The snow passed rapidly away; the weather became pleasant and warm, and though Denzil saw nothing of the Khan, from his window he could see the ladies of his household in the garden below, where as usual with the upper class of Afghans, they spent much of their time in chatting among the bowers, talking scandal and listening to the songs of an occasional wandering musician, who played the _saringa_, or native guitar. It was once, while sitting listlessly looking into this garden, that Denzil had his hopes of succour from the Shah, crushed for ever. No ladies appeared that day, but he perceived Shireen Khan, to whom another Kuzzilbash was speaking, gesticulating violently, and as they drew nearer his window, which was on the third, or upper story of the zuna-khaneb, he could overhear their conversation. The stranger, Zohrab Zubberdust, now a Hazirbash, in the Body Guard of Ackbar Khan, was a handsome but fierce looking young man, with a high aquiline nose, heavy black moustache, and a face of almost European fairness. He had a tall plume in his scarlet cap, which was braided with gold; but, as the hilt of his sword, and the right sleeve of his yellow camise of quilted silk, were thickly spotted with blood, it was evident that he had been concerned in some recent outrage. There was sternness on his brow, a sneering expression on his lips, and a wild glitter in his eyes, as he said in a mocking tone, "Khan, what mean you by this indignation? Solomon had seven hundred wives, and old Shah Sujah, whom the queen of Feringhistan sought to befriend, had one hundred more, because he deemed himself wiser than Solomon; but with all his wisdom, where is he now?" "In Cabul." "No--on the road near Shah Shakeed--dead." "Dead, say you?" "Yes; dead as that Solomon of whom I spoke--dead as a dog!" he added savagely. "What new horror is this?" asked Shireen, starting back. "Bah," replied the other, adding in the true style of Afghan cant, "there has been nothing new since God put the sun in the firmament, and touched the stars with his fingers to send them through the sky. Everything that is now, has been before, and shall be again." "Did not the Shah, according to agreement, leave the Bala Hissar to go to Jellalabad?" "This morning he did so; but it chanced that last night, the son of Zamon Khan placed in ambush fifty of his juzailchees secretly among some wild tamarind trees, and when about the hour of morning prayer, the king's retinue reached the spot, a cry like that of a jackal was heard. It might have been a signal. I do not say it _was_; but oddly enough, the juzailchees rose as one man, and fired a volley. One ball, pierced the Shah's brain, and three his breast, while seven of his soldiers fell dead. Then we rushed on him, and took from his litter the crown, the royal girdle, his sword and dagger, his jewelled robe, and as they could be of no use to him now, we rode off, and laid them at the feet of Ackbar Khan."