The Justice of Mabommed

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 17, 21 January 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

The Justice of Mabommed

ByCharles M. Hale

Long Short Story

DOST Mahommed Khan Bahadur, by grace of the Emperor Akbar, Lord of the Frontier, and Viceroy of all Nepal, stroked the gong beside his divan gently, almost caressingly, and the chamberlain outside jumped to the soft humming as though s cobra were at his heels. When the Viceroy smashed tlie gon£ lustily, aiul sliouted, all was well, anc one could hurry into the Presence witl a smile. j But the blacker the humoui of that fighting Mahommedan whe had first conquered, . and now rulec Nepal for his royal master, the softei became his voice, the more deadly quiel his gestures, and the more certain the expectation that there were heads in his entourage with more than a precarious lease of the shoulders on which they sat The chamberlain scnttered into the Presence like a rabbit flushed from its burrow with a ferret close behind, anc crouched at the steps below the divai: throne, arms outflung in the profoundesi of salaams, the nape of his neck tingling uncannily «s his head thrust forward. , "Huzoor! My lord's pleasure?" Gopal Singh intoned the formula, throatily striving to mask the apprehension in his voice. "I am weary." The reply was gentle, almost as though it were a woman who spoke, not the Ivhan whose sword and steel-tempered wrist behind it had cut a swath across the Kingdom of Nepal. "Wear}-, in particular, of grovelling chamberlains . . . ." The crouching body twitched upright, suddenly, as though an invisible sword-point had been pricked into the small of the back, and the servant met the eyes of his master. They were full, dark eves, deep-set beneath bushy black brows, and the lips below were curled back in a sardonic smile behind the clipped moustache and pointed black beard that stuck forward truculently from the out-thrust chin. All the chamberlain could see was the Viceroy in a particularly vicious, cruelly evil humour. The inherent fineness of tho • face, chiselled and carved in «*i hundred delicate lines, parsed him by. It was the face of an ascetic, matched in refinement with the slim hands that lay motionless on the cushion of the divan* throne. v . V' Men had died in the train of Dost Mahommed for a smile from those curling lips, a flash of approval in the,deep, dark eyes. But Gopal Singh, chamberlain to the deposed rajah, and now, at the whim of,the conqueror, chamberlain to his successor the Viceroy, knew nothing of that. He only knew of the chill wind of terror that had raced before that'fighting, burning, ravaging Mahommedan horde that had swept across India/ brushing the once proud Mahratta Empire aside as though it had not been. He knew nothing:of Dost Mahommed, soldier;.save.the. shattered armies behind only the Viceroy, the administrator, and of him that he was above all to be feared when he was-most gentle. ' . " J. ../-I' - "L am weary."*- The. soft voice was speaking again;: -"Weary of everlastingly the same thing. ..Ministers with papers to sign. Litigants appealing to the foot of the throne. Couriers from the frontier with': news of raiding* hill-rats. Old, gray chamberlains whose bony knees click like reeds in the /wind when their masters speak to them! Gopal Singh, is there in all Nepal nothing new?" "There is that new slave girl, lord ..." Dost Mahommed laughed shortly, and there was no mirth in the sound,* only• a' note ;that_ made the servant's quivering knees. play upon each other till it seemed that the Viceroy's words were. no. jest; and that they clicked. "The slave you - bought for me for ten thousand rupees?" /->' "Ye-yes, ; 10rd.." - V \ * "Send jher here." It will be at least interesting to find out; what Gopal ' Singh thinks is worth thousand rupees of my revenues. Begone!"

