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diff --git a/21304.txt b/21304.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0cdf01f --- /dev/null +++ b/21304.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6801 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Begumbagh, by George Manville Fenn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Begumbagh + A Tale of the Indian Mutiny + +Author: George Manville Fenn + +Illustrator: V.S Stacey + +Release Date: March 4, 2008 [EBook #21304] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEGUMBAGH *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Begumbagh; A Tale of the Indian Mutiny, and three other short stories, +by George Manville Fenn. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +This book of short stories is an excellent read in the usual Fenn style +of suspense. "How does he get out of this one?" is always in the +reader's mind. + +Most of the book is taken up with a story about the plight of the +British members of a small garrison, during the Indian Mutiny. + +The second story is about half as long, and is a well-written and +extremely plausible story about a house owned by an old gentleman of +ancient lineage, where there is a collection of gold plate which was +said to be an "incubus", that is, the subject of a curse. As indeed +there turns out to be. + +The third story is about a couple of smugglers who get trapped in a +"gowt", which is the exit to the sea of one of the great land-drains of +Eastern England, constructed by that great Dutch engineer, Vandermuyden, +in the seventeenth century. + +And the last story is about a new and well-found ship, that nearly +doesn't weather a severe storm in the Atlantic. The captain has taken +to the bottle, and command is taken by a junior officer: the ship +survives. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +BEGUMBAGH, A TALE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY, AND THREE OTHER SHORT STORIES +BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN. + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +BEGUMBAGH. + +I've waited all these years, expecting some one or another would give a +full and true account of it all; but little thinking it would ever come +to be my task. For it's not in my way; but seeing how much has been +said about other parts and other people's sufferings; while ours never +so much as came in for a line of newspaper, I can't think it's fair; and +as fairness is what I always did like, I set to, very much against my +will; while, on account of my empty sleeve, the paper keeps slipping and +sliding about, so that I can only hold it quiet by putting the lead +inkstand on one corner, and my tobacco-jar on the other. You see, I'm +not much at home at this sort of thing; and though, if you put a pipe +and a glass of something before me, I could tell you all about it, +taking my time, like, it seems that won't do. I said, "Why don't you +write it down as I tell it, so as other people could read all about it?" +But "No," he says; "I could do it in my fashion, but I want it to be in +your simple unadorned style; so set to and do it." + +I daresay a good many of you know me--seen me often in Bond Street, at +Facet's door--Facet's, you know, the great jeweller, where I stand and +open carriages, or take messages, or small parcels with no end of +valuables in them, for I'm trusted. Smith, my name is, Isaac Smith; and +I'm that tallish, grisly fellow with the seam down one side of my face, +my left sleeve looped up to my button, and not a speck to be seen on +that "commissionaire's" uniform, upon whose breast I've got three +medals. + +I was standing one day, waiting patiently for something to do, when a +tallish gentleman came up, nodded as if he knew me well, and I saluted. + +"Lose that limb in the Crimea, my man?" + +"No, sir. Mutiny," I said, standing as stiff as use had made nature +with me. + +And then he asked me a lot more questions, and I answered him; and the +end of it was that one evening I went to his house, and he had me in, +and did what was wanted to set me off. I'd had a little bit of an +itching to try something of the kind, I must own, for long enough, but +his words started me; and in consequence I got a quire of the best +foolscap paper, and a pen'orth of pens, and here's my story. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER ONE. + +BEGUMBAGH, A TALE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY. + +Dun-dub-dub-dub-dub-dub. Just one light beat given by the boys in +front--the light sharp tap upon their drums, to give the time for the +march; and in heavy order there we were, her Majesty's 156th Regiment of +Light Infantry, making our way over the dusty roads with the hot morning +sun beating down upon our heads. We were marching very loosely, though, +for the men were tired, and we were longing for the halt to be called, +so that we might rest during the heat of the day, and then go on again. +Tents, baggage-wagons, women, children, elephants, all were there; and +we were getting over the ground at the rate of about fifteen miles a +day, on our way up to the station, where we were to relieve a regiment +going home. + +I don't know what we should have done if it hadn't been for Harry Lant, +the weather being very trying, almost as trying as our hot red coats and +heavy knapsacks, and flower-pot busbies, with a round white ball like a +child's plaything on the top; but no matter how tired he was, Harry Lant +had always something to say or do, and even if the colonel was close by, +he'd say or do it. Now, there happened to be an elephant walking along +by our side, with the captain of our company, one of the lieutenants, +and a couple of women in the howdah; while a black nigger fellow, in +clean white calico clothes, and not much of 'em, and a muslin turban, +and a good deal of it, was striddling on the creature's neck, rolling +his eyes about, and flourishing an iron toasting-fork sort of thing, +with which he drove the great flap-eared patient beast. The men were +beginning to grumble gently, and shifting their guns from side to side, +and sneezing, and coughing, and choking in the kicked-up dust, like a +flock of sheep, when Captain Dyer scrambles down off the elephant, and +takes his place alongside us, crying out cheerily: "Only another mile, +my lads, and then breakfast." + +We gave him a cheer, and another half-mile was got over, when once more +the boys began to flag terribly, and even Harry Lant was silent, which, +seeing what Harry Lant was, means a wonderful deal more respecting the +weather than any number of degrees on a thermometer, I can tell you; but +I looked round at him, and he knew what it meant, and, slipping out, he +goes up to the elephant. "Carry your trunk, sir," he says; and taking +gently hold of the great beast's soft nose, he laid it upon his +shoulder, and marched on like that, with the men roaring with laughter. + +"Pulla-wulla. Ma-pa-na," shouted the nigger who was driving, or +something that sounded like it, for of all the rum lingoes ever spoke, +theirs is about the rummest, and always put me in mind of the fal-lal-la +or tol-de-rol chorus of a song. + +"All right. I'll take care!" sings out Harry; and on he marched, with +the great soft-footed beast lifting its round pads and putting them down +gently so as not to hurt Harry; and, trifling as that act was, it meant +a great deal, as you'll see if you read on, while just then it got our +poor fellows over the last half-mile without one falling out; and then +the halt was called; men wheeled into line; we were dismissed; and soon +after we were lounging about, under such shade as we could manage to get +in the thin tope of trees. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWO. + +That's a pretty busy time, that first half-hour after a halt: what with +the niggers setting up a few tents, and getting a fire lighted, and +fetching water; but in spite of our being tired, we soon had things +right. There was the colonel's tent, Colonel Maine's--a little stout +man, that we all used to laugh at, because he was such a little, round, +good-tempered chap, who never troubled about anything, for we hadn't +learned then what was lying asleep in his brave little body, waiting to +be brought out. Then there was the mess tent for the officers, and the +hospital tent for those on the sick-list, beside our bell tents, that we +shouldn't have set up at all, only to act as sun-shades. But, of +course, the principal tent was the colonel's. + +Well, there they were, the colonel and his lady, Mrs Maine--a nice, +kindly-spoken, youngish woman: twenty years younger than he, she was; +but, for all that, a happier couple never breathed; and they two used to +seem as if the regiment, and India, and all the natives were made on +purpose to fall down and worship the two little golden idols they'd set +up--a little girl and a little boy, you know. Cock Robin and Jenny +Wren, we chaps used to call them, though Jenny Wren was about a year and +a half the oldest. And I believe it was from living in France a bit, +that the colonel's wife had got the notion of dressing them so; but it +would have done your heart good to see those two children--the boy with +his little red tunic and his sword, and the girl with her red jacket and +belt, and a little canteen of wine and water, and a tiny tin mug; and +them little things driving the old black ayah half-wild with the way +they used to dodge away from her to get amongst the men, who took no end +of delight in bamboozling the fat old woman when she was hunting for +them; sending them here, and there, and everywhere, till she'd turn +round and make signs with her hands, and spit on the ground, which was +her way of cursing us. For I must say that we English were very, very +careless about what we did or said to the natives. Officers and men, +all alike, seemed to look upon them as something very little better than +beasts, and talked to them as if they had no feelings at all, little +thinking what fierce masters the trampled slaves could turn out, if ever +they had their day--the day that the old proverb says is sure to come +for every dog; and there was not a soul among us then that had the least +bit of suspicion that the dog--by which, you know, I mean the Indian +generally--was going mad, and sharpening those teeth of his ready to +bite. + +Well, as a matter of course, there were other people in our regiment +that I ought to mention: Captain Dyer I did name; but there was a +lieutenant, a very good-looking young fellow, who was a great favourite +with Mrs Colonel Maine; and he dined a deal with them at all times, +besides being a great chum of Captain Dyer's--they two shooting +together, and being like brothers, though there was a something in +Lieutenant Leigh that I never seemed to take to. Then there was the +doctor--a Welshman he was, and he used to make it his boast that our +regiment was about the healthiest anywhere; and I tell you what it is, +if you were ill once, and in hospital, as we call it--though, you know, +with a marching regiment that only means anywhere till you get well--I +say, if you were ill once, and under his hands, you'd think twice before +you made up your mind to be ill again, and be very bad too before you +went to him. Pestle, we used to call him, though his name was Hughes; +and how we men did hate him, mortally, till we found out his real +character, when we were lying cut to pieces almost, and him ready to cry +over us at times as he tried to bring us round. "Hold up, my lads," +he'd say, "only another hour, and you'll be round the corner!" when what +there was left of us did him justice. Then, of course, there were other +officers, and some away with the major and another battalion of our +regiment at Wallahbad; but they've nothing to do with my story. + +I do not think I can do better than introduce you to our mess on the +very morning of this halt, when, after cooling myself with a pipe, just +the same as I should have warmed myself with a pipe if it had been in +Canady or Nova Scotia, I walked up to find all ready for breakfast, and +Mrs Bantem making the tea. + +Some of the men didn't fail to laugh at us who took our tea for +breakfast; but all the same I liked it, for it always took me home, tea +did--and to the days when my poor old mother used to say that there +never was such a boy for bread and butter as I was; not as there was +ever so much butter that she need have grumbled, whatever I cost for +bread; and though Mrs Bantem wasn't a bit like my mother, she brought +up the homely thoughts. Mrs Bantem was, I should say, about the +biggest and ugliest woman I ever saw in my life. She stood five feet +eleven and a half in her stockings, for Joe Bantem got Sergeant Buller +to take her under the standard one day. She'd got a face nearly as dark +as a black's; she'd got a moustache, and a good one too; and a great +coarse look about her altogether. Measles--I'll tell you who he was +directly--Measles used to say she was a horse god-mother; and they +didn't seem to like one another; but Joe Bantem was as proud of that +woman as she was of him; and if any one hinted about her looks, he used +to laugh, and say that was only the outside rind, and talk about the +juice. But all the same, though, no one couldn't be long with that +woman without knowing her flavour. It was a sight to see her and Joe +together, for he was just a nice middle size--five feet seven and a +half--and as pretty a pink and white, brown-whiskered, open-faced man as +ever you saw. We all got tanned and coppered over and over again, but +Joe kept as nice and fresh and fair as on the day we embarked from +Gosport years before; and the standing joke was that Mrs Bantem had a +preparation for keeping his complexion all square. + +Joe Bantem knew what he was about, though, for one day when a nasty +remark had been made by the men of another regiment, he got talking to +me in confidence over our pipes, and he swore that there wasn't a better +woman living; and he was right, for I'm ready now at this present moment +to take the Book in my hand, and swear the same thing before all the +judges in Old England. For you see we're such duffers, we men: shew us +a pretty bit of pink and white, and we run mad after it; while all the +time we're running away from no end of what's solid and good, and true, +and such as'll wear well, and shew fast colours, long after your pink +and white's got faded and grimy. Not as I've much room to talk. But +present company, you know, and setra. What, though, as a rule, does +your pretty pink and white know about buttons, or darning, or cooking? +Why, we had the very best of cooking; not boiled tag and rag, but nice +stews and roasts and hashes, when other men were growling over a +dog's-meat dinner. We had the sweetest of clean shirts, and never a +button off; our stockings were darned; and only let one of us--Measles, +for instance--take a drop more than he ought, just see how she'd drop on +to him, that's all. If his head didn't ache before, it would ache then; +and I can see as plain now as if it was only this minute, instead of +years ago, her boxing Measles' ears, and threatening to turn him out to +another mess if he didn't keep sober. And she would have turned him +over too, only, as she said to Joe, and Joe told me, it might have been +the poor fellow's ruin, seeing how weak he was, and easily led away. +The long and short of it is, Mrs Bantem was a good motherly woman of +forty; and those who had anything to say against her, said it out of +jealousy, and all I have to say now is what I've said before: she only +had one fault, and that is, she never had any little Bantems to make +wives for honest soldiers to come; and wherever she is, my wish is that +she may live happy and venerable to a hundred. + +That brings me to Measles. Bigley his name was; but he'd had the +small-pox very bad when a child, through not being vaccinated; and his +face was all picked out in holes, so round and smooth that you might +have stood peas in them all over his cheeks and forehead, and they +wouldn't have fallen off; so we called him Measles. If any of you say +"Why?" I don't know no more than I have said. + +He was a sour-tempered sort of fellow was Measles, who listed because +his sweetheart laughed at him; not that he cared for her, but he didn't +like to be laughed at, so he listed out of spite, as he said, and that +made him spiteful. He was always grumbling about not getting his +promotion, and sneering at everything and everybody, and quarrelling +with Harry Lant, him, you know, as carried the elephant's trunk; while +Harry was never happy without he was teasing him, so that sometimes +there was a deal of hot water spilled in our mess. + +And now I think I've only got to name three of the drum-boys, that Mrs +Bantem ruled like a rod of iron, though all for their good, and then +I've done. + +Well, we had our breakfast, and thoroughly enjoyed it, sitting out there +in the shade. Measles grumbled about the water, just because it +happened to be better than usual; for sometimes we soldiers out there in +India used to drink water that was terrible lively before it had been +cooked in the kettle; for though water-insects out there can stand a +deal of heat, they couldn't stand a fire. Mrs Bantem was washing up +the things afterwards, and talking about dinner; Harry Lant was picking +up all the odds and ends, to carry off to the great elephant, standing +just then in the best bit of shade he could find, flapping his great +ears about, blinking his little pig's eyes, and turning his trunk and +his tail into two pendulums, swinging them backwards and forwards as +regular as clockwork, and all the time watching Harry, when Measles says +all at once, "Here come some lunatics!" + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER THREE. + +Now, after what I've told you about Measles' listing for spite, you will +easily understand that the fact of his calling any one a lunatic did not +prove a want of common reason in the person spoken about; but what he +meant was, that the people coming up were half-mad for travelling when +the sun was so high, and had got so much power. + +I looked up and saw, about a mile off, coming over the long straight +level plain, what seemed to be an elephant, and a man or two on +horseback; and before I had been looking above a minute, I saw Captain +Dyer cross over to the colonel's tent, and then point in the direction +of the coming elephant. The next minute, he crossed over to where we +were. "Seen Lieutenant Leigh?" he says in his quick way. + +"No, sir; not since breakfast." + +"Send him after me, if he comes in sight. Tell him Miss Ross and party +are yonder, and I've ridden on to meet them." + +The next minute he had gone, taken a horse from a sycee, and in spite of +the heat, cantered off to meet the party with the elephant, the air +being that clear that I could see him go right up, turn his horse round, +and ride gently back by the side. + +I did not see anything of the lieutenant and, to tell the truth, I +forgot all about him, for I was thinking about the party coming, for I +had somehow heard a little about Mrs Maine's sister coming out from the +old country to stay with her. If I recollect right, the black nurse +told Mrs Bantem, and she mentioned it. This party, then, I supposed +contained the lady herself; and it was as I thought. We had had to +leave Patna unexpectedly to relieve the regiment ordered home; and the +lady, according to orders, had followed us, for this was only our second +day's march. + +I suppose it was my pipe made me settle down to watch the coming party, +and wonder what sort of a body Miss Ross would be, and whether anything +like her sister. Then I wondered who would marry her, for, as you know, +ladies are not very long out in India without picking up a husband. +"Perhaps," I said to myself, "it will be the lieutenant;" but ten +minutes after, as the elephant shambled up, I altered my mind, for +Captain Dyer was ambling along beside the great beast, and his was the +hand that helped the lady down--a tall, handsome, self-possessed girl, +who seemed quite to take the lead, and kiss and soothe the sister, when +she ran out of the tent to throw her arms round the new-comer's neck. + +"At last, then, Elsie," Mrs Colonel said out aloud. "You've had a long +dreary ride." + +"Not during the last ten minutes," Miss Ross said, laughing in a bright, +merry, free-hearted way. "Lieutenant Leigh has been welcoming me most +cordially." + +"Who?" exclaimed Mrs Colonel, staring from one to the other. + +"Lieutenant Leigh," said Miss Ross. + +"I'm afraid I am to blame for not announcing myself," said Captain Dyer, +lifting his muslin-covered cap. "Your sister, Miss Ross, asked me to +ride to meet you, in Lieutenant Leigh's absence." + +"You, then--" + +"I am only Lawrence Dyer, his friend," said the captain, smiling. + +It's a singular thing that just then, as I saw the young lady blush +deeply, and Mrs Colonel look annoyed, I muttered to myself, "Something +will come of this," because, if there's anything I hate, it's for a man +to set himself up for a prophet. But it looked to me as if the captain +had been taking Lieutenant Leigh's place, and that Miss Ross, as was +really the case, though she had never seen him, had heard him so much +talked of by her sister, that she had welcomed him, as she thought, +quite as an old friend, when all the time she had been talking to +Captain Dyer. + +And I was not the only one who thought about it; else why did Mrs +Colonel look annoyed, and the colonel, who came paddling out, exclaim +loudly: "Why, Leigh, look alive, man! here's Dyer been stealing a march +upon you. Why, where have you been?" + +I did not hear what the lieutenant said, for my attention was just then +taken up by something else, but I saw him go up to Miss Ross, holding +out his hand, while the meeting was very formal; but, as I told you, my +attention was taken up by something else, and that something was a +little, dark, bright, eager, earnest face, with a pair of sharp eyes, +and a little mocking-looking mouth; and as Captain Dyer had helped Miss +Ross down with the steps from the howdah, so did I help down Lizzy +Green, her maid; to get, by way of thanks, a half-saucy look, a nod of +the head, and the sight of a pretty little tripping pair of ankles going +over the hot sandy dust towards the tent. + +But the next minute she was back, to ask about some luggage--a +bullock-trunk or two--and she was coming up to me, as I eagerly stepped +forward to meet her, when she seemed, as it were, to take it into her +head to shy at me, going instead to Harry Lant, who had just come up, +and who, on hearing what she wanted, placed his hands, with a grave +swoop, upon his head, and made her a regular eastern salaam, ending by +telling her that her slave would obey her commands. All of which seemed +to grit upon me terribly; I didn't know why, then, but I found out +afterwards, though not for many days to come. + +We had the route given us for Begumbagh, a town that, in the old days, +had been rather famous for its grandeur; but, from what I had heard, it +was likely to turn out a very hot, dry, dusty, miserable spot; and I +used to get reckoning up how long we should be frizzling out there in +India before we got the orders for home; and put it at the lowest +calculation, I could not make less of it than five years. But there, we +who were soldiers had made our own beds, and had to lie upon them, +whether it was at home or abroad; and, as Mrs Bantem used to say to us, +"Where was the use of grumbling?" There were troubles in every life, +even if it was a civilian's--as we soldiers always called those who +didn't wear the Queen's uniform--and it was very doubtful whether we +should have been a bit happier, if we had been in any other line. But +all the same, government might have made things a little better for us +in the way of suitable clothes, and things proper for the climate. + +And so on we went: marching mornings and nights; camping all through the +hot day; and it was not long before we found that, in Miss Ross, we men +had got something else beside the children to worship. + +But I may as well say now, and have it off my mind, that it has always +struck me, that during those peaceful days, when our greatest worry was +a hot march, we didn't know when we were well off, and that it wanted +the troubles to come before we could see what good qualities there were +in other people. Little trifling things used to make us sore--things +such as we didn't notice afterwards, when great sorrows came. I know I +was queer, and spiteful, and jealous, and no great wonder that for I +always was a man with a nastyish temper, and soon put out; but even Mrs +Bantem used to shew that she wasn't quite perfect, for she quite upset +me, one day, when Measles got talking at dinner about Lizzy Green, Miss +Ross's maid, and, what was a wonderful thing for him, not finding fault. +He got saying that she was a nice girl, and would make a soldier as +wanted one a good wife; when Mrs Bantem fires up as spiteful as could +be--I think, mind you, there'd been something wrong with the cooking +that day, which had turned her a little--and she says that Lizzy was +very well, but looks weren't everything, and that she was raw as raw, +and would want no end of dressing before she would be good for anything; +while, as to making a soldier's wife, soldiers had no business to have +wives till they could buy themselves off, and turn civilians. Then, +again, she seemed to have taken a sudden spite against Mrs Maine, +saying that she was a poor, little, stuck-up, fine lady, and she could +never have forgiven her if it had not been for those two beautiful +children; though what Mrs Bantem had got to forgive the colonel's wife, +I don't believe she even knew herself. + +The old black ayah, too, got very much put out about this time, and all +on account of the two new-comers; for when Miss Ross hadn't got the +children with her, they were along with Lizzy, who, like her mistress, +was new to the climate, and hadn't got into that dull listless way that +comes to people who have been some time up the country. They were all +life, and fun, and energy, and the children were never happy when they +were away; and of a morning, more to please Lizzy, I used to think, than +the children, Harry Lant used to pick out a shady place, and then drive +Chunder Chow, who was the mahout of _Nabob_, the principal elephant, +half-wild, by calling out his beast, and playing with him all sorts of +antics. Chunder tried all he could to stop it, but it was of no use, +for Harry had got such influence over that animal that when one day he +was coaxing him out to lead him under some trees, and the mahout tried +to stop him, _Nabob_ makes no more ado, but lifts his great soft trunk, +and rolls Mr Chunder Chow over into the grass, where he lay screeching +like a parrot, and chattering like a monkey, rolling his opal eyeballs, +and shewing his white teeth with fear, for he expected that _Nabob_ was +going to put his foot on him, and crush him to death, as is the nature +of those great beasts. But not he: he only lays his trunk gently on +Harry's shoulder, and follows him across the open like a great +flesh-mountain, winking his little pig's eyes, whisking his tiny tail, +and flapping his great ears; while the children clapped their hands as +they stood in the shade with Miss Ross and Lizzy, and Captain Dyer and +Lieutenant Leigh close behind. + +"There's no call to be afraid, miss," says Harry, saluting as he saw +Miss Ross shrink back; and seeing how, when he said a few words in +Hindustani, the great animal minded him, they stopped being scared, and +gave Harry fruit and cakes to feed the great beast with. + +You see, out there in that great dull place, people are very glad to +have any little trifle to amuse them, so you mustn't be surprised to +hear that there used to be quite a crowd to see Harry Lant's +performances, as he called them. But all the same, I didn't like his +upsetting old Chunder Chow; and it seemed to me even then, that we'd +managed to make another black enemy--the black ayah being the first. + +However, Harry used to go on making old _Nabob_ kneel down, or shake +hands, or curl up his trunk, or lift him up, finishing off by going up +to his head, lifting one great ear, saying they understood one another, +whispering a few words, and then shutting the ear up again, so as the +words shouldn't be lost before they got into the elephant's brain, as I +explained, because they'd got a long way to go. Then Harry would lie +down, and let the great beast walk backwards and forwards all over him, +lifting his great feet so carefully, and setting them down close to +Harry, but never touching him, except one day when, just as the great +beast was passing his foot over Harry's breast, a voice called out +something in Hindustani--and I knew who it was, though I didn't see-- +when _Nabob_ puts his feet down on Harry's chest, and Lizzy gave a great +scream, and we all thought the poor chap would be crushed; but not he: +the great beast was took by surprise, but only for an instant, and, in +his slow quiet way, he steps aside, and then touches Harry all over with +his trunk; and there was no more performance that day. + +"I've got my knife into Master Chunder for that," says Harry to me, "for +I'll swear that was his voice." And I started to find he had known it. + +"I wouldn't quarrel with him," I says quietly, "for it strikes me he's +got his knife into you." + +"You've no idea," says Harry, "what a nip it was. I thought it was all +over; but all the same, the poor brute didn't mean it, I'd swear." + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER FOUR. + +Who could have thought just then that all that nonsense of Harry Lant's +with the elephant was shaping itself for our good, but so it was, as you +shall by-and-by hear. The march continued, matters seeming to go on +very smoothly--but only seeming, mind you, for let alone that we were +all walking upon a volcano, there was a good deal of unpleasantry +brewing. Let alone my feeling that, somehow or another, Harry Lant was +not so true a mate to me as he used to be, there was a good deal wrong +between Captain Dyer and Lieutenant Leigh, and it soon seemed plain that +there was much more peace and comfort in our camp a week earlier than +there was at the time of which I am now writing. + +I used to have my turns as sentry here and there; and it was when +standing stock-still with my piece, that I used to see and hear so +much--for in a camp it seems to be a custom for people to look upon a +sentry as a something that can neither see nor hear anything but what +might come in the shape of an enemy. They know he must not move from +his post, which is to say that he's tied hand and foot, and perhaps from +that they think that he's tied as to his senses. At all events, I got +to see that when Miss Ross was seated in the colonel's tent, and Captain +Dyer was near her, she seemed to grow gentle and quiet, and her eyes +would light up, and her rich red lips part, as she listened to what he +was saying; while, when it came to Lieutenant Leigh's turn, and he was +beside her talking, she would be merry and chatty, and would laugh and +talk as lively as could be. Harry Lant said it was because they were +making up matters, and that some day she would be Mrs Leigh; but I +didn't look at it in that light, thought said nothing. + +I used to like to be sentry at the colonel's tent, on our halting for +the night, when the canvas would be looped up, to let in the air, and +they'd got their great globe-lamps lit, with the tops to them, to keep +out the flies, and the draughts made by the punkahs swinging backwards +and forwards. I used to think it quite a pretty sight, with the ladies +and the three or four officers, perhaps chatting, perhaps having a +little music, for Miss Ross could sing like--like a nightingale, I was +going to say; but no nightingale that I ever heard could seem to lay +hold of your heart and almost bring tears into your eyes, as she did. +Then she used to sing duets with Captain Dyer, because the colonel +wished it, though it was plain to see Mrs Maine didn't like it, any +more than did Lieutenant Leigh, who, more than once, as I've seen, +walked out, looking fierce and angry, to strike off right away from the +camp, perhaps not to come back for a couple of hours. + +It was one night when we'd been about a fortnight on the way, for during +the past week the colonel had been letting us go on very easily, I was +sentry at the tent. There had been some singing, and Lieutenant Leigh +had gone off in the middle of a duet. Then the doctor, the colonel, and +a couple of subs were busy over a game at whist, and the black nurse had +beckoned Mrs Maine out, I suppose to see something about the two +children; when Captain Dyer and Miss Ross walked together just outside +the tent, she holding by one of the cords, and he standing close beside +her. + +They did not say much, but stood looking up at the bright silver moon +and the glittering stars; while he said a word now and then about the +beauty of the scene, the white tents, the twinkling lights here and +there, and the soft peaceful aspect of all around; and then his voice +seemed to grow lower and deeper as he spoke from time to time, though I +could hardly hear a word, as I stood there like a statue watching her +beautiful face, with the great clusters of hair knotted back from her +broad white forehead, the moon shining full on it, and seeming to make +her eyes flash as they were turned to him. + +They must have stood there full half an hour, when she turned as if to +go back, but he laid his hand upon hers as it held the tent cord, and +said something very earnestly, when she turned to him again to look him +full in the face, and I saw that her hand was not moved. + +Then they were silent for a few seconds before he spoke again, loud +enough for me to hear. + +"I must ask you," he said huskily; "my peace depends upon it. I know +that it has always been understood that you were to be introduced to +Lieutenant Leigh. I can see now plainly enough what are your sister's +wishes; but hearts are ungovernable, Miss Ross, and I tell you +earnestly, as a simple, truth-speaking man, that you have roused +feelings that until now slept quietly in my breast. If I am +presumptuous, forgive me--love is bold as well as timid--but at least +set me at rest: tell me, is there any engagement between you and +Lieutenant Leigh?" + +She did not speak for a few moments, but met his gaze--so it seemed to +me--without shrinking, before saying one word, so softly, that it was +like one of the whispers of the breeze crossing the plain--and that word +was "No!" + +"God bless you for that answer, Miss Ross--Elsie," he said deeply; and +then his head was bent down for an instant over the hand that rested on +the cord, before Miss Ross glided away from him into the tent, and went +and stood resting with her hand upon the colonel's shoulder, when he, +evidently in high glee, began to shew her his cards, laughing and +pointing to first one, and then another, for he seemed to be having luck +on his side. + +But I had no more eyes then for the inside of the tent, for Captain Dyer +just seemed to awaken to the fact that I was standing close by him as +sentry, and he gave quite a start as he looked at me for a few moments +without speaking. Then he took a step forward. + +"Who is this? Oh, thank goodness!" (he said those few words in an +undertone, but I happened to hear them). "Smith," he said, "I forgot +there was a sentry there. You saw me talking to that lady?" + +"Yes, sir," I said. + +"You saw everything?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And you heard all?" + +"No, sir, not all; only what you said last." + +Then he was silent again for a few moments, but only to lay his hand +directly after on my chest. + +"Smith," he said, "I would rather you had not seen this; and if it had +been any other man in my company, I should perhaps have offered him +money, to insure that there was no idle chattering at the mess-tables; +but you I ask, as a man I can trust, to give me your word of honour as a +soldier to let what you have seen and heard be sacred." + +"Thank you, captain," I said, speaking thick, for somehow his words +seemed to touch me. "You shan't repent trusting me." + +"I have no fear, Smith," he said, speaking lightly, and as if he felt +joyful, and proud, and happy.--"What a glorious night for a cigar;" and +he took one out of his case, when we both started, for, as if he had +that moment risen out of the ground, Lieutenant Leigh stood there close +to us; and even to this day I can't make out how he managed it, but all +the same he must have seen and heard as much as I had. + +"And pray, is my word of honour as a soldier to be taken, Captain Dyer? +or is my silence to be bought with money?--Confound you I come this way, +will you!" he hissed; for Captain Dyer had half turned, as if to avoid +him, but he stepped back directly, and I saw them walk off together +amongst the trees, till they were quite out of sight; and if ever I felt +what it was to be tied down to one spot, I felt it then, as I walked +sentry up and down by that tent watching for those two to return. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER FIVE. + +Now, after giving my word of honour to hold all that sacred, some people +may think I'm breaking faith in telling what I saw; but I made that +right by asking the colonel's leave--he is a colonel now--and he smiled, +and said that I ought to change the names, and then it would not matter. + +I left off my last chapter saying how I felt being tied down to one +spot, as I kept guard there; and perhaps everybody don't know that a +sentry's duty is to stay in the spot where he has been posted, and that +leaving it lightly might, in time of war, mean death. + +I should think I watched quite an hour, wondering whether I ought to +give any alarm; but I was afraid it would appear foolish, for perhaps +after all it might only mean a bit of a quarrel, and I could not call to +mind any quarrel between officers ending in a duel. + +I was glad, too, that I did not say anything, for at last I saw them +coming back in the clear moonlight--clear-like as day; and then in the +distance they stopped, and in a moment one figure seemed to strike the +other a sharp blow, which sent him staggering back, and I could not then +see who it was that was hit, till they came nearer, and I made out that +it was Captain Dyer; while, if I had any doubts at first, I could have +none as they came nearer and nearer, with Lieutenant Leigh talking in a +big insolent way at Captain Dyer, who was very quiet, holding his +handkerchief to his cheek. + +So as to be as near as possible to where they were going to pass, I +walked to the end of my tether, and, as they came up, Lieutenant Leigh +says, in a nasty spiteful whisper: "I should have thought you would have +come into the tent to display the wound received in the lady's cause." + +"Leigh," said Captain Dyer, taking down his white handkerchief--and in +the bright moonlight I could see that his cheek was cut, and the +handkerchief all bloody--"Leigh, that was an unmanly blow. You called +me a coward; you struck me; and now you try to poison the wound with +your words. I never lift hand against the man who has taken that hand +in his as my friend, but the day may come when I can prove to you that +you are a liar." + +Lieutenant Leigh turned upon him fiercely, as though he would have +struck him again; but Captain Dyer paid no heed to him, only walked +quietly off to his quarters; while, with a sneering, scornful sort of +laugh, the lieutenant went into the colonel's tent; though, if he +expected to see Miss Ross, he was disappointed, for so long as I was on +guard, she did not shew any more that night. + +Off again the next morning, and over a hotter and dustier road than +ever; and I must say that I began to wish we were settled down in +barracks again, for everything seemed to grow more and more crooked, and +people more and more unpleasant. Why, even Mrs Bantem that morning +before starting must shew her teeth, and snub Lantern, and then begin +going on about the colonel's wife, and the fine madam, her sister, +having all sorts of luxuries, while poor hard-working soldiers' wives +had to bear all the burden and heat of the day; while, by way of winding +up, she goes up to Harry Lant and Measles, who were, as usual, +squabbling about something, and boxes both their ears, as if they had +been bad boys. I saw them both colour up fierce; but the next minute +Harry Lant bursts out laughing, and Measles does the same, and then they +two did what I should think they never did before--they shook hands; but +Mrs Bantem had no sooner turned away with tears in her eyes, because +she felt so cross, than the two chaps fell out again about some stupid +thing or another, and kept on snarling and snapping at each other all +along the march. + +But there, bless you! that wasn't all I saw Mrs Maine talking to her +sister in a quick earnest sort of way, and they both seemed out of +sorts; and the colonel swore at the tent-men, and bullied the adjutant, +and he came round and dropped on to us, finding fault with the men's +belts, and that upset the sergeants. Then some of the baggage didn't +start right, and Lieutenant Leigh had to be taken to task by Captain +Dyer, as in duty bound; while, when at last we were starting, if there +wasn't a tremendous outcry, and the young colonel--little Cock Robin, +you know--kicking, and screaming, and fighting the old black nurse, +because he mightn't draw his little sword, and march alongside of Harry +Lant! + +Now, I'm very particular about putting all this down, because I want you +to see how we all were one with the other, and how right through the +battalion little things made us out of sorts with one another, and +hardly friendly enough to speak, so that the difference may strike you, +and you may see in a stronger light the alteration and the behaviour of +people when trouble came. + +All the same, though, I don't think it's possible for anybody to make a +long march in India without getting out of temper. It's my belief that +the grit does it, for you do have that terribly; and what with the heat, +the dust, the thirst, the government boots, that always seem as if made +not to fit anybody, and the grit, I believe even a regiment all +chaplains would forget their trade. + +Tramp, tramp, tramp, day after day, and nearly always over wide, dreary, +dusty plains. Now we'd pass a few muddy paddy-fields, or come upon a +river, but not often; and I many a time used to laugh grimly to myself, +as I thought what a very different place hot, dusty, dreary India was, +to the glorious country I used to picture, all beautiful trees and +flowers, and birds with dazzling plumage. There are bright places +there, no doubt, but I never came across one, and my recollections of +India are none of the most cheery. + +But at last came the day when we were crossing a great wide-spread +plain, in the middle of which seemed to be a few houses, with something +bright here and there shining in the sun; and as we marched on, the +cluster of houses appeared to grow and grow, till we halted at last in a +market square of a good-sized town; and that night we were once more in +barracks. But, for my part, I was more gritty than ever; for now we did +not see the colonel's lady or her sister, though I may as well own that +there was some one with them that I wanted to see more than either. + +They were all, of course, at the colonel's quarters, a fine old palace +of a place, with a court-yard, and a tank in the centre, and trees, and +a flat roof, by the side of the great square; while on one side was +another great rambling place, separated by a narrowish sort of alley, +used for stores and hospital purposes; and on the other side, still +going along by the side of the great market square, was another +building, the very fellow to the colonel's quarters, but separated by a +narrow footway, some ten feet wide, and this place was occupied by the +officers. + +Our barracks took up another side of the square; and on the others were +mosques and flat-roofed buildings, and a sort of bazaar; while all round +stretched away, in narrow streets, the houses of what we men used to +call the niggers. Though, speaking for myself, I used to find them, +when well treated, a nice, clean, gentle sort of people. I used to look +upon them as a big sort of children; in their white muslin and calico, +and their simple ways of playing--like at living; and even now I haven't +altered my opinion of them in general, for the great burst of frenzied +passion that run through so many of them was just like a child's +uncontrolled rage. + +Things were not long in settling down to the regular life: there was a +little drill of a morning, and then, the rest of the day, the heat to +fight with, which seemed to take all the moisture out of our bodies, and +make us long for night. + +I did not get put on as sentry once at the colonel's quarters, but I +heard a little now and then from Mrs Bantem, who used to wash some of +Mrs Maine's fine things, the black women doing everything else; and +she'd often have a good grumble about "her fine ladyship," as she called +her, and she'd pity her children. She used to pick up a good deal of +information, though, and, taking a deal of interest as I did in Miss +Ross, I got to know that it seemed to be quite a settled thing between +her and Captain Dyer; and Bantem, who got took on now as Lieutenant +Leigh's servant, used to tell his wife about how black those two were +one towards the other. + +And so the time went on in a quiet sleepy way, the men getting lazier +every day. There was nothing to stir us, only now and then we'd have a +good laugh at Measles, who'd get one of his nasty fits on, and swear at +all the officers round, saying he was as good as any of them, and that +if he had his rights he would have been made an officer before then. +Harry Lant, too, used to do his bit to make time pass away a little less +dull, singing, telling stories, or getting up to some of his pranks with +old _Nabob_, the elephant, making Chunder, the mahout, more mad than +ever, for, no matter what he did or said, only let Harry make a sort of +queer noise of his, and just like a great flesh-mountain, that elephant +would come. It didn't matter who was in the way: regiment at drill, +officer, rajah, anybody, old _Nabob_ would come straight away to Harry, +holding out his trunk for fruit, or putting it in Harry's breast, where +he'd find some bread or biscuit; and then the great brute would smooth +him all over with his trunk, in a way that used to make Mrs Bantem say, +that perhaps, after all, the natives weren't such fools as they looked, +and that what they said about dead people going into animals' bodies +might be true after all, for, if that great overgrown beast hadn't a +soul of its own, and couldn't think, she didn't know nothing, so now +then! + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER SIX. + +But it was always the same; and though time was when I could have +laughed as merrily as did that little Jenny Wren of the colonel's at +Harry's antics, I couldn't laugh now, because, it always seemed as if +they were made an excuse to get Miss Ross and her maid out with the +children. + +A party of jugglers, or dancing-girls, or a man or two with pipes and +snakes, were all very well; but I've known clever parties come round, +and those I've named would hardly step out to look; and my heart, I +suppose it was, if it wasn't my mind, got very sore about that time, and +I used to get looking as evil at Harry Lant as Lieutenant Leigh did at +the captain. + +But it was a dreary time that, after all, one from which we were +awakened in a sudden way, that startled us to a man. + +First of all, there came a sort of shadowy rumour that something was +wrong with the men of a native regiment, something to do with their +caste; and before we had well realised that it was likely to be anything +serious, sharp and swift came one bit of news after another, that the +British officers in the native regiments had been shot down--here, +there, in all directions; and then we understood that what we had taken +for the flash of a solitary fire, was the firing of a big train, and +that there was a great mutiny in the land. And not, mind, the mutiny or +riot of a mob of roughs, but of men drilled and disciplined by British +officers, with leaders of their own caste, all well armed and provided +with ammunition; and the talk round our mess when we heard all this was, +How will it end? + +I don't think there were many who did not realise the fact that +something awful was coming to pass. Measles grinned, he did, and said +that there was going to be an end of British tyranny in India, and that +the natives were only going to seize their own again; but the next +minute, although it was quite clean, he takes his piece out of the rack, +cleans it thoroughly all over again, fixes the bayonet, feels the point, +and then stands at the "present!" + +"I think we can let 'em know what's what though, my lads, if they come +here," he says, with a grim smile; when Mrs Bantem, whose breath seemed +quite taken away before by the way he talked, jumped up quite +happy-like, laid her great hand upon his left side, and then, turning to +us, she says: "It's beating strong." + +"What is?" says Bantem, looking puzzled. + +"Measles' heart," says Mrs Bantem: "and I always knew it was in the +right place." + +The next minute she gave Measles a slap on the back as echoed through +the place, sending him staggering forward; but he only laughed and said: +"Praise the saints, I ain't Bantem." + +There was a fine deal of excitement, though, now. The colonel seemed to +wake up, and with him every officer, for we expected not only news but +orders every moment. Discipline, if I may say so, was buckled up tight +with the tongue in the last hole; provisions and water were got in; +sentries doubled, and a strange feeling of distrust and fear came upon +all, for we soon saw that the people of the place hung away from us, and +though, from such an inoffensive-looking lot as we had about us, there +didn't seem much to fear, yet there was no knowing what treachery we +might have to encounter, and as he had to think and act for others +beside himself, Colonel Maine--God bless him--took every possible +precaution against danger, then hidden, but which was likely to spring +into sight at any moment. + +There were not many English residents at Begumbagh, but what there were +came into quarters directly; and the very next morning we learned +plainly enough that there was danger threatening our place by the +behaviour of the natives, who packed up their few things and filed out +of the town as fast as they could, so that at noonday the market-place +was deserted, and, save the few we had in quarters, there was not a +black face to be seen. + +The next morning came without news; and I was orderly, and standing +waiting in the outer court close behind the colonel, who was holding a +sort of council of war with the officers, when a sentry up in the +broiling sun, on the roof, calls out that a horseman was coming; and +before very long, covered with sweat and dust, an orderly dragoon dashes +up, his horse all panting and blown, and then coming jingling and +clanking in with those spurs and that sabre of his, he hands despatches +to the colonel. + +I hope I may be forgiven for what I thought then, but, as I watched his +ruddy face, while he read those despatches, and saw it turn all of a +sickly, greeny white, I gave him the credit of being a coward; and I was +not the only one who did so. We all knew that, like us, he had never +seen a shot fired in anger; and something like an angry feeling of +vexation came over me, I know, as I thought of what a fellow he would be +to handle and risk the lives of the four hundred men under his charge +there at Begumbagh. + +"D'yer think I'd look like that?" says a voice close to my ear just +then. "D'yer think if I'd been made an officer, I'd ha' shewed the +white-feather like that?" And turning round sharp, I saw it was +Measles, who was standing sentry by the gateway; and he was so +disgusted, that he spat about in all directions, for he was a man who +didn't smoke, like any other Christian, but chewed his tobacco like a +sailor. + +"Dyer," says the colonel, the next moment, and they closed up together, +but close to where we two stood--"Dyer," he says, "I never felt before +that it would be hard to do my duty as a soldier; but, God help me, I +shall have to leave Annie and the children." There were a couple of +tears rolling down the poor fellow's cheeks as he spoke, and he took +Captain Dyer's hand. + +"Look at him! Look there!" whispers Measles again; and I kicked out +sharp behind, and hit him on the shin. "He's a pretty sort of a--" + +He didn't say any more just then, for, like me, he was staggered by the +change that took place. + +I think I've said Colonel Maine was a little, easy-going, pudgy man, +with a red face; but just then, as he stood holding Captain Dyer's hand, +a change seemed to come over him; he dropped the hand he had held, +tightened his sword-belt, and then took a step forward, to stand +thoughtful, with despatches in his left hand. It was then that I saw in +a moment that I had wronged him, and I felt as if I could have gone down +on the ground for him to have walked over me, for whatever he might have +been in peace, easy-going, careless, and fond of idleness and +good-living--come time for action, there he was with the true British +officer flashing out of his face, his lips pinched, his eyes flashing, +and a stern look upon his countenance that I had never seen before. + +"Now then!" I says in a whisper to Measles. I didn't say anything +else, for he knew what I meant. "Now then--now then!" + +"Well," says Measles then, in a whisper, "I s'pose women and children +will bring the soft out of a man at a time like this; but, why I what +did he mean by humbugging us like that!" + +I should think Colonel Maine stood alone thoughtful and still in that +court-yard, with the sun beating down upon his muslin-covered +forage-cap, while you could slowly, and like a pendulum-beat, count +thirty. It was a tremendously hot morning, with the sky a bright clear +blue, and the shadows of a deep purply black cast down and cut as sharp +as sharp. It was so still, too, that you could hear the whirring, +whizzy noise of the cricket things, and now and then the champ, champ of +the horse rattling his bit as he stood outside the gateway. It was a +strange silence, that seemed to make itself felt; and then the colonel +woke into life, stuck those despatches into his sword-belt, gave an +order here, an order there, and the next minute--Tantaran-tantaran, +_Tantaran-tantaran_, Tantaran-Tantaran, _Tantaran-tay_--the bugle was +ringing out the assemblee, men were hurrying here and there, there was +the trampling of feet, the court-yard was full of busy figures, shadows +were passing backwards and forwards, and the news was abroad that our +regiment was to form a flying column with another, and that we were off +directly. + +Ay, but it was exciting, that getting ready, and the time went like +magic before we formed a hollow square, and the colonel said a few words +to us, mounted as he was now, his voice firm as firm, except once, when +I saw him glance at an upper window, and then it trembled, but only for +an instant. His words were not many; and to this day, when I think of +the scene under that hot blue sky, they come ringing back; for it did +not seem to us that our old colonel was speaking, but a new man of a +different mettle, though it was only that the right stuff had been +sleeping in his breast, ready to be wakened by the bugle. + +"My lads," he said, and to a man we all burst out into a ringing cheer, +when he took off his cap, and waved it round--"My lads, this is a sharp +call, but I've been expecting it, and it has not found us asleep. I +thank you for the smart way in which you have answered it, for it shews +me that a little easy-going on my part in the piping times of peace has +not been taken advantage of. My lads, these are stern times; and this +despatch tells me of what will bring the honest British blood into every +face, and make every strong man take a firm gripe of his piece as he +longs for the order to charge the mutinous traitors to their Queen, who, +taking her pay, sworn to serve her, have turned, and in cold blood +butchered their officers, slain women, and hacked to pieces innocent +babes. My lads, we are going against a horde of monsters; but I have +bad news--you cannot all go--" + +There was a murmur here. + +"That murmur is not meant," he continued; "and I know it will be +regretted when I explain myself. We have women here and children: +mine--yours--and they must be protected," (it was here that his voice +shook). "Captain Dyer's company will garrison the place till our +return, and to those men many of us leave all that is dear to us on +earth. I have spoken. God save the Queen!" + +How that place echoed with the hearty "Hurray!" that rung out; and then +it was, "Fours right. March!" and only our company held firm, while I +don't know whether I felt disappointed or pleased, till I happened to +look up at one of the windows, to see Mrs Maine and Miss Ross, with +those two poor little innocent children clapping their hands with +delight at seeing the soldiers march away; one of them, the little girl, +with her white muslin and scarlet sash over her shoulder, being held up +by Lizzy Green; and then I did know that I was not disappointed, but +glad I was to stay. + +But to shew you how a man's heart changes about when it is blown by the +hot breath of what you may call love, let me tell you that only half a +minute later, I was disappointed again at not going; and dared I have +left the ranks, I'd have run after the departing column, for I caught +Harry Lant looking up at that window, and I thought a handkerchief was +waved to him. + +Next minute, Captain Dyer calls out, "Form four-deep. Right face. +March!" and he led us to the gateway, but only to halt us there, for +Measles, who was sentry, calls out something to him in a wild excited +way. + +"What do you want, man?" says Captain Dyer. + +"O sir, if you'll only let me exchange. 'Taint too late. Let me go, +captain." + +"How dare you, sir!" says Captain Dyer sternly, though I could see +plainly enough it was only for discipline, for he was, I thought pleased +at Measles wanting to be in the thick of it. Then he shouts again to +Measles, "'Tention--present arms!" and Measles falls into his right +position for a sentry when troops are marching past. "March!" says the +captain again; and we marched into the market-place, and--all but those +told off for sentries--we were dismissed; and Captain Dyer then stood +talking earnestly to Lieutenant Leigh, for it had fallen out that they +two, with a short company of eight-and-thirty rank and file, were to +have the guarding of the women and children left in quarters at +Begumbagh. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER SEVEN. + +It seemed to me that, for the time being, Lieutenant Leigh was too much +of a soldier to let private matters and personal feelings of enmity +interfere with duty; and those two stood talking together for a good +half-hour, when, having apparently made their plans, fatigue-parties +were ordered out; and what I remember then thinking was a wise move, the +soldiers' wives and children in quarters were brought into the old +palace, since it was the only likely spot for putting into something +like a state of defence. + +I have called it a palace, and I suppose that a rajah did once live in +it, but, mind you, it was neither a very large nor a very grand place, +being only a square of buildings, facing inward to a little court-yard, +entered by a gateway, after the fashion of no end of buildings in the +east. + +Water we had in the tank, but provisions were brought in, and what sheep +there were. Fortunately, there was a good supply of hay, and that we +got in; but one thing we did not bargain for, and that was the company +of the great elephant, _Nabob_, he having been left behind. And what +does he do but come slowly up on those india-rubber cushion feet of his, +and walk through the gateway, his back actually brushing against the +top; and then, once in, he goes quietly over to where the hay was +stacked, and coolly enough begins eating! + +The men laughed, and some jokes were made about his taking up a deal of +room, and I suppose, really, it was through Harry Lant that the great +beast came in; but no more was said then, we all being so busy, and not +one of us had the sense to see what a fearful strait that great +inoffensive animal might bring us to. + +I believe we all forgot about the heat that day as we worked on, slaving +away at things that, in an ordinary way, we should have expected to be +done by the niggers. Food, ammunition, wood, particularly planks, +everything Captain Dyer thought likely to be of use; and soon a +breastwork was made inside the gateway; such lower windows as looked +outwards carefully nailed up, and loop-holed for a shot at the enemy, +should any appear; and when night did come at last, peaceful and still, +the old palace was turned into a regular little fort. + +We all knew that all this might be labour in vain, but all the same it +seemed to be our duty to get the place into as good a state of defence +as we could, and under orders we did it. But, after all, we knew well +enough that if the mutineers should bring up a small field-piece, they +could knock the place about our ears in no time. Our hope, though, was +that, at all events while our regiment was away, we might be unmolested, +for, if the enemy came in any number, what could eight-and-thirty men +do, hampered as they were with half-a-dozen children, and twice as many +women? Not that all the women were likely to hamper us, for there was +Mrs Bantem, busy as a bee, working here, comforting there, helping +women to make themselves snug in different rooms; and once, as she came +near me, she gave me one of her tremendous slaps on the back, her eyes +twinkling with pleasure, and the perspiration streaming down her face +the while. "Ike Smith," she says, "this is something like, isn't it? +But ask Captain Dyer to have that breastwork strengthened--there isn't +half enough of it. Glad Bantem hasn't gone. But I say, only think of +that poor woman! I saw her just now crying, fit to break her poor +heart." + +"What poor woman?" I said, staring hard. + +"Why, the colonel's wife. Poor soul, it's pitiful to see her! it went +through me like a knife.--What! are you there, my pretties!" she cried, +flumping down on the stones as the colonel's two little ones came +running out. "Bless your pretty hearts, you'll come and say a word to +old Mother Bantem, won't you?" + +"What's everybody tying about?" says the little girl in her prattling +way. "I don't like people to ty. Has my ma been whipped, and Aunt +Elsie been naughty?" + +"Look, look!" cries the boy excitedly; "dere's old _Nabob_!" And +toddling off, the next minute he was close to the great beast, his +little sister running after him, to catch hold of his hand; and there +the little mites stood close to, and staring up at the great elephant, +as he kept on amusing himself by twisting up a little hay in his trunk, +and then lightly scattering it over his back, to get rid of the flies-- +for what nature could have been about to give him such a scrap of a +tail, I can't understand. He'd work it, and flip it about hard enough; +but as to getting rid of a fly, it's my belief that if insects can +laugh, they laughed at it, as they watched him from where they were +buzzing about the stone walls and windows in the hot sunshine. + +The next minute, like a chorus, there came a scream from one of the +upper windows, one from another, and a sort of howl from Mrs Bantem, +and we all stood startled and staring, for what does Jenny Wren do, but +in a staggering way, lift up her little brother for him to touch the +elephant's trunk, and then she stood laughing and clapping her hands +with delight, seeing no fear, bless her! as that long, soft trunk was +gently curled round the boy's waist, he was drawn out of his sister's +arms; and then the great beast stood swinging the child to and fro, now +up a little way, now down between his legs, and him crowing and laughing +away all the while, as if it was the best fun that could be. + +I believe we were all struck motionless; and it was like taking a hand +away from my throat to let me breathe once more, when I saw the elephant +gently drop the little fellow down on a heap of hay, but only for him to +scramble up, and run forward shouting: "Now 'gain, now 'gain;" and, as +if _Nabob_ understood his little prattling, half-tied tongue, he takes +him up again, and swings him, just as there was a regular rush made, and +Mrs Colonel, Miss Ross, Lizzy, and the captain and lieutenant came up. + +"For Heaven's sake, save the child!" cries Mrs Maine.--"Mr Leigh, +pray, do something." + +Miss Ross did not speak, but she looked at Captain Dyer; and those two +young men both went at the elephant directly, to get the child away; but +in an instant _Nabob_ wheeled round, just the same as a stubborn donkey +would at home with a lot of boys teasing it; and then, as they dodged +round his great carcass, he trumpeted fiercely, and began to shuffle off +round the court. + +I went up too, and so did Mrs Bantem, brave as a lion; but the great +beast only kept on making his loud snorting noise, and shuffled along, +with the boy in his trunk, swinging him backwards and forwards; and it +was impossible to help thinking of what would be the consequence if the +elephant should drop the little fellow, and then set on him one of his +great feet. + +It seemed as if nothing could be done, and once the idea--wild enough +too--rushed into my head that it would be advisable to get a rifle put +to the great beast's ear, and fire, when Measles shouted out from where +he was on guard, "Here's Chunder coming!" and, directly after, with his +opal eyeballs rolling, and his dark, treacherous-looking face seeming to +me all wicked and pleased at what was going on, came the mahout, and +said a few words to the elephant, which stopped directly, and went down +upon its knees. Chunder then tried to take hold of the child, but +somehow that seemed to make the great beast furious, and getting up +again, he began to grunt and make a noise after the fashion of a great +pig, going on now faster round the court, and sending those who had come +to look, and who stood in his way, fleeing in all directions. + +Mrs Maine was half fainting, and, catching the little girl to her +breast, I saw her go down upon her knees and hide her face, expecting, +no doubt, every moment, that the next one would be her boy's last; and, +indeed, we were all alarmed now, for the more we tried to get the little +chap away, the fiercer the elephant grew; the only one who did not seem +to mind being the boy himself though his sister now began to cry, and in +her little artless way I heard her ask her mother if the naughty +elephant would eat Clivey. + +I've often thought since that if we'd been quiet, and left the beast +alone, he would soon have set the child down; and I've often thought +too, that Mr Chunder could have got the boy away if he had liked, only +he did nothing but tease and irritate the elephant, which was not the +best of friends with him. But you will easily understand that there was +not much time for thought then. + +I had been doing my best along with the others, and then stood thinking +what I could be at next, when I caught Lizzy Green's eye turned to me in +an appealing, reproachful sort of way, that seemed to say as plainly as +could be: "Can't you do anything?" when all at once Measles shouts out: +"'Arry, 'Arry!" and Harry Lant came up at the double, having been busy +carrying arms out of the guard-room rack. + +It was at one and the same moment that Harry Lant saw what was wrong, +and that a cold dull chill ran through me, for I saw Lizzy clasp her +hands together in a sort of thankful way, and it seemed to me then, as +Harry ran up to the elephant that he was always to be put before me, and +that I was nobody, and the sooner I was out of the way the better. + +All the same, though, I couldn't help admiring the way Harry ran up to +the great brute, and did what none of us could manage. I quite hated +him, I know, but yet I was proud of my mate, as he went up and says +something to _Nabob_, and the elephant stands still. "Put him down," +says Harry, pointing to the ground; and the great flesh-mountain puts +the little fellow down. "Now then," says Harry, to the honour of the +ladies, "pick him up again;" and in a twinkling the great thing whips +the boy up once more. "Now, bring him up to the colonel's lady." Well, +if you'll believe me, if the great thing didn't follow Harry like a +lamb, and carry the child up to where, half fainting, knelt poor Mrs +Maine. "Now, put him down," says Harry; and the next moment little +Clive Maine--Cock Robin, as we called him--was being hugged to his +mother's breast. "Now go down on your knees, and beg the ladies' +pardon," says Harry laughing. Down goes the elephant, and stops there, +making a queer chuntering noise the while. "Says he's very sorry, +ma'am, and won't do so no more," says Harry, serious as a judge; and in +a moment, half laughing, half crying, Mrs Maine caught hold of Harry's +hand, and kissed it, and then held it for a moment to her breast sobbing +hysterically as she did so. + +"God bless you! You're a good man," she cried; and then she broke down +altogether; and Miss Ross, and Mrs Bantem, and Lizzy got round her, and +helped her in. + +I could see that Harry was touched, for one of his lips shook; but he +tried to keep up the fun of the thing; and turning to the elephant, he +says out loud: "Now, get up, and go back to the hay; and don't you come +no more of those games, that's all." + +The elephant got up directly, making a grunting noise as he did so. + +"Why not?" says Harry, making-believe that that was what the great beast +said. "Because, if you do, I'll smash you. There!" + +Officers and men, they all burst out laughing, to see little Harry +Lant--a chap so little that he wouldn't have been in the regiment only +that men were scarce, and the standard was very low when he listed--to +see him standing shaking his fist at the great monster, one of whose +legs was bigger than Harry altogether--stand shaking his fist in its +face, and then take hold of the soft trunk and lead him away. + +Perhaps I did, perhaps I didn't, but I thought I caught sight of a +glance passing between Lizzy Green, now at one window, and Harry, +leading off the elephant; but all the same I felt that jealous of him, +and to hate him so that I could have quarrelled with him about nothing. +It seemed as if he was always to come before me. + +And I wasn't the only one jealous of Harry, for no sooner was the court +pretty well empty, than he came slowly up towards me, in spite of my +sour black looks, which he wouldn't notice; but before he could get to +me, Chunder Chow, the mahout, goes up to the elephant, muttering and +spiteful-like, with his hook-spear thing, that mahouts use to drive +with; and being, I suppose, put out, and jealous, and annoyed at his +authority being taken away, and another man doing what he couldn't, he +gives the elephant a kick in the leg, and then hits him viciously with +his iron hook thing. + +Well! Bless you! it didn't take an instant, and it seemed to me that +the elephant only gave that trunk of his a gentle swing against +Chunder's side, and he was a couple of yards off, rolling over and over +in the hay scattered about. + +Up he jumps, wild as wild; and the first thing he catches sight of is +Harry laughing fit to crack his sides, when Chunder rushes at him like a +mad bull. + +I suppose he expected to see Harry turn tail and run; but that being one +of those things not included in drill, and a British soldier having a +good deal of the machine about him, Harry stands fast, and Chunder pulls +up short, grinning rolling his eyes, and twisting his hands about, just +for all the world like as if he was robbing a hen-roost, and wringing +all the chickens' necks. + +"Didn't hurt much, did it, blacky?" says Harry coolly. But the mahout +couldn't speak for rage; and he kept spitting on the ground, and making +signs, till really his face was anything but pretty to look at. And +there he kept on, till, from laughing, Harry turned a bit nasty, for +there was some one looking out of a window; and from being half-amused +at what was going on, I once more felt all cold and bitter. But Harry +fires up now, and makes towards Mr Chunder, who begins to retreat; and +says Harry: "Now I tell you what it is, young man; I never did you any +ill turn; and if I choose to have a bit of fun with the elephant, it's +government property, and as much mine as yours. But look ye here--if +you come cussing, and spitting, and swearing at me again in your nasty +heathen dialect, why, if I don't--No," he says, stopping short, and +half-turning to me, "I can't black his eyes, Isaac, for they're black +enough already; but let him come any more of it, and, jiggermaree, if I +don't bung 'em!" + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER EIGHT. + +Chunder didn't like the looks of Harry, I suppose, so he walked off, +turning once to spit and curse, like that turncoat chap, Shimei, that +you read of in the Bible; and we two walked off together towards our +quarters. + +"I ain't going to stand any of his nonsense," says Harry. + +"It's bad making enemies now, Harry," I said gruffly. And just then up +comes Measles, who had been relieved, for his spell was up now; and +another party were on, else he would have had to be in the guard-room. + +"There never was such an unlucky beggar as me," says Measles. "If a +chance does turn up for earning a bit promotion, it's always some one +else gets it. Come on, lads, and let's see what Mother Bantem's got in +the pot." + +"You'll perhaps have a chance before long of earning your bit of +promotion without going out," I says. + +"Ike Smith's turned prophet and croaker in ornary," says Harry, +laughing. "I believe he expects we're going to have a new siege of +Seringapatam here, only back'ards way on." + +"Only wish some of 'em would come this way," says Measles grimly; and he +made a sort of offer, and a hit out at some imaginary enemy. + +"Here they are," says Joe Bantem, as we walked in. "Curry for dinner, +lads--look alive." + +"What, my little hero!" says Mrs Bantem, fetching Harry one of her +slaps on the back. "My word, you're in fine plume with the colonel's +lady." + +Slap came her hand down again on Harry's back; and as soon as he could +get wind: "Oh, I say, don't," says Harry. "Thank goodness, I ain't a +married man.--Is she often as affectionate as this with you, Joe?" + +Joe Bantem laughed; and soon after we were all making, in spite of +threatened trouble and disappointment, an uncommonly hearty dinner, for, +if there ever was a woman who could make a good curry, it was Mrs +Bantem; and many's the cold winter's day I've stood in Facet's door +there in Bond Street, and longed for a plateful. Pearls stewed in +sunshine, Harry Lant used to call it; and really to see the beautiful, +glistening, white rice, every grain tender as tender, and yet dry and +ready to roll away from the others--none of your mesh-posh rice, if Mrs +Bantem boiled it--and then the rich golden curry itself: there, I've +known that woman turn one of the toughest old native cocks into what +you'd have sworn was a delicate young Dorking chick--that is, so long as +you didn't get hold of a drumstick, which perhaps would be a bit ropey. +That woman was a regular blessing to our mess, and we fellows said so, +many a time. + +One, two, three days passed without any news, and we in our quarters +were quiet as if thousands of miles from the rest of the world. The +town kept as deserted as ever, and it seemed almost startling to me when +I was posted sentry on the roof, after looking out over the wide, sandy, +dusty plain, over which the sunshine was quivering and dancing, to peer +down amongst the little ramshackle native huts without a sign of life +amongst them, and it took but little thought for me to come to the +conclusion that the natives knew of something terrible about to happen, +and had made that their reason for going away. Though, all the same, it +might have been from dread lest we should seek to visit upon them and +theirs the horrors that had elsewhere befallen the British. + +I used often to think, too, that Captain Dyer had some such feelings as +mine, for he looked very, very serious and anxious, and he'd spend hours +on the roof with his glass, Miss Ross often being by his side, while +Lieutenant Leigh used to watch them in a strange way, when he thought no +one was observing him. + +I've often thought that when people are touched with that queer +complaint folks call love, they get into a curious half-delirious way, +that makes them fancy that people are nearly blind, and have their eyes +shut to what they do or say. I fancy there was something of this kind +with Miss Ross, and I'm sure there was with me when I used to go hanging +about, trying to get a word with Lizzy; and, of course, shut up as we +all were then, often having the chance, but getting seldom anything but +a few cold answers, and a sort of show of fear of me whenever I was near +to her. + +But what troubled me as much as anything was the behaviour of the four +Indians we had shut up with us--Chunder Chow, the old black nurse, and +two more--for they grew more uppish and bounceable every day, refusing +to work, until Captain Dyer had one of the men tied up to the triangles +and flogged down in a great cellar or vault-place that there was under +the north end of the palace, so that the ladies and women shouldn't hear +his cries. He deserved all he got, as I can answer for, and that made +the rest a little more civil, but not for long and, just the day before +something happened, I took the liberty of saluting Captain Dyer, after +he had been giving me some orders, and took that chance of speaking my +mind. + +"Captain," I says, "I don't think those black folks are to be trusted." + +"Neither do I, Smith," he says. "But what have you to tell me?" + +"Nothing at all, captain, only that I have my eye on them; and I've been +thinking that they must somehow or another have held communication +outside; and I don't like it, for those people don't get what we call +cheeky without cause." + +"Keep both eyes on them then, Smith," says Captain Dyer, smiling, "and, +no matter what it is--if it is the most trivial thing in any way +connected with them, report it." + +"I will, sir," I says; and the very next day, much against the grain, I +did have something to report. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER NINE. + +The next morning was hotter, I think, than ever, with no prospect either +of rain or change; and, after doing what little work I had to get over, +it struck me that I might as well attend to what Captain Dyer advised-- +give two eyes to Chunder and his friends; so I left Mrs Bantem busy +over her cooking, and went down into the court. + +All below was as still as death--sunshine here, shadow there, but, +through one of the windows, open to catch the least breeze that might be +on the way, and taking in instead the hot, sultry air, came now and then +the silvery laughter of the children--that pleasant cheery sound that +makes the most rugged old face grow a trifle smoother. + +I looked here, and I looked there, but could only see old _Nabob_ +amusing himself with the hay, a sentry on the roof to the east, and +another on the roof to the west, and one in the gateway, broiling +almost, all of them, with the heat. + +The ladies and the children were seldom seen now, for they were in +trouble; and Mrs Maine was worn almost to skin and bone with anxiety, +as she sat waiting for tidings of the expedition. + +Not knowing what to do with myself I sauntered along by where there was +a slip of shade, and entered the south side of the palace--an old +half-ruinous part; and after going first into one, and then into another +of the bare empty rooms, I picked out what seemed to be the coolest +corner I could find, sat down with my back propped against the wall, +filled and lit my pipe, and then putting things together in my mind, +thoroughly enjoyed a good smoke. + +There was something wonderfully soothing in that bit of tobacco, and it +appeared to me cooling, comforting, and to make my bit of a love-affair +seem not so bad as it was. So, on the strength of that, I refilled, and +was about halfway through another pipe, when things began to grow very +dim round about me, and I was wandering about in my dreams, and nodding +that head of mine in the most curious and wild way you can think of. +What I dreamed about most was about getting married to Lizzy Green; and +in what must have been a very short space, that event was coming off at +least half-a-dozen times over, only _Nabob_, the elephant, would come in +at an awkward time and put a stop to it. But at last, in my dreamy +fashion, it seemed to me that matters were smoothed over, and he +consented to put down the child, and, flapping his ears, promised he'd +say yes. But in my stupid, confused muddle, I thought that he'd no +sooner put down the child with his trunk than he wheeled round and took +him up with his tail; and so on, backwards and forwards, when, getting +quite out of patience, I caught Lizzy's hand in mine, saying: "Never +mind the elephant--let's have it over;" and she gave a sharp scream. + +I jumped to my feet, biting off, half swallowing a bit of pipe-shank as +I did so, and then stood drenched with perspiration, listening to a +scuffling noise in the next room; when, shaking off the stupid confused +feeling, I ran towards the door just as another scream--not a loud, but +a faint excited scream--rang in my ears, and the next moment Lizzy Green +was sobbing and crying in my arms, and that black thief Chunder was +crawling on his hands and knees to the door, where he got up, holding +his fist to his mouth, and then he turned upon me such a look as I have +never forgotten. + +I don't wonder at the people of old painting devils with black faces, +for I don't know anything more devilish-looking than a black's phiz when +it is drawn with rage, and the eyes are rolling about, now all black +flash, now all white, while the grinning ivories below seem to be +grinding and ready to tear you in pieces. + +It was after that fashion that Chunder looked at me as he turned at the +door; but I was then only thinking of the trembling, frightened girl I +held in my arms, trying at the same time to whisper a few gentle words, +while I had hard work to keep from pressing my lips to her white +forehead. + +But the next minute she disengaged herself from my grasp, and held out +her little white hand to me, thanking me as sweetly as thanks could be +given. + +"Perhaps you had better not say a word about it," she whispered. "He's +come under pretence of seeing the nurse, and been rude to me once or +twice before. I came here to sit at that window with my work, and did +not see him come behind me." + +I started as she spoke about that open window, for it looked out upon +the spot where I sometimes stood sentry; but then, Harry Lant sometimes +stood just in the same place, and I don't know whether it was a strange +impression caused by his coming, that made me think of him, but just +then there were footsteps, and, with his pipe in his mouth, and +fatigue-jacket all unbuttoned, Harry entered the room. + +"Beg pardon; didn't know it was engaged," he says lightly, as he stepped +back; and then he stopped, for Lizzy called to him by his name. + +"Please walk back with me to Mrs Maine's quarters," she said softly; +and once more holding her hand out to me, with her eyes cast down, she +thanked me; and the question I had been asking myself--Did she love +Harry Lant better than me?