fles
THE MYSTERIOUS RANGAR DESERTS CAPT. KING AND HIS
CUTTHROAT ESCORT IN A DANGEROUS PART OF KHY
BER PASS AND ADVENTURES COME RAPIDLY.
Synopsis. At the beginning of the world war Capt. Athelstan
King of the British India a anuy and of Its secret service, is ordered
to Delhi to meet Yosniinl, a dancer, and go with her to Khinjan to
quiet the outlaws the:? who are said by spies to be preparing for a
Jihad or holy war. his way to Delhi King quietly foils a plan to
assassinate V5 4 fvts evidence that Yasminl is after him. He meets
Rewa Gunfc'a, Tessr.inl's man, who says she has already gone north,
and at hor town houire witnesses queer dances. Ismail, an Afridi, be
comes his body servant and protector. lie rescues some of Yasmini's
hillmen and takes them north with him, tricking the Hangar into going
ahead.
CHAPTER VI Continued.
It was not a long journey, nor a very
slow one, for there was nothing to
block the way except occasional men
with flags, who guarded culverts and
little bridges. It was low tide under
the Himalayas. The flood that was
draining India of her armed men had
left Jamrud high and dry with a little
nondescript force stranded there, as
It were, under a British major and
some native officers. Frowning over
Jamrud wer. he lean "Hills," peopled
by the fiercest fighting men on earth,
and the clouds that hung over the Khy
ber's course were an accent to the sav
agery. But King smiled merrily as he
Jumped out of the train, and Rewa
Gunga, who was there to meet him,
advanced with outstretched hand and
a smile that would have melted snow
on the distant peaks if he had only
looked the other way.
"Welcome, King sahib !" he laughed,
with the air of a skilled fencer who
admires another, better one. "I shall
know better another time and let you
keep in front of me ! I trust you had
a comfortable Journey?"
"Thanks," said King, shaking hands
with him, and then turning away to un
lock the carriage doors that held his
prisoners in. They were baying now
like wolves to be free, and they surged
out, like wolves from a cage, to clamor
round the Rangar, pawing him and
struggling to be the first to ask him
questions.
"Nay, ye mountain people : nay !" he
laughed. "I, too, am from the plains!
What do I know of your families or
of your friends? Am I to be torn to
pieces to make a meal?"
At that Ismail interfered, with the
aid of an ash pick handle, chance
found beside the track. Laughing as
If the whole thing was the greatest
Joke Imaginable, Rewa Gunga fell into
stride beside King and led him away in
the direction of some tents.
"She Is up the pass ahead of us," he
announced. "She was in the deuce
of a hurry, I can assure you. She want
ed to wait and meet you, but matters
were too jolly well urgent, and we
shall have our bally work cut out to
catch her, you can bet! But I have
everything ready tents and beds and
stores everything !"
King looked over his shoulder to
make sure that Ismail was bringing
the little leather bag along.
"So have I," he said quietly.
"I have horses,' said Rewa Gunga,
"and mules and "
"How did she travel up the Khy
ber?" King asked him, and the Rangar
spared him a curious sldewise glance.
"The 'Hills' are her escort. King sa
hib. She is mistress in the 'Hills.'
There isn't a murdering ruffian who
would not lie down and let her walk
on him ! She rode away alone on a
thoroughbred mare and she jolly well
left me the mare's double on which to
follow her. Come and look."
Not far from where the tents had
been pitched in a cluster a string of
horses whinnied at a picket rope. King
. saw the two good horses ready for
himself, and ten mules beside them
that would have done credit to any
outfit. But at the end of the line, paw
ing at the trampled grass, was a black
mare that made his eyes open wide.
Once in a hundred years or so a vice
roy's cup or a Derby is won by on nnl
mal that can stand and look and move
as that mare did.
"Never saw anything better," King
admitted ungrudgingly.
"There is only one mare like this
one," laughed the Rangar. "She has
her."
"What'll you take for this one?"
King asked him, "Name your price!"
