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diff --git a/old/64254-0.txt b/old/64254-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index aba83af..0000000 --- a/old/64254-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7728 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Only an Ensign, Volume 3 (of 3), by James -Grant - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Only an Ensign, Volume 3 (of 3) - A Tale of the Retreat from Cabul - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: January 10, 2021 [eBook #64254] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Al Haines - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ONLY AN ENSIGN, VOLUME 3 (OF -3) *** - - - - - ONLY AN ENSIGN - - A Tale of the Retreat from Cabul. - - - BY JAMES GRANT, - - AUTHOR OF "THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "FIRST LOVE AND LAST LOVE," - "LADY WEDDERBURN'S WISH," ETC. - - - - IN THREE VOLUMES. - - VOL. III. - - - - "Come what come may, - Time and the Hour runs through the roughest day."--_Macbeth._ - - - LONDON: - TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. - 1871. - [_All Rights Reserved._] - - - - - LONDON: - BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. - - - - - CONTENTS. - - CHAP. - - I.--PAR NOBILE FRATRUM! - II.--DOWNIE'S REFLECTIONS - III.--MR. W. S. SHARKLEY'S PLOT - IV.--THE HOPE OF THE DEAD - V.--RETRIBUTION - VI.--AT JELLALABAD - VII.--THE SCHEME OF ZOHRAB - VIII.--MABEL DELUDED - IX.--BY THE HILLS OF BEYMAROO - X.--AGAIN IN CABUL - XI.--THE ABODE OF THE KHOND - XII.--THE SHADE WITHIN THE SHADOW - XIII.--ROSE IN A NEW CHARACTER - XIV.--WITH SALE'S BRIGADE - XV.--THE BATTLE OF TIZEEN - XVI.--TO TOORKISTAN! - XVII.--MABEL'S PRESENTIMENT - XVIII.--THE GOVERNOR OF BAMEEAN - XIX.--THE ALARM - XX.--TOO LATE! - XXI.--THE PURSUIT - XXII.--THE HOSTAGES - XXIII.--THE DURBAR - XXIV.--THE LAMP OF LOVE - XXV.--CONCLUSION - - - - -ONLY AN ENSIGN. - - - -CHAPTER I. - -PAR NOBILE FRATRUM! - -"So, fellow, I am expected by you to swallow this 'tale of a tub,' -which has been invented or revived solely for the purposes of -monetary extortion!" exclaimed Downie Trevelyan, with the most -intense and crushing hauteur, as he lay back in the same luxurious -easy chair in which his uncle died, and played with his rich gold -eye-glass and watered silk riband. - -"It ain't a tale of a tub, my lord; but of the wreck of a -_steamer_--the steamer _Admiral_ of Montreal," replied Sharkley, -meekly and sententiously. - -Downie surveyed him through his double eyeglass, thinking that -Sharkley was laughing covertly at him; but no such thought was -hovering in the mind of that personage, who was not much of a laugher -at any time, save when he had successfully outwitted or jockeyed any -one. He seemed very ill at ease, and sat on the extreme edge of a -handsome brass-nailed morocco chair, with his tall shiny hat placed -upon his knees, and his long, bare, dirty-looking fingers played the -while somewhat nervously on the crown thereof, as he glanced -alternately and irresolutely from the speaker to the titular Lady -Lamorna, who was also eyeing him, as a species of natural curiosity, -through her glass, and whose absence he devoutly wished, but feared -to hint that she might withdraw. - -She was reclining languidly on a sofa, with her fan, her lace -handkerchief, her agate scent-bottle, and her everlasting half-cut -novel--she was never known to read one quite through--lying beside -her; and she had only relinquished her chief employment of toying -with Bijou, her waspish Maltese spaniel (which nestled in a little -basket of mother-of-pearl, lined with white satin), when an -aiguletted valet had ushered in "Mr. W. S. Sharkley, Solicitor." - -"Leave us, Gartha, please," said her husband; "I must speak with this -person alone." - -Curiosity was never a prominent feature in the character of Downie's -wife, who was too languid, lazy, or aristocratically indifferent to -care about anything; so, with a proud sweep of her ample dress, she -at once withdrew, followed by the gaze of the relieved Sharkley, who -had a professional dislike for speaking before witnesses. - -Mr. Sharkley's present surroundings were not calculated to add to his -personal ease. The library at Rhoscadzhel--the same room in which -poor Constance and Sybil had undergone, in presence of the pitying -General Trecarrel, that humiliating interview, the bitterness of -which the wife had never forgotten even to her dying hour, and in -which Richard had, some time previously, found Downie by their dead -uncle's side, with that suspicious-looking document in his hand, the -history of which the former was too brotherly, too gentlemanly, and -delicate ever to inquire about--the library, we say, was stately, -spacious, and elegant enough, with its shelves of dark oak, filled by -rare works in gay bindings, glittering in the sunlight; with the -white marble busts of the great and learned of other days, looking -stolidly down from the florid cornice that crowned the cases; with -its massive and splendid furniture, gay with bright morocco and gilt -nails; with the stained coats of arms, the koithgath and the seahorse -of the Trevelyans, repeated again and again on the row of oriels that -opened on one side, showing the far extent of field and chace, green -upland and greener woodland, the present owner of which now sat -eyeing him coldly, hostilely, and with that undoubted air and bearing -which mark the high-bred and well-born gentleman--all combined to -make the mean visitor feel very ill at ease. - -He mentally contrasted these surroundings with those of his own dingy -office, with its docquets of papers, dirty in aspect as in their -contents; its old battered charter-boxes filled with the misfortunes -of half the adjacent villages--a room, to many a hob-nailed client -and grimy miner, more terrible than the torture chamber of the -Spanish Inquisition--and the comparison roused envy and covetousness -keenly in his heart, together with an emotion of malicious -satisfaction, that he had it in his power perhaps to deprive of all -this wealth, luxury, and rank, the cold, calm, and pale-faced -personage who eyed him from time to time with his false and haughty -smile--an expression that, ere long, passed away, and then his visage -became rigid and stony as that of the Comandatore in Don Giovanni, -for whatever he might feel, it was not a difficult thing for a man -who possessed such habitual habits of self-command as Downie -Trevelyan, to appear at ease when he was far from being so. Yet -Sharkley's mission tried him to the utmost, whatever real pride or -temper he possessed. - -"My lord," resumed the solicitor, while the revengeful emotion was in -his heart--"if, indeed, you are entitled to be called 'my lord'----" - -"Fellow, what _do_ you mean by this studied insolence?" demanded -Downie, putting his hand on a silver bell, which, however, he did not -ring, an indecision that caused a mocking smile to pass over the face -of Sharkley, while the iris of his eyes dilated and shrunk as usual. -"You are, I know, Sharkley the--aw, well I must say it--the low -practitioner who got up by forgery and otherwise--don't look round, -sir, we have no witnesses--the case of the adventuress Devereaux -against me and my family. So what brings you here now?" - -"To tell you what I was beginning to state--the story of the wreck, -by which your brother Richard, Lord Lamorna, perished at sea; and to -prove that the certificate of his marriage with Miss Constance -Devereaux, daughter of a merchant trader in the city of Montreal, has -been discovered and safely preserved, and is here in Cornwall now, -together with his lordship's will." - -Sharkley spoke with malicious bitterness, and Downie paused for a -moment ere he said,-- - -"You have seen them?" - -"Yes." - -"Well, when I see those documents I shall believe in their -existence--till then, you must hold me excused; but even their -existence does not prove either their legality or authenticity. This -is merely some new scheme to extort money," added Downie, almost -passionately; "but it shall not succeed! That unhappy woman is -dead--she died of paralysis I have heard--the victim, I doubt not, of -her own evil passions. Her son--" - -"Your nephew, is with the army in India. Her daughter--" - -"Has disappeared," said Downie, almost exultingly, "too probably -taking a leaf out of her charming mamma's book; and the army in -Afghanistan has been destroyed--my son Audley's letters and the -public papers assure me of that." - -"Yet your lordship would like to see the documents?" - -"Or what may seem to be the documents--certainly; in whose hands are -they--yours?" - -"No--in those of one who may be less your lordship's friend--Derrick -Braddon." - -"Braddon!" said Downie, growing if possible paler than usual; -"Braddon, my brother's favourite servant, who was in all his secrets, -and was with him in the Cornish regiment?" - -"The same, my lord." - -"D--n--but this looks ill!" stammered Downie, thrown off his guard. - -"For your lordship--very," said Sharkley with a covert smile. - -Downie felt that he had forgot himself, so he said, - -"Of course, this Braddon will show--perhaps deliver them to me." - -"You are the last man on earth to whom he will now either show or -deliver them. Be assured of that." - -"For what reason, sir?" - -"The account he received from his sister and old Mike Treherne of -your treatment of--well, I suppose we must call her yet--Mrs. -Devereaux." - -Downie's steel-gray eyes stared coldly, glassily, and spitefully at -Sharkley. He longed for the power to pulverise, to annihilate him by -a glance. He loathed and hated, yet feared this low-bred legal -reptile, for he felt that he, and all his family, were somehow in his -power. Yet he could not quite abandon his first position of -indignant denial and proud incredulity. - -He spread a sheet of foolscap paper before him, and making a broad -margin on the left side thereof, an old office habit that still -adhered to him, like many more that were less harmless, he dipped a -pen in the inkstand, as if to make memoranda, and balancing his gold -glasses on the bridge of his sharp slender nose, said, while looking -keenly over them, - -"Attend to _me_, sir--please. When was this pretended discovery -made?" - -"Some nine months ago." - -"Where--I say, where?" - -"At Montreal, in the chapel where this Latour, of whom we have heard -so much, was curate." - -"A rascally scheme--a forgery in which you have a share." - -"Take care, my lord--I'll file a bill against you." - -"You forget, scoundrel, that we are without witnesses." - -"Well--there are a pair of us," was the impudent rejoinder; "but what -good might such a scheme ever do an old pensioner like Derrick -Braddon?" - -"I do not pretend to fathom--for who can?--the secret motives of -people of that class," said Downie, haughtily. - -"Ay--or for that of it, any class," added Sharkley, as he shrugged -his high bony shoulders. - -"Relate to me, succinctly and clearly, all that this man has told -you," said Downie Trevelyan, dipping his pen again in the silver -inkstand; and as Sharkley proceeded, he listened to the narrative of -his brother's sufferings and terrible death with impatience, and -without other interest than that it served to prove his non-existence -by a competent witness, who, were it necessary, might bring others of -the crew who were present on the wreck, and had escaped in a boat. - -Ere the whole story was ended, Downie was ghastly pale, and tremulous -with the mingled emotions of rage and fear, doubt and mortification. -He felt certain that in all this there must lie something to be laid -further open, or be, if possible, crushed; and on being reassured by -Sharkley that Derrick Braddon would "surrender the documents only -with his life----" - -"We must not think of violence, Mr. Sharkley," said he, coldly and -mildly. - -"Well, it ain't much in my line, my lord--though I have more than -once got damages when a client struck me." - -"We must have recourse to stratagem or bribery. For myself, I -cannot, and shall not, come in personal contact with any man who is -so insolent as to mistrust me, nor is it beseeming I should do so. -To you I shall entrust the task of securing and placing before me -those alleged papers, for legal investigation, at your earliest -convenience. For this, you shall receive the sum of two thousand -pounds; of this," he added, lowering his voice, "I shall give you, in -the first place, a cheque for five hundred." - -The eyes of Sharkley flashed, dilated, shrunk, and dilated again, -when he heard the sum mentioned; and rubbing his gorilla-like hands -together, he said, with a chuckle peculiarly his own,-- - -"Never fear for me, my lord; I'll work a hole for him--this Derrick -Braddon. He spoke insultingly of _the_ profession last night--but -I'll work a hole for him." - -With an emotion of angry contempt, which he strove in vain to -conceal, Downie gave him a cheque for the first instalment of his -bribe, taking care that it was a _crossed_ one, payable only at his -own bankers, so that if there was any trickery in this matter, he -might be able to recall or trace it. - -Sharkley carefully placed it in the recesses of a greasy-looking -black pocket-book, tied with red tape, and saying something, with a -cringing smile, to the effect that he had "in his time, paid many a -fee to counsel, but never before received one in return," bowed -himself out, with slavish and reiterated promises of fealty, -discretion, and fulfilment of the task in hand; but he quitted the -stately porte-cochère, and long shady avenue of Rhoscadzhel, with -very vague ideas, as yet, of how he was to win the additional fifteen -hundred pounds. - -So parted those brothers learned in the law. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -DOWNIE'S REFLECTIONS. - -His odious visitor and tempter gone, Downie sat long, sunk in -reverie. He lay back in the softly-cushioned chair, with his eyes -vacantly and dreamily gazing through the lozenged panes, between the -moulded mullions of the oriel windows, to where the sunlight fell in -bright patches between the spreading oaks and elms, on the green -sward of the chace, to where the brown deer nestled cosily among the -tender ferns of spring, and to the distant isles of Scilly, afar in -the deep blue sea; but he saw nothing of all these. His mind was -completely inverted, and his thoughts were turned inward. "The -wildest novel," says Ouida, "was never half so wild as the real state -of many a human life, that to superficial eyes looks serene and -placid and uneventful enough; but life is just the same as in the -ages of Oedipus' agony and the Orestes' crime." - -Doubtless, the reader thought it very barbarous in the fierce -Mohammedan Amen Oollah Khan to twist off his elder brother's head, -and so secure his inheritance; but had the civilised Christian, -Downie, been in the Khan's place, he would have acted precisely in -the same way. The men's instincts were the same; the modes of -achievement only different. - -But a month before this, and Downie, at his club in Pall Mall, had -read with exultation, that, of all General Elphinstone's army, his -own son, Audley, and Doctor Brydone, of the Shah's 6th Regiment, had -alone reached Jellalabad. Little cared he who perished on that -disastrous retreat, so that his son was safe, for, selfish though he -was, he loved well and dearly that son, his successor--the holder of -a young life that was to stretch, perhaps, for half a century beyond -his own shorter span. Now it had chanced that on the very morning of -this remarkable visit, he had seen, with disgust, in the _Times_, -that, among those alleged to be safe in the hands of an Afghan chief -"was Ensign Denzil Devereaux, of the Cornish Light Infantry, an -officer, who, according to a letter received from Taj Mohammed Khan -the Wuzeer, had succeeded in saving a colour of Her Majesty's 44th -Regiment." - -The daughter, whose artful plans upon his son's affections he had, as -he conceived, so cleverly thwarted--the daughter Sybil gone no one -knew whither; the son, a captive in a barbarous land beyond the -Indian frontier, and their mother dead, the little family of Richard -Trevelyan seemed on the verge of being quietly blotted out -altogether; and now here was this ill-omened Derrick Braddon, this -Old Man of the Sea, come suddenly on the tapis, with his confounded -papers! - -General Elphinstone had died in the hands of the Afghans; so might -Denzil; or he and the other survivors or hostages might yet be slain -or--unless rescued by the troops from Candahar or Jellalabad--be sold -by Ackbar Khan (as Downie had heard in his place in the House) to the -chiefs in Toorkistan, after which they would never be heard of more. -Oh, thought Downie, that I could but correspond with this Shireen -Khan of the Kuzzilbashes; doubtless such a worthy would "not be above -taking a retaining fee." - -By the dreadful slaughter in the Khyber Pass, and the capture of all -the ladies and children, the sympathies, indignation, and passions of -the people were keenly roused at home; thus if Denzil returned at -this crisis, with the slightest military _éclat_, it would greatly -favour any claims he might advance. - -If the documents were genuine and could be proved so in a court of -Law--or Justice (these being distinctly separate), were his title, -his own honour (as Downie thought it), the honour, wealth, and -position, privileges and prospects of his wife and children, to be at -the mercy of a mercenary wretch like Schotten Sharkley; or of a -broken-down, wandering, and obscure Chelsea pensioner, who possessed -the papers in question? - -It was maddening even for one so cold in blood--so cautious and so -slimy in his proceedings, as Mr. Downie Trevelyan. He had no great -talents, but only instinct and cunning; barrister though he was, the -cunning of the pettifogger. A legal education had developed all that -were corrupt and vile in his nature. A country squire, Downie would -have been a blackleg on the turf and a grinding landlord; a -tradesman, he would have been far from being an honest one; a -soldier, he might have been a poltroon and a malingerer; a legal man, -he was--exactly what we find him, a master in subtlety, with a heart -of stone. In the same luxurious chair in which he was now seated in -fierce and bitter reverie, he had sat and regarded his brother's -widow, in her pale and picturesque beauty, and watched the torture of -her heart with something of the half amused expression of a cat when -playing with the poor little mouse of which it intends to make a -repast; and now he sat there shrinking from vague terrors of the -future, and in abhorrence of suspense; but there was a species of -dogged courage which he could summon to meet any legal emergency or -danger, if he would but know its full extent. He was in the dark as -yet, and his heart writhed within him at the prospect of coming -peril, even as that of Constance had been wrung by the emotions of -sorrow and unmerited shame. - -He knew himself to be degraded by acting the part of a conspirator in -all this; yet how much was at stake! No family in ancient Cornwall -was older in history or tradition than his, and none was more -honoured: yet here by intrigue, fatality, and the debasing influence -of association was he, the twelfth Lord Lamorna, the coadjutor of a -man whose father had been a poor rat-catcher, and, if report said -true, a felon. He felt as if on Damien's bed of steel, or as if the -velvet cushions of his chair had been stuffed with long iron nails, -and he repeated bitterly aloud,-- - -"What! am I to be but a _locum tenens_ after all--and to whom? -Denzil Devereaux--this _filius nullius_, this son of an adventuress, -or of nobody perhaps!" - -The grave, grim, and somewhat grotesque portraits of Launcelot, Lord -Lamorna, in Cavalier dress--he who hid from Fairfax's troopers in the -Trewoofe; of Lord Henry, with beard, ruff, and ribbed armour, who was -Governor of Rougemont in Devon, and whose scruples did not find him -favour with the "Virgin" Queen; and even of his late uncle, with his -George IV. wig, false teeth, and brass-buttoned blue swallow-tail, -seemed to look coldly and contemptuously down on him. - -"Pshaw!" muttered Downie, "am I a fool or a child to be swayed by -such fancies?--I should think not; the days of superstition are gone!" - -Yet he felt an influence, or something, he knew not what, and averted -his stealthy eyes from the painted faces of the honester dead. - -The irony of the malevolent and the vulgar; the gossip and surmises -of the anonymous press; the "Honourable" cut from Audley's name in -the Army List, the Peerage, and elsewhere, and from that of his -daughter Gartha, who was just about to be brought out, and had begun -to anticipate, with all a young beauty's pleasure, the glories of her -first presentation at Court, were all before him now. - -To have felt, enjoyed, and to lose all the sweets of rank, of wealth, -of power, and patronage; the worship of the empty world, the slavish -snobbery of trade, to have been congratulated by all the begowned and -bewigged members of the Inns of Court, and by all his tenantry, for -nothing--all this proved too much for Downie's brain, and certainly -too much for his heart. It was intolerable. - -He thought of his cold, unimpressionable, pale-faced, and -aristocratic wife deprived of her place (not of rank, for she was a -peer's daughter), through that "Canadian connection" of Richard's, as -they were wont to term poor Constance--an issue to be tried at the -bar, every legal celebrity of the day perhaps retained in the cause; -money wasted, bets made, and speculation rife; himself eventually -shut out from a sphere in which he had begun to figure, and to figure -well! Would, he thought, that the sea had swallowed up Braddon, even -as it had done his master! Would that some Afghan bullet might lay -low this upstart lad, this Denzil Devereaux, and then his claims and -papers might be laughed to scorn! Downie had never been without a -secret dread of hearing more of Constance and her marriage, and that -one day or other it might admit of legal proof, and now the dread was -close and palpable. - -He cherished a dire vengeance against his dead brother, for what he -deemed his duplicity in contracting such a marriage, unknown to all; -and in his unjust ire forgot their late uncle's insane family pride, -which was the real cause of all that had occurred. - -Novelists, dramatists, and humourists, are usually severe upon the -legal profession; yet in our narrative, Downie and his agent Sharkley -are given but as types of a bad class of men. Far be it from us to -think evil generally of that vast body from whose ranks have sprung -so many brilliant orators, statesmen, and writers, especially in -England; though Lord Brougham, in his Autobiography, designates the -law as "the cursedest of all cursed professions," and even Sir Walter -Scott, a member of the Scottish College of Justice, where the -practice is loose, often barbarous and antiquated, wrote in his -personal memoirs, that he liked it little at first, and it pleased -God to make that little less upon further acquaintance; for the -spirit and chicanery of the profession are liable to develop to the -full that which the Irish, not inaptly, term "the black drop" which -is in so many human hearts. - -Downie Trevelyan sat long buried in thoughts that galled and wrung -his spirit of self-love, till the house-bell rang, sleek Mr. Jasper -Funnel with his amplitude of paunch and white waistcoat came to -announce that "luncheon was served," and Mr. Boxer, powdered and -braided elaborately, came to ascertain at what time "her ladyship -wished the carriage;" and even these trivial incidents, by their -suggestiveness, were not without adding fuel to his evil instincts -and passions. - -Three entire days passed away--days of keen suspense and intense -irritation to Downie, though far from being impulsive by nature, yet -he heard nothing of his tool or agent, whom he began to doubt, -fearing that he had pocketed the five hundred pounds, or obtained the -documents thereby, and gone over with them to the enemy. But just as -the third evening was closing in, and when, seated in the library -alone, he was considering how he should find some means of -communicating with Sharkley--write he would not, being much too -eautious and legal to commit himself in that way, forgetting also -that the other would be equally so--the door was thrown noiselessly -open, and a servant as before announced "Mr. W. S. Sharkley, -Solicitor," and the cadaverous and unwholesome-looking attorney, in -his rusty black suit, sidled with a cringing air into the room, his -pale visage and cat-like eyes wearing an unfathomable expression, in -which one could neither read success nor defeat. - -"Be seated, Mr. Sharkley," said his host, adding in a low voice, and -with a piercing glance, when the door was completely closed, and -striving to conceal his agitation, "You have the papers, I presume?" - -"Your lordship shall hear," replied the other, who, prior to saying -more, opened the door suddenly and sharply, to see that no "Jeames" -had his curious ear at the keyhole, and then resumed his seat. - -But before relating all that took place at this interview, we must go -back a little in our story, to detail that which Mr. Sharkley would -have termed his _modus operandi_ in the matter. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -MR. W. S. SHARKLEY'S PLOT. - -As Sharkley travelled back towards the little mining hamlet, where -the Trevanion Arms stood conspicuously where two roads branched off, -one towards Lanteglos, and the other towards the sea, he revolved in -his cunning mind several projects for obtaining possession of the -papers; but knowing that the old soldier mistrusted him, that he was -quite aware of their value, and that he was as obstinate in his -resolution to preserve them, as he was faithful and true to the son -of Richard Trevelyan, there was an extreme difficulty in deciding on -any one line or plan for proper or honest action, so knavery alone -had scope. - -Could he, out of the five hundred pounds received to account, but -bribe Derrick Braddon to lend the papers ostensibly for a time, -receiving in return a receipt in a feigned handwriting, with a forged -or fancy signature, so totally unlike that used by the solicitor, -that he might afterwards safely repudiate the document, and deny he -had ever written it! - -To attempt to possess them by main force never came within the scope -of Sharkley's imagination, for the old soldier was strong and wiry as -a young bull, and had been famous as a wrestler in his youth; and -then force was illegal, whatever craft might be. - -Ultimately he resolved to ignore the subject of the papers, and seem -to forget all about them; to talk on other matters, military if -possible (though such were not much in Sharkley's way), and thus -endeavour to throw Braddon off his guard, and hence get them into his -possession by a very simple process--one neither romantic nor -melo-dramatic, but resorted to frequently enough by the lawless, in -London and elsewhere--in fact by drugging his victim; and for this -purpose, by affecting illness and deceiving a medical man, he -provided himself with ample means by the way. - -Quitting the railway he hastened on foot next day towards the -picturesque little tavern, his only fear being that Derrick might -have suddenly changed his mind, and being somewhat erratic now, have -gone elsewhere. - -As he walked onward, immersed in his own selfish thoughts, scheming -out the investment of the two thousand pounds, perhaps of more, for -why should he not wring or screw more out of his employer's -purse?--it was ample enough!--the beauty of the spring evening and of -the surrounding scenery had no soothing effect on the heart of this -human reptile. The picturesque banks of the winding Camel, then -rolling brown in full flood from recent rains; Boscastle on its steep -hill, overlooking deep and furzy hollows, and its inlet or creek -where the blue sea lay sparkling in light under the storm-beaten -headlands and desolate cliffs; away in the distance on another hand, -the craggy ridges of Bron Welli, and the Row Tor all reddened by the -setting sun, were unnoticed by Sharkley, who ere long found himself -under the pretty porch and swinging sign-board of the little inn (all -smothered in its bright greenery, budding flowers, and birds' nests), -where the scene of his nefarious operations lay. - -A frocked wagoner, ruddy and jolly, whipping up his sleek horses with -one hand while wiping the froth of the last tankard from his mouth -with the other, departed from the door with his team as Sharkley -entered and heard a voice that was familiar, singing vociferously -upstairs. - -"Who is the musical party?" asked he of the round-headed, -short-necked and barrel-shaped landlord, whose comely paunch was -covered by a white apron. - -"Your friend the old pensioner, Mr. Sharkley," replied the other, -"and main noisy he be." - -"Friend?" said Sharkley nervously; "he ain't a friend of mine--only a -kind of client in a humble way." - -"I wouldn't have given such, house-room; but trade is bad--the -coaches are all off the road now, and business be all taken by the -rail to Launceston, Bodmin, and elsewhere." - -"Has he been drinking?" - -"Yes." - -"Pretty freely?" asked Sharpley hopefully. - -"Well--yes; we're licensed to get drunk on the premises." - -"Come," thought the emissary, "this is encouraging! His intellect," -he added aloud, "is weak; after a time he grows furious and is apt to -accuse people of robbing him, especially of certain papers of which -he imagines himself the custodian; it is quite a monomania." - -"A what, sur?" - -"A monomania." - -"I hopes as he don't bite; but any way," said the landlord, who had -vague ideas of hydrophobia, "I had better turn him out at once, as I -want no bobberies here." - -"No--no; that would be precipitate. I shall try to soothe him over; -besides, I have express business with him to-night." - -"But if he won't be soothed?" asked Boniface, anxiously. - -"Then you have the police station at hand." - -Meanwhile they could hear Derrick above them, drumming on the bare -table with a pint-pot, and singing some barrack-room ditty of which -the elegant refrain was always,-- - - "Stick to the colour, boys, while there's a rag on it, - And tickle them behind with a touch of the bagonet: - So, love, farewell, for _all_ for a-marching!" - - -As Sharkley entered, it was evident that the old soldier, whose voice -rose at times into a shrill, discordant, and hideous falsetto, had -been imbibing pretty freely; his weather-beaten face was flushed, his -eyes watery, and his voice somewhat husky, but he was in excellent -humour with himself and all the world. The visitor's sharp eyes took -in the whole details of the little room occupied by his victim; a -small window, which he knew to be twelve feet from a flower-bed -outside; a bed in a corner; two Windsor chairs, a table and -wash-stand, all of the most humble construction; these, with -Derrick's tiny carpet-bag and walking staff, comprised its furniture. - -"Come along, Master Sharkley--glad to see you--glad to see any -one--it's dreary work drinking alone. This is my billet, and there -is a shot in the locker yet--help yourself," he added, pushing a -large three-handled tankard of ale across the table. - -"Thank you, Braddon," replied the other, careful to omit the prefix -of "Mr.," which Derrick always resented, "and you must share mine -with me. Have you heard the news?" - -"From where--India?" - -"Yes." - -"And what are they that I have not heard--tell me that, Mr. -Sharkley--what are they that I have not heard?" said Braddon with the -angry emphasis assumed at times unnecessarily by the inebriated. - -"Is it that your young master is shut up among the Afghans, and -likely, I fear, to remain so?" - -"Her Majesty the Queen don't think so--no, sir--d--n me, whatever -you, and such as you, may think," responded Derrick, becoming -suddenly sulky and gloomy. - -"Who do you mean, Braddon?" asked the other, drinking, and eying him -keenly over his pewter-pot. - -"Did you see to-day's Gazette?" - -"The Bankruptcy list?" - -"Bankrupts be--" roared Braddon, contemptuously, striking his -clenched hand on the deal table; "no--the _War Office Gazette_." - -Mr. W. S. Sharkley faintly and timidly indicated that as it was a -part of the newspapers which possessed but small interest for him, he -certainly had not seen it. - -"Well, that is strange now," said Derrick; "it is almost the only bit -of a paper I ever read." - -"It ain't very lively, I should think." - -"Ain't it--well, had you looked there to-day, you would have seen -that young master Denzil--that is my Lord Lamorna as should be--has -been gazetted to a Lieutenancy in the old Cornish--yes, in -the-old-Cornish-Light-Infantry!" added Derrick, running five words -into one. - -"Indeed! but he may die in the hands of the enemy for all -that--though I hope not." - -"Give me your hand, Mr. Sharkley, for that wish," said Derrick, with -tipsy solemnity; "moreover, he is to have the third class of the -Dooranee Empire, whatever the dickens that may be. I've drawed my -pension to-day, Mr. Sharkley, and I mean to spend every penny of it -in wetting the young master's new commission, and the Dooranee Empire -to boot. Try the beer again--it's home-brewed, and a first-rate -quencher--here's-his-jolly good-health!" - -"So say I--his jolly good health." - -"With three times three!" - -"Yes," added Sharkley, as he wrung the pensioner's proffered hand, -"and three to that." - -Derrick, who, though winding up the day on beer, had commenced it -with brandy, was fast becoming more noisy and confused, to his wary -visitor's intense satisfaction. - -"Yes--yes--master Denzil will escape all and come home safe, please -God," said Derrick, becoming sad and sentimental for a minute; "yet -in my time I heard many a fellow--yes, many a fellow--before we went -into action, or were just looking to our locks, and getting the -cartridges loose, say to another, 'write for me,' to my father, or -mother, or it might be 'poor Bess, or Nora,' meaning his wife, 'in -case I get knocked on the head;' and I have seen them shot in their -belts within ten minutes after. I often think--yes, by jingo I -do--that a man sometimes knows when death is a-nigh him, for I have -heard some say they were sure they'd be shot, and shot they were sure -enough; while others--I for one--were always sure they'd escape. -It's what we soldiers call a presentiment; but of course, you, as a -lawyer, can know nothing about it. With sixty rounds of ammunition -at his back, a poor fellow will have a better chance of seeing Heaven -than if he died with a blue bagfull of writs and rubbish." - -Then Derrick indulged in a tipsy fit of laughter, mingled with tears, -as he said, - -"You'd have died o' laughing, Mr. Sharkley, if you'd seen the captain -my master one day--but perhaps you don't care about stories?" - -"By all means, Braddon," replied Sharkley, feeling in his vest pocket -with a fore-finger and thumb for a phial which lurked there; "I -dearly love to hear an old soldier's yarn." - -"Well, it was when we were fighting against the rebels in Canada--the -rebels under Papineau. We were only a handful, as the saying is--a -handful of British troops, and they were thousands in -number--discontented French, Irish Rapparees, and Yankee -sympathisers, armed with everything they could lay hands on; but we -licked them at St. Denis and St. Charles, on the Chamblay river--yes, -and lastly at Napierville, under General Sir John Colborne; and -pretty maddish we Cornish lads were at them, for they had just got -one of our officers, a poor young fellow named Lieutenant George -Weir, into their savage hands by treachery, after which they tied him -to a cart-tail, and cut him into joints with his own sword. -Well--where was I?--at Napierville. We were lying in a field in -extended order to avoid the discharge of a field gun or two, that the -devils had got into position against us, when a ball from one -ploughed up the turf in a very open place, and Captain Trevelyan -seated himself right in the furrow it had made, and proceeded to -light a cigar, laughing as he did so. - -" Are you wise to sit there, right in the line of fire?' asked the -colonel, looking down from his horse. - -"'Yes,' says my master. - -"'How so?' - -"Master took the cigar between his fingers, and while watching the -smoke curling upwards, said, - -"'You see, colonel, that another cannon ball is extremely unlikely to -pass in the same place; two never go after each other thus.' - -"But he had barely spoken, ere the shako was torn off his head by a -second shot from the field piece; so everybody laughed, while he -scrambled out of the furrow, looking rather white and confused, -though pretending to think it as good a joke as any one else--that -was funny, wasn't it!" - -So, while Derrick lay back and laughed heartily at his own -reminiscence, Sharkley, quick as lightning, poured into his tankard a -little phial-full of morphine, a colourless but powerful narcotic -extracted from opium. He then took an opportunity of casting the -phial into the fire unseen, and by the aid of the poker effectually -concealed it. - -"What a fine thing it would have been for Mr. Downie Trevelyan if -that rebel shot had been a little lower down--eh, Derrick?" said he, -chuckling. - -"Not while the proud old lord lived, for he ever loved my master -best." - -"But he is in possession now--and that, you know, is nine points of -the law." - -"Yes--and he has a heart as hard as Cornish granite," said Braddon, -grinding his set teeth; "aye, hard as the Logan Stone of Treryn -Dinas! Here is confusion to him and all such!" he added, -energetically, as he drained the drugged tankard to the dregs; "if -such a fellow were in the army, he'd be better known to the Provost -Marshal than to the Colonel or Adjutant, and would soon find himself -at shot-drill, with B.C. branded on his side. But here's Mr. -Denzil's jolly good-health-and-hooray-for-the-Dooranee-Empire!" he -continued, and applied the empty tankard mechanically to his lips, -while his eyes began to roll, as the four corners of the room seemed -to be in pursuit of each other round him. "I dreamt I was on the -wreck last night--ugh! and saw the black fins of the sea-lawyers, -sticking up all about us." - -"Sea-lawyers--what may they be?" - -"Sharks," replied Braddon, his eyes glaring with a curious -expression, that hovered between fun and ferocity, at his companion, -whose figure seemed suddenly to waver, and then to multiply. - -"Ha, ha, very good; an old soldier must have his joke." - -"So had my master, when he sat in the fur-ur-urrow made by the shell. -You see, we were engaged with Canada rebels at -Napierville--ville--yes exactly, at Naperville, when a twelve-pound -shot----" - -He was proceeding, with twitching mouth and thickened utterance, to -relate the whole anecdote deliberately over again, when Sharkley, who -saw that he was becoming so fatuously tipsy that further concealment -was useless, rose impatiently, and abruptly left the room, to give -the landlord some fresh hints for his future guidance. - -"Halt! come back here--here, you sir--I say!" exclaimed Braddon, in a -low, fierce, and husky voice, as this sudden and unexplained movement -seemed to rouse all his suspicions and quicken his perceptive -qualities; but in attempting to leave his chair he fell heavily on -the floor. - -He grew ghastly pale as he staggered into a sitting posture. Tipsy -and stupefied though he was, some strange conviction of treachery -came over him; he staggered, or dragged himself, partly on his hands -and knees, towards the bed, and drawing from his breast-pocket the -tin case, with the documents so treasured, by a last effort of -strength and of judgment, thrust it between the mattress and -palliasse, and flung himself above it. - -Then, as the powerful narcotic he had imbibed overspread all his -faculties, he sank into a deep and dreamless but snorting slumber, -that in its heaviness almost boded death! - -* * * * * - -The noon of the next day was far advanced when poor old Derrick awoke -to consciousness, but could, with extreme difficulty, remember where -he was. A throat parched, as if fire was scorching it; an -overpowering headache and throbbing of the temples; hot and tremulous -hands, with an intense thirst, served to warn him that he must have -been overnight, that which he had not been for many a year, very -tipsy and "totally unfit for duty." - -He staggered up in search of a water-jug, and then found that he had -lain abed with his clothes on. A pleasant breeze came through the -open window; the waves of the bright blue sea were rolling against -Tintagel cliffs and up Boscastle creek; hundreds of birds were -twittering in the warm spring sunshine about the clematis and briar -that covered all the tavern walls, and the hum of the bee came softly -and gratefully to his ear, as he strove to recall the events of the -past night. - -Sharkley!--it had been spent with Sharkley the solicitor, and where -now was he? - -The papers! He mechanically put his trembling hand to his coat -pocket, and then, as a pang of fear shot through his heart, under the -mattress. - -They were not there; vacantly he groped and gasped, as recollections -flashed upon him, and the chain of ideas became more distinct; madly -he tossed up all the bedding and scattered it about. The case was -gone, and with it the precious papers, too, were gone--GONE! - -Sobered in an instant by this overwhelming catastrophe--most terribly -sobered--a hoarse cry of mingled rage and despair escaped him. The -landlord, who had been listening for an outbreak of some kind, now -came promptly up. - -"Beast, drunkard, fool that I have been!" exclaimed Derrick, in -bitter accents of self-reprobation; "this is how I have kept my -promise to a dying master--duped by the first scoundrel who came -across me! I have been juggled--drugged, perhaps--then juggled, and -robbed after!" - -"Robbed of what?" asked the burly landlord, laughing. - -"Papers--my master's papers," groaned Derrick. - -"Bah--I thought as much; now look ye here, old fellow----" - -"Robbed by a low lawyer," continued Derrick, hoarsely; "and no fiend -begotten in hell can be lower in the scale of humanity or more -dangerous to peaceful society. Oh, how often has poor master said -so," he added, waxing magniloquent, and almost beside himself with -grief and rage; "how often have I heard him say, 'I have had so much -to do with lawyers, that I have lost all proper abhorrence for their -master, the devil.'" - -"Now, I ain't going to stand any o' this nonsense--just you clear -out," said the landlord, peremptorily. - -Then as his passionate Cornish temper got the better of his reason, -Derrick on hearing this suddenly seized Jack Trevanion's successor by -the throat, and dashing him on the floor, accused him of being art -and part, or an aider and abettor of the robbery, in which, to say -truth, he was not. His cries speedily brought the county -constabulary, to whom, by Sharkley's advice, he had previously given -a hint, and before the sun was well in the west, honest Derrick -Braddon was raving almost with madness and despair under safe keeping -in the nearest station house. