Mowbray smiled and Akbar cried eagerly:—
“What sayeth the Hathi?”
The translation, which Walter rendered accurately, made him laugh heartily.
“I doubt not thou hast an apt phrase to describe me when my back is turned,” he said to Roger.
“If your Majesty leaves behind you the lakh and a half demanded by my partner I shall at least say that which is true.”
“And what will it be?”
“That none but a royal bird could cast such feathers.”
“Bismillah! Aught but that! The four winds would blow hither every knave in India, for they will read it that none but a royal goose could lay such eggs.”
Of course the imperial quip was much applauded by those who stood near, and Akbar was so pleased with his own wit that he called for pen and paper and commanded an attendant to write an order on the Treasury for the amount named, for, strange to say, this far-seeing and intelligent monarch was quite illiterate. He could scarcely read, and his signature was a mere scrawl. Nevertheless, his hieroglyphics covered, in this instance, a considerable sum, its English equivalent being £15,000. Seeing that the cost and transport of their goods amounted to only one-third of the sale price, both Mowbray and Sainton had the best of reasons to rejoice at this rapid change in their fortunes.
But Akbar knew the value of money as well as the poorest of his subjects. Turning to a corpulent nawab who had laughed loudest at his joke, he said:—