1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net

21
A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR
you? – and I have been active since then. I have stirred the people up –
I have told them of this unholy alliance with the infidels – the enemies
of God. The Ghazis are up in arms – and low be it spoken – many of
the Afghans themselves are tired of this ‘one man rule’ and tyranny,
and have promised to join, for I have proclaimed a Jihad against this
ally of the Feringhee.”
“You have? Then all will be well. Who can stand against the Ghazi?
Not even the Feringhee. I can see them as the y lay dead in heaps; the y
fought hard, but what availed their rifles? Their bodies blocked the
Jugdullick Valle y, and the kites and vultures that collected there could
be seen hovering over it for miles around for many a day; and their
rifles, these boasted rifles, why, the y lay there beside them, too,
useless. I know a man who has one, and you know him too – gave his
daughter for it, so they say; not a nice thing to do , but he had four, and
little enough to get them husbands with. I daresay he did right – or
right enough. He’s married off two since then, and the rifle is a good
one. I would give something for one m yself.”
“Your daughter?” asked the Sayad sarcastically. “Shereen? No, not
Shereen. I have only one, and, thank God, I can afford to keep her, and
give her a dowry, too, when I have seen the man worthy of her.”
“Silence!” shouted Ghulam Hossain, who had at that moment rejoined
the group, and stood among these dusky little figures as a Saul in
Israel. “Silence, and listen to this letter which I have drafted to send to
Kabul by such messengers as you may appoint.
“To your friend and neighbour, the great, the illustrious Ameer of
Afghanistan,
“’We have received your letter and understand from its contents that
the recent raids committed by our villagers upon yours are displeasing
to you, and that you demand restitution. This would be just had not this
raid been undertaken to avenge similar losses inflicted on our people
by yours. We therefore decline to make restitution. We also understand
frown your letter that you hate these unfriendly expeditions between
two neighbouring countries, which ought to he friendly, and that you
are willing to protect our villages from your subjects, provided we are
willing to pay you a tax for the support and maintenance of the
soldiers and officials whom you must employ to do this. In answer to
this we beg to say that we too hate these unseemly robberies and
murders, that we too wish for peace, and that we hereby offer to keep
our tribesmen in subjection, or, in we fail, send any pillagers to you
for punishment should they infringe such new laws as we shall make
regarding raids, if you, on your part, will do the same by us. There will
be no need for taxes; we shall confer a mutual benefit the one upon the
other. We trust that this proposition will meet with your approval, and