United States or Somalia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
He told Lewis's tale in a few words. "A pass beyond Nazri," the man cried. "Why, I was there shooting buck last week. Up the nullah and over the ridge, and then a cleft at the top of the next valley? Does he say there's a pass there? Maybe, but I'll be hanged if an army could get through. If we get there we can hold it." "We haven't time. They may be here at any moment.
To the north of that plateau there is said to be nothing but rock and snow for twenty miles to the frontier. That may be so, but if this thing turns out all right we'll look into the matter. Anyway, you have got to pitch your tent to-morrow on that tableland just above the head of the Nazri gully. With luck I should be able to get to you some time in the afternoon.
The sun was still high in the heavens; with any luck he should be at Nazri by six o'clock. He was still sore with wounded pride. That Marker should have divined his weakness and left open to him a task in which he might rest with a cheap satisfaction was bitter to his vanity. The candour of his mind made him grant its truth, but his new-born confidence was sadly dissipated.
One was that there was an unknown pass in the hills beyond Nazri through which danger was expected at any moment that night; the other was that treason was suspected throughout the whole north. Then came the name of Marker, which gave Thwaite acute uneasiness.
At last he found himself in the Nazri valley, with the thin sword-cut showing dark in the yellow evening. Another mile and he would be at the camping-place, and in five more at the hut. He kept high up on the ridge, for the light had almost gone and the valley was perilous. It must be hideously late, eight o'clock or more, he thought, and his despair made him hurry his very weary limbs.
Again Fazir Khan smiled. "I use no secrecy to my friends. There is a way, though all men do not know it. From Nazri there is a valley running towards the sunrise. At the head there is a little ridge easily crossed, and from that there is a dry channel between high precipices. It is not the width of a man's stature, so even the sharp eyes of my brother might miss it.
The chief was listening with half-closed eyes. He saw new trouble for himself and was not cheerful. "Do you know how many men Holm has with him at the Forza camp?" "A score and a half. Some of my people passed that way yesterday, when the soldiers were parading." "And there are two more camps? "There are two beyond the Nazri Pass, on the fringe of the Doorab hills.
Suddenly a long, narrow black cleft in the farther tableland caught his eye. He took the direction from the sun and looked again. This must be the Nazri Pass, which he had never before that day heard of. He saw where it ended in a stony valley. Once there he had but to follow the nullah and cross the little ridge to come to Nazri.
"Mind the north gate . . . tell Andy I'm all right and make him look after himself . . . he's overworking . . . if you want to send a message to the other people you'd better send by Nazri . . . if the Badas mean business they'll shut up the road you go by. That's all. Good luck and thanks very much." Lewis found Mrs. Logan making a final inspection of the supper-room.
He stood staring dumbly around him, unconscious that he was the laughingstock of all. Then he looked at the chief. "Am I your prisoner?" he asked hoarsely. "Nay," said the other good-humouredly, "thou art free. We have over-much work on hand to-day to be saddled with captives." "Then where is Nazri?" he asked. The chief laughed a loud laugh of tolerant amusement. "Hear to the bold one," he cried.
Word Of The Day