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE HOPE OF THE DEAD. - -The disappearance of the papers which had so terrible an effect upon -the nervous system, and usually iron frame of Derrick Braddon, is -accounted for by the circumstance that Sharkley on returning to see -how matters were progressing in the room, lingered for a moment by -the half-opened door, and saw his dupe pale, gasping, muttering, and -though half-senseless, yet conscious enough to feel a necessity for -providing against any trickery or future contingency, in the act of -concealing the tin case among his bedding, from whence it was -speedily drawn, after he had flung himself in sleepy torpor above it; -and then stealing softly down stairs with the prize, Sharkley paid -his bill and departed without loss of time and in high spirits, -delighted with his own success. - -Too wary to start westward in the direction of Rhoscadzhel, he made -an ostentatious display of departing by a hired dog-cart for his own -residence, at the village or small market town (which was afflicted -by his presence) in quite an opposite direction. From thence, by a -circuitous route, he now revisited his employer, and hence the delay -which occasioned the latter so much torture and anxiety. - -"Two thousand--a beggarly sum!" thought Sharkley, scornfully and -covetously, as he walked up the stately and over-arching avenue, and -found himself under the groined arches of the _porte-cochère_, the -pavement of which was of black and white tesselated marble; "why -should I not demand double the sum, or more--yes, or more--he is in -my power, in my power, is he not?" he continued, with vicious joy, -through his set teeth, while his eyes filled with green light, and -the glow of avarice grew in his flinty heart, though even the first -sum mentioned was a princely one to him. - -Clutching the tin case with a vulture-like grasp, he broadly and -coarsely hinted his wish to Downie, who sat in his library chair, -pale, nervous, and striving to conceal his emotion, while hearing a -narration of the late proceedings at the Trevanion Arms; and hastily -drawing a cheque book towards him, be filled up another bank order, -saying,-- - -"There, sir, this is a cheque for two thousand pounds; surely two -thousand five hundred are quite enough for all you have done in -procuring for my inspection, documents which may prove but as so much -waste paper after all." - -"Their examination will prove that such is not the case," said -Sharkley, as he gave one of his ugly smiles, scrutinised the -document, and slowly and carefully consigned it to where its -predecessor lay, in the greasy old pocket-book, wherein many a time -and oft the hard-won earnings of the poor, the unfortunate and -confiding, had been swallowed up. When Downie had heard briefly and -rapidly a narration of the means by which the papers had been -abstracted, he rather shrunk with disgust from a contemplation of -them; they seemed so disreputable, so felonious and vile! - -He had vaguely hoped that by the more constitutional and legal plans -of bribery and corruption Mr. W. S. Sharkley might have received them -from the custodier; but now they were in his hands and he was all -impatience, tremulous with eagerness, and spectacles on nose, to -peruse them, and test their value by that legal knowledge which he -undoubtedly possessed. - -His fingers, white and delicate, and on one of which sparkled the -magnificent diamond ring which his late uncle had received when on -his Russian embassy, literally trembled and shook, as if with ague, -when he opened the old battered and well-worn tin case. The first -document drawn forth had a somewhat unpromising appearance; it was -sorely soiled, frayed, and seemed to have been frequently handled. - -"What the deuce is this, Mr. Sharkley?" asked Downie, with some -contempt of tone. - -"Can't say, my lord--never saw such a thing before; it ain't a writ -or a summons, surely!" - -It was simply a soldier's "Parchment Certificate," and ran thus:-- - - - _Cornish Regiment of Light Infantry._ - -"These are to certify that Derrick Braddon, Private, was born in the -Parish of Gulval, Duchy of Cornwall; was enlisted there for the said -corps, &c., was five years in the West Indies, ten in North America, -and six at Gibraltar; was twice wounded in action with the Canadian -rebels, and has been granted a pension of one shilling per diem. A -well conducted soldier, of unexceptionably good character." Then -followed the signature of his colonel and some other formula. - - -"Pshaw!" said Downie, tossing it aside; but the more wary Sharkley, -to obliterate all links or proofs of conspiracy, deposited it -carefully in the fire, when it shrivelled up and vanished; so the -little record of his twenty-one years' faithful service, of his two -wounds, and his good character, attested by his colonel, whom he had -ever looked up to as a demigod, and which Derrick had borne about -with him as Gil Blas did his patent of nobility, was lost to him for -ever. - -But more than ever did Downie's hands tremble when he drew forth the -other documents; when he saw their tenor, and by the mode in which -they were framed, worded, stamped, and signed, he was compelled to -recognise their undoubted authority! A sigh of mingled rage and -relief escaped him; but, as yet, no thought of compunction. He -glanced at the fire, at the papers, and at Sharkley, more than once -in succession, and hesitated either to move or speak. He began to -feel now that the lingering of his emissary in his presence, when no -longer wanted, was intolerable; but he was too politic to destroy the -papers before him, though no other witness was present. - -Full of secret motives themselves, each of these men, by habit and -profession, was ever liable to suspect secret motives in every one -else; and each was now desirous to be out of the other's presence; -Downie, of course, most of all. The lower in rank and more -contemptible in character, perhaps was less so, having somewhat of -the vulgar toady's desire to linger in the presence and atmosphere of -one he deemed a greater, certainly more wealthy, and a titled man; -till the latter said with a stiff bow full of significance,-- - -"I thank you, sir, and have paid you; these are the documents I -wished to possess." - -"I am glad your lordship is pleased with my humble services," replied -Sharkley, but still tarrying irresolutely. - -"Is there anything more you have to communicate to me?" - -"No, my lord." - -"Then I have the--I must wish you good evening." - -Sharkley brushed his shiny hat with his dusty handkerchief, and the -wish for a further gratuity was hovering on his lips. - -"You have been well paid for your services, surely?" - -"Quite, my lord--that is--but--" - -"No one has seen those papers, I presume?" asked Downie. - -"As I have Heaven to answer to, no eye has looked on them while in my -hands--my own excepted." - -"Good--I am busy--you may go," said Downie, haughtily, and as he had -apparently quite recovered his composure, he rang the bell, and a -servant appeared. - -"Shew this--person out, please," said Downie. - -And in a moment more Sharkley was gone. The door closed, and they -little suspected they were never to meet again. - -"Thank God, he is gone! Useful though the scoundrel has been, and -but for his discovery of those papers we know not what may have -happened, his presence was suffocating me!" thought Downie. - -The perceptions of the latter were sufficiently keen to have his -_amour propre_ wounded by a peculiar sneering tone and more confident -bearing in Sharkley; there had been a companionship in the task in -hand, which lowered him to the level of the other, and the blunt -rejoinder he had used so recently--"there are a pair of us," still -rankled in his memory. Thus he had felt that he could not get rid of -him too soon, or too politely to all appearance; and with a grimace -of mingled satisfaction and contempt, he saw the solicitor's thin, -ungainly figure lessening as he shambled down the long and beautiful -avenue of elms and oaks, which ended at the grey stone pillars, that -were surmounted each by a grotesque koithgath, _sejant_, with its -four paws resting on a shield, charged with a Cavallo Marino, rising -from the sea. - -"And _now_ for another and final perusal of these most accursed -papers!" said Downie Trevelyan, huskily. - -The first was the certificate of marriage, between Richard Pencarrow -Trevelyan, Captain in the Cornish Light Infantry, and Constance -Devereaux of Montreal, duly by banns, at the chapel of Père Latour. -Then followed the date, and attestation, to the effect, "that the -above named parties were this day married by me, as hereby certified, -at Ste. Marie de Montreal. - - "C. LATOUR, _Catholic Curé_, - "BAPTISTE OLIVIER, _Acolyte_. - "DERRICK BRADDON, _Private - Cornish Light Infantry_. - -"JEHAN DURASSIER, _Sacristan_." - - -About this document there could not be a shadow of a doubt--even the -water-mark was anterior to the date, and the brow of Downie grew very -dark as he read it; darker still grew that expression of malevolent -wrath, and more swollen were the veins of his temples as he turned to -the next document, which purported to be the "Last Will and Testament -of Richard Pencarrow, Lord Lamorna," and which after the usual dry -formula concerning his just debts, testamentary and funeral expenses, -continued, "_I give, devise, and bequeath_ unto Constance Devereaux, -Lady Lamorna, my wife," the entire property, (then followed a careful -enumeration thereof,) into which he had come by the death of his -uncle Audley, Lord Lamorna, for the term of her natural life; and -after her death to their children Denzil and Sybil absolutely, in the -several portions to follow. The reader Downie (to whom a handsome -bequest was made), General Trecarrel, and the Rector of Porthellick -were named as Executors, and then followed the duly witnessed -signature of the Testator, written in a bold hand LAMORNA, and dated -at Montreal, about nine months before. - -"Hah!" exclaimed Downie, through his clenched teeth; "here is that in -my hand, which, were Audley a wicked or undutiful son, might effect -wonders at Rhoscadzhel, and furnish all England with food for gossip -and surmise; but that shall never, never be; nor shall son nor -daughter of that Canadian adventuress ever place their heads under -this roof tree of ours!" - -And as he spoke, he fiercely crumpled up the will and the certificate -together. - -Then he paused, spread them out upon his writing table, and smoothing -them over, read them carefully over again. As he did so, the -handsome face, the honest smile and manly figure of his brother -Richard came upbraidingly to memory; there were thoughts of other and -long-remembered days of happy boyhood, of their fishing, their -bird-nesting expeditions, and of an old garret in which they were -wont to play when the days were wet, or the snow lay deep on the -hills. How was it, that, till now forgotten, the old garret roof, -with its rafters big and brown, and which seemed then such a fine old -place for sport, with the very sound of its echoes, and of the rain -without as it came pouring down to gorge the stone gutters of the old -house, came back to memory now, with Richard's face and voice, out of -the mists of nearly half a century? "It was one of those flashes of -the soul that for a moment unshroud to us the dark depths of the -past." Thus he really wavered in purpose, and actually thought of -concealing the documents in his strong box, to the end that there -they might be found after his death, and after he had enjoyed the -title for what remained to him of life. - -Would not such duplicity be unfair to his own sons, and to his -daughter? was the next reflection. - -And if fate permitted Denzil to escape the perils of the Afghan war, -was the son of that mysterious little woman, or was her daughter--the -daughter of one whom he doubted not, and wished not to doubt--had -entrapped his silly brother into a secret marriage, in a remote and -sequestered chapel, and whose memory he actually loathed--ever to -rule and reside in Rhoscadzhel? - -No--a thousand times no! Then muttering the lines from Shakespeare,-- - - "Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls. - Conscience is but a word that cowards use, - Devised at first to keep the strong in awe:" - -he drew near the resplendent grate of burnished steel, and resolutely -casting in both documents, thrust them with the aid of the poker deep -among the fuel, and they speedily perished. The deed was done, and -could no more be recalled than the last year's melted snow! - -He watched the last sparks die out in the tinder ashes of those -papers, on the preservation and production of which so much depended, -so much was won and lost; and a sigh of relief was blended with his -angry laugh. - -He felt that then, indeed, the richly carpeted floor beneath his -feet; the gilded roof above his head, the sweet, soft landscape--one -unusually so for bold and rugged Cornwall--that stretched away in the -soft, hazy, and yellow twilight, and all that he had been on the -verge of losing, were again more surely his, and the heritage of his -children, and of theirs in the time to come, and that none "of -Banquo's line"--none of that strange woman's blood, could ever eject -them now! - -Even Derrick's old tin-case--lest, if found, it should lead to a -trace or suspicion of where the papers had gone--he carefully, and -with a legal caution worthy of his satellite the solicitor, beat out -of all shape with his heel and threw into the fire, heaping the coals -upon it. - -This was perhaps needless in Downie Trevelyan, that smooth, smug, -closely shaven, and white-shirted lawyer-lord, that man of legal -facts and stern truths, so abstemious, temperate, and regular in his -habits and attendance at church, and to all the outward tokens of -worldly rectitude. Do what he might, none could, would, or dare -believe evil of him! - -Yet, after the excitement he had undergone, there were moments when -he felt but partially satisfied with himself, till force of habit -resumed its sway--moments when he remained sunk in thought, with his -eyes fixed on that portion of the sea and sky where the sun had set, -while the sombre twilight deepened around, and strange shadows were -cast by the oriels across the library floor. - -"For what have I done this thing?" thought he; "for my children of -course, rather than for myself. I would that I had not been tempted, -for nothing on earth remains for ever--nothing!" And as he muttered -thus, his eyes rested on the distant Isles of Scilly that loomed like -dark purple spots in the golden sea, which yet weltered in the ruddy -glory of the sun that had set, and he reflected, he knew not why, for -it was not Downie's wont, on the mutability of all human things and -wishes, of the change that inexorable Time for ever brought about, -and of the futility of all that man might attempt to do in the hope -of perpetuity; for did not even the mighty sea and firm land change -places in the fulness of years! - -"Where now was all the land tradition named as Lyonesse of old--the -vast tract which stretched from the eastern shore of Mount's Bay, -even to what are now the Isles of Scilly, on which his dreamy eyes -were fixed--the land where once, in story and in verse we are told, - - "That all day long the noise of battle rolled - Among the mountains by the winter sea; - Until king Arthur's Table, man by man, - Had fall'n in Lyonesse about their lord." - - -There, where now he saw the sea rolling between the rocky isles and -the Land's End, were once green waving woods and verdant meadows, -lands that were arable, mills whose busy wheels revolved in streams -now passed away, and one hundred-and-forty parish churches, whose -bells summoned the people to prayer, but which are all now--if we are -to believe William of Worcester--submerged by the encroaching sea; -yet whether gradually, or by one mighty throe of nature, on that day -when the first of the line of Trevelyan swain his wonderful horse -from the north-western isle, back to the rent and riven land, we know -not, but so the story runs. - -From, these day-dreams, such as he was seldom used to indulge in, -Downie's mind rapidly reverted to practical considerations. - -"Two thousand five hundred pounds in two cheques!" he muttered; "will -not my bankers, and more than all, Gorbelly and Culverhole, my -solicitors, wonder what singular service a creature such as this -William Schotten Sharkley can possibly have rendered me, to receive -so large a sum? If that drunken old soldier, Braddon, tells this -story of his last meeting with Sharkley, and the subsequent loss of -the papers, and permits himself to make a noise about them, may there -not be many who, while remembering the former affair, by putting this -and that together, will patch up a scandalous story after all? -Bah--let them; there lie the proofs!" he added, glancing with a -fierce and vindictive smile at the fragments of black tinder which -yet fluttered in the grate. - -So perished, at his remorseless hands, all the past hopes of the -tender and affectionate dead, and all the present hopes of the -living--of Richard and his wife who were buried so far apart--of -Denzil and his sister, who were separated by fate, by peril, and so -many thousand miles of land and sea! - -But our story may have a sequel for all that. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -RETRIBUTION. - -Greatly to the surprise of the granter, the two cheques for 500_l._ -and 2000_l._ respectively, were never presented at his bankers, and -Mr. Sharkley returned no more to his office; that dingy chamber of -torture, with its dusty dockets, ink-spotted table, and tin -charter-boxes arranged in formal rows upon an iron frame, and its -damp discoloured walls, ornamented by time-tables, bills of sale, and -fly-blown prospectuses, knew him never again; and days, weeks, and -months rolled on, but he was never seen by human eye after the time -he issued from the lodge-gate of Rhoscadzhel, and the keeper, with a -contemptuous bang, clanked it behind him. - -When Derrick heard of his disappearance, he felt convinced more than -ever that he had abstracted his papers; but believed he had started -with them to India, perhaps to make capital out of Denzil. Some who -knew what the solicitor's legal course had been, thought of a dark -and speedy end having befallen him; others surmised that the fear of -certain trickeries, or "errors in practice," had caused him suddenly -to depart for America; but all were wide of the truth. - -Lord Lamorna knew not what to think, but maintained a dead and rigid -silence as to his ever having had any meeting or transaction with the -missing man in any way; and as many hated, and none regretted Mr. W. -S. Sharkley, his existence was speedily forgotten in that district, -and it was not until long after that a light was thrown on the -mystery that enveloped his disappearance. - -Much money, chiefly that of others, had passed through Sharkley's -hands in his time, and much of it, as a matter of course, was never -accounted for by him; but he had never before possessed so large a -sum at once, and certainly seldom one so easily won, as that -presented to him by the titular Lord Lamorna. All the exultation -that avarice, covetousness, and successful roguery can inspire glowed -in his arid heart, and he walked slowly onward, immersed in thoughts -peculiarly his own, as to the mode in which he would invest it, and -foresaw how it must and should double, treble, and quadruple itself -ere long; how lands, and houses, messuages and tenements, mills and -meadows, should all become his; and so he wove his golden visions, -even as Alnaschar in the Arabian fable wove his over the basket of -frail and brittle glass; and as he proceeded, ever and anon he felt, -with a grimace of satisfaction, for the pocket-book containing his -beloved cheques. - -Some miles of country lay between Rhoscadzhel and Penzance, where he -meant to take the railway for his own place. As his penurious spirit -had prevented him from hiring a vehicle, he pursued the way on foot; -but he sometimes lost it, darkness having set in, and yet he saw -nothing of the lights of the town. He had, in his mental -abstraction, walked, or wandered on, he scarcely knew whither, and he -only paused from time to time to uplift his clenched hands, to mutter -and sigh in angry bitterness of spirit that he had not extracted more -from Downie Trevelyan, when he had it in his power to put on the -screw with vigour, and anon he would ponder as to whether he had not -been too precipitate, and whether he had done a wise thing in selling -to him the interests of young Denzil, as these might have proved -pecuniarily more valuable; but then poor Denzil was so far away, and -from all Sharkley could hear and read in the newspapers, he might -never see England more. For the first time in his life, Mr. Sharkley -found himself taking an interest in our Indian military affairs. - -Some of the deep lanes bordered by those high stone walls peculiar to -Cornwall, were left behind, and also many a pretty cottage, in the -gardens of which, the fragrant myrtle, the gay fuchsia with its -drooping petals, and the hydrangea, flourish all the year round; and -now he was roused by the sound of the sea breaking at a distance -round the promontory from which Penzance takes its name--the holy -headland of the ancient Cornish men. From a slight eminence which he -was traversing, he could see, but at a distance also, the lights of -the town twinkling amid the moorland haze, and that at the harbour -head, sending long rays of tremulous radiance far across Mount's Bay; -then as the pathway dipped down into a furzy hollow, he lost sight of -them. He was still within half a mile of the shore, but was -traversing a bleak and uneven moorland, and on his right lay a scene -of peculiar desolation, encumbered by masses of vast granite rock, -here and there tipped by the cold green light of a pale crescent -moon, that rose from the wild waste of the vast Atlantic. - -Suddenly something like a black hole yawned before him; a gasping, -half-stifled cry escaped him; he stumbled and fell--_where_? - -Mechanically and involuntarily, acting more like a machine than a -human being, he had in falling grasped something, he knew not what, -and clutching at it madly, tenaciously, yea desperately, he clung -thereto, swinging he knew not where or how, over space; but soon the -conviction that forced itself upon him, was sufficient to make the -hairs of his scalp bristle up, and a perspiration, cold as snow, to -start from the pores of his skin. - -Old mines may seem somehow to have a certain connection with the -story or destiny of Sybil Devereaux, if not of her brother Denzil, -and the betrayer of both their interests, who now found himself -swinging by the branch of a frail gorsebush, over the mouth of the -ancient shaft of an abandoned one--a shaft, the depth of which he -knew not, and dared not to contemplate! He only knew that in -Cornwall they were usually the deepest in the known world. - -If few persons who are uninitiated, descend the shaft of an ordinary -coal-pit, amid all the careful appliances of engineering, without a -keen sense of vague danger, what must have been the emotions of the -wretch who, with arms perpendicularly above his head, and legs -outspread, wildly and vainly seeking to catch some footing, swung -pendent over the black profundity that vanished away into the bowels -of the earth below, perhaps, for all he knew, nearly a mile in depth! - -It was beneath him he knew; the quiet stars were above; no aid was -near; there was no sound in the air, and none near him, save the -dreadful beating of his heart, and a roaring, hissing sound in his -ears. - -In this awful situation, after his first exclamation of deadly and -palsied fear, not a word, not a whisper--only sighs--escaped him. He -had never prayed in his life, and knew not how to do so now. The -blessed name of God had been often on his cruel lips, in many a -matter-of-fact affidavit, and in many an affirmation, made falsely, -but never in his heart; so now, he never thought of God or devil, of -heaven nor hell, his only fear was death--extinction! - -And there he swung, every respiration a gasping, sobbing sigh, every -pulsation a sharp pang; he had not the power to groan; as yet his -long, lean, bony hands were not weary; but the branch might rend, the -gorse bush uproot, and _then_---- - -Nevertheless he made wild and desperate efforts to escape the -dreadful peril, by writhing his body upward, as his head was only -some four feet below the edge of the upper rim or course of crumbling -brickwork, which lined the circular shaft, and often he felt his toes -scratch the wall, and heard the fragments detached thereby pass -whizzing downwards; but he never heard the ascending sound of the -fall below--because below was far, far down indeed! - -The silence was dreary--awful: he dared not look beneath, for nothing -was to be seen there but the blackness of utter profundity; he could -only gaze upward to where the placid stars that sparkled in the blue -dome of heaven, seemed to be winking at him. He dared not cry, lest -he should waste his breath and failing strength; and had he attempted -to do so the sound would have died on his parched and quivering lips. - -In every pulsation he lived his lifetime over again, and all the -secret crimes of that lifetime were, perhaps, being atoned for now. - -The widows who, without avail or winning pity, had wept, (in that -inquisitorial camera de los tormentos, his "office,"), for the loss -of the hard-won savings of dead husbands, their children's bread; -wretches from under whose emaciated forms he had dragged the bare -pallet, leaving them to die on a bed of cinders, and all in form and -process of law; the strong and brave spirited men, who had lifted up -their hard hands and hoarsely cursed him, ere they betook them to the -parish union or worse; the starvelings who had perhaps gained their -suits, but only in their last coats; the crimes that some had -committed through the poverty and despair he had brought upon them; -the unsuspecting, into whose private and monetary matters he had -wormed himself by specious offers of gratuitous assistance and -advice--a special legal snare--by the open and too often secret -appropriation of valuable papers; and by the thousand wiles and -crooks of policy known only to that curse of society, the low legal -practitioner, seemed all to rise before him like a black cloud now; -and out of that cloud, the faces of his pale victims seemed to mock, -jibe, and jabber at him. - -And there, too, were the handwritings he had imitated, the signatures -he had forged, the sham accounts he had fabricated against the -wealthy or the needy, the ignorant and the wary alike; but Sharkley -felt no real penitence, for he knew not that he had committed any -sin. Had he not always kept the shady side of the law? and, if -rescued, would he not return to his sharp practice thereof as usual? -Yet he felt, as the moments sped on, a strange agony creeping into -his soul: - - "So writhes the mind Remorse hath riven, - Unfit for earth, undoomed for heaven, - Darkness above, despair beneath, - Around it flame, within it death!" - - -The bush bending under his weight, hung more perpendicularly now, and -thus Sharkley's knees, for the first time, grazed till they were -skinned and bloody against the rough brickwork. Was the root -yielding? Oh no, no; forbid it fate! He must live--live--_live_; he -was not fit to die--and thus, too! The cold, salt perspiration, -wrung by agony, flowed from the roots of his hair, till it well nigh -blinded him, and tears, for even a creature such as he can weep, -began to mingle with them. They were perfectly genuine, however, as -Master William S. Sharkley wept the probabilities of his own untimely -demise. - -He had once been on a coroner's inquest. It sat in the principal -room of a village inn, upon some human bones--nearly an entire -skeleton--found in an old, disused, and partially filled-up pit. He -remembered their aspect, so like a few white, bleached winter -branches, as they lay on a sheet on the dining-table. He could -recall the surmises of the jurors. Did the person fall? Had he, or -she--for even sex was doubtful then--been murdered? or had it been a -case of suicide? None might say. - -The poor bones of the dead alone could have told, and they were -voiceless. All was mystery, and yet the story of some forgotten -life, of some unknown crime, or hidden sorrow, lay there; the story -that man could never, never know. - -This episode had long since been forgotten by Sharkley; and now, in -an instant, it flashed vividly before him, adding poignancy to the -keen horrors of his situation. Was such a fate to be his? - -He could distinctly see the upper ledge of bricks, as he looked -upward from where, though he had not swung above three minutes, he -seemed to have been for an eternity now; and though he knew not how -to pray, he thought that he could spend the remainder of his life -happily there, if but permitted to rest his toes upon that narrow -ledge, as a place for footing, as now his arms seemed about to be -rent from his shoulders. His eyes were closed for a time, and he -scarcely dared to breathe--still less to think. - -Sharkley was not a dreamer; he had too little imagination, and had -only intense cunning and the instincts that accompany it; so he had -never known what a nightmare is; yet the few minutes of his present -existence seemed to be only such. He had still sense enough to -perceive, that the wild and frenzied efforts he made at intervals to -writhe his body up, were loosening the root of the gorse-bush, and he -strove in the dusky light, but strove in vain, to see _how much_ he -had yet to depend upon; and then he hung quite still and pendant, -with a glare in his starting eyeballs, and a sensation as if of palsy -in his heart. - -His arms were stiffening fast, his fingers were relaxing, and his -spine felt as if a sharply pointed knife was traversing it; he knew -that the end was nigh--most fearfully nigh--and his tongue clove to -the roof of his mouth, though it was dry as a parched pea. - -Oh for one grasp of a human hand; the sound of any voice; the sight -of a human face ere he passed away for ever! - -There was a sudden sound of tearing as the gorse-root parted from the -soil; he felt himself slipping through space, the cold air rushed -whistling upward, and he vanished, prayerless, breathless, and -despairing, from the light of the blessed stars, and then the black -mouth of the shaft seemed vacant. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -AT JELLALABAD. - -Downie Trevelyan's applications to the War Office, the Horse Guards, -to the Military Secretary for the Home Department of the East India -Company, and even questions asked in his place in the House of Lords, -were unremitting for a time, on the affairs of Afghanistan, as he -wished to elicit some information concerning the safety of his son, -and the probable _non_-safety of Lieutenant Devereaux, more -particularly; but he totally failed in extracting more than vague -generalities, or that one was believed to be safe with Sir Robert -Sale's garrison in Jellalabad; and that the other was supposed to be -a prisoner of war with many others. How long he might remain so, if -surviving, or how long he had remained so, if dead, no one could -tell; but dark rumours had reached Peshawur, that the male hostages -had been beheaded in the Char Chowk of Cabul, while the females had -been sold to the Tartars. - -On the assassination of the Shah Sujah, whose ally we had so -foolishly become by the mistaken policy of the Earl of Auckland, the -prince, his son, had gained possession of the Bala Hissar, the guns -and garrison of which gave him for a time full sway over the city of -Cabul, when he made the cunning, plotting, and ambitious Ackbar Khan -his Vizier. - -The latter, however, always on the watch, and by nature suspicious, -intercepted a letter written by his young master to General Nott, who -commanded our troops in Candahar. This contained some amicable -proposals, quite at variance with the inborn hate and rancour which -Ackbar bore the English; and hence a quarrel ensued at the new court. - -The prince demanded that the hostages, male and female--the fair -Saxon beauty of some of the latter was supposed to have some -influence in the request--left by the deceased General Elphinstone, -should be delivered up to him, without question or delay. - -Ackbar sternly refused to comply, and it was on this that the young -Shah wrote to General Nott, urging him to march at once on Cabul to -release the captives; and, moreover, to free the city from the -interference and overweening tyranny of Sirdir, who thereupon -resolved to take strong measures, and, with the aid of Amen Oollah -Khan, Zohrab Zubberdust, and some others, made his new Sovereign -captive. The latter escaped by making a hole in the roof of his -prison; a purse of mohurs, a sharp sword, and a fleet horse, enabled -him to reach in safety the cantonments of the British General, to -whom he gave a sad detail of the miseries to which the prisoners, -especially the delicate ladies, were subjected. - -This movement was nearly the means of causing the destruction of all -who were left at Ackbar's mercy. All communication between them and -the troops in Jellalabad was cut off more strictly and hopelessly -than ever; and Ackbar Khan swore by the Black Stone of Mecca, and by -many a solemn and fearful oath, that "the moment he should hear of -the approach of British troops again towards Cabul, the hostages -should, each and all, man, woman, and child alike, be sold as slaves -to the Usbec Tartars! And remember," he added, with clenched teeth -and flashing eyes, to Zohrab the Overbearing, and others who heard -him; "that my word is precious to me, even as the _Mohur -Solimani_--the seal of Solomon Jared was to him!" - -This was the signet of the fifth monarch of the world after Adam; and -the holder thereof had, for the time, the entire command of the -elements, of all demons, and all created things. - -"Now," he exclaimed, with fierce vehemence, "I cannot violate my -oath, for as the sixteenth chapter of the Koran says, '_I have made -God a witness over me!_'" - -Hence, perhaps, the rumour that came to Peshawur, and thus any -attempt to save or succour them, would, it seemed, but accelerate -their ruin, for if once removed to Khoordistan, they should never, -never be heard of more, nor could they be traced among the nomadic -tribes who dwell in that vast region of Western Asia, known as the -"country of the Khoords." - -The last that, as yet, was known of them, was that they were all in -charge of an old Khan, named Saleh Mohammed, and shut up in a -fortress three miles from Cabul. There they were kept in horrible -suspense as to their future fate; and to them now were added nine of -our officers who had fallen into Ackbar's hands, when, in the month -of August, he recaptured the city of Ghuznee. - -How many Christian companions in misfortune were with the Ladies Sale -and Macnaghten, the garrisons in Jellalabad and Candahar knew not; -neither did they know who, out of the original number taken in the -passes, were surviving now those sufferings of mind and body which -they all had to undergo. Among them was one poor lady, the widow of -an officer, who had the care of eight young children, to add to her -mental misery. - -The steady and unexpected refusal of Sir Robert Sale to evacuate -Jellalabad, completely baulked all the plans of Ackbar Khan, who -supplemented his threatening messages by investing the city in person -at the head of two thousand five hundred horse and six thousand five -hundred juzailchees; but fortunately Sir Robert had collected -provisions for three months, and made a vigorous defence, though the -lives or liberties of the hostages, among whom were his own wife and -daughter, were held in the balance, and he trusted only to his -artillery, the bayonets and the stout hearts of his little garrison, -who, in addition to the assaults and missiles of the Afghans, had to -contend with earthquakes; for in one month more than a hundred of -those throes of nature shook the city, crumbling beneath their feet -the old walls they were defending. - -In daily expectation of being relieved, Sale's stout English heart -never failed him, for he had learned through our faithful friend, Taj -Mohammed, the ex-vizier, that Colonel Wild, with a force, was -marching to his aid from one quarter, while General Pollock was -crossing the Punjaub from another. Yet a long time, he knew, must -elapse before the latter could traverse six hundred miles; and ere -long came the tidings that Wild had totally failed, either by force -of arms or dint of bribery, to achieve a march through the now doubly -terrible Khyber Pass. - -General Nott, however, held out in Candahar, and, on receiving some -supplies and reinforcements; he was ready to co-operate with Sale and -Pollock in a joint advance upon Cabul, to rescue the hostages at all -hazards, or, if too late for that, to avenge their fate and the fate -of our slaughtered army by a terrible retribution. - -A severe defeat sustained by Ackbar Khan, when Sale, on the 7th of -August, made a resolute sortie and cut his army to pieces, taking two -standards, four of our guns lost at Cabul, all his stores and tents, -relieved Jellalabad of his presence; and in this state were matters -while Waller and Audley Trevelyan were serving there, doing any duty -on which they might be ordered, foraging, trenching, and skirmishing, -for they were unattached to any regiment; and the former was still -ignorant as to the fate of his _fiancée_, the bright-faced and -auburn-haired Mabel Trecarrel, and equally so as to that of her -sister and his friend Denzil. He had long since reckoned the two -latter as with the dead, and mourned for them as such; for he knew -nothing of their being retained as special "loot" by Shereen Khan, -who now kept himself aloof from Ackbar, of whom he had conceived a -truly Oriental jealousy and mistrust. - -Though so near them, Waller knew no more concerning the number, -treatment, or the safety of the hostages held for the evacuation of -the city he had assisted to defend, than those to whom Downie -Trevelyan was applying in London--perhaps less. - -To the original number of captives were now added thirty more, from -the following circumstance, which in some of its details is curiously -illustrative of the cunning and avaricious nature of the Afghan -mountaineers. A pretended friendly _cossid_, or messenger, arrived -at Jellalabad, bearer of a letter from Captain Souter, of Her -Majesty's 44th Regiment, dated from a village near the hill of -Gundamuck, detailing the last stand made there by the few unhappy -survivors of Elphinstone's army, and adding that he and Major -Griffiths, of the 37th Regiment, were the prisoners of a chief who, -on a sufficient ransom being paid--a thousand rupees for each--would -send them to Jellalabad with their heads on their shoulders. The -brave fellows of the 13th Light Infantry instantly subscribed a -thousand rupees at the drum-head; a thousand more were collected with -difficulty by their now-impoverished officers; and then came a -proposal to ransom twenty-eight privates of the 13th and 44th -Regiments, who were in the hands of the same chief, for a _lac_ of -rupees. By incredible efforts, and by encroachment on the military -chest, this sum was sent with certain messengers, who, by a -previously concerted scheme, were waylaid and robbed of it by men -sent by Ackbar Khan, who, seizing the thirty Europeans, added them to -the other hostages whose lives or liberties were to pay for the -surrender of Jellalabad! - -The poor soldiers had given all they possessed in the world, save -their kits and ammunition, to save their comrades from perilous -bondage, and had given it in vain. They had but the consolation of -having done for the best. - -Amid even the exciting bustle of military duty, the reflections of -Waller were sometimes intolerable. He could never for a moment -forget. Though he was not, as a matter-of-fact young English -officer, prone to flights of romantic fancy, imagination would force -upon him with poignant horror all that Mabel might be forced to -endure at the hands of those on whose mercy she and her companions -were cast by a fate that none could have foreseen, especially during -the pleasant days of the year that was passed at Cabul, when the -race-course, the band-stand, picnics, hunting-parties, morning -drives, and rides to see Sinclair's boat upon the lake, tiffin -parties at noon, others for whist or music in the evening, made up -the round of European social life there, ere Mohammed Ackbar Khan -came to the surface again with his deep-laid plots for aggrandisement -and revenge. - -Mabel Trecarrel, his affianced wife, so gently soft and -lady-like--her image was ever before him, her voice ever in his ear, -and the varying expressions of her clear grey eyes, with all her -winning ways, came keenly and vividly to memory, more especially in -the lonely watches of the night, when muffled in his poshteen, with -only a Chinsurrah cheroot to soothe his nerves and keep him warm, he -trod from post to post visiting his sentinels, or listened for the -sounds that might precede an Afghan assault, or perhaps an -earthquake; for the troops had both to encounter, though often -nothing came but the melancholy howl of the jackal on the night wind, -as it sighed over the vast plain around the city of Jellalabad--the -Zarang of the historians of Alexander. - -He had frequent thoughts of returning to Cabul in disguise as an -Afghan. He had already been pretty successful in his Protean -attempts to conceal his identity; but Sir Robert Sale would by no -means accord him permission to risk his life again in a manner so -perilous; so, as partial inactivity was maddening to him, after -Ackbar Khan's defeat had left all the avenues from the city open, he -volunteered, if furnished with a suitable escort, to ride to -Candahar, and urge on General Nott the policy of instantly advancing. -Sir Robert Sale agreed to this, and furnished him with a despatch and -a guard of twenty Native Cavalry; so Bob Waller departed, actually in -high spirits, thankful that even in this small way he was doing -something that might ultimately lead to the recapture of Cabul, and, -more than all, the rescue of her he loved. - -At a quick pace he crossed the arid desert that surrounds the city, -and ascended into the well-wooded and magnificent mountain ranges -that rise all around it, but more especially to the westward, whither -his route lay, and his spirits rose as his party spurred onward. -"What pleasure there is in a gallop!" says Paul Ferroll; "the object -is before one, at which to arrive quickly; the still air becomes a -wind marking the swiftness of one's pace--the fleet horse is his own -master, yet one's slave; the bodily employment leaves care, thought, -and time behind. One feels the pleasure of danger, because there -might be danger, and yet there may be none." - -So thought Waller, as he careered at the head of his party, with a -cigar between his teeth, the which to keep alight while riding at -full speed, he had previously dipped in saltpetre, a camp-fashion -peculiar to India. - -Candahar is distant from Jellalabad two hundred and seventy British -miles, and, considering the state of the whole country, the -undertaking, at the head of twenty horse, was a brave and arduous -one; but Waller confidently set out on his expedition, after having -carefully inspected his escort of picked men, and personally examined -their arms, ammunition, and saddlery, as he knew not whom they might -meet, or have to encounter. - -By a curious coincidence, on the very day he bade adieu to his -brother-officer, Audley Trevelyan, and other friends, to urge and -effect a junction of the forces, a fresh and loud burst of -indignation against the now-desponding Indian Executive was excited -in the minds of Sale's troops by the arrival of a messenger with a -startling proposal from the Governor-General, Auckland, to the effect -that Jellalabad was _not_ a place to retain any longer; that a -retreat was to be made from there to Peshawur; that, in effect, the -whole of Afghanistan was to be--as Ackbar Khan wished it--abandoned -by our forces, and that the helpless women and children, wounded and -sick, at Cabul, were to be left at the mercy of irresponsible -barbarians until rescued by quiet negotiations or a judicious -distribution of money; and thus to have peace at any price, leaving -our disgraces without remedy, our revenge unaccomplished, and our -prestige destroyed--in that quarter of the world at least! - -Even the English women who were captives in Afghanistan knew better -than this; for, amid the earnest prayers which they put up for their -liberation, they ever seemed to know that it was "not to be obtained -by negotiation and ransom, _but by hard fighting_," and they had more -trust in the bayonets of Sale's Brigade than in all the diplomatists -in London or Calcutta. - -Fortunately, ere all these disastrous arrangements could be made, a -new Governor-General in the person of Lord Ellenborough arrived, and -to him Sir Robert Sale despatched Audley Trevelyan with a letter -descriptive of his plans, and giving details of his force; and on -this mission, with a few attendants, our young staff officer and his -companion departed by the way of Peshawur, the gate of Western India, -on a long and arduous journey of nearly five hundred miles, by Rawul -Pindee and Umritsur, to Simla, on the slopes of the Himalayas--a -journey to be performed by horse and elephant, as the occasion might -suit; for the railway to Lahore had not as yet sent up its whistle in -the realms of Runjeet Sing. - -Meanwhile Waller was proceeding in precisely an opposite direction. -Compelled to avoid Ghuznee, which was now in the hands of the Afghans -under Ameen Oollah Khan, he and his escort, the half-Rissallah of -Native Horse, travelled among the mountains, unnoticed and uncared -for by the nomadic dwellers in black tents, whose temporary -settlements dotted the green slopes. His sowars all wore turbans in -lieu of light-cavalry helmets; and as he too had one, with it, his -poshteen, and now weather-beaten visage, he passed as a native chief -of some kind; and the route they traversed was sometimes as beautiful -as picturesque villages, long shady lanes overarched by -mulberry-trees, orchards of plums, apples, pomegranates, and those -great cherries which were introduced by the Emperor Baber, could make -it. And so on they rode, by Kurraba and Killaut, till they reached -Candahar in safety; and thankful indeed was honest Bob Waller when -from the hills, amid the plain, he beheld the city, with its fortress -crowning a precipitous rock, its long low walls of sun-dried brick, -and the gilded cupola that shrines the tomb of Ahmed Shah, once "the -Pearl of his age," the object of many a Dooranee's prayer, and around -which so many recluses spend the remainder of their lives in -repeating the Koran over and over again without end. - -There Waller was welcomed by the gallant General Nott, whom he found -full of stern resolution and high in hope for the future, for he was -on the very eve of marching with seven thousand well-tried and -well-trained troops to the aid of his friend Sale; and on the 15th of -August the movement was made, _en route_ recapturing Ghuznee. It was -stormed, and the Afghans again driven out at the point of the -bayonet. The whole place was dismantled; and, among others, Waller -had the pleasure of standing where no "unbeliever" ever stood before, -in the tomb of the Sultan Mahmud, which is entirely of white marble -and sculptured over with Arabic verses from the Koran. Around it, -beneath the mighty cupola stand thrones of mother-of-pearl; and upon -the slab that covers his grave lies the mace he used in battle, with -a head of iron, so heavy that few men now-a-days can use it. The -gates of this tomb were miracles of carving and beauty; they were of -that hard yellow timber known as sandal-wood, which grows on the -coast of Malabar and in the Indian Archipelago, and is highly -esteemed for its fragrant perfume and as a material for cabinet work. -Those gates had been brought as trophies from the famous Hindoo -temple of Somnath in Goojerat, when sacked by Mahmud in his last -expedition during the tenth century; and after hanging on his tomb -for eight hundred years, they were now torn down by order of General -Nott, and carried off by our victorious troops, for restoration on -their original site. - -Prior to all this, General Pollock with his army had reached -Jellalabad, which he entered under a joyful salute of sixteen pieces -of cannon, and then "forward!" was the word heard on all sides, -"forward to Cabul!" - -Then it was seen how the weather-beaten and hollow faces of our jaded -soldiers brightened with joy and ardour, with a flush for vengeance -too; for certain tidings came that, prior to this long-delayed* -junction having been effected, the relentless Ackbar, true to his -oath, had hurried off all his captives, male and female, in charge of -Saleh Mohammed towards the confines of savage Toorkistan--tidings -heard by many a husband, father, and lover with despair and rage!..... - - -* It was with something of