Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1917-12-07

| ana saw then Dl0od-Soaked bandage
on the right of his neck, not very far
from the jugular.
"Hah!' said King. "Was that wound
got in the Khyber the other day?"
NAY. Here in Khinjan."
"a man told me last night" said
King, drawing on imagination without
any conjunction at all, ''that the fight
in the Khyber was because a jihad is
launched already"
'That man liedw said the guard,
shifting position uneasily, as if afraid
to talk too much.
$50 told him." answered King. 81
told him there never will be another
jihad."
'"Then thou art greater liar than
he" the guard answered holly. "There
will be a jihad when she is ready, such
an one as never yet was! India shall
bleed for all the fat years she has lain
unplundered Not a throat of an un-
believer in the world shall be left I'M
slit! No jihad? Thou liar! Get in
out of my sight!"
So King retired into the cave, with
something new to think about. Was
she planning the jihad! Or pretending
to plan one? Every once in a while
the guard leaned far into the cave
mouth and hurled adjectives at him,
the mildest of which was a we'll of in
formation. If his temper was the tenn
per of the "Hills," it was easy to read
disappointment for jihad that should
have been already but had been post
poned. King let him alone and paced
the cave for hours.
He was squatting on his bed-end
in the dark, like specialized image of
Buddha, when the first of the three
men came on guard again and at last
Ismail came for him holding a pitchy
torch that filled the dim passage full
of acrid smoke and made both of them
cough. Ismail was red-eyed with it.
Gomez he growled. "Come, little
hakimw Then he turned on his heel
at once, as if afraid of being twitted
with desertion. He seemed to want to
get outside, where he could keep out of
range of words, yet not to wish to
seem unfriendly.
But King made no effort to speak to
him, following in silence out on to the
dark ledge above the waterfall and no.
ticing that the guard with the boils
was back again ON duty. He grinned
evilly out of a shadow as King passed.
make an end !" he advised. "Jump,
hakim, before worse thing happens!'
To illustrate the suggestion he
kicked loose stone over the cliff, and
the movement caused him to bend his
neck and so inadvertently to hurt his
boils. He cursed, and there was pity
in Kings voice when he spoke next.
do they hurt thee?"
"Aye, like the devil! Khinjan is a
place of plaques"
81 could heal Them" King said, pass
ing on, and the man stared hard.
"Come =" doomed Ismail through the
darkness, shaking the torch to make
it burn better and reckoning inpatient
ly, and King hurried after him, leaving
behind a savage at the cave mouth who
fingered his sores and wondered, NUT
LClIIIS, IC1llIuS Ou
and muttering again as if he had seen
a new light.
Instead of waiting for King to catch
up, Ismail began to lead the way at
great speed along a path that descend
ed gradually until it curved round the
end of the chasm and plunged into
tunnel where the darkness grew
Opaque. For thirty minutes he led
swiftly down q crazy devils stairway
of uneven powders, stopping to lend
hand at the worst places, but ever
lastingly urging him to hurry.
Then the hell-mouth gloom began to
grow family luminous, and the water
falls thunder burst on their ears from
close at hand. They emerged into
fresh wet air and sea of sound, on
rock ledge like the one above. Ismail
raised the torch and waved it. The
fire and smoke wandered up, until they
flattened on moving opal dome, that
prisoned all the noises in the world
''Earth's Drink - he announced, wav-
ing the torch and then shutting his |
mouth tight, as if afraid to voice sacri- |
lege.
1t was the river, million-colored in |
the torchlight, pouring from a half
mile-long slash in the cliff above them |
and plunging past them through the |
gloom toward the very middle of the |
world. Somewhere it met rock bottom |
and boiled there, for a roar like the !
seas came up from deeps unimagin- |
able.
He watched the overturning dome |
until his senses reeled. Then he |
crawled on hands and knees to the |
ledge's brink and stried to peer over.
But Ismail dragged him back.
"Come !" he hOwled; but in all that |
din his shout was like a whisper.
''How deep is it?' King beloved |
back.
"Allah! Ask him who made iti'
The fear of the falls was on the |
Afridi, and he tugged at Kings arm in
q frenzy of Impotence. Suddenly he |
let go and broke into q run. King |
trotted after him. After ten minutes
hurrying uphill he guessed they must
be level with the river, in tunnel run