coppersmiths' and the money-changers' bazaars. Here I posted two of my
retainers, in whom I could place complete confidence. They had already
been instructed how to act when the proper moment arrived. For myself, I
sauntered through the crowded and noisy bazaar of the makers and menders
of copper vessels, so as not to attract undue attention. In my heart was
not one flutter of excitement or of uncertainty: I felt the quiet
confidence which in the crises of life comes to a man whose trust in
God the Most High is implicit.
"After a period of waiting there came into sight the huge black moorman,
in his hand a white wand of office, and, following close behind him, a
brilliantly decorated palankeen suspended between a pair of mules and
attended by two grooms, leading the animals. The throng had parted
before this little procession, averting their eyes from the covered
palankeen, as was beseeming.
"But suddenly, at the intersection of the two bazaars, a group of
loiterers sprang forward, and with cries assailed the moorman and the
grooms, turning the mules into the quieter thoroughfare. There I had now
posted myself, and, while the shopkeepers ran up the street to see what
had befallen, the cavalcade under my directions, and with my attendants
at the animals' heads, hurried along, and as we threaded our way through
the maze of streets the tumult of voices soon died away behind us.
"After a little time I ventured to approach the curtained palankin.
"I spoke just loud enough to be heard by its occupant:
"'May your day, O queen, be peaceful! Your servant, most humble and
devoted, awaits your orders.'
"'Peace be to thee, O thou trustful and brave hakeem. Take me to the
protection of thy wife and home.'
"It was a soft, melodious woman's voice that had spoken, tremblingly,
imploringly, and yet withal in a tone of authority.
"'As thou hast commanded, so shall it be done,' was my brief reply.
"After a little time the cavalcade, without any undue attention being
attracted, had passed through the gateway of my home, and the doors had
been barred behind us.
"To my surprise a gallant youth, some twelve years of age, sprang
through the momentarily parted curtains of the palankeen.
"'I salute thee, O hakeem, our deliverer,' he exclaimed, kissing the hem
of my robe. 'My royal mother is in the palankeen, and craves for
sanctuary in your zenana.'
"'Let her pass,' I replied, and I urged the docile mules toward the
second archway that led to the women's courtyard.
"At my bidding the inner gates opened, and they closed again when the
palankeen had entered.
"'Within is sanctuary for your royal mother, and here is sanctuary for
yourself, O prince,' I continued, with a profound obeisance, for,
despite the modest garments he wore, I had recognized the eldest royal
son of the maharajah, whom I had seen several times in his father's
presence, and on one occasion at an affair of state clad in a robe of
honour of silk and gold brocade, festoons of jewels around his neck, and
a tiny sword with scabbard of gold girt at his side.
"Having once more impressed secrecy on my attendants, and bidding them
give admission to no one, I led my young guest into an inner reception
room. There, in a few concise sentences, he told me his story.
"A plot had been hatched in the royal zenana that, just so soon as the
maharajah died, this youth, and seven or eight younger brothers, sons of
other wives, should be slain, so that the undisputed succession might
descend on one particular son, elder by several years, but not in the
regular line of succession because born of a slave mother. It was this
slave woman's brother who commanded the maharajah's bodyguard, and, in
collusion with his sister, had conceived the damnable conspiracy. Only
by the whisper of a woman who was close to the officer, but whose heart
was tender, had the mother of the young heir to the throne been warned.
With my aid, and that of the eunuch who had visited me the day before,
they had made their escape, the youth having been hidden in the
palankeen of his mother before the latter left the seraglio on one of
her occasional visits to the bazaars.
"Such was the story. Now the future had to be planned, for up to this
point the maharanee had acted blindly and impulsively--just swiftly--the
moment she had realized the supreme danger for her son. In the boy I
found high courage and a clear brain, and together we devised the
measures to be followed that would best allay suspicion as to the
whereabouts of the fugitives.
"As a first step I sallied forth as usual to pay my professional visit
on the maharajah a little before the noontide hour. Perhaps I felt
that, if by any chance suspicion had already alighted upon me, I was
taking my life in my hands by entering the palace; but, trusting to the
protection of Allah, I gave no second thought to any fear of this kind.
