The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1918-05-23

had u better reason than thnt.
did you find the way easily7' the
Hangar asked but King kept silence.
as he parched? Have they cut his
tongue out on the rond?'
That question was In Pashtu, direct
ed ut Ismail and the others, but King
answered II.
"Oh, as FOR that" he SAID. salaaming
again In the fastidious manner Of n M.
tive gentleman. ~ know no other
tongue than Pashtu and my own Ita-
jnsthani. My name is Kurram Khan. l
ask admittance."
He held up his wrist 10 show the
gold bracelet. and high over his head
the Hangar laughed like a bell.
"Shabash :" he laughed. "well done !
Enter. Kurram Khan, and be welcome.
thou and thy lei BE welcome In her
name!"
Somebody pulled a rope and the
door yawned wide, giving On n kind of
courtyard whose high walls allowed no
view Of anything hut not blue sky.
Through n gap undef an arch in n far
corner Of the courtyard came n one
eyed, ~lean-looking villain in Afridi
dress who leaned on n long gun and
stared at them under his hand. After
A leisurely consideration OF them he
rubbed his nose slowly with one finger.
silat contemptuously, and then used
the finger To beckon them. crooking Il
quecrly and turning on his heel. He
did not say n word.
King led the way after him on foot,
for W In the '%IIllls" where cruelty
is n virtue, u man may be 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 intermlnable. smelly
maze of alleys whose sides were the
walls Of square stone towers, or some
times OF mud-nnd-stone.walled COM
pounds, and here and there OF sheer,
Slab-sided cliff. Like Old Jerusalem.
the place could have contained n civil
war OF n hundred factions. and still
have opposed stout resistance to IN
outside army.
Alley gave on to courtyard. and filthy
square to alley. until unexpectedly ut
last n seemingly blind passage turned
sharply and opened on a straight
street, Of fair width, and more than
half a mile long. II Is marked street
OF the Dwellings" on the secret army
maps, and 1t has been burned so often
by Khlnjan rioters, as well as by expe-
dltions out Of India. that q man who
goes on n long journey never expects
to find 1t the same IN his return.
II was lined on either hand with
motley dwellings, out OF which a mot.
Her crowd of people swarmed to stare
Mt King and his men. There were Hin
dus-sycophants, keepers OF accounts
and writer's to the chiefs (since lit
eracy is at a premium In these parts).
In proof OF Khinjan's catholic taste
and indlscrlminate 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 out
to watch, oil told. Not an eye Of
them all missed the government marks
on Kings trapplngs, or the govern.
ment brand on the mules. and after n
minute or two, when the procession
was halfway down the street, a man
reproved n child who had thrown n
stone, and he was backed up by the
others. They classified King correct.
~, exactly as he meant they should. As
a haklm-a man of m~cdlclne-he could
III a long-fclt want but by the brand
on his aCCoutrcmcntS he walked nm
openly avowcd robbcr, and that made
him II brother In crime. Somebody
cufred the next child who picked up Il
stone.
He knew the street OF old, although
II had changed perhaps n dozen times
since he had seen It.. II was n Guide.
sac, and at the end Of It, just as on his
previous visit. there stood a stone
mosque, whose roof leaned back M n
steep angle against the moun,ainsidc.
II was a famous mosque In It's way,
for the bed sheet of the Prophet is
known TO hang In It, preserved against
the ravages Of time and the touch Of
lnfidels by priceless Afghan rugs be.
fore and behind, 50 that II hangs like
n great thin sandwich before the rear
stone wall. King had seen 1t.
Toward the mosque the one-eyed ruff.
fan led the way, with the long, leisure.
~ly-seeming gait Of a mountainecr. At
the door, la the middle OF the end oi
the street, he paused and struck on the
Intel three times with his gun butt.
And that was n strange proceeding, 10
say he least, In a land where the
mosque Is public resting place for
homeless ones, and all the faithful
have a right to enter.
A mullah, shaven like a mummy for
some u"naccountable reason-even his
eyebrows and eyelashes had been re.
moved-pushed his bare head through
the door and blinked at them. There
was some whispering and more star.