Chapter Nine.

Chapter Nine.Private Smith did not die, but he had a month in hospital for his punishment, while mine was confined to a severe reprimand.I was not happy at Rambagh, for though the other officers were pleasant enough with me, Barton always seemed to be sneering at my efforts, and was ready to utter some disparaging remark. There was one consolation, however: the others did not seem to like him, so that it did not look as if it were all my fault. I noticed one thing, though, and it was this: Barton was always ready to say disparaging things about Brace; but the latter never retaliated, and always refrained from mentioning, save in the most general way, his brother-officer’s name.I was getting on fast, I suppose, for I felt less nervous and more at home with the troop. The various words of command had ceased to be a puzzle, and when I had orders to give, I was beginning to be able to use my voice in a penetrating, decisive way, and did not feel ashamed of it when I heard my words ring out clearly, and not as if they were jerked or bumped out by the motion of my horse.Then, too, I had got on so far that I did not mind standing close to the brass field-pieces when they were fired, and the discharge had ceased to make my ears ring for hours after, and feel deaf. At the first shots I heard, I could not help wondering whether the piece I stood by would burst, and kill or wound us with a jagged fragment of brass. While now the dashing gallop, with the guns leaping and bounding over the plain, and the men on the limbers holding on with both hands to keep from being jerked off, had grown exhilarating and full of excitement. There was always the feeling that one must have a bad fall, and sometimes a horse would go down, and a man be hurt more or less seriously; but somehow I always escaped. And one morning I went back to breakfast after a heavy gallop, tired, but prouder than I had ever before felt in my life, for I had heard one of the men whisper to another as we drew up into line after a fierce gallop—“How the young beggar can ride!”And, to make matters better, Brace came alongside of me, and uttered the one word, “Capital,” as he passed.I felt the colour come into my cheeks, and a sense of delight such as I had not experienced for months; and then I gave my horse’s sides a nip with my knees, which made it start, for I caught sight of Barton smiling superciliously, and supplying the drop of bitterness which kept me from growing conceited.I must hurry through these early days, a full account of which would sound dull and uninteresting, but during which I had grown to be quite at home on the Sheik, and on another horse which Brace purchased for me, and which, from his speed, I called Hurricane. For though I found that I belonged to the fastest and best-trained troop of horse artillery in the service, from being so light a weight, I had to keep a pretty tight rein on my new horse, so as to hold him in his place.Barton laughed at it, and called it a wretched screw; but I did not mind, for I found out before I had been attached to the corps long that everything in which Brace had a hand was wrong, and that he bore anything but a friendly feeling toward me, dubbing me Brace’s Jackal, though all the time I felt that I was no nearer being friends than on the day I joined.I had learned from Barton why Brace had been over to England. It was to take his young wife, to whom he had only been married a year, in the hope of saving her life; and if I had felt any repugnance to the lieutenant before, it was redoubled now by the cynically brutal way in which he spoke.“She died, of course,” he said. “We all knew she would—a poor, feeble kind of creature—and a good job for him. A soldier don’t want an invalid wife.”These words explained a good deal about Brace that I had not grasped before, and as I thought of his quiet, subdued ways, and the serious aspect of his face, I could not help feeling how fond he must have been of the companion he had lost, and how it had influenced his life.At the end of a year, we received the route, and were off, to march by easy stages, to Rajgunge, where we were to be stationed, and a glorious change it seemed to me, for I was as weary of the ugly town, with its dirty river and crowded bazaars, as I was of our hot, low barracks and the dusty plain which formed our training-ground. Rajgunge, Brace told me, was quite a small place, in a beautifully wooded, mountainous country, where there was jungle and cane-brake, with plenty of sport for those who cared for it, the rajah being ready enough to get up shooting-parties and find elephants and beaters for a grand tiger battue from time to time.It was quite a new experience to me, all the preparations for the evacuation of the barracks, and I stared with astonishment at the size of the baggage-train, with the following of servants, grooms, tentmen, elephants, and camels, deemed necessary to accompany our marches. It was like the exodus of some warlike tribe; but, as Brace told me, it was quite the regular thing.“You see, everything is done to spare our men labour. Their profession is to fight, and as long as they do that well, John Company is willing that they should have plenty of assistance to clean their horses, guns, and accoutrements.”Our marches were always made in the very early morning, many of our starts being soon after midnight, and a curious scene it was in the moonlight, as the long train, with its elephants laden with tents, and camels moaning and grumbling at the weight of the necessaries they were doomed to carry, the light flashing from the guns or the accoutrements of the mounted men, and all on and on, over the sandy dust, till I grew drowsy, and nodded over my horse’s neck, rousing myself from time to time with a start to ask whether it was not all some dream.Just as the sun was getting unpleasantly hot, and the horses caked with sweat and dust, a halt would be called in some shady tope, where the tents rose as if by magic, fires were rapidly lighted by the attendants, and, amidst quite a babel of tongues, breakfast was prepared, while parroquets of a vivid green shrieked at us from the trees, squirrels leaped and ran, and twice over we arrived at a grove to find it tenanted by a troop of chattering monkeys, which mouthed and scolded at us till our men drove them far into the depths of the jungle with stones.Here, with our tents set up in the shade of the trees, we passed the hot days, with the sun pouring down with such violence that I have often thought it might be possible for a loaded gun to get heated enough to ignite the powder. There would be plenty of sleeping, of course, with the sentries looking longingly on, and wishing it was their turn; and then, soon after midnight, the column would been routeagain, to continue its march till seven, eight, or nine o’clock, according to the distance of the camping-place, the same spots being used by the different regiments year after year.There was very little variety, save that we had more or less dust, according to the character of the road material over which we travelled; and I heard the news, after many days, that the next would be the last, as eagerly as I had of the one which had been nominated for our start.It was a brilliant morning when we came in sight of a sparkling river, beyond which were the white walls and gilded minarets of Rajgunge, with squat temples and ghauts down at the riverside, and everywhere dotted about tall waving palms, groves of trees, and again, beyond these, the rich green of cultivated lands, rising up to mountains blue in the distance, where the wild jungle filled up the valleys and gorges which seamed their sides.“Lovely!” I ejaculated, as I feasted my eyes on the glorious scene.“Eh? What?” said Barton, who heard me. “Bah! what a gushing girl you are, Gil Vincent! Does look, though, as if we might get a bit of shooting.”He rode on, and I hung back till Brace came abreast of me, and looked at me inquiringly.“Well, Vincent,” he said, “you wanted some beautiful country to look at. I have not exaggerated, have I?”“No; it is glorious!” I cried.“Yes; beautiful indeed, and the more lovely to us who have been so long in the plains.”We rode on in silence for a time till we neared the head of the bridge of boats we had to cross—a structure which looked too frail to bear our guns and the ponderous elephants in our baggage-train; but the leading men advanced; the first gun was drawn over by its six horses, and the rest followed, while, as I passed over with the Sheik snorting and looking rather wild-eyed at the rushing water, I was only conscious of an elastic motion of the plank roadway, as a hollow sound came up at the trampling of the horses’ feet, and before long we were winding through that densely-populated city, and then right through to our quarters, high up on a slope, where the wind came down fresh and sweet from the hills.“How long shall we stay here?” I asked Brace, that evening, after mess, as we stood at the edge of our parade-ground, looking down at the city with the level rays of the setting sun lighting up the gilded minarets, and glorifying the palm-trees that spread their great feathery leaves against the amber sky.“How long shall we stay here?” said Brace, sadly, as he repeated my question. “Who can tell? Perhaps for a year—perhaps for a month. Till we are wanted to crush out some mad attempt on the part of a chief to assert his independence, or to put down a quarrel between a couple of rajahs hungry for each other’s lands.”

Private Smith did not die, but he had a month in hospital for his punishment, while mine was confined to a severe reprimand.

I was not happy at Rambagh, for though the other officers were pleasant enough with me, Barton always seemed to be sneering at my efforts, and was ready to utter some disparaging remark. There was one consolation, however: the others did not seem to like him, so that it did not look as if it were all my fault. I noticed one thing, though, and it was this: Barton was always ready to say disparaging things about Brace; but the latter never retaliated, and always refrained from mentioning, save in the most general way, his brother-officer’s name.

I was getting on fast, I suppose, for I felt less nervous and more at home with the troop. The various words of command had ceased to be a puzzle, and when I had orders to give, I was beginning to be able to use my voice in a penetrating, decisive way, and did not feel ashamed of it when I heard my words ring out clearly, and not as if they were jerked or bumped out by the motion of my horse.

Then, too, I had got on so far that I did not mind standing close to the brass field-pieces when they were fired, and the discharge had ceased to make my ears ring for hours after, and feel deaf. At the first shots I heard, I could not help wondering whether the piece I stood by would burst, and kill or wound us with a jagged fragment of brass. While now the dashing gallop, with the guns leaping and bounding over the plain, and the men on the limbers holding on with both hands to keep from being jerked off, had grown exhilarating and full of excitement. There was always the feeling that one must have a bad fall, and sometimes a horse would go down, and a man be hurt more or less seriously; but somehow I always escaped. And one morning I went back to breakfast after a heavy gallop, tired, but prouder than I had ever before felt in my life, for I had heard one of the men whisper to another as we drew up into line after a fierce gallop—

“How the young beggar can ride!”

And, to make matters better, Brace came alongside of me, and uttered the one word, “Capital,” as he passed.

I felt the colour come into my cheeks, and a sense of delight such as I had not experienced for months; and then I gave my horse’s sides a nip with my knees, which made it start, for I caught sight of Barton smiling superciliously, and supplying the drop of bitterness which kept me from growing conceited.

I must hurry through these early days, a full account of which would sound dull and uninteresting, but during which I had grown to be quite at home on the Sheik, and on another horse which Brace purchased for me, and which, from his speed, I called Hurricane. For though I found that I belonged to the fastest and best-trained troop of horse artillery in the service, from being so light a weight, I had to keep a pretty tight rein on my new horse, so as to hold him in his place.

Barton laughed at it, and called it a wretched screw; but I did not mind, for I found out before I had been attached to the corps long that everything in which Brace had a hand was wrong, and that he bore anything but a friendly feeling toward me, dubbing me Brace’s Jackal, though all the time I felt that I was no nearer being friends than on the day I joined.

I had learned from Barton why Brace had been over to England. It was to take his young wife, to whom he had only been married a year, in the hope of saving her life; and if I had felt any repugnance to the lieutenant before, it was redoubled now by the cynically brutal way in which he spoke.

“She died, of course,” he said. “We all knew she would—a poor, feeble kind of creature—and a good job for him. A soldier don’t want an invalid wife.”

These words explained a good deal about Brace that I had not grasped before, and as I thought of his quiet, subdued ways, and the serious aspect of his face, I could not help feeling how fond he must have been of the companion he had lost, and how it had influenced his life.

At the end of a year, we received the route, and were off, to march by easy stages, to Rajgunge, where we were to be stationed, and a glorious change it seemed to me, for I was as weary of the ugly town, with its dirty river and crowded bazaars, as I was of our hot, low barracks and the dusty plain which formed our training-ground. Rajgunge, Brace told me, was quite a small place, in a beautifully wooded, mountainous country, where there was jungle and cane-brake, with plenty of sport for those who cared for it, the rajah being ready enough to get up shooting-parties and find elephants and beaters for a grand tiger battue from time to time.

It was quite a new experience to me, all the preparations for the evacuation of the barracks, and I stared with astonishment at the size of the baggage-train, with the following of servants, grooms, tentmen, elephants, and camels, deemed necessary to accompany our marches. It was like the exodus of some warlike tribe; but, as Brace told me, it was quite the regular thing.

“You see, everything is done to spare our men labour. Their profession is to fight, and as long as they do that well, John Company is willing that they should have plenty of assistance to clean their horses, guns, and accoutrements.”

