His family had ever possessed vast influence in that remote region; he was lord of fertile lands and vineyards in the Pughman Valley, and already two of his brothers had fallen in battle, and one been burned alive, for adherence to the Shah, whose story we shall relate in a subsequent chapter.
After being seated and assisted by Denzil to wine, which like many other Mohammedans he drank in secret, or when among unbelieving Feringhees, he proceeded at once to state the object of his visit, which he did in tolerable English, having been long an exile in one of the cities of British India, though the language of his native land is a dialect of the Scriptural Chaldaic.
"You know, Waller Sahib, that the Envoy of the Queen of England and of the great Lord Sahib Bahadur Auckland, is to have a meeting with Ackbar Khan at an early period to consult as to the unsettled state of affairs—the discontents, in fact, among us—in Cabul?"
"Yes, Khan—we have all heard so; and what then?"
"Are you to be present?"
"I expect to have the pleasure," replied Waller.
"Then do not go, and bid the Envoy also not to go."
"Why?"
"Because the conference is a snare—a lure to his destruction and the destruction of all that may accompany him. He will perish, even as Burnes Sahib perished!"
"We are but of subaltern rank, and may not presume to advise the Envoy," said Waller.