“Oh, anything.  Tell him it’s life or death.  Tell him the facts, and don’t spare.  You’ll have to impress on the telegraph clerk its importance first and that will take time.  Tell him to send to Gilgit and Srinagar, and then to the Indus Valley.  He must send into Chitral too and warn Armstrong.  Above all things the Kohistan railway must be watched, because it must be their main card.  Lord!  I wish I understood the game better.  Heaven knows it isn’t my profession.  But Thwaite will understand if you scare him enough.  Tell him that Bardur must be held ready for siege at any moment.  You understand how to work the thing?”

George nodded.  “There’ll be nobody there, so I suppose I’ll have to break the door open.  I think I remember the trick of the business. Then, what do I do?”

“Get up to Khautmi as fast as you can shin it.  Better take the servants and send them before you while you work the telegraph.  I suppose they’re trustworthy.  Get them to warn Mitchinson and St. John.  They must light the fires on the hills and collect all the men they can spare to hold the road.  Of course it’s a desperate venture.  We’ll probably all be knocked on the head, but we must risk it.  If we can stop the beggars for one half-hour we’ll give Thwaite a better chance to set his house in order.  How I’d sell my soul to see a strong man in Bardur!  That will be the key of the position.  If the place is uncaptured to-morrow morning, and your wires have gone right, the chief danger on this side will be past.  There will be little risings of wasps’ nests up and down the shop, but we can account for them if this army from the north is stopped.”

“I wonder how many of us will see to-morrow morning,” said George dismally.  He was not afraid of death, but he loved the pleasant world.

“Good-bye,” said Lewis abruptly, holding out his hand.

The action made George realize for the first time the meaning of his errand.

“But, I say, Lewie, hold on.  What the deuce are you going to do?”

“I am dog-tired,” said the impostor.  “I must wait here and rest.  I should only delay you.”  And always, as if to belie his fatigue, his eyes were turning keenly to the north.  At any moment while he stood there bandying words there might come the sound of marching, and the van of the invaders issue from the defile.

“But, hang it, you know.  I can’t allow this.  The Khautmi men mayn’t reach you in time, and I’m dashed if I am going to leave you here to be chawed up by Marker.  You’re coming with me.”

“Don’t be an ass,” said Lewis kindly.  This parting, one in ignorance, the other in too certain knowledge, was very bitter “They can’t be here before midnight.  They were to start at moonrise, and the moon is only just up.  You’ll be back in heaps of time, and, besides, we’ll soon all be in the same box.”

It was a false card to play, for George grew obstinate at once.  “Then I’m going to be in the same box as you from the beginning.  Do you really think I am going to desert you?  Hang it, you’re more important than Bardur.”