In Times of Peril: A Tale of India

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XX.

  THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW.

  On the 6th of November Captain Peel, with five hundred of his gallantbluejackets, marched from Cawnpore, taking with them the heavy siegeguns. Three days later they joined General Grant's column, which wasencamped at a short distance from the Alumbagh, and in communicationwith the force holding that position. On the 9th Sir Colin Campbell,who had come out from England with all speed to assume the chiefcommand in India, arrived in camp, and his coming was hailed withdelight by the troops, who felt that the hour was now at hand when thenoble garrison of Lucknow were to be rescued.

  The total force collected for the relief were: Her Majesty's Eighth,Fifty-third, Seventy-fifth, and Ninety-third regiments of infantry; tworegiments of Punjaub infantry; and a small party of native sappers andminers. The cavalry consisted of the Ninth Lancers, and detachments ofSikh cavalry and Hodgson's Horse. The artillery comprised Peel's navalbrigade, with eight heavy guns, ten guns of the Royal Horse Artillery,six light field guns, and a heavy battery of the Royal Artillery. Atotal of about twenty-seven hundred infantry and artillery, and ninehundred cavalry.

  On the morning of the 10th Mr. Kavanagh, a civilian, came into camp. Hehad, disguised as a native, started the evening before from theResidency with a native guide, named Kunoujee Lal, had swum theGoomtee, recrossed by the bridge into the city, passed through thestreets, and finally made his way in safety. He was perfectlyacquainted with the city, and brought plans from Sir James Outram forthe guidance of the commander-in-chief in his advance.

  After an examination of the plans Sir Colin Campbell determined that,instead of forcing his way through the narrow streets as GeneralHavelock had done, he would move partly round the town, and attack bythe eastern side, where there was much open ground, sprinkled withpalaces and mosques and other large buildings. These could be attackedand taken one by one, by a series of separate sieges, and thus theResidency could be approached with far less loss than must have takenplace in an attempt to force a way through the crowded city.

  On the 15th the troops marched to the Alumbagh, defeating a small rebelforce which attempted to stop their way.

  At the Alumbagh Dick Warrener--for Ned was with his regiment, which, tohis great disgust, had remained at Cawnpore--had the joy of meeting hisfather again, as Warrener's Horse had not shared in Havelock's advanceto the Residency, but had remained as part of the garrison of theAlumbagh. It is needless to tell of the delight of that meeting afterall that the lads had gone through since they parted from their father,nearly four months before, at Cawnpore. Colonel Warrener had heard ofthe safe arrival of his sons at Delhi before he marched up fromCawnpore, but since then no word had reached him. Captains Dunlop andManners were also delighted to meet him again; and the whole of thetroop vied with each other in the heartiness of the welcome accorded tohim. Disease and death had sadly lessened the ranks; and of the onehundred men who had volunteered at Meerut to form a body of horse, notmore than fifty now remained in the ranks. It was very late atnight--or rather, early in the morning--before the party assembled inColonel Warrener's tent separated, to seek a few hours' sleep beforethe _reveille_ sounded for the troops to rise and prepare for theadvance.

  Soon after daybreak the column were under arms. The Seventy-fifthRegiment, to its intense disappointment, was ordered to stay and guardthe Alumbagh, with its immense accumulation of stores and munitions;and the rest of the troops, turning off from the direct road andfollowing the line the boys had traversed when they made their way intothe Residency, marched for the Dil Koosha, a hunting-palace of the lateking of Oude.

  The enemy, who had anticipated an advance by the direct line taken byHavelock, and who had made immense preparations for defense in thatquarter, were taken aback by the movement to the right, and noopposition was experienced until the column approached the beautifulpark, upon an elevated spot in which the Dil Koosha stood.

