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diff --git a/40140-0.txt b/40140-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..58e0e04 --- /dev/null +++ b/40140-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18889 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40140 *** + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: + http://books.google.com/books?id=QScXAAAAYAAJ + (Harvard University Library) + + + + + + + ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS + + + + + + + ON THE FACE OF + + THE WATERS + + + + A TALE OF THE MUTINY + + + + + + BY + + FLORA ANNIE STEEL + + AUTHOR OF "MISS STUART'S LEGACY," "THE + FLOWER OF FORGIVENESS," ETC., ETC. + + + + + + New York + + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + + 1914 + + + + + + + Copyright, 1896, + + By PAUL R. REYNOLDS. + + + Copyright, 1897, + + By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + + * * * + +First Edition January, 1897. Reprinted January three times, February +twice, March three times, April twice, May, July, September, November, +1897; May, October, 1898; June, 1903; November, 1909; September, 1911; +July, 1914. + + + + + + Norwood Press: + + Berwick & Smith Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. + + + + + + + PREFACE. + + +A word of explanation is needed for this book, which, in attempting to +be at once a story and a history, probably fails in either aim. + +That, however, is for the reader to say. As the writer, I have only to +point out where my history ends, my story begins, and clear the way +for criticism. Briefly, then, I have not allowed fiction to interfere +with fact in the slightest degree. The reader may rest assured that +every incident bearing in the remotest degree on the Indian Mutiny, or +on the part which real men took in it, is scrupulously exact, even to +the date, the hour, the scene, the very weather. Nor have I allowed +the actual actors in the great tragedy to say a word regarding it +which is not to be found in the accounts of eye-witnesses, or in their +own writings. + +In like manner, the account of the sham court at Delhi--which I have +drawn chiefly from the lips of those who saw it--is pure history; and +the picturesque group of schemers and dupes--all of whom have passed +to their account--did not need a single touch of fancy in its +presentment. Even the story of Abool-Bukr and Newâsi is true; save +that I have supplied a cause for an estrangement, which undoubtedly +did come to a companionship of which none speak evil. So much for my +facts. + +Regarding my fiction: An Englishwoman _was_ concealed in Delhi, in the +house of an Afghan, and succeeded in escaping to the Ridge just before +the siege. I have imagined another; that is all. I mention this +because it may possibly be said that the incident is incredible. + +And now a word for my title. I have chosen it because when you +ask an uneducated native of India why the Great Rebellion came to +pass, he will, in nine cases out of ten, reply, "God knows! He +sent a Breath into the World." From this to a Spirit moving on the +face of the Waters is not far. For the rest I have tried to give a +photograph--that is, a picture in which the differentiation caused by +color is left out--of a time which neither the fair race or the dark +race is ever likely to quite forget or forgive. + +That they may come nearer to the latter is the object with which this +book has been written. + + F. A. STEEL. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + BOOK I. + + Thistledown and Gossamer + + CHAPTER + + I. Going! Going! Gone! + + II. Home, Sweet Home. + + III. The Great Gulf Fixed. + + IV. Tape And Sealing-Wax. + + V. Bravo! + + VI. The Gift of Many Faces. + + + BOOK II. + + The Blowing Of The Bubble. + + + I. In the Palace. + + II. In the City. + + III. On the Ridge. + + IV. In the Village. + + V. In the Residency. + + VI. The Yellow Fakir. + + VII. The Word Went Forth. + + + BOOK III. + + From Dusk to Dawn. + + + I. Night. + + II. Dawn. + + III. Daylight. + + IV. Noon. + + V. Sunset. + + VI. Dusk. + + + BOOK IV. + + "Such Stuff as Dreams are Made of." + + + I. The Death-Pledge. + + II. Peace! Peace! + + III. The Challenge. + + IV. Bugles and Fifes. + + V. The Drum Ecclesiastic. + + VI. Vox Humana. + + + BOOK V. + + "There Arose a Man." + + + I. Forward! + + II. Bits, Bridles, Spurs. + + III. The Beginning of the End. + + IV. At Last. + + V. Through the Walls. + + VI. Rewards and Punishments. + + + BOOK VI. + + Appendix A. + + Appendix B. + + + + + + + ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS + + + + + + + ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS. + + BOOK I. + + _THISTLEDOWN AND GOSSAMER_. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + GOING! GOING! GONE! + + +"Going! Going! Gone!" + +The Western phrase echoed over the Eastern scene without a trace of +doubt in its calm assumption of finality. It was followed by a pause, +during which, despite the crowd thronging the wide plain, the only +recognizable sound was the vexed yawning purr of a tiger impatient for +its prey. It shuddered through the sunshine, strangely out of keeping +with the multitude of men gathered together in silent security; but on +that March evening of the year 1856, when the long shadows of the +surrounding trees had begun to invade the sunlit levels of grass by +the river, at Lucknow, the lately deposed King of Oude's menagerie was +being auctioned. It had followed all his other property to the hammer, +and a perfect Noah's Ark of wild beasts was waiting doubtfully for a +change of masters. + +"Going! Going! Gone!" + +Those three cabalistic words, shibboleth of a whole hemisphere's greed +of gain, had just transferred the proprietary rights in an old tusker +elephant for the sum of eighteenpence. It is not a large price to pay +for a leviathan, even if he be lame, as this one was. Yet the new +owner looked at his purchase distastefully, and even the auctioneer +sought support in a gulp of brandy and water. + +"Fetch up them pollies, Tom," he said in a dejected whisper to a +soldier, who, with others of the fatigue party on duty, was trying to +hustle refractory lots into position. "They'll be a change after +elephants--go off lighter like. Then there's some of them La +Martiniery boys comin' down again as ran up the fightin' rams this +mornin'. Wonder wot the 'ead master said! But boys is allowed birds, +and Lord knows we want to be a bit brisker than we 'ave bin with +_guj-putti_. But there! it's slave-drivin' to screw bids for beasts as +eats hunder-weights out of poor devils as 'aven't enough for +themselves, or a notion of business as business." + +He shook his head resentfully yet compassionately over the impassive +dark faces around. He spoke as an auctioneer; yet he gave expression +to a very common feeling which in the early fifties, when the +commercial instincts of the West met the uncommercial ones of the East +in open market for the first time, sharpened the antagonism of race +immensely; that inevitable antagonism when the creed of one people is +that Time is Money, of the other that Time is Naught. + +From either standpoint, however, the auction going on down by the +river Goomtee was confusing; even to those who, knowing the causes +which had led up to it--the unmentionable atrocities, the crass +incapacity on the one hand, the unsanctioned treaties and craze for +civilization on the other--were conscious of a distinct flavor of +Sodom and Gomorrah, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Deluge all +combined, as they watched the just and yet unjust retribution going +on. But such spectators were few, even in the outer fringe of English +onlookers pausing in their evening drive or ride to gratify their +curiosity. The long reports and replies regarding the annexation of +Oude which filled the office boxes of the elect were unknown to them, +so they took the affair as they found it. The King, for some reason +satisfactory to the authorities, had been exiled, majesty being thus +vested in the representatives of the annexing race: that is, in +themselves. A position which comes naturally to most Englishmen. + +To the silent crowds closing round the auctioneer's table the affair +was simple also. The King, for some unsatisfactory reason, had been +ousted from his own. His goods and chattels were being sold. The +valuable ones had been knocked down, for a mere song--just to keep up +the farce of sale--to the Huzoors. The rubbish--lame elephants and +such like--was being sold to them; more or less against their will, +since who could forbear bidding sixpence for a whole leviathan? That +this was in a measure inevitable, that these new-come sahibs were +bound to supply their wants cheaply when a whole posse of carriages +and horses, cattle and furniture was thrown on an otherwise supplied +market, did not, of course, occur to those who watched the hammer fall +to that strange new cry of the strange new master. When does such +philosophy occur to crowds? So when the waning light closed each day's +sale and the people drifted back cityward over the boat-bridge they +were no longer silent. They had tales to tell of how much the barouche +and pair, or the Arab charger, had cost the King when he bought it. +But then Wajeed Ali, with all his faults, had never been a bargainer. +He had spent his revenues right royally, thus giving ease to many. So +one could tell of a purse of gold flung at a beggar, another a life +pension granted to a tailor for inventing a new way of sewing spangles +to a waistcoat; for there had been no lack of the insensate +munificence in which lies the Oriental test of royalty, about the King +of Oude's reign. + +Despite this talk, however, the talkers returned day after day to +watch the auction; and on this, the last one, the grassy plain down by +the Goomtee was peaceful and silent as ever save for the occasional +cry of an affrighted hungry beast. The sun sent golden gleams over the +short turf worn to dustiness by crowding feet, and the long curves of +the river, losing themselves on either side among green fields and +mango trees, shone like a burnished shield. On the opposite bank, its +minarets showing fragile as cut paper against the sky, rose the +Chutter Munzil--the deposed King's favorite palace. Behind it, above +the belt of trees dividing the high Residency gardens from the maze of +houses and hovels still occupied by the hangers-on to the late Court, +the English flag drooped lazily in the calm floods of yellow light. +For the rest, were dense dark groves following the glistening curve of +the river, and gardens gravely gay in pillars of white _chum-baeli_ +creeper and cypress, long prim lines of latticed walls, and hedges of +scarlet hibiscus. Here and there above the trees, the dome of a mosque +or the minaret of a mausoleum told that the town of Lucknow, scattered +yet coherent, lay among the groves. The most profligate town in India +which by one stroke of an English pen had just been deprived of the +_raison-d'être_ of its profligacy, and been bidden to live as best it +could in cleanly, courtless poverty. + +So, already, there were thousands of workmen in it, innocent enough +panderers in the past to luxurious vice, who were feeling the pinch of +hunger from lack of employment; and there were those past employers +also, deprived now of pensions and offices, with a bankrupt future +before them. But Lucknow had a keener grievance than these in the new +tax on opium, the drug which helps men to bear hunger and bankruptcy; +so, as the auctioneer said, it was not a place in which to expect +brisk bidding for wild beasts with large appetites. But the parrots +roused a faint interest, and the crowd laughed suddenly at the +fluttering screams of a red and blue macaw, as it was tossed from hand +to hand, on its way to the surprised and reluctant purchaser who had +bid a farthing for it out of sheer idleness. + +"Another mouth to feed, Shumshu!" jeered a fellow butcher, as he +literally flung the bird at a neighbor's head. "Rather he than I," +laughed the recipient, continuing the fling. "_Ari!_ Shumshu, take thy +baby. Well caught, brother! but what will thy house say?" + +"That I have made a fat bargain," retorted the big, coarse owner +coolly, as he wrung the bird's neck, and twirled it, a quivering tuft +of bright feathers and choking cries, above his head. "Thou'lt buy no +meat at a farthing a pound, even from my shop, I'll swear, and this +bird weighs two, and is delicate as chicken." + +The laugh which answered the sally held a faint scream, not wholly +genuine in its ring. It came from the edge of the crowd, where two +English riders had paused to see what the fun was about. + +"Cruel devils, aren't they, Allie?" said one, a tall, fair man whose +good looks were at once made and marred by heaviness of feature. "Why! +you've turned pale despite the rouge!" His tone was full of not +over-respectful raillery; his bold, bloodshot eyes met his companion's +innocent looking ones with careless admiration. + +"Don't be a fool, Erlton," she replied promptly; and the even, +somewhat hard pitch of her voice did not match the extreme softness of +her small, childish face. "You know I don't rouge; or you ought to. +And it was horrible, in its way." + +"Only what your ladyship's cook does to your ladyship's fowls," +retorted Major Erlton. "You don't _see_ it done, that's all the +difference. It is a cruel world, Mrs. Gissing, the sex is the cruelest +thing in it, and you, as I'm always telling you, are the cruelest of +your sex." + +His manner was detestable, but little Mrs. Gissing laughed again. She +had not a fine taste in such matters; perhaps because she had no taste +for them at all. So, in the middle of the laugh, her attention shifted +to the big white cockatoo which formed the next lot. It had a most +rumpled and dejected appearance as it tried to keep its balance on the +ring which the soldier assistant swung backward and forward +boisterously. + +"Do look at that ridiculous bird!" she exclaimed, "Did you ever see +any creature look so foolish?" + +It did, undoubtedly, with its wrinkled gray eyelids closed in agonized +effort, its clattering gray beak bobbing rhythmically toward its scaly +gray legs. It roused the auctioneer from his depression into beginning +in grand style. "Now, then, gentlemen! This is a real treat, indeed! A +cockatoo, old as Methusalem and twice as wise. It speaks, I'll be +bound. Says 'is prayers--look at 'im gemyflexing! and maybe he swears +a bit like the rest of us. Any gentleman bid a rupee!--a eight +annas?--a four annas? Come, gentlemen!" + +"One anna," called Mrs. Gissing, with a coquettish nod to the big +Major, and a loud aside: "Cruel I may be to you, sir, but I'll give +that to save the poor brute from having its neck wrung." + +"Two annas!" There was a stress of eagerness in the new voice which +made many in the crowd look whence it came. The speaker was a lean old +man wearing a faded green turban, who had edged himself close to the +auctioneer's table and stood with upturned eyes watching the bird +anxiously. He had the face of an enthusiast, keen, remorseless, +despite its look of ascetic patience. + +"Three annas!" Alice Gissing's advance came with another nod at her +big admirer. + +"Four annas!" The reply was quick as an echo. + +A vexed surprise showed on the pretty babyish face. "What an +impertinent wretch! Eight annas--do you hear?--eight annas!" + +The auctioneer bowed effusively. "Eight annas bid for a cockatoo as +says----" he paused cautiously, for the bidding was brisk enough +without exaggeration. "Eight annas once--twice--Going! going----" + +"One rupee!" + +Mrs. Gissing gave a petulant jag to her rein. "Oh! come away, Erlton, +my charity doesn't run to rupees." + +But her companion's face, never a very amiable one, had darkened with +temper. "D----n the impudent devil," he muttered savagely, before +raising his voice to call: "Two rupees!" + +"Five!" There was no hesitation still; only an almost clamorous +anxiety in the worn old voice. + +"Ten!" Major Erlton's had lost its first heat, and settled into a dull +decision which made the auctioneer turn to him, hammer in hand. Yet +the echo was not wanting. + +"Fifteen!" + +The Englishman's horse backed as if its master's hand lay heavy on the +bit. There was a pause, during which that shuddering cough of the +hungry tiger quavered through the calm flood of sunshine, in which the +crowd stood silently, patiently. + +"Fifteen rupees," began the auctioneer reluctantly, his sympathies +outraged, "Fifteen once, twice----" + +Then Alice Gissing laughed. The woman's laugh of derision which is +responsible for so much. + +"Fifty rupees," said Major Erlton at once. + +The old man in the green turban turned swiftly; turned for the first +time to look at his adversary, and in his face was intolerant hatred +mingled with self-pity; the look of one who, knowing that he has +justice on his side, knows also that he is defeated. + +"Thank _you_, sir," caught up the auctioneer. "Fifty once, twice, +thrice! Hand the bird over, Tom. Put it down, sir, I suppose, with the +other things?" + +Major Erlton nodded sulkily. He was already beginning to wonder why he +had bought the brute. Meanwhile Tom, still swinging the cockatoo +derisively, had jumped from the table into the crowd round it as if +the sea of heads was non-existent; being justified of his rashness by +its prompt yielding of foothold as he elbowed his way outward, +shouting for room good-naturedly, and answered by swift smiles and +swifter obedience. Yet both were curiously silent; so that Mrs. +Gissing's voice, wondering what on earth Herbert was going to do with +the creature now that he had bought it, was distinctly audible. + +"Give it to you, of course," he replied moodily. "You can wring its +neck if you choose, Allie. You are cruel enough for that, I dare say." +The thought of the fifty rupees wasted was rankling fiercely; fifty +rupees! when he would be hard put to it for a penny if he didn't pull +off the next race. Fifty rupees! because a woman laughed! + +But Mrs. Gissing was laughing again. "I shan't do anything of the +kind. I shall give it to your wife, Major Erlton. I'm sure she must be +dull all alone; and then she loves prayers!" the absolute effrontery +of the speech was toned down by her indifferent expression. "Here, +sergeant!" she went on, "hold the bird up a bit higher, please, I want +to see if it is worth all that money. Gracious! what a hideous brute!" + +It was, in truth; save for the large gold-circled eyes, like strange +gems, which opened suddenly as the swinging ceased. They seemed to +look at the dainty little figure taking it in; and then, in an +instant, the dejected feathers were afluff, the wings outspread, the +flame-colored crest, unseen before, raised like a fiery flag as the +bird gave an ear-piercing scream. + +"_Deen! Deen! Futteh Mohammed_." (For the Faith! For the Faith! +Victory to Mohammed.) + +The war cry of the fiercest of all faiths was unmistakable; the first +two syllables cutting the air, keen as a knife, the last with the +blare as of a trumpet in them. And following close on their heels came +an indescribable sound, like the answering vibration of a church to +the last deep organ-note. It was a faint murmur from the crowd till +then so silent. + +"D----n the bird! Hold it back, man! Loosen the curb, Allie, for God's +sake, or the brute will be over with you!" + +Herbert Erlton's voice was sharp with anxiety as he reined his own +horse savagely out of the way of his companion's, which, frightened at +the unexpected commotion, was rearing badly. + +"All right," she called; there was a little more color on her +child-like face, a firmer set of her smiling mouth: that was all. But +the hunting crop she carried fell in one savage cut after another on +the startled horse's quarters. It plunged madly, only to meet the bit +and a dig of the spur. So, after two or three unavailing attempts to +unseat her, it stood still with pricked ears and protesting snorts. + +"Well sat, Allie! By George, you can ride! I do like to see pluck in a +woman; especially in a pretty one." The Major's temper and his fears +had vanished alike in his admiration. Mrs. Gissing looked at him +curiously. + +"Did you think I was a coward?" she asked lightly; and then she +laughed. "I'm not so bad as all that. But look! There is your wife +coming along in the new victoria--it's an awfully stylish turn-out, +Herbert; I wish Gissing would give me one like it. I suppose she has +been to church. It's Lent or something, isn't it? Anyhow, she can take +that screaming beast home." + +"You're not----" began the Major, but Mrs. Gissing had already ridden +up to the carriage, making it impossible for the solitary occupant to +avoid giving the order to stop. She was rather a pale woman, who +leaned listlessly among the cushions. + +"Good evening, Mrs. Erlton," said the little lady, "been, as you see, +for a ride. But we were thinking of you and hoping you would pray for +us in church." + +Kate Erlton's eyebrows went up, as they had a trick of doing when she +was scornful. "I am only on my way thither as yet," she replied; "so +that now I am aware of your wishes I can attend to them." + +The obvious implication roused the aggressor to greater recklessness. +"Thanks! but we really deserve something, for we have been buying a +parrot for you. Erlton paid a whole fifty rupees for it because it +said its prayers and he thought you would like it!" + +"That was very kind of Major Erlton,"--there was a fine irony in the +title,--"but, as he knows, I'm not fond of things with gay feathers +and loud voices." + +The man, listening, moved his feet restlessly in his stirrups. It was +too bad of Allie to provoke these sparring matches. Foolish, too, +since Kate's tongue was sharp when she chose to rouse herself. None +sharper, in his opinion. + +"If you don't want the bird," he interrupted shortly, "tell the groom +to wring its neck." + +Mrs. Gissing looked at him, her reproachful blue eyes perfect wells of +simplicity. "Wring its neck! How can you, when you paid all that money +to save it from being killed! That is the real story, Mrs. Erlton; it +is indeed----" + +He interrupted his wife's quick glance of interest impatiently. "The +main point being that I had, or shall have to pay fifty rupees--which +I must get. So I must be off to the racecourse if I don't want to be +posted. I ought to have been there a quarter of an hour ago; should +have been but for that confounded bird. Are you coming, Mrs. Gissing, +or not?" + +"Now, Erlton!" she replied, "don't be stupid. As if he didn't know, +Mrs. Erlton, that I am every bit as much interested as he is in the +match with that trainer man!--what's his name, Erlton? Greyman--isn't +it? I have endless gloves on it, sir, so of course I'm coming to see +fair play." + +Major Erlton shot a rapid glance at her, as if to see what she really +meant; then muttered something angrily about chaff as, with a dig of +his heels, he swung his horse round to the side of hers. + +Kate Erlton watched their figures disappear behind the trees, then +turned indifferently to the groom who was waiting for orders with the +cockatoo. But she started visibly in finding herself face to face with +a semi-circle of spectators which had gathered about the figure of an +old man in a faded green turban who stood close beside the groom, and +who, seeing her turn, salaamed, and with clasped hands began an appeal +of some sort. So much she gathered from his bright eyes, his tone; but +no more, and all unconsciously she drew back to the furthest corner of +the carriage, as if to escape from what she did not understand, and +therefore did not like. That, indeed, was her attitude toward all +things native. Yet at times, as now, she felt a dim regret at her own +ignorance. What did he want? What were they thinking of, those dark, +incomprehensible faces closing closer and closer round her? What could +they be thinking of, uncivilized, heathen, as they were? tied to +hateful, horrible beliefs and customs, unmentionable thoughts; so the +innate repulsion of the alien overpowered her dim desire to be kind. + +"Drive on!" she called in her clear, soft voice, "drive on to the +church." + +The grooms, new taken from royal employ,--for the victoria had been +one of the spoils of the auction,--began their arrogant shouting to +the crowd; the coachman, treating it also in royal fashion, cut at his +horses regardless of their plunging. So after an instant's scurry and +flurry, a space was cleared, and the carriage rolled off. The old man, +left standing alone, looked after it silently for a moment, then flung +his arms skyward. + +"O God, reward them! reward them to the uttermost!" The appeal, +however, seemed too indefinite for solace, and he turned for closer +sympathy to the crowd. "The bird is mine, brothers! I lent it to the +King, to teach his the Cry-of-Faith that I had taught it. But the +Huzoors would not listen, or they would not understand. It was a +little thing to them! So I brought all I had, thinking to buy mine own +again. But yonder hell-doomed infidel hath it for nothing--for he paid +nothing; and here--here is _my_ money!" He drew a little bag from his +breast and held it up with shaking hand. + +"For nothing!" echoed the crowd, seizing on what interested it most. +"For sure he paid nothing." + +The murmur, spreading from man to man in doubt, wonder, assertion, was +interrupted by a voice with the resonance and calm in it of one +accustomed to listeners. "Nay! not for nothing. Have patience. The +bird may yet give the Great Cry in the house of the thief. I, +Ahmed-oolah, the dust of the feet of the Most High, say it. Have +patience. God settles the accounts of men." + +"It is the Moulvie," whispered some, as the gaunt, hollow-eyed speaker +moved out of the crowd, a good head and shoulders taller than most +there. "The Moulvie from Fyzabad. He preaches in the big Mosque +to-night, and half the city goes to hear him." The whispering voices +formed a background to the recurring cry of the auctioneer, "Going! +Going! Gone!" as lot after lot fell to the hammer, while the crowd +listened to both, or drifted cityward with the memory of them +lingering insistently. + +"Going! Going! Gone!" What was going? Everything, if tales were true; +and there were so many tales nowadays. Of news flashed faster by wires +than any, even the gods themselves, could flash it; of carriages, +fire-fed, bringing God knows what grain from God knows where! Could a +body eat of it and not be polluted? Could the children read the school +books and not be apostate? Burning questions these, not to be answered +lightly. And as the people, drifting homeward in the sunset, asked +them, other sounds assailed their ears. The long-drawn chant of the +call to prayer from the Mohammedan mosques, the clashing of gongs from +the Hindoo temples, the solitary clang of the Christian church bell. +Diverse, yet similar in this, that each called Life to face Death, not +as an end, but as a beginning; called with more insistence than usual +in the church, where a special missionary service was being held, at +which a well-known worker in the vineyard was to give an address on +the duty of a faithful soldier of Christ in a heathen land. With +greater authority in the mosque also, where the Moulvie was to lay +down the law for each soldier of the faith in an age of unbelief and +change. Only in the Hindoo temples the circling lights flickered as +ever, and there was neither waxing nor waning of worship as mortality +drifted in, and drifted out, hiding the rude stone symbol of +regeneration with their chaplets of flowers; the symbol of +Life-in-Death, of Death-in-Life. The cult of the Inevitable. + +There was no light in these dark shrines, save the circling cresset; +none, save the dim reflection of dusk from white marble, in the mosque +where the Moulvie's sonorous voice sent the broad Arabic vowels +rebounding from dome to dome. But in the church there was a blaze of +lamps, and the soldierly figure at the reading desk showed clear to +the men and women listening leisurely in the cushioned pews. Yet the +words were stirring enough; there was no lack of directness in them. +Kate Erlton, resting her chin on her hand, kept her eyes on the +speaker closely as his voice rose in a final confession of the faith +that was in him. + + +"I conceive it is ever the hope and aim of a true Christian that his +Lord should make him the happy instrument of rescuing his neighbor +from eternal damnation. In this belief I find it my duty to be instant +in season and out of season, speaking to all, sepoys as well as +civilians, making no distinction of persons or place, since with the +Lord there are no such distinctions. In the temporal matters I act +under the orders of my earthly superior, but in spiritual matters I +own no allegiance save to Christ. So, in trying to convert my sepoys, +I act as a Christian soldier under Christ, and thus, by keeping the +temporal and spiritual capacities in which I have to act clearly under +their respective heads, I render unto Cæsar the things that are +Cæsar's, to God the things that are God's."[1] + +There was a little rustle of satisfaction and relief from the pews, +the hymn closing the service went with a swing, and the congregation, +trooping out into the scented evening air, fell to admiring the +address. + +"And he looked so handsome and soldierly, didn't he?" said one voice +with a cadence of sheer comfortableness in it as the owner nestled +back in the barouche. + +"Quite charming!" assented another. "And to think of a man like that, +brave as a lion, submitting to be hustled off his own parade ground +because his sepoys objected to his preaching. It is an example to us +all!" + +"I wouldn't give much for the discipline of his regiment," began Kate +Erlton impulsively, then paused, certain of her hearers, uncertain of +herself; for she was of those women who use religion chiefly as an +anodyne for the heartache, leaving her intellect to take care of +itself. With the result that it revenged itself, as now, by sudden +flashes of reason which left her helpless before her own common sense. + +"My dear Mrs. Erlton!" came a shocked coo, "discipline or no +discipline, we are surely bound to fight the good---- Gracious +heavens! what _is_ that?" + +It was the cockatoo. Roused from a doze by the movement of Kate's +carriage toward the church-door, it had dashed at once into the +war-cry--"_Deen! Deen! Futteh Mohammed!_" + +The appositeness of the interruption, however, was quite lost on the +ladies, who were too ignorant to recognize it; so their alarm ended in +a laugh, and the suggestion that the bird would be a noisy pet. + +Thus, with worldly gossip coming to fill the widening spaces in their +complacent piety, they drove homeward together where the curving river +shimmered faintly in the dark, or through scented gardens where the +orange-blossom showed as faintly among the leaves, like star-dust on a +dark sky. + +But Kate Erlton drove alone, as she generally did. She was one of +those women whose refinement stands in their way; who are _gourmets_ +of life, failing to see that the very fastidiousness of their palate +argues a keener delight in its pleasures than that of those who take +them more simply, perhaps more coarsely. And as she drove, her mind +diverted listlessly to the semicircle of dark faces she had left +unanswered. What had they wanted? Nothing worth hearing, no doubt! +Nothing was worth much in this weary land of exile where the +heart-hunger for one little face and voice gnawed at your vitality day +and night. For Kate Erlton set down all her discontent to the fact +that she was separated from her boy. Yet she had sent him home of her +own free will to keep him from growing up in the least like his +father. And she had stayed with that father simply to keep him within +the pale of respectability for the boy's sake. That was what she told +herself. She allowed nothing for her own disappointment; nothing for +the keen craving for sentiment which lay behind her refinement. All +she asked from fate was that the future might be no worse than the +past; so that she could keep up the fiction to the end. + +And as she drove, a sudden sound made her start, for--soldier's wife +though she was--the report of a rifle always set her heart a-beating. +Then from the darkness came a long-drawn howl; for over on the other +side of the river they were beginning to shoot down the hungry beasts +which all through the long sunny day had found no master. + +The barter of _their_ lives was complete. The last "Going! Going! +Gone!" had come, and they had passed to settle the account elsewhere. +So, amid this dropping fire of kindly meant destruction, the night +fell soft and warm over the shimmering river and the scented gardens +with the town hidden in their midst. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + HOME, SWEET HOME? + + +"You sent for me, I believe, Mrs. Erlton." + +"Yes, Mr. Greyman, I sent for you." + +Both voices came reluctantly into the persistent cooing of doves which +filled the room, for the birds were perched among a coral begonia +overhanging the veranda. But the man had so far the best of it in the +difficult interview which was evidently beginning, in that he stood +with his back to the French window through which he had just entered; +his face, therefore, was in shadow. Hers, as she paused, arrested by +surprise, faced the light. For Kate Erlton, when she sent for James +Greyman in the hopes of bribing him to silence regarding the match +which had been run the evening before between his horse and her +husband's, had not expected to see a gentleman in the person of an +ex-jockey, trainer, and general hanger-on to the late King's stables. +The diamonds with which she had meant to purchase honor lay on the +table, but this man would not take diamonds. What would he take? She +scanned his face anxiously, yet with a certain relief in her +disappointment; for the clean-shaven contours were fine, if a trifle +stern; and the mouth, barely hidden by a slight mustache, was +thin-lipped, well cut. + +"Yes! I sent for you," she continued--and the even confidence of her +own voice surprised her. "I meant to ask how much you would want to +keep this miserable business quiet; but now----" She paused, and her +hand, which had been resting on the center table, shifted its position +to push aside the jewel-case; as if that were sufficient explanation. + +"But now?" he echoed formally, though his eyes followed the action. +She raised hers to his, looking him full in the face. They were +beautiful eyes, and their cold gray blue, with the northern glint of +steel in it, gave James Greyman an odd thrill. He had not looked into +eyes like these for many a long year. Not since, in a room just like +this one, homely and English in every twist and turn of foreign +flowers and furniture, he had ruined his life for a pair of eyes, as +coldly pure as these, to look at. He did not mean to do it again. + +"But now I can only ask you to be kind, and generous, Mr. Greyman! I +want you to save my husband from the disgrace your claim must +bring--if you press it." + +Once more the monotonous cooing from the outside filled the darkness +and the light of the large, lofty room. For it was curiously dark in +the raftered roof and the distant corners; curiously light in the +great bars of golden sunshine slanting across the floor. In one of +them James Greyman stood, a dark silhouette against an arch of pale +blue sky, wreathed by the climbing begonia. He was a man of about +forty, looking younger than his age, taller than his real height, by +reason of his beardless face and the extreme ease and grace of his +figure. He was burned brown as a native by constant exposure to the +sun; but as he stooped to pick up his glove which had slipped from his +hold, a rim of white showed above his wrist. + +"So I supposed; but why should I save him?" he said briefly. The +question, thus crudely put, left her without reply for a minute; +during which he waited. Then, with a new tinge of softness in his +voice, he went on: "It was a mistake to send for me. I thought so at +the time, though, of course, I had no option. But now----" + +"But now?" she echoed in her turn. + +"There is nothing to be done save to go away again." He turned at the +words, but she stopped him by a gesture. + +"Is there not?" she asked. "I think there is, and so will you if you +understand--if you will wait and let me speak." His evident impatience +made her add quickly, "You can at least do so much for me, surely?" +There was a quiver in her voice now, and it surprised her as her +previous calm had done; for what was this man to her that his +unkindness should give pain? + +"Certainly," he said, pausing at once, "but I understand too much, and +I cannot see the use of raking up details. You know them--or think +you do. Either way they do not alter the plain fact that I cannot +help--because I would not if I could. That sounds brutal; but, +unfortunately, it is true. And it is best to tell the truth, as far as +it can be told." + +A faint smile curved her lips. "That is not far. If you will wait I +will tell you the truth to the bitter end." + +He looked at her with sudden interest, for her pride attracted +him. She was not in the least pretty; she might be any age from +five-and-twenty to five-and-thirty. And she--well! she was a lady. But +would she tell the truth? Women, even ladies, seldom did; still he +must wait and hear what she had to say. + +"I sent for you," she began, "because, knowing you were an adventurer, +a man who had had to leave the army under a cloud--in disgrace----" + +He stared at her blankly. Here was the truth about himself at any +rate! + +"I thought, naturally, you would be a man who would take a bribe. +There are diamonds in that case; for money is scarce in this house." +She paused, to gain firmness for what came next. "I was keeping them +for the boy. I have a son in England and he will have to go to school +soon; but I thought it better to save his father's reputation instead. +They are fine diamonds"--she drew the case closer and opened it--the +sunshine, streaming in, caught the facets of the stones, turning them +to liquid light. "You needn't tell me they are no use," she went on +quickly, as he seemed about to speak; "I am not stupid; but that has +nothing to do with the question. I want you to save my husband--don't +interrupt me, please, for I do want you to understand, and I will tell +you the truth. You asked me why? and you think, no doubt, that he does +not deserve to be saved. Do you think I do not know that? Mr. Greyman! +a wife knows more of her husband than anyone else can do; and I have +known for so many years." + +A sudden softness came into her hearer's eyes. That was true at any +rate. She must know many things of which she could not speak; a sort +of horror at what she must know, with a man like Major Erlton as her +husband, held him silent. + +"Yet I have saved him so far," she went on, "but if what happened +yesterday becomes public property all my trouble is in vain. He will +have to leave the regiment----" + +"He is not the first man, as you were kind enough to mention just +now," interrupted James Greyman, "who has had to leave the army under +a cloud. He would survive it--as others have done." + +"I was not thinking of him at all," she replied quietly. "I was +thinking of my son; my only son." + +"There are other only sons also, Mrs. Erlton," he retorted. "I was my +mother's, but I don't think the fact was taken into consideration by +the court-martial. Why should I be more lenient? You have come to the +wrong person when you come to me for charity or consideration. None +was shown to me." + +"Perhaps because you did not need it," she said quickly. + +"Not need it?" + +"Many a man falls under the shadow of a cloud blamelessly. What do +they want with charity?" + +He rose swiftly and so, facing the light again, stood looking +out into it. "I am obliged to you," he said after a pause. "Whether +you are right or wrong doesn't affect the question from which we +have wandered. Except--" he turned to her again with a certain +eagerness--"Mrs. Erlton! You say you are prepared to tell the truth to +the bitter end; then for Heaven's sake let us have it for once in our +lives. You never saw me before, nor I you. It is not likely we shall +ever meet again. So we can speak without a past or a future tense. You +ask me to save your husband from the consequences of his own cheating. +I ask why? Why should I sacrifice myself? Why should I suffer? for, +mark you, there were heavy bets----" + +"There are the diamonds," she interrupted, pointing to them; their +gleam was scarcely brighter than her scornful eyes. + +He gave a half smile. "Doubtless there are the diamonds! I can have my +equivalent, so far, if I choose; but I don't choose. It does not suit +me personally; so that is settled. I can't do this thing, then, to +please myself. Now, let us go on. You are a religious woman, I think, +Mrs. Erlton--you have the look of one. Then you will say that I should +remember my own frailty, and forgive as I would be forgiven. Mrs. +Erlton! I am no better than most men, no doubt, but I never remember +cheating at cards or pulling a horse as your husband does--it is the +brutal truth between us, remember. And if you tell me I'm bound to +protect a man from the natural punishment of a great crime because +I've stolen a pin, I say you are wrong. That theory won't hold water. +If our own faults, even our own crimes, are to make us tender over +these things in others, there must be--what, if I remember right, my +Colenso used to call an arithmetical progression in error until the +Day of Judgment; for the odds on sin would rise with every crime. I +don't believe in mercy, Mrs. Erlton. I never did. Justice doesn't +need it. So let us leave religion alone too, and come to other +things--altruism--charity--what you will. Now who will benefit by my +silence? Will you? You said just now that a wife knows more of her +husband than a stranger can. I well believe it. That is why I ask you +to tell me frankly, if you really think that a continuance of the life +you lead with him can benefit you?" He leaned over the table, resting +his head on his hand, his eyes on hers, and then added in a lower +voice, "The brutal truth, please. Not as a woman to man, or, for the +matter of that, woman to woman; but soul to soul, if there be such a +thing." + +She turned away from him and shook her head. "It is for the boy's +sake," she said in muffled tones. "It will be better for him, surely." + +"The boy," he echoed, rising with a sense of relief. She had not lied, +this woman with the beautiful eyes; she had simply shut the door in +his face. "You have a portrait of him, no doubt, somewhere. I should +like to see it. Is that it, over the mantelpiece?" + +He walked over to a colored photograph, and stood looking at it +silently, his hands--holding his hunting crop--clasped loosely behind +his back. Kate noticed them even in her anxiety; for they were +noticeable, nervous, fine-cut hands, matching the figure. + +"He is not the least like you. He is the very image of his father," +came the verdict. "What right have you to suppose that anything you or +I can do now will overcome the initial fact that the boy is your +husband's son, any more than it will ease you of the responsibility of +having chosen such a father for the boy?" + +She gave a quick cry, more of pain than anger, and hid her face on the +table in sudden despair. + +"You are very cruel," she said indistinctly. + +He walked back toward her, remorseful at the sight of her miserable +self-abasement. He had not meant to hit so hard, being accustomed +himself to facing facts without flinching. + +"Yes! I am cruel; but a life like mine doesn't make a man gentle. And +I don't see how this trivial concealment of fact--for that is all it +would be--can change the boy's character or help him. If I did----" he +paused. "I should like to help you if I could, Mrs. Erlton, if only +because you--you refused me charity! But I cannot see my way. It would +do no one any good. Begin with me. I'm not a religious man, Mrs. +Erlton. I don't believe in the forgiveness of sins. So my soul--if I +have one--wouldn't benefit. As for my body? At the risk of you +offering me diamonds again,"--he smiled charmingly,--"I must mention +that I should lose--how much is a detail--by concealment. So I must go +out of the question of benefit. Then there is you----" + +He broke off to walk up and down the room thoughtfully, then to pause +before her. "I wish you to believe," he said, "that I want really to +understand the truth, but I can't, because I don't know one thing. I +don't know if you love your husband--or not." + +She raised her head quickly with a fear behind the resentment of her +eyes. "Put me outside the question too. I have told you that already. +It is the simplest, the best way." + +He bowed cynically. She came no nearer to truth than evasion. + +"If you wish it, certainly. Then there is the boy. You want to +prevent him from realizing that his father is a--let us twist the +sentence--what his father is. You have, I expect, sent him away for +this purpose. So far good. But will this concealment of mine suffice? +Will no one else blab the truth? Even if concealment succeeds all +along the line, will it prevent the boy from following in his father's +steps if he has inherited his father's nature as well as his face? +Wouldn't it be a deterrent in that case to know early in life that +such instincts can't be indulged with impunity in the society of +gentlemen? You will never have the courage to keep the boy out of your +life altogether as you are doing now. Sooner or later you will bring +him back, he will bring himself back, and then, on the threshold of +life, he will have an example of successful dishonesty put before him. +Mrs. Erlton! you can't keep up the fiction always; so it is better for +you, for me, for him, to tell the truth--and I mean to tell it." + +She rose swiftly to her feet and faced him, thrusting her hair back +from her forehead passionately, as if to clear away aught that might +obscure her brain. + +"And for my husband?" she asked. "Have you no word for him? Is he not +to be thought of at all? You asked me just now if I loved him, and I +was a coward. Well! I do not love him--more's the pity, for I can't +make up the loss of that to him anyhow. But there is enough pity in +his life without that. Can't you see it? The pity that such things +should be in life at all. You called me a religious woman just now. +I'm not, really. It is the pity of such things without a remedy that +drives me to believe, and the pity of it which drives me back again +upon myself, as you have driven me now. For you are right! Do you +think I can't see the shame? Do you think I don't know that it is too +late--that I should have thought of all this before I called my boy's +nature out of the dark? And yet----" her face grew sharp with a +pitiful eagerness, she moved forward and laid her hand on his arm. "It +is all so dark! You said just now that I couldn't keep up the fiction; +but need it be a fiction always? What do we know? God gives men a +chance sometimes. He gives the whole world a chance sometimes of +atoning for many sins. A Spirit moves on the Waters of life bringing +something to cleanse and heal. It may be moving now. Give my husband +his chance, Mr. Greyman, and I will pray that, whatever it is, it may +come quickly." + +He had listened with startled eyes; now his hand closed on hers in +swift negation. + +"Don't pray for that," he said, in a quick low voice, "it may come too +soon for some of us, God knows--too soon for many a good man and +true!" Then, as if vexed at his own outburst, he drew back a step, +looking at her with a certain resentment. + +"You plead your cause well, Mrs. Erlton, and it is a stronger argument +than you perhaps guess. So let him have this chance that is coming. +Let us all have it, you and I into the bargain. No don't be grateful, +please, for he may prove himself a coward, among other things. So may +I, for that matter. One never knows until the chance comes for being a +hero--or the other thing." + +"When the chance comes we shall see," she said, trying to match his +light tone. "Till then, good-by--you have been very kind." She held +out her hand, but he did not take it. + +"Pardon me! I have been very rude, and you----" he paused in his +half-jesting words, stooped over her outstretched hand and kissed it. + +Kate stood looking at the hand with a slight frown after his horse's +hoofs died away; and then with a smile she shut the jewel case. Not +that she closed the incident also; for full half an hour later she was +still going over all the details of the past interview. And everything +seemed to hinge on that unforeseen appeal of hers for a chance of +atonement, on that unpremeditated strange suggestion that a Spirit +might even then be moving on the face of the waters; until, in that +room gay with English flowers, and peaceful utterly in its air of +security, a terror seized on her body and soul. A causeless terror, +making her strain eyes and ears as if for a hint of what was to come +and make cowards or heroes of them all. + +But there was only the flowerful garden beyond the arched veranda, +only the soft gurgle of the doves. Yet she sat with quivering nerves +till the sight of the gardener coming as usual with his watering pot +made her smile at the unfounded tragedy of her imaginings. + +As she passed into the veranda she called to him, in the jargon which +served for her orders, not to forget a plentiful supply to the +heartsease and the sweet peas; for she loved her poor clumps of +English annuals more than all the scented and blossoming shrubs which +in those late March days turned the garden into a wilderness of +strange perfumed beauty. But her cult of home was a religion with her; +and if a visitor remarked that anything in her environment was +reminiscent of the old country, she rejoiced to have given another +exile what was to her as the shadow of a rock in a thirsty land. + +So, her eye catching something barely up to western mark in the +pattern of a collar her tailor was cutting for her new dress, she +crossed over to where he squatted in the further corner of the +veranda. + +"That isn't right. Give me something to cut--here! this will do." + +She drew a broad sheet of native paper from the bundle of scraps +beside him, and began on it with the scissors; too full of her idea to +notice the faint negation of the man's hand. "There!" she said after a +few deft snippings, "that is new fashion." + +"Huzoor!" assented the tailor submissively as, apparently from +tidiness, he put away the remainder of the paper, before laying the +new-cut pattern on the cloth. + +His mistress looked down at it critically. There was a broad line of +black curves and square dots right across the pattern suggestive of +its having been cut from a title-page. But to her ignorance of the +Persian character they were nothing but the curves and dots, though +the tailor's eyes read clearly in them "The Sword is the Key of +Heaven." + +For he, in company with thousands of other men, had been reading the +famous pamphlet of that name; reading it with that thrill of the +heart-strings which has been the prelude to half the discords and +harmonies of history. Since, quaintly enough, those who may hope to +share your heaven are always friends, those who can with certainty be +consigned to hell, your enemies. + +"That is all right," she said. "Cut it well on the bias, so that it +won't pucker." + +As she turned away, she felt the vast relief of being able to think of +such trivialities again after the strain and stress of the hours since +her husband had come home from the race course, full of excited +maledictions on the mean, underhand bribery and spying which might +make it necessary for him to send in his papers--if he could. Kate had +heard stories of a similar character before; since Major Erlton knew +by experience that she had his reputation more at heart than he had +himself, and that her brain was clearer, her tact greater than his. +But she had never heard one so hopeless. Unless this jockey Greyman, +who, her husband said, was so mixed up with native intrigue as to have +any amount of false evidence at his command, could be silenced, her +labor of years was ruined. So long after her husband had gone off to +his bed to sleep soundly, heavily, after the manner of men, Kate had +lain awake in hers after the manner of women, resolving to risk all, +even to a certain extent honesty, in order to silence this man, this +adventurer; who no doubt was not one whit better than her husband. + +And now? As her mind flashed back over that interview the one thing +that stood out above all others was the bearing, the deference of the +man as he had stooped to kiss her hand. For the life of her, she--who +protested even to herself that such things had no part in her +life--could not help a joy in the remembrance; a quick recognition +that here was a man who could put romance into a woman's life. The +thought was one, however, from which to escape by the first +distraction at hand. This happened to be the cockatoo, which, after a +bath and plentiful food, looked a different bird on its new perch. + +"Pretty, pretty poll," she said hastily, with tentative white finger +tickling its crest. The bird, in high good humor, bent its head +sideways and chuckled inarticulately; yet to an accustomed ear the +sound held the cadence of the Great Cry, and the tailor, who had heard +it given wrathfully, looked up from his work. + +"Oh, Miffis Erlton! what a boo'ful new polly," came a silvery lisp. She +turned with a radiant smile to greet her next door neighbor's little +boy, a child of about three years old, who, pathetically enough, was a +great solace to her child-bereft life. + +"Yes, Sonny, isn't it lovely?" she said, her slim white hand going out +to bring the child closer; "and it screams splendidly. Would you like +to hear it scream?" + +Sonny, clinging tightly to her fingers, looked doubtful. "Wait till +muvver comth, muvver's comin' to zoo esectly. Sonny's always +flightened wizout hith muvver." + +At which piece of diplomacy, Kate, feeling light-hearted, caught the +little white-clad golden-curled figure in her arms and ran out with it +into the garden, smothering the laughing face with kisses as she ran. + +"Sonny's a little goose to be 'flightened,'" came her glad voice +between the laughs and the kisses. "He ought never to be 'flightened' +at all, because no one in all the wide, wide world would ever hurt a +good little childie like Sonnykins--No one! No one! No one!" + +She had sat the little fellow down among the flowers by this time, +being, in good sooth, breathless with his weight; and now, continuing +the game, chased him with pretense booings of "No one! No one!" about +the pansy bed, and so round the sweet peas; until in delicious terror +he shrieked with delight, and chased her back between her chasings. + +It was a pretty sight, indeed, this game between the woman and the +child. The gardener paused in his watering, the tailor at his work; +and even the native orderly going his rounds with the brigade +order-book grinned broadly, so adding one to the kindly dark faces +watching the chasing of Sonny. + +"My dear Kate! How can you?" The querulous voice broke in on the +booings, and made Mrs. Erlton pause and think of her loosened hair +pins. The speaker was a fair, diaphanous woman, the most solid-looking +part of whose figure, as she dawdled up the path, was the large white +umbrella she carried. "Here am I melting with the heat! What I shall +do next year if George is transferred to Delhi, I don't know. He says +we shan't be able to afford the hills. And he has the dogcart at some +of those eternal court-martials. I wonder why the sepoys give so much +trouble nowadays. George says they're spoiled. So I came to see if +you'll drive me to the band; though I'm not fit to be seen. I was up +half the night with baby. She is so cross, and George will have it she +must be ill; as if children didn't have tempers! Lucky you, to have +your boy at home. And yet you go romping with other people's. I +wouldn't; but then I look horrid when I'm hot." + +Kate laughed. She did not, and as she rearranged her hair seemed to +have left years of life behind her. "I can't help it," she said. "I +feel so ridiculously young myself sometimes--as if I hadn't lived at +all, as if nothing belonged to me, and I was really somebody else. As +if----" She paused abruptly in her confidences, and, to change the +subject, turned to the group behind Mrs. Seymour:--an ayah holding a +toddler by the hand, a tall orderly in uniform carrying a year-old +baby in his arms; such a languid little mortal as is seldom seen out +of India, where the swift, sharp fever of the changing seasons seems +to take the very, life from a child in a few hours. The fluffy golden +head in its limp white sun-bonnet rested inert against the orderly's +scarlet coatee, the listless little legs drooped helplessly among the +burnished belts and buckles. + +"Poor little chick! Let me have her a bit, orderly," said Kate, laying +her hand caressingly on the slack dimpled arm; but baby, with a +fretful whine, nestled her cheek closer into the scarlet. A shade of +satisfaction made its owner's dark face less impassive, and the small, +sinewy, dark hands held their white burden a shade tighter. + +"She _is_ so cross," complained the mother. "It has been so all day. +She won't leave the man for an instant. He must be sick of her, though +he doesn't show it. And she used to go to the ayah; but do you know, +Kate, I don't trust the woman a bit. I believe she gives opium to the +child, so that she may get a little rest." + +Kate looked at the ayah's face with a sudden doubt. "I don't know," +she said slowly. "I think they believe it is a good thing. I remember +when Freddy was a baby----" + +"Oh, I don't believe they ever think that sort of thing," interrupted +Mrs. Seymour. "You never can trust the natives, you know. That's the +worst of India. Oh! how I wish I was back in dear old England with a +real nurse who would take the children off my hands." + +But Kate Erlton was following up her own doubt. "The children trust +them----" she began. + +"My dear Kate! you can't trust children either. Look at baby! It gives +me the shudders to think of touching Bij-rao, and see how she cuddles +up to him," replied Mrs. Seymour, as she dawdled on to the house; +then, seeing the bed of heartsease, paused to go into raptures over +them. They were like English ones, she said. + +The puzzled look left Kate's face. "I sent some home last mail," she +replied in a sort of hushed voice, "just to show them that we were not +cut off from everything we care for; not everything." + +So, as if by one accord, these two Englishwomen raised their eyes from +the pansy bed, and passing by the flowering shrubs, the encircling +tamarind trees framing the cozy, home-like house, rested them on the +reddening gold of the western sky. Its glow lay on their faces, making +them radiant. + +But baby's heavy lids had fallen at last over her heavy eyes as she +lay in the orderly's arms, and he glanced at the ayah with a certain +pride in his superior skill as a nurse. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + THE GREAT GULF FIXED. + + +It was a quaint house in the oldest quarter of the city of Lucknow, +where odd little groves linger between the alleys, so that men pass, +at a step, from evil-smelling lanes to cool, scented retreats, dark +with orange and mango trees; where birds flutter, and squirrels loll +yawning through the summer days, as if the great town were miles away. + +It was in the furthest corner of such a flowerless, shady garden that +the house reared its lessening stories and projecting eaves above its +neighbors. The upper half of it was not unlike an Italian villa in its +airiness, its balustraded roof, its green jalousies; but the lower +portion was unmistakably Indian. It was a perfect rabbit warren of +dark cells, crushed in on each other causelessly; the very staircase, +though but two feet wide, having to fold itself away circumspectly so +as to find space to creep upward. + +But no one lived below, and the dark twists and turns of the brick +ladder mattered little to Zora _bibi_, who lived in the pleasant +pavilions above; for she had scarcely ever left them since the day, +nearly eight years past, when James Greyman had installed her there +with all the honor possible to the situation. Which was, briefly, that +he had bought the slip of a girl from a house of ill-fame, as he would +have bought a horse, or a flower-pot, or anything else which he +thought would make life pleasanter to him. He had paid a long price +for her, not only because she was beautiful, but because he pitied the +delicate-looking child--for she was little more--just about to enter a +profession to which she was evidently a recruit kidnaped in early +infancy; as so many are in India. Not that his pity would have led him +to buy her if she had been ugly, or even dark; for the creamy ivory +tint of her skin satisfied his fastidiousness quite as much as did the +hint of a soul in her dark, dreamy eyes. Romance had perhaps had more +to do with his purchase than passion; restless, reckless determination +to show himself that he had no regrets for the society which had +dispensed with his, had had more than either. For he had begun to rent +the pleasant pavilions after a few years of adventurous roving had +emphasized the gulf fixed between him and his previous life, and +forced his pride into leading his present one as happily as he could. + +As for the girl, those eight years of pure passion on the housetops +had been a dream of absolute content. It was so even now, when she lay +dying, as so many secluded women do, of a slow decline. To have +flowers and fruit brought to her, to find no change in his tenderness +because she was too languid to amuse him, to have him wait upon her +and kiss away her protests; all this made her soft warm eyes softer, +warmer. It was so unlike anything she had ever heard or dreamed of; it +made her blind to the truth, that she was dying. How could this be so +when there was no hint of change, when life still gave her all she +cared for? She did not, to be sure, play tricks with him like a +kitten, as she used to; but that was because she was growing +old--nearly one and twenty! + + +"She is worse to-day. I deem her close to freedom, Soma, so I have +warned the death-tender," said a tall woman, as she straightened +the long column of her throat to the burden of a brass water-pot, +new-poised on her head, and stepped down from the low parapet of the +well which stood in one corner of the shady grove. Sometimes its +creaking Persian wheel moaned over the task of sending runnels of +water to the thirsty trees; but to-day it was silent, save for an +intermittent protest when the man--who was lazily leaning his back +against the yoke--put out his strength so as to empty an extra water +can or two into the trough for the woman's use. He was in the undress +uniform of a sepoy, and as he also straightened himself to face the +speaker the extraordinary likeness between them in face and figure +stamped them as twins. It would have been difficult to give the palm +to either for superior height or beauty; and in their perfection of +form they might have stood as models of the mythical race-founders +whose names they bore. For Tara Devi and Soma Chund were Rajpoots of +the single Lunar or Yadubansi tribe. She was dressed in an endless +scarf of crimson wool, which with its border of white and yellow +embroidery hung about her in admirable folds. The gleam of the +water-pot matched the dead gold circlets on the brown wrists and +ankles; for Tara wore her savings thus, though she had no right to do +so, being a widow. But she had been eight years in James Greyman's +service; more than eight bound to him by the strangest of ties. He had +been the means of saving her from her husband's funeral pyre; in other +words of preventing her from being a saint, of making her outcaste +utterly. Since none, not even other widows, would eat or drink with a +woman rejected by the very gods on the threshold of Paradise. Such a +mental position is well-nigh incomprehensible to western minds. It was +confusing even to Tara herself; and the mingling of conscious dignity +and conscious degradation, gratitude, resentment, attraction, +repulsion, made her a puzzle even to herself at times. + +"The master will grieve," replied Soma; his voice was far softer than +his sister's had been, but it had the effect of hardening hers still +more. + +"What then?" she asked; "man's sorrow for a woman passes; or even if +it pass not, bears no fruit here, or hereafter. But I, as _thou +knowest_, Soma, would have burned with my love. _But for thee_, as +thou knowest, I would have been _suttee_ (lit. virtuous). _But for +thee_ I should have found, ay! and given salvation." + +She passed on with a sweep of full drapery, bearing her water-pot +as a queen might her crown, leaving Soma's handsome face full of +conscious-stricken amaze. His sister--from whom, despite her +degradation, he had not been able to dissociate himself utterly--had +never before rounded on him for his share in her misfortune; but in +his heart of hearts he had admitted his responsibility at one moment, +scorned it the next. True, he had told his young Lieutenant that his +brother-in-law was going to be burned, as an excuse for not +accompanying him after black-buck one morning; but who would have +dreamed that this commonplace remark would rouse the Huzoor's +curiosity to see the obsequies of a high-caste Rajpoot, and so lead, +incidentally, to a file of policemen and the neighboring magistrate +dragging the sixteen-year old widow from the very flames?--when she +was drugged, too, and quite happy--when the wrench was over, even for +him, and she, to all intents, was a saint scattering salvation on +seven generations of inconstant males! Much as he loved Tara, the +little twin sister who, so the village gossips loved to tell, had left +the Darkness for the Light of Life still clasping his hand, how could +he have done her such an injury? As a Rajpoot how could he have +brought such a scandalous dishonor on any family? + +But being also a soldier, as his fathers had been before him, and so +leavened unconsciously by much contact with Europeans, he could not +help admiring Tara's pluck in refusing to accept the life of a dog, +which was all that was left to her among her own people. And he had +been grateful to the Huzoor, as she was, for giving her good service +where he could see her; though he would not for worlds have touched +the hand which had lain in his from the beginning of all things. It +was unclean now. + +Still he could not forget the gossip's story any more than he could +forget that James Greyman had been his Lieutenant, and that together +they had shot over half Hurreeana. So when he passed through Lucknow +on his way to spend his leave in his wife's village, he always gave a +day or two of it to the quaint garden-house. + +And now Tara had definitely accused him of ruining her life! Anger, +born of a vague remorse, filled him as he watched her disappear up the +plinth. If it was anybody's fault it was the Huzoor's; or rather of +the _Sirkar_ itself who, by high-handed interference with venerable +customs, made it possible for a poor man, by a mere slip of the +tongue, to injure one bound to him by the closest of ties. + +"It will leave us naught to ourselves soon," he muttered sulkily as he +went out to the doorstep to finish polishing the master's sword; that +being a recognized office during these occasional visits, which, as it +occurred to him in his discontent, would be still more occasional if +among other things the _Sirkar_, now that Oude was was annexed, took +away the extra leave due to foreign service. They had said so in the +regiment; and though he was too tough to feel pin-pricks in advance, +he had sneered with others in the current jest that the maps were +tinted red--_i. e_., shown to be British territory--by savings stolen +from the sepoy's pocket. + +It was very quiet on the paved slope leading up from the alley to the +carved door beyond the gutter. The lane was too narrow for wheeled +traffic, the evening not sufficiently advanced for the neighbors to +gather in it for gossip. But every now and again a veiled figure would +sidle along the further wall, passing good-looking Soma with a +flurried shuffle. Whereat, though he knew these ghostly figures to be +old women on their way to market, he cocked his turban more awry, and +curled his mustachios nearer his eyes; from no set purpose of playing +the gay Lothario, but for the honor of the regiment, and because War +and Women go together, East and West. + +After a time, however, the workmen began to dawdle past from their +work, and some of them, remembering Soma, paused to ask him the latest +news; a stranger in a native city being equivalent to an evening +paper. And, of course, there were questions as to what the regiment +thought of this and that. But Soma's replies were curt. He never +relished being lumped in as a simple Rajpoot with the rest of the +Rajpoots, for he was inordinately proud of his tribe. That was one +reason why he stood aloof, as he did, from much that went on among his +comrades. He drilled, it is true, between two of them who were entered +as he was--that is to say, as a Rajpoot--on the roster. But the three +were in reality as wide apart as the Sun, the Moon, and the Fire from +which they respectively claimed descent. They would not have +intermarried into each other's families for all the world and its +wealth. A causeless differentiation which makes, and must make, a +people who cling to it incomprehensible to a race which boasts as a +check to pride or an encouragement to humility that all men are born +of Adam, and which seeks no hall-mark for its descendants save the +stamp of the almighty dollar. + +Soma, therefore, polishing his master's sword sulkily, grew irritable +also; especially when the frequenters of the opium and hemp shops +began, with wavering steps and lack-luster eyes, to loaf homeward for +the evening meal which would give them strength for another dose. +There were many such habitual drug-takers in the quarter; for it was +largely inhabited by poor claimants to nobility who, having nothing to +do, had time for dreams. That was why people from other quarters +flocked to this one at sundown for gossip; since it is to be had at +its best from the opium-eater, whose imagination is stimulated, his +reason dulled, beyond the power of discriminating even his own truth +or falsehood. One of these, a haggard, sallow fellow in torn muslin +and ragged embroidery, stopped with a heavy-lidded leer beside Soma. + +"So, brother, back again!" he said with the maudlin gravity of a +hemp-smoker; "and thou lookest fat. The bone dust must agree with +thee." + +It was as if a bomb had fallen. The Hindoo bystanders, recognizing the +rumor that ground bones were mixed with commissariat flour, drew back +from the Rajpoot instinctively; the Mohammedans smiled on the sly. +Soma himself had in a moment one sinewy hand on the half-drunk +creature's throat, the other brandishing the fresh-polished sword. + +"Bone dust thyself, and pigs meat too, foul-mouthed slayer of sacred +kine!" he gasped, carrying the war into the enemy's country. "Thou +beast! Unsay the lie!" + +His indignation, showing that he appreciated the credence some might +be disposed to give to the accusation, only made the Hindoos look at +each other. The Mohammedans, however, dragged him from the swaying +figure of the accuser, who, after all, was one of themselves. + +"Heed him not!" they chorused appeasingly. "'Tis drug-shop talk, and +every sane man knows that for dreams. Lo! his sense is clean gone as +horns from a donkey! Sure, thy mother ate chillies in her time for +thou to be so hot-blooded. It is not morning, brother, because a hen +crows, and a snake is but a snake, and goes crooked even to his own +home!" + +These hoarded saws, with physical force superadded, left Soma reduced +to glaring, and renewed claims for a retraction of the insult. + +The hemp-smoker looked at him mournfully. "Wouldst have me deny God's +truth?" he hiccuped. "Lo! I say not thou didst eat it. Thou sayst not, +and who am I to decide between a man and his stomach, even though he +looks fat? Yet this all know, that as a bird fattens his tail shrinks, +and honor is nowhere nowadays. But this I say for certain. Let him eat +who will, there is bone dust in the flour--there is bone dust in the +flour----" + +He lurched from a supporter's hold and drifted down the lane, +half-chanting the words. + +Soma glared, now, at those doubtful faces which remained. "'Tis a lie, +brothers! But there, 'tis no use wearing the red coat nowadays when +all scoff at it. And why not? when the _Sirkar_ itself mocks our +rights. I tell thee at the father-in-law's village, but now, a man who +titled me sahib last year puffed his smoke in my face this. And +wherefore not? May not every scoundrel nowadays drag us to court and +set us a-bribing underlings as the common herd have to do? We, +soldiers of Oude, who had a Resident of our own always, and----" + +"Nothing lasts for always, save God," said a long-bearded bystander, +interrupting Soma's parrot roll of military grievances, "as the +Moulvie said last night at our mosque, it is well he remains ever the +same, giving the same plain orders once and for all. So none of the +faithful can mistake. God is Might and Right. All the rest is change." + +"_Wah! wah!_" murmured some respectfully; but the Rajpoot's scowl lost +its fierceness in supercilious indifference. + +"That may suit the Moulvie. It may suit thee and thine, _syyed-jee_," +he replied, with a shrug of the shoulders. "It suits not me nor mine, +being of a different race. We are Rajpoots, and there is no change +possible to that. We are ever the same." + +The pride in his voice and manner reflected but faintly the +inconceivable pride in his heart. Yet he was on the alert, salaaming +cheerfully, as James Greyman came riding with a clatter down the +alley, and without drawing bridle, passed through the low gateway into +the dark garden heavy with the perfume of orange-blossom. His arrival +ended the incident, for Soma followed him quickly, and in obedience to +his curt order to see the groom rub down the horse while it waited, as +it had been a breather round the race course, walked off with it +toward the well. It was such an opportunity for ordering other men +about as natives dearly love; so that the more autocratic a master is, +the better pleased they are to gain dignity by serving him. + +James Greyman, meanwhile, had paused on the plinth to give a low +whistle and look upward to the terraced roof. And as he did so his +face was full of weariness, and yet of impatience. He had been telling +himself that he was a fool ever since he had left Kate Erlton's +drawing room half an hour before, and even his mad gallop round the +steeple-chase course had not effaced the curious sense of compulsion +which had made him promise to let her husband go scot-free. Even now, +when he waited with that dread at his heart, which of late had been +growing stronger day by day, for the answer which Zora loved to make +to his signal, his fear lest the Great Silence had fallen between them +was lost in the recollection that, if it were so, his freedom had come +too late. He hated himself for thus bracketing death and freedom +together, but for all that he would not blind himself to its truth. +Now that his profession had gone with the King's exile, Zora was, +indeed, the only tie to a life which had grown distasteful to him, and +when the Great Silence came, as come it must, he had made up his mind +to leave James Greyman behind, and go home to England. He was nearing +forty, and though the spirit of reckless adventure was fading, the +ambitions of his youth seemed to be returning; as they so often do +when the burden and heat of passion passes. He was tired of perpetual +sunshine; the thought of the cold mists on the hilltops, the wild +storms on the west coast, haunted him. He wanted to see them again. +Above all, he wanted to hear himself called by his own familiar name, +not by the one he had assumed. It had seemed brutal to dream of all +this sometimes, while little Zora still lay in his arms smiling +contentedly; but it was inevitable. And so, while he waited, watching +with the dread growing at his heart for the flutter of the tinsel +veil, the half-heard whisper "_Khush amud-eed_" (welcome), it was +inevitable also that the remembrance of his promise to Kate Erlton +should invade, and as it were desecrate, his real regret for the +silence that seemed to grow deeper every second. It had come too +late--too late! There could be no solace in freedom now. That other +silence in regard to Major Erlton's misdeeds meant the loss of every +penny he had scraped together for England. He might have to sell up +almost everything he possessed in order to pay his bets honorably; and +that he must do, or he gave away his only hope of recouping his bad +luck. Why had he promised? Why had he given up a certainty for that +vague chance of which he had spoken, he scarcely knew why, to these +cold blue northern eyes with the glint of steel. The remembrance +brought a passionate anger at himself. Was there anything in the world +worth thinking of now, with that silence new-fallen upon him, except +the soft warm eyes which were perhaps closed forever? So, with a quick +step, he passed up the stairs and gave his signal knock at the door +which led on to the terraced roof. + +Tara, opening it, answered his look with finger to her lip, and a +warning glance to the low string-bed set close to the arches of the +summer-house so as to catch the soft-scented breeze. He stepped over +to it lightly and looked down on the sleeper; but the relief passed +from his face at what he saw there. It could only be a question of +hours now. + +"Why didst not send before?" he asked in a low voice. "I bid thee send +if she were worse and she needed me." Once more the anger against that +other woman came uppermost. What was she to him that she should filch +even half an hour from this one who loved him? He might so easily have +come earlier; and then the promise would not have been made. Was he +utterly heartless, that this thought would come again and again? + +"She slept," replied Tara coldly. "And sleep needs naught. Not even +Love's kisses. It is nigh the end though, master, as thou seest; so I +have warned mother Jewuni, the death tender." She had spoken so far as +if she desired to make him wince; now the pain on his face made her +add hurriedly: "She hath not suffered, Huzoor, she hath not +complained. Had it been so I would have sent. But sleep is rest." + +She passed on to a lower roof softening her echoing steps with a +quaint crooning lullaby: + + + "My breast is rest + And rest is Death. + Ye who have breath + Say which is best? + Death's Sleep is rest!" + + +Was it so? As he stood, still looking down on the sleeper, something +in the lack of comfort, of all the refinements and luxuries which seem +to belong by right to the sickness of dear ones in the West, smote him +suddenly with a sense of deprivation, of division. And though he told +himself that Death came in far more friendly fashion out there in the +sunlight, where you could hear the birds, watch the squirrels, and see +the children's kites go sailing overhead in the blue sky; still the +bareness of it seemed somehow to reveal the great gulf between his +complexity, his endless needs and desires, and the simplicity of that +human creature drifting to death, almost as the animals drift, without +complaint, without fears, or hopes. It seemed so pitiful. The slender +figure, still gay in tinsel and bright draperies, all cuddled up on +the quilt, its oval face resting hardly on the thin arm where the +bracelets hung so loosely, had an uncared-for look. It seemed alone, +apart; as far from Death in its nearness to Life, as it was from Life +in its closeness to Death. In swift pity he stooped to risk an +awakening by gathering it into his warm friendly arms. It would at +least feel the beating of another human heart when it lay there. It +would at least be more comfortable than on the bare, hard, pillowless +bed. + +But he paused. How could he judge? How dare he judge even for that +wasted body, which, despite its softness, had never known half the +luxuries his claimed? So he left her lying as he had often seen her +sleep, all curled up on herself like a tired squirrel, and passing to +the parapet leaned over it looking moodily down into the darkening +orange trees. Their heavy perfume floated upward, reminding him of +many another night in springtime spent with Zora upon this terraced +roof. + +And suddenly his hand fell in a gesture of sheer anger. + +Before God! it had been unfair; this idyl on the housetops. The world +had held no more for her save her passion for him, pure in its very +perfection. His for her had been but a small part of his life. It +never was more than that to a man, in reality, and so this sort of +thing must always be unfair. That she had been content made it worse, +not better. Poor little soul! drifting away from the glow and the +glamour. + +A resentment for her, more than for himself, made him go to where Tara +sat gossiping with her fellow-servant on the other roof and bid them +wait downstairs. If the silence were indeed about to fall, if the glow +and the glamour were going, then she and he might at least be alone +once more beneath the coming stars; alone in the soft-scented darkness +which had so often seemed to clasp them closer to each other as they +sat in it like a couple of children whispering over a secret. + +Closer! As he leaned over the parapet his keen eyes stared down into +the half-seen city spreading below him. Wide, tree-set, full of faint +sounds of life; the wreaths of smoke from thousands of hearths rising +to obscure it from his view. Obscuring it hopelessly with their tale +of a life utterly apart from any he could lead. Even there on the +housetop he had only pretended to lead it. It was not she, drifting to +death so contentedly, who was alone! It was he. Yet some men he had +known had seemed able to combine the two lives. They had been content +to think half-caste thoughts, to rear up a tribe of half-caste +children; while he? How many years was it since he had seen Zora +weeping over a still little morsel of humanity, his child and hers, +that lay in her tinseled veil? She had wept, mostly because she was +afraid he might be angry because his son had never drawn breath; and +he had comforted her. He had never told her of the relief it was to +him, of the vague repulsion which the thought of a child had always +brought with it. One could not help these things; and, after all, she +had only cared because she was afraid he cared. She did not crave for +motherhood either. It was the glow and glamour that had been the bond +between them; nothing else. And, thank Heaven! she had never tired of +it, had never seen him tire of it--for Death would come before that +now. + +A chiming clash of silver made him turn quickly. She had awakened, and +seeing him by the parapet, had set her small feet to the ground, and +now stood trying to steady herself by her thin, wide-spread arms. + +"Zora! wait! I am coming," he cried, starting forward. Then he paused, +speech and action arrested by something in her look, her gesture. + +"Let me come," she murmured, her breath gone with the effort. "I can +come. I must be able to come. My lord is so near--so near." + +A fierce pity made him stand still. "Surely thou canst come," he +answered. "I will stay here." + +As she stood, with parted lips, waiting for a glint of strength ere +she tried to walk, her swaying figure, the brilliance of her eyes, the +heaving of her delicate throat, cut him to the very heart for her sake +more than for his own. Then the jingle of her silver anklets rose +again in irregular cadence, to cease at the next pillar where she +paused, steadying herself against the cold stone to regain her breath. + +"Surely, I can come; and he so near," she murmured wistfully, half to +herself. + +"Thou art in too great a hurry, sweetheart. There is plenty of time. +The stars are barely lit, and star-time is ever our time." + +He set his teeth over the words; but the glow and the glamour should +not fail her yet. He would take her back with him while he could to +the past which had been so full of it. + +"Come slower, my bird, I am waiting," he said again as the jingling +cadence ceased once more. + +"It is so strange," she gasped; "I feel so strange." And even in the +dim light he could see a vague terror, a pitiful amaze in her face. +That must not be. That must be stopped. "And it is strange," he +answered quickly. "Strange, indeed, for me to wait like a king, when +thou art my queen!" + +A faint smile drove the wonder away, a faint laugh mingled with the +chiming and clashing. She was like a wounded bird, he thought, as he +watched her; a wounded bird fluttering to find shelter from death. + +"Take care! Take care of the step!" he cried, as a stumble made him +start forward; but when she recovered herself blindly he stood still +once more, waiting. Let her come if she could. Let her keep the +glamour. + +Keep it! She had done more than that. She had given it back to him at +its fullest, as, close at hand he saw her radiant face, and his +outstretched hands met hers warm and clasping. The touch of them made +him forget all else; he drew her close to him passionately. She gave a +smiling sob of sheer content, raising her face to meet his kisses. + +"I have come," she whispered. "I have come to my king." Her voice +ended like a sigh. Then there was silence, a fainter sigh, then +silence again. + +"Zora!" he called with a sudden dread at his heart. "What is it? Zora! +Zora!" + +Half an hour afterward, Tara Devi, obeying her master's summons, found +him standing beside the bed, which he had dragged out under the stars, +and flung up her arms to give the wail for what she saw there. + +"Hush!" he said sternly, clutching at her shoulder. "I will not have +her disturbed." + +Tara looked at him wonderingly. "There is no fear of that," she +replied clearly, loudly, "none shall disturb Zora again. She hath +found _that_ freedom in the future. For the rest of us, God knows! The +times are strange. So let her have her right of wailing, master. She +will feel silent in the grave without the voices of her race." + +He drew his hand away sharply; even in death a great gulf lay between +him and the woman he had loved. + +So the death wail rang out clamorously through the soft dark air. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + TAPE AND SEALING-WAX. + + +"I can't think," said a good-looking middle-aged man as he petulantly +pushed aside a pile of official papers, "where Dashe picks these +things up. I never come across them. And it is not as if he were in a +big station or--or in the swim in any way." He spoke fretfully, as one +might who, having done his best, has failed. And he had grounds for +this feeling, since the fact that the diffident district-officer named +Dashe was not in the swim, must clearly have been due to his official +superiors; the speaker being one of them. + +Fortunately, however, for England, these diffident sons of hers cannot +always hide their lights under bushels. As the biographies of many +Indian statesmen show, some outsider notices a gleam of common sense +amid the gloom, and steers his course by it. Now Mr. Dashe's intimate +knowledge of a certain jungle tract in this district had resulted in a +certain military magnate bagging three tigers. From this to a reliance +on his political perceptions is not so great a jump as might appear; +since a man acquainted with the haunt of every wild beast in his +jurisdiction may be credited with knowledge of other dangerous +inhabitants. So much so that the military magnate, being impressed by +some casual remarks, had asked Mr. Dashe to put down his views on +paper, and had passed them on to a great political light. + +It was he who sat at the table looking at a broadsheet printed in the +native character, as if it were a personal affront. The military +magnate, who had come over to discuss the question, was lounging in an +easy-chair with a cheroot. They were both excellent specimens of +Englishmen. The civilian a trifle bald, the soldier a trifle gray; but +one glance was sufficient to judge them neither knaves nor fools. + +"That's the proclamation you're at now, isn't it?" asked the military +magnate, looking up, "I'm afraid I could only make out a word here and +there. That's the worst of Dashe. He's so deuced clever at the +vernaculars himself that he imagines other people----" + +The political, who had earned his first elevation from the common herd +to the Secretariat by a nice taste in Persian couplets suitable for +durbar speeches, smiled compassionately. + +"My dear sir! This is not even _shikust_ [broken character]. It is +lithographed, and plain sailing to anyone not a fool--I mean to anyone +on the civil side, of course--you soldiers have not to learn the +language. But I have a translation here. As this farrago of Dashe's +must go to Calcutta in due course, I had one made for the Governor +General's use." + +He handed a paper across the table, and then turned to the next +paragraph of the jeremiad. + +The military magnate laid down his cigar, took up the document and +glanced at it apprehensively, resumed his cigar, and settled himself +in his chair. It was a very comfortable one and matched the +office-room, which, being in the political light's private house, was +under the supervision of his wife, who was a notable woman. Her +portrait stood in the place of honor on the mantelpiece and it was +flanked by texts; one inculcating the virtue of doing as you would +be done by, the other the duty of doing good without ceasing. Both +rather dangerous maxims when you have to deal with a different +personal and ethical standard of happiness and righteousness. There +was also a semicircle of children's photographs--of the kind known as +positives--on the table round the official ink-pot. When the sun shone +on their glasses, as it did now through a western window, they dazzled +the eyes. Maybe it was their hypnotizing influence which inclined the +father of the family toward treating every problem which came to that +office-table as if the first desideratum was their welfare, their +approbation; not, of course, as his children, but as the +representative Englishmen and women of the future. Yet he was filled +with earnest desires to do his duty by those over whom he had been set +to rule, and as he read, his sense of responsibility was simply +portentous, and his pen, scratching fluently in comments over the half +margin, was full of wisdom. This sound was the only one in the room +save, occasionally, voices raised eagerly in the rehearsal going on in +the drawing room next door. It was a tragedy in aid of an orphan +asylum in England which the notable wife was getting up; and once her +voice could be heard distinctly, saying to her daughter, "Oh, Elsie, +I'm sure you could die better than that!" + +Meanwhile the military magnate was reading: + +"I, servant of God, the all-powerful, and of the prophet Mohammed--to +whom be all praise. I, Syyed Ahmed-Oolah, the dust of the feet of the +descendants of _Huzrut Ameer-Oolah-Moomereen-Ali-Moortuza, the Holy_." +He shifted uneasily, looked across the table, appeared discouraged by +that even scratching, and went on: + +"I, Syyed Ahmed, after preferring my salaams and the blessings of Holy +War, to all believers of the sect of Sheeahs or the sect of Sunnees +alike, and also to all those having respectful regards to the Faith, +declare that I, the least of servants in the company of those waiting +on the Prophet, did by the order of God receive a Sword of Honor, on +condition that I should proclaim boldly to all the duty of combining +to drive out Infidels. In this, therefore, is there great Reward; as +is written in the Word of God, since His Gracious Power is mighty for +success. Yea! and if any fail, will they not be rid of all the ends of +this evil world, and attain the Joys and Glories of Martyrdom? So be +it. A sign is ever sufficient to the intelligent, and the Duty of a +servant is simply to point the way." + +When he had finished he laid the document down on the table, and for a +minute or so continued to puff at his cigar. Then he broke silence +with that curious constraint in his tone which most men assume when +religious topics crop up in general conversation. "I wonder if +this--this paper is to be considered the sign, or"--he hesitated for a +moment, then the cadence of the proclamation being suggestive, he +finished his sentence to match--"or look we for another?" + +"Another!" retorted his companion irritably. "According to Dashe the +whole of India is one vast sign-post! He seems to think we in +authority are blind to this. On the contrary, there is scarcely one +point he mentions which is not, I say this confidentially of course, +under inquiry. I have the files in my confidential box here and can +show them to you now. No! by the way, the head clerk has the key--that +proclamation had to be translated, of course. But, naturally, we don't +proclaim this on the housetops. We might hurt people's feelings, +or give rise to unfounded hopes. As for these bazaar rumors Dashe +retails with such zest, I confess I think it undignified for a +district-officer to give any heed to them. They are inevitable +with an ignorant population, and we, having the testimony of +a good conscience,"--he glanced almost unconsciously at the +mantelpiece,--"should disregard these ridiculous lies. Of course +everyone--everyone in the swim, that is--admits that the native army +is most unsettled. And as Sir Charles Napier declared, mutiny is the +most serious danger in the future; in fact, if the first symptoms are +not grappled with, it may shake the very foundations. But we are +grappling with it, just as we are grappling, quietly, with the general +distrust. That was a most mischievous paragraph, by the way, in the +_Christian Observer_, jubilant over the alarm created by those first +widow remarriages the other day. So was that in _The Friend of India_, +calling attention to the fact that a regular prayer was offered up in +all the mosques for the Restoration of the Royal Family. We don't want +these things _noticed_. We want to create a feeling of security by +ignoring them. That is our policy. Then as for Dashe's political news, +it is all stale! That story, for instance, of the Embassy from Persia, +and of the old King of Delhi having turned a Sheeah----" + +"That has something to do with saying Amen, hasn't it?" interrupted +the military magnate, with the air of one determined to get at the +bottom of things at all costs to himself. + +The political light smiled in superior fashion. "Partially; but +politically--as a gauge, I mean, to probable antagonism--Sheeahs and +Sunnees are as wide apart as Protestants and Papists. The fact that +the Royal Family of Oude are Sheeahs, and the Delhi one Sunnees, is +our safeguard. Of course the old King's favorite wife, Zeenut Maihl, +is an Oude woman, but I don't credit the rumors. I had it carefully +inquired into, however, by a man who has special opportunities for +that sort of work. A very intelligent fellow, Greyman by name. He has +a black wife or--or something of that sort, which of course helps +him to understand the natives better than most of us who--er--who +don't--you understand----" + +The military magnate, having a sense of humor, smiled to himself. +"Perfectly," he replied, "and I'm inclined to think that perhaps there +is something to be said for a greater laxity." In his turn he glanced +at the mantelpiece, and paused before that immaculate presence. "The +proclamation, however," he went on hurriedly, "appears to me a bit +dangerous. Holy War is awkward, and a religious fanatic is a tough +subject even to the regulars." He had seen a rush of Ghâzees once and +the memory lingered. + +"Undoubtedly. And as we have pointed out again and again to your +Department, here and at home, the British garrisons are too scattered. +These large accessions of territory have put them out of touch with +each other. But that again is being grappled with. In fact, +personally, I believe we are getting on as well as can be expected." +He glanced here at the semicircle of children as if the phrase were +suggestive. "We are doing our best for India and the Indians. Now +here, in Oude, things are wonderfully ship-shape already. Despite +Jackson and Gubbins' tiffs over trifles they are both splendid +workers, and Lucknow was never so well governed as it is to-day." + +"But about the proclamation," persisted his hearer. "Couldn't you get +some more information about it? That Greyman, for instance." + +"I'm afraid not. He refused some other work I offered him not long +ago. Said he was going home for good. I sometimes wish I could. It is +a thankless task slaving out here and being misunderstood, even at +home. Being told in so many words that the very system under which we +were recruited has failed. Poor old Haileybury! I only hope +competition will do as well, but I doubt it; these new fellows can +never have the old _esprit de corps_; won't come from the same class! +One of the Rajah's people was questioning me about it only this +morning--they read the English newspapers, of course. 'So we are not +to have sahibs to rule over us,' he said, looking black as thunder. +'Any _krani's_ (_lit_. low-caste English) son will do, if he has +learned enough.' I tried to explain--" Here a red-coated orderly +entering with a card, he broke off into angry inquiries why he was +being disturbed contrary to orders. + +"The sahib bade me bring it," replied the man, as if that were +sufficient excuse, and his master, looking at the card, tossed it over +the table to the soldier, who exclaimed: "Talk of the devil! He may as +well come in, if you don't mind." + +So James Greyman was ushered in, and remained standing between the +civilian and the soldier; for it is not given to all to have the fine +perceptions of the native. The orderly had unhesitatingly classed the +visitor as a "gentleman to be obeyed"; but the Political Department +knew him only as a reliable source of information. + +"Well, Greyman! Have you brought any more news?" asked the civilian, +in a tone intended to impress the Military Department with the fact +that here was one grapnel out of the many which were being employed in +bringing truth to the surface and securing safety. But the soldier, +after one brief look at the newcomer, sat up and squared his own +shoulders a bit. + +"That depends, sir," replied James Greyman quietly, "whether it pays +me to bring it or not. I told you last month that I could not +undertake any more work, because I was leaving India. My plans have +changed; and to be frank, I am rather hard up. If you could give me +regular employment I should be glad of it." He spoke with the utmost +deliberation, but the incisive finality of every word, taking his +hearers unprepared, gave an impression of hurry and left the civilian +breathless. James Greyman, however, having said what he had come to +say, said no more. During the past week he had had plenty of time to +make up his mind, or rather to find out that it was made up. For he +recognized frankly that he was acting more on impulse than reason. +After he had buried poor little Zora away in accordance with the +customs of her people, and paid his racing bets and general +liabilities,--to do which he had found it necessary to sell most +things, including the very horse he had matched against Major +Erlton's,--he had suddenly found out, rather to his own surprise, that +the idea of starting again on the old lines was utterly distasteful to +him. In a lesser degree this second loss of his future and severing of +ties in the past had had the same effect upon him as the previous one. +It had left him reckless, disposed to defy all he had lost, and prove +himself superior to ill-luck. Then being, by right of his Celtic +birth, imaginative, in a way superstitious, he had again and again +found himself thrown back, as it were, upon Kate Erlton's appeal for +that chance, to bring which the Spirit might be, even now, moving on +the waters. It was that, that only, with its swift touch on his own +certainty that a storm was brewing, which had made him yield his +point; which had forced him into yielding by an unreasoning assent to +her suggestion that it might bring a chance of atonement with it. And +now, in calm deliberation, he confessed that he might find his chance +in it also; a better chance, maybe, than he would have had in England. +His only one, at any rate, for some time to come. Those gray-blue +northern eyes with the glint of steel in them had, by a few words, +changed the current of his life. The truth was unpalatable, but as +usual he did not attempt to deny it. He simply cast round for the best +course in which to flow toward that tide in the affairs of men which +he hoped to take at its flood. Political employment--briefly, spy's +work--seemed as good as any for the present. + +"Regular employment," echoed the civilian, recovering from his sense +of hurry. "You mean, I presume, as a news-writer." + +"As a spy, sir," interrupted James Greyman. + +The political light disregarded the suggestion. "Your acquirements, of +course, would be suitable enough; but I fear there are no native +courts without one. And the situation hardly calls for excess +expenditure. But of course, any isolated _douceur_----" + +His hearer smiled. "Call it payment, sir. But I think you must find +job-work in secret intelligence rather expensive. It produces such a +crop of mare's-nests; at least so I have found." + +The suspicion of equality in the remark made the official mount his +high horse, deftly. + +"Really, we have so many reliable sources of information, Mr. +Greyman," he began, laying his hand as if casually on the papers +before him. The action was followed by James Greyman's keen eyes. + +"You have the proclamation there, I see," he said cheerfully. "I +thought it could not be much longer before the police or someone else +became aware of its existence. The Moulvie himself was here about a +week ago." + +"The Moulvie--what Moulvie?" asked the military magnate eagerly. The +civilian, however, frowned. If confidential work were to be carried +out on those lines, something, even if it were only ignorance, must be +found out. + +"The Moulvie of Fyzabad--" began James Greyman. + +"And who--?" + +"My dear sir," interrupted the other pettishly. "We really know all +about the Moulvie of Fyzabad. His name has been on the register of +suspects for months." He rose, crossed to a bookshelf, and coming back +processionally with two big volumes, began to turn over the pages of +one. + +"M--Mo--Ah! Ma, no doubt. That is correct, though transliteration is +really a difficult task--to be consistent yet intelligible in a +foreign language is---- No. It must be under F in the first volume. F; +Fy. Just so! Here we are. 'Fyzabad, Moulvie of--fanatic, tall, medium +color, mole on inside of left shoulder.' This is the man, I think?" + +"I was not aware of the mole, sir," replied James Greyman dryly, "but +he is a magnificent preacher, a consistent patriot, a born organizer; +and he is now on his way to Delhi." + +"To Delhi?" echoed the civilian pettishly. "What can a man of the +stamp you say he is want with Delhi? A sham court, a miserable +pantaloon of a king, the prey of a designing woman who flatters his +dotage. I admit he is the representative of the Moghul dynasty, but +its record for the last hundred and fifty years is bad enough surely +to stamp out sentiment of that sort." + +"Prince Charles Edward was not a very admirable person, nor the record +of the Stuarts a very glorious one, and yet my grandfather----" James +Greyman pulled himself up sharply, and seeing an old prayer-book lying +on the table, which, with the alternatives of a bottle of Ganges water +and a copy of the _Koran_, lay ready for the discriminate swearing of +witnesses, finished his sentence by opening the volume at a certain +Office, and then placing the open book on the top of the proclamation. +"It will be no news to you, sir, that prayers of that sort are being +used in all the mosques. Of course here, in Lucknow, they are for my +late master's return. But if anything comparable to the '15 or the '45 +were to come, Delhi must be the center. It is the lens which would +focus the largest area, the most rays; for it appeals to greed as well +as good, to this world as well as the next." + +"Do you think it a center of disaffection now, Mr. Greyman?" asked the +military magnate with an emphasis on the title. + +"I do not know, sir. Zeenut Maihl, the Queen, has court intrigues, but +they are of little consequence." + +"I disagree," protested the Political. "You require the experience of +a lifetime to estimate the enormous influence----" + +"What do you consider of importance, then?" interrupted the soldier +rather cavalierly, leaning across the table eagerly to look at James +Greyman. There was an instant's silence, during which those voices +rehearsing were clearly audible. The tragedy had apparently reached a +climax. + +"That; and this." He pointed to the Proclamation, and a small fragment +of something which he took from his waistcoat pocket and laid beside +the paper. The civilian inspected it curiously, the soldier, leaving +his chair, came round to look at it also. The sunny room was full of +peace and solid security as those three Englishmen, with no lack of +pluck and brains, stood round the white fragment. + +"Looks like bone," remarked the soldier. + +"It is bone, and it was found, so I heard in the bazaar to-day, at the +bottom of a Commissariat flour-sack----" + +James Greyman was interrupted by a relieved pshaw! from the Political. + +"The old story, eh, Greyman! I wonder what next these ignorant +fools----" + +"When the ignorant fools happen to be drilled soldiers, and, in +Bengal, outnumber our English troops by twenty-four to one," retorted +James Greyman sharply, "it seems a work of supererogation to ask what +they will do next. If I were in their place---- However, if I may tell +you how that came into my hands you will perhaps be able to grasp the +gravity of the situation." + +"Won't you take a chair?" asked the soldier quickly. + +James Greyman glanced at the Political. "No, thanks, I won't be long. +There is a class of grain carriers called Bunjârahs. They keep herds +of oxen, and have carried supplies for the Royal troops since time +immemorial. They have a charter engraved on a copper breastplate. I've +only seen a copy, for the original Jhungi and Bhungi lived ages ago in +Rajpootana. It runs so: + + + "While Jhungi Bhungi's oxen + Carry the army's corn, + House-thatch to feed their flocks on, + House-water ready drawn. + Three murders daily shriven, + These rights to them are given, + While Jhungi Bhungi's oxen + Carry the army's corn." + + +"Preposterous," murmured the civilian. "That's at an end, anyhow." + +"Naturally; for they no longer carry the corn. The method is too slow, +too Eastern for our Commissariat. But the Oude levies used to employ +them. So did I at the stables. This is over also, and when I last saw +my _tanda_--that's a caravan of them, sir--they were sub-contracting +under a rich Hindoo firm which was dealing direct with the Department. +They didn't like it." + +"Still you can't deny that the growth of a strong, contented +commercial class with a real stake in the country----" began the +civilian hurriedly. + +"That sounds like the home-counties or a vestry board," interrupted +his hearer dryly. "The worst of it, in this case, being that you have +to get your content out of the petty dealers like these Bunjârahs. I +came upon one yesterday telling a circle of admirers, in the strictest +confidence of course, lest the _Sirkar_ should kill him for letting +the cat out of the bag, that he had found that bit of bone at the +bottom of a Commissariat sack he bought to mend his own. The moral +being, of course, that it was safer to buy from him. But he was only +half through when I, knowing the scoundrel, fell on him and thrashed +him for lying. The audience approved, and assented to his confession +that it was a lie; but only to please me, the man with the stick. And +as for Jhungi, he will tell the tale with additional embellishments in +every village to which the caravan goes; unless someone is there to +thrash him if he does." + +"Scoundrel," muttered the soldier angrily. + +"Or saint," added James Greyman. "He will be that when he comes to +believe his own story of having burned the sack rather than use it. +That won't be long. Then he will be much more dangerous. However, if +there is no place vacant for me, sir----" + +"If you would not mind waiting a minute----" began the military +magnate, with a hasty look at the Political. + +James Greyman bowed, and retired discreetly to the window. It looked +out upon just such another garden as Kate Erlton's, and the +remembrance provoked the cynical question as to what the devil he was +doing in that galley. Racing was a far safer way of making money than +acting as a spy; to no purpose possibly, at least so far as his own +chance was concerned. + +Yet five minutes after, when the Political was writing him out a safe +conduct in the event of his ever getting into difficulties with the +authorities, he interrupted the scratching of the pen to say, +suddenly: + +"If you would make it out in my own name, sir, I should prefer it. +James Sholto Douglas, late of the ----th Regiment." + +"Hm!" said the military magnate thoughtfully when the new employee in +the Secret Intelligence Department left the room. "So that is Jim +Douglas, is it? I thought he was a service man by the set of his +shoulders. Jim Douglas. I remember his case when I was in the A.-G.'s +office." + +"What was it?" asked the civilian curiously. + +"Oh, a woman, of course. I forget the details, she was the wife of his +major, a drunken beast. There was something about a blow, and she +didn't back him up; saved her reputation, you understand. But he was +an uncommonly smart officer, I know that." + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + BRAVO! + + +The Gissings' house stood in a large garden; but though it was +wreathed with creepers, and set with flowers after the manner of +flowerful Lucknow, there was no cult of pansies or such like English +treasures here. It was gay with that acclimatized tangle of poppies +and larkspur, marigold, mignonette, and corn cockles which Indian +gardeners love to sow broadcast in their cartwheel mud-beds; "powder +of flowers" they call the mixed seeds they save for it from year to +year. + +In the big dark dining room also--where Alice Gissing, looking half +her years in starch, white muslin, and blue ribbons, sat at the head +of the table--there was no cult of England. Everything was frankly, +stanchly of the nabob and pagoda-tree style; for the Gissings +preferred India, where they were received into society, to England, +where they would have been out of it. + +It had been one those heavy luncheons, beginning with many meats and +much bottled beer, ending with much madeira and many cigars, which +sent the insurance rate for India up to war risks in those days. + +And there was never any scarcity of the best beer at the Gissings', +seeing that he had the contract for supplying it to the British +troops. His wife, however, preferred solid-looking porter with a +creamy head to it, and a heavy odor which lingered about her pretty +smiling lips. It was a most incongruous drink for one of her +appearance; but it never seemed to affect either her gay little body +or gay little brain; the one remained youthful, slender, the other +brightly, uncompromisingly clear. + +She had been married twice. Once in extreme youth to a clerk in the +Opium Department, who owed the good looks which had attracted her to a +trace of dark blood. Then she had chosen wealth in the person of Mr. +Gissing. Had he died, she would probably have married for position; +since she had a catholic taste for the amenities of life. But he had +not died, and she had lived with him for ten years in good-natured +toleration of all his claims upon her. As a matter of fact, they did +not affect her in the least, and in her clear, high voice, she used to +wonder openly why other women worried over matrimonial troubles or +fussed over so slight an encumbrance as a husband. In a way she felt +equal to more than one, provided they did not squabble over her. That +was unpleasant, and she not only liked things to be pleasant, but had +the knack of making them so; both to the man whose name she bore, and +whose house she used as a convenient spot wherein to give luncheon +parties, and to the succession of admirers who came to them and drank +her husband's beer. + +He was a vulgar creature, but an excellent business man, with a knack +of piling up the rupees which made the minor native contractors, whose +trade he was gradually absorbing, gnash their teeth in sheer envy. For +the Western system of risking all to gain all was too much opposed to +the Eastern one of risking nothing to gain little for the hereditary +merchants to adopt it at once. They have learned the trick of fence +and entered the lists successfully since then; but in 1856 the foe was +new. So they fawned on the shrewd despoiler instead, and curried favor +by bringing his wife fruits and sweets, with something costlier hidden +in the oranges or sugar drops. Alice Gissing accepted everything with +a smile; for her husband was not a Government servant. The contracts, +however, being for Government supplies, the givers did not +discriminate the position so nicely. They used to complain that the +_Sirkar_ robbed them both ways, much to Mr. Gissing's amusement, who, +as a method of self-glorification, would allude to it at the luncheon +parties where many men used to come. Men who, between the intervals of +badinage with the gay little hostess, could talk with authority on +most affairs. They did not bring their wives with them, but Alice +Gissing did not seem to mind; she did not get on with women. + +"So they complain I rob them, do they?" he said loudly, complacently, +to the men on either side of him. "My dear Colonel! an Englishman is +bound to rob a native if that means creaming the market, for they +haven't been educated, sir, on those sound commercial principles which +have made England the first nation in the world. Take this flour +contract they are howling about. I'm beer by rights, of course, and, +by George, I'm proud of it. Your men, Colonel, can't do without beer; +England can't do without soldiers; so my business is sound. But why +shouldn't I have my finger in any other pie which holds money? These +hereditary fools think I shouldn't, and they were trying a ring, sir. +Ha! ha! an absurd upside-down d----d Oriental ring based on utterly +rotten principles. You can't keep up the price of a commodity because +your grandfather got that price. They ignored the facility of +transport given by roads, etc., ignored the right of government to +benefit--er--slightly--by these outlays. Commerce isn't a selfish +thing, sir, by gad. If you don't consider your market a bit, you won't +find one at all. So I stepped in, and made thousands; for the +Commissariat, seeing the saving here, of course asked me to contract +for other places. It serves the idiots uncommon well right; but it +will benefit them in the end. If they're to face Western nations they +must learn--er--the--the morality of speculation." He paused, helped +himself to another glass of madeira, and added in an unctuous tone, +"but till they do, India's a good place." + +"Is that Gissing preaching morality?" asked his wife, in her clear, +high voice. The men at her end of the table had had their share of +her; those others might be getting bored by her husband. + +"Only the morality of business," put in a coarse-looking fellow who, +having been betwixt and between the conversations, had been drinking +rather heavily. "There's no need for you to join the ladies as yet, +Mrs. Gissing." + +Major Erlton, at her right hand, scowled, and the boy on her left +flushed up to the eyes. He was her latest admirer, and was still in +the stage when she seemed an angel incarnate. Only the day before he +had wanted to call out a cynical senior who had answered his vehement +wonder as to how a woman like she was could have married a little +beast like Gissing, with the irreverent suggestion that it might be +because the name rhymed with kissing. + +In the present instance she heeded neither the scowl nor the flush, +and her voice came calmly. "I don't intend to, doctor. I mean to send +you into the drawing room instead. That will be quite as effectual to +the proprieties." + +Amid the laugh, Major Erlton found opportunity for an admiring +whisper. She had got the brute well above the belt that time. But the +boy's flush deepened; he looked at his goddess with pained, perplexed +eyes. + +"The morality of speculation or gambling," retorted the doctor, +speaking slowly and staring at the delighted Major angrily, "is the +art of winning as much money as you can--conveniently. That reminds +me, Erlton; you must have raked in a lot over that match." + +A sudden dull red showed on the face whose admiration Alice was +answering by a smile. + +"I won a lot, also," she interrupted hastily, "thanks to your tip, +Erlton. You never forget your friends." + +"No one could forget you--there is no merit----" began the boy +hastily, then pausing before the publicity of his own words, and +bewildered by the smile now given to him. Herbert Erlton noted the +fact sullenly. He knew that for the time being all the little lady's +personal interest was his; but he also knew that was not nearly so +much as he gave her. And he wanted more, not understanding that if she +had had more to give she would probably have been less generous than +she was; being of that class of women who sin because the sin has no +appreciable effect on them. It leaves them strangely, inconceivably +unsoiled. This imperviousness, however, being, as a rule, considered +the man's privilege only, Major Erlton failed to understand the +position, and so, feeling aggrieved, turned on the lad. + +"I'll remember you the next time if you like, Mainwaring," he said, +"but someone has to lose in every game. I'd grasped that fact before I +was your age, and made up my mind it shouldn't be me." + +"Sound commercial morality!" laughed another guest. "Try it, +Mainwaring, at the next _Gymkhâna_. By the way, I hear that +professional, Greyman, is off, so amateurs will have a chance now; he +was a devilish fine rider." + +"Rode a devilish fine horse, too," put in the unappeased doctor. "You +bought it, Erlton, in spite----" + +"Yes! for fifteen hundred," interrupted the Major, in unmistakable +defiance. "A long price, but there was hanky-panky in that match. +Greyman tried fussing to cover it. You never can trust professionals. +However, I _and my friends_ won, and I shall win again with the horse. +Take you evens in gold _mohurs_ for the next----" + +There was always a sledge-hammer method in the Major's fence, and the +subject dropped. + +The room was heavy with the odors of meats and drinks. Dark as it was, +the flood of sunshine streaming into the veranda outside, where yellow +hornets were buzzing and the servants washing up the dishes, sent a +glare even into the shadows. Neither the furniture nor appointments of +the room owed anything to the East--for Indian art was, so to speak, +not as yet invented for English folk--yet there was a strange +unkennedness about their would-be familiarity which suddenly struck +the latest exile, young Mainwaring. + +"India is a beastly hole," he said, in an undertone--"things are so +different--I wish I were out of it." There was a note of appeal in his +young voice; his eyes, meeting Alice Gissing's, filled with tears to +his intense dismay. He hoped she might not see them; but she did, and +leaned over to lay one kindly be-ringed little hand on the table quite +close to his. + +"You've got liver," she said confidentially. "India is quite a nice +place. Come to the assembly to-night, and I will give you two +extras--whole ones. And don't drink any more madeira, there is a good +boy. Come and have coffee with me in the drawing room instead; that +will set you right." + +Less has set many a boy hopelessly wrong. To do Alice Gissing justice, +however, she never recognized such facts; her own head being quite +steady. But Major Erlton understood the possible results perfectly, +and commented on them when, as a matter of course, his long length +remained lounging in an easy-chair after the other guests had gone, +and Mr. Gissing had retired to business. People, from the Palais +Royale playwrights, downward--or upward--always poke fun at the +husbands in such situations; but no one jibes at the man who succeeds +to the cut-and-dried necessity for devotion. Yet there is surely +something ridiculous in the spectacle of a man playing a conjugal part +without even a sense of duty to give him dignity in it, and the curse +of the commonplace comes as quickly to Abelard and Heloise as it does +to Darby and Joan. So Major Erlton, lounging and commenting, might +well have been Mrs. Gissing's legal owner. "Going to make a fool of +that lad now, I suppose, Allie. Why the devil should you when you +don't care for boys?" + +She came to a stand in front of him like a child, her hands behind her +back, but her china-blue eyes had a world of shrewdness in them. +"Don't I? Do you think I care for men either? I don't. You just amuse +me, and I've got to be amused. By the way, did you remember to order +the cart at five sharp? I want to go round the Fair before the Club." + +If they had been married ten times over, their spending the afternoon +together could not have been more of a foregone conclusion; there +seemed, indeed, no choice in the matter. And they were prosaically +punctual, too; at "five sharp" they climbed into the high dog-cart +boldly, in face of a whole posse of servants dressed in the nabob and +pagoda-tree style, also with silver crests in their pith turbans and +huge monograms on their breastplates; old-fashioned servants with the +most antiquated notions as to the needs of the sahib _logue_, and a +fund of passive resentment for the least change in the inherited +routine of service. Changes which they referred to the fact that the +new-fangled sahibs were not real sahibs. But the heavy, little and big +breakfasts, the unlimited beer, the solid dinners, the milk punch and +brandy _pâni_, all had their appointed values in the Gissings' house; +so the servants watched their mistress with approving smiles. And on +Mondays there was always a larger posse than usual to see the old Mai, +who had been Alice Gissing's ayah for years and years, hand up the +bouquet which the gardener always had ready, and say, "My salaams to +the missy-baba." Mrs. Gissing used to take the flowers just as she +took her parasol or her gloves. Then she would say, "All right," +partly to the ayah, partly to her cavalier, and the dog-cart, or +buggy, or mail-phaeton, whichever it happened to be, would go spinning +away. For the old Mai had handed the flowers into many different +turn-outs and remained on the steps ready with the authority of age and +long service, to crush any frivolous remarks newcomers might make. But +the destination of the bouquet was always the same; and that was to +stand in a peg tumbler at the foot of a tiny white marble cross in the +cemetery. Mrs. Gissing put a fresh offering in it every Monday, going +through the ceremony with a placid interest; for the date on the cross +was far back in the years. Still, she used to speak of the little life +which had come and gone from hers when she was yet a child herself, +with a certain self-possessed plaintiveness born of long habit. + +"I was barely seventeen," she would say, "and it was a dear little +thing. Then Saumarez was transferred, and I never returned to Lucknow +till I married Gissing. It was odd, wasn't it, marrying twice to the +same station. But, of course, I can't ask him to come here, so it is +doubly kind of you; for I couldn't come alone, it is so sad." + +Her blue eyes would be limpid with actual tears; yet as she waited for +the return of the tumbler, which the watchman always had to wash out, +she looked more like some dainty figure on a cracker than a weeping +Niobe. Nevertheless, the admirers whom she took in succession into her +confidence thought it sweet and womanly of her never to have forgotten +the dead baby, though they rather admired her dislike to live ones. +Some of them, when their part in the weekly drama came upon them, as +it always did in the first flush of their fancy for the principal +actress in it, began by being quite sentimental over it. Herbert +Erlton did. He went so far once as to bring an additional bouquet of +pansies from his wife's pet bed; but the little lady had looked at it +with plaintive distrust. "Pansies withered so soon," she said, "and as +the bouquet had to last a whole week, something less fragile was +better." Indeed, the gardener's bouquets, compact, hard, with the +blossoms all jammed into little spots of color among the protruding +sprigs of privet, were more suited to her calm permanency of regret, +than the passionate purple posy which had looked so pathetically out +of place in the big man's coarse hands. She had taken it from him, +however, and strewn the already drooping flowers about the marble. +They looked pretty, she had said, though the others were best, as she +liked everything to be tidy; because she had been very, very fond of +the poor little dear. Saumarez had never been kind, and it had been so +pretty; dark, like its father, who had been a very handsome man. She +had cried for days, then, though she didn't like children now. But she +would always remember this one, always! The old Mai and she often +talked of it; especially when she was dressing for a ball, because the +gardener brought bouquets for them also. + +Major Erlton, therefore, gave no more pansies, and his sentiment died +down into a sort of irritable wonder what the little woman would be +at. The unreality of it all struck him afresh on this particular +Monday: as he watched her daintily removing the few fallen petals; so +he left her to finish her task while he walked about. The cemetery was +a perfect garden of a place, with rectangular paths bordered by shrubs +which rose from a tangle of annual flowers like that around the +Gissings' house. This blossoming screen hid the graves for the most +part; but in the older portions great domed erections--generally +safeguarding an infant's body--rose above it more like summer-houses +than tombs. Herbert Erlton preferred this part of the cemetery. It was +less suggestive than the newer portion, and he was one of those +wholesome, hearty animals to whom the very idea of death is horrible. +So hither, after a time, she came, stepping daintily over the graves, +and pausing an instant on the way to add a sprig of mignonette to the +rosebud she had brought from a bush beside the cross; it was a fine, +healthy bush which yielded a constant supply of buds suitable for +buttonholes. She looked charming, but he met her with a perplexed +frown. + +"I've been wondering, Allie," he said, "what you would have been like +if that baby had lived. Would you have cared for it?" + +Her eyes grew startled. "But I do care for it! Why should I come if I +didn't? It isn't amusing, I'm sure; so I think it very unkind of you +to suggest----" + +"I never suggested anything," he protested. "I know you did--that you +do care. But if it had lived----" he paused as if something escaped +his mental grasp. "Why, I expect you would have been different +somehow; and I was wondering----" + +"Oh! don't wonder, please, it's a bad habit," she replied, suddenly +appeased. "You will be wondering next if I care for you. As if you +didn't know that I do." + +She was pinning the buttonhole into his coat methodically, and he +could not refuse an answering smile; but the puzzled look remained. "I +suppose you do, or you wouldn't----" he began slowly. Then a sudden +emotion showed in face and voice. "You slip from me somehow, +Allie--slip like an eel. I never get a real hold---- Well! I wonder if +women understand themselves? They ought to, for nobody else can, +that's one comfort." Whether he meant he was no denser than previous +recipients of rosebuds, or that mankind benefited by failing to grasp +feminine standards, was not clear. And Mrs. Gissing was more +interested in the fact that the mare was growing restive. So they +climbed into the high dog-cart again, and took her a quieting spin +down the road. The fresh wind of their own speed blew in their faces, +the mare's feet scarcely seemed to touch the ground, the trees slipped +past quickly, the palm-squirrels fled chirruping. He flicked his whip +gayly at them in boyish fashion as he sat well back, his big hand +giving to the mare's mouth. Hers lay equably in her lap, though the +pace would have made most women clutch at the rail. + +"Jolly little beasts; aint they, Allie?" + +"Jolly altogether; jolly as it can be," she replied with the frank +delight of a girl. They had forgotten themselves innocently enough; +but one of the men in a dog-cart, past which they had flashed, put on +an outraged expression. + +"Erlton and Mrs. Gissing again!" he fussed. "I shall tell my wife to +cut her. Being in business ourselves we have tried to keep square. But +this is an open scandal. I wonder Mrs. Erlton puts up with it. I +wouldn't." + +His companion shook his head. "Dangerous work, saying that. Wait +till you are a woman. I know more about them than most, being a +doctor, so I never venture on an opinion. But, honestly, I believe +most women--that little one ahead into the bargain--don't care a +button one way or the other. And, for all our talk, I don't believe we +do either, when all is said and done." + +"What is said and done?" asked the other peevishly. + +There was a pause. The lessening dog-cart with its flutter of ribbons, +its driver sitting square to his work, showed on the hard white road +which stretched like a narrowing ribbon over the empty plain. Far +ahead a little devil of wind swept the dust against the blue sky like +a cloud. Nearer at hand lay a cluster of mud hovels, and--going toward +it before the dog-cart--a woman was walking along the dusty side of +the road. She had a bundle of grass on her head, a baby across her +hip, a toddling child clinging to her skirts. The afternoon sun sent +the shadows conglomerately across the white metal. + +"Passion, Love, Lust, the attractions of sex for sex--what you will," +said the doctor, breaking the silence. "Nothing is easier knocked +out of a man, if he is worth calling one--a bugle call, a tight +corner---- God Almighty!