he sped by, but what he said was indistinguishable. Lawrence felt more
and more despairing until with a gleam of hope he wondered whether his
uncle had swum to one bank or the other and climbed to safety. He
looked at the bank behind him. It was steep, almost perpendicular, but
marked by fissures that promised to give him foothold. With teeth
chattering and limbs trembling with cold he essayed to clamber up. At
another time he would have found the feat easy enough: now he was amazed
at the tax it put upon him. Every now and then he stopped, clung on with
his hands, and turned his head to glance again at the stream. At last,
on gaining the top, he looked along the track in both directions. Nobody
was in sight. The aeroplane had again disappeared from view.
Hesitating a moment he began to walk up the track. A new fear assailed
him: what if the aeroplane had met with an accident! What if the engine
had failed, or the pilot had been too venturesome, and in attempting to
wheel in too narrow a space had crashed against the rock! Shivering as
much from anxiety as from cold, he felt a glow of extravagant delight
when he heard a cheery shout, and Bob came hasting towards him from
round the corner of a jutting rock.
"Any sign of him?" asked Bob anxiously as he met his brother.
"No. What can have become of him?"
"I fear the worst: but even if--if he is drowned he must come up some
time. We had better walk up and down for a bit."
"Where's the machine?"
"A few yards above the bridge. It was a risky thing, coming down there,
but I thought I'd venture, and luckily didn't come to grief."
"Let us get our field-glasses. We can then examine every crevice in the
other bank. We can't get to the other side and examine this. By the
way, how did you get across?"
"One of the ropes that formed the hand-rails of the bridge is uninjured.
It sags a bit, but it's just taut enough to swing over by."
For some time they marched up and down, above and below the spot where
their uncle had fallen. Bob stripped to his shirt, and swam along with
the current below the track, searching every cranny into which he
thought the body might have been carried. No discovery rewarded his
care except a primitive fishing net, the meshes of which had caught upon
the jagged edges of a rock.
"Do you think the Kalmucks got hold of him?" said Lawrence when they
again met.
"Upon my word, I had almost forgotten them. They may have done so.
It's clear that they got out of the river, and their horses, too. I
didn't see them as I flew up. What more can we do?"
"I don't know. I'm dead beat. I can't help thinking that the Kalmucks
must have captured him, alive or dead. When we have rested we had
better get our rifles and go and meet the Pathans. They ought to be
near by this time. With them hunting on horseback and ourselves in the
aeroplane we can scour the country. But we must tell our men; it's no
good starting without them."
"I think you're right. We'll get something to eat, and by the time
you've had a rest, no doubt the men will arrive."
CHAPTER THE EIGHTH
THE EDGE OF THE STORM
They swung themselves across the river hand over hand on the rope. On
returning to the aeroplane Bob opened a box of sardines and took out of
a biscuit tin some of the flat bread-cakes baked by the Chinese cook.
But neither he nor Lawrence had any appetite. After a few minutes
Lawrence got up.
"It's no good," he said. "I can't eat, and I can't rest. It would be
different if we knew for certain that the old man was gone; it's the
uncertainty that's so wearing. Do you see anything of the Pathans?"
Bob took his field-glass and went to the edge of the track, whence he
had a scarcely interrupted view of a mile or more of the valley.
"No, they're not in sight," he said after a minute or two. "Shall we go
and meet them?"
"I'm more inclined to go down-stream, on the off-chance that we may find
something."
"All right. Better take our rifles, perhaps."
"Why? Nurla has got clean away by this time, whether Uncle is with him
or not. You may be sure he wouldn't wait about."
"Well, we'll take our revolvers; it's just as well to have something
handy. For all we know he may be resting behind some rock."
"With a rifle! Revolvers wouldn't be much use against that."
"Nor would rifles, now you mention it. He'd pot us before we saw him if
he wanted to. All the same, we'll take our revolvers."
They swarmed across by the rope, gained the farther bank, and walked
slowly down the track, scanning the rocky recesses as narrowly as
before. They had scarcely any hope of finding their uncle's body; but
while it remained undiscovered they were ready to search again and
again. It was now near midday, and the sun beat fiercely upon them.
