“Soldier!” said the fakeer, rising from his underground dwelling, and standing before the party with an aspect of stern indignation, “search where you list: profane the sanctuary of the Prophet’s vicegerent by your unhallowed intrusion, and be the consequences upon your own head.”
“My head for the consequences!” said the man, and leaped down into the subterraneous abode of sanctity.
At this moment the fakeer stepped behind a tree—struck rapidly upon a gong three blows, which resounded through the valley The soldier now hailed his companions from below, announcing to them that he had found their prisoner. The party consisted of ten men, nine of whom had by this time surrounded the entrance of the cavern to assist their comrade in securing the captive: they had, however, no sooner done this, than each man fell to the earth transfixed with an arrow. A party of twenty Bheels, rushing from their ambush, instantly despatched and stripped the wounded soldiers.
“Now,” said the fakeer, addressing the prince, who had ascended from his place of sanctuary, “you see how little cause there was for distrust. Those who have been instrumental to your escape had calculated the probabilities of a recapture too nicely not to provide against such a contingency. You must follow your rescuers, who will conduct you to a place of security.”
“But shall I not leave you in jeopardy? Will it not be surmised that you have been privy to my escape, and will not my enemies wreak their vengeance upon you?”
“Should they do their worst, they can only cut off the ragged remnant of an existence now well nigh spun to its last thread. Let them do what they list—I fear them not. I have fulfilled the purposes of my vocation, and am ready to enter upon the consummation of my destiny. Still, while I live, the benefits of my experience are at your command.”
The prince now quitted the spot with the old man’s blessing, and followed the Bheels into the thickest of the jungle. These half-savage mountaineers threaded the thicket with surprising facility, clearing the way before their royal charge, and treating him with a rude courtesy which showed that they were less barbarians by nature than by circumstance. They were almost entirely naked, having only a narrow strip of cloth round the loins, and another round the head, meant to represent a turban, or rather a skull-cap. They were armed with bows and arrows of the rudest construction, but which they used with a skill perfectly amazing. During their progress through the forest, several of them took occasion to display their dexterity before the royal stranger. A partridge rose from some long grass in an open vista in the wood, and, while on the wing, was transfixed with an arrow by one of the Bheels. A pigeon was killed in a similar manner. A hare fell a victim to the dexterity of a third archer.
After travelling about six hours, they reached a rude village, nearly on the summit of a hill, in the gorge of a deep glen. The prince was here shown into the best habitation the village afforded; which was a small hovel thatched with dried plantain-leaves, the walls consisting of thin bamboos interlaced with jungle-grass, the floor of mud being overlaid with a compost of cow-dung and straw. A coarse rug was spread in one corner, and this constituted the whole furniture of the apartment.
The soldier who had sprung into the fakeer’s cave, and thus escaped the arrows of the Bheels, they took prisoner, and made him accompany them to the village. On their arrival, a consultation being held, they determined to put him to death. He was accordingly hung with his own turban upon the branch of a tree; and while struggling in the agonies of strangulation, six arrows were discharged at him. His body was afterwards cut down, stripped, and thrown into a well.
Dismal as the hovel was into which the prince was obliged to creep, the consciousness of freedom imparted to it an air of comfort which he had never yet enjoyed so sensibly even in his father’s palace. Before evening closed in, a bustle was heard in the village, which was almost immediately followed by a palankeen and two hackeries,[39] accompanied by about twenty attendants. Such a circumstance having probably never before occurred in a village of poor Bheels, excited a considerable sensation among the inhabitants; some of whom, however, were evidently so little overcome by surprise, as to render it more than probable that the arrival had not been altogether unexpected. The prince could not help feeling surprise when the fact was announced to him; and on quitting the hut, in which he had flung himself upon the rug, in order to snatch a brief repose after the fatigues of his journey, his astonishment was only surpassed by his delight at meeting in the stranger, whose arrival had just been announced to him, the daughter of Sultan Shariar, who, immediately upon the death of Jehangire, had set up his claim to the imperial throne.