"REMEMBER, IT IS FOR FREEDOM, AND FOR LIFE ITSELF."
"Oh! Miss Morgan," cried Beebee. "How is this all to end?"
My mistress was sitting on the balcony of the room when she made this
remark, and Miss Morgan, her English governess, was by her side.
The window overlooked the orchards, that went sweeping down towards the
banks of the swift-flowing Tigris; and on the far horizon, high above a
cloudland of trees, rose here and there the painted cupolas and gilded
minarets of the great city of Bagdad itself.
"I hardly know yet, my dear child, how it will end. I have prayed,
Beebee, prayed long and earnestly, and I have hope, and for some reason
or another which I cannot explain, I associate the passing of that
British steamer with our deliverance."
"And I, too, have prayed to the Christian God; but somehow he gives me
not the hope that He seems to give to you. Suppose," she added, "we
could escape to Bagdad, and reach your British ship, would she give us
shelter?"
"As a last resort I may counsel this, Beebee, mine; but, ah! think of
the risk. The chance of discovery is very great, and you know what
discovery means."
"Yes," sighed Beebee, "it means, to me at all events, death, and a bed
beneath yon dark flowing river. And yet I feel I should like to take
the risk, dear teacher. In a few days, at most, we shall be sent back
to our own home, for the peace has come. Then, oh, dear Miss Morgan, it
will be too late."
"See how lovely the sunset is," she added, with a sigh, "and listen,
teacher, to the song of those happy birds. Ah! every creature is happy
that is free. I--I--oh, teacher, I am the veriest slave!"
Poor Beebee leant her head on the shoulder of her companion, and burst
into tears.
It was at this very moment, my children, that I, led by some unerring
instinct that I cannot even describe to you, crept through the orchard
and leapt upon the balcony with a joyful cry.
Antonio had brought me within two hundred yards of the house.
"Your mistress is not far off, Shireen," he said; "go, seek her."
I had sought her. I had found her. Oh, happy hour; but for a time
neither she nor Miss Morgan knew me.
Beebee looked up when I came in, her face still streaming with tears.
I sang aloud, and rubbed my head and back against her; and at last a
light seemed suddenly to dawn upon her. She stared at me for a moment
almost in fright, and superstitiously. Then gradually a smile crept
around her lips and eyes.
"Oh, teacher!" she cried. "Can it be possible? Take her up, quick, and
look for the ruby."
"Yes, yes, I am right," she added quickly, as Miss Morgan exposed my gum
for a moment, and showed the gem set fast in my tooth. "Oh, I was sure
of it!"
And then I was held fast to Beebee's beating heart.
Miss Morgan was looking strangely puzzled. She was thinking.
"I cannot understand," she said, at last. "What can it possibly mean,
Beebee? And how _could_ Shireen have come here?"
"You cannot understand," cried Beebee gladly. "Oh, but I do. They tell
us love is blind. It is false. For I can see; I can see it all. My
prince is near at hand, and soon he will come. He is, indeed, he must
be in that very ship that passed on up the river to Bagdad."
Miss Morgan's eyes now began to gladden with joy.
"What you say must be true," she said. "And deliverance is at hand. We
have but to wait."
I felt happier now than ever I had done in my life before. Night fell
soon; and I retired with my dear mistress into the luxuriously-furnished
apartment, just as slaves began to light the lamps.
They took no notice of the strange pussy.
By-and-bye, the tall, black, fierce-eyed eunuch himself came in, with
boys bearing refreshments. But even he did not know me. He had not
Beebee's eyes of love.
Beebee talked to him to-night pleasantly too. She even teased him a
little, as she used to do when more of a child.
He looked pleased, happy even. He seemed to love his mistress; and yet,
this man, at the bidding of his master, Beebee's father, would have
thrust her shrieking into a sack, and cast her into the Tigris, whose
dark waters close, every month, over many a lovely female form, doomed
to death by their heartless husbands.
"How long now," she asked the eunuch, "before we return to our own
lovely Persian home? Oh, I am sick of Bagdad."
"But two, three days, then I have the order."
"Ah!" he added, "my little bird-mistress will rejoice when at last the
Shah sends for her!"
Beebee clapped her little hands.
"Indeed, indeed, I shall be joyful," she said, "when the day of my
deliverance comes."
