Perhaps it was the customs official that told Dewan Sewlal about the
_Akbar Ka Diwa_, the Lamp of Akbar, the ruby that was so called because
of its gorgeous blood-red fire, as being in the iron box of the
merchant.
This ruby had been an eye in one of the two gorgeous jewelled peacocks
that surmounted the "Peacock Throne" at Delhi in the time of Akbar to
the time when the Persian conqueror, Nadir Shah, sacked Delhi and took
the Peacock Throne and the Kohinoor, and everything else of value back
to Persia. But he didn't get the ruby for the Vizier of the King of
Delhi stole it. Then Alam, the eunuch, stole it from the Vizier. Its
possession was desirable, not only because of its great value as a
jewel, but because it held in its satanic glitter an unearthly power,
either of preservation to its holder or malignant evil against his
enemies.
At any rate Sewlal sent for Hunsa the night of the ordeal and explained
to him, somewhat casually, that a jewel merchant passing through
Mahrattaland had in his collection a ruby of no great value, but a
stone that he would like to become possessed of because a ruby was his
lucky gem. The Dewan intimated that Hunsa would get a nice private
reward for this particular gem, if by chance he could, quite secretly,
procure it for him.
Next day was a busy one in the Bagree camp.
Having followed the profession of decoits and thugs for generations it
was with them a fine art; unlimited pains were taken over every detail.
As it had been decided that they would go as a party of mendicants and
bearers of family bones to Mother Ganges, there were many things to
provide to carry out the masquerade--stage properties, as it were; red
bags for the bones of females, and white bags for those of the males.
In two days one of the spies came with word that Ragganath, the
merchant, had started on his journey, riding in a covered cart drawn by
two of the slim, silk-skinned trotting bullocks, and was accompanied by
six men, servants and guards; on the second night he would encamp at
Sarorra. So a start was made the next morning.
Sookdee, Ajeet Singh, and Hunsa, accompanied by twenty men, and Gulab
Begum took the road, the Gulab travelling in an enclosed cart as
befitted the favourite of a raja, and with her rode the wife of Sookdee
as her maid.
Ajeet rode a Marwari stallion, a black, roach-crested brute, with bad
hocks and an evil eye. The Ajeet sat his horse a convincing figure, a
Rajput Raja.
Beneath a rich purple coat gleamed, like silver tracery, his steel
shirt-of-mail; through his sash of red silk was thrust a
straight-bladed sword, and from the top of his turban of
blue-and-gold-thread, peeped a red cap with dangling tassel of gold.
In the afternoon of the second day the Bagrees came to the village of
Sarorra.
"We will camp here," the leader commanded, "close to the mango _tope_
through which we have just passed, then we will summon the headman, and
if he is as such accursed officials are, the holy one, the yogi, will
cast upon him and his people a curse; also I will threaten him with the
loss of his ears."
"The one who is to be destroyed has not yet come," Hunsa declared, "for
here is what these dogs of villagers call a place of rest though it is
but an open field."
Ajeet turned upon the jamadar: "The one who is to be destroyed, say
you, Hunsa? Who spoke in council that the merchant was to be killed?
We are men of decoity, we rob these fat pirates who rob the poor, but
we take life only when it is necessary to save our own."
"And when a robbed one who has power, such as rich merchants have, make
complaint and give names, the powers take from us our profit and cast
us into jail," Hunsa retorted.
"And forget not, Ajeet, that we are here among the Mahrattas far from
our own forests that we can escape into if there is outcry," Sookdee
interjected. "If the voices are hushed and the bodies buried beneath
where we cook our food, there will be only silence till we are safe
back in Karowlee. The Dewan will not protect us if there is an
outcry--he will deny that he has promised protection."
The Bagrees were already busy preparing the camp, the camp of a
supposed party of men on a sacred mission.
It was like the locating of a circus. The tents they had brought stood
gaudily in the hot sun, some white and some of cotton cloth dyed in
brilliant colours, red, and blue, and yellow. In front of Ajeet's tent
a bamboo pole was planted, from the top of which floated a red flag
carrying a figure of the monkey god, Hanuman, embroidered in green and
yellow.
The red and white bags carrying bones, which were supposed to be the
bones of defunct relatives, were suspended from tripods of bamboo to
preserve them from the pollution of the soil.
And presently three big drums, Nakaras, were arranged in front of the
yogi's tent, and were being beaten by strong-armed drummers, while a
conch shell blared forth a discordant note that was supposed to be
pleasing to the gods.
Some of the Bagrees issued from their tents having suddenly become
canonised, metamorphosed from highwaymen to devout yogis, their bodies,
looking curiously lean and ascetic, now clothed largely in ashes and
paint.
"Go you, Hunsa," Ajeet commanded, "into this depraved village and
summon the _patil_ to come forth and pay to the sainted yogi the usual
gift of one rupee four annas, and make his salaams. Also he is to
provide fowl and fruits for us who are on this sacred mission. He may
be a son of swine, such as the lord of a village is, so speak, Jamadar,
of the swords the Raja's guards carry. Say nothing as to the expected
one, but let your eyes do all the questioning."
Hunsa departed on his mission, and even then the villagers could be
seen assembled between the Bagrees and the mud huts, watching curiously
the encampment.
"Sookdee," Ajeet said, "if we can rouse the anger of the _patil_--"
The Jamadar laughed. "If you insist upon the payment of silver you
will accomplish that, Ajeet."
Ajeet touched his slim fingers to Sookdee's arm: "Do not forget,
Jamadar--call me Raja. But as to the village; if we anger them they
will not entertain the merchant; they will not let him rest in the
village. And also if they are of an evil temper we will warn the
merchant that they are thieves who will cut his throat and rob him. We
will give him the protection of our numbers."
