Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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( i T PAGE TWO BARNWELJj SENTTNEL, BARNWELL, SOUTH CAROLINA I 7 7 Tallbot Mondy Copyright by tbe Bol>bs Merrill Company A Story That Combines the Thrill of Modern Detective Fiction With the Romance of Arabian Nights Tales ■r v rj K i ■' CHAPTER XVII—Continued. ' 1 ’*, ■ v ; Morning looks db.Wp,/ Jitlp /Khinjan hours after (he sun hus risen, f because the precipices shut It out. But the peaks on every side are very beacons of the range nt the earliest peep of dawn. In silence they watched day’s herald touch the peaks with rosy Jew eled lingers—she waiting as If she ex pected the marvel of It all to make -King speak. It was cold. She came and snug- gied'close to him; and It was so they watched the sparkle of dawn’s Jewels die and the peaks grow gray again, she with an arm on his shoulder and strands of her golden hair blown past his face. “Of what nre you thinking?” she asked him at last. “Of India, princess.” “What of India?” “She li(\s helpless.” “Ah! You love India?” “Yes.” “You shall love me better! You shall love me better'than your life! Then, for love of me, you shall own the India you think you love! This letter shall go!” She tapped her bosom. “It Is best to cut you off from India first You shall lose that you may win!” a She got up and stood In the gap. smiling mockingly, framed In the dark ness of the cave’hehlnd. “I understand I” she said. “You think you are my enemy. Love and bate never llyied side by side. .You •hall see!" Her hands slipped Into.-his, soft and warm; her eyes fastened on his and held them. And as they did so King sank, like a sack half-empty and top pled over sidewise on the lloor asleep. He neither dreamed nor was con scious of vonythlng, hut slept like a dead man, having fought against her mesmerism harder than he knew. Statesmen, generals, outlaws, all make their big mistakes and manage to recover. Very nearly always It Is an apparently little mistake tlfht does most damage In the end. something unnotieeable at the time, that grows In geometrical proportion, minus In stead of plus. Yasmlni made her little mistake thnt minute In believing King was utterly mesmerized at last and utterly In her power. Whereas In truth he was only weary. It may he that~ahe gave him orders In his sleep, after the accepted manner of mesmerists; hut if she did. they never reached him; he was far too fast asleep. lie Slept so deep and long that he was not conscious of men s voices, nor of being curried, nor of time, nor of anxiety, nor of anything. • -1 r .• out-to see the Cavern of Earth’s- Drink; The temptation was to. fling the brute after his victim. ThO • tempta tion always is to do the wrong thing— to cap wrath With wrath, injustice with vengeance. That way wars begin and. are never ended. King beckoned him Info the cave, and bent over the chest of medical supplies. Then, finding the light better for his purpose at the en trance, he culled the man back and made him sit down on the box. The business of lancing bolls Is not especially edifying In Itself; but that particular minor operation probably saved India. But for hope of It the man with the bolls would never have stood two turns on guard hand run ning and let the relief jsleep ou; so he his heard monotonously with one hand. The rifle, that he pretended to bo hold ing, really leaned ugujtjst his btick and with the free hand lie was making sig- f halal # _ King knc\V well he was .making sig nals. But he knew too that in Yus- mini’s power, bhr prisoner, he had no. chance at all of Interfering with her plans;'"'Having grounded on the bot tom of Impotence, so to ; speflk, any tide PtAthorJ “Thou Liest! It was My. Men Who Got the Head That Let Thee Ini Else Why Are Thou Here?” CHAPTER XVIII. When King awoke he lay on a com fortable Tied in a cave he had never yet seen, but there was no trace of YtuK mini, nor of the men who must have carried him to It. He had no Idea how long he hud slept. It did not matter. He had probed Khinjan caves, and knew the whole purpose for which the lawless thousands had been gathering and were gathering still. Remained, to thwart that purpose. He began at the beginning, where he stood. Rehlntl him In a corner