secret conclave. Again I occupied my time by watching the approaching
sabat. The work was progressing quicker than ever. At this rate, within
two or three days the covered trench would be within a short stone throw
of the fortress walls. After the evening meal I reported this position
of affairs to Shir Jumla Khan.
"He only smiled gently at me.
"'Rest easy in your mind,' he said. 'Everything is understood and
arranged between me and Mustafa Khan. On the day after to-morrow our
enemies will be delivered into our hands.'
"But that night sleep would not come to my eyes. The face of the
beautiful girl haunted me, and a great longing came over me to behold
her again. I even began to hope that the conjoining of our fortunes
might bring the damsel to me, to be the joy of my life and the pride of
my future home. Already I was framing in my heart the sentences
wherewith I would plead my cause after the battle was over, both with my
grandsire and with Mustafa Khan. And I vowed that, in the fighting to
come, I would do some deed of daring that would surely win the girl's
father to my side.
"Meanwhile I wandered around the battlements, and half unconsciously I
found myself on the walls at a place that surmounted the house which
sheltered my beloved, with her mother and their women attendants, God is
my witness, but I had no thought of profane prying, contrary alike to
the laws of the Prophet and to the laws of hospitality. But my eyes fell
on a beam of light coming from a tiny window niched deep down in a
recess of the building. And even as I saw this, there came to my ears a
faint, regular sound--a muffled 'tap, tap, tap.' Instantly every fibre
of my being was in a quiver.
"I know not what instincts guided me--to burst asunder the bonds both of
conventionality and of religion that might have restrained me, to make
suspicion of some vague unseen danger stifle within my breast every
tender thought of awakening love. But in my surge of excitement love and
faith were alike forgotten. I ran from the walls, and without consulting
anyone returned but a few minutes later with a coil of rope in my hands.
To fasten this to one of the parapets, to tie a few knots at intervals
so as to give me handhold and foothold--all this was the work of another
minute or two. Then, slowly and cautiously, hand under hand, I was
descending into the well-like recess toward the one tiny shaft of light
that pierced its black darkness.
"'Tap, tap, tap'--the mysterious sound grew more and more distinct as I
dropped down and down. Then, all of a sudden, the playing of a zither
and the full-throated song of a woman smote my ears, and I arrested my
descent. Almost could I have climbed back again, unseeing and ashamed.
But in a brief momentary interlude in the music I heard, loud and
unabashed now, the steady 'thump, thump, thump' as of a hammer, and
straightway I knew that the song and its accompaniment were but part of
some devilish plot--a means devised to muffle the sound of the other
operations, whatever these might be. In another moment I was abreast of
the window, small as a loophole for musketry, but all-sufficient for my
requirements, I had the rope twisted around my leg, and, secure against
slipping, I craned forward to peer inside.
"My irreverent eyes fell on no woman's face--the music was floating
upward from an adjoining chamber. But in the room into which I gazed was
a strange sight--four men stripped to the waist and toiling for all the
world like diggers of a well. The flagstones of the floor had been torn
up, and a great hollow cavern had been dug below. From this cavity two
of the figures were passing up baskets of mud and gravel, into the hands
of Mustafa Khan himself, who was bestowing the material around the walls
of the room. The fourth man, also in the pit that had been dug, was
tapping a long iron crowbar into a hole that had evidently been pierced
in the soft ground in the direction of the fortress wall.
"I knew little enough about engineering in those days, but it needed
only common sense for me to realize that the miscreant Mustafa had
betrayed our hospitality for no other purpose than to breach the walls
of the citadel. If there had been women in one pannier there had been
men in the other, and, to balance the camel's load, there had been
powder and tools for the nefarious task, the crowning achievement, no
doubt, of an elaborate conspiracy.
"But I lost no time then in trying to piece together the details of the
scheme. It was action that was needed now. So, just as silently and
cautiously as I had descended, I climbed back again by my rope and
regained the battlements. I paused just for a moment to listen to the
sweeping chords of the zither, played by no unskilled hand, and to the
rich notes of the woman's voice swelling into the midnight air. Then I
gathered the rope in my arms, and sought the sleeping quarters of my
grandfather.
