prisoner to be taken out of his hands alive--no, not for a moment-- +whereas having kept faith so far he might do so until the end, +especially if a handsome _baksheesh_ was added to the stipulated sum. +After that, the sooner he was caught and hanged the better. + +Meanwhile the affair caused great excitement in the outlying parts, and +not a little scare. Outlying shooting parties deemed it advisable to +return and some of the railway employes on the lonely stations along the +line--natives or Eurasians mostly--resigned their posts in panic, +fearing lest a similar fate should overtake themselves. On the arrival +of Bhallu Khan some news was gleaned, but not much. The Ghazis had hung +about the Kachin valley for a day or two, and had looted the forest +bungalow--refraining, however, from firing it. Then they seemed to have +disappeared entirely, and if he had any sort of inkling of their +probable destination, Bhallu Khan, a Baluchi himself, could not or would +not reveal it. + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +IN THE ENEMY'S HAND. + +For a while the scowling barbarian contemplated Campian from under his +shaggy brows. Then he gave an order to his followers. There stepped +forward a man. This fellow had a villainous cast of countenance and a +squint. He was of mixed blood, being a cross between Baluch and +Punjabi. He had been at one time a _chuprassi_ in a Government office, +and talked English fairly well. + +"Chief say--you know who he is?" he began. + +"Can't say I do." + +"Chief say--you ever see him before?" + +"Can't be sure of that either. Yet, I have an idea I saw him once while +having a friendly talk with the Sirdar Yar Hussain Khan." + +At mention of the Sirdar's name, a faint show of interest seemed to come +into the saturnine features of those around. Then the interpreter went +on: + +"Dis chief--he Umar Khan." + +The interest wherewith he would have received this announcement was +dashed with a feeling as of the last glimmer of hope extinguished. It +was bad enough to know that he was in the power of a revengeful +barbarian with every motive for nourishing a deadly grudge against +himself, but that this man should turn out to be the famous outlaw, +whose savage and cruel nature was a matter of notoriety--well, he felt +as good as dead already. + +Now he recognised that Umar Khan's object in leading the Ghazi outbreak +was not merely that of indiscriminate bloodshed, or even plunder. It +was to get possession of himself--for the purpose of wreaking some +deadly vengeance which he shuddered to contemplate--and well he might. + +"Tell Umar Khan," he said, "that the money we have promised him will be +punctually paid--and that when I am back among my friends again in +Shalalai I will add to it another two thousand rupees." + +The outlaw chief received the rendering of this with a contemptuous +grunt, and continued to glare none the less vindictively upon his +prisoner. Then he gave certain orders, in the result of which those who +had horses prepared to mount them, the remainder following on foot; for +those Marris who had been surprised into participating in the massacre +had now decided to cast in their lot with Umar Khan. A steed was also +provided for Campian, but over and above being an inferior beast, a +check rein, held by one of his custodians, was passed through the bit. + +Before they set forth, however, the leader issued another order, and in +the result there stepped out from the stationmaster's house two men. To +his surprise the hostage recognised in these Bhallu Khan and the other +forest guard. So these were the traitors? These had brought this crew +of cut-throat murderers down upon them--and would share in the spoil. +Such was his first thought, but he had never made a greater mistake in +his life; the fact being that the two foresters were as innocent of +complicity as he himself. They had been squatting outside the station +after bidding farewell to their official superior. As fellow countrymen +and fellow believers, the Ghazis had refrained from putting them to the +sword, but had ordered them to remain within the outbuilding while the +work of blood and plunder proceeded--and neither to come forth nor to +look forth on pain of death. Now they were released. But first Umar +Khan treated them to a long harangue, to which they listened with +profound attention. + +Campian--hailing the man who had acted as interpreter--told him to ask +the chief if he might write a line to the Colonel Sahib and send it by +the foresters. A curt refusal was returned, and he was ordered to +mount. + +As the band receded over the plain, from its midst he could see the +white figures of the two foresters moving along the platform--but no +others. Yes--he could. He could make out Vivien's figure. He thought +he knew what was in her mind as she strained her glance over that amount +of space, if haply she might distinguish him in that throng of +retreating forms--and it seemed to him that their very souls went forth +to each other and met in blissful reconciliation. Then all was shut +from his gaze. The band was entering the black portal of a great +_tangi_. + +The sight of its smooth rock walls brought back the recollection of that +other day, and the result was, on the whole, a cheering one. Then how +sore had been his strait. He had come through it, however. Why not +again? + +At sundown they halted, and spreading their chuddas and putting off +their shoes, the whole band proceeded to perform their devotions in most +approved fashion. Behind them lay the mangled remains of their +unoffending and defenceless victims, slaughtered in cold blood; but then +these were heathens and infidels, and to slay such was a meritorious +act. So these sons of the desert and the mountain prayed in the +direction of Mecca with enhanced faith and fervour. + +Throughout half the night they travelled onward. Onward and upward, for +they seemed to be ascending higher and higher among the jagged mountain +crests. The wind blew piercingly cold, and Campian shivered. They +threw him an old poshteen or fur-lined coat, and this he was glad to +pull round him in spite of qualms lest it should already be more or less +thickly populated. Soon after midnight they halted, and building a +large fire under an overhanging rock, lay down beside it. Campian, worn +out with fatigue and the reaction after the day's excitement, went into +a heavy dreamless sleep. + +He was awakened by a push. It seemed as though he had been asleep but +five minutes, whereas in point of fact it must have been nearly midday, +so high in the heavens was the sun. He looked forth. Piles of +mountains in chaotic masses heaved up around; all stones and slag; no +trees, no herbage worthy of the name. One of the Baluchis handed him a +bowl of rice, cold and insipid, and a chunk of mahogany looking +substance, which smelt abominably rancid--and which he turned from with +loathing. It was in fact a hunk of dried and salted goat flesh. Having +got outside the first article of diet, he remembered ruefully how he had +been cheerful over the prospect of seeing something of the inner life of +the lively Baluchi, but this, as a beginning, was decidedly +discouraging. + +This appeared to be a favourite halting place, judging from the old +marks of fires everywhere around, and a better hiding place it seemed +hard to imagine, such an eyrie was it, perched up here out of reach, +where one might pass below again and again and never suspect its +existence. The band seemed in no hurry, resting there the entire day. +Part of this the hostage turned to account by trying to win over the +good offices of the squint-eyed cross-breed. + +This worthy, who rejoiced in the name of Buktiar Khan, was not +indisposed to talk. He too was promised a largesse when the prisoner +should be set at liberty. + +"What you do to dis chief?" he said, in reply to this. + +"Eh? I don't quite follow." + +"Dis chief, he hate you very much. What you do to him?" + +"Oh, I see," and the prisoner's heart sank. His chances of escaping +death--and that in some ghastly and barbarous form--looked slighter and +slighter. "I never harmed him, that I know of for certain. I never +harmed anyone except in fair fight. If he has suffered any injury from +me it must be in that way. Tell him, Buktiar, if you get the +opportunity, and if you don't, make the opportunity--that a man with the +name for bravery and dash that he has made does not bear a grudge over +injuries received in fair and open fight. You understand?" + +"I un'stand--when you slow speak. Baluchi, he very cross man. You +strike him, he strike you. You kill him, his one brother, two brother, +kill you, if not dis year, then next year." + +A rude interruption there and then occurred to bear out the other's +words. Campian, who was seated on the ground at the time, felt himself +seized from behind and flung violently on his back. Half-a-dozen sinewy +ruffians had laid hold of him, and he was powerless to move. Bending +over him was the savage face of Umar Khan, stamped with the same +expression of diabolical malignity as it had worn when he had first +beheld it. + +"O dog," began the outlaw, pushing his now helpless prisoner with his +foot, "dost guess what I am going to do with thee?" + +"Put an end to me, I suppose," answered Campian wearily, when this had +been rendered. "But it doesn't seem fair. I yielded myself up on the +understanding that I should only be detained until the five thousand +rupees were paid. And now I have promised you two thousand more. What +do you gain by my death?" + +Buktiar duly translated this, and the Baluchi answered: + +"What do I gain? Revenge--blood for blood. But hearken. I had +intended to strike off thy head, but thou shalt have thy life. Yet if +Umar Khan must walk lame for the remainder of his life, why should the +dog whose bite rendered him lame walk straight? Answer that, dog--pig-- +answer that," growled the barbarian, grinding his teeth, and working +himself up into a frenzy of vindictive rage. "Tell him what I said just +now, Buktiar--that a brave man never bears malice for wounds received in +fair fight," was the answer. + +But this appeal was lost on Umar Khan. He spat contemptuously and went +on. + +"I had meant to strike off thy head, thou pig, but will be merciful. As +I walk lame, thou shalt walk lame. I will strike off both thy feet +instead." + +A cold perspiration broke out from every pore as this was translated to +the unfortunate man. Even if he survived the shock and agony of this +frightful mutilation, the prospect of going through life maimed and +helpless, and all that it involved--Oh, it was too terrible. + +"I would rather die at once," he said. "It will come to that, for I +shall bleed to death in any case." + +"Bleed to death? No, no. Fire is a good _hakim_," [Physician], replied +the Baluchi, with the laugh of a fiend. "Turn thy head and look." + +Campian was just able to do this, though otherwise powerless to move. +Now he noticed that the fire near which they had been sitting had been +blown into a glow, and an old sword blade which had been thrust in it +was now red hot. The perspiration streamed from every pore at the +prospect of the appalling torment to which they were about to subject +him. Not even the thought that this was part of the forfeit he had to +pay for the saving of Vivien availed to strengthen him. Unheroic as it +may sound, there was no room for other emotion in his mind than that of +horror and shrinking fear. The ring of savage, turbaned countenances +thrust forward to witness his agony were to him at that moment as the +faces of devils in hell. + +Umar Khan drew his tulwar and laid its keen edge against one of the +helpless man's ankles. + +"Which foot shall come off first?" he snarled. "You, Mohammed, have the +hot iron ready." + +He swung the great curved blade aloft, then down it came with a swish. +Was his foot really cut off? thought the sufferer. It had been done so +painlessly. Ah, but the shock had dulled the agony! That would follow +immediately. + +Again the curved blade swung aloft. This time it was quietly lowered. + +"Let him rise now," said Umar Khan, with a devilish expression of +countenance which was something between a grin and a scowl. + +Those who held him down sprang off. In a dazed sort of way Campian rose +to a sitting posture and stared stupidly at his feet. No mutilated +stump spouting blood met his gaze. The vindictive savage had been +playing horribly upon his fears. He was unharmed. + +"I have another thought," said Umar Khan, returning his sword to its +scabbard. "I will leave thee the use of thy feet until to-morrow +morning. Then thou shalt walk no more." + +The prospect of a surgical amputation, even when carried out with all +the accessories of scientific skill, is not conducive to a placid frame +of mind, by any means. What then must be that of a cruel mutilation, +with all the accompaniments of sickening torture, for no other purpose +than to gratify the vindictive spite of a barbarian? The reaction from +the acute mental agony he had undergone had rendered Campian strangely +helpless. It was a weariful feeling, as though he would fain have done +with life, and in his desperation he glanced furtively around to see if +it would not be possible to snatch a weapon and die, fighting hard. A +desire for revenge upon the ruffian who had subjected him to such +outrage then came uppermost. Could he but seize a tulwar, Umar Khan +should be his first victim, even though he himself were cut to pieces +the next moment. But he had no opportunity. The Baluchis guarded their +weapons too carefully. + +"Does that devil really mean what he says, Buktiar?" he took occasion to +ask, "or is he only trying to scare me?" + +"He mean it," replied the cross-breed, somewhat gloomily, for were the +prisoner injured the prospect of his own reward seemed to vanish. "Once +he cut off one man's feet--and hands too--and leave him on the mountain. +Plenty wolf that part--dey eat him." + +This was cheering. How desperate was his strait, here, in the power of +these cruel savages--in the heart of a ghastly mountain waste that a +month or two ago he had never heard of--even now he did not know where +he was. Their route the day before had been so tortuous that he could +not guess how near or how far they had travelled from any locality known +to him. + +"I will give you a thousand rupees, Buktiar, if you help me to escape," +he said. "If you can't help me, but do nothing to prevent me, I'll give +you five hundred." + +The cross-breed squinted diabolically as he strove to puzzle out how he +was to earn this reward. Like most Asiatics he was acquisitive and +money loving, and to be promised a rich reward, and yet see no prospect +of being able to earn it, was tantalising to the last degree. He shook +his head in his perplexity. + +"Money good, life better," he said. "Dey see me help you--then I dead. +What I do?" + +Then Umar Khan spoke angrily, and in the result Buktiar left the side of +the prisoner, with whom he had no further opportunity of converse that +day. + +The night drew down in gusty darkness. A misty drizzle filled the air, +and it was piercingly cold. The Baluchis huddled round their fires, +having lighted two, and presently their deep-toned drowsy conversation +ceased. One by one they dropped off to sleep. + +Then a desperate resolve took hold of Campian's mind. He was unbound, +and, to all appearances, unguarded--why should he not make the attempt? +Any death was preferable to the horrible prospect which morning light +would bring. He might be cut down or shot in the attempt. Equally +great was the probability of coming to a violent end among the cliffs +and chasms of this savage mountain waste. No sooner resolved upon than +he arose, and, drawing his poshteen tighter round him, walked +deliberately forth; stepping over the unconscious forms of the sleeping +Baluchis. His very boldness aided him. None moved. In a moment he was +alone in the darkness outside. + +A thrill of exultation ran through his veins. Yet what was there to +exult over? He was alone upon the wild mountain side--unarmed, and +without food--in a perfectly unknown land. Every step he took fairly +bristled with peril. The wind increased in volume; the rain pattered +down harder. He could not see an inch in front of him. Any moment +might find him plunging from some dizzy height to dash himself into a +thousand fragments and Eternity. Here again his very desperation saved +him. Trusting entirely and blindly to luck, he skirted perils that +would have engulfed a more careful and less desperate man. Anything +rather than a repetition of his experience of that day. + +On through the darkness--on ever. The howl of a wolf ranging the +mountain side was now and then borne to his ears upon the wind and rain: +and more than once the dislodgment of a loose stone or two, and its far +away thud, after a momentary space of silence, told that he was skirting +some vast height, whether of cliff or _tangi_--but even that failed to +chill his blood. He was moving--his energies were in action. That was +the great thing. He was no longer cold now. The exertion had warmed +him. He felt more and more exultant. + +Yet with morning light his enemies would be upon his track. Here, among +their native rocks and crags, what chance had he against these +persistent, untiring hillmen? The savage hatred of Umar Khan, enhanced +by being deprived of a sure and certain prey, would strain every source +to effect his recapture. Well, he had the long night before him, and +the darkness and turbulence of the night were all in his favour. + +If only he had some idea of his locality. The tidings of the outrage +would have reached Shalalai, and by now a strong military force would +have been moved up to Mehriab station to investigate the scene of the +massacre, and follow up its perpetrators. But he had no idea in which +direction Mehriab station lay, or what mountain heights might have to be +crossed before he could gain it. + +Morning dawned. Weary eyed, haggard, exhausted with many hours of the +roughest kind of walking, stumbling over boulders and stones, bruised, +faint for want of food, the fugitive still held on. He was descending +into a long, deep valley, whose sides were covered with juniper forest. +Shelter, at any rate, its sparse growth might afford him. Ha! He knew +now where he was. It was the Kachin valley. + +Yes, in the widening dawn every familiar feature was made more plain. +He had come over the high _kotal_ which he and Bhallu Khan had climbed +to when stalking markhor. There was the spur which shut out Chirria +Bach, and away up yonder the forest bungalow. Could he gain the latter +he could obtain food, of which he stood sorely in need, as well as arms +and ammunition. Some of the servants were still there. They would have +heard nothing of the tragedy on the railway line, and would be +momentarily expecting the return of the household. Turning to the right +he struck off straight for the house, full of renewed hope. + +But that huge, practical joke entitled Life is, in its pitiless irony, +fond of dashing such. He had barely travelled half a mile when a rattle +of stones on the mountain side above arrested his attention. A score of +turbaned figures were clambering down the rocks. Spread out in a half +circle formation they were nearly upon him. There was no escape. Umar +Khan and his savage freebooters were not going back on their reputation +just yet. The fugitive's long night of peril, and labour, and +perseverance, had all gone for nothing. Several of the Ghazis were +already pointing their rifles, and in loud, harsh tones were calling on +him to halt. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +"MOHAMMED ER RASOUL ALLAH?" + +"Ping-ping!" The bullets sang around him--splattering the rocks with +blue lead marks. Not for a moment did he think of stopping. They might +shoot him dead, but alive he would not yield. Besides there was one +last desperate chance, and he meant to try it. + +The markhor cave! A final spurt would bring him to that. It was just +round yon shoulder of cliff, which at present concealed it. His +pursuers would not even see him enter it, and there were smaller holes +and crannies around which would puzzle them. Besides, he remembered +there were superstitions attaching to it. These might possibly deter +them from entering at all. It was a straw, but a slender one. + +One great and final effort. He penetrated its normally forbidding but +now welcome blackness, and sank down panting on the rock-floor. For +some minutes he thus crouched, listening intently. He heard the rattle +of stones outside; now and then the tones of a deep voice, or the clink +of rifle-barrel or scabbard against the rock. The search was proceeding +right merrily, yet, why had it not begun here? + +Some minutes went by. To the hunted man, crouching there, they meant +hours. Then the sound of steps approaching. They were going to search +the markhor cave. His last chance had failed. + +The footsteps outside halted. Then he heard the voice of their owner +calling, and receiving answers from several other voices. He was +calling to his comrades to come and aid in the search. Superstition, +evidently, disinclined him to prosecute it alone. It could not be the +fugitive that he feared, seeing that the latter was unarmed, and +probably quite exhausted. + +Then a wild and daring idea came into Campian's mind--in fact, so +utterly desperate a plan that were he allowed time to think of it, the +bare thought would suffice to send a cold shiver through his frame. The +chasm--into which he had so nearly stepped on the occasion of his first +and last visit to this place! The chasm--into whose black depths he and +Vivien had stood gazing, side by side. It was his last and only chance, +but--what a chance! + +His matchbox contained a few wax vestas. The pursuers, probably still +collecting to explore the cave in force, had not begun to enter. +Groping his way round a rock corner which would partially or entirely +shield the light from those without, he struck a vesta, deadening, so +far as he was able, the sound with his hollowed hands. It flamed +forth--a mere flicker in the cavernous gloom. But it was sufficient for +his purpose. + +There lay the black rift, like the great serpent for which he had at +first taken it. He was right at its brink. Then flinging into it the +spent vesta, he grasped the edge and let himself carefully down, hanging +by the grasp of his two hands alone on the lip of the fissure, in the +pitchy darkness over that awful unfathomable depth which seemed to go +down into the very heart of the earth. + +The tension was fearful. He must let go. Every muscle was strained and +cracking. And now a glow of light told that his enemies were entering +with torches. Ha! he had overlooked that contingency. The light would +reveal his strained fingers grasping the rock. One cut of a tulwar-- +and-- + +Then his feet came in contact with something--something that clinked +faintly as with the sound of metal. Groping carefully with both feet, +lo! they closed on what felt like an iron chain. + +Heavens! it was a chain--a massive iron chain depending in some way from +the rock above. In the increasing glow of the torches he could make out +that. Here was a Heaven-sent chance. Grasping the great links firmly +with knees and feet, he let go, first with one hand, then the other, and +seized the chain. It, with its rough links, afforded a safe and solid +resting place for a time. + +The pursuers had now arrived right at the brink. Their bizarre, +turbaned shadows on the opposite rock wall looked gnome-like in the +smoky glare of the torches. But in the said glare he recognised, with a +rush of hope, that unless they peered right over they could not see him, +for the chain hung from an iron bolt let into the rock, which here +projected just above his head. + +The weird shadows on the rock danced and tossed, the guttering light +grotesquely exaggerating every movement. He who hung there could hear +the deep-toned voices right over him. The chain to which he clung +swayed and shivered with the concussion of the tramp of many feet above. +They held out a torch or two over the abyss, and dropped a few pebbles +down--even as he himself had done when with Bhallu Khan. He could hear +their exclamations as the stones struck far below with a faint thud. +Could he have understood them, his relief would have been greater still. +Among them, however, he thought to recognise the harsh, snarling voice +of Umar Khan. + +"If the dog has gone down here," that worthy was saying, "why, then, he +is already suffering the torments of hell. If he entered this place at +all, how should he not have fallen in, seeing that it is darker than +night within the cave, and this hole is a pitfall to the unwary, and a +very entrance to the abode of devils?" + +"In here he entered without doubt," said Ihalil Mohammed, "for every +other hole have we searched thoroughly." + +To this the others assented. Their prisoner had undoubtedly given them +the slip. Dead or alive he would never be seen again. + +All this the hunted man, thus hanging there, could not understand. +Would they never give up the search, he was wondering. Well for him +that he was in hard form and training--yet he was not so young as he +used to be, he recognised bitterly, as every joint and muscle ached with +the convulsive tension involved in thus supporting his own weight, for +an apparently unlimited period, entirely by compression. Well for him, +too, that the links were rough with red, flaky rust, thus affording +increased facility of hold. Yet would these hell hounds never give up +the search? + +They were forced to at last. The red glow of the torches grew fainter, +then died out--so, too, did the sound of footsteps and voices. Campian +was in pitch darkness, suspended over this awful and unknown depth. + +Now that the more active peril was withdrawn, and his attention thus +drawn inwards, he was able to think, to realise the full horror of his +position. How was he to return? Cramped, aching, exhausted, he felt as +though he could hardly hold on, let alone work his way upward. His +blood ran cold too as he realised what would have been his fate but for +this solid and substantial means of support right to his hand. Half a +yard further on either side, and--No, it would not bear thinking of, and +no sooner had he arrived at this conclusion than one foot, unconsciously +lowered, came in contact with something. + +Something hard, wide, horizontal it was, for as he cautiously increased +the pressure he felt it sway and tilt slightly. Then, with equal +caution, he lowered the other foot on the other side of the chain. It, +too, met with like support. Carefully, with both feet, he increased the +pressure so as to test the weight, still preserving his hand-hold. +Nothing gave way, and his heart leaped within him as he found he had +secured a firm resting place whereon to recruit his strength against his +return climb. + +And now, safe for the time being, his thoughts were busy with +speculation as to this structure hung here in the black depths of the +gulf. A great massive iron chain supporting a convenient swinging +platform, had not found its way there expressly to afford him a secure +refuge in the hour of peril, that much was certain. Then his nerves +thrilled and tingled as the conjecture uttered by Vivien in this very +place came back to his mind: "_What if the things are at the bottom of +that cleft_?" Heavens! Had this structure to do with the hidden +treasure--the priceless ruby sword? + +Instinctively he sought his matchbox. No. That would be madness. His +pursuers might not even have left the entrance of the cave. Not for +hours would it be safe to strike a light. + +And for hours, indeed, he hung there and waited. He groped around the +platform, first with one foot then with the other, and it dawned upon +him that the structure was no ordinary board, or it would have tilted. +It was a solid block of wood--no--a box. + +A box? A chest! That was it. What if it held the treasure itself? +And then by a strange fatality the conviction that this would prove to +be the case took firm hold of his mind--and if so, by what a terrible +sequence of tragic events had he been constituted its finder. Would not +the recent dread experiences be worth going through to have led up to +this splendid discovery? All would yet be well. The best of life was +before him yet Vivien's last look, as he descended from their place of +refuge to purchase her safety by delivering himself into the hands of +their enemies, burned warm within his soul. When he returned safe, as +one who returned from the dead, what would not her welcome be? Surely +the glow of the old days would be as nothing to this. + +These and other such thoughts coursed through his mind as he hung there +in the pitchy blackness--and indeed it was well for him that such was +the case. Nothing is more utterly unnerving than any space of time +spent in an absolutely silent and rayless gloom, but when, in addition +to that, the subject is swung on a hanging platform, whose very +stability he can vouch for with no degree of certitude, over a chasm of +unknown depth, and that for hours, why, he needs a mental stimulus of a +pretty strong and exalted type. + +Judging it safe at last to do so, Campian struck a light. Feeble enough +it seemed in the vast gloom, and not until it had burned out were his +eyes capable of seeing anything after being for hours in black darkness. +Then, stooping as low as he dared, he lit