e entered the telegraph hut,
and he followed himself in twenty minutes. Somewhere upon the hill-road
he met St. John with a dozen men, who abused him roundly and besought
details.

"Are you sure?" he cried. "For God's sake, say you're mistaken. For,
if you're not, upon my soul it's the last hour for all of us."

George was in little mood for jest. 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. Send men to Forza
and get them to light the fires. Oh, for God's sake, be quick! I've
left Haystoun down there. The obstinate beggar was too tired to move."

Over all the twenty odd miles between Forza and Khautmi there is a chain
of fires which can be used for signals in the Border wars. On this
night Khautmi was to take the west side of the Nazri gully and Forza the
east, and the two quickest runners in the place were sent off to Andover
with the news. He was to come towards them, leaving men at the
different signal-posts in case of scattered assaults, and if he came in
time the two forces would join in holding the Nazri pass. But should
the invader come before, then it fell on the Khautmi men to stand alone.
It was a smooth green hollow in the stony hills, some hundred yards
wide, and at the most they might hope to make a fight of thirty minutes.
St. John and George, with their men, ran down the stony road till the
sweat dripped from their brows, though the night was chilly. Mitchinson
was to follow with the rest and light the fires; meantime, they must get
to Nazri, in case the march should forestall them. St. John was
cursing his ill-luck. Two hours earlier and they might have held the
distant cleft in the hills, and, if they were doomed to perish, have
perished to some purpose. But the holding of the easy Nazri pass was
sheer idle mania, and yet it was the only chance of gaining some paltry
minutes. As for George, he had forgotten his vexatious. His one
anxiety was for Lewis; that he should be in time to have his friend at
his side. And when at last they came down on the pass and saw the
camp-fire blazing fiercely and no trace of the enemy, he experienced a
sense of vast relief. Lewis was making h