Part 14 (1/2)
”I have found a way in!” said Juggut Khan ”I have cross-questioned that fakir of ours as well, with a little assistance fro-rod wielded by one of your men He knows the way too He says he is the only man who knows it-in which he lies, since I too have discovered it But his knowledge -rod?” asked Brown
”It was used on hiet his vow of silence”
”When?”
”When you were up that tree, sahib!”
”Have you been giving my man orders?”
”Nay, sahib!”
”How did he come to beat the fakir, then?”
”We both arrived at the same conclusion at the same moment, and the fakir received the benefit!”
”Who held him, you?”
”Nay, sahib! God forbid! I am a clean man I listened to his conversation The Beluchi held hiut Khan, but there are things about you that I don't like You're too fond of doing things on your own responsibility, and you'reoaths Y our soul is none o' er in the Service But, I'll trouble you not to use those disgraceful oaths of yours in the presence of the men! Do you understand me?”
”I understand you, sahib If my respect for all your other qualities were not so profound, I would laugh at you! As it is, if your honor should see fit to turn the bullocks loose, and tie the fakir fast between two h by now, and I know the way Might I furtherest that the ammunition-box would make a reasonable load for another twoour rifles too?” asked Brown sarcastically ”Uponchildish!+ Are your nerves upset, or what? Lead on, man! Lead on!”
”Listen There are tays, sahib One way leads from the burned-out barracks to the cellar where the women lie hidden That way is closed by debris The other way leads fro route to the cellar where the woh I know of it There is a third way, though, that leads froht alard a wind or two, to the inside of the powder-h a doorway secretly contrived in an upright pillar-or so the fakir swears Now this is o in by the loe ht as we ehtened women with us whose eyes have been blinded by the darkness But, if we go in by the upper way, and enter the azine itself, I can make the fakir show us how to lift the stone trapdoor I spoke of-the one that I closed when I hid the women Then I can ascend with him, and with say four men, while you ascend to the platforuard our rear and our exit Froe, and can cover our retreat, and follow”
”That sounds like a roundabout sort of plan to ht in by the lower route, and gather up the women, and carry 'em out, and make a bolt for it?”
”Because, sahib, ill be at the fakir's mercy”
”Nonsense! He's at our mercy”
”Think, sahib! There, he will be in his own bat's nest, so to speak These fakirs are the only es They are the rats of religion and intrigue At any step he ht be overwhelo the other way, though, I can lead the way myself, and we need only take the fakir to show us how to open the door”
”Very well,” said Brown ”Let's get ato think that you're a better talker than a fighter, Juggut Khan!”
”Yes, sahib? I trust there will be no fighting!” But the Rajput sht of a certain lance-shaft which had been broken in the streets of Jailpore
”Lead on! Fall in behind ues! Each er!”
The Beluchi and the fakir and Juggut Khan moved in the van, with two eant Brown, followed by the other ut Khan, through the darkness, across a dried-out e stone buttress There they disappeared inside the wall, and a stone swung round and closed the gap behind the last of then or a sound of any kind to betoken that any one had seen them Inside the walls the city roared like a flood-fed maelstrom, and outside all was darkness and the silence of the dead
XIII