Part 13 (1/2)
”I've coh's alive or dead,” he said sternly, ”and, if he's alive, to take hi srace it needs a life of dancing to bestow
”Sahib,” she said, with a suddenly assumed air of candidness, ”they have told the truth There is little that goes on in Delhi-in the world-that I can not hear of if I will The winds of the world flow in and out of these four walls”
”Then where is Ranjoor Singh?” asked Colonel Kirby
She did not hesitate an instant He atching her a eyes that surely would have betrayed her had she been at a e nor darken for a second
”How much, does the sahib know already?” she asked calmly, as if she wished to spare his
”A trooper of D Squadron-that's Ranjoor Singh's squadron-was murdered in the bazaar this afternoon The risaldar-h the bazaar, and possibly discovered some clue to the murderer At all events, he is known to have entered a house in the bazaar, and that house is now in flames”
”The sahib knows that much? And am I to quell the flames?” asked Yasmini
She neither sat nor lay on the divan She was curled on it, leaning on an elbow, like an imp from another world
”Who owns that house?” asked Kirby, since he could think of nothing else to ask
”That is the House-of-the-Eight-Half-brothers,” said Yasht wives, and a son by each That was ages ago, and the descendants of the eight half-brothers are all at law about the ownershi+p There are many stories told about that house”
Suddenly she broke into laughter, leaning on her hand andthem as Puck mocked mortals A man could not doubt her Colonel and adjutant, both rim service and both self-possessed as a rule, knew that she could read clean through them, and that from the bottom of her deep, wise soul she was amused
”I am from the North,” she said, ”and the North is cold; there is little mercy in the hills, and I eaned a of me?”
”How d'ye lish
”Three days ago there came a wind that told me of war- of a world-war, surely not this tiht h the talk of the world was then of universal peace and of horror at a war that was Now, to-night, this greatest war is loose, born and grown big within three days, but conceived two years ago-Russia, Ger?”
”I ca at his closely cropped mustache
There was a hint of iron in his voice, and he was obviously not the hed in his face
”All in good tih, and then perhaps he shall step forth fro”
She clapped her hands, and a ht sherbet that Kirby sniffed suspiciously before tasting Again she laughed deliciously
”Does the sahib think that he could escape alive from this roo-I who have so ht cavalry that the best means of defense lies in attack; a threat of force should bequicker Kirby's eyes and his adjutant's hed at them with mirth that was so evidently unassumed that they blushed to their ears
”Look!” she said; and they looked
Two great gray cobras, male and female, swayed behind them less than a yard away, balanced for the strike, hoods raised The awful, ugly black eyes glea cobra's head is not an easy thing to hit with an autoination's sake, that the hooded devil does not strike first