waggery, perhaps, that the band of the -13th Light Infantry, on this occasion, welcomed Pollock, by playing -the old Scottish melody, - - "Oh, but you've been lang o' comin', - Lang, lang, lang o' comin'." - - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE SCHEME OF ZOHRAB. - -Time, to the young, seems but a slow and cold comforter (alas! how -different it must appear to the old); so Denzil knew that, though -sluggish, time must eventually bring about some change in the -captivity he was enduring in the hands of Shireen Khan--a mode of -life that, but for the sweet companionship of Rose, would have been -simply so intolerable that he should certainly have attempted to -escape even at the risk of death. - -In perfect ignorance of all that was passing in the outer world of -far-away Europe, of India, and even Afghanistan, they and the other -hostages, from whom they were, happily for themselves, kept apart, -knew nothing of all that was passing elsewhere, or of the plans that -were forming and the hopes that grew for their rescue or release. - -We say, happily they were sequestered from those who were in the -hands of Ackbar Khan: thus they were not harassed by dreadful and -incessant doubts of their future fate, especially the vague and -terrible one of transmission to Toorkistan; for the old Kuzzilbash -lord treated them kindly, and, to the best of his resources, -hospitably, confidently believing that it was his personal interest -to do so, as the gaily embroidered regimental colour of the 44th, or -East Essex, in which Denzil purposely aired his figure occasionally -in the garden of the fort, still impressed him with the idea that he -had secured a great Feringhee Nawab whom the Queen or Company might -ransom, or who might prove a powerful friend to him if reverses came -upon Cabul, and not a poor Ensign, or Lieutenant, as Denzil was now; -though he knew not that, consequent to slaughter, death by disease, -and so forth, he had now been promoted in the corps. - -Chess-playing was the great bond between old Shireen and the bright -laughing Rose, whom he treated with infinitely more care and -tenderness than either of his own daughters; but to Denzil he would -frequently say in his hoarse, guttural, and most unmusical language, -between the whiffs of his silk-bound and silver-cupped hubble-bubble-- - -"I am thy friend; yet remember that friendship with unbelievers is -forbidden by the Koran, especially with Jews or Christians; for saith -the fifth chapter, 'Are they not friends one with another?' and they -will corrupt us, their alms being like the icy winds which blow on -the fields of the perverse, and blast their corn in the ear." - -Denzil could not repress an impatient grimace under a smile, for it -was the Koran--always and ever the Koran--among these Afghans; every -casual remark or idea suggested a quotation from or a reference to -it, so that the Khanum could not dye her nails, adjust her veil, put -pepper in the kabobs, or chillis among the pillau of rice, without a -reference to something that was said or done on a similar occasion by -the Holy Camel-driver of Mecca,--their whole conversation being -interlarded with pious sayings, like that of the Scottish Covenanters -or English Puritans of old. - -Isolated as they were in that lonely Afghan fort, surrounded by -towering green hills, the interest that Denzil and Rose had in each -other grew daily and hourly deeper; so that at last she learned to -love him--yes, actually to love him--as fondly as he had ever loved -her, and to feel little emotions of pique and jealousy when he strove -to address the daughters of the house and teach them a very strange -kind of broken English. - -Propinquity and a just appreciation of his sterling character -achieved this for him, and he felt supremely happy in the conviction -of this returned love, though the end of it yet was difficult to -foresee. - -But it was such a divine happiness to dream softly on for the -present, shut in there as they were alone for themselves apparently, -and, as it seemed, "the world forgetting, by the world forgot." -Denzil's doubts of her were gone now; yet Rose had the power to -conceal for a long time the gradual change in her own sentiments and -secret thoughts from him who had inspired them; for the coquette was -loth to admit that she had succumbed at last. - -Denzil had contrived, after innumerable essays, in the most -remarkable species of polyglot language, to make old Shireen -comprehend that they had not, as yet, been married before a Cadi (or -Moollah, as the Christians are), and had to wait the permission of -others. On this he stroked his vast beard in token of assent, and -thrice muttered "Shabash!" with great solemnity, meaning, -"Well-done--agreed." - -Rose had lost much of her heedlessness of manner now; her latest -flirtation, which had been with Audley Trevelyan, was utterly -forgotten, as many others had been; and the quaint Afghan dress she -was compelled by the exigencies of her scanty wardrobe to wear--to -wit, a yellow chemise of silk embroidered with black, trousers of -fine white muslin, which revealed through its thin texture the -roundness of each tapered ankle, with her veil floating loose, in -token of her being unmarried, did not afford her much room for -coquetry, although it afforded scope for her old waggery, and her -long unbound auburn tresses, that spread over her shoulders in -brilliant ripples, she was wont to ridicule as a _coiffure à la -sauvage_, though one with which Denzil's fingers--when unobserved by -the Afghan household, he and she could ramble among the parterres, -rosaries, and shrubberies of the Khan's garden--were never weary of -toying. - -"You will tire of this life, as I do, and more soon of waiting too," -said she one day. - -"I shall wait and be faithful to you, Rose, even as I was taught at -school Jacob was to Rachel," he replied, fondly caressing her hands -in his. - -"Oh! that is much more solemn than Paul and Virginia," said she -laughing; "but, for Heaven's sake, don't imitate our dingy friends -here in pious quotations." - -When Rose Trecarrel calmly learned to know herself, she found upon -consideration, and came to the conclusion, that it was not mere -admiration for Denzil's handsome person and earnest winning manner; -it was not gratitude for his steady faith to herself, it was not the -charm of propinquity, nor the emotion of self-flattery at his -passion,--that it was not any of these singly, but all put together, -that made her love him so dearly now, and wonder at her heedless -blindness in the time that was past. - -Save Zohrab Zubberdust, that handsome, reckless, and wandering -Mohammedan soldier of fortune, no visitor at this time came to the -fort; and he was openly permitted to see Rose with the other ladies -of the family, and occasionally to converse and smoke a cherry-stick -pipe with Denzil, who deemed it rash on the part of Shireen to permit -them--Rose and himself--to be seen so freely by one who was a paid -follower of Ackbar Khan; but the leader of five thousand mounted -Kuzzilbash spearmen doubtless felt himself pretty independent in -action now. Moreover, since Ackbar's signal defeat before the walls -of Jellalabad, his influence had been lessening in Cabul and all the -surrounding country; and Zohrab, like many other "khans," who had -only their swords and pistols, and, like many other Afghan snobs, -that title to maintain, was beginning to wax cool in his service, -even as the funds ebbed in his treasury; for Ackbar now had but one -hope of replenishing these--the ransom or sale of the captives left -in his hands, and each head of these he reckoned at so many mohurs of -gold. - -It was from some casual remarks of Zohrab that Rose and Denzil first -learned, with mingled emotions of satisfaction and fear, compassion -and hope, that so many more hostages, male and female, were in the -hands of Ackbar, and that their own hopes of rescue or ransom were -thereby increased. - -Rose, through the medium of the Khan and of Denzil, overwhelmed -Zubberdust with questions as to who these prisoners were. Was her -father among them? No description he gave her answered to that of -the burly, bronzed, and grizzle-haired "Sirdir Trecarrel;" but there -was _one_ "mem sahib," whose appearance tallied so closely in -stature, face, eyes, and colour of hair with her own, that knowing as -she did all the ladies who had been in the cantonments, Rose could -not doubt but that she was Mabel--Mabel, her dear and only sister, -who must have been within a few miles of her all those weary, anxious -months, and yet neither could know of the other's existence; for -Mabel, like all who were with Elphinstone's ill-fated host, had now -learned to number all who had loved her with the dead. - -Now it happened that Zohrab Zubberdust had frequently seen Mabel -Trecarrel among the hostages, and been struck by her beauty. Indeed, -Ackbar Khan, who cared not for such personal attributes as she -possessed, and was long since past all soft emotions now, or, indeed, -any save those of ferocity, ambition, and avarice, had frequently -indicated her to Ameen Oollah Khan and others as the one upon whom he -put most value, and for whom he expected the largest sum from a -certain Toorkoman chief whom he named, and who was in the habit of -purchasing or exchanging horses for such pleasant commodities; for at -that precise time, or in that year of Queen Victoria's reign, -Mohammed Ackbar could scarcely realise as a probability the fact that -the year 1871 would see a descendant of the Great Mogul--he who was -lord of Persia, Transoxana, and Hindostan--one of the royal race of -Delhi, sentenced in a Feringhee court of law, by a cadi in a tow wig, -to four years' imprisonment with hard labour "for burying a -slave-girl" in the city of Benares! So, - - "Manners with fortunes, humours turn with climes, - Tenets with books, and principles with times!" - - -Thus Zohrab, perceiving that the power and influence of Ackbar had -been daily growing less in Cabul, especially since the flight of the -young Shah to the British General, had begun to dream of possessing -himself of this rare European beauty, and departing with her, his -horse and lance, in search of "fresh fields and pastures new," and, -if possible, of another paymaster; perchance to the court of the Emir -of Bokhara, the Shah of Persia, or some one else, alike beyond the -ken of Ackbar and the influence of the Feringhees and their queen. -In this intention, Zohrab felt the less compunction, that Ackbar had -of late permitted his pay to be in arrears several _tillas_ of gold. - -But how to get her quietly out of his power, still more how to get -her out of the immediate care and wardship of such a wary old soldier -and chief as Saleh Mohammed, to whom the especial keeping of the -hostages had been confided by the Sirdir, were the two principal -difficulties of Zohrab. - -He hoped to achieve much through the real or supposed relationship to -Rose, with whom he conversed freely, at times, on this and other -subjects (Denzil acting as their interpreter), and from him she -gradually learned much of which Shireen and his household had, -perhaps, kept her in ignorance--the state of affairs before -Jellalabad and in the Passes. - -"Are not the poor dead creatures buried there?" Rose once asked, -while many a face and voice came back to memory. - -"Buried? a few--but not deep," replied Zohrab, evasively. - -"How--what mean you?" - -"Because, as I rode through the Pass but yesterday, my horse's hoofs -turned up great pieces of human flesh, while the jackals and hyaenas -have been busy with the rest; they are dry bones now." - -Rose tremulously clasped her white hands and shuddered. - -"And those bones," was the sententious remark of Shireen, who was -listening, "not even the voice of Ezekiel could, as we are told it -once did, call back to life, as it called the dead Israelites of old." - -"A fortunate thing for us, Khan," said the irreverent Zohrab, -laughingly. - -"Why?" - -"I mean, if the result was to be the same; for all arose and lived -for years after; and is it not written that they moved among living -men with a stench and colour of corpses, and had to wear garments -blackened with pitch?" - -"That weary Koran again!" murmured Rose; while the Khan frowned, and, -to change the subject, said, - -"Tell us, Zohrab, more about the Feringhee damsel whom this lady -deems must be her sister, and your plans regarding her." - -"I fear she could not be prevailed upon to trust herself to me under -any pretext, or to leave the companionship of her friends in -misfortune without some assurance that she who is with you, Khan -Shireen, is indeed her sister in blood." - -"Most true," said Shireen, running his brown fingers through his -dense beard with an air of perplexity. - -"Oh, that may be easily arranged," said Denzil, full of hope at the -prospect of seeing Mabel, of the joy it would afford Rose, and the -wish to learn from her own lips all that had happened to so many dear -friends since that terrible day when so many thousands perished, and -so many were separated never to meet more. Thus, he suggested that -Rose should entrust Zohrab with a note to be delivered, on the first -convenient opportunity, to Mabel, or the lady who was supposed to be -she. Zohrab did not care about her identity the value of a -cowrie-shell, provided his own plans succeeded. - -"And you shall bring her here without delay?" said Shireen, while he -knit his bushy and impending eyebrows. - -"Where else would she be safe, Khan?" - -"Not with you, at all events," was the dubious response. - -Zohrab coloured perceptibly, and a covert gleam flashed in his glossy -black eyes, as he said, - -"My head may answer for this project, Khan, if I am taken." - -"Taken--how? Do you mean to fly?" asked Shireen, with another keen -glance. - -"Nay--nay; not if I can help it," stammered Zohrab, who saw that the -Khan's sunken eyes were full of strange light. - -"If it becomes known that she is here, the fact will embroil me with -Ackbar; but, bah! what matter is it?" said Shireen, proudly. "The -city is divided against him, and he knows I can bring five thousand -red caps into the field; and she will be one more prisoner for -Shireen of the Kuzzilbashes!" he muttered under his beard. "Go then, -Zohrab; go and prosper." - -"May I not accompany him?" asked Denzil, eagerly, as for months he -had never been beyond the wall and ditch of the fort, and he longed -to make a reconnaissance with a future eye to escape. - -"Nay," said Zohrab, "you know not what you propose, Sahib. Your -presence would but encumber me, and add to the lady's peril: it is -not to be thought of." - -Rose added her entreaties that he would not think of it either; for -she might lose her lover, and not regain her sister, so suddenly, so -recently, heard of; and then an emphatic and brief command from the -Khan ended the matter, so far as poor Denzil was concerned, and he -felt himself compelled to succumb. - -Writing materials, such as the Afghans use, the strong fibrous paper, -a reed split for a pen, with deep black and perfumed Indian ink, were -soon brought; and Rose, with a prayerful emotion in her fluttering -heart, and a hand that more than once almost failed in its office, so -great was her excitement, wrote a single line assuring Mabel that -she, herself, was safe, and to "confide in the bearer of this, who -would bring her to where she was residing;" and with this tiny -missive--which he placed to his lips and then to his forehead in -token of faith, while his black eyes flashed with an expression which -Rose saw, but failed to analyse--safely deposited in the folds of his -turban, Zohrab took his departure; and with a heartfelt invocation -for his success on her lips, Rose heard the sound of the hoofs of his -swift Tartar horse die away on the road that led towards the dark -rocky hills of Siah Sung. - -"Shabash! such children of burnt fathers those Feringhees are!" said -Zohrab, laughing as he galloped along. "Well, well, let me enjoy the -world ere I become the prey of the world!" - -Zohrab had promised to return with the lady, or, if without her, to -bring some sure tidings, not later than the evening of the second -day; but the evening sun of the third had reddened and died out on -the mountain peaks, the third, the fourth, the fifth, and a whole -week passed away, yet there came no word or sign from Zohrab, and -never more did he cross the threshold of Shireen's dwelling! - -Had he been discovered and slain by Saleh Mohammed, or what had -happened? - -Rose wept, for the tender hope, so suddenly lighted in her impulsive -heart, only to be as suddenly extinguished; but as yet no suspicion -of treachery on the part of Zohrab Zubberdust had entered the minds -of her or Denzil, whatever Shireen Khan, as an Afghan naturally prone -to suspicion, may have thought. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -MABEL DELUDED. - -On receiving the note from Rose Trecarrel, the cunning Zohrab, full -of his own nefarious plans, had ridden straight from the white-walled -fort of Shireen Khan to that commanded by Saleh Mohammed, which is -situated exactly three miles from Cabul, amid a well-cultivated -country; and there, knowing well the time when, after hearing morning -prayers read according to the service of the Church of England by one -lady who had preserved her "Book of Common Prayer," the poor -captives, with the children who were among them, were wont to take an -airing in the garden, he chose the occasion; for, as he was aware, -Saleh Mohammed, kneeling upon a piece of black xummul, under the -shadow of a great cypress, would be also at _his_ orisons, and -telling over his string of ninety-nine sandal-wood beads, with his -face bowed towards the _west_, as is the custom in India and Persia. -The precept of the Koran is, that when men pray they shall turn -towards the Kaaba, or holy house of Mecca; and, consequently, -throughout the whole Moslem world, indicators are put up to enable -the faithful to fulfil this stringent injunction. So selecting, we -say, a time when the grim old commandant of the fort was deep in his -orisons, with his head bowed, and his silver beard floating over the -weapons with which his Cashmere girdle bristled--for the modern -Afghan (like the Scottish Highlander of old) is never found unarmed, -even by his own fireside--he made a sign to Mabel that he wished to -speak with her; but he had to repeat this salaam more than once ere -she understood him, as she was intently toying with and caressing a -little boy, whose parents had perished in the late disasters, and who -clung specially to her alone. - -Mabel, pale and colourless now more than was her wont, though she -never had possessed a complexion so brilliant as her sister Rose, -bowed to Zohrab, whom she little more than knew by sight, and by the -force of local custom was lowering her veil (for she, too, like all -the rest, now wore the Afghan female dress) and turning away, when -Zohrab placed a hand on his lips, and, making a motion indicative of -entreaty, silence, and haste, held up the tiny note of Rose. - -On this Mabel's pale cheek flushed; she hesitated, and many ideas -shot swiftly through her mind, while she glanced hastily about her, -to see who observed them. Was this note some plot for her release -and the release of her friends--some political or military stratagem? -Had it tidings of her father's burial--for she knew that he had -fallen in the Pass--of the army, of those who were in Jellalabad? -Was it a love-letter? Zohrab Zubberdust was certainly very handsome; -her woman's eye admitted that. This idea occurred last of all; yet -the note might be from Waller--dear Bob Waller, with his fair honest -face and ample whiskers. All these thoughts passed like lightning -through her mind as she took the missive, which was written on a -small piece of paper, folded triangularly and without an address. - -Then, as she opened it, a half-stifled cry of mingled astonishment -and rapture escaped her. - -"Rose, it is from Rose; she yet lives! Oh, my God, I thank Thee! I -thank Thee!--she yet lives, but where?" she exclaimed, in a voice -rendered low by excess of emotion, as she burst into tears, and read -again and again the few words her sister had written. - -Zohrab was attentively observing her. He saw how pure and beautiful -she was; how unlike aught that he had ever looked upon before--even -the fairest, softest, and most languishing maids of Iraun; for Mabel -was an English girl, above the middle height, and fully rounded in -all her proportions. All that he had heard of houris, of those -black-eyed girls of paradise, the special care of the Angel Zamiyad, -seemed to be embodied in her who was before him. Her quiet eyes -seemed wondrously soft, clear, and pleading in expression, to one -accustomed ever to the black, beady orbs of the Orientals; and as he -gazed, he felt bewildered, bewitched by the idea that in a little -time, if he was wary, all this fair beauty might be his--his as -completely as his horse and sabre! - -"My sister! my dear, dear sister!" exclaimed Mabel, impulsively, -kissing the note and pressing it to her breast. "Oh, I must tell of -this. Lady Sale, Lady Sale!" she exclaimed, looking around her; but -Zohrab laid a hand on her arm, and a finger on his lip significantly. - -"Lady Sahib," said he, in a low guttural voice, "you will go with me?" - -"Yes, yes--oh yes; but how? to where?--and I must confer with my -friends and the Khan, Saleh Mohammed." - -"Nay; to do so would ruin all." - -"With my friends, surely?" - -"Nay; that too would be unwise: to none." - -"None?" - -"I repeat, none," said Zohrab, whose habit of mind, like that of all -Orientals, was inclined to suspicion, secresy, and mistrust. - -"Why?" asked Mabel. - -"Does not your letter tell you?" - -"No--but can I--ought I to--to----" she paused and glanced -irresolutely towards the group of her companions in misfortune, who -were generally clustered round the chief matrons of their party, Lady -Sale and the widowed Lady Macnaghten; and the idea flashed upon her -mind that she might be unwise to leave the shelter of their presence -and society, and trust herself to this Afghan warrior. But, then, -had not Rose bade her confide in him? - -"Where is my sister, and with whom?" she asked. - -"I can only tell you that she is in perfect safety," replied -Zubberdust, unwilling in that locality to compromise himself by -mentioning the name of Shireen Khan. - -"I shall be silent, and go with you," said Mabel, making an effort to -master her deep and varied emotions. - -"When?" - -"Now--this instant, if you choose." - -"That is impossible. At dusk, when the sun is set, I shall be here -again on this spot, and take you to her. Till then, be silent, and -confide in none: to talk may ruin all!" said Zubberdust, whose active -mind had already conceived a plan for outwitting Saleh Mohammed and -his guard of Dooranees, who watched the walls of the fort from the -four round towers which terminated each angle, and on each of which -was mounted a nine-pounder gun taken from our old cantonments. - -Too wary to remain needlessly in her company, with all her -allurements, now that his pretended mission was partly performed, and -thereby draw the eyes of the observant or suspicious upon them, and -more particularly upon himself, he at once withdrew, leaving poor -Mabel, who naturally was intensely anxious to question him further, -overwhelmed by emotions which she longed eagerly to share by -confidence with her friends; for news of any European, especially of -one who belonged to the little circle of English society at Cabul, -must prove dear and of deepest interest to them all. Yet had not -this mysterious messenger impressed upon her, that if she was to see -her sister, to rejoin her, and hear the story of her wonderful -disappearance at the mouth of the Khyber Pass, if she would soothe, -console, it might be protect her, she must be silent? - -Slowly passed the day in the fort of Saleh Mohammed. The tall and -leafy poplars, the slender white minars, the four towers of the fort, -which was a perfect parallelogram, and the wooded and rocky hills -that overlooked them all, cast their shadows across the plain -(through which the Cabul winds towards the Indus) gradually in a -circle, and then, when stretching far due westward, they gradually -faded away; the snow-capped peaks of the Hindu-Kush, the mighty -Indian Caucasus, rose cold and pale against the clear blue sky, where -the stars were twinkling out in succession; and with a nervous -anxiety, which she found it almost impossible to control, Mabel -Trecarrel stole away, with mingled emotions, from the apartments -assigned to the lady hostages--emotions of sorrow, half of shame for -her silence concerning the project she had in hand, and her enforced -reticence to those who loved her, and had ever been so kind to her -amid their own heavy afflictions--compunction for the honest alarm -her absence would certainty occasion them on the morrow; but hope and -joy in the anticipated reunion with her sister soon swept all such -minor thoughts away, and she longed and thirsted for the embrace and -companionship of Rose, to whom, though the difference in their years -was but small, she had ever been a species of mother and -monitress--never so much as when in their happy English home in -Cornwall, far away! - -Since their strange separation on that fatal morning, when their poor -father, in his despair and sorrow, galloped rearward to perish in the -skirmish, how much must the pretty, the once-playful, and coquettish -Rose have to tell; and how much had she, herself, to impart in return! - -Her heart beat almost painfully, when, on approaching the appointed -spot for the last time, she saw the figure of Zohrab Zubberdust -standing quite motionless under the shadow of the great cypress, -where in the morning Saleh Mohammed had knelt at prayer. He wore his -steel cap (with its neck-flap of mail), on which the starlight -glinted; he had a small round gilded shield slung on his back by a -leather belt; his poshteen was buttoned up close to his throat, and -he was, as usual, fully armed; but in one hand he carried a large, -loose chogah, or man's cloak, of dull-coloured red cloth; and now -Mabel felt that the decisive moment had, indeed, all but arrived: -beyond that, her ideas were vague in the extreme, and her breathing -became but a series of hurried and thick respirations. - -"Is all safe? is all ready--prepared?" she asked, in a broken voice. - -"Inshallah--all," replied the taciturn Mahommedan, who, like all of -his race and religion, had few words to spare. - -The idea of escaping by ladders of rope or wood had never seemed to -him as possible. The walls of the fort were twenty-five feet high, -and surrounded by a deep wet ditch, the water of which came by a -canal, through a rice-field, from the Cabul river. Its only gate was -guarded by a party of Saleh Mohammed's men, under a Naick (or -subaltern), with whom Zohrab was very intimate; and beyond or outside -these barriers he had left his horse haltered (in sight of the -sentinels), and so that it could not stir from the place, as the only -portion of the gate which the Naick was permitted to open was the -_kikree_, or wicket, through which but one at a time could pass. - -Zohrab Zubberdust, scarcely daring to trust himself to look on -Mabel's fair, anxious, and imploring face, lest it might bewilder him -from his fixed purpose, took from his steel cap the white turban -cloth he wore twisted round it, and, speedily forming it into a -single turban with a falling end, placed it on her head. He -enveloped her in the ample chogah, hiding half her face, gave her his -sabre to place under her arm, and the simple disguise was complete; -for, in the dusk now, none could perceive that she wore slippers in -lieu of the brown leather jorabs or ankle-boots of the Afghans; and -looking every inch a taller and perhaps a manlier Osmanlie than -himself, Mabel walked leisurely by his side towards the gate, where, -as watch-words, parole, and countersign were alike unknown to the -guard, fortunately none were required of them; but her emotions -almost stifled her, when she saw the black, keen, and glossy eyes of -the Dooranees surveying her, as they leaned leisurely on their long -juzails, which were furnished with socket bayonets nearly a yard in -length. - -She moved mechanically, like one in a dream, and the circumstance of -striking her head as she failed to stoop low enough in passing -through the wicket added to her confusion; nor was she quite aware -that they had been permitted to pass free and unquestioned, as two -men, by the Naick, to whom Zohrab made some jesting remark about the -"awkwardness of his friend," until she saw behind her the lofty white -walls of the fort gleaming in the pale starlight, their loopholes and -outline reflected downward, in the slimy wet ditch where water-lilies -were floating in profusion. - -Unhaltering his horse and mounting, her new companion desired her, -with more impressiveness than tenderness of tone--for the former was -his habit, and the moment was a perilous and exciting one--to walk on -by his side a little way, as if they were conversing, and thereby to -lull any suspicion in the minds of such Dooranees as might be -observing them; for they were still within an unpleasant distance of -the long rifles of those who were posted on the towers of the fort; -and still more were they within range of those ginjauls which are -still used in India, and are precisely similar to the swivel -wall-pieces invented long ago by Marshal Vauban, and throw a pound -ball to a vast distance. - -On descending the other side of an intervening eminence, that was -covered by wild sugar-canes and aromatic shrubs, the leaves of which -were tossing in the evening breeze, he curtly desired her to place -her right foot upon his left within the stirrup-iron, and then, with -the aid of his hand, he readily placed her on the holsters of his -saddle before him. He now applied the spurs with vigour to his -strong, active, and long-bodied Tartar horse, and, with a speed which -its double burden certainly served to diminish, it began quickly to -leave behind the dreaded fort of Mohammed Saleh. - -As the latter began to sink and lessen in the distance, Mabel -Trecarrel felt as if there was a strange and dreamy unreality about -all this episode. Many an officer and Indian Sowar had ridden into -the Khoord Cabul Pass with his wife or his children before him, even -as she was now borne by Zohrab; she had heard and seen many wild and -terrible things since her father, with other officers of the -Company's service, had come, in an evil hour, "up country," to -command Shah Sujah's Native Contingent; she had read and heard of -many such adventures, escapes, flights, and abductions in romance and -reality; but what might be her fate now, if this should prove to be -the latter--an abduction of herself--some trick of which she had -permitted herself to become the too-ready victim? - -She was in a land where the people were prone to wild and predatory -habits, and, moreover, were masters in trickery, cunning, and -cruelty. Had she been deceived? she asked of herself, when she felt -the strong, sinewy, and bony arm of Zohrab tightening round her -waist, while his wiry little horse, with its fierce nose and muscular -neck outstretched, and its dancing mane streaming behind like a tiny -smoke-wreath, sped on and on, she knew not whither! - -Had she been deceived, was the ever-recurring dread, when the -handwriting was that of Rose, beyond all doubt? But written when? or -had Rose been deluded? Was this horseman the person in whom she had -been desired "to confide," or had he stolen the note from -another?--perhaps, after killing him! Those Afghans were such subtle -tricksters that she felt her mistrust equalled only by her loathing -of them all. - -Mabel asked herself all these tormenting questions when, perhaps, too -late; and she knew that, whether armed or unarmed, Heaven had never -intended her to be a heroine, or to play the part of one: she felt a -conviction that she was merely "an every-day young lady," and that if -"much more of this kind of thing went, she must die of fright." - -Just as she came to this conclusion an involuntary cry escaped her. -The boom of a cannon--one of Her Majesty's nine-pounders, of which -the Khan had possessed himself--pealed out on the calm still -atmosphere of the Indian evening, now deepening into night. Another -and another followed, waking the echoes of the woods and hills; and, -though distant now, each red flash momentarily lit up the sky. They -came from the fort of Saleh Mohammed to alarm the country; and still -further to effect this and announce the escape of a prisoner, a vast -quantity of those wonderful and beautiful crimson, blue, green, and -golden lights, in the manufacture of which all Oriental pyrotechnists -excel so particularly, were shot off in every direction from the -walls, showering upward and downward like falling stars, describing -brilliant arcs through the cloudless sky; and with an exclamation on -his bearded mouth, expressive of mockery and malison with fierce -exultation mingled, Zohrab Zubberdust looked back for a moment, while -his black eyes flashed fire in the reflected light. - -"Hah!" he muttered, "dog of a Dooranee, may the grave of the slave -that bore thee be defiled!" - -And while one hand tightened around his prize, with the other he -urged his horse to greater speed than ever. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -BY THE HILLS OF BEYMARU. - -As they proceeded, past groves of drooping willows, past rows of -leafy poplars, rice-fields where pools of water glittered in the -starlight, and past where clumps of the flowering oleaster filled the -air with delicious perfume, Mabel began to recognise the features of -the landscape, and knew by the familiar locality that she was once -more within a very short distance of Cabul. Again, in the light of -the rising moon, as she sailed, white and silvery, above the black -jagged crests of the Siah Sung, Mabel Trecarrel could recognise the -burned and devastated cantonments, where in flame and ruin the -fragile bungalows, the compounds of once-trim hedgerows, and all, had -passed away,--the bare boundary walls and angular bastions alone -remaining. She saw the site of her father's pretty villa, a place of -so many pleasant and happy memories--the daily lounge of all the -young officers of the garrison; and there, too, were the remains of -the Residency, where Sir William Macnaghten, as the Queen's -representative, dispensed hospitality to all. Yonder were the hills -and village of Beymaru; and further off a few red lights that -twinkled high in air announced the Bala Hissar, the present residence -of Ackbar Khan; but to take her in that direction formed then no part -of the plans of Zohrab Zubberdust. - -He rode straight towards a lonely place which lay between the Beymaru -Hills and the Lake of Istaliff; and as the locality grew more and -more sequestered he slackened the speed of his horse, now weary and -foam-flaked. After a time he drew up, and, requesting her to alight, -lifted her to the ground, and politely and gently urged her to rest -herself for a little space. - -"My sister?" said Mabel, tremulously. - -"Is not here," replied he. - -"But where, then?" - -"Patience yet a while," said he with a smile, which she could not -perceive; while he, to be prepared for any emergency, proceeded at -once to shift his saddle, rub down his horse with a handful of dry -grass, give it a mouthful or two from a certain kind of cake which he -carried in his girdle; and then he looked to his bridle, -stirrup-leather, and the charges of his pistols. Accustomed to arms -and strife of late, Mabel looked quietly on, taking all the -preparations for uncertain contingencies as mere matters of course. - -Breathless and weary with her strange mode of progression, she had -seated herself on a stone close by; and while the careful rider was -grooming his steed and making him drink a little of the shining -waters of the long narrow lake, she looked anxiously around her, -surmising when or in what manner of habitation she should find her -sister. Not a house or homestead, not even the black tent of a -mountain shepherd, was in sight. On all sides the lonely green and -silent hills towered up in the quiet moonlight, and the still, calm -lake reflected their undulating outlines downward in its starry depth. - -The holly-oak, the wild almond, and the khinjuck tree, which distils -myrrh, and in that warlike land of cuts and slashes is in great -repute for healing sabre wounds, the homely dog-rose, the -sweet-briar, the juniper bush, and the wild geranium, all grew among -the clefts of the rocks in luxuriant masses; while sheets of wild -tulips waved their gorgeous cups among the green sedges by the lake. - -Not far from where she sat was a grove, which she remembered to have -been the scene of a once-happy picnic party, of which Bob Waller was -one. She recognised the place now. She knew it was a lonely -solitude, that in summer was ever full of the perfume of dewy -branches, fresh leaves, and opening flowers; but the immediate spot -where they had halted had been anciently used as a burying-ground. A -portion of an old temple, covered by luxuriant creepers, lay there, -and two magnificent cypresses still towered skyward amid the -half-flattened mounds and sinking grave-stones of the long-forgotten -dead. The remains of a little musjid, or place for prayer, long -since ruined by some savage and idolatrous Khonds, who came down from -the hills, lay there among the débris, which included a shattered -well, built by some pious Moslem of old. The water from it gurgled -past her feet towards the lake, and she remembered how Waller had -placed the bottles of champagne and red Cabul wine in the runnel to -cool them. - -And now, as if contrasting the joyous past with the bitter present, a -shudder came over Mabel. She held out her pale hand, which looked -like ivory in the moonlight, and said to Zohrab, as he approached -her-- - -"It is a gloomy place, this. Is my sister far from here?" - -"About five coss," said he, confidently; and he spoke the truth, and -charmed by seeing her outstretched hand, an action which betokened -reliance or trust--he flattered himself, perhaps, regard--he took a -seat by her side, and then Mabel began to view him with positive -distrust and uneasiness. She said-- - -"Five coss--ten miles yet! Let us go at once, then!" - -"Stay," said he, "let us rest a little. You are--nay, must be -weary;" and arresting her attempt to rise with a hand upon her arm, -he drew nearer her; and sooth to say, though he was confident in -bearing, bravely embroidered in apparel, and had a handsome exterior, -Zohrab Zubberdust was but an indifferent love-maker, and knew not how -to go about it, with a "Feringhee mem sahib" least of all. He was -puzzled, and made a pause, during which Mabel's large, clear, grey -eyes regarded him curiously, warily, and half sternly. - -As the mistress of her father's late extensive household, with its -great retinue of native servants (each of whom had half a dozen -others to perform his or her work), and, as such, coming hourly in -contact with the dealers and others in the bazaars and elsewhere, -Mabel Trecarrel had, of necessity, picked up a knowledge of the -Hindostanee and the Afghan, far beyond her heedless sister Rose, who, -as these were neither the languages of flirtation or the flowers, -scarcely made any attempt to do so; hence Mabel could converse with -Zohrab with considerable fluency. - -Her beauty was as soft and as bright as that of Rose, but it was less -girlish and of a much higher and more statuesque character; so -"Zohrab the Overbearing" now felt himself rather at a loss to account -for the emotion of awe--we have no other name for it--with which she -inspired him. The point, the time, and the place when he should have -her all to himself had arrived, true to all his calculations and -beyond his hopes; and yet his tongue and spirit failed him, as if a -spell were upon him. - -In his lawless roving life, now serving the Khan of Khiva, on the -eastern shores of the Caspian Sea, now the Emir of Bhokara, far away -beyond the waters of the Oxus, and lastly Ackbar Khan, he had, in -predatory war, carried off many a girl with all her wealth of -bracelets and bangles, the spoil of his spear and sabre, trussing her -up behind him like the fodder or oats for his Tartar nag; but never -had he felt before as he did now, for, unlike the maids of the -desert, the Feringhee failed to accept the situation. He felt -perplexed--secretly enraged, and yet he murmured half to himself and -half to her, as his dark face and darker gleaming eyes drew nearer -hers-- - -"The whiteness of her bosom surpasses the egg of the ostrich or the -leaf of the lily, and her breath is sweet as the roses of Irem--yea, -as those of Zulistan! Listen to me," he added abruptly, in a louder -and sharper tone, and in his figurative language; "fair daughter of -love, give ear. You have won my heart, my love, my soul, subduing -me--even Zohrab! Learn in turn to be subdued, submissive, and -obedient. Happy is he who shall call you wife; and that happy -man--is Zohrab!" - -The intense bewilderment of poor Mabel increased to extreme fear at -those words, so absurdly inflated, yet so blunt in import, and she -shrunk back, but could not turn from the dark, glittering eyes that -gleamed with a serpent-like fascination into hers. - -So she _had_ been deluded after all, and her worst anticipations were -about to be realised at last! Zohrab grasped her left hand with his -right, and planting his left cheek on the other hand, with an elbow -on his knee, began to take courage, and, surveying her steadily, to -speak more distinctly and with an admiring smile; for the silence of -the night was around them, and no sound came on the wind that moaned -past the grove or the great cypresses close by; so from the silence, -perhaps, he gathered confidence, if, indeed, he really required it. - -"Allah has been good to us," said he, "exceedingly good, in creating -such beautiful beings as women to please us. You are more beautiful -than any I have seen--too much so to be left to gladden a Kaffir's -heart; so you shall remain with me, and be the light of my eyes." - -"Wretch!