1 l Alone, Dost Mahommed rose slowly, languidly, from the cushions of the . divan. Oil the far side of the chamber, 1 opposite the curtained door, n window. • looked out on the courtyard below. Inside, the light was softly diffused, , all of one tone with the luxury of the yielding cushions, soft carpets of Baluchistan, and silken draperies from Teheran. Beyond the filigree of carved marble that filled the window frame the hot sun of India beat down 011 the baked, brown earth of the parade ground of the palace guard. Dost Maliommed leaned against the window frame, staring into the ripples of throbbing air that pulsed upward from the sun-thrashed ground. Distantly, a quick, tapping tattoo came upward to the ears of the Lord of All Xepal where he stood watching. Then it was louder, and a, plunging horse swung bucking and kicking across the brown parade ground, slivers of sliced earth flying right and left, leaving a track of gleaming ovals behind the sharp, cutting hooves, Dost Mahom-

med' stiffened slightly, and his face seemed to change, as though a ha ml had passed over it, wiping-a film away. He recognised the brute, a magnificent black Arab stallion he had bought only the week before, intending it as a, gift .for the Emperor Akbar, his master, at ; the ; next Durbar, rf I ;•*; He had been mindetf ,lo school it himself, bitf a suave vizier at his elbow had . whispered of better uses the em- , peror might have' for the Viceroy's neck " than, breaking, it. .011' the parade ground. That the vizier risked his own head in suggesting that there was anything that the Viceroy could not ride Dost Mahommed was fully aware. But he had laiiglied out loud, and called to .the captain of tho guard to have one of his new Mahratta officers handle the beast. It was tli3.will of the ertiperor that, conquest over, the stingi of defeat should be Wiped away, and all Hind- be •welded into one people. Wherefore let one of the Mahratta guardsmen show himself a better man than the Viceroy, who had grown too soft in the palace to ride this black devil from the stables of Eblis. If'there was a subtle, ironical sarcasm in the-command, no man dared to show that he saw it. A young Rajput had leaped from his place at the head of a section of men, salaamed as was his lord's due, and then stood up-

riglit in the Presence, accepting the challenge. Dost Mahoniined had smiled and answered softly: "Ride—ride for your life, Rajput I" Now, below him, the stallion was being ridden, and by a horscmaster. ' The eyes of the Viceroy flamed under the dark brows as lie watched the battle in the sunlight below the palace wall. A cough, wheezily discreet, broke across liis absorption. As Dost Maliommed wheeled from the window, the film spread over his face again, leaving it masked, in that gently cruel smile. Gopal Singh was salaaming just inside the doorway. "The slave girl, lord . , "Let her conic in!" The words seemed to twitch the chamberlain backwards through the curtains. Then the draperies round the doorway parted again, and a girl entered the chamber. The smile faded from the Viceroy's lips, leaving his face impassive, expressionless. He watched her as she came, head up, the all enfolding silken veil about her rustling, silver anklets tinkling mimically, but no man living could have read the thoughts behind the unchanging eyes, the lips set in a thin, taut line. Squarely in the centre of the chamber, the girl paused, salaamed, then stood upright, waiting.

"Unveil!" The command was curt. Hands below tile sarai moved quietly, then parted it, and the girl looked the Viceroy straight in the eyes. "Your name, child?" "Janakdularie, lord." "A Mahratta Hindoo?" The question whipped from between tight lips. "Yes, Maharajah. A Mahrattin." "I am no maharajah. None is that save Jalaludin. Mahomined Akbar, Kaisar-i-Hind, - and after Allah and his Prophet, lord of us all. I am Dost Mahomined, by right of 1113' own sword Khan, by grace of the Km peror Bahadur, and a sahib in Hind. Khan Sahib,of Nepal, i£ you wish, and lord .of all therein!" "Lord of all, Khan Sahib—save of me, perchance!" For a moment, the eyes flashed, then a mist seemed to veil them, leaving tliem inscrutable. Slowly, tho lips'behind the beard parted in a smile. "You are very young, child," he suggested, gently, "or else very little afraid of a bowstring." "Not very young, Khan Sahib. Old enough . . . understanding enough . •. ... to be the bride of a bowstring rather than the slave of the Lord of All Nepal." Dost Mahommcd wheeled where lie. stood., A movement incredibly swift, and he had crossed tho space between

