Driftwood Spars | Page 7

seek another, since Mir Jan
intended the room for his body-servant, Moussa Isa Somali--the servant
of a Mir being more deserving of the room than the son of a Vizier!
This was unwise, but my brother's heart was too great to fear (or to

fathom) the guile of such a serpent as Ibrahim.
[24] Bravo! Excellent!
"And when he had bathed and prayed, eaten and drunk and rested, my
brother again anointed his eyes with the liquid--which though only like
water, was strong to soothe and heal. And our servants and people
watched him doing this with wonder and admiration, and the news of it
spread to the servants of Ibrahim Mahmud, who told their master of
this cleverness of Mir Jan,--and Ibrahim, after a while, sent a message
and a present to my brother, humbling himself, and asking that he too
might see this thing.
"And Mir Jan, perhaps a little proud of his English ways, sat upon his
charpai,[25] and bathed his eyes in the little bath, until, wearying of the
trouble of pouring back the liquid into the bottle, he would press the
bottle itself to his eye and throw back his head. So his eyes were
quickly eased of pain, and in the evening we all went forth to enjoy.
[25] Native cot or bed.
"On his return to the room, Mir Jan flung himself, weary, upon his
charpai and Moussa Isa lay across the doorway.
"In the morning my brother awoke and sitting on the charpai, took up
the blue bottle, drew the cork, and raised the bottle towards his eyes. As
he did this, Moussa Isa entered, and knowing not why he did so, sprang
at his master and dashed the bottle from his hand. It fell to the ground
but broke not, the floor being dhurrie[26]-covered.
[26] Carpet.
"In greatest amazement Mir Jan glanced from Moussa Isa to the bottle,
clenching his hand to strike the boy--when behold! the very floor
bubbled and smoked beneath the touch of the liquid as it ran from the
bottle. By the Beard of the Prophet, that stone floor bubbled and
smoked like water and the dhurrie was burnt! Snatching up the bottle
my brother dropped drops from it upon the blade of his knife, upon the

leather of his boots, upon paint and brass and clothing--and behold it
was liquid fire, burning and corroding all that it touched! To me he
called, and, being shown these things, I could scarce believe--and then I
cried aloud 'Ibrahim Mahmud! Thine enemy!... Oh, my brother,--thine
eyes!' and I remembered the words of Ibrahim, 'a vengeance that shall
turn men pale as they whisper it--a thing of which children yet unborn
shall speak with awe' and we rushed to his room,--to find it empty. He
and his best camel and its driver were gone, but all his people and
servants and oont-wallahs[27] were in the serai,[28] and said they
knew not where he was, but had received a hookum[29] over-night to
set out that day for Mekran Kot. And, catching up a pariah puppy, I
re-entered the house and dropped one drop from the blue bottle into its
eye. Sahib, even I pitied the creature and slew it quickly with my knife.
And it was this that Ibrahim Mahmud had intended for the blue eyes of
my beautiful brother. This was the vengeance of which men should
speak in whispers. Those who saw and heard that puppy would speak
of it in whispers indeed--or not at all. I felt sick and my fingers itched
to madness for the throat of Ibrahim Mahmud. Had I seen him then, I
would have put out his eyes with my thumbs. Nay--I would have used
the burning liquid upon him as he had designed it should be used by my
brother.
[27] Camel-men. [28] Halting-enclosure, rest-house. [29] Order.
"Hearing Mir Jan's voice, I hurried forth, and found that his white
pacing-camel was already saddled and that he sat in the front seat,
prepared to drive. 'Up, Daoud Khan' he cried to me 'we go
a-hunting'--and I sprang to the rear saddle even as the camel rose. 'Lead
on, Moussa Isa, and track as thou hast never tracked before, if thou
wouldst live,' said he to the Somali, a noted paggi,[30] even among the
Baluch and Sindhi paggis of the police at Peshawar and Kot Ghazi. 'I
can track the path of yesterday's bird through the air and of yesterday's
fish through the water,' answered the black boy; 'and I would find this
Ibrahim by smell though he had blinded me,' and he led on. Down the
Sudder Bazaar he went unfaltering, though hundreds of feet of camels,
horses, bullocks and of men were treading its dust. As we passed the
shop of the European hakim, yes,