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diff --git a/78239-h/78239-h.htm b/78239-h/78239-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3819449 --- /dev/null +++ b/78239-h/78239-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7109 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + <title> + Nourmahal, An Oriental Romance. Vol. 2 of 3 | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + +<style> +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.s3 { font-size: 1.3em; } +.s4 { font-size: 1em; } +.s5 { font-size: 0.83em; } +.s6 { font-size: 0.67em; } + +h1, h2, .s3, .s4, .s5, .s6 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +.p2 {padding-top: 2em;} +.p4 {padding-top: 4em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +caption {padding: 2em;} + +td {padding: 0.5em 2em;} + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + +.blockquot { + margin: 1em 5%; +} + +/* Centered Container for poetry */ +.cc{ + display: table; + margin: 1em auto; + text-align: left; +} + +.right { + display: block; + text-align: right; +} + +.left { + display: block; + text-align: left; +} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.gesperrt +{ + letter-spacing: 0.2em; + margin-right: -0.2em; + font-style: normal; +} + +.cover { + display: block; + width: 350px; + max-width: 80%; + height: auto; + margin: 2em auto; + page-break-inside: avoid; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .cover { + width: 90%; +} + +.centered { + text-align: center; + margin: 0 auto; +} + +/* Footnotes */ + +.footnote { + text-decoration: none; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding: 1.5em; + border: 1px solid; + color: black; + background-color: #f5f5dc; +} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none; +} + +ul { + list-style-type: none; + text-align: left; +} + +/* Transcriber’s notes */ +.transnote { + background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding: 1.5em; + margin-bottom: 3em; + border: 1px solid; +} + +.transnote p { + line-height: 1em; + padding: 0.25em; +} + +a { + text-decoration: none; + font-weight: bold; +} +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78239 ***</div> + +<!-- C O V E R --> +<div class="centered"> + <img class="cover" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover Page"> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- T I T L E P A G E --> +<div class="chapter"> +<h1> + <span class="gesperrt">NOURMAHAL</span>,<br> + <span class="s6">An Oriental Romance.</span> +</h1> + +<p class="p2 s3 centered"> + BY MICHAEL J. QUIN, +</p> + +<p class="p2 s5 centered"> + AUTHOR OF “A STEAM VOYAGE DOWN THE DANUBE,”<br> + “A VISIT TO SPAIN,” ETC. +</p> + +<p class="p4 s4 centered"> + IN THREE VOLUMES.<br> +<span class="s3"> + VOL. II. +</span> +</p> + +<p class="p4 s4 centered"> + LONDON:<br> + HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,<br> + 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.<br> + 1838. +</p> + +<p class="p2 s6 centered"> + PRINTED BY STEWART AND MURRAY,<br> + OLD BAILEY. +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<!-- T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<div class="cc"> +<h2 class="gesperrt s4">TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> +<table> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">17</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">33</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">52</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">70</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">90</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">109</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">125</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">140</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">163</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">175</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">191</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">205</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">221</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">240</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">258</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">273</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">291</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">304</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a></td> + <td class="tdr">319</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R I --> +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum">1</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_I"> + CHAPTER I. +</h2> + +<div class="blockquot left"> +<p class="left">“Look, master, see how the white umbrellas float, like trembling +lotuses, in the lake of the atmosphere. The numerous banners undulate +like waves, as they play before the wind; and now the elephants +advance, their golden bells tinkling as they stride; they are mounted +by merry bevies of damsels, singing songs of rejoicing, and blazing, +like rays of light, with glittering jewels of variegated tints, as if +they were so many portions of the heavens decorated with fragments of +Indra’s bow.”</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Hindoo Drama.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2">About the hour when Jehangire ascended the throne at +Agra, the conspirators entered the city of Muttra, attended by twenty +thousand Rajaputs, whom Man-Singh had previously stationed upon the +road. While they were <span class="pagenum">2</span> halting here +to take refreshment, Hussein Bey, late governor of the province of +Cabul, having travelled during the night, on account of the heat of +the weather, met the prince in the market-place. Hussein was on his +return to Agra, having been recalled from his government by the late +emperor, without any reason being assigned for such a proceeding. +He was accompanied by a considerable body of Tartar cavalry, and of +Afghan infantry, who voluntarily escorted him, in order to prove to +the emperor the popularity and respect which he had earned by his +bravery, and the generosity of his disposition while governor of Cabul. +Having lavished all his fortune in the splendours of the vice-regal +office, of which he had been just deprived, and feeling, moreover, that +his sacrifices and labours had been ill repaid by the disgrace thus +inflicted upon him, he lent a willing ear to the overtures made to him +by Man-Singh, to espouse the cause of Chusero.</p> + +<p>Many of the inhabitants of Muttra, seeing the prince supported +by two chieftains of such high reputation, eagerly enlisted in his +service. On their march towards Delhi, they encountered various +detachments of horse and foot, on <span class="pagenum">3</span> the +route to different stations. These they compelled, or induced, to join +his standard; and by the time they reached the suburbs of Delhi, their +numbers assumed a formidable appearance.</p> + +<p>Rumours of the approach of the rebel forces had already alarmed the +imperial authorities at Delhi; the inhabitants feared the entrance +of so large an army, which no discipline could restrain from acts of +plunder. It was resolved, therefore, that the gates should be closed, +and that preparations should be made for a vigorous defence. Delhi was +then surrounded by a strong wall, and by many towers, which it would +have been impossible to reduce without the aid of artillery. Chusero +waited before the city for some days, but finding that he had no means +for capturing it, he moved forward rapidly to Lahore, where he met with +no resistance.</p> + +<p>In the mean time Jehangire, fully informed of Chusero’s proceedings, +issued mandates for the assemblage of an army sufficient to put +down this dangerous, and to his feelings, peculiarly painful, +insurrection. During the first impulses of his anger he had directed +his household troops to pursue the rebels, charging Ferid +<span class="pagenum">4</span> Bochari, on whom he conferred the +chief command of the imperial forces, to bring back the prince’s head +without delay. But the intelligence which he received of the accessions +constantly making to Chusero’s party, obliged him to adopt more prudent +counsels. He was much attached to his son, his eldest born, the +natural heir to his throne; he could not believe that the prince was +any thing more than an instrument in the hands of Man-Singh, Hussein, +and the other chieftains, who were already in open revolt against his +authority, and whose real object he apprehended to be the division of +the empire amongst themselves. Filled, therefore, with distrust of all +the world, he determined to lead the army in person, and to contend, if +necessary, with his own hand for the crown which he had derived from +the valour of his ancestors.</p> + +<p>The resolution of Jehangire to take the field at the head of a +hundred thousand fighting men, necessarily caused a delay, which gave +great advantages to the prince’s party. It enabled the latter to +repair the dilapidated fortifications of Lahore; to collect within +its walls large stores of rice and grain; to communicate +<span class="pagenum">5</span> with the subahs of Moultan and Cashmere, +and to spread the seeds of revolt throughout the whole of the northern +provinces. The elevation of Bochari to the chief command of the +imperial troops, produced the deepest dissatisfaction amongst the +nobles in general, whose pride was wounded by the elevation of the son +of a Persian portrait-painter to the highest office in the emperor’s +gift. He had, they admitted, rendered essential service to Jehangire, +by the seasonable precautions which he had adopted for securing the +succession to the throne. But he had had no military experience. He had +hitherto distinguished himself only as an intriguer, a parasite, and a +debauchee.</p> + +<p>The high-chancellor, Kazim Ayas, whom Jehangire nominated to that +office, had indeed also been raised above the heads of many omrahs +from the inferior grades of life. But he was of an ancient, though +decayed family; he had, moreover, exhibited talents in the discharge +of his functions, which would have secured the acquiescence of all men +in his advancement, even if he had not won their favour by the graces +of his mind, and the invariable modesty of his demeanour. Bochari, on +the <span class="pagenum">6</span> contrary, treacherous, sanguinary, +rapacious, insolent, had evinced no ability for command. His promotion +to so high a degree of authority, was deemed an insult to the whole +empire!</p> + +<p>These feelings of discontent throughout the court at Agra, were, +however, in some measure, appeased by the emperor’s resolution to +place himself at the head of the troops, destined to take part in the +approaching contest. Many of the omrahs, who had wavered in their +allegiance, accepted that resolution as an apology for the appointment +of which they so loudly complained, and prepared to follow the imperial +standards. The requisite number of troops having been organised within +three months, the emperor’s tents were sent on beforehand; and the +astrologers having been consulted as to the time when he should set out +from Agra, an hour was discovered at the termination of the third day +of the new moon, which they unanimously pronounced auspicious for that +purpose.</p> + +<p>The whole army having been assembled in and around the city, the +great imperial drum, accompanied by the trumpets and cymbals of the +palace and the artillery of the citadel, gave the signal for departure, +and at the precise <span class="pagenum">7</span> moment indicated +by the stars, the whole host was in motion on the road to Delhi. The +vanguard was composed of thirty thousand cavalry, mounted on steeds +from Turkestan and Tartary, clad in chain armour, and bearing in their +hands long spears. These were followed by three thousand elephants, +with castles on their backs, occupied by the household guards, who bore +matchlocks in their hands, and on their breasts cuirasses of burnished +steel. Mantles of scarlet cloth covered those parts of the elephants’ +hides which were not painted black, and from their ears were suspended +white tails of the cows of Great Thibet. Their guides sat upon their +necks, arrayed in iron armour from head to foot. Next to these +elephants were stationed ten thousand archers, clothed in green quilted +mail, armed with large bows, and quivers filled with winged arrows, and +with slings for the discharge of various missiles. Then marched forward +five hundred dromedaries, and small swift-footed elephants, upon whose +backs were fixed, on swivels, pieces of light artillery, each attended +by a gunner, who held before him a shield of steel; Bengal buffaloes +drawing a hundred pieces of heavy <span class="pagenum">8</span> +artillery, and vast masses of Hindoo infantry, followed at some +distance by the imperial staff, composed of omrahs and rajahs, some +riding on elephants, others mounted on war-horses clothed in armour, +all distinguished by their golden helmets, surmounted by black +horse-tails and Begla plumes, cuirasses of silver, and gold-hafted +scymitars of Damascus, whose naked blades outshone the sun.</p> + +<p>The omrahs were attended by cavaliers and footmen, bearing silver +maces; and the rajahs lifted the banners of the empire, surmounted +by the crescent; behind which, followed, intermixed with a thousand +flutes, trumpets, cymbals, drums, and tambourines, the sacred kour +consisting of long ebony staffs, on the tops of which glittered in +massive silver the mystical hands; spheres representing the sun, moon, +earth, and stars; birds and quadrupeds of awful forms; the scales of +justice; the head of Solomon; tablets inscribed with characters which +the prophet alone could interpret; and other symbols of sovereign +authority. High above all these veteran warriors, and this splendid +pageantry, appeared, reclining on a throne of solid gold, shaded by +curtains of cloth of gold, <span class="pagenum">9</span> and a +canopy of silver thickly set with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, the +great chieftain of the host wearing his magnificent Persian tiara +and imperial robes, mounted on Indragui, that elephant of matchless +stature, towering in the air like a giant of ancient days. To ascend +this stupendous animal, required a ladder of fourteen steps. His body +was painted all over with the dust of yellow sandal-wood. From his ears +hung snow-white tails of cows from Thibet; his neck, breast, and legs +were covered with chain armour of gold, interspersed by plates of the +same metal set with opal stones of incomparable lustre, from which rows +of melodious silver bells were suspended.</p> + +<p>Indragui, not withstanding his size and strength, was of a +disposition so gentle, that under his most fearful excitements, if +an infant happened to fall in his way, he would take it up with his +trunk, and place it out of danger with the utmost tenderness. Such was +his courage, that he would not hesitate to attack a hundred elephants +in the field of battle, or in the arena where combats of animals were +performed for the entertainment of the court. In speed he excelled the +fleetest horse ever seen in Hindostan. <span class="pagenum">10</span> +A band of music and a company of forty spearmen were assigned to attend +exclusively upon this elephant, such was the regard in which he was +held by his imperial master.</p> + +<p>Bochari, in silver armour, his gold helmet covered with waving +ostrich plumes, was seated on a cushion at the emperor’s feet; and then +followed on horseback a troop of eunuchs, each with a gold-headed cane +in his hand, attending twelve of the principal ladies of the harem, +mounted on Pegu elephants, seated in litters, and protected from the +gaze of the multitude by golden lattices and canopies of brocade, over +which were thrown nets of azure silk, with deep fringes of silver. +Surrounding these elephants, were trains of female slaves from Tartary, +fantastically attired, and riding zebras and milk-white ponies from +Cashmere.</p> + +<p>Saddle-horses fully caparisoned, mostly of a light fawn colour, +led by pages in the red imperial livery; footmen bearing on their +shoulders, battle-axes, and javelins; pipe and hookah bearers; +huntsmen leading in couples beagles, leopards, and large birds of prey +trained to the chace; falconers with hoops suspended around them, on +which were perched hawks of twelve <span class="pagenum">11</span> +different kinds, including the beautiful zodehpeer, no larger than +a parrot, and the moolcheen, scarcely so big as a sparrow,—both +perfectly green, which, like the royal hawk, attack and bring down +game of any size; gladiators, and the keepers of the wild beasts, +holding in strong chains lions, tigers, wolves, rhinocerosses, lynxes, +hyenas, and panthers; monkeys riding on troops of well-trained dogs, +and bears taught to dance to the sound of drum and fife, followed the +imperial harem, guarded by the executioners of the palace, mounted on +dromedaries, clad in black mogul caps and pelisses of leopard skins, +bearing on their shoulders axes of the finest edge, whose glittering +blades struck all beholders with terror.</p> + +<p>Last of all appeared a vast disorderly multitude, composed of +camels, buffaloes, horses, mules, oxen laden with tents, provisions, +cooking-utensils; of suttlers of the army; vendors of articles of every +description, to whom the removal of the court would have been ruinous +if they had remained at Agra; of Brahmins, Hindoo devotees carrying +their idols, dervishes, barbers, tailors, astrologers, jugglers, +exhibitors of shows and serpents, harpers, lutanists, players +<span class="pagenum">12</span> on the dulcimer, singing and dancing +girls, adventurers of every colour, and idlers and thieves of every +age and sex, whose undulating masses were seen, and whose shouts were +heard in the back ground of the army, like the waves and sounds of the +untameable ocean.</p> + +<p>Kazim Ayas, to whom, as the high chancellor, the emperor had +delegated his authority over the capital during his absence, ascended +the watch-tower of the citadel an hour before day-break, to observe the +movements of this mighty host. The early sunbeams, piercing through the +foliage of the trees, and reflected by a vast forest of spears, soon +enabled him to discern the position of the vanguard. The glittering +cuirasses of the household troops easily distinguished them from the +dark array of the archers; and the shields of the gunners indicated +the progress of the light and heavy artillery. The Hindoo infantry, +in massive columns, ten men a-breast, were clearly seen, armed with +short pikes and cutlasses, and moving to the martial airs of their +different bands. The silver canopy of the emperor seemed in itself a +sun surrounded by a sea of plumes, through which countless helmets +shone <span class="pagenum">13</span> like satellites. The multitude +that followed was occasionally hidden from Kazim’s eye by clouds of +dust, which assumed hues of gold and purple as the sun rose higher in +the heavens. Their tumultuous shouts at first filled his mind with +apprehensions of a general mutiny; but his fears were dissipated by the +regularly recurring clash of cymbals, and the roll of drums, and the +tramping of men, elephants, and horses, mingled with gay music, borne +to his ear at intervals on the light winds that played through the +firmament.</p> + +<p>Chusero’s emissaries conveyed to him early intelligence of the +advance of the imperial army. He prepared to give them battle on the +borders of the river Sutledge, the passages of which he resolved +to defend; if defeated there, he intended to retire within the +fortifications of Lahore, and if driven thence to seek refuge amongst +the mountains of Cashmere. He was not ignorant of his father’s passion +for Nourmahal, and he carefully availed himself of the circumstance, in +order to gain over to his cause the powerful assistance of Shere-Afkun. +The feelings of that distinguished warrior were painfully alive to the +insinuations which had <span class="pagenum">14</span> been circulated +upon that subject, both before and after his marriage. It was not +difficult to excite his attention to the consequences that might arise, +if Jehangire should enter Cashmere, flushed with the victories which +must have crowned his banners, should he march beyond the province of +Lahore. Afkun was, moreover, too much of a soldier to hear of battles +and warlike movements in Hindostan, in which he did not participate. +He had already quelled the insurrectionary spirit of his own province; +and although the luxury of domestic enjoyments never before possessed +for him such attractions as it yielded at that moment, still he felt +it impossible for a chieftain of his rank and celebrity, to remain +neutral in a contest on which the fate of the empire depended. In +answer to the requisitions for assistance, addressed to him by Chusero, +he engaged to bring into the field twenty thousand fighting men, +being fully persuaded, from all he had heard of Jehangire, that from +idiotcy or madness derived from his maternal blood, and aggravated +by the vices of wine-drinking and opium-eating, in which he was +reported to have indulged beyond all the ordinary bounds of +<span class="pagenum">15</span> decency, the new sovereign was +incapacitated for the functions entrusted to him by the weak +partialities of Acbar.</p> + +<p>Nourmahal, notwithstanding the conflicting feelings by which her +bosom was agitated, suggested no opposition to the resolutions of her +consort. The castle in which they resided, at a short distance from +the city of Cashmere, was the resort of crowds of young noblemen, who, +from the moment they heard that Chusero was proclaimed emperor at +Lahore, and that Afkun determined to espouse his cause, were anxious to +enlist under his banners. The frank and manly character of the prince, +his freedom from those vices by which the character of Jehangire was +tainted, the cordiality of his manners, the heroic beauty of his +person, his unquestioned bravery, were rendered familiar to them by +the reports which they had heard on all sides. There was, moreover, +something especially odious to their proud minds, in the notoriety of +the influence which the son of the Persian portrait-painter exercised +over Jehangire, and they agreed that, at all events, it became the +chivalry of Hindostan to rescue the <span class="pagenum">16</span> +throne from the thraldom of such a vile adventurer as Bochari.</p> + +<p>Their conversations upon this subject were conveyed from time to +time to Nourmahal by Afkun; sometimes she overheard them from her +terrace, as the young omrahs were carousing in the great hall of +the castle. She listened with anticipations of unfeigned pleasure +to every proposition which had for its object the destruction of +Bochari’s power, remembering, as she did, the scowling looks with +which he pursued her on the evening of the Vishnu dance, and feeling +instinctively that his ascendancy stood before her own destinies as +an impassable barrier. She therefore speedily caught the contagion of +enthusiasm with which the approaching battles were spoken of by all +around her, not doubting that they would yield fresh laurels to him +whose renown had already won her hand. How far it had yet touched her +heart, was a problem which even Kanun found a difficulty in solving. +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R I I --> +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum">17</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_II"> + CHAPTER II. +</h2> + +<div class="blockquot left"> +<p>On that day thy cheek sparkled under thy veil, and all this +beautiful imagery appeared on the mirror of our fancies.</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Hafiz.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2">“It grieves me,” said the pale Circassian to one of her +companions, while they were engaged in watering a bed of Cashmere +roses, “to behold the indifference with which our mistress still meets +the looks, beaming all over with love, that light the noble countenance +of the subah, whenever he finds her walking alone on this terrace. He +takes her hand in his, kisses it, gazes upon her eyes with ardour as +warm as if she had just dropped down to him from heaven; but she—has +finished her walk, or is weary of the heat, or, negligent of his +attentions, turns away to a tulip or an anemone, about which she +<span class="pagenum">18</span> seems to care much more than any thing +that he can address to her!”</p> + +<p>“It is but too true! How changed, Kanun, she appears from her former +self! You remember the night of the Vishnu dance,—when Selim, now the +emperor, was present,—what a goddess she looked on that night!”</p> + +<p>“Ah, never can I forget it. You know how beautiful we always thought +her,—but she was then divine! How changed indeed! She will sit for +hours at the foot of a water-fall, which tumbles from those lofty +mountains above us with a roar that is to me sometimes terrible. But +Nourmahal likes it. It hushes to repose, she says, the feelings that +trouble her bosom when she thinks of her delicious home upon the banks +of the Jumna!”</p> + +<p>“Why does she still call her father’s palace, which she has quitted +for ever, her home?”</p> + +<p>“If that palace had not been in Agra, had she not remembered that +from its towers and gardens she could behold the golden domes of the +seraglio, those domes upon which she gazed with so many tears when +we left the capital for Cashmere, think you that her heart would +still <span class="pagenum">19</span> yearn for that home, when she +possesses such a princely residence as this?”</p> + +<p>“I understand you too well.”</p> + +<p>“Look, what a prospect of marvellous beauty those lines of houses at +Cashmere exhibit, their flat roofs planted according to the beauteous +fashion of this enchanting country, with flowering shrubs, geraniums, +campanulas, and roses of every colour under heaven! Standing thus in +the valley beneath us, with that ample lake like a sheet of burnished +gold around them, in which they appear again as if imitated by some +magician of the skies, do they not justify the tradition that here the +true paradise was planted in the elder days? Oh is it not rapture to +breathe the perfume which they send us upon the wings of the evening +breeze, when the fire-flies are sparkling all over them like some lost +stars that know not where to be at rest? It was but yesterday evening +that I asked our lady to sketch for us, with her matchless pencil, that +bewitching scene; but she held in her hand a faded, withered lily of +the valley, which she seemed to think more attractive than the whole +collection of living charms I had pointed out to her attention.” +<span class="pagenum">20</span> </p> + +<p>“There she now moves yonder, towards those cedars, more like a queen +than the daughter of a shepherdess.”</p> + +<p>“Ah! I see she is going to her favourite haunt. When wandering alone +in that dark grove she feels that she is shut out from all the world; +that she can read, or write, or sketch, or give herself up to those +long reveries,—those tears,—which she has of late exchanged for the +buoyant spirits she had always known on the banks of the Jumna. She +loves to listen to those ancient trees waving solemnly above her head, +as if they were communing with each other in their plaintive voices +about the remembered happiness of other days. The Galun, fed by a +thousand streams that descend from the mountains, do you not hear how +it contributes its sweet murmurs to the music of the grove, while that +unceasing cataract, now deepened to thunder by a rush of waters which +had been blown back for a while by opposing winds on the mountain’s +top, now modulated to the song of the bulbul, forms the bass for a +concert of which her ear never tires.”</p> + +<p>Nourmahal was, indeed, much attached to the cedar grove from the +earliest moment of her <span class="pagenum">21</span> residence +in Cashmere. She loved to escape thither, especially at noon, from +the train of her attendants, and from the importunities of the other +ladies of the subah’s harem, who entreated her to teach them those +arts of embroidery, painting, music, and dancing, in which she had +attained, almost without exertion, unrivalled excellence. She willingly +abandoned to them the opportunities which those hours afforded, for +winning the attentions and courting the smiles of him whose slaves they +were, while she wandered alone through the cedar grove, or sometimes, +accompanied by Kanun, if the cooler temperature of the season +permitted, extended her excursions to a rising ground whence she could +catch favourable views of the scenery around the castle. Her taste +for drawing had furnished her with a solace that never lost its zest, +even when thoughts of the past, anticipations of the future, pressed +upon her with a weight that to other minds would have been all but +intolerable.</p> + +<p>It was a landscape worthy of her happiest skill—one upon which, +notwithstanding Kanun’s remark to the contrary, she had often pondered +<a href="#21b" id="21a">with</a> delight, so different did it appear +from any <span class="pagenum">22</span> scene she had ever known +in Hindostan. The capital lay beneath her, at the distance of three +leagues, in a valley, through which flowed the Galun, a wide, full, +yet placid river, ever bearing to an extensive lake beyond the town, +the contributions of innumerable streams that rushed down from the +surrounding mountains. The lower circle of those mountains, broken +only at one point, where the surplus waters of the lake found an +outlet, towards the Indus, between two stupendous rocks, exhibited a +perpetual spring. It was interspersed by many villages and hamlets, +by rice-fields, saffron-meadows, gardens, lemon and orange-groves, +clusters of trees that yield the custard-apple, the guava, the +mango, the tamarind, the citron, almond, peach, nectarine, apricot, +pomegranate, fig, and mulberry. Upon the pastures sheep were browsing, +attended by myriads of lambs, white as snow. The lowing of cows was +occasionally heard from all parts of the declivities; while among the +rocks that jutted out here and there, were seen troops of goats, whose +hair furnished the materials for those splendid shawls that are held in +such esteem by all nations. <span class="pagenum">23</span> </p> + +<p>Above the pastures and villages, Nourmahal’s eye wandered among +forests of mahogany, pine, and oak and juniper, mingled with the palm, +the walnut, and the noble plane-tree, the saul, whose wreaths of +foliage and flowers seemed all silver, the graceful festoons of the +azure convolvolus, and the golden tassels of the laburnum. From branch +to branch, those busy birds, the fly-catchers, pursued their delicate +game, arrayed in deep glossy black, or in brilliant crimson, or in that +beautiful verditer blue which gives out tints of green when touched +by the light. Hundreds of humming-birds flitted about, looking for +insects in the centre of expanded flowers, whose purple, or yellow, or +roseate hues they seemed to borrow, as they chased each other through +the woods. Here the peacock compensated for his dissonant screams, by +the display of that wondrous assemblage of colours with which his long +plumage is illumined, challenging all the other birds of Cashmere, and +casting into the shade even its peculiar pheasant, whose wings are so +resplendent with tints of burnished green and purple. The notes of the +blue thrush, the blackbird, and the cuckoo; the lively song of the +skylark <span class="pagenum">24</span> and the blackcap; and the +tender murmurs of the nightingale, came from different parts of the +surrounding forests to add their charms to that enchanting valley.</p> + +<p>The zone of forests with which the lower range of mountains was +belted vanished, apparently, into the clouds; but, beyond them, +Nourmahal discerned a still higher circle of ridges, covered with +perpetual snow, whose summits were as bright and serene as the face +of the summer moon, when all the world beneath was overshadowed by +the tempest and shaken by the thunder. Sadi justly exclaimed, when he +first beheld Cashmere, that it was a triple diadem, composed of a band +of emerald, and then of opal, reflecting every colour, and then of +diamond, glowing like the star of morning.</p> + +<p>The fountains that burst forth on all sides from those aërial +heights, formed numerous cascades, as they sought their way, like +veins of liquid silver, down the naked rocks and green declivities, +until they mingled with the Galun, yielding, as they descended, a +combination of melodies that lulled the soul into an Elysian sleep. The +green or saffron soft carpets <span class="pagenum">25</span> spread +over the plains of the valley, animated by thousands of azure-winged +butterflies, enamelled by the yellow anemone, the brilliant pink, +the proud geranium, whole fields of roses, whose essence the Hindoo +goddesses steal to perfume their golden hair, the dictamnus, whose +petals are arranged like the strings of a lute, the mimosa, and those +sun-like flowers that dazzle the eye, seemed the work of some magician, +especially when the changing shadows of the mountain tops, or the +passing clouds, now spread a mantle over the bosom of the valley, now +left it rejoicing in the sunbeams, breathing the incense, and robed in +the radiant garments of Paradise.</p> + +<p>No bird or beast of prey, or poisonous reptile, disturbed the repose +of that unrivalled scene. The eagle looked upon it with delight from +his habitation amidst the snow-crowned rocks, but sought his food in +Thibet, or among the Himalayan mountains. The tiger, scared by its +resplendent beauty, turned back, when the antelope, of which he was in +pursuit, fled for sanctuary to the woods of Cashmere.</p> + +<p>Nourmahal might well have been excused, if she often out-stayed the +sun, while endeavouring <span class="pagenum">26</span> to retain +on her canvass the prospects which attracted her eye at every step, +whether she gazed upon the works of nature, or upon the picturesque +dwellings raised by man on the banks of the lake and the river, +surmounted as those dwellings were by gardens carefully cultivated, +and filled with violets, roses, narcissuses, and rose-scented +tulips, vines, melons, and quinces, the yellow broom, the splendid +rhododendron, and oleander, and with hives for bees, whose pleasing hum +was heard through the stillness of noon as they wandered from flower to +flower.</p> + +<p>Often, in the evening, when the heat of the day was spent, and the +haze of the air cleared away, leaving the sky a transparent blue, +and the refreshing breeze came down from the higher ranges of the +mountains, did she watch from the summit of her own tower in the +castle, the crowds of gaily decorated boats with which the lake near +the capital, and the beautiful Galun, were covered, some engaged +in hawking and fishing, some in bearing to the islands in the lake +parties bent on pleasure, some apparently abandoned to the gentle +motions of the current, as if the persons within them yielded +<span class="pagenum">27</span> their whole existence to delicious +visions of tranquil joy that knows no care.</p> + +<p>Beyond the great lake others presented themselves to her eye, whose +surface was almost wholly veiled by the nelumbium, that gorgeous, +poppy-like flower, whose seeds and stalks yield a grateful food to +the peasant. Nor did the torch of the glow-worm fail to prolong the +twilight, until the moon, rising in her majesty, flung her path of +silver along the surface of the waters, deepened the azure vestment +of the heavens, and hushed to repose the forests and all their winged +inhabitants, the bulbul alone excepted, whose song is most musical, +most bewitching, when every other sound is at rest.</p> + +<p>There was a vacancy in Nourmahal’s heart, which compelled her to +seek occupation out of the ordinary routine of her duties. She could +not, she did not, frequently attempt to conceal from herself, that +she had been hurried by circumstances, over which she had no control, +into her union with Afkun. She was sensible of his entire devotion to +her—of the unquestionable preference with which he treated her beyond +the other inmates of his harem—of the <span class="pagenum">28</span> +liberty of action which he allowed her, and of the indefatigable +affection with which he provided for her every sort of luxury and +enjoyment which she could possibly desire. For his character she +entertained the utmost respect—she esteemed him as the friend of her +father—she adhered to him as her sworn protector through life. But in +none of these sentiments, or feelings, did she discover those diviner +impulses which spiritualise the heart, and enable it to identify itself +with the thoughts, the griefs, the joys of another heart, as if the two +were one.</p> + +<p>The endeavour would have been useless, had she made it, to persuade +herself that she was not an exile from scenes which she very much +preferred even to the paradise around her. One circumstance alone might +have reversed her convictions upon that point—a circumstance which she +dared not prefigure to her fancy, during those moments when she was +most alone. The victorious banner of the emperor—could she but behold +it planted on the towers of the castle—Bochari overthrown from his +pedestal of power—Chusero restored to filial obedience—Afkun at peace +with his imperial <span class="pagenum">29</span> master, and in the +enjoyment of his confidence—her beloved parents near her—and herself +permitted now and then (it was all that she desired) to behold those +glowing eyes which once looked up at her, and confessed her to be their +mistress, alone, and without the chance of rivalry!—ah! these were +indeed visions, which she could never expect to see realised.</p> + +<p>Afkun could not but perceive that Nourmahal, in her new situation, +was far from being happy. Fearless, however, as he was in all the other +relations of his life, he had not the courage to open the page which +would have disclosed to him the full measure of despair that would +have filled his mind, had he known the real state of her feelings. +He won from her, at times, one of those smiles of loveliness, which +made her for the moment look like a being from some higher world. +Upon that smile he lived for a season, deluding himself with the hope +that it might return—return frequently, and at length prove that she +was all his own. But it was the flash of the lightning. During long +days, and weeks, and months, it returned not. It became unfamiliar +to his eye, though never lost to his recollection. When the +<span class="pagenum">30</span> thought occasionally came home to his +heart, that he was thus to spend his life with the woman, whom, above +all others, he loved—the woman, upon whose steps he waited, as if they +bore the magnet of his existence—when he first began to apprehend that, +with all his devotion, he had not succeeded in winning his way to that +sacred tabernacle in her bosom, which was either pre-occupied, or +reserved for some other object, he wept like an infant.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, he was of a disposition too noble to permit the +slightest trace of his secret agony to be visible to any other +person—especially to her who caused it. He resorted to no petty +resources of revenge to assuage his mortified pride—he planned no +schemes for exciting her to jealousy, though his harem yielded abundant +means for operations of that description. His sense of honour taught +him, that to all the females whom he had pledged himself to guard +and respect, even when he could not love, he owed obligations of the +most inviolable nature. They were happy in his presence, and grateful +for the solicitude with which he uniformly provided for their health +and convenience, and for those gratifications of personal +<span class="pagenum">31</span> ornament and dress, which engage so +much of woman’s attention. But although he might have easily induced +any of them to aid him in experiments upon the princess Nourmahal, with +a view to awaken her pride, and to affect her acknowledged rank as his +principal consort, he disdained all courses of that kind, resolved, +that if he could not gain her affections by the simple appeal of his +own manly heart, and by the unchangeable tenor of his love, he would +submit to the destiny that awaited him.</p> + +<p>Afkun found even in time a solace in reflecting that he suffered for +Nourmahal. It was a martyrdom known only to that intense love which +survives even the hope of return. His constant meditation was, how he +could best consult her wishes in all things, without seeming to press +beyond the point which her feelings towards him could permit him to go. +This generous delicacy would have conquered the indifference of any +woman, in whose heart the affections lived alone unkindled by ambition. +Nourmahal could not but be conscious of her power over Afkun, of his +unbounded devotion to her, and of the tenderness with which he +<span class="pagenum">32</span> treated her apathy. She confessed +to herself the ingratitude with which she returned all his +idolatry,—accused herself even of criminality, in not confining her +hopes of happiness within the sphere in which she was now bound to +move; but she could not, strive as she might, shut out from her view +the brilliant prospects which had once, though only for a moment, shone +upon her path; prospects, upon the recollection of which, however +visionary, she would rather continue to live, than, by abandoning them, +to get back that peace and innocence of mind which they had for ever +dispelled. </p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R I I I --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">33</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_III"> + CHAPTER III. +</h2> + +<div class="cc"> +<p>Twice forty winters tip my beard with snow,<br> + And age’s chilling gusts around me blow.<br> + In early youth, by contemplation led,<br> + With high pursuits my flattered thoughts were fed;<br> + To nature first my labours were confined,<br> + And all her charms were opened to my mind;<br> + Each flower that glistened in the morning dew,<br> + And every shrub that in the forest grew:<br> + From earth to heaven I cast my wondering eyes,<br> + Saw suns unnumbered sparkle in the skies;<br> + Marked the just progress of each rolling sphere,<br> + Described the seasons, and reformed the year.<br> + At length sublimer studies I began,<br> + And fixed my levelled telescope on man.</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Indian Tale.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2">Absorbed in those visionary secrets, which had now become +the great charm of her existence, Nourmahal happened, during one of +her excursions <span class="pagenum">34</span> among the mountains, +to stray to some distance from her attendants. Mounted on a padded +pony, that was accustomed to climb the hills, she left the rein loose +upon his neck, permitting the animal sometimes to browse upon the +herbage over which he wandered, sometimes to drink from the crystal +springs which leaped down the mountain’s side, full of that joy with +which the whole scene appeared to be animated. It was one of those +days in the advancing spring, when the valleys and hills and forests +of Cashmere were arrayed in all the pride of their beauty, honouring +the great festival which our planet holds every year, in thanksgiving +to the Omnipotent for ordering his chamberlain, the zephyr, to spread +the emerald carpet, and the clouds to foster the infant plants in the +cradle of the earth.</p> + +<p>“Ah!” said Nourmahal to herself, as the fragrance of the thymy turf, +pressed by her pony’s feet, filled her soul with a rush of irresistible +emotion, “how true, how beautiful, are the words of the Gulistan:—‘He +clotheth the bodies of the trees with verdant foliage, the festal +garments of spring, and in celebration of the return of that season +crowneth the youthful <span class="pagenum">35</span> branches with +garlands of blossoms. By his power the juice of the cane is converted +into delicious honey; and by his discipline the kernel of the date +becometh a lofty tree. Clouds and winds, the moon, the sun and the sky, +are all busied, that thou, O man! mayst obtain thy bread. <i>Eat it not +in neglect.</i> For thy sake all these revolve and are obedient. It is +not, therefore, consistent with the rules of justice that <i>thou only +shouldest not obey</i>.’</p> + +<p>“Wherefore rebels this heart of mine against its destiny? Had I been +a shepherdess, like that maiden, slumbering yonder beneath the shade +of that willow, like her I should have been content to follow my flock +wherever it chose to rove; like her I should lie down when fatigued, +repose in happiness, and awake to the renewal of that serene enjoyment, +which is expressed in her composed and rosy countenance. What evil +spirit is this that seems to have taken possession of all my faculties? +Honoured by the preference of the greatest warrior in Hindostan, placed +at the head of his household, surrounded by all the luxuries which +princely rank and opulence can bestow, why is it that my heart denies +the interchange of other sentiments, <span class="pagenum">36</span> +flies away from all the real glowing loveliness spread here at my feet, +to ponder upon far distant scenes,—scenes that I, perhaps, never may +revisit?”</p> + +<p>The grief that came over her soul while she thus yielded to +despair, found relief in a shower of tears, which ran unheeded down +her lovely cheeks. Her attendants, meanwhile, accustomed to her moods +of abstraction, and not imagining that she was likely to wander beyond +her usual rides, gave themselves up to all the gladness of the day. +They had discovered a small lake, secluded amongst the hills, shaded +from the sun by willows and palms, clear as the sky above their +heads, its bed composed of fine sand, its surface so unruffled, that +when they came in a group upon it, and looked into it, holding each +other by the hand, they beheld themselves, and the trees and the +hill-sides around perfectly pictured as in a mirror. Although they +had already performed their ablutions in the harem, they could not +resist the temptation to bathe again. Having thrown off their garments, +and loosened the fillets by which their long hair was bound, they +plunged into the cool fountain, where they sat down and amused +<span class="pagenum">37</span> themselves with lifting the water in +the hollows of their hands, and then permitting it to fall on the tops +of their heads in refreshing streams. “The nightingales,” as Sadi says, +“were chanting around them from the pulpits of the trees.” A zephyr +gently waved the branches of the palms and willows by which they were +shaded, the grasshoppers chirped on the hills, bees murmured among the +yellow broom, and butterflies coursed each other from flower to flower, +now expanding their ample wings, now closing them up as if afraid of +exposing their delicate azure too much to the rays of the noon-day +sun.</p> + +<p>While the gay maidens were still revelling in the delicious coolness +of the fountain, telling each other their dreams of the preceding +night, Kanun called their attention to a sound which she thought she +had heard. They unanimously proclaimed it to be one of her fancies, +and went on with their talk; when she, again hushing them to silence, +bade them listen in the direction to which she pointed out. They now +perceived at some distance up the hill, almost hidden by plane and +poplar-trees, an ancient temple of considerable extent, and near it a +round tower so covered with ivy, that it looked to them like +<span class="pagenum">38</span> a tall cypress. Presently the sound +which before was faint, swelled louder on the air, and filling the +atmosphere with an undulation of melody, passed away as one of the +visions of which they had just been speaking. It was, however, after +a short pause repeated; Kanun declared that they must be in one of +those enchanted valleys with which Cashmere abounded. They listened +with increasing wonder, and while they kept their eyes directed towards +the temple, they beheld, emerging from the shade of the trees by which +it was encircled, a line of female pilgrims, in the Hindoo attire, +preceded by a girl clad in white, her head crowned with white roses, +and bearing in her hand a silver wand wreathed with blossoms of the +apple-tree.</p> + +<p>The moment the procession began to move the music ceased. Each +of the pilgrims held the fore-finger of the right hand to her lips, +bearing in the left a bunch of various flowers, carefully arranged, +and tied with the slender filaments of the vine. Descending slowly +towards the lake, they seemed to experience no surprise on finding +it already occupied by the bathers, who, hiding their limbs in their +hair, watched with curiosity the progress of the religious +<span class="pagenum">39</span> ceremony. The pilgrims, standing round +the lake, repeated, in a voice scarcely audible, a prayer that the +flowers which they cast into the water might reach in safety the places +for which they were destined—some of those places being, if Kanun +rightly heard the names, as distant as Tatta on the Indus, as Benares +on the Jumna, and as Patna on the Ganges. It seemed as if a shower of +roses and hyacinths, of pansies and jonquils, and tulips, had fallen +from the heavens upon the lake, many of them heaped upon the beautiful +blushing faces and raven hair of the maidens, to their boundless +delight.