"Any seaport near?" asked the colonel.
"Perhaps seventy miles north is the very town we stopped at a few weeks
ago."
The colonel seized Kathlyn in his arms. She played at gaiety for his
sake, but her heart was heavy with foreboding.
"And the filigree basket shall be divided between you and Pundita, Kit."
"Give it all to her, father. I have begun to hate what men call
precious stones."
"It shall be as you say; but we may all take a handful as a keepsake."
Two days later the expedition was ready to start. They intended to
pick up Ahmed on the way. There was nothing but the bungalow itself at
the camp.
Umballa was thereupon secretly taken from the treadmill. He was given
a camel and told what to do. He flung a curse at the minarets and
towers and domes looming mistily in the moonlight. Ransom? He would
destroy them; aye, and take the treasure himself, since he knew where
it now lay, this information having been obtained for him. He would
seek the world, choosing his habitation where he would.
Day after day he followed, tireless, indomitable, as steadfast upon the
trail as a jackal after a wounded antelope, never coming within range,
skulking about the camp at night, dropping behind in the morning, not
above picking up bits of food left by the treasure seekers. Money and
revenge; these would have kept him to the chase had he been dying.
As for Bala Khan, he was at once glad and sorry to see his friends.
Nothing would have pleased him more than to fall upon Allaha like the
thunderbolt he was. But he made Ramabai promise that if ever he had
need of him to send. And Ramabai promised, hoping that he could adjust
and regulate his affairs without foreign assistance. They went on,
this time with Ahmed.
Toward the end of the journey they would be compelled to cross a chasm
on a rope and vine bridge. Umballa, knowing this, circled and reached
this bridge before they did. He set about weakening the support, so
that the weight of passengers could cause the structure to break and
fall into the torrent below. He could not otherwise reach the spot
where the treasure lay waiting.
The elephants would be forced to ford the rapids below the bridge.
Kathlyn, who had by this time regained much of her old confidence and
buoyancy, declared that she must be first to cross the bridge. She
gained the middle, when she felt a sickening sag. She turned and
shouted to the others to go back. She made a desperate effort to reach
the far end, but the bridge gave way, and she was hurled into the
swirling rapids. She was stunned for a moment; but the instinct to
live was strong. As she swung to and fro, whirled here, flung there,
she managed to catch hold of a rock which projected above the flying
foam.