by G. A. Henty
“I hope you will come again,” he said; “but not for another six months, for assuredly you will take away with you pretty nearly every rupee in the fortress. My wife and the other ladies are all well content with their purchases, and agree that they would not have got them cheaper at Seringapatam, or Bangalore.”
“We try to buy cheaply and sell cheaply,” Surajah said modestly. “In that way we turn over our money quickly. But it is seldom, indeed, that we find so good a market as we have done here. When we left Bangalore, we thought that it might be a month before we should have to go back there to replenish our packs from our magazine; but we shall only have been away five or six days.”
“I am glad that you are content, for you are honest traders, and not like some of the rascals that have come up to the forts I have commanded, and fleeced the soldiers right and left.”
Although not given to blushing, Dick felt that he coloured under his dye at the praise; for although they had certainly sold cheaply, he doubted whether the term honest could be fairly applied to the whole transaction.
As ten o’clock approached, the two friends sat with open door, listening intently for every sound. Conversation was still going on in the houses, and occasionally they could make out a dark figure crossing the yard.
It was not yet ten when a light footfall was heard, and a moment later Captain Holland appeared at the door.
“It is all right so far,” he said, “but wait five minutes, to give me time to get the ladder fixed. You had better come one by one, and stroll quietly across the yard. It is too dark for anyone to recognise you, unless they run right against you; and even if they do so, they will not think it strange you should be out, after having been cooped up all the day.”
In another moment he was gone. They had each, during the day, gone out for a time, and had walked round through the narrow lane behind the governor’s house, to see that there were no obstructions that they might fall over in the dark. They agreed, on comparing notes, that Captain Holland had chosen the best possible place for scaling the wall, for the lane was evidently quite unused, and the house, which was higher than the wall, would completely screen them from observation.
In five minutes Dick followed his father, leaving Surajah to come on in a minute or two. They had secured about them the gold and silver they had received for their purchases, but they left behind a large heap of copper coins, on the top of which Dick had placed his letter to the governor, and the parcel containing the brace of pistols. He met no one on his way to the rendezvous, but almost ran against his father in the dark.
“Steady, Dick, or you will run me down,” Captain Holland said. “I have got the ladder fixed, so you had better go up at once. Take these three spears with you. I will bring the long ladder.”
“We sha’n’t want the spears, Father. We have a brace of double-barrelled pistols, and two brace of single barrels.”
“Never mind that, Dick. You will see that they will come in useful.”
Dick took the spears, and mounted the ladder without further question. His father then came up and placed the long rope, which, with the pieces of wood, was a bulky bundle, on the wall and then descended again. It was another five minutes before Surajah came up.
“I was stopped on the way,” he said, “and had to talk with one of the officers.”
He and the captain were soon by Dick’s side. The ladder was then pulled up, and lowered on the other side of the wall. They were soon standing at its foot.
“Shall I jerk the ladder down, Father?”
“I think not, Dick. It would only make a clatter, and it is no matter to us whether they find it in the morning or not. You had better follow me. I know every foot of the ground, and there are some nasty places, I can tell you.”
They had to make several detours, to avoid ravines running deep into the plateau, and for a time Captain Holland walked very cautiously. When he had passed these, he stepped out briskly, and in less than an hour from starting they were near the edge of the precipice. Their eyes had, by this time, become accustomed to the darkness.
“We are just there now,” Captain Holland said. “But we must go very cautiously, for the rock falls sheer away, without warning. Ah! There is the edge, a few yards ahead of me.
“Now, do you stay where you are, while I feel about for that spear head I put in to mark the place. It had about three feet of the staff on it. If it were not for that, there would be small chance of finding it. I know it is somewhere close here.”
In a few minutes he returned to them.
“I have found it,” he said. “Keep close behind me.”
After walking for fifty yards, he stopped.
“Here it is, lads.
“Now give me those spears, Dick.”
He thrust them firmly into the ground, a few inches apart.
“Throw your weight on them, too,” he said. “That is right. Now they will stand many times the strain we shall put on them.
“I have chosen this place, Dick, for two reasons. In the first place, because it is the most perpendicular, and in the second, because the soil and grass project slightly over the edge of the rock. There is a cushion in that bundle, and four spear heads. I will peg it down close to the edge, and the rope will run easily over it.
“Now, Surajah, we had better let you down first. You will be tied quite securely, and there will be no risk whatever, as you know, of the rope giving way. I should advise you to keep your eyes shut, till you get to the bottom, for the rope will certainly twist round and round; but keep your arms well in front of you, and whenever you feel the rock, open your eyes, and send yourself off with your arms and legs. I don’t think you will touch, for at this point it seemed to me, as I looked down, that the rock projects farther out than anywhere else on the face of the precipice, and that a stone dropped straight down would fall some fourteen or fifteen feet from its foot. Would you like me to bandage your eyes?”
“No, thank you. I will keep my eyes closed.”
