THE MOSQUE OF BABER.
Under the dome or centre of this edifice was formed a lofty hall of
circular shape, rising from horse-shoe arches that sprang from
slender pillars of white marble. In the centre of each arch hung a
silver lamp, but only two were lighted. On one side stood a pulpit
of the purest white marble, and on the other, a gilded gallery for
the Shah, when it pleased him to come hither and pray at the tomb of
his remote predecessor. Opposite this stood an altar, where the name
of the Deity was painted in brilliant arabesques, and two enormous
candles, each a foot in diameter, stood at each end of it on gilded
pedestals.
In the middle of this place, and amid a group of armed Afghan chiefs,
stood one whom Taj Mohammed indicated by a sign, to be the Prince,
Ackbar Khan, our most bitter enemy in that half-barbarous land; and
it was not without some emotions of interest and excitement that
Denzil looked upon this son of Dost Mohammed--one whose character for
cruelty and recklessness of human suffering and human life was so
notorious.
Fairer than Afghans usually are, he was a man of distinguished
hearing, with a magnificent black beard: but, for the purpose of
disguise, was clad as yet in the humble attire of a shepherd; thus it
contrasted strongly with the brilliant colours worn by Shireen Khan
of the Kussilbashes, Ameen Oollah Khan, the Ghazee chiefs, and
others, to whom he was now speaking with animation, ever and anon,
while he did so, grinding those teeth of which Rose Trecarrel had
spoken so disparagingly.
This Ackbar Khan was simply a monster in cruelty; he had been known
to have a man flayed alive in his presence, "commencing at the feet
and continuing upwards, till the sufferer was relieved by death." A
favourite and brave follower of his own, named Pesh Khedmut--one who
had been with him in all his defeats, flights, and varieties of
fortune, was once assisting him to mount his horse, when some portion
of his loose flowing dress caught the lock of a pistol. It exploded,
and the terrible Ackbar was slightly wounded. In vain did the
luckless Khedmut swear upon the Koran that it was the result of an
accident over which he had no control; in vain, we say; for the
pitiless Sirdir had him burned alive; and he is alleged to have
tortured to death more than one British officer, whom the fortune of
war had left in his hands.
Ackbar, however, excelled in all the higher branches of Afghan
education; thus he rode well, shot with precision, and handled his
sabre with an expertness few could equal.
"Some conspiracy is afoot," thought Denzil; "and there is Shireen
Khan, the old Kussilbash brute whom I saw airing himself on a camel
at the band-stand; and now, here comes my friend, the Arab Hadji, who
loves his Prophet so much, but loathes soap and water more," he
added, mentally, as his late tormentor now stole in, and creeping,
almost crawling, on his hands and knees, up to Ackbar, delivered a
letter, which he drew from his tattered cummerbund, the cloth which
girt his loins.
Ackbar read it, and his eyes flashed fire as he turned to grim old
Shireen Khan, and said,--
"Sale, the Kaffir Sirdir (_i.e._ infidel general) has actually cut
his way through the Ghilzie tribes, and is now safe in Jellalabad!
Well; the unbelievers who remain in Cabul shall be destroyed, root
and branch, ere he can return to succour them; that I have sworn on
the Kulma, unless the Envoy of their Queen ransoms their accursed
heads to-morrow."
"And their women shall be our slaves," said one.
"Or exchanged for horses with the chiefs of Toorkistan," added
another.
Then, said Shireen Khan, his eyes, too, blazing like carbuncles, as
the hatred of race and religion boiled up within him,
"The Feringhees, those dogs of covetousness, are among us, and for
what? What seek they here? To put over us a king whom we loathe--a
king who will be subservient to the Lord Bahadur at Calcutta;
dethroning Dost Mohammed!"
"Solomon, as we may read, knew three thousand proverbs, and the songs
that he sang were a hundred and five; yet what was Solomon when
compared with Shah Sujah?" sneered Ackbar, as his white teeth
glistened under his coal-black mustache.
"You will ask this Envoy on the morrow, if it was really his
intention to send me, Ameen Oollah Khan, Shireen Khan, and others,
bound as slaves, to the feet of his Queen, in her Island of the Sea?"
said one with sombre fury.
"I shall, without fail."
"And the white-faced dog will deny it!"
"Perhaps; but it shall be the last lie of the unbeliever's tongue,"
replied Ackbar, with a grim smile as he touched the hilt of his
Afghan dagger.
"Slay him, even as I slew Burnes Sahib!" added that pleasant
personage who rejoiced in the name of Ameen Oolah Khan. "Ha! what
said the Khan of Khelat-i-Ghilzie to him, when he heard of the
Feringhees first coming hither by the Khyber and the Khoord Cabul
passes? 'Ye have brought an army into the land of the Pushtaneh; but
how do you propose to take it back again?'"*
* These were almost the words of the Duke of Wellington (by a
singular coincidence) when intimation was first made in Parliament of
our advance into Afghanistan.--Macfarlane's _Hist. of British India_,
p. 537.