  Then a brisk musketry fire was opened upon them. The head of the columnwas extended in skirmishing order, reinforcements were sent up, and,firing heavily as they advanced, the British drove the enemy beforethem, and two hours after the first shot was fired were in possessionof the palace. The enemy fled down the slope toward the city; but thetroops pressed forward, and, with but slight loss, carried the strongposition of the Martiniere College, and drove the enemy across thecanal. By this time the enemy's troops from the other side of the citywere flocking up, and prepared to recross the canal and give battle;but some of the heavy guns were brought up to the side of the canal,and the rebels made no further attempt to take the offensive.

  The result of the day's fighting more than answered thecommander-in-chief's expectations, for not only had a commandingposition, from which the whole eastern suburb could be cannonaded, beenobtained, but a large convoy of provisions and stores had been safelybrought up, and a new base of operations obtained.

  The next day, the 15th of November, is celebrated in the annals ofBritish military history as that upon which some of the fiercest andbloodiest fighting which ever took place in India occurred. At a shortdistance beyond the canal stood the Secunderbagh (Alexander's garden),a building of strong masonry, standing in a garden surrounded by a veryhigh and strong wall. This wall was loopholed for musketry; the gate,which led through a fortified gateway, had been blocked with greatpiles of stones behind it, and a very strong garrison held it. Infront, a hundred yards distant, was a fortified village, also held ingreat force. Separated from the garden of the Secunderbagh only by theroad was the mosque of Shah Nujeeff. This building was also situated ina garden with a strong loopholed wall, and this was lined with theinsurgent troops; while the terraced roof of the mosque, and the fourminarets which rose at its corners, were crowded with riflemen.

  The column of attack was commanded by Brigadier Hope; and as it crossedthe bridge of the canal and advanced, a tremendous musketry fire wasopened upon it from the village which formed the advanced post of theenemy. The column broke up into skirmishing line and advanced steadily.

  "The guns to the front!" said an aide-de-camp, galloping up to thenaval brigade.

  With a cheer the sailors moved across the bridge, following the HorseArtillery, which dashed ahead, unlimbered, and opened fire with greatrapidity. It took somewhat longer to bring the ponderoussixty-eight-pounders of the naval brigade into action; but their deeproar when once at work astonished the enemy, who had never before heardguns of such heavy metal.

  The rebels fought obstinately, however; but Brigadier-General Hope ledhis troops gallantly forward, and after a brief, stern fight the enemygave way and fled to the Secunderbagh.

  The guns were now brought forward and their fire directed at the strongwall. The heavy cannon soon made a breach and the assault was ordered.The Fourth Sikhs had been directed to lead the attack, while theNinety-third Highlanders and detachments from the Fifty-third and otherregiments were to cover their advance, by their musketry fire at theloopholes and other points from which the enemy were firing.

  The white troops were, however, too impatient to be at the enemy toperform the patient role assigned to them, and so joined the Sikhs intheir charge. The rush was so fierce and rapid that a number of menpushed through the little breach before the enemy had mustered in forceto repel them. The entrance was, however, too small for the impatienttroops, and a number of them rushed to the grated windows whichcommanded the gates. Putting their caps on the ends of the muskets,they raised them to the level of the windows, and every Sepoy at thepost discharged his musket at once. Before they could load again thetroops leaped up, tore down the iron bars, and burst a way here alsointo the garden.

  THE RUSH WAS SO FIERCE, THAT A NUMBER OF MEN PUSHEDTHROUGH THE LITTLE BREACH BEFORE THE ENEMY COULD REPEL THEM.]

  Then ensued a frightful struggle; two thousand Sepoys held the garden,and these, caught like rats in a trap, fought with the energy ofdespair. Nothing, however, could withstand the troops, mad with thelong-balked thirst for vengeance, and attacked with the cry--which invery t
ruth was the death-knell of the enemy--"Remember Cawnpore!" ontheir lips. No quarter was asked or given. It was a stubborn, furious,desperate strife, man to man--desperate Sepoy against furiousEnglishman. But in such a strife weight and power tell their tale, andnot one of the two thousand men who formed the garrison escaped; twothousand dead bodies were next day counted within the four walls of thegarden.