</p> + +<p>The pilgrims having returned to the temple, in the same silent +solemn order as that in which they had descended to the lake, Kanun, +while she divested herself, with scrupulous diligence, of the fragrant +burthen which was partly entangled in her hair, bade her companions to +be careful to follow her example, as she was convinced, from what had +occurred, that they must be in the celebrated fountain of Send-Brare. +Being immediately called upon on all sides to explain the mysteries of +this fountain, she said, that towards the middle of the spring, as she +<span class="pagenum">40</span> had heard, the fountain flowed and +ebbed at the dawn, at noon, and at night, for fifteen successive days, +and then remained dry until the same period in the following year. +Pilgrims flocked to the fountain annually, from all parts of Hindostan, +for the purpose of purifying themselves in the sacred stream, and then +of worshipping in the neighbouring temple. After their prayers and +hymns were over they returned to the spring, and threw into it bouquets +of flowers, so arranged as to express their names, as well as those +of the persons for whom they were intended; these flowers they prayed +might be borne to their native rivers and streams, in order to assure +their relatives and friends, who duly watched for the interesting +messengers, of the tidings of their happy arrival at Send-Brare, and +of their having consummated their devotions. The flowers were sure +to disappear with the retiring waters, and to be conveyed through +the interior of the earth, by the hands of genii, to the places for +which they were designed, however remote those places might be from +Cashmere.</p> + +<p>While Kanun was explaining this matter to her companions, and +answering the thousand <span class="pagenum">41</span> questions +to which it gave rise, desiring them to be astonished at nothing in +Cashmere, for that it was all sacred ground replete with wonders, +neither she nor they perceived that the waters had been gaining rapidly +upon them from the moment they entered the lake. They were already +lifted beyond their depth, and one of them, in attempting to reach the +bank, having cried out that she was drowning, the alarm became general. +Those who were near the willow grasped the branches in their terror, +rending the air with their screams and piteous shouts, which were +echoed through the mountains.</p> + +<p>Strange yelling sounds were immediately heard on all sides, as of +many persons tortured with intolerable agonies; these noises, which +were at first distant, seemed every moment to come nearer, until +they burst over the heads of the affrighted sufferers, in a shout +of horrid laughter that shook the earth to its centre. The waters +were still rising, all traces of the flowery banks had disappeared, +the pilgrims had come out from the temple and were running about +distracted, not knowing what to do in their confusion. Some fortunately +hastened to rescue the maidens from their perilous condition, +<span class="pagenum">42</span> many lay prostrate in fear, others +knelt down to appease, by their prayers, the angry gods. The sky +assumed a fiery redness, which was succeeded by the darkness of night, +and a silence more awful even than the dreadful uproar that had just +subsided.</p> + +<p>A low murmur proceeded from the ravines of the mountains, followed +by flashes of lightning and hurried peals of thunder, each louder than +the former, scarcely distinguishable from the countless shouts by which +they were re-echoed all round the lurid horizon. Hail, snow, rain, +furiously precipitated from the clouds, were succeeded by a tempest of +wind that bent the tops of the stoutest pines to the earth. The tower +of the temple, struck by a thunder-bolt, was rent in two, and one of +the lofty walls fell with a tremendous crash. The dome gave way before +the storm, when an enormous globe of fire entered with a hissing sound, +and exploding in the sacred building, left it a pile of ruins.</p> + +<p>While the battle of the elements was thus raging, Nourmahal, borne +rapidly towards the higher ranges of the mountains by the faithful +animal on which she was seated, whose sagacity and experience taught +it the means of safety on <span class="pagenum">43</span> such +occasions, escaped from all the dangers of the scene. Above her, the +sky was serene as an infant’s smile; beneath, she beheld a sea of +black clouds, agitated as if they had been scourged against each other +by the lash of some fiend. The lightning was visible through them in +zig-zag lines, and forked, as if wielded by the same implacable hand, +for the destruction of all things that lived on earth. The clouds rose +higher, every moment, with appalling sounds, that urged her companion +to greater speed, until his steps were arrested by a voice, louder even +than the thunder.</p> + +<p>Nourmahal, turning round, beheld standing near her on an isolated +rock, the figure of an aged man, his loins girded with a panther’s +hide, a goat-skin flung over his shoulder, a pointed woolly cap on his +head, his white uncombed beard long and bushy, and in his hand a rude +thorny staff, upon which he leant. Looking down on the warring elements +below, he seemed not only to enjoy the spectacle with a savage delight, +but to direct the conflict with the authority of a commander. He called +to the hail, and the rain, and the lightnings, the rolling thunders, +and the winds, by names such <span class="pagenum">44</span> as a +charioteer uses when he urges his horses to their utmost prowess on the +course, or in the field of battle. His voice resounded through the sky, +as he bade the elements advance, or retreat, or suspend their fury; +and when he issued his mandates and saw how well they were obeyed, he +cheered his slaves with a roar of laughter awful as the trumpet of the +destroying angel.</p> + +<p>Pausing for a while, he gazed on Nourmahal, who was trembling +through all her frame, and in accents, somewhat softened from their +harsher sounds, he assured her that she was out of all danger, as she +had no share in the causes that produced it. He then directed her +to proceed onwards by a path which he pointed out, which led her to +some distance, until it terminated at a splendid portal, the arch and +pillars of which seemed to have been carved out of the living rock, +and glittered in all the colours of the rainbow. She was met at the +entrance by a female attendant, graceful as a sylph, who encouraged her +by winning smiles to dismount from her palfrey, and to enter the hall, +the sides and roofs of which were composed of porphyry and jasper. From +the hall she was led through <span class="pagenum">45</span> long +galleries to a spacious saloon, where she was conducted to a couch +spread with Persian cloth of silver, through a group of virgins, who +paid her the homage due only to a reigning sovereign.</p> + +<p>Nourmahal summoned all the energies of her mind, to preserve her +conviction that she was not the sport of some delusion of her fancy. +Her apprehensions were soon set at rest upon this point, by the +information which she received from her beautiful attendants, who +expressed their astonishment that she had not before heard of the +hermit Baba Zeinedeen, to whom was entrusted the guardianship of the +three wells, whence spring the Jumna, the Indus, and the Ganges. To his +power also, they added, it belonged to control the dreadful tempests +which were always called forth among the mountains of that district +by any noises in the open air, beyond the ordinary sounds of nature. +The peasants, when crossing those mountains, never spoke above their +breath; the pilgrims repairing to Send-Brare, never uttered a syllable +out of the temple, so well were they aware of the fearful consequences. +Not only winds and thunders arose, but fields of ice +<span class="pagenum">46</span> were separated from the higher +declivities of the mountains, and in their descent to the valleys +involved whole villages in destruction. On those occasions Zeinedeen +was obliged to issue from his tower, and to restrain the warring +elements, otherwise the whole country of Cashmere, the paradise of +the earth, would be converted into a scene of desolation. His anger +was unbounded when thus disturbed from his usual pursuits; but when +the calamities of the hour were over, he resumed, with fresh ardour, +his sublime studies, and was accessible to all who wished to consult +him.</p> + +<p>Nourmahal’s fortitude sensibly returned, while this cheering +and interesting intelligence was conveyed to her by rosy lips, and +amidst sunny smiles. They, moreover, assured her, that she was well +known to Zeinedeen, who had often spoken of her. Iced lemonade, with +confectionary of the most exquisite flavour, was then served on golden +trays; and, by the time she had rested from her fatigue, Zeinedeen +returned.</p> + +<p>Taking Nourmahal by the hand, the hermit soothed the alarms with +which his savage appearance filled her breast, notwithstanding all +<span class="pagenum">47</span> she had heard of his benevolence. He +informed her that the commotions, unfortunately excited by her own +attendants, from their ignorance of the nature of the fountain in which +they bathed, and of the results by which their loud cries would be +followed, were happily terminated, and that, with the exception of the +ruined tower and temple, no other mischief had occurred. Her attendants +had been saved from their perils by the pilgrims, and had found shelter +in a cavern to which one of his slaves should conduct her, as soon as +she wished to return to them.</p> + +<p>Nourmahal’s terrors having been completely dissipated by the +friendly language of the hermit, she prayed permission to revisit him, +in order to receive instructions in the lofty walks of knowledge with +which he was conversant, to explore the fountains of the great rivers, +especially of her own beloved Jumna, and to behold the wonders over +which he held dominion. The hermit readily acceded to her wishes, and +attending her to her palfrey, which was in waiting at the portal, +he led the animal with his own hand, through the more difficult +passages of the mountain; then confiding her to the care of +<span class="pagenum">48</span> an intelligent slave, whom he had sent +forward for the purpose, he gave her his benediction, and watched her +progress, until distance shut her out from his view.</p> + +<p>Nourmahal’s attendants were no less delighted than herself, with +their having met again, after a separation so unexpected and so awful +during its continuance. Afkun fortunately had spent the day in the +capital, where he was much occupied in organizing his troops for the +march to Lahore, having been summoned hither by urgent despatches +from Chusero. The bustle of military preparations in which all the +male inmates of the castle were involved, left them little time for +attending to the adventures which Kanun and her companions had to +relate upon their arrival. What, with rivetting of armour, whetting +of sabres and spear points, polishing of shields and matchlocks, +new stringing of bows, packing of quivers with arrows, and trying +the mettle of horses destined for the field, it seemed as if nobody +had a moment to spare to listen to Kanun. The cooks and servants of +the kitchen were all taken up in providing the continual banquets +which were kept up in the great hall of the castle, from +<span class="pagenum">49</span> morning until late in the night, in +consequence of the number of Omrahs, and Rajahs, and cavaliers, who +crowded to the residence of the subah, to tender their services.</p> + +<p>Resolving, as he had done from the beginning, to espouse the cause +of the prince, it was highly gratifying to Afkun’s mind, to find that +cause so popular throughout Cashmere. The offers of assistance which +he received from all sides were so numerous, that within a few weeks +he was enabled to muster the whole force of twenty thousand fighting +men, with which he had pledged himself to join Chusero’s army. The last +letters from the prince informed him, that Jehangire, after remaining +for a while at Delhi, had set out with the whole of his troops in the +direction of Lahore, and that not a moment was to be lost in making +preparations for the general battle, upon which the destinies of the +empire depended.</p> + +<p>As speedily as the different troops marched into the capital, from +the surrounding districts, they were embodied under the command of +experienced officers, and directed to proceed to Bember, where they +were to wait until the whole contingent should be assembled. A strong +<span class="pagenum">50</span> garrison was left in the capital +of Cashmere. The castle of the subah being raised on an eminence, +surrounded by a deep dyke filled with water, which could only be +crossed by a drawbridge, and the rocks which formed its walls and the +greater portion of its towers, being inaccessible to an invading force, +was confided to the care of a small band of veterans, too old to take +any part in the expedition.</p> + +<p>Afkun deferred to the last moment the painful task of announcing to +Nourmahal his departure for a war, from which it might not be his fate +to return. His steed was already caparisoned in the court-yard; the +officers by whom he was to be attended, were mounted; and his pages +were waiting in the great hall, holding his scymitar and shield, when +he presented himself to his idolized consort, clad in his chain armour, +and plain helmet of steel without plumes. Taking both her hands in +his, he looked into her eyes to find there some tokens of that deep +passionate love, which could afford him one bright remembrance to +dwell upon during his absence. But he could discern in those spheres +of unbounded loveliness no impulses, beyond that interest which she +unfeignedly <span class="pagenum">51</span> felt in his success as a +warrior. Kissing her cheeks, while the big tear was gathering from his +anguished heart, he hastened to the hall, and girding on his sword, +and passing his left arm through the clasp of his shield, he went +forth, reckless of a life that he felt to be of such little worth to +Nourmahal.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R I V --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">52</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_IV"> + CHAPTER IV. +</h2> + +<div class="blockquot left"> +<p>“Thou art the father of all things, animate and inanimate; thou art +the sage instructor of the whole, worthy to be adored! There is none +like unto thee; where then, in the three worlds, is there one above +thee? Wherefore, I bow down; and, with my body prostrate upon the +ground, crave thy mercy. Lord! worthy to be adored; for thou shouldst +bear with me, even as a father with his son, a friend with his friend, +a lover with his beloved. I am well pleased with having beheld things +before never seen; yet my mind is overwhelmed with awful fear.”</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Bhagvat-Geeta.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2">The discovery of Send-Brare, and of the marvellous agency +which enabled it to disperse secret messages throughout all parts of +Hindostan, were the never-ending topics of Kanun’s admiration. She +would have exposed her dress to be drenched a thousand times by the +rain, <span class="pagenum">53</span> her soul to be appalled by a +hundred storms, rather than not to have known the exact position of +the sacred fountain. Often as she had heard of it, since her arrival +in Cashmere, she never could succeed in getting any body to show her +where it was, and all her regrets were now converged on one point, +that there lived nobody in Hindostan to whom she could despatch one +of those symbols of her affection. Haply a few days might make some +difference in that respect. The march to Bember would be speedily +effected. Ah! there was one to whom she looked as to a star—so far +beyond her reach—so bright, so fascinating always to her adoring gaze, +but to whom her feelings were unknown, who, even if he knew them, would +never notice them—could she dare to take this mode of disclosing to him +the secret of her life? The thought was rapture—it almost brightened +into hope—that ray of gladness which still remains to us of the sun of +Eden.</p> + +<p>Nourmahal also felt no slight curiosity to behold the fountain +of so much power, and, as the period of its operation was limited, +she crossed the drawbridge the day after the departure +<span class="pagenum">54</span> of Afkun, and, attended only by the +Circassian, proceeded in the direction which she pointed out. When +they arrived at the spot, so well remembered by Kanun, they found it +perfectly dry; but the moment the sun attained its mid-day height, they +perceived the sands gradually becoming moist—the whole of the bed of +the lake was soon covered with water, which rose higher every moment. +Pilgrims, who had performed their devotions in the ruined temple, but +silently, as no part then remained of the roof of the building, crowded +round the margin of the fountain as before, and cast into it their +various bouquets of flowers.</p> + +<p>Nourmahal stopped to see the waters retire, and she was surprised +to observe, that, with the element disappeared, through fissures at +the sides of the lake, all the bouquets of the devotees. Whatever were +the thoughts by that circumstance excited in her bosom, she kept them +to herself. Kanun watched the varying expression of her countenance, +with an intense desire to know what was passing within the world of her +mistress’s mind; but she had not the temerity even to insinuate any +question on <span class="pagenum">55</span> a subject, which, above +all others, she knew to be sacred.</p> + +<p>Kanun, however, when she perceived Nourmahal alone the same evening +in her garden, culling a variety of flowers, from which she diligently +separated every imperfect or fading leaf, and which she re-examined +from time to time with a degree of anxious attention, that mantled her +countenance in glowing blushes, felt scarcely at a loss to conjecture +the purpose for which those letters of love’s alphabet were put +together. Nor were her suspicions diminished, on receiving orders from +her mistress the same evening, to direct that her favourite palfrey +should be in readiness an hour before sunrise the next day, when she +purposed, as she said, to pay a visit to Baba Zeinedeen.</p> + +<p>There being so many fountains, and caves, and temples, and groves, +and hills, resorted to in Cashmere, by religious men and women from +all parts of the earth, it was no unusual circumstance to meet there +with females alone, or in groups, with or without attendants, at all +hours of the night or day, proceeding in the different directions to +which they were led by their vows. The purposes which they were engaged +<span class="pagenum">56</span> in executing, invested them with a +character of inviolability held in universal respect. No remark was, +therefore, made by the guard or sentinels of the castle, when they +opened the gate to the drawbridge for Nourmahal, just as the first +streaks of morning were reddening the sky. Arrayed in a plain white +muslin turban and veil, a pelisse of blue cloth, her under garments +being of slightly figured straw-coloured silk, a Cashmere shawl +carelessly thrown over her shoulders, and a bouquet of flowers held +in her girdle, she passed through the gate on her padded palfrey, and +reached Send-Brare in time to witness a repetition of the flowing +and ebbing of the mysterious lake, after having duly performed the +prescribed devotions amidst the ruins of the temple. While stooping +over the fountain, just as it was beginning to diminish, her cincture, +by some means, became loosened, and her bouquet falling into the water +instantly disappeared. She would have given worlds to obtain it back +again. Her mind had suffered during the night so much agitation, on +account of that bouquet—the visions which haunted her during the few +moments of slumber she had enjoyed, rendered her so irresolute, +<span class="pagenum">57</span> that when the moment came for taking +the decisive step of committing it to the mystic well, she determined +at least to postpone a step, fraught with consequences which she +scarcely knew whether she ought more to hope for or to apprehend.</p> + +<p>The accident which occurred deprived her of all further control +over the symbol she had prepared. She lingered on the margin of the +lake until all its waters vanished, and then, hoping that she might +still find some balm in the counsels of Zeinedeen to tranquillize the +conflicting storms in her heart, where her duties were all upon one +side, and her affections on the other, she remounted her palfrey and +directed his steps up the mountain.</p> + +<p>The little active animal, well accustomed to climb those rugged +heights, rapidly conveyed her to the hermitage. She was forthwith +conducted to Zeinedeen, whom she found in the uppermost chamber of +a lofty tower, surrounded by piles of books, by globes representing +the earth and starry heavens, circles on which the signs of the +zodiac were figured, charts, and compasses, and steel mirrors, +paintings of strange insects and birds, and statues of gods, +<span class="pagenum">58</span> such as she had never seen before. The +hermit received her with patriarchal kindness, and at once entered upon +the subject which he knew to be nearest to her heart.</p> + +<p>“You are unhappy, my daughter,” he said, “and it has not been +difficult for me to divine the source from which your solicitude +proceeds. I, who, as you know, have dominion over the elements, could +not have once glanced over the page which your countenance discloses to +my eyes, without reading in it the secret sorrow that, like a bird of +ill omen, perpetually hovers over your mind, and mars all the delights +your youth, and intelligence, and susceptibility, ought to strew along +the path of your existence. Thus it always is—and will be with those +who inhabit this globe. It is written in the stars which rule their +destinies, that the moment one cherished object is attained, another +is sought for as the true loadstone of felicity, to which tend all +their desires. But that acquired, still new wants, real or imaginary, +arise, the latter being, of all others, the most tyrannical in their +exactions, the most indefinable in the duration and number of the +miseries they inflict on mankind. <span class="pagenum">59</span> </p> + +<p>“It is given to me to converse much with beings of a higher order, +for there are gradations of intelligence, from the mite you discern +in that sunbeam, to Him in whose presence that sun would be but as +the darkness of night. From those admirable masters I have learned +that happiness is a gift withdrawn from this planet, in consequence +of the transgressions of those by whom it was first inhabited; and +that, nevertheless, the search after that lost treasure, which they +never shall find again while here, is a penance which all the sons and +daughters of Eve must perform to the last hour of time.</p> + +<p>“Give up, then, my child, the vain pursuit. Be assured, that if you +were to-morrow to be placed in possession of the throne of Hindostan, +the next day would find you meditating on some object, dearer to your +hope than even the throne of the first empire in the world. Come with +me, and I shall expose to your view a scene that will teach you, if, +indeed, you can yet be taught by any experience to shun the precipices +towards which ambition may urge you, how futile are the dreams of +felicity fostered by mankind.”</p> + +<p>Nourmahal never felt so humbled as in the +<span class="pagenum">60</span> presence of this monitor, who, without +asking her a question, or consulting a star, seemed to fathom, with +unerring certainty, all the most hidden abysses of her soul—to whose +lofty trains of meditation the thoughts that engrossed her attention +seemed now so little in her own esteem.</p> + +<p>Unlocking a door that was concealed behind a mirror, the hermit led +his fair pupil by a secret staircase, to a cavern, beyond which further +progress appeared to be intercepted by a wall of porphyry. Zeinedeen +struck the wall with his staff, calling out at the same time, in his +awful voice, the name of Chunder. The name was repeated by a thousand +echoes through the hollows of the mountain, and before the lapse of +many minutes Nourmahal heard chains let down, and enormous bolts drawn +back, when the mural mass, separating from the roof of the cavern, was +lowered with a creaking noise, until it became level with the floor. A +black, swarthy figure, with shaggy hair, and bent almost to the earth +by the weight of years, stood at the other side of this drawbridge, +holding a lighted branch of pine-wood; by the flame, Nourmahal +perceived that the <span class="pagenum">61</span> bridge spanned a +torrent, through which rolled an immense body of water.</p> + +<p>“Here,” said the hermit to his trembling companion, as he led her +over the bridge, “you behold the first gush of the Indus; no man has +ever yet plumbed the depths from which those waters ascend. Proceed, +Chunder, to the halls of the Ganges.”</p> + +<p>Following the footsteps of their guide, Zeinedeen and Nourmahal +walked on hand in hand, until they entered a gallery lined on each side +with brazen figures of serpents. They then passed through a chamber, +in which gigantic marble statues of the Hindoo gods were arranged, +one hand of each pressed on the lips, the other pointing towards a +spacious vestibule, where the light of the flambeau was no longer +necessary, so resplendent was the arch of many colours, through which +fell from the heavens, curled by no wind, stained by no foam, a vast +sheet of water into an abyss in the bosom of the earth, whence no sound +returned. The silence with which the stupendous element descended from +on high, struck Nourmahal as more appalling than any thunder that +had ever reached her ear. It was the fountain of the Ganges. +<span class="pagenum">62</span> </p> + +<p>Chunder next led the way through a dark and horrid labyrinth, which +opened upon an ample circular space, thickly spread on all sides with +cinders and lava. The blue sky was visible at a great height above the +tops of the surrounding mountains, while, at a short distance beneath +the spot on which they stood, appeared a glassy lake. A boat, with oars +in it, was hauled up on the declivity. Chunder immediately launched the +little bark, into which Zeinedeen conducted his wondering companion, +who scarcely hoped that she could retain her senses amidst the marvels +she was permitted to witness.</p> + +<p>When the boat was in the middle of the lake, Chunder drew in his +oars, and Zeinedeen, after waiting till the circles caused on the +surface of the water by the motion of the vessel had disappeared, +desired Nourmahal to look down into the bosom of the calm mirror. +Instead of the reflection of the gloomy scene around, which she +expected to see, she beheld, as if in another world beneath her, +numerous temples and towers; palaces and houses of every order; +market-places filled with people and commodities of every description; +bazaars and <span class="pagenum">63</span> shops; streets and squares +lined with shady trees; suburbs decorated with gardens in the highest +state of cultivation; green hills, and vallies, and forests; rivers +gleaming through them, on which were numerous boats piled with fruits, +and vegetables, and flowers; and on the roads leading to the different +gates of the city, and in the streets, crowds of elephants, and camels, +and buffaloes, engaged in the conveyance of passengers and burthens, +and all things indicating the presence of a great and luxurious +capital.</p> + +<p>“Need we do more than gaze upon this imperishable monument of the +vengeance of the Supreme Being, to be convinced of the emptiness of +all human hopes and calculations?” said the hermit. “Behold, there +are crowds of every age and sex, whom the morning sun found occupied +in all the affairs of life. That building which you see crowning the +citadel, is the palace of Damuder, famed for the immense treasures +of gold, silver, and precious stones, which he accumulated during +his reign; and for the exquisite loveliness of the sultanas, with +whom his harem was filled from all quarters of the globe. He had many +valiant sons, had <span class="pagenum">64</span> conquered all the +foes who attempted to disturb his peaceful reign, and in those fields +and vineyards surrounding the capital, you may perceive his disbanded +soldiers turning their spears into ploughshares, their scymitars +into pruning-hooks, and their once formidable clubs into the staffs +of shepherds. Men who had grown grey in battles, you may see on the +hillsides tending their flocks, or sleeping beneath the shade of their +own fig-trees.</p> + +<p>“The senate-house, a sumptuous pile of building, long frequented by +orators and crowds of citizens, who hastened hither to consult for the +safety of the state, or to regulate, by wise laws, the interests of +the community, seems without a being in it; to such a state of order +and peace had they arrived, that no further precautions were necessary +in the way of legislation. Abundance prevailed every where. Orange +and lemon groves teemed with their cooling fruits. Luxuries which the +neighbourhood of the capital did not supply, were borne hither from all +parts of Asia; spices are passing hither from Arabia; fine cloths and +silks from Persia; diamonds, and emeralds, and rubies from Golconda; +muslins and chintzes from Masulipatam; <span class="pagenum">65</span> +rice, and timber, and wheat from Bengal; and fine wool from Thibet.</p> + +<p>“Behold the lakes and islands filled with families occupied only in +pursuit of pleasure. Musical instruments are in the hands of thousands +of players, surrounded by groups of dancers and singers, from whose +upraised looks and joyous countenances you may easily fancy you hear +the bursts of laughter that come from hearts inexperienced in care. +The public arena is thronged in every part with spectators, assembled +to witness the combats of elephants and lions, and of those terrible +bulls who make the forests of Cabul tremble with their roar. But the +temples raised in the elder days are all abandoned. So secure had the +sultan become of the permanence of the felicity which he enjoyed, that +he ceased to put up prayers to the gods, and the people were taught to +worship Damuder alone, as if he were the fountain of all the blessings +they enjoyed.</p> + +<p>“Look on that lofty golden throne, shining with precious stones +of every hue, on which the sultan is seated, in the midst of a large +plain, densely crowded with his vassals kneeling before him, and +holding silver censers still <span class="pagenum">66</span> full +of frankincense, which were prepared for a general act of adoration +he had ordered. He had proclaimed a great festival to be celebrated +on his birth-day. A thousand oxen were led, decorated in flowers and +ribands, to that altar, where you may still count them. Near them are +the priests of the new religion, which the sultan had ordained to be +instituted in his own honour; and elevated on a lofty stage are a +hundred musicians, with silver trumpets raised to their mouths. Upon +the first signal from those trumpets being sounded, the sacrificers +were to slay the oxen, the priests were to lift their hands to the +throne, and the worshippers were to hold in the same direction their +censers kindled at the moment, in order that the cloud of their +fragrant offering, and the hymns of the priests, and the blood of the +victims might in unison complete the triumph of the new faith.</p> + +<p>“But, awful to relate, the first blast of those silver trumpets was +answered by a voice of scorn from the skies, that shook the earth in +its orbit. That capital then occupied a magnificent valley, called the +Garden of Cashmere, above the place where we now stand. The sultan, +<span class="pagenum">67</span> arrayed in more than the glory of +Solomon, was at the instant paralysed on his throne. The censers +repelled the fires that were applied to them; the uplifted arms of +the priests remained suspended in the air; the knives vanished from +the clenched hands of the sacrificers; the womb of these mountains +opened, and amidst lightnings and thunders, such as from the creation +of the world were never seen or heard before, the whole kingdom was +precipitated into the abyss where you now behold it; every thing living +that it contained, struck dead by the sword of the archangel.</p> + +<p>“For the instruction of yet distant generations, a sheet of crystal +was spread over this valley, whose declivities still retain frightful +traces of the convulsion, by which that occurrence was signalized. The +lake that covers the crystal is the fountain-head of your favourite +Jumna. When you behold that river again, forget not the terrible +example of punishment, visited upon human insolence and folly, which +you have witnessed at its source. I know not if it shall deter you from +the ways of ambition. The appetite for power, when once excited, is +<span class="pagenum">68</span> insatiable as the ensanguined jaws of +the tiger!</p> + +<p>“Hindostan! Hindostan! when shalt thou be at rest? Even now the son +is armed against the father,—the father against the son, and troops are +marching from all parts of the empire to contend for a throne, just as +certain to perish, as that sepulchred beneath these waters!</p> + +<p>“Men, men!” repeated the hermit, rising and clasping his hands +in emotion; “think you with Damuder, that there is no God? Is there +a whisper to be heard on earth which denies His existence? Do you +hear it on the plains, in the forest, among the mountains? Comes it +from ocean booming in the tempest; from the conflicting clouds when +they peal along the arches of eternal space? The breath of such a +voice, passing over Cashmere, would clothe it in widows’ mourning, +blighting the golden harvest, bereaving the rose of its fragrance, +the lily of its raiment, the vine of its fruit, the woodland of its +shade, and all that fair scenery diversified by hill and vale of its +beauty and enchantment. The heart of man—would it not be palsied +with horror—his brain fired with madness, if he were assured by such +an <span class="pagenum">69</span> unearthly mutter that there is +<i>no</i> Omnipotent? What would he have to live for—what to hope, if +he be indeed the sport of a delusion—the fool of the universe? Why +was he born in helplessness, condemned to labour in sorrow, endowed +with desire of offspring who could but renew his misery? Why feels he +pleasure in virtue, loathing in vice, if there be no parent to cherish +him hereafter, no judge to distinguish between innocence and crime? No; +there is no such voice on earth, or in space; or, if there be, it is a +LIE, which the very outcasts from heaven would not dare to repeat; for +even they believe and tremble, thoughtful of the arm that hurled them +from those regions of light which they shall never see again!”</p> + +<p>Nourmahal had no disposition to interrupt the silence that followed +these words of the hermit, who leading her back by the way they came, +and resigning her to the care of an attendant, resumed the studies +in which he had been engaged upon her arrival. On her way down the +mountain she was met by Kanun, who had been anxiously looking out for +her mistress, and they both returned to the castle together.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R V --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">70</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_V"> + CHAPTER V. +</h2> + +<div class="blockquot left"> +<p><i>Kanchanamala.</i> Glory to your grace! The queen sends you word +that Samvarana Siddha, the magician, is arrived from Ougein; will your +majesty be pleased to see him?</p> + +<p><i>Vatsa.</i> By all means; I take much pleasure in this cunning; +bring him hither.</p> + +<p><i>Kan.</i> Here is the king.</p> + +<p><i>Sam.</i> What are your majesty’s commands? Would you see the moon +brought down upon earth—a mountain in mid air—a fire in the ocean, or +night at noon? I will produce them—Command.</p> + +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Hindoo Drama.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2"> To the proclamations which he had distributed amongst +the chieftains of the northern and western provinces of the empire, +Chusero received so many favourable answers, that by the time the +adverse troops marched from Delhi, he found himself at the head of a +formidable <span class="pagenum">71</span> army. He proceeded from +Lahore to meet them, and encamped a few leagues to the south-east of +that city, where he waited for the auxiliaries from Cashmere.</p> + +<p>The difficulty of procuring provisions for his army, in a country +already ravaged by the insurgents, compelled Jehangire to encamp in a +plain near Shahabad, and there await the fresh supplies, for which he +had issued orders to all the provinces still bearing him allegiance. +The ground was peculiarly favourable for the display of that superb +military spectacle, the halt of a grand army, within the neighbourhood +of the field on which a general engagement is expected to take place. +The principal quarter-master selected for the emperor’s tents a rising +ground, which was speedily prepared by the pioneers, and enclosed by +high screens of strong cloth, lined on the inside with printed calico, +representing gardens, and lakes, and vases of flowers, and other +objects agreeable to the eye of taste. The screens thus raised, formed +an ample square, and on the side on which the imperial entrance was +formed, festoons of rich silk drapery embellished the external side of +the temporary mural boundary. <span class="pagenum">72</span> </p> + +<p>Within this square the first tent erected was that called the +Am-kas, from the hall in the capital in which the emperor, attended by +his judges and nobles, gives public audience, and administers justice. +The tent is devoted to the same purposes, and near it was raised +another of scarcely less extent, to which the omrahs repaired every +evening to pay their obeisance to the sovereign, and when necessary to +consult with him upon the affairs of the empire. A lower boundary of +screens, lined with chintz, and decorated with deep silken fringes, +secluded the remainder of the square for the pavilions of the emperor +and his seraglio. The outside of all these habitations was covered +with coarse red cloth, ornamented with large variegated stripes, the +roofs and walls inside being lined with white velvet or flowered satin, +richly embroidered with gold and edged with fringes of azure silk. +Cotton mats, three or four inches thick, were spread on the floor, and +covered with Persian carpets, on which were disposed large cushions +enveloped in the most splendid brocade. These tents were supported by +pillars of massive gold.</p> + +<p>On either side of the imperial gate, leading to +<span class="pagenum">73</span> this square, were erected two long +tents, where horses saddled and superbly caparisoned were kept in +readiness for the emperor, whenever he chose to ride forth to the +chase, or to review his troops. Before the tents several pieces of +field artillery, and trumpeters on high stages were stationed, in order +to salute the emperor as he passed through the gate. Here also tents +were arranged for the omrahs on guard.</p> + +<p>Within a short distance from the other three sides of the great +square were the tents of the officers of the household, and those +prepared to contain the arms and harnesses belonging to the emperor, +the vests of brocade, and other materials given by him as presents +upon state occasions, the fruit, sweet-meats, Ganges’-water, wines, +saltpetre for cooling them, betel leaves, and other stores necessary +for the use of his table, his choice elephants, and the various +animals employed in hunting. The tents within and immediately without +the great square constituted the imperial quarters, and beyond these +were laid out, in long lines, the imperial bazaars, from which the +emperor and his household were supplied with provisions, and all +other articles of which they stood in need. These bazaars +<span class="pagenum">74</span> were distinguished by extremely long +poles, erected at a distance of three hundred paces from each other, +bearing red standards, surmounted by the tails of Great Thibet cows.</p> + +<p>Beyond the bazaars the great omrahs had their tents pitched, +surrounded also by screens, and near them those of their officers and +cavaliers. Then appeared the bazaars of the suttlers, who supplied +forage for the horses of the army, and rice, corn, butter, and bread +for the great body of the cavalry, artillery, and infantry. Each +of these bazaars had also long poles at both ends, distinguished +by peculiar standards floating high in air, in order that those +which furnished the different supplies might be the more easily +distinguished. The remainder of the ground was occupied by the tents +of the inferior officers, the artillery, cavalry, and infantry, the +civil officers, trades-people, and the multitudinous followers of the +army.</p> + +<p>Three of the emissaries commissioned by Chusero to watch the +movements of the hostile forces, met, on a cloudy night upon a hillock, +from which they beheld, for the first time, stretching far and wide +before them, the <span class="pagenum">75</span> imperial encampment. +They saw numerous fires blazing in all directions, round which were +collected groups of men employed in cooking. They recognised the +entrance to the imperial quarters by the lantern which was suspended +at the top of a very lofty pole, and which at a distance looked like a +star. Approaching nearer, in order to penetrate as far as possible into +the camp unperceived, they passed the outer lines of tents and bazaars, +when their apprehensions were excited by seeing long rows of flambeaus +suddenly kindled, amidst lanes of tents, from which the omrahs, +followed by their attendants, hastened towards the imperial pavilion. +They suspected that a council of war was about to be held, and anxious +to divine the results, they concealed themselves from notice as well as +they could, until the council broke up. The trumpets at the imperial +gate sounded as the omrahs passed in, the shrill and oft-repeated +notes incessantly echoing through the vast encampment, while the +lines of light, and the countless fires, threw a lurid reflection on +the dark clouds, portentous of the approaching scenes of slaughter. +After an absence of two hours, the omrahs returned to their tents; +<span class="pagenum">76</span> the flambeaus were extinguished, the +cooking fires were permitted gradually to go out, and the emissaries, +disappointed in their hope of meeting any one who could afford them the +information they required, resolved to retire.</p> + +<p>As they withdrew in different directions, they were obliged +frequently to lie down on the grass, to avoid meeting with the watchmen +who perambulated the quarters of the omrahs, and who cried out from +time to time, “Kaber-dar, kaber-dar” (have a care). Similar warnings +were uttered in peremptory voices by soldiers sent in all directions by +the grand provost, who visited the bazaars in search of thieves, and +sounded trumpets at assigned stations to denote that all was well. It +was not without difficulty that the spies made good their escape from +these guards, and also from the sentinels posted round the whole camp, +near guard-fires kindled at the distance of five hundred paces from +each other.</p> + +<p>Having re-assembled at the hillock where they met the previous +night, the emissaries waited there until the dawn, when the sun +rising, unveiled by a single cloud, presented to their view the +whole encampment in all its magnitude and splendour. The red-striped +pavilions <span class="pagenum">77</span> of the imperial quarters +standing on an eminence, surrounded by their screens, looked peculiarly +superb and imposing. The bazaars of the household, and many-coloured +tents of the omrahs and their officers, the bazaars of the suttlers, +the hosts of tents assigned to the great body of the army, stretching +over the plain to the very edge of the horizon, the long poles +surmounted by Thibet cow-tails, and by standards floating high over the +encampment in all directions, exhibited a spectacle of authority and +strength, and a combination of resources, which the emissaries began to +apprehend their master was but ill prepared to encounter.</p> + +<p>They therefore consulted amongst themselves as to the course they +ought to take, whether to go back and represent the overwhelming +numbers with which the prince would have to contend, or to penetrate +the camp again, and observe whether any opportunities were presented +by the habits of the emperor which would enable a resolute man to take +away his life, and thus remove the only obstacle to Chusero’s ascent +to the throne. Could they accomplish that object, they doubted not +that, besides the plunder which they might possibly be able to carry +<span class="pagenum">78</span> away from the royal tents, during +the confusion which such an event would create, they would receive, +as their least reward, the principal provinces of the empire. They +were not ignorant of Chusero’s objection to the many propositions that +were made to him for the assassination of his father. But the deed +once consummated, and the throne opened to his acceptance, they could +not persuade themselves that he would refuse it, and that, having +the power, he would hesitate to bestow any compensation they could +reasonably require for such an important service.</p> + +<p>“Who doubts,” said one of these debaters, “that the Orcha Rajaputs +were employed by Bochari to cut off Abul Fazeel on his way to the +Deccan? Who doubts, that whether this act was or was not suggested by +Jehangire, it was sanctioned by him, since he has elevated Bochari to +the first office in the state?”</p> + +<p>“But the question now is,” observed another, while he looked upon +the splendour of the imperial quarters with the eye of the miser +counting over his ingots of gold—“how any of us could find the means +of getting near the person of the emperor, surrounded as he is by all +those <span class="pagenum">79</span> tents, and bazaars, and screens, +and lines of household guards. It seems to me that even if we had +resolved upon the course you recommend, the accomplishment of it would +be impossible.”</p> + +<p>“Not impossible,” said the third emissary,—“if the proper means be +taken. You remember the Bengal Bauzigurs, whose tents we passed three +days ago. Let us go back to them, and say that we have been sent to +invite them to the imperial camp, where they may reckon on being well +received, for the emperor never loses an opportunity of witnessing the +performances of those wondrous magicians. We will, of course, accompany +them, as if we formed part of their train, and shall then stand a good +chance of being admitted to the imperial presence.”</p> + +<p>“An admirable suggestion!” exclaimed at once both his +companions—“let us not lose a moment in carrying it into execution.”</p> + +<p>The emissaries returned, without delay, through the bye-paths of +the country to the well, near which they had previously encountered +the Bauzigurs; but not finding them there, they made inquiries amongst +the shepherds, <span class="pagenum">80</span> until they traced them +to the high road towards Lahore. Having at length, by great exertion, +overtaken the magicians, they stated that they were commissioned by the +emperor, who had heard of their extraordinary feats, to conduct them to +his camp, where they would be sure of receiving magnificent presents +for the exhibition of their skill.</p> + +<p>The Bauzigurs, of whom there were seven in all, too much delighted +with this intelligence, and the invitation by which it was followed, +to think of putting many questions to their new acquaintances, were +easily prevailed upon to give up their intention of proceeding to +the northern provinces, and directed their steps towards the camp, +attended by the emissaries, who took care to make themselves useful +as carriers of part of the equipage with which those wonder-workers +are usually incumbered. Upon their arrival at the outskirts of the +encampment they were challenged by the sentinels, who refused to allow +them to pass without orders from the emperor. This difficulty had +been foreseen and provided against by the emissaries, who produced a +memorial signed by the Bauzigurs, setting forth some of the marvels +<span class="pagenum">81</span> which they had it in their power to +display, and praying his majesty’s permission to appear before him. +This memorial, which the emissaries represented to the Bauzigurs to be +an affair of court form, indispensable even where an invitation had +been previously given, was forwarded to the hands of Jehangire, who +read it with puerile transport, happy to have the listlessness of the +camp thus broken in upon for a day or two, and gave instant directions +for the admission of the strangers.