by John Buchan
CHAPTER XXX
EVENING IN THE HILLS
The airless heat of afternoon lay on the rocks and dry pastures. Thefar snow-peaks, seen for a moment through a rift in the hills, shimmeredin the glassy stillness. No cheerful sound of running water filled thehollows, for all was parched and bare with the violence of intemperatesuns and storms. Soon he was out of sight and hearing of the village,travelling in a network of empty watercourses, till at length he came tothe long side of mountain which he knew of old as the first landmark ofthe way. A thin ray of hope began to break up his despair. He knew nowthe exact distance he had to travel, for his gift had always been aninfallible instinct for the lie of a countryside. The sun was stillhigh in the heavens; with any luck he should be at Nazri by six o'clock.
He was still sore with wounded pride. That Marker should have divinedhis weakness and left open to him a task in which he might rest with acheap satisfaction was bitter to his vanity. The candour of his mindmade him grant its truth, but his new-born confidence was sadlydissipated. And he felt, too, the futility of his efforts. That oneman alone in this precipitous wilderness should hope to wake the Borderseemed a mere nightmare of presumption. But it was possible, he said tohimself. Time only was needed. If he could wake Bardur and the north,and the forts on the passes, there would be delay enough to wake India.If George were at Nazri there would be two for the task; if not, therewould be one at least willing and able.
It was characteristic of the man that the invasion was bounded for himby Nazri and Bardur. He had no ears for ultimate issues and the ruin ofan empire. Another's fancy would have been busy on the future; Lewissaw only that pass at Nazri and the telegraph-hut beyond. He must getthere and wake the Border; then the world might look after itself. Ashe ran, half-stumbling, along the stony hillside he was hard at workrecounting to himself the frontier defences. The Forza and Khautmigarrisons might hold the pass for an hour if they could be summoned. Itmeant annihilation, but that was in the bargain. Thwaite was strongenough in Bardur, but the town might give him trouble of itself, and hewas not a man of resources. After Bardur there was no need of thought.Two hours after the telegraph clicked in the Nazri hut, the north ofIndia would have heard the news and be bestirring itself for work. Infive hours all would be safe, unless Bardur could be taken and the wirescut. There might be treason in the town, but that again was not hisaffair. Let him but send the message before sunset, and he would stillhave time to get to Khautmi, and with good luck hold the defile forsixty minutes. The thought excited him wildly. His face dripped withsweat, his boots were cut with rock till the leather hung in shreds, anda bleeding arm showed through the rents in his sleeve. But he felt nophysical discomfort, only the exhilaration of a rock climber with thesummit in sight, or a polo player with a clear dribble before him to thegoal. At last he was playing a true game of hazard, and the chance gavehim the keenest joy.
All the hot afternoon he scrambled till he came to the edge of a newvalley. Nazri must lie beyond, he reasoned, and he kept to the higherground. But soon he was mazed among precipitous shelves which neededall his skill. He had to bring his long stride down to a very slow andcautious pace, and, since he was too old a climber to venture rashly, hemust needs curb his impatience. He suffered the dull recoil of hisearlier vigour. While he was creeping on this accursed cliff theminutes were passing, and every second lessening his chances. He was ina fever of unrest, and only a happy fortune kept him from death. But atlength the place was passed, and the mountain shelved down to a plateau.A wide view lay open to the eye, and Lewis blinked and hesitated. Hehad thought Nazri lay below him, and lo! there was nothing but a tangleof black watercourses.
The sun had begun to decline over the farther peak, and the man's heartfailed him utterly. These unkind stony hills had been his ruin. He waslost in the most formidable country on God's earth, lost! when hiswhole soul cried out for hurry. He could have wept with misery, andwith a drawn face he sat down and forced himself to think.
Suddenly a long, narrow black cleft in the farther tableland caught hiseye. He took the direction from the sun and looked again. This must bethe Nazri Pass, which he had never before that day heard of. He sawwhere it ended in a stony valley. Once there he had but to follow thenullah and cross the little ridge to come to Nazri.
Weariness was beginning to grow on him, but the next miles were thequickest of the day. He seemed to have the foot of a chamois. Down therocky hillside, across the chaos of boulders, and up into the darknullah he ran like a maniac. His mouth was parched with thirst, and hestopped for a moment in the valley bottom to swallow some rain-water.At last he found himself in the Nazri valley, with the thin sword-cutshowing dark in the yellow evening. Another mile and he would be at thecamping-place, and in five more at the hut.
He kept high up on the ridge, for the light had almost gone and thevalley was perilous. It must be hideously late, eight o'clock or more,he thought, and his despair made him hurry his very weary limbs.Suddenly in the distant hollow he saw the gleam of a fire. He stoppedabruptly and then quickened with a cry of joy. It must be the faithfulGeorge still waiting in the place appointed. Now there would be two tothe task. But it was too late, he bitterly reflected. In a little themoon would rise, and then at any moment the van of the invader mightemerge from the defile. He might warn Bardur, but before anything couldbe done the enemy would be upon them. And then there would be asouthward march upon a doubtful and half-awakened country, and then--heknew not.
