I suspect
a loop somewhere."
"What are Logan and Thwaite like?" Lewis asked.
"Easy-going, good fellows. Believe in God and the British Government,
and the inherent goodness of man. I am rather the other way, so they
call me a cynic and an alarmist."
"But what do you fear?" said George. "The place is well garrisoned."
"I fear four inches in that map of unknown country," said Gribton
shortly. "The people up there call it a 'God-given rock-wall,' and of
course there is no force to speak of just near it. But a tribe of
devils incarnate, who call themselves the Bada-Mawidi, live on its
skirts, and there must be a road through it. It isn't the caravan
route, which goes much farther east and is plain enough. But I know
enough of the place to know that every man who comes over the frontier
to Bardur does not come by the high-road."
"But what could happen? Surely Bardur is strongly garrisoned enough to
block any secret raid."
"It isn't bad in its way, if the people were not so slack and easy.
They might rise to scratch, but, on the other hand, they might not, and
once past Bardur you have the open road to India, if you march quick
enough."
"Then you have no man sufficiently adventurous there to do a little
exploring?"
"None. They care only about shooting, and there happens to be little in
those rocks. Besides, they trust in God and the Government of India.
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