--they're over that child! Drive on like the +devil, man, and let me see what I can do." + +There is never much to do when all has been done in an instant. There +had been a sudden causeless leaving of the mother's side, a toddling +child among the shadows, a quick oath, a mad rear as the mare, checked +by hands like a vise for strength, snapped the shafts as if they had +been straws. No delay, no recklessness; but one of these iron-shod +hoofs as it flung out had caught the child full on the temple, and +there was no need to ask what that curved blue mark meant, which had +gone crashing into the skull. + +Alice Gissing had leaped from the dog-cart and stood looking at the +pitiful sight with wide eyes. + +"We couldn't do anything," she said in an odd hard voice, as the +others joined her. "There was nothing we could do. Tell the woman, +Herbert, that we couldn't help it." + +But the Major, making the still plunging mare a momentary excuse +for not facing the ghastly truth, had, after one short, sharp +exclamation--almost of fear, turned to help the groom. So there was no +sound for a minute save the plunging of hoofs on the hard ground, the +groom's cheerful voice lavishing endearments on his restless charge, +and a low animal-like whimper from the mother, who, after one wild +shriek, had sunk down in the dust beside the dead child, looking at +the purple bruise dully, and clasping her living baby tighter to her +breast. For it, thank the gods! was the boy. That one with the mark on +its forehead only the girl. + +Then the doctor, who had been busy with deft but helpless hands, rose +from his knees, saying a word or two in Hindustani which provoked a +whining reply from the woman. + +"She admits it was no one's fault," he said. "So Erlton, if you will +take our dog-cart----" + +But the Major had faced the position by this time. "I can't go. She is +a camp follower, I expect, and I shall have to find out--for +compensation and all that. If you would take Mrs. Gissing----" His +voice, steady till then, broke perceptibly over the name; its owner +looked up sharply, and going over to him laid her hand on his arm. + +"It wasn't your fault," she said, still in that odd hard voice. "You +had the mare in hand; she didn't stir an inch. It is a dreadful thing +to happen, but"--she threw her head back a little, her wide eyes +narrowed as a frown puckered her smooth forehead--"it isn't as if we +could have prevented it. The thing had to be." + +She might have been the incarnation of Fate itself as she glanced down +at the dead child in the dust, at the living one reaching from its +mother's arms to touch its sister curiously, at the slow tears of the +mother herself as she acquiesced in the eternal fitness of things; for +a girl more or less was not much in the mud hovel, where she and her +man lived hardly, and the Huzoors would doubtless give rupees in +exchange, for they were just. She wept louder, however, when with +conventional wailing the women from the clustering huts joined her, +while the men, frankly curious, listened to the groom's spirited +description of the incident. + +"You had better go, Allie; you do no good here," said the Major almost +roughly. He was anxious to get through with it all; he was absorbed in +it. + +So the man who had said he was going to tell his wife to cut Mrs. +Gissing had to help her into the dog-cart. + +"It was horrible, wasn't it?" she said suddenly when, in silence, they +had left the little tragedy far behind them. "We were going an awful +pace, but you saw he had the mare in hand. He is awfully strong, you +know." She paused, and a reflectively complacent smile stole to her +face. "I suppose you will think it horrid," she went on; "but it +doesn't feel to me like killing a human being, you know. I'm sorry, of +course, but I should have been much sorrier if it had been a white +baby. Wouldn't you?" + +She set aside his evasion remorselessly. "I know all that! People say, +of course, that it is wicked not to feel the same toward people +whether they're black or white. But we don't. And they don't either. +They feel just the same about us because we are white. Don't you think +they do?" + +"The antagonism of race----" he began sententiously, but she cut him +short again. This time with an irrelevant remark. + +"I wonder what your wife would say if she saw me driving in your +dog-cart?" + +He stared at her helplessly. The one problem was as unanswerable as +the other. + +"You had better drive round the back way to the Fair," she said +considerately. "Somebody there will take me off your hands. Otherwise +you will have to drive me to the Club; for I'm not going home. It +would be dreadful after that horrid business. Besides, the Fair will +cheer me up. One doesn't understand it, you know, and the people crowd +along like figures on a magic lantern slide. I mean that you never +know what's coming next, and that is always so jolly, isn't it?" + +It might be, but the man with the wife felt relieved when, five +minutes afterward, she transferred herself to young Mainwaring's +buggy. The boy, however, felt as if an angel had fluttered down from +the skies to the worn, broken-springed cushion beside him; an angel to +be guarded from humanity--even her own. + +"How the beggars stare," he said after they had walked the horse for a +space through the surging crowds. "Let us get away from the grinning +apes." He would have liked to take her to paradise and put flaming +swords at the gate. + +"They don't grin," she replied curtly, "they stare like Bank-holiday +people stare at the wild beasts in the Zoo. But let us get away from +the watered road, the policemen, and all that. That's no fun. See, go +down that turning into the middle of it; you can get out that way to +the river road afterward if you like." + +The bribe was sufficient; it was not far across to peace and quiet, so +the turn was made. Nor was the staring worse in the irregular lane of +booths and stalls down which they drove. The unchecked crowd was +strangely silent despite the numberless children carried shoulder high +to see the show, and though the air was full of throbbings of tomtoms, +twanging of _sutaras_, intermittent poppings and fizzings of squibs. +But it was also strangely insistent; going on its way regardless of +the shouting groom. + +"Take care," said Mrs. Gissing lightly, "don't run over another child. +By the way, I forgot to tell you--the Fair was so funny--but Erlton +ran over a black baby. It wasn't his fault a bit, and the mother, +luckily, didn't seem to mind; because it was a girl, I expect. Aren't +they an odd people? One really never knows what will make them cry or +laugh." + +Something was apparently amusing them at that moment, however, for a +burst of boisterous merriment pealed from a dense crowd near a booth +pitched in an open space. + +"What's that?" she cried sharply. "Let's go and see." + +She was out of the dog-cart as she spoke despite his protest that it +was impossible--that she must not venture. + +"Do you imagine they'll murder me?" she asked with an _insouciant_, +incredulous laugh. "What nonsense! Here, good people, let me pass, +please!" + +She was by this time in the thick of the crowd, which gave way +instinctively, and he could do nothing but follow; his boyish face +stern with the mere thought her idle words had conjured up. Do her any +injury? Her dainty dress should not even be touched if he could help +it. + +But the sightseers, most of them peasants beguiled from their fields +for this Festival of Spring, had never seen an English lady at such +close quarters before, if, indeed, they had ever seen one at all. So, +though they gave way they closed in again, silent but insistent in +their curiosity; while, as the center of attraction came nearer, the +crowd in front became denser, more absorbed in the bursts of +merriment. There was a ring of license in them which made young +Mainwaring plead hurriedly: + +"Mrs. Gissing!--don't--please don't." + +"But I want to see what they're laughing at," she replied. And then in +perfect mimicry of the groom's familiar cry, her high clear voice +echoed over the heads in front of her: "_Hut! Hut! Ari bhaiyan! Hut!_" + +They turned to see her gay face full of smiles, joyous, confident, +sympathetic, and the next minute the cry was echoed with approving +grins from a dozen responsive throats. + +"Stand back, brothers! Stand back!" + +There were quick hustlings to right and left, quick nods and smiles, +even broad laughs full of good fellowship; so that she found herself +at the innermost circle with clear view of the central space, of the +cause of the laughter. It made her give a faint gasp and stand +transfixed. Two white-masked figures, clasped waist to waist, were +waltzing about tipsily. One had a curled flaxen wig, a muslin dress +distended by an all too visible crinoline, giving full play to a pair +of prancing brown legs. The other wore an old staff uniform, cocked +hat and feather complete. The flaxen curls rested on the tarnished +epaulet, the unembracing arms flourished brandy bottles. + +It was a vile travesty; and the Englishwoman turned instinctively to +the Englishman as if doubtful what to do, how to take it. But the +passion of his boyish face seemed to make things clear--to give her +the clew, and she gripped his hand hard. + +"Don't be a fool!" she whispered fiercely. "Laugh. It's the only thing +to do." Her own voice rang out shrill above the uncertain stir in the +crowd, taken aback in its merriment. + +But something else rose above it also. A single word: + +"Bravo!" + +She turned like lightning to the sound, her cheeks for the first time +aflame, but she could see no one in the circle of dark faces whom she +could credit with the exclamation. Yet she felt sure she had heard it. + +"Bravo!" Had it been said in jest or earnest, in mockery or---- Young +Mainwaring interrupted the problem by suggesting that as the maskers +had run away into a booth, where he could not follow and give them the +licking they deserved because of her presence, it might be as well for +her to escape further insult by returning to the buggy. His tone was +as full of reproach as that of a lad in love could be, but Mrs. +Gissing was callous. She declared she was glad to have seen it. +Englishmen did drink and Englishwomen waltzed. Why, then, shouldn't +the natives poke fun at both habits if they chose? They themselves +could laugh at other things. And laugh she did, recklessly, at +everything and everybody for the remainder of the drive. But +underneath her gayety she was harping on that "Bravo!" And suddenly as +they drove by the river she broke in on the boy's prattle to say +excitedly: "I have it! It must have been the one in the Afghan cap who +said 'Bravo!' He was fairer than the rest. Perhaps he was an +Englishman disguised. Well! I should know him again if I saw him." + +"Him? who--what? Who said bravo?" asked the lad. He had been too angry +to notice the exclamation at the time. + +She looked at him quizzically. "Not you--you abused me. But someone +did--or didn't"--here her little slack hands resting in her lap +clasped each other tightly. "I rather wish I knew. I'd rather like to +make him say it again. Bravo! Bravo!" + +And then, as if at her own mimicry, she returned to her childish +unreasoning laugh. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE GIFT OF MANY FACES. + + +Mrs. Gissing had guessed right. The man in the Afghan cap was Jim +Douglas, who found the disguise of a frontiersman the easiest to +assume, when, as now, he wanted to mix in a crowd. And he would have +said "Bravo" a dozen times over if he had thought the little lady +would like to hear it; for her quick denial of the possibility of +insult had roused his keenest admiration. Here had spoken a dignity he +had not expected to find in one whom he only knew as a woman Major +Erlton delighted to honor. A dignity lacking in the big brave boy +beside her; lacking, alas! in many a big brave Englishman of greater +importance. So he had risked detection by that sudden "Bravo!" Not +that he dreaded it much. To begin with, he was used to it, even when +he posed as an out-lander, for there was a trick in his gait, not to +be Orientalized, which made policemen salute gravely as he passed +disguised to the tent. Then there was ignorance of some one or another +of the million shibboleths which divide men from each other in India; +shibboleths too numerous for one lifetime's learning, which require to +be born in the blood, bred in the bone. In this case, also, he had +every intention of asserting his race by licking one at least of the +offenders when the show was over. For he happened to know one of them; +having indeed licked him a few days before over a certain piece of +bone. So, as the crowd, accepting the finale of one amusement +placidly, drifted away to see another, he walked over to the tent in +which the discomforted caricaturists had found refuge. It was a +tattered old military bell-tent, bought most likely at some auction +with the tattered old staff uniform. As he lifted the flap the sound +of escaping feet made him expect a stern chase; but he was mistaken. +Two figures rose with a start of studied surprise and salaamed +profoundly as he entered. They were both stark naked save for a +waistcloth, and Jim Douglas could not resist a quick glance round for +the discarded costumes. They were nowhere to be seen; being hidden, +probably, under the litter of properties strewing the squalid +green-room. Still of the identity of the man he knew Jim Douglas had +no doubt, and as this one was also the nearest, he promptly seized him +by the both shoulders and gave him a sound Western kick, which would +have been followed by others if the recipient had not slipped from his +hold like an eel. For Jhungi, Bunjârah, and general vagrant, +habitually oiled himself from head to foot after the manner of his +profession as a precaution against such possible attempts at capture. + +His assailant, grasping this fact, at any rate, did not risk dignity +by pursuit; though the man stood salaaming again within arm's length. + +"You scoundrel!" said Jim Douglas with as much severity as he could +command before the mixture of deference and defiance, innocence and +iniquity, in the sharp, cunning face before him. "Wasn't the licking I +gave you before enough?" + +Jhungi superadded perplexity to his other show of emotions. "The +Huzoor mistakes," he said, with sudden cheerful understanding. "It was +the miscreant Bhungi, my brother, whom the Huzoor licked. The +misbegotten idler who tells lies in the bazaar about bones and sacks. +So his skin smarts, but my body is whole. Is it not so, Father Tiddu?" + +The appeal to his companion was made with curious eagerness, and Jim +Douglas, who had heard this tale of the ill-doing double before, +looked at the witness to it with interest. That this man was or was +not Jhungi's co-offender he could not say with certainty, for there +was a remarkable lack of individuality about both face and figure when +in repose. But the nickname of Tiddu, or cricket, was immediately +explained by the jerky angularity of his actions. Save for the faint +frostiness of sprouting gray hairs on a shaven cheek and skull he +might have been any age. + +"Of a truth it was Bhungi," he said in a well-modulated but creaky +voice. "Time was when liars, such as he, fell dead. Now they don't +even catch fevers, and if they do, the Huzoors give them a bitter +powder and start them lying again. So, since one dead fish stinks a +whole tank, virtuous Jhungi, being like as two peas in a pod, suffers +an ill-name. But Bhungi will know what it means to tell lies when he +stands before his Creator. Nevertheless in this world the master being +enraged----" + +"Not so, Father Tiddu," interrupted Jhungi glibly, "the Huzoor is but +enraged with Bhungi. And rightly. Did not we hide our very faces with +shame while he mimicked the noble people? Did we not try to hold him +when he fled from punishment--as the Huzoor no doubt heard----" + +Jim Douglas without a word slipped his hand down the man's back. The +wales of a sound hiding were palpable; so was his wince as he dodged +aside to salaam again. + +"The Huzoor is a male judge," he said admiringly. "No black man could +deceive him. This slave has certainly been whipped. He fell among +liars who robbed him of his reputation. Will the Huzoor do likewise? +On the honor of a Bunjârah 'tis Bhungi whom the Huzoor beats. He gives +Jhungi bitter powders when he gets the fever. And even Bhungi but +tries to earn a stomachful as he can when the Huzoors take his trade +from him." + +"The world grows hollow, to match a man's swallow," quoted Tiddu +affably. + +The familiar by-word of poverty, the quiet mingling of truth and +falsehood, daring and humility in Jhungi's plea, roused both Jim +Douglas' sense of humor, and the sympathy--which with him was always +present--for the hardness and squalidness of so many of the lives +around him. + +"But you can surely earn the stomachful honestly," he said, anger +passing into irritation. "What made you take to this trade?" He kicked +at a pile of properties, and in so doing disclosed the skeleton of a +crinoline. Jhungi with a shocked expression stooped down and covered +it up decorously. + +"But it is my trade," he replied; "the Huzoor must surely have heard +of the Many-Faced tribe of Bunjârahs? I am of them.' + +"Lie not, Jhungi!" interrupted Tiddu calmly, "he is but my apprentice, +Huzoor, but I----" he paused, caught up a cloth, gave it one dexterous +twirl round him, squatted down, and there he was, to the life, a +veiled woman watching the stranger with furtive, modest eye. "But I," +came a round feminine voice full of feminine inflections, "am of the +thousand-faced people who wander to a thousand places. A new place, a +new face. It makes a large world, Huzoor, a strange world." There was +a melancholy cadence in his voice, which added interest to the sheer +amaze which Jim Douglas was feeling. He had heard the legend of the +Many-Faced Tribe, had even seen clever actors claiming to belong to +it, and knew how the Stranglers deceived their victims, but anything +like this he had never credited, much less seen. He himself, though he +knew to the contrary, could scarcely combat the conviction, which +seemed to come to him from that one furtive eye, that a woman sat +within those folds. + +"But how?" he begun in perplexity. "I thought the Baharupas [_Lit_. +many-faced] never went in caravans." + +Tiddu resumed the cracked voice and let the smile become visible, and, +as if by magic, the illusion disappeared. "The Huzoor is right. We are +wanderers. But in my youth a woman tied me to one place, one face; +women have the trick, Huzoor, even if they are wanderers themselves. +This one was, but I loved her; so after we had burned her and her +fellow-wanderer together hand-in-hand, according to the custom, so +that they might wander elsewhere but not in the tribe, I lingered on. +He was the father of Jhungi, and the boy being left destitute I taught +him to play; for it needs two in the play as in life. The man and the +woman, or folks care not for it. So I taught Jhungi----" + +"And brother Bhungi?" suggested his hearer dryly. + +A faint chuckle came from the veil. "And Bhungi. He plays well, and +hath beguiled an old rascal with thin legs and a fat face like mine +into playing with him. Some, even the Huzoor himself, might be +beguiled into mistaking Siddu for Tiddu. But it is a tom-cat to a +tiger. So being warned, the Huzoor will give no unearned blows. Yet if +he did, are not two kicks bearable from the mulch-cow?" As he spoke he +angled out a hand impudently for an alms with the beggars' cry of +"_Alakh_," to point his meaning. + +It was echoed by Jhungi, who, envious of Tiddu's holding the boards, +as it were, had in sheer devilry and desire not to be outdone, taken +up the disguise of a mendicant. It was a most creditable performance, +but Tiddu dismissed it with a waive of the hand. + +"_Bullah!_" he said contemptuously, "'tis the refuge of fools. There +is not one true beggar in fifty, so the forty-and-nine false ones go +free of detention as the potter's donkey. Even the Huzoor could do +better--had I the teaching of him." + +He leaned forward, dropping his voice slightly, and Jim Douglas +narrowed his eyes as men do when some unbidden idea claims admittance +to the brain. + +"You?" he echoed; "what could you teach me?" + +Tiddu rose, let fall the veil to decent dignified drapery, and fixed +his eyes full on the questioner. They were luminous eyes, differing +from Jhungi's beady ones as the fire-opal differs from the diamond. + +"What could I teach?" he re-echoed, and his tone, monotonously +distinct to Jim Douglas, was inaudible to others, judging by Jhungi's +impassive face. "Many things. For one, that the Baharupas are not +mimics only. They have the Great Art. What is it? God knows. But what +they will folk to see, that is seen. That and no more." + +Jim Douglas laughed derisively. Animal magnetism and mesmerism were +one thing: this was another. + +"The Huzoor thinks I lie; but he must have heard of the doctor sahib +in Calcutta who made suffering forget to suffer." + +"You mean Dr. Easdale. Did you know him? Was he a pupil of yours?" +came the cynical question. + +Tiddu's face became expressionless. "Perhaps; but this slave forgets +names. Yet the Huzoors have the gift sometimes. The Baharupas have it +not always; though the father's hoard goes oftenest to the son. Now, +if, by chance, the Huzoor had the gift and could use it, there would +be no need for policemen to salute as he passes; no need for the +drug-smokers to cease babbling when he enters. So the Huzoor could +find out what he wants to find out; what he is paid to find out." + +His eyes met Jim Douglas' surprise boldly. + +"How do you know I want to find out anything?" said the latter, after +a pause. + +Tiddu laughed. "The Huzoor must find a turban heavy, and there is no +room for English toes in a native shoe; folk seek not such discomfort +for naught." + +Jim Douglas paused again; the fellow was a charlatan, but he was +consummately clever; and if there was anything certain in this world +it was the wisdom of forgetting Western prejudices occasionally in +dealing with the East. + +"Send that man away," he said curtly, "I want to talk to you alone." + +But the request seemed lost on Tiddu. He folded up the veil +impudently, and resumed the thread of the former topic. "Yet +Jhungi plays the beggar well, for which Fate be praised, since he +must ask alms elsewhere if the Huzoor refuses them. For the purse is +empty"--here he took a leathern bag from his waistband and turned it +inside out--"by reason of the Huzoor's dislike to good mimics. So thou +must to the temples, Jhungi, and if thou meetest Bhungi give him the +sahib's generous gift; for blows should not be taken on loan." + +Jhungi, who all this time had been telling his beads like the best of +beggars, looked up with some perplexity; whether real or assumed Jim +Douglas felt it was impossible to say, in that hotbed of deception. + +"Bhungi?" echoed the former, rising to his feet. "Ay! that will I, if +I meet him. But God knows as to that. God knows of Bhungi----" + +"The purse is empty," repeated Tiddu in a warning voice, and Jhungi, +with a laugh, pulled himself and his disguise together, as it were, +and passed out of the tent; his beggar's cry, "_Alakh! Alakh!_" +growing fainter and fainter while Tiddu and Jim Douglas looked at each +other. + +"Jhungi-Bhungi--Bhungi-Jhungi," jeered the Baharupa, suddenly, +jingling the names together. "Which be which, as he said, God knows, +not man. That is the best of lies. They last a body's lifetime, so the +Huzoor may as well learn old Tiddu's----" + +"Or Siddu's?" + +"Or Siddu's," assented the mountebank calmly. "But the Huzoor cannot +learn to use his gift from that old rascal. He must come to the +many-faced one, who is ready to teach it." + +"Why?" + +Tiddu abandoned mystery at once. + +"For fifty rupees, Huzoor; not a _pice_ less. Now, in my hand." + +Was it worth it? Jim Douglas decided instantly that it might be. Not +for the gift's sake; of that he was incredulous. But Tiddu was a +consummate actor and could teach many tricks worth knowing. Then in +this roving commission to report on anything he saw and heard to the +military magnate, it would suit him for the time to have the service +of an arrant scoundrel. Besides, the pay promised him being but small, +the wisdom of having a second string to the bow of ambition had +already decided him on combining inquiry with judicious horse-dealing; +since he could thus wander through villages buying, through towns +selling, without arousing suspicion; and this life in a caravan would +start him on these lines effectively. Finally, this offer of Tiddu's +was unsought, unexpected, and, ever since Kate Erlton's appeal, Jim +Douglas had felt a strange attraction toward pure chance. So he took +out a note from his pocket-book and laid it in the Baharupa's hand. + +"You asked fifty," he said, "I give a hundred; but with the branch of +the neem-tree between us two." + +Tiddu gave him an admiring look. "With the sacred '_Lim ke dagla_' +between us, and Mighty Murri-am herself to see it grow," he echoed. +"Is the Huzoor satisfied?" + +The Englishman knew enough of Bunjârah oaths to be sure that he had, +at least, the cream of them; besides, a hundred rupees went far in the +purchase of good faith. So that matter was settled, and he felt it to +be a distinct relief; for during the last day or two he had been +casting about for a fair start rather aimlessly. In truth, he had +underrated the gap little Zora's death would make in his life, and had +been in a way bewildered to find himself haunting the empty nest on +the terraced roof in forlorn, sentimental fashion. The sooner, +therefore, that he left Lucknow the better. So, as the Bunjârah had +told him the caravan was starting the very next morning, he hastily +completed his few preparations, and having sent Tara word of his +intention, went, after the moon had risen, to lock the doors on the +past idyl and take the key of the garden-house back to its owner; for +he himself had always lodged, in European fashion, near the Palace. + +The garden, as he entered it, lay peaceful as ever; so utterly +unchanged from what he remembered it on many balmy moonlit nights, +that he could not help looking up once more, as if expectant of that +tinsel flutter, that soft welcome, "_Khush-âmud-und Huzrut_." Strange! +So far as he was concerned the idyl might be beginning; but for her? +All unconsciously, as he paused, his thought found answer in one +spoken word--the Persian equivalent for "it is finished," which has +such a finality in its short syllables: + + + "KHUTM." + + +"Khutm." The echo came from Tara's voice, but it had a ring in it +which made him turn, anticipating some surprise. She was standing not +far off, below the plinth, as he was, having stepped out from the +shadow of the trees at his approach, and she was swathed from head to +foot in the white veil of orthodox widowhood, which encircled her face +like a cere-cloth. Even in the moonlight he could see the excitement +in her face, the glitter in the large, wild eyes. + +"Tara!" he exclaimed sharply, his experience warning him of danger, +"what does this mean?" + +"That the end has come; the end at last!" she cried theatrically; +every fold of her drapery, though she stood stiff as a corpse, seeming +to be instinct with fierce vitality. + +He changed his tone at once, perceiving that the danger might be +serious. "You mean that your service is at an end," he said quietly. +"I told you that some days ago. Also that your pay would be continued +because of your goodness to her--to the dead. I advised your returning +north, nearer your own people, but you are free to go or stay. Do you +want anything more? If you do, be quick, please, for I am in a hurry." + +His coolness, his failure to remark on the evident meaning of her +changed dress, calmed her somewhat. + +"I want nothing," she replied sullenly. "A _suttee_ wants nothing in +this world, and I am _suttee_. I have been the master's servant for +gratitude's sake--now I am the servant of God for righteousness' +sake." So far she had, spoken as if the dignified words had been +pre-arranged; now she paused in a sort of wistful anger at the +indifference on his face. The words meant so much to her, and, as she +ceased from them, their controlling power seemed to pass also, and she +flung out her arms wildly, then brought them down in stinging blows +upon her breasts. + +"I am _suttee_. Yes! I am _suttee!_ Reject me not again, ye Shining +Ones! reject me not again." + +The cry was full of exalted resolve and despair. It made Jim Douglas +step up to her, and seizing both hands, hold them fast. + +"Don't be a fool, Tara!" he said sternly. "Tell me, sensibly, what all +this means. Tell me what you are going to do." + +His touch seemed to scorch her, for she tore herself away from it +vehemently; yet it seemed also to quiet her, and she watched him with +somber eyes for a minute ere replying: "I am going to Holy Gunga. +Where else should a _suttee_ go? The Water will not reject me as the +Fire did, since, before God! I am _suttee_. As the master knows,"--her +voice held a passionate appeal,--"I have been _suttee_ all these long +years. Yet now I have given up all--all!" + +With a swift gesture, full of womanly grace, but with a sort +of protest against such grace in its utter abandonment and +self-forgetfulness, she flung out her arms once more. This time to +raise the shrouding veil from her head and shoulders. Against this +background of white gleaming in the moonlight, her new-shaven skull +showed death-like, ghastly. Jim Douglas recoiled a step, not from the +sight itself, but because he knew its true meaning; knew that it meant +self-immolation if she were left to follow her present bent. She would +simply go down to the Ganges and drown herself. An inconceivable state +of affairs, beyond all rational understanding; but to be reckoned +with, nevertheless, as real, inevitable. + +"What a pity!" he said, after a moment's pause had told him that it +would be well to try and take the starch out of her resolution by fair +means or foul, leaving its cause for future inquiry. "You had such +nice hair. I used to admire it very much." + +Her hands fell slowly, a vague terror and remorse came to her eyes; +and he pursued the advantage remorselessly. "Why did you cut it off?" +He knew, of course, but his affected ignorance took the color, the +intensity from the situation, by making her feel her _coup de theatre_ +had failed. + +"The Huzoor must know," she faltered, anger and disappointment and +vague doubt in her tone, while her right hand drew itself over the +shaven skull as if to make sure there was no mistake. "I am +_suttee_--" The familiar word seemed to bring certainty with it, and +she went on more confidentially. "So I cut it all off and it lies +there, ready, as I am, for purification." + +She pointed to the upper step leading to the plinth, where, as on an +altar, lay all her worldly treasures, arranged carefully with a view +to effect. The crimson scarf she had always worn was folded--with due +regard to the display of its embroidered edge--as a cloth, and at +either end of it lay a pile of trumpery personal adornments, each +topped and redeemed from triviality by a gold wristlet and anklet. In +the center, set round by fallen orange-blossoms, rose a great heap of +black hair, snakelike in glistening coils. The simple pomposity of the +arrangement was provocative of smiles, the wistful eagerness of the +face watching its effect on the master was provocative of tears. Jim +Douglas, feeling inclined for both, chose the former deliberately; he +even managed a derisive laugh as he stepped up to the altar and laid +sacrilegious hands on the hair. Tara gave a cry of dismay, but he was +too quick for her, and dangled a long lock before her very eyes, in +jesting, but stern decision. + +"That settles it, Tara. You can go to Gunga now if you like, and bathe +and be as holy as you like. But there will be no Fire or Water. Do you +understand?" + +She looked at the hand holding the hair with the oddest expression, +though she said obstinately, "I shall drown if I choose." + +"Why should you choose?" he asked. "You know as well as I that it is +too late for any good to you or others. The Fire and Water should have +come twelve years ago. The priests won't say so of course. They want +fools to help them in this fuss about the new law. Ah! I thought so! +They have been at you, have they? Well, be a fool if you like, and +bring them pennies at Benares as a show. You cannot do anything else. +You can't even sacrifice your hair really, so long as I have this +bit." He began to roll the lock round his finger, neatly. + +"What is the Huzoor going to do with it?" she asked, and the oddness +had invaded her voice. + +"Keep it," he retorted. "And by all, these thirty thousand and odd +gods of yours, I'll say it was a love-token if I choose. And I will if +you are a fool." He drew out a small gold locket attached to the +Brahminical thread he always wore, and began methodically to fit the +curl into it, wondering if this cantrip of his--for it was nothing +more--would impress Tara. Possibly. He had found such suggestions of +ritual had an immense effect, especially with the womenkind who were +for ever inventing new shackles for themselves; but her next remark +startled him considerably. + +"Is the _bibi's_ hair in there too?" she asked. There was a real +anxiety in her tone, and he looked at her sharply, wondering what she +would be at. + +"No," he answered. In truth it was empty; and had been empty ever +since he had taken a fair curl from it many years before; a curl which +had ruined his life. The memory making him impatient of all feminine +subtleties, he added roughly, "It will stay there for the present; but +if you try _suttee_ nonsense I swear I'll tie it up in a cowskin bag, +and give it to a sweeper to make broth of." + +The grotesque threat, which suggested itself to his sardonic humor as +one suitable to the occasion, and which in sober earnest was terrible +to one of her race, involving as it did eternal damnation, seemed to +pass her by. There was even, he fancied, a certain relief in the face +watching him complete his task; almost a smile quivering about her +lips. But when he closed the locket with a snap, and was about to slip +it back to its place, the full meaning of the threat, of the loss--or +of something beyond these--seemed to overtake her; an unmistakable +terror, horror, and despair swept through her. She flung herself at +his feet, clasping them with both hands. + +"Give it me back, master," she pleaded wildly. "Hinder me not again! +Before God I am _suttee!_ I am _suttee!_" + +But this same Eastern clutch of appeal is disconcerting to the average +Englishman. It fetters the understanding in another sense, and +smothers sympathy in a desire to be left alone. Even Jim Douglas +stepped back from it with something like a bad word. She remained +crouching for a moment with empty hands, then rose in scornful +dignity. + +"There was no need to thrust this slave away," she said proudly. +"Tara, the Rajputni, will go without that. She will go to Holy Gunga +and be purged of inmost sin. Then she will return and claim her right +of _suttee_ at the master's hand. Till then he may keep what he +stole." + +"He means to keep it," retorted the master savagely, for he had come +to the end of his patience. "Though what this fuss about _suttee_ +means I don't know. You used to be sensible enough. What has come to +you?" + +Tara looked at him helplessly, then, wrapping her widow's veil round +her, prepared to go in silence. She could not answer that question +even to herself. She would not even admit the truth of the old +tradition, that the only method for a woman to preserve constancy to +the dead was to seek death itself. That would be to admit too much. +Yet that was the truth, to which her despair at parting pointed even +to herself. Truth? No! it was a lie! She would disprove it even in +life if she was prevented from doing so by death. So, without a word, +she gathered up the crimson drapery and what lay on it. Then, with +these pathetic sacrifices of all the womanhood she knew tight clasped +in her widow's veil, she paused for a last salaam. + +The incomprehensible tragedy of her face irritated him into greater +insistence. + +"But what is it all about?" he reiterated. "Who has been putting these +ideas into your head? Who has been telling you to do this? Is it Soma, +or some devil of a priest?" + +As he waited for an answer the floods of moonlight threw their shadows +together to join the perfumed darkness of the orange trees. The city, +half asleep already, sent no sound to invade the silence. + +"No! master. It was God." + +Then the shadow left him and disappeared with her among the trees. He +did not try to call her back. That answer left him helpless. + +But as, after climbing the stairs, he passed slowly from one to +another of the old familiar places in the pleasant pavilions, the +mystery of such womanhood as Tara Devi's and little Zora's oppressed +him. Their eternal cult of purely physical passion, their eternal +struggle for perfect purity and constancy, not of the soul, but the +body; their worship alike of sex and He who made it seemed +incomprehensible. And as he turned the key in the lock for the last +time, he felt glad to think that it was not likely the problem would +come into his life again; even though he carried a long lock of black +hair with him. It was an odd keepsake, but if he was any judge of +faces his cantrip had served his purpose; Tara would not commit +suicide while he held that hostage. + +So, having scant leisure left, he hurried through the alleys to return +the key. They were almost deserted; the children at this hour being +asleep, the men away lounging in the bazaars. But every now and again +a formless white figure clung to a corner shadow to let him pass. A +white shadow itself, recalling the mystery he had been glad to leave +unsolved; for he knew them to be women taking this only opportunity +for a neighborly visit. Old or young, pretty or ugly? What did it +matter? They were women, born temptresses of virtuous men; and they +were proud of the fact, even the poor old things long past their +youth. There was a chink in a door he was about to pass. A chink an +inch wide with a white shadow behind it. A woman was looking out. What +sort of a woman, he wondered idly? Suddenly the chink widened, a hand +crept through it, beckoning. He could see it clearly in the moonlight. +An old wrinkled hand, delicately old, delicately wrinkled, +inconceivably thin, but with the pink henna stain of the temptress +still on palms and fingers. A hand with the whole history of seclusion +written on it. He crossed over to it, and heard a hurried breathless +whisper. + +"If the Huzoor would listen for the sake of any woman he loves." + +It was an old voice, but it sent a thrill to his heart. "I am +listening, mother," he replied, "for the sake of the dead." + +"God send her grave peace, my son!" came the voice less hurriedly. +"It is not much for listening. I am pensioner, Huzoor. The +King gave me three rupees, but now he is gone and the money +comes not. If the Huzoor would tell those who send it that +Ashrâf-un-Nissa-Zainub-i-Mahal--the Huzoor may know my name, being as +my father and mother--wants it. That is all, Huzoor." + +It was not much, but Jim Douglas could supplement the rest. Here was +evidently a woman who had lived on bounty, and who was starving for +the lack of it. There were hundreds in her position, he knew, even +among those whose pensions had been guaranteed; for they had not been +paid as yet. The papers were not ready, the tape not tied, the +sealing-wax not sealed. + +"It will not be for long, Huzoor, and it is only three rupees. I was +watching for a neighbor to borrow corn, if I could, and seeing the +Huzoor----" + +"It is all right, mother," he interrupted reassuringly. "I was coming +to pay it. Hold the hand straight and I will count it in. Three rupees +for three months; that is nine." + +The chink of the silver had a background of blessings, and Jim Douglas +walked on, thinking what a quaint commentary this little incident was +on his puzzle. "Ashrâf-un-Nissa-Zainub-i-Mahal." "Honor-of-women and +Ornament-of-Palaces." If the King's paymaster had thought twice about +such things, the poor old lady might not have been starving. He was +the real culprit. And three months' delay was not long for sanctions, +references, for all the paraphernalia and complex machinery of our +Government. But a case like this? He looked up into the star-sprinkled +riband of sky between the narrowing housetops, and wondered from how +many unseen hearths and unheard voices the cry, "How long, O Lord! How +long!" was rising. But even to his listening ear there was no sign, no +sound. And as he went on through the bazaars, the crowds were passing +and repassing contentedly upon the trivial errands of life, and the +twinkling cressets in the shops showed faces eager only after a +trivial loss or gain. + +And the world of Lucknow was apparently awakening contentedly to a new +day, when, before dawn, he passed out of it disguised by Tiddu as a +deaf-and-dumb driver to the bullock which carried the tattered +bell-tent and the tattered staff uniform. It was still dark, but there +was a sense of coming light in the sky, and the hum of the housewives' +querns, early at work over the coming day's bread, filled the air like +swarming bees. The spectral white shadows of widow-drudges were +already at work on the creaking well-gear, and the swish of their reed +brooms could be heard behind screening walls. + +But on the broad white road beyond the bazaars the fresh perfume of +the dew-steeped gardens drifted with the faint breeze which heralds +the dawn. And down the road, heard first, then dimly seen against its +whiteness, came a band of chanting pilgrims to the Holy River. + +"_Hurri Gunga! Hurri Gunga! Hurri Gunga!_" + +Jim Douglas, swerving his bullock to give them room, wondered if Tara +were among them. What if she were? That lock of hair went with _him_. +So, with a smile, he swerved the bullock back again. There was a hint +of a gleaming river-curve through the lessening trees now, and that +big black mass to his left must be the Bailey-guard gate. He could see +a faint white streak like a sentry beside it; so it must be close on +gunfire. Even as the thought came, a sudden rolling boom filled the +silence, and seemed to vibrate against the archway. And hark! From +within the Residency, and from far Dilkhusha, the clear glad notes of +the reveille answered the challenge; while close at hand the clash of +arms told they were changing guards. Then, though he could not see it, +the English flag must be rising beyond the trees to float over the +city during the coming day. + +For one day more, at least. + + + + + + BOOK II. + + THE BLOWING OF THE BUBBLE. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + IN THE PALACE. + + +It was a day in late September. Nearly six months, therefore, had gone +by since Jim Douglas had passed the Bailey-guard at gunfire, and the +English flag had risen behind the trees to float over Lucknow. It +floated there now, serenely, securely, with an air of finality in its +folds; for folk were becoming accustomed to it. At least so said the +official reports, and even Jim Douglas himself could trace no waxing +in the tide of discontent. It neither ebbed nor flowed, but beat +placidly against the rocks of offense. + +But at Delhi there was one corner of the city over which the English +flag did not float. It lay upon the eastern side above the river where +four rose-red fortress walls hemmed in a few acres of earth from the +march of Time himself, and safe-guarded a strange survival of +sovereignty in the person of Bahâdur Shâh, last of the Moghuls. An old +man past eighty years of age, who dreamed a dream of power among the +golden domes, marble colonnades, and green gardens with which his +ancestors had crowned the eastern wall. + +The sun shone hotly, steamily, within those four inclosing walls, save +on that eastern edge, where the cool breezes from the plains beyond +blew through open arches and latticed balconies. For the rest, the +palace-fort--shut in from all outside influence--was like some tepid, +teeming breeding-place for strange forms of life unknown to purer, +clearer atmospheres. + +It was at the Lahore gate of this Delhi palace that on this late +September day a tawdry palanquin, followed by a few tawdry retainers, +paused before a cavernous arch, ending the quaint, lofty vaulted +tunnel which led inward for some fifty yards or more to another +barrier. Here an old man in spectacles sat writing hurriedly. + +"Quick, fool, quick! Read, and let me sign," called the huge unwieldy +figure in the palanquin, as the bearers, panting under their gross +burden, shifted shoulders. Mahboob Ali, Chief Eunuch and Prime +Minister, groaned under the jolt; it was a foretaste of many to be +endured ere he reached the Resident's house, miles away on the +northern edge of the river. Yet he had to endure them, for important +negotiations were on foot between the Survival and Civilization. The +heir-apparent to those few acres where the sun stood still had died, +had been poisoned some said; and another had to be recognized. There +was no lack of claimants; there never was a lack of claimants to +anything within those walls, where everyone strove to have the first +and last word with the Civilization which supported the Survival. And +here was he, Mahboob, Prime Minister, being delayed by a miserable +scrivener. + +"Read, pig! read," he reiterated, laying his puffy hand on his jeweled +sword-hilt; for he was still within the gate, therefore a despot. A +few yards further he would be a dropsical old man; no more. + +"Your slave reads!" faltered the editor of the Court Journal. +"Mussamât Hâfzan's record of the women's apartments being late to-day, +hath delayed----" + +"'Twas in time enough, uncle, if thou wouldst make fewer flourishes," +retorted a woman's voice; it was nothing but a voice by reason of the +voluminous Pathan veil covering the small speaker. + +"Curse thee for a misbegotten hound!" bawled Mahboob. "Am I to lose +the entrance fee I paid Gâmu, the Huzoor's orderly, for first +interview--when money is so scarce too! Read as it stands, idiot--'tis +but an idle tale at best." + +The last was an aside to himself as he lay back in his cushions; for, +idle though the tale was undoubtedly, it suited him to be its Prime +Minister. The editor laid down his pen hurriedly, and the polished +Persian polysyllables began to trip over one another, while their +murmurous echo--as if eager to escape the familiar monotony--sped from +arch to arch of the long tunnel, which was lit about the middle by +side arches on the guards' quarters, and through which the sunlight +streamed in a broad band of gold across the red stone causeway. + +The attributes of the Almighty having come to an end the reader began +on those of Bahâdur Shâh, Father of Victory, Light of Religion, +Polestar and Defender of the Faith---- + +"Faster, fool, faster," came the fat voice. + +The spectacled old man swallowed his breath, as it were, and went on +at full gallop through the uprisal and bathing of Majesty, through +feelings of pulses and reception of visitors, then slowed down a bit +over the recital of dinner; for he was a _gourmet_, and his tongue +loved the very sound of dainty dishes. + +"May your grave be spat upon!" shouted the Chief Eunuch. "So none were +poisoned by it what matters the food? Pass on----" + +"The Most Exalted then said his appointed prayers," gasped the reader. +"The Light-of-the-World then slept his usual sleep. On awakening, the +physician Ahsan-Oolah----" + +Mahboob sat up among his cushions. "Ahsan-Oolah! he felt the Royal +pulse at dawn also----" + +"The Most Noble forgets," interrupted a voice with the veiled venom of +a partisan in its suavity. "The King--may his enemies die!--took a +cooling draught yesterday and requires all the care we can give him." + +"The King, Meean-sahib, needs nothing save the prayers of the holy +priest, who has piously made over long years of his own life to +prolong his Majesty's," retorted Mahboob, scowling at the speaker, who +wore the Moghul dress, proclaiming him a member of the royal family. +There was no lack of such in the palace-fort, for though Bahâdur Shâh +himself, being more or less of a saint, had contented himself with +some sixty children, his ancestors had sometimes run to six hundred. + +The Meean-sahib laughed scornfully as he passed inward, and muttered +that those who went forth with the dog's trot might return with the +cat's slink, since the great question had yet to be settled. Mahboob's +scowl deepened; the very audacity of the interruption rousing a fear +lest the king's eldest son, Mirza Moghul, whose partisan the speaker +was, might have some secret understanding with Civilization. All the +more need for haste. + +"Read on, fool! Who told thee to stop?" + +"The Princess Farkhoonda Zamâni entered by the Delhi gate." + +Mahboob gave a scornful laugh in his turn. "To visit the Mirza's +house, no doubt. Let her come--a pretty fool! Yet she had wiser stay +where she hath chosen to live, instead of being princess one day and +plain Newâsi the next. There are enough women without her in the +palace!" + +So it seemed, to judge by the stream of female names and titles +belonging to the curtained dhoolies, which had passed and repassed the +barriers, upon which the editor launched his tongue. But Mahboob, as +Chief Eunuch, knew the value of such information and cut it short with +a sneer. + +"If that be all! quick! the pen, and I will sign." + +A bystander, also in the Moghul dress, laughed broadly at the +well-worn inuendo on the possibilities of curtained dhoolies in +intrigue. "Thou art right, Mahboob," he said, "God only knows." + +"His own work," chuckled the Keeper of Virtue. "And the Devil made +most of the women here. Now pigs! Canst not start? Am I to be kept +here all day?" + +As the litter went swaying out between the presented arms of the +sentries, the white chrysalis of a Pathan veil stepped lamely down +into the causeway. "That, seeing there is no news, will be something +to amuse the Queen withal," came the sharp voice. + +"There may be news enough, when that fat pig returns, to make it hard +to amuse thy mistress, Mussamât Hâfzan," suggested another bystander. + +The chrysalis paused. "My mistress! Nay, sahib! Hâfzan is that to +herself only. I am for no one save myself. I carry news, and the +more the better for my trade. Yet I have not had a real good day for +gifts of gratitude from my hearers, since Prince Fukrud-deen, the +heir-apparent, died." There was a reckless cynicism in her voice, and +he of the Moghul dress broke in hotly. + +"Was poisoned, thou meanest, by----" + +Hâfzan's shrill laugh rang through the arches. + +"No names, Mirza sahib, no names! And 'tis no news surely to have folk +poisoned in the fort; as thou wouldst know ere long, may be, if Hâfzan +were spiteful. But I name no names--not I! I carry news, that is all." + +So, with a limp, showing that the woman within was a cripple, the +formless figure passed along the tunnel through the inner barrier, and +so across the wide courtyard where the public hall of audience stood +blocking the eastern end. It was a massive, square, one-storied +building, with a remorseless look in its plain expanse of dull red +stone, pierced by toothed arches which yawned darkly into a redder +gloom, like monstrous mouths agape for victims. Past this, with its +high-set fretted marble _baldequin_ showing dimly against the end +wall--whence a locked wicket gave sole entrance from the palace to +this seat of justice or injustice--the Pathan veil flitted like a +ghost; so, through a narrow passage guarded by the King's own +body-guard, into a different world; a cool breezy world of white and +gold and blue, clasping a garden set with flowers and fruit. Blue sky, +white marble colonnades, and golden domes vaulting and zoning the +burnished leaves of the orange trees, where the green fruit hung like +emeralds above a tangle of roses and marigolds, chrysanthemums and +crimson amaranth. Hâfzan paused among them for a second; then, all +unchallenged by any, passed on up the steps of the marble platform, +which lies between the Baths and the Private Hall of Audience. That +marvelous building where the legend, Cunningly circled into the +decorations, still tells the visitor again and again that, "If earth +holds a haven of bliss, It is this, it is this, it is this." + +Here, on the platform, Hâfzan paused again to look over the low +parapet. The wide eastern plains stretched away to the pale blue +horizon before her, and the curving river lay at her feet edging the +high bank, faced with stone, which forms the eastern defense of the +palace-fort. Thus the levels within touch the very top of the wall; so +that the domes, and colonnades, and green gardens, when seen from the +opposite side of the streams cut clear upon the sky, like a castle in +the air at all times; but in the sunsettings, when they show in shades +of pale lilac, with the huge dome of the great mosque bulging like a +big bubble into the golden light behind them as a veritable Palace of +Dreams. + +She looked northward, first; along the sheer face of the rosy +retaining wall to its trend westward at the Queen's favorite bastion, +which was crowned by a balconied summer-house overhanging the moat +between the fort itself and the isolated citadel of Selimgurh; which, +jutting out into the river, partially hid the bridge of boats spanning +the stream beyond. Then she looked southward. Here was the sheer face +of rosy wall again, but it was crowned, close at hand, by the +colonnade and projecting eaves of the Private Hall of Audience. +Further on it was broken by the carved _corbeilles_ of the King's +balcony, and it ended abruptly at a sudden eastward turn of the +river, so giving a view of rolling rocky hillocks sweeping up to the +horizon where, faint and far like a spear-point, the column of the +Kutb showed on a clear day. The Kutb! that splendid promise, never +fulfilled,--that first minaret of the great mosque that never was, and +never will be built; symbol of the undying dream of Mohammedan +supremacy that never came, that never can come to pass. + +As she paused, a troop of women laden with cosmetics and combs and +quaint baskets containing endless aids to beauty, came shuffling out +of the baths, gossiping and chattering shrilly, and clanking heavy +anklets as they came. And with them, a heavy perfumed steam suggestive +of warm indolence, luxury, sensuality, passed out into the garden. + +"What! done already?" called Hâfzan in surprise. + +"Already!" echoed a bold-faced trollop pertly, "_Ari_, sister. Art +grown a loose-liver? Sure this is Friday, and the King, good man, +bathes apart, religiously! So we be religious too, matching his humor. +That is the way with us women." + +An answering giggle met the sally. + +"Thou art an impudent hussy, Goloo!" said Hâfzan angrily. "And the +Queen--where is she?" + +"In the mosque praying for patience--in the summer-house playing +games--in the King's room coaxing him to belief--in the vestibule +feeding her son with lollipops--he likes them big, and sweet, and +lively, and of his own choosing, does the prince, as I know to my +cost." Here a general titter broke in on the unabashed recital. + +"_Loh!_ leave Hâfzan to find out what the Queen does elsewhere," +suggested another voice. "We speak not of such things." + +"Then speak lower of others," retorted Hâfzan. "Walls have echoes, +sister, and thy mistress would fare no better than others if thy talk +reached Zeenut Maihl's ears." + +"Tell her, spy! if thou wilt," replied the woman carelessly. "We have +friends on our side now, as thou mayst understand mayhap ere +nightfall, when the answer comes." + +Hâfzan laughed. "Thou hast more faith in friends than I. _Loh!_ I +trust none within these four walls. And out of them but few." + +So saying she limped back into the garden, giving a glance as she +passed it into the Pearl Mosque, which showed like a carven snowdrift +against the blue of the sky, the green of the trees. Finding none +there, she went straight to the Queen's favorite summer-house on the +northern bastion. + +It was a curious fatality which made Zeenut Maihl choose it, since all +her arts, all her cunning, could scarcely have told her that it would +ere long be a watch-tower, whence the chance of success or failure +could be counted. For the white road beyond the bridge of boats, and +trending eastward to the packed population of Oude, to Lucknow, to all +that remained of the vitality in the Mohammedan dream, was to be ere +long like a living, growing branch to which she, the spider, hung by +an invisible thread, spinning her cobwebs, seemingly in mid-air. + +"Hush!" The whispered monition made Hâfzan pause in the screened +archway till the game was over. It was a sort of dumb-crambo, and a +most outrageous _double entendre_ had just brought a smile to the +broad heavy face of a woman who lay among cushions in the alcoved +balcony. This was Zeenut Maihl, who for nearly twenty years had +kept her hold upon the King, despite endless rivals. She was +dark-complexioned, small-eyed, with a curious lack of eyebrows which +took from her even vivacity of expression. But it was a man with +experience in many wives who remarked that favor is deceitful and +beauty is vain; he knew, no doubt, that in polygamy, the victory must +go to the most unscrupulous fighter. Zeenut Maihl, at any rate, +secured hers by ever-recurring promises of another heir to her +octogenarian husband; a flattery to which his other wives either could +not or would not stoop. But the trick served the Queen's purpose in +more ways than one. Her oft-recurring disappointments could have but +one cause: witchcraft. So on such occasions, with her paid priest, +Hussan Askuri, saying prayers for those _in extremis_ at her bedside, +Zeenut Maihl's enemies went down like nine-pins, and she rose from her +bed of sickness with a board cleared of dangerous rivalry. For none in +the hot-bed of shams felt secure enough to get into grips with her. +Ahsan-Oolah, the physician, might have; she had cried quarter from his +keen fence before now; but he did not care to take the trouble. For he +was a philosopher, content to let his world go to the devil its own +way, so long as it did not interfere with his passionate greed of +gold. And this master-passion being shared by Zeenut Maihl they +hoisted the flag of truce for the most part against mutual +spoliations. So the Queen played her game unmolested, as she played +dumb-crambo; at which her servants, separated like their betters into +cliques, tried to outdo each other. + +"_Wâh!_" said the set, jubilant over the _double entendre_. "That is +the best to-day." + +"If you like it, a clod is a betel nut," retorted the leader of +another set. "I'll wager to beat it easily." + +The Queen frowned. There was too much freedom in this speech of +Fâtma's to suit her. + +"And I will be the judge," she said with a cruel smile. "Fâtma must be +taught better manners." + +Fâtma--a woman older than the rest--salaamed calmly; and the fact made +the other clique look at each other uneasily. What certainty gave her +such confidence as she plucked a gray hair from her own head and +placed it on the black velvet cushion which lay at the Queen's feet? + +"That is my riddle," she said. "Let the world guess it, and honor the +real giver of it." + +What could it be? Even the Queen raised herself in curiosity; a sign +in itself of commendation. + +"Sure I know not," she began musingly, when Fâtma sprang to her feet +in theatrical appeal. + +"Not so! Ornament of Palaces," she cried. "This may puzzle the herd; +it is plain to the mother of Princes. It lies too lowly now for +recognition, but in its proper place----" She snatched the hair from +the cushion, and, with a flourish, laid it on the head of a figure +which appeared as if by magic behind her. A figure dressed as a young +Moghul Prince, and wearing all the crown jewels. + +"My son, Jewun!" cried the Queen, starting angrily. And the adverse +clique, taking their cue from her tone, shrieked modestly, and +scrambled for their veils. + +Fâtma salaamed to the very ground. + +"No! Mother of Princes, 'tis but my riddle--the heir-apparent." + +Zeenut Maihl paused, bewildered for an instant; then in the figure +recognized the features of a favorite dancing girl, saw the pun, and +laughed uproariously, delightedly. The English sentry on the +drawbridge leading to Selimgurh might have heard her had there been +one; but within the last month the right to use the citadel as a +private entry to the palace had been given to the King. It enabled him +to cross the bridge of boats without the long circuit by the Calcutta +gate of the city. + +"A gold mohur for that to Fâtma!" she cried, "and a post nearer my +person. I need such wits sorely." As she spoke she rose to her feet, +the smiles fading from her face as she looked out along that white +eastward streak; for the jest had brought her back to earnest, to that +mixture of personal ambition for her son and real patriotism for her +country which kept her a restless intriguer. "I need men, too," she +muttered. "Not dissolute, idle weathercocks or doting old pantaloons! +There are plenty of them yonder." So she stood for a second, then +turned like lightning on her attendants. "What time----" she began, +then seeing Hâfzan, who had unveiled at the door, she gave a cry of +pleasure. "'Tis well thou hast come," she said, beckoning to her, "for +thou must know God! if I were free to come and go, what could I not +compass? But here, in this smothering veil----" She flung even the +gauze apology for one which she wore from her, and stood with smooth, +bare head, and fat, bare arms, her quaint little pigtail dangling down +her broad back. Not a romantic figure truly, but one in its savage +temper, strength, obstinacy, to be reckoned with. "What time"--she +went on rapidly--"does the King receive his initiates?" + +"At five," replied Hâfzan. Seen without its veil, also, her figure +showed more shrunk than ill-formed, and her pale, thin face would have +been beautiful but for its look of permanent ill-health. "The ceremony +of saintship begins then." + +"Saints!" echoed the Queen, with a hard laugh. "I would make them +saints and martyrs, too, were I free. Quick, woman! pen and ink! And +stay! Fâtma's puzzle hath driven all else from my head. What time +was't that Hussan Askuri was bidden to come?" + +"The saintborn comes at four," replied Hâfzan ceremoniously, "so as to +leave leisure ere the Chief Eunuch's return with the answer." + +Zeenut Maihl's face was a study. "The answer! My answer lies there in +Fâtma's riddle; take two gold mohurs for it, woman, it hath given me +new life. Write, Hâfzan, to the chamberlain, that the disciples must +pass the southern window of the King's private room ere they leave the +palace. And call my litter; I must see Hussan Askuri ere I meet him at +the King's." + +An hour afterward, with bister marks below her eyes, and delicate +hints of causeful, becoming languor in face and figure, she was +waiting the King's return from the latticed balcony overhanging the +river, where he always spent the heats of the day; waiting in the +cluster of small, dark rooms which lie behind it, on the other side of +the marble fountain-set aqueduct which flows under a lace-like marble +screen to the very steps of the Hall of Audience. + +"Is all prepared?" she asked anxiously, as a glint of light from a +lifted curtain warned her of the King's approach. + +"All is prepared," echoed a hollow, artificial voice. The speaker was +a tall, heavily built man with long gray beard, big bushy gray +eyebrows, and narrow forehead. A dangerous man, to judge by the mixed +spirituality and sensuality in his face; a man who could imagine evil, +and make himself believe it good. It was Hussan Askuri, the priest and +miracle-monger, who led the last of the Moghuls by the nose. It was +not a difficult task, for Bahâdur Shâh, who came tottering across the +intervening sunlit space, was but a poor creature. The first +impression he gave was of extreme old age. It was evident in the +sparse hair, the high, hollow cheeks, the waxy skin, the purple glaze +over the eyes. The next was of a feebleness beyond even his apparent +years. He seemed fiberless, mind and body. Yet released at the door of +privacy, from the eunuch's supporting hands, he ambled gayly enough to +a seat, and exclaimed vivaciously: + +"A moment! A moment! good priest and physician. My mind first; my body +after. The gift is on me. I feel it working, and the historian must +write of me more as poet than king." + +"As the king of poets, sire," suggested Hussan Askuri pompously. + +Bahâdur Shâh smiled fatuously. "Good! Good! I will weave that thought +with mine into perfumed poesy." He raised one slender hand for +silence, and with the fingers of the other continued counting feet +laboriously, until with a sigh of relief, he declaimed: + + + "Bahâdur Shâh, sure all the world will know it, + Was poet more than king, yet king of poets." + + +Zeenut Maihl gave a cry of admiration. "Quick! _Pir_-sahib, quick!" +she exclaimed. "Such a gem must not be lost." + +"But 'tis yet co be polished," began the King complacently. + +"That is the office of the scribe," replied Hussan Askuri, as he drew +out his ink-horn. He was by profession an ornamental writer, and +gained great influence with the old poetaster by gathering up the +royal fragments and hiding their lameness amid magnificent curves and +flourishes. + +"And now, _Pir_-sahib," continued the Queen, with a look of loving +anxiety at her lord, "for this strange ailment of which I spoke to +you----" + +The King's face lost its self-importance as if he had been suddenly +recalled to unpleasant memory. "'Tis naught of import," he said +hastily. "The Queen will have it I start and sweat of nights. But this +is but the timorous dread of one in her condition. I am well enough." + +"My lord, _Pir_-sahib, hath indeed renewed his youth through thy pious +breathing of thy own life into his mouth--as time will show," murmured +the Queen with modest, downcast look. "But last night he muttered in +his sleep of enemies----" + +Bahâdur Shâh gave a gasp of dismay. "Of enemies! Nay!--did I truly? +Thou didst not tell me this." + +"I would not distress my lord, till fear was over. Now that the pious +priest, who hath the ear of the Almighty----" + +Hussan Askuri, who had stepped forward to gaze at the King, began to +mutter prayers. "'Tis that cooling draught of Ahsan-Oolah's stands in +the way," he gasped, his hands and face working as if he were in +deadly conflict with an unseen foe. "No carnal remedy--Ah! God be +praised! I see, I see! The eye of faith opens--_Hai!_ venomous beast, +I have you!" With these words he rushed to the King's couch, and, +scattering its cushions, held up at arm's length a lizard. Held by the +tail, it seemed in semi-darkness to writhe and wriggle. + +"_Ouée! Umma!_" yelled the Great Moghul, shrinking to nothing in his +seat, and using after his wont the woman's cry--sure sign of his +habits. + +"Fear not!" cried the priest. "The mutterings are stilled, the sweats +dried! And thus will I deal also with those who sent it." He flung his +captive on the ground and stamped it under foot. + +"Was it--was it a bis-cobra, think you?" faltered the King. He had +hold of Zeenut Maihl's hand like a frightened child. The priest shook +his head. "It was no carnal creature," he said in a hollow, chanting +voice. "It was an emissary of evil made helpless by prayer. Give +Heaven the praise." Bahâdur Shâh began on his creed promptly, but the +priest frowned. + +"Through his servant," he went on. "For day and night, night and day, +I pray for the King. And I see visions, I dream dreams. Last night, +while my lord muttered of enemies, Hussan Askuri saw a flood coming +from the West, and on its topmost wave, upon a raft of faithful +swords, as on a throne, sate----" + +"With due respect," came voices from the curtained door. "The +disciples await initiation in the Hall of Audience." + +Hussan Askuri and the Queen exchanged looks. The interruption was +unwelcome, though strangely germane to the subject. + +"I will hear thee finish the dream afterward," fussed the King, rising +in a bustle; for he prized his saintship next to his poetry. "I must +not keep my pupils from grace. Hast the kerchiefs ready, Zeenut?" +There was something almost touching in the confidence of his appeal to +her. It was that of a child to its mother, certain of what it +demanded. + +"All things are ready," she replied tartly, with a meaning and vexed +look at the miracle-monger; for they had meant to finish the dream +before the initiation. + +"A goodly choice," said the royal saint, as he looked over the tiny +silk squares, each embroidered with a text from the _Koran_, which she +took out of a basket. "But I need many, _Pir_-sahib. Folk come fast, +of late, to have the way of virtue pointed by this poor hand. And thou +hast more in the basket, I see, Zeenut, ready against----" + +"They are but begun," put in the Queen, hastily covering the basket. +"Nor will they, likely, be needed, since the leave season passes, and +'tis the soldiers who come most to be disciples to the defender of +their faith." + +"I am the better pleased," replied the King with edifying humility. +"This summer hath too many pupils as it is. Come! _Pir_-sahib, and +support me through mine office with real saintship." + +As the curtain fell behind them Zeenut Maihl crossed swiftly to the +crushed lizard and raised it gingerly. + +"No carnal creature," she repeated. It was not; only a deft piece of +patchwork. Yet it, or something else, made her shiver as she dropped +the tell-tale remains into the basket. This man Hussan Askuri +sometimes seemed to her own superstition a saint, sometimes to her +clear head a mere sinner. She was not quite certain of anything about +him save that his delusions, his dreams, his miracles, suited her +purpose equally, whether they were false or true. + +So she crossed over again to a marble lattice and peered through a +convenient peephole toward the Audience Hall, which rose across an +intervening stretch of platform in white shadow, and whiter light. She +could not see or hear much; but enough to show her that everything was +going on the same as usual. The disciples, most of them in full +uniform, went up and down the steps calmly, and the wordy exordium on +the cardinal virtues went on and on. How different it might be, she +thought, if she had the voice. She would rouse more than those faint +"_Wâh! Wâhs_." She would make the fire come to men's eyes. In a sort +of pet with her own helplessness, she moved away and so, through +another room, went to stand at another lattice. It looked south over a +strip of garden, and there was an open square left in the tracery +through which a face might look, a hand might pass. And as she stood +she counted the remaining kerchiefs in the basket she still held. They +were all of bright green silk and bore the same lettering. It was the +Great Cry: "_Deen! Deen! Futteh Mohammed!_" As dangerous a woman this, +as Hussan Askuri was a man; as dangerous, both of them, to peaceful +life, as the fabled bis-cobra, at the idea of which the foolish old +King had cried, "_Ouée, Umma!_" like any woman. + +And now at last that wordy exordium must be over, for, along the +garden path, came the clank of accouterments. Zeenut Maihl's listless +figure seem galvanized to sudden life, there was a flutter of green at +the open square, and her voice followed the shower of silk. + +"These banners from the Defender to his soldiers." + +But as she spoke, a stir of excitement, a subdued murmur of +expectation reached her ear from outside, and, leaning forward, +she caught a glimpse of a swinging litter coming along the path. +Mahboob returned already! Vexatious, indeed, when she had turned and +planned everything so as to be sure of having the King in her +apartments when the answer arrived. None others would know it before +she did--unless!--the thought obliterated all others, and she flew +back to the further lattice. The King, returning from the initiation, +had paused in the middle of the platform at the sight of the +approaching litter, and his courtiers, as if by instinct, had grouped +themselves round him, leaving him the central figure. The cruel +sunlight streamed down on the tawdry court, on the worn-out old man. + +It seemed interminable to the woman behind the lattice, that pause +while the fat eunuch was helped from his litter. She could have +screamed to him for the answer, could have had at his fat carcass with +her hands for its slowness. But the old King had better blood in his +veins. He stood quietly, his tawdry court around him; behind him the +marble, and gold, and mosaics of his ancestors. + +"What news, slave?" he asked boldly. + +"None, Light of the Faithful," replied the Chief Eunuch. + +"None!" The semi-circle closed in a little, every face full of +disappointed curiosity. + +"I have a letter for the Lord of the World with me. Its substance is +this. The _Sirkar_ will recognize no heir. During the lifetime of our +Great Master, whose life be prolonged forever, the _Sirkar_ will make +no promise of any kind, either to his majesty, or to any other member +of the royal family. It is to remain as if there were no succession." + +No succession! Above the sudden murmur of universal surprise and +dissent, a woman's cry of inarticulate rage came from behind the +lattice. The King turned toward the sound instinctively. "I must to +the Queen," he murmured helplessly, "I must to the Queen." + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + IN THE CITY. + + "Come, beauty, rare, divine, + Thy lover like a vine + With tendril arms entwine; + Lay rose red lips to mine, + Bewildering as wine." + + +The song came in little insistent trills and quaverings, and quaint +recurring cadences, which matched the insistency of the rhymes. The +singer was a young man of about three-and-twenty, and as he sang, +seated on a Persian rug on the top of a roof, he played an elaborate +symphony of trills and cadences to match upon a tinkling _saringi_. He +was small, slight, with a bright, vivacious face, smooth shaven, save +for a thin mustache trimmed into a faint fine fringe. His costume +marked him as a dandy of the first water, and he smelled horribly of +musk. + +The roof on which he sat was a secluded roof, protected from view, +even from other roofs, by high latticed walls; its only connection +with the world below it being by a dizzy brick ladder of a stair +climbing down fearlessly from one corner. Across the further end +stretched a sort of veranda, inclosed by lattice and screens. But the +middle arch being open showed a blue and white striped carpet, and a +low reed stool. Nothing more. But a sweet voice came from its unseen +corner. + +"Art not ashamed, Abool, to come to my discreet house among godly folk +and sing lewd songs? Will they not think ill of me? And if thou comest +drunken horribly with wine, as thou didst last week, claiming audience +of me, thine aunt, not all that title will save me from aspersion. And +if I lose this calm retreat, whither shall poor Newâsi go?" + +"Nay, kind one!" cried Prince Abool-Bukr, "that shall never be." So +saying, he cast away the tinkling _saringi_ and from the litter of +musical instruments around him laid impulsive hands on a long-necked +fiddle with a 'cello tone in it. "I would sing psalms to please mine +aunt," he went on in reckless gayety, "but that I know none. Will +pious Saadi suit your sober neighbors, since lovelorn Hafiz shocks +them? But no! I can never stomach his sentimental sanctity, so back we +go to the wisest of all poets." + +The high, thin tenor ran on without a break into a minor key, and a +stanza of the Great Tentmakers. And as it quivered and quavered over +the illusion of life, a woman's figure came to lean against the +central arch, and look down on the singer with kindly eyes. + +They were the most beautiful eyes in the world. Such is the consensus +of opinion among all who ever saw them. Judged, indeed, by this +standard, the Princess Farkhoonda Zamâni, alias Newâsi Begum, the +widow of one of the King's younger sons, must have had that mysterious +charm which is beyond beauty. But she was beautiful also, though +smallpox had left its marks upon her. Chiefly, however, by a +thickening of the skin, which brought an opaque pallor, giving her +oval face a look of carved ivory. In truth, this memento of the past +tragedy, which at the age of thirteen had brought her, the half-wedded +bride, to death's door, and sent her fifteen-year-old bridegroom from +the festival to the grave, enhanced, rather than detracted from her +beauty. Her lips were reddened after the fashion of court women, her +short-sighted hazel eyes were heavily blackened with antimony; but she +wore no jewels, and her graceful, sweeping Delhi dress was of deadest, +purest white, embroidered in finest needlework round hems and seams, +and relieved only by the lighter folds of her white, lace-like veil. +For she had forsworn colors when she fled from court-life and its many +intrigues for an alliance with the charming widow; and, on the plea of +a call to a religious and celibate life, had taken up her abode in the +Mufti's Alley. This was a secluded little lane off the bazaar, which +lies to the south of the Jumma Mosque, where a score or two of the +Mohammedan families connected with the late chief magistrate of the +city lived, decently, respectably, respectedly. To do this, having +sometimes to close the gate at the entrance of the alley, and so shut +out the wicked world around them. But that whole quarter of the city +held many such learned, well-born, well-doing folk. Hussan Askari's +house lay within a stone's throw of the Mufti's Alley; Ahsan-Oolah's +not far off, and, all about, rose tall, windowless buildings, standing +sentinel blindly over the naughtiness around them; but they had eyes +within, and ears also. So the hands belonging to them were held up in +horror over the doings of the survival, and--despite race and +religion--an inevitably reluctant, yet inevitably firm adherence was +given to civilization. Even the womenfolk on the high roofs knew +something of the mysterious woman across the sea, who reigned over the +Huzoors and made them pitiful to women. And Farkhoonda Zamâni read the +London news, with great interest, in the newspaper which Abool-Bukr +used to bring her regularly. Hers was the highest roof of all, save +one at the back Of her veranda room; so close to it indeed that the +same _neem_ tree touched both. + +It was not a quarter, therefore, in which the leader of the fastest +set in the palace might have been expected to be a constant visitor. +But he was. And the decorous alley put up with his songs patiently. +Partly, no doubt, for his aunt's sake; more for his own charm of +manner, which always gained him a consideration better men might have +lacked. Being the late heir-apparent's eldest son, he was certain of +succeeding to the throne if he outlived all his uncles; for the claims +of the elder generation are, by Moghul law, paramount over those of +the younger. Now, the inevitable harking back to the eldest branch, +after years of power enjoyed by the junior ones, which this plan +necessitates, being responsible for half the wars and murders which +mark an Indian succession, some of these learned progressive folk +admitted tentatively that the Western plan was better; and that if +Prince Abool-Bukr were only other than he was, he might as well +succeed now as later on. + +The idea roused a like ambition in the young idler, now and again, but +as a rule he was content to be the best musician in Delhi, the boldest +gambler, the fastest liver. Yet through all, he kept his hold on one +kind woman's hand; and those who knew the prince and princess have +never a word to say against the friendship which led to that singing +of Omar Khayyam upon the latticed roof. + +"Life could be better than that for thee, nephew, didst thou but +choose," said her soft voice, interrupting the cynicism, while her +delicate fingers, touching the singer's shoulder as if in reproof, +lingered there tenderly. He bent his smooth cheek impulsively to +caress the hand so close to it, with a frank, boyish action. The next +moment, however, he had started to his feet; the minor tone changed to +a dance measure, then ended in a wild discord, and a wilder laugh. Her +use of the word nephew was apt to rouse his recklessness, for she was +but a month or two older than he. + +"Thou canst not make me other than I was born----" he began; but she +interrupted him quickly. + +"Thou wast born of good parts enough, God knows." + +"But my father deemed me fool, therefore I was brought up in a stable, +mine aunt; and sang in brothels ere I knew what the word meant. So +'tis sheer waste time to interview my scandalized relations as thou +dost, and beg them to take me serious. By all the courtesans in the +Thunbi Bazaar, Newâsi, I take not myself so. Nor am I worse than the +holy, pious aunt: I take paradise now, and leave hell to the last. +They choose the other way. And make a better bargain for pleasure than +I, seeing that the astrologers give me a short life, a bloody death." + +Newâsi caught her hand back to another resting place above her heart. +"A--a bloody death!" she echoed; "who--who told the lie?" + +Prince Abool-Bukr shook his head with a kindly smile. "Oh! heed it +not, kind lady. Such is the fashion with soothsayers nowadays. The +heavens are black with portents. Someone's cow hath three calves, +someone's child hath ten noses and a tail. Fire hath come from +heaven--thou thyself didst tell me some such wind-sucker's tale--or +from hell more likely----" + +"Nay! but it is true," she interrupted eagerly; "I had it from the +milkwoman, who comes from the village where the _suttee_----" + +"The mouse began to gnaw the rope. The rope began to bend the ox. The +ox began----" hummed the prince irreverently. + +Newâsi stamped her foot. "But it is true, scoffer! There is a festival +of it to-day in some idol temple--may it be defiled! The widow would +have burned, after sinful custom, but was prevented by the Huzoors. +And rightly. Yet, God knows--seeing the poor soul had to burn sometime +through being an idolater--they might have let her burn with her +love----" + +Abool laughed softly. "And yet thou wilt have naught of Hafiz--Hafiz +the love-lorn! Verily, Newâsi, thou art true woman." + +She ignored the interruption. "So being hindered she went to Benares, +and there this fire fell on her through prayer, and burned hands and +feet----" + +"But not her face," cried Prince Abool, thrumming the muted strings +and making them sound like a tom-tom. "I'll wager my best pigeon, not +her face, if she be a good-looking wench! And since fire follows on +other things besides prayer, she was a fool not to get it, like me, +through pleasure instead. To burn a virgin! What a dreary tale! Look +not so shocked, Newâsi! a man must enjoy these presents, when folk +around him waste half the time in dreaming of a future--of something +better to come--as thou dost----" He paused, and a soft eager ring +came to his voice. "If thou couldst only forget all that--forget who I +might be in the years to come--forget what thou wouldst have been had +my respected uncle not preferred peace to pleasure--for it never came +to pass, remember, it never came to pass--then we two, you and I----" +He paused again, perhaps at the sudden shrinking in her eyes, and gave +a restless laugh. "As 'tis, the present must suffice," he added +lightly, "and even so thou dost mourn for what I might be if the grace +of God took me unawares. Thou hast caught the dreaming trick, mayhap, +from the Prince of Dreamers yonder." + +He moved over to the outer parapet and waved his hand toward Hussan +Askuri's house. Then his vagrant attention turned swiftly to something +which he could see in a peep of bazaar visible from this new point of +view. + +"Three, four, five trays of sweetstuffs! and one of milk and butter," +he cried eagerly, "and by my corn-merchant's bill--which I must pay +soon or starve--the carriers are palace folk! Is there, by chance, a +marriage in the clan? Why didst not tell me before, Newâsi? then I +could have gone as musician and earned a few rupees." + +He gave a flourish of his bow, so drawing forth a lugubrious wail from +the long-necked fiddle. + +"No marriage that I wot of," she replied, smiling fondly over his +heedless gayety. "The trays will be going to the _Pir_-sahib's house. +They have gone every Thursday these few weeks past, ever since the +Queen took ill on hearing the answer about the heirship. She vowed it +then every week, so that the holy man's prayer might bring success to +our cousin of Persia in this war. God save the very dust of it from +the winds of misfortune so long as dust and wind exist," she added +piously. + +Prince Abool-Bukr turned round on her sharply with anxiety in his +face. + +"So! Thou too canst quote the proclamation like other fools--a fool's +message to other fools. Where didst thou see it?" + +Newâsi looked at him disdainfully. "Can I not read, nephew, and are +there many in Delhi as heedless as thou? Why, even the Mufti's people +discuss such things." + +He shrugged his shoulders. "Ay! they will talk. Gossip hath a double +tongue and wings too, nowadays. In old time the first tellers of a +tale had half forgot it, ere the last hearer heard it; now the whole +world is agog in half an hour. But it means naught. Even his heirship. +Who cares in Delhi? None!--out of the palace, none! Not even I. Yet +mischief may come of it; so have naught to do with dreamings, Newâsi, +if only for my sake. Remember the old saw, 'Weevils are ground with +the corn.'" + +"Thou canst scarce call thyself that, Abool, and thou so near the +throne," she said, still more coldly. + +"Have me what pleaseth thee, kind one," he replied, a trifle +impatiently; "but remember also that 'the body is slapped in the +killing of mosquitoes.'" Then, suddenly, an odd change came to his +mobile face. It grew strained, haggard; his voice had a growing tremor +in it. "Lo! I tell thee, Newâsi, that Sheeah woman, Zeenut Maihl, in +her plots for that young fool, her son, will hang the lot of us. I +swear I feel a rope around my neck each time I think of her. I who +only want to be let live as I like--not to die before my time--die and +lose all the love and the laughter; die mayhap in the sunlight; die +when there is no need; I seem to see it--the sunlight--and I +helpless--helpless!" + +He hid his face in his shuddering hands as if to shut out some sight +before his very eyes. + +"Abool! Abool! What is't, dear? Look not so strange," she cried, +stretching out her hand toward him, yet standing aloof as if in vague +alarm. Her voice seemed to bring him back to realities; he looked up +with a reckless laugh. + +"'Tis the wine does it," he said. "If I lived sober--with thee, mine +aunt--these terrors would not come. Nay! be not frightened. Hanging is +a bloodless death, and that would confound the soothsayer; so it cuts +both ways. And now, since I must have more wine or weep, I will leave +thee, Newâsi." + +"For the bazaar?" she asked reproachfully. + +"For life and laughter. Lo! Newâsi, thou thyself wouldst laugh at +those new-come Bunjârah folk I told thee of, who imitate the sahibs so +well. But for their eyes," here he nodded gayly to someone below, +"they should get one of Mufti's folk to play," he added, his attention +as usual following the first lead. "Saw you ever such blue ones as the +boy has yonder?" + +Newâsi, drawing her veil tighter, stepped close to his side and peered +gingerly. + +"His sister's are as blue, his cousin's also. It runs in the blood, +they say. I cannot like them. Dost thou not prefer the dark also?" + +She raised hers to his innocently enough, then shrank back from the +sudden passion of admiration she saw blazing in them. Shrank so that +her arm touched his no longer. The action checked him, made him +savage. + +"I like black ones best," he said insolently; "big, black, staring +eyes such as my mother swears my betrothed has to perfection. Thou +hast not seen her yet, Newâsi; so thou canst keep me company in +imagining them languishing with love. They will not have to languish +long for--hast thou heard it? The King hath fixed the wedding." He +paused, then added in a low, cruel voice, "Art glad, Newâsi?" + +But her temper could be roused too, and her heart had beat in answer +to his look in a way which ended calm. "Ay! It will stop this farce of +coming thither for study and learning--as to-day--without a line +scanned." + +"Thou dost study enough for both, as thou art virtuous enough for +both," he retorted. "I am but flesh and blood, and my small brain will +hold no more than it can gather from bazaar tongues." + +"Of lies, doubtless." + +"Lies if thou wilt. But they fill the mind as easily as truth, and fit +facts better. As the lie the courtesans tell of my coming hither fits +fact better than thy reason. Dost know it? Shall I tell it thee?" + +"Yea! tell it me," she answered swiftly, her whole face ablaze with +anger, pride, resentment. His matched it, but with a vast affection +and admiration added which increased his excitement. "The lie, did I +say?" he echoed, "nay, the truth. For why do I come? Why dost let me +come? Answer me in truth?" There was an instant's silence, then he +went on recklessly: "What need to ask? We both know. And why, in God's +name, having come--come to see thy soft eyes, hear thy soft voice, +know thy soft heart, do I go away again like a fool? I who take +pleasure elsewhere as I choose. I will be a fool no longer. Nay! do +not struggle. I will but force thee to the truth. I will not even kiss +thee--God knows there are women and to spare for that--there is but +one woman whom Abool-Bukr cares to----" he broke off, flung the hands +he had seized away from him with a muttered curse, and stepped back +from her, calming himself with an effort. "That comes of making +Abool-Bukr in earnest for once. Did I not warn thee it was not wise?" +he said, looking at her almost reproachfully, as she stood trying to +be calm also, trying to hide the beating of her heart. + +"'Tis not wise, for sure, to speak foolishness," she murmured, +attempting unconsciousness. "Yet do I not understand----" + +He shook his delicate hand in derisive denial. "Why, the Princess +Farkhoonda refuses to marry! Nay, Newâsi, we are two fools for our +pains. That is God's truth between us. So now for lies in the bazaar." + +"Peace go with thee." There was a sudden regret, almost a wistful +entreaty in the farewell she sent after him. There was none in his +reply, given with a backward look as his gay figure went downward +dizzily. "Nay! Peace stays ever with thee." + +It was true. Those other women of whom he had spoken gave him kisses +galore, but this one? It was a refinement of sensuality, in a way, to +go as he had come. But Newâsi went back to her books with a sigh, +telling herself that her despondency was due to Abool's hopeless lack +of ambition. If he would only show his natural parts, only let these +new rulers see that he had the makings of a king in him! As for the +other foolishness, if the old King would give his consent--if it were +made clear that she was not really---- She pulled herself up with a +start, said a prayer or two, and went on with _The Mirror of Good +Behavior_, through which she was wading diligently. The writer of it +had not been a beautiful woman, widowed before she was a wife, but his +ideals were high. + +Abool-Bukr meanwhile was already in a house with a wooden balcony. +There were many such in the Thunbi Bazaar, giving it an airiness, a +cleanliness, a neatness it would otherwise have lacked. But +Gul-anâri's was the biggest, the most patronized; not only for the +tired heads which looked out unblushingly from it, but for the news +and gossip always to be had there. The lounging crowds looked up and +asked for it, as they drifted backward and forward aimlessly, +indifferently, among the fighting quails in their hooded cages, the +dogs snarling in the filth of the gutters, while a mingled scent of +musk, and drains, and humanity steamed through the hot sunshine. +Sometimes a corpse lay in the very roadway awaiting burial, but it +provoked no more notice than a passing remark that Nargeeza or +Yasmeena had been a good one while she lasted. For there was a +hideous, horrible lack of humanity about the Thunbi Bazaar; even in +the very women themselves, with their foreheads narrowed by plastered +hair to a mere wedge above a bar of continuous eyebrow, their lips +crimsoned in unnatural curves, their teeth reddened with _pân_ or +studded with gold wire, their figures stiffened to artificial +prominence. It was as if humanity, tired of its own beauty, sought the +lack of it as a stimulant to jaded sensuality. + +"Allâh! the old stale stories," yawned Gul-anâri from the broad sheet +of native newspaper whence, between the intervals of some of Prince +Abool-Bukr's worst songs, she had been reading extracts to her +illiterate clients; that being a recognized attraction in her trade. +"Persia! Persia! nothing but Persia! Who cares for it? I dare swear +none. Not even the woman Zeenut herself, for all her pretense of +sympathy with Sheeahs, who----" + +"Have a care, mistress!" interrupted an arrogant looking man, who +showed the peaked Afghan cap below a regimental turban. He was a +sergeant in a Pathan company of the native troops cantoned outside +Delhi on the Ridge, and had been bickering all the afternoon with a +Rajpoot of the 38th N. I., who had ousted him in his hostess' easy +affections, being therefore in an evil temper, ready to take offense +at a word. "I am of the north--a Sheeah myself, and care not to hear +them miscalled. And I have those who would back me," he continued, +glaring at the Rajpoot, who sat in the place of honor beside the stout +siren; "for yonder in the corner is another hill-tiger." He pointed to +a man who had just thanked one of the girls in Pushtoo for a glass of +sherbet she handed him. + +"Hill-cat, rather!" giggled Gul-anâri. "He brought me this one, but +yesterday, from a caravan new-come to the serai,"--she stroked the +long fur of a Persian kitten on her lap,--"and when I asked for news +could not give them. He scarce knew enough Urdu for the settling of +prices." + +A coarse joke from the Rajpoot, suggesting that he had found few +difficulties of that sort in the Thunbi Bazaar, made the sergeant +scowl still more and swear that he would get Mistress Gul-anâri the +news for mere love. Whereat he called over, in Pushtoo, to the man in +the corner, who, however, took no notice. + +"He is as deaf as a lizard!" giggled Gul-anâri, enjoying the rejected +one's discomfiture. "Get my friend the corporal here to yell at him +for thee, sergeant. His voice goes further than thine!" + +The favored Rajpoot squeezed the fat hand nearest to him. "Go up and +pluck him by the beard," he suggested vaingloriously, "then we might +see a Pathan fight for once." + +"Thou wouldst see a fair one, which is more than thou canst among +thine own people." + +"Peace! Peace!" cried the courtesan, smiling to see both men look +round for a weapon. "I'll have no bloodshed here. Keep that for the +future." She dwelt on the last word meaningly, and it seemed to have a +soothing effect, for the sepoys contented themselves with scowls +again. + +"The future?" echoed a graybeard who had been drinking cinnamon tea +calmly. "God knows there will be wars enough in it. Didst hear, +_Meean_ sahib? I have it on authority--that Jarn Larnce is to give +Peshawur to Dost Mohammed and take Rajpootana instead. Take it as Oude +was taken and Sambalpore, and Jhansi, and all the others." + +"Even so," assented a quiet looking man in spectacles. "When the last +_Lât_-sahib went, he got much praise for having taken five kingdoms +and given them to the Queen. The new one was told he must give more. +This begins it." + +"Let us see what we Rajpoots say first," cried the corporal fiercely. +"'Tis we have fought the _Sirkar's_ battles, and we are not sheep to +be driven against our own." + +Gul-anâri leered admiringly at her new lover. "Nay! the Rajpoots are +men! and 'twas his regiment, my masters, who refused to fight over the +sea, saying it was not in the bond. Ay! and gained their point." + +"That drop has gone over the sea itself," sneered a third soldier. +"The bond is altered now. Go we must, or be dismissed. The +Thakoor-_jee_ would not be so bold now, I warrant." + +The Rajpoot twirled his mustache to his very eyes and cocked his +turban awry. + +"Ay, would I! and more, if they dare touch our privilege." + +Gul-anâri leered again, rousing the Pathan sergeant to mutter curses, +and--as if to change the subject--cross over to the man in the corner, +lay insolent hands on his shoulder, and shout a question in his ear. +The man turned, met the arrogant eyes bent on him calmly, and with +both hands salaamed profusely but slowly with a sort of measured +rhythm. Apparently he had not caught the words and was deprecating +impatience. His hands were fine hands, slender, well-shaped, and he +wore a metal ring on the seal-finger. It caught the light as he +salaamed. + +"Louder, man, louder!" gibed the corporal. But the sergeant did not +repeat the question; he stood looking at the upturned face awaiting an +answer. + +"Maybe he is Belooch, his speech not mine," he said suddenly, yet with +a strange lack of curiosity in his tone. There was a faint quiver, as +if some strain were over in the face below, and the silence was broken +by a rapid sentence. + +"Yea! Belooch!" he went on in a still more satisfied tone, "I know it +by the twang. So there is small use in bursting my lungs." + +Here Prince Abool-Bukr, who had been dozing tipsily, his head against +his fiddle, woke, and caught the last words. "Ay, burst! burst like +the royal kettle-drums of mine ancestors. Yet will I do my poor best +to amuse the company and--and instruct them in virtue." Whereupon, +with much maudlin emotion, he thrummed and thrilled through a lament +on the fallen fortunes of the Moghuls written by that King of Poets +his Grandpapa. Being diffuse and didactic, it was met with +acclamations, and Abool, being beyond the stage of discrimination, was +going on to give an encore of a very different nature, when a wild +clashing of cymbals and hooting of conches in the bazaar below sent +everyone to the balcony. Everyone save Abool, who, deprived of his +audience, dozed off against his fiddle again, and the man from the +corner who, as he took advantage of the diversion to escape, looked +down at the handsome drunken face as he passed it and muttered, "Poor +devil! He rode honest enough always." Then the Rajpoot's arrogant +voice rising from the crush on the balcony, he paused a second in +order to listen--that being his trade. + +"'Tis the holy Hindu widow to whom God sent fire on her way to the +festival. A saint indeed! I know her brother, one Soma, a Yadubansi +Rajpoot in the 11th, new-come to Meerut." + +The clashings and brayings were luckily loud enough to hide an +irrepressible exclamation from the man behind. The next instant he was +halfway down the dark stairs, tearing off cap, turban, beard, and +pausing at the darkest corner to roll his baggy northern drawers out +of sight, and turn his woolen green shawl inside out, thus disclosing +a cotton lining of ascetic ochre tint. It was the work of a second, +for Jim Douglas had been an apt pupil. So, with a smear of ashes from +one pocket, a dab of turmeric and vermilion from another--put on as he +finished the stairs--he emerged into the street disguised as a +mendicant; the refuge of fools, as Tiddu had called it. The easiest, +however, to assume at an instant's notice; and in this case the best +for the procession Jim Douglas meant to join. Careless and hurried +though his get-up was, he set the very thought of detection from him +as he edged his way among the streaming crowd. For in that, so he told +himself, lay the Mysterious Gift. To be, even in your inmost thoughts, +the personality you assumed was the secret. Somehow or another it +impressed those around you, and even if a challenge came there was no +danger if the challenger could be isolated--brought close, as it were, +to your own certainty. To this, so it seemed to him--the many-faced +one vehemently protesting--came all Tiddu's mysterious instructions, +which nevertheless he followed religiously. For, be they what they +might, they had never failed him during the six months, save once, +when, watching a horse-race, he had lost or rather recovered himself +in the keen interest it awakened. Then his neighbors had edged from +him and stared, and he had been forced into slipping away and changing +his personality; for it was one of Tiddu's maxims that you should +always carry that with you which made such change possible. To be +many-faced, he said, made all faces more secure by taking from any the +right of permanence. Jim Douglas therefore joined the procession and +forced his way to the very front of it, where the red-splashed figure +of Durga Devi was being carried shoulders high. It was garlanded with +flowers and censed by swinging censers, and behind it with widespread +arms to show her sacred scars walked Tara. She was naked to the waist, +and the scanty ochre-tinted cloth folded about her middle was raised +so as to show the scars upon her lower limbs. The sunlight gleaming on +the magnificent bronze curves showed a seam or two upon her breast +also. No more. As Abool-Bukr had prophesied, her face, full of wild +spiritual exaltation, was unmarred and, with the shaven head, stood +out bold and clear as a cameo. + +_Jai! Jai! Durga mai ke jai_ (Victory to Mother Durga). + +The cry came incessantly from her lips, and was echoed not only by the +procession, but by the spectators. So from many a fierce throat +besides the corporal's, who from Gul-anâri's balcony shouted it +frantically, that appeal to the Great Death Mother--implacable, +athirst for blood--came to light the sordid life of the bazaar with a +savage fire for something unknown--horribly unknown, that lay beyond +life. Even the Mohammedans, though they spat in the gutter at the +idol, felt their hearts stir; felt that if miracles were indeed abroad +their God, the only true One, would not shorten His Hand either. + +_Jai! Jai! Durga mai ke jai_. + +The cry met with a sudden increase of volume as, the procession +passing into the wider space before the big mosque, it was joined by a +band of widows, who in rapturous adoration flung themselves before +Tara's feet so that she might walk over them if need be, yet somehow +touch them. + +"Pigs of idolators!" muttered one of a group standing on the mosque +steps; a group of men unmistakable in their flowing robes and beards. + +"Peace, _Kazi_-sahib!" came a mellow voice. "Let God judge when the +work is done. 'The clay is base, and the potter mean, yet the pot +helps man to wash and be clean.'" + +The speaker, a tall, gaunt man, rose a full head above the others, and +Jim Douglas' keen eyes, taking in everything as they passed, +recognized him instantly. It was the Moulvie of Fyzabad. It was partly +to hear what he had to say when he was preaching, partly to find out +how the people viewed the question of the heirship, which had brought +Jim Douglas to Delhi, so he was not surprised. + +And now the procession, reaching the Dareeba, that narrowest of lanes +hedged by high houses, received a momentary check. For down it, +preceded by grooms with waving yak tails, came the Resident's buggy. +He was taking a lady to see the picturesque sights of the city. This +was one, with a vengeance, as the red-splashed figure of the +Death-Goddess jammed itself in the gutter to let the aliens pass, so +getting mixed up with a Mohammedan sign-board. And the crowd following +it,--an ignorant crowd agape for wonders,--stood for a minute, hemmed +in, as it were, between the buggy in front and the mosque behind, with +that group of Moulvies on its steps. + + + "Fire worship for a hundred years, + A century of Christ and tears, + Then the True God shall come again + And every infidel be slain," + + +quoted he of Fyzabad under his breath, and the others nodded. They +knew the prophecy of Shah N'amut-Oolah well. It was being bandied from +mouth to mouth in those days; for the Mohammedan crowd was also agape +for wonders. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + ON THE RIDGE. + + +"A melly Klistmus to zoo, Miffis Erlton! An' oh! they's suts a lot of +boo'ful, boo'ful sings in a velanda." + +Sonny's liquid lisp said true. On this Christmas morning the veranda +of Major Erlton's house on the Ridge of Delhi was full of beauties to +childish eyes. For, he being on special duty regarding a scheme for +cavalry remounts and having Delhi for his winter headquarters, there +were plenty of contractors, agents, troopers, dealers, what not, to be +remembered by one who might probably have a voice in much future +patronage. So there were trays on trays of oranges and apples, +pistachios, almonds, raisins, round boxes of Cabul grapes, all decked +with flowers. And on most of them, as the surest bid for recognition, +lay a trumpery toy of some sort for the Major sahib's little unknown +son, whose existence could, nevertheless, not be ignored by these +gift-bringers, to whom children are the greatest gift of all. + +And so, as they waited, with a certain child-like complacency in their +own offerings, for the recipients' tardy appearance, they had smiled +on little Sonny Seymour as he passed them on his way to give greeting +to his dearest Mrs. Erlton. For the Seymours had had the expected +change to Delhi, and Sonny's mother was now complaining of the +climate, and the servants, and the babies, in one of the houses within +the Cashmere gate of the city; a fact which took from her the +grievance regarding dog-carts, since it lay within a walk of her +husband's office. + +So some of the smiles had not simply been given to a child, but to a +child whose father was a sahib known to the smiler; and one broad grin +had come because Sonny had paused to say, with the quaint precision +with which all English children speak Hindustani. + +"_Ai! Bij Rao! tu kyon aie?_" (Oh, Bij Rao, why are you here?) The +orderly's face, which Mrs. Seymour had said gave her the shivers, had +beamed over the recognition; he had risen and saluted, explaining +gravely to the _chota_ sahib that he came from Meerut, because the +Major sahib was now his sahib for the time. Sonny had nodded gravely +as if he understood the position perfectly, and passed on to the +drawing room, where Kate Erlton was sticking a few sprigs of holly and +mistletoe round the portrait of another fair-haired boy; these same +sprigs being themselves a Christmas offering from the Parsee merchant, +who had a branch establishment at a hill station. He sent for them +from the snows every year for his customers as a delicate attention. +And this year something still more reminiscent of home had come with +them: a real spruce fir for the Christmas tree which Kate Erlton was +organizing for the school children. The tree in itself was new to +India, and she had suggested a still greater innovation; namely, that +all children of parents employed in Government offices or workshops +should be invited, not only those with pretensions to white faces. For +Kate, being herself far happier and more contented than she had been +nine months before, when she begged that last chance from Jim Douglas, +had begun to look out from her own life into the world around her with +greater interest. In a way, it seemed to her that the chance had come. +Not tragically, as Jim Douglas had hinted, but easily, naturally, in +this special duty which had removed her husband both from Alice +Gissing and his own past reputation. + +It had sent him to Simla, where people are accepted for what they are; +and here his good looks, his good-natured, devil-may-care desire for +amusement had made him a favorite in society, and his undoubted +knowledge of cavalry requirements stood him in good stead with the +authorities. So he had come down for the winter to Delhi on a new +track altogether. To begin with, his work interested him and made him +lead a more wholesome life. It took him away from home pretty often, +so lessening friction; for it was pleasant to return to a well-ordered +house after roughing it in out-stations. Then it took him into the +wilds where there was no betting or card-playing. He shot deer and +duck instead, and talked of caps and charges, instead of colors and +tricks. To his vast improvement; for though the slaying instinct may +not be admirable in itself, and though the hunter may rightly have +been branded from the beginning with the mark of Cain, still the +shooter or fisher generally lives straighter than his fellows, and +murder is not the most heinous of crimes. Not even in regard to the +safety and welfare of the community. + +So Kate had begun to have those pangs of remorse which come to women +of her sort at the first symptom of regeneration in a sinner. Pangs of +pitiful consideration for the big, handsome fellow who could behave so +nicely when he chose, vague questionings as to whether the past had +not been partly her fault; whether if this were the chance, she ought +not to forget and forgive--many things. + +He looked very handsome as he lounged in, dressed spick and span in +full uniform for church parade. And she, poised on a chair, her dainty +ankles showing, looked spick and span also in a pretty new dress. He +noticed the fact instantly. + +"A merry Christmas, Kate! Here! give me your hand and I'll help you +down." + +How many years was it since he had spoken like that, with a glint in +his eyes, and she had had that faint flush in her cheek at his touch? +The consciousness of this stirring among the dry bones of something +they had both deemed dead, made her set to shaking some leaves from +her dress, while he, with an irrelevantly boisterous laugh, stooped to +swing Sonny to his shoulder. "You here, jackanapes!" he cried. "A +merry Christmas! Come and get a sweetie--you come too, Kate, the +beggars will like to see the _mem_. By Jove! what a jolly morning!" + +A foretaste of the winter rains had fallen during the night, leaving a +crisp new-washed feeling in the air, a heavy rime-like dew on the +earth; the sky of a pale blue, yet colorful, vaulted the wide expanse +cloudlessly. And from the veranda of the Erltons' house the expanse +was wide indeed; for it stood on the summit of the Ridge at its +extreme northern end--the end, therefore, furthest from the city, +which, nearly three miles away, blocked the widening wedge of densely +wooded lowland lying between the rocky range and the river. The Ridge +itself was not unlike some huge spiny saurian, basking in the +sunlight; its tail in the river, its wider, flatter head, crowned by +Hindoo Rao's house, resting on the groves and gardens of the +Subz-mundi or Green Market, a suburb to the west of the town. It is a +quaint, fanciful spot, this Delhi Ridge, even without the history of +heroism crystallized into its very dust. A red dust which might almost +have been stained by blood. A dust which matches that history, since +it is formed of isolated atoms of rock, glittering, perfect in +themselves, like the isolated deeds which went to make up the finest +record of pluck and perseverance the world is ever likely to see. +Perseverance and pluck which sent more Englishmen to die cheerfully in +that red dust than in the defenses and reliefs of Lucknow, Cawnpore, +and the subsequent campaigns all combined. Let the verdict on the +wisdom of those months of stolid endurance be what it may, that fact +remains. + +And the quaintness of the Ridge lies in its individuality. Not eighty +feet above the river, its gradients so slight that a driver scarce +slackens speed at its steepest, there is never a mistake possible as +to where it begins or ends. Here is the river bed, founded on sand; +there, cleaving the green with rough red shoulder, is the ridge of +rock. + +From the veranda, then, its stony spine split by a road like a +parting, it trended southwest, so giving room between it and the river +for the rose-lit, lilac-shaded mass of the town, with the big white +bubble of the Jumma mosque in its midst; the delicate domes fringing +the palace gateways showing like strings of pearls on the blue sky. +And beyond them, a dazzle of gold among the green of the Garden of +Grapes, marked that last sanctuary of a dead dynasty upon the city's +eastern wall. + +The cantonments lay to the back of the house on the western slope of +the Ridge and on the plain beyond. This also was a widening wedge of +green wooded land cut off from the rest of the plain by a tree-set +overflow canal. The Ridge, therefore, formed the backbone of a +triangle protected by water on two sides. On the third was the city +and its suburbs. But--to carry out the image of the lizard--a natural +outwork lay like a huge paw on either side of the head; on the river +side the spur of Ludlow Castle, on the canal side the General's mound. + +A brisk breeze was fluttering the flag on the tower cresting the +ridge, a few hundred yards from the house, and as Major Erlton stepped +into the veranda, a puff of white smoke curled cityward, and the roll +of the time-gun reverberated among the rocks. + +"By Jingo! I must hurry up if I'm to have breakfast before church," he +exclaimed, as the circle of gift-bringers, who had been waiting nearly +half an hour, rose simultaneously with salaams and good wishes. The +sudden action made a white cockatoo perched in the corner raise its +flame-colored crest and begin to prance. + +"Naughty Poll! Bad Poll!" came Sonny's mellifluous lisp from the +Major's shoulder. "Zoo mufn't make a noise and interrupt." + +The admonition made the bird smooth its ruffled temper and feathers. +Not that there was much to interrupt; the Major's halting +acknowledgments being of the briefest; partly because of breakfast, +partly from lack of Hindustani, mostly from the inherent insular +horror of a function. + +"Thank God! that's over," he said piously, when the last tray had been +emptied on the miscellaneous pile, round which the servants were +already hovering expectantly, and the last well-wisher had +disappeared. "Still it was nice of them to remember Freddy," he added, +looking at the toys--"Wasn't it, wife?" + +She looked up almost scared at the title. "Very," she replied, with a +faint quiver in her voice. "We must send some home to him, mustn't +we?" + +The pronoun of union made the Major, in his turn, feel embarrassed. He +sought refuge once more in Sonny. + +"You must have your choice first, jackanapes!" he said, swinging the +child to the ground again. "Which is it to be? A box of soldiers or a +monkey on a stick?" + +"Fanks!" replied Sonny with honest dignity, "but I'se gotted my plesy +already. She's give-ded me the polly--be-tos it 'oves me dearly." + +Kate answered her husband's look with a half-apology. "He means the +cockatoo. I thought you wouldn't mind, because it was so dreadfully +noisy. And it never screams at him. Sonny! give Polly an apple and +show Major Erlton how it loves you." + +The child, nothing loth to show off, chose one from the heap and went +over fearlessly to the vicious bird; the servants pausing to look +admiringly. The cockatoo seized it eagerly, but only as a means to +draw the little fellow's arm within reach of its clambering feet. The +next moment it was on the narrow shoulder dipping and sidling among +the golden curls. + +"See how it 'oves me," cried Sonny, his face all smiles. + +Major Erlton laughed good-temperedly at the pretty sight and went in +to breakfast. + +Then the dog-cart came round. It was the same one in which the Major +had been used to drive Alice Gissing. But this Christmas morning he +had forgotten the fact, as he drove Kate instead, with Sonny, who was +to be taken to church as a great treat, crushing the flounces of her +pretty dress. + +Yet the fresh wind blew in their faces keenly, and the Major, pointing +with his whip to the scudding squirrels, said, "Jolly little beasts, +aren't they, Kate," just as he had said it to Alice Gissing. What is +more, she replied that it was jolly altogether, with much the same +enjoyment of the mere present as the other little lady had done. For +the larger part of life is normal, common to all. + +So they sped past the rocks and trees swiftly, down and down, till +with a rumble they were on the draw-bridge, through the massive arch +of the Cashmere gate, into the square of the main-guard. The last +clang of the church bell seemed to come from the trees overhanging it, +and in the ensuing silence a sharp click of the whip sounded like a +pistol crack. The mare sped faster through the wooden gate into the +open. To the left the Court House showed among tall trees, to the +right Skinner's House. Straight ahead, down the road to the Calcutta +gate and the boat bridge, stood the College, the telegraph office, a +dozen or so of bungalows in gardens, and the magazine shouldering the +old cemetery. Quite a colony of Western ways and works within the city +wall, clinging to it between the water-bastion and the Calcutta gate. + +Close at hand in a central plot of garden, circled by roads, was the +church, built after the design of St. Paul's; obtrusively Occidental, +crowned by a very large cross. + +As the mare drew up among the other carriages, the first notes of the +Christmas hymn pealed out among the roses and the pointsettias, the +glare and the green. Not a Christmas environment; but the festival +brings its own atmosphere with it to most people, and Major Erlton, +admiring his wife's rapt face, remembered his own boyhood as he sang a +rumbling Gregorian bass of two tones and a semi-tone: + + + "Oh come, all ye faithful Joyful and triumphant." + + +The words echoed confidently into the heart of the great Mohammedan +stronghold, within earshot almost of the rose-red walls of the palace; +that survival of all the vices Christianity seeks to destroy. + +"They have a new service to-night," yawned the chaplain's groom to +others grouped round a common pipe. "I, who have served _padrés_ all +my life--the pay is bad but the kicks less--saw never the like. 