For a time they were unconscious of the heat in the intentness of their
occupation, and the foreboding anxiety that filled their minds; so that
they had walked much farther than they supposed when they became alive
to the fatigue induced by exertion in such a temperature. Then, wiping
their perspiring brows, they sank down to rest on a flattish boulder
overhanging the stream.
"We must give it up," said Bob wearily. "Unless Nurla has got him he's
either at the bottom of the river, or else washed down miles by this
time."
"I don't care about caving in altogether," said Lawrence. "It would be
some satisfaction--a mournful one--to recover his body and give him
decent burial."
"Poor old man! He wouldn't care a bit about that. What's more to the
point is to hunt down the blackguards who killed him. That's what I
propose to do as soon as our men come up. Some of them are sure to know
the country, and with them on horseback and ourselves in the aeroplane,
I'd take long odds that we find Nurla in time."
As they talked, they kept their eyes on the river, more from the habit
engendered during the previous few hours than with any strong hope of
their search being rewarded. Presently Lawrence, following with his
eyes the foaming ripples as they swirled down-stream, caught sight of
something that caused him to spring to his feet with a sudden
ejaculation and lift the field-glass to his eyes.
"What is it?" asked Bob, rising also.
Lawrence handed him the glass. Far away he saw, rounding a bend in the
track, a party of horsemen marching slowly in single file towards them.
Their costume proclaimed them as Kalmucks, and though they were too far
distant for their features to be distinguished, the shape of the
foremost seemed to be that of the dwarf, Black Jack.
The watchers suddenly remembered the encampment over which they had
flown earlier in the day. The same thought flashed simultaneously
through their minds: the stealthy proceedings of Nurla in the mine and
his subsequent disappearance had not, then, been prompted by an
indefinite hope of gain; they had been deliberately planned, either in
the knowledge of the proximity of a body of his fellow countrymen, or
even in concert with them. There could hardly be a doubt that, as once
before, an attempt was to be made to dispossess Mr. Appleton of his
mine.
The boys stood watching only for a moment or two; then they dropped
down, feeling instinctively that it behoved them to keep out of sight.
But brief though their gaze had been, it was long enough to assure them
that the approaching party was a numerous one. They counted a dozen
men; others were coming round the bend, and they were strung out along
the track. Every man had a fire-arm of some sort, a carbine, or a
rifle, or a long musket like the Afghan jazail.
For the moment even the fate of their uncle was obliterated from the
boys' minds by this astonishing discovery. They realized that their own
lives and the safety of the mine were in danger. Hitherto their anxious
thoughts had been fixed on one object alone; now they saw themselves
faced with a much more complicated problem.
"We must get back," said Bob, insensibly lowering his tone of voice.
"We can do nothing at present for Uncle. We must at least return to the
aeroplane and wait to see what happens. I'm pretty sure I'm right: those
fellows are being led by the dwarf--and Nurla too, I suspect--to the
mine. Luckily we've plenty of time to fly back in the aeroplane and
give warning."
"What then? If all those men we saw in the encampment are coming along,
we haven't half enough men to prevent anything they like to do."
"I don't care about that. Uncle beat off an attack once, and if those
fellows want the mine, by Jove! they shall have a fight for it."
"You're talking through your hat," said Lawrence, whose tastes and
temperament were quite unmilitary, and who did not know his brother,
perhaps, as well as might have been expected.
"Well, we'll get back, at any rate," rejoined Bob, ignoring the
accusation. "And, if possible, without being seen."
They got up, and set off up-stream at a run, keeping as near as possible
to the left-hand side of the track in order to escape observation. Only
now did they discover how far they had come. The bridge was quite out
of sight. They had not timed their walk, and had no means of knowing
how many yards or even miles they had to cover before they should reach
the aeroplane. The distance was in fact more than two miles, and the
Kalmucks were only three-quarters of a mile behind them. The roughness
of the track lessened the horsemen's advantage in being mounted; but the
boys feared that, if they had been seen, the Kalmucks, pressing on the
small, hardy ponies, accustomed to rough country, might overtake them
before they had time to make good their escape across the river.
They were not long left in doubt whether they had been seen and were
being pursued. They had been bounding along a straight stretch of the
track, perhaps half a mile in length. Before they gained the farther
end of it they heard the shrill shouts of the Kalmucks rising above the
droning bass of the river. As they turned the corner, and passed out of
sight, the sharp crack of rifles followed them; but the pursuers had not
dismounted to take aim and had fired a thought too late. The only
effect of the shots was to make the boys increase their speed, for they
knew that the ponies must rapidly gain on them over the straight and
fairly level portion of the track which they had just left. They pushed
on gamely, hugging the cliffside as closely as possible, but being
forced sometimes to diverge towards the river by the nature of the path.
