Part 26 (2/2)

There was gruht's rest

”To-night your heartsto and fro to make sure his orders were obeyed It was dark by the tied overcoats-aye, ragged, for those German overcoats had served as coats and tents and what-not, and were not made to stand the wear of British ones in any case-unain

”Ye shall prove to-night,” he said, ”whether ye can endure what mules and horses never could! Warmth ye shall have, if your hearts are true, but the ine yourselves back in Flanders!”

Most of us shuddered I know I did The wind had begun whi, and every now and then would whistle and rise into a scream A few drops of heavy rain fell Then would corow colder Our Flanders experience was likely to stand us in good stead

Tugendheis There was nothing else to do with them because the Syrians were in more deathly fear of the storm than they ever had been of Turks Nevertheless, we did not find theh they were, they had inarched and endured and labored like goodmore than men could overcome, and this sort of storm apparently was one of them We tied the mules and horses very carefully, because we did not believe the Syrians would stand by when the stored hard to be allowed to coh would not let hiendhei about the Gerendhei forward; and, having promised hih to let hiain

The ten Kurds who had been left with us as guides and to help us keep peace aht, and Ranjoor Singh accepted gladly The hostages, on the other hand, were a difficult problees They would havehe had uided hi the mountains with all our horses and mules and supplies And suppose he had h the storm to find Wassht betray us to Wassiveness So we took the hostages with us, and e found a place between some rocks where they could have shelter we drove theendheiuides to help him play us false As for the Greek doctor, we took him with us, too, for ere likely to need his services that night, and in truth we did

We started the instant the store in earnest That enabled us to march about two-thirds of the way toward the Turkish camp and to deploy into proper formation before the hail came and made it impossible to hear even a shout Hitherto the rain had screened us splendidly, although it drenched us to the skin, and the noise of rain and wind prevented the noise we an I could not hear h roared out the order to double forward, but could make none hear, so he seized a rifle from the nearest an to double The remainder saw, and followed suit

The hail was in our backs No ed forward into it, and not one of the Turkish sentriesbefore we reached their posts they were gone, and a flash of lightning showed the tents blown tighter than dru wind and white with the hailstones When we reached the tents there was hail already half a foot deep underfoot where the wind had blown it into drifts, and the next flash of lightning showed one tent-the bi into strips The bimbashi+ rushed out with a blanket round his head and shoulders and tried to kickto do that he scra the tent let the wind in, and that tent, too, split and fluttered and bleay And so at last they saw us co

They sae were so close that there was no time to do much else than run away or surrender Quite a lot of theine, for they disappeared The bih, and died for his trouble on a trooper's bayonet Soht, and they were killed Those who surrendered were disarmed and driven away into the stor showed theh the hail with hands behind their defenseless heads trying to ward off hailstones They looked very ridiculous, and I rehed

I? My share of it? A Turkish soldier tried to drive a bayonet through me I think he was the last one left in camp (the whole business can only have lasted three or fourthe pistol that had once been Tugendhei the caed his body over me to save me from hailstones, that had made me ache already in every inch of my body I rolled under and pulled the body over in oneup to attack hih it It was a goodly thrust, delivered by aworkmanlike If the Turk had not been a fat one I should not be here Luckily, I had chosen one whose weight runt, and because of his thickness the bayonet only pierced an inch or two of h

I yelled and kicked the body offere two Turks, anda pistol at hihtning showed the true facts, and he ca like an ape

”That was a good thrust of mine!” he bellowed in my ear ”But for me that Turk would have had your life!”

When I had cursed his enerations in some detail the truth dawned on him at last I took his weapon away froh, for I knew the thought had come into his thick skull to finish ladly have let hi further said, for I knew the h, but did not dare do that because he would certainly suppose e with him, and drove him in front of me until we found a dead mule-whether killed by hail or bullet I don't know-and he and I lay between theunder its belly, until the storh

I did not knohere the gold was, nor where anything or anybody was I could see about three yards, except when the lightning flashed; and then I could see only stricken plain, with dead ani about, and fallen tents lumpy with the men who huddled underneath, and here and there a live anis

When the storm ceased, suddenly, as all such mountain hail-stor through the darkness shouting for Ranjoor Singh, and I found hi on the ruold coin beside him-quite little boxes, yet only two to a donkey load

”I have the gold,” he said ”What have you?”

”A stab,” said I, ”and the fool who gave itdown ”I had killed a Turk,” said I, ”and this muddlehead with no discernment had the impudence to try to finish the job Behold the result!”

He was one great bruise from head to foot from hailstones, yet with all he had to think about and all his aches, he had understanding enough to spare for my little problem He saw at once that he must punish the man in order to convince him his account with me was settled

”Be driver of asses,” he ordered, ”until we reach Persia! There were five asses One is dead It is good we have another to replace the fifth!”

There goes the trooper, sahib-he yonder with the liood friends to-day as daffadar and trooper can be, but he would have slain h had punished hiht But my tale is not of that trooper, nor of h Consider him, sahib, seated on the dead ass beside ten chests of captured gold, with scarcely a man of us fit to help hi in fifty places where the hail had pierced his skin We were drenched and numbed, with the spirit beaten out of us; yet I tell you he wiped the blood from his nose and beard and made us save ourselves!