'Tis a +queer tree hung with lights, and toys to bribe the children to worship +it. They wanted mine to go, but their mother is pious and would not. +She says 'tis a spell." + +"Doubtless!" assented a voice. "The spell Kali's priest, who came from +Calcutta seeking aid against it, warned us of--the spell which forces +a body to being Christian against his will." + +A scornful cluck came from a younger, smarter man. "Trra! a trick that +for offerings, Dittu. The priest came to me also, but I told him my +master was not that sort. He goes not to church except on the big +day." + +"But the _mem?_" asked a new speaker enviously. "'Tis the _mems_ do +the mischief to please the _padres_; just as our women do it to please +the priests. My _mem_ reads prayers to her ayah." + +"Paremeshwar be praised!" ejaculated the man to whom the pipe +belonged. "My master keeps no _mem_, but the other sort. Though as for +the ayah it matters not, she has no caste to lose." + +There was a grunt of general assent. The remark crystallized the whole +question to unmistakable form. So long as a man could get a pull from +his neighbor's pipe and have a right to one in return, the master +might say and do what he chose. If not; then----? + +An evil-faced man who still smarted from a righteous licking, given +him that morning for stealing his horse's grain, put his view of what +would happen in that case plainly. + +"Bullah!" sneered a bearded Sikh orderly waiting to carry his master's +prayer-book. "You Poorbeahs can talk glibly of change. And why not? +seeing it is but a change of masters to born slaves. Oil burns to +butter! butter to oil!" + +The evil face scowled. "Thou wilt have to shave under thy master, +anyhow, Gooroo-jee! Ay! and dock thy pigtail too." + +This allusion to a late ruling against the Nazarene customs of the +newly raised Sikh levies might have led to blows--the bearded one +being a born fighter--if, the short service coming to an end, the +masters had not trooped out, pausing to exchange Christmas greetings +ere they dispersed. + +"Never saw Mrs. Erlton looking so pretty," remarked Captain Seymour to +his wife, as, with the restored Sonny between them, they moved off to +their own house, which stood close by, plumb on the city wall. He +spoke in a low voice, but Major Erlton happened to be within earshot. +He turned complacently to identify the speaker, then looked at his +wife to see if the remark was true. Scarcely; to Herbert Erlton's +quickened recollection of the girl he had married. Yet she looked +distinctly creditable, desirable, as she stood, the center of a little +group of men and women eager to help her with the Christmas tree. It +struck him suddenly, not in the least unpleasantly, that of late his +wife had had no lack of aids-de-camp, and that one, Captain Morecombe, +the pick of the lot, seemed to have little else to do. A symptom which +the Major could explain from his own experience, and which made him +smile; he being of those who admire women for being admired. + +"I have arranged about the conjuror, Mrs. Erlton," said Captain +Morecombe, who was, indeed, quite ready to do her behests; "that +sweep, Prince Abool-bukr,--who is coming, by the way, to see the +show,--has promised me the best in the bazaar. And some Bunjârah +fellows who act, and that sort of business." + +"Better find out first what they do act," put in young Mainwaring, who +chafed under the superior knowledge which the Captain claimed as +interpreter to the Staff. "I saw some of those brutes in Lucknow last +spring, and----" + +"Oh! there is no fear," retorted the other with a condescending smile. +"The Prince is no fool, and he is responsible. It will most likely be +something extremely instructive. Now, Mrs. Erlton, I will drive you +round to the College and you can show me anything else you want done. +I can drive you home afterward." + +"Don't think we need trouble you, thanks, Morecombe," said a voice +behind. "I'll drive my wife. I'll stay as long as you like, Kate; and +I can stick things high up, you know." + +There was no appeal in his tone, but Kate, looking up at his +great height, felt one; and with it came a fresh spasm of that +self-reproach. As she had knelt beside him in church she had been +asking herself if she was not unforgiving; if it was not hard on him. + +"That will be a great help," she said soberly. + +So Mrs. Seymour, coming in daintily when the hard work was over to put +a Father Christmas on the topmost shoot, wondered plaintively how she +could have managed it without Major Erlton, and put so much soft +admiration into her pretty eyes, that he could scarcely fail to feel a +fine fellow. He was in consequence a better one for the time being. So +that he insisted on returning in the afternoon to hand the tea and +cake, when he made several black-and-tan matrons profusely apologetic +and proud at having the finest gentleman there to wait upon them. For +the Major was a very fine animal, indeed. As Alice Gissing had told +him frankly, over and over again, his looks were his strong point. + +The larger portion of the guests were of this black-and-tan +complexion. Of varying shades, however, from the unmistakably +pure-blooded native Christian, to the pasty-faced baby with all the +yellow tones of skin due to its pretty, languid mother, emphasized by +the ruddiness of the English father who carried it. + +They came chiefly from Duryagunj, a quarter of the city close to the +Palace, between the river and the Thunbi Bazaar. It had once been the +artillery lines, and now its pleasant garden-set houses were occupied +by clerks, contractors, overseers, and such like. Then later on, for +the sports and games, came a contingent of College lads, speaking +English fluently, and younger boys clinging affrightedly to their +father's hand as he smirked and bowed to the special master for whose +favor he had perhaps braved bitter tears of opposition from the women +at home. The mission school sent orderly bands, and there was a ruck +of servants' children, who would have gone to the gates of hell for a +gift. + +"You will tire yourself to death, Kate," called her husband, as, quite +in his element, he handicapped the boys for the races. He spoke in a +half-satisfied, half-dissatisfied tone, for though her success pleased +him, he fancied she looked less dainty, less attractive. + +"Come and see the play," suggested Captain Morecombe, who did not seem +to notice anything amiss. "It will be rest, and we needn't light up +yet a while." + +"I'm going wis zoo," said Sonny confidently, escaping from his ayah as +they passed; so, with the child's hand in hers, Kate went on into the +long narrow veranda which had been inclosed by tent-walls as a +theater. Open to the sunlight at the entrance, it was dark enough to +make a swinging lamp necessary at the further end. There was no stage, +no scenery, only a coarse cotton cloth with indistinguishable shadows +and lights on it hung over a rope at the very end. The place was +nearly empty. A few native lads squatted in front, a bench or two held +a sprinkling of half-castes, and at the entrance a group of English +ladies and gentlemen waited for the performance to begin, laughing and +talking the while. + +"You look quite done," said Captain Morecombe tenderly, as Kate sank +back in the armchair he placed for her halfway down, where a chink of +light and air came through a slit in the canvas. + +"I didn't feel tired before," she replied dreamily. "I suppose it is +the quiet, and the giving in. Tell me about the play, please," she +went on more briskly. "If I don't know something of the plot before it +begins, I shall not understand." + +"I expect you will," he began; but at that moment a cry for Captain +Morecombe arose, and to his infinite anger he had to go off and +interpret for the Colonel and Prince Abool-Bukr, who had just arrived. +Kate, to tell truth, felt relieved. After the clamor outside, and the +constant appeals to her, the peace within was delightful. She leaned +back, with Sonny in her arms, feeling so disposed for sleep that her +husband's loud voice coming through the chink startled her. + +"Can't possibly take that into consideration. The race must be run on +the runners' own merits only." + +He was only, she knew, laying down the law of handicaps to some +dissentient; but the words thrilled her. Poor Herbert! What had _his_ +merits been? And then she wondered how long it had been since she had +thought of him thus by his Christian name, as it were. Would it be +possible---- + +"It's a story of Fate, really," said one of the spectators at the +entrance, to the ladies who were with him; his voice clearly audible +in a sudden hush which had come to the dim veranda that grew dimmer +and dimmer to the end, despite the swinging lamp. "A sort of miracle +play, called 'The Lord of Life, and the Lord of Death.' Yama and Indra +of course. I saw it two days ago, and one of the actors is the best +pantomimist--That's the man--now." + +Kate turned her eyes instinctively to the open space which was to do +duty as a stage. The play had begun; must have been going on while she +was thinking, for a scene was in full swing. A scene? A misnomer that, +surely! when there was no scenery, nothing but that strange dim +curtain with its indefinite lights and shadows. Or was there some +meaning in the dabs and splashes after all? Was that a corn merchant's +shop? Yes, there were the gleaming pots, the cavernous shadows, the +piled baskets of flour and turmeric and pulse, the odd little strings +of dried cocoanuts and pipe cups, the blocks of red rock-salt. And +that--she gave an odd little sigh of certainty--was the corn merchant +himself selling flour, with a weighted balance, to a poor widow. What +magnificent pantomime it was! And what a relief that it was pantomime; +so leaving her no whit behind anyone in comprehension; but the equal +of all the world, as far as this story was concerned. And it was +unmistakable. She seemed to hear the chink of money, to see the +juggling with the change, the substitution of inferior flour for that +chosen; the whole give and take of cheating, till the ill-gotten gain +was clutched tight, and the robbed woman turned away patiently, +unconsciously. + +An odd, doubtful murmur rose among the squatting boys, checked almost +as it began; for the shadowy curtain behind wavered, seemed to grow +dimmer, to curve in cloud-like festoons, and then disclosed a sitting +figure. + +There was a burst of laughter from the entrance. "Rum sort of God, +isn't he?" came the voice again. But from the front rose an uneasy +whisper. "Yama! Sri Yama himself; look at his nose!" + +Viewed without reference to either remark, the figure, if quaint, +almost ludicrous, did not lack dignity. There was impassiveness in the +pea-green mask below the miter-like gilt tiara, and impressiveness in +the immovability of the pea-green hands folded on the scarlet +draperies. + +"He answers to Charon, you know," went on the voice again. "I suppose +it means that the _buniya-jee_ will need all his ill-gotten gain to +pay fare to Paradise." + +Did it mean that? Kate wondered, as she leaned back clasping Sonny +tighter in her arms, or was it only to show that Fate lay behind the +daily life of every man. Then what a farce it was to talk of chance! +Yet she had pleaded for it, till she had gained it. "Let him have his +chance. Let us all have our chance. You and I into the bargain. You +and I!" What made her think of that now? + +A snigger from the lads in front roused her to a new scene; a +serio-comic dispute, evidently, between a termagant of a mother-in-law +and a tearful daughter. Kate found herself following it closely +enough, even smiling at it, but Sonny shifted restlessly on her knee. +"I 'ikes a funny man," he said plaintively. "Tell a funny man to come +again, Miffis Erlton." + +"I expect he will come soon, dear," she replied, conscious of a +foolish awe behind her own words. Fate lay there also, no doubt. + +It did, but as the termagant triumphed and the dutiful daughter-in-law +wept over her baking, the figure that showed wore a white mask, the +rainbow-hued garments were hung with flowers, and the white hands held +a parti-colored bow. + +The boys nodded and smiled. "Sri Indra himself," they said. "Look at +his bow!" + +"Who is Indra, Mr. Jones?" asked a feminine voice from behind. + +"Lord of Paradise. And that is the whole show. It goes on and on. Some +of the scenes are awfully funny, but they wouldn't act the funniest +ones here. And they all end with the green or white dummy; so it gets +a bit monotonous. Shall we go and look at the conjurors now?" + +The voices departed; once more to Kate's relief. She felt that the +explanation spoiled the play. And that was no dummy! She could see the +same eyes through the mask; curious, steady, indifferent eyes. The +eyes of a Fate indifferent as to what mask it wore. So the play went +on and on. Some of the Eurasians slipped away, but the boys remained +ready with awe or rejoicing, while Kate sat by the chink through which +the light came more and more dimly as the day darkened. She scarcely +noticed the actors; she waited dreamily for the Lord of Life or the +Lord of Death; for there was never any doubt as to which was coming. +But the child in her lap waited indiscriminately for the funny man. +The thought of the contrast struck her, making her smile. Yet, after +all, the difference only lay in the way you looked at life. There was +no possibility of change to it; the Great Handicap was run on its own +merits. And then, like an unseen hand brushing away the cobwebs which +of late had been obscuring the unalterable facts, like a wave +collapsing her house of sand, came the memory of words which at the +time they were spoken had made her cry out on their cruelty. "What +possible right have you or I to suppose that anything you or I can do +now will alter the initial fact?" If he--that stranger who had stepped +in and laid rude touch on her very soul, had been the Lord of Life or +Death himself, could he have been more remorseless? And what possessed +her that she should think of him again and again; that she should +wonder what his verdict would be on those vague thoughts of +compromise? + +"Mrs. Erlton! Mrs. Erlton, everything is ready. Everybody is waiting! +I have been hunting for you everywhere. It never occurred to me you +would be here after all this time. Why, you are almost alone!" Captain +Morecombe's aggrieved regret was scarcely appeased by her hurried +excuse that she believed she had been half-asleep. For the Christmas +tree was lit to its topmost branch, the guests admitted, the drawings +begun. + +Perhaps it was the sudden change from dark to light, silence to +clamor, which gave Kate Erlton the dazed look with which she came into +that circle of radiant faces where Prince Abool-Bukr was clapping his +hands like a child and thinking, as he generally did when his +pleasures could be shared by virtue, of how he would describe it all +to Newâsi Begum on her roof. He drew a spotless white lamb as his +gift; Major Erlton its fellow, and the two men compared notes in +sheer laughter, broken English, and shattered Hindustani. And through +the fun and the pulling of crackers, Kate, who recovered herself +rapidly, flitted here and there, arranging, deciding, setting the +ball a-rolling. There was a flush on her cheek, a light in her eyes +which forced other eyes to follow her, even among the packed, prying +faces, peeping from every door and window at the strange sight, the +strange spell. One pair of eyes in particular, belonging to a slight, +clean-shaven man standing beside two others who carried bundles in +their hands, and who, having come from the inside veranda, had found +space to slip well to the front. They were the actors in the now +forsaken drama of Life and Death. One of them, however, had evidently +seen a Christmas tree before, since he suddenly called out in the +purest English: + +"The top branch on the left has caught! Put it out, someone!" + +The sound seemed to discomfit him utterly. He looked round him +quickly, then realizing that the crowd was too dense for the voice to +be accurately located save by his immediate neighbors, gave a half +apologetic sign to the older of his two companions and slipped away. +They followed obediently, but once outside Tiddu shook his head at his +pupil. + +"The Huzoor will never remember to forget. He will get into trouble +some day," he said reproachfully. + +"Not if I stick to playing Yama and Indra," replied Jim Douglas with a +shrug of his shoulders. "The Mask of Fate is apt to be inscrutable." +He made the remark chiefly for his own benefit; for he was thinking of +the strange chance of meeting those cold blue-gray eyes again in that +fashion. Beautiful eyes, brilliant eyes! Then he smiled cynically. The +chance he had given had evidently borne fruit. She seemed quite happy, +and there was no mistaking the look on her owner's heavy face. So the +heroics had meant nothing, and he had given up his chance for a vulgar +kiss-and-make-it-up-again! + +It was too dark to see that look on Major Erlton's face, but it was +there, as, carrying Kate off with a certain air of proprietorship from +the compliments which had grown stale, they went to find the dog-cart, +which, in deference to the mare's nerves, had been told to await them +in a quiet corner of the compound. + +"You did it splendidly, Kate!" + +His voice came contentedly through the soft darkness which hid the +easy arm which slipped to her waist, the easy smiling face which bent +to kiss hers. + +"Oh, don't! Please don't!" The cry, almost a sob, was unmistakable. So +was the start which made her stumble over an unseen edging to the +path. Even Herbert Erlton with his blunted delicacy could not misjudge +it. He stood silent for a moment, then gave a short hard laugh. + +"You haven't hurt yourself, I expect," he said dryly, "so there's no +harm done. I'll call that fellow with the lantern to give us a light." + +He did, and the vague shadow preceded by a swinging light turned out +to be young Mainwaring on his pony, with the groom carrying a lantern. + +"Mrs. Erlton," cried the lad, slipping to the ground, "what luck! The +very person I wanted. I was going round by your house on the chance of +catching you, as it was useless trying to get in a quiet word this +afternoon. I want to ask if you know of any houses to let! I had a +letter this morning from Mrs. Gissing asking me to look out one for +her." + +"For her?" The echo came in a dull voice. Kate had scarcely recovered +from her own recoil, from a vague doubt of what she had done. + +"Yes! Her husband had to go home on business and won't be out till +May. So, as the new people at Lucknow seem a poor lot, and she has old +friends at Delhi----" A remembrance that some of these old friendships +must be an unwelcome memory to his hearer made the boy pause. But the +man, smarting with resentment, had no such scruples--what was the use +of them? + +"Coming here, is she?" he echoed. "Then we may hope to have some fun +in this deadly-lively stuck-up place. I say, Mainwaring, would you +mind driving my wife home and lending me your pony to gallop round to +the mess. I must go there, and as it is getting late there is no use +dragging Mrs. Erlton all that way. And she has a big Christmas dinner +on, haven't you, Kate?" + +As the young fellow climbed up into the dog-cart beside her, Kate +Erlton knew that one chance had gone irretrievably, irrevocably. Would +there be another? Suddenly in the darkness she clasped her hands tight +and prayed that there might be--that it might come soon! + +And round them as they drove slowly to gain the city gate, the +half-seen crowd which had gathered to see the strange spell were +drifting homeward to spread the tale of it from hearth to hearth. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + IN THE VILLAGE. + + +The winter rains had come and gone, leaving a legacy of gold behind +them. Promise of future gold in the emerald sea of young wheat, +guerdon of present gold in the mustard blossom curving on the green, +like the crests of waves curving upon a wind-swept northern sea. Far +and near, wide as the eye could reach, there was nothing to be seen +save this--a waving sea of green wheat crested by yellow mustard. But +in the center, whence the eye looked, stood a human ant-hill; for the +congeries of mud alleys, mud walls, mud roofs, forming the village, +looked from a little distance like nothing else. Viewed broadly, too, +it was simply Earth made plastic by the Form-bringer, Water, hardened +again by the Sun-fire. The triple elements combined into a shell for +laboring life. Like most villages in Northern India this one stood +high on its own ruins, girt round by shallow glistening tanks which +were at once its cradle and its grave. From them the mud for the first +and last house had been dug, to them the periodical rains of August +washed back the village bit by bit. + +There was scarcely a sign of life in the sky-encircled plain. Scarcely +a tree, scarcely a landmark. Nothing far or near to show that aught +lay beyond the pale horizon. The crisp, cold air of a mid-January dawn +held scarcely a sound, for the village was still asleep. Here and +there, maybe, someone was stirring; but with that deliberate calm +which comes to those who by virtue of early rising have the world to +themselves. Here and there, too, in the high stone inclosures serving +at once as a protection to the village and a cattlefold, some goat, +impatient to be roaming, bleated querulously; but these sights and +sounds only seemed to increase the stillness, the silence surrounding +them. It is a scene which to most civilized eyes is oppressive in its +self-centered isolation, its air of remoteness. The isolation of a +community, self-supporting, self-sufficing, the remoteness of a place +which cares not if, indeed, there be a world beyond its boundaries. +And this one, type of many alike in most things--above all, in +steadfast self-absorption--shall be left nameless. We are in the +village, that is enough. + +Suddenly an odd, clamorous wail rang from among the green corn, +and a band of gray cranes which had been standing knee-deep in +the wheat rose awkwardly and headed, arrow-shaped, for the great +Nujjufgurhjheel which they wotted of below the horizon: in this +displaying a wider outlook than the villagers who toiled and slept +within sight of those fields, while the birds left them at dawn for +the sedgy stretches of another world. + +At the sound a man, who had been crouching half-asleep against a mud +wall, rose to his feet and peered drowsily over the fields. Something, +he knew, must have startled the gray cranes; and he was the village +watchman. As his father had been before him, as his son, please God, +would be after him. He carried a short spear hung with jingles as his +badge of office, and he leaned upon it lazily as he looked out into +the gray dawn. Then he wrapped his blanket closer round him, and +walked leisurely to meet the solitary figure coming toward him, +threading its way by an invisible path through the dew-hung sea of +wheat. + +"_Ari_, brother," he called mildly when he reached earshot, "is it +well?" + +"It is well," came the answer. So he waited, leaning on his spear, +until the newcomer stood beside him, his bare legs glistening and the +folds of his drooping blanket frosted with the dew. In one hand he, +also, held a watchman's spear; in the other one of those unleavened +cakes, round and flat like a pancake, which form the daily bread alike +of rich and poor. This he held out, saying briefly: + +"For the elders. From the South to the North. From the East to the +West." + +"Wherefore?" The brief reply held vague curiosity; no more. The cake +had already changed hands, unchallenged. + +"God knows. It came to us from Goloowallah with the message as I gave +it. Thy folk will pass it on?" + +"Likely; when the day's work is done. How go the crops thy way? Here, +as thou seest, 'tis God's dew on God's grain." + +"With us also. There will be marriages galore this May." + +"Ay! if this bring naught." The speaker nodded toward the cake which +now lay on the ground between them, for they had inevitably squatted +down to take alternate pulls at a pipe. "What can it bring?" + +"God knows," replied the host in his turn. So the two, with that final +reference in their minds, sat looking dully at the _chupatti_ as if it +were some strange wild fowl. Sat silently, as men will do over a pipe, +till a clinking of anklets and a chatter of feminine voices came round +the corner, and the foremost woman of the troop on their way to the +tank drew her veil close swiftly at sight of a stranger. Yet her voice +came as swiftly. "What news, brother? What news?" + +"None for thee, Mother Kirpo," answered the resident watchman tartly. +"'Tis for the elders." + +The titterings and tossings of veiled heads at this snub to the worst +gossip in the village, ended in an expectant pause as a very old +woman, with a fine-cut face which had long since forsworn concealment, +stepped up to the watchmen, and squatting down beside them, raised the +cake in her wrinkled hands. + +"From the North to the South or the South to the North. From the East +to the West or the West to the East. Which?" she asked, nodding her +old head. + +"Sure it was so, mother," replied the stranger, surprised. "Dost know +aught?" + +"Know?" she echoed; "I know 'tis an old tale--an old tale." + +"What is an old tale, mother?" asked the women eagerly, as, emboldened +by the presence of the village spey-wife, they crowded round, eying +the cake curiously. + +She gave a scornful laugh, let the _chupatti_ drop, and, rising to her +feet, passed on to the tank. It suited her profession to be +mysterious, and she knew no more than this, that once, or at most +twice in her long life, such a token had come peacefully into the +village, and passed out of it as peacefully with its message. + +"Mai Dhunnoo knows something, for sure," commented a deep-bosomed +mother of sons as the troop followed their "chaperone's" lead, closer +serried than before, full of whispering surmise. "The gods send it +mean not smallpox. I will give curds and sugar to thee, Mâta jee, each +Friday for a year! I swear it for safety to the boys." + +"He slipped in a puddle and cried 'Hail to the Ganges,'" retorted her +neighbor, an ill-looking woman blind of one eye. She had been the +richest heiress in the village, and was in consequence the wife of the +handsomest young man in it; a childless wife into the bargain. "Boys +do not fill the world, Veru; not even thine! Their welfare will not +set tokens a-going. It needs some real misfortune for that." + +"Then thy life is safe for sure," began the other hotly, when a +peacemaker intervened. + +"Wrangle not, sisters! All are naked when their clothes are gone; +and the warning may be for us all. Mayhap the Toorks are coming once +more--Mai Dhunnoo said 'twas an old tale. God send we be not all reft +from our husbands." + +"That would I never be," protested the heiress, provoking uproarious +titterings among some girls. + +"No such luck for poor Ramo," whispered one. "And she sonless too!" + +"He shaved for the heat, and then the hail fell on his bald pate," +quoted the prettiest callously. "Serve him right, say I. He, at least, +had two eyes." + +The burst of laughter following this sally made the peacemaker, who, +as the wife of the headman, had authority, turn in rebuke. 'Twas no +laughing matter to Jâtnis, as they were, who did so much of the field +work, that a token, maybe of ill, should come to the village when the +harvest promised so well. The revenue had to be paid, smallpox or no +smallpox, Toork or no Toork. And was not one of the Huzoors in camp +already giving an eye to the look of the crops, and the other to the +shooting of wild things? Could they not hear the sound of his gun for +themselves if they listened instead of chattering? And truly enough, +in the pause which came to mirth, there echoed from the pale northern +horizon, beyond which lay the big jheels, a shot or two, faint and +far; for all that dealing death to some of God's creatures. And these +listeners dealt death to none; their faith forbade it. + +"Think you they will come our way and kill our deer as they did once?" +asked a slender slip of a girl anxiously. Her tame fawn had lately +taken to joining the wild ones when they came at dawn to feed upon the +wheat. + +"God knows," replied one beside her. "They will come if they like, and +kill if they like. Are they not the masters?" + +So the final reference was in the women's minds also, as, while the +muddy water strained slowly into their pots through a filtering corner +of their veils, they raised their eyes curiously, doubtfully, to the +horizon which held the master. It had held him always. To the north or +to the south, the east or the west. Mohammedan, Mahratta, Christian. +But always coming over the far horizon and slaying something. In old +days husbands, brothers, fathers. Nowadays the herds of deer which the +sacredness of life allowed to have their full of the wheat unchecked, +or the peacocks who spread their tails, securely vainglorious, on the +heaps of corn upon the threshing floors. + +So the unleavened cake stayed in the village all day long, and when +the slant shadows brought leisure, the headman's wife baked two cakes, +one for the north the other for the west, and Dittu the old watchman, +and the embryo watchman his son, set off with them to the next village +west and north, since that was the old custom. So much must be done +because their fathers had done it; for the rest, who could tell? + +Nevertheless, as the messengers passed through the village street +where the women sat spinning, many paused to look after them, with a +vague relief that the unknown, unsought, had gone out of their life. +Then the moon rose peacefully, and one by one the sights and sounds of +that life ceased. The latest of all was the hum of a mill in one of +the poorest houses, and a snatch of a harvest-song in murmuring +accompaniment: + + + "When the sickle meets the corn, + From their meeting joy is born; + When the sickle smites the wheat, + Care is conquered, sorrow beat." + + +"Have a care, sister, have a care!" came that rebuking voice from the +headman's house close by. "Wouldst bring ill-luck on us all, that +grinding but millet thou singest the song of wheat?" + +And thereinafter there was no song at all, and sleep settled on all +things peacefully. The token had come and gone, leaving the mud shell +and the laboring life within it as it had been before. Curiously +impassive, impassively curious. There was one more portent in the sky, +one more mist on the dim horizon. That was all. + +So through the dew-hung fields the mysterious message sped west and +south. + +Sent by whom? And wherefore? + +The question was being asked by the masters in desultory fashion as +they sat round a bonfire, which blazed in the center of the Resident's +camp, on the banks of the great jheel. It was a shooting camp, a +standing camp, lavish in comfort. The white tents were ranged +symmetrically on three sides of a square, and, in the moonlight, shone +almost as brightly as the long levels of water stretching away on the +fourth side to the sedgy brakes and isolated palms of the snipe +marshes. Behind rose a heavy mass of burnished foliage, and in front +of the big mess-tent the English flag drooped from its mast in the +still night air. Nearer the jheel again the bonfire flashed and +crackled, sending a column of smoke and sparks into the star-set sky. +The ground about it was spread with carpets and Persian rugs, and +here, in luxurious armchairs, the comfortably-tired sportsmen were +lounging after dinner, some of them in mess uniform, some in civilian +black, but all in decorous dress; for not only was the Brigadier +present, but also a small sprinkling of ladies wrapped in fur cloaks +above their evening fineries. Briefly, a company more suitable to the +foyer of a theater than this barbaric bonfire. But the whole camp, +with its endless luxury, stood out in keen contrast with the sordid +savagery of a wretched hamlet which lay half-hidden behind the trees. + +The contrast struck Jim Douglas, who for that evening only, happened +to be the Resident's guest; for, having been on the jheel in a very +different sort of camp when the Resident had invaded his solitude, the +usual invitation to dine had followed as a matter of course; as it +would have followed to any white face with pretensions to be +considered a gentleman's. He had accepted it, because, every now and +again, a desire "to chuck" as he expressed it, and go back to the +ordinary life of his class came over him. This mood had been on him +persistently ever since the Yama and Indra incident, so that, for the +time being, he had dismissed his scoundrels and given up spying in +disgust. He had, he told himself, wasted his time, and the military +magnate was justified in politely dispensing with his further +services. There was, in truth, no need for them so far as he could +see. There was plenty of talk, plenty of discontent, but nothing more. +And even that anyone could observe and gauge; for there was no +mystery, no concealment. The whole affair was invertebrate utterly, +except every now and again when you came upon the track of the +Moulvie of Fyzabad. It was conceivable that the aspect might change, +but for the present he was sick of the whole thing, ambition and all. +Horse-dealing was better. So he had established himself in a small +house in Duryagunj, started a stable, and then taken a holiday in a +shooting _pâl_ among the jheels and jungles, where in his younger days +he had spent so much of his time. + +Thus, after eating a first-class dinner, he was smoking a first-class +cigar, and, being a stranger to everyone there, thinking his own +thoughts, when the Resident's voice came from the other side of the +fire which, with its dancing flame-light distorting every feature in +myriad variation, disguised rather than revealed the faces seen by it. + +"You have bagged one or two in your district, haven't you, Ford?" + +"What, sir? Bustard?" inquired the Collector of the next district, who +had come over his border for a day or two's shoot, and who had been +engrossed in sporting talk with his neighbor. There was a laugh from +the other side of the fire. + +"No! these _chupatties_. The Brigadier was asking me if they were as +numerous as they are further south, and Fraser, here, said none had +come into the Delhi district as yet." + +"One came to-day into the hamlet behind the tents," said Jim Douglas +quietly. "I met the man bringing it. A watchman from over the border +in Mr. Ford's district." + +Half a dozen faces turned to the voice which spoke so confidently, and +then asked in whispers who the man was? But there was nothing in the +whispered replies to warrant that tone of imparting information to +others, and a man in black clothes seemed to resent it, for he +appealed to the Resident rather fulsomely. + +"It will be in the reports to-morrow, no doubt, sir. For myself I +attach no importance to it. The custom is an old one. I remember +observing it in Muttra when smallpox was bad. But I should like to +have your opinion. You ought to know if anyone does." + +The compliment was no idle flattery. None had a better right to it +than Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, whose illustrious name had been a power +in Delhi for two generations, and whose uncle had been one of India's +most distinguished statesmen. So there was a hush for his reply. + +"I can't say," he answered deliberately. "Personally I doubt the +dissatisfaction ever coming to a head. There is a good deal, of +course, but of late, so it has seemed to me, it is quieting down. +People are getting tired of fermenting. As for the causes of the +disaffection it is patent. We can't, simply, do the work we are doing +without making enemies of those whose vested interests we have to +destroy. We may have gone ahead a little too fast; but that is another +question. As for the army, I've no right to speak of it, but it seems +to me it has been allowed to get out of hand, out of touch. It will +need care to bring it into discipline, but I don't anticipate trouble. +Its mixed character is our safeguard. It would be hard for even a good +leader to hit on a general grievance which would touch both the army +and the civil population, Hindoos and Mohammedans--and as a matter of +fact they have no leader at all." + +"Have you ever come across the Moulvie of Fyzabad, sir?" remarked Jim +Douglas again. "If I had the power I would shoot him like a mad dog. +But for the rest I quite agree." + +Here a stir behind them distracted both his attention and the +attention of those who were listening to this authoritative voice with +bated breath. + +"Is that the post? Oh, how delightful!" chorused the ladies, and more +than one added plaintively, "I wonder if the English mail is in." + +"Let's bet on it. Sir Theophilus to hold the stakes," cried a young +fellow who had been yawning through the discussion. But the subject +was too serious for such light handling, to judge by the eager faces +which crowded round, while the red-coated _chuprassies_ poured the +contents of the bags into a heap on the carpet at their master's feet. +There is always a suspense about that moment of search among the +bundles of official correspondence, the files, the cases which fill up +the camp mail, for the thin packet of private letters which is the +only tie between you and the world; but when hopes of home news is +superadded, the breath is apt to come faster. And so a scene, trivial +in itself, points an inexorable finger to the broad fact underlying +all our Indian administration, that we are strangers and exiles. + +"Not in!" announced the Resident, studiously cheerful. "But there are +heaps of letters for everybody. Did the mem-sahib come in the +carriage, Gâmu?" he added as he sorted out the owners. + +"Huzoor!" replied the head orderly, who was also his master's +factotum, thrusting the remainder back in the bags. "And the Major +sahib also. According to order, refreshments are being offered." + +"Glad Erlton could come," remarked a voice to its neighbor. "We want +another good shot badly." + +"And Mrs. Gissing is awfully good company too," assented the neighbor. +Jim Douglas, who was sitting on the other side, looked up quickly. The +juxtaposition of the names surprised him after what he had seen, or +thought he had seen at Christmas time. + +"Is that Mrs. Gissing from Lucknow?" he asked. + +"I believe so. She is a stranger here. Seems awfully jolly, but the +women don't like her. Do you know anything of her?" + +Jim Douglas hesitated. He could have easily satisfied the ear +evidently agog for scandal; but what, after all, did he know of her? +What did he know of his own experience? It seemed to him as if she +stood there, defiantly dignified, asking him the question, her +china-blue eyes flashing, the childish face set and stern. + +"Personally I know little," he replied, "but that little is very much +to her credit." + +As he relapsed into silence and smoke he felt that she had once more +walked boldly into his consciousness and claimed recognition. She had +forced him to acknowledge something in her which corresponded with +something in him. Something unexpected. If Kate Erlton's eyes with +their cold glint in them had flashed like that, he would not have +wondered; but they had not. They had done just the reverse. They had +softened; they had only looked heroic. Underneath the glint which had +sent him on a wild-goose chase had lain that commonplace indefinable +womanhood, sweet enough, but a bit sickly, which could be in any +woman's eyes if you fancied yourself in love with her. It had lain in +the eyes belonging to the golden curl, in poor little Zora's eyes, +might conceivably lie in half a dozen others. + +"By George!" came an eager voice from the group of men who were +reading their letters by the light of a lamp held for the purpose by a +silent bronze image of a man in uniform. "I have some news here which +will interest you, sir. There has been a row at Dum-Dum about the new +Enfield cartridges." + +"Eh! what's that?" asked the Brigadier, looking up from his own +correspondence. "Nothing serious, I hope." + +"Not yet, but it seems curious by the light of what we were discussing, +and what Mr.--er--Capt----" + +"Douglas," suggested the owner of the name, who at the first words had +sat up to listen intently. His face had a certain anticipation in it; +almost an eagerness. + +"Thanks. It's a letter from the musketry depot. Shall I read it, sir?" + +The Brigadier nodded, one or two men looked up to listen, but most +went on with their letters or discussed the chances of slaughter for +the morrow. + +"There is a most unpleasant feeling abroad respecting these new +cartridges, which came to light a day or two ago in consequence of a +high-caste sepoy refusing to let a lower caste workman drink out of +his cup. The man retorted that as the cartridges being made in the +Arsenal were smeared with pig's grease and cow's fat there would soon +be no caste left in the army. The sepoy complained, and it came out +that this idea is already widely spread. Wright denied the fact flatly +at first, but found out that large quantities of beef-tallow _had_ +been indented for by the Ordnance. And that, of course, made the men +think he had lied about it. Bontein, the chief, has wisely suggested +altering the drill, since the men say they will not bite the +cartridges. If they do, their relations won't eat with them when they +go home on leave. You see, with this new rifle it is not really +necessary to bite the cartridge at all, so it would be a quite natural +alteration, and get us out of the difficulty without giving in. The +suggestion has been forwarded, and if it could be settled sharp would +smother the business; but what with duffers and----" The reader broke +off, and a faint smile showed even on the Brigadier's face as the +former skipped hurriedly to find something safer--"Old General +Hearsey, who knows the natives like a book, says there is trouble in +it. He declares that the Moulvie of Fyzabad--whoever that may be----" + +The faces looked at Jim Douglas curiously, but he was too eager to +notice it. + +"Is at the bottom of the _chupatties_ we hear are being sent round +up-country; but that he is in league also with the Brahmins in +Calcutta--especially the priests at Kali's shrine--over _suttee_ and +widow remarriage and all that. However, all I know is that both +Hindoos and Mohammedans in my classes are in a blue funk about the +cartridges, and swear even their wives won't live with them if they +touch them." + +"The common grievance," said Jim Douglas, in the silence that ensued. +"It alters the whole aspect of affairs." + +"Prepare to receive cavalry?" yawned the man who had suggested betting +on the chance of the home-mail. What was the use of a week's leave on +the best snipe jheel about, if it was to be spent in talking shop? + +"No!" cried the man in black, not unwilling to change the subject of +which he had not yet official cognizance. "Prepare to receive ladies. +There is Mrs. Gissing, looking as fresh as paint!" + +She looked fresh, indeed, as she came forward; her curly hair, rough +when fashionable heads were smooth, glistening in the firelight, the +fluffy swansdown on her long coat framing her childish face softly. +Behind her, heavy, handsome, came Major Erlton with the half-sheepish +air men assume when they are following a woman's lead. + +"Here I am at last, Sir Theophilus," she began, in a gay artificial +voice as she passed Jim Douglas, who stood up, pushing his chair aside +to give more room. "I'm so glad Major Erlton managed to get leave. I'm +such a coward! I should have died of fright all by myself in that +long, lonely----" + +"Keep still!" interrupted a peremptory voice behind her, as a pair of +swift unceremonious arms seized her round the waist, and by sheer +force dragged her back a step, then held her tight-clasped to +something that beat fast despite the calm tone. "Kill that snake, +someone! There, right at her feet! It isn't a branch. I saw it move. +Don't stir, Mrs. Gissing, it's all right." + +It might be, but the heart she felt beat hard; and the one beneath his +hand gave a bound and then seemed to stand still, as the sticks and +staves, hastily caught up, smote furiously on her very dress, so close +did certain death lie to her. There was a faint scent of lavender +about that dress, about her curly hair, which Jim Douglas never +forgot; just as he never forgot the passionate admiration which made +his hands relax to an infinite tenderness, when she uttered no cry, no +sound; when there was no need to hold her, so still did she stand, so +absolutely in unison with the defiance of Fate which kept him steady +as a rock. Surely no one in all his life, he thought, had ever stood +so close to him, yet so far off! + +"God bless my soul! My dear lady, what an escape!" The hurried +faltering exclamation from a bystander heralded the holding up of a +long limp rope of a thing hanging helplessly over a stick. It was the +signal for a perfect babel. Many had seen the brute, but had thought +it a branch, others had similar experiences of drowsy snakes scorched +out of winter quarters in some hollow log, and all crowded round Mrs. +Gissing, loud in praise of her coolness. Only she turned quickly to +see who had held her; and found Major Erlton. + +"The brute hasn't touched you, has he?" he began huskily, then broke +into almost a sob of relief, "My God! what an escape!" + +She glanced at him with the faint distaste which any expression of +strong emotion showed toward her by a man always provoked, and gave +one of her high irrelevant laughs. + +"Is it? I may die a worse death. But I want _him_--where is he?" + +"Slipped away from your gratitude, I expect," said the Collector. "But +I'll betray him. It was the man who knew about the _chupatties_, Sir +Theophilus; I don't know his name." + +"Douglas," said the host. "He is in camp a mile or two down the jheel. +I expect he has gone back. He seemed a nice fellow." + +Mrs. Gissing made a _moue_. "I would not have been so grateful as all +that! I would only have said 'Bravo' to him." + +Her own phrase seemed to startle her, she broke off with a sudden +wistful look in her wide blue eyes. + +"My dear Mrs. Gissing, have a glass of wine; you must indeed," fussed +the Brigadier. But the little lady set the suggestion aside. + +"Douglas!" she repeated. "I wonder where he comes from? Does anyone +know a Douglas?" + +"James Sholto Douglas," corrected the host. "It's a good name." + +"And I knew a good fellow of that name once; but he went under," said +an older man. + +"About what?" Alice Gissing's eyes challenged the speaker, who stood +close to her. + +"About a woman, my dear lady." + +"Poor dear! Erlton, you must fetch him over to see me to-morrow +morning." She said it with infinite verve, and her hearers laughed. + +"Him!" retorted someone. "How do you know it's the same man?" + +She nodded her head gayly. "I've a fancy it is. And I am bound to be +nice to him anyhow." + +She had not the chance, however. Major Erlton, riding over before +breakfast to catch him, found nothing but the square-shaped furrow +surrounding a dry vacant spot which shows where a tent has been. + +For Jim Douglas was already on his way back to Delhi, on his way back +to more than Delhi if he succeeded in carrying out a plan which had +suggested itself to him when he heard of General Hearsey's belief that +the priests conducting the agitation against widow remarriage and the +abolition of _suttee_ were leagued with the Mohammedan revival. Tara, +the would-be saint, was still in Delhi. He had not sought her out +before, being in truth angry with the woman's duplicity, and not +wanting to run the risk of her chattering about him. Now, as he had +said, the whole position was changed. He had no common hold upon her, +and might through her get some useful hints as to the leading men in +the movement. She must have seen them when the miracle took place at +Benares. The thought made him smile rather savagely. Decidedly she +would not care to defy his tongue; from saint to sinner would be too +great a fall. + +So at dusk that very evening he was back in his mendicant's disguise, +begging at a doorway in one of the oldest parts of Delhi. An +insignificant doorway in an insignificant alley. But there was a faded +wreath of yellow marigolds over the architrave, a deeper hollow in the +stone threshold; sure signs, both, that something to attract +worshiping feet lay within. Yet at first sight the court into which +you entered, after a brief passage barred by blank wall, was much as +other courts. It was set round with high irregular houses, perfect +rabbit-warrens of tiny rooms, slips of roof, and stairs; all +conglomerate, yet distinct. Some reached from within, some from +without, some from neighboring roofs, and some, Heaven knows how! +possibly by wings, after the fashion of the purple pigeons cooing and +sidling on the purple brick cornices. In one corner, however, stood a +huge _peepul-tree_, and partly shaded by this, partly attached to an +arcaded building of two stories, was a small, squalid-looking, black +stone Hindoo temple. It was not more than ten feet square, triply +recessed at each corner, and with a pointed spire continuing the +recesses of the base. A sort of hollow monolith raised on a plinth of +three steps. In its dark windowless sanctuary, open to the outside +world by a tingle arch, stood a polished black stone, resting on a +polished black stone cup, like a large acorn. For this was the oldest +Shivâla in Delhi, and in the rabbit-warrens surrounding this survival +of Baal worship lived and lodged _yogis_, beggars, saints, half the +insanity and sacerdotalism of Delhi. It was not a place into which to +venture rashly. So Jim Douglas sat at the gate begging while the +clashings and brayings and drumings echoed out into the alley. For the +seven fold circling of the Lamps was going on, and if Tara did not +pass to this evening service from outside, she most likely lived +within; that she lodged near the temple he knew. + +So as he sat waiting, watching, the light faded, the faint smell of +incense grew fainter, the stream of worshipers coming to take the +holy water in which the god had been washed slackened. Then by twos +and threes the Brahmins and _yogis_--the Dean and Chapter, as it +were--passed out clinking half-pennies, and carrying the offertory in +kind, tied up in handkerchiefs. + +The service was over, and Tara must therefore live in a lodging +reached from within. And now, when the coast was clearing, he might +still have opportunity of tracing her. So he rose and walked in +boldly, disappointed to find the courtyard was almost empty already. +There were only a few stragglers, mostly women, and they in the white +shroud of widows; but even in the gloom and shadow he could see the +tall figure he sought was not among them, and he was about to slip +away when, following their looks, he caught sight of another figure +crouching on the topmost step of the plinth, right in front of the +sanctuary door, so that it stood faintly outlined against the glimmer +of the single cresset, which, raised on the heap of half-dead flowers +within, showed them and nothing more--nothing but the shadows. + +He drew back hastily into the empty arcade, and waited for the widows' +lingering bare feet--scarcely heard even on those echoing stones--to +pass out and leave him and Tara alone. For it was Tara. That he knew +though her face was turned from him. + +The feet lingered on, making him fear lest some of the mendicants who +must lodge in these arcades should return, after almsgiving time, and +find him there. And as they lingered he thought how he had best make +himself known to the devotee, the saint. It must be something +dramatic, something to tie her tongue at once, something to bring home +to her his hold upon her. The locket! He slipped it from his neck and +stood ready. Then, as the last flutter of white disappeared, he +stepped noiselessly across the court. + +And so, suddenly, between the rapt face and the dim light on which its +eyes were fixed, hung a dangling gold oval, and the Englishman, +bending over the woman's shoulder from behind, could see the amaze +flash to the face. And his other hand was ready with the clutch of +command, his tongue with a swift threat; but she was too quick for +him. She was round at his feet in an instant, clasping them. + +"Master! Master!" + +Jim Douglas recoiled from that touch once more; but with a half-shamed +surprise, regret, almost remorse. He had meant to threaten this woman, +and now---- + +She was up again, eager, excited. "Quick! The Huzoor is not safe here. +They may return any moment. Quick! Quick! Huzoor, follow me." + +And as, blindly, he obeyed, passing rapidly through a low doorway and +so up a dark staircase, he slipped the locket back to its place with a +sort of groan. Here was another woman to be reckoned with, and though +the discovery suited his purpose, and though he knew himself to be as +safe as her woman's wit could make him, he wondered irritably if there +was anything in the world into which this eternal question of sex did +not intrude. And then, suddenly, he seemed to feel Alice Gissing's +heart beat beneath his hand; there had been no womanhood in that +touch. + +So he passed on. And next morning he was on his way southward. Tara +had told him what he wanted to know. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + IN THE RESIDENCY. + + +"Strawberries! Oh, how delightful!" + +Kate Erlton looked with real emotion at a plate of strawberries and +cream which Captain Morecombe had just handed to her. "They are the +first I have ever seen in India," she went on in almost pathetic +explanation of her apparent greed. "Where could Sir Theophilus have +got them?" + +"Meerut," replied her cavalier with a kindly smile. "They grow +up-country. But they put one in mind of home, don't they?" He turned +away, almost embarrassed, from the look in her eyes; and added, as if +to change the subject, "The Resident does it splendidly, does not he?" + +There could be no two opinions as to that. The park-like grounds were +kept like an English garden, the house was crammed from floor to +ceiling with works of art, the broad verandas were full of rare +plants, and really valuable statuary. That toward the river, on the +brink of which Metcalfe House stood, gave on a balustraded terrace +which was in reality the roof of a lower story excavated, for the sake +of coolness, in the bank itself. Here, among others, was the billiard +room, from the balcony of which you could see along the curved stone +embankment of the river to the Koodsia garden, which lay between +Metcalfe Park and the rose-red wall of the city. It was an old +pleasure-ground of the Moghuls, and a ruined palace, half-hidden in +creepers, half lost in sheer luxuriance of blossom, still stood in its +wilderness of forest trees and scented shrubs; a very different style +of garden from that over which Kate Erlton looked, as it undulated +away in lawns and drives between the Ridge and the river. + +"Yes!" she said, "it always reminds me of England; but for that----" +She pointed to the dome of a Mohammedan tomb which curved boldly into +the blue sky close to the house. + +"Yet that is the original owner," replied her companion. "There is +rather an odd story about that tomb, Mrs. Erlton. It is the burial +place of the great Akhbar's foster-brother. Most likely he was a +cowherd by caste, for their women often go out as nurses, and the land +about here all belonged to these Goojers, as they are called. But when +we occupied Delhi, a civilian--one Blake--fancied the tomb as a house, +added to it, and removed the good gentleman's grave-stone to make room +for his dining-table--a hospitable man, no doubt, as the Resident is +now. But the Goojers objected, appealed to the Government agent. In +vain. Curiously enough both those men were, shortly afterward, +assassinated." + +"You don't mean to connect----" began Kate in a tone of remonstrance. + +Captain Morecombe laughed. "In India, Mrs. Erlton, it is foolish to +try and settle which comes first, the owl or the egg. You can't +differentiate cause and effect when both are incomprehensible. But if +I were Resident I should insure myself and my house against the act of +God and the Queen's enemies." + +"But this house?" she protested. + +"Is built on the site of a Goojer village, and they were most +unwilling to sell. One could hardly believe it now, could one? Come +and see the river terrace. It is the prettiest place in Delhi at this +time of the year." + +He was right; for the last days of March, the first ones of April are +the crown and glory of a Northern Indian garden. Perhaps because there +is already that faint hint of decay which makes beauty more precious. +Another short week and the flower-lover going the evening round will +find many a sun-weary head in the garden. But on this glorious +afternoon, when the Resident was entertaining Delhi in right +residential fashion, there was not a leaf out of place, a blade of +grass untrimmed. Long lines of English annuals in pots bordered the +broad walks evenly, the scentless gardenia festooned the rows of +cypress in disciplined freedom, the roses had not a fallen petal, +though the palms swept their long fringes above them boldly, and +strange perfumed creepers leaped to the branches of the forest trees. +In one glade, beside an artificial lake, some ladies in gay dresses +were competing for an archery prize. On a brick dais close to the +house the band of a native regiment was playing national airs, and +beside it stood a gorgeous marquee of Cashmere shawls with silver +poles and Persian carpets; the whole stock and block having belonged +to some potentate or another, dead, banished, or annexed. Here those +who wished for it found rest in English chairs or Oriental divans; and +here, contrasting with their host and his friends, harmonizing with +the Cashmere shawl marquee, stood a group of guests from the palace. A +perfect bevy of princes, suave, watchful, ready at the slightest +encouragement to crowd round the Resident, or the Commissioner, or the +Brigadier, with noiseless white-stockinged feet. Equally ready to +relapse into stolid indifference when unnoticed. Here was Mirza +Moghul, the King's eldest son, and his two supporters, all with lynx +eyes for a sign, a hint, of favor or disfavor. And here--a sulky, +sickly looking lad of eighteen--was Jewun Bukht, Zeenut Maihl's +darling, dressed gorgeously and blazing with jewels which left no +doubt as to who would be the heir-apparent if she had her way. Prince +Abool-Bukr, however, scented, effeminate, watched the proceedings with +bright eyes; giving the ladies unabashed admiration and after a time +actually strolling away to listen to the music. Finally, however, +drifting to the stables to gamble with the grooms over a quail fight. +Then there were lesser lights. Ahsan-Oolah the physician, his lean +plausible face and thin white beard suiting his black gown and +skull-cap, discussed the system of Greek medicine with the Scotch +surgeon, whose fluent, trenchant Hindustani had an Aberdonian twang. +Then there was Elahi Buksh, whose daughter was widow of the late +heir-apparent; a wily man, dogging the Resident's steps with +persistent adulation, and watched uneasily by all the other factions. +A few rich bankers curiously obsequious to the youngest ensign, and +one or two pensioners owing their invitations to loyal service, made +up the company, which kept to the Persian carpets so as to avoid the +necessity for slipping on and off the shoes which lay in rows under +Gâmu the orderly's care, and the consequent necessity for continual +fees. For Gâmu piled up the shekels until his master, after the +mutiny, had reluctantly to hang him for extorting blood-, as well as +shoe-money. + +They were a curious company, these palace guests, aliens in their own +country, speaking to none save high officials, caring to speak to +none, and waiting with ill-concealed yawns for the blunt dismissal or +the ceremonious leave-taking after a decent space of boredom due to +their rank. + +"I wonder they come," said Mrs. Erlton, passing on rapidly to escape +from the loud remarks of two of her countrywomen who were discussing +Jewun Bukht's jewels as if the wearer, standing within a yard of them, +was a lay figure: as indeed he was to them. + +"Why does anyone come?" asked Captain Morecombe airily, as he followed +her across the terrace, and, leaning over the balustrade, looked down +at the sandbanks and streams below. "So far as I am concerned," he +went on, "the reason is palpable. I came because I knew you would be +here, and I like to see my friends." + +He was in reality watching her to see how she received the remark, and +something in her face made him continue casually. "And there, I should +say, are some other people who have similar excuse for temporary +aberration." He pointed to the figures of a man and woman who were +strolling toward the Koodsia along a narrow path which curved below +the embanking wall, and his sentence ended abruptly. He turned hastily +to lean his back on the parapet and look parkward, adding lightly, +"And there are two more, and two more! In fact most people really come +to see other people." + +But Kate Erlton was proud. She would have no evasion, and the past +three months since Christmas Day had forced her to accept facts. + +"It is my husband and Mrs. Gissing," she said, looking toward the +strolling figures. "I suppose he is seeing her home. I heard her say +not long ago she was tired. She hasn't been looking strong lately." + +The indifference, being slightly overdone, annoyed her companion. No +man likes having the door slammed in his sympathetic face. "She is +looking extremely pretty, though," he replied coolly. "It softens her +somehow. Don't you agree with me?" + +There was a pause ere Kate Erlton replied; and then her eyes had found +the far horizon instead of those lessening figures. + +"I do. I think she looks a better woman than she did--somehow." She +spoke half to herself with a sort of dull wonder in her voice. But the +keenness of his, shown in his look at her, roused her reserve +instantly. To change the subject would be futile; she had gone too far +to make that possible if he wished otherwise, without that palpable +refusal which would in itself be confession. So she asked him promptly +if he would mind bringing her a glass of iced water, cup, anything, +since she was thirsty after the strawberries; and when he went off +reluctantly, took her retreat leaning over the balustrade, looking out +to the eastern plains beyond the river; to that far horizon which in +its level edge looked as if all or nothing might lie behind it. A new +world, or a great gulf! + +Three months! Three months since she had given up that chance, such as +it was, on Christmas Day. And now her husband was honestly, truly in +love with Alice Gissing. Would he have been as honestly, as truly in +love with her if--if she could have forgotten? Had this really been +his chance, and hers? Had it come, somehow? She did not attempt to +deny facts; she was too proud for that It seemed incredible, almost +impossible; but this was no Lucknow flirtation, no mere sensual +liaison on her husband's part. He was in love. The love which she +called real love, which, given to her, would, she admitted, have +raised her life above the mere compromise from which she had shrunk. +But he had never given it to her. Never. Not even in those first days. +And now, if that chance had gone, what remained? What disgrace might +not the future hold for her boy's father with a man like Mr. Gissing, +in a country where the stealing of a man's wife from him was a +criminal offense? Thank Heaven! Herbert was too selfish to risk--she +turned and fled, as it were, from that cause for gratitude to find +refuge in the certainty that Alice Gissing, at least, would not lose +her head. But the chance the chance was gone. + +"Miffes Erlton," came a little silvery voice behind her. "Oh, Miffes +Erlton! He's giv-ded me suts a boo'ful birdie." + +It was Sonny clasping a quail in both dimpled hands. His bearer was +salaaming in rather a deprecatory manner, and a few paces off, +strolling back from the stables with a couple of young bloods like +himself, was Prince Abool-Bukr. All three with a furtive eye for Kate +Erlton's face and figure. + +"He giv-ded it to me be-tos it tumbied down, and everybody laughed," +went on Sonny confidently. "And so I is do-ing to comfit birdie, and +'ove it." + +"Sonny," exclaimed Kate, suddenly aghast, "what's that on your frock-- +down your arm?" + +It was blood. Red, fresh-spilled blood! She was on her knees beside +him in instant coaxing, comforting, unclasping his hands to see where +they were hurt. The bird fell from them fluttering feebly, leaving +them all scarlet-stained with its heart's blood, making Sonny shriek +at the sight, and hide face and hands in her muslin skirts. She stood +up again, her cheeks ablaze with anger, and turned on the servant. + +"How dare you! How dare you give it to the _chota_-sahib? How dare +you!" + +The man muttered something in broken English and Hindustani about a +quail fight, and not knowing the bird was dying when the Mirza gave +it; accompanying his excuses with glances of appeal to Prince +Abool-Bukr, who, at Sonny's outburst, had paused close by. Kate's +eyes, following the bearer's, met those bright, dark, cruel ones, and +her wrath blazed out again. Her Hindustani, however, being unequal to +a lecture on cruelty to animals, she had to be content with looks. The +Prince returned them with an indifferent smile for a moment, then with +a half-impatient shrug of his shoulders, he stepped forward, lifted +the dying quail gingerly between finger and thumb, and flung it over +the parapet into the river. + +"_Ab khutm piyâree tussulli rukhiye!_" (Now is it finished, dear one; +take comfort!) he said consolingly, looking at Sonny's golden curls. +The liquid Urdu was sheer gibberish to the woman, but the child +turning his head half-doubtfully, half-reassured, Abool-Bukr's face +softened instantly. + +"_Mujhe muaâf. Murna sub ke hukk hai_" (Excuse me. Death is the right +of all), he said with a graceful salaam as he passed on. + +So the water Captain Morecombe brought back was used for a different +purpose than quenching pretended thirst; and the bringer, hearing +Kate's version of the story, hastily asked Sonny--who by this time was +holding out chubby hands cheerfully to be dried and prattling of dirty +birdies--what the Prince had said. The child, puzzled for an instant, +smiled broadly. + +"He said it was deaded all light." + +Kate shivered. The incident had touched her on the nerves, taking the +color from the flowers, the brightness from the sunshine. + +"Come and have a turn," suggested Captain Morecombe; "they have began +dancing in the saloon. It will change the subject." + +But as she took his arm, she said in rather a tremulous voice, "There +is such a thing as a Dance of Death, though." + +"My dear lady," he laughed, "it is a most excellent pastime. And one +can dance anywhere, on the edge of a volcano even, if one doesn't +smell brimstone." + +Kate, however, found otherwise, and when the waltz was over, announced +her intention of going off to take Sonny home, and see Mrs. Seymour +and the new baby. But in this her cavalier saw difficulties. The mare +was evidently too fresh for a lady to drive, and Major Erlton, +returning, might need the dog-cart. It would be far better for +him to drive her in his, so far, and afterward let the Major know he +had to call for her. Kate assented wearily. Such arrangements were +part of the detail of life, with a woman neglected as she was by her +husband. She could not deliberately avoid them, and yet keep the +unconsciousness her pride claimed. How could she, when there +were twenty men in society to one woman? Twenty--for the most +part--gentlemen, quite capable of gauging a woman's character. So +Captain Morecombe drove her to the Seymour's house on the city wall by +the Water Bastion. There were several houses there, set so close to +the rampart that there was barely room for a paved pathway between +their back verandas and the battlement. In front of them lay a metaled +road and shady gardens; and at the end of this road stood a small +bungalow toward which Kate Erlton looked involuntarily. There was a +horse waiting outside it. It was her husband's charger. He must have +arranged to have it sent down, arranged, as it were, to leave her in +the lurch, and a sudden flash of resentment made her say, as she got +down at the Seymours' house, "You had better call for me in half an +hour; that will be best." + +Captain Morecombe flushed with sheer pleasure. Kate was not often so +encouraging. But as he drove round to wait for her at a friend's +house, close to the _Delhi Gazette_ press, he, too, noticed the +Major's charger, and swore under his breath. Before God it was too +bad! But if ever there were signs of a coming smash they were to be +seen here. Erlton, after years of scandal, had lost his head--it +seemed incredible, but there was a Fate in such things from which +mortal man could not escape. + +And as he told himself this tale of Fate--the man's excuse for the +inexcusable which will pass current gayly until women combine in +refusing to accept it for themselves--another man, at the back of the +little house past which he was driving, was telling it to himself +also. For a great silence had fallen between Major Erlton and Alice +Gissing after she had told him something, to hear which he had +arranged to come home with her for a quiet talk. And, in the silence, +the hollow note of the wooden bells upon the necks of the cattle +grazing below the battlement, over which he leaned, seemed to count +the slow minutes. Quaintest, dumbest of all sounds, lacking vibration +utterly, yet mellow, musical, to the fanciful ear, with something of +the hopeful persistency of Time in its recurring beat. + +Alice Gissing was not a fanciful woman, but as she lay back in her +long cane chair, her face hidden in its pillows as if to shut out +something unwelcome, her foot kept time to the persistency on the +pavement, till, suddenly, she sat up and faced round on her silent +companion. + +"Well," she said impatiently. "Well! what have you got to say?" + +"I--I was thinking," he began helplessly, when she interrupted him. + +"What is the use of thinking? That won't alter facts. As I told you, +Gissing will be back in a month or so; and then we must decide." + +Major Erlton turned quickly. "You can't go back to him, Allie; you +weren't considering that, surely. You can't--not--not now." His voice +softened over the last words; he turned away abruptly. His face was +hidden from her so. + +She looked toward him strangely for a second, covered her face with +her hands for another, then, changing the very import of the action, +used them to brush the hair back from her temples; so, clasping them +behind her head, leaned back on the pillows, and looked toward him +again. There was a reckless defiance in her attitude and expression, +but her words did not match it. + +"I suppose I can't," she said drearily, "and I suppose you wouldn't +let me go away by myself either." + +Once more he turned. "Go!" he echoed quickly. "Where would you go?" + +"Somewhere!"--the recklessness had invaded her voice now--"Anywhere! +Wherever women do go in these cases. To the devil, perhaps." + +He gave a queer kind of laugh; this spirited effrontery had always +roused his admiration. "I dare say," he replied, "for I'm not a saint, +and you have got to come with me, Allie. You must. I shall send in my +papers, and by and by, when all the fuss is over"--here he gave a +fierce sigh--"for I expect Gissing will make a fuss, we can get +married and live happily ever after." + +She shook her head. "You'll regret it. I don't see how you can help +regretting it!" + +He came over to her, and laid his big broad hand very tenderly on her +curly hair. "No! I shan't, Allie," he replied in a low, husky voice, +"I shan't, indeed. I never was a good hand at sentiment and that sort, +but I love you dearly--dearly. All the more--for this that you've told +me. I'd do anything for you, Allie. Keep straight as a die, dear, if +you wanted it. And I wasn't regretting--it--just now. I was only +thinking how strange----" + +"Strange!" she interrupted, almost fiercely. "If it is strange to you, +what must it be to me? My God! I wonder if any man will ever +understand what this means to a woman? All the rest seems to pass her +by, to leave no mark--I--I--never cared. But this! Herbert! I feel +sometimes as if I were Claude's wife again--Claude's wife, so full of +hopes and fears. And I dream of him too. I haven't dreamed of him for +years, and I learned to hate him before he died, you know. I have gone +back to that old time, and nothing seems different. Nothing at all! +Isn't that strange? And the old Mai--she has gone back, too--sees no +difference either. She treats me just as she did in those old, old +days. She fusses round, and cockers me up, and talks about it. There! +she is coming now with smelling-salts or sal-volatile or something! +Oh! Go away, do, Mai, I don't want anything except to be left alone!" + +But the old ayah's untutored instincts were not to be so easily +smothered. Her wrinkled face beamed as she insisted on changing the +dainty laced shoes for easy slippers, and tucked another pillow into +the chair. The mem was tired, she told the Major with a respectful +salaam, after her long walk; the faint resentment in her tone being +entirely for the latter fact. + +"You see, don't you?" said Mrs. Gissing, with bright reckless eyes, +when they were alone once more. "She doesn't mind. She has forgotten +all the years between, forgotten everything. And I--I don't know +why--but there! What is the use of asking questions? I never can +answer even for myself. So we had better leave it alone for the +present. We needn't settle yet a while, and there is always a chance +of something happening." + +"But you said your husband would be back----" he began. + +"In a month--but we may all be dead and buried in a month," she +interrupted. "I only told you now, because I thought you ought to know +soon, so as not to be hurried at the last. It means a lot, you see, +for a man to give up his profession for a woman; and it isn't like +England, you know----" She paused, then continued in an odd +half-anxious voice, her eyes fixed on him inquiringly as he stood +beside her. "I shouldn't be angry, remember, Herbert, if--if you +didn't." + +"Allie! What do you mean? Do you mean that you don't care?" His tone +was full of pained surprise, his hand scarcely a willing agent as she +drew it close to caress it with her cheek. + +"Care? of course I care. You are very good to me, Herbert, far nicer +to me than you are to other people. And I can't say 'no' if you decide +on giving up for me. I _can't_ now. I see that. Only don't let us be +in a hurry. As that big fat man in the tight satin trousers said to +the Resident to-day, when he was asked what the people in the city +thought of the fuss down country, '_Delhi dur ust_.'" + +"_Delhi dur ust?_ What the devil does that mean?" asked the Major, his +brief doubt soothed by the touch of her soft cheek. "You are such a +clever little cat, Allie! You know a deuced sight more than I do. How +you pick it up I can't think." + +She gave one of her inconsequent laughs. "Don't have so many men +anxious to explain things to you as I have, I expect, sir! But if you +ever spoke to a native here--which you don't--you'd know _that_. Even +my old Mai says it--they all say it when they don't want to tell the +truth, or be hurried, and that is generally. 'Delhi is far,' they say. +Dr. Macintyre translates it as 'It's a far cry to Lochawe'; but I +don't understand that; for it was an old King of Delhi who said it +first. People came and told him an enemy had crossed his border. +'_Delhi dur ust_,' says he. Can't you see him, Herbert? An old Turk of +a thing with those tight satin trousers! Then they told him the enemy +was in sight. '_Delhi dur ust_,' said he. And he said it when they +were at the gate--he said it when their swords----" the dramatic +instinct in her was strong, and roused her into springing to her feet +and mimicking the thrust. "_Delhi dur ust_." + +Her gay mocking voice rang loud. Then she laid her hand lightly on his +arm. "Let us say it too, dear," she said almost sharply. "I won't +think--yet. '_Delhi dur ust_.'" + +The memory of the phrase went with him when he had said good-by, and +was pacing his charger toward the Post Office. But it only convinced +him that the Delhi of his decision was reached; he would chuck +everything for Allie. + +It was by this time growing dusk, but he could see two figures +standing in the veranda of the Press Office, and one of them called +him by name. He turned in at the gate to find Captain Morecombe +reading a proof-sheet by the light of a swinging lamp; for Jim Douglas +drew back into unrecognizable shadow as he approached. He had +purposely kept out of Major Erlton's way during his occasional returns +to Delhi, and as he stepped back now he asked himself if he hated the +big man most for his own sake, or for Kate's, or for that other little +woman's. Not that it mattered a jot, since he hated him cordially on +all three scores. + +"Bad news from Barrackpore, Erlton," said the Captain, "and as I have +to drive Mrs. Erlton home I thought you might take it round to the +Brigadier's. At least if you have no objection, Douglas?" + +"None. The telegram is all through the bazaar by now. You can't help +it if you employ natives." + +"'Through the medium of a private telegram,'" read Captain Morecombe, +"'the following startling news has reached our office. On Sunday +(the 29th of March) about 4.30 P. M., a Brahmin sepoy of the 34th N. +I.'--that's the missionary fellow's regiment, of course--'went amuck, +and rushing to the quarter-guard with his musket, ordered the bugler +to sound the assembly to all who desired to keep the faith of their +fathers. The guard, ordered to arrest him, refused. The whole regiment +being, it is said, in alarm at the arrival that morning of the first +detachment of British troops, detailed to keep order during the +approaching disbandment of the 19th for mutiny; rumor having it that +all sepoys then refusing to become Christians would be shot down at +once. The mutineer, who had been drinking hemp, actually fired at +Sergeant-major Hewson, providentially missing him; subsequently he +fired at the Adjutant, who, after a hand-to-hand scuffle with the +madman, in which Hewson joined, only escaped with his life through the +aid of a faithful Mohammedan orderly. Until, and, indeed, after +Colonel Wheler the Commandant arrived on the parade ground, the +mutineer marched up and down in front of the guard, flourishing his +musket and calling for his comrades to join him. The Colonel therefore +ordered the guard to advance and shoot the man down. The men made show +of obedience, but after a few steps they refused to go on, unless +accompanied by a British officer. On this, Colonel Wheler, considering +the risk needless with an unreliable guard already half-mutinous, rode +off to report his failure to the Brigadier, who had halted on the +further side of the parade ground. At this juncture (about 5.30 P. M.) +matters looked most serious. The 43d N. I. had turned out, and were +barely restrained from rushing their bells of arms by the entreaties +of their native officers. The 34th, beyond control altogether, were +watching the mutineer's unchecked defiance with growing sympathy. +Fortunately at this moment General Hearsey, commanding the Division, +rode up, followed by his two sons as _aides_. Hearing what had +occurred from the group of officers awaiting further developments, he +galloped over to the guard, ordered them to follow him, and made +straight for the mutineer; shouting back, "D----n his musket, sir!" to +an officer who warned him it was loaded. But seeing the man kneel to +take aim he called to his son, "If I fall, John, rush in and put him +to death somehow." The precaution was, providentially, unnecessary, +for the mutineer, seeing the remaining officers join in this resolute +advance, turned his musket on himself. He is not expected to live. +Adjutant Baugh, a most promising young officer, is, we regret to say, +dangerously wounded.'" + +"Treacherous black devils! I'd shoot 'em down like dogs--the lot of +them," said Major Erlton savagely. He had slipped from his horse and +now stood in the veranda overlooking the proof, his back to Jim +Douglas. Perhaps it was the closer sight of his enemy's face which +roused the latter's temper. Anyhow he broke into the conversation with +that nameless challenge in his voice which makes a third person +nervous. + +"It is a pity you were not at Barrackpore. They seem to have been in +need of a good pot-shot--even of an officer to be potted at--till +Hearsey came to the front." + +Captain Morecombe turned quickly to put up his sword as it were. "By +the way, Erlton," he said hastily, "I don't think you know Douglas, +though you tried to see him at Nujjufghur after he saved Mrs. Gissing +from that snake." + +But Jim Douglas' temper grew, partly at his own fatuity in risking the +now inevitable encounter; and he had a vile, uncontrollable temper +when he was in the wrong. + +"Major Erlton and I have met before," he interrupted, turning to go; +"but I doubt if he will recognize me. Possibly his horse may." + +He paused as he spoke before the Arab which stood waiting. It whinnied +instantly, stretching its head toward its old master. Major Erlton +muttered a startled exclamation, but regained his self-possession +instantly. "I beg your pardon--Mr.--er--Douglas, I think you said, +Morecombe; but I did not recognize you." + +The pause was aggressive to the last degree. + +"Under that name, you mean," finished Jim Douglas, white with anger +at being so obviously at a disadvantage. "The fact is, Captain +Morecombe, that as the late King of Oude's trainer I called myself +James Greyman. I sold that Arab to Major Erlton under that name, and +under--well--rather peculiar circumstances. I am quite ready to tell +them if Major Erlton thinks them likely to interest the general +public." + +His eyes met his enemy's, fiercely getting back now full measure of +sheer, wild, vicious temper. Everything else had gone to the winds, +and they would have been at each other's throats gladly; scarcely +remembering the cause of quarrel, and forgetting it utterly with the +first grip, as men will do to the end of time. + +Then the Major, being less secure of his ground since fighting was out +of the question, turned on his heel. "So far as I'm concerned," he +said, "the explanation is sufficient. Give the devil his due and every +man his chance." + +The innuendo was again unmistakable; but the words reminded Jim +Douglas of an almost-forgotten promise, and he bit his lips over the +necessity for silence. But in that--as he knew well--lay his only +refuge from his own temper; it was silence, or speech to the +uttermost. + +"If you have quite done with the proof, Captain Morecombe," he said +very ceremoniously. + +"Certainly, certainly. Thanks for letting me see it," interrupted the +Captain, who had been looking from one to the other doubtfully, as +most men do even when their dearest friends are implicated, if the +cause of a quarrel is a horse. "It is a serious business," he went on +hurriedly to help the diversion. "After all the talk and fuss, this +cutting down of an officer----" + +"Is first blood," put in Jim Douglas. "There will be more spilled +before long." + +"Disloyal scoundrels!" growled Major Erlton wrathfully. "Idiots! As if +they had a chance!" + +"They have none. That's the pity of it," retorted his adversary as he +rode off quickly. + +Ay! that was the pity of it! The pity of blood to be spilled +needlessly. The thought made him slacken speed, as if he were on the +threshold of a graveyard; though he could not foresee the blood to be +spilled so wantonly in that very garden-set angle of the city, so full +now of the scent of flowers, the sounds of security. From far came the +subdued hum which rises from a city in which there is no wheeled +traffic, no roar of machinery; only the feet of men, their tears, +their laughter, to assail the irresponsive air. Nearer, among the +scattered houses hidden by trees, rose children's voices playing about +the servants' quarters. Across the now empty playground of the College +the outlines of the church showed faintly among the fret of branches +upon the dull red sky, which a cloudless sunset leaves behind it. And +through the open arch of the Cashmere gate, the great globe of the +full moon grew slowly from the ruddy earth-haze, then loud and clear +came the chime of seven from the mainguard gong, the rattle of arms +dying into silence again. The peace of it all seemed unassailable, the +security unending. + +"_Delhi dur ust!_" + +The words were called across the road in a woman's voice, making him +turn to see a shadowy white figure outlined against the dark arches of +a veranda close upon the road. He reined up his horse almost +involuntarily, remembering as he did so that this was Mrs. Gissing's +house. + +"I beg your pardon----" he began. + +"I beg yours," came the instant reply. "I mistook you for a friend. +Good-night!" + +"Good-night!" + +As he paced his horse on, choosing the longer way to Duryagunj, by the +narrow lanes clinging to the city wall, the remembrance of that frank +good-night lingered with him. For a friend! What a name to call +Herbert Erlton! Poor little soul! The thought, by its very +intolerableness, drove him back to the other, roused by her first +words: + +"_Delhi dur ust_." + +True! Even this Delhi lying before his very eyes was far from him. How +would it take the news which by now, as he had said, must have +filtered through the bazaar? He could imagine that. He knew, also, +that the Palace folk must be all discussing the Resident's garden +party, with a view to their own special aims and objects. But what did +they think of the outlook on the future? Did they also say _Delhi dur +ust?_ + +One of them was saying it on a roof close by. It was Abool-Bukr, who, +on his way home, had given himself the promised pleasure of retailing +his virtuous afternoon's experiences to Newâsi; for his two-months-wed +bride had not broken _him_ of his habit of coming to his kind one, +though it had made _her_ graver, more dignified. Still she broke in on +his thick assertion--for he had drunk brandy in his efforts to be +friendly with the sahibs--that he had seen an Englishwoman of her +sort, with the quick query: + +"Like me! How so?" + +He laughed mischievously. "And thou art not jealous of my wife!--or +sayest thou art not! She was but like thee in this, aunt, that she is +of the sort who would have men better than God made them----" + +"No worse, thou meanest," she replied. + +He shook his head. "Women, Newâsi, are as the ague. A man is ever +being made better or worse till he knows not if he be well or ill. And +both ways God's work is marred, a man driven from his right fate----" + +"But if a man mistakes his fate as thou dost, Abool," she persisted. +"Sure, if Jewun Bukht with that evil woman, Zeenut----" + +He started to his feet, thrusting out lissome hands wildly, as if to +set aside some thought. "Have a care, Newâsi, have a care!" he cried. +"Talk not of that arch plotter, arch dreamer. Nay! not arch dreamer! +'tis thou that dreamest most. Dreamest war without blood, men without +passion, me without myself! Was there not blood on my hands ere ever I +was born--I, Abool-Bukr, of the race of Timoor--kings, tyrants, by +birth and trade? The blood of those who stood in my father's way and +my father's fathers. I tell thee there is too much tinder yonder----" +He pointed to where, across the flat chequers of moonlit roofs, inlaid +by the shadows of the intersecting alleys the cupolas of the Palace +gates rose upon the sky. "There is too much tinder here," he struck +his own breast fiercely, "for such fiery thoughts. Why canst not leave +me alone, woman?" + +She drew back coldly. "Do I ask thee to come thither? Thy wife----" + +He gave a half-maudlin laugh. "Nay, I mean not that! Sure thou art +very woman, Newâsi! That is why I love mine aunt! That is why I come +to see her--that----" + +She interrupted him hastily; but her eyes grew soft, her voice +trembled. + +"And I do but goad thee for thine own good, Abool. These are strange +times. Even the Mufti sahib----" + +"Ah! defend me from his wise saws. I know the ring of them too well as +'tis. Even that I endure--for mine aunt's sake. Though, by the faith, +if he and others of his kidney waylay me as they do much longer, I +will have a rope ladder to thy roof and scandalize them all. I can +stomach thy wisdom, dear; none else. So tell them that Abool-Bukr can +quote saws as well as they. Tell them he lives for Pleasure, and +Pleasure lives in the present. For the rest, _Delhi dur ust! Delhi +dur ust!_" + +His reckless, unrestrained voice rang out over the roofs, and into the +alley below where Jim Douglas was telling himself, that with his +finger on the very pulse of the city he had failed to count its heart +beats. + +He looked up quickly. "_Delhi dur ust!_" All the world seemed to be +saying it that night; though the first blood had been shed in the +quarrel. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE YELLOW FAKIR. + + +The days passed to weeks, the weeks to a month, after that shedding of +first blood, and no more was spilled, save that of the shedders. Two +of them were hanged, the regiment ordered to be disbanded. For the +rest, though causeless fires broke out in every cantonment, though a +Sikh orderly divulged to his master some tale of a concerted rising, +though the dread of the greased cartridge grew to a perfect panic, +even Jim Douglas, with his eyes wide open, was forced to admit that, +so far as any chance of action went, the reply might still be "_Delhi +dur ust_." The sky was dark indeed, there were mutterings on the +horizon; but he and others remembered how often in India, even when +rain is due, the clouds creep up and up day by day, darker and more +lowering, until the yellowing crops seem to grow greener in sheer hope +of the purple pall above them. And then some unseen hand juggles those +portentous rain-clouds into the daily darkness of night, and some dawn +rises clear and dry to show, in its fierce blaze of sunlight, how the +yellow has gained on the green. + +So, day by day, the impression grew among the elect that the storm +signals would pass; that the best policy was to tide over the next few +months somehow. In pursuance of which a sepoy who ventured to draw +attention to the state of feeling in one regiment was publicly told he +need expect no promotion. + +But there were dissentients to this policy, apparently. Anyhow, in the +end of April, Colonel Carmichael Smyth, commanding the 3d Bengal +Cavalry at Meerut, returned from leave one evening, and ordered +fifteen men from each troop to be picked out to learn the use of the +new cartridge next morning, and then went to bed comfortably. The men, +through their native officers, appealed to their captain for delay. +They were neither prepared to take nor refuse the cartridges, old or +new. No answer was given them. They marched to the parade obediently +at sunrise, and eighty-five of the ninety men picked from a picked +regiment for smartness and intelligence refused to take the +cartridges, even from their Colonel's or their Adjutant's hand. Their +own troop officers were not present. They were at once tried by a +court-martial of native officers, some of whom came from the regiments +at Delhi; but thirty odd miles off along a broad, level driving road. +They were sentenced to ten years' penal servitude, and a parade of all +troops was ordered for sunrise on the 9th of May, to put the sentence +into force. + +So the night of the 8th found Jim Douglas riding over from Delhi in +the cool to see something which, if anything could, ought to turn mere +talk into action. It had brought a new sound into the air already. The +clang of cold iron upon hot, rising from the regimental smithy, where +the fetters for the eighty-five were being forged. A cruel sound at +best, proclaiming the indubitable advantage of coolness and hardness +over glow and plasticity. Cruel indeed when the hardness and +insistency goes to the forging of fetters for emotion and ignorance. + +Clang! Clang! Clang! + +The sound rang out into the hot airless night, rang out into the gusty +dawn; for it takes time to forge eighty-five pairs of shackles. Rang +out to where a mixed guard of the 11th and 20th Regiments of Native +Infantry were waiting round the tumbrils for the last fetter. The gray +of dawn showed the rest piled on the tumbrils, showed two English +officers on horseback talking to each other a little way off, showed +the faces of the guard dark and lowering like the dawn itself. + +"_Loh!_ sergeant _jee!_ there is the last," said the master-armorer +cheerfully. His task was done, at any rate. + +Soma took it from him silently, and flung it on the others almost +fiercely; it settled among them with a clank. His regiment, the 11th, +had but newly come to Meerut, and therefore had as yet no ties of +personal comradeship with the eighty-five, but fetters for any sepoys +were enough to make the pulse beat full and heavy. + +"The last, thank Heaven!" said the Captain, giving his bridle rein a +jag. "All right forward, Jones! Then fall in, men. Quick march! We are +late enough as it is." + +The disciplined feet fell in without a waver; the tumbrils moved on +with a clank and a creak. + +Quick march! Soma's mind, fair reflection of the minds of all about +him, was full of doubt. Was that indeed the last fetter, or did Rumor +say sooth when it told of others being secretly forged? Who could say +in these days, when the Huzoors themselves had taken to telling lies. +Not his Huzoors as yet; his Colonels and Captains and Majors, even the +little sahib, who laughed over his own mistakes on parade, told the +truth still. But the others lied. Lied about enlistment, about +prize-money and leave, about those cartridges. At least, so the men in +the 20th said; the sergeant marching next to him behind the tumbril +most of all. + +"'Tis but three weeks longer, comrade," said this man suddenly in a +low whisper. They were treading the dim, deserted outskirts of the +cantonment bazaar, and Soma looked round nervously at the officers +behind. Had they heard? He frowned at the speaker and made no reply. +He gave a deaf ear, when he could, to the talk in the 20th; but that +was not always, for its sepoys were a part of the Bengal army. That +army which was not--as a European army is--a mere chance collection of +men divided from each other in the beginning and end of life, +associated loosely with each other in its middle, and using military +service as a make-shift; but, to a great extent, a guild, following +the profession of arms by hereditary custom from the cradle to the +grave. + +Quick march! A woman, early astir, peered at the little procession +through the chink of a door, and whispered to an unseen companion +behind. What was she saying? What, by implication, would other women, +who peeped virtuously--women he knew--say of his present occupation? +That he was a coward to be guarding his comrades' fetters? No doubt; +since others with less right would say it too. All the miserable, +disreputable riff-raff, for instance, which had drifted in from the +neighborhood to see the show. The bazaar had been full of it these +three days past. Even the sweepers, pariahs, out-castes, would snigger +over the misfortunes of their betters--as those two ahead were +doubtless sniggering already as they drew aside from their slave's +work of sweeping the roadway, to let the tumbrils pass. Drew aside +with mock deference, leaving scantiest room for the twice-born +following them. So scant, indeed, that the outermost tip of a reed +broom, flourished in insolent salaam, touched the Rajput's sleeve. It +was the veriest brush, no more than a fly's wing could have given; but +the half-stifled cry from Soma's lips meant murder--nothing less. His +disciplined feet wavered, he gave a furtive glance at his companions. +Had they seen the insult? Could they use it against him? + +"Eyes front, there; forward!" came the order from behind, and he +pulled himself together by instinct and went on. + +"Only three weeks longer, brother!" said that voice beside him +meaningly; and a dull rage rose in Soma's heart. So it had been seen. +It might be said of him, Soma, that he had tamely submitted to a +defiling touch. He did not look round at his officers this time. They +might hear if they chose, the future might hold what it chose. Mayhap +they had seen the insult and were laughing at it. They were not his +Huzoors; they belonged to the man at his side, who had the right to +taunt him. As a matter of fact, they were discussing the chances of +their ponies in next week's races; but Soma, lost in a great wrath, a +great fear, made it, inevitably, the topic of the whole world. + +Hark! The bugle for the Rifles to form; they were to come to the +parade loaded with ball cartridge. And that rumble was the Artillery, +loaded also, going to take up their position. By and by the +Carabineers would sweep with a clatter and a dash to form the third +side of the hollow square, whereof the fourth was to be a mass of +helpless dark faces, with the eighty-five martyrs and tumbrils in the +middle. Soma had seen it all in general orders, talked it over with +his dearest friend, and called it tyranny. And now the tumbrils +clanked past a little heap of smoldering ashes, that but the day +before had been a guard-house. The lingering smoke from this last work +of the incendiary drifted northward, after the fetters, making one of +the officers cough. But he went on talking of his ponies. True type of +the race which lives to make mistakes, dies to retrieve them. Quick +march! + +Streams of spectators bound for the show began to overtake them, ready +with comments on what Soma guarded. And on the broad white Mall, +dividing the native half of the cantonments and the town of Meerut +from the European portion, more than one carriage with a listless, +white-faced woman in it dashed by, on its way to see the show. The +show! + +Quick march! Whatever else might be possible in the futures that was +all now, midway between the barracks of the Rifles and the +Carabineers, with the church--mute symbol of the horror which, day by +day, month by month, had been closing in round the people--blocking +the way in front. So they passed on to the wide northern parade +ground, with that hollow square ready; three sides of it threatening +weapons, the fourth of unarmed men, and in the center the eighty-five +picked men of a picked regiment. + +The knot of European spectators round the flag listened with yawns to +the stout General's exordium. The eighty-five being hopelessly, +helplessly in the wrong by military law, there seemed to be no need to +insist on the fact. And the mass of dark faces standing within range +of loaded guns and rifles, within reach of glistening sabers, did not +listen at all. Not that it mattered, since the units in that crowd had +lost the power of accepting facts. Even Soma, standing to attention +beside the tumbrils, only felt a great sense of outrage, of wrong, of +injustice somewhere. And there was one Englishman, at least, rigid to +attention also before his disarmed, dismounted, yet loyal troop, who +must have felt it also, unless he was more than human. And this was +Captain Craigie, who, when his men appealed to him to save them, to +delay this unnecessary musketry parade, had written in his haste to +the Adjutant, "Go to Smyth at once! Go to Smyth!" and Smyth was his +Colonel! Incredible lack of official etiquette. Repeated hardily, +moreover. "Pray don't lose a moment, but go to Smyth and tell him." +What? Only "that this is a most serious matter, and we may have the +whole regiment in open mutiny in half an hour if it is not attended +to." Only that! So it is to be hoped that Captain Craigie had the +official wigging for his unconventional appeal in his pocket as he +shared his regiment's disgrace, to serve him as a warning--or a +consolation. + +And now the pompous monotone being ended, the silence, coming after +the clankings, and buglings, and trampings which had been going on +since dawn, was almost oppressive. The three sides of steel, even the +fourth of faces, however, showed no sign. They stood as stone while +the eighty-five were stripped of their uniforms. But there was more to +come. By the General's orders the leg-irons were to be riveted on one +by one; and so, once more, the sound of iron upon iron recurred +monotonously, making the silence of the intervals still more +oppressive. For the prisoners at first seemed stunned by the isolation +from even their as yet unfettered comrades. But suddenly from a single +throat came that cry for justice, which has a claim to a hearing, at +least, in the estimation of the people of India. + +"_Dohai! Dohai! Dohai!_" + +Soma gave a sort of sigh, and a faint quiver of expectation passed +over the sea of dark faces. + +Clang! Clang! The hammers, going on unchecked, were the only answer. +Those three sides of stone had come to see a thing done, and it must +be done; the sooner the better. But the riveting of eighty-five pairs +of leg-irons is not to be done in a moment; so the cry grew clamorous. +Dohai! Dohai! Had they not fought faithfully in the past? Had they not +been deceived? Had they had a fair chance? + +But the hammers went on as the sun climbed out of the dust-haze to +gleam on the sloped sabers, glint on the loaded guns, and send +glittering streaks of light along the rifles. + +So the cry changed. Were their comrades cowards to stand by and see +this tyranny and raise no finger of help? Oh! curses on them! 'Tis +they who were degraded, dishonored. Curses on the Colonel who had +forced them to this! Curses on every white face!--curses on every face +which stood by! + +One, close to the General's flag, broke suddenly into passionate +resentment. Jim Douglas drew out his watch, looked at it, and gathered +his reins together. "An hour and forty-five minutes already. I'm off, +Ridgeway. I can't stand this d----d folly any more." + +"My dear fellow, speak lower! If the General----" + +"I don't care who hears me," retorted Jim Douglas recklessly as he +steered through the crowd, followed by his friend, "I say it is d----d +inconceivable folly and tyranny. Come on, and let's have a gallop, for +God's sake, and get rid of that devilish sound." + +The echo of their horses' resounding hoofs covered, obliterated it. +The wind of their own swiftness seemed to blow the tension away. So +after a spin due north for a mile or two they paused at the edge +of a field where the oxen were circling placidly round on the +threshing-floors and a group of women were taking advantage of the +gustiness to winnow. Their bare, brown arms glistened above the +falling showers of golden grain, their unabashed smiling faces showed +against the clouds of golden chaff drifting behind them. + +Jim Douglas looked at them for a moment, returned the salaam of the +men driving the oxen and forking the straw, then turned his horse +toward the cantonment again. + +"It is nothing to them; that's one comfort," he said. "But they will +have to suffer for it in the end, I expect. Who will believe when the +time comes that this"--he gave a backward wave of his hand--"went on +unwittingly of that?" + +His companion, following his look ahead, to where, in the far +distance, a faint cloud of dust, telling of many feet, hung on the +horizon, said suddenly, as if the sight brought remembrance: "By +George! Douglas, how steady the sepoys stood! I half expected a row." + +"Steadier than I should," remarked the other grimly. "Well, I hope +Smyth is satisfied. To return from leave and drive your regiment into +mutiny in twelve hours is a record performance." + +His hearer, who was a civilian, gave a deprecating cough. "That's a +bit hard, surely. I happen to know that he heard while on leave some +story about a concerted rising later on. He may have done it +purposely, to force their hands." + +Jim Douglas shrugged his shoulders. "Did he warn you what he was about +to do? Did he allow time to prepare others for his private mutiny? My +dear Ridgeway, it was put on official record two months ago that an +organized scheme for resistance existed in every regiment between +Calcutta and Peshawur; so Smyth might at least have consulted the +colonels of the other two regiments at Meerut. As it is, the business +has strained the loyalty of the most loyal to the uttermost; and we +deserve to suffer, we do indeed." + +"You don't mince matters, certainly," said the civilian dryly. + +"Why should anybody mince them? Why can't we admit boldly--the +C.-in-C. did it on the sly the other day--that the cartridges are +suspicious? that they leave the muzzle covered with a fat, like +tallow? Why don't we admit it was tallow at first. Why not, at any +rate, admit we are in a hole, instead of refusing to take the common +precaution of having an ammunition wagon loaded up for fear it should +be misconstrued into alarm? Is there no medium between bribing +children with lollipops and torturing them--keeping them on the +strain, under fire, as it were, for hours, watching their best friends +punished unjustly?" + +"Unjustly?" + +"Yes. To their minds unjustly. And you know what forcible injustice +means to children--and these are really children--simple, ignorant, +obstinate." + +They had come back to cantonments again and were rapidly overtaking +the now empty tumbrils going home, for the parade was over. Further +down the road, raising a cloud of dust from their shackled feet, the +eighty-five were being marched jailward under a native escort. + +"Well," said the civilian dryly, "I would give a great deal to know +what those simple babes really thought of us." + +"Hate us stock and block for the time. I should," replied Jim Douglas. +They were passing the tumbrils at the moment, and one of the guard, in +sergeant's uniform, looked up in joyful recognition. + +"Huzoor It is I, Soma." + +The civilian looked at his companion oddly when, after a minute or two +spent in answering Soma's inquiries as to where and how the master was +to be found, Jim Douglas rode alongside once more. + +"Out a bit, eh?" he said dryly. + +"Very much out; but they are a queer lot. Do you remember the story of +the self-made American who was told his boast relieved the Almighty of +a great responsibility? Well, he is only responsible for one-half of +the twice-born. The other is due to humanity, to heredity, what you +will! That is what makes these high-caste men so difficult to deal +with. They are twice born. Yes! they are a queer lot." + +He repeated the remark with even greater fervor twelve hours later, +when, about midnight, he started on his return ride to Delhi. For +though he had spent the whole day in listening, he had scarcely heard +a word of blame for the scene which had roused him to wrath that +morning. The sepoys had gone about their duties as if nothing had +happened; and despite the undoubted presence of a lot of loose +characters in the bazaar, there had been no disturbance. He laughed +cynically to himself at the waste of a day which would have been +better spent in horse dealing. This, however, settled it. If this +intolerable tyranny failed to rouse action there could be no immediate +danger ahead. To a big cantonment like Meerut, the biggest in Northern +India, with two thousand British troops in it, even the prospect of a +rising was not serious; at Delhi, however, where there were only +native troops, it might have been different. But now he felt that a +handful of resolute men ought to be able to hold their own anywhere +against such aimless invertebrate discontent. He felt a vague +disappointment that it should be so, that the pleasant cool of night +should be so quiet, so peaceful. They were a poor lot who could do +nothing but talk! + +As he rode through the station the mess-houses were still alight, and +the gay voices of the guests who had been dining at a large bungalow, +bowered in gardens, reached his ears distinctly. + +"It's the Sabbath already," said one. "Ought to be in our beds!" + +"Hooray! for a Europe morning," came a more boyish one breaking into a +carol, "of all the days within the week I dearly love----" + +"Shut up, Fitz!" put in a third, "you'll wake the General!" + +"What's the odds? He can sleep all day. I'm sure his buggy charger +needs a rest." + +"Do shut up, Fitz! The Colonel will hear you." + +"I don't care. It's Scriptural. Thou and thy ox and thy ass----" + +"You promised to come to evening church, Mr. Fitzgerald," interrupted +a reproachful feminine voice; "you said you would sing in the choir." + +"Did I? Then I'll come. It will wake me up for dinner; besides, I +shall sit next you." + +The last words came nearer, softer. Mr. Fitzgerald was evidently +riding home beside someone's carriage. + +Pleasant and peaceful indeed! that clank of a sentry, here and there, +only giving a greater sense of security. Not that it was needed, for +here, beyond cantonments, the houses of the clerks and civilians lay +as peaceful, as secure. In the veranda of one of them, close to the +road, a bearer was walking up and down crooning a patient lullaby to +the restless fair-haired child in his arms. + +No! truly there could be no fear. It was all talk! He set spurs to his +horse and went on through the silent night at a hand-gallop, for he +had another beast awaiting him halfway, and he wished to be in Delhi +by dawn. There was a row of tall trees bordering the road on either +side, making it dark, and through their swiftly passing boles the +level country stretched to the paler horizon like a sea. And as he +rode, he sat in judgment in his thoughts on those dead levels and the +people who lived in them. + +Stagnant, featureless! A dead sea! A mere waste of waters without form +or void! Not even ready for a spirit to move over them; for if that +morning's work left them apathetic, the Moulvie of Fyzabad himself +need preach no voice of God. For _this_, surely--this sense of +injustice to others, must be the strongest motive, the surest word +to conjure with. That dull dead beat of iron upon the fetters of +others,--which he still seemed to hear,--the surest call to battle. + +He paused in his thought, wondering if what he fancied he heard was +but an echo from memory or real sound! Real; undoubtedly. It was the +distant clang of the iron bells upon oxen. That meant that he must be +seven or eight miles out, halfway to the next stage, so meeting the +usual stream of night traffic toward Meerut. He passed two or three +strings of large, looming, half-seen wains without drawing bridle, +then pulled up almost involuntarily to a trot at the curiously even +tread of a drove of iron-shod oxen, and a low chanted song from behind +it. Bunjârah folk! The rough voice, the familiar rhythm of the hoofs, +reminded him of many a pleasant night-march in their company. + +"A good journey, brothers!" he called in the dialect. The answer came +unerringly, dark though it was. + +"The Lord keep the Huzoor safe!" + +It made him smile as he remembered that of course a lone man trotting +a horse along a highroad at night was bound to be alien in a country +where horses are ambled and travelers go in twos and threes. So the +rough, broad faces would be smiling over the surprise of a sahib +knowing the Bunjârah talk; unless, indeed, it happened to be---- The +possibility of its being the _tanda_ he knew had not occurred to him +before. He pulled up and looked round. A breathless shadow was at his +stirrup, and he fancied he saw a shadow or two further behind. + +"The Huzoor has mistaken the road," came Tiddu's familiar creak. +"Meerut lies to the north." + +Breathless as he was, there was the pompous mystery in his voice which +always prefaced an attempt to extort money. And Jim Douglas, having no +further use for the old scoundrel, did not intend to give him any, so +he simulated an utter lack of surprise. + +"Hello, Tiddu!" he said. "I had an idea it might be you. So you +recognized my voice?" + +The old man laughed. "The Huzoor is mighty clever. He knows old Tiddu +has eyes. They saw the Huzoor's horse--a bay Wazeerie with a white +star none too small, and all the luck-marks--waiting at the fifteenth +milestone, by Begum-a-bad. But the Huzoor, being so clever, is not +going to ride the Wazeerie to-night. He is going to ride the Belooch +he is on back to Meerut, though the star on her forehead is too small +for safety; my thumb could cover it." + +"It's a bit too late to teach me the luck-marks, Tiddu," said Jim +Douglas coolly. "You want money, you ruffian; so I suppose you have +something to sell. What is it? If it is worth anything, you can trust +me to pay, surely." + +Tiddu looked round furtively. The other shadow, Jhungi or Bhungi, or +both, perhaps--the memory made Jim Douglas smile--had melted away into +the darkness. He and Tiddu were alone. The old man, even so, reached +up to whisper. + +"'Tis the yellow fakir, Huzoor! He has come." + +"The yellow fakir!" echoed his hearer; "who the devil is he? And why +shouldn't he come, if he likes?" + +Tiddu paused, as if in sheer amaze, for a second. "The Huzoor has not +heard of the yellow fakir? The dumb fakir who brings the speech that +brings more than speech. _Wâh!_" + +"Speech that is more than speech," echoed Jim Douglas angrily, then +paused in his turn; the phrase reminded him, vaguely, of his past +thoughts. + +Tiddu's hand went out to the Belooch's rein; his voice lost its creak +and took a soft sing-song to which the mare seemed to come round of +her own accord. + +"Yea! Speech that is more than speech, though he is dumb. Whence he +comes none know, not even I, the Many-Faced. But I can see him when he +comes, Huzoor! The others, not unless he wills to be seen. I saw him +to-night. He passed me on a white horse not half an hour agone, going +Meerutward. Did not the Huzoor see him? That is because he has learned +from old Tiddu to make others see, but not to see himself. But the +old man will teach him this also if he is in Meerut by dawn. If he is +there by dawn he will see the yellow fakir who brings the speech that +brings more than speech." + +The sing-song ceased; the Belooch was stepping briskly back toward +Meerut. + +"You infernal old humbug!" began Jim Douglas. + +"The Huzoor does not believe, of course," remarked Tiddu, in the most +matter-of-fact creak. "But Meerut is only eight miles off. His other +horse can wait; and if he does not see the yellow fakir there is no +need to open the purse-strings." + +The Englishman looked at his half-seen companion admiringly. He was +the most consummate scoundrel! His blending of mystery and purely +commercial commonplace was perfect--almost irresistible. There was no +reason why he should go on; the groom, halfway, had his usual orders +to stay till his master came. For the rest, it would be pleasant to +renew the old pleasant memory--pleasant even to renew his acquaintance +with Tiddu's guile, which struck him afresh each time he came across +it. + +He slipped from his horse without a word, and was about to pull the +reins over her head so as to lead her, when Tiddu stopped short. + +"Jhungi will take her to the rest-house, Huzoor, or Bhungi. It will be +safer so. I have a clean cotton quilt in the bundle, and the Huzoor +can have my shoes and rub his legs in the dust. That will do till +dawn." + +He gave a jackal's cry, which was echoed from the darkness. + +"Leave her so, Huzoor! She is safe," said Tiddu; and Jim Douglas, as +he obeyed, heard the mare whinny softly, as if to a foal, as a shadow +came out of the bushes. Junghi or Bhungi, no doubt. + +Five minutes after, with a certain unaccountable pleasure, he found +himself walking beside a laden bullock, one arm resting on its broad +back, his feet keeping step with the remittent clang of its bell. A +strange dreamy companionship, as he knew of old. And once more the +stars seemed, after a time, to twinkle in unison with the bell, he +seemed to forget thought, to forget everything save the peaceful +stillness around, and his own unresting peace. + +So, he and the laden beast went on as one living, breathing mortal, +till the little shiver of wind came, which comes with the first paling +of the sky. It was one of those yellow dawns, serene, cloudless, save +for a puff or two of thin gray vapor low down on the horizon, looking +as if it were smoke from an unseen censer swinging before the chariot +of the Sun which heads the procession of the hours. He was so absorbed +in watching the yellow light grow to those clouds no bigger than a +man's hand; so lost in the strange companionship with the laden beast +bound to the wheel of Life and Death as he was, yet asking no question +of the future, that Tiddu's hand and voice startled him. + +"Huzoor!" he said. "The yellow fakir!" + +They were close on the city of Meerut. The road, dipping down to cross +a depression, left a bank of yellow dust on either side. And on the +eastern one, outlined against the yellow sunrise, sat a motionless +figure. It was naked, and painted from head to foot a bright yellow +color. The closed eyes were daubed over so as to hide them utterly, +and on the forehead, as it is in the image of Siva, was painted +perpendicularly a gigantic eye, wide, set, stony. Before it in the +dust lay the beggar's bowl for alms. + +"The roads part here, Huzoor," said Tiddu. "This to the city; that to +the cantonments." + +As he spoke, a handsome young fellow came swaggering down the latter, +on his way evidently to riotous living in the bazaar. Suddenly he +paused, his hand went up to his eyes as if the rising sun were in +them. Then he stepped across the road and dropped a coin into the +beggar's bowl. Tiddu nodded his head gravely. + +"That man is wanted, Huzoor. That is why he saw. Mayhap he is to give +the word." + +"The word?" echoed Jim Douglas. "You said he was dumb?" + +"I meant the trooper, Huzoor. The fakir wanted him. To give the word, +mayhap. Someone must always give it." + +Jim Douglas felt an odd thrill. He had never thought of that before. +Someone, of course, must always give the word, the speech which +brought more than speech. What would it be? Something soul-stirring, +no doubt; for Humanity had a theory that an angel must trouble the +waters and so give it a righteous cause for stepping in to heal the +evil. + +But what a strange knack the old man had of stirring the imagination +with ridiculous mystery! He felt vexed with himself for his own +thrill, his own thoughts. "He is a very ordinary _yogi_, I should +say," he remarked, looking toward the yellow sunrise, but the figure +was gone. He turned to Tiddu again, with real annoyance. "Well! +Whoever he is, he cannot want me. And I certainly saw him." + +"I willed the Huzoor to see!" replied Tiddu with calm effrontery. + +Jim Douglas laughed. The man was certainly a consummate liar; there +was never any possibility of catching him out. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE WORD WENT FORTH. + + +The Procession of the Hours had a weary march of it between the yellow +sunrise and the yellow sunset of the 10th of May, 1857; for the +heavens were as brass, the air one flame of white heat. The mud huts +of the sepoy lines at Meerut looked and felt like bricks baking in a +kiln; yet the torpor which the remorseless glare of noon brings even +to native humanity was exchanged for a strange restlessness. The doors +stood open for the most part, and men wandered in and out aimlessly, +like swarming bees before the queen appears. In the bazaar, in the +city too, crowds drifted hither and thither, thirstily, as if it were +not the fast month of Rumzân, when the Mohammedans are denied the +solace of even a drop of water till sundown. Drifted hither and +thither, pausing to gather closer at a hint of novelty, melting away +again, restless as ever. + +Mayhap it was but the inevitable reaction after the stun and +stupefaction of Saturday, the sudden awakening to the result--namely, +that eighty-five of the best, smartest soldiers in Meerut had been set +to toil for ten years in shackles because they refused to be defiled, +to become apostate. On the other hand, the old Baharupa may have been +right about the yellow fakir: the silent, motionless figure might have +set folk listening and waiting for the word. It was to be seen by all +now sitting outside the city; at least Jim Douglas saw it several +times. Saw, also, that the beggar's bowl was fuller and fuller; but +the impossibility of asserting that all the passers-by saw it, as he +did, haunted him, once the idea presented itself to his mind. It was +always so with Tiddu's mysteries; they were no more susceptible to +disproof than they were to proof. You could waste time, of course, in +this case by waiting and watching, but in the natural course of events +half the passers-by would go on as if they saw nothing, and only one +in a hundred or so would give an alms. So what would be the good? + +No one else, however, among the masters troubled himself to find a +cause for the restlessness; no one even knew of it. To begin with, it +was a Sunday, so that even the bond of a common labor was slackened +between the dark faces and the light. Then a mile or more of waste +deserted land and dry watercourse lay on either side of the broad +white road which split the cantonment into halves. So that the North +knew nothing of what was going on in the South, and while men were +swarming like bees in the sun on one side, on the other they were shut +up in barracks and bungalows gasping with the heat, longing for the +sun to set, and thanking their stars when the chaplain's memo came +round to say that the evening service had been postponed for half an +hour to allow the seething, glowing air to cool a little. + +It was not the heat, however, which prevented Major Erlton from taking +his usual _siesta_. It was thought. He had come over from Delhi on +inspection duty a few days before and had intended returning that +evening; but the morning's post had brought him a letter which upset +all his plans. Alice Gissing's husband had come out a fortnight +earlier than they had expected, and was already on his way up-country. +The crisis had come, the decision must be made. It was not any +hesitation, however, which sent the heavy handsome face to rest in the +big strong hands as he rested his elbows on a sheet of blank paper. He +had made up his mind on the very day when Alice Gissing had first told +him why she could not go back to her husband. The letter forwarding +his papers for resignation was already sealed on the table beside him; +and the surprise was rather a gain than otherwise. Alice could join +him at Meerut now, and they could slip away together to Cashmere or +any out of the way place where there was shooting. That would save a +lot of fuss; and the fear of fuss was the only one which troubled the +Major, personally. He hated to know that even his friends would +wonder--for the matter of that those who knew him best would wonder +most--why he was chucking everything for a woman he had been mixed up +with for years. Yet he had found no difficulty in writing that +official request; none in telling little Allie to join him as soon as +she could. It was this third letter which could not be written. He +took up the pen more than once, only to lay it down again. He began, +"My dear Kate," once, only to tear the sheet to pieces. How could he +call her his when he was going to tell her that she was his no longer; +that the best thing she could do was to divorce him and marry some +other chap to be a father to the boy. + +The thought sent the head into the hands again; for Herbert Erlton was +a healthy animal and loved his offspring by instinct. He had, in +truth, a queer upside-down notion of his responsibilities toward them. +If the fates had permitted it he would have done his best by Freddy. +Shown him the ropes, given him useful tips, stood by his inexperience, +paid his reasonable debts--always supposing he had the wherewithal. + +Then how was he to tell Kate all the ugly story. He had left her in +his thoughts so completely, she had been so far apart from him for so +many years now, that he hesitated over telling her the bare facts, +just as--being conventionally a perfectly well-bred man--he would have +hesitated how to tell them to any innocent woman of his acquaintance. +Rather more so, for Kate--though she was sentimental enough, he told +himself, for two--had never been sensible and looked things in the +face. If she had, it might all have been different. Then with a rush +came the remembrance that Allie did--that she knew him every inch and +was yet willing to come with him. While he? He would stick through +thick and thin to little Allie, who never made a man feel a fool or a +beast. Something in the last assertion seemed to harden his heart; he +took up his pen and began to write: + + +"My Dear Kate: I call you that because I can't think of any other +beginning that doesn't seem foolish; but it means nothing, and I only +want to tell you that circumstances over which we had no control (he +felt rather proud of this circumlocution for a circumstance due +entirely to his volition) make it necessary for me to leave you. It is +the only course open to me as a gentleman. Besides I want to, for I +love Alice Gissing dearly. I am going to marry her, D. V., as soon as +I can. Mr. Gissing may make a fuss--it is a criminal offense, you see, +in India--but we shall tide over that. Of course you could prevent me +too, but you are not that sort. So I have sent in my papers. It is a +pity, in a way, because I liked this work. But it is only a two-year +appointment, and I should hate the regiment after it. For the rest, I +am not such a fool as to think you will mind; except for the boy. It +is a pity for him too, but it isn't as if he were a girl, and the +other may be. It will do no good to say I'm sorry. Besides, I don't +think it is all my fault, and I know you will be happier without me. + + "Yours sincerely, + + "Herbert Erlton. + +"P. S.--It's no use crying over spilled milk. I believe you used to +think I would get the regiment some day, but they would never have +given it to me. I made a bit of a spurt lately, but it couldn't have +lasted to the finish, and after all, that is the win or the lose in a +race. + + "H. E." + + +The postscript was added after rereading the rest with an +uncomfortable remembrance that it was the last letter he meant to +write to her. Then he threw it ready for the post beside the others, +and lay down feeling that he had done his duty. And as he dozed off +his own simile haunted him. From start to finish! How few men rode +straight all the way; and the poor beggars who came to grief over the +last fence weren't so far behind those who came in for the clapping. +It was the finish that did it; that was the win or the lose. But he +would run straight with little Allie--straight as a die! So he lost +consciousness in a glow of virtuous content with the future, and +joined the whole of the northern half of Meerut in their noontide +slumbers; for the future outlook, if not exactly satisfying, was not +sufficiently dubious to keep it awake. + +But in the southern half, humanity was still swarming in and out, +waiting, listening. In one of the mud-huts, however, a company of men +gathered within closed doors had been listening to some purpose. +Listening to an eloquent speaker, the accredited agent of a +down-country organization. He had arrived in Meerut a day or two +before, and had held one meeting after another in the lines, doing his +utmost to prevent any premature action; for the fiat of the leaders +was that there should be patience till the 31st of May. Then, not +until then, a combined blow for India, for God, for themselves, might +be struck with chance of success. + +"Ameen!" assented one old man who had come with him. An old man in a +huge faded green turban with dyed red hair and beard, and with a huge +green waistband holding a curved scimitar. Briefly, a Ghâzee or +Mohammedan fanatic. "Patience, all ye faithful, till Sunday, the 31st +of May. Then, while the hell-doomed infidels are at their evening +prayer, defenseless, fall on them and slay. God will show the right! +This is the Moulvie's word, sent by me his servant. Give the Great +Cry, brothers, in the House of the Thief! Smite ye of Meerut, and we +of Lucknow will smite also." His wild uncontrolled voice rolled on in +broad Arabic vowels from one text to another. + +"And we of Delhi will smite also," interrupted the wearer of a rakish +Moghul cap impatiently. "We will smite for the Queen." + +"The Queen?" echoed an older man in the same dress. "What hath the +Sheeah woman to do with the race of Timoor?" + +"Peace! peace! brothers," put in the agent with authority. "These +times are not for petty squabbles. Let who be the heir, the King must +reign." + +A murmur of assent rose; but it was broken in upon by a dissentient +voice from a group of troopers at the door. + +"Then our comrades are to rot in jail till the 31st? That suits not +the men of the 3d Cavalry." + +"Then let the 3d Cavalry suit itself," retorted the agent fearlessly. +"We can stand without them. Can they stand without us? Answer me, men +of the 20th; men of the 11th." + +"There be not many of us here," muttered a voice from a dark corner; +"and maybe we could hold our own against the lot of you." It was +Soma's, and the man beside him frowned. But the agent who knew every +petty jealousy, every private quarrel of regiment with regiment, went +on remorselessly. "Let the 3d swagger if it choose. The Rajpoots and +Brahmins know how to obey the stars. The 31st is the auspicious day. +That is the word. The word of the King, of the Brahmins, of India, of +God!" + +"The 31st! Then slay and spare not! It is _jehad! Deen! Deen! Futteh +Mohammed!_" said the Ghâzee. + +The cry, though a mere whisper, electrified the Mohammedans, and an +older man in the group of dissentients at the door muttered that he +could hold his troop--if others who had risen to favor quicker than +he--could hold theirs. + +"I'll hold mine, Khân sahib, without thine aid," retorted a very young +smart-looking native officer angrily. "That is if the women will hold +their tongues. But, look you, my troop held the hardest hitters in the +3d. And Nargeeza's fancy is of those in jail. Now Nargeeza leads all +the other town-women by the nose; and that means much to men who be +not all saints like Ghâzee-_jee_ yonder, who ties the two ends of life +with a ragged green turban and a bloody banner!" + +"And I see not why our comrades should stay yonder for three weeks, +when there is but a native guard to hold them, and I and mine have +made the _Sirkar_ what it is," put in a man with arrogance and +insolence written on him from top to toe; a true type of the pampered +Brahmin sepoy. + +"Rescue them if thou wilt, Havildar-_jee_," sneered the agent. "But +the man who risks our plot will be held traitor by the Council. And +the men of the 11th," he added sharply, turning to the corner whence +Soma's voice had come, "may remember that also. They have had the +audacity to stipulate for their Colonel's life." + +"For our officers lives, _baboo-jee_," came the voice again, bold as +the agent's. "We of the 11th kill not men who have led us to victory. +And if this be not understood I, Soma, Yadubansi, go straight to the +Colonel and tell him. We are not butchers in the 11th: Oh, priest of +Kâli!" + +The agent turned a little pale. He did not care to have his calling +known, and he saw at a glance that his challenger had the reckless +fire of hemp in his eyes. He had indeed been drinking as a refuge from +the memory of the sweeper's broom and from the taunts and threats +which had been used to force him to join the malcontents. Such a man +was not safe to quarrel with, nor was the audience fit for a +discussion of that topic; there was already a stir in it, and +mutterings that butchery was one thing, fighting another. + +"Pay thy Colonel's journey home if thou likest, Rajpoot-_jee_," he +said with a sneer. "Ay! and give him pension, too! All we want is to +get rid of them. And there will be plenty of loot left when the +pension is paid, for it is to be each man for himself when the time +comes. Not share and share alike with every coward who will not risk +his life in looting, as it is with the _Sirkar_." + +It was a deft red-herring to these born mercenaries, and no more was +said. But as the meeting dispersed by twos and threes to avoid notice, +the agent stood at the door giving the word in a final whisper: + +"Patience till the 31st." + +"Willst take a seat in our carriage, Ghâzee-_jee_," said a fat native +officer as he passed out. "'Tis at thy service since thou goest to +Delhi and we must return to-night. God knows we have done enough to +damn us at Meerut over this court-martial! But what would you? If we +had not given the verdict for the Huzoors there would have been more +of us in jail. So we bide our time like the rest. And to-morrow there +is the parade to hear the sentence on the martyrs at Barrackpore. Do +the sahibs think us cowards that they drive us so? God smite their +souls to hell!" + +"He will, brother, he will. The Cry shall yet be heard in the House of +the Thief," said the Ghâzee fiercely, his eyes growing dreamy with +hope. He was thinking of a sunset near the Goomtee more than a year +ago, when he had bid every penny he possessed for his own, in vain. + +"Well, come if thou likest," continued the native officer. "That camel +of thine yonder is lame, and we have room. 'Twas Erlton sahib's dâk by +rights, but he goes not; so we got it cheap instead of an _ekka_." + +"Erlton sahib's!" echoed the fanatic, clutching at his sword. "Ay! +Ay!" he went on half to himself. "I knew he was at Delhi, and +the mem who laughed, and the other mem who would not listen. Nay! +Soubadar-_jee!_ I travel in no carriage of Erlton sahib's. My camel +will serve me." + +"'Tis the vehicle of saints," sneered the owner of the rakish Moghul +cap. "Verily, when I saw thee mounted on it, Ghâzee-_jee_, I deemed +thee the Lord Ali." + +"Peace! scoffer," interrupted the fanatic, "lest I mistake thee for an +infidel." + +The Moghul ducked hastily from a wild swing of the curved sword, and +moved off swearing such firebrands should be locked up; they might set +light to the train ere wise men had it ready. + +"No fear!" said the smart young troop-sergeant of the 3d. "Who listens +to such as he save those whose blood has cooled, and those whose blood +was never hot? The fighters listen to women who can make their flame." + +Soma, who was drifting with them toward the drug-shops of the city, +scowled fiercely. "That may suit thee, Mussulman-_jee_, who art +casteless, and can sup shares with sweeper women in the bazaar; but +the Rajpoot needs no harlot to teach him courage. The mothers of his +race have enough and to spare." + +"_Loh!_ hark to him!" jibed the corporal of the 20th, who was sticking +to his prey like a leech. "Ask him, Havildar-_jee_, if he prefers a +sweeper's broom to a sweeper's lips." + +There was a roar of laughter from the group. + +Soma gave a beast-like cry, looked as though he were about to spring, +then--recognizing his own helplessness--flung himself away from all +companionship and walked home moodily. They had driven him too far; he +would not stand it. If that tale was spread abroad, he would side with +the Huzoors who did not believe such things--with the Colonel who +understood, like the Colonel before him who had gone home on pension; +for the 11th had a cult of their officers. And these fools, his +countrymen, thought to make him a butcher by threats; sought to make +him take revenge for what deserved revenge. For it was the _Sirkar's_ +fault--it was the _Sirkar's_ fault. + +In truth a strange conflict was going on in this man's mind, as it was +in many another such as his, between inherited traditions, making +alike for loyalty and disloyalty. There was the knowledge of his +forbears' pride in their victories, in their sahibs who had led them +to victory, and the knowledge of their pride in the veriest jot or +tittle of ceremonial law. A dull, painful amaze filled him that these +two broad facts should be in conflict; that those, whom in a way he +felt to be part of his life, should be in league against him. All the +more reason, that, for showing them who were the better men; for +standing up fairly to a fair fight. By all the delights of Swargal he +would like to stand up fair, even to the master--the man who, in his +presence, had shot three tigers on foot in half an hour--the demi-god +of his hunting yarns for years. + +And then, suddenly, he remembered that this hero of his might be shot +like a dog on the 31st at Delhi--would be shot, since he was certain +to be in the front of anything. Soma's heat-fevered, hemp-drugged +brain seized on the thought fiercely, confusedly. That must not be! +The master, at any rate, must be warned. He would go down when the sun +set, and see if he were still where he had been the day before; and if +not?--Why! then it must be two days leave to Delhi! He was not going +to butcher the master for all the sweepers' brooms in the world. +Fools! those others, to think to drive him, Soma, Chundrabansi! So he +flung himself on his string bed to sleep till the sunset came, and the +tyranny of heat be overpast. + +But there was one, close by in the cantonment bazaar, who waited for +sunset with no desire for it to bring coolness. She meant it to bring +heat instead. And this was Nargeeza the courtesan. She was past the +prime of everything save vice, a woman who, once all-powerful, could +not hope for many more lovers; and hers, a man rich beyond most +soldiers, lay in jail for ten years. No wonder, then, that as she lay +half-torpid among a heap of tawdry finery in the biggest house of the +lane set apart by regulation for such as she, there was all the venom +of a snake in her drowsy brain. The air of the low room was deadly +with a scent of musk and roses and orange-blossom-oil. The half-dozen +girls and women who lounged in it, or in the balcony, were half +undressed, their bare brown arms flung carelessly upon dirty mats and +torn quilts. Their harvest time was not yet; that would come later +when sunsetting brought the men from the lines. This, then, was the +time for sleep. But Nargeeza, recognized head of the recognized +regimental women, sat up suddenly and said sharply: + +"Thou didst not tell me, Nasiban, what Gulâbi said. Is she of us?" + +A drowsy lump of a girl stirred, yawned, and answered sullenly, "Yea! +Yea! she is of us. She claims our right to kiss no cowards--no +cowards." + +The voice tailed off into sleep again, and Nargeeza lay back with a +smile of content to wait also. So, after a time, folk began to stir in +the bungalows. First in the rest-house, where, oddly enough, Jim +Douglas occupied one end of the long low barrack of a place, and +Herbert Erlton the other. The former having come back from the city in +an evil temper to get something to eat before starting for Delhi, had +found his horse, the Belooch, unaccountably indisposed; Jhungi, who +had brought her there safely, professing entire ignorance of the +cause, or, on pressure, suggesting the nefarious Bhungi. Tiddu +asserting--with a calm assumption of superior knowledge, for which Jim +Douglas could have kicked him--that the mare had been drugged. As if +anybody could not tell that? And that the drug had been opium. To +which the old scoundrel had replied affably that in that case the +effects would pass off during the night, and the mare be none the +worse; no one be any the worse, since the Huzoor was quite comfortable +in Meerut, and could _easily stay another day_. It was a nicer place +than Delhi; there were more sahibs in it, and the presence of the +"_ghora logue_" (_i. e_., English soldiers) kept everyone virtuous. + +His hearer looked at him sharply. Here was some other trick, no doubt, +to cozen him out of another five rupees; for something, maybe, as +useless as the yellow fakir. And there was really no reason for delay; +it was only a case of walking the mare quietly. For the matter of +that, the exercise would do her good, and help her to work off the +effects of the drug. So he would start sooner, that was all. +Nevertheless he gave an envious look at the Major's little Arab in the +next stall. It would most likely be marching back to Delhi that night, +and he would have given something to ride it again. But as he was +returning from the stables, he learned by chance that the Major's +plans had been altered. An orderly was coming from his room with +letters and a telegram, and knowing the man, Jim Douglas asked him to +take one for him also, and so save trouble. It did not take long to +write, for it only contained one word, "No." It was in reply to one he +had received a few hours before from the military magnate, asking him +to do some more work. And as the orderly stowed away the accompanying +rupee carefully, Jim Douglas--waiting to make over the paper--saw +quite involuntarily that the Major's telegram also consisted of one +word, "Come." And he saw the name also; big, black, bold, in the +Major's handwriting. "Gissing, Delhi." + +He gave a shrug of his shoulders as he turned away to get ready for +his start. So that was it; and even Kate Erlton had not benefited by +his sacrifice. No one had benefited. There had been no chance for any +of them. "Come!" That ended Kate Erlton's hope of concealment, the +Major's career. "No!" That ended his own vague ambitions. Still, it +was a strange chance in itself that those two laconic renunciations +should go the same day by the same hand. No stranger telegrams, he +thought, could have left Meerut, or were likely to leave it that +night. + +He was wrong, however. An hour or two later, the strangest telegram +that ever came as sole warning to an Empire that its very foundation +was attacked, left Meerut for Agra; sent by the postmaster's niece. + +"The Cavalry," it ran, "have risen, setting fire to their own houses +besides having killed and wounded all European officers and soldiers +they could find near the lines. If Aunt intends starting to-morrow, +please detain her, as the van has been prevented from leaving the +station." + +For, as Jim Douglas paced slowly down the Mall toward Delhi, and Soma, +his buckles gleaming, his belts pipe-clayed to dazzling whiteness, was +swaggering through the bazaar on his way to the rest-house with his +word of warning--the word which would have given Jim Douglas the power +for which he had longed--another word was being spoken in that lane of +lust, where the time had come for which Nargeeza had waited all day. +But _she_ did not say it. It was only a big trollop of a girl hung +with jasmine garlands, painted, giggling. + +"We of the bazaar kiss no cowards," she said derisively. "Where are +your comrades?" + +The man to whom she said it, a young dissolute-faced trooper, dressed +in the loose rakish muslins beloved of his class--the very man, +perchance, who had gone cityward that morning, and dropped an alms +into the yellow fakir's bowl--stood for a second in the stifling, +maddening atmosphere of musk and rose and orange-blossom; stood before +all those insolent allurements, balked in his passion, checked in his +desires. Then, with an oath, he dashed from her insulting charms; +dashed into the street with a cry: + +"To horse! To horse, brothers! To the jail! to our comrades!" + +The word had been spoken. The speech which brings more than speech, +had come from the painted lips of a harlot. + +The first clang of the church bell--which the chaplain had forgotten +to postpone--came faintly audible across the dusty plain, making other +men pause and look at each other. Why not? It was the hour of +prayer--the appointed time. Their comrades could be easily +rescued--there was but a native guard at the jail. And hark! from +another pair of painted derisive lips came the same retort, flung from +a balcony. + +"_Trra! We of the bazaar kiss no cowards!_" + +"To horse! To horse! Let the comrades be rescued first; and then----" + +The word had been spoken. Nothing so very soul-stirring after all. No +consideration of caste or religion, patriotism or ambition. Only a +taunt from a pair of painted lips. + + + + + + BOOK III. + + FROM DUSK TO DAWN. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + NIGHT. + + +"To the rescue! To the rescue!" + +The cry was no more than that at first. To the rescue of the +eighty-five martyrs, the blows upon whose shackles still seemed to +echo in their comrades' ears. Even so, the cry heard by Soma as he +passed through the bazaar meant insubordination--the greatest crime he +knew--and sent him flying to his own lines to give the alarm. Sent him +thence by instinct, oblivious of that promise for the 31st--or perhaps +mindful of it and seeing in this outburst a mere riot--to his +Colonel's house with twenty or thirty comrades clamoring for their +arms, protesting that with them they would soon settle matters for the +Huzoors. But suspicion was in the air, and even the Colonel of the +11th could not trust all his regiment. Ready for church, he flung +himself on his horse and raced back with the clamoring men to the +lines. + +And by this time there was another race going on. Captain Craigie's +faithful troop of the 3d Cavalry were racing after his shout of +"_Dau-ro! bhai-yan, Dau-ro!_" (Ride, brothers, ride!) toward the jail +in the hopes of averting the rescue of their comrades. For, as the +records are careful to say, he and his troop "were dressed as for +parade"--not a buckle or a belt awry--ready to combat the danger +before others had grasped it, and swiftly, without a thought, went for +the first offenders. Too late! the doors were open, the birds flown. + +What next was to be done? What but to bring the troop back without a +defaulter--despite the taunts of escaping convicts, the temptations of +comrades flushed by success--to the parade ground for orders. But +there was no one to give them, for when the 3d Cavalry led the van of +mutiny at Meerut their Colonel was in the European cantonment as field +officer of the week, and there he "conceived it his duty to remain." +Perhaps rightly. And it is also conceivable that his absence made no +difference, since it is, palpably, an easier task to make a regiment +mutiny than to bring it back to its allegiance. + +Meanwhile the officers of the other regiments, the 11th and the 20th, +were facing their men boldly; facing the problem how to keep them +steady till that squadron of the Carabineers should sweep down, +followed by a company or two of the Rifles at the double, and turn the +balance in favor of loyalty. It could not be long now. Nearly an hour +had passed since the first wild stampede to the jail. The refuse and +rabble of the town were by this time swarming out of it, armed with +sticks and staves; the two thousand and odd felons released from the +jails were swarming in, seeking weapons. The danger grew every second, +and the officers of the 11th, though their men stood steady as rocks +behind them, counted the moments as they sped. For on the other side +of the road, on the parade ground of the 20th regiment, the sepoys, +ordered, as the 11th had been, to turn out unarmed, were barely +restrained from rushing the bells by the entreaties of their native +officers; the European ones being powerless. + +"Keep the men steady for me," said Colonel Finnis to his second in +command; "I'll go over and see what I can do." + +He thought the voice of a man loved and trusted by one regiment, a man +who could speak to his sepoys without an interpreter, might have power +to steady another. + +_Jai bahâduri!_ (Victory to courage!) muttered Soma under his breath +as he watched his Colonel canter quietly into danger. And his finger +hungered on that hot May evening for the cool of the trigger which was +denied him. + +_Jai bahâduri!_ A murmur seemed to run through the ranks, they dressed +themselves firmer, squarer. Colonel Finnis, glancing back, saw a sight +to gladden any commandant's heart. A regiment steady as a rock, drawn +up as for parade, absolutely in hand despite that strange new sound in +the air. The sound which above all others gets into men's brains like +new wine. The sound of a file upon fetters--the sound of escape, of +freedom, of license! It had been rising unchecked for half an hour +from the lines of the 3d, whither the martyrs had been brought in +triumph. It was rising now from the bazaar, the city, from every +quiet corner where a prisoner might pause to hack and hammer at his +leg-irons with the first tool he could find. + +What was one man's voice against this sound, strengthened as it was by +the cry of a trooper galloping madly from the north shouting that the +English were in sight? What more likely? Had not ample time passed for +the whole British garrison to be coming with fixed bayonets and a +whoop, to make short work of unarmed men who had not made up their +minds? + +That must be no longer! + +"Quick! brothers. Quick! Kill! Kill! Down with the officers! Shoot ere +the white faces come!" + +It was a sudden wild yell of terror, of courage, of sheer cruelty. It +drowned the scream of the Colonel's horse as it staggered under him. +It drowned his steady appealing voice, his faint sob, as he threw up +his hands at the next shot, and fell, the first victim to the Great +Revolt. + +It drowned something else also. It drowned Soma's groan of wild, +half-stupefied, helpless rage as he saw his Colonel fall,--the sahib +who had led him to victory,--the sahib whom he loved, whom he was +pledged to save. And his groan was echoed by many another brave man in +those ranks, thus brought face to face suddenly with the necessity for +decision. + +"Steady, men, steady!" + +That call, in the alien voice, echoed above the whistling of the +bullets as they found a billet here and there among the ranks; for the +men of the 20th, maddened by that fresh murder, now shot wildly at +their officers. + +"Steady, men! Steady, for God's sake!" + +The entreaty was not in vain; they were steady still. Ay, steady, but +unarmed! Steady as a rock still, but helpless! + +Helpless, unarmed! By all the gods all men worshiped, men could not +suffer that for long, when bullets were whistling into their ranks. + +So there was a waver at last in the long line. A faint tremble, like +the tremble of a curving wave ere it falls. Then, with a confused +roar, an aimless sweeping away of all things in its path, it broke as +a wave breaks upon a pebbly shore. + +"To arms, brothers! Quick! fire! fire!" + +Upon whom?[2] God knows! Not on their officers, for these were already +being hustled to the rear, hustled into safety. + +"Quick, brothers, quick! Kill! Kill!" + +The cry rose on all sides now, as the wave of revolt surged on. But +there was none left to kill; for the work was done in the 20th lines, +and no new white faces came to stem the tide. Two thousand and odd +Englishmen who might have stemmed it being still on the parade-ground +by the church, waiting for orders, for ammunition, for a General, for +everything save--thank Heaven!--for courage. + +So the wave surged on, to what end it scarcely knew, leaving behind it +groups of sullen, startled faces. + +"Whose fault but their own?" muttered an old man fiercely; an old man +whose son served beside him in the regiment, whose grandson was on the +roster for future enlistment. "Why were we left helpless as new-born +babes?" + +"Why?" echoed a scornful voice from the gathering clusters of +undecided men, waiting, with growing fear, hope, despair, or triumph, +for what was to come next: waiting, briefly, for the master to come, +or not to come. "Why? because they were afraid of us; because their +time is past, baba jee. Let them go!" + +Let them go. Incomprehensible suggestion to that brave worn stiff in +the master's service; so, with a great numb ache in an old heart, an +old body strode away, elbowing younger ones from its path savagely. + +"Old Dhurma hath grown milksop," jeered one spectator; "that is with +doing dry-nurse to his Captain's babies." + +The words caught the old man's ear and sent a quick decision to his +dazed face. The baba logue! Yes; they must be safeguarded; for ominous +smoke began to rise from neighboring roof-trees, and a strange note of +sheer wild-beast ferocity grew to the confused roar of the drifting, +shifting, still aimless crowd. + +"Quick, brothers, quick! Kill, root and branch! Why dost linger? Art +afraid? Afraid of cowards? Quick--kill everyone!" + +The cry, boastful, jeering, came from a sepoy in the uniform of the +20th, who, with a face ablaze with mad exultation, forced his way +forward. There was something in his tone which seemed to send a shiver +of fresh excitement through his comrades, for they paused in their +strange, aimless tumult, paused and listened to the jeers, the +reproaches. + +"What! art cowards too?" he went on. "Then follow me. For I began +it--I fired the first shot--I killed the first infidel. I----" + +The boast never ended, for above it came a quicker cry: "Kill, kill, +kill the traitor! Kill the man who betrayed us." + +There was a rush onward toward the boastful, arrogant voice, the +report of half a dozen muskets, and the crowd surged on to revolt over +the body of the man who had fired the first shot of the mutiny. + +For it was a strange crowd indeed; most of it powerless for good or +ill, sheep without a shepherd, wandering after the rabble of escaped +convicts and the refuse of bazaars as they plundered and fired the +houses. Joining in in the license helplessly, drifting inevitably to +violence, so that some looked on curiously, unconcernedly, while +others, maddened by the smell of blood, the sounds of murder, dragged +helpless Englishmen and Englishwomen from their carriages and did them +to death savagely. + +But there were more like Soma, who, as the darkness deepened and the +glare and the dire confusion and dismay grew, stood aloof from it +voluntarily, waiting, with a certain callousness, to see if the master +would come, or if folk said true when they declared his time was past, +his day done. + +Where was he? He should have come hours ago, irresistible, +overwhelming. But there was no sign. Not a hint of resistance, save +every now and again a clatter of hoofs through the darkness, an alien +voice calling "Mâro! Mâro!" to those behind him, and a fierce howl of +an echo, "Mâro! Mâro! Mâ-roh!" from the faithful troop. For Captain +Craigie, finding none to help him, had changed his cry. It was "kill, +kill, kill" now. And the faithful troop obeyed orders. + +Soma when he heard it gave a great sigh. If there had been more of +that sort of thing he would dearly have loved to be in it; but the +other was butchery. So he wandered alone, irresolute, drifting +northward from the dire confusion and dismay, and crossing the Mall to +question a sentry of his own regiment as to what had happened to the +masters. But the man replied by eager questions as to what had +happened to the servants. And they both agreed that if the two +thousand could not quell a riot it would be idle to help them, the +Lord's hand being so palpably against them. + +Nevertheless, half an hour afterward the sentry still waited at his +post, and the guard over the Treasury saluted as if nothing unusual +was afoot to a group of Englishmen galloping past. + +"Those men know nothing," called Major Erlton to another man. "It +can't be so bad. Surely something can be done!" + +"Something should have been done two hours ago," came a sharp voice. +"However, the troops have started at last. If anyone----" + +The remainder was lost in the clatter. But more than one man's voice +had been lost in those two hours at Meerut on the 10th of May, 1857; +indeed, everything seems to have been lost save--thank Heaven once +more!--personal courage. + +It was now near eight o'clock, and Soma, skulking by the Mall, midway +between the masters and the men, still irresolute, still uncertain, +heard the first cry of "To Delhi! to Delhi!" which, as the night wore +on, was to echo so often along that road. The cry which came unbidden +as the astounding success of the revolt brought thoughts of greater +success in the future. + +The moon was now rising to silver the dense clouds of smoke which hung +above the pillars of flame, and give an additional horror of light to +the orgies going on unchecked. It showed him a group of 3d Cavalry +troopers galloping madly down the Mall. It showed them the glitter of +his buckles, making them shout again: + +"To Delhi, brother, to Delhi!" + +Not yet. He had not seen the upshot yet. He must go and see what was +going on in the lines first. So he struck rapidly across the open as +the quickest way. And then behind him, close upon him, came another +clatter of hoofs, a very different cry. + +"_Shâh bash! bhaiyân. Mâro! Mâro!_" + +Remembering the glitter of his buckles, he turned and ran for the +nearest cover. None too soon, for a Mohammedan trooper was after him, +shouting "_Deen! Deen!_ Death to the Hindoo pig!" For any cry comes +handy when the blood is up and there is a saber in the hand. Soma had +to double like a hare, and even so, when he paused to get his breath +in a tangle of lime-bushes there was a graze on his cheek. He had +judged his distance in one of those doubles a hair's breadth too +little. The faint trickle of blood sent a spasm of old inherited race +hatred through him. The outcaste should know that the Hindoo pig shot +straight. The means of showing this were not far to find in the track +of the faithful troop. Five minutes after, Soma, with a musket dragged +from beneath something which lay huddled up face down upon Mother +Earth, was crouching in a belt of cover, waiting for the troop to come +flashing through the glare seeking more work. For there had been yells +and screams enough round that bungalow to stop looting there. And as +it came number seven bent lower to his saddle bow suddenly, then +toppled over with a clang. + +"Left wheel! clear those bushes!" came the order sharply. But Soma was +too quick for that. + +"Close up. Forward!" came the order again, as Captain Craigie's +faithful troop went on, minus a man, and Soma, stumbling breathlessly +in safety, knew that the die was cast. There was an answering quiver +in his veins which comes when like blood has been spilled. He knew his +foe now; he could go to Delhi now. And hark! There was a regular +rattle of musketry, at last--not the dropping fire of mere butchery, +but a regular volley. He gripped his musket tighter and listened: if +the battle had begun he must be in it. The air was full of cracklings +and hissings--an inarticulate background to murderous yells, terrified +screams, horrors without end; but no more volleys came to tell of +retribution. + +What did it mean? Soma held his breath hard. Hark! what was that? A +louder burst of that recurring cry, "To Delhi! to Delhi!" as the +last stragglers of the 3d Cavalry, escaping from the lines at the +long-delayed appearance there of law and order, followed their +comrades' example. + +So that the two thousand coming down in force found nothing but the +women and children; poor, frightened, terror-struck hostages, left +behind, inevitably, in the unforeseen success. + +But Soma, knowing nothing of this, waited--that grip on his musket +slackening--for the next volley. But none came. Only, suddenly, a +bugle call. + +The retreat! + +Incredible! Impossible! Yes! Once, twice, thrice--the retreat! The +masters were not going to fight at Meerut then, and he must try Delhi. +So, turning swiftly, he cut into the road behind the cry. + +"My God, Craigie! what's that? Not the retreat, surely!" came a boyish +voice from the clatter and rattle of the faithful troop. + +"Don't know! Hurry up all you can, Clark! There's more of the devils +needing cold steel yonder, and I'd like to see to my wife's safety as +soon as I can. _Shâh bâsh bhaiâan Dân-ro. Mâro_." + +"Mâro--Mâ--ro--Mâ----roh!" echoed the howl. What was the retreat to +them when their Captain's voice called to them as brothers? It is idle +to ask the question, but one cannot help wondering if the Captain's +pocket still held the official wigging. For the sake of picturesque +effect it is to be hoped it did. + +Nevertheless it _was_ the retreat. A council of officers had suggested +that since the mutineers were not in their lines, they might be +looting the European cantonments. So the two thousand returned +thither, after firing that one volley into a wood, and then finding +all quiet to the north proceeded to bivouac on the parade ground for +the night. Not a very peaceful spot, since it was within sight and +sound of blazing roof-trees and plundering ruffians. The worst horrors +of that night, we are told, can never be known. Perhaps some people +beg to differ, holding that no horror can exceed the thought of women +and children hiding like hares on that southern side, creeping for +dear life from one friendly shadow to another, and finding help in +dark hands where white ones failed them, within reach of that bivouac. +But the faithful troop did good service, and many another band of +independent braves also. Captain Craigie, finding leisure at last, +found also--it is a relief to know--that some of his own men had +sneaked away from duty to secure his wife's safety when they saw their +Captain would not. And if anything can relieve the deadly depression +which sinks upon the soul at the thought of that horrible lack of +emotion in the north, it is to picture that very different scene on +the south, when Captain Craigie, seeing his only hope of getting the +ladies safely escorted to the European barracks lay in his troopers, +brought the two Englishwomen out to them and said, simply, "Here are +the mems! Save them." + +And then the two score or so of rough men, swashbucklers by birth and +training, flung themselves from their horses, cast themselves at those +alien women's feet with tears and oaths. Oaths that were kept. + +But, on the other side, people were more placid. One reads of +Englishmen watching "their own sleeping children with gratitude in +their hearts to God," with wonderings as "to the fate of their friends +in the south," with anticipations of "what would befall their +Christian brethren in Delhi on the coming morn, who, less happy than +ourselves, had no faithful and friendly European battalions to shield +them from the bloodthirsty rage of the sepoys." + +What, indeed? considering that for two hours bands of armed men had +clattered and marched down that dividing road crying "To Delhi, to +Delhi!" But no warning of the coming danger had been sent thither; the +confusion had been too great. And now, about midnight, the telegraph +wires had been cut. Yet Delhi lay but thirty miles off along a broad +white road, and there were horses galore and men ready to ride them. +Men ready for more than that, like Captain Rosser of the Carabineers, +who pleaded for a squadron, a field battery, a troop, a gun--anything +with which to dash down the road and cut off that retreat to Delhi. +But everything was refused. Lieutenant Mohler of the 11th offered to +ride, and at least give warning; but that offer was also set aside. +And many another brave man, no doubt, bound to obey orders, ate his +heart out in inaction that night, possessing himself in some measure +of patience with the thought that the dawn must see them on that Delhi +road. + +But there was one man who owed obedience to none; who was free to go +if he chose. And he did choose. Ten minutes after it dawned upon +Herbert Erlton that no warning had been given, that no succor would be +sent, he had changed horses for the game little Arab which had once +belonged to Jim Douglas, and was off, to reach Delhi as best he could; +for a woman slept in the very city itself exposed to the first assault +of ruffianism, whom he must save, if he could. So he set his teeth +and rode straight. At first down the road, for the last of the +fugitives had had a good hour's start of him, and he could count on +four or five miles plain sailing. Then, since his object was to head +the procession, and he did not dare to strike across country from his +utter ignorance both of the way or how to ask it, he must give the +road a half-mile berth or so, and, keeping it as a guide, make his way +somehow. There were bridges he knew where he must hark back to the +only path, but he must trust to luck for a quiet interval. + +The plan proved more difficult than he expected. More than once he +found himself in danger from being too close to the disciplined tramp +which he began to overtake about six miles out, and twice he lost +himself from being too far away, by mistaking one belt of trees for +another. Still there was plenty of time if the Arab held out with his +weight. The night was hot and stifling, but if he took it coolly till +the road was pretty clear again he could forge ahead in no time; for +the Arab had the heels of every horse in Upper India. Major Erlton +knew this, and bent over to pat its neck with the pride of certainty +with which he had patted it before many a race which it had won for +him since it had lost one for Jim Douglas. + +So he saved it all he knew; but he rode fourteen stone, and that, over +jumps, must tell. There was no other way, however, that he knew of, by +which an Englishman could head that procession of shouting black +devils. + +One headed already, as it happened; though he was unaware of the +supreme importance of the fact, ignorant of what lay behind him. Jim +Douglas, who had left Meerut all unwitting of that rescue party on its +way to the jail, was still about a mile from the halfway house where +he expected to find his relay. He had had the greatest difficulty in +getting the drugged mare to go at all at first, and more than once had +regretted having refused old Tiddu's advice. She had pulled herself +together a bit, but she was in a drip of sweat and still shaky on her +feet. Not that it mattered, he being close now to Begum-a-bad, with +plenty of time to reach Delhi by dawn. + +He rather preferred to pace slowly, his feet out of the stirrups, his +slight, easy figure dressed, as it always was when in English costume, +with the utmost daintiness, sitting well back in the saddle. For the +glamour of the moonlight, the stillness of the night, possessed him. +Everything so soundless save when the jackals began; there were a +number of them about. A good hunting country; the memory of many a run +in his youthful days, with a bobbery pack, came to him. After all he +had had the cream of life in a way. Few men had enjoyed theirs more, +for even this idle pacing through the stillness was a pleasure. +Pleasure? How many he had had! His mind, reverting from one to +another, thought even of the owner of the golden curl without regret. +She had taught him the religion of Love, the adoration of a spotless +woman. And Zora, dear little Zora, had taught him the purity of +passion. And then his mind went back suddenly to a scene of his +boyhood. A boy of eighteen carrying a girl of sixteen who held a +string of sea-trout midway in a wide, deep ford. And he heard, as if +it had been yesterday, the faint splash of the fish as they slipped +one by one into the water, and felt the fierce fighting of the girl to +be set down, his own stolid resistance, their mutual abuse of each +other's obstinacy and carelessness. Yes! he would like to see his +sisters again, to know that pleasure again. Then his mind took another +leap. Alice Gissing had not struggled in his hold, because she had +been in unison with his ideal of conduct; but if she had not been, she +would have fought as viciously, as unconsciously as any sister. Alice +Gissing, who---- He settled his feet into the stirrups sternly, +thinking of that telegram with its one word "Come," which ended so +many chances. + +Hark! What was that? A clatter of hoofs behind. And something more, +surely. A jingle, a jangle, familiar to a soldier's ears. Cavalry at +the gallop. He drew aside hastily into the shadow of the arcaded trees +and waited. + +Cavalry, no doubt. And the moon shone on their drawn sabers. By +Heaven! Troopers of the 3d! Half a dozen or more! + +"Shâh bâsh, brothers," cried one as they swept past, "we can breathe +our beasts a bit at Begum-a-bad and let the others come up; no need to +reach Delhi ere dawn. The Palace would be closed." + +Delhi! The Palace! And who were the others? That, if they were coming +behind, could soon be settled. He turned the Belooch and trotted her +back in the shadow, straining eyes and ears down the tree-fringed road +which lay so still, so white, so silent. + +Something was on it now, but something silent, almost ghost-like,--an +old man, muttering texts, on a lame camel which bumped along as even +no earthly camel ought to bump. That could not be the "others." + +No! Surely that was a thud, a jingle, a clatter once more. And once +more the glitter of cold steel in the moonlight. Forty or fifty of the +3d this time, with stragglers calling to others still further behind, +"To Delhi! To Delhi! To Victory or Death!" + +As he stood waiting for them all to pass ere he moved, his first +thought was, that with all these armed men at Begum-a-bad there would +be no chance of a remount. Then came a swift wonder as to what had +happened. A row of some sort, of course, and these men had fled. Ere +long, no doubt, a squadron of Carabineers would come rattling after +them. No! That was not cavalry. That was infantry in the distance. +Quite a number of men shouting the same cry. Men of the 20th, to judge +by what he could see. Then the row had been a big one. Still the men +were evidently fugitives. There was that in their recurring cry which +told of almost hopeless, reckless enthusiasm. + +And how the devil was he to get his remount? It was to be at the serai +on the roadside, the very place where these men would rest. Yet he +must get to Delhi, he must get there sharp! The possibility that Delhi +was unwarned did not occur to him; he only thought how he might best +get there in time for the row which must come. Should he wait for the +English troops to come up, and chance his remount being coolly taken +by the first rebel who wanted one? Or, Delhi being not more than +fifteen miles off across country, should he take the mare as far as +she would go, leave her in some field, and do the rest on foot? He +looked at his watch. Half-past one! Say five miles in half an hour. +The mare was good for that. Then ten miles, at five miles an hour. The +very first glimmer of light should see him at the boat-bridge if--if +the mare could gallop five miles. + +He must try her a bit slowly at first. So, slipping across the broad, +white streak of road to the Delhi side, he took her slanting through +the tall tiger grass, for they were close on a nullah which must be +forded by a rather deep ford lower down, since the bridge was denied +to him. About half a mile from the road he came upon the track +suddenly, in the midst of high tamarisk jungle growing in heavy sand, +and the next moment was on the shining levels of the ford. The mare +strained on his hand, and he paused to let her have a mouthful of +water. As she stood there, head down, a horseman at the canter showed +suddenly, silently, behind him, not five yards away, his horse's hoofs +deadened by the sand. + +There was a nasty movement, an ominous click on both sides. But the +moon was too bright for mistakes; the recognition was mutual. + +"My God, Erlton!" he cried, as the other, without a pause, went on +into the ford. "What's up?" + +"Is it fordable?" came the quick question, and as Jim Douglas for an +answer gave a dig with his spurs, the Major slackened visibly; his eye +telling him that the depth could not be taken, save at a walk. + +"What's up?" he echoed fiercely. "Mutiny! murder! I say, how far am I +from Delhi?" + +"Delhi!" cried Jim Douglas, his voice keen as a knife. "By Heaven! you +don't mean they don't know--that they didn't wire--but the troops----" + +"Hadn't started when I left," said the Major with a curse. "I came on +alone. I say, Douglas," he gave a sharp glance at the other's mount +and there was a pause. + +"My mare's beat--been drugged," said Jim Douglas in the swish-swish of +the water rising higher and higher on the horses' breasts, and there +was a curious tone in his voice as if he was arguing out something to +himself. "I've a remount at the serai, but the odds are a hundred to +one on my getting it. I'd given up the chance of it. I meant to take +the mare as many miles across country as she'd go--more, perhaps--for +she feels like falling at a fence, and walk the rest. I didn't know +then----" He paused and looked ahead. The water, up to the girths, +made a curious rushing sound, like many wings. The long, shiny levels +stretched away softly, mysteriously. The tamarisk jungle reflected in +the water seemed almost as real as that which edged the shining sky. A +white egret stood in the shallows; tall, ghostly. + +"I thought it was only--a row." + +The voice ceased again, the breathings of the tired horses had +slackened; there was no sound but that rushing, as of wings, as those +two enemies rode side by side, looking ahead. Suddenly Jim Douglas +turned. + +"You ride nigh four stone heavier than I do, Major Erlton." + +The heavy, handsome face came round swiftly, all broken up with sheer +passion. + +"Do you suppose I haven't been thinking that ever since I saw your +cursed face. And you know the country, and I don't. You know the +lingo, and I don't. And--and--you're a deuce sight better rider than I +am, d----n you! But for all that, it's my chance, I tell you. My +chance, not yours." + +A great surge of sympathy swept through the other man's veins. But the +water was shallowing rapidly. A step or two and this must be decided. + +"It's yours more than mine," he said slowly, "but it isn't ours, is +it? It's the others', in Delhi." + +Herbert Erlton gave an odd sound between a sob and an oath, a savage +jag at the bridle as the little Arab, over-weighted, slipped a bit +coming up the bank. Then, without a word, he flung himself from the +saddle and set to work on the stirrup nearest him. + +"How many holes?" he asked gruffly, as Jim Douglas, with a great ache +in his heart, left the Belooch standing, and began on the other. + +"Three; you're a good bit longer in the leg than I am." + +"I suppose I am," said the Major sullenly; but he held the stirrup +for the other to mount. + +Jim Douglas gathered the reins in his hand and paused. + +"You had better walk her back. Keep more to the left; it's easier." + +"Oh! I'll do," came the sullen voice. "Stop a bit, the curb's too +tight." + +"Take it off, will you? he knows me." + +Major Erlton gave an odd, quick, bitter laugh. "I suppose he does. +Right you are." + +He stood, putting the curb chain into his pocket, mechanically, but +Jim Douglas paused again. + +"Good-by! Shake hands on it, Erlton." + +The Major looked at him resentfully, the big, coarse hand came +reluctantly; but the touch of that other like iron in its grip, its +determination, seemed to rouse something deeper than anger. + +"The odds are on you," he said, with a quiver in his voice. "You'll +look after her--not my wife, she's in cantonments--but in the city, +you know." + +The voice broke suddenly. He threw out one hand in a sort of +passionate despair, and walked over to the Belooch. + +"I'll do everything you could possibly do in my place, Erlton." + +The words came clear and stern, and the next instant the thud of the +Arab's galloping hoofs filled the still night air. The sound sent a +spasm of angry pain through Major Erlton. The chance had been his, and +he had had to give it up because he rode three stone heavier; and, +curse it! knew only too well what a difference a pound or two might +make in a race. + +Nevertheless Jim Douglas had been right when he said the chance was +neither his nor the Major's. For, less than an hour afterward, riding +all he knew, doing his level best, the Arab put his foot in a rat hole +just as his rider was congratulating himself on having headed the +rebels, just as, across the level plain stretching from Ghazeabad to +the only bridge over the Jumna, he fancied he could see a big shadowy +bubble on the western sky, the dome of the Delhi mosque. Put its foot +in a rat hole and came down heavily! The last thing Jim Douglas saw +was--on the road which he had hoped to rejoin in a minute or two--a +strange ghostlike figure. An old man on a lame camel, which bumped +along as even no earthly camel ought to bump. + +As he fell, the rushing roar in his ears which heralds unconsciousness +seemed by a freak of memory to take a familiar rhythm: + + + "La! il-lah-il-Ullaho! La! il-lah-il-Ul-la-ho!" + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + DAWN. + + +The chill wind which comes with dawn swayed the tall grass beyond the +river, and ruffling the calm stretches below the Palace wall died away +again as an oldish man stepped out of a reed hut, built on a sandbank +beside the boat-bridge, and looked eastward. He was a poojari, or +master of ceremonial at the bathing-place where, with the first streak +of light, the Hindoos came to perform their religious ablutions. So he +had to be up betimes, in order to prepare the little saucers of +vermilion and sandal and sacred gypsum needed in his profession; for +he earned his livelihood by inherited right of hallmarking his +fellow-creatures with their caste-signs when they came up out of the +water. Thus he looked out over those eastern plains for the dawn, day +after day. He looks for it still; this account is from his lips. And +this dawn there was a cloud of dust no bigger than a man's hand upon +the Meerut road. Someone was coming to Delhi. + +But someone was already on the bridge, for it creaked and swayed, +sending little shivers of ripples down the calm stretches. The poojari +turned and looked to see the cause; then turned eastward again. It was +only a man on a camel with a strange gait, bumping noiselessly even on +the resounding wood. That was all. + +The city was still asleep; though here and there a widow was stealing +out in her white shroud for that touch of the sacred river without +which she would indeed be accursed. And in a little mosque hard by the +road from the boat-bridge a muezzin was about to give the very first +call to prayer with pious self-complacency. But someone was ahead of +him in devotion, for, upon the still air, came a continuous rolling of +chanted texts. The muezzin leaned over the parapet, disappointed, to +see who had thus forestalled him at heaven's gate; stared, then +muttered a hasty charm. Were there visions about? The suggestion +softened the disappointment, and he looked after the strange, wild +figure, half-seen in the shimmering, shadowy dawn-light, with growing +and awed satisfaction. This was no mere mortal, this green-clad figure +on a camel, chanting texts and waving a scimitar. A vision has been +vouchsafed to him for his diligence; a vision that would not lose in +the telling. So he stood up and gave the cry from full lungs. + +"Prayer is more than sleep! than sleep! than sleep!" + +The echo from the rose-red fortifications took it up first; then one +chanting voice after another, monotonously insistent. + +"Prayer is more than sleep! than sleep! than sleep!" + +And the city woke to another day of fasting. Woke hurriedly, so as to +find time for food ere the sun rose, for it was Rumzân, and one-half +of the inhabitants would have no drop of water till the sun set, to +assuage the terrible drought of every living, growing thing beneath +the fierce May sun. The backwaters lay like a steel mirror reflecting +the gray shadowy pile of the Palace, the poojari--waist-deep in +them--was a solitary figure flinging water to the sacred airts, +absorbed in a thorough purification from sin. + +Then from the serrated line of the Ridge came a bugle followed by the +roll of a time gun. All the world was waking now. Waking to give +orders, to receive them; waking to mark itself apart with signs of +salvation; waking to bow westward and pray for the discomfiture of the +infidel; waking to stand on parade and salute the royal standard of a +ruler, hell-doomed inevitably, according to both creeds. + +A flock of purple pigeons, startled by the sound, rose like cloud +flakes on the light gray sky above the glimmering dome of the big +mosque, then flew westward toward the green fields and groves on the +further side of the town. For the roll of the gun was followed by a +reverberating roll, and groan, and creak, from the boat-bridge. The +little cloud on the Meerut road had grown into five troopers dashing +over the bridge at a gallop recklessly. The poojari, busy now with his +pigments, followed them with his eyes as they clattered straight for +the city gate. They were waking in the Palace now, for a slender hand +set a lattice wide. Perhaps from curiosity, perhaps simply to let in +the cool air of dawn. It was a lattice in the women's apartments. + +The poojari went on rubbing up the colors that were to bring such +spiritual pride to the wearers, then turned to look again. The +troopers, finding the city gate closed, were back again; clamoring for +admittance through the low arched doorway leading from Selimgarh to +the Palace. And as the yawning custodian fumbled for his keys, the men +cursed and swore at the delay; for in truth they knew not what lay +behind them. The two thousand from Meerut, or some of them, of course. +But at what distance? + +As a matter of fact only one Englishman was close enough to be +considered a pursuer, and he was but a poor creature on foot, still +dazed by a fall, striking across country to reach the Raj-ghât ferry +below the city. For when Jim Douglas had recovered consciousness it +had been to recognize that he was too late to be the first in Delhi, +and that he could only hope to help in the struggle. And that tardily, +for the Arab was dead lame. + +So, removing its saddle and bridle to give it a better chance of +escaping notice, he had left it grazing peacefully in a field and +stumbled on riverward, intending to cross it as best he could; and so +make for his own house in Duryagunj for a fresh horse and a more +suitable kit. And as he plodded along doggedly he cursed the sheer +ill-luck which had made him late. + +For he was late. + +The five troopers were already galloping through the grape-garden +toward the women's apartments and the King's sleeping rooms. + +Their shouts of "The King! The King! Help for the martyrs! Help for +the Holy War!" dumfoundered the court muezzin, who was going late to +his prayers in the Pearl Mosque; the reckless hoofs sent a squatting +bronze image of a gardener, threading jasmine chaplets for his gods +peacefully in the pathway, flying into a rose bush. + +"The King! The King! Help! Help!" + +The women woke with the cry, confused, alarmed, surprised; save one or +two who, creeping to the Queen's room, found her awake, excited, +calling to her maids. "Too soon!" she echoed contemptuously. "Can a +good thing come too soon? Quick, woman--I must see the King at +once--nay, I will go as I am if it comes to that." + +"The physician Ahsan-Oolah hath arrived as usual for the dawn +pulse-feeling," protested the shocked tirewoman. + +"All the more need for hurry," retorted Zeenut Maihl. "Quick! Slippers +and a veil! Thine will do, Fâtma; sure what makes thee decent----" She +gave a spiteful laugh as she snatched it from the woman's head and +passed to the door; but there she paused a second. "See if Hafzân be +below. I bid her come early, so she should be. Tell her to write word +to Hussan Askuri to dream as he never dreamed before! And see," her +voice grew shriller, keener, "the rest of you have leave. Go! cozen +every man you know, every man you meet. I care not how. Make their +blood flow! I care not wherefore, so that it leaps and bounds, and +would spill other blood that checked it." She clenched her hands as +she passed on muttering to herself. "Ah! if _he_ were a man--if _his_ +blood were not chilled with age--if I had someone----" + +She broke off into smiles; for in the anteroom she entered was, man or +no man, the representative of the Great Moghul. + +"Ah, Zeenut!" he cried in tones of relief. "I would have sought thee." +The trembling, shrunken figure in its wadded silk dressing gown paused +and gave a backward glance at Ahsan-Oolah, whose shrewd face was full +of alarm. + +"Believe nothing, my liege!" he protested eagerly. "These rioters are +boasters. Are there not two thousand British soldiers in Meerut? Their +tale is not possible. They are cowards fled from defeat; liars, hoping +to be saved at your expense. The thing is impossible." + +The Queen turned on him passionately. "Are not all things possible +with God, and is not His Majesty the defender of the faith!" + +"But not defender of five runaway rioters," sneered the physician. "My +liege! Remember your pension." + +Zeenut Maihl glared at his cunning; it was an argument needing all her +art to combat. + +"Five!" she echoed, passing to the lattice quickly. "Then miracles are +about--the five have grown to fifty. Look, my lord, look! Hark! How +they call on the defender of the faith." + +With reckless hand she set the lattice wide, so becoming +visible for an instant, and a shout of "The Queen! The Queen!" +mingled with that other of "The Faith! The Faith! Lead us, Oh! +Ghâzee-o-din-Bahâdur-shâh, to die for the faith." + +Pale as he was with age, the cry stirred the blood in the King's veins +and sent it to his face. + +"Stand back," he cried in sudden dignity, waving both counselors aside +with trembling, outstretched hands. "I will speak mine own words." + +But the sight of him, rousing a fresh burst of enthusiasm, left him no +possibility of speech for a time. The Lord had been on their side, +they cried. They had killed every hell-doomed infidel in Meerut! They +would do so in Delhi if he would help! They were but an advance guard +of an army coming from every cantonment in India to swear allegiance +to the Pâdishah. Long live the King! and the Queen! + +In the dim room behind, Zeenut Maihl and the physician listened to the +wild, almost incredible, tale which drifted in with the scented air +from the garden, and watched each other silently. Each found in it +fresh cause for obstinacy. If this were true, what need to be +foolhardy? time would show, the thing come of itself without risk. If +this were true, decisive action should be taken at once; and would be +taken. + +But the King, assailed, molested by that rude interrupting loyalty, +above all by that cry of the Queen, felt the Turk stir in him also. +Who were these intruders in the sacred precincts, infringing the +seclusion of the Great Moghul's women? Trembling with impotent +passion, inherited from passions that had not been impotent, he turned +to Ahsan-Oolah, ignoring the Queen, who, he felt, was mostly to blame +for this outrage on her modesty. Why had she come there? Why had she +dared to be seen? + +"Your Majesty should send for the Captain of the Palace Guards and bid +him disperse the rioters, and force them into respect for your royal +person," suggested the physician, carefully avoiding all but the +immediate present, "and your Majesty should pass to the Hall of +Audience. The King can scarce receive the Captain-sahib here in +presence of the Consort." He did not add--"in her present +costume"--but his tone implied it, and the King, with an angry +mortified glance toward his favorite, took the physician's arm. If +looks could kill, Ahsan-Oolah would not, he knew, have supported those +tottering steps far; but it was no time to stick at trifles. + +When they had passed from the anteroom Zeenut Maihl still stood as if +half stupefied by the insult. Then she dashed to the open lattice +again, scornful and defiant; dignified into positive beauty for the +moment by her recklessness. + +"For the Faith!" she cried in her shrill woman's voice, "if ye are +men, as I would be, to be loved of woman, as I am, strike for the +Faith!" + +A sort of shiver ran through the clustering crowd of men below; +the shiver of anticipation, of the marvelous, the unexpected. +The Queen had spoken to them as men; of herself as woman. +Inconceivable!--improper of course--yet exciting. Their blood +thrilled, the instinct of the man to fight for the woman rose at once. + +"Quick, brothers! Rouse the guard! Close the gates! Close the gates!" + +It was a cry to heal all strife within those rose-red walls, for the +dearest wish of every faction was to close them against civilization; +against those prying Western eyes and sniffing Western noses, +detecting drains and sinks of iniquity. So the clamor grew, and faces +which had frowned at each other yesterday sought support in each +other's ferocity to-day, and wild tales began to pass from mouth to +mouth. Men, crowding recklessly over the flower-beds, trampling down +the roses, talked of visions, of signs and warnings, while the +troopers, dismounting for a pull at a pipe, became the center of eager +circles listening not to dreams, but deeds. + +"Dost feel the rope about thy neck, Sir Martyr?" said a bitter jeering +voice behind one of the speakers. And something gripped him round the +throat from behind, then as suddenly loosed its hold, as a shrouded +woman's figure hobbled on through the crowd. The trooper started up +with an oath, his own hand seeking his throat involuntarily. + +"Heed her not!" said a bystander hastily, "'tis the Queen's scribe, +Hafzân. She hath a craze against men. One made her what she is. Go on! +Havildar-jee. So thou didst cut the _mem_ down, and fling the +babe----" + +But the doer of the deed stood silent. He did in truth seem to feel +the rope about his neck. And he seemed to feel it till he died; when +it _was_ there. + +But Hafzân had passed on, and there were no more with words of +warning. So the clamor grew and grew, till the garden swarmed with men +ready for any deed. + +Ahsan-Oolah saw this, and laid a detaining hand on the Captain of the +Guard's arm, who, summoned in hot haste from his quarters over the +Lahore gate, came in by the private way, and proposed to go down and +harangue the crowd. + +"It is not safe, Huzoor," he cried. "My liege, detain him. These men +by their own confession are murderers----" + +The King looked from one to the other doubtfully. Someone must get rid +of the rioters; yet the physician said truth. + +"And if aught befall," added the latter craftily, "your Majesty will +be held responsible." + +The old man's hand fell instantly on the Englishman's arm. "Nay, nay, +sahib! go not. Go not, my friend! Speak to them from the balcony. They +will not dare to violate it." + +So, backed by the sanctity of the Audience Hall of a dead dynasty, the +Englishman stood and ordered the crowd to desist from profaning +privacy in the name of the old man behind him; whose power he, in +common with all his race, hoped and believed to be dead. + +It was sufficient, however, to leave some respect for the royal +person, and make the crowd disperse. To little purpose so far as peace +and quiet went, since the only effect was to send a leaven of revolt +to every corner of the Palace. And the Palace was so full of +malcontents, docked of power, privilege, pensions; of all that makes +life in a Palace worth living. + +So the cry "Close the gates" grew wider. The dazed old King clung to +the Englishman's arm imploring him to stay; but now a messenger came +running to say that the Commissioner-sahib had called and left word +that the Captain was to follow without delay to the Calcutta gate of +the city. The courtiers, who had begun to assemble, looked at each +other curiously; the disturbance, then, had spread beyond the Palace. +Could, then, this amazing tale be true? The very thought sent them +cringing round the old man, who might ere long be King indeed. + +Yet as the Captain dashed at a gallop past the sentries standing +calmly at the Lahore gate, there was no sign of trouble beyond, and he +gave a quick glance of relief back at those cool quarters of his over +the arched tunnel where the chaplain, his daughter, and her friend +were staying as his guests. He felt less fear of leaving them when he +saw that the city was waking to life as always, buckling down quietly +to the burden and heat of a new day. It was now past seven o'clock, +and the sunlight, still cool, was bright enough to cleave all things +into dark or light, shade or shine. Up on the Ridge, the brigade, +after listening to the sentence on the Barrackpore mutineers, was +dispersing quietly; many of the men with that fiat of patience till +the 31st in their minds, for the carriage-load of native officers +returning from the Meerut court-martial had come into cantonments late +the night before. On the roofs of the houses in the learned quarter +women were giving the boys their breakfasts ere sending them off to +school. The milkwomen were trooping in cityward from the country, the +fruit-sellers and hawkers trooping out Ridge-way as usual. The postman +going his rounds had left letters, written in Meerut the day before, +at two houses. And Kate Erlton returning from early church had found +hers and was reading it with a scared face. Alice Gissing, however, +having had that laconic telegram, had taken hers coolly. The decision +had had to be made, since nothing had happened; and Herbert had the +right to make it. For her part, she could make him happy; she had the +knack of making most men happy, and she herself was always content +when the people about her were jolly. So she was packing boxes in the +back veranda of the little house on the city wall. + +Thus she did not see the man who, between six and seven o'clock, ran +breathlessly past her house, as a shortcut to the Court House from the +bridge, taking a message from the toll-keeper to the nearest Huzoor, +the Collector, who was holding early office, that a party of armed +troopers had come down the Meerut road, that more could be seen +coming, and would the Huzoor kindly issue orders. That first and final +suggestion of the average native subordinate in any difficulty. + +Armed men? That might mean much or nothing. Yet scarcely anything +really serious, or warning would have been sent. The Commissioner, +anyhow, must be told. So the Collector flung himself on his horse, +which, in Indian fashion, was waiting under a tree outside the Court +House, and galloped toward Ludlow Castle. No need for that warning, +however, for just by the Cashmere gate he met the man he sought +driving furiously down with a mounted escort to close the city gates. +He had already heard the news.[3] + +Gathering graver apprehensions from this hasty meeting, the Collector +was off again to warn the Resident, then still further to beg help +from cantonments. No delay here, no hesitation. Simply a man on a +horse doing his best for the future, leaving the present for those on +the spot. + +Nor was there delay anywhere. The Commissioner, calling by the way for +the Captain of the Guard, the nearest man with men under him, was at +the gate, giving on the bridge of boats, by half-past seven. The +Resident, calling on his way at the magazine for two guns to sweep the +bridge, joined him there soon after. Too late. The enemy had crossed, +and were in possession of the only ground commanding the bridge. +Nothing remained but to close the gate and keep the city quiet till +the columns of pursuit from Meerut should arrive; for that there was +one upon the road no one doubted. The very rebels clamoring at the +gate were listening for the sound of those following footsteps. The +very fanatics, longing for another blow or two at an infidel to gain +Paradise withal ere martyrdom was theirs, listened too; for during +that moonlit night the certainty of failure had been as myrrh and +hyssop deadening them to the sacrifice of life. + +So the little knot of Englishmen, looking hopefully down the road, +looked anxiously at each other, and closed the river gate; kept it +closed, too, even when the 20th claimed admittance from their friends +the guard within. For the 38th regiment, whose turn it was for city +work, was also rotten to the core. + +But they could not close that way through Selimgarh, though it, in +truth, brought no trouble to the town. The men who chose it being +intriguers, fanatics, the better class of patriots more anxious to +intrench themselves for the struggle within walls, than to swarm into +a town they could not hope to hold. But there were others of different +mettle, longing for loot and license. The 3d Cavalry had many friends +in Delhi, especially in the Thunbi Bazaar; so they made for it by +braving the shallow streams and shifting sandbanks below the eastern +wall, and so gaining the Raj-ghât gate. Here, after compact with vile +friends in that vile quarter, they found admittance and help. For +what? + +Between the bazaar and the Palace lay Duryagunj, full of helpless +Christian women and children; and so, "_Deen! Deen! Futteh Mohammed_," +the convenient Cry of Faith, was ready as, followed by the rabble and +refuse once more, the troopers raced through the peaceful gardens, +pausing only to kill the infidels they met. But like a furious wind +gathering up all vile things in the street and carrying them along for +a space, then dropping them again, the band left a legacy of license +and sheer murder behind it, while it sped on to loot. + +But now the cry of "Close the gates" rose once more, this time from +the shopkeepers, the respectable quarters, the secluded alleys, and +courtyards. And many a door was closed on the confusion and never +opened again, except to pass in bare bread, for four long months. + +"Close the gates! Close the gates! Close the gates!" The cry rose from +the Palace, the city, the little knot of Englishmen looking down the +Meerut road. Yet no one could compass that closing. Recruits swarmed +in through Selimgarh to the Palace. Robbers swarmed in through the +Raj-ghât gate to harry the bazaars. Only through the Cashmere gate, +held by English officers and a guard of the 38th, no help came. The +Collector arriving therein, hot from his gallop to cantonments, found +more wonder than alarm; for death was dealt in Delhi by noiseless cold +steel; and the main-guard having to be kept, in order to secure +retreat and safety to the European houses around it, no one had been +able to leave it. And all around was still peaceful utterly; even the +roar of growing tumult in the city had not reached it. Sonny Seymour +was playing with his parrot in the veranda, Alice Gissing packing +boxes methodically. The Collector galloping past--as, scorning the +suggestion that it was needless risk to go further, he replied +briefly, that he was the magistrate of the town, and struck spurs to +his horse--made some folk look up--that was all. + +But he could scarcely make his way through the growing crowd, which, +led by troopers, was beginning to close in behind the knot of waiting +Englishmen. And once more they looked down the Meerut road as they +heard that some time must elapse ere they could hope for +reinforcement. The guns could not be got ready at a moment's notice; +nor could the Cashmere gate guard leave the post. But the 54th +regiment should be down in about---- In about what? No one asked; but +those waiting faces listened as for a verdict of life and death. + +In about an hour. + +An hour! And not a cloud of dust upon the Meerut road. + +"They can't be long, though, now," said the eldest there hopefully. +"And Ripley will bring his men down at the double. If we go into the +guard-house we can hold our own till then, surely." + +"I can hold mine," replied a young fellow with a rough-hewn homely +face. He gave a curt nod as he spoke to a companion, and together they +turned back, skirting the wall, followed by an older, burlier man. +They belonged to the magazine, and they were off to see the best way +of holding their own. And they found it--found it for all time. + +But fate had denied to those other brave men the nameless something +which makes men succeed together, or die together. Within half an hour +they were scattered helplessly. The Resident, after seeking support +from the city police for one whose name had been a terror to Delhi for +fifty years, and finding insult instead, was flying for dear life +through the Ajmere gate to the open county; The Commissioner, who, +after seizing a musket from a wavering guard beside him and--with the +first shot fired in Delhi--shooting the foremost trooper dead, seems +to have lost hope, with mutiny around and treason beside him, jumped +into his buggy alone and drove off to those cool quarters above the +Palace gate, as his nearest refuge. Their owner, the Captain sought +like refuge by flinging himself into the cover of the dry moat, and +creeping--despite injuries from the fall--along it till some of his +men, faithful so far, seeing him unable for more, carried him to his +own room. + +The Collector! Strangely enough there is no record of what the +Magistrate of the city did, thus left alone. He had been wounded by +the crowd at first, and was no doubt weary after his wild gallopings. +Still he, holding his own so far, managed to gain the same refuge, +somehow. What else could he do alone? One thing we know he could not +do. That is, mount the broad, curving flight of shallow stone stairs +leading to the cool upper rooms. So the chaplain helped him; the +chaplain who had "from an early hour been watching the advance of the +Meerut mutineers through a telescope and feeling there was mischief in +the wind." + +Mischief indeed! and danger; most of all in those rose-red walls +within which refuge had been sought. For the King was back in the +women's apartments listening to the Queen's cozenings and Hussan +Askuri's visions, when that urgent appeal to send dhoolies to convey +the English ladies at the gate to the security of the harem reached +him; reached him in Ahsan-Oolah's warning voice of wisdom. And he +listened to both the wheedling ambition and the crafty policy with a +half-hearing for something beyond it of pity, honor, good faith; while +Hâfzan, pen in hand, sat with her large profoundly sad eyes fixed on +the old man's face, waiting--waiting. + +"If they come here--outcaste! infidel! I go," said Zeenut Maihl. + +"Thou shalt go with a bowstring about thy neck, woman, if I choose," +said the old King fiercely. "Write! girl--the Queen's dhoolies to the +Lahore gate at once." + +So, through the swarms of pensioners quarreling already over new +titles and perquisites, through the groups of excited fanatics +preparing for martyrdom about the Mosque, past Abool-Bukr, three parts +drunk, boasting to ruffling blades of the European mistresses he meant +to keep, the Queen's dhoolies went swaying out of the precincts; all +yielding place to them. And beyond, in the denser, more dangerous +crowd without, they passed easily; for those tinsel-decked, tawdry +canopies, screened with sodden musk and dirt-scented curtains, were +sacred. + +Sacred even to the refuse and rabble of the city, the dissolute +eunuchs, the mob of retainers, palace guards, and blood-drunk +soldierly surging through that long arched tunnel by the Lahore gate, +and hustling to get round that wide arch, and so, a few steps further, +see the Commissioner standing at bay upon that wide curving red-stone +stair that led upward. Standing and thinking of the women above; of +one woman mostly. Standing, facing the wild sea of faces, waiting to +see if that last appeal for help had been heard. + +"Room! Room! for the Queen's dhoolies!" + +The cry echoed above the roar of the crowd. + +At last! He turned, to pass on the welcome news, perchance; but it was +enough--that one waver of that stern face! There was a rush, a cry, a +clang of steel on stone, a fall! And then up those wide curving +stairs, like fiends incarnate, jostled a mad crew, elbowing each +other, cursing each other, in their eagerness for that blow which +would win Paradise. + +Four crowns of glory in the first room, where the chaplain, the +Captain, and the two English girls fell side by side. One in the next, +where the Collector and Magistrate, weary and wounded, still lay +alone. + +"Way! Way! for the Queen's dhoolies!" + +But they had come too late, as all things seemed to come too late on +that fatal 11th of May. + +Too late! Too late! The words dinned themselves into a horseman's +brain, as he dashed out of the compound of a small house in Duryagunj +and headed straight through the bazaar for the little house on the +city wall by the Cashmere gate. And as he rode he shouted: "_Deen! +Deen!_" + +It was a convenient cry, and suited the trooper's dress he wore. He +had had to shoot a man to get it, but he hoped to shoot many more when +he had seen Alice Gissing in safety, and the Meerut column had come +in. It could not be long now. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + DAYLIGHT. + + +Three miles away Kate Erlton sat in her home-like, peaceful drawing +room, feeling dazzled. The sunshine, streaming through the open doors, +seemed to stream into the very recesses of her mind as she sat, still +looking at the letter which she had found half an hour before waiting +for her beside a bunch of late roses which the gardener had laid on +the table ready for her to arrange in the vases. The flowers were +fading fast; the dog-cart waiting outside to take her on to see a sick +friend ere the sun grew hot, shifted to find another shadow; but she +did not move. + +She was trying to understand what it all meant; really--deprived of +her conventional thoughts about such things. And one sentence in the +letter had a strange fascination for her. "I am not such a fool as to +think you will mind. I know you will get on much better without me." + +Of course. She had, in a way, accepted the truth of this years ago. +The fact must have been patent to him also all that time; and she had +known that he accepted it. + +But now, set down in black and white, it forced her into seeing--as +she had never seen before--the deadly injury she had done to the man +by not minding. And then the question came keenly--"Why had she not +minded?" Because she had not been content with her bargain. She had +wanted something else. What? The emotion, the refinement, the +_fin-fleur_ of sentiment. Briefly, what made _her_ happy; what gave +_her_ satisfaction. It was only, then, a question between different +forms of enjoyment; the one as purely selfish as the other. More so, +in a way, for it claimed more and carried the grievance of denial into +every detail of life. She moved restlessly in her chair, confused by +this sudden daylight in her mind; laid down the letter, then took it +up again and read another sentence. + +"I believe you used to think that I'd get the regiment some day; but I +shouldn't--after all, the finish is the win or the lose of a race." + +The letter went down on the table again, but this time her head went +down with it to rest upon it above her clasped hands. Oh! the pity of +it! the pity of it! Yet how could she have avoided standing aloof from +this man's life as she had done from the moment she had discovered she +did not love him? + +Suddenly she stood up, pressing those clasped hands tight to her +forehead as if to hold in her thoughts. The sunlight, streaming in, +shone right into her cool gray eyes, showing in a ray on the iris, as +if it were passing into her very soul. + +If she had been this man's sister, instead of his wife, could she not +have lived with him contentedly enough, palliating what could be +palliated, gaining what influence she could with him, giving him +affection and sympathy? Why, briefly, had she failed to make him what +Alice Gissing had made him--a better man? And yet Alice Gissing did +not love him; she had no romantic sentiment about him. Did she really +lay less stress--she, the woman at whom other women held up pious +hands of horror--on that elemental difference between the tie of +husband and wife, and brother and sister than she, Kate Erlton, did, +who had affected to rise superior to it altogether? It seemed so. She +had asked for a purely selfish gratification of the mind. And Alice +Gissing? A strange jealousy came to her with the thought, not for +herself, but for her husband; for the man who was content to give up +everything for a woman whom he "loved very dearly." That was true. +Kate had watched him for those three months, and she had watched Mrs. +Gissing too, and knew for a certainty the latter gave him nothing any +woman might not have given him if she had been content to put her own +claims for happiness, her own gratification, her own mental passion +aside. So a quick resolve came to her. He must not give up the finish, +the win or the lose of the race, for so little. There was time yet for +the chance. She had pleaded for one with a man a year ago; she would +plead for it with a woman to-day. + +She passed into the veranda hastily, pausing involuntarily ere getting +into the dog-cart before the still, sunlit beauty of that panorama of +the eastern plains, stretching away behind the gardens which fringed +the shining curves of the river. There was scarcely a shadow anywhere, +not a sign to tell that three miles down that river the man with whom +she had pleaded a year ago was straining every nerve to give her and +himself a chance, and that within the rose-lit, lilac-shaded city the +chance of some had come and gone. + +Nor, as she drove along the road intent on that coming interview in +the hot little house upon the wall, was there any sign to warn her of +danger. The Cashmere gate stood open, and the guard saluted as usual. +Perhaps, had the English officers seen her, they might have advised +her return, even though there was as yet no anticipation of danger; +had there been one, the first thought would have been to clear the +neighboring bungalows. But they were in the main-guard, and she set +down the stare of the natives to the fact that nine o'clock was +unusually late for an English lady to be braving the May sun. The road +beyond was also unusually deserted, but she was too busy searching for +the winged words, barbed well, yet not too swift or sharp to wound +beyond possibility of compromise, which she meant to use ere long, to +pay any attention to her surroundings. She did not even catch the +glimpse of Sonny, still playing with the cockatoo, as she sped past +the Seymours' house, and she scarcely noticed the groom's "_Hut! teri, +hut!_" (Out of the way! you there!) to a figure in a green turban, +over which she nearly ran, as it came sneaking round a corner as if +looking for something or someone; a figure which paused to look after +her half doubtfully. + +Yet these same words, which came so readily to her imaginings, failed +her, as set words will, before the commonplace matter-of-fact reality. +If she could have jumped from the dog-cart and dashed into them +without preamble, she would have been eloquent enough; but the +necessary inquiry if Mrs. Gissing could see her, the ushering in as +for an ordinary visit, the brief waiting, the perfunctory hand-shake +with the little figure in familiar white-and-blue were so far from the +high-strung appeal in her thoughts that they left her silent, almost +shy. + +"Find a comfy chair, do," came the high, hard voice. "Isn't it +dreadfully hot? My old Mai will have it something is going to happen. +She has been dikking me about it all the morning. An earthquake, I +suppose; it feels like it, rather. Don't you think so?" + +Kate felt as if one had come already, as, quite automatically, she +satisfied Alice Gissing's choice of "a really--really comfy chair." + +How dizzily unreal it seemed! And yet not more so, in fact, than the +life they had been leading for months past; knowing the truth about +each other absolutely; pretending to know nothing. Well! the sooner +that sort of thing came to an end, the better! + +"I have had a letter from my husband," she began, but had to pause to +steady her voice. + +"So I supposed when I saw you," replied Alice Gissing, without a +quiver in hers. But she rose, crossed over to Kate, and stood before +her, like a naughty child, her hands behind her back. She looked +strangely young, strangely innocent in the dim light of the sunshaded +room. So young, so small, so slight among the endless frills and laces +of a loose morning wrapper. And she spoke like a child also, +querulously, petulantly. + +"I like you the better for coming, too, though I don't see what +possible good it can do. He said in his letter to me he would tell you +all about it, and if he has, I don't see what else there is to say, do +you?" + +Kate rose also, as if to come nearer to her adversary, and so the two +women stood looking boldly enough into each other's eyes. But the +keenness, the passion, the pity of the scene had somehow gone out of +it for Kate Erlton. Her tongue seemed tied by the tameness; she felt +that they might have been discussing a trivial detail in some trivial +future. Yet she fought against the feeling. + +"I think there is a great deal to say; that is why I have come to say +it," she replied, after a pause. "But I can say it quickly. You don't +love my husband, Alice Gissing, let him go. Don't ruin his life." + +Bald and crude as this was in comparison with her imagined appeal, it +gave the gist of it, and Kate watched her hearer's face anxiously to +see the effect. Was that by chance a faint smile? or was it only the +barred light from the jalousies hitting the wide blue eyes? + +"Love!" echoed Alice Gissing. "I don't know anything about love. I +never pretended to. But I can make him happy; you never did." + +There was not a trace of malice in the high voice. It simply stated a +fact; but a fact so true that Kate's lip quivered. + +"I know that as well as you do. But I think I could--now. I want you +to give me the chance." + +She had not meant to put it so humbly; but, being once more the gist +of what she had intended to say, it must pass. There was no doubt +about the smile now. It was almost a laugh, that hateful, inconsequent +laugh; but, as if to soften its effect, a little jeweled hand hovered +out as if it sought a resting-place on Kate's arm. + +"You can't, my dear. It _is_ so funny that you can't see that, when I, +who know nothing about--about all that--can see it quite plainly. You +are the sort of woman, Mrs. Erlton, who falls in love--who must fall +in love--who--don't be angry!--likes being in love, and is unhappy if +she isn't. Now I don't care a rap for people to be thinking, and +thinking, and thinking of me, nothing but me! I like them to be +pleasant and pleased. And I make them so, somehow----" She shrugged +her shoulders whimsically as if to dismiss the puzzle, and went on +gravely, "And you can't make people happy if you aren't happy +yourself, you know, so there is no use in thinking you could." + +It was bitter truth, but Kate was too honest to deny it. There had +always been the sense of grievance in the past, and the sense of +self-sacrifice, at least, would remain in the future. + +"But there are other considerations," she began slowly. "A man does +not set such store by--by love and marriage as a woman. It is only a +bit----" + +"A very small bit," put in Mrs. Gissing, with a whimsical face. + +"A very small bit of his life," continued Kate stolidly, "and if my +husband gives up his profession----" + +Mrs. Gissing interrupted her again; this time petulantly. "I told him +it was a pity--I offered to go away anywhere. I did, indeed! And I +couldn't do more, could I? But when a man gets a notion of honor into +his head----" + +"Honor!" interrupted Kate in her turn, "the less said about honor the +better, surely, between you and me!" + +The wide blue eyes looked at her doubtfully. + +"I never can understand women like you," said their owner. "You +pretend not to care, and then you make so much fuss over so little." + +"So little!" retorted Kate, her temper rising. "Is it little that my +boy should have to know this about his father--about me? You have no +children, Mrs. Gissing! If you had you would understand the shame +better. Oh! I know about the baby and the flowers--who doesn't? But +that is nothing. It was so long ago, it died so young, you have +forgotten----" + +She broke off before the expression on the face before her--that face +with the shadowless eyes, but with deep shadows beneath the eyes and a +nameless look of physical strain and stress upon it--and a sudden +pallor came to her own cheek. + +"So he hasn't told you," came the high voice half-fretfully, +half-pitifully. "That was very mean of him; but I thought, somehow, he +couldn't by your coming here. Well! I suppose I must. Mrs. Erlton----" + +Kate stepped back from her defiantly, angrily. "He has told me all I +need, all I care to know about this miserable business. Yes! he has! +You can see the letter if you like--there it is! I am not ashamed of +it. It is a good letter, better than I thought he could write--better +than you deserve. For he says he will marry you if I will let him! And +he says he is sorry it can't be helped. But I deny that. It can, it +must, it shall be helped! And then he says it's a pity for the boy's +sake; but that it does not matter so much as if it was a girl----" + +It was the queerest sound which broke in on those passionate +reproaches. The queerest sound. Neither a laugh nor a sob, nor a cry; +but something compounded of all three, infinitely soft, infinitely +tender. + +"_And the other may be_," said Alice Gissing in a voice of smiles and +tears, as she pointed to the end of the sentence in the letter Kate +had thrust upon her. "Poor dear! What a way to put it! How like a man +to think you could understand; and I wonder what the old Mai _would_ +say to its being----" + +What did she say? What were the frantic words which broke from the +frantic figure, its sparse gray hair showing, its shriveled bosom +heaving unveiled, which burst into the room and flung its arms round +that little be-frilled white one as if to protect and shield it? + +Kate Erlton gave a half-choked, half-sobbing cry. Even this seemed a +relief from the incredible horror of what had dawned upon her, +frightening her by the wild insensate jealousy it roused--the jealousy +of motherhood. + +"What is it? What does she say?" she cried passionately, "I have a +right to know!" + +Alice Gissing looked at her with a faint wonder. "It is nothing about +_that_," she said, and her face, though it had whitened, showed no +fear. "It's something more important. There has been a row in the +city--the Commissioner and some other Englishmen have been killed and +she says we are not safe. I don't quite understand. Oh! don't be a +fool, Mai!" she went on in Hindustani, "I won't excite myself. I never +do. Don't be a fool, I say!" Her foot came down almost savagely and +she turned to Kate. "If you will wait here for a second, Mrs. Erlton, +I'll go outside with the Mai and have a look round, and bring my +husband's pistol from the other room. You had better stay, really. I +shall be back in a moment. And I dare say it's all the old Mai's +nonsense--she is such a fool about me--nowadays." Her white face; +smiling over its own certainty of coming trouble, was gone, and the +door closed, almost before Kate could say a word. Not that she had any +to say. She was too dazed to think of danger to the little figure, +which passed out into the shady back veranda perched on the city wall, +looking out into the peaceful country beyond. She was too absorbed in +what she had just realized to think of anything else. So this was what +he had meant!--and this woman with her facile nature, ready to please +and be pleased with anyone--this woman content to take the lowest +place--had the highest of all claims upon him. This woman who had no +right to motherhood, who did not know---- + +God in Heaven! What was that through the stillness and the peace? A +child's pitiful scream. + +She was at the closed windows in an instant, peering through the slits +of the jalousies; but there was nothing to be seen save a blare and +blaze of sunlight on sun-scorched grass and sun-withered beds of +flowers. Nothing!--stay!--Christ help us! What was that? A vision of +white, and gold, and blue. White garments and white wings, golden +curls and flaming golden crest, fierce gray-blue beak and claws among +the fluttering blue ribbons. Sonny! His little feet flying and failing +fast among the flower-beds. Sonny! still holding his favorite's chain +in the unconscious grip of terror, while half-dragged, half-flying, +the wide white wings fluttered over the child's head. + +"_Deen! Deen! Futteh Mohammed!_" + +That was from the bird, terrified, yet still gentle. + +"_Deen! Deen! Futteh Mohammed!_" + +That was from the old man who followed fast on the child with long +lance in rest like a pig-sticker's. An old man in a faded green turban +with a spiritual, relentless face. + +Kate's fingers were at the bolts of the high French window--her only +chance of speedy exit from that closed room. Ah! would they never +yield?--and the lance was gaining on those poor little flying feet. +Every atom of motherhood in her--fierce, instinctive, animal, fought +with those unyielding bolts.... + +What was that? Another vision of white, and gold, and blue, dashing +into the sunlight with something in a little clenched right hand. +Childish itself in frills, and laces, and ribbons, but with a face as +relentless as the old man's, as spiritual. And a clear confident voice +rang above those discordant cries. + +"All right, Sonny! All right, dear!" + +On, swift and straight in the sunlight; and then a pause to level the +clenched right hand over the left arm coolly, and fire. The lance +wavered. It was two feet further from that soft flesh and blood when +Alice Gissing caught the child up, turned and ran; ran for dear life +to shelter. + +"_Deen! Deen! Futteh Mohammed!_" + +The cry came after the woman and child, and over them, released by +Sonny's wild clutch at sheltering arms, the bird fluttered, echoing +the cry. + +But one bolt was down at last, the next yielding--Ah! who was that +dressed like a native, riding like an Englishman, who leaped the high +garden fence and was over among the flower-beds where Sonny was being +chased. Was he friend or foe? No matter! Since under her vehement +hands the bolt had fallen, and Kate was out in the veranda. Too late! +The flying sunlit vision of white, and gold, and blue had tripped and +fallen. No! not too late. The report of a revolver rang out, and the +Cry of Faith came only from the bird, for the fierce relentless face +was hidden among the laces, and frills, and ribbons that hid the +withered flowers. + +But the lance? The lance whose perilous nearness had made that shot +Jim Douglas' only chance of keeping his promise? He was on his knees +on the scorched grass choking down the curse as he saw a broken shaft +among the frills and ribbons, a slow stream oozing in gushes to dye +them crimson. There was another crimson spot, too, on the shoulder, +showing where a bullet, after crashing through a man's temples, had +found its spent resting place. But as the Englishman kicked away one +body, and raised the other tenderly from the unhurt child, so as not +to stir that broken shaft, he wished that if death had had to come, he +might have dealt it. To his wild rage, his insane hatred, there seemed +a desecration even in that cold touch of steel from a dark hand. + +But Alice Gissing resented nothing. She lay propped by his arms with +those wide blue eyes still wide, yet sightless, heedless of Kate's +horrified whispers, or the poor old Mai's frantic whimper. Until +suddenly a piteous little wail rose from the half-stunned child to +mingle with that ceaseless iteration of grief. "_Oh! meri buchchi +murgyia!_" (Oh, my girlie is dead!--dead!) + +It seemed to bring her back, and a smile showed on the fast-paling +face. + +"Don't be a fool, Mai. It isn't a girl; it's a boy. Take care of him, +do, and don't be stupid. I'm all right." + +Her voice was strong enough, and Kate looked at Jim Douglas hopefully. +She had recognized him at once, despite his dress, with a faint, dead +wonder as to why things were so strange to-day. But he could feel +something oozing wet and warm over his supporting arm, he knew the +meaning of that whitening face; so he shook his head hopelessly, his +eyes on those wide unseeing ones. She was as still, he thought, as she +had been when he held her before. Then suddenly the eyes narrowed into +sight, and looked him in the face curiously, clearly. + +"It's you, is it?" came the old inconsequent laugh. "Why don't you say +'Bravo!--Bravo!--Bra--'" + +The crimson rush of blood from her still-smiling lips dyed his hands +also, as he caught her up recklessly with a swift order to the others +to follow, and ran for the house. But as he ran, clasping her close, +close, to him, his whispered bravos assailed her dead ears +passionately, and when he laid her on her bed, he paused even in the +mad tumult of his rage, his anxiety, his hope for others to kiss the +palms of those brave hands ere he folded them decently on her breast, +and was out to fetch his horse, and return to where Kate waited for +him in the veranda, the child in her arms. Brave also; but the +certainty that he had left the flood-level of sympathy and admiration +behind him at the feet of a dead woman he had never known, was with +him even in his hurry. + +"I can't see anyone else about as yet," he said, as he reloaded +hastily, "and but for that fiend--that devil of a bird hounding him +on--what did it mean?--not that it matters now"--he threw his hand out +in a gesture of impotent regret and turned to mount. + +Kate shivered. What, indeed, did it mean? A vague recollection was +adding to her horror. Had she driven away once from an uncomprehensible +appeal in that relentless face? when the bird---- + +"Don't think, please," said Jim Douglas, pausing to give her a sharp +glance. "You will need all your nerve. The troops mutinied at Meerut +last night, and killed a lot of people. They have come on here, and I +don't trust the native regiments. Go inside, and shut the door. I must +reconnoiter a bit before we start." + +"But my husband?" she cried, and her tone made him remember the +strangeness of finding her in that house. She looked unreliable, to +his keen eye; the bitter truth might make her rigid, callous, and in +such callousness lay their only chance. + +"All right. He asked me to look after--her." + +He saw her waver, then pull herself together; but he saw also that her +clasp on Sonny tightened convulsively, and he held out his arms. + +"Hand the child to me for a moment," he said briefly, "and call that +poor lady's ayah from her wailing." + +The piteous whimperings from the darkened rooms within ceased +reluctantly. The old woman came with lagging step into the veranda, +but Jim Douglas called to her in the most matter-of-fact voice. + +"Here, Mai! Take your mem's charge. She told you to take care +of the boy, remember." The tear-dim doubtful eyes looked at him +half-resentfully, but he went on coolly. "Now, Sonny, go to your ayah, +and be a good boy. Hold out your arms to old ayah, who has had ever so +many Sonnys--haven't you, ayah?" + +The child, glad to escape from the prancing horse, the purposely rough +arms, held out its little dimpled hands. They seemed to draw the +hesitating old feet, step by step, till with a sudden fierce snatch, a +wild embrace, the old arms closed round the child with a croon of +content. + +Jim Douglas breathed more freely. "Now, Mrs. Erlton," he said, "I +can't make you promise to leave Sonny there; but he is safer with her +than he could be with you. She must have friends in the city. You +haven't _one_." + +He was off as he spoke, leaving her to that knowledge. Not a friend! +No! not one. Still, he need not have told her so, she thought proudly, +as she passed in and closed the doors as she had been bidden to do. +But he had succeeded. A certain fierce, dull resistance had replaced +her emotion. So while the ayah, still carrying Sonny, returned to her +dead mistress, Kate remained in the drawing room, feeling stunned. Too +stunned to think of anything save those last words. Not a friend! Not +one, saving a few cringing shop-keepers, in all that wide city to whom +she had ever spoken a word! Whose fault was that? Whose fault was it +that she had not understood that appeal? + +A rattle of musketry quite close at hand roused her from apathy into +fear for the child, and she passed rapidly into the next room. It was +empty, save for that figure on the bed. The ayah with her charge had +gone, closing the doors behind her; to her friends, no doubt. But she, +Kate Erlton, had none. The renewed rattle of musketry sent her to peer +through the jalousies; but she could see nothing. The sound seemed to +come from the open space by the church, but gardens lay between her +and that, blocking the view. Still it was quite close; seemed closer +than it had been. No doubt it would come closer and closer till it +found her waiting there, without a friend. Well! Since she was not +even capable of saving Sonny, she could at least do what she was +told--she could at least die alone. + +No! not quite alone! She turned back to the bed and looked down on the +slender figure lying there as if asleep. For the ayah's vain hopes of +lingering life had left the face unstained, and the folded hands hid +the crimson below them. Asleep, not dead; for the face had no look of +rest. It was the face of one who dreams still of the stress and strain +of coming life. + +So this was to be her companion in death; this woman who had done her +the greatest wrong. What wrong? the question came dully. What wrong +had she done to one who refused to admit the claims or rights of +passion? What had she stolen, this woman who had not cared at all? +Whose mind had been unsullied utterly. Only motherhood; and that was +given to saint and sinner alike. + +Given rightly here, for those little hands were brave mother-hands. +Kate put out hers softly and touched them. Still warm, still +life-like, their companionship thrilled her through and through. With +a faint sob, she sank on her knees beside the bed and laid her cheek +on them. Let death come and find her there! Let the finish of the +race, which was the win and the lose---- + +"Mrs. Erlton! quick, please!" + +Jim Douglas' voice, calling to her from outside, roused her from a +sort of apathy into sudden desire for life; she was out in the veranda +in a second. + +"The game's up," he said, scarcely able to speak from breathlessness; +and his horse was in a white lather. "I had to see to the Seymours +first, and now there's only one chance I can think of--desperate at +that. Quick, your foot on mine--so--from the step---- Now your hand. +One! two! three! That's right." He had her on the saddle before him +and was off through the gardens cityward at a gallop. "The 54th came +down from the cantonments all right," he went on rapidly, "but shot +their officers at the church--the city scoundrels are killing and +looting all about, but the main-guard is closed and safe as yet. I got +Mrs. Seymour there. I'll get you if I can. I'm going to ride through +the thick of the devils now with you as my prisoner. Do you see--there +at the turn. I'll hark back down the road--it's the only chance of +getting through. Slip down a bit across the saddle bow. Don't be +afraid. I'll hold as long as I can. Now scream--scream like the devil. +No! let your arms slack as if you'd fainted--people won't look so +much--that's better--that's capital--now--ready!" + +He swerved his horse with a dig of the spur and made for the crowd +which lay between him and safety. The words describing the rape of the +Sabine women, over the construing of which he remembered being birched +at school, recurred to him, as such idle thoughts will at such times, +as he hitched his hand tighter on Kate's dress and scattered the first +group with a coarse jest or two. Thank Heaven! She would not +understand these, his only weapons; since cold steel could not be +used, till it had to be used to _prevent_ her understanding. Thank +Heaven, too! he could use both weapons fairly. So he dug in the spurs +again and answered the crowd in its own kind, recklessly. A laugh, an +oath, once or twice a blow with the flat of his sword. And Kate, with +slack arms and closed eyes, lay and listened--listened to a sharper, +angrier voice, a quick clash of steel, a shout of half-doubtful, +half-pleased derision from those near, a jest provoking a roar of +merriment for one who meant to hold his own in love and war. Then a +sudden bound of the horse; a faint slackening of that iron grip on her +waist-belt. The worst of the stream was past; another moment and they +were in a quiet street, another, and they had turned at right-angles +down a secluded alley where Jim Douglas paused to pass his right hand, +still holding his sword, under Kate's head and bid her lean against +him more comfortably. The rest was easy. He would take her out by the +Moree gate--the alleys to it would be almost deserted--so, outside the +walls, to the rear of the Cashmere gate. They were already twisting +and turning through the narrow lanes as he told her this. Then, with a +rush and a whoop, he made for the gate, and the next moment they had +the open country, the world, before them. How still and peaceful it +lay in the sunshine! But the main-guard was the nearest, safest +shelter, so the galloping hoofs sped down the tree-set road along +which Kate generally took her evening drive. + +"And you?" she asked hurriedly as he set her down at the moat and bade +her run for the wicket and knock, while he kept the drawbridge. + +He shook his head. "The reliefs from Meerut must be in soon. If they +started at dawn, in an hour. Besides, I'm off to the Palace to see +what has really happened; information's everything." + +She saw him turn with a wave of his sword for farewell as the wicket +was opened cautiously, and make for the Moree gate once more. As he +rode he told himself there should be no further cause for anxiety on +her account. De Tessier's guns were in the main-guard now, and +reinforcements of the loyal 74th. They could hold their own easily +till the Meerut people smashed up the Palace. They could not be long +now, and the city had not risen as yet. The bigger bazaars through +which he cantered were almost deserted; everyone had gone home. But at +the entrance to an alley a group of boys clustered, and one ran out to +him crying, "Khân-sahib! What's the matter? Folk say people are being +killed, but we want to go to school." + +"Don't," said Jim Douglas as he passed on. He had seen the +schoolmaster, stripped naked, lying on his back in the broad daylight +as he galloped along the College road with Kate over his saddle-bow. + +"_Ari_, brothers," reported the spokesman. "He said '_don't_,' but he +can know naught. He comes from the outside. And we shall lose places +in class if we stop, and others go." + +So in the cheerful daylight the schoolboys discussed the problem, +school or no school; the Great Revolt had got no further than that, as +yet. + +But there was no cloud of dust upon the Meerut road, though straining +eyes thought they saw one more than once. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + NOON. + + +But if the schoolmaster of one school lay dead in the sunlight there +was another, well able to teach a useful lesson, left alive; and his +school remains for all time as a place where men may learn what men +can do. + +For about three hundred yards from the deserted College, about six +hundred from the main-guard of the Cashmere gate, stood the magazine, +to which the two young Englishmen, followed by a burlier one, had +walked back quietly after one of them had remarked that he could hold +his own. For there were gates to be barred, four walls to be seen to, +and various other preparations to be made before the nine men who +formed the garrison could be certain of holding their own. And their +own meant much to others; for with the stores and the munitions of war +safe the city might rise, but it would be unarmed; but with them at +the mercy of the rabble every pitiful pillager could become a recruit +to the disloyal regiments. + +"The mine's about finished now, sir," said Conductor Buckley, saluting +gravely as he looked critically down a line ending in the powder +magazine. "And, askin' your pardon, sir, mightn't it be as well to +settle a signal beforehand, sir; in case it's wanted? And, if you have +no objection, sir, here's Sergeant Scully here, sir, saying he would +look on it as a kind favor----" + +A man with a spade glanced up a trifle anxiously for the answer as he +went on with his work. + +"All right! Scully shall fire it. If you finish it there in the middle +by that little lemon tree, we shan't forget the exact spot. Scully +must see to having the portfire ready for himself. I'll give the word +to you, as your gun will be near mine, and you can pass it on by +raising your cap. That will do, I think." + +"Nicely, sir," said Conductor Buckley, saluting again. + +"I wish we had one more man," remarked the Head-of-the-nine, as he +paused in passing a gun to look to something in its gear with swift +professional eye. "I don't quite see how the nine of us are to work +the ten guns." + +"Oh! we'll manage somehow," said his second in command, "the native +establishment--perhaps----" + +George Willoughby; the Head-of-the-nine, looked at the sullen group of +dark faces lounging distrustfully within those barred doors, and his +own face grew stern. Well, if they would not work, they should at +least stay and look on--stay till the end. Then he took out his watch. + +"Twelve! The Meerut troops will be in soon--if they started at dawn." +There was the finest inflection of scorn in his voice. + +"They must have started," began his companion. But the tall figure +with the grave young face was straining its eyes from the bastion they +were passing; it gave upon the bridge of boats and the lessening white +streak of road. He was looking for a cloud of dust upon it; but there +was none. + +"I hope so," he remarked as he went on. He gave a half-involuntary +glance back, however, to the stunted lemon-bush. There was a black +streak by it, which might be relied upon to give aid at dawn, or dusk, +or noon; high noon as it was now. + +The chime of it echoed methodically as ever from the main-guard, +making a cheerful young voice in the officer's room say, "Well! the +enemy is passing, anyhow. The reliefs can't be long--if they started +at dawn." + +"If they had started when they ought to have started, they would have +been here hours ago," said an older man, almost petulantly, as he rose +and wandered to the door, to stand looking out on the baking court +where his men--the two companies of the 54th, who had come down under +his charge after those under Colonel Riply had shot down their +officers by the church--were lounging about sullenly. These men might +have shot him also but for the timely arrival of the two guns; might +have shot at him, even now, but for those loyal 74th over-awing them. +He turned and looked at some of the latter with a sort of envy. These +men had come forward in a body when the regiment was called upon by +its commandant to give honest volunteers to keep order in the city. +What had they had, which his men had lacked? Nothing that he knew of. +And then, inevitably, he thought of his six murdered friends and +comrades, officers apparently as popular as he, whose bodies were +lying in the next room waiting for a cart to remove them to the Ridge. +For even Major Paterson, saddened, depressed, looked forward to decent +sepulture for his comrades by and by--by and by when the Meerut troops +should arrive. And the half dozen or more of women upstairs were +comforting each other with the same hope, and crushing down the cry +that it seemed an eternity, already, since they had waited for that +little cloud of dust upon the Meerut road. But for that hope they +might have gone Meerutward themselves; for the country was peaceful. + +Even in Duryagunj, though by noon it was a charnel-house, the score or +so of men who kept cowards at bay in a miserable storehouse comforted +themselves with the same hope; and women with the long languid eyes of +one race, looked out of them with the temper and fire of the other, +saying in soft staccato voices--"It will not be long now. They will be +here soon, for they would start at dawn." + +"They will come soon," said a young telegraph clerk coolly, as he +stood by his instrument hoping for a welcome _kling_; sending, +finally, that bulletin northward which ended with the reluctant +admission, "we must shut up." Must indeed; seeing that some ruffians +rushed in and sabered him with his hands still on the levers. + +"They will be here soon," agreed the compositors of the _Delhi +Gazette_ as they worked at the strangest piece of printing the world +is ever likely to see. That famous extra, wedged in between English +election news, which told in bald journalese of a crisis, which became +the crisis of their own lives before the whole edition was sent out. + +But down in the Palace Zeenut Maihl had been watching that white +streak of road also, and as the hours passed, her wild impatience +would let her watch it no longer. She paced up and down the Queen's +bastion like a caged tigress, leaving Hâfzan to take her place at the +lattice. No sign of an avenging army yet! Then the troopers' tale must +be true! The hour of decisive action had come, it was slipping past, +the King was in the hands of Ahsan-Oolah, and Elahi Buksh, whose face +was set both ways, like the physician's. And she, helpless, half in +disgrace, caged, veiled, screened, unable to lay hands on anyone! Oh! +why was she not a man! Why had she not a man to deal with! Her +henna-stained nails bit into her palms as she clenched her hands, then +in sheer childish passion tore off her hampering veil and, rolling it +into a ball, flung it at the head of a drowsy eunuch in the outside +arcade--the nearest thing to a man within her reach. + +"No sign yet, Hâfzan?" she asked fiercely. + +"No sign, my Queen," replied Hâfzan, with an odd derisive smile. If +they did not come now, thought this woman with her warped nature, they +would come later on; come and put a rope round the necks of men who +had laid violent hands on women. + +"Then I stop here no longer!" cried Zeenut Maihl recklessly; "I must +see somewhat of it or die. Quick, girls, my dhooli, I will go back to +my own rooms. 