Tales of Destiny Part 16

"The fellow rose to his feet, with a servile and submissive smile, and, by a wave of my hand, I dismissed him from my presence.

"Here, indeed, was an adventure thrust upon me, a man of peace and of studious habits, who had ever shrunk from deeds of violence; but the hand of fate was clearly beckoning me along the path of duty, and not for a moment did I shrink from the dangers into which, perchance, I was being hurried.

"For the maharajah, worthless, besotted, and on the verge of dishonoured death, I could have no respect. For the lady of his household, who was confiding to me her very life, whose soft hand I had touched with due reverence, there was an instinctive feeling of sympathy. In her hour of dire need, most likely of extreme danger, she had turned to me, a man of staid repute and old enough, no doubt, to be her father. So this was no affair of conjugal wrong, from which my religious scruples and my abiding principles alike, would have repelled me. Clearly was I the instrument in G.o.d's directing hand for some great happening, and it was not for me, through thought of self or cowardice, to interpose obstacles to the carrying out of the divine will.

"And as I thus ruminated there came from a minaret close by the call to evening prayer. 'The world is but an hour,' I murmured to myself as I spread my carpet; 'spend it in devotion, the rest is unseen.'

"On the morrow I was astir even before the morning call to prayer.

'Prayer is better than sleep'--I listened to the familiar cry of the muezzin. But while again I prayed I felt that a good deed done may count more for a man at the gates of Paradise than the record of many prayers.

"Full an hour before the appointed time I was at the corner of the coppersmiths' and the money-changers' bazaars. Here I posted two of my retainers, in whom I could place complete confidence. They had already been instructed how to act when the proper moment arrived. For myself, I sauntered through the crowded and noisy bazaar of the makers and menders of copper vessels, so as not to attract undue attention. In my heart was not one flutter of excitement or of uncertainty: I felt the quiet confidence which in the crises of life comes to a man whose trust in G.o.d the Most High is implicit.

"After a period of waiting there came into sight the huge black moorman, in his hand a white wand of office, and, following close behind him, a brilliantly decorated palankeen suspended between a pair of mules and attended by two grooms, leading the animals. The throng had parted before this little procession, averting their eyes from the covered palankeen, as was beseeming.

"But suddenly, at the intersection of the two bazaars, a group of loiterers sprang forward, and with cries a.s.sailed the moorman and the grooms, turning the mules into the quieter thoroughfare. There I had now posted myself, and, while the shopkeepers ran up the street to see what had befallen, the cavalcade under my directions, and with my attendants at the animals' heads, hurried along, and as we threaded our way through the maze of streets the tumult of voices soon died away behind us.

"After a little time I ventured to approach the curtained palankin.

"I spoke just loud enough to be heard by its occupant:

"'May your day, O queen, be peaceful! Your servant, most humble and devoted, awaits your orders.'

"'Peace be to thee, O thou trustful and brave hakeem. Take me to the protection of thy wife and home.'

"It was a soft, melodious woman's voice that had spoken, tremblingly, imploringly, and yet withal in a tone of authority.

"'As thou hast commanded, so shall it be done,' was my brief reply.

"After a little time the cavalcade, without any undue attention being attracted, had pa.s.sed through the gateway of my home, and the doors had been barred behind us.

"To my surprise a gallant youth, some twelve years of age, sprang through the momentarily parted curtains of the palankeen.

"'I salute thee, O hakeem, our deliverer,' he exclaimed, kissing the hem of my robe. 'My royal mother is in the palankeen, and craves for sanctuary in your zenana.'

"'Let her pa.s.s,' I replied, and I urged the docile mules toward the second archway that led to the women's courtyard.

"At my bidding the inner gates opened, and they closed again when the palankeen had entered.

"'Within is sanctuary for your royal mother, and here is sanctuary for yourself, O prince,' I continued, with a profound obeisance, for, despite the modest garments he wore, I had recognized the eldest royal son of the maharajah, whom I had seen several times in his father's presence, and on one occasion at an affair of state clad in a robe of honour of silk and gold brocade, festoons of jewels around his neck, and a tiny sword with scabbard of gold girt at his side.

"Having once more impressed secrecy on my attendants, and bidding them give admission to no one, I led my young guest into an inner reception room. There, in a few concise sentences, he told me his story.

"A plot had been hatched in the royal zenana that, just so soon as the maharajah died, this youth, and seven or eight younger brothers, sons of other wives, should be slain, so that the undisputed succession might descend on one particular son, elder by several years, but not in the regular line of succession because born of a slave mother. It was this slave woman's brother who commanded the maharajah's bodyguard, and, in collusion with his sister, had conceived the d.a.m.nable conspiracy. Only by the whisper of a woman who was close to the officer, but whose heart was tender, had the mother of the young heir to the throne been warned.

With my aid, and that of the eunuch who had visited me the day before, they had made their escape, the youth having been hidden in the palankeen of his mother before the latter left the seraglio on one of her occasional visits to the bazaars.

