THE WAY TO KATHIAPUR
Gall and wormwood in his mouth, more bitter than remorse, Amber became
conscious. Or perhaps it were more true to say that he struggled out of
unconsciousness, dragging his ego back by main will-power from the deep
oblivion of drugged slumber. One by one his faculties fought their way
past the barrier, until he was fully sentient, save that his memory
drowsed. His head was hot and heavy, his eyes burned in their sockets
like balls of live charcoal, a dulled buzzing sounded in his ears, his
very heart felt sore and numb; he was as one who wakes from evil dreams
to the blackness of foreknown despair.
He lay for a time without moving. Because it was dark and his memory
not working properly, time had ceased to be for him, and to-day was as
yesterday and to-morrow. The ceiling-cloth above him was blood-red with
light from the sepoys' fire in the compound, and all was as it had been
when he had first lain down the night before. And yet....
Suddenly he raised himself upon the charpoy and called huskily for the
khansamah. Promptly the squat white figure that he remembered appeared
in the doorway. "Bring lights," Amber ordered, peremptory.
"Bring lights quickly--and water." And when the man had returned with a
lamp, which he put on the table, Amber seized the red earthenware
water-jug and drained it greedily. Returning it, empty, to the brown
hands, he motioned to the man to wait, while he consulted his watch. It
had run down. He thrust it back into his pocket and enquired: "What's
o'clock?"
"Eight of the evening, sahib."
Amber gasped and stared. "Eight of the ... Let me think. Go and bring
me food and a brandy-peg--or, hold on! Bring a bottle of soda-water and
a glass only."
The khansamah withdrew. Amber fell back with his shoulders to the wall
and stared unwinking at the lamp. He distinctly remembered undressing
before going to bed; he now found himself fully clothed. He felt of his
pocket, and found the emerald ring there, instead of in its chamois
case. Then it had not been a nightmare!
He had a bottle of brandy which had never been uncorked, in his
travelling-kit. Rising, he found it and inspected the cork narrowly to
make sure it had not been tampered with; then he drew it.
The khansamah returned with the glass and an unopened bottle of
Schweppe's, and prepared the drink under eyes that watched him
narrowly. While Amber drank he laid a place for him at the table. When
he left the room a second time the Virginian produced his automatic
pistol and satisfied himself that it remained loaded and in good
working order.
In the course of a few minutes the native reappeared with a tray of
food and pot of coffee. These arranged, he stood by the chair, ready to
serve the guest. Then he found himself looking into the muzzle of
Amber's weapon, and became apparently rigid with terror.
"Sahib--!"
"Make no outcry, dog, and tell me no lies, if you value your
contemptible life. Why did you drug me--at whose instance?"
"Sahib!..."
"Answer me quickly, son of vipers!"
"By Dhola Baksh, hazoor, I am innocent! Another has done these
things--he who served you last night, belike, and whose place I have
taken."
Now the oaths of India are many and various, so that a new specimen
need not be held wonderful. But Amber sat bolt upright, his eyes
widening and his jaw dropping. "Dhola--!" he said, and brought his
teeth together with an audible click, staring at the khansamah as if he
were a recrudescence of a prehistoric mammal. He caught a motion of the
head and a wave of the hand toward the window, warning him that there
might be an eavesdropper lurking without, and rose admirably to the
emergency.
"That is a lie, misbegotten son of an one-eyed woman of shame! By the
Gateway at Kathiapur, that is a lie! Speak, brother of jackals and
father of swine, lest my temper overcome me and I make carrion of you!"
"My lord, hear me!" protested the man in an extremity of fright. "These
be the words of truth. If otherwise, let my head be forfeit.... Early
in the morning you returned from the lake, heavy with sleep, and so
soundly have you slept since that hour that no effort of mine could
rouse you, though many came to the door, making inquiry. I am Ram Lal,
a true man, and no trafficker in drugs and potions."
"Even so!" said Amber, ironic. "But if, on taking thought, I find
you've lied to me ... Go now and hold yourself fortunate in this, that
I am not a man of hasty judgment."
"Hazoor!" Like a shadow harried by a wind of night, the khansamah
scurried from the room. But on the threshold he paused long enough to
lay a significant finger upon his lips and nod toward the table.
