CHAPTER XII.
THE ONE WHO WAS TAKEN.
"Have you cleared out a tent for the Rani, Bob? I was going to ask youto do it, but when I looked for you, you had disappeared."
"Yes, she and her women are safely secluded. But what I really mademyself scarce for was to secure the guns."
"Old boy, you are a genius! They won't dare to try and stop us now."
"Us? That sounds good. I hoped you would see the folly of rammingyour head into the lion's mouth by going back to Agpur with Sher Singh."
"He's uncommon anxious that I should--been trying to persuade me allthis time. First he followed me himself, and then he sent the fakir,and then Ibrahim Khan."
"I'm not surprised. You would be a particularly welcome guest at Agpurjust now, but whether the visit would be quite as agreeable to you asto your entertainers, I take leave to doubt. Have you forgot that youknow the secret of the treasury, and Sher Singh don't?"
"I had forgotten. As a matter of fact, I have promised to go back assoon as I have seen the Rani to Ranjitgarh."
"I believe you, my boy! But I wonder whether Sher Singh does. By theway, what becomes of our oaths, and the treasure, now that KharrakSingh, whom it was intended to benefit, is no more?"
"I really don't know. The question did not arise."
"Well, my base material mind would have asked it first thing. Canhardly go to the Rani, I suppose, can it? or be divided between twodeserving young officers in the Company's army? Perhaps in time tocome Sher Singh may leave a descendant to whom we can honourablyconfide the secret. But meanwhile, Sher Singh has his accomplices topay, and the treasure would come in very handy. I suppose you ain'tlabouring under any romantic delusion as to his innocence?"
"It would be hopeless, I fear. If he had merely planned the murderfrom here, he would certainly have accorded me the interview I askedfor, so as to secure an unassailable alibi. But I can't help seeingthat unless one of the accomplices confesses, which is highly unlikely,it will be next to impossible to bring it home to him. Poor littleKharrak Singh! I give you my word, Bob, I really was most uncommonfond of that little chap. He used to sit opposite me like littleDombey--I showed him the picture when last mail came in, and he laughedlike anything--and say the most old-fashioned things. I'm glad Antonyain't likely to send me back to Agpur. I should be thinking that I sawhim all about the place."
"I'm jolly glad you don't feel yourself pledged to return."
"Sort of nineteenth-century Regulus? Well, that'll depend upon myorders, of course, and I don't take 'em from Sher Singh. Not that wehave had any rupture. I told him quite politely that I could hold nofurther communication with him until the Rani was safe at Ranjitgarh,and that we start to-morrow morning."
"Quite so. Hal, a minute or two ago you paid me a very handsomecompliment. Hang compliments! says I, and show a little confidence.Will you take my advice, and while making elaborate, even ostentatious,preparations for starting to-morrow morning, set off tonight instead?"
"My dear fellow, have you gone quite mad?"
"There's a prodigious deal of method in my madness. Say that SherSingh, in confab with his friends, or his own uneasy conscience, beginsto perceive the extreme improbability of your returning quietly intothe lion's mouth once you are safely out of it. Do you think he won'tharden his heart like Pharaoh, and refuse to let you go?"
"It's possible, of course. But I fail to see how you would conduct amoonlight flitting from the heart of his camp."
"That's my artfulness, my dear Hal. We can't hope to slip awayunnoticed, I grant you. But I do believe we can take 'em by surprise,and walk out before they can combine to stop us. We have the guns, andthe hotties, which would be useful in breaking a path, and those twofacts may even induce them to let us go without a fuss. Otherwise Ishould have proposed spiking the guns, which are in a state ofrottenness calculated to do more harm to us than to the enemy, andleaving the hotties, taking the women behind us on our horses. But ifby making an awe-inspiring impression we can get away without a fight,it's just as well under the circumstances--especially as the Rani haspromised us our fill of gore later on. I should say, start as soon asthe moon rises, in two hours or so. We can't go at once, because theRani's hotty and the one we have been using all day will require alittle rest, or I should have advised that."
