The Meridian Tribune (Meridian, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 35, Ed. 1 Friday, February 8, 1918 Page: 3 of 8
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THE MERIDIAN TRIBUNE
•l
in or the
Tollin’
ifles
By
Talbot Mundy
Copyright by the Bobbs-Merrill Company
A 09a 02N)
A Story in
Combines the Thrill of Modern Detective Fiction With the Romance of Arabian Nights Tales
WHEN ISMAIL AND THE OTHERS COMPOSING KING’S
GUARD DISCOVER THE CLEVERNESS OF HIS DISGUISE
THEY ARE FIRST PUZZLED, THEN DELIGHTED.
Synopsis.—At the beginning of the world war Capt. Athelstan
King of the British Indian army and of its secret service, is ordered
to Delhi to meet Yasmini, a dancer, and go with her to Kinjan to
meet the outlaws there who are said by spies to be preparing or a
jihad or holy war. On his way to Delhi King quietly foils a plan to
assassinate him and gets evidence that Yasmini is after him. He meets
Rewa Gunga, Yasmini’s man, who says she has already gone north,
and at her town house witnesses queer dances. Ismail, anAfridi, be-
comes his body servant and protector. He rescues some of Yasmini s
hillmen and takes them north with him, tricking the Rangar into going
ahead. The Rangar deserts him at a dangerous time. He meets hits
brother at Ali Masjid fort.
Look out for traps. Smash ’em on
sight. But don’t follow up too far!”
“Sure,” said Charles.
“Help me with the stain now, will
you?”
With his flashlight burning as if its
battery provided current by the week
instead of by the minute, Athelstan
dragged open the mule’s pack and pro-
duced a host of things. He propped a
mirror against the pack and squatted
in front of it. Then he passed a lit-
tle bottle to his brother, and Charles
attended to the chin-strap mark that
would have betrayed him a British of-
ficer in any light brighter than dusk.
In a few minutes his whole face was
darkened to one hue, and Charles
stepped back to look at it.
“Won’t need to wash yourself for a
month!” he said. “The dirt won’t
ing it. “It rattles not as formerly!
There is more in it than there was!”
“His two horses and the mule are
here,” said Darya Khan.
“Did I say he took them with him?”
asked the hakim, who sat still with his
back to a rock. “He went because I
came! He left me here in charge!
Should he not leave the wherewithal to
make one comfortable, since I must do
his work? Hah! What do I see? A
man bent nearly double? That means
a bellyache! Who should have a belly-
ache when I have potions, lotions,
balms to heal all ills, magic charms
and talismans, big and little pills—and
at such a little price! So small a
price! Show me the belly and pay
of it!” said King. “What shall my
new name be?
Give ye me a name!
Khan is a title of respect.
Since I
CHAPTER VIII—Continued.
—5—
The packs were laid on the ground,
and the mules shook themselves, while
the jackals that haunt the Khyber
came closer, to sit in a ring and
watch. King dug a flashlight out of
one of the packs, gave it to Ismail to
hold, sat on the other pack and began
to write on a memorandum pad. It
was a minute before he could persuade
Ismail that the flashlight was harm-
less, and another minute before he
could get him to hold it still. Then,
however, he wrote swiftly.
In the Khyber, a mile below you.
Dear Old Man-I would like to run in
and see you, but circumstances don’t
permit. Several people sent your their
regards by me. Herewith go two mules
and their packs. Make any use of the.
mules you like, but store the loads where
I can draw on them in case of need. I
would like to have a talk with you before
taking the rather desperate step I in-
tend, but I don’t want to be seen enter-.
Ing or leaving Ali Masjid. Can you come
down the pass without making your in-
tention known? It is growing misty now
It ought to be easy. ' My men will tea
you where I am and show you the way.
Why not destroy this letter?—Athelstan.
He folded the note and stuck a post-
age stamp on it in lieu of a seal. Then
he examined the packs with the aid of
the flashlight, sorted them and ordered
two of the mules reloaded.
“You three!” he ordered then. “Take
the loaded mules into Ali Masjid fort.