'Twill at least bear me through the crowd, and the +jogging will keep the blood from tingling from very stillness." + +So through the tawdry, dirty, musky curtains a woman's fierce eye +watched the crowd hungrily, as the dhooli swung through it. A fierce +crowd too in its way, but lacking cohesion. Like the world without +those four rose-red walls, it was waiting for a master. And the man +who should have been master was taking cooling draughts, and composing +couplets, so her spies brought word. No hope from him till she could +lure him back from his vexation and put some of her own energy into +him. Who next was there likely to do her bidding? Her eye, taking in +all the strangeness of the scene, troopers stabling their horses in +the colonnades, sepoys bivouacking under the trees, courtiers hurrying +up and down the private steps, found none in all that crowd of +place-hunters, boasters, enthusiasts, whom she could trust. The King's +eldest son Mirza Moghul was the fiercest tempered of them all, the +only one whom she feared in any way; perhaps if she could get hold of +him---- + +As her dhooli swayed up the steps he was standing on them talking to +Mirza Khair Sultan. She could have put out her hand and touched him; +but even she did not dare convention enough for that. Nevertheless, +the sight of him determined her. If the King did not come back to her +by noon, she must lure the Mirza to her side. + +"Thou art a fool, Pir-jee," she said petulantly to Hussan Askuri who, +as father confessor, had entrance to the womens' rooms and was +awaiting her. "Thou hast no grip on the King when I am absent. Canst +not even drive that slithering physician from his side?" + +"Cooling draughts, seest thou, Pir-jee," put in Hâfzan maliciously, +"have tangible effects. Thy dreams----" + +"Peace, woman!" interrupted the Queen sternly, "'tis no time for +jesting. Where sits the King now?" + +"In the river balcony, Ornament-of-palaces," replied Fâtma glibly, +"where he is not to be disturbed these two hours, so the physician +says, lest the cooling draught----" + +The Queen stamped her foot in sheer impotent rage. "I must see +someone. And Jewan Bukht, my son? why hath he not answered my +summons?" + +"His Highness," put in Hâfzan gravely, "was, as I came by just now, +quarreling in his cups with his nephew, the princely Abool-Bukr, +regarding the Inspectorship-of-Cavalry; which office both desire--a +weighty matter----" + +"Peace! she-devil!" almost screamed the Queen. "Can I not see, can I +not hear for myself, that thy sharp wits must forever drag the rotten +heart to light--thou wilt go too far, some day, Hâfzan, and then----" + +"The Queen will have to find another scribe," replied Hâfzan meekly. + +Zeenut Maihl glared at her, then rolled round into her cushions as if +she were in actual physical pain. And hark! From the Lahore gate, as +if nothing had happened, came the chime of noon. Noon! and nothing +done. She sat up suddenly and signed to Hâfzan for pen and ink. She +would wait no longer for the King; she would at least try the Mirza. + +"'This, to the most illustrious the Mirza Moghul, Heir-Apparent by +right to the throne of Timoor,'" she dictated firmly, and Hâfzan +looked up startled. "Write on, fool," she continued; "hast never +written lies before? 'After salutation the Begum Zeenut Maihl,'"--the +humbler title came from her lips in a tone which boded ill for the +recipient of the letter if he fell into the toils,--"'seeing that in +this hour of importance the King is sick, and by order of physicians +not to be disturbed, would know if the Mirza, being by natural right +the King's vice-regent, desires the private seal to any orders +necessary for peace and protection. Such signet being in the hands of +the Queen'--nay, not that, I was forgetting--'the Begum.'" + +She gave an angry laugh as she lay back among her cushions and bid +them send the letter forthwith. That should make him nibble. Not that +she had the signet--the King kept that on his own finger--but if the +Mirza came on pretense or rather in hopes of getting it? Why! then; if +the proper order was given and if she could insure the aid of men to +carry out her schemes, the signet should be got at somehow. The King +was old and frail; the storm and stress might well kill him. + +So her thoughts ranged from one plot to another as she waited for an +answer. If this lure succeeded, she would but use the Heir-Apparent +for a time. What use was there in plotting for him? He could die, as +other heirs had died; and then the only person likely to put a spoke +in her wheel was Abool-Bukr. He was teaching his young uncle the first +pleasures of manhood, and might find it convenient to influence the +boy against her. It would be well therefore to get hold of him also. +That was not a hard task, and she sat up again without a moment's +hesitation and signed once more to Hâfzan. + +"Thy best flourishes," she said with an evil sneer, "for it goes to a +rare scholar; to a fool for all that, who would have folk think +nephews visit their aunts from duty! 'This to Newâsi loving and +beloved, greeting. Consequent on the disturbances, the princely nephew +Abool-Bukr lieth senseless here in the Palace.' Stare not, fool! +senseless drunk he is by this time, I warrant. 'Those who have seen +him think ill of him.'" Here she broke off into malicious enjoyment of +her own wit. "Ay! and those who have but heard of him also! 'The +course of events, however, being in the hands of Heaven, will be duly +reported.'" + +She coiled herself up again on the cushions, an insignificant square +homely figure draped in worn brocade and laden with tarnished jewelry; +ill-matched strings of pearls, flawed emeralds, diamonds without +sparkle. Yet not without a certain dignity, a certain symmetry of +purpose, harmonizing with the arched and frescoed room in which she +lay; a room beautiful in design and decoration, yet dirty, +comfortless, almost squalid. + +"Nay! not my signature," she yawned. "I am too old a foe of the +scholars; but a smudge o' the thumb will do. If I know aught of aunts +and nephews, she will be too much flustered by the news to look at +seals. And have word sent to the Delhi gate that the Princess +Farkhoonda be admitted, but goes not forth again." + +Her hard voice ceased; there was no sound in the room save that +strange hum from the gardens outside, which at this hour of the day +were generally wrapped in sun-drugged slumbers. + +But the world beyond, toward which the old King's lusterless eyes +looked as he lay on the river balcony, was sleepy, sun-drugged as +ever. Through the tracery-set archs showed yellow stretches of sand +and curving river, with tussocks of tall tiger-grass hiding the +slender stems of the palm-trees which shot up here and there into the +blue sky; blue with the yellow glaze upon it which comes from sheer +sunlight. A row of _saringhi_ players squatted in the room behind the +balcony, thrumming softly, so as to hide that strange hum of life +which reached even here. For the King was writing a couplet and was in +difficulties with a rhyme for _cartouche_ (cartridge); since he was a +stickler for form, holding that the keynote of the lines should +jingle. And this couplet was to epitomize the situation on the other +side of the _saringhies_. _Cartouche? Cartouche?_ Suddenly he sat up. +"Quick! send for Hussan Askuri; or stay!" he hesitated for an instant. +Hussan Askuri would be with the Queen, and no one ever admired his +couplets as she did. How many hours was it since he had seen her? And +what was the use of making couplets, if you were denied their just +meed of praise? "Stay," he repeated, "I will go myself." It was a +relief to feel himself on the way back to be led by the nose, and as +they helped him across the intervening courtyard he kept repeating his +treasure, imagining her face when she heard it. + + + "Kuchch Chil-i-Room nahin kya, ya Shah-i-Roos, nahin + Jo Kuchch kya na sara se, so cartouche ne." + + +A couplet, which, lingering still in the mouths of the people, +warrants the old poetaster's conceit of it, and--dog-anglicized--runs +thus: + + + "Nor Czar nor Sultan made the conquest easy, + The only weapon was a cartridge greasy." + + +"The Queen? Where is the Queen?" fumed the old man, when he found an +empty room instead of instant flattery; for he was, after all, the +Great Moghul. + +"She prays for the King's recovery," said Fâtma readily. "I will +inform her that her prayer is granted." But as she passed on her +errand, she winked at a companion, who hid her giggle in her veil; for +Grand Turk or not, the women hold all the trump cards in seclusion. So +how was the old man to know that the one who came in radiant with +exaggerated delight at his return, had been interviewing his eldest +son behind decorous screens, and that she was thanking Heaven piously +for having sent him back to her apron-string in the very nick of time. +Sent him, and Hussan Askuri, and pen and ink within reach of her quick +wit. + +"That is the best couplet my lord has done," she said superbly. "That +must be signed and sealed." + +So must a paper be, which lay concealed in her bosom. And as she spoke +she drew the signet ring lovingly, playfully from the King's finger +and walked over to where the scribe sat crouched on the floor. + +"Ink it well, Pir-jee," she said, keeping her back to the King; "the +impression must be as immortal as the verse." + +Despite the warning, a very keen ear might have detected a double +sound, as if the seal had needed a second pressure. That was all. + +So it came about that, half an hour or so afterward, the +Head-of-the-nine at the magazine was looking contemptuously at a paper +brought by the Palace Guards, and passed under the door, ordering its +instant opening. George Willoughby laughed; but some of the eight +dashed people's impudence and cursed their cheek! Yet, after the +laugh, the Head-of-the-nine walked over, yet another time, to that +river bastion to look down at that white streak of road. How many +times he had looked already, Heaven knows; but his grave face had +grown graver, though it brightened again after a glance at the lemon +bush. The black streak there would not fail them. + +"In the King's name open!" The demand came from Mirza Moghul himself +this time, for the Palace was without arms, without ammunition; and if +they were to defend it, according to the Queen's idea, against all +corners, till there was time for other regiments to rebel, this matter +of the magazine was important. Abool-Bukr was with him, half-drunk, +wholly incapable, but full of valor; for a scout sent by the Queen had +returned with the news that no English soldier was within ten miles of +Delhi, and within the last half hour an ominous word had begun to pass +from lip to lip in the city. + +Helpless! + +The masters were helpless. Past two o'clock and not a blow in revenge. +Helpless! The word made cowards brave, and brave folk cowards. And +many who had spent the long hours in peeping from their closed doors +at each fresh clatter in the street, hoping it was the master, looked +at each other with startled eyes. + +Helpless! Helpless! + +The echo of the thought reached the main-guard, still in touch with +the outside world, whence, as the day dragged by, fresh tidings of +danger drifted down from the Ridge, where men, women, and children lay +huddled helplessly in the Flagstaff Tower, watching the white streak +of road. It seems like a bad dream, that hopeless, paralyzing strain +of the eyes for a cloud of dust. + +But the echo won no way into the magazine, for the simple reason that +it knew it was not hopeless. It could hold its own. + +"Shoot that man Kureem Buksh, please, Forrest, if he comes bothering +round the gate again. He is really very annoying. I have told him +several times to keep back; so it is no use his trying to give +information to the people outside." + +For the Head-of-the-nine was very courteous. "Scaling ladders?" he +echoed, when a native superintendent told him that the princes, +finding him obdurate, had gone to send some down from the Palace. "Oh! +by all means let them scale if they like." + +Some of the Eight, hearing the reply, smiled grimly. By all means let +the flies walk into the parlor; for if that straight streak of road +was really going to remain empty, the fuller the four square walls +round the lemon bush could be, the better. + +"That's them, sir," said one of the Eight cheerfully, as a grating +noise rose above the hum outside. "That's the grapnels." And as he +turned to his particular gun of the ten, he told himself that he would +nick the first head or two with his rifle and keep the grape for the +bunches. So he smiled at his own little joke and waited. All the Nine +waited, each to a gun, and of course there was one gun over, but, as +the head of them had said, that could not be helped. And so the +rifle-triggers clicked, and the stocks came up to the shoulders; and +then?--then there was a sort of laugh, and someone said under his +breath, "Well, I'm blowed!" And his mind went back to the streets of +London, and he wondered how many years it was since he had seen a +lamplighter. For up ropes and poles, on roofs and outhouses, somehow, +clinging like limpets, running like squirrels along the top of the +wall, upsetting the besiegers, monopolizing the ladders, was a rush, +not of attack but of escape! Let what fool who liked scale the wall +and come into the parlor of the Nine, those who knew the secret +of the lemon-bush were off. No safety there beside the Nine! No +life-insurance possible while that lay ready to their hand! + +Would he ever see a lamplighter again? The trivial thought was with +the bearded man who stood by his gun, the real self in him, hidden +behind the reserve of courage, asking other questions too, as he +waited for the upward rush of fugitives to change into a downward rush +of foes worthy of good powder and shot. + +It came at last--and the grape came too, mowing the intruders down in +bunches. And these were no mere rabble of the city. They were the pick +of the trained mutineers swarming over the wall to stand on the +outhouse roofs and fire at the Nine; and so, pressed in gradually from +behind, coming nearer and nearer, dropping to the ground in solid +ranks, firing in platoons; so by degrees hemming in the Nine, hemming +in the lemon-bush. + +But the Nine were busy with the guns. They had to be served quickly, +and that left no time for thought. Then the smoke, and the flashes, +and the yells, and the curses, filled up the rest of the world for the +present. + +"This is the last round, I'm afraid, sir; we shan't have time for +another," said a warning voice from the Nine, and the Head of them +looked round quietly. Not more than forty yards now from the guns; +barely time, certainly, unless they had had that other man! So he +nodded. And the last round pealed out as recklessly, as defiantly, as +if there had been a hundred to follow--and a hundred thousand--a +hundred million. But one of the gunners threw down his fuse ere his +gun recoiled, and ran in lightly toward the lemon-tree, so as to be +ready for the favor he had begged. + +"We're about full up, sir," came the warning voice again, as the rest +of the Nine fell back amid a desultory rattle of small arms. The +tinkle of the last church bell, as it were, warning folk to hurry +up--a last invitation to walk into the parlor of the Nine. + +"We're about full up, sir," came that one voice. + +"Wait half a second," came another, and the Head-of-the-nine ran +lightly to that river bastion for a last look down the white streak +for that cloud of dust. + +How sunny it was! How clear! How still! that world beyond the smoke, +beyond the flashes, beyond the deafening yells and curses. He gave one +look at it, one short look--only one--then turned to face his own +world, the world he had to keep. Full up indeed! No pyrotechnist could +hope for better audience in so small a place. + +"Now, if you please!" + +Someone in the thick of the smoke and the flashes heard the yells and +curses and raised his cap--a last salute, as it were, to the school +and schoolmaster. A final dismissal to the scholars--a thousand of +them or so--about to finish their lesson of what men can do to hold +their own. And someone else, standing beside the lemon-bush, bent over +that faithful black streak, then ran for dear life from the hissing of +that snake of fire flashing to the powder magazine. + +A faint sob, a whispering gasp of horror, came from the thousand and +odd; but above it came a roar, a rush, a rending. A little puff of +white smoke went skyward first, and then slowly, majestically, a great +cloud of rose-red dust grew above the ruins, to hang--a corona +glittering in the slant sunbeams--over the school, the schoolmasters, +and the scholars. + +It hung there for hours. To those who know the story it seems to hang +there still--a bloody pall for the many; for the Nine, a crown indeed. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + SUNSET. + + +"What's that?" + +The question sprung to every lip; yet all knew the answer. The +magazine had saved itself. + +But in the main-guard, not six hundred yards off, where the very +ground rocked and the walls shook, the men and women, pent up since +noon, looked at each other when the first shock was over, feeling that +here was the end of inaction. Here was a distinct, definite challenge +to Fate, and what would come of it? It was now close on to four +o'clock; the day was over, the darkness at hand. What would it bring +them? If Meerut, with its two thousand, was so sore bested that it +could not spare one man to Delhi, what could they, a mere handful, +hope for save annihilation? + +Yet even Mrs. Seymour only clasped her baby closer, and said nothing. +For there was no lack of courage anywhere. And Kate, with another +child in her arms, paused as she laid it down, asleep at last, upon an +officer's coat, to feel a certain relief. If they were to fare thus, +that bitter self-reproach and agonizing doubt for vanished Sonny was +unavailing. His chance might well be better than theirs. + +Well indeed, pent up as they were cheek-by-jowl with four hundred +unstable sepoys, and with the ominously rising hum of the unstable +city on their unprotected rear. Up on the Flagstaff Tower crowning +the extreme northern end of the Ridge, away from this hum, where +Brigadier Graves had gathered together the remaining women and +children, so as to guard them as best he could with such troops as he +had remaining--many of them too unstable to be trusted cityward--they +were in better plight. For they had the open country round them--a +country where folk could still go and come with a fair chance of +safety, since even the predatory tribes, always ready to take +advantage of disorder, were still waiting to see what master the day +would bring forth. And they had also the knowledge that something was +being done, that they were not absolutely passive in the hands of +Fate, after Dr. Batson started in disguise to summon that aid from +Meerut which would not come of itself. Above all, they had the +decision, they had the power to act; while down in the main-guard they +could but obey orders. Not that the Flagstaff Tower did much with this +advantage; for it was paralyzed by that straining of the eyes for a +cloud of dust upon the Meerut road which was the damnation of Delhi. +Yet even here that decisive roar, that corona of red dust brightening +every instant as the sun dipped to the horizon, brought the conviction +that something must be done at last. But what? Hampered by women and +children, what could they do? If, earlier in the day, they had sent +all the non-combatants off toward Kurnal or Meerut, with as many +faithful sepoys as they could spare, arming everybody from the arsenal +down by the river, they would have been free to make some forlorn +hope--free, for instance, to go down _en-masse_ to the main-guard and +hold it, if they could. That was what one man thought, who, seven +miles out from Delhi--returning from a reconnaissance of his own to +see if help were on the way--saw that little puff of smoke, heard the +roar, and watched the red corona grow to brightness. + +But on the Ridge, men thought differently. The claims of those patient +women and children seemed paramount, and so it was decided to get back +the guns from the main-guard as a first step toward intrenching +themselves for the night at the tower. But the men in the main-guard +looked at each other in doubt when the order reached them. Was the +garrison going to be withdrawn altogether, leaving merely a forlorn +hope to keep the gate closed as long as possible against the outburst +of rabble, to whom it would be the natural and shortest route to +cantonments? If so, surely it would have been better to send the women +away first? Still the orders were clear, and so the gate was set wide +and the guns rumbled over the drawbridge under escort of a guard of +the 38th. That, at any rate, was good riddance of bad rubbish; though +the wisdom of sending the guns in such charge was doubtful. Yet how +could the little garrison have afforded to give up a single man even +of the still loyal 74th?--a company of whom had actually followed +their captain to the ruins of the magazine to see if they could do +anything, and returned, without a defaulter, to say that all was +confusion--the dead lying about in hundreds, the enemy nowhere. + +"How did the men behave, Gordon?" asked their commandant anxiously, +getting his Captain into a quiet corner. And the two men, both beloved +of their regiment, both believing in it, both with a fierce, wild hope +in their hearts that such belief would be justified, looked into each +other's faces for a moment in silence. There was a shadowing branch of +neem overhead as they stood in the sunlight. A squirrel upon it was +chippering at the glitter of their buckles; a kite overhead was +watching the squirrel. + +"I think they hesitated, sir," said Captain Gordon quietly. + +Major Abbott turned hastily, and looked through the open gate, past +the lumbering guns, to the open country lying peaceful, absolutely +peaceful, beyond. If he could only have got his men there--away from +the disloyalty of the 38th guard, the sullen silence of the 54th--if +he could only have given them something to do! If he could only have +said "Follow me!" they would have followed. + +And Kate Erlton, who, weary of the deadly inaction in the room above, +had drifted down to the courtyard, stood close to the archway looking +through it also, thinking, not for the first time that weary day, of +Alice Gissing's swift, heroic death with envy. It was something to die +so that brave men turned away without a word when they heard of it. +But as she thought this, the look on young Mainwaring's face as he +stood with others listening to her story, came back to her. It had +haunted her all day, and more than once she had sought him out, not +for condolence--he was beyond that--but for a trivial word or two; +just a human word or two to show him remembered by the living. And now +the impulse came to her again, and she drifted back--for there was no +hurry in that deadly, deadly inaction--to find him leaning listlessly +against a wall digging holes in the dry dust idly with the point of +his drawn sword for want of something better whereupon to use it. Such +a young face, she thought, to be so old in its chill anger and +despair! She went over to him swiftly, her reserve gone, and laid her +hand upon his holding the sword. + +"Don't fret so, dear boy," she said, and the fine curves of her mouth +quivered. "She is at peace." + +He looked at her in a blaze of fierce reproach. "At peace! How dare +you say so? How dare you think so--when she lies--there." + +He paused, impotent for speech before his unbridled hatred, then +strode away indignantly from her pity, her consolation. And as she +looked after him her own gentler nature was conscious of a pride, +almost a pleasure in the thought of the revenge which would surely be +taken sooner or later, by such as he, for every woman, every child +killed, wounded--even touched. She was conscious of it, even though +she stood aghast before a vision of the years stretching away into an +eternity of division and mutual hate. + +A fresh stir at the gate roused her, a quick stir among a group of +senior officers, recruited now by two juniors who had earned their +right to have their say in any council of war. These were two +artillery subalterns, begrimed from head to foot, deafened, +disfigured, hardly believing in their own safety as yet. Looking +at each other queerly, wondering if indeed they could be the +Head-of-the-nine and his second in command, escaped by a miracle +through the sally port in the outer wall of the magazine, and so come +back by the drawbridge, as Kate Erlton had come, to join the refugees +in the main-guard. Was it possible? And--and--what would the world +say? That thought must have been in their minds. And, no doubt, a vain +regret that they were under orders now, as they listened while Major +Abbott read out those just received from cantonments. Briefly, to take +back the whole of the loyal 74th and leave the post to the 38th and +the 54th--about a hundred and fifty openly disloyal men. + +A sort of stunned silence fell on the little group, till Major +Paterson of the 54th said quietly, officially to Major Abbott. "If you +leave, sir, I shall have to abandon the post; I could not possibly +hold it. Some of my men who have returned to the colors here might +possibly fight were we to stick together. But with retreat, and the +example of the 38th before them, they would not. I have, or I should +have, lives in my charge when you are gone, and I warn you that I must +use my own discretion in doing the best I can to protect them." + +"Paterson is right, Abbott," put in the civil officer, who had stuck +to his charge of the Treasury all day, and repelled the only attack +made by the enemy during all those long hours. "If I am to do any +good, I must have men who will fight. I don't trust the 54th; and the +38th are clearly just biding their time. This retreat might have done +six hours ago--might do now if it were general; but I doubt it." + +"Anyhow," put in another voice, "if the 74th are to go, they should +take the women with them--they couldn't fare worse than they are sure +to do here. I don't think the Brigadier can realize----" + +"Couldn't you refer it?" asked someone; but the Major shook his head. +The orders were clear; no doubt there was good cause for them. Anyhow +they must be obeyed. + +"Then as civil officer in charge of the Government Treasury, I ask for +quarter-of-an-hour's law. If by then----" + +The eager voice paused. Whether the owner thought once more of that +expected cloud of dust, or whether he meant to gallop to cantonments +in hope of getting the order rescinded is doubtful. Whether he went or +stayed doubtful also. But the fifteen minutes of respite were given, +during which the preparations for departure went on, the men of the +38th aiding in them with a new alacrity. Their time had come. Only a +few minutes now before the last fear of a hand-to-hand fight would be +over, the last chance of the master turning and rending them gone. It +lingered a bit, though, for rumbling wheels came over the drawbridge +once more, and voices clamored to be let in. The guns had returned. +The gunners had deserted, said the escort insolently, and guns being +in such case useless, they had preferred to rejoin their brethren; as +for their officer, he had preferred to go on. + +Kate Erlton, drawn from the inner room once again by the creaking of +the gates, saw a look pass between one or two of the officers. And +there stood the 74th, smart and steady, waiting for marching orders. +No need to close the gates again, since time was up; the fifteen +minutes had slipped by, bringing no help, just as the long hours had +dragged by uselessly. So the gate stood open to the familiar, friendly +landscape, all aglow with the rays of the setting sun. Close at hand, +within a stone's throw, lay the tall trees and dense flowering +thickets of the Koodsia gardens, where fugitives might have found +cover. To the left were the ravines and rocks of the Ridge, fatal to +mounted pursuit, and in the center lay the road northward, leading +straight to the Punjab, straight from that increasing roar of the +city. There had been no attack as yet; but every soul within the +main-guard knew for a certainty that the first hint of retreat would +bring it. + +How could it do otherwise? The decisive answer of the magazine, with +its thousand-and-odd good reasons against the belief that the master +was helpless, had died away. The refuse and rabble of the city had +ceased to wander awestruck among the ruins, murmuring, "What tyranny +is here?"--that passive, resigned comment of the weaker brother in +India. In the Palace, too, they had recovered the shock of the mean +trick of the Nine, who, however, must, thank Heaven, be all dead too. + +So as the gate stood open, and the sun streamed through it into the +wide courtyard, glinting on the buckles and bayonets, Major Abbott's +voice rose quietly. "Are you ready, Gordon?" The drawbridge was clear +of the guns now, clear of everything save the slant shadows. + +"All ready, sir," came the quiet reply. + +"Number!" called the Commandant, but a voice at his right hand pleaded +swiftly. "Don't wait for sections, Huzoor! Let us go!" And another at +his left whispered, "For God's sake, Huzoor! quick; get them out +quick!" + +Major Abbott hesitated a second, only a second. The voices were the +voices of good men and true, whom he could trust. "Fours about! Quick +march!" he corrected, and a sort of sigh of relief ran down the +regiment as it swung into position and the feet started rhythmically. +Action at last!--at long last! + +"Good-by, old chap," said someone cheerfully, but Major Abbott did not +turn. "Good-by! Good-by!" came voices all round; steady, quiet voices, +as the disciplined tramp echoed on the drawbridge, and a bar of +scarlet coats grew on the rise of the white road outside. + +"Good-by, Gordon! Good-by!" + +The tall figure in its red and gold was under the very arch, shining, +glittering in the sunlight streaming through it. Another step or two +and he would have been beyond it. But the time for good-by had come. +The time for which the 38th had been waiting all day. He threw up his +arms and fell dead from his horse without a cry, shot through the +heart. The next instant the gate was closed, its creaking smothered in +the wild, senseless cry "To kill, to kill, to kill," in a wild, +senseless rattle of musketry. For there was really no hurry; the +handful of Englishmen were helpless. Major Abbott and his men might +clamor for re-entry at the gate if they chose. They could not get in. +Nor could the remnant of the 74th, deprived of its loyal companions, +of the only two men who seemed to have controlled it, do anything. And +the 54th were helpless also by their own act; for they had pushed +Major Paterson through the gate before it closed. + +So there was no one left even to try and stem the tide. No one to +check that beast-like cry. + +"_Mâro! Mâro! Mâro!_" + +But, in truth, it would have been a hopeless task. The game was up; +the only chance was flight. And two, foreseeing this for the last +hour, had already made good theirs by jumping from an embrasure in the +rampart into the ditch, while one, uninjured by the fall, had +scrambled up the counter-scarp, and was running like a hare for those +same thickets of the Koodsia. + +"Come on! Come on!" cried others, seeing their success. And then? And +then the cries and piteous screams of women reminded them of something +dearer than life, and they ran back under a hail of bullets to that +upper room which they had forgotten for the moment. And somehow, +despite the cry of kill, despite the whistling bullets, they managed +to drag its inmates to the embrasure. But--oh! pathos and bathos of +poor humanity! making smiles and tears come together--the women who +had stared death in the face all day without a wink, stood terrified +before a twenty-feet scramble with a rope of belts and handkerchiefs +to help them. It needed a round shot to come whizzing a message of +certain death over their heads to give them back a courage which never +failed again in the long days of wandering and desperate need which +was theirs ere some of them reached safety. + +But Kate neither hesitated nor jumped. She had not the chance of doing +either. For that longing look of hers through the open gates had +tempted her to creep along the wall nearer to them; so that the rush +to close them jammed her into a corner against a door, which yielded +slightly to her weight. Quick enough to grasp her imminent danger, she +stooped instantly to see if the door could be made to yield further. +And that stoop saved her life, by hiding her from view behind the +crowd. The next moment she had pushed aside a log which had evidently +rolled from some pile within, and slipped sideways into a dark +outhouse. She was safe so far. But was it worth it? The impulse to go +out again and brave merciful death rose keen, until with a flash, the +memory of that escape through the crowd came back to her; she seemed +to hear the changing ready voice of the man who held her, to feel his +quick instinctive grip on every chance of life. + +Chance! There was a spell in the very word. A minute after logs jammed +the door again, and even had it been set wide, none would have guessed +that a woman, full of courage, ay! and hope, crouched behind the piles +of brushwood. So she lay hidden, her strongest emotion, strange to +say, being a raging curiosity to know what had become of the others, +what was passing outside. But she could hear nothing save confused +yells, with every now and again a dominant cry of "_Deen! Deen!_" or +"_Jai Kali ma!_" For faith is one of the two great passions which make +men militant, The other, sex. But as a rule it has no cry; it fights +silently, giving and asking no words--only works. + +So fought young Mainwaring, who, with his back to that same wall +against which Kate had found him leaning, was using his sword to a +better purpose than digging holes in the dust; or rather had adopted a +new method of doing the task. He had not tried to escape as the others +had done; not from superior courage, but because he never even thought +of it. When he was free to choose, how could he think of leaving those +devils unpunished, leaving them unchecked to touch her dead body, +while he lived? He gave a little faint sob of sheer satisfaction as he +felt the first soft resistance, which meant that his sword had cut +into flesh and blood; for all his vigorous young life made for death, +nothing but death. Was not she dead yonder? + +So, after a bit, it seemed to him there was too little of it +there--that it came slowly, with his back to the wall and only those +who cared to go for him within reach--for the crowd was dense, too +dense for loading and firing. Dense with a hustling, horrified wonder, +a confused prodding of bayonets. So, without a sound, he charged +ahead, hacking, hewing, never pausing, not even making for freedom, +but going for the thickest silently. + +"_Amuk! Sayia! A-muk!_" The yell that he was mad, possessed, rang +hideously as men tumbled over each other in their hurry to escape, +their hurry to have at this wild beast, this devil, this horror. And +they were right. He was possessed. He was life instinct with death; +filled with but one desire--to kill, or to be killed quickly. + +"_Saiya! Amuk! Saiya!_--out of his way--out of his way! _Amuk! Saiya!_ +Fate is with him! The gods are with him. _Saiya! Amuk!_" + +So, by chance, not method; so by sheer terror as well as hacking and +hewing, the tall figure found itself, with but a stagger or two, +outside the wooden gates, out on the city road, out among the gardens +and the green trees. And then, "Hip, hip, hurray!" His ringing cheer +rose with a sort of laugh in it. For yonder was her house!--her house! + +"Hip, hip, hurray!" As he ran, as he had run in races at school, his +young face glad, the fingers on the triggers behind him wavered in +sheer superstitious funk, and two troopers coming down the road +wheeled back as from a mad dog. The scarlet coat with its gold +epaulettes went crashing into a group red-handed with their spoil, out +of it impartially into a knot of terrified bystanders, while down the +lane left behind it by the hacking and hewing came bullet after +bullet; the fingers on the triggers wavered, but some found a billet. +One badly. He stumbled in the dust and his left arm fell oddly. But +the right still hacked and hewed as he ran, though the crowd lessened; +though it grew thin, too thin for his purpose; or else his sight was +failing. But there, to the right, the devils seemed thicker again. +"Hip, hip, hooray!" No! trees. Only trees to hew--a garden--perhaps +the garden about her house--then, "Hip, hip----" + +He fell headlong on his face, biting the soft earth in sheer despite +as he fell. + +"Don't touch him, brothers!" said one of the two or three who had +followed at a distance, as they might have followed a mad dog, which +they hoped others would meet and kill. "Provoke him not, or the demon +possessing him may possess us. 'Tis never safe to touch till they have +been dead a watch. Then the poison leaves them. Krishnjee, save us! +Saw you how he turned our lead?" + +"He has eaten mine, I'll swear," put in another sepoy boastfully, +pointing gingerly with his booted foot to a round scorched hole in the +red coat. "The muzzle was against him as I fired." + +"And mine shall be his portion too," broke in a new arrival +breathlessly, preparing to fire at the prostrate foe; but the first +speaker knocked aside the barrel with an oath. + +"Not while I stand by, since devils choose the best men. As 'tis, +having women in our houses 'twere best to take precautions." He +stooped down as he spoke, and muttering spells the while, raised a +little heap of dust at the lad's head and feet and outstretched +arms--a little cross of dust, as it were, on which the young body lay +impaled. + +"What is't?" asked a haughty-looking native officer, pausing as he rode +by. + +"'Tis a hell-doomed who went possessed, and Dittu makes spells to keep +him dead," said one. + +"Fool!" muttered the man. "He was drunk, likely. They get like that, +the cursed ones, when they take wine." And he spat piously on the red +coat as he passed on. So they left the lad there lying face down in +the growing gloom, hedged round by spells to keep him from harming +women. Left him for dead. + +But the scoffer had been right. He was drunk, but with the Elixir of +Life and Love which holds a soul captive from the clasp of Death for a +space. So, after a time, the cross of dust gave up its victim; he +staggered to his feet again; and so, tumbling, falling, rising to fall +again, he made his way to the haven where he would be, to the side of +a dead woman. + +And the birds, startled from their roosting-places by the stumbling, +falling figure, waited, fluttering over the topmost branches for it to +pass, or paused among them to fill up the time with a last twittering +song of goodnight to the day; for the sun still lingered in the +heat-haze on the horizon as if loath to take its glow from that corona +of red dust above the northern wall of Delhi, mute sign of the only +protest made as yet by the master against mutiny. + +And now he had left the city to its own devices. The rebels were free +to do as they liked. The three thousand disciplined soldiers, more or +less, might have marched out, had they chose, and annihilated the +handful of loyal men about the Flagstaff Tower. But it was +sunset--sunset in Rumzân. And the eyes of thousands, deprived even of +a drop of water since dawn, were watching the red globe sink in the +West, hungrily, thirstily; their ears were attuned but to one +sound--the firework signal from the big mosque that the day's fast was +over. The very children on the roofs were watching, listening, so as +to send the joyful news that day was done, in shrill voices to their +elders below, waiting with their water-pots ready in their hands. + +Then, in good truth, there was no set purpose from one end of the city +to another. From the Palace to the meanest brothel which had belched +forth its vilest to swell the tide of sheer rascality which had ebbed +and flowed all day, the one thought was still, "What does it mean? How +long will it last? Where is the master?" + +So men ate and drank their fill first, then looked at each other +almost suspiciously, and drifted away to do what pleased them best. +Some to the Palace to swell the turmoil of bellicose loyalty to the +King--loyalty which sounded unreal, almost ridiculous, even as it was +spoken. Others to plunder while they could. The bungalows had long +since been rifled, the very church bells thrown down and broken; for +the time had been ample even for wanton destruction. But the city +remained. And while shops were being looted inside, the dispossessed +Goojurs were busy over Metcalfe House, tearing up the very books in +their revenge. The Flagstaff Tower lay not a mile away, almost +helpless against attack. But there was no stomach for cold steel in +Delhi on the 11th of May, 1857. No stomach for anything except safe +murder, safe pillaging. Least of all was it to be found in the Palace, +where men had given the rein to everything they possessed--to their +emotions, their horses, their passions, their aspirations. Stabling +some in the King's gardens, some in dream-palaces, some in pigstyes of +sheer brutality. Weeping maudlin tears over heaven-sent success, and +boasting of their own prowess in the same breath; squabbling insanely +over the partition of coming honors and emoluments. + +Abool-Bukr, drunk as a lord, lurched about asserting his intention of +being Inspector-General of the King's cavalry, and not leaving man, +woman, or child of the hell-doomed alive in India. For he had been +right when he had warned Newâsi to leave him to his own life, his own +death; when he had shrunk from the inherited bloodstains on his hands, +the inherited tinder in his breast. It had caught fire with the first +spark, and there was fresh blood on his hands: the blood of a Eurasian +boy who had tried to defend his sister from drunken kisses. Someone in +the melée had killed the girl and finished the boy: the Prince himself +being saved from greater crime by tumbling into the gutter and setting +his nose a-bleeding, a catastrophe which had sent him back to the +Palace partially sobered. + +But Princess Farkhoonda Zamâni, safe housed in the rooms kept for +honored visitors, knew nothing of this, knew little even of the +disturbances; for she had been a close prisoner since noon--a prisoner +with servants who would answer no questions, with trays of jewels and +dresses as if she had been a bride. She sat in a flutter, trying to +piece out the reason for this kidnaping. Was she to be married by +force to some royal nominee? But why to-day? Why in all this turmoil, +unless she was required as a bribe. The arch-plotter was capable of +that. But who? One thing was certain, Abool-Bukr could know nothing of +this--he would not dare--and suddenly the hot blood tingled through +every vein as she lay all unconsciously enjoying the return to the +easeful idleness and luxury she had renounced. But if he did dare? if +it was not mere anger which brought bewilderment to heart and brain, +as she hid her face from the dim light which filtered in through the +lattice--the dim, scented, voluptuous light from which she had fled +once to purer air? + +And not a hundred yards away from where she was trying to steady her +bounding pulse, Abool-Bukr himself was bawling away at his favorite +love-song to a circle of intimates, all of whom he had already +provided with places on the civil list. His head was full of promises, +his skin as full of wine as it could be, and he not be a mere wastrel +unable to enjoy life. For Abool-Bukr gave care to this; since to be +dead drunk was sheer loss of time. + + + "Ah mistress rare, divine, + Thy lover like a vine + With tendril arms entwine." + + +Here his effort to combine gesture with song nearly caused him to fall +off the steps, and roused a roar of laughter from some sepoys +bivouacking under the trees hard by. But Mirza Moghul, passing hastily +to an audience with the King, frowned. To-day, when none knew what +might come, the Queen might have her way so far; but this idle +drunkard must be got rid of soon. He would offend the pious to begin +with, and then he could not be trusted. Who could trust a man who had +been known to lure back his hawk because a bird's gay feathers shone +in the sunshine? + +But Ahsan-Oolah, dismissed from feeling the royal pulse once more, by +the Mirza's audience, paused as he passed to recommend a cooling +draught if the Inspector-General of Cavalry wanted to keep his head +clear. It was the physician's panacea for excitement of all kinds. But +an exhibition of steel would have done better on the 11th of May. + +There was no one, however, to administer it to Delhi, and even the +refugees in the Flagstaff Tower were beginning to give up hope of its +arriving from Meerut. Those in the storehouse at Duryagunj still clung +to the belief that succor must come somehow; but Kate Erlton, behind +the wood-pile, knew that her hope lay only in herself. + +For how could Jim Douglas, as he more than once passed through the now +open and almost deserted Cashmere gate, in the hope, or rather the +fear, of finding some trace of her, know that she was hidden within a +few yards of him? or, how could she distinguish the sound of his +horse's hoofs from the hundreds which passed? + +She must have escaped with the others, he concluded, as he galloped +toward the cantonments to see if she were there. But she was not. He +had failed again, he told himself; failed through no fault of his own; +for who could have foretold that madness of retreat from the gate? + +So now, there was nothing to be done in Delhi save gather what +information he could, give decent burial--if he could--to Alice +Gissing's body, and, if no troops arrived before dawn, leave the city. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + DUSK. + + +"I entreat you to leave, sir. Believe me, there is nothing else to be +done now. It will be dark in half an hour, and we shall need every +minute of the night to reach Kurnal." + +It was said openly now by many voices. It had been hinted first when, +the corona of red dust having just sprung to hide the swelling white +dome of the distant mosque, a dismal procession had come slowly up the +steep road to the tower with a ghastly addition to the little knot of +white faces there--slowly, slowly, the drivers of the oxen whacking +and jibing at them as if the cart held logs or refuse, as if the +driving of it were quite commonplace. Yet in a way the six bodies of +English gentlemen it held were welcome additions; since it was +something to see a dear face even when it is dead. But they were +fateful additions, making the disloyal 38th regiment, posted furthest +from the Tower--partly commanded by it and the guns, in case of +accident--shift restlessly. If others had done such work, ought not +they to be up and doing? And now another procession came filing up +from the city--the two guns returning from the Cashmere gate. They +came on sullenly, slowly, yet still they came on; another few minutes +and the refugees would have been the stronger, the chances of mutiny +weaker. The 38th saw this. Their advanced picket rushed out, drove off +the gunners and the officers, and, fixing bayonets, forced the drivers +to wheel and set off down the road again at a trot. And down the road, +commanded by other guns, they went unchecked; for the refugees did not +dare to give the order to fire, lest it should be disobeyed. The +effect, we read, would probably have been "that the guns would have +been swung round and fired on the orderers; and so not an European +would have escaped to tell the tale; this catastrophe, however, was +mercifully averted and the crisis passed over." It reads strangely, +but once more, there were women and children to think of. And few men +are strong enough to say, much less set it down in black and white as +John Nicholson did, that the protection "of women and children in some +crises is such a very minor consideration that it ceases to be a +consideration at all." + +Still, it began to be patent to all that there was little good in +remaining in a place where they did not dare to defend themselves. +There were carriages and horses ready; the road to Karnal was still +fairly safe. Would it not be better to retreat? But the Brigadier held +out. He had, in deference partly to others, wholly for the sake of his +helpless charges, weakened the city post. Why should he have done that +if he meant to abandon his own? Then he was an old sepoy officer who +had served boy and man in one regiment, rising to its command at last, +and he was loath to believe that the 38th regiment, which had been +specially commended to him by his own, would turn against him, if only +he were free to handle it. + +And this hope gained color from the fact, that to him personally and +to his direct orders, the regiment was still cheerfully obedient. + +So the waiting went on, and there were no signs of the 74th returning. +What had happened? Fresh disaster? The voices urging retreat grew +louder. + +"Have it your own way, gentlemen," said the Brigadier at last. "The +women and children had better go, at any rate, and they will need +protection; so let all retire who will, and in what way seems best to +them. I stay here." + +So on foot, on horseback, in carriages, the exodus began forthwith; +hastening more rapidly when the first man to jump from the embrasure +at the Cashmere gate arrived with that tale of hopeless calamity. + +But still the Brigadier refused to join the rout. He had been hanging +on the skirts of Hope all day, trying, wisely or unwisely, to shield +women and children behind that frail shelter. So he had been tied hand +and foot. Now he would be free. True! the mystery of oncoming dusk +made that red city in the distance loom larger, but a handful of +desperate men unhampered, with plenty of ammunition, might hold such a +post as the Flagstaff Tower till help arrived. He meant to try it, at +any rate. Then nearly half of the 74th had got away safely--they were +long in turning up certainly--but when they came they would form a +nucleus. The 54th were not all bad, or they would not have saved their +Major. Even the 38th, if they could once be got away from the sight of +weakness, from that ghastly cart with its mute witness to successful +murder, might respond to a familiar commonplace order. They were +creatures of habit, with drill born in the blood, bred in the bone. + +"I stay here," he said shortly. Said it again, even when neither the +escaped officers nor men turned up. Said it again, when the guns +rolled off toward Meerut, leaving him face to face with a sprinkling +of the 74th and 54th, and the mass of the 38th, sullen, but still +obedient. + +The sun, now some time set, had left a flaming pennant in the sky, +barring it low down on the horizon with a blood-red glow marking the +top of the dust-haze, and the quick chill of color which in India +comes with the lack of sunlight, even while its heat lingers to the +touch, had fallen upon all things--upon the red Ridge, upon the +distant line of trees marking the canal, upon the level plain between +them where all the familiar landmarks of cantonment life still showed +clearly, despite the darkening sky. Guard-rooms, lines, bells-of-arms, +wide parade-grounds--all the familiar surroundings of a sepoy's life, +and behind them that red flare of a day that was done. + +"There is no use, sir, in stopping longer," said the Brigade-major, +almost compassionately, to the figure which sat its horse steadfastly, +but with a despondent droop of the shoulders. + +"No possible use, sir," echoed the Staff Doctor kindly. The three were +facing westward, for that vain hope of help from the east had been +given up at last; and behind them, barely audible, was the faint hum +of the distant city. A shaft of cormorants flying jheel-ward with +barbed arrow head, trailed across the purpling sky; below them the red +pennant was fading steadily. The day was done. But to one pair of eyes +there seemed still a hope, still a last appeal to something beyond +east or west. + +"Bugler! sound the assembly!" + +The Brigadier's voice rang sharp over the plain, and was followed, +quick as an echo, quick from that habit of obedience on which so much +depended, by the cheerful notes. + +"Come--to the co-lors! Come quick, come all--come quick, come +all--come quick! Quick! Come to the colors!" + +Last appeal to honor and good faith, to memory and confidence. But +they had passed with the day. Yet not quite, for as the rocks and +stones, the distant lines, the familiar landmarks gave back the call, +a solitary figure, trim and smart in the uniform of the loyal 74th, +fell in and saluted. + +In all that wide plain one man true to his salt, heroic utterly, +standing alone in the dusk. A nameless figure, like many another hero. +Yet better so, when we remember that but a few hours before his +regiment had _volunteered to a man_ against their comrades and their +country! So sepoy----, of company----, can stand there, outlined +against the dying day upon the parade-ground at Delhi, as a type of +others who might have stood there also, but for the lack of that cloud +of dust upon the Meerut road. + +Brigadier Graves wheeled his horse slowly northward; but at the sight +the sepoys of the 38th, still friendly to him personally, crowded +round him urging speed. It was no place for him, they said. No place +for the master. + +Palpably not. It was time, indeed, for the thud of retreating hoofs to +end the incident, so far as the master was concerned; the actual +finale of the tragic mistake being a disciplined tramp, as the sepoy +who had fallen in at the last Assembly fell out again, at his own word +of command, and followed the master doggedly. He was killed fighting +for us soon afterward. + +"God be praised!" said the 38th, as with curious deliberation they +took possession of the cantonments. "That is over! He has gone in +safety, and we have kept the promise given to our brothers of the 56th +not to harm him." So, joined by their comrades from the city, they set +guards and gave out rations, with double and treble doses of rum. +Played the master, in fact, perfectly; until, in the darkness, a +rumble arose upon the road, and one-half of the actors fled cityward +incontinently and the other half went to bed in their huts like good +boys. But it was not the troops from Meerut at last. It was only their +old friends the guns, once more brought back from the fugitives by +comrades who had finally decided to stand by the winning side. + +So the question has once more to be asked, "What would have happened, +if, even at that eleventh hour, there really _had_ been a cloud of +dust on the Meerut road?" + +As it was, confidence and peace were restored. In the city they +had never been disturbed. It seemed weary, bewildered by the +topsy-turvydom of the day, desirous chiefly of sleep and dreams. So +that Kate Erlton, peering out through a chink in the wood-store, felt +that if she were ever to escape from the slow starvation which stared +her in the face, she could choose no better time than this, when +traffic had ceased, and the moon had not yet risen. She had settled +that her best chance lay in creeping along the wall at first, then, +taking advantage of the gardens, cutting across to that same +sally-port through which the heroes of the magazine had told her they +had made their escape. She did not know the exact situation, but she +could surely find it. Besides, the ruins would most likely be +deserted, and the other gates of the city, even if they were not +closed for the night, as the gate here was, would be guarded. Once out +of the city, she meant to make for the Flagstaff Tower; for, of +course, she knew nothing of its desertion. + +So she set the door ajar softly, and crept out. And as she did so, the +whiteness of her own dress, even in the dense blackness, startled her, +and roused the trivial wish that she had put on her navy-blue cotton +instead, as she had meant to do that day. Strange! how a mere +chance--the word was like a spur always, and she crept along the wall, +hoping that the smoking, flaring fire of refuse in the opposite +corner, round which the guard were sitting, so as to be free of +mosquitoes, might dazzle their eyes. It was her only chance, however, +so she must risk it. Then suddenly, under her foot, she felt something +long, curved, snakelike. It was all she could do not to scream; but +she set her teeth, and trod down hard with all her strength, her heart +beating wildly in the awful suspense. But nothing struck her, there +was no movement. Had she killed it? Her hand went down in the dark +with a terror in it lest her touch should light on the head--perhaps +within reach of the fangs. But she forced herself to the touch, +telling herself she was a coward, a fool. + +Thank Heaven! no snake after all, only a rope. A rope that must have +been used for tethering a horse, for here under her foot was straw, +rustling horribly. No! not now--that was something soft. A blanket; a +horse's double blanket, dark as the darkness itself. Here was a +chance, indeed. She caught it up and paused deliberately in the +darkest corner of the square, to slip off shoes and stockings, +petticoats and bodice; so, in the scantiest of costumes, winding the +long blanket round her, as a skirt and veil in ayah's fashion. Her +face could be hidden by a modest down-drop over it, her white hands +hidden away by the modest drawing of a fold across her mouth. Her +feet, then, were the only danger, and the dust would darken them. She +must risk that anyhow. So, boldly, she slipped out of the corner, and +made for the gate, remembering to her comfort that it was not England +where a lonely woman might be challenged all the more for her +loneliness. In this heathen land, that down-dropped veil hedged even a +poor grass-cutter's wife about with respect. What is more, even if she +were challenged, her proper course would be to be silent and hurry on. +But no one challenged her, and she passed on into the denser shadows +of the church garden to regain her breath; for it had gone somehow. +Why, she knew not; she had not felt frightened. Then the question +came, what next? Get to the magazine, somehow; but the strain of +looking forward seemed far worse than the actual doing, so she went on +without settling anything, save that she would avoid roads, and give +the still smoking roofless bungalows as wide a birth as possible, +lest, in the dark, she should come on some dead thing--a friend +perhaps. And with the thought came that of Alice Gissing. The house +lay right on her path to the magazine. Surely she must be near it now. +Was that the long sweep of its roof against the sky? If she could see +so much, the moon must be rising, and she could have no time to lose. +As she crept along through the garden, she wondered why the bungalow +had not been burned like the others. Perhaps the ayah's friends had +saved it, or, perhaps, there had not been much to attract them in the +little hired house. Or, perhaps---- + +Hark! She crouched back, from voices close beside her, and doubled a +bit; but they seemed to follow her. And straight ahead the trees +ended, and she must brave the open space by the house itself; unless, +indeed, she slipped by the row of servant's houses to the veranda, and +so--through the rooms--gain the further side. Or she might hide in the +house till these voices passed, There they were again! She made a +breathless dash for the shadow, ran on till she found the veranda, and +deciding to hide for a time, passed in at the first door--the door of +the room where she had left Alice Gissing lying dead a few hours +before. But it was too dark, as yet, to see if she lay there still, +too dark to see even if the house had been plundered. It must have +been, however, for the very floor-cloths were gone; the concrete +struck cold to her feet. And a sudden terror at the darkness, the +emptiness, coming over her, she passed on rapidly to the faintly +glimmering square of the further door, seen through the intervening +rooms. There were three of them; bedroom, drawing room, dining room, +set in a row in Indian fashion, all leading into each other, all +opening on to the veranda; the two end ones opening also into the side +veranda. She could get out again, therefore, by this further door. But +it was bolted. She undid the bolts, only to find it hasped on the +outside. A feeling of being trapped seized upon her. She ran to the +other door. Hasped also. The drawing-room door? Firmer even than the +others. But what a fool she was to feel so frightened, when she could +always go out as she had come in when the voices had passed. She stole +back softly, knowing they must be just outside, and almost fancying, +in her alarm, that she heard a step in the veranda. But there was the +glimmering square of escape, open. No! shut too! shut from the +outside. + +Had they seen her and shut the door? And there, indeed, were +footsteps! Loud footsteps and voices coming up the long flight of +steps which led to the veranda from the road. Coming straight, and she +locked in, helpless. + +She threw up her hands involuntarily at a bright flash in the veranda. +Was it lightning? No! a pistol shot, a quick curse, a fall. A yell of +rage, a rush of those feet upon the steps, and then another flash, +another, and another! More curses and a confused clashing! She stood +as if turned to stone, listening. Hark! down the steps, surely, this +time, another rush, a cry, a scuffle, a fall. Then, loud and +unmistakable, a laugh! Then silence. + +Merciful Heavens! what was it? What had happened? She shook at the +door gently, but still there was silence. Then, gripping the woodwork, +she tried to peer out. But she could only see the bit of veranda in +front of her which, being latticed in and hung with creepers, was very +dark. The rest was invisible from within. She leaned her ear on the +glass and listened. Was that a faint breathing? "Who's there?" she +cried softly; but there was no answer. She sank down on the floor in +sheer bewilderment and tried to think what to do, and after a time, a +faint glimmer of the rising moon aiding her, she went round to every +door and tried it again. All locked inside and out. And now she could +see that the house had been pillaged to the uttermost. There was +literally nothing left in it. Nothing to aid her fingers if she tried +to open the doors. By breaking the upper panes of glass, of course, +she could undo the top bolt, but how was she to reach the bottom ones +behind the lower panels? And why? why had they been locked? Who had +locked the one by which she had come in? What was there that needed +protection in that empty house. Was there by chance someone else? +Then, suddenly, the remembrance of what she had left lying in the end +room hours before came back to her. She had forgotten it utterly in +her alarm and she crept back to see if Alice Gissing still kept her +company. The bed was gone, but by the steadily growing glimmer of the +moon she could see something lying on the floor in the very center of +the room. Something strangely orderly, with a look of care and +tidiness about it; but not white--and her dress had been white. Kate +knelt down beside it and touched the still figure gently. What had it +been covered with? Some sort of network, fine--silken--crimson. An +officer's sash surely! And now her eyes becoming accustomed to what +lay before them, and the light growing, she saw that the curly head +rested on an officer's scarlet coat. The gold epaulettes were arranged +neatly on either side the delicate ears so as not to touch them. Who +had done this? Then that step she had thought she heard in the veranda +must have been a real one. Someone must have been watching the dead +woman. + +She was at the door in an instant rapping at a pane, "Herbert! +Herbert! are you there? Herbert! Herbert!" He might have done this +thing. He might have come over from Meerut, for he had loved the dead +woman, he had loved her dearly. + +But there was no answer. Then wrapping the blanket round her hand she +dashed it through the pane, and removing the glass, managed to crane +out a little. She could see better so. Was that someone, or only a +heap of clothes in the shadow of the corner by the inner wall? By this +time the moonlight was shining white on the orange-trees on the +further side of the road. She could see beyond them to the garden, but +nothing of the road itself, nothing of the steep flight of steps +leading down to it; a balustrade set with pots filling up all but the +center arch prevented that. + +"Herbert!" she cried again louder, "is that you?" But there was not a +sound. + +God in heaven! who lay there? dying or dead? helplessness broke down +her self-control at last, and she crept back into the room, back to +the old companionship, crying miserably. Ah! she was so tired, so +weary of it all. So glad to rest! A sense of real physical relief came +to her body as, for the first time for long, long hours, she let her +muscles slacken, and to her mind as she let herself cry on, like a +child, forgetting the cause of grief in the grief itself. Forgetting +even that after a time in sheer rest; so that the moon, when it had +climbed high enough to peep in through the closed doors, found her +asleep, her arms spread out over the crimson network, her head resting +on what lay beneath it. But she slept dreamfully and once her voice +rose in the quick anxious tones of those who talk in their sleep. + +"Freddy! Freddy!" she called. "Save Freddy, someone! Never mind, ayah! +He is only a boy, and the other, the other may----" Then her words +merged into each other uncertainly, after the manner of dreamers, and +she slept sounder. + +Soundest of all, however, in the cool before the dawn; so that she did +not wake with a stealthy foot in the side veranda, a stealthy hand on +the hasp outside; did not wake even when Jim Douglas stood beside her, +looking down vexedly on the blanket-shrouded figure pillowed on the +body he came to seek. For he had been delayed by a thousand +difficulties, and though the shallow grave was ready dug in the +garden, the presence of this native--even though a woman, +apparently--must make his task longer. Was it a woman? One hand on his +revolver, he laid the other on the sleeper's shoulder. His touch +brought Kate to her feet blindly, without a cry, to meet Fate. + +"My God! Mrs. Erlton!" he cried, and she recognized his voice at once. +Fate indeed! His chance and hers. His chance and hers! + +She stood half stupefied by her dreams, her waking; but he, after his +nature, was ready in a second for action, and broke in on his own +wondering questions impatiently. "But we are losing time. Quick! +you must get to some safer place before dawn. Twist that blanket +right--let me, please. That will do. Now, if you will follow close, I +must get you hidden somewhere for to-day. It is too near dawn for +anything else. Come!" + +She put out her hand vaguely, as if to stave his swift decision away, +and, looking in her face, he recognized that she must have time, that +he must curb his own energy. + +"Then it was you who fired," she said in a dull voice. "You who shut +me in here? You who killed those voices. Why didn't you answer when I +called, when I thought it was Herbert? It was very unkind--very +unkind." + +He stared at her for a second, and then his hand went out and closed +on hers firmly. "Mrs. Erlton! I'm going to save you if I can. Come. I +don't know what you're talking about, and there is no time for talk. +Come." + +So, hand in hand, they passed into the side veranda, through which he +had entered, and so, since the nearest way to the city lay down that +flight of steps, to the front one. + +"Take care," he cried, half-stumbling himself, and forcing her to +avoid something that lay huddled up against the wall. It was a dead +man. And there, upon the steps which showed white as marble in the +moonlight, were two others in a heap. A third lower down, ghastlier +still, lying amid dark stains marring the whiteness, and with a gaping +cut clearly visible on the shoulder. + +But that still further down! Jim Douglas gave a quick cry, +dropped Kate's hand, and was on his knees beside the tall young +figure--coatless, its white shirt stiff with blood, which lay head +downward on the last steps as if it had pitched forward in some mad +pursuit. As he turned it over on its back gently, the young face +showed in the moonlight stern, yet still exultant, and the sword, +still clenched in the stiff right hand, rattled on the steps. + +"Mainwaring! I don't understand," he said, looking up bewildered into +Kate's face. The puzzle had gone from it; she seemed roused to life +again. + +"I understand now," she said softly, and as she spoke she stooped +and raised the boy's head tenderly in her hands. "Don't let us +leave him here," she went on eagerly, hastily. "Leave him there, +beside--beside--_her_." + +Jim Douglas made no reply. He understood also dimly, and he only +signed to her to take the feet instead. So together they managed to +place that dead weight within the threshold and close the door. + +Then Jim Douglas held out his hand again, but there was a new +friendliness in its grip. "Come!" he said, and there was a new ring in +his voice, "the night is far spent, the day is at hand." + +It was true. As they stepped from the now waning moonlight into the +shadow of the trees, the birds, beginning to dream of dawn, shifted +and twittered faintly among the branches. And once, startling them +both, there was a louder rustling from a taller tree, a flutter of +broad white wings to a perch nearer the city, a half-sleepy cry of: + +"_Deen! Deen! Futteh Mohammed!_" + +"If I had time," muttered Jim Douglas fiercely, "I would go and wring +that cursed bird's neck! But for it----" Kate's tighter clasp on his +hand seemed like an appeal, and he went on in silence. + +So, as they slipped from the gardens into the silent streets, the +muezzin's monotonous chant began from the shadowy minaret of the big +mosque. + +"Prayer is more than sleep!--than sleep!--than sleep!" + +The night was far spent; the day was indeed at hand--and what would it +bring forth? Jim Douglas, with a sinking at his heart, told himself he +could at least be thankful that one day was done. + + + + + + BOOK IV. + + "SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE OF." + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + THE DEATH PLEDGE. + + +The outer court of the Palace lay steeped in the sunshine of noon. Its +hot rose-red walls and arcades seemed to shimmer in the glare, and the +dazzle and glitter gave a strange air of unreality, of instability to +all things. To the crowds of loungers taking their siesta in every +arcade and every scrap of shadow, to the horses stabled in rows in the +glare and the blaze, to the eager groups of new arrivals which, from +time to time, came in from the outer world by the cool, dark tunnel of +the Lahore gate to stand for a second, as if blinded by the shimmer +and glitter, before becoming a part of that silent, drowsy stir of +life. + +From an arch close to the inner entry to the precincts rose a +monotonous voice reading aloud. The reader was evidently the author +also, for his frown of annoyance was unmistakable at a sudden +diversion caused by the entry of a dozen or more armed men, shouting +at the top of their voices: "_Pâdisâth, Pâdisâth, Pâdisâth!_ We be +fighters for The Faith. _Pâdisâth!_ a blessing, a blessing!" + +A malicious laugh came from one of the listeners in the arcade--a +woman shrouded in a Pathan veil. + +"'Tis as well his Majesty hath taken another cooling draught," came +her voice shrilly. "What with writing letters for help to the Huzoors +to please Ahsan-Oolah and Elahi-Buksh, and blessing faith to please +the Queen, he hath enough to do in keeping his brain from getting +dizzy with whirling this way and that. Mayhap faith will fail first, +since it is not satisfied with blessings. They are windy diet, and I +heard Mahboob say an hour agone that there was too much faith for the +Treasury. Lo! moonshee-jee, put that fact down among thy heroics--they +need balance!" + +"Sure, niece Hâfzan," reproved the old editor of the Court Journal, "I +see naught that needs it. Syyed Abdulla's periods fit the case as peas +fit a pod; they hang together." + +"As we shall when the Huzoors return," assented the voice from the +veil. + +"They will return no more, woman!" said another. It belonged to a man +who leaned against a pilaster, looking dreamily out into the glare +where, after a brief struggle, the band of fighters for the faith had +pushed aside the timid door-keepers and forced their way to the inner +garden. Through the open door they showed picturesquely, surging down +the path, backed by green foliage and the white dome of the Pearl +Mosque rising against the blue sky. + +"The Faith! The Faith! We come to fight for the Faith!" + +Their cry echoed over the drowsy, dreaming crowds, making men turn +over in their sleep; that was all. + +But the dreaminess grew in the face looking at the vista through the +open door till its eyes became like those Botticelli gives to his +Moses--the eyes of one who sees a promised land--and the dreamy voice +went on: + +"How can they return; seeing that He is Lord and Master? Changing the +Day to Darkness, the Darkness into Day. Holding the unsupported skies, +proving His existence by His existence, Omnipotent. High in Dignity, +the Avenger of His Faithful people." + +The old editor waggled his head with delighted approval; the author +fidgeted over an eloquence not his own; but Hâfzan's high laugh rang +cynically: + +"That may be so, most learned divine; yet I, Hâfzan, the harem scribe, +write no orders nowadays for King or Queen without the proviso of +'writ by a slave in pursuance of lawful order and under fear of death' +in some quiet corner. For I have no fancy, see you, for hanging, even +if it be in good company. But, go on with thy leading article, +moonshee-jee, I will interrupt no more." + +"Thus by a single revolution of time the state of affairs is completely +reversed,[4] and the great and memorable event which took place four +days ago must be looked upon as a practical warning to the uninformed +and careless, namely the British officers and those who never dreamed +of the decline and fall of their government, but who have now +convincing proof of what has been written in the Indelible Tablets by +God. The following brief account, therefore, of the horrible and +memorable events is given here solely for the sake of those still +inclined to treat them as a dream. On Monday, the 16th of Rumzân, that +holy month in which the Word of God came down to earth, and in which, +for all time, lies the Great Night of Power, the courts being open +early on account of the hot weather, the magistrate discharging his +wonted duties, suddenly the bridge toll-keeper appeared, informing him +that a few Toork troopers had first crossed the bridge----" + +The dreamy-faced divine turned in sharp reproach. "Not so, Syyed-jee. +The vision came first--the vision of the blessed Lord Ali seen by the +muezzin. Wouldst make this time as other times, and deny the miracles +by which it is attested as of God?" + +"Miracles!" echoed Hâfzan. "I see no miracle in an old man on a +camel." + +The divine frowned. "Nor in a strange white bird with a golden crown, +which hovered over the city giving the sacred cry? Nor in the +fulfillment of Hussan Askuri's dream?" + +Hâfzan burst into shrill laughter. "Hussan Askuri! Lo! Moulvie +Mohammed Ismail, didst thou know the arch dreamer as I, thou wouldst +not credit his miracles. He dreams to the Queen's orders as a bear +dances to the whip. And as thou knowest, my mistress hath the knack of +jerking the puppet strings. She hath been busy these days, and even +the Princess Farkhoonda----" + +"What of the Princess?" asked the newswriter, eagerly, nibbling his +pen in anticipation. + +"Nay, not so!" retorted Hâfzan. "I give no news nowadays, since I +cannot set 'spoken under fear of death' upon the words." + +She rose as she spoke, yet lingered, to stand a second beside the +divine and say in a softer tone, "Dreams are not safe, even to the +pious, as thou, Moulvie-sahib. A bird is none the less a bird because +it is strange to Delhi and hath been taught to speak. That it was seen +all know; yet for all that, it may be one of Hussan Askuri's tricks." + +"Let it be so, woman," retorted Mohammed Ismail almost fiercely, "is +there not miracle enough and to spare without it? Did not the sun rise +four days ago upon infidels in power? Where are they now? Were there +not two thousand of them in Meerut? Did they strike a blow? Did they +strike one here? Where is their strength? Gone! I tell thee--gone!" + +Hâfzan laid a veiled clutch on his arm suddenly and her other hand, +widening the folds of her shapeless form mysteriously, pointed into +the blaze and shimmer of sunlight. "It lies there, Moulvie-sahib, it +lies there," she said in a passionate whisper, "for God is on their +side." + +It was a pitiful little group to which she pointed. A woman, her mixed +blood showing in her face, her Christianity in her dress, being driven +along like a sheep to the shambles across the courtyard. She clasped a +year-old baby to her breast and a handsome little fellow of three +toddled at her skirts. She paused in a scrap of shade thrown by a tree +which grew beside a small cistern or reservoir near the middle of the +court, and shifted the heavy child in her arms, looking round, as she +did so, with a sort of wild, fierce fear, like that of a hunted +animal. The cluster of sepoys who had made their prisoner over to the +Palace guard turned hastily from the sight; but the guard drove her on +with coarse jibes. + +"The rope dangles close, Moulvie-jee," came Hâfzan's voice again. +"Ropes, said I? Gentle ropes? Nay! only as the wherewithal to tie +writhing limbs as they roast. If thou hast a taste for visions, pious +one, tell me what thou seest ahead for the murderers of such poor +souls?" + +"Murderers," echoed Mohammed Ismail swiftly; "there is no talk of +murder. 'Tis against our religion. Have I not signed the edict against +it? Have we not protested against the past iniquity of criminals, and +ignorant beasts, and vile libertines like Prince Abool-Bukr, who take +advantage----" + +"He was too drunk for much evil, learned one!" sneered Hâfzan. "Godly +men do worse than he in their own homes, as I know to my cost. As for +thine edict! Take it to the Princess Farkhoonda. She is a simple soul, +though she holds the vilest liver of Delhi in a leash. But the +Queen--the Queen is of different mettle, as you edict-signers will +find. There are nigh fifty such prisoners in the old cook-room now. +Wherefore?" + +"For safety. There are nigh forty in the city police station also." + +Hâfzan gathered her folds closer, "Truly thou art a simple soul, pious +divine. Dost not think there is a difference, still, between the +Palace and the city? But God save all women, black or white, say I! +Save them from men, and since we be all bound to hell together by +virtue of our sex, then will it be a better place than Paradise by +having fewer men in it." + +She flung her final taunts over her shoulder at her hearers as she +went limping off. + +"Heed her not, most pious!" said her uncle apologetically. "She hath +been mad against men ever since hers, being old and near his end, took +her, a child, and----" + +But Moulvie Mohammed Ismail was striding across the courtyard to the +long, low, half-ruinous shed in which the prisoners were kept. + +"Have they proper food and water?" he asked sharply of the guard. "The +King gave orders for it." + +"It comes but now!" replied the sergeant glibly, pointing to a file of +servants bearing dishes which were crossing the courtyard from the +royal kitchens. The Moulvie gave a sigh of relief, for Hâfzan's hints +had alarmed him. These same helpless prisoners lay on his conscience, +since he and his like were mainly responsible for the diligent search +for Christians which had been going on during the last few days; for +it was not to be tolerated that the faithful should risk salvation by +concealing them. The proper course was plain, unmistakable. They +should be given up to the authorities and be made into good +Mohammedans; by persuasion if possible, if not, by force. In truth the +Moulvie dreamed already of ninety and odd willing converts, as a +further manifestation of divine favor. Perhaps more; though most of +these ill-advised attempts at concealment must have come to an end by +now. + +They had indeed; those four days of peace, of hourly increasing +religious enthusiasm for a cause so evidently favored by High Heaven, +had made it well nigh impossible to carry on a task attempted by so +many, when it seemed likely to last for a few hours only. + +Even Jim Douglas told himself he must fail unless he could get help. +He had succeeded so far, simply because--by a mere chance--he had, not +one but several, places of concealment ready to his hand without the +necessity for taking anyone into his confidence. For he had found it +convenient in his work to have cities of refuge, as it were, where he +could escape from curiosity or change a disguise at leisure. The +shilling or so a month required for the rent of a room in some +tenement house being more than repaid by the sense of security the +possession gave him. It was to one of these, therefore, that he took +Kate on the dawn of the 12th, leaving her locked up in it alone; till +night enabled him to take her on to another; so by constant change +managing to escape suspicion. But as the days passed in miraculous +peace, he recognized the hopelessness of continuing this life for +long. To begin with, Kate's nerves could not stand it. She was brave +enough, but she had an imagination, and what woman with that could +stand being left alone in the dark for twelve hours at a time, never +knowing if the slow starvation, which would be her fate if anything +untoward happened to him, had not already begun? He could not expect +her to stand it, when three days of something far less difficult had +left him haggard, his nerves unstrung; left him with the possibility +looming in the future of his losing his self-control some day, and +going madly for the whole world as young Mainwaring had done. Not that +he cared for Kate's safety so much, as that the mere thought of +failure roused a beast-like ferocity in him. So, as he wandered +restlessly about the city, waiting in a fever of impatience for some +sign of the world without those rose-red walls--waiting day by day, +with a growing tempest of rage, for the night to return and let him +creep up some dark stairs and assure himself of a woman's safety, he +was piecing together a plan in case---- Of what? In case the stories +he heard in the bazaars were true? No! that was impossible. How could +the English have been wiped out of India? Yet as he saw the deserted +shops being reopened in solemn procession by an old pantaloon on an +elephant calling himself the Emperor, when he saw Abool-Bukr letting +off squibs in general rejoicing over the reestablishment of Mohammedan +empire; above all when he saw the tide of life returning to the +streets, his mad desire to strike a blow and smash the sham was +tempered by an almost unbearable curiosity as to what had really +happened. But he dared not try and find out. Useless though he knew it +was, he hung round the quarter where Kate lay concealed for the day, +feeling a certain consolation in knowing that he was as close to her +as he dared to be. Such a life was manifestly impossible, and so, bit +by bit, his plan grew. Yet, when it had grown, he almost shrank from +it, so strange did it seem, in its linking of the past with the +present. For Kate must pass as his wife--his sick wife, hidden, as +Zora had been, on some terraced roof, with Tara as her servant; he, +meanwhile, passing as an Afghan horse-dealer, kept from returning +North, like others of his trade, by this illness in his house. The +plan was perfectly feasible if Tara would consent. And Jim Douglas, +though he ignored his own certainty, never really doubted that she +would. He had not been born in the mist-covered mountains of the North +for nothing. Their mysticism was part of his nature, and he felt that +he had saved her for this; that for this, and this only, he had played +that childish but successful cantrip with her hair. In a way, was not +the pathetic idyl on the roof with little Zora but a rehearsal of a +tragedy--a rehearsal without which he could not have played his part? +Strange thread of fate, indeed, linking these women together! and +though he shrank from admitting its very existence, it gave him +confidence that the whole would hang together securely. So that when +he sought Tara out, his only real doubt was whether it would be wiser +to tell her the truth about Kate, or assert that she was his wife. He +chose the latter as less risky, since, even if Tara refused aid, she +would not overtly betray anyone belonging to him. + +But Tara did not refuse. To begin with, she could have refused nothing +in the first joy of finding him safe when she had believed him dead +like all the other Huzoors. And then a vast confusion of love, and +pride, and remorse, and fierce passionate denial of all three, led her +into consent. If the Huzoor wanted her to help to save his wife why +should she object? Though it was nothing to her if the mem was _his_ +mem or not. Jim Douglas, listening to the eager protest, wondered if +he might not safely have saved himself an unnecessary complication; +but then he wondered at many things Tara said and did. At her quick +frown when he promised her both hair and locket as her reward. At the +faint quiver amid the scorn with which she had replied that he would +still want the latter for the mem's hair. At her slow smile when he +opened the gold oval to show the black lock still in sole possession. +She had turned aside to look at the hearth-cakes she had been toasting +when he came in, and then gone into the necessary details of +arrangement in the most matter-of-fact way. Naturally the Huzoor had +sought help from his servant. From whom else could he seek it? As for +her saintship, there was nothing new in that. She had been suttee +always as the master very well knew. So nothing she did for him, or he +for her, could make that suffer. Therefore she would arrange as she +had arranged for Zora. The Huzoor must rent a roof--roofs were +safest--and she would engage a half-blind, half-deaf old sweeper-woman +she knew of. Perhaps another if need be. But the Huzoor need have no +fear of such details if he gave her money. And this Jim Douglas had +hidden in the garden of his deserted bungalow in Duryagunj; so that in +truth it seemed as if the whole plan had been evolved for them by a +kindly fate. + +And yet Jim Douglas felt a keen pang of regret when, for the first +time, he gave the familiar knock of those old Lucknow days at the door +of a Delhi roof and Tara opened it to him, dressed in the old crimson +drapery, the gold bangles restored to her beautiful brown arms. He had +brought Kate round during the previous night to the lodging he had +managed to secure in the Mufti's quarter, and, leaving her there +alone, had taken the key to Tara; this being the safest plan, since +everything could then be arranged in discreet woman's fashion before +he put in an appearance. + +And the task had been done well. The outside square or yard of +parapeted roof which he entered lay conventional to the uttermost. A +spinning-wheel here, a row of water-pots there, a mat, a reed stool or +two, a cooking place in one corner, a ragged canvas screen at the +inner doors. Nothing there to prepare him for finding an Englishwoman +within; an Englishwoman with a faint color in her wan cheeks; a new +peace in her gray eyes, busy--Heaven save the mark!--in sticking some +disjointed jasmine buds into the shallow saucer of a water-pot. + +"Tara brought them strung on a string," said Kate half apologetically +after her first welcome, as she noted his look. "I suppose she meant me +to wear them--with the other things," she paused to glance down with a +smile at her dress, "but it seemed a pity. They were like a new world +to me--like a promise--somehow." + +He sat down on the edge of the string bed feeling a little dazed and +looked at her and her surroundings critically. It was a pleasant +sunshiny bit of roof, vaulted by the still cool morning sky. There was +a little arcaded room at one end, the topmost branches of a neem tree +showed over one side; on the other, the swelling dome of the big +mosque looked like a great white cloud, and in one corner was a sort +of square turret, from the roof of which, gained by a narrow brick +ladder, the whole city was visible. For it was the highest house in +the quarter, higher even than the roof beside it, over which the same +neem tree cast a shadow. + +And as he looked, he thought idly that no dress in the world was more +graceful than the Delhi dress with its billowy train and loose, soft, +filmy veil. And Kate looked well in white--all in white. He pulled +himself up sharply; but indeed memory was playing him tricks, and +the stress and strain of reality seemed far from that slip of +sun-saturated roof where a graceful woman in white was sticking +jasmine buds into water. And suddenly the thought came that Zora would +have worn the chaplets heedlessly; there would have been no +sentimentality over withered flowers on her part. + +"A promise," he echoed half-bitterly. "Well! one must hope so. And +even if the worst comes, it will come easier here." + +She looked up at him reproachfully. "Don't remind me of that, please," +she said hurriedly; "I seem to have forgotten--here under the blue +sky. I dare say it's very trivial of me, but I can't help it. +Everything amuses me, interests me. It is so quaint, so new. Even this +dress; it is hardly credible, but I wished so much for a looking-glass +just now, to see how I looked in it." + +Her eyes met his almost gayly, and he felt an odd resentment in +recognizing that Zora would have said the words as frankly. + +"I have one here--in a ring," he replied somewhat stiffly, with a +vague feeling he had done all this before, as he untied the knot of a +small bundle he had brought with him. "It is not much use--for that +sort of thing--I'm afraid," he went on, "but I think you had better +have these: it is a great point--even for your own sake--to dress as +well as play the part." + +Kate, with a sudden gravity, looked at the pile of native ornaments he +emptied out on to the bed. Bracelets in gold and silver, anklets, odd +little jeweled tassels for the hair, quaint silk-strung necklets and +talismans. + +"Here is the looking-glass," he said, choosing out a tiny round one +set in filigree gold; "you must wear it on your thumb--but it will +barely go on my little finger," he spoke half to himself, and Kate, +fitting on the ring, looked at him and set her lips. + +"It is too small for me also," she said, laying it down with +a faint air of distaste. "They are very pretty, Mr. Greyman," +she added quickly, "but I would rather not--unless it is really +necessary--unless you think----" + +He rose half-wearily, half-impatiently. "I should prefer it; but you +can do as you like. The jewels belonged to a woman I loved very +dearly, Mrs. Erlton. She was not my wife--but she was a good woman for +all that. You need not be afraid." + +Kate felt the blood tingle to her face as she laid violent hands on +the first ornament she touched. It happened to be a solid gold bangle. +"It is too small too," she said petulantly, trying to squeeze her hand +through it. "Really it would be better----" + +"Excuse me," he replied coolly, "if you will let me." He drew the +great carved knobs apart deftly, slipped her wrist sideways through +the opening, and had them closed again in a second. + +"You can't take it off at night, that is all," he went on, "but I will +tell Tara to show you how to wear the rest. I must be off now and +settle a thousand things." + +As he passed into the outer roof once more, Kate felt that flush, half +of resentment, half of shame, still on her face. In such surroundings +how trivial it was, and yet he had guessed her thought truly. Had he +guessed also the odd thrill which the touch of that gold fetter gave +her? Half-mechanically she tried to loosen it, to remove it, and then +with an impatient frown desisted and began to put on the other +bracelets. What did it matter, one way or the other? And then, +becoming interested despite herself, she set to work to puzzle out +uses and places for the pile. + +Meanwhile Jim Douglas was dinning instructions into Tara's ear; but +she also, he told himself angrily, was trivial to the last degree. And +when finally he urged an immediate darkening of Kate's hair and a +faint staining of the face to suit the only part possible with her +gray eyes--that of a fair Afghan--he flung away in despair from the +irrelevant remark: + +"But the mem will never be so pretty as Zora; and besides she has such +big feet." + +Big feet! He swore under his breath that all women were alike in this, +that they saw the whole world through the medium of their sex; and +_that_ was at the bottom of all the mischief. Delhi had been lost to +save women; the trouble had begun to please them. Even now, as far as +he could see, resistance would collapse but for one woman's ambition; +though despite the Queen and her plots, a hundred brave men or so +might still be masters of Delhi if they chose. Since it was still each +for himself, and the devil take the hindmost with the mutineers. The +certainty of this had made these long days of inaction almost beyond +bearing to him; and as Jim Douglas passed out into the street he +thought bitterly that here again a woman stood in the way; since but +for Kate he could surely have forced Meerut into making reprisals by +reporting the true state of affairs. + +Yet every hour made these reprisals more difficult. Indeed, as he left +the Mufti's quarters on that morning of the 16th of May, something was +going on in the Palace which ended indecision for many a man and left +no chance of retreat. For Zeenut Maihl saw facts as clearly as Jim +Douglas, and knew that the first tramp of disciplined feet would be +the signal for scuttle; if a chance of escape remained. + +And so this something was going on. By someone's orders of course; by +whose is one of the unanswered questions of the Indian Mutiny. + +The Queen herself was sitting with the King, amicably, innocently, +applauding his latest couplet; which was in sober truth, one of his +best: + + + "God takes this dice-box world, shakes upside down, + Throws one defeat, and one a kingly crown." + + +He was beginning to feel the latter on the old head, which was so +diligently stuffed with dreams; but the Queen knew in her heart of +hearts that the fight for sovereignty had only just begun. So her mind +was chiefly occupied in a spiteful exultation at the thought of some +folk's useless terror when--this thing being done--they would find +their hands irrevocably on the plow. Ahsan-Oolah and Elahi-Buksh, for +instance; their elaborate bridges would be useless; and Abool-Bukr +with his squibs and processions, Farkhoonda with her patter of virtue +and religion. If only for the sake of immeshing this last victim +Zeenut Maihl would not have shrunk; since those three or four days of +cozening had left the Queen with a still more vigorous hate for the +Princess Farkhoonda, who had fallen into the trap so easily, and who +already began to give herself airs and discuss the future on a plane +of equality. Pretty, conceited fool! who even now, so the spies said, +was waiting to receive the Prince, her nephew, for the first time +since she came to the Palace. The very fact that it was the first time +seemed an aggravation in the Queen's angry eyes, proving as it did a +certain reality in Farkhoonda's pretensions to decorum. + +In truth they were very real to the Princess herself; had been gaining +reality ever since that first deft suggestion of a possibility had set +her heart beating. The possibility, briefly, of the King choosing to +set aside that early marriage so tragically interrupted; choosing to +declare it no marriage and give his consent to another. Newâsi had +indignantly scouted the suggestion, had stopped her ears, her heart; +but the remembrance of it lingered, enervating her mind, and as she +waited for the interview with the Prince she felt vaguely that it was +a very different matter receiving him in these bride-like garments, in +these dim, heavily scented rooms, to what it had been under the clear +sky in her scholar's dress. Yet as she stooped from mere habit, +aroused by the finery itself, to arrange her long brocaded train into +better folds, she gave something between a sigh and a laugh at the +certainty of his admiration. And after all, why should she not have it +if the King---- + +The sound of a distant shot made her start and pause, listening for +another. So she stood a slim figure ablaze with color and jewels, a +figure with studied seductiveness in every detail of its dress; and +she knew that it was so. Why not? If--if he liked it so, and if the +King---- + +Newâsi clasped her hands nervously and walked up and down the dim +room. Abool was late, and he had no right to be late on this his first +visit of ceremony to his aunt. The Mirza-sahib was no doubt late, +admitted her attendants, but the door-keeper had reported a +disturbance of some kind in the outer court which might be the cause +of delay. + +A disturbance! Newâsi, a born coward, shrank from the very thought, +though she felt that it could be nothing--nothing but one of the many +brawls, the constant quarrels. + +God and his prophet! who--what was that? She recoiled with a scream of +terror from the wild figure which burst in on her unceremoniously, +which followed her retreat into the far corner, flung itself at her +knees, clasping them, burying its face among her scented draperies. +But by that time her terror was gone, and she stooped, trying to free +herself from those clinging arms, from the disgrace, from the outrage; +from the drunken---- + +"Abool!" she cried fiercely, then turning to the curious tittering +women, stamped her foot at them and bade them begone. And when they +had obeyed, she beat her little hands against those clinging ones +again with wild upbraidings, till suddenly they fell as if paralyzed +before the awful horror and dread in the face which rose from her +fineries. + +"Come, Newâsi!" stammered the white trembling lips, "come from this +hangman's den. Did I not warn thee? But thou hast put the rope round +my neck--I who only wanted to live my own life, die my own death. +Come! Come!" + +He stumbled to his feet, but seemed unable to stir. So he stood +looking at his hands stupidly. + +Farkhoonda looked too, her face growing gray. + +"What is't, Abool?" she faltered; "what is't, dear?" + +But she knew; it was blood, new shed, still wet. + +He stood silent, gazing at the stains stupidly. "I did not strike," he +muttered to himself, "but I called; or did I strike? I--I----" He +threw up his head and his words rushed recklessly in a high shrill +voice, "I warned thee! I told thee it was not safe! They were herded +like sheep in the sunshine by the cistern, and the smell of blood rose +up. It was in my very nostrils, for, look you, that first shot missed +them and killed one of my men. I saw it. A round red spot oozing over +the white--and they herded like sheep----" + +"Who?" she asked faintly. + +"I told thee; the prisoners, with the cry to kill above the cries +of the children, the flash of blood-dulled swords above women's +heads--and I---- Nay! I warned thee, Newâsi, there was butcher +_here_"--his blood-stained hands left their mark on his gay clothes. + +"Abool!" she cried, "thou didst not----" + +"Did I?" he almost screamed. "God! will it ever leave my sight? I gave +the call, I ran in, I drew my sword. It spurted over my hands from a +child's throat as I would have struck--or--or--did I strike? Newâsi!" +his voice had sunk again almost to a whisper, "it was in its mother's +arms,--she did not cry,--she looked and I--I----" he buried his face +in his hands--"I came to thee." + +She stood looking at him for a moment, her hands clenched, her +beautiful soft eyes ablaze; then recklessly she tore the jewels from +her arms, her neck, her hair. + +"So she has dared! Yea! Come! thou art right, Abool!" The words mixed +themselves with the tinkle of bracelets as, flung from her in wild +passion, they rolled into the corners of the room, with the chink of +necklaces as they fell, with the rustle of brocade and tinsel as she +tore them from her. "She has killed them--the helpless fugitives, +guests who have eaten the King's salt! She thinks to beguile us +all--to beguile thee. But she shall not. It is not too late. Come! +Come! Abool--thou shalt have all from me--yea! all, sooner than she +should beguile thee thus--Come!" + +She had snatched an old white veil from its peg and wrapped it round +her, as she passed rapidly to the door; but he did not move. So she +passed back again as swiftly to take his hand, stained as it was, and +lay her cheek to it caressingly. + +"Thou didst not strike, dear, thou didst not! Come, dear, that +she-devil shall not have thee--I will hold thee fast." + +Five minutes after a plain curtained dhoolie left the precincts and +swayed past the Great Hall of Audience with its toothed red arches, +looking as if they yawned for victims. The courtyard beyond lay +strangely silent, despite the shifting crowd, which gathered and +melted and gathered again round the little tree-shaded cistern where +but the day before Hâfzan and the Moulvie had watched a mother pause +to clasp her baby to softer, securer rest. + +The woman and the child were at the cistern now, and the Rest had +come. Softer, securer than all other rest, and the mother shared it; +shared it with other women, other children. + +But as the Princess Farkhoonda, fearful of what she might see, peeped +through the dhoolie curtains, there was nothing to be seen save the +shifting, curious crowd, while the impartial sunshine streamed down on +it, and those on whom it gazed. + +So let the shifting, crowding years with their relentless questioning +eyes shut out all thought of what lay by the cistern, save that of +rest and the impartial sunshine streaming upon it. + +For as the beautiful soft eyes drew back relieved, a bugle rang +through the arcades, echoed from the wall, floated out into the city. +The bugle to set watch and ward, to close the gates; since the +irrevocable step had been taken, the death-pledge made. + +So the dream of sovereignty began in earnest behind closed gates. But +if women had lost Delhi, those who lay murdered about the little +cistern had regained it. For Hâfzan had spoken truth; the strength of +the Huzoors lay there. + +The strength of the real Master. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + PEACE? PEACE? + + +Three weeks had passed, and still the dream of sovereignty went on +behind the closed gates, while all things shimmered and simmered in +the fierce blaze of summer sunlight. The city lay--a rose-red glare +dazzling to look at--beside the glittering curves of the river, and +the deserted Ridge, more like a lizard than ever, sweltered and slept +lazily, its tail in the cool blue water, its head upon the cool green +groves of the Subz-mundi. And over all lay a liquid yellow heat-haze +blurring every outline, till the whole seemed some vast mirage. + +And still there were no tidings of the master, no cloud of dust upon +the Meerut road. None. + +Amazing, incredible fact! Men whispered of it on the steps of the +Great Mosque when, the last Friday of the fast coming round, its +commination service brought many from behind closed doors to realize +that by such signs of kingship as beatings of drums, firing of +salutes, and levying of loans, Bahâdur Shâh really had filched the +throne of his ancestors from the finest fighters in the world. Filched +it without a blow, without a struggle, without even a threat, a +defiance. + +So here they were in a new world without posts or telegraphs, laws or +order. Time itself turned back hundreds of years and all power of +progress vested absolutely in one old man, the Light of Religion, the +Defender of the Faith, the Great Moghul. If that were not a miracle it +came too perilously near to one for some folk's loyalty; and so they +drifted palaceward when prayers were over to swell the growing crowd +of courtiers about the Dream King. And even the learned and most loyal +lingered on the steps to whisper, and call obscure prophecies and +ingenious commentaries to mind, and admit that it was strange, +wondrous strange, that the numerical values of the year should yield +the anagram "_Ungrez tubbah shood ba hur soorut_," briefly "The +British shall be annihilated." For the Oriental mind loves such +trivialities. + +And, to all intents and purposes, the English were annihilated, during +that short month of peace between the 11th of May and the 8th of June, +1857; for Delhi knew nothing of the vain striving, the ceaseless +efforts of the master to find tents and carriages, horses, ammunition, +medicine, everything once more, save, thank Heaven! courage, and the +determination to be master still. + +Even Soma admitted the miracle grudgingly; for he had so far bolstered +up his disloyalty by thoughts of a fair fight. He had not, after all, +gone to Delhi direct, but had cut across country to his own village +near Hansi, and had waited there, hoping to hear of a regular outbreak +of hostilities before definitely choosing his side; and he was still +waiting when, after a fortnight, his greatest chum in the regiment had +turned up from Meerut. For Davee Singh had been one of the many sepoys +of the 11th who had gone back to the colors after that one brief night +of temptation was over. Soma had known this, and more than once as he +waited, the knowledge had been as a magnet drawing him back to the old +pole of thought; for that his chum should be led to victory and he be +among the defeated was probable enough to make Soma hate himself in +anticipation. + +But here was Davee Singh, a deserter like he was, sulkily +uncommunicative to the village gossips, but to his fellow admitting +fiercely that the latter had been right. The Huzoors had forgotten how +to fight. Meerut was quiet as the grave; but there was no word of +Delhi, and folk said--what did they not say? + +So these two, with a strange mixture of regret and relief in their +hearts, set out for Delhi to see what was happening there; not knowing +that many of their fellows were drifting from it, weary like +themselves of inaction. + +They had arrived there, two swaggering Rajpoots, in the midst of the +thanksgivings and jollity of the Mohammedan Easter which followed on +the last Friday of Fast; and they had fallen foul of it frankly. As +frankly as the Mohammedans would have fallen foul of a Hindoo +Saturnalia, or both Mohammedans and Hindoos would have fallen foul of +the festivities in honor of the Queen's Birthday which, on this 25th +of May, 1857, were going on in every cantonment in India as if there +was no such thing as mutiny in the world. So, annoyed with what they +saw and heard, they joined themselves to other Rajpoot malcontents +promptly. They sneered at the old pantaloon's procession, which was in +truth a poor one, though half the tailors in Delhi had been impressed +to hurry up trappings and robes. Perhaps if Abool-Bukr had still been +in charge of squibs and such like, it would have been better; but he +was not. The order he had given to let the Princess Farkhoonda's +dhoolie pass out, before the gates were closed on that day of the +death-pledge, had been his last exercise of authority; for the next +Court Journal contained the announcement that he was dismissed from +his appointment. So he, hovering between the Thunbi Bazaar and the +Mufti's quarter, had nothing to do with the procession at which the +Rajpoots sneered, criticising Mirza Moghul, the Commander-in-Chief's +seat on a horse, and talking boastfully of Vicra-maditya and Pertap as +warlike Hindoos will. Until, about dusk, words came to blows amid a +tinkling of anklets and a terrible smell of musk; for valor drifted as +a matter of course to the wooden balconies of the Thunbi Bazaar during +the month of miracle. So that the inmates, coining money, called down +blessings on the new régime. + +Soma, however, with a cut over one eye sorely in need of a stitch, +swore loudly when he could find none to patch him up save a doddering +old Hakeem, who proposed dosing him with paper pills inscribed with +the name of Providence; an incredible remedy to one accustomed to all +the appliances of hospitals and skilled surgery. + +"Yea! no doubt he is a fool," assented the other sepoys in frank +commiseration, "yet he is the best you will get. For see you, brother, +the doctors belong to the Huzoors; so many a brave man must expect to +die needlessly, since those cursed dressers are not safe. There was +one took the bottles and things and swore he could use them as well as +any. And luck went with him until he gave five heroes who had been +drunk the night before somewhat to clear their heads. By all the gods +in Indra's heaven they were clear even of life in half an hour. So we +fell on the dresser and cleared him too. Yea! fool or no fool, paper +pills are safer!" + +Jim Douglas, who, profiting by the dusk and confusion, had lingered by +the group after recognizing Soma's voice, turned away with a savage +chuckle; not that the tale amused him, but that he was glad to think +six of the devils had gone to their account. For those long days of +peace and enforced inaction had sunk him lower and lower into sheer +animal hatred of those he dare not rebuke. He knew it himself, he felt +that his very courage was becoming ferocity, and the thought that +others, biding their time as he was, must be sinking into it also, +filled him with fierce joy at the thought of future revenge. And yet, +so far as he personally was concerned, those long days had passed +quietly, securely, peacefully, and he could at any time climb out of +all sight and sound of turmoil to a slip of sunlit roof where a woman +waited for him with confidence and welcome in her eyes. With something +obtrusively English also for his refreshment, since tragedy, even the +fear of death, cannot claim a whole life, and Kate took to amusing +herself once more by making her corner of the East as much like the +West as she dare. That was not much, but Jim Douglas' eye noted the +indescribable difference which the position of a reed stool, the +presence of a poor bunch of flowers, the little row of books in a +niche, made in the familiar surroundings. For there were books and to +spare in Delhi; for the price of a few pennies Jim Douglas might have +brought her a cartload of such loot had he deemed it safe; but he did +not, and so the library consisted of grammars and vocabularies from +which Kate learned with a rapidity which surprised and interested her +teacher. In truth she had nothing else to do. Yet when he came, as he +often did, to find her absorbed in her work, her eyes dreamy with the +puzzle of tense, he resented it inwardly, telling himself once more +that women were trivial creatures, and life seemed trivial too, for in +truth his nerves were all jangled and out of tune with the desire to +get away from this strange shadow of a past idyll; to leave all +womanhood behind and fall to fighting manfully. So that often as he +sat beside her, patient outwardly, inwardly fretting to be gone even +in the nightmare of the city, his eye would fall on the circlet of +gold he had slipped, out of sheer arrogance and imperious temper, +round that slender wrist, and feel that somehow he had fettered +himself hopelessly when, more than a year past, he had given that +promise. His chance and hers! Was this all? One woman's safety. And +she, following his eyes to the bangle, would feel the thrill of its +first touch once more, and think how strange it was that his chance +and hers were so linked together. But, being a woman, her heart would +soften instinctively to the man who sat beside her, and whose face +grew sterner and more haggard day by day; while hers?--she could see +enough of it in the little looking-glass on her thumb to recognize +that she was positively getting fat! She tried to amuse him by telling +him so, by telling him many of the little humorous touches which come +even into tragic life, and he was quite ready to smile at them. But +only to please her. So day by day a silence grew between them as they +sat on the inner roof, while Tara spun outside, or watched them +furtively from some corner. And the flare of the sunset, unseen behind +the parapeted wall, would lie on the swelling dome and spiked minarets +of the mosque and make the paper kites, flown in this month of May by +half the town, look like drifting jewels; fit canopy for the City of +Dreams and for this strangest of dreams upon the housetop. + +"Has--has anything gone wrong?" she asked in desperation one day, when +he had sat moodily silent for a longer time than usual. "I would +rather you told me, Mr. Greyman." + +He looked at her, vaguely surprised at the name; for he had almost +forgotten it. Forgotten utterly that she could not know any other. And +why should she? He had made the promise under that name; let them +stick to it so long as Fate had linked their chances together. + +"Nothing; not for us at least," he said, and then a sudden remorse at +his own unfriendliness came over him. "There was another poor chap +discovered to-day," he added in a softer tone. "I believe that you and +I, Mrs. Erlton, must be the only two left now." + +"I dare say," she echoed a little wearily, "they--they killed him I +suppose." + +He nodded. "I saw his body in the bazaar afterward. I used to know him +a bit--a clever sort----" + +"Yes----" + +"Mixed blood, of course, or he could not have passed muster so long as +a greengrocer's assistant." + +"Well--I would rather hear if you don't mind." + +His dark eyes met hers with a sudden eagerness, a sudden passion in +them. + +"What a little thing life is after all! He only said one word--only +one. He was selling watermelons, and some brute tried to cheat him +first, and then cheeked him. And he forgot a moment and said: +_Chup-raho_,' (be silent)--only that!--'_chup-raho_'! They were +bragging of it--the devils. We knew he couldn't be a coolie, they +said, that is a master's word.' My God! What wouldn't I give to say it +sometimes! I could have shouted to them then, _Chup-raho_, you fools! +you cowards!' and some of them would have been silent enough----" + +He broke off hurriedly, clenching his hands like a vise on each other, +as if to curb the tempest of words. + +"I beg your pardon," he said after a pause, rising to walk away; "I--I +lose control----" He paused again and shook his head silently. Kate +followed him and laid her hand on his arm; the loose gold fetter +slipped to her wrist and touched him too. + +"You think I don't understand," she said with a sudden sob in her +voice, "but I do--you must go away--it isn't worth it--no woman is +worth it." + +He turned on her sharply. "Go? You know I can't. What is the use of +suggesting it? Mrs. Erlton! Tara is faithful; but she is faithful to +me--only to me--you must see that surely----" + +"If you mean that she loves you--worships the very ground you tread +on," interrupted Kate sharply, "that is evident enough." + +"Is that my fault?" he began angrily; "I happened----" + +"Thank you, I have no wish to hear the story." + +The commonplace, second-rate, mock-dignified phrase came to her lips +unsought, and she felt she could have cried in sheer vexation at +having used it there; in the very face of Death as it were. But Jim +Douglas laughed; laughed good-naturedly. + +"I wonder how many years it is since I heard a woman say that? In +another world surely," he said with quite a confidential tone. "But +the fact remains that Tara protects you as my wife, and if I were to +go----" + +Kate looked at him with a quick resentment flaming up in her face +beneath the stain. + +"I think you are mistaken," she said slowly. "I believe Tara would be +better pleased if--if she knew the truth." + +"You mean if I were to tell her you are not my wife?" he replied +quickly. "Why?" + +"Because I should be less of a tie to you--because----" She paused, +then added sharply, "Mr. Greyman, I must ask you to tell her the +truth, please. I have a right to so much, surely. I have my reasons +for it, and if you do not, I shall." + +Jim Douglas shrugged his shoulders. "In that case I had better tell +her myself; not that I think it matters much one way or another, so +long as I am here. And the whole thing from beginning to end is +chance, nothing but chance." + +"Your chance and mine," she murmured half to herself. It was the first +time she had alluded openly to the strange linking of their fates, and +he looked at her almost impatiently. + +"Yes! your chance and mine; and we must make the best of it. I'll tell +her as I go out." + +But Tara interrupted him at the beginning. + +"If the Huzoor means that he does not love the mem as he loved Zora, +that requires no telling, and for the rest what does it matter to this +slave?" + +"And it matters nothing to me either," he retorted roughly, "but of +this be sure. Who kills the mem kills me, unless I kill first; and by +Krishnu, and Vishnu, and the lot, I'd as lief kill you, Tara, as +anyone else, if you get in my way." + +A great broad flash of white teeth lit up her face as she salaamed, +remarking that the Huzoor's mother must have been as Kunti. And Jim +Douglas understanding the complimentary allusion to the God-visited +mother of the Lunar race, wished as he went downstairs, that he was +like the Five Heroes in one respect, at least, and that was in having +only a fifth part of a woman to look after, instead of two whole ones +who talked of love! So he passed out to listen, and watch, and wait, +while the fire-balloons went up into the velvety sky, replacing the +kites. For May is the month of marriages also, and night after night +these false stars floated out from the Dream-City to form new +constellations on the horizon for a few minutes and then disappear +with a flare into the darkness. Into the darkness whence the master +did not come. Yet, as the month ended, villagers passing in with grain +from Meerut averred that the masters were not all dead, or else God +gave their ghosts a like power in cursing and smiting--which was all +poor folk had to look for; since some had appeared and burned a +village. + +Not all dead? The news drifted from market to market, but if it +penetrated through the Palace gates it did not filter through the new +curtains and hangings of the private apartments where the King took +perpetual cooling draughts and wrote perpetual appeals for more +etiquette and decorum. For nothing likely to disturb the unities of +dreams was allowed within the precincts, where every day the old King +sat on a mock peacock throne with a new cushion to it, and listened +for hours to the high-flown letters of congratulation which poured in, +each with its own little covering bag of brocade, from the neighboring +chiefs. And if any day there happened to be a paucity of real ones, +Hussan Askuri could supply them, like other dreams, at so much a +dozen; since nothing more costly than the brocade bag came with them. +So that the Mahboob's face, as Treasurer, grew longer and longer over +the dressmaker's and upholsterer's bills, and the Court Journal was +driven into recording the fact that someone actually presented a +bottle of _Pandamus odoratissimus_, whatever that may be. Some subtle +essence, mayhap, favorable to dreaminess; since, in the month of +peace, drugs were necessary to prevent awakening. + +Especially when, on the 30th of May, a sound came over the distant +horizon; the sound of artillery. + +At last! At last! Jim Douglas, who, in sheer dread of his own growing +despair, had taken to spending all the time he dared in moody silence +on that peaceful roof, started as if he had been shot, and was down +the stairs seeking news. The streets were full of a silent, restless +crowd, almost empty of soldiers. They had gone out during the night, +he learned, Meerutward; tidings of an army on the banks of the Hindu +river, seven or eight miles out, having been brought in by scouts. + +At last! At last! He wandered through the bazaars scarcely able to +think, wondering only when the army could possibly arrive, feeling a +mad joy in the anxious faces around him, lingering by the groups of +men collected in every open space simply for the satisfaction of +hearing the wonder and alarm in the words: "So the master lives." + +He lived indeed! Listen! That was his voice over the eastern horizon! +Kate, when he came back to the roof about noon, had never seen him in +this mood before, and wondered at his fire, his gayety, his youth. But +the recognition brought a dull pain with it, in the thought that this +was natural to the man; that gloomy moodiness the result of her +presence. + +"You are not afraid, surely?" he said suddenly, breaking off in the +recital of some future event which seemed to him certain. + +"No. I am only glad," she replied slowly. "It could not have lasted +much longer. It is a great relief." + +"Relief," he echoed, "I wonder if you know the relief it is to me?" +And then he looked at her remorsefully. "I have been an awful brute, +Mrs. Erlton, but women can scarcely understand what inaction means to +a man." + +Could they not? she wondered bitterly as he hastened off again, +leaving her to long weary hours of waiting; till the red flush of +sunset on the bubble dome of the mosque brought him back with a new +look on his face; a look of angry doubt. + +"The sepoys are coming in again," he said; "they claim a victory--but +that, of course, is impossible. Still I don't understand, and it is so +difficult to get any reliable information." + +"You should go out yourself--I believe it would be best for us both," +replied Kate, "Tara----" + +He shook his head impatiently. "Not now. What is the use of risking +all at the last. We can only have to wait till to-morrow. But I don't +understand it, all the same. The sepoys say they surprised the +camp--that the buglers were still calling to arms when their artillery +opened fire. But so far as I can make out they have lost five guns, +and from the amount of bhang they are drinking, I believe it was a +rout. However, if you don't mind, I'll be off again--and--and don't be +alarmed if I stay out." + +"I'm not in the least alarmed," she replied. "As I have told you +before, I don't think it is necessary you should come here at all." + +He paused at the door to glance back at her half-resentfully. To be +sure she did not know that he had slept on its threshold as a rule; +but anyhow, after eating your heart out over one woman's safety for +three weeks, it was hard to be told that you were not wanted. But, +thank Heaven! the end was at hand. And yet as he lingered round the +watch-fires he heard nothing but boasting, and in more than one of the +mosques thanksgivings were being offered up; while outside the walls +volunteers to complete the task so well begun were assembling to go +forth with the dawn and kill the few remaining infidels. Some drunk +with bhang, more intoxicated by the lust of blood which comes to +fighting races like the Rajpoot with the first blow. It had come to +Soma, as, with fierce face seamed with tears, he told the tale again +and again of his chum's gallant death. How Davee Singh, brother in +arms, his boyhood's playmate, seeing some cowards of artillerymen +abandoning a tumbril full of ammunition to the cursed Mlechchas, had +leaped to it like a black-buck, and with a cry to Kali, Mother of +Death, had fired his musket into it; so sending a dozen or more of the +hell-doomed to their place, and one more brave Rajpoot to Swarga. + +"_Jai! Jai! Kâli ma ki jai!