United States or El Salvador ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
At noon the hour when the people had been bidden to cry, "Live, Prince of the Everlasting Glory!" they were moving restlessly, fearfully through the Bazaar and the highways, and watching from a distance a little white house, with blue curtains, where lay the man who was sick with the Red Plague, and where watched beside his bed Cumner's Son and the beggar of Nangoon. No one came near.
Then, taking his own six hundred men and five hundred of the Dakoon's horsemen, he bade the gates to be opened, and with Cushnan Di marched out upon the town, leaving Tanga-Dahit and Cumner's Son in command at the Palace. At least four thousand besiegers lay before the walls, and, far beyond, they could see the attack upon the Residency.
A look of satisfaction came into Pango Dooni's face. "Speak with the man alone," said he, and he drew back. Cumner's Son drew a little to one side with the man, who spoke quickly and low in English. "I have spoken the truth," said he. "I am Cushnan Di" he drew himself up "and once I had a city of my own and five thousand men, but a plague and then a war came, and the Dakoon entered upon my city.
The lad put by the arm, and drew him self up. He was most pale. Pango Dooni stood looking at him, without a word, and Cumner's Son doffed his cap. There was no blood in his lips, and his face was white and drawn. "Since last night what time the bugle blows in the Palace yard, I have ridden," said he. At the sound of his voice the great chief started. "The voice I know, but not the face," said he.
"Give me the sorrel," said he. "Quick dismount!" Cumner's Son did as he was bid. Going a little to one side, the hillsman pushed through a thick hedge of bushes, rolled away a rock, and disclosed an opening which led down a steep and rough-hewn way to a great misty valley beneath, where was never a bridle-path or causeway over the brawling streams and boulders. "I will ride on.
By this the lad knew that he was now brother-in-blood to the son of Pango Dooni. "You travel near to Mandakan!" said the lad. "Do you ride with a thousand men?" "For a thousand men there are ten thousand eyes to see; I travel alone and safe," answered Tang-a-Dahit. "To thrust your head in the tiger's jaw," said Cumner's Son. "Did you ride to be in at the death of the men of your clan?"
From the time the sick man had been brought into the house, the beggar had worked with him, giving him tinctures which he boiled with sweetmeat called the Flower of Bambaba, while Cumner's Son rubbed an ointment into his body.
"Nay, but in the Palace," interrupted Cumner's Son, "and thy daughter also, who hath the wisdom of heaven, that there be always truth shining in these high places." An hour later the Dakoon passed through the Path by the Bazaar. "Whither goes the Dakoon?" asked a native chief of McDermot.
"The plague cannot be cured." "Yes, I will go," answered Cumner's Son. "I believe he speaks the truth. Go you to Pango Dooni and tell him all." He spurred his horse and trotted away, the beggar running beside him. They passed out of the court-yard, and through the Gate by the Fountain of Sweet Waters.
Yet, too, the keen observer could have seen gathered into shaded corners here and there, a few sombre, low-voiced men talking covertly to each other. They were not the ordinary gossipers; in the faces of some were the marks of furtive design, of sinister suggestion. But it was all so deadly still. The gayest, cheeriest person in Mandakan was Colonel Cumner's son.
Word Of The Day