“That is the best thing you can do,” Captain Holland said, “though it is so dark that you would not be able to see, if you did. When you get to the bottom, untie the rope, pull it gently down, and call out to me whether the lowest piece of stick touches the ground. If it does not, I will pull it up again and fasten on some more. I have got a dozen spare ones with me.”
Captain Holland then told Surajah and Dick to take off their upper garments. These he wound round and round the lower four feet of the rope, increasing its diameter to over two inches.
“There,” he said, as he fastened this round Surajah’s body, under the arms. “It won’t hurt you, now. That silk rope would have cut in an inch deep before you got to the bottom, if it had not been covered.”
Then he took off his own garment, made it up into a roll, lashed one end to the rope in the centre of Surajah’s back, passed it between his legs and fastened it to the knot at his chest.
“There,” he said; “that will prevent any possibility of the thing slipping up over your shoulders, and will take a lot of the strain off your chest.”
Then he lay down and crawled forward to the edge, pegged the cushion down, and then, turning to Surajah, said:
“All is ready now.”
Surajah had felt rather ashamed that all these precautions should be taken for him, while the others would have to rely solely upon their hands and feet, and, sternly repressing any sign of nervousness, he stepped forward to the side of Captain Holland.
“That is right,” the captain said approvingly. “Now, lie down by my side, and work yourself backwards. Go over on one side of the cushion, for you might otherwise displace it. I will hold your wrists and let you over. Dick will hold the rope. I will put it fairly on the cushion. Then I shall take it and stand close to the edge, and pay it out gradually as you go down. If you should find any projecting piece of rock, call out ‘Stop!’ I will hold on at once. We can then talk over how we can best avoid the difficulty. When you are down, and I tell you Dic
k is coming, take hold of one of the steps, and hold the ladder as firmly as you can, so as to prevent it from swaying about.
“Now, are you ready?”
“Quite ready,” Surajah said, in a firm voice.
Dick, who was standing five or six yards back, tightened the rope. Gradually he saw Surajah’s figure disappear over the edge.
“Slack out a little bit,” his father said. “That is right. I have got it over the cushion. Now hold it firmly until I am on my feet. That is right. Now pay it out gradually.”
It seemed an endless time, to Dick, before his father exclaimed:
“The strain is off! Thank God, he has got down all right!”
A minute later there was a slight pull on the rope, and the captain paid it out until he heard a call from below.
“Have you got to the lowest stick?” he asked, leaning over.
“Yes; it is just touching the ground.”
“Not such a bad guess,” the captain said, as he turned to Dick. “There are about twenty feet left.”
He now fastened the rope round the spears in the ground.
“I will lower you down, if you like, Dick. You are half as heavy again as that young native, but I have no doubt that I can manage it.”
“Not at all, Father. I am not a bit nervous about it. If it was light, I should not feel so sure of myself, for I might turn giddy; but there is no fear of my doing so now.”
“Well, lad, it is as well to be on the safe side, and I manufactured this yesterday.”
He put a loop, composed of a rope some four feet long, over Dick’s shoulders and under his arms. To each end was attached a strong double hook, like two fingers.
“There, lad! Now, if you feel at all tired or shaky, all you have got to do is to hook this on to one of the steps. Do you see? One hook on each side of the cord. That way you can rest as long as you like, and then go on again. You say you can go down a rope with your hands only. I should advise you to do that, if you can, and not to use your legs unless you want to sit down on one of the long steps; for, as you know, if you use your feet the rope will go in till they are almost level with your head; while, if you use your arms only, it will hang straight down.”
“I know, Father. And I don’t suppose I shall have to rest at all, for these cross sticks make it ten times as easy as having to grip the rope only.”
Dick laid himself down as Surajah had done, and crawled backwards until he was lying half over the edge. Then he seized the rope and began to descend, hand over hand. He counted the rungs as he went down, and half way he sat down on one of the long pieces, hitched the hooks on to the one above, and rested his arms. After a short pause, he continued until he reached the bottom.
The captain, who was stooping with his hand on the rope, felt the vibration cease, and as he leaned over he heard Dick call out:
“I am all right, Father. Those bits of wood make easy work of it.”
Then the captain at once began to descend, and was soon standing beside his son and Surajah.
“Thank God that job is finished! How do you both feel?”
“My arms feel as if they had done some work, Father. I have been four or five months without practice, or I should hardly have felt it.”
“And how are you, Surajah?”
“I feel ashamed at having been let down like a baby, Captain Holland, and at being so nervous.”
“There is nothing to be ashamed of,” Captain Holland said. “Rope climbing is a thing that only comes with practice; and as to nervousness, most landsmen are afraid to trust themselves to a rope at all. Did you open your eyes?”
“Not once, Sahib. I kept my arms out, as you told me, but I did not touch anything. I could feel that I was spinning round and round, and was horribly frightened just at first. But I went down so smoothly and quietly that the feeling did not last long; for I knew that the rope was very strong, and as I did not touch anything, it seemed to me that there could be no fear of it being cut against the rock.”
The clothes were soon unwound from the rope, and put on again. Captain Holland cut off all the slack of the rope, and made it into a coil.
