Chapter Thirty.

Chapter Thirty.A Jungle Night.It was just as the shades of night were coming on that the great elephant stepped out of the tunnel into comparative light. The wall of verdure opened out on either side, and a natural clearing lay before the travellers, while, still bearing what looked like the pale stain of sunshine, there flowing from right to left was the river.There was a regular track marked out by the various animals that frequented it; and the mud-holes formed by the elephants grew deeper and more given to spurt out water as the great animals passed on till the edge of the river was reached, when they plunged in on to what now seemed to be firm, gravelly soil, with the clear stream pressing against their sides, till the smaller elephant was pretty well breast-deep.Here Rajah stood, setting the example and drinking deeply, while those he bore began to suffer the pangs of Tantalus as they saw the clear stream gliding by.“I can’t stand this much longer, sir,” said Peter. “Think there’s any crocs up here?”“It is impossible to say, Pete.”“Yes, sir; but I am ready to risk it. But what I want to know first is: are we going back, or is this ’ere a sort of ford, and the path goes on the other side?”He had hardly spoken before Rajah uttered a snort and went splashing on towards the opposite shore, with the water growing shallower and shallower till the two beasts were walking on firm, gravelly ground, the water flying up at every step, and they soon stood out on dry ground, with the dimly seen track going on before them.Here, at a word from the mahout, both animals stopped short, and Rajah kneeled, when the mahout descended nimbly and began trotting back to the water’s edge.“Not going to cut and run, is he, sir?” began Pete. “No; it’s all right. I can’t quite see, but ain’t that a cocoa-nut he’s stooping to dip?—Yes; that’s right. Good old chap! He’s bringing us a drink.”This proved to be the case, and the little fellow brought the refilled half-cocoa-nut-shell he had taken from somewhere in his baju, and it was handed up to the two lads four times, before the little fellow went back to the river, filled it for himself, and finally returned to his place and climbed up once more.Directly after, the elephant rose and continued along the track to where, in the darkness, it was evident the marshy land began, and beyond it seemed the jungle once again.Peter was ready enough to begin his favourite advice soon after, and bid his companion chance it, as on this side of the river the open land grew more moist, and in the darkness the elephant’s huge feet sank in deeper and deeper, till at every step they plunged in quite four feet, and it needed a sturdy effort to withdraw them. Then all at once the Rajah uttered a grunt, half-turned as if to retrace his steps, and then stood fast, while his companion, making use of the prints he had left, half-turned likewise as if to meet him; and then both stood fast, pressing their heads together with a grunt.“What does this mean?” said Archie with a look of wonder.“I d’know, sir. Looks to me as if they are going to sleep.”It was soon proved that the lad was right, for the animals, after uttering a low sigh or two, remained perfectly still, with the mahout dimly seen in his place and his head lowered down upon his chest.“Well, sir,” said Pete, “this is all plain enough, and it looks as if we may as well go to sleep too.”“Sleep!” said Archie. “With the risk of falling off this pad?”“Oh, we sha’n’t do that, sir. We must take it in turns.”“Will they stand like this till morning?” said Archie.“Suppose so, sir. They can’t fall over sideways, because their legs are stuck fast in these holes. Here, you have first go, sir, and I’ll keep watch. Think this is a tigery sort of place?”“They are fond of the river-side, Pete,” said Archie sadly; “but I was thinking about crocodiles.”“Haven’t heard anything of them, sir; but, anyhow, we are safe up here, and we have got to chance it.”“Oh,” exclaimed Archie impatiently, “how sick I am of hearing you say that!”“Yes, sir; you’re a bit sleepy now. Just you slip one arm under this pad rope, and lie right over on your side, and you will go off. You may trust me, sir. I won’t go to sleep.”Utterly wearied out, the subaltern began to make some opposition, but he obeyed his companion’s order, and five minutes after Nature had asserted herself and he was fast asleep.How that night passed he could never afterwards recall, but he had some dreamy notion that he woke up and took Peter’s duties of watchman, telling him to slip his arm under the pad rope and lie over upon his side so as to get his turn of rest. But it all proved to be imaginary, for the poor fellow, weak and still suffering from the effects of his wound, did not start up until the great elephant had begun to drag his legs out of the deep holes, when he trudged on towards where the track ran once more between two walls of densely matted palm growth; and he stared in wonder at his companion, hardly able to collect his thoughts so as to put the question that was troubling him and say:“Have I been asleep all night, Pete?”“Yes, sir; like a top. Feel better now?”“No!” cried the lad passionately, for the confusion was passing off. “I trusted you.”“Yes, sir. All right. I have been listening to one of them great cats singing and purring right back on the other side of the river, and I never slept a wink.”“Oh!” ejaculated Archie; but Peter chose to misunderstand him.“Oh it is, sir,” he cried ecstatically. “Take another look before we are shut in amongst the trees. It’s lovely! It’s the beautifullest morning I ever did see.”

It was just as the shades of night were coming on that the great elephant stepped out of the tunnel into comparative light. The wall of verdure opened out on either side, and a natural clearing lay before the travellers, while, still bearing what looked like the pale stain of sunshine, there flowing from right to left was the river.

There was a regular track marked out by the various animals that frequented it; and the mud-holes formed by the elephants grew deeper and more given to spurt out water as the great animals passed on till the edge of the river was reached, when they plunged in on to what now seemed to be firm, gravelly soil, with the clear stream pressing against their sides, till the smaller elephant was pretty well breast-deep.

Here Rajah stood, setting the example and drinking deeply, while those he bore began to suffer the pangs of Tantalus as they saw the clear stream gliding by.

“I can’t stand this much longer, sir,” said Peter. “Think there’s any crocs up here?”

“It is impossible to say, Pete.”

“Yes, sir; but I am ready to risk it. But what I want to know first is: are we going back, or is this ’ere a sort of ford, and the path goes on the other side?”

He had hardly spoken before Rajah uttered a snort and went splashing on towards the opposite shore, with the water growing shallower and shallower till the two beasts were walking on firm, gravelly ground, the water flying up at every step, and they soon stood out on dry ground, with the dimly seen track going on before them.

Here, at a word from the mahout, both animals stopped short, and Rajah kneeled, when the mahout descended nimbly and began trotting back to the water’s edge.

“Not going to cut and run, is he, sir?” began Pete. “No; it’s all right. I can’t quite see, but ain’t that a cocoa-nut he’s stooping to dip?—Yes; that’s right. Good old chap! He’s bringing us a drink.”

This proved to be the case, and the little fellow brought the refilled half-cocoa-nut-shell he had taken from somewhere in his baju, and it was handed up to the two lads four times, before the little fellow went back to the river, filled it for himself, and finally returned to his place and climbed up once more.

Directly after, the elephant rose and continued along the track to where, in the darkness, it was evident the marshy land began, and beyond it seemed the jungle once again.

Peter was ready enough to begin his favourite advice soon after, and bid his companion chance it, as on this side of the river the open land grew more moist, and in the darkness the elephant’s huge feet sank in deeper and deeper, till at every step they plunged in quite four feet, and it needed a sturdy effort to withdraw them. Then all at once the Rajah uttered a grunt, half-turned as if to retrace his steps, and then stood fast, while his companion, making use of the prints he had left, half-turned likewise as if to meet him; and then both stood fast, pressing their heads together with a grunt.

“What does this mean?” said Archie with a look of wonder.

“I d’know, sir. Looks to me as if they are going to sleep.”

It was soon proved that the lad was right, for the animals, after uttering a low sigh or two, remained perfectly still, with the mahout dimly seen in his place and his head lowered down upon his chest.

“Well, sir,” said Pete, “this is all plain enough, and it looks as if we may as well go to sleep too.”

“Sleep!” said Archie. “With the risk of falling off this pad?”

“Oh, we sha’n’t do that, sir. We must take it in turns.”

“Will they stand like this till morning?” said Archie.

“Suppose so, sir. They can’t fall over sideways, because their legs are stuck fast in these holes. Here, you have first go, sir, and I’ll keep watch. Think this is a tigery sort of place?”

“They are fond of the river-side, Pete,” said Archie sadly; “but I was thinking about crocodiles.”

“Haven’t heard anything of them, sir; but, anyhow, we are safe up here, and we have got to chance it.”

“Oh,” exclaimed Archie impatiently, “how sick I am of hearing you say that!”

“Yes, sir; you’re a bit sleepy now. Just you slip one arm under this pad rope, and lie right over on your side, and you will go off. You may trust me, sir. I won’t go to sleep.”

Utterly wearied out, the subaltern began to make some opposition, but he obeyed his companion’s order, and five minutes after Nature had asserted herself and he was fast asleep.

How that night passed he could never afterwards recall, but he had some dreamy notion that he woke up and took Peter’s duties of watchman, telling him to slip his arm under the pad rope and lie over upon his side so as to get his turn of rest. But it all proved to be imaginary, for the poor fellow, weak and still suffering from the effects of his wound, did not start up until the great elephant had begun to drag his legs out of the deep holes, when he trudged on towards where the track ran once more between two walls of densely matted palm growth; and he stared in wonder at his companion, hardly able to collect his thoughts so as to put the question that was troubling him and say:

“Have I been asleep all night, Pete?”

“Yes, sir; like a top. Feel better now?”

“No!” cried the lad passionately, for the confusion was passing off. “I trusted you.”

“Yes, sir. All right. I have been listening to one of them great cats singing and purring right back on the other side of the river, and I never slept a wink.”

“Oh!” ejaculated Archie; but Peter chose to misunderstand him.

“Oh it is, sir,” he cried ecstatically. “Take another look before we are shut in amongst the trees. It’s lovely! It’s the beautifullest morning I ever did see.”