nt the back of tbt* cave was a nurrow fissure, hung ^ with a leather curtain, that was doubt less the door Into Khlnjnn’s heart; but the only way to the outer air was along .a ledge above a dizzying precipice, so high that tile huge \suterfalt looked, like a -i.it.le st eam below. He wa? In a ve; TTvgie’s aerie; the upper rim Of F' * .mu’s gbrge seemed,, not more than a quarter of a mile above him. Round the cornet^ten feet from the entrance, stood a gua>d^ armed to the teeth, with swuffL two pistols and a long curved Khyber knife stuck' handy In I Is girdle. As lie loidved,/ a little procession of women, led by a man..came up the ledge. The man wioF armed, hut the women yore burdened with bis own belongings—the medicine chest—Ills saddle and bridle—his un- rifled mule parti. They came-past the dumb man on guard and laid then! all nt King’s feet jfist Inside the cave. , He smiled, with thnt genial, race- transforming smile of his that has so often melted a road forhTmTTir<>ligh sullen crowds. But the man in charge of tlie women did ‘not grin. He wn.f suffering.. He growled at the women and they went away like obedient ant ‘mills, to sit . half-way down the ledge- and await.further orders. He-himself made as If to follow them, and the dumb man on guard did not pay mueh attention; he let women and man pass behind him. stepping one pace forward toward the edge to make more room. That was his last entirely voluntary act' o this world. : ' t . it a suddenness tfiat disarmed all Tori the other humped himself the wall and bucked Into the man’s' hac^. sending him. •is and all. hurtling over the '•« to tjie caverns into which,the I thousands of feet away, ’.an spat after liitn'Tanif' to where King stood .1 boils!”, he $>aid . , .rie*s from pleas ■ the sain* ■urd at the -V* v *1 \\ Opt age dm v I \ ■ „\. would not have been on duty when the message came .to carry King’s belong ings to his new cave of residence. There would have been no object In killing the dumb man, and so there would have been an expert with a load ed rifle to keep Muhammad Anitu lurk ing down the trull. Muhammad Anlm came—like the devil, to scotch King’s fnith. He bad followed the women with the loads. He stood now, like n big hear on a mountain track, swaying Ills head from side to side six feet away. King Jumped, nearly driving the lance Into a new place In hisTmtlent’s neck. “Let him gpl" growled Muhammad Anlm. “(Jo'tlmu! Stand guard over the Women until I come!” . The mullah turned a rifle this way and that in his paws, like a great bear dancing. The very Orukzaj Bathan Who had sat next King In the Cavern of Earth’s Drink, was creeping up be hind the women and already had his rifle leveled at the man with bolls, — “Aye!” said the mulluh, watching King’s eyes. "He hus done well, and the rond Is clear!’’ v- The man with bolls offered no fight. He dropped his rifle and threw his hands up. In n moment the Orakznl Pathan was In cnfnmund of two rifles, holding'King from umong the women, whom he seemed to regard as his plun der too. The women appeared su premely Indifferent In any event. King nodded back to him. A friend is a friend In the “Hills,” and fare is the man who spares his enemy. "None comes to earn a living In the ‘Hills.’” growled the mullah,.swaying fiip* head slowly and devouring King with cruel calculating eyes. “Why art thou here rx. “I slew a mtvq,” said Ktqg. “Thou Test! ICst^s my men who got the head that let Tfiee in! Speuk! Why art thou hhre? 1 X But King did not answe^N.The mul luh resumed. - ‘‘He who’brought-mt the message yesterday says he has It from another who had it from a third, that thou aft tiers' because she 'plans a simultaneous rising in India, a*d thou art from the Punjab where the SMRis- all wait, to rise..;- Is that true?” • “Thy man sniff Ft,” answered King. 