But there was one other way. It had not occurred to him before, for itis not an expedient which comes often to men nowadays, save to such asare fools and outcasts. We are a wise and provident age, mercantile inour heroics, seeking a solid profit for every sacrifice. But thisman--a child of the latter day--had not the new self-confidence, and hewas at the best high-strung, unwise, and unworldly. Besides, he wasbroken with toil and excited with adventure. The last dying rays of thesun were resting on the far snow walls, and the great heart of the westburned in one murky riot of flame. But to the north, whence camedanger, there was a sea of yellow light, islanded with faint roseateclouds like some distant happy country. The air of dusk was thin andchill but stirring as wine to the blood, and all the bare land was forthe moment a fairy realm, mystic, intangible and untrodden. Thefrontier line ran below the camping place; here he was over the border,beyond the culture of his kind. He was alone, for in this adventureGeorge would not share. He would earn nothing, in all likelihood hewould achieve nothing; but by the grace of God he might gain someminutes' respite. He would be killed; but that, again, was no businessof his. At least he could but try, for this was his one shred of hoperemaining.
The thought, once conceived, could not be rejected. He was no coward orsophist to argue himself out of danger. He laid no flattering unctionto his soul that he had done his best while another way remaineduntried. For this type of man may be half-hearted and a coward inlittle matters, but he never deceives himself. We have all our ownvirtues and their defects. I am a well-equipped and confident person,walking bluffly through the world, looking through and down upon myneighbours, the incarnation of honesty; but I can find excuses formyself when I desire them, I hug my personal esteem too close, and athousand to one I am too great a coward at heart to tell myself thenaked truth. You, on the other hand, are vacillating and ill at yourease. You shrink from the hards of life which I steer happily through.But you have no delusions with yourself, and the odds are that when thetime comes you may choose the "high that proved too high" and achievethe impossibly heroic.
A tired man with an odd gleam in his eye came out of the shadows to thefirelight and called George by name.
"My God, Lewis, I am glad to see you! I thought you were lost. Food?"and he displayed the resources of his larder.
Lewis hunted for the water-bottle and quenched his thirst. Then he ateravenously of the cold wild-fowl and oatcake which George had provided.He was silent and incurious till he had satisfied his wants; then helooked up to meet George's questions.
&
nbsp; "Where on earth have you been? Andover said you started out to comehere last night. I did as you told me, you know, and when you didn'tcome I roused the Khautmi people. They swore a good deal but turnedout, and after an infernal long climb we got to Forza. We roused upAndover after a lot of trouble, and he took us in and gave us supper.He said you had gone off hours ago, and that the Bada-Mawidi businesshad been more or less of a fraud. So I slept there and came back herein the morning in case you should turn up. Been shooting all day, butit was lonely work and I didn't get the right hang of the country.These beggars there are jolly little use," and he jerked his head in thedirection of the native servants. "What _have_ you been after?"
"I? Oh, I've been in queer places. I fell into the hands of the Badasa couple of hours after I left Forza. There was a storm up there and Igot lost in the mist. They took me up to a village and kept me thereall night. And then I heard news--my God, such news! They let me gobecause they thought I could do no harm and I ran most of the way here.Marker has scored this time, old man. You know how he has been goingabout all North India for the last year or two getting things much hisown way. Well, to-night when the moon rises the great blow is to bestruck. It seems there is a pass to the north of this; I knew the placebut I didn't know of the road. There is an army coming down that placein an hour or so. It is the devil's own business, but it has got to befaced. We must warn Bardur, and trust to God that Bardur may warn thesouth. You know the telegraph hut at the end of the road, when youbegin to climb up the ravine to the place? You must get down there atonce, for every moment is precious."
George had listened with staring eyes to the tale. "I can't believeit," he managed to ejaculate. "God, man! it's invasion, an unheard-ofthing!"
"It's the most desperate truth, unheard-of or no. The whole thing liesin our hands. They cannot come till after midnight, and by that timeThwaite may be ready in Bardur, and the Khautmi men may be holding theroad. That would delay them for a little, and by the time they tookBardur they might find the south in arms. It wouldn't matter a straw ifit were an ordinary filibustering business. But I tell you it's a greatarmy, and everything is prepared for it. Marker has been busy formonths. There will be outbreaks in every town in the north. Therailways and arsenals will be captured before ever the enemy appears.There will be a native rising. That was to be bargained for. But Godonly knows how the native troops have been tampered with. That man wasas clever as they make, and he has had a free hand. Oh the blindfools!"
George had turned, and was buttoning the top button of his shooting-coatagainst the chilly night wind. "What shall I say to Thwaite?" heasked.