Chapter Thirty One.An Awakening.“You can’t be sure, Pete. These elephant-paths through the jungle are all alike. There’s the same half-dark, dense heat, the tangled walls on either side, the overhanging trees and loops of prickly rotan suspended overhead ready to catch you. How can you be sure that this is one that you have been along before?”“I d’know, sir. What you say is very right, but I seem to feel that I’ve been along here before, and old Rajah must have been, or he wouldn’t go swinging along as if he felt that he’d got nearly to the end of his journey. Shall I try and ask Mr Bantam there?”“Oh no,” said Archie wearily. “It’s so hard trying to make him understand, and I always feel in doubt when you have tried.”“Well, sir, we shall soon know whether it is, for I don’t believe we are more than two or three miles from headquarters.”“I’d give anything for you to be right, Pete, for I am nearly done up.”“I know you are, sir, and I might say, so am I; for long enough it has seemed as if the hinge of my back was giving way, and when the helephant gives one of his worst rolls it just seems as if he’d jerk my head off. But cheer up, sir! I think it’s all right, and we have done splendidly. We might have had to pull up and fight all the Malay chaps from up there by the Rajah’s hunting-box. Of course we should have made a good stand of it, but how are you going to dodge spears in a narrow place like this? There, cheer up, sir! When you look happy over it I feel as if I am ready for anything; but when you go down in the dumps I haven’t a bit of pluck left in me.”“It will be dark soon, Pete. If we have to spend another night out in the jungle I must lie down under some tree.”“Mustn’t sir. Cold, rheumatiz’, and fever. You will have to stick to your warm bed up here. But talk about a warm bed—you should have tried sitting like a mahout.”“It will be dark in an hour, Pete,” said Archie, who seemed to pay no heed to his companion’s brisk chatter.“Not it, sir. Two hours—full, though I ain’t got no watch. Not as that much matters. Old Tipsy has got a big, old silver one, but he says you never can depend upon it in this damp place. We have got plenty of time to get there yet, and see how old Rajah is swinging along! I am sure he knows his way.”“Don’t—don’t—pray don’t keep chattering so! It makes me feel worse than ever.”“You think so, sir,” said Peter stubbornly, “but it don’t; it rouses you up, sir, even if it only makes you turn waxy and pitch into me.”“Yes, yes, I know, Pete. It’s because I’m so ill. It’s like having a touch of fever again. Then you must think what a beast and a brute I am to you—a regular burden. I could feel it in my heart to slip down under the first big tree and go to sleep, even if I were not to wake again.”“Hah!” said Pete dryly. “That sounds bad, if it was real, sir; but it’s only what you fancy. How’s your head now?”“That old pain seems back again worse than ever.”“Wish we’d stopped an hour ago when we crossed back over the river again, and had ’nother good drink. That must have been about one o’clock, I should say. I don’t know, though—I’ve about lost count. Ain’t it rum, sir, how rivers wind about, and how the elephants’ paths go straight across them?”Archie looked at him piteously; his eyes seemed to say, “Pray, pray don’t keep talking!”The look silenced his companion, and for half-an-hour at least not a word was spoken.Plosh, plosh, suck, suckof the elephants’ feet went on in the same monotonous way. A gleam of sunshine now and then lightened the gloom of the tunnel-like path, but besides the dreary sound the silence was awful. By this time Archie seemed to be quite exhausted, and as Pete passed an arm round him and lowered him back on to the pad before slipping a hand into his waistband to ensure his not slipping off, the poor fellow’s eyes were half-closed, while those of his companion were fixed with the lids wide apart, and with a fierce, staring look gazed forward over the mahout’s head in the wild hope of seeing something that he could recognise, something that would prove that they really were on the path that led to headquarters.“I’m about beat out,” said poor Peter to himself. “A chap wants to be made of iron to keep this up much longer, and I ain’t iron, only flesh and blood and bones, and them not best quality—upper crust. Oh! if I could only—” He stopped short with his lips apart, face down, and one ear turned in the direction in which the mahout was staring.“Oh!” he panted once again, “is it, or am I getting delirious? Ah! there it goes again—or am I wrong? What’s a bugle going for at this time in the afternoon? I’m a-dreaming of it. No, I ain’t! Hooray!—Look up, Mister Archie, sir! It’s all right. Cheer up, sir!”“What! What! Who spoke?” said the exhausted lad, making an effort, catching at Peter, and dragging himself up and sitting clinging tightly to his companion’s arm.“Close in, sir. We shall be at the campong in five minutes, and in less than another on the parade-ground. Hooroar, sir! There’s no place like home, even if it’s out in a savage jungle.—Here, what are you panting at, sir, like that? Don’t do it! You ain’t been running.”“You’re saying this to keep me up, Peter.”“I ain’t, sir; I ain’t. Look! Look! You can see for yourself now. There, them’s the big trees where all the helephants sheltered at the review, and—brave old Rajah! He’s making for it straight. There’s a peep of the river too, and you can see the hut above the landing-place where I kept guard that night and listened to the crocs. Now then, what do you say to that? Am I right?”Archie made no reply that was audible, but his lips parted as he muttered two words in fervent thanks; and the next minute Rajah had increased the rate at which he made his strides upon hard ground, and the open space before them was becoming dotted with moving men in their familiar white jackets, in consequence of an order that had been passed after a glass had been directed at the advancing elephant; while, as the great beast, as if quite accustomed to the place, strode in beneath the sheltering trees and stopped short, to stand with slowly swinging head on the very spot where Peter had first made his acquaintance, a burst of cheers rang out from officers and comrades, who came up at the double to welcome back those who had been given up for lost.One of the first to reach the elephant’s side was the Doctor.“Archie, my lad!” he cried. “Minnie! My poor girl! Speak, lad—speak!”Archie’s lips parted, and his old look of despair deepened as he tried to answer; but no word passed his parched lips, cracking now with fever and exhaustion. He only looked wildly in the Doctor’s imploring eyes and shook his head.The Doctor uttered a groan, and then, as the elephant knelt in response to the mahout’s order, the Doctor’s despair died away to make room for duty.“Now, my lads,” he cried, “half-a-dozen of you help them down and carry them carefully into hospital.—Cheer up, boys! I’ll soon put you right.—Ah, Sir Charles! You here? I can’t go.—Hold up, man!—Go up to my place and speak to my wife. But after this—be a man, sir!—there’s hope for us still.”

“You can’t be sure, Pete. These elephant-paths through the jungle are all alike. There’s the same half-dark, dense heat, the tangled walls on either side, the overhanging trees and loops of prickly rotan suspended overhead ready to catch you. How can you be sure that this is one that you have been along before?”

“I d’know, sir. What you say is very right, but I seem to feel that I’ve been along here before, and old Rajah must have been, or he wouldn’t go swinging along as if he felt that he’d got nearly to the end of his journey. Shall I try and ask Mr Bantam there?”

“Oh no,” said Archie wearily. “It’s so hard trying to make him understand, and I always feel in doubt when you have tried.”

“Well, sir, we shall soon know whether it is, for I don’t believe we are more than two or three miles from headquarters.”

“I’d give anything for you to be right, Pete, for I am nearly done up.”

“I know you are, sir, and I might say, so am I; for long enough it has seemed as if the hinge of my back was giving way, and when the helephant gives one of his worst rolls it just seems as if he’d jerk my head off. But cheer up, sir! I think it’s all right, and we have done splendidly. We might have had to pull up and fight all the Malay chaps from up there by the Rajah’s hunting-box. Of course we should have made a good stand of it, but how are you going to dodge spears in a narrow place like this? There, cheer up, sir! When you look happy over it I feel as if I am ready for anything; but when you go down in the dumps I haven’t a bit of pluck left in me.”

“It will be dark soon, Pete. If we have to spend another night out in the jungle I must lie down under some tree.”

“Mustn’t sir. Cold, rheumatiz’, and fever. You will have to stick to your warm bed up here. But talk about a warm bed—you should have tried sitting like a mahout.”

“It will be dark in an hour, Pete,” said Archie, who seemed to pay no heed to his companion’s brisk chatter.

“Not it, sir. Two hours—full, though I ain’t got no watch. Not as that much matters. Old Tipsy has got a big, old silver one, but he says you never can depend upon it in this damp place. We have got plenty of time to get there yet, and see how old Rajah is swinging along! I am sure he knows his way.”

“Don’t—don’t—pray don’t keep chattering so! It makes me feel worse than ever.”

“You think so, sir,” said Peter stubbornly, “but it don’t; it rouses you up, sir, even if it only makes you turn waxy and pitch into me.”

“Yes, yes, I know, Pete. It’s because I’m so ill. It’s like having a touch of fever again. Then you must think what a beast and a brute I am to you—a regular burden. I could feel it in my heart to slip down under the first big tree and go to sleep, even if I were not to wake again.”

“Hah!” said Pete dryly. “That sounds bad, if it was real, sir; but it’s only what you fancy. How’s your head now?”

“That old pain seems back again worse than ever.”

“Wish we’d stopped an hour ago when we crossed back over the river again, and had ’nother good drink. That must have been about one o’clock, I should say. I don’t know, though—I’ve about lost count. Ain’t it rum, sir, how rivers wind about, and how the elephants’ paths go straight across them?”

Archie looked at him piteously; his eyes seemed to say, “Pray, pray don’t keep talking!”

The look silenced his companion, and for half-an-hour at least not a word was spoken.

Plosh, plosh, suck, suckof the elephants’ feet went on in the same monotonous way. A gleam of sunshine now and then lightened the gloom of the tunnel-like path, but besides the dreary sound the silence was awful. By this time Archie seemed to be quite exhausted, and as Pete passed an arm round him and lowered him back on to the pad before slipping a hand into his waistband to ensure his not slipping off, the poor fellow’s eyes were half-closed, while those of his companion were fixed with the lids wide apart, and with a fierce, staring look gazed forward over the mahout’s head in the wild hope of seeing something that he could recognise, something that would prove that they really were on the path that led to headquarters.

“I’m about beat out,” said poor Peter to himself. “A chap wants to be made of iron to keep this up much longer, and I ain’t iron, only flesh and blood and bones, and them not best quality—upper crust. Oh! if I could only—” He stopped short with his lips apart, face down, and one ear turned in the direction in which the mahout was staring.

“Oh!” he panted once again, “is it, or am I getting delirious? Ah! there it goes again—or am I wrong? What’s a bugle going for at this time in the afternoon? I’m a-dreaming of it. No, I ain’t! Hooray!—Look up, Mister Archie, sir! It’s all right. Cheer up, sir!”

“What! What! Who spoke?” said the exhausted lad, making an effort, catching at Peter, and dragging himself up and sitting clinging tightly to his companion’s arm.

“Close in, sir. We shall be at the campong in five minutes, and in less than another on the parade-ground. Hooroar, sir! There’s no place like home, even if it’s out in a savage jungle.—Here, what are you panting at, sir, like that? Don’t do it! You ain’t been running.”

“You’re saying this to keep me up, Peter.”

“I ain’t, sir; I ain’t. Look! Look! You can see for yourself now. There, them’s the big trees where all the helephants sheltered at the review, and—brave old Rajah! He’s making for it straight. There’s a peep of the river too, and you can see the hut above the landing-place where I kept guard that night and listened to the crocs. Now then, what do you say to that? Am I right?”

Archie made no reply that was audible, but his lips parted as he muttered two words in fervent thanks; and the next minute Rajah had increased the rate at which he made his strides upon hard ground, and the open space before them was becoming dotted with moving men in their familiar white jackets, in consequence of an order that had been passed after a glass had been directed at the advancing elephant; while, as the great beast, as if quite accustomed to the place, strode in beneath the sheltering trees and stopped short, to stand with slowly swinging head on the very spot where Peter had first made his acquaintance, a burst of cheers rang out from officers and comrades, who came up at the double to welcome back those who had been given up for lost.

One of the first to reach the elephant’s side was the Doctor.

“Archie, my lad!” he cried. “Minnie! My poor girl! Speak, lad—speak!”

Archie’s lips parted, and his old look of despair deepened as he tried to answer; but no word passed his parched lips, cracking now with fever and exhaustion. He only looked wildly in the Doctor’s imploring eyes and shook his head.

The Doctor uttered a groan, and then, as the elephant knelt in response to the mahout’s order, the Doctor’s despair died away to make room for duty.

“Now, my lads,” he cried, “half-a-dozen of you help them down and carry them carefully into hospital.—Cheer up, boys! I’ll soon put you right.—Ah, Sir Charles! You here? I can’t go.—Hold up, man!—Go up to my place and speak to my wife. But after this—be a man, sir!—there’s hope for us still.”

