CHAPTER IX.


As Atmâ drew near to the confines of Kashmir he trod a secluded vale,
and followed the windings of a broad stream whose banks were thickly
wooded. As he pursued his way through a thicket he heard voices in gay
converse, and stayed his steps until, peering through the heavy foliage,
he descried below the overhanging river-bank two dark-eyed girls. They
were seated on a broad stone, and one laved her feet in the water and
bent over the swift current; but the head of the other, wreathed in
scarlet blossoms, was uplifted, and in the bright face half turned
towards him he recognized an attendant of Moti. She listened as if
suspecting his approach, but soon apparently satisfied, she resumed her
light chatter with her companion. Atmâ heard his own name, and gathered
that they sought him. He made himself known, and the elder, who was
Nama, the Maharanee's trusted servant, related how her mistress greatly
desiring a sprig of White Ak, a tree of great virtue in incantations,
had commissioned her to obtain it in the forest near by. She had also
been charged, she said, to meet Atmâ Singh, and bring her illustrious
mistress tidings of his welfare.

Although, as a true Sikh, Atmâ worshipped an Idea, and held in scorn all
material semblance of the supernatural, he knew that magic was largely
practised by professed adherents of the Khalsa, and so heard her errand
without surprise, though guessing that its timely performance had in
view some other purpose concerning himself. This became certain when
Nana made known to him that she was not then to return home, but to
linger here and in the neighbourhood of the Sacred Well, spoken of by
the Ranee, for an indefinite time, while the girl beside her at once
returning, would bear to Ferazpore as well as to the house of his uncle