"THE BAND PLAYS AT TWO."
Young though he was, Denzil made a careful toilet next day; mufti was
not much worn at Cabul; but he was unusually particular about the
fitting of his blue surtout with its gold shoulder-scales, the
adjustment of his crimson sash and sword-belt, forgetting that these
were no novelties to the eyes of Rose, and that the black livery of
the Civil Service finds more favour with ladies than military uniform
in India, where the Redcoats are frequently at a discount, with
mammas especially; and he was on the large circular parade ground,
where the bands usually played, in the centre of the cantonments
(which were an oblong enclosure measuring a thousand yards by six
hundred, with a circular bastion at each corner) long before the
general promenaders began to assemble, or the European musicians of
the 54th Native Infantry had assorted their music, and performed
those preliminary grunts on the trombone and ophicleide, which
excited the astonishment of the natives, who were present in
considerable numbers, by their aspect and costume, enhancing in
piquancy a very remarkable scene.
For the first time since they had met, Rose Trecarrel had made a
regular appointment with him. It was in a very public place,
however, and though it seemed simple enough to her, to Denzil the
idea that he had established a secret understanding with her, was in
itself happiness; and for the first time he wished to avoid his
friend Waller, and was pleased to find that he was detailed for guard
that day at an old tomb and temple where we had a post, at the foot
of the Behmaru Hills.
The day was one of great beauty, and the air was delightfully cool.
Overhead spread the blue and unclouded vault of Heaven, and in the
rarified atmosphere, even the remote details of the vast landscape
and of the city were rendered visible. Viewed from the cantonments,
the plains of Lombardy do not exceed in beauty and brilliance of
colour those of Cabul, which moreover, in lieu of the Apennines (amid
which Denzil and his parents had often resided) are overshadowed by
the stupendous mountains of Kohistan.
Crowning two lofty ridges in the foreground rose Cabul within its
walls of stone, and towering high above them, rose the Chola or
citadel of the Bala Hissar. The city is picturesque, each house
having, as in Spain, an open court-yard, though the streets of
unburnt-brick are so narrow as to be frequently blocked up by one
laden camel, or to prevent two horsemen riding abreast. Thus the
great chiefs and nobles have always footmen running in front to
prepare or clear the way for them. There all the different races
live apart, and the Persians or fierce Kussilbashes have their own
quarter fortified against all the rest.
The groups that gathered round the band were a sample of all the
various tribes that resided in and about Cabul, for though many
murderous outrages had been perpetrated on our people they were still
anxious, if possible, to conciliate the natives.
Each type of humanity varied from the other in visage and in costume;
the fair-faced and ruddy-looking Englishman; the lean, dark Hindoo
sepoy, seeming intensely uncomfortable in his tight red coat and
stiff shako; the sturdier Afghan; the wild Beloochee, the Dooranee,
the Kussilbash and Arab, all of whom were admitted in limited number
by the quarter-guard; some cruel and sly in expression; some lofty,
proud and refined, with patriarchal beards that floated to their
waists, and a solemnity of bearing that made one think of the days of
Abraham; and many of them armed with ancient weapons made long
anterior to the adoption of our villanous saltpetre; in their dresses
and manners looking like the figures at a fancy-ball, so quiet and so
brilliant in colour and variety, were their flowing Oriental robes.
Numbers of officers and ladies from the different compounds and
villas in the vicinity were present; and the "chimney-pot hat of
civilization," might be seen amid the white turbans of the Mussulmen,
the yellow of the Khyberrees and abhorred Jews, and the scarlet
_loonghee_ of the Kussilbash, for Khan Shireen Khan, chief of that
warlike tribe, appeared mounted on a slow-paced, lank, patient and
submissive-looking camel. Perched high up, he sat on a lofty saddle,
with a tall tasselled lance slung behind him, and in front a small
armoury of knives and pistols stuck in his girdle, which was a
magnificent Cashmere shawl, that many a belle might have envied. Nor
were veiled Afghan ladies wanting, and these surveyed with wonder
their European sisters, as they openly laughed, chatted
and--Bismillah!--shook hands with the Feringhee officers.
Shahzadeh Timour, who commanded the King's forces, was there, mounted
on a beautiful horse, wearing a polished shirt of mail and a plumed
steel cap, looking not unlike a Circassian chief; and Taj Mahommed
Khan, still intent on warning the Europeans of coming evil, rode by
his side.
There, too, was Osman Abdallah, an Arab faquir or dervish, who had
accompanied the troops from Bengal, a clamorous half-naked fellow,
with hair unshorn and shaggy, his lean attenuated limbs smeared with
ashes and ghee, thus compelling all to keep to windward of him, as
his person was odorous neither of Inde nor Araby the Blest, while he
begged for alms to send him on his pilgrimage to the three pools of
Sacred Fish, kept by a holy Suyd (or Santon) among the mountains of
Sirichussa; and to him, as a riddance, Denzil threw a handful of
silver shahi's (petty coins indeed) but of great value in
Afghanistan, where cowrie shells pass current at about the tenth of a
penny.
Amid all this motley and increasing crowd, he looked anxiously for
Rose Trecarrel; already the brass band of the Native Infantry burst
upon the air with a crash of music as they began a melody from an
opera; and something of disappointment and pique at her protracted
absence began to steal into Denzil's heart, for her eagerness seemed
by no means equal to his own.