Chapter Thirty Two.In the Doctor’s Hands.“Lie still. What have you got to fidget about? I have done all I can, and made a decent job of your head. It looks quite respectable now, after what I have done with the scissors. That hair ought to have been cut close off first thing, so as to afford a place for decent bandages, and I feel quite astounded to see how kindly Nature has treated you. It must have been an awful blow, my boy, and if you hadn’t been of the stupid, thick-headed breed, you would have suffered from a comminuted fracture of the skull. Can’t you lie still?”“No, Doctor. I want to get up.”“And make yourself worse?”“No; but after what you have done, I feel so much better and more comfortable that I want to be up and doing.”“Nonsense! You have been doing ten times too much, and I tell you seriously, sir, that another day or two of what you have gone through in making your escape, and you must have been dangerously ill with fever.”“But I feel so much better, Doctor.”“Of course you do. I was just able to catch you in the nick of time, and now I have done my part, and you must leave the rest to Nature.”“But I want to go out with one of the detachments.”“What for? To break down directly, and interfere with the good four or half-a-dozen of the lads would be doing, from their time being taken up in carrying you on a bamboo litter?”“Oh Doctor, I shouldn’t break down.”“Oh, wouldn’t you? Nice piece of impudence! Here am I, who have devoted half my life to the tinkering up of damaged soldiers, and know to a tittle how much a man can bear, all wrong, of course! And you, a young jackanapes of a subaltern, a mere boy, tell me to my face that you know better than I do!”“No, no, Doctor; I beg your pardon!” said Archie. “I don’t mean that. It is only because I want to be out with the fellows, trying to run that brutal scoundrel down.”“Yes, yes, my boy, I know. But wait. Everything possible is being done, and any hour the news may come in that my poor child has been found and some one has been shot down. Archie, my boy, nothing would afford me greater delight than to see that lurid-looking heathen brought in half-dead, and handed over to my tender mercies.”Archie burst out into a mocking laugh.“What do you mean by that, sir?” said Dr Morley.“I was thinking, Doctor, you would set to at once attending to his wounds, and making him well as soon as you possibly could.”“What! A treacherous, cunning savage! I’d— Well, I suppose you are right, boy. Habit’s habit. But the British lawyers would tackle him afterwards, and he would get his deserts. They’d put a stop to him being Rajah of Dang any more. There, I’ve no time to stop gossiping with you.”“But when may I get up, Doctor? It seems so absurd for me to be lying here.”“That’s what you think. Well, there, I won’t be hard on you. If you keep quiet now, and are as much better to-morrow as I found you to-day, and you will promise to be very careful, I’ll let you get up. Now I must go and see to that other ruffian.”“Peter Pegg? But you are not keeping him in bed?”“Oh no. He didn’t get it so badly as you.”“I say, Doctor, he’s been hospital orderly before: send him to attend on me.”The Doctor frowned, and hesitated.“Oh, very well. He might do that. He was as mad as you are two days ago, and wanted to go off with his company.”“Send him in at once, Doctor.”“For you two to talk too much? There, I’ll see.”A couple of hours later Peter Pegg entered Archie’s quarters, looking very hollow-cheeked and sallow, and displaying a head that had been operated upon by the regimental barber till there was nothing more left to cut off, and stood holding the door a little way open, and showing his teeth in a happy grin.“Ah, Pete! I wanted you,” cried Archie.“Did you, sir? Here I am, then. Doctor says I am to do anything you want, only you are not to talk.”“All right, Pete. Then tell me, what’s being done?”“Three detachments is out, sir—one under Captain Down, one under Mr Durham, another under old Tipsy.”“Yes? Go on.”“They’re a-scouring the country, sir; and I hope they’ll make a clean job of it.”“Yes, yes; but tell me everything.”“Ain’t much to tell, sir; only one party’s gone up the river in Sir Charles’s boat, and he’s with them.”“Yes?”“And another party’s gone down the river to search Mr Rajah Hamet’s place.”“But I heard that he came up here and brought in my boat, and spread the news of our being killed.”“Yes, sir; and the Major, when we came back, said he’d been gammoning him, and that he must have been in the business.”“No, no,” said Archie thoughtfully; “I’m sure the Major’s wrong. Well, go on. Which way has Captain Down gone?”“He has gone along the road to the Rajah’s palace, to take him prisoner and make him give an account of himself.”“Right away in the jungle, along that elephant-track? They have taken tents, of course.”“I d’know, sir; but they’ve took possession of Mr Suleiman’s two helephants.”“Ah, capital!” said Archie. “This is fresh news.”“Yes, sir; and I suppose Mr Suleiman will never get them again. They ought to be prize money. We took them, sir. My word, I should just like to have the old Rajah!”“Of course,” said Archie contemptuously. “Nice thing for a private soldier! A white elephant, Pete.”“Why, he’s a blacky-grey ’un, sir. Wish I could be his mahout.”“Stuff! Where’s Mr Durham gone?”“Don’t know, sir. Private instructions. Through the jungle somewhere, I expect, so as to take Mr Suleiman in the rear. But I say, sir, you don’t mean to be kept in horspittle, do you?”“No, Pete; I’m to be up to-morrow.”“Hooray, sir! I’m all right too—ready for anything. Try and put in a word for me.”“Of course, Pete.”“Thank you, sir. You and me has had so much to do with this business that they ought to let us go on in front over everything.”“We can’t help it, Pete. Soldiers must obey orders. Still, there’s one thing: they can stick our bodies into hospital, but they can’t stick our hearts. They go where we like. Now, is there anything more you can tell me about what’s going on?”“Can’t recollect anything, sir. But I shall pick up everything I can; you may depend upon that. I suppose you know, sir, that the Major’s chucking out the orders right and left, and it’s all just as if we were surrounded by the enemy.”“No, chuckle-head! How could I know all that? You mean, I suppose, that the garrison is in a regular state of siege?”“Yes, sir, that’s it; only I couldn’t put it like that. Don’t be waxy with a poor private as old Tipsy says is the most wooden-headed chap in the company.”“Now go on telling me.”“Sentries are doubled, sir, and the chaps says it’s precious hard now we are so short of men.”“Then they should draw in the lines,” said Archie eagerly.“Yes, sir; that’s what they have done.”“Oh, of all the thick-headed— Here, I won’t get cross, Pete. But you do make me wild. Why didn’t you tell me all this?”“Too stupid, I suppose, sir. But don’t give me up. I will try better next time. Want to ask me anything now, sir?”“No. Be off.”“You don’t mean you are sacking me, do you, sir?” half-whimpered Peter.“No-o-o-o! Be off. Go amongst the men and pick up every bit of news you can, and don’t shrink—”“Not me, sir.”“And what you can’t get from the men, ask any officer you meet.”“I say, Mister Archie, sir!”“Say you are asking it for me.”“That’s better, sir. Then I’m off.”It was quite dark when Peter entered the room again, hurried to Archie’s bedside, and then stopped short.“Fast asleep,” he said to himself. “Ought I to wake him? Oughtn’t I to wake him? Chance it.—Mister Archie, sir! Asleep, sir?”“What? Yes—no! Oh, it’s you, Pete!”“Jump up, sir. You won’t hurt,” said the lad breathlessly. “It’s a beautiful, hot night. I’ve picked something up, and I’ve run up to tell you. Come to the window, sir, and look out.”Archie sprang out and followed Peter to the open window, from which they had a full view of the landing-place, where lights were moving and their bearers could be seen hurrying to and fro.“What boat’s that?”“Resident’s, sir. I have come up to tell you.”“Yes—be smart! Tell me what?”“Sir Charles and his party have come back, sir.”“From the up-river expedition?”“Yes, sir. I got hold of one of the chaps who went with him.”“Well, go on; I’m burning to hear. What have they found out?”“He says, sir, that the Major did not want Sir Charles to go, and they had words together. He heard Sir Charles say the attack was made on the boat up the river, as well you and me know, sir.”“Yes, Pete,” said Archie, who was listening and watching the movements of the boat at the same time.“And that he felt sure Miss Heath must have been carried right up-stream, and that they should find her in one of the campongs, or kept shut up in some place belonging to the Rajah.”“Well, go on.”“And then the Major said, sir, to Sir Charles that they weren’t quite sure that the Rajah had done this, and that he should be obliged if Sir Charles would stay, and let one of the officers go instead. Then Sir Charles says that he’s morally sure that it was the Rajah’s doing, and that he feels he must go. And then they went, and they’ve been right up the river as far as they could get the big boat; and they landed over and over again and searched the campongs and examined the people, who all said they did not know anything about it, and looked stupid, as these Malay chaps can look when they don’t want to tell tales; and at last Sir Charles had to give up, after he had been down with something like sunstroke.”“Yes—go on quickly,” said Archie.“And he went onsensible like, and there was nothing else they could do but bring him back.”“And they brought him back ill?”“Yes, sir; and those chaps you can see there with the lanterns are coming back from carrying him up to the Residency.”“Poor chap! Poor fellow!” said Archie. “Well, go on.”“That’s all, sir. Don’t you see they’re tying the boat up for the night? I thought you would be satisfied if I picked up something.”“Too much this time, Pete,” said Archie sadly.“Too much, sir?”“Yes. It’s all bad.”“But you said I was to bring everything, sir.”“Yes, yes; that’s quite right. But it is so disheartening. They must have taken her up somewhere; for aught we know, poor girl! she may be a prisoner somewhere in one of the places near that elephant-shed.”“Near what elephant-shed, sir?” said Peter rather vacantly.“Why, where we were prisoners.”“Oh no, sir. Didn’t I get out that night and go and look everywhere?”“No. There might have been scores of other buildings up there. You couldn’t have seen much.”“No, sir, I didn’t. It was so dark, and there was that tiger.”“Here, I’ve got leave to be up to-morrow, and I must see what I can do.”“Don’t think you could have done any more than I did, sir, that night.”“I know that, Pete; but I want to be trying now all the same. Here, I know; I’ll get the Major’s permission to go up and join Sergeant Ripsy and make a better search up there.”“Spite of the tigers, sir?”“In spite of ten tigers, Pete, for I shall have men with me, and rifles.”“Think old Tipsy will like it, sir?”“I think Sergeant Ripsy is a stern old British soldier who would do his duty, Pete.”“Well, yes, sir. He’s a hard nut, but he’s all that you say. I’d rather be under anybody else, but you talk about ten tigers: I’d go under ten Sergeant Tipsys if it was to bring Miss Minnie back.”“I know you would, Pete. And poor Sir Charles was knocked over by the fever?”“Sunstroke, sir.”“Well, sunstroke. He’shors de combat, and we want to take his place.”The next day Archie signalised his permission to be about by asking for an interview with his commanding officer, who congratulated him warmly, and then replied to his request with an imperative:“No! Quite out of the question, sir. I have weakened my force too much as it is, and I cannot spare another man.”“Horribly disappointing,” said Archie to himself as he came away—“but he did call meman!”

