Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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\ V ■ :zr - i -4i PAGE TWO BA&HWELI. SENTUTEL, BARNWEXJ., SOUTH CAROLINA X b u A Romance of Advehtufe By TALBOT MUNDY Copyrlfht by the Bobb*>M«rrUl Company KING SEES YASMINI FOR THE FIRST TIME WHEN SHE / COMES TO DANCE BEFORE THE THOUSANDS OF WARRIORS ASSEMBLED IN THE CAVERN 8ynop*ls.—At the beginning of- the world war Cupt. Athelstan King of the British Indian army and of its secret service, is ordered' to Delhi to meet Yasmini, a dancer, and goes with her to Khinjan to meet the outlaws there who are said by spies to be prepaying for a Jihad or holy war. On bis way to Delhi King quietly foils a plun to assassinate him and gets evidence that Yasmini 1s after him. He meets Rewa Gunga. Yasmlnl's man, who says she has already gone north, and at her town house witnesses queer dances. v Jsmail, an Afrldi, be comes his body servant und protector. He, rescues some of Yasmlnl's blllmen and takes them north with him, tricking the Rungar Into going ahead. The Rangur deserts him at a dangerous time. He meets his brother at All ^lasjld fort. The disguise hi* assumes there fools even the sharp-eyed cutthroats composing his guurd. He enters Khinjan caves, thanks to his lying guides, and at a clinic hearsof an impending revolt led by Bull-Wlth-a-Beard, and goes to a meeting in the cavern. CHAPTER XII.—Continued. * “Aye! The liur says the Germans gave It to him. He swears they will ■end more. Who are the Germans? Who is n man who talks of a Jihad that Is to be, that he should have gold coin given him by unbelievers? I saw a German once; at Nuklao. He ate pig- meat and wnshed it down with wine. Are such men sons of the Prophet? Wait and watch, say II" - "Money?” said King. “And should no more money come?" This was courteous conversation and received as such—many a long league removed from curiosity. "Who am I to foretell a man's kis met? I know what I know, and I think what I think ! I know thee, hakim, for a gentle fellow, who hurt me almost not at all in the drawing of a bullet out of my flesh. What knowest thou about me?" “That I will dress the wound for thee again l” Artless statements are as useful In their way as artless . questions. Let the guile lie deep, that is all. "Nay, nay! For she said nay? Shall I fall foul of her, for the sake of a new bandage?" ^ The temptation was terrific to ask why she had given that order, but King resisted It; and presently it occurred to the Pathan that his own theories on the subject might be of interest. “She will use thee for a reword,” he said. “He who shall win and keep her i> AiiW WSuE, NMf- A Wretched-Looking Beluchi- Was Thrust Forward at a Run, With Arms Lashed to His Sides. favor may have his hurts dressed- and his belly dosed. Her enemies may rot." "Does"she call the tfiulTaTT MTihatn- mad Anlm enemy?” .King asked him. “Nay, she never mentions him by • • i ••••A*’ name. CHAPTER XIII. The dance went on for fifteen min utes yet, but then—quite unexpectedly —all the arena guards together fired a volley at the roof, and the dance . stopped 'ns if every -dancer .Ivad been bit. ranting—foaming-at the mouth, some of them—'the dancers ran to their seats and set the crowd surging again'' leaving the arena empty of all but the guards. Now a man’stood up near the ed of the crowd whom King recognised< and recognition brougjjt^wrjoy'with It. The mullah wttbouTTiair or eyelashes, ' who had.admitted him and ills party through the mosque into the caves, .. strode out to the middle of the arena ^ all alone, strutting and swaggering. He recalled the- man’s last words and drew no'consolation from them, either. “Many have entered! Some went out by a different road!" Cold chills went down his back. All ■t once Israull’s manner became unen- eouraging. He ceased to make a fuss ' over the dancer and began to eye King * aklcwise, until at last he seemed un able to contain the malice that wfould ell forth. r ‘ - <h 0 ntt there were oqly wonjs!” he whispered. "Here in this cavern men wait for proof I” ’ —*~ ., He licked his teeth^suggestlvely, as a wolf does when he contemplates a meal. Then, as an afterthought, as though ashamed, "I love thee l Thou art a man after my own heart! But I am her man! Walt and seel” ? ’he mullah in the arena, blinking h his lashless eyes, held' both arms up for-silence In the attitude of a Christian priest blessing a congrega tion. The great cavern grew still, and only the rtver could be heard sucking hungrily between the smooth stone hanks. 