Crittenden record-press., 1917-11-01


Q vOlf'f freed from q trap.
Are there any Others in pain ta.
khinjanr' King asked him.
"Listen to him! What IL KhInjanf
Is there one man without a wound u
O sore or II scar or sickness!"
Then, tell them" said King.
The man laughed.
"When | show my Jaw, there will bS
fight to be first Make ready, hakimi
Igol"
King sat down to eat. but he had not
finished his meal-he had made the
last little heap Of rice into bul, with
hls fingers, native style, and was mop
ping up the last Of the curried gravy
with it-when the advance guard Of
the lame and the halt and the sick
made Its appearance. The caves en-
trance became jammed with them. ana
no riot ever made more noise.
"Hakin! Ho, hakim! Where Is the
hakim who draws teeth! Where Is the
man who knows yunanI"
Ten men burst down the passage all
together. all clamoring, and one man
wasted no time at all but began to tear
away bloody bandages to show his
wound. King rolled up his sleeves and
began, 80 that eagerness gave place to
w"nder. The desperate need of winning
his first trick, made him h0rrOr-prOOf:
and nobody waiting for the next turn
was troubled because the man under
the knife screamed little OF blel
more than usual.
When they dled-and more than go
did die-nen carried them out and
flung them over the precipice into tho
waterfall below.
Ismall and Darya Khan became
chOosers Of the victims. They seized
man. laid him on the bed. tore OF his
disgusting bandages and held their
breath until the awful resulting stencil
had more " less dispersed. Then
King wOuld probe or lance or bandage
as he saw At, using nnesthetics when
he must. but managing mostly without
them.
They almost flung money at him. He
tossed money. and clothes and every
other thing they gave him into corner
at the back Of the cave. and nobody
tried to steal them back, although u
man suspected Of honesty In that
company would have been tortured to
death as an hereto and would have
had no sympathy.
For hour after gruesome hour he
t0ied over wounds and sores such u
only battles and evil living can prO-
duce, until men began to come at last
with fresh wounds, all caused BY bul-
lets, wrapped In bandages on which
the blood had caked but had not grown
foul.
''There has been fighting in the Khy-
ber." somebody informed him. aud he
stopped wlth!lancet In midair to listen.
scanning a hundred faces swiftly In
the smoky lamplight. There were ten
men who held lamps for him, one Of
them q newcomer, and It was he who
spoke.
Fighting In the Khyber! Aye! We
were a little lsshkar, but we drove
them back Into their fort! Aye! We
slew many!"
"Not a jihad yeti" KiIH asked. as II
the world might be coming to IN end.
The words were startled out Of him.
Under other circumstances he would
never have asked that question so d.
rectly :'but he had lost reckoning Of
everything but these poor devils dread
ful need Of doctoring, and he was like
Il man reused out OF a dream. II
holy war had been proclaimed already.
then he was engaged on forlorn hope.
But theanan laughed at him.
"Nay, not yet. Bull.with.a.beard
holds hack yet. This was little fight.
The jiiiad shall come later"
And who Is 'Bultwith.a.beard'?'
King wondered; but he did not ask
that question because his wits were
awake again. 1t pays not to be In too
much Of hurry to know things In the
Hills"
As II happened. he asked no more
questions, for there came shout at
the cave entrance whose purport he
did not catch, and within five minutes
after that. without word NJ exR,ana-
tlon. the cave was left empty Of all ex-
ccpt his own five men. They carried
away the men too sick to walk aud
vanished, snatchlng the last man away
almost before Kings fingers had fin
ished tying the bandage on his wound.
"Why IL that?" he asls'd Ismall.
why did they go7 Who shoutedr'
at is Night" Ismail answered. "It
was time"
King stared about him. He had not
realized until tben that without nid Of
the lamps he~rould not see his own
hand held out In front OF him; his eyes
had grown used 10 the gloom. like
those ~ the surgeons In the sick k-hays
below the waterllne In Nelson's fleet.
"But who shouted1
"who knows, There Is only one
here who gives orders We be many
who obey" said Ismall.
"whose men were the last ouesT
King asked him. trying n new line.
"Rull.wlth.a.beard's."
"And whose man art thou. Ismallr'
The Afridl hesltatcd and when hs
spoke at last there was rot quite the
same assurance In his voice us once