"Such was the story. Now the future had to be planned, for up to this point the maharanee had acted blindly and impulsively--just swiftly--the moment she had realized the supreme danger for her son. In the boy I found high courage and a clear brain, and together we devised the measures to be followed that would best allay suspicion as to the whereabouts of the fugitives.

"As a first step I sallied forth as usual to pay my professional visit on the maharajah a little before the noontide hour. Perhaps I felt that, if by any chance suspicion had already alighted upon me, I was taking my life in my hands by entering the palace; but, trusting to the protection of Allah, I gave no second thought to any fear of this kind.

"I had not yet reached the palace gates when I encountered a messenger running in hot haste to summon me. His highness the maharajah had been seized with a fit, and the whole palace was in a turmoil.

"When I gained the royal apartment I saw at a glance that the sufferer was beyond human aid. I could but watch the deep laboured breathing, growing ever fainter and fainter, until the death-rattle in the throat proclaimed the end.

"During that hour of watching my soul had been gravely perturbed, not because of the dying debauchee, but in dread of sinister happenings in the royal zenana when the news of the maharajah's demise should come to be announced. But how was I to give warning without betraying to certain death the youth and his mother who had sought sanctuary in my defenceless home? For there, at the door of the sick room, stood the captain of the king's bodyguard, Todar Rao, the very man who, I knew, held his corrupt soldiery in leash for any villainy.

"Another high officer of the court, the diwan, had shared my vigil in the death chamber, and just before the end came had informed me that it was news of an attack by budmashes on one of the royal palankeens that morning in the bazaars that had inflicted the fatal stroke upon his master. But this treasurer was an aged man, who would have quailed under the eye of the stern and relentless soldier keeping watch and ward at the doorway, and, for all I knew, he, too, might be in the conspiracy--indeed, his furtive glances and the nervous twitching of his hands forewarned me of this danger.

"Surrounded by uncertainties, and utterly helpless in my isolation, I could but drift whither the stream of destiny carried me.

"'The king is dead,' I announced, when the last flutter of the heart had ceased. 'May G.o.d in His compa.s.sion give him peace.'

"The diwan summoned the captain of the bodyguard, and the latter, to make certainty doubly sure, brutally shook the dead man by the shoulder.

I could see the savage gleam of satisfaction on his face when he threw from him the already stiffening arm. The two men, in close conclave, hastened from the chamber, and when the attendants set up the accustomed cries of wailing I profited by the clamour and confusion to slip discreetly from the palace and gain my own home.

"The terrible events of the next few days were, alas! just the same as have befallen a hundred times on the pa.s.sing of a king. The outside world knew few details, but the news from the palace current in the bazaars was that all the sons of the late maharajah had perished excepting only the eldest. And this youth, although the whisper pa.s.sed freely that he was merely the son of a slave woman, duly ascended the throne.

"Revolt by some of the n.o.bles over such an indignity might come later on. But meanwhile, at all events, the show of military power quelled all opposition, while a judicious remission of taxes pleased the general populace, and indeed caused them joyfully to acclaim the new maharajah as he made a triumphal procession through the city, mounted on an elephant caparisoned with cloth of gold and bedecked with silver chains and bells, preceded by priests and the dancing girls of the temples, and surrounded by troops, both hors.e.m.e.n and foot soldiers.

"Only I and the members of my household knew that the rightful heir to the throne was alive and in safe hiding. For the moorman had never come to claim his string of pearls, and it was not until some days later that I had learned of his having been summarily dispatched by order of the dead maharajah, in the latter's first paroxysm of anger over the abduction of his favourite wife when visiting the bazaars. In this opportune removal of a greedy hireling and possible traitor I once more recognized the hand of Providence working for the n.o.ble woman whose quick wit had aided mother love to save her son.

"A n.o.ble woman I have called her, and such indeed she was. For me the maharanee had discarded the purdah, and in the sanct.i.ty of my harem, with my wife as her devoted attendant, I was privileged to converse with her hour after hour, gazing freely upon the most beautiful countenance I had ever beheld--beautiful not only by reason of soft and rounded features and the peach bloom of the skin, but also because of the soul-lit eyes that illumined it with joyous radiance. For this queen lived in her son, forgot every other sorrow in his safety, and now experienced all the glowing pride of a leader on the field of battle in planning the campaign for the vindication of his rightful claims to the royal inheritance.

"Her first step had been to send secret word to her father--she was the daughter of a mountain chieftain--bidding him to dispatch one of her brothers to me as a trusted messenger. The distance was far, and three months elapsed before the hillman arrived, a st.u.r.dy young fellow, serene of eye, slow of speech, and muscled like a panther. He departed back home again, carrying our tale by simple word of mouth for greater security, and having concealed on his person some of the gems which the maharanee had saved and which would be readily convertible into money.

Then, after a second interval of time, other tribesmen came sifting into the city by twos and threes, until we had full fifty of the finest material for a bodyguard a young prince could desire. These men were quartered at different places in the vicinity of my home, armed and ready for a general muster when the moment should be ripe for action.

