effort he dashed alongside the maiden, and, stretching out his arm,
almost won the unwilling prize; but she, bending her head to her
horse's neck, eluded his grasp and wheeled off again. Ere the
discomfited horseman could again approach her her lover's arm was
around her waist, and amidst the shouts of the spectators they turned
towards the fort.

"Alas! this was the agreed signal amongst the Huzarehs, who, screened
by the undulations of the savannah or hidden in the watercourses, had
been anxiously awaiting the event. With a simultaneous shout they
rush in upon the unprepared multitude, and commence an indiscriminate
massacre; but short was their success, for a distant party of Uzbegs
were observed rapidly gallopping to the scene of action, and the
Huzarehs were compelled to retire, their spirit for vengeance yet
unslaked. The panic their sudden onslaught had caused was so great
that they might all have retired unmolested had not Azeem suddenly
recognized his sister amongst a group of females who were being
hurried towards the fort. Regardless of the almost certain death that
awaited him he rushed to embrace her, but hardly had he clasped her in
his arms when the chief of the harem drove his Persian dagger through
his back. At sight of this all thoughts of further revenge were
abandoned, and the Huzarehs hastily quitting the field made the best
of their way home, not without having, though at the expense of the
life of their leader, inflicted a severe punishment on the invaders of
their peaceful country,"[*]

[* Note: Clark, in his Travels in Russia and Tartary, describes the
ceremony of marriage among the Calmucks as performed on horseback.

"The girl is first mounted and rides off at full speed. Her lover