“Lie still. What have you got to fidget about? I have done all I can, and made a decent job of your head. It looks quite respectable now, after what I have done with the scissors. That hair ought to have been cut close off first thing, so as to afford a place for decent bandages, and I feel quite astounded to see how kindly Nature has treated you. It must have been an awful blow, my boy, and if you hadn’t been of the stupid, thick-headed breed, you would have suffered from a comminuted fracture of the skull. Can’t you lie still?”

“No, Doctor. I want to get up.”

“And make yourself worse?”

“No; but after what you have done, I feel so much better and more comfortable that I want to be up and doing.”

“Nonsense! You have been doing ten times too much, and I tell you seriously, sir, that another day or two of what you have gone through in making your escape, and you must have been dangerously ill with fever.”

“But I feel so much better, Doctor.”

“Of course you do. I was just able to catch you in the nick of time, and now I have done my part, and you must leave the rest to Nature.”

“But I want to go out with one of the detachments.”

“What for? To break down directly, and interfere with the good four or half-a-dozen of the lads would be doing, from their time being taken up in carrying you on a bamboo litter?”

“Oh Doctor, I shouldn’t break down.”

“Oh, wouldn’t you? Nice piece of impudence! Here am I, who have devoted half my life to the tinkering up of damaged soldiers, and know to a tittle how much a man can bear, all wrong, of course! And you, a young jackanapes of a subaltern, a mere boy, tell me to my face that you know better than I do!”

“No, no, Doctor; I beg your pardon!” said Archie. “I don’t mean that. It is only because I want to be out with the fellows, trying to run that brutal scoundrel down.”

“Yes, yes, my boy, I know. But wait. Everything possible is being done, and any hour the news may come in that my poor child has been found and some one has been shot down. Archie, my boy, nothing would afford me greater delight than to see that lurid-looking heathen brought in half-dead, and handed over to my tender mercies.”

Archie burst out into a mocking laugh.

“What do you mean by that, sir?” said Dr Morley.

“I was thinking, Doctor, you would set to at once attending to his wounds, and making him well as soon as you possibly could.”

“What! A treacherous, cunning savage! I’d— Well, I suppose you are right, boy. Habit’s habit. But the British lawyers would tackle him afterwards, and he would get his deserts. They’d put a stop to him being Rajah of Dang any more. There, I’ve no time to stop gossiping with you.”

“But when may I get up, Doctor? It seems so absurd for me to be lying here.”

“That’s what you think. Well, there, I won’t be hard on you. If you keep quiet now, and are as much better to-morrow as I found you to-day, and you will promise to be very careful, I’ll let you get up. Now I must go and see to that other ruffian.”

“Peter Pegg? But you are not keeping him in bed?”

“Oh no. He didn’t get it so badly as you.”

“I say, Doctor, he’s been hospital orderly before: send him to attend on me.”

The Doctor frowned, and hesitated.

“Oh, very well. He might do that. He was as mad as you are two days ago, and wanted to go off with his company.”

“Send him in at once, Doctor.”

“For you two to talk too much? There, I’ll see.”

A couple of hours later Peter Pegg entered Archie’s quarters, looking very hollow-cheeked and sallow, and displaying a head that had been operated upon by the regimental barber till there was nothing more left to cut off, and stood holding the door a little way open, and showing his teeth in a happy grin.

“Ah, Pete! I wanted you,” cried Archie.

“Did you, sir? Here I am, then. Doctor says I am to do anything you want, only you are not to talk.”

“All right, Pete. Then tell me, what’s being done?”

“Three detachments is out, sir—one under Captain Down, one under Mr Durham, another under old Tipsy.”

“Yes? Go on.”

“They’re a-scouring the country, sir; and I hope they’ll make a clean job of it.”

“Yes, yes; but tell me everything.”

“Ain’t much to tell, sir; only one party’s gone up the river in Sir Charles’s boat, and he’s with them.”

“Yes?”

“And another party’s gone down the river to search Mr Rajah Hamet’s place.”

“But I heard that he came up here and brought in my boat, and spread the news of our being killed.”

“Yes, sir; and the Major, when we came back, said he’d been gammoning him, and that he must have been in the business.”

“No, no,” said Archie thoughtfully; “I’m sure the Major’s wrong. Well, go on. Which way has Captain Down gone?”

“He has gone along the road to the Rajah’s palace, to take him prisoner and make him give an account of himself.”

“Right away in the jungle, along that elephant-track? They have taken tents, of course.”

“I d’know, sir; but they’ve took possession of Mr Suleiman’s two helephants.”

“Ah, capital!” said Archie. “This is fresh news.”

“Yes, sir; and I suppose Mr Suleiman will never get them again. They ought to be prize money. We took them, sir. My word, I should just like to have the old Rajah!”

“Of course,” said Archie contemptuously. “Nice thing for a private soldier! A white elephant, Pete.”

“Why, he’s a blacky-grey ’un, sir. Wish I could be his mahout.”

“Stuff! Where’s Mr Durham gone?”

“Don’t know, sir. Private instructions. Through the jungle somewhere, I expect, so as to take Mr Suleiman in the rear. But I say, sir, you don’t mean to be kept in horspittle, do you?”

“No, Pete; I’m to be up to-morrow.”

“Hooray, sir! I’m all right too—ready for anything. Try and put in a word for me.”

“Of course, Pete.”

“Thank you, sir. You and me has had so much to do with this business that they ought to let us go on in front over everything.”

“We can’t help it, Pete. Soldiers must obey orders. Still, there’s one thing: they can stick our bodies into hospital, but they can’t stick our hearts. They go where we like. Now, is there anything more you can tell me about what’s going on?”

“Can’t recollect anything, sir. But I shall pick up everything I can; you may depend upon that. I suppose you know, sir, that the Major’s chucking out the orders right and left, and it’s all just as if we were surrounded by the enemy.”

“No, chuckle-head! How could I know all that? You mean, I suppose, that the garrison is in a regular state of siege?”

“Yes, sir, that’s it; only I couldn’t put it like that. Don’t be waxy with a poor private as old Tipsy says is the most wooden-headed chap in the company.”

“Now go on telling me.”

“Sentries are doubled, sir, and the chaps says it’s precious hard now we are so short of men.”

“Then they should draw in the lines,” said Archie eagerly.

“Yes, sir; that’s what they have done.”

“Oh, of all the thick-headed— Here, I won’t get cross, Pete. But you do make me wild. Why didn’t you tell me all this?”

“Too stupid, I suppose, sir. But don’t give me up. I will try better next time. Want to ask me anything now, sir?”

“No. Be off.”

“You don’t mean you are sacking me, do you, sir?” half-whimpered Peter.

“No-o-o-o! Be off. Go amongst the men and pick up every bit of news you can, and don’t shrink—”

“Not me, sir.”

“And what you can’t get from the men, ask any officer you meet.”

“I say, Mister Archie, sir!”

“Say you are asking it for me.”

“That’s better, sir. Then I’m off.”

It was quite dark when Peter entered the room again, hurried to Archie’s bedside, and then stopped short.

“Fast asleep,” he said to himself. “Ought I to wake him? Oughtn’t I to wake him? Chance it.—Mister Archie, sir! Asleep, sir?”

“What? Yes—no! Oh, it’s you, Pete!”

“Jump up, sir. You won’t hurt,” said the lad breathlessly. “It’s a beautiful, hot night. I’ve picked something up, and I’ve run up to tell you. Come to the window, sir, and look out.”

Archie sprang out and followed Peter to the open window, from which they had a full view of the landing-place, where lights were moving and their bearers could be seen hurrying to and fro.

“What boat’s that?”

“Resident’s, sir. I have come up to tell you.”

“Yes—be smart! Tell me what?”

“Sir Charles and his party have come back, sir.”

“From the up-river expedition?”

“Yes, sir. I got hold of one of the chaps who went with him.”

“Well, go on; I’m burning to hear. What have they found out?”

“He says, sir, that the Major did not want Sir Charles to go, and they had words together. He heard Sir Charles say the attack was made on the boat up the river, as well you and me know, sir.”

“Yes, Pete,” said Archie, who was listening and watching the movements of the boat at the same time.

“And that he felt sure Miss Heath must have been carried right up-stream, and that they should find her in one of the campongs, or kept shut up in some place belonging to the Rajah.”

“Well, go on.”

“And then the Major said, sir, to Sir Charles that they weren’t quite sure that the Rajah had done this, and that he should be obliged if Sir Charles would stay, and let one of the officers go instead. Then Sir Charles says that he’s morally sure that it was the Rajah’s doing, and that he feels he must go. And then they went, and they’ve been right up the river as far as they could get the big boat; and they landed over and over again and searched the campongs and examined the people, who all said they did not know anything about it, and looked stupid, as these Malay chaps can look when they don’t want to tell tales; and at last Sir Charles had to give up, after he had been down with something like sunstroke.”

“Yes—go on quickly,” said Archie.

“And he went onsensible like, and there was nothing else they could do but bring him back.”

“And they brought him back ill?”

“Yes, sir; and those chaps you can see there with the lanterns are coming back from carrying him up to the Residency.”

“Poor chap! Poor fellow!” said Archie. “Well, go on.”

“That’s all, sir. Don’t you see they’re tying the boat up for the night? I thought you would be satisfied if I picked up something.”

“Too much this time, Pete,” said Archie sadly.

“Too much, sir?”

“Yes. It’s all bad.”

“But you said I was to bring everything, sir.”

“Yes, yes; that’s quite right. But it is so disheartening. They must have taken her up somewhere; for aught we know, poor girl! she may be a prisoner somewhere in one of the places near that elephant-shed.”

“Near what elephant-shed, sir?” said Peter rather vacantly.

“Why, where we were prisoners.”

“Oh no, sir. Didn’t I get out that night and go and look everywhere?”

“No. There might have been scores of other buildings up there. You couldn’t have seen much.”

“No, sir, I didn’t. It was so dark, and there was that tiger.”

“Here, I’ve got leave to be up to-morrow, and I must see what I can do.”

“Don’t think you could have done any more than I did, sir, that night.”

“I know that, Pete; but I want to be trying now all the same. Here, I know; I’ll get the Major’s permission to go up and join Sergeant Ripsy and make a better search up there.”

“Spite of the tigers, sir?”

“In spite of ten tigers, Pete, for I shall have men with me, and rifles.”

“Think old Tipsy will like it, sir?”

“I think Sergeant Ripsy is a stern old British soldier who would do his duty, Pete.”

“Well, yes, sir. He’s a hard nut, but he’s all that you say. I’d rather be under anybody else, but you talk about ten tigers: I’d go under ten Sergeant Tipsys if it was to bring Miss Minnie back.”

“I know you would, Pete. And poor Sir Charles was knocked over by the fever?”

“Sunstroke, sir.”

“Well, sunstroke. He’shors de combat, and we want to take his place.”

The next day Archie signalised his permission to be about by asking for an interview with his commanding officer, who congratulated him warmly, and then replied to his request with an imperative:

“No! Quite out of the question, sir. I have weakened my force too much as it is, and I cannot spare another man.”

