A WINTER MARCH
It was only too true! The escort which was to see them on the road was
already occupying the garden, the horses champing their bits and
fretting because the long branches of the roses at which they snatched
held nothing but thorns.
Prince Akbar, indeed, was too much interested in watching them and
wondering if they were very hungry to take much heed of anything else,
but Princess Bakshee Bâni Begum, who was a very practical little person,
at once began to pack up her favourite doll.
"You had better choose out some toy, Mirak," said she, "or you will be
wanting to play with mine, and I won't let you."
But Mirak was busy with the horses.
"I sha'n't want anything but my sword," he replied valiantly. "I'm a big
boy now, and I'm going to play with real things." Then he turned to one
of the troopers with a quaint air of authority. "Your horse is too thin.
When I am King I shall see that my men give their horses enough to eat."
Foster-father, who overheard the child, paused in the hasty arrangements
he was making to look at the little Heir-to-Empire and put up a prayer
that the fates might let him be King; but the future looked black
indeed. The road to Kâbul must still be blocked with snow, even if more
did not fall by the way. A likely happening, with the bitter north wind
and the dull lowering sky. And if the young child escaped the danger of
extreme cold and extreme hardship, what might not be before him in Kâbul
itself?
Better, it might have been, for those in charge of him, to have risked
all, taken refuge with the old mountain chief, and died like brave men.
There was but one comfort in the whole affair. Prince Askurry must know
that Humâyon or his friends were close at hand, or he would not be in
such a desperate hurry to send away the Heir-to-Empire.
And this, indeed, was the truth. The fear of a rescue was so real and
immediate that Prince Askurry had had to make his decision in a minute.
So there was scarcely any time for preparation, and by noon the party
had started for the three hundred and odd miles of mountainous country
that lay between them and Kâbul. Only the children's faces were
cheerful; even Roy's showed grave and anxious.
They rode fast and far till dusk fell, when they had covered full twenty
miles. For the last few, both the women, who were mounted behind
troopers, had almost been dropping with fatigue, but the captain of the
escort was under orders to go as far as possible that night, so he
pushed on to reach a place called Robât. Here they were all
unceremoniously bundled into one large room, and by the steady tramp
through the night of a sentry outside, Foster-father judged they were
complete prisoners. Luckily they were given plenty of fuel to replenish
the fire that roared in the wide chimney, so the elders squatted round
it and dozed, holding the children in their laps. They slept as soundly
as if they had been in their beds, and so did Tumbu and Down, who had
both insisted on being of the party; the latter having quite calmly
taken her place on Horse-chestnut's broad wavy back on the wide cushion
of felt which Foster-father used as a saddle-cloth. She had left her
kitten behind her as it was now quite a big tom-cat, and able to take
care of itself.
In a way, both Tumbu and Down had already been of service to their young
master, for the troopers of the Escort had been amused by the golliwog's
gambols, and had admired Down's dignity, so they were more inclined to
treat the whole party in kindly fashion. Indeed, next morning, the
Captain of the Escort, whose anxiety about a rescue had, perhaps, been
lessened by the uneventful night, was much less strict in his orders,
and took Prince Akbar on his own saddle and let him hold the reins.
"He is a brave, bold lad," he said to Foster-father; "were he to live,
he would make a good King." Then he frowned, his mouth hardened and
Foster-father, watching him, augured ill for the safety of the
Heir-to-Empire. For the time, however, all went well, though
Foster-father remarked that they kept off the direct track as much as
possible; no doubt to avoid pursuit. And at Ghuznee, where they halted
the second night, the Captain of the Escort sent nearly all his men into
the city by one gate, taking with them, despite their protestations, Roy
and Meroo and Old Faithful, while he himself, with but one or two
troopers, Foster-father, Foster-mother, Head-nurse and the two children,
entered by another and found lodging in the caravanserai as common
travellers. Evidently, Foster-father surmised, it was thought best for
some reason or another to conceal the fact that the Heir-to-Empire was
being carried off to Kâbul; and something happened that evening to make
him certain that this was the case. It was dark ere they arrived, so the
other travellers in the _serai_ took little heed of the small party,
especially as there were women and children in it, and it is not polite
in Eastern countries to take any notice of them. But while Head-nurse
and Foster-mother were busy settling down the children's quilts in the
little dark archway room, which was all the accommodation available, and
Foster-father had gone to purchase them some milk for their supper, the
little Prince and Princess, greatly excited at the novelty of their
surroundings, wandered out into the dark square enclosure, where fires
burned here and there in the open, lit by travellers who were cooking
their evening meal. They stood by these watching what was going on with
quick interest, answering questions that were put to them with frank
smiles and laughter. Being dressed in heavy sheepskin outer coats to
keep out the cold, no one guessed that they were other than they seemed,
poor travellers' children, until at the end of a long row of picketed
horses at the further end of the courtyard, Akbar saw Horse-chestnut,
Foster-father's pony. Now Foster-father had only had time to tie the
poor beast head and heel, so there the honest creature stood, looking
very dejected, with emptiness before it, while the troopers' horses
beside him were enjoying great bundles of green grass. The little fellow
flushed up in a moment; he called loudly to a man who stood near:
"Ho! slave there! bring my pony grass--dost hear? and be quick!"
