Part 5 (2/2)
”Not quite tall enough Besides-you are a soldier, are you not? And do you fight?”
He nodded toward a dozen water-buffaloes, that slouched along the street et goatskin ht,” he said s ”So can any other fool!” Then, after a e is fro accepted the rebuke with a little inclination of the head He spoke as little as possible, because he was puzzled He had becoar's eyes-of a subtle wonderht be intentional flattery (for Art and the East are one) Whenever the East is doubtful, and recognizes doubt, it is as dangerous as a hillside in the rains, and it only added to his proble inexplicable The West can only get the better of the East when the East is too cock-sure
”She has jolly well gone North!” said the Rangar suddenly, and King shut his teeth with a snap He sat bolt upright, and the Rangar allowed himself to look amused
”When? Why?”
”She was too jolly well excited to wait, sahib! She is of the North, you know She loves the North, and the men of the 'Hills'; and she knows thera sahib coereat stew, I can assure you Finally she said, 'Why should I wait?' nobody could answer her”
He spoke English well enough Few educated foreign gentleh there was the tendency to use slang that well-bred natives insist on picking up from British officers; and as he went on, here and there the native idio, but listened and watched, puzzled ar's eyes It was not suspicion-nor respect Yet there was a suggestion of both
”At last she said, 'It is well; I will not wait! I know of this sahib He is a rowing flowers into garbage! He will be clever enough to pick up the end of the thread that I shall leave behind and follow it and me! He is a true bound, with a nose that reads the wind, or the general sahib never would have sent him!' So she left me behind, sahib, to-to present to you the end of the thread of which she spoke”
King tossed away the stuue round the butt of a fresh cheroot The word ”hound” is not necessarily a coains little by translation It e of its own slips as well as of other peoples' unless watched
The carriage swayed at high speed round three sharp corners in succession before the Rangar spoke again
”She has often heard of you,” he said then That was not unlikely, but not necessarily true either If it were true, it did not help to account for the puzzled look in the Rangar's eyes, that increased rather than di
”Of course! Who has not? She has desired to meet you, sahib, ever since she was told you are the bestof the knife beneath his shi+rt
”She is very glad that you and she are on the same errand” He leaned forward for the sake of e's hand It was a delicate, dainty finger with an allad than you i sahib, she is all bucked up about it! Listen-her web is wide! Her agents are here-there-everywhere, and she is obeyed as few kings have ever been! Those agents shall all be held answerable for your life, sahib,-for she has said so! They are one and all your bodyguard, fro inclined his head politely, but the weight of the knife inside his shi+rt did not encourage credulity True, it ar's eht not be an unintentional admission that the man who had tried to use it was Yasmini's man But when a oes along, and is prone to believe what his instinct tells hiar read a part of his thoughts, if not all of them It is not difficult to counter that trick, but to do it a uard, or the East will knohat he has thought and what he is going to think, as many have discovered when it was too late
”Her men are able to protect anybody's life from any God's number of assassins, whatever may lead you to think the contrary Fro!”
”Very good of her; I'eneral's express order to apply for a ”passport” that would take hi any kind of favor,-and wondering whether to ask this man for it or wait until he should meet Yasmini He had about made up his mind that to ould be quite within a strict interpretation of his orders, as well as infinitely hts again as if he had spoken theive it to you! I ahanistan, your life shall be safe and you ar drew a bracelet from an inner pocket and held it out It was a wonderful, barbaric thing of pure gold, big enough for a grown h to have been hammered out in the very womb of time It looked ale and clasp that looked as if they did not belong to it, and ht have been made by a not very skillful a, watching him ”It will prove a true talisman! What was the name of the Johnny who had a lamp to rub? Aladdin? It will be better than what he had! He could only coive you authority over flesh and blood! Take it, sahib!”
So King put it on, letting it slip up his sleeve, out of sight,-with a sensation as the snap closed of putting handcuffs on hiar looked relieved