King--of the Khyber Rifles: A Romance of Adventure

by Talbot Mundy

  Death roosts in the Khyber while he preens his wings! --Native Proverb

  "Seen her?" asked the general, with his hands behind him.

  "No," said King, looking sharply sidewise at him and walking stride forstride. His hands were behind him, too, and one of them covered the goldbracelet on his other wrist.

  The general looked equally sharply sidewise.

  "Nor've I," he said. "She called me up over the phone yesterday to askfor facilities for her man Rewa Gunga, and he was in here later. He'swaiting for you at the foot of the Pass--camped near the fort at Jamrudwith your bandobast all ready. She's on ahead--wouldn't wait."

  King listened in silence, and his prisoners, watching him through thebarred compartment windows, formed new and golden opinions of him, forit is common knowledge in the "Hills" that when a burra sahib speaksto a chota sahib, the chota sahib ought to say, "Yes, sir, oh, yes!" atvery short intervals. Therefore King could not be a chota sahib afterall. So much the better. The "Hills" ever loved to deal with men inauthority, just as they ever despised underlings.

  "What made you go back for the prisoners?" the general asked. "Who gaveyou that cue?"

  "It's a safe rule never to do what the other man expects, sir, and RewaGunga expected me to travel by his train."

  "Was that your only reason?"

  "No, sir. I had general reasons. None of 'em specific. Where nativeshave a finger in the pie there's always something left undone at thelast minute."

  "But what made you investigate those prisoners?"

  "Couldn't imagine why thirty men should be singled out for specialtreatment. Rewa Gunga told me they were still at large in Delhi.Couldn't guess why. Had 'em arrested so's to be able to question 'em.That's all, sir."

  "Not nearly all!" said the general. "You realize by now, I suppose, thatthey're her special men--special personal following?"

  "Guessed something of that sort."

  "Well--she's clever. It occurred to her that the safest way to get'em up North was to have 'em arrested and deported. That would avoidinterference and delay and would give her a chance to act deliverer atthis end, and so make 'em grateful to her--you see? Rewa Gunga told meall this, you understand. He seems to think she's semi-divine. He wasfull of her cleverness in having thought of letting 'em all get intodebt at a house of ill repute, so as to have 'em at hand when she wanted'em."

  "She must have learned that trick from our merchant marine," said King.

  "Maybe. She's clever. She asked me over the phone whether her thirty menhad started North. I sent a telegram in cypher to find out. The answerwas that you had found 'em and rounded 'em up and were bringing 'em withyou. When she called me up on the phone the second time I told her so,and I heard her chuckle with delight. So I emphasized the point of yourhaving discovered 'em and saved 'em every wit whole and all that kind ofthing. I asked her to come and see me, but she wouldn't,--said she was'disguised and particularly did not want to be recognized, whichwas reasonable enough. She sent Rewa Gunga instead. Now, this seemsimportant:

  "Before I sent you down to Delhi--before I sent for you at all--I toldher what I meant to do, and I never in my life knew a woman raise suchterrific objections to working with a man. As it happened her objectionsonly confirmed my determination to send for you, and before she wentdown to Delhi to clean up I told her flatly she would either have towork with you or else stay in India for the duration of the war."

  The general did not notice that King was licking his lips. Nor, ifhe had noticed King's hand that now was in front of him pressing onsomething under his shirt, could he have guessed that the somethingwas a gold-hilted knife with a bronze blade. King grunted in token ofattention, and the general continued.

  "She gave in finally, but I felt nervous about it. Now, without yourgetting sight of her--you say you haven't seen her?--her whole attitudehas changed! What have you done? Bringing up her thirty men seems alittle enough thing. Yet, she swears by you! Used to swear at you, andnow says you're the only officer in the British army with enough brainsto fill a helmet! Says she wouldn't go up the Khyber without you! Saysyou're indispensable! Sent Rewa Gunga round to me with orders tomake sure I don't change my mind about you! What have you done toher--bewitched her?"