_" + +An echo of the dead man's last cry came from many a living one, as +muskets were gripped tighter in the resolve to be no whit behind. A +few more such heroes and the Golden Age would come again; the age of +the blessed Pandâva, who forgot the cause in the quarrel. + +And so for one day more Jim Douglas strained his ears for that distant +thunder on the horizon, while the people of the town, becoming more +accustomed to it, went about their business, vaguely relieved at +anything which should keep the sepoys' hands from mischief. + +The red sunset glow was on the mosque again when he returned to the +little slip of roof to find Kate working away at her grammars calmly. +The best thing she could do, since every word she learned was an +additional safeguard; and yet the man could not help a scornful smile. + +"It is a rout this time, I am sure," he said; "and yet there is no +sign of pursuit. I cannot understand it; there seems a Fate about it!" + +"Is that anything new?" she asked wearily, as she laid down her book, +and with the certain precision which marked all her actions, saw that +the water was really boiling before she made the tea. It was made in a +_lota_, and drunk out of handleless basins, yet for all that it was +Western-made tea, strong and unspiced, with cream to put to it also, +which she skimmed from a dish set in cold water in the coolest, +darkest place she could find. Dreamlike indeed, and Jim Douglas, +drinking his tea, felt, that with his eyes shut, he might have dreamed +himself in an English drawing room. + +"Nothing new," he retorted, "but it seems incomprehensible. Hark! +That is a salute; for the victory, I suppose. Upon my soul I feel as +if--as if I were a dream myself--as if I should go mad! Don't look +startled--I shan't. The whole thing is a sham--I can see that. But why +has no one the pluck to give the House-of-Cards a push and bring it +about their ears? And what has become of the army at the Hindun? It +took three days to march there from Meerut, I hear--not more than +twenty-four miles. No! I cannot understand it. No wonder the people +say we are all dead. I begin to believe it myself." + +He heard the saying often enough certainly to bring relief during the +1st and 2d of June, when there was no more distant thunder on the +horizon, and the whole town, steeped and saturated with sunshine, lay +half-asleep, the soldiers drowsing off the effect of their drugs. + +Dead? Yea! the masters were dead, and those who had escaped were in +full retreat up the river; so at least said villagers coming in with +supplies. But someone else who had come in with supplies also, sat +crouched up like a grasshopper on a great pile of wool-betasseled +sacks in the corn market and laughed creakily. "Dead! not they. +As the _tanda_ passed Karnal four days agone the camping ground +was white as a poppy field with tents, and the soldiers like +the flies buzzing round them. And if folk want to hear more, I, Tiddu +Baharupa-Bunjârah, can tell tales beyond the Cashmere gate on the +river island where the bullocks graze." + +The creaking voice rose unnecessarily loud, and a man in the dress of +an Afghan who had been listening, his back to the speaker, moved off +with a surprised smile. Tiddu had proved his vaunted superiority in +that instance; though by what arts he had penetrated the back of a +disguise, Jim Douglas could not imagine. Still here was news +indeed--news which explained some of the mystery, since the seeming +retreat up the river had been, no doubt, for the purpose of joining +forces. But it was something almost better than news--it was a chance +of giving them. He had not dared, for Kate's sake, to risk any +confederate as yet; but here was one ready to hand--a confederate, +too, who would do anything for money. + +So that night he sat in tamarisk shadow on the river island talking in +whispers, while the monotonous clank of the bells hung on the +wandering bullocks sounded fitfully, the flicker of the watchfires +gleamed here and there on the half-dried pools of water, the fireflies +flashed among the bushes, and every now and again a rough, rude chant +rose on the still air. + +"They have been there these ten days, Huzoor," came Tiddu's +indifferent voice. "They are waiting for the siege train. Nigh on +three thousand of them, and some black faces besides." + +Jim Douglas gave an exclamation of sheer despair. To him, living in +the House-of-Cards, the Palace-of-Dreams, such caution seemed +unnecessary. Still, the past being irretrievable, the present remained +in which by hook or by crook to get the letter he had with him, ready +written, conveyed to the army at Kurnal. And Tiddu, with fifty rupees +stowed away in his waistband, being lavish of promise and confidence, +there was no more to be done save creep back to the city, feeling as +if the luck had turned at last. + +But the next morning he found the Thunbi Bazaar in a turmoil of talk. +There were spies in the city. A letter had been found, written in the +Persian character, it is true but with the devilish knowledge of the +West in its details of likely spots for attack, the indecision of +certain quarters in the city, its general unpreparedness for anything +like resistance. Who had written it? As the day went on the camps were +in uproar, the Palace invaded, the dream disturbed by denouncings of +Ahsan-Oolah, the giver of composing draughts--Mahboob Ali, the checker +of the purse strings; even of Mirza Moghul, commander-in-chief +himself, who might well be eager to buy his recognition as heir by +treachery. + +The net result of the letter being that, as Jim Douglas, with wrath in +his heart, crept out at dusk to the low levels by the Water Bastion, +intent on having it out with Tiddu, he could see gangs of sepoys still +at work by torchlight strengthening the bridge defense, and had to +dodge a measuring party of artillerymen busy range-finding. His +suggestions had been of use! + +But the old Bunjârah took his fierce reproaches philosophically. "'Tis +the miscreant Bhungi," he assented mournfully. "He is not to be +trusted, but Jhungi having a tertian ague, I deemed a surer foot +advisable. Yet the Huzoor need not be afraid. Even the miscreant would +not betray his person; and for the rest, the Presence writes Persian +like any court moonshee." + +The calm assumption that personal fear was at the bottom of his +reproaches, made Jim Douglas desire to throttle the old man, and only +the certainty that he dare not risk a row prevented him from going for +the ill-gotten rupees at any rate. His thought, however, seemed read +by the old rascal, for a lean protesting hand, holding a bag, +flourished out of the darkness, and the creaking voice said +magnificently: + +"Before Murri-âm and the sacred neem, Huzoor, I have kept my bargain. +As for Jhungi or Bhungi, did I make them that I should know the evil +in them? But if the Huzoor suspects one who holds his tongue, let the +bargain between us end." + +His hearer could not repress a smile at the consummate cunning of the +speech. "You can keep the money for the next job," he said briefly; "I +haven't done with you yet, you scoundrel." + +A grim chuckle came out of the shadows as the hand went back into +them. + +"The Huzoor need not fret himself, whatever happens. The end is nigh." + +It seemed as if it must be with three thousand British soldiers within +sixty miles of Delhi; or less, since they might have marched during +those five days. They might be at Delhi any moment. Three thousand +men! Enough and to spare even though in the last few days a detachment +or two of fresh mutineers had arrived. Ah! if the blow had been struck +sooner. If--if---- + +Kate listened during those first days of June to many such wishes, +despairs, hopes, from one whose only solace lay in words; since with +relief staring him in the face, Jim Douglas crushed down his craving +for action. There was no real need for it, he told her; it must +involve risk, so they must wait--sleep and dream like the city! + +For, lulled by the delay, stimulated to fresh fancy by the newcomers, +the townspeople went on their daily round monotonously; the sepoys +boasted and drank bhang. And in the Palace, the King, in new robes of +state sat on his new cushion and put the sign-manual to such trifles +as a concession to a home-born slave that he might "continue, as +heretofore, a-tinning the royal sauce-pans!" though Mahboob Ali's face +lengthened as he doled out something on account for faith and finery, +and suggested that the army might at least be employed in collecting +revenue somewhere. But the army grinned in the commander-in-chief's +face, scorned laborious days, and between the seductions of the Thunbi +Bazaar gave peaceful citizens what one petitioner against plunder +calls "a foretaste of the Day of Judgment." + +But one soul in Delhi felt in every fiber of him that the Judgment had +come--that atonement must be made. + +"Thou wilt kill thyself with prayers and fastings and seekings of +other folks' salvations, Moulvie-sahib," said Hâfzan almost petulantly +as, passing on her rounds, she saw Mohammed Ismail's anxious face, +seeking audience with everyone in authority, "Thou hast done thy best. +The rest is with God; and if these find death also, the blame will lie +elsewhere." + +"But the blame of those, woman?" he asked fiercely, pointing with +trembling finger to the little cistern shaded by the peepul tree. + +Hâfzan gave a shrill laugh as she passed on. + +"Fear not that either, learned one! This world's atonement for that +will be sufficient for future pardon." + +It might be so, Mohammed Ismail told himself as he hurried off +feverishly to another appeal. He had erred in ignorance there; but +what of the forty prisoners still at the Kotwâli--forty stubborn +Christians despite their dark skins? They were safe so far, but +if the city were assaulted?--if some of the fresh, fiery-faithed +newcomers---- The doubt left him no peace. + +"If thou wilt swear, Moulvie-jee, on thine own eternal salvation that +they are Mohammedans, or stake thy soul on their conversion," jeered +those who held the keys. A heavy stake, that! A solemn oath with forty +stubborn Christians to deal with. No wonder Mohammed Ismail felt +judgment upon him already. + +But the stake was staked, the oath spoken on the 6th of June. The +record of it is brief, but it stands as history in the evidence of one +of the forty. "We were released in consequence of a Moulvie of the +name of Mohammed Ismail giving evidence that we were all Mohammedan; +or that if any were Christian they would become Mohammedan." + +And it was given none too soon. For on the 6th of June as the sun set, +a silhouette of a man on a horse stood clear against the red-gold in +the west, looking down from the Ridge on Delhi. Looking down on the +city bathed in the dreamy glamour of the slanting sunbeams; rose-red +and violet-shadowed, with the great white dome hovering above the +smoke wreaths, and a glitter of gold on the eastern wall, where, +backed by that arcaded view of the darkening Eastern plains, an old +man sat listening to sentiments of fidelity from a pile of little +brocaded bags. + +It was Hodson of Hodson's Horse, reconnoitering ahead. So there was an +Englishman on the Ridge once more as the paper kites came down on the +6th of June. But the fire balloons did not go up; for the night set in +gusty and wet, giving no chance to new constellations. + +Jim Douglas did not sleep at all that night, for Tiddu had brought +word that the English were at Alipore, ten miles out; and nothing but +the dread of needless risk kept him in Delhi. For any risk was +needless when to a certainty the English flag would be flying over the +city in a few hours. + +And Hodson of Hodson's Horse back at Alipore slept late, for he +lingered, weary and wet after his long ride, to write to his wife ere +turning in, that "if he had had a hundred of the Guides he could have +gone right up to the city wall." + +But Mohammed Ismail slept peacefully, his work being over, and dreamed +of Paradise. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + THE CHALLENGE. + + +"For Gawd's sake, sir! don't say I'm unfit for dooty, sir," pleaded a +lad, who, as he stood to attention, tried hard to keep the sharp +shivers of coming ague from the doctor's keen eyes. "I'm all right, +aint I, mates? It aint a bad sort o' fever at worst, as I oughter +know, havin' it constant. It's go ter hell, an' lick the blood up fust +as I'm fit for with Jack Pandy. That's all the matter--you see if it +aint, sir!" + +He threw his fair curly head back, his blue eyes blazed with the +coming fever light, but the bearded man next to him murmured, "'Ee's +all right, sir. 'Ee'll 'old 'is musket straight, never fear," and the +Doctor walked on with a nod. + +"They killed his girl at Meerut," said his company officer in a +whisper, and Herbert Erlton, standing by, set his teeth and glanced +back, blue eye meeting blue eye with a sort of triumph. + +For it was the 7th of June, and the blow was to be struck, the +challenge given at last. + +Nearly a month, thought Herbert Erlton, since it had happened. He had +spent much of the time in bed, struck down with fever; for he had +regained Meerut with difficulty, wounded and exhausted. And then it +had been too late--too late for anything save to hang round hungrily +in the hopes of that challenge to come, with many another such as he. + +But it had come at last. The camp was ringing with cheers for the +final reinforcement, every soul who could stand was coming out of +hospital, and the air, new washed with rain, and cool, seemed to put +fresh life, and with it a desire to kill, into the veins of every son +of the cold North. + +And now the dusk was at hand. The men, half-mad with impatience, +laughed and joked over each trivial preparation. Yet, when the order +came with midnight, weapons were never gripped more firmly, more +sternly, than by those three thousand Englishmen marching to their +long-deferred chance of revenge. And some, not able to march, toiled +behind in hopes of one fair blow; and not a few, unable even for so +much, slipped desperately from hospital beds to see at least one +murderer meet with his reward. + +For, to the three thousand marching upon Delhi that cool dewy night, +sent--so they told themselves--for special solace and succor of the +Right, there were but two things to be reckoned with in the wide +world: Themselves--Men. Those others--Murderers. + +The fireflies, myriad-born from the rain, glimmered giddily in the low +marshy land, the steady stars shone overhead, and Major Erlton looked +at both indifferently as he rode, long-limbed and heavy, through the +night whose soft silence was broken only by the jingle of spurs and +the squelching of light gun-wheels in water-logged ruts; save +when--from a distance--the familiar tramp, tramp, of disciplined feet +along a road came wafted on the cool wind; for the column in which he +was doing duty moved along the canal bank so as to take the enemy, who +held an intrenched position five miles from Alipore, in flank. But +Herbert Erlton was not thinking of stars or fireflies; was not +thinking of anything. He was watching for other lights, the twinkling +cresset lights which would tell where the Murderers waited for that +first blow. He did not even think of the cause of his desire; he was +absorbed in the revenge itself, and a bitter curse rose to his lips, +when just before dawn the roll of a gun and the startled flocks of +birds flying westward told him that others were before him. + +"Hurry up, men! For God's sake hurry up!" The entreaty passed along +the line where the troopers of the 9th Lancers were setting shoulders +to the gun-wheels, and everyone, men and officers alike, was listening +with fierce regret to the continuous roll of cannon, the casual rattle +of musketry, telling that the heavy guns were bearing the brunt of it +so far. + +"Hurry up, men! Hurry up. That's the bridge ahead! Then we can go for +them!" + +Hark! A silence; if silence it could be called, now that the shouts, +and yells, and confused murmur of battle could be heard. But the guns +were silent; and hark again. A ringing cheer! Bayonet work that, at +last, at last! And yonder, behind the fireflies in the bushes? Surely +men in flight! Hurrah! Hurrah! + +When Major Erlton returned from that wild charge it was to find that +one splendid rush from the 75th Regiment had cleared the road to +Delhi. The Murderers had been swept from their shelter, their +guns--some fighting desperately, others standing stupidly to meet +death, and many with clasped hands and vain protestations of loyalty +on their lips paying the debt of their race. But one man had paid some +other debt, Heaven knows what; and the Rifle Brigade cleared the road +to Delhi of an English deserter fighting against his old regiment. + +It had not taken an hour; and now, as the yellow sun peered over the +eastern horizon, a little knot of staff officers consulted what to do +next. + +What to do? Herbert Erlton and many another wondered stupidly what the +deuce fellows could mean by asking the question when the jagged line +of the Ridge lay not three miles off, and Delhi lay behind that? Could +any sane person think that England had done its duty at sunrise, even +though forty good men and true of the three thousand had dealt their +first and last blow? + +But if some did, there were not many; so, after a pause, the march +began again. Westward, by a forking road, to the flat head of the +Lizard lying above the Subz-mundi, eastward toward the tail and the +old cantonment. And this time the bayonets went with the jingling +spurs, and together they cleared the green groves merrily. Still, even +so, it was barely nine o'clock when they met the eastward column again +at Hindoo Rao's house and shook hands over their bloodless victory. +For the eastward force had lost one man, the westward seven, despite +the fact that the retreating Murderers had attempted a rally in their +old lines. + +Nine o'clock! In seven hours the ten miles had been marched, the +battle of Budli-ke-serai won, and below them lay Delhi. Within twelve +hundred yards rose the Moree Bastion, the extreme western point of +that city face which, with the Cashmere gate jutting about its middle +and the Water Bastion guarding its eastern end, must be the natural +target of their valor--a target three-quarters of a mile long by +twenty-four feet high. + +Seven hours! And the Murderers had been driven into the city, while +the men had gained "twenty-six guns and the finest possible base for +the conduct of future operations." For the Ridge, the old cantonments +were once more echoing to the master's step, and the city folk, as +they looked eagerly from the walls, had the first notice of defeat in +the smoke and flames of the sepoy lines which the English soldiers +fired in reckless revenge; reckless because the tents were not up, and +they might at least have been a shelter from the sun. + +But the Delhi force, taken as a whole, was in no mood to think; and so +perhaps those at the head of it felt bound to think the more. There +was Delhi, undoubtedly, but the rose-red walls with their violet +shadows looked formidable. And who could tell how many Murderers it +harbored? A thousand of them or thereabouts would return to Delhi no +more; but, even so, if all the regiments known to have mutinied and +come to Delhi were at their full strength, the odds must still be +close on four to one. And then there was the rabble, armed no doubt +from the larger magazine below the Flagstaff Tower, which, alas, had +found no Willoughby for its destruction on the 11th of May. And then +there was the May sun. And then--and then---- + +"What's up? When are we going on?" asked Major Erlton, sitting fair +and square on his horse, in the shadow of the big trees by Hindoo +Rao's house, as an orderly officer rode past him. + +"Aren't going on to-day. Chief thinks it safer not--these native +cities----" + +He was gone, and Herbert Erlton without a word threw himself heavily +from his horse with a clatter and jingle of swords and scabbards and +Heaven knows what of all the panoply of war; so with the bridle over +his arm stood looking out over the bloody city which lay quiet as the +grave. Only, every now and again, a white puff of smoke followed by a +dull roar came from a bastion like a salute of welcome to the living, +or a parting honor to the dead. + +Was it possible? His eyes followed the familiar outline mechanically +till they rested half-unconsciously on some ruins beside the city +wall. Then with a rush memory came back to him, and as he turned +hurriedly to loosen his horse's girths, the tears seemed to scald his +tired angry eyes. Yet it was not the memory of Alice Gissing only, +which sent these unwonted visitors to Herbert Erlton's eyes; it was a +wild desperate pity and despair for all women. + +And as he stood there ignoring his own emotion, or at least hiding it, +one of the women whom he pitied was looking up with a certain +resentful eagerness at a man, who, from the corner turret of that roof +in the Mufti's quarter, was straining his eyes Ridgeways. + +"They must rest, surely," she said sharply; "you cannot expect them to +be made of iron----"; as you are, she was about to add, but withheld +even that suspicion of praise. + +"Well! There goes the bugle to pitch tents, anyhow," retorted Jim +Douglas recklessly. "So I suppose we had better have our breakfast +too--coffee and a rasher of bacon and a boiled egg or so. By God! its +incredible--it's----" He flung himself on a reed stool and covered his +face with his hands for a second; but he was up facing her the next. +"I've no right to say these things--no one knows better than I how +worse than idle it is to press others to one's own tether--I learned +that lesson early, Mrs. Erlton. But"--he gave a quick gesture of +impotent impatience--"when the news first came in, the men who brought +it ran in at the Cashmere and Moree gates in hundreds, and out at the +Ajmere and Turkoman, calling that the masters had come back; and +people were keeking round the doors hopefully. I tell you the very +boys as I came in here were talking of school again--of holiday tasks, +perhaps--Heaven knows! People were running in the streets--they will +be walking now--in another hour they will be standing; and then! Well! +I suppose the General funks the sun. So I'll be off. I only came +because I thought I had better be here in case; you see the men would +have had their blood up rushing the city----" + +"And your breakfast?" she asked coldly, almost sarcastically; for he +seemed to her so hard, so grudging, while her sympathies, her +enthusiasms were red-hot for the newcomers. + +He laughed bitterly. "I've learned to live on parched grain like a +native, if need be, and I take opium too; so I shall manage." He was +back again to the turret, however, before two o'clock, curtly +apologetic, calmer, yet still eager. The people, to be sure, he said, +had given up keeking round their doors at every clatter, and the gates +had been closed on deserters by the Palace folk; but no one had +thought of bricking them up, and after going round everywhere he +doubted if there were more than seven or eight thousand real soldiers +in Delhi. The 74th and the 11th regiments had been slipping away for +days, and numbers of men who had remained did not really mean to +fight. Tiddu, who seemed to know everything, said that the mutineers +had been very strongly in-trenched at Budli-serai, so the resistance +could not have been very dogged, or our troops could not have fought +their way in before nine o'clock. Yes! since she pressed for an +answer, the General might have been wise in waiting for the cool. Only +he personally wished he had thought it possible, for then he would at +any rate have tried to get a letter sent to the Ridge. Now it was too +late. + +And then suddenly, as he spoke, a fierce elation flashed to his face +again at the sound of bugles, the roll of a gun from the Moree +Bastion; and he was up the stairs of the turret in a second, casting a +half-humorous, wholly deprecating glance back at her. + +"A hare and a tortoise once--I learned that at school--put it into +Latin!" he said lightly, as the walls round them quivered to the +reverberating rolls, thundering from the city wall. + +Kate walked up and down the roof restlessly, passing into the outer +one so as to be further from that eager sentinel and his criticisms. +Tara was spinning calmly, and Kate wondered if the woman could be +alive. Did she not know that brave men on both sides were going to +their deaths? And Tara, from under her heavy eyelashes, watched Kate, +and wondered how any woman who had brought Life into the world could +fear Death. Did not the Great Wheel spin unceasingly? Let brave men, +then, die bravely--even Soma. For she knew by this time that her +brother was in Delhi, and by the master's orders had dodged his +detection more than once. So the two women waited, each after their +nature; while like the pulse of time itself, the beat of artillery +shook the walls. It came so regularly that Kate, crouching in a corner +weary of restless pacing to and fro, grew almost drowsy and started at +a step beside her. + +"A false alarm," said Jim Douglas quietly; "a sortie, as far as I +could judge, from the Moree; easily driven back." + +His tone roused her antagonism instantly. "Perhaps they are waiting +for night." + +"There is a full moon--almost," he replied; "besides, there is fair +cover up to within four hundred yards of the Cabul gate. They could +rush that, and a bag or two of gunpowder would finish the business." + +"They could do that as well to-morrow," she remarked hotly. + +"I hope to God they won't be such fools as to try it!" he replied as +hotly. "If they don't come in to-night they will have to batter down +the walls, and then the city will go against them. What city wouldn't? +It will rouse memories we can't afford to rouse. Who could? And every +wounded man who creeps in to-day will be a center of resistance by +to-morrow. The women will hound others on to protect him. It is their +way. You have always to allow for humanity in war. Well! we must wait +and see." He paused and rubbed his forehead vexedly. "If I had known, +I might have got out with the sortie; but I suppose I couldn't +really----" He paused, shrugged his shoulders, and went out. + +And Kate, as she sat watching the red flush of sunset grow to the +dome, remembered his look at her with a half-angry pang. Why should +she be in this man's way always? So the day died away in soft silence, +and there on the housetop it seemed incredible that so much hung in +the balance, and that down in the streets the crowds must be drifting +to and fro restlessly. At least she supposed so. Yet, monotonous as +ever, there was the evening cry of the muezzin and the persistent +thrumming of toms-toms and saringis which evening brings to a native +city. It rose louder than usual from a roof hard by, where, so Tara +told her, a princess of the blood royal lived; a great friend of +Abool-Bukr's. The remembrance of little Sonny's hands all red with +blood, and the cruel face smiling over an apology, made her shiver, +and wonder as she often did with a desperate craving what the child's +fate had been. Why had she let the old ayah take him? Why was he not +here, safe; making life bearable? As she sat, the tears falling +quietly over her cheeks, Tara came and looked at her curiously. "The +mem should not cry," she said consolingly. "The Huzoor will save her +somehow." + +For an instant Kate felt as if she would rather he did not. Then on +the distance and the darkening air came a familiar sound: the evening +bugle from the Ridge with its cheerful invitation: + +"Come-and-set-a-picket-boys! come-and-keep-a-watch." + +So someone else was within hail, ready to help! The knowledge brought +her a vast consolation, and for the first time in that environment she +slept through the night without wakening in deadly dreamy fear at the +least sound. + +Even the uproarious devilry of Prince Abool in the alley below did not +rouse her, when about midnight he broke loose from the feverish +detaining hold which Newâsi had kept on him by every art of her power +during the day, lest the master returning should find the Prince in +mischief. But now he lurched away with a party of young bloods who had +come to fetch him, swearing that he must celebrate the victory +properly. But for a moment's weakness, fostered by a foolish, fearful +woman, he might have led the cavalry. He wept maudlin tears over the +thought, swearing he would yet show his mettle. He would not leave one +hell-doomed alive; and, suiting the action to the word, he began +incontinently to search for fugitives in some open cowyards close by, +till the strapping dairymaids, roused from slumber, declared in +revenge that they had seen a man slip down the culvert of the big +drain. Five minutes afterward Prince Abool, half-choked, half-drowned, +was dragged from the sewer by his comrades, protesting feebly that he +must have killed an infidel; else why did the blood smell so horribly? + +But after that the city sank into the soundlessness, the stillness, of +the hour before dawn, save for a recurring call of the watch bugles on +wall and Ridge and the twinkling lights which burned all night in camp +and court. For those two had challenged each other, and the fight was +to the bitter end. What else could it be with a death-pledge between +them? The townspeople might sleep uncertain which side they would +espouse, but between the Men and the Murderers the issue was clear. + +And it remained so, even though the month-of-miracle lingered, and no +assault came on the morrow, or the day after, or the day after that. +So that the old King himself set his back to the wall and for once +spoke as a King should. "If the army will not fight without pay, +punish it," he said to the Commander-in-chief. But it was only a flash +in the pan, and he retired once more to the latticed marble balcony +and set the sign-manual to a general fiat that "those who would be +satisfied with a trifle might be paid something." Whereat Mahboob Ali +shook his head, for there was not even a trifle in the privy purse. + +As for the city people, their ears and tongues grew longer during +those three days, when the sepoys, returning from the sorties and +skirmishes, brought back tales of glorious victory, stupendous +slaughter. Her man had killed fifteen Huzoors himself, and there were +not five hundred left on the Ridge, said Futteh-deen's wife to +Pera-Khân's as they gossiped at the wall; and a good job too. When +they were gone there would be an end of these sword cuts and bullet +wounds. Not a wink of sleep had she had for nights, yawned Zainub, +what with thirsts and poultices! And on the steps of the mosque, too, +the learned lingered to discuss the newspapers. So Bukht Khân with +fifty thousand men was on his way to swear allegiance, and the Shah of +Persia had sacked Lahore, where Jan Larnce himself had been caught +trying to escape on an elephant and identified by wounds on his back. +And the London correspondent of the _Authentic News_ was no doubt +right in saying the Queen was dumfoundered, while the St. Petersburg +one was clearly correct in asserting that the Czar was about to put on +his crown at last. Why not, since his vow was at an end with the +passing of India from British supremacy? + +So the dream went on; the little brocaded bags kept coming in; the +stupendous slaughter continued. Yet every night the Widow's Cruse of a +Ridge echoed to the picket bugles, and the court and the camp twinkled +at each other till dawn. + +A sort of vexed despairing patience came to Jim Douglas, and more than +once he apologized to Kate for his moodiness, like a patient who +apologizes to his nurse when unfavorable symptoms set in. He gave her +what news he could glean, which was not much, for Tiddu had gone south +for another consignment of grain. But on the morning of the 12th he +turned up with a face clearer than it had been; and a friendlier look +in his eyes. + +"The guides came in to camp yesterday. Splendid fellows. They were at +it hammer and tongs immediately, though that man Rujjub Ali I told you +of--it was he who said Hodson was with the force--declares they +marched from Murdin in twenty-one days. Over thirty miles a day! Well! +they looked like it. I saw them ride slap up to the Cabul gate. +And--and I saw someone else with them, Mrs. Erlton. I wasn't sure at +first if I had better tell you; but I think I had. I saw your +husband." + +"My husband," she echoed faintly. In truth the past seemed to have +slipped from her. She seemed to have forgotten so much; and then +suddenly she remembered that the letter he had written must still be +in the pocket of the dress Tara had hidden away. How strange! She must +find it, and look at it again. + +Jim Douglas watched her curiously with a quick recognition of his own +rough touch. Yet it could not be helped. + +"Yes. He was looking splendid, doing splendidly. I couldn't help +wishing---- Well! I wish you could have seen him; you would have been +proud." + +She interrupted him with swift, appealing hand. "Oh!--don't--please +don't--what have I to do with it? Can't you see--can't you understand +he was thinking of--of her--and doesn't she deserve it? while +I--I----" + +It was the first breakdown he had seen during those long weeks of +strain, and he stood absolutely, wholly compassionate before it. + +"My dear lady," he said gently, as he walked away to give her time, +"if you good women would only recognize the fact which worse ones do, +that most men think of many women in their lives, you would be happier. +But I doubt if Major Erlton was thinking of anyone in particular. He +was thinking of the dead, and you are among them, for _him_; remember +that. Come," he continued, crossing over to her again and holding out +his hand. "Cheer up! Aren't you always telling me it is bad for a man +to have one woman on the brain, and think, think how many there may be +to avenge by this time!" + +His voice, sounding a whole gamut of emotion, a whole cadence of +consolation, seemed to find an echo in her heart, and she looked up at +him gratefully. + +It would have found one also in most hearts upon the Ridge, where men +were beginning to think with a sort of mad fury of women and children +in a hundred places to which this unchecked conflagration of mutiny +was spreading swiftly. What would become of Lucknow, Cawnpore, Agra, +if something were not done at Delhi? if the challenge so well given +were not followed up? And men elsewhere telegraphed the same question, +until, half-heartedly, the General listened, and finally gave a +grudging assent to a plan of assault urged by four subalterns. + +What the details were matters little. A bag of gunpowder somewhere, +with fixed bayonets to follow. A gamester's throw for sixes or +deuce-ace, so said even its supporters. But anything seemed better +than being a target for artillery practice five times better than +their own, while the mutiny spread around them. + +The secret was well kept as such secrets must be. Still the afternoon +of the 12th saw a vague stir on the Ridge, and though even the +fighting men turned in to sleep, each man knew what the midnight order +meant which sent him fumbling hurriedly with belts and buckles. + +"The city at last, mates! No more playin' ball," they said to each +other as they fell in, and stood waiting the next order under the +stars; waiting with growing impatience as the minutes slipped by. + +"My God! where is Graves?" fumed Hodson. "We can't go on without him +and his three hundred. Ride, someone, and see. The explosion party is +ready, the Rifles safe within three hundred yards of the wall. The +dawn will be on us in no time--ride sharp!" + +"Something has gone wrong," whispered a comrade. "There were lights in +the General's tent and two mounted officers--there! I thought so! It's +all up!" + +All up indeed! For the bugle which rang out was the retreat. Some of +those who heard it remembered a moonlight night just a month before +when it had echoed over the Meerut parade ground; and if muttered +curses could have silenced it the bugle would have sounded in vain. +But they could not, and so the men went back sulkily, despondently to +bed. Back to inaction, back to target practice. + +"Graves says he misunderstood the verbal orders, so I understand," +palliated a staff-officer in a mess tent whither others drifted to +find solace from the chill of dis-appointment, the heat of anger. A +tall man with hawk's eyes and sparse red hair paused for a moment ere +passing out into the night again. "I dislike euphemisms," he said +curtly. "In these days I prefer to call a spade a spade. Then you can +tell what you have to trust to." + +"Hodson's in a towering temper," said an artilleryman as he watched a +native servant thirstily; "I don't wonder. Well! here's to better luck +next time." + +"I don't believe there will be a next time," echoed a lad gloomily. +And there was not, for him, the target practice settling that point +definitely next day. + +"But why the devil couldn't--" began another vexed voice, then paused. +"Ah! here comes Erlton from the General. He'll know. I say, Major----" +he broke off aghast. + +"Have a glass of something, Erlton?" put in a senior hastily, "you +look as if you had seen a ghost, man!" + +The Major gave an odd hollow laugh. "The other way on--I mean--I--I +can't believe it--but my wife--she--she's alive--she's in Delhi." The +startled faces around seemed too much for him; he sat down hurriedly +and hid his face in his hands, only to look up in a second more +collectedly. "It has brought the whole d----d business home, somehow, +to have her there." + +"But how?" the eager voices got so far--no further. + +"I nearly shot him--should have if he had not ducked, for the get up +was perfect. Some of you may know the man--Douglas--Greyman--a trainer +chap, but my God! a well plucked one. He sneaked into my tent to tell. +But I don't understand it yet, and he said he would come back and +arrange. It was all so hurried, you see; I was due at the muster, and +he was off when he heard what was up to see Graves--whom he knows. Oh, +curse the whole lot of them! Here, khânsaman! brandy--anything!" + +He gulped it down fiercely, for he had heard of more than life from +Jim Douglas. + +The latter, meanwhile, was racing down a ravine as his shortest way +back to the city. His getting out had been the merest chance, +depending on his finding Soma as sentry at the sally port of the +ruined magazine. He had instantly risked the danger of another +confederate for the opportunity, and he was just telling himself with +a triumph of gladness that he had been right, when a curious sound +like the rustling of dry leaves at his very feet, made him spring into +the air and cross the flat shelf of rock he was passing at a bound; +for he knew what the noise meant. A true lover's knot of deadly viper, +angry at intrusion, lay there; the dry Ridge swarms with them. But, as +he came down lightly on his feet again, something slipped from under +one, and though he did not fall, he knew in a second that he was +crippled. Break or sprain, he knew instantly that he could not hope to +reach the sally-port before Soma's watch was up. Yet get back he must +to the city; for this--he had tried a step by this time with the aid +of a projecting rock--might make it impossible for him to return for +days if he did the easiest thing and crawled upward again hands and +knees. That, then, was not to be thought of. The Ajmere gate, however, +_might_ be open for traffic; the Delhi one certainly was, morning and +evening. The latter meant a round of nearly four miles, and endless +danger of discovery; but it must be done. So he set his face westward. + +It was just twenty-four hours after this, that Tara, unable for longer +patience, told Kate that she must lock herself in, while she went out +to seek news of the master. Something must have happened. It was +thirty-six hours since they had seen him, and if he was gone, that was +an end. + +Her face as she spoke was fierce, but Kate did not seem to care; she +had, in truth, almost ceased to care for her own safety except for the +sake of the man who had taken so much trouble about it. So she sat +down quietly, resolved to open the locked door no more. They might +break it in if they chose, or she could starve. What did it matter? + +Tara meanwhile went, naturally, to seek Soma's aid, all other +considerations fading before the master's safety; and so of course +came instantly on the clew she sought. He had left the city, let out +by Soma's own hands; hands which had never meant to let him in again, +that being a different affair. And though he had said he would return, +why should he? asked Soma. Whereupon Tara, to prove her ground for +fear, told of the hidden mem. She would have told anything for the +sake of the master. And Soma looked at her fierce face apprehensively. + +"That is for after!" she said curtly, impatiently. "Now we must make +sure he is not wounded. There was fighting to-day. Come, thou canst +give the password and we can search before dawn if we take a light. +That is the first thing." + +But as, cresset in hand, Tara stooped over many a huddled heap or +long, still stretch of limb, Kate, with a beating heart, was listening +to the sound of someone on the stairs. The next moment she had flung +the door wide at the first hint of the first familiar knock. + +"Where is Tara?" asked Jim Douglas peremptorily, still holding to the +door jamb for support. + +"She went--to look for you--we thought--what has happened?--what is +the matter?" she faltered. + +"Fool! as if that would do any good! Nothing's the matter, Mrs. Erlton. +I hurt my ankle, that's all." He tried to step over the threshold as +he spoke, but even that short pause, from sheer dogged effort, had +made its renewal an agony, and he put out his hand to her blindly. "I +shall have to ask you to help me," he began, then paused. Her arm was +round him in a second, but he stood still, looking up at her +curiously, "To--to help," he repeated. Then she had to drag him +forward by main force so that he might fall clear of the door and +enable her to close it swiftly. For who could tell what lay behind? + +One thing was certain. That hand on her arm had almost scorched +her--the ankle he had spoken of must have been agony to move. Yet +there was nothing to be done save lay cold water to it, and to his +burning head, settle him as best she could on a pillow and quilt as he +lay, and then sit beside him waiting for Tara to return; for Tara +could bring what was wanted. But if Tara was never to return? Kate +sat, listening to the heavy breathing, broken by half-delirious moans, +and changing the cool cloths, while the stars dipped and the gray of +dawn grew to that dominant bubble of the mosque; and, as she sat, a +thousand wild schemes to help this man, who had helped her for so +long, passed through her brain, filling her with a certain gladness. + +Until in the early dawn Tara's voice, calling on her, stole through +the door. + +It was still so dark that Kate, opening it with the quick cry--"He is +here, Tara, he is here safe," did not see the tall figure standing +behind the woman's, did not see the menace of either face, did not see +Tara's quick thrust of a hand backward as if to check someone behind. + +So she never knew that Jim Douglas, helpless, unconscious, had yet +stepped once more between her and death; for Tara was on her knees +beside the prostrate figure in a second, and Soma, closing the door +carefully, salaamed to Kate with a look of relief in his handsome +face. This settled the doubtful duty of denouncing the hidden +Mlechchas. How could that be done in a house where the master lay +sick? + +And he lay sick for days and weeks, fighting against sun-fever and +inflammation, against the general strain of that month of inaction, +which, as Kate found with a pulse of soft pity, had sprinkled the hair +about his temples with gray. + +"He would die for her," said Tara gloomily, grudgingly, "so she must +live, Soma----" + +"Nay! 'twas not I----" began her brother, then held his peace, +doubtful if the disavowal was to his praise or blame; for duty was a +puzzle to most folk in those hot, lingering days of June, when the +Ridge and the City skirmished with each other and wondered mutually if +anything were gained by it. Yet both Men and Murderers were cheerful, +and Major Erlton going to see the hospital after that fifteen hours' +fight of the 23d of June, when the centenary of Plassey, a Hindoo +fast and a Mohammedan festival, made the sepoys come out to certain +victory in full parade uniform, with all their medals on, heard the +lad whose girl had been killed at Meerut say in an aggrieved tone, +"And the nigger as stuck me 'ad 'er Majesty's scarlet coatee on 'is +d----d carcass, and a 'eap of medals she give him a-blazin' on his +breast--dash 'is impudence." + +So blue eye met blue eye again sympathetically, for that was no time +to see the pathos of the story. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + BUGLES AND FIFES. + + +There was a blessed coolness in the air, for the rains had broken, the +molten heats of June had passed. And still that handful of obstinate +aliens clung like barnacles to the bare red rocks of the Ridge. Clung +all the closer because in one corner of it, beside the canal, they had +become part of the soil itself in rows on rows of new-made graves. A +strong rear-guard this, what with disease and exposure superadded to +skirmishes and target-practice. Yet, though not a gun in the city had +been silenced, not a battery advanced a yard, the living garrison day +after day dug these earthworks for the dead one, firm as it, in silent +resolve to yield no inch of foot-hold on those rocks till the Judgment +Day, when Men and Murderers should pass together to the great +settlement of this world's quarrels. + +And yet those in command began to look at each other, and ask what the +end was to be, for though, despite the daily drain, the Widow's Cruse +grew in numbers as time went on, the city grew also, portentously. + +Still the men were cheerful, the Ridge strangely unlike a war-camp in +some ways; for the country to the rear was peaceful, posts came every +day, and there was no lack even of luxuries. Grain merchants deserting +their city shops set up amid the surer payments of the cantonment +bazaar, and the greed for gain brought hawkers of fruit, milk, and +vegetables to run the gauntlet of the guns, while some poor folk +living on their wits, when there was not a rag or a patch or a bit of +wood left to be looted in the deserted bungalows, took to earning +pennies by tracking the big shot as they trundled in the ravines, and +bringing them to the masters, who needed them. + +Between the rain-showers too, men, after the manner of Englishmen, +began to talk of football matches, sky races, and bewail the fact of +the racket court being within range of the walls. But some, like Major +Reid, who never left his post at Hindoo Rao's house for three months, +preferred to face the city always. To watch it as a cat watches a +mouse to which she means to deal death by and by. Herbert Erlton was +one of these, and so his old khânsaman, with whom Kate used to quarrel +over his terribly Oriental ideas of Irish stew and such like--would +bring him his lunch, sometimes his dinner, to the pickets. It was +quite a dignified procession, with a cook-boy carrying a brazier, so +that the Huzoor's food should be hot, and the bhisti carrying a porous +pot of water holding bottles, so that the Huzoor's drink might be +cool. The khânsaman, a wizened figure with many yards of waistband +swathed round his middle, leading the way with the mint sauce for the +lamb, or the mustard for the beefsteak. He used at first to mumble +charms and vows for safe passage as he crossed the valley of the +shadow; as a dip where round shot loved to dance was nicknamed by the +men. But so many others of his trade were bringing food to the master +that he soon grew callous to the danger, and grinned like the rest +when a wild caper to dodge a trundling, thundering ball made a +fair-haired laddie remark sardonically to the caperer, "It's well for +you, my boy, that you haven't spilled my dinner." + +Perhaps it was, considering the temper of the times. Herbert Erlton, +eating his lunch, sheltered from the pelting rain behind the low scarp +which by this time scored the summit of the Ridge, smiled also. He was +all grimed and smirched with helping young Light--the gayest dancer in +Upper India--with his guns. He helped wherever he could in his spare +time, for a great restlessness came over him when out of sight of +those rose-red walls. They had a fascination for him since Jim +Douglas' failure to return had left him uncertain what they held. So, +when the day's work slackened, as it always did toward sunset, and the +rain clearing, he had drifted back to his tent for a bath and a +change, he drifted out again along the central road, where those off +duty were lounging, and the sick had their beds set out for the sake +of company and cooler air. It was a quieter company than usual, for +some two days before the General himself had joined the rear-guard by +the canal; struck down by cholera, and dying with the half-conscious, +wholly pathetic words on his lips, "strengthen the right." + +And that very day the auctions of his and other dead comrades' effects +had been held; so that more than one usually thoughtless youngster +looked down, maybe, on a pair of shoes into which he had stepped over +a grave. + +Still it was an eager company, as it discussed Lieutenant Hills' +exploit of the morning, and asked for the latest bulletin of that +reckless young fighter with fists against the swords. + +"How was it?" asked the Major, "I only heard the row. The beggars must +have got clean into camp." + +"Right up to the artillery lines. You see it was so beastly misty and +rainy, and they were dressed like the native vidette. So Hills, +thinking them friends, let them pass his two guns, until they began +charging the Carabineers; and then it was too late to stop 'em." + +"Why?" + +"Carabineers--didn't stand, somehow, except their officer. So Hills +charged instead. By George! I'd have given a fiver to see him do it. +You know what a little chap he is--a boy to look at. And then----" + +"And then," interrupted the Doctor, who had been giving a glance at a +ticklish bandage as he passed the bed round which the speakers were +gathered, "I think I can tell you in his own words; for he was quite +cool and collected when they brought him in--said it was from bleeding +so much about the head----" + +A ripple of mirth ran through the listeners, but Major Erlton did not +smile this time; the laugh was too tender. + +"He said he thought if he charged it would be a diversion, and give +time to load up. So he rode--Yes! I should like to have seen it +too!--slap at the front rank, cut down the first fellow, slashed the +next over the face. Then the two following crashed into him, and down +he went at such a pace that he only got a slice to his jacket and +lay snug till the troop--a hundred and fifty or so--rode over him. +Then--ha--ha! he got up and looked for his sword! Had just found it +ten yards off, when three of them turned back for him. He dropped one +from his horse, dodged the other, who had a lance, and finally gashed +him over the head. Number three was on foot--the man he'd dropped, he +thinks, at first--and they had a regular set to. Then Hills' cloak, +soaked with rain, got round his throat and half choked him, and the +brute managed to disarm him. So he had to go for him with his fists, +and by punching merrily at his head managed all right till he tripped +over his cloak and fell----" + +"And then," put in another voice eagerly, "Tombs, his Major, who had +been running from his tent through the thick of those charging devils +on foot to see what was up that the Carabineers should be retiring, +saw him lying on the ground, took a pot shot at thirty paces--and +dropped his man!" + +"By George, what luck!" commented someone; "he must have been blown!" + +"Accustomed to turnips, I should say," remarked another, with a +curiously even voice; the voice of one with a lump in his throat, and +a slight difficulty in keeping steady. + +"Did they kill the lot?" asked Major Erlton quickly. + +"Bungled it rather, but it was all right in the end. They were a +plucky set, though; charged to the very middle of the camp, shouting +to the black artillery to join them, to come back with them to Delhi." + +"But they met with a pluckier lot!" interrupted the man who had +suggested turnips. "The black company wasn't ready for action. The +white one behind it was; unlimbered, loaded. And the blackies knew it. +So they called out to fire--fire at once--fire sharp--fire through +them--Well! d----n it all, black or white, I don't care, it's as +plucky a thing as has been done yet." He moved away, his hands in his +pockets, attempting a whistle; perhaps to hide his trembling lips. + +"I agree," said the Doctor gravely, "though it wasn't necessary to +take them at their word. But somehow it makes that mistake afterward +all the worse." + +"How many of the poor beggars were killed, Doctor," asked an uneasy +voice in the pause which followed. + +"Twenty or so. Grass-cutters and such like. They were hiding in the +cemetery from the troopers, who were slashing at everyone, and our men +pursuing the party which escaped over the canal bridge--made--made a +mistake. And--I'm sorry to say there was a woman----" + +"There have been too many mistakes of that sort," said an older voice, +breaking the silence. "I wish to God some of us would think a bit. +What would our lives be without our servants, who, let us remember, +outnumber us by ten to one? If they weren't faithful----" + +"Not quite so many, Colonel," remarked the Doctor with a nod of +approval. "Twenty families came to the Brigade-major to-day with their +bundles, and told him they preferred the quiet of home to the +distraction of camp. I don't wonder." + +"It is all their own fault," broke in an angry young voice, "why did +they----" + +And so began one of the arguments, so common in camp, as to the right +of revenge pure and simple. Arguments fostered by the newspapers, +where, every day, letters appeared from "Spartacus," or "Fiat +Justitia," or some such _nom de plume_. Letters all alike in one +thing, that they quoted texts of Scripture. Notably one about a +daughter of Babylon and the blessedness of throwing children on +stones. + +But Major Erlton did not stop to listen to it. The ethics of the +question did not interest him, and in truth mere revenge was lost in +him in the desire, not so much to kill, as to fight. To go on hacking +and hewing for ever and ever. As he drifted on smoking his cigar he +thought quite kindly of the poor devils of grass-cutters who really +worked uncommonly well; just, in fact, as if nothing had happened. So +did the old khânsaman, and the sweeper who had come back to him on his +return to the Ridge, saying that the Huzoor would find the tale of +chickens complete. And the garden of the ruined house near the +Flagstaff Tower whither his feet led him unconsciously, as they often +did of an evening, was kept tidy; the gardener--when he saw the tall +figure approaching--going over to a rose-bush, which, now that the +rain had fallen, was new budding with white buds, and picking him a +buttonhole. He sat down on the plinth of the veranda twiddling it idly +in his fingers as he looked out over the panorama of the eastern +plains, the curving river, and the city with the white dome of the +mosque hanging unsupported above the smoke and mist wreaths. For now, +at sunsetting, the sky was a mass of rose-red and violet cloud and a +white steam rose from the dripping trees and the moist ground. It was +a perfect picture. But he only saw the city. That, to him, was India. +That filled his eye. The wide plains east and west, north and south, +where the recent rain had driven every thought save one of a harvest +to come, from the minds of millions, where the master meant simply the +claimer of revenue, might have been non-existent so far as he, and his +like, were concerned. + +Yet even for the city he had no definite conception. He merely looked +at it idly, then at the rosebud he held. And that reminding him of a +certain white marble cross with "Thy will be done" on it, he rose +suddenly, almost impatiently. But there was no resignation in _his_ +face, as he wandered toward the batteries again with the white flower +of a blameless life stuck in his old flannel coat and a strange +conglomerate of pity and passion in his heart, while the city--as the +light faded--grew more and more like the clouds above it, rose-red and +purple; until, in the distance, it seemed a city of dreams. + +In truth it was so still, despite the clangor of bugles and fifes +which Bukht Khân brought with him when, on the 1st of July, he +crossed the swollen river in boats with five thousand mutineers. A +square-shouldered man was Bukht Khân, with a broad face and massive +beard; a massive sonorous voice to match. A man of the Cromwell type, +of the church militant, disciplinarian to the back-bone, believing in +drill, yet with an eye to a Providence above platoon exercise. And +there was no lack of soldiers to drill in Delhi by this time. They +came in squads and battalions, to jostle each other in the streets and +overflow into the camp on the southern side of the city; that furthest +from the obstinate colony on the Ridge. But first they flung +themselves against it in all the ardor of new brooms, and failing to +sweep the barnacles away, subsided into the general state of +dreaminess and drugs. For the bugles and fifes could always be +disobeyed on the plea that they were not sounded by the right +Commander-in-Chief. There were three of them now. Bukht Khân the +Queen's nominee, Mirza Moghul, and another son of the King's, Khair +Sultân. So that Abool-Bukr's maudlin regrets for possible office +became acute, and Newâsi's despairing hold on his hand had to gain +strength from every influence she could bring to bear upon it. Even +drunkenness and debauchery were safer than intrigue, to that vision of +retribution which seemed to have left him, and taken to haunting her +day and night. So she held him fast, and when he was not there wept +and prayed, and listened hollow-eyed to a Moulvie who preached at the +neighboring mosque; a man who preached a judgment. + +"Thou art losing thy looks, mine Aunt," said the Prince to her one +day. Not unkindly; on the contrary, almost tenderly. "Dost know, +Newâsi, thou art more woman than most, for thou dost brave all things, +even loss of good name--for I swear even these Mufti folk complain of +thee--for nothing. None other I know would do it, so I would not have +it--for something. Yet some day we shall quarrel over it; some day thy +patience will go; some day thou wilt be as others, thinking of +thyself; and then----" + +"And then, nephew?" she asked coldly. + +He laughed, mimicking her tone. "And then I shall grow tired and go +mine own way to mine own end." + +In the meantime, however, the thrummings and drummings went on until +Kate Erlton, watching a sick bed hard by, felt as if she must send +round and beg for quiet. It seemed quite natural she should do so, for +she was completely absorbed over that patient of hers, who, without +being seriously ill, would not get better. Who passed from one relapse +of fever to another with a listless impatience, and now, nearly a +month after he had stumbled over the threshold, lay barely +convalescent. It had been a strange month. Stranger even than the +previous one, when she had dragged through the lonely days as best she +could, and he had wandered in and out restlessly, full of strain and +stress. If even that had been a curious linking of their fates, what +was this when she tended him day and night, when the weeks slipped by +securely, almost ignorantly? For though Soma came every day to inquire +after the master, standing at the door to salute to her, spick and +span in full uniform, he brought no disturbing news. + +It seemed to her, now, that she had known Jim Douglas all his life. +And in truth she had learned something of the real man during the few +days of delirium consequent on the violent inflammation which set in +on the injured ankle. But for the most part he had muttered and moaned +in liquid Persian. He had always spoken it with Zora, who had been +taught it as part of her attractions, and no doubt it was the jingle +of the jewels as Kate tended him, which reminded him of that +particular part of his life. + +By the time he came to himself, however, she had removed all the +fineries, finding them in the way; save the heavy gold bangle which +would not come off--at least not without help. He used to watch it +half confusedly at first as it slipped up and down her arm, and +wondered why she had not asked Tara to take it off for her; but he +grew rather to like the look of it; to fancy that she had kept it on +on purpose, to be glad that she had; though it was distinctly hard +when she raised him up on his pillows! For, after all, fate linked +them strangely, and he was grateful to her--very grateful. + +"You are laughing at me," she said one morning as she came up to his +bed, with a tray improvised out of a brass platter, and found him +smiling. + +"I have been laughing at you all the morning, when I haven't been +grumbling," he replied, "at you and the chicken tea, and that little +fringed business, to do duty as a napkin, I suppose, and the +fly-paper--which isn't the least use, by the way, and I'm sure I could +make a better one--and the mosquito net to give additional protection +to my beauty when I fall asleep. Who could help laughing at it?" + +She looked at him reproachfully. "But it makes you more comfortable, +surely?" + +"Comfortable," he echoed, "my dear lady! It is a perfect convalescent +home!" + +But in the silence which followed his right hand clenched itself over +a fold in the quilt unmistakably. + +"If you will take your chicken tea," she replied cheer-fully, despite +a faint tremble in her voice, "you will soon get out of it. And +really, Mr. Greyman, you don't seem to have lost any chance. Soma is +not very communicative, but everything seems as it was. I never keep +back anything from you. But, indeed, the chief thing in the city seems +that there is no money to pay the soldiers. Do you know, I'm afraid +Soma must loot the shops like the others. He seems to get things for +nothing; though of course they are extraordinarily cheap. When I was a +mem I used to pay twice as much for eggs." + +He interrupted her with a laugh that had a tinge of bitterness in it. +"Do you happen to know the story of the Jew who was eating ham during +a thunderstorm, Mrs. Erlton?" + +She shook her head, smiling, being accustomed by this time to his +unsparing, rather reckless ridicule. + +"He looked up and said, 'All this fuss about a little bit of pork.' So +all this fuss has taught you the price of eggs. Upon my word! it is +worse than the convalescent home!" He lay back upon his pillows with a +half-irritated weariness. + +"I have learned more than that, surely----" she began. + +"Learned!" he echoed sharply. "You've learned everything, my dear +lady, necessary to salvation. That's the worst of it! Your chatter to +Tara--I hear when you think I am asleep. You draw your veil over your +face when the water-carrier comes to fill the pots as if you had been +born on a housetop. You--Mrs. Erlton! If I were not a helpless idiot I +could pass you out of the city to-morrow, I believe. It isn't your +fault any longer. It's mine, and Heaven only knows how long. Oh! +confound that thrumming and drumming. It gets on my nerves--my +nerves!--pshaw!" + +It was then that Kate declared that she would really send Tara---- + +"Mrs. Erlton presents her compliments to the Princess Farkhoonda +Zamâni, and will be obliged," jested Jim Douglas; then paused, in +truth more irritated than amused, despite the humor on his face. And +suddenly he appealed to her almost pitifully, "Mrs. Erlton! if anyone +had told you it would be like this--your chance and mine--when the +world outside us was alive--was struggling for life--would you--would +you have believed it?" + +She bent to push the chicken tea to a securer position. "No," she said +softly; then to change the subject, added, "How white your hands are +getting again! I must put some more stain on them, I suppose." She +spoke regretfully, though she did not mind putting it on her own. But +he looked at the whiteness with distinct distaste. + +"It is with doing nothing and lying like a log. Well! I suppose I +shall wake from the dream some day, and then the moment I can +walk----" + +"There will be an end of peace," she interrupted, quite resolutely. "I +know it is very hard for you to lie still, but really you must see how +much safer and smoother life has been since you were forced to give in +to Fate." + +"And Kate," he muttered crossly under his breath. But she heard it, +and bit her lip to prevent a tender smile as she went off to give an +order to Tara. For the vein of almost boyish mischief and lighthearted +recklessness which showed in him at times always made her think how +charming he must have been before the cloud shadowed his life. + +"The master is much better to-day, Tara," she said cheerfully. "I +really think the fever has gone for good." + +"Then he will soon be able to take the mem away," replied the woman +quickly. + +"Are you in such a hurry to get rid of me?" asked Kate with a smile, +for she had grown fond of the tall, stately creature, with her solemn +airs of duty, and absolute disregard of anything which came in its +way. The intensity of the emotion which swept over the face, which was +usually calm as a bronze statue, startled Kate. + +"Of a truth I shall be glad to go back. The Huzoors' life is not my +life, their death not my death." + +It was as if the woman's whole nature had recoiled, as one might +recoil from a snake in the path, and a chill struck Kate Erlton's +heart, as she realized on how frail a foundation peace and security +rested. A look, a word, might bring death. It seemed to her incredible +that she should have forgotten this, but she had. She had almost +forgotten that they were living in a beleagured city, though the +reverberating roll of artillery, the rush and roar of shells, and the +crackle of musketry never ceased for more than a few hours at a time. + +She was not alone, however, in her forgetfulness. Half Delhi had +become accustomed to cannon, to bugles and fifes, and went on its +daily round indifferently. But in the Palace the dream grew ominously +thin once or twice. For not a fraction remained in the Treasury, no +effort to collect revenue had been made anywhere, and fat Mahboob, the +only man who knew how to screw money out of a stone, lay dying of +dropsy. And as he lay, the mists of personal interest in the future +dispersing, he told his old master, the King, some home truths +privately, while Ahsan-Oolah, the physician, administering cooling +draughts as usual, added his wisdom to the eunuch's. There was no hope +where there was no money. Life was not worth living without a regular +pension. Let the King secure his and secure pardon while there was +yet time, by sending a letter to the General on the Ridge, and +offering to let the English in by Selimgarh and betray the city. When +all was said and done, others had betrayed _him_, had forced _his_ +hand; so let him save himself if he could, quietly, without a word to +any but Ahsan-Oolah. Above all, not one word to Zeenut Maihl, Hussan +Askuri, and Bukht Khân--that Trinity of Dreams! + +With which words of wisdom mayhap lightening his load of sins, the fat +eunuch left the court once and for all. So the old King, as he sat +listening to the quarrels of his Commander-in-Chief, had other +consolation besides couplets; and when he wrote + + + "No peace, no rest, since armies round me riot, + Life lingers yet, but ere long I shall die o't," + + +he knew--though his yellow, wax-like mask hid the knowledge from +all--that a chance of escape remained. + +The old King's letter reached the Ridge easily. There was no +difficulty in communication now. Spies were plentiful, and if Jim +Douglas had been able to get about, he could have set Major Erlton's +mind at rest without delay. But Soma positively refused to be a +go-between; to do anything, in short, save secure the master's safety. +And the offer of betrayal arrived when the man who held command of the +Ridge felt uncertain of the future; all the more so because of the +telegrams, the letters--almost the orders--which came pouring in to +take Delhi--to take it at once! Early in the month, the gamester's +throw of assault had been revived with the arrival of reinforcements, +only to be abandoned once more, within an hour of the appointed +time, in favor of the grip-of-death. But now, though the whisper had +gone no further than the General's tent, a third possibility was +allowed--retreat. The six thousand were dwindling day by day, the men +were half dead with picket duty, wearied out with needless skirmishes, +crushed by the tyranny of bugles and fifes. + +If this then could be? There was no lack of desire to believe it +possible; but Greathed of the politicals, and Sir Theophilus Metcalfe +shook their heads doubtfully. Hodson, they said, had better be +consulted. So the tall man with the blue hawk's eyes, who had lost his +temper many times since that dawn of the 12th of June, when the first +assault had hung fire, was asked for his opinion. + +"We had a chance at the beginning," he said. "We could have a chance +now, if there was someone--but that is beside the question. As for +this, it is not worth the paper it is written on. The King has no +power to fulfill his promise. He is virtually a prisoner himself. That +is the truth. But don't send an answer. Refer it, and keep him quiet." + +"And retreat?" + +"Retreat is impossible, sir. It would lose us India." + + +"Any news, Hodson?" asked Major Erlton, meeting the free-lance as he +rode back to his tent after his fashion, with loose rein and loose +seat, unkempt, undeviating, with an eye for any and every advantage. + +"None." + +"Any chance of--of anything?" + +"None with our present chiefs. If we had Sir Henry Lawrence here it +would be different." + +But Sir Henry Lawrence, having done his duty to the uttermost, already +lay dead in the residency at Lucknow, though the tidings had not +reached the Ridge. And yet more direful tidings were on their way to +bring July, that month of clouds and cholera, of flies and funerals, +of endless buglings and fifings, to a close. + +It came to the city first. Came one afternoon when the King sat in the +private Hall of Audience, his back toward the arcaded view of the +eastern plains, ablaze with sunlight, his face toward the garden, +which, through the marble-mosaic traced arches, showed like an +embroidered curtain of green set with jeweled flowers. Above him, on +the roof, circled the boastful legend: + + + "If earth holds a haven of bliss + It is this--it is this--it is this!" + + +And all around him, in due order of precedence, according to the +latest army lists procurable in Delhi, were ranged the mutinous native +officers; for half the King's sovereignty showed itself in punctilious +etiquette. At his feet, below the peacock throne, stood a gilded cage +containing a cockatoo. For Hâfzan had been so far right in her +estimate of Hussan Askuri's wonders that poor little Sonny's pet, duly +caught, and with its crest dyed an orthodox green, had been used--like +the stuffed lizard--to play on the old man's love of the marvelous. +So, for the time being, the bird followed him in his brief journeyings +from Audience Hall to balcony, from balcony to bed. + +The usual pile of brocaded bags lay below that again, upon the marble +floor, where a reader crouched, sampling the most loyal to be used as +a sedative. One would be needed ere long, for the Commanders-in-Chief +were at war; Bukht Khân, backed by Hussan Askuri, with his long black +robe, his white beard, and the wild eyes beneath his bushy brows, and +by all the puritans and fanatics of the city; Mirza Moghul by his +brother, Khair Sultân, and most of the Northern Indian rebels who +refused a mere ex-soubadar's right to be better than they. + +"Let the Light-of-the-World choose between us," came the sonorous +voice almost indifferently; in truth those secret counsels of Bukht +Khân with the Queen, of which the Palace was big with gossip, held +small place, allowed small consideration for the puppet King. + +"Yea! let the Pillar-of-State choose," bawled the shrill voice of the +Moghul, whose yellow, small-featured face was ablaze with passion. +"Choose between his son and heir and this low-born upstart, this +soubadar of artillery, this puritan by profession, this debaucher of +King's----" + +He paused, for Bukht Khân's hand was on his sword, and there was an +ominous stir behind Hussan Askuri. Ahsan-Oolah, a discreet figure in +black standing by the side of the throne, craned his long neck +forward, and his crafty face wore an amused smile. + +Bukht Khân laughed disdainfully at the Mirza's full stop. "What I am, +sire, matters little if I can lead armies to victory. The Mirza hath +not led his, _as yet_." + +"Not led them?" interrupted an officious peace-bringer. "Lo! the +hell-doomed are reduced to five hundred; the colonels are eating their +horses' grain, the captains are starving, and our shells cause terror +as they cry, 'Coffin! Coffin! (_boccus! boccus!_)----'" + +"The Mirza could do as well as thou," put in a partisan, heedless of +the tales to which the King, however, had been nodding his head, "if, +as thou hast, he had money to pay his troops. The Begum Zeenut Maihl's +hoards----" + +The sword and the hand kept company again significantly. "I pay my men +by the hoard I took from the infidel, Meean-jee," retorted the loud, +indifferent voice. "And when it is done I can get more. The Palace is +not sucked dry yet, nor Delhi either." + +The Meean, well known to have feathered his nest bravely, muttered +something inaudible, but a stout, white-robed gentleman bleated +hastily: + +"There is no more money to be loaned in Delhi, be the interest ever so +high." + +The broad face broadened with a sardonic smile. "I borrow, banker-jee, +according to the tenets of the faith, without interest! For the rest, +five minutes in thy house with a spade and a string bed to hang thee +on head down, and I pay every fighter for the faith in Delhi his +arrears." + +"_Wâh! Wâh!_" A fierce murmur of approval ran round the audience, for +all liked that way of dealing with folk who kept their money to +themselves. + +"But, Khân-jee! there is no such hurry," protested the keeper of +peace, the promoter of dreams. "The hell-doomed are at the last gasp. +Have not two Commanders-in-Chief had to commit suicide before their +troops? And was not the third allowed by special favor of the Queen to +go away and do it privately? This one will have to do it also, and +then----" + +"And a letter has but this day come in," said a grave, clever-looking +man, interrupting the tale once more, "offering ten lakhs; but as the +writer makes stipulations, we are asking what treasury he means to +loot, or if it is hidden hoards." + +Bukht Khân shrugged his shoulders. "The Meean's or the banker's hoards +are nearer," he said brutally, "and money we must have, if we are to +fight as soldiers. Otherwise----" He paused. There was a stir at the +entrance, where a news-runner had unceremoniously pushed his way in to +flourish a letter in a long envelope, and pant with vehement show of +breathlessness. "In haste! In haste! and buksheesh for the bringer." + +The King, who had been listening wearily to the dispute, thinking +possibly that the paucity of commanders on the Ridge was preferable to +the plethora of them at court, looked up indifferently. They came so +often, these bearers of wonderful news. Not so often as the little +brocaded bags; but they had no more effect. + +"Reward him, Keeper-of-the-Purse," he said punctiliously, "and read, +slave. It is some victory to our troops, no doubt." + +There was a pause, during which people waited indifferently, +wondering, some of them, if it was bogus news that was to come or not. + +Then the court moonshee stood up with a doubtful face. "'Tis from +Cawnpore," he murmured, forgetting decorum and etiquette; forgetting +everything save the news that the Nâna of Bithoor had killed the two +hundred women and children he had pledged himself to save. + +Bukht Khân's hand went to his sword once more, as he listened, and he +turned hastily to Hussan Askuri. "That settles it as _thou_ wouldst +have it," he whispered. "It is Holy War indeed, or defeat." + +But Mirza Moghul shrank as a man shrinks from the scaffold. + +The old King stood up quickly; stood up between the lights looking out +on the curtain of flowers. "Whatever happens," he said tremulously, +"happens by the will of God." + +His sanctimoniousness never failed him. + +So on the night of the 23d of August there was an unwonted stillness +in the city, and the coming of day did not break it. The rain, it is +true, fell in torrents, but many an attack had been made in rain +before. There was none now. The bugles and fifes had ended, and folk +were waiting for the drum ecclesiastic to begin. What they thought +meanwhile, who knows? Delhi held a hundred and fifty thousand souls, +swelled to nigh two hundred thousand by soldiers. Only this, +therefore, is certain, the thoughts must have been diverse. + +But on the Ridge, when, after a few days, the tidings reached it with +certainty, there was but one. It found expression in a letter which +the General wrote on the last day of July. "It is my firm intention to +hold my present position and resist attack to the last. The enemy are +very numerous, and may possibly break through our intrenchments and +overwhelm us, but the force will die at its post." + +No talk of retirement now! The millions of peasants plowing their land +peaceably in firm faith of a just master who would take no more than +his due, the thousands even in the bloody city itself waiting for this +tyranny to pass, were not to be deserted. The fight would go on. The +fight for law and order. + +So the sanctimonious old King had said sooth, "Whatever happens, +happens by the will of God." + +Those two hundred had not died in vain. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + THE DRUM ECCLESIASTIC. + + +The silence of the city had lasted for seven days. And now, on the 1st +of August, the dawn was at hand, and the rain which had been falling +all night had ceased, leaving pools of water about the city walls. +Still, smooth pools like plates of steel, dimly reflecting the gray +misty sky against which the minarets of the mosque showed as darker +streaks, its dome like a faint cloud. + +And suddenly the silence ended. The first shuddering beat of a royal +salute vibrated through the heavy dewy air, the first chord of "God +save the Queen," played by every band in Delhi, floated Ridgeward. + +The cheek of it! + +That phrase--no other less trenchant, more refined--expressed purely +the feeling with which the roused six thousand listened from picket or +tent, comfortable bed or damp sentry-go, to this topsy-turveydom of +anthems! The cheek of it! The very walls ought to fall Jericho-wise +before such sacrilegious music. + +But in the city it sent a thrill through hearts and brains. For it +roused many a dreamer wild had never felt the chill of a sword-hilt on +his palm to the knowledge that the time for gripping one had come. + +Since this was Bukr-eed, the Great Day of Sacrifice. No common +Bukr-eed either, when the blood of a goat or a bull would worthily +commemorate Abraham's sacrifice of his best and dearest, but something +more akin to the old patriarch's devotion. Since on Bukr-eed, 1857, +the infidel was to be sacrificed by the faithful, and the faithful by +the infidel. + +For the silence of seven days had been a silence only from bugles and +fifes; the drum ecclesiastic had taken their place. The mosques had +resounded day and night to the wild tirades of preachers, and even +Mohammed Ismail, feeling that in religious war lay the only chance of +forgiveness for past horrors, spent every hour in painting its +perfections, in deprecating any deviation from its rule. The sword or +the faith for men; the faith without the sword for those who could not +fight. But others were less scrupulous, their denunciations less +guarded, and as the processions passed through the narrow streets +flaunting the green banner, half the Mohammedan population felt that +the time had come to strike their blow for the faith. And Hussan +Askuri dreamed dreams; and the Bird-of-Heaven, with its crest new-dyed +for the occasion, gave the Great Cry viciously as it was paraded +through jostling crowds in the Thunbi Bazaar, where religion found +recruits by the score even among the women. While Abool-Bukr, vaguely +impressed by the stir, the color, the noise, took to the green and +swore to live cleanly. So that Newâsi's soft eyes shone as she +repeated Mohammed Ismail's theories. They were very true, the Prince +said; besides this could be nothing but honest fighting since there +were no women on the Ridge; whereupon she stitched away at his green +banner fearlessly. + +But in the Palace it needed all Bukht Khân's determination and Hussan +Askuri's wily dreams to reconcile the old King to the breach of +etiquette which the sacrifice of a camel instead of a bull by the +royal hands involved. For the army--three-quarters Brahmin and Rajpoot +had been promised, as a reward for helping to drive out the infidel, +that no sacred kine should be killed in Hindustan. + +And others besides the King objected to the restriction. Old Fâtma, +for instance, Shumsha-deen the seal-cutter's wife, as she swathed her +husband's white beard with pounded henna leaves to give it the +orthodox red dye. + +"What matters it, woman?" he replied sternly, but with an odd quaver +in his voice. "There is a greater sacrifice than the blood of bulls +and goats, and that I may yet offer this blessed Eed." + +"And mayhap, mother," suggested the widowed, childless +daughter-in-law, "a goat will serve our turn better than a stirk this +year: there will be enough for offering, and belike there may be no +feasting." + +The old lady, high-featured, high-tempered, wept profusely between +her railings at the ill-omened suggestion; but the old Turk admitted +the possibility with a strained wondering look in the eyes which had +lost their keenness with graving texts. So, as the day passed the +women helped him faithfully in his bath of purification, and the +daughter-in-law, having the steadiest hand, put the antimony into the +old man's eyes as he squatted on a clean white cloth stretched in the +center of the odd little courtyard. She used the stylus she had +brought with her to the house as a bride, and it woke past memories in +the old brain, making the black-edged old eyes look at the wife of his +youth with a wistful tenderness. For it was years since a woman had +performed the kindly office; not since the finery and folly of life +had passed into the next generation's hands. But old Fâtma thought he +still looked as handsome as any as he finally stepped into the streets +in his baggy trousers with one green shawl twisted into a voluminous +waistband, another into a turban, his flaming red beard flowing over +his white tunic, and a curved scimitar--it was rather difficult to get +out of its scabbard by reason of rust--at his side. + +"Lo here comes old Fâtma's Shumsha-deen," whispered other women, +peeping through other chinks. "He looks well for sure; better by far +than Murri-am's Faiz-Ahmud for all his new gold shoes!" + +And those two, daughter and mother-in-law, huddled in unaccustomed +embrace to see the last of their martyr through the only convenient +crack, felt a glow of pitiful pride before they fell a-weeping and +a-praying the old pitiful prayer of quarrelers that God would be good +to His own. + +There were thousands in Delhi about sunsetting on the 1st of August +praying that prayer, though there were hundreds who held aloof, +talking learnedly of the House of Protection as distinguished from the +House of the Enemy, as they listened to the evening call to prayer. +How could there be Holy War, when that had echoed freely during the +British rule? And Mohammed Ismail, listening to their arguments +feverishly, knew in his heart that they were right. + +But the old Shumsha-deens did not split hairs. So as the sun set they +went forth in thousands and the gates were closed behind them; for +they were to conquer or die. They were to hurl themselves recklessly +on the low breastworks which now furrowed the long line of hill. Above +all, on that which had crept down its side to a ruined temple within +seven hundred yards of the Moree Bastion. + +So, about the rising of the moon, two days from full, began such a +cannonading and fusillading as was not surpassed even on that final +day when the Ridge, taking similar heart of grace, was to fling itself +against the city. + +Major Erlton, off duty but on pleasure in the Saming-House breastwork, +said to his neighbor that they must be mad, as a confused wild rush +burst from the Moree gate. Six thousand or so of soldiers and +Shumsha-deens with elephants, camels, field-pieces, distinct in the +moonlight. And behind them came a hail of shell and shot, with them a +rain of grape and musket-balls. But above all the din and rattle could +be heard two things: The cries of the muezzins from the minarets, +chanting to the four corners of Earth and Sky that "Glory is for all +and Heaven for those who bleed," and an incessant bugling. + +"It's that man in front," remarked Major Erlton. "Do you think we +shall manage, Reid? There's an awful lot of them." + +Major Reid looked round on his little garrison of dark faces; for +there was not an Englishman in the post; only a hundred quaint squat +Ghoorkas, and fifty tall fair Guides from the Western frontier. + +"We'll do for just now, and I can send for the Rifles by and by. +There's to be no pursuit, you know. The order's out. Ought to have +been out long ago. Reserve your fire, men, till they come close up." + +And come close they did, while Walidad Khân, fierce fanatic from +Peshawur, and Gorakh-nâth, fiercer Bhuddist from Nepâl, with fingers +on trigger, called on them jibingly to come closer still; though +twenty yards from a breastwork bristling with rifles was surely close +enough for anyone? But it was not for the bugler who led the van, +sounding assemblies, advances, doubles; anything which might stir the +hearts behind. + +"He has got a magnificent pair of bellows," remarked an officer, who, +after a time, came down with a hundred and fifty of the Rifles to aid +that hundred and fifty natives in holding the post against six +thousand and more of their countrymen. + +"Splendid! he has been at it this hour or more," said Major Erlton. "I +really think they are mad. They don't seem to aim or to care. There +they are again!" + +It was darker now, and Walidad Khân from Peshawur and Gorakh-nâth from +Nepâl, and Bill Atkins from Lambeth had to listen for that tootling of +assemblies and advances to tell them when to fire blindly from the +embrazures into the smoke and the roar and the rattle. So they fell to +wondering among themselves if they had nicked him that time. Once or +twice the silence seemed to say they had; but after a bit the tootling +began again, and a disappointed pair of eyes peeping curiously, +recklessly, would see a dim figure running madly to the assault again. + +"Plucky devil!" muttered Major Erlton as with the loan of a rifle he +had his try. There was a look of hope on dark faces and white alike as +they cuddled down to the rifle stocks and came up to listen. It was +like shooting into a herd of does for the one royal head; and some of +the sportsmen had tempers. + +"_Shaitân-ke-butcha!_" (Child of the devil), muttered Walidad Khân, +whereat Gorakh-nâth grinned from ear to ear. + +"Wot cher laughin' at?" asked Bill Atkins, who had been indulging in +language of his own. "A feller can't 'it ghosts. An' e's the piper as +played afore Moses; that's what 'ee is." + +"Look sharp, men!" came the officer's warning. "There's a new lot +coming on. Wait and let them have it." + +They did. The din was terrific. The incessant flashes lighting +up the city, showed its roofs crowded with the families of absent +Shumsha-deens. So High Heaven must have been assailed, indeed, that +night. + +And even when dawn came it brought no Sabbath calm. Only a fresh batch +of martyrs. But they had no bugler; for with the dawn some fierce +frontiersman, jesting Cockney, or grinning Ghoorkha may have risked +his life for a fair shot in daylight at the piper who played before +Moses. Anyhow, he played no more. Perhaps the lack of him, perhaps the +torrents of rain which began to fall as the sun rose, quenched the +fires of faith. Anyhow, by nine o'clock the din was over, the drum +ecclesiastic ceased to beat, and the English going out to count the +dead found the bugler lying close to the breastwork, his bugle still +in his hand; a nameless hero save for that passing jest. + +But someone in the city no doubt mourned the piper who played before +Moses, as they mourned other martyrs. More than a thousand of them. + +Yet the Ridge, despite the faith, and fury, and fusillading, had only +to dig one grave; for fourteen hours of what the records call "unusual +intrepidity"--contemptuously cool equivalent for all that faith and +fury--had only killed one infidel. + +Shumsha-deen's Fâtma, however, was as proud as if he had killed a +hundred; for he had bled profusely for the faith, having been at the +very outset of it all kicked by a camel and sent flying on to a rock +to dream confused dreams of valor till the bleeding from his nose +relieved the slight concussion of his brain, and enabled him to go +home, much shaken, but none the worse. + +But many hundreds of women never saw their Shum-sha-deens again, or if +they saw them, only saw something to weep over and bind in white +swaddling clothes and gold thread. + +So by dark on the 2d of August the sound of wailing women rose from +every alley, and the men, wandering restlessly about the bazaars, +listened to the sound of tattoo from the Ridge and looked at each +other almost startled. + +"Go-to-bed-Tom! Go-to-bed-Tom! Drunk-or-sober-go-to-bed-Tom!" + +The Day of Sacrifice was over, and Tom was going to bed quietly as if +nothing had happened! They did not know that three-quarters of the +Toms had been in bed the night before, undisturbed by the martyrs' +supreme effort. If they had, they might have wondered still more +persistently what Providence was about. + +But in the big mosque, among the great white bars of moonlight +slanting beneath the dome, one man knew. He stood, a tall white figure +beneath a furled green banner, his arms outspread, his voice rising in +fierce denunciation. + +"Cursed[5] be they who did the deed, who killed jehad! Lo! I told you +in my dream in the past and ye would not believe. I tell it again that +ye may know. It was dawn. And the Lord Christ and the Lord Mohammed +sat over the World striving each for His own according to the Will of +the Most High who sets men's quarrels before the Saints in Heaven with +a commander to each. And I saw the Lord Christ weep, knowing that +justice was on our side. So the fiat for victory went forth, and I +slept. But I dreamed again and lo! it was eve with a blood-red +sunsetting westward. And the Lord Christ wept still, but the Lord +Mohammed's voice rang loud and stern. 'Reverse the fiat. Give the +victory to the women and the children.' So I woke. And it is true! is +true! Cursed be they who killed jehad!" + +The voice died away among the arches where, in delicate tracery, the +attributes of the Great Creator were cut into changeless marble. +Truth, Justice, Mercy, all the virtues from which all religions make +their God. + +"He is mad," said some; but for the most part men were silent as they +drifted down the great Flights-of-Steps to the city, leaving Mohammed +Ismail alone under the dome. + +"Didst expect otherwise, my Queen?" said Bukht Khân hardily. "So did +not I! But the end is gained. Delhi was not ours in heart and soul +before. It is now. When the assault comes those who fought for faith +will fight for their skins. And at the worst there is Lucknow for good +Sheeahs like the Queen and her slave. We have no tie here among these +Sunnies who think only of their hoards." + +Zeenut Maihl shrank from him with her first touch of fear, for she had +eight or nine lakhs of rupees hidden in that very house. This man whom +she had summoned to her aid bid fair to make flight necessary even for +a woman. Had she ventured too much? Was there yet time to throw him +over, throw everyone over and make her peace? She turned instinctively +in her thoughts to one who loved money also, who also had hoards to +save. And so, within half an hour of Bukht Khân's departure, +Ahsan-Oolah was closeted with the Queen, who after the excitement of +the day needed a cooling draught. + +Most people in the Palace needed one that night, for by this time +almost all the possible permutations of confederacy had come about, +with the result that--each combination's intrigue being known to the +next--a general distrust had fallen upon all. In addition, there was +now a fourth Commander-in-Chief; one Ghaus Khân, from Neemuch, who +declared the rest were fools. + +In truth the Dream was wearing thin indeed within the Palace. + +But on that peaceful little housetop in the Mufti's quarter it seemed +more profound than ever; it seemed as if Fate was determined to leave +nothing wanting to the strange unreal life that was being lived in the +very heart of the city. Jim Douglas was almost himself again. A little +lame, a little uncertain still of his own strength; and so, +remembering a piece of advice given him by the old Baharupa never to +attempt using the Gift when he was not strong enough for it to be +strong, he had been patient beyond Kate's hopes. But on this 2d of +August, after lying awake all night listening to the roar and the din, +he had insisted on going out when Soma did not turn up as usual to +bring the news. He would not be long, he said, not more than an hour +or two, and the attempt must be made some time. At no better one than +now, perchance, since folk would be occupied in their own affairs. + +"Besides," he added with a smile, "I'm ready to allow the convalescent +home its due. While I've been kept quiet the very thought of concealed +Europeans has died out." + +"I don't know!" she interrupted quickly. "It isn't long since Prince +Abool-Bukr chased that blue-eyed boy of the Mufti's over the roofs +thinking he was one--don't you remember I was so afraid he might climb +up here?" + +"That's the advantage of being up-top," he replied lightly. "Now, if +anything were to happen, you could scramble down. But the Prince was +drunk, and I won't go near his haunts--there isn't any danger--really +there isn't!" + +"I shall have to get accustomed to it even if there is," she replied +in the same tone. + +Jim Douglas paused at the door irresolutely. "Shall I wait till Tara +returns?" + +"No, please don't. She is not coming back till late. She grows +restless if she does not go--and I am all right." + +In truth Tara had been growing restless of late. Kate, looking up from +the game of chess--at which her convalescent gave her half the pieces +on the board and then beat her easily--used to find those dark eyes +watching them furtively. Zora Begum had never played shatrïnj +with the master, had never read with him from books, had never +treated him as an equal. And, strangely enough, the familiar +companionship--inevitable under the circumstances--roused her jealousy +more than the love-making on that other terraced roof had done. _That_ +she understood. _That_ she could crush with her cry of suttee. But +_this_--this which to her real devotion seemed so utterly desirable; +what did it mean? So she crept away, when she could, to take up the +saintly role as the only certain solace she knew for the ache in her +heart. + +Therefore Kate sat alone, darning Jim Douglas' white socks--which as a +better-class Afghan he was bound to wear--and thinking as she did so +how incredibly domestic a task it was! Still socks had to be darned, +and with Tara at hand to buy odds and ends, and Soma with his +knowledge of the Huzoor's life ready to bring chessboards, and soap, +and even a book or two, it seemed as if the roof would soon be a very +fair imitation of home. So she sat peacefully till, about dusk, +hearing a footfall on the stairs halting with long pauses between the +steps; her vexation at her patient's evident fatigue overcame her +usual caution; and without waiting for his signal knock she set the +door wide and stepped out on to the stairs to give him a hand if need +be. And then out of the shadow of the narrow brick ladder came a +strange voice panting breathlessly: + +"Salaam! mem-sahib." She started back, but not in time to prevent a +bent figure with a bundle on its back from stumbling past her on to +the roof; where, as if exhausted, it leaned against the wall before +slipping the bundle to the floor. It was an ordinary brown blanket +bundle full of uncarded cotton, and the old woman who carried it was +ragged and feeble. Emaciated too beyond belief, as if cotton-spinning +had not been able to keep soul and body comfortably together. Not a +very formidable foe this--if foe it was. Why! surely she knew the +face. + +"I have brought Sonny back, Huzoor," came the breathless voice. + +Sonny! Kate Erlton gave a little cry. She recollected now. "Oh, ayah!" +she began recklessly, "what? where is he?" + +The old woman stumbled to the door, closed the catch, and then leaned +exhausted upon the lintel, sinking down slowly to a squatting +position, her hand upon her heart. There was more in this than the +fatigue of the stairs, Kate recognized. + +"He is in the bundle, Huzoor. The mem did not know me. She will know +the baba." + +Know him! As her almost incredulous fingers fumbled at the knots, her +mind was busy with an adorable vision of white embroideries, golden +curls, and kissable, dimpled milk and roses. So it was no wonder that +she recoiled from the ragged shift and dark skin, the black +close-cropped hair shaved horribly into a wide gangway from nape to +forehead. + +"Oh, ayah!" she cried reproachfully, "what have you done to Sonny +baba!" for Sonny it was unmistakably in the guise of a street urchin. +A foolish remark to make, doubtless, but the old Mai, most of whose +life had been passed in the curling of golden curls, the prinking of +mother's darlings, did not think it strange. She looked wistfully at +her charge, then at Kate apologetically. + +"It was safer, Huzoor. And at least he is fat and fresh. I gave him +milk and _chikken-brât_.[6] And it was but a tiny morsel of opium just +to make him quiet in the bundle." + +Something in the quavering old voice made Kate cross quickly to the +old woman and kneel beside her. + +"You have done splendidly, ayah, no one could have done better!" + +But the interest had died from the haggard face. "They said folk +would be damned for it," she muttered half to herself, "but what could +I do? The mem, my mem, said 'Take care of the boy.' So I gave him +_chikken-brât_ and milk." She paused, then looked up at Kate slowly. +"But I can grind and spin no more, Huzoor. My life is done. So I have +brought him here--and----" she paused again for breath. + +"How did you find me out?" asked Kate, longing to give the old woman +some restorative, yet not daring to offer it, for she was a +Mussulmâni. + +The old Mai reached out a skeleton of a hand, half-mechanically, to +flick away a fluff of cotton wool from the still sleeping child's +face. "It was the _chikken-brât_, Huzoor. The Huzoor will remember the +old mess khânsaman? He did the _pagul khanas_ [picnics] and nautches +for the sahib logue. A big man with gold lace who made the cake at +Christmas for the babas and set fire to plum-puddeens as no other +khânsaman did. And made _estârfit_ turkeys and _sassets_ [stuffed +turkey and sausages]--and----" She seemed afloat on a Bagh-o-bahâr +list of comestibles, a dream of days when, as ayah, she had watched +many a big dinner go from the cook room. + +"But about the _chikken-brât_, ayah?" asked Kate with a lump in her +throat; for the wasted figure babbling of old days was evidently close +on death. + +"Huzoor! Mungul Khân keeps life in him, these hard times, with the +selling of eggs and fowls. So he, knowing me, said there was more +_chikken-brât_ than mine being made in the quarter. The Huzoor need +have no fear. Mungul weeps every day and prays the sahibs may return, +because his last month's account was not paid. A sweeper woman, he +said, bought 'halflings' for an Afghan's bibi. As if an Afghani would +use three halflings in one day! No one but a mem making _chikken-brât_ +would do that. So I watched and made sure, against this day; for I was +old, and I had not spun or ground for long." + +"You should have come before," said Kate gently. "You have worn +yourself out." + +The old woman stumbled to her feet. "My life was worn before, Huzoor. +I am very old. I have put many boy-babies into the mem's arms to make +them forget their pain, and taken them from them to put the flowers +round them when they were dead. He was safer with me speaking our +language; with you he may remember. But I shall be dead, so I can do +no more." + +"Wait, do wait till the sahib returns," pleaded Kate. + +The Mai paused, her hand on the latch. "What have I to do with the +sahibs, Huzoor? Mine were not much count. They made my mems cry, or +laugh; cry first, then laugh. It is bad for mems. But my mem did +not care, she only cared for the babies and so there was always a +flower for the grave. Matadeen, the gardener, made it and the big +Huzoor--Erlton sahib----" + +She ceased suddenly and went mumbling down the stairs leaving Kate to +close the door again and drop on her knees beside the sleeping child. +Was he sleeping or had the opium----? She gave a sigh of relief +as--her hair tickling his cheek as she bent to listen--up came a +chubby unconscious hand to brush the tickle away. + +Sonny! It seemed incredible. The house would be a home indeed with his +sweet "Mifis Erlton" echoing through it. Not what the old Mai had said +was true. There would be danger in English prattle. She must not tell +him who she was. He must be kept as safe as that other child over +across the seas whose empty place this one had partly filled; that +other child who in all these storms and stress was, thank Heaven! so +safe. She must deny herself that pleasure, and be content with this +terribly disguised Sonny. Then she wondered if the dye came off as +hers did; so with wet finger began trying the experiment on the +child's cheek. A little; but perhaps soap and warm water might--She +gathered Sonny in her arms and went over to the cooking-place. And +there, to her unreasoning delight, after a space, was a square inch or +so of milk and roses. It was trivial, of course; Mr. Greyman would say +womanish, but she should like to see the real Sonny just once! She +could dye him again. So, with the sleeping child on her lap, she began +soft dabbings and wipings on the forehead and cheeks. It was a +fascinating task and she forgot everything else; till, as she began +work on the nose, what with the tickling and the tepid bathings +dispelling the opium drowsiness, Sonny woke, and finding himself in +strange arms began to scream horribly. And there she was forgetful of +caution among other things, kissing and cuddling the frightened child, +asking him if he didn't know her and telling him he was a good little +Sonnikins whom nobody in the world would hurt! At which juncture, with +brain started in a new-old groove, he said amid lingering sobs: + +"Oh, Mifis Erlton! What _has_ a-come of my polly?" + +She recognized her slip in a second; but it was too late. And hark! +Steps on the stair, and Sonny prattling on in his high, clear lisp! +Not one step, but two; and voices. A visitor no doubt. Sometimes, to +avoid suspicion, it was necessary to bring them in. She knew the +routine. The modest claim for seclusion to her supposed husband in +Persian, the leaving of the door on the latch, the swift retreat into +the inner roof during the interval decorously allowed for such escape. +All this was easy without Sonny. The only chance now was to stop his +prattle even by force, give the excuse that other women were within, +and trust to a man's quickness outside. + +Vain hope! Sonny wriggled like an eel, and, just as the expected knock +came, evaded her silencing hand, so that the roof rang with outraged +yells: + +"Oh! 'oo's hurtin' me! Oo's hurtin' me!" + +Without the words even, the sound was unmistakable. No native child +was ever so ear-piercing, so wildly indignant. Kate, beside herself, +tried soothings and force distractedly, in the midst of which an +imperative voice called fiercely: + +"Open the door quick, for God's sake! Anything's better than that." + +For the moment, doubtless, Sonny's yells ending with victory; but +another cry came sharp and short, as--the door giving under Kate's +hasty fingers--two men tumbled over the threshold. Jim Douglas +uppermost, his hands gripping the other's throat. + +"Shut the door!" he gasped. "Lock it. Then my revolver--no--a knife-- +no noise--quick. I can't hold--the brute long." + +Kate turned and ran mechanically, and the steel in her hand gleamed as +she flew back. Jim Douglas, digging his knees into the ribs below +them, loosened one hand cautiously from the throat and held it out, +trembling, eager. + +But Kate saw his face. It might have been the Gorgon's, for she stood +as if turned to stone. + +"Don't be a fool!" he panted--"give it me! It's the only----" A +sudden twist beneath him sent his hand back to the throat. "It's--it's +death anyway----" + +Death! What did that matter? she asked herself. Let it come, rather +than murder! + +"No!" she said suddenly, "you shall not. It is not worth it." The +knife, flung backward, fell with a clang, but the eyes which--though +that choking grip on the throat made all things dim--had been fixed on +its gleam, turned swiftly to those above them and the writhing body +lay still as a corpse. None too soon, for Jim Douglas was almost +spent. + +"A rope," he muttered briefly, "or stay, your veil will do." + +But Kate, trembling with the great passion and pity of her decision, +had scarce removed it ere Jim Douglas, changing his mind, rose to his +feet, leaving his antagonist free to do so likewise. + +"Get up, Tiddu," he said breathlessly, "and thank the mem for saving +your life. But the door's locked, and if you don't swear----" + +"The Huzoor need not threaten," retorted Tiddu, far more calmly as he +retwisted his rag of a turban. "The Many-Faced know gratitude. They do +not fall on those who find them helpless and protect them." + +The thrust was keen, for in truth the old Baharupa had, not half an +hour before, by sheer chance found his pupil in difficulties and +insisted on seeing him safe home, and on his promising not to go out +again till he was stronger; to both of which coercions Jim Douglas, in +order to evade suspicion, had consented. Yet, but for Kate, he would +have knifed the old man remorselessly. Even now he felt doubtful. + +Tiddu, however, saved him further anxiety by stepping close to Kate +and salaaming theatrically. + +"By Murri-âm and the neem, the mem is as my mother, the child as my +child." + +So, for the first time, both he and Jim Douglas looked toward Sonny, +who, with wide-planted legs and wondering eyes, had been watching +Tiddu solemnly; the quaintest little figure with his red and white +cheeks and black muzzle. + +The old mime burst into a guffaw. "_Wâh!_ what a monkeyling! _Wâh!_ +what a _tamâsha_" (spectacle), he cried, squatting down on his heels +to look closer. In truth Sonny was like a hill baboon, especially when +he smiled too; broadly, expectantly, at the familiar word. + +"_Tamathâ-wallah!_" he said superbly, "_bunao ramâtha, juldi +bunao!_" (Make an amusement; make it quick.) + +Tiddu, a child himself like all his race in his delight in children, a +child also in his capacity of sudden serenity, caught up Kate's fallen +veil, and in an instant dashed into the hackneyed part of the +daughter-in-law, while Kate and Jim Douglas stared; left behind, as it +were, by this strange irresponsible pair--the mimic of life, and the +child ignorant of what was mimicked. Tragedy a minute ago! Now Farce! +They looked at each other, startled, for sympathy. + +"Make a funny man now," came Sonny's confident voice, "a funny man +behind a curtain--a funny man wif a gween face an' a white face, an' a +lot of fwowers an' a bit o' tring." + +Tiddu looked round quickly at Jim Douglas. "_Wâh!_" he said, "the +little Huzoor has a good memory. He remembers the Lord of Life and +Death." + +But Kate had remembered it too, and she also had turned to +Jim Douglas passionately, almost accusingly. "It was you! You were +Fate--you---- Ah! I understand now!" + +"Do you?" he answered with a frown. "Then it's more than I do." He +walked away moodily toward the knife Kate had flung away, and stooped +to pick it up. "But you were right in what you did. It was an +inspiration. Look there!" + +He pointed to the old Baharupa, who was playing antics to amuse Sonny, +who lisped, "_Thâ bâth!_" (bravo!) solemnly at each fresh effort. But +Kate shivered. "I did nothing. I thought I did; but it was Fate." + +"My dear lady," he retorted with a kindly smile, "it is all in the +nature of dreams. The convalescent home is turned into a _crèche_. But +we must transfigure the street urchin into the darling of his parents' +hearts----" He paused and looked at Kate queerly. "I'll tell Tara to +rig him out properly; and you must take off half the stain, you know, +and leave some color on his cheeks; for he must play the part as well +as----" He laughed suddenly. "It is really more dream-like than ever!" +he added. And Kate thought so too. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + VOX HUMANA. + + +The five days following on the 2d of August were a time of festivity +for the Camp, a time of funerals for the City. There was a break in +the rains, and on the Ridge the sunshine fell in floods upon the fresh +green grass, and the air, bright and cool, set men's minds toward +making the best of Nature's kindness; for she had been kind, indeed, +to the faithful little colony, and few even of the seniors could +remember a season so favorable in every way. And so the messes talked +of games, of races; and men, fresh from seeing their fellows killed by +balls on one side of the Ridge, joined those who, on the other side, +were crying "Well bowled!" as wickets went down before other balls. + +But in the city the unswept alleys fermented and festered in the +vapors and odors which rose from the great mass of humanity pent +within the rose-red walls. For the gates had been closed strictly save +for those with permits to come and go. This was Bukht Khân's policy. +Delhi was to stand or fall as one man. There was to be no sneaking +away while yet there was time. So hundreds of sepoys protesting +illness, hunger, urgent private affairs--every possible excuse for +getting leave--were told that if they would not fight they could sulk. +Starve they might, stay they should. The other Commanders-in-Chief, it +is true, spent money in bribing mercenaries for one week's more +fighting; but Bukht Khân only smiled sardonically. He had tried bugles +and fifes, he had tried the drum-ecclesiastic; he was now trying his +last stop. The _vox humana_ of self-preservation. + +In the city itself, however, the preservation of life took for the +present another form, and never within the memory of man had there +been such a pounding of pestles and mortars over leaf-poultices. The +sound of it rose up at dawn and eve like the sound of the querns, +mingling with the _vox humana_ of grief as the eastern and southern +gates were set wide to let the dead pass out, and allow the stores for +the living to pass in. + +It formed a background to the gossip at the wells where the women met +to draw water. + +"Faiz-Ahmed found freedom at dawn," said one between her yawns. "He +was long in the throes. The bibis made a great wailing, so I could not +even sleep since then. There are no sons, see you, and no money now +the old man's annuity is gone." + +"Loh, sister!" retorted another, "thou speakest as if death were a +morsel of news to let dissolve on the tongue. There be plenty such +soppets in Delhi, and if I know aught of wounds there will be another +at nightfall. My mistress wastes time in the pounding of simples, and +I waste time in waiting for them till my turn comes at the shop; for +if it be not gangrened, I have no eyes." The speaker jerked her pot to +her shoulder deftly and passed down the alley. + +"Juntu is wise in such matters," said a worn-looking woman with sad +eyes; "I must get her to glance at my man's cut. 