26 
LAND & WATER 
November 2, 1916 
{Continued from pa^e 24^ 
out both hands to him, speaking softly in Turkish. I noticed 
that the six Companions had disappeared from the castrol 
and were somewhere out of sight on the fartlier side. 
I do not know what she said, but from her tone, and above 
all from her eyes, I judged that she was pleading— pleading 
for his return, for his partnersliip in her great adventure, 
pleading, for all I knew, for his love. 
His expression was like a death-mask, his brows drawn 
tiglit in a httle frown and his jaw rigid. 
" Madam," he said, " I ask you to tell your business quick 
and to tell it in English. My friends must hear it as well as 
me." 
" Your friends ! " she cried. " What has a prince to do 
with these hirehngs ? Your slaves, perhaps, but not your 
friends." 
" My friends," Sandy repeated grimly. " You must know 
Madam, that I am a British oihcer." 
That was beyond doubt a clean, staggering stroke. What 
she had thought of his origin God knows, but she had never 
dreamed of this. Her eyes grew larger and more lustrous, her 
lips parted as if to sjx^ak, but her voice failed her. Then by 
an effort she recovered herself, and out of that strange face 
went all the glow of youth and ardour. It was again the 
unholy mask I had first known. 
" And these others ? " she asked in a level voice. 
" One is a brother officer of my regiment. The other is an 
.American friend. But all three of us are on the same errand 
We came east to destroy Greenmantle and your devilish 
ambitions. You have yourself destroyed your prophet, and 
now it is your turn to fail and disappear. Make no mistake, 
Madam ; that folly is over. I will tear this sacred garment 
into a thousand pieces and scatter them on the wind. The 
people wait to-day for the revelation, but none will come. 
You may kill us if you can, but we have at least crushed a he 
and done service to our country." 
I would not have taken my eyes from her face for a king's 
ransom. I have written that she was a queen, and of that 
there is no manner of doubt. She had a soul of a conqueror, 
for not a flicker of weakness or disappointment marred her 
air. Only pride and the stateliest resolution looked out of 
her eyes. 
" I said I came to offer terms. I will still offer them, 
though they are other than I thought. For the fat American, 
I will send him home safely to his own country. 1 do not 
make weir on such as he. He is Germany's foe, not mine. 
You," she said, turning fiercely on me, " I will hang before 
dusk." 
Never in my hfe had I been so pleased. I had got my 
revenge at last. This woman had singled me out above the 
others as the object of her wrath, and I almost loved her 
for it. 
She turned to Sandy, and the fierceness went out of her 
face. 
" You seek truth," she said. " So also do I, and if we use 
.1 lie it is only to break down a greater. You are of my 
household in spirit, and you alone of all men I have seen are 
fit to ride with me on my mission. Germany may fail, but 
I shall not fail. I offer you the greatest career that mortal 
has known. I offer you a task which will need every atom 
of brain and sinew and courage. Will you refuse that 
destiny ? " 
I do not know what effect this vapouring might have had 
in hot scented rooms, or in the languor of some rich garden ; 
but up on that cold hill-top it was as unsubstantial as the 
mist around us. It sounded not even impressive, only crazy. 
" I stay with my friends," said Sandy. 
" Then I will offer more. I will save your friends. They, 
too, shall share in my triumph." 
This was too much for Blenkiron. He scrambled to his 
feet to speak the protest that had been wrung from his soul, 
forgot his game leg, and rolled back on the ground with a 
groan. 
Then she seemed to make a last appeal. She spoke in 
Turkish now, and I do not know what she said, but I judged 
it was the plea of a woman to her lover. Once more she was 
the proud beauty, but there was a tremor in her pride — 
I had almost written tenderness. To listen to her was hke 
horrid treachery, like eavesdropping on something pitiful. I 
know my cheeks grew scarlet and Blenkiron turned away 
his head. 
Sandy's face did not move. He spoke in EngUsh. 
" You can offer me notliing that I desire," he said. " I 
am the servant of my country, and her enemies are mine. 
I can have neither part nor lot with you. That is my answer. 
Madam von Einem." 
Then her steely restraint broke. It was like a dam giving 
before a pent-up mass of icy water. She tore off one of her 
gauntlets and hurled it in liis face. Implacable hate looked cut 
of her eyes. 