'Then hear me!’ said the mullah. “Listen, thou.” But he did noj begin to>Apeak yet.Tie tried to see. past King into the .ctiive and to peer about into the shadows. "Where is she?" he asked. “Her man Rewn Gunga went yesterday, with three nien and a letter to carry down the Khyber. But where l^she?” So he had slept the clock round! King did not'answer, He blocked the way Into the cave and looked past the mullah. The Ornkzal Pathan crouched among the women, and the women xrlnned. The mullah .stared Into' King’s face, with the scrutiny of n trader appraising loot.' Fire leaped up behind his cajralftttag eyes. And with out n word passing between them. King knew thnt this mnn as well ns Yns mini was In possession of the seen** of the- Sleepefii- -4Vrh*ps -he -knew It first; perhaps she snatched the keep ing of ' the secret from him. At all events he knew it fnd recognized King’s likeness to the Steeper, for bis K1 ng^ eyes betrayed him. He began to ptroke down his flat hand hard on the-hakim s that would take him off must he a gobtt--thigh. “I will attend to that for thee. ‘Hills.' I am minded to go back and seek thdf pardon! It would feet good to stund in tfie ranks again, With a stiff-hacked sahib out In front of me. and the thunder of the gun-wheels go ing by. The, Salt was good! Come thou with me!” . " - “The pardon Is for deserters,” King objected, “not for political offenders.” ^“Haugfi!” said tne Pathan, bringing tide. He pretended to be aware of nothing, and t6 he' particularly un- n ware'., that the Pathan, with a rifle in each hand, was pretending to come casually up the path. In a minute he was covered by a rifle. In another minute the mUllnh had lashed his hands. In five minutes more the women we^e loaded aguln with his belongings and they were all half-way down the track In single file, the rmilluh bringing up the rear, de scending backward with rifle ready ngalrts^surprise, as If he expected Yas- tnlnl and her men to pounce out any minute-to tile rescue. They entered a tunnel and wound - along It, stepping nt short Intervals over the bodies of three stabbed s(»n- tries. The Pathan, spurned them with Ids heel ns he passed.' In the glare at the tunnel’s mouth King tripped over the body of n fourth man and fell with Ids/ chin beyond the edge of a sheer precipice. They were on a ledge above the wa terfall again, having come through a projection on the cliff’s side, tot Khin- Jan is all rat-runs and projections, like if sponge or a hornet’s nes f t on a titanic •grate.-, • ~ t ■' - They soon reached another cave, at which the mullah stopped. It was a (lark Ill-smelling hole, hut he ordered King Into It and flic Pathan after him on guard, after first seeing the women pile nil their loads Inside. Then he took the women away and went off muttering to himself, swaggering, swinglngTjIs right arm as he strode. In a way few natives do. “Let us hope he/ has forgotten these!” the. Pathan grinned, touching the pile of rifles. “Weight for weight in silver they will bring ine a tine price! He may forget. * He. dreams. For u mullah he cafes , less for meat and money thun uny I ever saw. He Is jrtlul, I think. It Is my oplulon Allah touched him.” . “What is that, under thy shirt?" King asked. The Pathan. grinned, and undid the button. There was a second shirt un derneath, and to-Hiat on the left breast were pinned two British medals. “Oh. yes!” he laughed. "I served the raj! I was In the army eleven years." “Why did you leave It?” King usked, remembering thnt this man loved to hear his own voice. "Oh, I,had furlough. I knifed a mnn this slde of the border. It was no n£ x fair of the British. But I was seen, a fid I entered this place. It Is a devil of a place.” Now the art of ruling India consists not In trending barefooted on scorpions —not In virtuous indignation at men who know no beffer-^but ip seeking for and making much of the gold thnt lies ever ninid the drpifa. There Is gold In the character Of any mnn who valCa/1> “What Is Under Thy Shirt?” King , ■ '.y. v Asked. , . once passed the grilling tests before enlistment lu a British-Imliun regi ment. ' It may need experience’to lay a linger oh it, but it is surely there. '“I heard,” said King, “us I curne to ward the Khyber in great haste <for .the police were at my heels)—" “Ah. the police!” the I’athun grinned pleasantly. The inference was that at some time of other he had \left hit mark on the police. ■’ * “I heard." sal^ King, “that the sirkur has offered pardons to all deserters | scarcely cooled yet who return.” “Hah! i But thou art a hakim, not • soldier!" t ‘True!