In Times of Peril: A Tale of India

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER IX.

  SAVE BY A TIGER.

  The drivers of the bullock-carts were startled at the noiselessappearance by their side of a body of horsemen; still more startled,when suddenly that phantom-like troop halted and dismounted. The restwas like a dream; in an instant they were seized, bound, and gagged,and laid down in the field at some distance from the road; one of them,however, being ungagged, and asked a few questions before being finallyleft. The wounded, all past offering the slightest resistance, werestill more astonished when their captors, whom the moonlight now showedto be white, instead of cutting their throats as they expected, liftedthem tenderly and carefully from the wagons, and laid them down on abank a short distance off.

  "Swear by the Prophet not to call for aid, or to speak, should any onepass the road, for one hour!" was the oath administered to each, andall who were still conscious swore to observe it. Then with the emptywagons the troops proceeded on their way. At the last clump of trees, aquarter of a mile from the castle, there was another halt. The troopdismounted, led their horses some little distance from the road, andtied them to the trees. Twenty men remained as a guard. Four of theothers wrapped themselves up so as to appear at a short distance likenatives, and took their places at the bullocks' heads, and the restcrowded into the wagons, covering themselves with their cloaks to hidetheir light uniforms. Then the bullocks were again set in motion acrossthe plain. So careless were the garrison that they were not evenchallenged as they approached the gate of the outworks, and without aquestion the gate swung back.

  "More wounded!" the officer on guard said. "This is the third lot.Those children of Sheitan must have been aided by their father. Ah,treachery!" he cried, as, the first cart moving into the moonlightbeyond the shadow of the gateway, he saw the white faces of thesupposed wounded.

  There was a leap from the nearest driver upon him, and he was felled tothe ground. But the man at the open gate had heard the cry, and drew apistol and fired it before he could be reached. Then the British leapedfrom the carts, and twenty of them scattered through the works, cuttingdown those who offered resistance and disarming the rest. These werehuddled into the guardroom, and five men with cocked revolvers placedat the door, with orders to shoot them down at the first sign ofmovement.

  The garrison in the castle itself had been alarmed by the shots; andshouts were heard, and loud orders, and the sentries over the gatedischarged their muskets. There was little time given them to rally,however; for Captain Kent, with four of his men, had, on leaping fromthe cart, made straight across the drawbridge over the moat, for thegateway, to which they attached the petards which they had brought withthem. Then they ran back to the main body, who stood awaiting theexplosion. In a few seconds it came, and then with a cheer the troopsdashed across the drawbridge, and in through the splintered gate. Therewas scarcely any resistance. Taken utterly by surprise, and beingnumerically inferior to their assailants--for nearly all the fightingmen had gone out with their lord--the frightened retainers tried tohide themselves rather than to resist, and were speedily disarmed andgathered in the courtyard.

  Major Warrener, informed by the bullock drivers of the quarter in whichthe Europeans were confined, followed by a dozen men, made his waystraight to it, and had the delight of being greeted by the voices ofhis countrymen and women. These were, as reported, three officers andfive ladies, all of whom were absolutely bewildered by the surprise andsuddenness of their rescue.

  There was no time for explanation. The stables were ransacked and eightof the rajah's best horses taken. Then, when all was ready forstarting, Major Warrener proceeded to the door of the women'sapartments. Here, in obedience to the order he had sent her, the wifeof the talookdar, veiled from head to foot, and surrounded by herattendants, stood to await the orders of her captor.

  "Madam," said Captain Wilkins, who spoke the dialect in use in Oude,"Major Warrener, the British officer in command, bids me tell you thatthis castle, with you and all that it contains, are in his power, andthat he might give it to the flames and carry you off as hostage. Buthe will not do this. The Rajah of Bithri is a brave man, but he iswrong to fight against fate. The English Raj will prevail again, andall who have rebelled will be punished. We treat him as a brave butmistaken enemy; and as we have spared his castle and his family, so wehope that he in turn will behave kindly to any Englishman or woman whomay fall into his hands or may ask his aid. Lastly, let no one leavethis castle till daybreak, for whoever does so we will slay withoutmercy."

