His cries were
answered by an occasional ejaculation of Ulla from the black soldiers,
who closed the rear, and who were meditating on former adventures, the
plundering of a _Kaffila_, (party of travelling merchants,) or some such
exploit, or perhaps reflecting that a tiger, in the neighboring jungle,
might be watching patiently for the last of the party, in order to
spring upon him, according to his usual practice.
The sun, which appeared almost as suddenly as it had left them, served to
light the travellers in the remainder of the ascent, and called forth from
the Mahomedans belonging to the party the morning prayer of Alla Akber,
which resounded in long notes among the rocks and ravines, and they
continued with better advantage their forced march until the pass opened
upon a boundless extent of jungle, with a single high mud fort rising
through the midst of it. Upon this plain rapine and war had suspended the
labours of industry, and the rich vegetation of the soil had in a few
years converted a fertile champaign country into an almost impenetrable
thicket. Accordingly, the banks of a small nullah, or brook, were covered
with the footmarks of tigers and other animals of prey.
Here the travellers stopped to drink, and to refresh themselves and
their horses; and it was near this spot that Hartley saw a sight which
forced him to compare the subject which engrossed his own thoughts, with
the distress that had afflicted another.
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