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"Gone!" announced King. "He went with the other one!" "Went whither? Did any see him go?" "Is that thy affair?" asked King, and the man collapsed. It is not considered wise to the north of Jamrud to argue with a wizard, or even with a man who only claims to be one. This was a man who had changed his very nature almost under their eyes.
The 1st Brigade, consisting of the 4th Battalion Rifle Brigade, the 4th Gurkhas, the 20th Punjab Infantry, and the Hazars Mountain Battery, fared even worse than the 2nd, for it had to begin the day with marching from Hari Singhka-Burg to Jamrud, where it arrived to find, to the disgust of its commander, Brigadier-General Macpherson, that the supplies and transports which ought to have been awaiting it were not ready, and to be kept hanging about till 11 p.m. before it could get a fresh start.
To be quite exact, on that morning when Ralston was taking his long walk towards Jamrud with the zemindar Futteh Ali Shah, Linforth was watching impatiently from his deck-chair the high mosque towers, the white domes and great houses of Mocha, as they shimmered in the heat at the water's edge against a wide background of yellow sand.
It was low-tide under the Himalayas. The flood that was draining India of her armed men had left Jamrud high and dry with a little nondescript force stranded there, as it were, under a British major and some native officers.
At Jamrud they were given food and their rifles were taken away from them and a guard was set to watch them. But the guard only consisted of two men, both of whom were Pathans, and they assured them that, ridiculous though it sounded, the British were actually willing to forgive their enemies and to pardon all deserters who applied for pardon on condition of good faith in the future.
On reaching the foot of the Tabai spur leading to the Rhotas ridge, about six miles from Jamrud, four companies of the 20th Punjaub Infantry, amounting to 243 men, commanded by Major Gordon, were detached to occupy the Tabai ridge below the Rhotas summit, and there to await the arrival of the remainder of the brigade on the main ridge leading to the enemy's sangars on the summit, when a simultaneous attack would be made on it about noon.
There were no more pomp and circumstance; no more of the reassuring thunder of gathering regiments, nor for that matter any more of that unarmed native helplessness that so stiffens the backs of the official English. Frowning over Jamrud were the lean "Hills," peopled by the fiercest fighting men on earth, and the clouds that hung over the Khyber's course were an accent to the savagery.
"But my horse is fresh, and I should not be able to talk to you so well. I do not feel that I am in danger." Futteh Ali Shah mopped his face and walked on. His feet blistered; he began to limp, and he had nothing but a riding-switch in his hand. Now across the plain he saw in the distance the round fort of Jamrud, and he suddenly halted: "I must sit down," he said.
A full enquiry has been instituted. Now Peshawar to Jamrud is a matter of a few miles. It was clearly the duty of the military not to attempt to pull out the ticketless Mahajarins for the sake of a few annas. But they actually attempted force. Intervention by the rest of the party was a foregone conclusion. An altercation ensued. A British officer was attacked with a spade.
"He gave a sign and said a word that satisfied us on that point!" "Oh!" said King. "Can you signal down the Pass?" "Surely." "Courtenay still at Jamrud?" "Yes. In charge there and growing tired of doing nothing." "Signal down and ask him to have that bath ready for me that I spoke about. Good-by."
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