Take this chit, you. Give it to the
sahib in command there.”
“To hear is to obey !" said the near-
est man. They took the mules’ leading
reins and before they had 'gone ten
paces were swallowed in the mist that
had begun to flow southeastward. The
night grew still, except for the whim-
pering of jackals.
Ismail came nearer and squatted at
King’s feet. Darya Khan came closer
too. King had tied the reins of the
two horses and the one remaining
mule together in a knot and was sit-
ting on the. pack.. Solemn,. almost
motionless, squatted on their hunkers,
they looked like two great vultures
watching an animal die.
They sat in silence for five minutes.
Then suddenly the two hillmen shud-
dered, although King did not bat an
eyelid. Din burst into being. A volley
ripped out of the night and thundered
down the pass.
• “How-utt! Hukkums dar?” came
He put fingers between his teeth and
blew until the night shrilled back at
him. Ismail seized the leather bag and
started to obey.
“Leave that bag. Leave it, I say!"
“But some man may steal it, sahib.
How shall a thief know there
money in it?”
"Leave it and go !"
Ismail departed, grumbling,
King turned on Darya Khan.
is no
and
“Take, the remaining men and go up
the pass!” he ordered. “Stand out of
earshot and keep watch. Come when
I whistle!”
“But this one has a bellyache where
Ismail smote him! Can a man with a
bellyache stand guard? His moaning
will betray both him and me!” ob-
jected “Lord of the Rivers.”
- “Take him and go!” commanded
King. •
“But—” 3
King was careful now not’ to show
his bracelet. But there was something
in his eye and in his attitude—a
subtle, suggestive something-or-other
about him—that was rather more con-
vincing than a pistol or a stick. Darya
Khan thrust his rifle’s end into the hurt
man’s- stomach for encouragement and
started off in the mist.
“Come and ache out of the sahibs’
sight!” he snarled.
Tn a minute King and his brother
stood unseen, unheard in the shadow
by a patch of silver moonlight. Athel-
stan sat down on the mule’s pack.
“Well?” said the younger. "Tell me.
I shall have to hurry. You see I’m in
charge back there. They saw me come
out, but I hope to teach ’em a lesson
going back.” '
Athelstan nodded. “Good!” he said.
“I’ve a roving commission. I’m or-
dered to enter Khinjan caves.”
His brother whistled.
“What’s your plan?” ,
“Haven’t one—yet.
“Tall order!
show!” He sniffed at the bottle. “But
that stain won’t come off if you do
wash—never worry! You’ll do finely.”
“Not yet, I won’t!” said Athelstan,
picking up a little safety razor and be-
ginning on his mustache. In a min-
ute he had his upper lip bare. Then
his brother bent over him and rubbed
in stain where the scrubby mustache
had been.
After that Athelstan unlocked the
leather bag that had caused Ismail so
much concern and shook out from it a
pile of odds and ends at which his
brother nodded with perfect under-
standing. The principal item was a
piece of silk—forty or fifty yards of
it—that he proceeded to bind into a
turban on his head, his brother lending
him a guiding, understanding finger at
every turn. When that was done, the
man who had said he looked in the
least like a British officer would have
lied.
One after another he drew on native
garments, picking them from the pile
beside him. So, by rapid stages he de-
veloped into a native hakim—by creed
a converted Hindu, like Rewa Gunga
—one of the men who practice yunani,
or modern medicine, without a license
and with a very great deal of added
superstition, , trickery and guesswork.
“I wouldn’t trust you with a ha’pen-
ny!” announced his brother when he
had done. “The part to a T.”
“Well—take these into the fort for
me, will you?” His brother caught the
bundle of discarded European clothes
and tucked them under his arm. “Now,
remember, old man! We’ve got to hold
the Khyber, and we can’t do it by rid-
ing pell-mell into the first trap set for
us! Be a coward, if that’s the name
you care to give it. You needn’t tell
me you’ve got orders to hunt skirmish-
ers to a standstill, because I know bet-
ter.”
“How d'you know better?”