  The battle had now raged for three hours, but there was more work yetto be done. From the walls and minarets of the Shah Nujeeff a terriblefire had been poured upon the troops as they fought their way into theSecunderbagh, and the word was given to take this stronghold also. Thegate had been blocked up with masonry. Captain Peel was ordered to takeup the sixty-eight-pounders and to breach the wall. Instead of haltingat a short distance, the gallant sailor brought up his guns to withinten yards of the wall, and set to work as if he were fighting his shipbroadside to broadside with an enemy. It was an action probablyunexampled in war. Had such an attack been made unsupported byinfantry, the naval brigade would have been annihilated by the storm offire from the walls, and Dick Warrener's career would have come to aclose. The Highlanders and their comrades, however, opened with such atremendous fire upon the points from which the enemy commanded thebattery, and at every loophole in the wall, that the mutineers couldonly keep up a wild and very ineffectual fire upon the gunners. Themassive walls crumbled slowly but surely, and in four hours severalgaps were made.

  Then the guns ceased their fire, and the infantry with a wild cheerburst into the garden of the Shah Nujeeff, and filled the mosque andgarden with the corpses of their defenders. The loss of the navalbrigade in this gallant affair was not heavy, and Dick Warrener escapeduntouched.

  Evening was approaching now, and the troops bivouacked for the night.The Ninetieth and that portion of the Fifty-third not engaged in theassault of the Secunderbagh and Shah Nujeeff were now to have theirturn as leaders of the attack.

  The next point to be carried was the messhouse, a very strong position,situated on an eminence, with flanking towers, a loopholed mud wall,and a ditch. The naval guns began the fray, and the heavy shot sooneffected a breach in the wall. The defenders of the post were annoyed,too, by a mortar battery in an advanced post of the British force inthe Residency--for the space between the garrison and the relievingforce was rapidly lessening. The word was given, and the Ninetieth,Fifty-third, and Sikhs dashed forward, surmounted all obstacles, andcarried the position with the bayonet; and the observatory, which stoodbehind it, was soon afterward most gallantly carried by a Sikh regiment.

  In the meantime the garrison of the Residency was not idle. On the dayof the arrival of the British at Dil Koosha flag-signals from thetowers of that palace had established communication with the Residency,and it was arranged that as soon as the relieving forces obtainedpossession of the Secunderbagh the troops of the garrison should beginto fight their way to meet them.

  Delighted at taking the offensive after their long siege, Havelock'stroops, on the 16th, attacked the enemy with fury, and carried twostrong buildings known as Hern Khana and engine-house, and then dashedon through the Chuttur Munzil, and carried all before them at the pointof the bayonet.

  All the strongholds of the enemy along this line had now fallen; and onthe 17th of March Sir Colin Campbell met Generals Outram and Havelock,amid the tremendous cheers of British troops, which for awhile drownedthe heavy fire which the enemy was still keeping up.

  The loss of the relieving column during the operations was far lessthan that which had befallen Havelock's force in its advance--for itamounted only to one hundred and twenty-two officers and men killed,and three hundred and forty-five wounded. The loss of the enemyconsiderably exceeded four thousand. The relieving force did notadvance into the Residency, but were stationed along the line whichthey had conquered between the Dil Koosha and the Residency, for theenemy were still in enormously superior force, and threatened to cutthe line by which the British had penetrated.

  The first operation was to pour in a supply of luxuries from the storesat the Dil Koosha. White bread, oranges, bananas, wine, tea, sugar, andother articles were sent forward; and these, to those who had fornearly six months existed on the barest and coarsest food, wereluxuries indeed. An even greater pleasure was afforded by sending inthe mails which had accumulated, and thus affording the garrison theintense delight of hearing of those loved ones at home from whom theyhad been so long cut off.

