Chapter Forty Four.It was only exhaustion, and I woke the next morning very little the worse, and half expecting to find myself back in my tent and the journey part of a fevered dream. But the first things my eyes lighted upon were rich cushions and curtains, flowers, a shaded window looking out on an inner court, full of verdant trees, and, standing silent and watchful by one of the curtains, there was Salaman waiting to show me my bath, and summon two more to assist.People nowadays boast about their baths, some having endless praise to give to those they call Turkish, but to thoroughly know what a good bath is, they must have been on the hot plains of India, and known the luxury of having porous chatties of cool, delicious water dashed over them, and sending, as it were, life rushing through their enervated limbs.I felt a different being in a few minutes after Salaman and the others had finished their duties with all the assiduity of Hindu servants; and then as I sat in the handsome apartment arranged in its simple, rich, Eastern luxury, a feeling of wretchedness and misery came over me. I looked round at the rich carpets, soft cushions, and costly curtains; and then at my magnificent uniform, and began thinking of the old, old fable I had read as a child, of the jackdaw in borrowed plumes, and felt that I thoroughly deserved to share the vain daw’s fate.I know now that I was rather hard upon myself, and that circumstances had forced me into this position, but I am not sorry that I felt so strongly then.What was to be done? I did not want to be ungrateful to a man who evidently liked me for myself as well as for the use I might prove to be, but help him I would not, I was determined, and I said I would sooner die, though, even as I made that declaration mentally, I wondered whether I was composed of the kind of stuff that would prove so staunch when put to the test. At any rate, I was firm enough then, and began to think out the possibilities of escape.They seemed very remote. I was now in a strong town, surrounded by thousands of people; and, unless Brace came in company with quite a little army, there was not much prospect of his setting me free. I had no doubt about Dost tracking me out. After finding me in the tiny camp in the forest, he would not have much difficulty in tracking me here.But what to do? How could I hold back? I was certainly growing stronger every hour, and in spite of my breakdown on the previous night, I felt that it would be absurd to pretend that I was an invalid.I could not assume weakness, and I was not going to play a deceitful part. I should have, I knew, to dare the rajah’s anger, for, in spite of his words, I knew enough of the Hindu race, and had seen enough of his volcanic character, to feel that he would, sooner or later, change his manner, and threaten force.Consequently, I could only come to one conclusion—I must escape, and the sooner the better. The question was, how could it be done?I went to the open window and looked out, to find below me the beautiful court, with its trees, marble tank, and fountain of brilliantly clear water, in whose depths swam scores of great gold and silver fish, to which I could not help comparing myself as a fellow-prisoner in bright armour.I looked round the court, which was surrounded by handsome erections, but I did not see a single face at any window. At a gateway, though, were half a dozen armed men, showing me that the palace was carefully guarded.I went to another window, but it gave precisely the same view, except that I could see partly through the gateway, a place which at once had a great interest for me, as it might be the only path to liberty.Salaman entered the room just then, and I asked him if I was at liberty to go into the next room.“Oh yes,” he replied; “my lord is free to go where he likes. It was not safe out there on the forest hill. Here he is in a great city, surrounded by his friends.”“His enemies,” I muttered.“There are five rooms set apart for my lord. Will he come and see?”I nodded, and followed him from the room in which I had slept, across a little hall or entry, out of which was the place with tiled floor in which I had had my bath, and then with a smile he drew back a curtain and I entered a handsome room, with a divan in the centre, and others about the walls. Then into another, evidently intended for smoking, and from that into one which was set apart for my meals, as a very English-looking breakfast was spread, and a couple of white-robed servants stood waiting to receive my orders.My first move was in each case to the windows, to find that my apartments were in a corner of the court, and that all looked out on the goldfish-tank, but of course in different directions. But there was no tree near the walls big enough to be of use in an escape, and the tank, though it looked deep enough, was too far distant for a dive.“Will my lord have food?” said Salaman, humbly.“Not yet. Wait,” I replied; and I continued my inspection of my prison, for such it was to me, admiring most of all the curtains, which were of rich soft fabric, and Salaman smiled as he saw me pass them through my hand.“Beautiful!” I said to myself, and I felt in better spirits, for I saw those curtains cut down, slit up, twisted and knotted together, with one end secured to the side of a window ready for me to slide down the night I made my escape.“That’s step the first,” I said to myself; and then I looked hard at the two servants standing with folded arms motionless as bronze statues.They were, as I have said, dressed in white, and I saw now, as I examined them more closely, that the stuff was white muslin, both robe and turban, the latter being ornamented with a fine cord of gold twist.They were not very different to scores of men of their class, such as I had seen in good houses at Calcutta, or at the messes of the regiments where I had dined, but they attracted me greatly now, and my eyes rested searchingly on their brown faces, thick beards, bare legs, and feet partly hidden by red slippers.It was a neat, becoming dress, and I kept up my scrutiny, noting everything, including, of course, the cummerbund or broad cotton scarf or belt about the men’s waists.As for them, they did not even raise their eyes, but stood gazing down at the floor while I made a mental picture of their appearance, and oddly enough, I began thinking about walnuts, and wishing I had some.A curious wish, you will say, for a prisoner who had only to give the word, and a delicious breakfast would be placed before him, with curries and fruits, and sweets with his coffee.But I did not want any of them; I wanted walnuts.Ah! you will say, and a pair of nutcrackers, and some salt into which I could dip the ivory-white corrugated scraps when I had peeled them, and possibly then a glass of fine old port wine, making together—the one indigestible, the other heating—about as bad a mixture as a weak convalescent could partake of in India.But then, you see, you are perfectly wrong, for I was not thinking of eating and drinking, but wishing I could have a dozen or so of the big green walnuts I remembered growing on a great tree down in Surrey.What for?Why, to beat up into a kind of dark juice, in which I could wash my hands, neck, and face, my head, too, and then my feet and legs, till I had stained myself as dark as the darkest Hindu I had ever met.The windows, with the gateway to be reached by means of the twisted curtains; the dress of one of those men, and my skin darkened. So far as this already on the first morning of my gilded captivity!“I am getting on,” I said to myself, with a smile on my face, and then I grew rigid; for I turned and saw that Salaman was watching me keenly, as if he could read every thought.“Let not my lord be angry,” he said humbly. “I could not help seeing that he was pleased. Yes, they are two good servants; the best I could find. His highness said I was to do everything to make my lord happy. But will he not eat?”“Yes,” I cried eagerly, for I felt that he could not have read my thoughts, but had interpreted my looks to have meant satisfaction with the servants.And then I took my place, feeling all at once hungry and ready for my meal.“I must eat and grow strong,” I said. “Dost cannot get to me here, even if he dared use the same disguise. I must get out of the palace, and away into the country, and then all will be well.”My hopes were a little dashed directly after, for I felt that I had been too sanguine. But I brightened up again, for I knew that I could not succeed all at once, and that I had done wonders towards getting my liberty by making a beginning.I quite enjoyed the delicious breakfast they gave me, and felt in high spirits thinking such a life as the rajah offered me would be glorious if it could have been accepted with honour, and one could have made sure that his enemies would not be of his own race.The meal removed, Salaman informed me that the rajah had sent to know how I was; and, as I heard his words, there was the excuse ready to gain time. I might say I was weak and ill. But I did not. I sent word that I was rested and better.Salaman sent off his messenger, and then returned to say that a palanquin and bearers were waiting if I wished to go out about the gardens and park.But I declined, preferring to rest for the day, and think. I really was tired, and a seat in the shade by an open window would, I felt, be far preferable, so I seated myself, and tried to follow up my early success with some fresh idea that would help my escape.I looked down into the court, and watched the goldfish and those of a deep orange; then I looked down at the men on guard, and wondered whether they would stop one of the servants of the palace if they saw him walking steadily out, for that seemed to me the task before me.I was watching the gate, and picturing myself walking boldly up to the sentries, when I heard a familiar sound, and leaned out, as there was a loud trampling of horses, and I knew that a regiment must be passing by.But I could see nothing, only mentally picture what was going on as I listened, making out that it must be a very strong body to take so long in passing, while hardly had they gone before there came the dull regular tramp of foot, and regiment after regiment went past I wondered what for, and wished that my window looked right upon the road by which they passed, knowing full well that a request to that effect would be eagerly granted by one who would be pleased to see me taking so much interest in his troops.So of course I could not ask, only content myself by thinking out what was going on—whether the men were going to some drill, or whether an attack was imminent.My cheeks tingled at this, and my imagination grew busy as I began to picture the advance of some of our force. All I had been told by the rajah vanished like mist, and with patriotic fervour I mentally declared that England could not be beaten so easily as he supposed.But time wore away, and as the day glided by I grew dull and low-spirited, for I began to dread a visit.“He has been busy with his troops,” I said; “and to-night he will come to talk to me.”I was quite right; just at dark the rajah came to greet me smilingly, and sat down to smoke and chat as freely as if such a question as my joining his army were quite out of the question. He seemed pleased to find me so well, and begged me to ask for anything I wished—except liberty—and ended by telling me how hard he had been at work all day drilling and reviewing troops.“They want a great deal of teaching,” he said gloomily. “There is everything in them to make good soldiers, and they are willing to learn, but there is no one to drill them properly, and make them smart and quick like the whites.”We were getting on to dangerous ground, and he felt it too, and as if not to break his word about treating me as a friend, he changed his position directly, and began to ask my opinion about certain manoeuvres made by foot regiments, and whether I did not think them a great mistake.From that we drifted into the manufacture of powder, and the casting of shot and shell.“I mean to have all that done by my people,” he said—“in time. By-and-by I shall cast my own cannon. No, no,” he cried merrily; “we must not talk about guns.”“No; please don’t,” I said.“I’ll keep my word, Gil,” he cried; and as he spoke he looked one of the most noble gentlemen I ever saw. “Oh yes, I’ll keep my word to you, Gil; but we can talk about soldiering, even if you are not in my service.”And he went on talking upon that subject with all the keen interest of a man who was a soldier at heart, and who meant to gather round him an army which he meant to be invincible.I am sorry to say that I was very ignorant of the history of India; but still I had read and studied it a great deal, and I felt that Ny Deen was of the same type of men as the old warriors who rose from time to time, petty chiefs at first, but who by their indomitable energy conquered all around, and grew into men whose names were known in history, and would never die.“I tire you,” he said at last, after talking eagerly for some time about raising a regiment of light horse—all picked men, with the swiftest and best Arab troopers that could be obtained. “Mount them for speed,” he said, “and to harass the advance of an enemy, and keep him engaged when he is in retreat. Such men, if I can get them drilled and trained to the perfection I want, will be invaluable. You see, I have plenty of schemes,” he added, with a laugh. “All ambition, I suppose. No, not all,” he continued, earnestly; “for I want my nation to be great, and my people prosperous and well governed. It is not from the greed of conquest, Gil, nor the love of blood. I hope it is something better; but this rising of the peoples of Hindustan is my opportunity. Once the English are driven out of the country, the rest will be easy.”“Then the English are not driven out?” I said sharply.“Not quite, boy; but they are at their last gasp. There, Gil, I have placed myself in your hands. If you betray what I have said to-night, every one of the chiefs who now help me, and are my allies, would turn against me, and I should stand alone.”“You have no fear of that,” I said quietly. “You would not have trusted me if you had.”“No,” he said, rising, “I should not. So you see what confidence I have in you. There, I shall leave you now. Go to rest, man, and get stronger. You are beginning to look weary already.”He held out his hand as I walked with him to the door, and as I gave him mine, not without a feeling of compunction, for I was playing a double part, and letting him, as I thought, believe I was settling down, when he laughed merrily.“It is of no use,” he said.“I don’t understand,” I said, colouring like a girl.“Then I’ll explain. You are thinking of nothing else but escaping. Well, try to get away. There are only curtains before the doors; but you will find my plans stronger than locks and bolts. Try and grow contented with your lot, Gil—with the great future that is before you; for it is greater than you can grasp, boy. There, good night.”He passed through the doorway, and the purdah dropped behind him, while I stood thinking of his words, and ended by going to one of the windows and leaning out to gaze at the great stars.“That is not my fate,” I said to myself; and as the cool night-breeze came softly over my heated forehead, I saw better things in store than becoming the servant of a conquering tyrant, and I went to my couch more strongly determined than ever to scheme some way of escape.
It was only exhaustion, and I woke the next morning very little the worse, and half expecting to find myself back in my tent and the journey part of a fevered dream. But the first things my eyes lighted upon were rich cushions and curtains, flowers, a shaded window looking out on an inner court, full of verdant trees, and, standing silent and watchful by one of the curtains, there was Salaman waiting to show me my bath, and summon two more to assist.
People nowadays boast about their baths, some having endless praise to give to those they call Turkish, but to thoroughly know what a good bath is, they must have been on the hot plains of India, and known the luxury of having porous chatties of cool, delicious water dashed over them, and sending, as it were, life rushing through their enervated limbs.
I felt a different being in a few minutes after Salaman and the others had finished their duties with all the assiduity of Hindu servants; and then as I sat in the handsome apartment arranged in its simple, rich, Eastern luxury, a feeling of wretchedness and misery came over me. I looked round at the rich carpets, soft cushions, and costly curtains; and then at my magnificent uniform, and began thinking of the old, old fable I had read as a child, of the jackdaw in borrowed plumes, and felt that I thoroughly deserved to share the vain daw’s fate.
I know now that I was rather hard upon myself, and that circumstances had forced me into this position, but I am not sorry that I felt so strongly then.
What was to be done? I did not want to be ungrateful to a man who evidently liked me for myself as well as for the use I might prove to be, but help him I would not, I was determined, and I said I would sooner die, though, even as I made that declaration mentally, I wondered whether I was composed of the kind of stuff that would prove so staunch when put to the test. At any rate, I was firm enough then, and began to think out the possibilities of escape.
They seemed very remote. I was now in a strong town, surrounded by thousands of people; and, unless Brace came in company with quite a little army, there was not much prospect of his setting me free. I had no doubt about Dost tracking me out. After finding me in the tiny camp in the forest, he would not have much difficulty in tracking me here.
But what to do? How could I hold back? I was certainly growing stronger every hour, and in spite of my breakdown on the previous night, I felt that it would be absurd to pretend that I was an invalid.
I could not assume weakness, and I was not going to play a deceitful part. I should have, I knew, to dare the rajah’s anger, for, in spite of his words, I knew enough of the Hindu race, and had seen enough of his volcanic character, to feel that he would, sooner or later, change his manner, and threaten force.
Consequently, I could only come to one conclusion—I must escape, and the sooner the better. The question was, how could it be done?
I went to the open window and looked out, to find below me the beautiful court, with its trees, marble tank, and fountain of brilliantly clear water, in whose depths swam scores of great gold and silver fish, to which I could not help comparing myself as a fellow-prisoner in bright armour.
I looked round the court, which was surrounded by handsome erections, but I did not see a single face at any window. At a gateway, though, were half a dozen armed men, showing me that the palace was carefully guarded.
I went to another window, but it gave precisely the same view, except that I could see partly through the gateway, a place which at once had a great interest for me, as it might be the only path to liberty.
