New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1917-12-28
CHAPTER XI.-Continued.

"Are there devils in Tophet? Fire
and my veins are one
The man did not notice the eager
ness beaming out of Kings horn
trimmed spcctacles, but lslnail did 1t
seemed to him time to prove his vir-
tues as assistant.
This is the famous hakim Kurram
Khan" he boosted. ale can cure any
thing, and for Il very little fee y
The man looked incredulous, but
King drew the covering from his row
of instruments and bottles.
"Take n chance" he advised. "NOne
but the brave wins anything"
Ismail and Darya Khan We're new to
the business and enthusiastic. They
had the man down, held tight on the
floor to the huge amusement of he
rest. before he could even protest and
his howls of rage did him no good. for
Ismail drove the hilt of ii knife be-
tween his open jaws to keep them open.
A very large proportion of Kings
stores consisted Of mOrphiG and CO.
caine. He injected enougk cocaine to
deaden the mans ner:es, and allowed
1t time to work. Then he drew out
three back teeth in quick succession,
to make sure he had the right one.
Ismail let the victim up. and Darya
Khan gave him water in n brass cup.
Utterly without pain for the first time
for days, the man was as grateful us
n wolf freed from a trap.
Are there any others in pain In
Khinjan?' King asked him.
"Listen to him What is Khinjan?
Is there one man without n wound or
n sore or a scar or Il sicknessT"
"Then, tell them" said King.
The man laughed.
"When show my jaw, there will he
n fight to be first. Make ready, hakim.
l go!'
King sat down to eat, but he had not
finished his meal-he had made the
last little heap of rice into a ball with
his 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-
france became jainmed with them, and
no riot ever made more noise.
"Hakim! Ho, hakim! Where is the
hakim who draws teeth? Where is the
maj who knows yunnni?"
Ten men burst down the passage all
together, all clamOring, and n man
wasted no time mt all but began to tear
away bloody bandagcs to show his
wound. King rolled up his sleeves and
began, so that eagerness gave place to
wonder. The desperate need of winning
his first trick, made him horror-proof;
and nobody waiting for the next turn
was troubled because the man under
the knife screamed Il little or bled
more than usual.
When they died-and more than one
did die-mcn carried them out and
flung them over the precipice into the
waterfall below.
1smail and Darya Khan became
chooserS of the victims. They seized n
man. laid him on the bed. tore off his
disgusting bandages and held their
breath until the awful resulting stencil
had more or less dispersed. Then
King would probe or lance or bandage
as he saw fit, using ancsthctics when
lac must, but managing mostly without
them.
They almost flung money at him. lie
tossed money and clothes and every
other thing they gave him into Il corner
ut the back of the cave, and nobody
tried to steal them back. although q
man suspected of honesty in that
company would have been tortured to
leath as an hereto and would have
lad no sympathy.
For hour after gruesome hour he
owe wounds and sores such as
lnly battles and evil living can pro-
luce, until men began to come at last
with fresh wounds. all caused by bull
cts. wrapped in bandages on which ,
he blood had caked but had not crown
'Oul.
"There has been fighting in the Khy-
somebody Informed him, and he
with lancet in midair to listen,
scanning a hundred faces swiftly in 5
he smoky lainplight. There were ten 5
men who hello lamps for him. n of
hem a newcomer, and it was he who I
poke. !
"Fighting in the Khyber! Aye! We
a little lashkar. but we drove
hem back into their forti Aye! we Z
lew many" IS
"NOt a jihad YETI" King asked, as II
he world might be coming to an end. {
The words were startled out of him.
Under other circumstances he would
lever have asked that question so d. {
but he had lost reckoning Of v
verifying but these poor devils dread G
al need of %doctoring. and he was like '
man reused out of a dream. II a '
Ioly war had been proclaimed already, I
hen he was engaged on a forlorn hope. 4
,ut the man laughed at him. \
"Nay, not yet. Bull-with-a-beard {
lolds back vet. This was a little fight. S
The jihad shpll come later" 4