A PLEASANT JOURNEY.
The first halt made by the Queen was at Sholapoor, which, formerly
belonging to Ahmednugger, had been given to Beejapoor as part of her
dowry on the occasion of her marriage; and the Royal lady once more
took possession of the small but elegant suite of apartments which look
out on the lake or tank which washes the eastern side of the fort,
and was evidently intended as part of its defences. Sholapoor, for
the most part, has even now no pretensions to beauty, and the country
around it, and that which had been traversed since the Queen left
Beejapoor, is bare and monotonous; but the immediate vicinity of the
fort, including the lake, with its island covered by a large Banian
tree and a Hindoo temple, is undoubtedly pretty; and the pleasant sound
of the tiny wavelets as they plashed against the walls and bastions was
refreshing to hear, while the wind which played over the water came
through the windows which looked over the lake very refreshingly. The
Queen did not, however, tarry here, nor did she take the direct road
from Sholapoor by the valley of the Seena to Ahmednugger. It was not
only hot, but the country had been wasted by the previous war, and had
not had time to recover; she, therefore, turned eastward to Nuldroog,
or Shahdroog, as it had been called by her husband, Ali Adil Shah, and
which he had improved by new fortifications and a noble dam of masonry
across the river, a place in which many of the happiest hours of her
life had been spent while the great works were in progress.
Nuldroog, for it has reverted to its own old name, occupies a crest
or knoll of basalt, which juts from the main plateau into the deep
valley of the small river Boree. After passing the narrow neck which
connects it with the plateau, the knoll spreads out with a tolerably
level surface, the north, east, and south sides being for the most part
perpendicular; while the neck, through which a wide and deep ditch has
been cut, is fortified by a heavy wall with curtains and bastions.
These walls and bastions continue all round the crest of the precipice,
and the result has been a very strong fort of an eminently picturesque
character, which might not make much defence against modern artillery,
but which at the time we write of was considered one of the strongholds
of the country, and usually held a large garrison, especially of
cavalry. And it was an important military position, too, serving to
check the forces of Ahmednugger on the one hand and Golconda on the
other.
King Ali Adil Shah had done much for the place. Besides the
strengthening of the fortifications, and building near the east end
a huge cavalier upwards of ninety feet high, ascended by a broad
flight of easy steps, he had built a dam of stone and mortar of great
strength and beauty across the river, which held back the waters, and
created a long, narrow, but deep lake, which gave a plentiful supply
of water to the town and both ends of the fort. Before this the only
water procurable had been from the bed of the river, which flowed in
the bottom of the deep ravine below the fort, and which in the hot
weather was very scanty and impure. The new dam, therefore, gave a
new value to the strong fort, and water became not only plentiful but
easy of access. It is a noble work, stretching from one rocky point of
the valley to another beyond, upwards of a hundred yards in length,
and upwards of ninety feet in height. Over this the river falls in an
unbroken sheet when in flood; at other times, the surplus water is
carried off by a channel formed in the crest of the dam, which falls
into the large deep pool that has been hollowed out at the foot. By an
ingenious contrivance, a pretty Gothic apartment has been left in the
body of the work, over the windows of which the waters in the highest
floods can pass without entering, as they are diverted from the top
down a tunnel, and escape at the base. At the northern end of the
dam is another fort, or _tête-du-pont_, formed by the fortification
of a considerable knoll, which is in itself a strong position, and
materially assists the other defences.
It was a great delight to the Queen to revisit the place. The
Governor's house was cleared out for her, and for several days the
whole fort was made private; and she wandered from place to place with
her companions and attendants every day, pointing out to Maria and Zóra
where she had sat for hours together with her lord the King, watching
the works in progress, breathing the pure fresh air, and taking their
simple meals on the top of a bastion, or on the high cavalier when
it was finished, where a great canopy used to be pitched. Nor was it
possible for the two girls not to be interested in the place itself.