Amber put away his pistol, sighed from the bottom of his soul, and,
seating himself, without the least misgiving, broke his long fast with
ravenous appetite, clearing every dish and emptying the coffee pot of
all save dregs. Then, with a long yawn of satisfaction, repletion, and
relief, he lighted a cigarette and stretched himself, happily conscious
of returning strength and sanity.
From the khansamah's quarters came an occasional clash of crockery and
pattering of naked feet. Outside, in the compound, the sepoys were
chattering volubly; their words were indistinguishable, but from their
constantly increasing animation Amber inferred that they were keenly
relishing the topic of discussion. He became sure of this when, at
length, his curiosity roused, he went to the window and peered out
between the wooden slats of the blind. The little company was squatting
in a circle round the fire, and a bottle was passing from hand to hand.
He turned back, puzzled, to find the khansamah calmly seated at the
table and enjoying one of Amber's choicest cigarettes.
"Thank God," he said, with profound emotion, "for a civilised smoke!"
"Labertouche!" cried Amber.
The pseudo-khansamah rose, bowed formally, and shook hands with
considerable cordiality. "It's good to see you whole and sound," he
said. "I had to wait until Ram Nath's work began to show results. He's
out there, you know, keeping the bottle moving. I don't believe those
damned sepoys will bother us much, now, but we've got no time at all to
spare. Now tell me what you have to tell, omitting nothing of the
slightest consequence."
Amber dropped into a chair, and the Englishman sat near to him. "I say,
thank God for you, Labertouche! You don't know how I've needed you."
"I can fancy. I've had a ripping time of it myself. Sorry I couldn't
communicate with you safely before you left Calcutta. But we've not a
minute to waste. Get into your yarn, please; explanations later, if we
can afford 'em."
Inhaling with deep enjoyment, he narrowed his dark eyes, listening
intently to Amber's concise narrative of his experiences since their
parting before the stall of Dhola Baksh in the Machua Bazaar. Not once
was he interrupted by word or sign from Labertouche; and even when the
tale was told the latter said nothing, but dropped his gaze
abstractedly to the smouldering stump of his cigarette.
"And you?" demanded the Virginian. "Have pity, Labertouche! Can't you
see I'm being eaten alive by curiosity?"
Labertouche eyed him blankly for an instant. "Oh!" he said, with an
effort freeing his mind from an intense concentration of thought. "I?
What's there to tell? I've been at work. That's all.... I was jostled
off to one side when the row started in the bazaar, and so lost you.
There was then nothing to do but strike back to the hotel and wait for
a clue. You can figure my relief when you dropped out of that
ticca-ghari! I gave you the word to go on to Darjeeling, intending to
join you _en route_. But you know why that jaunt never came off. I
found out my mistake before morning, wired you, and left Calcutta
before you, by the same train that conveyed his Majesty the Maharana of
Khandawar. Fortunately enough we had Ram Nath already on the ground,
working up another case--I'll tell you about it some time. He's one of
our best men--a native, but loyal to the core, and wrapped up in his
work. He'd contrived to get a billet as tonga-wallah to the Kuttarpur
_bunia_ who has the dâk-service contract. I myself had arranged to have
the telegraph-babu here transferred, and myself appointed in his place.
So I was able to attach myself to the 'tail' of the Maharana without
exciting comment. Miss Farrell came by the same train, but Salig Singh
was in too great a hurry to get home to pay any attention to her, and
I, knowing you'd be along, arranged that tonga accident with Ram Nath.
He bribed his brother tonga-wallah to bring it about."
"Thank you," said Amber from his heart.
Labertouche impatiently waved the interruption aside. "I looked for you
at the telegraph office this morning, but of course when you didn't
appear I knew something was up. So I concocted a message to you for an
excuse, came down, engaged the khansamah in conversation (I think he
had some idea I was an agent of the other side) and ... he is an old
man, not very strong. Once indoors, I had little trouble with him. He's
now enjoying perfect peace, with a gag to insure it, beneath his own
charpoy. Ram Nath happened along opportunely and created a diversion
with his gin-bottle. That seems to be all, and I'm afraid we mayn't
talk much longer. I must be going--and so must you."
He glanced anxiously at his watch--a cheap and showy thing, such as
natives delight in. Both men rose.