Salaman entered the room just then, and I asked him if I was at liberty to go into the next room.
“Oh yes,” he replied; “my lord is free to go where he likes. It was not safe out there on the forest hill. Here he is in a great city, surrounded by his friends.”
“His enemies,” I muttered.
“There are five rooms set apart for my lord. Will he come and see?”
I nodded, and followed him from the room in which I had slept, across a little hall or entry, out of which was the place with tiled floor in which I had had my bath, and then with a smile he drew back a curtain and I entered a handsome room, with a divan in the centre, and others about the walls. Then into another, evidently intended for smoking, and from that into one which was set apart for my meals, as a very English-looking breakfast was spread, and a couple of white-robed servants stood waiting to receive my orders.
My first move was in each case to the windows, to find that my apartments were in a corner of the court, and that all looked out on the goldfish-tank, but of course in different directions. But there was no tree near the walls big enough to be of use in an escape, and the tank, though it looked deep enough, was too far distant for a dive.
“Will my lord have food?” said Salaman, humbly.
“Not yet. Wait,” I replied; and I continued my inspection of my prison, for such it was to me, admiring most of all the curtains, which were of rich soft fabric, and Salaman smiled as he saw me pass them through my hand.
“Beautiful!” I said to myself, and I felt in better spirits, for I saw those curtains cut down, slit up, twisted and knotted together, with one end secured to the side of a window ready for me to slide down the night I made my escape.
“That’s step the first,” I said to myself; and then I looked hard at the two servants standing with folded arms motionless as bronze statues.
They were, as I have said, dressed in white, and I saw now, as I examined them more closely, that the stuff was white muslin, both robe and turban, the latter being ornamented with a fine cord of gold twist.
They were not very different to scores of men of their class, such as I had seen in good houses at Calcutta, or at the messes of the regiments where I had dined, but they attracted me greatly now, and my eyes rested searchingly on their brown faces, thick beards, bare legs, and feet partly hidden by red slippers.
It was a neat, becoming dress, and I kept up my scrutiny, noting everything, including, of course, the cummerbund or broad cotton scarf or belt about the men’s waists.
As for them, they did not even raise their eyes, but stood gazing down at the floor while I made a mental picture of their appearance, and oddly enough, I began thinking about walnuts, and wishing I had some.
A curious wish, you will say, for a prisoner who had only to give the word, and a delicious breakfast would be placed before him, with curries and fruits, and sweets with his coffee.
But I did not want any of them; I wanted walnuts.
Ah! you will say, and a pair of nutcrackers, and some salt into which I could dip the ivory-white corrugated scraps when I had peeled them, and possibly then a glass of fine old port wine, making together—the one indigestible, the other heating—about as bad a mixture as a weak convalescent could partake of in India.
But then, you see, you are perfectly wrong, for I was not thinking of eating and drinking, but wishing I could have a dozen or so of the big green walnuts I remembered growing on a great tree down in Surrey.
What for?
Why, to beat up into a kind of dark juice, in which I could wash my hands, neck, and face, my head, too, and then my feet and legs, till I had stained myself as dark as the darkest Hindu I had ever met.
The windows, with the gateway to be reached by means of the twisted curtains; the dress of one of those men, and my skin darkened. So far as this already on the first morning of my gilded captivity!
“I am getting on,” I said to myself, with a smile on my face, and then I grew rigid; for I turned and saw that Salaman was watching me keenly, as if he could read every thought.
“Let not my lord be angry,” he said humbly. “I could not help seeing that he was pleased. Yes, they are two good servants; the best I could find. His highness said I was to do everything to make my lord happy. But will he not eat?”
“Yes,” I cried eagerly, for I felt that he could not have read my thoughts, but had interpreted my looks to have meant satisfaction with the servants.
And then I took my place, feeling all at once hungry and ready for my meal.
“I must eat and grow strong,” I said. “Dost cannot get to me here, even if he dared use the same disguise. I must get out of the palace, and away into the country, and then all will be well.”
My hopes were a little dashed directly after, for I felt that I had been too sanguine. But I brightened up again, for I knew that I could not succeed all at once, and that I had done wonders towards getting my liberty by making a beginning.
I quite enjoyed the delicious breakfast they gave me, and felt in high spirits thinking such a life as the rajah offered me would be glorious if it could have been accepted with honour, and one could have made sure that his enemies would not be of his own race.
The meal removed, Salaman informed me that the rajah had sent to know how I was; and, as I heard his words, there was the excuse ready to gain time. I might say I was weak and ill. But I did not. I sent word that I was rested and better.
Salaman sent off his messenger, and then returned to say that a palanquin and bearers were waiting if I wished to go out about the gardens and park.
But I declined, preferring to rest for the day, and think. I really was tired, and a seat in the shade by an open window would, I felt, be far preferable, so I seated myself, and tried to follow up my early success with some fresh idea that would help my escape.
I looked down into the court, and watched the goldfish and those of a deep orange; then I looked down at the men on guard, and wondered whether they would stop one of the servants of the palace if they saw him walking steadily out, for that seemed to me the task before me.
I was watching the gate, and picturing myself walking boldly up to the sentries, when I heard a familiar sound, and leaned out, as there was a loud trampling of horses, and I knew that a regiment must be passing by.
But I could see nothing, only mentally picture what was going on as I listened, making out that it must be a very strong body to take so long in passing, while hardly had they gone before there came the dull regular tramp of foot, and regiment after regiment went past I wondered what for, and wished that my window looked right upon the road by which they passed, knowing full well that a request to that effect would be eagerly granted by one who would be pleased to see me taking so much interest in his troops.
So of course I could not ask, only content myself by thinking out what was going on—whether the men were going to some drill, or whether an attack was imminent.
My cheeks tingled at this, and my imagination grew busy as I began to picture the advance of some of our force. All I had been told by the rajah vanished like mist, and with patriotic fervour I mentally declared that England could not be beaten so easily as he supposed.
But time wore away, and as the day glided by I grew dull and low-spirited, for I began to dread a visit.
“He has been busy with his troops,” I said; “and to-night he will come to talk to me.”
I was quite right; just at dark the rajah came to greet me smilingly, and sat down to smoke and chat as freely as if such a question as my joining his army were quite out of the question. He seemed pleased to find me so well, and begged me to ask for anything I wished—except liberty—and ended by telling me how hard he had been at work all day drilling and reviewing troops.
“They want a great deal of teaching,” he said gloomily. “There is everything in them to make good soldiers, and they are willing to learn, but there is no one to drill them properly, and make them smart and quick like the whites.”
We were getting on to dangerous ground, and he felt it too, and as if not to break his word about treating me as a friend, he changed his position directly, and began to ask my opinion about certain manoeuvres made by foot regiments, and whether I did not think them a great mistake.
From that we drifted into the manufacture of powder, and the casting of shot and shell.
“I mean to have all that done by my people,” he said—“in time. By-and-by I shall cast my own cannon. No, no,” he cried merrily; “we must not talk about guns.”
“No; please don’t,” I said.
“I’ll keep my word, Gil,” he cried; and as he spoke he looked one of the most noble gentlemen I ever saw. “Oh yes, I’ll keep my word to you, Gil; but we can talk about soldiering, even if you are not in my service.”
And he went on talking upon that subject with all the keen interest of a man who was a soldier at heart, and who meant to gather round him an army which he meant to be invincible.
I am sorry to say that I was very ignorant of the history of India; but still I had read and studied it a great deal, and I felt that Ny Deen was of the same type of men as the old warriors who rose from time to time, petty chiefs at first, but who by their indomitable energy conquered all around, and grew into men whose names were known in history, and would never die.
“I tire you,” he said at last, after talking eagerly for some time about raising a regiment of light horse—all picked men, with the swiftest and best Arab troopers that could be obtained. “Mount them for speed,” he said, “and to harass the advance of an enemy, and keep him engaged when he is in retreat. Such men, if I can get them drilled and trained to the perfection I want, will be invaluable. You see, I have plenty of schemes,” he added, with a laugh. “All ambition, I suppose. No, not all,” he continued, earnestly; “for I want my nation to be great, and my people prosperous and well governed. It is not from the greed of conquest, Gil, nor the love of blood. I hope it is something better; but this rising of the peoples of Hindustan is my opportunity. Once the English are driven out of the country, the rest will be easy.”
“Then the English are not driven out?” I said sharply.
“Not quite, boy; but they are at their last gasp. There, Gil, I have placed myself in your hands. If you betray what I have said to-night, every one of the chiefs who now help me, and are my allies, would turn against me, and I should stand alone.”
“You have no fear of that,” I said quietly. “You would not have trusted me if you had.”
“No,” he said, rising, “I should not. So you see what confidence I have in you. There, I shall leave you now. Go to rest, man, and get stronger. You are beginning to look weary already.”
He held out his hand as I walked with him to the door, and as I gave him mine, not without a feeling of compunction, for I was playing a double part, and letting him, as I thought, believe I was settling down, when he laughed merrily.
“It is of no use,” he said.
“I don’t understand,” I said, colouring like a girl.
“Then I’ll explain. You are thinking of nothing else but escaping. Well, try to get away. There are only curtains before the doors; but you will find my plans stronger than locks and bolts. Try and grow contented with your lot, Gil—with the great future that is before you; for it is greater than you can grasp, boy. There, good night.”
He passed through the doorway, and the purdah dropped behind him, while I stood thinking of his words, and ended by going to one of the windows and leaning out to gaze at the great stars.
“That is not my fate,” I said to myself; and as the cool night-breeze came softly over my heated forehead, I saw better things in store than becoming the servant of a conquering tyrant, and I went to my couch more strongly determined than ever to scheme some way of escape.
Chapter Forty Five.I suppose it was the returning flush of strength which made my rest so pleasant during my stay in the rajah’s palace, for my sleep was dreamless and delicious, and I awoke every morning in spirits so buoyant that I felt ashamed of them as unsuitable for a prisoner.Five days passed over now, during which I had been out twice in a palanquin, but only in the extensive gardens about the palace. I had not been idle, though; for I had, while apparently sitting back listlessly, made myself thoroughly acquainted with the shape and position of the place, knowing now that one side was protected by a swiftly flowing river. It was only about a hundred and fifty feet across, but deep, and its waters looked suggestive of crocodiles, so that one thought of attempting to cross by swimming with a shudder.I had by degrees pretty well got the plan of the place in my mind, but at the same time woke to the fact that the rajah’s was no empty boast, for the palace was surrounded by sentries, who were changed as regularly as in our service. Besides, I felt that every servant was a sentry over my actions, and that any attempt at evasion for some time to come was out of the question.And so the days glided by with no news from outside, and for aught I knew, the war might be over, and the country entirely in the hands of the mutineers.Once or twice I tried to get a little information from Salaman, but he either did not know or would not speak.I tried him again and then again, and at last, in a fit of temper, I cried—“You do know, and you will not speak.”“I am to attend on my lord,” he said deprecatingly, “not to bear news. If I told my lord all I knew to-day, I should have no head to tell him anything to-morrow.”I was in the territory of a rajah who did as he pleased with his people, and I did not wonder at Salaman’s obstinate silence any more.So there I was with my plans almost in the same state as on my first day at the palace. There were the curtains waiting to be turned into ropes; there were the servants with their white garments; but I had no walnuts, and I knew of nothing that would stain my skin; and I was beginning to despair, when a trifling thing sent a flash of hope through me, and told me that I was not forsaken.It was one hot day when everything was still but the flies, which were tormenting in the extreme; and, after trying first one room and then the other, I was about to go and lie down in the place set apart for my bath as being the coolest spot there was, when I heard a dull thud apparently in the next room where I had been sitting at the window, and I was about to go and see what it was, but stooped down first to pick up my handkerchief which had fallen.I was in the act of recovering it, when I heard a faint rustling sound, and knew what that was directly—Salaman looking in from behind the curtain to see if anything was wrong.Apparently satisfied, he drew back, and a splashing sound drew me to the window.That sound was explained directly, for just below me a couple of bheesties, as they are called, were bending low beneath the great water-skins they carried upon their backs, while each held one of the legs of the animal’s skin, which had been formed into a huge water-bladder, and was directing from it a tiny spout which flashed in the sun as he gave it a circular motion by a turn of his wrist, and watered the heated marble floor of the court, forming a ring or chain-like pattern as he went on.It was something to look at, and the smell of the water on the stones was pleasant; so I stayed there watching the two men, one of whom took the side of the court beyond the fountain, the other coming almost beneath my window.The weight of the water-skin must have been great at first, but it grew lighter as the man went on; and one moment I was thinking of what strength there was in his thin sinewy legs and arms, the next of the clever way in which the pattern was formed upon the pavement, and lastly of what a clumsy mode it was of watering the place, and how much pleasanter it would be if there were greater power in the fountain, and it sent up a great spray to come curving over like the branches of a weeping-willow. And by that time the skin was empty, hanging flaccid and collapsed upon the bheestie’s back, as he went slowly out by the guarded gate, still bent down as if the load was heavy even yet. “What a life for a man!” I thought, as, yawning again—I yawned very much during those hot days—I went slowly into the next room and felt startled, for just in front of the window lay a little packet, one which had evidently been thrown in, and it was that which had made the noise when it fell.It was hard work to refrain from stooping to pick up what I felt almost sure was a message of some kind, but I dared not for fear of being seen. There were curtains over every door, and I never knew but one of the native servants might be behind it; and after what Salaman had said about the safety of his head if he talked, I felt sure that the reason why the rajah’s servants were so watchful was that they feared danger to themselves if they were not careful of my safety.However, there was the little packet waiting—just a little packet not much larger than a seidlitz-powder, tied up with grass; and, beginning to walk up and down the room, I contrived to give it a kick now and then, till at last I sent it right into the purdah which hung in front of my chamber.This done, I went to the window, looked out, saw that the two bheesties were back watering the court again, the former sprinkling having nearly dried up; and then, turning, I walked right into my room, let the curtain fall back, to find, to my vexation, that the packet was still outside; but by kneeling down and passing my hand under, I was able to secure it, though I trembled all the while for fear my hand should have been seen.For fear of this, I thrust the packet into my breast, and lay down on my couch, listening. All was still, so I took out the packet quickly, noting that it was slightly heavy, but I attributed this to a stone put in with a note to make it easy for throwing in at the window.“Oh!” I ejaculated, as my trembling fingers undid the string, “if this is another of Dost’s letters!”But it was not, and there was no scrap of writing inside the dirty piece of paper. Instead, there was another tiny packet, and something rolled in a scrap of paper.I opened this first, and found a piece of steel about an inch and a half long, and after staring at it for a few moments, I thrust it into my pocket, and began to open the tiny packet which evidently contained some kind of seed.“Not meant for me,” I said to myself, sadly, as I opened the stiff paper, and—I lay there staring at the fine black seed, and ended by moistening a finger, and taking up a grain to apply to my tongue.The result was unmistakable. I needed no teaching there, for I had had a long education in such matters.It was gunpowder, and I laughed at myself for thinking that it was a kind of seed, though seed it really might be called—of destruction.“Yes; it’s meant for some one else,” I thought, as I carefully refolded the black grains in their envelope, and took out the piece of steel again, to turn it over in my hands, and notice that one end was fairly sharp, while the other was broken, and showed the peculiar crystalline surface of a silvery grey peculiar to good steel.“Why, it’s the point of a bayonet,” I said to myself; and then I sat thinking, regularly puzzled at the care taken to wrap up that bit of steel and the powder.“What does it mean?” I said, or does it mean anything? “Some children playing at keeping shop, perhaps,” I said; “and when they were tired, they threw the packet in at the first window they saw. Just the things soldiers’ children would get hold of to play with.”“But there are no children here,” I said to myself, as I began to grow more excited, and the more so I grew, the less able I was to make out that which later on appeared to be simplicity itself.“The point of a bayonet in one, and some grains of powder in another,” I said to myself. “Oh, it must be the result of some children at play; they cannot possibly be meant for me;” and in disgust, I tossed the powder out of the window, and directly after, flung out the piece of steel with the result that, almost simultaneously, I heard what sounded like a grunt, and the jingling of the metal on the marble paving.I ran to the window, and looked out from behind the hanging which I held before me, suspecting that I had inadvertently hit one of the bheesties. And so it proved, for I saw the man nearest to me stoop to pick up the piece of bayonet, and then nearly go down on his nose, for the water-skin shifted, and it was only by an effort that he recovered himself, and shook it back into its place on his loins.Just then the other water-bearer came up to him, and said something in a low tone—I could not hear what, for he and his companion conversed almost in whispers, as if overawed by the sanctity of the place in which they stood. But it was all evident enough, as I could make out by their gestures: the second bheestie asked the first what was the matter, and this man told him that some one had taken aim with a piece of steel, which he passed on, and struck him on the back. The second man examined the piece, passed it back, and evidently said, “Some one is having a game with you,” for he laughed, and they both looked up at the windows, as if to see who threw the piece.Just then I saw a fierce-looking man come from the gateway, sword in hand; the two bheesties went on with their watering, and I heard him speaking angrily, and he gave force to his abuse by striking each man sharply with the flat of his sword. But the blows were harmless, for they fell on the water-skins, and, as soon as he had marched off, I saw the men look at each other and grin.I drew back, and began to pace my room like a wild beast in a cage, for the idea had come strongly upon me that, after all, those packets were meant for me, and the more I told myself that it was folly, the stronger the conviction grew, and I found myself muttering, “Powder and bayonet—powder and bayonet—what can it mean?”“Declaration of war,” I said to myself at last; but I gave that idea up, for war had been declared long enough ago. No. It could not mean that. And yet it seemed as if it might be a symbolical message, such as these unseen people would send.“A message—a message—a message,” I muttered; and then the light came, or what I thought was the light, and I exclaimed joyfully, “Then it was meant for me!” Yes; a symbolical message, because whoever sent it was afraid to write lest it should fall into other hands.I was so excited by my next thought that I threw myself face downward on my couch, and laid my head on my folded arms for fear my face should be seen. For I had just been interpreting the message to mean: bayonet—powder—fighting going on near, when I felt that no one but Dost could have sent that message, and its full meaning must be: bayonet, infantry; powder, artillery; and help must be at hand.I heard Salaman come softly into the room, but I did not stir, and after a minute he passed out again, and I breathed more freely. I was afraid that he might read my thoughts, for I was in so great a state of excitement and exaltation that I imagined a score of impossible things, and it was with the greatest difficulty that I could contain myself sufficiently to look anything like calm, and keep my position on the bed.For, after the first glance of light, the rest came quickly enough. I was right, I felt sure, about the troops coming, and the sender of the message must be Dost, who evidently would not trust himself to write again after the way in which his last letter had puzzled me. He it was, then, who had thrown the packet through the window, and consequently I felt that he must be somewhere about the palace, if he had not trusted his packet to some one else.“No,” I thought. “He would not do that. He must be near me in disguise. The old fakir is somewhere about;” and I went to the window to look round, for I could lie no longer.But there was no sign of the old fakir in the courtyard, and my heart sank as I felt how impossible it would be for him to get there. The guards would never let him pass, and I was wondering more and more how he had managed to send me such hopeful news, when I suddenly caught sight of the men coming back heavily laden with their full skins to continue pouring cold water on the marble paving of the heated court, and I shrank away at once, so as to conceal my joy, for I knew now.One of the bheesties must be Dost!