</p> + +<p>Advancing through the tents and bazaars, amidst the gaze of the +curious multitude, to whom they were obliged to promise a day’s +amusement upon their return from the imperial quarters, they entered +the imperial gate, passed the screens, and preceded by a guard of +eunuchs, approached the pavilion of the emperor. The report speedily +went the round of the tents in which the ladies of the harem were +lodged, that famous Bauzigurs from Bengal were arrived, and about to +entertain the court. They forthwith prayed and obtained permission to +witness the spectacle through latticed screens, which were speedily +arranged for the purpose. A space was cleared for the exhibition, +in front of <span class="pagenum">82</span> the imperial pavilion, +and the magicians having announced that all things were prepared for +their operations, the emperor came forth, attended by Bochari and a +number of his principal officers and omrahs, whom the emissaries were +well pleased to see unarmed. Immediately behind the divan, however, +upon which Jehangire was seated, they observed a number of eunuchs, +in close array, with drawn scimitars. A rustle of silks and brocades, +accompanied by low busy whispers, intermingled now and then with gentle +laughter, drew occasionally the attention of the younger omrahs to +the lattices, through which many bright eyes were beheld, waiting, +with intense eagerness, for the novelties of the day. The emissaries, +who were actively engaged in assisting in the marvels about to be +performed, now and then conveyed to each other, by their glances, an +expression of rejoicing at the success which had so far crowned their +scheme. But those glances had not altogether escaped the vigilant eye +of Bochari, from whose mind suspicion never was absent.</p> + +<p>The first performances were little beyond the usual arts of manual +dexterity. One of the <span class="pagenum">83</span> Bauzigurs +plunged a red rose into water, and brought it out a bright yellow. The +next produced a bird-cage, which at first appeared to contain a pair of +sweet-singing nightingales. The cage seemed to be without partition; +but upon being turned around, the nightingales were changed into a +couple of beautiful green parrots, and these vanishing were replaced +by a brace of partridges, singularly mottled. They exhibited a large +ewer, filled with water. Reversing it, they spilled the water to the +last drop; but on turning the vessel, with its mouth upwards again, it +appeared as full of water as before. They shewed a sack, open at both +ends. At one end of this they introduced a melon, which at the other +was brought out a cucumber; then the cucumber was converted into a +bunch of grapes; and these into a branch of a tree, laden with apples +of the true Abbas sort.</p> + +<p>One of the seven stood up, and setting open his mouth, the head +of a snake immediately came out of it. Another of the men seized the +snake by the neck, and drew it out to the length of four cubits. This +being cast to the ground, another and another followed, in the +<span class="pagenum">84</span> same manner, to the number of ten, none +of them being less than five cubits in length. These being all flung +upon the ground, were immediately seen writhing in the folds of each +other, and tearing one another with the greatest fury.</p> + +<p>They arranged twelve porcelain jars, which every body who looked +into them pronounced to be completely empty. The jars were then +covered, and the covers being removed a few minutes after, they all +appeared to be full, one of wheat, parched, and fit for use; another of +sugar-candy; another of citron; another of tamarind, and so on; each +jar containing a different eatable, which was tasted by the eunuchs. +The jars were again covered, and so remained for a few moments, +when, upon the covers being once more removed, the vessels appeared +as empty and as clean on the inside as if they had been washed with +spring-water.</p> + +<p>One of the men displayed a ruby ring on his little finger; he +removed the ring to another finger, when the gem became emerald, then +to another finger, when the emerald became a diamond; then to another, +when the diamond was transformed into a turquoise.</p> + +<p>Jehangire expressed his astonishment at +<span class="pagenum">85</span> these various changes. At the +conclusion of each feat a buzz of admiration was heard throughout +the whole courtly circle, and from behind the lattices expressions +of wonder and delight became so audible, that it became necessary to +intimate in that quarter the expediency of lowering their voices a +little. Curiosity, however, was raised still higher, when the Bengalese +announced that they had still in reserve matters better worth his +majesty’s attention.</p> + +<p>They held up a book, the leaves of which they turned separately +over before the whole court. Every body was convinced that the +leaves, which were of the purest white paper, were perfectly blank, +containing neither figures nor colours of any description. When the +spectators were satisfied upon this point, one of the men took the +volume in hand, and, opening the first page, shewed it a most elaborate +vignette, sprinkled with gold upon a bright red ground. The second +leaf appeared of a beautiful azure, sprinkled in the same manner, the +margins being illuminated with numbers of men and women in various +attitudes. On a third leaf were delineated herds of cattle, pursued +<span class="pagenum">86</span> by lions and panthers, painted with +such exquisite perfection, that they seemed almost to live on the +page. The fourth was of a beautiful green ground, powdered with gold, +on which was represented, in glowing colours, a garden, with numerous +cypresses, rose-trees, and flowering shrubs in full bloom, and in the +midst of the garden a sumptuous pavilion. The next change exhibited +a leaf of orange, also powdered with gold, on which was pictured a +battle. Two adverse hosts were seen engaged in deadly strife, led on by +two kings, who fought hand to hand against each other, with a degree of +frenzy that roused the enthusiasm of the young warriors to the highest +pitch.</p> + +<p>The seven Bengalese armed themselves with bows, and quivers full +of steel-pointed arrows. One shot an arrow into the air, where +it remained, at a considerable height, as if fixed in some solid +substance. A second discharged an arrow at the first, to which it +became attached; and so with every one of the remaining arrows, to the +last of all, which, striking the united sheaf, the whole broke asunder, +and fell in a shower upon the earth.</p> + +<p>The principal Bauzigur, placing himself at +<span class="pagenum">87</span> the emperor’s feet, asked his majesty +to mention the kind of trees which he would wish to see composing a +shady grove before his pavilion. The emperor named the mango, the +apple, the cypress, the fig, the walnut, the mulberry, and several +other trees. The seven, immediately placing themselves in different +parts of the open space, set seeds in the ground, and recited over each +certain prayers in language unintelligible to any of the spectators. +In a few moments plants were seen springing gradually up from each +of the seeds, small and slender at first, like saplings, then rising +higher, throwing out branches, the stems constantly acquiring greater +thickness, the branches becoming stronger, with buds coming forth as +in spring time, and then blossoms and leaves, and, finally, fruits, +until a dense grove appeared, composed of all the fruit-trees which the +emperor had named.</p> + +<p>Jehangire could scarcely believe the evidence of his senses. +Descending from his divan, he plucked mulberries, apples, and figs, +with his own hand, and, tasting each, convinced himself that he was +not deceived. While the emperor and different members of the court +were roving <span class="pagenum">88</span> beneath the shades of +the trees, and partaking of the fruits which were thus wonderfully +placed within their reach, they were still more astonished to hear +the notes of different birds. Looking up among the branches, they +perceived them tenanted by crowds of yellow and black nightingales, +thrushes, cuckoos, goldfinches, and mocking-birds, of such beauty, +shape, colour, and melody, as they had never seen before. They poured +forth their different songs, hopped from spray to spray, followed each +other through the branches with playful indifference, and seemed, in +all respects, as if they had been familiarised to the presence of their +visitors. The fruits, after a while, gradually disappeared; the leaves +assumed the variegated tints of autumn; the birds took their departure; +the branches became bare as in winter; the cold blasts howled through +them, they were covered with snow, and beautiful filagree work of hoar +frost; and then diminished rapidly in size, until they disappeared into +the earth, from which they had been so miraculously made to spring.</p> + +<p>This exhibition every body pronounced most extraordinary. They +believed it to be the <span class="pagenum">89</span> work of no +mortal hand. The emperor asked his learned men to account for it, but +they acknowledged their inability to explain the power thus exercised, +without attributing it to super-natural sources. The emissaries, in +their astonishment, overlooked the purpose which they came to attempt, +and fearing that persons of such skill as the Bauzigurs might divine +it, and denounce them to the vengeance of the emperor, resolved, at all +events, to postpone their design until the conclusion of the shows.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R V I --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">90</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_VI"> + CHAPTER VI. +</h2> + +<div class="blockquot left"> +<p>Though he take recreation in my absence, and smile +on all around him, yet my soul remembers him;—him +whose locks are decked with the plumes of peacocks +resplendent with many coloured moons, and whose mantle +gleams like a dark blue cloud, illumined with rainbows.</p> + +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Songs of Jayadeva.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2">The next day the whole court assembled again to witness +the performances of the Bengalese. They began by making an excavation +in the earth, which they filled with water. They then spread a sheet +over the pond, and after a short interval removed it, when the water +appeared to be a complete mass of ice. To prove its solidity, one of +the elephant keepers was directed to lead his elephants across the +frozen element; the stupendous animals walked across it with as much +ease and safety as if it <span class="pagenum">91</span> were a +platform of solid rock. The sheet was thrown over the pond again, and +when after a while it was withdrawn, no vestige remained either of +the ice or the water, or even of moisture of any kind. Two tents were +set up at the distance of a bow-shot from each other, the entrances +being mutually opposite. The walls of these tents were lifted all +round in order to shew that they were perfectly empty. Then fixing the +tent walls in their proper position, one of the seven entered each +tent, while their chief man, prostrating himself before the emperor, +supplicated his majesty to name any birds or beasts between which he +would choose to behold a contest. Jehangire called for two ostriches, +as he had never seen any of those birds. Immediately two of those +enormous birds ran forth from the tents, and opening their wings, +attacked each other with fury; the blood streamed from their heads +and long necks, and the combat having continued for nearly an hour, +without victory declaring on either side, the birds were separated, +and conveyed within the tents. The greater part of the day was spent +in similar contests between lions and panthers, wolves and tigers, and +other animals, all of <span class="pagenum">92</span> which came out, +as the emperor commanded, from the two tents, and yet when these were +removed, no trace of any bird or quadruped could be discovered.</p> + +<p>A chain of fifty cubits in length was next produced from a bag; one +end of the chain was thrown towards the sky, where it remained as if +fastened in the air. A fox was then brought forward, who ran rapidly +up the chain until he reached its extremity, when he vanished. A wild +boar followed, and disappeared in a similar manner. Next appeared a +noble stag, panting as if pursued by hunters; stopping, he looked +steadily around him, lifting his antlered forehead with that composed +and graceful pride which seems to disdain even the shafts of fate. +Presently the deep cry of a troop of beagles was heard in the distance, +followed by the cheers of the hunters. The cry sounded nearer. The +stag hastened up the chain, and was instantly followed by a hundred +hounds and hunters. All dashed on into the sky, where the voices of the +dogs and men were heard echoing far and wide, as if they had been in a +neighbouring forest. For a while all was silent. A single bark was then +heard,—again another, and <span class="pagenum">93</span> another; the +huntsman’s call to the dogs followed, and then came swelling on the air +in a deep and soul-stirring concert, the full melody of the whole of +the hounds, as if they had but one voice. The fox, the wild boar, and +the stag were distinctly seen in the sky, returning towards the camp, +pursued by the dogs and men through the firmament. It was a glorious +spectacle. A shout of wonder burst from the whole army, who rushed from +their tents to witness it. The fox was at length seized, and instantly +torn in pieces and devoured. The same destiny awaited the boar. The +dogs were closing rapidly on the stag. “The trumpets! The artillery!” +exclaimed Jehangire. The signals were immediately given; and just as +the exhausted and beauteous animal surrendered to his victors, a clash +of cymbals, and a peal of trumpets and drums from all parts of the +camp, followed by the thunder of the artillery, hailed the termination +of the splendid chase. A dense black cloud, rising in the north, swept +through the sky; and when it passed, neither hounds nor hunters were +any longer to be seen.</p> + +<p>The emperor immediately directed the bearer of his privy purse to +present the Bengalese <span class="pagenum">94</span> with fifty +thousand gold rupees. The emissaries, when they beheld the money +bags delivered to the principal of the seven, grieved that they had +as yet no opportunity for commencing their work of plunder. Their +fears, however, of being betrayed, were far from being diminished by +the wonders they had witnessed. They observed the lynx eye of Bochari +frequently directed towards them. His pallid cheek and frowning brow +told them, moreover, that something was passing in his mind which often +took away his attention from the operations of the Bauzigurs. Feared he +that they would unmask the murderer of Fazeel?</p> + +<p>Jehangire having directed the principal of the seven to attend him +in the evening, retired within his pavilion. The court immediately +followed his example, and the emissaries hearing the Bengalese say +something of a nocturnal exhibition, which was to eclipse all their +preceding performances, withdrew to the suttlers’ bazaar, where, over +some cups of arrack, they settled the course of their proceedings. +When the chief of the Bengalese waited on the emperor, whom he found +alone, his majesty questioned him much upon the means that were +<span class="pagenum">95</span> used in order to produce the marvels +which excited every body’s astonishment. As to himself, he confessed +that they were beyond his comprehension. The sage, bowing with great +humility to the sovereign, entreated that he would issue his command +for any sort of entertainment he might desire to witness, but avoided +answering the king’s interrogatories, upon the plea that inviolable +secrecy as to the sources of the power exercised by himself and his +companions, was one of the essential conditions upon which they were +granted. Jehangire then demanded whether it was within the magicians’ +art to predict the result of the approaching battle; to which the +latter replied that he was altogether unskilled in astrology, and +denied the faculty of looking into futurity.</p> + +<p>The emperor, disappointed, rose from the divan upon which he was +seated, drawing from his superb hookah the fragrant perfume of tobacco +leaves of Shiraz. He walked up and down his tent for some time, much +excited; at length, stopping before the Bengalese, who was standing +in an attitude of profound obeisance, asked him whether he could +exhibit before him his misguided son, Chusero, whose rebellion +<span class="pagenum">96</span> had caused him so much trouble and +anxiety of mind. The Bauzigur expressed a hope that he might be able to +gratify his majesty upon this point. He then rejoined his companions, +and speedily returned to the pavilion with a mirror, which he placed +upright on the divan, against the wall of the pavilion, opposite the +cushions occupied by Jehangire.</p> + +<p>In the course of a few minutes the space behind the mirror appeared +to be occupied by a large army, drawn up on the banks of a river, +and beyond it, on a rising ground, Chusero was distinctly visible, +surrounded by Man-Singh, Hussein, and a brilliant staff, to whom he was +giving orders, while he held in his hand a chart, with strong red lines +drawn upon it. Far in the distance was seen the subah of Cashmere, at +the head of a numerous body of troops, marching towards the river under +the standard adopted by the prince.</p> + +<p>“It is indeed my son!” exclaimed Jehangire, with deep emotion. +“Unhappy boy! Heaven be my witness, that if he were now to repent of +his crime, and to sue at my feet for pardon, I would receive him with +open arms! Chusero—my son—oh! who could have imagined this +<span class="pagenum">97</span> when first I received you smiling from +your mother’s bosom? How have I watched over your infant years, with +the warm gushing love known only to the heart of a parent! How have I +waited, when fever or pain preyed upon your delicate frame, for the +changes that indicated the departure of the disease! Oh, when those +happy moments came—moments that appear to be but of yesterday—when +your countenance became itself again, and your precious, blithe, and +innocent looks, repaid us all for the sorrows we had suffered on +your account—what joy we experienced! How the world, that was before +all darkness, seemed to put on a new robe of triumph! But now—armed +against your father—the father that still cherishes you in his heart of +hearts—it is too much—agony beyond endurance!”</p> + +<p>The Bauzigur, affected by this natural burst of parental tenderness, +was about to remove the mirror, but the emperor, who perceived his +purpose, beckoned to him to desist. Pressing his hand upon his forehead +and eyes, from which tears copiously rolled, Jehangire sobbed aloud.</p> + +<p>“And Afkun, too,” he resumed, when the +<span class="pagenum">98</span> flood of his emotion subsided; +“Afkun, the subah of Cashmere; the husband of Nourmahal—of <i>my +Nourmahal</i>—turned traitor! The conduct of Hussein does not surprise +me. Man-Singh’s machinations are not new to me; but Afkun, why has he +turned traitor against his lawful sovereign? Misguided men—misguiders +of my son; whom, doubtless, ye desire to use as an instrument for the +accomplishment of your own base designs, few are the hours that remain +between this and the moment of my just vengeance. Bochari! Bochari! I +say!”</p> + +<p>The commander immediately made his appearance—surprized—not a little +annoyed, upon seeing the emperor alone with the Bengalese.</p> + +<p>“Bochari! issue orders through the camp to-night, to prepare for +marching at the dawn. Afkun has joined the rebel standards, and if +we delay here much longer, possibly other wavering chieftains may be +induced to follow his example.”</p> + +<p>“I have learned as much by despatches which have just arrived. +The rebel forces are drawn up on the farther bank of the Sutledge, +resolved to resist our passage across that river. +<span class="pagenum">99</span> Afkun has brought twenty thousand men +into the field, instigated by his sultana, Nourmahal, of whose real +designs I never entertained a doubt.”</p> + +<p>“By Nourmahal!” exclaimed the emperor, in a voice of amazement; +“impossible. If I had ever any skill in reading the heart of woman, her +soul is free from the guilt you would impute to it. Say, if you choose, +that she aspires to be the empress of Hindostan; but with Jehangire at +her side.”</p> + +<p>“An officer of the outposts humbly asks admission to your majesty,” +said one of the eunuchs in waiting.</p> + +<p>“What is his business?” demanded Bochari, in a peremptory tone.</p> + +<p>“He states that his message is one of importance, which he can +communicate only to your majesty,” said the eunuch, still standing +before the emperor.</p> + +<p>“Let him come in,” said Jehangire. The officer having been admitted, +and having made the usual obeisance, proceeded to relate, that as he +was walking on the banks of a small river, near which the guard under +his orders was stationed, outside the camp, his attention +<span class="pagenum">100</span> was drawn to a bundle of flowers +floating down the stream. It was stopped in its course by a cluster of +rushes that grew in the river, and when he brought it out on the end +of his spear, he perceived that it had been carefully tied by a golden +band, and arranged, manifestly as a symbol, which, as he was unskilled +in the language of flowers, he knew not how to interpret. Apprehending +that it might be a mode of secret communication between the rebel +leaders and disaffected persons in the camp, he deemed it his duty to +lay it at the feet of his majesty, where he requested permission to +present it, with his sincere, though lowly homage.</p> + +<p>The emperor took the symbol into his hands, which he examined +with intense anxiety. “It is!” he exclaimed, his face radiant with +exultation; “it is a message from Nourmahal. See here, Bochari; +<i>Nourmahal to Selim—her heart to its lord!</i> Said I not the truth? +Oh! I knew it well. I needed no messenger to tell me that though I were +abandoned by all the world, she would remain faithful to her first +love. Divine invention, by which distance is thus annihilated between +two beings, who are conscious of the thoughts of each other.” +<span class="pagenum">101</span> </p> + +<p>Pressing the flowers to his bosom, Jehangire examined them again and +again, kissing them with passionate ardour.</p> + +<p>“Take that officer’s name, and write him down a commander of two +thousand.”</p> + +<p>“What, sire!” inquired Bochari, “make a man commander of two +thousand for bringing you a handful of flowers, picked up in a +stream—thrown into it, no one knows where, or by whom. To a low pass, +indeed, has fallen the service of the state, when its honours are to be +dealt about in this manner!”</p> + +<p>“Where they have been found, I know not,” remarked the Bengalese, +in a tone intended only for the emperor’s ear; “but certain I am, that +those roses could only have come from Cashmere. They are the true +growth of that garden of the world, and cannot be found beyond it.”</p> + +<p>“If so,” said Bochari, who permitted nothing to escape him, “then +Nourmahal must be nearer than we were aware of; there must be treason +in the camp.”</p> + +<p>The officer of the outposts was questioned, and desired to explain +his discovery, without omitting the slightest circumstance. He could +<span class="pagenum">102</span> only repeat what he had already +stated, adding that he had heard, while formerly serving in Cashmere +under Acbar, of a fountain that communicated, in some mysterious +manner, with all the rivers in Hindostan; that it was dry during eleven +months of the year, but that during the month of May it was filled and +emptied three times within the twenty-four hours. He had never seen it, +but the tradition was notorious.</p> + +<p>“Wonderful!” exclaimed the emperor. “What think you of this +tradition?” he asked, addressing himself to the Bengalese.</p> + +<p>“The officer is well informed,” answered the sage; “your majesty +will find it mentioned in the Ayeen Acberry.”</p> + +<p>“It is false!” said Bochari, who turned pale and trembled all over; +“it is the silly invention of some fools, or the machination of some +knaves to impose upon the emperor.”</p> + +<p>“I can only appeal to the work itself for the truth of what I say,” +mildly replied the Bengalese.</p> + +<p>“Desire one of my secretaries to bring hither the Ayeen Acberry,” +said Jehangire, addressing the eunuch who answered to the call of his +silver bell. <span class="pagenum">103</span> </p> + +<p>In a few minutes a secretary appeared, with the volume in his hand; +it was, by the emperor’s command, delivered to the Bengalese, who, +turning to the author’s account of the subahship of Cashmere, read +from it these words:—“In a long straight, in a mountain, there is a +reservoir of water, seven ells square, which the Hindoos consider as +a place of great sanctity. This reservoir is dry eleven months in the +year; but in the month of May, the water gushes out from two springs. +First the water appears in an aperture, which they call Send-Brare, +situated in one corner of the reservoir; and when this is full, the +water springs up in another corner, called Sureyshy, till at length the +reservoir flows over; after which it immediately begins to decrease, +and continues doing so till it is perfectly dry; and this flux and +reflux happens every morning, noon, and evening. When the reservoir is +full of water, people throw into it flowers for the different rivers, +and, to the astonishment of the beholders, the flowers are afterwards +found in the particular spring to which they were consigned.”</p> + +<p>“Let the officer be written down forthwith a commander +of <i>three</i> thousand,” said the emperor, +<span class="pagenum">104</span> delighted with this proof of the +accuracy of his information. Bochari bowed to the mandate with his +usual malevolent smile, jealous of any favours bestowed by Jehangire, +which were not of his own suggestion, and directing the fortunate +bearer of the flowers to follow him to his tent, quitted the imperial +pavilion.</p> + +<p>“I have read the same account of Send-Brare,” added the Bengalese, +“in the Neelmut, the most ancient book we possess relating to Cashmere, +and said to have been found at the bottom of the spring that gives +birth to the Jumna. Beneath that spring, as the Ayeen Acberry also +relates, is the celebrated city of the sultan Damuder.”</p> + +<p>“Assuredly there is no empire in the world to be compared to this +of mine for the wonders it contains, and for the great and wise men it +has brought forth in every age. Future generations will scarcely credit +the marvels which you and your associates have wrought in my presence. +But I have given strict orders to my secretaries to preserve a faithful +record of them, in order that I may not omit such unprecedented +operations in the memoirs which I intend to compose of my life. There +is one thing more I <span class="pagenum">105</span> would ask of you, +if it should be within the dominion of your faculties. Nourmahal,—you +must have heard of her matchless beauty, of that miracle of +intelligence and grace that captivates all hearts,—does she accompany +Afkun, or has she remained in Cashmere?”</p> + +<p>The Bengalese again arranged his mirror, and, after a short interval +spent by him in silent prayer and meditation, the instrument disclosed +a castle raised on a rock, surrounded by natural fortifications, +apparently impregnable, and by a deep wide fosse filled with running +water. Within the walls were seen an extensive garden, teeming with +flowers and fruits of every description, and a grove of cedars which +appeared to wave gently in the breeze. Sentinels walked up and down the +ramparts; the draw-bridge was chained up; domestics passed occasionally +through the court-yard, in performance of their ordinary occupations; +the towers of the castle rose, in fair proportions, one above another, +most of them mantled in ivy, one being distinguished from the rest by +the superior beauty of its windows of richly painted glass, on which +the sun shone in the full splendour of its setting.</p> + +<p>While Jehangire was gazing on this beauteous +<span class="pagenum">106</span> scene, one of these windows looking +to the garden and grove was thrown open, and at the casement appeared +the figure of a lady, sitting on a couch, with a withered lily of the +valley in her hand. Her countenance was almost as pale as the flower +upon which she looked with intense solicitude, as if she were reading +in its decayed leaves some story that held in thraldom all the feelings +of her soul.</p> + +<p>“There,—there they are! those eyes,—that light about her countenance +never to be by me mistaken,—never forgotten! Nourmahal! O that you +could hear my voice! Can she not? say, can she not speak to me?”</p> + +<p>The sage shook his head.</p> + +<p>“That lily of the valley, too!—Ah! I remember it. Her pallid +cheek,—there is grief upon it. She is no longer the glowing, buoyant, +smiling seraph she was at Agra,—but how infinitely more lovely! For +me she suffers! O these welcome interpreters give me assurance that +for me she still preserves her heart inviolate, though a terrible +destiny has separated us for a season. I have erred. Too much of my +youth has been spent in habits of gross indulgence. Twenty, thirty cups +of the strongest wines in <span class="pagenum">107</span> one day +I have often, for years together, thought but a moderate allowance. +If I were but an hour without my usual beverage, my hands began to +shake, I was unable to sit at rest. I have deserved punishment, and +now it has come upon me. My best beloved son in open arms against his +parent! Nourmahal,—whatever human laws may or shall say,—<i>my</i> +Nourmahal,—the wife of another!”</p> + +<p>Jehangire, tearing off his turban, flung it away from him, and +throwing himself on the carpet, sobbed aloud, as if his heart would +break.</p> + +<p>“Crown, sceptre, treasures, all, I would be content to resign,—never +to have possessed,—rather than have them upon these dreadful +conditions! The peasant who wraps to his bosom the maiden of his first +affection, and the infant of their mutual love, ah! how much happier is +he than Jehangire! Why are those feelings planted in our bosoms? What +is authority over millions of men to me, if at my heart I am to suffer +these pangs of woe!—woe, which no tongue can tell, no medicine can +assuage!”</p> + +<p>The Bengalese, affected by this scene of imperial humiliation, +felt that he ought no longer <span class="pagenum">108</span> to +interrupt the sacred privacy of grief so overwhelming. Hoping that the +entertainments which he had still in store for the night might afford +the royal sufferer some relief, he quitted the pavilion with a soft +step, and rejoined his companions.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R V I I --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">109</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_VII"> + CHAPTER VII. +</h2> + +<div class="cc"> +<p class="left"> + Boy, let you liquid ruby flow,<br> + And bid thy pensive heart be glad.<br> + Whate’er the frowning zealots say,<br> + Tell them their Eden cannot show<br> + A stream so clear as Rocnabad,<br> + A bower so sweet as Mosellay. +</p> + +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Hafiz.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p>When the eunuchs in waiting went to announce to the emperor, at the +usual hour after sunset, that the evening meal was ready, they found +him still prostrate on the carpet, occasionally talking to himself in a +low whispering voice, of his father, of Nourmahal, Chusero, Afkun, and +Abul Fazeel, in an incoherent manner; to which, however, they had been +long accustomed.</p> + +<p>“It was wrong—very wrong—that marriage. +<span class="pagenum">110</span> My father ought never to have +permitted it, knowing, as he must have known, my feelings towards her. +And yet he was the most affectionate of parents—the most upright of +rulers. He would not offend against the laws which, unhappily, gave +her to Afkun. Fazeel favoured that marriage. He is gone—whither? His +blood is upon me. It trickles down my face with the icy coldness of +death! Oh, no—it was Bochari’s act, not mine! Had I any hand in the +mutilation of his limbs? It was the Rajaputs. For this crime they shall +be exterminated. That head, crowned with silver hairs—full of all +wisdom—the reproaches it breathes upon me, are poisoned arrows that +enter my very soul! Oh, that those early days could be renewed, when I +first looked upon the world and found it so beautiful—the air perfumed +with spicy fragrance—full of the melody of birds—when seated beneath a +mulberry-tree my heart was innocent—and poetry, and Arabian tales, and +sweet music, constituted all my delight—days of bliss I shall know no +more.”</p> + +<p>“Is it your majesty’s pleasure,” asked one of +<span class="pagenum">111</span> the eunuchs, “that the banquet should +be delayed?”</p> + +<p>“Bring hither my son Chusero—bring him here instantly—say I must see +him—his father must see him.”</p> + +<p>The eunuch went to the harem, and leading forth a cherub boy, +with golden hair flowing on his head in natural ringlets, eyes of +the colour of the nutshell as to the pupil, the remainder of the +orb a pearl beyond all price,—full cheeks, roseate with the glow of +health; eyebrows arched and penciled as the first crescent of the +moon; a mouth exquisitely sculptured, and smiling with intelligence +and gentleness, placed him on the carpet near Jehangire. The child, +in playful affection, passed his hand round the emperor’s neck, and +that well-known word, “Papa!” breathed in a voice of the sweetest +tenderness, at once recalled the monarch’s wandering thoughts to their +more wholesome channels.</p> + +<p>“Purveiz! my charming boy! I had indeed forgotten myself, when +I commanded them to bring me Chusero. Ah, my beloved! that you may +never know the pangs which your brother has cost me! These beauteous +hands—they are fair as the primrose. When, as you are +<span class="pagenum">112</span> wont to do, you twine with these +slender tapering fingers your favourite ringlet, and, notwithstanding +all your mother’s prohibitions, draw this tiny thumb far within your +lips, deeming it an inexhaustible fountain of nectar, there is no +picture of innocence and happiness on earth like to thine! What would I +not give to exchange with thee at this moment! No—not exchange—Heaven +forbid you should know half the griefs I have suffered!”</p> + +<p>Jehangire’s mind having been calmed down to a reasonable temperature +by the prattle of his child, permitted his turban to be re-arranged, +and proceeded to the evening meal, where, as usual, he found Bochari +and several of the favourite officers of the household waiting for +his presence. A few cups of Cabul wine soon altered the tenor of his +thoughts. Having learned that his orders had been executed as to the +preparations for advancing towards the insurgents on the following +morning, he talked only of the vengeance which he hoped to inflict upon +the author of the revolt and his confederates.</p> + +<p>“Let it be fully explained,” he said, “to all my omrahs, that no +man is to fail in the application <span class="pagenum">113</span> of +the sources placed at his disposal. In the concerns of sovereign power +there is neither child nor kin. The alien who exerts himself in my +cause, is of more worth to me than a thousand sons or kindred. The son +who, in the presumption of his heart, forgets the duty which he owes to +his father, and the unnumbered marks of royal bounty bestowed upon him, +is to me, in every sense, a stranger.</p> + +<p>“Have we not, in this respect, in Islam, a distinguished example +prescribed, in the domestic policy of the monarchs of the house of +Othman, who, for the stability of their royal authority, of all their +sons preserve but one, considering it expedient to destroy all the +rest? What, then, if, for the preservation of the state, if, to prevent +the disorders that might otherwise interrupt the peace of the world, I +should think it necessary to extinguish the mischief, though it shews +itself in the bosom of my own family? Little, indeed, should I have +to boast of my capacity for the exercise of the power entrusted to +me, if, after such a flagrant proof of his total disregard of filial +duty, with my eyes open, I should ever again be tempted to +<span class="pagenum">114</span> entrust this wretched fugitive with +the slightest share of delegated authority.”</p> + +<p>“Spoken like Acbar!” cried out Bochari.</p> + +<p>“Safeguard of the world!—Sovereign splendour of the faith!” +exclaimed the omrahs, “the victory is already yours.”</p> + +<p>“Delicious wine!” said Jehangire, holding out his large silver cup +to be replenished. “The prophet, when he forbade his followers the +generous element, certainly could not have visited Cabul.”</p> + +<p>“Very fortunate for us,” observed Bochari, “that the Koran is so +express on that point, otherwise the Cabulites would doubtless have +kept their wine at home.”</p> + +<p>“I doubt,” rejoined Auzeem, one of the omrahs, whom the emperor, in +his convivial moments, honoured by the title of <i>uncle</i>, “whether +the prophet was himself so abstemious as his laws ordain. I have heard +it said, that in his own case, at least, he admitted certain cases of +exception—such as illness—when he took a cup as medicine—or fatigue +from a day’s hunting—when he claimed a cup for refreshment—or if the +rains prevented him from going abroad—when he found a cup or two +necessary <span class="pagenum">115</span> in lieu of exercise—or if +he was employed in writing the Koran—when the juice of the grape, he +acknowledged, heightened his inspirations. If he married a young wife, +he demanded a bowl to signalize his joy—if he lost an old wife, he took +three or four bowls to enable him to sustain his sorrow.”</p> + +<p>“Uncle, uncle, as great an infidel as ever! your pilgrimage to +Mecca, I see, has done you no good.”</p> + +<p>“And yet,” said Bochari, “if rumour may be believed, no pilgrim ever +performed the sacred ceremonies with a greater appearance of zeal and +devotion.”</p> + +<p>“It was the pleasure of the late emperor that I should visit Mecca,” +said Auzeem, “and being once there, really one could not help being +religious. However, I am, once for all, about to repent. New laws, I +hear, have been lately made against wine-drinking.”</p> + +<p>“True—true—and they must be obeyed,” the emperor declared, as he +emptied his cup. “As soon as I can see how they operate upon the mass +of my subjects, whose happiness it is my first duty to consult, I shall +begin to submit to them myself, and live on Ganges water.” +<span class="pagenum">116</span> </p> + +<p>An attendant, who heard only the last words, conceived that +Jehangire had asked for water, which he began to pour into his cup.</p> + +<p>“Slave!” exclaimed the sovereign, “what is this?”</p> + +<p>“Ganges water, sire.”</p> + +<p>“Fool! to waste the sacred stock in this manner, keep it for the day +of battle—wine—nothing but wine to-night.”</p> + +<p>Auzeem could not repress his laughter. He was privileged. The laugh +was contagious. It went round the circle, until the “splendor of the +faith” joining in it, the apartment became a scene of uproar.</p> + +<p>“How happens it,” asked Jehangire, “that there is no person about my +court who reads the Koran with more elegant enunciation than my uncle; +and yet no man, in my empire perhaps, pays so little regard to its +precepts?”</p> + +<p>“The truth is,” answered Auzeem, “that I am very diffident of +my own judgment. I have often recited it to your majesty since you +left the harem, and I am still waiting to discover the result of my +exertions.”</p> + +<p>“Is there no excuse for me? Encompassed as I have always been with +youthful associates <span class="pagenum">117</span> of congenial +minds, breathing the air of a delicious climate, ranging through +lofty and splendid saloons, every part decorated with all the graces +of painting and sculpture, and the floors bespread with the richest +carpets of silk and gold,—would it not have been a species of folly to +have rejected the aid of an exhilarating cordial—and what cordial can +surpass the essence of the grape?”</p> + +<p>“Besides,” rejoined Bochari, “the laws against wine-drinking are +absolutely necessary for the good of the people, who are made irritable +and furious against each other, by excessive indulgence, to which their +ignorance makes them subject; whereas, the person who makes laws for +them, must be supposed to possess a degree of knowledge that enables +him to ascertain the limit to which he ought to go for the benefit +of his health, and to act accordingly. It is no slight labour to be +constantly sounding the great drum of sovereign power over an empire +like Hindostan, two years’ journey in compass.”</p> + +<p>“Well said! Bochari,” observed Jehangire, shewing his empty cup +once more to the attendants; “there is no repose for crowned +<span class="pagenum">118</span> heads. Hours, such as these, amongst +old friends, are the only hours of happiness I now enjoy. Alas! for +the jewels of this world, which have been poured in such profusion on +my head; they bear no longer any value in my sight. There is not on +this side of the grave any permanent felicity. All is fleeting, vain, +perishable. In the twinkling of an eye shall we see the enchantress, +which enslaves the world and its votaries, seize another and another +victim; and so exposed is man to be trodden down by the calamities of +life, that one might be almost persuaded to affirm that he never had +existence.”</p> + +<p>Auzeem began to fear that the emperor’s next words would be an +order for the production of the Koran, which he often had read to him +when over-heated with wine. Strange to say, on those occasions, he +frequently prostrated himself in prayer, while Auzeem read to him from +the volume of the prophet. The melodious sound of a flageolet, however, +being heard outside the pavilion, Jehangire started up from his divan, +and bade the attendants see who was the musician.</p> + +<p>“If Oustad Nâë be in Hindostan,” said +<span class="pagenum">119</span> Auzeem, “he must be the man—the first +player on the flageolet in the world.”</p> + +<p>“Bring him in,” said the emperor; “I hold excellence in every +science and art to be the true ornament of an empire.”</p> + +<p>The musician was introduced. He appeared a cunning-faced fellow, +dressed in a pointed Persian cap, a shabby pelisse that had witnessed +better days, a vest of faded brocade covering an ample paunch, +which shewed that however wretched he now appeared, he had not been +unaccustomed to good living; and loose linen trowsers, more than the +half of which were devoted to the purposes of pockets. His forehead +was deeply furrowed by age, his cheeks were browned by much exposure +to the sun, and upon his chin there were a few short curly grey hairs +that seemed in no haste to require the discipline of the barber. The +sphere of one eye had altogether vanished from its place; and of +the other, so small a portion remained susceptible of light, that +the wonder was how he could see at all. His fingers were short and +clumsy, most marvellously ill adapted, one should have thought, to +modulate the tones of any instrument. Nevertheless, when he +<span class="pagenum">120</span> took the reed of his flageolet in his +mouth, and preluded to the air he was called upon to perform, his face +lighted up with a fire truly beautiful to behold; and from beneath +those ill-favoured fingers emanated notes of the most enchanting +clearness and harmony.</p> + +<p>The emperor soon forgot, in the sprightly music of Oustad Nâë, the +fit of prayer to which the wine had elevated him. “Never before,” said +he, repeatedly, “have such melodies as these thrilled my ear. I could +listen to this piper for days together, and feel no desire for food or +drink.”</p> + +<p>“Poor as ever, I perceive,” said Auzeem. “I thought, my friend, that +when I saw you at Shiraz, you were in a fair way to fortune.”</p> + +<p>“So I was, my lord, but in coming back from her, I lost my path, and +have ever since been wandering to little purpose.”</p> + +<p>“I was told that even then you were a rich man.”</p> + +<p>“Alas, my lord! who can say he is rich that has fourteen wives?”</p> + +<p>“Fourteen wives!” exclaimed the emperor, laughing aloud. “Can this +be true, uncle?” <span class="pagenum">121</span> </p> + +<p>“Quite true, sire. It is wonderful what a fancy Persian women +have for ugly men. This Oustad Nâë,” continued Auzeem, speaking in +Hindostanee, which the piper did not understand, “was absolutely +idolized by the ladies of the court. They said, and perhaps believed, +that they were beguiled by his unrivalled skill in music; but I +have known some of them to contend, with a degree of rivalry almost +amounting to civil war, for a single lock of that wool or hair, +whichever it be, growing on his chin.”</p> + +<p>“Ha! ha! ha! It must be admitted that the Persian dames have a +peculiar taste. We must add him to our household band, but without his +wives. Nâë, what has become of all your consorts?”</p> + +<p>“They led me such a life, sire, that I have been obliged to escape +from them all. My household now consists only of two dogs and a little +girl, and it is wonderful how easy I have been in my mind since, +depending entirely upon my flageolet, I have sought protection in the +dominions of the ‘Subduer of the world.’ To shew my gratitude for so +great a blessing, I have composed a melody in honour of your +<span class="pagenum">122</span> highness, which, with your permission, +I shall now play.”</p> + +<p>“By all means—let us hear it. Give him a cup of wine.”</p> + +<p>Nâë having, without any ceremony, drank off the generous beverage, +proceeded with his melody, still well known under the title of +“Sout-e-Jahangueiry,” a very beautiful composition, mingling great +tenderness of expression with a certain solemnity, which have given it +a high place amongst the national songs of Hindostan.</p> + +<p>The emperor, enraptured, forgot even his wine, while the musician +repeated the air again and again. As soon as the performance was +concluded, Jehangire ordered a pair of scales to be brought in, +telling the piper that he knew of no mode of rewarding him except +that of presenting him with his weight in gold. Upon receiving this +information, Nâë, without uttering a syllable by way of thanks, ran +out of the pavilion, and immediately after returning with a dog +stuffed into each pocket of his trowsers, a piece of music fixed +to one arm, and a little girl of about six years old in the other, +put himself, thus burthened, into the scales! This ludicrous +<span class="pagenum">123</span> method of adding to his own specific +gravity, set the whole circle in a roar of laughter, in which the +emperor heartily joined.</p> + +<p>“Upon what plea,” asked Auzeem, “are these appendages added to your +side of the scales, my friend?”</p> + +<p>“Your lordship shall hear. When I composed this melody, I had this +little girl in my arms, and my two dogs were playing with her.”</p> + +<p>“And so they formed, as it were, the sources of your inspiration, +and you claim their weight in addition to your own—not very +complimentary to his majesty.”</p> + +<p>“No matter—no matter,”—said Jehangire—“let the man and his family +be placed in the balance.” Their weight having been duly ascertained, +an order was written upon the imperial treasurers for the same weight +in gold, which was to be given to the piper. The emperor then desired +that they should be weighed again, and the amount was ordered to +be paid to the little girl. Bochari held up his hands in rage at +this lavish liberality of the emperor, but he knew that he could +not prevent it, and that perhaps his resistance would only +<span class="pagenum">124</span> cause the piper to be weighed again. +The man was then dismissed; but he had scarcely gone a few yards from +the royal tent, when he retraced his steps, and asked that while he +staid with the army he should be supplied daily with a camel-load +of Ganges water. Auzeem could not tolerate such mingled avarice and +insolence as this, and the fellow, after receiving his money, was +turned out of the camp. </p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R V I I I --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">125</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_VIII"> + CHAPTER VIII. +</h2> + +<div class="cc"> +<p class="left"> + King, do not grieve, but like a valiant chief,<br> + Pluck from thy heart all terror of thine enemies,<br> + And only deem of thy propitious fortune,<br> + Or who shall foremost plunge into the fight. +</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Hindoo Drama.