and swallow it," said the stranger. "Have no fear.It is not death, only short sleep. But to hesitate will be death."And the speaker produced a Browning pistol in one hand, and somethingquite small in the other.
This particular believer was in no hurry to taste the joys of Paradisejust yet, possibly through some misgiving as to whether he hadsufficiently earned them. He glanced at the weapon, then at hisunconscious tribesmen. Without a word he reached forth his hand, tookwhat was placed therein and--did as directed. But the effect upon himwas well nigh instantaneous. He swayed, staggered, then collapsed uponthe ground. There remained now only the man who was engaged in thepreparation of the bath of torment. To him, too, were the sameinstructions given. And he, too, with Oriental stoicism, succumbed tothe inevitable. There remained now, in full possession of theirfaculties, only two--Mervyn and the tall sirdar.
"I think, on the whole, I've managed that rather well--so far," said thelatter, in excellent and refined English.
More than ever did Mervyn think his brain was clean gone.
"Good God!" he ejaculated, giving a violent start and staring at theother in the wildest, blankest amazement.
"I don't wonder you've got--er--something of a shock," said HelstonVarne, looking at him with a touch of concern. "It was a beastlyordeal, but it had to be gone through with."
"But--why didn't you contrive to let me know--to tip me the winksomehow?" asked Mervyn helplessly.
"It'd never have done. It'd have bungled the whole show. Theseworthies' faculties are much too keen to take any risks with. But nowthere's no time to talk. We must get along, and every blessed yard ofstart we steal is worth a lot. The effect of what I've given them maylast three hours, but not many minutes longer. But it was the onlychance. Come now. We shall find your niece all ready--Hussein Khanwill have taken care of that--also of the residue of the Gularzai."
"Well, Varne! Of all the geniuses this world ever produced,"--beganMervyn, as they got outside--"you're that one. But, I had no idea youcould patter the lingo, let alone so faultlessly."
"I was caught young, you see. Born in this country. Now let's lose notime."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Melian, seated in her sleeping quarters, eagerly and with adeepening anxiety, listening for the return of her uncle, heard herselfsoftly hailed by an English voice which was not his--and stepped forthto find herself confronted by a tall Gularzai, her astonishment was notmuch less than that of Mervyn had been. Him, too, she promptlydescried, standing behind the other.
"What on earth does it all mean?" she began. "Why--Mr Varne!"
"Quite right, Miss Seward. And now, are you ready to start?"
"Perfectly."
"Come along then, and we'll go and get the horses. It'll save time, andHussein Khan has his hands pretty full as it is."
The girl drew back in instinctive alarm as they literally stepped overthe slumbering forms of their fierce enemies. Arrived at the picketropes, their horses were promptly bitted and saddled. To Mervyn'ssuggestion that the Gularzai steeds should be cut loose and turnedadrift, Helston objected that it would do more harm than good to setthem stampeding in all directions, would raise the countryside on themperhaps even sooner than it would take their captors to recover from theeffects of the drug. But already, in obedience to his direction,Hussein Khan had secured as much ammunition as he could find, and washurling it over the _khud_. The Pathan was thoroughly enjoying himselfnow; would have enjoyed himself more, had he been allowed to send a fewof these his fellow believers to Paradise--or Jehanum--but this he wasnot.
And as they fared forth beneath the stars, which fortunately shone withsufficient brilliancy to enable them to distinguish the narrow,treacherous, ledgelike paths which they mostly had to thread--conversingonly in whispers, and that sparingly--the three Europeans at any rate,had food for thought. Mervyn was marvelling at the superhuman, andconsummate cleverness of this friend in need. Why, the make-up alonewas a work of genius, and he said as much.
"It was the easier," answered Helston, "because of the beard. That'sgenuine. I let it grow when I started to come out here--not altogetherby accident either, but because I foresaw circumstances under which Imight want to `make up'--not your case, incidentally. A sham one youknow, would never have humbugged these people for a moment."