"You return to the telegraph station, I presume?" said Amber.
"Not at all. It wouldn't be worth my while."
"How's that?"
"The wires haven't been working since ten this morning," said
Labertouche quietly. Amber steadied himself with the back of his chair.
"You mean they've been cut?"
"Something of the sort."
"And that means--"
"That this infernal conspiracy is scheduled to come to a head
to-night--as you must have inferred, my dear fellow: this is the last
night of your probation. The cutting off of Khandawar from all British
India is a bold move and shows Salig Singh's confidence. It means
simply: 'Governmental interference not desired. Hands off.' He knows
well that we've spies here, that enough has leaked out, unavoidably, to
bring an army corps down on his back within twenty-four hours, if he
permitted even the most innocent-seeming message to get out of the
city."
Amber whistled with dismay. "And you--"
"I'm going to find out for myself what's towards in Kathiapur."
"You're going there--alone?"
"Not exactly; I shall have company. A gentleman of the Mohammedan
persuasion is going to change places with me for the night. No; he
doesn't know it yet, but I have reason to believe that he got an
R.S.V.P. for the festive occasion and intends to put in a midnight
appearance. So I purpose saving him the trouble. It's only a two-hour
ride."
"But the risk!"
Labertouche chuckled grimly. "It's the day's work, my boy. I'm not sure
I shan't enjoy it. Besides, I mayn't hang back where my subordinates
have not feared to go. We've had a man in Kathiapur since day before
yesterday."
"And I? What am I to do?"
"Your place is at Miss Farrell's side. No; you'd be only a hindrance to
me. Get that out of your thoughts. Three years ago I found time to make
a pretty thorough exploration of Kathiapur, and, being blessed with an
excellent memory, I shall be quite at home."
Amber made a gesture of surrender. "Of course you're right," he said.
"You're always right, confound you!"
"Exactly," agreed Labertouche, smiling. "I'm only here to help you
escape to the Residency. Raikes and Colonel Farrell have already been
advised to make preparations for a siege or for instant flight, if I
give the word. They need you far more than I shall. It would be simple
madness for you to venture to Kathiapur to-night. The case is clear
enough for you to see the folly of doing anything of the sort."
"It may be clear to you...."
"See here," said Labertouche, with pardonable impatience; "I'm
presuming that you know enough of Indian history to be aware that the
Rutton dynasty in Khandawar is the proudest and noblest in India; it
has descended in right line from the Sun. There's not a living Hindu
but will acknowledge its supremacy, be he however ambitious. That makes
it plain, or ought to, why Har Dyal Rutton, the last male of his line,
was--and is--considered the natural, the inevitable, leader of the
Second Mutiny. It devolved upon Salig Singh to produce him; Salig Singh
promised and--is on the point of failure. I can't say precisely what
penalty he'll be called upon to pay, but it's safe to assume that it'll
be something everlastingly unpleasant. So he's desperate. I can't
believe he has deceived himself into taking you for Rutton, but whether
or no he intends by hook or crook to get you through this Gateway
affair to-night. He's got to. Now you are--or Rutton is--known to be
disloyal to the scheme. Inevitably, then, the man who passes through
that Gateway in his name is to be quietly eliminated before he can
betray anything--in other words, as soon as he has been put through the
'Ordeal,' as they call it, for the sake of appearances and the moral
effect upon the Hindu race at large. Now I think you understand."
"I think I do, thanks," Amber returned drily. "You're quite right, as I
said before. So I'm off to the Residency. But how to get through that
guard out there?"
He received no response. In as little time as it took him to step
backwards from Amber, Labertouche had resumed his temporarily discarded
masquerade. Instantaneously it was the khansamah who confronted the
Virginian--the native with head and shoulders submissively bended, as
one who awaits an order.
Amber, surprised, stared, started to speak, received a sign, and was
silent, the excuse for Labertouche's sudden change of attitude being
sufficiently apparent in an uproar which had been raised without the
least warning in the compound. The advent of a running horse seemed to
have been responsible for it, for the clatter of hoofs as the animal
was checked abruptly in mid-stride was followed by a clamour of drunken
cries, shrieks of alarm, and protests on the part of the sepoys
disturbed in the midst of their carouse. Over all this there rang the
voice of an Englishman swearing good, round, honest British oaths.