“Horribly disappointing,” said Archie to himself as he came away—“but he did call meman!”

Chapter Thirty Three.A Despatch.Archie Maine had been round visiting posts in the faint hope of picking up some fresh news from the men, after the hurried mess dinner, glad to get out into the comparatively cool, soft night air; for the Major had sat in his place, hardly speaking a word to any one present, and for the most part with lowered brows, deep in thought.The night was as beautiful as ever; the brilliant stars that spangled the sky looked twice as large as those at home, and the reflections, blurred by the motion of the river, seemed larger still. The fire-flies sparkled in every bush, and the distant cries of the jungle floated softly on the night air. But everything seemed to bring up thoughts of trouble and misfortune. The native messengers sent in from the search-parties brought no good tidings, and to the lad, still suffering to some extent from his injury, everything seemed to suggest despair.“I can’t help it,” he said to himself. “I’m sure I’m strong enough. I’ll go round by the Doctor’s and beg and pray him to tell the Major that I might very well go to the front, if it’s only to join old Ripsy. I might be of some help to him. Yes, Pete ought to go with me. We know more about the part there by the elephant-stables, and with him and his men we could follow up some of the paths where poor Pete dared not go.”On the impulse of the moment he turned back and made for the mess-room, to try there first, though half in doubt as to whether he might find that his chief had gone back to his own quarters, where he was now prone to shut himself in.The lad had been sauntering very slowly and doubtfully before. Now he quickened his pace as he thought over his adventures when a prisoner in the elephant-stable; and as he recalled watching the going to and fro of the elephants, he felt more than ever that he ought to be there helping the surly old Sergeant.“Not gone,” he said, as he came into sight of the open window of the mess-room, where the shaded lamp was casting down its light upon the stern-looking, grey head of the old officer, who had a paper lying before him, which he was scanning, while just at the other side of the table the lad could see the swarthy countenance of a native, whom he recognised at once as one of the followers of the regiment.Archie’s heart began to beat fast, for he grasped the fact at once. This was evidently the bearer of a despatch from one of the detachments, for a private was standing in the shade resting his piece on the floor, after bringing in the man handed over to him by a sentry.As Archie passed into the veranda the Major heard his step and looked up.“Who’s that?” he said.“Maine, sir.”“Oh, just right. Come here. You may as well know. This is a rough scribble from Sergeant Ripsy.”“Good news, sir?” burst out Archie sharply.“Not likely, my lad—no. He writes of his safe arrival at what he calls the elephant-pens, and as a matter of course too late. The place is quite deserted—not a man there—and the elephants have all been driven off. But he adds that he is following up the trail as well as he can, and that it is very hard to trace, because the great animals always step into the old tracks, and you can’t tell which are the new; but that he means to follow them until he comes up to where they have been driven. There, I have no more to say.”Archie, seeing that his presence was not needed, stepped out into the darkness again, walking some minutes without any definite aim, till, finding himself near the Doctor’s bungalow, he thought he would call in there and give him the news, such as it was.But as he neared the gateway and saw through one of the open windows a bent figure just shown up by the lighted lamp, his heart failed him, for thoughts full of memories of the past came to him with a rush; and he stepped on, when, just as he was at the end of the creeper-burdened bamboo fence, a gruff voice exclaimed:“Who’s that? You, Maine?”“Yes, sir.”“What is it? Want me?”“No, sir. I was only just going by.”“Humph! That’s a sign you’re better. Why didn’t you call in?”“I hadn’t the heart, sir. I could see Mrs Morley sitting there with her head resting in her hand, and it set me thinking, sir.”“Good lad! Yes, of course. But she’d have taken it kindly, my lad, if you had dropped in to see her now that she is in such trouble.”“But I was afraid she would think I had brought some news, sir, and then she would have been disappointed.”“No, boy. She and I are both getting hardened to trouble now. We have pretty well given up hoping for anything good. There, come in, my lad.”He laid his hand on Archie’s shoulder, and they walked into the house together, Mrs Morley startling the visitor as he noted how thin and old-looking she had grown.“Ah, Archie,” she said, as he saw by the lamp that the tears had started into her eyes, “I am so glad to see you—so much better, too. But—”She turned quickly away, tearing her handkerchief from her pocket, and the next minute she would have thrown herself sobbing in a chair but for the entrance of one of the native maids, who in her broken English announced that there were two people wanting to see the Doctor.“Not the proper time for them to come,” said that gentleman. “Who are they? People who have been here before?”“Yes, sahib,” said the girl. “It is Dula, with her husband.”“Child bad again!” muttered the Doctor. “Where are they? In my room?”“Yes, sahib.”“Don’t go away, Archie. Stop and talk to the wife till I come back.”The Doctor passed out of the room, and Mrs Morley turned to Archie, to say imploringly:“Have you brought any news?”He shook his head.“Nothing—nothing?” she cried, in a tone of voice which made the lad feel almost ready to reproach himself for being alive and well when his companion whom he had taken light-hearted and merry from that very room, so short a time before, was—where?“Here, Maria—Archie!” came in a sharp tone of voice which made them both start. “Here—quick!”There was only a little lamp, which gave forth a faint light, upon the table of the Doctor’s surgery and consulting-room, but it threw up the figure of a slight, graceful-looking native woman and a tall, fierce Malay; and, jumping at conclusions, Archie judged by the man’s bandaged head that he had been wounded, and that his companion had brought him to the Doctor for help.The Doctor sprang from his seat as his wife entered, drew his chair on one side, and thrust her in.“Now, be calm, my dear. Be a woman! You know these people?”“Yes, yes!” exclaimed Mrs Morley in agitated tones, as the woman stepped forward, to go down on one knee and kiss her hand, while the man muttered something and then drew himself up rigidly.“And you think we can trust—depend upon what they say?” continued the Doctor, with his voice quivering.“Yes. Speak! Tell me, what is it?” cried Mrs Morley excitedly.“Well, be calm, then. Be quite calm and firm, as I am. Minnie is alive and safe.”“Ah!” ejaculated Mrs Morley, as she sank back and buried her face in her hands; while the woman now fell upon her knees, catching up Mrs Morley’s dress and holding it to her lips as if to choke back her sobs.“And I told you to be firm,” said the Doctor pettishly. “This man has escaped from up-country somewhere—I don’t know the confounded place’s name. He was overtaken and wounded by some of Rajah Suleiman’s people, so that he shouldn’t tell tales, I suppose. But he says he can show us where the young English lady has been kept a prisoner, and that she is quite safe.—Isn’t that so?” he added, turning to the man.The Malay stared, muttered something, and then turned to look appealingly at his wife.“Oh, of course! You didn’t tell me; it was she. Let’s see. You are the man that came to me months ago for—” The Doctor finished in pantomime by making believe to take hold of his own jaw, apply a key, and wrench out a tooth.The man smiled and nodded, and the Doctor added a few words in the Malay tongue; while the woman now sprang up and began to talk volubly in her own language, uttering short, sharp sentences, which the Doctor punctuated with nods and:“Yes—yes—I see—I see—exactly. But, hang it all, my good woman!” he exclaimed in English, “don’t talk so fast. I only know a smattering of your tongue.—She puzzles me, my dear. It’s all tongue.—Who the British Dickens wants to know that your little one is quite well again and strong, at a time like this?”He spoke again in Malay, and the woman nodded and began to gesticulate again, in company with a fresh flow of words.“Yes, yes, yes,” said the Doctor; “I am very glad, of course.—Now, my dear, this is not like you,” he continued. “Remember you are a doctor’s wife.—Did you ever see such a woman, Archie?”“Never, Doctor,” replied the lad, coming forward out of the darkness to take Mrs Morley’s hand and kiss it.“There, I am quite firm now, Henry,” said Mrs Morley; and drawing the native woman towards her, she kissed Dula on both cheeks.“Now let’s have a few quiet words together,” said the Doctor.—“No, no, Archie; what are you going to do?”“I thought I ought to go and tell the Major, sir, at once.”“Not yet. Wait a bit, my lad. We must have a consultation here. I feel as you do, my dear boy; I want to rush back with these people at once. But this is a ticklish affair, and we must do nothing rashly. You see, we have learned this. It’s been a bad case, and we must run no risks. We have learned this—for certain now. It was Suleiman’s men who carried Minnie off and nearly killed you, and, with all the native cunning, he sent his people here to fetch me to doctor him for his so-called tiger scratch. By Abernethy! if I’d known, I’d have poisoned it so that it wouldn’t have got well for a year.—No, I wouldn’t,” he grunted. “I am getting a tongue as bad as that woman’s. But steady, steady! We know for certain that he carried her off; and this man, being a fisherman, has been living at a spot up the river where our poor darling has been taken and kept hidden. And just think of it, Archie: how clever a blackguard needs to be when he’s going to do anything wrong! Talk about Fate! See how busy the old girl has been here! The blackguard, with all his crafty cunning, hides her somewhere close to the place where two of my best patients live, and they have had an eye upon her ever since, and just when we were in our most despairing time come and tell us of her fate.”“Yes, sir; and now—”“Stop a minute, my boy. I just wanted to say to you, I am ready to draw the teeth of all the Malays in the district without fee, and I am prepared to say that some of them are as grateful as we can be ourselves.”“Yes,” cried Archie; “but business is business.”“Thank you, boy; thank you for pulling me up. I can’t help it just now. Poor Minnie is to me just as dear as if she were my own child, and I am quite overturned—hysterical as a woman, more shame for me! Here, it was only the other day you came whining to me about being all wrong because you are such a boy. You said you thought you were not as you should be—that you wanted to be a man. Didn’t I tell you, sir, to wait—that all you wanted was a little real trouble, and that it would come fast enough and make a man of you? Well, do you feel like a man now?”“No, sir, not quite; but I feel man enough to start to-night as one of a strong party to go and rescue Minnie Heath, even if we die in doing the good work.”“Well said, my lad; and I’ll go with you, and you sha’n’t die, any of you, if I know anything of wounds. There, I’m pulled up now, and ready for anything.—Maria, my dear, see to these people—rest and refreshment, anything they want—while I’m gone; and you can set the girl to work talking to this Dula here. Make her your interpreter.—As for you—here, I know what you’ll like.”The Doctor took a cigar-box from the shelf, snatched out three or four, pressed them into the fisherman’s hand, and then almost dragged him out into the veranda, where he thrust him into a cane chair and gave him a light. “One moment, Archie;” and he spoke to the man, who was smiling up at him. “That’s right, Archie; they came in a boat. Come along up to the Residency.—No; I’ll go there. You run on to the Major and ask for orders. He’ll find us a little detachment to take with us in the Resident’s boat. This means good business, my lad, for we have found out the real seat of the disease.”

Archie Maine had been round visiting posts in the faint hope of picking up some fresh news from the men, after the hurried mess dinner, glad to get out into the comparatively cool, soft night air; for the Major had sat in his place, hardly speaking a word to any one present, and for the most part with lowered brows, deep in thought.

