Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 124: what you’re looking at

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

the hiding place of the knife of a mur- derer. Look ye in his turban!” _ As the turban was stripped from the _ head of Hunsa the Pindari gave it a whirl- ing twist that sent its many yards of blue muslin streaming out like a ribbon, and the parchment messagc ‘ell to the floor. ~ Ah-ha!” and a man, stooping, thrust it into the hands of the commander. The Pindari who held the turban threw it almost at the feet of Bootea, saying, ~ Methinks the slayer will need this no more.”’ ~ Bootea picked up the blue cloth and rolled it into a ball, saying, “If it is per- mitted I will take this to those who en- trusted Hunsa with this foul mission to show them that he is dead.” ~ A clever woman thou art—it is a wise thought; take it by all means, for indeed that dog’s head will need little when they have finished with him,” the soldier agreed. Kassim had taken the written paper closer to the light. At sight of the thumb bloodstain upon the document, he gave a bellow of rage. “ Look you all!” he cried, holding it spread out in the light of the lamp. “ Here is our chief’s message to us given after he was dead. He sealed it with his thumb in his own blood, after he was dead. A miracle, calling for vengeance. -Hunsa, dog, thou shalt die for hours—thou shalt die by inches, for it was thee.” Kassim held the paper at arm’s length toward Barlow, asking: ‘Is this the mes- Sage thou brought?” | “It is, commander.” Kassim whirled on Hunsa. “ Where _didst thou get it, dog of an infidel?” _ “Without the gate of the palace, my ord. I found it lying there where the sahih ed it in his flight.” Allah! Thou art a liar of brazenness.”’ » to a jamadar. ‘“ Have brought er nosebag of a horse and hot we may come by the truth.” n held the parchment close med it. He rubbed a ikled brow and _ pon- ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, _ regard for thee. seal upon it that he w with the British and the Pi i : from Mewar Sindhia—the one aa wan sent Hunsa to slay your chief.” Thou Sayst so, but how know ] that Hunsa 1s not m thy hand, and that tho didst not prepare the Way for the kil} 1 Here beside the name of the rana is ara a lance; that suggests an order to kill ‘ secret order.” He turned to a sepoy. “ Brin the Rajput, Zalim.” s While they waited Bootea said: “ Te was Nana Sahib who sent H oe : unsa and the de- coits to slay Amir Khan, because he feared an alliance between the chief and the British.” “And thou wert one of them?” “I came to warn Amir Khan, and—” “And what, woman? The decoits were your own people?” “Yonder sahkib had saved my life— saved me from the harem of Nana Sahib, and I came to save his life and your chief’s.” | Now there was an eruption into the chamber, men carrying a great pot of hot ashes, and one swinging from his hand the nosebag of a horse; and with them was the Rajput. “Here,” Kassim said, addressing the Hindu, ‘“‘ what means this spear upon this document? Is it a hint to drive it home?” Zalim put his finger reverently upon the rana’s signature. ‘‘ That, commander, is the seal, the sign. I am a Chondawat, and belong to the highest of the thirty-six tribes of Mewar, and that sign of the lance Was put upon state documents by Chonda. It has been since that time—it is but a seal. Even as that ”—and Zalim proudly swung a long arm toward the wall where a huge yellow sun embossed on gypsum rested— “‘ even that is an emblem of the Children of the Sun, the Sesodias of Mewar, the rana.” “Tt is well,” Kassim declared. “As to this that is in the message, to-morrow, with the aid of a mullah, we will consider it. And now, as to Hunsa, we would have from him the truth.” ’ He turned to the Gulab. ‘“ Go thou in peace, woman, for our dead chief had high And Captain Sahib, even abode, not thinking to | De.