"Stand aside, you hounds!"
Amber turned pale. "That's Farrell's voice!" he cried, guessing at the
truth.
Labertouche made no answer, but edged toward the khansamah's quarters.
The din subsided as Farrell gained the veranda. His feet rang heavily
on the boards, and a second later he thrust the door violently open and
slammed breathlessly into the room, booted, spurred, his keen old face
livid, a riding-whip dangling from one wrist, a revolver in the other
hand.
He wheeled on the threshold and lifted his weapon, then, with a gasp of
amazement, dropped it. "By Heaven, sir!" he cried, "that's odd! Those
damned sepoys tried to prevent my seeing you and now they've cleared
out, every mother's son of them!"
Amber stepped to his side; to his own bewilderment, the compound was
deserted; there was not a sepoy in sight.
"So much the better," he said quickly, the first to recover. "What's
wrong, sir?"
"Wrong!" Farrell stumbled over to the table and into a chair, panting.
"Everything's wrong! What's gone wrong with you, that we haven't been
able to find you all day?"
"I've been lying there," Amber told him, nodding to the charpoy,
"drugged. What's happened? Is Miss Farrell--?"
"Sophia!" The Political lifted his hand to his eyes and let it fall,
with an effect of confusion. "In the name of charity tell me you know
where she is!"
"You don't mean--"
"She's gone, Amber--gone! She's disappeared, vanished, been spirited
away! Don't you understand me? She's been kidnapped!"
In dumb torment, Amber heard a swift, sharp hiss of breath as pregnant
with meaning as a spoken word, and turned to meet Labertouche's eyes,
and to see that the same thought was in both their minds. Salig Singh
had found the way to lure Amber to Kathiapur.
No spoken word was needed; their understanding was implicit on the
instant. Indeed the secret-agent dared not speak, lest he be overheard
by an eavesdropper and so be the cause of his own betrayal. With a
flutter of white garments he slipped noiselessly from the room, and
Amber knew instinctively that if they were to meet again that night it
would be upon the farther side of the Gateway of Swords. For himself,
his path of duty lay clear to the Virginian's vision; like
Labertouche's, it was the road to Kathiapur. He had no more doubt that
Sophia had been conveyed thither than he had of Farrell's presence
before him. And in his heart he cursed, not Naraini, not Salig Singh,
but himself for his inept folly in bringing to India the photograph
which had been stolen from him and so had discovered to the
conspirators his interest in the girl.
He thought swiftly of Dulla Dad's parting admonition: "_You shall find
but one way to Kathiapur_."
"Well, sir? Well?" Exasperated by his silence the Political sprang to
his feet and brought the riding-crop against his leg with a smack like
a gun-shot. "Have you nothing to say? Don't you realise what it means
when a white woman disappears in this land of devils? Good God! you
stand there, doing nothing, saying nothing, like a man with a heart of
stone!"
"Speak French," Amber interposed quietly. He continued in that tongue,
his tone so steady and imperative that it brought the half-frantic
Englishman to his senses. "Speak French. You must know that we're spied
upon every instant; every word we speak is overheard, probably. Tell me
what happened--how it happened--and keep cool!"
"You're right; I beg your pardon." Farrell collected himself. "There's
little enough to go on.... You disappointed us this morning. During the
day we got word from a secret but trustworthy source to look out for
trouble from the native side. Nevertheless, Raikes and I were obliged,
by reason of our position, representing Government, to attend the
banquet in honor of the coronation to-morrow. We called in young
Clarkson--the missionary, you know--to stay in the house during our
absence. When we returned the Residency was deserted--only we found
Clarkson bound, gagged, and nearly dead of suffocation in a closet. He
could tell us nothing--had been set upon from behind. Not a servant
remained.... But, by the way, your man Doggott came in by the evening
dâk-tonga."
"Where's Raikes?"
"Gone to the palace to threaten Salig Singh with an army corps."
"You know the telegraph wires are cut?"
"Yes, but how--"
"Never mind how I know--the story's too long. The thing to do is to get
troops here without a day's delay."
"But how?"
"Take Raikes, Clarkson, and Doggott and ride like hell to Badshah
Junction. Telegraph from there. The four of you ought to be able to
fight your way through."