I suppose it was the returning flush of strength which made my rest so pleasant during my stay in the rajah’s palace, for my sleep was dreamless and delicious, and I awoke every morning in spirits so buoyant that I felt ashamed of them as unsuitable for a prisoner.
Five days passed over now, during which I had been out twice in a palanquin, but only in the extensive gardens about the palace. I had not been idle, though; for I had, while apparently sitting back listlessly, made myself thoroughly acquainted with the shape and position of the place, knowing now that one side was protected by a swiftly flowing river. It was only about a hundred and fifty feet across, but deep, and its waters looked suggestive of crocodiles, so that one thought of attempting to cross by swimming with a shudder.
I had by degrees pretty well got the plan of the place in my mind, but at the same time woke to the fact that the rajah’s was no empty boast, for the palace was surrounded by sentries, who were changed as regularly as in our service. Besides, I felt that every servant was a sentry over my actions, and that any attempt at evasion for some time to come was out of the question.
And so the days glided by with no news from outside, and for aught I knew, the war might be over, and the country entirely in the hands of the mutineers.
Once or twice I tried to get a little information from Salaman, but he either did not know or would not speak.
I tried him again and then again, and at last, in a fit of temper, I cried—
“You do know, and you will not speak.”
“I am to attend on my lord,” he said deprecatingly, “not to bear news. If I told my lord all I knew to-day, I should have no head to tell him anything to-morrow.”
I was in the territory of a rajah who did as he pleased with his people, and I did not wonder at Salaman’s obstinate silence any more.
So there I was with my plans almost in the same state as on my first day at the palace. There were the curtains waiting to be turned into ropes; there were the servants with their white garments; but I had no walnuts, and I knew of nothing that would stain my skin; and I was beginning to despair, when a trifling thing sent a flash of hope through me, and told me that I was not forsaken.
It was one hot day when everything was still but the flies, which were tormenting in the extreme; and, after trying first one room and then the other, I was about to go and lie down in the place set apart for my bath as being the coolest spot there was, when I heard a dull thud apparently in the next room where I had been sitting at the window, and I was about to go and see what it was, but stooped down first to pick up my handkerchief which had fallen.
I was in the act of recovering it, when I heard a faint rustling sound, and knew what that was directly—Salaman looking in from behind the curtain to see if anything was wrong.
Apparently satisfied, he drew back, and a splashing sound drew me to the window.
That sound was explained directly, for just below me a couple of bheesties, as they are called, were bending low beneath the great water-skins they carried upon their backs, while each held one of the legs of the animal’s skin, which had been formed into a huge water-bladder, and was directing from it a tiny spout which flashed in the sun as he gave it a circular motion by a turn of his wrist, and watered the heated marble floor of the court, forming a ring or chain-like pattern as he went on.
It was something to look at, and the smell of the water on the stones was pleasant; so I stayed there watching the two men, one of whom took the side of the court beyond the fountain, the other coming almost beneath my window.
The weight of the water-skin must have been great at first, but it grew lighter as the man went on; and one moment I was thinking of what strength there was in his thin sinewy legs and arms, the next of the clever way in which the pattern was formed upon the pavement, and lastly of what a clumsy mode it was of watering the place, and how much pleasanter it would be if there were greater power in the fountain, and it sent up a great spray to come curving over like the branches of a weeping-willow. And by that time the skin was empty, hanging flaccid and collapsed upon the bheestie’s back, as he went slowly out by the guarded gate, still bent down as if the load was heavy even yet. “What a life for a man!” I thought, as, yawning again—I yawned very much during those hot days—I went slowly into the next room and felt startled, for just in front of the window lay a little packet, one which had evidently been thrown in, and it was that which had made the noise when it fell.
It was hard work to refrain from stooping to pick up what I felt almost sure was a message of some kind, but I dared not for fear of being seen. There were curtains over every door, and I never knew but one of the native servants might be behind it; and after what Salaman had said about the safety of his head if he talked, I felt sure that the reason why the rajah’s servants were so watchful was that they feared danger to themselves if they were not careful of my safety.
However, there was the little packet waiting—just a little packet not much larger than a seidlitz-powder, tied up with grass; and, beginning to walk up and down the room, I contrived to give it a kick now and then, till at last I sent it right into the purdah which hung in front of my chamber.
This done, I went to the window, looked out, saw that the two bheesties were back watering the court again, the former sprinkling having nearly dried up; and then, turning, I walked right into my room, let the curtain fall back, to find, to my vexation, that the packet was still outside; but by kneeling down and passing my hand under, I was able to secure it, though I trembled all the while for fear my hand should have been seen.
For fear of this, I thrust the packet into my breast, and lay down on my couch, listening. All was still, so I took out the packet quickly, noting that it was slightly heavy, but I attributed this to a stone put in with a note to make it easy for throwing in at the window.
“Oh!” I ejaculated, as my trembling fingers undid the string, “if this is another of Dost’s letters!”
But it was not, and there was no scrap of writing inside the dirty piece of paper. Instead, there was another tiny packet, and something rolled in a scrap of paper.
I opened this first, and found a piece of steel about an inch and a half long, and after staring at it for a few moments, I thrust it into my pocket, and began to open the tiny packet which evidently contained some kind of seed.
“Not meant for me,” I said to myself, sadly, as I opened the stiff paper, and—
I lay there staring at the fine black seed, and ended by moistening a finger, and taking up a grain to apply to my tongue.
The result was unmistakable. I needed no teaching there, for I had had a long education in such matters.
It was gunpowder, and I laughed at myself for thinking that it was a kind of seed, though seed it really might be called—of destruction.
“Yes; it’s meant for some one else,” I thought, as I carefully refolded the black grains in their envelope, and took out the piece of steel again, to turn it over in my hands, and notice that one end was fairly sharp, while the other was broken, and showed the peculiar crystalline surface of a silvery grey peculiar to good steel.
“Why, it’s the point of a bayonet,” I said to myself; and then I sat thinking, regularly puzzled at the care taken to wrap up that bit of steel and the powder.
“What does it mean?” I said, or does it mean anything? “Some children playing at keeping shop, perhaps,” I said; “and when they were tired, they threw the packet in at the first window they saw. Just the things soldiers’ children would get hold of to play with.”
“But there are no children here,” I said to myself, as I began to grow more excited, and the more so I grew, the less able I was to make out that which later on appeared to be simplicity itself.
“The point of a bayonet in one, and some grains of powder in another,” I said to myself. “Oh, it must be the result of some children at play; they cannot possibly be meant for me;” and in disgust, I tossed the powder out of the window, and directly after, flung out the piece of steel with the result that, almost simultaneously, I heard what sounded like a grunt, and the jingling of the metal on the marble paving.
I ran to the window, and looked out from behind the hanging which I held before me, suspecting that I had inadvertently hit one of the bheesties. And so it proved, for I saw the man nearest to me stoop to pick up the piece of bayonet, and then nearly go down on his nose, for the water-skin shifted, and it was only by an effort that he recovered himself, and shook it back into its place on his loins.
Just then the other water-bearer came up to him, and said something in a low tone—I could not hear what, for he and his companion conversed almost in whispers, as if overawed by the sanctity of the place in which they stood. But it was all evident enough, as I could make out by their gestures: the second bheestie asked the first what was the matter, and this man told him that some one had taken aim with a piece of steel, which he passed on, and struck him on the back. The second man examined the piece, passed it back, and evidently said, “Some one is having a game with you,” for he laughed, and they both looked up at the windows, as if to see who threw the piece.
Just then I saw a fierce-looking man come from the gateway, sword in hand; the two bheesties went on with their watering, and I heard him speaking angrily, and he gave force to his abuse by striking each man sharply with the flat of his sword. But the blows were harmless, for they fell on the water-skins, and, as soon as he had marched off, I saw the men look at each other and grin.
I drew back, and began to pace my room like a wild beast in a cage, for the idea had come strongly upon me that, after all, those packets were meant for me, and the more I told myself that it was folly, the stronger the conviction grew, and I found myself muttering, “Powder and bayonet—powder and bayonet—what can it mean?”
“Declaration of war,” I said to myself at last; but I gave that idea up, for war had been declared long enough ago. No. It could not mean that. And yet it seemed as if it might be a symbolical message, such as these unseen people would send.
“A message—a message—a message,” I muttered; and then the light came, or what I thought was the light, and I exclaimed joyfully, “Then it was meant for me!” Yes; a symbolical message, because whoever sent it was afraid to write lest it should fall into other hands.
I was so excited by my next thought that I threw myself face downward on my couch, and laid my head on my folded arms for fear my face should be seen. For I had just been interpreting the message to mean: bayonet—powder—fighting going on near, when I felt that no one but Dost could have sent that message, and its full meaning must be: bayonet, infantry; powder, artillery; and help must be at hand.
I heard Salaman come softly into the room, but I did not stir, and after a minute he passed out again, and I breathed more freely. I was afraid that he might read my thoughts, for I was in so great a state of excitement and exaltation that I imagined a score of impossible things, and it was with the greatest difficulty that I could contain myself sufficiently to look anything like calm, and keep my position on the bed.
For, after the first glance of light, the rest came quickly enough. I was right, I felt sure, about the troops coming, and the sender of the message must be Dost, who evidently would not trust himself to write again after the way in which his last letter had puzzled me. He it was, then, who had thrown the packet through the window, and consequently I felt that he must be somewhere about the palace, if he had not trusted his packet to some one else.
“No,” I thought. “He would not do that. He must be near me in disguise. The old fakir is somewhere about;” and I went to the window to look round, for I could lie no longer.
But there was no sign of the old fakir in the courtyard, and my heart sank as I felt how impossible it would be for him to get there. The guards would never let him pass, and I was wondering more and more how he had managed to send me such hopeful news, when I suddenly caught sight of the men coming back heavily laden with their full skins to continue pouring cold water on the marble paving of the heated court, and I shrank away at once, so as to conceal my joy, for I knew now.
One of the bheesties must be Dost!
