As he gets nothing from the travellers
whom it is his office to conduct, he never scruples to shorten
his own journey and prolong theirs by taking them to the
nearest village, without reference to the most direct line of
route, and sometimes deserts them entirely. If the regular
Dowrah is sick or absent, no wealth can procure a substitute.
on the other hand, conscious of the lighted
match and loaded gun behind him, hollowed from
time to time to show that he was on his duty, and
to accelerate the march of the travellers. His cries
were answered by an occasional ejaculation of Ulla
from the black soldiers, who closed the rear, and
who were meditating on former adventures, the
plundering of a _Kaffila_, (party of travelling merchants,)
or some such exploit, or perhaps reflecting
that a tiger, in the neighbouring jungle, might be
watching patiently for the last of the party, in order
to spring upon him, according to his usual practice.
The sun, which appeared almost as suddenly as
it had left them, served to light the travellers in
the remainder of the ascent, and called forth
from the Mahomedans belonging to the party the
morning prayer of Alla Akber, which resounded in
long notes among the rocks and ravines, and they
continued with better advantage their forced march
until the pass opened upon a boundless extent of
jungle, with a single high mud fort rising through
the midst of it.
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