Told in the East

ere was a good wide open space between them and the enemy. The firelight showed a tree not far from the crossroads, and since any

t a detachment of any other army in the world

that was wound around the tree-trunk. Some

nd a fakir that needs hanging

k. The roof of the guardhouse was blazing fiercely, and now they had fired the other roofs. The fakir, the tree and the little bunch of men who held

hat bayonet aga

answering howl from somewhere beyond the dancing

he hollow of his left hand, and climbs the tree, waiting on the first branch suitable for the last sound of the word three. At the last sound of the word three, he slips the rope smartly over the bough of the tree and descends smartly to the ground, landing on the balls of his feet and coming to atte

had watched him with eyes that blazed with hate. A soldie

wo

mb. "Two" and "three" were the

ght across the bough. The fakir had to strain

ady,

oing nothing without thought, and wasting not an effort. He wanted each man to be occupied, and even amused. He wanted the audience, whom he could not see, but who he kn

he cowering Beluchi by the neck, and dragged him up close beside the fakir. "Translate, you!"

sahib! What

re is our prisoner. He will die the m

lated, and repeat

himself will talk with you, and th

the neighborhood of fifty men appeared, keeping at a sa

o loudly! Ask him 'Are you a sacr

s,' sahib, '

want t

en mus

f the kind that fakirs and their kindred love. But Brown was

orshipers of yours, and in such a way that they will see and unde

fakir best understood. In the fitful light cast by the burning roofs, it wa

maim and desecrate and horribly defile himself. At first sight, the reason sounds improbable, but

again!" s

he fakir di

, provided he saves mine. Explain that I, too, ha

something rather more than their ordinary baleful light. It might have been

that he is only a man with a withered arm! But tell him this: He's got the best chance he e

ed to the Beluchi. He did not nod, though, and he made no other sign,

. Now then! Tell him this. Let him come the heavy fakir all he likes. Tell him to tell his gang that he's going to give an order. Let him tell them that when he says 'Hookum hai!' my men'll loose his neck straight away, and fall down flat. Only, first of all he's got to tell t

t a sign from Brown the rope tightened

exactly what I say, and do it now, he's got just so l

answered

ch a wee bit

im with his one uninjured hand, and sawing upward with his head for air. There came a murmur from the shadows, and a dozen bree

ur rifles and fire independently. The two men on the rope, haul taut, and make fast to the

and tried to make some sort

dered Brown. "I'm not sure, bu

e a wise one, could have recognized a meaning

ht! sahib!'" tran

all heard what I told him. If he says 'Hookum hai!' you all

mur that was like the whispering of wind through trees. By the sound, there must have been a crowd of more than a hundre

, men!" cau

sir! All

word except what I told him he mi

in front of him where he c

, after I've hanged him,

sahib, exactly

now! Listen carefully

high-pitched monologue, and a mur

o haul tigh

ready

fakir howled out a sort of singsong dirge, which plainly had imperatives in every line of it. At e

ookum hai!' He says, 'Are you ready?' He says, sahib,-he says it, sahib,-not I-he says, 'Thou a

ghness, men!" said Brown. "Now, that's better;

the burning roofs was dying down already, for the thatch burned fast, and the glowing gloom was deep enough

of dance-a weird, fantastic, horrible affair of quivering limbs and rolling eyeballs, topped by a wither

d hand upward, and bringing it down suddenly with a

, and all except Brown and the

your rifles!"

died away to nothing but spasmodic spurts above a dull red underglow, there was no one in the watching ring who could see

ntly. "Now take me back to my dais

ll been a shade too slick for me. I've got my doubts yet about it's being done.

re gone already!" tr

whose eyes were straining to pierce the darknes

nd him on his dais. From the distance, beyond the range of rifles, came a hundred answering howls. The fa

he

anslated the Beluchi. "He says h

so the same two carry him that brought him here. There's no sense in giving two more men the itch, and all the other ailments the brute suffers from! Form up round him, the rest. Take open ord

coal-black night around them. It took them fifteen minutes to recross a hundred yards. But when they reached the earthen throne again at last, and had hoisted the fakir back

the blackness, but he sensed the change in them, a

no underlying sympathy. He was no longer herding a flock of frightened children. He was ordering traine

d right wings-last three at each end forward-right wheel-halt. That's it. 'Bout face. Now each man keep two eyes

kir, who was squatting, staring straight in front of him, on his dais, with his back turned to the tre

e while. But one of the men heard something move among the hanging tendrils of the baobab, investigated with his bayonet-point, and managed to transfix a twelve-foot p

plain and the burnt-out guardhouse, the fakir still sat unblinking, gazing straight out in front of him, with eyes that

in some kind of leaf. Brown let him have theirs, and bribed the frightened children to go and bring water for the men an

left. He had also eaten what the children had brought him, and sudden

n he launched out with a string of eloquence

thirst? Who spoke of an anthill and of hungry ants and raw red openi

ed faithfully, and t

his tongue!" gro

t I needed these for a deadlier death than any they devised! Ho-ho-ho-ho! Look at the little crows, how they wait in the branches! Ha-h

ir!" said one of t

than a minute a

his mockery, and

where are the men who se

lage, waiting till he sends

messenger from Bholat, ten to one. Mind they don't ambush him

ippety-clipp

eat. Suddenly a foam-flecked black mare swung round a bend between two banks, and the sun shone on a polished saber-hilt. A turbaned Rajput rose

d wonderful," said Brown aloud,