“The slope is all right, as far as I could see from the top,” he said; “but we may come across nasty bits again, and this will stand in useful, if we do.”
They went down cautiously, but at a fair rate of speed; until, without meeting with any serious difficulty, they arrived on the plain. Four miles’ brisk walking brought them to the grove where Ibrahim had been left, and they had scarce entered among the trees when he asked:
“Who is it that is coming?”
“It is us, Ibrahim. We have got my father!”
Ibrahim gave an exclamation of joy, and a minute later they joined him.
“You were not asleep, then, Ibrahim?” Dick said.
“No, my lord. I have slept during the day, and watched at night; but I did not sleep yesterday, for I was growing sorely anxious, and had begun to fear that harm had befallen you.”
“Well, let us be off at once. Of course, we have had to leave the horses behind us, and I want to be at Cenopatam by daybreak. We will buy horses there.”
They struck across the country to the southwest, until they came on a road between Magree and Cenopatam, and arrived within sight of the latter town just at daybreak. As they walked, Dick and Surajah had, with no small amount of pain, removed their beards and the patches of hair.
“You ought both to have shaved before you put those things on,” Captain Holland said, as they muttered exclamations of pain. “You see, cobbler’s wax, or whatever it is, sticks to what little down there is on your cheeks and chin, and I don’t wonder that it hurts horribly, pulling it off. If you had shaved first, you would not have felt any of that.”
“I will remember that, Father, if I ever have to disguise myself again,” Dick said. “I feel as if I were pulling the whole skin off my face.”
The painful task was at last finished.
“I shall be glad to have a look at you in the morning, Dick,” his father said, “so as to see what you are really like; of which I have not the least idea, at present. You must feel a deal more comfortable, now that you have got rid of the rope.”
“I am, indeed. I am sure Surajah must be quite as much pleased at leaving his padding behind.”
They stopped half a mile from the town, which was a place of considerable size. Dick took, from the saddlebag of the horse Ibrahim was leading, the bottle of liquid with which he was in the habit of renewing his staining every few days, and darkened his father’s face and hands. Then they took off their costumes as merchants, and put on their peasants’ attire. Dick directed Ibrahim to make a detour, so as to avoid the town and come down on the road half a mile beyond it, and there wait until they rejoined them—for his father was to accompany Ibrahim.
It was growing light as Dick and Surajah entered the town, and in half an hour the streets became alive with people. After some search, they found a man who had several horses to sell, and, after the proper amount of bargaining, they purchased three fairly good animals. Another half hour was occupied in procuring saddles and bridles, and, after riding through quiet streets to avoid questioning, they left the town, and soon rejoined their companions.
“Now, Surajah,” Dick said, “we will be colonels again for a bit.”
The saddlebags were again opened, and in a few minutes they were transformed.
“Why, where on earth did you get those uniforms?” Captain Holland asked, in surprise. “Those sashes are the signs that their wearers are officers of the Palace, for I have seen them more than once at Kistnagherry; and the badges are those of colonels. There is nothing like impudence, Dick, but it seems to me it would have been safer if you had been contented with sub-officers’ uniforms.”
Dick laughed.
“We are wearing them because we have a right to them,” Dick laughed. “We are both colonels in Tippoo’s army, and officers of the Palace—that is, we were so until a month ago, though I
expect since then our names have been struck off their army list. I will tell you about it, as we ride.”
“You had better tell me afterwards, Dick. I have never ridden a horse in my life, except when they were taking me from the coast to Mysore, and I shall have enough to do to keep my seat and attend to my steering, without trying to listen to you.”
They rode all day, passed through Anicull and Oussoor, and halted for the night in a grove two or three miles farther on. They had not been questioned as, at a walk, they went through the town. Captain Holland had ridden behind with Ibrahim, and the latter had stopped and laid in a stock of provisions at Anicull.
“Thank goodness that is over!” Captain Holland said, as they dismounted. “I feel as if I had been beaten all over with sticks, and am as hungry as a hunter.”
“Ibrahim will have some food ready in half an hour, Father, and I shall be glad of some myself. Though, you know, we all had some chupatties he bought.”
“They were better than nothing, Dick, but a pancake or two does not go very far, with men who have been travelling since ten o’clock last night. Well, lad, I am glad that you have got rid of your beard, and that, except for that brown skin, I am able to have a look at you as you are. You will be bigger than I am, Dick—bigger by a good bit, I should say, and any father might be proud of you, much more so one who has been fetched out from a captivity from which he had given up all hope of escaping. As it is, lad, words can’t tell how grateful I feel, to God, for giving me such a son.”
“My dear Father, it is Mother’s doing. It has been her plan, ever since she heard that you were wrecked, that we should come out here to find you, and she has had me regularly trained for it. I had masters for fencing and gymnastics, we always talked Hindustani when we were together, and she has encouraged me to fight with other boys, so that I should get strong and quick.”
That evening by the fire, Dick told his father the whole story of his life since he had been in India.