"Well, you're a miracle all the same," said the other.
Helston Varne felt justified in being rather pleased with himself. Hisunexpected and startling discovery that these two were being carriedaway prisoners into the fastnesses of this wild and lawless band, hadentailed upon him such a shock as he had seldom, if ever quite,experienced. And with it had come the chilling, stunning thought as tohow he, with all his infinite and practised resource, was going torescue them, and at first it certainly seemed almost hopeless. But bornand bred in the East, he had made an especial study of all its dark andundercurrent systems. And he held an important clue.
That find he had made in the old lumber room at Heath Hover he had by nomeans dismissed from his thoughts. He had pondered over it long anddeeply, and had not failed to connect it with some episode of Mervyn'searlier life. And the missing link in the chain had been, halfunconsciously, placed within his grasp by his shikari, Hussein Khan, forthe latter himself belonged to the Brotherhood of the Star.
But if Hussein Khan was bound to the Brotherhood of the Star, he wasbound to his European master by an even stronger tie still. The formermight take his life, and indeed sooner or later, under the existingcircumstances would. For that he cared nothing. But should he fail thelatter, in any point, at any crisis, why then his eternal weal, was notmerely at stake--but doomed. For who shall explain the mysteriousravellings of the dim unfathomable East? Given these conditions, andHelston Varne's unlimited powers of resource and unfailing intrepidityavailed to do the rest.
Now, under the starlight, he looked at the figure of the girl ridingnext in front of him along the single-file, narrow path. This was theprize for which he had thrown the stake--and he had won. His nervesthrilled exultantly within him at the thought. It was a trifleunsteadying even to him. There had been no hesitation in his reply whenhis kinsman had put the matter to him point blank. The time for thathad gone by. Now he had saved her--from a fate of which she was inblissful ignorance, fortunately, but whose purport he had gleaned duringhis brief sojourn with Allah-din Khan--and his own mind was telling himthat he had saved her for himself.
From their first meeting on the day when he had been imprisoned in thechill mysterious vault at Heath Hover, her image had remained fixed uponhis mind. He had not striven to resist the growing fascination; hepreferred to watch its development--or the reverse--as a matter ofpsychological study; for as we have seen, he did not err on the side ofcoming to Heath Hover too often. And now, would he win? He thought hewould.
Was it by a subtle telepathy that as they fared thus forward through thenight, and in silence, that she should be thinking exclusively of him?Yet she was. She recalled how she had been looking forward to meetinghim again--out here, in this wild, strange, and to her, new land. How,too, during the startling, then alarming occurrence of their captivity,her thoughts had flown at once to his propinquity as to a tower ofrefuge--she liked that simile and it would often recur. How, too, shehad tried to impart that element of hope to her uncle, only to be toldthat their entanglement was even beyond Helston Varne's powers ofunravelment. Yet the reverse had befallen. She had proved right, andHelston Varne had come to the rescue, and brought them forthtriumphantly. Indeed, that everything was bound to come right if he hadthe settling of it had now become an article of faith with her.
A short halt was made to rest the horses, then on again. It will beremembered that the course of the freebooters had been set so as tobring them much nearer to Mazaran, and now with luck, they hoped toreach that station in about twenty-four hours' journeying. Why, Coateshimself, who had started thither simultaneously wit
h his kinsman'sventure, would hardly have arrived by then, even if he did not decide towait at Fort Shabal, a small post which lay between his camp andMazaran--for safety's sake.
But with the small hours of the morning came a change, and with itanxiety. For a mist was arising, blotting out the stars; whose lightindeed they required in that labyrinthine winding through chaotic rocks,or along this or that steep mountain side with a precipitous drop notfar down the slope. Hussein Khan, the hard, lifelong mountaineer, whowas guiding, shook a gloomy head as he looked upward and around. Noneknew better than he what it might portend. None knew better than hethat the most practised mountaineer might become helpless as a childwhen plunged in thick mist. And this mist, though not yet thick, showedevery tendency to become so. Added to