--fool that I have been! Rose, Rose!" gasped Mabel, scarcely -knowing what she said. - -"I love you," he resumed softly, while his hot clasp tightened on her -hand, and his lips approached her ear; "you hear--and understand me?" - -"You love me!" exclaimed Mabel rashly, with proud scorn in her tone, -despite the deadly fear that gathered in her heart, and while her -eyes flashed with an expression to which the Oriental was quite -unaccustomed in a captive woman. - -"Yes, I love you--I, Zohrab," was the somewhat egotistical response. - -"You know not what love is; but, even if you did, you shall not dare -to talk of it to me. That you may have a fancy, I can quite well -understand; but a fancy, or a passion, and love are very different -things. What do you, or what can you, know of me?" - -"That you are beautiful: what more is required?" - -"Enough of this--I am weary. Take me instantly to my sister, or back -to my friends who are with Saleh Mohammed; for if I were to denounce -you to Ackbar Khan, how much think you your head would be worth?" - -"Much less than yours, certainly." - -"And at what does he--this _other_ barbarian--value me?" - -"At the price of six Toorkoman horses, perhaps," was the half-angry -response; "while to me you are priceless, beyond life itself. -Denounce me to Ackbar Khan--would you?" - -"Yes." - -His teeth glistened under his jet moustache as he replied-- - -"Those stones and trees alone hear us; so now let me tell you, Kaffir -girl, that you weary me; by the five blessed Keys of Knowledge, you -do!" and, as he spoke, he started to his feet, and by an angry twist -of his embroidered girdle threw his jewelled sabre behind him. - -"Oh, this is becoming frightful!" moaned Mabel, clasping her hands -and looking wildly round her; "what will become of me now? Papa, -Rose, are we never to meet again?" - -Oh, if big, burly Bob Waller, with his six feet and odd inches of -stature, were only there! Could he but know of her misery of -mind--her dire extremity! but would he ever know? God alone could -tell! - -There is much that is touching in the helplessness of any woman, but -more than all a beautiful one, though we, whose lines are cast in -pleasant places, and in a land of well-organized police, may seldom -see it--a clinging, imploring expression of eye, when all is soul and -depth of heart, and strength avails not. But Zohrab Zubberdust felt -nothing of this. She on whom he looked might be pure as Diana, -"chaste as Eve on the morning of her innocence," yet, as a -Mohammedan, he had a secret contempt for her--perhaps a doubt of -her--as a Kaffir woman. He was only inspired by the emotions of -triumph and passion, by the sure conviction that this fair Feringhee, -this daughter of a vanquished tribe, this outcast unbeliever, so -lovely in her whiteness of skin, her purity of complexion, and -wondrous colour of hair, in her roundness of limb, and in stature so -far surpassing all the maids of the twenty-one Afghan clans or races, -was his--_his_ property--to become the slave of his will or his -cruelty, as it pleased him! - -Of the paradox that woman's weakness is her strength, with the -Christian man, Zohrab knew nothing, and felt less; yet he tried to -act the lover in a melodramatic fashion, by making high-flown -speeches, and assuring her, again and again, that he loved her "as -the only Prophet of God loved Ayesha, his favourite wife, the mother -of all the Faithful," and much more to the same purpose, till amid -the wind that sighed through the trees, and shook the wild tulips and -lilies by the lake, the quickened ear of Mabel caught a distant -sound; and then one of those shrill cries of despair, that women -alone can give, escaped her. - -A fierce malediction from the lips of Zohrab mingled with it, for he -dreaded Saleh Mohammed; and in a few moments more the clink of hoofs -was heard; then Zohrab sternly drew a pistol from his girdle, and -unsheathed his sabre like a flash of fire in the moonlight. The -blade glittered like his own eyes, as he glared alternately from -Mabel to where the sounds came; and by his keen, wild expression and -fierce quivering nostrils, she saw with terror, that a very slight -matter might turn his wrath and his weapons against herself. - -"Here comes aid--Saleh Mohammed perhaps! Help, help, in the name of -God!" she cried, recklessly. - -Zohrab uttered a sound like a hiss, and placed the cold back of his -sabre across her throat, implying thereby, "Silence, or death;" and -at that instant, four Afghan horsemen came galloping up, and reined -in their nags. - -"Bismillah," said the leader, a venerable, burly, and silver-bearded -man, in a huge turban. - -"Bismillah," responded Zohrab, using also the expression of -salutation customary to the country (and which means no more than -"good evening" or "good e'en" may do with us), yet regarding the -stranger with a somewhat resentful and tiger-like expression of eye -for his unwelcome interruption. - -"What, Zohrab Zubberdust, is this thou?" exclaimed the other. - -"Shabash--it is I; and you--are Nouradeen Lal!" said the would-be -lover, as he recognised his acquaintance, the hill-farmer, whose -ploughman, perforce, Waller had been; "whence come you?" - -"From Cabul, where I have been with many an arroba of corn for the -Sirdir, who expects to be besieged by the Kaffirs from Jellalabad. -Oh! and so you are at your old tricks again," continued the farmer, -with a somewhat unoriental burst of laughter; "you are not content to -wait for the spouses of musk and amber in their couches of pearl--the -black-eyed girls with their scarfs of green!" - -"Allah Keerem, but he is fortunate," said another, looking admiringly -on Mabel; "most fortunate! She is fair and white as the virgins of -paradise can be." - -"But her cry sounded like the bay of a goorg to the rising moon; and -we thought you were an afreet--the Ghoul Babian, or some such horror; -for here are graves close by!" - -"Nouradeen Lal is not complimentary," said the other speaker, who, by -his steel cap, spear, and shield of rhinoceros hide, seemed to be a -Hazir-bashi, or one of Ackbar's body-guard, "if he compare the -damsel's voice to the cry of a wolf." - -"But why did she cry? You were not ill-using her, I hope," said the -old farmer, peering down at Mabel's face from under his broad -circular turban. - -"For the love of God--your God as well as mine--save me from this -man!" said Mabel, clinging to the stirrup-leather of the farmer, -whose venerable appearance encouraged her, and who placed his strong -brown hand on her head encouragingly and protectingly. - -"I dare you to interfere!" exclaimed Zohrab, hoarse with passion, as -he drew from his girdle the long brass pistol he had just half cocked -and replaced there. - -"And why so?" asked the Hazir-bashi, who seemed quite ready for a -brawl, and perhaps the appropriation of the girl. - -"Because she is--my wife." - -"Your wife!" exclaimed Nouradeen, withdrawing his hand abruptly, and -swerving round his horse, so that Mabel nearly fell to the ground. - -"Yes; we were married before the Cadi: and now she would seek to -repudiate me, and return to her own accursed people," said the artful -Zohrab; for marriage among the Mohammedans is exclusively a civil -ceremony, performed before a Cadi, or magistrate, and not by an Imaum -or any other minister of religion, with which it has nothing to do. - -"Oh, believe not a word of this; it is false--false!" implored Mabel, -with desperation in her tone. - -"It is true; and thou, Kaffir, liest! Silence, silence, or I will -kill thee!" hissed Zohrab in her ear; and she felt that he was but -too capable of putting his threat into execution. "Interfere not -with us, I charge you; but leave us, and remember what the fourth -chapter of the Koran says, 'If a woman fear ill-usage or aversion -from her husband, it shall be no crime in them if they settle the -matter amicably between themselves; for a reconciliation is better -than a separation;' therefore leave us to agree amicably, as the -Prophet hath advised." - -"And the same chapter, good Zohrab, tells us how we may chastise such -wives as are contumacious, and those captives, too, whom our right -hand may possess," said the farmer; "so farewell, and may the steps -of you both be fortunate," he added, as he and his three companions -galloped laughingly away, and with a wail, as if from her heart, -Mabel found herself alone once more in the moonlight solitude--alone -with her unscrupulous companion. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -AGAIN IN CABUL. - -A change had now come over him; he had grown sullen and thoughtful; -but even this mood of mind she preferred to his obnoxious and -intrusive tenderness. He stood silently and gloomily eyeing her for -a time. - -Will it be believed that, too probably, he was actually pondering -whether or not policy and his own future safety required that he -should pistol or sabre this helpless creature, whom a minute before -he had been professing so ardently to love? He could not help -speculating on what _might_ have been the sequel, regarding himself, -had her wild and despairing cry, instead of bringing up a stupid old -mountain farmer, like Nouradeen Lal, summoned to the spot the -ferocious Dooranee horsemen of Saleh Mohammed, who was bound to -account for the prisoners, dead or alive, body for body, to Ackbar -Khan. He knew that by this time all the roads diverging from Cabul -would be beset in every direction by the horsemen of Saleh Mohammed -and the Sirdir; that, sooner or later, some of these would meet and -question the farmer returning to his home among the hills, and the -information he and the Hazir-bashi must give, would soon bring a -mounted Rissallah round by Beymaru in search and pursuit; so his own -bold measures were instantly taken. - -In Cabul would he and his prize alone be safe, and, as he hoped, -unsought for a time at least; and there he resolved to convey her, -ere day broke, and to conceal her in the house of one who he knew -would be faithful to him--a man named Ferishta Lodi, who had been -sutler to the Shah's Goorka Regiment, and whose life he had spared, -and whose escape he had connived at, when the whole of that luckless -battalion was massacred in cold blood, by the Afghans at Charekar. - -Sternly he commanded her again to mount before him, and, aware that -resistance and entreaty were alike futile, the unhappy girl, crushed -in spirit, weeping heavily, and feeling utterly lost and helpless, -obeyed; and once more their progress was resumed, but at a slower -pace, as Zohrab was evidently husbanding the strength of his wearied -horse. Day was breaking as they passed, unquestioned, through the -Kohistan Gate of Cabul; but its light was yet grey and dim jis they -traversed the narrow, dark, and high-walled tortuous streets, to some -obscure quarter perfectly unknown to Mabel. - -A few persons passed them, some going to market in the Char-chowk, -others afield to tend the trellised vines; but she dared neither -speak nor show her pallid face. She might find mercy at the hands of -Zohrab, but none among the rabble of Cabul, where the miserable -remains of the Queen's Envoy yet hung unburied in the great bazaar. - -Mabel knew but too well, by observation and experience, the nature of -the nation among whom she now found herself--alone. Nearly forty -years had made no change on the people, since a Scottish traveller -described them; and his pithy account may be summed up in the -following quotation:-- - -"If a man could be transported to Afghanistan without passing through -the dominions of Turkey, Persia, or Tartary, he would be amazed by -the wide and unfrequented deserts and the mountains covered with -perennial snow. Even in the cultivated part of the country he would -discover a wild assemblage of hills and wastes, unmarked by -enclosures, not embellished by trees, and destitute of navigable -canals, public roads, and all the great and elaborate productions of -human refinement and industry. He would find the towns few and far -distant from each other; he would look in vain for inns and other -conveniences, which a traveller would meet with in the wildest parts -of Great Britain. Yet he would sometimes be delighted with the -fertility and population of particular plains and valleys, where he -would see the productions of Europe mingled in profusion with those -of the torrid zone, and the land tilled with an industry and judgment -nowhere surpassed. He would see the inhabitants accompanying their -flocks in tents or villages, to which the terraced roofs and mud -walls give an appearance entirely novel. He would be struck with -their high and harsh features, their sun-burnt countenances, their -long beards, loose garments, and shaggy cloaks of skins. When he -entered into society, he would notice the absence of all courts of -justice, and of everything like an organised police. He would be -surprised at the fluctuation and utter instability of every civil -institution. He would find it difficult to comprehend how a nation -could subsist in such disorder, and pity those who were compelled to -pass their days amid such scenes, and whose minds were trained by -their unhappy situation to fraud and violence, to rapine, deceit, and -cruel revenge. Yet he could not fail to admire their lofty and -martial spirit, their hospitality, their bold and simple manners, -equally removed from the suppleness of the citizen and the rusticity -of the clown. In short," he adds, a stormy independence of spirit, -which leads them to declare, "'We are content with fierce discord; we -are content with alarm; we are content with bloodshed; but we shall -_never be content_ with a master!'" - -Mabel gave herself up more than ever for lost on finding herself -within the fatal walls of Cabul; a benumbed and despairing emotion -crept over her heart, and all her energies seemed away from her. She -found herself lifted from horseback in a paved court that was dark, -damp, and gloomy, and in the centre of which a fountain was plashing -monotonously. She felt herself borne indoors somewhere, she knew not -by whom, and then she fainted for a little time. - -She had been carried into one of those apartments which open by a -large sliding panel off the dewan-khaneh, the principal hall or -receiving-room of a Cabul house. She had been there deposited at -length on a soft mattrass, which was simply spread on the floor, as -in that country bedsteads and sofas are unlike unknown. So people -there both sleep and sit on the floor, unless in the case of persons -of rank, who may seat themselves cross-legged on a divan. - -Though prettily ornamented with carving, stucco, and painting, in -this room there was a total absence of those invariable sentences -from the Koran, woven among arabesques, which mark an Oriental -mansion; but in lieu thereof were some in a language of which Mabel's -weary eyes could make nothing. These were lines from the Vedas of -the Hindoos; and in three little niches, most elaborately carved, -were the three monstrous statuettes of the god who is worshipped by -so many millions under the names of Vishnu, Siva, and Brama; for the -house to which she had been conveyed belonged partly to Ferishta -Lodi, the ex-Sutler, who now kept a shop in the great bazaar, and to -a Hindoo, one of those same schroffs, or bankers, through whom the -luckless General Elphinstone and his staff had negotiated the -enormous sum which was paid to procure our peaceful march through the -Passes--and paid for our slaughtered troops--in vain. - -The Hindoo banker and the Khond were alike absent; but the wife of -the former, a soft-eyed and gentle little woman, with massive golden -bangles on her wrists and glittering anklets round her ankles, -assisted the somewhat awkward and decidedly bewildered Zohrab in the -task of recovering Mabel, by plentifully besprinkling her face, neck, -and hands with cool and delightfully perfumed water from a large -flask covered with elaborate silver filagree work. The Hindoo woman, -who knew that the visitor was a helpless Feringhee captive, worked at -her humane duty in silence, and without venturing to ask any -questions. - -A quivering of the long eyelashes, a spasmodic twitching of the -handsomely cut mouth, as she heaved a long and deep sigh, showed that -animation was returning. Slowly, indeed, did Mabel--though a girl -with naturally a good physique and splendid constitution--struggle -back to life and consciousness. Her beautiful face was pale as -marble now; all complexion, save that of alabaster, was gone; cold -and white she was, and her brilliant auburn hair in silky masses -rolled over her shoulders and bosom, which heaved painfully, for -every respiration was a sigh. - -To the admiring and undoubtedly appreciative eyes of the enterprising -Zohrab she presented a powerful contrast to the dusky little Hindoo -woman, on whose ridgy shoulder her head was drooping, and whose -fingers, of bronze-like hue, seemed absolutely black when placed upon -the pure snowy arm of the English girl; for in aspect, race, and -costume (a shapeless and indescribable garment of red cotton) the -wife of the schroff was unchanged from what her ancestors had been in -the days of Menon the Lawgiver. - -As Mabel gradually became conscious, she sat up and gently repelled -the services of the Hindoo woman. Then she burst into tears. This -relieved her; and then she began to look around her, and to remember -where she was--in fatal Cabul; and in whose hands--those of the -lying, treacherous, and unscrupulous Zohrab Zubberdust! - -For what was she yet reserved? This was her first thought. The -slender chances of escape were the next; but escape from walled and -guarded Cabul! and to where or to whom could she go for succour? To -the bones of the dead, who lay in the passes of the Khyber mountains! - -Thirst--intense thirst, the result of over-wrought emotions, of deep -and bitter anxiety, and of all she had undergone mentally and bodily, -made her ask Zohrab imploringly for something to quench it; and in a -few moments the Hindoo woman brought her, on a scarlet Burmese -salver, a china cup filled with deliciously iced water and white -Cabul wine, which is not unlike full-bodied Madeira; with this -refreshing beverage was a cake of Cabul apricots, folded in rice -paper, the most luscious of all dried fruit, and which the Afghans -have no less than fourteen distinct modes of conserving. To these -she added a small slice of sweet Bokhara melon--the true melon of -Toorkistan--we say a small slice, as they are of such enormous bulk, -that two are sometimes a sufficient load for a donkey. - -Revived by these delicate viands, and feeling a necessity for action, -Mabel began in plaintive and piteous accents to urge upon Zohrab the -chances of pecuniary reward, if he would set her at liberty near -Jellalabad, or if he would even restore her to the perilous -guardianship of Saleh Mohammed; for to be once more among the English -hostages, his prisoners, was to be, at least, among dear friends. - -But Zohrab listened in sullen and tantalising silence, gnawing the -curled ends of his long moustaches the while. Now that he had her in -Cabul, he saw but slender chances of getting her out of it for a -time. Gossips might speak of her presence there (was it not already -known to the Hindoo woman?), and so inculpate him with Ackbar Khan, -whose vengeance would be swift, sharp, and sure. And now he was -beginning to revolve in his own mind, whether or not his best policy -would be to take his horse and quit the country for Khiva, Cashmere, -or Beloochistan--all were many miles away, the latter three hundred -and more--leaving Mabel in the hands of the banker and merchant, to -keep or deliver up, as they chose. Yet when he thought of the -peculiar _creed_ of the Khond he shuddered; and she looked so -beautiful, so gentle, and was withal so helpless, that he wavered in -his selfish purpose, and the temptation of hoping to win her made him -pause in forming any decided resolution; so the noon of the first day -passed slowly and uneventfully on. - -He knew that Mabel, as an European woman, dared make no attempt to -escape, or even to show her face at a window; so he had no necessity -either to watch or to warn her when he left her. - -In tears and silence she lay on her pallet, her head propped upon -pillows; near her the Hindoo woman had kindly placed a vase of fresh -flowers, a feather fan, and a flask of essences; and then, left to -herself for hours, she could but wait, and weep, and pray at -intervals, dreading the coming night. - -Some of the sounds without in Cabul were not unfamiliar to her; she -had often heard them before, when driving through the central street -in the carriage, or when riding with the other ladies of the -garrison. Again, at stated times, she heard the shrill cries from -the minarets and summits of the mosques proclaim that the hour for -prayer had arrived; for the Moslems observe this frequently daily. -"Glorify God," says the Koran, "when the evening overtaketh you, and -when you rise in the morning; and unto Him be praise in heaven and on -earth: and at sunset, and when you rest at noon, for prayer is the -pillar of religion, and key of paradise." - -Once she peeped forth between the parted shutters and blinds, -shrinking back timidly as she did so, lest her pale white face should -catch a casual passer's eye, and elicit a yell of recognition and of -thirst for Christian blood. There the street below was dark and -narrow; the clumsy wooden pipes projected far over, to carry off the -rain from the roofs, which were flat and terraced; the walls were -high, black, and almost windowless. Such was her view on one side. -The other opened to a paved court, overlooked by houses built of -sun-dried brick, rough stones, and red clay. Four mulberry-trees -grew there, with a white marble fountain in the midst; and near it -were some grizzly-bearded Afghans of mature years, in long, flowing -garments, smoking and playing marbles, exactly as children do in -Europe. Another party, also of full-grown men, were hopping against -each other, on their right legs, grasping their left feet with their -right hands. They seemed all pleasant fellows, hilarious and in high -good humour; yet she dared neither to seek their aid, nor to trust to -their compassion. In her eyes, they were but as so many tigers at -play! - -The circumstance of her being deemed the prisoner, the slave, or -peculiar property of such a formidable soldier as Zohrab Zubberdust -secured her from all interruption on the part of his male friends, -the Khond and the Hindoo schroff, who jointly occupied the house in -which he had placed her, and which was situated at the bottom of a -narrow alley (opening off the main street that led to the Char Chowk, -or great bazaar), a regular cul-de-sac, where many Khonds lived -together, congregating precisely as the Irish do in the towns of -England and Scotland; but this was deemed no peculiarity in Cabul, -where the city was apportioned in quarters, to the different tribes -of the Afghan people, the most formidably fortified being that of the -Kuzzilbashes. - -As evening drew on, Mabel became aware of a conversation that was -proceeding in the next room; and, as she could from time to time -detect the voice of Zohrab, she thought herself fully excusable in -listening, which she could do with ease, as the partitions of the -apartments which opened off the dewan-khaneh were all of them -boarding panelled. - -In one place a knot had dropped out, and to the convenient orifice -made thereby, as she breathlessly applied her ear and eye -alternately, she heard and saw all that was passing, and in some -respects more than she cared to know, as much that she did hear only -added to her repugnance and terror of those on whose mercy she found -herself cast by an unhappy fate. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -THE ABODE OF THE KHOND. - -Seated on the floor were Zohrab Zubberdust and two other men. - -One was the Hindoo banker. He was slight in figure, with diminutive -hands and feet; like all his vast race, he was of a dark-brown -colour, with straight black hair, that seemed almost blue when the -light struck it, hanging straight and lankly behind his large -ears--an undoubted worshipper of Brama, of the monkey god, and of all -those unnumbered idols that for forty centuries have been the objects -of adoration to millions upon millions--even before the Temple of -Juggernaut was built. He sat cross-legged on a _nummud_, or carpet -of red frieze, above which was spread a yellow calico covering. A -cushion supported his back. He had cast off his headdress, slippers, -and tunic--the day had been warm--and all save his loose dhottee, or -what passed for unmentionables. He had the eye of Siva painted in -the centre of his forehead (the eye that, by winking once, involved -the world in darkness for a thousand years), thereby adding to the -diabolical grotesquerie of his visage; and he was occupied from time -to time by indulgence in the "eighth sensual delight" of the -Hindoos--chewing betel-nut, a hot and aromatic stimulant. - -The other interesting native of India who sat beside him, smoking -hempseed and bhang in a handsome hubble-bubble, which had snake-like -coils covered with red and gold-coloured thread rising from a stem of -silver, shaped like a trumpet, was Ferishta Lodi, the Khond, whose -attire consisted of little more than the amount indulged in by his -Hindoo friend; but, unlike the puny latter, he was a man of powerful -and muscular frame, great in stature, and terribly hideous in face -and figure. He was rather pale-complexioned, for a Khond; but his -visage bars description, for ugliness of contour and expression,--it -was that of a tiger, but a tiger pitted with small-pox, the few wiry -bristles of his moustache that stuck fiercely out from his long, -upper lip, the fiery carbuncular red of his eyes, with two long and -sharp side tusks, completing the illusion or resemblance. - -Looking wonderfully handsome by contrast to those two men, Zohrab -lounged between them, propped against the wall by a soft cushion; his -bright steel cap, his beautiful Persian sabre, and gilded pistols lay -near him; he had a long cherry-pipe stick in his mouth, and close by -was a flask of Cabul wine, in which, natheless the wise precepts of -Him of Mecca, he was indulging, greatly to Mabel's apprehension, -somewhat freely. - -"And so, Ferishta," said he, "the infernal Kuzzilbashes are in search -of me too, you say?" - -"Yes--aga; three rissallahs, at least." - -"From where?" - -"Shireen's fort." - -"And led by whom?" - -"The Khan Shireen in person." - -"But how know you that they are after me?" - -"Because I heard Shireen say, when he met Mohammed Saleh near Baber's -tomb, that had he not been certain that the false plotter was -Overhearing Zohrab, he might imagine that an evil spirit, like -Sakkar, had assumed his shape and voice, to delude them both, and the -Feringhee woman too. But that is all bosh; for who believes in such -things now?" - -The dark eyes of Zohrab sparkled dangerously. He might have pardoned -some such slighting speech in a devout Hindoo, even in a Christian; -but in a Jew, or one professing the horrible tenets of a Khond, he -could not let it pass without remark. - -"Dare you say that the evil spirit, Sakkar, did not once assume the -shape of Solomon, on possessing himself of his magic signet, and -alter all the laws of the world for forty days and nights?" - -"I dare say nothing about it," replied the other, sulkily: "I am a -Khond." - -"And, as such, accursed of God!" muttered Zohrah, under his teeth; -for at that precise juncture of his affairs he could afford to -quarrel with none--his present hosts least of all. - -The banker looked uneasy, and crammed into his mouth an extra -allowance of the eighth delight, ever the solace of the Hindoo race, -and held in such estimation that Ferishta, the Moslem historian, -writing in 1609, when describing the magnitude of the Indian city of -Canaye, says that it contained thirty thousand shops for the sale of -betel-nut alone. - -Zohrab, though he sometimes broke the laws of the Koran, just as many -an excellent Christian, or one who perfectly believes himself to be -such, may transgress the laws of his Bible, loathed the unbelieving -Khond, as he should have loathed a Jew or a fire-worshipping Gueber; -but, circumstanced as he was, he felt himself compelled to listen to -a speech like the following; for the Khonds are a low race of -idolaters, and glory in announcing themselves as such, and in -decrying the gentler creeds of others. - -"The faith of your prophet would never have suited us, Aga Zohrab, -though we cannot say, like the Bedouins, we have no water in the -desert, and therefore cannot perform ablutions, as we have wells, and -to spare, in our sacred groves; but like those Bedouins, our people, -who dwell in rocks and on the mountains, have no money, therefore we -cannot give alms; while the forty days' fast of Hamad an must prove -useless to poor people who fast all the year round; and if the -presence of God be everywhere, why go all the way to seek Him in a -black stone at Mecca? Besides, your prophet, like that of the -Feringhees, teaches, I am told, repentance--a perilous institute, for -may not a man say, 'I may commit a thousand crimes, and, if I repent -me, I may be forgiven; and as it will thus be no worse for me, I may -as well continue to sin and enjoy myself even unto the end!' Is it -not so, aga?" - -Zohrab, more of a soldier than a logician, and readier with his sabre -than his tongue, was unable quite to follow the strange argument of -the Khond; he could only glare at him with bent brows and dilated -nostrils, while asserting angrily that which had nothing exactly to -do with the matter--that he believed devoutly in the power and -miracles of his Prophet--that the waters gushed at will from the -fingers of the latter--that he was conveyed by a mysterious animal, -called a Borak, from Mecca to Jerusalem--that in one night he -performed a journey of ten thousand years--that a holy pigeon, sent -from heaven, whispered revelations in his ear,--not to pick peas -thereat, as the accursed Kaffirs asserted,--that he proselytised the -Genii, and did many more incredible things: to all of which the -Hindoo, whose beliefs were altogether of a different kind, listened -with the stolid aspect of one of his own bronze idols; but the Khond -did so with covert mockery on his terrible face; while poor Mabel -dreaded a growing quarrel, as it was evident that the fiery and -impatient Zohrab abhorred the companionship and protection of -Ferishta Lodi; for he was a reckless soldier, valuing his own life -little, and the lives of others less. - -It was evident that, in the heat of the present discussion, he had -forgotten all about her, till suddenly the Khond said-- - -"We talk too loud, aga, and may be overheard. I told you who were on -your track----" - -"Yes; and by the eight gates of paradise, and the seven gates of -hell, I am not likely to forget them!" - -"Well, have you taken means to ensure flight?" - -"Wherefor?" asked Zohrab fiercely. - -"I mean, if traced." - -"I have my sword and horse," was the curt reply. - -"But the Feringhee woman?" - -"Allah! I had all but forgotten her!" said Zohrab, starting. - -"Right: sacrifice your property for your life, and your life for your -religion; but make not yourself the captive of a woman. Now, if -traced, what, I ask, of the Kaffir slave?" - -"By the soul of the Prophet!" exclaimed Zohrab, in great and sudden -perplexity, "what can I do, but leave her here?" - -"Sell her to the young Shah: she is worth a thousand mohurs," -suggested the Hindoo banker. - -"The coward has fled," said Zohrab. - -"She is beautiful as the one he lost, and whom he mourned so much -that it required the whole seraglio to console him." - -"Poor fellow!" sneered Zohrab. - -"I will buy her of you for two hundred tomauns, paid down," said the -Khond. "Money is useful to those who are fugitives." - -"Buy her--for a wife?" asked Zubberdust, changing colour. The Khond -laughed; and his laugh was as the growl of some strange animal, as he -replied-- - -"No: a Khond marries a Khond." - -"For what, then?" - -"The purposes of that religion we have been discussing just now," -replied the other, deliberately and in a low voice. - -Mabel heard this suggestion without exactly comprehending what it -meant at the time; but she could see that a crimson flush of shame -and passion came over the dark face of Zohrab; his eyes literally -sparkled and flashed with the fury of deep and sudden passion, as he -sprang to his feet, snatched up his sabre and half drew it, choking -with intensity of utterance, ere he could speak; for the Khonds are a -race of cruel and barbarous idolaters, who live in the more -inaccessible mountain ranges of India, and were quite unknown till -the beginning of her present Majesty's reign, when, by the military -operations undertaken in Goomsoor and on the Chilka Lake--a long and -narrow inlet from the sea--and when our troops from thence ascended -the range of Ghauts, we made the acquaintance of this most ancient -but hitherto unknown race of aborigines, whose religion, a distinct -Theism, with a subordinate demonology, requires (as Captain -Macpherson first discovered) a human sacrifice periodically to the -godhead, the fetish or spirit whom they style Boora Penna, or the -Source of Good, who created all things by casting five handfuls of -earth around him; but, like more enlightened folks, the Khonds have -their schismatics and sceptics, who dispute bitterly, and hate each -other as cordially as Christians can do,--but about the origin of -mountains, meteors, and whirlwinds, where the rivers come from, where -they go to, and so forth. - -It is to Tari, the wife of this Boora Penna, that the propitiatory -human sacrifices are periodically offered (in groves which are dark, -gloomy, and deemed holy as those of our Druids were in Europe), amid -the most horrible rites, roasting over a slow fire, for one, about -the time when the ground is cropped, so that each family may procure -and bury a little of the victim's flesh in the soil, to ensure -prosperity, and avert the malignity of the goddess, who otherwise -might blast their rice, maize, or vines; and the immolation takes -place amid wild jollity, deep drunkenness, and debauchery. - -Aware of the complete isolation and helplessness of Mabel, the Khond -saw how readily and easily he had a victim at hand; and what could -prove more acceptable to Tari than the young, beautiful, and pure -daughter of an alien race and creed? And the Hindoo schroff, -accustomed to the incessant infanticide practised by his people, and -their death-festivals at Juggernaut, saw nothing remarkable in the -matter, and sat chewing his betel-nut with perfect equanimity. - -Not so Zohrab Zubberdust! His passion knew no bounds. He had sprung -to his feet, and fully unsheathed his sabre. - -"May thy mother's grave be defiled--if indeed such be possible, O dog -of an idolater!" he exclaimed, and was about to cut him down; and -doubtless might have sliced his head in two, like a pumpkin, but for -sudden sounds in the now partially darkened street without, that -arrested the unlifted sabre. - -These were the loud murmur of a multitude, the barking of pariah -dogs, the trampling of horses, the voices of men in authority, and -other undoubted tokens of the house being surrounded. - -The glittering blade of Zohrab drooped for a moment. He passed his -left hand across his brow. Then he smiled with proud disdain as he -placed his steel cap on his head, and twisted the turban-cloth around -it. Next he drew a pistol from his belt, while the diminutive Hindoo -became pea-green with fear, and an expression of almost mad ferocity -seemed to pass over the face and to swell the great chest of the -Khond, Ferishta Lodi. Danger and death were at hand, he knew; but -not on whom they might fall. - -Zohrab rushed to a window on one side. The narrow alley was filled -by a mass of armed men on foot and on horseback. He saw the -mail-shirts of the Hazir-bashis, the flashing of weapons, and the red -smoky light of the matches in the locks of the juzails. He hurried -to another window; it opened to the court where the mulberry-trees -grew. It was full of red-capped Kuzzilbashes, mounted and accoutred, -some carrying red flashing torches; and high amid the excited and -bristling throng towered old Shireen Khan on his favourite camel. He -was brandishing his long lance, and gesticulating violently to Saleh -Mohammed, who was mounted on a beautiful white Tartar horse. - -The opening of the window caused them and many others to look up. -Then Zohrab was seen and recognised by several. - -"Dog, whose father has been damned! at last, at last, we have thee!" -hissed Saleh Mohammed, through his dense beard, as he shook his sabre -upward; and a yell from his people followed, mingled with the thunder -of mallets on the entrance door. - -"Dog of a Dooranee thief, take that!" cried the reckless Zohrab, -firing his long pistol full at Saleh Mohammed (beside whom a man fell -dead), and then taking his measures in an instant, he rushed from the -room, and ascending by a narrow stair to the roof of the house, which -he knew to be flat, by superhuman strength he tore up the ladder, -cutting off pursuit--for a mere wooden ladder it was--and tossed it -on the heads of the armed throng below. A number of large clay -vases, filled with gigantic geraniums and other flowers, with four -cross-legged marble idols of Siva, Deva, Vishnu, and Brama, the -property of the banker, he hurled down in quick succession also, to -increase the danger and confusion; and each, as it fell crashing upon -the turbaned heads, the brown upturned faces, and fierce eyes that -gleamed in the torchlight below, elicited a storm of yells and the -useless explosion of several rifles which were levelled upward, and -the balls from which either starred upon the walls or whistled -harmlessly away into the darkness. - -Zohrab, brave as a lion, now almost leisurely reloaded his long -pistol, and felt the edge and point of his sabre with the forefinger -of his left hand. It was an old Ispahan sword--one of those famous -blades made and tempered by Zaman, the pupil of Asad. Formed of -Akbarer steel, it rung like a bell, and Zohrab valued this sword as -second only to his own soul. He had taken it in battle from an old -Beloochee, who was following Mehrib Khan to the siege of Khelat, and -it was valued at two thousand rupees. Many times had that good -weapon saved his life; it had ever been at his side by day, or under -his pillow by night; and now he kissed it tenderly, with fervour in -his heart and a prayer on his lips, for a knowledge came over him -that, though he might escape, the end seemed close and nigh. He -looked to the sky; it was enveloped in masses of flying clouds. - -"Ha!" he exclaimed, hopefully, "the star of Zohrab may yet again -shine out in God's blessed firmament!" - -Then he looked over the sea of flat-terraced roofs that spread around -him, and from amid which the round, dark domes of the mosques and the -greater mass of the Bala Hissar--rock, tower, and rampart, tier upon -tier--stood abruptly up; and over these roofs he knew that he must -make his way, if he would escape some dreadful death, such as -impalement by a hot ramrod prior to decapitation; for Ackbar Khan and -Saleh Mohammed would accord him small mercy indeed. - -"Kill him!" - -"Slay the ghorumsaug!" - -"Drink his blood!" - -"Death to the Sooni!" cried some. - -"Death to the follower of Shi!" cried others, equally at random. -Such were some of the shouts that loaded the night air in the streets -below, where the blue gleaming of keen sabres, of tall lances, and -long juzail-bayonets was incessant; for not only was the house, but -even the alley itself was environed on all hands. - -"A _chupao_* with a vengeance!" muttered Zohrab, as by one vigorous -bound he leaped from the roof on which he stood to that of the -opposite street, the distance between being little more than six or -seven feet. The action was not unseen; a heavy volley of rifle-shot -whizzed upward--we say, _whizzed_, for the bullets were round, not -conical. There was a furious spurring of horses, a rush of the -crowd, and many armed men now entered the houses, to make their way -upon the roofs, and to attack or capture him there; but Zohrah, -light, active, and lithe, only waited to draw breath, ere he sprang -across the deep, dark gulf of another narrow street, then another, -and another. - - -* Night attack. - - -Meanwhile, forgotten and left to herself, Mabel, with terror, heard -all these hostile sounds dying away in the distance. Her just -indignation at Zubberdust for the cruel trick he had played, and the -new dangers amid which he had left her, had now passed away; and amid -the fears she had for her own future fate, she was too womanly, too -generous, and too tender of heart, not to feel intense compassion for -a single human being--a brave young man, too--hunted in this terrible -fashion from house-top to house-top, like a wild animal. Yet she -could but tremble, cower on her knees, utter pious invocations in -whispers, and, pausing, listen fearfully to the dropping fire of -shots and the occasional yells in echoing streets without, till a -firm and bold grasp was laid upon her tender arm. She looked up, and -found herself looked down upon by the hideous face of the Khond, then -lighted up by an indescribable expression. She remembered all she -had overheard, and all she had read in "Macpherson's Religion of the -Khonds," and she became well-nigh palsied with fear. - -"O my God!" she exclaimed, and closed her eyes. Then, that she might -see no more of that horrible visage, being dressed like an Afghan -woman, she instantly lowered her veil, according to the custom which -has prevailed in the East ever since the days when "Rebekah took one, -when she perceived Isaac coming towards her, and covered herself;" -but with a fierce, mocking laugh, the Khond tore it off, and, after -surveying her fully and boldly, went out, securing the panel of the -room behind him by a strong wooden bolt. - -Four, five, even seven streets were crossed in mid air, in a -succession of flying leaps, by Zohrab successfully, when, just as -breath was beginning to fail him, a shot from a juzail ripped up his -right thigh, rending the muscles fearfully, and the blood from a -lacerated artery issued in a torrent from the wound. - -"May the snares of Satan and the thunder-smitten be on the head of -him who fired the shot!" moaned Zohrab, as he reeled and staggered, -unable to leap again, while on the flat-terraced roof of a house he -had left there came swarming up several dismounted Dooranees, armed -with rifles, swords, and pistols. - -He faced furiously about: the roof was perfectly open, for there was -neither cornice nor parapet to crouch behind. He fired both his -pistols, and with each shot a man dropped in quick succession. At -the same moment several balls were fired at him; three struck him in -the body, and he sank half-powerless on his knees, but in -weakness--_not_ supplication. He hurled his pistols at his -destroyers, and then, lest any of them should ever possess his -beloved Ispahan sword, he snapped the blade across his knee as if it -had been brittle glass, and cast the glittering fragments among the -crowd below. - -In a piercing voice he exclaimed, as he threw up his arms. "Ei -dereeghâ, ei dereeghâ, oo ei dereegh! Would to Thee, O God, that I -had never been tempted--had never seen her!" and then inspired by -what emotion we know not, unless it were to seek succour for Mabel, -and to have her saved from the terrible Khond, he took off the cloth -of his turban, the last appeal a Mohammedan can make when imploring -mercy for himself or a friend, and was waving it above his head, when -a ball pierced his brain; he gave a convulsive bound upwards, and -fell dead and mangled into the street below. - -In half an hour after this, the head of "Zohrab the Overbearing" was -placed in the public Charchowk, beside that of the unfortunate -baronet, Sir William Macnaghten. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -THE SHADE WITHIN THE SHADOW. - -So one more dreadful tragedy had been enacted in that land of -bloodshed! - -Barbarous though she deemed the Mohammedan Afghans, she was to find -herself in the grasp of those who were more barbarous still--for -whose depth of cruelty there was no name--the Khonds, a race or tribe -whose sacrifices of human life, though not offered up in such numbers -as those of the Thugs, were done in a fashion quite as secret, and -known only to themselves, and whose existence, like that of those -subtle assassins, had become only known to the Indian Government of -late years. - -Powerless in the hands of Ferishta Lodi, the girl felt as if hovering -on the verge of some death of which she knew not the form or fashion, -save that it must be lingering, protracted, and horrible! - -Her past life, with all its peace, happiness, and ease, its gaiety, -luxury, brilliance, and good position, seemed to be, as it was -indeed, like a previous state of existence--as a dream; the horrible -present appeared alone the stern reality. Was her identity the same? -she asked of herself many, many times, in half-audible whispers; or -had she undergone that species of metempsychosis, or transmigration -of soul from the body of one being to the body of another, which is a -doctrine of the Indian Brahmins--of those Hindoos whom she was now -beginning to loathe? Was she no longer Mabel Trecarrel, a Christian -woman, a civilised European, who had a father, a sister, and so many -friends? Was the existence of Waller, or was her own, a myth? She -felt as if she was about to become insane, and, pressing her delicate -hands upon her throbbing temples, prayed God to preserve her senses, -whatever her ultimate fate might be. - -Surely, unknown to herself, she must have committed some great sin, -to be tortured thus, and thus punished, enduring here that she might -not endure hereafter, was her next idea. - -The six months or so which had elapsed since that stirring morning on -which the army, under its aged and dying general, with its mighty -encumbrance of camp-followers, began its homeward march for India -from the old familiar cantonments seemed as so many ages to Mabel -Trecarrel now! So many well-known faces and happy existences had -been swept away; so complete a change had come over all the few who -survived, and their prospects seemed so strange and dark. So much -misery, so many sent to untimely deaths--it could not be said to -their graves, as the Afghans never interred one of our dead. - -What did it all mean? Why did Heaven so persecute, or leave to their -fate, so many Christians in the hands of utter infidels? - -Voices again roused her to action--at least to listen. - -They were those of the Khond and the Hindoo conversing in Hindostanee. - -"So, so," said the former, chuckling, "all is over with Zohrab; he -can 'overbear' no longer." - -"Yes; the head he carried so proudly is gone to the gate of the -Char-chowk; but the Kuzzilbashes are still in the street, and I wish -they were gone to their own quarter." - -"Why?" - -"They may take a fancy to our heads, too." - -"Why, I say?" asked the Khond, fiercely. - -"Can you ask?