“Never mind! I’ve been seconded to
your money! Forget not the money,
for nothing is free except air, water
and the Word of God! I have paid
money for water before now, and
where is the mullah who will not take
a fee? Nay, only air costs nothing!
For a rupee, then—for one rupee I
will heal the sore belly and forget to
be ashamed for taking such a little
fee!”
“Whither went the sahib? Nay-
show us proof!” objected Darya Khan;
and Ismail stood back a pace to scratch
his flowing beard and think.
“The sahib left this with me!” said
King, and held up his wrist. The gold
bracelet Rewa Gunga had given him
gleamed in the pale moonlight.
“May God be with thee!” boomed all
five men together.
King jumped to his feet so sudden-
ly that all five gave way in front of
him, and Darya Khan brought his rifle
to the port.
“Hast thou never seen me before?”
he demanded, seizing Ismail by the
shoulders and staring straight into his
eyes.
“Nay, I never saw thee!”
“Look again!”
He turned his head, to show his face
in profile.
“Nay, I never saw thee!”
“Thou, then! Thou with the belly!
Thou! Thou!”
They all denied ever having seen
him.
So he stepped back until the moon
shone full in his face and pulled off
his turban, changing his expression at
the same time.
“Now look!”
wish for respect, I will call myself
Khan. Name me a village the first
name you can think of—quick!”
“Kurram,” said Ismail, at a hazard.
“Kurram is good. Kurram I am!
Kurram Khan is my name hencefor-
ward! Kurram Khan the dakitar!”
“But where is the sahib who came
from the fort to talk?” asked the man
whose stomach ached yet from Ismau
and Darya Khan’s attentions to it.
“Gone!” announced King. “He went
with the other one!”
“Went whither? Did any see him
go?”
“Is that thy affair?” asked King, and
the man collapsed. It is not considered
wise to the north of Jamrud to argue
with a wizard, or even with a man who
only claims to be one. This was a
man who had changed his very nature
almost under their eyes.
“Even his other clothes have gone!”
murmured one man, he Who had poked
about among the packs.
“And now, Ismail, Darya Khan, ye
two dunderheads!—ye bellies without
brains!—when was there ever a daki-
tar—a hakim, who had not two assist-
ants at the least? Have ye never seen,
ye.. blinder-than-bats—how one man
holds a patient while his boils are
lanced, and yet another makes the hot
iron ready?”
“Aye! Aye!”
They had both seen that often.
“Then, what are ye?”
afterthought, instead of his chief rea
son, “if her special man Rewa Gung:
is a Rangar, and is known as a Rant
gar throughout the ‘Hills,’ shall I not
the more likely win favor by being a
Rangar too? If I wear her bracelet
and at the same time am a Rangar,
who will hot trust me?”
“True!” agreed Ismail. “True! Thot
art a magician!”
But the moon was getting low and
Khyber would be dark again in half as
hour, for the great crags in the dis
DeALToN ,
VALEATNG
Know more
the insolent challenge half a minute
after it—the proof positive that Ali
Masjid’s guards neither slept nor were
afraid.
A weird wail answered the chal-
lenge, and there began a tossing to and
fro of words, that was prelude to. a
shouted invitation:
"Ud-vance-frrrennen-orsss-werrul •”
English can be-as weirdly distorted
as wire, or any other supple medium,
and native levies advance distortion to,
the point of art; but the language
sounds no less good in the chilly gloom
of a Khyber night.
Followed another wait, this time of
half an hour. Then a man’s foot-
steps—a booted, leather-heeled man,
striding carelessly. Not-far behind him
was the softer noise of sandals. The.
man began to whistle “Annie Laurie.”
"Charles? That you?” called King.
That you, old man?”
A man in khaki stepped into the
moonlight. He was so nearly the im-
age of Athelstan King that Ismail and
Darya Khan, stood up and stared.
Athelstan strode to meet him. Their,
walk was the same. Angle for angle,
line for line, they might have been one
man and his shadow, except for three-
quarters of an inch of stature.
"Glad to see you, old man,” said
Athelstan.
‘.‘Sure, old chap!” said Charles; and
they shook hands.
“What’s the desperate proposal?”
asked the younger.
