I was spared one trouble to add to my others that day, for the rajah did
not come. If he had, I fear that he would have noticed my manner as
being peculiar and strange. I dreaded, too, his encountering Dost, for,
though Salaman and his companions had been easily imposed upon, now that
I was in the secret, I forgot all about my having also been deceived,
and felt that the rajah would see through the disguise at once.
It was then with a feeling of the most intense relief that I saw the
nightfall, and felt now that he would not visit me that day.
Of course I lay listening that night in the tent, wondering whether Dost
would make an attempt to visit me again, and then whether he was making
his way back to where he expected to meet my troop, and "Oh!" I
mentally ejaculated, "if I could only have been with him."
The desire brought with it a despondent feeling and weary loneliness. I
was very weak and miserable, thinking that perhaps I should never grow
strong again, never mount my beautiful horse as of old. And then I fell
a wondering for the first time in my life at myself; thinking what a
weak, helpless creature a human being was, if he received a wound, for
there seemed to be little reason for my long illness. I had had a blow
on the head, and a cut on the arm--that was all. It never occurred to
me then that my injuries were such as would have killed many men, and
that it was my youth and vigorous health alone which had enabled me to
bear all I had gone through.
The morning broke dull and lowering. My spirits were quite in the same
key, and I trembled when I first encountered Salaman, looking at him
sharply, to see if his eyes told tales of any particular excitement.
And they did; there was no mistaking their import; he was evidently in
high glee, and that, I felt, could only mean one thing--the discovery
and making prisoner of poor Dost, whose fate must be sealed.
But still Salaman made no communication; he only busied himself about
his work, waiting on me, seeing to my tent, and then adjusting the sling
for my wounded arm.
My breakfast was ready beneath the tree; and I walked to it feeling
certainly stronger, while every day I passed I could not help noticing
how beautifully clean and well prepared everything was, and how pleasant
the life beneath the tent would have been, if my mind had only been at
peace.
Salaman waited upon me with more than his usual ease, and twice over I
saw him smiling, as if with greater satisfaction than ever; but still he
did not speak, but appeared to avoid my eye, till I could bear it no
longer. Feeling that something had occurred--a something which could
only mean the discovery of Dost, and the credit he would get with the
rajah--I at last asked him sharply what he was laughing at.
"I have good news for my lord," he said eagerly; and to me his manner
seemed to be full of sneering triumph.
"Well, what is it?" I said huskily.
"The holy man has gone?"
"To prison!" I exclaimed involuntarily, for that was my first thought.
"Oh no, my lord; away upon his long journey."
"Dead!" I ejaculated.
Salaman looked at me wonderingly.
"Oh no, my Lord; that kind of old man very seldom dies. They live on
and on and on, they are so hard and strange. I have seen many fakirs so
thin and dry that they hardly seemed to be alive, but they were, and
they went on living. I never saw a fakir die."
"Then you mean that he has gone away on his travels--pilgrimage, we call
it?"
"Yes, my lord, and he will not be here to curse you again."
"When--when did he go?" I asked, taking up my coffee, so as to seem
indifferent.
"Who knows, my lord? No one saw him leave. They come and they go, and
some of them are always coming and going. They have no home. Perhaps
he went in the night, perhaps as soon as it was day. And with all those
wounds not healed, it is wonderful."
I was already beginning to enjoy my breakfast at this glorious news, for
Dost had evidently got away in safety, and his disguise would no doubt
enable him to pass easily through the land.
"Well," I said, speaking cheerfully now, "what is your other news?"
"Ah, that coffee has done my lord good," said Salaman. "He smiles and
looks brighter and better for his highness to see. I made that coffee
myself, and it is fresh and good."
"Beautiful, Salaman," I said, emptying my cup, and longing for some good
honest English milk; "but your news--your other news."
"His highness is coming to-day."
"How do you know?" I cried, the aroma departing from my coffee, and the
chupatties beginning to taste bitter.
"A horseman rode over to bid me have refreshments ready for his highness
this afternoon, which he will partake of with you, and afterwards the
tents are to be taken down, bullock-waggons will come, and we shall
sleep at the palace to-night. But my lord does not seem glad."
"Glad?" I said bitterly. "Why, this means that I, too, am to go."
"Yes, my lord; thy servant said so, and it is right. The great doctor
spoke to me, and said that you wanted a change from here."
"Oh no," I cried.
"But the great doctor said so, my lord. He knows. My lord was nearly
dead when he was brought here, but the good medicine brought him back to
life, and now he is nearly strong. This place is good, and it was made
ready for my lord, but it is very lonely, and the wild beasts are always
about the tents at night."
Salaman said no more, but walked away. He had already said too much.
I was in agony, and could think no more, for it appeared as if my chance
had been thrown away. Only a few hours back, and Dost was talking to
me, there, where my meal was spread, and I, his master, had let him go,
instead of ordering him to take me away with him.
I bitterly reproached myself for what I looked upon as my weakness in
giving way, though I know now that I did quite right, for of course I
could not foresee so sudden a change. I had expected it, and we had
discussed its probability, but I had hoped that there would be time for
my rescue first.
"Once inside the city, Brace will not have much chance of getting me
away," I said to myself despondently; and then, as I sat thinking over
my unhappy lot, and of the coming interview with the rajah, there was
only one way in which I felt that I could help myself, and that was to
seem worse instead of better when my captor came.