Chapter Forty Six.I dared not go to the window now, for I knew I was right; and it was impossible for me to be aware of how much I might be watched, while a look might be sufficient, if exchanged between me and the bheestie, to draw suspicion to him, and cause his immediate death.So I kept away, hoping that he would take the blow he had received, although accidentally given, as an answer to his communication.But suppose the wrong man received the blow?It did not matter, I thought. One told the other, and perhaps they were confederates.That was enough. Help was at hand. I had but to wait; and it was evidently not some furtive kind of help—some attempt at an escape, but a bold attack to be made on the place, and the message was to put me on my guard.I was in such a state of joyous excitement that I could hardly bear myself. I wanted to laugh aloud at Dost’s cleverness. Only the other day playing the part of fakir, and completely deceiving me, when he stood reviling, and now so transformed that I might have passed the humble water-carrier a hundred times without having the slightest suspicion as to his being genuine.“He is not a fighting man,” I thought, “but quite as brave in his way; for nothing could be more daring than for him to march into the enemy’s camp with his life in his hand like this.”Then I began to wonder how long it would be before an attack was made upon the town, and what Ny Deen would do. It would be a surprise—of that I felt sure; for the rajah was completely satisfied of his safety—at least, so he seemed, and ready to treat the British power as completely broken.Then, feeling that I must be perfectly calm and self-contained, and being fully convinced that there might be an attack almost at any moment, I began to wonder whether I could find some place to hide, in case Ny Deen wanted to make me the sharer of his flight, for I had not the slightest doubt about the result of an engagement.“Yes,” I said; “I must be cool, and not seem bubbling over with delight.” In fact, I felt just then so elated, partly by the news, partly by the returning health beginning to course through my veins, that I went straight to a mirror, to see if there was anything in my countenance likely to betray my state of mind, and, as soon as I reached it, I stood staring. Then I turned away, and went and sat down, thinking that mine was a very uncomfortable position; for, if any of our troops came rushing through the palace and saw me, looking in my present dress, exactly like some Hindu chief, my chances of escape would be very small.“Why, they would bayonet me before I had time to explain; the fellows don’t wait for explanations,” I said dismally. And I walked at once into my sleeping-chamber, to see if the remains of my old uniform were by any chance left, though I was certain that they were not.And then a feeling of anger rose against Ny Deen. “It is all his doing,” I said. “He has been trying to make me look as much like a Hindu as possible. I wonder that he did not want me to stain my skin!”“No need,” I muttered, after a glance at the mirror. “I’m sunburnt enough to look like a Sikh.” And a feeling of bitter resentment was growing against him now, stronger than I had felt before, knowing as I did that in spite of his kindness, and the friendly feeling he professed, he was moved by the strong motive of making me his most useful follower.I had just arrived at this pitch, when Salaman came in quickly.“My lord, his highness is here,” he whispered, and then ran out I would have given anything not to have stood before him that day, but there was no help for it; and, forcing myself to look calm and unconcerned, I went into the principal room, just as the rajah entered by the farther doorway, very plainly dressed, and quite alone.“Hah!” he exclaimed, with a friendly nod, “there is no need to ask. I can see. Better and better! So you shall have a change.—Well?”He paused for me to speak, and I could not dissimulate.“Oh, thank you,” I said; “I do not want a change.”“The doctor says that you do, and I say that you do,” he continued, smiling; but there was no mistaking his tone. “So you shall go out. We will go out together. You are a great hunter, I know.”“Oh no,” I said hastily.“Well, you are fond of hunting.”“I liked shooting,” I said, as I thought of the end of my last expedition.“I know you do,” he continued, with a meaning smile. “There is a tiger at the village a little way toward the hills, and he has been taking the poor people’s cows. Yesterday he struck down a woman, and carried her off into the forest. I have had him tracked by the shikaris, and ordered the elephants and beaters to be ready. You shall take me with you, Gil, and give me a lesson in shooting tiger.”“Then he has not a suspicion,” I thought. And then I asked myself whether I should go or refuse.“If I go,” I thought, “I shall be serving Brace, for the attack may be made in our absence, and, without their leader, the troops will give way. But if I go with him, knowing what I do, I shall be acting treacherously to the man who saved my life.”It was a difficult point to decide, and I said hastily—“I would rather not go.”“Why?” he asked, with a quick, suspicious look.“Because I am not strong yet, and the sun is hot.”“It will give you strength,” he said quietly. “You have stayed in till you are fretful, and dislike going out. As soon as we are started, you will be glad.”I felt that it was useless to oppose him, and said no more. In fact, I had no time, for he turned to me with a smile.“I meant it quite as a surprise for you,” he said; “and I have given all the men a rest from duty to-day, so that I am free. There, get your puggaree; the elephants are waiting, and the guns are in the howdahs.”I obeyed him with beating heart, and stood ready before him the next minute, wondering whether an attack would be made in our absence, and if there was, what Ny Deen would do. If he fled, I felt that he would take me with him, and that there would be another weary time before Dost could find me out.“But no,” I said; “he will not go. He will hurry back to lead his people. He has too much at stake to flee.”“Well,” he said, “are you counting the tigers?”I started back into the present, and followed him out through chamber after chamber, and along passages till we descended into a court something like the one upon which I looked down, but larger; and here I found three elephants, a strong party of horsemen, and two little bullock-waggons, in which were a couple of hunting leopards, each carefully chained, and with its attendant.In spite of my excitement, I looked with some little curiosity on the two long-legged graceful-looking spotted creatures, each with a peculiar far-off look in its eyes, as if it were trying to pierce the walls and catch sight of the antelopes it was to chase.Ny Deen saw my look, and smiled.“The tiger may have gone,” he said. “If he has, we’ll hunt for the deer.”He pointed to his elephant, and signed to me to mount the great kneeling creature, which was fitted with quite a plain howdah, open, and suitable for the purpose in hand. As I took my place, I found that there were two double rifles on either side, and as soon as the rajah had mounted, a quick-looking beater climbed up behind us, to kneel behind our seats. The other elephants were made to kneel as we moved onward a few paces, and four of the rajah’s followers climbed into the howdahs. Then the word was given, six horsemen rode to the gate as advance-guard, and we were following toward the entrance, when the rajah turned to me with a grave smile.“Youarebetter,” he said reproachfully. “Come, we will not even think of military matters to-day, but make it all pleasure.”He had hardly finished the words when I saw him give a quick look and seize one of the guns, for the six horsemen had suddenly ridden back, to make for the rajah’s elephant, followed by a mounted sowar, who passed between them as they opened out, and came close up to the side of the elephant.“Well?” cried the rajah, fiercely, and speaking in Hindustani. “News?”My heart gave a bound as the sowar announced the approach of the enemy, and I glanced at Ny Deen, in whose face I saw astonishment and disbelief for the moment. But it was only for the moment. Directly after, he gave several orders in a quick, decisive manner, and the officer to whom he spoke dashed off to obey his instructions.Then he turned to me. “You heard?” he said.I bowed.“Will you help me—will you take charge of the guns at once?”I looked full in the fierce, questioning face, and in those anxious moments I could not help feeling the danger of my position; but I had to speak. To refuse, now that he was driven to bay, might mean an order for immediate execution, and, cowardly or no, I could not speak. I suppose that I ought to have been brave, and exclaimed boldly, “Kill me, if you like; I will not fight against my countrymen.” But I was very young; I had been badly wounded, and was just recovering and beginning to feel how beautiful, in spite of all my sufferings, life was, so I remained silent.“You refuse, then?” he cried fiercely.I was still silent, and he turned from me in a rage, making a fierce motion for me to descend from the elephant, which I obeyed, while Ny Deen gave a short, sharp order in an angry tone, whose result was that one of his men seized me on either side, and I was more a prisoner than ever, with six men in front and six behind, fresh summoned from the guard-house, to march me away.It was to my death, so it seemed in those terrible moments; while I had but to raise my voice and give my promise to the rajah, to be at once his honoured and trusted friend, commissioned with great power.But I could not say the necessary words, any more than I could speak a minute before, and in the silence of despair I walked as firmly as I could in the direction taken by the men, feeling giddy with excitement, and as if all this were not real, but part of some terrible trouble befallen another.I did not see what was about to happen, and was so wrapped up in my position, that I did not hear the huge elephant from which I had just descended shuffling after me, till the rajah’s voice called to my guard to halt. Then, leaning down from the howdah, he said to me—“This is blind obstinacy. Come, say you will be my friend, and help me now that I want your services.”“I cannot,” I said huskily.Ny Deen uttered a fierce command to the mahout, the elephant swung round, and I set my teeth hard to keep from shouting to him to stop and take me with him. But I mastered my cowardly feeling, and marched on to what I felt was my execution, giving Ny Deen the credit of treating me as a soldier, though all the while it was in a curious, half-stupefied way, as if the shock had terrorised me, though after the first sensation of horror, I do not recall feeling any great amount of dread.It was then with something approaching wonder that I saw the leading men of the guard wheel to the left through the entrance, and up the broad staircase, and along the passages, at the end of which were my rooms.Here they drew back for me to enter, and the door was closed, the rattle of the men’s muskets announcing that they remained on guard.I felt so faint on being left alone that I was glad to fly to the great cool vessel of water always standing in one of the rooms, after which I sank down on one of the piles of cushions, and wiped the cold perspiration from my forehead.I was still half-stunned, and wondering whether this was only a respite; but Hope soon began to be busy, and I felt that, after all, the being led off to instant death was the work of my own imagination, and that Ny Deen had probably never even had such a thought beyond holding it up as a threat.As I recovered myself, I rose and walked to the farther door, where, there could be no doubt, the twelve men were stationed, and from thence I hurried to one of the open windows, and looked out to see that there was a guard still at the gateway, and beyond it I could hear a dull, hoarse murmur, and the heavy tramp, tramp of marching men, which was followed by the rush of a body of horse going by at a gallop.This last revived me more than the water, for it sent a thrill through me, suggesting as it did preparations to meet our forces, which must be pretty close at hand, but whether in sufficient strength to attack this great town I would have given anything to know.The beating of the horses’ hoofs passed away, but the steady tramp of infantry went on for some time before it had died out, and the dull, distant roar as of many people in a crowd, did not cease. I fancied that it was on the increase, while below me in the court, the fountain played and sparkled in the sunshine, the great goldfish sailed about in the tank, and the green leaves trembled and glistened in the bright light. For whatever might be going on in the town, here everything was perfectly peaceful and still.I was just wishing that I could have been at liberty to mount a horse, and, only as a spectator, go about the town and see what arrangements were being made for its defence, wondering whether it was strongly walled, my recollections on the night of our entry only extending to the great gate through which we had passed, and thinking that if the force advancing were only small, Ny Deen might decide to go out and attack it, when I saw a couple of dark figures in the gateway, which were not those of the guard, and directly after, bending low beneath the weight of their loads, my old friends, the two bheesties, walked slowly across to the other side of the court, where they separated as before, one going round by the far side of the tank, the other coming in my direction.“It cannot be a very serious alarm,” I thought, “or matters would not be going on so calmly here.”Then I stopped short to watch the actions of the nearest man, wondering whether my ideas were right, or it was only fancy.“It can’t be Dost,” I said to myself, as the man diligently directed the thin tube of leather formed by the leg of the animal from which it had been stripped, sending the water round and round to form chains of circles on the marble paving.“No. It can’t be Dost,” I thought, with the feeling of sadness of one who was suffering terribly from his solitary position. “It was all imagination.”But then I felt that it could not have been imagination about the message, for there were the forces approaching. Still, that heavy-looking man’s sole aim in life seemed to be to make the rings of water on the pavement perfectly exact, and I was wondering at myself for being so ready to jump at conclusions as I watched him come slowly nearer and nearer, his back bent, his head and neck forward, and his shadow cast by the sun on the white pavement—exactly that of a laden camel.On he came, nearer and nearer, but so well-drilled in his work that he seemed to see nothing but the pavement, which glistened in the bright sunshine, as he spread the water in ring after ring, splashing his brown feet and legs at every turn.At last he was right beneath me without there appearing to be the most remote possibility of his being Dost; and in spite of the cleverness of his disguise as the fakir, I gave up my idea, when a voice in a whisper said—“Be of good cheer, master; there is help coming.”“Dost!” I ejaculated aloud, and as the man started violently, I stepped back from the window, feeling sure that my voice would bring some one into the room.I was quite right, for I had hardly left the window when the curtain was drawn aside, and Salaman entered.“Yes. Quick; bring me something to eat.”He salaamed, and passed behind the curtain, while I followed, and saw him draw aside the purdah at the next doorway, the momentary glimpse I had showing me a group of armed men on guard, so that, if I had any doubts before, there was room for none now.I went back and glanced through the window again, just in time to see the two bheesties join again, and slowly march out with their empty skins to fetch more water.I was in the act of turning away wondering whether by any possibility Dost would be able to make his way to me when it was dark, and with my heart beating fast, hoping that he would have designed some way of escape, when my heart gave another bound, and I ran to the window to thrust out my head and listen, for unmistakably, although at some distance off, came the quick dull thud of a cannon.“Hah!” I ejaculated, as I saw in my imagination the men serving the guns, and in my own mind making certain that it was one of Brace’s six-pounders.“How glorious!” I cried; “one of the pieces he carried off turned upon him now.”“My lord is glad there is fighting?” said a voice behind me; and I saw that Salaman had come quickly up behind, and he now pointed to where the meal I had asked for had been placed upon the matting.I frowned, but made no answer, as I walked to the spot where the repast was spread, and I had hardly seated myself, with the two attendants who had brought in the food standing before me, when I heard another report, and then, slowly and steadily the whole of the guns were brought into action, keeping up a regular steady fire, one which told me that an advance was being made by infantry, which the firing was to cover.I began to eat, trying to be perfectly calm, but at the first mouthful I broke down. It was impossible, and, jumping, up I went and sat down by the window, to listen to the firing, and try to picture to myself what was going on.It was weary work. All imagination, and I knew it; but still I could not keep from picturing the scene, especially when the firing suddenly ceased. My cheeks grew flushed then, and I seemed to hear the order, see the men trot up with the limbers, the gunners hook on the trail of the gun-carriage, and then spring to their seats on horse or limber, and go off at a gallop.“No,” I muttered, “come on at a gallop,” to take up a fresh position.I could have sworn that the next minute I should hear them open again, and I seemed to see the swift horses going along at full speed to come to a sudden halt, the men spring down, unhook, and bring the guns into action again. But that minute passed, then another, and another—long, weary minutes—till quite ten must have gone by before I heard the familiar dull report again, and now, to my misery, I acknowledged to myself that it must be from fully a mile further away.Four guns were fired, or two twice over, I could not, of course, tell which. Then the firing ceased, and a dull feeling of misery came over me, for it meant retiring. They must be driven back by the superior force of the rajah’s army.I turned away from the window with a feeling of depression that was terrible, and, try how I would, to keep from thinking, I kept on seeing the fierce-looking lancers of Ny Deen making furious charges at perhaps a mere skeleton of a regiment of foot, which grew gradually less and less, till the men scattered, and were ridden down.Oh how vivid that all seemed, till I saw that which was real, and not imaginary. Salaman and the two attendants patiently watching me, as I began once more to walk up and down.
I dared not go to the window now, for I knew I was right; and it was impossible for me to be aware of how much I might be watched, while a look might be sufficient, if exchanged between me and the bheestie, to draw suspicion to him, and cause his immediate death.
So I kept away, hoping that he would take the blow he had received, although accidentally given, as an answer to his communication.
But suppose the wrong man received the blow?
It did not matter, I thought. One told the other, and perhaps they were confederates.
That was enough. Help was at hand. I had but to wait; and it was evidently not some furtive kind of help—some attempt at an escape, but a bold attack to be made on the place, and the message was to put me on my guard.
I was in such a state of joyous excitement that I could hardly bear myself. I wanted to laugh aloud at Dost’s cleverness. Only the other day playing the part of fakir, and completely deceiving me, when he stood reviling, and now so transformed that I might have passed the humble water-carrier a hundred times without having the slightest suspicion as to his being genuine.