I slept that night in Beebee's apartment; but the whole of next forenoon
wore away and nothing unusual occurred, and I began to notice that
sadness was once more stealing over the face of my young mistress.
But when it was once more close upon sunset, the eunuch glided silently
up to the window of the balcony, on which Beebee sat, with Miss Morgan
and me.
"Would the ladies be amused?" he asked. "A Persian merchant, with a box
of jewellery and many fine things, would like to spread his wares at
their feet?"
A quick glance passed betwixt Miss Morgan and Beebee, and the latter
smiled and nodded assent.
In a few minutes more, Antonio, the priest, prostrated himself on the
mosaic, before the now veiled ladies; but was told he might arise and
show his wares.
He lost no time in doing so, and Beebee lifted up her hands and laughed
with delight. For here were gems and jewels, rich and rare; dresses of
every description, and toys of curious workmanship.
"Oh, Jazr!" she cried to the eunuch. "You have been always so good and
kind to me, and I may not again have such an opportunity of presenting
you with a gift. Wear, for my sake, Jazr, this chain of gold, and think
of me when I am far away, as I soon shall be, you know."
The eunuch was profuse in his thanks.
"And now," added Beebee, "go, good Jazr, and bring me my two favourite
female slaves. You have to-day made Beebee happy, and she will show her
joy by giving them also gifts of value."
Next moment Jazr was gone.
Though he was not absent from the room a minute, for he had but to go a
little way along the passage and clap his hands, there was time for a
few words to pass between Beebee and Antonio.
"You know me?" he said in English.
"Yes, yes," in a quick whisper.
"Buy this gold watch as a gift for Miss Morgan, and open it when alone.
Buy, also, this large parcel of silk. It contains all you will require
to insure your safety."
In half an hour more, Antonio, the Persian merchant, was gone, and the
whole house and garden had resumed their usual quiet.
Hours passed away. Then over all the country fell the silence of the
night, scarce broken even by the song of birds in the orchards and
groves.
The window of Beebee's sleeping apartment was fully thirty feet above
ground; but it overlooked a wild piece of jungle or woody thicket, into
which, if anyone could drop, he or she would be beyond the walls of this
prison villa, and presumably free.
Oh, children, continued Shireen, after a brief pause. I am very old
now, but were I to live as long again, I should not forget the anxiety
and terror of the hour that succeeded midnight.
In Beebee's apartment slept two girl slaves, and on a mat outside the
door, the red-eyed eunuch, Jazr, himself. There was a dim light in the
room, that came from a little taper floating in a glass of oil. That
was all; and it just served to render things dimly visible.
Quick though my hearing was, I heard no footstep when Miss Morgan stood
beside Beebee's couch, and lightly touched her shoulder. She was
dressed in a long dark cloak of some kind, the hood of which was over
her head.
One finger was on her lip, as if to counsel silence and caution. But
there was no need of this, for Beebee had been awake for some time, and
knew now that the hour of action had come.
She got up at once, but slowly, cautiously.
My heart beat high with dread at that moment, for there was the sound of
talking outside the door. Miss Morgan held up a finger, and both girls
paused, waited and listened.
It had been but the eunuch talking in his sleep, for he soon resumed his
heavy breathing, and as far as he was concerned, all seemed safe for the
time being. Miss Morgan now stepped across to the place where the two
little slave-maids lay, and bent for a moment over them. Both were
sleeping soundly, and she drew a breath of relief.
Then she went directly to the window, followed by Beebee and myself. It
was an open jalousie, and to a hook in the wall I noticed that a thin
ladder of silken ropes had been attached and flung over.
This was the most trying moment.
By the taper's pale glimmer I noticed that my dear young mistress was
white with fear.
Miss Morgan now took me on her shoulder, and next moment swung herself
over the window-sill, descending, it appeared to me, to certain death in
the awful darkness.
When her head was level with the sill, she beckoned to Beebee.
"When I give the signal," she whispered, "hesitate not a moment, but
speed downwards. Remember, it is for freedom, and for life itself; and,
Beebee, for your prince."
How brave Miss Morgan was!
In two minutes' time, though it seemed to me it was an hour, we had
reached the ground. Then Miss Morgan held fast the end of the silken
ladder, and gave the signal.
_There was no response_!
What a fearful moment that was! Surely my mistress had fainted, or had
the slaves awakened and held her?
I glanced upwards. Oh, joy! Against the dim, grey light above the
trees, and against our prison wall, something dark was visible. And
descending too.
