Part 36 (1/2)
?Ah, my friend,? said I, ?with all my present apparent prosperity, I am more of an exile than you Events have played wickedly into ly) an avowed thief I could not do otherwise than follow arments of the chief priest, enriched me with his money, and mounted me upon the finely caparisoned steed of the executioner in chief That same destiny compels me to flydiscovered and cut into quarters, to grace the gates of the city
No, before many days are expired, I hope to have reached the Turkish frontier, and then only shall I call myself in safety?
Upon this I made him an offer of part of my acquired spoils, by which I hoped to secure his secrecy, and happy was I to find hi h for present purposes, and which he promised to repay whenever his fortunes should be reestablished But upon taking theed me to proceed with hier I ran of being seized before I could escape from the Shah?s territories, and even when I should have quitted them ?For,? said he, ?the moment the death of the mollah bashi+ is known, and as soon as the chief executioner shall have discovered the loss of his horse, he will not fail to dispatch officers throughout the country in search of you, and you are too conspicuous a character now not to be easily traced It will be e with me, ill not fail to avert any inquiries, until the event has blown over, when you will be at liberty to follow your plans in safety My father owns a village at some distance from Hamadan, where you can live unsuspected; and as for your horse and trappings, we may dispose of them in such a manner that they cannot lead to your discovery Haht, we shall reach it early to- your horse carry us both Consider that the journey is long to the Turkish frontier; and should the beast fail you, what is to hinder your being taken??
His words gave a new turn to e of reason Totally ignorant of this part of Persia, and feeling how necessary it was for h roads, but also with the unfrequented paths, I looked upon a rapid flight to the frontier as an undertaking not so easily perforined If the mollah was inclined to betray me, he would as easily do so whether I fled or whether I adopted his plan; and of the two, it appeared to me a safer line of conduct to confide in than to distrust hireed to accompany him
Refreshed both by food and rest, we departed at ress on the road to Haave us a view of the city, we made a halt, in order to decide upon our present operations Nadan pointed with his hand to a village about a parasang distant, and said, ?That is the village in which you must take up your quarters, until the story of the mollah bashi+?s extraordinary death be blown over; but you cannot present yourself in this arb, andsuspicion I propose that we exchange dresses, and that, you surrender the horse up to me By this means you will appear in the character of a dependant of e, and I shall keep up the respectability ofto the paternal roof properly equipped This arrangement will advance our mutual as well as our combined interests You will be safe from suspicion, and I shall not look the pauper that I do now The history of race will no doubt soon reach the ears of my family, and perhaps lower them in the eyes of the world; but in this country, where so much depends upon the effect of outward show, as soon as it is known that I returned to theold-pommelled saddle, and with a Cashmerian shawl round my waist, they as well as I will be restored to our proper places again After I have enjoyed the advantage of these things a few days, it will be easy to sell them under some plausible pretext, and then you shall duly receive their amount?
I was rather startled by this proposal, for certainly my companion had not inspiredhim with so much property without any other security than his word But I felt the truth of all he said It was ie for ten days or a fortnight dressed as I was, and the possessor of a fine horse, without creating suspicion I was now, ?tis true, completely in the power of the euilt, that he could never denouncehimself
?But,? said I, ?suppose a nasakchi discovers the horse, what becomes of us then? You will be seized as well as I?
?God is great,? answered the mollah; ?no one can have travelled as fast as we, and before any officer can arrive at Hamadan I shall have reached my father?s house, and produced all the sensation I require in the city
It will be easy after that to secrete both the horse and his trappings
I take all the risk uponmore after this was to be said on e of clothes He got froarirdle, and his outward cloak, reen broad cloth; and I, in return, received his old clothes, which had been torn on his person the day he had been thrust out of Tehran I gave him my black cap, round which he wound the chief priest?s head-shahich I had still preserved; and, in return, he delivered over to me his skull-cap I preserved themoney, the watch and seals; whilst I permitted hilass, and the coirdle; and when completely made up and mounted, he looked so much like the deceased chief priest himself, that I quite started at the resereat apparent affection: he promised that I should hear froave e, leaving it to enuity to ht be able He then rode away, leavingmyself alone in the world, uncertain of the future, and suspicious of my present fate
I e; but was extremely puzzled in what character to introduce myself to the inhabitants In fact, I looked like one dropped froood appearance, without a shawl to his waist, or an outer coat to his back, with a pair of slippers to his feet, and a skull-cap on his head? After much hesitation I determined to call myself a merchant, who had been robbed and plundered by the Curds, and then sha in the village until I could hear froence which ht to re-place
In this I succeeded perfectly The good people of the village, whoood luck had endoith a considerable share of dullness, believed my story, and took me in The only inconvenience I had to endure was the necessity of sing prescriptions of an old woman, the doctor of the community, as called to show her skill upon me
CHAPTER LXI
The punishment due to Hajji Baba falls upon Nadan, which makes the for and tedious days in s frolancing obliquely at hione quite so well as he had expected Little coe; and I began to despair of ever again hearing ofa peasant, who had gone to thehimself as a labourer in the fields, and who had returned disappointed, by his discourse threw soreat stir had been excited by the arrival of a nasakchi, who had seized the son of their Aga (the owner of the village), taken away his horse, and carried hi the murderer of the entle reader to judge of ence I soon became satisfied of the reason of the h I felt myself secure for the present, yet I was far froht remain so I immediately declared that I was perfectly restored to health, and taking a hasty leave of ers, made the best of my way to Hamadan, in order to ascertain the truth of the peasant?s intelligence
Nadan?s father ell known in the city, and I found no difficulty in discovering where he lived I abstained fro any direct inquiries concerning the fate of hbourhood, both because I wanted his assistance in giving a decent appearance to my head and face, and because I knew that he would be the most likely person to inform me of the real state of the case
I found him as talkative and as officious as I could wish When I had asked hinorance of the recent occurrence that had filled everybody with astonishment, he stepped back two paces, and exclai the mollah Nadan are unknown to you? He was not satisfied with killing the chief priest, but he must needs dress himself in his very clothes; and, not content with that, he also has stolen one of the chief executioner?s best horses and furniture Wondrous dirt has he been eating!?
I entreated my informant to relate all the particulars of a story of which I pretended to be totally ignorant; and without waiting for a second request, he spoke as follows:--
?About ten days ago this Nadan arrived at the gate of his father?s house,a khan and a man of the sword than a poor servant of God He was dressed in shawls of the finest quality, and looked indeed like the high priest hie created an extraordinary sensation; because a very short time before it was reported that he had incurred the Shah?s displeasure, and had been turned out of Tehran in the ave hi; and when questioned concerning his expulsion froht of it, and said that he had been race was only te it, he had been presented with the horse which he then rode
?This tale was believed by every one, and he was received at his father?s house with great honours; buthis horse to show hiate of the house, having just arrived from Tehran He stopped, and looked at the aniold-pommelled saddle, and then cried out, _La Allah il Allah!_ there is but one God! He inquired of the bystanders to whoed, and was informed that it was the property of the reat rage: ?whose dog is he?
That horse is the property of my master, the chief executioner; and whoever says it is not is a liar, whoever he may be, mollah or no mollah!?