CHAPTER I.
BEGUM SUMRO.
The next morning Hugo resumed his confession:
I hope the honorable gentlemen of the court will pardon me, and notimagine I wish to prolong this hearing, if I mention what may seemtrifling details. They are absolutely necessary to render intelligiblethe recital of my most serious transgressions: idolatry, polygamy, andregicide--
"All of which you will prove to have been so many praiseworthy acts!"interpolated the chair.
To begin with--continued the prisoner, paying no heed to the chair'sinterpolation--from one of the upper windows of a tall tower thatstands on the left bank of the Ganges, in the neighborhood of Benares,projects a bamboo pole as thick as a man's waist; and from it depends,by an iron chain, a large iron cage. A man is confined in this cage.His food is conveyed to him from the window of the tower, through along hollow pipe of bamboo. The cage hangs over a large pool of waterthat is fed by an arm of the river, and swarms with voraciouscrocodiles.
It is a horrible sight, in the late afternoon, to see these ferociousbrutes lift their heads from the water, and grin at the man in thecage. If he should break the iron bars which confine him in his airyprison, and attempt to escape by leaping into the pool, the hungrymonsters would devour him skin and hair.
"Who is the man?" queried the chair.
"No less a personage than his royal highness, Shah Alum, the heir tothe throne of the great Mogul."
"Why is he confined in the cage?"
"Because he extended the hospitalities of his roof to his highness,Mir Cossim, the nabob of Bengal, whom the English banished from histerritory, after the battle of Patna. Later, after the battle atBuxar, Shah Alum himself fell into the power of the English; and MirCossim was obliged to flee to the protection of the nabob of Andh,whose commander-in-chief was the General Sommer, of whom MynheerRuissen had told me. The English demanded of the nabob of Andh, thathe deliver to them Mir Cossim and Sommer: whom they wanted to cage,and hang beside Shah Alum, to keep him from getting lonely! But thenabob of Andh allowed Sommer to escape; and he fled across the Jumna,where he organized another army. He was again defeated by the English,and fled to Joodpoor, where he placed himself under the protection ofPrince Radspoota. Here he organized troops after the manner of thosein Europe, and vanquished the rajahs of Chitore, and Abeil. Again hewas compelled by the English to flee--but not by the force of armsthis time; his enemies intimidated the prince, his protector; and, inorder not to cause his highness any inconvenience, Sommer went toDelhi, the chief city in India, where he sought the protection ofNajuf Khan. The full name of this ruler is: 'Mirza Nujuf Khan Zuelfikaral Dowlah, commander-in-chief to the Great Mogul.' From him Sommerreceived a hearty welcome."
"This Sommer," observed the chair, "seems to have been a vagrant likeyourself."
"I consider that a great compliment, your honor, and thank you forit!" returned the prisoner. Then he resumed his confession: Sommer hadan opportunity the very first day to prove his gratitude for thefriendly reception accorded him by Najuf Khan. The mutinous Mahrattasmade a sudden attack that night on the residence of the Khan, andwould have assassinated him, had not Sommer hastened with the loyalMahrattas to the rescue, and vanquished the mutineers. And they werefine fellows--devilish fine fellows, too--those mutinous Mahrattas!The crack troop of the imperial army! They had once compelled a formercommander-in-chief, who had failed, for some reason or other, to paythe troops, to sit, bound hand and foot, and with bare head in thescorching sun, until he gave orders to have them paid.
("I think it will be well to keep that episode from the ears of ourtroops," observed the prince with a meaning smile.)
In gratitude for his rescue, Najuf Khan charged Sommer with theorganization of his army; and in a short time he, Sommer, got togethera force of natives, and Europeans, sufficient to conquer a neighboringprovince, the chief city of which is Agra; he also captured theso-called impregnable citadel of Drig, in which rock-fortress heimprisoned nabob Nevil Szig.
In reward for this victorious campaign, the emperor of Delhi appointedSommer king of the conquered province of Sardhana. Thus, the son of agrocer in Treves became the sovereign of an East Indian province.
