1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net

48
A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR
“I know nothing of the message,” the man said gruffly, “only that I was
to bring back a woman and see that she is provided with a good pony
and is closely veiled. The colonel said nothing about a letter.”
“Well, I will tell you this much, and that is that you would have to ride
nine miles from here to get the woman your master mentions, she is not
here. She is married now, and lives there with her husband. I will write
this to Colonel Ferad Shah, lest there should be any confusion in the
message, and so that you may not be blamed for the delay. Had he sent
some six weeks ago he would have been in time, and we might have
made some terms respecting the girl, agreeable to both parties, but now
she is gone, so that opportunit y is lost.”
The soldier smiled. “It won’t be lost. In fancy, if he really wants the
girl. The colonel is not the man to let husbands stand in his way. Six
weeks is not ver y long, I dare say he’ll know how to settle that.”
“Ah, well, when the husband’s settled, you must come and let us
know;” the Vizier said, laughing, and apparently quite indifferent.
“Then we’ll begin to think about terms,” Wali Mohamed said
cunningly. He did not see that his cousin’s plan was likely to be of
much use in this case, but it was worth tr ying, and at all events by
sending Gul Begum away, the Afghan colonel’s attention would be
directed from his village, and that was what he chiefly cared about; for
his niece he cared but little.
“Stay, have some tea while I write the letter,” Ghulam Hossain said
pleasantly to the messenger. “I can give you as good tea here as you
could get in Kabul, for all we live in so out of the way a part of the
world. I’ll treat you to my best.”
This was a pleasanter reception than the soldier was accustomed to,
and while the tea was being prepared b y Gul Begum herself, in the
back part of the dwelling, and her father was writing the letter in the
font part, a little old woman started out to make the agreement with
Mohamed Jan. she was mounted on the best pony Ghulam Hossain’s
stables could produce, and the man who accompanied her carried an
English rifle in his hand.