The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1918-03-01

and saw then a blood-soaked bandage
on the right of his neck, not very far
from the jugular.
"Hahl" said King. "Was that wound
got in the Khyber the other dayl"
may. Here in Khinjan."
"a man told me last night" said
King, drawing on imagination without
any conjunction at all, 'sthat the fight
in the Khyber was because jihad is
launched already"
"That man nedv' said the guard,
shifting position uneasily, as If afraid
to talk too much.
$50 / told hint" answered King. 81
told him there never will be another
jihad."
"Then thou art greater liar than
he !" the guard answered holly. 'There
will be jihad when she is ready, such
an one as never yet was! India shall
bleed for all the fat years she has lain
unplundered! Not a throat Of an un-
believer in the world shall be left un-
slit! No jihad? Thou liar! Get in
out Of my sight"
L
something new to think about. Was
she planning the jihad! Or pretending
to plan one? Every once in while
| the guard leaned far into the cave
mouth and hurled adjectives at him,
the mildest of which was well Of in
formation. If his temper was the tenn
per Of the "Hills," it was easy to read
disappointment for jihad that should
have been already but had been post
poned. King let him alone and paced
the cave for hours.
He was squatting on his bed-end
in the dark, like specialized image of
Buddha, when the first Of the three
men came on guard again and at last
Ismail came for him holding a pitchy
torch that filed the dim passage full
Of acrid smoke and made both of them
cough. Ismail was red-eyed with it.
"Come" he growled. "Come, little
hakim!" Then he turned on his heel
at once. as If afraid Of being twitted
with desertion. He seemed to want to
get outside, where he could keep out Of
range Of words, yet not to wish to
seem unfriendly.
But King made no effort to speak to
him, following In silence out on to the
dark ledge above the waterfall and no
ticing that the guard with the boils
was back again on duty. He grinned
evilly out Of shadow as King passed.
MAKE an end!' - he advised. slump,
hakim, before worse thing happens I"
To illustrate the suggestion he
kicked loose stone over the cliff, and
the movement caused him to bend his
neck and so inadvertently to hurt his
boils. He cursed, and there was pity
in Kings voice when he spoke next.
'sDo they hurt thee7"
"Aye, like the devil! Khinjan Is a
place Of plaguesl''
II could heal them," King said, pass
ing on, and the man stared hard.
"Come!" doomed Ismail through the
darkness, shaking the torch to make
it burn better and beckoning inpatient
ly, and King hurried after him, leaving
behind a savage at the cave mouth who
| fingered his sores and wondered, NUT
tering, leaning on a rife, muttering
and muttering again as if he had seen
a new light.
Instead Of waiting for King to catch
up, Ismail began to lead the way at
great speed along path that descend
ed gradually until it curved round the
end Of the chasm and plunged into a
| tunnel where the darkness grew
Opaque. For thirty minutes he led
swiftly down crazy DEVILS stairway
of uneven powders, stopping to lend
hand at the worst places, but ever
lastingly urging him to hurry.
Then the hell-mouth gloom began to
grow family luminous, and the water
falls thunder burst on their ears from
close at hand. They emerged into
fresh wet air and a sea Of sound. on a
rock ledge like the one above. Ismail
raised the torch and waved 1t. The
fire and smoke wandered up, until they
fiattened on moving opal dome, that
prisoned all the noises in the world.
"Earth's Drink!'' he announced, wav-
| ing the torch and then shutting his
mouth tight, as If afraid to voice sacri-
lege.
1t was the river, million-colored in
the torchlight, pouring from half
mile-long slash in the cliff above them
and plunging past them through the
gloom toward the very middle of the
world. Somewhere it met rock bottom
and boiled there, for roar like the
seas came up from deeps unimagin-
able.
He watched the overturning dome
until his senses reeled. Then he
crawled on hands and knees to the
ledge's brink and tried to peer over.
But Ismail dragged him back.
Gomez he howled; but in all that
din his shout was like whisper.
"How deep is it?" King beloved
back.
"Allahl Ask him who made it p
The fear of the falls was on the
Afridi. and he tugged at Kings arm in
L "a L.