They looked anxiously ahead for a sight of the ruined bridge, and felt
the shock of dismay, when, catching a partial glimpse of it at last,
they found that they had still at least a mile to go.
The pursuers began to close in upon them. A scattered volley proved that
they had again been seen. The Kalmucks were firing and loading as they
rode--a mere waste of ammunition, as it might have seemed, but for an
instant proof that these warriors of the steppes were no mean marksmen,
even in full career. Bob's cap was struck from his head, and he
discovered only by the blood trickling down his neck that he had been
wounded. Lawrence, glancing over his shoulder, saw that it would be
quite impossible to reach the bridge before the pursuers came up with
them.
"We can't do it!" he gasped.
Bob said nothing. His mouth hardened, and he looked intently ahead. At
a few yards' distance a jutting rock encroached upon the track,
rendering it only just wide enough for a horseman to pass. On rounding
it he halted.
"Down on the ground!" he panted. "Out with your revolver! There's
nothing else for it."
They threw themselves down with their faces to the enemy, and covering
themselves as well as they could with the corner of the rock, they held
their revolvers ready to fire at the foremost of their pursuers.
"Wait till they are within a few yards of us," said Bob. "No good
wasting shots at long range. They are bound to go slow."
They waited in breathless excitement. Lawrence the pacific was now as
warlike as Bob himself. The enemy drew nearer. The narrowing of the
track caused them to reduce their pace from a gallop to a trot, then to
a walk. In the ardour of the chase their order had been changed; Black
Jack was no longer in front.
The boys had just had time to pull themselves together when the first
man came within range.
"Now!" said Bob, springing to his feet.
Showing themselves on the narrow path between the rock and the brink of
the river they emptied four barrels rapidly, almost pointblank at the
horsemen. The first two men dropped; the others, taken utterly aback,
reined up, but were thrown into a huddled mass by the men pressing on
behind. There was a moment's pause--a pause emphasized by cries of pain
and fear, and the shrill screams of horses. Then the confused throng
began to wheel about.
"Hold your fire!" whispered Bob, at the same moment emptying his two
remaining barrels into the medley. Another man fell. It was enough.
Reckless of everything but his own safety, each man urged his steed back
along the track, and in a few moments all had passed out of sight.
"We win the first trick," said Bob, glancing at his brother. "Why,
you're as pale as a ghost!"
"So are you," returned Lawrence.
"Well, it's our first experience of war, so I'm not surprised. But we
must cut it. For one thing, my revolver's empty, and I've no more
cartridges here. For another, those fellows will come back as soon as
they've got over their surprise, and even if they funk a frontal attack,
I dare say they can manage to clamber round somehow and turn our flank.
Our only chance is to make a break for the bridge and get over if we can
before they're fit to come on."
[Illustration: A CHECK IN THE PURSUIT]
They started at once, and ran up the track, taking much comfort from the
knowledge that the projecting rock would for some distance conceal them
from the enemy. But after a few hundred yards the track both ascended
and wound slightly to the right, bringing them once more into full view.
They had no sooner reached this point than loud shouts behind them
announced that the pursuit had been resumed. They glanced back, then
ahead, measuring with their eyes the gaps that separated them from
safety on the one hand, and capture on the other. A couple of bullets
whistled over their heads, but the firing ceased, and they guessed that
the enemy were confident of being able to overtake them. Such assurance
was misplaced. The track in this part of the ravine, the scene of the
morning's disaster, was particularly rugged, and gave no advantage to
the mounted men. Moreover, there were at intervals isolated rocks
behind which the boys could have posted themselves as they had already
done, and the Kalmucks approached these heedfully, reining up until
assured that they had no similar ambuscade to fear.
"Lucky they don't know we've only two shots between us," said Bob as he
sprinted along by his brother's side. "A good spurt and we're home."