5 •* “God Is great!” the mullah howled. The crowd thnndered In echo to him; and then the vault took ( up the echoes, “And Muhammad Is his prophet!” howled the mullah. Instantly they an swered him again. “His prophet—rls hts prophet—Is his prophet!” said the stalactites. In loud harks—then In mur murs—then In awe-struck whispers. That seemed to be all the religious ritual Khinjan remembered or could tolerate: Considering that the mullah, too, must have killed his man In cold bipod before earning the right to be there, perhnps it (was enough—too much. There were iien not far from King who shuddered. “There are strangers!’* announced the mullah, as a man might say. “I smell a rat!" But he dld_not look at anybody In particular; ho blinked at the crowd. “Bring them!" ho shouted, and King suppressed a shudder—for what proof had he of right to be there, beyond Is mail’s verbal corroboration of n lie? Would Ismail lie for him again? be wondered. And If so, would the He be nnv use? Not far from where King sat there was an Immediate disturbance *Th the crowd, and a wretched-looking Baluchi was thrust forward at a run. with arms lashed to bis sides and a pitiful look of terror on bis face. Two more Ba luchis were hustled along after hlirf, protesting a little, but looking almost as hopeless. . * Orrae In the ^aVena, the guards took charge btnll three of them und lined them up fihyng the mullah, clubbing them with their rifle-butts to get quick er obedience.. TnKcrowd began to be noisy again, but the rnpllah signed for silence. . “These qre traitors!”'he howled, and his voice was like a wolf’s nihnntlhg time. “Hear, and be warned!" X. The crowd grew very still, but King, saw that sonic men licked their lips,! as if they well knew what was coming.! “These.three men came, and one was a new in an f 11 ♦ • mullah howled. ‘‘The other two Were liis witnesses! All three swore that the. first man came from slaving an unbeliever in the teeth of*written law. They, said he ran from live law. So, as. the custom is; I let all three enter!" "Good!” said the efcmvd. “Good!” They^ might have been live thousand Jifdges, Judging in equIFy. so s grave they were.- Yet they licked their lf)»s. v "But Jater v .-wgrd camp to me s- they are liars. So—again as the Cus tom is-j-1 ordered them bound an held! Doe^any speak foy? them?”. “Speak for them?” said the roof. There was silence. Then there was a murmur of astonishment. G^er op posite to where King sat the_ inull,ah stood up, who ' the lTitlia^i bad sajd- was “Bull-wlth-a-bettrd"—Mtibbrtlnmd Aninu c “The meniy^-Hfine!” lie growled. Hi.s vnJge-'iFas like a bear’s at bay; It ow, but it .carried strangely. And as he spoke be swung his great head between his shoulders, like a bear thht means to charge. “The proof they brought has been St+dgn! They had good^troof! I speak for them! The men are mine !" . Tlje Pathan nudged King 1° the ribs* .with tin elbow like a club and tickled his*ear with hot breath. “Bull-with-a-beard speaks truth 1” \ie grinned. “Truth and a lie together! Good may it do 1dm and them* They die. they three Baluchis!” p ► “Proof !’* howled the mullah who bad no hair or eyelashes. “Broof! Show us proof!’,’ yelled the crowd. , The Pathan next King leaned over to whisper to him again, but stiffened In the act. There was a great gasp t£e same instant, as the whole crowd caught Its breath all'together. The mullah In the middle froze Into, im mobility. Bull-with-a-beard stood mumbling, swaying his great head from side to side, no longer suggestive of a bear about to charge, but of one who hesitates. , ’ f .. • i *. • The crowd was staring at the end of the bridge. King stared, too, and caught his own breath. For Yasmini stood there, smiling on them all as the new moon smiles down on the Khyber I She had come among them like a spirit, all unheralded. So much more beautiful than the one likeness King had seen of her that for a second he doubted who she was, she stood there, human and warm and real, who had begun to seem a myth, clad in gauzy silk transparent stuff that made no secret of sylphlike shapeli ness and looking nearly light enough to blow away. Her feet—and they were the most marvelously molded things, he had ever seen—were naked and played restlessly on the naked stone. Not .one part of her was still for a fraction of a second; yet the whole ef fect was of insolently lazy ease. Her eyes blazed brighter than the lit tle Jewels stitched to her gossamer dress, and when a man once.Iooked