The Broken Road

Meije. But the four men who lay wrapped in blankets on the long broad shelf still slept in darkness. And when the darkness was broken it was by the sudden spit of a match. The tiny blue flame splut

black heavy moustache had a merry and good-humoured look. Little gold earrings twinkled

Verdammt!"

or and the shutters of the window. He climbed down from the shelf with a rustle of straw, walked lightl

helf Linfo

bad,

o the same two men who were now in the Meije hut. "We are a strong party, but it is impossible. Before I could walk a yard from the door, I

ntentment. Later in the day he might rail against the weather. But for the moment he was very clear that there were worse th

he said. "The storm may clear. We w

e on the shelf there c

es. Of

was not until he was shaken by the shoulder at ten o'c

h man was

ome outside,"

t. He betrayed his race nowadays by little more than his colour, a certain high-pitched intonation of his voice and an extraordinary skill in the game of polo. There had been a ti

hat treachery was in itself disgraceful, whether it was profitable or not-here were hard sayings for a native of Chiltistan. He could look back upon the

d replied to him. "But since we do not worship at t

to London. He was rich, he was liked, and he found a ready welcome, which did not spoil him. Luffe would undoubtedly have classed him amongst the best of the native Princes who go to England for their training, and on that very account, would have feared

p of the Breche de la Meije, the pass to the left of their mountain, the snow whirled up from the further side like smoke. The hut is built upon a great spur of the mountain which runs down into the desolate valley des étan?ons, and at its upper end melts into the g

s in good condition. To-morrow it may be possible. It is worth while waiti

was right. But these two men had other and wider plans which embraced not a summer's holiday but a lifetime, plans which th

nd once more curled himself up in his rug upon the straw. Shere Ali followed

inforth after a while. "There am I at Chatham and not a chance

one the less spoke habitually of going back to it, as though tha

so added a look of quiet strength. A man can hardly live with a definite purpose very near to his heart without gaining some reward from the labour of his thoughts. Though he speak never so little, people will be aware of him as they are not aware of the loudest chatterer in the room. Thus it w

i, "since you want t

d," and for a little while he lay silent. Then in a low voice he sp

the snow passes to the

oung Prince of Chiltistan added, speaking sole

s to make Shere Ali his friend, to force him to see with his eyes, and to believe what he believed. And Shere Ali had been easily persuaded. He had become one of the white men, he proudly told himself. Here was a proof, the surest of proofs. The belief in the Road-that was one of the beliefs of the white men, one of the be

ese expeditions, some day, i

Ali

that reason-

es

r a while. Then he said

en us. You can wait and wait. I wa

new very well the impu

ngs, stand to my credit at the end,

laughed if he had heard, but had there been an older man in the hut to overhear them, he would have heard nothing. They were alone, save for th

s when the work is done," sa

inforth drily. "There is a Resident at your father's court. You

," and again confidence rang in

It will be the Road. The power of the Ro

e straw. "At first I did not understand what the words meant. Now I know. The po

ay on the other side of the Hindu Kush, the Russians m

aid Shere Ali. "At all eve

had already happened, though its consequences were not yet to be foreseen. A storm had delayed them for a day in a hut upon the Meije. They went out of the hut. The sky had cleared; and in the sunset the steep buttress of the Promontoire ran

at Wall, and Linforth looked at them anxiously. T

eter, cheerily. "Tomorrow nig

course," sai

rom La Bérarde the day before, and returned to watch the purple flush of the sunset die off the crags of the Meije. But the future they had

e. Somewhere in your country, perhaps in Kohara, waiting for the thing he dre

to Linforth. "Nothing must come between us," he cried almo

two. The dreams to which they had

t. But he remembered afterwards that it was Shere Ali who had pro

darkness of a small couloir underneath the knobs Peter was already ascending. The traverse of the Meije even for an experienced mountaineer is a long day's climb. They reached the summit of the Grand Pic in seven hours, descended into the Brèche Zsigmondy, clim

Aigle. It was quite dark when at last they reached the grass slopes, and still far below them the lights were gleaming in La Grave. To both men those grass slopes seemed interminable. The lights of La Grave seemed never to come nearer, never to grow larger. Little points of fire very far away-as they had been at first, so they remained. But for the slope of ground beneath his feet and the aching of his kn

lasping his hands behind his head, gave himself u

said. "Why should we go d

It will be cold when th

r. It is better t

me to their ears a faint throbbing sound from across the valley. It grew l

Ali, and as he spoke the

the hotel," said L

ched the hotel. Look, not by a hu

in the movements of that or of any other motor-car, but because he wished to stay where h

id, and Linforth wear

he grumbled, and he spoke wit

-room, and they found another party already supping there. Linforth heard himself greeted by name, and turned in surprise. It was a party of fou

e," he said. "I came down to Chatham a year ago an

rward with a smi

ising you at once. I remember you

am I,

ieutenant-Governor of th

th pro

t the car has broken down. You are mountain-climbing, I suppose. Phyllis," and he turned to the younger of the

of Mrs. Oliver were already fixed upon him. He returned the look

ing to do with yours

can," said Linforth with a smile. At this moment the fourth o

oung fellows racing out to India? A great mistake! I once went to India myself-t

oric gentleman. Sir John introduced him as Colonel Fitzwar

t seriously dama

l have to go on by diligence to-morrow to get a new sparki

travelled back

"We shall rest here probably for a d

. Oliver's eyes, which had been quietly resting upon Linforth's

aw a tiger in India, though I stayed there four months. A most disappointing cou

n Peninsula was a huge tiger waitin

attention to the Colonel's disp

John, and both young men replied simu

at her looks made so powerful an appeal to the chivalry of young men. "All young men immediately want to

ore amusement during the next two days. He was roused from this pleasing anticipation by his irascible friend, Colo

e is one," he cried,

ersation with Mrs. Oliver. "On

the table. "Of what else should I be speaking? I don't believe there

intervened with smooth speeches and for the rest of supper the conversation was kept to less painful topics. But the Colonel had

indescribable look of pathos upon his big red face,