I trust the honorable gentlemen of the court have received thissomewhat prolix preface with favor. I believed it necessary, in orderto familiarize you with the marvelous changes, which are worked by amysterious fate in that tropical clime, where alone such changes arepossible.
If I could but delineate approximately the peculiarities of thatregion, of the atmosphere I breathed, the ground I trod, I believe thehonorable gentlemen would say: "Arise, and go your way in peace. Youare not to blame for what you have done. Your transgressions are butthe fruits of the soil which produces also the boa and the upas tree."
The province of Sardhana is ten times as large as the grand-duchy ofTreves; and the revenue of its sovereign four times that of the grandduke.
It is a very fruitful country, rich in grain, wool, and tobacco.Sommer built a fort near his residence; and with the aid of his troopskept the neighboring provinces under subjection. He forced a passagethrough the forests of Mevas, into which, until then, none of theforeign conquerors had been able to penetrate; which had formed animpassable barrier for the great Alexander on his triumphal march;baffled the hordes of Djingis Khan, whose inhabitants sallied forthonly when they desired to levy tribute on a neighboring tribe.
After vanquishing these savages, Sommer directed his attention towardthe inhuman Balluken, who offered the blood of young girls insacrifice to their gods, and in a very short time succeeded indislodging them from their rocky retreat. Ultimately, he undertook tosubdue the royal Pertaub Singh, which he accomplished--but not throughthe force of arms: by his powers of persuasion, which he possessed toa marvelous degree.
Sommer's patron, as was natural, wished to bestow on his successfulcommander-in-chief a new reward for all these conquests. There was abeautiful young girl, named Zeib Alnissa (the Hindoo for "ornament ofher sex"), the daughter of one of the most influential princelyfamilies in Delhi, and this girl the emperor sought in marriage forhis favorite.
Sommer informed his patron that he would espouse the beautiful ZeibAlnissa if she would adopt the Christian faith.
"Why," exclaimed the emperor, "can't you love a woman who worshipsBrahma?"
"Oh, yes, your imperial highness," responded Sommer; "it is because Ishould love her very much, that I want her to belong to my faith. I amnot a young man any more, and I have a profligate son whom I havebeen forced to disown. If I should die, my wife, according to theBrahminical custom, would be burned alive with my body. If she becomesa Christian, she will not have to ascend the funeral pyre, but mythrone, where she will reign as Begum, and prevent my kingdom fromfalling into the hands of my worthless son."
The emperor conceded that Sommer's argument was just; and permittedthe foreign missionaries to convert the lovely young princess to theChristian faith. This was a concession never before granted to aEuropean in India.
Zeib Alnissa adored her husband. She accompanied him on everyexpedition he undertook; watched over him; guarded him from the secretenemies and treachery which encompass every East Indian sovereign. Thesuccessful commander-in-chief had many enemies and rivals. The Englishcompany had long ranked among his opponents. Not infrequently he wasrescued as by a miracle from great danger by the watchful care of hisdevoted wife.
Ultimately, however, his enemies succeeded in their attempts on hislife; and the brave commander-in-chief succumbed to the poisonsecretly administered to him. He died in the arms of the faithful ZeibAlnissa, just about the time I arrived in Sardhana, to take command ofhis artillery.
His widow, under the title of Sumro Begum, ascended the throne, thuspreventing, as her husband had desired, her step-son from inheritingit.
This son was a truly immoral and wicked fellow. I saw him for a fewminutes after the Begum's accession to the crown, and after she hadconfirmed my appointment as commander of the fort. He actua
lly had theeffrontery to try to bribe me to betray the Begum into his power; and,on finding that his efforts were useless, he threatened to revengehimself on me when he should come into possession of the throne.
"Very well," I retorted. "When that time comes I shall become aregicide."
How little I dreamed then, that my words were prophetic!
Meanwhile, Sumro Begum grasped with a firm hand the reins ofgovernment. She increased her army, and added several pieces ofordnance to the artillery.
Seated on a spirited battle-horse, or elephant, she inspected themanoeuvers in person.