"The mare is hers. You must ask
her. Who knows? She Is generous.
There Is nobody on earth more gen
erous than she when she cares to be.
See what you wear on your wrist !"
"That is a loan," said King, uncover
ing the bracelet. "I frhall give it back
to her when we meet."
"See What she says when you meet!"
laughed the Rangar, taking a cigarette
frm his jeweled case with an air and
smillne a he lithted it. "There is
yur tent, sahib."
Wlih o nd of dismissal. King
vtill.rd over to inspect the bandobast.
u JJLluLL '" 't mi'Ph more extravagant
f
the
A Romance of Adventure
By TALBOT MUNDY
Copyright br the Bobbt-Merrlll Company
cheroots, and with hands clasped be
hind him strolled over to the fort to
Interview Courtenay, the officer com
manding. It so happened that Courtenay had
gone up the pass that morning with his
shotgun after quail. He came back
Into view, followed by his little ten
man escort just as King neared the
fort, and King timed his approach so
as to' meet him. The men of the
escort were heavily burdened; he could
see that from a distance.
"Hello 1" he said by the fort gate,
cheerily, after he had saluted and the
salute had been returned.
"Oh, hello, King! Glad to see you.
Heard you were coming, of course.
Anything I can do?"
"Tell me anything you know," said
King, offering him a cheroot, which the
other accepted. As he bit off the end
they stood facing each other, so that
King could see the oncoming escort
and what it carried. Courtenay read
his eyes.
"Two of my men !" he said. "Found
'era up the pass. Gazi work, I think.
They were cut all to pieces. There's
a big lashkar gathering somewhere in
the Tlills,' and it might have been done
by their skirmishers, but I don't think
so."
"Who's supposed to be leading it?"
"Can't find out," said Courtenay.
Then he stepped aside to give orders
to the escort. They carried the dead
bodies Into the fort.
"Know anything of Yasminl?" King
asked, when the major stood in front
of him again.
"By reputation, of course, yes. Fa
mous person sings like a bulbul
dances like the devil lives in Delhi
mean her?"
King nodded. "When did she start
up the pass?" he asked.
"She didn't start ! I know who goes
up and who comes down."
"Know anything of Rewa Gunga?"
King asked him.
"Not much. Tried to buy his mare.
Seen the animal? Gad! I'd give a
year's pay for that beast ! He wouldn't
sell and I don't blanri him."
"He told me just now," said King,
"that Yasminl went up the pass unes-
He Recognized the Same Strange
Scent That Had Been Wafted From
Behind Yasmini's Silken Hangings
in Her Room in Delhi.
eorted, mounted on a mare the very
dead spit of the black one you say
you wanted to buy."
Courtenay whistled.
"I'm sorry. King. I'm sorry to say
he lied."
King threw away his less than half
consumed cheroot and they started to
walk together toward King's camp.
After a few minutes they arrived at a
point from which they could see the
prisoners lined up In a row facing
Rewa Gunga. A less experienced eye
than King's or Courtenay's could have
recognized their attitude of reverent
obedience. Within two minutes the
Rnngar stood facing them, looking
more at ease than they
"I was cautioning those savages!"
be explained. "They're an escort, but
they need a reminder of the fact, else
they might Jolly well Imagine them
ii rurn., Ti-ji'ir.f n It,., f'AlgT' scatter
lip
hyber
ne drew out his wonderful cigarette
case and offered It open to Courtenay,
who hesitated, and then helped him
self. King refused.
"Major Courtenay has just told me,"
said King, "that nobody resembling
Yasminl has gone up the pass recently.
Can you explain?"
"Do you mean, can I explain why
the major failed to see her? Ton my
soul, King sahib, d'you want me to
insult the man? Yasmlni is too jolly
clever for me, or for any other man I
ever met ; and the major's a man, isn't
he? He may pack the Khyber so full
of men that there's only standing room
and still she'll go up without his leave
If she chooses ! There is nobody like
Yasmini in all the world !"