Near him were a group of young officers like himself, but belonging
principally to the 5th Cavalry and Horse Artillery. Unlike him, they
were neither silent nor thoughtful, but were staring--some through
their eye-glasses--at the Afghan women, and amusing themselves with
sarcastic criticisms on the quaint figures about them, especially the
Khan of the Kussilbashes on his camel and "Timour the Tartar," as
they called the Shahzadeh, in his steel cap and steel shirt of the
middle ages.
"There goes Rose Trecarrel!" cried one.
"Do you know her?" asked another.
"Know her--who doesn't? Why, man alive, she's as well known as
Mechi's razor strop, or Warren's blacking, or anything you may see
staring you in the face in the Strand or Regent Street," was the
heedless and not very ceremonious response; and if a glance could
have slain the speaker, Denzil would certainly have left a vacant
cornetcy in the 5th Cavalry.
He turned away in anger, which, however, was somewhat soothed when he
heard Shireen Khan, who was gazing after her, say to Shahzadeh
Timour, that she was "beautiful as a Peri," which in his language is
expressive of a race constituting a link between women and angels.
In a moment Denzil was by her side. She was in a little phaeton
drawn by two pretty Cabul ponies and was alone. To avoid being
joined by anyone, before she caught the eye of Denzil, she had driven
them round the crowd about the band, managing her whip and ribbons
very prettily, her hands being cased in dainty buff gauntlet gloves.
She was tastefully dressed and wore a bonnet of that shade of blue
which she knew was most suitable to her pure complexion and rich
bright auburn hair; for Rose was one of those who thought it "was
woman's business to be beautiful."
Dropping her whip into the socket, she pulled up and presented her
hand to Denzil, who, we fear, held it in his somewhat long, and it
did not seem that Miss Rose Trecarrel was _very_ much inconvenienced
by the proceeding; but he forgot who might be looking on--he thought
only of the brilliant hazel eyes--the ever smiling mouth.
"And you are here alone?" said he.
"As you see. Papa is busy with the General--a move of all the troops
down-country is spoken of as imminent soon; and Mabel is with Lady
Macnaghten at the Residency, where I am to pick her up at the gate.
Will you accompany us for a drive outside the cantonments?"
"With pleasure," said Denzil, though this party of _three_ was not
exactly what he had schemed out in his own mind--for he had
contemplated nothing less than a solitary ramble with Rose amid the
lovely and secluded alleys of the Shah Bagh, or Royal Garden, close
by; but it was necessary to quit the crowd unnoticed, a movement not
very easily achieved by a girl so showy and so well known as Rose
Trecarrel; so they were compelled to linger a little, as if listening
to the band.
In the small circle of European society at Cabul, great
circumspection was necessary--greater still before the natives, who,
under the ideas inculcated by their race and religion, were apt to
suspect the most innocent action permitted by the usages of society
at home, and to misconstrue that which they could not understand--the
perfect freedom and equality, the high position, honour and
character, accorded to the English lady or the Christian woman,
whether as maid, wife, or mother.
Denzil was too inexperienced and too much in love to be otherwise
than shy and nervous. He hesitated in speech, and actually blushed
or grew pale like a girl who heard, rather than a youth who had a
tale of love to tell. His voice became low, earnest, and tremulous.
He could scarcely tell why the momentary touch of that graceful
little hand, ungloved--for it _was_ ungloved now--made his heart
thrill, for the presence, the sense, the language, and the glances of
passion, were all new and confusing to him; while the brilliant
girl--the lovely spider in whose net he found himself so hopelessly
meshed--knew how to wear her armour of proof and shoot her
love-shafts to perfection.
The band now struck up a lively air, and dancing to its measure,
through the crowd, which parted and made way for them, there came a
group of some twenty Nautch girls, in their graceful Indian dress
(all so unlike the swathed-up women of the Mussulmen), a single robe
folded artistically about them, leaving one bosom and their supple,
tapered limbs quite free. The leading Bayadere, though dark as
copper, was indeed a lovely girl; but her jetty hair was all
glittering with missee and silver dust.
The jewels which loaded their necks, wrists, and ankles, proclaimed
them attendants on the court of the Shah,* and were flashing like
their own bright eyes in the sunshine, while the coils of their hair
of purple blackness, were interwoven with the white flowers of the
wild jasmine. Some had vinas, or rude guitars fashioned of
half-gourds; and others had tom-toms or little Indian drums, to the
sound of which they sung.
*Now, as in the time of the "Arabian Nights," Nautch girls are
attached to all Eastern Courts.
As all Nautch dancing borders a little on the indelicate, Rose had
now a fair excuse for leaving the vicinity of the band. Denzil
sprang into the little seat behind her, as she still insisted on
driving, and they quitted the cantonments by the west-gate, opposite
the musjeed, where Bob Waller was listening to the distant strains of
the music and killing the hours of his duty as best he could; and
thus they escaped Polwhele and a few others who had been waiting to
pounce upon her or Mabel, for they were especial favourites with the
officers, nathless the ungallant banter to which their names were
subjected at times.