“He is not a fighting man,” I thought, “but quite as brave in his way; for nothing could be more daring than for him to march into the enemy’s camp with his life in his hand like this.”
Then I began to wonder how long it would be before an attack was made upon the town, and what Ny Deen would do. It would be a surprise—of that I felt sure; for the rajah was completely satisfied of his safety—at least, so he seemed, and ready to treat the British power as completely broken.
Then, feeling that I must be perfectly calm and self-contained, and being fully convinced that there might be an attack almost at any moment, I began to wonder whether I could find some place to hide, in case Ny Deen wanted to make me the sharer of his flight, for I had not the slightest doubt about the result of an engagement.
“Yes,” I said; “I must be cool, and not seem bubbling over with delight.” In fact, I felt just then so elated, partly by the news, partly by the returning health beginning to course through my veins, that I went straight to a mirror, to see if there was anything in my countenance likely to betray my state of mind, and, as soon as I reached it, I stood staring. Then I turned away, and went and sat down, thinking that mine was a very uncomfortable position; for, if any of our troops came rushing through the palace and saw me, looking in my present dress, exactly like some Hindu chief, my chances of escape would be very small.
“Why, they would bayonet me before I had time to explain; the fellows don’t wait for explanations,” I said dismally. And I walked at once into my sleeping-chamber, to see if the remains of my old uniform were by any chance left, though I was certain that they were not.
And then a feeling of anger rose against Ny Deen. “It is all his doing,” I said. “He has been trying to make me look as much like a Hindu as possible. I wonder that he did not want me to stain my skin!”
“No need,” I muttered, after a glance at the mirror. “I’m sunburnt enough to look like a Sikh.” And a feeling of bitter resentment was growing against him now, stronger than I had felt before, knowing as I did that in spite of his kindness, and the friendly feeling he professed, he was moved by the strong motive of making me his most useful follower.
I had just arrived at this pitch, when Salaman came in quickly.
“My lord, his highness is here,” he whispered, and then ran out I would have given anything not to have stood before him that day, but there was no help for it; and, forcing myself to look calm and unconcerned, I went into the principal room, just as the rajah entered by the farther doorway, very plainly dressed, and quite alone.
“Hah!” he exclaimed, with a friendly nod, “there is no need to ask. I can see. Better and better! So you shall have a change.—Well?”
He paused for me to speak, and I could not dissimulate.
“Oh, thank you,” I said; “I do not want a change.”
“The doctor says that you do, and I say that you do,” he continued, smiling; but there was no mistaking his tone. “So you shall go out. We will go out together. You are a great hunter, I know.”
“Oh no,” I said hastily.
“Well, you are fond of hunting.”
“I liked shooting,” I said, as I thought of the end of my last expedition.
“I know you do,” he continued, with a meaning smile. “There is a tiger at the village a little way toward the hills, and he has been taking the poor people’s cows. Yesterday he struck down a woman, and carried her off into the forest. I have had him tracked by the shikaris, and ordered the elephants and beaters to be ready. You shall take me with you, Gil, and give me a lesson in shooting tiger.”
“Then he has not a suspicion,” I thought. And then I asked myself whether I should go or refuse.
“If I go,” I thought, “I shall be serving Brace, for the attack may be made in our absence, and, without their leader, the troops will give way. But if I go with him, knowing what I do, I shall be acting treacherously to the man who saved my life.”
It was a difficult point to decide, and I said hastily—
“I would rather not go.”
“Why?” he asked, with a quick, suspicious look.
“Because I am not strong yet, and the sun is hot.”
“It will give you strength,” he said quietly. “You have stayed in till you are fretful, and dislike going out. As soon as we are started, you will be glad.”
I felt that it was useless to oppose him, and said no more. In fact, I had no time, for he turned to me with a smile.
“I meant it quite as a surprise for you,” he said; “and I have given all the men a rest from duty to-day, so that I am free. There, get your puggaree; the elephants are waiting, and the guns are in the howdahs.”
I obeyed him with beating heart, and stood ready before him the next minute, wondering whether an attack would be made in our absence, and if there was, what Ny Deen would do. If he fled, I felt that he would take me with him, and that there would be another weary time before Dost could find me out.
“But no,” I said; “he will not go. He will hurry back to lead his people. He has too much at stake to flee.”
“Well,” he said, “are you counting the tigers?”
I started back into the present, and followed him out through chamber after chamber, and along passages till we descended into a court something like the one upon which I looked down, but larger; and here I found three elephants, a strong party of horsemen, and two little bullock-waggons, in which were a couple of hunting leopards, each carefully chained, and with its attendant.
In spite of my excitement, I looked with some little curiosity on the two long-legged graceful-looking spotted creatures, each with a peculiar far-off look in its eyes, as if it were trying to pierce the walls and catch sight of the antelopes it was to chase.
Ny Deen saw my look, and smiled.
“The tiger may have gone,” he said. “If he has, we’ll hunt for the deer.”
He pointed to his elephant, and signed to me to mount the great kneeling creature, which was fitted with quite a plain howdah, open, and suitable for the purpose in hand. As I took my place, I found that there were two double rifles on either side, and as soon as the rajah had mounted, a quick-looking beater climbed up behind us, to kneel behind our seats. The other elephants were made to kneel as we moved onward a few paces, and four of the rajah’s followers climbed into the howdahs. Then the word was given, six horsemen rode to the gate as advance-guard, and we were following toward the entrance, when the rajah turned to me with a grave smile.
“Youarebetter,” he said reproachfully. “Come, we will not even think of military matters to-day, but make it all pleasure.”
He had hardly finished the words when I saw him give a quick look and seize one of the guns, for the six horsemen had suddenly ridden back, to make for the rajah’s elephant, followed by a mounted sowar, who passed between them as they opened out, and came close up to the side of the elephant.
“Well?” cried the rajah, fiercely, and speaking in Hindustani. “News?”
My heart gave a bound as the sowar announced the approach of the enemy, and I glanced at Ny Deen, in whose face I saw astonishment and disbelief for the moment. But it was only for the moment. Directly after, he gave several orders in a quick, decisive manner, and the officer to whom he spoke dashed off to obey his instructions.
Then he turned to me. “You heard?” he said.
I bowed.
“Will you help me—will you take charge of the guns at once?”
I looked full in the fierce, questioning face, and in those anxious moments I could not help feeling the danger of my position; but I had to speak. To refuse, now that he was driven to bay, might mean an order for immediate execution, and, cowardly or no, I could not speak. I suppose that I ought to have been brave, and exclaimed boldly, “Kill me, if you like; I will not fight against my countrymen.” But I was very young; I had been badly wounded, and was just recovering and beginning to feel how beautiful, in spite of all my sufferings, life was, so I remained silent.
“You refuse, then?” he cried fiercely.
I was still silent, and he turned from me in a rage, making a fierce motion for me to descend from the elephant, which I obeyed, while Ny Deen gave a short, sharp order in an angry tone, whose result was that one of his men seized me on either side, and I was more a prisoner than ever, with six men in front and six behind, fresh summoned from the guard-house, to march me away.
It was to my death, so it seemed in those terrible moments; while I had but to raise my voice and give my promise to the rajah, to be at once his honoured and trusted friend, commissioned with great power.
But I could not say the necessary words, any more than I could speak a minute before, and in the silence of despair I walked as firmly as I could in the direction taken by the men, feeling giddy with excitement, and as if all this were not real, but part of some terrible trouble befallen another.
I did not see what was about to happen, and was so wrapped up in my position, that I did not hear the huge elephant from which I had just descended shuffling after me, till the rajah’s voice called to my guard to halt. Then, leaning down from the howdah, he said to me—
“This is blind obstinacy. Come, say you will be my friend, and help me now that I want your services.”
“I cannot,” I said huskily.
Ny Deen uttered a fierce command to the mahout, the elephant swung round, and I set my teeth hard to keep from shouting to him to stop and take me with him. But I mastered my cowardly feeling, and marched on to what I felt was my execution, giving Ny Deen the credit of treating me as a soldier, though all the while it was in a curious, half-stupefied way, as if the shock had terrorised me, though after the first sensation of horror, I do not recall feeling any great amount of dread.
It was then with something approaching wonder that I saw the leading men of the guard wheel to the left through the entrance, and up the broad staircase, and along the passages, at the end of which were my rooms.
Here they drew back for me to enter, and the door was closed, the rattle of the men’s muskets announcing that they remained on guard.
I felt so faint on being left alone that I was glad to fly to the great cool vessel of water always standing in one of the rooms, after which I sank down on one of the piles of cushions, and wiped the cold perspiration from my forehead.
I was still half-stunned, and wondering whether this was only a respite; but Hope soon began to be busy, and I felt that, after all, the being led off to instant death was the work of my own imagination, and that Ny Deen had probably never even had such a thought beyond holding it up as a threat.
As I recovered myself, I rose and walked to the farther door, where, there could be no doubt, the twelve men were stationed, and from thence I hurried to one of the open windows, and looked out to see that there was a guard still at the gateway, and beyond it I could hear a dull, hoarse murmur, and the heavy tramp, tramp of marching men, which was followed by the rush of a body of horse going by at a gallop.
This last revived me more than the water, for it sent a thrill through me, suggesting as it did preparations to meet our forces, which must be pretty close at hand, but whether in sufficient strength to attack this great town I would have given anything to know.
The beating of the horses’ hoofs passed away, but the steady tramp of infantry went on for some time before it had died out, and the dull, distant roar as of many people in a crowd, did not cease. I fancied that it was on the increase, while below me in the court, the fountain played and sparkled in the sunshine, the great goldfish sailed about in the tank, and the green leaves trembled and glistened in the bright light. For whatever might be going on in the town, here everything was perfectly peaceful and still.
I was just wishing that I could have been at liberty to mount a horse, and, only as a spectator, go about the town and see what arrangements were being made for its defence, wondering whether it was strongly walled, my recollections on the night of our entry only extending to the great gate through which we had passed, and thinking that if the force advancing were only small, Ny Deen might decide to go out and attack it, when I saw a couple of dark figures in the gateway, which were not those of the guard, and directly after, bending low beneath the weight of their loads, my old friends, the two bheesties, walked slowly across to the other side of the court, where they separated as before, one going round by the far side of the tank, the other coming in my direction.
“It cannot be a very serious alarm,” I thought, “or matters would not be going on so calmly here.”
Then I stopped short to watch the actions of the nearest man, wondering whether my ideas were right, or it was only fancy.
“It can’t be Dost,” I said to myself, as the man diligently directed the thin tube of leather formed by the leg of the animal from which it had been stripped, sending the water round and round to form chains of circles on the marble paving.
“No. It can’t be Dost,” I thought, with the feeling of sadness of one who was suffering terribly from his solitary position. “It was all imagination.”
But then I felt that it could not have been imagination about the message, for there were the forces approaching. Still, that heavy-looking man’s sole aim in life seemed to be to make the rings of water on the pavement perfectly exact, and I was wondering at myself for being so ready to jump at conclusions as I watched him come slowly nearer and nearer, his back bent, his head and neck forward, and his shadow cast by the sun on the white pavement—exactly that of a laden camel.
On he came, nearer and nearer, but so well-drilled in his work that he seemed to see nothing but the pavement, which glistened in the bright sunshine, as he spread the water in ring after ring, splashing his brown feet and legs at every turn.
At last he was right beneath me without there appearing to be the most remote possibility of his being Dost; and in spite of the cleverness of his disguise as the fakir, I gave up my idea, when a voice in a whisper said—
“Be of good cheer, master; there is help coming.”
“Dost!” I ejaculated aloud, and as the man started violently, I stepped back from the window, feeling sure that my voice would bring some one into the room.
I was quite right, for I had hardly left the window when the curtain was drawn aside, and Salaman entered.
“Yes. Quick; bring me something to eat.”
He salaamed, and passed behind the curtain, while I followed, and saw him draw aside the purdah at the next doorway, the momentary glimpse I had showing me a group of armed men on guard, so that, if I had any doubts before, there was room for none now.
I went back and glanced through the window again, just in time to see the two bheesties join again, and slowly march out with their empty skins to fetch more water.
I was in the act of turning away wondering whether by any possibility Dost would be able to make his way to me when it was dark, and with my heart beating fast, hoping that he would have designed some way of escape, when my heart gave another bound, and I ran to the window to thrust out my head and listen, for unmistakably, although at some distance off, came the quick dull thud of a cannon.
“Hah!” I ejaculated, as I saw in my imagination the men serving the guns, and in my own mind making certain that it was one of Brace’s six-pounders.
“How glorious!” I cried; “one of the pieces he carried off turned upon him now.”
“My lord is glad there is fighting?” said a voice behind me; and I saw that Salaman had come quickly up behind, and he now pointed to where the meal I had asked for had been placed upon the matting.
I frowned, but made no answer, as I walked to the spot where the repast was spread, and I had hardly seated myself, with the two attendants who had brought in the food standing before me, when I heard another report, and then, slowly and steadily the whole of the guns were brought into action, keeping up a regular steady fire, one which told me that an advance was being made by infantry, which the firing was to cover.
I began to eat, trying to be perfectly calm, but at the first mouthful I broke down. It was impossible, and, jumping, up I went and sat down by the window, to listen to the firing, and try to picture to myself what was going on.
It was weary work. All imagination, and I knew it; but still I could not keep from picturing the scene, especially when the firing suddenly ceased. My cheeks grew flushed then, and I seemed to hear the order, see the men trot up with the limbers, the gunners hook on the trail of the gun-carriage, and then spring to their seats on horse or limber, and go off at a gallop.
“No,” I muttered, “come on at a gallop,” to take up a fresh position.
I could have sworn that the next minute I should hear them open again, and I seemed to see the swift horses going along at full speed to come to a sudden halt, the men spring down, unhook, and bring the guns into action again. But that minute passed, then another, and another—long, weary minutes—till quite ten must have gone by before I heard the familiar dull report again, and now, to my misery, I acknowledged to myself that it must be from fully a mile further away.
Four guns were fired, or two twice over, I could not, of course, tell which. Then the firing ceased, and a dull feeling of misery came over me, for it meant retiring. They must be driven back by the superior force of the rajah’s army.
I turned away from the window with a feeling of depression that was terrible, and, try how I would, to keep from thinking, I kept on seeing the fierce-looking lancers of Ny Deen making furious charges at perhaps a mere skeleton of a regiment of foot, which grew gradually less and less, till the men scattered, and were ridden down.
Oh how vivid that all seemed, till I saw that which was real, and not imaginary. Salaman and the two attendants patiently watching me, as I began once more to walk up and down.
