Free Swords From the East by Harold Lamb Page B

knew not how to build a fort to oppose Galdan Khan, even if they all went to hold the Urkhogaitu. And if they did that, there would be no one to keep the mirzas hemmed in Koh.
    So each one avoided the glance of the others, and the Buriat who was a famous sword slayer snarled in his throat as he drew lines in the sand.
    At length Yulga, who had left the council-ring, reappeared at Aruk's side and whispered to the hunter.
    Aruk looked surprised; but his eyes gleamed, and he rose.
    "Good sirs," he said, "Hu-go, the Krit lord, will hold the Urkhogaitu Pass."
    The khan of the Buriats grunted and smoothed the lines in the sand with his sword.
    "He is mad!"
    "Not so. For the plan you have just heard, the plan I bespoke, was his. Yulga brought me the word."
    "With what will he hold the pass?"
    "Noble khan, with twice a hundred picked men, bold men-he asks that they be from your clan."
    Pleased, the Buriat grunted and looked around.
    "He must have likewise," went on Aruk, "all the powder in our bags, and steel shirts for the warriors, and we must seize him cannon from the broken walls of Kob-"
    "This is a wise khan," barked the Buriat. "He is no madman."
    "But," pointed out Gorun, who squatted behind the council-ring, "he cannot work wonders."
    To this old Ostrim from the outer ranks made rejoinder: "Once, when the horde of the Krits in another land were being slain in battle by a powerful foe, the prophet of the Krits went to a mountain, and talked to God, holding up his hands the while. So long as his hands were held up, the Krits conquered; and before very long they had cut off the heads of their enemy and taken many horses. Kai! It is true."
    "But why," asked the khan of the Buriats, "will Hugo Khan go against Galdan?"
    At this Yulga broke the custom of ages, and a woman spoke in the council.
    "Tome he said it. My lord Hugo would sleep in comfort in his own yurt. Galdan Khan is like a buzzing fly that keeps him from sleep. He said that he was tired of the buzzing and would drive away the fly."
    For a space the flippant answer of Monsieur le Comte d'Hainault sorely puzzled the councilors. Then the khan of the Buriats struck the sand before him with the flat of his sword, roaring: "That lord is a great lord. He is a hero. The men will follow him. He thinks of Galdan Khan as an insect. No fear of Galdan Khan has he!"
    "No fear has he," echoed others.
    "I will go!" cried Aruk, and his voice was followed by many others.
    In this way did Hugo offer to defend the mountain pass. The thought had come to him that these people were after all the people to whom his brother had ministered, and if they were slain the work that Paul had done would be lost.
    Chapter V
    The Bed of Monsieur le Comte
    Galdan Khan, general of the Turco-Kalmuck army, was not disturbed when for three days he received no couriers from the mirzas who had captured Kob. The mirzas were officers who would rather fight battles than report them.
    With pardonable pride he watched the van of his well-trained army surmount the slope of the Altai, cutting away trees on either side of the trail through the timber belt to make room for his wagon-train, and bridging over the freshets. He planned to make the passage of the Urkhogaitu in one day, so as not to pitch camp in the snow at an altitude where sleep was hard to come by and horses bled at the nostrils.
    The approach to the pass was a wide rock plateau, something like a vast Greek theater, from which the glaciers rose on either side to the white peaks that stood against the sky like the banners of Galdan Khan.
    From the plateau the advance of his army-irregulars, supported by a regiment of Black Kalmucks-filed into the ravine that ascended to the Urkhogaitu. One curve in the ravine, and they would be at the summit of the pass.
    Galdan Khan announced that the plateau was an auspicious spot-he would break his fast there while his men crossed the pass. It was a clear day, the sky as blue as the kaftan of a dandy of Samarkand.