Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-04-13
By Talbot
Munday

done credit to a panther driven off
its prey, he skunk up a byway to
shelter himself and think OF new
obscenities; and as he stood be-
meath cloth awning to await the
passing of more than usually
heavy downpour, the rotten fibres
burst at last and let ten gallons of
filthy rain down on him.
From that minute he could see
only red; so it was in a red haze
that two of the troopers from Ran
joor Singh's squadron passed the
end Of the lane He felt himself
clutching at red knife. breathing
red air through distended nostrils.
He forgot his sores, forgot to feel
them.
AS he hunted the two troopers
through the maze of streets, he
| recognized them for two OF the
men who had thrashed him so he
drew closer. for fear they might
escape him in the crowd Now
that he no longer wandered OBJ
jectless, but looked ahead and
walked with will and a purpose.
street-corner "constabels" ceased
to trouble him; there were too
many people in those thronged,
| Kaleidoscope streets for any but
| the loafers to be noticed. He drew
nearer and nearer to the troopers,
| all unsupported.
But the pace was fast. and they
! approached their barracks. where
his chance of ramming a knife into
them and getting away unseen
would be increasingly more re-
mote; and he had no desire to die
until he had killed the other four
men, Ranjoor Singh himself and
the woman who had spurned hiss
love. He must kill these two. he
| decided while yet safe from bar
rack hue and cry.
He crept yet closer, and-now
that his plan was forming in his
mind-began to see less red In q
minute more he recognized a house
at street corner, whose lower
/ story once had been a shop. but
that now was boarded up and show
ed from outside little sign OF occu-
patton. But he saw that the door
at the end of an alley by the build
ing was ajar, and through a chink
! between the shutters of an upper
story his keen northern eyes de-
| tected lamp-light. That was enough.
! He set his teeth and drew his Ions
clean knife.
| Wounds. bruises. pain, all meant
nothing to hillman when there is
murder in his eye, unless they be
spurs that goad him to greater
| frenzy and more speed The troop
ers staggered at a drilled man s
marching pace; the Afridi came
like a wind-devil, ripping down a
! gully from the northern hills. all
| frenzy.
Had he not seen red again. had
only little brain-work mingled In
/ HE rages he would have scored a
clean victory and have been free
to wreak red vengeance on the
rest. As II was, rage mastered him.
and he yelled as he drove the long
knife homo between the shoulders
OF one OF the troopers In front of
him.
That yell vas mistake. for he
was dealing with picked, drilled
men of birth and certain educa-
| ton. The struck man sank 10 his
knees, but the other turned IN time
10 guard the next blow with his
forearm; he setzeu n good fstful OF
Afridfa bandages and landed hard
on his naked foot with the heel OF
an ammunition boot. The Afridl
screamed like Wild beast as he
wrenched himself away. leaving the
bandages In the troopers hand; and
for an instant the trooper half
turned to succor his comrade.
Nay, after hlmi" urged the
wounded man In the Jat tongue.
and. seeing a crowd coming run
/, ming from four directions, the Sikh
let him lie. to race after the Afridi
He caught little more than "A
glimpse of torn clothes disappear
ing through IA little door at the end
OF the alley by the bearded shop