The Air Patrol Part 40

The man approached. He was a strange object, the wrinkled skin of his face yellow like old ivory, a ragged white beard hanging almost to his waist. When he came up, he made some sort of salutation to Lawrence, and another to the Major, then muttered the word _kuzur_.

"We all know what that means," said the Major; but he paused, struck by an eager look in Lawrence's eyes as the old man made some pantomimic gestures and pointed in the direction whence he had come. Lawrence sprang from his horse.

"He wants me to go with him, Major," he said hurriedly. "I believe--I hardly dare think it----"

He did not wait to complete the sentence, but followed the old man, who was already walking back. They came to a narrow ravine, which wound away into the hillside towards the river, always at a steep descent.

Pa.s.sing along it, they came after some minutes to a well-built akoi, around which several skins lay drying. The man led Lawrence to the entrance, and motioned to him to go in.

The lad's heart was beating tumultuously. He paused a moment at the low opening, shrinking lest what he was about to see were a culminating spectacle of woe. In the middle of the tent there was a fire, the smoke of which pa.s.sed out through a hole in the dome-shaped roof. Crushing down his agitation, he stepped in, his tread falling noiseless on a floor of thick skin rugs. Just beyond the fire lay the still form of a man. Holding his breath, Lawrence bent down, and looked upon the face of his uncle, asleep.

Though his footsteps had been silent, the fact of his presence seemed to penetrate the consciousness of the sleeping man. He opened his eyes.

"Ah, Lawrence," he said, "what is this I hear about great guns?"

Lawrence could not speak. He clasped his uncle's hand, and felt with a kind of surprise that it was warm as his own.

"Poor old boy! I expect you've had a bad time," Mr. Appleton went on.

"But I couldn't let you know that I was all right."

"I can hardly believe it. It seems too good to be true. We'd long ago given you up."

"Long ago! Why, goodness alive! how long have I been here then?"

And then Lawrence remembered that it was only a fortnight since that unlucky pursuit of Nurla Bai.

"It seems an age," he said. "But how splendid it is, Uncle! Bob and everybody will be simply wild with delight. You're not ill, are you?"

he asked, noticing that his uncle remained flat on his back.

"I'm never ill, as you know! But old What's-his-name is not much of a surgeon, and I'm helpless with a broken thigh or something of the sort.

That rascal Nurla Bai only gave me a flesh wound, which is healed now; but when I fell I came down too heavily on a rock beneath the surface, and smashed myself. The old man happened to be fishing close by----"

"I remember: we found a fishing net when we were searching for you."

"I was carried within reach of him, and he drew me ash.o.r.e to a cavern under the cliff. Of course I was senseless, and the old man seems to have been scared out of his wits by the aeroplane, or he would have shown up when you were looking for me. Anyway, he carried me to this place, which appears to be only a few feet above the bank, and here he has looked after me ever since. When I came to myself, I explained what had happened, and asked him to walk up to the mine to tell you that I was alive. He went off, but returned with a story about a whole army marching up, and fighting, and big guns, and what not. So I simply had to make the best of it, though I knew that you must think me dead. Now, what is this all about?"

"I'll tell you everything when I get you home, Uncle. Major Endicott is here----"

"Thinks me mad, you know."

"With a lot of troopers, and they must sling up a horse-litter for you.

We've got Captain Coats at the mine--an army surgeon, you know; he'll see what's really the matter with you."

"Any other strangers? Billeting is rather expensive. But I'm talking nonsense. Get me out of this as soon as you like. It's a very comfortable hut, but not like home, and I long to see old Chunda Beg's serious phiz, and--yes, hear the Babu's chatter. And I want to know----"

"Yes, there are heaps of things to explain," Lawrence interrupted.

"I'll run and tell the Major."

"And I say, in case I forget it, I promised to give old Stick-in-the-mud a pound of tobacco when I got back. Remind me."

Lawrence hurried out, fearing that weakness had made his uncle rather light-headed. On his acquainting the Major with his amazing discovery, and explaining that the akoi appeared to be very near the river, the order was at once given to return to the track. There they met the other half of the party, who reported that the bridge down stream had collapsed under the hurried flight of the enemy. Their rearguard had evidently elected to try the difficult mountain track rather than risk being caught.