Our marches were always made in the very early morning, many of our starts being soon after midnight, and a curious scene it was in the moonlight, as the long train, with its elephants laden with tents, and camels moaning and grumbling at the weight of the necessaries they were doomed to carry, the light flashing from the guns or the accoutrements of the mounted men, and all on and on, over the sandy dust, till I grew drowsy, and nodded over my horse’s neck, rousing myself from time to time with a start to ask whether it was not all some dream.

Just as the sun was getting unpleasantly hot, and the horses caked with sweat and dust, a halt would be called in some shady tope, where the tents rose as if by magic, fires were rapidly lighted by the attendants, and, amidst quite a babel of tongues, breakfast was prepared, while parroquets of a vivid green shrieked at us from the trees, squirrels leaped and ran, and twice over we arrived at a grove to find it tenanted by a troop of chattering monkeys, which mouthed and scolded at us till our men drove them far into the depths of the jungle with stones.

Here, with our tents set up in the shade of the trees, we passed the hot days, with the sun pouring down with such violence that I have often thought it might be possible for a loaded gun to get heated enough to ignite the powder. There would be plenty of sleeping, of course, with the sentries looking longingly on, and wishing it was their turn; and then, soon after midnight, the column would been routeagain, to continue its march till seven, eight, or nine o’clock, according to the distance of the camping-place, the same spots being used by the different regiments year after year.

There was very little variety, save that we had more or less dust, according to the character of the road material over which we travelled; and I heard the news, after many days, that the next would be the last, as eagerly as I had of the one which had been nominated for our start.

It was a brilliant morning when we came in sight of a sparkling river, beyond which were the white walls and gilded minarets of Rajgunge, with squat temples and ghauts down at the riverside, and everywhere dotted about tall waving palms, groves of trees, and again, beyond these, the rich green of cultivated lands, rising up to mountains blue in the distance, where the wild jungle filled up the valleys and gorges which seamed their sides.

“Lovely!” I ejaculated, as I feasted my eyes on the glorious scene.

“Eh? What?” said Barton, who heard me. “Bah! what a gushing girl you are, Gil Vincent! Does look, though, as if we might get a bit of shooting.”

He rode on, and I hung back till Brace came abreast of me, and looked at me inquiringly.

“Well, Vincent,” he said, “you wanted some beautiful country to look at. I have not exaggerated, have I?”

“No; it is glorious!” I cried.

“Yes; beautiful indeed, and the more lovely to us who have been so long in the plains.”

We rode on in silence for a time till we neared the head of the bridge of boats we had to cross—a structure which looked too frail to bear our guns and the ponderous elephants in our baggage-train; but the leading men advanced; the first gun was drawn over by its six horses, and the rest followed, while, as I passed over with the Sheik snorting and looking rather wild-eyed at the rushing water, I was only conscious of an elastic motion of the plank roadway, as a hollow sound came up at the trampling of the horses’ feet, and before long we were winding through that densely-populated city, and then right through to our quarters, high up on a slope, where the wind came down fresh and sweet from the hills.

“How long shall we stay here?” I asked Brace, that evening, after mess, as we stood at the edge of our parade-ground, looking down at the city with the level rays of the setting sun lighting up the gilded minarets, and glorifying the palm-trees that spread their great feathery leaves against the amber sky.

“How long shall we stay here?” said Brace, sadly, as he repeated my question. “Who can tell? Perhaps for a year—perhaps for a month. Till we are wanted to crush out some mad attempt on the part of a chief to assert his independence, or to put down a quarrel between a couple of rajahs hungry for each other’s lands.”

Chapter Ten.It was a delightful change, for the country was grand, the English society pleasant and hospitable, and the chief of the district most eager to be on friendly terms with the officers of our troop, and of the foot regiment stationed in the lower part of the town, so that the months soon glided by, and whenever any of us could be spared from duty, we were off on some expedition.Brace cared little for sport, but he used to join the shooting-parties got up by the nawab; and gloriously exciting beats we had through the jungle; those when Brace was my companion being far more enjoyable than when Barton had leave. For the latter’s sole idea was to slay everything; while Brace, who was a dead shot, and who laid low several tigers during our stay, always seemed to be fonder of studying the habits of the birds and smaller animals that we came across. As for myself, I believe I shared to some extent the tastes of both; but to me the whole expedition, with its elephant-ride and train of picturesque servants, and the tiffin in the tent set up by the nawab’s people, was the great attraction.It was a merry life we all led, with some festivity always on the way, from hunting-parties down to lunches at the different civilians’, and then up again to dinner-parties and balls, given by the mess of the artillery, or the sepoy regiment, which had an excellent band.The officers of this black regiment were as pleasant and sociable a’s could be, and the colonel as fine a specimen of an English country gentleman as could be found. There was quite an emulation as to which corps should be the most soldierly and perfect in their evolutions.The colonel took to me, and we were the best of friends. He told me why.“Because of your seat in the saddle, boy. I used to be passionately fond of hunting at home, and my heart warmed to you the first day I watched you in a gallop. However did you learn to ride like that?”“I suppose it came almost naturally to me,” I said, laughing. “My father always insisted upon my having a pony, and spending several hours a day in the saddle.”“Your father was a wise man, sir; and you ride capitally.”“Our riding-master said my seat was everything that was bad.”“Bah! He is a mechanic, and wants every man to ride like a pair of compasses slung across a rail. Don’t you spoil your seat to please any of them. I like to see a man sit a horse as if he belonged to it. Then he can use his sword.”How proud he was of his regiment. “Look at them,” he would say; “only that they are a little curved in the upper leg, they are as fine a set of men as you will find in any English regiment; and if it was not for their black faces, they would pass for Guards.”He was very kind to them, and set a splendid example to his officers, but, unfortunately, they did not follow his example. In fact, the whole of the English people at the station treated the black race as if they were inferior beings; and though every one in Rajgunge was humble and servile to the whites, it always seemed to me as if they were civil only because they were obliged.I used to talk to Brace about it sometimes, and he would agree.“But what can you expect?” he said. “They are a conquered race, and of a different religion. I question whether, with the kindest treatment, we should ever make them like us; but we never try.”I did not say anything, but thought that the black servants were always ready and eager to attend to him, and I never had any difficulty in getting things done; and often after that I used to wonder that a man like Ny Deen should patiently put up with the brutal insult and ill-usage he met with from Barton, who treated him like a dog, while like a dog the Indian used to patiently bear all his abuse and blows.“Does him good,” Barton said to me one day, with an ugly grin, because it annoyed me. “See what a good servant it makes him. You’re jealous, Vincent. You want him yourself.”“Yes,” I said, “I should like to have him, and show him that all English officers are not alike.”“Do you mean that as an insult, sir?” he cried.“I meant it more as a reproach,” I replied coolly.“Look here, Vincent,” he said hotly, “I have put up with a good deal from you since you have been in the troop, and I don’t mean to stand much more from such a boy.”“Really, Barton—” I began.“Stop, sir, please, and hear me out. Ever since I joined, and as far back as I can hear of, it has been considered a feather in a man’s cap to belong to the horse artillery. Many a fine fellow has put down his name and wanted to be transferred from the foot, and want has been his master. But nowadays the service is going to the dogs.”“I don’t want to—”“Stop! you are going to hear me out,” he cried, interposing between me and the door. “I’ve long wanted to come to an understanding with you, but you have always sneaked behind your nurse.”“I don’t understand you,” I said angrily; but it was not true.“Then I’ll tell you what I mean. You have always hung on the apron-string of Mr Brace, and a nice pair there are of you. The troop’s going to ruin, and I shall tell Lacey so. I’m not going to stand it. Here, you came out, a mere schoolboy, and before you’ve been two years in the foot, you are selected to come into what used to be the smartest troop in the Company’s service. I’m not blind. It’s all grossly unfair. You’ve got relatives on the board, and it’s all money and interest. It’s a disgrace to the service.”“Do you mean I am a disgrace to the troop?” I said hotly.“Yes, I do,” he cried savagely; “and I know well enough one of these days how it will be. There will be some excuse made, and you will be promoted over me; and if you are, I warn you I won’t rest until the whole miserable bit of trickery has been exposed.”“You would be clever if you did expose anything, for there is nothing for you to expose. My uncle did write to head-quarters, I know, but I read his letter first.”“What did it say?”“And he only asked for my wishes to be acceded to, if I was found worthy.”“Found worthy!” he cried, with a mocking laugh, which made my cheeks burn. “Found worthy! It’s a disgrace to the service!”“Oh, there, I’m not going to quarrel with you,” I said, fighting down my annoyance.“No, and I am not going to quarrel with you, but for a couple of annas I’d give you a downright horsewhipping.”I started up from my seat, but a hand was laid upon my arm, and I was pressed down as I swung my head round and gazed up in Brace’s stern face.“Be quiet,” he said, grimly; and then—“May I ask, Mr Barton, what this means?”“No, you may not,” cried Barton, offensively.“But I do ask, sir. I heard you threaten to horse-whip your junior officer as I entered the room.”“And most creditable for an officer and a gentleman to stand at the door listening,” cried Barton, in a mocking tone. “Eavesdropping.”Brace’s pale sallow face changed colour, but he spoke very calmly, for he realised that Barton had made up his mind to quarrel with him.“What has been the matter, Vincent?”“Mr Barton has thought proper to accuse my friends of gross favouritism, and he tells me that I have no business in the horse brigade.”“Lieutenant Barton is not the judge of what officers are suitable for our troop; and you may take it for granted that if you had not proved yourself worthy of the selection made, you would very soon have been transferred back.”“Don’t you believe it, Vincent,” cried Barton, whose face was flushed, and whose manner indicated that he had been drinking overnight, with the consequence that he was irritable and bitter with every one about him. “The whole service is being neglected, or else there would very soon be a weeding out in this troop.”Brace had been very grave and calm so far. Again and again he had turned aside the sneers and innuendoes of Barton, who for months had grown more and more offensive as he found that he could insult Brace with impunity; but now he was startled by the change which came over his brother-officer, for Brace flushed up, his eyes glittered, and in a voice that I did not recognise as his own, he said—“Yes, sir, and Lieutenant Barton would be removed, perhaps disgraced, for insolence to his brother-officers, brutality to the people under him, and conduct generally unworthy of an officer and a gentleman.”“What?” cried Barton.“You understand my words, sir,” said Brace. “You have forced me by your treatment to turn at last, and tell you that I will submit to your insults no longer, neither will I allow you to annoy Vincent.”“You will not allow me!”“I will not. Do you think I am a child because I have been forbearing? Your insolence has been beyond bounds.”“Then why did you bear it?” cried Barton.“For the honour of the service, sir. Because I would not degrade myself and you in the eyes of our men by descending to a quarrel.”“How brave!” cried Barton, mockingly; but Brace paid no heed, and went on.“Because, sir, I would not be your boon companion, and drink and generally conduct myself in a way unworthy of an English officer in the high position I hold in this country, I have been constantly marked out as the butt for your offensive sarcasm, even as far back as the time when, if you had possessed a spark of manliness or feeling, you would have respected me and shown consideration for one who was passing through such an ordeal as I pray Heaven you may be spared.”“Bah! A parade of your sufferings,” said Barton, mockingly.Brace winced, but he went on calmly.“I have seen all and borne all, and even now I should not have spoken but for your insult to Vincent, whom I heard you threaten to horse-whip.”“Which he daren’t do,” I cried angrily.“Silence!” cried Brace sternly. “You are no longer a boy, and this is not a school.”“Indeed!” said Barton, looking me up and down with an offensive laugh. “I thought it was.”I winced now in my turn, and then looked wonderingly at Brace, who uttered the word—“Contemptible!”Barton took a step forward angrily.“Keep your bullying looks and words, sir, for the poor Hindoos, whom you have so disgracefully trampled down. They are wasted upon me, for I know your nature now only too well. I am not going to quarrel, though I have easy excuse.”“Then what will you do?” said Barton. “Fight?”“Yes, when my duty renders it necessary, sir. As matters stand, I feel bound to report what has taken place to Major Lacey, and to leave it in his hands to reprimand you, and call upon you to apologise.”Barton sank back into a chair, uttering a forced laugh that made Brace turn pale.“‘And out crept a mouse!’” cried the lieutenant. “Is that all, my brave, fire-eating captain? Report all to Major Lacey! By Jingo, sir, I’ll spare you the trouble. I’ll go and tell him what a miserable, contemptible, beggarly coward he has in his troop, and that he is allowing you to drag down your wretched pupil to your own level. There, stand out of my way.”He thrust Captain Brace aside, as he strode toward the door—a thrust that was almost a blow, and then aloud, “Here you: open that door—quickly. Do you hear?”I looked across sharply, and saw that a couple of the native servants had entered the room, and felt that they must have heard every word.They opened the door, Barton passed out, and the two white-robed men turned to look at us wonderingly before hurrying out, and the door fell to.“They must have heard,” I said to myself; “and they’ll go and tell the others. It will be all round the station directly that Captain Brace is a coward.” For a few moments I felt as if I dared not raise my eyes, but it was as if something was dragging me to look up, and as I did, I saw that Brace was looking at me fixedly, and there was something very singular in his gaze; but for some time he did not speak, and there was so strange a tumult in my breast that no words would come.“Well,” he said at last. “What are you thinking?”“Of all this,” I said huskily.“And that as an officer and a gentleman I ought to have knocked Barton down?”“Something of the kind,” I replied.“Of course; and then, according to the code of honour among gentlemen, I ought to fight him at daybreak to-morrow morning.”I was silent.“Yes,” he said passionately; “that is what you are thinking.”“I can’t help it,” I cried angrily. “He almost struck you, and the khansamah saw it, and that other man too. It will be all over the place. You must fight him now.”He looked at me very strangely, and I saw his brows contract as he said gravely—“Duelling is a thing of the past, Vincent; a cowardly, savage practice in which the life of a man is at the mercy of his skilful adversary. Life is too valuable to throw away in a quarrel. I do not feel as if I had done all my work yet.”“But what can you do?” I said excitedly, for my brain was in a turmoil. I loved him, but his conduct frightened me; it was so unlike anything I could have expected from a gallant soldier; and there was a singularly cold sensation of dread creeping over me. I felt afraid that I was going to dislike him as one unworthy to be known, as I cried angrily, “But what can you do?”He looked at me as if he could read me through and through, and his face grew very sad as he replied—“There is the proper course open to me, Vincent, and that I am about to do.”“Fight him?” I cried eagerly, and the miserable sensation of dread began to pass off.“No, boy; I am going to explain everything to Major Lacey, who will report to head-quarters if he considers it right.”He passed slowly out of the room, and I heard his step echoing beneath the broad verandah, as he went in the direction of Major Lacey’s, while, unable to restrain myself in my bitterness and contempt, I too got up and hurried out.“He is a coward!” I muttered; “a coward!”—for I could not see the bravery of the man’s self-control; “and I have been gradually growing to like him, and think of him always as being patient and manly and noble. Why, I would have tried to knock Barton down, if he had killed me for it.”“Gone to report,” I thought again, after a pause; “gone to tell, like a little schoolboy who has been pushed down. Him a soldier; and a coward like that!”