  The day that the junction was made Dick obtained leave for a few hoursto visit his friends in the Residency. It was singular to the lad towalk leisurely across the open space of the Residency garden, wherebefore it would have been death to show one's self for a minute, and tolook about rather as an unconcerned spectator than as formerly, withnerves on strain night and day to repel attack, which, if successful,meant death to every soul in the place.

  In the battered walls, the shattered roofs, the destruction everywherevisible, he saw how the terrors of the siege had increased after he hadleft; and in view of the general havoc that met his view Dick wasastonished that any one should have survived the long-continuedbombardment. In some respects the change had been favorable. Theaccession of strength after the arrival of General Havelock's force hadenabled great and beneficial alteration to be made in the internalarrangements, and the extension of the lines held had also aided inimproving the sanitary condition. But the change in the appearance ofthe place was trifling in comparison with that in the faces of thedefenders. These were, it is true, still pinched and thin, for thesupply of food had been reduced to a minimum, and the rations had beenlowered almost to starvation point. But in place of the expression ofdeep anxiety or of stern determination then marked on every face, allnow looked joyous and glad, for the end to the terrible trials hadarrived.

  As he moved along men looked at the midshipman curiously, and then, asthe lad advanced with outstretched hands, greeted him with cries ofastonishment and pleasure; for it was naturally supposed in thegarrison that the Warreners had fallen in the sortie on Johannes'house. Very hearty were the greetings which Dick received, especiallyfrom those whom he met who had fought side by side with him at Gubbins'house. This pleasure, however, was greatly dashed by the answers to hisquestions respecting friends. "Dead," "dead," "killed," were thereplies that came to the greater part of the inquiries after those hehad known, and the family in whom he was chiefly interested hadsuffered heavily. Mr. Hargreaves was killed; Mr. and Mrs. Ritchie andall their children had succumbed to the confinement and privation; butMrs. Hargreaves and the girls were well. After briefly telling how theyhad escaped in disguise, after having been cut off from falling backafter the successful sortie, Dick Warrener hurried off to the housewhere he heard that his friends were quartered.

  It was outside the bounds of the old Residency, for the ground heldhad, since the arrival of Havelock's force, been considerably extended,and the ladies had had two rooms assigned to them in a large building.Dick knocked at the door of the room, and the ayah opened it--looked athim--gave a scream, and ran back into the room, leaving the door open.Dick, seeing that it was a sitting-room, followed her in. Mrs.Hargreaves, alarmed at the cry, had just risen from her chair, andNelly and Edith ran in from the inner room as Dick entered. A generalcry of astonishment broke from them.

  "Dick Warrener!" Mrs. Hargreaves exclaimed. "Is it possible? My clearboy, thank God I see you again. And your brother?"

  "He escaped too," Dick said.

  Mrs. Hargreaves took him in her arms and kissed him as a dear relativewould have done; for during the month they had been together the boyshad become very dear to her, from their unvarying readiness to aid allwho required it, from their self-devotion and their bravery. Nor werethe girls less pleased, and they warmly embraced the young sailor, whomthey had come to look upon as if he had been a member of the family,and whom they had wept as dead.

  For a time all were too much moved to speak more than a few disjointedwords, for the sad changes which had occurred since they had last metwere present in
all their thoughts. Nelly, the youngest, was the firstto recover, and wiping away her tears, she said, half-laughing,half-crying:

  "I hate you, Dick, frightening us into believing that you were killed,when you were alive and well all the time. But I never quite believedit after all. I said all along that you couldn't have been killed;didn't I, mamma? and that monkeys always got out of scrapes somehow."

  Mrs. Hargreaves smiled.

  "I don't think you put it in that way exactly, Nelly; but I will grantthat between your fits of crying you used to assert over and over againthat you did not believe that they were killed. And now, my dear boy,tell us how this seeming miracle has come about."

  Then they sat down quietly, and Dick told the whole story; and Mrs.Hargreaves warmly congratulated him on the manner in which they hadescaped, and upon the presence of mind they had shown. Then she in turntold him what they had gone through and suffered. Edith burst intotears, and left the room, and her mother presently went after her.

