Part 29 (1/2)

And now there was no longer any doubt that thein the box between two raph, and that most of the other mules were loaded with accessories The tales we heard could not be made to tally with any other explanation And what, said as to prevent the Ger whatever lies they could invent to this party in Afghanistan, supposing they should ever reach the country? Yet e argued thus with Ranjoor Singh, he laughed

And then, after about a week of ed and thirsty and nearly dead, on a horse ht hiave hiold the Persians had refused to feed him ”How should he find his way alone to meet the Russians,” he said, ”whose scouts would probably shoot hi our wounded and be one of us,-aye, one of us; for e to turn him away to starve? He had served us well, and he served us well again

Has the sahib heard of Bakhtiari Khans? They are people as fierce as Kurds, who live like the Kurds by plundering The Germans ahead of us, doubtless because Persia is neutral in this war and therefore they had no conceivable right to be crossing the country, chose a route that avoided all towns and cities of considerable size And Persia seems to have no army any more, so that there was no official opposition But the Bakhtiari Khans received word of as doing, and after that there were new probleed German uniform we should have had more trouble than we did

At first the Khans were content with black ave out, and then the Kahns put threats into practise But before actual skir money froendheied to the party ahead Ranjoor Singh claimed that our transit fee had been paid for us already, and the Khans did not deny it

But they caught up the Gerain and de, and I have laughed many a time to think of the predicae of us? In that case theyuseful allies in their hour of need If the Bakhtiari Khans should annihilate us their own fate would not be likely to tree of us, what ht that not lead to? And hoas it possible for them to know really ere in any case?

Finally, they sent one of their Kurdish servants back to find us and ask questions And to hith in Persian, of which he understood very little; so that when he overtook his own party again (if he ever did, for the Khans were on the prowl and very cruel and savage), they may have been more in the dark about us than ever

At last the Bakhtiari Khans began guerrilla warfare, and the Kurds ere escorting the Geres by which they passed-which incensed the Khans yetto that part of Persia and had counted on the plunder for theht a Bakhtiari Khan, and though they spoke poor Persian, some of us could understand the very weak, made use of them to terrorize whatever section of the country seeovern a land!

There were not veryin parties of thirty to fifty, or perhaps a hundred I think there were not many more of them than of the German party and us combined; and at that the Bakhtiari Khans were all divided into independent troops So that the danger was not so serious as it see to the nerves, and if we had not had Ranjoor Singh to lead us we should have failed in the end; for ere fighting in a strange land, with no base to fall back on and nothing to do but press forward

The Kurds, too, who escorted the Geran to pass us on their way hoh, nevertheless, to get some sort of protection frorew until we laughed at the thought of what anxiety the Gerrew anxious, too, for the Khans grew bolder It began to look as if neither Gerhan border Ranjoor Singh was the finest leadersniped eternally,wounded here and there until scarcely one of us but had a hurt of sorew sick fro and exposure Our little Greek doctor took sick and died, and we had nothing but ignorance left hich to treat our ailinorance helped, for at least we did not kno serious our wounds were I h both ankles, and it is not likely I shall ever walk again without a liovernment has horses? And if a man liht wound compared to soh's good sense saved the day again

There caave us a terrible last attention and then left us-as it turned out for good (although we did not know then it was for good) We watched their dust as their different troops gathered together and rode away southward I suppose they had received word of better opportunity for plunder somewhere else; they took little but hard knocks froe elcome When we had seen the last of them, and had watched the vultures swoop down on a horse they had left behind, we took new heart and rode on; and it so happened that the Ger Kurdish escort was growing h et behind cover and try to reestablish confidence Perhaps they, too, saw the Bakhtiari Khans retiring in the distance, for ere close behind them at that time-so close that even with tired horses we cae wall We knocked a hole in the wall and had a good wide breach established in no tiates should prove too strongly held; and leaving Anih sent a trooper with a white flag to the ate

After ten or fifteenofficer rode out, also with a white flag, and not knowing that Ranjoor Singh knew Gerendhei had hidden behind the ranks disguised with a cloth tied about his head) I sat h, so I heard all

”Persia is neutral territory!” said the Gerh

”Are you?” asked the German He was a handsome bullet-headed man with a bold eye, and I knew that to browbeat or trick him would be no easy matter Nevertheless he still had so et the better of hi our condition

”I could be neutral if I saw fit,” answered Ranjoor Singh, and the Gerlittered

”If you are neutral, ride on then!” he laughed I saw his eye teeth It was ahere?” asked Ranjoor Singh

”Minding my business,” said the Gerate,” said Ranjoor Singh, and he turned to ed his tactics in a hurry

”My business is simple,” said the German ”Perfectly simple and perfectly neutral We have a wireless installation with us It is all ready to set up in this village In a few es from Europe, and then we shall inform the inhabitants of these parts how matters stand As neutrals they are entitled to that infor to read the other's mind, and the German misunderstood, as most Germans I have e we shall send one,” said the Geret in touch with Constantinople and signal this: That we are being interfered with and our lives are endangered on neutral territory by troops belonging to British India, and therefore that all British Indian prisoners-of-war in Geres for our safety That nal every day that all is well, a nu to the nuainst a wall and shot”

”So that h

”Yes,” said the Gerh: ”That the end has certainly coht for your existence there will be no hanistan”