The night was as beautiful as ever; the brilliant stars that spangled the sky looked twice as large as those at home, and the reflections, blurred by the motion of the river, seemed larger still. The fire-flies sparkled in every bush, and the distant cries of the jungle floated softly on the night air. But everything seemed to bring up thoughts of trouble and misfortune. The native messengers sent in from the search-parties brought no good tidings, and to the lad, still suffering to some extent from his injury, everything seemed to suggest despair.

“I can’t help it,” he said to himself. “I’m sure I’m strong enough. I’ll go round by the Doctor’s and beg and pray him to tell the Major that I might very well go to the front, if it’s only to join old Ripsy. I might be of some help to him. Yes, Pete ought to go with me. We know more about the part there by the elephant-stables, and with him and his men we could follow up some of the paths where poor Pete dared not go.”

On the impulse of the moment he turned back and made for the mess-room, to try there first, though half in doubt as to whether he might find that his chief had gone back to his own quarters, where he was now prone to shut himself in.

The lad had been sauntering very slowly and doubtfully before. Now he quickened his pace as he thought over his adventures when a prisoner in the elephant-stable; and as he recalled watching the going to and fro of the elephants, he felt more than ever that he ought to be there helping the surly old Sergeant.

“Not gone,” he said, as he came into sight of the open window of the mess-room, where the shaded lamp was casting down its light upon the stern-looking, grey head of the old officer, who had a paper lying before him, which he was scanning, while just at the other side of the table the lad could see the swarthy countenance of a native, whom he recognised at once as one of the followers of the regiment.

Archie’s heart began to beat fast, for he grasped the fact at once. This was evidently the bearer of a despatch from one of the detachments, for a private was standing in the shade resting his piece on the floor, after bringing in the man handed over to him by a sentry.

As Archie passed into the veranda the Major heard his step and looked up.

“Who’s that?” he said.

“Maine, sir.”

“Oh, just right. Come here. You may as well know. This is a rough scribble from Sergeant Ripsy.”

“Good news, sir?” burst out Archie sharply.

“Not likely, my lad—no. He writes of his safe arrival at what he calls the elephant-pens, and as a matter of course too late. The place is quite deserted—not a man there—and the elephants have all been driven off. But he adds that he is following up the trail as well as he can, and that it is very hard to trace, because the great animals always step into the old tracks, and you can’t tell which are the new; but that he means to follow them until he comes up to where they have been driven. There, I have no more to say.”

Archie, seeing that his presence was not needed, stepped out into the darkness again, walking some minutes without any definite aim, till, finding himself near the Doctor’s bungalow, he thought he would call in there and give him the news, such as it was.

But as he neared the gateway and saw through one of the open windows a bent figure just shown up by the lighted lamp, his heart failed him, for thoughts full of memories of the past came to him with a rush; and he stepped on, when, just as he was at the end of the creeper-burdened bamboo fence, a gruff voice exclaimed:

“Who’s that? You, Maine?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What is it? Want me?”

“No, sir. I was only just going by.”

“Humph! That’s a sign you’re better. Why didn’t you call in?”

“I hadn’t the heart, sir. I could see Mrs Morley sitting there with her head resting in her hand, and it set me thinking, sir.”

“Good lad! Yes, of course. But she’d have taken it kindly, my lad, if you had dropped in to see her now that she is in such trouble.”

“But I was afraid she would think I had brought some news, sir, and then she would have been disappointed.”

“No, boy. She and I are both getting hardened to trouble now. We have pretty well given up hoping for anything good. There, come in, my lad.”

He laid his hand on Archie’s shoulder, and they walked into the house together, Mrs Morley startling the visitor as he noted how thin and old-looking she had grown.

“Ah, Archie,” she said, as he saw by the lamp that the tears had started into her eyes, “I am so glad to see you—so much better, too. But—”

She turned quickly away, tearing her handkerchief from her pocket, and the next minute she would have thrown herself sobbing in a chair but for the entrance of one of the native maids, who in her broken English announced that there were two people wanting to see the Doctor.

“Not the proper time for them to come,” said that gentleman. “Who are they? People who have been here before?”

“Yes, sahib,” said the girl. “It is Dula, with her husband.”

“Child bad again!” muttered the Doctor. “Where are they? In my room?”

“Yes, sahib.”

“Don’t go away, Archie. Stop and talk to the wife till I come back.”

The Doctor passed out of the room, and Mrs Morley turned to Archie, to say imploringly:

“Have you brought any news?”

He shook his head.

“Nothing—nothing?” she cried, in a tone of voice which made the lad feel almost ready to reproach himself for being alive and well when his companion whom he had taken light-hearted and merry from that very room, so short a time before, was—where?

“Here, Maria—Archie!” came in a sharp tone of voice which made them both start. “Here—quick!”

There was only a little lamp, which gave forth a faint light, upon the table of the Doctor’s surgery and consulting-room, but it threw up the figure of a slight, graceful-looking native woman and a tall, fierce Malay; and, jumping at conclusions, Archie judged by the man’s bandaged head that he had been wounded, and that his companion had brought him to the Doctor for help.

The Doctor sprang from his seat as his wife entered, drew his chair on one side, and thrust her in.

“Now, be calm, my dear. Be a woman! You know these people?”

“Yes, yes!” exclaimed Mrs Morley in agitated tones, as the woman stepped forward, to go down on one knee and kiss her hand, while the man muttered something and then drew himself up rigidly.

“And you think we can trust—depend upon what they say?” continued the Doctor, with his voice quivering.

“Yes. Speak! Tell me, what is it?” cried Mrs Morley excitedly.

“Well, be calm, then. Be quite calm and firm, as I am. Minnie is alive and safe.”

“Ah!” ejaculated Mrs Morley, as she sank back and buried her face in her hands; while the woman now fell upon her knees, catching up Mrs Morley’s dress and holding it to her lips as if to choke back her sobs.

“And I told you to be firm,” said the Doctor pettishly. “This man has escaped from up-country somewhere—I don’t know the confounded place’s name. He was overtaken and wounded by some of Rajah Suleiman’s people, so that he shouldn’t tell tales, I suppose. But he says he can show us where the young English lady has been kept a prisoner, and that she is quite safe.—Isn’t that so?” he added, turning to the man.

The Malay stared, muttered something, and then turned to look appealingly at his wife.

“Oh, of course! You didn’t tell me; it was she. Let’s see. You are the man that came to me months ago for—” The Doctor finished in pantomime by making believe to take hold of his own jaw, apply a key, and wrench out a tooth.

The man smiled and nodded, and the Doctor added a few words in the Malay tongue; while the woman now sprang up and began to talk volubly in her own language, uttering short, sharp sentences, which the Doctor punctuated with nods and:

“Yes—yes—I see—I see—exactly. But, hang it all, my good woman!” he exclaimed in English, “don’t talk so fast. I only know a smattering of your tongue.—She puzzles me, my dear. It’s all tongue.—Who the British Dickens wants to know that your little one is quite well again and strong, at a time like this?”

He spoke again in Malay, and the woman nodded and began to gesticulate again, in company with a fresh flow of words.

“Yes, yes, yes,” said the Doctor; “I am very glad, of course.—Now, my dear, this is not like you,” he continued. “Remember you are a doctor’s wife.—Did you ever see such a woman, Archie?”

“Never, Doctor,” replied the lad, coming forward out of the darkness to take Mrs Morley’s hand and kiss it.

“There, I am quite firm now, Henry,” said Mrs Morley; and drawing the native woman towards her, she kissed Dula on both cheeks.

“Now let’s have a few quiet words together,” said the Doctor.—“No, no, Archie; what are you going to do?”

“I thought I ought to go and tell the Major, sir, at once.”

“Not yet. Wait a bit, my lad. We must have a consultation here. I feel as you do, my dear boy; I want to rush back with these people at once. But this is a ticklish affair, and we must do nothing rashly. You see, we have learned this. It’s been a bad case, and we must run no risks. We have learned this—for certain now. It was Suleiman’s men who carried Minnie off and nearly killed you, and, with all the native cunning, he sent his people here to fetch me to doctor him for his so-called tiger scratch. By Abernethy! if I’d known, I’d have poisoned it so that it wouldn’t have got well for a year.—No, I wouldn’t,” he grunted. “I am getting a tongue as bad as that woman’s. But steady, steady! We know for certain that he carried her off; and this man, being a fisherman, has been living at a spot up the river where our poor darling has been taken and kept hidden. And just think of it, Archie: how clever a blackguard needs to be when he’s going to do anything wrong! Talk about Fate! See how busy the old girl has been here! The blackguard, with all his crafty cunning, hides her somewhere close to the place where two of my best patients live, and they have had an eye upon her ever since, and just when we were in our most despairing time come and tell us of her fate.”

“Yes, sir; and now—”

“Stop a minute, my boy. I just wanted to say to you, I am ready to draw the teeth of all the Malays in the district without fee, and I am prepared to say that some of them are as grateful as we can be ourselves.”

“Yes,” cried Archie; “but business is business.”

“Thank you, boy; thank you for pulling me up. I can’t help it just now. Poor Minnie is to me just as dear as if she were my own child, and I am quite overturned—hysterical as a woman, more shame for me! Here, it was only the other day you came whining to me about being all wrong because you are such a boy. You said you thought you were not as you should be—that you wanted to be a man. Didn’t I tell you, sir, to wait—that all you wanted was a little real trouble, and that it would come fast enough and make a man of you? Well, do you feel like a man now?”

“No, sir, not quite; but I feel man enough to start to-night as one of a strong party to go and rescue Minnie Heath, even if we die in doing the good work.”

“Well said, my lad; and I’ll go with you, and you sha’n’t die, any of you, if I know anything of wounds. There, I’m pulled up now, and ready for anything.—Maria, my dear, see to these people—rest and refreshment, anything they want—while I’m gone; and you can set the girl to work talking to this Dula here. Make her your interpreter.—As for you—here, I know what you’ll like.”

The Doctor took a cigar-box from the shelf, snatched out three or four, pressed them into the fisherman’s hand, and then almost dragged him out into the veranda, where he thrust him into a cane chair and gave him a light. “One moment, Archie;” and he spoke to the man, who was smiling up at him. “That’s right, Archie; they came in a boat. Come along up to the Residency.—No; I’ll go there. You run on to the Major and ask for orders. He’ll find us a little detachment to take with us in the Resident’s boat. This means good business, my lad, for we have found out the real seat of the disease.”