It was a delightful change, for the country was grand, the English society pleasant and hospitable, and the chief of the district most eager to be on friendly terms with the officers of our troop, and of the foot regiment stationed in the lower part of the town, so that the months soon glided by, and whenever any of us could be spared from duty, we were off on some expedition.

Brace cared little for sport, but he used to join the shooting-parties got up by the nawab; and gloriously exciting beats we had through the jungle; those when Brace was my companion being far more enjoyable than when Barton had leave. For the latter’s sole idea was to slay everything; while Brace, who was a dead shot, and who laid low several tigers during our stay, always seemed to be fonder of studying the habits of the birds and smaller animals that we came across. As for myself, I believe I shared to some extent the tastes of both; but to me the whole expedition, with its elephant-ride and train of picturesque servants, and the tiffin in the tent set up by the nawab’s people, was the great attraction.

It was a merry life we all led, with some festivity always on the way, from hunting-parties down to lunches at the different civilians’, and then up again to dinner-parties and balls, given by the mess of the artillery, or the sepoy regiment, which had an excellent band.

The officers of this black regiment were as pleasant and sociable a’s could be, and the colonel as fine a specimen of an English country gentleman as could be found. There was quite an emulation as to which corps should be the most soldierly and perfect in their evolutions.

The colonel took to me, and we were the best of friends. He told me why.

“Because of your seat in the saddle, boy. I used to be passionately fond of hunting at home, and my heart warmed to you the first day I watched you in a gallop. However did you learn to ride like that?”

“I suppose it came almost naturally to me,” I said, laughing. “My father always insisted upon my having a pony, and spending several hours a day in the saddle.”

“Your father was a wise man, sir; and you ride capitally.”

“Our riding-master said my seat was everything that was bad.”

“Bah! He is a mechanic, and wants every man to ride like a pair of compasses slung across a rail. Don’t you spoil your seat to please any of them. I like to see a man sit a horse as if he belonged to it. Then he can use his sword.”

How proud he was of his regiment. “Look at them,” he would say; “only that they are a little curved in the upper leg, they are as fine a set of men as you will find in any English regiment; and if it was not for their black faces, they would pass for Guards.”

He was very kind to them, and set a splendid example to his officers, but, unfortunately, they did not follow his example. In fact, the whole of the English people at the station treated the black race as if they were inferior beings; and though every one in Rajgunge was humble and servile to the whites, it always seemed to me as if they were civil only because they were obliged.

I used to talk to Brace about it sometimes, and he would agree.

“But what can you expect?” he said. “They are a conquered race, and of a different religion. I question whether, with the kindest treatment, we should ever make them like us; but we never try.”

I did not say anything, but thought that the black servants were always ready and eager to attend to him, and I never had any difficulty in getting things done; and often after that I used to wonder that a man like Ny Deen should patiently put up with the brutal insult and ill-usage he met with from Barton, who treated him like a dog, while like a dog the Indian used to patiently bear all his abuse and blows.

“Does him good,” Barton said to me one day, with an ugly grin, because it annoyed me. “See what a good servant it makes him. You’re jealous, Vincent. You want him yourself.”

“Yes,” I said, “I should like to have him, and show him that all English officers are not alike.”

“Do you mean that as an insult, sir?” he cried.

“I meant it more as a reproach,” I replied coolly.

“Look here, Vincent,” he said hotly, “I have put up with a good deal from you since you have been in the troop, and I don’t mean to stand much more from such a boy.”

“Really, Barton—” I began.

“Stop, sir, please, and hear me out. Ever since I joined, and as far back as I can hear of, it has been considered a feather in a man’s cap to belong to the horse artillery. Many a fine fellow has put down his name and wanted to be transferred from the foot, and want has been his master. But nowadays the service is going to the dogs.”

“I don’t want to—”

“Stop! you are going to hear me out,” he cried, interposing between me and the door. “I’ve long wanted to come to an understanding with you, but you have always sneaked behind your nurse.”

“I don’t understand you,” I said angrily; but it was not true.

“Then I’ll tell you what I mean. You have always hung on the apron-string of Mr Brace, and a nice pair there are of you. The troop’s going to ruin, and I shall tell Lacey so. I’m not going to stand it. Here, you came out, a mere schoolboy, and before you’ve been two years in the foot, you are selected to come into what used to be the smartest troop in the Company’s service. I’m not blind. It’s all grossly unfair. You’ve got relatives on the board, and it’s all money and interest. It’s a disgrace to the service.”

“Do you mean I am a disgrace to the troop?” I said hotly.

“Yes, I do,” he cried savagely; “and I know well enough one of these days how it will be. There will be some excuse made, and you will be promoted over me; and if you are, I warn you I won’t rest until the whole miserable bit of trickery has been exposed.”

“You would be clever if you did expose anything, for there is nothing for you to expose. My uncle did write to head-quarters, I know, but I read his letter first.”

“What did it say?”

“And he only asked for my wishes to be acceded to, if I was found worthy.”

“Found worthy!” he cried, with a mocking laugh, which made my cheeks burn. “Found worthy! It’s a disgrace to the service!”

“Oh, there, I’m not going to quarrel with you,” I said, fighting down my annoyance.

“No, and I am not going to quarrel with you, but for a couple of annas I’d give you a downright horsewhipping.”

I started up from my seat, but a hand was laid upon my arm, and I was pressed down as I swung my head round and gazed up in Brace’s stern face.

“Be quiet,” he said, grimly; and then—“May I ask, Mr Barton, what this means?”

“No, you may not,” cried Barton, offensively.

“But I do ask, sir. I heard you threaten to horse-whip your junior officer as I entered the room.”

“And most creditable for an officer and a gentleman to stand at the door listening,” cried Barton, in a mocking tone. “Eavesdropping.”

Brace’s pale sallow face changed colour, but he spoke very calmly, for he realised that Barton had made up his mind to quarrel with him.

“What has been the matter, Vincent?”

“Mr Barton has thought proper to accuse my friends of gross favouritism, and he tells me that I have no business in the horse brigade.”

“Lieutenant Barton is not the judge of what officers are suitable for our troop; and you may take it for granted that if you had not proved yourself worthy of the selection made, you would very soon have been transferred back.”

“Don’t you believe it, Vincent,” cried Barton, whose face was flushed, and whose manner indicated that he had been drinking overnight, with the consequence that he was irritable and bitter with every one about him. “The whole service is being neglected, or else there would very soon be a weeding out in this troop.”

Brace had been very grave and calm so far. Again and again he had turned aside the sneers and innuendoes of Barton, who for months had grown more and more offensive as he found that he could insult Brace with impunity; but now he was startled by the change which came over his brother-officer, for Brace flushed up, his eyes glittered, and in a voice that I did not recognise as his own, he said—

“Yes, sir, and Lieutenant Barton would be removed, perhaps disgraced, for insolence to his brother-officers, brutality to the people under him, and conduct generally unworthy of an officer and a gentleman.”

“What?” cried Barton.

“You understand my words, sir,” said Brace. “You have forced me by your treatment to turn at last, and tell you that I will submit to your insults no longer, neither will I allow you to annoy Vincent.”

“You will not allow me!”

“I will not. Do you think I am a child because I have been forbearing? Your insolence has been beyond bounds.”

“Then why did you bear it?” cried Barton.

“For the honour of the service, sir. Because I would not degrade myself and you in the eyes of our men by descending to a quarrel.”

“How brave!” cried Barton, mockingly; but Brace paid no heed, and went on.

“Because, sir, I would not be your boon companion, and drink and generally conduct myself in a way unworthy of an English officer in the high position I hold in this country, I have been constantly marked out as the butt for your offensive sarcasm, even as far back as the time when, if you had possessed a spark of manliness or feeling, you would have respected me and shown consideration for one who was passing through such an ordeal as I pray Heaven you may be spared.”

“Bah! A parade of your sufferings,” said Barton, mockingly.

Brace winced, but he went on calmly.

“I have seen all and borne all, and even now I should not have spoken but for your insult to Vincent, whom I heard you threaten to horse-whip.”

“Which he daren’t do,” I cried angrily.

“Silence!” cried Brace sternly. “You are no longer a boy, and this is not a school.”

“Indeed!” said Barton, looking me up and down with an offensive laugh. “I thought it was.”

I winced now in my turn, and then looked wonderingly at Brace, who uttered the word—

“Contemptible!”

Barton took a step forward angrily.