at them he did not find it easy to look away again. Even mullah Muhammad Anlm seemed transfixed, like • great foolish animal. But King wus staring very hard In deed at something else—mentally cursing the plain glass spectacles he wore, that, had begun to film over and dim his vision. There were two brace lets on her arm, both barbaric things of solid gold. The smaller of the two was on her wrist and the larger on her upper arm, but they were so alike, ex cept for size; and so exactly Uke the one Rewa Gunga had given him in her name and that had been stolen from him in the night, that he ran the risk of removing the glasses a moment to stare with unimpeded eyes. Even then the distance was too great. He could not quite see. But her eyes began to search the crowd In his direction, and then he knew two things absolutely. He was sitting where she had ordered Ismail to place him; for she picked him out almost instantly, and laughed as if somebody had struck a silver bell. And one of those bracelets was the one that he had worn; for she flaunted It at him, moving her arm so that the light should make the gold glitter. Then, perhaps because the crowd had begun to whisper, and she wanted all attention, she raised both arms to toss bark the golden hair that came cascading nearly to her knees. And as if the crowd‘knew that symptom well, it drew its breath in sharply and grew very still. “Muhammad Anlm 1” she said, and she might have been wooing him. ►“That was a devil’s trick 1" It was rather an astounding state ment. coming from lovely lips in such a setting. It was rather suggestive of a driver's whiplash, flicked through the air for a beginning. Muhammad Aniin continued glaring and did not answer her, so In her own good time, when she h:id tossed her golden hair back once or twice again, she developed her meaning. “We who are,free of Khinjan eaves do not send men out to bring recruits. We know better than to bid our men tell lies for others at the gate. Nor, seeing proof for pur new recruit, do we send men to hunt n bead for hliii— not evehstbose of us who have a lash- knr that whcuII our own, mullah Mu : hammed Anility Each of us earns his own way in !” J J The mullah Muhahimad .^nim began to stroke hfs beard.-.buthe made no an swer. .• \ “And—mullah Muhammad Anlm, thou wandering man .of God—when that InShkar has foolishly been > sefct. and has failed, is.lt written in the Kaln- nmllah saying we should •pretend'there was a head, and that the head was stolen? A lie is a lie, Muhammad Anlm! Wandering perbrtps is good. If i search of the wijj^ Is It goodie hc*c the way, and,to lie, thoji. true fol- lowefc^of x She Amillejj^ tossing her hair back. Her cy**!0^nlienged. per lips mocked -fifth and h**Kcl^n scorned. The crowd ‘breathed hardSmd watched. The nml- lah muttered soiHctblng In bis heart!, and sat down, andYtm crowd began to roar applause a t hcr.Nfut she checked it with ri-regal gestureV'^ind a glance of contempt at the mullah.that was alone worth a Journey acxpsk the “Hills" tp-SoeT “Guards!” she paid \quietly. 'Nfcnd She nodded once; and then all was Over in a minute. With a ringing "Ho! and a run, the guards lifted their vlc- “Throw it 1 Throw It 1 Throw it!’ The crowd was growing Impatient. Many men were standing, waving their tlms shoulder high and bore them for-. 1 arms, to draw attention to themselves, ward. At the river bank they paused for a seeonjl to/swing them. Then, with another “Ho!" they threw them like dead rubbish Inti the swift black wa ter. ~~ 1 There was only one wild scream that went echoing and re-echoing to, the" roof. . There was scarcely a splash, Catching- Yasmlnl's eyes, he knew It had not entered her head that he might disobey. ~ H. ■; • . lie looked post her toward the river. There were no guards near enough ta prevent what he Intended; hut he had to, bear' in mind that the guards had rifles, and if he acted too suddenly one and no extfa ripple at all. Nq heads of them might shoot at him unbidden came up aguln to gasp. No fingers Holding the hend before him with both clutched at The surface. The fearful hands, he began to walk toward' the speed <5f the river sucked them under, ' river, edging all the while a little to- to grind and churn and pound them 1 through long caverns underground and hurl them at last over tlje great cata ract toward the middle of the world. >_■ “Ah-h-h-h-b 1” sighed the crowd In ecstasy. — “Is there no other stranger?” asked Yasmini, searching for KJng again with her amazing, eyes. The skin all