With Clive in India; Or, The Beginnings of an Empire

by G. A. Henty

  Chapter 12: A Murderous Attempt.

  Handsome rooms, with a suite of attendants, were assigned to Charliein the rajah's palace; and he was formally appointed commander of hisforces. The four Sepoys were appointed to junior ranks, as was alsoTim Kelly; who, however, insisted on remaining in the position ofchief attendant upon his master; being, in fact, a sort of majordomoand valet in one, looking after his comforts when in the palace, andaccompanying him as personal guard whenever he rode out.

  "You niver know, yer honor, what these natives may be up to. They'llsmile with you one day, and stab ye the next. They're treacherousvarmint, yer honor, if you do but give 'em the chance."

  At first, Charlie perceived that his position excited some jealousy inthe minds of those surrounding the rajah. He therefore did all in hispower to show to them that he, in no way, aspired to interfere in theinternal politics or affairs of the little state--that he was asoldier and nothing more. He urged upon the rajah, who wished to havehim always by him, that it was far better that he should appear tohold aloof, and to avoid all appearance of favouritism, or of a desireto obtain dominance in the counsels of the rajah. He wished that theappointments to the posts of officers in the new force should be madeby the rajah, who should lend an ear to the advice of his usualcouncillors; but that, once appointed, they should be under hisabsolute command and control, and that he should have power to dismissthose who proved themselves indolent and incapable, to promote activeand energetic men, wholly regardless of influence or position.

  The next morning, Charlie and his four assistants set to work to drillthe three hundred men of the garrison, taking them in parties oftwenty. They were thus able, in the course of a few days, to pick outthe most active and intelligent for the sub-officers; and these, withthe existing officers of the body, and the new ones appointed by therajah, were at once taken in hand to be taught their duty.

  For a month, the work went on steadily and without interruption, andfrom morn till night the courtyard echoed with the words of command.At the end of that time, the twenty officers and forty sub-officershad fairly learned their duty. The natives of India are very quick inlearning drill, and a regiment of newly-raised Sepoys will performmanoeuvres and answer to words of command, in the course of afortnight, as promptly and regularly as would one of English recruitsin three months.

  A good many changes had taken place during the month's work. Many ofthe officers became disgusted with hard and continuous work, to whichthey were unaccustomed, while some of the sub-officers showed adeficiency of the quickness and intelligence needed for the work.Their places, however, were easily filled, and as the days went on,all took an increasing degree of interest, as they acquired facilityof movement, and saw how quickly, according to the European methods,manoeuvres were gone through. At the end of a month, then, the sixtymen were able in turn to instruct others; and, a body of five hundredmen being called out, the work of drilling on a large scale began.

  The drill ground now was a level space in the valley below the town,and the whole population assembled, day after day, to look on withastonishment at the exercises. The four great companies, orbattalions, as Charlie called them, were kept entirely separate, eachunder the command of one of the Sepoys, under whom were a proportionof the officers and sub-officers. Every evening, Charlie came down foran hour, and put each body through its drill, distributing blame orpraise as it was deserved, thus keeping up a spirit of emulationbetween the battalions. At the end of a fortnight, when the simplermanoeuvres had been learned, Charlie, for two hours each day, workedthe whole together as one regiment; and was surprised, himself, tofind how rapid was the progress which each day effected.

  The rajah himself often came down to the drill ground, and took thehighest interest in the work. He himself would fain have had regularuniforms, similar to those worn by the Sepoys in the service of theEuropean powers, provided for the men; but Charlie strongly urged himnot to do so. He admitted that the troops would look immensely better,if clad in regular uniform; than as a motley band, each dressedaccording to his own fancy. He pointed out, however, that while thenews that the rajah was having some of his men drilled by Europeandeserters would attract but little attention among his neighbours, thereport that he was raising Sepoy battalions would certainly bereceived by them in a hostile spirit.

  "By all means," Charlie said, "get the uniforms made for the wholeforce, and keep them by you in store. They can be at once served outin case of war, and the sight of a number of Sepoy battalions, wherethey expected only to meet an irregular force, will have an immenseeffect upon any force opposed to you."

  The rajah saw the force of this argument, and at once ordered fivethousand suits of white uniforms, similar to those worn by the Sepoysin the English and French service, to be made and stored up in themagazines.

  While his lieutenants were drilling the main body, Charlie himselftook in hand a party of forty picked men, and instructed them in theuse of field guns. The superiority of Europeans in artillery was oneof the reasons which gave to them such easy victory, in their earlybattles with the native forces in India. The latter possessed a verypowerful artillery, in point of numbers, but there was no regulardrill nor manner of loading. They were in the habit, too, of allowingeach gun to cool after it was fired, before being loaded again. It wasthought, therefore, good practice if a gun were discharged once in aquarter of an hour. They were, then, utterly astounded and dismayed atthe effects of the European guns, each of which could be loaded andfired twice, or even three times, a minute.

