Then hope came to him from above and
he said to the headman: "Be not hasty; I am a follower of the Prophet as
also are ye. Give me till the morning that I may make my peace with
Allah."
"It is well said," interposed a bystander; "he is alone and has no
chance of escape. Let us therefore not kill him like a dog or an
infidel; but let him make his peace with Allah, and then in the morning
he shall die."
And so it was settled, and Abdul Mujid was bound hand and foot, and laid
upon a _charpoy_[23]; and beside him, with a drawn sword at his side, lay
down the man who was to guard him, the two on the same bed.
[23] _Charpoy_, the common bed of the country.
All night long Abdul Mujid lay racking his brains for a means of escape,
and found none; and then just before dawn came Allah to his help.
Nudging his bedfellow hard, the sepoy said: "Awake, sluggard, I wish to
go and pray."
"Well, go and pray," grumbled the guard.
"Go and pray!" replied Abdul Mujid; "how can I go and pray with my arms
and feet tied? Can I make the salutations and genuflections ordered in
the Koran while thus strapped up?"
"No, I suppose you can't," answered the guard. "But you also don't
suppose I am going to leave my warm quilt on this bitterly cold morning
to guard you while you pray?"
"That is not the least necessary," said Abdul Mujid; "if you will free
one hand I will spread my own carpet by the bed, and you can thus guard
me without getting up, for my legs are tied, and therefore I cannot
escape.
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