Tm not sure that he's rational enough to look at things in that way any more,' Drummond said. 'He's badly scared, and he's certainly never possessed the kind of cold-blooded guts it takes to go after a man with a knife..
'We'll have to watch him from now on, that's all,' Hamid shivered suddenly. 'I don't like it at this time in the morning, Jack. Makes me think of other dawn-ings, other places and a lot of good men dead.' He laughed in a peculiar fashion. 'I must be getting old.'
'Aren't we all?' Drummond said.
He got to his feet and moved to the tailboard. It was already dawn, a grey light seeping through the mist The heavy rain lancing into the ground and he stared out at it morosely, wondering what the day would bring.
Wrapped in a sheepskin on the floor in front of the fire in die headman's house at Bandong, Piroo was awakened suddenly by a savage kick in the side. He sat up with a start, aware, as if ia a dream, effaces staring down at him, the shining Burp guns, the red stars in the peaked caps.
Somewhere, Yussuf cried aloud, running for the door. A foot tripped him and a rifle butt thudded savagely against the back of his skull, cracking the bone.
Hroo was dragged to his feet, gibbering with fear and then a sharp voice cut across the noise and confusion and there was silence.
Colonel Cheung paused in the doorway, the fur collar of his greatcoat pulled up around his neck, the face beneath the fur hat lined and drawn with fatigue.
There had been considerable delay in crossing the river at Kama. For one thing, the shallows had been deeper than usual owing to the heavy rain and one of the troop carriers had bogged down. They had wasted several hours in trying to salvage it. It had been almost dark when he had finally decided to push on with the remaining vehicle and a dozen mea.
He had kept on the move for most of the night, often at no more than ten miles an hour in the appalling conditions, on several occasions almost losing the vehicle, but there was always the hope that Father Kerrigan and his party might be at Bandong. It was an obvious stopping place. When they had reached the village, he had sent the sergeant and ten men in on foot, giving them five minutes' start before following in the troop carrier.
'What's going on here?. he demanded.
The sergeant, a small, hard-faced Cantonese named Ng, hurried forward. 'The village is empty, Colonel, except for these two. Deserters from the look of them..
'Deserters?' Cheung's face changed, went pale with excitement as he pushed his men aside and examined Piroo. 'Who are you?' he demanded in Urdu. 'One of
Colonel Sher Dil's men? Did you escape across the river?"
'No, sahib,' Piroo said. 'I was with the supply convoy.'
The convoy was here?. Cheung said. 'Where is it now?.
'Gone, sahib, to India with Colonel Sher Dil and the young Khan. They are hoping to reach the border.'
'Sher Dil was here?' Cheung said in amazement.
'Oh, yes, sahib,' Piroo babbled. 'Also Major Hamid and Druramond sahib. They all crossed the river from Sadar.'
'When did they leave?'
.Yesterday, two hours before dark. They intended to camp somewhere along the road when night fell. I heard the colonel say so.'
Cheung laughed excitedly, slapping his leather swagger stick across his gloved palm. 'Get the men together at once, Sergeant. We're going on.'
He turned to the door and Sergeant Ng said quickly,.What shall I do with this one, sir?'
Cheung looked at Piroo with something close to affection. 'Let him go free, he has served us welL'
He went out and Piroo, to whom the interchange in Chinese had been completely unintelligible, turned eagerly to Sergeant Ng.
A strange man, the colonel, the sergeant told himself. Full of wild fancies, but a good officer for all that. He nodded to one of his men who grabbed Piroo suddenly, clamping a hand over his mouth.
Piroo saw the knife coming up, felt a coldness streaking under the ribs to the heart and plunged into darkness. They left him there by the fire, and a moment later the troop carrier moved away, its tracks scattering mud from the street across the walls of the houses.
The Bridge at Sokim
'I CAN see the bridge,' Sher Dil said, 'and it's still standing.'
'Thank God for that.' Drummond took the binoculars and focussed them quickly. 'There certainly doesn't seem to be anybody about.'
'And no cover for an ambush,' Hamid said. 'We'd better cross now while the going's good.'
They dispersed to the trucks and Drummond ploughed through the mud and heaved himself up beside Ahmed, glad to be back inside. It had rained without pause all morning, turning the road into a nitted quagmire through which they had progressed at little more than fifteen miles per hour.
They went over the hill and the road dropped steeply towards the great ravine which cut its way through the heart of the mountains. Ahmed selected bottom gear and followed Sher Dil cautiously.
The bridge was a narrow spindly thing, fit only for one-way traffic. As the road levelled off to approach it, the other trucks slowed to a halt and Ahmed braked quickly.
Til see what's happening,' Drummond said and jumped down.
Sher Dil leaned over the parapet examining the web of rusty steel girders. He turned as Drummond approached.
'It would take the Chinese a long time.to construct another. A demolition expert's dream.'
Thinking of doing it yourself?'
'I don't see why not It wouldn't take long. Well cross over first, though.'
As Drummond went back to his own vehicle, Hamid leaned out of the cab of the supply truck. 'What was he up to?'
'He wants to stop and blow up the bridge. What do you think?'
'An excellent idea. It would block the road for months.'
'Don't you think it might advertise our presence?.
'I can't see that it makes much difference. If there's anyone up ahead, they'll still be there whether we blow the bridge or not.'
Drummond climbed up beside Ahmed and the truck lurched forward and started the slow ascent on the other side. When they pulled over the hill, they saw that Sher Dil had stopped a little way up the road. They joined him as Amal and Brackenhurst drove up behind.
Brackenhurst came forward, Ms face white and strained. 'Why are we stopping?'
Tve decided to destroy the bridge before moving on,' Sher Dil said.