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p>A short but profound sleep having relieved Jehangire from the +effects of his copious libations, he proceeded to witness the +concluding performances of the Bengalese, which were appointed to +take place at midnight. The ladies of the harem, and the whole court, +were in attendance in their usual places. The night was intensely +dark, uncheered by the twinkling even of a solitary star. Three of the +Bauzigurs made their appearance, all wrapped in white sheets, +<span class="pagenum">126</span> from beneath which they produced +mirrors that at first cast upon the sky a luminous reflection, bright +as the lustre of the sun itself. Travellers, who, at the distance of +ten days’ journey from the camp, beheld that light, were deterred from +pursuing their way, fearful that some convulsion had taken place in +nature, by which the order of things had been reversed, and that the +sun was thenceforth to take the place of the moon.</p> + +<p>The illuminated space in the heavens soon exhibited to the +eye an incredible number of towns and villages, thickly peopled, +and apparently in the enjoyment of peace, and of riches of every +description. Horsemen and infantry presently were seen emerging from +the confines of darkness, and marching towards the principal town. The +gates of the town opened, and a female of consummate beauty, clothed +in armour, with a helmet of matchless splendor on her head, mounted in +a wooden tower on an elephant, her bow and quiver by her side, and a +burnished lance in her hand, came forth, followed by a numerous train +of elephants, and warriors on foot and on horseback. The adverse forces +met, rushing upon each other with <span class="pagenum">127</span> +savage ardour. The shock was tremendous, thousands lay dead on either +side. The invaders fled back in confusion to their encampment. Some +time was spent in burning the dead on either side, amidst the solemn +sounds of trumpets, which were heard wailing for the heroes that had +perished.</p> + +<p>The queen, as soon as the obsequies were over, re-assembled her +troops, and pointing to the camp of the enemy, called upon them to +follow her forthwith, and to attack it. The leaders declined the +enterprize, and returned to weep over the ashes of their companions. +The enemy, refreshed, came forth to renew the combat. The queen +prepared to meet him, but with difficulty prevailed on her troops to +advance. The conflict was renewed with great slaughter. The forces of +the heroine rapidly diminished, many falling on the field, more basely +deserting her standard, and diving into the night. She received an +arrow in the eye, which she instantly extricated. Another arrow passed +through her neck. Dimness swam before her eyes, and she began to nod +from side to side in her tower. The driver of her elephant, faithful to +his mistress, urged the noble animal <span class="pagenum">128</span> +forward, who, conscious of her situation, seemed resolved, by his +indomitable wrath, to avenge her injuries. Whithersover he turned, the +impassioned creature trampled down numbers of the foe.</p> + +<p>The spirit of the queen, which had almost departed from her, now +returned. She cheered the elephant in his victorious progress, until +his steps were at length arrested by a net of chains, from which he +could not disentangle himself. She called upon her driver to end +her life with his dagger. He refusing, she snatched the weapon from +his girdle, and plunging it into her bosom, expired. The conquerors +marched on to the town, of which, after brave resistance from the +garrison, they took possession. Loads of timber, and straw, and oil +were collected in a large house, into which the garrison were driven; +the house was then set fire to; the conflagration was awful; the groans +of the victims were so agonizing, that the emperor drew his scymitar, +and hurrying forth from his seat, as if to rescue the unfortunate +sufferers, was met in the crowd of courtiers by an assassin, who struck +a knife up to the hilt into his side. <span class="pagenum">129</span> +</p> + +<p>A faint cry escaped from Jehangire, but such was the confusion +of the moment that nobody seemed to understand what had happened. +Flambeaus were brought. The emperor was found bleeding on the ground, +the knife still remaining in his side. Auzeem, and a body of the +omrahs, immediately bore him into his pavilion, while Bochari, taking +with him the guard of eunuchs, ran to the gate of the screen walls, by +which the imperial tents were surrounded. Cries of treason resounded on +all sides. Suspicion instantly fell upon the Bengalese, who were placed +under arrest. In a few moments the guards of the imperial quarters +brought in a man, whom they found climbing over the screens, and unable +to give any excuse for his conduct. The prisoner turned out to be +one of the attendants of the Bauzigurs. The suspicions against them +were thus turned into certainty, and if the councils of Bochari had +been followed, the seven, and their three followers, would have been +sacrificed on the spot.</p> + +<p>Auzeem however interposed, and as the night was now far advanced, +it was resolved that the further investigation into this atrocious +deed <span class="pagenum">130</span> should be postponed until the +following morning. In the mean-time orders were issued to suspend the +march of the army.</p> + +<p>With the returning day, poured into the camp a thousand rumours +of the assassination of the emperor, some representing that he had +fallen a victim to the intrigues of Bochari, who aimed at the throne +for himself; some setting forth that the crime was perpetrated by the +Bengalese, at the instigation of Chusero, while others hinted that +under the influence of too much wine, Jehangire had made an attempt on +his own life. The state physicians pronounced the wound not dangerous, +and promised that the sovereign would be convalescent in a few days, +his weakness at the moment arising from the loss of much blood. This +intelligence diffused satisfaction amongst the troops, and prevented +the tendency to tumult which had already manifested itself.</p> + +<p>The Bengalese, and their attendants, having been brought before +the officers of justice, in the tent dedicated to public business, +were examined separately as to their knowledge of the prisoner, whose +efforts to make his escape had necessarily pointed him out as the +principal <span class="pagenum">131</span> criminal. Their testimony, +given apart from each other, perfectly agreed in the statement, that +the alleged assassin, and his two companions, had overtaken them on +their road to the northern provinces; communicated to them a message, +with which they said they had been charged by the emperor, to command +the attendance of the Bauzigurs in the camp; and that, in obedience +to that supposed order it was they had sought, and, as they believed, +obtained admission to the imperial presence, which, otherwise, at such +a moment, they should not have thought of soliciting, not imagining, +that a great sovereign actually engaged in preparations for the field, +would have had disposition or leisure for such amusements as their +humble skill might afford.</p> + +<p>The fugitive prisoner was next examined. His first statement was, +that being naturally of a timid disposition, when he learned that the +emperor was assassinated, he knew not but that the next victim might +be himself, he being a stranger in the camp, and that he, therefore, +sought safety in flight. Being questioned about his comrades, he +represented them as poor men, who were anxious to better their +<span class="pagenum">132</span> fortunes; and that, he being in a +similar condition, they had offered their services to the Bauzigurs, to +whom they suggested the probable benefits of a visit to the imperial +camp. Upon being put to the torture, he admitted that they had +fabricated the message to which the Bauzigurs alluded. His comrades, +having been separately interrogated, disagreed with him and with each +other, in so many particulars, and gave their evidence in a manner +so pregnant with suspicion, that they were also put on the rack. The +whole truth at length came out, by the confession of the youngest of +the three, who declared that they had been employed as emissaries by +the insurgents, to explore the camp, and to ascertain the probable +movements of the imperial troops. With a view, however, to save his +own life, he alleged that the assassination of Jehangire formed the +chief object of their mission, if any opportunity should be presented +to them for accomplishing it, and he said that upon that point they had +received their instructions from Chusero himself.</p> + +<p>Upon the conclusion of the investigation, the Bauzigurs were +unanimously acquitted of all participation in the crime; but as the +contrary <span class="pagenum">133</span> belief still actuated the +great bulk of the troops, Auzeem caused them to be escorted, the +following night by a body of the household guards, beyond the precincts +of the camp. The three emissaries were condemned to death. They were +each stripped naked, and then clothed in asses’ skins, in which they +were led through the camp, exposed to the derision of the multitude. +The shouts that rang the air, as they passed through the different +divisions of the military assemblage, acted like balm on the wound of +the imperial invalid, who, whatever may have been the errors of his +heart or his head, acknowledged, at all times, that it was his greatest +delight to know and to feel that he was beloved by his people.</p> + +<p>As soon as this ceremony was performed, the criminals were sewed +up in skins, which had been previously distended as much as possible, +after having been saturated in water. They were then placed on a +sand-bank, exposed to the hottest rays of the sun, and, by the +gradual shrinking of the hides, their frames were so compressed, +that the agonies they endured were dreadful. To prolong their +punishment, water was now and then sprinkled on the hides, +<span class="pagenum">134</span> which were again exposed to the sun. +They thus lingered in excruciating agonies for three days, and when at +last the soundless masses proclaimed that they were no longer the abode +of life, they were kicked through the whole assembled army into the +river Sursoom, near which the camp was pitched.</p> + +<p>Upon the convalescence of the emperor, the camp was broken up, +and the troops proceeded towards the Sutledge, where the enemy were +reported to have been posted in great force. Jehangire, when mounted +once more on Indragui, resolved on shewing no mercy to a son, who, as +the late occurrence had taught him to believe, was so lost to all sense +of filial recollections, as to meditate the murder of a parent.</p> + +<p>In order to escape from the dust of the high road, Jehangire, +and a few of the officers of his staff, took the bye-paths which +led through shady groves and cultivated fields. Perceiving a man +coming towards them, the emperor, who was anxiously watching for +some omen of success, demanded his name. The stranger replied, that +his name was “Mûrad-Khaujah,” signifying the “auspicious.” +<span class="pagenum">135</span> </p> + +<p>“Heaven be praised!” exclaimed the emperor, “my desire shall be +obtained.”</p> + +<p>A little farther on they met another man, driving before him an ass +loaded with fire-wood, and having a burthen of brambles on his own +back. He was also called upon to disclose his name, when he declared it +to be “Dowlet-Khaujah.”</p> + +<p>Jehangire was in raptures. “Our fortunes would be complete,” said +he, “if we should now meet with a third person, bearing the same +name.”</p> + +<p>Great, therefore, was his surprise and satisfaction, when observing +a little boy in a field, who was tending a cow grazing, he caused a +similar inquiry to be made. He received for answer, that the boy called +himself “Saadet-Khaujah.”</p> + +<p>In order to perpetuate the memory of these happy prognostications, +Jehangire directed that from that moment all the affairs of his +government should be classed under three heads, to be called +“Eymaun-o-Thalâtha,” or the “Three Signs.”</p> + +<p>After crossing one of the main branches of the Gogur river, the +emperor learned that there <span class="pagenum">136</span> lived in +the neighbourhood a recluse, on whose head fell from the skies every +Friday evening throughout the year, a shower of gold coin. Determined +to ascertain the truth of this report, he proceeded to visit the +dervish, whom he found seated on the ground before the entrance to +a cavern, surrounded by four hundred of his disciples, clothed in +skins. The hermit offered to the emperor no token whatever of respect, +although the latter made to him the customary salaam, in the most +humble manner, and did every thing in his power to entice him into +conversation.</p> + +<p>At last, after nearly half-an-hour’s uninterrupted silence, the +dervish said,—“I serve that king who sustains rambling about the earth, +many such kings as thou art.” Here another long pause ensued. The +emperor prayed that the hermit would instruct him in his duties. Again +awaking from an apparent lethargy, the dervish sternly said,—“Strive +for the repose of God’s creatures, committed to thy care. In the +agents whom thou mayest employ in the different provinces of thy +empire, be it thy study to discover and reject such as are tyrannical +and rapacious. Pursue and punish the secret perpetrators +<span class="pagenum">137</span> of murders. Such men you shall find at +Serhind, and elsewhere. Whilst thou hast power, exercise it discreetly. +Cherish the grey beard and the dervish. Scoff not at the aged man, +weighed down by the hand of affliction. Kindle not the flame which +consumes the broken-hearted. Be not at one time a trifler—at another +grave. Art thou full? Give not words to the wind. Be not evil-minded, +lest thy words be evil. Be not slanderous, if thou wouldst avoid a name +of reproach. Let thy treatment of thy eldest son be merciful, for he is +misled.”</p> + +<p>To these words, pregnant with sage admonition, and confirmatory +of the omens which had already favoured the progress of the emperor, +he listened with equal admiration and delight. The evening, (it +happened fortunately to be the evening of Friday,) closing in, +tapers were lighted, and the venerable recluse proceeded to the +performance of his devotions, bending his body, at intervals, eight +times to the earth. Immediately afterwards, five of the eldest of +his disciples stood before him in an erect posture, while he raised +his hands towards heaven. He had scarcely commenced this act of +adoration, <span class="pagenum">138</span> when, all at once, a +shower of golden ashrefies fell on his head from the sky, which, when +collected, amounted in value to a thousand gold rupees. These coins +the hermit divided into two equal parts, one of which he presented to +the emperor, the other he shared amongst his disciples. Jehangire, +desirous of testifying his respect for a recluse of so much sanctity, +offered to endow his cloister with the revenue of the neighbouring +villages, producing annually about fifty thousand gold rupees, for +the subsistence of the devout men who attended upon him. “Apply your +money,” said the saint, “to the support of those whose reliance is upon +human charity. I need it not.”</p> + +<p>When the emperor returned to the army, and the news of his visit +to the dervish had spread abroad, it was communicated to him that the +son of Khann-e-Douraun had dared to turn his conduct on the occasion +into ridicule. “How childish!” said he, “in the emperor, to be +magic-blinded by this canting dervish.” Such language as this could not +be overlooked. Jehangire therefore commanded that one side of his head +and face should be flayed, and in that state he was led through the +army, proclamation <span class="pagenum">139</span> being made, at the +same time, that such was the punishment which awaited those who applied +disrespectful language to their sovereign. It further appeared that +this young man, on a previous visit to the same dervish, had demeaned +himself very contemptuously, and that the hermit told him he should not +go so far as to take his head, his youth and rashness being beneath his +notice; “but,” said he, “I shall have thee flayed.” Thus were the words +of the holy man fulfilled to the letter.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R I X --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">140</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_IX"> + CHAPTER IX. +</h2> + +<div class="blockquot left"> +<p class="left"> They suffered justly according to their own +wickedness; for they exercised a more detestable hospitality than any: +others indeed received not strangers unknown to them, but these brought +their guests into bondage, that had deserved well of them.</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Book of Wisdom.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2">While the imperial army continued their march towards +the ground occupied by the insurgents, Jehangire, finding that the +unavoidably slow progress of so large a force gave him the opportunity +of paying a visit to Serhind, proceeded to that city attended by a +numerous escort of his household guards. Serhind was, at that period, +a city of great extent, famed for its wealth, the number and splendour +of its temples, and other public edifices, and the magnificence of its +private mansions and gardens. <span class="pagenum">141</span> It +was the abode of men of every nation and faith. Its women, proverbial +for their beauty, were not strictly confined within harems, as in +other parts of Hindostan; and abounding as it did in luxuries of every +description, the great business of life there seemed to be the pursuit +of pleasure under all its most alluring forms.</p> + +<p>The periodical reports of the local authorities addressed to the +emperor had, for some time, noticed the frequent disappearance from the +bosom of their families, of females belonging to the better classes of +society. Although the members of the families thus deprived of their +best ornaments, and the officers of the police had combined their +incessant exertions, in order to discover the source of this most +serious evil, they had hitherto failed to make out even the slightest +clue which might assist them in the accomplishment of their object. The +exactions, also, of the principal farmer of the revenue were complained +of. Both these matters the emperor had resolved to inquire into +personally, with the view of affording his subjects all the redress +that was in his power.</p> + +<p>On arriving at Serhind, where his majesty +<span class="pagenum">142</span> was received with every mark of +affectionate loyalty and respect, he sent immediately for the chief +collector of the revenue, and called upon him to answer to the +charges of rapacity and oppression that were made against him, and, +especially, to shew upon what ground he had dared to continue the tax +of the Zekkaut, which the emperor, upon his accession to the throne, +had most strictly forbidden to be levied any more. This was a tax +previously imposed upon all the subjects of the empire, the Moslems +only excepted. The collector, arrayed in a turban wreathed with +diamonds, and a chaplet of large pearls hung round his neck, of the +value of at least a lak of rupees, attended by a numerous retinue, +also clad in sumptuous attire, paid his homage to the emperor in the +most obsequious style, and then proceeded to defend his conduct, upon +the plea that the Hindoos being idolaters and infidels, it was fitting +that they should pay the Zekkaut for the toleration they enjoyed, +and that, moreover, they had amassed great wealth, of which a due +proportion, he conceived, ought to go to the treasury of the state, +under whose protection they had risen from poverty to affluence. +<span class="pagenum">143</span></p> + +<p>“Idolators and infidels!” exclaimed the emperor, glad of an +opportunity to display his knowledge on this subject. “Such the +ignorant amongst them may be, but it is no part of my duty to condemn +a whole nation for the ignorance of the poor and the uneducated. If +they be in error, and if it be the will of the Supreme Being to punish +them for that error, am I called upon to augment the measure of divine +justice? If He pardon them, am I to be so presumptuous as to stand +between them and His mercy? Their Pundits may have in former ages +fallen into some mistakes as to the adoration which the Hindoos pay +to images. But in my late conferences with those learned doctors, I +have convinced them that an idol cannot be a God, the Almighty being +eternally exempt from change or decay, having neither length nor +breadth, nor any shape visible to mortal eye. I shewed them that to +consider figures, moulded in brass, or carved in wood, as the immediate +objects of worship, was a most fearful doctrine, since worship is due +to God alone, supreme in glory. It is true, that they still retain +in their temples the idols to which I suppose you allude, +<span class="pagenum">144</span> but it is only because the mind, +being in itself so liable to be distracted while at prayer by external +objects, they find it necessary to have images before them, solely +dedicated to God and his attributes, as otherwise they would find it +<a href="#144b" id="144a">impossible</a> to settle their attention to a +steady contemplation of the perfections of the Omnipotent. Of this no +Moslem has a right to complain.</p> + +<p>“Besides, what was the language addressed to me by my father, (now +in Paradise!) when in the ignorance of youth, I asked him why the +haunts of idolatry, as I then deemed them, were not to be overthrown? +‘My dear child,’ said he, ‘I find myself a puissant monarch, the +shadow of God upon earth. I have seen that he bestows the blessings of +his <a href="#144bb" id="144aa">gracious</a> providence upon all his +creatures, without distinction. Ill should I discharge the duties of +my exalted station, were I to withhold my compassion and indulgence +from any of those entrusted to my charge. With all of the human race, +with all God’s creatures, I am at peace; why then should I permit +myself, under any consideration, to be the cause of molestation +or aggression to any one? Moreover, are not five parts +<span class="pagenum">145</span> in six of mankind, either Hindoos, or +aliens to the Mahometan faith? Were I to be governed by motives of the +kind suggested in your inquiry, what alternative can I have but to put +them all to death? I have thought it therefore my wisest plan to let +these men alone.’</p> + +<p>“Neither is it to be forgotten, that the class of men of whom we +are speaking, in common with the other inhabitants of Serhind, are +usefully engaged, either in the pursuit of science or the arts, or of +improvements for the benefit of mankind, and that there are indeed to +be found in this city men of every description, and of every religion +on the face of the earth.”</p> + +<p>The collector, a man far advanced in years, and full of the pride +of that superiority which his Moslem faith gave him, as he supposed, +above all those who professed a different doctrine, held up his hands +in astonishment when he heard these words fall from the lips of his +sovereign. He was proceeding to enlarge upon his tried zeal for the +throne, for the house of Acbar, for the preservation of the faith, +and on the dangers in which such novel doctrines must involve the +empire, especially if the zekkaut <span class="pagenum">146</span> +were to be given up; when Jehangire demanded what proportion of the +tax the collector reserved to himself, and how much of it entered the +exchequer? This question the official said he could not answer without +the production of accounts, which he had never before been called upon +to render. They should however be made out, if such were the wish of +the “Safeguard of the world.”</p> + +<p>Upon the accounts being examined, it turned out that for every rupee +of the zekkaut paid into the imperial treasury, five were pocketed by +the collector. In order to escape from the difficulty in which this +discovery placed him, he offered, as the emperor was now embarked in +a war, necessarily attended with great expense, if the zekkaut were +continued, to pay in advance the assessment of three whole years, +amounting to as much gold as five hundred camels heavily laden could +carry.</p> + +<p>Jehangire, considering himself fully justified, under the +circumstances, in getting possession at all events of the treasure thus +tendered, ordered the collector to bring him the money forthwith. In +the course of a few hours he re-appeared, himself leading the foremost +of five <span class="pagenum">147</span> hundred stout camels, all +laden with gold to the utmost ounce they could bear, each load covered +in wrappers of the finest scarlet of Irâk. Ten of the loads the emperor +ordered to be distributed amongst his escort, the remainder to be +conveyed to his exchequer at Agra.</p> + +<p>“It would be satisfactory to me,” said the emperor, “now to know, +whether the whole of this gold, which you have laid at my feet, was +exclusively your own property, or whether it belonged in part to +others, who wish to share with you in the profits arising out of the +collection of the zekkaut.”</p> + +<p>“Sire,” replied the extortioner, deeply hurt at the supposition, “my +cellars still retain more than double the quantity which you now see +before you.”</p> + +<p>“What! all your own property!”</p> + +<p>“Inherited from my father—now in the bosom of the prophet! When on +the eve of death, he disclosed to me that in a certain secret place +under ground he had concealed, in large jars, a mass of treasure, +which, in the hour of distress, he might employ to relieve himself. I +was therefore under no necessity for bringing discredit on my name by +borrowing.” <span class="pagenum">148</span> </p> + +<p>“Impossible! I cannot believe it.”</p> + +<p>“I know it, sire, to be the truth that I say.”</p> + +<p>“If so, then you cannot hesitate to let one of my officers see the +treasure you speak of.”</p> + +<p>The collector acceded, without hesitation, to the emperor’s +proposal. An officer was forthwith appointed to inspect the vaults, +who, upon his return, reported the collector’s statement as by no means +exaggerated, for that in his judgment fifteen hundred camels could not +convey, at the rate of one load each, the jars filled with gold, which +he had seen in the subterranean stores in question.</p> + +<p>“It would not be just,” thought Jehangire, “if I were to take +possession of the treasures remaining in the jars, as they manifestly +belong to this man’s children. But his attempt to continue the zekkaut +is not to be forgiven.”</p> + +<p>The emperor retired to his closet, where he ordered the immediate +attendance of Kuly, his chief executioner. That formidable minister of +vengeance in a few minutes presented himself before the sovereign.</p> + +<p>“You will find the collector of Serhind,” said Jehangire, “at +his own house,—bow-string him. His turban, and chaplet, and dress, +are <span class="pagenum">149</span> yours. Bind round his loins a +linen scarf, and set him, in all other respects naked, on a camel, +and so conduct him through all parts of the town, at the same time +proclaiming, in a loud voice—‘Such is the punishment to which that +man is doomed, who, when his sovereign, from a paternal regard to his +people, has remitted the impost of the zekkaut, dared to continue it, +and to advise its legal restoration, thus violating the most sacred +laws, and attempting by his counsels to give the thoughts of the +sovereign a direction, replete with evil to the subject, and dishonour +to himself.’”</p> + +<p>The order was carried into execution the same evening, amidst the +plaudits of the inhabitants of Serhind.</p> + +<p>Amongst the personages of distinction, who waited the next day +upon the emperor, to return his majesty thanks for this signal mark +of his attention to the welfare of his people, was Abdul, generally +known at Serhind as a Mogul employed in the pursuit of commercial +concerns, and possessed of wealth to an amount, which it was said +even he himself could not calculate. His palace, the galleries +containing his collections of works of art, his gardens and +<span class="pagenum">150</span> fountains, all surrounded by a lofty +wall of enormous thickness, were the principal ornaments of Serhind, +rich as that city was in edifices of excelling splendour.</p> + +<p>Abdul, on taking leave, expressed a hope, that before his majesty +quitted Serhind, he would deign to permit the shadow of his celestial +presence to be seen within his humble abode. Jehangire accepted the +invitation; and when the business of the day was concluded, attended +by Auzeem, and his ordinary suite, proceeded to the residence of the +Mogul.</p> + +<p>Embarking on the river, in a twelve-oared galley belonging to Abdul, +they were landed on a flight of marble steps, white as snow, which led +to a massive bronze gate, moving in a solid frame of porphyry, richly +inlaid with gold and lapis lazuli. The master of the mansion was on +the marble stairs, waiting to receive them. The gate, which flew open +at his command, was immediately closed with a ringing sound, like that +of a bell. They immediately found themselves in a covered avenue of +sycamores, affording a most delicious shade, planted on each side with +scarlet roses. Beyond the avenue were groves of cypress, firs, +<span class="pagenum">151</span> plane-trees, and evergreens, so +disposed as to leave between them all a wide circle, which formed a +garden, laid out in beds that teemed with every flower under the sun, +each the most perfect of its kind. In the midst of the garden played +a fountain of limpid water, which, when occasion required, cast its +refreshing dews upon the flower-beds surrounding it. The fragrance +of this garden, and its seclusion amidst the groves; the murmurs of +the pellucid waters, and the songs of many birds, hid in the adjacent +shades, filled the heart of the emperor with transports of delight. +“Ah!” thought he, “if Nourmahal were here!”</p> + +<p>An ascent, through one of the groves, led the visitors to an +elevated terrace, planted with lines of orange and citron-trees on +each side, between every pair of which were seen, on pedestals of red +granite of Egypt, statues of exquisite workmanship in bronze, gold, +and silver, in alabaster, and in marble that rivalled alabaster as +to the spotless purity and freshness of its colour. In an alcove, a +colossal warrior in bronze held on his left arm a golden shield, of +well-proportioned dimensions, upon which the exploits of Acbar were +delineated in <span class="pagenum">152</span> bold relief, with a +degree of accuracy, elegance, and animation, that astonished even the +practised eye of Auzeem.</p> + +<p>The terrace led to an octagonal pavilion, raised two stories high, +surrounded by a double colonnade of jasper pillars, exhibiting from a +gallery that ran round the dome, an enchanting view of the neighbouring +country. The interior of the pavilion was painted in various +compartments, in which were seen processions of slaves captured in +battle, and bearing to their conquerors offerings of all the fruits of +the earth, the <a href="#152b" id="152a">interstices</a> being filled +with figures of birds engaged in flight or pursuit, so as to display +their character and plumage in the most striking point of view.</p> + +<p>This pavilion was composed of two saloons, each capable of +affording accommodation to a thousand guests. Four round towers graced +and strengthened the outer walls of the edifice. Through one of +these towers visitors ascended, by a spiral staircase, to the upper +saloon; a second tower was reserved for the visitors descending; +and the other two yielded each a small circular apartment, lined by +mirrors, and permitting the sky to be seen through a roof +<span class="pagenum">153</span> of glass. In the lower saloon, coffee, +sherbet, and ices, were served to all those for whose enjoyment the +Mogul threw open his gardens once a week. The upper saloon was devoted +to music and dancing, and the mirrored apartment to tête-a-tête +conversations.</p> + +<p>Abdul’s mansion was of the castellated form, and occupied a +spacious square beyond the pavilion. It had not been for many years +open to public view. The interior apartments, those especially of the +harem, were said to be furnished in a truly regal style, the floors +covered with gold-woven carpets, the walls hung with cloth of gold +from Khorassan, with velvets from Gujerat, and figured tapestry, both +European and Chinese.</p> + +<p>The Mogul appeared to experience no small measure of pride, as he +led the emperor along the terrace to the pavilion, where, after pipes +and coffee, iced wines, sweetmeats and confectionery were presented +to his majesty, on salvers of massive gold, by a numerous train of +attendants. Jehangire next expected to be shown through the Mogul’s +house; but the latter excused himself on account of its being +<span class="pagenum">154</span> under repair, and not in a state to +receive the sovereign of Hindostan.</p> + +<p>Auzeem threw out some hints about the number and beauty of the +ladies, whom so much wealth, and such distinguished taste could not +fail to have assembled in the harem; but, to his surprise, he learned +that Abdul had no wives, and that from some disappointment of the +heart, in the early part of his life, he had uniformly declined all +the advances of those parents, who, in compassion for his misfortune, +tendered their daughters, to share in his unbounded opulence.</p> + +<p>On his return from the garden of the Mogul, the emperor, assisted +by Auzeem, had a long conference with the civil officers of justice +upon the disappearance of so many females of rank and station, as +noticed in their reports, and upon the ineffectual steps that had +been adopted in order to detect the mode in which it took place. On +looking carefully through the reports, and comparing the dates of +those mysterious occurrences, it struck Auzeem as singular, that they +pretty generally coincided with the evenings on which Abdul’s gardens +were opened for the reception of his numerous visiters, comprising, +indeed, <span class="pagenum">155</span> all the families of Serhind +above the caste of artizans and secondary merchants. It seemed not +an improbable supposition, that upon their return from the gardens, +which was generally late in the night, sometimes accident, inevitable +in narrow and crowded streets,—sometimes young men heated by wine, +taking advantage of the obscurity to possess themselves of women on +whom they had fixed their affections,—sometimes the revenge of rejected +lovers,—sometimes the propensity to suicide or murder, had combined to +produce these deplorable results. But in answer to these hypotheses +it was stated, that there was scarcely an evening in the week, during +the fine season of the year, when assemblages equally numerous had +not taken place, either in private or public gardens, and that no +similar consequence had been observed to distinguish them one from the +other.</p> + +<p>Another peculiar feature marked these mysterious occurrences. The +victims were uniformly those females whose apparel was most costly, no +matter of what age, or whether beautiful or deformed. The conclusion +was obvious, that the value of their attire had some connexion with the +cause of their abstraction, and <span class="pagenum">156</span> it +was therefore surmised, that a band of criminals must be confederated +for the purpose of enriching themselves upon the spoil taken from the +persons whom, probably with that view alone, they deprived of life. +But then, where were the remains of the females so murdered? These had +never been discovered in any one instance. The farther the inquiry +extended, the more perplexing it became. The officers of justice +confessed that they could throw no light upon the matter.</p> + +<p>“Do you happen to know,” asked Auzeem, “whether the artizans engaged +in the repairs of the Mogul’s mansion are Hindoos or foreigners? If +foreigners, it is barely possible that they might, in this manner, +supply themselves with rich wives, whom they may have some means of +sending out of the country.”</p> + +<p>The officers replied, that they were not aware of the mansion +in question being under repair, and that it was impossible any +considerable number of artizans, native or foreign, could be engaged +in any such occupation without their knowledge, as all such persons, +and the places where they were employed were regularly entered on the +registry. An answer, however, on <span class="pagenum">157</span> +this point might be easily obtained from the Mogul himself. A kotewaul +was immediately despatched for this purpose, who returned with +intelligence, that the Mogul was not at home, but that, from all the +inquiry he could make amongst the artizans of the neighbourhood, he had +no doubt that there were no repairs going on in Abdul’s house, which +had, indeed, been shut up for more than ten years.</p> + +<p>This account was inconsistent with the statement made by the Mogul +to the emperor. Jehangire expressed his surprise. Auzeem suggested that +before they proceeded farther, this matter should, at all events, be +cleared up. There was, perhaps, nothing in it; however it seemed to +require explanation: for if workmen were employed there unknown to the +police, it was against the law.</p> + +<p>Two of the officers were despatched to investigate this point. +They proceeded to the gardens, where they found Abdul, walking on his +terrace alone, enjoying the evening breeze. To their inquiries he +answered, without hesitation, that they must have been erroneously +informed, as he had had no repairs done to his house for many years, +and had no artizans then in <span class="pagenum">158</span> his +employment. They said, that it was their duty to satisfy themselves by +a personal inspection of the house, to which he could, of course, have +no objection.</p> + +<p>Abdul, they observed, turned deadly pale at this suggestion, and +trembled violently. He complained of not being well, adding, that if +they presented themselves the next morning, he would be happy to comply +with their desire. The officers retired, having fixed to return at +sun-rise.</p> + +<p>Soon after that hour they appeared before the emperor, and reported +to him the interview which they had had with Abdul the previous +evening; they then said, that they proceeded to his house at the time +appointed, but that they could not gain admission. Jehangire began to +suspect that there was something more in this inquiry than he had at +first apprehended. He therefore directed the officers to apply again at +the gates, and if they were not opened, to cause them to be forced. The +officers, in obedience to his orders, went again to the residence of +the Mogul, but all the gates were closed against them. They proceeded +accordingly to use force; with the assistance of the pioneers they +scaled the walls <span class="pagenum">159</span> of the gardens, and +effected an entrance into the mansion, which they found apparently +uninhabited, though furnished in the most sumptuous style. A noise, as +of something having fallen on the floor, attracted their attention to +an apartment, the door of which was shut. They tried to open the door, +but it resisted their efforts until, by applying their united strength, +they burst it open. Here they found the Mogul stretched lifeless on the +floor, and on the divan near him, a large cup half full of a liquid, +which upon examination, turned out to be essence of poppies. The vital +spark appeared to have just fled, as, although the heart was still, the +colour of life had not wholly deserted his cheek.</p> + +<p>One of the officers having acquainted the emperor with the +intelligence of this event, Jehangire, attended by Auzeem, hastened +to the spot, and further researches having been made, a subterraneous +chamber was at length discovered, in which chests were found filled +with rich female dresses, to the number of seven hundred. In the same +chamber were discovered other chests, replete with wreaths of diamonds +and other precious stones, necklaces of pearl, and gold trinkets. +<span class="pagenum">160</span> </p> + +<p>From this chamber they made their way through a long winding +passage to another, from which emanated a most disagreeable odour. +By the feeble light which reached it, from a narrow window near the +ceiling, they perceived a spacious fire-place nearly filled with ashes; +intermixed with which, they found an amazing number of fragments of +human bones. No further evidence was necessary, to shew the diabolical +species of commerce in which the Mogul merchant must have been for +years engaged. It was only to be regretted that, by inflicting the +penalty of his crimes with his own hand, he had anticipated the decrees +of justice.</p> + +<p>One of the officers, suspecting that there might be a communication +between this chamber of death and the pavilion on the terrace, +searched narrowly all round, until he groped his way through a short +narrow passage to a staircase. Ascending the staircase, until he was +stopped by a door, he pushed it open, and found himself, when the +door was shut, completely surrounded by mirrors, the arched-roof +being composed of glass, through which he saw the sky. +<span class="pagenum">161</span></p> + +<p>Further examination enabled the pioneers to ascertain that this +mirrored alcove was capable of being elevated by the simple machinery +of ropes, pullies, and weights, and that, when raised to its utmost +height, it gave admission to the upper story of the pavilion, through +one of the four round towers of that beautiful building.</p> + +<p>Entering the other mirrored apartment, in the opposite tower, after +several experiments, they found, that by pressing a spring, concealed +in the divan, which ran all round, the apartment imperceptibly sank to +the bottom of the tower; whence, also, there was a communication to the +sepulchral chamber.</p> + +<p>While the festivities of the evening were at their height, the +Mogul, or one of his associates, doubtless engaged a devoted victim +to converse with him in either of these apartments; a group of his +confederates gathered, in the meantime, at the door leading to it, +would divert attention from his proceedings. Having descended to the +bottom of the tower, he would lead her to the spot where she would be +sacrificed in an instant, stripped of her apparel, and then consumed. +The alcove would, in the meantime, be restored to its place by his +assistants. He <span class="pagenum">162</span> would speedily rejoin +the gay throng in the saloons, and in this manner it must have been, +that he dispatched as many as five or six splendidly dressed women in +the course of an evening.</p> + +<p>The dresses and ornaments discovered in the chests, were publicly +exhibited, and most of them were recognised by the families of the +unhappy persons, by whom they had been worn. The inmates of the mansion +were undoubtedly participators in the guilt of the Mogul, and acted, +when necessary, ostensibly in the capacity of his servants. They had +all fled, justly apprehensive of the vengeance of the emperor, who +ordered the mansion to be demolished, its furniture to be sold for the +benefit of the poor, and the gardens to be preserved at the expense of +the state, for the use of the inhabitants of Serhind. Thus were the +two grievances pointed out by the Dervish, effectually redressed by +Jehangire.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R X --> +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum">163</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_X"> + CHAPTER X. +</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="left">Heads glittering with polished gold, divided by the +blade, drop incessantly; and mangled bodies, wallowing in their gore, +lay like fragments of mighty rocks, sparkling with gems and precious +ores. Millions of sighs and groans arise on every side; and the sun is +overcast with blood, as they clash their arms, and wound each other +with their dreadful instruments of destruction.</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Mahabharat.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2">The scouts sent out by Chusero, rapidly returned on the +heels of each other, announcing daily the nearer and nearer approach +of the imperial army. The Sutledge was full to the margin, and as all +the bridges had been broken down, and the ferry-boats destroyed, the +insurgents relied upon the position they had taken up as one not easy +to be reduced. Their line was compact, and skilfully arranged. Their +<span class="pagenum">164</span> strength in artillery was limited, +but it was disposed of to the greatest advantage. Fifty heavy pieces +of cannon were chained together, to guard that part of the river which +offered the most favourable chances of passage to the enemy. The left +wing, composed of the Cashmere auxiliaries under Afkun, was disposed +somewhat higher up the river, armed with spears, slings, and bows. +The Rajaputs under Man-Singh watched the passages of the river on +the right; while the troops commanded by Hussein, partly composed of +matchlockmen, partly of spearmen and cavalry, took their station in the +centre, behind the artillery. Companies of elephants, bearing men armed +with matchlocks and heavy javelins, were distributed through the three +divisions of the army, and the prince, with a small reserve of cavalry, +took his post upon an eminence, commanding a view of the river and of +the plains beyond it to a considerable distance. They were in all sixty +thousand fighting men.</p> + +<p>Bochari, accurately informed of the disposition of the insurgent +forces, moved forward with great caution towards the higher banks +of the Sutledge, above the station occupied by Afkun, +<span class="pagenum">165</span> expecting that he might be able to +ford it in that direction, and so turn the left flank of the enemy. +When, by the first light of the sun, he beheld the glistening line of +the river, he ordered a strong body of cavalry, assisted by a company +of the light artillery, to move rapidly in column, and dashing headlong +through the Sutledge to establish themselves if possible on the farther +bank. The remainder of the light artillery he directed to open a fire +upon Afkun’s division.</p> + +<p>Chusero, who was mounted on his swift-paced elephant, at an early +hour speedily perceived in the distance the thread-like columns +hastening across the plain. After dispatching messengers along the +line, to announce the presence of the enemy, and the movement they +had made, he proceeded with his reserve to the assistance of Afkun, +who was already on the alert. The banks of the Sutledge were high and +precipitous in the direction aimed at by Bochari, and the current +deep and extremely rapid. Nevertheless, before Chusero could reach +the spot, the foremost horses of the foe were plunged in the stream, +and ascending the opposite bank. He proceeded to attack them as +fast as his troops could come up, but such was the vigour +<span class="pagenum">166</span> of the onset of his enemies, owing to +the superior strength of their horses, that they gained upon him until +Afkun, seeing what was taking place, mounting his charger, and calling +upon a troop of his cavalry to follow him, rushed into the river, which +he speedily crossed. Despising the efforts of the light artillery +opposed to him, he directed his march at once against the column of +cavalry commanded by Bochari, and succeeding in breaking their line, +cut them off from those who had already advanced into the stream. +Chusero being, in the mean time, strongly reinforced, entered into the +conflict with spirit, and drove back the tide of assailants. Their +retreat was attended with great confusion, as many of their comrades +were still contending against the rapidity of the current.</p> + +<p>Chusero followed up his advantage, driving the enemy before him, +sword in hand, who, perceiving that they were separated from their +comrades, turned the heads of their horses down the current. The bank +occupied by the insurgents was immediately lined by bowmen; they poured +clouds of arrows upon the fugitives, most of whom perished in the +river. Afkun, <span class="pagenum">167</span> having accomplished his +object, retreated in good order to his former position.</p> + +<p>The imperial troops now advanced thickly into the plain, appearing +in the distance like an enormous flight of locusts. Jehangire, apprized +of the failure of Bochari’s first attempt to turn the left flank of the +insurgents, ordered all his artillery in front. As the drivers took +their ground in succession, the gunners opened their fire, and the +line becoming every moment more lengthened, the thunder of the field +augmented with terrific energy. It was answered from the hostile ranks +in compact volleys, which were discharged with great effect, the crowd +of balls issuing from the chained artillery, acting like the mower’s +scythe, and causing tremendous gaps in the masses of the advancing +cavalry and infantry on the imperial side.</p> + +<p>The theatre of battle on either side of the Sutledge was by noon +enveloped in a dense cloud of smoke, illumined only near the guns by +the flashes of fire which burst from them as they hurled forth their +weapons of death. The ardour of the Rajaputs under Man-Singh could +not be restrained. Taking advantage of the obscurity which hung over +them, they crossed the <span class="pagenum">168</span> river in one +body, and scouring the plain, hewed down cavalry, infantry, camels, +every thing with which they came in contact. Then returning to their +position they rested awhile, until their fearless commander again gave +the word for another experiment of the same perilous nature. Afkun, +more prudent, remained within the position entrusted to his keeping, +which he defended with great valour against the repeated efforts of the +imperialists to effect a passage in that direction. Hussein, being in +the centre, had as yet no opportunity of distinguishing himself, his +front being covered by the artillery, whose fire continued to be most +destructive. Chusero might be seen during the thickest of the fight +in all parts of the field, exposing his person in the most fearless +manner, encouraging and inspiring his men by the hopes of success which +he declared were brightening every where in his favour.</p> + +<p>Bochari observing the rashness with which Man-Singh frequently +advanced from his post to carry the battle to the imperial side of the +river, directed a numerous division of cavalry to arrange themselves +behind an eminence, below that part of the river occupied by the +Rajaputs, <span class="pagenum">169</span> with orders to wait there +until they were informed that the Rajaputs had again crossed the +river, and then to make a bold effort to seize upon the position of +the enemy. In the mean time he stationed another body of cavalry to +receive the Rajaputs, and engage them with an apparent determination +of fierce resistance; but, after a few moments, to retreat, so as to +draw the foe after them as far as he would follow. He had a train of +elephants ready to march down on the river the moment his men began the +feigned retreat, so as to form a rampart against the Rajaputs on their +return.</p> + +<p>These orders were executed with great precision. The Rajaputs +had already crossed the Sutledge thrice, and without suffering any +considerable losses, had destroyed numbers of the imperialists. Their +activity in the field was wonderful. They flew after their audacious +leader like an army of spirits over the plains, their rapidity of +movement placing them beyond the reach of every arrow, javelin, or +matchlock, that was directed against them. The Sutledge was filled with +sand-banks in the <span class="pagenum">170</span> neighbourhood of +their position, which rendered it easily fordable even to infantry.</p> + +<p>For the fourth time, Man-Singh gave the signal for another charge, +when the whole body, lance in hand, rushing through the river, rode, +with their usual chivalry, against the first body of troops they met, +who, being prepared for the encounter, sustained the shock with more +firmness than Man-Singh had expected. His followers hurled their +lances at the foe, and then relying on the scymitar, dealt such hot +destruction around them, that the immediate retreat of their opponents +seemed to have little in it of a feigned character. The Rajaputs +pursued them.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the division of cavalry concealed behind the eminence, +mounting their horses, galloped down to the river, and passing it +without resistance, established themselves in the position confided +to the Rajaputs; and the train of elephants having moved rapidly to +the opposite bank, constituted a living rampart, through which it was +impossible for any force to penetrate.</p> + +<p>Chusero, whose eye at once discovered the +<span class="pagenum">171</span> snare, in which the excessive and +undisciplined ardour of the Rajaputs had involved them, joined Hussein +without delay, and the two divisions attacking the enemy, drove them +back into the river. But Bochari, prepared for this, had already +despatched to their support a body of light artillery, mounted on +camels. The fire of the guns, passing over the heads of his troops, +speedily repelled the masses of infantry brought against them; +directing the line of the elephants to open, a dense body of cavalry +hastened through the passage into the river, and gaining the opposite +bank, under a terrible fire from the matchlocks, recaptured the enemy’s +position.</p> + +<p>Man-Singh, returning with his Rajaputs, found, to his dismay, the +passage walled up by an enormous crowd of elephants. The men stationed +in the towers, opened upon him a terrible fire, while a fresh division +of cavalry attacking him on the other side, he found himself enclosed +within the very jaws of the demon of battle. But his spirit flinched +not from the conflict. The fury of his Rajaputs was capable of any +thing he could call upon them to perform. Turning back upon the enemy, +he <span class="pagenum">172</span> resolved to cut his way through +them, though closing on him in masses that seemed to offer no chance of +escape. Nevertheless, with his single sabre, he clove down horse and +rider, until he forced a path, which being made wider behind him by +the indomitable valour of his companions, they drove through the dense +assemblage, like a wedge riving the oak consolidated by the storms of a +thousand winters.</p> + +<p>Jehangire, who, mounted on that noble elephant Indragui, watched +the events of the day with the utmost diligence, dispatched orders +to all the cavalry and camels to take advantage of the passage of +the Sutledge, already secured; and such was the speed with which his +mandate was obeyed, that before the sun began to decline, the fortune +of the day seemed to have crowned his banners with victory. The fire +of his artillery was maintained with undiminished intensity; while +that of the insurgents, from a failure of ammunition, began to exhibit +unequivocal symptoms of decay. The vollies, at first so admirably +regular, became less frequent. Gun after gun yielded no new flash. +Terror seized the men the moment their supplies were exhausted, and, as +the guns were chained together, <span class="pagenum">173</span> they +despaired of extricating them from the dangers of capture, to which +they were now too evidently exposed. They fled, and in their flight +began to diffuse a panic through the field, which would have ended the +battle, had it not been restored by Afkun.</p> + +<p>Abandoning a position, the defence of which was no longer of any +consequence, he advanced to the assistance of Chusero and Hussein, +who were in engagement with the enemy. The infantry, elephants, and +camels of the imperialists, crossing the river at all the fords without +any farther difficulty, forthwith proceeded to take an active part in +the battle, which now became general. The artillery was for a while +silenced on both sides; and, as the smoke in which the field had been +involved the whole day, cleared off into the higher regions of the +atmosphere, clouds of arrows were seen to take its place, spreading +over the combatants a canopy of iron.</p> + +<p>At one moment forests of spears glittered in the sun. Then levelled +against each other, the masses by whom they were wielded appearing +rising and falling like the waves of the ocean—now tending in one +direction—now in <span class="pagenum">174</span> another. Again the +spears were raised, as the forces on either side gave way—but red with +gore—and flourished amid shouts of triumph, mingled with the cries of +wounded men and dying horses, agonizing even to ears best inured to the +din of war. Afkun, Hussein, and Chusero, it was universally admitted, +exhibited incessantly prodigies of valour. But the ill-directed +ardour of Man-Singh had disconcerted the whole of their plans; their +men fell around them, overwhelmed by numbers. Their artillery was +not only captured, but in a very short time turned against them by +the imperialists. The elephants trod them down. The flying artillery +pressed upon them, wherever an attempt was made to offer further +resistance. Nevertheless, it was not until Hussein fell, gashed by a +hundred sabres, that Afkun, seeing the day irrecoverably lost, exerted +all his remaining energy to extricate the prince from the perils, +against which he had no longer any power to contend; and prevailing +upon the ill-fated youth to mount behind him on his charger, withdrew +from the field of slaughter.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R X I --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">175</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_XI"> + CHAPTER XI. +</h2> + +<div class="cc"> +<p> + <span class="right">Treading disdainfully</span> + <span class="left">Upon our very throats, he echoed back<br> + Our clamorous shouts of triumph with defiance,<br> + And laughed all threats and stratagems to scorn.</span> +</p> + +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Hindoo Drama.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p>Chusero, and his brave companion in calamity, wandered all night +through the woods, uncertain as to the direction in which they were +proceeding. Towards morning they discovered a wretched hut, loosely +covered with dried branches and withered leaves. Permitting their horse +to take such food as he could find in such a spot, they laid themselves +down to rest, and slept until noon, when Afkun, awaking to the dreadful +recollection of the events of the preceding day, pressed both his +hands on his forehead, thought of his home, and asked himself +<span class="pagenum">176</span> with a sob that almost rent his manly +heart, “Ah! what now shall become of my Nourmahal!”</p> + +<p>No regrets passed through his mind for having joined the banner of +the prince in this war. He felt convinced, from all he had heard of +Jehangire, from the well-known habits of his life, from the follies +which he had committed, even when on his way to the Sutledge—follies, +which of course lost no shade of their original puerility, in the +rumours that wafted intelligence of them to all quarters of the +empire; but especially from the sallies of downright insanity to which +Jehangire was subject, that he was unfit to rule so important an empire +as Hindostan.</p> + +<p>In summing up and justifying to himself his motives of action, the +husband of Nourmahal endeavoured to conceal the consciousness, that he +had also committed his destinies in the prince’s cause, from a vague, +yet always increasing apprehension, that there were strong, perhaps +indissoluble, though invisible links of affection between her and +Jehangire, which must, sooner or later, draw them too closely together. +And yet it was, <span class="pagenum">177</span> perhaps, this feeling +which, more than any other, determined him, in the first moments of +the civil war, to choose the side he had taken. He knew not to what +courses the reckless and malignant Bochari might instigate the emperor, +if he reached the northern provinces, borne on the tide of victory. +He feared the passions of the sovereign, now no longer checked by the +prohibitions of Acbar, or awed by the authority of Fazeel.</p> + +<p>Looking at the intelligent and chivalrous youth slumbering by his +side, covered with the gore and dust of battle, in which, though +defeated, he bore a part worthy of the valour of Baber, he felt more +and more attached to him. Placing his left hand on the prince’s +shoulder, and raising the other to the skies, he swore never to desert +him; and even if he could not promote him to the throne, for which he +was so well fitted by nature, at all events to acknowledge no other +master, to the last moment of his existence.</p> + +<p>Afkun had awoke feverish and thirsty. He saw, by the flushed +cheek and brow, that his companion was equally so; and hearing, +as he thought, a gurgling sound at some distance, he +<span class="pagenum">178</span> went out to search for the place +whence it came. He soon lighted on a little brook, whose clear waters +were singing their way over a bed of pebbles and through fallen +leaves, little conscious of the tremendous scenes that had just been +enacted upon the banks of the river, to which haply they were about to +offer their slender tribute. Stooping down, he drank copiously of the +refreshing stream; then taking off his helmet, he filled it with the +transparent element, and laid it beside the prince, who, just opening +his eyes, looked around, wondering where he was. The affectionate +pressure of Afkun’s hand answered all his inquiries, and a draught of +the pure cold spring at once restored to his features their wonted +expression.</p> + +<p>Chusero and his companion agreed that their only resource would +be to proceed at once to Lahore, which, being well fortified and +powerfully garrisoned, would enable them to hold out against the enemy, +until the late disasters could be in some measure repaired, and a new +army organized. With this view Afkun went in search of his horse, which +was nowhere to be seen. Venturing to call aloud to the animal, +<span class="pagenum">179</span> certain, that if within the reach of +his voice it would immediately answer to his appeal, three or four men +started at the sound from beneath branches of trees, with which they +had covered themselves. They turned out to be soldiers of Cashmere, who +had fled thither, like himself, from the field of battle, and whose +delight was inexpressible on finding that their leader had also escaped +unhurt from the perils of the disastrous day. They immediately went in +different directions to look for their chieftain’s well-known steed, +which they found at some distance, feeding on the leaves of a tamarisk. +The whole party then proceeded through the forest, directing their +course by the sun, westward.</p> + +<p>After emerging from the forest, they were joined, from time to +time, by other fugitives from the late scene of contest, who informed +them that the emperor’s army was already moving, with great rapidity, +towards Lahore. The unwelcome tidings also reached them, that +Man-Singh, notwithstanding his astonishing feat in cutting his way +through the ranks of the enemy, had been made prisoner, and ordered to +be confined in the fortress of Gwalior; and that Bochari, with three +thousand <span class="pagenum">180</span> chosen men, had set out +expressly in pursuit of the prince, whom he had strict injunctions to +convey, dead or alive, to the presence of the emperor. Chusero resolved +to sell his freedom only with his life, for he knew that so long as +Bochari controlled the councils of his father, one would be just as +valueless to him as the other.</p> + +<p>Subsisting upon such wild berries and fruits, as the trees and +shrubs they found on their way, furnished; or, upon the provisions +supplied to them by the hospitable peasants, at whose huts they claimed +the assistance seldom denied in Hindostan to travellers; the prince and +his friend, attended by their followers, arrived in the course of a few +days on the banks of the Rawee, a deep and rapid river, which it would +be impossible for them to pass, unless at some of the ferries, where +boats were established at the expense of government. A boy whom they +met with, driving some swine, conducted them to the nearest ferry; but +although the passage was much frequented, no boats were to be found. +Afkun proceeded alone to the next village, where the ferryman lived, +and learned from him, that orders had been already received +<span class="pagenum">181</span> by the zemindar of the district, from +the imperial army, to stop all the passages of the Rawee, and that, in +compliance with those orders, the boats had been secreted.</p> + +<p>Upon returning to the prince, Afkun proposed to take measures for +compelling the ferryman to disclose the place where the boats were +concealed. “We have,” said he, “it is true, but a small force—in +all, I think, not exceeding a hundred men, but their quivers are +not wholly exhausted, their zeal may be relied upon, and we have no +time for deliberation.” It was then near midnight. Proceeding to the +village, they took the ferryman out of his bed, and threatened to tie +a large stone round his neck and throw him into the river, unless he +forthwith complied with their demand. He declared that the mandate of +the zemindar had been executed, not by him, but by the villagers, as +he happened to be at some distance fishing, when the orders arrived. +They then proceeded to seize the villagers, whose huts he pointed +out. Some were taken in their beds—others escaping, by their outcries +alarmed the country. The ferry-boats were nowhere to be found. Two +of his followers, whom Afkun had <span class="pagenum">182</span> +taken the precaution to send down the river to see if, in any of the +creeks, the boats had been concealed, returned to him at day-break, +with intelligence that two rafts, loaded with wood, were tied to a +tree at a distance below the village. Hastening with the prince and +his followers to the spot, they speedily disencumbered the rafts of +their burthen, and, crowding on board, began to put across the stream. +They had scarcely quitted the bank, when the zemindar, being roused +from sleep by the tumult, presented himself, attended by his guards +and a concourse of the people, and having in vain ordered the rafts +to be brought back, fired upon the navigators. They returned the +fire with their arrows, one of which transfixed the zemindar, others +wounded his guards and the people, who, irritated by the circumstance, +plunged into the river, and surrounding the rafts, endeavoured to +sink them. Some were pierced with arrows in the attempt, others had +their hands cut off. In the confusion the paddles were lost, by which +the rafts had hitherto been conducted. The fugitives were therefore +obliged to allow themselves to be borne down the current. +<span class="pagenum">183</span></p> + +<p>Chusero and Afkun immediately divested themselves of their armour, +with a view to swim to the farther bank, though the Rawee exhibited +a considerable expanse at that place, and appeared to widen at every +step. Meanwhile, a strong body of the imperial guards made their +appearance, led on by Bochari, who, perceiving his prey ready to +escape, jumped into the ferry-boat, which was just launched from +a neighbouring creek, where it had been hauled up, and with a few +followers, proceeded at once towards the raft, where he saw the prince +and Afkun ready to dive into the stream. Bochari, also, had left off +his armour, in consequence of the heat of the weather, and the rapidity +with which he was eager to travel. Afkun, observing the foe whom he +had in vain often attempted to discover in the field of battle, felt +new life rushing through his nerves, and entreating the prince to save +his life by hastening to the distant bank, lifted him on his steed, +and pushing the animal into the water, waited the approach of the +ferry-boat as the rock expects the coming wave, whose utmost fury it +disdains.</p> + +<p>Both the warriors instinctively drew their scymitars +<span class="pagenum">184</span> at the same moment, and as the boat, +impelled by the oar and the current, passed the raft, the two weapons +met with a clash which flung a blaze of light upon the water. The men +on either side hung back, as if in the presence of such chieftains they +had no right to take a share in the conflict.</p> + +<p>The impetuosity with which the boat was urged drove it against a +sand bank, where it adhered. The raft was in a few moments at its +stern, and Afkun, ordering his men to board the boat and sink her, if +they could, grappled with Bochari. The latter, feeling his arm held +back by somebody behind him, made an effort to extricate himself, and +in doing so, fell over the side of the vessel. Afkun seized him by the +shoulder, and pulling him on to the raft, gave him time to get erect +upon his legs. Again the two scymitars flashed against each other, each +of the combatants feeling, that in that moment, the fate of the empire +was in his hands, and that he had no means of safety except in his +own prowess. The advantage, at first, seemed in favour of Afkun, who, +scarcely allowing Bochari any time for parrying his blows, laid +<span class="pagenum">185</span> upon him as if he were about to cleave +him in two.</p> + +<p>The Persian, however, gradually finding his footing on the raft, +threw up the weapon of the Turcoman by a dexterous understroke, and +stooping, wheeled round to the other side, where he placed himself in +an attitude of defence that drew forth applause even from the rival +parties in the boat, and suspended their contest. Both raft and boat +were now entangled in the sand-bank, the current driving them through +it with a force which they could not master.</p> + +<p>Afkun again advanced upon his foe, who, holding his scymitar before +him, watched the coming blow with admirable coolness, and rendered it +ineffectual, without attempting to return it. He felt the power of the +gigantic arm against which he had hazarded his life, and looked only to +the resources of his ingenuity to exhaust that strength, or at least +to reduce it to his own level. But the Turcoman was not there for the +play of the gladiator, with which he was little conversant. He repeated +his onsets, until finding himself baffled by the vigilance of his +antagonist, he turned his scymitar in his hand, and striking that of +<span class="pagenum">186</span> Bochari with the back of his weapon, +sent more than the half of it ringing into the stream. Then flinging +his own blade after it, he closed at once upon his dismayed opponent, +grasping him in his arms as the bear of Gundwana compresses the +panther when they meet over the same spoil, threatened to annihilate +him, and would probably have accomplished his purpose, if the raft, +over-balanced by their united weight, had not inclined to one side, +when both fell headlong into the foaming current.</p> + +<p>The combatants disappeared; but in a few moments their heads were +seen above the water, at a short distance below the boat, struggling +for breath, Afkun still holding Bochari powerless in one of his +muscular arms, while with the other he endeavoured to stem the rapidity +of the tide. The contest was no longer equal. The cavalry on the banks +witnessed the danger in which their chief was involved, but afraid to +fire while the antagonists were thus closely linked together, they +procured another boat, and hastened to Bochari’s assistance. Afkun, +still stemming his way to the further bank, plunged repeatedly with +his burden in the depths of the river, and it was not until he saw +the second <span class="pagenum">187</span> boat push forth from the +shore, and quickly gaining upon him, that diving once more, he returned +to the surface alone.</p> + +<p>The boatmen gave up Bochari as lost, when the soldiers in the +vessel, levelling their matchlocks at Afkun, sent forth a shower of +balls that ploughed the waters around him. But like the noble stag, +even when hard pressed by dogs and hunters in full pursuit, he held on +his way in stately pride, not looking once behind him, and urging his +limbs with unquailing energy through the flood, now that he could use +them without incumbrance, soon left the boat at a distance whence their +fire was of no avail, until touching the shelving bank, he strode it up +like a god emerging from his own dominion.</p> + +<p>Bochari re-appeared a few moments after, and was taken into the +boat, in a condition so feeble that he was at first supposed to be +lifeless. But being conveyed to the shore with the least possible +delay, he was stripped of all his garments, and covered with hot sand, +while the soles of his feet were rubbed with heated oil. The flickering +embers of existence were thus gradually retained and strengthened, +the glow came back to his pallid cheek, and his arms +<span class="pagenum">188</span> were again seen beating the air, as if +he were still engaged in the deadly strife from which he had just been +rescued. From that moment he never heard the name of Afkun repeated, +without feeling his frame incased in the icy shroud of death.</p> + +<p>The Turcoman’s first anxiety was to know what had become of the +prince. Nor was he long condemned to doubt upon that subject; while, +having ascended an eminence, he was still hesitating as to the +direction in which he should bend his steps, his beauteous steed, much +soiled with mud, came trotting towards him, neighing with delight +for having recovered its master. Looking along the bank whence the +animal had come, he perceived Chusero, and ran +<a href="#188b" id="188a">forward</a> eagerly to meet him. The prince +related, that having escaped with no small difficulty from the eddies +of the Rawee, in which he was for some time involved, he lost sight of +the rafts altogether, but that, keeping his way, as soon as he reached +the land, along the river be heard the discharge of fire-arms. He was +at no loss to conjecture at whom they were directed, and galloped on +with all speed until, without suspecting it, he entered a morass, where +<span class="pagenum">189</span> his horse sunk instantly to the +saddle. He threw himself off; the animal, with instinctive foresight of +its peril, swaying on its side, rolled over, and thus extricating its +limbs, cautiously retraced its steps, until it found a firm footing. At +that moment Afkun’s well-known figure presented itself upon the rising +ground.</p> + +<p>A brook, which formed one of the tributaries of the Rawee, enabled +them to cleanse the animal, who stood with joyous tranquillity in the +stream, while they applied the element to his limbs. Then mounting on +his back, and following the guidance of the river, they rode onward +night and day until they reached the gates of Lahore, which they +found closed, and vigilantly guarded, on account of the rumoured +approach of the imperial troops. The prince, on demanding admission, +was at once recognised by the sentinels, and entering the city, was +every where received with enthusiastic acclamations, notwithstanding +his recent disaster. The promises of fidelity made to him by the +garrison and the inhabitants, were renewed. They swore that they +would defend the town to the last; for besides the obligation they +had already contracted towards the prince, they apprehended from +the <span class="pagenum">190</span> mode in which the emperor, at +the instigation of Bochari, dealt with the prisoners who had fallen +into his hands, that they were to expect no mercy; that the town, +if unfortunately captured, would be given up to the pillage of the +imperial troops; that neither sex, nor age would be spared; and that +of the city itself not one stone would be permitted to remain upon +another.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R X I I --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">191</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_XII"> + CHAPTER XII. +</h2> + +<div class="cc"> +<p> + Watchmen! what of the night?<br> + Fearful noises come from the camp, my lord. +</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Hindoo Drama.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p>Nor were the rumours of the imperial wrath meditated to be +inflicted upon Lahore, nor of the terrible cruelties practised upon +the prisoners, by the orders of Bochari, exaggerated. The captive +chieftains of the insurgent force, who had not died of their wounds, +were condemned to various punishments, distinguished from each other, +according to the rank of the sufferers, by refinements of torture, +which the genius of Bochari had invented. Some were impaled, some +flayed alive, some condemned to wear <span class="pagenum">192</span> +wooden yokes, and perform menial services for the lowest followers of +the army; while others were thrown into the dens of wild beasts for +food, or trampled to death by the elephants.</p> + +<p>Such of the unhappy men as had not been able to make their escape +from the rafts and boats on the river, during the conflict between +Bochari and Afkun, were reserved for the special vengeance of the +Persian. It was said that he had resolved to cut them limb from +limb with his own hand, but that through the interposition of the +emperor, they were only drawn through the river until they were nearly +suffocated, and that then they were suspended from the branches of +trees with their heads downwards.</p> + +<p>The spectacle of these punishments, instead of shaking the fidelity +of the troops, in whose presence they were conducted, served to +animate them with fresh ardour for the attack which they were about +to make upon Lahore. They were informed that the public treasures, +accumulated in the vaults of the citadel, were incalculable; that the +wealth of the nobles and merchants, resident within the walls, was, of +itself, sufficient to enrich every individual in the army; that the +<span class="pagenum">193</span> granaries and stores overflowed with +provisions <a href="#193b" id="193a">of</a> every kind, and that all +these they should be at liberty to distribute amongst themselves, if +they should succeed in capturing the town. They received the official +license for universal plunder with shouts that rent the air, and called +upon the emperor to lead them without delay against the devoted walls, +within which all the available resources of the insurrection were +supposed to be now concentrated.</p> + +<p>Bochari passed through the lines, borne on an elephant, and further +gave orders, for which he had not received the sanction of Jehangire, +that when they entered Lahore, as he had no doubt they would do +triumphantly, they should put to death every man they met, armed +or unarmed; that they should drive into the temples the women and +children, fling combustibles amongst them, and sacrifice them to the +just anger of the violated laws. The captor, he added, who should bring +him Afkun alive, should, besides receiving ten elephant loads of gold, +be appointed viceroy of the best province of the empire. If he could +not be taken alive, the amount of gold just mentioned would +<span class="pagenum">194</span> be given for the head of that arch +leader of the rebellion.</p> + +<p>These communications were every where listened to with shouts of +“Long live Bochari!” which resounded through the whole army, as if the +war were henceforth to have for its principal object the gratification +of the implacable resentment excited in the breast of that commander, +by the disgrace he had suffered from the hands of Afkun, in the +presence of the imperial guards.</p> + +<p>The troops having arrived, by forced marches, within a short +distance of Lahore, proceeded, without delay, to establish their lines. +Their camp was pitched immediately behind a forest, which extended +on both sides of the Rawee to the north and east of the town, around +which they posted strong detachments, resolved, if they could not take +it by storm, to effect the destruction of the besieged by the more +tardy process of blockade. As soon as they could plant their artillery +in a favourable position, they opened a fire upon four of the twelve +gates by which the walls were divided; but having been defended on the +outside by large bundles of brambles chained together, the discharges +produced no effect. <span class="pagenum">195</span> Frequent attempts +were made on the part of the besiegers to set fire to these external +defences; soldiers, tempted by large sums of money, ran forward with +lighted torches for the purpose, but they were vigorously repulsed by +matchlockmen, who, sallying from small door-ways in the walls, met +them half way, and cut them down as fast as they approached. Women and +children were seen pouring down water upon the brambles, to protect +them from the burning missiles hurled from a distance.</p> + +<p>The imperial artillery next directed their guns against those +portions of the walls, extending between the towers, with a view to +effect breaches, through which storming parties might attempt to +effect an entrance. But the walls having been of great thickness, and +bulwarked on the inside by mounds of earth raised against them, the +largest balls which the besiegers could use rebounded, without causing +the slightest impression on those massive ramparts.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the guns of the citadel, as well as those planted on the +outer walls and towers, poured an incessant fire upon the assailants, +which, being steadily directed under the orders of Afkun, produced +considerable havoc amongst <span class="pagenum">196</span> the +imperialists, and prevented them from establishing any posts within the +nearer points which they had intended to occupy. Rockets and grenades +issuing from the citadel, as well as from the imperial camp, constantly +crossed each other in the sky, producing through the night especially, +a fearful illumination. Occasionally houses in the town were set on +fire by these messengers of destruction, but the river being at hand, +and numbers of the inhabitants being prepared with buckets, especially +set apart for that service, the conflagrations were subdued almost as +soon as they commenced.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the second night of the siege, the whole garrison +was thrown into alarm, by an enormous explosion, which took place in +the citadel. The inhabitants all ran out from their houses, which were +shaken to the foundation. At first the universal impression was, that +an earthquake had taken place, and that the hopes of the besiegers +were already accomplished by the interposition of that most awful of +all auxiliaries. But when, amidst the coruscations, which threw a +lurid flame through the skies, they beheld fragments of human beings +scattered in all directions, some <span class="pagenum">197</span> +without heads, some without arms, here shapeless trunks, there +mutilated limbs, intermixed with domestic utensils, broken beams of +wood, bricks and stones, which immediately fell to the earth again +amidst cries of woe that rent the air, they concluded that some of +the magazines of powder had either by accident, or by treachery, been +ignited, and that the enemy were already rushing in upon them in +overwhelming numbers.</p> + +<p>Instead of hastening to the ramparts, whither the dictates of duty +would have directed them, lamentable to relate, the mob collected by +this catastrophe, precipitated themselves upon the quarter of the +citadel where the houses were in ruins, and murdering every body who +offered any resistance, proceeded to plunder the habitations thus +exposed to their atrocious thirst for gold. The efforts of the prince +to check the banditti in their rage for prey of any kind, would have +been fatal to him, had not Afkun, with a select body of troops, arrived +at a seasonable moment to his assistance. Attacking the ruthless crowd +sword in hand, he hewed them down, until some pieces of artillery, +which he had ordered to follow him, were ranged across the street they +had occupied. Then suddenly <span class="pagenum">198</span> retiring +behind the guns, he applied the match himself to the cannon that was +nearest to him. Upon this signal being given, the whole street was +swept in a few minutes of the infamous offenders, who sought to avail +themselves of the confusion of such a scene, to spread wider, for their +own benefit, the havoc already too extensive.</p> + +<p>The besieging army, startled from sleep by the explosion that had +taken place in the citadel, and the tumult by which it was followed, +ignorant of the real cause of the firing which they heard, assumed +at once that the garrison had made a nocturnal attack upon the camp, +and prepared to defend themselves with all possible expedition. They +were, however, soon apprised, by their sentinels, that the firing was +altogether within the walls.</p> + +<p>Bochari was already mounted on his charger, and in council with +the emperor, who was also mounted, and surrounded by his staff. The +Persian then disclosed the fact, that he had succeeded in opening a +communication with a powerful party within the town (by which he meant +fifty omrahs, whom he had found means to corrupt by largesses and +promises of immense <span class="pagenum">199</span> plunder), that +it must have been through their instrumentality the powder-magazine, +in the citadel, had been ignited; but that, unfortunately, they had +done their appointed work prematurely, as it was his intention that it +should not take place until the next night, when the army was to be +prepared to follow it up by a general assault upon the town.</p> + +<p>“It is not yet too late,” said Jehangire, “to turn what has occurred +to our advantage. Have the torches been distributed?”</p> + +<p>“They have not,” answered Bochari; “but I shall see that done, if +your majesty will, in the mean time, ride through the camp, and give +the requisite orders for an immediate march upon the walls.”</p> + +<p>The emperor, adopting Bochari’s suggestion, rode through the +lines, where he found the men very generally on the alert; and after +directing that their pay should be doubled, ordered that they should +close upon the walls with a light but rapid pace, and in the most +profound silence. Torch-bearers were sent forward, by the care of +Bochari, to the foot of the walls, where the assault was intended to be +made; but with strict orders not to kindle the flambeaus until +<span class="pagenum">200</span> the ladders, which he had also +despatched, were erected.</p> + +<p>These preparations were completed by the time the banditti had been +dispersed in the citadel, and a body of upwards of twenty thousand men +were already within an arrow’s flight of the walls, on the Delhi side, +when the sentinels on the ramparts, whose attention had been hitherto +engrossed by the events occurring in the citadel, imagined that they +heard an unusual sound beneath them. Attributing it to the consequences +of the explosion, and apprehending no danger from the enemy, they were +slow to take the alarm.</p> + +<p>Afkun, however, when he saw that the banditti were about to +be disposed of in the way they deserved, anticipating a combined +movement on the part of the besiegers, to whose machinations he at +once attributed the explosion of the magazine, apprised the prince of +his suspicions, and suggested to him the expediency of an immediate +inspection of the ramparts. Chusero went in one direction, while +Afkun proceeded in another. It was the fortune of the latter to visit +the walls on the Delhi side; when hearing, from the sentinels, a +report <span class="pagenum">201</span> of the low noises that had +just reached their ears, he instantly desired them to fire in that +direction. The fire remained unreturned; but as the murmur without +seemed to approach nearer, Afkun ordered the trumpets to sound to +arms.</p> + +<p>In a few moments the garrison were all out; but before they could +take their stations on the ramparts, a thousand torches flung their +light upon as many ladders, up which men were crowding with desperate +courage. Some of the assailants had already surmounted the walls, and +were in conflict with the sentinels, who were almost all slain upon the +spot.</p> + +<p>Afkun leading on the first company of the garrison, which he could +embody for the purpose, ran against them with such impetuosity, that +most of those to whom he was opposed were precipitated over the +ramparts. This check, however, did not repress the continued lines of +men, who were seen ascending rapidly as far as the eye could reach.</p> + +<p>Chusero, on the other hand, hearing the alarm, placed himself at the +head of a large body of troops, and, hastening towards the Delhi gate, +perceived that all the danger was <span class="pagenum">202</span> +in that quarter. He was immediately in the thick of the assailants, +who fought with the most undaunted valour. It was difficult at such +a moment, the night being intensely dark, to distinguish between +friend and foe; but Afkun calling the prince to him, suggested that +they should let the enemy, already on the walls, rush on; in the mean +time direct the attention of the garrison only to the men who were +ascending the ladders, and occupy the ramparts in that direction with +masses, through which it would be impossible for any reinforcement to +penetrate. This suggestion being carried into immediate execution, he, +with a handful of men, went in pursuit of those who had already entered +the town. He found them, as he expected, hastening down to the Delhi +gate, with a view to open it to their friends. Attacking them sword in +hand, he drove them before him through the narrow street leading to +that gate, where, for nearly an hour, the conflict was maintained on +either side with an energy which no efforts seemed to exhaust.</p> + +<p>The imperialists being nearest to the gate, Afkun urged his men to +cut their way at all <span class="pagenum">203</span> hazards through +the enemy, in order to reach the gate before it could be opened. His +soldiers gallantly exerted themselves to fulfil his orders; but so +densely wedged within the narrow way were their adversaries, that it +became impossible for them to penetrate the living rampart.</p> + +<p>Chusero having succeeded in stopping the tide of the assailants, +directed the men on the ramparts, on either side of the Delhi gate, to +pour down their fire upon the enemy in the street, and also upon the +masses prepared on the outside to enter, the moment the gate should be +unbarred. But no danger—no slaughter, seemed to divert the imperialists +from their object. The enormous bolts of the gate were already drawn +back; the chains drawn across it were heard falling; the masses without +were pressing onwards with a force that seemed irresistible, when +Afkun, climbing up the rampart, leaped down in the space which the +enemy had cleared with difficulty, in order to let the gate be opened; +and placing his back against the iron bars, by which it was still +defended, he repelled the assailants.</p> + +<p>Chusero lost no time in following his example. A few noble and +faithful followers <span class="pagenum">204</span> were instantly +by their side, and the attack, being all at once renewed against the +enclosed enemy in front, on both sides, and in the rear, not a man +escaped to tell the emperor, how fearlessly they persevered in their +resolution to die or to accomplish the object he had entrusted to their +valour.</p> + +<p>The assault of the imperialists having thus failed, those who +were outside the walls retired in good order. When the morning came, +the space between their lines and the ramparts presented a terrible +array of victims, sacrificed to the crude plans of Jehangire and his +commander. Soon after the sun had risen, a cavalry-officer was seen +riding towards the walls, with his shield upon his back. He was, +therefore, permitted to approach; and, having signified, that he was +commissioned to propose a truce of three days, in order that the dead +should be removed, and burned, with the honours due to their gallantry, +the proposition was immediately acceded to by the prince, who was glad +to have some interval of repose, in order to repair and guard against +a recurrence of the disaster, which had placed the citadel in so much +danger.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R X I I I --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">205</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_XIII"> + CHAPTER XIII. +</h2> + +<div class="cc"> +<p> + “What ho? beware! In youthful strength and sport,<br> + The tiger, in the temple’s porch confined,<br> + Has burst his iron cage, and roams at large;<br> + With tail high waving, like a banner, vast<br> + And mighty limb, he stalks among the groves.<br> + From his deep throat he roars in thunder loud,<br> + And men and beasts fly trembling from the echo;<br> + Look to your lives—as best you may avoid him.” +</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Hindoo Drama.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2">Songs of triumph, aided by pipe and timbrel, acclamations +and expressions of boundless joy, greeted Afkun wherever, in the +performance of his duties, he moved through Lahore. Crowds of the +people watched for his approach, assembled before the house in which +he resided, or sought him out on the ramparts, in order to testify by +their applause the gratitude which <span class="pagenum">206</span> +they owed him as their deliverer from the two-fold perils, by which +the safety of the town had been menaced on the preceding night. No +language, they very truly declared, could exaggerate the praises which +he had earned, no reward could adequately compensate the heroic actions +which he had performed on that eventful night; and they one and all +hailed him as future viceroy of the province, should the fortune of war +ultimately enable them to destroy the forces against which they had to +contend.</p> + +<p>Afkun, in the few and modest words of a soldier, thanked the +people for the honours they conferred upon him. “He had adopted,” he +said, “the cause of their prince, from a feeling that he was thereby +serving the best interests of the empire; and having so determined +the line of his duties, he had only to execute them to the best of +his ability. He fully depended on the loyalty, and zeal, and bravery +of the garrison and inhabitants, but he warned them that treason +was secretly at work, which, unless it were actively watched and +resisted, might, notwithstanding all their exertions, deprive them of +the fruits of the victory which they had already achieved.” +<span class="pagenum">207</span></p> + +<p>The prince appointed the second day of the truce to hold his +court in the splendid palace of the citadel, in order to receive +the congratulations of the nobility and merchants, the officers and +regiments of the garrison, and the great mass of the people of Lahore, +upon the auspicious events which had, to a great degree, repaid him +for the calamitous results of the battle on the Sutledge. It was +to be a day of universal rejoicing throughout the city, but by the +prudent precautions of Afkun provision was made, that no relaxation of +discipline should take place on the ramparts, so as to afford to the +enemy any chance of advantage during the festival. He had no faith, he +declared, in the honour of the man who, unhappily, held Jehangire under +his absolute control. If Bochari could find an opening by night or day +into Lahore, he would pay no regard whatever to the truce, and the only +sure way of causing it to be strictly observed, was to preserve the +strictest vigilance at all the assailable points.</p> + +<p>The morning was ushered in by a salute of artillery from the +citadel, and by peals of trumpets from all the regiments of the +garrison, who were drawn out upon the ramparts arrayed +<span class="pagenum">208</span> in their best attire. The omrahs and +wealthy inhabitants were seen moving from all quarters of the town +in their palanquins, or mounted on splendidly caparisoned horses or +elephants, towards the palace, where they were received by the prince, +seated on a jewelled throne. In order to pay peculiar honour to Afkun, +it was arranged that fifty of the nobles should attend him on foot +from his residence—a large mansion near the Delhi gate—to the citadel, +in processional order, and that his palanquin should be borne by them +in turn. Afkun would have very much preferred, soldier-like, to have +mounted his horse and proceeded, without any show, to the palace; he +did not much relish the over-eager zeal in his favour which some of the +omrahs about to attend him had exhibited, and who, had he listened to +their flattering proposals, would have exalted him in a triumphal car, +or rather in a kind of golden cage, which they had decorated for the +purpose. The time, however, pressed, and ascending a palanquin, the +procession marched forward, followed by an immense crowd of the people, +who kept up an incessant shouting as they passed through the streets +leading to the citadel.<span class="pagenum">209</span></p> + +<p>It happened, as the procession turned the corner of a narrow street, +that they met a train of elephants, apparently on their way to the +Rawee for a supply of water. The driver urged them forward, without any +regard to the crowd before him. Two or three persons had been already +trodden to death. The elephants were still goaded on. The procession +was thrown into confusion, the palanquin was overturned, and the noble +bearers were obliged to fly to save their lives. Afkun, perceiving the +danger in which he was involved, drew a short sword, which always hung +by his side, and striking the first elephant he met across the root of +the trunk, he cut it off at one blow. The animal, turning from him, +fell down with an appalling roar, and expired. He then directed the +drivers to go back by the way they came, adding that if they did not +forthwith obey his orders, he would slay them on the spot. The men, +terrified by the unparalleled exhibition of strength which they had +just witnessed, were too happy to be allowed to escape on the proposed +condition, and the street having been cleared of what many thought to +be a premeditated interruption, Afkun, attended only by the people, +walked to <span class="pagenum">210</span> the palace, where he was +received by the vast assemblage already collected, with repeated +shouts of exultation, and a royal salute from the guns in the battery. +Chusero, rising from his throne, placed the warrior on the highest +step, amidst the renewed acclamations of the court and the people.