Fairer than Afghans usually are, he was a man of distinguished hearing, with a magnificent black beard: but, for the purpose of disguise, was clad as yet in the humble attire of a shepherd; thus it contrasted strongly with the brilliant colours worn by Shireen Khan of the Kussilbashes, Ameen Oollah Khan, the Ghazee chiefs, and others, to whom he was now speaking with animation, ever and anon, while he did so, grinding those teeth of which Rose Trecarrel had spoken so disparagingly. This Ackbar Khan was simply a monster in cruelty; he had been known to have a man flayed alive in his presence, "commencing at the feet and continuing upwards, till the sufferer was relieved by death." A favourite and brave follower of his own, named Pesh Khedmut--one who had been with him in all his defeats, flights, and varieties of fortune, was once assisting him to mount his horse, when some portion of his loose flowing dress caught the lock of a pistol. It exploded, and the terrible Ackbar was slightly wounded. In vain did the luckless Khedmut swear upon the Koran that it was the result of an accident over which he had no control; in vain, we say; for the pitiless Sirdir had him burned alive; and he is alleged to have tortured to death more than one British officer, whom the fortune of war had left in his hands. Ackbar, however, excelled in all the higher branches of Afghan education; thus he rode well, shot with precision, and handled his sabre with an expertness few could equal. "Some conspiracy is afoot," thought Denzil; "and there is Shireen Khan, the old Kussilbash brute whom I saw airing himself on a camel at the band-stand; and now, here comes my friend, the Arab Hadji, who loves his Prophet so much, but loathes soap and water more," he added, mentally, as his late tormentor now stole in, and creeping, almost crawling, on his hands and knees, up to Ackbar, delivered a letter, which he drew from his tattered cummerbund, the cloth which girt his loins. Ackbar read it, and his eyes flashed fire as he turned to grim old Shireen Khan, and said,-- "Sale, the Kaffir Sirdir (_i.e._ infidel general) has actually cut his way through the Ghilzie tribes, and is now safe in Jellalabad! Well; the unbelievers who remain in Cabul shall be destroyed, root and branch, ere he can return to succour them; that I have sworn on the Kulma, unless the Envoy of their Queen ransoms their accursed heads to-morrow." "And their women shall be our slaves," said one. "Or exchanged for horses with the chiefs of Toorkistan," added another. Then, said Shireen Khan, his eyes, too, blazing like carbuncles, as the hatred of race and religion boiled up within him, "The Feringhees, those dogs of covetousness, are among us, and for what? What seek they here? To put over us a king whom we loathe--a king who will be subservient to the Lord Bahadur at Calcutta; dethroning Dost Mohammed!"