--was to my mind answered, and I gave a groan +as I saw them walk off together, for it struck me then that they had +engaged to meet in that room, only Harry Lant was late. + +"Never mind," I says to myself; "I've done a comrade a good turn." And +then I thought more and more of there being a feeling in the blacks' +minds that their hour was coming, or that ill-looking scoundrel would +never have dared to insult a white woman in open day. + +Ten minutes after, I was on my way to Captain Dyer, for, in spite of +what Lizzy had said, I felt that, being under orders, it was my duty to +report all that occurred with the blacks; for we might at any time have +been under siege, and to have had unknown and treacherous enemies in the +camp would have been ruin indeed. + +"Well, Smith," he said, smiling as I entered and saluted, "what news of +the enemy?" + +"Not much, sir," I said; what I had to tell, going, as I have before +said, very much against the grain. "I was in one of the empty rooms on +the south side, when I heard a scream, and running up, I found it was +Miss Ross." + +"What!" he roared, in a voice that would have startled a stronger man +than I. + +"Miss Ross's maid, sir, with that black fellow Chunder, the mahout, +trying to kiss her." + +"Well!" he said, with a black angry look overspreading his face. + +"Well, sir," I said, feeling quite red as I spoke, "he kissed my fist +instead--that's all." + +Captain Dyer began to walk up and down, playing with one of the buttons +on his breast as was his way when eager and excited. + +"Now, Smith," he said at last, stopping short before me, "what does that +mean?" + +"Mean, sir?" I said, feeling quite as excited as himself. "Well, sir, +if you ask me, I say that if it was in time of peace and quiet, it would +only mean that it was a bit of his black--I beg your pardon, captain," I +says, stopping short, for, you see, it was quite time. + +"Go on, Smith," he said quietly. + +"His black impudence, sir." + +"But, as it is not in time of peace and quiet, Smith?" he said, looking +me through and through. + +"Well, sir," I said, "I don't want to croak, nor for other people to +believe what I say; but it seems to me that that black fellow's kicking +out of the ranks means a good deal; and I take it that he is excited +with the news that he has somehow got hold of--news that is getting into +his head like so much green 'rack. I've thought of it some little time +now, sir; and--it strikes me that if, instead of our short company being +Englishmen, they were all Chunder Chows, before to-morrow morning, +begging your pardon, Captain Dyer and Lieutenant Leigh would have said +`Right wheel' for the last time." + +"And the women and children!" he muttered softly: but I heard him. + +He did not speak then for quite half a minute, when he turned to me with +a pleasant smile. + +"But you see, though, Smith," he said, "our short company is made up of +different stuff; and therefore there's some hope for us yet; but--Ah, +Leigh, did you hear what he said?" + +"Yes," said the lieutenant, who had been standing at the door for a few +moments, scowling at us both. + +"Well, what do you think?" said Captain Dyer. + +"Think?" said Lieutenant Leigh contemptuously, as he turned +away--"nothing!" + +"But," said Captain Dyer quietly, "really I think there is much truth in +what he, an observant man, says." + +There was a challenge from the roof just then; and we all went out to +find that a mounted man was in sight; and on the captain making use of +his glass, I heard him tell Lieutenant Leigh that it was an orderly +dragoon. + +A few minutes after, it was plain enough to everybody; and soon, man and +horse dead beat, the orderly with a despatch trotted into the court. + +It was a sight worth seeing, to look upon Mrs Maine clutching at the +letter enclosed for her in Captain Dyer's despatch. Poor woman! it was +a treasure to her--one that made her pant as she hurriedly snatched it +from the captain's hand, for all formality was forgotten in those days; +and then she hurried away to where her sister was waiting to hear the +news. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TEN. + +The orderly took back a despatch from Captain Dyer, starting at daybreak +the next morning; but before then, we all knew that matters were getting +to wear a terrible aspect. At first, I had been disposed to think that +the orderly was romancing, and giving us a few travellers' tales; but I +soon found out that he was in earnest; and more than once I felt a +shiver as he sat with our mess, telling us of how regiment after +regiment had mutinied and murdered their officers; how station after +station had been plundered, collectors butchered, and their wives and +daughters sometimes cut down, sometimes carried off by the wretches, who +had made a sport of throwing infants from one to the other on their +bayonets. + +"I never had any children," sobbed Mrs Bantem then; "and I never wished +to have any; for they're not right for soldiers' wives; but only to +think--the poor sweet, suffering little things. Oh, if I'd only been a +man, and been there!" + +We none of us said anything; but I believe all thought as I did, that if +Mrs Bantem had been there, she'd have done as much--ah, perhaps more-- +than some men would have done. Often, since then, as I think of it, and +recall it from the bygone, there I can see Mother Bantem--though why we +called her mother, I don't know, unless it was because she was like a +mother to us--with her great strapping form; and think of the way in +which she-- + +Halt! Retire by fours from the left. + +Just in time; for I find handling my pen's like handling a +commander-in-chief's staff and that I've got letters which make words, +which make phrases, which make sentences, which make paragraphs, which +make chapters, which make up the whole story: and that is for all the +world like the army with its privates made into companies, and +battalions, and regiments, and brigades. Well, there you are: if you +don't have discipline, and every private in his right place, where are +you? Just so with me; my words were coming out in the wrong places, and +in another minute I should have spoiled my story, by letting you know +what was coming at the wrong time. + +Well, we all felt very deeply the news brought in by that orderly, for +soldiers are not such harum-scarum roughs as some people seem to +imagine. For the most part, they're men with the same feelings as +civilians; and I don't think many of us slept very sound that night, +feeling as we did what a charge we had, and that we might be attacked at +any time; and a good deal of my anxiety was on account of Lizzy Green; +for even if she wouldn't be my wife, but Harry Lant's, I could not help +taking a wonderful deal of interest in her. + +But all the same it was a terribly awkward time, as you must own, for +falling in love; and I don't know hardly whom I pitied most, Captain +Dyer or myself; but think I had more leanings towards number one, +because Captain Dyer was happy; though, perhaps, I might have been; only +like lots more hot sighing noodles, I never once thought of asking the +girl if she'd have me. As for Lieutenant Leigh, I never once thought of +giving him a bit of pity, for I did not think he deserved it. + +Well, the trooper started off at daybreak, so as to get well on his +journey in the early morning; and about an hour after he was gone, I had +a fancy to go into the old ruined room again, where there was the bit of +a scene I've told you of. My orders from Captain Dyer were, to watch +Chunder strictly, both as to seeing that he did not again insult any of +the women, and also to see if he had any little game of his own that he +was playing on the sly; for though Lieutenant Leigh, on being told, +pooh-poohed it all, and advised a flogging, Captain Dyer had his +suspicions--stronger ones, it seemed, than mine; and hence my orders and +my being excused from mounting guard. + +It was all very still, and cool, and quiet as I walked from room to +room, slowly and thoughtfully, stopping to pick up my broken pipe, which +lay where I had dropped it; and then going on into the next room, where, +under the window, lay the bit of cotton cobweb and cat's-cradle work +Lizzy had been doing, and had left behind. I gave a bit of a gulp as I +picked that up, and I was tucking it inside my jacket when I stopped +short, for I thought I heard a whisper. + +I listened, and there it was again--a low, earnest whispering of first +one and then another voice in the next room, whose wide broken doorway +stood open, for there wasn't a bit of woodwork left. + +I have heard about people saying, that in some great surprise or fright, +their hearts stood still; but I don't believe it, because it always +strikes me that when a person's heart does stand still, it never goes on +again. All the same, though, my heart felt then as if it did stand +still with the dead, dull, miserable feeling that came upon me. Only to +think that on this, the second time I had come through these ruined +rooms, and they were here again! It was plain enough Harry Lant and +Lizzy made this their meeting-place, and only they knew how many times +they'd met before. + +Time back, I could have laughed at the idea of me, a great strapping +fellow, feeling as I did; but now I felt very wretched; and as I thought +of Harry Lant kissing those bright red lips, and looking into those deep +dark eyes, and being let pass his hand over the glossy hair, with the +prospect of some day calling it all his own, I did not burn all over +with a mad rage and passion, but it was like a great grief coming upon +me, so that, if it hadn't been for being a man, I could have sat down +and cried. + +I should think ten minutes passed, and the whispering still went on, +when I said to myself: "Be a man, Isaac; if she likes him better, hasn't +she a right to her pick?" But still I felt very miserable as I turned +to go away, when a something, said a little louder than the rest, +stopped me. + +"That ain't English," I says to myself. "What! surely she's not +listening to that black scoundrel?" + +I was red-hot then in a moment; and as to thinking whether this or that +was straightforward, or whether I was playing the spy, or anything of +that sort, such an idea never came into my head. Chunder was evidently +talking to Lizzy Green in that room; and for a few seconds I felt blind +with a sort of jealous savage rage--against her, mind, now; and going on +tip-toe, I looked round the doorway, so as to see as well as hear. + +I was back in an instant with a fresh set of sensations busy in my +breast. It was Chunder, but he was alone; there was no Lizzy there; and +I don't know whether my heart beat then for joy at knowing it, or for +shame at myself for having thought such a thing of her. + +What did it mean, then? + +I did not have to ask myself the question twice, for the answer came-- +Treachery! And stealing to the slit of window in the room I was in, I +peeped cautiously out in time to see Chunder throwing out what looked +like a white packet. I could see his arm move as he threw it down to a +man in a turban--a dark wiry-looking rascal; and in those few seconds I +seemed to read that packet word for word, though no doubt the writing +was in one of the native dialects, and my reading of it was, that it was +a correct list of the defenders of the place, the women and children, +and what arms and ammunition there were stored up. + +It was all plain enough, and the villain was sending it by a man who +must have brought him tidings of some kind. + +What was I to do? That man ought to be stopped at all hazards; and what +I ought to have done was to steal back, give the alarm, and let a party +go round to try and cut him off. + +That's what I ought to have done; but I never did have much judgment. + +Now for what I did do. + +Slipping back from the window, I went cautiously to the doorway, and +entered the old room where Chunder was standing at the window; and I +went in so quietly, and he was so intent, that I had crept close, and +was in the act of leaping on to him before he turned round and tried to +avoid me. + +He was too late, though, for with a bound I was on him, pinioning his +hands, and holding him down on the window-sill, with his head half out, +as bearing down upon him, I leaned out as far as I could, yelling out: +"Sentry in the next roof, mark man below. Stop him, or fire." + +The black fellow below drew a long, awkward-looking pistol, and aimed at +me, but only for a moment. Perhaps he was afraid of killing Chunder, +for the next instant he had stuck the pistol back in his calico belt, +and, with head stooped, was running as hard as he could run, when I +could hardly contain myself for rage, knowing as I did how important it +was for him to have been stopped. + +"Bang!" + +A sharp report from the roof, and the fellow made a bound. + +Was he hit? + +No: he only seemed to run the faster. + +"Bang!" + +Another report as the runner came in sight of the second sentry. + +But I saw no more, for all my time was taken up with Chunder; for as the +second shot rang out, he gave a heave, and nearly sent me through the +open window. + +It was by a miracle almost that I saved myself from breaking my neck, +for it was a good height from the ground; but I held on to him tightly +with a clutch such as he never had on his arms and neck before; and +then, with a strength for which I shouldn't have given him credit, he +tussled with me, now tugging to get away, now to throw me from the +window, his hot breath beating all the time upon my cheeks, and his +teeth grinning, and eyes rolling savagely. + +It was only a spurt, though, and I soon got the better of him. + +I don't want to boast, but I suppose our cold northern bone and muscle +are tougher and stronger than theirs; and at the end of five minutes, +puffing and blown, I was sitting on his chest, taking a paper from +inside his calico. + +That laid me open; for, like a flash, I saw then that he had a knife in +one hand, while before another thought could pass through my mind, it +was sticking through my jacket and the skin of my ribs, and my fist was +driven down against his mouth for him to kiss for the second time in his +life. + +Next minute, Captain Dyer and a dozen men were in the room, Chunder was +handcuffed and marched off, and the captain was eagerly questioning me. + +"But is that fellow shot down or taken--the one outside?" I asked. + +"Neither," said Captain Dyer; "and it is too late now: he has got far +enough away." + +Then I told him what I had seen, and he looked at the packet, his brow +knitting as he tried to make it out. + +"I ought to have come round, and given, the alarm, captain," I said +bitterly. + +"Yes, my good fellow, you ought," he said; "and I ought to have had that +black scoundrel under lock and key days ago. But it is too late now to +talk of what ought to have been done; we must talk of what there is to +do.--But are you hurt?" + +"He sent his knife through my jacket, sir," I said, "but it's only a +scratch on the skin;" and fortunately that's what it proved to be, for +we had no room for wounded men. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +An hour of council, and then another--our two leaders not seeming to +agree as to the extent of the coming danger. Challenge from the west +roof: "Orderly in sight." + +Sure enough, a man on horseback riding very slowly, and as if his horse +was dead beat. + +"Surely it isn't that poor fellow come back, because his horse has +failed? He ought to have walked on," said Captain Dyer. + +"Same man," said Lieutenant Leigh, looking through his glass; and before +very long, the poor fellow who had gone away at daybreak rode slowly up +to the gate, was admitted, and then had to be helped from his horse, +giving a great sobbing groan as it was done. + +"In here, quick!" I said, for I thought I heard the ladies' voices; and +we carried him in to where Mrs Bantem was, as usual, getting ready for +dinner, and there we laid him on a mattress. + +"Despatches, captain," he says, holding up the captain's letter to +Colonel Maine. "They didn't get that. They were too many for me. I +dropped one, though, with my pistol, and cut my way through the others." + +As he spoke, I untwisted his leather sword-knot, which was cutting into +his wrist, for his hacked and blood-stained sabre was hanging from his +hand. + +"Wouldn't go back into the scabbard," he said faintly; and then with a +harsh gasp: Water--water! + +He revived then a bit; and as Captain Dyer and Mrs Bantem between them +were attending to, and binding up his wounds, he told us how he had been +set upon ten miles off, and been obliged to fight his way back; and, +poor chap, he had fought; for there were no less than ten lance-wounds +in his arms, thighs, and chest, from a slight prick up to a horrible +gash, deep and long enough, it seemed to me, to let out half-a-dozen +poor fellows' souls. + +Just in the middle of it, I saw Captain Dyer start and look strange, for +there was a shadow came across where we were kneeling; and the next +instant he was standing between Miss Ross and the wounded man. + +"Pray, go, dear Elsie; this is no place for you," I heard him whisper to +her. + +"Indeed, Lawrence," she whispered, "am I not a soldier's daughter? I +ought to say this is no place for you. Go, and make your arrangements +for our defence." + +I don't think any one but me saw the look of love she gave him as she +took sponge and lint from his hand, pressing it as she did so, and then +her pale face lit up with a smile as she met his eyes; the next moment +she was kneeling by the wounded trooper, and in a quiet firm way helping +Mrs Bantem, in a manner that made her, poor woman, stare with +astonishment. + +"God bless you, my darling," she whispered to her, as soon as they had +done, and the poor fellow was lying still--a toss-up with him whether it +should be death or life; and I saw Mrs Bantem take Miss Ross's soft +white hand between her two great rough hard palms, and kiss it just +once. + +"And I'd always been abusing and running her down for a fine madam, good +for nothing but to squeak songs, and be looked at," Mrs Bantem said to +me, a little while after. "Why, Isaac Smith, we shall be having that +little maid shewing next that there's something in her." + +"And why not?" I said gruffly. + +"Ah, to be sure," says she, with a comical look out of one eye; "why +not? But, Isaac, my lad," she said sadly, and looking at me very +earnestly, "I'm afraid there's sore times coming; and if so, God in +heaven help those poor bairns! Oh, if I'd been a man, and been there!" +she cried, as she recollected what the trooper had told us; and she +shook her fist fiercely in the air. "It's what I always did say: +soldiers' wives have no business to have children; and it's rank cruelty +to the poor little things to bring them into the world." + +Mrs Bantem then went off to see to her patient, while I walked into the +court, wondering what would come next, and whether, in spite of all the +little bitternesses and grumbling, everybody, now some of the stern +realities of life were coming upon us, would shew up the bright side of +his or her nature and somehow I got very hopeful that they would. + +I felt just then that I should have much liked to have a few words with +Lizzy Green, but I had no chance, for it was a busy time with us. +Captain Dyer felt strongly enough his responsibility, and not a minute +did he lose in doing all he could for our defence; so that after an +anxious day, with nothing more occurring, when I looked round at what +had been done in barricading and so on, it seemed to me, speaking as a +soldier, that, as far as I could judge, there was nothing more to be +done, though still the feeling would come home to me that it was a great +place for forty men to defend, if attacked by any number. Captain Dyer +must have seen that, for he had arranged to have a sort of citadel at +the north end by the gateway, and this was to be the last refuge, where +all the ammunition and food and no end of chatties of water were stowed +down in the great vault-place, which went under this part of the +building and a good deal of the court. Then the watch was set, trebled +this time, on roof and at window, and we waited impatiently for the +morning. Yes, we all of us, I believe, waited impatiently for the +morning, when I think if we had known all that was to come, we should +have knelt down and prayed for the darkness to keep on hour after hour, +for days, and weeks, and months, sooner than the morning should have +broke as it did upon a rabble of black faces, some over white clothes, +some over the British uniform that they had disgraced; and as I, who was +on the west roof, heard the first hum of their coming, and caught the +first glimpse of the ragged column, I gave the alarm, setting my teeth +hard as I did so; for, after many years of soldiering, I was now for the +first time to see a little war in earnest. + +Captain Dyer's first act on the alarm being given was to double the +guard over the three blacks, now secured in the strongest room he could +find, the black nurse being well looked after by the women. Then, quick +almost as thought, every man was at the post already assigned to him; +the women and children were brought into the corner rooms by the gates, +and then we waited excitedly for what should follow. The captain now +ordered me out of the little party under a sergeant, and made me his +orderly, and so it happened that always being with or about him, I knew +how matters were going on, and was always carrying the orders, now to +Lieutenant Leigh, now to this sergeant or that corporal; but at the +first offset of the defence of the old place, there was a dispute +between captain and lieutenant; and I'm afraid it was maintained by the +last out of obstinacy, and just at a time when there should have been +nothing but pulling together for the sake of all concerned. I must say, +though, that there was right on both sides. + +Lieutenant Leigh put it forward as his opinion that short of men as we +were, it was folly to keep four enemies under the same roof, who were +likely at any time to overpower the one or two sentries placed over +them; while, if there was nothing to fear in that way, there was still +the necessity of shortening our defensive forces by a couple of valuable +men. + +"What would you do with them, then?" said Captain Dyer. + +"Set them at liberty," said Lieutenant Leigh. + +"I grant all you say, in the first place," said the captain; "but our +retaining them is a sheer necessity." + +"Why?" said Lieutenant Leigh, with a sneer; and I must say that at first +I held with him. + +"Because," said the captain sternly, "if we set them at liberty, we +increase our enemies' power, not merely with three men, but with +scoundrels who can give them the fullest information of our defences, +over and above that of which I am afraid they are already possessed. +The matter will not bear further discussion--Lieutenant Leigh, go now to +your post, and do your duty to the best of your power." + +Lieutenant Leigh did not like this, and he frowned but Captain Dyer was +his superior officer, and it was his duty to obey, so of course he did. + +Now, our position was such, that, say, a hundred men with a field-piece +could have knocked a wing in, and then carried us by assault with ease; +but though our enemies were full two hundred and fifty, and many of them +drilled soldiers, pieces you may say of a great machine, fortunately for +us, there was no one to put that machine together, and set it in motion. +We soon found that out, for, instead of making the best of things, and +taking possession of buildings--sheds and huts--here and there, from +which to annoy us, they came up in a mob to the gate, and one fellow on +a horse--a native chief, he seemed to be--gave his sword a wave, and +half-a-dozen sowars round him did the same, and then they called to us +to surrender. + +Captain Dyer's orders were to act entirely on the defensive, and to fire +no shot till we had the word, leaving them to commence hostilities. + +"For," said he, speaking to all the men, "it may be a cowardly policy +with such a mutinous set in front of us, but we have the women and +children to think of; therefore, our duty is to hold the foe at bay, and +when we do fire, to make every shot tell. Beating them off is, I fear, +impossible, but we may keep them out till help comes." + +"Wouldn't it be advisable, sir, try and send off another despatch?" I +said; "there's the trooper's horse." + +"Where?" said Captain Dyer, with a smile. "That has already been +thought of Smith; and Sergeant Jones, the only good horseman we have, +went off at two o'clock, and by this time is, I hope, out of danger.-- +Good heavens! what does that mean?" he said, using his glass. + +It was curious that I should have thought of such a thing just then, at +a time when four sowars led up Sergeant Jones tied by a piece of rope to +one of their saddle-bows, while the trooper's horse was behind. + +Captain Dyer would not shew, though, that he was put out by the failure +of that hope: he only passed the word for the men to stand firm, and +then sent me with a message to Mrs Colonel Maine, requesting that every +one should keep right away from the windows, as the enemy might open +fire at any time. + +He was quite right, for just as I knocked at Mrs Maine's door, a +regular squandering, scattering fire began, and you could hear the +bullets striking the wall with a sharp pat, bringing down showers of +white lime-dust and powdered stone. + +I found Mrs Maine seated on the floor with her children, pale and +trembling, the little things the while laughing and playing over some +pictures. Miss Ross was leaning over her sister, and Lizzy Green was +waiting to give the children something else when they were tired. + +As the rattle of the musketry began, it was soon plain enough to see who +had the stoutest hearts; but I seemed to be noticing nothing, though I +did a great deal, and listened to Mrs Bantem's voice in the next room, +bullying and scolding a woman for crying out loud and upsetting +everybody else. + +I gave my message, and then Miss Ross asked me if any one was hurt, to +which I answered as cheerfully as could be that we were all right as +yet; and then, taking myself off, Lizzy Green came with me to the door, +and I held out my hand to say "Good-bye," for I knew it was possible I +might never see her again. She gave me her hand, and said "Good-bye," +in a faltering sort of way, and it seemed to me that she shrank from me. +The next instant, though, there was the rattling crash of the firing, +and I knew now that our men were answering. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWELVE. + +As I went down into the court-yard, I found the smoke rising in puffs as +our men fired over the breastwork at the mob coming at the gate. +Captain Dyer in the thick of it the while, going from man to man, +warning them to keep themselves out of sight, and to aim low. + +"Take care of yourselves, my lads. I value every one of you at a +hundred of those black scoundrels.--Tut, tut, who's that down?" + +"Corporal Bray," says some one. + +"Here, Emson, Smith, both of you lend a hand here: we'll make Bantem's +quarters hospital.--Now then, look alive, ambulance party." + +We were about lifting the poor fellow, who had sunk down behind the +breastwork, all doubled up like, hands and knees; and head down; but as +we touched him, he straightened himself out, and looked up at Captain +Dyer. + +"Don't touch me yet," he says in a whisper. "My stripes for some one, +captain. Do for Isaac Smith there. Hooray!" he says faintly; and he +took off his cap with one hand, gave it a bit of a wave--"God save the +Quee--" + +"Bear him carefully to the empty ground floor, south side," says Captain +Dyer sternly; "and make haste back, my lads: moments are precious." + +"I'll do that, with Private Manning's wife," says a voice; and turning +as we were going to lift our dead comrade, there was big, strapping Mrs +Bantem, and another soldier's wife, and she then said a few words to the +captain. + +"Gone?" says Captain Dyer. + +"Quarter of an hour ago, sir," says Mrs Bantem; and then to me: "Poor +trooper, Isaac!" + +"Another man here," says Captain Dyer.--"No, not you, Smith.--Fill up +here, Bantem." + +Joe Bantem waved his hand to his wife, and took the dead corporal's +place, but not easily, for Measles, who was next man, was stepping into +it, when Captain Dyer ordered him back. + +"But there's such a much better chance of dropping one of them mounted +chaps, sir," says Measles grumbling. + +"Hold your tongue, sir, and go back to your own loophole," says Captain +Dyer; and the way that Measles kept on loading and firing, ramming down +his cartridges viciously, and then taking long and careful aim, ah! and +with good effect too, was a sight to see. + +All the while we were expecting an assault, but none came, for the +mutineers fell fast, and did not seem to dare to make a rush while we +kept up such practice. + +Then I had to go round and ask Lieutenant Leigh to send six more men to +the gate, and to bring news of what was going on round the other sides. + +I found the lieutenant standing at the window where I caught Chunder, +and there was a man each at all the other four little windows which +looked down at the outside--all the others, as I have said, looking in +upon the court. + +The lieutenant's men had a shot now and then at any one who approached; +but the mutineers seemed to have determined upon forcing the gate, and, +so far as I could see, there was very little danger to fear from any +other quarter. + +I knew Lieutenant Leigh was not a coward, but he seemed very +half-hearted over the defence, doing his duty but in a sullen sort of +way; and of course that was because he wanted to take the lead now held +by Captain Dyer; and perhaps it was misjudging him, but I'm afraid just +at that time he'd have been very glad if a shot had dropped his rival, +and he could have stepped into his place. + +Captain Dyer's plan to keep the rabble at bay till help could come, was +of course quite right; and that night it was an understood thing, that +another attempt should be made to send a messenger to Wallahbad, another +of our corporals being selected for the dangerous mission. + +The fighting was kept on, in an on-and-off way, till evening, we losing +several men, but a good many falling on the other side, which made them +more cautious, and not once did we have a chance of touching a man with +the bayonet. Some of our men grumbled a little at this, saying that it +was very hard to stand there hour after hour to be shot down; and could +they have done as they liked, they'd have made a sally. + +Then came the night, and a short consultation between the captain and +Lieutenant Leigh. The mutineers had ceased firing at sundown, and we +were in hopes that there would be a rest till daylight, but all the same +the strictest watch was kept, and only half the men lay down at a time. + +Half the night, though, had not passed, when a hand was laid upon my +shoulder, and in an instant I was up, piece in hand, to find that it was +Captain Dyer. + +"Come here," he said quietly; and following him into the room underneath +where the women were placed, he told me to listen, and I did, to hear a +low, grating, tearing noise, as of something scraping on stone. "That's +been going on," he said, "for a good hour, and I can't make it out, +Smith." + +"Prisoners escaping," I said quietly. + +"But they are not so near as that. They were confined in the next room +but one," he said in a whisper. + +"Broke through, then," I said. + +Then we went--Captain Dyer and I--quietly up on to the roof, answered +the challenge, and then walked to the edge, where, leaning over, we +could hear the dull grating noise once more; then a stone seemed to fall +out on to the sandy way by the palace walls. + +It was all plain enough: they had broken through from one room to +another, where there was a window no bigger than a loophole, and they +were widening this. + +"Quick, here, sentry," says the captain. + +The next minute the sentry hurried up, and we had a man posted as nearly +over the window as we could guess, and then I had my orders in a minute: +"Take two men and the sentry at their door, rush in, and secure them at +once. But if they have got out, join Sergeant Williams, and follow me +to act as reserve, for I am going to make a sally by the gate to stop +them from the outside." + +I roused Harry Lant and Measles, and they were with me in an instant. +We passed a couple of sentries, and gave the countersign, and then +mounted to the long stone passage which led to where the prisoners had +been placed. + +As we three privates neared the door, the sentry there challenged; but +when we came up to him and listened, there was not a sound to be heard, +neither had he heard anything, he said. The next minute the door was +thrown open, and we found an empty room; but a hole in the wall shewed +us which way the prisoners had gone. + +We none of us much liked the idea of going through that hole to be taken +at a disadvantage, but duty was duty, and running forward, I made a +sharp thrust through with my piece in two or three directions; then I +crept through, followed by Harry Lant, and found that room empty too; +but they had not gone by the doorway which led into the women's part, +but enlarged the window, and dropped down, leaving a large opening--one +that, if we had not detected it then, would no doubt have done nicely +for the entrance of a strong party of enemies. + +"Sentry here," I said; and leaving the man at the window, followed by +Harry Lant and Measles, I ran back, got down to the court-yard, crossed +to where Sergeant Williams with half-a-dozen men waited our coming, and +then we were passed through the gate, and went along at the double to +where we could hear noise and shouting. + +We had the narrow alley to go through--the one I have before mentioned +as being between the place we had strengthened and the next building; +and no sooner were we at the end, than we found we were none too soon, +for there, in the dim starlight, we could see Captain Dyer and four men +surrounded by a good score, howling and cutting at them like so many +demons, and plainly to be seen by their white calico things. + +"By your left, my lads, shoulder to shoulder--double," says the +sergeant. + +Then we gave a cheer, and with hearts bounding with excitement down we +rushed upon the scoundrels to give them their first taste of the +bayonet, cutting Captain Dyer and two more men out, just as the other +two went down. + +It was as fierce a fight that as it was short; for we soon found the +alarm spread, and enemies running up on all sides. It was bayonet-drill +then, and well we shewed the practice, till we retired slowly to the +entrance of the alley; but the pattering of feet and cries told that +there were more coming to meet us that way; when, following Captain +Dyer's orders we retreated in good form in the other direction, so as to +get round to the gate by the other alley, on the south side. + +And now for the first time we gave them a volley, checking the advance +for a few seconds, while we retreated loading, to turn again, and give +them another volley, which checked them again; but only for a few +seconds, when they came down upon us like a swarm of bees, right upon +our bayonets; and as fast as half-a-dozen fell, half-a-dozen more were +leaping upon the steel. + +We kept our line, though, one and all, retiring in good order to the +mouth of the second court, which ran down by the south side of the +palace; when, as if maddened at the idea of losing us, a whole host of +them came at us with a rush, breaking our line, and driving us anyhow, +mixed up together, down the alley, which was dark as pitch; but not so +dark but that we could make out a turban or a calico cloth, and those +bayonets of ours were used to some purpose. + +Half-a-dozen times over I heard the captain's voice cheering us on, and +shouting: "Gate, gate!" Then I saw the flash of his sword once, and +managed to pin a fellow who was making at him, just as we got out at the +other end with a fierce rush. Then I heard the captain shout, "Rally!" +and saw him wave his sword; and then I don't recollect any more, for it +was one wild fierce scuffle--stab and thrust, in the midst of a surging, +howling, maddened mob, forcing us towards the gateway. + +I thought it was all over with us, when there came a cheer, and the gate +was thrown open, a dozen men formed, and charged down, driving the +niggers back like sheep; and then, somehow or another, we were cut out, +and, under cover of the new-comers, reached the gate. + +A ringing volley was then given into the thick of the mutineers as they +came pouring on again; but the next moment all were safely inside, and +the gate was thrust to and barred; and, panting and bleeding, we stood, +six of us, trying to get our breath. + +"This wouldn't have happened," says a voice, "if my advice had been +taken. I wish the black scoundrels had been shot. Where's Captain +Dyer?" + +There was no answer, and a dead chill fell on me as I seemed to realise +that things had come now to a bad pass. + +"Where's Sergeant Williams?" said Lieutenant Leigh again; but it seemed +to me that he spoke in a husky voice. + +"Here!" said some one faintly, and, turning, there was the sergeant +seated on the ground, and supporting himself against the breastwork. + +"Any one know the other men who went out on this mad sally?" says the +lieutenant. + +"Where's Harry Lant?" I says. + +There was no answer here either, and this time it was my turn to speak +in a queer husky voice as I said again: "Where's Measles? I mean Sam +Bigley." + +"He's gone too, poor chap," says some one. + +"No, he ain't gone neither," says a voice behind me, and, turning, there +was Measles tying a handkerchief round his head, muttering the while +about some black devil. "I ain't gone, nor I ain't much hurt," he +growled; "and if I don't take it out of some on 'em for this chop o' the +head, it's a rum un; and that's all I've got to say." + +"Load!" says Lieutenant Leigh shortly; and we loaded again, and then +fired two or three volleys at the niggers as they came up towards the +gate once more; when some one calls out: "Ain't none of us going to make +a sally party, and bring in the captain?" + +"Silence there, in the ranks!" shouts Lieutenant Leigh; and though it +had a bad sound coming from him as it did, and situated as he was, no +one knew better than I did how that it would have been utter madness to +have gone out again; for even if he were alive, instead of bringing in +Captain Dyer, now that the whole mob was roused, we should have all been +cut to pieces. + +It was as if in answer to the lieutenant's order that silence seemed to +fall then, both inside and outside the palace--a silence that was only +broken now and then by the half-smothered groan of some poor fellow who +had been hurt in the sortie--though the way in which those men of ours +did bear wounds, some of them even that were positively awful, was a +something worth a line in history. + +Yes, there was a silence fell upon the place for the rest of that night, +and I remember thinking of the wounds that had been made in two poor +hearts by that bad hour's work; and I can say now, faithful and true, +that there was not a selfish thought in my heart as I remembered Lizzy +Green, any more than there was when Miss Ross came uppermost in my mind, +for I knew well enough that they must have soon known of the disaster +that had befallen our little party. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +Whatever those poor women suffered, they took care it should not be seen +by us men, and indeed we had little time to think of them the next day. +We had given ourselves the task to protect them, and we were fighting +hard to do it, and that was all we could do then; for the enemy gave us +but little peace; not making any savage attack, but harassing us in a +cruel way, every man acting like for himself, and all the discipline the +sepoys had learned seeming to be forgotten. + +As for Lieutenant Leigh, he looked cold and stern, but there was no +flinching with him now: he was in command, and he shewed it; and though +I never liked the man, I must say that he shewed himself now a brave and +clever officer; and but for his skilful arrangement of the few men under +his charge, that place would have fallen half-a-dozen times over. + +We had taken no prisoners, so that there was no chance of talking of +exchange; though I believe to a man all thought that the captain and +files missing from our company were dead. + +The women now lent us their help, bringing down spare muskets and +cartridges, loading too for us; so that when the mutineers made an +attack, we were able to keep up a much sharper fire than we should have +done under other circumstances. + +It was about the middle of the afternoon, when, hot and exhausted, we +were firing away, for the bullets were coming thick and fast through the +gateway, flying across the yard, and making a passage in that direction +nearly certain death, when I felt a strange choking feeling, for Measles +says to me all at once: "Look there, Ike." + +I looked and I could hardly believe it, and rubbed my eyes, for just in +the thickest of the firing there was the sound of merry laughter, and +those two children of the colonel's came toddling out, right across the +line of fire, turned back to look up at some one calling to them from +the window, and then stood still, laughing and clapping their hands. + +I don't know how it was, I only know that it wasn't to look brave, but, +dropping my piece, I rushed to catch them, just at the same moment as +did Miss Ross and Lizzy Green; while, directly after, Lieutenant Leigh +rushed from where he was, caught Miss Ross round the waist, and dragged +her away, as I did Lizzy and the children. + +How it was that we were none of us hit, seems strange to me, for all the +time the bullets were pattering on the wall beyond us. I only know I +turned sick and faint as I just said to Lizzy: "Thank God for that!" and +she led off the children; Miss Ross shrinking from Lieutenant Leigh with +a strange mistrustful look, as if she were afraid of him; and the next +minute they were under cover, and we were back at our posts. + +"Poor bairns!" says Measles to me, "I ain't often glad of anything, Ike +Smith, but I am glad they ain't hurt. Now my soul seemed to run and +help them myself, but my legs seemed as if they couldn't move. You need +not believe it without you like," he added in his sour way. + +"But I do believe it, old fellow," I said warmly, as I held out my hand. +"Chaff's chaff, but you never knew me make light of a good act done by +a true-hearted comrade." + +"All right," says Measles gruffly. "Now, see me pot that sowar.--Missed +him, I declare!" he exclaimed, as soon as he had fired. "These pieces +ain't true. No! hit him! He's down! That's one bairn-killer the +less." + +"Sam," I said just then, "what's that coming up between the huts +yonder?" + +"Looks like a wagin," says Measles. "'Tis a wagin, ain't it?" + +"No," I said, feeling that miserable I didn't know what to do; "it isn't +a wagon, Sam; but--Why, there's another. A couple of field-pieces!" + +"Nine-pounders, by all that's unlucky," said Measles, slapping his +thigh. "Then I tell you what it is, Ike Smith--it's about time we said +our prayers." + +I didn't answer, for the words would not come; but it was what had +always been my dread, and it seemed now that the end was very near. + +Troubles were coming upon us thick; for being relieved a short time +after, to go and have some tea that Mrs Bantem had got ready, I saw +something that made me stop short, and think of where we should be if +the water-supply was run out, for though we had the chatties down below +in the vault under the north end, we wanted what there was in the tank, +while there was _Nabob_, the great elephant, drawing it up in his trunk, +and cooling himself by squirting it all over his back! + +I went to Lieutenant Leigh, and pointed it out to him; and the great +beast was led away; when, there being nothing else for it, we opened a +way through our breastwork, watched an opportunity, threw open the gate, +and he marched out right straight in amongst the mutineers, who cheered +loudly, after their fashion, as he came up to them. + +There was no more firing that night, and taking it in turns, we, some of +us, had a sleep, I among the rest, all dressed as I was, and with my gun +in my hand, ready for use at a moment's notice; and I remember thinking +what a deal depended on the sentries, and how thoroughly our lives were +in their hands; and then my next thought was how was it possible for it +to be morning, for I had only seemed to close my eyes, and then open +them again on the light of day. + +But morning it was; and with a dull, dead feeling of misery upon me, I +got up and gave myself a shake, ran the ramrod down my piece, to see +that it was charged all right, looked to the cap, and then once more +prepared for the continuation of the struggle, low-spirited and +disheartened, but thankful for the bit of refreshing rest I had had. + +A couple of hours passed, and there was no movement on the part of the +enemy; the ladies never stirred, but we could hear the children laughing +and playing about, and how one did seem to envy the little +light-hearted, thoughtless things! But my thoughts were soon turned +into another direction, for Lieutenant Leigh ordered me up into one of +the rooms commanding the gateway, and looking out on the square where +the guns were standing, and came up with me himself. + +"You'll have a good look-out from here, Smith," he said; "and being a +good shot--" + +He didn't say any more, for he was, like me, taken up with the movement +in the square--a lot of the mutineers running the two guns forward in +front of the gate, and then closing round them, so that we could not see +what was going on; but we knew well enough that they were charging them, +and there seemed nothing for it but to let them fire, unless by a bold +sally we could get out and spike them. + +Just then, Lieutenant Leigh looked at me, and I at him, when, touching +my cap in salute, I said, "Two good nails, sir, and a tap on each would +do it." + +"Yes, Smith," he said grimly; "but who is to drive those two nails +home?" + +I didn't answer him for a minute, I should think, for I was thinking +over matters, about life, and about Lizzy, and now that Harry Lant was +gone, it seemed to me that there might be a chance for me; but still +duty was duty, and if men could not in such a desperate time as this +risk something, what was the good of soldiers? + +"I'll drive 'em home, sir," I says then quietly, "or they shall drive me +home!" + +He looked at me for an instant, and then nodded. + +"I'll get the men ready," he says; "it's our only chance; and with a +bold dash we may do it. I'll see to the armourer's chest for hammers +and spikes. I'll spike one, Smith, and you the other; but, mind, if I +fail, help me, as I will you, if you fail; and God help us! Keep a +sharp look-out till I come back." + +He left the room, and I heard a little movement below, as of the men +getting ready for the sally; and all the while I stood watching the +crowd in front, which now began hurrahing and cheering; and there was a +motion which shewed that the guns were being run in nearer, till they +stopped about fifty yards from the gate. + +"What makes him so long?" I thought, trembling with excitement; +"another minute, perhaps, and the gate will be battered down, and that +mob rushing in." + +Then I thought that we ought all who escaped from the sortie, in case of +failure, to be ready to take to the rooms adjoining where I was, which +would be our last hope; and then I almost dropped my piece, my mouth +grew dry, and I seemed choked, for, with a loud howl, the crowd opened +out, and I saw a sight that made my blood run cold--those two +nine-pounders standing with a man by each breech, smoking linstock in +hand; while bound, with their backs against the muzzles, and their white +faces towards us, were Captain Dyer and Harry Lant! + +One spark--one touch of the linstock on the breech--and those two brave +fellows' bodies would be blown to atoms; and, as I expected that every +moment such would be the case, my knees knocked together; but the next +moment I was down on those shaking knees, my piece made ready, and a +good aim taken, so that I could have dropped one of the gunners before +he was able to fire. + +I hesitated for a moment before I made up my mind which to try and save, +and the thought of Lizzy Green came in my mind, and I said to myself: "I +love her too well to give her pain," when, giving up Captain Dyer, I +aimed at the gunner by poor Harry Lant. + +"Don't fire," said a voice just then, and, turning, there was Lieutenant +Leigh. "The black-hearted wretches!" he muttered. "But we are all +ready; though now, if we start, it will be the signal for the death of +those two.--But what does this mean?" + +What made him say that, was a chief all in shawls, who rode forward and +shouted out in good English, that they gave us one hour to surrender; +but, at the end of that time, if we had not marched out without arms, +they would blow their prisoners away from the mouth of the guns. + +Then, for fear we had not heard it, he spurred his horse up to within +ten yards of the gate, and shouted it out again, so that every one could +hear it through the place; and, though I could have sent a bullet +through and through him, I could not help admiring the bold daring +fellow, riding up right to the muzzles of our pieces. + +But all the admiration I felt was gone the next moment, as I thought of +the cruelties practised, and of those bound there to those gun-muzzles. + +There was nothing said for a few minutes, for I expected the lieutenant +to speak; but as he did not, I turned to him and said: "If all was +ready, sir, I could drop one gunner; and I'd trust Measles--Sam Bigley-- +to drop the other, when a bold dash might do it. You see they've +retired a good thirty yards, and we should only have twenty more to run +than they; while the surprise would give us that start. A good sharp +jack-knife would set the prisoners free, and a covering-party would +perhaps check the pursuit while we got in." + +"We shall have to try it, Smith," he said, his breath coming thick and +fast with excitement; and then he seemed to turn white, for Miss Ross +and Lizzy came into the room. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +I should think it must have been the devil tempting Lieutenant Leigh, or +he would never have done as he did; for, as he looked at Miss Ross, the +change that came over him was quite startling. He could read all that +was passing in her heart; there was no need for her to lay her hand upon +his arm, and point with the other out of the window, as in a voice that +I didn't know for hers, she said: "Will you leave those two brave men +there to die, Lieutenant Leigh?" + +He didn't answer for a moment, but seemed to be struggling with himself; +then, speaking as huskily as she did, he said: "Send away that girl!" +and before I could go to her--for I should have done it, then, I know-- +and whisper a few words of hope, poor Lizzy went out, mourning for Harry +Lant, wringing her hands; and I stood at my post, a sentry by my +commander's orders, so that it was no spying on my part if I heard what +followed. + +I believe Lieutenant Leigh fancied he was speaking in an undertone, when +he led Miss Ross away to a corner, and spoke to her; but this was +perhaps the most exciting moment in his life, and his voice rose in +spite of himself, so that I heard all; while she, poor thing, I believe +forgot all about my presence; and, as a sentry--a machine almost--placed +there, what right had I to speak? + +"Will you leave him?" said Miss Ross again. "Will you not try to save +him?" + +Lieutenant Leigh did not answer for a bit, for he was making his plans, +and I felt quite staggered as I saw through them. + +"You see how he is placed: what can I do?" said Lieutenant Leigh. "If I +go, it is the signal for firing. You see the gunners waiting. And why +should I risk the lives of my men, and my own, to save him?--He is a +soldier, and it is the fortune of war: he must die." + +"Are you a man, or a coward?" said Miss Ross angrily. + +"No coward," he said fiercely; "but a poor slighted man, whom you have +wronged, jilted, and ill-used; and now you come to me to save your +lover's life--to give mine for it. You have robbed me of all that is +pleasant between you; and now you ask more. Is it just?" + +"Lieutenant Leigh, you are speaking madly. How can you be so unjust?" +she cried, holding tightly by his arm, for he was turning away, while I +felt mad with him for torturing the poor girl, when it was decided that +the attempt was to be made. + +"I am not unjust," he said. "The hazard is too great; and what should I +gain if I succeeded? Pshaw! Why, if he were saved, it would be at the +expense of my own life." + +"I would die to save him!" she said hoarsely. + +"I know it, Elsie; but you would not give a loving word to save me. You +would send me out to my death without compunction--without a care; and +yet you know how I have loved you." + +"You--you loved me; and yet stand and see my heart torn--see me suffer +like this?" cried Miss Ross, and there was something half-wild in her +looks as she spoke. + +"Love you!" he cried; "yes, you know how I have loved you--" + +His voice sank here; but he was talking in her ear excitedly, saying +words that made her shrink from him up to the wall, and look at him as +if he were some object of the greatest disgust. + +"You can choose," he said bitterly, as he saw her action; and he turned +away from her. + +The next moment she was bending down before him, holding up her hands as +if in prayer. + +"Promise me," he said, "and I will do it." + +"Oh, some other way--some other way!" she cried piteously, her face all +drawn the while. + +"As you will," he said coldly. + +"But think--oh, think! You cannot expect it of me. Have mercy! Oh, +what am I saying?" + +"Saying!" he cried, catching her hands in his, and speaking excitedly +and fast--"saying things that are sending him to his death! What do I +offer you? Love, devotion, all that man can give. He would, if asked +now, give up all for his life; and yet you, who profess to love him so +dearly, refuse to make that sacrifice for his sake! You cannot love +him. If he could hear now, he would implore you to do it. Think. I +risk all. Most likely, my life will be given for his; perhaps we shall +both fall. But you refuse. Enough: I must go; I cannot stay. There +are many lives here under my charge; they must not be neglected for the +sake of one. As I said before, it is the fortune of war; and, poor +fellow, he has but a quarter of an hour or so to live, unless help +comes." + +"Unless help comes," groaned Miss Ross frantically, when, as Lieutenant +Leigh reached the door, watching me over his shoulder the while, Miss +Ross went down on her knees, stretched out her hands towards where +Captain Dyer was bound to the gun, and then she rose, cold, and hard, +and stern, and turned to Lieutenant Leigh, holding out her hand. "I +promise," she said hoarsely. + +"On your oath, before God?" he exclaimed joyfully, as he caught her in +his arms. + +"As God is my judge," she faltered with her eyes upturned; and then, as +he held her to his breast, kissing her passionately, she shivered and +shuddered, and, as he released her, sank in a heap on the floor. + +"Smith," cried Lieutenant Leigh; "right face--forward!" and as I passed +Miss Ross, I heard her sob in a tone I shall never forget: "O Lawrence, +Lawrence!" and then a groan rose from her breast, and I heard no more. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +"This is contrary to rule. As commandant, I ought to stay in the fort; +but I've no one to give the leadership to, so I take it myself," said +Lieutenant Leigh; "and now, my lads, make ready--present! That's well. +Are all ready? At the word `Fire!' Privates Bigley and Smith fire at +the two gunners. If they miss, I cry fire again, and Privates Bantem +and Grainger try their skill; then, at the double, down on the guns. +Smith and I spike them, while Bantem and Grainger cut the cords. Mind +this: those guns must be spiked, and those two prisoners brought in; and +if the sortie is well managed, it is easy, for they will be taken by +surprise. Hush! Confound it, men; no cheering." + +He only spoke in time, for in the excitement the men were about to +hurray. + +"Now, then, is that gate unbarred?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Is the covering-party ready?" + +"Yes, sir." + +My hand trembled as he spoke; but the next instant it was of a piece +with my gun-stock. There was the dry square, with the sun shining on +the two guns that must have been hot behind the poor prisoners' backs; +there stood the two gunners in white, with their smoking linstocks, +leaning against the wheels, for discipline was slack; and there, thirty +or forty yards behind, were the mutineers, lounging about, and smoking +many of them. For all firing had ceased, and judging that we should not +risk having the prisoners blown away from the guns, the mutineers came +boldly up within range, as if defying us, and it was pretty safe +practice at some of them now. + +I saw all this at a glance, and while it seemed as if the order would +never come; but come it did, at last. + +"Fire!" + +Bang! the two pieces going off like one; and the gunner behind Captain +Dyer leaped into the air, while the one I aimed at seemed to sink down +suddenly beside the wheel he had leaned upon. Then the gate flew open, +and with a rush and a cheer, we, ten of us, raced down for the guns. + +Double-quick time! I tell you it was a hard race; and being without my +gun now--only my bayonet stack in my trousers' waist-band--I was there +first, and had driven my spike into the touch-hole before Lieutenant +Leigh reached his; but the next moment his was done, the cords were cut, +and the prisoners loose from the guns. But now we had to get back. + +The first inkling I had of the difficulty of this was seeing Captain +Dyer and Harry Lant stagger, and fall forward; but they were saved by +the men, and we saw directly that they must be carried. + +No sooner thought of than done. + +"Hoist Harry on my back," says Grainger; and he took him like a sack; +Bantem acting the same part by Captain Dyer; and those two ran off, +while we tried to cover them. + +For don't you imagine that the mutineers were idle all this while; not a +bit of it. They were completely taken by surprise, though, at first, +and gave us time nearly to get to the guns before they could understand +what we meant; but the next moment some shouted and ran at us, and some +began firing; while by the time the prisoners were cast loose, they were +down upon us in a hand-to-hand fight. + +But in those fierce struggles there is such excitement, that I've now +but a very misty recollection of what took place; but I do recollect +seeing the prisoners well on the way back, hearing a cheer from our men, +and then, hammer in one hand, bayonet in the other, fighting my way +backward along with my comrades. Then all at once a glittering flash +came in the air, and I felt a dull cut on the face, followed directly +after by another strange, numbing blow, which made me drop my bayonet, +as my arm fell uselessly to my side; and then with a lurch and a +stagger, I fell, and was trampled upon twice, when as I rallied once, a +black savage-looking sepoy raised his clubbed musket to knock out my +brains, but a voice I well knew cried: "Not this time, my fine fellow. +That's number three, that is, and well home;" and I saw Measles drive +his bayonet with a crash through the fellow's breast-bone, so that he +fell across my legs.--"Now, old chap, come along," he shouts, and an arm +was passed under me. + +"Run, Measles, run!" I said as well as I could. "It's all over with +me." + +"No; 'taint," he said; "and don't be a fool. Let me do as I like, for +once in a way." + +I don't know how he did it, nor how, feeling sick and faint as I did, I +managed to get on my legs; but old Measles stuck to me like a true +comrade, and brought me in. For one moment I was struggling to my feet; +and the next, after what seemed a deal of firing going over my head, I +was inside the breastwork, listening to our men cheering and firing +away, as the mutineers came howling and raging up almost to the very +gate. + +"All in?" I heard Lieutenant Leigh ask. + +"To a man, sir," says some one; "but Private Bantem is hurt." + +"Hold your tongue, will you!" says Joe Bantem. "I ain't killed, nor yet +half. How would you like your wife frightened if you had one?" + +"How's Private Lant?" + +"Cut to pieces, sir," says some one softly. + +"I'm thankful that you are not wounded, Captain Dyer," then says +Lieutenant Leigh. + +"God bless you, Leigh!" says the captain faintly: "it was a brave act. +I've only a scratch or two when I can get over the numbness of my +limbs." + +I heard all this in a dim sort of fashion, just as if it was a dream in +the early morning; for I was leaning up against the wall, with my face +laid open and bleeding, and my left arm smashed by a bullet, and nobody +just then took any notice of me, because they were carrying in Captain +Dyer and Harry Lant; while the next minute, the fire was going on hard +and fast; for the mutineers were furious, and I suppose they danced +round the guns in a way that shewed how mad they were about the spiking. + +As for me, I did not seem to be in a great deal of pain; but I got +turning over in my mind how well we had done it that morning; and I felt +proud of it all, and glad that Captain Dyer and Harry Lant were brought +in; but all the same what I had heard lay like a load upon me; and +knowing, as I did, that poor Miss Ross had, as it were, sold herself to +save the captain's life, and that she had, in a way of speaking, been +cheated into doing so, I felt that when the opportunity came, I must +tell the captain all I knew. When I had got as far as that with my +thoughts, the dull numbness began to leave me, and everything else was +driven out of my mind by the thought of my wound; and I got asking +myself whether it was going to be very bad, for I thought it was, so +getting up a little, I began to crawl along in the shade towards the +ruined south end of the palace, nobody seeming to notice me. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +I daresay you who read this don't know what the sensation is of having +one arm-bone shivered, and the dead limb swinging helplessly about in +your sleeve, whilst a great miserable sensation comes over you that you +are of no more use--that you are only a cracked pitcher, fit to hold +water no more, but only to be broken up to mend the road with. There +were all those women and children wanting my help, and the help of +hundreds more such as me, and instead of being of use, I knew that I +must be a miserable burden to everybody, and only in the way. + +Now, whether man--as some of the great philosophers say--did gradually +get developed from the beast of the field, I'm not going to pretend to +know; but what I do know is this--that, leave him in his natural state, +and when he, for some reason or another, forgets all that has been +taught him, he seems very much like an animal, and acts as such. + +It was something after this fashion with me then, for feeling like a +poor brute out of a herd that has been shot by the hunters, I did just +the same as it would--crawled away to find a place where I might hide +myself and lie down and die. + +You'll laugh, I daresay, when I tell you my sensations just then, and +I'm ready to laugh at them now myself; for, in the midst of my pain and +suffering, it came to me that I felt precisely as I did when I was a +young shaver of ten years old. One Sunday afternoon, when everybody but +mother and me had gone to church, and she had fallen asleep, I got +father's big clay-pipe, rammed it full of tobacco out of his great lead +box, and then took it into the back kitchen, feeling as grand as a +churchwarden, and set to and smoked it till I turned giddy and faint, +and the place seemed swimming about me. + +Now, that was just how I felt when I crawled about in that place, trying +not to meet anybody, lest the women should see me all covered with +blood; and at last I got, as I thought, into a room where I should be +all alone. + +I say I crawled; and that's what I did do, on one hand and my knees, the +fingers of my broken arm trailing over the white marble floor, with each +finger making a horrible red mark, when all at once I stopped, drew +myself up stiffly, and leaned trembling and dizzy up against the wall, +trying hard not to faint. For I found that I wasn't alone, and that in +place of getting away--crawling into some hole to lie down and die, I +was that low-spirited and weak--I had come to a place where one of the +women was, for there, upon her knees, was Lizzy Green, sobbing and +crying, and tossing her hands about in the agony of her poor heart. + +I was misty, and faint, and confused, you know; but perhaps it was +something like instinct made me crawl to Lizzy's favourite place, for it +was not intended. She did not see me, for her back was my way; and I +did not mean her to know I was there; for in spite of my giddiness, I +seemed to feel that she had learned all the news about our sortie, and +that she was crying about poor Harry Lant. + +"And he deserves to be cried for, poor chap," I said to myself, for I +forgot all about my own pains then; but all the same something very dark +and bitter came over me, as I wished that she had been crying instead +for poor me. + +"But then he was always so bright, and merry, and clever," I thought, +"and just the man who would make his way with a woman; while I--Please +God, let me die now!" I whispered to myself directly after, "for I'm +only a poor, broken, helpless object, in everybody's way." + +It seemed just then as if the hot weak tears that came running out of my +eyes made me clearer, and better able to hear all that the sobbing girl +said, as I leaned closer and closer to the wall; while, as to the sharp +pain every word she said gave me, the dull dead aching of my broken arm +was nothing. + +"Why--why did they let him go?" the poor girl sobbed, "as if there were +not enough to be killed without him; and him so brave, and stout, and +handsome, and true. My poor heart's broken. What shall I do?" + +Then she sobbed again; and I remember thinking that unless help soon +came, if poor Harry Lant died of his wounds, she would soon go to join +him in that land where there was to be no more suffering and pain. + +Then I listened, for she was speaking again. + +"If I could only have died for him, or been with, or--Oh, what have I +done, that I should be made to suffer so?" + +I remember wondering whether she was suffering more then than I was; +for, in spite of my jealous despairing feeling, there was something of +sorrow mixed up with it for her. + +For she had always seemed to like poor Harry's merry ways, when I never +could get a smile from her; and she'd go and sit with Mrs Bantem for +long enough when Harry was there, while if by chance I went, it seemed +like the signal for her to get up, and say her young lady wanted her, +when most likely Harry would walk back with her; and I went and told it +all to my pipe. + +"If he'd only known how I'd loved him;" she sobbed again, "he'd have +said one kind word to me before he went, have kissed me, perhaps, once; +but no, not a look nor a sign! Oh! Isaac, Isaac! I shall never see +you more!" + +What--what? What was it choking me? What was it that sent what blood I +had left gushing up in a dizzy cloud over my eyes, so that I could only +gasp out once the one word "Lizzy!" as I started to my feet, and stood +staring at her in a helpless, half-blind fashion; for it seemed as +though I had been mistaken, and that it was possible after all that she +had been crying for me, believing me to be dead; but the next moment I +was shrinking away from her, hiding my wounded face with my hand for +fear she should see it, for leaping up, hot and flush-cheeked, and with +those eyes of hers flashing at me, she was at my side with a bound. + +"You cowardly, cruel bad fellow!" she half-shrieked; "how dare you stand +in that mean deceitful way, listening to my words! Oh, that I should be +such a weak fool, with a stupid, blabbing, chattering tongue, to keep on +kneeling and crying there, telling lies, every one of them, and--Get +away with you!" + +I think it was a smile that was on my face then, as she gave me a fierce +thrust on the wounded arm, when I staggered towards her. I know the +pain was as if a red-hot hand had grasped me; but I smiled all the same, +and then, as I fell, I heard her cry out two words, in a wild, agonised +way, that went right to my heart, making it leap before all was blank; +for I knew that those words meant that, in spite of all my doubts, I was +loved. + +"O Isaac!" she cried, in a wild frightened way, and then, as I said, all +was blank and dark for I don't know how long; but I seemed to wake up to +what was to me then like heaven, for my head was resting on Lizzy's +breast, and, half-mad with fear and grief, she was kissing my pale face +again and again. + +"Try--try to forgive me for being so cruel, so unfeeling," she sobbed; +and then for a moment, as she saw me smile, she was about to fly out +again, fierce-like, at having betrayed herself, and let me know how she +loved me. Even in those few minutes I could read it all: how her +passionate little heart was fighting against discipline, and how angry +she was with herself; but I saw it all pass away directly, as she looked +down at my bleeding face, and eagerly asked me if I was very much hurt. + +I tried to answer, but I could not; for the same deathly feeling of +sickness came on again, and I saw nothing. + +I suppose, though, it only lasted a few minutes, for I woke like again +to hear a panting hard breathing, as of some one using great exertion, +and then I felt that I was being moved; but, for the life of me, for a +few moments I could not make it out, till I heard the faint buzz of +voices, when I found that Lizzy, the little fierce girl, who seemed to +be as nothing beside me, was actually, in her excitement, carrying me to +where she could get help, struggling along panting, a few feet at a +time, beneath my weight, and me too helpless and weak to say a word. + +"Good heavens! look!" I heard some one say the next moment, and I think +it was Miss Ross; but it was some time before I came to myself again +enough to find that I was lying with a rolled-up cloak under my head, +and Lizzy bathing my lips from time to time, with what I afterwards +learned was her share of the water. + +But what struck me most now was the way in which she was altered: her +sharp, angry way was gone, and she seemed to be changed into a soft +gentle woman, without a single flirty way or thought, but always ready +to flinch and shrink away until she saw how it troubled me, when she'd +creep back to kneel down by my side, and put her little hand in mine; +when, to make the same comparison again that I made before, I tell you +that there, in that besieged and ruined place, half-starved, choked with +thirst, and surrounded by a set of demons thirsting for our blood--I +tell you that it seemed to me like being in heaven. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +I don't know how time passed then; but the next thing I remember is +listening to the firing for a while, and then, leaning on Lizzy, being +helped to the women's quarters, where, in spite of all they could do, +those children would keep escaping from their mother to get to Harry +Lant, who lay close to me, poor fellow, smiling and looking happy +whenever they came near him; and I smiled too, and felt as happy when +Lizzy, after tending me with Mrs Bantem as long as was necessary, got +bathing Harry's forehead with water and moistening his lips. + +"Poor fellow," I thought, "it will do him good;" and I lay watching +Lizzy moving about afterwards, and then I think I must have gone to +sleep, or have fallen into a dull numb state, from which I was wakened +by a voice I knew; and opening my eyes, I saw that Miss Ross, pale and +scared-looking, was on her knees by the side of Harry Lant, and that +Captain Dyer was there. + +"Not one word of welcome," he said, with a strange drawn look on his +face, which deepened as Miss Ross rose and went close to him. + +"Yes," she said; "thank God you have returned safe.--No, no; don't touch +me," she cried hoarsely. "Here, take me away--lead me out of this!" she +said, for at that moment Lieutenant Leigh came quietly in, and she put +her hands in his. "Take me out," she said again hoarsely; and then like +some one muttering in a dream: "Take me away--take me away." + +I said that drawn strange look on Captain Dyer's face seemed to deepen +as he stood watching whilst those two went out together; then he passed +his hand over his eyes, as if to ask himself whether it was a dream; and +then, with a groan, he leaned one hand against the wall, feeling his way +out from the room, and something seemed to hinder me from calling out to +him, and telling him what I knew. For I was reasoning with myself what +ought I to do? and then, sick and faint I seemed to sleep again. + +But this time I was waked up by a loud shrieking, and a rush of feet, +and, confused as I was, I knew what it meant: the hole where the blacks +escaped--Chunder and his party--had not been properly guarded, and the +mutineers had climbed up and made an entrance. + +The alarm spread fast enough, but not quick enough to save life; for, +with a howl, half-a-dozen sepoys, with their scarlet and white coatees +open, dashed in with fixed bayonets, and two women were borne to the +ground in an instant, while a couple of wretches made a dash at those +two children--Little Cock Robin and Jenny Wren, as we called them-- +standing there, wondering like, by Harry Lant's bed on the floor, whilst +the golden light of the setting sun filled the room, and lit up their +little angels' faces. + +But with a howl, such as I never heard woman give, Mrs Bantem rushed +between them and the children, caught a bayonet in each hand, and held +them together, letting them pass under one arm, then with a spring +forward she threw those great arms of hers round the black fellows' +necks as they hung together, and held them in such a hug as they never +suffered from before. + +The next moment they were all rolling together on the floor; but that +incident saved the lives of those poor children, for there came a cheer +now, and Measles and a dozen more were led in by Lieutenant Leigh, and-- + +There, I am telling you too many horrors. They beat them back step by +step, at the point of the bayonet; and a fierce struggle it was, a long +fight kept up from room to room, for our men were fierce now as the +mutineers, and it was a genuine death-struggle; and the broken window +being guarded, not a man of about a dozen mutineers who gained entrance +lived to go back and relate their want of success. + +And can you wonder, when two of those who fought had found their wives +bayoneted Grainger was one of them and when the fight was over, during +which, raging like a demon, he had bayoneted four men, the poor fellow +sat down by his dead wife, took her head first in his lap, then to his +breast, and rocked himself to and fro, crying like a child, till there +was a bugle-call in the court-yard, when he laid her gently in a corner, +carrying her like as if she had been a child, kneeled down, and said +`Our Father' right through by her side, kissed her lips two or three +times, and then covered her face with a bit of an old red handkerchief; +and him all the while covered with blood and dust and black of powder. +Then, poor fellow, he got up and took his gun, and went out on the tips +of his toes, lest he should wake her who would wake no more in this +world. + +Perhaps it was weakness, I don't know, but my eyes were very wet just +then, and a soft little hand was laid on my breast, and Lizzy's head +leant over me, and her tears, too, fell very fast on my hot and fevered +face. + +I felt that I should die, not then, perhaps, but before very long, for I +knew that my arm was so shattered that it ought to be amputated just +below the elbow, while for want of surgical assistance it would mortify; +but somehow I felt very happy just then, and my state did not give me +much pain, only that I wanted to have been up and doing; and at last +Lizzy helping me, I got up, my arm being bandaged--and in a sling, to +find that I could walk about a little; and I made my way down into the +court-yard, where I got near to Captain Dyer, who, better now, and able +to limp about, was talking with Lieutenant Leigh, both officers now, and +forgetful apparently of all but the present crisis. + +"What wounded are there?" said Captain Dyer, as I walked slowly up. + +"Nearly every man to some extent," said Lieutenant Leigh; "but this man +and Lant are the worst." + +"The place ought to be evacuated," said Captain Dyer; "it is impossible +to hold it another day." + +"We might hold out another day," said Lieutenant Leigh, "but not longer. +Why not retreat under cover of the night?" + +"It seems the only thing left," said Captain Dyer. "We might perhaps +get to some hiding-place or other before our absence was discovered; but +the gate and that back window will be watched of course: how are we to +get away with two severely wounded men, the women, and children?" + +"That must be planned," said Lieutenant Leigh; and then the watch was +set for the night, as far as could be done, and another time of darkness +set in. + +It was that which puzzled me, why a good bold attack was not made by +night; why, the place must have been carried again and again; but no, we +were left each night entirely at rest, and the attacks by day were +clumsy and bad. There was no support; every man fought for himself and +after his own fashion, and I suppose that every man did look upon +himself as an officer, and resented all discipline. At all events, it +was our salvation, though at this time it seemed to me that the end must +be coming on the next day, and I remember thinking, that if it did come +to the end, I should like to keep one cartridge left in my pouch. + +Then my mind went off wandering in a misty way upon a plan to get away +by night, and I tried to make one, taking into consideration, that the +quarters on the north side of us now, and only separated by ten feet of +alley, were in the hands of the mutineers, who camped in them, the same +being the case in the quarters on the south side, separated again by the +ten feet of alley through which we returned when Captain Dyer and Harry +Lant were taken. While on the east was the market plain or square, and +on the west a wilderness of open country with huts and sheds. I felt, +do you know, that a good plan of escape at this time was just what I +ought to make, every one else being busy with duty, and me not able to +either fight or stand sentry, so I worked on hard at it that night, +trying to be useful in some way; and after a fashion, I worked one out. + +But I have not told you what I meant to do with that last cartridge in +my pouch; I meant that to be pressed to my lips once before I contrived +with one hand to load my rifle, and then if the worst came to the very +worst, and when I had waited to the last to see if help would come, +then, when it seemed that there was no hope, I meant to do what I told +myself it would be my duty, as a man and a soldier, to do, if I loved +Lizzy Green--do what more than one man did, during the mutiny, by the +woman for whom he had been shedding his heart's best blood; and in the +dead of that night I did load that gun, after kissing the bullet; and a +deal of pain that gave me, mental as well as bodily, but I don't think +that I need to tell you what that last cartridge was for. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +I think by this time you pretty well understand the situation of our +palace, and how our stronghold was on the north side, close to which was +the gate, so hardly fought for: if you don't, I'm afraid it is my fault, +and not yours. + +At all events, being at liberty, I went over it here and there, and from +floor to roof, as I tried to make out which would be the best way for +trying to escape; but somehow I couldn't see it then. To go out from +the gate was impossible; and the same related to the broken-out window, +as both places were thoroughly watched. + +As for the other windows about the place, they were such slips, that +without they were widened, any escaping by them was impossible. To have +let ourselves down, one by one, from the flat roof by a rope, might have +done, but it was a clumsy unsuitable way, with all those children and +women, so I gave that up, and then sat down as I was by a little window +looking out on to the north alley. + +Wearied out at last, I suppose that a sort of stupor came over me, from +which I did not wake till morning, to find myself suffering a dull numb +pain; but when I opened my eyes I forgot that, because of her who was +kneeling beside me, driving away the flies that were buzzing about, as +if they knew that I was soon to be for them to rest on, without a hand +to sweep them away. + +At last, though, as I lay there wondering what could be done to save us, +the thought came all at once, and struggling to my feet, I held Lizzy to +my heart a minute, and then went off to find Captain Dyer. + +It quite took me aback to see his poor haggard face, and the way in +which he took the trouble, for it was plain enough to see how he was cut +to the heart by Miss Ross's treatment of him. But for all that, he was +the officer and the gentleman; he had his duty to do, and he was doing +it; so that, if even now, after losing so many men, and with so many +more half disabled, if the enemy had made a bold assault now, they would +have won the place dearly, though win it they must. + +That did not seem their way, though they wanted the place for the sake +of the great store of arms and ammunition it contained, but all the same +they wanted to buy it cheap. + +I found Captain Dyer ready enough to listen to my plan, though he shook +his head, and said it was desperate. But after a little thought, he +said: "There are some hours now between this and night--help may come +before then; if not, Smith, we must try it. My hands are full, so I +leave the preparations with you: let every one carry food and a bottle +of water--nothing more--all we want now is to save life." + +I promised I'd see to it; and I went and spoke cheerfully to the women, +but Mrs Maine seemed quite hysterical. Miss Ross listened to what I +had to say in a hard strange way; and really, if it had not been for +Mrs Bantem putting a shoulder first to one wheel and then the other, +nothing would have been done. + +The next person I went to was Measles, who, during a cessation of the +firing, was sitting, black and blood-smeared, with his head tied up, +wiping out his gun with pieces he tore off the sleeves of his shirt. + +"Well, Ike, mate," he says, "not dead yet, you see. If we get out of +this, I mean to have my promotion; but I don't see how we're going to +manage it. What bothers me most is, letting these black fellows get all +this powder and stuff we have here. Blow my rags if we shall ever use +it all! I've been firing away till my old Bess has been so hot that +I've been afraid to charge her; and I'll swear I've used twice as many +cartridges as any other man. But I say, Ike, old fellow, do you think +it's wrong to pot these niggers?" + +"No," I said--"not in a case like this." + +"Glad of it," he says sincerely; "because, do you know, old man, I've +polished off such a thundering lot, that, I've got to be quite narvous +about getting killed myself. Only think having forty or fifty +black-looking beggars rising up against you in kingdom come, and +pointing at you, and saying: `That's the chap as shot me!'" + +"I don't think any soldier, acting under orders, who does his duty in +defence of women and children, need fear to lie down and die," I said. + +I never saw Measles look soft but that once, as, laying down his ramrod, +he took my hand in his, and looked in my face for a bit; then he shook +my hand softly, and nodded his head several times. + +"How's Harry Lant?" he says at last. + +"Very bad," I said. + +"Poor old chap. But tell him I've paid some of the beggars out for it. +Mind you tell him--it'll make him feel comfortable like, and ease his +mind." + +I nodded, and then told him about the plan. + +"Well," he said, as he slowly and thoughtfully polished his gun-barrel, +"it might do, and it mightn't. Seems a rum dodge; but, anyhow, we might +try." + +"I shall want you to help make the bridge," I says. + +"All right, matey; but I don't, somehow, like leaving the beggars all +that ammunition;" and then he loaded his piece very thoughtfully, but +only to rouse up directly after, for the mutineers began firing again; +and Captain Dyer giving the order, our men replied swift and fast at +every black face that shewed itself for an instant. + +That was a day: hot, so that everything you went near seemed burning. +The walls even sent forth a heat of their own; and if it hadn't been for +the chatties down below, we should have had to give up, for the tank was +now completely dried, and the flies buzzing about its mud-caked bottom. +But the women went round from man to man with water and biscuit so that +no one left his post, and every time the black scoundrels tried to make +a lodgment near the gate, half were shot down, and the rest glad enough +to get back into shelter. + +Towards that weary slow-coming evening, though, after we had beaten them +back--or, rather, after my brave comrades had beaten them back half a +score of times--I saw that something was up; and as soon as I saw what +that something was, I knew that it was all over, for our men were too +much cut up and disheartened for any more gallant sorties. + +I've not said any more about the guns, only that we spiked them, and +left them standing in the market plain, about fifty yards from the +gates. I may tell you now, though, that the next morning they were +gone, and we forgot all about them till the night I'm telling you of, +when they were dragged out again, with a lot of noise and shouting, from +a building in the far corner of the square. + +We didn't want telling what that meant. + +It was plain enough to all of us that the scoundrels had drilled out the +touch-holes again, and that during the night they would be planted, and +the first discharge would drive down all our defences, and leave us open +to a rush. + +"We must try your plan, Smith," says Captain Dyer with a quiet stern +look. "It is time to evacuate the place now." + +Then he knelt down and took a look at the guns with his glass, and I +knew he must have been thinking of how he stood tied to the muzzle of +one of them, for he gave a sort of shudder as he closed his glass with a +snap. + +Just then, Miss Ross came round with Lizzy and Mrs Bantem, with wine +and water, and I saw a sort of quiet triumph in Lieutenant Leigh's face, +as, avoiding Captain Dyer, Miss Ross went up to him, as he half-beckoned +to her, and stood by him like a slave, giving him bottle and glass, and +then standing by his side with her eyes fixed and strange-looking; +while, though he fought against it bravely, and tried to be unmoved, +Captain Dyer could not bear it, but walked away. + +I was just then drinking some water given me by Lizzy, whose pale +troubled little face looked up so lovingly in mine that I felt +half-ashamed for me, a poor private, to be so happy--for I forgot my +wounds then--while my captain was in pain and suffering. And then it +was that it struck me that Captain Dyer was just in that state in which +men feel despairing, and go and do desperate things. I felt that I +ought before now to have told him all about what I had heard, but I was +in hopes that things would right themselves, and always came to the +conclusion that it was Miss Ross's duty to have given the captain some +explanation of her treatment; anyhow, it did not seem to be mine; but +when I saw the poor smitten fellow go off like he did, I followed him +softly till I came up with him, my heart beating the while with a +curious sense of fear. + +There was nothing to fear, though: he had only gone up to the root and +when I came up with him he was evidently calculating about our escape, +for he finished off by pulling out his telescope, and looking right +across the plain, towards where there was a tank and a small station. + +"I think that ought to be our way, Smith," he said. "We could stay +there for half an hour's rest, and then on again towards Wallahbad, +sending a couple of the stoutest men on for help. By the way, we'll try +and start a man off to-night, as soon as it's dark. Who will you have +to help you?" + +"I should like to have Bigley, sir," I said. + +"Will one be sufficient?" + +"Quite, sir," I said; for I thought Measles and I could manage it +between us. + +Half an hour after, Measles was busy at work, fetching up muskets, with +bayonets fixed, from down in the store, and laying them in order on the +flat roof; taking care the while to keep out of sight; and I went to the +room where the women were, under Mrs Bantem's management, getting ready +for what was to come, for they had been told that we might leave the +place all at once. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +I suppose it was my wound made me do things in a sluggish dreamy way, +and made me feel ready to stop and look at any little thing which took +my attention. Anyhow, that's the way I acted; and going inside that +room, I stopped short just inside the place, for there were those two +little children of the colonel's sitting on the floor, with a whole heap +of those numbers of the Bible--those that people take in shilling +parts--and with two or three large pictures in each. Some one had given +them the parts to amuse themselves with; and, as grand and old-fashioned +as could be, they were shewing these pictures to the soldiers' children. + +As I went in they'd got a picture open, of Jacob lying asleep, with his +dream spread before you, of the great flight of steps leading up into +heaven, and the angels going up and down. + +"There," says little Jenny Wren to a boy half as old again as herself; +"those are angels, and they're coming down from heaven, and they've got +beautiful wings like birds." + +"Oh," says little Cock Robin thoughtfully, and he leaned over the +picture. Then he says quite seriously: "If they've got wings, why don't +they fly down?" + +That was a poser; but Jenny Wren was ready with her answer, +old-fashioned as could be, and she says: "I should think it's toz they +were moulting." + +I remember wishing that the poor little innocents had wings of their +own, for it seemed to me that they would be a sad trouble to us to get +away that night, just at the time when a child's most likely to be cross +and fretful. + +Night at last, dark as dark, save only a light twinkling here and there, +in different parts where the enemy had made their quarters. There was a +buzzing in the camp where the guns were, and as we looked over, once +there came the grinding noise of a wheel, but only once. + +We made sure that the gate and the broken window opening were well +watched, for there was the white calico of the sentries to be seen; but +soon the darkness hid them, and we should not have known that they were +there but for the faint spark now and then which shewed that they were +smoking, and once I heard, quite plain in the dead stillness, the sound +made by a "hubble-bubble" pipe. + +We waited one hour, and then, with six of us on the roof, the plan I +made began to be put into operation. + +My idea was that if we could manage to cross the north alley, which as I +told you was about ten feet wide, we might then go over the roof of the +quarters where the mutineers were; then on to the next roof; which was a +few feet lower; and from there get down on to some sheds, from which it +would be easy to reach the ground, when the way would be open to us, to +escape, with perhaps some hours before we were missed. + +The plan was, I know, desperate, but it seemed our only chance, and, as +you well know, desperate ventures will sometimes succeed when the most +carefully arranged plots fail. At all events, Captain Dyer took it up, +and the men under my directions, a couple of muskets were taken at a +time, and putting them muzzle to muzzle, the bayonet of each was thrust +down the other's barrel, which saved lashing them together, and gave us +a sort of spar about ten feet long, and this was done with about fifty. + +Did I tell you there was a tree grew up in the centre of the alley--a +stunty, short-boughed tree, and to this Measles laid one of the double +muskets, feeling for a bough to rest it on in the darkness, after +listening whether there was any one below; then he laid more and more, +till with a mattress laid upon them, he formed a bridge, over which he +boldly crept to the tree, where, with the lashings he had taken, he +bound a couple more muskets horizontal, and then shifted the others? He +arranged them all so that the butts of one end rested on the roof of the +palace; the butts at the other end were across those he had bound pretty +level in the tree. Then more and more were laid across, and a couple of +thin straw mattresses on them; and though it took a tremendously long +time, through Measles fumbling in the dark, it was surprising what a +firm bridge that made as far as the tree. + +The other half was made in just the same fashion, and much more easily. +Mattresses were laid on it; and there, thirty feet above the ground, we +had a tolerably firm bridge, one that, though very irregular, a man +could cross with ease, creeping on his hands and knees; but then there +were the women, children, and poor Harry Lant. + +Captain Dyer thought it would be better to say nothing to them about it, +but to bring them all quietly up at the last minute, so as to give them +no time for thought and fear; and then, the last preparation being made, +and a rough, short ladder, eight feet long, Measles and I had contrived, +being carried over and planted at the end of the other quarters, +reaching well down to the next roof; we prepared for a start. + +Measles and Captain Dyer went over with the ladder, and reported no +sentries visible, the bridge pretty firm, and nothing apparently to +fear, when it was decided that Harry Lant should be taken over first-- +Measles volunteering to take him on his back and crawl over--then the +women and children were to be got over, and we were to follow. + +I know it was hard work for him, but Harry Lant never gave a groan, but +let them lash his hands together with a handkerchief; so that Measles +put his head through the poor fellow's arms, for there was no trusting +to Harry's feeble hold. + +"Now then, in silence," says Captain Dyer; "and you, Lieutenant Leigh, +get up the women and children. But each child is to be taken by a man, +who is to be ready to gag the little thing if it utters a sound. +Recollect, the lives of all depend on silence.--Now, Bigley, forward!" + +"Wait till I spit in my hands, captain," says Measles, though what he +wanted to spit in his hands for, I don't know, without it was from use, +being such a spitting man. + +But spit in his hands he did, and then he was down on his hands and +knees, crawling on to the mattress very slowly, and you could hear the +bayonets creaking and gritting, as they played in and out of the +musket-barrels but they held firm, and the next minute Measles was as +far as the tree, but only to get his load hitched somehow in a ragged +branch, when there was a loud crack as of dead-wood snapping, a +struggle, and Measles growled out an oath--he would swear, that fellow +would, in spite of all Mrs Bantem said, so you mustn't be surprised at +his doing it then. + +We all stood and crouched there, with our hearts beating horribly; for +it seemed that the next moment we should hear a dull, heavy crash; but +instead, there came the sharp fall of a dead branch, and at the same +moment there were voices at the end of the alley. + +If Captain Dyer dared to have spoken, he would have called "Halt!" but +he was silent; and Measles must have heard the voices, for he never +moved, while we listened minute after minute, our necks just over the +edge of the roof, till what appeared to be three of the enemy crept +cautiously along through the alley, till one tripped and fell over the +dead bough that must have been lying right in their way. + +Then there was a horrible silence, during which we felt that it was all +over with the plan--that the enemy must look up and see the bridge, and +bring down those who would attack us with renewed fury. + +But the next minute, there came a soft whisper or two, a light rustling, +and directly after we knew that the alley was empty. + +It seemed useless to go on now; but after five minutes' interval, +Captain Dyer determined to pursue the plan, just as Measles came back +panting to announce Harry Lant as lying on the roof beyond the officers' +quarters. + +"And you've no idea what a weight the little chap is," says Measles to +me.--"Now, who's next?" + +No one answered; and Lieutenant Leigh stepped forward with Miss Ross. +He was about to carry her over; but she thrust him back, and after +scanning the bridge for a few moments, she asked for one of the +children, and so as to have no time lost, the little boy, fast asleep, +bless him! was put in her arms, when brave as brave, if she did not step +boldly on to the trembling way, and walk slowly across. + +Then Joe Bantem was sent, though he hung back for his wife, till she +ordered him on, to go over with a soldier's child on his back; and he +was followed by a couple more. + +Next came Mrs Bantem, with Mrs Colonel Maine, and the stout-hearted +woman stood as if hesitating for a minute as to how to go, when catching +up the colonel's wife, as if she had been a child, she stepped on to the +bridge, and two or three men held the butts of the muskets, for it +seemed as if they could not bear the strain. + +But though my heart seemed in my mouth, and the creaking was terrible, +she passed safely over, and it was wonderful what an effect that had on +the rest. + +"If it'll bear that, it'll bear anything," says some one close to me; +and they went on, one after the other, for the most part crawling, till +it came to me and Lizzy Green. + +"You'll go now," I said; but she would not leave me, and we crept on +together, till a bough of the tree hindered us, when I made her go +first, and a minute after we were hand-in-hand upon the other roof. + +The others followed, Captain Dyer coming last, when, seeing me, he +whispered: "Where's Bigley?" of course meaning Measles. + +I looked round, but it was too dark to distinguish one face from +another. I had not seen him for the last quarter of an hour--not since +he had asked me if I had any matches, and I had passed him half-a-dozen +from my tobacco-pouch. + +I asked first one, and then another, but nobody had seen Measles; and +under the impression that he must have joined Harry Lant, we cautiously +walked along the roof, right over the heads of our enemies; for from +time to time we could hear beneath our feet the low buzzing sound of +voices, and more than once came a terrible catching of the breath, as +one of the children whispered or spoke. + +It seemed impossible, even now, that we could escape, and I was for +proposing to Captain Dyer to risk the noise, and have the bridge taken +down, so as to hold the top of the building we were on as a last retreat +but I was stopped from that by Measles coming up to me, when I told him +Captain Dyer wanted him, and he crept away once more. + +We got down the short ladder in safety, and then crossed a low building, +to pass down the ladder on to another, which fortunately for us was +empty; and then, with a little contriving and climbing, we dropped into +a deserted street of the place, and all stood huddled together, while +Captain Dyer and Lieutenant Leigh arranged the order of march. + +And that was no light matter; but a litter was made of the short ladder, +and Harry Lant laid upon it; the women and children placed in the +middle; the men were divided; and the order was given in a low tone to +march, and we began to walk right away into the darkness, down the +straggling street; but only for the advance-guard to come back directly, +and announce that they had stumbled upon an elephant picketed with a +couple of camels. + +"Any one with them?" said Captain Dyer. + +"Could not see a soul, sir," said Joe Bantem, for he was one of the men. + +"Grenadiers, half-left," said Captain Dyer; "forward!" and once more we +were in motion, tramp, tramp, tramp, but quite softly; Lieutenant Leigh +at the rear of the first party, so as to be with Miss Ross, and Captain +Dyer in the rear of all, hiding, poor fellow, all he must have felt, and +seeming to give up every thought to the escape, and that only. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY. + +I could just make out the great looming figure of an elephant, as we +marched slowly on, when I was startled by a low sort of wimmering noise, +followed directly after by a grunting on my right. + +"What's that?" says Captain Dyer. Then in an instant: "Threes right!" +he cried to the men, and they faced round, so as to cover the women and +children. + +There was no further alarm, though, and all seemed as silent as could +be; so once more under orders, the march was continued till we were out +from amidst the houses, and travelling over the sandy dusty plain; when +there was another alarm--we were followed--so said the men in the rear; +and sure enough, looming up against the darkness--a mass of darkness +itself--we could see an elephant. + +The men were faced round, and a score of pieces were directed at the +great brute; but when within three or four yards, it was plain enough +that it was alone, and Measles says aloud: "Blest if it isn't old +_Nabob_!" + +The old elephant it was; and passing through, he went up to where Harry +Lant was calling him softly, knelt down to order; and then climbing and +clinging on as well as they could, the great brute's back was covered +with women and children--the broad shallow howdah pretty well taking the +lot--while the great beast seemed as pleased as possible to get back +amongst his old friends, rubbing his trunk first on this one and then on +that; and thankful we were for the help he gave us, for how else we +should have got over that desert plain I can't say. + +I should think we had gone a good eight miles, when Measles ranges up +close aside me as I walked by the elephant, looking up at the +riding-party from time to time, and trying to make out which was Lizzy, +and pitying them too, for the children were fretful, and it was a sad +time they had of it up there. + +"They'll have it hot there some time to-morrow morning, Ike," says +Measles to me. + +"Where?" I said faintly, for I was nearly done for, and I did not take +much interest in anything. + +"Begumbagh," he says. And when I asked him what he meant he said: "How +much powder do you think there was down in that vault?" + +"A good five hundredweight," I said. + +"All that," says Measles. "They'll have it hot, some of 'em." + +"What do you mean?" I said, getting interested. + +"Oh, nothing pertickler, mate; only been arranging for promotion for +some of 'em, since I can't get it myself I took the head out of one keg, +and emptied it by the others, and made a train to where I've set a +candle burning; and when that candle's burnt out, it will set light to +another; and that will have to burn out, when some wooden chips will +catch fire, and they'll blaze a good deal, and one way and another +there'll be enough to burn to last till, say, eight o'clock this +morning, by which time the beauties will have got into the place; and +then let 'em look out for promotion, for there's enough powder there to +startle two or three of 'em." + +"That's what you wanted the matches for, then?" I said. + +"That's it, matey; and what do you think of it, eh?" + +"You've done wrong, my lad, I'm afraid, and--" I didn't finish; for just +then, behind us, there was a bright flashing light, followed by a dull +thud; and looking back, we could see what looked like a little +fire-work; and though plenty was said just then, no one but Measles and +I knew what that flash meant. + +"That's a dead failure," growled Measles to me as we went on. "I +believe I am the unluckiest beggar that ever breathed. That oughtn't to +have gone off for hours yet, and now it'll let 'em know we're gone, and +that's all." + +I did not say anything, for I was too weak and troubled, and how I kept +up as I did, I don't know to this day. + +The morning broke at last with the knowledge that we were three miles to +the right of the tank Captain Dyer had meant to reach. For a few +minutes, in a quiet stern way, he consulted with Lieutenant Leigh as to +what should be done--whether to turn off to the tank, or to press on. +The help received from old _Nabob_ made them determine to press on; and +after a short rest, and a better arrangement for those who were to ride +on the elephant, we went on in the direction of Wallahbad, I, for my +part, never expecting to reach it alive. Many a look back did I give to +see if we were followed, but it was not until we were within sight of a +temple by the roadside, that there was the news spread that there were +enemies behind; and though I was ready enough to lay the blame upon +Measles, all the same they must have soon found out our flight, and +pursued us. + +The sun could never have been hotter nor the ground more parched and +dusty than it was now. We were struggling on to reach that temple, +which we might perhaps be able to hold till help came; for two men had +been sent on to get assistance; though of all those sent, one and all +were waylaid and cut down, long before they could reach our friends. +But we did not know that then; and in the full hope that before long we +should have help, we crawled on to the temple, but only to find it so +wide and exposed, that in our weak condition it was little better than +being in the open. There was a building, though, about a hundred yards +farther on, and towards that we made, every one rousing himself for what +was really the last struggle, for not a quarter of a mile off, there was +a yelling crowd of bloodhounds in eager pursuit. + +It was with a panting rash that we reached the place, to find it must +have been the house of the collector of the district; but it was all one +wrack and ruin--glass, tables, and chairs smashed; hangings and carpets +burnt or ragged to pieces, and in one or two places, blood-stains on the +white floor, told a terrible tale of what had taken place not many days +before. + +The elephant stopped and knelt, and the women and children were passed +in as quickly as possible; but before all could be got in, about a dozen +of the foremost mutineers were down upon us with a savage rush--I say +us, but I was helpless, and only looking on from inside--two of our +fellows were cut down in an instant, and the others borne back by the +fierce charge. Then followed a desperate struggle, ending in the black +fellows dragging off Miss Ross and one of the children that she held. + +They had not gone many yards, though, before Captain Dyer and Lieutenant +Leigh seemed to see the peril together, and shouting to our men, sword +in hand they went at the black fiends, well supported by half-a-dozen of +our poor wounded chaps. + +There was a rush, and a cloud of dust; then there was the noise of yells +and cheers, and Captain Dyer shouting to the men to come on; and it all +acted like something intoxicating on me, for, catching up a musket, I +was making for the door, when I felt an arm holding me back, and I did +what I must have done as soon as I got outside--reeled and fainted dead +away. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +It was a couple of hours after when I came to, and became sufficiently +sensible to know that I was lying with my head in Lizzy's lap, and Harry +Lant close beside me. It was very dim, and the heat seemed stifling, so +that I asked Lizzy where we were, and she told me in the cellar of the +house--a large wide vault, where the women, children, and wounded had +been placed for safety, while the noise and firing above told of what +was taking place. + +I was going to ask about Miss Ross, but just then I caught sight of her +trying to support her sister, and to keep the children quiet. + +As I got more used to the gloom, I made out that there was a small iron +grating on one side, through which came what little light and air we +got; on the other, a flight of stone steps leading up to where the +struggle was going on. There was a strong wooden door at the top of +this, and twice that door was opened for a wounded man to be brought +down; when, coolly as if she were in barracks, there was that noble +woman, Mrs Bantem, tying up and binding sword-cuts and bayonet-thrusts +as she talked cheerily to the men. + +The struggle was very fierce still, the men who brought down the wounded +hurrying away, for there was no sign of flinching; but soon they were +back with another poor fellow, who was now whimpering, now muttering +fiercely. "If I'd only have had--confound them!--if I'd only had +another cartridge or two, I wouldn't have cared," he said as they laid +him down close by me; "but I always was the unluckiest beggar on the +face of the earth. They've most done for me, Ike, and no wonder, for +it's all fifty to one up there, and I don't believe a man of ours has a +shot left." + +Again the door closed on the two men who had brought down poor Measles, +hacked almost to pieces; and again it was opened, to bring down another +wounded man, and this one was Lieutenant Leigh. They laid him down, and +were off back up the steps, when there was a yelling, like as if some +evil spirits had broken loose, and as the door was opened, Captain Dyer +and half-a-dozen more were beaten back, and I thought they would have +been followed down--but no; they stood fast in that doorway, Captain +Dyer and the six with him, while the two fellows who had been down +leaped up the stairs to support them, so that, in that narrow opening, +there were eight sharp British bayonets, and the captain's sword, making +such a steel hedge as the mutineers could not pass. + +They could not contrive either to fire at our party, on account of the +wall in front, and every attempt at an entrance was thwarted; but we all +knew that it was only a question of time, for it was impossible for man +to do more. + +There seemed now to be a lull, and only a buzzing of voices above us, +mingled with a groan and a dying cry now and then, when I quite forgot +my pain once more on hearing poor Harry Lant, who had for some time been +quite off his head, and raving, commence talking in a quiet sort of way. + +"Where's Ike Smith?" he said. "It's all dark here; and I want to say +good-bye to him." + +I was kneeling by his side the next minute, holding his hand. + +"God bless you, Ike," he said; "and God bless her. I'm going, old mate; +kiss her for me, and tell her that if she hadn't been made for you, I +could have loved her very dearly." + +What could I do or say, when the next minute Lizzy was kneeling on his +other side, holding his hand? + +"God bless you both," he whispered. "You'll get out of the trouble +after all; and don't forget me." + +We promised him we would not, as well as we could, for we were both +choked with sorrow; and then he said, talking quickly: "Give poor old +Sam Measles my tobacco-box, Ike, the brass one, and shake hands with him +for me; and now I want Mother Bantem." + +She was by his side directly, to lift him gently in her arms, calling +him her poor gallant boy, her brave lad, and no end of fond expressions. + +"I never had a bairn, Harry," she sobbed; "but if I could have had one, +I'd have liked him to be like you, my own gallant, light-hearted soldier +boy; and you were always to me as a son." + +"Was?" says Harry softly. "I'm glad of it, for I never knew what it was +to have a mother." + +He seemed to fall off to sleep after that, when, no one noticing them, +those two children came up, and the first I heard of it was little Clive +crying: "Ally Lant--Ally Lant, open eyes, and come and play wis elfant." + +I started, and looked up to see one of those little innocents--his face +smeared, and his little hands all dabbled with blood, trying to open +poor Harry Lant's eyes with his tiny fingers. + +"Why don't Ally Lant come and play with us?" says the other; and just +then he opened his eyes, and looked at them with a smile, when in a +moment I saw what was happening, for that poor fellow's last act was to +get those two children's hands in his, as if he felt that he should like +to let his last grasp in this world be upon something innocent; and then +there was a deepening of that smile into a stern look, his lips moved, +and all was over; while I was too far off to hear his last words. + +But there was one there who did hear them, and she told me afterwards, +sobbing as though her heart would break. + +"Poor Harry, poor light-hearted Harry," Mother Bantem said. "And did +you see the happy smile upon his face as he passed away, clasping those +two poor children's hands--so peaceful, so quiet, after all his +suffering; forgetting all then, but what seemed like two angels' faces +by his dying pillow, for he said, Ike, he said--" + +Poor Mother Bantem broke down here, and I thought about what Harry's +dying pillow had been--her faithful, old, motherly breast. But she +forced back her sobs, and wiped the tears from her rough, plain face, as +she said in low, reverent tones: "Poor Harry! His last words: `Of such +is the kingdom of Heaven.'" + +Death was very busy amongst our poor company, and one--two--three more +passed away there, for they were riddled with wounds; and then I saw +that, in spite of all that could be done, Lieutenant Leigh would be the +next. He had received his death-wound, and he knew it too; and now he +lay very still, holding tightly by Miss Ross's hand, while she knelt +beside him. + +Captain Dyer, with his eight men, all left, were still keeping the door; +but of late they had not been interfered with, and the poor fellows were +able to do one another a good turn in binding up wounds. But what all +were now suffering for want of, was water; and beyond a few drops in one +or two of the bottles carried by the women, there was none to be had. + +As for me, I could only lie there helpless, and in a half-dreamy way, +see and listen to all that was going on. The spirit in me was good to +help; but think of my state--going for days with that cut on the face, +and a broken arm, and in that climate. + +I was puzzling myself about this time as to what was going to happen +next, for I could not understand why the rebels were so quiet; but the +next minute I was watching Lieutenant Leigh, and thinking about the +morning when we saw Captain Dyer bound to the muzzle of the +nine-pounder. + +Could he have been thinking about the same thing? I say yes, for all at +once he started right up, looking wild and excited. He had hold of Miss +Ross's hand; but he threw it from him, as he called out: "Now, my lads, +a bold race, and a short one. We must bring them in. Spike the guns-- +cut the cords. Now, then--Elsie or death. Are you ready there? +Forward!" + +That last word rang through the vault we were in, and Captain Dyer ran +down the steps, his hacked sword hanging from his wrist by the knot. +But he was too late to take his messmate's hand in his, and say +_farewell_, if that had been his intention, for Lieutenant Leigh had +fallen back; and that senseless figure by his side was to all appearance +as dead, when, with a quivering lip, Captain Dyer gently lifted her, and +bore her to where, half stupefied, Mrs Colonel Maine was sitting. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +I got rather confused, and am to this day, about how the time went; +things that only took a few minutes seeming to be hours in happening, +and what really did take a long time gliding away as if by magic. I +think I was very often in a half-delirious state; but I can well +remember what was the cause of the silence above. + +Captain Dyer was the first to see, and taking a rifle in his hand, he +whispered an order or two; and then he, with two more, rushed into the +passage, and got the door drawn towards us, for it opened outwards; but +in so doing, he slipped on the floor, and fell with a bayonet-thrust +through his shoulder, when, with a yell of rage--it was no cheer this +time--our men dashed forward, and dragged him in; the door was pulled +to, and held close; and then those poor wounded fellows--heroes I call +'em--stood angrily muttering. + +I think I got more excited over that scene than over any part of the +straggle, and all because I was lying there helpless; but it was of no +use to fret, though I lay there with the weak tears running down my +cheeks, as that brave man was brought down, and laid near the grating, +with Mother Bantem at work directly to tear off his coat, and begin to +bandage, as if she had been brought up in a hospital. + +The door was forsaken, for there was a new guard there, that no one +would try to pass, for the silence was explained to us all first, there +was a loud yelling and shrieking outside; and then there was a little +thin blue wreath of smoke beginning to curl under the door, crawling +along the top step, and collecting like so much blue water, to spread +very slowly; for the fiends had been carrying out their wounded and +dead, and were now going to burn us where we lay. + +I can recollect all that; for now a maddening sense of horror seemed to +come upon me, to think that those few poor souls left were to be slain +in such a barbarous way, after all the gallant struggle for life; but +what surprised me was the calm, quiet way in which all seemed to take +it. + +Once, indeed, the men had a talk together, and asked the women to join +them in a rush through the passage; but they gave up the thought +directly, for they knew that if they could get by the flames, there were +more cruel foes outside, waiting to thrust them back. + +So they all sat down in a quiet, resigned way, listening to the crackle +outside the door, watching the thin smoke filter through the crevices, +and form in clouds, or pools, according to where it came through. + +And you'd have wondered to see those poor fellows, how they acted: why, +Joe Bantem rubbed his face with his handkerchief, smoothed his hair and +whiskers, and then got his belts square, as if off out on parade, before +going and sitting quietly down by his wife. + +Measles lay very still, gently humming over the old child's hymn, _Oh! +that'll be joyful_, but only to burst out again into a fit of grumbling. + +Another went and knelt down in a corner, where he stayed; the rest shook +hands all round, and then, seeing Captain Dyer sitting up, and sensible, +they went and saluted him, and asked leave to shake hands with him, +quite upsetting him, poor fellow, as he called them, in a faint voice, +his "brave lads," and asked their pardon, if he'd ever been too harsh +with them. + +"God bless you! no, sir," says Joe Bantem, jumping up, and shaking the +hand himself, "which _that_ you've never been, but always a good officer +as your company loved. Keep a brave heart, my boys, it'll soon be over. +We've stood in front of death too many times now to shew the +white-feather. Hurray for Captain Dyer, and may he have his regiment in +the tother land, and we be some of his men!" + +Joe Bantem gave a bit of a reel as he said this, and then he'd have +fallen if it hadn't been for his wife; and though his was rather strong +language, you see it must be excused, for, leave alone his wounds, and +the mad feeling they'd bring on, there was a wild excitement on the men +then, brought on by the fighting, which made them, as you may say, +half-drunk. + +We must all have been choked over and over again, but for that grating; +for the hotter the fire grew above, the finer current of air swept in. +The mutineers could not have known of it, or one of their first acts +must have been to seal it up. But it was half-covered by some creeping +flower, which made it invisible to them, and so we were able to breathe. + +And now it may seem a curious thing, but I'm going to say a little more +about love. A strange time, you'll perhaps say, when those poor people +were crouching together in that horrible vault, expecting their death +moment by moment. But that's why it was, and not from any want of +retiring modesty. I believe that those poor souls wished to shew those +they loved how true was that feeling; and therefore it was that wife +crept to husband's side and Lizzy Green, forgetting all else now, placed +her arms round my neck, and her lips to mine, and kissed me again and +again. + +It was no time for scruples; and thus it was that, being close to them, +I heard Miss Ross, kneeling by the side of Captain Dyer, ask him, +sobbing bitterly the while--ask him to forgive her, while he looked +almost cold and strange at her, till she whispered to him long and +earnestly, when I knew that she must be telling him all about the events +of that morning. It must have been, for with a cry of joy I saw him +bend towards her, when she threw her arms round him, and clasped his +poor bleeding form to her breast. + +They were so when I last looked upon them, and every one seemed lost in +his or her own suffering, all save those two children, one of whom was +asleep on Mrs Maine's lap, and the other playing with the gold knot of +Captain Dyer's sword. + +Then came a time of misty smoke and heat, and the crackling of woodwork; +but all the while there was a stream of hot pure air rushing in at that +grating to give us life. + +We could hear the black fiends running round and round the burning +building, yelling, and no doubt ready to thrust back any one who tried +to get out. But there seemed then to come another misty time, from +which I was roused by Lizzy whispering to me: "Is it very near now?" + +"What?" I said faintly. + +"Death," she whispered, with her lips close to my ear. "If it is, pray +God that he will never let us part again in the land where all is +peace?" + +I tried to answer her, but I could not, for the hot, stifling blinding +smoke was now in my throat, when the yelling outside seemed to increase. +There was a loud rushing sound; the trampling of horses; the jingling +of cavalry sabres; a loud English hurray; and a crash; and I knew that +there was a charge of horse sweeping by. Then came the hurried beating +of feet, the ring of platoon after platoon of musketry, a rapid, +squandering, skirmishing fire; more yelling, and more English cheers; +the rush, again, of galloping horses; and, by slow degrees, the sound of +a fierce skirmish, growing more and more distant till there came another +rapid beating of hoofs, a sudden halt, the jingle and rattle of harness, +and a moment after, bim--bom--bom--bom! at regular intervals; and I +waved my hand, and gave a faint cheer, for I could mentally see it all: +a troop of light-horse had charged twice; the infantry had come up at +the double; and now here were the horse-artillery, with their light +six-pounders, playing upon the retreating rebels where the cavalry were +not cutting them up. + +That faint cheer of mine brought out some more; and then there was a +terrible silence, for the relief seemed to have come too late; but a +couple of our men crawled to the grating, where the air reviving them, +they gave another "Hurray!" which was answered directly. + +And then there was a loud shout, the excited buzz of voices, the +crashing of a pioneer's axe against the framework of the grating; and +after a hard fight, from which our friends were beaten back again and +again, we poor wretches, nearly all insensible, were dragged out about a +quarter of an hour before the burning house fell with a crash. Then +there was a raging whirlwind of flame, and smoke, and sparks, and the +cellar was choked up with the burning ruin. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +How well I remember coming to myself as I lay there on the grass, with +our old surgeon, Mr Hughes, kneeling by my side; for it was our own men +that formed the infantry of the column, with a troop of lancers, and one +of horse-artillery. There was Colonel Maine kneeling by his wife, who, +poor soul, was recovering fast, and him turning from her to the +children, and back again; while it was hard work to keep our men from +following up the pursuit, now kept up by the lancers and +horse-artillery, so mad and excited were they to find only eight wounded +men out of the company they had left. + +But, one way and another, the mutineers paid dear for what suffering +they caused us. I can undertake to say that, for every life they took, +half-a-dozen of their own side fell--the explosion swept away, I +suppose, quite fifty, just as they had attempted a surprise, and came +over from the south side in a night-attack; while the way in which they +were cut up in the engagement was something awful. + +For, anxious beyond measure at not hearing news of the party left in +Begumbagh, Colonel Maine had at length obtained permission to go round +by that station, reinforce the troops, and then join the general by +another route. + +They were making forced marches, when they caught sight of the rebels +yelling round the burning building, fully a couple of hundred being +outside; when, not knowing of the sore strait of those within, they had +charged down, driving the murderous black scoundrels before them like so +much chaff. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +But you must not think that our pains were at an end. Is it not told in +the pages of history how for long enough it was a hard fight for a +standing in India, and how our troops were in many places sore put to +it; while home after home was made desolate by the most cruel outrages. +It was many a long week before we could be said to be in safety; but I +don't know that I suffered much beyond the pains of that arm, or rather +that stump, for our surgeon, Mr Hughes, when I grumbled a little at his +taking it off, told me I might be very thankful that I had escaped with +life, for he had never known of such a case before. + +But it was rather hard lying alone there in the temporary hospital, +missing the tender hands that one loved. + +And yet I have no right to say quite alone, for poor old Measles was on +one side, and Joe Bantem on the other, with Mrs Bantem doing all she +could for us three, as well as five more of our poor fellows. + +More than once I heard Mr Hughes talk about the men's wounds, and say +it was wonderful how they could live through them; but live they all +seemed disposed to, except poor Measles, who was terrible bad and +delirious, till one day, when he could hardly speak above a whisper, he +says to me--being quite in his right mind: "I daresay some of you chaps +think that I'm going to take my discharge; but all the same, you're +wrong, for I mean to go in now for promotion!" + +He said "now;" but what he did then was to go in for sleep--and sleep he +did for a good four-and-twenty hours--when he woke up grumbling, and +calling himself the most unlucky beggar that ever breathed. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Time went on; and one by one we poor fellows got out of hospital cured; +but I was the last; and it was many months after, that, at his wish, I +called upon Captain--then Major--Dyer, at his house in London. For, +during those many months, the mutiny had been suppressed, and our +regiment had been ordered home. + +I was very weak and pale, and I hadn't got used to this empty sleeve, +and things looked very gloomy ahead; but, somehow, that day when I +called at Major Dyer's seemed the turning-point; for, to a poor soldier +there was something very soothing for your old officer to jump up, with +both hands outstretched to catch yours, and to greet you as warmly as +did his handsome, bonny wife. + +They seemed as if they could hardly make enough of me; but the sight of +their happiness made me feel low-spirited; and I felt no better when +Mrs Dyer--God bless her!--took my hand in hers, and led me to the next +room, where she said there was an old friend wanted to see me. + +I felt that soft jewelled hand holding mine, and I heard the door close +as Mrs Dyer went out again, and then I stood seeing nothing--hearing +nothing--feeling nothing, but a pair of clinging arms round my neck, and +a tear-wet face pressed to mine. + +And did that make me feel happy? + +No! I can say it with truth. For as the mist cleared away from my +eyes, and I looked down on, to me, the brightest, truest face the sun +ever shone on, there was a great sorrow in my heart, as I told myself +that it was a sin and a wrong for me, a poor invalided soldier, to think +of taking advantage of that fine handsome girl, and tying her down to +one who was maimed for life. + +And at last, with the weak tears running down my cheeks, I told her of +how it could not be: that I should be wronging her, and that she must +think no more of me, only as a dear friend; when there is that amount of +folly in this world, that my heart swelled, and a great ball seemed +rising in my throat, and I choked again and again, as those arms clung +tighter and tighter round my neck, and Lizzy called me her hero, and her +brave lad who had saved her life again and again; and asked me to take +her to my heart, and keep her there; for her to try and be to me a +worthy loving wife--one that would never say a bitter word to me as long +as she lived. + +I said that there was so much folly in this world, so how can you wonder +at me catching it of her, when she was so close that I could feel her +breath upon my cheeks, my hair, my eyes, as once more, forgetting all in +her love, she kissed me again and again. How, then, could I help, but +with that one hand press her to my heart, and go the way that weak heart +of mine wished. + +I know it was wrong; but how can one always fight against weakness. +And, to tell you the truth, I had fought long enough--so long that I +wished for peace. And I must say this, too, you must not be hard on +Lizzy, and think that it would have been better for her to have let me +do a little more of the courting: there are exceptional cases, and this +was one. + +I had a true friend in Major Dyer, and to him I owe my present +position--not a very grand one; but speaking honestly as a man, I don't +believe, if I had been a general, some one at home could think more of +me; while, as to this empty sleeve, she's proud of it, and says that all +the country is the same. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Wandering about as a regiment is, one does not often have a chance to +see one's old messmates; but Sergeant and Mrs Bantem and Sergeant +Measles did have tea and supper with us one night here in London, Mrs +Bantem saying that Measles was as proud of his promotion as a dog with +two tails, though Measles did say he was an unlucky beggar, or he'd have +been a captain. And, my! what a night we did have of that, without one +drawback, only Measles would spit on my wife's Brussels carpet; and so +we did have a night last year when the old regiment was stationed at +Edinburgh, and the wife and me had a holiday, and went down and saw +Colonel and Mrs Maine, and those children grown up a'most into a man +and woman. But Colonel Dyer had exchanged into another regiment, and +they say he is going to retire on half-pay, on account of his wound +troubling him. + +We fought our old battles over again on those nights; and we did not +forget the past and gone; for Mrs Bantem stood up after supper, with +her stiff glass of grog in her hand--a glass into which I saw a couple +of tears fall--as she spoke of the dead--the brave men who fell in +defence of the defenceless and innocent, hoping that the earth lay +lightly on the grave of Lieutenant Leigh, while she proposed the memory +of brave Harry Lant. + +We drank that toast in silence; and more than one eye was wet as the old +scenes came back--scenes such as I hope may never fall to the lot of men +again to witness; for if there is ever a fervent prayer sent up to the +Maker of All, by me, an old soldier, who has much to answer for, it is +contained in those words, so familiar to you all: + +"Peace on Earth!" _Amen_. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER ONE. + +THE GOLDEN INCUBUS. + +SIR JOHN DRINKWATER IS ECCENTRIC. + +"You're an old fool, Burdon, and it's all your fault." + +That's what Sir John said, as he shook his Malacca cane at me; and I +suppose it was my fault; but then, how could I see what was going to +happen? + +It began in 1851. I remember it so well because that was the year of +the Great Exhibition, and Sir John treated me to a visit there; and when +I'd been and was serving breakfast next morning, he asked me about it, +and laughed and asked me if I'd taken much notice of the goldsmiths' +work. I said I had, and that it was a great mistake to clean gold plate +with anything but rouge. + +"Why?" he said. + +Because, I told him, if any of the plate-powder happened to be left in +the cracks, if it was rouge it gave a good effect; but if it was a white +preparation, it looked dirty and bad. + +"Then we'll have all the chests open to-morrow, James Burdon," he said; +"and you shall give the old gold plate a good clean up with rouge, and +I'll help you." + +"You, Sir John?" + +He nodded. And the very next day he sent all the other servants to the +Exhibition, came down to my pantry, opened the plate-room, and put on an +apron just like a servant would, and helped me to clean that gold plate. +He got tired by one o'clock, and sat down upon a chair and looked at it +all glistening as it was spread out on the dresser and shelves--some +bright with polishing, some dull and dead and ancient-looking. Cups and +bowls and salvers and round dishes covered with coats of arms; some +battered and bent, and some as perfect as on the day it left the +goldsmith's hands. + +I'd worked hard--as hard as I could, for sneezing, for I was doing that +half the time, just as if I had a bad cold. For every cup or dish was +kept in a green baize bag that fitted in one of the old ironbound oak +chests, and these chests were lined with green baize. And all this +being exceedingly old, the moths had got in; and pounds and pounds of +pepper had been scattered about the baize, to keep them away. + +"I'll have a glass of wine, Burdon," Sir John says at last; "and we'll +put it all away again. It's very beautiful. That's Cellini work-- +real," he says, as he took up a great golden bowl, all hammered and +punched and engraved. "But the whole lot of it is an incubus, for I +can't use it, and I don't want to make a show." + +"Take a glass yourself, my man," he said, as I got him the sherry--a +fresh bottle from the outer cellar. "Ha! at a moderate computation that +old gold plate is worth a hundred thousand pounds; and a hundred +thousand pounds at only three per cent in the funds, Burdon, would be +three thousand a year. So you see I lose that income by letting this +heap of old gold plate lie locked up in those chests.--Now, what would +you do with it, if it were yours?" + +"Sell it, Sir John, and put it in houses," I said sharply. + +"Yes, James Burdon; and a sensible thing to do. But you are a servant, +and I'm a baronet; though I don't look one, do I?" he said, holding up +his red hands and laughing. + +"You always look a gentleman, Sir John," I said; "and that's what you +are." + +"Please God, I try to be," he said sadly. "But I don't want the money, +James; and these are all old family heirlooms that I hold in trust for +my life, and have to hand over--bound in honour to do so--to my son.-- +Look!" he said, "at the arms and crest of the Boileaus on every piece." + +"Boileau, Sir John?" + +"Well, Drinkwater, then. We translated the name when we came over to +England. There; let's put it all away. It's a regular incubus." + +So it was all packed up again in the chests; for he wouldn't let me +finish cleaning it, saying it would take a week; and that it was more +for the sake of seeing and going over it, than anything, that he had had +it out. So we locked it all up again in the plate-room. And it took +five waters hot as he could bear 'em to wash his hands; and even then +there was some rouge left in the cracks, and in the old signet ring with +the coat of arms cut in the stone--same as that on the plate. + +I don't know how it was; perhaps I was out of sorts, but from that day I +got thinking about gold plate and what Sir John said about its worth. I +knew what "incubus" meant, for I went up in the library and looked out +the word in the big dictionary; and that plate got to be such an incubus +to me that I went up to Sir John one morning and gave him warning. + +"But what for?" he said. "Wages?" + +"No, Sir John. You're a good master, and her ladyship was a good +mistress before she was took up to heaven." + +"Hush, man, hush!" he says sharply. + +"And it'll break my heart nearly not to see young Master Barclay when he +comes back from school." + +"Then why do you want to go?" + +"Well, Sir John, a good home and good food and good treatment's right +enough; but I don't want to be found some morning a-weltering in my +gore." + +"Now, look here, James Burdon," he says, laughing. "I trust you with +the keys of the wine-cellar, and you've been at the sherry." + +"You know better than that, Sir John. No, sir. You said that gold +plate was an incubus, and such it is, for it's always a-sitting on me, +so as I can't sleep o' nights. It's killing me, that's what it is. +Some night I shall be murdered, and all that plate taken away. It ain't +safe, and it's cruel to a man to ask him to take charge of it." + +He did not speak for a few minutes. + +"What am I to do, then, Burdon?" + +"Some people send their plate to the bank, Sir John." + +"Yes," he says; "some people do a great many things that I do not intend +to do.--There; I shall not take any notice of what you said." + +"But you must, please, Sir John; I couldn't stay like this." + +"Be patient for a few days, and I'll have something done to relieve +you." + +I went down-stairs very uneasy, and Sir John went out; and next day, +feeling quite poorly, after waking up ten times in the night, thinking I +heard people breaking in, as there'd been a deal of burglary in +Bloomsbury about that time, I got up quite thankful I was still alive; +and directly after breakfast, the wine-merchant's cart came from Saint +James's Street with fifty dozen of sherry, as we really didn't want. +Sir John came down and saw to the wine being put in bins; and then he +had all the wine brought from the inner cellar into the outer cellar, +both being next my pantry, with a door into the passage just at the foot +of the kitchen stairs. + +"That's a neat job, Burdon," said Sir John, as we stood in the far +cellar all among the sawdust, and the place looking dark and damp, with +its roof like the vaults of a church, and stone flag floor, but with +every bin empty. + +"Going to lay down some more wine here, Sir John?" I said; but he +didn't answer, only stood with a candle in the arched doorway, which was +like a passage six feet long, opening from one cellar into the other. +Then he went up-stairs, and I locked up the cellar and put the keys in +my drawer. + +"He always was eccentric before her ladyship died," I said to myself; +"and now he's getting worse." + +I saw it again next morning, for Sir John gave orders, sudden-like, for +everybody to pack off to the country-house down by Dorking; and of +course everybody had to go, cook and housekeeper and all; and just as I +was ready to start, I got word to stay. + +Sir John went off to his club, and I stayed alone in that old house in +Bloomsbury, with the great drops of perspiration dripping off me every +time I heard a noise, and feeling sometimes as if I could stand it no +longer; but just as it was getting dusk, he came back, and in his short +abrupt way, he says: "Now, Burdon, we'll go to work." + +I'd no idea what he meant till we went down-stairs, when he had the +strong-room door opened and the cellar too and then he made me help him +carry the old plate-chests right through my pantry into the far +wine-cellar, and range them one after the other along one side. + +I wanted to tell him that they would not be so safe there; but I daren't +speak, and it was not till what followed that I began to understand; +for, as soon as we had gone through the narrow arched passage back to +the outer cellar, he laughed, and he says, "Now, we'll get rid of the +incubus, Burdon. Fix your light up there, and I'll help." + +He did help; and together we got a heap of sawdust and hundreds of empty +wine-bottles; and these we built up at the end of the arched entrance +between the cellars from floor to ceiling, just as if it had been a +wine-bin, till the farther cellar was quite shut off with empty bottles. +And then, if he didn't make me move the new sherry that had just come +in and treat that the same, building up full bottles in front of the +empty ones till the ceiling was reached once more, and the way in to the +chests of gold plate shut up with wine-bottles two deep, one stack full, +the other empty. + +He saw me shake my head, as if I didn't believe in it; and he laughed +again in his strange way, and said: "Wait a bit." + +Next morning I found he'd given orders, for the men came with a load of +bricks and mortar, and they set to work and built up a wall in front of +the stacked-up bottles, regularly bricking up the passage, just as if it +was a bin of wine that was to be left for so many years to mature; after +which the wall was white-washed over, the men went away, and Sir John +clapped me on the shoulder. "There, Burdon!" he said; "we've buried the +incubus safely. Now you can sleep in peace." + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER TWO. + +WHY EDWARD GUNNING LEFT. + +It's curious how things get forgotten by busy people. In a few weeks I +left off thinking about the hiding-place of all that golden plate; and +after a time I used to go into that first cellar for wine with my +half-dozen basket in one hand, my cellar candlestick in the other, and +never once think about there being a farther cellar; while, though there +was the strong-room in my pantry with quite a thousand pounds-worth of +silver in it--perhaps more--I never fancied anybody would come for that. + +Master Barclay came, and went back to school, and Sir John grew more +strange; and then an old friend of his died and left one little child, +Miss Virginia, and Sir John took her and brought her to the old house in +Bloomsbury, and she became--bless her sweet face!--just like his own. + +Then, all at once I found that ten years had slipped by, and it set me +thinking about being ten years nearer the end, and that the years were +rolling on, and some day another butler would sleep in my pantry, while +I was sleeping--well, you know where, cold and still--and that then Sir +John would be taking his last sleep too, and Master Barclay be, as it +says in the Scriptures, reigning in his stead. + +And then it was that all in a flash something seemed to say to me: +Suppose Sir John has never told his lawyers about that buried gold +plate, and left no writing to show where it is. I felt quite startled, +and didn't know what to think. As far as I could tell, nobody but Sir +John and I knew the secret. Young Master Barclay certainly didn't, or +else, when I let him carry the basket for a treat, and went into the +cellar to fetch his father's port, he, being a talking, lively, +thoughtless boy, would have been sure to say something. His father +ought certainly to tell him some day; but suppose the master was taken +bad suddenly with apoplexy and died without being able--what then? + +I didn't sleep much that night, for once more that gold plate was being +an incubus, and I determined to speak to Sir John as an old family +servant should, the very next day. + +Next day came, and I daren't; and for days and days the incubus seemed +to swell and trouble me, till I felt as if I was haunted. But I +couldn't make up my mind what to do, till one night, just before going +to bed, and then it came like a flash, and I laughed at myself for not +thinking of it before. I didn't waste any time, but getting down my +ink-bottle and pens, I took a sheet of paper, and wrote as plainly as I +could about how Sir John Drinkwater and his butler James Burdon had +hidden all the chests of valuable old gold cups and salvers in the inner +wine-cellar, where the entrance was bricked-up; and to make all sure, I +put down the date as near as I could remember in 1851, and the number of +the house, 19 Great Grandon Street, Bloomsbury, because, though it was +not likely, Sir John might move, and if that paper was found after I was +dead, people might go on a false scent, find nothing, and think I was +mad. + +I locked that paper up in my old desk, feeling all the while as if I +ought to have had it witnessed; but people don't like to put their names +to documents unless they know what they're about, and of course I +couldn't tell anybody the contents of that. + +I felt satisfied as a man should who feels he has done his duty; and +perhaps that's what made the time glide away so fast without anything +particular happening. Sir John bought the six old houses like ours +opposite, and gave twice as much for them as they were worth, because +some one was going to build an Institution there, which might very +likely prove to be a nuisance. + +I don't remember anything else in particular, only that the houses would +not let well, because Sir John grew close and refused to spend money in +doing them up. But there was the trouble with Edward Gunning, the +footman, a clever, good-looking young fellow, who had been apprenticed +to a bricklayer and contractor, but took to service instead, he did no +good in that; for, in spite of all I could say, he would take more than +was good for him, and then Sir John found him out. + +So Edward Gunning had to go; and I breathed more freely, and felt less +nervous. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER THREE. + +MR BARCLAY THINKS FOR HIMSELF. + +So another ten years had slipped away; and the house opposite, which had +been empty for two years, was getting in very bad condition--I mean as +to paper and paint. + +"Nobody will take it as it is, Sir John," the agent said to him in my +presence. + +"Then it can be left alone," he says, very gruffly. "Good-morning." + +"Well, Mr Burdon," said the agent, as I gave him a glass of wine in my +pantry, "it's a good thing he's so well off; but it's poison to my mind +to see houses lying empty." Which no doubt it was, seeing he had five +per cent on the rents of all he let. + +Then Mr Barclay spoke to his father, and he had to go out with a flea +in his ear; and when, two days later, Miss Virginia said something about +the house opposite looking so miserable, and that it was a pity there +were no bills up to say it was to let, Sir John flew out at her, and +that was the only time I ever heard him speak to her cross. + +But he was so sorry for it, that he sent me to the bank with a cheque +directly after, and I was to bring back a new fifty-pound note; and I +know that was in the letter I had to give Miss Virginia, and orders to +have the carriage round, so that she might go shopping. + +Now, I'm afraid you'll say that Mr Barclay Drinkwater was right in +calling me Polonius, and saying I was as prosy as a college don; but if +I don't tell you what brought all the trouble about, how are you to +understand what followed? Old men have their own ways; and though I'm +not very old, I've got mine, and if I don't tell my story my way, I'm +done. + +Well, it wasn't a week after Mr Bodkin & Co, the agent, had that glass +of wine in the pantry, that he came in all of a bustle, as he always +was, just as if he must get everything done before dark, and says he has +let the house, if Sir John approves. + +Not so easily done as you'd think, for Sir John wasn't, he said, going +to have anybody for an opposite neighbour; but the people might come and +see him if they liked. + +I remember it as well as if it was yesterday. Sir John was in a bad +temper with a touch of gout--bin 27--'25 port, being rather an acid +wine, but a great favourite of his. Miss Virginia had been crying. The +trouble had been about Mr Barclay going away. He'd finished his +schooling at college, and was now twenty-seven and a fine strong +handsome fellow, as wanted to be off and see the world; but Sir John +told him he couldn't spare him. + +"No, Bar," he says in my presence, for I was bathing his foot--"if you +go away--I know you, you dog--you'll be falling in love with some +smooth-faced girl, and then there'll be trouble. You'll stop at home, +sir, and eat and drink like a gentleman, and court Virginia like a +gentleman; and when she's twenty-one, you'll marry her; and you can both +take care of me till I die, and then you can do as you like." + +Then Mr Barclay, looking as much like his father as he could with his +face turned red, said what he ought not to have said, and refused to +marry Miss Virginia; and he flung out of the room; while Miss Virginia-- +bless her for an angel!--must have known something of the cause of the +trouble--I'm afraid, do you know, it was from me, but I forget--and she +was in tears, when there was a knock and ring, and a lady's card was +sent in for Sir John: "Miss Adela Mimpriss." + +It was about the house; and I had to show her in--a little, slight, +elegantly dressed lady of about three-and-twenty, with big dark eyes, +and a great deal of wavy hair. + +Sir John sent for Mr Barclay and Miss Virginia, to see if they approved +of her; and it was settled that she and her three maiden sisters were to +have the opposite house; and when the bell rang for me to show her out, +Mr Barclay came and took the job out of my hands. + +"I'm very glad," I heard him say, "and I hope we shall be the best of +neighbours;" and his face was flushed, and he looked very handsome; +while, when they shook hands on the door-mat, I could see the +bright-eyed thing smiling in his face and looking pleased; and that +shaking of the hands took a deal longer than it ought, while she gave +him a look that made me think if I'd had a daughter like that, she'd +have had bread-and-water for a week. + +Then the door was shut, and Mr Barclay stood on the mat, smiling +stupid-like, not knowing as I was noticing him; and then he turned +sharply round and saw Miss Virginia on the stairs, and his face changed. + +"James Burdon," I said to myself, "these are girls and boys no longer, +but grown-up folk, and there's the beginning of trouble here." + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER FOUR. + +A LITTLE SKIRMISH. + +I didn't believe in the people opposite, in spite of their references +being said to be good. You may say that's because of what followed; but +it isn't for I didn't like the looks of the stiff elderly Miss +Mimprisses; and I didn't like the two forward servants, though they +seemed to keep themselves to themselves wonderfully, and no man ever +allowed in the house. Worst of all, I didn't like that handsome young +Miss Adela, sitting at work over coloured worsted at the dining-room or +drawing-room window, for young Mr Barclay was always looking across at +her; and though he grew red-faced, my poor Miss Virginia grew every day +more pale. + +They seemed very strange people over the way, and it was only sometimes +on a Sunday that any one at our place caught a glimpse of them, and then +one perhaps would come to a window for a few minutes and sit and talk to +Miss Adela--one of the elder sisters, I mean; and when I caught sight of +them, I used to think that it was no wonder they had taken to dressing +so primly and so plain, for they must have given up all hope of getting +husbands long before. + +Mr Barclay suggested to Sir John twice in my hearing that he should +invite his new tenants over to dinner; and--once, in a hesitating way, +hinted something about Miss Virginia calling. But Sir John only +grunted; while I saw my dear young lady dart such an indignant look at +Mr Barclay as made him silent for the rest of the evening, and seem +ashamed of what he had said. + +I talked about it a good deal to Tom as I sat before my pantry fire of +an evening; and he used to leap up in my lap and sit and look up at me +with his big eyes, which were as full of knowingness at those times as +they were stupid and slit-like at others. He was a great favourite of +mine was Tom, and had been ever since I found him, a half-starved kitten +in the area, and took him in and fed him till he grew up the fine cat he +was. + +"There's going to be trouble come of it, Tom," I used to say; and to my +mind, the best thing that could have happened for us would have been for +over-the-way to have stopped empty; for, instead of things going on +smoothly and pleasantly, they got worse every day. Sir John said very +little, but he was a man who noticed a great deal. Mr Barclay grew +restless and strange, but he never said a word now about going away. +While, as for Miss Virginia, she seemed to me to be growing older and +more serious in a wonderful way; but when she was spoken to, she had +always a pleasant smile and a bright look, though it faded away again +directly, just as the sunshine does when there are clouds. She used to +pass the greater part of her time reading to Sir John, and she kept his +accounts for him and wrote his letters; and one morning as I was +clearing away the breakfast things, Mr Barclay being there, reading the +paper, Sir John says sharply: "Those people opposite haven't paid their +first quarter's rent." + +No one spoke for a moment or two, and then in a fidgety sharp way, Mr +Barclay says: "Why, it was only due yesterday, father." + +"Thank you, sir," says Sir John, in a curiously polite way; "I know +that; but it was due yesterday, and it ought to have been paid.--'Ginny, +write a note to the Misses Mimpriss with my compliments, and say I shall +be obliged by their sending the rent." + +Miss Virginia got up and walked across to the writing-table; and I went +on very slowly clearing the cloth, for Sir John always treated me as if +I was a piece of furniture; but I felt uncomfortable, for it seemed to +me that there was going to be a quarrel. + +I was right; for as Miss Virginia began to write, Mr Barclay crushed +the newspaper up in his hands and said hotly: "Surely, father, you are +not going to insult those ladies by asking them for the money the moment +it is due." + +"Yes, I am, sir," says the old gentleman sharply; "and you mind your own +business. When I'm dead, you can collect your rents as you like; while +I live, I shall do the same." + +Miss Virginia got up quickly and went and laid her hand upon Sir John's +breast without saying a word; but her pretty appealing act meant a deal, +and the old man took the little white hand in his and kissed it +tenderly. "You go and do as I bid you, my pet," he said; "and you, +Burdon, wait for the note, take it over, and bring an answer." + +"Yes, Sir John," I said quietly; and I heard Miss Virginia give a little +sob as she went and sat down and began writing. Then I saw that the +trouble was coming, and that there was to be a big quarrel between +father and son. + +"Look here, father," says Mr Barclay, getting up and walking about the +room, "I never interfere with your affairs--" + +"I should think not, sir," says the old man, very sarcastic-like. + +"But I cannot sit here patiently and see you behave in so rude a way to +those four ladies who honour you by being your tenants." + +"Say I feel greatly surprised that the rent was not sent over yesterday, +my dear," says Sir John, without taking any notice of his son. + +"Yes, uncle," says Miss Virginia. She always called him "uncle," though +he wasn't any relation. + +"It's shameful!" cried Mr Barclay. "The result will be that they will +give you notice and go." + +"Good job, too," said Sir John. "I don't like them, and I wish they had +not come." + +"How can you be so unreasonable, father?" cried the young man hotly. + +"Look here, Bar," says Sir John--("Fold that letter and seal it with my +seal, 'Ginny")--"look here, Bar." + +I glanced at the young man, and saw him pass his hand across his +forehead so roughly that the big signet ring he wore--the old-fashioned +one Sir John gave him many years before, and which fitted so tightly now +that it wouldn't come over the joint--made quite a red mark on his brow. + +"I don't know what you are going to say, father," cried Mr Barclay +quickly; "but, for Heaven's sake, don't treat me as a boy any longer, +and I implore you not to send that letter." + +There was a minute's silence, during which I could hear Mr Barclay +breathing hard. Then Sir John began again. "Look here, sir," he said. +"Over and over again, you've wanted to go away and travel, and I've said +I didn't want you to go. During the past three months you've altered +your mind." + +"Altered my mind, sir?" says the young man sharply. + +"Yes, sir; and I've altered mine. That's fair. Now, you don't want to +go, and I want you to." + +"Uncle!" + +"Have you done that letter, my pet?--Yes? That's well. Now, you stand +there and take care of me, for fear Mr Barclay should fly in a +passion." + +"Sir, I asked you not to treat me like a boy," says Mr Barclay +bitterly. + +"I'm not going to," says Sir John, as he sat playing with Miss +Virginia's hand, while I could see that the poor darling's face was +convulsed, and she was trying to hide the tears which streamed down. +"I'm going to treat you as a man. You can have what money you want. Be +off for a year's travel. Hunt, shoot, go round the world, what you +like; but don't come back here for a twelvemonth.--Burdon, take that +letter over to the Misses Mimpriss, and wait for an answer." + +I took the note across, wondering what would be said while I was gone, +and knowing why Sir John wanted his son to go as well as he did, and +Miss Virginia too, poor thing. The knocker seemed to make the house +opposite echo very strangely, as I thumped; but when the door was opened +in a few minutes, everything in the hall seemed very proper and prim, +while the maid who came looked as stiff and disagreeable as could be. + +"For Miss Mimpriss, from Sir John Drinkwater," I said; "and I'll wait +for an answer." + +"Very well," says the woman shortly. + +"I'll wait for an answer," I said, for she was shutting the door. + +"Yes; I heard," she says, and the door was shut in my face. + +"Hang all old maids!" I said. "They needn't be afraid of me;" and +there I waited till I heard steps again and the door was opened; and the +ill-looking woman says in a snappish tone: "Miss Adela Mimpriss's +compliments, and she'll come across directly." + +"Any one would think I was a wild beast," I said to myself, as I went +back and gave my message, finding all three in the room just as I had +left them when I went away. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER FIVE. + +JAMES BURDON SMELLS FIRE. + +Mr Barclay followed me out, and as soon as we were in the hall, +"Burdon," he says, "you have a bunch of small keys, haven't you?" + +"Yes, Master Barclay, down in my pantry." + +"Lend them to me: I want to try if one of them will fit a lock of mine." + +He followed me down; and I was just handing them to him, when there was +a double knock and a ring, and I saw him turn as red as a boy of sixteen +found out at some trick. + +I hurried up to open the door, leaving him there, and found that it was +Miss Adela Mimpriss. + +"Will you show me in to Sir John?" she says, smiling; and I did so, +leaving them together; and going down-stairs, to see Mr Barclay +standing before the fire and looking very strange and stern. He did not +say anything, but walked up-stairs again; and I could hear him pacing up +and down the hall for quite a quarter of an hour before the bell rang; +and then I got up-stairs to find him talking very earnestly to Miss +Adela Mimpriss, and she all the time shaking her head and trying to pull +away her hand. + +I pretended not to see, and went into the dining-room slowly, to find +Miss Virginia down on her knees before Sir John, and him with his two +hands lying upon her bent head, while she seemed to be sobbing. + +"I did not ring, Burdon," he said huskily. + +"Beg pardon, Sir John; the bell rang." + +"Ah, yes. I forgot--only to show that lady out." + +I left the room; and as I did so, I found the front door open, and Mr +Barclay on the step, looking across at Miss Adela Mimpriss, who was just +tripping up the steps of the house opposite; and I saw her use a +latchkey, open the door, and look round as she was going in, to give Mr +Barclay a laughing look; and then the door was closed, and my young +master shut ours. + +That day and the next passed quietly enough; but I could see very +plainly that there was something wrong, for there was a cold way of +speaking among our people in the dining-room, the dinner going off +terribly quiet, and Sir John afterwards not seeming to enjoy his wine; +while Miss Virginia sat alone in the drawing-room over her tea; and Mr +Barclay, after giving me back my keys, went up-stairs, and I know he was +looking out, for Miss Adela Mimpriss was sitting at the window opposite, +and I saw her peep up twice. + +This troubled me a deal, for, after all those years, I never felt like a +servant, but as if I was one of them; and it made me so upset, that, as +I lay in my bed in the pantry that night wondering whether Mr Barclay +would go away and forget all about the young lady opposite, and come +back in a year and be forgiven, and marry Miss Virginia, I suddenly +thought of my keys. + +"That's it," I said. "It was to try the lock of his portmanteau. He +means to go, and it will be all right, after all." + +But somehow, I couldn't sleep, but lay there pondering, till at last I +began to sniff, and then started up in bed, thinking of Edward Gunning. + +"There's something wrong somewhere," I said to myself, for quite plainly +I could smell burning--the oily smell as of a lamp, a thing I knew well +enough, having trimmed hundreds. + +At first I thought I must be mistaken; but no--there it was, strong; and +jumping out of bed, I got a light; and to show that I was not wrong, +there was my cat Tom looking excited and strange, and trotting about the +pantry in a way not usual unless he had heard a rat. + +I dressed as quickly as I could, and went out into the passage. All +dark and silent, and the smell very faint. I went up-stairs and looked +all about; but everything was as I left it; and at last I went down +again to the pantry, thinking and wondering, with Tom at my heels, to +find that the smell had passed away. So I sat and thought for a bit, +and then went to bed again; but I didn't sleep a wink, and somehow all +this seemed to me to be very strange. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER SIX. + +A SUDDEN CHANGE. + +If any one says I played spy, I am ready to speak up pretty strongly in +my self-defence, for my aim always was to do my duty by Sir John my +master; but I could not help seeing two or three things during the next +fortnight, and they all had to do with a kind of telegraphing going on +from our house to the one over the way, where Miss Adela generally +appeared to be on the watch; and her looks always seemed to me to say: +"No; you mustn't think of such a thing," and to be inviting him all the +time. Then, all at once I thought I was wrong, for I went up as usual +at half-past seven to take Mr Barclay's boots and his clothes which had +been brought down the night before, after he had dressed for dinner. I +tapped and went in, just as I'd always done ever since he was a boy, and +went across to the window and drew the curtains. "Nice morning, Master +Barclay," I said. "Half-past--" There I stopped, and stared at the bed, +which all lay smooth and neat, as the housemaid had turned it down, for +no one had slept in it that night. I was struck all of a heap, and +didn't know what to think. To me it was just like a silver spoon or +fork being missing, and setting one's head to work to think whether it +was anywhere about the house. + +He hadn't stopped to take his wine with Sir John after dinner; but that +was nothing fresh, for they'd been very cool lately. Then I hadn't seen +him in the drawing-room; but that was nothing fresh neither, for he had +avoided Miss Virginia for some little time. + +"It is very strange," I thought, for I had not seen him go out; and +then, all at once I gave quite a start, for I felt that he must have +done what Sir John had told him to do--gone. + +"That won't do," I said directly after. "He wouldn't have gone like +that;" and I went straight to Sir John's room and told him, as in duty +bound, what I had found out, for Mr Barclay was not the young man to be +fast and stop out of nights and want the servants to screen him. There +was something wrong, I felt sure, and so I said. + +"No," said the old gentleman, as he sat up in bed, and then began to +dress; "he wouldn't go at my wish; but that girl over the way is playing +with him, and he is too proud to stand it any longer, besides being +mortified at making such an ass of himself. There's nothing wrong, +Burdon. He has gone, and a good job too." + +Of course, I couldn't contradict my master; but I went up and examined +Mr Barclay's room, to find nothing missing, not so much as a shirt or a +pair of socks, only his crush-hat, and the light overcoat from the brass +peg in the front hall; and I shook my head. + +Miss Virginia looked paler than ever at breakfast; but nothing more was +said up-stairs. Of course, the servants gossiped; and as it was settled +that Mr Barclay had done what his father had told him, a week passed +away, and matters settled down with Miss Adela Mimpriss sitting at the +window just as usual, doing worsted-work, and the old house looking as +grim as ever, and as if a bit of paint and a man to clean the windows +would have been a blessing to us all. + +Every time the postman knocked, Miss Virginia would start; and her eyes +used to look so wild and large, that when I'd been to the little box and +found nothing from Mr Barclay, I used to give quite a gulp; and many's +the time I've stood back in the dining-room and shook my fist at Miss +Adela sitting so smooth and handsome at the opposite house, and wished +she'd been at the world's end before she came there. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER SEVEN. + +A TERRIBLE DISCOVERY. + +Mr Barclay had been gone three weeks, and no news from him; and I was +beginning to think that he had gone off in a huff all at once, though I +often wondered how he would manage for want of money, when one night, as +I sat nursing Tom, I thought I'd look through my desk, that I hadn't +opened for three or four years, and have a look at a few old things I'd +got there--a watch Sir John gave me, but which I never wore; six +spade-ace guineas; and an old gold pin, beside a few odds and ends that +I'd had for a many years; and some cash. Tom didn't seem to like it, +and he stared hard at the desk as I took it on my knees, opened it, +lifted one of the flaps, and put my hand upon the old paper which +contained the statement about the old gold plate. No; I did not. I put +my hand on the place where it ought to have been; but it wasn't there. + +"I must have put it in the other side," I said to myself; and I opened +the other lid. + +Then I turned cold, and ran my hand here and there, wild-like, to stop +at last with my mouth open, staring. The paper was gone! So was the +money, and every article of value that I had hoarded up. + +For a few minutes I was too much stunned even to think; and when at last +I could get my brain to work, I sat there, feeling a poor, broken, weak +old man, and I covered my face with my hands and cried like a child. + +"To think of it!" I groaned at length--"him so handsome and so young-- +him whom I'd always felt so proud of--proud as if he'd been my own son. +Why, it would break his father's heart if he knew. It's that woman's +doing," I cried savagely. "She turned his head, or he'd never have done +such a cruel, base, bad act as to rob a poor old man like me." For I'd +recollected lending Mr Barclay my keys, and I felt that sooner than ask +his father for money, he had taken what he could find, and gone. "Let +him!" I said savagely at last. "But he needn't have stolen them. I'd +have given him everything I'd got. I'd have sold out the hundred pounds +I've got in the bank and lent him that. But he didn't know what he was +doing, poor boy. That woman has turned his brain." + +"Ah, well!" I said at last bitterly, "it's my secret. Sir John shall +never know. He trusted me with one, and now his son--" I stopped short +there, for I recollected the paper, and fell all of a tremble, thinking +of that gold plate, and that some one else knew of its hiding-place now; +and I asked myself what I ought to do. For a long time I struggled; but +at last I felt that, much as I wanted to hide Mr Barclay's cruelly mean +act, I must not keep this thing a secret. "It's my duty to tell my +master," I said at last, "and I must." So I went up to where Sir John +was sitting alone, pretending to enjoy his wine, but looking very yellow +and old and sunken of face. "He's fretting about Master Barclay," I +said to myself, and I felt that I could not tell him that the lad had +taken my little treasures, but that he must know about the paper, so I +up and told him only this at once; and that's why he said I was an old +fool, and that it was all my fault. + +"You old fool!" he cried excitedly, "what made you write such a paper? +It was like telling all the world." + +"I thought it would be so shocking, Sir John, if we were both to die and +the things were forgotten." + +"Shocking? Be a good job," he cried. "A man who has a lot of gold in +his care is always miserable.--Taken out of your desk, you say. When?" + +"Ah, that I can't tell, Sir John. It might have been done years ago, +for aught I know." + +"And the old gold plate all stolen and melted down, and spent. Here +have I been thinking you a trustworthy man. There; we must see to it at +once. I shan't rest till I know it is safe." + +It seemed to me then that he snatched at the chance of finding something +to do to take his attention off his trouble, for when I asked him if I +should get a bricklayer to come in, he turned upon me like a lion. +"Burdon," he said, "we'll get this job done, and then I shall have to +make arrangements for you to go into an imbecile ward." + +"Very good, Sir John," I said patiently. + +"Very good!" he cried, laughing now. "There; be off, and get together +what tools you have, and as soon as the servants have gone to bed, we'll +go and open the old cellar ourselves." + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER EIGHT. + +THE SIGNET RING. + +It was exactly twelve o'clock by the chiming timepiece in the hall. +Just the hour for such a task, I felt with a sort of shiver, as Sir John +came down to the pantry, where I had candles ready, and a small crowbar +used for opening packing-cases, and a screw-driver. + +"Everybody seems quiet up-stairs, Burdon," says Sir John, "so let's get +to work at once.--But, hillo! just put out a lamp?" + +"No, Sir John," I said. "I often smell that now; but I've never been +able to make out what it is." + +"Humph! Strange," he says; and then we went straight to the cellar, the +great baize door at the top of the kitchen steps being shut; and +directly after we were standing on the damp sawdust with the bins of +wine all round. + +"It hasn't been touched, apparently, and there seems to be no need; but +I should like to see if it is all right. But we shall never get through +there, Burdon," he says, looking at the bricked-up wall, across the way +to the inner cellar. + +"I don't know," I said, taking off my coat and rolling up my sleeves, to +find that though the highest price had been paid for that bricklaying, +the cheat of a fellow who had the job had used hardly a bit of sand and +bad lime, so that, after I had loosened one brick and levered it out, +all the others came away one at a time quite clear of the mortar. + +"Never mind," says Sir John. "Out of evil comes good. I'll try that +sherry too, Burdon, and we'll put some fresh in its place. But if +that's left twenty years, we shall never live to taste it, eh?" + +I shook my head sadly as I worked away in that arch, easily reaching the +top bricks, which were only six feet from the sawdust; and, as is often +the case, what had seemed a terrible job proved to be easy. + +"There," he says; "the place will be sweeter now. We'll just have a +glance at the old chests, and then we must build up the empty bottles +again. To-morrow, I'll order in some more wine--for my son." + +He said that last so solemnly that I looked up at him as he stood there +with the light shining in his eyes. + +"As'll come back some day, sorry for the past, Sir John," I said, "and +ready to do what you wish." + +"Please God, Burdon!" he says, bowing his head for a bit. Then he +looked up quite sharply, and took a candle, and I the other. "Come +along," he says in his old, quiet, stern way; and I was half afraid I +had offended him, as he stepped in at the opening and stood at the mouth +of the inner cellar. Then I heard him give a sharp sniff; and I smelt +it too--that same odour of burnt oil. We neither of us spoke as we +walked over the damp black sawdust, both thinking of the likelihood of +foul air being in the place; but we found we could breathe all right; +and as we held up the candles, the light shone on the black-looking old +chests, every one with its padlocks and seals all right, just as we had +left them all those years before. + +I looked up at Sir John, and he gave me a satisfied nod as he tried one +of the seals, and then we both stood as if turned to stone, for from +just at my feet there came a dull knocking sound, and as I looked down, +I could see the black sawdust shake. + +What I wanted to do was to run, for I felt that the place was haunted; +but I couldn't move, and when I looked at Sir John, he was holding up +his right hand, as if to order me to be silent. Then he held his candle +down, for there was another sound, but this time more of a grinding +cracking in a dull sort of way, just as if some one was forcing an iron +chisel in between the joints of the stones. Then there was a long +pause, and I half thought it had been fancy; but soon after, as I stood +there hardly able to breathe, the sawdust just in one place was heaved +up about an inch. + +I was terribly alarmed, not knowing what to think; but Sir John was +brave as brave, and he signed to me not to speak, and stood watching +till there was a dull cracking sound, the sawdust was heaved up again, +and all at once I seemed to get a hot puff of that burnt oily smell +right in my nose. Then I began to understand, and felt afraid in a +different fashion, as I knew that we had only got there just in time. + +The next minute Sir John made a movement toward me, took my candle and +turned it upside down, so that it went out, and then pointed back toward +the outer cellar, as he put his lips to my ear: + +"Iron bar!" + +I stepped back softly, and got the iron bar from where it lay on the +edge of a bin, and I was about to pick up the screw-driver, when I +remembered where the wooden mallet lay, and I picked up that before +stepping softly back to where Sir John was watching the floor; and now I +could see that the sawdust was higher in one place, as if a flagstone +had been heaved up a little at one end. + +There was no doubt about it, for, as I handed the crowbar, the end of +the stone was wrenched up a little higher and then stuck; for it was +tightly held by those on either side; but it was up far enough to let a +thin ray of dull light come up through the floor and shine on the side +of one of the old chests. + +It was a curious scene there, in that gloomy cellar: Sir John standing +on one side, candle in his left, the iron bar in his right hand, and me +on the other bending down ready with the mallet to hit over the head the +first that should come up through the floor. For, though horribly +alarmed, I could understand now what it all meant--an attempt to steal +the gold in the chests, though how those who were working below had +managed to get there was more than I could have said. + +As we watched, the smell of the burnt oil came through, and I knew that +it must have been going on for a long time. + +All at once we could hear a low whispering, and then there was a +grinding noise of iron against stone; the flag gritted and gave a +little, but it held fast all along; and I could understand that the man +who was trying to wrench it up had no room to work, and therefore no +power to wrench up the stone. Then came the faint whispering again, and +it seemed to sound hollow. Then another grinding noise, and the end of +the flag was moved a trifle higher, so that the line of light on the old +chest looked two or three inches broad. + +I stepped softly to Sir John and put my lips to his ear as the +whispering could be heard again, and I said softly: "Shall I fetch the +police?" + +Sir John for answer set his candle down upon the top of one of the +chests and put it out with the bar as he whispered to me in turn: "Wait +a few moments." And then--"Look!" He pointed with the iron bar; and as +I stared hard at the faint light shining up from below the edge of the +stone, I could see just the tips of some one's fingers come through and +sweep the sawdust away to right and left. Then they came through a +little more, and were drawn back, while directly after came the low +whispering again, and the hand now was thrust right through as far as +the wrist. + +"Yes," said Sir John then, as he grasped my arm--"the police!" Just +then he uttered a gasp, and I turned to look at him; but we were in the +dark, and I could not see his face, but he gripped my arm more tightly, +and I looked once more toward the broad ray, to see the hand resting now +full in the light, and I turned cold with horror, for there was +something shining quite brightly, and I could see that it was a signet +ring, and what was more, the old ring Mr Barclay used to wear--the one +he had worn since he was quite a stripling, and beyond which the joint +had grown so big that he could never get the jewel off. + +I should have bent down there, staring at that ring for long enough, +fascinated, as you may say, only all at once I felt my arm dragged, and +I was pushed softly into the outer cellar, and from there into the +passage beyond, Sir John closing and locking the door softly, before +tottering into the pantry and sinking into a chair, uttering a low moan. + +"Oh, don't take on, sir," I whispered; but he turned upon me roughly. + +"Silence, man!" he panted, "and give me time to think;" and then I heard +him breathe softly, in a voice so full of agony that it was terrible to +hear: "Oh, my son!--my son!" + +"No, no, sir," I said--for I couldn't bear it. "He wouldn't; there's +some mistake." + +"Mistake? Then you saw it too, Burdon? No; there is no mistake." + +I couldn't speak, for I remembered about the keys, and something seemed +to come up in my throat and choke me, for it seemed so terrible for my +young master to have done this thing. + +"What are you going to do, sir?" I said at last, and it was me now who +gripped his arm. + +"Do?" he said bitterly. "All that is a heritage: mine to hold in trust +for my son--his after my death to hold in trust for the generations to +come. Burdon, it is an incubus--a curse; but I have my duty to do: that +old gold shall not be wasted on a--" + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER NINE. + +MR BARCLAY GOES TOO FAR. + +When young Mr Barclay-- + +Stop! How do I know all this? + +Why, it was burned into my memory, and I heard every word from him. + +When young Mr Barclay left the dining-room on the night he disappeared, +he went up to his own room, miserable at his position with his father, +and taking to himself the blame for the unhappiness that he had brought +upon the girl who loved him with all her sweet true heart. "But it's +fate--it's fate," he said, as he went up to his room; and then, unable +to settle himself there, he lit a cigar, came down, and went out just as +he was dressed in his evening clothes, only that he had put on a light +overcoat, and began to walk up and down in front of our house and watch +the windows opposite, to try and catch a glimpse of Miss Adela. + +Ten o'clock, eleven, struck, but she did not show herself at the window; +and feeling quite sick at heart, he was thinking of going in again, when +he suddenly heard a faint cough, about twenty yards away; and turning +sharply, he saw the lady he was looking for crossing the road, having +evidently just come back from some visit. + +"Adela--at last," he whispered as he caught her hand. + +"Mr Drinkwater!" she cried in a startled way. "How you frightened me!" + +"Love makes men fools," said Mr Barclay, as he slipped into her home +ere she could close the door. "Now take me in and introduce me to your +sisters." + +"Adela, is that you? Here, for goodness' sake. Why don't you answer?" + +"Is she there?" + +The first was a rough man's voice, the next that of a woman, and as they +were heard in the passage, another voice cried hoarsely: "It's of no +use: the game's up." + +"Hist! Hide! Behind that curtain! Anywhere!" panted Adela, starting +up in alarm. "Too late!" + +Barclay had sprung to his feet, and stood staring in amazement, and +perfectly heedless of the girl's appeal to him to hide, as two rough +bricklayer-like men came in, followed by a woman. + +"Will you let me pass?" cried Mr Barclay.--"Miss Mimpriss, I beg your +pardon for this intrusion. Forgive me, and good-night." + +One man gave the other a quick look, and as Mr Barclay tried to pass, +they closed with him, and, in spite of his struggles, bore him back from +the door. The next moment, though, he recovered his lost ground, and +would have shaken himself free, but the sour-looking woman who had +entered with the two men watched her opportunity, got behind, flung her +arms about the young man's neck, and he was dragged heavily to the +floor, where, as he lay half stunned, he saw Adela gazing at him with +her brows knit, and then, without a word of protest, she hurried from +the room. + +Mr Barclay heaved himself up, and tried to rise; but one of his +adversaries sat upon his chest while the other bound him hand and foot, +an attempt at shouting for help being met by a pocket-handkerchief +thrust into his mouth. + +A minute later, as Mr Barclay lay staring wildly, the rough woman, whom +he recalled now as one of the servants, and who had hurried from the +room, returned, helping Adela to support a pallid-looking man, whose +hands, face, and rough working clothes were daubed with clayey soil. + +"Confound you! why didn't you bring down the brandy?" he said +harshly.--"Gently, girls, gently. That's better. I'm half crushed.-- +Who's that?" + +"Visitor," said one of Mr Barclay's captors sourly. "What's to be +done?" + +Mr Barclay looked wildly from one to the other, asking himself whether +all this was some dream. Who were these men? Where the elderly Misses +Mimpriss? And what was the meaning of Adela Mimpriss being on such +terms with the injured man, who looked as if he had been working in some +mine? + +Their eyes met once, but she turned hers away directly, and held a glass +of brandy to the injured man's lips. + +"That's better," he said. "I can talk now. I thought I was going to be +smothered once.--Well, lads, the game's up." + +"Why?" said one of the others sharply. + +"Because it is. You won't catch me there again if I know it; and here's +private inquiry at work from over the way." + +"Hold your tongue!" said the first man of the party. "There; he can't +help himself now. You watch him, Bell; and if he moves, give warning." + +The rough woman seated herself beside Mr Barclay and watched him +fiercely. The two men crossed over to their companion; while Adela, +still looking cold and angry, with brow wrinkled up, drew back to stand +against the table and listen. + +The men spoke in a low tone; but Mr Barclay caught a word now and then, +from which he gathered that, while the man who had in some way been hurt +was for giving up, the other two angrily declared that a short time +would finish it now, and that they would go on with it at all hazards. + +"And what will you do with him?" said the injured man grimly. + +Mr Barclay could not help looking sharply at Adela, who just then met +his eye, but it was with a look more of curiosity than anything else; +and as she realised that he was gazing at her reproachfully, she turned +away and watched the three men. + +"Very well," said the one who was hurt, "I wash my hands of what may +follow." + +"All right." + +Mr Barclay turned cold as he wondered what was to happen next. He saw +plainly enough now that the house had been let to a gang of men engaged +upon some nefarious practice, but what it was he could not guess. +Coining seemed to be the most likely thing; but from what he had heard +and read, these men did not look like coiners. + +Then a curious feeling of rage filled him, and the blood rushed to his +brain as he lay reproaching himself for his folly. He had been +attracted by this woman, who was evidently thoroughly in league with the +man who spoke to her in a way which sent a jealous shudder through him, +while the sisters of whom he had once or twice caught a glimpse, seemed +to be absent, unless--The thought which occurred to him seemed to be so +wild that he drove it away, and lay waiting for what was to come next. + +"Be off, girls!" said the first man suddenly; and without a word, the +two women present left the room, Adela not so much as casting a glance +in the direction of the prisoner. + +The three men whispered together for a few moments, and then Mr Barclay +made an effort to get up, but it was useless, for the first two seized +him between them, all bound as he was, and dragged him out of the room, +along the passage, and down the stone steps to the basement, where they +thrust him into the wine-cellar, and half-dragged him across there into +the inner cellar, the houses on that side being exactly the same in +construction as ours. + +"Fetch a light," said one of them; and this was done, when the speaker +bent down and dragged the handkerchief from the prisoner's mouth. + +"You scoundrel!" cried Mr Barclay. + +"Keep a civil tongue in your head, my fine fellow," he said. + +"You shall suffer for this," retorted Mr Barclay. + +"P'r'aps so. But now, listen. If you like to shout, you can do so, +only I tell you the truth: no one can hear you when you're shut in here; +and if you do keep on making a noise, one of us may be tempted to come +and silence you." + +"What do you want?--Money?" + +"You to hold your tongue and be quiet. You behave yourself, and no harm +shall come to you; but I warn you that if you attempt any games, look +out, for you've desperate men to deal with. Now, then, will you take it +coolly?" + +"Tell me first what this means," said Mr Barclay. + +"I shall tell you nothing. I only say this--will you take it coolly, +and do what we want?" + +"I can't help myself," says Mr Barclay. + +"That's spoken like a sensible lad," says the second man.--"Now, look +here: you've got to stop for some days, perhaps, and you shall have +enough to eat, and blankets to keep you warm." + +"But stop here--in this empty cellar?" + +"That's it, till we let you go. If you behave yourself, you shan't be +hurt. If you don't behave yourself, you may get an ugly crack on the +head to silence you. Now, then, will you be quiet?" + +"I tell you again, that I cannot help myself." + +"Shall I undo his hands?" said one to the other. + +"Yes; you can loosen them." + +This was done, and directly after Mr Barclay sat thinking in the +darkness, alone with as unpleasant thoughts as a man could have for +company. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER TEN. + +A PECULIAR POSITION. + +The prisoner had been sitting upon the sawdust about an hour, when the +door opened again, and the two men entered, one bearing a bundle of +blankets and a couple of pillows, the other a tray with a large cup of +hot coffee and a plate of bread and butter. + +"There, you see we shan't starve you," said the first man; "and you can +make yourself a bed with these when you've done." + +"Will you leave me a light?" + +"No," says the man with a laugh. "Wild sort of lads like you are not +fit to trust with lights. Good-night." + +The door of the inner cellar was closed and bolted, for it was not like +ours, a simple arch; and then the outer cellar door was shut as well; +and Mr Barclay sat for hours reproaching himself for his infatuation, +before, wearied out, he lay down and fell asleep. How the time had +gone, he could not tell, but he woke up suddenly, to find that there was +a light in the cellar, and the two men were looking down at him. + +"That's right--wake up," says the principal speaker, "and put on those." + +"But," began Mr Barclay, as the man pointed to some rough clothes. + +"Put on those togs, confound you!" cried the fellow fiercely, "or--" + +He tapped the butt of a pistol; and there was that in the man's manner +which showed that he was ready to use it. + +There was nothing for it but to obey; and in a few minutes the prisoner +stood up unbound and in regular workman's dress. + +"That's right," said his jailer. "Now, come along; and I warn you once +for all, that if you break faith and attempt to call out, you die, as +sure as your name's Barclay Drinkwater!" + +Mr Barclay felt as if he was stunned; and, half-led, half pushed, he +was taken into what had once been the pantry, but was now a +curious-looking place, with a bricked round well in the middle, while on +one side was fixed a large pair of blacksmith's forge bellows, connected +with a zinc pipe which went right down into the well. + +"What does all this mean?" he said. "What are you going to do?" + +"Wait, and you'll see," was all the reply he could get; and he stared +round in amazement at the heaps of new clay that had been dug out, the +piles of old bricks which had evidently been obtained by pulling down +partition walls somewhere in the house, the lower part of which seemed, +as it were, being transformed by workmen. Lastly, there were oil-lamps +and a pile of cement, the material for which was obtained from a barrel +marked "Flour." + +The man called Ned was better, and joined them there, the three being +evidently prepared for work, in which Mr Barclay soon found that he was +to participate, and at this point he made a stand. + +"Look here," he said; "I demand an explanation. What does all this +mean?" + +"Are you ready for work?" cried the leader of the little gang, seizing +him by the collar menacingly. + +"You people have obtained possession of this house under false +pretences, and you have made the place an utter wreck. I insist on +knowing what it means." + +"You do--do you?" said the man, thrusting him back, and holding him with +his shoulders against a pile of bricks. "Then, once for all, I tell you +this: you've got to work here along with us in silence, and hard too, or +else be shut up in that cellar in darkness, and half-starved till we set +you free." + +"The police shall--" + +"Oh yes--all right. Tell the police. How are you going to do it?" + +"Easily enough. I'll call for help, and--" + +"Do," said the man, taking a small revolver from his breast. "Now, look +here, Mr Drinkwater; men like us don't enter upon such an enterprise as +this without being prepared for consequences. They would be very +serious for us if they were found out. Nobody saw you come in where you +were not asked, and when you came to insult my friend's wife." + +"Wife?" exclaimed Mr Barclay, for the word almost took his breath away. + +"Yes, sir, wife; and it might happen that the gallant husband had an +accident with you. We can dig holes, you see. Perhaps we might put +somebody in one and cover him up.--Now, you understand. Behave yourself +and you shall come to no harm; but play any tricks, and--Look here, my +lads; show our new labourer what you have in your pockets." + +"Not now," they said, tapping their breasts. "He's going to work." + +Mr Barclay, as he used to say afterwards, felt as if he was in a dream, +and without another word went down the ladder into the well, which was +about ten feet deep, and found himself facing the opening of a regular +egg-shaped drain, carefully bricked round, and seemingly securely though +roughly made. + +"Way to Tom Tiddler's ground," said the man who had followed him. "Now, +then, take that light and this spade. I'll follow with a basket; and +you've got to clear out the bricks and earth that broke loose +yesterday." + +Mr Barclay looked in at the drain-like passage, which was just high +enough for a man to crawl along easily, and saw that at one side a zinc +pipe was carried, being evidently formed in lengths of about four feet, +joined one to the other, but for what purpose, in his confused state, he +could not make out. + +What followed seemed like a part of a dream, in which, after crawling a +long way, at first downwards, and then, with the passage sloping +upwards, he found his farther progress stopped by a quantity of loose +stones and crumbled down earth, upon which, by the direction of the man +who followed close behind, he set down a strong-smelling oil lamp, +filled the basket pushed to him, and realised for the first time in his +life what must be the life of a miner toiling in the bowels of the +earth. + +At first it was intensely hot, and the lamp burned dimly; but soon after +he could hear a low hissing noise, and a pleasant cool stream of air +began to fill the place; the heat grew less, the light burned more +brightly, and he understood what was the meaning of the bellows and the +long zinc tube. + +For a full hour he laboured on, wondering at times, but for the most +part feeling completely stunned by the novelty of his position. He +filled baskets with the clay and bricks, and by degrees cleared away the +heap before him, after which he had to give place to the man who had +been injured, but who now crept by both the occupants of the passage, a +feat only to be accomplished after they had both lain down upon their +faces. + +Then the prisoner's task was changed to that of passing bricks and pails +of cement, sometimes being forced to hold the light while the man deftly +fitted in bricks, and made up what had been a fall, and beyond which the +passage seemed to continue ten or a dozen feet. + +At intervals the gang broke off work to crawl backwards out of the +passage to partake of meals which were spread for them in the library. +These meals were good, and washed down with plenty of spirits and water, +the two servant-like women and the so-called Adela waiting on the party, +everything being a matter of wonder to the prisoner, who stared wildly +at the well-dressed, lady-like, girlish creature who busied herself in +supplying the wants of the gang of four bricklayer-like men. + +At the first meal, Mr Barclay refused food. He said that he could not +eat; but he drank heartily from the glass placed at his side-water which +seemed to him to be flavoured with peculiar coarse brandy. But he was +troubled with a devouring thirst, consequent upon his exertions, and +that of which he had partaken seemed to increase the peculiar dreamy +nature of the scene. Whether it was laudanum or some other drug, we +could none of us ever say for certain; but Mr Barclay was convinced +that, nearly all the time, he was kept under the influence of some +narcotic, and that, in a confused dreamy way, he toiled on in that +narrow culvert. + +He could keep no account of time, for he never once saw the light of +day, and though there were intervals for food and rest, they seemed to +be at various times; and from the rarity with which he heard the faint +rattle of some passing vehicle, he often thought that the greater part +of the work must be done by night. + +At first he felt a keen sense of trouble connected with what he looked +upon as his disgrace and the way he had lowered himself; but at last he +worked on like some machine, obedient as a slave, but hour by hour +growing more stupefied, even to the extent of stopping short at times +and kneeling before his half-filled basket motionless, till a rude +thrust or a blow from a brickbat pitched at him roused him to continue +his task. + +The drug worked well for his taskmasters, and the making of the mine +progressed rapidly, for every one connected therewith seemed in a state +of feverish anxiety now to get it done. + +And so day succeeded day, and night gave place to night. The two +servant-like women went busily on with their work, and fetched +provisions for the household consumption, no tradespeople save milkman +and baker being allowed to call, and they remarked that they never once +found the area gate unlocked. And while these two women, prim and +self-contained, went on with the cooking and housework and kept the +doorstep clean, the so-called Miss Adela Mimpriss went on with the +woolwork flowers at the dining-room window, where she could get most +light, and the world outside had no suspicion of anything being wrong in +the staid, old-fashioned house opposite Sir John Drinkwater's. Even the +neighbours on either side heard no sound. + +"What does it all mean?" Mr Barclay used to ask himself, and at other +times, "When shall I wake?" for he often persuaded himself that this was +the troubled dream of a bad attack of fever, from which he would awaken +some day quite in his right mind. Meanwhile, growing every hour more +machine-like, he worked on and on always as if in a dream. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +CONCLUSION. + +I stood watching Sir John, who seemed nearly mad with grief and rage, +and a dozen times over my lips opened to speak, but without a sound +being heard. At last he looked up at me and saw what I wanted to do, +but which respect kept back. + +"Well," he said, "what do you propose doing?" + +I remained silent for a moment, and then, feeling that even if he was +offended, I was doing right, I said to him what was in my heart. + +"Sir John, I never married, and I never had a son. It's all a mystery +to me." + +"Man, you are saved from a curse!" he cried fiercely. + +"No, dear master, no," I said, as I laid my hand upon his arm. "You +don't believe that. I only wanted to say that if I had had a boy--a +fine, handsome, brave lad like Mr Barclay--" + +"Fine!--brave!" he says contemptuously. + +"Who had never done a thing wrong, or been disobedient in any way till +he fell into temptation that was too strong for him--" + +"Bah! I could have forgiven that. But for him to have turned thief!" + +I was silent, for his words seemed to take away my breath. + +"Man, man!" he cried, "how could you be such an idiot as to write that +document and leave it where it could be found?" + +"I did it for the best, sir," I said humbly. + +"Best? The worst," he cried. "No, no; I cannot forgive. Disgrace or +no disgrace, I must have in the police." + +"No, no, no!" I cried piteously. "He is your own son, Sir John, your +own son; and it is that wretched woman who has driven him mad." + +"Mad? Burdon, mad? No; it is something worse." + +"But it is not too late," I said humbly. + +"Yes, too late--too late! I disown him. He is no longer son of mine." + +"And you sit there in that dining-room every night, Sir John," I said, +"with all us servants gathered round, and read that half a chapter and +then say, `As we forgive them that trespass against us.' Sir John-- +master--he is your own son, and I love him as if he was my own." + +There wasn't a sound in that place for a minute, and then he drew his +breath in a catching way that startled me, for it was as if he was going +to have a fit. But his face was very calm and stern now, as he says to +me gently: + +"You are right, old friend;"--and my heart gave quite a bound--"old +friend." + +"Let's go to him and save him, master, from his sin." + +"Two weak old men, Burdon, and him strong, desperate, and taken by +surprise. My good fellow, what would follow then?" + +"I don't know, Sir John. I can only see one thing, and that is, that we +should have done our duty by the lad. Let's leave the rest to Him." + +He drew a long deep breath. + +"Yes," he says. "Come along." + +We went back in the darkness to the cellar door and listened; but all +seemed very still, and I turned the key in the patent Bramah lock +without a sound. We went in, and stood there on the sawdust, with that +hot smell of burnt oil seeming to get stronger, and there was a faint +light in the inner cellar now, and a curious rustling, panting sound. +We crept forward, one on each side of the opening; and as we looked in, +my hand went down on one of the sherry bottles in the bin by my arm, and +it made a faint click, which sounded quite loud. + +I forgot all about Sir John; I didn't even know that he was there, as I +stared in from the darkness at the scene before me. They--I say they, +for the whispering had taught me that there was more than one--had got +the stone up while we had been away. It had been pushed aside on to the +sawdust, and a soft yellow light shone up now out of the hole, showing +me my young master, looking so strange and staring-eyed and ghastly, +that I could hardly believe it was he. But it was, sure enough, though +dressed in rough workman's clothes, and stained and daubed with clay. + +It wasn't that, though, which took my attention, but his face; and as I +looked, I thought of what had been said a little while ago in my place, +and I felt it was true, and that he was mad. He had just crept up out +of the hole, when he uttered a low groan and sank down on his knees, and +then fell sidewise across the hole in the floor. He was not there many +moments before there was a low angry whispering; he seemed to be heaved +up, and, a big workman-looking fellow came struggling up till he sat on +the sawdust with his legs in the hole, and spoke down to some one. + +"It's all right," he said. "The chests are here; but the fool has +fainted away. Quick the lamp, and then the tools." + +He bent down and took a smoky oil lamp that was handed to him, and I +drew a deep breath, for the sound of his voice had seemed familiar; but +the light which shone on his face made me sure in spite of his rough +clothes and the beard he had grown. It was Edward Gunning, our old +servant, who was discharged for being too fond of drink, turned +bricklayer once again. + +As he took the lamp, he got up, held it above his head, looked round, +and then, with a grin of satisfaction at the sight of the chests, +stepped softly toward the opening into the outer cellar, where Sir John +and I were watching. + +It didn't take many moments, and I hardly know now how it happened, but +I just saw young Mr Barclay lying helpless on the sawdust, another head +appearing at the hole, and then, with the light full upon it, Edward +Gunning's face being thrust out of the opening into the cellar where we +were, and his eyes gleaming curiously before they seemed to shut with a +snap. For, all at once--perhaps it was me being a butler and so used to +wine--my hand closed upon the neck of one of those bottles, which rose +up sudden-like above my head, and came down with a crash upon that of +this wretched man. + +There was a crash; the splash of wine; the splintering of glass; the +smell of sherry--fine old sherry, yellow seal--and I stood for a moment +with the bottle neck and some sawdust in my hand, startled by the yell +the man gave, by the heavy fall, and the sudden darkness which had come +upon us. + +Then--I suppose it was all like a flash--I had rushed to the inner +cellar and was dragging the slab over the hole, listening the while to a +hollow rustling noise which ended as I got the slab across and sat on it +to keep it down. + +"Where are you, Burdon?" says Sir John. + +"Here, sir!