‘My lord! my lord!’ ejaculated the Moonshee, ‘be not so angry; your slave is terrified—he dares not speak; he has not cheated, he has never given a false account.’
But his looks belied his words; he stood a convicted rogue, even while he tried thus weakly to assert his innocence; for he trembled much, and his lips were blue from terror.
‘We will soon see that,’ said the Khan deliberately. ‘Go!’ he said to Daood, who stood by, ‘bring two grooms with whips; let us see whether they cannot bring this worthy man to a very different opinion.’
It was not needed, however; the Moonshee, terrified almost to speechlessness, and not heeding the interference Kasim was earnestly making in his behalf, prostrated himself on the ground at the Khan’s feet.
‘I will pay! I will pay all!’ he cried; ‘I confess my false accounts. Do with me what thou wilt, but oh! save my character; I am a respectable man.’
‘Good!’ said the Khan; ‘all of ye who are present hear that he has confessed himself a thief before he was touched, and that he says he is a respectable man. Ye will bear me witness in this—a respectable man—Ya Moula Ali!’
All answered that they would. ‘Take him then,’ he said to Daood and some of the Furashes who stood near, ‘take him from my sight; put him on an ass, with his face to the tail; blacken his face, and show him in the bazaar. If any one recognises the respectable Naser-oo-deen, and asks after his health, say that he is taking the air by my order, for having cheated me. Enough—begone!’
The order did not need repetition; amidst his cries and protestations against the sudden sentence, the Moonshee was carried off; and in a few minutes, his face blackened, and set on an ass with his face to the tail, he was the sport of the idlers and vagabonds in the camp. He had richly deserved his punishment, however; for with a short-sighted cunning he had imagined that he could brazen out his false accounts, and that, as he had declared that any division of the spoil was at an end from the previous detection, he had made himself now sure of the whole. He had thought too that Kasim, contented with his first detection of overcharge, would not have continued his system of inquiry. Thus he was doubly disappointed.
Having vented his long pent-up rage, the Khan soon cooled down into his usual pleasant deportment, begging Kasim to explain to him minutely the whole of the Moonshee’s system of false accounts. This Kasim did clearly, and showed him how much cause there was to suspect far greater delinquencies, for months, nay years past; indeed, it was but too apparent that the Khan had been defrauded of large sums, and that the Moonshee’s gains must have been enormous.
‘And this might have gone on for ever, Kasim, but for thy penetration,’ said the Khan. ‘Well, thou hast added another to the very good reasons I already have for aiding thee. Our reception is to take place to-morrow evening, against which time get thy best apparel ready; or stay—I have a better thought; wait here, and I will return instantly.’ He did so, and brought with him a superb suit of cloth-of-gold, quite new.