Chapter XXII: Where the Pillar Rested

The fort, as has been mentioned, was by no means the dwelling-place of all the members of Ali Khan's tribe; though, their numbers being small, in times of danger all would seek refuge within its walls. There were rude hamlets scattered here and there in the mountains, as well as some huts clustered in a little valley below. From every tenement ere sunrise on the following day come the Pathans in answer to Walter's summons. At dawn the court-yard, with its recesses, was crowded; the mountaineers' manly forms, picturesque attire, and the various emotions expressed on their swarthy countenances, giving great interest and animation to the scene.

Ali Khan, with Walter on his right hand, stood on the narrow landing-place at the top of the ladder-staircase; this served as an elevated platform from which to address the people. Sultána, in the room behind, was an eager listener to all that passed.

"Ali Khan, brave chief, it is for you to speak to your tribe," said Walter.

"I never could speak in my life," said the Afghan bluntly. "You know my heart--you will be as my tongue."

"Nay, a few words from yourself will be needful."

Ali Khan was not the first gallant warrior who has shrunk from the effort of making a speech; however, after the pause of a few seconds, with manly frankness thus he spake:--

"Afghan brothers! we have been born amongst you, lived amongst you, and I had thought to stay amongst you to the end; but if you do not wish me for your chief, I tell you that I will only rule over free men, not over unwilling slaves. The world is wide--so is God's grace. We can seek for graves elsewhere. We will go, carrying with us our Christian faith, and leaving behind--our forgiveness."

Short was the speech; but it had its effect on the throng, who had listened with profound attention. Sultána felt proud of her husband's eloquence, and looked fondly into the face of her boy, discovering in his baby features a likeness to his brave father.

"Now it is your turn," said Ali Khan to Walter Gurney, who thus addressed the listening crowd:--

"Afghans--friends (may I not call you so, for albeit of another race I am willing to cast in my lot with you all)--you are assembled on an important occasion, to decide upon who is to be the chief who shall henceforth be at the head of your tribe. For more than two years you have been under the rule of Ali Khan; you know him well, he has been amongst you from childhood. Is there any man here who has sustained wrong at the hands of the chief; is there one who has been oppressed, or robbed, or tortured? If there be one who has just cause to complain of the Christian Ali Khan, let that man now lift up his hand."

There was no movement in answer to the appeal.

"It then follows," continued Walter, after a pause, "that you own that Christianity makes a man neither tyrannical nor unjust; it does not make him unfaithful to his engagements, nor neglectful of the cries of the poor. Brothers! ye have listened to the words of your chief, and what I say now I say as his spokesman. It is the desire of Ali Khan that I set two alternatives before you. If you, as Moslems, find that you cannot endure the leadership of a Christian, Ali Khan will make no struggle, shed no blood to maintain his right; he and his family will quit a land which rejects so brave and true a son. I have enough influence to procure honourable employment in India for my brother and friend." (Here a dissentient murmur was heard from the crowd below, but no distinctly audible words.) "If, on the other hand, you wish to keep amongst you as leader the best and bravest man of your tribe, who asks but that toleration for his religion which he accords to that of others, Ali Khan is willing to forgive the past, to forget that his Pathans ever wavered in their loyalty to their chief. My own connection with the English will enable us to open up commerce, to procure for you advantages not possessed by tribes more remote from the frontier. The two countries, as you know, are now at peace; the scimitar of war is sheathed, the Afghan trader is welcomed if he descend into the plain." (There was again a murmur, but not this time of dissatisfaction.) "If I remain here, I tell you frankly, it will be as a missionary, a spiritual guide; but Christianity, unlike Islam, makes no converts by the sword. No man's freedom of conscience shall be violated; ye shall listen to my teaching or turn away as ye will. I come to you, O Afghans! as one who, having found a treasure, seeks to share it with others; as one who, having slaked his thirst at a fountain, would call his thirsty, weary brethren to come and drink also. And now, Afghans, I put to you the question, on your answer to which will depend whether we remain amongst you, or quit these Afghanistan mountains--perhaps for ever. Are ye willing to retain and to obey Ali Khan as your chief?"

Out flashed many a bright scimitar, weapons were waved on high; if there were any dissentient voices they were drowned in the almost universal shout of "Long live Ali Khan! Prosperity to our brave chief! We will stand by him to the death!"

While Ali Khan responded to the tumultuous acclamations of his followers, Walter turned and entered the room in which he had left Sultána.

"Oh, God-sent friend!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands, "you will remain with us--teach us--guide us--show us the way to heaven!"

"If the Lord will," replied Walter Gurney, "I am ready to live and to die in the Eagle's Nest."

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The world would deem the resolution that of a mad enthusiast, carried away by the excitement of the moment. What! should one before whom was opening a brilliant career, with wealth, fame, friendship, love to beckon him on, give up all for what that world would deem a mere philanthropical dream! Could the brilliant genius find no better employment for his talents than teaching ignorant savages, who might at the last reward his labours by taking his life? Were all the comforts, the luxuries of refined civilisation, to be exchanged for exile amongst the mountains, with hardships to be endured, and perhaps a martyr's obscure grave to be filled at the end! "Strange folly!" the world would exclaim, "to give up all that man holds precious, with nothing to weigh in the balance against it!"

_Nothing_! Oh, how different the calculations of angels! In the balances of heaven what would the crown of a Cæsar weigh against one immortal soul? Did not the Son of God think it worth while to leave heaven itself to win it? Let me quote the words of the missionary Duff--more powerful than any that I can pen: "This great and mighty Being did for our sakes consent to veil His glory and appear upon earth as a Man of Sorrows, whose visage was so marred,--more than any man's,--and His form more than the sons of men. Oh! is not this love, self-sacrificing love, condescension without a parallel and without a name! God manifest in the flesh! God manifest for the redemption of a rebel race! Oh! is not this the wonder of the world; is not this the astonishment of a universe!" Referring to the angels, the missionary continues: "Tell me, oh, tell me, if in their cloudless vision it would seem aught so marvellous, so passing strange, did they behold the greatest and mightiest of a guilty race, redeemed themselves at so vast a price, ... issue forth in the footsteps of the Divine Redeemer into the waste and howling wilderness of sin, to seek and to save them that are lost!"

One more word to the reader ere we part. It may be not to you, O my brother or sister, that the call is given to leave your country to carry the message of salvation to the heathen; for you the pillar of cloud and fire may rest over some Elam; God may bid you watch over an aged parent, make a home happy, bring up children for Him. Your work may be in Scotch or English parish; perhaps in the crowded city, perhaps in the peaceful village. But is your eye fixed on that pillar, the emblem of the will of your Heavenly King? Is the calm peaceful resolution of your heart, "_Wherever_ Thou wilt, _however_ Thou wilt, O my adorable Lord! but guide me, and I will follow!" Then blessed is your path, whether in wilderness or green pastures, whether through roaring billows or beside the still waters! Dispensing blessings to the poor around, teaching the ignorant, comforting the afflicted, fighting against the power of Satan both within and without, you may be as truly serving the Lord, as truly pressing forward to the prize, as if planting the banner of the Cross on the height of some

EAGLE'S NEST.

FINIS