The Rangar was looking past him.
facing the great gorge that lets the
north of Asia trickle down into India
and back again when weather and the
tribes permit. His eyes had become
Interested In the distance. King won
dered why and looked and saw.
Courtenay saw, too.
"nail that man and bring him here!
he ordered.
Ismail, keeping his distance with
ears and eyes peeled, heard Instantly
and hurried off. Fifteen minutes later
an Afridi stood scowling in front of
them with a little letter In a cleft stick
in his hand. lie held It out and Cour
tenay took It and sniffed.
"Well I'll be blessed! A note"
sniff-sniff "on scented paper!" Sniff'
sniff! "Carried down the Khyber In a
split stick! Take It, King it's ad
dressed to you."
King obeyed and sniffed too. It
smelt of something far more subtle
than musk, ne recognized the same
strange scent that had been wafted
from behind Yasmini's silken hangings
in her room In Delhi. As he unfolded
the note It was not sealed he found
time for a swift glance at Rewa Gun
ga's face. The Rangar seemed. Inter
ested and amused. The note, in Eng
Hsh ran :
"Dear Captain Kins: Kindly be
quick to follow me, because there Is
much talk of a lashkar getting ready for
a raid. I shall wait for you In Khinjan,
whither my messenger shall show the
way. Please let him keep his rifle. Trust
him, and Rewa Gunga and my thirty
whom you brought with you. The mes
senger's name is Darya Kabn. Tour serv
ant, Yasminl."
He passed the note to Courtenay,
who read it and passed It back.
"I'll find out," the major muttered,
"how she got up the pass without my
knowing it. Somebody's tall shall be
twisted for this 1"
But he did not find out until King
told him, and that was many days
later, when a terrible cloud no longer
threatened India from the north.
CHAPTER VII.
"I think I envy you!" said Courte
nay.
They were seated in Courtenay's
tent, face to face across the low table.
with guttering lights between and Is
mail outside the tent handing plates
and things to Courtenay's servant in
side.
"You're about the first who has ad
mitted it," said King.
Not far from them a herd of pack
camels grunted and bubbled after the
evening meal. The evening breeze
brought the smoke of dung fires down
to them, and an Afghan one of the
little crowd of traders who had come
down with the camels three hours ago
sang a wailing song about his lady
love. Overhead the sky was like black
velvet, pierced with silver holes.
"You see, you can't call our end of
this business war it's sport," said
Courtenay. "Two battalions of Khy
ber rifles, hired to hold the pass
against their own relations. Against
them a couple of hundred thousand
tribesmen, very hungry for loot, armed
with up-to-date rifles, thanks to Russia
yesterday and Germany today, and all
perfectly well aware that a world war
is in progress. That's sport, you know
not the 'image and likeness of war
that Jorrocks called it, but the real
red root. And you've got a mystery
thrown in to give it piquancy.
haven't found out yet how Yasmlni
got up the pass without my knowl
edge. I thought It was a trick
Didn't believe she'd gone. Yet all my
men swear they know she has gone,
and not one of them will own to hav
Ing seen her go! What d'you think of
that?"
For a while, as he ate Courtenay's
broiled quail, King did not answer,
But the merry smile had left his eyes
and he seemed for once to be letting
his mind dwell on conditions as they
concerned himself.
"How many men have you at the
fort?" he asked at last.
"Two hundred all natives."
"Like 'em?"
"What's the use of talking?" an
swered Courtenay. "You know what
It means when men of an alien race
stand up to you and grin when they
salute. They're my own."
King nodded. "Die with you, eh?"
"To the last man," said Courtenay
quietly with that conviction that can
only be arrived at in one way, and
that not "the easiest.
lonely In the 'nills.' Got any more
quail ?"
And that was all he ever did say
on that subject, then or at any other
time.
"What shall you do first after you
get up the pass? Call on your brother
at All Masjid? He's likely to know
a lot by the time you get there."