** said King. , ‘ “In India 1 earned ray salt I obeyed the law. There is no law here in the I will obtain my pqrdon first. Then will I lead tliee by the hand to the karnal sahib and lie to him and say. This is the one who persuaded me against; my will to come buck to the- regirnent!’ , “Thou art a. dVeamer!” -s$id King. “Untie my hands; the thong cuts me.” The Pathon obeyed. “Dreamer, am I? It Is good to dream such dreams. By Allah,* I’ve a mind to see thqjt dream come true! I never slew -a man on Indian soil, only in. these ‘Hills.’ I will go to them.-and say, ‘Here r am! 1 am a deserter. 1 seek that pardon!* Truly I will go! Come thou with me, little hakim I” .“Nay,” said King. *.‘I have another thought. You who were seen to slay a man, and I who am a political offend er, do not win pardons so easily as that. They would hang us unless we came hearing gifts,” “Gifts? Has Allah touched thee? What gifts should we bring?- J A dozen stolen rifles? A hng of silver? And 1 am the dreamer, am I?’ “Nuy,” said King. “I am the dream er. There are others In these ‘Hills’— others In Khinjan who wear British, medals?” The Pathan nodded. “Hundreds. Men fight first on one side, then on the other, being true to either side while the contract lasts. In all there must be the makings of many regiments among the ‘Hills/ ” King nodded. He himself had seen the chieftains come to parley after the Tlrnh wnr. Most of them had worn British medals and hud worn them proudly. “If we two," he said, speaking slow ly, .“could speak with some of those men and stir the spirit In.them and persuade them to feel n,s thou dost, mentioning the pardon for deserters and the probability' of bonuses to the time-expired for. re-enlistment; If we could march down the Khyber with a hundred such, or ’even with fifty or with twenty-five or with a dozen men— we would receive our pardon for tlj.6 sake of service rendered.” “Good!” The Pathan thumped him on the Miaek so hard that his eyes wutered. “We would have to us.^ much cau tion," King advised him, wheu he was able to speak again. "Aye! If Bull-with-a-heard got wind of |t he would have us crucified. And Tf she heard of it—” He was silent. Apparently there were no words In his tongue that could compass-his dread of her revenger—He was silent for ten minutes, and King sat still beside him, letting memory of other days do its.work—memory of the long, clean regimental lines, and of order and decency and of justice hand ed out to all and sundry by gentlemen who did not Think themselves too good to wear a nqtive regiment’s uniform. "In t\vo days I’ could do the drill again as well as ever,” he said at last. Then t.here wAs silence again for fif teen minutes more. T could always shoot-,” he murmured; “I could always shoot.” When Muhammad Anim came back they had both forgotten to replace the lashing on King’s wrists, but the mul lah seemed not to notice it. “Come!” he ordered, with a sidewise Jerk of his great ugly head, and then stood muttering impatiently while they obeyed. —- — ' They marched downward through intertnianble tunnels and alorig Tedges poised'between earth and.heaven, un til they-canie at last to the turinel lead ing to the one entrance into Khinjan caves. Just before they pntered It two more of the mullah's men came up with them, leading horses. One hprse was for the/mullah, and they helped King mount the other, showing him more respect than is usually shown a prisoner in the.“Hills.” ’ • ■**>•. - / •- .. • Then the mullah led the way Into the tunnel, and he seemed in deadly fear. The echo of the hoof-bents Irritated •him. He eyed each hole Jn the roof as if Yasndni might he expected to shoot down at him or drench him with boil ing 611 and hurried pas. each of them at a trot, only to draw rein immediate ly afterward because the noise was too great *C- ‘ It became evident that his men had been at work here too r for at Intervals along the passage lay dead bodies. Yns- mlni must have posted the men there, but \Chere was she? Each of'them lay dead with a knife wound in his bTick.