TrainToPakistan excerpt

From Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh

 "Is there anyone beloved of the Guru here? Anyone who wants to sacrifice his life for the Sikh communicy? Anyone with courage?" He hurled each sentence like a challenge. The villagers felt very uncomfortable. The harrangue had made them angry and they wanted to prove their manliness. At the same time Meet Singh's presence made them uneasy and they felt they were being disloyal to him. "What are we supposed to do?" asked the lambardar plaintively. "I will tell you what we are to do," answered the boy, pointing to himself. "If you have the courage to do it." He continued after a pause. "Tomorrow a trainload of muslims is to cross the bridge to Pakistan. If you are men, this train should carry as many dead to the other side as you have received." A cold clammy feeling spread amog the audience. People coughed nervously. - - -     All eyes strained towards the grey space where the rumbling of the train came from. They they shifted to the rope. stiff as a shaft of steel. If the train was fast it might cut many people in two like a knife slicing cucumbers. They shuddered. - - -     The man turned towards the voice. He whipped out a small kirpan from his waist and began to slash at the rope. "Who is this? What is he ...?" There was no time. They looked from the bridge to the train, from the train to the bridge. The man hacked the rope vigorously. The leader raised his rifle to his shoulder and fired. He hit his mark and one of the man's legs came off the rope and dangled in the air. The other was still twined around the rope. He slashed away in frantic haste. The engine was only a few yards off, throwing embers high up in the sky. Somebody fired another shot. The man's body slid off the rope, but he clung to it with his hands and chin. He pulled himself up, caught the rope under his left armpit, and again started hacking with his right hand. The rope had been cut in shreds. Only a thin strand remained. He went at it with the knife, and then with his teeth. The engine was almost on him. There was a volley of shots. The man shivered and collapsed. The rope snapped in the centre as he fell. The train went over him, and went on to Pakistan. 

© Khushwant Singh