It was, indeed, very beautiful: the lake shimmering in the sun, with
the black precipices, hung with many-hued creepers, reflected into it;
while, after it had shot through the arch on the dam, the river brawled
down the valley till it was hid from view by the projection of the
hills below. The air here was cool and refreshing, for they had risen
to a considerable height above Sholapoor: and this was another reason
why the Queen had chosen the upper route instead of the lower. Here and
there, from points on the table land without the fort, where the Queen
took her companions, the dim blue plains of Beejapoor could be seen
stretching to the horizon like a sea, and the fresh cool wind would
come to them freely and soothingly. These, too, were old haunts of her
husband and herself; and it seemed often to Maria and Zóra that, in the
dreamy mood of mind in which she often sat alone, she appeared like
one who had a consciousness of seeing these well-remembered scenes for
the last time, and carrying away every possible recollection of them in
her loving heart. Often, indeed, she would draw one or other, or both
of them, to her side, and with her eyes brimming with tears, would say,
"Look, children! here my lord received such a letter, or told me such
a thing, and you must not forget even a stone of it; but, should I ask
you even when my eyes are dim in death, you must describe it all to me
as you see it now in the bright glowing sunlight."
I need not follow minutely the daily march in early cool morning, nor
the succession of beautiful mango groves in which the party rested
every day, affording cool shade and refreshing rest. They were, indeed,
seldom in their tents till nightfall, for around the enclosure was a
screen of tent walls, which made the whole private. The tent pitchers
selected the shadiest portions of these groves, and usually contrived
to enclose a number of large leafy trees, beneath which carpets and
soft cushions were spread; and reading, or the Queen's business, with
her clever secretary, Zóra, who had gained confidence by experience,
went on as usual; and embroidery, too, and Maria's paintings, except
when she retired to her own tents to share her devotions with her
brother; while overhead the birds chirped, or sang, or cooed, and
screamed in their glee and freedom.
To Zóra in her new happiness this march was a perpetual elysium. Abbas
Khan could not always be with her, for he had his own work to do in
the regulation of the camp, the obtaining of supplies, and the payment
for them, and all other current business. Sometimes, too, and indeed
generally of an evening, the large Royal tent was opened; and the Queen
received in durbar all the officers, zemindars, and chief inhabitants
of villages around. The Queen had quitted the dominions of Beejapoor
soon after leaving Nuldroog, and passed into those of Ahmednugger.
Abbas Khan by no means liked what he heard from all quarters in regard
to the position of Ahmednugger and the parties there, who seemed to be
at constant and bloody feud; and he earnestly strove with the Queen to
induce her to turn back. But she upbraided him. "Would she have the
world think her a coward? and had she not brought Beejapoor through
worse troubles than those?" So he was silent thenceforth. It was her
fate, and whatever was to be, would be fulfilled.
The leader of the Dekhany party, Mean Munjoo, who had set up the
spurious prince, was not at Ahmednugger. He had taken the boy with
him, and gone beyond Owsa, towards Golconda, to urge the necessity
of supporting Ahmednugger; and he was bitterly repentant that he had
invited the Prince Moorad. He wrote to the Queen for forgiveness, and
declared he would not return except with troops from Golconda and
Beejapoor, to drive the Moghuls back. The Queen, too, wrote to her
nephew, King Ibrahim, to send a heavy force of cavalry, in which the
Moghuls were said to be weak, and to watch affairs from Nuldroog;
and subsequently as many as twenty-six thousand of the best cavalry
of Beejapoor, with six thousand from Golconda, assembled there, and
occupied the crests of the plateau which stretched northwards.
With these precautions taken, which had occasioned several days' delay
at Patoda, the Queen now marched on, faster than before, for it was
impossible to overrate the importance of her presence at Ahmednugger.
