Part 48 (1/2)
Yas was utterly mesmerized at last and utterly in her power Whereas in truth he was only weary It ave him orders in his sleep, after the accepted manner of mesmerists; but if she did, they never reached hi that he was not conscious ofcarried, nor of ti
Chapter XVI
Wolfsweet over trodden clay, And square each stood in the jungle way Eyeing the other with ears laid back
Still were the watchers When foe greets foe The wisest are quietest Better to go- Who stays to watch trouble woos trouble!
But lo!
They trotted together to hunt one doe, Eyeing each other with ears laid back
When King awoke he lay on a comfortable bed in a cave he had never yet seen, but there was no trace of Yasmini, nor of the men who must have carried him to it Barbaric splendor and splendor that was not by any ed chairs, graven bronze vases, and a yak-hair shaorth a rajah's ransoloouarded, and another square opening cut in the rock to serve as aThrough both openings light streas of a golden zither, on which his own heart's pro he had slept, but judged frontion of his present freshness-and froh the openings-that he must have slept the clock round
It did not matter He knew it did not matter in the least He had no more plan than athat twice two is four in infinite combination Like the mathematician, he knew that he must win
No man ever won a battle or conceived a stroke of statesreat deed was ever accoe, such as co to the line, loyal to first principles King had been loyal all his life
The difference between first principles and the other thing could hardly be better illustrated than by co Yasround to stand on, unless he should choose to come and stand on hers She had men, ammunition, information He had what he stood in, and his only information had been poured into his ears for her ends
Yet his heart sang inside hi never had deceived him He did not believe she would have left hih over-confidence It is one of the absolute laws that over-confidence begets blindness and mistakes
She had staked on what seenal of a holy war She believed froread history she knew that many a conqueror has staked on such cards as hers, to win for lack of a betterhad studied loyalty all his life, and he knew that besides being the hos, and murderers, India is the very entlemen with stout hearts; that in addition to what one Christian Book calls ”whoring after strange Gods” India strives after purity He knew that India's ideals are all imperishable, and her crimes but a kaleidoscopic phase
Not that he was analyzing thoughts just then He was listening to the still small voice that told him half of his purpose was accomplished He had probed Khinjan Caves, and knew the whole purpose for which the lawless thousands had been gathering and were gathering still Remained, to thwart that purpose And he had noa means to thwart it than a mathematician has of the result of two times two, applied
Like a mathe too far ahead, but began to devote hiures nearest Knots are not untied by wholesale, but are conquered strand by strand He began at the beginning, where he stood
He became conscious of human life near by and tip-toed to the door to look A six-foot ledge of smooth rock ended just at the door and sloped in the other direction sharply doard toward another opening in the cliff side, three or four hundred yards away and two hundred feet lower down
Behind him in a corner at the back of the cave was a narrow fissure, hung with a leather curtain, that was doubtless the door into Khinjan's heart; but the only way to the outer air was along that ledge above a dizzying precipice, so high that the huge waterfall looked like a little streale's aerie; the upper rie seemed not more than a quarter of a mile above him
Round the corner, ten feet frouard, armed to the teeth, with a rifle, a sword, two pistols and a long curved Khyber knife stuck handy in his girdle He spoke to the man and received no answer He picked up a splinter of rock and threw it The fellow looked at hiain The ns with his free fingers King looked puzzled TheHe had beenwent in again, to wait on events and shudder
Nor did he have long to wait There ca, up the rock path Then footsteps Then a hoarse voice, growling orders He went out again to look, and beheld a little procession of women, led by a man The ings-the medicine chest-his saddle and bridle-his unrifled mule-pack-and, wonder of wonders! the presents Khinjan's sick had given hi uard and laid the's feet just inside the cave
He s sh sullen crowds But theHe growled at the women, and they went away like obedient anie and await further orders He hiuard did not pay much attention; he let wo one pace forward toward the edge to make more room That was his last entirely voluntary act in this world