them. hands grasping her shoulders dark eyes staring down into the youn< face turned up to his. She stood iirm untrembling, with clear eyes that neve wavered. "Did they tell yon anything in tin harem, child, before tl»ey decked -yoi out to come here?" he demanded. Hand: gripped savagely on the soft shoulders lingers biting inwards. lie could fee her wince, then stiffen to face him still Her voice was clear as a bell, musical a: water tinkling in the palace of fountains "They told me the Viceroy was ii one of his blackest, cruellest mood* They begged me to please him, to cliarn away the devil that rode him, or head: would be rolling in the courtyard dtis ere sundown." ... "And so you came here . . Tin words whistled through lips drawn in i whiplash line. "I came here . . . T, who have praycc for the bowstring since ever ("Jopal Sing] sold me into the harem . . ." Her voit* rang now, a mellow contralto in th little chamber. "... 1 came her thanking Shiva the Destroyer that nr prayers were heard." The hands upon her shoulders slippec upward till the lingers circled he throat. "Answer me one thing, befon l fulfil that ])raver with my own hands Why is it better to be the bride of i bowstring than Vicereine of All Nepa ... as well might have been?" "Because . . ." Her shoulders twitche< from the throb of his relaxed grip, bu she made 110 other movement, standing erect still. "Because lam 110 Nepalese lo be bought and sold like- hill cattle [ am a Glabrattin from Rajputana, wet io a man I loved, and stolen from hh liouse to be flung at the feet of tin Viceroy when his humour is so blacl hat men about him fear to face him!' Dost Mahommcd' drew a step back ward, hands dropping lo his sides 'They make them—very brave in you village," he said quietly. But tin [leadlv, caressing softness had gone fron his voice, and he spoke as a man win had found a new interest, not a littli fimazcd. "Tell me," lie went on. "Win was man enough to make those bravi eyes falter —make those proud lips sa] 'Lord, I love thee?'" "Ram Narine Subhidas Rao, now ai officer of the palace guard, Khan Saliil Bahadur." "And he sold thee?" "No, lord. My uncle stole me fron his house when the guard attended tin Presence in the field." "And sold thee to Gopal Singh. Bu why did not my own officer appeal t< My Presence?" "He feared, lord. Not for his owi life. But, lie loved me, and was .no overly sure how the laws of the harcn might have dealt with me. The bow string is quick. Slaves have died— more slowly, on occasion." Wheeling, the Viceroy crossed to th divan, and his clenched list smote th gong till it boomed through the palacc He was beating a cadence 011 it tha had only one meaning. Almost on th instant, the curtains of the doorwa; parted, and the captain of the guar< salaamed iu the entrance. "Abdulla Khan!" The words wer ringing, an order to a soldier. "Ther is an officer of my guard, Ram Narin Subbidus Rao. Bring him here." 1"A prisoner, without liis sword sahib?" "No. A man, and an officer, bearing his arms in the Presence J" As the curtains closed, the Yiccro; Hung himself down 011 the-divan-throne An imperious gesture .of one ham directed the girl to take her place oi the topmost step, at his "feet. . "Stand there!" lie commanded. "Am see the justice of Dost Malhommed. B; the wings of Azraol, there is- something new in Nepal!". . ; It seemed but a moment, and boote< feet echoed down • the corridor outside Then the curtains parted, and' a youn; man was crossing the chamber, Abdiill: Khan behind. He came head up, th skirts of his long military coat swing