Chapter Thirty Four.The Magazine.“You don’t say so, my lad! A Malay and his wife who have been patients of the Doctor bringing in such news as that! Why, it’s grand! Poor, dear girl! Tut, tut, tut, tut, tut, tut, what she must have suffered! Well, Mr Rajah Suleiman will have to pay for it. Morley says he believes in these people. Not some trap, is it?”“He feels sure not, sir. The people are grateful to him for all he has done for them. Oh, I am certain it is genuine, sir.”“Don’t be too sure, my lad. These people can’t help looking upon us as their enemies, and they are as treacherous as they are high. Look at this Suleiman. I have been trusting him. I looked upon him as a sensual brute, but it was so much to his advantage to be friendly. The fool! He’s given his country away. He will be either shot or made prisoner, and then another Rajah who is friendly to us will reign in his stead.”“Rajah Hamet, sir?”“No,” said the Major shortly. “And look here, young fellow, don’t you mention him to me again. He’s your friend, and you have a strong bias towards him.”“I can’t help believing in him, sir.”“Then you must, sir, as a British officer, working for your country’s good. I presume you don’t know that I have it on trustworthy authority that Rajah Hamet has been for some little time past strengthening his position and gathering his men, like the savage he is, to go out on the war-path? And all the time he has been educated in England! A young fool! Well, this news is splendid, but it comes at a horrible time. Here is Suleiman hanging about, dodging our men; Hamet in all probability waiting for us to be in a dilemma, and then he will come down; and my little force here depleted till we are as weak as weak. I ought to say I can’t spare a man. I feel it’s my duty to refuse to send an expedition to save that poor girl. It means sending up a couple of boats with not less than twenty men, for Suleiman is sure to have a certain number of the brutes in charge of the place. But of course it must be done, and they must start at once. Where’s the Doctor?”“Gone on to the Residency, sir.”“Yes. And I want Sir Charles. Send a man to ask him to step here.—No; go yourself—save time.”Archie was making for the door, when steps and voices were heard, and the Resident hurried in, closely followed by Dr Morley.“You have heard this news, Knowle?”“Yes; everything.”“And you will send a party of men at once?” said the Resident in a half-suffocated voice.“Directly we can man the boats.”“Ah!” exclaimed the Resident, sinking into a chair, with his hand to his breast.“But you are not fit to go with them.”The Resident smiled faintly and made a gesticulation.“It’s no use to waste words, Knowle,” said the Doctor. “I know better than you what he can stand, and I have told him it is madness to think of it.”“Yes; and I am going to be mad,” said the Resident bitterly. “If you have not given your instructions already, sir, pray do so at once. At all costs I must go.”The Major shrugged his shoulders.“I want two boats,” he said. “I am going to take yours, of course. But one of my difficulties is, who is to take charge of the expedition?”Archie started, and his lips parted to speak.“I shall take charge of it,” said the Resident.“Very well.—You are not fit to go, Maine?” said the Major.“Oh yes, sir,” cried Archie eagerly.“No, sir,” cried the Major; and the subaltern’s brow puckered up in his disappointment. “And I can’t spare you,” continued the Major. “But under the circumstances I must, for I can spare no one else. Of course there will be a sergeant and a corporal—and a nice state we shall be left in here!—You, Dallas, take my advice. If you really mean to go, leave all the preparations to the Doctor. But really I think you had better let him go in your place.”“Yes,” said the Doctor; “and it is my duty to my child.”Sir Charles made an angry movement, and the Major was about to issue his orders, when he sprang from his seat, for a rifle-shot rang out on the still night.“What does that mean?” exclaimed Sir Charles.There was another shot, followed by another and another.“Attack, and in force;” cried the Major, crossing to the side of the room, to catch up hurriedly his sword and belt; and he was busy buckling the latter as the bugle rang out the assembly.By the time he was out in the front the sentries were being driven in, and announced that the Malays were advancing in force; and almost immediately two of the men hurried out of the darkness supporting one of their comrades, who was bleeding profusely from a spear-wound, the weapon thrown by one of the attacking Malays being carried by a fellow-soldier.The men turned out without the slightest confusion, and fell into their places under the direction of the officers remaining for the defence of the cantonments, and so well had the arrangements been previously planned out that the rush of the advancing enemy from three sides of the cantonments was temporarily checked by the steady fire of the defenders; but not before two more of the sentries had been carried into the mess-room, where the Major, hurrying in to see what was being done, found the Doctor in his shirt-sleeves busily attending to the men’s wounds.“Oh, there you are, Major!” he said, speaking with a strip of bandage in his mouth. “This looks like my taking command of the expedition, doesn’t it?”“Yes. Impossible,” said the Major. “The brutes are coming on in numbers, and much as I regret what you must feel, I am only too thankful that your party has not started. But there, you see I can do nothing until we have driven these scoundrels back, and then—we shall see.”“Yes, I know,” grumbled the Doctor.—“You can take hold of one end of that bandage yourself, my lad. That’s right. Nasty cut; but you are not going to lose the number of your mess this time.”“Oh no, sir!” said the wounded man excitedly. “Tight as you can, please, sir. I think I can go back to the firing-line, and—ah!”“I don’t,” said the Doctor grimly. “Poor lad—talk about British pluck!”“Not a bad wound, is it?”“Quite bad enough,” said the Doctor. “An inch lower, sir—”“Yes, I know,” said the Major, as the firing increased. “Why, they’ve got muskets! There, Doctor, I felt that I must speak to you, and I am afraid you are going to have your hands pretty full.”“But you should keep your men more under cover, sir,” said the Doctor pettishly. “Look! They are bringing in two more.”“Under cover!” said the Major angrily. “Every fence, wall, and breast-work is occupied, and the men are holding the Residency according to orders. These poor fellows were speared at their posts.”The Major hurried out, to busy himself with seeing that the various occupants of the place were provided with shelter in the officers’ quarters and the other buildings of the cantonments, the upper windows of which were occupied by the little force, with instructions to retire to the Residency, which was so situated that it would lend itself well to being treated as a sort of citadel in case they should prove to be hard pressed.Fortunately for the defenders, as the night advanced the smoke from the firing hung low, prevented as it was from rising by a gathering river mist; and as not a light was shown in either of the buildings, the firing of the Malays from the sheltering trees and cultivated gardens of the station had little effect, while of the many spears that were thrown after the first attack was made, hardly one found a victim.The men, in obedience to orders, were now firing only from time to time at the sheltering Malays, who kept on creeping up to hurl a spear in at a dimly seen open window, more than one not being sharp enough in jumping back, for his activity was checked by a bullet which sent him tottering for a few yards before falling heavily with a groan.This had the effect of bringing the flash and heavy, dull report of the old, cast-off military muskets which the Malays were using; and as these weapons flashed, the defenders of the various buildings seized the opportunity to return the fire, guessing at the enemy’s position by the light.Just about this time, when a loud yelling from the direction of the river suggested that a fresh party of the enemy were landing from boats, a dimly seen officer hurried through the darkness to one of the upper rooms.“Who’s in here?” he cried angrily.“Me, sir—Smithers, sir.”“You are wasting your cartridges.”“Am I, sir?”“Yes. Wait till we get some daylight, unless you can make sure of your man.”“All right, Mr Maine, sir. It is you, isn’t it? I was getting a bit excited-like. One moment, sir: have you seen my missus?”“Your wife? No. Why?”“She telled me she was coming up to help the Doctor.”“Oh, nonsense! She ought to be with the women. I will tell her if I see her.—There, look,” whispered Archie—“to your left! There are half-a-dozen fellows at least creeping through that patch of fog.”“They look big ’uns, too, sir,” whispered the man excitedly, as the indistinct figures were magnified by the mist. “Would it be waste of cartridges, sir, to get two in a line and let go?”“No. Fire!”Crockwent the rifle, and the figures that had loomed up seemed to melt away. But as soon as the rifle had flashed there was thefad, fad, fadof hurried steps, something whizzed in at the window, and with a dull thud a spear stuck in the floor of the room.Crack, crackcame from Archie’s revolver as he fired it twice in the direction of the spear-thrower, an answering yell suggesting that one of the shots had had effect.“There, keep a sharp lookout, and only fire when you are sure,” said Archie as he made for the door, striking against the bamboo shaft of the spear. “This didn’t graze you, did it, Smithers?”“No, sir. I was afraid you had got a touch by your whipping out your pistol so quickly. But please, sir, don’t tell my missus to go into shelter. She likes a job like this, and she’s very useful with a basin and sponge.”“All right; all right,” replied Archie; and hurrying away, he took the mess-room on his way to the post he was about to visit, and stepped to where a faint light rose from behind a Japanese screen which shut off one corner of the big room.There he came upon the Doctor busy over one poor wounded fellow whose head was resting upon the arm of a kneeling woman, who held a sponge in the hand at liberty, while a great brass lotah of water was at her side.“Very useful with basin and sponge,” said Archie to himself, as he smiled grimly.—“Can I do anything for you, Doctor?” he said.“Not unless you have come to help, my lad.”“No, sir; I can’t do that.”“Well, you can stop some of these scoundrels throwing these abominable spears.”“Not till daylight, I’m afraid, sir; and I fear that this light will be seen outside.”“Can’t help it,” said the Doctor. “I can’t play Blind-Man’s Buff and stitch up wounds without a lamp. I want more help.”“Shall I ask Mrs Morley to come, sir?”“My wife? No. She is busy with the women and children, and running off now and then to give the poor fellows a drink of water. Here, I know: set some one to find that ragamuffin Pegg. He’d be worth anything to me now, for he’s handy over this sort of thing.”“Yes, Doctor; but he’s one of our best shots with a rifle, and the Captain has posted him where he covers the river path.”“Oh, well, then, you can’t spare him, of course. But look here, Archie; the wounded are being brought in too fast. Tell the Major that I say that he must blaze away a little to hold the enemy back.”“Do you want him to cut me down, sir? He’s in a furious temper.”“Enough to make him. So am I. I nearly stuck a lancet into Sir Charles Dallas a few minutes ago for coming and worrying me about the possibility of a party of men stealing off to one of the boats with him. The madman! All men are mad when they’re in love. Never you catch that complaint.”“No, sir,” said Archie.“Well, I’m keeping you, my lad; but I’m glad of a minute’s cessation from this work. There! I think he will do now, duchess.—What do you say?”“Poor fellow! You have done it all beautiful, sir,” said Mrs Smithers, smiling, as she passed a cool, wet sponge across the wounded man’s brows.“There, off with you, Archie, my lad. Keep out of danger.”“Of course, sir,” was the reply.“I mean it, for you have had more than your share of my attention lately. But I say, my lad; feel very boyish now?”“If you tease me again about that, Doctor,” said Archie, “I’ll never consult you again.”“Till next time,” said the Doctor, with a chuckle.—“Great heavens! what’s that?”Thatwas a tremendous puff of wind that knocked the Japanese screen over against the wall, and sent Archie staggering so that he nearly fell over one of the wounded men. Then almost instantaneously came a terrific roar as if a sudden burst of a tropical storm had followed the flash of light which blazed through the lightly built place, the walls of which had rocked, and seemed to be tottering to their fall.“Anybody hurt?” panted the Doctor, his first thought being that he must render aid.“I—I don’t know, sir,” stammered Archie.“Glad of it,” said the Doctor. “The worst storm I ever saw.”“Storm, sir?” said Archie. “It’s the magazine gone!”

“You don’t say so, my lad! A Malay and his wife who have been patients of the Doctor bringing in such news as that! Why, it’s grand! Poor, dear girl! Tut, tut, tut, tut, tut, tut, what she must have suffered! Well, Mr Rajah Suleiman will have to pay for it. Morley says he believes in these people. Not some trap, is it?”

“He feels sure not, sir. The people are grateful to him for all he has done for them. Oh, I am certain it is genuine, sir.”