Her neighbors in the adjacent provinces very soon learned to fear andrespect her; even the emperor gave her credit for great prudence andwisdom. Indeed, so great was the influence she wielded, that her voicefrequently decided the issue in the discussions at court.
Those East Indian dignitaries are a jealous folk. When Gholam Kadirfound that his influence at the imperial court was secondary to thatof Sumro Begum, he marched with his troops on the capital, and beganto bombard the palace. Sumro Begum, however, heard the thunder of thecannonading, and hastily summoning her troops, joined her forces tothose of Prince Ivan Buk, and drove the jealous Gholam Kadir back tohis province.
The revolt in the interior of his empire concluded, the emperor wasat liberty to turn his attention to the foreign invader. Kuli Khan hadcaptured the fortress of Ghokal Gur. This valuable stronghold had tobe recaptured; and troops were not lacking, but leaders were. Sommer'sloss was most keenly felt; but Sumro Begum was still to the fore, andshe was worth a dozen ordinary generals.
The imperial troops had been trying for three weeks to recapture thefortress of Ghokal Gur. They had become tired of the continuedill-success of their undertaking, and had abandoned themselves tofeasting and carousing. One night, after all tipsy heads had been laidto rest, Kuli Khan, with his Mongolian cavalry, surprised the imperialcamp, and began to slaughter the stupefied troops. The enemy in thefortress could see by the light of the burning tents the horriblebutchery going on outside the walls, and decided to take a hand in it.The emperor's tent was riddled with bullets; two of his palanquinbearers were killed, and he was obliged to seek flight on his ownfeet. But, whither to turn he knew not, as he was in the center of afurious cross-fire.
It is quite certain that he would have been destroyed, together withhis entire army, had not Sumro Begum hastened to the rescue, with heradmirably disciplined troops, officered by Europeans.
On hearing of the emperor's danger the heroic Begum summoned herbody-guard--hardly one hundred men--entered her palanquin, andhastened, with the battery under my command, toward the thickest ofthe fight.
When she saw that the enemy from the fortress was taking part in themassacre of the half-sober imperial troops, she called to me:
"Follow my example!"
Then, she sprang from her palanquin, mounted a horse, and at the headof her body-guard, charged upon the enemy.
I knew very well what was expected of me! I placed my battery in sucha position that the guns would clear a way for the Begum.
In a very short time the valiant enemy, who had sallied forth from thefortress to take a hand in slaughtering their beleaguerers, were in awild retreat toward it. Sumro Begum met them at the draw-bridge, tookthe commander prisoner, and, with him in chains at her side, enteredthe fort, of which she took possession in the name of the emperor. Sheleft all but ten of her men to guard the fort, and returned to theassistance of the emperor, whose troops, taking courage from theexample of the brave Begum, plucked up heart, turned upon theirbutchers, and after a severe struggle gained the mastery.
The rising sun witnessed the annihilation of the enemy.
The fort was again in the possession of the emperor, who, in face ofhis entire army, embraced Sumro Begum, and called her his "deardaughter." He did not hesitate to declare, in the presence of hiscommanding officers, that he owed his life, the lives of six imperialprinces, his empire, and the rescue of his army, to the brave woman.
To this the Begum, with a modest blush, made reply: "Not to me aloneis due all this praise, your imperial highness. The greater portionbelongs to my commander of artillery. This is he"--she drew me forwardand presented me to the emperor. "To him must be given a fittingreward for the great service he has done your imperial highness."
The answer to this was:
"Let yourself be the brave man's reward!"
With his own imperial hand he placed the lady's hand in my own, andbetrothed her to me with a ring from his own finger. At the same timehe appointed me co-regent of Sardhana, under the name of MaharajahKong. Thus, I became--not a captain, but a maharajah.
"And all this really happened?" inquired the chair.
"Yes, your honor, and more too--as you may read in the courtchronicles at Delhi."
"We will hear the rest tomorrow," observed the prince. "It is enoughfor one day to have heard how the son of an Andernach tanner becameassistant sovereign of a province in India."