LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 69, 20 August 1874, Page 3

LITERATURE.

IN DANGER. IN FOUR CHAPTERS. [From “Chamber’s Journal - ”j Continued. It was not a very large array, perhaps consisting of a thousand cavalry, and twice that number of foot; but there were also camels and cannon, and that accumulation of camp followers which, from the time of Xerxes downwards, has hampered the efficiency, while adding to the picturesqueness of eastern armies. The wild strains of the oriental music floated on the breeze, and the flutter of flags and (he blending of colors, lent a certain charm to the scene. Most of the horses were picketed, but three or four small troops of riders were careering about, sportively discharging their firelocks, or darting their lances at an imaginary foe. As we drew nearer to the camp, one of these parties caught sight of us, and immediately rode towards us. As the Persian cavalcade approached, I took particular notice of the leader, an officer of rank, to judge by the splendour of his equipments, mounted on a powerful chestnut steed of Turcoman race, that pranced and curveted as he came on. This chieftain vyas a large-built man, a head taller than any of his followers; his broad chest blazed like the noonday sun, covered as it was with cloth of gold and jewels; and a crimson shawl, fringed with gold, was fastened to the back of bis high conical cap of black lamb’s-wool, and fell upon his brawny shoulders. The purple trappings of hishorsp were gorgeous with silver embroidery; and the broad bridle was hung all over with golden coins, and amulets of silver and coral, and cowries, and tufts of the fleecy hair of the Tibet yak, and jingled at every step. He had a jewelled scimiter slung round him by a scarlet cord, and in his right hand he carried a bundle of those stout javelins in casting which the Persians are traditionally expert. Such was Yussef Khan, who, as Ibrahim said, was not to be trusted.

As poor Ibrahim spoke, a blunt-headed djereed came whistling through the air, forcibly flung by the practised arm of El Zagal, and struck him on the face with such violence as to dash him, stunned and bleeding, to the ground, while the brutal aggressor and his obsequious train joined in a horselaugh of unfeeling exultation at the success of the practical joke.

Yussef Khan was now so near that I could perfectly distinguish his swarthy features, animated by an expression of mingled vanity and ferocity. A broad flat face it was, denoting his origin to be from a Turcoman source rather than from the pure old Persian stock; and he wore a forked beard and wiry moustache of a reddish ‘tint, while his large mouth was garnished with a set of strong white teeth that a cannibal might have envied. There were scars on his tanned cheek, and his whole aspect was that of a fighting bully, not of Pistol or Parolles, harmless impostors as they were, but of Bobadil or Drawcansir rather, a warrior whose heart had been hardened by a life of easy triumphs and unpunished outrage. But I was not long permitted to scrutinise the truculent countenance of El Zagal. ‘ Hollo, there, you dog without a saint, are you a Feringhee, or oniy a trencher-scraping Armenian ?’ roared out the khan, reining up his steed. This polite address was simple enough to be comprehensible even to so poor a Persian scholar as myself ; and I replied, as patiently as I could, stating my nationality and my errand, and offering to submit my papers for the inspection of a competent authority. ‘ What’s all that jargon about firmans and passports?” growled El Zagal. ‘lf I’d my own way ’ —and then came something which I could not understand, but which provoked the ready laughter of his followers— ‘ your passport would be made out for Jehanum, my fine fellow. Ingliz, are you ? What can you do ? Can you catch this ? And he rose in his stirrups, and hurled another of his pointless javelins at me with a force that would at the least have inflicted a severe bruise ; but with a cricketer’s instinct, I turned it aside by a quick motion of my arm and it fell idly on the turf beyond. This time the laugh was rather against the bullying khan, for another party of cavaliers from the camp had now ridden up, and these seemed to stand in less awe of him than did his immediate escort.

As for myself, however, I felt in anything but a merry mood; for I. began to apprehend the consequences of having mortified the selfconceit of a vain and fierce man. The khan’s face grow very dark, and his moustache bristled like the hair of an angry boar, as he glaied on the Frank who had dared to baffle his unerring aim, Twice his muscular right hand clutched at the hilt of his scimitar; and had we been alone, 1 have no doubt that it would have gone hard with me, unarmed and on foot as I was. Fortunately, however, there arrived on the scene a very young and slightly-made man, mounted on a noble Arab horse, and wearing a gold-laced uniform varying but little from the European pattern. This was Mirza Hussein, general of the military force near to whose encampment I. had ventured, and brother to the princegovernor. His clear-cut features and straight profile, no less than his slender frame, contrasted strongly with those of the khan, and bespoke him as a genuine Iranee of the pure race. The sight of El Zagal, vapouring in his wrath, of poor Ibrahim, now sitting up and staring stupidly about him, while the blood trickled down his face, of the javelins that lay upon the ground, and of a strange European in apparent altercation with the khan, seemed to tell the whole tale to the quick-witted young Persian. He said some thing to El Zagal which caused the latter to fall back a pace or two; and then, to my delight, addressed me in French, which he spoke with tolerable fluency. I briefly told him my name and nation, as well as what had occurred, offering at the same time my passport and credentials for his inspection; but he courteously waved them back; and after exchanging a word or two with those around, he again addressed me, and this time with marked kindness.