  "Done nothing," said King.

  "Well, keep on doing nothing in the same style and the world shallrender you its best jobs, one after the other, in sequence! You've madea good beginning!"

  "Know anything of Rewa Gunga, sir?"

  "Nothing, except that he's her man. She trusts him, so we've got to, andyou've got to take him up the Khyber with you. What she orders, he'lldo, or you may take it from me she would never have left him behind.As long as she is on our side you will be pretty safe in trusting RewaGunga. And she has got to be on our side. Got to be! She's the only keywe've got to Khinjan, and hell is brewing there this minute! She dareunlock the gates and ride the devil down the Khyber if she thought itworth her while! You're to go up the Khyber after her to convince herthat there are better mounts than the devil and better fun than playingwith hell-fire! The Rangar told me he had given you her passport--thatright?"

  As they turned at the end of the platform King bared his wrist andshowed the gold bracelet.

  "Good!" said the general, but King thought his face clouded. "That thingis worth more than a hundred men. Jack Allison wore that same bracelet,unless I'm much mistaken, on his way down in disguise from Bukhara. Sodid another man we both knew; but he died. Be sure not to forget to giveit back to her when the show's over, King."

  King nodded and grunted. "What's the news from Khinjan, sir?"

  "Nothing specific, except that the place is filling up. You rememberwhat I told you about the 'Heart of the Hills' being in Khinjan? Well,they say now that the 'Heart of the Hills' has been awake for a longtime, and that when the heart stirs the body does not lie quiet long. Nouse trying to guess what they mean; go and find out. And remember--thewhole armed force at my disposal in this Province isn't more than enoughto tempt the tribes to conclusions! It's a case for diplomacy. It's acase where diplomacy must not fail."

  King said nothing, but the chin-strap mark on his cheek and chin grewslightly whiter, as it always does under the stress of emotion. Hecan not control it, and he has dyed it more than once on the eve ofhappenings, there being no more wisdom in wearing feelings on one's facethan on a sleeve.

  "Here comes your engine," said the general. "Well--there are twobattalions of Khyber Rifles up the Pass and they're about at fullstrength. They've got word already that you are gazetted to them.They'll expect you. By the way, you've a brother in the K.R., haven'tyou?"

  "At Ali Masjid, sir."

  "Give him my regards when you see him, will you?"

  "Thank you, sir."

  "There's your engine whistling. You'd better hurry, Good-by, my boy. Getword to me whenever possible. Good luck to you! Regards to your brother!Good-by!"

  King saluted and stood watching while the general hurried to the waitingmotor-car. When the car whirled away in a din of dust he returnedleisurely to the train that had been shortened to three coaches. Then hegave the signal to start up the spur-track, that leads to Jamrud, wherea fort cowers in the very throat of the dreadfulest gorge in Asia--theKhyber Pass.

  It was not a long journey, nor a very slow one, for there was nothing toblock the way except occasional men with flags, who guarded culvertsand little bridges. The Germans would know better than to waste time oreffort on blowing up that track, but there might be Northern gentlemenat large, out to do damage for the sport of it, and the sepoys all alongthe line were posted in twos, and awake.

  It was low-tide under the Himalayas. The flood that was draining Indiaof her armed men had left Jamrud high and dry with a little nondescriptforce stranded there, as it were, under a British major and some nativeofficers. There were no more pomp and circumstance; no more of thereassuring thunder of gathering regiments, nor for that matter any moreof that unarmed native helplessness that so stiffens the backs of
theofficial English.

  Frowning over Jamrud were the lean "Hills," peopled by the fiercestfighting men on earth, and the clouds that hung over the Khyber's coursewere an accent to the savagery.

  But King smiled merrily as he jumped out of the train, and Rewa Gunga,who was there to meet him, advanced with outstretched hand and a smilethat would have melted snow on the distant peaks if he had only lookedthe other way.

