Tippoo Sultaun: A tale of the Mysore war. Taylor Meadows

in familiar converse, and for a short time more the whole were brightly before her, as a gleam of sunlight shone forth, glancing brightly from their spear-heads and the bosses on their shields, and upon the gay colours of their dresses. A bright omen she thought it was of the future. But they had now attained the summit. Kasim and the Khan disappeared gradually behind it; then the attendants—the palankeen—the servants—the camels, one by one were lost to her gaze. Suddenly the place was void; she shook the blinding stream from her eyes, and looked again—but there was no one there; her son and his companions had passed away, she thought for ever. Then only, she perceived that she was unveiled, and hastily retreating into her now lonely and cheerless abode, for the while gave herself up to that violent grief which she had been ill able to repress as he left her.

‘Ay, now thou lookest like a gentleman, as thou art in very truth,’ said the Khan, after they had ridden some miles. ‘What sayest thou, Meer Sahib, hast thou been instructed in the use of the arms thou wearest? Canst thou do thy qusrut^[12]—use a mugdoor^[13]—play with a sword and shield? and what sort of a marksman art thou?’

      12. Gymnastic exercises.

      13. A heavy club.

      ‘As a marksman, Khan, I have pretty good practice at the deer which roam our plains and devastate our corn-fields; as to the rest, thou knowest I am but a village youth.’

      ‘Modestly spoken, Meer Sahib. Now take Dilawur Ali’s matchlock, and kill me one of those deer yonder;’ and he pointed to a herd which was quietly browsing at some distance: ‘we will put it on a camel, and it will be a supper for us.’

      ‘I will try, Khan Sahib,’ returned Kasim joyfully and eagerly; ‘only stay here, and dismount if you will, lest they should see you; and if I can get within shot, thou shalt have the deer.’

      ‘Give him thy gun then,’ said the Khan to his retainer; ‘is it properly charged?’

      The palankeen was put down, and all waited the issue with much interest and anxiety.

      The Khan went to the palankeen. ‘Look out, my rose,’ he said; ‘I have dared the Patél to shoot a deer, and he is gone to do it. Look, see how he creeps onward, like a cat or a panther.’

      The lady looked out. It was very exciting to her to see the motions of the young man; and, if it may be believed, she actually put up a mental prayer for his success. ‘Ya Alla, give him a steady hand!’ she said inwardly, and looked the more.

      ‘He will be near them soon,’ said the Khan, shading his eyes with his hands; ‘there is a nulla yonder which will afford him cover; canst thou see? Mashalla! this is better than shooting one oneself.’

      ‘They have seen him!’ cried the lady, as one of the deer which had been lying down got up and gazed warily about. They will be off ere he can get within shot.’

      ‘Not so, by your eyes!’ cried the Khan; ‘he has crouched down. See! raise thyself a little higher; look at him crawling.’

      Kasim’s progress was slow, and had he been alone he would have given up the pursuit; but he knew the Khan was observing him, perhaps Ameena. It was enough—he crept stealthily on.

      ‘He will never get near them,’ said the fat cook. ‘Who is he—a village Patél—that he should shoot? Ay, now, at my city we have the real shooting; there, over the plains of Surroo Nuggur, thousands of antelopes are bounding with no one to molest them, except Nizam Ali, who goes out with the nobles and shoots a hundred sometimes in a day. I was once there, and killed—’

      ‘With thy knife, O Zoolfoo, and roasted it afterwards I suppose,’ said Nasur: ‘don’t tell us lies; thou knowest thou never hadst a gun in thy hand since thou wast born.’

      ‘That is another lie,’ retorted Zoolfoo. ‘By the beard of Moula Ali, if I was yonder I would have fired long ago: we shall have no venison for supper I see plainly enough. See how he is crawling on the ground as a frog would—can’t he walk upright like a man?’

      ‘He knows well enough what he is doing, you father of owls,’ was the reply. ‘Inshalla! we shall all eat venison to-night, and thou wilt have to cook us kabobs and curries.’

      ‘Venison and méthee-ke-bajee make a good curry,’ mused the cook; ‘and kabobs are also good, dried in the sun and seasoned.’

‘Look! he is going to shoot,’ cried the Khan; ‘which will it be? I wager thee a new dooputta^[14] he does not kill.’

      14. Scarf.

      ‘Kubool! I agree,’ said the lady; he will kill by the blessing of Alla—I feel sure he will.’

      But Kasim’s gun went down.

      ‘He is too far off yet,’ she said: and he was. He saw a mound at a little distance from him, and tried to reach it, crawling on as before.

      But the deer saw him. He observed their alarm, and lay motionless. They all got up and looked:—he did not move. The buck trotted forward a few paces, saw what it was, and ere the young man could get his gun to his shoulder as he lay, he had turned.

      ‘I told you so,’ cried the Khan; ‘they are off, and I have won.’

      ‘There is yet a chance,’ said Ameena anxiously.

      ‘I said he would not kill,’ said the cook; ‘we shall have no venison.’

      They were all wrong. Kasim saw there was no chance unless he rose and fired; so he rose instantly. The deer regarded him for an instant, turned as with one motion, and fled bounding away.

      ‘There is yet a chance,’ cried Ameena again, as she saw the gun pointed. ‘Holy Alla! he has won my wager!’ she added, clapping her hands.

      He had, and won it well. As the herd bounded on, he waited till the buck was clear of the rest. He fired; and springing high into the air it rolled forward on the ground; and while it yet struggled, Kasim had drawn his knife across the throat, pronouncing the formula.

‘Shookr Alla!’ cried the cook, ‘it is Hulal^[15] at any rate.’

      15. Lawful to be eaten.

‘Shabash!’ exclaimed the Khan, ‘he has done it:—he is as good as his word—he is a rare marksman. So thou hast won thy wager, Pearee,’^[16] he added. ‘Well, I vow to thee a Benares dooputta: thou shalt have one in memory of the event.’

      16. Beloved.

      She would not, however, have forgotten it without.

      ‘Go, some of ye,’ continued the Khan, ‘and take the lightest laden of the camels, for the Syud is beckoning to us: bring the game hither speedily.’

      The deer was soon brought, and laid near the palankeen, where the Khan stood. The bright eye was already glazed and suffused with blood.

      ‘Ay, now thou canst see it,’ he said to the lady, who, closely veiled, yet had apertures for her eyes through which she could observe distinctly. ‘Is it not a noble beast?—fat, too, by the Prophet! It was a good shot at that distance.’

      ‘It was partly accident, Khan Sahib,’ replied Kasim.

      ‘Not so, by your beard, not so, Patél; it was no chance. I should be very sorry to stand for thee to shoot at even further than it was.’

      ‘I should be very sorry to shoot at my lord, or any one but an enemy,’ he returned, ‘seeing that I rarely miss my mark whether on foot or on horseback.’

      ‘I believe thee,’ returned the Khan; ‘but where is that