The Broken Road by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason
page 32 of 369 (08%)
page 32 of 369 (08%)
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remember Linforth's letters? How that phrase came again and again:
'I am very tired.'" The Doctor arranged the pillows underneath his shoulders, and then Luffe said: "All right. I shall do now." He waited until the Doctor had gone from the room and continued: "I am not going to talk to you about the Fort. The defence is safe in your hands, so long as defence is possible. Besides, if it falls it's not a great thing. The troops will come up and trample down Wafadar Nazim and Abdulla Mahommed. They are not the danger. The road will go on again, even though Linforth's dead. No, the man whom I am afraid of is--the son of the Khan." Dewes stared, and then said in a soothing voice: "He will be looked after." "You think my mind's wandering," continued Luffe. "It never was clearer in my life. The Khan's son is a boy a week old. Nevertheless I tell you that boy is the danger in Chiltistan. The father--we know him. A good fellow who has lost all the confidence of his people. There is hardly an adherent of his who genuinely likes him; there's hardly a man in this Fort who doesn't believe that he wished to sell his country to the British. I should think he is impossible here in the future. And everyone in Government House knows it. We shall do the usual thing, I have no doubt--pension him off, settle him down comfortably outside the borders |
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