The Great Mogul Part 31

"I attribute to him some part of the bad fortune which has pursued us,"

said Walter, and, the topic thus broached, he gave the Franciscan a full account of all occurrences since Roger and he first crossed the portals of Dilkusha.

The monk listened intently, only interposing a question at times when the changeful moods of Nur Mahal seemed to puzzle him. He was surprised to learn that the Jesuit had succeeded, even temporarily, in gaining the ear of Jahangir, for, as he said in his mild way:--

"Dom Geronimo is too zealous. It was his intemperate acts which unfitted him for the Holy Office in Europe, and he was despatched to India, a country which offered a more suitable field for one whose fiery ardor knew no bounds. Therefore, it is hard to see how such a man could win his way with the Emperor."

When, after conversing until a late hour, Fra Pietro thoroughly understood the nature of their present undertaking, he again urged them to consider the danger they incurred.

"You have already done more than I thought possible for mortal man to achieve," he said. "Why not, on some good pretext, ride on in front of the column and leave the success or failure of your scheme in the hands of Providence? If all goes well we shall be treated with the same consideration. Should there be aught amiss you will be far away on the road to the sea."

"Where your life is at issue, we bide with you and you with us until the die is cast," said Walter, firmly. Then they left him, carrying with them his blessing, and regained the s.p.a.cious tent allotted to their use by the obsequious Fateh Mohammed. They slept soundly at night, and were not troubled by anxious forebodings. Jai Singh and his followers could not reach them on the return from Agra for at least ten more days at the best rate of traveling. Not until they had his budget could they decide definitely as to their future.

But these things are oft settled for men by a Power to whom the comings and goings of a Jai Singh are of little account. And it was so now, for, when Mowbray and Sainton awoke in the morning, they found their swords removed, their daggers withdrawn from the sheaths, and they saw twenty muskets leveled at them through the open door of the tent.

Behind the file of musketeers stood Fateh Mohammed, livid with rage, yet with a certain gratified malice sparkling in his eyes.

"Ohe," he yelled, when Roger, missing his sword, gazed steadily at the phalanx without, "ohe, Elephant, thy tricks have led thee into the _kheddah_.[K] Stir hand or foot, resist those who will bind thee by so much as a refusal to submit thy limbs to the fetters, and thou shalt be pierced by a dozen b.a.l.l.s."

[Footnote K: The enclosure in which wild elephants are captured.]

Walter, roused by the bellowing, raised himself on one arm. Instantly he realized that Fateh Mohammed had found out the ruse of which he was the dupe.

"Roger," said he, quietly, "we have been betrayed!"

"Aye, lad, and by a woman, I fear. What sayest thou? Shall we die here or in Agra?"

"I care little. Have it which way you will."

CHAPTER XV

"Bring me to the test, And I the matter will re-word, which madness Would gamble from."

_Hamlet_, Act III, Sc. 4.

Perchance they had dared the certain death which faced them had not Fateh Mohammed spoken again. Vain as he was, and furious at the thought that a Feringhi should have lorded it over him for days, he was held in leash by the written orders of the Emperor, which, this time, he had really received and read with bulging eyes.

"I am bidden," he said, "bring you to Agra, alive if possible. Hence, though clemency ill accords with my present mood, I offer you terms.

Suffer my men to bind you securely--for none would be such a fool as to trust that Man-Elephant at large--and I will have you carried in litters. Refusal means instant death to both."

"Hast thou suddenly gone mad, Fateh Mohammed?" demanded Mowbray, thinking, by a display of boldness, to save the situation even at the twelfth hour.

"Aye, mad, indeed, to accept the word of the King of Kings from the mouth of an unbeliever! Oh, thou Feringhi dog, open thy lips again in defiance and I will make thee a sieve for bullets!"

Walter knew that the bubble of his pretense was p.r.i.c.ked. Some bolt had fallen from a blue sky, else this subservient rogue would never venture to bl.u.s.ter in such wise if he feared reprisals. Nevertheless, the contempt inspired by the groundling served the Englishman in good stead at a critical moment.

"Thou shalt be most bitterly enlightened ere many days have pa.s.sed," he said. "Sainton-sahib and I can do naught at present but yield to your demands, yet I warn thee, Fateh Mohammed, that for each second of ill-treatment meted out to us or to the unhappy people brought from Hughli thou shalt be requited by an hour of torture on thy unwieldy carca.s.s."

Here was defiance, truly, from one whose capture, living or dead, Jahangir's couriers, riding hot-foot in pursuit, had demanded an hour earlier when they came at dawn to Fateh Mohammed's tent. These men carried no tidings save the Emperor's warrant for their action. They knew, they said, that Sher Afghan was slain--it was even rumored that the companion of the Hathi-sahib was concerned in the deed--and that his widow had gone towards Burdwan with the two Feringhis. As for the statement that Jahangir had charged these latter with a mission, it was manifestly absurd in view of his eagerness to secure their arrest, while it was impossible that anyone so far south could be aware of Nur Mahal's fortunes at Agra, seeing that they, the messengers, had pa.s.sed her returning escort privily by night, being urged thereto by the Chief Eunuch, who accompanied her. Indeed, the Eunuch, Ibrahim, was responsible for the Emperor's action, having sent a private report to Jahangir, by carrier pigeon it was thought.

It was on their advice that Fateh Mohammed had adopted irresistible safeguards ere he summoned the Englishmen to surrender. The bazaar gossip of Agra had invested Roger Sainton with a legendary halo which would daunt the bravest heart. No half measures could be taken with the Hathi-sahib, said the King's _chupra.s.sis_: he must either be killed or bound as one would tie a wild bull.

