The Broken Road   By: A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason (1865-1948)

BY A.E.W. MASON

AUTHOR OF "FOUR FEATHERS," "THE TRUANTS," "RUNNING WATER," ETC.

1907

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. THE BREAKING OF THE ROAD

II. INSIDE THE FORT

III. LINFORTH'S DEATH

IV. LUFFE LOOKS FORWARD

V. A MAGAZINE ARTICLE

VI. A LONG WALK

VII. IN THE DAUPHINÉ

VIII. A STRING OF PEARLS

IX. LUFFE IS REMEMBERED

X. AN UNANSWERED QUESTION

XI. AT THE GATE OF LAHORE

XII. ON THE POLO GROUND

XIII. THE INVIDIOUS BAR

XIV. IN THE COURTYARD

XV. A QUESTION ANSWERED

XVI. SHERE ALI MEETS AN OLD FRIEND

XVII. NEWS FROM MECCA

XVIII. SYBIL LINFORTH'S LOYALTY

XIX. A GIFT MISUNDERSTOOD

XX. THE SOLDIER AND THE JEW

XXI. SHERE ALI IS CLAIMED BY CHILTISTAN

XXII. THE CASTING OF THE DIE

XXIII. SHERE ALI'S PILGRIMAGE

XXIV. NEWS FROM AJMERE

XXV. IN THE ROSE GARDEN

XXVI. THE BREAKING OF THE PITCHER

XXVII. AN ARRESTED CONFESSION

XXVIII. THE THIEF

XXIX. MRS. OLIVER RIDES THROUGH PESHAWUR

XXX. THE NEEDED IMPLEMENT

XXXI. AN OLD TOMB AND A NEW SHRINE

XXXII. SURPRISES FOR CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

XXXIII. IN THE RESIDENCY

XXXIV. ONE OF THE LITTLE WARS

XXXV. A LETTER FROM VIOLET

XXXVI. "THE LITTLE LESS "

CHAPTER I

THE BREAKING OF THE ROAD

It was the Road which caused the trouble. It usually is the road. That and a reigning prince who was declared by his uncle secretly to have sold his country to the British, and a half crazed priest from out beyond the borders of Afghanistan, who sat on a slab of stone by the river bank and preached a djehad . But above all it was the road Linforth's road. It came winding down from the passes, over slopes of shale; it was built with wooden galleries along the precipitous sides of cliffs; it snaked treacherously further and further across the rich valley of Chiltistan towards the Hindu Kush, until the people of that valley could endure it no longer.

Then suddenly from Peshawur the wires began to flash their quiet and ominous messages. The road had been cut behind Linforth and his coolies. No news had come from him. No supplies could reach him. Luffe, who was in the country to the east of Chiltistan, had been informed. He had gathered together what troops he could lay his hands on and had already started over the eastern passes to Linforth's relief. But it was believed that the whole province of Chiltistan had risen. Moreover it was winter time and the passes were deep in snow. The news was telegraphed to England. Comfortable gentlemen read it in their first class carriages as they travelled to the City and murmured to each other commonplaces about the price of empire. And in a house at the foot of the Sussex Downs Linforth's young wife leaned over the cot of her child with the tears streaming from her eyes, and thought of the road with no less horror than the people of Chiltistan. Meanwhile the great men in Calcutta began to mobilise a field force at Nowshera, and all official India said uneasily, "Thank Heaven, Luffe's on the spot."

Charles Luffe had long since abandoned the army for the political service, and, indeed, he was fast approaching the time limit of his career. He was a man of breadth and height, but rather heavy and dull of feature, with a worn face and a bald forehead. He had made enemies, and still made them, for he had not the art of suffering fools gladly; and, on the other hand, he made no friends. He had no sense of humour and no general information. He was, therefore, of no assistance at a dinner party, but when there was trouble upon the Frontier, or beyond it, he was usually found to be the chief agent in the settlement.