credit for having any vitality left, were it not for his
eyes, which glittered and sparkled with excitement, like two diamonds in
a setting of mahogany.

This apparition came rushing out of the cave, and, throwing himself
between the fugitives and our fellows, motioned us back with as
imperious a sweep of the hand as ever an emperor used to his slaves.

"Men of blood," he cried, in a voice of thunder, speaking excellent
English, too--"this is a place for prayer and meditation, not for
murder. Desist, lest the wrath of the gods fall upon you."

"Stand aside, old man," I shouted. "You will meet with a hurt if you
don't get out of the way."

I could see that the Hillmen were taking heart, and that some of
my Sepoys were flinching, as if they did not relish this new enemy.
Clearly, I must act promptly if I wished to complete our success.

I dashed forward at the head of the white artillerymen who had stuck to
me. The old fellow rushed at us with his arms out as if to stop us, but
it was not time to stick at trifles, so I passed my sword through his
body at the same moment that one of the gunners brought his carbine down
upon his head. He dropped instantly, and the Hillmen, at the sight of
his fall, set up the most unearthly howl of horror and consternation.

The Sepoys, who had been inclined to hang back, came on again the
moment he was disposed of, and it did not take us long to consummate our
victory. Hardly a man of the enemy got out of the defile alive.

What could Hannibal or Caesar have done more? Our own loss in the whole
affair has been insignificant--three killed and about fifteen wounded.
Got their banner, a green wisp of a thing with a sentence of the Koran
engraved upon it.

I looked, after the action, for the old chap, but his body had
disappeared, though how or whither I have no conception. His blood be
upon his own head! He would be alive now if he had not interfered, as
the constables say at home, "with an officer in the execution of his
duty."

The scouts tell me that his name was Ghoolab Shah, and that he was one
of the highest and holiest of the Buddhists. He had great fame in the
district as a prophet and worker of miracles--hence the hubbub when he
was cut down. They tell me that he was living in this very cave when
Tamerlane passed this way in 1399, with a lot more bosh of that sort.

I went into the cave, and how any man could live in it a week is a
mystery to me, for it was little more tha