uoth Kim. The Woman
of Shamlegh had given it to him; and it was only fair, he argued, that
her men should earn it back again.

Chapter 15

I'd not give room for an Emperor--
I'd hold my road for a King.
To the Triple Crown I'd not bow down--
But this is a different thing!
I'll not fight with the Powers of Air--
Sentry, pass him through!
Drawbridge let fall--He's the Lord of us all--
The Dreamer whose dream came true!

The Siege of the Fairies.

Two hundred miles north of Chini, on the blue shale of Ladakh, lies
Yankling Sahib, the merry-minded man, spy-glassing wrathfully across
the ridges for some sign of his pet tracker--a man from Ao-chung. But
that renegade, with a new Mannlicher rifle and two hundred cartridges,
is elsewhere, shooting musk-deer for the market, and Yankling Sahib
will learn next season how very ill he has been.

Up the valleys of Bushahr--the far-beholding eagles of the Himalayas
swerve at his new blue-and-white gored umbrella--hurries a Bengali,
once fat and well-looking, now lean and weather-worn. He has received
the thanks of two foreigners of distinction, piloted not unskilfully to
Mashobra tunnel, which leads to the great and gay capital of India. It
was not his fault that, blanketed by wet mists, he conveyed them past
the telegraph-station and European colony of Kotgarh. It was not his
fault, but that of the Gods, of whom he discoursed so engagingly, that
he led them into the borders of Nahan, where the Rahah of that State
mistook them for deserting British soldiery. Hurree Babu explained the
greatness and glory, in their own country, of his companions, till the
drowsy kinglet smiled. He explained it to everyone who asked--many
times--aloud--variously. He begged food, arranged accommodation,
proved a skilful leech for an injury of the groin--such a blow as one
may receive rolling down a rock-covered hillside in the dark--and in
all things indispensable. The reason of his friendliness did him
credit. With millions of fellow-serfs, he had learned to look upon
Russia as the great deliverer from the North. He was a fearful man.
He had been afraid that he could not save his illustrious employers
from the anger of an excited peasantry. He himself would just as lief
hit a holy man as not, but ... He was deeply grateful and sincerely
rejoiced that he had done his 'little possible' towards bringing their
venture to--barring the lost baggage--a successful