"He stretched forth his hand to Devaka, and, leading her away, departed.

Bimjee, after a salute to me, followed his bidden guests at a little distance. For myself, I remained awhile to ponder all these happenings.

"To say that I was disappointed in Sheikh Ahmed would not adequately express my feelings. From the first I had been attracted to the man, by his handsome figure, distinguished bearing, and pleasant smile. During our intimacy of four days on the road I had admired the brilliancy of his conversation, and had taken great delight in his entertaining recitals of adventure in many far lands. From one like him I had certainly never expected this display of callous selfishness. But such is life. We have to keep ourselves prepared for many disillusionments.

And, as I remarked at the outset of my narrative, an experience of this kind teaches that, if in judging our fellow men we are to be chary of condemnation, it behoves us also to be discreet in commendation."

And so ended the Bombay trader's story.

After an interval of silence, the voice of the Rajput chief spoke up:

"What became of Baji Lal and Devaka?"

"Oh," replied the merchant, "from that day their happiness returned and continued. For the villagers were ashamed to have doubted them, so all contributed to the building and furnishing of their home, and would take no denial. Good fortune seemed to settle on their roof-tree. Little Devaka is now the mother of a fine boy, and she wears a chain of gold around her neck, one given to her by the women of the village when they heard that she had scorned the proffered gift of Sheikh Ahmed, and understood the reason why."

"And the Sheikh and his wonderful harp?" questioned the Afghan soldier.

"Did the costly toy reach its destination?"

"The harp is in the treasury of our Sovereign Akbar. Sheikh Ahmed started back for Poona with the lac of rupees he had promised in the name of the Padishah and half a lac more for his own recompense. But he and his company were attacked by a swarm of Mahrattas, and perished to a man."

"And the treacherous servant?"

"About him I know nothing. My tale is told."

V. THE BLUE DIAMONDS

TOLD BY THE FAKIR

"You have certainly improved on the moral of my story," said the astrologer, addressing the merchant, silent now after the telling of his tale. "If it is for G.o.d alone to p.r.o.nounce the censure on mankind, then a.s.suredly it is for G.o.d also to award the praise. As the story of Sheikh Ahmed and his jewelled harp well shows, deeds may be done openly by the hand, but the motives for their doing lie secretly in the heart. And the heart is the innermost temple where none but the high priest, the individual soul, holds communion with his G.o.d, the supreme Deity of the universe."

"So that a man's life is an unsolvable riddle to all but himself,"

concurred the hakeem.

"And not to be solved even by himself," remarked the Afghan with a laugh, half of bitterness, half of bravado. "We may know in our secret heart the motive that prompts to a deed, but we cannot tell the consequences of that deed as affecting even ourselves who wrought it.

Take this very story of the Sheikh; when recovering his precious harp he was but digging his own grave. So with all of us; we imagine we are marching bravely to accomplish some preconceived plan, when all the time we are merely groping with blinded eyes along the path of destiny, avoiding the mud holes, it may be, but failing to see the tiger, crouched for his spring, a few paces further along."

"Shabash!" cried the fakir, in a shrill tone of approval that drew all eyes to the lean and naked and ash-besprinkled figure seated at the foot of the veranda steps. "Shabash! shabash!" he cried, again and yet again.

"And your story?" asked the Rajput, with a nod of inquiry and encouragement.

"Is one that shows how a man may keep on running all his life yet never reach the goal he has in sight," replied the ascetic. And with the st.u.r.dy independence of his calling he beat a peremptory tattoo with finger-tips on wooden begging-bowl to command attention to his tale.

"Behold in me a man who possesses nothing in this world excepting a begging-bowl and a loin cloth. Yet was I at one time the owner of lands and of cattle, of a home bountifully stored for comfort and for sustenance, of wives who wore rich jewels, necklets of pearls, armlets of gold, and bangles of silver, with maid-servants to minister to their needs and children to play around them. All gone! by my own doing, or undoing, call it which you will.

"And know, too, that in those days I also was a soldier"--this with a defiant glance first at the Rajput chief and then at the Afghan general.

"At my side rattled the steel scabbard, and in my belt was the sharp poinard, swift messenger of death when it came to hand-to-hand fighting, and the horse I rode had its rich trappings of gold and silver. It may all seem strange, to hear me tell those things of the long ago and to look upon me now"--and the speaker stretched forth his skinny, twisted fingers and attenuated arms, and for a moment ruefully contemplated them.

