The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1918-03-22
By TALBOT MUNDY

tuESG tAESe yeAEbt DUkuDS MHu EAnCo
and cartridgesi Muhammad Anim's
men. whom he trusts because he must,
hid It all In q cave showed them, that
they think. and he thinks. has only one
entrance to 1t. Muhammad Amin sealed
1t. and he has the key. But have
the ammunitionl
There was another way out Of that
cave, although there is none now, for
I have blocked It. My men. whom
trust because know them. carried ev-
erything out by the back way. and l
have 1t all. We, my warrior. when Mu-
hammad Amin gets the word from Ger
many and gives the sign, and the Hills
are afire, and the whole East roars In
the fame Of the jihad-we will put our
selves at the head Of that jihad. and
the East and the world is oursl"
King smiled at her.
"The East isn't very we'll armed"
he objected. "Mere numbers"
"Numbers?" She laughed at him.
"The West has the West by the throat |
1t is tearing itself They will drag In
America There will be no armed ma
ton with Its hands free-and while
those wolves fight, other wolves shall
come and steal the meati The old
gods, who built these caves In the
Hills are laughingl They are get
ting readyl Thou and l."
AS she coupled him and herself to-
gether in one plan she read the
changed expression Of his face-the
very quickly passing cloud that even
the best-trained man cannot control.
II knoww she asserted, sitting up
right and coming out of her dream to
face facts as their master. She looked
more lovely now than ever, although
twice as dangerous. You are thinking
of your brother-of his headl That
am murderess who can never be your
friends Is that not SOL"
He did not answer, but his eyes may
have betrayed something, for she
looked as if he had struck her.
"Oh, have needed you so much,
these many yearsl And now that you
have come you want to hate me be-
cause you think killed your brother /
Listenl
without my leave, Muhammad Amin
sent five hundred men on a foray
toward the Khyber. ull-with-a-beard
needed an Englishman's head, for
proof for q spy of his who could not
enter Khinjan caves. They trappci
your brother outside Ali Masjid with
fifty of his men. They took his head
after long fight, leaving more than
hundred of their own In payment.
"Bull-with-a-beard was pleased. Blu.
he was careless, and sent my men to
steal the head from his men. needed
evidence for you. And / swear to you
Il swear to you by my gods who have
brought us two together-that / first
knew it was your brothers head when
you held it up in the Cavern of Earth's
Drink! Then knew it could not be
anybody else's headI"
"Why bid me throw 1t to them,
then?" he asked her, and he was aware
Of her scorn before the words had left
his lips.
She leaned back again and looked at
him through lowered eyes, as IL she
must study him all anew. She seemed
to find II. hard to believe that he really
thought so in the commonplace.
''What is head to me. or to you
head with no life In it-carrion -
compared to what shall be? Would
you have known 1t was his head IL you
had thrown 1t to them when ! ordered
you?"
He understood. Some of her blood
was Russian, some Indian. She stood
up, and Of course he stood up. too. So.
she on the footstool of the throne, her
eyes and his were on level. She laid
hands on his shoulders and looked into
his eyes until he could see his own
twin portraits in hers, that were glow
ing sunset pools. Heart of the Hlllsf
The heart of all the East seemed to
burn in her. rebclliousl
"Are you believing met" she asked
him.
He nodded, for no man could have
helped believing her. AS she knew
the truth, she was telling Il to him.
as surely as she was doing her skill
full best to mesmerize him. But the
secret service Is made up OF men
trained against that.
"Come" she said. and stepping
down she took his arm.
She led him past the thrones to
other leather curtains in a wall. and
through them into long hewn passages
from cavern to cavern, until even the
Rock of. Gibraltar seemed like q dolls
house In comparison. She showed him
cave containing great FORCES. where
the bronze had been worked. with
charcoal still piled up against the wall
at one end. There were copper and tin
ingots in there of shape he had never
seen.
81 know where they came FROM"
she told him. 81 made 1t my business
to know all the Hills ! know things
the hillmen's neutrality-suspicious.
fathers forgot! know old workings
that would make modern nation rich
H. - n