They were both good runners, though their want of training showed itself
in a certain shortness of wind. They gained the bridge, saw at a glance
that the pursuers were still several hundred yards away, and seizing the
rope began to swing themselves hand over hand across the stream. At
their previous crossings they had exercised some little caution, in case
the rope should break under their weight. Now, however, they put
everything to the hazard, realizing that to fall into the stream would
be no worse than to be caught.
The Kalmucks had been informed by Nurla of the destruction of the
bridge, and had anticipated an easy capture. When they saw the boys
swinging themselves across they gave utterance to renewed shouts; some
flung themselves from their horses and ran forward to swarm over in the
same way: others reined up and once more began to fire. The fugitives
were still some few feet from the farther side, and momentarily expected
to be hit, when there was a sudden diversion in their favour. They
heard shouts in the opposite direction, from beyond the rocks on the
other side of the clear space on which the aeroplane rested.
Immediately afterwards several rifle shots rang out. For a second they
halted in their progress, in the fear that they were the targets of
another hostile band. But next instant it flashed into Bob's mind that
the volley must have been fired by their own Pathans, whose arrival they
had long expected.
"Come on, Law," he cried. "We're all right now."
With three more heaves he was upon the bank. He turned to assist his
brother; then both scurried across the open space, past the aeroplane,
and dashed into safety behind the screen of rocks, where they were
received with shouts of delight by the five stalwart Pathans who lay
there in a line with their rifles at their shoulders.
For the moment they were not aware of the effect of the volley. It had
brought the Kalmucks to a sudden check. One of those who were
scrambling across the rope dropped into the river; the rest swung
themselves round and struggled frantically in the opposite direction.
Two or three of those who had halted on the track were wounded; and
their comrades, realizing that they were helpless against marksmen under
cover, wheeled round and made a hurried flight down the river, not
drawing rein until they had passed the intervening rocks and were
themselves protected. Those who had followed the boys sprang to their
saddles and galloped away; but one of them was winged before he had
ridden many yards. He fell from his pony, which dashed on in pursuit of
the rest and was soon lost to sight, the man rising and limping after.
The Pathans chuckled as they rose to their feet.
"That was well done," said one of them, named Fyz Ali. "But where is
the huzur?"
He turned to the boys, who, feeling thoroughly exhausted by the stress
and strain of this eventful morning, had flung themselves down, and lay
at full length with their heads resting on their arms.
At the man's words Lawrence looked up. He had learnt enough of the
Pathan patois to understand and to make himself understood, though he
could not yet sustain a lengthy conversation. In a few words,
haltingly, he explained what had happened to his uncle. The Pathans
threw up their hands in consternation, invoking the name of Allah and
pouring out a torrent of curses upon Nurla Bai and the Kalmucks. Mr.
Appleton was very popular among them, and the news of his loss, and of
the escape of the assassin, filled them with dismay and rage.
"Beyond doubt the huzur is dead," said Fyz Ali, pulling at his beard.
"Allah is great! The huzur could not live, falling wounded into the
swift water. He sank like a stone, and lies at the bottom. We shall
cast dust upon our heads for our father."
"You were just in time to save us," said Lawrence.
"Allah be praised! We were riding down, and came to the wonderful
machine, and when we saw that the bridge was broken we knew that we must
wait until the huzur returned. Therefore we got off our horses and were
resting and eating when we heard shots afar off, and believed the huzur
was doing justice upon Nurla Bai. But looking down the stream we
perceived the sahibs running, and the accursed Kalmucks after them, and
I said we must hide behind the rocks and fire when the time came. And
by the mercy of Allah we were able to save the sahibs, and our hearts
are glad; but our joy is turned to grief by this heavy news. Our light
is become darkness, and we are as little children."
Lawrence then told in detail, as well as he could, the events of the
morning. When he spoke of the encampment on the plateau, Fyz Ali at
once agreed that Nurla Bai must have known of the proximity of his
fellow countrymen, and that an attack upon the mine was clearly
intended.
"What are we to do, sahib?" he asked.
Before Lawrence could reply, the air was rent by the crackle of rifles,
and a shower of bullets hissed overhead, some pattering upon the rocks.
Some of the Pathans had incautiously shown themselves, and the enemy had
opened fire from their position down the river. They instantly ducked
under cover, and gathered in a group about their young masters, to
consult on their course of action.
"How many Kalmucks did you see?" asked Lawrence.
