Chapter 7

He was delighted to find Rangi was his steward again when he entered the stateroom.

The following morning he watched as the ship was re-coaled. Then a goods train was shunted down the railway track that ran along side of the wharf and began unloading as a ships officer supervised. He had requested that his crates be stacked so as to allow him to check their contents later. He watched through his telescope as they were put on one side and were amongst the last to be lowered into the hold.

The ship had been at sea two days when David entered the hold. He located the crates with H/P burnt into the wood. Using a crow bar he lifted the lid where he found stout cardboard boxes with 100 H/P printed on them. In a much larger box he found the clips. He removed a box and five clips from the other. After nailing the lid back down, he returned to his cabin.

Inside the box the hollow point bullets were protected by greaseproof paper. He loaded two of the clips with five rounds each and tried loading his rifle. The bullets slid neatly down into the breech. Holding the rifle in the firing position, with the safety engaged, he ejected the bullets with a smooth click-click of the bolt.

Over the next ten days, using the manual as reference, he stripped and reassembled the rifle until he could do it without thinking. He had discovered in the gun case the compartments that held the oil, wax, and tools along with the pull through. That was a cord with a weight that slid down the barrel, the other end with a small loop in which the small patches of material, also contained in the case, could be pushed into, and the cord pulled through the barrel to clean it. The leather gun sling was also placed in the case which he fixed to the swivels of the rifle, adjusting it to suit himself.

He spent hours reading the manual, particularly the section on maintenance and commissioning the weapon, involving the removal of the protective grease in which it had been delivered. They were crossing the Arabian Sea five days out from Karachi when he received permission from the Captain to fire the rifle over the stern of the ship ... claiming it was a new hunting gun that he had yet to fire. He had Rangi throwing spent cardboard boxes over the side and firing when they were about two hundred yards astern. After firing twenty rounds he was delighted with the performance, the smooth action never faltering. He knew he would have to zero the weapon in when he reached Kanda.

The day before they docked at Karachi he repacked the suitcases. The smaller case was packed with his safari suit along with shirts and underclothes and also the oak presentation case holding his pistols along with thirty rounds of ammunition. He loaded the six clips he had with ammunition. The remaining rounds in the box also went into the case. He intended to retain this case in his compartment on the train.

He saw Mr. Smithers waiting on the quayside as the ship docked. He lost sight of him as he passed through customs. Mr. Smithers caught up with him outside whilst a porter carried his luggage on a trolley. After shaking his hand and confirming it had been a good trip, Mr. Smithers took charge of his luggage, saying it would loaded into a freight car along with the packing cases. David retained the smaller suitcase and gun case, and caught a buggy into the town. He knew the Deri-Ismail-Khan train left at four pm according to Mr. Smithers when he had received his ticket which left him with nearly three hours to kill.

He left the suitcase and gun case in the foyer of the Railway Hotel, under the watchful eye of the desk clerk and then wandered into town looking for a specific shop. He found it on Main Street. Inside he asked the assistant for a left-handed holster suitable for a Smith and Wesson .44 pistol. After several minutes the assistant returned carrying one and removed a Smith and Wesson with a six and half inch barrel from a display cabinet to prove it fitted. David bought it along with a belt. He returned to the Railway Hotel and had lunch. Later he watched as the crates and his luggage were loaded into the freight car before finding his compartment on the train.

Prior to arriving at Deri-Ismail-Khan he changed into the safari suit and buckled the holster around his waist, now with a loaded revolver in it. David alighted from the train carrying his suitcase and gun case, looking around him in anguish, but a familiar figure detached itself from the seething crowd.

“A jolly good day to you Sahib, I have made arrangements to transport you and your things to a waiting barge down by the waterfront,” he heard as they walked to the freight car. Six burly Indians were loading the crates onto a bullock cart along with his luggage. He followed behind in a rickshaw and watched as the men loaded the crates into a wide girthed barge before climbing into it.

He was shown to the rear of the barge which had a rush mat covering it. This would be his home for the few days it would take to reach Kanda. As the six men poled the barge out into the sluggish current due to the dry season, he removed the rifle from its case and loaded it.

At night the barge was moored to the bank, it being too dangerous to continue due to the sandbanks that were now visible from to the lowness of the river. He shared the men’s meal of unleavened flat bread and chicken curry. At the first light of dawn, they got underway again.

Fifty-six hours after leaving, the barge angled into the bank, although he judged they were still some distance from the city. Six figures he recognised as Ghurkhas were waiting on the bank with a cart with two bullocks in the traces and a horse tied to the back. Between the twelve men they soon had the crates loaded onto the cart along with his luggage.

The Ghurkhas wore a range of clothing but each had a deadly kukri at his waist. The leader of the six informed him the horse was for him and that they were now returning to the barracks. His name was Trak and he held the rank of Naik (corporal).As he rode alongside the cart he found out from Naik Trak that the barracks now held ninety-six Ghurkhas. Nineteen of them were from the British Army whose enlistment had finished and had not re-enlisted. They had been kept busy enlarging the barracks and walls.