"When you left us," replied Azima, "I thought my happiness had fled for ever; I would have given worlds to have called you back, and to have fled with you then. I had seen your noble face, I had heard your vows of love; Alla had sent me a lover such as my warmest fancy had painted to me, while I was daily suffering torments which the fond and loving only can feel, when their affection is returned by severe and bitter insult; and I thought I had lost him, that I had only gained a few moments of bliss, which would appear like one of those dreams that had often cheated my sleeping fancy, to leave me when I awoke to the bitter realities of my sad lot--and I was inconsolable; but my kind old nurse and Nurgiz soothed me. They told me they would die for me, and assured me you would be faithful; so I gathered courage, and Kulloo proposed that we should make immediate preparations for flight. We packed up some clothes and my jewels, and all the money which had been left with us, a few hundred rupees, and before morning we lay down to take a little sleep. At daylight Kulloo told the other slaves and the two old servants that I was going to this durgah, and sent one of them for a cart; it came about sunrise, and concealing the articles we had packed up in two large bundles of carpets and sheets, which we said we should require to sit on at the durgah, we put them into the cart, got in ourselves, and the driver made the best of his way hither." She had just spoken, when Kulloo came to us. "All is prepared," said she; "I have dismissed the other cart, and your new one is now ready;--do not delay." There was no occasion for her to hurry us, we were as well inclined to set off as she was, and we rose and followed her. The cart was ready--my men with it, and Nurgiz already inside. Azima got in, and her old nurse followed. "You too?" cried I. "Yes, Meer Sahib; my home is at Beeder, whither I will accompany you; the city is no longer safe for me; my life would be forfeited were I ever to enter it again, and fall in with that prince of devils, Nusrut Ali Khan, whose house is now dishonoured, and whose beard we have spat upon." "Drive on," I exclaimed to Fazil; "go as fast as you can; we must reach Puttuncherroo before nightfall." The road from the durgah, after passing the tank upon which it was situated, led through a wild pass; piles of rocks frowned over us, and the road was at times so narrow that the cart could scarcely proceed. "A rare place for a little work," said I to Peer Khan, as we reached a low barrier-wall thrown across the road, and pierced with holes for musketry; "many a wild deed has been done here in times past, I'll warrant."