much of a sword-hilt as could be spared down the man's gullet. 'If
you cry out, I kill you,' he said cheerfully.

The man was beyond any expression of terror. He lay and quaked,
grunting. When Halley took the sword-hilt from between his teeth, he
was still inarticulate, but clung to Halley's arm, feeling it from
elbow to wrist.

'The Rissala! The dead Rissala!' he gasped. 'It is down there!'

'No; the Rissala, the very much alive Rissala. It is up here,' said
Halley, unshipping his watering-bridle, and fastening the man's
hands. 'Why were you in the towers so foolish as to let us pass?'

'The valley is full of the dead,' said the Afghan. 'It is better to
fall into the hands of the English than the hands of the dead. They
march to and fro below there. I saw them in the lightning.'

He recovered his composure after a little, and whispering, because
Halley's pistol was at his stomach, said: 'What is this? There is no
war between us now, and the Mullah will kill me for not seeing you
pass!'

'Rest easy,' said Halley; 'we are coming to kill the Mullah, if God
please. His teeth have grown too long. No harm will come to thee
unless the daylight shows thee as a face which is desired by the
gallows for crime done. But what of the dead regiment?'

'I only kill within my own border,' said the man, immensely relieved.
'The Dead Regiment is below. The men must have passed through it on