< I ara sorry, monsieur,’ said Mirza Husseiu gently, ‘that you rhould have met with so rough a reception here. We are not much used to travellers ; and our valient friend, I he khan there, is a little hot and overhasty; hut luckily I arrived in time to redeem our Persian repute for hospitality. If you will grace me by accompanying me to my poor tent—give the Frank a horse, somebody ! —I shall be glad of the opportunity of conversing with an Englishman, a pleasure I have

not enjoyed since I left the capital for these uncivilised regions—You, too, good fellow,’ he added in Persian to Ibrahim, who had now regained his feet, ‘may come with OS | and I daresay we can find a plaster for that knock in the face. —You can ride? he continued, as an attendant led up a snorting gray steed, with a blue demipique saddle ; ‘ but of course you can, for you are English ' which last words were uttered as I put my foot into the shovel-shaped stirrup, and sprang on the back of the gray Turcoman—- ‘ And now let us make our way comfortably to the camp.’ A very polite and elegant young fellow was this juvenileprince; and as I sat beside him, at his special invitation, on the soft crimson carpet, beneath the many-colored canopy of his splendid pavilion, waited on by Nubian slaves in snowy tunics and turbans, who brought us coffee and pipes, as well as sweetmeats, fruit, and iced sherbets, on trays of embossed silver, I could scarcely realise to myself that I had been but a few minutes before assailed, insulted, and in danger of my life. Yet there, at some little distance, among a crowd of officers, sat Yussef Khan, the Left-handed, or Unlucky, furtively scowling at me as he inhaled the fragrance of the Shiraz tobacco through the long snaky tube of his richly adorned kalioon. The prince told me in French, but speaking in an undertone, that El Zagal was a truculent old savage, only tolerated on account of his exploits against the Afghans and the Turcomans, but that he was still in favor with the so-called Old Persian party, or opponents of reform, and had thus been appointed to command a part of the troops under Mirza Hussein's orders. ‘As for myself,’ added tho young commander gaily, ‘ I need not tell you that I go heart and soul with the new opinions and the new ways. I have had the advantage of a Frankish education—two years in Paris; tnon cher M. Masterton, conceive you that!—and I am lost here in these barbarous mountains, and surrounded by dull sticklers for a literal observance of the Koran precepts. lam ashamed to offer you these sorry sherbets—it should be foaming champagne were we but snugly in Teheran—but here, in public, we must be careful of appearances. I hope to see great changes yet; but we must be prudent, or we clash with prejudices deeply rooted in the popular mind.’

Thus this Gallicised specimen of Iranee aristocracy prattled on, saying ten words for every one of mine; and when at length he would allow me to leave him, he kissed the tips of his fingers and waved them towards me, saying gaily: ‘Adieu, monsieur; and believe me, should we meet again, I shall retain a bon souvenir of this charming conversation. But of that there is, helas! not much prospect, unless you are persuaded to visit the capital, whither I hope to be allowed to return so soon as our present mission—which is hardly to the taste of a gentleman and a soldier—is accomplished. And that—but I must not blab state secrets— foi de Hntsein I —will not, I trust be long. Give me joy, M. Masterton, on my chance of soon emancipating myself from this tedious banishment !’

Exchanging salaams with the remainder of the company, I now left the prince’ll pavilion, and presently quitted the camp, accompanied by Ibrahim, who had by Mirza Hussein’s orders been clad in a new robe of fine blue cloth, and who had also been idemnified for the rough treatment which he had received by the gift of ‘ a purse of silver,’ or about five pounds sterling. This liberality had, however, had no effect in dispelling the sullen r gloom which had succeeded to his habitual good-humour ; and as we gained th crest of the hill, and took our last look bac. at the gay tents of the military, the peasac ground his teeth and clenched his fist witl an expression of bitter but impotent rage He said but little on our homeward road and when, on entering the village, we foum Ali Sahib, wondering at our long absence waiting for us, and ready to inform me of thi excellent bargain which he, as my represen tative, had made with the head men of the rural community, I could see him start and look uneasy as he observed the dejection of my guide. He put no questions to Ibrahim, however; but telling me cheerfully that dinner was waiting, and that he had ventured in my name to invite the elders of the village to a little feast in honour of the negotiation, he led the way back to the house where I was lodged, and where I found a long low table groaning under the weight of smoking hot pilaffs, kabobs, soups, and various unknown preparations of fish, flesh, and vegetables, among which I was amused at recognising a dear old friend of my schooldays—a dish of cucumbers stuffed, with rice and minced mutton ; while round the table, on cushions and dressed sheepskins, sat ten or twelve of the notables of the hamlet, all of whom rose up as I entered, and lifting their hands so as to shade their eyes, cried with one voice : * Well seen, protector of the poor 1 Welcome to the Englishman, the founder of the feast!’ Chapter IV. It was the first time that I had found myself in the character of a convive at an oriental banquet, and I was quite unprepared to play the still more imposing part of Amphitryon at such an entertainment; but I soon perceived that, the first formal salutation having been paid and civilly acknowledged, nothing more in the way of ceremony was expected from me, and that the guests resumed their task of eating with a vigorous appetite that belongs alone to hardy and frugal people who on rare occasions are indulged with a Gargantuan repast. It was a source of interest to me to watch the progress of the meal; how the piles of snowy rice dwindled: how incessant were the assaults upon the great piece de resistance , the lamb stuffed with Ghilan raisins and chopped herbs; how the thin wooden skewers, thick-set with smoking kabobs of broiled mutton, were passed from hand to hand ; and with what omnivorous steadiness the Sheiks of the village plodded through the round of dishes ; sweetmeats and fish, stewed meats and preserved apricots, succeeding one another in a fashion that would have maddened a Belgravian butler; the very plates, which were indeed huge flaps of tough home-baked bread, being greedily devoured before the termination of the feast. The one temperate, or, indeed, abstemious Moslem present was Ali Sahib, who had slipped into a place at the other end of the board, and who contented himself as usual with a spare diet of rice and pulse. Even Ibrahim seemed to have forgotten the blow he had received from the Yussef Khan’s djereed, and plied his fingers—for I need not say that knives and forks were conspicuous by their absence—as deftly as his neighbors. To be Continued.