“Thank God!” I said to Ram Lal.

“Call Him as you please, friend Griggs,” answered the pundit.

It was daylight when we reached the tent at the top of the pass.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIII.

“Abdul Hafiz,” said Ram Lal, as we sat round the fire we had made, preparing food, “if it is thy pleasure I will conduct thy friend to a place of safety and set his feet in the paths that lead to pleasant places.  For thou art weary and wilt take thy rest until noon, but I am not weary and the limbs of the Afghan are as iron.”  He spoke in Persian, so that Shere Ali could understand what he said.  The latter looked uneasy at first, but soon perceived that his best chance of safety lay in immediately leaving the neighbourhood, which was unpleasantly near Simla on the one side and the frontiers of Baithopoor on the other.

“I thank thee, Ram Lal,” replied Isaacs, “and I gladly accept thy offer.  Whither wilt thou conduct our friend the Amir?”

“I will lead him by a sure road into Thibet, and my brethren shall take care of him, and presently he shall journey safely northwards into the Tartar country, and thence to the Russ people, where the followers of your prophet are many, and if thou wilt give him the letters thou hast written, which he may present to the principal moolahs, he shall prosper.  And as for money, if thou hast gold, give him of it, and if not, give him silver; and if thou hast none, take no thought, for the freedom of the spirit is better than the obesity of the body.”

“Bishmillah!  Thou speakest with the tongue of wisdom, old man,” said Shere Ali; “nevertheless a few rupees—­”

“Fear nothing,” broke in Isaacs.  “I have for thee a store of a few rupees in silver, and there are two hundred gold mohurs in this bag.  They are scarce in Hind and pass not as money, but the value of them whither thou goest shall buy thee food many days.  Take also this diamond, which if thou be in want thou shalt sell and be rich.”

Shere Ali, who had been suspicious of treachery, or at least was afraid to believe himself really free, was convinced by this generosity.  The great rough warrior, the brave patriot who had shut the gates of Kabul in the face of Sir Neville Chamberlain, and who had faced every danger and defeat, rather than tamely suffer the advance of the all-devouring English into his dominions, was proud and unbending still, through all his captivity and poverty and trouble, and weariness of soul and suffering of body; he could bear his calamities like a man, the unrelenting chief of an unrelenting race.  But when Isaacs stretched forth his hand and freed him, and bestowed upon him, moreover, a goodly stock of cash, and bid him go in peace, his gratitude got the better of him, and he fairly broke down.  The big tears coursed down over his rough cheeks, and his face sank between his hands, which trembled violently for a moment.  Then his habitual calm of outward manner returned.