“I’ll tell you when we are alone.”
His brother nodded and stood a step
aside. The three who had taken the
note to the fort came closer—partly to
call attention to themselves, partly to
claim credit, partly because the outer
silence frightened them. They elbowed
Ismail and Darya Khan, and one of
them received a savage blow in the
stomach by way of retort from Ismail.
Before that spark could start an ex-
plosion Athelstan interfered.
"Ismail! Take two men. Go down
(the pass out of earshot; and keep
watch! Come back when I whistle
thus—but no sooner !”
when I’m nearer Khinjan. You can
help no end.".
“How? Name It!”
“I shall go in disguise. Nobody can
put the stain on as well’ as you. But
tell me something first. Any news
of a holy war yet?”
His brother nodded- “Plenty of
talk about one to come,” he said. “We
keep hearing of that lashkar that we
can’t locate, under a mullah whose
name seems to change with the day of
the week. And there are everlasting
tales about the ‘Heart of the Hills.’”
“No explanation of ’em?” Athelstan
asked him.
“None! Not a thing!”
“D’you know of Yasmini?"
“Heard of her, of course,” said his
brother. -
“Has she come up the pass?”
His brother laughed. “No, neither
she nor a coach and four.”
“I have heard she’s up the pass
ahead of me,” said Athelstan.
“She hasn’t passed Ali Masjid!” said
his brother, and Athelstan nodded.
■ “Are the Turks in the show yet?”
asked Charles.
“Not yet. But I know .they’re ex-
pected in." ...
“You bet they’re expected in!” The
young man grinned from ear to ear.
‘They’re working both tides under to
prepare the tribes for it. They flatter
themselves they can set alight a holy
war that will put Timour Rang to
shame. You should hear my jezailchies
talk at night when they think I’m not
listening !"
•“The /jezailchies'll stand though,”
said Athelstan.
“Stake my life on it!” said his
brother. “They’ll stick to the last man!”
“I can’t tell you,” said Athelstan,
“why we’re not attacking brother Turk
before he’s ready. But my job is to
help make the holy war seem unprofit-
able to the tribes, so that they’ll let
the Turk down hard when he calls on
’em. Every day that I can point to
forts held strongly in the Khyber is a
day in my favor. There are sure to
be raids. In fact, the more the merrier,
provided they’re spasmodic. We must
keep ’em separated—keep ’em swarm-
ing too fast—while I sow other seeds
among ’em.”
His brother nodded. Sowing seeds
was almost that family’s hereditary
job.. Athelstan continued:
“Hang on to Ali Masjid like a leech,
old man! The day one raiding lash-
kar gets command of the Khyber’s
throat, the others’ll all believe they’ve
won the game. Nothing’ll stop ’em!
your crowd. I’m your senior, and I’m
giving you orders. Hit hard when you
have to, but for God’s sake, old man,
ware traps!”
“All right,” said his brother.
“Then good-by, old man!”
“Good-by, Athelstan!”
They stood facing and shook hands.
Where had been a man and his reflec-
tion in the mist, there now seemed to
be the same man and a native. Athel-
stan King had changed his very na-
ture with his clothes. He stood like a
native—moved like one; even his voice
was changed, as if—like the actor who
dyed himself all over to act Othello
he could do nothing by halves.
“’By, Charles!”
Officers in that force are not chosen
for their clumsiness, or inability to
move silently by night. His footsteps
died in the mist almost as quickly as
his shadow. Before he had been gone
a minute the pass was silent as death
again, and though Athelstan listened
with trained ears, the only sound he
could detect was of a jackal cracking
a bone fifty or sixty yards away.
“Ma’uzbillah! (May God protect
us !)"
“Now ye know me?”
“Hee-yee-yee!” yelled Ismail, hug-
ging himself by the elbows and begin-
ning to dance from side to side. "Hee-
yee-yee! What said I? Said I not so?
Said I not this is a different man?
Said I not this is a good one—a man
of unexpected things? Said I not there
was magic in the leather bag? I
shook it often and the magic grew!
Hee-yee-yee! Look at him! See such
cunning! Feel him! Smell of him!
