CHAPTER III

DISTURBERS OF TRAFFIC

About noon on the following day, when Frank and his party were proceeding slowly northwards through the hills, they met a Kurd on horseback. Ali exchanged salutations with him; he was on his way, he said, to the house of Mirza Aga.

Some ten minutes afterwards, at a bend in the track, they were met by a second Kurd. The usual greetings again passed between the fellow-countrymen, and this traveller also explained that Mirza Aga's house was his destination. But when the party passed on, Ali, whose manner with the stranger had been cold and curt, glancing over his shoulder, noticed that the man had ridden a few paces in the same direction, then halted as if in irresolution, and was at that moment apparently making up his mind to continue his journey southward.

"Wallahy! Effendim, here is a strange thing," said Ali in a low tone. "I know that man. Surely I saw him with Abdi the Liar when he passed us the other day."

"Strange indeed! He cannot have been to Erzerum and back."

"Abdi devises mischief, effendim. It is well that we watch that man."

Riding slowly on until the bend in the track hid the Kurd from sight, Ali slipped from his saddle, and, asking Frank to accompany him, cautiously climbed the rear of a rocky bluff a little way off the track. From the top of this eminence, themselves unseen, they were able to overlook a long stretch of the track behind them, and in the distance, something more than half a mile away, they descried the stranger, no longer proceeding towards the house of Mirza Aga, but coming in their direction.

"Verily it is some evil device of Abdi, effendim," said Ali. "Let us go on our way, and consider this matter. Abdi is cunning as a serpent, but it will go hard with me if I do not bring his tricks to nought."

They returned to the track, remounted, and resumed the march, keeping a wary look-out in all directions.

"Consider, effendim, why did that man delay and turn when he met us?"

"That is nothing strange in this lawless country," said Frank. "A man would naturally be curious and suspicious of strangers."

"True; but having seen that we are a party of peaceful travellers carrying merchandise--for the Armenians and you yourself, effendim, wear no pistols in your belts, though I know you have revolvers somewhere in your garments--having seen that, I say, why does the dog march on a little way, then turn about and follow us? Is it not the work of one that spies on another?"

"It looks possible, certainly."

"Of a truth it is so, and I swear that Abdi and his crew are not far ahead."

"What of the first man, who preceded him? Was he watching us too?"

"Who can say, effendim? He has gone quite out of sight. Who can sound the depths of Abdi's craft? He is a liar and a worker of mischief. May it not have been told him by some gossip on the way that we had gone to seek Mirza Aga? Well he knows for what purpose, and would it not be an easy thing, in these solitudes, to lie in wait for us, and to fall upon us, they being the greater number, and slay us, and rob us of that we carry? Truly there is no bottom to Abdi's wickedness, and I beseech you, effendim, pardon me in that I have unwittingly led you into a snare."

"That's nonsense, Ali. Whatever happens, it's not your fault. If it is as you say--and I shouldn't be surprised, for in wild country like this they've endless opportunities of surprising us--we must see if we can't defeat their schemes."

This conversation had been conducted in low tones, in the hearing of Joseph only. Ali had an inherited contempt for the Armenian porters, who indeed would have been paralysed with fright at a suspicion of danger.

It was clear that to continue on their present course would be to run straight into the trap which Ali suspected was prepared for them. Ali suggested that they should halt, allow the man behind to overtake them, and observe his bearing when he encountered them again.

Accordingly they drew rein at a secluded spot, where the track broadened a little, making a salient into the precipitous sides. Ali climbed to a position whence he could scan the track in both directions. Some time passed, and when the supposed scout did not appear, Ali crept back stealthily along the track to discover what had become of him. In about ten minutes he returned. "Come with me, effendim," he said mysteriously.

After walking rather more than half a mile, Ali raised his hand and pointed to a spot high up in the hills on their left hand. At first Frank failed to discover the object indicated, but presently he noticed a whitish speck moving along the greyish face of the rocks.

"Is that he?" he asked.

"That is the dog, as I live," replied Ali. "He has gone up into the hills by a track that I know not. See, effendim, he moves fast; he comes this way. Is it not his intent to outstrip us, and give tidings of our coming to Abdi where he lurks beyond?"

"You may be right, Ali. We can spoil his game by not going on. Let us return to our men, bring them back, find out where he left this track, and follow him over the hills."

"It is good, effendim. To watch the watcher--yes, it is very good."

Soon the whole party was retracing its course. The halt and the movements of their employer had made the Armenians uneasy; but there was only cheerful assurance in the demeanour of Frank and the Kurd; and the men, if not reassured, at least gave no utterance to their fears.

About a mile back they discovered a spot, marked by a few stunted trees and bushes, where a narrow mountain path branched from the broader track. Into this they struck. It wound up into the hills, at first so steeply that the laden mules with difficulty maintained their footing; but after a time it became less arduous, and the party pushed on with greater speed. It was nearly two hours before they caught sight of the man. From that moment they had to combine speed with caution: to keep pace with the Kurd so as not to lose him from sight, but to take care that he should neither see nor hear them.

At length the mountain path took a downward trend, suggesting that it would ultimately rejoin the main track from which they had diverged. Here they lost sight of the scout through the frequent windings of the path. Presently they came to a narrow ledge dropping down very steeply. The ground was rough, and crumbled under the hoofs of their beasts. In spite of all their caution, they suffered a misadventure when still some distance above the junction of the the tracks. The ground gave way beneath the mule of one of the Armenians. It slid over the edge, and rolled with its yelling rider for nearly a hundred yards down a steep incline, until the fall was checked by a clump of prickly bushes. Neither man nor animal appeared to be seriously hurt, but the mule's load was scattered broadcast. Consisting as it did partly of camp utensils, to the clatter of displaced stones and the cries of the muleteer was added the clink and rattle of tins and iron pots as they bumped on the rocky ground.

