Chapter IX: The Afghan Chief

Slow turns the grating key--the door is thrown open, and a party of Afghans enter, the foremost the chief himself. A very striking figure was that of Assad Khan, as seen by the light of torches carried by his attendants. Though not so tall as either of his captives, he looked the very type of the chief of a robber horde. Most of the Pathans had skull-caps over their wild black hair, but Assad Khan wore a magnificent turban, with a border and fringe of gold. A red Cashmere shawl fell in rich folds over the chief's broad shoulders, another was wrapt as a girdle round his waist, and in it was stuck a jewelled hilted dagger. Assad Khan was a powerful-looking man; pride was in the glance of his eye, and his step was as that of a desert lion. He surveyed his prisoners with a keen and piercing gaze.

Dermot Denis, nothing daunted, began his studied speech in the most broken Pushtoo; Assad Khan impatiently cut him short. The Afghan turned towards the only prisoner who could understand him, and began the conversation by a series of rapid questions, which Walter answered as well as he could. Denis, with eager eyes, turned from the one speaker to the other, straining his attention to catch the meaning of what was said, and longing to put in a word.

"You say that you do not know this man's object in going to Kandahar?" asked the chief.

"He's talking of me--what does he say?" cried Denis; Walter interpreted the question, which Denis hastened to answer himself.

"Friendship--very great friendship--Kandahar big noble prince!" said the Irishman, using the few words he knew, without much regard for truth.

"The chief of Kandahar is the mortal foe of Assad Khan!" exclaimed the Afghan, striking the ground fiercely with the musket which he held in his hand.

The gesture and the savage expression on the chief's face, more than his partially understood words, showed Denis that he had made an unfortunate blunder. He was obliged to fall back on his interpreter, Walter.

"Tell him that if it be impossible for me, with his generous aid, to pursue my journey amongst the most noble, most respectable, hospitable--don't spare your superlatives, Walter--hospitable people of this land, I would wish to return to India. I am ready to pay a ransom."

Walter explained the general purport of what his companion had said. Assad Khan replied in a haughty tone, "Tell him, that the stranger who comes unbidden into our land with secret designs, is likely to find his grave amidst our mountains. However, he being rich, may purchase my mercy." The robber named as ransom a most exorbitant sum, adding, with a stern smile, "If it be paid I'll throw your freedom into the bargain; you were of some service to a child of our race."

When Walter translated the chief's reply to Denis, the warm-tempered Irishman could not refrain from a burst of indignation at the cupidity of his captor.

"The unconscionable thief! he would ruin a Crœsus! he sells his black bread dear with a vengeance! Tell him I'm poor----"

"I cannot say that," observed Walter.

"You must meet a man on his own ground," cried Denis impatiently; "we are in the land of liars and thieves!"

"Does the Kafir agree?" asked the chief.

Walter did his best to negotiate more reasonable terms, but Assad Khan, stood firm to his offer. He knew the captives to be completely within his power, and had experience in the art of extracting gold by ill-treatment, and even torture.

"To comply with my demand is your only chance of leaving this fort alive," said Assad Khan, turning towards Denis, and making his meaning almost intelligible by his significant gestures. "Do not dream of escape. I had a Jewish merchant in this very room. He flinched from paying the ransom which I demanded; perhaps the fox was not able to pay it. He made an attempt to get out, was caught, was flogged within an inch of his life. After awhile the madman tried the same thing again. Do you see yon hook?"--the chief pointed to the one in the wall; "I had him hanged by the neck from that hook, and that was the end of his story, as it will be of yours if you follow his example."

The Afghans who had entered the room with their chief, or stood on the ladder outside, burst into rude laughter at remembering the murder of the unfortunate Jew.

"Have you never heard what the Beloochees did with the Feringhee doctor who ventured amongst them?" pursued the chief. "Did they not believe that if they killed him, his body would be changed into ducats? and so he was slain in his bed, and his corpse hung up for fifteen days. The Beloochees finding this was in vain, cut up the doctor's papers into little bits, and mixed them with the mortar of a house which the chief was building, in hopes that it would presently be adorned with a layer of gold.* I have more faith in getting gold from a live Feringhee than a dead one, or I might take a lesson from the Beloochees." Assad Khan laughed, and his followers echoed his laugh.

* This horrible story is given as a _fact_ by the traveller, General Ferrier.

"Bid him send for paper and ink. I'll write to Calcutta for money; anything, anything to get out of this den of bloodthirsty tigers!"

Writing materials were readily produced. Denis had difficulty in tracing intelligible letters with the reed pen, and though he was a very courageous man, his hand was scarcely as steady as usual. A short note, however, was written, which the suspicious Assad Khan made Walter translate twice over before he gave it to an Afghan who was to bear it to the nearest Government official in India, who would transmit it to Calcutta.

As the chief now looked contented, and almost good-humoured, Walter took occasion to complain of the wretched food, and of the rude insolence to which the captives had been subjected. He appealed to the chief's better feelings, in hopes that such might exist. Denis made his companion translate a request that the door which communicated with the court-yard might now be left open, but the Afghans be strictly prohibited from invading the privacy of the captives.

This trifling boon was readily accorded. Assad Khan also promised that better food should be sent. He remained for some time longer in conversation with Walter, the chief gratifying his curiosity by asking many questions regarding India and England, and trying pertinaciously to find out why the Kafirs had entered his country. He declared that they must be Government spies.

At last the long interview came to a close. The chief and his followers descended the stairs, and almost till midnight might be seen in the courtyard smoking hookahs, telling stories, and singing their wild native airs.

As soon as the last Afghan had quitted the prison, Denis gave full vent to the indignation which was boiling over in his breast, certainly not sparing his superlatives, which were by no means of a kind complimentary to the Afghans.

"I'll not pay a rupee--not a pice of the ransom to fatten these rogues!" he exclaimed. "I'm no wretched Jew to be tortured and hanged! I'll make my escape from these thieves!"

"I fear that you will find escape impossible," said Walter.

"Impossible! there's not such a word in my grammar. To men with quick brain and strong arm there's nothing impossible!" cried Denis. "I shall certainly make an attempt to get off, and if the ruffians murder me, I'll just see what vengeance the English will take! Don't you feel a thirst for revenge?" he asked, turning with clenched hand towards Walter.

"The only revenge for which I thirst, is to see these fierce robbers transformed into civilised Christians," was the young man's reply.

"As well might tigers be transformed into lambs! Such changes can never be!" exclaimed Denis.

"Such changes _have_ been, and _may_ be again," said the missionary's son. "To One who is all-wise and all-powerful too, there is nothing impossible--even an Afghan's conversion!" Walter turned and gazed through the aperture on the glittering stars in the deep blue sky, and added, though not aloud, "Such changes will be, though the time may be far distant, for it is written in the Word of Truth, _The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea_."