</p> + +<p>The whole garrison under arms then passed in review before the +prince, with his banners flying, and their drums, and cymbals, and +various musical instruments, playing martial airs, to which the people +occasionally added the swelling chorus of their triumphant shouts, as +the different regiments, especially those which had most distinguished +themselves in resisting the late assault of the enemy, appeared in the +brilliant line.</p> + +<p>When the review was over, the prince was informed that the +authorities of the town had prepared a combat of wild beasts to +celebrate the day, and that the animals were already about to enter the +arena. Chusero, attended by Afkun and the court, immediately adjourned +to the amphitheatre of the palace, where those entertainments were +usually held. It was an <span class="pagenum">211</span> immense +circular edifice open to the heavens, with benches of solid marble +ranged all round, capable of affording seats to upwards of twenty +thousand spectators. The arena was enclosed within a circle of strong +wooden palisades, high enough, as it was thought, to prevent any +animal, however powerful in limb or enraged by passion, from leaping +over it, and endangering the lives of any of the spectators.</p> + +<p>The amphitheatre was crowded to the top with every order of the +inhabitants. The twelve doors of the arena having been all at once +thrown open, a host of wild beasts rushed forward instantly from the +dark dens behind them, and meeting in the centre, overthrew, or were +overthrown by those they met, in their first impetuous exercise of +the freedom allowed them. Like insane creatures, they pursued each +other round the arena, taking no notice whatever of the multitude of +human beings gazing down upon them from all sides. Panthers, jackals, +lions, tigers, bears, wolves, immense antelopes, wild horses, bulls, +hyenas, wild dogs, caracals, and buffaloes, were seen in terrible +confusion attacking or resisting, pursuing or pursued, +<span class="pagenum">212</span> each foaming with anger, and uttering +in its peculiar cry the sensations of fear, or the impulses of hunger, +by which it was actuated.</p> + +<p>The horses were soon ripped open by the horns of the wild bulls. The +prostrate animals became immediately the prizes for which not only the +bulls, but the lions, tigers, dogs, and wolves, contended. The battle +was fought with terrible fury. Several of the beasts crouched away from +the scene, and waited the result, as if they expected to be the next +victims themselves. The horses were torn piecemeal, limb from limb; and +as each unsatiated fighter returned for a fresh supply, the combat was +renewed with augmented energy. The floor of the arena torn up, streamed +with blood. It was sometimes altogether hidden from the spectators by +the clouds of dust, which rolled upwards in thick volumes.</p> + +<p>The larger animals, at length enfeebled by the loss of blood, from +the wounds which they inflicted on each other, or exhausted by the +efforts which they made in self-defence, lay down in different parts +of the arena; while the lesser beasts crept out from their lurking +places, with a stealthy trembling pace, to snatch a portion +<span class="pagenum">213</span> of the fragments which still remained +undevoured. From these enjoyments they were speedily scared by an +enormous tiger, who rushed forth, fresh from one of the dens, having +been manifestly reserved for the conclusion of the exhibition. There +was no antagonist to meet him in the arena. A voice cried out, “Who, +among you, will advance singly, and attack this tiger?”</p> + +<p>The omrahs, on the benches of the nobles, looked on each other in +silence. The people all turned their eyes on Afkun, at once fearful +lest, by accepting the challenge, he should expose to danger a life so +precious to them at that moment, and yet confident that he would not +suffer his valour to be doubted by permitting such a question to pass +unanswered.</p> + +<p>Three omrahs—three of the very men who had fled from his palanquin, +when it was overturned on his way to the palace, starting from their +seats, proclaimed their readiness, with the prince’s permission, to try +their strength successively against the raging animal, who had already +caused considerable alarm, by attempting to leap the barrier. In one +of his springs, he actually gained the top of the palisade; +<span class="pagenum">214</span> but losing his footing, he fell +backward. Another bound might be more successful; his destruction +became necessary to the safety of the assembly.</p> + +<p>The proposal of the omrahs touched the pride of Afkun. They called +for the long swords which the gladiators generally used on such +occasions, and the first of them was apparently about to descend into +the arena, when the Turcomanian, who had derived his title from his +celebrated victory over a lion in his early youth, spoke out.</p> + +<p>“To attack an animal with weapons,” said he, “is both unmanly and +unfair. God has given to man limbs and sinews, as well as to tigers: he +has added reason to the former to conduct his strength.”</p> + +<p>The omrahs objected, “that all men were inferior to the tiger in +strength, and that he could be conquered only by steel.”</p> + +<p>“I will convince you of your mistake,” replied Afkun, who, putting +down his sword on the bench, jumped unarmed into the arena.</p> + +<p>A cry of terror ran through the whole assembly; but the contest +becoming now inevitable, all eyes looked down upon Afkun with +<span class="pagenum">215</span> breathless anxiety. The beasts that +had lain feverish and fatigued in the arena, awed by the lustre of his +countenance, arose, and retiring to the boundary, made way for this new +combatant. The tiger alone seemed unappalled. Backing, as far as he +could, he couched to the earth, and gazing fiercely upon his adversary, +who stood undaunted before him, sprang upon him with dreadful energy. +Afkun, holding both his hands clenched firmly before him, repelled +the attack, but not without some loss of blood, the foreclaws of the +animal having lacerated the fleshy part of his arms. In the rebound, +the tiger fell upon his side. The Turcomanian, well experienced in that +species of war, before the animal could recover his position, grasped +his hind leg, and turning him on his back, dragged him thrice round +the arena, the infuriated creature vainly exerting its utmost power of +resistance.</p> + +<p>Afkun having thus, in some degree, broken the strength and +courage of his antagonist, left him near the barrier. Again the +animal couched; but just as he was about to spring, the warrior, +taking a slight circuit, ran in upon him with wonderful agility, and +struck him with his foot so violently on the left ribs, that +<span class="pagenum">216</span> he drove three of them into the +intestines. The animal howled with agony, but still unconquered he rose +and pursued his foe, who retired, his face towards the beast, until he +felt his back against the palisades. The tiger, leaping in the air, +rushed upon him with distended jaws. Trembling fears, reaching almost +to despair, were pictured in every countenance, with the exception of +the three omrahs, who seemed to rejoice in the peril which awaited +Afkun. But their hopes were short-lived. Afkun elevated himself above +the tiger, grasping an upright of the barrier with one hand, then +plunging the other into the foaming gulph beneath him, wrenched the +tongue from its roots, as if it were but a sapling, and flung it +into the middle of the arena. The tiger fell heavily on the earth, +the blood gushing from his mouth, and with a groan, that shook the +whole amphitheatre, expired. A peal of joy burst from the multitude, +who, rising as one man, unbound their girdles, and waving them over +their heads, cheered the victor with louder and louder shouts, while +he returned to his seat, his features as calm as if he had only been +sporting in the meadows with a gazelle.</p> + +<p>The three omrahs looked at each other, pale +<span class="pagenum">217</span> and downcast with disappointment. +Chusero, who received his friend with open arms, noticed their feelings +towards him, but attributed it to envy of such matchless bravery, +strength, and skill combined. Others, however, perceived in their +conduct, coupled with what had occurred in the morning, a still baser +motive—a motive that would have identified them as the purchased agents +of Bochari. The authorities of the city having been questioned as to +their preparations for such shows, at a moment when the presence of +the enemy might well have absorbed their attention in other matters, +replied that they knew nothing whatever of the arrangements that had +been made for the arena. Suspicions of treachery arose on all sides +against the three omrahs, who would doubtless have been sacrificed to +the rage of the people, had they not immediately disappeared.</p> + +<p>As Afkun was returning to his house from the amphitheatre, a +dervish approached him, and warned him to be on his guard, for that +designs were entertained against his life, which it would require +the strictest caution upon his part to frustrate. The Turcomanian +treated the communication with the indifference of a +<span class="pagenum">218</span> man to whom the sensation of fear +never was known. He was surrounded by no guards—his servants, according +to custom, retired at night, each to his own home. After inspecting the +ramparts, and desiring that he should be sent for upon the slightest +appearance of movement from without, he retired late at night to his +couch. He was scarcely asleep, when forty assassins suddenly entered +his apartment from an upper room, in which, through the negligence, or +co-operation of the porter, they had been enabled to conceal themselves +during the early part of the night. Their daggers were about to descend +upon him, when, one of the band, a veteran soldier, who had witnessed +the battle in the arena, struck with shame, cried out, “Hold! let us +behave like men! What? Though we have the imperial orders—though the +prize is great—shall forty fall upon one, and that one asleep?”</p> + +<p>“Bravely spoken!” exclaimed Shere, who, on the instant starting from +his bed, seized his sword, and placing himself in a corner of the room, +awaited the attack of the ruffians. In a few minutes, three of them who +rushed in upon him, lay weltering in their blood at his feet. <span +class="pagenum">219</span> Several others were wounded—the rest fled in +dismay—the veteran soldier excepted, who confessed that they had been +hired by the three omrahs to take away his life, and to deliver to them +his head, for which they were to receive three elephant loads of gold +as their reward. The omrahs, he added, shewed them a proclamation from +the emperor, in which an enormous price was set upon his person, living +or dead. Shere took him gratefully by the hand, praised him for his +generous conduct, and dismissed him with handsome presents, to relate +through the town the particulars of what had just occurred.</p> + +<p>In the morning, the intelligence of this new attempt, the third +that was made in the course of twelve hours, upon the existence of +their gallant defender, filled the garrison and inhabitants of Lahore +with the greatest indignation. They assembled in crowds before his +house, and entreated him to lead them at once against an enemy, +whom no feelings of honour, no respect for the laws of war, no +veneration for true heroism could prevent from having recourse to base +stratagems, unworthy of the lowest race of mankind. Afkun received +their expressions of sympathy and admiration with just pride, but +<span class="pagenum">220</span> he would disdain, he said, to follow +the example of such an enemy, by violating the truce. He would not +believe that the proclamation, of which they had heard, was the work of +Jehangire. It proceeded, doubtless, from the hand already imbrued in +the blood of Fazeel—the most illustrious man whom Hindostan had ever +seen.</p> + +<p>“May justice strike the murderer!” shouted the multitude.</p> + +<p>“Is it to be tolerated,” asked Afkun, “that such a fiend as this +should be the ruler of the empire, for he whom that low-born Persian +calls emperor, is but a bauble in his hands!”</p> + +<p>“Down with Bochari!” they answered: “vengeance on his guilty +head—the tyrant—the murderer of Fazeel—the assassin, if he could be, of +Afkun!”</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R X I V --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">221</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_XIV"> + CHAPTER XIV. +</h2> + +<div class="cc"> +<p> + Dread not though singly he contend with multitudes,<br> + To such as he—odds are of little moment—<br> + He needs no succour but his own right arm,<br> + Resistless as the lion, when delightedly<br> + He rings his clashing claws, and cleaves asunder<br> + The elephant’s broad temples. +</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Hindoo Drama.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2">The three days of truce demanded, and unhappily obtained +by the imperialists, under the pretext of burning their dead, for which +as many hours would have been sufficient, were not intended to be spent +in idleness. Finding that in Afkun they had no ordinary foe to contend +against, that the inhabitants were determined in their resistance, that +supplies of provisions did not reach the camp adequate to the wants +of so <span class="pagenum">222</span> large an army, and that they +would be soon under the necessity of raising the siege, unless some +extraordinary measures were adopted, Bochari arranged with omrahs, +resident within the walls, with whom he carried on intercourse by means +of spies, the several attempts upon Afkun’s life, which, however, the +indomitable strength and valour of the Turcomanian had defeated.</p> + +<p>It is but justice to Jehangire to observe, that when these mean +stratagems were hinted or talked of in the council, for they were +not made the subject of any discussion or resolution in that body, +both he and Auzeem uniformly discountenanced them. But Bochari took +every thing upon himself. Whenever he discovered that any plan which +he had conceived was likely to meet with resistance, he immediately +avoided any further show of carrying it on. Regardless of personal +responsibility, he persevered in his own course, whatever it was, +acting nevertheless in the name of the emperor, as if he had obtained +the assent of Jehangire to all his schemes.</p> + +<p>Auzeem felt as strongly as Bochari the necessity of reducing Lahore, +or of abandoning <span class="pagenum">223</span> the siege, with +all possible expedition. The idea of taking it by storm, after the +specimen of resistance the imperialists had already encountered, seemed +hazardous in the extreme. Observing, however, that the river Rawee, +upon which the inhabitants almost entirely depended for their supply +of water, might be diverted from its natural channel, by excavating a +passage for it, partly in the forest above the town, partly behind the +lines of the beseigers, and permitting it again to enter its own bed at +some distance below the walls, Auzeem proposed that during the truce +twenty thousand men should be employed in forming a canal for that +purpose. The idea was a bold one, and upon a survey of the ground being +made, it was found so practicable, that the men were set to work upon +it without delay. Their labours having been carried on day and night, +not only without interruption, but even without suspicion, on the part +of the besieged, the excavation was completed during the night of the +third day of the truce.</p> + +<p>A canal was formed sufficiently wide and deep to receive the +whole volume of the Rawee, nearly a league above Lahore, and to +convey it to one of its own tributaries, which entered the +<span class="pagenum">224</span> old channel at about the same distance +below the town where the descent was so rapid that no danger existed +of any part of the water finding its way upwards. It became necessary, +however, to throw a dam across the ordinary bed of the river, which +was effected by driving stakes into it, and filling the interstices +with rocks and hard clay, so as to prevent any portion of the water +from making its escape in its wonted direction. This latter operation, +however, occupied the besiegers some hours beyond the period of the +truce.</p> + +<p>The vigilance of Afkun suffered nothing connected with the defence +of the town to escape his attention. His preparations for meeting +a fresh assault were fully arranged on the morning after the three +days had elapsed. As he was crossing the wooden bridge, however, +which led over the Rawee, in the middle of Lahore, he observed that +the river had fallen considerably below its margin. He mentioned the +circumstance to a group of the inhabitants, who happened to be standing +on the bridge; but as they did not attach any great importance to the +circumstance, attributing it to the heats which had already set in +with great violence, <span class="pagenum">225</span> he passed on to +the ramparts. His eyes were directed on all sides to the lines of the +besiegers; he found them strongly occupied, but exhibiting no symptoms +of a renewal of any thing like a general, or even a partial assault. +Nevertheless, he imagined, from the bustle which he occasionally +detected beyond the lines, and from the numerous parties which he saw +in motion here and there, that operations were in progress either for +raising the siege, or for carrying into effect some other purpose, +which he could not at the moment divine.</p> + +<p>Afkun’s suspicions having been excited, he sent for the prince, and, +accompanied by him, walked back to the bridge, where he ascertained +that the river was still lower than when he first observed it. He +immediately ordered the Rawee to be sounded, and having convinced +himself that the volume of its waters was rapidly failing, he apprized +the people of their danger, and directed them forthwith to bring every +vessel they could lay their hands upon, to fill all the reservoirs +of the town and citadel, and to be as frugal as possible in their +consumption of the vital element, until measures could be taken for +<span class="pagenum">226</span> frustrating this new attempt upon the +part of the enemy to compel the town to surrender.</p> + +<p>The intelligence that the river was somewhere stopped in its course, +spread with the rapidity of lightning through all parts of Lahore. The +people, alarmed lest they should be deprived of the most essential of +all things, especially at such a season, when the sun was raging in +the sky, and pouring down its fire upon the town as from a glowing +furnace, were seized with an universal panic. Instead of proceeding +methodically, as Afkun had directed them, to secure as much of the +ebbing stream as they could, while any portion of it remained, they +rushed into the channel with their pitchers, and such small earthen +vessels as they could carry in their hands, and rendered the water so +muddy by their improvident haste, that they destroyed the only chance +which they possessed of securing a supply even for the coming night. +By noon the river was completely dried up, and when the sun set, the +channel was as hardened as the footway of the most frequented street in +Lahore.</p> + +<p>The slender provision which the inhabitants had thus allowed +themselves to make, of an element without which existence could not +go on <span class="pagenum">227</span> above a few hours at the +utmost, was quickly exhausted, the very fear of losing it having even +accelerated its consumption beyond the ordinary proportions. The public +fountains were surrounded by multitudes, who, instead of waiting for +the regular supply, such as it was, contended with each other in +breaking down the marble ornaments, in order to get at the stream +within, which was wholly inadequate to their wants.</p> + +<p>As the evening advanced, the contests at the wells throughout the +town, whether public or private, became dreadful. Mothers, with infants +in their arms, and followed by troops of children, fainting for the +want of water, fought against each other with a degree of fury which +seemed to belong to the region of condemned spirits, for a portion +of water that would scarcely fill the hollow of the hand. This when +obtained, they gave at once to the infant at the breast, their natural +sources having been dried up by the excitement of the scenes in which +they were engaged. When the cries of the infants were allayed, those of +the other children became still more urgent. They lay upon the earth in +piles, most of them unable to express <span class="pagenum">228</span> +their wants in any language save that of mournful and incessant +wailings, which drove the mothers, already miserable and exhausted by +their exertions, to madness. Besides the hostilities which they had +to carry on against each other for precedence at the few wells that +still yielded a scanty supply, they had soon fiercer enemies, even than +their own sex to encounter, in the numerous troops of dogs congregating +around them.</p> + +<p>Wherever blood was shed, and in many parts of the town it +might have been seen in streams all the night, these unfortunate +animals, possessing no masters, and accustomed to band together for +self-defence, rushed upon the red torrents, which they speedily drank +up. Fired by the taste of the grateful liquid, and by the thirst which, +on that fatal night, and the greater part of the next day, preyed upon +all living creatures within the walls, these rabid outlaws fearlessly +attacked every thing that came in their way. The results were awful. +The howl of insanity was heard in every direction. Men, women, and +children, as if suddenly struck by the sword of the destroying angel, +became simultaneously victims of this <span class="pagenum">229</span> +new pestilence. They ran up and down the streets, wild with anguish. +The inhuman sounds which they uttered—now resembling the barking of +blood-hounds—now the fierce cry of the jackall—now the agonizing moan +of the wild bull, when stung to the heart by swarms of the gadfly, gave +to the other accumulating horrors of the scene so painful a character, +that captivity, torture, death itself, seemed preferable to existence +in such a place.</p> + +<p>Those of the inhabitants who still retained the power to move, +collecting in a body, rushed out through one of the gates, along the +dry bed of the river, until they arrived at the spot, where it again +received the flowing waters. They hastened headlong into the flood. +Many were drowned—many drinking too copiously of the element in the +midst of the fever, which prevented them from knowing what they did, +perished instantly, the vital current being at once repelled from the +heart. Those whom the waters did not destroy, were easily overcome +by the enemy, who, having assembled in force, attacked and slew them +without mercy.</p> + +<p>Chusero gave up all hope of retaining the town, under these +circumstances. But the resolution <span class="pagenum">230</span> +of Afkun was not so to be subdued. At all events he determined that, +if possible, Lahore should not be given up to the mere mercy of the +imperialists. Collecting at night the principal part of the garrison, +he explained to them that the river must have been intercepted in +its course, by a mound thrown across it, somewhere above the town. +The forest which lay in that direction, and the works raised by the +besiegers, prevented him from ascertaining the precise spot where +that mound must have been erected; but the difficulties of the hour +admitted of no deliberation. Military weapons were now of no further +use. Hatchets, pickaxes, spades, torches, were the only arms of which +they stood in need. He appeared himself, equipped with a massive iron +club in one hand, and a lighted flambeau in the other, and having +already collected from the citadel all the instruments of the kind just +mentioned, which it contained, he bade the soldiers take them up and +follow him.</p> + +<p>The imperialists were on the watch for a movement of this +description. They were, therefore, prepared to defend the mound, +as well as to take advantage of the opening of the +<span class="pagenum">231</span> gate in that direction. Their +calculations upon the latter point were foreseen, however, by Afkun. +They might have easily penetrated the town in the opposite quarter, had +they reached the gate in time, during the rush of the populace to the +lower part of the Rawee. But before Afkun quitted the town, he closed +that gate with his own hand, and confided the care of the portal, +through which he was now about to lead his forlorn hope, to the valour +of Chusero.</p> + +<p>Out went ten thousand men in the depths of the night, armed only +as the Turcomanian had directed, animated by the sufferings they were +enduring, to a degree that fitted them to meet any perils. When the +last man passed the gate the prince was there to bar it again, and +to encourage, by his presence, his patience, and his gallantry, the +remnants of the guard that still survived the general calamity. Moving +in a solid mass, the followers of Afkun no sooner reached the forest +than they lighted their torches, and set fire to the trees. These were +chiefly pine, and having been rendered particularly inflammable by the +prevalent heats, the whole forest was immediately in conflagration +<span class="pagenum">232</span> on both sides of the bed of the +Rawee. The men advanced, unflinching, through the blaze, until they +arrived near the mound, whence a hundred pieces of artillery were +discharged upon them. Their ranks, though ploughed through, still moved +on, reckless of all danger. Again the volley was repeated; but the +fevered men heard above its thunder the rushing of the waters, of which +they were in search, and hurrying onward with a quickened but steady +and resolute pace, attacked the mound with their pick-axes.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the forest burning far and wide, attracted the +attention of the besiegers, and filled them with alarm for the safety +of the camp, should the wind bear the flame in that direction. Their +apprehensions were soon realized. The night breeze from the river +blew along the new channel, and carried with it showers of ignited +fragments, which fell among the tents and bazaars. All hands were +called upon to pull down the tents, many of which were already on +fire, or consumed like a scroll of parchment. The army was thrown +into confusion. The plans, so well arranged by the council for taking +advantage of all probable <span class="pagenum">233</span> movements +on the part of the besieged when driven to despair, were rendered of no +avail. There was nobody to carry them into effect—all were occupied in +looking to their own safety.</p> + +<p>Afkun was the first to ascend the mound. Regardless of the gunners, +whose office soon became useless, as his surviving followers were +already engaged in undermining the dam on which the artillery was +planted, he drove his iron mace between two of the stakes, and +loosening them, until they yielded to his hand, he pulled them out of +the bed of the river as if they were bulrushes. He proceeded, in the +same manner, to remove one stake after another, while the pickaxes, +spades, and hatchets, resounded along the pile incessantly. His next +care was to remove the cannon to the banks of the river, and to point +them against the mound. As soon as he saw, by the flames around him, +that it was sufficiently weakened, he directed his men to withdraw, +and place themselves at the guns which the imperialists had abandoned. +A single discharge of the battery was sufficient to shake the wall to +its foundation, when the <span class="pagenum">234</span> whole mass, +yielding to the pressure of the flood, disappeared.</p> + +<p>The joy of these brave men, when they beheld the triumphant result +of their labours; the feeling, that to their perishing parents, +children, and relatives—to all their partners in calamity—they had been +the means of restoring existence, and with it new courage and hope—gave +them temperance in the enjoyment of the delicious waters of which +they had been so unexpectedly deprived. Under the direction, and the +example, of their leader, they at first bathed in the stream—a course +by which they found their thirst effectually slaked. They then drank +without danger of excess. Thus refreshed, they hastened back to Lahore, +where they were received at the dawn of day by all the assembled +people, who lavished upon them tokens of admiration for their valour, +and of affection for their services, which no rewards could repay.</p> + +<p>The banks of the Rawee, within the town, were crowded all the day +by the aged men, the matrons, and their children, who remained by its +flowing waters, to assure themselves that the intelligence of its +return <span class="pagenum">235</span> was no deception. Now that +the precaution was no longer necessary, they felt a pleasure in taking +to their homes abundant supplies of the copious element; when fatigued +with their exertions, they still revisited the stream, carrying with +them their mandolins and tabors, to the sounds of which the youths +danced and sang; while their happy parents sat in circles around them, +as if they were celebrating a festival. When the dance and the song +were over, they suspended their instruments upon the dependent branches +of the adjacent trees, and slumbered beneath the pleasant shade, or +sported with the dimpling tide, until their senses became once more +familiarised to its music.</p> + +<p>Amidst all the congratulations, however, poured in upon him by the +inhabitants, for rescuing them from the horrors which they had lately +suffered, Afkun could not conceal from himself the impression, that +they were much more apprehensive of a reconstruction of the mound, +than of any other disaster which could befall them. Their fears upon +that subject, when yielded to for a moment, assumed an appearance of +unnatural excitement, blinding all power of judgment, and suppressing +every <span class="pagenum">236</span> sentiment of loyalty to him, +whose cause now depended chiefly on their allegiance. Of the ten +thousand choice men of the garrison, who had sallied out to overthrow +the dam, scarcely half the number returned. The havoc made in the +garrison, and amongst the able-bodied of the people, by the want of +water, during the dreadful days and nights they had just passed, was +irreparable.</p> + +<p>He was not unapprised of the state of the besieging army—of +their want of provisions—of the confusion into which they had been +thrown by the firing of the forest, amidst which they were encamped. +But the latter evil admitted of a speedy remedy—indeed he saw, by +the restoration of the tents, and re-organization of the besieging +lines, that the discipline of the imperialists, though for a while +endangered, was soon re-established. The deficiency of supplies would +urge them to desperate efforts. Should they succeed in capturing the +town, their vengeance would be insatiable—the calamities, which the +faithful inhabitants had just sustained, would only be exchanged for +extermination.</p> + +<p>The prince was also fully sensible of the +<span class="pagenum">237</span> difficulties, which any attempt to +hold the town much longer presented. The control which the imperialists +possessed over the Rawee, whenever they might choose to exercise it, +was alone sufficient to destroy his hope of permanent success, if he +were to confine himself within its walls. His emissaries, moreover, +brought him intelligence, that a division of the enemy had received +orders to march for Cashmere—his only remaining resource. Should they +arrive there before Afkun, the consequences would be fatal. He felt +that he owed to the people of Lahore a debt of gratitude, which he +could never repay. They had adhered to him under circumstances, such +as never before had tested the fidelity of a town besieged. The moment +had arrived, he thought, when a capitulation might be obtained upon the +most favourable terms; if so, the interests of the inhabitants, which +he very much preferred to his own, required that arrangements for that +purpose should be made without delay.</p> + +<p>Upon communicating with the principal authorities of the town, +Chusero and Afkun had the satisfaction to learn that they, as +well as the leading inhabitants, were prepared to hold +<span class="pagenum">238</span> out to the last, if such were the wish +of the prince; but that if no real benefits were likely to arise from +a prolongation of their resistance, they would take it upon themselves +to arrange for a surrender, as soon as they should be assured of the +safety of the prince, and of his valiant champion.</p> + +<p>“You,” they said, “can never expect to make a capitulation, which +will not include your own submission; and then you would be in the +hands of a man—that odious Persian—from whom you could expect no mercy. +Betake yourselves, therefore, to Cashmere, while yet you may—your +presence there is of infinitely more importance than it can be any +longer in Lahore; and should you ultimately succeed in rescuing the +empire from the sway of that tyrant, be confident that the people of +Lahore will be among the first to hail your triumph, and to rally round +your throne.”</p> + +<p>Chusero and Afkun were deeply affected by these natural and fervent +expressions of attachment; and being upon further reflection convinced +that the course thus suggested, was the right one, they took an +affectionate farewell of their friends, and at midnight, disguised as +dervishes, <span class="pagenum">239</span> passing through a postern +door of one of the towers of the fortifications, bent their footsteps +towards Cashmere.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon of the next day, the authorities sent a messenger, +with his shield on his back, to the camp of the imperialists, to +announce that they were ready either to capitulate upon honourable +terms, or to defend the town while a handful of rice remained in +their granaries; that they had abundant supplies both of rice and +wheat, which they would place at the emperor’s disposal, but that +there should be a complete amnesty for the past, and that no plunder +should be permitted on any account. Bochari, upon being informed that +the prince and Afkun were no longer in Lahore, refused to listen to a +proposal for a capitulation upon any terms. But on this occasion, the +more prudent councils of Auzeem, supported as they were by the clement +disposition of Jehangire, who felt at all times for the sufferings of +his people, fortunately prevailed; and Auzeem took care that the terms +of the surrender, which were eventually arranged as the authorities had +proposed, should be inviolably observed.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R X V --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">240</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_XV"> + CHAPTER XV. +</h2> + +<div class="cc"> +<p> + The russet suit of camel’s hair,<br> + With spirits light, and eye serene,<br> + Is dearer to my bosom far,<br> + Than all the trappings of a queen. +</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Maisuna.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p>Although the tidings of the entire destruction of the Cashmere +auxiliaries had reached his province before Afkun’s return, +nevertheless upon his arrival at his castle, which he and Chusero +reached in safety, shortly after their departure from Lahore, he was +received with tokens of universal satisfaction. The many families who +had to mourn the loss of kindred and friends, were speedily reconciled +to the decrees of fate; and they deemed it the highest mark of honour +which the young prince could confer upon Cashmere, that he now sought +<span class="pagenum">241</span> within its precincts protection, and +relied upon its generosity for new resources.</p> + +<p>Nourmahal received her consort with more ardour than she had +ever before exhibited towards him. Though defeated at the Sutledge +by overwhelming force, and through the fatal want of discipline +manifested by Man-Singh and his Rajaputs, yet no tidings of that +great battle had reached her ear, which spoke not of the subah of +Cashmere as still the bravest among the brave. The fame of his actions +in Lahore,—of his defence, single-handed, of the gate, when it was +upon the point of being opened by the enemy,—of his ready valour when +about to be trampled down by the elephants,—of his exhibition of +undaunted courage and unequalled strength in the arena,—his defeat +of the forty assassins, and above all, of his enterprize in breaking +down the barrier which the imperialists had thrown across the Rawee, +had preceded him to Cashmere. The people were proud of his renown. +Nourmahal could not be insensible to the marks of warm and genuine +affection lavished upon her by such a husband. Her heart, always +generous, though too true to its first-born impulse of passion, +<span class="pagenum">242</span> taught her that it was her duty to do +every thing that depended upon her exertions, to cheer him under the +disappointments he had experienced, and to aid him in his efforts to +repair them.</p> + +<p>Her first interview with Chusero, however, ruffled not a little this +train of dutiful thought and feeling. He was not at all like Jehangire +in person, or in feature; but when he spoke, there was a peculiar +expression about his eyes, which restored irresistibly to her mind, +thoughts she ought never to have known. His delicately fair hands,—his +long tapering fingers, were exactly those of the emperor; besides, +there were intonations in his voice, when he spoke with any degree of +vivacity, which came upon her ear like a spell that baffled all her +resolutions.</p> + +<p>For resolutions Nourmahal had made, during the absence of her +husband, to conquer what she could not but deem the unhallowed fire +that ever since her marriage had burned in her breast, and acquired +more intensity every day. She was not forced into this union by any +harshness of superior authority. Never was a daughter so beloved +by parents, so tenderly cherished as she. What wish had she +<span class="pagenum">243</span> ever formed, that had not been +anticipated by their ever vigilant affection? What desire could she +express, which it would not have been their highest gratification to +promote? Contrary to the usages of Hindostan, had she not been left to +her own unrestrained, unbiassed dispositions, to receive or decline the +tender of Afkun’s heart? Her affiance, was it not the result of her own +free consent, and her final union, the necessary consequence of that +act?</p> + +<p>“But what a world was disclosed to me!” she thought in her solitary +walk, some days after the return of Afkun. “What visions beamed upon +my soul during the few last weeks of my existence, when my will ceased +to be my own—after I had pronounced the words no longer revocable! +Destiny! destiny! thee alone have I to blame! Can I conceal from myself +that my heart knows no emotion when he, who has the best right to my +affections, appeals to it for the return of his devoted love? Can I be +ignorant of the hopes, the aspirations, that, without any encouragement +from my reason, without any sanction from probability, and even against +my consciousness of what innocence and rectitude dictate, flutter in +this bosom, <span class="pagenum">244</span> whenever any accidental +circumstance, a passing flower, a dream of the night, or one of those +impulses that, like a cloud, casts for a while its ominous shadow over +me, brings back that image which I ought never to have seen?</p> + +<p>“When shall I recover my peace of mind? The councils of the hermit +had gone far towards banishing from my soul all those lurking miseries +which depressed my spirits, and diverted my thoughts from their proper +channel of happiness. After all, what is the happiness of which he +spoke? Does it not consist principally in the consciousness that we +belong to a better world, that we are treading our way constantly +towards it, that obliged to act in the numberless small events of +life, the slight routine of every day, we so conform to the progress +of circumstances as to draw from them all the honey they contain, and +to convert into wholesome medicine the bitter elements which they +sometimes present instead?</p> + +<p>“Am I overruled, as the dervishes say we all are, by a fate which +we cannot overcome? Zeinedeen declares that we make our own fate, and +I think he must be in the right. I am—or at least have been—free to +resolve—free <span class="pagenum">245</span> to reject my resolution, +or to act upon it. One act leads on to another, as one thought springs +from that which has preceded it. Thus the chain of life lengthens from +hour to hour, and when we arrive at the end of it we find it composed +of actions, the children of ideas all our own, and then we complain +that this is destiny! The hermit might well laugh at such folly.</p> + +<p>“And yet, assuredly, we are subject to some influences that are +to me incomprehensible. Amongst my gazelles at Agra there were some +I never could much regard. They were all dependent on my care, and I +fed them equally from my own hand. But yet there were some I loved +from the instant I first beheld them. Hilali was not more graceful, +more playful, more affectionate to me than Zamaa, nor, indeed, so much +so, for often she was so wild, so thoughtless, as apparently even to +despise my caresses. Nevertheless, her eyes kindled emotions within +me, her well-being excited in my heart a real interest, her gratitude, +when she expressed it in her way, drew from my lips expressions of +tenderness, which I had no pre-disposition to afford to any of the +others. <span class="pagenum">246</span> </p> + +<p>“So it is with even the choicest flowers that are reared under my +own eye. Some are splendidly painted—I admire them; some are arrayed +in the most varied and agreeable colours, and I in vain endeavour to +appreciate them; many are worthy of being perpetually renewed as among +the best ornaments of my garden, and I take precautions that secure +their perennial existence; several are justly deemed stars, for their +pre-eminence in beauty, and I worship the Being who has deigned to +clothe them in garments of so much loveliness. But here I light on +one, modestly hiding, perhaps, in the shade, or gaily smiling in the +sun, which at once wins its way to my heart, and with the power of a +magician causes a fountain of delight to be born within me, which flows +with fresh rapture as often as I behold the precious mystery. Whence is +this, since it has not the same enchantment for others?</p> + +<p>“Alas! do we not feel the same controlling power, chaining our +impulses of a higher nature? I fondly imagined that the admonitions +of Zeinedeen had cured my heart of those secret thoughts and +prepossessions, which I dare not acknowledge even to myself. But one +peculiar <span class="pagenum">247</span> turn of expression in the +features of Chusero—one occasional modulation of his voice—puts to +flight all my inward reserve, and I wait for their return with the +devotion of the Persian watching the first ray of his god on the summit +of the mountains.</p> + +<p>“Would that there were an end to this struggle! Shall it ever be +ended? What is this prince to me? In himself nothing. I could pass +through a host of such as he is without remembering the countenance of +one of them. But then those resemblances which start like meteors about +him—what have I not to fear from their visitations?</p> + +<p>“Nor is this all. The emperor, will he not pursue the prince hither? +Flushed as he is with victory, will he be content to resign to Chusero +the fairest province in his dominions—that which it cost Acbar so much +labour to subdue—the gem of gems in the diadem of Hindostan? What a +wreath for a human brow! The crown of the East, resplendent with the +glory of the sun, the pledge of peace, or the flambeau of war to a +hundred millions of people!</p> + +<p>“Whose is the voice—whence comes it—in +<span class="pagenum">248</span> the night and in the day whispering +to me of the hour when that wreath of majesty shall descend upon these +throbbing temples—and this hand—this feeble, trembling hand, shall +wave the sceptre of so vast an empire? My brain wanders through other +worlds—I attempt in vain to remember where and who I am—my very name +vanishes from my recollection—when these visions—these tempests of +portentous thought—burst upon my soul!</p> + +<p>“What if the insurgent cause should be successful? The fortune of +war may perchance desert the standard of Jehangire—Afkun may be the +conqueror yet. Is it <i>his</i> throne I desire to share? That is not +the loyalty my father has planted in this heart. <i>He</i> is not the +lawful heir of the generous sovereign whom my infant lips were taught +to bless, as the restorer of our ancient family to those honours which +it long had worn, and now wears again with so much dignity. Should +Chusero be the victor! Victor of whom? Of the parent who gave him +existence—of his liege sovereign—and so wade through the blood of him +whom he ought to love and venerate, to the possession of supreme power! +Is it with the sceptre of such a king <span class="pagenum">249</span> +as that, I should contaminate this unspotted hand? No—sooner should +it strike the unnatural rebel to the earth—if to me the strength were +given!”</p> + +<p>Kanun presented herself to her mistress, to receive her orders as to +the patterns of some new shawls, which were about to be manufactured +for her in the neighbouring capital. She found Nourmahal in the cedar +walk, but so excited, so changed in appearance, that the timid girl +hardly knew her. Not only was her countenance brightened with a degree +of energy, such as the Circassian had never seen in it before, but her +stature seemed to have grown higher and more erect, the personation +of authority accustomed to command, and of power that disdained +resistance. Kanun forgot what she had to say, and drew her veil partly +over her eyes, dazzled by the apparition.</p> + +<p>The presence of the maid recalled Nourmahal from the sea of +reveries, on which her mind had been borne away; but Kanun’s quiet +train of thought was not so easy to be recovered.</p> + +<p>“I am glad at all times to see thee, my dear Kanun,” said Nourmahal, +glad to be relieved from the conceptions with which her bosom was +<span class="pagenum">250</span> over-fraught; “when I kiss this pale +soft cheek, it reminds me so well of the many happy days we have spent +together, that they seem to return again.”</p> + +<p>“Ah! they were, indeed, happy days; could <i>you</i> but think they +had returned again, we should all think so too.”</p> + +<p>“What is going on in the castle? what are they all doing to-day?”</p> + +<p>“The subah and the prince,—what a beautiful youth he is!—such +eyes!—and he walks so like the emperor!—are gone out to the mountains +with a number of rajahs, who came in from the capital this morning.”</p> + +<p>“Have they brought any intelligence from the south?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing of any importance, that I have heard, except that the +people of Lahore opened their gates to the emperor, and that he means +to hold his court there for some time.”</p> + +<p>“Ah! I remember Lahore. It was there, Kanun, that fortune first +smiled on my beloved father. I should like much to see it again, and +the small hut in which we lived.”</p> + +<p>“But you would not like—would you? to live in the hut +again—accustomed, as you long <span class="pagenum">251</span> have +been, to palaces so superb as that at Agra, and this in which you now +reside?”</p> + +<p>“I really do not know. You perhaps would be incredulous if I were to +say that I should. What matters it where one lives, if the mind be at +rest? That, my dear Kanun, after all, is the great secret.”</p> + +<p>“Ah! but how difficult it would be to descend from a palace to a +hut, and at the same time carry with you a contented mind!”</p> + +<p>“Why so? Suppose that by the fortune of war, or by some series of +unforeseen calamities, I were reduced to the condition in which my +beloved parents were when they first entered—aye, and for years after +they took up their residence in, Lahore; think you that I should not, +like them, cheerfully sit down and toil for my own bread?”</p> + +<p>“Oh! the very thought of such a sad reverse, is dreadful. If such a +thing were to happen, what would become of poor Kanun? of us all? who +feel that we live only for our adored mistress?”</p> + +<p>“Surely you would not abandon me? would you?”</p> + +<p>“Never!” said the affectionate girl, with an +<span class="pagenum">252</span> emphatic emotion, that spoke the true +and artless attachment she felt for Nourmahal.