ing below the broad crimson sash, sword scabbard flapping against the high boots. At the foot of ,the throne ; lie halted, and his left jiaiid dropped tc the sword hilt, thrusting it forward towards the Viceroy with an open palm. "Huzoor!" Leaning forward, Dost ]\lahoinmecl touched the sword hilt with two fingers pushing it gently back. Homage had been offered and accepted. Then Ik leaned back, staring wordlessly at the beardless young face before him. *ft wjik set, expressionless, absolutely unaware of the woman standing a ban hand's reach away 011 the topmost stej of the divan throne. The Viceroy's eyes gleamed. It was the young Haharatt.i who had dared him before in the mattei of a black horse. . « "Did you ride him?" Dost Maliommcd inquired, at length. It was as thougli that were tlie subject of the audience and the girl was not even there. "Yes, lord. I have broken him. He is hardly schooled, though. A day 01 two more, perhaps, and lie will be" safe for the Presence to finish teaching hiir Emperor's manners." Abduila Khan blanched, a dusky grey under his bronze skin. Assuredly there would be a head rolling across the chamber floor in a moment. Daring the conqueror to his face twice in 2<± hours was defying all providence. There was something here, too, lie did not understand. By all the laws and rules oi the game, (here were two sides to every Mohammedan's life, and they nevei under any circumstances mixed. What devilish whim had possessed his master to break ofT in the middle of playing with one of the harem girls tc summon an officer in the matter of a black horse, and how the girl came tc be standing there, unveiled, was utterly beyond him. Ham Narine was immobile, eyes fixed on his master's face waiting. 111 the stillness of the chamber, the girl's breathing was almosl audible, the perfume with which they had drenched her heavy 011 the air Dost Aloha mined laughed, shortly, ant the sound seemed to break the tension Something had greatly pleased him. "It has, been a test, Hani Xarine!' The words followed the laugh. "Turr now and look. It is permitted to loot on the face of one of thy lord's womcr unveiled, and live. "Whom do you sec here?" Obediently, the young man turned his head. "My wife, lord," he repliee quietly. The chamber whirled arounc Abduila Khan, doors, windows draperies dancing crazily about him There would be two heads rolling now his own as well that he had heard tin incredible thing.' Across the dizziness that assailed him, the voice of the Vice rov seemed infinitely distant. "Tell me the story . . . while you arc alive to tell it!"

"Her.. father and mother -were dead lord "The father and mother of all Hinc are dead!" The Viceroy laughed oul loud at the-phrase, which is the opening of every beggar's chant in India. Bu< the young voice went on, calmly, un heeding. "Her father died in battle againSf my lord's armies, and her mother was suttee on his pyre. v The daughter was taken . into the. house of her uncle Gopal Singh, by favour of the Presence chamberlain "By favour of my Presence, chamberlain !" Dost Mahommed's. echo was gently', silkily, soft, and Abdulla Khar was suddenly deadly afraid as nevci before in Iris life. "Go on: with the talc." The words were almost dreamy as though the Viceroy's mind were already far away, and he . only half heard. "X would have, wed her', fairly, as a man, from her uncle's house, but tlu pay of an officer of the guard seemed not enough for Gopal Singh i . J* "What is the pay of an officer of the guard?" "Twenty rupees a month, weapons and quarters . . . So I took her, and a Brahmin in my squadron who was a priest performed the ceremony. There after, the guard attended the Presence nt a hill Durbar, and on my return, my wife was stolen from my house . . The Viceroy's hand went up, gently stroking the gong once more. "My chambcrlain, it seems, steals half the pay of the guard. My chamberlain put ten thousand rupees of my revenues into his purse, and his own flesh anil blood into my, harem. More, he sent my own officer's wife to amuse me wher I was weary ... I, Dost Maliommed. by right of my own sworel Khan, b) jrace of the Emperor, Bahadur, Lord )f the Frontier, and Viceroy of all Nepal Abdulla Khan, I am grieved that" thy lord should have been brought into contempt before thine eyes by a Hindi >haml>erlain. There is trouble on the frontier, and an army ready that lacks i commander. For the faith with which ihou hast served me, command that irmy, and 011 the frontier, forget. Ram Marino Subbidas Rao, they breed tliew rery brave, men and women alike, in thy rillage. Command the guard in the 100111 of Abdulla Khan, and since thou iiast schooled a certain black stallion ,ill he was safe for the Viceroy to teach manners to, take this girl to thy juarters, and keep her close . . He paused as the curtains parted CJopal Singh, the chamberlain, had Altered in response to the gently humming gong. For a moment he stood in the doorway, then, as his eyes took ir Uie group by the divan throne, he fell m his knees, arms outflung, stuttering md whimpering inarticulate words that •ose into a meaningless scream. For a noment Dost Maliommed regarded him, nildly, as some curious creature brought inexpectedly to his notice. Tbeiij silently, his right hand went up in 0 iignificant gesture to Abdulla Khan] md the soft whisper of steel slipping nit of leather gave answer. A grey lead, eyelids flickering, lips still twitchng in a scream cut short, rolled across lie chamber floor, stopping with a sickly, soft impact at the' lowest step )f the throne.