‘My lord draws a bright picture to dazzle mine understanding,’ he answered; ‘I have dreamed of such things, of attaining to giddy eminences even of rank and power; but they are no more, I well know, than the false visions of youth, the brighter and more alluring as they are the more deceptive and unattainable.’
‘By my beard, by your salt, I say no!’ cried the Khan; ‘I have said nothing but what is a matter of every-day occurrence in the army. What was Hyder’s origin?—lower, infinitely lower than thine own. Thy ancestry was noble—his can be traced back a few generations, beginning with a Punjabee Fakeer, and descending (not much improved i’ faith) to his father Hyder, whose mother was only the daughter of a cloth-weaver of Allund, somewhere by Koolburgah. It is destiny, young man, destiny which will guide thee—which, on thy high and broad forehead, shines as brightly as if thy future history were already written there in letters of gold."
‘My lord’s words are enticing, very enticing,’ said the youth, ‘and ever have I felt that the inactive life I am leading was a shame on me in these times; but I like not the service of the Nizam, and the Mahrattas are infidels; I would not shame my faith by consorting with them.’
‘Bravely spoken! hadst thou come to Tippoo Sultaun mounted and armed as thou shouldst be—even alone and unbefriended as I did to his father—he would have enrolled thee upon handsome pay at once in his own Pagha.[8] With me, thou wilt have the benefit of a friend; and I swear to thee upon this my beard, and thy salt,’ cried the Khan generously, ‘I will be a friend and a brother to thee, even as thou hast been one to me, and her who is as dear to me as my own life’s blood. I owe this to thee for her life—for the risk of thine own, when we were nothing to thee, by Alla, but as the dust of the earth—I owe it for thine hospitality; I desire thee for a companion and a friend; and, above all, my spirit is vexed to see one like thee hiding here in his village, and marring his own destiny by sloth and inaction. Dost thou think that service will come to seek thee, if thou dost not seek it?’
8. Household troops.
The young man felt the spirit-stirring address of the rough but kind soldier deeply, but he still hesitated: the Khan tried to guess his thoughts.
‘Dost thou think,’ he said, ‘that I have sweet words at my command wherewith to entice thee? Ay, that is my mistake, and I have spoken too freely to one who has never yet known contradiction nor received advice.’
‘Not so, not so, noble Khan, almost my father!’ cried Kasim; ‘I beseech thee not to think me thus haughty or impatient. By your beard, I am not—I thought but of my mother—of the suddenness of this—of my own—’
‘Poverty, perhaps,’ said the Khan; ‘do not be ashamed to own it. Thou wouldst go to service as a cavalier, as thou art, gallantly armed and mounted—is it not so?’
‘It is: I would not serve on foot, nor have I money to buy a horse such as I would ride into battle.’
‘Right! thou art right, by the Prophet, but let not this trouble thee. We spoke of thee this morning: we dare not offer thee money—nay, be not impatient—we dare not offer thee jewels, else both were thine. We could offer thee honourable service; and, if thou wilt accept it, as my brother thou art entitled to look to me thine elder, thou knowest, for such matters as thou needest. With me are two horses, the best of the Dekhan blood, beside mine own Motee: him thou canst not have: but either of the others, or both, are thine; and if they do not suit thee, there are others at the city where thou shalt be free to choose. See, I have conquered all thy scruples.’
The young man was much affected, and the Khan’s kindness fairly brought the tears to his eyes. ‘Such service as I can do thee, O generous being,’ he exclaimed, ‘I vow here under mine own roof and by the head of my mother—I will follow thee to the death. Such honourable service as I would alone have ever accepted is in my power, and I accept it with gratitude to thee and thine, whom the Prophet shield with his choicest care!’
‘It were well that your arrangements were quickly concluded, for I cannot wait beyond to-morrow,’ said the Khan.
‘It will be ample for my slender preparations,’ replied the youth. ‘I will break this to my mother now.’
‘You do right, Meer Sahib; I honour thee for thy consideration; and I too will to the Khanum: she will be glad to hear that her deliverer and her lord are now friends and brothers in service.’
Kasim sought his mother; she was with her guest as he passed the door of the inner chamber; so he desired a girl who was without to inform his mother he desired to speak with her in his own apartment.
There was not much to tell her, and yet he knew that it would grieve the old lady. ‘But I cannot continue thus,’ he thought aloud; ‘the fortunes of our house have fallen, and the Khan’s words bear conviction with them. I can retrieve them—I may perhaps retrieve them, I should rather say; and, after all, she will rejoice to hear of me, and the fortune and rank I shall, by the blessing of Alla, speedly win; and then—’ but here his thoughts became quite inexpressible, even to himself; for there rushed suddenly before his imagination such a tide of processions, soldiery elephants, wars, camps, as almost bewildered him; while here and there a figure mingled with all, which, had he been closely questioned, he must have admitted was that of the fair Ameena. But his mother interrupted what we will say he was striving to put from him, by entering and standing before him.
‘Thou didst send for me, my son,’ she said; ‘what news hast thou to tell? Was the Khan pleased with the Zeafut?[9] was the meat well cooked? By the Prophet, he hath a glorious cook; what dishes he sent into the Khanum, of which we have been partaking! By thine eyes, I have not tasted such since—since—’
9. Entertainment
But while the old lady was trying to remember when she had last eaten of such savoury messes as she spoke of, her son gently interrupted her, and said gravely, as he rose and seated her in his own place, ‘Mother, I have much to tell thee, so collect thy thoughts and listen.’
She was attentive in a moment, and eagerly looked for what he should say—with not a little apprehension perhaps, for there was sadness, nay even a quivering, perceptible in the tone with which he spoke.
Her grief was uncontrollable at first:—yet he gradually unfolded all his hopes—his previous determination to enter service when he could with honour—his desires for an active life—and his great chances of speedy advancement under the patronage of his friend;—and he laid them before his mother with a natural eloquence, under which her first sudden shock of grief fast yielded. Kasim saw his opportunity, and continued—
‘So much as thou lovest me, mother, wilt thou not have pride when I write to thee that I command men, that I have fought with the infidel English, that I have been rewarded, that I am honoured? Wilt thou not feel, and then say—“If I had prevented him, there would have been none of this.” And doth it not behove every believer now to draw his sword in defence of the faith? Look around:—the English are masters of Bengal and Oude; they hold Mahamed Ali of the Carnatic and him of Oude in a base thraldom; they thirst for conquest, and are as brave as they are cunning;—the Mahrattas have taken Hindostan and the Dekhan, and are every day making encroachments upon Nizam Ali’s power, which totters upon an insecure foundation;—and do not the eyes of every true believer turn to Tippoo, a man who has raised himself to be a monarch? I say, mother, I believe it to be my destiny to follow his fortunes: I have long thought so, and have eagerly watched the time when I should be able to join him. It has come, and dost thou love thy son so little, as to stand in the way of fame, honour, wealth, everything that is dear to me as a man, and as thy son?’
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