Chapter 7
'HO! HO!' To the sound of Nima-Tashi's laughter, Claverdon opened his eyes, and found his mouth burning with some pungent spirit. In the same instant a glass was thrust to his lips.
'Drink like a man, my friend. It will balance the water swallowed.'
He drank as directed. The spirit caught his breath and he half-choked, coughed stranglingly; and whilst Nima-Tashi, raising him, slapped his back with heavy hand, he heard Mordecai cry, 'Heaven be praised!'
He sat up and wiped the tears from his eyes, becoming conscious as he did so of an extreme soreness at the side of his head immediately above the temple. He touched the place with his hand and found a swelling.
'A lump like an egg,' explained Nima, 'but with shell uncracked. A near thing, my friend. First the tulwar, then the