--if the Feringhee woman is not forthcoming." - -"She is mine, and I have saved my two hundred tomauns." - -"How yours?" - -"Zohrab is gone; none seem to know that she is here; and you will be -silent, if you are wise. Ackbar Khan would like an excuse to plunder -a schroff so rich as you; hence you must, I know, be silent." - -The last words sounded more like a threat than an advice or an -entreaty, as the voice of the fierce Khond accentuated them; the sly -Hindoo, however, made some evasive response, and then Mabel heard him -draw on his slippers and tunic and shuffle from the room. Where he -went she knew not; but, after a time, with an exclamation of anger -and mistrust, the Khond tossed aside the mouth-piece of his -hubble-bubble, and followed him. - -So the Kuzzilbashes were still in the adjacent streets! Could she -but reach them! They were gallant and soldierly fellows, though, -till of late, as bitter foes of the British troops as any tribe in -the country. But now the politics of their Khan had begun to change, -and he had kept aloof from Ackbar and his interests. She once more -applied herself to the windows. Many dark figures were hovering -about in the street, and looking up at the house. Who or what these -people were she knew not. The courtyard was quite empty; but she -heard the clatter of hoofs and the clink of arms, as horsemen rode -hastily to and fro in the main thoroughfare that led to the bazaar. - -She was in perfect darkness now. - -She sought feebly to draw or push down the panel that separated her -from the dewan-khaneh; but the wooden bolt secured it beyond all the -efforts of her humble strength to force a way; and she feared to make -the least noise, lest, by being caught in the act of escaping, she -might only accelerate her own fate. - -Breathlessly she listened! - -Sounds passed at intervals through the large and scantily furnished -chambers of the slenderly built house. The floors being all -uncarpeted, and the windows without draperies, in the fashion of the -country, the edifice was liable to produce strange echoes, and Mabel -strove to gather from these something of good or bad augury as they -fell on her overstrained ear. - -Ah, were she but once more back in the hitherto abhorred fort of -Saleh Mohammed--back to the sad companionship of the hostages--to the -shelter and counsel of her own sex and people! In the power of the -Khond she felt, truly and terribly, that if they had much to dread -and to anticipate when in the fort, she had much that was more -immediate to dread now; that within every shade there may be a deeper -shadow. Rose could never know her fate, or how she had perished in -seeking to rejoin her; and she might have to die and never know the -story of the younger sister she loved so dearly. - -Suddenly, amid her sad reverie, she heard the sound of heavy boots, -the brown-tanned jorabs of Afghan horsemen, and the cadence of -various guttural voices in the dewan-khaneh. Then a red light -streamed through the jointings of the panelled wall. The wooden bolt -outside was shot back; the great central panel slid down in its -grooves, and within the square outline it left, framed as if in a -picture, with the red smoky glare of an upheld torch falling strongly -upon him, stood the tall and grim but most picturesque figure of the -old Khan of the Dooranees, Saleh Mohammed, with one brown bony hand -thrust into his yellow Cashmere girdle, and the other resting on the -jewelled hilt of his sheathed sabre. - -His bushy beard concealed alike the form of his mouth and chin; but -his slender hooked nose, with arching nostril, his shaggy brows, and -keen eagle-like eyes indicated firmness, decision, and rapidity of -thought and action. He wore a loose and ample chogah of scarlet -cloth, lined with fine fur, and richly embroidered; a short -matchlock, beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl, was slung upon -his back, with a silk handkerchief bound over its lock for -protection; his girdle bristled with the usual number of elaborate -knives, daggers, and pistols; and he wore a green turban to indicate -his assumed or acknowledged descent from the Prophet. - -With something of kindness mingled with sternness, he held out a hand -to the drooping Mabel, and raised her from her knees; for she was -half sitting and half reclining, hopelessly and weakly, against the -wooden partition; and he saw how pale and piteous she looked. Now -old Saleh had several wives and daughters of his own in a secluded -fort among the Siah Sung Hills, and he was not without some -promptings of human sympathy in his heart. - -"Come," said he; "with me you are safe, and shall go back to your -friends. From Shireen Khan I have been told how Zohrab, that liar -who is now hanging over hell by the tongue, deceived you." - -She thankfully placed her hand in that of the Dooranee chief, for, -after the tiger-like visage of the Khond, his bearded face and -venerable aspect were as those of a father to her, and most -gratefully she welcomed him. - -The hint of the Khond, that Ackbar Khan, or some of the other Khans, -whose number was legion in Cabul, might confiscate his substance and -appropriate his hard-won mohurs, tomauns, rupees, and good English -guineas, had not been lost on the quiet and acquisitive Hindoo -banker, who had straightway betaken him to Mohammed Saleh in the -street, just as he was collecting his men to depart, and, to make his -peace with all, had surrendered Mabel, while, for some reason known -to himself alone, he had no future fear of Ferishta Lodi's anger. - -As Mabel was too weak to ride on a side-saddle, and to walk was, of -course, impossible, a palanquin was soon procured, and in that she -was rapidly conveyed by four bearers in the fashion to which she was -quite accustomed, away from the city, under the shadow of the great -Bala Hissar, past the tomb of Baber, and round between the Siah Sung -Hills and the Cabul river, once more to the fort of Saleh Mohammed, -where, just as day was breaking, she was roused from a slumber that -was full of painful visions and nervous startings, to find herself -welcomed by pure English tongues and by the embraces of her -companions in misfortune, the lady hostages of Elphinstone's hapless -army. - -A severe illness, consequent on all her delicate frame had undergone, -now fell upon Mabel--a nervous illness, which her friends were -without the means of alleviating, when on the, to them, most -memorable 25th of August, came the cruel order of Ackbar Khan for the -immediate transmission of all to Toorkistan, where he had condemned -them all to sale and slavery--an order consequent on his fury at the -retention of Jellalabad, and the combined advance of General Pollock -and Sir Robert Sale upon Cabul. - -So on that day, by horse, on foot, on camels, or in dhooleys, the -hapless females and children, a few accompanied by husbands and -fathers, the sick, the wounded, and the ailing, all in misery, in -tears, and despair, under Saleh Mohammed and a strong guard of -Dooranees, set forth towards the frontier of the land where they were -to be scattered and lost to their friends and to freedom for -ever--the land of Toorkistan, a name so vaguely given to all that -vast, lawless, and uncivilized region that lies between the plateau -of Central Asia and the shores of the Caspian Sea! - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -ROSE IN A NEW CHARACTER. - -Lovers are more interesting to each other than they can ever possibly -prove to third or fourth parties; yet we cannot preserve the unity of -our story and lose sight of Denzil and Rose Trecarrel, whose case and -circumstances were altogether exceptional; for, certainly, few lovers -have been precisely situated as they were, in this age of the world -at least. - -Yet the course of their love was not fated to "run smooth," though, -in the care of Shireen Khan, no such perils menaced them as those -which beset Mabel and her companion, or, still more, those who were -the immediate prisoners of Ackbar, unless we refer to the watch kept -on the Kuzzilbash fort, by some of the fanatical Ghazees, who, on -discovering that Feringhee prisoners were there, thought to add to -their own chances of salvation by cutting them off. - -In this late affair with Zohrab, Shireen had permitted Denzil to go, -armed and mounted, with a party of twenty Kuzzilbashes in search of -him and Mabel, round by the hills of Beymaru, the borders of the Lake -of Istaliff, and other places over which he and Waller had hunted and -shot together, often in the more peaceful time that was past. After -his months of seclusion and useless inactivity, Denzil, apart from -the natural excitement and anxiety resulting from the object in -view--the rescue of Mabel and reunion of the sisters--felt a joyous -emotion on finding himself once more an armed man, astride a -magnificent horse, and spurring like the wind along the steep -mountain slopes, through fertile valley and foaming river, at the -head of twenty soldierly fellows, in fur caps with red bags, flaming -scarlet chogahs, and glittering lances. - -Shireen had perfect confidence in according to him this unusual -liberty, knowing, as he said drily to the Khanum, his wife, that -"while they retained the hen in the roost, the cock-bird would not go -far off." He was surprised, however, that Denzil, when on this -expedition, could by no means be persuaded to wear his remarkable -yellow silk robe, with the embroidered letters and sphynxes, which -was supposed to be his war dress, or to indicate his rank as a great -Nawab or Bahadoor of the Queen of England. - -In the ardour of the chase, Denzil took a wrong direction, and -over-exerted himself to repair the error; he rode with his party -beyond Loghur, and the reach of all probable places where the -abductor was likely to be found; and then, at a time when the -midsummer sun was intensely hot, and the atmosphere filled with -steamy and miasmatic exhalations from the rice-fields, he swam his -horse through three rivers, at points where the water rose nearly to -his neck. - -A fever and ague--nearly regular jungle-fever--combined with some -other ailment, were the result of this rashness; and on the second -day after, Denzil found himself prostrate on a bed of sickness. - -By the Khan, he and Rose had been duly informed of the narrow escapes -of her sister; of the wile by which she had been lured from the fort -of Saleh Mohammed, at whose rage and want of circumspection the more -wary Shireen laughed heartily; of the trickery and reckless valour of -Zohrab Zubberdust, and the horrible schemes of the Khond, happily -averted by the timidity and avarice of the Hindoo schroff; and Rose -felt grateful to Heaven--intensely so in her heart--that her "dear, -dear Mab" was safe once more, or comparatively so, in the -companionship of sorrow--for such she knew it must inevitably be, -with Lady Sale, her widowed daughter, the widow of the Envoy, and -other captives of Ackbar; though, by chances she had not foreseen, -their meeting was delayed--she could only hope and pray, for a time. - -These episodes and the tenour of the life they all led in the -sequestered fort, with the daily looking forward to some startling -event or catastrophe, a battle, a revolution, even an earthquake, as -a means to set them free, seemed to tame down and sadden much of -Rose's constitutional heedlessness; besides, the illness of Denzil -was a genuine source for present sorrow and growing anxiety. - -He was alternately in a burning fever and then in icy perspirations; -he had intense pains in the head and loins, a heavy sickness, a -weariness over all his limbs, a listlessness of spirit, a general -sinking and rapid wasting of the whole system, with a thirst that at -times could not be alleviated by the simple sangaree or sherbet, -i.e., lime-juice and sugar, prepared for him by the Khanum. Denzil -inherited from his mother, Constance Devereaux, a more delicate -physique and nervous organisation than that possessed by his hardier -father; hence he was the more calculated to succumb to the subtle -ailment that had fastened on him now; but neither he nor those about -him thought of danger yet. - -The old white-bearded and black-robed Hakeem, Aber Malee, who -attended the inhabitants of the fort, and came thither from the city -every other day, on his donkey, prescribed decoctions of honey, which -is recommended by the Koran as a sovereign "medicine for man." He -did more: with intense solemnity, he copied many texts or -prescriptions from the pages of the same book, on strips of -parchment, then washed them off into a cup of water from the holy -well at Baher's tomb, and gave it to his patient to swallow; but -whenever he departed, Rose or Denzil tossed them over the window; so, -left thus, altogether without medical attendance, the disease took a -deeper and more permanent root. - -Rose had now gladly relinquished the Afghan female dress. Amid the -plentiful supply of plunder of every kind gleaned up by the -Kuzzilbashes in the track of the retreating army, were several -overlands bullock-trunks and portmanteaus filled with clothing. -Among these, some of which had doubtless belonged to her own lady -friends, Rose was fain to make selections; thus, one evening in June, -when the sun was setting behind the black mountains, throwing across -the broad green valley where the Cabul winds, their shadows to where -the old cantonments lay, and tipping with fire the conical hill that -overhangs the distant city, while Denzil, who had been dosing -uneasily on his hard native bed, was looking with a haggard eye about -him, he saw Rose seated near, at an open window, on a low divan, -dressed in a most becoming fashion, and consequently looking much -more like her former self. - -And as his bed, in the usual Afghan fashion, lay simply on the floor, -which had no covering but a _satringee_, or piece of cotton carpet, -he could see the whole of her handsome figure, as she reclined a -cheek upon her dimpled hand, showing one lovely taper arm bare to the -white elbow, while alternately idling over the pages of a European -book and furtively watching him, as he had slept, lulled over by the -drowsy hum of myriad insects at the open casement, and among the -brilliantly flowered creepers that clambered round it, a sound like -the murmur of distant water, or of the wind in an ocean shell, but -very suggestive of heat, of lassitude, and repose; yet Denzil, though -he had slept, felt more weary than ever. - -"Rose," said he, faintly. - -"Dear Denzil--you are awake again, my poor pet; you sleep but by -snatches," said the girl, closing her book and sinking on her knees -beside his pillow, which, with ready and gentle hands, she -noiselessly rearranged. - -"I have been thinking, Rose--that--that----" he paused. - -"What? Do not exert yourself." - -"That my presence must be full of peril to you!" - -"To me---how?" - -"This illness may be an infectious one." - -"I scarcely think so, Denzil; and if it were," she added, with a -smile of inexpressible tenderness, "if it were--what then?" - -"It might seize on you, darling Rose. Let one of those Kuzzilbash -fellows attend me; their lives are of no consequence, while yours----" - -"Is of value only to myself." - -"And to me, Rose--to me; how unkind!" - -He raised himself feebly on his elbow, and gazed at her with eyes -expressive of love and admiration. - -"Why, Rose, how well you are looking this evening--quite a belle too, -or a 'swell,' if one may speak slang," said he, with affected -cheerfulness. - -"And you, too, Denzil," said she in the same manner, kindly assumed, -but with an arrested sob in her throat, for she saw that in reality -he was more and more wasted, hollow-cheeked, and large-eyed than -ever, and that the tendons of his hands stood sharply out in ridges, -distinct to the eye, quite like those of an old man. - -His full, deep, dark blue eyes had in them an unnatural lustre; his -fair, curly hair had the same golden tint as usual, when the falling -sunlight touched it; but the Indian brown and the jolly English bloom -had left his once-rounded cheeks together, and they were now pale and -hollow indeed; and though he was very fair, and his mother had been -dark in eye and jetty in tress, something in his face and expression -recalled her now to Rose's memory, as she had seen her on that day, -when she and Mabel had visited the villa at Porthellick, and, in the -vanity of the hour, flattered themselves that they had condescended -mightily in so doing. Could they then have foreseen the present time -and circumstances? - -She gazed at him with great sadness, and great love, too, in her eyes -and in her heart; while he, in turn, looked up to her with love and -admiration too, and with somewhat of anxiety for her future. - -She was attired so prettily and suitably; for the season was summer, -and the month was June. - -No longer hanging dishevelled in the Afghan fashion, the splendid -ripples of her bright auburn hair were coiled up by her own clever -fingers in the European mode, and smoothly braided, as she was wont -to have them in happier times, showing all the contour of her fine -head, her slender neck, and delicate ears. She wore a simple loose -dress of white muslin, spotted with the tiniest of red rose-buds; and -through the delicate texture of this fabric the curved outline of her -shoulders and her tapered arms could be traced, whiter than the gauzy -muslin itself--a piquant species of costume, which made old Shireen -stroke his beard and mutter, "_Barikillah!_" (excellent!), as -expressive of great satisfaction, not unmixed with more admiration -than the Khanum relished. - -Rose was destitute of all ornaments, for everything she once -possessed of that kind had long since been lost or taken from her. -Her feet were cased in tight silk stockings and beautiful little kid -boots, laced up in front, and they peeped from amid a wilderness of -white-edged petticoats, that lay wreath upon wreath like the leaves -of a rose in full bloom; and, altogether, she was such a figure as -Denzil had not seen since the jovial days when he and Bob Waller had -smoked the calumet of peace together in the old cantonments, and were -wont to promenade at the band-stand which stood in the centre -thereof; certainly she was quite unlike what one might expect to see -in the residence of the Khan of the Kuzzilbashes, where the ideas of -the middle ages, and darker epochs still, have not passed away, and -things are pretty much as they were in the days of Timour the Tartar. - -Rose seemed intuitively to read something of all this in the -expression of Denzil's face; for she smiled, and, with one of her old -coquettish glances, kissed the tips of her fingers to him. - -Circumstanced as they were, Rose, no doubt, in time past had talked a -great deal of nonsense, and, seeing how necessary she was to Denzil's -happiness, Shireen Khan had relinquished much of her society at chess -in his favour; but who ever scrutinises very closely all that a -pretty girl talks about, or what male listener, or lover especially, -would care to analyse the logic thereof? The parting of charming -lips is ever pleasant to look upon, and the music of a sweet English -female voice is ever pleasant to hear, and never so sweet or so -seductive as when far away from home. And so thought Denzil, as he -lay upon his pillow, with heavy eye, with aching temples, and -throbbing pulses, listening to the prattle of Rose Trecarrel. - -Some books, picked up in the burned cantonments, had also been -brought to Rose by the Khan, though he suggested that the Koran, with -its hundred and fourteen chapters, ought to suffice for all the -literary, legal, and medical necessities of mankind, and womankind -too. Among those stray volumes was a copy of "Lalla Rookh," with -poor Harry Burgoyne's autograph on the fly-leaf, and with this she -had read Denzil asleep, reading steadily on afterwards, and kindly -fearing to stop, lest by doing so she might awake him; but now, -without her ceasing, he had restlessly stirred and roused himself. - -He grudged, even by necessary sleep, to lose by day a moment of her -society; for they could converse silently, eye with eye, without -speaking; for to lovers there is a dear companionship, an eloquence -even, in silence; and now the girl gazed upon her care with her eyes -and her heart full of love and tenderness, all the more that he, by -perfect isolation, was so completely her own, and that she could -minister unto him, as only a woman, a loving and tender one, can tend -and minister to the suffering. - -It was very strange, all this! - -To Rose Trecarrel it had seemed as if, once upon a time, the world -was quite running over with lovers. Now, her world was, oddly -enough, narrowed to the boundary wall and grassy fausse-braye of -Shireen Khan's fort. That a girl, in her extreme youth, chances to -have been, like Rose, a flirt, is no proof that she is incapable of a -very deep and enduring affection; it is often quite the contrary, and -Rose was just a case in point. Here, with her and Denzil, the pretty -biter was _bitten_. "A flirt," says one, who wrote long ago, "is -merely a girl of more than common beauty and amiability, just -hovering on the verge which separates childhood from womanhood. She -is just awakening to a sense of her power, and finds an innocent -pleasure in the exercise of it. The blissful consciousness parts her -ripe lips with prouder breath, kindles her moist eyes with richer -lustre, and gives additional buoyancy and swan-like grace to all her -motions. She looks for homage at the hands of every man who -approaches her, and richly does she repay him with rosy smiles and -sparkling glances. There is no passion in all this." It is the -first trembling, unconscious existence of that sentiment which will -become love in time. And Rose's time had come! - -So had it been with her, though her flirtations had bordered too -often on actual coquetry, thereby overacting the flirt, incurring the -sneers of the piqued, and accusations of heartlessness and vanity, as -one who loved the love-making, but _not_ the lover. She had now -become a veritable Undine--the type of everything that is amiable and -beautiful, tender and true, in her sex. Yet we are constrained to -admit that much of this sudden change might have been brought about -by the dire pressure of unforeseen events and calamities. In her -late term of bitter experiences, she, and all about her, had learned -palpably, that those they loved most on earth were merely mortal, and -might be, or had been, torn from them by cruel and sudden deaths. - -In her new phase of life, how completely her former had passed -away--been forgotten, with its balls, parties, picnics, dejeuners, -and promenades; its selection of dresses and colours, flowers and -perfumes; its promenades and drives; its fun and jollity; its -gossips, flirtations, and folly! All existence seemed merged or -narrowed now in two circles or hopes--the health of Denzil, and their -mutual restoration to liberty and safety! - -All her girlish foibles had passed away, and the genuine woman came -to the surface, when perhaps too late; for Denzil seemed too surely -to be sinking fast, and unwittingly, when his mind wandered in the -delirium of fever, he murmured things that he had heard amid the -banter of the mess-bungalow, and elsewhere, that stung her repentant -heart, and drew tears from her eyes. - -"Rose--oh Rose," he would say, "it can't be true all that Jack -Polwhele said, and Harry Burgoyne, of the 37th, too--but they are -dead, poor fellows!--and Grahame, and Ravelstoke, and ever so many -more." - -"What did they say, Denzil?" - -"That you flirted with them all--oh, no, no, no! And then there is -my cousin Audley--if indeed he is my cousin," he added, through his -chattering teeth, "he cannot love you as I love you! He must have -made a fool of many a girl in his time, while I--I love but you--even -as I told you on that day by the lake, when you--you said--what did -she say?--ask her, Sybil," he would add, looking up vacantly, yet -earnestly; and then the conscience of the listener would be stirred -to find that her thoughtless follies were remembered at such a time. - -"In his soul, he doubts me still," she thought. "My poor Denzil, I -was only flirting, as most girls do. It was only fun," she added, -aloud. - -"Yes, I am poor, and junior in rank, I know," he replied, catching a -new idea from her words, "too poor for her to love me, Sybil; I heard -her tell that fellow, Audley, so; and he--ah! he is the heir of Lord -Lamorna!" - -"Denzil, dearest Denzil!" then Rose exclaimed, in a low and earnest -whisper, putting an arm caressingly round his neck, and her tremulous -lips close to his ear, "you are certain to have been promoted by this -time, and doubtless the Queen will give you the Order of the Dooranee -Empire. I feel sure of it," she added, little knowing that all this -had already taken place. - -But, at the moment she spoke, an access of fever and weakness came -over poor Denzil; his bloodshot eyes moved, but he made no response; -and a fear began to come over her that he was passing away--slipping -from her love and her care--perhaps already far beyond caring now -either for promotion or "a ribbon at the breast." - -How she repented the past pangs her heedlessness had cost this honest -heart, we need not say; but as her eyes fell on a verse of "Lalla -Rookh," underlined in some old flirtation of Burgoyne's, she applied -it to herself; for now - - "Far other feelings love hath brought; - Her soul all flame, her brow all sadness; - She now has but the one dear thought, - And thinks that o'er almost to madness." - -On one occasion he became almost insensible; but whether he slept or -had swooned, she knew not in her despair of heart; and none of -Shireen's household could aid her, by advice or otherwise. At -dressing a sabre-cut with myrrh, or stanching a bullet-hole with a -bunch of nettle-leaves as a styptic, any of them would have been -ready and skilful enough; but with such an ailment as that of Denzil, -they were as useless as children, and apt to attribute it to magic, -or the spell of some unseen and offended genii; while, as fatalists, -they were disposed to commit the event to God alone. - -So the sorrow and apprehension of the lonely girl grew daily greater. - -"And this is the only man I ever loved; yet through me, or my -sister's cause--through _us_--has death, perhaps, come untimely upon -him!" Rose would say, wildly and passionately, and in a low, -concentrated voice, as she flung herself at the foot of Denzil's bed; -while all the horror of anticipated loneliness, if he should be taken -away, and she left, came upon her. How bitterly now she felt -punished for all the little follies of the past! - -His ailment was, certainly, one under which a patient may linger a -long time--nay, may seem to get well, and then again be worse than -ever, but which, in the end, too often slays. Hence, it is no wonder -that the humble Hakeem, Abu Malec--who believed that a verse of the -Koran written, washed off, and swallowed with reverence, must form a -sovereign remedy, even for an obstinate and benighted infidel--should -stroke his beard in sore perplexity and great wonder, and mutter-- - -"Thus it is that Allah seals the hearts of those who are steeped in -ignorance! Their doctrines are as a worthless tree, the roots of -which run on the surface of the ground, and hath no stability, and -the blast of heaven will overturn." - -"A tiresome old pump! For Heaven's sake, keep him away, Rose!" would -be the comment of the sick subaltern. - -And the latter had at times a secret presentiment that he would never -leave the fort of Shireen Khan alive; yet the conviction was sweet -that Rose had loved him, ere he passed away. She would never forget -him now: he felt sure of that. She might love _another_ in time; but -would that matter to him? To die, ere she was restored to the -society and protection of Europeans, was to leave her most lonely and -widowed in heart, and was his keenest affliction; yet he kept it to -himself, having no desire to distress her unnecessarily, though his -ravings sometimes indicated the prevailing thought, and the fear he -saw was in her. - -"I don't think I shall die this bout, Rose darling. I cannot have a -very deadly fever! I rode only forty miles--twenty to Loghur, and -twenty back--on Shireen's old brute of a Tartar horse, and smoked -about ten cheroots; but they were execrable--picked up among the lost -baggage; and--and you know, dear mother, they are thorough -disinfectants any way. Oh, no--I can't have a deadly fever. I shall -soon be better, dear, dear mother!" - -Thus, Rose would learn that his wandering thoughts had flashed far, -far from her, till the clouds that oppressed his brain would pass -away, and, all ignorant of past delirium, he would welcome her -presence with loving jet forced smiles, and seek to assure her, in a -voice that grew more husky and more weak daily, "that he was -better--oh, so very much better;" adding, "Ah, if we had but Sybil -here--or, rather, if we did but know what has become of her!" - -"Sybil--ah, would that I could but know of her! But she shall be my -sister, Denzil; for too surely, I fear, we shall never see Mabel -more!" - -"Don't say so. You and Mabel shall both be happy, I hope, long, long -after----" he paused. - -"After what, darling?" - -"After all these sorrows have passed away," said he; and though it -was not thus he had meant to close the sentence, Rose read his secret -meaning in his mournful eyes. - -There were times when he lay quiet, breathing hard and shortly, but -quite apathetic to all around him; and other times when he moaned and -muttered of his broken and desolate home--a home now no more; of -Cornwall, its moors and cliffs; of wanderings in Italy--the peaks of -the Abruzzi and the banks of the Arno; of his parents and sister; of -Rose--ever and anon it was Rose, and the day by the Lake of Istaliff; -all oddly confused together, till the listener's heart was crushed, -and she prayed on her knees, with bowed head, that he might be spared -for her, or that, while her unfelt kisses were pressed upon his brow -and cheek, she too might catch the same fever, and that they might -die and be buried together under the green turf, outside the Afghan -fort, where the acacia-trees were tossing their light, feathery -foliage in the wind. - -So thus would the sleepless hours of many a weary night of watching -pass away; the boom of brass cannon, mellowed by distance, would come -from the far-off Bala Hissar, indicating that dawn was breaking, and -pale Rose Trecarrel would know that the slow lingering hours of -another day of heartless sorrow were before her. - -One noon, however, a little hope dawned in her breast! The Hakeem, -Abu Malec, arrived with a stranger, whose fair European face belied -his Afghan camise and brown leather boots. - -"A Feringhee doctor Sahib has come from Cabul," said Abu Malec, not -without a spice of professional jealousy in his tone, while, to the -infinite joy of Rose, he introduced Doctor C----, of the 54th -Infantry, one of those gallant and devoted medical officers, who -volunteered by lot cast on the drum-head, to remain behind in that -place of peril, and attend to the wants of our sick and wounded -soldiers; so now she devoutly hoped that Denzil would have some -better treatment than that which resulted from mere superstition and -a dogged belief in that fatalism which is eminently Mohammedan. - -The doctor, an old friend, greeted Rose kindly, and with genuine -warmth--to exist was cause for congratulation then; next he turned to -Denzil, and, after a brief examination, shook his head despondingly, -to the intense satisfaction of the Hakeem, Abu Malec. - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -WITH SALE'S BRIGADE. - -Since that ill-omened hour and time of dread excitement, when on the -disastrous day in January the ladies and other hostages were handed -over to Ackbar Khan, their friends and relatives even in Afghanistan -knew nothing of their actual safety--who were living, who were dead, -or who were mutilated or disgraced by insults worse than death, on -the route towards Toorkistan; and now the beginning of September had -come. - -It was only known that Ackbar's orders to Saleh Mohammed were, "to -hurry them on their journey, and to butcher all the sick, and those -for whom there might be no speedy conveyance." - -Eight months--eight weary and harassing months of eager longing, of -fierce excitement, and impatience to avenge the fallen and rescue the -helpless--had passed ere the junction between General Pollock's -troops and those of Sir Robert Sale was fully effected, and the -advance upon Cabul, so long resolved upon, was once more begun, while -Nott was pushing victoriously from Candahar on the same point, -leaving Ghuznee in smoking ruins behind him. - -To Waller's mind, Mabel, though an ever-prevailing thought, had -become a kind of myth by that time--existent, yet non-existent, for -separation was a species of living death; and he could but pray that -she was still living, though in the hands of Ackbar Khan. So a sad -memory to many a husband was the face of his wife; so to many a -father were the voice and smile of his child; and all knew that on -their own swords, and the valour and resolution of their comrades, -depended the chance of their all being ever reunited again. - -Waller looked older than he was wont to do--older than his years; for -he had become, like many others serving there, more grave and more -thoughtful now. Fun and merriment were unknown in Pollock's army, -and laughter, like many another luxury, was as scarce. With -haversacks, canteens, and purses empty, and hard fighting in front, -life looks far from rosy. Waller had more than once detected a most -decided and long grey hair in his carefully cultivated whiskers. A -grey hair!--when improvising the back of his hunting-watch as a -mirror: his own elaborate rosewood dressing-case, with silver-mounted -essence bottles--the parting gift of a rich aunt, from whom Bob had -"expectations," was now degraded to the duty of holding -cooking-spices and stuffs for pillaus and kabobs in the kitchen of a -Khan; but the grey hairs--once upon a time he should have twitched -them out. - -"Bah! what do they matter now?" said he, and finished his toilet by -clasping on his waist-belt. - -Waller felt more than ever, from personal causes, inspired by an -ardour in the performance of his duty, and speedily became -distinguished as one of the most active and gallant officers on the -staff of Sir Robert Sale, a veteran whose uninterrupted career of -service dated back to the battle of Malavelly, where Harris defeated -Tippoo Saib, and the storming of Seringapatam, in the closing year of -the preceding century. Sale commanded one division in our Army of -Vengeance,--for such it deemed itself; General M'Caskill, a stern and -resolute Scotsman, led the other; and the whole under General -Pollock, on being reinforced by Her Majesty 31st, the 33rd Native -Light Infantry, the 1st Light Cavalry, all clad in silver grey, and a -train of mountain guns (the ghalondazees of which wore picturesque -oriental dresses), commenced the march towards the mighty range of -mountains that lie between Jellalabad and Cabul. - -McCaskill was in such feeble health that the brave old fellow had to -proceed at the head of his division in a litter borne by four Hindoos. - -Experience had taught our leaders the mistake of having the usual -mighty encumbrances of camp-followers, the tenting and feeding of -which formed the curse of our Indian armies; so, in this instance, -such appendages were greatly reduced. For tents, the palls or little -marquees of the sepoys were substituted. Save a single change of -linen, the soldiers carried nothing in their knapsacks; the baggage -of the officers was cut down to the smallest extent--Waller carried -his in a valise at his saddle--and three or four had to sleep under -one marquee. All the sick and wounded were left under a guard in -Jellalabad; and thus the army was trimmed, pruned, and fined down to -the active, well-armed, and lightly accoutred fighting-men alone. - -Hence the camp had no longer the aspect usually presented by those of -our Indian forces, as these usually exhibit a motley collection of -coverings, to ward off the baleful dews of night or the scorching sun -by day. Here and there a superb suite of tents or marquees, -surrounded by squalid little erections of coloured calico, tattered -cloths and blankets stretched over sticks and poles, even palm leaves -being improvised when they could be had; and amid all these congeries -of variously coloured masses, the flags of chiefs and colonels, the -bells of arms, horses, oxen, camels, and elephants, pell mell! - -A final act of individual cruelty, perpetrated by Ackbar Khan on a -poor Hindoo--the same schroff, or banker, whom Mabel had seen in -Cabul--greatly exasperated all ranks against him. - -Hearing that our troops had begun their march, this man, whose -nationality and sympathies led him to favour their interests, when -making his way towards them, was overtaken, and brought before Ackbar -in the castle of Buddeeabad, and was there bitterly upbraided as a -traitor. - -"Throw him down," he cried to his Haozir-bashes, and then drew his -sabre. - -Believing he was about to be beheaded, the wretched Hindoo implored -mercy. - -"Hold him fast," said Ackbar, baring his right arm to the elbow. -"What, dog of an idolater, you wish to see the Feringhees, do you?" - -By two blows of his heavy sabre, which was inscribed by a verse from -the Koran, he hacked off the feet of the Hindoo above the ankles, and -said mockingly-- - -"_Now_ you may go where you will: throw him out of doors." - -Cast forth, faint and bleeding, the poor wretch, tore his -turban-cloth into strips and staunched with them the hemorrhage, -enabling him actually to crawl on his hands and knees to our -outposts, where his appearance excited the bitterest feelings in the -breasts of all the troops, European as well as native. - -Rumour stated that Ackbar Khan was filled with alarm and rage, either -of which might prompt him to execute some of his terrible threats on -the helpless hostages; and that he was prepared for any extremity, -and to lay the land waste, was evinced by the alarming noises that -were heard in the Passes, ere our march began, and by the sky above -the mountain-tops being nightly reddened by the blaze of burning -villages which he destroyed, so that neither food nor shelter might -be found by an advancing foe. - -At the hill of Gundamuck, where there is a walled village surrounded -by groves of cypresses, Waller saw, with some emotions of interest, -the cave in which he lurked after the last fatal stand was made -there, and vividly came back to memory the despair of the final -struggle. - -As our troops began to penetrate into the recesses of those -mountains, whose names and features were so calculated to inspire -mournful thoughts in all who looked on them (for there had a British -army marched in, never more to come forth, being literally swallowed -up), they found, as before, the ferocious Ghilzies again in position, -and in thousands ready to defend their native rocks with all their -native ardour, inflamed by past triumph, the hopes of future plunder, -by fanaticism and pleasant doses of bhang; and from steep to steep, -and from ridge to ridge, from tree to tree, and hill to hill, they -defended themselves, and fought or died with stubborn and resolute -bravery, harassing our troops in front, in rear, and on both flanks. -Yet on pushed our columns: the dying and the dead fell fast, and -remained a ghastly train to mark the rearward route; but every life -lost seemed but to add to the pluck and hardihood of the survivors. - -The sputtering fire of the long juzails, concentrating to a roar at -times, filled all these savage defiles with countless and incessant -puffs of white smoke, that started from among the grey impending -rocks, where the great yellow gourds, the purple grapes, and the -scarlet creepers grew in wild luxuriance; from dark and cavernous -fissures and the green groves of the pine and the plane tree. Every -beetling crag was fringed with curling smoke, and streaked with fire, -scaring the mountain eagles high into mid air, while with every shot -that helped to thin our ranks the shrill cry of _Allah Ackbar!_ (God -is mighty) was echoed from side to side, to die upward, yet, we -hoped, to find no echo in heaven. - -A little way within the eastern entrance to the series of defiles, at -the village of Jugdulluck, where the mountains are between five and -six thousand feet above the sea's level, there was a peculiarly -fierce encounter; for there the Afghans, led by the Arab Hadji -Abdallah Osman, and inflamed to religious fury by his precepts and -mad example, had fortified the summit of the Pass by earthworks and -some of our own captured cannon; but, mounting the steep heights on -each side, the 9th and 13th Regiments turned the flank of their -position, and by the bayonet drove away the defenders amid terrible -slaughter, neither side asking or hoping for quarter. - -From point to point at other places were fierce contests; and now, as -our soldiers opened up with the cold steel those Passes which had -been closed to all Europeans for the past eight months, their onward -march--a series of prolonged conflicts, in fact--exhibited to them an -awful and harrowing scene. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -THE BATTLE OF TIZEEN. - -From out of the Passes, dark and shadowing, the reverberating echoes -of the adverse musketry roused black clouds of vultures, with angry -croak and flapping wing. It would seem almost as if all the obscene -birds of Asia had been wont to seek, for months past, this ghastly -place--to make it their undisturbed rendezvous; and such, no doubt, -it had been, for there, - - "Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown," - -all belted and accoutred in the rags of their uniform, just as the -death-shots had struck them down, and as they had fallen over each -other in piles, lay the remains of Elphinstone's slaughtered army. - -Close in ranks, as when living, in some places lay the ghastly relics -of the dead. In one spot, where the last stand had been made by Her -Majesty's 44th Regiment, more than two hundred skeletons lay in one -horrid hecatomb; and in the shreds of red cloth that flapped in the -wind, the buttons and badges, sad and agonizing were the efforts made -by officers and men to recognise the remains of some dear and jovial -friend, some true and gallant comrade in the times that were gone; -and it was all the sadder to reflect that most of the fallen had been -cut off in their prime, or even before it, as from eighteen to -twenty-six years is the average age of our soldiers on service. - -In too many, if not nearly all, instances the remains were headless, -the skulls having been borne off as trophies by the various mountain -tribes; and in some places the white bones lay amid purple, crimson, -and golden beds of those sweetly scented violets which the Orientals -so often use to flavour their finest sherbets. - -For miles upon miles it was but a sad repetition of whitening bones, -fragments of uniforms, and ammunition paper, bleached by the wind and -rain and the snows of the past winter, together with the shrunken -remains of camels, horses, and yaboos, from which the baggage and -other trappings had long since been carried off; and ever and always -in mid air the croaking and flapping of the ravening vultures, long -unused to be disturbed by the living, in that valley of solitude and -silence, death and desolation. - -Like many others, with a swollen heart, set lips, and stern eyes, -Waller reined in his horse, and would look round him from time to -time, in places where the dead lay thicker than usual. Our now -victorious army was marching in thousands over their fallen comrades, -yet with them Waller felt himself alone, and a man possessed by one -harassing thought. - -_His_ comrades were lying among those bones, through which the rank -dog-grass was sprouting--the companions of many a pleasant hour, the -sharers of many a past danger. The object of the loving, the gentle, -the tender, and the peaceful in England far away lay there, abandoned -skeletons, exposed to the elements, to whiten and decay like the -fallen branches of the forest. - -Orderly and quiet at all times, a deeper silence fell upon our -advancing troops as they traversed this terrible scene, a silence -broken only by the dropping fire maintained by our advanced guard -with the enemy's rear, under Amen Oolah Khan, till the leading -brigade of the first division on the road from Khoord Cabul to Tizeen -began to ascend the shoulder of a vast green mountain, named the Huft -Kothul, where the narrow and tortuous pathway reaches its greatest -altitude, rising above even the white mists of the deep and dark -green valleys. - -Even there, a portion of the path is overlooked by the Castle of -Buddeeabad, which has a frontage of nearly eighty feet, and walls so -lofty that the mountaineers attributed its erection, of course, to -the genii, under Jan Ben Jan, who ruled the world before Adam came. -It belonged to the father-in-law of Ackbar Khan, a Ghilzie chief; and -there had the unfortunate old General Elphinstone looked his last -upon the setting sun. - -Under the immediate directions of Ackbar and of Amen Oolah, the -Afghans, particularly the Khyberees, in their yellow turbans, the -Ghilzies and others, were in vast force, and they poured down such a -storm of bullets from rock and bank, cleft and fissure, that the -whole air seemed alive with the hissing sound, as they passed over -and, too often fatally, through our ranks. - -"Thirteenth Light Infantry to the right!--Second Queen's to the -left--extend!" were the instant orders of Sir Robert Sale to Waller -and his other aide-de-camp or secretary, Sir Richmond Shakespere, a -gallant and enterprising officer, of whom more anon; and away they -galloped to have them executed. Waller rode, like most of the -cavalry men, with a bundle of green corn over his horse's flanks, to -serve alike as provender and to keep off the flies; but, as he -spurred on to the head of the 13th Regiment, a shot from a jingaul -tore it away, and scattered it to the wind. By the bad gunnery of -the Afghans, their cannon-balls ricocheted in a way that would have -delighted Marshal Vauban, who originally invented that mode of -rendering a round shot doubly dangerous, a half-charge causing it to -roll, rebound, maim, kill, and cause more disorder than if fired -point blank; and hence the origin of the name, as _ricoche_ signifies -simply "duck and drake," the name given by boys to the bounding of a -flat stone cast horizontally on the water. - -The two aides delivered their orders in safety to the advancing -battalions, and the commander of each gave his orders for "three -companies on the right (it was the left for the 13th) to extend from -the centre." Cheerily rang out the Kentish bugles, and away went the -skirmishers, confident in their supports, with wonderful rapidity, -though the men were falling fast on every hand. They spread over the -green sunny slopes to the right and left, firing as they proceeded -upward, and swept over the hills in beautiful order, till the central -gorge was passed; then closing in by companies, and then in line, -each regiment began to fix bayonets, and mutually to utter that -hearty "hurrah!" which is ever the inspiring prelude to a charge of -British troops. - -Brightly flashed the ridge of bayonets in the sunshine, as on right -and left the red battalions came wheeling down the grassy slopes at a -resolute and steady double. The Afghans, though armed with bayonets -too, never waited to cross them, but turned and fled, with howls of -rage and terror, abandoning two English pieces of artillery. - -Then rang out the trumpets sharp and shrill, and giving the reins to -their horses, the 3rd Light Dragoons, all in blue uniform, with white -puggerees over their shakos, their long, straight sword-blades -flashing and uplifted, their heads stooped, their teeth set with -energy, and every bronzed face flushed with ardour, spurred on their -way; and as they rushed past at racing speed, Bob Waller, impelled by -an irresistible impulse, joined them. It was, indeed, a race to be -the first in the task of vengeance; for here and there, unchecked and -unrestrained, the privates, if better mounted, would dart in front of -the officers, as the true English emulous spirit broke out, each -seeking madly to outride his comrades, and be passed by none--so on -swept our Light Dragoons like a living flood. - -Right and left the trenchant sword-blades went flashing downward in -the sun, only to be uplifted for another cut or thrust, the -blood-drops flying from them in the air. - -In the scattered conflict--for such it became, when the ranks of the -charging cavalry were broken open and loose, every file acting in the -slaughter independently for himself, and keeping but a slight eye on -the motions of his squadron leader--Waller's attention was attracted -by a horseman who seemed to be in high authority, and whose figure, -arms, and equipment were not unfamiliar to his eye. The Afghan was -undoubtedly a brave fellow, and splendidly mounted on a spirited -horse, the saddle and trappings of which were elaborately embossed -and tasselled with gold, while at his martingale were four long -flying tassels of white hair taken from the tails of wild oxen. He -had on his left arm a small round shield, adorned by four silver -knobs; a dagger was in his teeth, and in his right hand a long and -brightly headed lance, with which he had succeeded in unhorsing and -pinning more than one of the 3rd Light Dragoons to the earth. He was -just in the act of cruelly repassing this weapon through one who had -fallen on his face, and who, in his dying agony was tearing up the -turf with his hands and feet, when both Waller and Shakespere rode at -him simultaneously, and sword in hand. - -From the writhing and convulsed body he extricated his spear with -difficulty, and turned furiously to face them, glancing and pointing -it at each alternately. He wore a steel cap, engraved with gold; a -sliding bar through the front peak, fixed there with a screw, -protected his face; and in the knob that held his plume--a heron's -tuft--there gleamed a precious stone of great value. - -For an instant, quick as lightning, he relinquished his lance, -letting it drop in the sling behind, while he drew a pistol from his -scarlet silk girdle, and firing it at Shakespere, he hurled it -dexterously at Waller, who ducked as it whizzed over his head. -Recognising now, however, with whom he had to deal, he cried, -fearlessly and confidently-- - -"Shakespere, as a favour, leave this fellow to me, and, with God's -help, I shall polish him off as he deserves!" - -"Shumsheer-hu-dust! (come on, sword in hand). Dog! thy soul shall be -under the devil's jaw tonight!" cried the Afghan with fierce -defiance, as his horse curveted and pranced. - -He was Amen Oolah Khan, and a splendid and picturesque figure he -presented in his brightly coloured and flaming dress, through the -openings of which his shirt and sleeves of the finest chain-mail, -bright as silver or frostwork on a winter branch, were visible, and, -as Waller knew, impervious to the swords used in our service; at the -same time he remembered that his pistols had both been discharged, -and were still unloaded. - -Shakespere reined back his horse, ready, if necessary, to second -Waller, to whom he handed a pistol, on the Khan firing a second at -him. Thus armed, Waller took a steady aim and fired straight at the -head of his antagonist. The latter, to save himself, by a sharp use -of the spur and curb, made his horse rear up, so that the bullet -entered the throat and spine of the animal, which toppled forward -with its head between its knees, just as Amen Oolah was coming to the -charge with his lance, the point of which, by the downward sinking of -his horse, entered the turf so deeply, that, by the consequent -breaking of the shaft, he found himself tumbled ignominiously in a -heap from his saddle, and at the mercy of Waller, who, dashing at -him, rained blow after blow, without avail, upon his steel cap and -mailed shoulders. - -The sabre of Amen Oolah had been broken in some previous conflict; he -had but one weapon left, the long and deadly Afghan knife, which, as -a last resort, he had clenched in his teeth, and with this, while -uttering a hoarse cry of rage and defiance, mingled with a rancorous -malediction, he rushed at Waller, and strove to drag him from his -saddle, spitting at him like a viper the while, and adding, -exultingly, - -"Ha!