another. Yes. It was even +as he had conjectured. The platform he was standing on was a box or +chest. + +It was of very old and hard grained wood, almost black, and clamped +together with solid brass bindings. It showed no sign of having +suffered from the ravages of time, and the upper part, which was all he +could see, was covered with Arabic characters, curiously inlaid-- +probably texts from the Koran. He had no doubt but this was what had +occupied so much of his thoughts, the hidden and forgotten treasure +chest of the fugitive Durani chief, Dost Hussain Khan. Little is it to +be wondered at if even there he felt thrilled with exultation as he +remembered what priceless valuables it certainly contained. + +But that thrill of exultation sustained a rude shock--in fact died away. +For happening to glance up while lighting another match it came home to +him that whether the chest contained valuables or not, the probability +that he would ever be in a position to put that contingency to the test +was exceedingly slender; for to gain the brink of the chasm, and the +outer air again, looked from there an absolute impossibility. The +chain, and that which it supported, depended from a solid bolt let into +the rock, but the latter overhung it in a cornice or lip, which +projected nearly half a yard. He would never be able to worm himself +over this. And then it came home to him that he was beginning to feel +quite faint with hunger, and that his strength was leaving him fast. + +Well, the feat must be attempted. Lighting another match--and he had +few left now--he sent a long steady look at the projection, the +fastening of the chain, and the distance from the edge. Then he began +his climb. + +This was not great. The rock lip projected only about half a yard above +his hands at their highest tension. He drew himself up. He was under +the projection--groping outward along it in the darkness. Now he +gripped it firmly with both hands--still clinging to the chain with feet +and legs. He was about to swing himself off. One hand half-slipped +away. No, he could not do it. His strength failed him, likewise his +nerve. He was barely able to seize the chain again and let himself down +to the vantage ground of the box, where he stood literally trembling. + +This would not do at all. He must rest for a few moments and recruit +his strength, must quell this shaky fit by sheer force of will. It +could not be--he argued with himself--that he had come through all this, +had made this royal discovery, by a chain of coincidences signal and +tragic, only to fail at the last; to be swept into nothingness; to +disappear from all human sight as completely as though dead and buried +already. He was a bit of a fatalist, too, and this partially supported +him now. If he was to come through safely, why he would--if not--! And +with this thought, as by an inspiration, came another idea. + +He could never raise himself above the rock projection from which the +chain hung--that much was certain. But--the point whence he had let +himself down was only a foot to the right. There the edge did not +overlap. + +Steadying his over-wrought nerves, he drew himself up once more. +Holding on tightly he reached forth one hand. It grasped the brink. +Carefully he felt along the hard rock. Yes--that would do. Now for it. +He put forth the other hand. + +And now the moment was crucial. One arm was already along the floor +above the edge. Campian's fate hung in the balance there in the pitchy +gloom. Beneath him all black darkness, death, horror, annihilation. +The merest feather weight either way would turn the scale. He let go of +the chain with his feet. A last and mighty effort, and--he was lying +safe and sound on the rock-floor above; well nigh unconscious with +exhaustion and the awful strain his nerves had undergone. + +For long he lay thus. Then the cravings of hunger became more than he +could bear. Physical nature reasserted itself. He must obtain food at +all risks. The forest bungalow was not far from that place. There he +would find it. + +It must have been hours since he took refuge here. His enemies had +surprised him just at daybreak; now it was high noon. Prudence +counselled that he should wait until night--physical craving argued that +by then he would hardly have strength left him to make his way anywhere; +and the physical argument prevailed, as it ordinarily does. + +He stepped forth quickly and gained the shelter of the juniper forest. +The glare of the sun blinded him, and the sparse foliage afforded but +poor shade. He staggered along exhausted, yet full of renewed hope and +resolution. + +But for the mental and bodily exhaustion which half dulled his +faculties, he would have become aware of a peculiar nasal, droning sound +a short distance in front of him. As it was he hardly heard it, or if +so, missed its significance. When, however, he became alive to the +latter it was too late. + +In a small open space, overhung on the further side by rocks, a score of +turbaned figures were kneeling. They were in two rows, and, barefooted, +were prostrating themselves in the approved method of the faithful at +prayer. Then, rising, repeated, with one voice, their orisons, which +were led by a single figure a little in advance of the rest. It was too +late. With the first footfall of the intruder, round came several +shaggy faces. The effect was magical. The entire band of fervid +devotees sprang to its feet as one man. Tulwars whirled from their +scabbards, and, in a moment, the intruder was surrounded. Well might +the latter now despair. Well might he realise that the bitterness of +death was indeed past. All that he had gone through was as nothing. He +had walked, with his eyes open, right into the midst of his enemies, had +placed, of his own act, his life in their hands. Foremost among the +threatening, scowling countenances was the repulsive, exultant one of +Umar Khan. + +"Ah! ah!" snarled this implacable savage, with a grin of exultation. +"Lo, the sheep returns to the slaughter, for so wills it God." + +"Allah?" repeated the destined victim, catching the last word. +"Hearken, Moslem, in hearken!" he called out in Hindustani, eyeing with +unconcern the uplifted sword of his arch enemy. Then, standing there in +their midst, and facing in the direction they had been facing while at +prayer, he extended both hands heavenward, and uttered in a loud, firm +voice: + + "_La illah il Allah, + Mohammed er rasoul Allah_!" + +A gasp of wonder went up from those who beheld. As by magic every +weapon was lowered. Campian had professed the faith of Islam. + +For some moments these fanatical brigands stared stupidly at each other, +then at the figure of the sometime infidel, but now believer. The spell +was broken by their leader. + +"It is well!" he said, advancing upon Campian, and again raising his +tulwar. "There is rejoicing in Paradise now, for in a moment it will be +the richer for a newly gained soul." + +But before the weapon could descend, an interruption occurred. A little +bowed, bent figure came hurrying into the group. Campian recognised the +sometime leader of the devotions. + +"Hold now, my children," he cried, in tones quavering with age and +excitement, as he interposed his staff and rosary between the weapon of +Umar Khan and its intended victim. "Have ye not grievously offended +God? Have ye not broken into his hour of prayer, with brawling and +strife? Would you further damn your own souls by shedding the blood of +a true believer within this holy _ziarat_ [a local shrine or +sanctuary]--for I myself have heard the profession of this Feringhi? +Have no fear, my son--have no fear," he added, turning to Campian, and +placing an aged, wrinkled claw upon one shoulder. "None shall do thee +hurt, thou, who art now one of the faithful--for if any harm thee," +shaking his staff menacingly, "let him shrivel before the curse of the +Syyed Ain Asraf." + +The only words of this address intelligible to the now ransomed victim-- +though he understood the burden thereof--was the name--and at that he +could not repress a start of amazement. Those around beholding this +were equally astonished. + +"See," they said among themselves. "Even to the infidel has the fame +and holiness of the Syyed Ain Asraf reached." + +Even Umar Khan dare not openly resist the will of one so holy as the +Syyed, and that as a matter of fact. But though baulked for the +present, he turned sullenly away, meditating further mischief. + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +HOPES AND FEARS. + +A Regimental band was playing in the grounds of the Shalalai Club, which +institution constituted the ordinary afternoon resort of the society of +the station. + +A row of subalterns were roosting on the railing in front of the +exclusively male department of the club, while their dogs fought and +frisked, and snarled and panted, on the sward underneath. Every variety +of dog--large and small, mongrel and thoroughbred--was there +represented; indeed far more variety than might have been discerned +among their owners, who, for the most part, were wonderfully alike; as +to ideas, no less than in outward aspect. + +As the afternoon wore on, more subs would ride up by twos and threes, on +bicycles or in dog-carts--or even the homely necessary "gharri"--with +more dogs, and after going inside for a "peg," would emerge to swell the +ranks of those already on the rail; their dogs the while engaging in +combat with those already on the sward. + +This rail-roost was a deeply cherished institution, which no +consideration apparently was able to shake; whether the frowns or hints +of superiors, or the attractions of the ornamental sex. This was +scarcely surprising, for the ornamental sex as represented at Shalalai +was, with very little exception, singularly unornamental; which, though +paradoxical, was none the less fact. + +The tennis courts were in full blast, with a fringe of spectators. +There were many sunshades and up-to-date hats and costumes scattered +about the lawn, yet upwards of forty British subalterns roosted upon the +railing. + +"Hallo, Cox," sung out one, hailing a new comer. "When are you going to +catch Umar Khan?" + +"No betting on this time, Cox," said another, "unless it's on Umar +Khan." + +He addressed was a handsome, pleasant, fresh faced young fellow, who +held a somewhat important political post. The point of the banter on +the subject of Umar Khan was that Cox had started in pursuit of that +bold bandit immediately on receipt of the news of the Mehriab station +affair. He had started absolutely confident of success, but he might as +well have started to stalk the wily markhor with the regimental band +playing before him. That had been some weeks ago, but as yet neither +Cox nor anyone else had ever come within measurable prospect of laying +the marauder by the heels. + +"Oh, _bus_!" retorted Cox. "Pity they don't turn out some of you +fellows after him. A week or so of tumbling about among rocks and +stones would do you all the good in life. Anyone know where Upward's to +be found, by the way?" + +"The jungle-wallah? He was in the billiard room just now knocking fits +out of old Jermyn with that tiger-potting stroke of his. Why? Anything +fresh turned up?" + +"I expect you fellows will soon be started after Umar Khan," retorted +Cox, looking knowing, as he turned away to find Upward. + +"Wonder if he really means it?" said one of the rail-roosters, after he +had left, and then they fell to talking about the notorious brigand, and +discussing a current rumour to the effect that the Government +contemplated arresting the principal Marri chiefs for suspected +complicity in Umar Khan's misdemeanours, and holding them as hostages +against the surrender of that outlaw, and the safe restoration of his +prisoner. + +"Wonder if that poor devil Campian's throat has been cut yet?" +conjectured someone. + +"More than likely. If not it will be, directly any of the chiefs are +interfered with." + +"They won't bone Mr Umar Khan," said another Solon of the rail-roost. +"He's skipped over into Afghanistan long ago, and the Amir won't give +him up, you bet. Shouldn't wonder if he was at the bottom of it all +himself." At that time the Amir of Kabul was a very Mephisto in the +sight of the collective and amateur wisdom of the Northern border. + +A wave of interest here ran along the line of the rail-roosters--evoked +by the bowling up of a neat dogcart, whose occupants, two in number, +were alighting at the door of the feminine department of the club. + +"By Jove! Those are two pretty girls. And neither belong here," added +the speaker plaintively. + +"She _can_ handle the ribbons, that Miss Wymer," cut in another of more +sporting vein, who had been critically surveying the arrival of the +turn-out. "She's got a fine hand on that high-actioned gee of old +Jermyn's. Isn't that the brute that Wendsley had to sell because his +wife couldn't drive him?" + +"No. You've got the affair all mixed," returned yet another +emphatically. And then, while a warm horse argument grew and thrived +among one section, another continued and fostered apace the discussion +concerning those just deposited there through the motive power of the +quadruped under dispute. + +"I don't think Miss Wymer is pretty," declared a Solon of the rail. +"She's awfully fetching, though." + +"Rather. There's a something about her you don't often meet with, and +you don't know what the devil it is, either. By the way, wasn't old +Bracebrydge properly smashed on her?" + +"Oh, he's that on every woman under the sun--in rotation. This one let +him have what for, though." + +"Did she? Eh, what about? How was it?" exclaimed several. + +"Rather. They were talking about the Mehriab affair, and Bracebrydge +said something sneering about that poor plucky devil, Campian. You know +what a blundering, tactless, offensive beast Bracebrydge can be. Well, +he said they were all making too much of the affair, and more than +hinted that Campian had only done what he did so as to seize the first +opportunity of running away later on. Miss Wymer only answered that she +thought she knew one or two who wouldn't have waited for that--they'd +have run away at the start. But it was the way she said it, looking him +straight in the face all the time. By George, it was great, I can tell +you--great. Bracebrydge looked as sick as if he had just been hit in +the eye." + +"Serve him jolly well right," declared one of the listeners, and his +opinion was universally seconded, for Bracebrydge was not popular among +those who roosted on the railing. + +"I think Miss Cheriton's the prettiest of the two," said the youth who +had first spoken. "She's one of the most fetching girls I ever saw in +my life." + +"Then why don't you make hay while the sun shines?" rejoined another. +"Go