Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-11-22

door in the bottom Of high battle
mented wall and waited for somebody
10 open IL.
The great teak door looked as II It !
had heen stolen from some Hindu TEN.
pie. and he wondered how and when
they could have brought it there across
those savage intervening miles. High
above the door was q ledge Of rock
that crossed like II bridge from wall TO
wal, with q parapet of stone bn!!t
upon it, pierced for rifle fire.
As they approached Il Hangar tur'
ban. not unlike Kings own, appeared
above the purapet on the ledge and
voice he recognized hailed him good
humOredly.
"Sulaam aleikOum!
sand upon thee be peace!" King an
swered In the Pashtu tongue. for the
"Hills" are polite. whatever the other
principles.
Rewa Gunga's face beamed down on
him, wreathed in smiles that seemed 10
include mockery as well rs triumph.
Looking up at him at an angle that
made his neck ache and dazzled his
eyes, King could not be sure, but 1t
seemed to him that the smile said
"Here you are, my man. and aren't you
In for it?" He more than half sls-
pected he was intended to understand
that. But the Rangar's conversation
took another line.
by jover' he chuckled. "She ex-
pected you. She guessed you are
hound who can hunt well on dry
scent, and she dared bet you will come
in spite of all odds But she didn't
expect you in Hangar dress! No, by
jove You Jolly well will take the
wind out of her SAILS
King made no answer. For one thing,
the word "hound,' even in English. is
not essentially a compliment. But he
had better reason than that.
did you find the way easily?" the
Hangar asked; hut King Kept silence.
as he parched? Have they cut his
tongue out on the road?'
That question was in pashtu direct
ed ut Islnail and the others, but King
answered ii.
"Oh. as for that" he said. salaaming
again In the fastidious manner of /, na-
tive gentleman. 81 know no other
tongue than Pashtu and my own Ra-
jasthani. My name is Kurram Khan.
ask adnittance."
He hello up his wrist to show the
gold bracelet, and high over his head
the Rangar laughed like he'll.
"Shabash :" he laughed well done
Enter. kuram Khan, and he welcome.
thou and thy men. BE welcome in her
namc!"
Somebody pulled a rope and the
door yawned wide, giving on kind OF
courtyard whose high walls allowed no
view Of anything but not blue sky.
Through a gap under an arch in far
corner of the courtyard came Il one.
eyed, lcan-looking villain in Afridi
dress who leaned on long gun and
stared at them under his hand. After
u leisurely consideration of them he
rubbed his nose slowly with one finger,
spat contemptuou>ly and then used
the finger to bcck0n them. crooking 1t
queerly and turning on his heel. He
did not say one word.
King led the way after him on foot,
for even in the Hills" where cruelty
Is a virtue. a man may he excused. on
economic grounds. for showing mercy
to his beast. His men tugged the
weary animals along behind him
through the gap under the arch and
along an almost ntermnable, smelly
maze of alleys whose sides were the
walls of square stone towers, or some
times Of mud.and-stonc-w walled com
pounds, and here and there of sheer
slab-sidcd cliff. Like Old Jerusalem
the place could have contained civi
war of hundred factions, and still
have opposed stout resistance to ar
outside army.
Alley gave on to courtyard, and filth,
square TO alley, until unexpectedly n
last seemingly blind passage turne,
sharply and opened on straigh
4 street, Of fair width and more thai
I half Il mile long. 1t Is marked "Stree
! of the Dwellings" on the secret arm,
maps. and 1t has been burned so Otter
/, by Khnian rioters, as well as by expe
:, ditlons out of I4dlp, that man WIFI
: goes on long journey never expect
to find 1t the same on his return.
1t was lined on either hand witt
motley dwellings, out of which mot
Her crowd OF people swarlned to star
!, ut King and his men. There were Hin
: dus--sycophants keepers of account
ana writer's to the chiefs (snce III
= eracy Is ut Il premium In these parts)
|, In proof of Khinjan's catholic tast
:. and indlscriminate villainy, there wer
women of nearly every Indian bre
. . and castey many Of them stolen int
shameful slavery, but some Of thci
there from choice. And there were III
! tie children---litte naked brnts wit
: round drum tunmies, who squeale
and slrilled and stared with bold eye
Perhaps a. thousand souls came q,
> TO watch, all told. Not an eye q
:. them all missed the government mark
HsUI D.itt.