King--of the Khyber Rifles: A Romance of AdventureMundy, Talbot
History
King--of the Khyber Rifles: A Romance of Adventure
Mundy, Talbot
British -- India -- Fiction; Historical fiction; India -- History -- Sepoy Rebellion, 1857-1858 -- Fiction; Love stories; War stories
When Ismail had gone striding down the room, with no glance to spare
for the whispering women in the window, and with dignity like an aura
exuding from him, King looked into the Rangar's eyes with that engaging
frankness of his that disarms so many people.
“Then you'll be on the train to-night?” he asked.
“To hear is to obey! With pleasure, sahib!”
“Then good-by until this evening.”
King bowed very civilly and walked out, rather unsteadily because his
head ached. Probably nobody else, except the Rangar, could have guessed
what an ordeal he had passed through or how near he had been to losing
self-command.
But as he felt his way down the stairs, that were dimly lighted now, he
knew he had all his senses with him, for he “spotted” and admired the
lurking places that had been designed for undoing of the unwary, or even
the overwary. Yasmini's Delhi nest was like a hundred traps in one.
“Almost like a pool table,” he reflected. “Pocket 'em at both ends and
the middle!”
In the street he found a gharry after a while and drove to his hotel.
And before Ismail came he took a stroll through a bazaar, where he made
a few strange purchases. In the hotel lobby he invested in a leather bag
with a good lock, in which to put them. Later on Ismail came and proved
himself an efficient body-servant.
That evening Ismail carried the leather bag and found his place on the
train, and that was not so difficult, because the trains running North
were nearly empty, although the platforms were all crowded. As he stood
at the carriage door with Ismail near him, a man named Saunders slipped
through the crowd and sought him out.
“Arrested 'em all!” he grinned.
“Good.”
“Seen anything of her? I recognized Yasmini's scent on your envelope.
It's peculiar to her--one of her monopolies!”
“No. I'm told she went North yesterday.”
“Not by train, she didn't! It's my business to know that!”
King did not answer; nor did he look surprised. He was watching Rewa
Gunga, followed by a servant, hurrying to a reserved compartment at the
front end of the train. The Rangar waved to him and he waved back.
“I'd know her in a million!” vowed Saunders. “I can take oath she hasn't
gone anywhere by train! Unless she has walked, or taken a carriage,
she's in Delhi!”
The engine gave a preliminary shriek and the giant Ismail nudged King's
elbow in impatient warning. There was no more sign of Rewa Gunga, who
had evidently settled down in his compartment for the night.
“Get my bag out again!” King ordered, and Ismail stared.
“Get out my bag, I said!”
“To hear is to obey!” Ismail grumbled, reaching with his long arm
through the window.
The engine shrieked again, somebody whistled, and the train began to
move.
“You've missed it!” said Saunders, amused at Ismail's frantic
disappointment. The giant was tugging at his beard. “How about your
trunk? Better wire ahead and have it spotted for you.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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