"But, man, my daughter!"
"I know where to find her--or think I do. No matter which, I'll find
her and bring her back to you safely, or die trying. You spoke just now
of a secret but trustworthy source of information: I work with it this
night. I can't mention names--you know why; but that source was in this
room ten minutes ago. He's gone after your daughter now. I follow.
No--I go alone. It's the only way. I know how you feel about it, but
believe me, the thing for you to do is to find some way to summon
British troops. Now the quicker you go, the quicker I'm off. I
can't--daren't move while you're here."
Farrell eyed him strangely. "I'll go," he said after a pause. "But ...
why can't I--"
"There are just two white men living, Colonel Farrell, who can go where
I am going to look for your daughter to-night. I'm one of them. The
other is--you know who."
"One of us is mad," said Farrell with conviction. "I think you are."
"Or else I know what I'm talking about. In either event you only hinder
me now. Please go."
His manner impressed the man; for a moment Farrell lingered, doubting,
then impetuously offered his hand. "I'm hanged if I understand why," he
said, "but somehow I believe you know what you're about. Good-night
and--and God be with you, Amber."
The Virginian followed him to the doorway. Farrell's horse, a docile,
well-trained animal, had come to the edge of the veranda to wait for
his master. Otherwise the compound was as empty as the night was quiet.
Mounting, the Political waved a silent farewell and spurred off toward
the city. Amber passed back through the bungalow to the bund.
It was a wonderful blue night of clear moonlight, quickened by a rowdy
wind that rioted down the valley from the north. The roughened surface
of the lake was dark save where the moon had blazed its trail of
shimmering golden scales. There was no boat visible, and for the first
time Amber's heart misgave him and he doubted whether it were not best
to seek a mount from the stables of the Residency and try to reach
Kathiapur on his own initiative. But his ignorance of the neighbouring
topography was too great a handicap to be overcome; and now that
Labertouche had gone, he was without a friendly, guiding hand. He could
but deliver himself into the hands of the enemy and do what he might
thereafter.
He lifted his voice and called: "_Ohé_, Dulla Dad!"
There came a soft shuffle of feet on the stones behind him, and the
stunted, white-clad figure of Dulla Dad stood at his side, making
respectful obeisance. "Hazoor!"
"You damned spying scoundrel!" Amber cried, enraged. "You've been
waiting there by the window, listening!"
"Hazoor," the native quavered in fright, "it was cold upon the water
and you kept me waiting over-long. I landed, seeking shelter from the
wind. If your talk was not for mine ears, remember that you used a
tongue I did not know."
"So you were listening!" Amber calmed himself. "Never mind. Where's
your boat?"
"I thought to hide it in the rushes. If the hazoor will be patient for
a little moment ..." The native dropped down from the bund and
disappeared into the reedy tangle of the lake shore. A minute or so
later Amber saw the boat shoot out from the shore and swing in a long,
graceful curve to the steps of the bund.
"Make haste," he ordered, as he jumped in and took his place. "If I
have kept you waiting, as you say, then I am late."
"Nay, there is time to spare." Dulla Dad spun the boat round and away.
"I did but think to anticipate your impatience, knowing that you would
assuredly come."
"Ah, you knew that, Dulla Dad? How did you know?"
The man giggled softly, plying a busy paddle. "Am I not of the palace,
hazoor? What are secrets in the house of kings? Gossip of herders and
bazaar-women!"
"And how much more do you know, Dulla Dad?" Amber's tone was ominous.
"I, hazoor? Who am I to know aught?... Nay, this have I heard"--he
paused cunningly: "'_You shall find but one way to Kathiapur_.'"
Amber, realising that he had invited this insolence, was fair enough
not to resent it, and held his peace until he could no longer be blind
to the fact that the native was shaping a course almost exactly away
from the Raj Mahal. "What treachery is this, dog?" he demanded. "This
is not the way--"
"Be not mistrustful of your slave, hazoor," whined the native. "I do
the bidding of those before whose will I am as a leaf in the wind. It
is an order that I land you on the bund of the royal summer pavilion,
by the northern shore of the lake. There will you find one waiting for
you, my lord."