“Keep your bullying looks and words, sir, for the poor Hindoos, whom you have so disgracefully trampled down. They are wasted upon me, for I know your nature now only too well. I am not going to quarrel, though I have easy excuse.”

“Then what will you do?” said Barton. “Fight?”

“Yes, when my duty renders it necessary, sir. As matters stand, I feel bound to report what has taken place to Major Lacey, and to leave it in his hands to reprimand you, and call upon you to apologise.”

Barton sank back into a chair, uttering a forced laugh that made Brace turn pale.

“‘And out crept a mouse!’” cried the lieutenant. “Is that all, my brave, fire-eating captain? Report all to Major Lacey! By Jingo, sir, I’ll spare you the trouble. I’ll go and tell him what a miserable, contemptible, beggarly coward he has in his troop, and that he is allowing you to drag down your wretched pupil to your own level. There, stand out of my way.”

He thrust Captain Brace aside, as he strode toward the door—a thrust that was almost a blow, and then aloud, “Here you: open that door—quickly. Do you hear?”

I looked across sharply, and saw that a couple of the native servants had entered the room, and felt that they must have heard every word.

They opened the door, Barton passed out, and the two white-robed men turned to look at us wonderingly before hurrying out, and the door fell to.

“They must have heard,” I said to myself; “and they’ll go and tell the others. It will be all round the station directly that Captain Brace is a coward.” For a few moments I felt as if I dared not raise my eyes, but it was as if something was dragging me to look up, and as I did, I saw that Brace was looking at me fixedly, and there was something very singular in his gaze; but for some time he did not speak, and there was so strange a tumult in my breast that no words would come.

“Well,” he said at last. “What are you thinking?”

“Of all this,” I said huskily.

“And that as an officer and a gentleman I ought to have knocked Barton down?”

“Something of the kind,” I replied.

“Of course; and then, according to the code of honour among gentlemen, I ought to fight him at daybreak to-morrow morning.”

I was silent.

“Yes,” he said passionately; “that is what you are thinking.”

“I can’t help it,” I cried angrily. “He almost struck you, and the khansamah saw it, and that other man too. It will be all over the place. You must fight him now.”

He looked at me very strangely, and I saw his brows contract as he said gravely—

“Duelling is a thing of the past, Vincent; a cowardly, savage practice in which the life of a man is at the mercy of his skilful adversary. Life is too valuable to throw away in a quarrel. I do not feel as if I had done all my work yet.”

“But what can you do?” I said excitedly, for my brain was in a turmoil. I loved him, but his conduct frightened me; it was so unlike anything I could have expected from a gallant soldier; and there was a singularly cold sensation of dread creeping over me. I felt afraid that I was going to dislike him as one unworthy to be known, as I cried angrily, “But what can you do?”

He looked at me as if he could read me through and through, and his face grew very sad as he replied—

“There is the proper course open to me, Vincent, and that I am about to do.”

“Fight him?” I cried eagerly, and the miserable sensation of dread began to pass off.

“No, boy; I am going to explain everything to Major Lacey, who will report to head-quarters if he considers it right.”

He passed slowly out of the room, and I heard his step echoing beneath the broad verandah, as he went in the direction of Major Lacey’s, while, unable to restrain myself in my bitterness and contempt, I too got up and hurried out.

“He is a coward!” I muttered; “a coward!”—for I could not see the bravery of the man’s self-control; “and I have been gradually growing to like him, and think of him always as being patient and manly and noble. Why, I would have tried to knock Barton down, if he had killed me for it.”

“Gone to report,” I thought again, after a pause; “gone to tell, like a little schoolboy who has been pushed down. Him a soldier; and a coward like that!”

