people are numbered. This very night
there are those coming from the north who will set their foot on your
necks."

Lewis went sick at heart. A thousand half-forgotten suspicions called
clamorously. This was the secret of the burlesque at Forza, and the new
valour of the Badas. He saw Marker's game with the fatal clearness of
one who is too late. He had been given a chance of a little piece of
service to avert his suspicions. Marker had fathomed him well as one
who must satisfy a restless conscience but had no stomach for anything
beyond. Doubtless he thought that now he would be enjoying the rest
after labour at Forza, flattering himself on saving a garrison, when all
the while the force poured down which was to destroy an empire. An army
from the north, backed and guided by every Border half-breed and
outlaw--what hope of help in God's name was to be found in the sleepy
forts and the unsuspecting Bardur?

And the Kashmir and the Punjab? A train laid in every town and village.
Supplies in readiness, communications waiting to be held, railways ready
for capture. Europe was on the edge of a volcano. He saw an outbreak
there which would keep Britain employed at home, while the great power
with her endless forces and bottomless purse poured her men over the
frontier. But at the thought of the frontier he checked himself. There
was no road by which an army could march; if there was any it could be
blocked by a handful. A week's, a day's delay would save the north, and
the north would save the empire.

His voice came out of his throat with a crack in it like an old man's.

"There is no road through the mountains. I have been there before and I
know."

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. Beyond that there is a sandy tableland, and then
another valley, and then plains."

The plan of the place was clear in Lewis's brain. He remembered each
detail. The long nullah on which he had looked from the hill-tops had,
then, an outlet, and did not end, as he had guessed, in a dead wall of
rock. Fool and blind! to have missed so glorious a chance!

He stood staring dumbly around him, unconscious that he