"Yea! let the Pillar-of-State choose," bawled the shrill voice of the Moghul, whose yellow, small-featured face was ablaze with passion. "Choose between his son and heir and this low-born upstart, this soubadar of artillery, this puritan by profession, this debaucher of King's----"
He paused, for Bukht Khân's hand was on his sword, and there was an ominous stir behind Hussan Askuri. Ahsan-Oolah, a discreet figure in black standing by the side of the throne, craned his long neck forward, and his crafty face wore an amused smile.
Bukht Khân laughed disdainfully at the Mirza's full stop. "What I am, sire, matters little if I can lead armies to victory. The Mirza hath not led his, as yet."
"Not led them?" interrupted an officious peace-bringer. "Lo! the hell-doomed are reduced to five hundred; the colonels are eating their horses' grain, the captains are starving, and our shells cause terror as they cry, 'Coffin! Coffin! (boccus! boccus!)----'"
"The Mirza could do as well as thou," put in a partisan, heedless of the tales to which the King, however, had been nodding his head, "if, as thou hast, he had money to pay his troops. The Begum Zeenut Maihl's hoards----"
The sword and the hand kept company again significantly. "I pay my men by the hoard I took from the infidel, Meean-jee," retorted the loud, indifferent voice. "And when it is done I can get more. The Palace is not sucked dry yet, nor Delhi either."
The Meean, well known to have feathered his nest bravely, muttered something inaudible, but a stout, white-robed gentleman bleated hastily:
"There is no more money to be loaned in Delhi, be the interest ever so high."
The broad face broadened with a sardonic smile. "I borrow, banker-jee, according to the tenets of the faith, without interest! For the rest, five minutes in thy house with a spade and a string bed to hang thee on head down, and I pay every fighter for the faith in Delhi his arrears."
"Wâh! Wâh!" A fierce murmur of approval ran round the audience, for all liked that way of dealing with folk who kept their money to themselves.