CHAPTER XII
SNOW AND ICE
The Captain of the Escort was not over pleased to find Roy when he camein the next morning, and said curtly that the boy, having found his wayon foot, must make it on foot, and that none should wait for him. Tothis the Rajput lad made no demur. His long limbs on that hilly countrywere more than an equal even for Horse-chestnut's climbing powers, andthe cold was so intense that it was a relief not to sit still onhorseback. So he raced on ahead with Tumbu or held by Horse-chestnut'sstirrup, and, as he ran, told stories to amuse the Heir-to-Empire; forneither of the nurses was in a fit state to do more than sit tight, tiedby leathern belts to the troopers behind whom they rode.
About sunset time they arrived at a lonely shed at the beginning of thehighest bit of the main road, which they were now obliged to take, asthere was no other way over the mountains ahead of them. Here, at theend--as poor Head-nurse wailed--of the habitable world, the Captain ofthe Escort had expected to find the remainder of his men; but they werenot there, and as his provisions were running short, he could not go ontill they did arrive. So, in an ill humor, he ordered a halt, and thewhole outwearied party hastily cooked themselves a meagre supper andlay down in hot haste for rest at last. And rest they had, for thatnight the snow, which had been threatening, began to fall, and bydaylight a good nine inches lay on the ground. The children, who hadnever seen such thick snow before, were delighted; but Foster-fatherlooked fearfully at the passes before them, while the Captain of theEscort fumed and fretted at the non-arrival of his men. Unless they camesoon, he said, if more snow fell, the pass immediately in front of themmight be closed for days. Not that there seemed much likelihood offurther storm, for the sky was blue as blue, the air, though keen,pleasant. About noon, there being still no sign of the missing men withprovisions, the captain became impatient, and told Foster-father curtlythat he and his three troopers would ride back some fifteen miles to avillage, where perchance the others were waiting, and that meanwhile therest of them could wait till he returned; there were provisions enoughfor a day or two. Foster-father protested against being left alone inthe snow with but a boy, two helpless women and two young children; butthe Captain only laughed and rode off, taking with him Horse-chestnut,as a precaution, doubtless, against any attempt to escape with theHeir-to-Empire.
There was nothing to be done, Foster-father felt, save to wait with whatpatience he could; but his heart sank as, while Head-nurse andFoster-mother slept, outwearied by the past two days' fatigue, and thechildren under Roy's care played snowballs, he sat and watched the sky.At first there was only a cloud or two in the west; then a sudden windsprang up and drove the fine, powdery snow in drifts. But still the sunshone, though it seemed to grow a little dimmer, a little paler;finally, about two hours after the others had left, Foster-father feltuncertain whether it was all drift that seemed to fill the air with afine white film, or whether fresh snow was falling.
An hour later there was no doubt about it. Great flakes were circlingdown silently, the sun had vanished, all things had become grey.Head-nurse heaped up the fire, set a quilt before it for the children toplay upon, and then opened out the wallets to see what she could findfor supper. There was not much left, and she was about to knead up allthe flour to bake hearth cakes when Foster-father crossed over to herand whispered:
"Half will do, sister; otherwise there may be none for to-morrow."
"None?" she echoed. "But they will be back----"
Foster-father pointed to the snow that, driven now by a rising wind, haddrifted underneath the door. "Not through that, sister! We may have tostay here till the weather moderates, for none save friends will risktheir lives, and these men love us not!"
But even as he spoke there was a bustling at the door, Tumbu flewforward, barking loudly, and in stumbled----
Old Faithful and Meroo the cook-boy!
They were heavily burdened, half-blinded by the snow, and they had adisquieting tale to tell. About twelve miles back, just as the snowbegan to fall, their party, which had been delayed on the main road by aflooded river, had come upon the Captain of the Escort and his threetroopers. Then had ensued a hurried consultation, in which several ofthe men had flatly refused to go on in face of the coming storm. It was,they said, sheer madness. Better return to the nearest township andawait better weather. As for the prisoners, they had food enough to keeplife in them for a day or two, and after that they must take theirchance. Whereupon Old Faithful and Meroo had offered to go on, carryingsome of the provisions they had with them, and trusting to be able tofollow the tracks left by the horses in the snow. This had been agreedupon, and--here they were!
"For," as Old Faithful went on, "see you, I am not afraid of snow,having been with Babar the brave (on whom be peace) when he marched fromHerat to Kabul and was nigh lost on the Great Zirrin pass."
Little Akbar, who was playing at cat's cradle with his sister, looked upeagerly. "Was Grand-dad ever in the snow? 'Cos if he was, he's quitesure to help us, for he ate all our sweeties, didn't he, Bija?"
The little girl shook her head and put her finger to her lip, in warningto him not to give away their secret; but Head-nurse was sharp.
"Ohe," said she, "so that was it! Listen, Foster-father! these babes setthe platter for Firdoos Gita Makani--on whom be peace! Is not that goodomen for us all?"
"Mayhap!" said Foster-father, clearing his throat cautiously, "and myheart is comforted also by the presence of Faithful, who was with thegreat king in his battle with snow and ice."
The Heir-to-Empire dropped his cat's cradle and went over to the oldtrooper and stood before him with grave, questioning eyes.
"Is it so, slave? Were you with Grand-dad in the snow?"
"Most-Honourable! I was," replied the old man boastfully, "and Iremember as if 'twas yesterday----"
"Tell us the tale, trooper," interrupted Head-nurse. "'Twill hearten usall up ere we sleep, since there is naught else to be done."