"Not sure," said King. "May and
may not. I'd like to see him. Haven t
seea the old chap in a donkey's age.
How is he?"
"Well two days ago," said Courte
nay.
"Here's wishing you luck!" said
King. "It's time to go, sir."
He rose, and Courtenay walked with
him to where his party waited In the
dark, chilled by the cold wind whis
tling down the Khyber. Rewa Gunga
sat, mounted, at their head, and close
to him his personal servant rode an
other horse. Behind them were the
mules, and then in a cluster, each
with a load of some sort on his head,
were the thirty prisoners,, and Ismail
took charge of them officiously.
Darya Khan, the man who had
brought the letter down the pass, kept
close to Ismail.
King mounted, and Courtenay shook
hands ; then he went to Rewa Gunga's
side and shook hands with him, too.
"Forward! March 1" King ordered,
and the little procession started.
"Oh, men of the 'Hills,' ye look like
ghosts like graveyard ghosts 1"
jeered Courtenay. as they all filed
past him. "Ye look like dead men,
going to be judged !"
Nobody answered. They strode
behind the horses, with the swift, si
lent strides of men who are going
home to the "Hills;" but even they,
He Fired Straight at the Blue Light
born in the "Hills" and knowing them
as a wolf-pack knows its hunting
ground, were awed by the gloom of
Khyber mouth ahead. King's voice
was the first to break the silence, and
he did not speak until Courtenay was
out of earshot. Then:
"Men of the 'Hills Vn he called.
"Kuch dar nahin hail"
"Nahin hai I Hah !" shouted Ismail.
"So speaks a man! Hear that, ye
mountain folk! He says, "There Is
no such thing as fear ! "
In his place in the lead, King whls
Med softly to himself; but he drew an
automatic pistol from its place be
neath his armpit and transferred it to
a readier position.
Fear or no fear, Khyber mouth is
haunted after dark by the men whose
blood feuds are too reeking raw to
let them dare go home and for whom
the British hangman very likely waits
a mile or two farther south. It Is one
of the few places in the world where
a pistol is better than a thick stick.
Boulder, crag and loose rock
faded into gloom behind; in front on
both hands ragged hillsides were be
ginning to close in; and the wind,
whose home is in Allah's refuse heap,
whistled as It searched busily among
the black ravines. Then presently
the shadow of the thousand-foot-high
Khyber walls began to cover them.
After a while King's cheroot went
out, and he threw it away. A little
later Rewa Gunga threw away his
cigarette. After that, the veriest five-year-old
among the Zakka Khels,
watching sleepless over the rim of
some stone watch tower, could have
taken oath that the Khyber's unbur
ied dead were prowling In search of
empty graves. Probably their un
canny silence was their best protec
tion ; but Rewa Gunga chose to break
It after a time.
"King sahib!" he called, softly, re
peating it louder and more loudly un
til King heard him. "Slowly ! Not so
fasti There are men among those
boulders, and to go too fast is to make;
them think you are afraid! To seem
afraid is to invite attack! Can we
defend ourselves, with three firearms
between us? Look! What Is that?"
They were at the point where the
road begins to lead uphill, westward,
leaving the bed of a ruvine and as
cending to join the highway built by
British engineers. Below, to left and
right, was pit-mouth gloom, shadows
amid shadows, full of eerie whisper
ings, and King felt the short hair on
his neck begin to rise. He urged his
horse forward. The Rangar followed
him, close up, and both horse and
ma re sensed excitement.
"Look, sahib !"
After a second or two he caught
a glimpse of bluish flame that flashed
suddenly and died again, somewhere
the flanie burned blighter and stead
ier and began to move aLfl to grow.
"Halt!" King thundered; and his
voice was sharp and unexpected as a
pistol crack. This was something tan
gible, that a man could tackle a per
fect antidote for nerves.
The blue light continued on a zig
zag course, as if a man were running
among bowlders with an unusual sort
of torch ; and as there was no answer
11 j - i I a l A li.tr
iviu urew ins lusioi, iuuh uuum imuj
seconds' aim and fired. He fired
straight at the blue light.