  Then, turning round again, Warrener and his companions returned to thecourtyard. The moment the castle was entered and opposition quelled,half the troops had run back for the horses, and in twenty minutes fromthe arrival of the bullock-carts at the gateway of Bithri the last ofits captors filed out from its walls and trotted off into the darkness.Day broke before any of the inhabitants of Bithri dared issue from itswalls. Then a horseman took the news on to the camp. The artillery,increased now to thirty-six guns, had already opened upon the villageere he reached the great tent on the plain. The rajah could not creditthe intelligence that the enemy had escaped, that his castle had beenattacked and carried, and the white prisoners released; but hissurprise and fury were overpowered by the delight he felt at the newsthat his women and children were safe and his ancestral dwellinguninjured. "The English are a great people," he said, stroking hisbeard; then, issuing from his tent, he told the news. Like wildfire itran through the camp, and as none of the thousands gathered there hadhis feelings of gratitude and relief to soften their anger anddisappointment, the fury of the multitude was unbounded.

  With a wild rush they made for the gate-almost blocked with theirdead-scoured the little village, and soon discovered the hole throughwhich the besieged had escaped. Then with wild yells three thousandhorsemen set off in pursuit; but it was six o'clock now, and thefugitives had got seven hours' start. The Rajah of Bithri's contingenttook no part in the pursuit. On issuing from his tent he had, aftertelling the news, briefly given orders for his tents to be struck andfor all his troops to return at once to the castle, toward which hehimself, accompanied by his bodyguard, set out on his elephant of state.

  Major Warrener and his troops had no fear of pursuit. New foes might bemet; but with horses fresh and in good condition, and six hours'start--for they were confident that no pursuit could commence beforedaybreak at the earliest--they felt safe, from the enemy who had justattacked them, especially as these could not know the direction whichthey were pursuing, and would believe that their aim would be to returnwith their rescued friends to Delhi, instead of proceeding through theheart of Oude. The party whom they had found at Bithri consisted of Mr.Hartford, a deputy commissioner, with his wife and two daughters; of aMrs. Pearson and her sister, the former the wife of a districtmagistrate, who had been absent on duty when the rising at the littlestation at which they lived took place; and of Captain Harper andLieutenant Jones, who were the officers of the detachment there. Themen, native cavalry, had ridden off without injuring their officers,but the fanatical people of the place had killed many of the residentsand fired their bungalows. Some had escaped on horseback or incarriages; and the present party, keeping together, had, when nearBithri, been seized and brought in to the chief, who intended to takethem with him to Lucknow, when--an event of which he daily expectednews--the little body of English there were destroyed by the forcesgathering round them. The captives had heard what was doing, both atLucknow and Cawnpore. At the latter place not only had the nativetroops mutinied, but the Rajah of Bithoor, Nana Sahib, whom the Englishhad regarded as a firm friend, had joined them. Sir Hugh Wheeler, withthe officers of the revolted regiments the civilians of the station,and forty or fifty white troops, having some eight hundred women andchildren in their charge, were defending a weak position againstthousands of the enemy, provided with artillery.

  When after riding thirty miles, the party stopped at daybreak at aruined temple standing in its grove at a distance from the main road,Major Warrener called his offi
cers into council, to determine what wasthe best course to adopt under the circumstances. Should they dashthrough the lines of the besiegers of Cawnpore, or should they make forAgra, or endeavor to join the force which was being collected atAllahabad to march to their relief?