Amber contented himself with a fresh examination of his pistol; it was
all one to him, whatever the route by which he was to reach Kathiapur,
so long as the change involved no delay. But this way across the water
was so much longer than that which he had anticipated that he had time
to work himself into a state of fuming impatience before the boat
finally ranged alongside a pretentious marble bund backed by ragged
plantations of palms and bananas. To the left the white-columned facade
of the Maharana's stately pleasure-house glimmered spectral in the
moonlight. It showed no lights, and Amber very naturally concluded that
it was unoccupied.
He landed on the steps of the bund and waited for Dulla Dad to join
him; but when, hearing a splash of the paddle, he looked round, it was
to find that the native had already put a considerable distance between
himself and the shore. Amber called after him angrily, and Dulla Dad
rested upon his paddle.
"Nay, Heaven-born!" he replied. "Here doth my responsibility end.
Another will presently appear to be your guide. Go you up to the jungly
path leading from the bund."
The Virginian lifted his shoulders indifferently, and ascended to
discover a wide footpath running inland between dark walls of
shrubbery, but quite deserted. He stopped with a whistle of vexation,
peering to right and left. "What the deuce!" he said aloud. "Is this
another of their confounded tricks?"
A low and marvellously sweet laugh sounded at his elbow, and he turned
with a start and a flutter of his pulses. "Naraini!" he cried.
It had been impossible to mistake the gracious lines of that slight,
round figure, cloaked though it was in many thicknesses of white
veiling. She had stolen upon him without a sound, and seemed pleased
with the completeness of his surprise, for she laughed again before he
spoke.
"Tell me not thou art disappointed, O my king!" she said, placing a
soft hand firmly upon his arm. "Didst thou hope to meet another here?"
"Nay, how should I expect thee?" His voice was gentle though he steeled
his heart against her fascinations; for now he had a use for her. "Had
Dulla Dad conveyed me to the palace, then I should have remembered thy
promise to ride with me to Kathiapur. But, being brought to this place..."
"Then thou didst wish to ride with me?" She nodded approval and
satisfaction. "That is altogether as I would have it be, Lord of my
Heart. By this have I proven thee, for thou hast consented to approach
the Gateway, not altogether because the Voice hath summoned thee, but
likewise, I think, because thine own heart urged thee. Nay, but tell
me, King of my Soul, did it not leap a little at the thought of meeting
me?"
With a quick gesture she threw her veil aside and lifted her
incomparably fair face to his, and he was conscious that he trembled a
little, and that his voice shook as he answered evasively: "Thou
shouldst know, Ranee."
"_Ahi!_ Then am I a happy woman, to think that, though thou wert in
open mutiny against the Voice, when I called, thou didst yield.... And
thou art ready?"
"Am I not here?"
"Now of a verity do I know that thou art a man, my king!--a Rajput, a
son of kings, and ... my husband!" Pitched to a minor, thrilling key,
her accents were as musical as the singing of a 'cello. "For thou dost
know what thou must dare this night of nights, and he is a brave man
who can dare so much, unfaltering. Tell me thou art not afraid, my
king?"
"Why should I be?"
"Thou wilt not draw back in the end?" Her arms clipped him softly about
the neck and drew his head down so that her breath was fragrant in his
face, her lips a sweet peril beneath his own. "Thou wilt brave whatever
may be prepared for thy testing, for the sake of Naraini, who awaits
thee beyond the Gateway; O my Beloved?"
"I shall not be found wanting."
Lithe as a snake, she slipped from his arms. "Nay, I trust thee not!"
she laughed, a quiver of tenderness in her merriment. "Let my lips be
mine alone until thou hast proven thyself worthy of them." She raised
her voice, calling: "_Ohé_, Runjit Singh!"
The cry rang bell-clear in the stillness, and its silver echo had not
died before it was answered by one who stepped out from the black
shadow of a spreading banian, some distance away, and came toward them,
leading three horses. As the moonlight fell upon him, Amber recognised
the uniform the man wore as that of the Imperial Household Guard of
Khandawar, while the horses seemed to be the stallions he had seen in
the palace yard, with another but little their inferior in mettle or
beauty.
"Now," announced the woman in tones of deep contentment, "we will
ride!"
She turned to Amber, who took her up in his arms and set her in the
saddle of one of the stallions; who, his bridle being released by the
trooper, promptly leaped away and danced a spirited saraband with his
shadow, until Naraini, with a strength that seemed incredible when one
recalled the slightness of her wrists, curbed him in and taught him
sobriety.