It must _be_; it _was_, Beebee.
But see; she is still ten feet at least above the ground, when from the
window, high above, comes a piercing shriek.
The slaves have awakened and given the alarm.
Beebee has paused in her descent. She is petrified with fear.
Next moment she lets go her hold and falls.
Ah! but inanimate though she be, for she has fainted, she is safe.
Strong arms have caught her; and next moment, while the great bell of
our prison villa clangs forth from the turret its iron notes of alarm,
we dash into the deepest, darkest part of the wood, guided by Antonio,
the priest, who is carrying Beebee, and in a few minutes more are close
by the river's brink.
Clang--clang--clang, goes the dreadful bell!
There is not a moment to lose. Lights are already springing up here and
there, by the side of the dark stream. A boat is now liable to be
intercepted or even fired upon.
Antonio steps lightly into the skiff. Miss Morgan--I still clinging to
her shoulder--quickly follows, and takes Beebee, still insensible, from
his arms.
One light push, one touch of the oars, and we are off and away into
mid-stream, and soon speeding down the dark river to freedom and to
safety.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think that even Cracker himself drew his breath more freely now that
Shireen had reached this part of the story. There could not be much
more of it. Only they all wanted to hear the very, very end. So they
waited in silence.
The forest would have been searched, said Shireen, everywhere; and
everywhere next day, boats would dart up and down the river. But all
too late, for we were all safe and sound on board that little British
boat, and gaily steaming down the river.
A few weeks after this we reached Bombay, and here, once more, I had to
part with Beebee, my mistress; for the terrible Indian Mutiny had broken
out, and I and my master had to stay with our regiment; while Miss
Morgan and her pupil, with the dear, good priest, Antonio, sailed
homewards round the Cape.
Heigho! sighed Shireen. That was a terrible war, and it would take me
weeks and weeks to tell you of all I heard and saw. And it was all
very, very sad, too.
But dear master gained what he called honour and glory; though for the
life of me, my children, I never could see where that came in, or what
it meant, but it is something that soldiers and sailors greatly love,
and often sigh for.
The longest time has an end, Warlock, and when the horrors of the mutiny
were all things of the past, and the sun of peace shedding once more its
soft rays over beautiful India, master and I found ourselves sailing
back to Merrie England.
Yes, Tabby, we sailed in the dear old corvette _Hydra_, and Tom was
there--Tom Brandy. Need I say that I was happy?
The first place that master started for, when the ship reached English
shores, was his aunt's pretty home in Yorkshire.
Almost the first words he said, when his good old auntie sailed smiling
into the room, were,--
"Well, my dear aunt, I am so pleased to get back alive and well; but
tell me, how is the blackamoor?"
"Oh, your blackamoor," cried his aunt, laughing. "She is not far away,
nor Miss Morgan either; and she is the dearest, sweetest child on earth.
Here she comes!"
Yes, there she came. And never had I seen her look more lovely, more
gentle, and good.
Children! a marriage took place sometime after this, and Beebee became
the wife of Colonel Edgar Clarkson.
"What!" cried Warlock. "Our master that is now?"
"Yes," said Shireen, nodding.
"And," said Tabby, "Beebee is our mistress?"
"None other."
"Oh, how delightful! How charming!"
"Tse, tse, tse!" said Dick, the starling, and off he flew to Lizzie,
who, with her brother Tom, was reclining on the lawn, making gowan
garlands [the gowan is the mountain daisy] to hang around their
favourites' necks.
Dick alighted on Lizzie's head, and at once began to go through the
motions of bathing and splashing in the sheen of her bonnie hair.
But Dick's departure seems the signal for the breaking up of the party.
For lo! shades of evening have begun to fall.
"And in the painted oriel of the West,
Whose panes the sunken sun incardines,
Like a fair lady at her casement, shines
The Evening Star, the star of love and rest."
So "good-nights" are said, and hands are shaken, then slowly homewards
to his bungalow, by the pathway under the lindens, swings honest Ben and
his cockatoo; while the shadows deepen beneath the trees, and the
blackbird trills his last sweet song.
Behind him walks Cracker--a garland of gowans around his neck--all the
way to the bungalow gate. Here he stops a moment to receive Ben's
friendly farewell pat, then gives his droll old stump of a tail a shake,
and trots slowly home alone.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The End.