The Winds of the World

The din of ancient Delhi roared skyward, and the Delhi crowd surged and fought to be nearer to the flame; but the police already had a cordon around the building, and another detachment w

from the seat of his high dogcart to speak to the E

before the alarm went in. When we got

pe from the buildi

about; and there are as any galleries up above connecting with

r anybody down

ater'll do what the fire left undone. Pretty

of escape

I've hear

eh? Be some days before the

n houses nearest it! Loo

lapsed beneath the weight. The thunder of it was almost drowned in a roar of delight, for the crowd, sensing th

of a military cloak, Warrington rode a borrowed Arab pony, the pony's owner's sais running beside him to help clear a pass

to go to hell. So I went into the next office, where all the big panjandrums hide-and some of the little ones-and they told me what you know, sir, tha

don't

t a real enemy-and play a low-down trick on Ranjoor Singh. Ranjoor Singh's a g

go up and the crowd striking at the rats t

said Kirby. "Those rats are not cooked through. Did

y've got it all cut an' dried-somebody in the basement upset a lamp, according to them-nobody up-stairs-nobody to turn

a trooper of ours

es

did th

e lamp that wa

crowd with the skill of one whose business is to handle men in quantity.

d Warringt

d 'em d'yo

ks in Delhi like wate

ings, and by the gate was a guard of twenty men drawn up to keep the crowd at bay. The shrill voices of the women drowned the answers of th

ficer saluted

whip in the affirmative. From that instant the guard b

at a speed there was no overhauling. He wanted to be alone. But hi

Brammle. Y

e, Jehu?" a

o go. No, no route yet-lik

arseilles! Oh, who wouldn't be light cavalry? First-class all

g with me. Don't know how long we'll be gone. If anybod

's told '

misbehaves from now for

finite promise

ng else

N

ee you

you l

y, and Kirby turne

talk. Have some grub sent in here to me, and join me at it in hal

with his officers, the better-as a rule; but it does not pay to think in the presence of either. Officers

ington found him just eme

the-air an' dancin'!"

tin' by the barrack g

as we'll catch 'em for

for a job as cle

t m

er

ntials-bad hat! S

guard

hisper; but the colonel and his adjutant ate hurriedly in silence, and the only thing remarkable that the servant was able to report to the regimen

ged landau thing, taken over from the previous mess. The colonel peered through outer darkness at the box

?" asked

e c

traces as if they had a gun behind them. Three hundred yards beyond the barrac

Squadron. Until the novelty wears off it would disconcert any

erson named Yas

es not,

o her house

They tore through streets that were living streams of human beings-streams that split apart to let them through and closed like water again

n of as dead," he remar

color against

been foul play, Warrington. I happen to know that Ranjoor Singh has been suspected in a certain quarter. Incidentally, I staked my own reputation on

itish officers, and then natives, who would have gone to some trouble to

e German rule for a ch

wear her heart on her

s awake, if this is Delhi and not a nightmare!

es. But, that night, day and night were blended in one uproar, and the Chandni Chowk was at floodtide,

d voice, and made a wide circuit through dark lanes where groups of people argued at the

*

from the Chandni Chowk, and sprang out of the

manded Kirby, and the r

rough the gloomy opening in a wall that Yasmini devised to l

he right place?" he whispered,

here're stairs

on the lower step Warrington began to whistle softly to himself. Next to war, an adventure of this kind w

their eyes could not penetrate the upper blackness, yet they both

nstinctively sought

elt for his

e silently and holding to the rail; then the absurdity of the situation appealed to both,

bout a minute knocking on what felt like the panels of a door; but

had climbed some ten steps and had turned to negotiate ten more that ascended at an angle-a

d and flashed before them so that they could not tell which way to turn. Somewhere there was a glassbead curtai

ittle nutbrown maid, who seemed too lovely to be Indian. Even then th

mes?" she asked in Hindustani;

an a pipe-clayed sword-belt; there is no

nd Captain Warri

ibs state the

N

o the sahibs

live here n

ly, s

to talk

ey could neither of them tell through which it was that the music came and the smell of musk and sandal-smoke. But sh

ded colonel on the eve of war-feeling out of place and foolish, but Warring

open window at which sat a dozen maids, and of the punkahs swinging overhe

aware of itself!" w

anded Kirby, st

y entered, but at sight of Kirby's military clothes they had looked alarmed and moved as if a whip had been cracked not far a

ipping in front of them as if a gust of wind were blowing her. Her m

d furnished with deep-cushioned divans. There were mirrors in this room, too, so that Kirby laughed aloud to see how incongruous a

ey had half-frightened the life out of her, and then she ran out of

irm enough to allow him to retain his dignity. Cavalry dress-trousers are not b

ettled into place, "it's the first time in my l

not commit hi

ed, but Kirby honestly interested by the splendor of the hangings and the ge

e asked out of one side of his mouth. And then

no sound, no movement, no sign of any one, and Warrington looked in the mirrors keenly while he pretended to be interested in his littl

do. I'm going to ge

each end, but detecting no movement and no eyes. Then he sat

suspicion of a wolf. Just as unexpectedly a curtain less than a yard away from Kirby moved, and she sto

heir feet and faced her, and to their credit let it be recorded that they dropped their eyes, b

she asked them in a velvet voice; and,

for anything but her. Neither had ever seen anything so beautiful, so fascinating, so

ndustani, and arched he

of his mother, and the tender prelude to a curtain lectur

out a friend of mine-

I understand

e warm soft spirit of all womanhood that only the measured rising and falling of her bosom, under the gauzy drapery, made her seem human and not a spirit. Subtly, ever so cunningly, she had con

