CHAPTER IV
TUMBU-DOWN
After a while the party started on their way once more feeling greatlybrisked up. But the heat of the day was now upon them, and though thesnow lay close beside the path, the fierce sun melting it made thevapour rise and turned the narrow valley into a regular steam bath.
The perspiration ran down the travellers' faces and especially down poorHead-nurse's; for she had insisted on taking off her veil to twist itturbanwise round Baby Akbar's head since the Royal Umbrella wasforbidden. Foster-mother had tried to take off hers also, but Head-nursehad angrily forbidden her to do any such thing. If she, Head-nurse, diedof sunstroke what matter, but if Foster-mother failed, what--even thoughone back tooth had been gloriously cut--would become of theHeir-to-Empire, the Admired-of-the-World, the Great-in-Pomp, etc.?
So, to comfort herself she went on mumbling titles as she struggledalong, the sun beating fiercely on her bare head. Such a quaint head,with sleek black hair parted and plaited and hung with jewels, even downthe long pigtail of brown wool that was added on to the back to make thehair look more plentiful.
It was a piteous sight and Foster-mother was so conscious of thedevotion it meant that she said "Lo! Head-nurse, thou art a good, goodsoul though a hard one to me; but I will never, never, never, forgetthis day."
"Nor I," groaned Head-nurse, "but 'tis for the Heir-to-Empire."
It was a full hour before the slope ended in a level bog, on the otherside of which began a visible descent. Then in the angled hills a blueshadow began to rise, telling of a valley below them.
"Bismillah!" (Thanks be to God) cried Foster-father piously. And everyone echoed the remark except Baby Akbar. He turned round and looked backat the snowy peaks which were beginning to show behind them.
"Amma, Dadda 'way 'way mountains," he said regretfully and his littlemouth went down as for a cry, when everybody's attention was distractedby the sudden appearance of a huge furry black dog which came boundingdown the hill side, its big white teeth gleaming as it uttered shrill,sharp, growling barks.
Head-nurse and Foster-mother shrieked with fright, little Adam ran likea hare for the shelter of his mother's petticoats, and Meroo thecook-boy, remembering his bare legs--for like all Indian scullions hewore short cotton drawers--squatted down where he was standing, in orderto protect them. Even Roy, brave boy that he was, looked uncomfortable,and both Foster-father and Old Faithful whipped out their swords.
These were not needed, however, for the next instant a wild-lookingfigure clad in a brown blanket started up from behind a rock and shoutedto the dog. It stopped instantly, but stood still--snarling, thoughobedient.
It was the funniest looking dog you can imagine. Bigger than a bigcollie, it was furry all over even to its tail. And it was black as ink.In fact with its tiny prick ears and small sharp pointed muzzle all lostin a huge soft black ruff and nothing to be seen but red tongue, whiteteeth and beady black eyes, it was a regular golliwog of a dog.
When Foster-father saw the man in the brown blanket, who from his crookwas evidently a shepherd, he heaved a sigh of relief. "Now," he said,"we shall be able to find out our way."
But he was mistaken. The man did not understand a word they said,neither could they understand a word he said.
Head-nurse was in despair. "He speaks like a ghost of the desert," shewept. "We shall all die of starvation before he understands."
"Die?" echoed Foster-father stoutly. "Not so, woman! There is onelanguage all understand."
Whereupon he placed himself right in front of the shepherd, opened hismouth wide and then shook his head. Next he pointed to his stomach andshook his head again. Finally he began to chew violently, rubbed hisstomach and grinned.
The shepherd grinned too and rubbed _his_ stomach, whereuponFoster-father turned triumphantly to Head-nurse.
"Said I not sooth, woman," he asked. "Hunger hath a tongue of its own,and all men know it."
Once begun, signs soon brought so much understanding, that, whistling tohis dog, the shepherd started down the hill at a great pace, beckoningthem to follow.
"Not so fast, friend, not so fast!" panted Foster-father, "we be not allborn on a mountain as thou art. And there are women and children, too."He pointed to poor Head-nurse and Foster-mother, who were indeeddropping with fatigue, and the man seemed to understand, for he pulledup. But he had to keep some way off because his dog, who kept close as ashadow to his master's heels, never ceased growling. So they tramped onwearily until just below them they saw a _marg_ or mountain upland,where some goats were grazing. One part of this dipped down into alittle valley, and there, in the shelter of some huge rocks, they sawtwo or three small brown blanket tents, such as shepherds use on theBeluchistan hills. They were just like waggon tilts only not so large.