"But Sher Singh will simply follow and attack us on the march, and hehas the big battalions."
"Now look here, Hal. You'll allow that I know something of the countrythrough which I came two days ago? Two marches will take us well intoDarwan, where Sher Singh don't dare follow us, or he will have theDarwanis up round him like a hive of bees. The place where he will tryto stop us is a rough jungly bit about half-way--one of the disputedboundary districts. We must get through it by daylight. Six hours'forced march to-night will bring us nearly to it. We halt for anothertwo hours' rest, and then press on at once. Once through that bit weare practically safe. Marching morning and afternoon we should notreach it till evening, and during the night Sher Singh would have ampletime to lay an ambush for us. If we take him by surprise, anythoughtful preparations on his part must be fairly sketchy incharacter."
"I see your point. But no one can help knowing we are starting at oncewhen they see the tents being struck."
"Then leave 'em standing. You can take your clothes and your papersand your hair-brushes, and sacrifice the rest. Oh, I know you arestill dragging about with you the chest of drawers you got for thecabin when we came out, and the long chair you bought at Madeira----"
"Nonsense!" said Gerrard, rather vexed. "But I like my own thingsabout me, I confess."
"The very reason why you should be deprived of 'em! You won't know theproper wilderness spirit till you are. What's a chair? Something tosit on when the ground's dirty or swampy. A table? Something to eatoff or write at when there ain't a flat rock handy. Not friends--notpieces of yourself--which is what you make of 'em. Release yourselffrom this tyranny of material things--as your pater used to quoteSocrates or some other old codger as saying. We don't want tents, andthe women must do with the howdah."
"All right; have it your own way. We'll start to-night."
"Give your secret orders to that effect to Badan Hazari, then. You'llfind that my Darwanis have been already tipped the wink, and the womentoo, and the fires are being kept low so as not to shed too much lightupon our movements."
"I am much honoured in placing myself at the disposal of so far-sighteda commander," said Gerrard, a little stiffly, as he saluted. Charterislaughed, and clapped him on the back with a friendly force no stiffnesscould survive.
"Ain't we too old friends to stand on our dignity with each other, Hal?I have taken a lot upon myself, I confess it, but you are in commandhere, and I know it as well as you do. Jolly cheeky of me to offer youadvice, of course, but I couldn't see you rushing into destructionwithout hinting at the fact."
"I know. It's all right, old boy. Well now, will you lead theadvance, as a favour to me?"
"Hal, you're a brick. No, I won't. You go first, with your ownGranthis, whom you have well in hand, I suppose? at any rate, theywon't fire unless you give the word. Then Rukn-ud-din, with the gunsand hotties--and incidentally the women--and then your humble servantwith the Darwanis. If they led, they would fire right and left forpure devilry, but being in the rear, I think I can make them see thenecessity of waiting till they are attacked."
The evening meal had been hurriedly despatched during the course ofthis conversation, and Gerrard now went out to summon Badan Hazari andgive him his orders, while Charteris saw to the packing of such oftheir joint possessions as were not too heavy to impede a hasty flight.The moon had barely risen when the column formed up for the march,Gerrard and his men leading, the Agpuris, with the women, elephants,guns and baggage in the centre, and Charteris with his Darwanisbringing up the rear. He had taken the precaution to warn the sentriesround the tents to turn back any coolie who might try t
o creep out andcarry information to the main camp, while any outsider dropping in fora little friendly conversation was to be gently but firmly detained,and this, with the ruse of leaving the tents standing, kept SherSingh's men completely in the dark. There was a wild scene ofconfusion when they realised what was happening, tomtoms beating,trumpets sounding, and men rushing together, but the compact body ofmatchlockmen with their matches lighted, and troopers with drawnswords, looked so formidable that beyond firing a stray shot or two,the army made no opposition to their progress. The Darwanis werewildly desirous to reply to the random shots with a volley, butCharteris succeeded in keeping them in hand, and the column ploughedits way steadily across the sand of the river-bed, and up the bank onthe opposite side. The country was fairly open here, but Gerrard sentout scouts in front and flanking-parties on either side, to guardagainst a determined rush, which might be deadly in its result if SherSingh were less easily hoodwinked than he seemed. Two of the Darwaniswho knew the country well from past raids, and had guided Charteris ashe came, rode ahead to show the way, and the column tramped on doggedlyin the moonlight, the great lurching forms of the elephants castingstrange shadows by the way.