The din was a greater misfortune even than the delay and the dispersal of the load. Just as the Armenian picked himself up, rubbing his elbows and shins, a head showed above the rocks a little to the left of the junction. In another moment Frank caught sight of the Kurd they had been following, riding at full speed back along the main track. Apparently he had been resting for a spell.

"Wallahy!" Ali ejaculated, cursing the mule and its rider and the ancestors of both.

There could be little doubt that his suspicion was well grounded. Abdi and his party--if Abdi was in truth the plotter--could not be far off, for the Kurd must have reckoned on being able to warn them before the expected prey reached the spot where they were waiting. How far away the ambush had been laid Frank could not guess.

"Cursed be that howling son of a cat!" cried Ali. "We must ride on with all haste, effendim. Peradventure the rascal Abdi is so far away that we shall have time to reach a village of the plain before he can overtake us. Wallahy! But our beasts are laden, and he has many horsemen without encumbrance. Yet there is no other way. We must leave that shrieking jackal and his load; there is no time to gather up the many things that are scattered."

"No, we can't leave him, but we'll leave the things," said Frank. "Get on your mule and ride with us," he called to the man.

Hastening down to the track, they pushed on with all possible speed in the direction of Erzerum. Laden as they were, the mules could not go at any great pace over the rough ground, and the carpet being the heaviest part of the load, the speed of the whole party was regulated by that of the mule bearing it. Frank suggested that Ali should ride ahead and bring back an armed escort from Erzerum; but the Kurd resolutely refused to divest himself of his responsibility for the safety of his employer, who for his part was determined not to lose sight of the carpet. They made what progress they could, then, Ali falling behind to act as rearguard and give warning of pursuit.

They had covered something less than two miles and were entering a long, fairly straight defile, when Ali closed up.

"They are coming, effendim," he said, "riding furiously, and the foremost of them is Abdi the Liar."

"Ah! And look at that," said Frank, pointing ahead.

Near the further end of the defile two figures were seated on a loose pile of rocks overhanging the track. Ali shot a glance towards them.

"Wallahy! the German!" he exclaimed.

Almost at the same moment the two figures rose. Clearly they had recognised Frank. And then Wonckhaus and his Kurd companion began with haste to roll rocks from the pile down the slope, obviously with the intention of blocking the track.

"Come, Ali!" cried Frank. "Joseph, look after the rest. Bring them along."

Urging their mounts to their best speed, the two men dashed along the track, and reined up only when they were in danger of being crushed by the rocks crashing down from above. The narrow path was already almost impassable. Frank sprang from his horse and began to clamber up the face of the cliff, followed, after a moment's hesitation, by Ali.

Twenty feet above them Wonckhaus stood irresolute. He held a jagged boulder, and seemed to be in two minds about hurling it straight upon the climbing Englishman. Some prudential instinct--it may have been a scruple--gave him pause, and his Kurd companion, taking the cue from him, held a large stone similarly poised.

"Wait a moment," said Frank coolly. "I won't keep you long."

Wonckhaus, somewhat taken aback by Frank's calmness, and the absence of hostility from his tone, watched him in silence as he climbed to his side.

"Another stone or two would have completely blocked the track," Frank went on.

Shooting a curious glance at him, Wonckhaus replied:

"That was my intention, Mr. Forester."

"Exactly. I don't want to interrupt your amusement, Herr Wonckhaus, but you will wait until my party has passed. A few moments will suffice. If you loose another rock till then, I shall throw you after it!"

Frank's nerves were tingling, but he spoke as quietly as if he was announcing the merest matter of fact. The German recognised at a glance that it was no empty threat, and his Kurd looked by no means comfortable under the menacing attitude of Ali, who had now joined them. Meanwhile, Joseph had come up with the carriers.

"Come straight through, Joseph," called Frank, "and lead my horse and Ali's. Go forward: we will overtake you."

As the mules were passing through the narrow gap that remained between the obstacles on the track, Abdi's party came in sight at the southern end of the defile half a mile distant.

"Now, my good sir," said Frank, as the last of his mules emerged from the gap, "we will help you to complete your amusing work. Ali, shove these stones down as fast as you can, and get your countryman to assist you."

Ali grinned and hurled a threat at the other Kurd; the two pushed the stones down the slope one after another in quick succession, while Frank, taking out his revolver, stood guard over the German. In a few seconds the track was wholly blocked up.

"We have saved you the trouble, Herr Wonckhaus," said Frank. "Good-day."

With Ali he slipped down to the track, ran after his party, sprang to the saddle, and was already some distance ahead and rounding a corner when Abdi and his cavalcade rode up. The Kurd leapt from his horse, scrambled up the barrier, and in his rage and disappointment fired after the retreating figures before Wonckhaus, uneasy about future developments, could check him. The shot flew wide, and Frank rode on.

To clear a way for the pursuers' horses would probably consume at least half an hour, an interval long enough to allow the party to reach the outskirts of a settled district where an open attack upon them would be dangerous. And Frank knew very well that Wonckhaus could hardly afford to be publicly associated with a manifest act of brigandage. Thinking over the circumstances of the trap from which he had escaped, he surmised that the German had intended the party to be intercepted by the Kurds several miles behind, and that he had gone ahead in order to arrive at Erzerum in time to establish a clear alibi if there should be any suggestion of his connection with the contemplated attack.

"A lucky thing for us you discovered that scout, Ali," said Frank. "I owe something to your eagle eye."

"Inshallah, effendim, I am not so named for nothing," returned the man, beaming with pride and satisfaction. "Of a truth I am more than a match for Abdi the Liar."