down his hack turned there and then Into goo8eflesh. And as he^eyes met his she laughed like a belljit him'. She knew 1 She k^ew who he was, how he had entered, and how he felt. Not a donbt of It I . * the crow d’s sigh their was like the nig 1 wind in a forest. "Away with those three of Muham mad Anim’s men 1" Twelve of the arena guards threw dowry their shields with a-sudden.clat ter and seized the prisoners, four to each., The crowd shivered'with de licious anticipation. The doomed men neither struggled nor cried, for fatal ism is an anodyne as well as an explo sive. King set his teeth. Yasmtnj, with both hands behind her Lead, continued to smile down on them all as sweetly ns the stars shine on a battlefield. CHAPTER XIV. “Kurrara Khan!’’ the lashless mullah howled, like a lone wolf in the moon light, and King stood up. In that grim minute he managed to seem about as much at ease as a native hakim ought to feel at such an initiation. , "Come forward!” the mullah howled, and he obeyed, treading gingerly be tween men who were at no pains to let him by, and silently blessing them, be cause he was not really in any hurry at all. Yasmini looked lovely from a .distance, and life was sweet. "Who are his witnesses?" * ■ ' * “I!” shouted Ismail, Jumping up. "11” cracked the roof. “I! I!” So that for a second King almost believed he had a crowd of men to swear for him and did not hear Darya Khan at all, who rose from a place not very far behind where he had sat. Ismuil followed him in a harry, like a man wading a river with loose clothes gathered In one arm and the other arm ready in case of falling. Darya Khan did not go so fast. As he forced his way forward a man passed him up the wooden box that King had used,t9 stand %>n; he seized it in both hands with a grin and a jest and went to stand behind-King and Ismail, in line with the lashless mullah, facing Yasmini, Yasmini smiled at them all as If they were actors lii her comedy, and she well pleased with them. “Look ye!” howled the mnllah. “Look ye and look well, ‘for this Is to be one of us 1” King felt ten thousand eyes burn holes In his back, but the one pair of eyes that mocked him from the bridge was more disconcerting. “Turn. Kurram Khan! Turn thot all may see!” i Feeling like a man on a spit, he re volved slowly. By the time .he hed turned once completely around he had decided that Yasmini meaQt he should -he frightened, but not much hurt Just yeL. "So he ceased altogether to feel fri^hteped and took care to look more seared than ever. “Speak, Kurram Khan!” Yasmini purred, smiling her loveliest, them whom you slew.” " King turned and faced the crowd, raising himself on the balls of his feet to shout, like a man facing thousands of troops on parade. He nearly gave himself away, for habit had him un awares;. A native hakim, given the stoutest lungs in all India, would not have'-sliou-ted in that way. ward the crowd as if meaning to get nearer before he threw. He, reached the river and stood there. > His next move made every savage who watched him gasp because of Its very Unexpectedness. He held the head ’ In both hands, threw It far out into the river and stood to watch it sinkl Then, without visible emotion’ of any kind, he walked back stolidly to face Yasmini at the bridge„e,pd. vlth shoulders a little more stubborn now than they ought to be, and chin a shade too high, for there never' was a man who could act quite perfectly. ■?Thou fool!” Yasmini whispered through lips that did not move. She The Crowd Was Growing Impatient. “Throw Itl Throw It!” betrayed a flash of temper ltke a trapped she-tiger’s, bttt, followed it in stantly with her lovetle&t smile. "Slay him P yelled a lone voice, that was greeted by an approving murmur. “This is a darbar!" Yasmini an nounced in a rising, ringing voice. "My darbar, for I summoned it! ,Did I invite uny man to speak?" There was silence, ns a whipped un willing pack is silent. '"Speak, thou ^Kurram Khan! Tell them why!” she said, smiling. No man could have guessed by the tone of her voice whether she was for him or against him. and the crowd. l>eginning “Tell Lapnin tn whisper. watched to see which Jway the cat would jump. lie bowed low to her three times— Tefy low indeed and very slowly, for he had to think. Then he turned hi.s back and repeated the obeisance to the crowd. “My brothers.” he said, and his voice became that of a mart whose advice has been asked, and who gives it free- Cappltin Attleystan King,!” he |y. “Ye saw this night how one man roared. And he