Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/303

"There have I journeyed—too but I
"Saw naught, said naught, and—did not die!
"He hearked to rumour, and snatched at a breath
"Of 'this one knoweth' and 'that one saith,'—
"Legends that ran from mouth to mouth
"Of a grey-coat coming, and sack of the South.
"These have I also heard they pass
"With each new spring and the winter grass.

"Hot-foot southward, forgotten of God,
"Back to the city ran Wali Dad,
"Even to Kabul—in full durbar
"The King held talk with his Chief in War.
"Into the press of the crowd he broke,
"And what he had heard of the coming spoke.
"Then Gholam Hyder, the Red Chief, smiled,
"As a mother might on a babbling child;
"But those who would laugh restrained their breath,
"When the face of the King showed dark as death.
"Evil it is in full durbar
"To cry to a ruler of gathering war!
"Slowly he led to a peach-tree small,
"That grew by a cleft of the city wall.
"And he said to the boy: 'They shall praise thy zeal
"'So long as the red spurt follows the steel.
"'And the Russ is upon us even now?
"'Great is thy prudence—wait them, thou.
"'Watch from the tree. Thou art young and strong.
"'Surely the vigil is not for long.
"'The Russ is upon us, thy clamour ran?
"'Surely an hour shall bring their van.
"'Wait and watch. When the host is near,
"'Shout aloud that my men may hear.'

"Friend of my heart, is it meet or wise
"To warn a King of his enemies?