  "Welcome, King sahib!" he laughed, with the air of a skilled fencer whoadmires another, better one. "I shall know better another time and letyou keep in front of me! No more getting first into a train and settlingdown for the night! It may not be easy to follow you, and I suspect itisn't, but at least it jolly well can't be such a job as leading you! Itrust you had a comfortable journey?"

  "Thanks," said King, shaking hands with him, and then turning away tounlock the carriage doors that held his prisoners in. They were bayingnow like wolves to be free, and they surged out, like wolves from acage, to clamor round the Rangar, pawing him and struggling to be firstto ask him questions.

  "Nay, ye mountain people; nay!" he laughed. "I, too, am from the plains!What do I know of your families or of your feuds? Am I to be torn topieces to make a meal?"

  At that Ismail interfered, with the aid of an ash pick-handle,chance-found beside the track.

  "Hill-bastards!" he howled at them, beating at them as if they weresheaves and his cudgel were a flail. "Sons of nameless mothers!Forgotten of God! Shameless! Brood of the evil one! Hands off!"

  King had to stop him, not that he feared trouble, for they did not seemto resent either abuse or cudgeling in the least--and that in itself wasfood for thought; but broken shoulders are no use for carrying loads.

  Laughing as if the whole thing was the greatest joke imaginable, RewaGunga fell into stride beside King and led him away in the direction ofsome tents.

  "She is up the Pass ahead of us," he announced. "She was in the deuce ofa hurry, I can assure you. She wanted to wait and meet you, but matterswere too jolly well urgent, and we shall have our bally work cut out tocatch her, you can bet! But I have everything ready--tents and beds andstores--everything!"

  King looked over his shoulder to make sure that Ismail was bringing thelittle leather bag along.

  "So have I," he said quietly.

  "I have horses," said Rewa Gunga, "and mules and--"

  "How did she travel up the Khyber?" King asked him, and the Rangarspared him a curious sidewise glance.

  "On a horse. You should have seen the horse!"

  "What escort had she?"

  "She?"

  Rewa Gunga chuckled and then suddenly grew serious.

  "The 'Hills' are her escort, King sahib. She is mistress in the 'Hills.'There isn't a murdering ruffian who would not lie down and let her walkon him! She rode away alone on a thoroughbred mare and she jolly wellleft me the mare's double on which to follow her. Come and look."

  Not far from where the tents had been pitched in a cluster a string ofhorses winnied at a picket rope. King saw the two good horses ready forhimself, and ten mules beside them that would have done credit to anyoutfit. But at the end of the line, pawing at the trampled grass, was ablack mare that made his eyes open wide. Once in a hundred years or soa viceroy's cup, or a Derby is won by an animal that can stand and lookand move as that mare did.

  "Just watch!" the Rangar boasted; hooking up the bit and throwing offthe blanket. And as he mounted into the native-made rough-hide saddlea shout went up from the fort and native officers and half the soldierycame out to watch the poetry of motion.

  The mare was not the only one worth watching; her rider shared thepraise. There was something unexpected, although not in the leastungainly, about the Rangar's seat in the saddle that was not theordinary, graceful native balance and yet was full of grace. Kingascribed the difference to the fact that the Rangar had seen no militaryservice, and before the inadequacy of that explanation had asserteditself he had already forgotten to criticize in sheer admiration.

  There was none of the spurring and back-reining that some native bloodsof India mistake for horse-manship. The Rangar rode with sympathy andmost consummate skill, and the result was that the mare behaved as ifshe were part of him, responding to his thoughts, putting a foot wherehe wished her to put it and showing her wildest turn of speed along alevel stretch in instant response to his mood.

  "Never saw anything better," King admitted ungrudgingly, as the marecame back at a walk to her picket rope.

  "There is only one mare like this one," laughed the Rangar. "She hasher."

  "What'll you take for this one?" King asked him. "Name your price!"

  "The mare is hers. You must ask her. Who knows? She is generous. Thereis nobody on earth more generous than she when she cares to be. See whatyou wear on your wrist!"

