The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1917-07-12

He threw his head back ana noWle0
until the mountain walls rang with
the song, and other men In far-on
caves took 1t up and howled 1t back
at him. When he left off singing at
last, to drink from water-Dottle,
that surely had been looted from
British soldier, King decided to be
done with overtures and make the
next move in the game.
'Didst thou ever sing for herr" ne
asked, and the man turned round to
stare at him as if he were mad. King
saw then q blood-soaked bandage on
the right of his neck, not very far
from the jugular. -.
When she sings we are silent!
When she Is silent 1t is good to wait
while and see!' he answered.
"Hah!" said King. WAS that
wound got In the khyber the otner
day?"
NAY. Here in Khinjan. had my
thumb in an mans eye, and the bas-
tard bit me! May devils do worse to
him where he has gone! l threw MIN
into Earths Drink"
"a good place for ones enemies!"
laughed King.
"Aye!" i
"A man told me last night said
King. drawing on imagination without
any conjunction at all" that the fght
in the Khyber was because jihad is
launched already
THAT man lied!" said the guard,
shifting position uneasily. as II afraid
to talk too much.
80 told him!" answered King. Il
told him there never will be another
jihad."
Then art thou a 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 throat
of an unbeliever in the world shall be
left unslit! 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 pretend
ing to plan one? Every once in
while the guard leaned far into the
cave mouth and hurled adjectives at
him, the mildest of which was well
of information. If his temper was the
temper Of the Hills, 1t was easy to
read disappointment for jihad that
should have been already but had
been postponed.
When they changed the guard again
the new man proved surly. There
was no getting a word out OF him.
He showed dirty yellow teeth in
wolfsh snarl, and his only answer
was lifted rife and crooked fore
finger. King let him alone and paced
the cave for hours. He was squatting
on his bed-end in the dark, like a
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 Is
mail was red-eyed with it.
Gomez" he growled. Come. little
hakirh!" 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
noticing that the guard with the boils
was back again on duty. He grinned
evilly out Of shadow as King passed
Make an end!" he advised, spit
ting over the cliff into thunderous
darkness to illustrate the suggestion.
Jump, hakim. before a worse thing
happens"
To add further point he kicked a
loose stone over the edge, 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 plagues!
II could heal them King said,
passing on, and the man stared hard.
Gomez" doomed Ismail through the
darkness. shaking the torch to make
it burn better and reckoning impa-
tiently, and King hurried after him,
leaving behind savage at the cave