The Air Patrol: A Story of the North-west Frontier Read online

  Produced by Al Haines.

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  NURLA BAI ASCENDS. See page 405]

  THE AIR PATROL

  _A STORY OF THE NORTH-WEST FRONTIER_

  BY HERBERT STRANG

  _ILLUSTRATED BY CYRUS CUNEO_

  LONDON HENRY FROWDE HODDER AND STOUGHTON 1913

  RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.

  PREFACE

  It needs no gift of prophecy to foretell that in the not distant futurethe fate of empires will be decided neither on land nor on the sea, butin the air. We have already reached a stage in the evolution of theaeroplane and airship at which a slight superiority in aircraft may turnthe scale in battle. Our imperial destinies may hinge upon the early orlater recognition of the importance of a large, well-equipped, andwell-manned aerial fleet.

  In _The Air Scout_ I endeavoured to illustrate the part which anair-service may play in a combined naval and military campaign. Thescene of the present story is laid among the vast mountain ranges ofNorthern India, where the issue of a great war may depend upon theaerial equipment of the opposing armies.

  Some two thousand years ago a handful of devoted Greeks held the narrowpass of Thermopylae against the myriad host of Xerxes, in the nobleeffort to save their country from the Persian yoke. The following pagestell the story of a new--and a more fortunate--Thermopylae, an episodein a great struggle for the mastery of India. I am among those whobelieve that the spirit which animated the Spartan heroes of old burnsin our British youth to-day. Only opportunity and a great occasion areneeded to evoke it to glorious use.

  HERBERT STRANG.

  CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTORY

  CHAPTER THE FIRST THE RUINED REST-HOUSE

  CHAPTER THE SECOND BEYOND THE PALE

  CHAPTER THE THIRD MR. APPLETON'S MINE

  CHAPTER THE FOURTH THE AEROPLANE ARRIVES

  CHAPTER THE FIFTH THE LIGHT IN THE GALLERY

  CHAPTER THE SIXTH NURLA BAI DISAPPEARS

  CHAPTER THE SEVENTH NURLA AT BAY

  CHAPTER THE EIGHTH THE EDGE OF THE STORM

  CHAPTER THE NINTH A FLIGHT BY NIGHT

  CHAPTER THE TENTH A FATEFUL DISCOVERY

  CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH THE FIGHT AT THE BRIDGE

  CHAPTER THE TWELFTH A SKIRMISH ON THE BANK

  CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH THE REVOLT OF THE KALMUCK MINERS

  CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH RALLYING THE PATHANS

  CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH NURLA BAI SLIPS THE NOOSE

  CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH NO THOROUGHFARE

  CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH A CRY IN THE NIGHT

  CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH THE TOWER IN THE HILLS

  CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH STALKED

  CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH A FRIEND IN NEED

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST THE FRONTIER HOUSE

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND DITTA LAL INTERPRETS

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIRD CAPTURING A GUN

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH A CHECK

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH THE FIGHT AT THE BEND

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH THE DEATH TRAP

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH AD INFIMOS

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-EIGHTH THE LAST FIGHT

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-NINTH REUNION

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  NURLA BAI ASCENDS (see page 405) . . . . . . _Frontispiece_

  THE AMBUSH AT THE REST-HOUSE

  THE ATTACK IN THE GALLERY

  A CHECK IN THE PURSUIT

  RECONNOITRING IN THE AEROPLANE

  GUR BUKSH DEFENDS THE MINE

  THE KALMUCKS MAKE A PRISONER

  LAWRENCE DROPS A BOMB