Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1917-11-24

81
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 but King kept silence.
rs he parched? Have they cu+ his
| tongue out on the road?"
| That question was in Pashtu, direct
ed at Ismail and the others, but King
answered it,
oh as for that" he said, salaaming
again in the fastidious manner of a ma
tive gentleman, 81 know no other
/ tongue than Pashtu and my own RAJ
/ jaSthani. My name is Kurram Khan.
ask admittance."
He held up his wrist to show the
gold bracelet and high over his head
the Hangar laughed like a bell.
"Shabash :" he laughed. "Wel done!
Enter, Kurram Khan, and be welcome,
thou and thy men. Be welcome in her
name!"
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 a far
corner Of the courtyard came Que
! eyed, lean-looking villain in Afridi
dress who leaned on a long gun and
| stared at them under his hand. After
| a leisurely consideration Of them he
rubbed his nose slowly with one finger,
| spat contemptuously, and then used
| the finger to beckon them. crooking it
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 virtue, man may be excused, on
economic grounds. for showing mel cy
| to his beast. His men tugged the
weary animals along behind him.
| through the gap under the arch and
along an almost interminabIe, smelly
maze of alleys whose sides were the
walls of square stone towers. or some
! times of mud-and-stone-w walled COM
pounds, and here and there of sheer,
| slab-sided cliff. Like Old Jerusalem
! the place could have contained a civil
! war of a hundred factions and still
have opposed stout resistance to an
outside army.
| Alley gave on to courtyard, and filthy
square to alley, until unexpectedly at
| last a seemingly blind passage turned
sharply and opened on a straight
street, of fair width, and more than
half mile long. 1t is marked Street
of the Dwellings" on the secret army
maps, and it has been burned so often
by Khinjan rioters, as well rs by expe-
/ ditiOns out of India, that a man who
goes on a long journey never expects
| to find it the same on his return.
It was lined on either hand with
motley dwellings, out of which a mot
| lier crowd of people swarmed to stare
! al King and his men. There were Hin
/ dus-sycophants, keepers of accounts
and writer's to the chiefs (slnce lit
eracy is at a premium in these parts).
| In proof of Khintan's catholic taste
and indiscriminate villainy, there were
women of nearly every Indian breed
and caste, many of them stolen into
shameful slavery, but some of them
there from choice. And there were lit
| tie children-little naked brats with
| round drum tummies, who squealed
and shrilled and stared with bold eyes.
! Perhaps a thousand souls came ont
| TO watch, all told. Not an eye of
them all missed the government marks
on Kings trappings, or the govern
ment brand on the mules, and after
minute or two, when the procession
| was halfway down the street. a man
| reproved a child who had thrown n
stone, and he was backed up by the
/ others. They classified King correct
/ Iy, exactly as he meant they should. AS
| q hakim--a man of medicine-he could
! I'LL a long-felt want; but by the brand
! On his accOutrements he walked an
openly avowed robber, and that made
! him a brother in crime Somebody
cuffed the next child who picked up
stone
! He knew the street Of old, although
/ it had changed perhaps dozen times
since he had seen 1t. II was a Guide
/ sac, and at the end Of 1t, just as on his
| previous visit, there stood a stone
mosque. whose roof leaned back OF
steep angle against the mountainside.
/ II was Il famous mosque In its way.
4 for the bed sheet Of the Prophet is
| known to hang in It, preserved against
/ the rayages Of time and the touch Of
inhdels by priceless Afghan rugs be,
/ fore and behind 50 that it hangs like
great thin sandwich before the rear
stone wall King had seen Il.
Toward the mosque the one-eyed ruff
j fan led the way, with the long leisure
/ ly-seeming gait Of q mountaineer. At
/ the door, ia the middle Of thu end Of
/ the street, he paused and struck on the
Intel three times with his gun butt.
And that was a strange proceeding 10
say the least, ia d iaRd where the
mosque is public resting place for
.ogp"less ones. and al the faithful"
have q RICH: 10 enter.
/ a mal'ah shaver Iita a mummy for
some unaccouhabic reae0n--ev=n his
/ eyebrows and tyelaehcs had been re-
moved-pushed his bare head ;hr,r 81