of paper round the case to prevent any sign of his teeth on the brass. Lastly, he wrapped the three dummy cartridges with the seven good ones in the original outer wrapper. This done, he issued forth and went to sleep in the verandah.

Next morning Haider dismissed the messenger with a present of a packet of ten Martini cartridges for Muhammad Jan, who received the packet with much pleasure, as each round of Government ammunition is worth a rupee across the Border, and the value of a sheep is not much over ten rupees.

It was after the Ramzan, and Haider was sitting with a small group of friends enjoying the cool of the evening in his verandah. The Post Mullah was there, Hussein Ali, the Havildar, Abdul Aziz, the telegraph clerk, and Karimdad Khan, the Political Agent's representative at the Post. The Mullah drew the pay of a Militia sepoy, and moreover found a place in his company team in the annual rifle competition, but his priestly functions were not officially recognised. He had no scruples about the legality of drawing a salary in the service of infidels, and owed his appointment to the objection of the local fanatical mullahs to performing for Militiamen who die in that service the burial rites without which the good Mussalman is liable to the pains of purgatory, or worse. He also disliked the telegraph

clerk for his views on orthodoxy.

Haider smoked a hookah and from time to time passed it round to his friends, while the Clerk smoked cheap American cigarettes with ostentation. The Clerk had a native news

paper in his hand, partly printed in English and partly in the vernacular, containing very little news and an unconscionable number of advertisements of quack European remedies. His fez was on the back of his head, and his voice had taken the strident tone of the Indian orator.

Haider regarded him with disfavour-he held it unseemly to raise the voice in argument unless one is prepared to

"Prove one's doctrines orthodox By apostolic blows and knocks."

"This paper shows that the Feringhis are tyrannous," the Clerk was saying, "and their oppression grows day by day. In Delhi they have removed the octroi tax, and placed a tax on houses, because the Hindus suffer in their trade from the octroi, and the Mussalmans, who do no usury, own houses and have no power in the Committee [Municipal Council]. The dwellers in Islam are fooled by the promises of the Kafirs [misbelievers]. John Stuart Mill says.

"Who is that?" asked the Subedar.

"A sort of Naushirawan of the Firinghis," answered the Clerk, "whose words they profess to obey."

"He is not in the Political

"Wah!" exclaimed the Subedar, "the words of a dead man are less than the brayings of a live ass."

"But all the Firinghis are bound by them," cried the Clerk. "Is his book not read in all the schools, and is he not 'obligatory subject' for the 'Entrance'?"

This was out of the Subedar's depth, and he shook his head, saying, "Jan Lalens [John Lawrence] I have heard of, and my grandfather served with Jan Nikisang [John Nicholson], but Jan Sturtmil I do not know of. I will ask O'Hara Sahib what war he served in."

Now O'Hara was one of the British officers who, having spent his substance in riotous living and quarrelled with his Colonel, had left the regular Army for the entirely congenial life of the Militia, where, free from duns and temptations, he devoted his very real abilities to the task of disciplining the wild Pathan. A perfect understanding existed between Haider and O'Hara, and Haider placed implicit reliance on his judgments.

"Touching the matter of Delhi," continued Haider, "I have heard it is a very great city, greater than Peshawar, and the wealth of half the world is collected in its bazaar. It is a strange thing that the Feringhis, who are assuredly a poor people else they would not come to these hills, do not

ing men are there in Delhi city, O Babuju?"

"There are more Mussalmans in Delhi than in Peshawar, Subedarji," replied, the Clerk.

"And yet you say, Babuji, that the Feringhis commit oppression on the dwellers in Islam! Have your livers then turned to water that you drive not the oppressors from the city?"

"Subedar Sahib, you do not understand. The dwellers in the cities are not as the dwellers in the mountains; in the cities there is no question of fighting men. There men live according to the laws, and no watchman is upon the gate. We Moghuls are the conquerors of India, conquerors of the world. What are the English if the Mussalmans wish to

drive them forth? Force is a bad thing, and we wish to govern ourselves according to our rights. The Feringhis govern by force and by oppression.'

Wah," exclaimed the Subedar, "the law is one thing and the sword is another; but Government is the handmaiden of force, and Justice is begotten of them."

The Clerk was nettled at the Subedar's contempt for the sanctity of rights and the implication that he lacked the courage to maintain them.