and make yourself agreeable--if you can, that is. They've just gone +into the library. Go and ask her to play tennis, or something, +chappie." + +"I think I will." And sliding from the rail with some alacrity, away he +went. Those remaining continued their subject. + +"Bracebrydge must have been a double-dyed ass to have hit that +particular nail on the head. It's my belief he couldn't have hit the +wrong one harder, anyway." + +"The devil he couldn't!" + +"Well, I don't know, mind. Only look at the opportunities they had, +thrown almost entirely upon each other up there, for old Jermyn doesn't +count. If they hadn't altogether set up a _bundobust_, it was most +likely only a question of time." + +"_Miss_ Wymer hasn't been to a dance since that affair," struck in +another oracle of the rail. "Looks as if there was some fire beneath +the smoke. What?" + +"That don't follow, either. Mind you, the chap deliberately went to +have his throat cut so that the others should be let go, and while his +fate is a matter of uncertainty it is only what a nice girl like that +would do to keep a bit quiet. She wouldn't care to think, while she was +frisking about at dances, that at that very moment they might be hacking +the poor chap to pieces." + +It so happened that the theory set forth by the last two speakers +expressed with very fair accuracy the real state of affairs. Naturally +self-contained, and with immense power of control over her feelings, +Vivien was able to support the terrible strain of those weeks without-- +in popular parlance--giving herself away. And it was a strain. Day and +night his image was with her, but always as she had seen him last; +calmly and cheerfully delivering himself into the merciless hands of +these cruel, marauding fanatics, giving his life for her and hers. Of +the old days she dared not even think--and, since this tragedy had come +between, they seemed so far away. Small wonder, then, if she refrained +from joining in the ordinary round of station gaieties, yet not too +pointedly, and she was the better able to do this that, being a +comparative stranger in the place, her abstention was ascribed to a +natural seriousness of temperament. Even thus, however, it could not +entirely escape comment, as we have seen. + +She and Nesta Cheriton had become great friends, although as different +in temperament as in outward characteristics. In public, at any rate, +they were generally about together, and in private, too, seemed to see a +good deal of each other. It was almost as though they had some bond in +common, and yet Vivien never by word or hint let out the ever present +subject of her thoughts to any living soul. She had not quite lost +hope, but as the days went by and nothing was heard either of the +captive, or of the marauding outlaw who held him, she well nigh did lose +it. Both seemed to have vanished into empty air. + +For the stipulated ransom had been duly paid. Colonel Jermyn, with the +aid of Upward and the head forest guard, had met Umar Khan's envoy--none +other than Ihalil Mohammed himself--he who had negotiated the terms. +Great was the amazement and disgust of all when told that the prisoner +would not be handed over. It was not in the _bundobust_. Nothing had +been said as to the restoration of Campian on payment of the five +thousand rupees. The Colonel and Der' Ali stared at each other in blank +dismay, for they recognised that this was only too true. No such +stipulation had been made, they remembered. But, of course, it had been +understood, they put it to the envoy. That wily Baluchi merely shook +his head slightly, and repeated--as impassable as ever, "It was not in +the _bundobust_." + +Then the Colonel raved and swore. It was treachery, black, infernal +treachery. He believed they had murdered their prisoner already, at any +rate, not one _pice_ should they get from him until the sahib was handed +over safe and sound. Then they should have every _anna_ of it. Not +before. + +At this Ihalil Mohammed merely elevated one shaggy eyebrow, and remarked +laconically: + +"Sheep are flayed after they are dead, _not before_." + +The Colonel stared blankly over the apparent inconsequence of this +remark, then, as the fiendish import of it dawned upon him, he lost his +temper, and nearly his head. His hand flew to his revolver. + +This time Ihalil Mohammed elevated two shaggy eyebrows and observed: + +"Sheep are flayed _and roasted_ after they are dead--_not before_." + +Then he relapsed into his wonted saturnine taciturnity. + +The others consulted together. Ihalil seemed hardly interested enough +even to watch them. The wily Baluchi knew that the key to the whole +situation was in his own hand. He had marked the visible discomfiture +produced by his hideous threat. He knew that the stipulated sum would +be paid, and that he himself would be suffered to depart with it +unmolested--and, indeed, such was the case. + +"Is the sahib still alive?" asked the Colonel. + +"He is still alive." + +"And well?" + +"And well." + +"Very good. Now then, Der' Ali. Tell this infernal scoundrel to tell +his more infernal scoundrel of a chief that if he brings in the sahib +safe and well within eight days from, this, and hands him over, we will +pay him another five thousand rupees; but if any harm happens to him, +then the _Sirkar_ will never rest until he has hung him and every man +Jack of the gang--hung 'em in pigskins, by God, and burnt them +afterwards. What does he say to that?" + +Der' Ali, being judicious, substituted courteous epithets for the +naturally explosive ones which his master had directed at Umar Khan, and +Der' Ali, being a Moslem himself, refrained from repeating in plain +terms so shocking a reference as that of which the blunt Feringhi had +not scrupled to make use, substituting for it mysterious and sinister +hints as to death by hanging under its most dreaded form. Ihalil's +reply was characteristically laconic. + +"Well, what does he say?" repeated the Colonel testily. + +"He say--he hears, _Huzoor_." + +"Are they going to bring the sahib back, Der' Ali?" + +"He say--he can't say, _Huzoor_," answered the interpreter, having +elicited that terse reply. + +"Tell him to go to the devil, then," said the Colonel, unable to resist +an angry stamp of the foot. + +Der' Ali rendered this as--"Go in peace," and Ihalil, uttering an +impassive "Salaam," mounted his camel, and--did so. + +They watched the form of the retreating Baluchi, fast becoming a mere +white speck in the desert waste with every stride of his camel, and +shook their heads despondently. Would these wolves ever release their +prey? Bhallu Khan was of a kindred tribe. What did he think of the +chances? But the old forester, who, like most barbarians or +semi-barbarians, always answer what they imagine the inquirers would +like best to hear, replied that he thought the chances were good. All +men loved money--even the sahibs would rather have plenty than little-- +he interpolated with a whimsical smile. Baluchi loved money too. Umar +Khan would probably release his prisoner if plenty of rupees were +offered him. + +But the eight days became fifteen, and still of the said prisoner there +was no sign; and the fortnight grew into weeks, with like result. Then +those interested in Campian's fate felt gloomy indeed. They had almost +abandoned hope. + +But whatever private woes and trials, the world rubs on as usual. +Shalalai at large was not particularly interested in Campian's fate, +except as an item of political excitement. It was far more interested +in the capture or destruction of Umar Khan than in the rescue or murder +of his prisoner; for that bold outlaw had set up something of a scare. +That sort of outbreak was catching among these fierce, fanatical, +predatory races, and it struck home. Shooting parties became decidedly +nervous, and fewer withal; and those delightful, moonlight bicycling +picnics, miles out along the smooth, level, military road, were given up +as unsafe--for did not the Brahui villages dotting the plain on either +side contain scowling, shaggy, sword-wearing ruffians in plenty, and was +there not a wave of restlessness heaving through the lot? + +Fleming was one of those who decided that his own affairs were of +paramount importance to himself; wherefore he continued to pay assiduous +court to Nesta Cheriton. But the girl seemed to have altered somehow. +She had grown quite subdued, not to say serious. The old, gay, +sparkling high spirits were seldom there. Fleming, turning things over, +shook a gloomy head, then dismissed his fears as absurd. Could it be +there was anything between Campian and herself? They had perforce been +thrown together a lot in Upward's camp--moreover, when he and +Bracebrydge had left, they had left the other behind them. Had he +improved the shining hour then? Fleming recalled the _tangi_ adventure, +and swore to himself; but he soon recovered, and the restoration of his +equanimity was effected through the agency of his looking-glass. It was +too damned absurd, he told himself, surveying his really good-looking +face and well-knit soldierly figure--that any girl could prefer a dry +old stick like Campian, and a mere civilian at that--so, giving his +gallant moustache an additional twist or two eyewards, he concluded to +start off and place the matter beyond a doubt. + +But on reaching Upward's bungalow ill chance awaited him. Nesta was not +alone, and her mood was unpropitious. What was that? He could hardly +believe his ears. She was depreciating--yes, actually depreciating--the +British Army. + +"I don't know what is the use of all these soldiers here in Shalalai," +she was saying as he came in. "Thousands of them. How many are there, +Captain Fleming? How many soldiers have we got in Shalalai?" + +"Oh, about five thousand--of all sorts." + +"About five thousand," she repeated, "horse, foot, and artillery, and +yet a dozen ragged Pathans can race about the country, killing people at +will." + +"That everlasting Umar Khan, I suppose?" said Fleming, somewhat shortly, +for he was not a little nettled at her disparaging, almost jeering, +tone. + +"I think he _is_ going to be the `everlasting' Umar Khan," she retorted +quickly. "Why don't some of you try and catch him, Captain Fleming? +There are enough of you, at any rate." + +"We must wait for orders, Miss Cheriton," he replied stiffly. + +"If I were a man, and a soldier, I wouldn't wait for orders if there was +anything of that sort to be done," she retorted, with delightful +inconsistency. "I'd get leave to raise a troop, and I'd never rest till +I brought in that Ghazi. All our jolly bicycle picnics are knocked on +the head, and then Mr Upward has constantly to go into camp, and of +course Mrs Upward will insist on going with him, and--I'm very fond of +her." + +Fleming, who had been twirling his moustache eyeward somewhat viciously, +suddenly quit that refuge for the perturbed. An idea had struck him. +By George, it was not merely on Campian's account she wanted Umar Khan +run to earth! Vastly relieved, he said: + +"There's a good deal in what you say, Miss Cheriton. I must think out +how the thing may be done." Then he talked on other and indifferent +matters, and shortly took his leave. + +Meanwhile the bi-annual _jirgeh_, or tribal council, was in progress at +Shalalai, and representatives of all the tribes and clans and septs +gathered daily in the durbar hall to meet the _Sirkar_ and ventilate +grievances and settle disputes, and in short to discuss matters +generally between themselves and the Executive. Stately chiefs and +their retinues--tall, dignified men, picturesque in their snowy turbans +and long hair and flowing beards, wending thither beneath the +plane-shaded avenue--passed in strange contrast the dapper sub skimming +along on his bicycle, or fashionably attired ladies in their +high-wheeled dogcart flashing by at a hard trot, bound for club or +gymkhana ground. Such, however, they eyed as impassively as they did +the crowd of low caste Hindus which thronged the bazaar; for the +training of their wild desert home had left no room for the display of +emotions. Now and then, recognising some official, they might utter a +grave "Salaam," accompanied by a slight raising of the hand, but that +was all. A contrast indeed! The unchanging East, in its melancholy +dignity and fund of awe-suggesting power--because power held in the +mystery of reserve--jostled by fussy, domineering, up-to-date +civilisation; the fierce, wild, untamable spirits masked by those +copper-hued and dignified countenances, side by side with the careless, +pleasure loving, yet intensely pushing and practical temperament +underlying the fresh, tawny-haired Anglo-Saxon faces. Even the very +headgear suggested a vivid contrast--the multitudinous folds of the +snowy and graceful turban expressive of absence of all capacity for +flurry--cool deliberateness, repose, wisdom--even as the cock of the +perky "bowler" seemed a very object lesson in itself of push and bounce +and "there-to-stay" tenacity. + +Now and then one or two of the sirdars would visit Upward to talk +officially on forest matters in their respective districts, or to view +his multifold trophies of the chase, which keenly interested them. +These visits Upward encouraged, hoping to learn something of Campian's +fate. But it was of no avail. Of the massacre at Mehriab station, and +the doings of Umar Khan in general, the wily Asiatics professed the +profoundest ignorance, not with effusive reiteration, but in a grave, +nonchalant, dignified way, as though the matter were entirely unworthy +of their notice or cognisance, once and for all. But to Vivien Wymer, +who never lost an opportunity of studying these people, such visits were +of untold interest; moreover, they seemed to result in a certain degree +of hope renewed. These stately, courteous-mannered potentates had not +got cruel faces. There was a noble look about most of them, even a +benevolent one. Surely these were not the men to sanction a coldblooded +murder. + +Meanwhile, during the _jirgeh_, the matter of Umar Khan was receiving +the full attention of the Executive. It was one thing for the chiefs to +protest ignorance in private and unofficial conversation with Upward, +with whom, diplomatically, they had no earthly concern. Carefully and +with due deliberation the authorities narrowed the net--and it was +decided to arrest Yar Hussain Khan, who, as the outlaw's feudal chief, +was responsible for his behaviour--and a sirdar of the Brahuis who was +proved to have sheltered and screened him. + +The chiefs in question made no trouble over the decision of the +_Sirkar_. With Oriental impassibility they accepted the situation, and +were placed under guard accordingly. But two nights later Umar Khan +swooped down upon a Levy post within ten miles of Shalalai, surprised +and massacred the handful of Hindu sepoys in charge, and rolled a couple +of field pieces down the mountain side, retiring as swiftly as he had +appeared: while the Brahui clans in the neighbourhood began to make +themselves disagreeable by various small acts of aggression which +rendered it unsafe to venture many miles beyond the lines. + +Things began to look uncommonly lively in and about that station +containing five thousand troops--horse, foot and artillery. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +AT DARKEST HOUR. + +Away in the Kharawan desert the dust columns are whirling heavenward in +many a tall spiral shaft; more like the hissing steam jets of some vast +geyser than anything so dry and unadhesible as mere sand. + +A dead flat level, stretching afar into misty distance on the skyline on +every hand--its only vegetation a low scrubby attempt at growth; the +fierce sun at a white heat overhead; the sky as brass--what life can +this awful wilderness by any possibility support? Yet so wonderful, so +inexhaustible are the resources of Nature that even here both man and +beast can fare along, and that moderately well. + +Camels, with their loads, kneel on the sand, resting from their labours; +with their ugly heads and weird snaky necks and unceasing guttural +snarling roar, conveying the idea of hideous antediluvian monsters +somehow or other forgotten by the Flood in this desert waste. A flock +of black goats, cropping daintily at the sparse attempt at herbage, or +crouching in groups chewing the cud, represents the other phase of +animal life there, unless three or four gaunt Pathan curs employed at +assisting to herd the same. Here and there a tent, or mere shelter of +tanned camel hide, blackened by the heat of innumerable suns, stretched +upon poles, affords a modicum of shelter from the arid baking heat. + +It is the hour of prayer. Grouped together the believers are kneeling-- +facing towards the holy city; whose exact direction they have a +marvellous faculty for determining with accuracy. As one man they sink +down in their twofold prostration, forehead to the earth, then rise +again, and the droning hum of voices goes out upon the shimmer of the +scorching air. One, in front of the rest, leads the devotions, a +little, shrunken, aged figure, and by his side is another, but it is the +form of a man in all the vigour of his prime. + +With more than ordinary unction the prescribed formulae are repeated. +No abstraction or looking round is here, such as the faithful when +individually devout may occasionally give way to. Perhaps it is the +holy character and reputation of the leader that ensures this edifying +result, for the Syyed Hadji Ain Asraf is justly invested with both of +these. + +He who prays side by side with this pillar and prop of Moslem orthodoxy +is arrayed like the rest. His white turban, cool and voluminous in its +folds, is the same as that of these swarthy copper-hued sons of the +desert--so, too, are the graceful flowing garments and chudda, in which +he is clad. His shoes are off his feet, and his prostrations and +general attitude differ in no wise from those employed by the other +devotees--the outcome of a lifetime's habit. Yet, as the orisons over, +all rise and resume their shoes and their wonted and work-a-day +demeanour, a close observer might well notice that this is no fanatical +son of the Orient but a man of Anglo-Saxon blood--in short, none other +than Howard Campian. + +How then is it that the part has come to him so easily? He had +professed Islam, it is true; but that as a mere expedient to save +himself from the murderous blades of Umar Khan and his followers. Yet +it is strange how the varying phases of life will unconsciously affect +the man who is accustomed to pass through many of them. Your wooden +headed, groove-compressed John Bull, in his stay-at-home, +stick-in-the-mud-ishness, is impervious to any such impressions. He is +too devoid of sympathy for the ideas of any other living soul, for one +thing. But the true cosmopolitan, the globe wanderer, whose wanderings +leave him more and more with an open mind, can see things differently, +can even realise that the multifold races and tongues and creeds who +inhabit this earth do not necessarily do so on gracious sufferance of +John Bull aforesaid, with whom, by the way, they have not the shadow of +an idea in common. It happened that Campian had some acquaintance with +the Koran, in fact possessed an English translation of the sacred +volume; a circumstance which stood him in right good stead with those +who held him in durance. The faith of Islam had always struck him as a +rational creed, moral and orderly, with the claims of a fair amount of +antiquity behind it; wherefore now, under duress and as a matter of +expediency, no great shock was entailed upon him in subscribing its +tenets. Besides, his profession of faith involved no denial of any +article of faith he might previously have held. The assertion that +Mohammed was the prophet of God seemed not an outrageous one, looking at +the fact that the stupendous creed, founded or revealed by the seer of +Mecca, held and swayed countless millions, who for sheer devoutness, +consistency to their own profession, and the grandeur of unity, could +give large points to the cute, up-to-date Christian with his one day's +piety and six days' fraud, and his jangling discord of multifold sects. + +He was a good bit of a natural actor, wherefore, having a part to play, +he identified himself with it, and played it thoroughly. Partly from +motives of convenience, for his own clothing had undergone wild, rough +treatment of late, partly from those of expediency, he had adopted the +dress of his custodians, and his dark, sunbrowned face, clear cut +features and full beard, framed in the white voluminous turban, was +quite as the face of one of themselves. Only the eyes seemed to betray +the Anglo-Saxon, yet blue or grey eyes are not uncommon among some of +the Afghan tribes. + +It is by no means certain that his profession of faith would have +availed to save his life at the rancorous hands of Umar Khan--that +lawless freebooter being impatient of the claims of creed when they +conflicted with his own strong inclinations--but for the interference of +the Syyed Ain Asraf. The dictum of the latter, however, especially in a +matter of faith, was not to be gainsaid. Not by halves, either, had the +Syyed done things. He rejoiced over his new convert, insuring for him +good treatment, and, in short, everything but liberty. We have just +stated that Campian possessed a translation of the Koran, and the fact +that he did so seemed a mark to all that his was no sudden forced +conversion. He had evidently been making a study of their holy +religion, as the Syyed pointed out. + +To this lead Campian assiduously played up. The volume was at the +bungalow of the Colonel Sahib, where he had been staying, he explained, +and thither he prevailed on them to accompany him, in order to fetch it. +Nor was that all, for he made use of the circumstance to prevail upon +them to spare the house, as having contained a volume of the sacred +book, and under whose roof had come many inspirations which had led to +his conversion. They had looted the place somewhat, but had refrained +from doing much real damage. + +The Syyed Ain Asraf then, had taken his proselyte completely under his +wing, and, through the interpreting agency of Buktiar Khan, was never +tired of instructing him in all the tenets and rules and discipline of +Islam. This was not altogether unwelcome to the said proselyte, and +that for diverse reasons. For one thing the subject really interested +him, and greatly did it beguile the tedium and hardship of his +captivity: for another he was anxious to establish the friendliest +relationship with the old Syyed. The name had recalled itself to his +recollection the moment he heard it uttered. This was the other name +mentioned in connection with the treasure and the ruby sword--Syyed Ain +Asraf, the brother of the fugitive Durani chief, Dost Hussain Khan. + +Did this old man know? Was he in the secret, or had all clue been lost? +Again, did that mysterious chest, so startlingly, so grimly lighted +upon by himself, actually contain that rare and priceless treasure? +Often would Campian's thoughts go back to those awful hours spent +hanging over the black depths of the chasm. Often would he wonder +whether the discovery was an actual fact, or a dream, a phantasmagoria +of his state of over-wrought mind and body, and in the hot glare of the +desert he would shade his eyes as though the better to live over again +those hours of horror and of pitchy gloom. But when he would have liked +to sound the old Syyed on the subject, that curse, the barrier of +language, would come in. Save for a smattering of the most ordinary +words, which he had picked up, Campian could only communicate through +the agency of Buktiar Khan, and Buktiar Khan was at best but a slippery +scoundrel, and totally untrustworthy where a matter of such passing +importance was involved. + +Campian had long since given up his first idea, viz: that he was being +held as a hostage, to be released on payment of the stipulated five +thousand rupees. That sum he knew had been paid, duly as to time and +conditions, but to his representations that he should be set at liberty +the reply was consistently short and to the point. It was not in the +_bundobust_. So he made up his mind to bide his time patiently, keep +his eyes and ears open, pick up as much of the language as he could, and +pursue his studies of the Koran under the tuition of his now spiritual +guide, Ain Asraf. + +That venerable saint found in him a most promising neophyte--and through +the agency of the ex-chuprassi they would hold long theological debates +on this or that point of faith, or the exact interpretation of the words +of the Prophet, wherein the Moslem doctors were wont to read diverse or +ambiguous meaning; and the cheap and spick and span English translation +formed yet one more of those strange life contrasts beside the yellow +parchment scroll covered with its Arabic text--while the Syyed, with the +aid of pebbles placed out, or squares and circles described in the dust, +strove to convey to his disciple some idea of the configuration of the +holy city and the inviolable temple; the sacred Caaba and the stone of +Abraham. + +Strange and wild had been Campian's experiences during the long weeks-- +months now--since his recapture. His jauntily-expressed self +gratulation on the prospect of seeing something of the inner life of the +Baluchis he can remember now with a rueful smile. Hurried here and +hurried there--now freezing among bleak mountain-tops, now roasting on +the waterless desert: subsisting on food perfectly abominable to +civilised palate, and housed in low square huts, the nocturnal gambols +of whose multifold tenantry tried his as yet scanty stock of Moslem +patience--in truth he has had enough and to spare of such experiences. +So interminable and tortuous withal have been his wanderings that at the +present moment he has not the least idea as to his whereabouts, or +whether Shalalai is north, south, east, or west, or far or near--or +indeed anything about it. One redeeming point about the situation is +that after the first week of his captivity nothing more has been seen of +Umar Khan. That obnoxious ruffian had disappeared as effectually as +though death or his own free will had severed his connection with the +band. + +With the additional security the absence of the arch-brigand brought to +him, there came fits of terrible depression. What was going to be the +end of all this, and whither did they purpose to convey him? Northward, +to wild untrodden regions of Afghanistan or Persia when the band should +find it expedient to flee thither--and, what then? Sooner or later the +enmity of Umar Khan would take effect in his murder, secret or open. +And he was so helpless, for though, as we have said, he had adopted +their costume as well as their creed, and was suffered to go out and in +among them at will, never by any chance did his custodians allow him +aught in the shape of a weapon. + +And now, as we see him here in the heart of the Kharawan desert, after +the hour of prayer, the old Syyed for the twentieth time and with +unswerving patience and copious diagram is explaining the exact position +of the stone of Abraham and its distance from the holy Caaba, he makes +up his mind to try and break the ice. + +"Ask the Syyed, Buktiar," he says, "who was the Sirdar Dost Hussain +Khan?" + +But before the ex-chuprassi can put the question, a light dawns over the +aged face. As the question is put it deepens and glows. + +"Ya--Allah!" he responds, raising hands and eyes heavenward. "His soul +is in the rim of Paradise, my son. Yet, what knowest thou of Dost +Hussain Khan?" + +Campian debated a moment or so what reply to make. There was nothing +suspicious about this, for Orientals are never in a hurry. But he was +spared the necessity of replying at all, for a diversion occurred which +threw the camp into a state of wild excitement. + +Away on the skyline a cloud of dust was rising. Onward it swept at a +great rate of speed, whirling heavenward; and through it the tossing of +horses' heads, and the white turbans of their riders. + +The dust cloud whirled over them. Recovering from the momentary +blindness of its effect, Campian beheld a score and a half of wild +Baluchis dashing up on horseback. A dozen of these had leaped from +their steeds, and--yes--they were coming straight for him. He had no +weapon, yet in that flash of time he noticed that not a tulwar was +drawn. They flung themselves upon him, bore him to the earth by sheer +weight of numbers, and in a trice he was powerless, bound fast in a +cruelly painful attitude, being in fact trussed up in such wise as to be +brought as nearly into the shape of a huge ball as the human frame is +capable of being brought. Nor was this all. They rammed a gag into his +mouth--a horrible gag composed of a wedge of wood covered with very +dirty rag--and in this plight he was hauled to one of the kneeling +camels, and, literally turned into a bale by being wrapped in sacking, +was loaded up among the other packages upon the animal's back. + +The agony of it was excruciating. Every bone in his body ached with the +distortion of the enforced and unwonted attitude. The rack would have +been a joke to it. Moreover, what with the filthy gag, and the sacking +which covered him, he was more than half suffocated. Flames danced and +reeled before his eyes--his brain was bursting. Then a couple of +sickening lurches and jolt--jolt--jolt. The roaring, snarling animal +had risen and was proceeding at its ordinary pace--and now, in