The man laughed. "Alâh!" he said; "whose son be you to give orders that
fashion?"
"Whose son?" echoed the child passionately. "I am----"
But Bija clung to his arm. "H'st, Mirak!" she whispered. "Remember what
Head-nurse said that we were not to tell----"
Akbar stood irresolute; he was wise beyond his years. "But
Horse-chestnut must not be hungry. I won't have it!--he shall have
grass," he said angrily; then, without another word he walked up to the
next horse, took a great armful of the grass that lay in front of it and
scattered it before his favourite.
"So there! slave!" he cried defiantly with a stamp of his foot.
The man looked at him curiously, said nothing, but went over to some
others and began to whisper.
A minute afterwards, Foster-father returning, found the children the
centre of a little crowd eager in enquiry whence they came, whither they
were going, and, ere he could get them safely to their quarters, the
attention of the Captain of the Escort had been arrested, he came out
frowning and fuming.
"We march again in an hour," he said angrily to Foster-father. "On thy
head be it if thou can'st not keep thy young fighting cock in
order--'twill be all over the town by midnight!"
Foster-father did not often let his temper get the better of his
prudence, but he could not resist saying mildly: "Kingship is like the
musk-bag, friend, that was broken at the royal child's birth. It
diffuses its perfume over the habitable world, and none can mistake it."
The Captain of the Escort shrugged his shoulders. "Then it shall smell
in the wilderness, friend; for I run no risks of rescue this side the
passes. So bid the women give the young crowing cockerel his supper and
prepare to start again. There will be a moon in another hour and we can
push on. Meanwhile I go to warn the other folk where to rejoin us."
It was a bitter cold night. The wind blew keenly from the snow before
them, and by the time they reached a miserable village, high up on the
slopes of the pass, every one save the two children was chilled to the
bone; but they, well happed in all the coverings the fugitives could
compass, were warm; Akbar, in Foster-father's arms, with Down, the cat,
cuddled up beside him, and acting as a hot bottle! Once more there was
plenty of fuel in the rude hut where they found shelter, and stiffened
limbs and half-frosted fingers soon began to thaw. Tumbu, who had kept
himself supple by, as usual, bounding about, was the only one of the
party who did not doze off at once, now comparative comfort was reached.
But he was curiously restless. Over and over again he rose, went to the
door and seemed to listen. Then he began to whine a little, then to
scratch at the door as if he wanted to get out. Finally, finding no one
paid any attention, he let loose one short, sharp bark, which awakened
Head-nurse, who with an impatient look to see if her children had been
disturbed, and an angry whisper, "Go, then! thou mean-born beast," rose
softly, set open the door for a second, then closed it again, shivering
with the chill blast that swept in. But Tumbu was out like a flash and
disappeared in the darkness.
It must have been an hour afterward that every one's slumber was
disturbed by the most insistent barking that ever was heard. Even Akbar,
usually the soundest of sleepers, sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"The evil-dispositioned hound!" said Head-nurse in drowsy anger. "I
deemed he had left us forever, and good riddance, too."
But little Prince Akbar, half awake, protested in defence of his dear
dog.
"Tumbu only barks when he wants something, nurse; go and see what it
is."
"A likely story!" cried Head-nurse.
"Well," interposed Foster-father philosophically, "some one must go if
any one is to sleep."
Whereat he went to the door; but Tumbu on the doorstep refused to come
in; he barked, bounced off, and returned the next minute to whine and
bark again.
"He only wants something; go and see what it is," came Mirak's
deep-toned voice. "I know he wants something."
"Lo! man alive!" grumbled Head-nurse; "shut the door whichever way it
is. I perish with cold!"
Foster-father was a wise man, so to avoid further discussion he stepped
out and shut the door behind him. Thus for a minute or two there was
peace. Then Foster-father's voice rose urgently from outside.
"Open! I say open! Quick!"
Foster-mother flew to obey, and her husband staggered in, bearing some
one in his arms. "God send the boy be not dead," he said as he laid down
his burden.
It was Roy the Râjput!
"I found him quite close, frozen by the cold," he continued, as they set
to work before the fire to rub the poor, stiff limbs and force a few
drops of hot milk through the blue lips.
It was some time before a faint sigh, a quiver of the eyelids told that
Roy was once more coming back to the world; but after that it was not
long before he could sit up and tell them what had happened.
He had managed to evade the eyes of the troopers, and had arrived at the
_serai_ just after the startled party had left it; had followed on their
traces until he had lost his way. In despair he had been stumbling along
aimlessly when Tumbu had suddenly appeared. Following his lead, he had
struggled on, gradually benumbed by cold, until at last his feet had
failed him, and he remembered no more.
"Tumbu wanted Roy!" said little Prince Akbar gravely. "I told you he
wanted something."
And Tumbu, hearing his name, roused his furry head from his furry paws
and looked at his young master with his sharp, beady, black eyes, as who
should say:
"Of course I did, because I knew you wanted him."