On a certain day found fortunate by the astrologers--a day of early
winter, when the dawns were pure gold and the nights radiant with a
cool moon--did a mighty troop of Moslems set their camp on the plain of
Chitor. It was as if a city had blossomed in an hour. Those who looked
from the walls muttered prayers to the Lord of the Trident; for these
men seemed like the swarms of the locust--people, warriors all, fierce
fighting-men. And in the ways of Chitor, and up the steep and winding
causeway from the plains, were warriors also, the chosen of the Rajputs,
thick as blades of corn hedging the path.
(Ahi! that the blossom of beauty should have swords for thorns!)
Then, leaving his camp, attended by many Chiefs,--may the mothers and
sires that begot them be accursed!--came Allah-u-Din, riding toward the
Lower Gate, and so upward along the causeway, between the two rows of
men who neither looked nor spoke, standing like the carvings of war in
the Caves of Ajunta. And the moon was rising through the sunset as he
came beneath the last and seventh gate. Through the towers and palaces
he rode with his following, but no woman, veiled or unveiled,--no, not
even an outcast of the city,--was there to see him come; only the men,
armed and silent. So he turned to Munim Khan that rode at his bridle,
saying,--
“Let not the eye of watchfulness close this night on the pillow of
forgetfulness!”
And thus he entered the palace.
Very great was the feast in Chitor, and the wines that those accursed
should not drink (since the Outcast whom they call their Prophet forbade
them) ran like water, and at the right hand of Allah-u-Din was set the
great crystal Cup inlaid with gold by a craft that is now perished; and
he filled and refilled it--may his own Prophet curse the swine!
But because the sons of Kings eat not with the outcasts, the Rana
entered after, clothed in chain armor of blue steel, and having greeted
him, bid him to the sight of that Treasure. And Allah-u-Din, his eyes
swimming with wine, and yet not drunken, followed, and the two went
alone.
Purdahs [curtains] of great splendour were hung in the great Hall that
is called the Raja’s Hall, exceeding rich with gold, and in front of the
opening was a kneeling-cushion, and an a gold stool before it a polished
mirror.
(Ahi! for gold and beauty, the scourges of the world!)
And the Rana was pale to the lips.
Now as the Princes stood by the purdah, a veiled woman, shrouded in
white so that no shape could be seen in her, came forth from within,
and kneeling upon the cushion, she unveiled her face bending until
the mirror, like a pool of water, held it, and that only. And the King
motioned his guest to look, and he looked over her veiled shoulder
and saw. Very great was the bowed beauty that the mirror held, but
Allah-u-Din turned to the Rana.
“By the Bread and the Salt, by the Guest-Right, by the Honour of thy
House, I ask--is this the Treasure of Chitor?”
And since the Sun-Descended cannot lie, no, not though they perish, the
Rana answered, flushing darkly,--“This is not the Treasure. Wilt thou
spare?”
But he would not, and the woman slipped like a shadow behind the purdah
and no word said.
Then was heard the tinkling of chooris, and the little noise fell upon
the silence like a fear, and, parting the curtains, came a woman veiled
like the other. She did not kneel, but took the mirror in her hand, and
Allah-u-Din drew up behind her back. From her face she raised the veil
of gold Dakka webs, and gazed into the mirror, holding it high, and that
Accursed stumbled back, blinded with beauty, saying this only,--“I have
seen the Treasure of Chitor.”
So the purdah fell about her.
The next day, after the Imaum of the Accursed had called them to prayer,
they departed, and Allah-u-Din, paying thanks to the Rana for honours
given and taken, and swearing friendship, besought him to ride to his
camp, to see the marvels of gold and steel armor brought down from the
passes, swearing also safe-conduct. And because the Rajputs trust the
word even of a foe, he went.
(A hi! that honour should strike hands with traitors!)