"Had we killed Burnes Sahib when first he came among us alone, he had
not returned with all those Kaffirs who are now cantoned between
yonder hills of Siah Sung and Behmaru," said another chief, who wore
the sword of Sir Alexander Burnes in his girdle; "so now, that we
have the opportunity, let us slay the dogs ere they can escape us."
"Nay, let us get the ransom _first_," suggested Shireen Khan.
"Yes; and then let them march and be in the Passes, we know by which
they must depart; and remember," added Ackbar, with a tone and face
of indescribable ferocity, "the old Arab proverb--_Al harbu
Khudatun_!"--(All war is fraud).
"Moreover," said Ameen Oollah, "the Prophet tells us, that promise as
we may, no faith is to be kept with heretics."
"I came to retake my father's rights; the rights he sold to the
Feringhees. It was written that I should do so; for who that could
sit on a lofty throne in yonder Bala Hissar, would content him with a
carpet in a tent? Those Feringhees--those Anglo-Indians are the most
presumptuous dogs in the world," continued Ackbar, "they are
accustomed to see their servile sipahees, their effeminate Hindoos,
and others cower before them; but did they expect the same homage
from us--the free men of Afghanistan?"
A fierce laugh answered the question, and those who had lances, made
their iron-shod butts to crash on the marble floor.
Much more to the same purpose passed. Many of the arguments used and
impulses given, were nearly the same as those which excited the
terrible mutiny of a subsequent year; but what plan those
conspirators meant to adopt--whether to take a bribe, and let our
troops retreat in peace; or take the bribe, and lure them to
destruction in those terrible passes by which alone they could return
to India; in either case, to make slaves of the white women, neither
Mohammed, who translated much of what we have written, nor the other
listener, could determine; but the farewell words of Ackbar, ere they
departed, were ominous of much evil to come.
"To your castles and tents," said he; "let every Khan and tribe be
prepared, for to-morrow may determine all. You, Shireen Khan, shall
dispatch tchoppers* to the chiefs of the Ghilzies, and those of the
Khyberrees, to guard the passes to the death, promise what we
may--for remember _all war is fraud_!"
* Mounted couriers.
With a low salaam to Ackbar, after all turning their faces in the
direction of Mecca, they now separated, and in a few minutes, the
sound of their horses' hoofs died away, some in the direction of the
city, and others on the Candahar road.
"Sahib," said Mohammed Khan, greatly disturbed, "you have heard?"
"More than I quite understand," replied Denzil; "however, I shall
report the affair to the General in the morning; those fellows are
evidently up to something more than either he or the Envoy quite
calculate upon. I only wish that I were nearer my quarters."
"I have promised to guide you."
"Thanks, Khan; you are most kind."
All around the tomb and mosque of Baber was still and silent again;
the cooing of the pigeons and the gurgle of the sacred fountain alone
were heard. The quiet stars, and their queen, the vast round silver
moon, were shining now in peace and calmness over Cabul; over city,
plain, and flowing river; and in floods of liquid light, the
picturesque towers and masses of the Bala Hissar stood forth pale and
grey, while the curtain walls between, were sunk in shadow or
obscurity.
Glad to befriend in any way an English officer, the Wuzeer guided
Denzil between the Armenian and the Mussulman burying-grounds, where
the shadows of the tall and ghost-like cypresses fell on the white
headstones and the little square chambers or cupolas that covered the
graves of those of rank.
"Listen," said Denzil, pausing, as he suspected the Arab Hadji might
still be following; "surely I hear a sound."
"You hear only the night wind sighing through yonder cypresses,"
replied Taj Mohammed, solemnly; "sadly it goes past us bearing some
weary soul, perhaps, to the bridge of Al-sirat--some soul whose
earthly tabernacle may yet lie there, where five of my children are
laid, each with its fair face turned towards Mecca."
Paler and sad grew the face of the Wuzeer as he spoke, for the
Afghans greatly reverence all burial-places, which, in their own
language, they term "the cities of the silent;" and in fancy they
love to people with the ghosts of the departed, sitting each unseen
at the head of his or her own grave, enjoying the fragrance of the
wreaths and garlands hung there by sorrowing relatives.
Almost in the centre of the plain, midway between where the
burial-grounds lie and where the cantonments were, flowed the Cabul
river; and a mile or two brought Denzil and his guide within hail of
an advanced picquet of the 54th Native Infantry, now posted at the
bridge. There the former was safe, and with many expressions of
thanks and gratitude, he parted from the Wuzeer.
He was informed by the officer in command of the post, that spies had
told the General of Ackbar Khan being in the vicinity of the city;
and that in consequence, all European residents had been ordered to
repair for safety, within the shelter of the cantonments.
White in the moonbeams he could see the walls of General Trecarrel's
villa, which, being under the guns of our fortified Camp was, as yet
pretty safe; and he looked towards it with such emotion as a lover
who is young and ardent, alone can feel; for Rose he knew was there;
and after all he had heard at the Mosque of Baber, his heart swelled
with anxiety, and a longing desire that she and Mabel, and all their
friends, were elsewhere, in some place of greater peace and security.
"To-morrow I shall tell her of my narrow escape," thought he; "my
darling--my darling--how I love you! and how nearly you were losing
me!"