Chapter Eleven.Joined to the love of a military life, I had all a boy’s ideal notions of bravery and chivalry. By which I mean the frank, natural, outside ideas, full of the show and glitter, and I could not see beneath the surface. I did not know then that it might take more courage to refuse to fight and face the looks and scorn of some people than to go and meet an adversary in the field, after the braggart fashion of some of our French neighbours, whose grand idea of honour is to go out early some morning to meet an enemy about some petty, contemptible quarrel, fence for a few moments till one or the other is pricked or scratched, and then cry, “Ah, mon ami! mon ami!” embrace, and go home to breakfast together.Very beautiful, no doubt, to a certain class of Frenchman, but to a nineteenth-century Englishman—fluff.I’m afraid that I was very Gallic in my ideas in more ways, so that when next morning I knew that both Brace and Barton had had long interviews separately with Major Lacey, and then met him together in the presence of the doctor, and found that a peace had been patched up, my feelings toward Brace were very much cooled, and I was ready to become fast friends with Barton—at least, I could have been if he had been a different kind of man. As it was, I was thrown a great deal on the society of the doctor and the other officers, while Brace, who rightly interpreted my coolness, held himself aloof at mess.I found myself near the major that evening, and after a time he began chatting to me in a low tone.“Let’s see; you were in the squabble yesterday,” he said. “Great pity. We don’t want any references to head-quarters, Vincent, nor court-martial; and as for their fighting, that sort of thing’s as dead as Queen Anne. We’ve got to keep our fighting for the Queen’s enemies, eh?”“I suppose so, sir.”“Of course you suppose so,” he said sharply. “Why, you did not want them to fight, did you?”“That, it seems to me, would have been the most honourable course, sir,” I said stiffly.He turned his head and stared in my face.“You’re a young goose—gander, I mean. No: gosling,” he said. “There, I’ve made them shake hands, after Barton had apologised. I’m not going to have any of that nonsense. And look here, you’ve got to be friends with Barton too. Why, hang it, boy, a handful of Englishmen here, as we are, in the midst of enemies, can’t afford to quarrel among ourselves; we must hold together like—like—well, like Britons. Here, I’ve something else for you to think about. I’ve had a messenger over from the nawab. A couple of man-eaters have been doing a lot of mischief a few miles from his place, and he wants some of us to go over very early to-morrow to rid the country of the brutes. Perhaps I shall go too.”The thoughts of such an exciting expedition soon drove away those of the trouble, and upon the major making the announcement, it was at once discussed, while in imagination I pictured the whole scene, ending with the slaughter of the monsters, and their being brought home in triumph upon a pad elephant.“I thought so,” the major whispered to me with a chuckle; “that has put them both in a good temper. I did think of going, but I shall send them.”I went across the square to my bed that night, full of thoughts of the expedition, and not far from my quarters came upon three figures in white, talking eagerly together, but ready to start apart when they caught sight of me, and salaam profoundly. “Ah, Ny Deen,” I said. “Fine night.”“Yes, sahib,” he said in his soft low voice. “Does the sahib go to the hunt to-morrow?”“How did you know there was to be a hunt to-morrow?” I said sharply.“There are orders to have the buggies ready, sahib, before day.”“Oh,” I said. “Then your master is going?”“No, sahib; he stays with the men.”“I don’t think he does,” I said to myself, as I went into my quarters, where I gave orders for all my shooting things to be put out; and then, after making sure that I should be called in time, I dived in behind the mosquito curtains, so as to get all the rest I could, and in half a minute was sleeping heavily, but not until I had repented leaving the mess-room without saying “good night” to Brace, Barton having gone some time before, as he was on duty that evening.I scarcely seemed to have fallen asleep before a hand was laid upon my shoulder.“Master’s bath and coffee ready,” said a voice; and I looked up to see by the light of a lamp that my man Dost was gazing down at me, with the curtains held aside, and a curiously troubled fixed look in his face.“Time to get up already?” I said.“Yes, sahib,” he said hurriedly. “All the other gentlemen call and get up.”“All right,” I said; and springing out, I stepped into my tiled bath-room, and had myself refreshed with some chatties of cold water poured over my head, after which, feeling elastic as steel, I towelled, and began to dress.“Why, hallo, Dost,” I said, as I saw that the man was trembling, “what’s the matter? Not ill?”“No, no, sahib; quite well, quite well!” he cried hastily.“But you are not,” I cried. “You are all of a shiver. Let me give you something.”He shook his head violently, and kept on reiterating that he was quite well.“Come, out with it, Dost,” I said. “You are not deceiving me. What is the matter?”He looked round quickly, and I could see that the poor fellow evidently was in great alarm about something.“Master always good to Dost,” he said.“Of course I am, when you are good and attentive to me. Is my rifle ready?”“Yes, sahib. Dost afraid for his lord.”I laughed at him, though I felt touched, as I grasped what he seemed to mean.“You coward!” I said. “Do you think the first tiger I see will get into my howdah and maul me?”He nodded his head, and looked more nervous than before.“And that I shall be a job for Dr Danby, and you will have to nurse me?”He bowed his head again.“Then you would like me to stop, and not go to the tiger-hunt?”“No, no, sahib,” he cried excitedly, and I smiled again at him, as I thought that it was very doubtful whether Ny Deen and his other men were in such anxiety about Barton.Dost hung about me with the greatest of solicitude as, fully equipped at last, I made my way to where the buggies and their attendants were in waiting. It was very dark, and it was only by the light of the lanterns that I made out who was there, and saw Brace, the doctor, and a quiet gentlemanly lieutenant of ours named Haynes.Just then the major came bustling up, his genial nature having urged him to leave his comfortable bed, and come to see us off.“All here?” he cried. “You’ll have a glorious day. Needn’t have taken rifles; the rajah would have everything for you, and better pieces than your own, I dare say. Wish I was going with you.”“Why not come?” said Brace.“No, no! Don’t tempt me; I’ve quite work enough. Some one ought to stay.”“I will stop with pleasure,” cried Brace.“No, no, my dear boy; we settled that you should go. I’ll have my turn another time.”“But really—” began Brace.“Be quiet, man!” cried the major. “You are going. Keep an eye on Vincent here, and don’t let a tiger get him. He can’t be spared.”“I dare say we shall be in the same howdah,” replied Brace; and somehow I did not feel pleased any more than I did at the major taking such pains to have me looked after like a little boy.“These young chaps are so thoughtless,” continued the major. “They run into danger before they know where they are, and then, when they are in the midst of it, they forget to be cool.”“Oh, I shall be careful, sir,” I said pettishly.“You think so, of course,” said the major. “I suppose you will not be back till quite late. Like an escort to meet you?”“Oh no, it is not necessary,” said Brace.“Hullo! Where’s Barton?” cried the doctor. “Any one seen him?”“Not coming,” said the major quietly.“Not coming?”“No; he sent me a line last thing to say he preferred not to go.”I heard Brace draw his breath in a hissing way, and then he hesitated and descended from the buggy to speak to the major, who said aloud—“No, no! If he likes to turn disagreeable, let him. There, be off, and a good day’s sport to you. Here, Vincent, try if you can’t manage a skin rug for yourself this time, and don’t any of you waste your charges on small game. You are sure to scare the big away.”We promised, and five minutes after were going at a pretty good pace along the main road, each vehicle with a native driver, and a man running at the horses’ heads as well.We had about fifteen miles to go along the road to a point where elephants or horses would be in waiting for us, sent by the rajah from his jungle palace. Then we should leave the buggies and the main road, to follow a track leading up to the rajah’s place, where he often went, to be out of the heat and dust of the city, in which every pair of feet was kicking up the dust all day long, till it was as if the lower part of the town was shrouded in a dense stratum of fog twelve or fourteen feet thick.We had been riding for some time at a rapid rate before we began to note a change in the surroundings. First a tree would stand out in a pale grey ghostly way; then a clump of high cane-like grass would loom out like something solid, and then, on turning round, I could see a pale grey light in the sky, which rapidly turned to pale crimson, and then to deep ruddy gold, as up came the sun almost at once, the change from night to day being rapid there.For some little time now we had been ascending; and getting into a part clear of trees, we were suddenly aware of a tent pitched in the shade of a mango tope, and close by, quietly picking up freshly cut green food, and tucking it into their mouths with their trunks, were half a dozen elephants, three of which bore handsome trappings and howdahs, while the others had only the ordinary pads.A couple of handsomely dressed servants came forward to meet us as we dismounted, and we were ushered into the open-sided tent, where breakfast was waiting, spread on a soft Indian carpet, while the rajah’s men waited upon us with the greatest of attention.But, as the doctor said, we had not come to eat, and very soon expressed our readiness to start, when the elephants were guided to the front of the tent, and we mounted, after giving orders to the drivers of the vehicles in which we had come, to be in waiting for us just at dusk. Then the huge animal on which I was mounted with the doctor moved slowly on apparently, but covering a good deal of ground in his shuffling stride.A shout from Brace on the next elephant arrested us, though, and, on turning, we found that he was pointing back.The scene was worth stopping to contemplate, for there, miles away behind us, lay Rajgunge, with its mosques and temples glittering in the morning sun, and the dust which often shrouded the place now visible only as a faint haze, while the sparkling river looked a very band of silver curving round it like the fold of some wondrous serpent undulating over the plain. The city lay in a hollow, from which the land sloped away on one side, while, on the other, hill and valley alternated, with the country rising higher and higher to where we stood, and then rose more and more into a wild of jungle and mountain, whose more distant eminences died into a soft blue mist.“I never saw a more beautiful view,” said the doctor to me. “Grand place to send patients to. Sight of the country would do them more good than my physic. Make much of it, Vincent,” he said; “you may never see the city look so beautiful again.”I looked at him so wonderingly that he laughed.“Well, next time it may be dark or cloudy, or raining, or at a different time of year.”The elephants were again in motion, and, leaving the well-beaten dâk road behind us, we were now following an elephant’s track, going at every step more and more into scenery such as I had pictured to myself when thinking about India as my future home.“Look!” I cried excitedly, as, from the edge of a patch of jungle, a couple of peacocks ran along for a few yards, and then took flight, one blaze of bright colour for a few moments, as I caught flashes of vivid blue and green, and metallic gold.My hand went mechanically to the rifle behind me in the howdah, and the doctor laughed.“Well done, Englishman!” he cried. “Something beautiful, and wild. Let’s kill it!”“We’ve come out shooting,” I said, half sulkily.“Yes—tigers!” said the doctor. “What a curious fate mine is—to live always with you soldiers, who think of nothing but killing, while my trade is to save life! There goes another peacock,” he cried, as one of the lovely birds, with an enormous train, ran out into the open, rose, and went skimming away before us.“I wonder such beautiful birds don’t attract the common people; they’re grand eating. Why don’t they get shot?”“Sacred to everybody but to us Englishmen,” he replied. “We are the only savages out here who kill peafowl.”“Then the Hindoos don’t like it?”“Of course not; but they have to put up with it, all the same. And we do rid them of the great cats which kill their cows—and themselves, sometimes. Why, they will not even kill their poisonous snakes, and thousands die of the bites every year.”“How lovely!” I said, as my eyes wandered round.“What! To be killed by a snake?”“No, no; this scenery.”“Oh yes; and Brace seems to be enjoying it too. I say, you don’t seem so thick with him as you were, squire.”“Oh, I don’t know,” I said indifferently.“Well, I do, and I think you are foolish. Brace is a thorough good fellow. Better stick to him, even if he does stir you up. He’ll make a man of you, without winning your money at cards.”Snork!The elephant we were on trumpeted, and those behind threw up their trunks, and seemed to echo the huge beast’s cry.“Look out!” said the doctor. “Rifles!”For, about a hundred yards in front, there was something moving among the trees, and soon after a couple of the huge Indian buffaloes walked out into the open track in front, threw up their heads, one touching the other with his wide-spreading horns, and stood staring at us, as if puzzled at what he saw.“Hold fast. Our elephant may spin round, and go off at a gallop,” said the doctor.But the huge beast stood firm, only lowering its head, and swinging it right and left, as it kept its little sagacious-looking eyes fixed upon the great bulls in front, while its great tusks were ready to meet the bulls’ wide-spreading horns.It was my first experience of being face to face with any of the large game of India; and, as I grasped the idea of what a formidable creature the buffalo was—certainly nearly double the size of one of our ordinary oxen, my heart began to beat rather heavily.“Shall I fire?” I whispered to the doctor; for I had my rifle resting on the front of the howdah, ready to take aim.“No,” said a familiar voice on my right; and I found that Brace’s elephant had been urged forward until it was now close abreast of ours. “If you fired at this distance, you would only be wasting a shot. You could not bring either of the brutes down, and it would be only wounding them for nothing.”“Going to charge, aren’t they?” said the doctor.“I hope not. They may think better of it, and go back into the jungle.”Brace was right, for, after standing staring stupidly at the elephants for some moments, the great slaty-black creatures slowly moved off into the dense growth on our left.I suppose that I showed my disappointment, for Brace said quietly—“It is not considered wise to spend time in firing at everything one meets, when bound to beat up tiger.”He addressed a word or two in Hindustanee to the mahouts, and the elephants, freed now from apprehension, shuffled onward till we came upon an open park-like space, at the end of which, on a slope, was the rajah’s shooting-box. Here half a dozen more elephants were standing, with a number of well-mounted men armed with spears, shields, and tulwars, and quite a host of lightly clad Hindoos were lying about, waiting to commence their task—that of beating for game, and driving it toward where the sportsmen were stationed.Upon our appearance, the rajah came out of the large verandah in front of the house, and saluted us cordially.He was a young, active-looking man, dressed like an ordinary English sportsman bound for a day’s shooting on the moors; and, after pressing us to enter the house and partake of refreshment, which we declined, he at once called up a couple of hard, muscular-looking men, gave them an order or two, and the result was that these two shouldered their long, clumsy-looking old matchlocks. They signed to the crowd of beaters, who had all sprung to their feet as the rajah came out, and marched them all off, so that they could make for the head of a valley where a tiger had had a kill, and up which valley we were to slowly progress, after taking a circuit, so as to reach its mouth about the same time as the beaters reached the head.We had a much greater distance to go than the men on foot, and after a few preliminaries, the rajah mounted to the howdah of one of the waiting elephants, followed by his chief huntsman, well provided with quite a battery of English rifles. Two or three of his officers took their places on other elephants, and the mounted men and a party of foot marched at our side, as the imposing little procession started.The rajah spoke very good English, and there were moments when I forgot his smooth oily manner and dark countenance, and could almost feel that he was some swarthy sportsman who had invited us to his place for a day’s shooting.He was as eager as any of us, and, as we marched off, he told us that his shikaree had marked down two tigers of exceptional size—beasts that had done a great deal of mischief in the district; and he was confident that we should have an excellent day’s sport.The sun was now tremendously powerful, but the motion of the huge beasts we rode produced a certain amount of air, and the excitement made us forget everything but the object of our visit.Our course was toward a spur of a range of hills, and on rounding this, we found ourselves at the entrance of a narrow valley, across which we were formed up, the rajah’s huntsman giving us a few words of instruction as to keeping as nearly as possible in a line, and warning us to have a watchful eye upon every patch of bushes and tall, sun-dried grass.A move was made as soon as we were in line, and with the valley gradually contracting in width, and the hills over our side growing higher and more steep, our prospects of seeing game grew brighter each moment; in fact, it was almost a certainty, as the head of the valley was occupied by the beaters, who would soon begin to move down in our direction.Certain enough, but very tantalising, for every now and then there was a sharp rustle or breaking of twigs and something bounded from its lair to dash up the valley without giving us a chance of seeing its flank.“Never mind,” said the doctor. “Not what we want; and we shall have a chance at them, perhaps, by-and-by, when they are turned back.”As we went on, from my elevated position I began to have better fortune, seeing now a deer dart up the valley, and directly after, from some yellow dried-up grass, there was a loud rush and a scramble.“Pig,” said the doctor unconcernedly; and as I watched the grass I could see it undulate and wave where the little herd of wild swine was making its way onward.“No sign of a tiger,” I said aloud; and, to my surprise, a reply came from Brace, whose elephant was shuffling along not many yards away, and I could, as he spoke, just see his face through the tops of the tall reedy grass.“No,” he said; “but very likely one of them is creeping and gliding along just ahead of us, so keep a sharp look-out.”Just then I began thinking of Brace instead of the tigers, for it seemed so painful to be at odds with him, and to go on in the distant way we had kept up lately, because I looked upon him as a coward. I cannot explain my feelings. All I know is that I felt that I did not like him a bit, and all the time I was drawn towards him and was hurt when I spoke coldly to him, and more hurt when he gave me one of his half-sad, penetrating looks, and then spoke distantly.“I think I could like him,” I said to myself, “if he had not proved such a coward.” And then I thought that under the circumstances I should have had no hesitation in going out and fighting Barton. As I arrived at this pitch, I felt uncomfortable, for something within me seemed to ask the question—“Wouldn’t you?”Just then an elephant again uttered his harsh grunting squeal known as “trumpeting,” and an electric thrill ran through me, for I had learned enough of tiger-shooting to know that the great animal had scented his enemy, and the strange cry was taken up by another of the elephants.Orders were passed along to right and left for us to keep in a steady line, and the men between the elephants grew every moment more excited. For the action of the animals proved that it was no false alarm, and in the momentary glances I had from right to left, I saw that the rajah and Brace were waiting, with finger on trigger, for a shot at the striped monster creeping on up the valley.“Keep cool,” said the doctor to me in a whisper; “and if you get a good chance at him, fire at the shoulder, but don’t throw away a shot. A slight wound may do more harm than good—make the brute break back through the line, perhaps, and we should lose him.”“I’ll be careful,” I said huskily.“That’s right. I want for us to get one tiger, and not the rajah. He has plenty of chances.”“Keep a sharp look out, doctor,” came from Brace, in a loud voice, which told that he was evidently excited.In a few minutes we were through the dense thicket of grass, and in a rocky bottom, dotted sparely with tufts of bush and loose stones; and, as I ran my eye over this, I turned to the doctor despairingly.“There is nothing to hide him here,” I said. “We must have passed him in the thick grass.”“Nothing to hide him!” cried the doctor; “why, the gorge is full of hiding-places. I call this good cover.”“Is that something moving?” I said suddenly; and I pointed to some thin yellowish-brown grass, about fifty yards ahead.“Eh, where? By George!”His rifle was to his shoulder in a moment, there was a flash, a sharp echoing report, and the mahout shouted “Bagh! Bagh!” while, as the smoke rose, I had a faint glimpse of a great striped animal bounding out of sight, a hundred and fifty yards ahead.“Clever miss,” said the doctor, reloading, as inquiries came from right and left. “No doubt about the tigers now, Vincent,” he added to me.“I thought I saw something moving, but I could hardly tell it from the stems of the dry grass.”“I suppose not Nature has been pretty kind to tigers that way. It is almost impossible to see them amongst grass or reeds, so long as they keep still. Bah! that was a wretched shot. But it’s easier to miss than hit, Vincent.”“I wish I had seen him,” I said, in a disappointed tone.“Why, you did see him, lad, and missed a good chance. Your rifle ought to have been up to your shoulder the moment he moved.”“But I thought it was grass,” I said.“Ah, you will not think it was grass again. Capital practice this in decision, my lad. You’ve had a splendid lesson.”We pressed on as fast as the roughness of the ground would allow, for it was so open now that, in all probability, the tiger would have gone on some distance, and with the elephants plainly in view and the mounted and dismounted men between them, we made quite a goodly show. But the heat was terrific. It seemed as if the rocks were glowing and reflecting the sun’s rays, so that at any other time we should have declared it unbearable, but now excitement kept us going.As we passed the spot where we had seen the tiger disappear, our ranks were closed up, and we went on watchfully. In my eagerness now, I was ready to turn tufts of grass and blocks of stone into tigers; and had taken aim at one with my ears singing with excitement, when the doctor laid his hand on mine.“What are you doing?” he said.I pointed, for I could not speak, and he laughed, and then raised his own piece to his shoulder, as a shot rang out from Brace’s howdah, followed by one from the rajah’s.“A hit,” cried the doctor. “Did you see him?”I shook my head.“I got one glimpse of him.”“That shot was home, doctor, I think,” said Brace.“Not a doubt about it. Steady; keep on.”The elephants advanced slowly, with their trunks thrown up in the air, and as, in the midst of intense excitement, we neared the spot where the tiger had been seen slinking from one stone to the other, one of the men uttered an exclamation and pointed down at a spot of blood upon the hot stone at our feet; and then at another and another at intervals, on dry grass and leaf.“Take care,” said the rajah; “he will be very savage now.”The warning was hardly needed, for every one was on the alert, expecting at any moment to find the tiger lying dead, or to see it bound out defiantly and ready to spring at the nearest elephant.“Mind how you shoot, Vincent,” said the doctor, meaningly. “I came out for a day’s sport, and don’t want it spoiled by professional pursuits.”“I don’t understand you,” I said.“Well, if I must put it plainly, don’t shoot a beater instead of a tiger.”“Bagh! bagh!” came from one of the men on foot; and this time the rajah led off with a shot, but it seemed that he had only obtained a glimpse of the great cat-like beast sneaking round a tuft of bushes, as it made its way onward.The brute was evidently severely wounded, for blood-stains were found again and again, several together, showing where the tiger had halted to watch or listen for his enemies; but still we could not get close enough for a decisive shot, and over and over again the line of elephants was halted in the belief that we must have passed the beast crouching down among the grass.At the last of these halts, when, in spite of careful search, no more traces of the fierce man-eater could be seen, a council of war was held, and the question was raised whether we should go back, when the distant sound of shouts and the beating of tom-toms came faintly toward us, and this decided the line of action, for the rajah at once proposed that we should go and meet the beaters, for there was another tiger in the valley, and then we could beat out the one wounded on our return.This was decided on, and the word was given to advance again; but hardly had the elephants moved, when there was a terrific roar, and a monstrous tiger bounded out toward us, lashing his tail from side to side, baring his white teeth, and laying down his ears as his eyes literally blazed at us in the sun.Brace’s rifle rang out on the instant, and, with a snarling roar, the beautifully striped beast swung his head round, made a snap at his shoulder, then turned and charged straight at the rajah’s elephant, which uttered a shriek of dread, spun round, and dashed back at a mad pace.The tiger did not pursue, but, evidently untouched by a couple more shots fired at it, came bounding toward us.The doctor fired, but it did not check the onslaught, and the brute bounded right on to the elephant’s shoulder and tried to claw its way into our howdah, as the mahout yelled with horror.But the savage brute did not get quite up to us, for the doctor snatched my rifle from my hand, held it with the barrel resting on the edge of the howdah just as one would a pistol, fired, and the tiger dropped quite dead upon the scorched earth.An eager shout arose, and there was a round of congratulations as a pad elephant was brought up from the rear, and the monster hauled across the creature’s back, and securely fastened with ropes.But we did not stop to finish this, for the shouting and tomtoming was growing plainer, and already a deer had trotted out of the tender growth a hundred yards ahead, stood listening to the sounds behind, and then, catching sight of us, darted down the valley at a tremendous pace.A minute or two later, as we advanced, another deer appeared, turned, and trotted back; while soon after, a huge boar dashed out, charged through us, and was followed by a mother pig and her progeny, all of which dashed downward for their liberty.And as we pushed on, with the valley still narrowing, and the noise made by the beaters increasing, animal after animal dashed past us, or, seeing the line of elephants, crept back, but only to appear again, and find that it could escape unmolested.“No sign of another tiger, rajah,” I heard Brace say.“Yes, yes. There is another,” he cried. “My people have seen him twice.”“Perhaps so,” said the doctor to me, in a low voice; “but he would have shown before now, with all that noise in front.”He was wrong, though; for five minutes later, and when the beaters could not have been above a couple of hundred yards away, another magnificent beast dashed out of the cover with a roar, and charged down upon us, putting the line of elephants into such confusion that the aims of those who had a chance were disarranged. Then there came a wild scream from somewhere to our right, and we knew directly after that the tiger had broken through the line, striking down one of the rajah’s men as he passed, and the poor fellow had to be bandaged by the doctor before he was lifted on to one of the elephants, fainting from loss of blood.“Will it kill him?” I said huskily, as we returned to our own howdah.“Oh no,” replied the doctor. “A nasty clawing; but these men get over far worse wounds than that. There, keep your eyes open; we must try and take revenge. I never feel any compunction in shooting a tiger. There isn’t room for them in a civilised land.”We were returning over the same ground now, with the beaters far behind, and every bush, and tuft, and patch of dry grass was carefully searched as hour after hour went by, and there was talk about a halt for lunch; but with such a monster known to be somewhere in the gorge no one felt disposed for anything but a refreshing cup of water, and downward we went again.The feeling was fast growing upon us that the tiger had gone right on and out of the valley into the open country, when once more an elephant trumpeted, and told of our being near the object of our search.Heat and fatigue were forgotten directly, the elephants were urged on by the mahouts, and cane-brake and reed-flat were searched, long grass was ridden through, and for a couple of hours more we were on the tiptoe of expectation, but found no tiger, till just as we were growing thoroughly dispirited, and felt that we must be driving it lower and lower, and helping it to escape, the monster bounded out from a cluster of loose rocks, faced us, and rolled over at a shot from the doctor’s rifle.It sprang up again with a tremendous roar, and stood open-jawed, glaring at us as if considering which it should attack, when the rajah and Brace fired at the same time, and the monster rolled over again to struggle feebly, and then stretched itself out—dead.“Never mind, Vincent,” said the doctor, clapping me on the shoulder; and then addressing the others with us: “Your turn next; and you have been in at the death.”“Look! look!” I cried suddenly.“What is it?”“On that little elephant coming up the valley; isn’t it one of our men?”Brace heard me, and took out the little glass slung from his shoulder.“Yes,” he said. “It must be a message from the major. Good Heavens! I hope there is nothing wrong.”A word or two in Hindustani from the doctor to the mahout, and our elephant began to shuffle toward the one coming, for Brace had gone on at once.Our elephant made a good circuit to avoid the dead tiger, holding his trunk high, and evidently in doubt as to whether the beast was feigning death; and directly after we were close up to the messenger, whom I saw to be Denny, the man who had come over in theJumna, and whose sweetheart I had jumped overboard to save.“What is it, Denny? Anything wrong?” cried Brace.The man gave him a wild look, and nodded his head, as he held on by one hand to the rope which secured the elephant’s pad.“Well, well!” cried Brace, excitedly; “what is it? Speak.”The man’s lips parted, and one hand went up towards his head, while the mahout who had brought him looked back with his face full of horror. Then, as our elephant was urged up on the other side, the doctor reached over from the howdah, and by a quick movement caught the poor fellow’s arm just as his hold had given way, and he was about to pitch off the pad to the ground.“I thought so,” cried the doctor, helping to lower him down. “He was fainting. The poor fellow has been wounded—badly, too!”“What is this? How did he get hurt?” cried Brace to the mahout in Hindustani.“My lord, I don’t know. He came on a poor horse, and ordered me to come to you. My lord, he is very bad.”Just then the rajah came up, and I fancied there was a peculiar look in his face. He had changed colour, and seemed wild and strange, and when Brace fixed his eyes upon him he averted his gaze.

