‘Peace!’ exclaimed the Sultaun, who seeing that his words were not heard amidst the hubbub, rose from his seat and commanded silence. ‘Peace! by Alla I swear,’ he cried, when the assembly was still once more, ‘if any one disturbs this conference by word or deed, I will disgrace him.’ And then turning to Herbert, who with glowing cheek and glistening eye stood awaiting what he thought would be his doom, ‘Fool, O fool!’ he cried, ‘art thou mad? wilt thou be a fool? Thy race mourn thee as dead; there is a new life open to thee, a life of honourable service, of rank and wealth, of a new and true faith. Once more, as a friend, as one who will greet thee as a brother, who will raise thee to honour, who will confide in thee, I do advise thee to comply. Thou shalt share the command of my armies—we will fight together: thou art wise—we will consult together: thou art skilled in science, in which, praise be to Alla! I am a proficient, and we will study together. Alla kureem, wilt thou not listen to reason? Wilt thou refuse the golden path which thine own destiny has opened to thee? Let me not hear thy answer now. Go! thou shalt be lodged well, fed from my own table; in three days I will again hear thy determination.’
‘Were it three years, my answer would be the same,’ cried Herbert, whose chest heaved with excitement, and who with some difficulty had heard out the Sultaun’s address. ‘I defy thee! I spurn thy base and dishonourable offers, with indignation which I have not words to express. When thou canst give me back the murdered Mathews, whose blood is on thy head—when thou canst restore to life those whom thou hast murdered, thrown from rocks, strangled—when thou canst do this, I will serve thee. For the rest, I abhor thy base and unholy faith.’
‘Hog! son of a defiled mother! vilest son of hell!’ screamed the Sultaun, almost speechless with passion, ‘dost thou dare to revile the faith? Do ye hear him friends? do ye hear the kafir’s words? Have ye ears, and do not avenge me? have ye swords, and do not use them?’
Fifty swords flashed from their scabbards as he spoke, and many were uplifted to strike the daring and reckless speaker, when Kasim, who had been listening with the most intense interest, and remembering his promise of succour, while he felt the high sense of honour which prompted the Englishman’s defiance of the Sultaun, rushed forward, and with uplifted arm stayed the descent of the weapons, which would have deluged the floor with blood, and committed murder on an innocent person.
‘Hold!’ he exclaimed, with the utmost power of his strong voice,—‘are ye men? are ye soldiers? to cut down a man unarmed, and who is helpless as a woman? Have you no regard for honour, or for truth, when you hear it spoken?
‘Rash and foolish youth!’ cried the Sultaun; ‘is this thy first act of service? An act of disrespect and rebellion. And yet I thank thee for one thing—though he whom thou hast saved will curse thee for it—I thank thee for his life, which I have now to torture.’
‘Thy death, kafir Feringhee,’ he continued to Herbert, ‘under the swords of the Moslims would have been sweet and that of a soldier—it shall now be a bitter one. Away with him to the Droog; no matter how he is carried thither, the meanest tattoo, the meanest dooly is enough. Here, do thou, Jaffar Sahib, see this done; travel night and day till it is accomplished: see him and his vile companions, or such of them as will now dare to refuse my offers, flung from the rock by Kowul Droog, and hasten back to report that they are dead. Begone!’
‘Farewell, brave friend,’ said Herbert to Kasim, as they laid hold on him roughly, and with violent abuse urged his departure; ‘if we meet not again on earth, there is a higher and a better world, where men of all creeds will meet, but where yonder tiger will never come. Farewell!’
‘Say, have I not acquitted myself of my promise to thee?’ cried Kasim passionately, for he too was held by the Khan and others.
‘Thou hast,’ was the reply. ‘May God reward thy intentions—’ His last words were lost in the exclamations, threats, and obscene abuse of those who dragged him away.