"But I speak the truth," he went on, "for to-night, prompted by the stories to which I have listened and the thoughts they have engendered, will I unseal my lips after fifty long years of wandering alone, giving no man my confidence, seeking no man's confidence, intent only on the attainment of the one desire deeply seated in my heart, and which, in my eager striving to achieve, seems to be ever more remote from accomplishment. To-night will I reveal the story of my life, so that, perchance, the lesson it teaches will show still more clearly the impotence of man to const.i.tute himself the avenger of wrongs. For if judgment belongs to Allah, so does vengeance. And the choice of instrument, of time and place, of the very manner of the deed--all this belongs to G.o.d alone, as this night, listening to the stories that have gone before, have I for the first time come fully to comprehend."

The fakir paused to gaze around his audience. The look of interest and expectancy on each face showed the impression his impulsive flow of language had made. No interrupting word was spoken, but every eye remained fastened on the lean, keen face peering over long slender shanks and hand-clasped knees. The narrator continued:

"In those days I had twenty retainers at my call, and these men I commanded when I rode forth to service with a certain Nawab, from whom I held my lands for the feudal service I thus performed. It was my fate to take part in many a fight and in many a foray, and to send many a man to his doom. But G.o.d had ordained it so; the fault was not mine.

"Well, it befell that a certain city was given over to sack and carnage, for the word had gone forth that the only way to break the power of its Hindu occupants was to demolish their temples, destroy their idols, and thereby show the impotence of their false G.o.ds to protect them."

The Rajput drew himself up proudly, and a flush of resentment stole over his face. But the Moslem fanatic, unconscious now of anything but his reminiscences of the past, went on unheeding and unabashed:

"It was toward the hour of sunset when a body of our soldiery broke into a temple devoted to the worship of Siva the Destroyer. We had battered in the heavy wooden doors that protected the inner court, and within the threshold a score or more of priests fell to our swords, and a dozen dancing girls as well, attendants on the idols--self-slain these women, for when they saw that there was no quarter for the men they rushed on us like female panthers and flung themselves on our dripping blades."

The Hindu listeners were visibly disturbed and affected by this cold recital of b.l.o.o.d.y deeds. The hands of the Rajput clenched and unclenched themselves nervously, and the merchant gave a deep, guttural groan of horror as he flung the end of his robe over his face as if to shut out a vision of sacrilege and shame.

"It was written in the beginning, nay before creation it was written,"

murmured the Moslem astrologer, quoting, in courteous sympathy, the familiar formula of his faith. "And as your priests themselves say," he added, addressing himself more particularly to the Rajput, "'The destiny of each man is irrevocably inscribed on his forehead by the hand of Brahma himself.'"

The Rajput bowed his head in acquiescent silence, and as the fakir proceeded with his story the trader also regained his composure and withdrew the covering from his face.

"When the shadows of night fell, the temple made a bonfire that illuminated the scenes of pillage going on all around. The big idols of loathly aspect had been thrown down, broken to pieces, and despoiled of their jewels and the heavy plates of gold that enc.u.mbered them. Our soldiers had swarmed out of the building, past a tank to the houses of some priests beyond. Not one single custodian of the temple survived, and I stood alone in the outer courtyard, watching in idle fashion the tongues of flame licking the beams and rafters and paint-bedaubed walls of the wrecked edifice.

"Then did my eyes chance to light on a small idol in the pa.s.sage-way between the two courtyards of the temple, set in a deep niche, on which account it had escaped the notice of the despoilers. It was the familiar elephant-headed idol of the Hindus, Ganapati, as I knew they called him, their G.o.d of wisdom and the remover of obstacles according to their creed.

"Even as I looked, methought that the eyes of the idol twinkled knowingly and entreatingly at me. After a moment I saw that this fancy was but due to the play of the flames on jewels, comprehending which, I said to myself that the little fat man might perchance be of some considerable value. So I plucked him from his resting-place, not without difficulty, for the base of the idol was fastened by iron clamps to the altar, and only just in time before a surge of fire and smoke swept through the vestibule. Then, without more ado, I carried forth this Ganapati, wrapped in a cotton cloth I had gathered from one of the slain priests, and tied it to the saddle-bow of my horse, which had been standing tethered under a tree close at hand.

"Thus did it come about that, a full month later, I was seated in my home, in a secret inner chamber that served me as a treasury, and to which the only access was through the women's quarters. And before me on a stool rested the cross-legged figure of the four-armed and elephant-headed G.o.d, fat, complacent, smiling, to all appearance recovered from the fatigues of a journey of near a hundred leagues and thoroughly contented amidst his new surroundings. The idol was of bronze, and the eyes, which at times gave it such life-like semblance, were cl.u.s.ters of rubies set around with white sapphires.