Lawrence went down the track with the Major and two troopers, and were soon met by the old Uzbek, whose name no one knew. He conducted them along a narrow parting in the rocks till they reached his akoi. With his aid a litter of skins was rigged up, and on this Mr. Appleton was carried down to the track. There the litter was slung between two horses, and the rest of the journey to the mine was accomplished slowly indeed, but in comfort.

On the way Major Endicott, at Mr. Appleton's entreaty, gave him a succinct account of what had happened during his absence.

"I wish I'd been there, egad!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, as he heard of his nephews' gallant defence. "But no: they've had a chance to show what stuff they're made of; my a.s.sistance would have ruined it. D'you still think I'm mad, Endicott?"

"Well--perhaps a trifle light-headed--owing to your illness, you know,"

answered the Major in some confusion.

"That's not what I meant," said Mr. Appleton with twinkling eyes. "You thought me chronically mad, fit for Bedlam. Oh! you needn't apologize: all you frontier fellows did. 'Poor old Harry,' you know. 'Only a madman would think of mining in the Hindu Kush!' But where would you have been without the mine, eh? Where would you have been, the whole dashed lot of you, without the mine and my young nephews? I tell you what, sir, my mine has been the saving of India, and don't you forget it."

"We shan't do that, Appleton, I a.s.sure you," said the Major, willing to humour him.

"Yes; my mine, and one other thing: Bob's aeroplane. What you want, my dear sir, to keep India safe, is a corps of air patrols, with Bob as boss and Lawrence as second in command. We've got the finest navy in the world: for its size we've got the finest army; and we ought to wake up and get the finest air fleet, and the finest corps of airmen that can be trained. That's my opinion."

There is no need to describe the scenes of wild excitement and jubilation at the mine when Mr. Appleton was carried among his people.

The surgeon's report after examination of the fractured limb was a surprise to everybody. He said that the old Uzbek, by skill or good luck, had done just what an experienced surgeon would have done in the absence of proper splints. The fracture was a simple one, the bone was already joining up, and there would be no risk in conveying Mr. Appleton in the horse-litter by easy stages to India.

Preparations for departure were hurried on. With the aid of the troopers, the Pathans put up in a day a temporary shed for the accommodation of the Englishmen. Then they set about hoisting the silver ore from its cavity in the bank of the river to the compound above. The transportation of twenty tons of ore over rough country without suitable vehicles was a matter that gave everybody much concern.

It was ultimately decided that as much as possible should be carried by the men and animals, the remainder being left, to be fetched subsequently by a host of carriers whom Fyz Ali undertook to enlist.

Every man of the garrison was delighted with the promise of treble pay for the fortnight of Mr. Appleton's absence, and Major Endicott did not despair of extracting a grant from Government in recognition of their services to the Empire.

On the night before the southward march was to be begun, the Englishmen were provided by Shan Tai with a supper on which he lavished all the resources of his art. Corned beef and other tinned comestibles appeared in various disguises, and Mr. Appleton, reclining on his chair, mildly expostulated with the Chinaman for deferring this triumphant exhibition of his skill until the eve of the abandonment of the mine. Healths were drunk in water and coffee, the only beverages available, and the store-sheds having luckily escaped injury, Mr. Appleton was able to offer his guests some excellent cigars.

When all were contentedly smoking, Mr. Appleton said:

"I want to take you men into my confidence, and ask your advice. As you know, I have decided to close down here. I had already decided to do so at the end of this summer: recent events have only antic.i.p.ated it by a few weeks."

"Congratulations," said Major Endicott. "I suppose you've made your pile."

"A very modest pile. Sixty per cent. of that ore is pure silver, and it will fetch something like 50,000. That of course I shall invest."

"Choose a good security," said the Major.

"No more hair-brained adventures, you mean! Really, Major, you must try to disabuse your mind of the notion that I am mad. Now, I am going to retire. Yesterday was my fifty-third birthday; I have knocked about enough; my tastes are simple: and I've enough to live on apart from the silver.

"You wonder, I dare say, why I brought my nephews out here only a few months before the date I had fixed on for giving up the mine. I'll tell you. I didn't know the boys, and wanted to study them at close quarters, and see for myself what they were good for. I am quite satisfied. The probation they have come through during the last few days would convince any one."

"I should rather think so," said the Major emphatically.

"Well now, what do you advise? What shall I do with them?"

"Let 'em both join the service; I recommend that without hesitation,"

said the Major.

"Hear! hear!" Captain Fenton e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed.