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Updated: June 4, 2025
"Which is it better: to die, or to turn with us and save Cumner and the English, and serve Pango Dooni in the Dakoon's Palace?" "No man knows that he must die till the stroke falls, and I come to fight and not to serve a robber mountaineer." Pango Dooni's eyes blazed with anger. "There shall be no fighting, but a yelping cur shall be hung to a tree," said he.
Before he had got half-way to the Palace he suddenly slid from the horse and said: "Why should I go? The son of the great Cumner promised for the Dakoon. He tells the truth. Light of my soul, but truth is the greatest of all! I go to play chuck-farthing." So saying, he turned and ran lazily back to the Residency and sat down beneath the banyan tree.
Before he had got half-way to the Palace he suddenly slid from the horse and said: "Why should I go? The son of the great Cumner promised for the Dakoon. He tells the truth. Light of my soul, but truth is the greatest of all! I go to play chuck-farthing." So saying, he turned and ran lazily back to the Residency and sat down beneath the banyan tree.
Pause by the Koongat Bridge an hour, rest three hours at the Bar of Balmud, and pause again where the roof of the Brown Hermit drums to the sorrel's hoofs. Ride for the sake of the women and children and for your own honour. Ride like a Cumner, lad."
Suddenly a savage murmuring among the natives in the Bazaar broke into a loud snarl, and it seemed as if a storm was about to break; but as suddenly, at a call from Cumner, the hillsmen, the British, and a thousand native soldiers, faced the Bazaar in perfect silence, their lances, swords, and rifles in a pose of menace. The whole procession stood still for a moment.
Then will I be your friend, and because my son shall be Dakoon I will harry ye no more, but bide in my hills, free and friendly, and ready with sword and lance to stand by the faith and fealty that I promise. If this be your will, and the will of the great Cumner, speak." Cumner bowed his head in assent, and the people called in a loud voice for Tang-a-Dahit.
Cumner and Pango Dooni had placed him at this point for no other reason than to give him his chance for a blow, if he dared to strike it, at the most advantageous place in the city. The furtive hangers-on, cut-throats, mendicants, followers of Boonda Broke, and haters of the English, lurked in the Bazaars, and Gis-yo-Bahim should be tempted for the first and the last time.
"Which is it better: to die, or to turn with us and save Cumner and the English, and serve Pango Dooni in the Dakoon's Palace?" "No man knows that he must die till the stroke falls, and I come to fight and not to serve a robber mountaineer." Pango Dooni's eyes blazed with anger. "There shall be no fighting, but a yelping cur shall be hung to a tree," said he.
"No debt is paid till I see the face of my son," answered Cumner anxiously. Pango Dooni pointed with his sword. "In the Palace yard," said he. "In the Palace yard, alive?" asked Cumner. Pango Dooni smiled. "Let us go and see." Cumner wiped the sweat and dust and blood from his face, and turned to McDermot. "Was I right when I sent the lad?" said he proudly. "The women and children are safe."
A hillsman bound up the wound, and he rode on to the Tomb. The Dakoon was placed in his gorgeous house of death, and every man cried: "Sleep, lord of the earth!" Then Cumner stood up in his saddle, and cried aloud: "To-morrow, when the sun stands over the gold dome of the Palace, ye shall come to hear your Dakoon speak in the hall of the Heavenly Hours."
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