King jumped to his feet so suddenly that all five gave way in front of him, and Darya Khan brought his rifle to the port.
"Hast thou never seen me before?" he demanded, seizing Ismail by the shoulders and staring straight into his eyes.
"Nay, I never saw thee!"
"Look again!"
He turned his head, to show his face in profile.
"Nay, I never saw thee!"
"Thou, then! Thou with the belly! Thou! Thou!"
They all denied ever having seen him.
So he stepped back until the moon shone full in his face and pulled off his turban, changing his expression at the same time.
"Now look!"
"Ma'uzbillah! (May God protect us!)"
"Now ye know me?"
"Hee-yee-yee!" yelled Ismail, hugging himself by the elbows and beginning to dance from side to side. "Hee-yee-yee! What said I? Said I not so? Said I not this is a different man? Said I not this is a good one—a man of unexpected things? Said I not there was magic in the leather bag? I shook it often, and the magic grew! Hee-yee-yee! Look at him! See such cunning! Feel him! Smell of him! He is a good one—good!"
Three of the others stood and grinned, now that their first shock of surprise had died away. The fourth man poked among the packs. There was little to see except gleaming teeth and the whites of eyes, set in hairy faces in the mist. But Ismail danced all by himself among the stones of Khyber road and he looked like a bearded ghoul out for an airing.
"Hee-yee-yee! She smelt out a good one! Hee-yee-yee! This is a man after my heart! Hee-yee-yee! God preserve me! God preserve me to see the end of this! This one will show sport! Oh-yee-yee-yee!"
Suddenly be closed with King and hugged him until the stout ribs cracked and bent inward and King sobbed for breath among the strands of the Afridi's beard. He had to use knuckles and knees and feet to win freedom, and though he used them with all his might and hurt the old savage fiercely, he made no impression on his good will.
"After my own heart, thou art! Spirit of a cunning one! Worker of spells! Allah! That was a good day when she bade me wait for thee!"
King sat down again, panting. He wanted time to get his breath back and a little of the ache out of his ribs, but he did not care to waste any more minutes, and his eyes watched the faces of the other four men. He saw them slowly waken to understanding of what Ismail meant by "worker of spells" and "magic in the bag" and knew that he had even greater hold on them now than Yasmini's bracelet gave him.
"Ma'uzbillah!" they murmured as Ismail's meaning dawned and they recognized a magician in their midst. "May God protect us!"
"May God protect me! I have need of it!" said King. "What shall my new name be? Give ye me a name!"
"Nay, choose thou!" urged Ismail, drawing nearer. "We have seen one miracle; now let us hear another!"
"Very well. Khan is a title of respect. Since I wish for respect, I will call myself Khan. Name me a village the first name you can think of—quick!"
"Kurram," said Ismail, at a hazard.
"Kurram is good. Kurram I am! Kurram Khan is my name henceforward! Kurram Khan the dakitar!"
"But where is the sahib who came from the fort to talk?" asked the man whose stomach ached yet from Ismail and Darya Khan's attentions to it.
"Gone!" announced King. "He went with the other one!"
"Went whither? Did any see him go?"
"Is that thy affair?" asked King, and the man collapsed. It is not considered wise to the north of Jamrud to argue with a wizard, or even with a man who only claims to be one. This was a man who had changed his very nature almost under their eyes.
"Even his other clothes have gone!" murmured one man, he who had poked about among the packs.
"And now, Ismail, Darya Khan, ye two dunder-heads!—ye bellies without brains!—when was there ever a dakitar—a hakim, who had not two assistants at the least? Have ye never seen, ye blinder-than-bats—how one man holds a patient while his boils are lanced, and yet another makes the hot iron ready?"
"Aye! Aye!"
They had both seen that often.
"Then, what are ye?"