. "He is said to have listened to a lecture here-I was told the lecture was delivered by a German-and there was some sort of a frac

as never invited, but he came. He sat here saying nothing until it suited him to sit where another man was; then he struck the other man-so, with the sole of his foot-

variation of t

the wearer of a Northern knife is like to feel th

Ranjoor Singh spoken of slightingly. A Jat may be a good e

what has that to do w

heard-

amused her almost more than any ot

know most of what

Impudence arra

that anything less than an army corps could make him feel unequal to a

gh's alive or dead," he said sternly, "and

the seeded plains, and sank on to a divan with

the truth. There is little that goes on in Delhi-in the world-that I can not h

njoor Singh?" ask

g eyes that surely would have betrayed her had she been at

asked calmly, as if she wished to spare him

r-major went to the morgue to identify the body-drove through the bazaar, and possibly discovered some clue to

much? And am I to qu

sm

She was curled on it, leaning on an

ed Kirby, since he could t

t wives, and a son by each. That was ages ago, and the descendants of the eight half-br

not doubt her. Colonel and adjutant, both men who had seen grim service and both self-possessed as a rule,

d; there is little mercy in the hills, and I was weane

ed Kirby, surprised

of its conception, though the talk of the world was then of universal peace and of horror at a war that was. Now, to-night, this greatest war is

gh," said Colonel Kirby, twistin

he was obviously not the man to threaten

r Ranjoor Singh, and then perhaps he shall step forth from t

order, and the maid brought sherbet that Kirby sniffed s

from this room did I will otherwise?" she asked

et by a show of force, and force by something quicker. Kirby's eyes and his adjutant's met. Each felt for his hi

said; and

raised. The awful, ugly black eyes gleamed with malice. And a swaying cobra's head is not an easy thing to hit wi

se to move!"

with the problem of whether to try to shoot or not. It seemed to them that the snakes reached a resolution first, and struck. And in the same ins

theirs. "But that is not why the sahib shall beg of me." Kirby was not too overcome to notice the future tense.

her advantage than the pistols would have been had they made her a present of them. She gave a sudden shrill cry that startled them and made them look wildly for the door;

down his neck until his collar was a mere uncomfortable mess. "For more than a year there has been much talk in India. The winds have brought it a

natives in the pay of the merchants who had word with native sowars, saying that it is not well to be carried over sea to fight another's q

Kirby. It was so long since he had been spoken t

the colonel sahib sha

. "Does the fire b

maid appeared in the do

re still bur

ngton sat in silent wonder. They wondered chiefly what the regiment would say

an see flame from the roof

asmini. "Lis

she had them bound in her spells, and each in a different spe

ven them their pickings. They talk for the love of words, but they trade for the love of

lear then to the government that proof of disloyalty among the native regiments would set the hillmen screaming for a holy war-for the hills are cold, sahibs, and the

ed in one of the mirrors and nudged Kirby, and Kirby saw it too. They both saw that she was watching it. It was a fat face, and it looked terrified

pleased the government to know which, if any, of the native regiments had been affected by th

net set for a tiger," said Kirby

ni la

ere to cut but the dark that closes up again? Sahib, thou shalt beg for Ranjo

Kirby, using a native phrase that admits of no double m

native regard for a native, or for an Englishman

war, and he commands a squadron, and there is need of him. Is it not so? Yet the hous

urning and she must have known it; perhaps she even intended that it should. But she lay c

here he is," said Kirby, "I wi

There is no ot

t-Half-brothers b

o little given to beg for things that the word beg h

ffly, and she clapped her hands and laughed wit

priest," she chuckled, "aye, and many a soldier-bu

d'ye mean?" d

Then beg, Colonel sahib, on your knees-on those stif

ean-d'yo

beg for his life, on you

r," whispered Warrington, for t

njoor Singh shall taste a hillman's mercy. He shall die so

Kirby. "His honor i

nd thine-on your kn

r what with the heat and what with an unconquerable dread of sn

I kneel?"

ou Ranjoor Singh,

he

ti

me for

he regimen

him at once!" sa

rom thee! Nay, go, both of you-ye have my leave to go! And what

djutant both knelt to a native woman-if she is a native-in a top back-room of a De

their hair, for the love of mischief, to remind them of what they had done until in the course of slowly moving nature t

to the floor. In cold, creeping sweat they listened to

way, s

lled by unseen hands and chuckling girls down stairs that were cut out of sheer blackness. And at t

rkness. "Seeing regimental risaldar on the box seat, I took liberty. The risaldar-major is sending this by as yet unrewarded messenger

irby struck a match to examine it. It was Ranjoor Sing

warded!" sa

g take the wa

plenty of roo

y be brave,

the way t

and ermin

and livin

be fat!) the re

-the meek shall