  "That is a loan," said King, uncovering the bracelet. "I shall give itback to her when we meet."

  "See what she says when you meet!" laughed the Rangar, taking acigarette from his jeweled case with an air and smiling as he lightedit. "There is your tent, sahib."

  He motioned with the cigarette toward a tent pitched quite a hundredyards away from the others and from the Rangar's own; with the Rangar'sand the cluster of tents for the men it made an equilateral triangle, sothat both he and the Rangar had privacy.

  With a nod of dismissal, King walked over to inspect the bandobast, andfinding it much more extravagant than he would have dreamed of providingfor himself, he lit one of his black cheroots, and with hands claspedbehind him strolled over to the fort to interview Courtenay, the officercommanding.

  It so happened that Courtenay had gone up the Pass that morning withhis shotgun after quail. He came back into view, followed by his littleten-man escort just as King neared the fort, and King timed his approachso as to meet him. The men of the escort were heavily burdened; he couldsee that from a distance.

  "Hello!" he said by the fort gate, cheerily, after he had saluted andthe salute had been returned.

  "Oh, hello, King! Glad to see you. Heard you were coming, of course.Anything I can do?"

  "Tell me anything you know," said King, offering him a cheroot which theother accepted. As he bit off the end they stood facing each other, sothat King could see the oncoming escort and what it carried. Courtenayread his eyes.

  "Two of my men!" he said. "Found 'em up the Pass. Gazi work I think.They were cut all to pieces. There's a big lashkar gathering somewherein the 'Hills,' and it might have been done by their skirmishers, but Idon't think so."

  "A lashkar besides the crowd at Khinjan?"

  "Yes."

  "Who's supposed to be leading it?"

  "Can't find out," said Courtenay. Then he stepped aside to give ordersto the escort. They carried the dead bodies into the fort.

  "Know anything of Yasmini?" King asked, when the major stood in front ofhim again.

  "By reputation, of course, yes. Famous person--sings like abulbul--dances like the devil--lived in Delhi--mean her?"

  King nodded. "When did she start up the Pass?" he asked.

  "How d'ye mean?" Courtenay demanded sharply.

  "To-day or yesterday?"

  "She didn't start! I know who goes up and who comes down. Would you careto glance over the list?"

  "Know anything of Rewa Gunga?" King asked him.

  "Not much. Tried to buy his mare. Seen the animal? Gad! I'd give ayear's pay for that beast! He wouldn't sell and I don't blame him."

  "He goes up the Khyber with me," said King. "He's what the Turks wouldcall my youldash."

  "And the Persians a hamrah, eh? There was an American here lately--merryfellow--and I was learning his language. Side partner's the word inthe States. I can imagine a worse side partner than that same man RewaGunga--much worse."

  "He told me just now," said King, "that Yasmini went up the Passunescorted, mounted on a mare the very dead spit of the black one yousay you wanted to buy."

  Courtenay whistled.

  "I'm sorry, King. I'm sorry
to say he lied."

  "Will you come and listen while I have it out with him?"

  "Certainly."

  King threw away his less-than-half-consumed cheroot and they started towalk together toward King's camp. After a few minutes they arrived at apoint from which they could see the prisoners lined up in a row facingRewa Gunga. A less experienced eye than King's or Courtenay's could haverecognized their attitude of reverent obedience.

  "He'll make a good adjutant for you, that man," said Courtenay; but Kingonly grunted.

  At sight of them Ismail left the line and came hurrying toward them withlong mountainman's strides.

  "Tell Rewa Gunga sahib that I wish to speak to him!" King called, andIsmail hurried back again.

  Within two minutes the Rangar stood facing them, looking more at easethan they.

  "I was cautioning those savages!" he explained. "They're an escort, butthey need a reminder of the fact, else they might jolly well imaginethemselves mountain goats and scatter among the 'Hills'!"

  He drew out his wonderful cigarette case and offered it open toCourtenay, who hesitated, and then helped himself. King refused.

