Part 22 (1/2)
?You say true, Hajji,? said Mirza Ahmak, as he shook his head from side to side, and struck his left hand on the pit of his stoht by her black eyes! in fact, they were not eyes, they were spells:--the devil himself looked out of them, not she, and if he is not in her now, may I be called _Gorumsak_ all the rest of my days But, after all, what shall I do??
?What can I say?? answered I ?What will the Shah do with her??
?Let her go to Jehanuo to her father?sofup tenderly at me, he said, ?Ah, Hajji! you kno much I have always loved you: I took you into ood situation, and you have risen in your profession all through ht to be such a thing in the world as gratitude--you have now an opportunity of exercising it:? then pausing for a while, and playing with the tip of uessed what I wished to say??
?No,? said I, ?it has not yet reached ?
?Well, then,? said he, ?in tords, own that you are the culprit A great loss of consideration would accrue to , and can bear such a story to be told of you?
?Loss of consideration, indeed!? exclaimed I, ?what is that when the loss of life will ensue? Are you mad, oh Hakim, or do you think me so?
Why should I die? why do you wish to have my blood upon your head? All I can say, if I auilty, because you were ever too much in fear of the khanuuilty?
Whilst in the middle of our conversation, one of the Shah?s eunuchs came up to me, and said that his chief had been ordered to see that the sub-lieutenant to the chief executioner, with five h tower at the entrance of the hare a _taboot_, or hand-bier, with them, to bear away a corpse for interment
All I could say in ansas ?_be cheshm!_ (by my eyes)?; and lucky was it for me that he quitted me immediately, that Mirza Ahmak had also left uish which overwhele must have betrayed me A cold sweat broke out all over my body, my eyes swam, my knees knocked under me, and I should perhaps have fallen into a swoon, if the counter fear of being seen in such a state, in the very centre of the palace, had not roused h that I have been the cause of her death, er to my own child? must I be the ill-fated he who is to stretch her cold liain to its mother earth? Why am I called upon to do this, oh cruel, most cruel destiny? Cannot I fly froer into my heart? But no, ?tis plain le,--I must fulfil the task appointed for me!
Oh world, world! what art thou, and how much more wouldst thou be known, if each man was to lift up the veil that hideth his own actions, and show his, oppressed as if the mountain of Demawend and all its sulphurs were onthe several edy; who, heedless and unconcerned at an event of no unfrequent occurrence, were indifferent whether they were to be the bearers of a murdered corpse, or theht was dark and lowering, and well suited to the horrid scene about to be acted The sun, unusual in these climates, had set, surrounded by clouds of the colour of blood; and, as the night advanced, they rolled on in unceasing thunders over the sue of Albors At sudden intervals the ain as suddenly, and restored the night to its darkness and soleuard-room of the palace, when I heard the cries of the sentinels on the watch-towers, announcing ht, and the voices of the muezzins fro on the wind ran throughcreep of death, and announced to ers of death to the helpless woman I started up,--I could not bear to hear them more,--I rushed on in desperate haste, and as I came to the appointed spot, I foundunconcerned on and about the coffin that was to carry my Zeenab to her eternal mansion The only hich I had power to say to them was, ?_Shoud?_ Is it done?? to which they answered, ?_Ne shoud_ It is not done? To which ensued an awful silence I had hoped that all was over, and that I should have been spared every other horror, excepting that of conducting the melancholy procession to the place of burial; but no, the deed was still to be done, and I could not retreat
On the confines of the aparth octagonal tower, soht, seen conspicuous from all parts of the city, at the summit of which is a chamber, in which he frequently reposes and takes the air It is surrounded by unappropriated ground, and the principal gate of the harem is close to its base On the top of all is a terrace (a spot, ah! never by otten!) and it was to this that our whole attention was now riveted I had scarcely arrived, when, looking up,three figures, two hted up by an occasional gleam of moonshi+ne, that shone in a wild and uncertaintheir victim between them with much violence, whilst she was seen in attitudes of supplication, on her knees, with her hands extended, and in all the agony of the deepest desperation When they were at the brink of the tower her shrieks were audible, but so wild, so varied by the blasts of wind that blew round the building, that they appeared tomadness
We all kept a dead and breathless silence: even my five ruffians seemed moved--I was transfixed like a lump of lifeless clay, and if I am asked what my sensations were at the time, I should be at a loss to describe the on At length, one loud, shrill, and searching scream of the bitterest as heard, which was suddenly lost in an interval of the htful silence A heavy fall, which immediately succeeded, told us that all was over I was then roused, and with my head confused, half crazed and half conscious, I immediately rushed to the spot, where led and mutilated corpse She still breathed, but the convulsions of death were upon her, and her lips h the blood was fast flowing froh she uttered sounds that seeht she said, ?My child!over her in the deepest despair, and having lost all sense of prudence and of self-preservation, I acted so s, that if the men around me had had the s could have saved me from destruction I even carried my frenzy so far as to steepto myself, ?This, at least, shall never part fro the shrill and deht, crying out--?Is she dead?? ?Aye, as a stone,? answered one of my ruffians ?Carry her away, then,? said the voice ?To hell yourself,?
in a suppressed tone, said another ruffian; upon which my men lifted the dead body into the taboot, placed it upon their shoulders, and walked off with it to the burial-ground without the city, where they found a grave ready dug to receive it I walked hts, and e had arrived at the burial-place, I sat oing on I watched the operations of the nasakchies with a sort of un stare; saw them place the dead body in the earth; then shovel the mould over it; then place two stones, one at the feet and the other at the head When they had finished, they came up to me and said ?that all was done?: to which I answered, ?Go horave, and returned to the town
The night continued dark, and distant thunders still echoed through the mountains No other sound was heard, save now and then the infant-like cries of the jackal, that now in packs, and then by two or three at the ti round the rave, the less I felt inclined to return to my home, and to my horrid eed to be so secluded froh authority in it, that the only sche a real dervish, and passing the rest of my days in penitence and privations Besides, the fear of having disclosed, both by my words and actions, how much I was involved in the fate of the deceased, ca
Day by this tier and by my desire to quit a place which had becoird, the first stage to Ispahan, and then take advantage of the first caravan that should be going to that city
?I will go and seek consolation in retirement, and in the bosom of my family,? said I to myself; ?I will see what is become of my parents--perhaps I may reach the paternal roof in tiive hi-lost son restored to hih my duties, with this h in vice, and it is time that I should make the _tobeh_, or renounce my wicked ways?
In short, this horrid event produced such an effect upon my mind, that had I continued in the sentiht well have aspired to be placed at the head of our most holy dervishes
[Illustration: Hajji takes sanctuary 22jpg]
CHAPTER XLIV
Hajji Baba ood advice, and secures hi out the handkerchief from my breast, still ith the blood of the unfortunate Zeenab, I conteuish; then spreading it beforebeen unaccustomed,--I said thened inTehran, I tore myself away, and stept valiantly onwards towards Ispahan