The Hidden Treasure

we could, we hastened over the roughness of the ground, and
filled the little valley with the jingle of bits, and with sparks
when the horses' hooves hit a stone. The policeman's gun
in front of me, slung over his shoulder, just showed against
the dark blue of the sky. The horses in the dark gave a
pleasant sense of exhilaration and movement, which, however,
I was careful not to mention, as I felt I was in disgrace.

When at last the fires of the Musi tents showed on the hill-
side, a general relaxation came over the party. The lieutenant
saw me home, bowed, and retired with the kadkhuda and his
policemen: and I was left to the sympathetic welcome of
Mahmud and his family, who evidently felt about the coming
of the Law much as I did.

A Mild Affair with Bandits
That night, while the cows came and nibbled at my roof in
the darkness, I tried to make my plans.
Hasan had not turned up from Baghdad. He was in prison,
put there by his enemy, die vizier, to prevent his leaving the
country, but I could not guess this at the time. It was clear
that I should have to do what I could without him.
The first thing was to go up into the treasure mountain
and see if the map was correct. The second was to shake off
the police, if possible, and get across the river to Lakistan.
I decided that the first was the more important of these
objectives and the second must, if necessary, be sacrificed to
it, since it is an axiom that one cannot be sure of getting more
than one thing at a time. The police would probably refuse
to be shaken off: already they had spoken of accompanying
me to Husainabad next day, and only the assurance that I was
far too tired to start on a two days' journey had put an ex-
tinguisher on the lieutenant's plans.