But it was the same pleasant journey throughout, the same succession of
cool, shady groves and crisp bracing air. Often would the Queen wile
away the march with her hunting leopards and falcons with her, and
enjoy many a gallop over the undulating downs, where Abbas Khan and
the officers of his small force, and even the good Bishop, would ride
with her and enjoy the sport. Sometimes, too, Maria, when the march was
a quiet one, rode with her brother, to the great envy of Zóra, who,
from an elephant allotted to her, looked after them as they cantered
past her, longing to be with them. If there were anything remarkable
to be seen, the Queen would diverge from the beaten track, as she did
at the temple of Pukrode, and, looking over the crest, could follow
the line of hills to Ahmednugger itself. There she had stayed an extra
day to wander about, as was her wont, and enjoy the keen air of that
elevation, which, while it put roses into Maria's cheeks, and made
Zóra ruddy, tinged even the Queen's pale countenance with pink, and
restored the bright beauty of her youth. Again from Patoda they made a
day's excursion to the waterfall of the Incherna and its gloomy abrupt
ravine; and they would sit for hours on the short smooth sward above,
and watch the rainbows playing over the pool, nearly four hundred feet
below them, and those which seemed to start out suddenly from the
column of water, flash for an instant, and disappear. How glorious it
all was! Even the heavy state cares which weighed upon the Queen seemed
to be put aside for the time; and the noble lady's cheerful, nay, even
playful disposition diffused a joy among her little party which they
had never felt before. To Zóra it was perfect elysium, as she told her
husband in their quiet hours; she often felt her heart too full for
speech. "I had hoped, dear lord, to be happy with thee, and to make
thee happy; but this reality transcends all my expectations, for you
are all too kind and too indulgent to me."
"No, Zóra; all the love which inspired me as thou watched over me that
first night doth but heighten by time. When I had it not, I hungered
and thirsted for it. Now I have it, it groweth fresher every day, and
more precious to me. Enjoy these happy days, therefore, to the full,
for the time cometh, I fear me, in which there may be weeping and woe."
"Why dost thou think so?" she asked.
"I read much in the mother's sweet face," he returned. "When she gazes
on these scenes of her old happiness, there is a wistful, lingering
look in her eyes which seems to say, 'I am looking at ye for the last
time.' When she rises to depart, it is not with a merry remark, as it
used to be, but with a sigh and a silent tear, which I can read, though
you may not be able to do so. But it may be only one of those gloomy
forebodings which torment us sometimes without real foundation, and
from which the Lord, if He finds us faithful, delivers us happily; and
so may it be with our beloved mother. There will be lip service enough
to her when we go; but there are, of all about her, only ourselves upon
whom she can depend. O wife! when I think on all she hath been to me
since a child, I could give my life for her, even though I were to lose
thee, my darling."
"And I would follow thee, my lord. Life would be death without thee;
for, besides thee and our mother, whom have I in all the world to
protect me against that bad, terrible man, whose last threatening still
often seems to ring in my ears?"
A few days more, and through a pass in the Manikdown Hills, they
reached the considerable town of Ashtee, and thence Bhatoree, a pretty
village lying at the foot of the mountain, which is crowned by the
noble mausoleum of Sulabut Khan. There was a comfortable summer palace
there, now much decayed, but still habitable, which was then perfect,
and the Queen found it ready for her reception. Groves of mango trees
around afforded ample shelter for her followers and escort; and the
situation was so beautiful that many from Beejapoor, who had expected
to find only a savage wilderness of mountains, were now charmed with
the prospects before them. One more march, and the Royal city would be
gained in safety.
Here, too, all the officers and functionaries of State, with their
followers and troops, came to pay their respects and offer their
"mezzins" to the Royal lady. And though some had never seen her, yet
there were many who remembered her marriage; and by none was the
glorious campaign of 1564 forgotten, and all--old or new--were charmed
with her grace and dignity, the wisdom of her counsels, and, as far as
she could decide them, her own intentions; and she assured all that she
should leave them no more until God willed to take her, and exhorted
them to be faithful and true. So as soon as the palace in the citadel
could be prepared for her, the Queen made a triumphal march into the
city and fort.
Outwardly Ahmednugger presents no imposing appearance like Beejapoor.
