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diff --git a/old/64253-h/64253-h.htm b/old/64253-h/64253-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 1b1f368..0000000 --- a/old/64253-h/64253-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12904 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"> - -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en"> - -<head> - -<link rel="coverpage" href="images/img-cover.jpg" /> - -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> - -<title> -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Only an Ensign, Volume 2, -by James Grant -</title> - -<style type="text/css"> -body { color: black; - background: white; - margin-right: 10%; - margin-left: 10%; - font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; - text-align: justify } - -p {text-indent: 4% } - -p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } - -p.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 200%; - text-align: center } - -p.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 150%; - text-align: center } - -p.t2b {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 150%; - font-weight: bold; - text-align: center } - -p.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 100%; - text-align: center } - -p.t3b {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 100%; - font-weight: bold; - text-align: center } - -p.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 80%; - text-align: center } - -p.t4b {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 80%; - font-weight: bold; - text-align: center } - -p.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 60%; - text-align: center } - -h1 { text-align: center } -h2 { text-align: center } -h3 { text-align: center } -h4 { text-align: center } -h5 { text-align: center } - -p.poem {text-indent: 0%; - font-size: 80% ; - margin-left: 10%; } - -p.thought {text-indent: 0% ; - letter-spacing: 4em ; - text-align: center } - -p.letter {text-indent: 0%; - margin-left: 10% ; - margin-right: 10% } - -p.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 80%; - margin-left: 10% ; - margin-right: 10% } - -.smcap { font-variant: small-caps } - -p.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; - margin-left: 10% ; - margin-right: 10% } - -p.intro {font-size: 90% ; - text-indent: -5% ; - margin-left: 5% ; - margin-right: 0% } - -p.quote {text-indent: 4% ; - margin-left: 0% ; - margin-right: 0% } - -p.finis { font-size: larger ; - text-align: center ; - text-indent: 0% ; - margin-left: 0% ; - margin-right: 0% } - -</style> - -</head> - -<body> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Only an Ensign, Volume 2 (of 3), by James Grant</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<table> - <tr><td>Title:</td><td>Only an Ensign, Volume 2 (of 3)</td></tr> - <tr><td></td><td>A Tale of the Retreat from Cabul</td></tr> -</table> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: James Grant</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 10, 2021 [eBook #64253]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Al Haines</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ONLY AN ENSIGN, VOLUME 2 (OF 3) ***</div> - -<h1> -<br /><br /> - ONLY AN ENSIGN<br /> -</h1> - -<p class="t3b"> - A Tale of the Retreat from Cabul.<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t2"> - BY JAMES GRANT,<br /> -</p> - -<p class="t4"> - AUTHOR OF "THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "FIRST LOVE AND LAST LOVE,"<br /> - "LADY WEDDERBURN'S WISH," ETC.<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> - IN THREE VOLUMES.<br /> -<br /> - VOL. II.<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t4"> - "Come what come may,<br /> - Time and the Hour runs through the roughest day."—<i>Macbeth.</i><br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> - LONDON:<br /> - TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE ST., STRAND.<br /> - 1871.<br /> - [<i>All Rights Reserved.</i>]<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t4"> - LONDON:<br /> - BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> - CONTENTS.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> - CHAP.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> - I.—<a href="#chap01">BEYOND THE LAND OF THE SUN</a><br /> - II.—<a href="#chap02">IN THE AFGHAN FORT</a><br /> - III.—<a href="#chap03">THE WARNING</a><br /> - IV.—<a href="#chap04">WHAT TOOK US THERE</a><br /> - V.—<a href="#chap05">TIFFIN WITH THE TRECARRELS</a><br /> - VI.—<a href="#chap06">THE APPOINTMENT</a><br /> - VII.—<a href="#chap07">"THE BAND PLAYS AT TWO"</a><br /> - VIII.—<a href="#chap08">THE DRIVE</a><br /> - IX.—<a href="#chap09">ADVENTURE IN CABUL</a><br /> - X.—<a href="#chap10">THE MOSQUE OF BABER</a><br /> - XI.—<a href="#chap11">"<i>Only an Ensign</i>"</a><br /> - XII.—<a href="#chap12">ASSASSINATION</a><br /> - XIII.—<a href="#chap13">HOME IN THE SPIRIT</a><br /> - XIV.—<a href="#chap14">IN THE FORTIFIED CAMP</a><br /> - XV.—<a href="#chap15">CHRISTMAS AT CABUL</a><br /> - XVI.—<a href="#chap16">THE MORNING OF THE RETREAT</a><br /> - XVII.—<a href="#chap17">THE HALT BY THE LOGHUR RIVER</a><br /> - XVIII.—<a href="#chap18">SPIRITED AWAY!</a><br /> - XIX.—<a href="#chap19">THE SKIRMISH</a><br /> - XX.—<a href="#chap20">IN THE KHYBER PASS</a><br /> - XXI.—<a href="#chap21">WALLER'S ADVENTURES</a><br /> - XXII.—<a href="#chap22">CHANCE BETTER THAN DESIGN</a><br /> - XXIII.—<a href="#chap23">DENZIL A NAWAB</a><br /> - XXIV.—<a href="#chap24">A MEETING</a><br /> - XXV.—<a href="#chap25">MARRIED OR NOT?</a><br /> - XXVI.—<a href="#chap26">THE WANDERER</a><br /> - XXVII.—<a href="#chap27">THE LOST STEAMER</a><br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap01"></a></p> - -<p class="t2"> -ONLY AN ENSIGN. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER I. -<br /><br /> -BEYOND THE LAND OF THE SUN. -</h3> - -<p> -Far, far away from rough and rocky Cornwall—from -steep Tintagel with all its memories of King -Arthur's knights, his "Table Round" and flirting -queen; from the traditionary haunts of its giant -Tregeagle, and from its wondrous mines deep, deep -down below even the blue waves of the Atlantic; -far away beyond the Indus and the frontiers of -British India, fifteen hundred miles from Calcutta, -and seven hundred from the shores of the Arabian -Gulf, we have to change the scene to where a -British army, under General Elphinstone, was cantoned -before the city of Cabul, ere we can look after -the fortunes of Denzil Devereaux, of whom we have -barely thought, while progressing through an entire -volume of our story. -</p> - -<p> -A detachment of his regiment, under a captain -named Waller, was attached to General's Trecarrel's -Native Infantry Brigade; and an afternoon in -November of the second year after the military -occupation of the province by her Majesty's troops, -found him quartered, with his brother officers, the -aforesaid captain—popularly known as Bob Waller—a -lieutenant named Jack Polwhele, also of the -"Cornish Light Bobs," in one of the little native -forts, of which a dozen or more lay scattered over -the plain between the British cantonments and the -bleak range of hills named Siah Sung, or "the -Black Rocks." -</p> - -<p> -The apartment in which the three were seated, -each in a bamboo easy chair and wearing -fur-trimmed poshteens (or native pelisses) above their -blue undress surtouts, while they idled over -brandy-pawnee and a box of cigars, was neither luxurious -nor splendid, being simply a portion of a half -shattered tower of native construction, before the -windows of which the Bengal Sappers had erected a -species of verandah, as a promenade and shade from -the sun in summer; but now the season was -winter; and though the evening was temperate, a -fire blazed merrily in the open grate-less fireplace, -and shed a cheerful glow on the whitewashed walls, -the only adornments of which were certain caricatures -(executed by Waller with burnt cork) of the -regimental adjutant, of the brigade major, of "old -Elphinstone," or other personages, to him more or -less obnoxious. A charpoy or native bedstead, a -few bullock-trunks, an overland ditto, an iron -washing-stand, several pairs of boots, a few swords, -whips, guns and hogspears, with any number of -bottles, full or empty, littering the corners, made up -the splendours of Bob Waller's quarters in the fort, -from which, some two years before, Sir Robert -Sale's brigade had summarily expelled sundry -unwilling Kussilbashes at the point of the bayonet. -</p> - -<p> -The rooms of Denzil and Jack Polwhele in other -parts of the same rude edifice were precisely -similar; but their soldiers were hutted in the -cantonments close by. -</p> - -<p> -One window of Waller's room faced the hills to the -westward and the Arab-looking village of Behmaru, -which means "the place of the husbandless," from -a legend of the time of old—remote, perhaps, as the -wars of Mohammed Ghori. An Afghan maid of -high rank had been betrothed to a chief whom she -tenderly loved; for the Afghans, though strict -Mussulmen, neither seclude their wives, as others -usually do, nor wed without duly winning them. -But tidings came that he had fallen in battle against -the Hindoos, on which she pined away and died. -The news, however, was premature, for the chief -recovered from his wounds, and returned to find -only her grave on the hillside now called Behmaru; -so he brought from Bourkhor one of those strange -and spectral-like white stones, which, when placed -upright, so closely resemble an eastern woman in -her drapery, and set it above her tomb. In his old -age he, too, was laid beneath it, and in time to come -a village sprung up there. -</p> - -<p> -Another window faced the south, affording the -more ample view of the huts and compounds (<i>i.e.</i>, -hedges and palisades) of the British Cantonments, -and about two miles beyond them the great city of -Cabul, surrounded of course by a fortified wall, as -what city in that part of the world is not. Here -and there rose above the flat roofs of its narrow -streets the tower or castle of a chief; the dome or -minar of a mosque; and the huge mass of its vast -bazaar, built in the time of Aurengzebe, when it -became the trade emporium of Central Asia; and -high over all, the Bala Hissar, or palace (wherein -resided the Shah Sujah, whose power our troops -had come most unwisely to uphold) and which was -also the citadel or fortress—a place of vast strength; -and far away in the distance, rising like the waves -of a frozen sea against a deep blue sky, were the -mighty peaks of Kohistan and Hindoo Koosh, in -height fourteen thousand feet above the plain, and -crowned by eternal snows, unchanged in aspect and -character, as the dwellers there have been since -Alexander marched past them with his Greeks to -the conquest of the Eastern world, and since -Malimoud of Ghuznee poured his hordes across the -Indus in the eleventh century. -</p> - -<p> -The boy ensign—he over whose couch a pale, sad -mother hung, watching as he lay asleep and unconscious -on the eventful morning of his departure—watching -him tearfully and tenderly while he was -<i>yet her own</i>—was now a well knit, well set up and -weather-beaten looking young fellow. A few months -of campaigning had changed the erratic Sandhurst -cadet, whose best exploits had been breaking lamps -and dismounting the college guns to spite the -governor, into a practical soldier; and all that -remained in him of the mere lad had nearly given -place to the quietly confident air of a man—one -who could take his part in society as the leader of -others; one who had faced perils and surmounted -them by his own unaided energy; for already had -Denzil been twice under fire, and had, with a small -party, defeated more than one plundering band of -the fierce Beloochees. -</p> - -<p> -Ignorant of the calamitous state of matters at -home, and of the sorrows of his sister, Denzil, with -the natural elasticity of youth, aided by the -excitement consequent to military life in the cantonments -of Cabul, had recovered the first shock occasioned -by his father's loss at sea, and hence on the evening -we have met him again, he was in excellent spirits. -General Trecarrel had arrived shortly before -this, and was now in command of a brigade. His -daughters were with him, and proved leading attractions -in that little circle of British residents, the -European society, military and diplomatic, in and -about Cabul, of which Lady Sale and Lady Macnaghten -were the recognised heads; and Denzil -had been duly introduced to Mabel and Rose by his -friend Waller (who had known them in Calcutta), of -the result of which introduction we shall have more -to say in time to come. -</p> - -<p> -Audley Trevelyan had not yet come up country, -as he had been landed on the sick list at Bombay. -</p> - -<p> -The young ladies knew well the story of Constance's -alleged marriage, and Denzil's consequent -claim to rank; but the tale seemed strange and -mysterious, and good taste caused them to be silent, -and to keep in the Cantonments and Residency at -least what they deemed to be the secret of Denzil, -who was an especial favourite with them both; but -he never took them into his confidence, though he -had taken his friend Waller, one day when they -were on guard together at the arsenal and commissariat -fort. On that occasion but little passed, and -it proved a guide for the future conduct of Denzil. -</p> - -<p> -"You remember our quarrel, Bob?" he asked. -</p> - -<p> -"And the interrupted duel—what griffs we were! -Yes—well; what of it?" -</p> - -<p> -"I want your advice, old fellow;" and then he -read to Waller certain portions of a letter from -Sybil, impressing upon him the necessity for silence -on their now unsupported claims. -</p> - -<p> -"Your sister is right, Denzil, and advises you -like a sensible girl," said Waller, after a pause, -during which he had been thoughtfully filling his -pipe with cavendish; "neither here nor at home—here -most especially—can you prove anything. The -important papers seem to be lost irretrievably; that -lawyer fellow, with the name so consonant to his -trade, Sharkley, has failed in the matter; so be, as -your sister advises, a Devereaux till you can, if ever, -announce yourself with strength, a Trevelyan; and -have no quarrels—she seems very sensitive about -that—with your kinsman on Trecarrell's staff; for -meanwhile we may have the Afghans, the Ghilzies, -the Kussilbashes, and the devil knows how many -more darkies to fight." -</p> - -<p> -Both Waller and Polwhele were unusually good-looking -fellows of that peculiar style to be found in -the British service, and in no other in Europe. In -years they were not more than six or seven-and-twenty; -and the former had attained his company -after eight years' service in India. -</p> - -<p> -His stature verged on six feet; his features were -perfectly regular and aquiline; he had fair hair, -which he parted in the middle with an amount of -care only equalled by that adopted in curling his -long, fair whiskers. He had very white teeth, and -merry, roguish blue eyes. He possessed a singular -aptitude for making himself essentially useful and -agreeable to the married ladies, who consulted him -on all manner of things, for Waller excelled in -everything, from driving a four-in-hand drag to -making a pig out of an orange at supper. He -shone in amateur theatricals; wrote verses (not -always his own composition) in albums; took -charge of the band; got up all the parties and -picnics about the station, and even the balls at the -Residency, if such they could be called, in a -European circle so excessively limited, as that of our -garrison at Cabul. -</p> - -<p> -Jack Polwhele was perhaps the more soldier-like -of the two; he was fully an inch less in stature -than Waller, taper-waisted and broad-chested; to -his weather-beaten face, dark complexion, and -sparkling eyes of the clearest hazel, a pair of black -eyebrows, and a heavy mustache of the same tint, -imparted a great deal of character; and being -closely shaven, the contour of a chin indicative of -decision—a virtue essentially military—was fully -displayed. He had a smarter, perhaps more dashing, -air than Waller; but like him exhibited a set of -teeth, unique for whiteness and regularity, when he -laughed, which he always did heartily, for like -most young officers, he was a happy and heedless -fellow. -</p> - -<p> -He and Waller were rather considered to be two -"pattern officers" of the Cornish Light Infantry, a -corps which carries on its colours all the honours of -the old war that began on the plains of Corunna -and ended on those of Waterloo; and to these are -added the glories of India down to the battle of -Goojerat and the terrible siege of Lucknow. -</p> - -<p> -Raised in 1702, in the days of the Good Queen -Anne, it has served in every war that added honour -or territory to the British Empire, and numbers -among its Colonels sturdy old Brigadier Jacob Borr, -who, before the capture of Barcelona in 1705, -during the strife of the Spanish Succession, in a -dispute about precedence, fought a duel in front of -the British lines, sword in hand, in his Ramillies -wig and lace ruffles, with Colonel Rodney of the -Marines, whom he ran fairly through the body; -Brigadier Thomas Paget of the House of Uxbridge; -the ferocious old John Huske, who did such -butcherly things at Culloden; Lieutenant-General -Leighton of Watlesborough; William Amherst, who -was Governor of Newfoundland during the American -War of Independence; Ralph Earl of Rosse, and -others, down to General Trecarrel, to whom Sir -John Keane presented the watch already referred -to, subsequent to the storming of Ghuznee, where -"Old Tre," as the soldiers named him, was the -second man through the Cabul gate, after Colonel -Peat had blown it up, by three hundred pounds of -gunpowder. -</p> - -<p> -The conversation of those with whom Denzil now -found himself, will best explain the state of affairs -in Cabul, and the new phase of society in which -Destiny had cast him. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap02"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER II. -<br /><br /> -IN THE AFGHAN FORT. -</h3> - -<p> -"So, Polwhele, I find by the Order Book, that -you are detailed for the party against the plundering -Ghazeeas?" said Waller. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; I shall have the pleasure of scouring all the -Siah Sung after these wretched fanatics to-morrow." -</p> - -<p> -"What force goes with you?" -</p> - -<p> -"Thirty rank and file of ours, with Sergeant -Treherne." -</p> - -<p> -"Son of old Mike, the miner, at Porthellick?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; and forty of the thirty-seventh Native -Infantry under Burgoyne." -</p> - -<p> -"But I believe you are to tiff, with us at the -Trecarrels in the afternoon," observed Denzil. -"The General's Chuprassey, a half-naked fellow -with a brass badge, brought Waller and me pink -notes of invitation, and I saw there was one for -you." -</p> - -<p> -"I shall be duly there if a ball from a -juzail, or a slash from an Afghan knife don't put -me on the sick list, or give you a chance of a -lieutenancy," replied Polwhele, twirling his thick -black moustache. -</p> - -<p> -"It is wretched work we are condemned to, at -times, here." -</p> - -<p> -"Yes," rejoined Polwhele, "and I fear that my -little affair with the Ghazeeas is but the forerunner -of some greater disturbance." -</p> - -<p> -"However, to-morrow or the day after, the Envoy -is to have a solemn conference with the ferocious -Ackbar Khan." -</p> - -<p> -"I don't think much will come of that," continued -Polwhele. "It is to the memories of Plassey, -Assaye, and a hundred glorious battles, rather than -to our present numerical force, that we Britons owe -our <i>prestige</i> in the East; but here in Cabul, beyond -the Indus, it has not yet been felt, thanks to -parsimony and utter mismanagement, civil and -military." -</p> - -<p> -"Don't take to grumbling, Jack, but pass the -brandy bottle, old fellow. I hope we shall keep -Shah Sujah on his throne despite Ackbar Khan and -all the rebellious rabble in Afghanistan. What was -up in your quarter yesterday? You were on guard -near the old tomb and temple westward of the -Cantonments." -</p> - -<p> -"Up—how?" -</p> - -<p> -"I heard a sound of musketry near it." -</p> - -<p> -"One discharge?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes." -</p> - -<p> -"Oh—you remember that odd-looking fellow who -appeared at the band-stand and cut such strange -capers when the musicians of the 37th were playing -an air from Rossini. Well, he proved to be a Thug, -and all the implements of Thugee—the holy pick-axe, -the handkerchief and cord for strangulation, -were found upon him." -</p> - -<p> -"Not in his clothes," said Denzil, "for he had -none, so the orderlies switched him away from the -vicinity of the Trecarrels' carriage." -</p> - -<p> -"I saw those wags of girls in fits of laughter at -him. No, the implements were not found in his -clothes, certainly, but in his hair, which hung below -his waist, plaited like ropes. Many murders—he -had strangled Christians and Hindoos with perfect -impartiality—were fully proved against him by the -Provost-Marshal, so he was shot, off-hand, to save -all further trouble." -</p> - -<p> -"So those Thugs are a sect?" said Denzil. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; and a vast community of secret assassins, -too. As for sects, you will find as many here as in -England, but calling themselves by different names, -Mahommedans, Soonies, Ismaelites, Parsees, -Hindoos, Bheels, Khonds, and worshippers of Mumbo -Jumbo, et cetera, all hating each other most -cordially; and by Jove, amid them, we may say as the -knight of La Mancha said to his squire, 'Here, -brother Sancho, we can put our hands up to the -elbows in what are called adventures.'" -</p> - -<p> -"Who are to be at the Trecarrels' to-morrow?" -asked Waller, manipulating a fresh cigar. -</p> - -<p> -"Ask Devereaux," replied Polwhele, sending -some spiral circles towards him, and laughing the -while. -</p> - -<p> -"Why me?" asked Denzil, with a little annoyance -of tone. -</p> - -<p> -"How amusingly pink you become, my boy, -whenever their names are mentioned," said -Polwhele; "doubtless you will be 'doing' our old -Cornwall all over again with Rose, though it is -evident your heart is not <i>there</i>." -</p> - -<p> -"Where, then?" -</p> - -<p> -"In Cabul, and nearer Kohistan than the Well of -St. Keyne," replied Polwhele, who, as his name -imports, was a Cornishman; and he added, laughingly. -"What says Southey?— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - But if the wife should drink of it first,<br /> - God help the husband then!<br /> - * * * * * *<br /> - I hastened as soon as the wedding was done,<br /> - And left my wife in the porch;<br /> - But i'faith she had been wiser than me,<br /> - For she took a bottle to church.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -Ah, well do I remember that old spring so famed -for its virtues, arched over by old masonry, above -which grow five ancient trees, the Cornish oak, the -elm, and three ashes, their roots entwined like a -network in the turf and moss! But to return to -the Trecarrels and their tiffin to-morrow, if I escape -the Ghazeeas, who are we likely to meet?" -</p> - -<p> -"Well, I have heard that Lady Sale—" -</p> - -<p> -"The wife of 'Fighting Bob' of the 13th Light -Infantry!" -</p> - -<p> -"—Is to be there; the General Commanding too, -if his health will permit it, and most likely her -Majesty's Envoy to the Shah," continued Denzil, -still colouring plainly and deeply. -</p> - -<p> -"I knew that you could tell us all about it; -for, of course, the fair Rose employed you to write -all the little pink notes on the perfumed paper. -You seem very soft in that quarter, Denzil; but -one might as well attempt to catch a meteor, my -friend, as that girl's heart." -</p> - -<p> -"Don't say so, Jack," urged Denzil, so earnestly -that both Waller and Polwhele laughed immoderately. -</p> - -<p> -"You will be like the little boy who wept for -the moon," said the former, curling and caressing -his long fair whiskers complacently. -</p> - -<p> -"And be assured, she has a soul far above -Ensigns," added his other tormentor, for unluckily -for his own peace of mind, Denzil had fallen a -tender victim to the flirting Rose; "yet, I must -admit, that the girl—the second Trecarrel I -mean—is charming; almost handsome." -</p> - -<p> -"Nay, more than handsome!" added Waller -emphatically, "and I must sympathize with Denzil, -as I rather affect <i>la belle</i> Mab myself." -</p> - -<p> -"But the old General has little more than his -pay, or he would never have brought the girls so -far up country else; at least, the good-natured -Cantonment folks who indulge in <i>gup</i> say so," -remarked Polwhele, using the native word for -"gossip." "And now I must go, for Burgoyne -and I mean to study the geography of yonder -confounded hills which we have to scour to-morrow; -and we move off from the Cantonments in the -dark—an hour before daybreak." -</p> - -<p> -"One glass more ere you go, Jack." -</p> - -<p> -"Thanks," replied Polwhele, and then he added -with mock gravity; "two of the golden rules of -my simple domestic economy are, a cheroot and -glass of stiff brandy-pawnee before switching the -mosquito curtains and turning in; and a cup of -cold tea, with a wet towel about my temples -before morning parade; or at least, such used to -be my custom, before we came to this Arctic and -Afghan, rather than Orient region." -</p> - -<p> -"And considering late hours immoral, you always -come into quarters <i>early</i> in the morning." -</p> - -<p> -"A third golden rule—precisely so, old fellow," -replied the other as he assumed his sword and -forage-cap. He was about to go, when Waller's -servant, a soldier in livery, appeared to announce -that a native wished "to speak with the Sahibs -Waller and Polwhele on particular business." -</p> - -<p> -"Now, what can the nigger want?" asked -Polwhele; "a Parsee money-lender perhaps—have you -been flying kites, Bob?" -</p> - -<p> -"Show him in, Brooklands," said Waller; "he -is no less a personage than Taj Mohammed Khan. -He expressed a wish to see us yesterday, when I -met him near the gate of the Shah Bagh;* so -remain for a few minutes, Jack." -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* Royal Garden. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"Khan—is he a chief?" asked Denzil. -</p> - -<p> -"Not at all," replied Waller; "it is used as -Esquire with us—a title given in England to every -fellow who wears a black coat; so everybody is a -Khan (<i>i.e.</i> noble) in Cabul. The world of snobbery -reproduces itself everywhere; and here he comes -stroking his long beard with an air of solemn -satisfaction," he added, as an Afghan gentleman of tall -and imposing appearance, was ushered into the -apartment, making low salams as he advanced. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap03"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER III. -<br /><br /> -THE WARNING. -</h3> - -<p> -The Afghan who entered was tall and muscular, -but spare in person and was a very good -representation of his active, bold and warlike race. -His features were keen and sharp; his nose thin -and aquiline; his eyes, black, glittering and -piercing; but his complexion was scarcely darker than -that of an ordinary Spaniard or French Catalan. -The scalp of his head was shaved; but this -peculiarity of the Soonies—an orthodox Mohammedan -sect in opposition to the Persians who are followers -of Ali—was concealed by his head-dress, a <i>loonghee</i>, -or cloth worn turbanwise, of a bright blue check -with a red border and drooping gold fringe. -</p> - -<p> -His costume was extremely simple and consisted -of a camise or blouse of scarlet stuff, with loose -sleeves, wide baggy trowsers of dark cotton reaching -to half-boots that were closely buttoned to the -limb. Over his shoulder—as the season was -winter—hung a large mantle of finely-dressed -sheepskin well tanned, with the soft fleecy wool -inwards, and round his waist a Cashmere shawl -worn as a girdle, and therein he carried a pair of -brass-butted flint-lock pistols, an Afghan knife and -dagger. His sabre with cross-hilt and crooked -blade dangled nearly in front of him, and on his -left wrist, secured by a silver chain, sat a hooded -hawk; for now in the nineteenth century, as in -Europe ages ago, falconry is a favourite sport of -the hardy Afghans. -</p> - -<p> -Such was the remarkable figure which the three -young officers rose to greet. Unlike the cringing -servility of the slimy Hindoo, the bearing of the -Afghan mountaineer is proud, but grave and full -of natural dignity; and few were nobler in Cabul -than their visitor Taj Mohammed Khan, son of the -Hereditary Wuzeer Golam Mohammed, a strenuous -adherent of the reigning Shah Sujah and friend of -the British Government, which upheld that feeble -monarch on his shaky throne. -</p> - -<p> -Taj Mohammed was a very devout Mussulman, -and most strictly obeyed the Koran in all its -precepts (save one), repeating his prayers five times -daily; namely in the morning, when noon is past, -in the evening before sunset, and after dark, ere -the first watch of the night be passed; but he could -not resist an occasional glass of wine. -</p> - -<p> -His family had ever possessed vast influence in -that remote region; he was lord of fertile lands and -vineyards in the Pughman Valley, and already two -of his brothers had fallen in battle, and one been -burned alive, for adherence to the Shah, whose -story we shall relate in a subsequent chapter. -</p> - -<p> -After being seated and assisted by Denzil to -wine, which like many other Mohammedans he -drank in secret, or when among unbelieving -Feringhees, he proceeded at once to state the -object of his visit, which he did in tolerable -English, having been long an exile in one of the -cities of British India, though the language of his -native land is a dialect of the Scriptural Chaldaic. -</p> - -<p> -"You know, Waller Sahib, that the Envoy of -the Queen of England and of the great Lord Sahib -Bahadur Auckland, is to have a meeting with -Ackbar Khan at an early period to consult as to -the unsettled state of affairs—the discontents, in -fact, among us—in Cabul?