  "Well, Nelly, I have seen a lot since I saw you, have I not?"

  "Yes, you are a dear, brave boy, Dick," the girl said.

  "Even though I am a monkey, eh?" Dick answered. "And did you really crywhen you thought I was dead?"

  "Yes," the girl said demurely; "I always cry when I lose my pets. Therewas the dearest puppy I ever had--"

  Dick laughed quietly. "Who is the monkey now?" he asked.

  "I am," she said frankly; "but you know I can't help teasing you, Dick."

  "Don't balk yourself, Nelly, I like it. I should like to be teased byyou all my life," he said in lower tones.

  The girl flushed up rosy red. "If you could always remain as you arenow," she said after a little pause, "just an impudent midshipman, Ishould not mind it. Do you know, Dick, they give terriers gin toprevent their growing; don't you think you might stop yourself? It isquite sad," she went on pathetically, "to think that you may grow upinto a great lumbering man."

  "I am quite in earnest, Nelly," Dick said, looking preternaturallystern.

  "Yes," Nelly said, "I have always understood midshipmen were quite inearnest when they talked nonsense."

  "I am quite in earnest," Dick said solemnly and fixedly again.

  "No, really, Dick, we are too old for that game," Nelly said, with agreat affectation of gravity. "I think we could enjoy hide-and-seektogether, or even blindman's buff; but you know children never play atbeing little lovers after they are quite small. I remember a dearlittle boy, he used to wear pinafores----"

  Here Mrs. Hargreaves again entered the room, and Dick, jumping upsuddenly, said that it was quite time for him to be off. "I shall onlyjust have time to be back by the time I promised."

  "Good-by, Dick. I hope to see you again tomorrow."

  Edith came in, and there was a hearty shake of the hand all round,except that Dick only touched the tips of Nelly's fingers, in a mannerwhich he imagined betokened a dignified resentment, although as helooked up and saw the girl's eyes dancing with amusement, he couldscarcely flatter himself that it had produced any very serious effect.Dick returned in an indignant mood to the naval brigade, which wasquartered in the Shah Nujeeff's mosque and gardens.

  "You are out of sorts to-night, Dick," one of his brother midshipmensaid, as they leaned together upon the parapet of the mosque, lookingdown on the city; "is anything the matter?"

  "Were you ever in love, Harry?"

  "Lots of times," Harry said confidently.

  "And could you always persuade them that you were in earnest?" Dickasked.

  Harry meditated. "Well, I am not quite sure about that, Dick; but then,you see, I was never quite sure myself that I was in earnest, andthat's rather a drawback, you know."

  "But what would you do, Harry, supposing you were really quite inearnest, and she laughed in your face and told you you were a boy?"Dick asked.

  "I expect," the midshipman said, laughing, "I should kiss her straightoff, and say that as I was a boy she couldn't object."

  "Oh, nonsense," Dick said testily; "I want advice, and you talk bosh!"

  The midshipman winked confidentially at the moon, there being no oneelse to wink at, and then said gravely:

  "I think, Dick, the right thing to do would be to put your right handon your heart, and hold your left hand up, with the forefinger pointingto the ceiling, and to say, 'Madam, I leave you now. When years haverolled over our heads I will return, and prove to you at once myaffection and my constancy.'"

  Dick's eyes opened to their widest, and it was not until his friendwent off in a shout of laughter that he was certain that he was beingchaffed; then, with an exclamation of "Confound you, Harry!" he made arush at his comrade, who dodged his attack, and darted off, closelypursued by Dick. And as they dashed round the cupola and down thestairs their light-hearted laughter--for Dick soon joined in the laughagainst himself--rose on the evening air; and the tars, smoking theirpipes round the bivouac fires below, smiled as the sound came faintlydown to them, and remarked, "Them there midshipmites are larking, justas if they were up in the maintop."