  Finally, and very reluctantly, the latter course was decided upon. Itwas agreed--and the truth of their conclusion was proved by the factthat throughout the mutiny there was no single instance of the rebels,however numerous, carrying a position held by any body ofEnglishmen--that Sir Hugh Wheeler and his force could probably hold theintrenchments against any assault that the enemy could make, and thatif forced to surrender it would probably be from want of supplies. Inthat case the arrival of a hundred men would be a source of weaknessrather than of strength. The reinforcement would not be of sufficientstrength to enable the garrison, incumbered as it was with women andchildren, to cut its way out, while there would be a hundred moremouths to fill. It was therefore resolved to change their course, toavoid Cawnpore, and to make direct for Allahabad, with the news of theurgent strait in which Sir Hugh Wheeler was placed, and of thenecessity for an instant advance to his relief.

  Cawnpore was now but forty miles away, and Lucknow was about the samedistance, but in a different direction; and as they stretchedthemselves on the ground and prepared for sleep, they could distinctlyhear the dull, faint sounds that told of a heavy artillery fire. Atwhich of the stations, or if at both, the firing was going on, theycould not tell; but in fact it was at Cawnpore, as this was the 25th ofJune, and the siege of the Lucknow Residency did not begin in earnestuntil the 30th of that month.

  The course had now to be decided upon, and maps were consulted, and itwas determined to cross the river at Sirapore. It was agreed, too, thatthey should, at the first village they passed through that evening,question the inhabitants as to the bodies of rebels moving about, andfind out whether any large number were stationed at any of the bridges.

  At nine o'clock in the evening they were again in the saddle, and anhour later halted at a village. There several of the men were examinedseparately, and their stories agreed that there were no large bodies ofSepoys on the line by which they proposed to travel, but that most ofthe talookdars were preparing to march to Lucknow and Cawnpore, whenthe British were destroyed. Having thus learned that the bridge bywhich they intended to cross was open to them, the troop againproceeded on their way, leaving the village lost in astonishment as towhere this body of British horse could have come from.

  Upon this night's ride Ned and Dick Warrener were on rearguard--that isto say, they rode together some two hundred yards behind the rest ofthe squadron.

  An hour after leaving the village, as they were passing through a thickgrove of trees some figures rose as from the ground. Ned was knockedoff his horse by a blow with the butt-end of a gun; and Dick, before hehad time to shout or make a movement in his defense, was dragged fromhis horse, his head wrapped in a thick cloth, and his arms bound. Thenhe could feel himself lifted up and rapidly carried off. After a timehe was put on his legs and the covering of his head removed. He foundNed beside him; and a word of congratulation that both were alive wasexchanged. Then a rope was placed round each of their necks, andsurrounded by their captors, two of whom rode their horses, they werestarted at a run, with admonitions from those around them that anyattempt to escape or to shout would be punished with instant death.

  For full two hours they were hurried along, and then the party haltedat the edge of a thick jungle, lighted a fire, and began to cook. Theprisoners were allowed to sit down with their captors. These werematchlock-men, on their way to join the forces besieging the Residencyat Cawnpore, toward which town they had been making their way, as theboom of the guns sounded sharper and clearer every mile that theytraveled. Ned gathered from the talk that their capture was the effectof pure accident. The party had sat down in the wood to eat, when theyheard a troop of horsemen passing. A word or two spoken in English asthe leaders came along sufficed to show the nationality of the troop,and the band lay quiet in the bushes until, as they supposed, all hadpassed. They had risen to leave when the two last horsemen came inview, and these they determined to capture and carry off, if possible,hoping to get a considerable reward from Nan a Sahib on their arrivalat Cawnpore.

  Nana Sahib's name had not as yet that terrible history attached to itwhich rendered it execrated wherever the English tongue is spoken; butthe boys had heard that after pretending to be the friend of thewhites, he was now leading the assault against them, and that he wastherefore a traitor, and fighting as it were with a rope round hisneck. At the hands of such a man they had no mercy to expect.

  "It is of no use trying to make a bolt, Ned?"

  "Not the least in the world. The two fellows next to us are appointedto watch us. Don't you see they are sitting with their guns acrosstheir knees? We should be shot down in a moment."