  So month passed after month, until Rajah Boorhau was in a position toput, if necessary, five battalions of Sepoys, each seven hundredstrong, into the field; with thirty guns, served by trainedartillerymen. So quietly had the work gone on, that it attracted noattention among his neighbours. The mere rumour that the rajah hadsome European deserters in his service, and that these were drillingfour or five hundred men, was considered of so little moment that itpassed altogether unheeded.

  The accounts of the state of affairs in the Carnatic, which reachedCharlie, were not satisfactory--Dupleix, with his usual energy, wasaiding the son of Chunda Sahib, with men and money, in his combat withthe British protege; and most of the native allies of the latter hadfallen away from him. Trichinopoli was again besieged, and thefortunes of England, lately so flourishing, were waning again. In theDeccan, French influence was supreme. Bussy, with a strong andwell-disciplined French force, maintained Salabut Jung, whom theFrench had placed on the throne, against all opponents. At one time itwas the Peishwar, at another the Mahrattas against whom Bussy turnedhis arms; and always with success, and the French had acquired thefour districts on the coast, known as the Northern Sircas.

  It was in vain that Charlie endeavoured to gain an accurate knowledgeof the political position, so quickly and continually did this change.At one time the Peishwar and the Nizam, as the Subadar of the Deccanwas now called, would be fighting in alliance against one or other ofthe Mahratta chiefs. At another time they would be in conflict witheach other, while the Rajah of Mysore, Murari Reo, and other chiefswere sometimes fighting on one side, sometimes on another.

  Proud of his rapidly increasing force, Boorhau Reo would, more thanonce in the course of the year, have joined in the warfare going onaround. Charlie, however, succeeded in restraining him from doing so;pointing out that the victor of one day was the vanquished of thenext, and that it was worse than useless to join in a struggle ofwhich the conditions were so uncertain, and the changes of fortune sorapid, that none could count upon others for aid, however great theassistance they might have rendered only a short time before.

  "Were you to gain territory, Rajah, which you might, perhaps, largelydo, from the efficient aid which you might render to one party or theother, you would be the object of a hostile combination against whichyou could not hope to struggle."

  The rajah yielded at once to Charlie's arguments; but the influence ofthe latter added to the hostility, which the favour shown him by therajah had p
rovoked, among many of the leading men of the state. Wherethe sides were often so closely balanced as was the case in theseintestine struggles, the aid of every rajah, however small hisfollowing, was sought by one or other of the combatants; and thecounsellors of those able to place a respectable force in the fieldwere heavily bribed, by one side or the other. Those around RajahBoorhau found their efforts completely baffled by the influence of theEnglish commander of his forces, and a faction of increasing strengthand power was formed to overthrow him. The rajah himself had kept hissecret well, and one or two, only, of his advisers knew that theEnglishman was a trusted agent of the Company.

  The soldiers were much attached to their English leader. They foundhim always just and firm. Complaints were always listened to, tyrannyor ill treatment by the officers suppressed and punished, meritrewarded. Among the officers the strictness of the disciplinealienated many, who contrasted the easy life which they had led beforethe introduction of the European system, with that which they nowendured. So long as they were engaged in mastering the rudiments ofdrill they felt their disadvantage; but when this was acquired, eachthought himself capable of taking the place of the English adventurer,and of leading the troops he had organized to victory. Already,Charlie had received several anonymous warnings that danger threatenedhim. The rajah was, he knew, his warm friend; and he, in his delightat seeing the formidable force which had been formed from hisirregular levies, had presented him, as a token of his gratitude, withlarge sums of money.

  In those days, this was the method by which Indian princes rewardedEuropean officers who rendered them service, and it was considered byno means derogatory to the latter to accept the money. This was,indeed, the universal custom, and Charlie, knowing that Captain Clivehad received large presents of this kind, had no hesitation infollowing his example. The treasures stored up by many of these Indianprinces were immense, and a lac of rupees, equivalent to ten thousandpounds, was considered by no means a large present. Charlie,foreseeing that, sooner or later, the little state would becomeinvolved in hostilities, took the precaution of forwarding the moneyhe had received down to Madras; sending it piecemeal, in charge ofnative merchants and traders. It was, by these, paid into the Madrastreasury, where a large rate of interest, for all monies lent by itsemployees, was given by the Company.

  For those at home he felt no uneasiness. It was very seldom that theirletters reached him; but he learned that they were still in highfavour with his uncle, that his mother continued installed at the headof the house, and that the girls were both at excellent schools.

  Charlie mentioned, to the rajah, the rumours which had reached him ofa plot against him. The rajah assured him of his own support, underall circumstances, and offered that a strong guard should be placed,night and day, over the apartments he occupied.

