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PREFACE
CHAPTER I
FAREWELL[1]
CHAPTER II
THE FIRST VICTORY[11]
CHAPTER III
THE ROYAL UMBRELLA[20]
CHAPTER IV
TUMBU-DOWN[27]
CHAPTER V
ON THE ROAD[39]
CHAPTER VI
AT COURT[50]
CHAPTER VII
WINTER[58]
CHAPTER VIII
DOWN'S STRATAGEM[68]
CHAPTER IX
SPRING[77]
CHAPTER X
THE NIGHT OF RECORD[88]
CHAPTER XI
A WINTER MARCH[100]
CHAPTER XII
SNOW AND ICE[109]
CHAPTER XIII
OVER THE PASS[119]
CHAPTER XIV
IN THE VALLEY[128]
CHAPTER XV
DEAREST-LADY[138]
CHAPTER XVI
CRUEL BROTHER KUMRAN[147]
CHAPTER XVII
IMPRISONMENT[159]
CHAPTER XVIII
THE GARDEN OF GAMES[169]
CHAPTER XIX
BETWIXT CUP AND LIP[178]
CHAPTER XX
ESCAPED[187]
CHAPTER XXI
DAWN[196]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[ON A SHELVING BANK OF DRY SAND BABY AKBAR SITTING UP AND RUBBING HIS EYES]Frontispiece
To face page
[PRINCE ASKURRY ... STRODE ... INTO THE TENT]16
[THE CHILD HAD SLIPPED IT ONTO HIS LITTLE FOREFINGER]62
[SO THEY BOTH TOUCHED THE COLD MARBLE FLOOR WITH THEIR WARM LITTLE FOREHEADS]98
[AHEAD OF THEM, A SHADOW SHOWED, A SHAMBLING SHADOW! TUMBU ... WITH A BOUND WAS OFF FULL TILT AFTER IT]126
[AND ONE DAY THE DOOR DID OPEN.... "MY SON—MY LITTLE SON!"]166
["LADIES! UNVEIL!"]176
["I STAY MY HAND WHILE I COUNT TEN—NO MORE"]198

CHAPTER I

FAREWELL

Bismillah Al-la-hu Akbar!

These queer-looking, queer-sounding words, which in Arabic mean "thanks be to God," were shrilled out at the very top of Head-nurse's voice. Had she been in a room they would have filled it and echoed back from the walls; for she was a big, deep-chested woman. But she was only in a tent; a small tent, which had been pitched in a hurry in an out-of-the-way valley among the low hills that lead from the wide plains of India to Afghanistan. For Head-nurse's master and mistress, King Humâyon and Queen Humeeda, with their thirteen months' old little son, Prince Akbar, were flying for their lives before their enemies. And these enemies were led by Humâyon's own brothers, Prince Kumran, Askurry and Hindal. It is a long story, and a sad story, too, how Humâyon, so brave, so clever, so courteous, fell into misfortune by his own fault, and had to fly from his beautiful palaces at Delhi and wander for years, pursued like a hare, amid the sandy deserts and pathless plains of Western India. And now, as a last resource, his followers dwindled to a mere handful, he was making a desperate effort to escape over the Persian border and claim protection at the hands of Persia's King.