addition +to the torture of his strained attitude, the jolting impact of the other +packages seemed in danger of crushing the life out of him against the +pack saddle. + +Wherefore this outrage? A moment before, free, comparatively almost one +of themselves, and now--What was the meaning of this abominable +treatment? + +Ha! What was that? The trampling of horses--the rush of many hoofs-- +nearer and nearer. Now it was thundering around--and racked, +suffocated, half dead, in his agonising and ignominious position, the +blood rushed tingling through the unfortunate man's frame, for over and +above the sudden tumult rose a loud English voice. Rescue at last! In +his sore and painful plight, he nearly fainted with the revulsion of the +thought. + +"Tell the devils to stop," it cried. "Now, Sohrab, ask them who they +are, and all about themselves." + +And he who listened there helpless, recognised the fresh, bluff voice. +It was that of his quondam camp-mate--Fleming. If only he could make +his presence known--but that noisome gag rendered all sound as +impossible as his bonds rendered movement. He heard the question put by +the Baluchi interpreter, likewise the long-winded reply. Then another +English voice--an impatient one. + +"I believe we'd better push on, Fleming. These devils'll take half the +day jawing here. I'm dead certain that was Umar Khan himself in that +crowd just now, and they'll have nearly half an hour's start of us. +Let's get on, say I." + +"I don't know quite what to do, Sinclair," said the first voice. "I've +a good mind to overhaul these chaps' loads. There might be some clue in +them--some bit of loot perhaps--which might be a guide to us." + +Heavens! How the wretched prisoner strained and tugged at his bonds. +If he could but loosen that diabolical gag ever so slightly! He could +see in imagination the whole scene--the two English officers at the head +of their native troopers; the sullen, scowling Baluchis standing by +their camels hardly deigning to do more than barely answer the questions +put to them; then the impatience of the subaltern shading his eyes to +gaze horizon-ward--and the more cautious, reflective countenance of the +captain. Yes, he could see it all. Rescue, within a yard of him! +Great God! was it to reach him--to touch him, and yet pass him by? He +strained at his bonds till his eyes seemed to burst from his head. One +sound would bring him immediate rescue, immediate freedom--yet not by a +hair's-breadth would that devilish gag relax its constraint. + +"Pho! What could we find that would help us?" rejoined the impatient +voice of the subaltern. "And every moment Umar Khan is putting another +mile of this infernal desert between him and us." + +The argument seemed to weigh. The sharp, crisp word to advance--the +rattle of sabres and the jingle of bits; the thud of the troop-horses' +feet, and the swish of the thrown-up sand--all told its own tale to the +ears of the wretched prisoner as the troop swept onward, literally +within a couple of yards of him, and soon died away. Then the renewed +jolt--jolt, told that the camels had resumed their interrupted march. +It was the last straw. Physical anguish and mental revulsion proved too +much. The unfortunate man lost all consciousness in a dead swoon. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +THE DURANI RING. + +When he awoke to consciousness Campian realised that he was lying on a +charpoy, within a low, mud-plastered room. + +His limbs were no longer bound, but his whole frame ached from head to +foot with a racking pain. With the first attempt to move he groaned, +and once more closed his eyes. That last fearful ordeal had been too +much for nerve and brain. Even now, as he awoke, the recollection of it +came back with a rush. + +A slight rustling and the sound of a quiet footstep caused him to look +forth once more. A bearded, long-haired Baluchi was standing beside the +bed with an earthen bowl in his hand. + +"_Kaha Syyed Ain Asraf hai_?" queried Campian. + +But the man only shook his head, set down the bowl, and departed. + +He drank the contents, which consisted of slightly curdled goat's milk, +and feeling vastly better, made up his mind to rise. + +The turban he had before worn was lying beside him. Twisting it on, he +sallied forth. + +The sun was sky high, but the air was no longer the scorching breath of +the desert. It was fresh, almost cool. As he looked around he could +see the towering head of a mountain beyond the line of roof. + +A sort of labyrinth of mud-walls confronted and puzzled him, but of +inhabitants he saw not a soul. Making his way carefully forward he came +upon an open space, but walled in all round; in fact, he seemed to be in +a kind of walled village, and of the surrounding country nothing could +he descry but the mountain overhead. + +Several savage looking Baluchis stood or squatted in groups. These +muttered a sulky "salaam," but their faces were all strange to him; not +one among them seemed to have been of the party amid which his lot had +formerly been cast. Women, too, here and there were visible--that is to +say, their clothing was, for their closely drawn chuddas, with the two +circular, barred eyeholes, conveyed to the spectator no sort of idea as +to whether the face within was young or old, pretty or hideous, comely +or hag-like. + +Again he inquired for the old Syyed, only to meet with the same +unconcerned headshake. The mention of Buktiar Khan met with no more +satisfactory result. This was bad. The cross-eyed ex-chuprassi, +slippery scoundrel as he might be, was, at any rate, somebody to talk +to, and, furthermore, a valuable mouthpiece. For the kind-hearted old +Syyed he had conceived a genuine regard, and it was with something like +a real pang of regret that he missed the benevolent face and paternal +manner of that venerable saint. But, more important than all, he missed +the feeling of protection and security which the latter's presence had +inspired, and which, he realised with a qualm, he might only too soon +need; for a more forbidding, murderous looking set of ruffians than the +men who inhabited this village he thought he had never in his life +beheld. + +Two of these, engaged in their devotions, on one side of the square, +attracted his attention. Moved by a desire to propitiate, he went over +to them, and putting off his shoes, spread his chudda beside them and +began to do likewise. And now, for the first time--realising his +insecurity, and missing the presence of his kind old preceptor--in his +strait and loneliness, a kind of reality seemed to come into the +formula; and bowing himself down towards Mecca, he felt that this creed +which unified the hearts of millions and millions might even be ordered +so as to form a link of brotherhood between himself and the fierce +hearts of those surrounding him--and, let it come from whatever source +it might, the inspiration was a sustaining one. He arose with renewed +confidence--even something of renewed hope. + +Such, however, was not destined to last. As the days went by the +demeanour of those around grew more and more hostile--at times even +threatening. They would hardly reply to his civil and brotherly +"salaam," and would scowl evilly at him even during prayer. It began to +get upon his nerves. + +And well it might. In the first place he was a close prisoner, never +being suffered to go outside the loop-holed walls, and the want of +exercise told upon his health. Then, he had no idea as to where he was, +or for what purpose he was being kept: that it was with the object of +ransom he had more than begun to abandon hope, since the weeks had +dragged into months, and yet no sign from the outside world. Into +months--for there were signs of approaching winter now. The peak of the +overhanging mountain took on more than one cap of powdery snow, and the +air, at nights, became piercingly cold. And then with the growing +hostility of those around, he framed a theory that they were but +awaiting the return of Umar Khan to put him to death, with such adjuncts +of cruelty as that implacable barbarian might feel moved to devise. + +Would his fate ever be known? Why should it? Orientals were as close +as death when they chose to keep anything a mystery. But what mattered +whether it were known or not? Vivien? She would soon forget--or find +some "duty" to console her, he told himself in all the bitterness +fostered by his unnerved and strained state. No--but of her he would +not think; and this resolve, framed from the earliest stage of his +captivity, he had persistently observed. He needed all his strength, +all his philosophy. To dwell upon thoughts of her--only regained in +order to be re-lost--had a perilous tendency to sap both. + +All manner of wild ideas of escape would come to him, only to be +dismissed. He had made one attempt, and failed. If that had been +unsuccessful--near home, so to say, and in country he knew--what sort of +success would crown any such effort here in a wild and unknown region, +which, for aught he knew, might be hundreds of miles from any European +centre? To fail again would render his condition infinitely worse, even +if it did not entail his death. + +At last something occurred. It was just after the hour of morning +prayer. A sound struck full upon his ears. Away over the desert it +came--the long cracking roll of a rifle volley. Then another, followed +by a few scattered and dropping shots. Others had heard it, too, and +were peering through the loopholes in the outer wall. Faint and far it +was, but approaching--oh, yes, surely approaching. + +Rescue? Surely this time it was. A clue to his whereabouts had been +found, and the search expedition had discovered him at last. The blood +surged hotly in his veins at the thought--but--with it came another. +Would these barbarians allow him to leave their midst alive? Not +likely. + +Then a plan formulated itself in his mind. He would retire to the room +he occupied and barricade the door. That would allow his deliverers +time to appear in force. So far, however, the people within the village +fort made no hostile movement towards him. They seemed to have +forgotten his presence, so engrossed were they in observing what might +be going on outside. At last, however, the gates were thrown open to +admit three men on camels, supporting a fourth. Him they lowered +carefully to the ground, a fresh stream of blood welling forth from his +wounds as they did so, crimsoning his dirty white garments; and, in the +grim, drawn countenance, with its set teeth and glazing eyes, Campian +recognised the lineaments of Ihalil Mohammed. + +The man was dying. Nothing but the tenacity of a son of the desert and +the mountain would have supported him thus far, with two Lee-Metford +bullets through his vitals. There he lay, however, the sands of life +ebbing fast, the very moments of his fierce, lawless, predatory career +numbered. + +"You take care. Baluchi very cross," murmured a voice, in English, at +Campian's side. No need had he to turn to recognise in it that of +Buktiar Khan. + +The warning was needed--yet even then, fully alive to his peril, he +could not forbear hurriedly asking what had happened. As hurriedly the +ex-chuprassi told him; which he was able to do while loosening the +saddle girths of his camel, the attention of the others, too, being +occupied with the dying man. A body of native horse led by two English +officers had come up to a neighbouring village, but the _malik_ who +ruled it had refused to allow them the use of the wells. The cavalry +had persisted, and then the Baluchis had fired upon them. There had +been a fight, and then a parley, and the English officers had set off in +pursuit of Umar Khan, who had been present until he saw how things were +going with his countrymen. + +"No. The sahibs not come here. Umar Khan go right the other way," +concluded Buktiar. "But--you take care--Baluchi very cross." + +If ever there was point in a warning it was at that moment. Several of +those around Ihalil turned their heads and were eyeing the prisoner +ominously. The dying brigand, too, with hate in his glassy stare, +seemed to be muttering curses and menace, then with a last effort, spat +full in his direction. It was as though a signal had been given. + +Campian, however, was quick and resourceful in his strait. In a flash, +as it were, he had whirled Buktiar's tulwar from its scabbard as the +ex-chuprassi was still leaning over his camel-gear, and with a rapid cut +had slashed the face of the foremost of the ferocious crew which now +hurled itself, howling, upon him. Then two or three quick bounds +backward and he was within his apartment, with the door banged to, and +the charpoy and a heavy chest which stood in the room so wedged against +it that it could not be forced by any method short of knocking out the +opposite wall. + +For a while the hubbub was appalling, as the infuriated Baluchis hurled +themselves against the door, bellowing forth terrific shouts and curses. +The beleaguered man within stood there, his tulwar raised, panting +violently with the excitement and exertion, prepared to sell his life at +the price of several, for a desperate man armed with a tulwar and driven +to bay, is no joke--to the several. Then there was a sudden silence. +Campian, with every faculty of hearing strained, was speculating what +new device they would adopt to get at him. He had no hope now. It was +only a question of time. Then Buktiar's voice made itself heard, +calling out in English: "You come out I'sirdar--he want speak with you." + +"Sirdar? What sirdar? Oh, skittles! You don't come it over me with +that thin yarn, Buktiar," replied Campian, with a reckless laugh, +evolved from the sheer hopelessness of his position. + +"No. I speak true. I'sirdar--he just come--I'sirdar Yar Hussain Khan." + +"Umar Khan, you mean--eh?" + +"No--not Umar Khan. Yar Hussain--big sirdar of Marri." + +"How am I to know if this fellow is lying or not?" soliloquised Campian +aloud. "See here, Buktiar. You're a damned fool if you don't do all +you can for me. You know I promised you a thousand rupees." + +"I know, sahib. This time I speak true. You come out or I'sirdar +p'r'aps get angry and go away." + +Campian resolved to risk it. Therein lay a chance--otherwise there was +none. Cautiously, yet concealing his caution, he flung open the door, +and stepped boldly forth, his very intrepidity begotten of the extremity +of his strait. + +No. The ex-chuprassi had not lied. Standing there, his immediate +retinue grouped behind him, was a tall, stately figure. Campian +recognised him at a glance. It was the Marri sirdar, Yar Hussain Khan. + +Behind the group several horses were standing, the chief's spirited +mount, with its ornate saddle cloth and trappings, being led up and down +the square by one