Father Kerrigan climbed down to join them and Janet stayed in the cab, an arm around young Kerim who was now sitting beside her.
Tor God's sake,' Brackenhurst said. 'Haven't we lost enough time?'
'If we blow the bridge, the Chinese will lose even more,' Sher Dil said patiently. 'We'll use the contents of my truck, grenades, ammunition and some demolition charges. You can all help. Well unload the stuff more quickly that way.' He turned to Father Kerrigan.
'You stay with Miss Tate and the Khan. We shan't be long.'
He took the wheel himself on the journey back down the hill. When they reached the bridge, he turned and reversed as far as the centre. Drummond climbed into the back with Hamid and handed the boxes out to the others. They worked fast and each time he passed a box down to Brackenhurst, he noticed that he was sweating.
That's about it,. Sher Dil said at last as he surveyed the boxes stacked across the bridge. 'When that lot goes up, they'll hear it in Sadar.'
'What now?' Hamid said.
Til set the fuses myself. Corporal Nadin and Amal can stay and help me. The rest of you better get back up the hill. You'll have to walk. We'll need the truck to make a quick exit before the big bang.'
Brackenhurst was already hurrying back across the bridge and Nadin stood rooted to the spot, dismay in his eyes. Sher Dil tossed him a coil of fuse wire which the Indian almost dropped.
'Pull yourself together, Corporal,' the colonel snapped. 'The sooner we get this set up, the sooner we can get out.'
At the top of the hill, Drummond turned and looked down. The bridge and the truck seemed like toys and the whole scene had an unreal, fake look.
Hamid came up the hill carrying Sher Oil's binoculars. He sat on a boulder and adjusted them until the truck and the bridge jumped sharply into focus.
'How are they doing?' Drummond asked.
'He's laying the charges. I must say Nadin doesn't look too happy. Neither does Amal.'
They're both scared to death. I think that's why Sher Dil made them stay.'
Below on the bridge, they worked rapidly. Nadin running the fuse wire to the far end. He walked back towards the colonel, paused and pointed dramatically. His cry rose thin and clear in the rain.
As a Chinese troop carrier came over the crest of the hill on the other side of the ravine, Hamid focussed the binoculars quickly and the face of the officer standing upright beside the driver jumped out to meet him.
'It's Cheung.'
As the troop carrier started the descent, Drammond said, They haven't got time to blow the bridge now. We'd better get moving.'
'In the troop carrier, they would catch us within five minutes,' Hamid said calmly. 'Sher Dil knows that. He will blow the bridge. He will do it for the young Khan.'
Drummond turned to watch the drama being enacted below, saw Sher Dil take a step towards the charges and knew with cold certainty that Hamid was right, that he intended to blow the bridge even if it meant going up with it
Amal seemed rooted to the ground, but Nadin rushed at him in complete panic, clawing at his shoulder. Sher Dil knocked him down with a blow of his fist and turned again to the charges. Nadin scrambled to his feet, wrenched the truck's spade from its fastenings near the door and struck Sher Dil on the head with all his force.
He turned and jumped into the cab. The track moved forward and stalled and Amal, seizing bis chance, scrambled over the tailboard. Sher Dil managed to reach his knees. He took a grenade from one of his pockets, pulled out the pin and tossed it towards the stacked boxes.
At that moment, the truck lurched forward. It had moved perhaps ten yards when the centre of the bridge erupted in a cloud of smoke. Pieces of stone girder lifted skywards as a series of violent explosions sounded one after the other and then the entire middle section of the bridge fell in, the truck slipped back into the gaping chasm and disappeared.
The troop carrier had slewed to a halt on the other side and now its heavy machine gun opened up, firing blindly through the pall of smoke, bullets ripping up earth and stone on the hilltop beside the trucks.
Brackenhurst was already behind the wheel of Amal's track, lurching down the road to a chorus of terrified screaming from the women and children in the back.
There was no time to talk. Hamid scrambled up behind Father Kerrigan and drove away quickly and Drummond and Ahmed followed in the supply truck. For a heart-stopping moment, bullets ripped through the canvas hood and then they were over the hill.
Ten minutes later, Hamid sounded his horn, Brackenhurst slowed, turning in to the side of the road and Ahmed and Drummond pulled in ahead of him.
Drummond jumped down to join the Pathan and Brackenhurst stumbled towards them, his eyes wild..What do we do now, for Christ's sake?'
Hamid ignored him and held up Sher Dil's map. 'He left this in the cab, that's one good thing.' They leaned over' it and he nodded. 'I thought so. There's another village fifteen miles further on and the border, fifty miles beyond that.'
'One thing's certain,' Drummond said. 'Cheung can't hope to catch us now.'
Hamid nodded. 'As long as there's no one waiting at the next village we should be all right.
.What about ditching a couple of the trucks?.
Hamid shook his head. 'If anything went wrong with the track we were travelling in, we really would be in trouble. Another thing - three tracks give us more of a show of strength than one. That could be useful if we run into any small patrols.'
'What about the women?' Brackenhurst demanded. 'Don't you think it's time we left them?'
'For the Chinese to get their hands on? Even for you, that isn't such a sparkling idea. Get back to your truck and take up third position.'
The contempt in Hamid's voice was obvious to them all. Brackenhurst turned as if he had been struck and stumbled away.
Tor heaven's sake, Major,' Father Kerrigan said, leaning out of the cab of Hamid's truck. The man's at the end of his tether, can't you. see that?'
'Which means he's got to be driven, Father. It's the only way, I'm afraid.' Hamid turned to Drummond. 'You and Ahmed take the lead in the supply truck, Jack, and I'll follow. If you do run into trouble, try to block the road with your truck. That'll give the rest of us a chance to turn round. If you, run fast enough, you should be in time for a lift'