--your women are away to Toorkistan, to be the slaves of the -Toorkomans--their slaves of the right hand!" - -Waller, a finished horseman, was not to be easily dislodged, for he -had twice the bulk and strength of his adversary. Twisting the reins -round his left arm, he grasped the wrist of the hand which held the -menacing knife, and by a single blow of his sword across the fingers, -compelled the Khan to drop it. Heavy curses came from his lips, but -never once the word _amaun_ (quarter); he knew it would be useless, -and he disdained to ask it. No thought of mercy had Waller in his -heart, for he knew that if defeated he should have met with none; and -on this man's hands there might he, for all he knew, the blood of -Mabel Trecarrel, perhaps, of others certainty, and such surmises, at -such a time, were maddening. - -Barehanded now, the Afghan struggled like a tiger with his powerful -adversary, whom he strove to unhorse. Waller endeavoured again and -again to run him through the body; but the Sheffield blade bent, and -failed to pierce the fine rings of the Oriental shirt of mail, so to -end the affair, he smote the Khan repeatedly on the face with the -hilt of his sword, but the helmet bar protected him; then, by making -his horse rear, he endeavoured to cast him off, or kick him under -foot. - -Stunned and confused, the savage Afghan at last sank downward, and by -some mischance got his head into the stirrup-leather of Waller, whose -left foot was unavoidably pressed upon his throat; and as the horse, -terrified by this unusual appendage, plunged wildly, and swerved -round and round, the wretched Khan was speedily strangled, and sank -into a state of insensibility, from which he never recovered, as a -couple of the 13th passed their fixed bayonets through his body, and -one tore off his beautiful steel cap, from which Waller afterwards -obtained the jewel--a sapphire of great value. - -The cap itself, which was studded with those turquoises that are -found in the mountains of Nishapour, in Khorassan, he tossed to the -two soldiers, who proceeded at once to poke them out with their -bayonets. - -"If I ever meet my Mabel again, this sapphire shall be a gift for -her!" thought Waller, with a sigh of weariness, for his victory -brought neither triumph nor regret to his heart. - -It was afterwards remembered, as a curious instance of retributive -justice, that Amen Oollah Khan should die in the battle of Tizeen, -almost by the same death as that to which he put his luckless elder -brother, that he might succeed to his inheritance--strangulation. - -The whole affair occupied only a few minutes; but, long ere it was -over, the cavalry had swept far in pursuit, and Waller found himself -almost alone. On one side was savage terror; on the other, civilized -men thirsty for justice and vengeance; and so on all sides the -turbaned hordes were stricken down by those who felt that to them was -left the task of atoning for the betrayal and death of friends, -comrades, and relatives; and there, on the heights of Tizeen, the -standard of Ackbar Khan was trod in the dust, never to rise again! - -Once more the sun went down in blood upon the passes of the -Khyberees; but once again they were open, and the way to Cabul was -clear. - -Resistance had ceased; scarcely a single juzail shot was fired next -day, when, after halting for the night, our infantry began their -march beyond Tizeen, traversing, as the despatch has it, "those -frightful ravines, now doubly frightful because of the heaps of dead -bodies with which the narrow way was choked." - -Another junction was made with the victorious troops of General Nott, -advancing from Candahar and Ghuznee; and once more the green and -lovely valley of Cabul, bounded by the snow-clad peaks of Kohistan, -and threaded by its blue and winding river, came into view beyond the -black rocky gorges of the Siah Sung; and the morning sun shone red -and brightly on leaden dome and marble minar, on the walls of the -city, and the vast castellated masses of the Bala Hissar. The -uncased colours of horse and foot, European and Native, rustling in -silk and embroidery, were given to the pleasant breeze; the fixed -bayonets in long lines came like a stream of glittering steel out of -the dark mountain passes; the bands struck up, and once again the -merry British drums woke the same echoes that, ages upon ages ago, -had replied to the clarions of the conquering Emperor Baber, of -Mohammed, of Ghuznee, and even of Alexander and his bare-kneed -Macedonians. - -But still where were the captive hostages--the women and children? - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -TO TOORKISTAN! - -The pen of Scott would have failed to describe, and the pencil of -Gustave Doré to depict, the anguish of the poor hostages, when, at -the behest of Ackbar, and at the very time the long prayed-for -succour was coming, they were compelled to set out on their sorrowful -journey towards the Land of Desert. - -"Oh, my poor children--my helpless lambs--my fatherless little ones!" -one would cry, folding in her loving arms her scared, pale, and -half-starved brood, gathering them to her while they were yet _her -own_, "even as a hen gathereth her chickens." - -"My husband--my husband! shall we never meet again?" - -"My poor 'Bob,' or 'Bill,' or, it might be, 'Tom,'" some soldier's -wife would exclaim, "I shall never see the likes of you more, -darling;" for though Tom perhaps drank all his pay, and gave Biddy -now and then "a taste of his buff belt," he "was an angel, compared -to a naygur, anyhow!" - -But the majority of the hostages were ladies, and some of them were -like Lady Macnaghten and Sir Robert Sale's daughter, who were -widows--who had lost alike husband and children, and mourned as those -only mourn who have no hope. And now many a quaint pet name, known -best in the nursery ami to the playfulness of the loving heart, was -mingled with the most solemn of prayers. - -"Death--death were better than this!" would be the despairing cry of -some; and, ere their sad journey ended, death came to more than one -of that devoted band. - -For in one or two instances, despite the piteous entreaties of the -ladies, some soldiers--those very men whom the 13th had subscribed -their rupees at the drum-head to ransom--whose weakness from wounds -or bodily illness rendered them incapable of riding or marching were -shot by the wayside, and left unburied, even as so many lamed horses -or diseased dogs which were useless might have been. One or two, who -were weary of life, entreated to have it ended thus, and all whom the -Dooranees destroyed thus in obedience to Ackbar's orders and the grim -law, perhaps, of necessity, died peacefully and piously--sick of -their present existence, and hopeful of the future; but the women -screamed, lamented, and prayed, seeking to muffle their ears when the -death-shots rang in the mountain wilderness. - -Mabel Trecarrel was weak and ailing too, but she was much too -valuable a species of commodity to be shot out of hand, like a poor -Feringhee soldier, even though quite as much a Kaffir and infidel as -he might be; so she was tenderly borne in a palanquin which had been -found in the cantonments, and which contained every comfort and -appliance for travelling--little drawers for holding clothes or food, -and even a mirror, though she never looked at it. - -Like a few more, she was silent in her grief, and found a refuge in -tears. - -The wedded wife might utter loudly and despairingly the name of her -husband, and the parent that of the dead or absent child, finding a -relief for the overcharged heart in sound; but, even in that terrible -time, the poor betrothed girl could only whisper, in the inmost -recesses of her breast, of the lover she never more might see, and -gaze backward with haggard eyes on the features of the landscape with -which they had both become familiar--the hills of Beymaru, the ridges -of the Black Rocks, and the smiling valley of Cabul, as they all -lessened and faded away in the distance, while slowly but surely, -under a watchful and most unscrupulous guard, the train of prisoners, -on active Tartar horses or plodding Afghan yaboos, in swinging -dhooleys and curtained litters of other kinds, wound among the -mountains on their way to Toorkistan, the frontiers of which were -only about a week's journey distant. - -And what was the prospect before them? - -Separation and distribution, to be bartered for horses, or sold into -slavery and degradation; the few men among them, irrespective of -rank, to be the bondsmen, syces, carpet-spreaders, and grooms, hewers -of wood and drawers of water: the women, if young, to be the veriest -slaves of ignorant and unlettered masters, as yet unseen and unknown; -if old, to become nurses and drudges to the women of the Usbec -Tartars: and all these were Christians, and civilised subjects of the -Queen; many of them accomplished, highly bred, nobly born, and -tenderly nurtured. - -Terrible were the emotions of the English mother, who, circumstanced -thus, looked on her pure and innocent daughters and thought of what a -week might bring forth! - -Yet such were the fates before them--the fates that even the quickest -marching of our troops might fail to avert; for were not the Afghans, -as they heard, again disputing every inch of the Passes with a -desperation which proved that Lord Auckland's policy, and that of the -"peace at any price party" at home, would never have availed with -those who deemed diplomacy but cowardly cunning, treaties as trash, -bribes as fair "loot," and all war as legal fraud? - -The lamentations of the women at times, when mingled and united (for -grief is very infectious), roused even the usually phlegmatic Saleh -Mohammed, who rode in the centre of the caravan, perched between the -humps of a very high camel. - -"In the land to which you are going, of course, you shall find -neither Jinnistan, the Country of Delight, nor its capital, the City -of Precious Stones; neither will fruits and sweet cakes drop into -your mouths, as if you sat under the blessed tree of Toaba, which is -watered by the rivers of paradise," said he, half scoffingly; "but -you will see the vast sandy waste of the Kirghisian desert, which to -the thirsty looks like a silvery sea in the distance; and some of you -may happily see the city of Souzak, which contains five hundred -houses of stone, and I doubt if the Queen of the Feringhees has so -many in her little island. Barikillah! and you will see the black -tents and the fleecy flocks of the Usbec Tartars, for they are -numerous as leaves in the vale of Cashmere." - -And thus he sought to console them when, on the evening of the first -day's journey, they halted at Killi-Hadji, on the Ghuznee road (only -seven miles westward from Cabul), and so called from the killi, or -fort of mud that guards its cluster of huts. It was approached by -narrow and tortuous lanes overhung by shady mulberry-trees; and -there, beside the walls of the fort, they bivouacked for the night. - -The deep crimson glory of sunset was over; but the flush of the -western sky lengthened far the purple shadows of tree, and rock, and -hut, even of the tall camels, ere they knelt to rest, across the -scene of the bivouac, which was not without its strong aspect of the -quaint and picturesque, albeit the sad eyes of those who looked -thereon were sick of such elements, as being associated with all -their most unmerited miseries. - -Unbitted, with leather tobrahs, or nose-bags filled with barley, -hanging from their heads, the patient horses were eating, while the -hardier yaboos grazed the long grass that grew in the lanes and waste -places. - -Fires were lighted, and around them all of the Dooranee guard, who -were not posted in the chain of sentinels, sat cross-legged, smoking -hempseed, cleaning their arms, fixing fresh flints or dry matches to -their musket-locks; others were industriously picking out of their -furred poshteens those active insects of the genus _pulex_, called by -the Arabians "the father of leapers," while the flesh of a camel, -which had been shot by the way, as useless--its feet being wounded -and sore--sputtered and broiled on the embers for supper, and the -light from the flames fell in strong gleams and patches on the -strange equipment, the swarthy turbaned faces, and gleaming eyes of -those wild fellows, whose shawl-girdles bristled with arms and -powder-flasks, and some four hundred of whom were furnished with -muskets and bayonets. - -A spear stuck upright in the earth--its sharp point glittering like a -tiny red star--indicated the head-quarters, where, muffled in his -poshteen and ample chogah, with a piece of thick xummul folded under -him, Saleh Mohammed Khan, propped against the saddle of his camel, -prepared, with pipe in mouth, to dose away the hours of the short -August night. - -Most, if not nearly all, the lady captives, wore now, of necessity, -the Afghan travelling-dress, a large sheet shrouding the entire form, -having a bourkha, or veil of white muslin, furnished with two holes -to peep through; and with those who, muffled thus, sat in kujawurs, -or camel-litters, the semblance of their orientalism was complete. - -From time to time, dried branches or cass--a prickly furze grass -which grows in bunches--were cast upon the fire, causing the flames -to shoot up anew, on the pale faces of the prisoners and the dark -faces of their guards, till at last the embers died out and the white -ashes alone remained; and such was the scene which, like a species of -phantasmagoria, met the eyes of Mabel Trecarrel, when, in the still -watches of the night, she drew back the curtains of her palanquin and -looked forth occasionally. But the stars began to pale in the sky; -its blue gave place to opal tints; the sun arose, and after the -Mohammedans had said their prayers with their faces towards Mecca, -and the Christians with their eyes bent towards the earth or to -heaven, once more the heartless march was resumed, in the same order -as on the preceding day, through a pass in the mountains, and from -thence across the beautiful valley of Maidan. - -Saleh Mohammed, though a Khan, having once been a Soubadar in Captain -Hopkins's Afghan Levy (from which he had deserted to the party of -Ackbar Khan, at the beginning of the troubles), had some ideas of -military order and show: thus he had at the head of the caravan--for -it resembled nothing else--six Hindostanees, furnished with some of -our drums and bugles gleaned up in the Khyber Pass, and with these -they made the most horrible noises for several miles at the -commencement and close of each day's march; but even this medley of -discordant sounds failed to extract the faintest smile from the -hostages--even from Major Pottinger and the few soldiers--so sunk -were they in heart and spirit now. - -In the Maidan valley they rode between fields of golden grain -bordered by towering poplars and pale willows. Bare, bleak-looking -mountains undulated in the distance, and the poor ladies eyed them -wistfully. - -Were these the borders of dreaded Toorkistan? - -They proved, however, to be only a portion of the Indian Caucasus, -the extremity of which, the Koh-i-baba, a snow-clad peak, rises to -the height of sixteen thousand feet above the level of the Indian Sea. - -That night Saleh Mohammed chose a pleasant halting-place for them, -influenced by some sudden emotion of pity. There they were supplied -with plums, wild cherries, peaches, and the white apricot which has -the flavour of rose water. But ere morning there was an alarm; a -confused discharge of musketry was fired in every direction at -random, all round the bivouac; one or two bullets whistled through -it. A dhooley-wallah was shot dead, and several red arrows, barbed -and bearded, stuck quivering in the turf; yells were heard, and then -a furious galloping of horses passing swiftly away in the distance. - -It was a chupao--a night attack planned by some of the Hazarees, a -wild and independent Tartar tribe, whose thatched huts lie sunk and -unseen on the hill slopes, and on whose confines they had halted. -They are all good archers, and, though armed with the matchlock, -usually prefer the bow. - -They are bitter foes of the Afghans, and had hoped, by making a dash, -to cut off some of their prisoners; but Saleh Mohammed was too wary -for them, and on that evening had doubled his guards ere the sun went -down. - -The 2nd of September found the train traversing the Kaloo Mountain, -one in height only inferior to the Koh-i-baba. From thence, over a -vast chaos of wild and terrific hilly peaks that spread beneath them -like the pointed waves of a petrified sea, they could view, at last, -and afar off, the plains of Toorkistan--the land of their future -bondage; and anew the wail of grief and woe rose from them at the -sight. - -The following day, that the absurd might not be wanting amid their -misery, to the surprise of all, Saleh Mohammed appeared mounted on -his camel, not in his usual amplitude of turban, with his flowing -chogah and Cashmere shawls, but with his lean, shrunken, and bony -figure buttoned up in a tight regimental blue surtout, with gold -shoulder-scales, and crimson sash, frog-belt, and sword, all of which -had whilom belonged to Jack Polwhele, of the Cornish Light Infantry, -a tiny forage cap (which Jack used to wear very much over his right -ear) being perched on the back of his bald head, while the chin-strap -came uncomfortably only below the tip of his high hooked nose; and -thus arrayed he prepared to meet and, as he hoped, duly to impress -Zoolficar Khan, the governor of the town of Bameean, where the first -halt was to be made for further and final orders from Ackbar, as to -whether the hostages should be sold or slain; for now their custodian -began to have some strange doubts upon the subject, and now his -victims were fairly out of Afghanistan and in the land of the -Tartars, nine days of monotonous and arduous journey distant from -Cabul. - -We have lately seen the kind of mercy meted out to helpless hostages -by Communal savages in the boasted city of Paris--the self-styled -centre of civilization--and so may fairly tremble for the fate of -those who were in the hands of Asiatic fanatics on the western slopes -of the Hindoo-Kush. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -MABEL'S PRESENTIMENT. - -Mabel Trecarrel seemed to see or to feel the image of Waller become -more vividly impressed upon her mind, now, as every day's journey, as -every hour, and every mile towards the deserts of Great Tartary, -increased the perils of her own situation, and seemed to add to the -difficulties, if not entirely to close all the chances, of their ever -meeting again on this earth; and as Bameean, a rock-hewn city, the -Thebes of the East, and geographically situated in Persia, began to -rise before the caravan, when it wound down from the Akrobat Pass, a -deeper chill fell on her heart, for she had a solemn presentiment -creeping over her that there all her sorrows, if not those of her -companions too, should be ended. - -A laborious progress of several miles, during which her now weary -dhooley-wallahs staggered and reeled with fatigue, brought them from -the mountain slopes into a plain, damp, muddy, and marshy, where from -the plashy soil there rose a mist through which the city seemed to -shimmer and loom, shadowy and ghost-like. A great portion of this -plain was waste, and hence believed to be the abode of ghouls, -afreets, and demons, who, in the dark and twilight, sought to lure -the children of Adam to unknown but terrible doom. - -A gust of wind careering over the waste from the Pass, rolled away, -like a veil of gauze, the shroud which had half concealed the place -they were approaching; and with a mournful and sickly interest, not -unmixed with anticipated dread, Mabel and her friends surveyed the -city of Bameean. - -Rising terrace over terrace on the green acclivities of an insulated -mountain, the bolder features and details shining in the ruddy -sunlight, the intermediate spaces sunk in sombre shadow, it exhibited -a series of the most wonderfully excavated mansions, temples, and -ornamental caverns (the abodes of its ancient and nameless -inhabitants), to the number of more than twelve thousand, covering a -slope of eight miles in extent. - -Many of those rock-hewn edifices, carved out of the living stone -which supports the mountain, and are the chief portions of its -foundation and structure, have beautiful friezes and entablatures, -domes and cupolas, with elaborately arched doors and windows. Others -are mere dens and caverns, with square air-holes; but towering over -all are many colossal figures, more particularly two--a woman one -hundred and twenty feet high, and another of a man, forty feet -higher--all hewn out of the face of a lofty cliff. - -By what race, or when, those mighty and wondrous works of art were -formed, at such vast labour, no human record, not even a tradition, -remains to tell; their origin is shrouded by a veil of mystery, like -that of the ruined cities of Yucatan; so whether they are relics of -Bhuddism, or were hewn in the third century, during the dynasty of -the Sassanides, has nothing to do with our story. But the poor -hostages, as they were conveyed past those silent, dark, and empty -temples, abandoned now to the jackal, the serpent, and the flying -fox, with the towering and gigantic apparitions of the stone colossi -lookingly grimly down in silence, felt strange emotions of chilly awe -come over them--the ladies especially. To Mabel Trecarrel, in her -weak and nervous state, the scene proved too much; she became -hysterical, and wept and laughed at the same moment, to the great -perplexity of Saleh Mohammed, who was quite unused to such -exhibitions among the ladies of _his_ zenanali. - -Though stormed by Jenghiz Khan and his hordes, in 1220, after a -vigorous resistance, this rock-hewn city, by its materials and -massiveness, could suffer little; yet it was subsequently deserted by -all its inhabitants, who named it "Maublig," or the _unfortunate_. -After that time, its history sank into utter obscurity; its -once-fertile plain reverted to a desert state once more; yet -unchanged as when Bameean was in its zenith, its river of the same -name flows past the caverned mountain, on its silent way to the snowy -wastes where its waters mingle with those of the Oxus. - -In this remote place the captives were all, as usual, enclosed in a -walled fort which contained a few hovels of mud, where in darkness -and damp they strove to make themselves as comfortable as -circumstances permitted, with blankets, xummuls, and the saddles on -which they had ridden. - -The Dooranees of Saleh Mohammed had to keep sure watch and ward -there, for the Usbec Tartars are the predominating people, and, -though divided into many tribes, they are all rigid Soonees, with but -small favour for the Afghans; and the prisoners soon learned that the -unusual costume of Saleh Mohammed, instead of inspiring Zoolficar -Khan, as he had expected, with wonder, only excited in that sturdy -Toorkoman an emotion of contempt, that a Mussulman should so far -degrade himself by adopting, even for a day, the dress of a -Feringhee--a Kaffir; and they had something approaching to hasty -words on the subject, when, on the first evening of their meeting, -those dignitaries sat together on the same carpet under a date tree -in the garden of the fort, while slaves supplied them with hot -coffee, wheat pillau, pipes, and tobacco. - -There, too, had Mabel been borne on a pallet, by the express -permission of the Khan, that she might enjoy the sunshine; there was, -he knew, no chance of her attempting to escape; and to prevent any -covetous Toorkoman from playing tricks with the tender wares -entrusted to him, he had a double chain of sentinels with loaded -muskets planted round them, as Zoolficar Khan could perceive when -reconnoitring the place, which was outside the city of Bameean, but -immediately under the shadow of its temples and rock-hewn giants; for -Zoolficar, having learned that Saleh Mohammed was proceeding towards -the deserts with the captives to sell, to punish the men of their -tribe for interference in the affairs of Afghanistan, was not -indisposed to have the first selection from among them, and had -resolved to look over "the lot" with a purchaser's eye. - -He had already, over their pipes and coffee, broached the subject to -Saleh Mohammed; but the latter, undecided in everything, save that he -had to halt where he was for fresh orders from the Sirdir, Ackbar -Khan, would not as yet listen to any proposals for selling or -bartering, and eventually dozed off asleep, with the amber mouthpiece -of the hubble-bubble in his mouth, leaving Zoolficar Khan to amuse -himself as best he might. - -Mabel, weary and faint with her long journey of nine consecutive -days, though borne easily and carefully enough in a palanquin, lay -listlessly and drowsily pillowed on her pallet, under the cool and -pleasant shade of an acacia tree. Near her stood a tiny pagoda of -white marble, carved as minutely and elaborately as a Chinese ivory -puzzle; and before it was a tank wherein were floating some of the -beautiful red lotus, the flowers of which far exceed in size and -beauty those of the ordinary water-lily. - -The slender, drooping, and fibrous branches of the acacia tree, so -graceful in their forms and so tender in their texture, cast a -partial shadow over her, and, as they moved slowly to and fro in the -soft evening wind, by their rocking or oscillating motion predisposed -her to slumber; and so, ere long, she slept, but slept only to dream -of the past--the happy, happy past, for keenly did she and all who -were with her realise now that "it is the eternal looking back in -this world that forms the staple of all our misery." - -Anon, she dreamed of the monotonous swinging of her palanquin, and -the doggrel songs by which the poor half-nude bearers sought to -beguile their toil and cheer the mountain way; now it was of Waller, -with his fair English face, his handsome winning eyes, and frank, -jovial manner, retorting some of the banter of Polwhele or Burgoyne. -She was at her piano; he was hanging over her as of old, and their -whispers mingled, though fears suggested that the horrible Quasimodo, -the Khond, with his cat-like moustaches and mouth that resembled a -red gash, was concealed somewhere close by; then she heard cries and -shots--they were attacked by Hazarees, Ghazees, Ghilzies, or some -other dark-coloured wretches; and with a little scream she started -and awoke, to find that her veil had been rudely withdrawn--uplifted, -in fact--in the hand of a man who stood under the acacia tree, and -had been leisurely surveying her in her sleep with eyes expressive of -inspection and satisfaction. - -She shuddered, and a low cry of fear escaped her; for she knew by the -cast of his face, by his air and equipment, that the stranger was a -Toorkoman--the first who had come--by his unwelcome presence bringing -fresh perils, as she knew, to all the English ladies; yet he was a -handsome fellow, not much over five-and-twenty, and so like Zohrab -Zubberdust in aspect and bearing, that they might have passed for -brothers. - -Mabel feebly struggled into a sitting posture, and, snatching her -veil from his hand, looked steadily, perhaps a little defiantly, at -Zoolficar Khan; for he it was who, when his older host dozed off, to -dream of plunder and paradise, had proceeded to make a reconnaissance -of whatever might be seen of the prisoners and their guards; for it -might yet suit his interests or his fancy to cut off the whole -caravan in a night or so. Thus, a few paces from where Saleh -Mohammed was sleeping in the sunshine had brought him unexpectedly on -Mabel! - -He was a dashing fellow, whose dress was not the least remarkable -thing about him. His trowsers, of ample dimensions, were of bright -blue cloth, very baggy, and thrust into short yellow boots; he had on -three collarless jackets, all of different hues, and richly fringed -and laced; a large turban of silk of every colour, with a white -heron's plume, to indicate that he was a chief; a shawl girdle, with -sword, dagger, and long-barrelled awkward Turkish pistols stuck -therein, completed his attire. His keen, sharp Tartar features, -though suggestive of good humour by their general expression, were -not, however, without much of cunning, rakish insolence, and the bold -effrontery incident to a lawless state of society, a knowledge of -power, and much of contempt or indifference for the feelings of -others. He looked every inch one of those wild - - "Toorkomans, countless as their flocks, led forth - From th' aromatic pastures of the north; - Wild warriors of the Turquoise hills, and those - Who dwell beyond the everlasting snows - Of Hindoo Koosh, in stormy freedom bred, - Their fort the rock, their camp the torrent's bed!" - -He simply gave the scared Mabel a smile, full of confidence and saucy -meaning, and then turned away, leaving her a prey to emotions of -fear--a fear that might have been all the greater had she heard what -passed between him and Saleh Mohammed at the time when she, trembling -in heart and feeble in limb, crept back to the ladies' huts to tell -them, with lips blanched by terror, that "the first Toorkoman had -come!" - -And stronger than ever grew her presentiment within her. - -The craving to hear of the movements of the three British armies -which they knew to be still in Afghanistan was strong as ever in the -hearts of the captives--to hear the last, ere a barrier rose between -them and their past life; and that barrier seemed now to be the -mighty chain of Hindoo Koosh rising between them and the way to India -and to home. Long had they hoped against hope. Nott, and Pollock, -and Sale--where were they and their soldiers? What were they doing? -For the Dooranees would tell nothing. Had they and their forces been -destroyed in detail, even as Elphinstone's had been? Those yells and -noisy discharges of musketry, in which the captors at times indulged -in honour of alleged victories over the three Kaffir Sirdirs, on -tidings brought by wandering hadjis, filthy faquirs, and dancing -dervishes, could they be justified? Alas! fate seemed to have done -its worst! - -Surmises were become threadbare; invention was worn out. Each of the -poor captives had striven, by suggestions of probabilities and by -efforts of imagination, to flatter themselves and buoy up the hearts -of others; but all seemed at an end now. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -THE GOVERNOR OF BAMEEAN. - -Waking up Saleh Mohammed without much ceremony, the young Toorkoman -chief proceeded to business at once, but in a very cunning way, -commencing with another subject, like a wily lawyer seeking to lure -and throw a witness off his guard. - -"After a nine days' journey, Khan, you must be short of provisions?" -said he. - -"Oh, fear not for our presence here in Bameean," replied Saleh -Mohammed, leisurely sucking at his hubble-bubble, the light of which -had gone out; "every tobrah full of oats, every maund of ottah and -rice, we require shall be duly paid for." - -"You mistake me; I did not mean that." - -"What then? Bismillah! we are rich: the spoil of the Kaffir dogs who -come to Cabul has made us happy." - -Zoolficar's almond-shaped eyes glistened with covetousness on hearing -this. He reflected: the Dooranees were not quite five hundred -strong, and he could bring a thousand Tartar horsemen into the field; -hence, why might not all this plunder so freely spoken of, and these -slaves, two of whom he had seen (and they were so white and -handsome!), be his? - -"You propose to remain here for some days, aga?" he resumed, seating -himself cross-legged, and playing with the silken tassel of his sabre. - -"Yes." - -"Waiting for orders from Ackbar Khan?" - -"Yes." - -"His final firmaun, I think you said?" - -"Yes." - -"To advance or retire?" - -"Yes." - -"If he has proved signally victorious?" queried Zoolficar sharply, as -he grew impatient of these mere affirmatives, which were resorted to -by the other merely to give him time to think and sift the other's -purpose. - -"Wallah billah--victorious." - -"Yes--which, under Allah, we cannot doubt?" - -"Well, aga." - -"Then his orders will be to sell these hostages, I suppose?" - -"Yes--perhaps." - -"Where, Khan?--here in Bameean?" - -"No; they will bring larger prices nearer Bokhara." - -"But if he is not victorious?" suggested Zoolficar. - -"Staferillah! Then we must leave the event to fate; or my orders may -be----" and here even Saleh Mohammed paused ere he made the atrocious -admission that hovered on his tongue. - -"What--what?" - -"To behead them. Ackbar has sworn that none should live to tell the -tale of those who came up the Khyber Pass; and I must own that his -sparing these surprised me." - -There was a pause, after which the Governor of Baraeean said-- - -"And when may you expect those final orders?" - -"Or tidings, let us call them." - -"Well, well, aga, this is playing with words." - -"Tidings that shall guide me may come without orders," replied Saleh -Mohammed, glancing at the green flag of Ackbar which was flying on -the fort, and then half closing his eyes to watch the other keenly, -and as if to read in his face the drift of all these questions. "You -surely take a deep interest in these Kaffirs, Zoolficar Khan?" he -added. - -"I take an interest, at least, in two whom I have seen--in one -particularly." - -"The Hindoo ayah in the red garment?" suggested Saleh, pointing with -the amber mouthpiece of his pipe to an old nurse who was passing, -with two of the captive children. - -"The devil--no! One who is beautiful as the rose with the hundred -leaves--one with a skin as fair as if she had bathed in the waters of -Cashmere; an idol more lovely than ever adorned the house of Azor! -She was under yonder tree asleep, when I lifted her veil and looked -on her." - -"Allah Ackbar--now we have it!" exclaimed Saleh Mohammed, with -something between irritation and amusement. "Well, know, aga, that -to quote a Parsee or Hindoo banker's book in lieu of Hafiz might be -more to the purpose." - -"Perhaps so: we have more metal in our scabbards than in our purses, -in the desert here." - -"They have tempers, these Feringhee women, I can tell you," said the -Dooranee, with a quiet laugh. - -"So have ours, for the matter of that, and are free enough with their -slipper heel on a man's beard at times." - -"Ah! all women, I dare say, are like the apples of Istkahar, one half -sweet and one half sour," said the old Khan, shaking his long beard. - -"You must seek the well of youth again," rejoined the young -Toorkoman, laughing. "There is another Kaffir damsel whose voice -sounded sweetly, as if she had tasted of the leaves that shadow the -tomb of Tan-Sien," he continued, using in his ordinary conversation -figures and phraseology that seem no way far-fetched to an Oriental; -"yes, aga, tender and soft, for I heard her sing her two children to -sleep in yonder hut. Yet she may never have been in Gwalior," added -Zoolficar; for the lady was an officer's widow, young and pretty, -with two poor sickly babes; and the _tomb_ he referred to was that of -the famous musician, who once flourished at the court of the Emperor -Ackbar, and the leaves of a tree near which are supposed to impart, -when eaten, a wondrous melody to the human voice. - -"Then am I to understand that you have set eyes upon both these -prisoners?" asked Saleh Mohammed, his keen black eyes becoming very -round, as he seemed to make up more fully to the matter in hand. - -"Please God, I have. In a word," said Zoolficar Khan, lowering his -voice, "I shall give you a purse of five hundred tomauns for them -both--peaceably, and help you to plunder the Hazarees on your way -home." - -"And what of the Sirdir?" - -"Tell him they died on the way: moreover, I don't want the two -children--you may keep them." - -This liberality failed to find any approbation in Saleh Mohammed, who -affected to look indignant, and exclaimed-- - -"I am Saleh Mohammed Khan, chief of the Dooranees, and not a -slave-dealer, staferillah!--God forbid!" - -"Neither is Ackbar Khan--a son of the royal house of Afghanistan; yet -he has sent hither those people for sale, in _your_ charge--for sale -to the Toorkomans; and what am I?" - -"I have no final orders--as yet," replied the Khan, doggedly. - -"For their disposal, you mean?" - -"No." - -"For what, then?" - -"Simply to halt here; to act peaceably, but watchfully, Zoolficar -Khan--_watchfully_," replied the other in a pointed manner; "and -hourly now I may expect a cossid with a firmaun from Cabul." - -"The Hazarees are in arms in your rear, and, ere your cossid comes, -there may be a chupao in the night, and the fort may be looted." - -"By them, or your people?" - -"Nay, I said not mine, aga." - -"But you thought it," was the blunt response. - -"Who, save Allah, may pretend to know what another man thinks?" - -"Well, we are prepared alike to protect ourselves and to keep or -slay; yea--for it may come to that--to slay, root and branch, those -Kaffir hostages. I would not betray my trust, were you Kedar Khan -with all his wealth!" continued Saleh Mohammed, flushing red, and -speaking as earnestly as if he really felt all he said, while -referring to that ancient king of Toorkistan, whose fabled riches -were so great, that when on the march he had always before him seven -hundred horsemen, with battle-axes of silver, and the same number -behind, with battle-axes of gold. - -So far as slaughter was concerned, if that sequel were necessary, -Zoolficar Khan felt sure that Saleh Mohammed would keep his word; and -he was about to retire partially baffled, with his mind full of -visions for securing the plunder by a midnight attack on the -Dooranees, either while in the fort or when on the march; and he was -casting a furtive glance to where he had last seen Mabel, combining -it with a low salaam to his host, when, ere he could take his leave, -a strange figure on a foam-covered yaboo rode furiously into the fort -and dismounted before them. He was almost nude; his lean body, -reduced to bone and brawn, was powdered with sandal-wood ashes; his -hair hung in vast volume over his back and shoulders; his only -garment was a pair of goatskin breeches; a gourd for water hung by a -strap over his shoulder, and this, together with a long Afghan knife, -a large wooden rosary of ninety-nine beads, and a knotted staff, -completed his equipment. - -"Lah-allah-mahmoud-resoul-Allah!" he yelled, flourishing the staff as -he sprang from his shaggy yaboo. - -"We know that well enough, Osman Abdallah," said the Dooranee chief, -impatiently, to the Arab Hadji, for it was he who came thus suddenly, -like a flash of lightning; "but from whence come you?" - -"Cabul; or the mountains near it, rather." - -"To me?" - -"Yes, Khan, with a message from the Sirdir," replied this fierce, -wild, ubiquitous being, whose skin bore yet the scarcely healed marks -of Waller's sword-thrust, as he drew from his girdle a sorely soiled -scrap of paper, and bowed his head reverentially over it; for the -bearer of a letter from such a personage as the Prince Ackbar must -treat the document with as much respect as if he himself were present. - -"And what of the Sirdir?" asked Saleh, starting forward. - -"Allah kerim; he has been defeated by the Kaffir's dogs at -Tizeen--routed by Pollock Sahib--totally!" - -"Silence, fool!" cried the Dooranee, with a swift, fierce glance at -the Toorkoman, as he snatched from the hands of the Hadji, and -without a word of greeting or thanks, the little scroll, and then -opened it deliberately and slowly, as if the disposal of a flock of -sheep were the matter in hand, and not the lives or deaths, the -captivity or liberty, of so many helpless human beings. The missive -contained but three words, and the seal of Ackbar-- - -"_March to Kooloom._" - -And Zoolficar Khan, who peeped over his shoulder without ceremony, -had read it too. The beetle brows of Saleh Mohammed were close over -his fiery eyes, as he said, haughtily-- - -"Where is this place? I may ask, as you have read the name." - -"Kooloom--it is a steep, rugged, and perilous journey, Khan." - -"And what am I to do when I get there?" asked Saleh Mohammed, -ponderingly, of himself, and not of his companion. - -"But you are not yet there," said the latter, in a low voice. - -"How--what do you mean?" - -"The way may be beset. Have I not said that it is perilous?" - -"Well, perhaps we shall not go," replied the other, with an -unfathomable smile; and with low salaams they separated, each quite -ready for and prepared to outwit the other. - -One fact they had both learned: Ackbar Khan was defeated, and not -victorious! - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -THE ALARM. - -"Then you have seen the fighting against the Kaffirs, I suppose?" -asked Saleh Mohammed, grimly. - -"Seen! Nay, Khan, I fought against them in person; at Jugdulluck, -the defence of the village was entrusted to me----" - -"And lost by a Hadji," said the Khan, with a sneer. - -"Yes, even as the heights of Tizeen were lost by a Khan," retorted -the other. - -"A Khan--who?" - -"Amen Oolah--who was killed there." - -"Was the slaughter great?" - -"Of the Faithful, mean you?" - -"Yes: I ask not of the Kaffirs--may their white faces be confounded!" - -"The slaughter might remind Azrael, and the angels who looked on us, -of the Prophet when he fought at Bedr. It was not so great, of -course, as that of the Feringhees when they left Cabul; for Ackbar's -orders were then, that but one should be left alive, if even that; -but the white smoke, as it rolled on the wind, along the green sides -of the hills, and ascended skyward out of the deep, dark Passes, was -like that which shall precede the last day, and for two moons fill -all space, from the east to the west, from the rising to the setting -of the sun." - -"Silence!" grumbled Saleh Mohammed, who was full of earnest thought, -and in no mood for religious canting just then, as the orders of -Ackbar and the collateral news of his defeat perplexed, while the -hints and covert threats of the Governor of Bameean alarmed and -irritated him. "So this is all you know, Hadji Osman?" - -"All, save that I have a letter for Pottinger Sahib." - -"From whom?" asked the chief, sharply. - -"Shireen Khan, of the Kuzzilbashes." - -"Fool! why not speak of this before? Yet perhaps it is as well that -yonder Toorkonian dog is gone," exclaimed Saleh Mohammed, as he -impetuously tore the missive from the hand of the cunning Hadji, who -probably knew its contents; for a most singular leer came into his -repulsive face, as he watched the dark visage of the Dooranee, -seeming all the darker in the twilight now; for the golden flush was -dying in the west, and its fading light fell faintly on the rock-hewn -edifices and wondrous colossi that towered on the hill-slope above -the fort, one half of which was sunk in shadow. - -The Arab Hadji, as his creed inculcated, loathed the infidels, but -this loathing did not extend to their loot and treasures; he was not -indifferent to their wines and other good things (in secret, of -course), and he loved their golden English guineas and shining -rupees--their shekels and talents of silver--quite as much as any of -"the cloth" (not that he indulged in that commodity), the reverend -faquirs, doctors, and dervishes of enlightened Feringhistan; so, for -"a consideration," he had actually brought a message to a "Kaffir," -concerning the redemption of his companions. The letter briefly -detailed the victory of General Pollock at Tizeen, placing beyond a -doubt the rout of Ackbar, and his flight to Kohistan, and suggested -that the Major, in his own name and those of five other British -officers, who were prisoners with him, should offer to Saleh Mohammed -the sum of twenty thousand rupees as a ransom for all--especially the -ladies and children--the sum to be paid down on their release; and a -glow of triumph, satisfaction, and avarice filled the keen eyes and -face of the old Dooranee as he read over the words carefully thrice; -and then stroking his mighty beard, as if making a promise to -himself, and seeming already to feel the rupees loading his girdle, -he exclaimed-- - -"Shabash! Allah keerim! (Very good! God is merciful!) The Major -Sahib will act like a sensible man, and trust to my generosity. The -game of Ackbar--whose dog is _he_ now?