Chapter Forty Seven.I passed the whole of the day in misery, thirsting for news with a very great thirst, but none came. The servants about the palace evidently knew nothing though, if they had, they would not have dared to speak.It was quite plain, from the noise, that the town was crowded, and in a state of excitement, but the sounds were at a distance, and they kept on. Had the noise gradually died out, I should have been hopeful, for I should have thought that they were leaving the place because the English were advancing. But though I sat at the window and strained my ears, there was no distant sound of firing, and I was getting into a very despairing mood, when my spirits revived again just before sunset, for all at once there was the sound of a gun; faint, distant, but unmistakably the report of a field-piece; and as I held my breath and listened, there was another and then another.I knew the sound at once as coming from a troop of horse artillery, for the firing was regular; and I was so sanguine that I immediately set it down to Brace’s troop.“Oh, if I could only escape!” I thought; and my ideas went at once to the disguise and the hangings to be used as a rope. If I could only get down into the court, I trusted to my good fortune to find a way through some other window, and thence to an unwatched opening.How to manage it? I was so conspicuous a figure in the uniform I wore that I felt that I dared not go like that, while to obtain the dress of one of the servants was impossible.“I shall have to escape as I am,” I thought, and I went down into the sleeping-room, and laid the sword ready. It was the magnificent tulwar the rajah had given me, and as I looked at the flashing jewels upon the hilt, I felt some compunction in taking it; but making up my mind to return it after I had escaped, feeling, as I did, the necessity for possessing a weapon, I laid it behind a purdah, where I could quickly catch it up.The next thing was to select one of the silken curtains, which I could divide longwise, and tie the ends together. They would be quite enough to enable me to reach the ground; and there was a ring on one side of the window strong enough to bear my weight, I felt.It was nearly dark by the time I had made those plans, which were interrupted by pauses, to listen to the distant firing away toward where the sun set. That was to be my direction, if I could get out of the town, and I was calculating my chances of escape when a happy thought struck me—to drape myself in a light curtain, and loosen the pugaree about my helmet.But the next minute I felt that there was no need, for my uniform would be sufficient to command respect among the rajah’s troops, if I backed it up with plenty of coolness and decision. The people, as a rule, knew that I was the rajah’s friend, and expected that I should take some command. They could not all know, I argued, that I had refused to turn renegade; and gathering confidence now, as the darkness increased, I felt that if once I could get out of the palace, all I had to do was to be haughty and overbearing with the people; to assume for the time the position the rajah had offered, and trust to my confidence to carry all before me.I had reached this point, and was still listening to the firing, when it occurred to me that I had better try and throw Salaman off his guard.To do this I went into the room where I partook of my meals, and summoned him.He entered so quickly that I knew he must have been close to the curtain, and I looked at him curiously to try and make out whether his face displayed any alarm or anxiety respecting the advance of the English force, but he looked perfectly calm.“Bring a light, and some more fruit,” I said; and as soon as I had spoken I thought of how foolish my last request was, for I was not in the habit of eating much fruit.He bowed, and was leaving, when I stopped him.“Is there any news of the fight going on?” I said, as carelessly as I could.“Yes, my lord; messengers have come in. His highness is driving the English sahibs right away into the far country.”I should have liked to say I did not believe it, but I could not, for the gradual dying away of the firing agreed with his words. Then, as I said no more, he left the room, to return directly with a lamp, and some fruit was borne in by one of the attendants.I waited till they had gone, and then slowly went to the curtain-covered opening, and looked through to see that Salaman was sitting down talking to the officer of the guard; and satisfied that now was my time, I walked quickly back and secured the curtain which I bore into my sleeping-room, where it was all dark, having determined to descend from there if I could find a place to secure the end of the curtain-rope.But previous to twisting it up, I cautiously looked out of the window, and drew back in despair; for there, just beneath me, were the men of the guard slowly pacing the place, each bearing a lanthorn, as if to take special care that I did not escape that way, and I saw at a glance that, even if I could descend the rope, it would be impossible to cross the court, and in my despair I seated myself upon my couch to think.This way was impossible. It was just as impossible to try and get out by the door, for it was strongly guarded.“There is only one way,” I said to myself, angrily. “I must get the dress of one of the men. But how?”I could see no way, for I had no money to offer a bribe, and the possibility of escaping grew more and more hopeless.“It is of no use to try,” I said, half aloud. “I may just as well accept my fate. Ny Deen will never let me go.”But the idea of giving way irritated me to such an extent, and was so bitterly contemptible that I leaped up, seized and buckled on the sword, and for the minute had some wild idea of getting down into the court, and cutting my way through the guards.I could take them by surprise, I thought; but the next minute I was forced to grant the fact that directly after they would recover and take me by surprise in a way that might quite put an end to further ventures on my part. As soon as I had reached this point of reasoning, I went once more to the window, and looked down to see if the guards were still there.I had full evidence directly, for there they all were, and as fully on the alert as men would be who knew that their heads would answer for a prisoner’s escape.“I must wait my opportunity,” I said bitterly, as I turned away, after seeing one of the guards go by beneath my window, when there was a faint, rustling noise, which made me turn in time to see something dark at the window, whose feet rested for a moment lightly on the window-sill before it sprang into the room, and darted behind one of the curtains.I was so much startled that I half-drew my sword as I gazed at the curtain, which was barely visible, the only light being that which came from the lamps in the next room, and a trifle from the window as the lanthorns, carried by the guard in the court, moved here and there.“No, no, sahib,” came in a faint whisper, which relieved me, for at that moment I had been ready to fancy it was some curious wild beast.“Dost!” I whispered back, as I crept softly to the curtain.“Yes, sahib. But look! Did the men see me come in?”I peered out of the window, and saw that the guard were marching slowly to and fro, with their lanthorns swinging.“No; they have seen nothing,” I whispered; and then I passed through into the next room, crossed it, and made sure that Salaman was not coming.“It is all safe,” I said, as I returned. “How did you manage to get up?”“It was impossible, sahib,” he said, hardly above his breath. “I could not get near for the guard.”“Then how did you manage?” I said.“I came over the roof, sahib, and let myself down by a cord.”“Then we can escape that way,” I whispered.“Is the sahib strong enough to climb the rope?”A pang of misery shot through me as I involuntarily applied my right hand to my wounded arm.“No,” I said.“Then I must pull the sahib up,” said Dost, calmly. “We ought to go soon.”“Pst!” I whispered, and I stepped to the window, leaned out, and seemed to be studying the sounds outside, for there was the faint rustle of a curtain, and a light step crossing the next room.Directly after I heard Salaman’s voice.“Did my lord call?”“Eh? Call? No,” I said, coming from the window, and trying to command my voice, as I walked toward where he stood in the open doorway. “I can’t hear any firing now.”“No, my lord; the battle must be over, and at any time his highness will be back.”I made some remark, but what it was I cannot tell now, and went on into the lighted room, noticing that he glanced suspiciously at my sword, but I appeared not to notice it, and went to the window of that room, while Salaman went back.“He has had strict orders to keep on watching me,” I said to myself; and I had hardly thought this, than, to my horror, I heard the regular tramp of feet, and the officer and four men marched into the next room, where I heard them moving about.I was going to rush into the sleeping-room to warn Dost, when Salaman appeared.“My lord will not be angry with his servant,” he said. “It is his highness’s commands that you should be watched carefully, and they are searching the rooms.”“Searching the rooms?” I said aloud.“Yes, my lord. I am not to blame.”Just then the officer entered bearing a lanthorn, and his four men came behind.He bowed to me respectfully, and then made a sign to his followers, who carefully searched the room—a simple task, for all that was needed was to look behind the hangings.My heart felt in my mouth, as people say, for the officer led the way now to my bed and the bath-room, where poor Dost was certain to be discovered if he had not succeeded in making his escape.Salaman followed the guard, and I sat listening for the first cry of excitement, but none arose, and I breathed freely as the officer came back, lanthorn in hand, followed by his men, to salaam to me again, and pass out to his station by the far door while Salaman hung back. “My lord has offended his highness, who is angry. That is why the search is made.”I did not answer—I could not; and the man bowed and went out, while I stepped quickly to the window of the bedroom, at which Dost appeared directly after—a dark shadowy figure, and leaped down.“We must go at once, sahib,” he whispered. “It is so dark up here that the guard in the court can see nothing. I shall go up on to the roof, and lower the rope. The sahib will make it quite fast round beneath his arms, and then tug once, and step on to the window-sill. He will then trust to me, and I shall draw him up.”“But can you, Dost?” I said nervously.“The sahib may believe me. I am very strong.”As he spoke, he placed his hands on my waist, and lifted me up with the greatest ease, setting me down again lightly.“Now, sahib; ready?”I could just dimly see him step to the window, and I felt that he must have seized a rope, up which he passed with the activity of a monkey, and I saw plainly enough now why he had not been discovered. The next minute, after a faint grating noise, I felt the rope swinging backward and forward. I caught it, and secured it firmly about my waist, climbed on to the window-sill, jerked the rope, and felt it tighten slowly, then more and more, till it lifted me from where I stood, and I felt myself gliding slowly upward, my heart beating violently the while, for I was utterly helpless, and as I was not exerting myself, I suffered the more mentally, wondering whether the rope would hold—whether Dost would have strength enough to haul me right up—whether the guards pacing the court would hear us, and look up and see us by the light of their lanthorns, and give the alarm—whether Salaman would enter the room and miss me.These thoughts rushed like lightning through my brain as I felt the jerk, jerk of the rope, and gazed skyward. I suppose I must have been about half-way to the roof when I heard a faint click and shivered.My scabbard had struck against the wall, and I looked wildly down at the guards, but to my great surprise they had not heard it, and were continuing their walk.Dost paused for a few moments as he heard the sound, and I did not stir, but hung close to the wall, with my heart beating painfully, before I dared to seize the scabbard with one hand and hold on.Then the jerking motion was begun again, and once more I suffered a kind of martyrdom as I fully expected to find that the rope would slacken, and that I should be precipitated on to the marble flags of the court.Oh, how long it seemed. For it was a minute of gold drawn out into a wire of what seemed to be endless length.Then I was at the top, and passed my right hand over to seize the parapet, while Dost’s hands were busy about my chest, and the next thing I remember is being dragged down on to the flat, Eastern roof, where I lay panting with Dost lying by my side, but with his eyes level with the parapet, as he listened for tokens of alarm.There was not a sound, and satisfied that all was right so far, Dost whispered to me to sit up, when he rapidly twisted the rope round my breast, and turned in one end, while I looked about me, to try and make out the kind of place we were on. But it was too dark to see much, and I waited for my companion’s next order, contenting myself to leave everything in his hands.“Now, sahib,” he whispered, with his lips to my ear, “take my hand, keep in a stooping attitude, and walk with me.”I should have liked to ask, “What are you going to do?” but he was commanding-officer for the moment, and all I had to do was to obey.I rose, and, bending down as I grasped his hand, walked softly to where we reached the end of that side of the court—the roof seeming perfectly flat—and then we turned off at right angles and walked along till we had reached the end of the building which formed another side. Here the process was repeated till we were about opposite to the spot where I had been drawn up.Here Dost stopped.“We must get down here!” he whispered.“Into the court?”“No; down into the gardens,” he said. “The next side would be best, but there is a guard in the gateway, and sentries walking up and down.”“Are there sentries in the gardens?” I whispered.“I think so. We’ll look.”Crossing softly to the side of the palace furthest from the court, we peered cautiously down into what looked intensely black, but dotted with points of soft light which I knew at once to be lanthorns carried by guards.“Can we get across?” I whispered.“We must, sahib. There is no other way. There are plenty of bushes to hide us. What’s that?”I listened, and from a little distance off I could hear the trampling of horses, which suddenly ceased, apparently somewhere on the other side of the court.“Cavalry,” I whispered, and then listened as Dost went on.“I shall lower you down here first,” he whispered, “for I think there is a place to which I can hook on the rope, and draw it down afterward. Yes; here it is. I found it to-night.”He had been on his knees feeling about, and, evidently satisfied, began to unwind the rope from my chest.“Did you make the end quite fast?” he whispered, just as I was wondering how he had found the window from up here on the roof.“Yes.”“Don’t stop to untie it,” he said, “but slip it over your arms and head as soon as you are down. No; it is long enough; hold it fast till I join you. I’ll pass it round this post and slide down the other end.”“What’s that?” I whispered, as a shout arose; and involuntarily we both crossed the roof again to look.But we did not look down into the court, but across the fountain in the centre to where lights shone brightly from three windows opposite, while at one of them, open, I could see two figures, one of which held up a shaded lamp above his head, while the other, who I could plainly see was the rajah, without his voice endorsing the fact, roared forth his commands to the guards in the court and at the gate—orders which were followed by hurrying feet, and shouts could be heard, answered in all directions.“Rajah—come back—too soon,” said Dost, hurriedly. “Quick, sahib.”“But they will be all on the watch.”“So shall we be, sahib,” he whispered eagerly, as he pressed me toward the outer parapet close by the low stone projection. “Quick! Go down.”I was obliged to let him help me over the parapet, so as to get my arm clear, and then, with the lamps moving about in all directions, and every now and then meeting and gliding away again, Dost began to lower me rapidly.To my horror, when I was some distance down, I could see two lanthorns approaching, as if their bearers had seen me, and were coming to meet exactly where I should touch the ground. Dost could not see them, evidently, and to call to him meant betraying us both, so I gave myself up for lost. But all at once the rope stopped, and I hung there motionless, just as a door about ten feet below me opened, and some one came out.It was to meet the two lamp-bearers coming in different directions, and directly after the man from the doorway had stopped, they came up to him.“Keep a strict look-out,” the man said. “A prisoner is trying to escape. He must be found.”The men briefly said that they would watch, and that no one had been in the grounds; after which they went off, leaving me breathless, as I hung there, listening for the departure of the first man, who seemed to be watching me.So silent was everything that I felt that he must be just beneath me, and my fingers crisped up, ready to seize my sword. But the moments glided by, and he still did not move, my suspense, in both senses of the word, being brought to an end by Dost lowering me down quickly.By the time I reached the ground, I had drawn my sword, ready to resist attack; but, to my utter surprise, I found that the door was closed, the man having retired so silently that I had not heard a sound.The moment I had convinced myself that I had no attack to fear, I lay down, turning myself into a counterpoise as Dost threw down the other end of his rope, and began rapidly to descend.As I felt the rope give jerk after jerk, I listened to the sounds within the palace. Men being apparently running in all directions, as if searching for me; and Dost muttered something to the same effect, as he dropped lightly by my side, after I had been wondering whether the rustling noise he made in his descent would be heard.The noise he made, though, was greater as he drew the rope round the projection which held it above, and I caught his wrist in horror as we stood there in the darkness, he pulling and I twisting the rope round and round my chest.“Don’t,” I whispered; “some one will hear.”“But we must have the rope, sahib, to get down from the top of the wall,” he said; and he pulled away at the line more quickly, the end falling directly after with a sharp crushing sound among the bushes. This had evidently been heard, for a lanthorn rapidly approached us out of the darkness, and as we crouched down, the face of a man could be seen at last, with the eyes flashing as he held up his light.But, as is the case on a dark night, the man who bears a light is far easier to see than the one who watches or hides, and I crouched there, wondering at last, as the man held up his lanthorn nearly over me, why it was that he could not detect my presence.But he did not, and after looking carefully round, he turned and walked away, just where, had he taken a couple or so steps nearer to the palace, he would have come in contact with one of us.