</p> + +<p>“Assuredly, it would not be difficult for us to maintain ourselves. +We could all do something or another. I am myself no bad hand at +embroidery. I can paint a little on ivory. Some of the dresses in +brocade, which, when I was under my mother’s care, I worked for myself, +were supposed not to be ill done.”</p> + +<p>“Far from it. They were truly admired for their novelty and +exquisite neatness. Indeed, I heard it said, that if you had been +compelled to produce many such examples of your skill, you might easily +make your own fortune.”</p> + +<p>“Well, then, you see we should have some ground to begin upon. We +should all work together, some at brocade, some at painting, some +at copying music, some at making transcripts of the Koran, some at +tapestry, while you would amuse us with your stories; and so, I fancy, +Kanun, we might be as happy as the day is long, and as rich as Emir +Jemla.”</p> + +<p>“Dear mistress, so we might; but still it is horrid to think of.”</p> + +<p>“Jemla did not think so. He was, you know, originally a +shepherd boy.” <span class="pagenum">253</span> </p> + +<p>“Ah! I did not know that. He is now, they say, the richest merchant +in Golconda; and, if he liked it, might dine on diamonds every day, +without lessening his store.”</p> + +<p>“While employed as a shepherd, he was one day crossing a river +amongst those mountains yonder, when his mantle, which was a goat-skin +with all the hair on, fell off his shoulder, and was carried down the +stream. He gave it up as lost, the torrent bore it away so quickly out +of his sight. The following day, however, happening to be crossing +the same river, somewhat lower down, he, to his great joy, found his +goat-skin stopped by some rocks. He took it out of the water, and +having dried it in the sun, he shook it to get rid of the sand with +which it was encumbered, when he beheld the ground spread with a +shower, not of sand, but of gold.”</p> + +<p>“Of gold!”</p> + +<p>“Of gold dust! Wondering whence it came, he shook his skin again, +when forth fell another shower, and another, until he could extract no +more.”</p> + +<p>“Something wonderful is always happening to these shepherds. Some of +the good genii, <span class="pagenum">254</span> no doubt, filled his +cloak with the gold, in reward for some kind action he had done.”</p> + +<p>“I know not how that was. He dipped his skin again in the same part +of the river, spreading it over the bottom, and placing a heavy stone +on each corner to keep it down. He returned to find it in the morning, +and after drying it in the sun, as before, he obtained from it a still +more copious supply. In this manner he procured as much of the precious +sand as was sufficient to load a camel, and having taken leave of his +master, he set out with his cargo to Delhi, where he disposed of it +to great advantage. He then returned to Cashmere, with many trinkets +in gold and silver, travelling the country as a pedlar. He next +purchased a stall in the great bazaar at Agra, where he appeared as a +merchant, dealing in rubies, emeralds and diamonds, and not satisfied +with the good fortune by which his industry was rewarded, he removed +to Golconda, became a proprietor of diamond mines, and now inhabits a +splendid castle, in which he retains an army of his own, and lives in +all the splendour of a sovereign.”</p> + +<p>“There is a freak of fortune! a shepherd-boy transformed into a +sovereign!” <span class="pagenum">255</span> </p> + +<p>“No freak of fortune, Kanun, but the fair and natural result of +well-directed industry. So let us not despair, even if we should be +driven to live by our own exertions.”</p> + +<p>“Well, if that ever should be the case, and we should happen to get +as rich as Emir Jemla, we should have no great reason to complain. Was +there not some emperor, in former days, who in the midst of all the +treasures he could command, preferred to support himself by making +sandals?”</p> + +<p>“I never heard that he made sandals. In other respects the story is +true. Mamood, the sandal-maker, as you call him, was certainly in some +respects a very singular character. Like many others of our emperors, +his early days were spent in a prison, where, despising the allowance +that was granted to him by the state, he supported himself by his +writings. It was with him a maxim, that ‘he who could not work for his +bread, did not deserve it.’ Amongst other strange peculiarities by +which he was distinguished, do you know, Kanun, that he never had more +than one wife?”</p> + +<p>“The barbarian! Only one wife! Ha! ha! ha! That was ridiculous. I +could as soon fancy a <span class="pagenum">256</span> peacock with +only one feather! I hope he treated her well; at the very least he must +have kept her in a shrine of gold.”</p> + +<p>“Quite the reverse. Even when he was upon the throne, he made her do +all the work of his house with her own hands.”</p> + +<p>“What, the sultana of Hindostan make coffee and wash the cups with +her own hands!”</p> + +<p>“Aye, and change the mats, and sweep the floor, and make the fires, +and mend his garments, too, when they were worn threadbare!”</p> + +<p>“The silly woman, to put up with such tyranny!”</p> + +<p>“Yes; but, Kanun, she loved him.”</p> + +<p>“There we all fail, simpletons that we are, all wreck our dignity +upon that fatal rock.”</p> + +<p>“One day, when the empress unfortunately burnt her fingers while +baking bread for their supper, she asked him to allow her even one +maid, to assist her in her domestic toils.”</p> + +<p>“He had not the cruelty to refuse her!”</p> + +<p>“Indeed, but he had. It was, he said, a needless expense, which he +would never bring on the state!”</p> + +<p>“I know that if I had been his wife, he +<span class="pagenum">257</span> should have gone to bed without his +supper for that night, at least.”</p> + +<p>“Those hours of the day which others spend in sleep, Mamood devoted +to labour,—chiefly transcripts of the Koran, which he executed with +such accuracy, that no man could detect an error in his page. Upon the +produce of his labour he lived.”</p> + +<p>“He must have been an uncommon ideot.”</p> + +<p>“Read the poems of Minhage, in which you will find him +celebrated—and justly celebrated—for his energy in the field, his +wisdom in the council, his justice in the seat of judgment. He was the +patron of every useful science and elegant art, and a beneficent father +to his people.”</p> + +<p>“With his one wife?”</p> + +<p>“Ah, Kanun! is it possible to love more than <i>one</i>?”</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R X V I --> +<div class="chapter centered"> +<span class="pagenum">258</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVI"> + CHAPTER XVI. +</h2> + +<div class="cc"> +<p> + And shall a king, of nature uncontrolled,<br> + And spirit lofty as his state, submit<br> + To such degrading check? Impossible!<br> + He must and will resent it.—Pray proceed. +</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Hindoo Drama.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p>Much as the parental heart of Jehangire was afflicted by the +obstinacy of Chusero, in prolonging a civil war that now seemed more +unlikely than ever to favour his designs of usurpation, still the +necessity of an expedition to Cashmere presented some visions to the +emperor’s mind, which were not without their charms. He had heard and +read many panegyrics upon the agreeable climate, the combinations of +mountain, valley, forest, and stream, which gave peculiar features, and +ever-varying beauty to its natural scenery. He had, from his earliest +<span class="pagenum">259</span> youth, filled his memory with the +legends and traditions which spoke of its ancient ages of renown. He +was conversant with every thing his favourite poets had written in +praise of its flowers and nightingales, and above all, of the exquisite +forms and irresistible attractions of the maidens, who inhaled the pure +and fragrant air of those green declivities, while chasing the blue +butterfly until their cheeks took the blush of their native rose,—one +of the wonders of the world.</p> + +<p>Jehangire had often pictured to himself the pleasures he should +enjoy, when relaxing from the cares of empire, he might be at leisure +to wander idly through the groves and saffron-meadows, and pore over +the transparent fountains, of Cashmere. It was, to his fancy, a world +set apart from the busy scenes of life, in which he might altogether +divest himself of the weight and emblems of sovereign authority, +and subsiding to the level of the shepherd and the mountaineer, +enjoy those emotions of independence and happiness which nature +loves to bestow upon those, who worship her amidst the solitudes +she has peculiarly consecrated to her own immortal presence. +<span class="pagenum">260</span></p> + +<p>Nor was he without the hope—the illusion, perhaps, but still one +it pleased him to indulge—that some happy accident might enable him +to behold once more his son—his rebellious, criminal, and unrepentant +boy—to win him from the unhappy path, on which he had too long +delayed—to forgive him all that had passed—to press him to his breast, +and kindle in his eyes those well-known smiles, so dear to a parent—so +powerful to subdue every feeling of resentment.</p> + +<p>No man was less fitted than Jehangire to maintain these continued +struggles between the duties of the sovereign, and the impulses of +the father. The fluctuations between the two characters, though +occasionally terminating on the side of stern justice, preponderated +in the main, in favour of those feelings, which not even gross filial +ingratitude can often eradicate from the parental bosom.</p> + +<p>Did Jehangire endeavour to conceal from himself, that whatever +there was of tenderness in the composition of his character—and it +is not to be denied that he had his share—whatever there was in his +mental constitution, which rendered him susceptible of the influence +of <span class="pagenum">261</span> poetry, of beautiful scenery, and +made him a listener to the mystic voices that breathe from the recesses +of woods, the undulations of ever-flowing waters, the airy invisible +multitudes of insects and choirs of birds exulting in the felicity of +existence—opened out like the parched flower, expanding to receive the +dews of evening, when he reflected that Cashmere now contained another +treasure, more precious to his soul than a hundred diadems?</p> + +<p>“Nourmahal!” What raptures were linked in his mind with that sweet +name! To pronounce it in secret to his own ear, was to summon to his +cheek the very elements of life—to turn him away and detain him, hour +after hour, in the silence and solitude of the night, from all other +thoughts.</p> + +<p>Strange to say, Jehangire, though he had abundant cause for +complaint against the political conduct of Afkun, never entertained +towards that distinguished person the slightest feeling of hostility. +He never, for a moment, apprehended that the Turcomanian possessed, or +could gain the affections of Nourmahal, although her legal protector. +The relation in which he stood towards her, invested him, in +<span class="pagenum">262</span> the contemplation of the emperor, with +a character rather parental than conjugal—and, as such, estimable on +account of its connexion with her preservation, for what, he hoped, to +be her future and higher destinies. He, therefore, heard with deep pain +from Auzeem, of the many base schemes by which Bochari had attempted to +get rid of that great warrior; and it was amongst his hopes, that, if +the expedition to Cashmere should be prosecuted with success, he might +enjoy the opportunity of making some arrangement with Afkun, by which +the ties subsisting between him and Nourmahal, should be dissolved, +without injury to the warrior’s pride, or to the respect which the +monarch, more than any of his subjects, was bound to shew to the laws +of the empire.</p> + +<p>To Bochari, Jehangire had not lately ventured to breathe a syllable +about Nourmahal. The hatred which embittered every expression of that +functionary, whenever he had to make mention of Afkun, since the period +of their personal encounter in the Sutledge, was so implacable, that +to speak to him of the one, was only to draw from him a volley of +imprecations as to the other. To Auzeem, however, the emperor +<span class="pagenum">263</span> did not hesitate to disclose his most +intimate thoughts on all subjects, especially when shut up together in +his private cabinet, whether in the camp, or in the palace at Lahore, +they smoked the chibouque, or indulged in an extra cup of wine.</p> + +<p>It was already perceptible to many persons about the court, that +the influence of Auzeem, in the direction of public affairs, began to +assume a defined character, since the commencement of the civil war. +The title of “My Uncle,” by which Jehangire had always distinguished +him, more in the familiarity of mirth, than from any acknowledgment of +particular esteem, lately seemed, in the opinion of shrewd observers, +to wear a new and more important meaning. Auzeem was not the last to be +sensible of his position. His knowledge of mankind, his acquaintance +with the habits of sovereigns and princes in different countries, and +a cheerfulness of disposition, which taught him at all times to look +at the sunny side of things, enabled him to accommodate himself to the +eccentricities and whims of the emperor, without incurring the charge +of pandering to his vices, or even of encouraging them. In his +<span class="pagenum">264</span> laugh and his jest there was always +a limit, beyond which the respect he felt for himself never permitted +him to go. He was not ambitious. He detested intrigue, cabals, and +machinations of every description, whatever the purpose which they +contemplated. He looked upon all such courses as the unequivocal +characteristics of that mean order of intelligence, which, whenever +it happens to obtain the ascendancy in states, never fails, however +specious its occasional triumphs, to draw after it national calamity +and degradation.</p> + +<p>Jehangire found himself, without intending it, gradually +approximating every day towards Auzeem, and, in the same proportion, +diverging from the path which Bochari had hitherto been accustomed +to mark out for him. The coarseness of language and of manner, the +impatience of contradiction, and the jealousy of supreme control, +which on every occasion, whether of slight or primary importance, +characterised the Persian, were of such common occurrence, that before +his accession to the throne the prince never stopped to analyse or +question them. But after he put on the crown, he more than once felt +that the authority belonging to his <span class="pagenum">265</span> +station was restrained by a will not his own. This feeling touched his +pride, and broke in upon the inveteracy of habit; and although the +labour of emancipating himself from the domination to which he was so +long subject, deterred him from resolving on any material change, yet +the idea occurred to him that if a change were to be made, there was +no person in whom he would more willingly repose his confidence than +Auzeem.</p> + +<p>The latter was not ignorant of the emperor’s prepossession +respecting Nourmahal. To his ear were divulged, through some channel or +another, those secrets of the imperial harem, which, strengthened by +his own keen observation, enabled him to judge that a void existed in +that establishment, not easy to be filled up. The favourite of a former +day complained of the emperor’s indifference—of his abstraction—the +long intervals between his visits to a region which had been accustomed +to his particular attention. There was no recognised sultana. The +consorts of the sovereign appeared to be all upon an equality, much +more mortifying to their pride than a recognised scale of rank. Where +each had as shadowy a right as the <span class="pagenum">266</span> +other to deem herself preferred, jealousy became more active, and +converted the harem into a theatre of discord.</p> + +<p>Auzeem, it may be supposed, was no admirer of Bochari. Still he did +not wish to make a man accidentally invested with so much power, his +enemy. His mind was the reverse in all things of that of the Persian. +But his experience rendered him circumspect, and taught him to avoid +collision with that dangerous adventurer. Whenever he had occasion to +differ from him in the council, he expressed his opinions mildly—and in +the shape of interrogatory, as if he were seeking for information and +advice, rather than giving both. Thus he had the good fortune to add +every hour to his rising influence with the emperor, without awakening +the suspicions of the commander-in-chief. To military science or +experience Auzeem avowed no claim. On civil matters he might sometimes +have an opinion—which, however, he had no desire to press, or even to +shape for discussion, unless it seemed to others, better qualified than +himself to judge, worth attention.</p> + +<p>Like Jehangire, Auzeem had a strong turn for literature and the fine +arts. It was the <span class="pagenum">267</span> emperor’s habit, +when a sleep of an hour or two dispelled the effects of his indulgence +at the table, to pass a part of the night in reading, or in having +read to him, portions of the history of his empire, or of the works of +the most celebrated poets, and not unfrequently of the theologians and +philosophers, with whose writings he was remarkably conversant. Auzeem +was often his only companion during those periods of study, which no +pressure of public business was ever allowed to disturb. The uncle and +the nephew, if they may be so described, also resembled each other in +a turn for adventure; and when, after a poem or a tale was concluded, +they discussed the incidents and characters of which it was composed, +they often went on to dramatise situations similar to those of which +they had just read, and wove a series of enterprizes and escapes, to +which each contributed a sequel, until they believed themselves to be +altogether transferred to the world of imagination.</p> + +<p>It was in moods such as these, perhaps, that Auzeem learned +the whole extent of the passion nurtured in Jehangire’s bosom for +Nourmahal. He saw that it was a real, unsophisticated, fervent +<span class="pagenum">268</span> feeling, cherished as a sacred +treasure, subject to no caprice, the same when the emperor’s mind +was agitated, as when reposing in the most serene tranquillity. The +difficulties which stood in the way of his desires, tended, no doubt, +to augment the power which this passion exercised over his soul. To +conquer those difficulties—but at the same time to preserve a strict +and impartial observance of the laws relating to the union between the +sexes, which, in all our communities, whether Mahometan or Hindoo, are +universally held as dear to us as our lives, was the frequent object +of his conferences with Auzeem, from the moment that the expedition to +Cashmere was resolved upon.</p> + +<p>It seemed essential, for many reasons, that the troops selected +for that purpose should proceed upon their march without delay. The +legion which the province had already sent to the war having been +annihilated, it became expedient, if practicable, to prevent the +subah from gaining time to form another. While the war lingered in +any quarter of the empire, it afforded a pretext to the disaffected +in the other districts, for questioning the authority by which +<span class="pagenum">269</span> the imposts were levied, and for +committing various acts of insubordination. As soon, therefore, as +the emperor believed Lahore to be secure from any danger of a fresh +insurrection, and that he had succeeded in purchasing, by his kindness +to all the inhabitants, and his largesses to the persons who seemed to +possess most influence over them, that general good-will upon which it +was his highest ambition to rest the foundations of his throne, he gave +orders for the usual consultation of the astrologers. The auspicious +hour having been ascertained, the troops, consisting chiefly of light +cavalry and light artillery, fitted for mountain warfare, setting out +at the prescribed moment, proceeded on their route towards Cashmere.</p> + +<p>Bochari was fully apprised, from the information of officers who had +already served in that province, of the vast strength of the castle +occupied by Afkun. A small garrison, he learned, was sufficient to +defend it against any force that could be brought to bear upon it. +Raised upon an elevated platform, girdled by a natural rampart of rock, +to which hardly any artificial additions were necessary, completely +insulated by a deep moat filled with water, containing within +<span class="pagenum">270</span> itself ample resources in wells, in +granaries for every kind of supplies, in woods and gardens,—in short, +every thing conducive not only to subsistence, but to the convenience +of life, such a fortress seemed capable of defying every ordinary +resource of war.</p> + +<p>Finding it, therefore, necessary to avail himself of such other +means of success as circumstances might render expedient, Bochari +conceived the design of summoning Kazim Ayas and the mother of +Nourmahal to the presence of the emperor, with a view to treat +them as hostages, to be dealt with as he might decide, in case +the Turcomanian’s stronghold should turn out to be otherwise +unassailable.</p> + +<p>If Nourmahal possessed the power over her husband with which her +fascinations, so much talked of, were supposed to invest her, she would +not, he thought, refuse to apply it for the preservation of those +so dear to her, should their lives be fixed upon as a price for the +surrender of the castle.</p> + +<p>This design, worthy of his character, he took care to conceal +from the knowledge of the emperor. To him Bochari represented the +difficulties <span class="pagenum">271</span> that might present +themselves in the capture of the strongest fortress of the empire; +adding that it might therefore be useful to send for Kazim Ayas and +Mangeli, in order that they might, as they were bound to do, by the +high office which the chancellor held, and by their allegiance, and +gratitude for many honours conferred upon them, exert their best +influence with their son-in-law to induce him to acknowledge the +authority of the rightful sovereign, and to give up the rebellious +Chusero.</p> + +<p>The plan, placed in the latter point of view, coincided so agreeably +with the emperor’s projects in other respects, that he felt no +hesitation in assenting to it. Letters were in consequence forthwith +despatched to Agra, commanding Kazim and Mangeli to follow the emperor +without delay to Cashmere, and authorising the chancellor to delegate +the duties of his office, during his absence, to a commissioner named +by himself for that purpose. The parents of Nourmahal received the +mandate with feelings of unqualified delight. The hope of soon again +embracing their child, put aside all thoughts of the inconvenience +of so long a journey, and <span class="pagenum">272</span> Kazim, +moreover, flattered himself with the expectation that, through his +interference, Afkun might be dissuaded from pursuing any farther a line +of conduct not likely to serve the cause of Chusero, or to redound to +his own credit.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R X V I I --> +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum">273</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVII"> + CHAPTER XVII. +</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>My royal friend has an unaccountable taste. What can I think of a +king so passionately fond of chasing unprofitable quadrupeds? “Here +runs an antelope! There goes a bear!” Such is our only conversation. +Even at noon, in excessive heat, when not a tree in the forest has a +shadow under it, we must be skipping and prancing about like the beasts +whom we follow. Are we thirsty? we have nothing to drink but the waters +of mountain-torrents, which taste of burned stones and maukish leaves. +Are we hungry? We must greedily devour lean venison, and that commonly +rosted to a stick. Have I a moment’s repose at night? My slumber +is disturbed by the din of horses and elephants, or by the sons of +slave-girls hallooing out, “More venison, more venison!” Then comes a +cry that pierces my ear, “Away, to the forest, away!”</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Sacontala.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2">The emperor set out for Cashmere in high spirits. The war +he looked upon as substantially terminated in his favour; the great +object <span class="pagenum">274</span> he had now to obtain of a +political nature, was the capture of the rebellious prince; until that +was accomplished, he could not be at ease upon his throne, inasmuch as +if the prince were to remain at large, he would, no doubt, always find +the means of exciting the spirit of revolt in one or more of the remote +provinces of the empire.</p> + +<p>The country between Lahore and Cashmere may be said to present +almost a level surface, to the very foot of the mountains within which +the latter district is situated. Here and there tracts of forest afford +to the traveller a temporary protection from the heat of the sun, which +shines down upon all that immense plain with a degree of intensity not +experienced in any other part of Hindostan. The rivers are numerous by +which it is intersected; but they flow in such imperceptible currents, +spreading frequently into large lakes when swollen by the melting of +the snows on the mountains, and then leaving behind them marshes, which +speedily become jungles, that the roads most frequented in one year, +are the succeeding year scarcely to be distinguished. The march of an +army over such a plain as that, is necessarily attended with numerous +difficulties. <span class="pagenum">275</span> Hemmed in, moreover, +along its whole northern border by an abrupt chain of rocks, rising +like a mural boundary almost to the sky, its atmosphere traversed by +no refreshing breezes, and when disturbed, varied only by winds hotter +even than the simoom of the desert, it scarcely permits to man or beast +the power of breathing, or of moving, without great pain.</p> + +<p>The emperor, therefore, leaving his elephants at Lahore, mounted the +fleetest of his Arabian hunters, and attended by Auzeem, and a small +escort of his household guard, confided himself to the care of guides, +resolved to journey chiefly by night, and to pursue the shortest route +which could be found practicable to the nearest range of the mountains. +Once arrived on the rising grounds, they could travel at their ease +by circuitous paths into Cashmere, sporting on the way, or resting +among the cooler regions of the Himalahs, until the whole army should +overtake them. Bochari, as commander of the forces, could not abandon +them to the control of any inferior officer, upon such an occasion. But +he had full authority from the emperor to consult his own and their +convenience in every possible way, resting in the forests, making short +<span class="pagenum">276</span> marches during the night, and keeping +as nearly as a reasonable degree of expedition could allow them, to the +banks of the rivers, that they might, under no circumstances, be out of +the reach of the vital element.</p> + +<p>Jehangire took also with him his dogs and hunting leopards, +his falcons and fowling-pieces, not forgetting his celebrated gun +Droostandaz, that never missed any object at which he aimed it. It +was of Damascus manufacture, the barrel exquisitely formed within and +without, exhibiting, near the extreme end, a small but exceedingly +bright diamond, as a point for directing the sight, and along +its sides, curiously inscribed in gold, a series of hieroglyphic +characters, which were said to bestow upon it the virtues it possessed. +The barrel was set in a stock of ebony, cut from a tree that had grown +in the garden of Eden. It was inlaid with pearls white as the snow, and +with emeralds and rubies of great price. Droostandaz was always kept +in a silver case, lined with purple velvet, except when the emperor +wished to use it. Such was the veneration in which this gun was held, +that it was a rule with Jehangire to discharge it on the first day of +every <span class="pagenum">277</span> month, and this discharge was +immediately followed by the whole train, from the highest dignitary to +the lowest stipendiary enrolled in the service of the state, whether +cannoneer or matchlock-man, who happened to be at the time within the +reach of its report.</p> + +<p>A few nights’ hard riding, under the direction of guides perfectly +conversant with the country, enabled the imperial party to pass the +more oppressive part of the plain, and to gain the eminences leading to +the mountains, of which they speedily became sensible by the fresher +air which they began to breathe. Here they reposed for a while, +enjoying the breezes that came down, wafted on the surface of many a +merry stream, and which, after the furnace they had just gone through, +they found peculiarly delicious. As they ascended the mountains they +met, from day to day, with game in abundance—antelopes, deer, quails, +grey and black partridges, wild ducks and teal, which they did not +disdain to dress for themselves, when they happened to be near no +hamlet, where persons could be found to perform that office for them. +On these occasions, Auzeem took an active part in the culinary +<span class="pagenum">278</span> functions, in which he displayed +no common skill. The emperor found a new pleasure in affording him +assistance. The produce of the morning’s sport, in which Droostandaz +maintained its celebrity, was distributed at noon; a shady ravine was +then fixed upon, to which brambles, and other dried wood, was brought +by some of the escort; fires were lighted; the birds were divested +of their feathers; the deer, if any had been taken, were cut up into +fragments; and both were stretched on spikes of the arbutus, which +grows in abundance on those heights. The spikes being then placed round +the fires, were carefully turned round, until the viands, whose savoury +odours filled the atmosphere with a fragrance peculiarly welcome to the +sense of mountain sportsmen, were fully roasted, when the whole party +sat in circles, without any ceremonies of precedence, and enjoyed the +meal they had procured with their own hands. The sparkling streams +falling near them were their only drink, and although Auzeem, as well +as his imperial companion, were of opinion that the spring would have +been improved, if it could be made to blush a little with a flask of +Cabul wine, nevertheless, <span class="pagenum">279</span> they both +agreed, that the game of the Himalahs was the most delicious they had +ever tasted.</p> + +<p>Having had no occasion to ascend to the upper ranges of the country, +in pursuit of sport, the hunting party roved through a charming +climate. Valleys and gentle declivities, carpeted with thymy herbage, +opened passages for them around the bases of bold mountains, whose +summits were crowned with perpetual snow. They seldom, failed towards +night, to discover huts of shepherds, or clusters of habitations +belonging to villagers, where, though unknown, they were received with +the greatest hospitality. Mats were stretched on the floor, and covered +with sheep-skins, on which they slept; in the morning, the new milk of +cows and goats was presented to them in wooden bowls, with cakes baked +upon the embers of the cedar, and cream-cheese, fresh from the hand of +the fair manufacturer, and spread upon a couch of green reeds, newly +plucked from the neighbouring stream. These simple luxuries, enjoyed +in the pure air of morning, beneath a sky of transparent azure, amid +the music of waterfalls and gentle breezes, and myriads of +<span class="pagenum">280</span> birds, imparted new life to Jehangire, +and taught him how irreparable were the privations of those sons of +fortune, whom soft cushions, and nocturnal indulgences, and habits +engendered by artificial wants, detained at such hours beneath the +gilded roofs of their palaces.</p> + +<p>Nor did he disdain, when, towards evening, no sign of human dwelling +was observable, to assist his companions in cutting down wood and +erecting rude huts, beneath which, if the night were cold, they found +an agreeable shelter. But if the moon silvered the sky and the valley, +and the plane or cedar offered its friendly shade, and the softened +genial breeze just stirred the foliage with that sweet murmur, so +friendly to sleep, he preferred the couch thus prepared for him by +nature, surrounded by his beagles and hunting leopards, who formed +a night-guard, not unworthy even of the Emperor of Hindostan, so +beautiful did those noble animals appear when wrapped in slumbers, from +which the slightest sound of his voice would have aroused them, had he +had occasion for their services.</p> + +<p>The enjoyments of the party were sometimes varied by fishing, +when they reached the more <span class="pagenum">281</span> copious +torrents which tumbled from the rocks above them. Here they amused +themselves by fabricating baskets from the willows, or reeds, or such +other materials as the place afforded. Placing themselves near the +midst of the stream, and holding their baskets firmly beneath the rush +of the waters, they soon received whole clusters of the red and silver +mullet, the carp, the trout, and pike, and chard, whose efforts to +escape, by leaping from the toils in which they were caught, and by +slipping through hands unaccustomed to deal with such prey, afforded +cause for many blithesome bursts of laughter. But the more awkward +fishermen were not without their revenge, when, the fires being +lighted, they beheld the scales lately so polished and evasive, assume +a deep rich brown, and inhaling from the cheerful blaze the incense of +the smoking captives, prepared for the feast which they were about to +enjoy with hearty appetites.</p> + +<p>While thus roaming among the hills, Auzeem, by the emperor’s desire, +issued strict orders that his real character should on no account be +mentioned by any of his suite; that they should be represented simply +as a <span class="pagenum">282</span> party of idlers, in search of +sport, and that no appearance of state observance, or homage, should +indicate to strangers the presence of any person above the ordinary +station of cavaliers.</p> + +<p>In order to preserve his assumed character, Jehangire exchanged his +jewelled turban, his flowered satin pelisse, his cincture of Persian +gold cloth, his vest of brocade, and his trowsers of white silk, for +the plain attire of a hunter, consisting of a linen vest and trowsers +bound at the waist by a shawl, a light green cloth pelisse, and round +cap, covered with the yellow fur of the flying squirrel, which Auzeem +succeeded in procuring for him at one of the villages they had visited +in the course of their excursions.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, as the lengthening shadows of the poplars, and the +golden reflection of the sunbeams upon the mountains, whose snowy peaks +were already putting on their mantles of purple, warned Jehangire and +his companions that it was time to look out for a resting-place for the +night, they were about to establish themselves upon the margin of a +river, which ran under a beetling rock, covered with ivy and clematis +in full flower, when the quick ear of <span class="pagenum">283</span> +Auzeem detected the sound of a distant drum. Bending down to the +surface of the water, he listened more attentively, and being assured +that he was not mistaken, and that the drum was occasionally aided +by some other instrument, he informed the emperor of his discovery, +at the same time proposing that they should go on alone to trace the +sounds to their source. They had not gone far up the stream, when they +satisfied themselves that they were approaching some scene of rustic +rejoicing, as shouts of mirth came upon the breeze, mingled with the +music of the pipe and tambourine, to whose music dancers were keeping +time. The river, suddenly winding through a small defile, led them +to a green valley, completely circled by rocks, where they beheld a +numerous group of peasants and shepherds, assembled round the stump of +an oak tree, on which the musicians were elevated. Youths and maidens, +clothed in white linen tunics and trowsers, their heads bound with +wreaths of natural flowers, were engaged dancing in a circle, sometimes +holding each other by the hand, sometimes separating and chasing each +other under an arch of fresh branches, evidently just erected for the +purpose. <span class="pagenum">284</span> Then gathering round a +pole, which was decorated with gay ribands, intermingled with white +and yellow roses, they sang a hymeneal song, inviting to the scene of +their festivity two lovers whose union, they said, they were assembled +to celebrate. The lovers were hid in a neighbouring cave, but upon the +conclusion of the song they came forth hand in hand, vested in bridal +garments. A venerable ancient, whose hair flowed on his shoulders like +fine filaments of burnished silver, pronounced a blessing upon the +blushing pair, as they knelt before him, and the nuptial ceremony being +then concluded, the song and the dance were resumed round the pole, the +newly married couple joining in the general mirth with the most artless +cordiality.</p> + +<p>Jehangire, delighted with this picture of rural enjoyment, felt +happy that he could become one of the party, without any fear of +his rank being detected. The moment the two strangers made their +appearance, they were hailed as friends, and presented with curdled +milk, parched wheat, cakes, oranges, and sweet lemons, with portions +of their green branches still appendant to them. Two of the prettiest +shepherdesses in the assembly then selected them for their partners +<span class="pagenum">285</span> in the next dance, in which they +joined with infinite glee, endeavouring, as well as their disciplined +limbs could permit them, to imitate the heavy step and the swaggering +jumping gait of their male rivals in the scene.</p> + +<p>An interval of breathing-time allowed Auzeem to observe, that in +the place in which this happy meeting was held, no fewer than seven +crystal brooks formed a junction. The streams descended from the +declivities of the hills, and singing on their way through trees, +and over verdant dells, and naked rocks, united in the centre of the +valley. Thence flowing away in one full river, their varied sounds were +hushed into a low murmur of sweet content, as if each had felicitated +itself upon succeeding in the attainment of an object necessary to the +perfection of its happiness. An aged man, to whom he expressed the idea +thus presented to his mind, explained that it was for this reason—the +meeting of the seven streams, and the joy their music inspired—the +valley was usually chosen for the celebration of the nuptials of the +peasantry of the district.</p> + +<p>In the course of the evening, while all were seated on the turf, +partaking of the simple <span class="pagenum">286</span> refreshments +that had been provided for them, two sturdy looking boors arose, and +placing themselves before Jehangire, asked him what birds he should +wish to see or to hear upon the trees around them? The monarch, +astonished at the question, replied, that he would be well-pleased if +he could hear the blue thrush of the Himalahs, whose song he understood +to be enchanting, though it had never yet met his ear. The boors said +that the haunt of those thrushes was at some distance from the valley +where they then were, and, therefore, that it would require a little +time to get the songsters to come to their command, but that they +would do the best they could. Ascending one of the rocks, the two men +uttered a united call, whose shrillness, at first, pierced the sky, +but as it was continued, it softened gradually into a voice of melody, +quivering on the air, answered repeatedly by echoes still more musical, +until the whole atmosphere seemed busy in repeating and modulating the +sounds. Just as they died away, a flight of birds became perceptible +at the verge of the horizon. In a few minutes they were perched upon +one of the neighbouring trees, whence, after a momentary pause, they +<span class="pagenum">287</span> poured forth a full tide of notes, +the wildest, the most varied, the most captivating, which even the +travelled Auzeem had ever heard from glade or forest. Their azure +backs, their wings tipped with Indian ink, and their breasts of a deep +autumnal yellow, characterised them as beyond all doubt the identical +species of birds which the monarch had desired to behold. The beauteous +creatures, being dismissed from their task of obedience, winged their +way back again to their distant homes with the joy of exiles, who are +permitted, after a long absence, to bend their steps towards the land +of their birth.</p> + +<p>The next choice was offered to Auzeem, who said, that as he was +not particular, he would be contented to renew an acquaintance he +had once formed with a colony of +rawils<a href="#B" id="A"><span class="fnanchor">[1]</span></a>—the +pleasantest set of feathered fellows it had been his fortune to have +yet encountered. The boors, looking knowingly at Auzeem, and at each +other, returned to the rocks they had before ascended, and each placing +his fore-finger, bent nearly double, in his mouth, uttered a whistle, +which, after a pause, seemed to have been answered from an immense +distance. They <span class="pagenum">288</span> then beckoned with +their hands, as if summoning in the direction where they stood, a +little speck of cloud, scarcely visible, near the highest ridges of +the mountains; it came on, however, rapidly, subservient to their +mandate, enlarging as it approached, until separating into fragments, +it resolved itself into a troop of above a hundred birds, who took +possession of a large mulberry-tree that overlooked the valley. +There was something so grotesque in their appearance, the plumage of +the back, wings, and tail being of a dun brown, while their heads, +surmounted by elevated crests, and their throats and breasts looked +as if they had been powdered with flour by some mischievous boy, that +Jehangire could not help laughing at the odd choice Auzeem had made.</p> + +<p>The emotion of the monarch was taken up immediately by the new +visitors as a sort of personal rudeness. They bandied it about from one +to another, as if asking, “Did you ever hear such a thing?” until one +of the elder rawils, who looked more cunning than the rest, seemed to +say, “The man surely must be tipsy:” when up rose a shout of laughter +from <a href="#288b" id="288a">the</a> mulberry-tree, as if not only +each bird, but <span class="pagenum">289</span> each particular +leaf upon every one of its branches were endowed with the faculty of +turning the “sovereign splendour of the faith” into ridicule. Jehangire +was astonished beyond measure. The old bird, not content with this +retaliation, waited quietly until the noise somewhat subsided, when +with his—“Laugh at us, indeed,—the squirrel!” or sounds which Jehangire +could have sworn to be those words—alluding, he supposed, to his +cap—the peal was renewed again and again until the emperor, Auzeem, the +whole nuptial assembly, and the very boors themselves, joined in the +merry chorus, jumping about, and holding their sides, and rolling on +the earth, as if the joyous visitation were never to have an end.</p> + +<p>This was not all. The leader of the band, determined on an ample +measure of revenge, hopped down deliberately upon the ground before +Jehangire, and looking up in his face, turned rapidly round on one +leg, cocked up his tail, and enriching the earth with spoils, for +which the “Safeguard of the world” was little prepared, again gave the +signal of mirth. It was answered by the whole century of scaramouches, +who, perching on the rocks, had the <span class="pagenum">290</span> +impudence to revile the Padishah with all the indignity that could be +concentrated in halloos and groans, intermingled with ebullitions of +laughter tuned to every note of the ascending and descending scale of +the gamut.</p> + +<p>Auzeem at length cried out, as well as his aching sides allowed +him, that they must all expire, unless the rawils were sent away. His +request was attended to, as soon as the boors could recover their power +of speech, and the valley, once more resuming the soothing songs of its +seven streams, the assembly gradually separated, not, however, before +abundant arrangements were made for the hospitable entertainment of the +two strangers and their companions, as long as they might choose to +remain in that part of the country.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R X V I I --> +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum">291</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVIII"> + CHAPTER XVIII. +</h2> + +<div class="cc"> +<p> + Nature! Source of all great and lovely things!<br> + What builder can thy temples imitate?<br> + The music of thy mountains, woods, and streams,<br> + What harper can steal from thee? Where’s the pen,<br> + Or pencil, that can paint thy countless charms? +</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Binai.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p>As the hunters approached the higher mountains of Cashmere, they +were warned by the guides that the creation of loud sounds might be +attended with consequences of a fatal description. They mentioned many +instances, which they said came within their own knowledge, wherein the +echo only of a single horn was known to have loosened immense masses +of ice from the sides of the upper declivities, which, driving down +before them huge rocks, drifts of <span class="pagenum">292</span> +frozen snow, patches of earth, herds of sheep, cottages, and hamlets, +tumbled into the valleys beneath them, involving whole districts in +calamity. Auzeem was not surprised at this intelligence, as he had +heard that some such accidents as these were not uncommon in lofty +mountainous regions. It was therefore resolved that the dogs, leopards, +and falcons, and their keepers, should remain in the village where they +then were, until further notice; and that the escort should return +to the army to caution them on their entrance into Cashmere, while +Jehangire and Auzeem, attended only by the guides, should proceed +to the temple of Mahadeo, with a view to propitiate the god who was +held to exercise a tutelar power over the whole of that province. The +mere character of pilgrims to that celebrated temple, was of itself +sufficient to render the presence of any escort unnecessary, even if +they had to pass through columns of the enemy marshalled in order of +battle. The guides, calculating by the state of the moon, assured +the emperor that the image of Mahadeo, which was already rapidly +approaching its full stature, would speedily be upon the wane, and +that unless he could succeed <span class="pagenum">293</span> by +great exertions in reaching the temple within a few days, he would be +obliged to wait another month before he could render it his homage. +They stated, that two days before each new moon, there appeared upon +the marble altar of the temple a small grain of gold, which grew larger +every day, expanding, as it increased in size, into the figure of a +human being of the most exquisite beauty; that on the fifteenth day of +the moon the god attained his full colossal amplitude, and during the +three ensuing days, wielded unlimited authority for good or for evil; +but that with the failing orb, the energies of Mahadeo also declined; +his figure gradually shrank; and that when the moon ceased to be +visible, the god also disappeared, to be renewed only when the crescent +again returned to the sky. No person, having any great project in hand, +and being within the precincts of Cashmere, ever thought of attempting +to carry it into execution, without paying the tribute of his devotions +at the shrine of Mahadeo. It was, doubtless, in a great measure owing +to his neglect of the god, though much was also to be attributed to the +dominant star of the emperor, that the subah of Cashmere had been so +unfortunate <span class="pagenum">294</span> in all his enterprises, +since he took up his residence in that country.</p> + +<p>Putting away, therefore, all weapons of defence, resigning +Droostandaz to the special care of the commander of the escort, and +exchanging their Arabian steeds for mountain ponies, Jehangire, Auzeem, +and the guides, taking into their hands the staffs of pilgrims, set +out in the early dawn upon their ascent to the Bember, whose summits +appeared far distant in the sky, like a scarcely defined line of blue +cloud. The green turfy eminences, amidst which they had been hitherto +sporting, were soon left behind, yielding to wild heathery tracts +of territory, occasionally covered with the thistle and the broom. +These products of vegetation gradually became less luxuriant; small +patches of stunted brushwood marked their higher progress, until +they began to traverse the naked rocks, which at each step seemed to +become of more gigantic dimensions, and to be piled upon each other, +as if the object had been to erect a rampart, which was to enclose +Cashmere, on that side, against the footsteps of the stranger. The +whole face of the mountain appeared like a solid wall, through +<span class="pagenum">295</span> which it seemed a vain labour to look +for any passage.