--is about played out at Cabul; -he is checkmated--has not a move on the board. So Saleh Mohammed may -as well act mercifully, and treat with the Feringhee Major for the -ransom of his people." - -The night was passed as usual, after prayers were over, in stupor or -the wonted listlessness of despair, by the captives, who were crowded -all together in the mud hovels of the fort, their Dooranee guards -lying outside in their chogahs, poshteens, and horsecloths; but in -the morning they saw with surprise that a new flag--a scarlet -one--had replaced the sacred green, which had floated on the outer -wall at sunset. - -And each asked of the other what might this portend? It was the -signal that Saleh Mohammed had revolted from the cause of Ackbar -Khan; but of what his own movements or measures were to be they knew -nothing yet. This new feature in affairs bewildered and baffled the -ulterior views of Zoolficar Khan, who was still more surprised when, -soon after dawn, the old Dooranee, with a detachment of his people, -sallied from the fort, attacked and captured--not, however, without -resistance, some sharp firing, and use of the sabre--a whole convoy -of provisions which passed en route for Bokhara--an act of daring for -which he found it difficult to account, as it would be sure to rouse -the terrible Emir of that kingdom again these intruders in -Toorkistan; but doubtless, thought Zoolficar, the Afghan must know -his own plans and power best. - -Loth, however, not to pick up something in the broils or forays that -were so likely to ensue, he began gradually to muster his Toorkoman -followers, desiring them to draw to a head in a wood near the Bameean -river, about nightfall, to watch the Dooranees in the fort, and to -gall or attack them either in advancing or retiring therefrom; but, -ere dark came, there occurred what was to him a fresh source of -surprise, and to Saleh Mohammed of serious alarm, while it chilled -with a new-born fear the hearts of the prisoners, to whom Major -Pottinger had now communicated his letter, his promises and plans, -with all the tidings of the Hadji, thereby for a time exciting their -wildest and most joyous anticipations (at a moment when hope had sunk -to its lowest ebb) of freedom and restoration to the world: so -friends were rushing to congratulate friends, and weeping with -happiness, mothers were wildly clasping their children to their -breast, and all were giving thanks to God. - -Affecting ignorance of any change that had taken place in the mind of -the Dooranee, towards evening Zoolficar Khan in all his bravery, but -alone, rode to the gate of the fort, when, greatly to his wrath, he -was denied admittance by Saleh Mohammed in person. - -"Take care lest you are the dupe of your own fortune," said he -haughtily. - -"Covet not the goods of another, aga," responded Saleh, who had now -resumed his Oriental amplitude of costume. - -"Are we to understand that you have abandoned the cause of Ackbar?" - -"Fate has done so--wallah billah--why should not I?" - -"How now about Khedar Khan and his riches, O Saleh Mohammed the -Incorruptible?" laughed the Toorkoman. - -"Dare you mock me?" asked the Dooranee, scowling, with his hand on a -pistol. - -"No; but what means all this change since yesterday?" - -"It means that what is good for me may be bad for you? Who can read -the book of destiny? The same flower which gives a sweet to the bee -gives poison to reptiles?" - -"Does all this mean that you will neither sell nor barter?" asked -Zoolficar, shaking haughtily his huge turban and white heron's plume. - -"Exactly--that I will do neither," replied the Dooranee, with a -mocking laugh. - -"Then, by the hand of the Prophet, there perhaps come those who may -deprive you of all you possess!" exclaimed the young Toorkoman, with -fierce triumph, as he pointed suddenly along the road that led -towards the Akrobat Pass. - -The sun, now in the west, was shedding a lovely golden light along -the brilliantly green slopes of the mighty mountains, whose -snow-capped peaks stood up sharply defined, cold and white, against -the deep, pure blue of the sky. The barren and desolate Akrobat -Pass, overhung by rocks of slate and limestone, yawned like a dark -fissure between the masses of the impending hills, and out of it a -cloud of white dust was now seen to roll, spreading like mist, and -increasing in magnitude like the vapour released by the fisherman in -the Arabian story from the vase of yellow copper on the seashore. - -On and on it came--onward and downward into the plain where the -Bameean river winds, and where the silent city of the Colossi towers -upon its rock-hewn hill. - -Bright points began to flash and gleam ever and and anon out of this -coming cloud of dust--points that could not be mistaken by a -soldier's eye,--and speedily the whole advancing mass assumed the -undoubted aspect of a great body of armed horsemen, whose tall spears -shone like stars, as they came on at full speed from the mountains! - -"Hazarees--wild Hazarees or Eimauks--by Allah!" exclaimed the -Toorkoman, gathering his reins in his hands; "a chupao--an attack on -you, Saleh Mohammed! Now look to your damsels and spoil, for you -will be looted of every kusira!"* - - -* An Afghan coin, worth about .083 of a penny, English. - - -With a shout of exultation and defiance, he wheeled round his horse, -and galloped away towards the wood and river. - -The Arab Hadji, Osman, declared these newcomers to be some Usbec -cavalry, whom he had seen but yesterday encamped by the side of the -river Balkh. - -"Kosh gelding! Usbecs, Toorkomans, or Hazarees,--let them come and -welcome; they shall not find us unprepared!" exclaimed Saleh Mohammed -through his clenched teeth, while his black eyes shot fire, and he -rushed away for his weapons, and, by all the horrible din that his -Hindostanee drummers and buglers could make, summoned his -quaint-looking followers to arms; for, in that lawless land, he knew -not whose swords might be uplifted against them now, as the downfall -of Ackbar would encourage all to make spoil of his adherents. Even -in the kingdom of Afghanistan there were bitter quarrels, and the -tribes were all divided against each other now. - -In a moment the fort became a scene of the most unwonted bustle. The -Dooranees are one of the bravest of the Afghan clans, and this party -of them prepared to make a resolute defence, and, if necessary, to -sell their lives as dearly as possible. Muskets, matchlocks, and -jingalls were loaded on every hand. The gate of the fort was hastily -closed and barricaded behind with earth, and an old brass 9-pounder -gun, covered with Indian characters--a perilous and too probably -honeycombed piece of ordnance, which was found in the place--was -propped on a heap of stones, just inside the entrance, where it was -loaded with bottles, nails, and other missiles, to sweep a storming -party. - -Meanwhile all the European male prisoners, under Major Pottinger, -were now armed to make common cause with their late guards; and among -them many a pale cheek flushed, and many a hollow eye lighted up once -more, at the prospect of a conflict, though the weapons with which -our poor fellows were armed were only quaint matchlocks, rusty -tulwars, and old notched Afghan sabres. - -And now in front of the column of advancing horse, two cavaliers came -galloping on at headlong speed, far before all their comrades, whose -ranks were loose and confused, and all unlike Europeans; so Saleh -Mohammed, his face darkened by a scowl, his eyes glistening like -those of a rattlesnake, and his white beard floating on the wind, -crouched behind the old and mouldering wall, adjusting with his own -hands a clumsy jingall, or swivel wall-piece, with the iron one-pound -shot of which he was prepared to empty the saddle of one of those two -adventurous riders--he cared not a jot which. - -Thus far we have followed Anglo-Indian history; and now to resume -more particularly our own narrative. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -TOO LATE! - -When Doctor C----, though the anxious and watchful eyes of Rose -Trecarrel were bent upon him, had shaken his head so despondingly, -and thereby gratified the professional spleen of the long-bearded Abu -Malec, he had done so involuntarily, and from sincere medical -misgivings that his aid had been summoned when too late; and with -tears in her eyes, did Rose needlessly assure him that, until she had -seen him enter the sick room, she knew not of his existence, or that -he had been permitted to survive. - -To this he replied by taking both her hands kindly within his own, -for he was a warm-hearted Scottish Highlander, and in turn assuring -her that, "until brought to the fort of Shireen Khan by the Hakeem, -he also had been ignorant of the vicinity of her and her companion; -but without proper medicines," he added, "little could be done--now -especially." - -Yet she hoped much. He gave her valuable advice, and the Khanum, -too, and promised to return without delay, and with certain -prescriptions, made up from his little store kept in Cabul for the -few wounded soldiers who were hostages there. He rode off, and -Rose's blessings and gratitude went with him. No curiosity as to the -relations of the nurse and patient--peculiar though their -circumstances--prompted a question from the doctor. That Rose should -attend the sick officer seemed only humane and natural. Who other so -suitable was nigh? And to find one more European--a friend -especially--surviving, was source of pleasure enough! - -The doctor retired; but, instead of hours, days went by, and he -returned no more; for on the very evening of his visit he was seized -and despatched, with all the rest, under Saleh Mohammed, to -Toorkistan. In another place the doctor was thus enabled to be of -much value to Mabel Trecarrel, and _en route_ towards the desert did -much to alleviate her sufferings, and restore her health; but the -assurance he gave her that he had seen her sister and Denzil -Devereaux too, and that they were safe--perfectly safe--in the -powerful protection of Shireen Khan, did more to this end than all -his prescriptions. - -But his advice ultimately availed but little the patient he left -behind, for Denzil grew worse--sank more and more daily; he had but -the superstition and follies or quackery of Abu Malec to interpose -between him and eternity. - -Terribly was Rose sensible of all this, as she sat and watched by the -young man's bedside in that desolate room of the fort; for it was -intensely desolate and comfortless, an Afghan noble's ideas of luxury -and splendour being inferior to those possessed by an English groom. -Save the bed on which he lay, two European chairs and a trunk brought -from the plunder of the cantonments, it was as destitute of furniture -as the cell of a prison; and, as if in such a cell, daily the square -outline of the window was seen to fall with the yellow sunshine on -the same part of the wall, and thence pass upward obliquely as the -sun went round, till it faded away at the corner, and then next day -it appeared again, without change. - -And there sat the once-gay, bright, and heedless Rose Trecarrel, the -belle of the ball, of the hunting-meet, of the race-course, and the -garrison, with a choking sensation in her throat, and a clamorous -fear in her heart, Denzil's hot, throbbing hand often clasped in one -of hers, while the other strayed caressingly over his once-thick -hair, or what remained of it, for by order of Doctor C----, she had -shorn it short--shorter even than the regimental pattern; and so -would she sit, watching the winning young fellow, who loved her so -well--he, whose figure might have served a sculptor for an Antinous -in its perfection of form, wasting away before her, with a terrible -certainty that God's hand could alone stay the event; and whom she -had but lately seen in all the full roundness of youth and health, -with a face animated by a very different expression from that now -shown by the hollow, wan, and hectic-like mask which lay listlessly -on the pillow--listlessly save when his eyes met hers, and then they -filled or grew moist with tenderness and gratitude, emotions that -were not unmixed by a fear that the pest, if such it was, that preyed -on him might fasten next on her. Then _who_ should watch over Rose, -as she had watched over him, like a sister or a mother? - -His head, in consequence of the blow he had received from the -pistol-butt of the fallen Afghan--the wretch he had sought to succour -in the Khyber Pass--was doubtless the seat of some secret injury; for -not unfrequently he placed his hand thereon and sighed heavily, while -a dimness would overspread his sight, and there came over him a -faintness from which Rose, by the use of a fan and some cooling -essences--the Khanum had plenty of them--would seek to revive him, -and again his loving eyes would look into hers. - -"Ah, you know me again," she would say, in a low soft voice, and with -a smile of affected cheerfulness; "you are to be spared to me, after -all, Denzil--we shall live and die together." - -"Nay--not die together, Rose: don't say die together, darling." - -"Why?" - -"That would be too early--for you, at least." - -"You deem me less prepared than yourself, Denzil. Perhaps I am; yet -what have I to live for now?" - -"Do not talk so, Rose." - -"God will take pity on us, Denzil, and will make you well and whole -yet," she would reply, and kiss the aching head that rested on her -kind and tender bosom; and with all the young girl's love, something -of the emotion almost of maternal care and protection stole into her -heart, as she watched him thus; he clung to her so, and was so gentle -and so helpless. - -"If--if--after this" (he did not say, "after I am gone," lest he -should pain her even by words)--"if, Rose, after all this, you should -ever meet my sister--my dear little Sybil--you will tell her of -me--talk to her about me, talk of all I endured, and be a sister to -her, for my sake--won't you, Rose?" - -"I will, Denzil--I shall, please God." - -"Oh yes--yes; one who has been so good to me, could not fail to be -good to her, and to love her for her own sake--for mine perhaps." - -And then Denzil would look half vacantly, half wildly up to the -ceiling, and marvel hopefully yet apprehensively in his heart where -was now that homeless sister, so loved and petted at Porthellick, and -whom we last saw crouching by the old cottage door near the stone -avenue, on that morning when her mother died, and when the cold grey -mist was rolling from the purple moorland along the green slopes of -the Row Tor and Bron Welli. - -Alas! her story Denzil knew not, and might never, never, know it. - -But he was beginning now to know and to feel that "the God who was -but a dim and awful abstraction before" seemed very close and nigh. -No fear was in his heart, however: he was very calm and courageous, -save when he thought of Rose's future, and how lonely and lost she -should be when he was gone. This reflection alone brought tears from -him; it wrung his heart, and made him the more keenly desire to live. - -No Bible or Book of Common Prayer had Rose wherewith to console -either the sufferer or herself; all such had gone at the plunder of -the cantonments and the baggage, and had likely figured as cartridge -paper at Jugdulluck and Tizeen; but no printed or hackneyed formulæ -could equal in depth or earnestness the silent yet heartfelt prayers -she put up for Denzil and herself. - -"My poor Denzil--poor boy! I never deserved that you should love me -so much: I have thought so a thousand times!" Rose would whisper -fervently, and, heedless of any danger from fever, and perhaps -courting it, place his brow caressingly in her neck, and kiss his -temples, as if he were a child, telling him to "take courage, and -have no fear." - -"Fear! why should I fear death, Rose?" he would respond, speaking -quickly, yet with difficulty--speaking thus perhaps to accustom -himself to the topic, or to accustom her, we know not which; "why -should I fear death, since I know not what it is? Why fear that -which no human being can avert or avoid, and which so many better, -braver, and nobler than I have so lately proved and tested in yonder -Passes?--aye, Rose, my mother too, at home--my father on the -sea--Sybil perhaps--all!" - -Then his utterance became incoherent, his voice broken, and Rose felt -as if her heart were broken too; for when he spoke thus, there spread -over his young face a wondrous brightness, a great calm; and the girl -held her breath, in fear, if not awe, for she read there an -expression of peace that denoted the end was near. - -All was very still in the great square Afghan fort and in the Khan's -garden without. - -The summer sun shone brightly, and the birds, but chiefly the -melodious pagoda-thrush--the king of the Indian feathered -choristers--was there; and the flowers, the wondrous roses of Cabul, -were exhaling their sweetest perfume. There the world, nature at -least, looked gay and bright and beautiful; but here, a young life, -that no human skill, prayer, or affection could detain, was ebbing -away so surely as the sea ebbs from its shore, but not like the sea -to return. - -If Denzil died, what had she to live for? So thought the heedless -belle, the half coquette, the whole flirt, of a few months past; but -such were "the uses" or the results of adversity. Was not the end of -all things nigh? Without Denzil Devereaux and his love, so tender, -passionate, and true, what would the world be? and her world, of -late, had been so small and sad! This love had been all in all to -her; and now all seemed nearly over, and nothing could be left to her -but forlorn exile and the gloom of despair. - -As there is in memory "a species of mental long-sightedness, which, -though blind to the object close beside you, can reach the blue -mountains and the starry skies which lie full many a league away," so -it was with Denzil; and now far from that bare and desolate vaulted -room in the Afghan fort, from the mountains of black rock that -overshadowed it, and all their harassing associations, even from the -presence of the bright-haired and pale-faced girl who so lovingly -watched and soothed his pillow, the mind of the young officer flashed -back, as if touched by an electric wire, to his once-happy home. -Again his manly father's smile approved of some task or feat of skill -performed by bridle, gun, or rod; again his mother's dark eyes seemed -to look softly into his; the willowed valley (that opened between -steep and ruin-crowned cliffs towards the billowy Cornish sea), the -little world of all his childhood's cares and joys, was with him now, -and with that world he was mingling over again in fancy, though death -and distress had been there as elsewhere; the hearth was desolate, or -strangers sat around it; their household gods were scattered, and -home was home no longer, save in the heart, the memory, of the dying -exile. - -And so, for a time, his thoughts were far away even from Rose and the -present scene. Far from the images that were full of the warlike and -perilous present, he was revelling in the past, and talked fluently, -confidently, and smilingly with the absent, the lost, and the dead. -Often he said-- - -"Lift my head, dearest mother; place your kind arm round my neck and -kiss me once again." - -And Rose obeyed him, and he seemed to smile upward into her face; and -yet he knew her not, or saw another there. - -Then he talked deliriously of his father's rights, of his mother's -wrongs, and of his cousin, Audley Trevelyan, till his voice sank into -whispers and anon ceased. - -This was what Shakspeare describes as the - - "Vanity of sickness! fierce extremes, - In their continuance, will not feel themselves. - Death having preyed upon the outward parts, - Leaves them invisible; and his siege is now - Against the mind, which he pricks and wounds - With many legions of strange fantasies, - Which, in their throng and press to that last hold, - Confound themselves." - - -He fell asleep; and, without prolonging our description further, -suffice it that poor Denzil never woke again, but passed peacefully -away... - -Rose sat for a time in a stupor, like one in a dream. Summoned by -her first wild cry, the Khanum was by her side now. - -Denzil, so long her care, her soul, her all, lay there, it would -seem, as usual--lay there as she had seen him for many days; yet why -was it that his presence, and that rigid angularity and stillness of -outline, so appalled her now? - -As the crisis so evidently had drawn near, strongly and wildly in the -girl's heart came the crave for medical, for religious, for any -Christian aid or advice; but there none could be had, any more than -if she had stood by the savage shores of the Albert Nyanza; and now -the dread crisis was past! - -So, from time to time the pale girl found herself gazing on the paler -face of the dead--of him who had so loved her--gazing with that -mingled emotion of incredulity, wonder, and terror, awe and sorrow, -which passeth all experience or description. - -There was no change in the air; there was no change in the light: one -was still and calm, and laden with perfume; the other as bright and -clear as ever: and the blaze of yellow sunshine poured into the room -precisely as it did an hour ago; but now it fell on the face of the -dead! - -And the clear voice of the pagoda-thrush sang on; but how -monotonously now! - -Rose was stunned, and sat crouching on the floor, with her face -covered by her hands, her head between her knees, and her bright -dishevelled hair falling forward in silky volume well nigh to her -feet. Ignorant of what to say, or how to soothe grief so passionate, -the Khanum, unveiled, hung over her in kindness of heart, but with -one prevailing idea--that the death of an idolater must be very -terrible; that already the fiends must be contesting for the -possession of his soul; that the prescribed portion of the Koran had -not been read to him; and even if it had been, what would it avail -now, till that day when the solid mountains and the soft white clouds -should be rolled away together by the blast of the trumpet of Azrael? - -So his last thoughts had been of his dead mother, as Rose remembered, -and not of her. Her father was dead; Mabel was gone to Toorkistan, -too surely beyond ransom or redemption: oh, why was _she_ left to -live? - -If the _sense of exile_ is so strong in the heart of the -Anglo-Indian, even amid all the luxuries and splendours of Calcutta, -the city of palaces--amid the gaieties and frivolities of -Chowringhee,--what must that sense have been to the heart of this -lonely English girl, far away beyond Peshawur, the gate of Western -India, beyond the Indus, fifteen hundred English miles, as the crow -flies, "up-country," from the mouth of the Hooghley and the shore of -Bengal--where the railway whistle will long be unheard, and where -Murray, Cook, and Bradshaw may never yet be known! - -Notwithstanding all that Rose had undergone of late, and all that she -had schooled herself to anticipate as but too probable, she was still -unable fully to realise the actual extent of the misfortunes that -threatened her. Much of that deep misery which Sybil had endured -elsewhere, when crouching in the damp and mist outside her mother's -door, came over Rose's spirit now. Henceforward, she felt that life -must be objectless; that safety or pursuit, freedom or captivity, sea -or land, must be all alike to her; and for a time her poor brain, so -long oppressed by successive sorrows and excitements, became almost -unconscious of external impressions, and she sat as one in a dream, -hearing only the buzz of the summer flies and the voice of the -pagoda-thrush. - -Suddenly another sound seemed to mingle with the notes of the birds; -it came on the air from a great distance. She started and looked -wildly up--her once-clear hazel eyes all bloodshot and tearless now. - -What was it? what _is_ it? for the sound was there, and she seemed to -hear it still, and the Khanum heard it too! - -Nearer it came, and nearer. - -It was the sound of drums--drums beaten in regular marching cadence, -coming on the wind of evening down from the rocky pass in the hills -of Siah Sung. - -Oh, there could be no mistake in the measure--British troops were -coming on; and how welcome once would that sound have been to the -young soldier who lay on his pallet there, and whose ear could hear -the English drum no more! - -She started to the window, and looked forth to the black mountains, -which, though distant from it, towered high above the Kuzzilbashes' -fort. The dark Pass lay there, its shadows seeming blue rather than -any other tint, as the receding rays of the setting sun left it -behind; but her eyes were dim with weeping and with watching now, so -Rose, with all her pulseless eagerness, failed to see the serried -bayonets, the shot-riven colours tossing in the breeze, or the moving -ranks in scarlet, that showed where the victorious brigades of -Pollock, Sale, and Nott were once more defiling down into the plain -that led to humbled Cabul. - -Welcome though their sound, they had come, alas, _too late_! - -The drums were still ringing in her ears; and this familiar sound, -like the voices of old friends, caused her now to weep plentifully. -Once again she turned to the bed where Denzil lay so pale and still, -his sharpened features acutely defined in the last light of the sun; -and she felt in her heart as she pressed her interlaced hands on her -lips, seeking to crush down emotion-- - - "So the dream it is fled, and the day it is done, - And my lips still murmur the name of one - Who will never come back to me!" - - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -THE PURSUIT. - -The same evening of this event saw the Union Jack floating on the -summit of the Bala Hissar, and our troops in or around Cabul, in the -narrow and once-crowded thoroughfares of which--even in the spacious -and once-brilliant bazaar--the most desolate silence prevailed. The -houses of Sir Alexander Burnes, of Sir William Macnaghten, and all -other British residents were now mere heaps of ashes, and their -once-beautiful gardens were waste. Human bones lay in some; whose -they were none knew, but they remained among the parterres of flowers -as terrible mementos of the past. - -Having, among many other trophies, the magnificent and ancient gates -of Hindoo Somnath with them, the victorious troops of General Nott -were encamped around the stately marble tomb of the Emperor Baber, -where the British were watering their horses at the Holy Well, -quietly cooking their rations of fat-tailed dhoombas or of beef, -newly shot, flayed, and cut up, after a long route; and the natives -were gravely boiling their rice and otta; while the staff officers, -Generals Pollock, Sale, Nott, Macaskill, and others, some on foot and -some on horseback, were in deep conference about a map of Western -India, and Bokhara, and as to where the hostages were, and what was -to be done for their relief, if they still lived. - -Waller, who in his energy and anxiety had come on with the advanced -guard of cavalry, looked around him with peculiar sadness. Save -Doctor Brydone and one or two others, he alone seemed to survive of -all the original Cabul force; and every feature of the place before -him was full of melancholy memories and suggestions of those he could -never see again, and of the past that could come no more. - -To Sir Richmond Shakespere, his new friend, he could not resist the -temptation of speaking affectionately and regretfully of the dead, -and the places associated with them. He found a relief to his mind -in doing so. - -"A time may come," said he, as they sat in their saddles twisting up -cigarettes, and passing a flask of Cabul wine between them, while the -syces gave each of their unbitted nags a tobrah of fresh corn, "when -these Passes of the Khyber Mountains may be as familiar to the -English tourist as those of Glencoe and Killycrankie are now--for -there was a day when even the land beyond them was a terra incognita -to us; and a time may come when the lines of railway shall extend -from Lahore even to Peshawar--ay, and further--perhaps to the gates -of Herat--though it may not be our luck to see it; but I can scarcely -realise that in our age of the world, an age usually so prosaic and -deemed matter-of-fact, men should see and undergo all that we have -undergone and seen, and in a space of time so short too!" - -Would a quiet home, a peaceful life, after a happy marriage, ever be -the lot of him and Mabel? Loving her fondly and tenderly, with all -the strength that separation, dread, and doubt and sorrow, could add -to the secret tie between them, he had almost ceased to have visions -of her associated with admonitions and prayer from a lawn-sleeved -ecclesiastic; a merry marriage-breakfast; a bride in her white bonnet -and delicate laces, and smiling bridesmaids in tulle. Such -day-dreams had been his at one time; but amid rapine and slaughter, -battle and suffering, they had become dim and indistinct, if not -forgotten! - -"Yes, Waller," replied his companion, after a pause, "a British -army--we have actually seen a British army, with all its accessories -and appurtenances, exterminated at one fell swoop!" - -"All this place is full of peculiarly sad memories to me, Sir -Richmond." - -"Doubtless; and, like me, you won't be sorry when we all turn our -backs on it for ever, as we shall do soon." - -"True. See! yonder lie our cantonments, ruined walls and blackened -ashes now; beyond them are the hills where, with my company--not one -man of which is now surviving, myself excepted--I scoured the -fanatical Ghazees from rock to rock, and far over the Cabul river, so -victoriously! Here, by that old tomb and ruined musjid, we once had -a jolly picnic: half the fellows in the garrison, and all the ladies -were there--the band of the poor 44th too. By Jove! I can still see -the scattered fragments of broken bottles and chicken bones lying -among the grass." - -"I have felt something of this regret when coming on the remembered -scene of an old pig-sticking party or bivouac," replied Sir Richmond, -with a half-smile at the unwonted earnestness of Waller, who had -seemed to him always a remarkably cool and self-possessed man of the -world; but he knew not the deeper cause he had for feeling in these -matters. "You may say, as an old poem has it-- - - 'Now the long tubes no longer wisdom quaff, - Or jolly soldiers raise the jocund laugh; - The scene is changed, but scattered fragments tell - Where Bacchanalian joys were wont to dwell.' - -Is it not so, Waller?" - -"By this road I smoked a last cigar with Jack Polwhele, of ours, and -Harry Burgoyne, of the 37th," resumed Waller. He remembered, but he -did not care to add, how broadly they had bantered him about Mabel -Trecarrel on the evening in question. "And all round here," he -resumed, pursuing his own thoughts aloud, "are the scenes of many a -pleasant ride and happy drive. Here I betted and lost a box of -gloves with the Trecarrels." - -"You seem to have always been betting on something with those ladies, -and with a gentleman's privilege of losing." - -"It was on the Envoy's blood mare against Jack Polwhele's bay filly, -in the race when Daly, of the 4th Dragoons, won the sword given by -Shah Sujah," said Waller, colouring a little. "There, by those -cypresses, I once met the sisters half fainting, one day, with heat, -their palanquin placed in the shade by the gasping dhooley-wallahs; -so, at the risk of a brain fever, I galloped to the Char-chowk for a -flask of Persian rose-water, fans, and so forth." - -"The Trecarrels again! By the way, it seems to me," said the other, -"that of all the friends you have lost, those two young ladies--one -especially----" - -What the military secretary of General Pollock was about to say, with -a somewhat meaning smile, we know not, save that he was heightening -the colour of Waller's face by his pause; but a change was given to -the conversation by the opportune arrival of Shireen Khan, of the -Kuzzilbashes, mounted, as usual, on his tall camel, and accompanied -by a few well-appointed horsemen. He had ascertained that -"Shakespere Sahib" was the _katib_, or secretary, to the victorious -Feringhee general, and had come to tender, through him, his services -to the family of the fallen Shah, to the conquerors, to the Queen -they served, and, generally, to the powers that were uppermost. - -Many of the Afghan chiefs, who, with their people, had acted most -savagely against us, were now extremely anxious to make their peace -with General Pollock; and though it can scarcely be said that towards -the end (after his own jealousy of Ackbar's influence, fear of his -growing power that curbed all private ambition, caused a coolness in -the Sirdir's cause) Shireen and his Kuzzilbashes had been our most -bitter enemies, yet he and they were among the first now to meet and -welcome the conquerors of Ackbar, against whom they had turned, not -as we have seen Saleh Mohammed meanly do, in the time of his -undoubted humiliation and defeat, but when in the zenith of his -power; and now this wary old fellow, who played the game of life as -carefully and coolly as ever he played that of chess, knew that the -protection he had afforded to Rose Trecarrel and to Denzil--the -supposed Nawab--must prove his best moves on the board--his trump -cards, in fact; and as a conclusive offer of friendship, he now -offered six hundred chosen Kuzzilbash horsemen to follow on the track -of Saleh Mohammed, and rescue the whole of the prisoners, a duty on -which Shakespere and Waller at once joyfully volunteered to accompany -them. - -"Shabash!" he exclaimed, stroking his beard in token of faith and -promise, "punah-be-Kodah!--it is as good as done; and the head of the -Dooranee dog shall replace that of the Envoy in the Char-chowk!" - -Waller soon divined that the lady now residing in Shireen's fort must -be no other than the younger daughter of "the Sirdir Trecarrel," who -was spirited away on the retreat through the Passes, on that night -when the Shah's 6th Regiment deserted; but of who "the Nawab" could -be he had not the faintest idea, until he and Shakespere galloped -there, saw the living and the dead, and heard all their sad story -unravelled. - -With her head, sick and aching, nestling on the broad shoulder of Bob -Waller, as if he was her only and dearest brother, Rose told all her -story without reserve, and it moved Waller and his companion deeply, -to see a handsome and once-bright English girl so crushed and reduced -by grief and long-suffering; yet her case was only one of many in the -history of that disastrous war. She ended by imploring them to lose -no time in following the track of those who had borne off her sister -and the other hostages. - -No words or entreaties of hers were necessary to urge either Waller -or Shakespere on this exciting path; and instant action became all -the more imperative when Shireen announced that he had sure tidings -from Taj Mohammed Khan, and also from Nouradeen Lal, the farmer, who -had been purchasing horses on the frontier, that all the lawless -Hazarees were in arms to cut off the entire convoy; and that if a -junction were once effected between them and the Toorkomans of -Zoolficar Khan, all hope of rescue would be at an end. - -The permission of the general was, of course, at once asked and -accorded, and it was arranged, that, immediately upon their -departure, a body of cavalry and light infantry should follow with -all speed to second and support them. - -Kind-hearted Bob Waller waited only to attend the obsequies of his -young comrade (while the Kuzzilbashes were preparing); and over these -we shall hasten, though of all the Cabul army he was, perhaps, the -only one interred with the honours of war; the battle-smoke had been -the pall, the wolf and the raven the sextons, of all the rest! - -The spot chosen was a little way outside the Kuzzilbashes' fort, on -the sunny and green grassy slope of a hill, where a grove of wild -cherry-trees rendered the place pleasant to the eye. From her window -Rose could alike see and hear the rapid ceremony; for by the stern -pressure of circumstances it was both brief and rapid. No prayer was -said; no service performed; no solemn dropping of dust upon dust; no -requiem was there, but the drums as they beat the "Point of War," -after the last notes of the Dead March had died away. - -The quick, formal commands of the officer came distinctly to her -overstrained ear, as the hurriedly constructed coffin of unblackened -deal, covered by the colour of the 44th Regiment, was being lowered, -as she knew, for ever, into its narrow bed; the steel ramrods rang in -the distance like silver bells, and flashed in the sunshine; then a -volley rang sharply in the air, finding a terrible echo in her heart, -while the thin blue smoke eddied upward in the sunshine; another and -another succeeded, and Rose--the widowed in spirit--as she crouched -on her knees, knew then that all was over, and the smoke of the last -farewell volley would be curling amid the damp mould that was now to -cover her lost one. - -Anon the drums beat merrily as the firing party, after closing their -ranks, wheeled off by sections, with bayonets fixed, and Denzil -Devereaux was left alone in his solitary and unmarked grave, just as -the sun set in all his evening beauty; and a double gloom sank over -the soul of Rose Trecarrel. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - -THE HOSTAGES. - -Swiftly rode Shakespere, Waller, and their six hundred Kuzzilbashes -on their errand of mercy, and midnight saw them far from the -mountains that look down on Cabul. Of all his five thousand horse, -old Shireen had certainly chosen the flower. All these men rode -their own chargers, and all were armed with lance and sword, -matchlock and pistols; all had their persons bristling with the usual -number of daggers, knives, powder-flasks, and bullet-bags, in which -the Afghan warrior delights to invest himself; and all wore the -peculiar cap from which they take their name--a low squat busby, of -black lambs'-wool, not unlike those now worn by our Hussars, and -having, like them, a bag of scarlet cloth hanging from the crown -thereof. - -To avoid all suspicion or attention _en route_, Waller and Shakespere -had cast their uniforms aside, and rode at their head _à la -Kussilbashe_, dressed in poshteen and chogah, and armed with lance -and sabre. - -The discovery of Rose Trecarrel--an event so unexpected and unlooked -for after all that had occurred--seemed to Waller as an omen of -future good fortune, and his naturally buoyant spirits rose as he -rode on. The expedition was full of excitement, especially for a -time: it was an act of courage, mercy, and chivalry, that all Britain -should eventually hear of; and Mabel was at the bourne, for which -they were all bound. Even poor Denzil, so recently interred, was -partially forgotten: soldiers cannot brood long over the casualties -of war, especially while amid them; and Denzil's death was only one -item in a strife that had now seen nearly fifty thousand perish on -both sides. - -However, let it not for a moment be thought that Waller was careless -of his friend's untimely end, his memory, or his strange story; for, -ere he left Rose, he had promised that as soon as he could write, or -get "down country" again, one of his first acts should be to seek out -and succour "this only sister" of whom poor Devereaux had always -spoken so much and so affectionately. - -When he parted from Rose, leaving her in the safe and more congenial -protection afforded by the European camp, she had not been without -one predominant fear. As friends had come too late to save or -succour Denzil, they might now, perhaps, be too late to rescue Mabel -and her companions from this new conjunction of enemies against them, -even in Toorkistan. Besides, Ackbar the Terrible, with the ruins of -his infuriated army, was to fall back on the deserts by the way of -Bameean, and thus, to avoid him, the two British officers, with their -Kuzzilbashes, at one time made a judicious detour among the hills. - -At Killi-Hadji, they found traces of the first halt made by the -caravan outside the old fort, where a shepherd had, as he told them, -seen the captives; thence by the mountain pass and the fair valley of -Maidan, where a Hadji bound afoot for the shrine of Ahmed Shah at -Candahar, the scene of many a pilgrimage, told them that the risk -they ran was great, as the Hazarees were undoubtedly drawing to a -head in the Balkh; and this was far from reassuring, as they were -conscious of having far outridden their promised supports. - -"Let us push on, for God's sake!" was ever Waller's impatient -exclamation at every halt, however brief; and even Sir Richmond -Shakespere, with all his activity and energy, was at times amused by -the restlessness of one who seemed by nature to be a rather quiet and -easy-going Englishman. - -"These are tough rations, certainly," said he, as they halted for the -last time near the Kaloo Mountain, and masticated a piece of kid -broiled on a ramrod at a hasty fire (broiled ere the flesh of the -shot animal had time to cool), and washed it down by a draught from -the nearest stream. - -"Tough, certainly; but we get all that is good for us." - -"If not more," added Shakespere, pithily; "for this is feeding like -savages--or Toorkomans, who drink the blood of their horses." - -"At a halt, when marching up country, I always used, if possible, -like a knowing bachelor, to tiff with a married man." - -"Why?" - -"You will be sure to find that he has some daintily made sandwiches, -cold fowl, or so forth, in his haversack: the women, God bless them, -always look after these little things. But that is all over now; we -are no longer in Hindostan. A little time must solve all this--the -safety of our friends----" added Waller, looking thoughtfully to the -distant landscape; and as if repenting of a momentary lightness of -heart, "I would give all I have in the world----" - -"Say all you owe," suggested Shakespere, smiling. - -"Well, Sir Richmond, that would be a round sum perhaps--to see them -all within musket shot of us. As for ransom, I have but my sword at -their service. I can't do even a bill on a Hindoo schroff, or raise -money on a whisker, as John de Castro did at Goa; but I can polish -off a few of those savages, as they deserve to be." - -The dawn of a second day saw them descending the mighty ridges of the -Indian Caucasus, and a picturesque body they were, with their bright -particoloured garments floating backward on the wind; their black fur -caps with scarlet bags, their dark, keen visages and sable beards, -their polished weapons and tall tasselled lances flashing in the -uprisen sun, as they galloped, without much order certainly, at an -easy but swinging pace, over green waste and grey rocky plateau, up -one hill-side and down another, now splashing merrily, and more than -girth deep, through the clear, sparkling current of some brawling -mountain nullah whose waters had been imbridged since Time was -born--their horses light in body, with high withers, fine and -muscular limbs, square foreheads, small ears, and brilliant eyes, and -to all appearance fall of speed, spirit, and a strength that seemed -never to flag. - -And sooth to say, the gallant Kuzzilbashes took every care to -preserve those qualities so desirable alike for pursuit or flight. - -At every brief halt, they were carefully unbitted, unsaddled, -groomed, and lightly fed, and picketed in the old Indian fashion, -with the V-ended heel-rope fastened round both hind fetlocks and -secured to a single pin; near cuts over the hills were taken, but -rivers were never forded or swum, unless the horses were perfectly -cool; once or twice, pieces of goat's flesh were rolled round their -bridle-bits; and hence by all this care, the cattle of the whole -troop, unblown and ungalled, were in excellent order, when, on the -fourth day--for their progress had been swifter than that of Saleh -Mohammed, as they were unincumbered by women, children, camels, and -ponies--they left the Kaloo Mountain behind, and ere long, without -seeing aught of Hazarees or Toorkomans, though always prepared for -them, they came in sight of Bameean, towering on its green mountain, -its elaborate but silent temples and great solemn giants of stone -reddened by the bright flood of light shed far across the plain by -the sun, which was setting amid a sea of clouds that were all of -crimson flame. - -In deepest purple the shadows fell far eastward; the gleam of arms -appeared on the walls of the old fort in the foreground, when Waller -and Sir Richmond Shakespere darted forward, by a vigorous use of the -spur, far outstripping their less enthusiastic followers. After they -had carefully reconnoitred the fort through their field-glasses, -Shakespere began to rein in his horse, and check its pace. - -"Waller," said he, "a red flag has replaced Ackbar's invariable -green, one on the fort. We had better parley." - -"But we have neither trumpet nor drum." - -"Nor would those fellows understand the sound of either, if we had; -but look out--pull up, or, by