“Saved!” I breathed to myself, as he walked away, and his light disappeared among the trees.“The rope, sahib,” whispered Dost; and I rapidly drew it up and twisted it round me.“Now your hand,” he said; and as I gave it to him, he led me cautiously in and out among the trees, avoiding the men easily enough, for their lanthorns showed exactly the direction in which they were going, though, had a few been about without lights, we must have been taken! It was slow work, and, as we crept along, the moving lights behind the windows and the shouts and commands that came made me aware that a careful search was being made for me, and, moment by moment, our chance of escape appeared more hopeless.But Dost did not seem to be in the slightest degree troubled. He kept on right through the grounds toward where lights flitted about in the window of a building, and he whispered—“They are searching it, sahib. When they have done, we will go there.”I felt hopeless, but kept on close to his side, thinking all the time that we must be taken before long.Just now the capture was imminent, for men approached us, but in every case something took off their attention, and we reached the great building, to find it now all dark, as if the search there was at an end, and the place deserted.Dost uttered a low grunt of satisfaction, and crept softly along beneath the windows; but we came upon no door, only reaching a blank stone wall at the end of the building, and having to retrace our steps to where we started, and then go in the other direction.Here we were more fortunate, coming upon a door, and entering the building, which was evidently a kind of summer-house, but of a very substantial character.It was perfectly empty, but lights flashed in through the windows on the opposite side to that by which we had entered, and as we went cautiously forward, it was to see scores of armed men with torches, their task evidently being, as shown by their actions, to seek me out.I say me, because I felt that they must be in profound ignorance of the existence of Dost.The light which shone in was enough to show his anxious, eager face, and as his eyes met mine, he gave his head a nod in the direction of the window.“Not that way,” he said, with a little laugh; “this.”We hunted about some moments, with the cries of the men outside sounding wonderfully close to my ears, and then found the way to the upper floor, which, though well-furnished, was utterly deserted.Here we made at once for the end, to find a way on to the roof, but it was at the other end, and proved to be, as we reached it, exactly like that of the palace—flat, and with a parapet all round.Dost signed to me to stoop, for I was a striking object with my bright uniform, and the reflection from the lanthorns and torches down below was sufficient to make us visible to each other.Bending low, we approached the side whence the light came, and, taking off my helmet, I cautiously peered down, to see the great court beneath crowded with soldiers, all standing to their arms, as if expecting instant orders to join in the search.“No go down there, sahib,” said Dost, softly.I shook my head, and followed him to the end, where a stronger light shone up, and on looking down there, we found that the officers were collected, as if waiting for orders.Dost shook his head again, and walked back along the roof, with the grounds on our left, the well-filled square on the right, and the dark end of the large summer-house before us.There everything was black, and we had no need for caution in looking over.I could not help shuddering as I drew back my head, on hearing a loud slapping noise below me, and a peculiar whishing, rushing sound.“No,” said Dost. “No boat. Muggers. Can’t go that way.”For the swift river was gliding by just beneath the walls of the summer-house; whose windows looked down upon what by day would be doubtless a lovely scene, but which now was gloomy and repulsive in the extreme.“What shall we do, then?” I asked.“Wait,” said Dost, quietly, and he unwound the rope from me, and carefully made it into a coil, which he passed over his left arm.“Wouldn’t it be better to stop till later? They will not search this place again.”“I don’t know, sahib. They may come up here, and there is nowhere to hide.”“Shall we go back into the garden, and try some other way.”“There is no other way,” he replied. “The river shuts off all one side, sahib, and the other is full of Ny Deen’s soldiers.”“Tell me,” I whispered. “What about the fighting? Our people were not beaten?”“I don’t know, sahib. I can’t understand. The rajah drove all before him, and they retreated far away.”That was piteous news, and I drew a long breath as I felt how hopeless my condition was growing. It had seemed so easy to escape when once I was out of the palace, but on putting it to the test, the difficulties had increased with every step.“Let’s look down into that great court again, Dost,” I said softly. “There may be a part that is not watched.”We looked over, and Dost drew back shaking his head.“No, sahib,” he said; “we have done that twice. Once I hung down over the guards’ heads. We must not try again. It might mean death.”He was quite right, and I remained silent for a few moments. He spoke at last.“If we could only get among the houses, sahib,” he said, “and walked quietly—you like that, I like this. No one would speak to us. Come, we must try the garden again.”It seemed to be the only way, and I followed him down from the roof to the first floor, and then down to the bottom, where our position was very precarious, for the men outside had only to reach up to the windows, raise their torches, and gaze in to see us in one or other of the great rooms.But as they had thoroughly searched the place, this was not done, and we reached the door in safety, and stood looking out into the extensive grounds, with their walks, great trees, and clumps of shrubs.The place seemed to be just the same as before; intensely dark, surrounded as it was by high buildings, and the moving lanthorns looked in the distance like sparks in tinder, gliding here and there.“Where shall we make for, Dost?” I said.“The big house in the corner, sahib,” he whispered back. “It is close to the river; but we may be able to get through there, and into a part not watched. If we cannot get away then, we must wait till morning.”I could do nothing but obey, and following him closely, we began our dangerous walk through the great gardens, always on the point of being seen by one of the guards; but, thanks to the darkness, and the effect the lights had on the men’s own eyes, escaping, though often enough it was by the merest chance.We had passed about half-way toward the building at the right-hand corner, its lights in the windows acting as our guide, and were crouching down among some bushes while a couple of the guards went by, when, all at once, there was a light flashed up from behind us, one which grew brighter every moment, and, looking back, we made out that the men we had seen were coming into the grounds through the great summer-house, and were spreading across, evidently to thoroughly search the grounds again.Dost uttered a low murmur of dismay, as, by the distribution of the lights, he saw that there was to be a regular hunt of the gardens, after the fashion of beating up a tiger.“Come, quick!” he whispered. “The rajah must be there.”He snatched my hand, and led me on toward the far end of the garden, but only to stop short, for, to my horror, I saw a door open, a blaze of light flash out, and a body of men bearing torches troop down some steps and spread across that end where they were quickly marshalled by some one in authority, and began to advance toward us.Our position was hopeless, for now the two lines of men advancing from either end were making the place as light as day, and gradually narrowing the ground in which we could be free. It was only a matter of minutes before we should be caught between them.Dost pressed my hand hard as he looked wildly about him.“No trees, sahib, no trees to climb,” he whispered. “I did try so hard to save you, but I have failed. Good-bye, sahib. I was thy faithful servant. Good-bye!”“Why do you say that?” I said huskily.“Why?” He uttered a little laugh, and passed his hands about his neck. “They will make short work of me.”“No,” I said; “you are my servant, and no one shall harm you. I will appeal to the rajah myself.”I drew my sword, and thrust my injured arm through poor Dost’s, meaning to defend him; but before I could even think of what I should do next, there was a sharp rustle, a rush, and half a dozen of the original searchers, with their lanthorns, urged by their position to make a capture before the two lines of men came up and shut us in, pounced upon us, drawn there by our voices, and then in the midst of a scuffle, I saw two men go down while I was pinioned from behind. Then my captors shouted for lanthorns, there was the heavy beat of feet, and in a blaze of light, I saw Ny Deen advance, and stand before me smiling in his triumph, but making me shrink with anger and mortification, for there was a good deal of contempt in his look, as he signed to me to approach, and to the man who held me to remove my sword.
I passed the whole of the day in misery, thirsting for news with a very great thirst, but none came. The servants about the palace evidently knew nothing though, if they had, they would not have dared to speak.
It was quite plain, from the noise, that the town was crowded, and in a state of excitement, but the sounds were at a distance, and they kept on. Had the noise gradually died out, I should have been hopeful, for I should have thought that they were leaving the place because the English were advancing. But though I sat at the window and strained my ears, there was no distant sound of firing, and I was getting into a very despairing mood, when my spirits revived again just before sunset, for all at once there was the sound of a gun; faint, distant, but unmistakably the report of a field-piece; and as I held my breath and listened, there was another and then another.
I knew the sound at once as coming from a troop of horse artillery, for the firing was regular; and I was so sanguine that I immediately set it down to Brace’s troop.
“Oh, if I could only escape!” I thought; and my ideas went at once to the disguise and the hangings to be used as a rope. If I could only get down into the court, I trusted to my good fortune to find a way through some other window, and thence to an unwatched opening.
How to manage it? I was so conspicuous a figure in the uniform I wore that I felt that I dared not go like that, while to obtain the dress of one of the servants was impossible.
“I shall have to escape as I am,” I thought, and I went down into the sleeping-room, and laid the sword ready. It was the magnificent tulwar the rajah had given me, and as I looked at the flashing jewels upon the hilt, I felt some compunction in taking it; but making up my mind to return it after I had escaped, feeling, as I did, the necessity for possessing a weapon, I laid it behind a purdah, where I could quickly catch it up.
The next thing was to select one of the silken curtains, which I could divide longwise, and tie the ends together. They would be quite enough to enable me to reach the ground; and there was a ring on one side of the window strong enough to bear my weight, I felt.
It was nearly dark by the time I had made those plans, which were interrupted by pauses, to listen to the distant firing away toward where the sun set. That was to be my direction, if I could get out of the town, and I was calculating my chances of escape when a happy thought struck me—to drape myself in a light curtain, and loosen the pugaree about my helmet.
But the next minute I felt that there was no need, for my uniform would be sufficient to command respect among the rajah’s troops, if I backed it up with plenty of coolness and decision. The people, as a rule, knew that I was the rajah’s friend, and expected that I should take some command. They could not all know, I argued, that I had refused to turn renegade; and gathering confidence now, as the darkness increased, I felt that if once I could get out of the palace, all I had to do was to be haughty and overbearing with the people; to assume for the time the position the rajah had offered, and trust to my confidence to carry all before me.
I had reached this point, and was still listening to the firing, when it occurred to me that I had better try and throw Salaman off his guard.
To do this I went into the room where I partook of my meals, and summoned him.
He entered so quickly that I knew he must have been close to the curtain, and I looked at him curiously to try and make out whether his face displayed any alarm or anxiety respecting the advance of the English force, but he looked perfectly calm.
“Bring a light, and some more fruit,” I said; and as soon as I had spoken I thought of how foolish my last request was, for I was not in the habit of eating much fruit.
He bowed, and was leaving, when I stopped him.
“Is there any news of the fight going on?” I said, as carelessly as I could.
“Yes, my lord; messengers have come in. His highness is driving the English sahibs right away into the far country.”
I should have liked to say I did not believe it, but I could not, for the gradual dying away of the firing agreed with his words. Then, as I said no more, he left the room, to return directly with a lamp, and some fruit was borne in by one of the attendants.
I waited till they had gone, and then slowly went to the curtain-covered opening, and looked through to see that Salaman was sitting down talking to the officer of the guard; and satisfied that now was my time, I walked quickly back and secured the curtain which I bore into my sleeping-room, where it was all dark, having determined to descend from there if I could find a place to secure the end of the curtain-rope.
But previous to twisting it up, I cautiously looked out of the window, and drew back in despair; for there, just beneath me, were the men of the guard slowly pacing the place, each bearing a lanthorn, as if to take special care that I did not escape that way, and I saw at a glance that, even if I could descend the rope, it would be impossible to cross the court, and in my despair I seated myself upon my couch to think.
This way was impossible. It was just as impossible to try and get out by the door, for it was strongly guarded.
“There is only one way,” I said to myself, angrily. “I must get the dress of one of the men. But how?”
I could see no way, for I had no money to offer a bribe, and the possibility of escaping grew more and more hopeless.
“It is of no use to try,” I said, half aloud. “I may just as well accept my fate. Ny Deen will never let me go.”
But the idea of giving way irritated me to such an extent, and was so bitterly contemptible that I leaped up, seized and buckled on the sword, and for the minute had some wild idea of getting down into the court, and cutting my way through the guards.
I could take them by surprise, I thought; but the next minute I was forced to grant the fact that directly after they would recover and take me by surprise in a way that might quite put an end to further ventures on my part. As soon as I had reached this point of reasoning, I went once more to the window, and looked down to see if the guards were still there.
I had full evidence directly, for there they all were, and as fully on the alert as men would be who knew that their heads would answer for a prisoner’s escape.
“I must wait my opportunity,” I said bitterly, as I turned away, after seeing one of the guards go by beneath my window, when there was a faint, rustling noise, which made me turn in time to see something dark at the window, whose feet rested for a moment lightly on the window-sill before it sprang into the room, and darted behind one of the curtains.
I was so much startled that I half-drew my sword as I gazed at the curtain, which was barely visible, the only light being that which came from the lamps in the next room, and a trifle from the window as the lanthorns, carried by the guard in the court, moved here and there.
“No, no, sahib,” came in a faint whisper, which relieved me, for at that moment I had been ready to fancy it was some curious wild beast.
“Dost!” I whispered back, as I crept softly to the curtain.
“Yes, sahib. But look! Did the men see me come in?”
I peered out of the window, and saw that the guard were marching slowly to and fro, with their lanthorns swinging.
“No; they have seen nothing,” I whispered; and then I passed through into the next room, crossed it, and made sure that Salaman was not coming.
“It is all safe,” I said, as I returned. “How did you manage to get up?”
“It was impossible, sahib,” he said, hardly above his breath. “I could not get near for the guard.”
“Then how did you manage?” I said.
“I came over the roof, sahib, and let myself down by a cord.”
“Then we can escape that way,” I whispered.
“Is the sahib strong enough to climb the rope?”
A pang of misery shot through me as I involuntarily applied my right hand to my wounded arm.
“No,” I said.
“Then I must pull the sahib up,” said Dost, calmly. “We ought to go soon.”
“Pst!” I whispered, and I stepped to the window, leaned out, and seemed to be studying the sounds outside, for there was the faint rustle of a curtain, and a light step crossing the next room.
Directly after I heard Salaman’s voice.
“Did my lord call?”
“Eh? Call? No,” I said, coming from the window, and trying to command my voice, as I walked toward where he stood in the open doorway. “I can’t hear any firing now.”
“No, my lord; the battle must be over, and at any time his highness will be back.”
I made some remark, but what it was I cannot tell now, and went on into the lighted room, noticing that he glanced suspiciously at my sword, but I appeared not to notice it, and went to the window of that room, while Salaman went back.
“He has had strict orders to keep on watching me,” I said to myself; and I had hardly thought this, than, to my horror, I heard the regular tramp of feet, and the officer and four men marched into the next room, where I heard them moving about.
I was going to rush into the sleeping-room to warn Dost, when Salaman appeared.
“My lord will not be angry with his servant,” he said. “It is his highness’s commands that you should be watched carefully, and they are searching the rooms.”
“Searching the rooms?” I said aloud.
“Yes, my lord. I am not to blame.”
Just then the officer entered bearing a lanthorn, and his four men came behind.
He bowed to me respectfully, and then made a sign to his followers, who carefully searched the room—a simple task, for all that was needed was to look behind the hangings.
My heart felt in my mouth, as people say, for the officer led the way now to my bed and the bath-room, where poor Dost was certain to be discovered if he had not succeeded in making his escape.
Salaman followed the guard, and I sat listening for the first cry of excitement, but none arose, and I breathed freely as the officer came back, lanthorn in hand, followed by his men, to salaam to me again, and pass out to his station by the far door while Salaman hung back. “My lord has offended his highness, who is angry. That is why the search is made.”