- and the mullah’s men possessed them selves of rifles and knives and car tridges, wiping off blood that had gagged him. At a.word from Mtilmtu- mad Anim-they loos.'d hini; 'and"at a threat the hairless one gave a signal that brought the jgrear stone door slid-, Dig forward on Its oiled bronze grooves. Then, with a dozen jests Vo”'*’ *<> The hairless one for consolation, nnw an utter indifference to the sneredness of the mosque floor, they sought outer air, and Muhammad Anim led them up the Street of the Dwellings toward Khlnjnn’s outer - ramparts. They' reached the outer gate without inci dent and- hurried Into the great dry valley beyond it. As they rode' across the valley the mullah thumbed a long string of beads. Unlike . Yastni'ftl. he was praying to one god; hut he seemed to hnve many prayers. His back was a picture of determined treachery—the hacks of his men were expressions' of the creed that “he shiili keep Who enn4” King-rode all hut last now and had a good view of their unconsciously vaunted blackguardism. There was not a hint of honor 4 or tenderness among the lot. man. woman or mullah. Yet his heart sang within him ns If he were pding to his own marriage feast! Last of all. close belrtnd him. marched Jiis, friend, the Orakznl Pa- than, iiiut- tt^ they [licked thefr - way nutting the bowlders across the mile wide Uioat the two contrived to fall a little to the rear. The Pathan began speaking In a'whisper and King, riding with lowered head as if he were study ing the dangerous track, listened. “She sent her mnn Rewn Gunga to ward the Khyber with a message." he whispered. “He took a few men with him. and he Is to send them with the message when they reach the Khyheij. hut he is to come back. All he went for is to make sure the message Is not Intercepted, for Bull-with-a-heard Is growing reckless these days. He knew what was doing and said at once that she Is treating with ihe British, hut there were few who believed that. There are more who wonder where she hides while the message is on Its way. None has seen her. Men hnve swarmed Into the Cavern of Earth’s Drink and howled for her. but she did not come. Then the mullah went to look for his ammunition that he stored and sealed In a cave. And It was gone.. It was all gone^ And there’was no proof of who.had taken it! “Hakim, tfiore be some wh(\ say—and Bull-with-a-heard Is one of them—thnt she Is nfrnid and hides. • - “His men say he Is desperate. • His own nre losing fnJth in him. He snatched thpe to he n halt foe her, hnv- ing It In mind that a man whom she hides In her private part of Khinjan must be of great value to her. He has^ sworn to hnve thee-skinned alive on a hot rock should she fail to come to terms!” midst of g. cluster of a dozen sentries, Close to a tamarisk to wliicli, u man's body hung spiked.- Thnt the/ man had been spiked to it ulivg nas suggested by the body’s attitude. t . Withoutii word to th/Ksehtries the yidtuh led on down a lane through the inioa. >? lie camp, toward a great open cave u* the fur sidf, in which a - bonfire cast titfui ogIP **1 shadow/ Watchers sitting by the thous&ia tents yawned at them, but took no particular notice, , The! mouth of the cave was like a lion’s, fringed with teeth.' There were men in it, ten or eleven of them, all armed, squatting® round the £ire. “Get out !” growled the mullah. But they (lid not obey. They sat and stared at him. “Have ye tents?” the mullah asked, in a voice like thunder. "Aye!” But they did not go yet. One of the men, be nearest the mul lah, got on his feet, but he had to step back a pace, for the mullah would not give ground and their breath was in each other’s faces. — “Where nre the bombs? And the rifles? -“And the many cartridges?” he demanded. “We have.waited long. Mu-, harmnad Anim. Where are they now?” The others got up, to lend the first man encouragement. They leaned on rifles and surrounded the mullah, so that King could only get a glimpse of^ him between them. They seemed In no .mood to be treated cavalierly—in no mood to be argued with. And the mul lah did not argue. ' “Ye dogs!” he grov ed at them, and' he strode through them to the fire and chose himself a good, thick hurtling brand. "Ye sons of nameless mother* 1" Then he charged them, suddenly, beating them over head and face und shoulders, driving them In fropt of him, utterly reckless of their rifles* When tfiey came to the end of the tunnel It w$s to find the door into, the mosque open In front of them, and twenty more of Muhammad Anlm’s men standing guard over the eyelash leas mullah. They* had bound and CHAPTER XIX. The march wont on In