Argosy, Vol. 123, No. 2 — page 143: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE CARAVAN a current he could no longer resist. But he held her firmly, joyful in the knowledge that they could not now be parted. Footsteps approached the tower entrance slowly. “Looking down, Donovan saw Mahmoud. peering up at him apathetically, a lantern held in a clawlike hand. Behind him Aravang limped, soaked in his~wn blodd, blackened and bruised, wounded in body and every limb, but keeping himself stoically upright. “ Salaam, Mahmoud,” said the English- man. ‘Is the fighting finished?” “Tt is finished.” ‘“ And the son of Tahir?” ‘“ He is no more. He sought the man Monsey, and found him.” The hakim beckoned. ‘‘ Come, Dono-van Khan. You must leave the castle. Your work here is done.”’ With that he turned away. The En- glishman rose stiffly and carried his burden into the courtyard; where masses of Sayaks —men, women, and boys—were gathered about the dark groups of prisoners. He stepped over prone bodies and went down the steps to the plain where the horses were being collected and a string of camels wait- ed. Aravang followed. They went onward until they c came to the edge of the woods, where the native led Donovan to an open ravine where was the bed of a stream and pools of fresh water. Here they bathed Edith’s face, somewhat helplessly—being unskilled in caring for the needs of a woman—and sat down to wait until she should return to her senses. Presently a glimmer of fiery light crept through the screen of trees between them and the plateau, and the crackle of flames came to their ears. Donovan questioned the native with a glance. “Mahmoud, the all-wise, has set fire to the Rurgan, excellency. Thus will the bodies, all except two, be burned, and the nest of the vultures will be no more.” The white man nodded. “So Iskander led the Sayaks into the north and south of the kurgan, Aravang,” he mused, ‘‘ while Mahmoud drew their at- tention and fire to the west? It was well done. Yet whence came these numbers?” OF THE DEAD. He spoke idly, his gaze on the uncon- scious girl, as if merely confirming his be- lief as to what had passed. Aravang was resting his head on his bent arms—both men numbed by pain, and the relief from long suspense. “Excellency, during the pause between the first attack and the end, the whole vil- lage of Yahka Arik came to the kurgan. You saw what followed, when rifles were useless before daggers near at hand in the dark. But it was the fear of Mahmoud that brought it to pass.” “Fear?” Donovan dipped his hand into the water and laid it on Edith’s curls gently. ‘I wonder. Then, after all, as Major Fraser-Carnie might say, it was merely a question of morale. But why did the camels come?” 2 Aravang did not reply at once. ‘Soon you will see,” he muttered. CHAPTER XXXVI. THE PASSING OF THE CARAVAN. ig was high midday when a tired Ameri- ' can gentleman clad in a long black coat, riding. breeches, and a flapping sombrero, pushed his horse up the valleys toward the height where a mounted guide conducted him, followed by a string of impatient Garhwalis of whom only those with the best horses were able to keep near them. Beside him Major Fraser-Carnie was un- naturally cheerful, keeping at the same time an eye upon a faint column of smoke that rose through the trees in front of them, and inwardly cursing the reticence of the native guide who had joined them that morning and whose vocabulary, whether by linguistic limitations or personal inclina- tion, was confined to the four words: “Dono-van Khan” and Rhanum.” Even the optimism and doggedness of the worthy major that had enabled them to journey from Kashmir to Kashgar and the hills suffered when the guide disap- peared as if by magic, swallowed up in the ‘* Missy -underbrush. He glanced back at the half- dozen mounted riflemen in their green Go NOOK 275 C@