"If the merchant is fat--and when they attain wealth they always become
fat--he will be happy with us, Raja, thinking perhaps that he will
escape a gift of money the _patil_ would exact."
"Yes," Ajeet Singh answered, "we will ask him for nothing when he
departs."
After a time Hunsa was seen approaching, and with him the
grey-whiskered _patil_.
The latter was a commoner. He suggested a black-faced, grey-whiskered
monkey of the jungles. Indeed the pair were an anthropoid couple,
Hunsa the gorilla, and the headman an ape. Behind them straggled a
dozen villagers, men armed with long ironwood sticks of combat.
The headman salaamed the yogi and Ajeet, saying, "This is but a poor
place for holy men and the Raja to rest, for the water is bad and
famine is upon us."
"A liar, and the son of a wild ass," declared Ajeet promptly. "Give to
this saint the gift of silver, lest he put the anger of Kali upon you,
and call upon her of the fiery furnace in the sacred hills to destroy
your houses. Also send fowl and grain, and think yourself favoured of
Kali that you make offering to such a holy one, and to a Raja who is in
favour with Sindhia."
But the villager had no intention of parting with worldly goods if he
could get out of it. He expostulated, enlarged upon his poverty,
rubbed dust upon his forehead, and called upon the gods to destroy him
if he had a breakfast in the whole village for himself and people,
declaring solemnly; "By my Junwa!"--though he wore no sacred
thread,--"there is no food for man or horse in the village." Then he
waxed angry, asking indignantly, who were these stragglers upon the
road that they should come to him, an official of the Peshwa, to demand
tribute; he would have them destroyed. Beyond, not two _kos_ away,
were a thousand soldiers,--which was a gorgeous lie,--who if he but
sent a messenger would come and behead the lot, would cast the sacred
bones in the gaudy bags upon the dunghill of the village bullocks.
"To-morrow, monkey-man, the gift will be doubled," Ajeet answered
calmly, "for that is the law, and you know it."
But the _patil_, thinking there would be little fight in a party of
pilgrims and mendicants, called to his stickmen to bring help and they
would beat these insolent ones and drive them on their way.
"Take the yogi, Hunsa," Ajeet said, "and the men that have the
fire-powder and throw it upon the thatched roof of a hut in the way of
a visitation from the gods, because this ape will not leave us in peace
for our mission until he is subdued."
In obedience as Hunsa and the yogi moved toward the village, the
_patil_ cried. "Where go you?"
"We go with a message from the gods to you who offer insult to a holy
one."
The villagers armed with sticks, retreated slowly before the yogi,
dreading to offer harm to the sainted one. Muttering his curses, his
iron tongs clanking at every step, the yogi strode to the first
mud-wall huts, and there raising his voice cried aloud: "Maha Kalil
consume the houses of these men of an evil heart who would deny the
offering to Thee."
Then at a wave of his skeleton arm the two men threw upon the thatched
roof of a hut a grey preparation of gunpowder which was but a
pyrotechnical trick, and immediately the thatch burst into flames.
"There, accursed ones--unbelievers! Kali has spoken!" the yogi
declared solemnly, and turning on his heels went back to the camp.
The headman and his men, with howls of dismay, rushed back to stop the
conflagration. And just then the jewel merchant arrived in his cart.
The curtains of the canopy were thrown back and the fat Hindu sat
blinking his owl eyes in consternation. At sight of Ajeet he
descended, salaamed, and asked:
"Has there been a decoity in the village--is it war and bloodshed?"
Ajeet assumed the haughty condescending manner of a Rajput prince, and
explained, with a fair scope of imagination that the _patil_ was a man
of ungovernable temper who gave protection to thieves and outlaws, that
the village itself was a nest for them. That two of his servants,
having gone into the village to purchase food, had been set upon,
beaten and robbed; that the conflagration had been caused by the fire
from a gun that one of the debased villagers had poked through a hole
in the roof to shoot his servants.
"As my name is Ragganath, it is a visitation upon these scoundrels,"
the merchant declared.
"It is indeed, Sethjee."
Ajeet had diplomatically used the "Sethjee," which was a friendly
rendering of the name "Seth," meaning "a merchant," and the wily Hindu,
not to be outdone in courtesy, promoted Ajeet.
"Such an outrage, Maharaja, on the part of these low-caste people in
the presence of the sainted one, and the pilgrims upon such a sacred
mission to Mother Gunga, has brought upon them the wrath of the gods.
May the village be destroyed; and the _patil_ when he dies come back to
earth a snake, to crawl upon his belly."
"The headman even refused to give the holy one the gift of
silver--tendering instead threats," Ajeet added.
The merchant spat his contempt: "Wretches!" he declared; "debased
associates of skinners of dead animals, and scrapers of skulls; Bah!"
and he spat again. "And to think but for the Presence having arrived
here first I most assuredly would have gone into the village, and
perhaps have been slain for my--"
He stopped and rolled his eyes apprehensively. He had been on the
point of mentioning his jewels, but, though he was amongst saints and
kings, he suddenly remembered the danger.
"We would not have camped here," Ajeet declared, "had we not been a
strong party, because this village has an evil reputation. You have
been favoured by the gods in finding honest men in the way of
protection, and, no doubt, it is because you are one who makes
offerings to the deity."
"And if the Maharaja will suffer the presence of a poor merchant, who
is but a shopkeeper, I will rest here in his protection."
Ajeet Singh graciously consented to this, and the merchant commanded
his men to erect his small tent beneath the limbs of the deep green
mango trees.
The decoits watched closely the transport of the merchant's effects
from the cart to the tent. When a strong iron box, that was an evident
weight for its two carriers, was borne first their eyes glistened.
Therein was the wealth of jewels the flying horsemen of the night had
whispered to the yogi about.