'Tis right to my +mind--he will put naught but water to it, after some foreign +fashion--but who can tell these times?" + +"Save that none pass their day, sister. Death will come of the Great +Sickness, or the wound, as it chooses," put in a half-starved soul who +had to carry a baby besides her pot. "The cholera rages in our alley. +'Tis the smell. None sweep the streets or flush the gutters now." + +"Ari, Fukra!" cried a fierce virago, "thou art a traitor at heart! She +bewails the pig-eating infidels who gave her man five rupees a month +to bring water to the drains. Ai teri! If they saved one life from +good cholera, have they not reft a hundred in exchange from widows and +orphans? Oo-ai-ie-ee!" + +Her howling wail, like a jackal's, was caught up whimperingly by the +others; and so they passed on with their water pots, to spread through +the city the tale of Faiz-Ahmed's freedom, Juntu's suspicions of +gangrene, and Kartina the butcher's big wife's retort. And, in the +evening, folk gathered at the gates, and talked over it all again as +the funerals passed out; old Faiz-Ahmed, in his new gold shoes, +looking better as a corpse, tied up in tinsel, than as a martyr, so +the spectators agreed. Whereat _his_ family had their glow of pride +also. + +Then, when the show was over, the crowd dispersed to pay visits of +condolence, and raise the wailing _vox humana_ in every alley. + +Greatly to Jim Douglas' relief, for there was another voice difficult +to keep quiet when the cool evenings came, and all Kate's replies in +Hindustani would not beguile Sonny's tongue from English. He was the +quaintest mother's darling now, in a little tinsel cap fringed with +brown silk tassels hiding that dreadful gangway, anklets, and +bracelets on his bare corn-colored limbs, the ruddy color showing +through the dye on his cheeks, his palms all henna-stained, his eyes +blackened with kohl, and a variety of little tinsel and brocaded +cootees ending far above his dimpled knees. There were little muslin +and net ones too, cunningly streaked with silver and gold, for Tara +was reckless over the boy. She insisted, too, on a great black smudge +on his forehead to keep away the evil eye; and Soma, coming now with +the greatest regularity, brought odd little coral and grass necklets +such as Rajpoot bairns ought to wear; while Tiddu, the child's great +favorite, had a new toy every day for the little Huzoor. Paper +whirligigs, cotton-wool bears on a stick, mud parrots, and such like, +whereat Sonny would lisp, "_Thâ bath_, Tiddu." Though sometimes he +would go over to Kate and ask appealingly, "Miffis Erlton! What has +a-come of my polly?" + +Then she, startled into realities by the words, would catch him up in +her arms, and look around as if for protection to Jim Douglas, who, +having overdone himself in the struggle with Tiddu, had felt it wiser +to defer further action for a day or two. The more so because Tiddu +had promised to help him to the uttermost if he would only be +reasonable and leave times and seasons to one who had ten times the +choice that he had. + +So he would smile back at Kate and say, "It's all right, Mrs. Erlton. +At least as right as it can be. The lot of them are devoted to the +child." + +Yet in his heart he knew that there was danger in so many +confederates. He felt that this incredibly peaceful home on the +housetop could not last. Here he was looking at a woman who was not +his wife, a child who was not his child, and feeling vaguely that they +were as much a part of his life as if they were. As if, had they been +so, he would have been quite contented. More contented than he had +been on that other roof. He was, even now, more contented than he had +been there. As he sat, his head on his hand, watching the pretty +picture which Kate, in Zora's jewels, made with the be-tinseled, +be-scented, bedecked child, he thought of his relief when years before +he had looked at a still little morsel lying in Zora's veil. Had it +been brutal of him? Would that dead baby have grown into a Sonny? Or +was it because Sonny's skin was really white beneath the stain that he +thought of him as something to be proud of possessing; of a boy who +would go to school and be fagged and flogged and inherit familiar +virtues and vices instead of strange ones? + +"What are you thinking of, Mr. Greyman? Do you want anything?" came +Kate's kind voice. + +"Nothing," he replied in the half-bantering tone he so often used +toward her; "I have more than my fair share of things already, surely! +I was only meditating on the word 'Om'--the final mystery of all +things." + +So, in a way, he was. On the mystery of fatherhood and motherhood, +which had nothing to do with that pure idyl of romantic passion on the +terraced roof at Lucknow, yet which seemed to touch him here, where +there was not even love. Yet it was a better thing. The passion of +protection, of absolute self-forgetfulness, seeking no reward, which +the sight of those two raised in him, was a better thing than that +absorption in another self. The thought made him cross over to where +Kate sat with the child in her lap, and say gravely: + +"The _crèche_ is more interesting than the convalescent home, at least +to me, Mrs. Erlton! I shall be quite sorry when it ends." + +"When it ends?" she echoed quickly. "There is nothing wrong, is there? +Sonny has been so good, and that time when he was naughty the +sweeper-woman seemed quite satisfied when Tara said he was speaking +Pushtoo." + +"But it cannot last for all that," he replied. "It is dangerous. I +feel it is. This is the 5th, and I am nearly all right. I must get +Tiddu to arrange for Sonny first. Then for you." + +"And you?" she asked. + +"I'll follow. It will be safer, and there is no fear for me. I can't +understand why I've had no answer from your husband. The letter went +two days ago, and I am convinced we ought." + +The frown was back on his face, the restlessness in his brain; and +both grew when in private talk with Tiddu the latter hinted at +suspicions in the caravan which had made it necessary for him to be +very cautious. The letter, therefore, had certainly been delayed, +might never have reached. If no answer came by the morrow, he himself +would take the opportunity of a portion of the caravan having a permit +to pass out, and so insure the news reaching the Ridge; trusting to +get into the city again without delay, though the gates were very +strictly kept. Nevertheless, in his opinion, the Huzoor would be wiser +with patience. There was no immediate danger in continuing as they +were, and the end could not be long if it were true that the great +Nikalseyn was with the Punjâb reinforcements. Since all the world knew +that Nikalseyn was the prince of sahibs, having the gift, not only of +being all things to all people, but of making all people be all things +to him, which was more than the Baharupas could do. + +In truth, the news that John Nicholson was coming to Delhi made even +Jim Douglas hesitate at risking anything unnecessarily, so long as +things went smoothly. As for the letter to Major Erlton, it was no +doubt true that the number of spies sending information to the Ridge +had made it difficult of late to send any, since the guards were on +the alert. + +It was, indeed, even for the Queen herself, who had a missive she was +peculiarly anxious should not fall into strange hands. + +"There is no fear, Ornament of Palaces," said Ahsan-Oolah urbanely; "I +will stake my life on its reaching." He did not add that his chief +reason for saying so was that a similar letter, written by the King, +had been safely delivered by Rujjub Ali, the spy, whose house lay +conveniently near the physician's own, and from whom both the latter +and Elahi-Buksh heard authentic news from the Ridge. News which made +them both pity the poor old pantaloon who, as they knew well, had been +a mere puppet in stronger hands. And these two, laying their heads +together, in one of those kaleidoscope combinations of intrigue which +made Delhi politics a puzzle even at the time, advised the King to use +the _vox celeste_ as an antidote to the _vox humana_ of the city, +which was being so diligently fostered by the Queen and Bukht Khân. +Let him say he was too old for this world, let him profess himself +unable longer to cope with his coercers and claim to be allowed to +resign and become a fakir! But the dream still lingered in the old +man's brain. He loved the brocaded bags, he loved the new cushion of +the Peacock throne; and though the cockatoo's crest was once more +showing a yellow tinge through the green, the thought of jehâd +lingered sanctimoniously. But other folk in the Palace were beginning +to awake. Other people in Delhi besides Tiddu had heard that Nikalseyn +was on his way from the Punjâb and not even the rose-red walls had +been able to keep out his reputation. Folk talked of him in whispers. +The soldiers, unable to retreat, unwilling to fight, swore loudly that +they were betrayed; that there were too many spies in the city. Of +that there could be no doubt. Were not letters found concealed in +innocent looking cakes and such like? Had not one, vaguely suggesting +that some cursed infidels were still concealed in the city, been +brought in for reward by a Bunjârah who swore he had picked it up by +chance? The tales grew by the telling in the Thunbi Bazaar, making +Prince Abool-Bukr, who had returned to it incontinently after the +disastrous failure of faith on the 2d, hiccough magnificently that, +poor as he was, he would give ten golden mohurs to anyone who would +set him on the track of a hell-doomed. Yea! folk might laugh, but he +was good for ten still. Ay! and a rupee besides, to have the offer +cried through the bazaar; so there would be an end to scoffers! + +"What is't?" asked the languid loungers in the wooden balconies, as +the drum came beating down the street. + +"Only Abool offering ten mohurs for a Christian to kill," said one. + +"And he swore he had not a rupee when I danced for him but yesterday," +said another. + +"He has to pay Newâsi, sister," yawned a third. + +"Then let her dance for him--I do it no longer," retorted the +grumbler. + +So the crier and his drums passed down the scoffing bazaar. "He will +find many at that price," quoth some, winking at their neighbors; for +the Prince was a butt when in his cups. + +Thus at earliest dawn next morning, the 7th of August, Tiddu gave a +signal knock at the door of the roof, rousing Jim Douglas who, since +the child's arrival, had taken to sleeping across it once more. + +"There is danger in the air, Huzoor," he said briefly; "they cried a +reward for the infidels in the bazaar yesterday. There is talk of some +letter." + +"The child must go--go at once," replied his hearer, alert in an +instant; but Tiddu shook his head. + +"Not till dark, Huzoor. The bullocks are to pass out with the moon, +and he must pass out with them. In a sack, Huzoor. Say nothing till +the last. Then, the Huzoor knows the cloth merchant's by the Delhi +gate?" + +Jim Douglas nodded. + +"There is a court at the back. The bullocks are there, for we are +taking cloth the Lâla wants to smuggle out. A length or two in each +empty sack; for he hath been looted beyond limits. So he will have no +eyes, not the caravan either, for secret work in dark corners. Bring +the boy drugged as he came here, the Rajpootni will carry the bundle +as a spinner, to the third door down the lane. 'Tis an empty yard; I +will have the bullock there with the half-load of raw cotton. We have +two or three more as foils to the empty bags. Come as a Bunjârah, then +the Huzoor can see the last of the child, and see old Tiddu's +loyalty." + +The familiar whine came back to his voice; he could scarcely resist a +thrust forward of his open hand. But dignity or no dignity, Jim +Douglas knew that itching palm well, and said significantly: + +"It will be worth a thousand rupees to you, Tiddu, if the child gets +safe." + +A look of offended virtue came over the smooth face. "This slave is +not thinking of money. The child is as his own child." + +"And the mem as your mother, remember," put in the other quickly. + +Tiddu hesitated. "If his servant saves the baba, cannot the master +save the lady?" he said with the effrontery of a child trying how far +he might go; but Jim Douglas' revolver was out in a second, and Tiddu, +with an air of injured innocence, went on without a pause: + +"The mem will be safe enough, Huzoor, when the child is gone, if the +Huzoor will himself remain day and night to answer for the screened, +sick woman within. His slave will be back by dawn; and if he smells +trouble, the mem must be moved in a dhoolie to another house, the +Rajpootni must go home, and I will be mother-in-law. I can play the +part, Huzoor." + +He could indeed! If Kate were to be safe anywhere, it would be with +this old scoundrel with his thousand-faces, his undoubted gift for +influencing the eyes of men. Three days of passing from one place to +another, with him in some new character, and their traces must be +lost. A good plan certainly! + +"And there is no danger to-day?" he asked finally. Tiddu paused again, +and his luminous eyes sought the sahib's. "Who can say that, Huzoor, +for a mem, in this city. But I think none. We can do no more, danger +or not. And I will watch. And see, here is the dream-giver. The +Rajpootni will know the dose for the child." + +The dream-giver! All that day the little screw of paper Tiddu had +taken from his waistbelt lay in a fold of Jim Douglas' high-twined +pugri, and its contents seemed to make him dull. Not that it mattered, +since there was literally nothing to be done before dusk; for it would +be cruel to tell Kate and keep her on tenterhooks all day to no +purpose. But after a while she noticed his dullness, and came over to +where he sat, his head on his hand, in his favorite attitude. + +"I believe you are going to have fever and ague again," she said +solicitously; "do take some aconite; if we could only get some +quinine, that would end the tiresome thing at once." + +He took some to please her, and because her suggestion gave him a +reasonable excuse for being slack; but as he lounged about lazily, +watching her playing with the boy, seeing her put him to sleep as the +heat of the day came on, noting the cheerful content with which she +adapted herself to a simplicity of life unknown to her three months +before, the wonder of the circumstances which had led to it faded in +the regret that it should be coming to an end. It had been three +months of incredible peace and good-will; and to-day the peace and +goodwill seemed to strike him all the more keenly because he knew that +in an hour or so at most he must disturb it. It seemed hard. + +But something else began the task for him. About sunset a sudden +flash dazzled his eyes, and ere he grasped its vividness the walls +were rocking silently, and a second after a roar as of a thousand +thunder-claps deafened his ears. Kate had Sonny in her arms ere he +could reach her, thrusting her away from the high parapet wall, which, +in one already cracked corner, looked as if it must come down; which +did indeed crumble outward, leaving a jagged gap halfway down its +height, the debris falling with a rattle on the roof of the next +house. + +But ere the noise ended the vibration had passed, leaving him with +relief on his face looking at a great mushroom of smoke and steam +which had shot up into the sky. + +"It's the powder factory!" he exclaimed, using Hindustani for Tara's +benefit as well, since she had rushed in from the outer court at the +first hint of danger to cling round his feet. "It is all over now, but +it's lucky we were no nearer." + +As he spoke he was wondering if this would make any difference in +Tiddu's plans for the night, since the powder factory had stood +equa-distant between them and the Delhi gate. He wondered also what +had caused the explosion. Not a shell certainly. The factory had +purposely been placed at the furthest point from the Ridge. However, +there was a fine supply of powder gone, and, he hoped, a few +mutineers. But Kate's mind had reverted to that other explosion which +had been the prologue to the three months of peace and quiet. Was this +one to be the epilogue? A vague dread, a sudden premonition made her +ask quickly: + +"Can it mean anything serious? Can anything be the matter, Mr. +Greyman? Is anything wrong?" + +It was a trifle early, he thought. She might have had another half +hour or so. But this was a good beginning, or rather a fitting end. + +"And you have known this all day?" she said reproachfully when he told +her the truth. "How unkind of you not to tell me!" + +"Unkind!" he echoed. "What possible good----" + +"I should have known it was the last day--I--I should have made +the--the most of it." + +He felt glad of his own impatience of the sentimentality as he turned +away, for in truth the look on her face hit him hard. It sent him to +pace up and down the outer roof resting till the time for action came. +Then he had a whispered consultation with Tara regarding the dose of +raw opium safe for a child of Sonny's years. + +"Are you sure that is not too much?" he asked anxiously. + +Tara looked at the little black pellet she was rolling gravely. "It is +large, Huzoor, but it is for life or death; and if it was the Huzoor's +own son I would give no less." + +Once more the remembrance of the still little morsel in Zora's tinsel +veil brought an odd compunction; the very possibility of this strange +child's death roused greater pain than that certainty had done. He +felt unnerved at the responsibility; but Kate, looking up as he +rejoined her, held out her hand without a tremor. + +"Give it me, please," she said, and her voice was steady also; "he +will take it best from me. I have some sugar here." + +The child, drowsy already with the near approach of bedtime, was in +her lap, and rested its head on her breast, as with her arms still +round him her hands disguised the drug. + +"It is a very large dose," she said dully. "I knew it must be; that's +why I wanted to give it--myself. Sonny! Open your mouth, darling--it's +sweet--there--swallow it quick--that's a good Sonnikins." + +"You are very brave," he said with a catch in his voice. + +She glanced up at him for a second with a sort of scorn in her eyes. +"I knew he would take it from me," she replied, and then, shifting the +child to an easier position, began to sing in a half voice: + + + "There is a happy land----" + + +"Far--farze--away," echoed Sonny contentedly. It was his usual +lullaby, chosen because it resembled a native air, beloved of ayahs. + +And as she sang and Sonny's eyelids drooped the man watched them both +with a tender awe in his heart; and the other woman, crouching in the +corner, watched all three with hungry, passionate eyes. Here, in this +group of man, woman, and child, without a personal claim on each +other, was something new, half incomprehensible, wholly sweet. + +"He is asleep now," said Kate after a time. "You had better take him." + +He stooped to obey, and she stooped also to leave a long, lingering +kiss on the boy's soft cheek. It sent a thrill through the man as he +recognized that in giving him the child she had given him more than +kisses. + +The feeling that it was so made him linger a few minutes afterward at +the door with a new sense of his responsibilities toward her to say: + +"I wish I had not to leave you alone." + +"You will be back directly, and I shall be all right," she said, +pausing in her closing of the door, for Tara had already passed down +the stair with her bundle. + +"Shall I lock it outside?" he began. Tara and he had been used to do +so in those first days when they left her. + +She laid her hand lightly on his arm. "Don't," she said, "don't get +anxious about me again. What can happen in half an hour?" + +He heard her slip the catch on the staple, however, before he ran +downstairs. He was to take a different road to the Delhi gate from the +quiet, more devious alleys which Tara would choose in her character of +poor spinner carrying her raw stuff home. She was to await his +arrival, to deposit the bundle somewhere close to the third door in +the back lane by the cloth merchant's shop, leaving it to him to take +inside, as if he were one of the caravan; this plan insuring two +things--immunity from notice in the streets, and also in the yard. +But, as Tara would be longer than he by a few minutes in reaching the +tryst, he purposely went through a bit of the Thunbi Bazaar to hear +what he could of the explosion. He was surprised--a trifle alarmed--at +the excitement. Crowds were gathered round many of the balconies, +talking of spies, swearing that half the court was in league with the +Ridge, and that, after all, Abool-Bukr might not have a wild-goose +chase. + +"There will be naught but slops and slaps for him in _my_ information, +I'll swear," said one with a laugh. "I'll back old Mother Sobrai to +beat off a dozen princes." + +"And blows and bludgeons in _mine_," chuckled another. "I chose the +house of Bahâdur, the single-stick player." + +And as, having no more time to lose, he cut across gateward, he saw +down an alley a mob surging round Ahsan-Oolah, the physician's, house, +and heard a passerby say, "They have the traitor safe." It made him +vaguely uneasy, since he knew that when once the talk turns on hidden +things, people, not to be behindhand in gossip, rake up every trivial +doubt and wonder. + +Still there was a file of bullocks waiting by the cloth merchant's as +arranged. And as he passed into the lane a dim figure, scarce seen in +the dark, slipped out of the further end. And there was the bundle. He +caught it up as if it belonged to him, and after knocking gently at +the third door, pushed it open, knowing that he must show no +hesitation. He found himself in a sort of outhouse or covered +entrance, pitch dark save for a faintly lighter square showing an +outlet, doubtless into the yard beyond. He moved toward it, and +stumbled over something unmistakably upon the floor. A man! He dropped +the bundle promptly to be ready in case the sleeper should be a +stranger. But there was no movement, and he kneeled down to feel if it +was Tiddu. A Bunjârah I--that was unmistakable at the first touch--but +the limpness was unmistakable too. The man was dead--still warm, but +dead! By all that was unlucky!--not Tiddu surely! With the flint and +steel in his waist-cloth, he lit a tuft of cotton from the bundle as a +torch. + +It was Jhungi!--Jhungi, with a knife in his heart! + +"Huzoor!" came the familiar creak, as Tiddu, attracted by the sudden +light, stole in from the yard beyond. "Quick! there is no time to +lose. Give me the bundle and go back." + +"Go back!" echoed Jim Douglas amazed. + +"Huzoor! take off the Bunjârah's dress. I have a green turban and +shawl here. The Huzoor must go back to the mem at once. There is +treachery." + +Jim Douglas swore under his breath as he obeyed. + +"I know not what, but the mem must not stay there. I heard him +boasting before, and just now I caught him prying." + +"Who, Jhungi?" + +Even at such a moment Tiddu demurred. + +"The Huzoor mistakes. It is the miscreant Bhungi--Jhungi is +virtuous----" + +"You killed him then?" interrupted the hearer, putting the last touch +to his disguise. + +"What else could I do, Huzoor? I had only my knife. And it is not as +if it were--Jhungi----" + +But Jim Douglas was already out of the door, running through the dark, +deserted lanes while he dared, since he must walk through the bazaar. +And as he ran he told himself that he was a fool to be so anxious. +What could go wrong in half an hour? + +What indeed! + +As he stood five minutes after, staring into the dark emptiness of the +roof, he asked himself again and again what could have happened? There +had been no answer to his knock; the door had been hasped on the +outside, yet the first glance as he entered made him realize that the +place was empty of life. And though he had lit the cresset, with a +fierce fear at what it might reveal, he could find no trace, even of a +struggle. Kate had disappeared! Had she gone out? Impossible. Had Tara +heard of the danger, returned, and taken her elsewhere? Possible, but +improbable. He passed rapidly down the stairs again. The story below +the roof, being reserved for the owner's use on his occasional visits +to Delhi, was empty; the occupants of the second floor, pious folk, +had fled from the city a day or two before; and when he paused to +inquire on the ground floor to know if there had been any disturbance +he found the door padlocked outside--sure sign that everyone was out. +Oh! why, he thought, had he not padlocked that other door upstairs? He +passed out into the street, beginning to realize that his task was +over just as he had ceased to gird at it. There was nothing unusual to +be seen. The godly folk about were beginning to close their gates for +the night, and some paused to listen with an outraged air to the +thrummings and drummings from the Princess Farkhoonda's roof. And that +was Abool Bukr's voice singing: + + + "Oh, mistress rare, divine!" + + +Then it could scarcely be he, and Kate might have found friends in +that quarter, where so many learned folk deemed the slaughter of women +unlawful. But there was no use in speculating. He must find Tara +first. He paused, however, to inquire from the cobbler at the corner. +"Disturbance?" echoed the man. Not much more than usual; the Prince, +who had passed in half an hour agone, being perhaps a bit wilder after +his wildgoose-chase. Had not the Agha-sahib heard? The wags of the +bazaar had taken up the offer made by the Prince, and his servants had +sworn they were glad to get him to the Princess', since they had been +whacked out of half a dozen houses. He was safe now, however, since +when he was of that humor Newâsi Begum never let him go till he was +too drunk for mischief. + +Then, thought Jim Douglas, it was possible that Jhungi might have +given real information; still but one thing was certain--the roof was +empty; the dream had vanished into thin air. + +He did not know as he passed through the dim streets that their dream +was over also, and that John Nicholson stood looking down from the +Ridge on the shadowy mass of the town. He had posted in a hundred and +twenty miles that day, arriving in time to hear the explosion of the +magazine. The city's salute of welcome, as it were, to the man who was +to take it. + +He had been dining at the Headquarters mess, taciturn and grave, a wet +blanket on the jollity, and the Moselle cup, and the fresh cut of +cheese from the new Europe shop; and now, when others were calling +cheery goodnights as they passed to their tents, he was off to wander +alone round the walls, measuring them with his keen, kindly eyes. A +giant of a man, biting his lips beneath his heavy brown beard, making +his way over the rocks, sheltering in the shadow, doggedly, moodily, +lost in thought. He was parceling out his world for conquest? settling +already where to prick the bubble. + +But, in a way, it was pricked already. For, as he prowled about +the Palace walls, a miserable old man, minus even the solace of +pulse-feeling and cooling draughts, was dictating a letter to Hâfzan, +the woman scribe. A miserable letter, to be sent duly the next day to +the Commanders-in-Chief, and forwarded by them to the volunteers of +Delhi. A disjointed rambling effusion worthy of the shrunken mind and +body which held but a rambling disjointed memory even of the advice +given it. + +"Have I not done all in my power to please the soldiery?" it ran. "But +it is to be deplored that you have, notwithstanding, shown no concern +for my life, no consideration for my old age. The care of my health +was in the hands of Ahsan-Oolah, who kept himself constantly informed +of the changes it underwent. Now there is none to care for me but God, +while the changes in my health are such as may not be imagined; +therefore the soldiers and officers ought to gratify me and release +the physician, so that he may come whenever he thinks it necessary to +examine my pulse. Furthermore, the property plundered from his house +belonged to the King, therefore it should be traced and collected and +conveyed to our presence. If you are not disposed to comply, let me be +conveyed to the Kutb shrine and employ myself as a sweeper of the +Mosque. And if even this be not acceded I will still relinquish every +concern and jump up from my seat. Not having been killed by the +English I will be killed by you; for I shall swallow a diamond and go +to sleep. Moreover, in the plunder of the physician's house, a small +box containing our seal was carried away. No paper, therefore, of a +date subsequent to the 7th of August, 1857, bearing our seal, will be +valid." + +A miserable letter indeed. The dream of sovereignty had come to an end +with that salute of welcome to John Nicholson. + + + + + + BOOK V. + + "THERE AROSE A MAN." + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + FORWARD. + + +"Are you here on duty, sir?" asked a brief, imperious voice. Major +Erlton, startled from a half dream as he sat listlessly watching the +target practice from the Crow's Nest, rose and saluted. His height +almost matched the speaker's, but he looked small in comparison with +the indescribable air of dominant power and almost arrogant strength +in the other figure. It seemed to impress him, for he pulled himself +together smartly with a certain confidence, and looked, in truth, +every inch a soldier. + +"No, sir," he replied as briefly, "on pleasure." + +A distinct twinkle showed for a second in General Nicholson's deep-set +hazel eyes. "Then go to your bed, sir, and sleep. You look as if you +wanted some." He spoke almost rudely; but as he turned on his heel he +added in a louder voice than was necessary had he meant the remark for +his companion's ear only, "I shall want good fighting men before long, +I expect." + +If he did, he might reckon on one. Herbert Erlton was not good at +formulating his feelings into definite thoughts, but as he went back +to the peaceful side of the Ridge he told himself vaguely that he was +glad Nicholson had come. He was the sort of a man a fellow would be +glad to follow, especially when he was dead-sick and weary of waiting +and doing nothing save get killed! Yes! he was a real good sort, and +as even the Chaplain had said at mess, they hadn't felt quite so +besieged on the Ridge these last two days since he came. And, by +George! he had hit the right nail on the head. A man wasn't much good +without sleep. + +So, with a certain pride in following the advice, Major Erlton flung +himself on his cot and promptly dozed off. In truth he needed rest. +Sonny Seymour's safe arrival in camp two nights before, in charge +of a Bunjârah, from whom even Hodson had been unable to extract +anything--save that the Agha-sahib had forgotten a letter in his +hurry, and that the mem was safe, or had been safe--had sent Major +Erlton to watch those devilish walls more feverishly than ever. Not +that it really mattered whether Kate was alive or dead, he told +himself. No! he did not mean that, quite. He would be awfully +glad--God! how glad! to know her safe. But it wouldn't alter other +things, would not even alter them in regard to her. So, once more he +waited for the further news promised him, with a strange indifference, +save to the thought that, alive or dead, Kate was within the +walls--like another woman--like many women. + +And now he was dreaming that he was inside them also, sword in hand. + +There seemed some chance of it indeed, men were saying to each other, +as they looked after John Nicholson's tall figure as it wandered into +every post and picket; asking brief questions, pleased with brief +replies. Every now and again pausing, as it were, to come out of his +absorption and take a sudden, keen interest in something beyond the +great question. As when, passing the tents of the only lady in camp, +he saw Sonny, who had been made over to her till he could be sent back +to his mother, who had escaped to Meerut, during which brief time he +was the plaything of a parcel of subalterns who delighted in him, +tinsel cap, anklets, and all. Major Erlton had at first rather +monopolized the child, trying to find out something definite from him; +but as he insisted that "Miffis Erlton lived up in the 'ky wif a man +wif a gween face, and a white face, and a lot of fwowers, and a bit of +tring," and spoke familiarly of Tiddu, and Tara, and Soma, without +being able to say who they were, the Major had given it up as a bad +job, and gone back to the walls. So the subalterns had the child to +themselves, and were playing pranks with him as the General passed by. + +"Fine little fellow!" he said suddenly. "I like to see children's legs +and arms. Up in Bunnoo the babies were just like that young monkey. +Real corn-color. I got quite smitten with them and sent for a lot of +toys from Lahore. Only I had to bar Lawrence from peg-tops, for I knew +I should have got peg-topping with the boys, and that would have been +fatal to my dignity as D. C. That is the worst of high estates. You +daren't make friends, and you have to make enemies." + +The smile which had made him look years younger faded, and he was +back in the great problem of his life: how to keep pace with his +yoke-fellows, how to scorn consequences and steer straight to +independent action, without spoiling himself by setting his seniors +and superiors in arms against him. He had never solved it yet. His +career had been one long race with the curb on. A year before he had +thrown up the game in disgust, and begged to be transferred from the +Punjab while he could go with honor, and even his triumphant march +Delhi-ward--in which he found disaffection, disobedience, and doubt, +and left fear, trembling, and peace--had been marred by much rebuking. +So that once, nothing but the inner sense that pin-points ought not to +let out the heart's blood, kept him at his post; and but two days +before, on the very eve of that hundred-and-twenty mile rush to Delhi, +he had written claiming definitely the right of an officer in his +position to quarrel with anybody's opinion, and asserting his duty of +speaking out, no matter at what risk of giving offense. + +And now, a man years younger than those in nominal command,--he was +but six-and-thirty,--and holding views diametrically opposed to +theirs, he had been sent here, virtually, to take Delhi because those +others could not. No wonder, then, that the question how to avoid +collision puzzled him. Not because he knew that his appointment was in +itself an offense, that some people affected to speak of him still as +Mr. Nicholson--that being his real rank; but because he knew in his +heart of hearts that at any moment he might do something appalling. +Move troops under someone else's command, without a reference, as he +had done before, during his career! Then, naturally, there must be +ructions. He had a smile for the thought himself. Still, for the +present, concord was assured; since until his column arrived, the +repose of the lion crouching for a spring was manifestly the only +policy; though it might be necessary to wag the tail a bit--to do more +than merely forbid sorties and buglings. The fools, for instance, who +harrassed the Metcalfe House picket might be shown their mistake and +made to understand that, if the Ridge called "time!" for a little +decent rest before the final round, it meant to have it. So he passed +on his errand to inculcate Headquarters with his decision, leaving +Sonny playing with the boys. + +Meanwhile one of the garrison, at least, had found the benefit of his +keen judgment. Herbert Erlton had passed from dreams of conflict to +the real rest of unconscious sleep, oblivious of everything, even +those rose-red walls. + +But within them another man, haggard and anxious as he had been, was +still allowing himself none in his search for Kate Erlton. Tara, as +much at a loss as he, helping him; for though at first she had been +relieved at the idea of the mem's disappearance, she had soon realized +that the master ran more risk than ever in his reckless determination +to find some trace of the missing woman. And Tiddu, who had returned, +helped also. The mem, he said, must have found friends; must be alive. +Such a piece of gossip as the discovery and death of an English woman +could not have been kept from the Thunbi Bazaar. Then those who had +passed from the roof had been calm enough to hasp the door behind +them; that did not look like violence. If the Huzoor would only be +patient and wait, something would turn up. There were other kindly +folk in the city besides himself! But, in the meantime, he would do +well to allow Soma to slip into the sulky indifference he seemed to +prefer, and take no notice of it. It only meant that he, and half the +good soldiers in Delhi, were mad with themselves for having chosen the +losing side. For with Nikalseyn on the Ridge, what chance had Delhi? + +This was rather an exaggerated picture; still it was a fairly faithful +presentment of the inward thoughts of many, who, long before this, had +begun to ask themselves what the devil they were doing in that galley? +Yet there they were, and there they must fight. Soma, however, was +doubtful even of that. His heart positively ached as he listened to +the tales told in the very heart of Delhi of the man whom other men +worshiped--the man who took forts single-handed, and said that, given +the powers of a provost-marshal, he would control a disobedient army +in two days! The man who yoked bribe-taking tahseeldars into the +village well-wheel to draw water for the robbed ryots, and set women +of loose virtue, who came into his camp, to cool in muddy tanks. The +man who flung every law-book on his office table at his clerks' heads, +and then--with a kindly apologetic smile--paused while they replaced +them for future use. The man who gave toys to children, and +remorselessly hung two abettors of a vile murder, when he could not +lay hands on the principal. The man, finally, who flogged those who +worshiped him into promising adoration for the future to a very +ordinary mortal of his acquaintance! Briefly the hero, the demi-god, +who perhaps was neither, but, as Tiddu declared, had simply the +greatest gift of all--the gift of making men what he wished them to +be. Either way it was gall and wormwood to Soma--hero-worshiper by +birth--that his side should have no such colossal figure to follow. +So, sulky and sore, he held aloof from both sides, doing his bounden +duty to both, and no more. Keeping guards when his fellows took bribes +to fight, and agreeing with Tiddu, that since some other besides +themselves knew of the roof, it was safer for the master to lock it +up, and live for a time elsewhere. + +So, all unwittingly, the only chance of finding Kate was lost. For +what had happened was briefly this: Five minutes after Jim Douglas had +left her, Prince Abool-Bukr, who had kept this _renseignement_--given +him by a Bunjârah, who had promised to be in waiting and was not--to +the last, because it was close to the haven where he would be, had +come roystering up the stairs followed by his unwilling retainers, +suggesting that the Most Illustrious had really better desist from +violating seclusion since they were all black and blue already. But, +from sheer devilry and desire to outrage the quarter, which by its +complaints had already brought him into trouble, the Prince had begun +battering at the door. Kate, running to bar it more securely, saw that +the hasp, carelessly hitched over the staple, was slipping--had +slipped; and had barely time to dash into the inner roof ere the +Prince, unexpectant of the sudden giving way, tumbled headlong into +the outer one. The fall gave her an instant more, but made him angry; +and the end would have been certain, if Kate, seeing the new-made gap +in the wall before her, had not availed herself of it. There was a +roof not far below she knew; the _débris_ would be on a slope +perhaps--the blue-eyed boy had escaped by the roofs. All this flashed +through her, as by the aid of a stool, which she kicked over in her +scramble, she gained the top of the gap and peered over. The next +instant she had dropped herself down some four feet, finding a +precarious foothold on a sliding slope of rubble, and still clinging +to the wall with her hands. If no one looked over, she thought +breathlessly, she was safe! And no one did. The general air of decent +privacy alarmed the retainers into remembering that two of their +number had found death their reward for their master's last escapade +in that quarter; so, after one glance round, they swore the place was +empty, and dragged him off, feebly protesting that it was his last +chance, and he had not bagged a single Christian. + +Kate heard the door closed, heard the voices retreat downstairs, and +then set herself to get back over the gap. It did not seem a difficult +task. The slope on which she hung gave fair foothold, and by getting a +good grip on the brickwork, and perhaps displacing a brick or two in +the crack lower down, as a step, she ought to get up easily. It was +lucky the crack was there, she thought. In one way, not in another, +for, as in her effort she necessarily threw all her weight on the +wall, another bit of it gave way, she fell backward, and so, half +covered with bricks and mud, rolled to the roof below, which was +luckily not more than eight or nine feet down. It was far enough, +however, for the fall to have killed her; but, though she lay quite +unconscious, she was not dead, only stunned, shaken, confused, unable +absolutely to think. It was almost dawn, indeed, before she realized +that her only chance of getting up again was in calling for help, and +by that time the door of the roof above had been locked, and there was +no one to hear her. The few square yards of roof on to which she had +rolled belonged to one of those box-like buildings, half-turrets, +half-summer houses, which natives build here, there, and everywhere at +all sorts of elevations, until the view of a town from a topmost roof +resembles nothing so much as the piles of luggage awaiting the tidal +train at Victoria. + +This particular square of roof belonged to a tiny outhouse, which +stood on a long narrow roof belonging in its turn to an arcaded slip +of summer-house standing on a square, set round by high parapet walls. +Quite a staircase of roofs. Her one had had a thatch set against the +wall, but it had fallen in with the weight of bricks and mortar. Still +she might be able to creep between it and the wall for shelter. And on +the slip of roof below, Indian corn was drying, during this break in +the rains. Rains which had filled a row of water-pots quite full. +Since she could not make those above her hear, she thought it might be +as well to secure herself from absolute starvation, before broad +daylight brought life to the wilderness of roofs around her. So she +scrambled down a rough ladder of bamboo tied with string, and, after a +brief look into the square below, came back with some parched grain +she had found in a basket, and a pot of water. She would not starve +for that day. By this time it was dawn, and she crept into her +shelter, listening all the while for a sound from above; every now and +again venturing on a call. But there was no answer, and by degrees it +came to her that she must rely on herself only for safety. She was not +likely to be disturbed that day where she was, unless people came to +repair the thatch. And under cover of night she might surely creep +from roof to roof down to some alley. What alley? True, her goal now +lay behind her, but these roofs, set at every angle, might lead her +far from it. And how was she to know her own stair, her own house, +from the outside? She had passed into it in darkness and never left it +again. Then what sort of people lived in these houses through which +she must creep like a thief? Murderers, perhaps. Still it was her only +chance; and all that burning, blistering day, as she crouched between +the thatch and the wall, she was bolstering up her courage for the +effort. She could see the Ridge clearly from her hiding place. Ah! if +she had only the wings of the doves--those purple pigeons which, +circling from the great dome of the mosque, came to feast unchecked on +the Indian corn. The people below, then, must be pious folk. + +It was past midnight and the silence of sleep had settled over the +city before she nerved herself to the chance and crept down among the +corn. No difficulty in that; but to her surprise, a cresset was still +burning in the arcaded veranda below, sending three bars of light +across the square through which she must pass. It would be better to +wait a while; but an hour slipped by and still the light gleamed into +the silence. Perhaps it had been forgotten. The possibility made her +creep down the brick ladder, prepared to creep up again if the silence +proved deceptive. But what she saw made her pause, hesitating. It was +a woman reading from a large book held in a book-rest. The Koran, of +course. Kate recognized it at once, for just such another had been +part of the necessary furniture of her roof. And what a beautiful +face! Tender, refined, charming. Not the face of a murderess, surely? +Surely it might be trusted? Those three months behind the veil had +made Kate realize the emotionality of the East; its instinctive +sympathy with the dramatic element in life. She remembered her sudden +impulse in regard to the knife and its effect on Tiddu; she felt a +similar impulse toward confidence here. And then she knew that the +doors might be locked below, and that her best chance might be to +throw herself on the mercy of this woman. + +The next moment she was standing full in the light close to the +student, who started to her feet with a faint cry, gazing almost +incredulously at the figure so like her own, save for the jewels +gleaming among the white draperies. + +"Bibi," she faltered. + +"I am no bibi," interrupted Kate hurriedly in Hindustani. "I am a +Christian--but a woman like yourself--a mother. For the sake of +yours--or the sake of your sons, if you are a mother too--for the sake +of what you love best--save me." + +"A Christian! a mem!" In the pause of sheer astonishment the two women +stood facing each other, looking into each other's eyes. Prince +Abool-Bukr had been right when he said that Kate Erlton reminded him +of the Princess Farkhoonda da Zamâni. Standing so, they showed +strangely alike indeed, not in feature, but in type; in the soul which +looked out of the soft dark, and the clear gray eyes. + +"Save you!" The faint echo was lost in a new sound, close at hand. A +careless voice humming a song; a step coming up the dark stair. + + + "O mistress rare, divine!" + + +God and His Prophet! Abool himself! Newâsi flung her hands up in sheer +horror. Abool! and this Christian here! The next instant with a fierce +"Keep still," she had thrust Kate into the deepest shadow and was out +to bar the brick ladder with her tall white grace. She had no time for +thought. One sentence beat on her brain--"for the sake of what you +love best, save me!" Yea! for his sake this strange woman must not be +seen--he must not, should not guess she was there! + +"Stand back, kind one, and let me pass," came the gay voice +carelessly. It made Kate shudder back into further shadow, for she +knew now where she was; and but that she would have to pass those bars +of light would have essayed escape to the roofs again. + +But Newâsi stood still as stone on the first step of the stairs. + +"Pass!" she repeated clearly, coldly. "Art mad, Abool? that thou +comest hither with no excuse of drunkenness and alone, at this hour of +the night. For shame!" + +Why, indeed, she asked herself wildly, had he come? He was not used to +do so. Could he have heard? Had he come on purpose? There was a sound +as if he retreated a step, and from the dark his voice came with a +wonder in it. + +"What ails thee, Newâsi?" + +"What ails me!" she echoed, "what I have lacked too long. Just anger +at thy thoughtless ways. Go----" + +"But I have that to tell thee of serious import that none but thou +must hear. That which will please thee. That which needs thy kind wise +eyes upon it." + +"Then let them see it by daylight, not now. I will not, Abool. Stand +back, or I will call for help." + +The sound of retreat was louder this time, and a muttered curse came +with it; but the voice had a trace of anxiety in it now--anxiety and +anger. + +"Thou dost not mean it, kind one; thou canst not! When have I done +that which would make thee need help? Newâsi! be not a fool. Remember +it is I, Abool; Abool-Bukr, who has a devil in him at times!" + +Did she not know it by this time? Was not that the reason why he must +not find this Christian? Why she must refuse him hearing? Though it +was true that he had a right to be trusted; in all those long years, +when had he failed to treat her tenderly, respectfully? As she stood +barring his way, where he had never before been denied entrance, she +felt as if she herself could have killed that strange woman for being +there, for coming between them. + +"Listen, Abool!" she said, stretching out her hands to find his in the +dark. "I mean naught, dear, that is unkind. How could it be so between +me and thee? But 'tis not wise." She paused, catching her breath in a +faint sob. He could not see her face, perhaps if he had, he would have +been less relentless. + +"Wherefore? Canst not trust thy nephew, fair aunt?" The sarcasm bit +deep. + +"Nephew! A truce, Abool, to this foolish tale," she began hotly, when +he interrupted her. + +"Of a surety, if the Princess Farkhoonda desires it! Yet would Mirza +Abool-Bukr still like to know wherefore he is not received?" + +His tone sent a thrill of terror through her, his use of the name he +hated warned her that his temper was rising--the devil awakening. + +"Canst not see, dear," she pleaded, trying to keep the hands he would +have drawn from hers--"folk have evil minds." + +He gave an ugly laugh. "Since when hast thou begun to think of thy +good name, like other women, Newâsi? But if it be so, if all my +virtue--and God knows 'tis ill-got--is to go for naught, let it end." + +She heard him, felt him turn, and a wild despair surged up in her. +Which was worst? To let him go in anger beyond the reach of her +controlling hand mayhap--go to unknown evils--or chance this one? +Since--since at the worst death might be concealed. God and His +Prophet! What a thought! No! she would plead again--she would +stoop--she would keep him at any price. + +"Listen!" she whispered passionately, leaning toward him in the dark, +"dost ask since when I have feared for my good name? Canst not +guess?--Abool! what--what does a woman, as I am, fear--save +herself--save her own love----" + +There was an instant's silence, and then his reckless jeering laugh +jarred loud. + +"So it has come at last! and there is another woman for kisses. That +is an end indeed! Did I not tell thee we should quarrel over it some +day? Well, be it so, Princess! I will take my virtue elsewhere." + +She stood as if turned to stone, listening to his retreating steps, +listening to his nonchalant humming of the old refrain as he passed +through the courtyard into the alley. Then, without a word, but +quivering with passion, she turned to where Kate cowered, and dragged +her by main force to the stairs where, a minute before; she had +sacrificed everything for her. No! not for her, for him! + +"Go," she said bitterly. "Go! and my curse go with you." + +Kate fled before the anger she saw but did not understand. Yet as she +flew down the steep stairs she paused involuntarily to listen to the +sound--a sound which needed no interpreter as the liquid Persian had +done--of a woman sobbing as if her heart would break. + +She had no time, however, even for wonder, and the next instant she +was out in the alley, turning to the right. For the knowledge that it +was the Princess Farkhoonda who had helped her, gave the clew to her +position. But the house, the stair? How could she know it? She must +try them one after another; since she would know the landing, the door +she had so often opened and shut. Still it was perilously near dawn +ere she found what she was sure was the right one; but it was +padlocked. + +They must have gone; gone and left her alone! + +For the first time, ghastly, unreasoning fear seized on her; she could +have beaten at the door and screamed her claim to be let in. And even +when, the rush of terror passed, she sat stupidly on the step, not +even wondering what to do next, till suddenly she remembered that she +had keys in her pocket. That of the inner padlock, certainly; perhaps +of the outer one, also, since Tara had given up using her duplicate +altogether. + +She had; and five minutes after, having satisfied herself that the +roof remained as it was--that it was merely empty for a time--she +tried to feel grateful. But the loneliness, the dimness, were too much +for her fatigue, her excitement. So once more the sound which needs no +interpreter rose on the warm soft night. + +It was two days after this that Tiddu held a secret consultation with +Soma and Tara. The Agha-sahib, he said, was getting desperate. He was +losing his head, as the Huzoors did over women-folk, and he must be +got out of the city. It was not as if he did any good by staying in +it. The mem was either dead, or safely concealed. There was no +alternative, unless, indeed, she had already been passed out to the +Ridge. There was talk of that sort among Hodson's spies, and he was +going to utilize the fact and persuade the Huzoor to creep out to the +camp and see. Soma could pass him out, and would not pass him in +again; which was fortunate. Since folk in addition to protecting +masters had to make money, when every other corn-carrier in the place +was coining it by smuggling gold and silver out of the city for the +rich merchants. Tara, with a sudden fierce exultation in her somber +eyes, agreed. Let the Huzoor go back to his own life, she said; let +him go to safety, and leave her free. As for the mem, the master had +done enough for her. And Soma, sulky and lowering with the dull glow +of opium in his brain--for the drug was his only solace now--swore +that Tiddu was right. Delhi was no place for the master. And once out +of it, the fighting would keep him: he knew him of old. As for the +mem, he would not harm her, as Tara had once suggested he should. That +dream was over. The Huzoors were the true masters; they had men who +could lead men. Not Princes in Cashmere shawls who couldn't understand +a word of what you said, and mere _soubadars_ cocked up, but real +_Colonels_ and _Generâls_. + +The result of this being that on the night of the 11th, between +midnight and dawn, Jim Douglas, with that elation which came to him +always at the prospect of action, prepared to slip out of the +sally-port by the Magazine, disguised as a sepoy. This was to please +Soma. To please Tiddu, however, he wore underneath this disguise the +old staff uniform from the theatrical properties. It reminded him of +Alice Gissing, making him whisper another "bravo" to the memory of the +woman whom he had buried under the orange-trees in the crimson-netted +shroud made of an officer's scarf. + +But Tiddu's remark, that an English uniform would be the safest, once +he was beyond the city, sent sadness flying, in its frank admission +that the tide had turned. + +Turned, indeed! The certainty came with a great throb of fierce joy +as, half an hour afterward, slipping past the gardens of Ludlow +Castle, he found himself in the thick of English bayonets, and felt +grateful for the foresight of the old staff uniform. They were on +their way to surprise and take the picket; not to defend but to +attack. + +The opportunity was too good to be lost. There was no hurry. He had +arranged to remain three days on the Ridge--he might not have another +opportunity of a free fair fight. + +He had forgotten every woman in the world, everything save the welcome +silence before him as he turned and stole through the trees also, +sword in hand. + +By all that was lucky and well-planned! the picket must be asleep! Not +a sound save the faint crackle of stealthy feet almost lost in the +insistent quiver of the cicalas. No! there was a challenge at last +within a foot or two. + +"Who--kum--dar?" + +And swift as an echo a young voice beside him came jibingly: + +"It's me, Pandy! Take that." + +It's me! Just so; me with a vengeance. For the right attack and the +left were both well up. There was a short, sharp volley; then the +welcome familiar order. A cheer, a clatter, a rush and clashing with +the bayonets. It seemed but half a minute before Jim Douglas found +himself among the guns slashing at a dazed artilleryman who had a +port-fire in his hand. So the artillery on either side never had a +chance, and Major Erlton, riding up with the 9th Lancers as the +central attack, found that bit of the fighting over. The picket was +taken, the mutineers had fled cityward leaving four guns behind them. +And against one of these, as the Major rode close to gloat over it, +leaned a man whom he recognized at once. + +"My God! Douglas," he said, "where--where's Kate?--where's my wife?" + +It was rather an abrupt transition of thought, and Jim Douglas, who +was feeling rather queer from something, he scarcely knew what, looked +up at the speaker doubtfully. + +"Oh, it is you, Major Erlton," he said slowly. "I thought--I mean I +hoped she was here--if she isn't--why, I suppose I'd better go back." + +He took his arm off the gun and half-stumbled forward, when Major +Erlton flung himself from his horse and laid hold of him. + +"You're hit, man--the blood's pouring from your sleeve. Here, off with +your coat, sharp!" + +"I can't think why it bleeds so?" said Jim Douglas feebly, looking +down at a clean cut at the inside of the elbow from which the blood +was literally spouting. "It is nothing--nothing at all." + +The Major gave a short laugh. "Take the go out of you a bit, though. +I'll get a tourniquet on sharp, and send you up in a dhooli." + +"What an unlucky devil I am!" muttered Jim Douglas to himself, and the +Major did not deny it: he was in a hurry to be off again with the +party told to clear the Koodsia Gardens. Which they did successfully +before sunrise, when the expedition returned to camp cheering like +demons and dragging in the captured guns, on which some of the wounded +men sat triumphantly. It was their first real success since +Budli-ke-serai, two months before; and they were in wild spirits. + +Even the Doctor, fresh from shaking his head over many a form lifted +helplessly from the dhoolis, was jubilant as he sorted Jim Douglas' +arm. + +"Keep you here ten days or so I should say. There's always a chance of +its breaking out again till the wound is quite healed. Never mind! You +can go into Delhi with the rest of us, before then." + +"Yoicks forward!" cried a wounded lad in the cot close by. The Doctor +turned sharply. + +"If you don't keep quiet, Jones, I'll send you back to Meerut. And you +too, Maloney. I've told you to lie still a dozen times." + +"Sure, Docther dear, ye couldn't be so cruel," said a big Irishman +sitting at the foot of his bed so as to get nearer to a new arrival +who was telling the tale of the fight. "And me able-bodied and +spoiling to be at me wurrk this three days." + +"It's a curious fact," remarked the Doctor to Jim Douglas as he +finished bandaging him, "the hospital has been twice as insubordinate +since Nicholson came in. The men seem to think we are to assault Delhi +tomorrow. But we can't till the siege train comes, of course. So you +may be in at the death!" + +Jim Douglas felt glad and sorry in a breath. + +Finally he told himself he could let decision stand over for a day or +two. He must see Hodson first, and find out if the letter he had had +from his spies about an Englishwoman, concealed in Delhi, referred to +Kate Erlton. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + BITS, BRIDLES, SPURS. + + +The letter, however, did not refer to Kate; though, curiously enough, +the Englishwoman it concerned had been, and still was concealed in an +Afghan's house. Kate, then, had not been the only Englishwoman in +Delhi. There was a certain consolation in the thought, since what was +being done for one person by kindly natives might very well be done +for another. Besides, removed as he was now from the fret and strain +of actual search, Jim Douglas admitted frankly to Major Hodson that he +was right in saying that Mrs. Erlton must either have come to an end +of her troubles altogether, or have found friends better able, +perhaps, than he to protect her. + +Regarding the first possibility also Major Hodson was skeptical. He +had hundreds of spies in the city. Such a piece of good luck as the +discovery of a Christian must have been noised abroad. They had not +mentioned it; he did not, therefore, believe it had occurred. He +would, however, inquire, and till the answer came it would be foolish +to go back to the city. Jim Douglas admitted this also; but as the +days passed, the desire to return increased; especially when Major +Erlton came to see him, which he did with dutiful regularity. Jim +Douglas could not help admiring him when he stood, stiff and square, +thanking him as Englishmen thank their fellows for what they know to +be beyond thanks. + +"I am sure no one could have done more, and I know I couldn't have +done a quarter so much; and I'm grateful," he said awkwardly. Then +with the best intentions, born from a real pity for the haggard man +who sat on the edge of his cot looking as men do after a struggle of +weeks with malarial fever, he added, "And the luck has been a bit +against you all the time, hasn't it?" + +"As yet, perhaps," replied Jim Douglas, feeling inclined then and +there to start cityward, "but the game isn't over. When I go back----" + +"Hodson says you could do no good," continued the big man, still with +the best intentions. + +"I don't agree with him," retorted the other sharply. + +"Perhaps not--but--but I wouldn't, if I were you. Or--rather--_I_ +should of course--only--you see it is different for me. She----" Major +Erlton paused, finding it difficult to explain himself. The memory of +that last letter he had written to Kate was always with him, making +him feel she was not, in a way, his wife. He had never regretted it. +He had scarcely thought what would happen if she came back from the +dead, as it were, to answer it; for he hated thought. Even now the +complexity of his emotions irritated him, and he broke through them +almost brutally. "She was my wife, you see. But you had nothing to do +with it; so you had better leave it alone. You've done enough already. +And as I said before, I'm grateful." + +So he had stalked away, leaving his hearer frowning. It was true. The +luck had been against him. But what right had it to be so? Above all, +what right had that big brutal fellow to say so? There he was going +off to win more distinction, no doubt. He would end by getting the +Victoria Cross, and confound him! from what people said of him, he +would well deserve it. + +While he? Even these two days had brought his failure home to him. And +yet he told himself, that if he had failed to save one Englishwoman, +others had failed to save hundreds. Fresh as he was to the facts, they +seemed to him almost incredible. As he wandered round the Ridge +inspecting that rear-guard of graves, or sat talking to some of the +thousand-and-odd sick and wounded in hospital, listening to endless +tales of courage, pluck, sheer dogged resistance, he realized at what +a terrible cost that armed force, varying from three to six thousand +men, had simply clung to the rocks and looked at the city. There +seemed enough heroism in it to have removed mountains; and coming upon +him, not in the monotonous sequence of day-to-day experience, but in a +single impression, the futility of it left him appalled. So did the +news of the world beyond Delhi, heard, reliably, for the first time. +Briefly, England was everywhere on her defense. It seemed to him as if +from that mad dream of conquest within the city he had passed to as +strange a dream of defeat. And why? The fire, unchecked at first, had +blazed up with fresh fuel in place after place and left?--Nothing. Not +a single attempt to wrest the government of the country from us; not +even an organized resistance, when once the order to advance had been +given. Had there been some mysterious influence abroad making men +blind to the truth? + +It was about to pass away if there had been, he felt, when on the +14th, he watched John Nicholson re-enter the Ridge at the head of his +column. And many others felt the same, without in any way disparaging +those who for long months of defense had borne the burden and heat of +the day. They simply saw that Fate had sent a new factor into the +problem, that the old order was changing. The defense was to be +attack. + +And why not, with that reinforcement of fine fighting men? Played in +by the band of the 8th, amid cheering and counter-cheering, which +almost drowned the music, it seemed fit--as the joke ran--if not to +face hell itself, at any rate to take _Pandymonium_. The 52d Regiment +looked like the mastiff to which its leader had likened it. The 2d +Sikhs were admittedly the biggest fellows ever seen. The wild +Mooltânee Horse sat their lean Beloochees with the loose security of +seat which tells of men born to the saddle. + +Jim Douglas noted these things like his fellows; but what sent that +thrill of confidence through him was the look on many a face, as at +some pause or turn it caught a glimpse of the General's figure. It was +that heroic figure itself, seen for the first time, riding ahead of +all with no unconsciousness of the attention it attracted! but with a +self-reliant acceptance of the fact--as far from modesty as it was +from vanity--that here rode John Nicholson ready to do what John +Nicholson could do. But in the pale face, made paler by the darkness +of the beard, there was more than this. There was an almost languid +patience as if the owner knew that the men around him said of him, "If +ever there is a desperate deed to do in India, John Nicholson is the +man to do it," and was biding his time to fulfill their hopes. + +The look haunted Jim Douglas all day, stimulating him strangely. Here +was a man, he felt, who was in the grip of Fate, but who gave back the +grip so firmly that his Fate could not escape him. Gave it back +frankly, freely, as one man might grip another's hand in friendship. +And then he smiled, thinking that John Nicholson's hand-clasp would go +a long way in giving anyone a help over a hard stile. If he had had a +lead-over like that after the smash came; if even now---- Idle +thoughts, he told himself; and all because the picturesqueness of a +man's outward appearance had taken his fancy, his imagination. For all +he knew, or was ever likely to know---- + +He had been sitting idly on the edge of his cot in the tiny tent Major +Erlton had lent him, having in truth nothing better to do, and now a +voice from the blaze and blare of the heat and light outside startled +him. + +"May I come in--John Nicholson?" + +He almost stammered in his surprise; but without waiting for more than +a word the General walked in, alone. He was still in full uniform; and +surely no man could become it more, thought Jim Douglas involuntarily. + +"I have heard your story, Mr. Douglas," he began in a sonorous but +very pleasant voice. "It is a curious one. And I was curious to see +you. You must know so much." He paused, fixed his eyes in a perfectly +unembarassed stare on his host's face, then said suddenly, with a sort +of old-fashioned courtesy: "Sit you down again, please; there isn't a +chair, I see; but the cot will stand two of us. If it doesn't it will +be clearly my fault." He smiled kindly. "Wounded too--I didn't know +that." + +"A scratch, sir," put in his hearer hastily, fighting shy even of that +commiseration. "I had a little fever in the city; that is all." + +The bright hazel eyes, with a hint of sunlight in them, took rather an +absent look. "I should like to have done it myself. I've tried that +sort of thing; but they always find me out." + +"I fancy you must be rather difficult to disguise," began Jim Douglas +with a smile, when John Nicholson plunged straight into the heart of +things. + +"You must know a lot I want to know. Of course I've seen Hodson and +his letters; but this is different. First: Will the city fight?" + +"As well as it knows how, and it knows better than it did." + +"So I fancied. Hodson said not. By the way, he told me that you +declared his Intelligence Department was simply perfect. And his +accounts--I mean his information--wonderfully accurate." + +"I did, indeed, sir," replied Jim Douglas, smiling again. + +Nicholson gave him a sharp look. "And he is a wonderfully fine soldier +too, sir; one of the finest we have. Wilson is sending him out this +afternoon to punish those Ringhars at Rohtuck. I don't know why I +should present you with this information, Mr. Douglas?" + +"Don't you, sir?" was the cool reply; "I think I do. Major Hodson may +have his faults, sir, but the Ridge couldn't do without him. And I'm +glad to hear he is going out. It is time we punished those chaps; time +we got some grip on the country again." + +The General's face cleared. "Hm," he said, "you don't mince matters; +but I don't think we lost much grip in the Punjâb. And as for +punishments! Do you know over two thousand have been executed +already?" + +"I don't, sir; though I knew Sir John's hand was out. But if you'll +excuse me, we don't want the hangings now--they can come by-and-by. We +want to lick them--show them we are not really in a blind funk." + +"You use strong language too, sir--very strong language." + +"I did not say we _were_ in one----" began Jim Douglas eagerly, when a +voice asking if General Nicholson were within interrupted him. + +"He is," replied the sonorous voice calmly. "Come in, Hodson, and I +hope you are prepared to fight." The bright hazel eyes met Jim +Douglas' with a distinct twinkle in them; but Major Hodson +entering--a perfect blaze of scarlet and fawn and gold, loose, lank, +lavish--gave the speech a different turn. + +"I hope you'll excuse the intrusion, sir," he said saluting, as it +were, loudly, "but being certain I owed this piece of luck to your +kind offices, I ventured to follow you. And as for the fighting, sir, +trust Hodson's Horse to give a good account of itself." + +"I do, Major, I do," replied Nicholson gravely, despite the twinkle, +"but at present I want you to fight Mr. Douglas for me. He suggests we +are all in a blind funk." + +With anyone else Jim Douglas might have refused this cool demand, for +it was little else, that he should defend his statement against a man +who in himself was a refutation of it, who was a type of the most +reckless, dare-devil courage and dash; but the thought of that umpire, +ready to give an overwhelming thrust at any time, roused his temper +and pugnacity. + +"I'm not conscious of being in one myself," said the Major, turning +with a swing and a brief "How do, Douglas." He was the most martial of +figures in the last-developed uniform of the Flamingoes, or the +Ring-tailed Roarers, or the _Aloo Bokhâra's_, as Hodson's levies were +called indiscriminately during their lengthy process of dress +evolution. "And what is more, I don't understand what you mean, sir!" + +"General Nicholson does, I think," replied the other. "But I will go +further than I did, sir," he added, facing the General boldly: "I only +said that the natives thought we were in a blind funk. I now assert +that they had a right to say so. We never stirred hand or foot for a +whole month." + +"Oh! I give you in Meerut," interrupted Hodson hastily. "It was +pitiable. Our leaders lost their heads." + +"Not only our leaders. We all lost them. From that moment to this it +seems to me we have never been calm." + +"Calm!" echoed Hodson disdainfully. "Who wants to be calm? Who would +be calm with those massacred women and children to avenge." + +"Exactly so. The horrors of those ghastly murders got on our nerves, +and no wonder. We exaggerated the position from the first; we +exaggerate the dangers of it now." + +"Of taking Delhi, you mean?" interrupted Nicholson dryly. + +Jim Douglas smiled. "No, sir! Even you will find that difficult. I +meant the ultimate danger to our rule----" + +"There you mistake utterly," put in Hodson magnificently. "We mean to +win--we admit no danger. There isn't an Englishman, or, thank Heaven, +an Englishwoman----" + +"Is the crisis so desperate that we need levy the ladies?" asked his +adversary sarcastically. "Personally I want to leave them out of the +question as much as I can. It is their intrusion into it which has +done the mischief. I don't want to minimize these horrors; but if we +could forget those massacres----" + +"Forget them! I hope to God every Englishman will remember them when +the time comes to avenge them! Ay! and make the murderers remember +them, too." + +"If I had them in my power to-day," put in the sonorous voice, "and +knew I was to die to-morrow, I would inflict the most excruciating +tortures I could think of on them with an easy conscience." + +"Bravo! sir," cried Hodson, "and I'd do executioner gladly." + +John Nicholson's face flinched slightly. "There is generally a common +hangman, I believe," he said; then turned on Jim Douglas with bent +brows: "And you, sir?" + +"I would kill them, sir; as I would kill a mad dog in the quickest way +handy; as I'd kill every man found with arms in his hands. Treason is +a worse crime than murder to us now; and by God! if I tortured anyone +it would be the men who betrayed the garrison at Cawnpore. Yet even +there, in our only real collapse, what has happened? It is reoccupied +already--the road to it is hung with dead bodies. Havelock's march is +one long procession of success. Yet we count ourselves beleaguered. +Why? I can't understand it! Where has an order to charge, to advance +boldly, met with a reverse? It seems to me that but for these +massacres, this fear for women and children, we could hold our own +gayly. Look at Lucknow----" + +"Yes, Lucknow," assented Hodson savagely. "Sir Henry, the bravest, +gentlest, dead! Women and children pent up--by Heaven! it's sickening +to think what may have happened." + +John Nicholson shot a quick glance at Jim Douglas. + +"It proves my contention," said the latter. "Think of it! Fifteen +hundred, English and natives, in a weak position with not even a +palisade in some places between them and five times their number of +trained soldiers backed by the wildest, wickedest, wantonest town +rabble in India! What does it mean? Make every one of the fifteen +hundred a paladin, and, by Heaven! they are heroes. Still, what does +it mean?" + +He spoke to the General, but he was silent. + +"Mean?" echoed Hodson. "Palpably that the foe is contemptible. So he +is. Pandy can't fight----" + +"He fought well enough for us in the past. I know my regiment----" Jim +Douglas caught himself up hard. "I believe they will fight for us +again. The truth is that half, even of the army, does not want to +fight, and the country does not mean fight at all." + +"Delhi?" came the dry voice again. + +"Delhi is exceptional. Besides, it can do nothing else now. Remember +we condemned it, unheard, on the 8th of June." + +"I told you that before, sir; didn't I?" put in Hodson quickly. "If we +had gone in on the 11th, as I suggested." + +"You wouldn't have succeeded," replied Jim Douglas coolly. Nicholson +rose with a smile. + +"Well, we are going to succeed now. So, good-luck in the meantime, +Hodson. Put bit and bridle on the Rânghars. Show them we can't have +'em disturbing the public peace, and kicking up futile rows. Eh--Mr. +Douglas?" + +"No fear, sir!" said Hodson effusively. "The Ring-tailed Roarers are +not in a blind funk. I only wish that I was as sure that the +politicals will keep order when we've made it. I had to do it twice +over at Bhâgput. And it is hard, sir, when one has fagged horses and +men to death, to be told one has exceeded orders----" + +"If you served under me, Major Hodson," said the General with a sudden +freeze of formality, "that would be impossible. My instructions are +always to do everything that can be done." + +Jim Douglas felt that he could well believe it, as with a regret that +the interview was over, he held the flap of the tent aside for the +imperial figure to pass out. But it lingered in the blaze of sunshine +after Major Hodson had jingled off. + +"You are right in some things, Mr. Douglas," said the sonorous voice +suddenly: "I'd ask no finer soldiers than some of those against us. By +and by, unless I'm wrong, men of their stock will be our best war +weapons; for, mind you, war is a primitive art and needs a primitive +people. And the country isn't against us. If it were, we shouldn't be +standing here. It is too busy plowing, Mr. Douglas; this rain is +points in our favor. As for the women and children--poor souls"--his +voice softened infinitely--"they have been in our way terribly; +but--we shall fight all the better for that, by and by. Meanwhile we +have got to smash Delhi. The odds are bigger than they were first. But +Baird Smith will sap us in somehow, and then----" He paused, looking +kindly at Jim Douglas, and said, "You had better stop and go in +with--with the rest of us." + +"I think not, sir----" + +"Why? Because of that poor lady? Woman again--eh?" + +"In a way; besides, I really have nothing else to do." + +John Nicholson looked at him for a moment from head to foot; then said +sharply: + +"I didn't know, sir. I give my personal staff plenty of work." + +For an instant the offer took his hearer's breath away, and he stood +silent. + +"I'm afraid not, sir," he said at last, though from the first he had +known what his answer would be. "I--I can't, that's the fact. I was +cashiered from the army fifteen years ago." + +General Nicholson stepped back, with sheer anger in his face. "Then +what do you mean, sir, by wearing Her Majesty's uniform?" + +Jim Douglas looked down hastily on old Tiddu's staff properties, which +he had quite forgotten. They had passed muster in the darkness of the +tent, but here, in the sunlight, looked inconceivably worn, and +shabby, and unreal. He smiled rather bitterly; then held out his +sleeve to show the braiding. + +"It's a general's coat, sir," he said defiantly. "God knows what old +duffer it belonged to; but I might have worn it first- instead of +second-hand, if I hadn't been a d----d young fool." + +The splendid figure drew itself together formally, but the other's +pride was up too, and so for a minute the two men faced each other +honestly, Nicholson's eyes narrowing under their bent brows. + +"What was it? A woman, I expect." + +"Perhaps. I don't see that it matters." + +A faint smile of approval rather took from the sternness of the +military salute. "Not at all. That ends it, of course." + +"Of course." + +Not quite; for ere Jim Douglas could drop the curtain between himself +and that brilliant, successful figure, it had turned sharply and laid +a hand on his shoulder. A curiously characteristic hand--large, thin, +smooth, and white as a woman's, with a grip in it beyond most men's. + +"You have a vile habit of telling the truth to superior officers, Mr. +Douglas. So have I. Shake hands on it." + +With that hand on his shoulder, that clasp on his, Jim Douglas felt as +if he were in the grip of Fate itself, and following John Nicholson's +example, gave it back frankly, freely. So, suddenly the whole face +before him melted into perfect friendliness. "Stick to it, man--stick +to it! Save that poor lady--or--or kill somebody. It's what we are all +doing. As for the rest"--the smile was almost boyish--"I may get the +sack myself before the general's coat. I'm insubordinate enough, they +tell me--but I shall have taken Delhi first. So--so good-luck to you!" + +As he walked away, he seemed to the eyes watching him bigger, more +king-like, more heroic than ever; perhaps because they were dim with +tears. But as Jim Douglas went off with a new cheerfulness to see +Hodson's Horse jingle out on their lesson of peace, he told himself +that the old scoundrel, Tiddu, had once more been right. Nikalseyn had +the Great Gift. He could take a man's heart out and look at it, and +put it back sounder than it had been for years. He could put his own +heart into a whole camp and make it believe it was its own. + +Such a clattering of hoofs and clinking of bits and bridles had been +heard often before, but never with such gay light-heartedness. Only +two days before a lesson had been given to the city. There had been no +more harrassing of pickets at night. Now the arm of the law was going +coolly to reach out forty miles. It was a change indeed. And more than +Jim Douglas watched the sun set red on the city wall that evening with +a certain content in their hearts. As for him, he seemed still to feel +that grip, and hear the voice saying, "Stick to it, man, stick to it! +Save that poor lady or kill somebody. It's what we are all doing." + +He sat dreaming over the whole strange dream with a curious sense of +comradeship and sympathy through it all, until the glow faded and left +the city dark and stern beneath the storm-clouds which had been +gathering all day. + +Then he rose and went back to his tent cheerfully. He would run no +needless risks; he would not lose his head; but as soon as the doctors +said it was safe, he would find and save Kate, or--_kill somebody_. +That was the whole duty of man. + +Kate, however, had already been found, or rather she had never been +lost; and when Tara, a few hours after Jim Douglas slipped out of the +city, had gone to the roof to fetch away her spinning wheel, and +finding the door padlocked on the inside, had in sheer bewilderment +tried the effect of a signal knock, Kate had let her in as if, so poor +Tara told herself, it was all to begin over again. + +All over again, even though she had spent those few hours of freedom +in a perfect passion of purification, so that she might return to her +saintship once more. + +The gold circlets were gone already, her head was shaven, the coarse +white shroud had replaced the crimson scarf. Yet here was the mem +asking for the Huzoor, and setting her blood on fire with vague +jealousies. + +She squatted down almost helplessly on the floor, answering all Kate's +eager questions, until suddenly in the midst of it all she started to +her feet, and flung up her arms in the old wild cry for righteousness, +"I am suttee! before God! I am suttee!" + +Then she had said with a gloomy calm, "I will bring the mem more food +and drink. But I must think. Tiddu is away; Soma will not help. I am +alone; but I am suttee." + +Kate, frightened at her wild eyes, felt relieved when she was left +alone, and inclined not to open the door to her again. She could +manage, she told herself, as she had managed, for a few days, and by +that time Mr. Greyman would have come back. But as the long hours +dragged by, giving her endless opportunity of thought, she began to +ask herself why he should come back at all. She had not realized at +first that he had escaped, that he was safe; that he was, as it were, +quit of her. But he was, and he must remain so. A new decision, almost +a content, came to her with the suggestion. She was busy in a moment +over details. To begin with, no news must be sent. Then, in case he +were to return, she must leave the roof. Tara might do so much for +her, especially if it was made clear that it was for the master's +benefit. But Tara might never return. There had been that in her +manner which hinted at such a possibility, and the stores she had +brought in had been unduly lavish. In that case, Kate told herself, +she would creep out some night, go back to the Princess Farkhoonda, +and see if she could not help. If not, there was always the +alternative of ending everything by going into the streets boldly and +declaring herself a Christian. But she would appeal to these two women +first. + +And as she sat resolving this, the two women were cursing her in their +inmost hearts. For there had been no bangings of drums or thrumming of +sutâras on Newâsi's roof these three days. Abool-Bukr had broken away +from her kind, detaining hand, and gone back to the intrigues of the +Palace. So the Mufti's quarter benefited in decent quiet, during which +the poor Princess began that process of weeping her eyes out, which +left her blind at last. But not blind yet. And so she sat swaying +gracefully before the book-rest, on which lay the Word of her God, her +voice quavering sometimes over the monotonous chant, as she tried to +distill comfort to her own heart from the proposition that "He is +Might and Right." + +And far away in another quarter of the town Tara, crouched up before a +mere block of stone, half hidden in flowers, was telling her beads +feverishly. "_Râm-Râm-Sita-Râm!_" That was the form she used for a +whole tragedy of appeal and aspiration, remorse, despair, and hope. +And as she muttered on, looking dully at the little row of platters +she had presented to the shrine that morning--going far beyond +necessity in her determination to be heard--the groups of women coming +in to lay a fresh chaplet among the withered ones and give a "jow" to +the deep-toned bell hung in the archway in order to attract the god's +attention to their offering, paused to whisper among themselves of her +piety. While more than once a widow crept close to kiss the edge of +her veil humbly. + +It was balm indeed! It was peace. The mem might starve, she told +herself fiercely, but she would be suttee. After all the strain, and +the pain, and the wondering ache at her heart, she had come back to +her own life. This she understood. Let the Huzoors keep to their own. +This was hers. + +The sun danced in motes through the branches of the peepul tree above +the little shrine, the squirrels chirruped among them, the parrots +chattered, sending a rain of soft little figs to fall with a faint +sound on the hard stones, and still Tara counted her beads feverishly. + +"_Râm-Râm-Sita-Râm! Râm-Râm-Sita-Râm!_" + +"Ari! sisters! she is a saint indeed. She was here at dawn and she +prays still," said the women, coming in the lengthening shadows with +odd little bits of feastings. A handful of cocoa-nut chips, a platter +of flour, a dish of curds, or a dab of butter. + +"_Râm-Râm-Sita-Râm!_" + +And all the while poor Tara was thinking of the Huzoor's face, if he +ever found out that she had left the mem to starve. It was almost dark +when she stood up, abandoning the useless struggle, so she waited to +see the sacred Circling of the Lights and get her little sip of holy +water before she went back to her perch among the pigeons, to put on +the crimson scarf and the gold circlets again. Since it was hopeless +trying to be a saint till she had done what she had promised the +Huzoor she would do. She must go back to the mem first. + +But Kate, opening the door to her with eyes a-glitter and a whole +cut-and-dried plan for the future, almost took her breath away, and +reduced her into looking at the Englishwoman with a sort of fear. + +"The mem will he suttee too," she said stupidly, after listening a +while. "The mem will shave her head and put away her jewels! The mem +will wear a widow's shroud and sweep the floor, saying she comes from +Bengal to serve the saint?" + +"I do not care, Tara, how it is done. Perhaps you may have a better +plan. But we must prevent the master from finding me again. He has +done too much for me as it is; you know he has," replied Kate, her +eyes shining like stars with determination. "I only want you to save +him; that is all. You may take me away and kill me if you like; and if +you won't help me to hide, I'll go out into the streets and let them +kill me there. I will not have him risk his life for me again." + +"_Râm-Râm-Sita-Râm!_" said Tara under her breath. That settled it, and +at dawn the next day Tara stood in her odd little perch above the +shrine among the pigeons, looking down curiously at the mem who, +wearied out by her long midnight walk through the city and all the +excitement of the day, had dozed off on a bare mat in the corner, her +head resting on her arm. Three months ago Kate could not have slept +without a pillow; now, as she lay on the hard ground, her face looked +soft and peaceful in sheer honest dreamless sleep. But Tara had not +slept; that was to be told from the anxious strain of her eyes. She +had sat out since she had returned home, on her two square yards of +balcony in the waning moonlight, looking down on the unseen shrine, +hidden by the tall peepul tree whose branches she could almost touch. + +Would the mem really be suttee? she had asked herself again and again. +Would she do so much for the master? Would she--would she really shave +her head? A grim smile of incredulity came to Tara's face, then a +quick, sharp frown of pain. If she did, she must care very much for +the Huzoor. Besides, she had no right to do it! The mems were never +suttee. They married again many times. And then this mem was married +to someone else. No! she would never shave her head for a strange man. +She might take off her jewels, she might even sweep the floor. But +shave her head? Never! + +But supposing she did? + +The oddest jumble of jealousy and approbation filled Tara's heart. So, +as the yellow dawn broke, she bent over Kate. + +"Wake, mem sahib!" she said, "wake. It is time to prepare for the day. +It is time to get ready." + +Kate started up, rubbing her eyes, wondering where she was; as in +truth she well might, for she had never been in such a place before. +The long, low slip of a room was absolutely empty save for a reed mat +or two; but every inch of it, floor, walls, ceiling, was freshly +plastered with mud. That on the floor was still wet, for Tara +had been at work on it already. Over each doorway hung a faded +chaplet, on each lintel was printed the mark of a bloody hand, and +round and about, in broad finger-marks of red and white, ran the +eternal _Râm-Râm-Sita-Râm!_ in Sanskrit letterings. In truth, Tara's +knowledge of secular and religious learning was strictly confined to +this sentence. There was a faint smell of incense in the room, rising +from a tiny brazier sending up a blue spiral flame of smoke before a +two-inch high brass idol with an elephant's head which sat on a niche +in the wall. It represented Eternal Wisdom. But Kate did not know +this. Nor in a way did Tara. She only knew it was Gunesh-jee. And +outside was the yellow dawn, the purple pigeons beginning to coo and +sidle, the quivering hearts of the peepul leaves. + +"I have everything ready for the mem," began Tara hurriedly, "if she +will take off her jewels." + +"You must pull this one open for me, Tara," said Kate, holding out her +arm with the gold bangle on it. "The master put it on for me, and I +have never had it off since." + +Tara knew that as well as she. Knew that the master must have put it +on, since _she_ had not. Had, in fact, watched it with jealous eyes +over and over again. And there was the mem without it, smiling over +the scantiness and the intricacies of a coarse cotton shroud. + +"There is the hair yet," said Tara with quite a catch in her voice; +"if the mem will undo the plaits, I will go round to the old poojârnis +and get the loan of her razor--she only lives up the next stair." + +"We shall have to snip it off first," said Kate quite eagerly, for, in +truth, she was becoming interested in her own adventures, now that she +had, as it were, the control over them. "It is so long." She held up a +tress as she spoke. It was beautiful hair; soft, wavy, even, and the +dye--unrenewed for days--had almost gone, leaving the coppery sheen +distinct. + +"She would never cut it off!" said Tara to herself as she went for the +razor. No woman would ever shave her head willingly. Why! when she had +had it done for the first time, she had screamed and fought. Her +mother-in-law had held her hands, and---- + +She paused at the door as she re-entered, paralyzed by what she saw. +Kate had found the knife Tara used for her limited cooking, and, +seated on the ground cheerfully, was already surrounded by rippling +hair which she had cut off by clubbing it in her hand and sawing away +as a groom does at a horse's tail. + +Tara's cry made her pause. The next moment the Rajpootni had snatched +the knife from her and flung it one way, the razor another, and stood +before her with blazing eyes and heaving breast. + +"It is foolishness!" she said fiercely. "The mems cannot be suttee. I +will not have it." + +Kate stared at her. "But I must----" she began. + +"There is no must at all," interrupted Tara superbly; "I will find +some other way." And then she bent over quickly, and Kate felt her +hands upon her hair. "There is plenty left," she said with a sigh of +relief. "I will plait it up so that no one will see the difference." + +And she did. She put the gold bangle on again also, and by dawn the +next day Kate found herself once more installed as a screened woman; +but this time as a Hindoo lady under a vow of silence and solitude in +the hopes of securing a son for her lord through the intercession of +old Anunda, the Swâmi. + +"I have told Sri Anunda," said Tara with a new respect in her manner. +"I had to trust someone. And he is as God. He would not hurt a fly." +She paused, then went on with a tone of satisfaction, "But he says the +mem could not have been suttee, so that foolishness is well over." + +"But what is to be done next, Tara?" asked Kate, looking in +astonishment round the wide old garden, arched over by tall forest +trees, and set round with high walls, in which she found herself. In +the faint dawn she could just see glimmering straight paths parceling +it out into squares; and she could hear the faint tinkle of the water +runnels. "I can't surely stop here." + +"The mem will only have to keep still all day in the darkest corner +with her face to the wall," said Tara. "Sri Anunda will do the rest. +And when Soma returns he must take the mem away before the thirty +regiments come and the trouble begins." + +"Thirty regiments!" echoed Kate, startled. + +"He and others have gone out to see if it is true. They say so in the +Palace; but it is full of lies," said Tara indifferently. + +It was indeed. More than ever. But they began to need confirmation, +and so there was big talk of action, and jingling of bits and bridles +and spurs in the city as well as in the camp. They were to intercept +the siege train from Firozpur; they were to get round to the rear of +the Ridge and overwhelm it. They were to do everything save attack it +in face. + +And, meanwhile, other people besides Soma and such-like Sadducean +sepoys had gone out to find the thirty regiments, and secret scouts +from the Palace were hunting about for someone to whom they might +deliver a letter addressed + + +"To the Officers, Subadars, Chiefs, and others of the whole military +force coming from the Bombay Presidency: + +"To the effect that the statement of the defeat of the Royal troops at +Delhi is a false and lying fabrication contrived by contemptible +infidels--the English. The true story is that nearly eighty or ninety +thousand organized Military Troops, and nearly ten or fifteen thousand +regular and other Cavalry, are now here in Delhi. The troops are +constantly engaged, night and day, in attacks on the infidels, and +have driven back their batteries from the Ridge. In three or four +days, please God, the whole Ridge will be taken, when every one of the +base unbelievers will be sent to hell. You are, therefore, on seeing +this order, to use all endeavors to reach the Royal Presence, so, +joining the Faithful, give proofs of zeal, and establish your renown. +Consider this imperative." + + +But though they hunted high and low, east, north, south, and west, the +Royal scouts found no one to receive the order. So it came back to +Delhi, damp and pulpy; for the rains had begun again, turning great +tracts of country into marsh and bog, and generally wetting the +blankets in which the sepoys kept guard sulkily. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + THE BEGINNING OF THE END. + + +They drenched Kate Erlton also, despite the arcaded trees above her +corner as she sat with her face to the wall in the wide old garden. At +first her heart beat at each step on the walk behind her, but she soon +realized that she was hidden by her vow, happed about from the +possibility of intrusion by her penance. But not many steps came by +her; they kept chiefly to the other end of the garden where Sri Anunda +was to be found. It was a curious experience. There was a yard of two +of thatch, screened by matting and supported by bamboos, leaning not +far off against the wall; and into this she crept at night to find the +indulgence of a dry blanket. At first she felt inclined to seek its +shelter when the rain poured loudly on the leaves above her and fell +thence in big blobs, making a noise like the little ripe figs when the +squirrels shook them down; but the remembrance that such women as Tara +performed like vows cheerfully kept her steady. And after a day or two +she often started to find it was already noon or dusk, the day half +gone or done. Time slipped by with incredible swiftness in watching +the squirrels and the birds, in counting the raindrops fall from a +peepul leaf. And what a strange peace and contentment the life +brought! As she sat after dark in the thatch, eating the rice and milk +and fruit which Tara brought her stealthily, she felt, at times, a +terrified amaze at herself. If she ever came through the long struggle +for life, this surely would be the strangest part of the dream. Tara, +indeed, used to remark with a satisfied smile that though the mem +could not of course be suttee, still she did very well as a devoted +and repentant wife. Sri Anunda could never have had a better penitent. +And then, in reply to Kate's curious questions, she would say that Sri +Anunda was a Swâmi. If the mem once saw and spoke to him she would +know what that meant. He had lived in the garden for fifteen years. +Not as a penance. A Swâmi needed no penance as men and women did; for +he was not a man. Oh, dear no! not a man at all. + +So Kate, going on this hint of inhumanity, and guided by her +conventional ideas of Hindoo ascetics, imagined a monstrosity, and +felt rather glad than otherwise that Sri Anunda kept out of her way. + +She was eager also to know how long she might have to stay in his +garden. The vow, Tara said, lasted for fifteen days. Till then no one +would question her right to sit and look at the wall; and by that time +Soma would have returned, and a plan for getting the mem away to the +Ridge settled. For the master was evidently not going to return to the +city; perhaps he had forgotten the mem? Kate smiled at this, drearily, +thinking that indeed he might; for he might be dead. But even this +uncertainty about all things, save that she sat and watched the +squirrels and the birds, had ceased to disturb her peace. + +As a matter of fact, however, he was thinking of her more than ever, +and with a sense of proprietorship that was new to him. Here, by God's +grace, was the one woman for him to save; the somebody to kill, should +he fail, needing no selection. There were enough enemies and to spare +within the walls still, even though they had been melting away of +late. But a new one had come to the Ridge itself, which, though it +killed few, sapped steadily at the vigor of the garrison. This was the +autumnal fever, bad at Delhi in all years, worse than usual in this +wet season, counterbalancing the benefit of the coolness and sending +half a regiment to hospital one day and letting them out of it the +next, sensibly less fit for arduous work. It claimed Jim Douglas, +already weakened by it, and made his wound slow of healing. + +"You haven't good luck certainly," said Major Erlton, finding him with +chattering teeth taking quinine dismally. "I don't know how it is, but +though I'm a lot thinner, this life seems to suit me. I haven't felt +so fit for ages." + +He had not been so fit, in truth. It was a healthier, simpler life +than he had led for many a long year; and ever since John Nicholson +had bidden him go back to his tent and sleep, even the haggardness had +left his face; the restlessness having been replaced by an eager +certainty of success. He was coming steadily to the front, too, so the +Ridge said, since Nicholson had taken him up. And he had well deserved +this, since there was not a better soldier; cool, stubborn, certain to +carry out orders. The very man, in short, whom men like the General +wanted; and if he stayed to the finish he would have a distinguished +career before him. + +But Herbert Erlton himself never thought of this; he hated thought +instinctively, and of late had even given up thinking of the city. He +never sat and watched the rose-red walls now. Perhaps because he was +too busy. So he left that to Jim Douglas, who had nothing else to do, +while he went about joyously preparing to accompany Nicholson in his +next lesson of law and order. + +For in the city it was becoming more and more difficult every day to +make the lies pass muster, even in the Palace; and so, in despair, the +four Commanders-in-Chief for once had laid their heads together and +concocted a plan for intercepting the siege train from Ferozpur. So it +was necessary that they should be taught the futility of such +attempts. Not that even the Palace people really believed them +possible. How could they? when almost every day, now, letters came to +the Ridge from some member or another of the Royal family asking +effusively how he could serve the English cause. Only the old King, +revising his lists of precedence, listening still to brocaded bags, +taking cooling draughts, making couplets, being cozened by the Queen, +and breathed upon by Hussan Askuri, hovered between the policy of +being the great Moghul and a poor prisoner in the hands of fate. But +the delights of the former were too much for him as a rule, and he +would sit and finger the single gold coin which had come as a present +from Oude as if he were to have the chance of minting millions with a +similar inscription. + +"Bahâdur Shâh Ghâzee has struck upon gold the coin of Victory." + +Even in its solitary grandeur it had, in truth, a surpassing dignity +of its own in the phrase--"struck upon gold the coin of Victory." So, +looking at it, he forgot that it was a mere sample, sent, as the +accompanying brocaded bag said, with a promise to pay more when more +victory brought more gold. But Zeenut Maihl, as she looked at it, +thought with a sort of fury of certain gold within reach, hidden in +her house. What was to become of these coins with John Company's mark +on them? For she still lingered in the Palace. Other women had fled, +but she was wiser than they. She knew that, come what might, her life +was safe with the English as victors; so there was nothing but the +gold to think of. The gold, and Jewun Bukht, her son. The royal signet +was in her possession altogether now, and sometimes the orders, +especially when they were for payment of money, had to go without it, +because "the Queen of the World was asleep." But she did not dream. +That was over; though in a way she clung fiercely to hope. So Ghaus +Khân with the Neemuch Brigade, and Bukht Khân with the Bareilly +Brigade, and Khair Sultân with the scrapings and leavings of the +regiments, who, owning no leader of their own, did what was right in +their own eyes, set out to intercept the big guns; and Nicholson set +out on the dawn of the 25th to intercept them. + +The rain poured down in torrents, the guns sank to their axles in mud, +the infantry slipped and slithered, the cavalry were blinded by the +mire from the floundering horses. So from daybreak till sunset the +little force, two thousand in all--more than one-half of whom were +natives--labored eighteen miles through swamps. At noon, it is true, +they called a halt nine miles out at a village where the women +clustered on the housetops in wild alarm, remembering a day--months +back--when they had clustered round an unleavened cake, and the +head-man's wife had bidden them listen to the master's gun over the +far horizon. + +They were to listen to it again that day. For the enemy was ten miles +further over the marshes; and it was but noon. The force, no doubt, +had been afoot since four; but General Nicholson was emphatically not +an eight-hour man. So the shovings and slitherings of guns and mortals +began again cheerfully. + +Still it was nigh on sundown when, across a deep stream flowing from +the big marshes to the west, these contract-workers came on the job +they were eager to finish ere nightfall. Six thousand rebels of all +arms, holding three villages, a bastioned old serai, and a town. It +was a strong position, in the right angle formed by the stream and the +flooded canal into which it flowed. Water, impassable save by an +unknown ford in the stream, by a bridge held in force over the canal, +on two sides of it. On the others dismal swamps. A desperately strong +position to attack at sundown after eighteen miles slithering and +shoving in the pouring rain; especially with unknown odds against you. +Not less, anyhow, than three to one. But John Nicholson had, a single +eye; that is, an eye which sees one salient point. Here, it was that +bridge to the left, leading back to safe shelter within the walls of +Delhi. A cowardly foe must have no chance of using that bridge during +silent night watches. So, without a pause, fifteen hundred of the two +thousand waded breast-high across the stream to attack the six +thousand, Nicholson himself riding ahead for a hasty reconnoissance, +since the growing dusk left scant leisure for anything save action. +Yet once more a glance was sufficient; and, ere the men, exposed to a +heavy fire of grape in crossing the ford, were ready to advance, the +orders were given. + +There was a hint of cover in some rising ground before the old +serai--the strongest point of the defense. He would utilize this, rush +the position, change front, and sweep down on the bridge. That must +not remain as a chance for cowards an instant longer than he could +help; for Nicholson in everything he did seems never to have +contemplated defeat. + +So flanked by the guns, supported by squadrons of the 9th Lancers and +the Guides cavalry, the three regiments[7] marched steadily toward the +rising ground, following that colossal figure riding, as ever, ahead. +Till suddenly, as his charger's feet touched the highest ground, +Nicholson wheeled and held up his hand to those below him. + +"Lie down, men!" came his clear strong voice as he rode slowly along +the line; "lie down and listen to what I've got to say. It's only a +few words." + +So, sheltered from the fire, they lay and listened. "You of the 61st +know what Sir Colin Campbell said to you at Chillianwallah. He said +the same thing to others at the Alma. I say it to you all now. 'Hold +your fire till within twenty or thirty yards of that battery, and +then, my boys! we will make short work of it!'" + +Men cannot cheer lying on their stomachs, but the unmelodious +grunt--"We will, sir, by God, we will!"--was as good as one. + +Nicholson faced round on the serai again, and gave the order to the +artillery. So, in sharp thuds widening into a roar, the flanking guns +began work. Half a dozen rounds or so, and then the rider--motionless +as a statue in the center--looked back quickly, waved his sword, and +went on. The men were up, after him, over the hillock, into the morass +beyond, silently. + +"Steady, men! steady with it. On with you! Steady!" + +They listened to the clear sonorous voice once more, though there was +no shelter now from the grape and canister, and musket balls; or +rather only the shelter of that one tall figure ahead riding at a +foot's-pace. + +"Steady! Hold your fire! I'll give the word, never fear! Come on! Come +on!" + +So through a perfect bog they stumbled on doggedly. Here and there a +man fell; but men will fall sometimes. "Now then! Let them have it." + +They were within the limit. Twenty yards off lay the guns. There was +one furious volley; above it one word answered by a cheer. + +So at the point of the bayonet the serai was carried. Then without a +pause the troops changed front with a swiftness unforeseen and swept +on to the left. + +"To Delhi, brothers! To Delhi!" The old cry, begun at Meerut, rose now +with a new meaning as the panic-stricken guns limbered up and made for +the bridge. Too late! Captain Blunt's were after them, chasing them. +The wheel of the foremost, driven wildly, jammed; those following +couldn't pull up. So, helter skelter, they were in a jumble, out of +which Englishmen helped the whole thirteen! The day, or rather the +night, was won; for Nature's dark flag of truce hung even between the +assailants and the few desperate defenders of the third village, who, +with escape cut off, were selling their lives at a cost to the +attackers of seventeen out of that total death-roll of twenty-five. +But Nicholson knew his position sure, so he left night to finish the +rout, and, with his men, bivouacked without food or cover among the +marshes; for it was too dark to get the baggage over the ford. Yet the +troops were ready to start at daybreak for an eighteen miles tramp +back to the Ridge again. There was no talk of exhaustion now, as at +Budli-ke-serai; so just thirty-six hours after they started, that is, +just one hour for every mile of morass and none for the fight, they +startled the Ridge by marching in again and clamoring for food! But +Nicholson was in a towering temper. He had found that another brigade +had been lurking behind the canal, and that if he had had decent +information he might have smashed it also, on his way home. + +"He hadn't even a guide that he didn't pick up himself," commented +Major Erlton angrily. "By George! how those niggers cave in to him! +And his political information was all rot. If the General had obeyed +instructions he would have been kicking his heels at Bahâdagurh +still." + +"We heard you at it about two o'clock," said a new listener. "I +suppose it was a night attack--risky business rather." + +Herbert Erlton burst into a laugh; but the elation on his face had a +pathetic tenderness in it. "That was the bridge, I expect. _He_ blew +it up before starting. _He_ sat on it till then. Besides there were +the wagons and tumbrils and things. _He_ told Tombs to blow them up, +too, for of course _he_ had to bring the guns back, and _he_ couldn't +shove the lot." + +As he passed on some of his listeners smiled. + +"It's a case of possession," said one to his neighbor. + +"Pardon me," said another, who had known the Major for years. "It's a +case of casting out. I wonder----" The speaker paused and shrugged his +shoulders. + +"Did you hear his name had gone up for the V. C.?" began his +companion. + +"Gone up! My dear fellow! It might have gone up fifty times over. But +it isn't his pluck that I wonder at; it is his steadiness. He never +shirks the little things. It is almost as if he had found a +conscience." + +Perhaps he had. He was cheerful enough to have had the testimony of a +good one, as, in passing, he looked in on Jim Douglas and met his +congratulations. + +"Bad shilling!" replied the Major, beautifully unconscious. "So you've +heard--and--hello! what's up?" For Jim Douglas was busy getting into +disguise. + +"That old scoundrel Tiddu came into camp with the news an hour ago," +said the latter, whose face was by no means cheerful. "He was out +carrying grain--saw the fugitives, and came in here, hoping for +backsheesh, I believe. But"--Jim Douglas looked round rapidly at the +Major--"I'm awfully afraid, Erlton, that he has not been in Delhi, to +speak of, since I left. And I was relying on him for news----" + +"There isn't any--is there?" broke in Major Erlton with a queer hush +in his voice. + +"None. But there may be. So I'm off at once. I couldn't have a better +chance. The villain says the sepoys are slipping in on the sly in +hundreds; for the Palace folk, or at least the King, thinks the troops +are still engaged, and is sending out reinforcements. So I shall have +no trouble in getting through the gates." + +Major Erlton, radiant, splashed from head to foot, covered at once +with mud and glory, looked at the man opposite him with a curious +deliberation. + +"I don't see why you should go at all," he said slowly. "I wouldn't, +if I--I mean I would rather you didn't." + +"Why?" The question came sharply. + +"Do you want the truth?" asked Herbert Erlton with a sudden frown. + +"Certainly." + +"Then I'll tell it, Mr. Greyman--I mean Douglas--I--I'm grateful, +but--d----n me, sir, if--if I want to be more so! I--I gave you my +chance once--like a fool; for I might have saved her----" + +The hard handsome face was all broken up with passionate regret, and +the pity of it kept Jim Douglas silent for a moment. For he understood +it. + +"You might," he said at last. "But I don't interfere with you here. +You can't save her--your wife, I mean--and if I fail you can +always----" + +"There is no need to tell me what to do then," interrupted Major +Erlton grimly. "I'll do it without your help." + +He turned on his heel, then paused. "It isn't that I'm ungrateful," he +repeated, almost with an appeal in his voice. "And I don't mean to be +offensive; only you and I can't----" + +His own mental position seemed beyond him, and he stood for a moment +irresolute. Then he held out his hand. + +"Well, good-by. I suppose you mean to stick to it?" + +"I mean to stick to it. Good-by." + +"And I must be off to my bed. Haven't slept a wink for two nights, and +I shall be on duty to-morrow. Well! I believe I've as good a chance of +seeing Kate here as you have of finding her there; but I can't prevent +your going, of course." + +So he went off to his bed, and Jim Douglas, following Tiddu, who was +waiting for him in the Koodsia Gardens, carried out his intention of +sticking to it; while John Nicholson in his tent, forgetful of his +advice to both of them, was jotting down notes for his dispatch. One +of them was: "The enemy was driven from the serai with scarcely any +loss to us, and made little resistance as we advanced." The other was: +"Query? How many men in buckram? Most say seven or eight thousand. I +think between three and four." + +He had, indeed, a vile habit of telling the truth, even in dispatches. +So ended the day of Nujjufghar. + +The next morning, the 27th, broke fine and clear. Kate Erlton waking +with the birds, found the sky full of light already, clear as a pale +topaz beyond the overarching trees. + +She stood after leaving her thatch, looking into the garden, lost in a +sort of still content. It seemed impossible she should be in the heart +of a big city. There was no sound but the faint rustling of the wet +leaves drying themselves in the soft breeze, and the twitterings of +squirrels and birds. There was nothing to be seen but the trees, and +the broad paths rising above the flooding water from the canal-cut +which ran at the further side. + +And Sri Anunda had lived here for fifteen years; while she? How long +had she been there? She smiled to herself, for, in truth, she had lost +count of days altogether, almost of Time itself. She was losing hold +of life. She told herself this, with that vague amaze at finding it +so. Yes she was losing her grip on this world without gaining, without +even desiring, a hold on the next. She was learning a strange new +fellowship with the dream of which she was a part, because it would +soon be past; because the trees, the flowers, the birds, the beasts, +were mortal as herself. A squirrel, its tail a-fluff, was coming down +the trunk of the next tree in fitful half-defiant jerks, its bright +eyes watching her. The corner of her veil was full of the leavings of +her simple morning meal, which she always took with her to scatter +under the trees; and now, in sudden impulse, she sank down to her +knees and held a morsel of plantain out tenderly. + +Dear little mortal, she thought, with a new tenderness, watching it as +it paused uncertain; until the consciousness that she was being +watched in her turn made her look up; then pause, as she was, +astonished, yet not alarmed, at the figure before her. It was neither +tall nor short, dark nor fair, and it was wrapped from knee to +shoulder in a dazzling white cloth draped like a Greek chiton, which +showed the thin yet not emaciated curves of the limbs, and left the +poise of the long throat bare. The head was clean shaven, smooth as +the cheek, and the face, destitute even of eyebrows, was softly seamed +with lines and wrinkles which seemed to leave it younger, and +brighter, as if in an eternity of smile-provoking content. But the +eyes! Kate felt a strange shock, as they brought back to her the +innocent dignity Raphael gave to his San-Sistine Bambino. For this was +Sri Anunda; could be no one else. In his hand he held a bunch of +henna-blossom, the camphire of Scripture, the cypress of the Greeks; +yellowish green, insignificant, incomparably sweet. He held it out to +her, smiling, then laid it on her outstretched hand. + +"The lesson is learned, sister," he said softly. "Go in peace, and +have no fear." + +The voice, musical exceedingly, thrilled her through and through. She +knelt looking after him regretfully as, without a pause, he passed on +his way. So that was a Swâmi! She went back to her corner--for already +early visitors were drifting in for Sri Anunda's blessing--and with +the bunch of henna-blossom on the ground before her sat thinking. + +What an extraordinary face it was! So young, so old. So wise, so +strangely innocent. Tara was right. It was not a man's face. Yet it +could not be called angelic, for it was the face of a mortal. Yes! +that was it, a mortal face immortal through its mortality; through the +circling wheel of life and death. The strong perfume of the flowers +reaching her, set her a-thinking of them. Did he always give a bunch +when the penance was over and say the lesson was learned? It was a +significant choice, these flowers of life and death. For bridal hands +had been stained with henna, and corpses embalmed with it for ages, +and ages, and ages. Or was that "peace go with you," that "have no +fear" meant as an encouragement in something new? Had they been making +plans? had anything happened? She scarcely seemed to care. So, as the +cloudless day passed on, she sat looking at the henna-blossom and +thinking of Sri Anunda's face. + +But something _had_ happened. Jim Douglas had come back to the city +and Tara knew it. She had barely escaped his seeing her, and she felt +she could not escape it long. And then, it seemed to her, the old life +would begin again; for she would never be able to keep the truth from +him. The mem might talk of deceit glibly; but if it came to telling +lies to the master she would fail. + +There was only one chance. If she could get the mem safely out of the +city at once; then she could tell the truth without fear. The +necessity for immediate action came upon her by surprise. She had +ceased to expect the master's return, she had not cared personally for +Kate's safety, and so had been content to let the future take care of +itself. But now everything was changed. If Kate were not got rid of, +sent out of the city, one of two things must happen: The master must +be left to get her out as best he could, at the risk of his life; or +she, Tara, must return to the old allegiance; return and sit by, while +the mem in a language she did not understand, told the Huzoor how she +had been willing to be suttee for him! + +So while Kate sat looking at the henna-blossom, Tara sat telling +herself that at all costs, all risks, she must be got out of the city +that night. She, and her jewels. They were at present tied up in a +bundle in Tara's room, but the Huzoor might think her a thief if the +mem went without them. And another thing she decided. She would not +tell the mem the reason of this sudden action. True, Kate had +professed herself determined that the master should not risk his life +for her again; but women were not--not always--to be trusted. For the +rest, Soma must help. + +She waited till dusk, however, before appealing to him, knowing that +her only chance lay in taking him by storm, in leaving him no time for +reflection. So, just as the lights were beginning to twinkle in the +bazaars, she made her way, full of purpose, to the half ruined sort of +cell in the thickness of the wall not far from the sally-port, in +which of late--since he had taken morosely to drugs--he was generally +to be found at this time, waking drowsily to his evening meal before +going out. + +She found him thus, sure enough, and began at once on her task. He +must help. He could easily pass out the mem. That was all she asked of +him. But his handsome face settled into sheer obstinacy at once. He +was not going to help anyone, he said, or harm anyone, till they +struck the first blow, and then they had better defend themselves. +That was the end. And so it seemed; for after ten minutes of entreaty, +he stood up with something of a lurch ere he found his feet, and bid +her go. She only wasted her time and his, since he must eat his food +ere he went to relieve the sentry at the sally-port. + +She caught him up reproachfully, almost indignantly. + +"Then thou art there, on guard! and it needs but the opening of a +door, a thrusting of a woman out--to--_die_, perchance, Soma. Remember +that!" + +She spoke with a feverish eagerness, as if the suggestion had its +weight with her, but he treated it contemptuously. + +"Loh!" he said in scorn. "What a woman's word! Thank the Gods I was +not born one." + +The taunt bit deep, and Tara drew herself up angrily. So the brother +and sister stood face to face, strangely alike. + +"Wast not?" she retorted bitterly. "The Gods know. Is there not woman +in man, and man in woman, among those born at a birth? Soma! for the +sake of that--do this for me----" It was her last appeal; she had kept +it for the last, and now her somber eyes were ablaze with passionate +entreaty. "See, brother! I claim it of you as a right. Thou didst take +my sainthood from me once. Count this as giving it back again." + +"Back again?" echoed Soma thickly. "What fool's talk is this?" + +"Let it be fool's talk, brother," she interrupted, with a strange +intensity in her voice. "I care not--thou dost not know; I cannot tell +thee. But--but _this_ will be counted to thee in restitution. Soma! +think of it as my sainthood! Sure thou dost owe me it! Somal for the +sake of the hand which lay in thine." + +In her excitement she moved a step forward, and he shrank back +instinctively. True, she was a saint in another way if those scars +were true; but--at the moment, being angry with her, he chose to +doubt, to remember. "Stand back!" he cried roughly, unsteadily. "What +do I owe thee? What claim hast thou?" + +The question, the gesture outraged her utterly. The memory of a whole +life of vain struggling after self-respect surged to her brain, +bringing that almost insane light to her eyes. "What?" she echoed +fiercely--"this!" Ere he could prevent it, her hand was in his, +gripping it like a vice. + +"So in the beginning--so in the end!" she gasped, as he struggled with +her madly. "Tara and Soma hand in hand. Nay! I am strong as thou." + +She spoke truth, for his nerve and muscle were slack with opium; yet +he fought wildly, striking at her with his left hand, until in a +supreme effort she lost her footing, they both staggered, and he--as +she loosed her hold--fell backward, striking his head against a +projecting brick in the ruined wall. + +"Soma!" she whispered to his prostrate figure, "art hurt, brother? +Speak to me!" + +But he lay still, and, with a cry, she flung herself on her knees +beside him, feeling his heart, listening to his breathing, searching +for the injury. It was a big cut on the crown of the head; but it did +not seem a bad one, and she began to take his unconsciousness more +calmly. She had seen folk like that before from a sudden fall, and +they came to themselves, none the worse, after a while. But scarcely, +here, in time to relieve guard. + +She stood up suddenly and looked round her. Soma's uniform hung on a +peg, his musket stood in a corner. + +Half an hour after this, Kate, waiting in the thatch for Tara to come +as usual, gave a cry, more of surprise than alarm, as a tall figure, +in uniform, stepped into the flickering light of the cresset. + +"Soma!" she cried, "what is it?" + +A gratified smile came to the curled mustachios. "Soma or Tara, it +matters not," replied a familiar voice. "They were one in the +beginning. Quick, mem-sahib. On with the jewels. I have a dark veil +too for the gate." + +Kate stood up, her heart throbbing. "Am I to go, then? Is that what +Sri Anunda meant?" + +"Sri Anunda! hath he been here?" Tara paused, sniffed, and once more +those dark eyes met the light ones with a fierce jealousy. "He hath +given thee henna-blossom. I smell it; and he gives it to none but +those who---- So the Swâmi's lesson is learned--and the disciple can +go in peace----" She broke off with a petulant laugh. "Well! so be it. +It ends my part. The mem will sleep among her own to-night; Sri Anunda +hath said it. Come----" + +"But how? I must know how," protested Kate. + +The laugh rose again. "Wherefore? The mem is Sri Anunda's disciple. +For the rest, I will let the mem out through the little river-gate. +There is a boat, and she can go in peace." + +There was something so wild, so almost menacing in Tara's face, that +Kate felt her only hope was to obey. And, in good sooth, the scent of +the henna-blossom she carried with her, tucked into her bosom, gave +her, somehow, an irrational hope that all would go well as she +followed her guide swiftly through the alleys and bazaars. + +"The mem must wait here," whispered Tara at last, pausing behind one +of the ungainly mausoleums in what had been the old Christian +cemetery. "When she hears me singing Sonny-baba's song, she must +follow to the Water-gate. It is behind the ruins, there." + +Kate crouched down, setting her back, native fashion, against the +tomb. And as she waited she wondered idly what mortal lay there; so, +being strangely calm, she let her fingers stray to the recess she felt +behind her. There should be a marble tablet there; and even in the +dark she might trace the lettering. But the recess was empty, the +marble having evidently been picked out. So it was a nameless grave. +And the next? She moved over to it stealthily, then to the next. +But the tablets had been taken out of all and carried off--for +curry-stones most likely. So the graves were nameless; those beneath +them mortals--nothing more. As she waited under the stars, her mind +reverted to Sri Anunda and the Wheel of Life and Death. The +immortality of mortality! Was that the lesson which was to let her go +in peace? + +She started from the thought as that native version of the "Happy +Land" came, nasally, from behind the ruins. As she passed them, a +group of men were squatted gossiping round a hookah, and more than one +figure passed her. But a woman with her veil drawn, and a clank of +anklets on her feet, did not even invite a curious eye; for it was +still early enough for such folk to be going home. + +Then, as she passed down a flight of steps, a hand stole out from a +niche and drew her back into a dark shadow. The next minute, with a +low whisper, "There is no fear! Sri Anunda hath said it. Go in peace!" +she felt herself thrust through a door into darkness. But a feeble +glimmer showed below her, and creeping down another flight of steps, +she found herself outside Delhi, looking over the strip of low-lying +land where in the winter the buffaloes had grazed beneath Alice +Gissing's house, but which was now flooded into a still backwater by +the rising of the river. And out of it the stunted kikar and tamarisks +grew strangely, their feathery branches arching over it. But to the +left, beyond the Water Bastion, rose a mass of darker foliage--the +Koodsia Gardens. Once there she would be beyond floods, and Tara had +said there was a boat. Kate found it, moored a little further toward +the river--a flat-bottomed punt, with a pole. It proved easier to +manage than she had expected; for the water was shallow, and the +trunks and branches of the trees helped her to get along, so that +after a time she decided on keeping to that method of progress as long +as she could. It enabled her to skirt the river bank, where there were +fewer lights telling of watch-fires. Besides, she knew the path by the +river leading to Metcalfe House. It might be under water now; but if +she crept into the park at the ravine--if she could take the boat so +far--she might manage to reach Metcalfe House. There was an English +picket there, she knew. So, as she mapped out her best way, a sudden +recollection came to her of the last time she had seen that river +path, when her husband and Alice Gissing were walking down it, and +Captain Morecombe---- + +Ah! was it credible? Was it not all a dream? Could this be real--could +it be the same world? + +She asked herself the question with a dull indifference as she +struggled on doggedly. + +But not more than two hours afterward the conviction that the world +had not changed came upon her with a strange pang as she stood once +more on the terrace of Metcalfe House with English faces around her. + +"By Heaven, it's Mrs. Erlton!" she heard a familiar voice say. It +seemed to her hundreds of miles away in some far, far country to which +she had been journeying for years. "Here! let me get hold of her--and +fetch some water--wine--anything. How--how was it, Sergeant?" + +"In a boat, sir, coming hand over hand down at the stables. She sang +out quite calmly she was an English-woman, and----" + +"Then--then they touched their caps to me," said Kate, making an +effort, "and so I knew that I was safe. It was so strange; it--it +rather upset me. But I am all right now, Captain Morecombe." + +"We had better send up for Erlton," said another officer aside; but +Kate caught the whisper. + +"Please not. I can walk up to cantonments quite well. And--I would +rather have no fuss--I--I couldn't stand it." + +She had stood enough and to spare, agreed the little knot of men with +a thrill at their hearts as they watched her set off in the moonlight +with Captain Morecombe and an orderly. They were to go straight to the +Major's tent; and if he was still at mess, which was more than likely, +since it was only half-past nine, Captain Morecombe was to leave her +there and go on with the news. There would be no fuss, of that she +might be sure, said the latter, forbearing even to speak to her on the +way, save to ask her if she felt all right. + +"I feel as if I had just been born," she said slowly. In truth, she +was wondering if that spinning of the Great Wheel toward Life again +brought with it this forlornness, this familiarity. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + AT LAST. + + +No fuss indeed! Kate, as she sat in her husband's little tent waiting +for him to come to her, felt that so far she might have arrived from a +very ordinary journey. The bearer, it is true, who had been the +Major's valet for years, had salaamed more profoundly than usual, had +even put up a pious prayer, and expressed himself pleased; but he had +immediately gone off to fetch hot water, and returning with it and +clean towels, had suggested mildly that the mem might like to wash her +face and hands. Kate, with a faint smile, felt there was no reason why +she should not. She need not look worse than necessary. But she paused +almost with a gasp at the familiar half-forgotten luxuries. Scented +soap! a sponge--and there on the camp table a looking-glass! She +glanced down with a start at the little round one in the ring she +wore; then went over to the other. A toilet cover, brushes, and combs, +her husband's razors, gold studs in a box; and there, her own +photograph in a frame, a Bible, and a prayer book, the latter things +bringing her no surprise, no emotion of any kind. For they had always +been fixtures on Major Erlton's dressing-table, mute evidences to no +sentiment on his part, but simply to the bearer's knowledge of the +proprieties and the ways of real sahibs. But the other things she saw +made her heart grow soft. The little camp bed, the simplicity and +hardness of all in comparison with what her husband had been wont to +demand of life; for he had always been a real prince, feeling the +rose-leaf beneath the feather bed, and never stinting himself in +comfort. Then the swords, and belts, and Heaven knows what panoply of +war--not spick-and-span decorations as they used to be in the old +days, but worn and used--gave her a pang. Well! he had always been a +good soldier, they said. + +And then, interrupting her thoughts, the old khânsaman had come in, +having taken time to array himself gorgeously in livery. The Father of +the fatherless and orphan, he said, whimperingly, alluding to the fact +that he had lost both parents--which, considering he was past sixty, +was only to be expected--had heard his prayer. The mem was spared to +Freddy-baba. And would she please to order dinner. As the Major-sahib +dined at mess, her slave was unprepared with a roast. Fish also would +partake of tyranny; but he could open a tin of Europe soup, and with a +chicken cutlet--Kate cut him short with a request for tea; by and by, +when--when the Major-sahib should have come. And when she was alone +again, she shivered and rested her head on her crossed arms upon the +table beside which she sat, with a sort of sob. This--Yes!--this of +all she had come through was the hardest to bear. This surge of pity, +of tenderness, of unavailing regret for the past, the present, the +future. What?--What could she say to him, or he to her, that would +make remembrance easier, anticipation happier? + +Hark! there was his step! His voice saying goodnight to Captain +Morecombe. + +"I hope she will be none the worse," came the reply. "Good-night, +Erlton--I'm--I'm awfully glad, old fellow." + +"Thanks!" + +She stood up with a sickening throb at her heart. Oh! she was glad +too! So glad to see him and tell him to---- + +How tall he was, she thought, with a swift recognition of his good +looks, as he came in, stooping to pass under the low entrance. Very +tall, and thin. Much thinner, and--and--different somehow. + +"Kate!" He paused half a second, looking at her curiously--"Kate! +I'm--I'm awfully glad." He was beside her now, his big hands holding +hers; but she felt that she was further away from him than she had +been in that brief pause when she had half-expected, half-wished him +to take her in his arms and kiss her as if nothing had happened, as if +life were to begin again. It would have been so much easier; they +might have forgotten then, both of them. But now, what came, must come +without that chrism of impulse; must come in remembrance and regret. +_Awfully glad!_ That was what Captain Morecombe had said. Was there no +more between them than that? No more between her and this man, who was +the father of her child. The sting of the thought made her draw him +closer, and with a sob rest her head on his shoulder. Then he stooped +and kissed her. "I--I didn't know. I wasn't sure if you'd like it," he +said, "but I'm awfully glad, old girl, upon my life I am. You must +have had a terrible time." + +She looked up with a hopeless pain in her eyes. He was gone from her +again; gone utterly. "It was not so bad as you might think," she +answered, trying to smile. "Mr. Greyman did so much----" + +"Greyman! You mean Douglas, I suppose?" + +She stared for a second. "Douglas? I don't know. I mean----" Then she +paused. How could she say, "The man you rode against at Lucknow," when +she wanted to forget all that; forget everything? And then a sudden +fear made her add hastily, "He is here, surely--he came long ago." + +Major Erlton nodded. "I know; but his real name is Douglas; at least +he says so. Do you mean to say you haven't seen him? That he didn't +help you to get out?" + +"You mean that--that he has gone back?" asked Kate faintly. + +Her husband gave a low whistle. "What a queer start; a sort of Box and +Cox. He went back to find you yesterday." + +Kate's hand went up to her forehead almost wildly. Then Tara must have +known. But why had she not mentioned it? Still, in a way, it was best +as it was; since once he heard she, Kate, had gone, he would return. +For Tara would tell him, of course. + +These thoughts claimed her for the moment, and when she looked up, she +found her husband watching her curiously. + +"He must have done an awful lot for you, of course," he said shortly; +"but I'd rather it had been anyone else, and that's a fact. However, +it can't be helped. Hullo! here's the khânsaman with some tea. +Thoughtful of the old scoundrel, isn't it?" + +"I--I ordered it," put in Kate, feeling glad of the diversion. + +Major Erlton laughed kindly. "What, begun already? The old sinner's +had a precious easy time of it; but now----" He pulled himself up +awkwardly, and, as if to cover his hesitation, walked over to a box, +and after rummaging in it, brought out a packet of letters. +"Freddy's," he said cheerfully. "He's all right. Jolly as a sandboy. I +kept them--in--in case----" + +A great gratitude made the past dim for a moment. He seemed nearer to +her again. "I can't look at them to-night, Herbert," she said softly, +laying her hand beside his upon them. "I'm--I'm too tired." + +"No wonder. You must have your tea and go to bed," he replied. Then he +looked round the tent. "It isn't a bad little place, you'll find--I'm +on duty tonight--so--so you'll manage, I dare say." + +"On duty?" she echoed, pouring herself out a cup of tea rather hastily. +"Where?" + +"Oh! at the front. There is never anything worth going for now. We are +both waiting for the assault; that's the fact. But I shan't be back +till dawn, so----" + +He was standing looking at her, tall, handsome, full of vitality; and +suddenly he lifted a fold of her tinsel-set veil and smiled. + +"Jolly dress that for a fancy ball, and what a jolly scent it's got. +It is that flower, isn't it? You look awfully well in it, Kate! In +fact, you look wonderfully fit all round." + +"So do you!" she said hurriedly, her hand going up to the henna +blossom. There was a sudden quiver in her voice, a sudden fierce pain +in her heart. "You--you look----" + +"Oh! I," he replied carelessly, still with admiring eyes, "I'm as fit +as a fiddle. I say! where did you get all those jewels? What a lot you +have! They're awfully becoming." + +"They are Mr. Greyman's," she said; "they belonged to his--to----" +then she paused. But the contemptuously comprehending smile on her +husband's face made her add quietly, "to a woman--a woman _he loved +very dearly_, Herbert." + +There was a moment or two of silence, and then Major Erlton went to +the entrance, raised the curtain, and looked out. A flood of moonlight +streamed into the tent. + +"It's about time I was off," he said after a bit, and there was a +queer constraint in his voice. Then he came over and stood by Kate +again. + +"It isn't any use talking over--over things to-night, Kate," he said +quietly. "There's a lot to think of and I haven't thought of it at +all. I never knew, you see--if this would happen. But I dare say you +have; you were always a oner at thinking. So--so you had better do it +for both of us. I don't care, _now_. It will be what you wish, of +course." + +"We will talk it over to-morrow," she said in a low voice. She would +not look in his face. She knew she would find it soft with the memory +held in that one word--now. Ah! how much easier it would have been if +she had never come back! And yet she shrank from the same thought on +his lips. + +"There was always the chance of my getting potted," he said almost +apologetically. "But I'm not. So--well! let's leave it for +to-morrow." + +"Yes," she replied steadily, "for to-morrow." + +He gathered some of his things together, and then held out his hand. +"Good-night, Kate. I wouldn't lie awake thinking, if I were you. +What's the good if it? We will just have to make the best of it for +the boy. But I'd like you to know two things----" + +"Yes----" + +"That I couldn't forget, of course; and that----" he paused. "Well! +that doesn't matter; it's only about myself and it doesn't mean much +after all. So, good-night." + +As she moved to the door also, forced into following him by the ache +in her heart for him, more than for herself, the jingle of her anklets +made him turn with an easy laugh. + +"It doesn't sound respectable," he said; then, with a sudden +compunction, added: "But the dress is much prettier than those dancing +girls', and--by Heaven, Kate! you've always been miles too good for +me; and that's the fact. Well I--let us leave it for to-morrow." + +Yes! for to-morrow, she told herself, with a determination not to +think as, dressed as she was, she nestled down into the strange +softness of the camp bed, too weary of the pain and pity of this +coming back even for tears. Yet she thought of one thing; not that she +was safe, not that she would see the boy again. Only of the thing he +had been going to tell her about himself. What was it? She wanted to +know; she wanted to know all--everything. "Herbert!" she whispered to +the pillow, "I wish you had told me--I want to know--I want to make it +easier for--for us all." + +And so, not even grateful for her escape, she fell asleep dreamlessly. + +It was dawn when she woke with the sound of someone talking outside. +He had come back. No! that was not his voice. She sat up listening. + +"The servants say she is asleep. Someone had better go in and wake +her. The Doctor----" + +"He's behind with the dhooli. Ah! there's Morecombe; he knows her." + +But there was no need to call her. Kate was already at the door, her +eyes wide with the certainty of evil. There was no need even to tell +her what had happened; for in the first rays of the rising sun, seen +almost starlike behind a dip in the rocky ridge, she saw a little +procession making for the tent. + +"He--he is dead," she said quietly. There was hardly a question in her +tone. She knew it must be so. Had he not begged her to leave it till +to-morrow? and this was to-morrow. Were not her eyes full of its +rising sun, and what its beams held in their bright clasp? + +"It seems impossible," said someone in a low voice, breaking in on the +pitiful silence. "He always seemed to have a charmed life, and then, +in an instant, when nothing was going on, the chance bullet." + +It did not seem impossible to her. + +"Please don't make a fuss about me, Doctor," she pleaded in a tone +which went to his heart when he proposed the conventional solaces. +"Remember I have been through so--so much already. I can bear it. I +can, indeed, if I'm left alone with him--while it is possible. Yes! I +know there is another lady, but I only want to be alone, with him." + +So they left her there beside the little camp-bed with its new burden. +There was no sign of strife upon him. Only that blue mark behind his +ear among his hair, and his face showed no pain. Kate covered it with +a little fine handkerchief she found folded away in a scented case she +had made for him before they were married. It had Alice Gissing's +monogram on it. It was better so, she told herself; he would have +liked it. She had no flowers except the faded henna blossom, but it +smelled sweet as she tucked it under the hand which she had left half +clasped upon his sword. She might at least tell him so, she thought +half bitterly, that the lesson was learned, that he might go in peace. + +Then she sat down at the table and looked over their boy's letters +mechanically; for there was nothing to think of now. The morrow had +settled the problem. Captain Morecombe came in once or twice to say a +word or two, or bring in other men, who saluted briefly to her as they +passed to stand beside the dead man for a second, and then go out +again. She was glad they cared to come; had begged that any might come +who chose, as if she were not there. But at one visitor she looked +curiously, for he came in alone. A tall man--as tall as Herbert, she +thought--with a dark beard and keen, kindly eyes. She saw them, for he +turned to her with the air of one who has a right to speak, and she +stood up involuntarily. + +"His name was up for the Victoria Cross, madam," said a clear, +resonant voice, "as you may know; but that is nothing. He was a fine +soldier--a soldier such as I--I am John Nicholson, madam--can ill +spare. For the rest--he leaves a good name to his son." + +The sunlight streamed in for an instant on to the little bed and its +burden as he passed out, and glittered on the sword and tassels. Kate +knelt down beside it and kissed the dead hand. + +"That was what you meant, wasn't it, Herbert?" she whispered. "I wish +you had told it me yourself, dear." + +She wished it often. Thinking over it all in the long days that +followed, it came to be almost her only regret. If he had told her, if +he had heard her say how glad she was, she felt that she would have +asked no more. And so, as she went down every evening to lay the white +rosebuds the gardener brought her on his grave she used to repeat, as +if he could hear them, his own words: "It is the finish that is the +win or the lose of a race." + +That was what many a man was saying to himself upon the Ridge in the +first week of September. For the siege train had come at last. The +winning post lay close ahead, they must ride all they knew. But those +in command said it anxiously; for day by day the hospitals became more +crowded, and cholera, reappearing, helped to swell the rear-guard of +graves, when the time had come for vanguards only. + +But some men--among them Baird Smith and John Nicholson--took no heed +of sickness or death. And these two, especially, looked into each +other's eyes and said, "When you are ready I'm ready." Their seniors +might say that an assault would be thrown on the hazard of a die. What +of that; if men are prepared to throw sixes, as these two were? They +had to be thrown, if India was to be kept, if this bubble of +sovereignty was to be pricked, the gas let out. + +In the city and the Palace also, men, feeling the struggle close, put +hand and foot to whip and spur. But there was no one within the walls +who had the seeing single eye, quick to seize the salient point of a +position. Baird Smith saw it fast enough. Saw the thickets and walls +of the Koodsia Gardens in front of him, the river guarding his left, a +sinuous ravine--cleaving the hillside into cover creeping down from +the Ridge on his right to within two hundred yards of the city wall. +And that bit of the wall, between the Moree gate and the Water +Bastion, was its weakest portion. The curtain walls long, mere +parapets, only wide enough for defense by muskets. So said the spies, +though it seemed almost incredible to English engineers that the +defense had not been strengthened by pulling down the adjacent houses +and building a rampart for guns. + +In truth there was no one to suggest it, and if it had been suggested +there was no one to carry it out, for even now, at the last, the +Palace seethed with dissension and intrigue. Yet still the sham went +on inconceivably. Jim Douglas, indeed, walking through the bazaars in +his Afghan dress, very nearly met his fate through it. For he was +seized incontinently and made to figure as one of the retinue of the +Amir of Cabul's ambassador, who, about the beginning of September, was +introduced to the private Hall of Audience as a sedative to doubtful +dreamers, and a tonic to brocaded bags. Luckily for him, however, +the men called upon to play the other part in the farce--chiefly +cloth-merchants from Peshawur and elsewhere, whom Jim Douglas had +dodged successfully so far--had been in such abject fear of being +discovered themselves that they had no thought of discovering others. +For Bahâdur Shâh had the dust and ashes of a Moghul in him still. Jim +Douglas recognized the fact in the very obstinacy of delusion in the +wax-like, haggard old face looking with glazed, tremulous-lidded eyes +at the mock mission; and in the faded voice, accepting his vassal of +Cabul's promise of help. It was an almost incredible scene, Jim +Douglas thought. Given it, there was no limit to possibilities in this +phantasmagoria of kingship. The white shadows of the marble arches +with their tale of boundless power and wealth in the past, the wide +plains beyond, the embroidered curtain of the sunlit garden, the +curves of courtiers, most of them in the secret, no doubt; and below +the throne these tag-rag and bob-tail of the bazaars, one of them at +least a hell-doomed infidel, figuring away in borrowed finery! All +this was as unreal as a magic lantern picture, and like it was +followed hap-hazard, without rhyme or reason, by the next on the +slide; for, as he passed out of the Presence he heard the question of +appointing a Governor to Bombay brought up and discussed gravely; that +province being reported to have sent in its allegiance _en bloc_ to +the Great Moghul. The slides, however, were not always so dignified, +so decorous. One came, a day or two afterward, showing a miserable old +pantaloon driven to despair because six hundred hungry sepoys would +not behave according to strict etiquette, but, invading his privacy +with threats, reduced him to taking his beautiful new cushion from the +Peacock Throne and casting it among them. + +"Take it," he cried passionately, "it is all I have left. Take it, and +let me go in peace!" + +But the lesson was not learned by him as yet; so he had to remain; for +once more the sepoys sent out word that there was to be no skulking. +To do the Royal family justice, however, they seem by this time to +have given up the idea of flight. To be sure they had no place to +which they could fly, since the dream required that background of +rose-red wall and marble arches. So even Abool-Bukr, forsaking +drunkenness as well as that kind, detaining hand, clung to his +kinsfolk bravely, behaving in all ways as a newly married young prince +should who looked toward filling the throne itself at some future +time.[8] + +The sepoys themselves had given up blustering, and many, like Soma, +had taken to bhang instead; drugging themselves deliberately into +indifference. The latter had recovered from the blow on the back of +his head, which, however, as is so often the case, had for the time at +any rate deprived him of all recollection of the events immediately +preceding it. So, as Tara had restored his uniform before he was able +to miss it, he treated her as if nothing had occurred; greatly to her +relief. The fact had its disadvantages, however, by depriving her of +all corroborative evidence of the mem having really left the city. +Thus Jim Douglas, warned by past experience, and made doubtful by +Tara's strange reticences, refused to believe it. Her whole story, +indeed, marred, as it was, by the endless reserves and exaggerations, +seemed incredible; the more so because Tiddu--who lied wildly as to +his constant sojourn in Delhi--professed utter disbelief in it. So, +after a few days' unavailing attempt to get at the truth, Jim Douglas +sent the old man off with a letter of inquiry to the Ridge, and waited +for the answer. + +Waited, like all Delhi, under the shadow of the lifted sword which +hung above the city. A sword, held behind a simulacrum of many, by one +arm, sent for that purpose; for John Lawrence, being wise, knew that +the shadow of that arm meant more even than the sword it held to the +wildest half of the province under his control, a province trembling +in the balance between allegiance and revolt; a province ready to +catch fire if the extinguisher were not put upon the beacon light. And +all India waited too. Waited to see that sword fall. + +But a hatchet fell first. Fell in the lemon thickets and pomegranates +of the walled old gardens, so that men who worked at the batteries +still remember the sweet smell that went up from the crushed leaves. A +welcome change; for the Ridge, crowded now with eleven thousand +troops, was not a pleasant abode. It was on Sunday, the 6th of +September, that the final reinforcements came in, and on the 7th the +men, reading General Wilson's order for the appointing of prize agents +in each corps, and his assurance that all plunder would be divided +fairly, felt as if they were already within the walls. The hospitals, +too, were giving up their sick; those who could not be of use going to +the rear, Meerut-ward, those fit for work to the front. And that night +the first siege battery was traced and almost finished below the +Sammy-House, while, under cover of this distraction on the right, the +Koodsia Gardens and Ludlow Castle on the left were occupied by strong +pickets. + +But that first battery--only seven hundred yards from the Moree +Bastion--had a struggle for dear life. The dawn showed but one gun in +position against all the concentrated fire of the bastion which, +during the night, had been lured into a useless duel with the old +defense batteries above. Only one gun at dawn; but by noon--despite +assault and battery--there were five, answering roar for roar. Then +for the first time began that welcome echo: the sound of crumbling +walls, the grumbling roll of falling stones and mortar. By sunset the +gradually diminishing fire from the bastion had ceased, and the +bastion itself was a heap of ruins. By this time the four guns in the +left section of the battery were keeping down the fire from the +Cashmere gate, and so protecting the real advance through the gardens. +That was the first day of the siege, and Kate Erlton, sitting in her +little tent, which had been moved into a quiet spot, as she had begged +to be allowed to stay on the Ridge until some news came of the man to +whom she owed so much, thought with a shudder she could not help, of +what it must mean to many an innocent soul shut up within those walls. +It was bad enough here, where the very tent seemed to shake. It must +be terrible down there beside the heating guns, in the roar and the +rattle, the grime and the ache and strain of muscle. But in the +city--even in Sri Anunda's garden----! + +So, naturally enough, she wondered once more what could have become of +the man who had gone back to find her nearly ten days before. + +"May I come in? John Nicholson." + +She would have recognized the voice even without the name, for it was +not one to be forgotten. Nor was the owner, as he stood before her, a +letter in his hand. + +"I have heard from Mr. Douglas, Mrs. Erlton," he said. "It is in the +Persian character, so I presume it is no use showing it to you. But it +concerns you chiefly. He wants to know if you are safe. I have to +answer it immediately. Have you any message you would like to send?" + +"Any message?" she echoed. "Only that he must come back at once, of +course." + +John Nicholson looked at her calmly. + +"I shall say nothing of the kind," he replied. "It is best for a man +to decide such matters for himself." + +She flushed up hotly. "I had not the slightest intention of dictating +to Mr.--Mr. Douglas, General Nicholson; but considering how much he +has already sacrificed for my sake----" + +"You had better let him do as he likes, my dear madam," interrupted +the General, with a sudden kindly smile, which, however, faded as +quickly as it came, leaving his face stern. "He, like many another +man, has sacrificed too much for women, Mrs. Erlton; so if ever you +can make up to him for some of the pain, do so--he is worth it. +Good-by. I'll tell him that you are safe; but that in spite of that, +he has my permission to go ahead and kill--the more the better." + +She had not the faintest idea why he made this last remark; but it did +not puzzle her, for she was occupied with his previous one. Sacrificed +too much! That was true. He carried the scars of the knife upon him +clearly. And the man who had just left her presence, who, for all his +courtesy, had treated her so cavalierly? She was rather vexed with +herself for feeling it, but a sudden sense of being a poor creature +came over her. It flashed upon her that she could imagine a world +without women--she was in one, almost, at that very moment--but not a +world without men. Yet that ceaseless roar filling the air had more to +do with women than men; it went more as a challenge of revenge than a +stern recall to duty. + +It was true. The men, working night and day in the batteries, thought +little of men's rights, only of women's wrongs. Even General Wilson in +his order had appealed to those under him on that ground only, urging +them to spend life and strength freely in vengeance on murderers. + +And they did. Down in the scented Koodsia Gardens the men never seemed +to tire, never to shrink, though the shot from the city--not two +hundred and fifty yards away--flew pinging through the trees above +them. But the high wall gave cover, and so those off duty slept +peacefully in the cool shade, or sat smoking on the river-terrace. + +Thus, while the first battery, pounding away from the right at the +Moree and Cashmere bastions, diverted attention, and the enemy, +deceived by the feint, lavished a dogged courage in trying to keep up +some kind of reply, a second siege battery in two sections was traced +and made in front of Ludlow Castle, five hundred yards from the +Cashmere gate. By dawn on the 11th both sections were at work +destroying the defenses of the gate, and pounding away to breach the +curtain wall beside it. So the roar was doubled, and the vibrations of +the air began to quiver on the wearied ear almost painfully. Yet they +were soon trebled, quadrupled. Trebled by a party of wide-mouthed +mortars in the garden itself. Quadrupled by a wicked, dare-devil, +impertinent little company of six eighteen-pounders and twelve small +mortars, which, with Medley of the Engineers as a guide, took +advantage of a half ruined house to creep within a hundred and sixty +yards of the doomed walls despite the shower of shell and bullets from +it. For by this time the murderers in the city had found out that the +men were at work at something in the scented thickets to the left. Not +that the discovery hindered the work. The native pioneers, who bore +the brunt of it, digging and piling for the wicked little intruder, +were working with the master, working with volunteers--officers and +men alike--from the 9th Lancers and the Carabineers. So, when one of +their number toppled over, they looked to see if he were dead or alive +in order to sort him out properly. And if he was dead they would weep +a few tears as they laid him in the row beside the others of his kind, +before they went on with their work quietly; for, having to decide +whether a comrade belonged to the dead or the living thirty-nine times +one night, they began to get expert at it. So by the 12th, fifty guns +and mortars flashed and roared, and the rumble of falling stones +became almost continuous. Sometimes a shell would just crest the +parapet, burst, and bring away yards of it at a time. + +Up on the Ridge behind the siege batteries, when the cool of the +evening came on, every post was filled with sightseers watching the +salvos, watching the game. And one, at least, going back to get ready +for mess, wrote and told his wife at Meerut, that if she were at the +top of Flagstaff Tower, she would remain there till the siege was +over--it was so fascinating. But they were merry on the Ridge in these +days, and the messes were so full that guests had to be limited at +one, till they got a new leaf in the table! Yet on the other slope of +the Ridge, men were tumbling over like the stones in the walls. +Tumbling over one after another in the batteries, all through the +night of the 12th, and the day of the 13th. + +Then at ten o'clock in the evening, men, sitting in the mess-tents, +looked at each other joyfully, yet with a thrill in their veins, as +the firing ceased suddenly. For they knew what that meant; they knew +that down under the very walls of the city, friends and comrades were +creeping, sword in one hand, their lives in the other, through the +starlight, to see if the breaches were practicable. + +But the city knew them to be so; and already the last order sent by +the Palace to Delhi was being proclaimed by beat of drum through the +streets. + +So, monotonously, the cry rang from alley to alley. + +"Intelligence having just been brought that the infidels intend an +assault to-night, it is incumbent on all, Hindoo and Mohammedan, from +due regard to their faith, to assemble directly by the Cashmere gate, +bringing iron picks and shovels with them. This order is imperative." + +Newâsi Begum, among others, heard it as she sat reading. She stood up +suddenly, overturning the book-rest and the Holy Word in her haste; +for she felt that the crisis was at hand. She had never seen +Abool-Bukr since the night, now a whole month past, when he had +taunted her with being one more woman ready for kisses. Her pride had +kept her from seeking him, and he had not returned. But now her +resentment gave way before her fears. She _must_ see him--since God +only knew what might be going to happen! + +True in a way. But up on the Ridge one man felt certain of one thing. +John Nicholson, with the order for an assault at dawn safe in his +hand, knew that he would be in Delhi on the 14th of September--a day +earlier than he had expected. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + THROUGH THE WALLS. + + +It was a full hour past dawn on the 14th of September ere that sudden +silence fell once more upon the echoing rocks of the Ridge and the +scented gardens. So, for a second, the twittering birds in the +thickets behind them might have been heard by the men who, with fixed +bayonets, were jostling the roses and the jasmines. But they were +holding their breath--waiting, listening, for something very +different; while in the ears of many, excluding all other sounds, +lingered the cadence of the text read by the chaplain before dawn in +the church lesson for the day. + +"Woe to the bloody city--the sword shall cut thee off." + +For to many the coming struggle meant neither justice nor revenge, but +religion. It was Christ against Anti-Christ. So, whether for revenge +or faith they waited. A thousand down by the river opposite the Water +Bastion. A thousand in the Koodsia facing the main breach, with John +Nicholson, first as ever, to lead it. A thousand more on the broad +white road fronting the Cashmere Bastion, with an explosion party +ahead to blow in the gate, and a reserve of fifteen hundred to the +rear waiting for success. Briefly, four thousand five hundred +men--more than half natives--for the assault, facing that half mile or +so of northern wall; thus within touch of each other. Beyond, on the +western trend, two thousand more--mostly untried troops from Jumoo and +a general muster of casuals--to sweep through the suburbs and be ready +to enter by the Cabul gate when it was opened to them. + +Above, on the Ridge, six hundred sabers awaiting orders. Behind it +three thousand sick in hospital, a weak defense, and that rear-guard +of graves. + +And in front of all stood that tall figure with the keen eyes. "Are +you ready, Jones?" asked Nicholson, laying his hand on the last +leader's shoulder. His voice and face were calm, almost cold. + +"Ready, sir!" + +Then, startling that momentary silence, came the bugle. + +"Advance!" + +With a cheer the rifles skirmished ahead joyfully. The engineers +posted in the furthest cover long before dawn--who had waited for +hours, knowing that each minute made their task harder--rose, waving +their swords to guide the stormers toward the breach! Then, calmly, as +if it had been dark, not daylight, crested the glacis at a swift walk, +followed by the laddermen in line. Behind, with a steady tramp, the +two columns bound for the breaches. But the third, upon the road, had +to wait a while, as, like greyhounds from a leash, a little company +slipped forward at the double. + +Home of the Engineers first with two sergeants, a native havildar, and +ten Punjab sappers, running lightly, despite the twenty-five pound +powder bags they carried. Behind them, led by Salkeld, the firing +party and a bugler. Running under the hail of bullets, faster as they +fell faster, as men run to escape a storm; but these courted it, +though the task had been set for night, and it was now broad daylight. + +What then? They could see better. See the outer gateway open, the +footway of the drawbridge destroyed, the inner door closed save for +the wicket. + +"Come on," shouted Home, and was across the bare beams like a boy, +followed by the others. + +Incredible daring! What did it mean? The doubt made the scared enemy +close the wicket hastily. So against it, at the rebels' very feet, the +powder bags were laid. True, one sergeant fell dead with his; but as +it fell against the gates his task was done. + +"Ready, Salkeld!--your turn," sang out young Home from the ditch, into +which, the bags laid, the fuse set, he dropped unhurt. So across the +scant foothold came the firing party, its leader holding the portfire. +But the paralysis of amazement had passed; the enemy, realizing what +the audacity meant, had set the wicket wide. It bristled now with +muskets; so did the parapet. + +"Burgess!--your turn," called Salkeld as he fell, and passed the +portfire to the corporal behind him. Burgess, alias Grierson,--someone +perchance retrieving a past under a new name,--took it, stooped, then +with a half articulate cry either that it was "right" or "out," fell +back into the ditch dead. Smith, of the powder party, lingering to see +the deed done, thought the latter, and, matchbox in hand, sprang +forward, cuddling the gate for safety as he struck a light. But it was +not needed. As he stooped to use it, the port-fire of the fuse +exploded in his face, and, half blinded, he turned to plunge headlong +for escape into the ditch. A second after the gate was in fragments. + +"Your turn, Hawthorne!" came that voice from the ditch. So the bugler, +who had braved death to sound it, gave the advance. Once, twice, +thrice, carefully lest the din from the breaches should drown it. Vain +precaution, not needed either; for the sound of the explosion was +enough. That thousand on the road was hungering to be no whit behind +the others, and with a wild cheer the stormers made for the gate. + +But Nicholson was already in Delhi, though ten minutes had gone in a +fierce struggle to place a single ladder against an avalanche of shot +and stone. But that one had been the signal for him to slip into the +ditch, and, calling on the 1st Bengal Fusiliers to follow, escalade +the bastion, first as ever. + +Even so, others were before him. Down at the Water Bastion, though +three-quarters of the laddermen had fallen and but a third of the +storming party remained, those twenty-five men of the 8th had gained +the breach, and, followed by the whole column, were clearing the +ramparts toward the Cashmere gate. Hence, again, without a check, +joined by the left half of Nicholson's column, they swept the enemy +before them like frightened sheep to the Moree gate; though in the +bastion itself the gunners stood to their guns and were bayoneted +beside them. There, with a whoop, some of the wilder ones leaped to +the parapet to wave their caps in exultation to the cavalry below, +which, in obedience to orders, was now drawn up, ready to receive, +guarding the flank of the assault, despite the murderous fire from the +Cabul gate, and the Burn Bastion beyond it. Sitting in their saddles, +motionless, doing nothing, a mark for the enemy, yet still a wall of +defense. So, leaving them to that hardest task of all--the courage of +inaction--the victorious rush swept on to take the Cabul gate, to +sweep past it up to the Burn Bastion itself--the last bastion which +commanded the position. + +And then? Then the order came to retire and await orders at the Cabul +gate. The fourth column, after clearing the suburbs, was to have been +there ready for admittance, ready to support. It was not. And +Nicholson was not there also, to dare and do all. He had had to pause +at the Cashmere gate to arrange that the column which had entered +through it should push on into the city, leaving the reserve to hold +the points already won. And now, with the 1st Fusiliers behind him, he +was fighting his way through the streets to the Cabul gate. So, +fearing to lose touch with those behind, over-rating the danger, +under-estimating the incalculable gain of unchecked advance with an +eastern foe, the leader of that victorious sweeping of the ramparts +was content to set the English flag flying on the Cabul gate and await +orders. But the men had to do something. So they filled up the time +plundering. And there were liquor shops about. Europe shops, full of +wine and brandy. + +The flag had been flying over an hour when Nicholson came up. But by +that time the enemy--who had been flying too--flying as far as the +boat bridge in sheer conviction that the day was lost--had recovered +some courage and were back, crowding the bastion and some tall houses +beside it. And in the lane, three hundred yards long, not ten feet +wide, leading to it, two brass guns had been posted before bullet +proof screens ready to mow down the intruders. + +Yet once more John Nicholson saw but one thing--the Burn Bastion. +Built by Englishmen, it was one of the strongest--the only remaining +one, in fact, likely to give trouble. With it untaken a thorough hold +on the city was impossible. Besides, with his vast knowledge of native +character, he knew that the enemy had expected us to take it, and +would construe caution into cowardice. Then he had the 1st Bengal +Fusiliers behind him. He had led them in Delhi, they had fallen in his +track in tens and fifties, and still they had come on--they would do +this thing for him now. + +"We will do what we can, sir," said their commandant, Major Jacob--but +his face was grave. + +"We will do what men can do, sir," said the commandant of that left +half of the column; "but honestly, I don't think it can be done. We +have tried it once." His face was graver still. + +"Nor I," said Nicholson's Brigade-major. + +Nicholson, as he stood by the houses around the Cabul gate, which had +been occupied and plundered by the troops, looked down the straight +lane again. It hugged the city wall on its right, its scanty width +narrowed here and there by buttresses to some three feet. About a +third of the way down was the first gun, placed beside a feathery +kikar tree which sent a lace-like tracery of shadow upon the screen. +As far behind was the second. Beyond, again, was the bastion jutting +out, and so forcing the lane to bend between it and some tall houses. +Both were crowded with the enemy--the screens held bayonets and +marksmen. There was a gun close to the bastion in the wall, but to the +left, cityward, in the low, flat-roofed mud houses there seemed no +trace of flanking foes. + +"I think it can be done," he said. He knew it must be done ere the +Palace could be taken. So he gave the orders. Fusiliers forward; +officers to the front! + +And to the front they went, with a cheer and a rush, overwhelming the +first gun, within ten yards of the other. And one man was closer +still, for Lieutenant Butler, pinned against that second bullet-proof +screen by two bayonets thrust through the loopholes at him, had to +fire his revolver through them also, ere he could escape this +two-pronged fork. + +But the fire of every musket on the bastion and the tall houses was +centered on that second gun. Grape, canister, raked the narrow +lane--made narrower by fallen Fusiliers--and forced those who remained +to fall back upon the first gun--beyond that even. Yet only for a +moment. Reformed afresh, they carried it a second time, spiked it and +pressed on. Officers still to the front! + +Just beyond the gun the commandant fell wounded to death. "Go on, men, +go on!" he shouted to those who would have paused to help him. +"Forward, Fusiliers!" + +And they went forward; though at dawn two hundred and fifty men had +dashed for the breach, and now there were not a hundred and fifty left +to obey orders. Less! For fifty men and seven officers lay in that +lane itself. Surely it was time now for others to step in--and there +were others! + +Nicholson saw the waver, knew what it meant, and sprang forward sword +in hand, calling on those others to follow. But he asked too much. +Where the 1st Fusiliers had failed, none cared to try. That is the +simple truth. The limit had been reached. + +So for a minute or two he stood, a figure instinct with passion, +energy, vitality, before men who, God knows with reason, had lost all +three for the moment. A colossal figure beyond them, ahead of them, +asking more than mere ordinary men could do. So a pitiful figure--a +failure at the last! + +"Come on, men! Come on, you fools--come on, you--you----" + +What the word was, which that bullet full in the chest arrested +between heart and lips, those who knew John Nicholson's wild temper, +his indomitable will, his fierce resentment at everything which fell +short of his ideals, can easily guess. + +"Lay me under that tree," he gasped, as they raised him. "I will not +leave till the lane is carried. My God! Don't mind me! Forward, men, +forward! It _can_ be done." + +An hour or two afterward a subaltern coming out of the Cashmere gate +saw a dhooli, deserted by its bearers. In it lay John Nicholson in +dire agony; but he asked nothing of his fellows then save to be taken +to hospital. He had learned his lesson. He had done what others had +set him to do. He had entered Delhi. He had pricked the bubble, and +the gas was leaking out. But he had failed in the task he had set +himself. The Burn Bastion was still unwon, and the English force in +Delhi, instead of holding its northern half up to the very walls of +the Palace, secure from flanking foes, had to retire on the strip of +open ground behind the assaulted wall--if, indeed, it had not to +retire further still. Had one man had his way it would have retired to +the Ridge. Late in the afternoon, when fighting was over for the day, +General Wilson rode round the new-won position, and, map in hand, +looked despairingly toward the network of narrow lanes and alleys +beyond. And he looked at something close at hand with even greater +forebodings; for he stood in the European quarter of the town among +shops still holding vast stores of wine and spirits which had been +left untouched by that other army of occupation. + +But what of this one? This product of civilization, and culture, and +Christianity; these men who could give points to those others in so +many ways, but might barter their very birthright for a bottle of rum. +Yet even so, the position must be held. So said Baird Smith at the +chief's elbow, so wrote Neville Chamberlain, unable to leave his post +on the Ridge. And another man in hospital, thinking of the Burn +Bastion, thinking with a strange wonder of men who could refuse to +follow, muttered under his breath, "Thank God! I have still strength +left to shoot a coward." + +And yet General Wilson in a way was right. Five days afterward Major +Hodson wrote in his diary: "The troops are utterly demoralized by hard +work and hard drink. For the first time in my life I have had to see +English soldiers refuse repeatedly to follow their officers. Jacob, +Nicholson, Greville, Speke were all sacrificed to this." + +A terrible indictment indeed, against brave men. + +Yet not worse than that underlying the chief's order of the 15th, +directing the Provost-marshal to search for and smash every bottle and +barrel to be found, and let the beer and wine, so urgently needed by +the sick, run into the gutters; or his admission three days later that +another attempt to take the Lahore gate had failed from "the refusal +of the European soldiers to follow their officers. One rush and it +could have been done easily--we are still, therefore, in the same +position to-day as we were yesterday." + +So much for drink. + +But the enemy luckily was demoralized also. It was still full of +defense; empty of attack. + +For one thing, attack would have admitted a reverse; and over on that +eastern wall of the Palace, in the fretted marble balcony overlooking +the river, there was no mention, even now, of such a word. Reverse! +Had not the fourth column been killed to a man? Had not Nikalseyn +himself fallen a victim to valor? But Soma, and many a man of his +sort, gave up the pretense with bitter curses at themselves. They had +seen from their own posts that victorious escalade, that swift, +unchecked herding of the frightened sheep. And they--intolerable +thought!--were sheep also. They saw men with dark faces, no whit +better than they--better!--the Rajpoot had at least a longer record +than the Sikh!--led to victory while they were not led at all. So +brought face to face once more with the old familiar glory and honor, +the old familiar sight of the master first--uncompromisingly, +indubitably first to snatch success from the grasp of Fate, and hand +it back to them--they thought of the past three months with loathing. + +And as for Nikalseyn's rebuff. Soma, hearing of it from a comrade, hot +at heart as he, went to the place, and looked down the lane as John +Nicholson had done. By all the Pandâvas! a place for heroes indeed! +Ali! if he had been there, he would have stayed there somehow. He +walked up and down it moodily, picturing the struggle to himself; +thinking with a curious anger of those men on the housetops, in the +bastion, taking potshots at the unsheltered men below. That was all +there would be now. They might drive the masters back for a time, they +might inveigle them into lanes and reduce their numbers by tens and +fifties, they, men of his sort, might make a brave defense. + +Defense! Soma wanted to attack. Attracted by the faint shade of the +kikar tree he sat down beneath it, resting against the trunk, looking +along the lane once more, just as, a day or two before, John Nicholson +had rested for a space. And the iron of failure entered into this +man's heart also, because there was none to lead. And with the master +there had been none to follow. + +Suddenly he rose, his mind made up. If that was so, let him go back to +the plow. That also was a hereditary trade. + +That night, without a word to anyone, leaving his uniform behind him, +he started along the Rohtuck road for his ancestral village. But he +had to make a detour round the suburbs, for, despite that annihilation +spoken of in the Peace, they were now occupied by the English. + +Yet but little headway had been made in securing a firmer hold within +the city itself. + +"You can't, till the Burn Bastion is taken and the Lahore gate +secured," said Nicholson from his dying bed, whence, growing +perceptibly weaker day by day, yet with mind clear and unclouded, he +watched and warned. The single eye was not closed yet, was not even +made dim by death. It saw still, what it had seen on the day of the +assault; what it had coveted then and failed to reach. + +But it was not for five days after this failure that even Baird Smith +recognized the absolute accuracy of this judgment, and, against the +Chief's will, obtained permission to sap through the shelter of the +intervening houses till they could tackle the bastion at close and +commanding quarters without asking the troops to face another lane. So +on the morning of the 19th, after a night of storm and rain cooling +the air incredibly, the pick-ax began what rifles and swords had +failed to do. By nightfall a tall house was reached, whence the +bastion could be raked fore and aft. Its occupants, recognizing this, +took advantage of the growing darkness to evacuate it. Half an hour +afterward the master-key of the position was in English hands. + +Rather unsteady ones, for here again the troops--once more the 8th, +the 75th, the Sikh Infantry, and that balance of the Fusiliers--had +found more brandy. + +"_Poisoned, sir?_" said one thirsty trooper, flourishing a bottle of +Exshaw's Number One before the eyes of his Captain, who, as a last +inducement to sobriety, was suggesting danger. "Not a bit of it. +Capsules all right." + +But this time England could afford a few drunk men. The bastion was +gone, and by the Turkoman and Delhi gates half the town was going. And +not only the town. Down in the Palace men and women, with fumbling +hands and dazed eyes, like those new roused from dreams, were +snatching at something to carry with them in their flight. Bukht Khân +stood facing the Queen in her favorite summer-house, alone, save for +Hâfzan, the scribe, who lingered, watching them with a certain malice +in her eyes. She had been right. Vengeance had been coming. Now it had +come. + +"All is not lost, my Queen," said Bukht Khân, with hand on sword. "The +open country lies before us, Lucknow is ours--come!" + +"And the King, and my son," she faltered. The dull glitter of her +tarnished jewelry seemed in keeping with the look on her face. There +was something sordid in it. Sordid, indeed, for behind that mask of +wifely solicitude and maternal care lay the thought of her hidden +treasure. + +"Let them come too. Naught hinders it." + +True. But the gold, the gold! + +After he had left her, impatient of her hesitation, a sudden terror +seized her, lest he might have sought the King, lest he might persuade +him. + +"My bearers--woman! Quick!" she called to Hâfzan. "Quick, fool! my +dhooli!" + +But even dhooli bearers have to fly when vengeance shadows the +horizon; and in that secluded corner none remained. Everyone was busy +elsewhere; or from sheer terror clustered together where soldiers were +to be found. + +"The Ornament-of-Palaces can walk," said Hâfzan, still with that faint +malice in her face. "There is none to see, and it is not far." + +So, for the last time, Zeenut Maihl left the summer-house whence she +had watched the Meerut road. Left it on foot, as many a better woman +as unused to walking as she was leaving Delhi with babies on their +breasts and little children toddling beside them. Past the faint +outline of the Pearl Mosque, through the cool damp of the watered +garden with the moon shining overhead, she stumbled laboriously. Up +the steps of the Audience Hall toward a faint light by the Throne. The +King sat on it, almost in the dark; for the oil cressets on a trefoil +stand only seemed to make the shadows blacker. They lay thick upon the +roof, blotting out that circling boast. Before him stood Bukht Khân, +his hand still on his sword, broad, contemptuously bold. But on either +side of the shrunken figure, half lost in the shadows also, were other +counselors. Ahsan-Oolah, wily as ever, Elahi Buksh, the time-server, +who saw the only hope of safety in prompt surrender. + +"Let the Pillar-of-Faith claim time for thought," the latter was +saying. "There is no hurry. If the soubadar-sahib is in one, let him +go----" + +Bukht Khân broke in with an ugly laugh, "Yea, Mirza-sahib, I can go, +but if I go the army goes with me. Remember that. The King can keep +the rabble. I have the soldiers." + +Bahâdur Shâh looked from one to the other helplessly. Whether to go, +risk all, endure a life of unknown discomfort at his age, or remain, +alone, unprotected, he knew not. + +"Yea! that is true. Still there is no need for hurry," put in the +physician, with a glance at Elahi Buksh. "Let my master bid the +soubadar and the army meet him at the Tomb of Humayon to-morrow +morning. 'Twill be more seemly time to leave than now, like a thief +in the night." + +Bukht Khân gave a sharp look at the speaker, then laughed again. He +saw the game. He scarcely cared to check it. + +"So be it. But let it be before noon. I will wait no longer." + +As he passed out hastily he almost ran into a half-veiled figure, +which, with another behind it, was hugging one of the pillars, peering +forward, listening. He guessed it for the Queen, and paused instantly. + +"'Tis thy last chance, Zeenut Maihl," he whispered in her ear. "Come if +thou art wise." + +The last. No! not that. The last for sovereignty perhaps, but not for +hidden treasure. Half an hour afterward, a little procession of Royal +dhoolies passed out of the Palace on their way to Elahi Buksh's house +beside the Delhi gate, and Ahsan-Oolah walked beside the Queen's. He +had gold also to save, and he was wise; so she listened, and as she +listened she told herself that it would be best to stay. Her life was +safe, and her son was too young for the punishment of death. As for +the King, he was too old for the future to hold anything else. + +Hâfzan watched her go, still with that half-jeering smile, then turned +back into the empty Palace. Even in the outer court it was empty, +indeed, save for a few fanatics muttering texts; and within the +precincts, deserted utterly, silent as the grave. Until, suddenly, +from the Pearl Mosque a voice came, giving the call to prayer; for it +was not far from dawn. + +She paused, recognizing it, and leaving the marble terrace +where she had been standing, looking riverward, walked over to the +bronze-studded door, and peered in among the white arches of the +mosque for what she sought. + +And there it was, a tall white figure looking westward, its back +toward her, its arms spread skyward. A fanatic of fanatics. + +"Thou art not wise to linger here, Moulvie sahib," she called. "Hast +not heard? The Burn Bastion is taken. The King and Queen have fled. +The English will be here in an hour or so, and then----" + +"And then there comes judgment," answered Mohammed Ismail, turning to +look at her sternly. "Doth not it lie within these walls? I stay here, +woman, as I have stayed." + +"Nay, not here," she argued in conciliatory tones. "It lies yonder, in +the outer court, by the trees shadowing the little tank. Thou canst +see it from the window of my uncle's room. And he hath gone--like the +others. 'Twere better to await it there." + +She spoke as she would have spoken to a madman. And, indeed, she held +him to be little else. Here was a man who had saved forty infidels, +whose reward was sure. And who must needs imperil it by lingering +where death was certain; must needs think of his battered soul instead +of his body. Mohammed Ismail came and stood beside her, with a curious +acquiescence in regard to detail's which is so often seen in men +mastered by one idea. + +"It may be better so, sister," he said dreamily. "'Tis as well to be +prepared." + +Hâfzan's hard eyes melted a little, for she had a real pity for this +man who had haunted the Palace persistently, and lost his reason over +his conscience. + +If she could once get him into her uncle's room, she would find some +method of locking him in, of keeping him out of mischief. For herself, +being a woman, the Huzoors were not to be feared. + +"Yea! 'tis as well to be near," she said as she led the way. + +And the time drew near also; for the dawn of the 20th of September had +broken ere, with the key of the outer door in her bosom, she retired +into an inner room, leaving the Moulvie saying his prayers in the +other. Already the troops, recovered from their unsteadiness, had +carried the Lahore gate and were bearing down on the mosque. They +found it almost undefended. The circling flight of purple pigeons, +which at the first volley flew westward, the sun glistening on their +iridescent plumage, was scarcely more swift than the flight of those +who attempted a feeble resistance. And now the Palace lay close by. +With it captured, Delhi was taken. Its walls, it is true, rose +unharmed, secure as ever, hemming in those few acres of God's earth +from the march of time; but they were strangely silent. Only now and +again a puff of white smoke and an unavailing roar told that someone, +who cared not even for success, remained within. + +So powder bags were brought. Home of the Engineers sent for, that he +might light the fuse which gave entry to the last stronghold; for +there was no hurry now. No racing now under hailstorms, and over +tightropes. Calmly, quietly, the fuse was lit, the gate shivered to +atoms, and the long red tunnel with the gleam of sunlight at its end +lay before the men, who entered it with a cheer. Then, here and there +rose guttural Arabic texts, ending in a groan. Here and there the +clash of arms. But not enough to rouse Hâfzan, who, long ere this, had +fallen asleep after her wakeful night. It needed a touch on her +shoulder for that, and the Moulvie's eager voice in her ear. + +"The key, woman! The key--give it! I need the key." + +Half-dazed by sleep, deceived by the silence, she put her hand +mechanically to her bosom. His followed hers; he had what he sought, +and was off. She sprang to her feet, recognizing some danger, and +followed him. + +"He is mad! He is mad!" she cried, as her halting steps lingered +behind the tall white figure which made straight for a crowd of +soldiers gathered round the little tank. There were other soldiers +here, there, everywhere in the rose-red arcades around the sun-lit +court. Soldiers with dark faces and white ones seeking victims, +seeking plunder. But these in the center were all white men, and they +were standing, as men stand to look at a holy shrine, upon the place +where, as the spies had told them, English women and children had been +murdered. + +So toward them, while curses were in all hearts and on some lips, came +the tall white figure with its arms outspread, its wild eyes aflame. + +"O God of Might and Right! Give judgment now, give judgment now." + +The cry rolled and echoed through the arcades to alien ears even as +other cries. + +"He is mad--he saved them--he is mad!" gasped the maimed woman behind; +but her cry seemed no different to those unheeding ears. + +The tall white figure lay on its face, half a dozen bayonets in its +back, and half a dozen more were after Hâfzan. + +"Stick him! Stick him! A man in disguise. Remember the women and +children. Stick the coward!" + +She fled shrieking--shrill, feminine shrieks; but the men's blood was +up. They could not hear, they would not hear; and yet the awkwardness +of that flying figure made them laugh horribly. + +"Don't 'ustle 'im! Give 'im time! There's plenty o' run in 'im yet, +mates. Lord! 'e'd get first prize at Lillie Bridge 'e would." + +Someone else, however, had got it at Harrow not a year before, and was +after the reckless crew. Almost too late--not quite. Hâfzan, run to +earth against a red wall, felt something on her back, and gave a wild +yell. But it was only a boy's hand. + +"My God! sir, I've stuck you!" faltered a voice behind, as a man stood +rigid, arrested in mid-thrust. + +"You d----d fool!" said the boy. "Couldn't you hear it was a woman? +I'll--I'll have you shot. Oh, hang it all! Drag the creature away, +someone. Get out, do!" + +For Hâfzan, as he stood stanching the blood from the slight wound, had +fallen at his feet and was kissing them frantically. + +But even that indignity was forgotten as the stained handkerchief +answered the flutter of something which at that moment caught the +breeze above him. + +It was the English flag. + +The men, forgetting everything else, cheered themselves +hoarse--cheered again when an orderly rode past waving a slip of paper +sent back to the General with the laconic report: + +"Blown open the gates! Got the Palace!" + +But Hâfzan, her veil up to prevent mistakes, limped over to where the +Moulvie lay, turned him gently on his back, straightened his limbs and +closed his eyes. She would have liked to tell the truth to someone, +but there was no one to listen. So she left him there before the +tribunal to which he had appealed. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. + + +So the strain of months was over on the Ridge. Delhi was taken; the +Queen's health was being drunk night after night in the Palace of the +Moghuls. But there was one person to whom the passing days brought a +growing anxiety. This was Kate Erlton; for there were no tidings of +Jim Douglas. None. + +At first she had comforted herself with the idea that he was still, +for some reason or another, keeping to the yet unconquered part of the +city; that he was obliged to do so being impossible, the long files of +women and children seeking safety and passing through the Ridge +fearlessly precluding that consolation. Still it was conceivable he +might be busy, though it seemed strange he should have sent no word. +So, like many another in India at that time, she waited, hoping +against hope, possessing her soul in patience. She had no lack of +occupation to distract her. How could there be for a woman, when close +on twelve hundred men had come back from the city dead or wounded? + +But now the 21st of September was upon them. The city was occupied, +the work was over. Yet Captain Morecombe, coming back from it, shook +his head. He had spent time and trouble in the search, but had +failed--failed even, from Kate's limited ideas of their locality, to +find either Tara's lodging or the roof in the Mufti's quarter. She +could have found them herself, she said almost pathetically; but of +course that was impossible now, and would be so for some time to come. + +"I'm afraid it is no use, Mrs. Erlton," said the Captain kindly. +"There is not a trace to be found, even by Hodson's spies. Unless he +is shut up somewhere, he--he must be dead. It is so likely that he +should be; you must see that. Possibly before the siege began. Let us +hope so." + +"Why?" she asked quickly. "You mean that there have been horrible +things done of late?--things like that poor soldier who was found +chained outside the Cashmere gate as a target for his fellows? Have +there? I would so much rather know the worst,--I used always to tell +Mr. Douglas so,--it prevents one dreaming at night." She shivered as +she spoke, and the man watching her felt his heart go out toward her +with a throb of pity. How long, he wondered irrelevantly, would it +take her to forget the miserable tragedy, to be ready for consolation? + +"Yes, there have been terrible things on both sides. There always are. +You can't help it when you sack cities," he replied, interrupting +himself hastily with a sort of shame. "The Ghoorkhas had the devil in +them when I was down in the Mufti's quarter. They shot dozens of +helpless learned people in the Chelon-ke-kucha--one who coached me up +for my exams. And about twelve women in the house of a 'Professor of +Arabic'--so he styled himself--jumped down the wall to escape--their +own fears chiefly. For the men wanted loot, nothing else. That is the +worst of it. The whole story from beginning to end seems so needless. +It is as if Fate----" + +She interrupted him quietly, "It has been Fate. Fate from beginning to +end." + +He sat for an instant with a grave face, then looked up with a smile. +"Perhaps. It's rather _apropos des bottes_, Mrs. Erlton, but I wanted +to ask you a question. Hadn't you a white cockatoo, once? When you +first came here. I seem to recollect the bird making a row in the +veranda when I used to drive up." + +Her face grew suddenly pale, she sat staring at him with dread in her +eyes. "Yes!" she replied with a manifest effort, "I gave it to Sonny +Seymour because--because it loved him----" She broke off, then added +swiftly, eagerly, "What then?" + +"Only that I found one in the Palace to-day. There is a jolly marble +latticed balcony overlooking the river. The King used to write his +poetry there, they say. Well! I saw a brass cage hanging high up on a +hook--there has been no loot in the precincts, you know, for the Staff +has annexed them; I thought the cage was empty till I took it down +from sheer curiosity, and there was a dead cockatoo." + +"Dead!" echoed Kate, with a quick smile of relief. "Oh! how glad I am +it was dead." + +Captain Morecombe stared at her. "Poor brute!" he said under his +breath. "It was skin and bone. Starved to death. I expect they forgot +all about it when they got really frightened. They are cruel devils, +Mrs. Erlton." + +The Major had used the self-same words to Alice Gissing eighteen +months before, and in the same connection. But, perhaps fortunately +for Kate in her present state of nervous strain, that knowledge was +denied to her. Even so the coincidence of the bird itself absorbed +her. + +"It had a yellow crest," she began. + +"Oh! then it couldn't have been yours," interrupted Captain Morecombe, +rather relieved, for he saw that he had somehow touched on a hidden +wound. "This one was green; yellowish green. I dare say the King kept +pets like the Oude man----" + +"It is dead anyhow," said Kate hurriedly. + +And the knowledge gave her an unreasoning comfort. To begin with, it +seemed to her as if those fateful white wings, which had begun to +overshadow her world on that sunny evening down by the Goomtee river, +had ceased to hover over it. And then this rounding of the tale--for +that the bird was little Sonny's favorite she did not doubt--made her +feel that Fate would not leave that other portion of it unfinished. +The inevitable sequence would be worked out somehow. She would hear +something. So once more she waited like many another; waiting with +eyes strained past the last known deed of gallantry for the end which +surely must have been nobler still. When that knowledge came, she told +herself, she would be content. + +Yet there was another thing which held her to hope even more than +this; it was the remembrance of John Nicholson's words, "If ever you +have a chance of making up." They seemed prophetic; for he who spoke +them was so often right. Men talking of him as he lingered, watching, +advising, warning, despite dire agony of pain and drowsiness of +morphia, said there was none like him for clear insight into the very +heart of things. + +Yet he, as he lay without a complaint, was telling himself he had been +blind. He had sought more from his world than there was in it. And so, +though the news of the capture of the Burn Bastion brought a brief +rally, he sank steadily. + +But Hodson, coming into his tent to tell him of the safe capture of +the King and Queen upon the 21st at Humayon's Tomb, found him eager to +hear all particulars. So eager, that when the Sirdars of the Mooltanee +Horse (a regiment he had practically raised), who sat outside in +dozens waiting for every breath of news about their fetish, would not +keep quiet, he emphasized his third order by a revolver bullet through +the wall of the tent. Greatly to their delight since, as they retired +further off, they agreed that Nikalseyn was Nikalseyn still; and +surely death dare not claim one so full of life? + +Even Hodson smiled in the swift silence in which the laboring breath +of the dying man could be heard. + +"Well, sir," he went on, "as I was saying, I got permission, thanks to +you, to utilize my information----" + +"You mean Rujjub Ali's and that sneak Elahi Buksh's, I suppose," put +in Nicholson. "It was sharp work. The King only went to Humayon's Tomb +yesterday. They must have had it all cut and dried before, surely?" + +"The Queen has been trying to surrender on terms some time back, sir," +replied Hodson hastily. "She has a lot of treasure--eight lakhs, the +spies tell me--and is anxious to keep it. However, to go on. After +stopping with Elahi Buksh that night--no doubt, as you say, pressure +was put on them then--they went off, as agreed, to meet Bukht Khân, +but refused to go with him. Of course the promise of their lives----" + +"Then you were negotiating already?"[9] + +"Not exactly--but--but I couldn't have done without the promise unless +Wilson had agreed to send out troops, and he wouldn't. So I had to +give in, though personally I would a deal rather have brought the old +man in dead, than alive. Well, I set off this morning with fifty of my +horse and sent in the two messengers while I waited outside. It was +nearly two hours before they came back, for the old man was hard to +move. Zeenut Maihl was the screw, and when Bahâdur Shâh talked of his +ancestors and wept, told him he should have thought of that before he +let Bukht Khân and the army go. In fact she did the business for me; +but she stipulated for a promise of life from my own lips. So I rode +out alone to the causeway by the big gate--it is a splendid place, +sir; more like a mosque than a tomb, and drew up to attention. Zeenut +Maihl came out first, swinging along in her curtained dhooli, and +Rujjub, who was beside me, called out her name and titles decorously. +I couldn't help feeling it was a bit of a scene, you know; my being +there, alone, and all that. Then the King came in his palkee; so I +rode up, and demanded his sword. He asked if I were Hodson-sahib +bahâdur and if I would ratify the promise? So I had to choke over it, +for there were two or three thousand of a crowd by this time. Then we +came away. It was a long five miles at a footpace, with that crowd +following us until we neared the city. Then they funked. Besides I had +said openly I'd shoot the King like a dog despite the promise at the +first sign of rescue. And that's all, except that you should have seen +the officer's face at the Lahore gate when he asked me what I'd got in +tow, and I said calmly, 'Only the King of Delhi.' So that is done." + +"And well done," said Nicholson briefly, reaching out a parched right +hand. "Well done, from the beginning to the end." + +Hodson flushed up like a girl. "I'm glad to hear you say so, sir," he +replied as nonchalantly as he could, "but personally, of course, I +would rather have brought him in dead." + +Even that slight action, however, had left Nicholson breathless, and +the only comment for a time came from his eyes; bright, questioning +eyes, seeking now with a sort of pathetic patience to grasp the world +they were leaving, and make allowances for all shortcomings. + +"And now for the Princes," said Hodson. "Did you write to Wilson, +sir?" + +Nicholson nodded, "I think he'll consent. Only--only don't make any +more promises, Hodson. Some of them must be hung; they deserve death." + +His hearer gave rather an uneasy look at the clear eyes, and remarked +sharply: "You thought they deserved more than hanging once, sir." + +The old imperious frown of quick displeasure at all challenge came to +John Nicholson's face, then faded into a half-smile. "I was not so +near death myself. It makes a difference. So good-by, Hodson. I mayn't +see you again." He paused, and his smile grew clearer, and strangely +soft. "No news, I suppose, of that poor fellow Douglas, who didn't +agree with us?" + +"None, sir; I warned him it was useless and foolhardy to go back when +my information----" + +"No doubt," interrupted the dying man gently. "Still, I'd have gone in +his place." He lay still for a moment, then murmured to himself. "So +he is on the way before me. Well! I don't think we can be unhappy +after death. And, as for that poor lady--when you see her, Hodson, +tell her I am sorry--sorry she hadn't her chance." The last words were +once more murmured to himself and ended in silence. + +Kate Erlton, however, did not get the message which would, perhaps, +have ended her lingering hope. Major Hodson was too busy to deliver +it. Permission to capture the Princes was given him that very night, +and early the next morning he set off to Humayon's Tomb once more, +with his two spies, his second in command, and about a hundred +troopers. A small party indeed, to face the four or five thousand +Palace refugees who were known to be in hiding about the tomb, waiting +to see if the Princes could make terms like the King had done. But +Hodson's orders were strict. He was to bring in Mirza Moghul and Khair +Sultân, ex-Commanders-in-Chief, and Abool-Bukr, heir presumptive, +unconditionally, or not at all. + +The morning was deliciously cool and crisp, full of that promise of +winter, which in its perfection of climate consoles the Punjabee for +six months of purgatory. The sun sent a yellow flood of light over the +endless ruins of ancient Delhi, which here extend for miles on miles. +A nasty country for skulking enemies; but Hodson's pluck and dash were +equal to anything, and he rode along with a heart joyous at his +chance; full of determination to avail himself of it and gain renown. + +Someone else, however, was early astir on this the 22d of September, +so as to reach Humayon's Tomb in time to press on to the Kutb, if +needs be. This was the Princess Farkhoonda Zamâni. Ever since that +day, now more than a week past, when the last message to the city had +warned her that the supreme moment for the House of Timoor was at +hand, and she had started from her study of Holy Writ, telling herself +piteously that she must find Prince Abool-Bukr--must, at all sacrifice +to pride, seek him, since he would not seek her--must warn him and +keep his hand in hers again--she had been distracted by the +impossibility of carrying out her decision. For, expecting an +immediate sack of the town, the Mufti's people had barricaded the only +exit bazaar-ward, and when, after a day or two, she did succeed in +creeping out, it was to find the streets unsafe, the Palace itself +closed against all. But now, at least, there was a chance. Like all +the royal family, she knew of these two spies, Rujjub-Ali and Mirza +Elahi Buksh, who was saving his skin by turning Queen's evidence. She +knew of Hodson sahib's promise to the King and Queen. She knew that +Abool-Bukr was still in hiding with the arch-offenders, Mirza Moghul +and Khair Sultân, at Humayon's Tomb. Such an association was fatal; +but if she could persuade him to throw over his uncles, and go with +her, and if, afterward, she could open negotiations with the +Englishmen, and prove that Abool-Bukr had been dismissed from office +on the very day of the death challenge, had been in disgrace ever +since--had even been condemned to death by the King; surely she might +yet drag her dearest from the net into which Zeenut Maihl had lured +him--with what bait she scarcely trusted herself to think! The first +thing to be done, therefore, was to persuade Abool to come with her to +some safer hiding. She would risk all; her pride, her reputation, his +very opinion of her, for this. And surely a man of his nature was to +be tempted. So she put on her finest clothes, her discarded jewels, +and set off about noon in a ruth--a sort of curtain-dhoolie on wheels +drawn by oxen, gay with trappings, and set with jingling bells. They +let her pass at the Delhi gate, after a brief look through the +curtains, during which she cowered into a corner without covering her +face, lest they might think her a man, and stop her. + +"By George! that was a pretty woman," said the English subaltern who +passed her, as he came back to the guard-room. "Never saw such eyes in +my life. They were as soft, as soft as--well! I don't know what. And +they looked, somehow, as if they have been crying for years, and--and +as if they saw--saw something, you know." + +"They saw you--you sentimental idiot--that's enough to make any woman +cry," retorted his companion. And then the two, mere boys, wild with +success and high spirits, fell to horse-play over the insult. + +Yet the first boy was right. Newâsi's eyes had seen something day and +night, night and day, ever since they had strained into the darkness +after Prince Abool-Bukr when he broke from the kind detaining hand and +disappeared from the Mufti's quarter. And that something was a flood +of sunlight holding a figure, as she had seen it more than once, in a +wild unreasoning paroxysm of sheer terror. It seemed to her as if she +could hear those white lips gasping once more over the cry which +brought the vision. "Why didst not let me live mine own life, die mine +own death? but to die--to die needlessly--to die in the sunlight +perhaps." + +There was a flood of it now outside the ruth as it lumbered +along by the jail, not a quarter of a mile yet from the city gate. +Half-shivering she peeped through the gay patchwork curtains to assure +herself it held no horror. + +God and his Holy Prophet! What was that crowd on the road ahead? No, +not ahead, she was in it, now, so that the oxen paused, unable to go +on. A crowd, a cluster of spear-points, and then, against the jail +wall, an open space round another ruth, an Englishman on foot, three +figures stripped. No; not three! only two, for one had fallen as the +crack of a carbine rang through the startled air. Two? But one, now, +and that, oh! saints have mercy! the vision! the vision! It was Abool, +dodging like a hare, begging for bare life; seeking it, at last, out +of the sunshine, under the shadow of the ruth wheels. + +"Abool! Abool!" she screamed. "I am here. Come! I am here." + +Did he hear the kind voice? He may have, for it echoed clear before +the third and final crack of the carbine. So clear that the driver, +terrified lest it should bring like punishment on him, drove his goad +into the oxen; and the next instant they were careering madly down a +side road, bumping over watercourses and ditches. But Newâsi felt no +more buffetings. She lay huddled up inside, as unconscious as that +other figure which, by Major Hodson's orders, was being dragged out +from under the wheels and placed upon it beside the two other corpses +for conveyance to the city. And none of all the crowd, ready--so the +tale runs--to rescue the Princes lest death should be their portion in +the future, raised voice or hand to avenge them now that it had come +so ruthlessly, so wantonly. Perhaps the English guard at the Delhi +gate cowed them, as it had cowed those who the day before had followed +the King so far, then slunk away. + +So the little _cortège_ moved on peacefully; far more peacefully +than the other ruth, which, with _its_ unconscious burden, was racing +Kutb-ward as if it was afraid of the very sunshine. But the Princess +Farkhoonda, huddled up in all her jewels and fineries, had forgotten +even that; forgotten even that vision seen in it. + +But Hodson as he rode at ease behind the dead Princes seemed to court +the light. He gloried in the deed, telling himself that "in less than +twenty-four hours he had disposed of the principal members of the +House of Timoor"; so fulfilling his own words written weeks before, +"If I get into the Palace, the House of Timoor will not be worth five +minutes' purchase, I ween." Telling himself also, that in shooting +down with his own hand men who had surrendered without stipulations to +his generosity and clemency, surrendered to a hundred troopers when +they had five thousand men behind them, he "had rid the earth of +ruffians." Telling himself that he was "glad to have had the +opportunity, and was game to face the moral risk of praise or blame." + +He got the former unstintingly from most of his fellows as, in +triumphant procession, the bodies were taken to the chief police +station, there to be exposed, so say eye-witnesses, "In the very spot +where, four months before, Englishwomen had been outraged and +murdered, in the very place where their helpless victims had lain." + +A strange perversion of the truth, responsible, perhaps, not only for +the praise, but for the very deed itself; so Mohammed Ismail's barter +of his truth and soul for the lives of the forty prisoners at the +Kolwâb counted for nothing in the judgment of this world. + +But Hodson lacked either praise or blame from one man. John Nicholson +lay too near the judgment of another world to be disturbed by vexed +questions in this; and when the next morning came, men, meeting each +other, said sadly, "He is dead." + +The news, brought to Kate Erlton by Captain Morecombe when he came +over to report another failure, took the heart out of even her hope. + +"There is no use in my staying longer, I'm afraid," she said quietly. +"I'm only in the way. I will go back to Meerut; and then home--to the +boy." + +"I think it would be best," he replied kindly. "I can arrange for you +to start to-morrow morning. You will be the better for a change; it +will help you to forget." + +She smiled a little bitterly; but when he had gone she set to work, +packing up such of her husband's things as she wished the boy to have +with calm deliberation; and early in the afternoon went over to the +garden of her old house to get some fresh flowers for what would be +her last visit to that rear-guard of graves. To take, also, her last +look at the city, and watch it grow mysterious in the glamour of +sunset. Seen from afar it seemed unchanged. A mass of rosy light and +lilac shadow, with the great white dome of the mosque hanging airily +above the smoke wreaths. + +Yet the end had come to its four months' dream as it had come to hers. +Rebellion would linger long, but its stronghold, its very _raison +d'être_, was gone. And Memory would last longer still; yet surely it +would not be all bitter. Hers was not. Then with a rush of real regret +she thought of the peaceful roof, of old Tiddu, of the Princess +Farkhoonda--Tara--Soma--of Sri Anunda in his garden. Was she to go +home to safe, snug England, live in a suburb, and forget? Forget all +but the tragedy! Yet even that held beautiful memories. Alice Gissing +under young Mainwaring's scarf, while he lay at her feet. Her husband +leaving a good name to his son. Did not these things help to make the +story perfect? No! not perfect. And with the remembrance her eyes +filled with sudden tears. There would always be a blank for her in the +record. The Spirit which had moved on the Face of the Waters, bringing +their chance of Healing and Atonement to so many, had left hers in the +shadow. She had learned her lesson. Ah! yes; she had learned it. But +the chance of using it? + +As she sat on the plinth of the ruined veranda, watching the city +growing dim through the mist of her tears, John Nicholson's words came +back to her once more, "If ever you have the chance"; but it would +never come now--never! + +She started up wildly at the clutch of a brown hand on her wrist--a +brown hand with a circlet of dead gold above it. + +"Come!" said a voice behind her; "come quick! he needs you." + +"Tara!" she gasped--"Tara! Is--is he alive then?" + +"He would not need the mem if he were dead," came the swift reply. +Then with her wild eyes fixed on another gold circlet upon the wrist +she held, Tara laughed shrilly. "So the mem wears it still. She has +not forgotten. Women do not forget, white or black"--with a strange +stamp of her foot she interrupted herself fiercely--"come, I say, +come!" + +If there had been doubts as to the Rajpootni's sanity at times in past +days, there was none now. A glance at her face was sufficient. It was +utterly distraught, the clutch on Kate's arm utterly uncontrolled; so +that, involuntarily, the latter shrank back. + +"The mem is afraid," cried Tara exultantly. "So be it! I will go back +and tell the master. Tell him I was right and he wrong, for all the +English he chattered. I will tell him the mem is not suttee--how could +she be----" + +The old taunt roused many memories, and made Kate ready to risk +anything. "I am coming, Tara--but where?" She stood facing the tall +figure in crimson, a tall figure also, in white, her hands full of the +roses she had gathered. + +Tara looked at her with that old mingling of regret and approbation, +jealousy and pride. "Then she must come at once. He is dying--may be +dead ere we get back." + +"Dead!" echoed Kate faintly. "Is he wounded then?" + +A sort of somber sullenness dulled the excitement of Tara's face. "He +is ill," she replied laconically. Suddenly, however, she burst out +again: "The mem need not look so! I have done all--all she could have +done. It is his fault. He will not take things. The mem can do no +more; but I have come to her, so that none shall say, 'Tara killed the +master.' So come. Come quick!" + +Five minutes after Kate was swinging cityward in a curtained dhooli +which Tara had left waiting on the road below, and trying to piece out +a consecutive story from the odd jumble of facts and fancies and +explanations which Tara poured into her ear between her swift abuse of +the bearers for not going faster, and her assertion that there was no +need to hurry. The mem need not hope to save the Huzoor, since +everything had been done. It seemed, however, that Tiddu had taken +back the letter telling of Kate's safety, and that in consequence of +this the master had arranged to leave the city in a day or two, and +Tiddu--born liar and gold grubber, so the Rajpootni styled him--had +gone off at once to make more money. But on the very eve of his going +back to the Ridge, Jim Douglas had been struck down with the Great +Sickness, and after two or three days, instead of getting better, had +fallen--as Tara put it--into the old way. So far Kate made out +clearly; but from this point it became difficult to understand the +reproaches, excuses, pathetic assertions of helplessness, and fierce +declarations that no one could have done more. But what was the use of +the Huzoor's talking English all night? she said; even a suttee could +not go out when everyone was being shot in the streets. Besides, it +was all obstinacy. The master could have got well if he had tried. And +who was to know where to find the mem? Indeed, if it had not been for +Sri Anunda's gardener, who knew all the gardener folk, of course, she +would not have found the mem even now; for she would never have known +which house to inquire at. Not that it would have mattered, since the +mem could do nothing--nothing--nothing---- + +Kate, looking down on the bunch of white flowers which she had +literally been too hurried to think of laying aside, felt her heart +shrink. They were rather a fateful gift to be in her hands now. Had +they come there of set purpose, and would the man who had done so much +for her be beyond all care save those pitiful offices of the dead? +Still, even that was better than that he should lie alone, untended. +So, urged by Tara's vehement upbraidings, the dhooli-bearers lurched +along, to stop at last. It seemed to Kate as if her heart stopped +also. She could not think of what might lie before her as she followed +Tara up the dark, strangely familiar stair. Surely, she thought, she +would have known it among a thousand. And there was the step on which +she had once crouched terror-stricken, because she was shut out from +shelter within. But now Tara's fingers were at the padlock, Tara's +hand set the door wide. + +Kate paused on the threshold, feeling, in truth, dazed once more at +the strange familiarity of all things. It seemed to her as if she had +but just left that strip of roof aglow with the setting, sun, the +bubble dome of the mosque beginning to flush like a cloud upon the +sky. But Tara, watching her with resentful eyes, put a different +interpretation on the pause, and said quickly: + +"He is within. The mem was away, and it was quieter. But the rest is +all the same--there is nothing forgotten--nothing." + +Kate, however, heard only the first words, and was already across the +outer roof to gain the inner one. Tara, still beyond the threshold, +watched her disappear, then stood listening for a minute, with a face +tragic in its intensity. Suddenly a faint voice broke the silence, and +her hands, which had been tightly clenched, relaxed. She closed the +door silently, and went downstairs. + +Meanwhile Kate, on the inner roof, had paused beside the low string +bed set in its middle, scarcely daring to look at its burden, and so +put hope and fear to the touchstone of truth. But as she stood +hesitating, a voice, querulous in its extreme weakness, said in +Hindustani: + +"It is too soon, Tara; I don't want anything; and--and you needn't +wait--thank you." + +He lay with his face turned from her, so she could stand, wondering +how best to break her presence to him, noting with a failing heart the +curious slackness, the lack of contour even on that hard string bed. +He seemed lost, sunk in it; and she had seen that sign so often of +late that she knew what it meant. One thing was certain, he must have +food--stimulants if possible--before she startled him. So she stole +back to the outer roof, expecting to find Tara there, and Tara's help. +But the roof lay empty, and a sudden fear lest, after all, she had +only come to see him die, while she was powerless to fight that death +from sheer exhaustion, which seemed so perilously near, made her put +down the bunch of flowers she held with an impatient gesture. What a +fool she had been not to think of other things! + +But as she glanced round, her eye fell on a familiar earthenware +basin kept warm in a pan of water over the ashes. It was full of +_chikken-brât_, and excellent of its kind, too. Then in a niche stood +milk and eggs--a bottle of brandy, arrow-root---everything a nurse +could wish for. And in another, evidently in case the brew should be +condemned, was a fresh chicken ready for use. Strange sights these to +bring tears of pity to a woman's eyes; but they did. For Kate, reading +between the lines of poor Tara's confusion, began to understand the +tragedy underlying those words she had just heard: + +"I don't want anything, Tara. And you needn't wait, thank you." She +seemed to see, with a flash, the long, long days which had passed, +with that patient, polite negative coming to chill the half distraught +devotion. + +He must take something now, for all that. So, armed with a cup and +spoon, she went back, going round the bed so that he could see her. + +"It is time for your food, Mr. Greyman," she said quietly; "when you +have taken some, I'll tell you everything. Only you must take this +first." As she slipped her hand under him, pillow and all, to raise +his head slightly, she could see the pained, puzzled expression narrow +his eyes as he swallowed a spoonful. Then with a frown he turned his +head from her impatiently. + +"You must take three," she insisted; "you must, indeed, Mr. Greyman. +Then I will tell you--everything." + +His face came back to hers with the faintest shadow of his old +mutinous sarcasm upon it, and he lay looking at her deliberately for a +second or two. "I thought you were a ghost," he said feebly at last; +"only they don't bully. Well let's get it over." + +The memory of many such a bantering reply to her insistence in the +past sent a lump to her throat and kept her silent. The little low +stool on which she had been wont to sit beside him was in its old +place, and half-mechanically she drew it closer, and, resting her +elbow on the bed as she used to do, looked round her, feeling as if +the last six weeks were a dream. Tara had told truth. Everything was +in its place. There were flowers in a glass, a spotless fringed cloth +on the brass platter. The pity held in these trivial signs brought a +fresh pang to her heart for that other woman. + +But Jim Douglas, lying almost in the arms of death, was not thinking +of such things. + +"Then Delhi must have fallen," he said suddenly in a stronger voice. +"Did Nicholson take it?" + +"Yes," she replied quietly, thinking it best to be concise and give +him, as it were, a fresh grip on facts. "It has fallen. The King is a +prisoner, the Princes have been shot, and most of the troops move on +to-morrow toward Agra." + +It epitomized the situation beyond the possibility of doubt, and he +gave a faint sigh. "Then it is all over. I'm glad to hear it. Tara +never knew anything; and it seemed so long." + +Had she known and refused to tell, Kate wondered? or in her insane +absorption had she really thought of nothing but the chance Fate had +thrown in her way of saving this man's life? Yes! it must have been +very long. Kate realized this as she watched the spent and weary face +before her, its bright, hollow eyes fixed on the glow which was now +fast fading from the dome. "All over!" he murmured to himself. "Well! +I suppose it couldn't be helped." + +She followed his thought unerringly; and a great pity for this man who +had done nothing, where others had done so much, surged up in her and +made her seek to show his fate no worse than others. Besides, this +discouragement was fatal, for it pointed to a lack of that desire for +life which is the best weapon against death. She might fail to rouse +him, as those had failed who, but a day or two before, had sent +a bit of red ribbon representing the Victoria Cross to the dying +Salkeld--the hero of the Cashmere gate--and only gained in reply a +faint smile and the words, "They will like it at home." Still she +would try. + +"Yes, it is over!" she echoed, "and it has cost so many lives +uselessly. General Nicholson lost his trying to do the impossible--so +people say." + +Jim Douglas still lay staring at the fading glow. "Dead!" he murmured. +"That is a pity. But he took Delhi first. He said he would." + +"And my husband----" she began. + +He turned then, with curiously patient courtesy. "I know. Nicholson +wrote that in his letter. And I have been glad--glad he had his +chance, and--and--made so much of it." + +Once more she followed his thought; knew that, though he was too proud +to confess it, he was saying to himself that he had had his chance too +and had done nothing. So she answered it as if he had spoken. + +"And you had your chance of saving a woman," she said, with a break in +her voice, "and you saved her. It isn't much, I suppose. It counts as +nothing to you. Why should it? But to me----" She broke off, losing +her purpose for him in her own bitter regret and vague resentment. +"Why didn't you let them kill me, and then go away?" she went on +almost passionately. "It would have been better than saving me to +remember always that I stood in your way--better than giving me no +chance of repaying you for all--ah! think how much! Better than +leaving me alone to a new life--like--like all the others have done." + +She buried her face on her arm as it rested on the pillow with a sob. +This, then, was the end, she thought, this bitter unavailing regret +for both. + +So for a space there was silence while she sat with her face hidden, +and he lay staring at that darkening dome. But suddenly she felt his +hot hand find hers; so thin, so soft, so curiously strong still in its +grip. + +"Give me some more wine or something," came his voice consolingly. +"I'll try and stop--if I can." + +She made an effort to smile back at him, but it was not very +successful. His, as she fed him, was better; but it did not help Kate +Erlton to cheerfulness, for it was accompanied by a murmur that the +_chikken-brât_ was very different from Tara's stuff. So she seemed to +see a poor ghost glowering at them from the shadows, asking her how +she dared take all the thanks. And the ghost remained long after Jim +Douglas had dozed off; remained to ask, so it seemed to Kate Erlton, +every question that could be asked about the mystery of womanhood and +manhood. + +But Tara herself asked none when in the first gray glimmer of dawn she +crept up the stairs again and stood beside the sleepers. For Kate, +wearied out, had fallen asleep crouched up on the stool, her head +resting on the pillow, her arm flung over the bed to keep that touch +on his hand which seemed to bring him rest. Tara, once more in her +widow's dress, looked down on them silently, then threw her bare arms +upward. So for a second she stood, a white-shrouded appealing figure +against that dark shadow of the dome which blocked the paling eastern +sky. Then stooping, her long, lissome fingers busied themselves +stealthily with the thin gold chain about the sick man's neck; for +there was something in the locket attached to it which was hers by +right now. Hers, if she could have nothing else; for she was +suttee--suttee! + +The unuttered cry was surging through her heart and brain, rousing a +mad exultation in her, when half an hour afterward she re-entered the +narrow lane leading to the arcaded courtyard with the black old shrine +hiding under the tall peepul tree. And what was that hanging over the +congeries of roofs and stairs, the rabbit warren of rooms and passages +where her pigeon-nest was perched? A canopy of smoke, and below it +leaping flames. There were many wanton fires in Delhi during those +first few days of license, and this was one of them; but already, in +the dawn, English officers were at work giving orders, limiting the +danger as much as possible. + +"We can't save that top bit," said one at last, then turned to one of +his fatigue party. "Have you cleared everybody out, sergeant, as I +told you?" + +"Yes, sir! it's quite empty." + +It had been so five minutes before. It was not now; for that canopy of +smoke, those licking tongues of flame, had given the last touch to +Tara's unstable mind. She had crept up and up, blindly, and was now on +her knees in that bare room set round with her one scrap of culture, +ransacking an old basket for something which had not seen the light +for years, her scarlet tinsel-set wedding dress. Her hands were +trembling, her wild eyes blazed like fires themselves. + +And below, men waited calmly for the flames to claim this, their last +prize; for the turret stood separated from the next house. + +"My God!" came an English voice, as something showed suddenly upon the +roof. "I thought you said it was empty--and that's a woman!" + +It was. A woman in a scarlet, tinsel-set dress, and all the poor +ornaments she possessed upon her widespread arms. So, outlined against +the first sun-ray she stood, her shrill chanting voice rising above +the roar and rush of the flames. + +"Oh! Guardians eight, of this world and the next. Sun, Moon, and Air, +Earth, Ether, Water, and my own poor soul bear witness! Oh! Lord of +death, bear witness that I come. Day, Night, and Twilight say I am +suttee." + +There was a louder roar, a sudden leaping of the flames, and the +turret sank inwardly. But the chanting voice could be heard for a +second in the increasing silence which followed. + +"Shive-jee hath saved His own," said the crowd, looking toward the +unharmed shrine. + +And over on the other side of the city, Kate Erlton, roused by that +same first ray of sunlight, was looking down with a smile upon Jim +Douglas before waking him. The sky was clear as a topaz, the purple +pigeons were cooing and sidling on the copings. And in the bright, +fresh light she saw the gold locket lying open on the sleeper's +breast. She had often wondered what it held, and now--thinking he +might not care to find it at her mercy--stooped to close it. + +But it was empty. + +The snap, slight as it was, roused him. Not, however, to a knowledge +of the cause, for he lay looking up at her in his turn. + +"So it is all over," he said softly, but he said it with a smile. + +Yes! It was all over. Down on the parade ground behind the Ridge the +bugles were sounding, and the men who had clung to the red rocks for +so long were preparing to leave them for assault elsewhere. + +But one man was taking an eternal hold upon them; for John Nicholson +was being laid in his grave. Not in the rear-guard, however, but in +the van, on the outer-most spur of the Ridge abutting on the city +wall, within touch almost of the Cashmere gate. Being laid in his +grave--by his own request--without escort, without salute; for he knew +that he had failed. + +So he lies there facing the city he took. But his real grave was in +that narrow lane within the walls where those who dream can see him +still, alone, ahead, with yards of sheer sunlight between him and his +fellow-men. + +Yards of sheer sunlight between that face with its confident glance +forward, that voice with its clear cry, "Come on, men! Come on!" and +those--the mass of men--who with timorous look backward hear in that +call to go forward nothing but the vain regret for things familiar +that must be left behind. "Going! Going! Gone!" + +So, in a way, John Nicholson stands symbol of the many lives lost +uselessly in the vain attempt to go forward too fast. + +Yet his voice echoed still to the dark faces and the light alike: + +"Come on, men! Come on!" + + + + + + BOOK VI. + + + + + APPENDIX A. + + +_From_ A. DASHE, _Collector and Magistrate of Kujabpore, to_ R. TAPE, +_Esq., Commissioner and Superintendent of Kwâbabad_. + +_Fol. No_. O. + + Dated 11th May, 1858. + +SIR: In reply to your No. 103 of the 20th April requesting me to +report on the course of the Mutiny in my district, the measures taken +to suppress it, and its effects, if any, on the judicial, executive, +and financial work under my charge, I have the honor to inclose a +brief statement, which for convenience' sake I have drafted under the +usual headings of the annual report which I was unable to send in till +last week. I regret the delay, but the pressure of work in the English +office due to the revising of forfeiture and pension lists made it +unavoidable. + + I have the honor, etc., etc., + + A. DASHE, _Coll. and Magte_. + + +_Introductory Remarks_.[10]--So far as my district is concerned, the +late disturbances have simply been a military mutiny. At no time could +they be truthfully called a rebellion. In the outlying posts, indeed, +the people knew little or nothing of what was going on around them, +and even in the towns resistance was not thought of until the prospect +of any immediate suppression of the mutiny disappeared. + +The small force of soldiers in my district of course followed the +example of their brethren. Nothing else could be expected from our +position midway between two large cantonments; indeed the continuous +stream of mutinous troops which passed up and down the main road +during the summer had a decidedly bad effect. + +I commenced to disperse the disturbers of the public peace on the 21st +May. These were largely escaped felons from the Meerut jail; and the +fact that they were quite indiscriminate in their lawlessness enabled +me to rally most of the well-doing people on my side. I hanged a few +of the offenders, and having enlisted a small corps with the aid of +some native gentlemen (whose names I append for reference), sent it +out under charge of my assistant (I myself being forced throughout the +whole business to remain at headquarters and keep a grip on things) to +put down some Goojurs and other predatory tribes who took occasion to +resort to their ancestral habits of life. + +No real opposition, however, was ever met with; but in June (after our +failure to take Delhi by a _coup de main_ became known) there was an +organized attempt to seize the Treasury. Fortunately I had some twenty +or thirty of my new levy in headquarters at the time, so that the +attempt failed, and I was able to bring one or two of the ringleaders +(one, I regret to say, a man of considerable importance in my +district) to justice. + +I subsequently made several applications to the nearest cantonment for +a few European soldiers to escort my treasure--some two lakhs--to +safer quarters. But this, unfortunately, could not be granted to me, +so I had to keep a strong guard of men over the money who might have +been more useful elsewhere. + +Until the fall of Delhi matters remained much the same. Isolated bands +of marauders ravaged portions of my district, often, I regret to say, +escaping before punishment could be meted out to them. The general +feeling was one of disquiet and alarm to both Europeans and natives. +My table attendant, for instance, absented himself from dinner one +day, sending a substitute to do his work, under the belief that I had +given orders for a general slaughter of Mohammedans that evening. I +had done nothing of the kind. + +After the fall of Delhi, as you are aware, the mutinous fugitives, +some fifty or sixty thousand strong, marched southward in a compact +body and caused much alarm. But after camping on the outskirts of my +district for a few days, they suddenly disappeared. I am told they +dispersed during one night, each to his own home. Anyhow they +literally melted away, and the public mind seemed to become aware that +the contest was over, and that the struggle to subvert British rule +had ignominiously failed. Matters therefore assumed a normal aspect, +but I believe that there is more shame, sorrow, and regret in the +hearts of many than we shall probably ever have full cognizance of, +and that it will take years for the one race to regain its confidence, +the other its self-respect. + +_Civil Judicature_.--The courts were temporarily suspended for a week +or two; after that original work went on much as usual, but the +appellate work suffered. There was an indisposition both to institute +and hear appeals, possibly due to the total eclipse of the higher +appellate courts. I myself had little leisure for civil cases. + + +_Criminal Justice_.--There has been far less crime than usual during +the past year. Possibly because much of it had necessarily to be +treated summarily and so did not come on the record. I am inclined to +believe, however, that petty offenses really are fewer when serious +crime is being properly dealt with. + + +_Police_.--The less said about the behavior of the police the better. +The force simply melted away; but as it was always inefficient its +absence had little effect, save, perhaps, in a failure to bring up +those trivial offenses mentioned in the last para. + + +_Jails_.--The jail was happily preserved throughout; for the addition +of four or five hundred felons to the bad characters of my district +might have complicated matters. I was peculiarly fortunate in this, +since I learn that only nine out of the forty-three jails in the +Province were so held. + + +_Revenue_ (_Sub-head, Land_).--The arrears under this head are less +than usual, and there seems no reason to apprehend serious loss to +Government. + + +(_Opium_).--There has, I regret to say, been considerable detriment to +our revenue under this head, due to the fact that the smuggling of the +drug is extremely easy, owing to its small bulk, and that the demand +was greater than usual. + + +(_Stamps_).--The revenue here shows an increase of Rs. 72,000. I am +unable to account for this, unless the prevailing uncertainty made the +public mind incline toward what security it could compass in the +matter of bonds, agreements, etc. + + +(_Salt and Customs_).--This department shows a very creditable record. +My subordinates, with the help of a few volunteers, were able to +maintain the Customs line throughout the whole disturbances. Its value +as a preventative of roving lawlessness cannot be over-estimated. Four +hundred and eighty-two smugglers were punished, and the Customs +brought in Rs. 33,770 more than in '56. But the work done by this +handful of isolated European patrols, with only a few natives under +them, to the cause of law and order, cannot be estimated in money. + + +_Education_.--The higher education went on as usual. Primary +instruction suffered. Female schools disappeared altogether. + + +_Public Works_.--Many things combined to stop anything like a vigorous +prosecution of new public works, and those in hand were greatly +retarded. + + +_Post-Office_.--The work in this department suffered occasional lapses +owing to the murder of solitary runners by lawless ruffians, but the +service continued fairly efficient. An attempt was made, by the +confiscation of sepoys' letters, to discover if any organized plan of +attack or resistance was in circulation, but nothing incriminatory was +found, the correspondence consisting chiefly of love-letters. + + +_Financial_.--At one time the necessary cash for the pay of +establishments ran short, but this was met by bills upon native +bankers, who have since been repaid. + + +_Hospitals_.--The dispensaries were in full working order throughout +the year, and the number of cases treated--especially for wounds and +hurts, many of them grievous--above the average. + + +_Health and Population_.--Both were normal, and the supply of food +grains ample. Markets strong, and well supplied throughout. Some grain +stores were burned, some plundered; but, as a rule, if A robbed B, B +in his turn robbed C. So the matter adjusted itself. In many cases +also, the booty was restored amicably when it became evident that +Government could hold its own. + + +_Agriculture_.--Notwithstanding the violence of contest, the many +instances of plundered and burned villages, the necessary impressment +of labor and cattle, and the license of mutineers consorting with +felons, agricultural interests did not suffer. Plowing and sowing went +on steadily, and the land was well covered with a full winter crop. + + +_General Remarks_.--Beyond these plundered and burned villages, which +are still somewhat of an eyesore, though they are recovering +themselves rapidly, the only result of the Mutiny to be observed in my +district is that money seems scarcer, and so the cultivators have to +pay a higher rate of interest on loans. + +There are, of course, some empty chairs in the district durbar. I +append a list of their late occupants also, and suggest that the +vacancies might be filled from the other list, as some of those +gentlemen who helped to raise the levy have not yet got chairs. + +In regard to future punishments, however, I venture to suggest that +orders should be issued limiting the period during which mutineers can +be brought to justice. If some such check on malicious accusation be +not laid down we shall have a fine crop of false cases, perjuries, +etc., since the late disturbances have, naturally, caused a good many +family differences. In view of this also, I believe it would be +safest, in the event of such accusations in the future, to punish the +whole village to which the alleged mutineer belongs by a heavy fine, +rather than to single out individuals as examples. In a case like the +present it is extremely difficult to measure the exact proportion of +guilt attachable to each member of the community, and, even with the +very greatest care, I find it is not always possible to hang the right +man. And this is a difficulty which will increase as time goes on. + + + + + APPENDIX B. + + + DELHI, Christmas Day, 1858. + +DEAR MRS. ERLTON: I can scarcely believe that two whole years have +passed since I helped you to decorate a Christmas-tree in the +Government college here. Those long months before the walls, and those +others of wild chase after vanishing mutineers over half India seem to +belong to someone else's existence now that I--and the world around +me--are back in the commonplaces of life. I was down to-day helping +the chaplain's wife with another tree--she has a very pretty sister, +by the way, just out from England--and I almost fancied as I looked +into the dim screened veranda where we are going to have an +entertainment, that I could see you sitting there with little Sonny +Seymour on your lap as I found you that afternoon half asleep--that +interminable play about the Lord of Life and Death (wasn't it?) had +been too much for you. + +Well, I can only hope that Mr. Douglas' health and the pleasures of +that Scotch home, of which you wrote me such a delightful description, +will allow of your returning to India sometime and giving me a sight +of you again. + +Meanwhile I am reminded that I sent you off a small parcel by last +mail which I trust may arrive before the wedding, as this should do, +and convey to you the kindly remembrances of friends many thousand +miles away. Not that you will need to be reminded. I fancy that few +who went through the Indian Mutiny will ever need to have the faces +and places they saw there recalled to their memory. Terrible as it was +at the time, I myself feel that I would not willingly forget a single +detail. So, being certain that it holds your interest, your +imagination also, I am inclosing something for you to read. Can you +not imagine the Silent and Diffident Dashe writing it? I can, and the +careful way in which he would order the gallows to be removed and lay +down his sword in favor of his pen at the earliest opportunity. You +see he favors clemency Canning. So do most of us out here except +those who have not yet recovered their nerves. I remember hearing +Hodson--sad, wasn't it? his death over a needless piece of +dare-devilry--very angry over something Mr. Douglas said about our all +being in a blind funk. I am afraid it was true of a good many. Not +Dashe, however, he kept his district together by sheer absence of +fear, and so did many another. This report, then, will carry you on in +the story, as it were, since you left us. For the rest, there is not +much to tell. You remember our old mess khânsaman Numgal Khân? He +turned up, with his bill, and out of pure delight insisted on feasting +us so lavishly that we had to make him moderate his transports. Even +with _batta_ and prize money we should all have been bankrupt, like +the royal family. I can't help pitying it. Of course we have pensioned +the lot, but I expect precious little hard cash gets to some of those +wretched women. One of them, no less a person than the Princess +Farkhoonda Zamâni, that beast Abool-bukr's ally, has set up a girls' +school in the city. If she had only befriended you instead of turning +you out to find your own fate, she would have done better for herself. +Talking of friends and foes, it is rather amusing to find the villages +full of men busy at their plows with a suspiciously military set about +the shoulders, who, according to their own showing, never wore +uniform, or doffed it before the Mutiny began. I was much struck with +one of these defaulters the other day; a big Rajpoot, who, but for his +name, might have stood for the Laodicean sepoy you told me about. But +names can be changed, so can faces; and that reminds me that I had a +petition from that old scoundrel Tiddu the other day--you know I have +been put on to civil work lately, and shall end, I suppose, by being a +Commissioner as well as a Colonel. He has had a grant of land given +him for life, and he now wants the tenure extended in favor of one +Jhungi, who, he declares, helped you in your marvelous escape. It +seems there was another brother, one Bhungi, who--but I own to being a +little confused in the matter. Perhaps you can set me straight. +Meanwhile, I have pigeon-holed the Jhungi-Bhungi claim until I hear +from you. The old man was well, and asked fervently after Sonny, who, +by the way, goes home from Lucknow in the spring. I expect the +Seymours are about the only family in India which came out of the +business unscathed; yet they were in the thick of it. Truly the whole +thing was a mystery from beginning to end. I asked a native yesterday +if he could explain it, but he only shook his head and said the Lord +had sent a "breath into the land." But the most remarkable thing to my +mind about the whole affair is the rapidity with which it proved the +stuff a man was made of. You can see that by looking into the +cemeteries. India is a dead level for the present; all the heads that +towered above their fellows laid low. Think of them all! Havelock, +Lawrence, Outram. The names crowd to one's lips; but they seem to +begin and end with one--Nicholson! + +Well, good-by! I have not wished you luck--that goes without saying; +but tell Douglas I'm glad he had his chance. + + Ever yours truly, + + CHARLES MORECOMBE. + + + + + FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 1: From Colonel W. Wheler's defense.] + +[Footnote 2: This question is one which must be asked as we look back +through the years on this pitiful spectacle of the loyal regiment, +unarmed, facing the disloyal one shooting down its officers. Briefly, +on whom would the seventy men of the 11th, who never left the colors, +the hundred and twenty men who returned to them after the short night +of tumult was over, have fired if a company of English troops had come +up to turn the balance in favor of loyalty?] + +[Footnote 3: (How? His house lay a mile at least further off, and the +Collector's office was on the only route a messenger could take. No +record explains this. But the best ones mention casually that a +telegram of warning came to Delhi in the early morning of the 11th. +Whence? the wires to Meerut were cut. Lahore, Umballa, Agra, did not +know the news themselves. Can the story--improbable in any other +history, but in this record of fatal mistakes gaining a pathetic +probability--which the old folk in Delhi tell be true? The story of a +telegram sent _unofficially_ from Meerut the night before, received +while the Commissioner was at dinner, put unopened into his pocket, +and _forgotten_. + +Not susceptible of proof or disproof, it certainly explains three +things: + +1. Whence the warning telegram came. + +2. Why the Commissioner received information before a man a good mile +nearer the source. + +3. Why the Collector _at once_ sought for military aid.)] + +[Footnote 4: From the account in the native papers.] + +[Footnote 5: From a contemporaneous account.] + +[Footnote 6: Chicken broth.] + +[Footnote 7: 61st, 1st Fusiliers, 2d Punjabees.] + +[Footnote 8: His widow died last year, having spent thirty-eight years +of her fifty-four in cherishing the memory of a saint upon earth.] + +[Footnote 9: (Hodson in his diary says that the promise was virtually +given _two_ days before the capture. This was the 21st. It must +therefore have been given on the 19th. _Most likely_ in Elahi Buksh's +house. If so, on Hodson's own authority. Query. Was he there in +person?)] + +[Footnote 10: Every statement in this supposed report has been gleaned +from a real one, or from official papers published at the time. I am +responsible for nothing but occasionally the wording.] + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's On the Face of the Waters, by Flora Annie Steel + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40140 *** |