"That will I, mother," replied Old Faithful with alacrity, "and in thevery words of my revered master as written in that book of books, hisMemoirs, which doubtless the most Learned-of-the-Universe will readsome day."
Mirak, who was back at his cat's cradle, looked up with gravesuperiority.
"Nay, slave! They shall read it to Akbar. He will be King."
"Hark to him!" ejaculated Foster-mother, delighted. "His words are allfortunate."
"We have need of more fortune by works, not words, woman," saidFoster-father sternly. "So proceed, friend Faithful; the recitation ofbrave deeds can never come amiss."
Old Faithful settled himself by the fire and began. "First you must knowthat Firdoos Gita Makani, or Babar the brave, had to get back to Kabul,because wicked men were waiting to be punished. Now, it was winter time,and none dreamed of travelling over the passes at that season. ButFirdoos Gita Makani was not one to hold back when a thing had to bedone. So we started, and this is what happened, in his own words:
"From the time we left Herat it snowed incessantly; the farther weadvanced the deeper it became. After three days it reached above thestirrups. In places the horses' feet did not reach the ground; yet thesnow continued to fall. One Bishai was our guide. I do not know whetherit was from old age, or from his heart failing him, but having once lostthe road, he never could find it again; so, as it was not to be foundwith all our exertions, we were brought to a complete stand. Seeing noother remedy, we returned back to a place where there was abundance offirewood, and despatched sixty or seventy chosen men to retrace ourfootsteps and find on lower ground any people who might be winteringthere, and bring back another guide. We halted thus for three or fourdays awaiting the return of our messengers; but when they did appear itwas without any one to show the way. Placing my reliance on God alone,therefore, I went on. For about a week we continued beating down thesnow so as to form a road, only advancing two or three miles a day.Accompanied by ten or fifteen of my personal followers, I worked myselfwith the others. Every step we took forward we sank u
p to the middle,but still we went on, trampling till we got firm foothold. And as thefirst person wearied of the exertion, he stood back and another took hisplace. So, after a time, we managed to lead on a riderless horse. Itgenerally sank to the stirrups, and after floundering on a dozen paceswas worn out. But the second did better. Thus in this way the twenty orso of us managed to prepare a sort of road for the rest, who withhanging heads (though many of them had seemed our best men) advancedalong it without even dismounting! But this was no time for reproof orauthority. Every man of spirit hastens to such work of himself, and therest do not count. In this way after three or four days we reached acave at the foot of the Zirrin Pass. That day the wind and storm weredreadful; the snow fell in quantities; we all expected to meet deathtogether. The snow was so deep, the path so narrow, the days were atshortest. The first of the troops reached the cave while it was yetdaylight; but some men had to wait for morning on horseback. The caveseemed to be too small for all, so I would not go in. I felt that for meto be warm and comfortable while my men were in snow and drift; for meto sleep at my ease while my followers were in trouble and distress,would be unfair. I felt that whatever their sufferings might be, I oughtto share them. So I took a hoe and dug down into the snow as deep as mybreast; this gave me some shelter from the wind, and I sat down in thehole. By bedtime prayers the snow had fallen so fast that four inches ofit had settled on my head----'"
Here Old Faithful paused and shook his head gravely. "His Majesty," hewent on, "writes in the margin, 'That night I caught a cold in my ear.'It is only wonder he did not catch his death."
"But what happened next?" asked Akbar impatiently. "Did poor Grand-dadsit in the snow all night?"
"No, Most-Honourable. He goes on to say, 'The cave was properly exploredand found to be large enough to hold us all. So I ordered all to go in,and thus we escaped from the terrible cold, snow, and drift, into awonderfully warm, safe, comfortable place. And next morning the snow andtempest ceased and we moved on, trampling down the snow as before; butere we quite got through the pass, night fell. Though the wind hadfallen, the cold was dreadful, and several lost fingers, toes, evenhands and feet from frostbite, as we waited for dawn in the open. Asearly as we could we moved down the glen, descending, without road, overdifficult and precipitous places, the extreme depth of the snow enablingus to pass over countless dangers. Thus our enemy became our friend.
"'It was evening prayer time ere we got from the mouth of the valley,bedtime prayers when we reached the village of Auleng. The peoplecarried us to their warm houses, brought out fat sheep for us, asuperfluity of hay and grain for our horses, with abundance of wood tokindle our fires. To pass from the cold and snow into such a villagewith its warm houses, to find plenty of good food as we did after daysof hunger is an enjoyment that can only be understood by those who havesuffered similar hardship, have endured such heavy distress.'"
Old Faithful paused and sighed. "That is so like Firdoos Gita Makani,"he said. "When danger was over he would sit down and write beautifulthings about it; but when it was there he never seemed to think ofanything but trampling it down."
"That is like all Kings," said Roy proudly, "and brave men are alwaysKings in danger."
But Foster-father was looking at the fire. "Abundance of fuel," hemurmured, "that is what we have not."
"We shall not need it here, friend," replied the old trooper. "Meroo,remove that log; 'tis too hot as it is, and if the snow continues todrift as it was doing a while agone--" he moved to the door, whichopened inward and set it wide. A great white wall reaching almost to theeaves showed filling up the doorway! "It is as I thought," he said; "weare prisoned here till the storm passes. Thank God we have provisionenough for some days."
"And thanks to others also," put in Foster-father heartily; "but forthee and Meroo, old friend----"
"As Firdoos Gita Makani used to say," remarked the old man with an airof great virtue, "'Gratitude comes when danger has gone,' so she mustwait a bit yet."