After a long day's hunting, and an evening so full of excitement,Gerrard found it difficult not to sleep as he rode. In fact, his mindwas asleep, though his eyes were open and keenly surveying thelandmarks, which persisted in assuming the form of advancing masses oftroops, or exhibiting lights where no lights were. He found reliefoccasionally in riding back a little to whip up stragglers, but it gavehim unfeigned pleasure when, after what seemed untold hours ofmarching, Charteris pricked forward to tell him that they were nowwithin a mile of the "bad bit," and had better halt where they wereuntil dawn. But Gerrard had no mind to give in too soon.
"You don't think it would be well to press on and push through at onego, Bob? The men don't seem at all done up," he felt it his duty tosay.
Charteris hesitated a moment. "No, I don't," he said. "If Sher Singhis occupying the bad bit at all, his men are there already--sent offprobably while he kept you in talk after the big flare-up--for it wouldbe no good despatching them after we had started. Don't it strike youas queer that they have made no motion to harass our rear? I imaginethey are holding back till they can catch us between two fires. If youagree with me, let us give the beasts a rest and a feed here, and sendtwo or three of my beggars scouting ahead."
Gerrard consented, and they saw that the horses were picketed so as toprovide a barrier against a sudden rush, made the men lie down withtheir weapons beside them, posted sentries all round the bivouac, andagreed to keep watch for an hour each, to ensure the sentries not goingcalmly to sleep. Gerrard, who felt wide-awake again now after talkingand walking about, insisted on taking the first watch, which passeduneventfully. Then he called Charteris, and dropping into the hollowwhich the latter had scooped for himself in the sand, was asleep in amoment, only to be waked, as it seemed, in another moment, by hisfriend's shaking him vigorously.
"Time to get up, Hal! No shaving-water, so don't look round in thatbewildered way. You'd arrive at Ranjitgarh with a beard--a fine,flowing, patriarchal, even prophetic beard, like what Ronaldson hastaken to sport--if this sort of thing went on long. He paid me a visitwhen he was passing through to his district, and I assure you I wasimmensely taken with his new adornment. It would be perfectly killingamong the ladies, I'm sure--throw our poor whiskers and moustacheshorribly into the shade. Talk of owls! I never saw any one stare likeyou. This, my young friend, is a cup of tea, and this is a hard-boiledegg--the best _choti haziri_ our chaps can manage--and the animalbeside you, looking astonished at your laziness, is your horse,vulgarly termed a quad. But give me your hand, old boy, and let mehaul you up to take part in this epicurean meal."
"You're in spirits to-day, Bob," observed Gerrard, with a mighty yawn,as he accepted the tin cup.
"Ray-ther, just a few! There's a rare good fight in front of us,Hal--or else a very fine piece of strategy, which is almost assatisfactory when you have women to look after. Sher Singh's fellowsare in occupation of the bad bit, as I suspected--posted on both sidesof the track. But--and here comes in the possibility ofstrategy--there's another path besides that one, and I told my scoutsto investigate its practicability. They report that it's passable forhotties, which is what I was inclined to doubt, but they don't think weshall ever get the guns up there. Here's your problem, then, mybudding Wellington. Do we fight our way through by the ordinarytrack--in view of the condition of our guns I omit the alternative ofshelling the enemy out of their hiding-places first--or do we take upposition with the guns before the mouth of the defile and make a feintthere, while the hotties are going round the other way? We might evenfire the guns once or twice with reduced charges before spiking themand leaving them there to cumber the ground, while we make ourselvesscarce and overtake the rest."