  This Charlie declined.

  "A guard can always be corrupted," he said. "My Irish servant sleepsin my anteroom, my four lieutenants are close at hand, and knowingthat the soldiers are, for the most part, attached to me, I do notthink that open force will be used. I will, however, cause a largebell to be suspended above my quarters. Its ringing will be a signalthat I am attacked, in which case I rely upon your highness puttingyourself at the head of the guard, and coming to my assistance."

  Tim Kelly was at once furious and alarmed, at the news that dangerthreatened his master, and took every precaution that he could imagineto ensure his safety. He took to going down to the town, himself, topurchase provisions; and, so far as possible, prepared these himself.He procured two or three monkeys, animals which he held in horror, andoffered them a portion of everything that came on the table, before heplaced it before his master.

  Charlie at first protested against this, as his dinner became cold bywaiting; but Tim had an oven prepared, and ordered dinner half an hourbefore the time fixed by his master. Each dish as brought in was,after a portion had been given to a monkey, placed in the oven, andthus half an hour was given to allow the poison to work. This was donewithout Charlie's knowledge, the oven being placed in the anteroom,and the dishes thence brought in, in regular order, by the bodyservant, whom even Tim allowed to be devoted to his master.

  One day, Charlie was just sitting down to his soup, when Tim ran in.

  "For the love of Heaven, Mr. Charles, don't put that stuff to yourmouth. It's pisoned, or, at any rate, if it isn't, one of the otherdishes is."

  "Poisoned, Tim! Nonsense, man. You are always thinking of poisoningsand plots."

  "And it's lucky for your honor that I am," Tim said. "Jist come intothe next room, and look at the monkeys."

  Charlie went in. One of the little creatures was lying upon theground, evidently in a state of great agony. The other was sitting up,rocking itself backwards and forwards, like a human being in pain.

  "They look bad, poor little beasts," Charlie said; "but what has thatgot to do with my soup?"

  "Shure, yer honor, isn't that jist what I keep the cratures for, justto give them a taste of everything yer honor has, and I claps it intothe oven there to kape it warm till I've had time to see, by themonkeys, whether it's good."

  "It looks very serious," Charlie said, gravely. "Do you go quietlyout, Tim, call two men from the guardhouse, and seize the cook; andplace one or two men as sentries over the other servants. I will goacross to the rajah."

  The latter, on hearing what had happened, ordered the cook to bebrought before him, together with the various dishes prepared for thedinner. The man, upon being interrogated, vehemently denied allknowledge of the affair.

  "We shall see," the rajah said. "Eat up that plate of soup."

  The man turned pale.

  "Your highness will observe," he stammered, "that you have alreadytold me that one of these dishes is poisoned. I cannot say which, andwhichever I eat may be the fatal one."

  The rajah made a signal to him to obey his orders, but Charlieinterposed.

  "There is something in what he says, your highness. Whether the man isinnocent or guilty, he would shrink equally from eating any of them.It is really possible that he may know nothing of it. The poison mayhave been introduced into the materials beforehand. If the man istaken to a dungeon, I think I could suggest a plan by which we couldtest him.

  "I believe him to be guilty," he said, when the prisoner had beenremoved.

  "Then why not let him be beheaded at once?" the rajah asked.

  "I would rather let ten guilty men escape," Charlie replied, "than runthe risk of putting one innocent one to death. I propose, sir, thatyou order the eight dishes of food, which have been prepared for mydinner, to be carefully weighed. Let these be all placed in the cellof the prisoner, and there let him be left. In the course of two orthree days he will, if guilty, endeavour to assuage his hunger byeating little bits of food, from every dish except that which he knowsto be poisoned, but will take such a small portion from each that hewill think it will not be detected. If he is innocent, and is reallyignorant which dish is poisoned, he will not touch any of them, untildriven to desperation by hunger. Then he will seize on one or more,and devour them to the end, running the chance of death by poison,rather than endure the pangs of hunger longer."

  "Your plan is a wise one," the rajah said. "It shall be tried. Let thedishes be taken to him, every morning, and removed every evening. Eachevening they shall be weighed."

  These orders were carried out, and on the following morning the disheswere placed in the cell of the prisoner. When removed at night, theywere found to be untouched. The next evening several of the disheswere found to have lost some ounces in weight. The third evening allbut one had been tasted.

  "Let the prisoner be brought in again," the rajah ordered, wheninformed of this.

  "Dog," he said, "you have betrayed yourself. Had you been innocent,you could not have known in which of the dishes the poison had beenplaced. You have eaten of all but one. If that one contains poison,you are guilty."

  Then, turning to an attendant, he ordered him to take a portion of theuntouched f
ood, and to throw it to a dog. Pending the experiment, theprisoner was removed. Half an hour later, the attendant returned withthe news that the dog was dead.

