The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-08

fallen over one of the little cairns that are
built of loose stones on the spot where a
man had been murdered. There was no
need to explain. The majors big Austria
liam charger Numbered next and the col
umn came to halt in what seemed to be a
very graveyard of little cairns all about
two feet high. The maneuvers of the
squadron are not reported. Men said that
it felt like mounted quadrilles without
training and without the music; but at
last the horses. breaking rank and choosing
their own way, walked clear of the cairns,
till every man Of the squadron reformed
and drew rein few yards up the slope of
the hill. Then, according to Lieutenant
HALEY, there was another scene very like
the one which has been described The
major and Carter insisted that all the men
had not joined rank and that there was
more of them in the rear clicking and
laundering among the dead mems cairns.
Lieutenant HALEY told Off his own troop
ers again and resigned himself to wait.
Later on he told me:
II didn't much know and didn't much
care what was going on. The row of that
trooper falling ought to have scared halt
the country and l would take my oath that
We were being stalked by full regiment in
the rear, and they were making row enough
to rouse all Afghanistan. l sat tight, but
nothing happened"
The mysterious part of the nights work
was the silence on the hillside. Everybody
knew that the Gutta kutta Mullah had his
outpost huts on the reverse side of the hill,
and everybody expected by the time that
the major had sworn himself into state
OF quiet that the watchmen there would
open fire. When nothing occurred, they
said that the gusts of the rain had dead
ened the sound of the horses and thanked
Providence. At last the major satisfied
himself (a) that he had left no one behind
among the cairns, and (b) that he was not
being taken in the rear by large and
powerful body of cavalry. The mems
tempers were thoroughly spoiled, the
horses were lathered and unquiet, and one
and all prayed for the daylight.
They set themselves to climb up the hill.
each man leading his mount carefully.
Before they had covered the lower slopes
or the breast plates had begun to tighten,
thunderstorm came up behind, rolling
across the low hills and drowning anv
noise less than that of a cannon. The first
flash of the lightning showed the bare ribs
of the ascent, the high crest standing
steely blue against the black sky, the little
falling lines of the rain. and, few wards
to their left flank, an Afghan watch tower,
two-storied built of stone and entered by
a ladder from the upper story. The lad
der was up and a man with rifle was
leaning from a window. The darkness
and the thunder rolled down in an instant.
and, when the lull followed, a voice from
the watch-tower cried: "Who goes
there"
The cavalry was very quiet, but each
his horse. Again the voice called: who
goes there?" and in a louder key: 20,
brother, give the alarmr' Now, every
man in the cavalry would have died in his
long boots sooner than have asked for
quarter; but it is fact that the answer to
the second call was long wall of Mari
karo Mari karol" which means: Have
climbing regiment.
The cavalry stood dumfounded, till the
big troopers had time to whisper one TO
another: Mir Khan. was that thy voice?
Abdullah. didst thou cailP" Lieutenant
HALEY stood beside his charge and waited.
content Another flash of lightning
showed the horses with heaving TANKS
and nodding heads. The men, white eve
! balled, glaring beside them. and the stone
watchtower to the left. This time there
| was no head al the window, and the rude
! iron-ciamped shutter that could turn n
/ rifle bullet, was closed.
Go on, men" said the major Get I'M
| 20 the top at any rate" The squadron
| toiled forward, the horses wagging their
| tails and the men pulling at their brides
| the stones rolling down the hillside and
| the sparks lying. Lieutenant Haley de-
| ciares that he never heard q squadron
make SO much noise in his life They
| scrambled up, ne said, as though each
| horse had eight legs and a spare horse to
| Hollow HIM. Even then there was no
| sound from the watch-tower and the men
| stopped exhausted on the ridge that over.
| looked the pit of darkness in which the
| village OF Bersund lay. Girths were Ioosed.
| curbchalns shifted and saddles adjusted,
and the men dropped down among the
stones. Whatever might happen now they
had the upper ground of any attack
The thunder ceased and with it the rain.
and the soft, thick darkness OF winter
! night before the dawn covered them all.
| Except for the sound of falling water
! among the Tavines below, everything was
| still They heard the shutter of the watch
| tower below them thrown back with a
| clang and the voice of the watcher calling
| "oh, Hatlz Uilah 90
The echoes took up the call. 'I-a-la-la -
And Al answer came from a watch-tower