"You know which it must be before asking me," said Gerrard mournfully."We daren't risk taking the women through a running fight in thedefile, especially if, as you said last night, Sher Singh is hanging onour heels as well. I'll take the guns and my Granthis and look afterthe feigned attack, while you get the women through behind the enemy'sback, and are ready to support us with the Darwanis if Sher Singh turnsup."
"All right," said Charteris shortly.
"You want the fight, I know. But would you be satisfied with a feintso long as the guns didn't burst? Not you, old boy; I know you. Youwould hang on to that defile, or more probably get half-way through it,until Sher Singh came up behind you and your retreat was cut off. Youshall do rear-guard again when we rejoin, and as that is when the realfight will probably come, I can't do better for you."
It was still only twilight when Gerrard and his men, with the twofield-pieces drawn by bullocks, left the bivouac for the mouth of thedefile, with one of the Darwani guides to pioneer for them. Another ofthese men was to remain on the hillock where the halt had been made, towatch for any sign of pursuit from the Adamkot direction, and bring thenews instantly if any appeared. Charteris and the main body, with theelephants, struck to the right of Gerrard's line of march to gain theother path, and that their intention might not become apparent to theliers-in-wait, Gerrard halted his guns as soon as he was withinpossible range of the mouth of the defile, and with fear and tremblingdischarged them both, by way of giving the enemy something to thinkabout. The guns did not burst, and though the shot fell far short, inconsequence of the reduced charges, they drew an excited matchlock firefrom the men in ambush, which did no harm, but showed their positions.The guns moved on, and Gerrard found excellent places for them in somerocky ground thick with thorny bushes, while his matchlockmen exchangedlong shots with the concealed enemy. The fire of the field-piecesseemed to have an impressive moral effect, preventing any desire ofcoming out into the open on the enemy's part, but was unsuccessful inturning them out of their hiding-places, which were in the cliffsoverlooking the track. Gerrard advanced his sharp-shooters and changedthe position of the guns from time to time, but the sun was growinghot, his men were grumbling loudly because he would not allow them tocharge the defenders, and he was glad to see that the time he had fixedwith Charteris for his withdrawal was approaching. His men wererecalled from the front two or three at a time, the remainder keepingup a brisk fire to delude the enemy and divert their minds, and whenall were withdrawn, the two cannon were spiked, and a start made acrossthe rocky ground towards the right. Before they had gone far, thescout left at the bivouac came riding in hot haste to say that he hadseen a great cloud of dust advancing from the direction of Adamkot, andevidently concealing a large force of horsemen hastening towards thesound of the firing. This was vexatious, as they would probably arriveat the spiked field-pieces and divine the truth long before the ambushin the defile would be emboldened by the silence to creep down and seewhat had happened, and Gerrard hurried his men on. It was difficult tohasten, however, over the rough ground and through the thorny bushes,while it was in
advisable to venture out upon the plain lest they shouldbe seen, and the horsemen sweep down upon them. The cloud of dust wasquite visible now, whenever a break in the jungle gave a view of theplain, and Gerrard found himself wondering whether the pursuers had aman of Charteris's type or of his own in command of them. He could nothelp hoping it might prove to be his own.
Before it seemed possible that the deserted guns could have been found,examined, and the correct deductions drawn, the shouts of the pursuinghorsemen could be heard as they raced along the level ground of theplain, seeking for their prey. It was impossible that they should notdiscern the movements of Gerrard's men, but they could not chargethrough the jungle, and when they came near enough, he halted and gavethem a volley. The sight of horses and men rolling over checked themfor a moment, but he wondered how long it would be before they thoughtof pushing forward a party to intercept him in front. Almost as theidea crossed his mind, a dropping fire broke out from among the bushesin advance, and he realised that Charteris was waiting for him. Thehorsemen drew off when they saw they were opposed by a larger body thanthey expected, and Charteris emerged from a lair in the bushes and cameup to his friend.