"By Har!" she panted, "but I think he must know that he carries
to-night the destinies of empire! Mount, mount, my lord, and bear me
company if this son of Eblis tries to run away with me!"
The sowar surrendered to Amber the reins of the other stallion, and
stepped hastily aside. The Virginian took the saddle with a flying
leap, and a thought later was digging his knees into the brute's sleek
flanks and sawing on the bits, while the path flowed beneath him,
dappled with moonlight and shadow, like a ribbon of grey-green silk,
and trees and shrubbery streaked back on either hand in a rush of
melting blacks and greys.
Swerving acutely, the path ran into the dusty high-road. Amber heard a
rush of hoofs behind him, and then slowly the gauze-wrapped figure of
the queen drew alongside.
"_Maro!_ Let him run, my king! The way is not far for such as he. Have
no fear lest he tire!"
But Amber set his teeth and wrought with the reins until his mount
comprehended the fact that he had met a master, and, moderating his
first furious burst of speed, settled down into a league-devouring
stride, crest low, limbs gathering and stretching with the elegant
precision of clockwork. His rider, regaining his poise, found time to
look about him and began to enjoy, for all his cares, this wild race
through the blue-white night.
Behind them, carbine on saddle-bow, the sowar thundered in pursuit, at
an interval of about a hundred yards--often greater, when the stallions
would have it so and spent their temper in brief, brisk contests for
the leadership. On Amber's left the woman rode as one to the saddle
born, her face turned eagerly to the open road, smiling a little with
excitement beneath the tissue of thin veiling which the speed-bred
breeze moulded cunningly to the contour of her flawless features. The
fire in her blood shone lambent in the eyes that now and again met
Amber's. More than once he heard her laugh low, with a lilt of
happiness.
For himself he was drunk with the spirit of adventure. Bred of the
moonlit sky and the far shy stars, of the flooding moonlight breaking
crisply against impenetrable shadows like surf against black rocks, of
the tune of hoofs, of the singing wind and sighing waters, a wild and
reckless humor possessed him, ran molten in his veins, swam in his
brain like fumes of wine.
As the tale of miles increased, the valley opened out, and presently
they swung to the west from the northerly track, branching off into a
rougher way through a wilder countryside. Rugged hilltops marched
beside them, looming stark black against the silvered purple of the
sky. They met no one, their road winding through a land whose grandeur
was enhanced by its positive desolation--a land tenanted only by a
million devils of loneliness with naught to do save to fling back
mocking echoes of the road-song of the flying hoofs....
Toward the close of the second hour the valleys began to widen, the
hills to be less lofty and precipitous. The horses swung up gentler
ascents, down slopes less sharp. The road ran for a time along the bank
of a broad and placid river, then crossed it by a massive arch of
masonry as old as history. They circled finally a great, round,
grassless hillside, and pulled rein in the notch of a gigantic V formed
by two long, prow-like spurs running out upon a plain whose sole, vague
boundary was the vast arc of the horizon.
Before them loomed dead Kathiapur, an island of stone girdled by the
shallow silver river. Like the rugged pedestal of some mammoth column,
its cliffs rose sheer threescore feet from the water's edge to the foot
of the outermost of its triple walls. From the notch in the hills a
great stone causeway climbed with a long and easy grade to the level of
the first great gate, spanning the chasm over the river by means of a
crazy wooden bridge.
Above the broken rim of the three-fold walls the moon's unearthly
splendor made visible a vast confusion of crumbling cornices, blank
walls, turrets, domes, and towers, the gnarled limbs of dead trees, the
luxuriant dark foliage of banian and pepal, palm and acacia. But
nothing moved and there was not a light to be seen. These things with
the silence told the tale of death. With the cessation of the ringing
hoofbeats the stillness had closed down upon the riders like a spell to
break the which were to invite the wrath of the undying gods
themselves. Other than the silken breathing of the horses, an
occasional muffled thud or the jingle of a bridle-chain as one pawed
the earth or tossed his head, they heard no sound. The unending hum of
a living city was not there. Sister of Babylon, Nineveh and Tyre, kin
to Chitor and that proud city of the plains that Jai Singh abandoned
when he built him his City of Victory, Kathiapur is as Tadmor--dead.