--Quick! A light!" + +I heard him hurry off; and it seemed an hour before he came back, while +I sat listening to a terrible moaning, and smelling the spilt sherry and +the oily knocked-out lamp. Then Sir John came in, quite pale, but +looking full of fight, and the first thing he did was to stoop down over +Edward Gunning and take a pistol from his breast. "You take that, +Burdon," he said, "and use it if we are attacked." + +"Which we shan't be, Sir John, if you help me to get this stone back in +its place." + +He set the lamp on one of the chests and lent a hand, when the stone +dropped tightly into its place; and we dragged a couple of chests +across, side by side, before turning to young Mr Barclay, who lay there +on his side as if asleep. + +"Now," says Sir John, as he laid his hand upon the young man's collar +and dragged him over on to his back, "I think we had better hand this +fellow over to the police." + +"The doctor, you mean, sir. Look at him." + +I needn't have bade him look, for Sir John was already doing that. + +It was a doctor that I fetched, and not the police, for Mr Barclay lay +there quite insensible, and smelling as if he had taken to eating opium, +while Ned Gunning had so awful a cut across his temple that he would +soon have bled to death. + +The doctor came and dressed the rascal's wounds as he was laid in my +pantry; but he shook his head over Mr Barclay, and with reason; for two +months had passed away before we got him down to Dorking, and saw his +pale face beginning to get something like what it was, with Miss +Virginia, forgiving and gentle, always by his side. + +But I'm taking a very big jump, and saying nothing about our going +across to the house opposite as soon as it was daylight, to find the +door open and no one there; while the state of that basement and what we +saw there, and the artfulness of the people, and the labour they had +given in driving that passage right under the road as true as a die, +filled me with horror, and cost Sir John five hundred pounds. + +Why, their measurements and calculations were as true as true; and if it +hadn't been for me missing that paper--which, of course, it was Edward +Gunning who stole it--those scoundrels would have carried off that +golden incubus as sure as we were alive. But they didn't get it; and +they had gone off scot-free, all but our late footman, who had +concussion of the brain in the hospital where he was took, Sir John +saying that he would let the poor wretch get well before he handed him +over to the police. + +But, bless you, he never meant to. He was too pleased to get Mr +Barclay back, and to find that he hadn't the least idea about the golden +incubus being in the cellar; while as to the poor lad's sorrow about his +madness and that wretched woman, who was Ned Gunning's wife, it was +pitiful to see. + +The other scoundrels had got away; and all at once we found that Gunning +had discharged himself from the hospital; and by that time the house +over the way was put straight, the builder telling me in confidence that +he thought Sir John must have been mad to attempt to make such a passage +as that to connect his property without consulting a regular business +man. That was the morning when he got his cheque for the repairs, and +the passage--which he called "Drinkwater's Folly"--had disappeared. + +Time went on, and the golden incubus went on too--that is, to a big bank +in the Strand, for we were at Dorking now, where those young people +spent a deal of time in the open air; and Mr Barclay used to say he +could never forgive himself; but his father did, and so did some one +else. + +Who did? + +Why, you don't want telling that. Heaven bless her sweet face! And +bless him, too, for a fine young fellow as strong--ay, and as weak, too, +of course--as any man. + +Dear, dear, dear! I'm pretty handy to eighty now, and Sir John just one +year ahead; and I often say to myself, as I think of what men will do +for the sake of a pretty face--likewise for the sake of gold: "This is a +very curious world." + + + +STORY THREE, CHAPTER ONE. + +IN A GOWT. + +Looks ominous, don't it, to see nearly every gate-post and dyke-bridge +made of old ships' timber? Easy enough to tell that, from its bend, and +the tree-nail holes. Ours is a bad coast, you see; not rocky, but with +long sloping sands; and when the sea's high, and there's a gale on +shore, a vessel strikes, and there she lies, with the waves lifting her +bodily, and then letting her fall again upon the sands, shaking her all +to pieces: first the masts go, then a seam opens somewhere in her sides, +and as every wave lifts her and lets her down, she shivers and loosens, +till she as good as falls all to pieces, and the shore gets strewn with +old wreck. + +Good wrecks used to be little fortunes to the folk along shore, but +that's all altered now; the coastguard look-out too sharp. Things are +wonderfully changed to what they were when I was a boy. Fine bit of +smuggling going on in those days; hardly a farmer along the coast but +had a finger in it, and ran cargoes right up to the little towns inland. +The coast was not so well watched, and people were bribed easier, I +suppose; but, at all events, that sort of thing has almost died out now. + +Never had a brush with the coastguard or the cutter in my time, for we +were all on the cut-and-run system: but I had a narrow escape for my +life once, when a boat's crew came down upon us, and I'll tell you how +it was. + +We were a strong party of us down on the shore off our point here at +Merthorpe, busy as could be; night calm, and still, and dark, and one of +those fast-sailing French boats--_chasse-marees_, they call them-- +landing a cargo. Carts, and packhorses, and boats were all at it; and +the kegs of brandy, and barrels of tobacco, and parcels of lace were +coming ashore in fine style; I and another in a little boat kept making +trips backwards and forwards between the shore and the _chasse-maree_, +landing brandy-tubs--nice little brandy-kegs, you know, with a +VC--_Vieux Cognac_--branded on each. + +I don't know how many journeys I had made, when all at once there was an +alarm given, and as it were right out of the darkness, I could see a +man-of-war's boat coming right down upon us, while, before I quite got +over the first fright, there was another in sight. + +Such a scrimmage--such a scamper; boats scattering in all directions; +the French boat getting up a sail or two, and all confusion; whips +cracking, wheels ploughing through the soft sand, and horses galloping +off to get to the other side of the sandbank. We were close aside the +long, low _chasse-maree_, in our bit of a skiff thing, when the alarm +was given, and pushed off hard for the shore, which was about two +hundred yards distant, while on all sides there were other boats setting +us the example, or following in our wake; in front of us there was a +heavy cart backed as far out into the sea as she would stand, with the +horses turned restive and jibbing, for there was a heavy load behind +them, and the more the driver lashed them, the more the brutes backed +out in the shallow water, while every moment the wheels kept sinking +farther into the sand. + +I saw all this as the revenue cutter's boats separated, one making for +the _chasse-maree_, and the other dashing after the flying long-shore +squadron; and as I dragged at my oar, I had the pleasure of seeing that +we must either be soon overhauled, or else leap out into the shallow +water, and run for it, and I said so to my companion. + +"Oh, hang it, no," he cried; "pull on. They'll stave in the boat, and +we shall lose all the brandy." + +I did pull on, for I was so far from being loyal, that I was ready to +run any risk sooner than lose the little cargo we had of a dozen +brandy-kegs, and about the same number of packages; but there seemed not +the slightest prospect of our getting off, unless we happened to be +unobserved in the darkness. However, I pulled on, and keeping off to +the right, we had the satisfaction of seeing the revenue boat row +straight on, as if not noticing us. + +"Keep off a little now," I whispered, "or we shall be ashore." + +"No, no--it's all right," was the reply; "we are just over the swatch;" +which is the local term given to the long channels washed out in the +sand by the tide, here and there forming deep trenches along the coast, +very dangerous for bathers. + +"They see us," I whispered; when my companion backed water, and the +consequence was, that the boat's head turned right in-shore, and we +floated between the piles, and were next moment, with shipped oars, out +of sight in the outlet of the gowt. + +Now, I am not prepared to give the derivation of the word "gowt," but I +can describe what it is--namely, the termination, at the sea-coast, of +the long Lincolnshire land-drains, in the shape of a lock with gates, +which are opened at certain times, to allow the drainage to flow under +the sand into the sea, but carefully closed when the tide is up, to +prevent flooding of the marsh-lands, protected by the high sea-bank, +which runs along the coast and acts the part of cliffs. From these +lock-gates, a square woodwork tunnel is formed by means of piles driven +into the shore, and crossed with stout planks; and this covered +water-way in some cases runs for perhaps two hundred yards right beneath +the sandbank, then beneath the sand, and has its outlet some distance +down the shore; while, to prevent the air blowing the tunnel up when the +sea comes in, a couple of square wooden pipes descend at intervals of +some fifty yards through the sand into the water-way; at high water, +when the mouth is covered, and the lock-gates closed, the air comes +bellowing and roaring up these pipes as every wave comes in; and at +times, when the tunnel is pretty full, the water will, after chasing the +air, rush out after it, and form a spray fountain; while, as the waves +recede, the wind rushes back with a strange whistling sound, and a +draught that draws anything down into the tunnel with a fierce rush. +But there was another peculiarity of the hollow way that was strangely +impressed upon my memory that night--namely, its power of acting as a +vast speaking-tube, for if a person stood at one of the escape-pipes and +whispered, his words were distinctly audible to another at the other +pipe some fifty yards off, who could as easily respond. + +Well, it was into the mouth of the gowt tunnel that we had now run the +boat, where we were concealed from view certainly; and thrusting against +the piles with his hands, my companion worked the boat farther into the +darkness, until the keel touched the soft sand. + +"That's snug," he whispered: "they'll never find us here." + +"No," I said, as a strange fear came upon me. "But isn't the tide +rising?" + +"Fast," he said. + +"Then we shall be stopped from getting out." + +"Nonsense!" he said. "It will take an hour to rise above the +tunnel-mouth, and if it did, we could run her head up higher and higher. +Plenty of fresh air through the pipes." + +"If we're not drowned," I said. + +"There, if you want to lose the cargo, we'll pull out at once, and give +up," he said. + +"But I don't," I replied; "I am staunch enough; only I don't want to +risk my life." + +"Well, who does?" he said. "Only keep still, and we shall be all +right." + +The few minutes we had been conversing had been long enough for the tide +to float the boat once more, and this time I raised my hand to the root +and thrusting against the tunnel-covered, weed-hung, slimy woodwork, +soon had the boat's keel again in the sand, so as to prevent her being +sucked out by the reflux of the tide. At times we could hear shouts, +twice pistol-shots, and then we were startled by the dull, heavy report +of a small cannon. + +"That's after the _chasse-maree_," whispered my companion; "but she +sails like a witch. She's safe unless they knock a spar away." + +"I wish we were," I said, for I did not feel at all comfortable in our +dark hole, up which we were being forced farther and farther by the +increasing tide; while more than once we had to hold on tightly by the +horrible slimy piles, to keep from being drawn back. + +"Just the place to find dead bodies," whispered my companion, evidently +to startle me. + +"Just so," I said coldly. "Perhaps they'll find two to-morrow." + +"Don't croak," was the polite rejoinder; and then he was silent; but I +could hear a peculiar boring noise being made, and no further attempts +at a joke issued from my friend's lips. + +"Suppose we try and get out now?" I whispered, after another quarter of +an hour's listening in the darkness, and hearing nothing but the soft +rippling, and the "drip, drip" of water beyond us; while towards the +mouth came the "lap, lap" of the waves against the sides of the tunnel, +succeeded by a rushing noise, and the rattling of the loose mussels +clustering to the woodwork, now loudly, now gently; while every light +rustle of the seaweed seemed to send a shiver through me. + +The noise as of boring had ceased some time, and my friend now drew my +attention to one of the kegs, which he had made a hole through with his +knife; and never before did spirits come so welcome as at that moment. + +"Better try and get out now," whispered my companion. + +"They must be somewhere handy, though one can't see even their boat," +said a strange voice, which seemed hollow and echoing along the tunnel, +while the rattling of the shells and lapping of the water grew louder. + +All at once I raised my head, as if to feel for the hole down which the +sound of the voice came, when, to my alarm, I struck it heavily against +the top of the tunnel, making it bleed against the shelly surface. + +"Wait a bit," said my companion thickly; "they're on the look-out yet; +it's madness to go out." And I then heard a noise which told me that he +was trying to drown consciousness in the liquor to which he had made his +way. + +However, it seemed to me madness to stay where we were, to be drowned +like rats in a hole; and taking advantage of the next receding wave, I +gave the boat a start, and she went down towards the mouth of the tunnel +for a little way, when a coming current would have driven her back, only +I clung to the root now very low down, and rather close to which the +boat now floated. Another thrust, and I pushed her some distance down, +but with the next wave that came in, my hand was jammed against the +slimy roof, and, unnerved with horror, I gasped: "Rouse up, Harry! the +mouth's under water!" + +Hollowly sounded my voice as the wave sank, and I felt once more free, +and in sheer despair forced the boat lower down the tunnel; but this +time, when the tide came in again, I had to lie right back, the boat +rose so high, and I felt the dripping seaweed hanging from the roof weep +coldly and slimily over my face; when, before the next wave could raise +us, I thrust eagerly at the side, forcing the boat inward again, but in +the fear and darkness, got her across the tunnel, so that head and stern +were wedged, and as the next rush of water came, it smote the boat +heavily, and made her a fixture, so that in spite of my efforts, it +could not move her either way. + +Wash came the water again and again, and at every dash a portion came +into the boat, drenching me to the skin; while I now became aware that +Harry Hodson was lying stupefied across the kegs, and breathing heavily. + +I made one more effort to move the boat, but it was tighter than ever; +and after conquering an insane desire to dive out, and try and swim to +the mouth, I let myself cautiously down on the inner side, and stood, +with the water breast-high, clinging to the gunwale. The next moment it +rose above my mouth, lifting me from my feet, and as it rushed back, +sucked my legs beneath the boat; but I gained my feet again, and began +to wade inward. + +Yet strong upon me as was the desire for life, I could not leave my +companion to his fate in so cowardly a way; so I turned back, and this +time swimming, I reached the boat, now nearly full of water; and half +dragging, half lifting, I got his body over the side, and holding on by +his collar, tried once more for bottom. But it was a horrible time +there in the dense black darkness--a darkness that, in my distempered +brain, seemed to be peopled with hideous forms, swimming, crawling, and +waiting to devour us, or fold us in their slimy coils. The dripping +water sounded hollow and echoing; strange whispers and cries seemed +floating around; the mussels rustled together: and ever louder and +louder came the "lap, lap, lapping" of the water as it rushed in and +dashed against the sides and ceiling of the horrible place. + +I was now clinging with one hand to the boat's side, while with the +other I held tightly by Hodson's collar; but though I waited till the +wave receded before I tried the bottom, it was not to be touched; so, +shuddering and horror-stricken, I waited the coming wave, and struck off +swimming with all my might. It was only a minute's task; but when, +after twice trying, my feet touched the bottom, I was panting heavily, +and so nervous, that I had to lean, trembling and shaking, against the +side. But I had a tight hold of Hodson, whose head I managed to keep +above water; and it was not until warned of my danger by the rising +tide, and the difficulty I found keeping my feet that I again essayed to +press forward. + +Just then, something cold and wet swept across my face, and dashing out +my arms to keep off some monster of the deep, my hands came in contact +with a round body which beat against my breast and in my horror, as I +dashed away, I was some paces ere the dragging at my limb told me that I +had left my comrade to his fate. The next moment however, he was swept +up to me; and once more clutching his collar, and keeping his head above +water, I waded slowly along the tunnel, when again I nearly lost my +hold, for the same wet slimy body swept across my face; but raising my +hand, I only dashed away one of the long strands of bladder-weed which +hung thickly from the cross timbers of the roof. + +It was no hard matter to bear my companion along with me, for I had only +to keep his head up, his body floating along the surface, but my +foothold was uncertain, for now the bottom was slimy, and my feet sunk +in the ooze deeper and deeper, for I was nearing the gates through which +the fresh water of the marshes was let in; and though the water was now +only to my middle, I made my way with difficulty, for there was a +perceptible current against me. + +Breathing would have been easy, had it not been for my excitement; and +now a horrid dread seemed to check the very act, for all at once I heard +a heavy reverberating noise, and the thought struck me that they were +opening the gates, and in another instant the fearful rush of fresh +water would come bearing all before it--even our lives. + +In the agony of the moment I uttered a wild unearthly shriek--so fearful +a cry, that I shrank against the side afterwards, and clung to a slimy +post, trembling to hear the strange whispering echoes, as the cry +reverberated along the place, and mingled with the lapping rush of the +water, the dripping from the root and a loud sound as of a little +waterfall in front. + +Now came again the shape of something round swimming up against me, and +as it struck my side, I beat at it savagely, though I smiled at my +foolish fear the next moment, for it was one of the brandy-kegs washed +out of the boat. But horror still seemed to hold me, as I waded on +farther and farther, till once more the water began to deepen, and the +ooze at the bottom grew softer; so I stopped, listening to the heavy +rushing of water in front, where the drainage escaped, and washed +heavily down, deepening the tunnel at the foot of the doors; while in +that hollow, cavernous place, growing smaller moment by moment, the +rushing sound was something hideous. Danger in front, for the great +gates might at any time be opened; and danger behind, where the tide was +coming in ceaselessly, and deepening the water around me with its +regular beating throb, minute by minute. Thoughts of the past and +present seemed to surge through my brain, so that I grew bewildered, and +had any chance of escape presented itself I could not have seized it, +though I could not but tell myself that escape was impossible. A few +minutes--ten, twenty, thirty perhaps, and the black darkness seemed to +be growing blacker. + +"I must be free," I muttered; and dragging Hodson's handkerchief from +his neck, I bound it to my own, and then making them fast beneath his +arms, felt among the woodwork till I could find a place where I could +pass them through, so that I could secure him from slipping down, or +being swept away by the ebbing and flowing of the water. + +I was not long in finding a place; but then the handkerchiefs were not +long enough, and I had to add one from my pocket; then I left the poor +fellow quite insensible and half-hanging from one of the timbers. And +now I waded about, searching for the mouth of the air-pipe, in the hope +of shouting up it for succour, since I felt convinced that the tide +would effectually fill the tunnel, while the very thought of the gates +being opened half-maddened me; and heedless now of who might hear me, so +that they brought succour, I hunted aimlessly about, yelling and +shrieking for aid. + +It was a fearful struggle between reason and dread; and for ever dread +kept getting the upper hand: now it was a floating keg again and again +making me dash away now one of the packages hurried in by the tide; +while the strange drippings and hollow whisperings were magnified into +an infinity of horrors. Every monster with which imagination has +peopled the sea seemed to be there to attack me--strange serpent or +lizard like beasts, slimy and scaled, thronging along the ceiling or up +the sides, swimming around me, or burrowing through the sand. More than +once I actually touched some swimming object, but the contact was +momentary, and the stranger darted off. Then reason would gain +supremacy for a while; and trying to cool my throbbing brow with the +water, I thought of my position, whispered a few prayers, and +endeavoured to compose myself. There was even now a doubt: the tide +might not rise high enough to cover me; certainly it was now at my +breast, and I was standing with difficulty in the shallowest place I +could pick. The next moment, as the waves receded, it would fall to my +waist; but again it was up to my chest, and in spite of gleams of hope, +despair whispered truly that it was now higher up my chest than before. +True; but one wave in so many always came higher than the others. The +tide might still be at its height, and this be that particular wave. + +I moved again and again, but ever with the same result; and at last, +despairingly, I was clinging to a shell-covered piece of timber at the +side, with the water at my chin. + +A noise, a clanking noise as of chains rattling and iron striking iron; +and now hope fled, for I knew that this must be the opening of the doors +of the gowt; but, to my surprise, no rush of water followed; only a +little came, which lapped against my lips, while a rush of air smote my +forehead. + +Voices, shouts, and Hodson's name uttered; but I could not shout in +reply. Then my own name; and I gave some inarticulate cry by way of +answer, while once more reason seemed to get the better of the dread, +for I knew that the far doors of the gowt had not been opened, and that +they kept up the drainage, while the pair nearest to me had only had the +pressure upon them of the water escaping from the first. And now a good +bold swim, and I could have been in the big pit-like opening between the +two pairs of gates; but the spirit was gone, the nerve was absent and +still clinging to the shelly piece of timber, I closed my eyes, for I +felt that near as rescue seemed, I could do nothing to aid it. As for +Hodson, in this time of dread, I had forgotten him--forgotten all but +the great horror of the water lap, lap, lapping at my lip, and +occasionally receding, its fizzing spray in my nostrils. + +Higher and higher, covering my lip; but by a desperate effort I raised +myself a few inches, but only to go through the same agonies again, as +the water still crept up and up, slowly but surely, while in this my +last struggle my head touched the top timbers, the weed washed and swept +over it, and as I forced my fingers round the timber to which I clung, +my body floated in the water. + +Another minute, and I felt that all was over, for the water covered my +face once, twice; and half strangled, I waited gasping for the third +time; but it came not. Half a minute passed, and then again it washed +over my face, seeming as if it would never leave it; but at last it was +gone, and too unnerved to hope, I awaited its return, but it came not. + +I dared not hope yet, till I felt that the water was perceptibly lower, +and then the reaction was so fearful that I could hardly retain my hold +till the tide had sunk so that once more I could stand, when my shouts +for help brought assistance to me through the gowt, for they lowered +down a little skiff with ropes, and I was brought out as nearly dead as +my poor companion. + +That night's work sprinkled my hair with grey, and was my last +experience with the smuggling business. The loss was heavy; but I had +escaped with life, while poor Hodson was followed to the grave by some +score the following Sunday. + + + +STORY FOUR, CHAPTER ONE. + +A FIGHT WITH A STORM. + +I got first to be mate when quite a youngish fellow; the owners were +told somehow or other that I'd worked hard on the last voyage, and they +made me mate of the ship, and gave me a good silver watch and chain; a +watch that went to the bottom of the sea five years after in a wreck off +the Irish coast, by Wexford, when I and six more swam ashore, saving our +lives, and thankful for them. For the sea swallows up a wonderful store +of wealth every season; and it meant to have our ship, too, that year I +was made mate, only we escaped it. + +It happened like this. We were bound for Cadiz in a large, handsome, +new brig, having on board a rich cargo; for besides a heavy value in +gold, we had a lot of valuable new machinery, that had been made for the +Spanish government by one of our large manufacturers somewhere inland. +But besides this, there was a vast quantity of iron, in long, heavy, +cast pillars. A huge weight they were, and we all shook our heads at +them as they were lowered down into the hold, for we thought of what a +nice cargo they would turn out, if we should have a heavy passage. We +had about a score of passengers, too, and amongst them was a fine +gentlemanly fellow, going out with his wife, and he was to superintend +the fitting up of the machinery, several of the other passengers being +his men. + +She was a new, well-found vessel, and fresh in her paint; and with her +clean canvas, and all smart, we were rather proud of that boat. But +we'd only just got beyond the Lizard when it came on to blow, just as it +can blow off there in February, with rain, and snow, and hail; and we +were at last glad to scud before the gale under bare poles. + +Night and day, then, night and day following one another fast, with the +hatches battened down, and the ship labouring so that it seemed as if +every minute must be her last. She was far too heavily laden; and +instead of her being a ship to float out the fiercest storms, here we +were loaded down, so that she lay rolling and pitching in a way that her +seams began to open, and soon every hand had to take his turn at the +pumps. + +The days broke heavy and cloudy, and the nights came on with the +darkness awful, and the gale seeming to get fiercer and fiercer, till at +last, worn out, sailors and passengers gave up, the pumps were +abandoned, and refusing one and all to stay below, men and women were +clustered together, getting the best shelter they could. + +"I don't like to see a good new ship go to the bottom like this," I +shouted in one of my mates' ears, and he shouted back something about +iron; and I nodded, for we all knew that those great pillars down below +were enough to sink the finest vessel that ever floated. + +Just then I saw the skipper go below, while the gentleman who was going +out to superintend was busy lashing one of the life-buoys to his wife. + +"That ain't no good," I shouted to him, going up on hands and knees, for +the sea at times was enough to wash you overboard, as she dipped and +rolled as though she would send her masts over the side every moment. +But I got to where they were holding on at last; and seeing that, +landsman-like, he knew nothing of knotting and lashing, I made the +life-buoy fast, just as a great wave leaped over the bows, and swept the +ship from stern to stern. + +As soon as I could get my breath, I looked round, to find that where the +mate and three passengers were standing a minute before, was now an +empty space; while on running to the poop, and looking over, there was +nothing to be seen but the fierce rushing waters. + +I got back to where those two were clinging together, and though feeling +selfish, as most men would, I couldn't help thinking how sad it would be +for a young handsome couple like them to be lost, for I knew well enough +that though she was lashed to the life-buoy, the most that would do +would be to keep her afloat till she died of cold and exhaustion. + +"Can nothing be done?" Mr Vallance--for that was his name--shouted in +my ear. + +"Well," I said, shouting again, "if I was captain, I should run all +risks, and get some of that iron over the side." + +"Why don't he do it, then?" he exclaimed; and of course, being nobody on +board that ship, I could only shake my head. + +Just then Mrs Vallance turned upon me such a pitiful look, as she took +tighter hold of her husband--a look that seemed to say to me: "Oh, save +him, save him!" And I don't know how it was, but feeling that something +ought to be done, I crept along once more to the captain's cabin, and +going down, there, in the dim light, I could see him sitting on a +locker, with a bottle in his hand, and a horrible wild stupid look on +his face, which told me in a moment that he wasn't a fit man to have +been trusted with the lives of forty people in a good new ship. Then I +stood half-bewildered for a few moments, but directly after I was up on +deck, and alongside of Mr Vallance. + +"Will you stand by me, sir," I says, "if I'm took to task for what I +do?" + +"What are you going to do?" he says. + +"Shy that iron over the side." + +"To the death, my man!" + +"Then lash her fast where she is," I said, nodding to Mrs Vallance; +"and, in God's name, come on." + +I saw the poor thing's arms go tight round his neck, and though I +couldn't hear a word she said, I knew it meant: "Don't leave me;" but he +just pointed upwards a moment, kissed her tenderly; and then, I helping, +we made her fast, and the next minute were alongside the hatches, just +over where I knew the great pillars to be. + +I knew it was a desperate thing to do, but it was our only chance; and +after swinging round the fore-yard, and rigging up some tackle, the men +saw what was meant, and gave a bit of a cheer. Then they clustered +together, passengers and men, while I shouted to Mr Vallance, offering +him his choice--to go below with another, to make fast the rope to the +pillars, or to stay on deck. + +He chose going below; and warning him that we should clap on the hatches +from time to time, to keep out the water, I got hold of a marlinespike, +loosened the tarpaulin a little, had one hatch off, and then stationed +two on each side, to try and keep the opening covered every time a wave +came on board. + +It seemed little better than making a way in for the sea to send us to +the bottom at once; but I knew that it was our only hope, and +persevered. Mr Vallance and one of the men went below, the tackle was +lowered, and in less time than I expected, they gave the signal to haul +up. We hauled--the head of the pillar came above the coamings, went +high up, then lowered down till one end rested on the bulwarks; the rope +was cast off; and then, with a cheer, in spite of the rolling of the +ship, it was sent over the side to disappear in the boiling sea. + +Another, and another, and another, weighing full six hundredweight +apiece, we had over the side, the men working now fiercely, and with +something like hope in their breasts; and then I roared to them to hold +fast the tarpaulin was pulled over, and I for one threw myself upon it, +just as a wave came rolling along, leaped the bows, and dashed us here +and there. + +But we found to our great joy that hardly a drop had gone below, the +weight of the water having flattened down the tarpaulin; so seizing the +tackle once more, we soon had another pillar over the side, and another, +and another--not easily, for it was a hard fight each time; and more +than once men were nearly crushed to death. It was terrible work, too, +casting them loose amidst the hurry and strife of the tempest; but we +kept on, till, utterly worn out and panting, we called on Mr Vallance +to come up, when we once more securely battened down the hatch and +waited for the morning. + +We agreed amongst ourselves that the ship did not roll so much; and +perhaps she was a little easier, for we had sent some tons overboard; +but the difference was very little; and morning found us all numbed with +the cold, and helpless to a degree. I caught Mr Vallance's eye, and +signalled to him that we should go on again; but it required all we +could do to get the men to work, one and all saying that it was useless, +and only fighting against our fate. + +Seeing that fair words wouldn't do, I got the tackle ready myself, and +then with the marlinespike in one hand, I went up to the first poor +shivering fellow I came to, and half-led, half-dragged him to his place; +Mr Vallance followed suit with another; and one way and another we got +them to work again; and though not so quickly as we did the day before, +we sent over the side tons and tons of that solid iron--each pillar on +being cut loose darting over the bulwark with a crash, and tearing no +end of the planking away, but easing the vessel, so that now we could +feel the difference; and towards night, though the weather was bad as +ever, I began to feel that we might have a chance; for the ship seemed +to ride over the waves more, instead of dipping under them, and +shuddering from stem to stern. We'd been fortunate, too, in keeping the +water from getting into the hold; and one way and another, what with the +feeling of duty done, and the excitement, things did not look so black +as before; when all at once a great wave like a green mountain of water +leaped aboard over the poop, flooded the deck, tore up the tarpaulin and +another hatch, and poured down into the hold, followed by another and +another; and as I clung to one of the masts, blinded and shaking with +the water, I could feel that in those two minutes all our two days' work +had been undone. + +"God help us!" I groaned, for I felt that I had done wrong in opening +the hatches; but there was no time for repining. Directly the waves had +passed on, rushing out at the sides, where they had torn away the +bulwarks, I ran to the mouth of the hold, for I felt that Mr Vallance +and the poor fellow with him must have been drowned. + +I shouted--once, twice, and then there was a groan; when, seizing hold +of the tackle that we had used to hoist the pillars, I was lowered down, +and began to swim in the rushing water that was surging from side to +side, when I felt myself clutched by a drowning man, and holding on to +him, we were dragged up together. + +But I did not want the despairing look Mrs Vallance gave me to make me +go down again, and this time I was washed up against something, which I +seized; but there seemed no life in it when we were hauled up, for the +poor fellow did not move, and it was pitiful to see the way in which his +poor wife clung to him. + +Another sea coming on board, it was all we could do to keep from being +swept off; and as the water seemed to leap and plunge down the hatch +with a hollow roar, a chill came over me again, colder than that brought +on by the bitter weather. I was so worn out that I could hardly stir; +but it seemed that if I did not move, no one else would; so shouting to +one or two to help me, I crawled forward, and got the hatches on again, +just as another wave washed over us; but before the next came, with my +marlinespike I had contrived to nail down the tarpaulin once more, in +the hope that, though waterlogged, we might float a little longer. + +It seemed strange, but after a little provision had been served round, I +began to be hopeful once more, telling myself that, after all, water was +not worse than iron, and that if we lived to the next day, we might get +clear of our new enemy without taking off the hatches. + +We had hard work, though, with Mr Vallance, who lay for hours without +seeming to show a sign of life; but towards morning, from the low +sobbing murmur I heard close by me, and the gentle tones of a man's +voice, I knew that they must have brought him round. You see, I was at +the wheel then, for it had come round to my turn, and as soon as I could +get relieved, I went and spoke to them, and found him able to sit up. + +As day began to break, the wind seemed to lull a little, and soon after +a little more, and again a little more, till, with joyful heart, I told +all about me that the worst was over; and it was so, for the wind +shifted round to the south and west, and the sea went down fast. Soon, +too, the sun came out; and getting a little sail on the ship, I began to +steer, as near as I could tell, homewards, hoping before long to be able +to make out our bearings, which I did soon after, and then got the +passengers and crew once more in regular spells at the pumps. + +We were terribly full of water; and as the ship rolled the night before, +it was something awful to hear it rush from side to side of the hold, +threatening every minute to force up the decks; but now keeping on a +regular drain, the scuppers ran well, and hour by hour we rose higher +and higher, and the ship, from sailing like a tub, began to answer her +helm easily, and to move through the water. + +It was towards afternoon that, for the first time, I remembered the +captain, just, too, as he made his appearance on deck, white-looking, +and ill, but now very angry and important. + +I had just sent some of the men aloft, and we were making more sail, +when in a way that there was no need for, he ordered them down, at the +same time saying something very unpleasant to me. Just then I saw Mr +Vallance step forward to where the other passengers were collected, many +of them being his own men; and then, after few words, they all came aft +together to where the captain stood, and Mr Vallance acted as +spokesman. + +"Captain Johnson," he said, "I am speaking the wishes of the passengers +of this ship when I request you to go below to your cabin, and to stay +there until we reach port." + +"Are you mad, sir?" exclaimed the captain. + +"Not more so than the rest of the passengers," said Mr Vallance, "who, +one and all, agree with me that they have no confidence in you as +captain; and that, moreover, they consider that by your conduct you have +virtually resigned the command of the ship into Mr Robinson's hands." + +"Are you aware, Mr Passenger, that _Mister_ Robinson is one of the +apprentices?" + +"I am aware, sir, that he has carried this vessel through a fearful +storm, when her appointed commander left those men and women in his +charge to their fate, while he, like a coward, went below to drown out +all knowledge of the present with drink." + +He raved and stormed, and then called upon the crew to help him; but Mr +Vallance told them that he would be answerable to the owners for their +conduct, and not a man stirred. I spoke to him till he turned angry, +and insisted upon my keeping to the command, and backed up at last by +both passengers and crew, who laughed, and seemed to enjoy it; but I +must say that, until we cast anchor in Yarmouth Roads, they obeyed me to +a man. + +So they made the captain keep for all the world like a prisoner to his +cabin till we entered the Tyne, after being detained a few days only in +the Roads, where it had been necessary to refit, both of the topmasts +being snapped, and the jib-boom being sprung, besides our being leaky, +though not so bad but that a couple of hours a day after the first +clearance kept the water under. + +Before we had passed Harwich very far, we had the beach yawls out, one +after another, full of men wanting to board us and take us into harbour, +so as to claim salvage. One and all had the same tale to tell us--that +we could never get into port ourselves; and more than once it almost +took force to keep them from taking possession, for, not content with +rendering help when it is wanted, they are only too ready to make their +help necessary, and have frightened many a captain before now into +giving up his charge into other hands. But with Mr Vallance at my +back, I stood firm; and somehow or another I did feel something very +much like pride when I took the brig safely into port, and listened to +the owners remarks. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Begumbagh, by George Manville Fenn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEGUMBAGH *** + +***** This file should be named 21304.txt or 21304.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/3/0/21304/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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