Part 1 (2/2)

”Yasmini!”

”Ah-h-h-h!” In a second the whole squadron was by the ears, and the stable-helper was the center of an interest he had not bargained for

”Nay, sahibs, I but followed him, and how should I know? Nay, then I did not follow him! It so happened I took that road, and he stepped out of a tikka-gharri at her door Am I blind? Do I not know her door? Does not everybody know it? Who aain? But-does a moth fly only once to the lamp-flame? Does a drunkard drink but once? By the Guru, nay! May ue parch in my throat if I said he is a drunkard! I said-Ibeen to see her once-and being again in a great hurry-whither goes he?”

So the squadron chose a sub-co a lucky number the orld over, and the movements of the risaldar-major were reported one by one to the squadron with the infinite exactness of small detail that seems so useless to all save Easterns

Fifteen er in khaki uniforentleman, the whole squadron knew the color of his undershi+rt, also that he had hired a tikka-gharri, and that his only weapon was the ornaer that a true Sikh wears twisted in his hair One after one, five other h the Chandni Chohere the lastcrowd-to the narrow place where, with a bend in the street to either hand, is Yash Yas back to the squadron And a little later on, being almost as inquisitive as they were careful for their ated other men, in mufti, to watch for him at the foot of Yasht be, and see hiht all Asia on the way

These men had some money with the betted largely on the quail-fight at Abdul's stables, the squadron was in funds

”In case of trouble one can bribe the police,” counseled Nanak Singh, and he surely ought to know, for he was the oldest trooper, and trouble everlasting had preserved hiood, when policereed with hi as is rule, who voiced the general opinion

”Noe are on the track of things Now, perhaps, we shall know thethe monsoon, with our horses up to the belly in blue ain Our risaldar-er But he can listen to the wind; and, what he hears, sooner or later we shall know, too I ss!”

Those three words coht whispering, dissecting, analyzing, subdividing, weighing, guessing at that s his secret all his own, investigated nearer to its source

Have you heard the dry earth shrug herself For a storry Faithful Praising Allah on their knees?

Have you felt the short hairs rising When the ht, And the chink of steel on rock explained That footfall in the night?

Have you seen a gray boar sniff up-wind In theday?

Have you heard a mad crowd pause and think?

Have you seen all hell to pay?

CHAPTER II

Yas and her skill in song, but is not bounded thereby, Her stairs illustrated it-the two flights of steep winding stairs that lead to her bewildering reception-floor; they seened to take men's breath away, and to deliver them at the top defenseless

But Risaldar-Major Ranjoor Singh mounted theh well ht and his eye clear The cunning, curtained lights did not distract hi that the Loveliness who met him was Yasmini

Yas on aan idiot of himself; so the hts has been trained to iirl a coin, and it jingled at her feet

The , too insulted to retort The piece of silver- she would have stooped for gold, just as surely as she would have recognized its ring-lay where it fell Ranjoor Singh stepped forward toward a glass-bead curtain through which a soft light shone, and an unexpected low laugh greeted hias frivolity; sohed knew all about and foundthan a play

Then suddenly the curtain parted, and Yas with ar at hih had to stop and stare whether it suited him or not

Yasmini is not old, nor nearly old, for all that India is full of tales about her, from the Hieable age, a woman need not live to thirty to be talked about; and if she can dance as Yash only the Russian ballet can do that-she has the secret of perpetual youth to help her defy the years No doubt the soft light favored her, but she hter as she barred his way and looked hiuorous brown eyes

”Salaam, O plowman!” she ht played incessantly on her gauzy silken trousers and jeweled slippers, but she roice-nay, three tiue fluently; but that was not rees thatand not be understood