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Updated: June 6, 2025
He told Cumner's Son that his face was as that of one who had lain in a grave, and he called aloud in a blustering voice, and beckoned for troopers to come. The whole line moved down on them, horsemen and soldiers and people.
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.
He reined in his horse not ten feet away from the irregular columns. "You know me," said he. "I am Cumner's Son. I rode into the hills at the Governor's word to bring a strong man to rule you. Why do ye stand here idle? My father, your friend, fights with a hundred men at the Residency. Choose ye between Boonda Broke, the mongrel, and Pango Dooni, the great hillsman.
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.
"I know the man," said the Governor gruffly; "I know the man, I tell you, and I'd take his word for ten thousand pounds, or a thousand head of cattle. Is there any of you will ride to the Neck of Baroob for me? For one it must be, and no more we can spare scarce that, God knows!" he added sadly. "The women and children " "I will go," said a voice behind them all; and Cumner's Son stepped forward.
"I am here, Mami," said he. "Friend of my heart," she answered. "It is so long!" Then he told her how, through Cumner's Son, he had been turned from his visit two days before, and of the journey down, and of the fighting, and of all that had chanced. She smiled, and assented with her eyes her father had told her. "My father knows that thou dost come to me, and he is not angry," she said.
No man knew from Cumner's speech who was to be Dakoon, yet every man in Mandakan said in the quiet of his home that night: "To-morrow Pango Dooni will be Dakoon. We will be as the stubble of the field before him. But Pango Dooni is a strong man."
Ceaseless, alert, silent, they had watched and waited, and at last the beggar knelt with his eyes fixed on the sleeper, and did not stir. A little way off from him stood Cumner's Son-patient, pale, worn, older by ten years than he was three days before. In the city dismay and misery ruled. Boonda Broke and the dead Dakoon were forgotten.
He had flung the knife at the dog with a wish in his heart that it was Cumner's Son instead. As he stood looking after the English lad, he said between his teeth with a great hatred, though his face showed no change: "English dog, thou shalt be dead like thy brother there when I am Dakoon of Mandakan."
The company drew rein. All they could see in the darkness was a single mounted figure in the middle of the road. The horseman rode nearer. "Who are you?" asked the leader of the company. "I keep the road for the Dakoon, for it is said that Cumner's Son has ridden to the Neck of Baroob to bring Pango Dooni down." By this time the chief and his men had ridden up.
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