Part 31 (1/2)

”There is an end to everything,” he ree, or as h the cave h, a pool so deep, a river so wide How long, for instance, rowled

”There is an end to pain!” said King, adjusting his horn-riht, and it hurt hiuard ”She says it is sorcery! She says none are to let thee touch them!”

Plainly, he was in no receptive mood; orders had been spat into his hairy ear too recently

”Get in!” he growled, lifting his rifle-butt as if to enforce the order

”I can heal boils!” said King, retiring into the cave Then, froe, he added a word or two to sink in as the hours went by

”It is good to be able to bend the neck without pain and to rest easily at night! It is good not to flinch at another's touch Boils are bad! Healing is easy and good!”

Then, since a quarrel was the very last thing he was looking for, he retired into his own gloo care to sit so that he could see and overhear what passed at the entrance As in the course of the day he noticed that the watch was changed every four hours and that there were only three

At intervals throughout the day Yasers; so he ate, for ”the thing to do,” says cocker, ”is the first that co not to do is worry” It is not easy to worry and eat heartily at one and the sa eaten, he rolled up his sleeves and native-made cotton trousers and proceeded to clean the cave After that he overhauled his stock of drugs and instruainst opportunity

”As I told that heathen with a gun out there, there's an end to everything!” he reflected ”May this couard that afternoon he had groeary of his own co up and down The second guard proved even less communicative than the first, up to the point when, to lessen his ennui, King began to whistle Because a Secret Service lish, but a weird minor one to which the ”Hills” have set their favorite love song (that is, all about hate in the concrete!)

The echo of the waterfall within the cave was like the roaring in a shell held to the ear, but each tiuard could catch a few bars of the tune After a little while the hook-nosed ruffian began to sing the words to it, in a voice like a forgotten dog's

So he stopped at the entrance and changed the tune And the guard sang the words of the new tune, too After that he caht was cut off by the huge height of the cliffs all around) and leaned in the entrance, s

”Allah preserve thee, brother!” he re! Thou art a true son of the Prophet!”

”Aye!” said the fellow, ”that I am! Allah preserve thee, for thou hast uard thee just at present Whistlethat boasts of an Afghan invasion of India, and of the loot that came of it, and the prisoners, and the wo more than a few of the to war could have been better chosen for that setting, of a cave ash in earth's wildest ed rim a in again and I will sing!”

He threw his head back and howled until the , and other men in far-off caves took it up and howled it back at hi at last, to drink from a water-bottle, that surely had been looted fro decided to be done with overtures andfor her?” he asked, and thesaw then a blood-soaked bandage on the right of his neck, not very far fros we are silent! When she is silent it is good to wait a while and see!” he answered

”Hah!” said King ”Was that wound got in the Khyber the other day?”

”Nay Here in Khinjan I had my thumb in a man's eye, and the bastard bit one! I threw hiood place for one's ene

”Aye!”

”A ination without any coht in the Khyber was because a jihad is launched aleady”