It vanished Instantly, into measure
less black silence.
"Now you've- Jolly well done it,
haven't you!" the Rangar laughed in
his ear. "That was her blue light
Yasmini's !"
It was a minute before King an
swered, for both animals were all but
frantic with their sense of their rid
ers' state of. mind; it needed horse
manship to get them back under con
trol. "How do you know whose light it
was?" King demanded, when the
horse and mare were head to head
again.
"It was prearranged. She promised
me a signal at the point where I am
to leave the track!"
King drove both spurs home, and
set his unwilling horse to scrambling
downward at an angle he could not
guess, int,v blackness he could feel,
trusting tie animal to- find a footing
where his own eyes could make out
nothing.
To his disgust he heard the Ran
gar immediately. To his even greater
disgust tbp black mare overtook him.
And even then, with his own mount
stumbling and nearly pitching him
headforemost at each lurch, he was
forced to admire the mare's goatlike
agility, for she descended into the
gorge in running leaps, never setting
a wrong loot. When he and his horse
reached the bottom at last he found
the Rangar waiting for him.
"This way, sahib!"
The next he knew sparks from the
black mare's heels were kicking up
in front of him, and a wild ride had
begun such as he had never yet
dreamed of. There was no catching
up; for the black mare could gallop
two to his horse's one; but he set
his teeth and followed into solid
night, trusting ear, eye, guesswork
and the god of the secret service
men, who loves the reckless.
Once in every two minutes he
caught sight for a second of the same
blue siren light that had started the
race. He suspected that there were
many torches placed at intervals.
His own horse developed a speed
and stamina he had not suspected, and
probably the Rangar did not dare ex
tend the mare to her limit in the
dark ; at all events, for ten, perhaps
fifteen, minutes of breathless gallop
ing he almost made a race of it, keep
ing the Rangar either within sight or
sound.
But then the mare swerved sud
denly behind a bowlder and was gone.
He spurred round the same great rock
a minute later, and was faced by a
blank wall of shale that brought his
horse up all standing. It led steep up
for a thousand feet to the skyline.
There was not so much as a goat
track to show in which direction the
mare had gone, nor a sound of any
kind to guide him.'
He dismounted and stumbled about
on foot for about ten minutes with
his eyes two feet from the earth, try
ing to find some trace of hoof. Then
he listened, with his ear to the
ground. There was no result.
He knew better than to shout.
After some thought he mounted and
began to hunt the way back, remem
bering turns and twists with a gift
for direction that natives might well
have envied him. He found his way
back to the foot of the road at a
trot, where ninety-nine men out of al
most any hundred would have been
lost hopelessly; and close to the road
he overtook Darya Khan, hugging his
rifle and staring about like a scorpion
at bay.
"Did you expect that blue light, and
this galloping away?" he asked.
"Nay, sahib ; I knew nothing of It !
I was told to lead the way to Khin
jan." "Come on, then!"
On the level road above Klvg stared
about him and felt in his pockets for
a fresh cheroot. He struck -a match
and watched it to be sure his hand
did not shake before he spoke. A
man must command himself before
trying it on others.
"Where are the others?" he asked,
when he was certain of himself.
"Gone!" boomed Ismail.
King took a- dozen pulls at tt'e
cheroot and stared about again. Ia
the middle of the road stood his sec
ond horse, and three mules with his
baggage, including theunmaTked
medicine chest. Close to them were
three men, making the party now only
six all told, Including Darya Khan,
himself and Ismail.
"Gone whither?" Ismail's voice was
eloquent of shocked surprise. "They
followed! Was it then thy baggage
on the other mules? Were they thy
men? They led the mules and went!"
"Who ordered them?"
"Allah ! Need the night be ordered
to follow the day?"
"And thou?"
"I am thy man! She bade me be
thy man!"
"And these?"
"Try them!"
