Page:Babar.djvu/87

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84
THE EMPEROR BÁBAR

'As I spoke, the tramp of a number of horses was heard outside the garden wall. Yúsuf the constable exclaimed, "If we had taken you and brought you to Tambal, our affairs would have prospered much thereby. As it is, he has sent a large troop to seize you; and the noise you hear is the tramp of horses on your track." At this assertion my face fell, and I knew not what to devise.

'At that very moment the horsemen, who had not at first found the gate of the garden, made a breach in its crumbling wall, through which they entered. I saw they were Kutluk Muhammad Barlás and Bábái Pargári, two of my most devoted followers, with ten to fifteen or twenty other persons. When they had come near to my person, they threw themselves off their horses, and bending the knee at a respectful distance, fell at my feet and overwhelmed me with marks of their affection.

'Amazed at this apparition, I felt that God had just restored me to life. I called to them at once, "Seize Yúsuf the constable and the wretched traitors who are with him, and bring them to me bound hand and foot." Then turning to my rescuers I said, "Whence come you? Who told you what was happening?" Kutluk Muhammad Barlás answered, "After I found myself separated from you in the sudden flight from Akhsi, I reached Andiján at the very moment when the Kháns themselves were making their entry. There I saw in a dream Khwája 'Obaid-Allah, who said, 'Pádisháh Bábar is at this instant in a village called Karmán; fly thither and bring him back with you, for the throne is his of right.' Rejoicing at this dream, I related it to the big Khán and the little Khán. . . . Three days have we been marching, and thanks be to God for bringing about this meeting . . ."

'We mounted without losing an instant, and made for Andiján. I had eaten nothing for two days. Towards