nearly jumped out of Ids skin when his own voice came rat tling back at him from the roof over head. Yasmini chuckled as a little rill wlH sometimes chuckle among ferns. It was devilish. It seemed to say there were traps not far ahead. _ ‘ » - “Where was he slain?” asked the mullah. • •“ ■ “In the Khyber pass," said King. “Now give proof!" said the mullah. "Words lit the gate-^proof irLthe, cav ern ! Without good propf, there' is only cine way out of here!" “Pronf!” the crowd thundered. "Proof!" the roof echoed. There was no need for Darya Khan to whisper. King’s hands were behind him. and hejiad seen what he had seen •and guessed what he had guessed while he was turning to let the crowd look t him. His fingers closed on human^ Nri hi hat*. “Nay, it is short-!” hissed Darya Khan. “Take the two ears, or hold if by thp-jawboqe! Hold It high in both hinds 1” _ * King obeyed, wifhmit looking tit the thing, and Ismail, turning to face flip crowd, rose on tiptoe itud filled bis lungs for the effort-of his —— • “The head of. Cnppitin Attleystan King—infidel — kaffir —British arrfl- cer 1” he howled. ^ entered here on the strength of an oath and a promise. All he lacked was proof. And I had proof. Ye saw! IIow easy would it hot iTave been, had I thrown that head-to you. for a traitor to,catch it and hide It in his clothes, and make away with it’ He could have used it to admit to these caves— why—even an Englishman, my broth ers’ If that had happened, ye would have blamed me*!” Yasmini smiled. Taking its one from} her. the crowd murmured, scarcely as sent, bnt rather’rerognltlon of the ha kim’s adroitness.^ The game was not won; there larked a touch to tip the scales lu his favor, and. Yasmini sup- I>lie<l it. with ready g-enius. "The hakim speaks thg truth!” she laughed. tier. King turnetL-about instantly to face e salaamed so low that she “Good!" the crowd bellowed. “Good 1 Throw it!” _ ^ T The crowd's ’ roar and ' the roof’s echoes combined in pandemonium. “Throw, it to them, Kurram Khan!” Yasmini purred from the bridge^end, speaking as softly and as sweetly as If she coaxed a child. “It Is the cus- K tom Throw Jt! Throw It !” the crowd thiihdered. ^ ....... rneckrfie ghastly thing until It’ a lay facc^Hipward In .his hands, and so at last he saw It. He caught his breath, and only thX horn-rimmed spectacles, that he had ebrsed' twice that night, saved him from self-betrayal. The cavern seemed to sway as he looked into. the dead face of his brother Charles. • If Yasmini detected his nervousa* she gave no sign. ... *A-. told not have seen hl$ expression had she tried. . “If ye wish It, I will order him tossed into Earth’s Dflnk after those other three.” —— ~ I Muhammad Anlm rose, stroking his beard and rocking where he stood. “It is the law!” be growled, and LKing shuddered. T “It is the luw,” Yasmini answered in a voice that rang~Vdth pride and In solence,.-“that none Interrupt me while I speak ! For such ill-mannered ones Earth’s Drink hungers! Will you test my authority, Muhammad Anlm? Think ye i Iftfiat hend had only fallen into Muhammad . Anim’s lap, the mullah might have smuggled in another man with It!’’ . A roar of laughter greeted that thrust. Many menj»ho had not laughed at the mullah’s first discomfiture joined in now,' Muhammad Anlm sot women who are 'prisoners aere. Ht may & before live 1"' * ' There was utter silence. Men looked at, one another and nt her, ahd her blazihg eyesdearch£d the crowd swift ly. It „ was plain enough th^t / there were at leasf two parties there, and that none dared oppose Yasmlnl's will -for fear of the .others. Kurriim Khan !”• she ordered, when she had waited a full minute and no man spoke, He wn8ted J no time. He~hurried out of the arena as fast ijs he could walk, with Ismail and Darya KJjan close at his .heels. Ismail overtook him, seized him by the shoulders, hugged him, and, dragged him to tl»e empty seat next to the Orakzal Pgthnn. 