of the young Baluchis. Not a weapon was raised as the +beleaguered man stepped forth. The village people stood around, sullen +and scowling. + +"Salaam, Sirdar sahib!" said Campian advancing, having shifted the +tulwar, with which he would not part, to the left hand. "Buktiar, +remind the chief, that when we met before, at the jungle-wallah sahib's +camp, he said he would be glad to see me in his village, and--here I +am." And he extended his right hand. + +But Yar Hussain did not respond with any cordiality to this advance, +indeed at first it seemed as though he were going to repel it +altogether. However, he returned the proffered handshake, though +coldly--and the sternness of his strong, dignified countenance in no +wise relaxed as he uttered a frigid "salaam." + +Then a magical change flashed across his features, and his eyes lit up. +Throwing his head back, he stared at the astonished Campian. + +"Put forth thy hand again, Feringhi," he said, in a quick, deep tone, as +though mastering some strong emotion. Wondering greatly--as the request +was translated by Buktiar--Campian complied. And now he saw light. +What had attracted the chief's attention was a ring he wore--a quaint +Eastern ring, in which was set a greenish stone covered with strange +characters. + +"Where obtainedst thou this?" inquired Yar Hussain, still in the deep +tones of eager excitement, his eyes fixed upon the ring. + +"From my father, to whom it was presented by an Afghan sirdar whose life +he was the means of saving. It was supposed to bring good fortune to +all who wore it. Have you ever seen a similar one, Sirdar sahib?" + +But for answer there broke from several of those on either hand of the +chief, and who, with heads bent forward, were gazing upon the circlet, +hurried ejaculations. + +"The Durani ring!" they exclaimed. "Yes, Allah is great. The Durani +ring!" + +They stared at the circlet, then at its wearer, then at the ring again, +and broke forth into renewed exclamations. Yar Hussain the while seemed +as though turned into stone. Finally, recovering himself he said: + +"This is a matter that needs talking over. We will discuss it within." + +At these words the _malik_ of the village fort, with much deference, +marshalled the sirdar to his own house. With him went Campian and two +or three followers. Buktiar Khan, to his unmitigated disappointment, +was left outside. When they were seated--this time comfortably on +cushions, for this room was very different in its appointments to the +bare, squalid one which had been allotted to the prisoner hitherto--one +of the Baluchis addressed Campian in excellent English, to the latter's +unbounded astonishment. + +"The sirdar would like to hear the story of that ring," he said. "You +need not fear to talk, sir. I am his half brother. I learnt English at +Lahore when I was Queen's soldier, so I tell the sirdar again all you +say." + +Decidedly this was better than being dependent on an unreliable scamp +such as Buktiar Khan, and Campian felt quite relieved. For somehow he +realised that his peril was over--probably his oft repeated trials and +wearing captivity, but that might depend upon his own diplomacy, and +what deft use he might make of the circumstance of the ring. + +For a few moments he sat silent and pondering. The story of the ring +was so bound up with that of the ruby sword and the hidden treasure that +it was difficult to tell the one without revealing the other. The +information which he himself possessed declared that the only man who +would be likely to know anything about the matter was the Syyed Ain +Asraf. He, however, had not recognised the ring. Could there be two +Syyeds Ain Asraf? + +Then he remembered that Yar Hussain was of Afghan descent. Did he know +anything of the hiding of the treasure, or at any rate where it was +hidden? The first was possible, the second hardly likely, or he would +almost certainly have removed it. + +"What was the name of the Durani sirdar?" asked Yar Hussain at last. +"Dost Hussain Khan," replied Campian. "He is my father," said the +chief, "and he rests on the rim of Paradise. There is truth in thy +statement, O Feringhi, who--they tell me--art now a believer. He was +saved by a Feringhi, and an unbeliever, yet a brave and true man, and +for him and his we never cease to pray." + +"Then are we brothers, Sirdar," said Campian, "for the man who saved the +life of thy father is my father." + +The astonishment depicted on the faces of those who heard this statement +was indescribable. + +"Ya Allah!" cried the chief, raising hands and eyes to heaven. +"Wonderful are Thy ways! Hast thou a token, Feringhi?" + +"Is not that of the ring sufficient?" returned Campian, purposely +simulating offence. "If not, listen. The Sirdar Dost Hussain Khan, +when pressed by his enemies, concealed his treasures, principal among +which was a ruby hilted sword of wellnigh priceless value. This +treasure is lost. None know of its whereabouts to this day." + +The chief's kinsman, whose name was Sohrab Khan, hardly able to mask his +own amazement, translated this. An emphatic assent went up from all who +heard. + +"The treasure was enclosed in a strong chest of dark wood, three cubits +in length, covered with words from the blessed Koran, and clamped with +heavy brass bindings," went on Campian. "The Durani sirdar was killed +by the Brahuis. And now, why has the secret of its whereabouts been +lost? Does not the Syyed Ain Asraf know of it?" + +The astonishment on the faces of those who heard found outlet in a +vehement negative. + +Then Sohrab Khan explained. The Syyed, he said, knew nothing. All that +the Feringhi, now a believer, had said was true. But the Sirdar Yar +Hussain Khan would fain repurchase the ring, because there was a +tradition in their house that its gift to an unbeliever--good and brave +man as that unbeliever was--had caused the disappearance of the +treasure. When it was recovered the secret of the whereabouts of the +ruby sword and the other valuables would be revealed. Would five +thousand rupees repurchase it? + +To this Campian returned no immediate answer. He was turning the matter +over in his mind--not that of the sale and the proffered price, for on +that head his mind was clear. Of whatever value this lost property +might be, these people, and they alone, had any claim to it. There was +a strange fatality about the way they had been enabled to save his life, +and that at the most critical moments--first the Syyed Ain Asraf when +the sword of Umar Khan was raised above his defenceless head--now the +arrival of Yar Hussain and his following in time to rescue him from the +savage vengeance of the friends and kinsmen of Ihalil. His father had +foregone any claim upon the treasure, even when a share of it was +proffered him by the grateful potentate whose life he had saved; and now +he, too, meant to make no claim. He had ample for his own needs--all he +asked was restoration to liberty. Yet even for this he did not +stipulate. + +"Listen," he said at length, and during the time occupied by his +meditations it was characteristic that no word or sign of impatience +escaped those dignified Orientals, notwithstanding the grave import of +the matter under discussion. "It seems that the tradition relating to +the recovery of the ring is one of truth. For if it was given to an +unbeliever--albeit a brave and true man--now is it recovered by a +believer. See"--holding out his hand, so that all might see the green +stone and its cabalistic characters--"see--am I not one of yourselves? +And now, O my brother, Yar Hussain Khan, I will restore unto thee this +treasure, even I; for it hath been revealed unto me. I have described +it and the chest which containeth it. Now, let us fare forth to the +valley called Kachin that thou mayest possess it once more." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +THE RUBY SWORD. + +As they rode forth from the village fort, and its gates closed behind +them, Campian could not but once more realise the strangeness of life, +and the sudden and unexpected turns the wheel of fate will take. He had +entered in a state of swooning unconsciousness, swung, in agonising and +ignominious attitude, one bale among the many which constitute a camel's +load. Now he rode forth at the right hand of the powerful Marri sirdar, +whose honoured guest and almost blood-brother he had become, and that by +a fortuitous chance which partook of the nature of a triviality. He was +mounted on a fine steed, and his worn and dingy garments had been +replaced, as though by magic, by the finest and snowiest of raiment-- +even to one of the chief's highly ornamented vests of state. + +How good it was to breathe again the air of freedom. Even the desert +waste in its wide expanse, the jagged treeless mountain peaks, took on +all manner of soft and changing lights in the golden glow of the +cloudless afternoon. Soon his terrible experiences would be as a dream +of the past. No impatience was upon him now. Life had taught him a +certain amount of philosophy, and so completely had he identified +himself with the part he had for months past been forced to sustain, +that something of the Eastern stoicism had transmitted itself to him. +Now he could allow himself to think--to dwell upon those last days +before the tragedy that had forced him into captivity and peril and +exile. Yet, why that uneasy stirring--why that misgiving? Could it be +that his impending restoration to nineteenth century life brought with +it something of the cares and pains and heart-searchings of busy, +up-to-date, restless, end of the century struggle after chimeras and +will o' the wisps? For months now all trace of him would have been +lost. He would have been given up as dead. How would Vivien accept the +general opinion? Perhaps she had long since left Shalalai. He +remembered their last parting well--ah, so well! But it had taken place +under stress of circumstances--of circumstances abnormal and strained. +In cooler moments all might have been different. And acting upon this +idea he had made no stipulation or request that he should be escorted to +Shalalai previous to revealing the place of concealment of the long +buried treasure. He had known experience of a meeting of this sort--all +the anticipation, the dwelling upon the thought thereof day and night, +the figuring out of its programme, and all the rest of it--and then, +when it came--mere commonplace; disappointment perhaps--not to say a +strong dash of disillusionment. + +To reach the Kachin valley would take them some days--but Campian easily +prevailed upon the sirdar to despatch a swift messenger to Shalalai +announcing his safety and approaching return--and, indeed, it suited Yar +Hussain's own plans to do this. + +We left that chief under arrest. Not long, however, was he detained. +It was found practically impossible on investigation to hold him +responsible for the doings of Umar Khan; moreover he represented, and +with perfect truth, that the hostage's interests were likely to suffer +from such detention--even if it did not entail upon him actual peril. +So he was released. + +Even then, however, he was in an ugly and vindictive frame of mind, and +whether his intervention or protection would have been extended to the +captive under ordinary circumstances, it is hard to say. As it was, the +mere accidental glimpse of the ring worn by Campian had worked wonders. + +The fact was that Campian seldom wore this ring. He had done so of +late, thinking it in keeping with the Eastern dress he had assumed, but +formerly he had hardly remembered that it was in his possession. Even +of late, however, it had passed unnoticed, partly from the fact of Ain +Asraf's sight being dim with age partly that none of those who custodied +him were of the family of Dost Hussain. Fortunate, indeed, that it had +been upon his finger at that critical moment. + +At a village on their road they fell in with Ain Asraf. The old Syyed +was genuinely rejoiced at beholding his neophyte once more. The latter, +in spite of his own protests, anger, menaces even, had been spirited off +by the lawless and irreligious followers of Umar Khan, nor had he been +able to learn his whereabouts. + +"Ah, my son," he said at the close of their cordial greeting, "Allah +watches over His own--and His Prophet holds hell in store for they who +oppress them. Yet, it is well. I may no more be with thee to instruct +thee in the fair flowers of the faith. Yet forget not that Allah has +delivered thee in thine extremity, and that not once." + +Then he signed that the hour of prayer was at hand, and all dismounted, +and the same orisons--uttered alike by chief and lowest herdsman--by the +upright and the criminal--by the true ally and treacherous outlaw--went +up from the desert sand from that group with their faces to the setting +sun. + +The old Syyed attached himself to their band, being readily provided, by +the people of the village, with a camel, for they had no horses, and was +treated with great deference by all--both as the uncle of the chief, and +in his capacity of saint. Through the medium of Sohrab Khan, the +English speaking Baluchi, Campian was able to while away the monotony of +the road in converse. He learnt much of what had befallen since his +captivity--of the arrest of the Sirdar, the anxiety as to his own fate, +and the doings of Umar Khan, with whom his present friends seemed not +altogether out of sympathy--in fact, he decided that if it depended upon +their aid, the chances of capturing that redoubted freebooter were +infinitesimal. Thus they fared onward, day after day, through _tangi_ +and over _kotal_, threading deep mountain valleys, and traversing +sun-baked plains; now resting for the night at mud-walled villages, now +camping out in the open beneath the desert stars. + +The Kachin valley at last! How well he remembered its long, deep +configuration. Now after his enforced wanderings over those grim +deserts, even its sparse foliage was like a cool and refreshing oasis. +And what experiences, strange and startling, had he not known within its +narrow limits. There, above the juniper growth rose the mass of rock +wherein was the markhor cave. It seemed strange to think that the face +of that ordinarily rugged mountain side should contain what it did. + +Then a misgiving seized him. What if it should contain nothing? What +if he had been allowing his over-wrought imagination to run away with +him? The chest was there--no doubt about that, but what if it contained +nothing more than a lot of old parchments, or a storage of ordinarily +trumpery trinkets? Things might, in that event, take an awkward turn. +But no, he would not believe it. The strength of the chain, the weight +of the chest, the weird, unheard of place of its concealment, the care +and labour involved