Part 32 (2/2)

Then Sandy spoke for the first ti to be taken There's nothing ht We can sell our lives dearly'

'That's about all,' said Blenkiron cheerfully He had suffered such tortures on that gallop that he welcoht

'Serve out the ar across their shoulders Hussin, froht out rifles and bandoliers for the rest of us As I laid mine across my saddle-bow I saas a German Mauser of the latest pattern

'It's hell-for-leather till we find a place for a stand,' said Sandy 'The gaainst us this time'

Onceon a long stretch of even slope Then came a rise, and on the crest of it I saw the sun Presently we dipped into bright daylight and looked down on a broad glen, with a road winding up it to a pass in the range I had expected this It was one way to the Palantuken pass, soed

And then, as I looked southward, I sahat I had been watching for for days A little hill split the valley, and on its top was a kranz of rocks It was the castrol of e 'There's our fort,' I cried 'If we once get there we can hold it for a week Sit down and ride for it'

We bucketed down that hillside likethe twists and turns and slithers Presently ere on the road and were racing past ons I noted thatup Hussin screae, but indeed our crazy speed left the Out of a corner of s and seeht for nothing except the little hill, now allen

No horses could breast that steep We urged them into the hollow, and then hastily disle up the side of the castrol It was streith great boulders, which gave a kind of cover that very soon was needed For, snatching a glance back, I saw that our pursuers were on the road above us and were getting ready to shoot

At normal times ould have been easyabout that hollow The rest could fend for theed him, wholly breathless, by the least exposed route Bullets spattered now and then against the rocks, and one sang unpleasantly near my head In this e covered three-fourths of the distance, and had only the bare dozen yards where the gradient eased off up to the edge of the kranz

Blenkiron got hit in the leg, our only casualty There was nothing for it but to carry hi heart did that last lap It was hottish work, and the bullets were pretty thick about us, but we all got safely to the kranz, and a short scrae I laid Blenkiron inside the castrol and started to prepare our defence

We had little ti, crouching in cover The place ere in was a natural redoubt, except that there were no loopholes or sandbags We had to show our heads over the rier was lessened by the superb field of fire given by those last dozen yards of glacis I posted the men and waited, and Blenkiron, with a white face, insisted on taking his share, announcing that he used to be handy with a gun

I gave the order that no man was to shoot till the ene ran right round the top, and we had to watch all sides to prevent the us in flank or rear Hussin's rifle cracked out presently from the back, so my precautions had not been needless

We were all three fair shots, though none of us up to Peter's ood practice The Mauser was the weapon I knew best, and I didn't miss much The attackers never had a chance, for their only hope was to rush us by nu not above two dozen, they were far too few I think we killed three, for their bodies were left lying, and wounded at least six, while the rest fell back towards the road In a quarter of an hour it was all over

'They are dogs of Kurds,' I heard Hussin say fiercely 'Only a Kurdish giaour would fire on the livery of the Kaaba'

Then I had a good look at Sandy He had discarded shawls and wrappings, and stood up in the strangest costume man ever wore in battle So-breeches Above these, reaching well below his ht emerald I cal it silk, but it was like no silk I have ever known, so exquisite in the e pattern oven on the breast, which in the diarment was ever exposed to lead on a bleak winter hill

Sandy seearb His eye, listless no more, scanned the hollow 'That's only the overture,' he cried 'The opera will soon begin We aps or they'll pick us off frohly dressed Blenkiron's wound with a linen rag which Hussin provided It was from a ricochet bullet which had chipped into his left shi+n Then I took a hand with the others in getting up earthworks to complete the circuit of the defence It was no easy job, for rought only with our knives and had to dig deep down below the snowy gravel As orked I took stock of our refuge

The castrol was a rough circle about ten yards in diameter, its interior filled with boulders and loose stones, and its parapet about four feet high The mist had cleared for a considerable space, and I could see the is West, beyond the holloas the road we had come, where now the remnants of the pursuit were clustered North, the hill fell steeply to the valley bottoe which shut the view East lay another fork of the streauessed, and it was evidently followed by the main road to the pass, for I saw it croith transport The two roads seeuessed we could not be very far frouns sounded very near, both the sharp crack of the field-pieces, and the deeper boom of the howitzers More, I could hear the chatter of theof hounds I even saw the bursting of Russian shells, evidently trying to reach the ht-inch-landed not ten yards froh which we had co shots, and I wondered if the Russians had observation-posts on the heights to ht soon try a curtain, and we should be very near its edge It would be an odd irony if ere the target of friendly shells

'By the Lord Harry,' I heard Sandy say, 'if we had a brace of ainst a division'

'What price shells?' I asked 'If they get a gun up they can blow us to atoms in ten minutes'

'Please God the Russians keep them too busy for that,' was his answer

With anxious eyes I watched our enerown in nu fluttered Then the ain, and our prospect was limited to ten yards of vapour