But I threw that idea aside directly; it was too contemptible.
"I must act like an English officer," I said. "It would be despicable
to sham, and he would see through it all at once."
Like many another one in such a position, I gave up thinking at last,
and prepared myself for the inevitable.
"After all," I mused, "he may not think me well enough, and then there
will be a respite. If he does say I am to go, well, I suppose it will
be to a prison."
I could not help feeling low-spirited, and the more so that on the other
hand there was the temptation offered to me of going straight to a
palace, and taking up at once my position, boy as I was, as the rajah's
most trusted leader of his troops.
The time went slowly on, and I sat expecting to hear the jingling of the
escort's accoutrements; but hour after hour passed, it would soon be
sundown, and then there would be another day's respite.
Salaman had made great preparations, and I was astonished at their
extent, for I had not thought it possible so elaborate a meal could be
prepared out there in the forest; but when I made some remark thereon,
he only smiled and said--
"I have only to give orders, my lord, and messengers bring everything I
want; but it is all in vain, the sun will sink directly, and his
highness has given up coming to-day."
Almost as he spoke, my heart beat, for in the distance there was the
sound of a horse galloping.
"A messenger," cried Salaman, excitedly, "to say his highness cannot
come."
I felt that he must be right, for, though I listened, I could hear no
more. It was evidently only one horse. He was not coming that day.
I uttered a sigh of relief, and strained my eyes to watch the opening
between the trees, through which directly after a handsomely dressed
horseman cantered, sprang from his steed, and threw the rein to an
attendant, after which he marched up to me, and bowed low as he
approached, to say only two words, which drove away all the hopes I had
been nursing.
"His highness!" he said, and I knew then that he was the avant-courier
who had galloped on to announce his lord's coming. After which he
stepped on one side and drew his sword, to stand on guard waiting for
the rajah's entry.
For a time, as I strove hard to be firm and ready to meet the greatest
enemy I had, I listened vainly for some sign of his drawing near, but
for a long space there was nothing but the customary bird-cries from the
forest. At last, though, there was the unmistakable sound of
approaching cavalry, and feeling firmer, I still sat with my eyes fixed
upon the narrow opening, schooling my lips to utter the final word,
"No," when he should come and repeat his offer.
"He will not kill me," I said to myself, "only put me in prison to make
me weary and glad to accept his offer; but he does not know how
obstinate I can be."
The open space surrounded by trees was now flooded with the rich orange
light of sundown, and as I listened to the approach of horse, and saw a
troop of showily dressed men ride in, I could not help a lingering
sensation coming over me, and the temptation would, I felt, be a hard
one to battle.
But first one and then another party rode in, till quite a hundred men
had formed up, with their dress looking brilliant in the sun's
horizontal rays. But there was no rajah, and I had begun to wonder at
his non-appearance on his favourite Arab.
The wonder passed away directly after, for all at once there was a
peculiar soft tread and rustling that was very familiar, sounding quite
distinct from the heavy sharp trampling of horse, and directly I saw the
painted head and gilded tusks of an enormous elephant come from among
the trees. Its head was covered with a scarlet cloth, heavily fringed
with gold, upon which sat its white-robed mahout, and the rest of the
housings were also of the same brilliant red, embroidered and fringed
most heavily with gold, the trappings completely hiding the huge
animal's sides, while the ropes which secured the massive silver howdah
were also twisted and tasselled with the rich yellow metal, much of
which was used to compose the rails and front of the canopied structure
in which the rajah was seated, completing what was a dazzling object
towering far above the magnificently dressed spearmen who marched by the
elephant's side, and the army of richly uniformed bodyguards who rode
behind.
The rajah had been lavish enough in his dress before, but on this
occasion he far outshone all previous display. Pearls and diamonds
encrusted his breast, and his draped helmet, with its flowing white
aigrette, was a perfect blaze of jewels, from whose many facets the
setting sun flashed in a way wonderful to behold at every movement of
the ponderous beast he rode.
But the gorgeous procession was not yet complete, for, as the rajah
advanced, two more splendidly caparisoned elephants appeared, bearing a
couple of venerable-looking officials simply dressed in white, their
marks of distinction being their noble presence, and what seemed to be
stars of emeralds and diamonds in the front of their large white
turbans.
I at once supposed these grey-bearded old men to be a couple of the
rajah's counsellors, but I had no time for further examination of the
gorgeous retinue, for, with the exception of the rajah and his nearest
attendants, all halted, while the great elephant came forward, till, at
a word from its sedate-looking mahout, it stopped just before where I
stood, curled up its trunk, uttered a loud trumpeting sound, and then
softly knelt down.
As it subsided, and rested there, motionless, with its gorgeous
trappings now touching the ground, there was a quick movement amongst
the spearmen, who formed up on either side, four of them raising their
arms to enable their august master to descend.
But he did not avail himself of their help. Stepping lightly out of the
howdah, and slowly placing one foot on a kind of step, suspended by gold
cords, he sprang to the ground, and then advanced towards me with a
grave smile, his followers prostrating themselves on either side of the
noble-looking figure, while I alone stood erect, and gave him my hand,
thinking the while how plain and shabby I looked in the face of all this
grand display.