I did not answer—I could not; and the man bowed and went out, while I stepped quickly to the window of the bedroom, at which Dost appeared directly after—a dark shadowy figure, and leaped down.
“We must go at once, sahib,” he whispered. “It is so dark up here that the guard in the court can see nothing. I shall go up on to the roof, and lower the rope. The sahib will make it quite fast round beneath his arms, and then tug once, and step on to the window-sill. He will then trust to me, and I shall draw him up.”
“But can you, Dost?” I said nervously.
“The sahib may believe me. I am very strong.”
As he spoke, he placed his hands on my waist, and lifted me up with the greatest ease, setting me down again lightly.
“Now, sahib; ready?”
I could just dimly see him step to the window, and I felt that he must have seized a rope, up which he passed with the activity of a monkey, and I saw plainly enough now why he had not been discovered. The next minute, after a faint grating noise, I felt the rope swinging backward and forward. I caught it, and secured it firmly about my waist, climbed on to the window-sill, jerked the rope, and felt it tighten slowly, then more and more, till it lifted me from where I stood, and I felt myself gliding slowly upward, my heart beating violently the while, for I was utterly helpless, and as I was not exerting myself, I suffered the more mentally, wondering whether the rope would hold—whether Dost would have strength enough to haul me right up—whether the guards pacing the court would hear us, and look up and see us by the light of their lanthorns, and give the alarm—whether Salaman would enter the room and miss me.
These thoughts rushed like lightning through my brain as I felt the jerk, jerk of the rope, and gazed skyward. I suppose I must have been about half-way to the roof when I heard a faint click and shivered.
My scabbard had struck against the wall, and I looked wildly down at the guards, but to my great surprise they had not heard it, and were continuing their walk.
Dost paused for a few moments as he heard the sound, and I did not stir, but hung close to the wall, with my heart beating painfully, before I dared to seize the scabbard with one hand and hold on.
Then the jerking motion was begun again, and once more I suffered a kind of martyrdom as I fully expected to find that the rope would slacken, and that I should be precipitated on to the marble flags of the court.
Oh, how long it seemed. For it was a minute of gold drawn out into a wire of what seemed to be endless length.
Then I was at the top, and passed my right hand over to seize the parapet, while Dost’s hands were busy about my chest, and the next thing I remember is being dragged down on to the flat, Eastern roof, where I lay panting with Dost lying by my side, but with his eyes level with the parapet, as he listened for tokens of alarm.
There was not a sound, and satisfied that all was right so far, Dost whispered to me to sit up, when he rapidly twisted the rope round my breast, and turned in one end, while I looked about me, to try and make out the kind of place we were on. But it was too dark to see much, and I waited for my companion’s next order, contenting myself to leave everything in his hands.
“Now, sahib,” he whispered, with his lips to my ear, “take my hand, keep in a stooping attitude, and walk with me.”
I should have liked to ask, “What are you going to do?” but he was commanding-officer for the moment, and all I had to do was to obey.
I rose, and, bending down as I grasped his hand, walked softly to where we reached the end of that side of the court—the roof seeming perfectly flat—and then we turned off at right angles and walked along till we had reached the end of the building which formed another side. Here the process was repeated till we were about opposite to the spot where I had been drawn up.
Here Dost stopped.
“We must get down here!” he whispered.
“Into the court?”
“No; down into the gardens,” he said. “The next side would be best, but there is a guard in the gateway, and sentries walking up and down.”
“Are there sentries in the gardens?” I whispered.
“I think so. We’ll look.”
Crossing softly to the side of the palace furthest from the court, we peered cautiously down into what looked intensely black, but dotted with points of soft light which I knew at once to be lanthorns carried by guards.
“Can we get across?” I whispered.
“We must, sahib. There is no other way. There are plenty of bushes to hide us. What’s that?”
I listened, and from a little distance off I could hear the trampling of horses, which suddenly ceased, apparently somewhere on the other side of the court.
“Cavalry,” I whispered, and then listened as Dost went on.
“I shall lower you down here first,” he whispered, “for I think there is a place to which I can hook on the rope, and draw it down afterward. Yes; here it is. I found it to-night.”
He had been on his knees feeling about, and, evidently satisfied, began to unwind the rope from my chest.
“Did you make the end quite fast?” he whispered, just as I was wondering how he had found the window from up here on the roof.
“Yes.”
“Don’t stop to untie it,” he said, “but slip it over your arms and head as soon as you are down. No; it is long enough; hold it fast till I join you. I’ll pass it round this post and slide down the other end.”
“What’s that?” I whispered, as a shout arose; and involuntarily we both crossed the roof again to look.
But we did not look down into the court, but across the fountain in the centre to where lights shone brightly from three windows opposite, while at one of them, open, I could see two figures, one of which held up a shaded lamp above his head, while the other, who I could plainly see was the rajah, without his voice endorsing the fact, roared forth his commands to the guards in the court and at the gate—orders which were followed by hurrying feet, and shouts could be heard, answered in all directions.
“Rajah—come back—too soon,” said Dost, hurriedly. “Quick, sahib.”
“But they will be all on the watch.”
“So shall we be, sahib,” he whispered eagerly, as he pressed me toward the outer parapet close by the low stone projection. “Quick! Go down.”
I was obliged to let him help me over the parapet, so as to get my arm clear, and then, with the lamps moving about in all directions, and every now and then meeting and gliding away again, Dost began to lower me rapidly.
To my horror, when I was some distance down, I could see two lanthorns approaching, as if their bearers had seen me, and were coming to meet exactly where I should touch the ground. Dost could not see them, evidently, and to call to him meant betraying us both, so I gave myself up for lost. But all at once the rope stopped, and I hung there motionless, just as a door about ten feet below me opened, and some one came out.
It was to meet the two lamp-bearers coming in different directions, and directly after the man from the doorway had stopped, they came up to him.
“Keep a strict look-out,” the man said. “A prisoner is trying to escape. He must be found.”
The men briefly said that they would watch, and that no one had been in the grounds; after which they went off, leaving me breathless, as I hung there, listening for the departure of the first man, who seemed to be watching me.
So silent was everything that I felt that he must be just beneath me, and my fingers crisped up, ready to seize my sword. But the moments glided by, and he still did not move, my suspense, in both senses of the word, being brought to an end by Dost lowering me down quickly.
By the time I reached the ground, I had drawn my sword, ready to resist attack; but, to my utter surprise, I found that the door was closed, the man having retired so silently that I had not heard a sound.
The moment I had convinced myself that I had no attack to fear, I lay down, turning myself into a counterpoise as Dost threw down the other end of his rope, and began rapidly to descend.
As I felt the rope give jerk after jerk, I listened to the sounds within the palace. Men being apparently running in all directions, as if searching for me; and Dost muttered something to the same effect, as he dropped lightly by my side, after I had been wondering whether the rustling noise he made in his descent would be heard.
The noise he made, though, was greater as he drew the rope round the projection which held it above, and I caught his wrist in horror as we stood there in the darkness, he pulling and I twisting the rope round and round my chest.
“Don’t,” I whispered; “some one will hear.”
“But we must have the rope, sahib, to get down from the top of the wall,” he said; and he pulled away at the line more quickly, the end falling directly after with a sharp crushing sound among the bushes. This had evidently been heard, for a lanthorn rapidly approached us out of the darkness, and as we crouched down, the face of a man could be seen at last, with the eyes flashing as he held up his light.
But, as is the case on a dark night, the man who bears a light is far easier to see than the one who watches or hides, and I crouched there, wondering at last, as the man held up his lanthorn nearly over me, why it was that he could not detect my presence.
But he did not, and after looking carefully round, he turned and walked away, just where, had he taken a couple or so steps nearer to the palace, he would have come in contact with one of us.
“Saved!” I breathed to myself, as he walked away, and his light disappeared among the trees.
“The rope, sahib,” whispered Dost; and I rapidly drew it up and twisted it round me.
“Now your hand,” he said; and as I gave it to him, he led me cautiously in and out among the trees, avoiding the men easily enough, for their lanthorns showed exactly the direction in which they were going, though, had a few been about without lights, we must have been taken! It was slow work, and, as we crept along, the moving lights behind the windows and the shouts and commands that came made me aware that a careful search was being made for me, and, moment by moment, our chance of escape appeared more hopeless.
But Dost did not seem to be in the slightest degree troubled. He kept on right through the grounds toward where lights flitted about in the window of a building, and he whispered—
“They are searching it, sahib. When they have done, we will go there.”
I felt hopeless, but kept on close to his side, thinking all the time that we must be taken before long.
Just now the capture was imminent, for men approached us, but in every case something took off their attention, and we reached the great building, to find it now all dark, as if the search there was at an end, and the place deserted.
Dost uttered a low grunt of satisfaction, and crept softly along beneath the windows; but we came upon no door, only reaching a blank stone wall at the end of the building, and having to retrace our steps to where we started, and then go in the other direction.
Here we were more fortunate, coming upon a door, and entering the building, which was evidently a kind of summer-house, but of a very substantial character.
It was perfectly empty, but lights flashed in through the windows on the opposite side to that by which we had entered, and as we went cautiously forward, it was to see scores of armed men with torches, their task evidently being, as shown by their actions, to seek me out.
I say me, because I felt that they must be in profound ignorance of the existence of Dost.
The light which shone in was enough to show his anxious, eager face, and as his eyes met mine, he gave his head a nod in the direction of the window.
“Not that way,” he said, with a little laugh; “this.”
We hunted about some moments, with the cries of the men outside sounding wonderfully close to my ears, and then found the way to the upper floor, which, though well-furnished, was utterly deserted.
Here we made at once for the end, to find a way on to the roof, but it was at the other end, and proved to be, as we reached it, exactly like that of the palace—flat, and with a parapet all round.
Dost signed to me to stoop, for I was a striking object with my bright uniform, and the reflection from the lanthorns and torches down below was sufficient to make us visible to each other.
Bending low, we approached the side whence the light came, and, taking off my helmet, I cautiously peered down, to see the great court beneath crowded with soldiers, all standing to their arms, as if expecting instant orders to join in the search.
“No go down there, sahib,” said Dost, softly.
I shook my head, and followed him to the end, where a stronger light shone up, and on looking down there, we found that the officers were collected, as if waiting for orders.
Dost shook his head again, and walked back along the roof, with the grounds on our left, the well-filled square on the right, and the dark end of the large summer-house before us.
There everything was black, and we had no need for caution in looking over.
I could not help shuddering as I drew back my head, on hearing a loud slapping noise below me, and a peculiar whishing, rushing sound.
“No,” said Dost. “No boat. Muggers. Can’t go that way.”
For the swift river was gliding by just beneath the walls of the summer-house; whose windows looked down upon what by day would be doubtless a lovely scene, but which now was gloomy and repulsive in the extreme.
“What shall we do, then?” I asked.
“Wait,” said Dost, quietly, and he unwound the rope from me, and carefully made it into a coil, which he passed over his left arm.
“Wouldn’t it be better to stop till later? They will not search this place again.”
“I don’t know, sahib. They may come up here, and there is nowhere to hide.”
“Shall we go back into the garden, and try some other way.”
“There is no other way,” he replied. “The river shuts off all one side, sahib, and the other is full of Ny Deen’s soldiers.”
“Tell me,” I whispered. “What about the fighting? Our people were not beaten?”
“I don’t know, sahib. I can’t understand. The rajah drove all before him, and they retreated far away.”
That was piteous news, and I drew a long breath as I felt how hopeless my condition was growing. It had seemed so easy to escape when once I was out of the palace, but on putting it to the test, the difficulties had increased with every step.
“Let’s look down into that great court again, Dost,” I said softly. “There may be a part that is not watched.”
We looked over, and Dost drew back shaking his head.
“No, sahib,” he said; “we have done that twice. Once I hung down over the guards’ heads. We must not try again. It might mean death.”
He was quite right, and I remained silent for a few moments. He spoke at last.
“If we could only get among the houses, sahib,” he said, “and walked quietly—you like that, I like this. No one would speak to us. Come, we must try the garden again.”
It seemed to be the only way, and I followed him down from the roof to the first floor, and then down to the bottom, where our position was very precarious, for the men outside had only to reach up to the windows, raise their torches, and gaze in to see us in one or other of the great rooms.
But as they had thoroughly searched the place, this was not done, and we reached the door in safety, and stood looking out into the extensive grounds, with their walks, great trees, and clumps of shrubs.
The place seemed to be just the same as before; intensely dark, surrounded as it was by high buildings, and the moving lanthorns looked in the distance like sparks in tinder, gliding here and there.
“Where shall we make for, Dost?” I said.
“The big house in the corner, sahib,” he whispered back. “It is close to the river; but we may be able to get through there, and into a part not watched. If we cannot get away then, we must wait till morning.”
I could do nothing but obey, and following him closely, we began our dangerous walk through the great gardens, always on the point of being seen by one of the guards; but, thanks to the darkness, and the effect the lights had on the men’s own eyes, escaping, though often enough it was by the merest chance.
We had passed about half-way toward the building at the right-hand corner, its lights in the windows acting as our guide, and were crouching down among some bushes while a couple of the guards went by, when, all at once, there was a light flashed up from behind us, one which grew brighter every moment, and, looking back, we made out that the men we had seen were coming into the grounds through the great summer-house, and were spreading across, evidently to thoroughly search the grounds again.
Dost uttered a low murmur of dismay, as, by the distribution of the lights, he saw that there was to be a regular hunt of the gardens, after the fashion of beating up a tiger.
“Come, quick!” he whispered. “The rajah must be there.”
He snatched my hand, and led me on toward the far end of the garden, but only to stop short, for, to my horror, I saw a door open, a blaze of light flash out, and a body of men bearing torches troop down some steps and spread across that end where they were quickly marshalled by some one in authority, and began to advance toward us.
Our position was hopeless, for now the two lines of men advancing from either end were making the place as light as day, and gradually narrowing the ground in which we could be free. It was only a matter of minutes before we should be caught between them.
Dost pressed my hand hard as he looked wildly about him.
“No trees, sahib, no trees to climb,” he whispered. “I did try so hard to save you, but I have failed. Good-bye, sahib. I was thy faithful servant. Good-bye!”
“Why do you say that?” I said huskily.
“Why?” He uttered a little laugh, and passed his hands about his neck. “They will make short work of me.”
“No,” I said; “you are my servant, and no one shall harm you. I will appeal to the rajah myself.”
I drew my sword, and thrust my injured arm through poor Dost’s, meaning to defend him; but before I could even think of what I should do next, there was a sharp rustle, a rush, and half a dozen of the original searchers, with their lanthorns, urged by their position to make a capture before the two lines of men came up and shut us in, pounced upon us, drawn there by our voices, and then in the midst of a scuffle, I saw two men go down while I was pinioned from behind. Then my captors shouted for lanthorns, there was the heavy beat of feet, and in a blaze of light, I saw Ny Deen advance, and stand before me smiling in his triumph, but making me shrink with anger and mortification, for there was a good deal of contempt in his look, as he signed to me to approach, and to the man who held me to remove my sword.