"What can be done?" inquired the deputy-inspector on the evening of the seventh day. "No person can do more than has already been done."
"True," replied the king; "but take you the army also, and order them as you will."
So on the seventh night soldiers as well as the police were posted at near distances from one another all over the city, and ordered to watch as for their own lives. The deputy-inspector also walked about the whole night supervising matters. In the midst of his peregrinations he saw a figure moving stealthily along in a garden by the riverside. "A thief, a thief!" he shouted, and rushed up to it.
"Nay, nay," was the reply; "I am a poor gardener's wife, and have come hither to draw water."
"Strange time to fetch water,", said the deputy-inspector. "Why did you not get it before?"
"I was too busy," was the reply.
Then said the deputy-inspector, "Have you seen or heard anything of the thief?"
"Yes, yes; but I was afraid to give any alarm, lest the man should strike me. He has just been along here and taken a lot of my hák.[1] If you can wait a little you may catch him, as he is most likely to come by here again. He came from that quarter, and he has gone over there."
"Good news, good news, good news!" said the deputy-inspector; "but how can I catch him? There is not a bush here to hide one; and seeing me, he will run off."
"Put on my old pheran,[2] and pretend you are drawing
- ↑ Vegetables.
- ↑ Pheran (Pers. Píráhan) is the chief garment worn by the Kashmírí, male or female, Pandit or Musalmán. Its shape is not unlike a stout nightgown, but with sleeves very often half a yard wide and two or three yards long. The women's sleeves are generally larger than the men's. These pherans are made in all colours and in all kinds of cloth. Kashmírís have a story that the Emperor Akbar, enraged at the brave and prolonged resistance offered by them to his general, Qásim Khán, endeavoured to unman and degrade the people of this country. And so he ordered them, on pain of death, to wear pherans, which have effeminated them, and hindered them in battle and in all manly exercises. Before Akbar's time they all wore coats, vests, and trousers, like we do. Bates' Gazetteer, I believe, has a short article on the subject. Cf. also Vigne's Travels in Kashmír, vol. ii. p. 142.
