"Ah, do not!" cried they; "for the sake of Bhowanee, do not throw yourself into peril; what can be gained by it? Our horses are ready; let us mount them; leave the tent where it is, and fly."
Would to Alla that I had followed this wise counsel! matters would not have turned out as they did; but I was possessed by the idea; a headstrong man is never to be restrained, and I would hear nothing they had to say. "Is there not one among you," cried I, "who will accompany me? The night is dark, and we can reach Cheetoo's tent unobserved; we will lie down with our ears to the kanât, and hear what passes: if the worst comes, if we really are denounced, we shall have ample time to fly before they can get from the inside."
"I will," cried Peer Khan; but no one else stirred; they were all paralysed by fear, and were incapable of action.
"That is spoken like yourself, brother," cried I; "thou hast a gallant soul. Now do ye all prepare the horses for instant flight; let their tether-ropes be loosened, and the bridles put in their mouths; do not move them from their places, and no one will suspect us: and come," cried I to Peer Khan, "there is not a moment to be lost."
We stole out of the tent, and stealthily crept along towards Cheetoo's, which was fortunately at no great distance. No one was about it; but we could see from the outside that, by the side of a dim lamp, three persons were engaged in earnest conversation. We lay down of the edge of the kanât, and my ears eagerly drank in the words which fell on them.
"Ajaib!" said a voice, which I knew at once to be Cheetoo's, "and so he murdered the Khan? you said he did it."
"May I be your sacrifice," said Hidayut Khan (I knew his voice, too, immediately), "he did; I cannot say I saw him die with my own eyes, but they made him drunk, and they buried him, and Ameer Ali himself destroyed the noble horse."
"I do not doubt it," said Cheetoo, with a sigh; "I have done his memory foul wrong in thinking him ungrateful:—and the others?"
"They were men of scarcely any note," said the informer, "nor do I know the names of all: one only I remember, for they had hard work to despatch him; he was a strong man, by name Hubeeb Oola, and belonged to my lord's own pagah."
"I knew him well," said Cheetoo: "he was a worthy man and a brave one; and Ameer Ali slew him?"