Part 42 (1/2)
Her eyes were on his steadily, and she read no fear in his, either, for none was there In hers he saw aaenius and the devilry that would stop at nothing As the general had told hiate and ride the devil down the Khyber for the fun of it
”Au diable, diable et demie!” the French say; and like most French proverbs it is a wise one But whence the devil and a half should come to thwart her was not obvious
”I must be a devil and a half,” he told hihed aloud at the idea She mistook the sudden hu used to that fro! The sirkar sent me to discover what may be this 'Heart of the Hills' men talk about I found these caves-and this! I told the sirkar a little about the Caves, and nothing at all about the Sleepers But even at that they only believed the third of what I said And I-back in Delhi I bought books-borrowed books-sent to Europe for more books-and hired babu Sita Rarew dry and swollen and he used to fall asleep in a corner I know all about Ro to the history of their great Caesar, and their little Caesars-of their conquests and their gaood, and I understood it all! Rome should have been true to the old Gods, and they would have been true to her! She fell when she fooled with Christianity!”
She was speaking drea on a hand and an elbow on the ivory ar as she told her story And it meant so much to her, she was so in earnest, that her voice conjured up pictures for King to see
”When I had read enough I cah now to be sure that the Sleeper is a Roman, and the 'Heart of the Hills' a Grecian maid She is like me That is why I know she drove hi these 'Hills' where Roed through Persia to build a throne for her! I have seen it all in dreaain in the crystal! And because I was all alone, I saw that I would need all the skill I could learn, and an to learn to dance as she danced, using those pictures of her as a model I have surpassed her! I can dance better than she ever did!
”Between tio to Delhi and dance there a little, and a little in other places-once indeed before a viceroy, and once for the king of England-and all , too!-told me that none in the world can dance as I can! And all the while I kept looking for the man-the man who should be like the Sleeper, even as I am like her whom he loved!
”Many a ! For I was impatient in spite of resolutions I burned to find hiin! But you are the first of all the es-he ues Brave be an to think long ago that I o that last test, for there was none like the Sleeper until you came And when this world war broke-for it is a world war, a world war I tell you!-I thought at last that I e all alone And then you came!
”But there were ht that the man must resemble the Sleeper There was a Prince of Ger trip You re pricked his ears and allowed hirin, for in common with many hundred other iven an ear and an eye to know the truth of that affair The grin transformed his whole appearance, until Yas, Princess!” he reminded her
”Well-he came-the Prince of Germany-the borrower!”
”Borrower of what, Princess?”
”Of wit! Of brains! Of platitudes! Of reputation! There ca such rude questions, that even the sirkar could not shut its ears and eyes!
”I did not know all about sahibs in those days I thought that, although this man is what he is, yet he is a prince, and perhaps I can fire hiues I thought he had areedy You see, I was foolish, not knowing yet that in good time if I am patient my man will come to me! But I learned all about Germans-all!
”I offered him India first, then Asia, then the world-even as I now offer them to you The sirkar sent him to see me dance, and he stayed to hear me talk When I saw at last that he has the head and heart of a hyena I told hi drunk, told me truths that I have remembered
”Later he sent two of his officers to ask h a little better mannered I told them lies, too, and they told me lies, but they told ain, a last time And I eary of him The sirkar was very weary of hio to Germany and dance for the kaiser in Berlin He said I will be shown there e I refused He made me other offers So I spat in his face and threw food at hi one of his high officers to demand that I be whipped So I told the sirkar sos he and his officers had told me And the sirkar said at once that there was both cholera and bubonic plague, and he o home!
”I have heard-three men told me-that he said he will never rest until I have been whipped! But I have heard that his officers laughed behind his back And ever since that time there have always been Germans in communication with me I have had more money from Berlin than would bribe the viceroy's council, and I have not once been in the dark about Gerht I a all, Gerlish, Turks, French-and there was a Frenchman whoest words, who laughed at htingwell that all creeds are one when the Gods have named their choice
”There came that old Bull-with-a-beard, Muhaht he is the man, for he is a man whatever else he is But I tired of him I called him Bull-with-a-beard, and the 'Hills' took it up and mocked him, until the new nath to hope and ly than any man I ever met, except a German I have even been sure sometimes that Muhammad Anim is a German; yet now I am not sure
”From all the men I met and watched I have learned all they knew! And I have never neglected to tell the sirkar sufficient of what men have told me, to keep the sirkar pleased with ame-no, no! I have talked with a prince of Geret good roots to eat, but ood saddles; I have used the Germans, as they think they have usedall I knew, and being ready except that I had not founda certain Sikh to discover whether he is the ht in Delhi ar broke and the English dosed the Khyber Pass Yet I had to come up the Khyber, to reach Khinjan
”So it was fortunate that I knew of a German plot that I could spoil at the lastthe Sikh whom I had watched discover it The Germans still believe me their accomplice-and the sirkar was so pleased that I think if I had asked for an English peerage they would have answeredhaul for the sirkar! My offer to go to Khinjan and keep the 'Hills' quiet was accepted that same day!
”But what are ainto Khinjan month by es! Muhammad Anim's men, whom he trusts because he must, hid it all in a cave I showed them, that they think, and he thinks, has only one entrance to it Muhammad Anim scaled it, and he has the key But I have the ammunition!