The Adventures of Akbar

  CHAPTER XI

  A WINTER MARCH

  It was only too true! The escort which was to see them on the road wasalready occupying the garden, the horses champing their bits andfretting because the long branches of the roses at which they snatchedheld nothing but thorns.

  Prince Akbar, indeed, was too much interested in watching them andwondering if they were very hungry to take much heed of anything else,but Princess Bakshee Bani Begum, who was a very practical little person,at once began to pack up her favourite doll.

  "You had better choose out some toy, Mirak," said she, "or you will bewanting to play with mine, and I won't let you."

  But Mirak was busy with the horses.

  "I sha'n't want anything but my sword," he replied valiantly. "I'm a bigboy now, and I'm going to play with real things." Then he turned to oneof the troopers with a quaint air of authority. "Your horse is too thin.When I am King I shall see that my men give their horses enough to eat."

  Foster-father, who overheard the child, paused in the hasty arrangementshe was making to look at the little Heir-to-Empire and put up a prayerthat the fates might let him be King; but the future looked blackindeed. The road to Kabul must still be blocked with snow, even if moredid not fall by the way. A likely happening, with the bitter north windand the dull lowering sky. And if the young child escaped the danger ofextreme cold and extreme hardship, what might not be before him in Kabulitself?

  Better, it might have been, for those in charge of him, to have riskedall, taken refuge with the old mountain chief, and died like brave men.There was but one comfort in the whole affair. Prince Askurry must knowthat Humayon or his friends were close at hand, or he would not be insuch a desperate hurry to send away the Heir-to-Empire.

  And this, indeed, was the truth. The fear of a rescue was so real andimmediate that Prince Askurry had had to make his decision in a minute.So there was scarcely any time for preparation, and by noon the partyhad started for the three hundred and odd miles of mountainous countrythat lay between them and Kabul. Only the children's faces werecheerful; even Roy's showed grave and anxious.

  They rode fast and far till dusk fell, when they had covered full twentymiles. For the last few, both the women, who were mounted behindtroopers, had almost been dropping with fatigue, but the captain of theescort was under orders to go as far as possible that night, so hepushed on to reach a place called Robat. Here they were allunceremoniously bundled into one large room, and by the steady trampthrough the night of a sentry outside, Foster-father judged they werecomplete prisoners. Luckily they were given plenty of fuel to replenishthe fire that roared in the wide chimney, so the elders squatted roundit and dozed, holding the children in their laps. They slept as soundlyas if they had been in their beds, and so did Tumbu and Down, who hadboth insisted on being of the party; the latter having quite calmlytaken her place on Horse-chestnut's broad wavy back on the wide cushionof felt which Foster-father used as a saddle-cloth. She had left herkitten behind her as it was now quite a big tom-cat, and able to takecare of itself.

  In a way, both Tumbu and Down had already been of service to their youngmaster, for the troopers of the Escort had been amused by the golliwog'sgambols, and had admired Down's dignity, so they were more inclined totreat the whole party in kindly fashion. Indeed, next morning, theCaptain of the Escort, whose anxiety about a rescue had, perhaps, beenlessened by the uneventful night, was much less strict in his orders,and took Prince Akbar on his own saddle and let him hold the reins.

  "He is a brave, bold lad," he said to Foster-father; "were he to live,he would make a good King." Then he frowned, his mouth hardened andFoster-father, watching him, augured ill for the safety of theHeir-to-Empire. For the time, however, all went well, thoughFoster-father remarked that they kept off the direct track as much aspossible; no doubt to avoid pursuit. And at Ghuznee, where they haltedthe second night, the Captain of the Escort sent nearly all his men intothe city by one gate, taking with them, despite their protestations, Royand Meroo and Old Faithful, while he himself, with but one or twotroopers, Foster-father, Foster-mother, Head-nurse and the two children,entered by another and found lodging in the caravanserai as commontravellers. Evidently, Foster-father surmised, it was thought best forsome reason or another to conceal the fact that the Heir-to-Empire wasbeing carried off to Kabul; and something happened that evening to makehim certain that this was the case. It was dark ere they arrived, so theother travellers in the _serai_ took little heed of the small party,especially as there were women and children in it, and it is not politein Eastern countries to take any notice of them. But while Head-nurseand Foster-mother were busy settling down the children's quilts in thelittle dark archway room, which was all the accommodation available, andFoster-father had gone to purchase them some milk for their supper, thelittle Prince and Princess, greatly excited at the novelty of theirsurroundings, wandered out into the dark square enclosure, where firesburned here and there in the open, lit by travellers who were cookingtheir evening meal. They stood by these watching what was going on withquick interest, answering questions that were put to them with franksmiles and laughter. Being dressed in heavy sheepskin outer coats tokeep out the cold, no one guessed that they were other than they seemed,poor travellers' children, until at the end of a long row of picketedhorses at the further end of the courtyard, Akbar saw Horse-chestnut,Foster-father's pony. Now Foster-father had only had time to tie thepoor beast head and heel, so there the honest creature stood, lookingvery dejected, with emptiness before it, while the troopers' horsesbeside him were enjoying great bundles of green grass. The little fellowflushed up in a moment; he called loudly to a man who stood near:

  "Ho! slave there! bring my pony grass--dost hear? and be quick!"