King bethought him of his wrist,
that was heavy with the weight of
gold on it. He drew back his sleeve
and held it up.
"May God be with thee!" boomed
all five men at once, and the Khyber
night gave back their voices, like the
echoing of a well.
ting took his reins and mounted.
"What now?" asked Ismail, picking
up the leather bag that he regarded
as his own particular charge.
"Forward!" said King. "Come
along !"
He began to tt a fairly fast pace,
Ismail leading tl spare horse and
the others towing the mules along.
Except for King, "bo was modern
md out of the plcirt, hey looked
',ke Old Testament patriarchs, hur
rying out of Egypt, as depicted in th
Illustrated Bibles of a generation ago
all leaning forward each man carry
ing a staff and none looking to the
to the
"Wltj
IV
is
right or left.
"Forward?" growled Ismail.
this man it is ever forward
there neither rest nor fear? Has
bewitched him? Hal! Ye lazy
Hoi Sons of sloth! Urge
faster 1 Beat the led horse!"
So in weird, wan moonllgi
led them forward, straighy
narrowing gorge, between
seemed to fray the very be
sky. He smoked a cigar'
ti i. uic new, as n no ncie uliVj"-i
.f M t-0 V.
mountains lor a month's sport with
dependable shikarrls whom, be knew.
Nobody could have looked $t him and
guessed he was not "enjoying himself.
"That man," mumbled Ismail be
hind him, "is not as other sahibs I
have known. He Is a man, this one I
He will do unexpected things!"
"Forward!" King called to them,
thinking they were grumbling. "For
ward, men of the 'Hills'- "
CHAPTER VIII.
After a time King urged his horse to
a Jog-trot, and they trotted forward
until the bed of the Khyber began to
grow very narrow, and All Masjid fort
could not be much more than a mile
away, at the widest guess. Then King
drew rein and dismounted, for he
would have been challenged had he
ridden much farther. A challenge In
the Khyber after dark consists inva
riably of a volley at short range, with
the mere words afterward, and the
wise man takes precautions.
"Off with the mules' packs!" he or
dered, and the men stood round and
stared. Darya Khan, leaning on the
only rifle in the party, grinned like a
post-office letter box.
"Truly," growled Ismail, forgetting
past expressions of a different opinion,
"this man is as mad as all the other
Englishmen."
"Were you ever bitten by one?" won
dered King aloud.
"God forbid !"
"Then off with the packs and
hurry!"
Ismail began to obey.
"Thou! Lord of the Rivers! (For
that is what Darya Khan means.)
What is thy calling?0
"Badragga" (guide), he answered.
"Did she not send me back down the
pass to be a guide? If she says I am
badragga, shall any say she lies?"
"I say thou art un packer of mules'
burdens!" answered King. "Begin!"
For answer the fel'ow grinned from
ear to ear and thrust the rifle barrel
forward insolently. King, with the
movement of determination that a maa
makes when about to force conclu
sions, drew up his sleeves above the
wrist At that instant the moon shone
through the mist and the gold bracelet
glittered in the moonlight.
"May God be with thee !" said "Lord
of the Rivers" at once. And without
another word he laid down his rifle
and went to help off-load the mules.
King stepped aside and cursed soft
ly. But for a vein of wisdom that un
derlay his pride he would have pock-
At That Instant the Moon Shone
v Through the Mist and the Gold
V Bracelet Glittered in the Moonlight
etedyhe bracelet there and then and
have refused to wear it again. But as
he sweated oride he overheard la
mail erWl: .
s."X taught tl.ee
"I obey her
"I, too," salcT
before the week dlesl
J5UI a
froort in nhT him TTo la an
"I obey him until she sets me free,
.hen," grumbled Darya Khan.
"Better for thee!" said Ismail.
King meets his brother at All
Masjid fort and they hold a me
morable conference. The British
captain disappears ir the dark
ness and a strange native medi
cine man takes his place.
the f
f
3L
Apr
WJffltlesJ right Then all at once
IXO BE CONTINUED.)