"The old Tiger of the Pathans, as I knew well, was prepared to be
aroused at any hour of the night. Even his tulwar was buckled to his
belt when, in answer to my summons, he stepped forth into the outer
chamber. He listened to my eager story, peering at me the while from
beneath his shaggy eyebrows. But not even the twitching of a muscle in
his face betrayed surprise.
"At the close of my narrative he laid a kindly hand on my shoulder.
"'O son of my dead son,' he said gravely, 'if what you have seen
to-night be not a dream, then have you done me great service. But go now
and sleep, and prepare yourself for what is to come. Rest assured, more
than ever before, that Allah is on our side, and that, even as I said to
you last night, our enemies are being delivered into the hollow of our
hands.'
"But sleep still refused to come to me that night. The call for morning
prayer found me wide awake, turning over in my mind the many
perplexities of the situation. Had the quarrel in the camp of our
adversaries been nothing but a cunning pretence, the fight among the
tribesmen before the dawn a mere sham, even the gathering in of the
supposed dead and wounded an artful deception for our eyes, all
contrived so that this devil of devils, Mustafa Khan, should gain access
to the citadel with skilled sappers and mining munitions? And was the
youth who had played the part of a goatherd really a son of the man, or
a serpent-tongued liar, a chosen master of craft whose seeming
guilelessness had helped to delude us? It had been a crude first idea on
his part to suggest the admission as refugees of a swarm of armed men,
but, when this had failed, there had been glib readiness with the other
and more subtle plan that had so nearly succeeded. And as I reflected on
these things, I marked the young hypocrite for my own particular prey.
"During the morning hours I was surprised to see the two khans, guest
and host, betrayer and betrayed, walking around the gardens in seeming
amity. But after a time my grandsire beckoned me to his side.
"'This is a grandson of mine,' he said, presenting me to Mustafa Khan.
'He has reported to me that the sabat is approaching too close to your
present quarters, and that any explosion would endanger the members of
your household.'
"I saw the traitor pale under the quiet eye of The Tiger of the Pathans.
"'There will be no explosion to-day,' he stammered.
"'You seem to be fully and precisely acquainted with the plans of our
enemies. Nay, do not draw that sword by your side, Mustafa Khan. Look
behind you, man.'
"With haggard face now, Mustafa turned round. It was to see half a dozen
pikes pointed at his ribs. At a signal from their master a guard had
noiselessly drawn near.
"'You know what to do, jemadar,' said the old Tiger to the officer in
charge. There was a vicious smile now on his face, such as I had never
seen there before and never saw again--a savage curling of the upper lip
that showed the white fangs of the relentless hunting animal.
"And, prodded by the encircling spikes, Mustafa Khan went to his
doom--calmly and proudly erect, be it said, for a Pathan always knows
how to die with dignity and resignation to the will of God. Nor must we
forget that he was a brave man, for in coming to the citadel he had
boldly ventured his life on a desperate chance, and perfidy in the game
of war brings shame only when it meets with discomfiture. Peace be with
his soul!
"My grandsire and I were now alone.
"'You will let me fight that crawling snake, his son?' I cried, with a
gesture of appeal.
"'He is already carrion for the vultures,' was the reply. 'He was no son
of Mustafa Khan, just a low-born hireling schemer, and it needed only a
prod of the dagger to make him betray the whole plot, and whine for the
mercy which I would have scorned myself to bestow. The two skilled
sappers are still mining--under my directions this time. We shall make a
feint of a sally to-morrow morning at the hour prearranged by Mustafa
Khan with the tribesmen outside. But it is the sabat and its occupants
that will be blown into the sky, and not my good stout walls'--this last
with the old familiar smile, stern but pleasant to look upon.
"'And the girl who sang?' I ventured, falteringly.
"'She is safe in the protection of my home. On her rests no blame, for
in the part she played she was but obeying her father's bidding. Now,
that is all for the present. Keep your own counsel, and be with me
to-morrow at the dawn.'