"On with you, Hal!" he cried cheerily. "Rukn-ud-din and the hottiesare halted till you come up, for fear the enemy should be waiting forthem at the other end of the defile. I'll retreat upon you gradually,and keep these beggars back."
"All right!" and Gerrard and his men, now on more open ground, wereable to urge their horses to something beyond a walk. The so-calledpath was very rugged, and he wondered how they had been able to get theelephants along it at all. Indeed, when he reached them, the mahoutswere complaining loudly, and making much display of the wounded feet oftheir charges. The nearer sound of firing behind showed thatCharteris's force was nearly up, and Gerrard, sending back a messengerto see whether he was hard pressed, led the main body on, disregardingthe grumblers. Charteris returned answer that he was getting along allright, but warned Gerrard again of a possible rush when the end of thepath was reached, and he sent forward scouts to examine the ground. Aburst of firing ahead was his first intimation that Charteris's fearswere justified, and two out of the five scouts came scurrying back tosay that the enemy had evidently evacuated the defile, and wereawaiting the fugitives here. As there was no narrow mouth to hold,however, they could not command the path from above, and were merelylying hidden among the rocks and bushes on either side. Gerrardordered his men to hold their fire in case of a rush, and was glad hehad done so--unpleasant as was the storm of bullets drawn upon thecolumn by the easy mark offered by the elephants--when he saw that abody of the enemy were actually posted in front to block his way. Onlyone plan was now possible, and he gave orders to Rukn-ud-din and BadanHazari that when the proper moment came, the horsemen should open outand allow the elephants to break a path. At the sound of his whistlethe horsemen faced outwards, and on either side fired a volley into thebushes, while the elephants were urged on. For a moment the enemystood their ground, and the bullets which met the great beasts maddenedthem. Trumpeting loudly, they rushed through the opposing ranks, allbut one, and the rout was completed by the swords of the horsemen whofollowed.
It was the hunting-elephant, driven frantic by a bullet in a speciallytender spot, which broke the line and turned sideways, overthrowing twoGranthis and their horses as she did so. The mahout, with voice andgoad, tried manfully to get her back into the path, but there was amoment's wild confusion, in the midst of which Gerrard became aware ofa mob of wild Darwanis, their garments flying, charging down upon hisrear.
"They have broken through! Our Sahib is slain--Chatar Sahib--the RedSahib!" they yelled. "Fly for your lives!"
Gerrard spurred back impetuously to stop them, under a hail of bulletsfrom the enemy rallying in the bushes. A sudden numbing pain in hisarm made him drop the reins, and he had only time to realise that SherSingh's pursuing horsemen were on the heels of the fugitives beforetheir rush swept him from the saddle, and he went down into a cruelwelter of hoofs. Then all was silence.
When he recovered consciousness, he was lying helpless, and as hethought bound, in an elephant's howdah. An attempt at movement showedhim that he was not bound, but bruised and wounded from head to heel.
"Heaven-born!" said a voice at his side, and he distinguished the tonesof Munshi Somwar Mal. "Now do the roses bloom again in the garden ofjoy, since your honour lives!"
"But Charteris Sahib--the Rani--every one?" murmured Gerrard, trying toremember what had happened.
"The Rani Sahiba saw your honour fall, and herself took command of thesoldiers, bidding them die rather than fail to recover your body.Sirdar Badan Hazari was killed, fighting very valiantly, and theKomadan Sahib Rukn-ud-din now leads the troops."
"But Charteris Sahib--what of him, I say?"
"Alas, sahib! The Rani Sahiba bade return to look for him when the foewere driven back, but none were found alive save a wounded Darwani, whohad seen Chatar Sahib's body thrown over a horse and carried away."
The Path to Honour Page 12