"Subedar," he said, "we Moghuls were as lions, and should occasion arise I will

pect of a brush, and boasted to Haider that he would show him what a Moghul could do in the way of fighting: it never crossed the Subedar's mind that a grown man might know nothing of the use of a rifle, and less did he suspect that the canker of a calm world had eaten away the nerves and physical courage of a Moslim, a Moghul, and so stout a proclaimer of rights. He told the Clerk that the raiders, having failed to draw a party from either post the previous night, were not likely to risk being caught between the parties which would certainly move out in the morning. They would be lucky if they saw enough of the raiders to identify them.

About five miles from Dozak Post a glimpse was caught of a man disappearing over a hilltop, and it was obvious that he had been posted to give information to the raiders of the approach of a party from the Post. This occurrence indicated that the line had been cut midway between the Posts, at a point where it crossed a torrent-bed, giving easy access from tribal country. Haider made up his mind at once how to act if there was any prospect of identifying the raiders, he must leave the telegraph and cut into their line of retreat behind the gang. There was no chance of getting his party there soon enough to intercept them, as a body of men must move with precautions, while a single man might move swiftly and trust to

escape observation, and, moreover, it was necessary for his party to join hands with that from Drenashtah coming along the telegraph line. At the same time it was important to ascertain who the offenders were. Haider, therefore, handed over command of the party to Havildar Hussein Ali, with orders to continue along the line of wire, and he himself was setting off alone to reconnoitre along the probable way of retreat of the raiders.

The Clerk begged the Subedar to be allowed to accompany him. Haider was not anxious to take another man with him on his dangerous undertaking, and objected that it was the Clerk's duty to look to the telegraph line. The Clerk replied that that the the telegraph linesman would be with the other party and there was no need for his services, and urged Haider to grant him this chance of showing his mettle. Time was passing, and Haider gave way.

It was some three miles to the place that they were making for, and the pair set off through the hills at a sharp pace, Haider leading. The greatest caution was necessary; the gang might not have gone by the way expected, or, again, it might have split up, and Haider's object was to see without being seen. They had covered some two miles, stopping to scan the country when they came to higher points and hurrying across the lower ground, when they came to a rocky valley running across

their route which it had been impossible to first reconnoitre. As he entered the side of the valley, and was moving forward among the rocks, Haider glanced uneasily to his left, although it was not the place where he expected the gang to pass. Suddenly he dropped behind a rock, and signed to the Clerk, who was some thirty yards behind him, to do the same. The valley which they were about to cross was some 200 yards wide, and ended to their left in a low pass rather more than 600 paces away. The dry bed of the torrent ran down the middle of the valley some little distance below where the two men were concealed, so that any one going down the valley was likely to pass without noticing them.

The Clerk from behind his rock saw an armed man coming down the torrent-bed towards them. A short distance behind came another man, and then another, and shortly a group of some forty armed men appeared over the pass at the head of the valley. It was evidently the raiding gang.

The Clerk's throat was dry, and he glanced behind him. It was impossible to retreat down the side valley by which they had come without exposing themselves.

Behind was the bare hillside, and in front was the open torrent-bed. The only chance of safety lay in the gang passing without seeing them. The Clerk wished he were nearer Haider, wished he had better cover, and wished fervently

that he had never come. The raiders drew nearer, and the Clerk gazed round his rock fascinated. The sharp edge of a stone pressed into his thigh, and to relieve himself he moved his leg, dislodging a pebble. Haider's head turned sharply at the sound, and he glared at the unfortunate Clerk, who ceased looking round the rock, and lay face downwards, his hands clutching his rifle.

Nearer came the party, and the leading man, all unconscious, was within 150 yards. The Clerk heard the click of his sandal against a stone, and, in spite of himself, moved his head to look, and it seemed as if the man must hear the sound of swallowing in his dry throat. His heart thumped against his ribs as he brought his eye on a level with the edge of the rock. The leading raider appeared to be looking straight at him. The Clerk gasped, and his hands, clutching the rifle convulsively, discharged it. The heavy Martini bullet struck a rock within a yard of the Clerk's head, splattering his face with bits of lead. The Clerk, half-blinded, rose out of the cloud of smoke and dust, and ran wildly towards the side valley by which he had come.

Haider, who had not moved an inch from the shelter of his rock, saw him run. At the report of the rifle the raiders sank under cover of the nearest rocks, and the valley seemed deserted and silent, except for the man running wildly with inarticulate cries. Twenty