Tara: A Mahratta Tale

by Meadows Taylor

  CHAPTER XLVI.

  As night fell, and as Maloosray knew all the Mahomedans would beengaged in their evening prayer, his little party emerged from thecrypt, and took their way westward across the plain, avoiding thesuburbs, and threading the narrow lanes among the fields, which on allsides skirted the city. One by one his followers and scouts had beendespatched in advance to meet them at certain places; and a spot knownto all, where the great northern and western roads diverged, was fixedupon as a final place of rendezvous. Thither, also, had been despatchedthe wounded man, Ranojee, who, unable to ride far at a time, was toproceed by easy stages with the scouts and other servants to Jutt, thechieftain of which town was a sincere adherent to their cause.

  Maloosray himself, taking Nettajee, and the chief scout Ramjee with twoothers, to serve as grooms, had determined to visit Tooljapoor beforehe returned to his master. There were many active partisans of weightin the Bala Ghaut; what had they determined upon, and what was his oldfriend Jeswunt Rao Bhoslay of Sindphul doing? It was impossible towrite, and as long as personal communication can be insured, Mahrattasnever write letters. It was above all things necessary that MoroTrimmul and Jeswunt Rao must have the first news of the Wuzeer's death;and except it were reported by royal express to the camp at Nuldroog,it could hardly be known at Tooljapoor next day. It was a long ride,certainly, but it was possible to reach Tooljapoor, and to secure MoroTrimmul's safety, in case it should be threatened.

  The occurrences at Beejapoor had been very unexpected by Maloosray.At first sight they appeared to be a sore discouragement to the planswhich had been almost matured; and for some time he rode in silence,brooding over the catastrophe we have recorded. He could not accountfor it. To all appearance the King and the Wuzeer had been on excellentterms, and Jehandar Beg their confidant; yet in one day both had beendestroyed, and the party of Afzool Khan had suddenly become the leadingone in the State. Was he ambitious, he might be prime minister. In hisheart Maloosray acknowledged his fitness for the post. No other personwould command the allegiance of the army, with whom Khan Mahomed hadnot been popular. "It will unite in the Khan, and we shall have enoughto do to escape it," he thought, "but the young tree will bend to thestorm when the old one will break, and we may find opportunity tostrengthen ourselves, while we do not weaken the royal house."

  Now the moon shone out brightly. There had been no rain since thestorm of the previous night. The day had been hot and sultry; but asthe night fell, a delicious breeze, soft and cool, had succeeded thecalm of the evening, and the road was sufficiently dry to be travelledwithout inconvenience. Maloosray's noble mare seemed to feel, with hermaster, the invigorating effects of freedom of action,--and her lightand springy movements, which conveyed to the rider an involuntaryassurance of activity and endurance, excited within him a more hopefulspirit than that with which he had quitted the city. Now and again, asthey passed some muddy rivulet, or stony portion of the road, a wordof encouragement or caution from her rider would be answered by a lowwhinny, which was followed by a loving caress of her arched neck, andthus a perfect accordance seemed to be established between them.

  "Shall we reach the river before daylight, Sidda," said Maloosray tohis guide; "and can we get the boat? Will it be on this side?"

  "The boatmen are all friends of mine, master," replied the man, "andwill cross me at any village or at any time; fear not, I will say Ihave dispatches, and they believe in this stick that I am on the royalservice. No one will dare to stop one of the royal Hurkaras with thisas his warrant;" and as he spoke he flourished the weapon--a shortstout staff, gaily lacquered in rings of red, yellow, and black, witha heavy tuft of black cotton yarn at the end, from whence projected aformidable four-sided lance about a foot long, the point of which wascarefully sharpened--lightly round his head.

  They rode on, keeping the main track; now and again passing villages,where they were saluted by a chorus of barks and howls from thevillage dogs; again traversing long intervals between others, wherethe occasional piping of sleepless plovers, the wailing cries ofever-wakeful restless lapwings, and an occasional burst of howls andscreams from packs of wandering jackals,--were the only sounds whichfell on their ears in those solitudes.

