"I hate that place of mud and
lime. The blood of my people cries on me when I enter the gates. But
if it is your counsel I will come with you."
"I wish to assure myself that the place is quiet. Our success depends
upon the whole country being unsuspicious and asleep. Now if word has
got to the south, and worse still to England, there will be questions
asked and vague instructions sent up to the frontier. We shall find a
stir among the garrisons, and perhaps some visitors in the place. And
at the very worst we might find some fool inquiring about the Nazri
Pass. There was once a man in Bardur who did, but people laughed at him
and he has gone."
"Where?" asked the chief.
"To England. But he was a harmless man, and he is too old to have any
vigour."
As the darkness grew over the hills the fires were brightened and the
curious game of _khoti_ was played in groups of six. The women came to
the house-doors to sit and gossip, and listened to the harsh laughter of
their lords from beside the fires. A little after midnight, when the
stars were picked out in the deep, velvet sky, Fazir Khan and the
stranger, both muffled to the ears, stole beyond the street and
scrambled down the perilous path-ways to the south.
CHAPTER XXII
THE OUTPOSTS
Towards the close of a wet afternoon two tongas discharged Lewis,
George, two native servants, and a collection of gun-cases in the
court-yard of the one hotel in Bardur.
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