  There was a debate among the band whether to push on to Cawnpore atonce; but they had already made a long day's journey, and moreoverthought that they could create a greater effect by arriving with theirprisoners by daylight. The fire was made up, and the men wrappedthemselves in their cloths--the native of India almost invariablysleeps with his head covered, and looking more like a corpse than aliving being. Anxiously the boys watched in hopes that their guardswould follow the example. They showed, however, no signs of doing so,but sat talking over the approaching destruction of the English ruleand of the restoration of the Mohammedan power.

  Two hours passed; the fire burned low, and the boys, in spite of thedanger of their position, were just dropping off to sleep, when therewas a mighty roar--a rush of some great body passing over them--ascream of one of the natives--a yell of terror from the rest. A tigerstood with one of the guards in his mouth, growling fiercely, andgiving him an occasional shake, as a cat would shake a mouse, while oneof his paws held down the prostrate figure of the other.

  There was a wild stampede--men tumbled over and over each other intheir efforts to escape from the terrible presence, and then, gettingto their feet, started off at full speed. For a moment the boys hadlain paralyzed with the sudden advent of the terrible man-eater, andthen had, like the rest, darted away.

  "To the jungle!" Ned exclaimed; and in an instant they had plunged intothe undergrowth, and were forcing their way at full speed through it.Man-eating tigers are rarely found in pairs, and there was little fearthat another was lurking in the wood; and even had such been the case,they would have preferred death in that form to being murdered in coldblood by the enemy. Presently they struck on a track leading throughthe wood, and followed it, until in five minutes they emerged at theother side. As they did so they heard the report of firearms in thedirection of their last halting-place, and guessed that the peasantswere firing at hazard, in hopes of frightening the tiger into droppinghis prey. As to their own flight, it was probable that so far they hadbeen unthought of. The first object of the fugitives was to get as faras possible from their late captors, who would at daybreak be sure toorganize a regular hunt for them, and accordingly they ran straightahead until in three-quarters of an hour they came into a wide road.Then, exhausted with their exertions, they threw themselves down, andpanted for breath.

  Dick was the first to speak. "What on earth are we to do now, Ned?These uniforms will betray us to the first person we meet, and we haveno means of disguise."

  "We must get as far away as we can before daylight, Dick, and then hideup. Sooner or later we must throw ourselves on the hospitality of someone, and take our chance. This is evidently the main road to Cawnpore,and, judging from the guns, we cannot be more than ten or twelve milesaway. It will not do to go back along this road, for the fellows wehave got away from may strike it below us and follow it up. Let us goforward along it till we meet a side road, and take that."

  Ten minutes' walking brought them to a point where a side road came in,and, taking this, they walked steadily on. They passed two or threevillages, which the moonlight enabled them to see before the
y reachedthem; these they avoided by a detour, as the dogs would be sure toarouse the inhabitants, and it was only in a solitary abode that theyhad a chance of being sheltered. Toward morning they saw ahead abuilding of considerable size, evidently the abode of a person ofconsequence. It was not fortified; but behind it was a large inclosure,with high walls.

  "I vote we climb over that wall, Ned; there are several trees growingclose up to it. If they hunt the country round for us they will neverlook inside there; and I expect that there is a garden, and we are sureto find a hiding-place. Then, if the owner comes out, we can, if helooks a decent chap, throw ourselves on his hands."

  "I think that a good idea, Dick; the sooner we carry it out the better,for in another half-hour day will be breaking."

  A TIGER STOOD, WITH ONE OF THE GUARDS IN HIS MOUTH,GROWLING FIERCELY.]

  They made a detour round to the back of the building, and after somesearch found a tree growing close enough to the wall to assist them.This they climbed, got along a branch which extended over the top ofthe wall, and thence dropped into the garden. Here there were pavilionsand fountains, and well-kept walks, with great clumps of bushes andflowering shrubs well calculated for concealment. Into one of thesethey crept, and were soon fast asleep.