"And with the dawn came the swarm of Mustafa Khan's clansmen, running
eagerly toward the opened gateway of the fort, with their fellow
conspirators shouting and shooting and waving their swords in pretended
pursuit. But just within the entrance were ranged a dozen guns and
arquebuses on swivels, loaded to their muzzles with slugs of iron. And
almost at the same moment as the rain of death mowed down the onrushing
horde, a great explosion shook the earth outside, and the fragments of a
hundred bodies blown from the sabat by our countermine filled the air.
Then indeed did our men-at-arms, footmen and horsemen, sally forth to
pursue with sword and spear their scattered and dismayed enemies,
sending scores to their deaths and the survivors scampering to their
dens among the mountains.
"And none ever again dared to attack my grandsire, The Tiger of the
Pathans."
* * * * *
With a proud smile the Afghan surveyed his audience. No one ventured to
question him, yet there was a look of unsatisfied curiosity on more than
one face.
"Oh, yes," laughed the soldier, lightly, "I heard the fair zither player
and singer again--often again--in my own home."
VII. HER MOTHER LOVE
TOLD BY THE PHYSICIAN
By general although unspoken assent, the eyes of all the company were
now directed to the venerable hakeem, as if to invite from him the next
contribution to the night's entertainment. Meditatively for a moment the
man of medicine stroked the broad white beard that descended almost to
his girdle, and then began:
"Familiar to us all is the thought that death is but a birth into
another state of existence, whether that state be the eternal paradise
which is the final goal of every man's hopes, or merely another stage
thitherward. Death is a birth, the truth of which will more forcibly
appeal to our minds when we reflect also that birth is a death."
"How can that be, except for the still-born?" queried the astrologer.
The hakeem raised a hand deprecating the interruption.
"Nay, follow me in my argument," he continued quietly. "If death is a
birth, then is a birth truly death. For the babe has been living through
a prior stage of existence. To it the nine months passed in its mother's
womb may have meant a long span of life. For time is but a relative
term, and, measured against eternity, the whole period of man's sojourn
on earth, be it three score or four score years, is but as the puff of
a single breath. So the child in the womb lives there a full span of
existence; it is nurtured and it grows, it sleeps and it wakes, it lies
passive and it disports itself, it is sensitive to cold and to heat, to
thirst and to hunger, and God alone knows what it thinks and what mental
impressions it forms of the existence through which it is passing. And
the hour of its birth is truly the hour of its death, for in pain and
travail it is plucked from its warm and comfortable surroundings, and
with the shock of physical change and unseeing dread it cries aloud in
sharp anguish. Thus precisely do we ourselves die when we pass from this
world to another existence, physically and mentally resenting the harsh
change, terrified because of our very ignorance of what is really
happening."
The physician paused, amid a deep hush that bore eloquent testimony to
the impressiveness of the thought to which he had given utterance.
"But the parallel does not end here," he resumed.
"When the infant is born, then for the first time does it see face to
face the divinity who through all the preceding stage of its existence
has protected it, warmed it, and nourished it. In the presence of its
mother it is in the presence of the God who has hitherto enveloped it,
wholly and completely, in His own divine being. So when we die will we
be face to face with the now unseen God who everywhere encompasses us,
beholding Him at first only with the dazzled vision and dim
half-consciousness of the new-born babe, but growing to know Him and to
love Him as we have all known and loved the devoted mothers who bore us.
For mother love is man's first foretaste of God love, the full glory of
which we shall comprehend only when by death we are born into a higher
and more spacious sphere of existence."
There was another brief interval of silence, again unbroken by any
comment from the auditors. Then the hakeem continued in lighter tone:
"Now let me point my moral by telling you a story of a mother's supreme
devotion for her son.
* * * * *
"At one time I practised my profession in the capital city of a state
ruled over by a maharajah, who, although he had been a brave and
honourable man in his prime, had degenerated into a mere voluptuary,
spending his days in the companionship of nautch girls and disreputable
men, indulging constantly in immoderate potations of strong wine, and
given at times to the use of bhang, which does more than anything else
to dull the faculties and deaden the conscience of the unfortunate who
surrenders himself to its seductive spells. The inevitable results were
for him the premature loss of health and strength, and for his people
misrule, extortion and widespread unhappiness.