"I had not yet reached the palace gates when I encountered a messenger
running in hot haste to summon me. His highness the maharajah had been
seized with a fit, and the whole palace was in a turmoil.
"When I gained the royal apartment I saw at a glance that the sufferer
was beyond human aid. I could but watch the deep laboured breathing,
growing ever fainter and fainter, until the death-rattle in the throat
proclaimed the end.
"During that hour of watching my soul had been gravely perturbed, not
because of the dying debauchee, but in dread of sinister happenings in
the royal zenana when the news of the maharajah's demise should come to
be announced. But how was I to give warning without betraying to certain
death the youth and his mother who had sought sanctuary in my
defenceless home? For there, at the door of the sick room, stood the
captain of the king's bodyguard, Todar Rao, the very man who, I knew,
held his corrupt soldiery in leash for any villainy.
"Another high officer of the court, the diwan, had shared my vigil in
the death chamber, and just before the end came had informed me that it
was news of an attack by budmashes on one of the royal palankeens that
morning in the bazaars that had inflicted the fatal stroke upon his
master. But this treasurer was an aged man, who would have quailed under
the eye of the stern and relentless soldier keeping watch and ward at
the doorway, and, for all I knew, he, too, might be in the
conspiracy--indeed, his furtive glances and the nervous twitching of his
hands forewarned me of this danger.
"Surrounded by uncertainties, and utterly helpless in my isolation, I
could but drift whither the stream of destiny carried me.
"'The king is dead,' I announced, when the last flutter of the heart had
ceased. 'May God in His compassion give him peace.'
"The diwan summoned the captain of the bodyguard, and the latter, to
make certainty doubly sure, brutally shook the dead man by the shoulder.
I could see the savage gleam of satisfaction on his face when he threw
from him the already stiffening arm. The two men, in close conclave,
hastened from the chamber, and when the attendants set up the accustomed
cries of wailing I profited by the clamour and confusion to slip
discreetly from the palace and gain my own home.
"The terrible events of the next few days were, alas! just the same as
have befallen a hundred times on the passing of a king. The outside
world knew few details, but the news from the palace current in the
bazaars was that all the sons of the late maharajah had perished
excepting only the eldest. And this youth, although the whisper passed
freely that he was merely the son of a slave woman, duly ascended the
throne.
"Revolt by some of the nobles over such an indignity might come later
on. But meanwhile, at all events, the show of military power quelled all
opposition, while a judicious remission of taxes pleased the general
populace, and indeed caused them joyfully to acclaim the new maharajah
as he made a triumphal procession through the city, mounted on an
elephant caparisoned with cloth of gold and bedecked with silver chains
and bells, preceded by priests and the dancing girls of the temples, and
surrounded by troops, both horsemen and foot soldiers.
"Only I and the members of my household knew that the rightful heir to
the throne was alive and in safe hiding. For the moorman had never come
to claim his string of pearls, and it was not until some days later that
I had learned of his having been summarily dispatched by order of the
dead maharajah, in the latter's first paroxysm of anger over the
abduction of his favourite wife when visiting the bazaars. In this
opportune removal of a greedy hireling and possible traitor I once more
recognized the hand of Providence working for the noble woman whose
quick wit had aided mother love to save her son.
"A noble woman I have called her, and such indeed she was. For me the
maharanee had discarded the purdah, and in the sanctity of my harem,
with my wife as her devoted attendant, I was privileged to converse with
her hour after hour, gazing freely upon the most beautiful countenance
I had ever beheld--beautiful not only by reason of soft and rounded
features and the peach bloom of the skin, but also because of the
soul-lit eyes that illumined it with joyous radiance. For this queen
lived in her son, forgot every other sorrow in his safety, and now
experienced all the glowing pride of a leader on the field of battle in
planning the campaign for the vindication of his rightful claims to the
royal inheritance.
"Her first step had been to send secret word to her father--she was the
daughter of a mountain chieftain--bidding him to dispatch one of her
brothers to me as a trusted messenger. The distance was far, and three
months elapsed before the hillman arrived, a sturdy young fellow, serene
of eye, slow of speech, and muscled like a panther. He departed back
home again, carrying our tale by simple word of mouth for greater
security, and having concealed on his person some of the gems which the
maharanee had saved and which would be readily convertible into money.
