Early next morning, a few minutes after the bugle had sounded réveille, the Englishmen were disturbed in their dressing by the sound of a great uproar from across the river. They flung on their coats and hurried out. The drawbridge had not been lowered; half an hour would elapse before the bugle called the men to work. But at the farther end the Pathan miners had assembled, and were gesticulating in much excitement, shouting lustily for the huzur. Mr. Appleton ordered the drawbridge to be let down, and hastened across to meet the men.
For some time he found it impossible to gather anything definite from their frenzied clamour. Then, singling out one man as a spokesman, and bidding the rest be silent, he heard a startling story. Muhammad Din, the Pathan foreman, had been discovered in his hut with a knife in his throat. Mr. Appleton had a great liking for the man--a rough uncouth fellow, but an excellent workman and very popular with the men of his race. He at once gave orders that Muhammad should be carried across the bridge to the house, and announced that he would hold an inquiry after breakfast.
In knocking about the world he had picked up a knowledge of rough and ready surgery and medicine, and had more than once treated sick men. A short examination showed that the wound in the unconscious Pathan’s throat was serious, though not necessarily mortal, and he set to work at once to cleanse it with antiseptic lotion and to bind it up. While he was still in the midst of this task, more surprising news was brought from the other side.
Quarrels between the Pathans and the Kalmucks had been so frequent in the early days of the settlement that Mr. Appleton had had to devise a plan for minimizing the risk of such outbreaks. The quarters of the two parties were separated by a neutral zone nearly a hundred yards in breadth, which they were strictly forbidden to cross. They used it in common only when going to and from their work, and then at different times, the Pathans leaving first and returning last. If a Pathan wished to go down the river, he had to climb the hillside and come down to the track beyond the Kalmuck camp. If a Kalmuck wished to go up the river, he had to make a similar circuit. The stables were placed in the neutral zone.