Part 19 (2/2)

”Why not loot? Who can prevent you? Who shall call you to account?” was the burden of the Turk's song

And Tugendhei the ht by the four troopers who had charge of him-better mounted than he, and very reeable as he could, telling tales about his life in India-not proper tales to tell to a sahib, but such as to s he said began to carry the weight that goes with friendliness He soon discovered what the feeling was toward Ranjoor Singh, and so about After that he took the Turk's cue (although he sincerely despised Turks) and began with hint and jest to propagate lust for loot in the men's minds Partly, I think, he planned to enrich hih God knows in which direction he thought safety lay!) Partly, I think, he hoped to bring us to destruction, and so perhaps offset his offense of having yielded to our threats, hoping in that way to rehabilitate hioes a lawyer to court, sure of a fee if his client wins, yet sure, too, of a fee if his client loses, enjoying profit and entertainendheim? Unlike a lawyer, he stood to take the consequences if both forks of the stick should fail I told Ranjoor Singh all that Tugendhei to the h he made no comment He did not trust me yet any more than he felt compelled to

”Send Abraha jealous that the Syrian should hear what Ithe pace, and by the time I speak of noe had nearly crossed that desert, for a rim of hills was in front of us and all about It was not true desert, such as we have in our Punjab, but a great plain already showing pro ready to burst open; e lay at rest it amused us to pluck them and try to determine what they would look like when their time should coood to eat, that the Syrians called ”daughters of thunder,” saying that was the local naendheim called them truffles A little water and that desert would be fertile farh conversed with Abrahaht we ca around us, Ranjoor Singh sitting by a bright fire half-way up the side of a slope where he could overlook us all and be alone We had seenus perhaps for Turkish troops, for they vanished after the first glimpse Nevertheless, we tethered our horses close in the valley bottoencies

I reht well, for it was the first since we started eastward in the least to resehts Itlove-songs The stars swung low, looking as if asweet on the night air I was listening to Abraham's tales about Turks-tales to h calledh or loud that it lost dignity) ”Hira Singh!” he called, and I answered ”Ha, sahib!” and went cla up the hill

He let h the darkness, before he , I on one side of the fire and he the other

”I have watched you, Hira Singh,” he said at last ”Now and again I have seeun toback and forth below,” he said, looking past me down into the hollohere shadows of lint in firelight Then he said quietly, ”The spirit of a Sikh requires deeds of us”

”Deeds in the dark?” said I, for I hoped to learn more of as in his mind

”Should a Sikh's heart fail him in the dark?” he asked

”Have I failed you,” said I, ”since you came to us in the prison camp?”

”Who am I?” said he, and I did not answer, for I wondered what he meant He said notheir numbers one to another in the dark above us

”If you serve me,” he said at last, ”how are you better than the stable-helper in cantonrooive you a full belly, but your honor is your own How shall I know your heart?”

I thought for a long while, looking up at the stars He was not i hi for my admiration

”Sahib,” I said finally, ”by this oath you shall know my heart Should I ever doubt you, I will tear out your heart and lay it on a dung-hill”

”Good!” said he But I remember he made me no threat in return, so that even to this day I wonder hoords sounded in his ears I ah to dare swear such an oath If he had sworn me a threat in return I should have felt ained by that? My heart and my belly are not one Self-satisfaction would not have helped

”Soon,” he said, looking into my eyes beside the fire, ”we shall h for men and rows less more men can ride in the carts, so that we shall ue and our road leads more and more into the unknown We need eyes ahead of us I can control the men if I stay with theence?”

In a flash I saw his h to ride ahead But who else could control the iment's honor in a Flanders trench and a Ger their personal honor thatwith Turkish prisoners With their sense of honor gone, could even Ranjoor Singh control theh rode forward, who should stay behind and stand in his shoes?

I looked at the stars, that had the color of jewels in the-the ue itched to say some foolish word, that would have proved ht came to an again