Then, after a second interval of time, other tribesmen came sifting into
the city by twos and threes, until we had full fifty of the finest
material for a bodyguard a young prince could desire. These men were
quartered at different places in the vicinity of my home, armed and
ready for a general muster when the moment should be ripe for action.
"Meanwhile a widespread spirit of dissatisfaction with the new raj was
daily growing, and on every hand in the bazaars mutterings of trouble
began to be heard. The young ruler had proved to be a mere puppet in
the hands of his mother and uncle, who had not hesitated to advance
their base-born relatives and associates to places of highest honour and
emolument, thereby giving grievous offence among the families of proud
and ancient lineage, both Hindu and Moslem, which had hitherto supplied
the principal officers of state and had been the real buttresses of the
throne. Then, to fill full the measure of discontent, came ominous
rumours that the prince, although still a mere youth, had, like his
father, become addicted to the use of bhang and strong wines, and,
encouraged by a worthless following, was abandoning himself to all
manner of expensive debauchery. And when at last the screw of heavily
increased taxation gave proof to these stories the first timid whispers
of displeasure among the populace swelled to sullen and continuous
murmuring.
"For the true queen mother and her son the hour of destiny was
approaching!
"But, although the embers of revolt were ready to burst into flame at
the first fanning of a breeze, Todar Rao, now sirdar in command of the
whole army, still dominated the situation. At his slightest word the
mercenary soldiery under his control would have rushed into the bazaars
with sword and torch, like ravening wolves among sheep helpless to
defend themselves. As for the nobles, each surrounded by his own
bodyguard, they were torn into rival factions, the one jealously
watching the other lest open revolt should be made the excuse for
usurpation of the throne by the strongest and best prepared among them.
"In these circumstances it would have been fatal to let word go forth
prematurely that the rightful heir was alive, for disappointed ambitions
among the feudal lords might have become an added danger to the fury of
the sirdar. But any prolonged delay would also be disastrous, for it was
only now that the boy prince would be recognized and received as the
undoubted heir to his father's throne; a few years later he would, to a
certainty, be looked at askance as a mere pretender--a pawn in the game
of some unscrupulous king-maker playing for his own aggrandizement.
"It was the maharanee who devised the bold stroke which involved
undoubted danger yet promised the best chance of success. Her idea was
to take the whole court unawares at one and the same moment, so that the
nobles might have presented to them, not only a common rallying-point
for loyalty, but the chance by united action to break for all time the
hated military power of the slave-born sirdar.
"It was the appointed day when the recently installed maharajah,
according to custom immemorial, was to be publicly weighed, and the gold
he counterbalanced distributed in charity. In the great courtyard of the
palace all the people were assembled, nobles and officers of state,
soldiers and traders, rich and poor, among the latter the halt, the
blind and the maimed, the deformed and the leprous, in pitiful evidence
as fitting objects for a share of the promised bounty. On a raised
dais, seated upon a throne covered with cloth of gold, and sheltered by
a canopy and awnings of crimson brocade, sat the reigning maharajah, a
puny and sickly-looking stripling.
"Before the main ceremony of the day, heralds had announced that the
sovereign was prepared to listen to any grievances or complaints from
his people. For a few minutes no one came forward, but at last a pair of
sleek mules, handsomely caparisoned, with a richly adorned palankeen
slung between them, the identical equipage of the maharanee which had
been harboured in my home, emerged from the crowd, and advanced at a
grave pace toward the royal dais. That some high-born lady was within
the silken coverings of the palankeen every one surmised, and at this
extraordinary spectacle a hush of tense expectancy fell upon the
assemblage.
"But the silence changed to murmurs of amazement and admiration when a
queenly woman stepped upon the edge of the dais, and faced, not the
maharajah on his throne, but the nobles and courtiers and officers
clustered around.
"With a proud gesture she flung even the sari from her face, which the
play of the sunbeams among the jewels in her hair and around her neck
invested with a shimmering halo of radiance. On such a woman's face the
multitude had never looked before. But stately and unabashed, serene in
the purity of her womanhood, the dignity of her motherhood, and the
majesty of her rank, she raised aloft a hand, and spake aloud in tones
clear as the notes of a silver trumpet.
