"I have, it is ready; if there be aught in the one you came in, tell me, and I will have it put into the other."
"Send a man or two with us," said the nurse; "I and Nurgiz will arrange the new vehicle, and return instantly."
They too left us, and we were alone. No one remained in the large inclosure, the women were still singing in the tomb, and all the Moolas were sitting round them listening. "Can you support the fatigue of further travel, Azima?" said I.
"I am strong and can bear anything, so I am with thee and thou with me," she replied. "Dearest, I am now secure; but oh the suspense I have endured since I last saw you, and until I was fairly out of that vile city!"
"Tell me," said I, "how did you contrive to elude suspicion?"
"When you left us," replied Azima, "I thought my happiness had fled for ever; I would have given worlds to have called you back, and to have fled with you then. I had seen your noble face, I had heard your vows of love; Alla had sent me a lover such as my warmest fancy had painted to me, while I was daily suffering torments which the fond and loving only can feel, when their affection is returned by severe and bitter insult; and I thought I had lost him, that I had only gained a few moments of bliss, which would appear like one of those dreams that had often cheated my sleeping fancy, to leave me when I awoke to the bitter realities of my sad lot—and I was inconsolable; but my kind old nurse and Nurgiz soothed me. They told me they would die for me, and assured me you would be faithful; so I gathered courage, and Kulloo proposed that we should make immediate preparations for flight. We packed up some clothes and my jewels, and all the money which had been left with us, a few hundred rupees, and before morning we lay down to take a little sleep. At daylight Kulloo told the other slaves and the two old servants that I was going to this durgah, and sent one of them for a cart; it came about sunrise, and concealing the articles we had packed up in two large bundles of carpets and sheets, which we said we should require to sit on at the durgah, we put them into the cart, got in ourselves, and the driver made the best of his way hither."
She had just spoken, when Kulloo came to us. "All is prepared," said she; "I have dismissed the other cart, and your new one is now ready;—do not delay."
There was no occasion for her to hurry us, we were as well inclined to set off as she was, and we rose and followed her. The cart was ready—my men with it, and Nurgiz already inside. Azima got in, and her old nurse followed.
"You too?" cried I.