  It was late in the afternoon when they awoke, roused by the sound oflaughter, and of the chatter of many voices.

  "Good gracious!" Ned exclaimed; "we have got into the women's garden."

  In another minute a group of women came in sight. The principal figurewas a young woman of some twenty-two or twenty-three, and with a redwafer-like patch on her forehead, very richly dressed.

  "She is a Hindoo," Ned whispered; "what luck!"

  There are indeed very few Hindoos in Oude, and the Mohammedan being thedominant race, a Hindoo would naturally feel far more favorablyinclined toward a British fugitive than a Mohammedan would be likely todo, as the triumph of the rebellion could to them simply mean arestoration, of Mohammedan supremacy in place of the far more tolerantBritish rule.

  Next to the ranee walked an old woman, who had probably been her nurse,and was now her confidante and adviser. The rest were young women,clearly dependants.

  "And so, Ahrab, we must give up our garden, and go into Cawnpore; andin such weather too!"

  "It must be so indeed," the elder woman said. "These Mohammedans doubtus, and so insist on your highness showing your devotion to the causeby taking up your residence in Cawnpore, and sending in all yourretainers to join in the attack on the English."

  The ranee looked sad.

  "They say there are hundreds of women and little children there," shesaid, "and that the English who are defending them are few."

  "It is so," Ahrab said. "But they are brave. The men of the Nana, andthe old regiments, are fifty to one against them, and the cannon firenight and day, and yet they do not give way a foot."

  "They are men, the English sahibs."

  While they were speaking the two chief personages of the party hadtaken their seats in a pavilion close to the spot where the youngWarreners were hidden.

  Ned translated the purport of the talk to Dick, and both agreed thatthe way of safety had opened to them.

  Seeing that their mistress was not in the humor for laughter and mirth,and would rather talk quietly with her chief friend and adviser, theattendants gradually left them, and gathered in a distant part of thegarden.

  Then Ned and Dick crept out of their hiding-place, and appearedsuddenly at the entrance to the pavilion, where they fell on one knee,in an attitude of supplication, and Ned said:

  "Oh, gracious lady, have pity upon two fugitives!"

  The ranee and her counselor rose to their feet with a little scream,and hastily covered their heads.

  "Have pity, lady," Ned went on earnestly; "we are alone and friendless;oh, do not give us up to our enemies."

  "How did you get here?" asked the elder woman.

  "We climbed the wall," Ned said. "We knew not that this garden was theladies' garden, or we might not have invaded it; now we blessProvidence that has brought us to the feet of so kind and lovely alady."

  The ranee laughed lightly behind her veil.

  "They are mere boys, Ahrab."

  "Yes, your highness, but it would be just as dangerous for you toshelter boys as men. And what will you do, as you have to go toCawnpore to-morrow?"

  "Oh, you can manage somehow, Ahrab--you are so clever," the ranee saidcoaxingly; "and I could not give them up to be killed: I should neverfeel happy afterward."

  "May Heaven bless you, lady!" Ned said earnestly; "and your kind actionmay not go unrewarded even here. Soon, very soon, an English army willbe at Cawnpore to punish the rebels, and then it will be well withthose who have succored British fugitives."

  "Do you say an English army will come soon?" Ahrab said doubtfully."Men say the English Raj is gone forever."

  "It is not true," Ned said. "England has not begun to put out herstrength yet. She can send tens of thousands of soldiers, and the greatchiefs of the Punjab have all declared for her. Already Delhi isbesieged, and an army is gathering at Allahabad to march hither. It maybe quickly; it may be slowly; but in the end the English rule will berestored, her enemies will be destroyed, and her friends rewarded. ButI know," he went on, turning to the ranee, "that it needs not a thoughtof this to influence you, and that in your kind heart compassion alonewill suffice to secure us your protection."

  The ranee laughed again.

  "You are only a boy," she said, "but you have learned to flatter. Nowtell us how you got here."