Here, at any rate, was prospect of food and rest, and the poortravellers brisked up again. But alas! between them and the tents lay aformidable obstacle. Nothing less than a birch-twig bridge over arushing stream which filled up the bottom of a wide rift or chasm in theupland. This chasm stretched right across the upland from a steep rockwhich blocked up the head of the little valley, and out of which thestream gushed, and there was no way of crossing it, so the shepherdexplained by signs, except the birch-twig bridge. Now a birch-twigbridge is a very terrifying thing to anybody who is not accustomed tothem. It is simply a strong flat plait of birch twigs about nine incheswide which is flung from one side to the other, and which, of course,droops and sags like a rope in the middle. Into this plait are stuckevery few feet or so cross sticks, and to these sticks a rope isfastened as a sort of hand rail. Across such a bridge as this the hillchildren walk as easily as an English child does over a great brickspan; but Head-nurse resolutely refused to set foot over it herself,much less to allow the Heir-to-Empire to risk his neck on such anappallingly dangerous structure. In vain Foster-father, in order to seta good example, allowed himself to be led over by the shepherd with hiseyes carefully bandaged lest he should get giddy in the middle bylooking down. As a matter of fact, this only made Head-nurse morefrightened, for, of course, the bridge swung and swayed with the weightof the men on it. She would sooner, she declared, try to climb Heaven ona rainbow! That was at least steady. Roy tried to hearten her up bywalking over himself with open eyes, though he felt frightfully dizzyand had to fling himself flat on the grass to recover when he did getover. Then Meroo, blubbering loudly that he was going to his death forhis young master, climbed up on the shepherd's back and allowed himselfto be carried over just to show how easy it was.
It was all in vain! Head-nurse was firm. They must bring the tents tothe Heir-to-Empire; the Heir-to-Empire should not go across a tight ropeto the tents. And there she would have remained had not a great, tallburly woman with a fat baby on her hip come out of one of the tents, andgrasping the position, stalked over the bridge without even touching thehand rail, caught Baby Akbar from Foster-mother, who was too taken abackto resist, set him on her other hip and calmly stalked back again,leaving the two women too surprised and horrified even to scream.
But when they saw the Heir-to-Empire safe on the other side, theyconsented to be carried across pick-a-back.
So there they were before long eating goats' milk cheese fried like abeefsteak and drinking long draughts of a sort of sour milk.
One of the shepherds could speak a little Persian, and from himFoster-father, to his great relief, learned that Prince Askurry's campwas only a mile or two down the valley, so, feeling certain of beingable to reach it before sundown, he called a halt, and they all lay downto rest in one of the tents, Baby Akbar between his two nurses forsafety sake. For one could never tell, Head-nurse remarked, what mighthappen amongst people who spoke the language of ghosts in the desert,and kept such strange animals. A great golliwog of a black dog who saton one side of the tent like an image, watching them as if he meant toeat them, and a great fluff of a white cat sitting on the other with hereyes shut as if she did not want to watch them.
No! Indeed
it was impossible to tell what might not happen!
And that is exactly how it turned out. What _really_ did happen no oneknew. It was Foster-mother who, waking first, let loose a shriek whilestill half awake. This roused Head-nurse, who let loose another. ForBaby Akbar was no longer between them. The Heir-to-Empire had gone--haddisappeared--was not to be found!
Roy was out of the tent in a second, treading in his haste on Meroo, whowas sleeping outside, and who began to howl confusedly. Old Faithfulfumbled for his sword, Foster-father rubbed his eyes as if _they_ mustbe at fault.
But there was no Baby! And what is more, both the black dog and thewhite cat had disappeared also; at least they were no longer on thewatch.
Never was there such a commotion. The rocks resounded with cries andevery one searched everywhere; even in the great tall basket panniers inwhich hill shepherds carry their goods and chattels.
But not one sign of the little fellow was to be found, until--horribly,dreadfully, near to that awful birch-twig bridge--Foster-mother seizedon a tiny gold-embroidered skull cap that was lying on the grass.
