which can be seen for an enormous distance around. I
shall train a number of men to be facile in signalling. And then, should
need come, I may be able to show the mountaineers that I am fit to live
in their hearts . . .

And all this work may prove an anodyne to pain of another kind. It will
help, at any rate, to keep my mind occupied whilst I am waiting for
another visit from my Lady of the Shroud.

RUPERT'S JOURNAL--_Continued_.

_May_ 18, 1907.

The two weeks that have passed have been busy, and may, as time goes on,
prove eventful. I really think they have placed me in a different
position with the Blue Mountaineers--certainly so far as those in this
part of the country are concerned. They are no longer suspicious of
me--which is much; though they have not yet received me into their
confidence. I suppose this will come in time, but I must not try to
hustle them. Already they are willing, so far as I can see, to use me to
their own ends. They accepted the signalling idea very readily, and are
quite willing to drill as much as I like. This can be (and I think is,
in its way) a pleasure to them. They are born soldiers, every man of
them; and practice together is only a realization of their own wishes and
a further development of their powers. I think I can understand the
trend of their thoughts, and what ideas of public policy lie behind them.
In all that we have attempted together as yet they are themselves in
absolute power. It rests with them to carry out any ideas I may suggest,
so they do not fear any assumption of power or governance on my part.
Thus, so long as they keep secret from me both their ideas of high policy
and their immediate intentions, I am powerless to do them ill, and I
_may_ be of service should occasion arise. Well, all told, this is much.
Already they accept me as an individual, not merely one of the mass. I
am pretty sure that they are satisfied of my personal _bona fides_. It
is policy and not mistrust that hedges me in. Well, policy is a matter
of time. They are a splendid people, but if they knew a little more than
they do they would understand that the wisest of all policies is
trust--when it can be given. I must hold myself in check, and never be
betrayed into a harsh thought towards them. Poor souls! with a thousand
years behind them of Turkish aggression, strenuously attempted by both
force and fraud