We swooped all unexpected on the rear of the Wassmuss men, taking ourselves by surprise as much as them, for we had thought the fight yet miles away.

Echoes make great confusion in the mountains.

It was echoes that had kept the Wassmuss men from hearing us, although we made more noise than an avalanche of fighting animals.

Straightway we all looked for Wassmuss, and none found him, for the simple reason that he was not there; a prisoner we took told us afterward that Wassmuss was too valuable to be trusted near the border, where he might escape to his own folk.

There is no doubt Wassmuss was prisoner among the Kurds,--nor any doubt either that he directs all the uprising and raiding and disaffection in Kurdistan and Persia.
As Ranjoor Singh said of him--a remarkable man, and not to be despised.
Seeing no Wassmuss, it occurred to me at last to listen to orders! Ranjoor Singh was shouting to me as if to burst his lungs.