"Such proposals," said Sir William, endeavouring to preserve his temper, "are too dishonourable for British troops to entertain. You know not, Sirdir, the men you speak to, and if you persist----" "Ah, if we persist, what then?" "We shall simply appeal to arms." "You Feringhees are proud," said Ackbar, scoffingly; "but Allah punishes the proud and humbles them." He breathed hard as he spoke, and the splendid jewels on his breast heaved with each excited respiration as he strove to restrain his fiery temper; but his dark eyes sparkled, and his teeth glistened like those of a wild animal. "I have to lament, Khan," resumed Sir William, "that relations of friendship which have hitherto existed between your people and us have been clouded; and I am ignorant wherefore it should be so. Good-will towards the people of Afghanistan caused my mistress, the Queen of England, to lend her aid----" "In dethroning my father, Dost Mohammed Khan," interrupted Ackbar, with sombre fury. "In restoring Shah Sujah to the throne of his ancestors," continued Macnaghten, heedless of the pointed interruption; "and now, Khan, I beseech you to remember that I received your royal father's sword at yonder gate of Cabul, when he rode in, a hunted fugitive, after his escape from the Emir of Bokhara, and I saved his life, sending him with all honour to Calcutta, when I might have slain him." "I have not forgotten it, Kaffir, and would rather you had cut him to pieces, than made him a dependent on your bounty." Sir William took no heed either of the injurious epithet or the prince's somewhat unfilial wish. "The paths of the just are rugged like yonder hills of Kohistan; yet the snowy peaks are nearer Allah than the plain around us," said Ackbar, in true Afghan phraseology. "I know that, Khan; but----" "Peace! You Kaffirs pretend to know all things, whereas ye know nothing. How can it be else, when ye know not the blessed Koran? You can be grasping and cruel, however, and well know how to be so. Was it not your secret intention to send Ameen Oollah Khan, Skireen Khan, and even me, chained, as slaves to your Queen, a Kaffir woman, in her little island, which, Abdallah the Hadji tells us, is a mere spot of mud amid a misty sea?" "It was a lie of the Ghilzie chiefs," replied Sir William, becoming uneasy at the decidedly offensive tone so rapidly assumed by the Khan. "There is but one God, and before Him none other did exist," resumed the royal hypocrite; "He formed seven heavens, seven worlds, and eighteen creations, and He sent his friend Mohammed as the Prophet to mankind; and by every hair in that Prophet's beard I swear to see you brought low--very low, and to exult over you." "Perhaps so, Khan--you are younger than I," replied the other, affecting to misunderstand the ominous threat. "You will not accept our terms?" "It is impossible; as I have said, they are too dishonourable."