'There he hugged him until his ribs cracked. * “Ready o’ wit!” he crowed. “Ready o’ tongue 1 Light o’ life! Man after mine own heart! Hey, 1 love thee I Readily I would be thy niah, but for be ing hersh Turned the joke on Muham mad Anlm! Turned it against her enemy and raised a laugh against him, from his own men! Rendy V-wltl" Shameless one! Lucky onp! Allah was surely good to thee!" “Have they taken All Mnsjid fort?” King whispered. "Nay. how should I know? Ask her I She knows more than any man knows!” King turned lo ask the same ques tion of his friend the Orakznl Pathan;. - but the Pathan would have none of his questions, he was busy listening for whispers from the crowd, watching with both eyes, and he shoved King oside. *• The crowd was very far from being . satisfied. An angry murmur had be gun to fill the cavern as a hive is filled with the song of bees at swarming time. But even so, surmise what one might. If was npt easy to persuade'the eye.that Yasmlhl’s careleRs wnlle and £asy poise were assumed. If she rec ognized Indignation and feared it, she disguised her fear amazingly. Leisure ly. languidly, she raised both arms un til she looked like an angel poised for flight. The little Jewels stitched to her gauzy dress twinkled like fireflies as she moved. The crowd gnsped sharp ly. She^iad It by the hpart-strlngs. She called, and four guards got un der one shield, bowing their beads and resting the great rim on their shoul ders. They carried It beneath her and stood still. With a low delicious laugh, sweet and true, she sprang on It, and the shield scarcely trembled; she seemed lighter than the silk her dress was woven from 1 1 They carried her so, and In the midst of the arena before they had ceased moving she began to sing, with her head thrown back and bosom swelling like a bird’s. The East would ever rather draw lt» tWvn conclusions, from a hint let fall than he puzzled by what the West be lieves are facts. And parables are not good evidence In courts of law. which Is always a- consideration. So her song took the form of a parable. ‘ - • ,And to say that she> took hold of them and played ' rhapsodies of her own making on their henrtstrings would be to undervalue \vlint^she did. They were dumb while she sang, hut they rose nt her. Not a force in the world could have kept them down, for she was deftly touching cords that stirred’ other forces—subtle, mysterious, mes meric, which the old East understands w —which Muhammad the prophet un derstood when he harnessed evil in the shafts with men and wrote rules for their driving in a book. They rose In silence nul stood tense." She sang of. a wolf-pack gathering from the valleys in the winter snow— a very hungry wolf-pack. Then of a stalled ox. grown very fat from being cared for: Of the “Heart of the Hills” that awoke in the worm of the “Hills," and that listened and watched. “Now, Is she tlie ‘Heart of tha Hills?’ ’’ King wondered. The rumors men had heard and told again in India, about the "Heart of the Hills” in Khin- Jan seemed to have foundation. He thought of the strange knife, wrapped in a handkerchief under Ills shirt, with its bronze blade and gold hilt In the shape of a woman dancing. The woman, dancing was astonishingly like Ya sip Inf, standing on the shield I ■ She sang about " the-owners-of the stalled ox, who were busy at hay, defending themselves and their ox from another wolf-pack in another dl^ reetion “far beyond.” She urged them to wait a little while. The ox was big enough and fat enough to nourish ,all the wolves in the wo.rld for many seasons. Let them wait, then, until another, greater wolf-pack joined them, that they might go hunt ing nil together, overwhelm its pres ent owners' and devour the ox,! : So urged the “Heart of the Hills," ^peak ing to the mountain wolves, according to Yasmlnl’s sonfc. Tne^ little cubs In the burrows know. Are ye f|r«wn wolves, who hurry bofrb~. . She paused, for effect; but they gave tongue then because they \could not help if, find the cavern shook to their terrific worship-.-- • “Allah! AllahT’ v They summoned God to come aijd see the height and depth and weight of their allegiance to her! And because for their thunder there was^no more chance of hclj»g heard, she dropped from the shield like a blossom. No sound of falling could hayeTteen heard in all that din, hut one could see sha \ made no sound. The shield hearers^ , r „ ... ran back to the bridge and stood below find fidgeted, ineetlngjiobody’s eye and ^ eyes a g ape V : A answering nothing. . , * Jy ■ ” ‘ ' So it seems to me good." Yasmini said, in a voice that' did not echo any more but rang very deaf and true (she seemed to know the tphlc of the roof, j and to use_tbe echo or not as shej chose), “ta lej^thls hakim live! He f shall meditate in his cave a while, and perhapg^lie shall be beaten, lest he d again. He can no more es- trom Khinjan cave? than the I * • ^ ’ , Disguised as he is, King It placed an trial for hit Ilfe^At a critical moment a human head la thrust into his hanaa. When he sees the face.^the shock U ter rible. -/C (TO BB CONTINUED.) -a ) Ml A