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, Khan—we have all heard so; and what then?" -</p> - -<p> -"Are you to be present?" -</p> - -<p> -"I expect to have the pleasure," replied Waller. -</p> - -<p> -"Then do not go, and bid the Envoy also not -to go." -</p> - -<p> -"Why?" -</p> - -<p> -"Because the conference is a snare—a lure to -his destruction and the destruction of all that may -accompany him. He will perish, even as Burnes -Sahib perished!" -</p> - -<p> -"We are but of subaltern rank, and may not -presume to advise the Envoy," said Waller. -</p> - -<p> -"Khan, in front of yonder Cantonments and under -the very guns of the forts, I should scarcely say -that even Ackbar Khan, desperate though his -character is, would attempt such a thing," observed -Polwhele. -</p> - -<p> -"You doubt me, then?" said the Afghan, proudly. -</p> - -<p> -"Nay; I only hope that you are labouring under -a mistake." -</p> - -<p> -"We shall see; even Ezra had his doubts, so -why not may you? Ezra doubted the means by -which Jerusalem and its inhabitants would be again -restored; but he was cured of those doubts—do you -know how?" -</p> - -<p> -"'Pon my soul, I don't," said Polwhele, repressing -a yawn. -</p> - -<p> -"By seeing the bones of a dead ass suddenly -clothed with flesh and resuscitated with life and -breath and action, for so the blessed Koran tells -us," replied the Khan; for among the Afghans so -much of their common life and daily conversation -are tinged with their religion, its legends and -precepts, that from the Shah to the veriest slave, one -might imagine the whole people to be engaged alone -in holy reflections, for seldom is a sentence uttered -without some allusion to the Deity; yet, as a nation, -they are lively and merry. -</p> - -<p> -"I wish to do you both a service, Sahibs, as -gratitude has placed me in your debt. You saved -my wife in the Great Bazaar from the insults of a -Sepoy soldier, who when drunk with bhang, -attempted to overturn her palanquin. I wish to do -the Envoy a service and his Queen too, by saving -the lives of her servants; thus I repeat and implore -you to give ear. Warn Macnaghten Sahib, against -the conference to which he is invited, for Ackbar -Khan has sworn that he will, if possible, kill every -man among you save <i>one</i>, and get all your wives -and female children into his possession." -</p> - -<p> -"As for my wife," laughed Polwhele, "he is -welcome to her." -</p> - -<p> -The Afghan stared at him and frowned. -</p> - -<p> -"By Jove!" exclaimed Waller, incredulously -playing with both his fair whiskers this time; "and -what is to be done with the lucky fellow he so -generously means to spare?" -</p> - -<p> -"He shall have his hands and feet cut off, and -be placed at the entrance of the Khyber Pass with a -written notice to deter all Feringhees from entering -our country again." -</p> - -<p> -"And has the scoundrel sworn this?" -</p> - -<p> -"By every word in the Holy Kulma, the creed of -our Prophet, he has. Ackbar the Sirdar is the very -incarnation of Eblis—the evil spirit who betrayed -Adam to transgression, and yet seeks to do injury -to all his race," continued Taj Mohammed with -gleaming eyes and a glow in his dusky cheek, for he -and Ackbar Khan were politically rivals and mortal -enemies. -</p> - -<p> -"I have heard that this fellow Ackbar is somewhat -slippery if not more; but if he has ventured to -conceive such projects, we should have him tied to -the mouth of a nine-pounder," exclaimed Polwhele, -adding sundry adjectives and expletives, in which -young Englishmen are apt to indulge in moments -of excitement, and again the reproving eye of the -Wuzeer fell on him. -</p> - -<p> -"Do not talk thus, Sahib," said he sententiously; -"know you not, that the tongue is a precious -jewel, and hence it is a thousand pities we should -pollute it?" -</p> - -<p> -"But would he dare to assassinate the Envoy?" -asked Polwhele, angrily. -</p> - -<p> -"Tell me, Sahib, what Ackbar Khan would not -dare?" responded the other, quietly. -</p> - -<p> -"Egad that is true, but I hope that our troops -will ere long show all those fellows who plot mischief -that we have not come 'thus far into the bowels of -the land' for nothing," replied Polwhele, laughing; -"and to-morrow I, for one, shall begin with the -Ghazeeas among yonder hills, Khan." -</p> - -<p> -"The Siah Sung is full of deep and dark caverns, -Sahib," said the friendly Afghan; "the Ghazeeas -are cunning; so beware alike of surprise and -ambush." -</p> - -<p> -"Oh that will be my look-out and Burgoyne's," -replied Polwhele, confidently. -</p> - -<p> -"Besides, yonder hills are the chosen haunt of -the Ghoul Biaban," said Taj Mohammed, and -though a brave man, he lowered his voice as he -spoke, for the Afghans believe devoutly in the -existence of "the Spirit of the Waste," a lonely -demon inhabiting the mountain solitudes; frightful -he is, and gigantic in form, devouring any passenger -who comes in his way; forming by spells the mirage -of the desert to snare the traveller, and disinterring -the dead that he may devour them like the wife of -the young king of the Black Isles. -</p> - -<p> -"I must take my chance of the Ghoul and the -Ghazeeas too; though it will be deuced hard lines to -be killed by the latter and eaten, without salt, by -the former," said Polwhele, laughing again. -</p> - -<p> -"The shadow of the Prophet be over you and -your soldiers, Sahib," said the Afghan, not without a -knitted brow; for though he knew perhaps, but the -half of what Polwhele said, he saw in his bearing -much of that disposition to ridicule, which is so -thoroughly intolerable to all foreigners, and does -us much mischief everywhere; and to this, and -some other mistakes of manner, we owed many of -the mischiefs that ensued subsequently in Cabul. -</p> - -<p> -"Historical truth compels us to acknowledge," -says the Chaplain to the Forces, "that less regard -was paid to the inhabitants than could have been -wished. Though they do not, like other Mohammedans, -universally shut up their women, the Afghans -are as open to jealousy as Orientals in general, and -treating their wives often rudely, the latter could -not but be pleased with the attentions the young -Feringhees showed them. It is much to be feared -that our countrymen did not always bear in mind -that the domestic habits of any people ought to be -sacred in the eyes of strangers. And hence arose -by degrees, distrust, alienation, and hostility, for -which it were unfair to deny there might be some -cause. Whatever errors they committed, the great -mass of the garrison of Cabul atoned for them -terribly." -</p> - -<p> -We greatly fear that we must also admit to -Messieurs Bob Waller, Jack Polwhele, and Harry -Burgoyne being among the Feringhee delinquents -referred to; and that some of their peccadilloes were -alleged to have gone beyond mere oglings, -hand-squeezings, and exchange of flowers with the fair -Afghani at the Cantonment, the Band-stand, in the -Bazaar and the narrow streets of Cabul, which are -barely a yard wide. -</p> - -<p> -But to resume:— -</p> - -<p> -"I go to the Bala Hissar to seek the secret ear of -the Shah," said Taj Mohammed, as coldly and as -drily as if some of the preceding thoughts had -been flitting through his mind; "I have but done -my grateful duty in coming to warn you of the -future storm, for the Envoy of your Queen has -more than once turned a deaf ear to my advice; -and now——salaam." -</p> - -<p> -And with a low bow he retired ere Waller could -start to his feet and usher him out. For sooth to say, -Bob had been lounging in his bamboo chair with a -leg over each arm thereof and a cheeroot between -his teeth; a very undignified mode of sitting in -presence of the Hereditary Wuzeer of Cabul. -</p> - -<p> -"A horrid bore!" commented Polwhele; "glad -he has gone—took his tipple like a Christian, -though; and despite him of Mecca, has polished -off the best part of a bottle of mess sherry." -</p> - -<p> -"What the deuce are we to think of all this?" -asked Denzil, who had hitherto sat completely -silent, and who already in imagination saw the -bright and beautiful Rose Trecarrel in the hands of -innumerable Afghan Bluebeards with brandished -cimitars, and Mabel waving her handkerchief like -"Sister Anne" from the tower-head. -</p> - -<p> -"An unpleasant rumour, any way, and we shall not -go without our pistols," said Waller. "However, I -hope his anxiety for his own post at Court, if Ackbar -triumphs, exaggerates the situation." -</p> - -<p> -"They are a strange people, these Afghans," -resumed Polwhele musingly, as he filled his tumbler -again, adding, "Father Adam's pale ale—water—is -always mightily improved by a dash of brandy, -thus." -</p> - -<p> -"But I have seen stranger," replied Waller; -"when I was in China with the 26th, for there the -men wear petticoats and the ladies don't; old fellows -fly kites and spin tops, while the young ones study; -when puzzled they scratch their feet and not their -polls like Europeans; when angry they don't punch -the head, but viciously pull each other's tails; and -they can write books without an alphabet in that -delightful language which we see on the tea-chests. -Oh, the Afghans are reasonable fellows, when -contrasted with the countrymen of him of the -Wonderful Lamp." -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; but the former are a ferocious set, and -deem a little homicide, more or less, nothing. Like -the Scots Highlanders of old—' -</p> - -<p> -"Take care; it is well Her Majesty's Envoy does -not hear you!" -</p> - -<p> -"Every man is born a soldier, I was about to -add, and even every boy—a pestilent set of wasps -they are—has his knife, and knows how to use it; -and they are all taught, that if these black rock -and yonder snow-capped hills have little attraction -for them here below, the Moollahs add that heaven -teems with Houris, and that their reward is there. -Talking of Houris, we shall all meet at the Trecarrels -to-morrow, I hope; but I shan't see you till -I come off Ghazeea hunting; and, by Jove! I would -rather go pig-sticking in the jungle, or tiger-potting -on a Shikaree elephant, than have a day's shooting -against those mad fanatics. However, you'll see the -Envoy about what we have heard." -</p> - -<p> -"Of course, Jack." -</p> - -<p> -And whistling a popular waltz, with his sword -under his arm, and his forage cap very much over -the right ear, Jack Polwhele strode away to -Burgoyne's bungalow in the Cantonments, just as the -boom of a gun from the nearest fort, and the clang -of the guard-house ghurries announced the setting -of the sun. -</p> - -<p> -Waller and Denzil sought the Envoy at the -Residency; but, unfortunately, he was on a visit to -the Shah at the Bala Hissar; thus a most precious -opportunity was too probably lost. -</p> - -<p> -We shall neither follow Polwhele to his consultation -with Burgoyne about their future movements, -nor to their adventures among the cavernous range of -the Siah Sung Hills; but in the subsequent chapter -shall endeavour to relate on what errand our troops, -some four thousand three hundred in number, had -come into that remote, ferocious, and most warlike -region of all North-western India, seeking to -control the views and the passions of five million one -hundred and twenty thousand hostile people. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap04"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER IV. -<br /><br /> -WHAT TOOK US THERE. -</h3> - -<p> -The kings of Cabul in relation to their people -somewhat resembled those of the House of Stuart -when on the Scottish throne; being only the khans -of a warlike tribe, among many other khans and -tribes; hence the old Celtic term for the king of -Scotland is simply the "chief of chiefs." The -resemblance to Scotland in the days of old, is still -further carried out in the fact that Cabul was a -mere amalgamation of petty republics, or clans, -having at their head a king, whose influence was felt -in the capital, but whose authority failed to reach -the fierce dwellers in the glens and on the mountains. -</p> - -<p> -After witnessing many civil wars, crimes and -outrages, Shah Mahmud died, and was succeeded on -the throne of Herat and Afghanistan, by his son -Kamran. -</p> - -<p> -Meanwhile Dost Mohammed Khan, another -prince of the family, seized on the beautiful vale -of the Cabul river; and the Lion of Lahore, -Runjeet Sing (with whose name the newspapers long -made us familiar) over-ran all Cashmere. Dost -Mohammed was desirous of securing the friendship -of the British Government, who sent Captain -(afterwards Sir Alexander) Burnes to him; but the -honourable reception he accorded to a Russian -officer at Cabul about the first year of Her present -Majesty's reign caused him to be secretly distrusted -by the Governor-General of India. -</p> - -<p> -The latter, with a view to secure our north-western -frontier against Russian influence, and an -intended invasion of the peninsula, became a party -to a treaty between Shah Sujah, third son of the -deceased Mahmud of Herat and Afghanistan, to -re-establish him on the throne of his ancestors; and -hence war was declared against the Dost, whose -ally, Runjeet Sing, refused permission for our -troops to march through the Punjaub—"The land of -the five rivers." But, heedless of this, two Corps -d'Armée, advancing simultaneously from Bombay -and Bengal, under Sir Willoughby Cotton, ten -thousand strong, soon found themselves under the -walls of Candahar; and next Ghuznee, the most -formidable fortress in Asia, was stormed at the -point of the bayonet, after its gates had been blown -in by a petard, and there enormous booty was -found. -</p> - -<p> -The seventh of the subsequent August saw the -union-jack hoisted on the Bala Hissar of Cabul, -and Shah Sujah, an aged, effete, and most unpopular -prince, brought from exile in Loodianah and replaced -upon his ancient and hereditary throne, while an -army of eight thousand Beloochees and other wild -warriors, sons of the Gedrosian desert, was assigned -him, under the command of the Shahzadeh Timour -and Colonel Simpson of the 19th Native Infantry; -for such were the arrangements of that Honourable -Company of Merchants whose office was in Leadenhall -Street, in the City. -</p> - -<p> -The restored Shah, a cruel and ruthless prince, -who blinded his kinsman Futteh Khan, by thrusting -a dagger into his eyes, and afterwards having him -hacked into "kabobs," soon excited great discontent -among the fiery tribes under his rule, and -particularly by retaining a regiment of Sikhs as his -body-guard; and so resolute and manifest became -the hostility of the natives, that the situation of the -small British force—now reduced to little more -than four thousand men—cantoned without the -walls of Cabul, grew daily more perilous and -critical, while General Elphinstone, who now -commanded, by age and health was quite unequal to -the task assigned him. -</p> - -<p> -After a long and arduous contest, Dost Mohammed -became at last the peaceful prisoner of the -British Government; for it chanced that one evening, -after his last battle and defeat, our envoy, Sir -William Macnaghten, when riding near Cabul, was -overtaken by a horseman, whose steed, like himself, -was covered with dust and blood and flakes of foam. -</p> - -<p> -Announcing that he was Dost Mohammed, the -stranger proffered his sword in token of surrender; -for it would seem that the hapless prince had that -day ridden sixty miles from the Nijrow Valley, -quitting his routed host; and he was immediately -transmitted to Calcutta; but rejecting with hatred -and scorn all offers of pension or place from the -British Government, Ackbar Khan, the most brave -and reckless of his sons, preferred a life of rude -independence in Loodianah, and never lost the -hope of levying a holy war for the extermination -of the meddling and Kaffir Feringhees—the infidel -English; for so he stigmatised us. -</p> - -<p> -Prior to this point of time our little army under -General Elphinstone had remained peacefully in -Cabul, far distant from the British settlements in -Hindostan. Many of the officers had built pleasant -and even pretty houses in the neighbourhood of the -fortified cantonments which lay between the hills -of Behmaru and those of Siah Sung, two miles -distant from the city; and there they dwelt -comfortably and unsuspectingly with their wives and -families. -</p> - -<p> -Communication with the outer world beyond the -passes was however both difficult and dubious; for -the territories of wild and untrustworthy allies lay -between our troops and the Indies on one hand; -and between them and the Arabian Sea on the -other. -</p> - -<p> -It was August, as before stated, when we entered -Cabul. The violets, the tulips and the wall-flower, -which grow wild during spring, had passed away; -but the air was yet perfumed by the Persian iris; -the orchards and lovely gardens around the city -were teeming with luscious fruit; and the Cabul -river flowed between its banks, where the purple -grape, the ruddy apple, and golden orange, bending -the laden branches, dipped in the stream or kissed -its shining ripples. -</p> - -<p> -Englishmen take old England with them everywhere; -and thus the honest and confident freedom -with which our officers went to and fro between the -camp and city, and the free way in which they spent -their money, won them, for a time, the favour of -the Afghans; and the winter of the first year saw -the introduction of horse races, at which a splendid -sword, given by the Shah, was won by Major Daly -of the 4th Light Dragoons; cricket matches, when -Bob Waller held his wicket against the field; and -cock-fighting, a favourite sport with the natives. -</p> - -<p> -The chiefs invited them to their houses in the -city and to their castles in the country, where their -double-barrelled rifles brought down the snipes and -quails, the elk, the deer, the hare and flying fox, -with a precision that elicited many a shout of -"Allah" and "Bismillah" from the entertainers. -</p> - -<p> -The winter of that year also saw our officers -skating on the lake of Istaliff, six miles from -Cabul—the skates being the work of a Scottish armourer -sergeant. Amateur theatricals,* for which Polwhele -painted the scenery, were not wanting to add to the -wonder of those sequestered Orientals, to whom the -doors of the houses were thrown freely open; but -with the coming spring, when the field-pea, the -yellow briar-rose, the variously tinted asphodels, -and the orchards in rich blossom, made all the -valley beautiful, came the crowning marvel, when -Lieutenant Sinclair of Her Majesty's 13th Light -Infantry, an officer who possessed great mechanical -skill, constructed and launched on the lake of -Istaliff, that which had never before been seen in -Afghanistan, a large boat, with masts, sails, and -oars. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* The favourite play was "The Irish Ambassador," and others -of the same kind. "On such occasions they changed the titles of -the <i>dramatis personæ</i>, so as to bring them and the offices of the -parties bearing them, down to the level of Afghan comprehension; -while Burnes and others skilled in the dialect of the country, -translated the speeches as they were uttered."—Sales' Brigade in -Afghanistan. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The plaudits of the assembled thousands made -the welkin ring. -</p> - -<p> -"Now," they exclaimed, "we see that you are not -like the infidel Hindoos that follow you! You are -men born and bred like ourselves in a land where -God varies the seasons, thus giving vigour to mind -and body. Oh, that you had come among us as -friends, rather than enemies, for you are fine fellows, -one by one, though as a body we hate you!" -</p> - -<p> -And so dark days were coming, for the misrule of -the Shah Sujah, the intrigues of the restless Ackbar -Khan, and the national distrust of the mountaineers -of all foreign, especially Kaffir, intervention, were -soon to put an end to this pleasant state of -matters. -</p> - -<p> -On the Chief of the Ghiljees spreading a rumour -by letter, that it was the intention of Sir William -Macnaghten to seize all the khans of tribes and send -them to the Feringhee Queen in London, a dreadful -tumult ensued in the city, and ere the cannon could -clear the streets, several officers, among whom was -Sir Alexander Burnes, were killed in the confusion. -Fast spread the spirit of revolt! The feeble Shah -shut himself up in the Bala Hissar on its towering -rock; and it was deemed advisable to make terms -with the leaders, the chief of whom was Ackbar -Khan, whose conduct during the whole of those -affairs curiously combined the romantic, aristocratic, -and courteous tones of a half-civilised prince, with -the ferocity of an utter barbarian. -</p> - -<p> -A part of the garrison having been detached -under Sir Robert Sale to Jellalabad, his brigade -had barely entered the terrible and tortuous ravines -which lead thereto, ere it was attacked by the -mountain hordes, and had to fight its way inch by -inch for miles, and by the middle of November, -about the time this portion of our story opens, the -sixty thousand citizens of Cabul and the tribes of -the surrounding country were ripe for insurrection, -the fiery elements of discord being fanned by -Ackbar Khan in person. -</p> - -<p> -And such was the state of affairs in and around -Cabul on that day, when Waller and Denzil, both -well-armed—as they could not forget the friendly -warnings of Taj Mohammed—quitted their quarters -in the old fort, to have "tiffin" (<i>i.e.</i> luncheon) with -the Trecarrels in the house of the General, who had -now been some two months with Elphinstone's -army, but without yet obtaining that which he had -been promised, command of a brigade, unless one -to be chiefly formed of Beloochees from the Shah's -little army, under Timour the Shahzadeh, could be -considered as such a force, that speedily melted -away. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap05"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER V. -<br /><br /> -TIFFIN WITH THE TRECARRELS. -</h3> - -<p> -Situated between the Residency of the Queen's -Envoy and the square fort of Kojah Meer, near the -high road leading to the city past the base of the -Hills of Behmaru, the house of General Trecarrel -partook somewhat of the character of a European -villa, and had been built about a year before for a -wealthy staif officer, who had been transferred to -Ceylon almost before it was finished; for so do -men change about in an army which is scattered -over all the habitable globe. -</p> - -<p> -It was two-storeyed, with a spacious dining-room -and another apartment, which Mabel and Rose had -made a decided attempt to affect as a drawing-room, -with rich draperies and many pretty ornaments and -suitable decorations brought up country, or -purchased in the great bazaar of Cabul. Punkahs -were not required in that temperate climate; but a -broad verandah, covered with luxuriant creepers, -afforded a sufficient shade for the windows, or to -promenade under on wet days, or in the sunny -summer season. -</p> - -<p> -As in India, the arrivals were announced by a -stroke on a gong. A few guests were already -assembled in the drawing-room, where the General, -more erect in bearing, and a little more emphatic in -tone, than when last we saw him, and his daughters -looking as bright, as showy and as handsome as -ever, received Denzil and Waller with a cordiality -that made the heart of the former to beat lightly -and happily; for he had already begun to find more -than pleasure—a joy, in the society of the charming -Rose. -</p> - -<p> -He knew not how far this emotion was reciprocated; -but he longed with all the desire of impassioned -youth for some conviction, that, at least, he -was not without interest in her eyes; and Rose was -precisely the kind of girl to keep him long in the -dark on that point, and to give him serious doubts, -unless it suited her capricious fancy to act otherwise. -</p> - -<p> -He hoped that on this afternoon he might have -an opportunity of testing the matter—for learning -somewhat of his fate; and felt that a glance he could -read, a whispered word, a touch of her hand, would -make him happy—oh, so happy! -</p> - -<p> -Polwhele was already there, and looking somewhat -weary and excited after his early morning tour -among the hills after the Ghazees, whom he had -completely routed from their haunts, after killing or -wounding a dozen or so; Burgoyne of the 37th -Native Infantry was there too, and both were -talking over their skirmish with the General. -</p> - -<p> -Two or three ladies from the cantonments, -Elphinstone, the general commanding (an old and -worn-out man), with some half dozen other officers, -all in blue surtouts or scarlet <i>raggies</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, -shell-jackets and white vests, with their regimental -button, were present; and cloudy though the -political horizon around them, and with the recent -insurrection and assassinations in the city fresh in -their minds, they were all conversing as merrily and -as heedlessly, as if quartered at Canterbury in lieu -of Cabul. The younger men crowded about the -chairs of Mabel and Rose; thus Denzil, so far -from having an opportunity of doing more than -once touch the hand of the latter, found himself -obliged to listen to her father, who being a -major-general without a brigade now, was resorting to -the old soldier's privilege of grumbling. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, sir!" said he, grimly, to Denzil, assenting -to some thought of his own, rather than any remark -of the latter; "I served throughout the whole of -that victorious campaign, which saw my old friend -and comrade, Keane—he who presented me with -this splendid watch—created Baron Keane of Ghuzni -and Cappoquin; while all that <i>I</i> have gained has -been a gold medal from the Shah Sujah, and the -Cross of the Bath from Her Majesty." -</p> - -<p> -"Keane's peerage was the just reward of merit, -papa," urged Rose. -</p> - -<p> -"Merit, in the service, is nothing." -</p> - -<p> -"How so, General?" asked an officer. -</p> - -<p> -"Merit is just <i>one</i> man's opinion of another," said -Trecarrel, with a cynical laugh, "as some one -writes, somewhere." -</p> - -<p> -"Is the Envoy to be here, General?" asked -Waller, in a low tone. -</p> - -<p> -"No; he is still at the Bala Hissar with the Shah." -</p> - -<p> -"Most unlucky," whispered Waller to Denzil; -"I should like that message of the Wuzeer's off my -conscience at least." -</p> - -<p> -"Nor are we to have the pleasure of Lady Sale's -presence," continued Trecarrel; "unpleasant -rumours have been brought in by an Arab hadji, of an -attack on Sale's brigade in the Passes; but luckily -they are as yet unconfirmed." -</p> - -<p> -"I do not believe in them," said General Elphinstone, -who was seated in an easy-chair, being almost -too feeble to stand; "for after we restored Shah Sujah -to his throne, we made, as you all know, a solemn -agreement with the Ghilzie Chiefs, that, for a yearly -sum, they should keep the Khoord Cabul, and other -mountain passes, open between this and Jellalabad, -and offer no molestation to our troops on the march; -consequently, I repeat that I do not believe in the -story of the hadji." -</p> - -<p> -"That old fellow never believes anything; nor -will he give credence to the discontents around us, -till the Afghan knives are at his throat," whispered -Waller to Polwhele; "poor Elphinstone! he is -failing fast, Jack." -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; but he was busy all summer planting peas -and cabbages, like Cincinnatus, when he should have -been getting the Shah's Gholandazees trained to -their guns." -</p> - -<p> -"And will you believe it," added Burgoyne, a -smart and sunburnt young officer, "Lady Sale told -me that he actually ordered Sir Robert's regiment -to march from this with flint-locks,* instead of eight -hundred percussion muskets which he requested -from the store; an error which may be most fatal -by this time, if the Passes are beset." -</p> - -<p> -</p> - -<p> -* Fact. -</p> - -<p> -</p> - -<p> -Waller gazed with something of pity at the old -man, who was long past the years for command; he -was orthodoxly attired in his blue undress surtout, -with a gold sash over his shoulder, and a ribbon at his -breast, with the Order of the Dooranee Empire, but -death seemed already imprinted in his anxious eyes -and haggard face, which was all wrinkles, lines, and -hollows. His voice was feeble, and he had a husky -cough; yet his face seemed to brighten when he -mumbled hopefully of "getting home at last to die -in old Scotland," though fated never to issue from -the Khyber Pass, save as a corpse. And it was to -him that the perilous task of keeping our little force -at distant Cabul was assigned by the Government -of India! -</p> - -<p> -Waller mentioned to him the story of Taj Mohammed's -visit; but it was treated as an illusion; -for was not the atmosphere of Cabul full of such -rumours, and was not the hereditary enmity between -Taj Mohammed and the Sirdar (or general), as -Ackbar Khan was named, proverbial? Each would -ever do his utmost to injure the other, even unto -death. Then the roar of the gong announced that -"tiffin was served," ending the matter; the probable -fate of Her Majesty's Envoy was thought of no -more for the time; for Mabel Trecarrel, with a -bright smile on her upturned face, slipped her white -arm through that of the aged General, and all moved -towards the dining-room, between close ranks of -native servants, whose white turbans, jackets, and -dhotties, contrasted strongly with their dark visages -and gleaming eyes. -</p> - -<p> -Rose fell to the care of Burgoyne, there were no -ladies for either Waller or Denzil (and some other -subalterns), who brought up the rear; and the -latter, to his infinite annoyance, found himself seated -at a distance from her, and barely able at times to -catch a glance beyond a gigantic plated epergne, -filled with fruit and false flowers. From his junior -rank and years, he could scarcely have expected -anything else, for ladies were still scarce up country, -and scarcer still beyond the Khyber Pass; but -Denzil felt that somehow his day had begun -inauspiciously. -</p> - -<p> -The khansamah (or butler), and a dozen of other -Hindoo servants, were in attendance; and the -business of luncheon proceeded rapidly. Polwhele -and Burgoyne were still talking of their morning -march into the hills of Siah Sung, and made light -of killing so many of the natives, having only two -rank and file killed, and one wounded severely, -partaking the while of what was set before them with -as much unconcern and heartiness, as if they had -been snipe-shooting, or pig-sticking, in the jungle, for -in that part of the world danger became a pastime. -</p> - -<p> -"So one of Burgoyne's sepoys was wounded?" -asked Elphinstone. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, General; his legs are scarcely quite to the -regimental pattern now." -</p> - -<p> -"How so, Polwhele?" -</p> - -<p> -"A ball from a juzail smashed the knee; so the -limb was amputated." -</p> - -<p> -This elicited a little chorus of commiseration from -the ladies, but as the sufferer was a native, it soon -subsided. -</p> - -<p> -"Any word, General, of your aide-de-camp -Trevelyan of ours?" asked Waller. -</p> - -<p> -"None—save that he was off the sick list, and -soon to leave Bombay and join us here," replied -Trecarrel; "but if this news about the passes be -true, I hope he will be in no hurry to come this -way; he is a fine fellow, Trevelyan." -</p> - -<p> -(The name found an echo in Denzil's heart, which -sank for a moment.) -</p> - -<p> -"I knew him when in the 14th Hussars, at -Agra," said Burgoyne to Rose; "he was not then -the heir to a title." -</p> - -<p> -She coloured perceptibly. Denzil did not see -this, but Mabel did, and she laughed. -</p> - -<p> -"If the passes are actually closed, it is deuced -lucky we got up those nine-pounder guns in time," -said Trecarrel to Elphinstone. -</p> - -<p> -"I wrote—ugh—ugh—for—ugh—<i>three</i> eighteen -pounders," replied the other, coughing feebly. -</p> - -<p> -"And the mistake was that of the military -Board?" -</p> - -<p> -"Exactly," said Jack Polwhele; "they made it a -case of arithmetic; and in lieu of three eighteen -pound guns, sent you six long nines, which are -useless for the battery-work that Ackbar Khan -may ere long cut out for us." -</p> - -<p> -"Oh that hideous Ackhar Khan!" exclaimed -Rose, with young ladylike horror; "I have seen -him once, and his mouth, when he laughed, -reminded me of nothing so much as two rows of -piano keys." -</p> - -<p> -"Hideous!" said Burgoyne; "pardon me, is he -not thought very handsome?" -</p> - -<p> -"But think of his beard; it flows to his girdle, -and birds might build their nests in it, as they did -in the beard of Tregeagle; you remember our -Cornish giant, Mr. Devereaux?" added Rose, with -a glance at Denzil, whose colour rose, like that of a -girl, with pleasure. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil was undoubtedly a very handsome lad, -verging on manhood now; he had his mother's -perfect regularity of features, with eyes of a blue so -dark that at times they seemed black; yet they -were wonderfully soft, especially when they turned -to those of Rose Trecarrel; and his hair was very -fair and curly, having almost a golden tint when the -sunshine fell on it. The Indian summer, and the -keen breeze from the hills of Kohistan, had already -browned his boyish cheek; but some of England's -bloom was lingering in it still; and to Rose, a -regular "man-slayer," a naturally born flirt, the -temptation to entangle him, when she felt intuitively -how imperceptibly to himself he was allured -by glances into loving her, was too great to resist, -for Rose Trecarrel had all the art to win a heart, -and yet retain her own entire and untouched. -</p> - -<p> -She and Denzil had many Cornish reminiscences, -topics, and sympathies in common; and these -afforded a grand basis of operations for Rose, -though perilous enough for one so inexperienced -as he in <i>affaires du coeur</i>, especially with one so -beautiful, so gay, and, we grieve to say it, so artful; -but "when gallantry becomes mingled with conversation, -affection and passion come gradually to mix -with gallantry, and queens, like village maidens, -will listen longer than they should," so we shall -see how it fared with Rose in the sequel. -</p> - -<p> -The intense, but too often silent devotion of a lad -so handsome, flattered her; it was so different from -the half-laughing love-making of such men of the -world as Waller and Polwhele; yet she had as -much idea of going further—in fact, of wedding an -ensign—as of espousing a dancing dervish, or an -Arab faquir. Of course, she thought in her heart -that the Devereaux and Lamorna affair was very -strange; but what did it matter there—beyond the -Indus? -</p> - -<p> -His mother's unhappy story, his father's untimely -fate, and, for some time past, the absence of all -tidings from his sister Sybil, rendered Denzil at -times intensely thoughtful, or, as Rose Trecarrel -was inclined to deem it, interesting; and thus, in -his craving for gentle sympathy from some one, -(and from whom could it be more welcome than a -bright-eyed young flirt?) made him an easy and a -willing victim. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil had a nervous jealousy of all who -approached her; and he envied the free and easy—to -some it might seem half-impudent—bearing of -Waller, Burgoyne, and others, when hovering about -the sisters at the band-stand, in the bazaar at Cabul, -when riding or driving near the cantonments, and -elsewhere. He was not old enough, or experienced -enough, to know that there could be no love in the -hearts of those heedless fellows, if they were so self -possessed and free in the presence of the object of -that love; and as little did he know the jealous fear -that Rose had cost his sister at home! -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap06"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER VI. -<br /><br /> -THE APPOINTMENT. -</h3> - -<p> -Tiffin over—the General's khansamah had -excelled himself, for there were curried hares and -quails (the spoil of Waller's rifle), roasted kid, the -fat being spread on buttered toast, and well -peppered; curried chickens, partridge pie, snipe and -ortolans, sweet bread and stilton, champagne, claret, -and Bass, with a dessert of Cabul grapes, oranges, -and various other fruits <i>à discretion</i>—tiffin over, we -say, like other civilized people in the land they had -come from, as it had not been dinner, but simply -luncheon, all filed back to the drawing-room -together; and, in obedience to a glance from Rose, from -whom his eyes seldom wandered, Denzil achieved a -place by her side on a sofa. -</p> - -<p> -So the day to which he had looked forward so -anxiously, was not, perhaps, to pass away so -inauspiciously after all, for, to Denzil, time seemed to -be divided into two portions—that which was spent -in the society of Rose, and that which seemed -blankness, spent in absence from her. -</p> - -<p> -Waller was hanging over Mabel, talking in a very -confidential tone, so closely that his long fair -whiskers brushed at times her rich brown hair. -Mabel had that kind of pure profile one sometimes -sees cut on a cameo, her head was gracefully set on -her shoulders, and there were times when its -bearing was queenly. Her complexion was brilliantly -fair by day as well as by night, and her dark grey -eyes had in them now a smile so winning, that Bob -Waller could not help thinking that she was really a -fine girl, and looking uncommonly well. -</p> - -<p> -The ladies from the adjacent cantonment were -now deep in "baby talk;" the officers were clustered -about the two generals, engaged in discussing -"shop," and the probability of Sir Robert Sale -cutting his way to Jellalabad, even though he were -beset by the Ghilzies; for a little space Denzil -thought he would have Rose all to himself. -</p> - -<p> -Long ere this he had learned that she and Mabel -were somewhat discontented. This kind of station, -in a species of enemy's country, and so remote from -all the world, where steamers, telegraphs, and -railways were all unknown, was not the India to which -they had looked forward, and to which they had -been previously accustomed. They should have -preferred Calcutta, with its streets of snow-white -palaces, its stately villas at Gardenreach, the -spacious course for driving, riding, promenading, -and most decidedly for flirting. At Cabul all was -semi-barbarism, as compared with Chowringhee, -the Park Lane, the Belgravia of the Indian capital. -</p> - -<p> -Rose knew thoroughly the science of dress. She -never, even when in England, chose colours merely -for their beauty, but such as she knew by tone and -contrast, enhanced the power of her own. She now -wore a costume of light blue Cabul silk, trimmed -with the most delicate white lace, and she knew that -she looked to the utmost advantage. As she lay -back on the sofa, playing with a feather-fan, vivacity -and langour were alternately the expression of her -sunny hazel eyes, for she was pre-eminently a -coquette, and had resolved to amuse herself for a -time with her new, and as yet, silently professed -admirer. -</p> - -<p> -"So you are not yet tired of Cabul?" she began, -after a pause. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh no, far from it," replied Denzil, with a -glance which he thought, or wished to be thought, -full of tender meaning. -</p> - -<p> -"How odd! I used to think India a fine place, -but this Cabul, oh, it is simply horrid! There is -neither a piano or harp in the whole city. To be -sure there are no Europeans here, save the Queen's -troops." -</p> - -<p> -"The climate is temperate in summer," urged -Denzil for want of something better to say. -</p> - -<p> -"But nevertheless, the place is unendurable, and -I hope papa will soon get a command elsewhere, -that we, at least, may leave." -</p> - -<p> -"I trust not." -</p> - -<p> -"Why?" -</p> - -<p> -"Can you really ask me—why?" said Denzil, -lowering his voice, while gazing into her laughing -eyes, with undisguised tenderness; then he added, -"we do not wish to lose you." -</p> - -<p> -"Poor Mr. Devereaux! I think you are very -fond of papa; for his Cornish name, perhaps," and -as no one was looking, she patted his cheek with -her fan. -</p> - -<p> -"I love something more than the mere Cornish -name of Trecarrel," said Denzil, tremulously; but -Rose only bit the feathers of her fan, and eyed him -laughingly over it. -</p> - -<p> -"But I repeat that this place is tiresome," she -resumed, as a pause had ensued, and pauses are -always awkward; "think of the Residency parties, -with their young ladies' quadrilles and married -ladies' ditto! A man may dance in both sets, -and yet have only one hand to dispose of. There -is an absurdity, too, in having present those -native chiefs like Taj Mohammed and Timour the -Shahzadeh, who think the whole affair—the -round dancing especially—a naughty and improper -Nautch; so they curl their enormous mustaches, -and turn up their cruel glittering eyes, and -wonder that we laboriously do that which they pay -others to do for their amusement. Sunday comes, -and then we have to endure what Mab calls -'a regimental sermon,' wherein the chaplain sets -forth little more than the heinousness of the -slightest neglect of the Queen's regulations! -Heavens! I would rather endure a trot on a -newly-caught elephant, or a picnic in a wet jungle! -Oh, may I trouble you, dear Mr. Devereaux?" she -whispered suddenly, and so close that her auburn -hair brushed his cheek; "my bracelet has fallen." -</p> - -<p> -The ornament, an elaborate Delhi bangle—a -golden miracle of carving—was, not very speedily, -clasped by Denzil on the white, veined wrist; and -while doing so she permitted her hand for an instant -to touch, to linger in his. Was he awkward? was -the clasp stiff, that a thrill went to his heart? But -her eyes were sparkling with coquetry, as she -expressed her thanks for the little service she had -ensured by specially and purposely letting her -bracelet fall. -</p> - -<p> -"How that young fellow is 'going the pace,'" -whispered Polwhele to Burgoyne, with a covert -laugh. -</p> - -<p> -"Of course you can never feel dull when in your -quarters, Mr. Devereaux?" said Rose; "young -officers are said to have so many resources." -</p> - -<p> -"Far from it; and, to tell the truth, I am always -dull, weary and even sad, when not—here. You can -never know," he added, colouring at the pointedness -of his own remark, "how stupidly we fellows pass -the time in cantonments; it is getting through the -day anyhow—sipping everything, from iced champagne -to cold tea and pale ale; smoking everything, -from Latakia to Chinsurrah cheroots, and making -bets on everything, from drawing the longest straw -out of the bungalow roof to naming the winner of -the Derby or St. Leger, the bet to be determined six -months after, perhaps, when the mail reaches us." -</p> - -<p> -"A profitable way of spending one's day. Do -none of you, as a pastime, ever attempt to fall in -love?" -</p> - -<p> -The question was one of positive cruelty; but the -beautiful eyes only beamed brighter with fun as she -put this perilous query, which she would never have -uttered to men like Waller or Polwhele. -</p> - -<p> -She fanned herself, and waited for a reply. -</p> - -<p> -"For others I cannot say," said Denzil, in low -voice; "for myself, never till I came to -Cabul—never till I met, I dare not here say <i>who</i>." -</p> - -<p> -"For a griff, Devereaux, you give a capital -answer," said Burgoyne, who had been gradually -drawing near them; "we both fall in love and out -of it too," he added, with a laugh that was almost -saucy, for he had already suffered something at -Rose's hands. "Love, like a month's pay, does -not last for ever." -</p> - -<p> -"Even in marriage, do you mean?" asked a -lady, looking up from a book of prints. -</p> - -<p> -"Less then, perhaps, according to Mr. Polewhele," -said Rose; "orange blossoms fade and -die as well as summer leaves." -</p> - -<p> -"What a lovely little cynic it is!" said Waller -in Mabel's ear; "but she never means all she -says." -</p> - -<p> -The conversation now became general; and save -for a speaking glance from time to time, and—once -at least—when their hands touched (involuntarily, -of course) Denzil felt that his chances with Rose -were over for the day. -</p> - -<p> -"Our band plays to-morrow at the grand-stand," -said an officer of the 54th Native Infantry. -</p> - -<p> -As he spoke, Denzil's eyes met those of Rose, -and swift as lightning each knew where to look for -the other on the morrow. -</p> - -<p> -"Save with the regimental bands," said Mabel, -"Rossini, Bellini and Chimarosa are all lost to us -here. Papa strove hard to bring our piano up -country; but it was lost in the Khyber Pass by the -native artillery (who had tied it on a field piece) -when some wild Khyberees appeared; and they, -finding that the box emitted sounds, fired a score of -juzail* balls through it on speculation." -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* The Afghan rifle; hence <i>juzailchees</i>, or riflemen. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"When I was in the Ceylon Rifles," said a -Queen's officer, "I have actually seen a piano placed -in four bowls of water." -</p> - -<p> -"For what purpose?" asked Mabel. -</p> - -<p> -"To prevent the white ants from eating it up; -and I was once at a dancing party in Trincomalee -when, from the extreme humidity of climate, the -piano—one of Broadwood's best—went all to pieces, -like a house of cards; so up here, at Cabul, we -can't say what might happen." -</p> - -<p> -"Have you seen the account in an English paper -of the late skirmish with Nott's people at Candahar, -and the queer story about the wounded being -carried off?" asked General Trecarrel. -</p> - -<p> -"No," replied Burgoyne; "what was it? Something -extremely 'verdant,' of course, if it referred to -India." -</p> - -<p> -"Exactly. General Nott reported that he had -thirty rank and file killed, but thrice that number -wounded, were all carried off by dhooleys to the -hills; on which event the editor expresses his -horror in having to record that the savage tribe, -known as the <i>Dhooleys</i>, swooped down from their -native mountains and bore away the helpless -wounded in their remorseless clutches!" -</p> - -<p> -Dhooleys, being simply palanquins or litters, the -Indian reader may imagine—as a little fun goes a -long way when "up country"—how the mistake was -laughed at, and how it made old Elphinstone laugh -so severely, that all became seriously alarmed lest -a catastrophe might occur; but ere long his dhooley -was announced, and the party began to disperse; -and Denzil, the last to leave, lingered a moment -behind his two friends. -</p> - -<p> -"The band—you have heard—plays at two to-morrow," -said Rose, in low voice. -</p> - -<p> -There was a fleet glance exchanged, a swift, soft -pressure of the slender fingers, and in these words -an appointment—an assignation—was made, causing -Denzil's heart to beat wildly with joy as he hurried -after Waller and Polwhele, full of dread lest they -should have discovered his secret understanding -with Rose and proceed to rally him thereon. As -it was, he did not escape; for as they walked -leisurely towards their quarters in the fort, Waller -began thus. -</p> - -<p> -"I have been dying for a quiet cigar! By the -way, what does some poetical fellow (Byron, is it?) -say—that love is of man's life a thing apart—but -woman's whole existence? I don't know the truth -of the statement; but anyhow, flirtation or man-slaying -is a part of the 'existence' of Rose Trecarrel; -so, look alive, Denzil, my boy, or you'll have but a -poor chance, if the order to move down on Jellalabad -don't come soon. It is all very well for subs to be -spooney; but rather absurd for one to be entertaining -'views,' you know." -</p> - -<p> -"You seemed soft enough on her sister, at all -events," retorted Denzil, angrily. -</p> - -<p> -"It is a maxim of mine," replied Waller, caressing -his fly-away whiskers alternately, "that 'a little -bit of tenderness is never misplaced, so long as the -object is young, pretty, and, still more than all, -disposed for it.' But, Denzil Devereaux, that girl -amuses herself with you, and orders you about, as if -you were a Maltese terrier, a poodle, or a sepoy." -</p> - -<p> -"By Jove! the Trecarrels are handsome, though," -said Polwhele; "and if I had not acquired the habit -of making love to a pretty face, merely as a pastime, -I fear I should soon be doing it in downright earnest -to Rose." -</p> - -<p> -Now as Polwhele was a dangerously good-looking -fellow, Denzil felt nettled by his complacent -remark. -</p> - -<p> -"But," added the former, "I have met scores of -such girls wherever I have been quartered—at -home, I mean—especially in London; just the kind -of girls to do a bit of Park with; to open a pedal -communication with, in mamma's carriage, or meet -in a crush where Gunter's fellows have brought the -ices; where Weippart's band invites to the light -fantastic; and where there are covert squeezes of -the hand in the Lancers, on the stairs, or under the -supper tablecloth, flirtations in the conservatory, -and soft things said between the figures of a -quadrille, or in the breathing times of a round dance, -when weary of chasing 'the glowing hours with -flying feet.'" -</p> - -<p> -"By Jove! Jack, how your tongue runs on!" -</p> - -<p> -"Well, there is no general order against its doing -so; and old Trecarrel's champagne was excellent. -Oh, Lord! I have done all that sort of thing scores -of times, and now find there was nothing in it; -but Rose Trecarrel has the prettiest ankle I ever -saw. -</p> - -<p> -"Ah! you're a man of close observation." -</p> - -<p> -"Well, I've seen a few in my time, on windy -days, at Margate and Brighton especially." -</p> - -<p> -"I am not a marrying man, and had I not been -hopelessly insolvent since I came into the world, -egad! I would pop to Mabel," said Waller, with a -sudden earnestness to which the General's -champagne perhaps contributed. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh! you have got the length of calling her by -her Christian name!' -</p> - -<p> -"As you do Rose—well, but is it <i>not</i> her name?" -</p> - -<p> -"Of course; but——" -</p> - -<p> -"But what?" asked Bob Waller, testily; "is a -fellow to be everlastingly quizzed in that mess-room -style, just because—because"—he stuttered and -paused. -</p> - -<p> -"What?" said Polwhele, laughing and pointing -his black mustaches, which the Line wore in India -long before the Crimean war. -</p> - -<p> -"Because he has an honest fancy for a girl; and -do you know, Jack, I think I <i>could</i> love that -girl—seriously now." -</p> - -<p> -"Very probably; but do you think she could -love you?" -</p> - -<p> -"True, I am only a captain, with a small share in -an old Cornish mine, and no end of expectations." -</p> - -<p> -"It is only being up-country and idleness." -</p> - -<p> -"I'd call you out, Jack, only it is not the fashion -to treat one's friends so now," retorted Waller, as -they reached their quarters in the old fort. "There -bangs the evening gun from the Bala Hissa; and -now to dress for mess." -</p> - -<p> -Some of Polwhele's thoughtless speeches rankled -more in the mind of Denzil than he quite cared to -show; for he knew that if the idea struck the mind -of that confident personage he would propose to -Rose Trecarrel in a moment; and Polwhele, he was -aware, had a handsome estate partly in Cornwall -and partly in Devonshire, and was a most eligible -<i>parti</i>. -</p> - -<p> -<i>He</i>, himself, was but a junior subaltern, and he -speculated on the years that must inevitably pass -ere he could be a captain. Oh, Rose would never -wait all that time, and be true. -</p> - -<p> -Poor lad—would he? At least he thought so. -</p> - -<p> -Long, long did Denzil lie awake that night, after -leaving the mess-bungalow, anticipating the -meeting of the morrow, and recalling the expression -of Rose's clear brown eyes—the touch of her soft -hand and her whispered words, while the hungry -jackals howled like devils in the compound without; -and while, on the metal ghurries of the adjacent -cantonment, the sentinels struck the passing hours. -</p> - -<p> -He might, had he known the true state of matters, -had a sympathetic adviser in Bob Waller, who at -that precise time was seated thoughtfully in his -quarters—the white-washed room already described—with -a leg over each arm of his bamboo chair -and his eyes fixed pensively on the ceiling, for he -was thinking over Mabel's rare beauty through -the medium of a soothing pipe of Cavendish; and -once or twice he muttered: -</p> - -<p> -"I am quite bewildered—<i>gobrowed</i>, as the -Niggers here have it—and know not what to -think—matrimony or not." And, as the night stole -on, foreseeing little or nothing of the dangers and -horrors to come—of the cloud of battle that was -gathering in the Khyber Pass, -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "He smoked his pipe and often broke<br /> - A sigh in suffocating smoke."<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap07"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER VII. -<br /><br /> -"THE BAND PLAYS AT TWO." -</h3> - -<p> -Young though he was, Denzil made a careful -toilet next day; mufti was not much worn at Cabul; -but he was unusually particular about the fitting -of his blue surtout with its gold shoulder-scales, -the adjustment of his crimson sash and sword-belt, -forgetting that these were no novelties to the eyes of -Rose, and that the black livery of the Civil Service -finds more favour with ladies than military uniform -in India, where the Redcoats are frequently at a -discount, with mammas especially; and he was on -the large circular parade ground, where the bands -usually played, in the centre of the cantonments -(which were an oblong enclosure measuring a thousand -yards by six hundred, with a circular bastion at -each corner) long before the general promenaders -began to assemble, or the European musicians of -the 54th Native Infantry had assorted their music, -and performed those preliminary grunts on the -trombone and ophicleide, which excited the -astonishment of the natives, who were present in -considerable numbers, by their aspect and costume, -enhancing in piquancy a very remarkable scene. -</p> - -<p> -For the first time since they had met, Rose -Trecarrel had made a regular appointment with -him. It was in a very public place, however, and -though it seemed simple enough to her, to Denzil -the idea that he had established a secret -understanding with her, was in itself happiness; and for -the first time he wished to avoid his friend Waller, -and was pleased to find that he was detailed for -guard that day at an old tomb and temple where -we had a post, at the foot of the Behmaru Hills. -</p> - -<p> -The day was one of great beauty, and the air -was delightfully cool. Overhead spread the blue -and unclouded vault of Heaven, and in the rarified -atmosphere, even the remote details of the vast -landscape and of the city were rendered visible. -Viewed from the cantonments, the plains of -Lombardy do not exceed in beauty and brilliance of -colour those of Cabul, which moreover, in lieu of -the Apennines (amid which Denzil and his parents -had often resided) are overshadowed by the -stupendous mountains of Kohistan. -</p> - -<p> -Crowning two lofty ridges in the foreground rose -Cabul within its walls of stone, and towering high -above them, rose the Chola or citadel of the Bala -Hissar. The city is picturesque, each house having, -as in Spain, an open court-yard, though the streets -of unburnt-brick are so narrow as to be frequently -blocked up by one laden camel, or to prevent two -horsemen riding abreast. Thus the great chiefs -and nobles have always footmen running in front -to prepare or clear the way for them. There all -the different races live apart, and the Persians or -fierce Kussilbashes have their own quarter fortified -against all the rest. -</p> - -<p> -The groups that gathered round the band were -a sample of all the various tribes that resided -in and about Cabul, for though many murderous -outrages had been perpetrated on our people they -were still anxious, if possible, to conciliate the -natives. -</p> - -<p> -Each type of humanity varied from the other in -visage and in costume; the fair-faced and -ruddy-looking Englishman; the lean, dark Hindoo sepoy, -seeming intensely uncomfortable in his tight red -coat and stiff shako; the sturdier Afghan; the wild -Beloochee, the Dooranee, the Kussilbash and Arab, -all of whom were admitted in limited number by -the quarter-guard; some cruel and sly in -expression; some lofty, proud and refined, with -patriarchal beards that floated to their waists, and a -solemnity of bearing that made one think of the -days of Abraham; and many of them armed with -ancient weapons made long anterior to the adoption -of our villanous saltpetre; in their dresses and -manners looking like the figures at a fancy-ball, -so quiet and so brilliant in colour and variety, were -their flowing Oriental robes. -</p> - -<p> -Numbers of officers and ladies from the different -compounds and villas in the vicinity were present; -and the "chimney-pot hat of civilization," might -be seen amid the white turbans of the Mussulmen, -the yellow of the Khyberrees and abhorred -Jews, and the scarlet <i>loonghee</i> of the Kussilbash, -for Khan Shireen Khan, chief of that warlike tribe, -appeared mounted on a slow-paced, lank, patient -and submissive-looking camel. Perched high up, -he sat on a lofty saddle, with a tall tasselled lance -slung behind him, and in front a small armoury -of knives and pistols stuck in his girdle, which -was a magnificent Cashmere shawl, that many a -belle might have envied. Nor were veiled Afghan -ladies wanting, and these surveyed with wonder -their European sisters, as they openly laughed, -chatted and—Bismillah!—shook hands with the -Feringhee officers. -</p> - -<p> -Shahzadeh Timour, who commanded the King's -forces, was there, mounted on a beautiful horse, -wearing a polished shirt of mail and a plumed steel -cap, looking not unlike a Circassian chief; and -Taj Mahommed Khan, still intent on warning the -Europeans of coming evil, rode by his side. -</p> - -<p> -There, too, was Osman Abdallah, an Arab faquir -or dervish, who had accompanied the troops from -Bengal, a clamorous half-naked fellow, with hair -unshorn and shaggy, his lean attenuated limbs -smeared with ashes and ghee, thus compelling all -to keep to windward of him, as his person was -odorous neither of Inde nor Araby the Blest, while -he begged for alms to send him on his pilgrimage -to the three pools of Sacred Fish, kept by a holy -Suyd (or Santon) among the mountains of Sirichussa; -and to him, as a riddance, Denzil threw -a handful of silver shahi's (petty coins indeed) but -of great value in Afghanistan, where cowrie shells -pass current at about the tenth of a penny. -</p> - -<p> -Amid all this motley and increasing crowd, he -looked anxiously for Rose Trecarrel; already the -brass band of the Native Infantry burst upon the -air with a crash of music as they began a melody -from an opera; and something of disappointment -and pique at her protracted absence began to steal -into Denzil's heart, for her eagerness seemed by -no means equal to his own. -</p> - -<p> -Near him were a group of young officers like -himself, but belonging principally to the 5th Cavalry -and Horse Artillery. Unlike him, they were neither -silent nor thoughtful, but were staring—some -through their eye-glasses—at the Afghan women, -and amusing themselves with sarcastic criticisms -on the quaint figures about them, especially the -Khan of the Kussilbashes on his camel and -"Timour the Tartar," as they called the Shahzadeh, -in his steel cap and steel shirt of the middle ages. -</p> - -<p> -"There goes Rose Trecarrel!" cried one. -</p> - -<p> -"Do you know her?" asked another. -</p> - -<p> -"Know her—who doesn't? Why, man alive, -she's as well known as Mechi's razor strop, or -Warren's blacking, or anything you may see staring -you in the face in the Strand or Regent Street," -was the heedless and not very ceremonious response; -and if a glance could have slain the speaker, -Denzil would certainly have left a vacant cornetcy -in the 5th Cavalry. -</p> - -<p> -He turned away in anger, which, however, was -somewhat soothed when he heard Shireen Khan, -who was gazing after her, say to Shahzadeh Timour, -that she was "beautiful as a Peri," which in his -language is expressive of a race constituting a link -between women and angels. -</p> - -<p> -In a moment Denzil was by her side. She was -in a little phaeton drawn by two pretty Cabul -ponies and was alone. To avoid being joined by -anyone, before she caught the eye of Denzil, she -had driven them round the crowd about the band, -managing her whip and ribbons very prettily, her -hands being cased in dainty buff gauntlet gloves. -She was tastefully dressed and wore a bonnet of -that shade of blue which she knew was most -suitable to her pure complexion and rich bright -auburn hair; for Rose was one of those who -thought it "was woman's business to be beautiful." -</p> - -<p> -Dropping her whip into the socket, she pulled -up and presented her hand to Denzil, who, we fear, -held it in his somewhat long, and it did not seem -that Miss Rose Trecarrel was <i>very</i> much -inconvenienced by the proceeding; but he forgot who -might be looking on—he thought only of the -brilliant hazel eyes—the ever smiling mouth. -</p> - -<p> -"And you are here alone?" said he. -</p> - -<p> -"As you see. Papa is busy with the General—a -move of all the troops down-country is spoken -of as imminent soon; and Mabel is with Lady -Macnaghten at the Residency, where I am to pick her -up at the gate. Will you accompany us for a drive -outside the cantonments?" -</p> - -<p> -"With pleasure," said Denzil, though this party -of <i>three</i> was not exactly what he had schemed out -in his own mind—for he had contemplated nothing -less than a solitary ramble with Rose amid the -lovely and secluded alleys of the Shah Bagh, or -Royal Garden, close by; but it was necessary to -quit the crowd unnoticed, a movement not very -easily achieved by a girl so showy and so well -known as Rose Trecarrel; so they were compelled -to linger a little, as if listening to the band. -</p> - -<p> -In the small circle of European society at Cabul, -great circumspection was necessary—greater still -before the natives, who, under the ideas inculcated -by their race and religion, were apt to suspect the -most innocent action permitted by the usages of -society at home, and to misconstrue that which they -could not understand—the perfect freedom and -equality, the high position, honour and character, -accorded to the English lady or the Christian -woman, whether as maid, wife, or mother. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil was too inexperienced and too much in -love to be otherwise than shy and nervous. He -hesitated in speech, and actually blushed or grew -pale like a girl who heard, rather than a youth who -had a tale of love to tell. His voice became low, -earnest, and tremulous. He could scarcely tell -why the momentary touch of that graceful little -hand, ungloved—for it <i>was</i> ungloved now—made -his heart thrill, for the presence, the sense, the -language, and the glances of passion, were all new -and confusing to him; while the brilliant girl—the -lovely spider in whose net he found himself so -hopelessly meshed—knew how to wear her armour -of proof and shoot her love-shafts to perfection. -</p> - -<p> -The band now struck up a lively air, and dancing -to its measure, through the crowd, which parted -and made way for them, there came a group of -some twenty Nautch girls, in their graceful Indian -dress (all so unlike the swathed-up women of the -Mussulmen), a single robe folded artistically about -them, leaving one bosom and their supple, tapered -limbs quite free. The leading Bayadere, though -dark as copper, was indeed a lovely girl; but her -jetty hair was all glittering with missee and silver -dust. -</p> - -<p> -The jewels which loaded their necks, wrists, and -ankles, proclaimed them attendants on the court of -the Shah,* and were flashing like their own bright -eyes in the sunshine, while the coils of their hair of -purple blackness, were interwoven with the white -flowers of the wild jasmine. Some had vinas, or -rude guitars fashioned of half-gourds; and others -had tom-toms or little Indian drums, to the sound -of which they sung. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* Now, as in the time of the "Arabian Nights," Nautch girls -are attached to all Eastern Courts. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -As all Nautch dancing borders a little on the -indelicate, Rose had now a fair excuse for leaving -the vicinity of the band. Denzil sprang into the -little seat behind her, as she still insisted on driving, -and they quitted the cantonments by the west-gate, -opposite the musjeed, where Bob Waller was -listening to the distant strains of the music and -killing the hours of his duty as best he could; and -thus they escaped Polwhele and a few others who -had been waiting to pounce upon her or Mabel, for -they were especial favourites with the officers, -nathless the ungallant banter to which their names -were subjected at times. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap08"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER VIII. -<br /><br /> -THE DRIVE. -</h3> - -<p> -Mabel was not at the Residency, as the sentinels -of the Queen's 44th, at the gate, informed them, -she having driven away with the Lady of the Envoy -to visit Lady Sale, about half an hour before. -Denzil perhaps might have foreseen that the sisters -would miss each other, had he known more of the -inner nature of Rose Trecarrel, or more of the -science of flirtation. -</p> - -<p> -"How excessively provoking!" she exclaimed; -"shall we return to the band, or—drive without her? -Besides we might perhaps meet or overtake them." -</p> - -<p> -The idea of a solitary drive was somewhat perilous -at that juncture of our affairs, as the district was -much disturbed, and patrols of the 5th Cavalry and -1st Local Horse of the Shah, were on all the roads -leading to Cabul. All the people were in arms, and -since the murder of Sir Alexander Burnes, more -than one officer had been waylaid and seriously -wounded. But the temptation was too great, and -Denzil "supposed that they might take a little -drive together;" so turning the phaeton from the -Residency gate, Rose drove along the Kohistan -road, in a direction from Cabul. -</p> - -<p> -A wretched Hindoo Kulassy, or tent-pitcher—just -such a creature as one may see shivering in the -Strand, singing in a nasal monotone to the beating -of his dusky fingers on a tom-tom—cried something -in mockery after them—a sign of the times—but -they heard him not. The Shah Bagh, amid the -luxuriant shrubberies of which the voices of the -dove and nightingale were heard at certain seasons; -the quaint, old musjeed, where Waller was on -guard; the village of Behmaru; a pile of stones -marking where an English lady had been thrown -out of her palanquin and murdered by some wild -Belooches, who fled, leaving her unplundered, as -they deem the blood of a woman bodes disaster to -those who shed it, were each and all soon left -behind, and they drew near the long and narrow -lake of Istaliff, which is about four miles in length, -and where Sinclair's boat lay now neglected among -the weeds and sedges. -</p> - -<p> -The vicinity of this lake, the only one in -Afghanistan, was lonely, and the hills of Behmaru -bordered it on the east. There the shaggy goat, -bearded like his Afghan master, and the graceful -little antelope leaped from rock to rock; there the -long-haired cat and the jabbering ape sprang from -branch to branch of the plane and poplar trees, and -the beautiful little bird known as the Greek -partridge, the hill-chuckore of the natives, whirred up -from among the long grass; but save these, and -once when a solitary Afghan shepherd peeped forth -from his tent of coarse black camlet, pitched on the -green mountain slope, there seemed no living thing -on their now sequestered path. -</p> - -<p> -Waller, Burgoyne, and others, were older and -more showy officers than Denzil, as yet; but it -pleased the caprice of Rose Trecarrel to attach him -for a time, if not hopelessly, to the train of her -admirers; though there was a double risk in the -little expedition of that day—the exciting -comment among her friends, and the more perilous and -equally probable advent of some plundering natives -or armed fanatics; yet, heedless of all, the rash girl -drove on, looking laughingly back from time to -time, with her bright smiling face and alluring eyes, -at the lover who sat behind her, striving to speak -on passing objects or common-place events, while -his soul was full of her, and her only. -</p> - -<p> -Fortunately, no deadly or perilous adventure -marked that day's expedition; yet Denzil was fated -never to forget it. -</p> - -<p> -Rose certainly was fond of Denzil; but her love -affair had, to her, much of the phase of amusement -in it. In him, it was mingled with intense and -delicate respect; and every fibre seemed to thrill, -when she turned half round and showed her face so -beautiful in its animation, while, blown back by the -soft breeze and their progress against it, her veil, -and sometimes one loose tress of her silky, auburn -hair, were swept across his mouth and eyes. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil's hand rested on the back of her seat, and -as she reclined against it, he knew that there was -little more than a silk dress between it and a neck -of snowy whiteness; and as the sunlight fell on her -brilliant hair, it shone like floss silk, or satin, rather, -while her eyes were ever beaming with pleasure, -fun, excitement, and something of fondness, too; -for he who sat near her was handsome, winning, -dazzled by her, and, as she well knew, loved her -dearly. -</p> - -<p> -"Do you believe in animal magnetism?" she -asked abruptly. -</p> - -<p> -"I don't know—never thought about it, though I -have heard old What's-his-name lecture on it at -Sandhurst; but what do you mean?" -</p> - -<p> -"The strange sympathy and attraction that are -created between two persons who meet each other for -the first time—love at first sight, in fact." -</p> - -<p> -Denzil's heart beat very fast, and he was about to -make a suitable response, when Rose resumed. -</p> - -<p> -"I am so glad to have the pleasure of driving -you, Mr. Devereaux," said she; "but see how those -reins have reddened my poor fingers!" she added, -holding up a plump, little white hand, ungloved, -most temptingly before him. The ponies were proceeding -at a walk now, and for Denzil to resist taking -that hand in his, caressingly, was impossible; the -next moment he had bent his lips to it, and still -retained it, for Rose made no effort to withdraw it; -and this seemed rather encouraging. -</p> - -<p> -"And you never were in love till you came to -Cabul?" she asked, deliberately. -</p> - -<p> -"Never, till I saw you, Rose—dear, dear Rose—ah, -permit me to call you so?" replied Denzil, with -his eyes so full of tender emotion that her dark -lashes drooped for a moment. -</p> - -<p> -"You must not talk in this way, Mr. Devereaux; -but how is one to know true love—for there is only -one love, though a hundred imitations of it?" she -asked, laughing—she was always laughing. -</p> - -<p> -"Some one says so, or writes so, I think." -</p> - -<p> -"De La Rochefoucauld." -</p> - -<p> -"And De La Rochefoucauld is right," replied -Denzil, covering with kisses her velvety and -unresisting hand. -</p> - -<p> -"I never thought you cared so much for me, -Mr. Devereaux," said she after a pause. -</p> - -<p> -"Cared—Oh, Rose, can you use a phrase so tame -as that?" -</p> - -<p> -"Well, I mean—good Heavens, I don't know -what I mean! I never thought you loved me. I -had some idea that you preferred Mabel—she is so -statuesque." -</p> - -<p> -Rose had never thought this; but it suited her -to say so, and gain a little time. She half closed -her clear brown eyes, and smiling most archly and -seductively under their long lashes at him, said in a -low voice,— -</p> - -<p> -"And you love me—actually love me?" -</p> - -<p> -"I have dared to say so—Rose." -</p> - -<p> -"But you are so young, Denzil—dare I say Denzil?" -</p> - -<p> -"Only a year perhaps younger than you." -</p> - -<p> -"But then you are only an Ensign—and people -would so laugh!" -</p> - -<p> -"Let them do so—he who laughs wins; one day -I shall be something more," said he earnestly. -</p> - -<p> -"Sit beside me, please, and not behind; I shall -have quite a crick in my poor little neck by the -way I have to turn—and I shall give you the reins -too." -</p> - -<p> -In a moment Denzil was seated by her side. -</p> - -<p> -"And now," said she, "let us talk of something -else than love; we have had quite enough of it for -one day, my poor Denzil." -</p> - -<p> -How his heart thrilled again, at the sound of his -own name on her lips. -</p> - -<p> -"Of what shall we speak—of what else can one -think or speak when with you?" -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, anything; how do you like this dress, -for instance—my ayah trimmed it?" and while -speaking she opened her soft cashmere shawl and -showed her waist and the breast of her dress -trimmed with—Denzil knew not what—for to resist -putting an arm round that adorable waist (a -movement which we dare not quite say Miss Rose -Trecarrel perhaps expected) was impossible. -</p> - -<p> -"Denzil—Mr. Devereaux!" she exclaimed—"oh -good Heavens! if you—if we are seen by any one." -</p> - -<p> -"Pardon me—but permit me," he sighed. -</p> - -<p> -"Listen for a moment and do be reasonable. I -can scarcely admit or realise the idea that you are -<i>the</i> one who is to give a tone, a colour, to all my -future life. No, Denzil; you have paid me the -greatest compliment a man can pay a woman; but -it may not be. Let us be friends—oh yes! dear, -dear friends, who shall never forget each other; but -not lovers" (here she held up her ruddy lips to the -bewildered Denzil) "not lovers—oh,no—not lovers!" -</p> - -<p> -Kisses stifled all that might have followed. -</p> - -<p> -What art or madness was this? -</p> - -<p> -Denzil felt as if the landscape swam around him, -and he was rather fond and fatuous in his -proceedings, we must admit; but his earnestness -impressed at last the coquette by his side. She began -to think she had gone rather too far, so she became -grave, and a sadness almost stole over her face. -</p> - -<p> -She began to consider that this love-making was -all very well and pleasant so long as it lasted, but -where was it to end? As others have ended, -thought Rose. There were moments when she -could not help yielding to the calm delight with -which the pure passion of Denzil was apt to inspire -her, for there was a genuine freshness in it. Many -had flattered her; many had pressed and kissed her -hands, toyed with her beautiful hair, aye, and not a -few had kissed her cheek too; but beyond all those, -he seemed so happy, so intensely enchanted with -her—seeming to drink in her accents—to live upon -her smiles! -</p> - -<p> -In short, he thoroughly <i>believed</i> in her, and she -tried for the time to believe in herself; and -yet—and yet—with the impassioned kisses of her -young lover on her lips, she felt that it was all -folly—folly in him, folly in her—a folly that must soon -have a painful, perhaps a mortifying end. -</p> - -<p> -Did it never occur to her, that young though he -was, those caresses and kisses—those words half -sighed, and thoughts half-uttered, might never be -forgotten by him; but be recalled in time to come -with sadness as "the delight of remembered days." -</p> - -<p> -"Now do let us be rational, dearest Denzil," said -she smoothing her hair and quickly adjusting her -shawl, collar, and gloves, as a turn of the road -brought them in sight of the cantonments and a -patrol of the 5th Cavalry under a Duifodar riding -slowly along; and on their drawing a little nearer -her father's house prudence on Rose's part led her -to suggest that Denzil should leave her. -</p> - -<p> -"Good-bye till to-morrow—you will call and see -us, of course," said she, as he alighted from the -phaeton; "dear Denzil," she added, her eyes beaming -with their usual witchery and waggery the while, -"have we not enjoyed the band to-day?" -</p> - -<p> -He knew not what he replied as she drove off -and once or twice turned to kiss her hand to him, -while lingeringly and with his heart swelling with -all that had passed, he turned from the Kohistan -road towards his somewhat squalid quarters in the -old Afghan fort. -</p> - -<p> -The secret understanding between them seemed -to be growing deeper! What was to be the sequel, -and what would the General say? But, as yet, -prudence had suggested neither one idea nor the -other to Denzil. -</p> - -<p> -It was well for him, as after mess, he lay on his -charpoy, or camp-bed, indulging in a quiet cigar -and plunged in happy reverie, dreaming over all the -events of that delightful drive by the Lake of -Istaliff, that he did not overhear a few words of a -conversation regarding him, and taking place at -that precise time in a corner of General Trecarrel's -drawing-room. -</p> - -<p> -"Take care, Rose," Mabel was saying; "I have -heard of your solitary drive to-day from Polwhele, -though papa has not—a drive in defiance of the -dreadfully disturbed state of the people -hereabout—nearly all in insurrection, in fact. -Mr. Devereaux is only a very junior subaltern, and the -Civil Service are scarce enough up here certainly; -but remember that cloudy story about his family -which we heard at Porthellick." -</p> - -<p> -"I care not," replied Rose, looking up from a -fauteuil on which she was languidly reclining, her -whole occupation being the opening and shutting of -a beautiful fan given to her by some forgotten sub -of Sale's Light Infantry; "the poor fellow loves -me——" -</p> - -<p> -"He has told you so?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes—so I shan't betray his home secret, if -there is one." -</p> - -<p> -"Yet you would betray himself?" -</p> - -<p> -"Don't say so, Mab?" -</p> - -<p> -"Why?" -</p> - -<p> -"It sounds so horrid." -</p> - -<p> -"But when Audley Trevelyan—the heir to a -peerage comes——" -</p> - -<p> -"Audley seems to find attraction enough in Bombay," -said Rose, with an air of pique; "so please -attend to Waller and his long fair whiskers, my -dear sister, I am quite able to take care of myself. -Besides, Mab, this lad Devereaux is only one -among many." -</p> - -<p> -"But to him you may be one—<i>the one</i>—one only -Rose." -</p> - -<p> -"I know it," was the pitiless reply. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap09"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER IX. -<br /><br /> -ADVENTURE IN CABUL. -</h3> - -<p> -To his intense mortification, regimental duty -detained Denzil in the cantonments all the following -day, thus precluding his visiting the General's house -at the time he intended; but as a natural sequence -to their pleasant little airing by the shores of the -Lake of Istaliff, it occurred to him that at their -next interview he must beg Rose Trecarrel's -acceptance of some suitable love-token; and for this -purpose he resolved to visit the great bazaar while -it was yet safe for a European to traverse the streets -of the Shah's capital, as the dreaded Ackbar Khan -was not as yet known to be within its walls at that -precise juncture; and evening parade being over, -he hastened along the road to the Kohistan gate, -and turning to the left after entering it, proceeded -at once towards the Char Chouk, the aforesaid great -bazaar, with his mind intent on his proposed -purchase, and so full of the tender memories of -yesterday, that he was quite oblivious of the manner in -which the armed Afghans, the red-capped Kussilbashes, -and others who were thronging the narrow -thoroughfares in unwonted numbers, regarded him; -how they scowled ominously, handled their weapons, -and muttered curses under their thick flowing -mustaches. -</p> - -<p> -He was thinking only of Rose, when there were -those hovering about him who required but the -precept, or example, of one bolder or more cruel -than the rest, to cut him to pieces and elevate his -head on some conspicuous pole in the market-place; -for the Afghans almost invariably slice off the heads -of those they slay. -</p> - -<p> -It never occurred to him, that in her own -laughing way, her manner yesterday had been -somewhat forward, over-confident, or "flirtatious" as -Polwhele would have phrased it. He had but -one idea and conviction; "How <i>fond</i> she is of -me?" and thus a few gold pieces which he had -once intended to invest in a present for his -mother—alas! he knew not all that had happened -at home—or for Sybil, his gentle sister, were now -to be spent in a suitable love-gift for Rose -Trecarrel. -</p> - -<p> -"She loves me—and she is so beautiful!" he -whispered to himself again and again; for there is -much truth in the old Roman maxim, that "what -we wish should be, we readily believe;" and what -reason had he to doubt her? Doubtless, she had -flirted with many—but she loved <i>him</i>. -</p> - -<p> -Followed and alternately mocked, reviled or -importuned insolently for alms, by Osman Abdallah, -the Arab Dervish, to be rid of whose inodorous -presence, he thrice gave him a rupee, Denzil reached -the great bazaar, the largest in all the East (and -once famed as the emporium of Asia), which was -built in the days of Aurungzebe; but which exists -no longer, as it was subsequently destroyed by our -troops. -</p> - -<p> -Like other Oriental bazaars, it was formed of -stone, like a long double gallery, arched in with -wood elaborately painted, gilded, and carved, and -having to the right and left bezetzeins or shops -opening off it; and in these, merchants displayed -their various goods for sale. The true Afghans -never engage in trade; but despise it. All their -shopkeepers, merchants and artizans are generally -men of other nations—Tadjiks, Hindoos, or -Persians; and through a scowling and well armed -crowd of idle men and veiled women, Denzil -wandered amid a maze of shops, some of their windows -being ablaze with jewels, gold and silver work, -rich draperies, divans, Persian carpets, Cashmere -shawls; shops where iced sherbet and luscious -fruits were vended in summer; shops where -chupatties and sweet confectionery were sold; others -where silver-mounted saddles, gold-handled sabres, -silks, muslins and riches of all kinds were displayed, -a more picturesque aspect being imparted to the -whole scene by the variously-coloured lamps of -perfumed oil which hung from the ceilings, and -which, as the dusk of evening was now stealing into -the bazaar, were being lighted here and there. -</p> - -<p> -At last he stood before the booth of a jeweller, -who was seated cross-legged behind the trays -whereon female ornaments of every conceivable kind -for the neck, ankles and wrists, for the hair and the -girdle, rings for the ears, the fingers and nose were -displayed, all fashioned of that bright-coloured gold -and delicate workmanship for which the East, but -more especially the city of Delhi is so famed. The -prices of these were marked on labels in Afghan -money, from the rupee and gold mohur upwards. -</p> - -<p> -While Denzil was looking over these gems of art -for a ring of some value as a suitable present for -Rose Trecarrel, he did not perceive that the -cross-legged and remarkably cross-visaged proprietor—a -huge Asiatic, who wore a green turban, declaring -thereby his descent from the prophet, and who sat -smoking on a piece of carpet within his shopboard, -his beard of intense blackness, flowing almost to his -knees—was eyeing him with a deepening scowl, and -seeming to shoot towards him with fierce and -insulting energy the pale blue smoke wreaths that issued -from his lips and the nostrils of his hooked nose—a -veritable eagle's beak. -</p> - -<p> -At last Denzil selected a ring, the price of which -was marked as eight gold mohurs, and was about -to proffer the money therefor, when the merchant -snatched the jewel from his hand, and saying, with -savage energy, the single epithet, "<i>Kaffir!