ce of its garrison must
cease, and happy those of the defenders who died. Luckless they that lived.
For the worst tortures that even China knew would be theirs.

But when the morrow came there was no longer an investing army.
Panic-stricken, the scattered remnants of the once formidable host
staggered blindly up the inhospitable mountains only to perish in the
snows of the passes. For in the dark hours annihilation had come upon
the rest. Countless monsters, worse, far worse, than the legendary
dragons of their native land, had come from the skies, sprung from the
earth. And under their huge feet the army had perished.

When the sun rose Dermot knelt beside the mattress on which Parker lay
among the heaps of rubble that had once been the Fort. An Indian officer,
the only one left, and a few haggard sepoys stood by. The rest of the few
survivors of the gallant band had thrown themselves down to sleep haphazard
among the ruins that covered the bodies of their comrades.

"Is it all true, Major? Are they really gone?" whispered the subaltern
feebly.

"Yes, Parker, it's quite true. They've gone. You've helped to save India.
You held them off--God knows how you did it. Your wound's a nasty one; but
you'll get over it."

He rose and held out his hands to the others. _"Shabash!_ (Well done!)
_Subhedar Sahib_, Mohammed Khan, Gulab Khan, Shaikh Bakar, well done."

And the men of the alien race pressed round him and clasped his hands
gratefully.

The defeat of the invaders in this little-known corner of the Indian Empire
was but the forerunner of the disasters that befell the other enemies of
the British dominion, though many months passed before peace settled on the
land again. But Lalpuri had not so long to wait for Dermot to redeem his
promise to visit it. When he did he rode on Badshah at the head of a
British force. The gates were flung open wide; and he passed through
submissive crowds to see the blackened ruins of the Palace that, stormed,
looted, and burnt by its rebel soldiery, hid the ashes of the _Dewan_.

A year had gone by. In the villages perched on the steep sides of the
mountains the Bhuttia women rejoiced to know that the peace of the
Borderland would never be broken again while the dread hand of a god lay on
it. And in their bamboo huts they tried to hush their little children with
the mention of his name. But the sturdy, naked babies had no fear of him.
For they all knew him; and he was kind and far less