Baba Shirzad did as he was commanded, and was lost in a few seconds amid the gloom of the forest.
“Mir Shah,” said the chief to another of his companions, “we must prepare for blows. These idolators are grown savage at their late defeats and fight desperately. We must relieve the garrison in spite of Tartan Chan’s late subterfuges. He’ll be a cunning governor if he outwits his betters a second time.”
“Had we not better get into the plain?” asked Mir Shah. “I don’t like these strange thickets; they are too favourable for surprises, and my topographical knowledge of this quarter is not considerable. Let us go where we can see our horses’s ears, for here we can exercise only one sense, and that the least important of the five.”
“Nay, do you mean to make four pass for a unit? You can exercise all your senses in the dark, save the faculty of seeing, and, my word for it, blindness is not always an evil. But let us get into the plain if you will, and there await the return of Baba Shirzad.”
The Moguls had not long emerged from the wood, when, overcome by the fatigue of their journey, they began to nod on their saddles. They were, however, suddenly roused by a clattering of hoofs, as of a horse at full speed, and presently Baba Shirzad appeared coming towards them at a hard gallop.
“Fly!” said he; “we are pursued by a large detachment of the enemy; they are close at my heels, and we have not a moment for deliberation.”
“Nay,” said the chief, “the Mogul is not accustomed to fly we must stand our ground at all risks.”
“But the enemy are at least a hundred and fifty men.”
“The more the better; throw them into confusion and they’ll cut one another’s throats. ’Tis no easy matter to distinguish friends from foes in the dark, and after a death or two they’ll magnify two brace of warriors into a host. Stand by me like brave men, and I’ll show you some sport worth witnessing.”
By this time a considerable detachment of the enemy had advanced to within a hundred yards of the spot where the four horsemen stood. The Moguls had separated, each taking up his position with his back towards the wood, and shouting simultaneously, in order to lead the enemy to suppose they formed a small squadron. The Hindoos reined up their horses, and immediately winged a flight of arrows, calling upon their foes to surrender; this was answered by a discharge of four shafts, which, being directed with better aim, and against a large mass, did some execution.