  The man laughed. "Alah!" he said; "whose son be you to give orders thatfashion?"

  "Whose son?" echoed the child passionately. "I am----"

  But Bija clung to his arm. "H'st, Mirak!" she whispered. "Remember whatHead-nurse said that we were not to tell----"

  Akbar stood irresolute; he was wise beyond his years. "ButHorse-chestnut must not be hungry. I won't have it!--he shall havegrass," he said angrily; then, without another word he walked up to thenext horse, took a great armful of the grass that lay in front of it andscattered it before his favourite.

  "So there! slave!" he cried defiantly with a stamp of his foot.

  The man looked at him curiously, said nothing, but went over to someothers and began to whisper.

  A minute afterwards, Foster-father returning, found the children thecentre of a little crowd eager in enquiry whence they came, whither theywere going, and, ere he could get them safely to their quarters, theattention of the Captain of the Escort had been arrested, he came outfrowning and fuming.

  "We march again in an hour," he said angrily to Foster-father. "On thyhead be it if thou can'st not keep thy young fighting cock inorder--'twill be all over the town by midnight!"

  Foster-father did not often let his temper get the better of hisprudence, but he could not resist saying mildly: "Kingship is like themusk-bag, friend, that was broken at the royal child's birth. Itdiffuses its perfume over the habitable world, and none can mistake it."

  The Captain of the Escort shrugged his shoulders. "Then it shall smellin the wilderness, friend; for I run no risks of rescue this side thepasses. So bid the women give the young crowing cockerel his supper andprepare to start again. There will be a moon in another hour and we canpush on. Meanwhile I go to warn the other folk where to rejoin us."

  It was a bitter cold night. The wind blew keenly from the snow beforethem, and by the time they reached a miserable village, high up on theslopes of the pass, every one save the two children was chilled to thebone; but they, well happed in all the coverings the fugitives couldcompass, were warm; Akbar, in Foster-father's arms, with Down, the cat,cuddled up beside him, and acting as a hot bottle! Once more there wasplenty of fuel in the rude hut where they found shelter, and stiffenedlimbs and half-frosted fingers soon be
gan to thaw. Tumbu, who had kepthimself supple by, as usual, bounding about, was the only one of theparty who did not doze off at once, now comparative comfort was reached.

  But he was curiously restless. Over and over again he rose, went to thedoor and seemed to listen. Then he began to whine a little, then toscratch at the door as if he wanted to get out. Finally, finding no onepaid any attention, he let loose one short, sharp bark, which awakenedHead-nurse, who with an impatient look to see if her children had beendisturbed, and an angry whisper, "Go, then! thou mean-born beast," rosesoftly, set open the door for a second, then closed it again, shiveringwith the chill blast that swept in. But Tumbu was out like a flash anddisappeared in the darkness.

  It must have been an hour afterward that every one's slumber wasdisturbed by the most insistent barking that ever was heard. Even Akbar,usually the soundest of sleepers, sat up and rubbed his eyes.

  "The evil-dispositioned hound!" said Head-nurse in drowsy anger. "Ideemed he had left us forever, and good riddance, too."

  But little Prince Akbar, half awake, protested in defence of his deardog.

  "Tumbu only barks when he wants something, nurse; go and see what itis."

  "A likely story!" cried Head-nurse.

  "Well," interposed Foster-father philosophically, "some one must go ifany one is to sleep."

  Whereat he went to the door; but Tumbu on the doorstep refused to comein; he barked, bounced off, and returned the next minute to whine andbark again.

  "He only wants something; go and see what it is," came Mirak'sdeep-toned voice. "I know he wants something."

  "Lo! man alive!" grumbled Head-nurse; "shut the door whichever way itis. I perish with cold!"

  Foster-father was a wise man, so to avoid further discussion he steppedout and shut the door behind him. Thus for a minute or two there waspeace. Then Foster-father's voice rose urgently from outside.

  "Open! I say open! Quick!"

  Foster-mother flew to obey, and her husband staggered in, bearing someone in his arms. "God send the boy be not dead," he said as he laid downhis burden.

  It was Roy the Rajput!

  "I found him quite close, frozen by the cold," he continued, as they setto work before the fire to rub the poor, stiff limbs and force a fewdrops of hot milk through the blue lips.

  It was some time before a faint sigh, a quiver of the eyelids told thatRoy was once more coming back to the world; but after that it was notlong before he could sit up and tell them what had happened.

  He had managed to evade the eyes of the troopers, and had arrived at the_serai_ just after the startled party had left it; had followed on theirtraces until he had lost his way. In despair he had been stumbling alongaimlessly when Tumbu had suddenly appeared. Following his lead, he hadstruggled on, gradually benumbed by cold, until at last his feet hadfailed him, and he remembered no more.

  "Tumbu wanted Roy!" said little Prince Akbar gravely. "I told you hewanted something."

  And Tumbu, hearing his name, roused his furry head from his furry pawsand looked at his young master with his sharp, beady, black eyes, as whoshould say:

  "Of course I did, because I knew you wanted him."