  "The guilt of the man is confirmed," the rajah said. "Let him beexecuted."

  "Will you give him to me, your highness?" Charlie asked. "His deathwould not benefit me now, and to save his life, he may tell me who ismy enemy. It is of no use punishing the instrument, and letting theinstigator go free."

  "You are right," the rajah agreed. "If you can find out who bribedhim, justice shall be done, though it were the highest in the state."

  Charlie returned to his own quarters, assembled his lieutenants andseveral other of his officers, and had the man brought before him.

  "Hossein," he said, "you have taken money to take my life. I lookedupon you as my faithful servant. I had done you no wrong. It has beenproved that you attempted to poison me. You, when driven by hunger,ate small quantities, which you thought would pass unobserved, of allthe dishes but one. That dish has been given to a dog, and he hasdied. You knew, then, which was the poisoned dish. The rajah hasordered your execution. I offer you life, if you will tell me who itwas that tempted you."

  The prisoner preserved a stolid silence.

  "We had better proceed to torture him, at once," one of the rajah'sofficers said.

  The man turned a little paler. He knew well the horrible tortureswhich would, in such an instance, be inflicted to extort the names ofthose who had bribed him.

  "I will say nothing," he said, firmly, "though you tear me limb fromlimb."

  "I have no intention of torturing you," Charlie said. "A confessionextorted by pain is as likely to be false as true, and even did youtell me one name, there might still be a dozen engaged in it who wouldremain unknown. No, Hossein, you have failed in your duty, you havetried to slay a master who was kind to you, and trusted you."

  "No, sahib," the man exclaimed, passionately. "You did not trust me.The food I sent you was tested and tried. I knew it; but I thoughtthat the poison would not have acted on the monkeys, until you hadeaten the dish. The fool who sold it me deceived me. Had you trustedme, I would never have done it. It was only when I saw that I wassuspected and doubted, without cause, that my heart turned againstyou, and I took the gold which was offered to me to kill you. I swearit by the Prophet."

  Charlie looked at him steadily.

  "I believe you," he said. "You were mistaken. I had no suspicions. Myservant feared for me, and took these precautions without telling me.However, Hossein, I pardon you, and if you will swear to me to befaithful, in future, I will trust you. You shall again be my cook, andI will eat the food as you prepare it for me."

  "I am my lord's slave," the man said in a low tone. "My life is his."

  Charlie nodded, and the guard standing on either side of the prisonerstepped back, and without another word he left the room, a free man.

  Charlie's officers remonstrated with him upon having not only pardonedthe man, but restored him to his position of cook.

  "I think I have done wisely," Charlie said. "I must have a cook, forTim Kelly here is not famous that way; and although he might managefor me, when alone, he certainly could not turn out a dinner whichwould be suitable, when I have some of the rajah's kinsmen andofficers dining with me. Did I get another cook, he might be just asopen to the offers of my enemies as Hossein has been; and do you notthink that, after what has passed, Hossein will be less likely to takebribes than any other man?"

  Henceforth the oven was removed from the antechamber, and Charlie tookhis meals as Hossein prepared them for him. The man said little, butCharlie felt sure, from the glances that he cast at him, that he couldrely upon Hossein now to the death.

  Tim Kelly, who felt the strongest doubts as to the prudence of theproceeding, observed that Hossein no longer bought articles from menwho brought them up to sell to the soldiers, but that every morning hewent out early, and purchased all the supplies he desired from theshopkeepers in the town. Tim mentioned the fact to his master, whosaid:

  "You see, Tim, Hossein has determined that I shall not be poisonedwithout his knowing it. The little peddlers who come up here withherbs, and spices, and the ingredients for curry, might be bribed tosell Hossein poisoned goods. By going down into the town, and buyingin the open market, it is barely possible that the goods could bepoisoned. You need have no more anxiety whatever, Tim, as to poison.If the attempt is made again, it will probably be by sword or dagger."

  "Well, yer honor," said Tim, "anything's better than pison. I've gotto sleep almost with one eye open. And you've got sentries outsideyour windows. What a pity it is that we ain't in a climate where onecan fasten the windows, and boult the shutters! But now the wet seasonis over again, ye might have yer bed put, as ye did last year, on theroof of your room, with a canopy over it to keep off the dew. Ye wouldbe safe then, except from anyone coming through the room where Isleeps."

  Charlie's bedroom was at the angle of a wall, and on two sides hecould look down from his windows, two hundred feet, sheer into thevalley below. The view from the flat terraced roof was a charming one,and, as Tim said, Charlie had, in the fine weather, converted theterrace into a sleeping room. A broad canopy, supported by poles atthe corner, stretched over it, and even in the hottest weather thenights were not unpleasant here.