Joined to the love of a military life, I had all a boy’s ideal notions of bravery and chivalry. By which I mean the frank, natural, outside ideas, full of the show and glitter, and I could not see beneath the surface. I did not know then that it might take more courage to refuse to fight and face the looks and scorn of some people than to go and meet an adversary in the field, after the braggart fashion of some of our French neighbours, whose grand idea of honour is to go out early some morning to meet an enemy about some petty, contemptible quarrel, fence for a few moments till one or the other is pricked or scratched, and then cry, “Ah, mon ami! mon ami!” embrace, and go home to breakfast together.

Very beautiful, no doubt, to a certain class of Frenchman, but to a nineteenth-century Englishman—fluff.

I’m afraid that I was very Gallic in my ideas in more ways, so that when next morning I knew that both Brace and Barton had had long interviews separately with Major Lacey, and then met him together in the presence of the doctor, and found that a peace had been patched up, my feelings toward Brace were very much cooled, and I was ready to become fast friends with Barton—at least, I could have been if he had been a different kind of man. As it was, I was thrown a great deal on the society of the doctor and the other officers, while Brace, who rightly interpreted my coolness, held himself aloof at mess.

I found myself near the major that evening, and after a time he began chatting to me in a low tone.

“Let’s see; you were in the squabble yesterday,” he said. “Great pity. We don’t want any references to head-quarters, Vincent, nor court-martial; and as for their fighting, that sort of thing’s as dead as Queen Anne. We’ve got to keep our fighting for the Queen’s enemies, eh?”

“I suppose so, sir.”

“Of course you suppose so,” he said sharply. “Why, you did not want them to fight, did you?”

“That, it seems to me, would have been the most honourable course, sir,” I said stiffly.

He turned his head and stared in my face.

“You’re a young goose—gander, I mean. No: gosling,” he said. “There, I’ve made them shake hands, after Barton had apologised. I’m not going to have any of that nonsense. And look here, you’ve got to be friends with Barton too. Why, hang it, boy, a handful of Englishmen here, as we are, in the midst of enemies, can’t afford to quarrel among ourselves; we must hold together like—like—well, like Britons. Here, I’ve something else for you to think about. I’ve had a messenger over from the nawab. A couple of man-eaters have been doing a lot of mischief a few miles from his place, and he wants some of us to go over very early to-morrow to rid the country of the brutes. Perhaps I shall go too.”

The thoughts of such an exciting expedition soon drove away those of the trouble, and upon the major making the announcement, it was at once discussed, while in imagination I pictured the whole scene, ending with the slaughter of the monsters, and their being brought home in triumph upon a pad elephant.

“I thought so,” the major whispered to me with a chuckle; “that has put them both in a good temper. I did think of going, but I shall send them.”

I went across the square to my bed that night, full of thoughts of the expedition, and not far from my quarters came upon three figures in white, talking eagerly together, but ready to start apart when they caught sight of me, and salaam profoundly. “Ah, Ny Deen,” I said. “Fine night.”

“Yes, sahib,” he said in his soft low voice. “Does the sahib go to the hunt to-morrow?”

“How did you know there was to be a hunt to-morrow?” I said sharply.

“There are orders to have the buggies ready, sahib, before day.”

“Oh,” I said. “Then your master is going?”

“No, sahib; he stays with the men.”

“I don’t think he does,” I said to myself, as I went into my quarters, where I gave orders for all my shooting things to be put out; and then, after making sure that I should be called in time, I dived in behind the mosquito curtains, so as to get all the rest I could, and in half a minute was sleeping heavily, but not until I had repented leaving the mess-room without saying “good night” to Brace, Barton having gone some time before, as he was on duty that evening.

I scarcely seemed to have fallen asleep before a hand was laid upon my shoulder.

“Master’s bath and coffee ready,” said a voice; and I looked up to see by the light of a lamp that my man Dost was gazing down at me, with the curtains held aside, and a curiously troubled fixed look in his face.

“Time to get up already?” I said.

“Yes, sahib,” he said hurriedly. “All the other gentlemen call and get up.”

“All right,” I said; and springing out, I stepped into my tiled bath-room, and had myself refreshed with some chatties of cold water poured over my head, after which, feeling elastic as steel, I towelled, and began to dress.

“Why, hallo, Dost,” I said, as I saw that the man was trembling, “what’s the matter? Not ill?”

“No, no, sahib; quite well, quite well!” he cried hastily.