"And it followed that, day after day, after the siesta hour, I found myself in the company of this accursed idol--for accursed it came to be, bringing me misfortunes and ruin, as my story will unfold. No doubt it was by my own doing that the wrath of Allah was brought down upon my head. For had not I, a follower of the Prophet, and therefore a despiser of graven images in every shape or form, come to treat this monstrous and misshapen creature, half man, half beast, as a sort of familiar, even greeting him on my entry with the words with which I might have saluted a living unbeliever, 'May your days be peaceful,' spoken in goodnatured jest, of course, and without one thought at the time of the sacrilege of which I was guilty? Yea, I would pat the fat little fellow on the head, and, when the humour seized me, would show him my h.o.a.rd of gold mohurs, even jingle before him a bag of silver rupees, or ask his opinion on the colour and quality of some gem, speaking words of foolishness the while, like a child playing with a toy. And when I lay back on my cushions, sometimes I fancied that the little jewelled eyes in the elephant head of bronze twinkled at me in merry and friendly understanding. All which things I have since remembered with bitter shame.

"But it happened one day that I was in angry mood--some contrary thing among the women of my household had vexed me. And when I sat brooding over my trouble, it seemed that the eyes of the Ganapati laughed at me in mockery. And, angry now at the idol himself, I arose and pressed the b.a.l.l.s of my thumbs on the two scintillating cl.u.s.ters of jewels, as it were to shut out the gleam of their impertinence, even ready, in my insane access of wrath, to force them from their sockets as I might have done with the eyeb.a.l.l.s of a slave who had offended me.

"But in a moment all pa.s.sion faded from my heart. For an extraordinary thing happened.

"As I pressed with my thumbs, the clicking sound of moving wheels smote my ear, and the elephant head began slowly to raise itself and revolve backward on some concealed pivot, forming a gaping opening right across the body of the Ganapati. And, as the opening gradually widened, by some devilish contrivance the hammer of a gong concealed within the idol was set in motion, and there resulted a loud continuous clanging din that could have been heard at a far distance. Instinctively I thrust my fingers in my ears to shut out the infernal noise. But after a time the clangor ceased, and now I observed that the elephant head had moved completely back on its hinges, and lay at rest, its single tusk raised aloft. Within the body of the Ganapati a cavity was revealed.

"But before I could explore this, I was distracted by the frightened outcries of my womenfolk, and I sallied forth to pacify them, and give a.s.surance that the bell need cause no alarm, it being one I had purchased in the bazaars with the intent some day to use it as a protection against thieves--its obvious utility, as I guessed even now.

When all was again at peace I returned to the secret chamber. Everything was as I had left it a few minutes previously.

"In the hollow body of the bronze idol there lay disclosed to view a small casket of rock crystal, round and polished, and provided with a cap of gold. For me to s.n.a.t.c.h this casket from its hiding-place was the work of an instant. Straightway I removed the golden lid, and there, in the smooth, transparent nest of crystal, lay a little heap of gems that flashed and gleamed like living fire.

"Recovering from my first emotions of astonishment and delight, I poured forth the treasure into the hollow of my hand, and found it to be a necklace of diamonds, as I could tell from the dazzling sparkle of the stones despite their uncommon colour, which was blue, like the vault of the sky or the eyes of the fair-skinned women of Circa.s.sia. Each stone was cut with many facets, and all were strung together by a delicate chain of gold, a solitary large stone in the centre, then smaller ones on either side, each succeeding pair carefully matched as to size, and constantly diminishing till the last were no bigger than grains of millet. All the diamonds were of dazzling l.u.s.tre and of the one uniform tint, the blue that is so rare, and, as I gazed upon my treasure trove, well could I believe that not such another necklace existed in any part of the world, not even in the jewel caskets of the Great Padishah himself, nor of the Kings of China or of Persia, nor of the Princes of the Franks, who are reputed to have untold stores of diamonds, rubies, topazes, and amethysts.

"For a time I was stricken dumb and motionless, from very fear of the great wealth that reposed in my hollowed palm. Then did I replace the necklace in its casket, and the casket in its receptacle within the body of the bronze G.o.d, and, grasping the tusk, I drew forward once again the elephant head, which, at my gentle pressure, rose easily on its pivot, winding again the clicking wheels as it moved, and finally closing at its accustomed place with a sharp snap but without any further sounding of the gong, at which I was well pleased.

"Overcome with varied emotions, I sank down on the carpet, and, gazing up at the idol, beheld the jewelled eyes once more twinkling at me, merrily and mockingly.