He is a good one—good!”
Three of the others stood and
grinned, now that their first shock of
surprise had died away. The fourth
man poked among the packs. There
was little to see except gleaming
teeth and the white of eyes, set in
hairy faces in the mist. But Ismail
danced all by himself among the stones
of Khyber road and he looked like a
bearded ghoul out for an airing.
“Hee-yee-yee! She smelt out a good
one! Hee-yee-yee! This is a man
They gaped at him. Were they to
work wonders too? Were they to be
part and parcel of the miracle? Watch-
ing them, King saw understanding
dawn behind Ismail’s eyes and knew
he was winning more than a mere ad-
mirer. . He knew it might be days yet,
might be weeks before the truth was
out, but it seemed to him that Ismail
was at heart his friend. And there
are no friendships stronger than those
formed in the Khyber and beyond—no
more loyal partnerships. The ‘Hills’
are the home of contrasts, of blood-
feuds that last until the last-but-one
man dies, and of friendships that no
crime or need or slander can efface. If
the feuds are to be avoided like the
devil, the friendships are worth hav-
ing.
“There is another thing ye might
do,” he suggested, “if ye two grown
men are afraid to see a boil slit open.
Always there are timid patients who
hang back and refuse to drink the
medicines. There should be one or
two among the crowd who will come
forward and swallow the draughts
eagerly, in proof that no harm results.
Be ye two they!”
Ismail spat savagely.
“Nay! Bismillah! Nay, nay! I
will hold them who have boils, sitting
firmly on their bellies—so—or between
their shoulders—thus—when the boils
are behind! Nay, I will drink no
“Kurram Kahn Is My Name Hencefor-
ward! Kurram Khan the Dakitar!”
tance to either hand shut off more
light than do the Khyber walls. The
mist, too, was growing thicker. It was
time to make a move.
King rose. “Pack the mule and bring
my horse!” he ordered and they hur-
ried to obey with alacrity born of new
respect, Darya Khan attending to the
trimming of the mule’s load in person,
instead of snarling at another man. It
was a very different little escort from
the one that had come thus far. Like
King himself, it had changed its very
nature in fifteen minutes!
They brought the horse and King
laughed at them, calling them idiots—
men without eyes.
“I am Kurram Khan, the dakitar, but
who in the ‘Hills’ would believe it?
Look now—look ye and tell me what is
wrong?”
He pointed to the horse, and they
stood in a row and stared.
“The saddle?” Ismail suggested. “It
is a government arrficer’s saddle.”
“Stolen!” said King, and they
CHAPTER IX.
King repacked the loads, putting
everything back carefully into the big
leather envelopes and locking the
empty handbag, after throwing in a
few stones for Ismail’s benefit. Then
he went to sit in the moonlight, with
his back to a great rock and waited
there cross-legged to give his brother
time to make good a retreat through
the mist. When there was no more
doubt that his own men, at all events,
had failed to detect the lieutenant, he
put two fingers in his mouth and
whistled.
Almost at once he heard sandals
come pattering from both directions.
As they emerged out of the mist he
sat silent and still. It was Darya Khan
who came first and stood gaping at
him, but Ismail was a very close sec-
ond, and the other three were only a
little behind. For full two minutes
after the man with the sore stomach
had come they all stood holding one
another’s arms, astonished. Then—
“Our sahib—King sahib—where is
he?” asked Ismail'.
“Gone!”
Even King’s voice was so completely
changed that men who had been reared
amid mutual suspicion could not recog-
nize it.
“But there are his loads! There is
his mule!”
“Here is his bag!” said Ismail,
pouncing on it, picking it up and shak-
DeALPoA
VALEATO
In a Few Minutes His Whole Face Was
Darkened to One Hue, and Charles
Stepped Back to Look at It.
after my heart! Hee-yee-yee! God
preserve me to see the end of this!
This one will show sport! Oh-yee-yee-
yee !"
King watched the faces of the other
four men. He saw them slowly waken
to understanding of what Ismail meant
by “worker of spells” and “magic in
the bag” and knew that he had even
greater hold on them now than Yas-
mini’s bracelet gave him.
