Page:Alien Souls by Achmed Abdullah (1922).djvu/21

So the old woman came to my door, giving word to me of what had occurred. I hurried to the Street of the Mutton Butchers, where the English hakim lived, and together we went to the house of Bibi Halima.

He examined her, dressed her wound, and said:

"A child will be born, but the mother will assuredly die."

The old woman broke into a storm of tears, but Bibi Halima silenced her with a gesture.

"It is as God wills," she said, and the doctor marveled at her vitality. "Let but the child be born first, and let that child be a man-child. The rest matters not. And you"—she turned to me—"and you, my friend, go to the hills and fetch me my lord."

I bowed assent, and went to the door.

"Wait!" Her voice was firm despite her loss of blood. "If on the way you should meet Ebrahim Asif, you must not kill him. Let him be safe against my husband's claiming."

"I shall not touch him," I promised, though the sword at my side was whinnying in its scabbard like a Balkh stallion in the riot of young spring.

All that day and the following night, making no halt, I traveled, crossing the Nadakshi Pass at the lifting of dawn, and smelling the clean snow of the higher range the following noon. Here and there, from mountaineers and the Afghan ameer's rowdy soldiers, I asked if aught had been seen of the two men, both being well known in the land.

Yes, I asked for both men: for while I was hurrying to my friend with the message which was about my heart like a heel-rope of grief, it was also in my soul to keep track of Ebrahim Asif. Kill him I could