E OF THE CAUCASUS.
FROM THE RUSSIAN OF MARLINSKI.

CHAPTER III.

It was daybreak when Ammalat came to himself. Slowly, one by one,
his thoughts reassembled in his mind, and flitted to and fro as in a
mist, in consequence of his extreme weakness. He felt no pain at all
in his body, and his sensations were even agreeable; life seemed to
have lost its bitterness, and death its terror: in this condition he
would have listened with equal indifference to the announcement of
his recovery, or of his inevitable death. He had no wish to utter a
word, or to stir a finger. This half sleep, however, did not
continue long. At midday, after the visit of the physician, when the
attendants had gone to perform the rites of noon-tide prayer, when
their sleepy voices were still, and nought but the cry of the mullah
resounded from afar, Ammalat listened to a soft and cautious step
upon the carpets of the chamber. He raised his heavy eyelids, and
between their lashes appeared, approaching his bed, a fair,
black-eyed girl, dressed in an orange-coloured sarotchka, an
arkhaloukh of cloth of gold with two rows of enamelled buttons,
and her long hair falling upon her shoulders. Gently she fanned
his face, and so pityingly looked at his wound that all his nerves
thrilled. Then she softly poured some medicine into a cup, and--he
could see no more--his eyelids sank like lead--he only caught with
his ear the rustling of her silken dress, like the sound of a parting
angel's wings, and all was still again. Whenever his weak senses strove
to discover the meaning of this fair apparition, it was so mingled with
the uncertain dreams of fever, that his first thought--his first
word--when he awoke, was, "'Tis a dream!" But it was no dream. This
beautiful girl was the daughter of the Sultan Akhmet Khan, and
sixteen years old. Among all the mountaineers, in general, the
unmarried women enjoy a great freedom of intercourse with the other
sex, without regard to the law of Mahomet. The favourite daughter of
the Khan was even more independent than usual. By her side alone he
forgot his cares and disappointments; by her side alone his eye met
a smile, and his heart a gleam of gayety. When the elders of Avar
discussed in a circle the affairs of their mountain politics, or
gave their judgment on right or wrong; when, surrounded by his
household, he related stories of past forays, or planned fresh
expeditions, she would fly to him like a swallow, bringing hope