"We did not count them, sahib," said Fyz Ali, "but there must have been
nearly thirty. There are not so many now," he added with a grim
chuckle.
"And we number seven all told!" said Lawrence. "Look after the men
while I talk to my brother."
"We're in a hole," said Bob. "The fellows aren't great marksmen, but we
can't move the aeroplane while they command the space in front. They're
only about a quarter of a mile away, and with a score of rifles they
couldn't help hitting us."
"What was your idea?"
"To get aloft and fly down-stream to reconnoitre. I should like to know
whether the rest of them are coming up from the camp. But that's out of
the question."
"We're safe for the present, anyhow. They can't cross while we command
the bridge."
"That's true. I wonder whether they can climb the hills, and get at us
from above. You might ask Fyz Ali whether he knows of a path."
The Pathan consulted with his companions. One of them said that he knew
of a rough path a mile lower down the river, which led by a tortuous and
difficult course over the hills; but it involved a round of nearly ten
miles, and the march would take at least five hours.
"By that time it will be dark," said Bob. "It's something to know that
we are safe till then, and it gives us time to think out a plan. The one
thing that's clear at present is that we must get back to the mine."
"And Uncle?"
"We can do absolutely nothing more. In spite of what Fyz Ali said, I
can't help thinking that he may be still alive. If he were drowned, his
body must have come up."
"And the Kalmucks would kill him if they found him."
"I'm not so sure. He'd be a valuable hostage. They might bring him up
to the mine, and make our surrender a condition of his release."
"With all my heart I hope it is so. But suppose they haven't got him?"
"We must get back to the mine and do our best to hold it. That's what
he'd wish us to do. But look here, old chap, we've eaten next to
nothing. It's no good letting ourselves down. Ask Fyz Ali to give us
some of his tommy; we can't get our own; and when we've had a feed we'll
decide what's to be done."
CHAPTER THE NINTH
A FLIGHT BY NIGHT
The afternoon wore away. For some time there was complete silence
except for the gurgling hum of the river, and the low tones of the
Pathans as they talked gloomily among themselves. It occurred to Bob
that the enemy, finding themselves so completely at a check, might have
retreated, to advance again when they should guess that want of food had
driven the Englishmen's party back to the mine. But on putting it to
the test he found that he was mistaken. He practised the old device of
drawing the enemy's fire by means of dummy targets. Two of the Pathans
hoisted their turbans on their rifles until they showed just above the
rocks. The instant result was a volley from downstream, and one of the
turbans on being lowered was found to have several holes drilled in it.
"They don't mean to let us off," said Bob. "I've made up my mind what we
must do. When it's dark we'll creep out, you and I, and start the
engine. We'll toss who shall fly back to the mine----"
"No, that's your job," said Lawrence. "You can manage the machine
better than I."
"Just as you please. Well, I'll go then, and have a talk with old Gur
Buksh. You'll stay here and keep watch on the enemy. By their sticking
on it looks as if they might try to rush the position in the night: but
as they can't get across except as we did, by the rope, you ought to be
able to spoil that little game. I'll tell the havildar all about it,
and get him to make quiet preparations for an attack. Then I'll fly
back. I'll go on down-stream and take a good look at things. The enemy
may have sheered off by the morning: in that case we can have another
look for Uncle, and then return to the mine. If they've been reinforced
from the camp, and look as if they are coming on, we can get back all
the same. They'll have to repair the bridge before they can bring their
horses over, and the Pathans will be miles towards home before that can
be done."
"Don't you think it would be better to bring down some more men and
prevent them from repairing the bridge? We could then stave off an
attack on the mine--perhaps prevent it altogether."
"Too far from our base, my boy. There's that path over the hills the
men know of. We mustn't run the risk of having our rear turned. But
I'll send down some reinforcements. Of course without the bridge the
enemy can't possibly cross until they reach the ford miles up-stream;
but they may be good at mountain climbing, and judging by their
pertinacity so far they won't shirk the journey. They've got time on
their side: there's no hurry: they know that we're boxed at the mine,
and when they get there they've only got to sit tight and intercept our
regular convoys of provisions to starve us out in a month or so. Things
look pretty black, and our only chance is to strengthen our position and
give them so hot a reception that they'll get tired of it."
"There's one thing Uncle ought to have done. He ought to have rigged up
a wireless installation, so that we could summon help in an emergency
like this."