“But you are not,” I cried. “You are all of a shiver. Let me give you something.”

He shook his head violently, and kept on reiterating that he was quite well.

“Come, out with it, Dost,” I said. “You are not deceiving me. What is the matter?”

He looked round quickly, and I could see that the poor fellow evidently was in great alarm about something.

“Master always good to Dost,” he said.

“Of course I am, when you are good and attentive to me. Is my rifle ready?”

“Yes, sahib. Dost afraid for his lord.”

I laughed at him, though I felt touched, as I grasped what he seemed to mean.

“You coward!” I said. “Do you think the first tiger I see will get into my howdah and maul me?”

He nodded his head, and looked more nervous than before.

“And that I shall be a job for Dr Danby, and you will have to nurse me?”

He bowed his head again.

“Then you would like me to stop, and not go to the tiger-hunt?”

“No, no, sahib,” he cried excitedly, and I smiled again at him, as I thought that it was very doubtful whether Ny Deen and his other men were in such anxiety about Barton.

Dost hung about me with the greatest of solicitude as, fully equipped at last, I made my way to where the buggies and their attendants were in waiting. It was very dark, and it was only by the light of the lanterns that I made out who was there, and saw Brace, the doctor, and a quiet gentlemanly lieutenant of ours named Haynes.

Just then the major came bustling up, his genial nature having urged him to leave his comfortable bed, and come to see us off.

“All here?” he cried. “You’ll have a glorious day. Needn’t have taken rifles; the rajah would have everything for you, and better pieces than your own, I dare say. Wish I was going with you.”

“Why not come?” said Brace.

“No, no! Don’t tempt me; I’ve quite work enough. Some one ought to stay.”

“I will stop with pleasure,” cried Brace.

“No, no, my dear boy; we settled that you should go. I’ll have my turn another time.”

“But really—” began Brace.

“Be quiet, man!” cried the major. “You are going. Keep an eye on Vincent here, and don’t let a tiger get him. He can’t be spared.”

“I dare say we shall be in the same howdah,” replied Brace; and somehow I did not feel pleased any more than I did at the major taking such pains to have me looked after like a little boy.

“These young chaps are so thoughtless,” continued the major. “They run into danger before they know where they are, and then, when they are in the midst of it, they forget to be cool.”

“Oh, I shall be careful, sir,” I said pettishly.

“You think so, of course,” said the major. “I suppose you will not be back till quite late. Like an escort to meet you?”

“Oh no, it is not necessary,” said Brace.

“Hullo! Where’s Barton?” cried the doctor. “Any one seen him?”

“Not coming,” said the major quietly.

“Not coming?”

“No; he sent me a line last thing to say he preferred not to go.”

I heard Brace draw his breath in a hissing way, and then he hesitated and descended from the buggy to speak to the major, who said aloud—

“No, no! If he likes to turn disagreeable, let him. There, be off, and a good day’s sport to you. Here, Vincent, try if you can’t manage a skin rug for yourself this time, and don’t any of you waste your charges on small game. You are sure to scare the big away.”

We promised, and five minutes after were going at a pretty good pace along the main road, each vehicle with a native driver, and a man running at the horses’ heads as well.

We had about fifteen miles to go along the road to a point where elephants or horses would be in waiting for us, sent by the rajah from his jungle palace. Then we should leave the buggies and the main road, to follow a track leading up to the rajah’s place, where he often went, to be out of the heat and dust of the city, in which every pair of feet was kicking up the dust all day long, till it was as if the lower part of the town was shrouded in a dense stratum of fog twelve or fourteen feet thick.

We had been riding for some time at a rapid rate before we began to note a change in the surroundings. First a tree would stand out in a pale grey ghostly way; then a clump of high cane-like grass would loom out like something solid, and then, on turning round, I could see a pale grey light in the sky, which rapidly turned to pale crimson, and then to deep ruddy gold, as up came the sun almost at once, the change from night to day being rapid there.

For some little time now we had been ascending; and getting into a part clear of trees, we were suddenly aware of a tent pitched in the shade of a mango tope, and close by, quietly picking up freshly cut green food, and tucking it into their mouths with their trunks, were half a dozen elephants, three of which bore handsome trappings and howdahs, while the others had only the ordinary pads.

A couple of handsomely dressed servants came forward to meet us as we dismounted, and we were ushered into the open-sided tent, where breakfast was waiting, spread on a soft Indian carpet, while the rajah’s men waited upon us with the greatest of attention.

But, as the doctor said, we had not come to eat, and very soon expressed our readiness to start, when the elephants were guided to the front of the tent, and we mounted, after giving orders to the drivers of the vehicles in which we had come, to be in waiting for us just at dusk. Then the huge animal on which I was mounted with the doctor moved slowly on apparently, but covering a good deal of ground in his shuffling stride.

A shout from Brace on the next elephant arrested us, though, and, on turning, we found that he was pointing back.

The scene was worth stopping to contemplate, for there, miles away behind us, lay Rajgunge, with its mosques and temples glittering in the morning sun, and the dust which often shrouded the place now visible only as a faint haze, while the sparkling river looked a very band of silver curving round it like the fold of some wondrous serpent undulating over the plain. The city lay in a hollow, from which the land sloped away on one side, while, on the other, hill and valley alternated, with the country rising higher and higher to where we stood, and then rose more and more into a wild of jungle and mountain, whose more distant eminences died into a soft blue mist.

“I never saw a more beautiful view,” said the doctor to me. “Grand place to send patients to. Sight of the country would do them more good than my physic. Make much of it, Vincent,” he said; “you may never see the city look so beautiful again.”

I looked at him so wonderingly that he laughed.

“Well, next time it may be dark or cloudy, or raining, or at a different time of year.”

The elephants were again in motion, and, leaving the well-beaten dâk road behind us, we were now following an elephant’s track, going at every step more and more into scenery such as I had pictured to myself when thinking about India as my future home.

“Look!” I cried excitedly, as, from the edge of a patch of jungle, a couple of peacocks ran along for a few yards, and then took flight, one blaze of bright colour for a few moments, as I caught flashes of vivid blue and green, and metallic gold.

My hand went mechanically to the rifle behind me in the howdah, and the doctor laughed.

“Well done, Englishman!” he cried. “Something beautiful, and wild. Let’s kill it!”

“We’ve come out shooting,” I said, half sulkily.

“Yes—tigers!” said the doctor. “What a curious fate mine is—to live always with you soldiers, who think of nothing but killing, while my trade is to save life! There goes another peacock,” he cried, as one of the lovely birds, with an enormous train, ran out into the open, rose, and went skimming away before us.

“I wonder such beautiful birds don’t attract the common people; they’re grand eating. Why don’t they get shot?”

“Sacred to everybody but to us Englishmen,” he replied. “We are the only savages out here who kill peafowl.”

“Then the Hindoos don’t like it?”

“Of course not; but they have to put up with it, all the same. And we do rid them of the great cats which kill their cows—and themselves, sometimes. Why, they will not even kill their poisonous snakes, and thousands die of the bites every year.”

“How lovely!” I said, as my eyes wandered round.

“What! To be killed by a snake?”

“No, no; this scenery.”

“Oh yes; and Brace seems to be enjoying it too. I say, you don’t seem so thick with him as you were, squire.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said indifferently.

“Well, I do, and I think you are foolish. Brace is a thorough good fellow. Better stick to him, even if he does stir you up. He’ll make a man of you, without winning your money at cards.”

Snork!

The elephant we were on trumpeted, and those behind threw up their trunks, and seemed to echo the huge beast’s cry.

“Look out!” said the doctor. “Rifles!”

For, about a hundred yards in front, there was something moving among the trees, and soon after a couple of the huge Indian buffaloes walked out into the open track in front, threw up their heads, one touching the other with his wide-spreading horns, and stood staring at us, as if puzzled at what he saw.

“Hold fast. Our elephant may spin round, and go off at a gallop,” said the doctor.

But the huge beast stood firm, only lowering its head, and swinging it right and left, as it kept its little sagacious-looking eyes fixed upon the great bulls in front, while its great tusks were ready to meet the bulls’ wide-spreading horns.

It was my first experience of being face to face with any of the large game of India; and, as I grasped the idea of what a formidable creature the buffalo was—certainly nearly double the size of one of our ordinary oxen, my heart began to beat rather heavily.

“Shall I fire?” I whispered to the doctor; for I had my rifle resting on the front of the howdah, ready to take aim.

“No,” said a familiar voice on my right; and I found that Brace’s elephant had been urged forward until it was now close abreast of ours. “If you fired at this distance, you would only be wasting a shot. You could not bring either of the brutes down, and it would be only wounding them for nothing.”

“Going to charge, aren’t they?” said the doctor.

“I hope not. They may think better of it, and go back into the jungle.”

Brace was right, for, after standing staring stupidly at the elephants for some moments, the great slaty-black creatures slowly moved off into the dense growth on our left.

I suppose that I showed my disappointment, for Brace said quietly—

“It is not considered wise to spend time in firing at everything one meets, when bound to beat up tiger.”

He addressed a word or two in Hindustanee to the mahouts, and the elephants, freed now from apprehension, shuffled onward till we came upon an open park-like space, at the end of which, on a slope, was the rajah’s shooting-box. Here half a dozen more elephants were standing, with a number of well-mounted men armed with spears, shields, and tulwars, and quite a host of lightly clad Hindoos were lying about, waiting to commence their task—that of beating for game, and driving it toward where the sportsmen were stationed.

Upon our appearance, the rajah came out of the large verandah in front of the house, and saluted us cordially.

He was a young, active-looking man, dressed like an ordinary English sportsman bound for a day’s shooting on the moors; and, after pressing us to enter the house and partake of refreshment, which we declined, he at once called up a couple of hard, muscular-looking men, gave them an order or two, and the result was that these two shouldered their long, clumsy-looking old matchlocks. They signed to the crowd of beaters, who had all sprung to their feet as the rajah came out, and marched them all off, so that they could make for the head of a valley where a tiger had had a kill, and up which valley we were to slowly progress, after taking a circuit, so as to reach its mouth about the same time as the beaters reached the head.

We had a much greater distance to go than the men on foot, and after a few preliminaries, the rajah mounted to the howdah of one of the waiting elephants, followed by his chief huntsman, well provided with quite a battery of English rifles. Two or three of his officers took their places on other elephants, and the mounted men and a party of foot marched at our side, as the imposing little procession started.

The rajah spoke very good English, and there were moments when I forgot his smooth oily manner and dark countenance, and could almost feel that he was some swarthy sportsman who had invited us to his place for a day’s shooting.

He was as eager as any of us, and, as we marched off, he told us that his shikaree had marked down two tigers of exceptional size—beasts that had done a great deal of mischief in the district; and he was confident that we should have an excellent day’s sport.

The sun was now tremendously powerful, but the motion of the huge beasts we rode produced a certain amount of air, and the excitement made us forget everything but the object of our visit.

Our course was toward a spur of a range of hills, and on rounding this, we found ourselves at the entrance of a narrow valley, across which we were formed up, the rajah’s huntsman giving us a few words of instruction as to keeping as nearly as possible in a line, and warning us to have a watchful eye upon every patch of bushes and tall, sun-dried grass.

A move was made as soon as we were in line, and with the valley gradually contracting in width, and the hills over our side growing higher and more steep, our prospects of seeing game grew brighter each moment; in fact, it was almost a certainty, as the head of the valley was occupied by the beaters, who would soon begin to move down in our direction.

Certain enough, but very tantalising, for every now and then there was a sharp rustle or breaking of twigs and something bounded from its lair to dash up the valley without giving us a chance of seeing its flank.

“Never mind,” said the doctor. “Not what we want; and we shall have a chance at them, perhaps, by-and-by, when they are turned back.”

As we went on, from my elevated position I began to have better fortune, seeing now a deer dart up the valley, and directly after, from some yellow dried-up grass, there was a loud rush and a scramble.