"'O nobles and O people, the royal son and heir of my husband, the late
maharajah, is alive, spared by divine Providence from the massacre of
his brothers and playmates in the seraglio of the palace. Many of you
know him well, and behold now he comes to claim his heritage.'
"As these words were spoken, the crowd again parted, and there stepped
forth the young prince, my protégé. At the edge of the throng he
discarded a loose mantle of cotton that had concealed the rich garments
befitting his rank. Then he advanced, looking proudly and gaily about
him, while close behind, and pressing eagerly around his person, came
full fifty stalwart tribesmen, treading with the bold swinging gait of
the mountaineer, their drawn tulwars flashing in the sun, their voices
shouting 'Jai, jai,--Hail, hail!' in deafening chorus.
"The effect was instantaneous and tremendous, and from all the assembled
multitude went up the loud acclaim--'Jai, jai, jai!' There seemed to be
not a dissentient in the throng. And a moment later the young prince was
standing on the dais by his mother's side, one hand resting proudly on
her shoulder.
"Among the nobles there had hitherto been the silence of stupefaction.
But at last, one of their number, an elderly man, advanced, and
prostrated himself on the rich carpet spread in front of the dais, thus
rendering public homage to his rightful king. 'Jai, jai, jai!' shouted
the mob, and soon a dozen others among the nobles had given the pledge
of fealty.
"Meanwhile the kinglet on the throne of gold had been forgotten. He had
made no move, but had contented himself with staring around in confused
and helpless surprise. But now Todar Rao, the sirdar, had sprung to his
side and dragged the youth to his feet.
"'O princes and people, this is your rightful king,' cried the soldier
in stentorian tones, 'crowned and proclaimed and accepted by your
pledges of loyalty. My orders to the troops are death to those who now
betray him.'
"But the words had hardly passed his lips, when two score of the
mountaineers, shouting 'Deen, deen,--Kill, kill,' had swarmed over the
silver railings surrounding the throne. There was the momentary clash of
steel on steel, the impotent curse of an angry man, a shrill pitiful cry
of anguish from the youth who in his terror had crouched behind the
awnings descending from the canopy. And when the tribesmen again faced
the multitude, the soldierly figure of Todar Rao had disappeared, and
the throne was vacant for the reception of its rightful occupant.
"Amidst a wild tumult of joy the young prince ascended from the dais and
took the royal seat, showing in his every movement the natural grace and
dignity that might almost in themselves have proved his right of
heritage, and that certainly won to his cause the last waverers among
the onlooking multitude. Even the bodyguard of the slain sirdar were
now joining in the universal acclaim.
"The first to bend a knee to the rightful king enthroned was the royal
queen, his mother. And then the lady stepped back, a little to the rear
and to the side of the throne, drawing her silken sari over the lovely
countenance that would never again be beholden by the people.
"'Never again!' The thought had scarce passed through my mind, as I
watched the scene from the fringe of the crowd, when a more grim and
terrible reality was given to the unspoken words than I had ever
intended. Close to the spot where the maharanee had halted were some
hangings of brocade arranged, as we understood later, so that the seated
and veiled figure of a woman might observe the brilliant pageantry of
the day from the privacy of this purdah.
"And from out these hangings there now stretched, stealthily but
swiftly, a bejewelled hand, which plunged a long dagger between the
shoulders of the queen mother.
"Without a cry she fell. I was quickly by her side, and the young
maharajah and myself, as we bent over her, caught her dying words.
"'All is well, my beloved son,' she murmured. 'I have accomplished that
which I was sent into the world to perform. In peace I yield my soul to
God.'
"With the last word she breathed her last breath. And such is mother
love."
There was a suppressed sob in more than one breast at the close of the
venerable hakeem's tale. Down his own furrowed face the tears were
streaming.
"And the woman who struck the foul blow?" inquired the Afghan in an
eager whisper.
"The slave mother of the dead pretender. Well, she too had given her all
for mother love. The tribesmen tore her limb from limb."
And the hakeem pressed a hand to his eyes to shut out the memory of a
dreadful scene.
