"I need not speak of the reward," said the stranger. "You are our
servants, and duty is duty. But I have authority for saying that we
shall hold your work in mind when we have settled our business."
"What would ye be without us?" said the chief in sudden temper. "What
do ye know of the Nazri gates or the hill country? What is this talk of
duty, when ye cannot stir a foot without our aid?"
"You are our servants, as I said before," said the man curtly. "You
have taken our gold and our food. Where would you be, outlaws, vagrants
that you are, hated of God and man, but for our help? Your bodies would
have rotted long ago on the hills. The kites would be feeding on your
sons; your women would be in the Bokhara market. We have saved you a
dozen times from the vengeance of the English. When they wished to come
up and burn you out, we have put them past the project with smooth
words. We have fed you in famine, we have killed your enemies, we have
given you life. You are freemen indeed in the face of the world, but
you are our servants."
Fazir Khan made a gesture of impatience. "That is as God may direct
it," he said. "Who are ye but a people of yesterday, while the
Bada-Mawidi is as old as the rocks. The English were here before you,
and we before the English. It is right that youth should reverence
age."
"That is one proverb," said the man, "but there are others, and in
especial one to the effect that the man without a sword should bow
before his brother who has one.
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