Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-11-15

steel, hut was not much more than half
the thickness of his own. one of the
questions that occurred TO King that
minute was why this well-bred Young.
ster whose age he guessed at twenty
two or 50 had not turned his attention
10 the army.
my height :"
The man had read his thoughts,
mot quite tail enough. BESIDES
YOU are n soldier, are yol not? And
do you iiehtT' Then. after n minute
Of rather strained silence: my mes.
sage is from her"
prom YaSmini:'
"Who else?
King accepted the rebuke with III.
tie inclination of the head. He spoke
as little as possible, because he was
puzzled. He had become conscious Of
Il puzzled look in the Rangers eyes
and 1t only added to his problem if the
Hangar found I'm him something mex
pllcable. The West can only get the
better Of the East when the East Is too
! cock sure.
"She has jolly well gone North"
said the Hangar suddenly. and King
/ shut his teeth with a snap. He sat bolt
upright and the Hangar allowed him
/ self ia, lock amused.
"She has often heard OF YOU" he
said.
1--we heard Of her" said King.
/ "Of course! Who has not? She has
! desired TO meet you, sahib, ever since
she was fold you are the best man in
your service"
King grunted, thinking of the knife
beneath his shirt. again. ii was as if
the Hangar read part Of his thoughts.
/ II not all of them. II Is not difficult to
counter that trick, but to do 1t man
/ must be on his guard, or the East will
know what he has thought and what
/ he is going to think, as many have dis
/ covered when 1t was too late.
/ "Her men are able to protect any
hodyS life from any Gods number of
aSsnssins, whatever may lead you to
/ think the contrary. From now forward
! your life is in her mems keeping"
/ every good of her I'm sure King
murmured. He was thinking of the
generals express order To apply for II
passport" that would take him into
Khnjun caves--mentally cursing the
necessity for asking any kind Of favor
and wondering whether to ask this
! man for II or wait until htsshouid meet
| Yasmini. The Hangar answered his
thoughts again as II he had spoken
them aloud.
"She left this with me, saying | am
to give it to you! am to say that
wherever you wear it, between, here
and Afghanistan. your life shall be safe
and you may come and go"
King stared. The Hangar drew a
bracelet from an inner pocket and
held 1t out. 1t was wonderful bar
barrie thing Of pure gold, big enough
for grown mans wrist, and old
enough to have been hammered out In
the very womb of time. Ii looked al
most like ancient Greek, and 1t fas
tened with hinge and clasp that
looked as II they did not belong to II
and might have been made by "A moi
very skllful modern jcweler.
won't you wear IT," asked Rewa
Cunga, watching him. ut will prov,
true talisman! What was the nam,
Of the Johnny who had lamp to rub
Aladdin? 1t will be better than whu
ne had! He could only command Il lo
Of bogies. This will give you autllorlt,
over flesh ana blood Take 1t, sahib ?
SO King put II on, letting 1t slip ~
his sleeve out of sight--with "A scnsa
ton as the snap closed of putin,
handouts on himself. But the Ranga
looked relieved.
| "That is your passport, sahib SHOW
! 1t to hillman whenever you suppos,
Yourself in danger The Raj Nigh
20 TO pieces, hut while Yamini lives
Her friends will boast about her,
: suppose"
I King finished the sentence for hin
because 1t is not considered good form
, for natives to hint at possible dssolu
b ton of the AngloIndian government
g Everybody knows that the British vii
not govern India forever. but the Brit
ish--who know II best of all, and worI
. to that end most feivently--are tn
only ones encouraged to talk about It..
For a few minutes after that Rev.
Gungn held his peace, while the cat
riage swayed at breakneck spec