in designing such a hiding place, all pointed to +this being the object of his search. And then, too, the topographical +features of the surroundings were all exactly as set forth in his +father's instructions. Every piece of the puzzle seemed to fit in to a +nicety. + +And this chief was the son of the refugee Afghan whose life his father +had saved, and in the inscrutable workings of time it had come about +that the debt should be repaid twofold, that his own life should be +saved, first by the brother, then by the son of Dost Hussain. On the +eventual slaughter of the latter by the Brahuis, Yar Hussain then an +infant, had found refuge with the Marri tribe, and by dint of descent on +his mother's side, had, on reaching years of manhood, claimed and seized +the position he now held. All this Campian learned as they travelled +along; and a very stirring--if complicated--tale of Eastern intrigue, +and fierce, ruthless tribal feud it was. + +A feeling of awe was upon the party as they entered the gloomy crack +which constituted the portal of the now historic markhor cave. Upon the +Baluchis the superstitious associations which clustered round the place +had their effect. The Syyed Ain Asraf was muttering copious exorcisms +and adjurations from the sacred book, and the wild desert warriors were +overawed at the thought that here was about to be unfolded that which +had been placed there by the hands of those long since dead. Upon the +European, however, the associations were multifold. That first +exploration of the cave, the chance arrival of Vivien Wymer, and their +long, quiet talk as they investigated it together all came back to him. +Then the tragedy, his escape, and the hours he had spent hanging in the +very mouth of that hideous gulf--here again the hidden hoard of the dead +chief had been instrumental in preserving the life of his rescuer's son, +for what would the latter have done but for the resting place afforded +by the chain and that which it supported, whit time Umar Khan, with his +bloodthirsty brigands had run him literally to earth? + +Taking a torch from one of the bystanders, and holding it out at arm's +length over the gulf, he said: + +"Look down there, my brother, yonder is the Ruby Sword." + +"I see nothing," replied Yar Hussain, who, lying flat on the brink, was +peering over. "Stay--yes. Something is hanging. It is of iron. It is +a chain. You--three of you--hold your lights out over yon black opening +of hell." Then as they obeyed he went on--"Yes. There it is. There is +a chest--bound with brass. Of a truth the secret is at length +revealed." + +Even the impassive reticence of the Oriental seemed to relax. There was +a note of strong excitement in the deep tones of the chief, and his eyes +dilated as he beheld at last that which contained his long buried +heirloom. He gave orders that the chest should be at once drawn up. + +This was not difficult. By Campian's advice they had come well provided +with strong camel-hide ropes. These were noosed, and the loops being +swung round the chest on either side of the chain--a very simple process +in the strong light of many torches--were drawn tight. Then, at the +word from Campian, who superintended the operation, and whose interest +and excitement were hardly less than that of the chief, they hauled +away. The chest proved of less weight than they expected, and lo!--in a +trice--it lay safe upon the floor of the cave. + +Many and pious were the ejaculations of those who beheld. The massive +chain, somewhat indented in the wood through the weight it had so long +sustained, was at length filed through, and the chest borne to the +entrance of the cave to be opened in full daylight. + +Seen there it was indeed black and venerable with age, and the lettering +on the cover so blurred that the old eyes of Ain Asraf were hardly equal +to the task of deciphering it. But the impatience of those around was +deepening every moment, and Yar Hussain with his own hands began to open +the chest. + +It was secured by cunning locks, the device of which was known to him. +The hinges, stiff and rusty with age and damp, at first would not turn, +then yielded to a couple of hearty tugs. The while every head was +craned forward, every spectator was breathless with expectation. As an +instance of how one can persuade oneself into a belief in any theory, +even now no misgiving came to Campian lest the chest should contain +nothing of any value. + +An aromatic and pungent odour filled the air on the opening of the box. +At first a layer of sheepskin vellum, then parchments. At these Yar +Hussain merely glanced hurriedly and continued his investigations. One +bag--then another--five bags of the same soft sheepskin and carefully +tied, each about the size of an orange. On opening these--lo! three of +them contained precious stones, cut, and some of splendid size and +water. The other two were filled with uncut stones. This was beginning +to look promising. + +The next layer being uncovered yielded to view some magnificent personal +ornaments, bracelets and the like, thickly jewelled. These were lifted +out, and then the third skin covering being removed, that contained by +the last and lower compartment of the chest lay revealed. Something +long, wrapped in several rolls of the soft wash leather. Carefully, +almost reverently, Yar Hussain unfolded these and--There it lay, in the +bottom of the chest, hilt and scabbard literally glowing with splendid +rose red jewels, relieved by the white flash of diamonds, dazzling the +eyes of the beholders with the suddenness of its glare--there it lay, in +its long hidden splendour, the cherished heirloom of the refugee Durani +chief--the priceless Ruby Sword. + +For some moments the surrounding Baluchis stood staring in stupefied +silence, then they broke forth in ejaculations as to the wonderful ways +of Allah, and so forth. Campian, beholding the wealth thus displayed, +could not but feel some sort of qualm as he remembered how he might have +concealed his knowledge until able to turn it to his own material +account. It was only momentary, however, and he was the first to break +in with a practical remark. + +"Hearken, Sohrab Khan," he said. "I think I have now done all that I +can do. Tell the sirdar that he and his have returned to me the service +that my father rendered to his, have returned it twofold, and I, for my +part, am rejoiced to have been the means by which he has come into the +possession of his own. But there are those in Shalalai I would fain see +again, and if it is all the same to him, I think"--with a glance at the +sun--"we might fetch Mehriab station in time to catch the afternoon +train." + +This very Western and end of the nineteenth century phrase breaking in +upon such a scene of Eastern and mediaeval romanticism struck its +utterer as almost ludicrous in its incongruity. + +"In truth, that is comprehensible," replied Yar Hussain, when this +suggestion was put to him--"and it shall be done. Yes, my brother, who +art now one of us, thy wishes shall be fulfilled. But now, receive +this,"--placing in his hand one of the bags of cut stones--"and choose +from among these,"--pointing to the jewelled bracelets--"that some +recompense may be made thee for thy sufferings at the hands of our +people, and that the remembrance of thy brethren here may be pleasant +and sweet when thou art among thine own people in the years to come." + +Campian, repressing the momentary instinct which moved him to decline so +splendid a gift, made choice of one of the bracelets--not one of the +best, however. It was a splendid ornament for all that, and a +tightening of the heart went through him as he wondered to himself if it +would ever be worn. Then he asked if he could keep the Durani ring, +which he valued more than ever. + +"Surely," was the sirdar's reply. "In truth it is restored to a +believer, and hath amply fulfilled its mission." + +When the train for Shalalai stopped at Mehriab station that day, the few +European passengers it contained were lazily astonished by the presence +on the platform of an evidently important Baluchi sirdar, accompanied by +a large retinue. Their astonishment grew to activity, however, when one +of the group, before entering a first-class carriage, took leave of them +in excellent English, which was duly translated to the chief and his +following by one of their number, the departure of the train being +signalled by a perfect chorus of farewell "salaams" from those left +behind. They were destined to be still more mightily astonished upon +the arrival of the train at the last station or two before Shalalai by +the appearance of a European, of military or official aspect, who +greeted the supposed Oriental with cordial handgrip, singing out in a +voice that carried the whole length of the train: + +"Devilish glad to see you back, old chap. And I've brought you your +togs, so you'll have time to get into them as we go along. By George, +though, you look no end of a real sirdar in that get-up, all the same." + +And taking a Gladstone bag from the attendant bearer, he jumped in too. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +LIGHT. + +"After months--which seemed years--of the most abominable hardship, +wearying anxiety, and constant danger, the security and restfulness of +this sort of thing is simply beyond all words to define." + +Thus Campian, clad in irreproachable evening dress, with a wave of the +hand which takes in the lighted table and trophy hung walls. The only +other occupant of Upward's dining room has just entered, likewise in +full panoply--with opera-cloak, and fan and gloves. + +"Yes. That is indeed true. Do you know, I wish we had not got to go +out to-night." + +"Then why do we; for as it happens I entirely share that wish. Suppose +we stay at home instead. Or are you going to say `Duty'?" + +Vivien does not at once reply. Something in the tone, in the scarcely +veiled meaning wherewith he emphasises the word, strikes home to her. +The Upward party and her uncle have gone on, bound for a regimental +theatrical performance at the Assembly Rooms, and they two are left to +follow. Not many days have gone by since Campian's return to Shalalai; +not many more are to go by before he leaves it--almost certainly for +ever. + +"Shall we stay at home then, dear?" answers Vivien, a little wave of +unsuppressed tenderness in her voice. "We may throw duty overboard for +once, for the sake of a poor returned wanderer. But--I have made you +this, and in any case you must wear it." "This" being an exquisite +little "button-hole" which she is now carefully pinning on for him. The +great tiger jaws on the walls seem to snarl inaudibly in the lamplight-- +as though to remind both of the multifold perils of the beautiful, +treacherous East. + +Now, the act of pinning on a button-hole under some circumstances is +bound to lead to a good deal, therefore in this case, that an arm should +close around the operatrix seems hardly surprising. + +"Do you still venerate that vacant old fetish? It parted us once, +Vivien." + +Again she is silent, and her eyes fill. The great black and orange +stripes of the tiger skins seem to dance in angry rays before her +vision. Her voice will not come to her. But he continues: + +"Has it never occurred to you that you--that we--made a very +considerable mistake that time? We each found our counterpart in the +other. Surely such an experience is unique. Then what happened? You +set up a fetish--a miserable fraud--a mere whimsical conception of an +idol--and called it Duty--while I--I was fool enough to let you do it." + +"I don't know why things were ordered that way," he continues, for still +Vivien makes no reply--"or for what purpose, of earth or heaven, five +years of happiness should have been knocked off our lives. But for +whatever it is, I don't believe for a moment it was arranged we should +meet so strangely and unexpectedly in this out of the way part of the +world--all for nothing. We have been brought together again, and we +have tried to keep up the _role_ of strangers--of mere acquaintances-- +and the whole thing is a most wretched and flimsy fiasco. Is it not?" + +"Yes." + +She is looking at him now, full and earnestly. Her fingers are toying +with the "button-hole" she has pinned on his coat. Unconsciously she is +leaning on him as he holds her within his embrace. + +"Our love showed forth in every moment, in every word, in every action +of our lives," he continues. "The mask we tried to wear was quite +unavailable to stifle the cry of two aching hearts. Listen, darling. +There is no room for affectation between us now. Our love is as ever it +was--rather is it stronger. Am I right?" + +"Yes. You are the one love of my life, and always have been. And you +know it--dearest." + +So sweet, so soft comes this reply, that the very tones are as an all +pervading caress. + +"Those five years are beyond our reach," he continues. "They are gone +never to return, but we can make up for them during the remainder of our +lives. And--we will. Will we not?" + +"Yes--we will." + +The reply, though low, is full-voiced and unhesitating. Luminous eyes, +sweet with their love light, are raised to his, and the man's head is +drawn down to meet again that kiss which seemed to join soul to soul in +the dread hour of peril and of bloodshed and self-abnegation. And, with +the moment, the long years of desolation and heart-emptiness are as +though they had never been--for after the drear gloom of their weary +length--the sharp and fiery trial of their culmination, Love has +triumphed, and now there is light. + +And here with the doings of our two principal characters we have no +further concern, and if this holds good of them, still more does it hold +good of those among whom their lot has been temporarily cast. But if +life, in its fatefulness, has refrained from dashing the cup of +happiness--tardily yet finally grasped--from the hands of these two, its +normal grimness of irony is not likely to suffer in the long run. For +Umar Khan is still at large. Force and diplomacy alike have failed to +bring that arch-free-booter and murderer within measurable distance of +the gallows and faggot pyre, which he has so richly earned a score of +times over. For the twenty-first time the wily evildoer has escaped +retribution, and in all probability will continue to do so. Which--if +not exactly satisfying to our reader's sense of poetic justice--is Life. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ruby Sword, by Bertram Mitford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUBY SWORD *** + +***** This file should be named 36606.txt or 36606.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/6/0/36606/ + +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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