"Oh, anything. Tell him it's life or death. Tell him the facts, anddon't spare. You'll have to impress on the telegraph clerk itsimportance first and that will take time. Tell him to send to Gilgitand Srinagar, and then to the Indus Valley. He must send into Chitraltoo and warn Armstrong. Above all things the Kohistan railway must bewatched, because it must be their main card. Lord! I wish I understoodthe game better. Heaven knows it isn't my profession. But Thwaite willunderstand if you scare him enough. Tell him that Bardur must be heldready for siege at any moment. You understand how to work the thing?"
George nodded. "There'll be nobody there, so I suppose I'll have tobreak the door open. I think I remember the trick of the business._Then_, what do I do?"
"Get up to Khautmi as fast as you can shin it. Better take the servantsand send them before you while you work the telegraph. I supposethey're trustworthy. Get them to warn Mitchinson and St. John. Theymust light the fires on the hills and collect all the men they can spareto hold the road. Of course it's a desperate venture. We'll probablyall be knocked on the head, but we must risk it. If we can stop thebeggars for one half-hour we'll give Thwaite a better chance to set hishouse in order. How I'd sell my soul to see a strong man in Bardur!That will be the key of the position. If the place is uncapturedto-morrow morning, and your wires have gone right, the chief danger onthis side will be past. There will be little risings of wasps' nests upand down the shop, but we can account for them if this army from thenorth is stopped."
"I wonder how many of us will see to-morrow morning," said Georgedismally. He was not afraid of death, but he loved the pleasant world.
"Good-bye," said Lewis abruptly, holding out his hand.
The action made George realize for the first time the meaning of hiserrand.
"But, I say, Lewie, hold on. What the deuce are you going to do?"
"I am dog-tired," said the impostor. "I must wait here and rest. Ishould only delay you." And always, as if to belie his fatigue, his eyeswere turning keenly to the north. At any moment while he stood therebandying words there might come the sound of marching, and the van ofthe invaders issue from the defile.
"But, hang it, you know. I can't allow this. The Khautmi men mayn'treach you in time, and I'm dashed if I am going to leave you here to bechawed up by Marker. You're coming with me."
"Don't be an ass," said Lewis kindly. This parting, one in ignorance,the other in too certain knowledge, was very bitter. "They can't be herebefore midnight. They were to start at moonrise, and the moon is onlyjust up. You'll be back in heaps of time, and, besides, we'll soon allbe in the same box."
It was a false card to play, for George grew obstinate at once. "ThenI'm going to be in the same box as you from the beginning. Do youreally think I am going to desert you? Hang it, you're more importantthan Bardur."
"Oh, for God's sake, listen to reason," Lewis cried in despair. "Youmust go at once. I can't or I would. It's our only chance. It's ajolly good chance of death anyway, but it's a naked certainty unless youdo this. Think of the women and children and the people at home. Youmay as well talk about letting the whole thing slip and getting back toBardur with safe skins. We must work the telegraph and then try to holdthe road with the Khautmi men, or be cowards for evermore. We'regentlemen, and we are responsible."
"I didn't mean it that way," said George dismally. "But I want you tocome with me. I can't bear the thought of your being butchered herealone, supposing the beggars come before we get back. You're sure thereis time?"
"You've three hours before you, but every moment is important. This isthe frontier line, and this fire will do for one of the signals. You'llfind me here. I haven't slept for days." And he yawned with feigneddrowsiness.
"Then--good-bye," said George solemnly, holding out his hand a secondtime. "Remember, I'm devilish anxious about you. It's a pretty hot jobfor us all; but, gad! if we pull through you get the credit."
Then with a single backward glance he led the way down the narrow track,two mystified servants at his heels.
Lewis watched him disappear, and then turned sadly to his properbusiness. This was the end of a very old song, and his heart cried outat the thought. He heaped more wood on the blaze from the little pilecollected, and soon a roaring, boisterous fire burned in the glen, whilegiant shadows danced on the sombre hills. Then he rummaged in the tenttill he found the rifles, carefully cleaned and laid aside. He selectedtwo express 400 bores, a Metford express and a smooth-bore Winchesterrepeater. Then he filled his pockets with cartridges, and from a smallbox took a handful for his revolver. All this he did in a sort ofsobbing haste, turning nervous eyes always to the mouth of the canyon.He filled his flask from a case in the tent, and, being still ravenouslyhungry, crammed the remnants of supper into a capacious game-pocket.Then, all preparations being made, he looked for a moment down the roadwhere his best friend had just gone out of his ken for ever. Thethought was so dreary that he did not dare to delay longer, but with abundle of ironmongery below his arms began to scramble up the glen towhere the north star burned between two peaks of hill.
He did the journey in an hour, for he was in a pitiable state ofanxiety. Every moment he looked to hear the tramp of an army beforehim, and know his errand of no avail. Over the little barrier ridge hescrambled, and then up the straight gully to the little black rift whichwas the gate of an empire. His unquiet mind peopled the wilderness w
ithvoices, but when, breathless and sore, he came into the jaws of thepass, all was still, silent as the grave, save for an eagle whichcroaked from some eyrie in the cliffs.