The Morning Following My Arrival, I Was Startled By The Apparition At
My Bedside Of A Swarthy, Wild-Looking Afghan Sowar - A Messenger
From The Wazir, To Say That His Highness The Khan Wished To Make My
Acquaintance, And Would Receive Me, If Convenient, At Three O'clock
That Afternoon.
It had not been my intention to solicit an interview,
for, from all accounts, the Khan is anything but friendly towards
Europeans, Englishmen in particular.
To refuse, however, was out of
the question. The morning was therefore devoted to cleaning up, and
getting out a decent suit of wearing-apparel; while my Beila escort,
who evidently had uncomfortable forebodings as to the appearance
of the Beila uniform in the streets of Kelat, polished up arms and
accoutrements till they shone like silver, and paid, I noticed,
particular attention to the loading of their rifles and revolvers.
About midday the Wazir made his appearance to conduct me to the
palace. He was a fat, paunchy old man, with beady black eyes and a
shy, shifty expression, very unlike my cheery little friend at Beila.
After the usual preliminary questions as to who I was, my age,
business, etc., he anxiously inquired after the health of Mr.
Gladstone, and somewhat astonished me by asking whether I was a
Liberal or Conservative. "You have some Beila men with you, I see,"
said the Khan's adviser, who spoke English perfectly. "Don't let
his Highness see them." I could not, after such a speech, allow my
faithful escort to enter the city without warning. But it had little
effect. "Let the dogs do what they like," was the reply. "We shall not
let the sahib go alone."
Tea and cigarettes discussed, a start was made for the palace. The
Wazir, on a wiry, good looking bay horse, and attended by half a dozen
mounted Afghans, led the way, and I followed on a pony borrowed of
the telegraph clerk. My costume was, if not becoming, at any rate
original: high boots, flannel trousers, and shirt, an evening
dress-coat, and astrakhan cap. Gerome's wardrobe being even less
presentable, I deemed it prudent to leave him behind. The Beila men
brought up the rear of the procession some distance from the Afghans,
who, to my anxiety, never ceased scoffing and jeering at them the
whole way. Every moment I expected to hear the crack of a pistol-shot,
followed by a general _melee_. Arrived at the Mastung Gate, we
dismounted, and, leaving our horses in charge of the guard, slowly
proceeded up the steep narrow streets to the citadel.
The entrance to Kelat is not imposing. There had been a good deal
of rain, and the streets of the lower part of the town were perfect
quagmires of mud nearly knee-deep. It was more like crawling into
a dark passage than entering a city. Many of the thoroughfares are
entirely covered over with wooden beams plastered with mud, which
entirely exclude light, and give them more the appearance of
subterranean passages than streets.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 103 of 117
Words from 52772 to 53278
of 60127