Now, it was distasteful, above all things, for men who had been treated with the utmost deference during many days to permit themselves to be led forth in fetters. The bare thought of such ignominy sent the blood bounding through Mowbray's veins and caused an ominous frown to deepen in Sainton's face. The big Yorkshireman stood close to the tent-pole; had Walter deferred further speech for another tick of a clock, the tent had been torn from its supports and Roger had either fallen or knocked down a dozen of the waiting musketeers. But he heard his friend say quietly:--

"Hearken to me, Fateh Mohammed. If one of us, speaking in haste, has used injurious words, let them be forgotten. You have your orders--a.s.suredly they must be obeyed. Sainton-sahib and I are already disarmed. You probably disarmed our escort ere you came to us. We, on our part, pledge ourselves to go with you to the fort at Agra. Under no circ.u.mstances shall we seek to escape, and we will counsel all others who may be guided by our admonitions to give the same gage. If you are the wise and far-seeing man I take you to be you will content yourself with this promise, and treat us and the remainder of the Europeans with due courtesy. What say you? Shall the Emperor upbraid you for faithfully carrying out your charge, or do you care to risk the unknown dangers of flaunting the wishes of one who, for anything you or I know to the contrary, may now be Sultana?"

Fateh Mohammed, though naturally distrustful of the honeyed poison of Mowbray's counsel, felt in his heart of hearts that the Giaour was not only giving him good advice but making a fair offer. Yet, like a cur which cowers and snarls when a determined hand would stroke it, he said sullenly:--

"How am I to place trust in you? You told me--"

"I told you what I truly believed, and still believe, to be the Emperor's intent," interrupted Walter, who saw that the fat man was weakened by the bare hint of palace intrigue. "Look back through my words and you will find no single phrase in which I actually represented myself as charged with a mission by Jahangir himself. Nay, be not so amazed. It is true. You may have been misled, I admit, but it was a most fortunate mistake for you. Did I not meet you almost alone? Have we not marched with you daily and slept nightly on the same camping-ground? If Sainton-sahib and I wished to betray you, have we not pa.s.sed a hundred opportunities?"

Fateh Mohammed was manifestly uneasy. The affair was not so simple as he deemed it. Moreover, by placing a degree of faith in Mowbray, he applied salve to his own wounded vanity. In simple parlance, if he managed things aright now, he would not look such a dupe in the eyes of others as he was in his own estimation.

"Never was man more perplexed," he murmured. "You may be honest! How can I tell? Certainly, the King of Kings does not say you are to be treated with contumely, yet, what security have I that you will act according to your promises?"

Mowbray resolved to risk all on a final hazard. He turned to Roger.

"Give me the cedar box," he said.

The big man reached for his hat. Cunningly tied inside the lofty crown was the gift of Nur Mahal.

"I am a heavy sleeper," he grinned in explanation, "and I thought none would search there though they might scour my clothes. When waking, I reckoned to hold the gew-gaws whilst my brains were undisturbed, so I kept them under the same thatch."

"Here!" cried Mowbray, opening the box and handing it to Fateh Mohammed, "these diamonds are worth a lakh and a half of rupees. They shall be my bond."

To a native of India, such a guarantee was worth a thousand oaths. Fateh Mohammed might be trusted to take this view and none other. The production of a hidden h.o.a.rd showed that this most enigmatical Englishman was really in earnest. It needed only a glance to a.s.sure him that the gems were worth the sum named, and more. His voice was thick as he answered:--

"Soul of the Prophet! you give me a worthy bail!"

"You think so! See to it that the box and its contents are well cared for. If not I, Nur Mahal knows each stone. And now, if we are to march ere the hot hours, let us eat."

Promising to observe his part of the compact, Fateh Mohammed withdrew his imposing array of soldiers. Soon, a servant brought them some food, curried chickens and rice, with new milk, eggs, and bread. Not a word did they exchange until they had eaten, for Mowbray was dismayed by the collapse of his scheme, and he dared not seek from his loyal comrade the forgiveness which would be only too readily extended to him. Their fortune as good as lost, their lives in imminent jeopardy, their honor pledged to render themselves up to the spite of an implacable tyrant, and all because he trusted more to the machinations of a beautiful siren than to the good swords of which they were deprived. Truly, the outlook, hazardous enough before, was now desperate beyond description. No wonder Walter ate silently, fearing to trust his gloomy thoughts to language.

Suddenly Roger cried:--

"Gad, these Paradise birds are rare eating!"

"Birds of Paradise, man! They are but common fowls."

"Never, on your life, Walter! This mun be Heaven, for sure. I heard the gates click when the musketeers c.o.c.ked their flints."

After all, that was the best way to take their misfortunes. As Roger said to Fra Pietro, when, later, they told him the news which camp rumor had twisted into grotesque form:--

"It is your turn now, most worthy friar. 'Fight first and pray afterwards' has ever been my honored motto, but from fighting I am debarred both by loss of my sword and by perjury of my good name. Pray, then, brother, in every tongue thou knowest, and mayhap the Lord will list unto thee."

Mowbray sought an opportunity to question Jahangir's emissaries. Their statements showed that Jai Singh must have pa.s.sed them in Allahabad. The _Kotwal_ of that city urged them to keep to the road, and inquire at each large town if boats carrying men and horses had pa.s.sed down stream.