THE PRINCE OF INDIA (Historical Novel). Lew Wallace
residence. Great was his astonishment at finding a pyramid of coals glowing in the silver brazier, and the chill already driven from the sitting-room. Here—there—upstairs, downstairs—the signs were of present occupancy. For a moment he thought the master had slipped by him or landed at some other port of the city.
“Is he here? Has he come?” he asked, excitedly, and Syama answered with a shake of the head.
“Then why the fire?”
Syama, briefly waving his hand as if following the great Marmorean lake, turned the finger ends into the other palm, saying plainly and emphatically:
“He is coming—he will be here directly.”
Uel smiled—faith could not be better illustrated—and it was so in contrast with his own incredulity!
He lingered awhile. Restlessness getting the mastery, he returned home, reflecting on the folly of counting so implicitly upon the conclusion to a day of a tour so vast. More likely, he thought, the traveller’s bones were somewhere whitening the desert, or the savages of Kash-Cush had eaten him. He had heard of their cannibalism.
Want of faith, however, did not prevent the shopkeeper from going to his friend’s house after supper. It was night, and dark, and the chilling moisture of a winter wind blowing steadily from the Black Sea charged the world outside with discomfort. The brazier with its heap of living coals had astonished him before; now the house was all alight! He hastened upstairs. In the sitting-room the lamps were burning, and the illumination was brilliant. Syama was there, calm and smiling as usual.
“What—he is here?” Uel said, looking from door to door.
The servant shook his head, and waved his hand negatively, as to say:
“Not yet—be patient—observe me.”
To indulge his wonder, Uel took seat. Later on he tried to get from Syama an explanation of his amazing confidence, hut the latter’s substitute for speech was too limited and uncertain to be satisfactory.
About ten o’clock Syama went below, and presently returned with food and drink on a large waiter.
“Ah, good Lord!” Uel thought. “He is making a meal ready. What a man! What a master!”
Then he gave attention to the fare, which was of wheaten wafers, cold fowl, preserved fruits, and wine in a stoneware bottle. These Syama set on a circular table not higher than the divan in front of which it was drawn. A white napkin and a bowl for laving the fingers completed the preparation, as Uel supposed. But no. Syama went below again, and reappeared with a metal pot and a small wooden box. The pot he placed on the coals in the brazier, and soon a delicate volume of steam was pouring from the spout; after handling the box daintily as if the contents were vastly precious, he deposited it unopened by the napkin and bowl. Then, with an expression of content upon his face, he too took seat, and surrendered himself to expectancy. The lisping of the steam escaping from the pot on the fire was the only sound in the room.
The assurance of the servant was contagious. Uel began to believe the master would come. He was congratulating himself upon the precaution he had taken in leaving a man at the port to conduct him rightly when he heard a shuffling of feet below stairs. He listened startled. There were several men in the company. Steps shook the floor. Uel and Syama arose. The latter’s countenance flushed with pleasure; giving one triumphal glance at his friend, much as to say, There—did I not tell you so? he walked forward quickly, and reached the head of the steps just as a stranger finished their ascent. In a moment Syama was on his knees, kissing the hand held out to him. Uel needed no prompter—it was the master!
If only on account of the mutuality of affection shown between the two, the meeting was a pleasant sight. That feature, however, was lost to the shopkeeper, who had no thought except of the master’s appearance. He had imagined him modelled after the popular conceptions of kings and warriors—tall, majestic, awe-inspiring. He saw instead a figure rather undersized, slightly stoop-shouldered, thin; at least it seemed so then, hid as it was under a dark brown burnouse of the amplitude affected by Arab sheiks. The head was covered by a woollen handkerchief of reddish tint, held by a scarlet cord. The edge of the handkerchief projected over the forehead enough to cast the entire face in shade, leaving to view only a mass of white beard overflowing the breast.
The master ended the reception at the head of the stairs by gently raising Syama to his feet. Then he subjected the room to a swift inspection, and, in proof of satisfaction, he patted the happy retainer on the shoulder. Invited by the fire, and the assurance of comfort in its glow, he advanced to the brazier, and while extending his hands over it, observed Uel. Without surprise or hesitation he walked to him.
“Son of Jahdai!” he said, offering his hand.
The voice was of exceeding kindness. As an overture to peace and goodwill, it was reënforced by very large eyes, the intense blackness of which, was softened by a perceptible glow of pleasure. Uel was won on the instant. A recollection of the one supreme singularity of the new acquaintance—his immunity from death—recurred to him, and he could not have escaped its effect had he wished. He was conscious also that the eyes were impressing him. Without distinct thought, certainly without the slightest courtierly design, he obeyed the impulse of the moment, and stooped and touched the extended hand with his lips. And before rising he heard the beginning of further speech:
“I see the truth of my judgment. The family of my ancient friends has trodden the ways of righteousness under the commandments of the Lord until it has become a kind unto itself. I see too my trust has been verified. O Son of Jahdai, you did assist my servant, as I requested, and to your kindness, doubtless, I am indebted for this home full of comforts after a long absence among strangers. I hold you my creditor.”
The tendency of the speech was to relieve Uel of embarrassment.
“Do not thank me,” he answered. “The business was ordinary, and strictly within Syama’s capacity. Indeed, the good man could have finished it without my help.”
The master, rich in experience, noticed the deferential manner of the reply, and was agreeably assured on his side.
“Very well. There will be no harm in reserving an opinion,” he said. “The good man, as you call him, is making ready a drink with which he has preceded me from his country, and which you must stay and share, as it is something unknown in the West.”
“Let me first welcome you here,” Uel returned.
“Oh, I saw the welcome in your face. But let us get nearer the fire. The night is chilling. If I were owner of a garden under whatever hill along the Bosphorus, verily I should tremble for my roses.”
Thus briefly, and in such simple manner, the wise Mystic put the shopkeeper perfectly at ease.
At the brazier they watched Syama in the operation since become of universal knowledge under title of “drawing tea.” The fragrance of the decoction presently filled the room to the suppression of the incense, and they drank, ate, and were sociable. The host outlined his travels. Uel, in return, gave him information of the city. When the latter departed, it was with a light heart, and an elastic step; the white beard and patriarchal manner of the man had laid his fears, and the future was to him like a cloudless sky.
Afterwhile the master signified a wish to retire; whereupon his household came, as was their wont, to bid him good-night. Of these there were two white men. At sight of Syama, they rushed to embrace him as became brethren of old acquaintance long in the same service. A third one remained at the door. Syama looked at him, and then at the master; for the man was a stranger. Then the Jew, with quick intuition of the requirement of the time, went, and took him by the hand, and led him to the others. Addressing Syama, he said gravely:
“This is Nilo, grandson of the Nilo whom you knew. As you held the grandfather in love, so you shall hold the grandson.”
The man was young, very black, and gigantic in stature. Syama embraced him as he had the others.
In the great city there was not a more united household under roof than that of the shopkeeper’s friend.