He dried himself off and dressed quickly. He took one last glance in the mirror, and finger-combed his mop of unruly black hair. As an afterthought he slipped his revolver into his belt. Then he made for the door.
It was the afternoon of March 24, 1885. Or so Josh still believed.
Inside the fort there was a great deal of excitement. Across the deeply shadowed square, soldiers rushed to the gate. Josh joined the cheerful crowd.
Many of the British stationed here at Jamrud were of the 72nd Highlanders, and though some were dressed informally in loose, knee-length native trousers, others wore their khaki jackets and red trews. But white faces were rare; Gurkhas and Sikhs outnumbered British by three to one. Anyhow, this afternoon Europeans and sepoys alike pushed and bustled to get out of the fort. These men, stationed in this desolate place far from their families for months on end, would give anything for a do, a bit of novelty to break up the monotony. But on the way to the gate Josh noticed Captain Grove, the forts commander, making his way across the square, with a very worried expression on his face.
As he emerged into the low afternoon sunlight outside the fort Josh was briefly dazzled. The air had a dry chill, and he found himself shivering. The sky was eggshell blue and empty of cloud, but close to the western horizon, he saw, there was a band of darkness, like a storm front. Such turbulent weather was unusual for this time of year.
This was the NorthWest Frontier, the place where India met Asia. For the imperial British, this great corridor, running from northeast to southwest between the mountain ranges to the north and the Indus to the south, was the natural boundary of their Indian dominionbut it was a raw and bleeding edge, and on its stability depended the security of the most precious province of the British Empire. And the fort of Jamrud was stuck smack in the middle of it.
The fort itself was a sprawling place, with a curtain of heavy stone walls and broad corner watchtowers. Outside the walls, conical tents had been set up in rows, military neat. Jamrud had originally been built by the Sikhs, who had long governed here and mounted their own wars against the Afghans; by now it was thoroughly British.
Today it wasnt the destiny of empires that was on anybodys mind. The soldiers streamed out over the heavily trampled patch of earth that served as the forts parade ground, heading for a spot perhaps a hundred yards from the gate. There, Josh could see what looked like a pawnbrokers ball hovering in the air. It was silvered, and glinted brightly in the sunlight. A crowd of perhaps fifty troopers, orderlies and noncombatants had gathered under that mysterious sphere, a mob in various states of informal dress.
In the middle of it all, of course, was Ruddy. Even now he was taking command of the situation, stalking back and forth beneath the hovering ball, peering up at it through his gig-lamp spectacles and scratching his chin as if he were as sage as Newton. Ruddy was short, no more than five feet six, and somewhat squat, perhaps a little pudgy. He had a broad face, a defiant mustache and over bristling eyebrows a wide slab of a forehead already exposed by a receding tide of hair. Bristling yes, thought Josh with a kind of exasperated fondness, bristling was the word for Ruddy. With his stiff, if vigorous, bearing, he looked thirty-nine, not nineteen. He had an unsightly red blemish on his cheek, his Lahore sore, that he thought had come from an ant bite, which would respond to no treatment.
The soldiers sometimes mocked Ruddy for his self-importance and pomposityno fighting man had much time for noncombatants anyhow. But at the same time they were fond of him; in his dispatches to the CMG, and in his barrack-room tales, Ruddy loaned these Tommies, far from home, a rough eloquence they lacked themselves.
Josh pushed his way through the crowd to Ruddy. I cant see whats so strange about this floating fellowa conjuring trick?
Ruddy grunted. More likely some trickery by the Tsar. A new type of heliograph, perhaps.
They were joined by Cecil de Morgan, the factor. If its jadoo ,Id like to know the secret of the magic. Hereyou. He approached one of the sepoys. Your cricket batmay I borrow it? He got hold of the bat and waved it through the air. He passed it under and around the floating ball. You see? Theres really no possibility of anything holding it up, no invisible wire or glass rod, however contorted.
The sepoys were less amused. Asli nahin! Fareib!
Ruddy muttered, Some are saying this is an Eye, an Evil Eye. Perhaps we need a nuzzoo-watto to avert its baleful gaze.
Josh placed a hand on his shoulder. My friend, I think youve imbibed more of India than you care to admit. Its probably a balloon, filled with hot air. Nothing more exciting than that.
But Ruddy was distracted by a worried-looking junior officer who came shoving through the crowd, evidently searching for somebody. Ruddy hurried over to speak with him.
A balloon, you say? de Morgan said to Josh. Then how does it hold so still in the breeze? Andwatch this! He swung the cricket bat over his head like an axe, and slammed it against the floating sphere. There was a resounding smash, and to Joshs astonishment the bat just bounced off the sphere, which remained as immovable as if it was set in rock. De Morgan held up the bat, and Josh saw it had splintered. Hurt my blooming fingers! Now tell me, sir, have you ever seen such a thing?
Not I, Josh admitted. But if theres a way to make a profit out of it, Morgan, Im sure youre the man.
De Morgan, Joshua. De Morgan was a factor, who made a handsome living from supplying Jamrud and other forts of the Frontier. Aged about thirty, he was a tall, oleaginous sort of man. Even here, miles from the nearest town, he wore a new khaki suit dyed a delicate olive green, a sky-blue tie, and a pith helmet as white as snow. He was a type, Josh was learning, who was attracted to the fringe of civilization, where there were fat profits to be made and a certain slackness to the enforcement of the law. The officers disapproved of him and his like, but de Morgan kept himself popular enough with his supplies of beer and tobacco for the men, even prostitutes when possible, and occasional bags of hashish for the officersand for Ruddy too.
Despite de Morgans stunt, the show seemed to be over. As the sphere didnt move or spin, or open up, or fire bullets, the audience appeared to be getting bored. Besides, some of them were shivering in this unseasonably cold afternoon, as that wind from the north continued to blow. One or two drifted back to the fort, and the party began to break up.
But now there was shouting from the edge of the group: something else unusual had turned up. De Morgan, his nostrils flaring, once more on the scent of opportunity, ran off that way.
Ruddy plucked at Joshs shoulder. Enough of these magic tricks, he said. We should get back. Were soon going to have a lot of work, I fear!
What do you mean?
I just had a word with Brown, who spoke to Townshend, who overheard something Harley was saying Captain Harley was the forts Political Officer, reporting to the Political Agency of the Khyber, the arm of the provinces administration intended to deal diplomatically with the chiefs and khans of the Pashtun and Afghan tribes. Not for the first time Josh envied Ruddy his links among Jamruds junior officers. Our communications have gone down, said Ruddy breathlessly.