VIII. THE SACRED PICKAXE
TOLD BY THE MAGISTRATE
The first wolf-grey of the dawn was creeping over the scene, and turning
to a sickly yellow the flare of the little oil lamps arranged around the
veranda. The morning air bit shrewdly, and more than one of the seated
or reclining figures had gathered his robes more closely around him. All
eyes were now turned on the kotwal. He alone of the company had not
contributed from his store of experiences.
"Methinks it is too late for any more story-telling," he protested
diffidently, with gesture and glance toward the east in token that he
spoke truly.
"Nay, nay," cried the Rajput, "this night will not be complete without
the full measure of our entertainment. Come, come, friend; the sun is
yet an hour below the horizon."
Murmurs of approval showed that the general wish had been interpreted.
"Be it so, then," assented the magistrate. "I have heard so many stories
this night that it would indeed be churlish on my part to refuse to give
you one of mine. Well, listen.
* * * * *
"Know, my friends, that I am a district judge in Delhi, presiding over
that quarter known as the Bara Bazaar, where the merchants most do
congregate. One day some few years ago it befell that I was seated alone
in the hall where I hold my court. It was the afternoon hour, all the
suits of the day had been disposed of, punishment had been meted out to
those who deserved it, justice had been done to rich and poor alike, in
accordance with the orders of our most righteous master Akbar, to whom
be all honour and glory.
"I had taken from my garments my silver betel-nut box, and was leisurely
spreading on a leaf the smear of lime preparatory to enjoying my pan
supari, musing the while on the strange little ironies of life that came
to my knowledge each day in the discharge of my magisterial functions.
All at once a shadow from the open doorway fell across the room. Raising
my eyes, I beheld the tall figure of a man. On meeting my look he bowed
his body, and with both hands outstretched, courteously salaamed me.
"'Protector of the poor, listen to my story,' he said.
"In silence, while I adjusted the fragments of betel-nut on the limed
leaf and rolled up the morsel, I motioned him to a place on the edge of
the carpet whereon I myself sat. For my first glance had shown me that
the stranger was a man of consequence, his garments being rich and his
look that of one accustomed to the exercise of authority.
"He took his seat, and arranged his flowing and finely embroidered robes
around him. I proffered him the pan supari I had prepared, but with a
wave of the hand he declined this courtesy. So I placed the morsel in my
own mouth, fell to its meditative mastication, and awaited the beginning
of his tale.
"'I am a well-to-do traveller, as you would think. O kadi--a pilgrim on
my way to the sacred shrine of Juggernaut, as I profess myself to all
who make inquiry and to whom an answer is due. But I am not what I
appear to be. In reality you behold in me--a thug.'
"The man lowered his voice mysteriously when he pronounced the last
word, bending forward so that I might hear it.
"'And what may be a thug?' I asked, for the name to me was quite a new
one.
"'Listen,' he said eagerly, and still in a low whisper. 'The thugs are
worshippers of Bowani.'
"'There are countless thousands who worship Kali, the dread goddess,' I
replied.
"'Yes, but we, the thugs, not only worship her as the wife of Siva, god
of destruction, but we are her devoted priests who put men to death in
her name and for her glory.'
"Now indeed did I prick up my ears and listen intently. But I did not
suffer my awakened interest to betray itself in look or tone of voice.
"'Some fanatics may seek to justify human sacrifice,' I said. I was
treading cautiously; later I would tell the man that such foul deeds
were against the decrees of Akbar, and involved the penalty of death
under the feet of elephants. But meanwhile I wanted his confession.
"'Ah, you know nothing about the thugs,' continued the stranger. 'But
hearken to me, for I have come to tell you all, and for a reason you
will presently understand. We are thousands strong, and we live in all
parts of Hindustan and the Deccan. We are caste brothers, and are bound
together by our worship of Bowani. The traditions of our creed have been
handed down for generations from father to son. You have never heard of
the thugs, O kadi, although you sit in the place of justice. Do you know
why? Because I am the very first of the sect who has broken his vows of
silence, and spoken the word thug to one outside our secret
association.'
"'Yet you say you are thousands strong.'
"'Yes, we are strong in numbers, but stronger still in our fidelity to
our vows. When once we have sworn on the sacred pickaxe, it is
impossible to speak words of treachery.'