"Meanwhile a widespread spirit of dissatisfaction with the new raj was daily growing, and on every hand in the bazaars mutterings of trouble began to be heard. The young ruler had proved to be a mere puppet in the hands of his mother and uncle, who had not hesitated to advance their base-born relatives and a.s.sociates to places of highest honour and emolument, thereby giving grievous offence among the families of proud and ancient lineage, both Hindu and Moslem, which had hitherto supplied the princ.i.p.al officers of state and had been the real b.u.t.tresses of the throne. Then, to fill full the measure of discontent, came ominous rumours that the prince, although still a mere youth, had, like his father, become addicted to the use of bhang and strong wines, and, encouraged by a worthless following, was abandoning himself to all manner of expensive debauchery. And when at last the screw of heavily increased taxation gave proof to these stories the first timid whispers of displeasure among the populace swelled to sullen and continuous murmuring.

"For the true queen mother and her son the hour of destiny was approaching!

"But, although the embers of revolt were ready to burst into flame at the first fanning of a breeze, Todar Rao, now sirdar in command of the whole army, still dominated the situation. At his slightest word the mercenary soldiery under his control would have rushed into the bazaars with sword and torch, like ravening wolves among sheep helpless to defend themselves. As for the n.o.bles, each surrounded by his own bodyguard, they were torn into rival factions, the one jealously watching the other lest open revolt should be made the excuse for usurpation of the throne by the strongest and best prepared among them.

"In these circ.u.mstances it would have been fatal to let word go forth prematurely that the rightful heir was alive, for disappointed ambitions among the feudal lords might have become an added danger to the fury of the sirdar. But any prolonged delay would also be disastrous, for it was only now that the boy prince would be recognized and received as the undoubted heir to his father's throne; a few years later he would, to a certainty, be looked at askance as a mere pretender--a p.a.w.n in the game of some unscrupulous king-maker playing for his own aggrandizement.

"It was the maharanee who devised the bold stroke which involved undoubted danger yet promised the best chance of success. Her idea was to take the whole court unawares at one and the same moment, so that the n.o.bles might have presented to them, not only a common rallying-point for loyalty, but the chance by united action to break for all time the hated military power of the slave-born sirdar.

"It was the appointed day when the recently installed maharajah, according to custom immemorial, was to be publicly weighed, and the gold he counterbalanced distributed in charity. In the great courtyard of the palace all the people were a.s.sembled, n.o.bles and officers of state, soldiers and traders, rich and poor, among the latter the halt, the blind and the maimed, the deformed and the leprous, in pitiful evidence as fitting objects for a share of the promised bounty. On a raised dais, seated upon a throne covered with cloth of gold, and sheltered by a canopy and awnings of crimson brocade, sat the reigning maharajah, a puny and sickly-looking stripling.

"Before the main ceremony of the day, heralds had announced that the sovereign was prepared to listen to any grievances or complaints from his people. For a few minutes no one came forward, but at last a pair of sleek mules, handsomely caparisoned, with a richly adorned palankeen slung between them, the identical equipage of the maharanee which had been harboured in my home, emerged from the crowd, and advanced at a grave pace toward the royal dais. That some high-born lady was within the silken coverings of the palankeen every one surmised, and at this extraordinary spectacle a hush of tense expectancy fell upon the a.s.semblage.

"But the silence changed to murmurs of amazement and admiration when a queenly woman stepped upon the edge of the dais, and faced, not the maharajah on his throne, but the n.o.bles and courtiers and officers cl.u.s.tered around.

"With a proud gesture she flung even the sari from her face, which the play of the sunbeams among the jewels in her hair and around her neck invested with a s.h.i.+mmering halo of radiance. On such a woman's face the mult.i.tude had never looked before. But stately and unabashed, serene in the purity of her womanhood, the dignity of her motherhood, and the majesty of her rank, she raised aloft a hand, and spake aloud in tones clear as the notes of a silver trumpet.

"'O n.o.bles and O people, the royal son and heir of my husband, the late maharajah, is alive, spared by divine Providence from the ma.s.sacre of his brothers and playmates in the seraglio of the palace. Many of you know him well, and behold now he comes to claim his heritage.'

"As these words were spoken, the crowd again parted, and there stepped forth the young prince, my protege. At the edge of the throng he discarded a loose mantle of cotton that had concealed the rich garments befitting his rank. Then he advanced, looking proudly and gaily about him, while close behind, and pressing eagerly around his person, came full fifty stalwart tribesmen, treading with the bold swinging gait of the mountaineer, their drawn tulwars flas.h.i.+ng in the sun, their voices shouting 'Jai, jai,--Hail, hail!' in deafening chorus.

"The effect was instantaneous and tremendous, and from all the a.s.sembled mult.i.tude went up the loud acclaim--'Jai, jai, jai!' There seemed to be not a dissentient in the throng. And a moment later the young prince was standing on the dais by his mother's side, one hand resting proudly on her shoulder.