Heaven, we shall be fired upon! You -are rash, Waller, and in action seem quite to lose your head." - -"But my hand is ever steady--ay, as if this sword were but a cricket -bat," retorted Waller, whose blue eyes were sparkling with light. - -"True, my dear fellow; but to be potted now, when within arm's length -of those we have risked so much to save, would be a sad mistake." - -"Egad, yes; and that old devil with his jingall--for a jingall it -is--may speedily send one of us into that place so vaguely known as -the next world," responded Waller, as he tied a white handkerchief to -the point of his sword, and then Saleh Mohammed Khan was seen to -unwind and wave the cloth of his turban in response. - -By this action they knew that all idea of resistance was at an end, -and that they should be received as friends. The gates of the fort -were unbarricaded and thrown open, and many of the ladies now began -to appear, timidly but curiously and expectantly, thronging forward -to meet those whom they had been told were come "to meet and to save -them." - -Waller, who had manifested an air of blunt and soldierly resolution -and energy up to this period, now felt his emotions somewhat -overpowering, or perhaps he wished to see and hear something of -Mabel, before making himself known; so checking his horse, he -permitted Sir Richmond Shakespere, as his leader, to ride forward. - -Lifting his Kuzzilbash cap, his frank English face, though sunburned -and lined, beaming with pleasure and joy the while, - -"Rejoice," he cried, enthusiastically, "rejoice, ladies! Your -delivery is accomplished. Dear ladies and comrades, all your fears -and your sufferings are at an end!" - -There was no loud or noisy response; the emotions of all were too -deep and heartfelt for such utterances; and, with feelings which no -description can convey to the imagination, Waller and Shakespere -found themselves surrounded by the captives, male and female, exactly -one hundred and six in number, of all ranks--captives whom by their -energy, activity, and rapid expedition they had saved from a fate -that might never have been known; for the news of their arrival -caused Hazarees and Toorkomans alike to disperse, and even Zoolficar -Khan abandoned all idea of attempting to carry them off. - -The happiest moments of existence are perhaps the most difficult to -delineate on paper; but Bob Waller, as he folded Mabel Trecarrel -sobbing hysterically to his breast, laughing and weeping at the same -moment, despite and heedless of all the eyes that looked thereon--he -a thorough-bred Englishman, and as such innately abhorrent of "a -scene"--forgot the crowd, the Kuzzilbashes, the Dooranees, the -grinning grooms and dhooley-wallahs--he forgot all in the joy of the -moment, or by a chain of thought remembered only a passage of -"Othello," when, in garrison theatricals, he had once figured as the -Moor, with Harry Burgoyne for a Desdemona-- - - "If it were now to die, - 'Twere now to be most happy; for I fear - My soul hath her content so absolute - That not another comfort like to this - Succeeds in unknown fate." - -And Sir Richmond Shakespere, as he stood smiling by the centre and -blissful-looking group (now beginning clamorously to pour questions -upon him), ladies and officers, hollow-eyed, haggard, and pale, began -to perceive what had made Captain Robert Waller, of the Cornish Light -Infantry, take so deep an interest in the Trecarrels, and why he had -been the most active, energetic, and, so far as danger went, the most -reckless staff officer during our perilous advance up the Passes and -in the subsequent pursuit. - -Waller did not find Mabel quite so much changed as he had feared she -might be; yet she was the wreck of what she had been in happier -times--the tall, full-bosomed, and statuesque-looking English girl, -with clear, calm, bright, and confident eyes. The latter were still -bright, but their lustre was unnatural; their expression was a wild -and hunted one; her colour was gone, and her cheeks were deathly -pale. But all in the group of hostages were alike in those respects. -For many months, had they not been daily, sometimes hourly, face to -face with death? - -But Waller, as she hung on his breast and looked with eyes upturned -upon him, had never seemed so handsome in her sight: his form and -face were to her as the beau-ideal of Saxon manliness and beauty; but -his complexion, once nearly as fair as her own, was burned red now, -by the exposure consequent to the two last campaigns; his forehead -clear and open, his nose straight, his mouth large perhaps, but -well-shaped and laughing; and then he had in greater luxuriance than -ever his long, fair, fly-away whiskers; and, save his Afghan dress, -he looked every inch the jolly, frank, and burly Bob Waller of other -times, especially when, as if he thought "the scene" had lasted long -enough, he drew Mabel's arm through his, led her a little way apart, -and proceeded leisurely to prepare a cigar for smoking. - -"So Bob, dear, dear Bob, my presentiment has come true after all," -she exclaimed; "and this horrid Bameean has seen the end of all our -sorrows!" - -"But it was not such an end as this your foreboding heart had -anticipated, Mabel," replied Waller, caressing her hand in his, and -pressing it against his heart. - -Major Pottinger, who had now the command, ordered that all must -prepare at once to quit Bameean, and avoid further risks by falling -back on their supports, lest Ackbar Khan might come on them after all. - -To lessen the chance of that, however, the wily Saleh Mohammed, who -knew by sure intelligence from his scouts that Ackbar was to proceed, -with the relics of his army, through the Akrobat Pass into the Balkh, -advised that all should take a circuitous route towards Cabul; and -this suggestion was at once adopted by the now-happy hostages and the -escort. - -Two days afterwards, as they were traversing the summit of a little -mountain pass, their long and winding train of horse and foot guarded -by Kuzzilbash Lancers and the wilder-looking Dooranees, they came -suddenly in sight of those whom General Pollock had sent to meet and, -if necessary, to succour them. - -These were Her Majesty's 3rd Light Dragoons, the 1st Bengal Cavalry, -and Captain Backhouse's train of mountain guns, all led by Sir Robert -Sale in person; and who might describe the joy of that meeting, when -the rescued hostages cast their eager eyes and hands towards them in -joy, and when they saw the old familiar uniforms covering all the -green slope, while the cavalry came galloping and the infantry -rushing tumultuously towards them! - -The dragoons sprang from their horses, the infantry broke their -ranks, and the men of the 13th Light Infantry crowded round the wife -of their colonel and the other rescued ladies, holding out their hard -brown hands in welcome; eyes were glistening, lips quivering, and -many a hurrah was, for a time, half choked by emotion and sympathy, -while officers and soldiers again and again shook hands like brothers -that had been long parted. - -Friends now met friends from whom they had been so long and painfully -separated; wives threw themselves exultingly and passionately into -the arms of their husbands; daughters leaned upon their fathers' -breasts and wept. Many there were whose widowed hearts had none to -meet them there; and many an orphan child stretched forth its little -hands to the ranks wherein its father marched no more, though some -might give a kiss or a caress to "Tom Brown's little 'un--Tom that -was killed at Ghuznee," or to the "little lass of Corporal -Smith--poor Jack that was killed with his missus at Khoord Cabul;" -but these sad episodes were soon forgotten amid the general joy. - -Wheeled round on the mountain slope, the artillery thundered forth a -royal salute; muskets and swords were brandished in the sunshine; -caps tossed up, to be caught and tossed up again; reiterated English -cheers woke the echoes of the hills of Jubeaiz, which seemed to -repeat the sounds of joy to the winds again and again. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -THE DURBAR. - -"Coincidence," saith Ouida, "is a god that greatly influences human -affairs;" and the sequel to our story will prove the truth of this -trite aphorism, when we now change the scene from Cabul to our -cantonment, in the territory between the Sutledge and the Jumna--to -the Court Sanatorium of Bengal--the country mansion of the -Governor-General at Simla, a beautiful little town of some five -hundred houses, built on the slope of the mighty Himalayas, where, -amid a veritable forest of oak, evergreens, and rhododendron, and the -loveliest flora a temperate zone can produce, surrounded by that -wondrous assemblage of snow-covered peaks that rise in every -imaginable shape (a portion of those bulwarks of the world, that -slope from the left bank of the Indus away to the steppes of Tartary -and the marshes of Siberia), the representative of the Queen retires -periodically to refresh exhausted nature, and mature the plans of -government in those cool and pleasant recesses, where the punkah is -no longer requisite; where one may sleep without dread of mosquitos -and green bugs, nor welcome cold tea at noon as preferable to iced -champagne. - -By the time that Audley Trevelyan had reached this occasional seat of -government--the Balmoral of India--Lord Auckland, whose vacillation -and mismanagement of the Cabul campaign gave great umbrage, had -returned to Britain, and another Governor-General had arrived--one -who boldly stigmatised the Afghan project of his predecessor (now -created an earl) "as a folly, and that it yet remained to be seen -whether it might not prove a crime;" and so Audley presented, of -necessity, the reports and Jellalabad despatches of Sir Robert Sale -to this new Viceroy, whose firmness of character and past promise as -a statesman gave a guerdon that we should yet retrieve all that we -had lost of prestige beyond the Indus; to which end he took the -executive power from the weak hands of those secretaries to whom it -had been previously committed, and resolved to wield it himself, -though he found in India a treasury well-nigh empty, an army -exasperated, and the hearts of men depressed by fears for the future. - -But tidings of the storming of Ghuznee by General Nott, of the -advance upon Cabul, the recapture of it after our victory at Tizeen, -and the rescue of the hostages, followed so quickly upon each other -to Simla, that soon after the arrival of Audley, he was informed that -as there would be no necessity for his return to Jellalabad, he was -to remain provisionally attached to the staff, either till he could -rejoin his regiment, or our troops re-entered the Punjaub--a little -slice of India, having a population equal to all that of England. So -by this arrangement he found himself a mere idler, a dangler attached -to the Viceregal court, where now the glorious war that Napier was to -inaugurate against the treacherous Ameers of Scinde was schemed out, -and where a series of reviews, dinners, balls, and a durbar, or -assembly of the native princes, was proposed to welcome Pollock's -troops when they came down country, and were once again, as the -Viceroy expressed it, in "our native territories;" and the programme -of all those gayeties was to be fully arranged when his lady and -other ladies of the mimic court arrived, after the rainy season, -which continues there from June till the middle of September, was -nearly over. - -On the first day of October, when her ladyship and the suite were to -arrive, the durbar of native princes was to be held, and the final -proclamation of the Governor-General concerning the affairs of -Afghanistan was to be read aloud and issued. As this was but an -instance of Anglo-Indian pageantry, though Audley Trevelyan rode amid -the brilliant staff of his Excellency, and it all led to something of -more interest, we shall only notice it briefly. - -The durbar was, indeed, a magnificent spectacle! On a great plateau -of brilliant green, smooth as English turf, that lies near the ridge -which is crowned by the white plastered mansions of Simla, dotted -here and there and finally bordered by dark clumps of heavily -foliaged oaks, towering rhododendrons, and over all by mighty, -spire-like Himalayan pines; it took place under a clear and lovely -sky, and the locality was indeed picturesque and impressive; for in -the distance, as a background, towered that wonderful sea of -snow-clad peaks, covered with eternal whiteness--peaks between which -lie the deep paths and passes that lead to Chinese Tartary, the -wilderness of Lop, and the deserts of Gobi. Here and there amid the -green clumps and gardens full of rare trees and lovely flowers, a -white marble dome, or a tall and needle-like minaret, each stone -thereof a miracle of carving, broke the line of the clear blue -cloudless sky. - -On this auspicious occasion all the Rajahs, Maharajahs, chiefs, -Maliks, Sirdirs, and other men of rank, from the protected Sikh -territory that lies between the Sutledge and the Jumna, and even from -beyond it, were present with their trains of followers, in all the -gorgeous richness of oriental costume, bright with plumage, silks, -and satins, brilliant with arms and the jewels of a land where -sapphires and diamonds, rubies and opals, seem to be plentiful as -pebbles are by the wayside in Europe. - -At the extreme end of the plateau stood the lofty, parti-coloured -tent of the Viceroy, with its cords of silk and cotton; within it was -placed a dais that was spread with cloth of gold, and covered by a -crimson canopy. On each side of his throne, ranged in the form of an -ellipse, were divans or seats for six hundred Indians of the highest -rank, while all the officers of the garrison, the guards, and the -staff, in their full uniform, with all their medals and orders, added -to the splendour of the spectacle, when chief after chief was -introduced, duly presented, and marshalled to his seat in succession, -amid the sound of many trumpets. - -Opposite this ellipse were ranged their followers, on foot or -horseback; and immediately in the centre of all, were drawn up in -line more than fifty elephants, stolid, and well-nigh motionless, -trapped in velvet and gold from the saddle to their huge, unwieldy -feet, bearing lofty and gilded howdahs, some like castles of silver, -wherein were the wives and families of some of the princes present. -All around glittered spears and arms; scores of dancing-girls were -there too, richly dressed, singing the soft monotonous airs of the -land in Persic or Hindoo-Persic; and a mighty throng of -copper-coloured natives, turbaned and scantily clad in a cummerbund -or the dhottie at most, made up minor accessories of the general -picture. - -Over all this, Audley, on foot and leaning on his sword, was looking, -glass in eye, with somewhat of the listlessness of the _blasé_ -Englishman; for he had been amid scenes so stirring of late, that -mere pageantry failed alike to impress or interest him. Neither -cared he, assuredly, for the address of the Governor-General, who was -announcing in the Oordoo language that, the disasters in Afghanistan -having been fully avenged, the army of the Queen would be withdrawn -for ever to the eastern bank of the Sutledge; then his glances began -to wander over the bright group of English ladies, so brilliantly -dressed, so exquisitely fair, to the eye accustomed so long to Indian -dusk, and who now attended the recently arrived wife of the -representative of British royalty. - -Among them was one whose face and figure woke a strong interest in -his heart. Her dress was very plain, even to simplicity--too much so -for such a place; her ornaments were very few, all of jet, and rather -meagre. All this his practised eye could take in at a glance; but -there was something about her that fascinated and riveted his -attention. - -Not much over nineteen, apparently, and rather petite in stature, she -looked consequently younger--more girlish than her years; but her -figure was graceful, her air indescribably high-bred, and having in -it a hauteur that, being quite unconscious, was becoming. Her eyes -were dark, her lashes long and black, her complexion colourless and -pure, and her thick hair was in waves and masses, dressed Audley -scarcely knew in what fashion, but in a somewhat negligent mode that -was sorely bewitching. - -Her face was always half turned away from where he stood; for she, -utterly oblivious of the Oordoo harangue of his Excellency, was -toying with her fan or the white silk tassels of her gloves, while -chatting gaily, confidently, and with a downcast smile to a young -officer of the Anglo-Indian Staff, and clad in the gorgeous uniform -of the Bengal Irregular Cavalry. - -That she was a beautiful girl, a little proud, perhaps, of the -_sang-azure_ in her veins, was pretty evident; that she might be -impulsive, too, and quick to ire, was also evident, from the little -impatient glances she gave about her, by a quivering of the white -eyelid, and an occasional short respiration; that she might be a -little passionate too, if thwarted, was suggested by the curve of her -lips and chin. For the critical eye of Master Audley Trevelyan saw -all this; but his spirit was seriously perplexed: he had certainly -seen this attractive little fair one before--but where? - -He was about to turn and ask some one near concerning her, when a -hand was laid on his shoulder, and a young officer, whose new scarlet -coat, untarnished epaulettes, and fair ruddy face announced him fresh -from Europe, said smilingly, - -"Ah, Trevelyan, how d'ye do?--remember me, don't you?" - -"I think so: surely we met at Maidstone, when I first joined." - -"Maidstone! why, you griff, I should think so. Don't you remember -leaving us at Allahabad, after Jack Delamere died?" - -"By Jove, Stapylton--Stapylton, of the 14th! How are you, old -fellow?" - -"The same;" and they shook hands, as he now recognised a brother -subaltern of his old Hussar corps. - -"And you are here on the staff?" said Stapylton. - -"Like yourself; but _pro tem._ till sent off to headquarters. You -came up country with her ladyship?" - -"Ah--yes." - -"Who is that lovely girl near her?" - -"Which?" - -"She in the white silk, and lace trimmed with black--a kind of second -mourning I take it to be." - -"Oh, you needn't ask with any interested views. A proud, reserved -minx is that little party; but she has been going the pace with that -fellow of the Irregular Horse, to whom she is talking and smiling -now, and did so all the way out overland. It was an awful case of -spoon in the Red Sea, just where Pharaoh was swallowed up; and the -Viceroy's wife is very anxious to make a match of it, as a plea for -an extra ball." - -"But who is she?" - -"Oh, some interesting orphan." - -"But her name?" - -"A Miss Devereaux--Sybil Devereaux. I made an acrostic on it off the -Point de Galle," added the ex-Hussar, as the object of their mutual -interest turned at that moment casually towards them, and for the -first time looked fully in their direction; and then Audley, while he -almost held his breath, recognised the dark eyes, the minute little -face, the firm lips, and even now could hear the once-familiar voice -of Sybil; but she was talking smilingly to another; and as the words -of the heedless Stapylton began to rankle in his heart, something of -anger, jealousy and pique mingled with his astonishment. - -Another was now playing with Sybil the very part that he had done at -Cabul with Rose, to the exasperation of poor Denzil, whom, for months -before he really died, Sybil had schooled herself to number as among -the slain in Afghanistan; hence her little jet ornaments and black -trimmings, the only tribute she could pay his memory now. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -THE LAMP OF LOVE. - -And this fellow of the Irregular Horse--this fellow who was so -insufferably good-looking, and seemed to know it too--this -interloper, for so Audley Trevelyan chose to consider him--what -manner of advances had he already made, and how had she received -them, on that overland route, so perilous from the propinquity and -the hourly chances it affords of acquaintance ripening into -friendship, and of friendship into love? - -Was he only to meet her unexpectedly, and, by that strange influence -of coincidence already referred to, to find himself supplemented, it -might be, and on the verge of losing, if he had not -already--deservedly as he felt--lost her? - -Did it never occur to the Honourable Mr. Audley Trevelyan that, -separating as they did, there were a thousand chances to one against -their ever meeting again in this world, and, more than all, the world -of India? - -He watched long and anxiously; there was no sign of her seeing or -recognising him, and, placed where they were, apart, he had neither -excuse nor opportunity for drawing nearer her. The durbar closed at -last; a banquet, solemn and magnificent, followed; then, on lumbering -elephants and beautiful horses, the various dignitaries withdrew, -each followed by his noisy and half-nude _suwarri_. A small but -select evening party of Europeans was invited that night to the house -of the Viceroy; thither went Audley; and there, as he had quite -anticipated, they met, not in the suite of rooms, however, but in the -magnificent gardens, where there was a display of those wonderful -rockets, stars, wooden shells that burst in mid air, displaying a -thousand prismatic hues, and many others of those pyrotechnic -efforts, in which the Indians so peculiarly excel. - -In a walk of the garden, while actually seeking for her, he met Sybil -face to face, but leaning on the arm of the same brilliantly dressed -officer; for no uniform is more gorgeous or lavish than that of the -Irregular Horse, for fancy, vanity, and the army-tailor "run riot" -together. He was carrying his cap under his other arm, and seemed -entirely satisfied with himself and his companion, in whose pretty -ear he was whispering, while smiling, with all the provoking air of a -privileged man. - -"Ah, Miss Devereaux--you surely remember me?" said Audley, bowing -low, with a flush on his brow, and, despite all his efforts, an -unmistakable sickly smile in his face. - -Sybil grew a trifle paler, as she presented her hand, with a far from -startled expression; for she had been quite aware that he was -somewhere about the Viceregal Court, and therefore, to her, the -meeting was not quite so unexpected. - -"You do not seem surprised?" said he. - -"Why should I, Mr. Trevelyan, when I knew that you were here?" she -replied with perfect candour; "but I am so--so delighted--indeed I -am, Audley;" then perceiving that there was an undoubted awkwardness -in all this, she coloured, while her eyes sparkled with vexation, and -she introduced the two gentlemen rather nervously by name, and then -added, in an explanatory tone, to the cavalry officer, "He is quite -an old friend, believe me--the same who saved my life. Surely I told -you?" - -"I am not aware--oh yes--perhaps," drawled the other: "at Cairo, was -it not?" - -"No, no--in Cornwall." - -"But it was in Cairo you told me, when we visited the citadel by -moonlight----" - -"And we are, as I said, such old friends," she added hastily. - -"That, doubtless, you will have much to say to each other. Permit -me; for I am perhaps _de trop_," interrupted the other, twirling a -moustache, and looking somewhat cloudy; "but I shall hope to see you -ere the trumpets announce supper;" and with a smiling bow he resigned -Sybil to Audley's proffered arm, and retired with a good grace to -join another group. - -"Sybil," said Audley, after a half-minute's pause, during which he -had been surveying her with fond and loving eyes, "by what singular -incidence of the stars are we blessed by meeting thus!" - -"You may well ask, if such you feel it to be," she replied calmly, -and her voice made his heart vibrate as she spoke; "yet it is simple -and prosaic enough. I am here solely by the influence of misfortune." - -"Misfortune?" - -"Yes." - -"Oh, explain." - -"When poor mamma died, what was left for me but to eat the bread of -dependence?--and I am a dependent now." - -"Sybil!" - -"I came to India as that which you find me." - -"And that is----" - -"The humble friend--the companion, for it is nothing more in plain -English--of the Governor-General's lady. Mamma gone--Denzil, too, in -Afghanistan--was I not fortunate in finding such a home?" - -"My poor Sybil," exclaimed Audley, gnawing his moustache and pressing -her soft hand and arm against his side. Then he became silent, as -the past and present, for a little, held his soul in thrall; and far -from the brilliant fête of the Anglo-Indian Court his mind flashed -back to other days, and he saw again only Sybil Devereaux and the -purple moorland, the solemn rock-pillar, the lonely tarn, with its -osier isles, the long-legged heron and the blue kingfisher amid its -green reedy sedges, and in the soft sunlight the grey granite earns -cast their shadows on the lee, as when he had seen her on that day -when first they met; and much of shame for himself and for his father -mingled with the memory and his emotion. - -But there was a change here! - -The poor, pale girl, who had so anxiously and wearily sought to sell -her pencilled sketches and water-coloured drawings in the shops of -the little market town, who so often with an aching heart took them -back, through the mist and the rain and the wind, to the humble -cottage where her mother lay dying, was now in a very different -sphere, richly though modestly dressed, easy in air and bearing, -perfectly self-possessed, surrounded by wealth and rank, yet with all -the secret pride of her little heart, nieek, gentle, and happy in -aspect. - -She, too, was silent for a time, during which she glanced at him -covertly and timidly. - -"Here again was Audley," was the thought of her heart; "did he love -her still? Had he truly loved her, even _then_?" was the next -thought, and her heart half answered, "Yes--he had loved her, but -only as the worldly love;" and this fear, this half-conviction, -dashed her present joy. Yet no woman wishes to believe, or cares to -admit even to herself, that the power she once exerted over a man's -heart can, under any circumstances, pass altogether away. - -"Sybil," said he, "you, any more than I, cannot have forgotten all -our past, and the scenes where we met--the wild shore, the -precipices, the grey granite rocks of our own Cornwall; and that -awful hour in the Pixies' Cave, too--can you have forgotten that?" - -"Far from it, Audley,--I have forgotten nothing; and now I must -remember the difference of rank that places us so far--so very far -apart," she added with a strange flash in her eye and a quiver in her -short upper lip. - -"Come this way, dear Sybil. I have much to say--to talk with you -about--but we must be alone;" and he led her down a less frequented -walk, apart from the company, the strains of the military music, the -coloured lights and lanterns that hung in garlands and festoons from -tree to tree, and the soaring fireworks that ever and anon filled the -soft dewy air with the splendour of many-lined brilliance. - -"Will this not seem marked?" asked Sybil nervously and almost -haughtily. - -"How?" - -"I must beware of attracting notice now--here especially; and you are -no longer the mere Audley Trevelyan of other times." - -"Then, dearest, who the deuce am I?" asked he, laughing. - -Sybil had seen the Hindoo maidens--slender, graceful, and dark-eyed -girls--launching their love-lamps from the ghauts upon the sacred -waters of the Ganges--watching them with thrills of alternate joy and -fear, as they floated away under the glorious silver radiance of the -Indian moon. She had heard their wails of sorrow if the flame -flickered out and died; or their merry shouts and songs of glee if -they floated steadily and burned truly and bravely. Audley's -affection had been to her as a light in her path that had vanished; -but now her love-lamp seemed to be lit again; for Audley, with -admirable tact, conversed with her as if on their old and former -footing, expressing only what he felt--the purest and deepest joy at -thus suddenly meeting her again, and he had too much good taste to -make the slightest reference to the gossip of his friend Stapylton, -the ex-Hussar, though certainly he had neither forgotten it, nor the -unpleasantly offhand mode in which it had been communicated to him. - -"But how strange--to come to India, my dear girl, of all places in -the world! What led you to think of it?" he asked. - -"Have I not already told you? I did not think of it: chance threw -the offer in my way; and I had two sufficient reasons, at least, for -accepting of it." - -"And these--bless them, say I!--these were----" - -"That my brother, dear Denzil, was here--here then, at least." - -"And I--too?" - -"I do not say so--least of all must I say so now; and then Lady -----'s offers were most advantageous to a penniless girl like me. -You and, more than all, your father, deemed me no suitable match for -you, when we were in England--when I was an inmate of my parent's -house at Porthellick. You see, I speak quite plainly, Audley, and as -one who is quite alone in the world; now, when by death and--and -misfortune, I am reduced to eat the bread of dependence, the matter -is worse than ever." - -"But you love me still, Sybil--do you not!" - -She was silent and trembling now. - -"Speak," he urged; "you do love me still?" - -"Yes, Audley." - -"And will marry me, Sybil!" - -"No." - -"You love another then--another in secret?" - -"No--one may not, cannot, love two." - -But Audley thought of Stapylton and that devilish Irregular Horseman, -and struck the heel of his glazed boot viciously into the gravel of -the path. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - -CONCLUSION. - -After a panse he resumed-- - -"There is something in your tone, Sybil, that I do not understand. -Doubtless your heart has much to accuse me of; but I have been the -victim of circumstances, of my father's odd whimsical views--his -selfishness, in fact; but here I can cast all such at defiance," he -added, gathering courage as he perceived that she still wore on her -hand--and what a pretty plump little hand it was!--his diamond -betrothal ring--the diamond that whilom had figured as an eye of -Vishnu, till Sergeant Treherne poked it out with his bayonet at Agra. -"Listen, dearest Sybil; we are far away from England with all its -insular and provincial prejudices--away from those local influences -which my family exercised over me--my father's hostility, my mother's -sneers, and so forth. I am secure of staff appointments--better -these than casual loot or batta, I can tell you. I am independent of -home allowances; and, to talk solidly and plainly, can think now in -earnest of matrimony. Listen to me, Sybil;" and glancing hastily -about, he tried to slip an arm round her, but she nimbly eluded him, -and said-- - -"Then you have not heard the news we brought up country with us!" - -"News!" - -"Yes--my poor Audley." - -"About what?" - -"Your change of circumstances." - -"Mine!--dearest Sybil, what can you mean?" - -"Your succession to the title." - -"Circumstances--title!--explain, in Heaven's name, Sybil." - -She then told him that his father had died suddenly--died, as the -_Morning Post_ announced, in the same library at Rhoscadzhel, and -somewhat in the same manner, as his late uncle, when he was in the -act of composing a long and elaborate paper legally reviewing the -merits of the Afghan war; another grave had been opened and closed in -the family tomb; another escutcheon hung on the porte-cochère of the -princely old manor-house; and that he, Audley Trevelyan, was now Lord -Lamorna, as the Governor-General would doubtless announce to him on -the morrow. - -And in his lonely tomb beside the Kuzzilbash fort lay one who could -never dispute the family honours with him, and whose sorrows and -repinings were past for evermore. - -Audley was overwhelmed for a few minutes by this unexpected -intelligence. There had been no great love, no strong tie, no fine -yet unseen ligament, between father and son; yet the dead man _was_ -his father, and he knew had ever been proud of him. He was shocked, -but not deeply grieved; and "some natural tears he shed:" no more. - -His father, however, prudential and unscrupulous in his children's -interests, had always been cold, prosaic, undemonstrative, and -unloveable to them and to all. Hence he passed away, having so -little individuality that the blank made by his absence left no -craving, and required no filling up; but, nevertheless, for a time, -his cold, pale eyes and equally cold, glittering spectacle-glasses -came vividly back to his son's memory. - -Audley was, however, to say the least of it, so much disconcerted by -the news Sybil had given him, that he lacked sufficient energy to -retain her when she was swept from his side by the officer of the -Irregulars, on a theatrical flourish of the vice-regal trumpets -announcing that the supper-rooms were open. - -The course of balls and other entertainments that followed the durbar -and the news from Cabul were attended by neither Sybil nor Audley, -now recognised and congratulated by all the European society at Simla -as Lord Lamorna, and by the Viceroy, who offered him all the leave he -might require to settle his affairs at home. Sybil had her brother's -recent death to plead; and she looked forward with intense interest -to seeing Waller, and to the returning army, though Denzil was no -longer in its ranks. - -They heard at Simla, how General Pollock had dismounted or destroyed -every cannon in the Balla Hissar and in the city, and given to the -flames the Mosque of the Feringhees, an edifice built by the vanity -of Ackbar to consecrate and commemorate the sanguinary destruction of -Elphinstone's army; the great bazaar also, once the emporium of the -Eastern world; and how all the castles and forts of the khans and -chiefs had likewise been given to the flames; how the sky was -reddened for days and nights, and that the fiery gleam of the burning -city was still visible on the close of the fourth day, when our rear -guard was defiling through the mountains of Bhootkak on their -homeward route to the Sutledge. Thus was the massacre of Khoord -Cabul finally avenged; but, as Sybil thought in her heart, "would it -restore the dead!" - -Their graves, unmarked and unconsecrated, and the ruined city alone -remained to tell of the strife that had been. A touching address, -signed by all the ladies whom his energy and activity had done so -much to rescue, was delivered to Sir Richmond Shakespere; and with -Taj Mohammed Khan, the discarded Wuzeer of Cabul, a beggared fugitive -and exile, as the sole friend who accompanied them, our troops came -down on their homeward way, laden with spoil, and among it the great -gates of Somnath, an object of adoration to the Hindoos; and thus -ended the fatal war in Afghanistan. - -Audley had been duly informed by letters, that his brother-officer, -Waller, and the Trecarrels were also coming down country, and should -ere long be at Ferozpore or Simla; and Sybil, who had now heard all -the story of Rose and Denzil, longed, with a longing that no words -can describe, to see her. - -There is no emotion in this world more delightful, and nothing -perhaps more beautiful, than a young girl's first dream of love; for -a young man's first affair of the heart is even different in some -respects. It is so full of innocence, of simplicity and truth, if -the girl is pure and ingenuous; it is so full, also, of a new-born -mystery, a charm, and a world of thought, of chance and risk, where -there may be triumph or defeat, victory or failure, sorrow perhaps, -and joy perhaps--but still she hopes, above all, a delight and -happiness hitherto unknown. Hence it becomes absorbing; and such had -been Sybil's love for Audley at home when she had the shelter of her -mother's breast, and such for a time it had been after they were to -all appearance so hopelessly separated; and now, after a lull, or -being for a space, as it were, suppressed and crushed well-nigh out, -by change, by distance, time, and travel,--now the love-lamp shone -again. - -And Audley, ere he had heard of his succession to that title which -should have been Denzil's, had fated Denzil lived, had made her an -abrupt but formal proposal of his hand. Would he renew it now? - -She was not left long in doubt; for under the cognizance and with the -express approbation of the wife of the Viceroy, who deemed herself in -the place of mother and protectress to Sybil, he renewed his offer, -and then the lady judiciously left the cousins--for such he had told -her they were--to settle the matter between them. - -"Ah, Audley," said Sybil, "too well do you know how I am situated; -what or whom have I to cling to in this world--but you, perhaps?" she -added, with a low voice, while her breast heaved, and her -half-averted face was full of passionate tenderness. "Now that my -poor Denzil is gone, nor kith, nor kin, nor inheritance--what can I -offer you in return!" - -"Yourself, darling; what more do I ask in this world!" he said, in a -low and earnest voice, as he gradually drew her nearer him; and as -her hand went caressingly on his neck, it seemed to him a dearer -collar than either the Bath or Garter could be, for "what is all the -glory of the world compared with the joy of thus meeting--thus having -those we love?" - -"Now, Sybil," said he, "you find how difficult it is to forget that -one has loved----" - -"And been beloved," murmured the girl. - -"More than all by such a pure-souled heart as yours. You remember -our first meeting by the tarn?" - -"Could I ever forget it?" - -"And our learned disquisition on flirtation, too. How odd it seems -now, darling." - -"And dear old Rajah--you have not our rough, shaggy _introducteur_ -with you," said Sybil, smiling. - -"Poor dog, no. I left him at home in Rhoscadzhel, and, somehow, he -is dead; that is all I know about it--so Gartha told me in a letter." - -"All who love me die--even the poor dog. Surely they would be kind -to your pet, for your sake." - -"They--well, I don't know--doubtless." - -Audley cared not to say that, by his lady-mother's orders, the dog -had been destroyed as a nuisance--the last legacy of his comrade, -poor Delamere, who died in the jungle. - -"Ah, if my dear Denzil had lived to see this day!" said the happy -girl, after a pause that was full of thought. - -"Sybil, God knows how for your sake, even at the time when I never, -never, hoped to see you more, I sought to protect and love your -brother; but he repelled, avoided, and seemed to loathe me. Yet he -saved my life in the Khyber Pass. It was through sorrow for his -mother--and--and, perhaps, love for Rose Trecarrel; for he would be -jealous of me, among other things, poor lad!" - -"And she--she?" - -"Rose was very heedless, Sybil; but, after all Bob Waller has -written, let us not talk of the past now. You will learn to love her -well, I know." - -"I hope so: I must--I shall, for Denzil's sake." - -"My sweet little love!--my Sybil, so tender and so true!" exclaimed -Audley, pressing her with ardour to his breast. - -But a short time ago, Sybil had been hoping that she would forget -him; hoping, while journeying towards the land where he was--the land -of the Sun--she who long since should have been his wife. She had -striven for forgetfulness, hopelessly, yet with something of -earnestness in the desire; and now that she had heard his voice -again, the old spell was upon her--the spell of past hours, of -remembered days--the spell of her lover's presence; and to be with -him, the girl acknowledged in her heart, was to be in heaven again! - -But now, we fear that we have intruded upon them quite long enough. - -And so, till the time came when they should be joined by Waller and -the Trecarrels (for companionship, it had been arranged that they -should all take the journey by dawk and river-steamer, and then the -overland route home together), the days passed pleasantly and swiftly -at delightful Simla, in rides and drives among its wonderful scenery; -where the netted bramble, the great strawberry, and giant fern -covered all the rocks; the soft peach, the dark plum, the rosy apple, -and the golden pear grew wild; and the dark-green pines, vast in -proportion as the stupendous Himalayas, from whence they sprang, cast -a solemn shadow over all, making deep and leafy recesses where the -monkey swung by his tail, the buffalo browsed at noon, the leopard -and the wild hog lurked for their food; by mountain villages that -clustered near the fortified dwelling of the chieftain whose tower -was built like the cone of an English glass house; by hill and vale, -rock and stream, where flocks were grazing, watched by shepherds, -quaint and savage-looking as their rural god, the son of Mercury, and -by Thibet mastiffs, that reminded Sybil of her lover's four-footed -friend, the Rajah of past days; and ever and anon, as they drove, or -rode, or rambled, they talked, as lovers will do, of their future -home in Cornwall, with all its associations so dear to them, and now -so far away, and so they would marvel - - "What feet trod paths that now no more - Their feet together tread? - How in the twilight looked the shore? - Was still the sea outspread - Beneath the sky, a silent plain, - Of silver lamps that wax and wane? - What ships went sailing by the strand - Of that fair consecrated land?" - - -Waller arrived at Simla to find himself gazetted in the _Bengal -Hurkaru_ as major, and to get, like Audley, his glittering Order of -the Dooranee Empire from the hands of the Viceroy; therefore he hung -it round the white neck of Mabel, while Rose fell heiress to that -which should, had he survived, have been her father's decoration. - -So the schemes, the plotting with the wretched solicitor, Sharkley, -and all the avarice of Downie Trevelyan availed him nothing in one -sense; for now the daughter of that Constance Devereaux he had so -cruelly wronged was coming home to Rhoscadzhel as the bride of his -son, and in her own hereditary place as the Lady of Lamorna. - -It is but justice to his memory, however, to record, that having some -premonition or presentiment that death was near, or might come on him -as it came on his older kinsman, something of the spirit of the -Christian and the gentleman got the better of the more cold-blooded -and sordid training of the lawyer; and Downie wrote out, sealed up, -and left a confession concerning the two papers he had obtained and -destroyed; and this document was found tied up with his will, in the -library of Rhoscadzhel, by Messrs. Gorbelly and Culverhole, his -astounded solicitors. Not that any act of roguery surprised them, -but only the folly of any man ever committing the admission thereof -to ink and paper. - -Audley and Sybil were but one couple out of several especially among -the rescuers and the rescued, who were seized with matrimonial -fancies to make Simla gay, after the retreat from Cabul--the result -of propinquity, perhaps, and the system of chances. We may briefly -state that they were married by the chaplain of the Governor-General, -who gave the bride away; and not long after, Waller gave Mabel's -marriage-ring a guard, wherein was set a jewel, the envy of all the -ladies there--the sapphire which he had plucked from the steel cap of -Amen Oolah Khan at the Battle of Tizeen. - -At Simla Rose was thus twice a bridesmaid, and a lovely one she -looked. - -But was Rose ever married in the end? some may ask; for such a girl -could not be without offers, especially in India. We have only to -add, that the once-gay and heedless Rose Trecarrel is unwedded still. - -On many a grey earn and lofty and rugged headland in Cornwall were -fires, lighted by the miners and peasantry but chiefly about -Rhoscadzhel--beacons so bright in honour of the new lord and lady, -that they shone far over land and sea, and in such numbers that the -Guebres and fire-worshippers of old, could they have seen them, might -have deemed that the adoration of the Fire-god was again in its -glory, as when the Scilly Isles were consecrated to the sun; and -Derrick Braddon, who, on the strength of recent changes, had -installed himself as a species of deputy-governor or major-domo at -Rhoscadzhel, had a deep carouse, in which he was fully assisted by -Messrs. Jasper Funnel, old Boxer, and others of the plush-breeched -and aiguilletted fraternity. - -Meanwhile, those whose fortunes we have followed throughout the -campaign of Western India and the retreat from Cabul were speeding -homeward, and when from the coast of Orissa they saw the steamer -awaiting them in the rough and dangerous roadstead of Balasore, where -usually the Calcutta pilots leave the home-bound ships, they hailed -the bright blue world of waters as an old friend; for, to our -island-born, "the sea, the sea," is what it was to the returning -Greeks of old Xenophon! - -"Now, Mabel," said Waller, as with, a lorgnette in her pretty hand, -she surveyed the roadstead--the plain gold hoop on that hand being in -Bob Waller's eyes the most charming trinket there, "a few weeks more, -and all these foreign seas and shores will be left far behind; we -shall be home at our little place that looks from Cornwall on the -apple-bowers of Devon. Ha! Trevelyan, you and I shall then each sit -down under his own vine and fig-tree in peace, and enjoy a quiet -weed, like the patriarch of old--if the said patriarch ever possessed -one. What say you, my Lady Lamorna?" he added, as he assisted -Sybil's light figure to spring from the handsome and well-hung -carriage in which they had travelled from Calcutta. - -Sybil only smiled, and looked joyously at the sea, as she threw up -the white lace veil of her bridal bonnet; and Audley, too, was gazing -on the sea. - -"Waller, we have undergone much," said he--"days of danger, and -nights of anguish, yet we have survived them all, and been true to -the end, and in the past have fully realised the force of the maxim -that-- - - 'Come what come may, - _Time and the Hour_ runs through the roughest day.'" - - - -THE END. - - - -BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS - - - - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ONLY AN ENSIGN, VOLUME 3 (OF 3) *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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