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THE BROKEN ROAD
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. Thatand a reigning prince who was declared by his uncle secretly to have soldhis country to the British, and a half-crazed priest from out beyond theborders of Afghanistan, who sat on a slab of stone by the river-bank andpreached a djehad. But above all it was the road—Linforth's road. Itcame winding down from the passes, over slopes of shale; it was builtwith wooden galleries along the precipitous sides of cliffs; it snakedtreacherously further and further across the rich valley of Chiltistantowards the Hindu Kush, until the people of that valley could endure itno longer.
Then suddenly from Peshawur the wires began to flash their quiet andominous 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 inthe country to the east of Chiltistan, had been informed. He had gatheredtogether what troops he could lay his hands on and had already startedover the eastern passes to Linforth's relief. But it was believed thatthe whole province of Chiltistan had risen. Moreover it was winter-timeand the passes