“Don’t be too sure, my lad. These people can’t help looking upon us as their enemies, and they are as treacherous as they are high. Look at this Suleiman. I have been trusting him. I looked upon him as a sensual brute, but it was so much to his advantage to be friendly. The fool! He’s given his country away. He will be either shot or made prisoner, and then another Rajah who is friendly to us will reign in his stead.”

“Rajah Hamet, sir?”

“No,” said the Major shortly. “And look here, young fellow, don’t you mention him to me again. He’s your friend, and you have a strong bias towards him.”

“I can’t help believing in him, sir.”

“Then you must, sir, as a British officer, working for your country’s good. I presume you don’t know that I have it on trustworthy authority that Rajah Hamet has been for some little time past strengthening his position and gathering his men, like the savage he is, to go out on the war-path? And all the time he has been educated in England! A young fool! Well, this news is splendid, but it comes at a horrible time. Here is Suleiman hanging about, dodging our men; Hamet in all probability waiting for us to be in a dilemma, and then he will come down; and my little force here depleted till we are as weak as weak. I ought to say I can’t spare a man. I feel it’s my duty to refuse to send an expedition to save that poor girl. It means sending up a couple of boats with not less than twenty men, for Suleiman is sure to have a certain number of the brutes in charge of the place. But of course it must be done, and they must start at once. Where’s the Doctor?”

“Gone on to the Residency, sir.”

“Yes. And I want Sir Charles. Send a man to ask him to step here.—No; go yourself—save time.”

Archie was making for the door, when steps and voices were heard, and the Resident hurried in, closely followed by Dr Morley.

“You have heard this news, Knowle?”

“Yes; everything.”

“And you will send a party of men at once?” said the Resident in a half-suffocated voice.

“Directly we can man the boats.”

“Ah!” exclaimed the Resident, sinking into a chair, with his hand to his breast.

“But you are not fit to go with them.”

The Resident smiled faintly and made a gesticulation.

“It’s no use to waste words, Knowle,” said the Doctor. “I know better than you what he can stand, and I have told him it is madness to think of it.”

“Yes; and I am going to be mad,” said the Resident bitterly. “If you have not given your instructions already, sir, pray do so at once. At all costs I must go.”

The Major shrugged his shoulders.

“I want two boats,” he said. “I am going to take yours, of course. But one of my difficulties is, who is to take charge of the expedition?”

Archie started, and his lips parted to speak.

“I shall take charge of it,” said the Resident.

“Very well.—You are not fit to go, Maine?” said the Major.

“Oh yes, sir,” cried Archie eagerly.

“No, sir,” cried the Major; and the subaltern’s brow puckered up in his disappointment. “And I can’t spare you,” continued the Major. “But under the circumstances I must, for I can spare no one else. Of course there will be a sergeant and a corporal—and a nice state we shall be left in here!—You, Dallas, take my advice. If you really mean to go, leave all the preparations to the Doctor. But really I think you had better let him go in your place.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor; “and it is my duty to my child.”

Sir Charles made an angry movement, and the Major was about to issue his orders, when he sprang from his seat, for a rifle-shot rang out on the still night.

“What does that mean?” exclaimed Sir Charles.

There was another shot, followed by another and another.

“Attack, and in force;” cried the Major, crossing to the side of the room, to catch up hurriedly his sword and belt; and he was busy buckling the latter as the bugle rang out the assembly.

By the time he was out in the front the sentries were being driven in, and announced that the Malays were advancing in force; and almost immediately two of the men hurried out of the darkness supporting one of their comrades, who was bleeding profusely from a spear-wound, the weapon thrown by one of the attacking Malays being carried by a fellow-soldier.

The men turned out without the slightest confusion, and fell into their places under the direction of the officers remaining for the defence of the cantonments, and so well had the arrangements been previously planned out that the rush of the advancing enemy from three sides of the cantonments was temporarily checked by the steady fire of the defenders; but not before two more of the sentries had been carried into the mess-room, where the Major, hurrying in to see what was being done, found the Doctor in his shirt-sleeves busily attending to the men’s wounds.

“Oh, there you are, Major!” he said, speaking with a strip of bandage in his mouth. “This looks like my taking command of the expedition, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. Impossible,” said the Major. “The brutes are coming on in numbers, and much as I regret what you must feel, I am only too thankful that your party has not started. But there, you see I can do nothing until we have driven these scoundrels back, and then—we shall see.”

“Yes, I know,” grumbled the Doctor.—“You can take hold of one end of that bandage yourself, my lad. That’s right. Nasty cut; but you are not going to lose the number of your mess this time.”

“Oh no, sir!” said the wounded man excitedly. “Tight as you can, please, sir. I think I can go back to the firing-line, and—ah!”

“I don’t,” said the Doctor grimly. “Poor lad—talk about British pluck!”

“Not a bad wound, is it?”

“Quite bad enough,” said the Doctor. “An inch lower, sir—”

“Yes, I know,” said the Major, as the firing increased. “Why, they’ve got muskets! There, Doctor, I felt that I must speak to you, and I am afraid you are going to have your hands pretty full.”

“But you should keep your men more under cover, sir,” said the Doctor pettishly. “Look! They are bringing in two more.”

“Under cover!” said the Major angrily. “Every fence, wall, and breast-work is occupied, and the men are holding the Residency according to orders. These poor fellows were speared at their posts.”

The Major hurried out, to busy himself with seeing that the various occupants of the place were provided with shelter in the officers’ quarters and the other buildings of the cantonments, the upper windows of which were occupied by the little force, with instructions to retire to the Residency, which was so situated that it would lend itself well to being treated as a sort of citadel in case they should prove to be hard pressed.

Fortunately for the defenders, as the night advanced the smoke from the firing hung low, prevented as it was from rising by a gathering river mist; and as not a light was shown in either of the buildings, the firing of the Malays from the sheltering trees and cultivated gardens of the station had little effect, while of the many spears that were thrown after the first attack was made, hardly one found a victim.

The men, in obedience to orders, were now firing only from time to time at the sheltering Malays, who kept on creeping up to hurl a spear in at a dimly seen open window, more than one not being sharp enough in jumping back, for his activity was checked by a bullet which sent him tottering for a few yards before falling heavily with a groan.

This had the effect of bringing the flash and heavy, dull report of the old, cast-off military muskets which the Malays were using; and as these weapons flashed, the defenders of the various buildings seized the opportunity to return the fire, guessing at the enemy’s position by the light.

Just about this time, when a loud yelling from the direction of the river suggested that a fresh party of the enemy were landing from boats, a dimly seen officer hurried through the darkness to one of the upper rooms.

“Who’s in here?” he cried angrily.

“Me, sir—Smithers, sir.”

“You are wasting your cartridges.”

“Am I, sir?”

“Yes. Wait till we get some daylight, unless you can make sure of your man.”

“All right, Mr Maine, sir. It is you, isn’t it? I was getting a bit excited-like. One moment, sir: have you seen my missus?”

“Your wife? No. Why?”

“She telled me she was coming up to help the Doctor.”

“Oh, nonsense! She ought to be with the women. I will tell her if I see her.—There, look,” whispered Archie—“to your left! There are half-a-dozen fellows at least creeping through that patch of fog.”

“They look big ’uns, too, sir,” whispered the man excitedly, as the indistinct figures were magnified by the mist. “Would it be waste of cartridges, sir, to get two in a line and let go?”

“No. Fire!”

Crockwent the rifle, and the figures that had loomed up seemed to melt away. But as soon as the rifle had flashed there was thefad, fad, fadof hurried steps, something whizzed in at the window, and with a dull thud a spear stuck in the floor of the room.

Crack, crackcame from Archie’s revolver as he fired it twice in the direction of the spear-thrower, an answering yell suggesting that one of the shots had had effect.

“There, keep a sharp lookout, and only fire when you are sure,” said Archie as he made for the door, striking against the bamboo shaft of the spear. “This didn’t graze you, did it, Smithers?”

“No, sir. I was afraid you had got a touch by your whipping out your pistol so quickly. But please, sir, don’t tell my missus to go into shelter. She likes a job like this, and she’s very useful with a basin and sponge.”

“All right; all right,” replied Archie; and hurrying away, he took the mess-room on his way to the post he was about to visit, and stepped to where a faint light rose from behind a Japanese screen which shut off one corner of the big room.

There he came upon the Doctor busy over one poor wounded fellow whose head was resting upon the arm of a kneeling woman, who held a sponge in the hand at liberty, while a great brass lotah of water was at her side.

“Very useful with basin and sponge,” said Archie to himself, as he smiled grimly.—“Can I do anything for you, Doctor?” he said.

“Not unless you have come to help, my lad.”

“No, sir; I can’t do that.”

“Well, you can stop some of these scoundrels throwing these abominable spears.”

“Not till daylight, I’m afraid, sir; and I fear that this light will be seen outside.”

“Can’t help it,” said the Doctor. “I can’t play Blind-Man’s Buff and stitch up wounds without a lamp. I want more help.”

“Shall I ask Mrs Morley to come, sir?”

“My wife? No. She is busy with the women and children, and running off now and then to give the poor fellows a drink of water. Here, I know: set some one to find that ragamuffin Pegg. He’d be worth anything to me now, for he’s handy over this sort of thing.”

“Yes, Doctor; but he’s one of our best shots with a rifle, and the Captain has posted him where he covers the river path.”

“Oh, well, then, you can’t spare him, of course. But look here, Archie; the wounded are being brought in too fast. Tell the Major that I say that he must blaze away a little to hold the enemy back.”

“Do you want him to cut me down, sir? He’s in a furious temper.”

“Enough to make him. So am I. I nearly stuck a lancet into Sir Charles Dallas a few minutes ago for coming and worrying me about the possibility of a party of men stealing off to one of the boats with him. The madman! All men are mad when they’re in love. Never you catch that complaint.”

“No, sir,” said Archie.

“Well, I’m keeping you, my lad; but I’m glad of a minute’s cessation from this work. There! I think he will do now, duchess.—What do you say?”

“Poor fellow! You have done it all beautiful, sir,” said Mrs Smithers, smiling, as she passed a cool, wet sponge across the wounded man’s brows.

“There, off with you, Archie, my lad. Keep out of danger.”

“Of course, sir,” was the reply.

“I mean it, for you have had more than your share of my attention lately. But I say, my lad; feel very boyish now?”

“If you tease me again about that, Doctor,” said Archie, “I’ll never consult you again.”

“Till next time,” said the Doctor, with a chuckle.—“Great heavens! what’s that?”

Thatwas a tremendous puff of wind that knocked the Japanese screen over against the wall, and sent Archie staggering so that he nearly fell over one of the wounded men. Then almost instantaneously came a terrific roar as if a sudden burst of a tropical storm had followed the flash of light which blazed through the lightly built place, the walls of which had rocked, and seemed to be tottering to their fall.

“Anybody hurt?” panted the Doctor, his first thought being that he must render aid.

“I—I don’t know, sir,” stammered Archie.

“Glad of it,” said the Doctor. “The worst storm I ever saw.”

“Storm, sir?” said Archie. “It’s the magazine gone!”

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