"It is his!" she sobbed, "it is my darling's! He hath tried to get tothe mountains to his Amma, and he hath fallen from that accursed cats'cradle. He is dead! He is killed!"
Every face, except the shepherds', who did not, of course, understandwhat was said, turned pale. It was indeed possible, perhaps probable,that the faithful little soul, who remembered when others forgot, hadtried----
It was a terrible thought. But the shepherds, seeing the cap, at oncewhistled to their dog, and the one who spoke Persian explained that ifit were shown the cap it would take up the track of the child at once.
But though they whistled and whistled no dog came.
Then the shepherds began to look grave and mutter among themselves.
"What are they saying? What gibberish are they talking?" shrilled poorHead-nurse, trying to keep hope alive by being angry. The man who spokePersian looked at her cheerfully.
"Only that perhaps the dog has eaten the child. We keep it hungry thatit may chase the wild animals."
This was too much for the womankind. They simply rent the air withheartbroken sobs.
But Foster-father, grave and silent, would not give up hope. Every footof the ravine must be searched, first downwards, as, had the childreally fallen into the stream it must have been carried with it. Then asa last forlorn hope upwards. So, peering down carefully from eitherside, they traced the ravine till, gradually becoming shallower, lesssteep, it merged into the grassy valley. But there was no sign. Thensadly they commenced their upward search, until they were close to thehigh cliff whence the stream gushed out. Here they found that the ravinewas wider, and at the bottom of it a patch of sand and boulders showedthat there was foothold beside the roaring torrent.
"I will climb down and see if there is aught," said Roy; "it is easierhere--if he had fallen here, he might--" the tears in his voiceprevented more, as he tucked up his garments preparatory to thedifficult descent.
But the shepherds raised an urgent outcry. There was a demon in thecavern, they said, whence the water came. There was no use angering it,no use in losing another life.
Roy struggled madly in their detaining hands, but Old Faithful andFoster-father looked at each other. Whether there was a demon or not itwas a risk to another life and that should not be a young one.
"No, boy!" said the old warrior stoutly. "This is my task, not thine. Iam good swordsman to begin with, and demons--if there be any--like not aclean sword thrust. Also I have been pilgrim to Holy Mecca anddemons--if there be any--like not pilgrims' flesh."
So, muttering prayers and holding his drawn sword in his teeth, sinceboth hands were needed for the parlous descent, he commenced his taskwhile the others watched him eagerly.
About half way down he paused, looked up and called back; but they couldnot hear what he said.
"Take thy sword out of thy mouth, man," shrieked Head-nurse almostbeside herself with grief and rage; "it isn't manners to speak with themouth full."
True enough, but Old Faithful had some difficulty in obeying orders.However, he managed to steady himself for a moment on his two feet; sosword in hand he bawled back.
"'Tis true! There _is_ a demon. It growls. I hear it plainly. Farewell!I go on, secure in my sword and Holy----"
Here a foot slipped and he went sliding, slithering, slipping down tothe bottom where, happily only bruised, he sat half-stunned staring infront of him.
And then there echoed up to the listeners the most terrible barking, andyelping, and growling, and spitting, that ever was heard!
"The demon! The demon!" yelled the shepherds in terror, and ran fortheir lives.
But Roy, ear over the cliff, listened for a second, and the next hadfollowed Old Faithful. Foster-father was not long behind him, and Meroowas close on his heels. Foster-mother and Head-nurse were not to be leftout, and somehow they all managed to get down in safety.
And then they all stood and sat silent and agape with surprise anddelight.
For what they saw was this. A low cavern in the rock, and on a shelvingbank of dry sand Baby Akbar sitting up and rubbing his eyes, while onone side of him was the golliwog of a black dog, his fur all bristling,his white teeth gleaming as he filled the air with furious barks; whileon the other was the white fluff of a cat, her back arched, her tail thesize of two, spitting and growling fiercely.
How had he got there? Foster-father looked at Foster-mother, Head-nurselooked at Old Faithful, and Roy looked at Meroo, and they all looked ateach other.
But Baby Akbar only put out one fat hand towards the black dog and said"Tumbu," and the other fat hand towards the cat and said "Down," andthat was all he would say.
He had tumbled down; but how, when, and where, and how the dog and thecat came to be with him no one ever knew from that day to this.
The Adventures of Akbar Page 7