"It happened that, after several Hindu physicians had failed to restore
their royal master from a fainting spell, I, a Moslem, was summoned in
haste to the palace. I carried with me a small jar containing a certain
pungent liquid, which I applied to the nostrils of my patient, with the
result that he was straightway brought back from seeming death to
consciousness of his surroundings. I take no special credit for
effecting this recovery, but the maharajah himself deemed me to be a
veritable worker of miracles, and, dismissing all his other doctors,
kept me thenceforth constantly by his side. From the first I knew, by
his trembling limbs and enfeebled condition, that death had marked him
for its own; but I could, at least, prepare aromatic drinks to mitigate
his pains and saffron meats to drive out the evil spirits that possessed
him.
"Thus did it come about that I gained the confidence of the maharajah,
and when it happened that one of his favourite wives had fallen into a
decline, and had begged for the services of a physician, the honourable
trust of ministering to her needs was confided to me. My examination of
the invalid was in accordance with the usual restrictions. Accompanied
by the feeble old maharajah himself, I was conducted to an apartment
across which a heavy curtain was suspended. After an interval of
waiting, the rustle of silken garments behind the purdah, followed by
the gentle sigh of a woman, told me that my patient had arrived. It was
the husband himself who bade her thrust her tongue through an orifice in
the curtain. My inspection of this member revealed no internal disorder,
and I requested from my master permission to touch the lady's hand so
that I might feel the pulsing of the blood in her veins. Not too
willingly he ordered her to push her arm through the opening.
"It was a dainty white hand, with many jewelled rings upon the taper
fingers, and the nails, as with all ladies of quality, dyed the deep
orange red of henna. Although I knew well that the jealously watchful
eyes of her lord were upon me, I made no hesitancy in encompassing the
wrist with my own fingers. But the little hand within mine was clenched
tight, and, the better to conduct my examination, I freed my fingers
from her wrist so as to straighten out hers as I required them. When I
attempted to do this, however, I was conscious of some resistance and
then of the presence of a small packet concealed in the palm of her
hand. With a flash of comprehension I knew that the package must be
intended to be conveyed to me surreptitiously, and, with no thought at
that critical moment of what the ulterior object might be, I aided the
act by a deft movement of my shoulder, which for a moment intercepted
the maharajah's gaze.
"In another second he could see my finger-tips lightly pressed on her
wrist, and her empty hand extended; but the package was safe in my other
hand, and not the quiver of a muscle on my face betrayed that anything
unusual had happened. Both to mask my feelings, and to give the lady
behind the curtain confidence that she could repose trust in my
discretion, I counted the pulse beats aloud.
"These indeed told me that the heart of my patient was beating at a mad
gallop, but this I divined was simply caused by the daring deed she had
essayed and successfully accomplished. I deemed it wise and prudent,
however, to announce that the lady was suffering from a fever, and that
I would send her a powder that would speedily restore her to good
health. At this the maharajah was sufficiently overjoyed to permit of my
withdrawal without obvious embarrassment. I had a smile upon my lips,
and the secret package secure in the folds of my girdle. A chuprassi
accompanied me to my home to bring back the medicine.
"I knew, of course, that it was only a dry powder that this high-born
Hindu lady could take from my dispensary, for to have swallowed a liquid
drug would have been a violation of her caste. I took pains to let the
chuprassi see that my hands did not touch the powder, which, after due
weighing, I bestowed in a paper carefully sealed, instructing him to
deliver it to no one but his highness the maharajah. It was only finely
ground sugar that the man carried away. But perhaps this is a harmless
little trick of my profession which even now I should not disclose."
But a general smile among the company showed the hakeem that his calling
was held in no undue reverence, at least by those without present need
of his ministrations.
"When I was alone with my mortars and my drugs," resumed the narrator,
"I lost no time in examining the mysterious packet. I unwound the silk
threads that tightly tied it, both to restrict its bulk and to render it
secure. Soon, to my amazement, I uncovered a string of ten pearls, of a
size and lustrous purity that bespoke a high value even to my untutored
eyes. Also there was a little seal of red chalcedony, with the antlered
head of a deer and some scroll of lettering engraved upon it; but there
was not one scrap of writing to explain to me the reason of these gifts.
"Had the lady, as often happens, imagined herself to be seriously sick,
and devised this plan of invoking my interest and most skilful services
on her behalf? But why, then, the seal, the value of which was quite
insignificant?
