Before Dick could hazard an opinion, the storm burst upon them with a roar, and they were glad to follow the example of the guides, and hide their faces from the blast. The wind shrieked among the rocks, and swept down with tremendous force upon the closely-packed mass of men and animals, carrying with it quantities of sand and minute pebbles, which had a blinding effect upon the eyes. Inside the tent the women waited in hot stifling darkness, with the fine sand making its way in at every seam and covering everything. During what seemed hours they heard no sounds but the whistling and howling of the wind without. Then there arose a chorus of shouts and yells and curses, mingled with the grunting of camels and the shrill squeals of protesting mules. Some kind of fierce struggle seemed to be going on outside; but it was impossible to discover its nature, for the fastenings of the tent refused to yield to the efforts of the prisoners, and no one answered their calls or appeals for information. At last, just as Georgia drew out a pair of surgical scissors and began deliberately to cut a slit in the tough double canvas, the flap of the tent was thrown back, and Stratford entered, bare-headed and breathless.
“The beasts have stampeded,” he explained, “and the guides and servants are all gone after them. We have been rushing hither and thither, catching and securing any animal we could get hold of, and shouting to the men to keep quiet and not to give chase. But we might as well have spoken to the rocks. Ismail Bakhsh and his men and the house-servants were the only ones that listened; the rest all rushed away after their own animals. Of course that only drove them further off, and they must be scattered over the whole country round by this time. I fear we must have lost most of the baggage, for what we have saved is a very small amount, and strikingly miscellaneous in character. But no doubt the men will manage to find their way back here by degrees, and then——”
A sudden exclamation from Dick interrupted him, and he stepped outside. Lady Haigh and Georgia followed, only to be pushed back into the tent, and desired angrily to cover their faces with their burkas. Facing the little knot of startled men and frightened baggage-animals which now represented the great Mission caravan were a troop of horsemen, who had taken up, under cover of the storm and the stampede, such a position as to preclude any attempt to escape on the part of those they were hemming in.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE VALUE OF A REPUTATION.
“Get the men together while I try a parley with these fellows,” said Stratford to Dick, when he took in the facts of the situation. “They are not our friends the mutineers, at any rate.”
“My lord’s topi,” said Ismail Bakhsh, stepping up with a salute, and offering Stratford his helmet, which he had found caught in a crevice of the rocks. Stratford put it on, and, carrying his riding-whip carelessly in his hand, advanced to meet the strangers, who had remained motionless on their horses since Dick had first caught sight of them.
“Peace be upon you!” he said as he approached them.
“And upon thee be peace!” responded an old man, who appeared to be the leader of the party. “My lord is one of the envoys of the Queen of England to our lord the King?”
“I am temporarily in command of the Mission, owing to the illness of the Envoy,” answered Stratford. “To whom have I the honour of speaking?”
“My lord’s servant is Abd-ur-Rahim, Governor of the fortress of Bir-ul-Malik for our lord the King.”