There are no lofty palaces towering over the walls, no tall minarets
or domed mosques like those she had left behind her; but the city
had an aspect of comfort and peace, and the gardens of the Furhat
Mahal, the Bihishtee Bagh, or Garden of Paradise, were inviting and
pleasant to view, and though comparatively low, the Royal palace in
the fort was full of comfort. The faithful Mullek Umber, governor
of Dowlutabad, had sent from his new capital, Kirkee, large baskets
full of oranges and delicious grapes, writing that in the course of
a few days he would come himself; and there was no person whom the
Queen more earnestly desired to see, or in whom she reposed higher
confidence. Mullek Umber was, indeed, a remarkable man. From the
condition of an Abyssinian eunuch he had raised himself to the rank of
a viceroy of the kingdom, and governor of one of the largest provinces
of the Ahmednugger dominions. He had--following the example of the
Emperor Akhbar--surveyed and assessed all the lands in every village
of the country, and reduced the whole to a system which operated most
beneficially to the State as well as to the people. To this day the
original settlements exist in many a village record, and are proof
of the skill and patience with which they were executed, requiring
little alteration to suit modern demands. A humane, devout man, as well
as charitable and just, but not one to be drawn into the intrigues
and dissensions of a Court. Whatever happened there, he preserved a
dignified neutrality; too strong in his local position, and in the
devotion of his numerous troops, to be meddled with by anyone. He had
infinite respect for Queen Chand. He had followed the events of her
career with profound interest, and he could see that except through her
the affairs of the State had little chance of settlement or indeed of
salvation from ruin; and he watched with much anxiety what the result
of Queen Chand's first acts would be, though his counsel, when asked,
was given freely and honourably.
For the first week or more events at Ahmednugger were without
excitement, and nothing occurred to disturb their even current. The
Queen and her companions made excursions to the Royal palaces and
gardens without the fort; and even to one at some little distance,
in a ravine of the eastern range of hills, built near a pretty
cascade, which is well known to all present inhabitants of the English
cantonment as the "Happy Valley." There the broad plain of the Godavery
lay out before them; and even the grim rock fort of Dowlutabad, and
the tall white minaret of the Emperor Mahomed Toghluk, were distinctly
visible on a clear day. Maria and her brother were already longing
to proceed thither, and visit the Portuguese who had settled there,
many of whom were vine-dressers and orange cultivators; and the Queen
promised that when Mullek Umber should arrive she would despatch them
with him. Meanwhile, among the gunners and artificers of the local
army the Bishop and Maria had found many fellow-Christians; and as
no feeling of bigotry appeared to exist against them, they promised
themselves much success in their mission work; while some of the
Aurungabad Christians came over to partake of the sacraments of the
Church, and were heartily welcomed.
Thus passed many weeks. The Queen had received answers to all her
despatches. The Dekhany leader had not returned, but remained with the
Golconda troops, who were to take up their position at Owsa, while
those of Beejapoor occupied Nuldroog. Although some pretenders to
support the party of the spurious new King were known to exist, yet
for the most part the succession in the right direct line, by causing
the child Prince Bahadur to be crowned, and appointing the Queen Chand
formally to be Regent during the boy's minority, as she had been at
Beejapoor, was the desire of the majority. And of this course the sage
Mullek Umber entirely approved. There was no doubt of the purity of the
boy's descent, who, with his mother, had been confined in the fort of
Chawund; and when he arrived he was welcomed with joy, and on a given
day was crowned King in the great audience hall of the fort, with every
demonstration of satisfaction.
There is no doubt, however, that this bloodless revolution gave secret
umbrage to many, and some severe measures had to be taken. Ansar
Khan, the governor of the fort, was detected in active correspondence
with the Prince Moorad, representing the Queen as an abandoned woman;
the boy she had adopted as the son of a minion of her own; and that
the people, though they dare not complain, were in the last state
of discontent; and Ansar Khan being arraigned before the chiefs and
nobles, was convicted and suffered death. Secure in her position, the
Queen wrote to the Prince Moorad, recapitulating the past, quoting
the recantation of the Dekhany leader who had invited him. As a noble
and an honoured guest of the son of the great Emperor, whom it behoved
to protect an infant minor--he would be welcome, most welcome, and a
friendly embassy and escort would be sent to meet him; but if hostile
intentions still filled his mind, and force were resorted to, she was
well supported by her neighbours, and had made every preparation to
repel what she could not avert by conciliation.
But the cloud afar off only thickened, and became more and more
threatening week by week, and the Queen strained every nerve to
preserve the fort to the utmost, and prepare for what could not be much
longer averted.