  "Major Courtenay has just told me," said King, "that nobody resemblingYasmini has gone up the Pass recently. Can you explain?"

  "You see, I've been watching the Pass," explained Courtenay.

  The Rangar shook his head, blew smoke through his nose and laughed.

  "And you did not see her go?" he said, as if he were very much amused.

  "No," said Courtenay. "She didn't go."

  "Can you explain?" asked King rather stiffly.

  "Do you mean, can I explain why the major failed to see her? 'Pon mysoul, King sahib, d'you want me to insult the man? Yasmini is too jollyclever for me, or for any other man I ever met; and the major's aman, isn't he? He may pack the Khyber so full of men that there's onlystanding room and still she'll go up without his leave if she chooses!There is nobody like Yasmini in all the world!"

  The Rangar was looking past them, facing the great gorge that lets theNorth of Asia trickle down into India and back again when weather andthe tribes permit. His eyes had become interested in the distance. Kingwondered why--and looked--and saw. Courtenay saw, too.

  "Hail that man and bring him here!" he ordered.

  Ismail, keeping his distance with ears and eyes peeled, heard instantlyand hurried off. He went like the wind and all three watched in silencefor ten minutes while he headed off a man near the mouth of the Pass,stopped him, spoke to him and brought him along. Fifteen minutes lateran Afridi stood scowling in front of them with a little letter ina cleft stick in his hand. He held it out and Courtenay took it andsniffed.

  "Well--I'll be blessed! A note"--sniff--sniff--"on scented paper!"Sniff--sniff! "Carried down the Khyber in a split stick! Take it,King--it's addressed to you."

  King obeyed and sniffed too. It smelt of something far more subtle thanmusk. He recognized the same strange scent that had been wafted frombehind Yasmini's silken hangings in her room in Delhi. As he unfoldedthe note--it was not sealed--he found time for a swift glance at RewaGunga's face. The Rangar seemed interested and amused.

  "Dear Captain King," the note ran, in English. "Kindly be quick to follow me, because there is much talk of a lashkar getting ready for a raid. I shall wait for you in Khinjan, whither my messenger shall show the way. Please let him keep his rifle. Trust him, and Rewa Gunga and my thirty whom you brought with you. The messenger's name is Darya Khan.

  "Your servant,

  "Ysamini."

  He passed the note to Courtenay, who read it and passed it back.

  "Are you the messenger who is to show this sahib the road to Khinjan?"he asked.

  "Aye!"

  "But you are one of three who left here and went up the Pass at dawn! Irecognize you."

  "Aye!" said the man. "She met me and gave me this letter and sent meback."

  "How great is the lashkar that is forming?" asked Courtenay.

  "Some say three thousand men. They speak truth. They who say fivethousand are liars. There is a lashkar."

  "And she went up alone?" King murmured aloud in Pashtu.

  "Is the moon alone in the sky?" the fellow asked, and King smiled athim.

  "Let us hurry after her, sahib!" urged Rewa Gunga, and King lookedstraight into his eyes, that were like pools of fire, just as they hadbeen that night in the room in Delhi. He nodded and the Rangar grinned.

  "Better wait until dawn," advised Courtenay. "The Pass is supposed to beclosed at dusk."

  "I shall have to ask for special permission, sir."

  "Granted, of course."

  "Then, we'll start at eight to-night!" said King, glancing at his watchand snapping the gold case shut.

  "Dine with me," said Courtenay.

  "Yes, please. Got to pack first. Daren't trust anybody else."

  "Very well. We'll dine in my tent at six-thirty," said Courtenay. "Solong!"

  "So long, sir," said King, and each went about his own business, Kingwith the Rangar, and Ismail and all thirty prisoners at his heels, andCourtenay alone, but that much more determined.

  "I'll find out," the major muttered, "how she got up the Pass without myknowing it. Somebody's tail shall be twisted for this!"

  But he did not find out until King told him, and that was many dayslater, when a terrible cloud no longer threatened India from the North.

  Chapter VI