rivals among the tribal chiefs. Within its wide walls were wells and
water tanks, gardens for the growing of fruits and vegetables,
warehouses for goods, granaries stored with barley, wheat, and dal,
stables for a hundred horses, sheds for the housing of cattle, sheep,
and camels, and dwelling places for a goodly multitude of armed men,
their wives and their children. And all of these things endure until
this day, for the fortress town amid the mountains built by my
grandsire, The Tiger of the Pathans, has ever remained unconquered and
unconquerable.

"But as Shir Jumla Khan grew rich in possessions and in power--for
scores of fighting men from afar were attracted to his service--at the
same time did his position among the tribesmen become one of increasing
isolation. All feared him and envied him, and fear and envy have ever
been breeders of hate. Yet was he a just and a benevolent man, honoured
and beloved by every one within his domain, where his slightest word was
gladly accepted law, not because of the might he wielded but because of
his fairness to all men.

"I was yet a young man when a widely spread plot among the rival
tribesmen to destroy Shir Jumla Khan's power had come to a head, and had
resulted in a determined and prolonged attack upon his citadel. Numbers
had told, our outlying fields had been devastated, our flocks and herds
driven away, and crowded within the walls of the fortress were refugees
from all the surrounding countryside. We had been cooped up through the
summer, we had lost our annual crops, and without the usual
replenishment granaries and warehouses were beginning to wear an empty
look, with but sorry promise for the winter. But, calm and undismayed,
his proud look and serene smile ever the same, Shir Jumla Khan continued
to feed the hungry host within his gates and now absolutely dependent
upon his protection.

"The coming of winter would mean for us some relief, for the first snows
would scatter the beleaguering hosts, sending them back to their own
valleys, and giving us the chance, in the intervals of the season's
storms, to make a few forays on our own account on neighbouring
communities, which, taken one at a time, would be pretty well at our
mercy. But if we reasoned in this wise so did our enemies; for it was
now toward the close of the month of August and redoubled efforts were
being put forth to accomplish the breaching of our walls, so that The
Tiger of the Pathans might be s