"Even as I was pondering these questions, there came a clapping of hands
at the gateway of my home that announced the arrival of a visitor.
Hastily concealing the pearls and the seal in my girdle, I stepped forth
into the outer court and took my seat upon the divan.
"Straightway there was ushered into my presence a big man clothed in
rich garments. His sable complexion and thick lips declared him to be a
moorman from across the seas, and his beardless chin further told at a
glance that he was an attendant at the seraglio of some rich noble.
"He salaamed me with the cool confidence of his kind, and, without
waiting for an invitation, seated himself on the carpet at my feet.
"'My name, O learned hakeem, is Malik Kafur,' he began in the shrill
treble voice I had anticipated, 'and you know why I come here.'
"As my knowledge had been taken for granted, I bowed in acquiescence.
"'But her highness said that you would first of all show me her signet
so as to prove that you are acting with her authority.'
"With all due gravity I produced the chalcedony seal from my belt, and,
without quitting hold, extended it for my visitor's inspection. There
was a swift gleam of recognition in his eyes.
"'That is right,' he murmured.
"'Then proceed,' I said, quietly. 'You can speak in the fullest
confidence.'
"'I have promised the maharanee that to-morrow, when the fourth of the
day is over, I shall conduct her into the bazaars. She bade me explain
her plans precisely, so that you in turn should know how to act. Well,
her highness will be, as usual, in her palankeen slung between two
mules. When we turn from the coppersmiths' bazaar into the secluded
bazaar where the money changers dwell, the two grooms in charge of the
mules will be assailed by budmashes and beaten with sticks. I, too, will
be knocked down and my clothes torn; but do not worry on my account.'
"I gave a cheerful nod to signify that his anxiety on this score might
be set at rest.
"'It will devolve on you to have two men ready to take advantage of the
confusion of the scuffle and lead away the mules with the palankeen,
conducting the maharanee to a place which she herself will indicate.
This you understand?'
"'I understand.'
"'At night, when I shall come to you again, under cover of the
darkness, you will pay over to me the agreed-upon price--the ten pearls
which her highness has placed in your custody.'
"'They are here,' I assented, holding aloft the little string of pearls,
the purpose they were intended to serve at last made clear to my
understanding.
"The eyes of the negro flashed with cupidity, and he reached forth a
big, fat, black hand.
"'I can be trusted to do my share of the task,' he said, eagerly. 'To
save trouble, let me be paid now.'
"'Not so, thou slave,' I replied, curtly and with authority, as I
returned the pearls to their place of safe-keeping. 'The price will be
paid when the service is performed. To-morrow night you will be
admitted, Malik Kafur, if you knock three times at my gate.'
"The fellow rose to his feet, with a servile and submissive smile, and,
by a wave of my hand, I dismissed him from my presence.
"Here, indeed, was an adventure thrust upon me, a man of peace and of
studious habits, who had ever shrunk from deeds of violence; but the
hand of fate was clearly beckoning me along the path of duty, and not
for a moment did I shrink from the dangers into which, perchance, I was
being hurried.
"For the maharajah, worthless, besotted, and on the verge of dishonoured
death, I could have no respect. For the lady of his household, who was
confiding to me her very life, whose soft hand I had touched with due
reverence, there was an instinctive feeling of sympathy. In her hour of
dire need, most likely of extreme danger, she had turned to me, a man
of staid repute and old enough, no doubt, to be her father. So this was
no affair of conjugal wrong, from which my religious scruples and my
abiding principles alike, would have repelled me. Clearly was I the
instrument in God's directing hand for some great happening, and it was
not for me, through thought of self or cowardice, to interpose obstacles
to the carrying out of the divine will.
"And as I thus ruminated there came from a minaret close by the call to
evening prayer. 'The world is but an hour,' I murmured to myself as I
spread my carpet; 'spend it in devotion, the rest is unseen.'
"On the morrow I was astir even before the morning call to prayer.
'Prayer is better than sleep'--I listened to the familiar cry of the
muezzin. But while again I prayed I felt that a good deed done may count
more for a man at the gates of Paradise than the record of many prayers.