gh
a mist, the fakir swaying himself backwards and forwards, his arms
waving and his face distorted. Another minute, and the pipe slipped from
my fingers, and I fell back insensible.
"How long I lay there I do not know. I woke with a strange and not
unpleasant sensation, and presently became conscious that the fakir was
gently pressing, with a sort of shampooing action, my temples and head.
When he saw that I opened my eyes he left me, and performed the same
process upon Charley. In a few minutes he rose from his stooping
position, waved his hand in token of adieu, and walked slowly back into
the temple.
"As he disappeared I sat up; Charley did the same.
"We stared at each other for a minute without speaking, and then Charley
said:
"'This is a rum go, and no mistake, old man.'
"'You're right, Charley. My opinion is, we've made fools of ourselves.
Let's be off out of this.'
"We staggered to our feet, for we both felt like drunken men, made our
way to our horses, poured a mussuk of water over our heads, took a
drink of brandy from our flasks, and then, feeling more like ourselves,
mounted and rode out of the jungle.
"'Well, Harley, if the glimpse of futurity which I had is true, all I
can say is that it was extremely unpleasant.'
"'That was just my case, Charley.'
"'My dream, or whatever you like to call it, was about a mutiny of the
men.'
"'You don't say so, Charley; so was mine. This is monstrously strange,
to say the least of it. However, you tell your story first, and then I
will tell mine.'
"'It was very short,' Charley said. 'We were at mess--not in our present
mess room--we were dining with the fellows of some other regiment.
Suddenly, without any warning, the windows were filled with a crowd of
Sepoys, who opened fire right and left into us. Half the fellows were
shot down at once; the rest of us made a rush to our swords just as the
niggers came swarming into the room. There was a desperate fight for a
moment. I remember that Subadar Piran--one of the best native officers
in the regiment, by the way--made a rush at me, and I shot him through
the head with a revolver. At the same moment a ball hit me, and down I
went. At the moment a Sepoy fell dead across me, hiding me partly from
sight. The fight lasted a minute or two longer. I fancy a few fellows
escaped, for I heard shots outside. Then the place became quiet. In
another minute I heard a crackling, and saw that the devils had set the
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