THE AFGHAN CHIEF.
Slow turns the grating key--the door is thrown open, and a party of
Afghans enter, the foremost the chief himself. A very striking
figure was that of Assad Khan, as seen by the light of torches
carried by his attendants. Though not so tall as either of his
captives, he looked the very type of the chief of a robber horde.
Most of the Pathans had skull-caps over their wild black hair, but
Assad Khan wore a magnificent turban, with a border and fringe of
gold. A red Cashmere shawl fell in rich folds over the chief's broad
shoulders, another was wrapt as a girdle round his waist, and in it
was stuck a jewelled hilted dagger. Assad Khan was a
powerful-looking man; pride was in the glance of his eye, and his
step was as that of a desert lion. He surveyed his prisoners with a
keen and piercing gaze.
Dermot Denis, nothing daunted, began his studied speech in the most
broken Pushtoo; Assad Khan impatiently cut him short. The Afghan
turned towards the only prisoner who could understand him, and began
the conversation by a series of rapid questions, which Walter
answered as well as he could. Denis, with eager eyes, turned from
the one speaker to the other, straining his attention to catch the
meaning of what was said, and longing to put in a word.
"You say that you do not know this man's object in going to
Kandahar?" asked the chief.
"He's talking of me--what does he say?" cried Denis; Walter
interpreted the question, which Denis hastened to answer himself.
"Friendship--very great friendship--Kandahar big noble prince!" said
the Irishman, using the few words he knew, without much regard for
truth.
"The chief of Kandahar is the mortal foe of Assad Khan!" exclaimed
the Afghan, striking the ground fiercely with the musket which he
held in his hand.
The gesture and the savage expression on the chief's face, more than
his partially understood words, showed Denis that he had made an
unfortunate blunder. He was obliged to fall back on his interpreter,
Walter.
"Tell him that if it be impossible for me, with his generous aid, to
pursue my journey amongst the most noble, most respectable,
hospitable--don't spare your superlatives, Walter--hospitable people
of this land, I would wish to return to India. I am ready to pay a
ransom."
Walter explained the general purport of what his companion had said.
Assad Khan replied in a haughty tone, "Tell him, that the stranger
who comes unbidden into our land with secret designs, is likely to
find his grave amidst our mountains. However, he being rich, may
purchase my mercy." The robber named as ransom a most exorbitant
sum, adding, with a stern smile, "If it be paid I'll throw your
freedom into the bargain; you were of some service to a child of our
race."
When Walter translated the chief's reply to Denis, the warm-tempered
Irishman could not refrain from a burst of indignation at the
cupidity of his captor.
"The unconscionable thief! he would ruin a Crœsus! he sells his
black bread dear with a vengeance! Tell him I'm poor----"
"I cannot say that," observed Walter.
"You must meet a man on his own ground," cried Denis impatiently; "we
are in the land of liars and thieves!"
"Does the Kafir agree?" asked the chief.
Walter did his best to negotiate more reasonable terms, but Assad
Khan, stood firm to his offer. He knew the captives to be completely
within his power, and had experience in the art of extracting gold by
ill-treatment, and even torture.
"To comply with my demand is your only chance of leaving this fort
alive," said Assad Khan, turning towards Denis, and making his
meaning almost intelligible by his significant gestures. "Do not
dream of escape. I had a Jewish merchant in this very room. He
flinched from paying the ransom which I demanded; perhaps the fox was
not able to pay it. He made an attempt to get out, was caught, was
flogged within an inch of his life. After awhile the madman tried
the same thing again. Do you see yon hook?"--the chief pointed to
the one in the wall; "I had him hanged by the neck from that hook,
and that was the end of his story, as it will be of yours if you
follow his example."
The Afghans who had entered the room with their chief, or stood on
the ladder outside, burst into rude laughter at remembering the
murder of the unfortunate Jew.
"Have you never heard what the Beloochees did with the Feringhee
doctor who ventured amongst them?" pursued the chief. "Did they not
believe that if they killed him, his body would be changed into
ducats? and so he was slain in his bed, and his corpse hung up for
fifteen days. The Beloochees finding this was in vain, cut up the
doctor's papers into little bits, and mixed them with the mortar of a
house which the chief was building, in hopes that it would presently
be adorned with a layer of gold.* I have more faith in getting gold
from a live Feringhee than a dead one, or I might take a lesson from
the Beloochees." Assad Khan laughed, and his followers echoed his
laugh.
* This horrible story is given as a _fact_ by the traveller, General
Ferrier.
"Bid him send for paper and ink. I'll write to Calcutta for money;
anything, anything to get out of this den of bloodthirsty tigers!"
Writing materials were readily produced. Denis had difficulty in
tracing intelligible letters with the reed pen, and though he was a
very courageous man, his hand was scarcely as steady as usual. A
short note, however, was written, which the suspicious Assad Khan
made Walter translate twice over before he gave it to an Afghan who
was to bear it to the nearest Government official in India, who would
transmit it to Calcutta.
As the chief now looked contented, and almost good-humoured, Walter
took occasion to complain of the wretched food, and of the rude
insolence to which the captives had been subjected. He appealed to
the chief's better feelings, in hopes that such might exist. Denis
made his companion translate a request that the door which
communicated with the court-yard might now be left open, but the
Afghans be strictly prohibited from invading the privacy of the
captives.
This trifling boon was readily accorded. Assad Khan also promised
that better food should be sent. He remained for some time longer in
conversation with Walter, the chief gratifying his curiosity by
asking many questions regarding India and England, and trying
pertinaciously to find out why the Kafirs had entered his country.
He declared that they must be Government spies.
At last the long interview came to a close. The chief and his
followers descended the stairs, and almost till midnight might be
seen in the courtyard smoking hookahs, telling stories, and singing
their wild native airs.
As soon as the last Afghan had quitted the prison, Denis gave full
vent to the indignation which was boiling over in his breast,
certainly not sparing his superlatives, which were by no means of a
kind complimentary to the Afghans.
"I'll not pay a rupee--not a pice of the ransom to fatten these
rogues!" he exclaimed. "I'm no wretched Jew to be tortured and
hanged! I'll make my escape from these thieves!"
"I fear that you will find escape impossible," said Walter.
"Impossible! there's not such a word in my grammar. To men with
quick brain and strong arm there's nothing impossible!" cried Denis.
"I shall certainly make an attempt to get off, and if the ruffians
murder me, I'll just see what vengeance the English will take! Don't
you feel a thirst for revenge?" he asked, turning with clenched hand
towards Walter.
"The only revenge for which I thirst, is to see these fierce robbers
transformed into civilised Christians," was the young man's reply.
"As well might tigers be transformed into lambs! Such changes can
never be!" exclaimed Denis.
"Such changes _have_ been, and _may_ be again," said the missionary's
son. "To One who is all-wise and all-powerful too, there is nothing
impossible--even an Afghan's conversion!" Walter turned and gazed
through the aperture on the glittering stars in the deep blue sky,
and added, though not aloud, "Such changes will be, though the time
may be far distant, for it is written in the Word of Truth, _The
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the
waters cover the sea_."