“Pig,” said the doctor unconcernedly; and as I watched the grass I could see it undulate and wave where the little herd of wild swine was making its way onward.

“No sign of a tiger,” I said aloud; and, to my surprise, a reply came from Brace, whose elephant was shuffling along not many yards away, and I could, as he spoke, just see his face through the tops of the tall reedy grass.

“No,” he said; “but very likely one of them is creeping and gliding along just ahead of us, so keep a sharp look-out.”

Just then I began thinking of Brace instead of the tigers, for it seemed so painful to be at odds with him, and to go on in the distant way we had kept up lately, because I looked upon him as a coward. I cannot explain my feelings. All I know is that I felt that I did not like him a bit, and all the time I was drawn towards him and was hurt when I spoke coldly to him, and more hurt when he gave me one of his half-sad, penetrating looks, and then spoke distantly.

“I think I could like him,” I said to myself, “if he had not proved such a coward.” And then I thought that under the circumstances I should have had no hesitation in going out and fighting Barton. As I arrived at this pitch, I felt uncomfortable, for something within me seemed to ask the question—

“Wouldn’t you?”

Just then an elephant again uttered his harsh grunting squeal known as “trumpeting,” and an electric thrill ran through me, for I had learned enough of tiger-shooting to know that the great animal had scented his enemy, and the strange cry was taken up by another of the elephants.

Orders were passed along to right and left for us to keep in a steady line, and the men between the elephants grew every moment more excited. For the action of the animals proved that it was no false alarm, and in the momentary glances I had from right to left, I saw that the rajah and Brace were waiting, with finger on trigger, for a shot at the striped monster creeping on up the valley.

“Keep cool,” said the doctor to me in a whisper; “and if you get a good chance at him, fire at the shoulder, but don’t throw away a shot. A slight wound may do more harm than good—make the brute break back through the line, perhaps, and we should lose him.”

“I’ll be careful,” I said huskily.

“That’s right. I want for us to get one tiger, and not the rajah. He has plenty of chances.”

“Keep a sharp look out, doctor,” came from Brace, in a loud voice, which told that he was evidently excited.

In a few minutes we were through the dense thicket of grass, and in a rocky bottom, dotted sparely with tufts of bush and loose stones; and, as I ran my eye over this, I turned to the doctor despairingly.

“There is nothing to hide him here,” I said. “We must have passed him in the thick grass.”

“Nothing to hide him!” cried the doctor; “why, the gorge is full of hiding-places. I call this good cover.”

“Is that something moving?” I said suddenly; and I pointed to some thin yellowish-brown grass, about fifty yards ahead.

“Eh, where? By George!”

His rifle was to his shoulder in a moment, there was a flash, a sharp echoing report, and the mahout shouted “Bagh! Bagh!” while, as the smoke rose, I had a faint glimpse of a great striped animal bounding out of sight, a hundred and fifty yards ahead.

“Clever miss,” said the doctor, reloading, as inquiries came from right and left. “No doubt about the tigers now, Vincent,” he added to me.

“I thought I saw something moving, but I could hardly tell it from the stems of the dry grass.”

“I suppose not Nature has been pretty kind to tigers that way. It is almost impossible to see them amongst grass or reeds, so long as they keep still. Bah! that was a wretched shot. But it’s easier to miss than hit, Vincent.”

“I wish I had seen him,” I said, in a disappointed tone.

“Why, you did see him, lad, and missed a good chance. Your rifle ought to have been up to your shoulder the moment he moved.”

“But I thought it was grass,” I said.

“Ah, you will not think it was grass again. Capital practice this in decision, my lad. You’ve had a splendid lesson.”

We pressed on as fast as the roughness of the ground would allow, for it was so open now that, in all probability, the tiger would have gone on some distance, and with the elephants plainly in view and the mounted and dismounted men between them, we made quite a goodly show. But the heat was terrific. It seemed as if the rocks were glowing and reflecting the sun’s rays, so that at any other time we should have declared it unbearable, but now excitement kept us going.

As we passed the spot where we had seen the tiger disappear, our ranks were closed up, and we went on watchfully. In my eagerness now, I was ready to turn tufts of grass and blocks of stone into tigers; and had taken aim at one with my ears singing with excitement, when the doctor laid his hand on mine.

“What are you doing?” he said.

I pointed, for I could not speak, and he laughed, and then raised his own piece to his shoulder, as a shot rang out from Brace’s howdah, followed by one from the rajah’s.

“A hit,” cried the doctor. “Did you see him?”

I shook my head.

“I got one glimpse of him.”

“That shot was home, doctor, I think,” said Brace.

“Not a doubt about it. Steady; keep on.”

The elephants advanced slowly, with their trunks thrown up in the air, and as, in the midst of intense excitement, we neared the spot where the tiger had been seen slinking from one stone to the other, one of the men uttered an exclamation and pointed down at a spot of blood upon the hot stone at our feet; and then at another and another at intervals, on dry grass and leaf.

“Take care,” said the rajah; “he will be very savage now.”

The warning was hardly needed, for every one was on the alert, expecting at any moment to find the tiger lying dead, or to see it bound out defiantly and ready to spring at the nearest elephant.

“Mind how you shoot, Vincent,” said the doctor, meaningly. “I came out for a day’s sport, and don’t want it spoiled by professional pursuits.”

“I don’t understand you,” I said.

“Well, if I must put it plainly, don’t shoot a beater instead of a tiger.”

“Bagh! bagh!” came from one of the men on foot; and this time the rajah led off with a shot, but it seemed that he had only obtained a glimpse of the great cat-like beast sneaking round a tuft of bushes, as it made its way onward.

The brute was evidently severely wounded, for blood-stains were found again and again, several together, showing where the tiger had halted to watch or listen for his enemies; but still we could not get close enough for a decisive shot, and over and over again the line of elephants was halted in the belief that we must have passed the beast crouching down among the grass.

At the last of these halts, when, in spite of careful search, no more traces of the fierce man-eater could be seen, a council of war was held, and the question was raised whether we should go back, when the distant sound of shouts and the beating of tom-toms came faintly toward us, and this decided the line of action, for the rajah at once proposed that we should go and meet the beaters, for there was another tiger in the valley, and then we could beat out the one wounded on our return.

This was decided on, and the word was given to advance again; but hardly had the elephants moved, when there was a terrific roar, and a monstrous tiger bounded out toward us, lashing his tail from side to side, baring his white teeth, and laying down his ears as his eyes literally blazed at us in the sun.

Brace’s rifle rang out on the instant, and, with a snarling roar, the beautifully striped beast swung his head round, made a snap at his shoulder, then turned and charged straight at the rajah’s elephant, which uttered a shriek of dread, spun round, and dashed back at a mad pace.

The tiger did not pursue, but, evidently untouched by a couple more shots fired at it, came bounding toward us.

The doctor fired, but it did not check the onslaught, and the brute bounded right on to the elephant’s shoulder and tried to claw its way into our howdah, as the mahout yelled with horror.

But the savage brute did not get quite up to us, for the doctor snatched my rifle from my hand, held it with the barrel resting on the edge of the howdah just as one would a pistol, fired, and the tiger dropped quite dead upon the scorched earth.

An eager shout arose, and there was a round of congratulations as a pad elephant was brought up from the rear, and the monster hauled across the creature’s back, and securely fastened with ropes.

But we did not stop to finish this, for the shouting and tomtoming was growing plainer, and already a deer had trotted out of the tender growth a hundred yards ahead, stood listening to the sounds behind, and then, catching sight of us, darted down the valley at a tremendous pace.

A minute or two later, as we advanced, another deer appeared, turned, and trotted back; while soon after, a huge boar dashed out, charged through us, and was followed by a mother pig and her progeny, all of which dashed downward for their liberty.

And as we pushed on, with the valley still narrowing, and the noise made by the beaters increasing, animal after animal dashed past us, or, seeing the line of elephants, crept back, but only to appear again, and find that it could escape unmolested.

“No sign of another tiger, rajah,” I heard Brace say.

“Yes, yes. There is another,” he cried. “My people have seen him twice.”

“Perhaps so,” said the doctor to me, in a low voice; “but he would have shown before now, with all that noise in front.”

He was wrong, though; for five minutes later, and when the beaters could not have been above a couple of hundred yards away, another magnificent beast dashed out of the cover with a roar, and charged down upon us, putting the line of elephants into such confusion that the aims of those who had a chance were disarranged. Then there came a wild scream from somewhere to our right, and we knew directly after that the tiger had broken through the line, striking down one of the rajah’s men as he passed, and the poor fellow had to be bandaged by the doctor before he was lifted on to one of the elephants, fainting from loss of blood.

“Will it kill him?” I said huskily, as we returned to our own howdah.

“Oh no,” replied the doctor. “A nasty clawing; but these men get over far worse wounds than that. There, keep your eyes open; we must try and take revenge. I never feel any compunction in shooting a tiger. There isn’t room for them in a civilised land.”

We were returning over the same ground now, with the beaters far behind, and every bush, and tuft, and patch of dry grass was carefully searched as hour after hour went by, and there was talk about a halt for lunch; but with such a monster known to be somewhere in the gorge no one felt disposed for anything but a refreshing cup of water, and downward we went again.

The feeling was fast growing upon us that the tiger had gone right on and out of the valley into the open country, when once more an elephant trumpeted, and told of our being near the object of our search.

Heat and fatigue were forgotten directly, the elephants were urged on by the mahouts, and cane-brake and reed-flat were searched, long grass was ridden through, and for a couple of hours more we were on the tiptoe of expectation, but found no tiger, till just as we were growing thoroughly dispirited, and felt that we must be driving it lower and lower, and helping it to escape, the monster bounded out from a cluster of loose rocks, faced us, and rolled over at a shot from the doctor’s rifle.

It sprang up again with a tremendous roar, and stood open-jawed, glaring at us as if considering which it should attack, when the rajah and Brace fired at the same time, and the monster rolled over again to struggle feebly, and then stretched itself out—dead.

“Never mind, Vincent,” said the doctor, clapping me on the shoulder; and then addressing the others with us: “Your turn next; and you have been in at the death.”

“Look! look!” I cried suddenly.

“What is it?”

“On that little elephant coming up the valley; isn’t it one of our men?”

Brace heard me, and took out the little glass slung from his shoulder.

“Yes,” he said. “It must be a message from the major. Good Heavens! I hope there is nothing wrong.”

A word or two in Hindustani from the doctor to the mahout, and our elephant began to shuffle toward the one coming, for Brace had gone on at once.

Our elephant made a good circuit to avoid the dead tiger, holding his trunk high, and evidently in doubt as to whether the beast was feigning death; and directly after we were close up to the messenger, whom I saw to be Denny, the man who had come over in theJumna, and whose sweetheart I had jumped overboard to save.

“What is it, Denny? Anything wrong?” cried Brace.

The man gave him a wild look, and nodded his head, as he held on by one hand to the rope which secured the elephant’s pad.

“Well, well!” cried Brace, excitedly; “what is it? Speak.”

The man’s lips parted, and one hand went up towards his head, while the mahout who had brought him looked back with his face full of horror. Then, as our elephant was urged up on the other side, the doctor reached over from the howdah, and by a quick movement caught the poor fellow’s arm just as his hold had given way, and he was about to pitch off the pad to the ground.

“I thought so,” cried the doctor, helping to lower him down. “He was fainting. The poor fellow has been wounded—badly, too!”

“What is this? How did he get hurt?” cried Brace to the mahout in Hindustani.

“My lord, I don’t know. He came on a poor horse, and ordered me to come to you. My lord, he is very bad.”

Just then the rajah came up, and I fancied there was a peculiar look in his face. He had changed colour, and seemed wild and strange, and when Brace fixed his eyes upon him he averted his gaze.

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