A Prince of Dreamers

f a deed will

e world and can

bly done--the

will bear the

ali

he unfailing topic of the King's innovations. Such purposeless innovations too! Leading to nothing, to absolute nescience; for what else

onqueror, fiercely fanatical in faith, felt resentfully that in religion,

usbandmen toiling in the ample fields which, seen through the great Arch of Victory receded into a dim blue distance that lost i

s Majesty hath collected everything in all religions that is worth remembering, with a talent

himself the Head of the Church. A direful offence to the orthodox who refused assent to Akbar's reasoning that since there was but one law, the law of God

rriedly to the telling of his beads; but Ghiass Beg, the Lord High Treasurer--a stout, good-humoured

King neither by day nor by night, Akbar would give up food and sleep altogether. So far hath he wandered from the Sure Pivot of Life that the very question of din

a sour-visaged elder, "I quarrel not with his starvations. Belike they may bring

s murmured once more under his breath: "Yet is he King in

Sal?m will be in the idolaters' toils ere then. With a Ra

fe--of the Heir-Apparent should be a Hindu was simply an outrage. It was bad enough that the King himself should have taken the Rajp?t daughters and sisters of his conquered foes into his harem, i

her fat sigh and his f

'tis not that as fair a br

Mirza Ibrah?m, who, at that moment, followed at a little distance by a posse of courti

hinking--and not for the first time--of his little daughter Mihrun-nissa, as a future Empress

ently. Whereupon the Makhd?m interfered with pompous frowns and crave

ious deliberations of the wise are ended the ignorant have a point of la

ad, reminding one irresistibly of a bird of prey. In truth the Syeds of Barha were wild hawks indeed; and to-day, still travel-stained with their quick march from their eyrie of a fortress far in the distant plains, they were ready to swoop fiercely on any cause of offence. For they were red-ho

r name when he wrote to Sinde) smiled urbanely. He was evidently prepared

ch can only be settled by God's most chosen Judge, before whom e

s intent, purposely provocative

Ibrah?m cut him short, concealing a yawn as he sought a comfortable pl

It is only time-servers and idolaters who yield su

wn part in discontent, but being, by virtue of his voice, precentor in the Court Mosque, he did not choose to encourage Ibr

ine Faith! Hast heard, Most Holy, what the idolatrous pig Birbal jested last Friday when the King, for a marvel, put in an appearanc

et loose a thundering "God roast him," which

eer, "when his Majesty reads prayers

from nervousness or emotion history sayeth not--broken down in repeating the kutba com

stuttered indeed--mayhap because the words were by Faiz,

the white beard l

he asked; so stretched out his lean old hand, and h

ghty God I ta

ne I bow and ta

Strength and Wisd

ight, and Justic

ing I praise G

s Power, Al

of contempt for the digression his words had caused, said patronisingly, "The

opounded not a few such problems to this poor court already,"

er's political marriages with Rajp?t princesses, would have met with equal favour, but for Ibrah?m's quick fr

know the very name woman is at a discount at court! Mayhap the translation

ligious books from the Sanskrit into Persian for the

rlds! Such injunctions! Such prohibitions! A whole page against the eating of turnips! Ma

ng his sword as it lay on his knee, "we come not hither to discuss literature, but

Makhd?m portentously. "On that hangs

o forty," interrupted t

is head. "Cloud not perspicacity with allusions. And

sort of chuckle fr

at last, "'tis Siyah Yamin whom all know; but she

gal ma

descended of the true Prophet--may His name be exal

none can dissolve the tie sav

o know by what right the King forbids this virtuous young man to bring his screened and lawful woman into t

sate up literally, metaphorically, keen for groun

he hath no right. By all the laws of Islam a scre

against the New rose hot as the sunshine

Mirza Ibrah?m summed up th

to-day, and demand revision of the sentence as being

bal! God and His Prophet! how I loathe the dog!" He paused, seeing the unwisdom of h

ocks to whom the smell of death brings but gluttony. No! if the King rescind not his order we fling our allegiance at his feet, we and our goodly following; so, esc

l at his indiscretion from M

t the Hindu pig who, see you, comes yonder defiling the sanctuary and hatching new p

yeds of Barha were large landowners, and they knew on which side their bread was buttered. So they salaamed respectfully to the two statesmen as they passed at a distance arm in arm, and the oldest of the litt

hite-haired old man who had been telling his beads, and who now stood, his thin bent fi

or--'a tranquil mind, an open brow, a just intent, a right principle, a wide capacity, a firm foot, a high

dia widespread, remote, indefinite. But Budaoni murmured under his breath, "Lo! the glamour of the King is upon him. God knows one can scarce live in sight of him and not feel the very sou

a quick glance in return for the salutat

ho had shrugged his shoulders and given a sti

is there in the court with this accursed peace of Akbar's giving time for the cooking of cabals? Would to God----" He broke off, his mind besieged in a rush with the fierce regret which had been his ever since, but a few hours before he had heard the words of self-renunciation fall unconsciously from his m

oughened into swift decision. "Aye!" he returned, "they grow more content, poor souls, but, 'tis the King who starts

King's work to the Englishmen, while the Portuguese priests scowl at the intrusion of new claim

money showing in the eyes which were keen even for frac

y aught save gold or the lack of it, in them which compels approval. For see you, in the end gold is the essence of a

is eye: "'Twould not"--he bowed courteously--"be so bulky a divinity as T?dar Mu

gons-full of household gods about with him when on tour brought a

ot at the All-Embracing One, for sure

elief, and the Almighty's curse lodge on the hindmost, so it be not me! Now go I

l looked after the retreating

ways did, to the present; to the one portion of time which even Fate could not filch from a living man. The advent of the Syedan of Barha m

ut the system on which they were worked to the three Englishmen who stood, centring, with the

anufacture, is thus able to distinguish between good and bad work. So, the intrinsic value of each article being sett

of experts settling true values, at the artificers waiting patiently for th

s?" he asked sharply. "Wh

." His voice took on sternness as he added, "They have, indeed, no choice; since all articles

d thank heaven we be not thus tied by the apron strings! Though, by our Lady, this King Echebar has a trick o' keepi

," he said, "before God I would rather

lining the walls of the vast armoury into which they entered. It was full to the brim with every conceivable instrument of war, many of them strange to Western eyes. But Abulfazl gave no time for inspection. With the brie

l, cut the hot air keenly, and Akbar, who had been kneeling for better aim, stood up rubbing his shoulder. H

the still smoking barrel of the newly tried gun with a doubtful air. "Nay! 'tis not the grooving. That idea holds good

e others who, left behind by his imaginings, stood patient, half-comprehending--"if this moving wheel duly loaded, could fit the one barrel what need for more? The twin cannon fired by one match which we made la

curves, and so the worst may do as well, nay better than the best. 'Tw

his rounds after his wont, alone and in darkness, he had seen upon the ramparts of the

or the past horrors of that sun-bright dawn. The awful onslaught of saffron-robed heroes, doomed to desperate death, which he had seen against the

sand years before him another great King of India had remembered--nothing but his regret. At the moment he, also, could have inscribed an edict for all time setting forth his sorr

," he said, "that Akbar holds the be

at Ralph Fitch, wh

e will give the me

paused a moment beside Abu

ks are in. Has

ing sees them at audienc

Most-Excellent thinks of himself as Head of the Church and Defender of the Faith, he is too excellent for this world. B

ied the Diwan softly, and in his voice there

ed the King who dreamt such strange new dreams