The shell remains; the soul has flown.
A gasp from the woman and an oath from the sowar startled Amber out of
somber apprehensions into which he had been plunged by contemplation of
this impregnable fortress of desolation. Gone was his lust for peril,
gone his high, heedless joy of adventure, gone the intoxication which
had been his who had drunk deep of the cup of Romance; there remained
only the knowledge that he, alone and single-handed, was to pit his
wits against the invisible and mighty forces that lurked in hiding
within those walls, to seem to submit to their designs and so find his
way to the woman of his love, tear her from the grasp of the unseen,
and with her escape...
Naraini had, indeed, no need to cry aloud or clutch his hand in order
to apprise him that the Eye was vigilant. He himself had seen it break
forth, a lurid star of emerald light suspended high above the dark
heart of the city--high in the air where the moment gone there had been
nothing; so powerful that it shaded with sickly pallor the face of the
woman, who clung shuddering to Amber; so unpresaged its appearance and
so malign its augury that it shook even the skepticism of him whose
reason had been nourished by the materialism of the Occident.
Slowly, while they watched, the star descended, foot by foot dropping
until the topmost pinnacle of a hidden temple seemed to support it; and
there it rested, throbbing with light, now bright, now dull.
Amber shook himself impatiently. "Silly charlatanry!" he muttered,
irritated by his own susceptibility to its sinister suggestion.... "I'd
like to know how they manage it, though; the light itself's
comprehensible enough, but their control of it.... If there were enough
wind, I'd suspect a kite...."
"Thou art not dismayed, my king?"
He laughed, not quite as successfully as he could have wished, and,
"Not I, Naraini," he returned in English: a tongue which seemed somehow
better suited for service in combating the esoteric influences at work
upon his mind. "What's the next turn on the programme?"
"I like not that tone, nor yet that tongue." The woman shivered. "Even
as the Eye seeth, my lord, so doth the Ear hear. Is it meet and wise to
speak with levity of that in whose power thou shalt shortly be?"
"Perhaps not," he admitted, thoughtful. "'In whose power I shall
shortly be.' ... Well, of course!"
"And thou wilt go on? Thou art not minded to withdraw thy hand?"
"Not so that you'd notice it, Naraini."
"For the sake of the reward Naraini offers thee?" she persisted
dangerously.
"I don't mind telling you that you'd turn 'most any man's head, my
dear," he said cheerfully, and let her interpret the words as she
pleased.
She was not pleased, for her acquaintance with English was more
intimate than she had chosen to admit; but if she felt any chagrin she
dissimulated with her never-failing art. "Then bid me farewell, O my
soul, and go!"
"Up there?" he enquired, lifting his brows.
"Aye, up the causeway and over the bridge, into the city of death."
"Alone?"
"Aye, alone and afoot, my king."
"Pleasant prospect, thanks." Amber whistled, a trifle dashed. "And
then, when I get up there--?"
"One will meet thee. Go with him, fearing naught."
"And what will you do, meanwhile?"
"When thou shalt have passed the Gateway, my lord, Naraini will be
waiting for thee."
"Very well." Amber threw a leg over the crupper, handed the stallion's
reins to the sowar, who had dismounted and drawn near, and dropped upon
his feet.
Naraini nodded to the sowar, who led the animal away. When he was out
of earshot the woman leaned from the saddle, her glorious eyes to
Amber's. "My king!" she breathed intensely.
But the thought of Sophia Farrell and what she might be suffering at
that very moment was uppermost--obtruded itself like a wall between
himself and the woman. He had no further inclination for make-believe,
and he saw Naraini with eyes that nothing illuded. Quite as casually as
though she had been no more to him than a chance acquaintance, he
reached up, took her hand, and gave it a perfunctory shake.
"Good-night, my dear," he said amiably; and, turning, made off toward
the foot of the causeway.
When he had gained it, he looked back to see her riding off at a wide
angle from the causeway, heading out into the plain. When he looked
again, some two or three minutes later, Naraini, the sowar, and the
horses had vanished as completely as if the earth had opened to receive
them. He rubbed his eyes, stared, and gave it up.
So he was alone!... With a shrug, he plodded on.