"Ma'uzbillah!” they murmured as Is-
mail’s meaning dawned and they recog-
nized a magician in their midst. “May
God protect usl” .
“May God protect mel 1 have need
draughts! I am a man, not a cess-
pool!”
“And I will study how to heat hot
irons!” said Darya Khan, with grim
conviction. “It is likely that, having
worked for a blacksmith once, I may
learn quickly! Phaughghgh! I have
tasted medaceen! I have drunk Apsin
saats (Epsom salts),”
He spat, too, in a very fury of remi-
niscence.
• “Good!” said King. “Henceforward,
then, I am Kurram Khan, the dakitar,
and ye two are my assistants, Ismail to
hold the men with boils, and Darya
Khan to heat the irons—both of ye to
be my. men and support me with
words when need be!”
“Aye!” said Ismail, quick to think
of details, “and these others shall be
the tasters!”
"We will not drink the medicines!”
announced the man who had a stom-
ach ache. "Nay, nay!"
* But Ismail hit him with the back of
his hand in the stomach again and.
danced away, hugging himself and
shouting “Hee-yee-yee!” until the
jackals joined him in discontented
chorus and the Khyber pass became
full of weird howling. Then suddenly
the old Afridi thought of something
else and came back to thrust his face
close to King’s.
"Why be a Rangar? Why be a Raj-,
put, sahib? She loves us hillmen bet-
ter!”,
"Do I look like a hillman of the
‘Hills’?” asked King.
"Nay, not now. But he who can work
one miracle can work another. Change
thy skin once more and be a true
Hillman!”
“Aye!” King laughed. “And fall heir
to a blood-feud with every second man
I chance upon! Better be a converted
Hindu and be despised by some than
have cousins in the ‘Hills’! Is that
clear, thou oaf?”
“Aye! Thou art more cunning than
any man I ever met!”
The great Afridi began to rub the
tips of his fingers through his straggly
beard in a way that might mean any-
thing, and King seemed to draw con-
siderable satisfaction from it, as if it
were a sign language that just then he
needed a friend, and he certainly did
not propose to refuse such a useful
one. . . .
“And,” he added, as if It were an
nodded. “Stolen along with the horse !"
. “Aye!”
“Shorten those stirrups, then, six
holes at the least! Men will laugh at
me if I ride like a British arrffcer!”
“Aye!” said Ismail, hurrying to obey.
“Now,”, he said, gathering the reins
and swinging into the saddle, “who
knows the way to Khinjan?”
“Which of us does not?”
“Ye all know it? Then ye all are
border thieves and worse! No honest
man knows that road! Lead on, Darya
Khan, thou Lord of Rivers! Forward
march!”
So Darya Khan led the way with his
rifle, and King’s face glowed in ciga-
rette light not very far behind him as
he legged his horse up the narrow
track that led northward out of the
Khyber bed. It would be a long time
before he would dare smoke a cigar
again, and his supply of cigarettes was
destined to dwindle down to nothing
before that day. But he did not seem
to mind.
“Cheloh I” he called. “Forward, men
of the mountains! Kuch dar nahin
hai!”
“Thy mother and the spirit of a fight
were one!” swore Ismail just in front
of him, stepping out like a boy going
to a picnic. “She will love thee! Allah!
She will love thee! Allah! Allah!”
The thought seemed to appal him.
For hours after that he climbed ahead
in silence.
Comes the big adventure for
King—he arrives at the entrance
to Kinjan caves and learns he
must prove he has slain an Eng-
lishman before the guard will
admit him.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Hailstorm Insurance in Germany.
Hailstorm Insurance is more exten-
sively carried on in Germany than in
any other country. During the last
45 years the German hail insurances
companies have collected the enormous
sum of 1,144,799,000 marks (mark—
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in insured values of 404,000,000 marka,
—Scientific American.
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Dunlap, Levi A. The Meridian Tribune (Meridian, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 35, Ed. 1 Friday, February 8, 1918, newspaper, February 8, 1918; Meridian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1630605/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Meridian Public Library.