</p> + +<p>The guides, however, went on, heedless of any difficulties, leaving +the rein on the necks of their ponies, who, penetrating now through +narrow fissures, where the feet of the rider touched the rock on either +side, now clambering up steps worn by use in the almost perpendicular +cliff, now sliding down sudden descents, continued with marvellous +sagacity and safety to make their way. By noon, the ridges of Bember +became distinctly visible; the cold winds, which blew from its summits, +rendered it unnecessary, for the pilgrims to seek refuge from the sun, +whose rays, on the contrary, they found it convenient to court, in +order to preserve a genial degree of warmth in their frames. They were +soon involved in the hoary regions, through which, however, they had +no difficulty in making progress, as preceding travellers had already +beaten tracks, upon which no new snows had descended.</p> + +<p>Upon arriving at the foot of the ridge of Pees-Punchal, the +highest of the whole range of the Bember, the pilgrims dismounted, +not a little fatigued with their morning’s ride. The ponies, +<span class="pagenum">296</span> having been unsaddled, were permitted +to wander in search of such scanty herbage as they could discover, +so near the clouds, while Auzeem, calling for the scrip, in which he +supposed he should find the materials for an ample meal,—for which, +by the bye, both the imperial pilgrim and his associates were well +prepared,—found to their horror, that no scrip was forthcoming, that +useful appendage to the staff having been unfortunately left behind.</p> + +<p>No sign of human habitation being within the reach of any eye, and +the passage of Pees-Punchal being of itself an affair of no small +difficulty to be achieved on foot, as the pathway was so perpendicular +that the ponies would have quite enough to do to surmount the ascent, +with all the assistance the guides could give them, the prospects +before the worshippers of Mahadeo were by no means pleasant to +contemplate. An antelope or a red-deer came now and then to smile at +them, but scared by the slightest movement, off the animals bounded +to other ridges, rejoicing in the freedom with which Jehangire +would have gladly interfered, if a decree could have controlled +them. Never did he feel his sovereign authority reduced to +<span class="pagenum">297</span> such ridiculous imbecility, as in +the valley of the seven streams, and at the foot of the ridge of +Pees-Punchal. Deeply did he lament that he had left Droostandaz behind +him.</p> + +<p>“How delightfully we should have dined upon that red stag,” he +exclaimed to Auzeem, “had but Droostandaz been here!”</p> + +<p>“Yes; but, Sire, what would have become of us before the dinner +could have been dressed. Pees-Punchal, with all his snows, would have +been upon us!”</p> + +<p>“I should have willingly taken that risk. We might as well perish of +a storm without, as of the tempest which now proclaims vacuity in all +the internal regions of my personal fabric.”</p> + +<p>While the emperor was thus lamenting the unseasonable absence of +Droostandaz, he thought that he heard the bleat of a sheep at some +distance. Looking to the quarter whence he believed the grateful +voice to have come, he perceived something in motion, towards +which, without reflecting a moment on his imperial dignity, he ran +as fast as his limbs could bear him. He found himself speedily in +chace of a small black horned sheep, which he fortunately overtook. +Grasping the terrified little animal by one of its hind +<span class="pagenum">298</span> legs, he threw it over his shoulder, +with a degree of pleasure he had seldom experienced before, and brought +it in triumph to Auzeem, to whose care he resigned it. The unhappy +victim was forthwith sacrificed, and cut up into slices. A light was +procured from flints, which they found on the mountain; as no other +materials for a fire could be discovered, they broke up their pilgrims’ +staffs for the purpose, and thus enjoyed, most unexpectedly, a feast, +which the emperor spoke of afterwards with peculiar delight.</p> + +<p>“At the moment I am writing these lines,” he says in his memoirs, “I +can with truth declare, that in the whole course of my life, I never +experienced such exquisite relish in food as in that simple meal, so +opportunely furnished by the carcase of a stray sheep.”</p> + +<p>When the repast was concluded, the party ascended Pees-Punchal, not, +however, without considerable difficulty and exertion. But they were +more than repaid for their labour, by the prospect which was presented +to them the moment they stood upon its summit. The whole valley of +Cashmere lay fully revealed beneath them, its saffron meadows, its +green pastures, gardens, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, forests, +<span class="pagenum">299</span> declivities dotted with countless +herds, towns, villages, and separate cottages, all illumined by the +golden glow of the sun, just dipping below the horizon.</p> + +<p>Jehangire, leaning on the shoulder of Auzeem, gazed upon the valley +in silence. The reality so far exceeded all the expectations he had +formed of its beauty, that he doubted whether it was not the delusive +creation of some enchanter. The cares of imperial authority, the weight +alone of which he had hitherto experienced, were at once transformed +into sources of rapture, when the fulness of the thought came upon his +soul, that he not only possessed the faculty, in common with other +men, to appreciate the charms of that Elysian scene, but that it was a +portion of his own rightful empire; that to him, however misguided by +evil counsel they might be for a moment, the inhabitants of that fair +region were bound to look for the security of that peace and happiness +which they seemed already to enjoy, and that, above all, in the midst +of the paradise spread out before his eye, beat the pulses of one +heart, at least, of whose fidelity he felt assured.</p> + +<p>“Else,” he thought, communing with his +<span class="pagenum">300</span> friend, “why that message by the +symbol she sent me—this symbol, which has never since left my bosom? +Ah! Auzeem—to live with Nourmahal, in such a valley as we here +behold—shut out from all the world around—to wander together by those +tranquil lakes—those streams—beneath those shades—to roam with her +among those hills—to inhale, with her, the delicious incense of those +saffron meadows—those fields of roses—and at eve, when all nature +is subsiding into repose, to listen with her to the song of the +bulbul—those—those, indeed, were raptures worth an empire!”</p> + +<p>“And for which, I suspect,” thought Auzeem to himself, “if all I +have heard of Nourmahal be true, an empire must be paid.”</p> + +<p>The guides were summoned to point out the situation of the capital, +and of the fortress occupied by the subah. The former was easily +distinguishable, as the large lake, in its immediate neighbourhood, +lay expanded below like a mirror of liquid gold, the long rays of +the descending sun resting upon it with a lingering delight, as if +reluctant to resign to darkness even a temporary dominion over a region +of such transcendant beauty. <span class="pagenum">301</span> </p> + +<p>The fortress was not, at first, discernible; but as the sun lowered, +several spots suddenly glistening, disclosed the windows of the towers, +as they reflected the level lines of fire. The whole edifice, with +its cupolas, and minarets, and castellated walls, were soon bathed +in a flood of splendour. A standard, however, floating in the fresh +breeze, with the figures of sentinels moving on the ramparts, whose +spear-tops sparkled now and then, as they caught the fading light, +indicated preparations little consonant with the features of innocence, +happiness, and loveliness almost lulled to sleep, by which they were +surrounded.</p> + +<p>The guides having pointed out the direction in which the temple of +Mahadeo was situated, the pilgrims turned their steps thither. Unlike +the other side of the mountain, the descents down which they now had +to make their way were frequently encumbered by enormous trees flung +down by tempests, uprooted by shocks of earthquake, and wasted by the +lightnings of ages, that had torn away their branches, stripped them +of their bark, and shivered them frequently into blackened masses, +which assumed a thousand fantastic shapes. Some lay across +<span class="pagenum">302</span> the beds of torrents, where they were +buttressed by piles of rocks, and intercepting the flood, sent it +foaming high in air, with tremendous uproar. Others accidentally formed +bridges across abysses, whence subterranean cascades resounded. Some +had plunged, or were plunging, into ravines, down which no traveller +had ever ventured—some, heaped one upon another, lay mouldering with +time, yielding funguses of enormous dimensions, whose extraordinary +shapes seemed to belong to some other planet—some, with branches +stricken into the earth, rose again at some distance, shooting forth +fresh descendants, proud of their yet unperished ancestry, which must +have been coeval with the infancy of the world.</p> + +<p>One awful—ever-accumulating inundation—that must have oceans for its +source—swept straight downwards between the walls of a riven mountain +until it passed the brow of a precipice, over which, bending like the +arch that separates time from eternity, it fell in one overwhelming +wave into a deep abyss, a chaos unfathomable, dimly revealed by +the lightnings of the element, as it bounded from depth to +<span class="pagenum">303</span> depth, through the echoes of +everlasting thunders below.</p> + +<p>A temple still exists, which Jehangire, the moment he first beheld +that stupendous cataract, resolved to erect on a rock hard by, a +monument of the admiration with which he viewed that work of Nature—so +inimitable by human power—so inexhaustible in her strength—so unlimited +in her faculties of production—so marvellous as to the facility with +which she executes all her designs, whether she chooses to arrange the +colours on the chalice of the tulip, or to toss from her hand a Ganges. +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R X I X --> +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum">304</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_XIX"> + CHAPTER XIX. +</h2> + +<div class="cc"> +<p>“What need of the mirror, when our eyes meet, and in them we view +each other?”</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Indian Poem.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2">The moon rising, with an orb almost complete, and +exhibiting within its visible circumference but a small segment +still to be silvered, forbade the pilgrims to seek repose during +the night. They travelled onward in the direction prescribed by the +guides—now along the edge of mural precipices—now over boundless +heaths—now through dark forests—now through the dried channels of +winter torrents, with all the expedition which their animals could +command, until they reached a hamlet, where they found it absolutely +necessary to take refreshment and repose. The means for both were +<span class="pagenum">305</span> speedily supplied by the tenants +of the humble dwellings they found in that part of the mountain, the +Cashmerians deeming it a sacred duty, or rather a privilege, to attend +to all pilgrims who pass their way. From these good people, Auzeem +learned, to his great satisfaction, that the habitation of the famed +Zeinedeen was distant only a few hours; and that the temple of Mahadeo, +of which the hermit was said to be the high priest, was within an +arrow’s flight from his residence.</p> + +<p>Remounting their ponies, just as the friendly light, which had +hitherto guided their steps, grew pale in a sky resuming the roseate +tints of morning, the pilgrims drew renovated strength and spirits +from the spicy breath, which ascended as an offering to Aurora, from +the meadows and the flowery hills below. Some remains of the winter +snow still accompanied their path, especially where they had to pass +abrupt rocks, or glens impervious to the summer sun. Their route became +from hour to hour more and more enchanting, until they at length +reached the entrance to the habitation occupied by the anchorite. It +was then near mid-day. Auzeem remarked, that Zeinedeen must +<span class="pagenum">306</span> be engaged with visitors of +distinction, as several ponies, caparisoned in a peculiarly elegant +style, were tied together in an enclosure hard by.</p> + +<p>Chunder, as soon as his infirm limbs could permit him, answered to +the call of one of the guides, who seemed familiar with his name. The +old man appeared to derive pleasure from seeing before him persons, +whom he at once conjectured to be pilgrims, on their way to the temple +of Mahadeo; for it was one of his constant complaints, that those +shrines, which he remembered in his youth to have been frequented by +throngs of devotees from all parts of the world, had been, in the +degeneracy of modern times, almost wholly abandoned. The god, he +informed them, had re-appeared as usual, and had nearly attained his +perfect form. He had no doubt, that as soon as Zeinedeen was informed +of their arrival, he would give orders for their entertainment, during +their stay, within his own dwelling.</p> + +<p>This intelligence was the more agreeable to Jehangire and Auzeem, +as they had heard much of the hermit’s science, intelligence, and +superior talent, and they were happy to have the opportunity +<span class="pagenum">307</span> of enjoying his society in that +familiar intercourse which they would thus be permitted to hold with so +distinguished a personage. The emperor would be under no necessity to +conceal, even if concealment from such a superior being were possible, +his true rank and character. Nor was he without a faint hope, that all +anchorite as was the occupant of the place—curiosity, or accident, had +already enabled him to learn something of the existence, the habits, +perhaps the secret feelings and wishes of her, at whose shrine the +imperial pilgrim would, at the moment, have preferred kneeling, rather +than at that of any golden god or goddess, who had ever been worshipped +in Cashmere.</p> + +<p>While the strangers were waiting for the return of Chunder, +a bevy of gay damsels, with small silver-mounted whips in their +hands, rushed together from the interior halls into the court-yard, +laughing and talking aloud, in their sweet and playful voices, until +they found themselves unexpectedly in the presence of strangers. +Immediately checking each other, and flinging their veils, some +with rather a coquettish carelessness, over their faces, +<span class="pagenum">308</span> they passed on to the enclosure +where the ponies where detained. The animals at once recognised their +light-hearted owners, and permitted themselves to be led in succession +to a stone bench, from which the damsels jumped on their backs, and +rode away amidst an abundance of tittering, and of stolen looks at the +pilgrims, who, upon their side, watched the scene with at least an +equal degree of curiosity.</p> + +<p>One of the ponies, a beautiful creature, of a half zebra breed, +still remained unmounted, the rein being held by a female slave, who +seemed to wait for some person not yet come forth from the residence +of Zeinedeen. The pilgrims still stood in the court-yard, waiting +to be summoned to the presence of the hermit. Presently a female +figure, arrayed in a white muslin turban and veil, a dove-coloured +satin pelisse, a tunic of white silk, slightly sprigged with silver, +cinctured at the waist by a band of gold, with an emerald clasp in +front, and trowsers of the same material as the tunic, appeared, also +with a small whip in her hand, mounted in gold, crossing the court-yard +with a hurried step. Her cheek was much flushed—her eye highly +animated; as she passed, she stopped <span class="pagenum">309</span> +a moment, pressed the end of the whip to her reddened lips as if +she doubted whether she had not forgotten something behind; but, +immediately resuming her step, hastened to where the slave was +waiting.</p> + +<p>Auzeem, who had a full view of her countenance and person, stood +mute with surprize. After a momentary pause, he turned to Jehangire, +to express his emotions of admiration; but the emperor was no longer +near him. The slave, who held the rein, felt herself obliged suddenly +to yield it to a more vigorous hand, just as the fair rider had +adjusted herself on the padded back of the animal, and in an instant +the beautiful equestrian, her poney, and her new guide, were out of +sight.</p> + +<p>“This,” exclaimed the latter, when he found himself beyond the +danger of observation; “this is, indeed, an unexpected joy. Oh! +Nourmahal!”</p> + +<p>The female so addressed, oppressed by terror upon finding herself +in the hands of a stranger, who had hitherto bent down his face, whose +motives for bearing her thus rapidly away, she could not divine; +pre-occupied, too, to an intense degree of excitement as she had +already <span class="pagenum">310</span> been, so much so that she +scarcely noticed what had happened, until a moment before she heard her +name thus passionately sounded, wore no longer the ruby on her cheek +or lips. A death-like shadow, pale and livid, by turns overspread her +brow. Trembling in every limb, unable to hold her seat, she fell while +clasping her hands, and, resting her head upon them, lay on the ground +like a lifeless victim of despair.</p> + +<p>Jehangire, plucking from his bosom the symbol which he hoped she had +sent him, placed it in her hand, to assure her of his identity. Was +he wrong in that hope? In its withered form would she still recognise +the token? What fates depended in the balance of that moment? Kneeling +by her side, he sickened in agony; her first word would be to him the +sting of death, or the sun of all his future existence.</p> + +<p>“Here—buried for ever; oh, fatal messenger!” exclaimed Nourmahal, as +her returning sense informed her of the circumstances in which she was +placed. “Forgive—forget this; it should never have left the bosom where +it now rests.”</p> + +<p>Jehangire hung upon every accent; no word escaped his lips. The +rapture that rose, <span class="pagenum">311</span> kindling within +him,—the thought that, come what may, he was once more in the presence +of all he most loved upon earth, dispelled every other idea.</p> + +<p>“It hung here,” she continued; “it fell, I know not how—into that +mystic fountain—since then, oh, what have I not suffered?”</p> + +<p>“It is thine. If I ought not to have received it,—though how can I +forget that it reached my hands, that it has since been the companion +of my heart?—let it be thine again.”</p> + +<p>“Do I dream?” asked the agitated Nourmahal, rising and looking +wildly around her. “Whose words are those? That voice?”—</p> + +<p>“Am I not remembered?”</p> + +<p>“My sovereign! It is, indeed, my imperial lord, here in the midst +of his enemies! Fly,—Allah! know you not that all Cashmere is in arms +against you?”</p> + +<p>“I am here a pilgrim.”</p> + +<p>“If you be discovered, nothing will protect you from the hate of +your enemies. It is madness to expose your anointed head to their +arrows.”</p> + +<p>“All seems at peace as yet within your valley.” +<span class="pagenum">312</span></p> + +<p>“You are assuredly not here without an escort?”</p> + +<p>“I have a few,—two or three companions.”</p> + +<p>“It is my first duty, then, to implore you to fly while yet you may. +Be convinced, that if the intelligence get abroad that the emperor is +in the province, you cannot count a moment on your safety.”</p> + +<p>“I am, as you see, disguised.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, Sire, no disguise can conceal your rank, for you cannot move, +you cannot look unlike Selim,—I should have said Jehangire,” she added, +blushing all over, kneeling before the sovereign, and bending her head +upon the palm of her hand.</p> + +<p>“To thee, Selim,—by no other name let me ever be known to thee, at +least,—Oh, Nourmahal! How has all this happened? Why was I left in +ignorance of the steps that led to this fatal marriage?”</p> + +<p>“They were scarcely known to myself. In an evil hour, before—but, +oh, question me not—to what tend now such enquiries? My fate is sealed, +for <i>ever</i>!”</p> + +<p>The deep sigh with which that <i>ever</i> was pronounced, renewed +the distraction which seized <span class="pagenum">313</span> the mind +of Nourmahal, when she was first borne away from the care of the slave. +Happily a flood of tears came to her relief. Jehangire induced her to +sit upon a green bank, and holding both her hands in his, soothed her +feelings by all the kindness he could administer. He did not renew +the subject nearest to his heart, until he saw that she was more +composed.</p> + +<p>“It has been always represented to me, that Abul-Fazeel—no friend of +mine—was the author of what has occurred.”</p> + +<p>“Alas! I know not with whom the idea originated. But I should never +forgive myself if I did not, as I do, most fully admit that my consent +was freely given,—given, before—Oh, how shall I confess it!—before I +knew my heart, before I felt what it was indeed to love!”</p> + +<p>“This is a condition hard to be endured. You should have been mine. +There is not a pulse in this hand, Nourmahal,—not a thought in thy +heart,—that does not proclaim its unison with another than him to whom +the laws have bound thee. And he—does he not know this?”</p> + +<p>“Afkun is the most generous of men; his soul is noble as his arm +is valiant. Alas! that <span class="pagenum">314</span> such a man, +worthy of thy esteem, should be at this moment in arms against his +lawful sovereign! He cannot be ignorant that there are some impulses, +howsoever they arise, which cannot be controlled; but it is vain to +think more upon this,—my duties are fixed, my destiny is cast!”</p> + +<p>“It is equally vain—Nourmahal, can you—do you wish to forget who it +was that first gave you that name?”</p> + +<p>“Would it had never met my ear! Oh, that the circumstances of that +evening could vanish from my soul!”</p> + +<p>“They cannot,—I was about to say that it was equally vain to expect +that I could not think more—think ever, of the impressions of that +evening, which, for good or for evil, are inseparable from all that +I can now ever know of happiness. I wear the crown of Hindostan, but +behold, no sooner was it placed upon my brow, than my son,—Chusero,—my +eldest, born—”</p> + +<p>“My tears, too, have been shed for this unnatural rebellion.”</p> + +<p>“Ah! had you been his parent, if you could but conjecture half the +grief which weighs upon <span class="pagenum">315</span> a father’s +heart, when, instead of affection, obedience, reverence from him +who shares the life-blood of your veins, whose infant caresses you +remember with a delight that thrills your soul, whose earliest smiles +remain star-lights in the canopy of your existence—when, instead of +the tenderness you expect, not as a return for your solicitude, but +as the growth of the seed you have sown and reared up, you meet only +resistance, hostility, bitter, remorseless eagerness to supplant +and destroy you,—oh! you would indeed, Nourmahal, give me all your +sympathy.”</p> + +<p>“Would I could hold out the hope, that even his evil fortunes had +produced a disposition to seek for forgiveness.”</p> + +<p>“Heaven be my witness, that I ask no more. He has but to utter a +single expression of regret, all shall be expunged on the instant from +my memory. Tell the boy,—you have lately seen him, perhaps—”</p> + +<p>“This morning,—hush! I hear horsemen coming this way,—to those +rocks, Sire, or you are lost!”</p> + +<p>Jehangire had just time to climb a precipitous ascent above the bank +where they were <span class="pagenum">316</span> sitting, when Afkun +and Chusero, attended by twenty spearmen, made their appearance in a +defile below. They rode rapidly towards Nourmahal, who, summoning all +her fortitude, mounted her pony, and composing her veil, rode on to +meet them.</p> + +<p>“We have been anxiously looking for you, Nourmahal,” said Afkun. +“Knowing that you had gone to visit Zeinedeen, we have found it +necessary to come out with an escort, for the advanced guard of the +invaders are already visible from the castle. We must hasten home-ward, +and I fear that your excursions must be given up, until the enemy shall +disappear. You would be too precious a prize in their hands at such a +moment.”</p> + +<p>The ladies of the harem, who had only preceded Nourmahal to a +fountain hard by, where they went to water their ponies, now joined +the cavalcade, of which the emperor had a full view from his place +of refuge, without being exposed to their observation. He could +plainly distinguish his son, who was mounted on a grey +<a href="#316b" id="316a">Arabian</a> courser; the animal curvetting, +and now and then pawing the earth with a beautiful +<span class="pagenum">317</span> pride, seemed conscious that he bore +on his back a rider of no ordinary rank. Afkun led the way, riding by +Nourmahal’s side. The prince and the other ladies immediately followed, +and the line was closed by the spearmen, mounted also on spirited +animals.</p> + +<p>Jehangire watched their progress down the mountain, with the most +painful feelings. It was not until his straining eye failed to discern +any part of the group, that he descended to the bank, so lately +consecrated in his esteem, by having served as a couch for her, who had +now full possession of his soul. Sitting there awhile, he tranquillised +his thoughts. He felt as if the atmosphere around him still breathed +of Nourmahal’s presence—still echoed her soft enchanting voice—still +gave him back the fresh impression of those features, over which, in +a few moments, so many traces of emotion—of emotion so precious to +him—had passed, all exalting and perfecting that beauty, of which, he +believed, the earth held no rival. At length, bending his steps towards +the hermitage, he found Auzeem anxiously waiting his return. That +experienced person, however, asked no <span class="pagenum">318</span> +questions. He had already learned from the slave, to whom the +bewitching form belonged, which had excited his admiration. He easily +conjectured what followed.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- C H A P T E R X X --> +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum">319</span> +<h2 id="CHAPTER_XX"> + CHAPTER XX. +</h2> + +<div class="blockquot left"> +<p>“If you listen to him, my lord, the old man will weary out the stars +in telling tales of the days of his youth. Come this way, and heed him +not.”</p> +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Hindoo Drama.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p>Chunder having stated that Zeinedeen was engaged in deep +discourse with three strange dervishes, as he +<a href="#319b" id="319a">supposed</a> them to be, who had recently +arrived in Cashmere from the islands of the west, led Jehangire and his +companion to an inner chamber, where mattresses were already spread +for their reception. Chiboques and coffee were immediately presented +to them by two negro slaves, after which a repast, consisting chiefly +of hot cakes, fowls, and <span class="pagenum">320</span> rice, was +served with lemonade, which the pilgrims found particularly acceptable +after their long ride across the mountains.</p> + +<p>Auzeem, desirous of learning, if he could, what preparations were +going on in the province, with a view to the maintenance of the civil +war, questioned Chunder upon the subject as soon as the other slaves +had been dismissed.</p> + +<p>“I do not find, Chunder, that so many pilgrims, as I had expected, +have assembled to visit the shrine of Mahadeo.”</p> + +<p>“No—nothing like the numbers that used to come in old times. I +remember the days when the whole of these mountain sides were covered +with them—their staffs making a moving forest as they crowded to the +entrance of the temple yonder.”</p> + +<p>“How does it happen that they are now so few?”</p> + +<p>“Infidels—Mahometans as they are called—have, in these times, +been teaching some nonsensical things about houris, and prophets, +and other follies, and the silly people are led away to other +places—to gingerbread houses with round chimnies stuck up on one +side, on the tops of which sooty urchins cry out to them +<span class="pagenum">321</span> to come to their prayers. And then +they kneel down on a bit of carpet, and go to sleep for a while, and +when they get up, they kneel down again, and then they stand and bawl, +as if the world was coming to an end.”</p> + +<p>Jehangire could not repress a smile at Chunder’s irreverent +description of the religion of the prophet.</p> + +<p>“And it is for these childish novelties that the people have +deserted the fine old temples built by the hands of the gods, that in +the elder days were spread over the land. Why, I well recollect, that +when I was once at Bokla, upon the shore of the great sea, there came a +storm which lasted twenty days, and every day the sea rose higher and +higher, until every house in the town and in the country round, was +swallowed up. But the temples of the gods rose as mountains above the +raging waters, and afforded dry footing to all the inhabitants. What +would have become of them then, I should like to know, if they had only +pots turned upside down, and chimnies of whitened mud to fly to?”</p> + +<p>“If ever you go to Agra, my friend,” said Jehangire, “you will see +that the mosques <span class="pagenum">322</span> there are not quite +so insignificant as you imagine.”</p> + +<p>“Pshaw! simpleton! Have you seen the temple of the Sun in +Guzerat?”</p> + +<p>The emperor was obliged to confess that he had not.</p> + +<p>“Nor the fortress of Kebeer, who built the temple, and in which +fortress the subah of Cashmere now resides?”</p> + +<p>“No; except from the tops of these mountains.”</p> + +<p>“Then you have seen nothing; you are but a poor pilgrim, just come, +I suppose, out of Thibet. They say that that madman, that up-start, +Bochari, who leads the sultan, his master, by the nose, is coming +hither with a large army to attack the fortress. He might as well have +staid at Lahore—and much better—and spent his time, as his father did +before him, in daubing pictures of old women.”</p> + +<p>Auzeem, who saw that the conversation was assuming a turn he had not +intended, eagerly interposed with an inquiry whether the fortress was +not strongly garrisoned.</p> + +<p>“Garrisoned! The fortress of Kebeer garrisoned! I am sure I know not +whether there <span class="pagenum">323</span> be many soldiers within +the walls, if that be what you mean by a garrison; but this I do know, +that ten or twenty men could easily defend it from all the armies that +the painter’s son can bring against it.”</p> + +<p>“May I ask,” added Auzeem, “who this Kebeer was, of whom you +speak?”</p> + +<p>“What? Have you never heard of Kebeer? Ha! ha! ha! Well, you are a +pair of the most ignorant pilgrims I ever met. There is not a child in +Cashmere who could not have told you the story of Kebeer.”</p> + +<p>“We should be glad to hear it from you,” said Auzeem, “if you could +spare the time to tell it.”</p> + +<p>“It is soon told; but I must have a pipe and a cup of coffee +first.”</p> + +<p>Chunder going to the door of the chamber, called aloud to the +negroes in his husky voice, who immediately made their appearance, and +supplied the vice-hermit, as he might be styled, with the necessaries +he required. Then settling himself on a mattress, which he had +directed to be brought in for the purpose, and assuming an air of more +than ordinary importance, he thus proceeded with his tale. +<span class="pagenum">324</span></p> + +<p>“A poor cobbler, who lived in Cyrinagur, as the capital of Cashmere +was called in the old times, used to go out frequently in the hard days +of winter, with his ass and his hatchet, to the woody hills above the +town, to collect fuel to keep his wife and his little family warm in +their cottage, while he hammered away in his stall. One day he happened +to light upon the tough stump of a brambly tree, which he attempted to +chop into small fragments; but his hatchet turning aside from the wood, +struck against a stone and was splintered. ‘No more chopping for you +to-day,’ said he, looking at his hatchet. ‘It was only yesterday you +came back from that lazy blacksmith, Kebeer, and now you must go again +to get a new edge. Why; how is this? It is not my own—the robber—he +has given me an old hatchet of copper, instead of my own bright steel, +which I have had all my life. I warrant me, I’ll have him before the +Cadi!’</p> + +<p>“The cobbler, you must know, was but an ignorant old man; and so, +when he took the hatchet to Kebeer, the latter saw, with the eye of a +lynx, what had occurred. ‘Ah! very true,’ said he, ‘this hatchet is +not yours, it belongs <span class="pagenum">325</span> to another +customer, and was sent to you in a mistake. I can’t find your own just +now; but no matter, here is a new one, take it and keep it, until I get +you your own. By the by, it must have been a very hard tree you were +trying to cut, when you splintered this in the way you have done. I +should like to see it.’</p> + +<p>“‘It was not the tree,’ said the cobbler, ‘as I told you before; but +a stone, against which it struck, when I missed the stump.’</p> + +<p>“‘A stone, was it? Well, the hatchet you now have, will cut through +stone as well as wood.’</p> + +<p>“The cobbler laughed heartily at the idea of a hatchet cutting a +stone, upon which Keeber said, ‘If you do not believe me, I’ll go with +you to-morrow morning to the place where you said you splintered this +old hatchet; and if, at the first blow, I don’t cut in two, with the +hatchet I have lent you, the identical stone you struck, I shall make +you a present of all the hatchets in my shop!’</p> + +<p>“The cobbler laughed again and again, much more heartily than +before; well pleased to think how rich he should become, for the +shop was full of new hatchets; and how fortunate he was +<span class="pagenum">326</span> in dealing with so shallow a fool. +He then went away, saying that he would return the next morning at +day-break, and take the blacksmith to the very spot in the wood where +the stone was.</p> + +<p>“The cobbler could hardly sleep all night, for joy that he should +no longer have occasion to mend old shoes. He rose before dawn, and +hastening to the blacksmith’s shop, awoke him. They both went together +to the wood, and having reached the place where the half-chopped stump +still remained, the cobbler pointed out the stone.</p> + +<p>“‘Now give me the hatchet,’ said Kebeer. The cobbler placed it at +once in his hand. Kebeer, grasping the handle of the instrument with +both his hands, and raising it high above his head, struck the stone +with all his might. But, instead of splitting the stone, he broke the +hatchet in two, when both parts turned at once from a bright steel +colour to a deep yellow. The cobbler jumped about, transported with +gladness. He danced, and sung, and whistled, half mad with his joy, +that had no bounds.</p> + +<p>“‘Unhappy simpleton, that I am,’ exclaimed Kebeer, ‘to have made +the promise I <span class="pagenum">327</span> have made—but it shall +be kept. Go, take possession of my shop, and all that it contains. I +am too much ashamed of my folly ever to shew myself there again. All +my neighbours would laugh at me, and say—there goes the ass, Kebeer! +and they would make long ears with their hands. I’ll betake me to some +foreign country.’</p> + +<p>“The cobbler did as he was told, and from that day he had no +occasion to mend shoes any more.</p> + +<p>“As soon, however, as the cobbler was out of sight, Kebeer picking +up the pieces of the broken hatchet, and uncovering the stone, which +was partly buried in the earth, he took it out of the ground, and +carefully concealed it under his jacket in the folds of his girdle. +He then hastened out of the wood, and proceeding towards the high +road, travelled into Hindostan, until he reached Lahore. He there +found no difficulty in selling the fragments of his hatchet, for they +were of the purest gold, the stone being the celebrated talisman that +could turn into gold all things it touched, which was possessed by a +Bengalese magician in the olden times—by him, after working numberless +<span class="pagenum">328</span> miracles, buried, in a fit of anger, +where the cobbler struck by accident against it, and so discovered once +more, after the lapse of many thousand years.</p> + +<p>“Kebeer forthwith purchased a great quantity of iron, which he +locked up safely in a large storehouse; he then changed it into gold, +but when he beheld his growing riches, he began to fear that he should +be robbed. He, therefore, hired numbers of armed men, whom he clothed +in sumptuous coats of mail; and to whom, on the condition of guarding +his treasures, he assigned yearly pensions of such an amount, that +some of the greatest omrahs and rajahs, and many of the most learned +and illustrious men in the empire, were glad to be enrolled in his +service.</p> + +<p>“Kebeer had now an ambition to found cities, and erect temples to +the gods, by whom he had been so highly favoured. Attended by his +great men, he went about travelling. One day, being in the province of +Guzerat, while he was standing on a lofty peninsula, that overlooked +the ocean, he beheld an eagle dive into the water. The bird, having +thus washed its body, returned to the land, and, perching on a rock, +<span class="pagenum">329</span> made obeisance to the sea. Kebeer, +astonished at this sight, consulted his learned men, desiring to be +informed why the eagle adored the waves.</p> + +<p>“One of these, who was acquainted with the language of birds, asked +the bird what it was to which he paid his homage. The eagle answered, +that while diving in the sea he had struck against the long-lost statue +of Sumnaut, the general judge of the dead, and that he, therefore, +bowed down before it.</p> + +<p>“Search having been made by expert divers, the precious image was +discovered, and Kebeer resolved, that there should be erected to +<a href="#329b" id="329a">the</a> honour of the god, on the summit of +the peninsula, a temple, such as human eye had never seen before.</p> + +<p>“Artificers in masonry and wood, in gold, silver, and ivory, having +been collected from all parts of the world, the temple was speedily +raised; since called, from its exceeding beauty and magnificence, the +Temple of the Sun. It is in the interior larger than the whole town +of Cyrinagur. Its walls are one hundred and fifty cubits high, and +nineteen cubits thick. There are three entrances to it; and, at one of +the entrances, <span class="pagenum">330</span> are two figures of +elephants, in white marble, each with a man seated on his trunk. You +would think they were living, and about to move in another direction. +At another entrance are two surprising figures of horsemen, completely +armed, and mounted on bronze horses, of marvellous workmanship; at +the third, is a figure of a dead lion in brass, with two tigers, of +the same material, standing over it, as if about to devour the slain +monarch of the forest. The wonder is, that they do not devour it.</p> + +<p>“Over the temple is spread a dome of gold, in the interior of +which the sun is represented by a myriad of diamonds, that blaze in +torch-light like the day. Around it, in various kinds of precious +stones, are the planets, and many stars, the whole encircled by a wide +border, in which are minstrels, men kneeling in prayer, females dancing +and beating tambourines, horses racing against each other, warriors +fighting, wrestlers and gladiators, and birds and beasts, all most +truly awful to behold; for though they are plainly seen to be living, +they are too far off to be heard.</p> + +<p>“When that infidel warrior, Mahomet of Ghazni, invaded Guzerat, and +took possession <span class="pagenum">331</span> of the peninsula of +Sumnaut, he found that there were assigned, for the support of the +temple, two thousand villages, all purchased by the blacksmith; three +thousand priests were constantly in attendance upon the shrine of the +god, whose ancient golden image remained unchanged; but in the interior +of the figure he discovered precious stones, deposited in it by Kebeer, +to such an amount, that he took them as an adequate ransom for the +whole province which he had captured, and quitted the country, leaving +the temple untouched, and also five hundred golden statues of inferior +deities, by which Sumnaut still remains surrounded.”</p> + +<p>“It must, indeed,” exclaimed Auzeem, “be a marvellous structure.”</p> + +<p>“Well, you may suppose that a man of such unbounded wealth became +at last anxious to enjoy repose, and to secure some place of strength, +where he might preserve himself and his treasure against any power that +might cause him fear. So returning to Cashmere, he fixed upon the woody +hills near Cyrinagur, where he found the talismanic stone. Upon careful +examination, they were found to be surrounded, on all sides, by a chain +of rocks, which he had <span class="pagenum">332</span> fashioned, +with great labour, like a wall; immediately beneath it he caused a +ditch to be excavated, into which he led whole rivers, until the deep +abyss was filled up, and then the country about it, for a considerable +distance, whether rock or earth, he caused to be levelled, so that the +fortress now resembles a mountain in itself, starting up from a plain. +It communicates with that plain, only by a single bridge, which may be +drawn up or let down, as the people in the fortress may think fit. It +contains within itself, abundant wells of pure water, temples, castles, +towers, houses of every description, groves, gardens, fields, pastures, +granaries, always filled with provisions for five years, and when you +see it, I think you will say that the son of the portrait painter, if +he tells the emperor that he can take it by force, deserves to have his +head lifted on a pole for all his army to laugh at.”</p> + +<p>This intelligence was by no means pleasant to the ear of the +imperial pilgrim. He could not, however, forbear from inquiring what +had become of the talisman with which all these wonders had been +wrought.</p> + +<p>“By the time the fortress was finished, as +<span class="pagenum">333</span> you may easily suppose, the fortunate +blacksmith had become a great sovereign, and had a harem full of +the most beautiful women, and many sons and daughters. Emperors and +kings from all parts came to his palace, among the rest, the sultan +of Burhanpour, who, upon beholding the exceeding beauty of Kebeer’s +eldest daughter, asked her hand in marriage for his son. The union +having been agreed upon, the sultan returned home, full of expectation +that the bride would be sent to Burhanpour, with a dowry such as the +world never saw before. She was, however, equipped in a very frugal +manner; but for her dowry, because she was Kebeer’s favourite daughter, +he presented her with a sealed purse of cloth of gold, in which was +contained the talismanic stone. He desired her to say to the monarch of +Burhanpour, when presenting him with the stone, that a single scruple +of it was worth, at the least, a hundred elephant-loads of gold. He +then explained to her its miraculous properties.</p> + +<p>“The princess, attended by a retinue of her father’s people, +and an ambassador, set out for Burhanpour, and proceeded as far as +the river Nerbuddah, within four days’ journey from that +<span class="pagenum">334</span> city. She was there met by the sultan, +with a numerous escort of his nobles, and sumptuous tents were fitted +up for her reception. Having made her the usual presents of gold, and +beautiful palanquins and horses, he was not a little disappointed when, +in return, the princess laid on the floor of her tent only the sealed +purse, containing, as she said, a jewel equal in value to the revenue +of a hundred provinces. The sultan, on opening the bag, and perceiving +nothing in it but what appeared to him to be an ordinary stone, became +angry, believing that it was intended by Kebeer as a mark of his +contempt for the sovereign of a district, not in itself very wealthy. +Taking up the stone indignantly, he flung it into the river, and from +the same spot sent back the princess to her father.</p> + +<p>“Kebeer, in return for this insult, contented himself with writing +and despatching a letter to the sultan of Burhanpour, in these +words:—‘The article which I sent thee by my daughter, and of which thou +hadst not the common sense to understand the value, would have produced +thee, every day, gold by the horse-load. But thou hast cast it into the +Nerbuddah, whence it <span class="pagenum">335</span> can never more +be recovered.’ You may well imagine the grief of the foolish sultan, +when he read this letter. He immediately caused the bed of the river to +be searched, but the stone was never met with again.”</p> + +<p>“Except upon one occasion,” added Jehangire, “for I remember hearing +my father, Acbar, now in paradise, say, that when he set on foot an +expedition against a subsequent sultan of Burhanpour, one of the +elephants in the imperial train had a ponderous iron chain attached +to his fore-leg, as a check upon his furious and intractable temper. +In passing the Nerbuddah, the chain came in contact with something, +which must have been the very stone in question, that turned it into +gold. The circumstance was made known to the emperor, who employed a +number of people in searching the river for the talisman, but without +success.”</p> + +<p>Chunder, lifting his withered hands to his eyes, rubbed them, as +if he had awoke from a lethargy, and gazing at the emperor, his mouth +distended with astonishment, knew not what apology to make for the +manner in which he had hitherto addressed the two pilgrims. +<span class="pagenum">336</span> Auzeem, however, relieved him at once +from his embarrassment on that point, and lifting the +<a href="#336b" id="336a">old</a> man from his mattress, desired him to +conduct them to the hermit’s tower.</p> + +<p class="centered p2">END OF VOLUME II.</p> + +<p class="centered s5 p2">PRINTED BY STEWART AND MURRAY, OLD BAILEY.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- F O O T N O T E --> +<div class="footnote chapter"> +<p class="s3 centered">FOOTNOTE</p> +<p class="centered p2"> + <a href="#A" id="B">[1]</a> Laughing crows. +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<!-- T R A N S C R I B E R S' N O T E S --> +<div class="transnote chapter"> +<p class="s3 centered">TRANSCRIBERS’ NOTES</p> + +<p class="p2">A Table of Contents was created and added to the beginning +of the text.</p> + +<p>Minor typographical errors such as missing periods, commas used +instead of periods, etc. have been silently corrected.</p> + +<p>Spellings and punctuation reflecting period or local usage have +been retained as printed; however, probable printer’s errors have been +corrected. The corrections made are listed below:</p> + +<p>Page 21: “she had often pondered i th delight” changed to “she had +often pondered <a href="#21a" id="21b">with</a> delight”</p> + +<p>Page 144: “they would find it imposible to settle” changed to “they +would find it <a href="#144a" id="144b">impossible</a> to settle”</p> + +<p>Page 144: “the blessings of his gracions providence” changed to “the +blessings of his <a href="#144aa" id="144bb">gracious</a> providence” +</p> + +<p>Page: 152: “the insterstices being filled with figures of birds +engaged in flight” changed to “the +<a href="#152a" id="152b">interstices</a> +being filled with figures of birds engaged in flight”</p> + +<p>Page 188: “and ran foward eagerly to meet him” changed to “and ran +<a href="#188a" id="188b">forward</a> eagerly to meet him”</p> + +<p>Page 193: “with provisions o every kind” changed to “with provisions +<a href="#193a" id="193b">of</a> every kind”</p> + +<p>Page 288: “from he mulberry-tree” changed to “from +<a href="#288a" id="288b">the</a> mulberry-tree”</p> + +<p>Page 316: “mounted on a grey rabian courser” changed to “mounted on +a grey <a href="#316a" id="316b">Arabian</a> courser”</p> + +<p>Page 319: “as he suposed them to be” changed to “as he +<a href="#319a" id="319b">supposed</a> them to be”</p> + +<p>Page 329: “erected to th honour of the god” changed to “erected to +<a href="#329a" id="329b">the</a> honour of the god”</p> + +<p>Page 336: “lifting the ld man” changed to “lifting the +<a href="#336a" id="336b">old</a> man”</p> + +<p>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the +public domain.</p> +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78239 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/78239-h/images/cover.jpg b/78239-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..019b12c --- /dev/null +++ b/78239-h/images/cover.jpg |