" I have done with you," she cried. " You have scorned 
me, but you have dug your own grave." 
She leaped on the parapet and the next second was on the 
glacis. Once more the mist had fled, and across the hollow 
1 saw a field-gun in place and men around it who were not 
Turkish. She waved her hand to them, and hastened down, 
the hillside. 
But at that moment I heard the whistle of a long-range 
Russian slicll. Among the boulders there was the dull shock 
of an explosion and a mushroom of red earth. It all passed 
in an instant of time : I saw tlie gunners on the road povnt 
their hands and I heard them cry. I heard, too, a kind of 
sob from Blenkiron —all this before I realised myself what 
had happened. The next tiling I saw was Sandy, already 
beyond the glacis, leaping with great bounds down the hill. 
They were shooting at him, but he heeded thi m not. For the 
space of a minute he was out of sight, and his whereabouts 
was shown only by the patter of bullets. 
Then he came back — walking quite slowly up the last slope, 
and he was carrying something in his arms. The enemy fired 
no more : they realised what had happened. 
He laid his burden down gently in a comer of the castrol. 
The cap had fallen off, and the hair was breaking loose. The 
face was very white but there was no wound or bruise on it. 
" She was killed at once," I heard him saying. " Her 
back was broken by a shell-fragment. Dick, we must bury 
her here. . . . You see, she . . . she Uked me. I 
can make her no return but this." 
We set the Companions to guard, and with infinite slow- 
ness, using our hands and our knives, we made a shallow grave 
below the eastern parapet. When it was done we covered her 
face with the linen cloak which Sandy had worn that morning. 
He hfted the body and laid it reverently in its place. 
" I did not know that anything could be so light," he said. 
It wasn't for me to look on at that kind of scene. I went 
to the parapet with Blenkiron's field-glasses and had a stare 
at our friends on the road. There was no Turk there, and 
I guessed why, for it would not be easy to use the men of 
Islam against the wearer of the green ephod. The enemy 
were German or Austrian, and they had a field-gun. They 
seemed to have got it laid on our fort ; but they were waiting. 
As I looked I saw behind them a massive figure I seemed 
to recognise. Stumm had come to see the destruction of his 
enemies. 
To the east I saw another gun in the fields just below the 
main road. They had got us on both sides, and there was no 
way of escape. Hilda von Einem was to have a noble pyre 
and goodly company for the dark journey. 
Dusk was falling now, a clear bright dusk where the stars 
pricked through a sheen of amethyst. The artillery were 
busy all around the horizon, and towards the pass on the 
other road, where Fort Palantuken stood, there was the dust 
and smoke of a furious bombardment. It seemed to me, too, 
that the guns on the other fronts had come nearer. De 
Boyun was hidden by a spur of hill, but up in the north white 
clouds, like the streamers of evening, were hanging over the 
Euphrates glen. The whole firmament hummed and twanged 
like a taut string that has been struck 
As I looked, the gun to the west fired — the gun where 
Stumm was. The shell dropped ten yards to our right. A 
second later another fell behind us. 
Blenkiron had dragged himself to the parapet. I don't 
suppose he had ever been shelled before, but his face showed 
curiosity rather than fear. 
" Pretty good shooting, I reckon," he said. 
" On the contrary," I said, " they know their business. 
They're bracketing. . . ." 
The words were not out of my mouth when one fell right 
among us. It struck the far rim of the castrol, shattering the 
rock, but bursting mainly outside. We all ducked, and barring 
some small scratches no one was a penny the worse. I 
remember that much of the debris fell on Hilda von Einem's 
grave. 
I pulled Blenkiron over the far parapet, and called on the 
rest to follow, meaning to take cover on the rough side of the 
hill. But as we showed ourselves shots rang out from our 
front, shots fired from a range of a few hundred yards It 
was easy to see what had happened. Riflemen had been sent 
to hold us in rear. They would not assault so long as we 
remained in the castrol, but they would block any attempt 
to find safety outside it. Stumm and his gun had us at their 
mercy. 
We crouched below the parapet again. " We may as well 
toss for it," I said^ " There's only two ways — to stay here 
and be shelled or try to break through those fellows behind. 
Either's pretty unhealthy." 
But I knew there was no choice. With Blenkiron crippled 
we were pinned to the castrol. Our numbers were up. 
(To be concluded) 
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