1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net

216
A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR
They turned the corner, and by so doing lost sight of those whom the y
believed to be their pursuers; but five minutes later a shot rang through
the air, and then a cry – a woman’s cr y of pain. A horseman darted out
from among the boulders, and stood confronting them on the road. It
was Mohamed Jan! both recognised him at once, though neither spoke,
and both instinctively put their hands into the breasts of their coats and
drew out their pisto ls, then fired simultaneously. A bullet buzzed past
the Chief Secretary’s head, just grazing his ear. Mohamed Jan had
discharged his second barrel, had then thrown up his arms wildly above
his head, and in so doing, his rifle lead flown from his head, far off
among the boulders; then he had reeled in his saddle, and had fallen
heavily on to the ground. It had all happened in a moment. There had
been no time for words, hardly for thought.
“Agha, leave me,” the girl said faintly, “I cannot ride with you. I feel
sick,” and she dismounted hurriedly. “Fly, fly, to India, take the
direction I pointed out to you. I will rest here a little, then make m y
way to the village. It is not far from here. Now Mohamed Jan is dead, I
have nothing further to fear. The soldiers will never discover my
whereabouts, they would never have discovered us now but for him, he
must have guessed I would take this turn when I found we were
pursued, and have made a cut over here, leaving the soldiers to go
straight on. You have only to ride, but ride as for your life. Your horse
is good and fresh, he will carr y you safely home, and I too will go
home,” she sighed. “I am not far from my grandmother’s old home
now, I can easily get there, where I am well known. I have a woman’s
tunic under my coat, I can take off these men’s clothes and leave them
here among the stones. Even were I to meet the Afghan soldiers, I
should excite no suspicion in their minds, the y would pass me by. I
would merely be to them a Hazara woman attracted to this spot b y the
shots, and if they were even to ask me if I had seen you, I would say
yes, and that you have ridden to the village to get food.”
Then, seeing her master hesitate, and looked dissatisfied, “The y will
never come this wa y though,” she added, “it is off t he direct route; but
hasten, hasten, Agha, or you will be too late. Fly! Fly! I am not much
hurt. I am hardly in any pain, only faint. I felt at first as if I had been
hit here in the chest, with the end of a rifle or something heavy; but
now I think it can only have been the start and fright. I feel nothing of
it, only faint. I am at home. It is you who are in danger.”
She seized his hand and covered it with kisses. “Master, dear master,
my beloved, fly,” she whispered.
But he remained where he was, kneeling beside her, realising, but too
well what had happened. So eager was she in her entreaties, so
absorbed was he in his distress at parting with her thus, that neither
had paid the slightest heed to the man who had lain so still and lifeless
on the ground. Noiselessly, almost imperceptibly, he had crawled