Accompanied by a Munshi, Mirza
Mohammed Hosayn Shiraz, and habited as a merchant, Mirza Abdullah the
Bushiri passed many an evening in the townlet, visited all the porneia,
and obtained the fullest details, which were duly dispatched to
Government House. But the 'Devil's Brother' presently quitted the
Sind, leaving in his office my unfortunate official; this found its way
with sundry other reports to Bombay, and produced the expected result.
A friend in the Secretariat informed me that my summary dismissal had
been formally proposed by one of Sir Charles Napier's successors, whose
decease compels me _parcere sepulto_, but this excess of outraged
modesty was not allowed."[2]
Burton was not dismissed from the Service, it is true, but the
unfavourable impression created by the incident remained. He was
refused the post he coveted--namely, to accompany the second expedition
to Mooltan as interpreter; and seeing all prospect of promotion at an
end for the present, he obtained a long furlough, and came home from
India under a cloud. Evil rumour travels fast; and when he went to
Boulogne (the time and place where he first met Isabel), there were
plenty of people ready to whisper ill things concerning him. When he
returned to India two years after, notwithstanding his Mecca exploit,
he found prejudice still strong against him, and nothing he could do
seemed to remove it. His enemies in India and at home were not slow
to use it against him.
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