  They met no one at that hour, but they did not pass the villages,lying upon the road, unremarked. Here a shrill challenge was blownupon a horn as they passed a gate; there a drum was beaten, and otherindications given of the village watch being on the alert, or a shotwas fired from a bastion or watch-tower, the bullet of which sungharmlessly above their heads into the air. They were rough times those,when men ploughed with their fire-arms slung at their backs, and whenthe village cattle, while grazing, had to be guarded by parties ofmatchlock men against the raids of more powerful neighbours.

  The moon set soon after midnight, and the wind again arose, sighing asit swept across the broad plains in fitful gusts, or rustling amongthe tall fields of grain which bordered the road. Light clouds, too,were rising from the westward, and hurrying across the face of thesky, partly obscured the stars, and caused additional gloom. Underother guidance Maloosray would have felt uncertain of the path; but theHurkara never diverted from the track, or slackened his pace; and theparty passed on unnoticed, at the greatest speed that the light and theroad would admit of, without distressing their horses.

  As they ascended one of the long undulating eminences, which are thecharacterizing features of the country, and which commanded a viewfor some miles around, Maloosray's attention was attracted by a lightwhich, emerging from behind some grain fields from another direction,was advancing rapidly towards them, and apparently would cross the roada little in advance of them. It was evidently a torch, possibly thatof some travellers; yet it moved too swiftly and regularly for men onfoot; and to the keen practised ear of Maloosray himself, as well as ofhis followers, the tread of a body of horse was heard, while the slightoccasional sparkles from weapons, and the dull red glow of matches,were soon distinctly visible.

  Could they have been followed? Had any one remarked their departurefrom the city? The little party halted at once, and drew up out ofthe track of the road to escape observation, and watched the movementof the light before them with beating hearts. Nor were they long insuspense. After disappearing for a moment in a hollow, the lightappeared again upon the road itself, and the body of horse, which mightbe fifty or more, drew up across their way and halted.

  Who could they be? Certain it was that the party was now posted thereto waylay some one who was expected, and the information they wereacting upon was apparently as sure as their movements were methodical.Not a neigh escaped their horses, nor was there any commotionapparently among the men. The place chosen was admirably adapted fora surprise. The road, as we have said, led up a slight ascent orspur of an undulation, the sides of which broke into small but roughravines and watercourses intermixed with large loose boulders ofbasalt, difficult to be traversed on horseback even by day, and quiteimpassable by night. These features were the same on both sides; andthe spur itself was a narrow neck, which widened, as the plain abovestretched out, into one of the usual broad expanses of waste andcultivated lands.

  "They have come by Hortee," said the Hurkara in a whisper--"the villagethere in the hollow--and are waiting for some one. Master, dost thoufear them?--they will hardly molest travellers such as we are. Shall wego on?"

  It was a difficult point to decide. There was certainly no way ofavoiding them and yet keeping the road.

  "Go, Ramjee," said Maloosray to his scout; "go and see who they are. Becareful! my mind misgives me about them."

  "Master," replied the man, "this ground is higher than theirs, and ifthey put out the light they will see thee against the sky. Retire alittle lower, and Enkoba and I will find it all out for you."

  Maloosray saw the intelligence of the advice, and acted promptly uponit, while the two men, well accustomed to such proceedings, creptwarily along under cover of bushes and inequalities, of the ground,till they entered a tall field of grain, in which the
y could movewithout chance of observation up to the very party itself, and fromwhich they looked with safety upon the horsemen.

  As they had supposed, the body was drawn up across the road. One flankoverlapped the corn-field, on the path by which they had come; theother rested upon a declivity where the same path descended to thewestward. It was clear that the position could not be turned withoutgreat risk, and it was impossible to say whether the path to Horteemight not be guarded also.