single file un til the sun died down in splendid fury. Then there began to be n wind'that they had to lean against, but the wom en were allowed no rest. At last at a place where the trail be gan to widen, the mullah beckoned King to ride beside hitn. It wns not that he wished to be communicative, but there were tilings King knew that he did not know, and he had his own way of asking questions. “D hakim!” he growled, "Pill- inau! Poulticer! That is a sweeper’s trade of thine! Thou shult apply it at m.v camp! I have some wounded and some sick.” - King did not answer, hut buttoned his coat closer against the keen wind. 1 he mullah mistook the shudder—for one of another kind. • “Did she choose thee only for thy face?" he asked. “Did slie not con sider thy courage? Does she lo.vg thee well enough to ransom thee?” / Again King did not answer, but he watched the mullahs face keenly in the dark and missed nothing-of its ex pression. He decided the man was In doubt—even fucked by indecision. - . “Should she not ransom thee, hakim, thou shalt have a chance to show my non how a man out of India can die! By und by I will lend thee a messenger to send to her. -Belter make the mes sage clear and urgent! Thou sbalr state tny terms to her and plead tliine own caiiM* in the same letter. My camp lies yonder.’’ He motioned with one sweep of his arm toward a yalley that laj^in shadow far below, thrill. As they approached it the rock clove in two and became two great pillars, with a man on each. And between the pillars they looked down into a valley lit by fires that burned before, a thousand-hide tent$, with shadows by the hundred flitting back and forth between then. A dull roar like the voice of an army, rose out of the gorge. • “ > “More than four thousand men!" <sald the mulfah proudly. \ “VV^nt are four thousand fora raid into India?” sneered King, greatly daring. “Walt and see!” growled the mullah; hut he seemed depressed. He led the way downward, getting off his horse and giving the reins to a mnn. King Copied Ijiui. and partway sliding, part stumbHirg down they found their w.. alone *hp dry bed of a water-course ■"••••♦V itnirs of a httlstde,until u--, -«> . - yust in the ’ ■ . * - \« * - ; - - vAcf/T&A/a- “So Thou Art to Ape the Sleeper lit His Bronze Mail, Eh!” \ Ills own rifle lay on the ground behind him, and King kicked Its stock clear of the_flre. • . “Oh, I ihall pray for you this night!" Muhammad Anlm snarled. “What a curse I shalt beg for youJ—Ob, what a burning of the bowels ye shnl^havet What a sickness! What running of the eyes! What sores! . What bolls! What sleepless nights and •faithless women shall be yours! What a prayecjl wHl pray to Allah!" They scattered into outer gloom De- fort* his rage, and then Came back t Utioel to him and beg him withdrawals curse.. He'kieKed them ns they knelt and''drove Them awiiy again. Then, silhouetted in the cave mouth, with ti e glow outlie- fire before him, he stoid with folded arms and dared them sl.oot. i . r ~ \ , “ . X - - - ‘ After five minutes of angry contem plation of the camp he turned on a contemptuous heel and nime^baek to the fire, throwing on more fuelxrpm a great pile in a corner. There was an iron pot in tlie embers. He seized a -stick and stirred the contents furious ly. then set the po[ between his knees and ate like an animal. He passed tfie pot to King when he had finished, but fingers had passed too many times t R*rt»ugh what was left in it and the Jvery thought of eating the mess made his gorge rise; so King thanked'him and set the pot aside. Then, “That Is thy pli^e!" Muham mad Anim growled, pointing over his shoulder to a ledge 1 of rock, like a shelf In the far wall. *But though he wtos al lowed to climb up and lie down, he was not allowed to sleep—nor did fie want to sleep—for more than an hour to come The mullah came over from (he fir* again and stood beside him, glarlnf liko a great animal and grumbling in Ids beard, ~ ~ v \ “Does she surely jbve thee?” h« asked at last, and King nodded, be* cause'be knew he was onThe trail of information. \ "So thou art to ape the Sleeper la Ida bronze mall, eh? .TImu art to coma to life, as she was said to come to life, :>«>■ -two *>'ou are, to plunder .Irra.> • • . v •" . • '• . cro cuAiiaui'iu* I -