"Gag the slave!" screamed out Holkar, stamping
with fury: and a turban was instantly twisted round the poor devil's
jaws. "Ho, furoshes! carry out Loll Mahommed Khan, give him a hundred
dozen on the soles of his feet, set him upon a white donkey, and carry
him round the camp, with an inscription before him: 'This is the way
that Holkar rewards the talkative.'"
I breathed again; and ever as I heard each whack of the bamboo falling
on Loll Mahommed's feet, I felt peace returning to my mind, and thanked
my stars that I was delivered of this danger.
"Vizier," said Holkar, who enjoyed Loll's roars amazingly, "I owe you
a reparation for your nose: kiss the hand of your prince, O Saadut Alee
Beg Bimbukchee! be from this day forth Zoheir u Dowlut!"
The good old man's eyes filled with tears. "I can bear thy severity, O
Prince," said he; "I cannot bear thy love. Was it not an honor that your
Highness did me just now when you condescended to pass over the bridge
of your slave's nose?"
The phrase was by all voices pronounced to be very poetical. The Vizier
retired, crowned with his new honors, to bed. Holkar was in high good
humor.
"Bobbachy," said he, "thou, too, must pardon me. A propos, I have news
for thee. Your wife, the incomparable Puttee Rooge," (white and red
rose,) has arrived in camp.
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