  In front of the party, and near a man who held a torch which hereplenished with oil from time to time, were two persons mounted onpowerful horses, whose wet coats and panting flanks showed that theyhad been ridden at a rapid rate; and it was also evident from thecondition of the rest, splashed with mud and with similar evidences offatigue, that, whatever might be the object, speed had not been sparedin its pursuit.

  "They cannot pass this unobserved," said the elder of the two, "andthere can be no suspicion that we are on this road. Ah, there is nosuch trap, boy, in the country, not a rat could get by it. Well, wehave not been idle; first Khan Mahomed, second the Kotwal, and nowMaloosray and his friend Nettajee."

  "You have not got them yet," thought Ramjee, "and Tannajee is not gamefor you, old fox. But for him, my dagger would have made acquaintancewith you that day in the Gosai's Mutt at Tooljapoor. Ah! who could havetold him of us?"

  "I think, uncle, we had as well put out the torch," said a man, comingforward, riding a tall grey mare. "Tannajee is not a moth to fly into acandle."

  "Good, Lukshmun," said the chief; "put it out."

  "I think we were wrong, father," said the other leader; "a few menwould have surrounded that den under the tomb, and no one could haveescaped."

  "True; but you would not have taken Tannajee alive, and here he will behelpless. No, it is better as it is; and he shall sit under the GorukImlees, and die like Jehandar Beg, before me."

  "And Rama shall help him on his way to the gods, master, if you like,"said Lukshmun. "He says he is quite ready, and he got the Puttasharpened again."

  "Silence!" said the chief, as the light was extinguished, "not a wordmust be spoken now, nor a horse stir. Be careful, all of ye."

  The scouts had seen and heard enough. The rustling of the highcorn-stalks and their leaves, under the breeze, prevented their returnthrough them being heard, and in a few moments they had rejoinedMaloosray, who, with Nettajee, had descended the brow of the ascent fora few paces, and could not be seen from above.

  "Master," whispered the scout, "'tis the Old Lion, Pahar Singh, and hiscub, Gopal, and their men. I saw one of the hunchbacks, too, with them."

  "Ha! the Old Lion thinks to have a feast to-day, Nettajee," saidMaloosray, "but the man is yet to be born who will take Tannajee alive.And what did he say, Ramjee?"

  "He said you should be taken alive, and that you should sit under theGoruk Imlees, and have your head cut off, like Jehandar Beg, by Ramathe hunchback."

  "Ah," said Tannajee, "he should not have brought a torch with him,Netta, else it was not ill-contrived. By the Holy Mother, there hadbeen small chance for us had we got among them. And now, what is to bedone?"

  "We must go back. Beyond the rivulet and the date grove yonder is apath which leads to Boorga, and so to Churchan, if my lord does notcare for a few coss more," said the Hurkara; "and, after all, it is asnear as any other road to Mundroop."

  "Good," said Tannajee; "let us be quick, they may advance."

  So they moved carefully down the descent, beyond which was a smallrivulet bordered by thin date trees and other brushwood. "See," saidNetta, as they crossed the small stream, "we are but just in time:there they are!" and as Tannajee looked up, he saw several figuresprojected in outline against the sky, one of whom was pointing to theroad leading to Beejapoor.

  "I thought the Old Lion had been more wary," he said, "than to showhimself in that manner; but he may cool his heart now; he had betterhave made for the ferry!"

  It had, however, been a narrow escape, and one for which Tannajee vowedto feed a hundred Brahmuns at Tooljapoor; but the danger was past, andafter a somewhat rough track for a short distance westward, the guidestruck confidently into a broader road, which, like the preceding,led northwards, and, as the day dawned, the river-bank at the ferrybeyond Churchan was safely reached. The guide's staff of office provedirresistible. In a few moments they were seated in one of the largecircular coracle baskets of wicker-work, covered with hide, which serveas ferry-boats; and with the two mares swimming in front, and guided bythe men who held them, and the skilful paddles of three lusty rowers,the party crossed the stream, and were beyond danger of pursuit.