  "Your highness," Ahrab interrupted, "I had better send all the othersin, for they might surprise us. Let these young sahibs hide themselvesagain; then we will go in, and I will call in your attendants. Later,when it is dusk, you will plead heat, and come out here with me again,and then I can bring some robes to disguise the sahibs; that is, ifyour highness has resolved to aid them."

  "I think I have resolved that, Ahrab," the ranee said. "You have heard,young sahibs; retire now, and hide. When the sun has set we will behere again."

  With deep assurance of gratitude from Ned, the lads again took refugein the shrubs, delighted with the result of their interview.

  "I do hope that the old one will bring us something to eat, Ned. I amas hungry as a hunter! That ranee's a brick, isn't she?"

  Two hours later a step was heard coming down the garden, and a womancame and lit some lamps in the pavilion, and again retired. Then inanother ten minutes the ranee and her confidante made their appearance.The former took her seat on the couch in the pavilion, the latterremained outside the circle of light, and clapped her hands softly. Ina minute the boys stood before her. She held out a basket ofprovisions, and a bundle of clothes.

  "Put these wraps on over your uniforms," she said; "then if we shouldbe surprised, no one will be any the wiser."

  The boys retired, hastily ate some food, then wrapped themselves in thelong folds of cotton which form the principal garment of native womenof the lower class, and went forward to the pavilion.

  The ranee laughed outright.

  "How clumsy you are!" she said. "Ahrab, do arrange them a little morelike women."

  Ahrab adjusted their robes, and brought one end over their heads, sothat it could, if necessary, be pulled over the face at a moment'snotice.

  The ranee then motioned to them to sit down upon two cushions near her;and saying to Ahrab, "It is very hot, and they are only boys," removedthe veil from her face. "You make very pretty girls, only you are toowhite," she said.

  "Lady, if we had some dye we could pass as natives, I think," Ned said;"we have done so before this, since the troubles began."

  "Tell me all about it," the ranee said. "I want to know who you are,and how you came here as if you had dropped from the skies."

  Ned related their adventures since leaving Delhi, and then the raneeinsisted upon an account of their previous masquerading as natives.

  "How brave you English boys are," she said. "N
o wonder your men haveconquered India. Now, Ahrab, tell these young sahibs what we propose."

  "We dare not leave you here," Ahrab said. "You would have to be fed,and we must trust many people. We go to Cawnpore to-morrow, and youmust go with us. My son has a garden here; we can trust him, and hewill bring a bullock-cart with him to-morrow morning. In this will beplaced some boxes, and he will start. You must wait a little way off,and when you see him you will know him, because he will tie a piece ofred cloth to the horns of the bullock; you will come up and get in. Hewill ask no questions, but will drive you to the ranee's. I will openthe door to you and take you up to a little room where you will not bedisturbed. We shall all start first. You cannot go with us, because theother women will wonder who you are. Here is some stuff to dye yourfaces and hands. I will let you out by a private door. You will see awood five minutes along the road. You must stop there to-night, and donot come out till you see the ranee and her party pass. There is alittle hut, which is empty, in the wood, where you can sleep withoutfear of disturbance. The ranee is sorry to turn you out to-night, butwe start at daybreak, and I should have no opportunity of slipping awayand letting you out."

  Everything being now arranged, the ranee rose. Ned reiterating theexpression of the gratitude of his brother and himself, the raneecoquettishly held out a little hand whose size and shape anEnglishwoman might have envied; and the boys kissed it--Nedrespectfully, Dick with a heartiness which made her laugh and draw itaway.

  "You are a darling," Dick said in English, with the native impudence ofa midshipman, "and I wish I knew enough of your lingo to tell you."

  "What does he say?" she asked of Ned.

  "He is a sailor," Ned said; "and sailors say things we on shore wouldnot venture to say. My brother says you are the flower of his heart."

  "Your brother is an impudent boy," the ranee said, laughing, "and Ihave a good mind to hand him over to the Nana. Now good-by! Ahrab willlet you out."