</i>" spat -full in his face. At the same moment Osman -Abdallah, the filthy, greasy and unshorn Arab -Hadi, who had been watching closely, uttered a -shrill and hostile yell. -</p> - -<p> -Startled and justly enraged by an insult so -sudden and so foul, Denzil drew back with his hand on -his sword. As his assailant was quite unarmed, he -had no intention of drawing it unless farther -molested. He looked round in vain for a choukeydar -(or policeman) and saw only a gathering crowd with -black-gleaming eyes and swarthy malevolent visages -closing round him. How the affair might have -ended there is little difficulty in foreseeing. He -must have been slaughtered on the spot, but for the -intervention of a splendidly equipped horseman, who -at that critical moment rode up, and seizing him by -the arm waved the people back by his sabre, and -assisted by his followers, six juzailchees, half led -half dragged Denzil from the bazaar into the open -street. -</p> - -<p> -"Are you mad or weary of your life, Sahib, that -you venture into Cabul in the present state of the -city, and, more than all, to-day?" asked his -protector, sternly. -</p> - -<p> -"Why particularly to-day, Mohammed Khan?" -said Denzil, greatly ruffled, and now recognising -the tall, thin and yellow visaged Wuzeer of the -Shah. -</p> - -<p> -"Alas! ye are but as swine!" was the complimentary -reply. "Know you not that it is Friday—a -day set apart by the devout for solemn fast and -prayer, in commemoration of the holy prophet's -arrival at Medina; and because on that day God -finished the great work of creation?" -</p> - -<p> -"I never thought of all this, Khan," replied -Denzil, whose heart was yet furious against the -fanatical jeweller; and he might with truth have -added, that so far from thinking of the prophet he -thought only of Rose Trecarrel. -</p> - -<p> -The narrow streets were nearly involved in -darkness now. They were destitute of all lamps; and -thus, provided the Wuzeer could elude the crowd -that followed clamorously from the bazaar, he would -not have much difficulty in effecting the escape of -Denzil, whose blood they fiercely and furiously -demanded, crying aloud that one of the faithful had -been assaulted, robbed and half murdered by a -Kaffir, a Feringhee, and so forth. -</p> - -<p> -The six juzailchees who formed the escort of -Taj Mohammed Khan, and who were soldiers of the -Shah's 6th regiment (a portion of the same force -that General Trecarrel had come up country to -command) now fixed their long bayonets and kept -back the pressure of the crowd, many of whom -had now drawn their swords. The high, narrow -thoroughfare re-echoed with barbarous yells, and -Denzil felt that he was in a very awkward scrape. -</p> - -<p> -Dismounting, the Wuzeer quitted his horse, and -seizing the somewhat bewildered Denzil by the -hand conducted him down a narrow, dark and steep -alley, under the very ramparts of the towering Bala -Hissar; and thence, by a steeper open slope to the -lower wall of the city, through a <i>kirkee</i>, or wicket, -in a gate of which they issued, and the fugitive -found himself free. Before him stretched, far away -in the starlight, the extensive and beautifully -cultivated valley, amid which the Cabul flows till it -passes through the city, the ramparts, royal citadel, -domes and castles of which rose in sombre masses -skyward behind him. -</p> - -<p> -Mohammed drew a long breath, as if of relief. -So did Denzil. He had been thinking of the -emotions of Rose on the morrow, if she heard that he -had been massacred in the streets of Cabul, helplessly, -pitilessly, barbarously, and of those who were -so dear at home, and were so far, far away. -</p> - -<p> -"As yet you are safe," said his guide. -</p> - -<p> -"I thank you gratefully; but how far am I from -the cantonments?" -</p> - -<p> -"About two kroes." -</p> - -<p> -This was fully four miles English from that -angle of the city, and Denzil heard him with -anxiety. -</p> - -<p> -"Know you the way, Sahib?" -</p> - -<p> -"I do not. Moreover, it may be beset." -</p> - -<p> -"Then I must conduct you; but see! yonder are -horsemen coming straight from the Candahar road. -I know not who they may be. Some Belooches are -expected with Ackbar Khan on the morrow; so, -quick, let us conceal ourselves here." -</p> - -<p> -And hurrying—running, indeed—with all the -speed they could exert, they sought the shelter of a -grove, wherein, as Denzil knew, stood the mosque -and tomb of the once mighty Emperor Baber, in -quieter times the object of many a ride and visit, -and the scene of many a pleasant pic-nic for the -ladies and officers of the garrison. All was still -here—still as death—save the plashing of a sacred -fountain and the cooing of the wild pigeons, -disturbed by their approach. The grove and cornices -of the mosque were full of those birds, which are -deemed holy by the Mohammedans, because as the -Wuzzer, who, like a true Afghan, never omitted to -interlard his discourse with religious topics and -allusions, a pigeon had built its nest in front of a -cavern in which the prophet lay concealed, and thus -favoured an escape from his enemies. -</p> - -<p> -"These horsemen draw near us," said Denzil, as -hoofs now rang on the pathway to the shrine. -</p> - -<p> -"<i>Az burai Kodar</i>—silence!" (for the love of -God) whispered Taj Mohammed, as he placed a -hand on the mouth of the speaker and drew him -under the shadow of the trees, only in time to -escape the eye of a tall and well-armed man, who -suddenly appeared at the door of the mosque, in -which one or two more lamps were now being -lighted. -</p> - -<p> -The horsemen, twelve in number, were all -Afghans, and armed to the teeth. They carried -juzails slung over their poshteens. Each had a -double brace of pistols in his girdle as well as a pair -at his saddle bow; and all, save one, who appeared -to be a chief, had a lance in his right hand, and an -elaborately-gilded shield of rhinoceros hide strapped -to his back. They were all stately, strong and -resolute-looking fellows. Linking their horses -together, they dismounted with one accord, and their -figures seemed remarkably picturesque in the strong -light which now streamed through the door—a -horse-shoe arch—of the illuminated mosque, as they -entered it in succession, each making a low salaam -to the armed man, who was evidently standing there -to receive and welcome them. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil turned to Taj Mohammed and was about -to make some inquiry, when that personage, whose -eyes were sparkling like those of a hyæna in the -clear starlight, and whose teeth were set with rage, -said in a low and hissing voice, -</p> - -<p> -"Silence, Sahib, silence, for your life! These -are Ghilzies and Kussilbashes; and he who -received them is the Sirdir, Ackbar Khan! Now, -by the soul of the prophet, the dark spirit of the -devil is in Baber's tomb to-night!" -</p> - -<p> -A political or military conference—perhaps a -conspiracy—was evidently on the tapis; and great -though the risk of discovery—a cruel and -immediate death—Taj Mohammed, in his dread and -hatred of a powerful and hereditary foe and -would-be supplanter, crept forward that he might -overhear; and following his example, Denzil was rash -enough to climb, by the rich carvings of the mosque, -to one of the openings, which, for religious purposes, -were left in its eastern wall; and peeping in, -he saw a somewhat remarkable scene—one which, -so far as regarded character, costume and spirit, -resembled one in the middle ages, rather than in -her present Majesty's reign. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap10"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER X. -<br /><br /> -THE MOSQUE OF BABER. -</h3> - -<p> -Under the dome or centre of this edifice was -formed a lofty hall of circular shape, rising from -horse-shoe arches that sprang from slender pillars -of white marble. In the centre of each arch hung a -silver lamp, but only two were lighted. On one -side stood a pulpit of the purest white marble, and -on the other, a gilded gallery for the Shah, when it -pleased him to come hither and pray at the tomb of -his remote predecessor. Opposite this stood an -altar, where the name of the Deity was painted in -brilliant arabesques, and two enormous candles, -each a foot in diameter, stood at each end of it on -gilded pedestals. -</p> - -<p> -In the middle of this place, and amid a group of -armed Afghan chiefs, stood one whom Taj Mohammed -indicated by a sign, to be the Prince, Ackbar -Khan, our most bitter enemy in that half-barbarous -land; and it was not without some emotions of -interest and excitement that Denzil looked upon -this son of Dost Mohammed—one whose character -for cruelty and recklessness of human suffering and -human life was so notorious. -</p> - -<p> -Fairer than Afghans usually are, he was a man of -distinguished hearing, with a magnificent black -beard: but, for the purpose of disguise, was clad as -yet in the humble attire of a shepherd; thus it -contrasted strongly with the brilliant colours worn -by Shireen Khan of the Kussilbashes, Ameen Oollah -Khan, the Ghazee chiefs, and others, to whom he -was now speaking with animation, ever and anon, -while he did so, grinding those teeth of which Rose -Trecarrel had spoken so disparagingly. -</p> - -<p> -This Ackbar Khan was simply a monster in -cruelty; he had been known to have a man flayed -alive in his presence, "commencing at the feet and -continuing upwards, till the sufferer was relieved by -death." A favourite and brave follower of his own, -named Pesh Khedmut—one who had been with him -in all his defeats, flights, and varieties of fortune, -was once assisting him to mount his horse, when -some portion of his loose flowing dress caught the -lock of a pistol. It exploded, and the terrible -Ackbar was slightly wounded. In vain did the -luckless Khedmut swear upon the Koran that it was -the result of an accident over which he had no -control; in vain, we say; for the pitiless Sirdir had -him burned alive; and he is alleged to have tortured -to death more than one British officer, whom the -fortune of war had left in his hands. -</p> - -<p> -Ackbar, however, excelled in all the higher -branches of Afghan education; thus he rode well, -shot with precision, and handled his sabre with an -expertness few could equal. -</p> - -<p> -"Some conspiracy is afoot," thought Denzil; -"and there is Shireen Khan, the old Kussilbash -brute whom I saw airing himself on a camel at the -band-stand; and now, here comes my friend, the -Arab Hadji, who loves his Prophet so much, but -loathes soap and water more," he added, mentally, -as his late tormentor now stole in, and creeping, -almost crawling, on his hands and knees, up to -Ackbar, delivered a letter, which he drew from his -tattered cummerbund, the cloth which girt his -loins. -</p> - -<p> -Ackbar read it, and his eyes flashed fire as he -turned to grim old Shireen Khan, and said,— -</p> - -<p> -"Sale, the Kaffir Sirdir (<i>i.e.</i> infidel general) has -actually cut his way through the Ghilzie tribes, and -is now safe in Jellalabad! Well; the unbelievers -who remain in Cabul shall be destroyed, root and -branch, ere he can return to succour them; that I -have sworn on the Kulma, unless the Envoy of -their Queen ransoms their accursed heads to-morrow." -</p> - -<p> -"And their women shall be our slaves," said one. -</p> - -<p> -"Or exchanged for horses with the chiefs of -Toorkistan," added another. -</p> - -<p> -Then, said Shireen Khan, his eyes, too, blazing -like carbuncles, as the hatred of race and religion -boiled up within him, -</p> - -<p> -"The Feringhees, those dogs of covetousness, are -among us, and for what? What seek they here? -To put over us a king whom we loathe—a king who -will be subservient to the Lord Bahadur at Calcutta; -dethroning Dost Mohammed!" -</p> - -<p> -"Solomon, as we may read, knew three thousand -proverbs, and the songs that he sang were a hundred -and five; yet what was Solomon when compared -with Shah Sujah?" sneered Ackbar, as his white -teeth glistened under his coal-black mustache. -</p> - -<p> -"You will ask this Envoy on the morrow, if it -was really his intention to send me, Ameen Oollah -Khan, Shireen Khan, and others, bound as slaves, -to the feet of his Queen, in her Island of the Sea?" -said one with sombre fury. -</p> - -<p> -"I shall, without fail." -</p> - -<p> -"And the white-faced dog will deny it!" -</p> - -<p> -"Perhaps; but it shall be the last lie of the -unbeliever's tongue," replied Ackbar, with a grim smile -as he touched the hilt of his Afghan dagger. -</p> - -<p> -"Slay him, even as I slew Burnes Sahib!" added -that pleasant personage who rejoiced in the name of -Ameen Oolah Khan. "Ha! what said the Khan of -Khelat-i-Ghilzie to him, when he heard of the -Feringhees first coming hither by the Khyber and -the Khoord Cabul passes? 'Ye have brought an -army into the land of the Pushtaneh; but how do -you propose to take it back again?'"* -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* These were almost the words of the Duke of Wellington (by a -singular coincidence) when intimation was first made in Parliament -of our advance into Afghanistan.—Macfarlane's <i>Hist. of British -India</i>, p. 537. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"Had we killed Burnes Sahib when first he came -among us alone, he had not returned with all those -Kaffirs who are now cantoned between yonder hills -of Siah Sung and Behmaru," said another chief, who -wore the sword of Sir Alexander Burnes in his -girdle; "so now, that we have the opportunity, let -us slay the dogs ere they can escape us." -</p> - -<p> -"Nay, let us get the ransom <i>first</i>," suggested -Shireen Khan. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; and then let them march and be in the -Passes, we know by which they must depart; and -remember," added Ackbar, with a tone and face of -indescribable ferocity, "the old Arab proverb—<i>Al -harbu Khudatun</i>!"—(All war is fraud). -</p> - -<p> -"Moreover," said Ameen Oollah, "the Prophet -tells us, that promise as we may, no faith is to be -kept with heretics." -</p> - -<p> -"I came to retake my father's rights; the rights -he sold to the Feringhees. It was written that I -should do so; for who that could sit on a lofty -throne in yonder Bala Hissar, would content him -with a carpet in a tent? Those Feringhees—those -Anglo-Indians are the most presumptuous dogs in -the world," continued Ackbar, "they are accustomed -to see their servile sipahees, their effeminate -Hindoos, and others cower before them; but did they -expect the same homage from us—the free men of -Afghanistan?" -</p> - -<p> -A fierce laugh answered the question, and those -who had lances, made their iron-shod butts to crash -on the marble floor. -</p> - -<p> -Much more to the same purpose passed. Many -of the arguments used and impulses given, were -nearly the same as those which excited the terrible -mutiny of a subsequent year; but what plan those -conspirators meant to adopt—whether to take a -bribe, and let our troops retreat in peace; or take -the bribe, and lure them to destruction in those -terrible passes by which alone they could return to -India; in either case, to make slaves of the white -women, neither Mohammed, who translated much -of what we have written, nor the other listener, -could determine; but the farewell words of Ackbar, -ere they departed, were ominous of much evil to -come. -</p> - -<p> -"To your castles and tents," said he; "let every -Khan and tribe be prepared, for to-morrow may -determine all. You, Shireen Khan, shall dispatch -tchoppers* to the chiefs of the Ghilzies, and those -of the Khyberrees, to guard the passes to the death, -promise what we may—for remember <i>all war is -fraud</i>!" -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* Mounted couriers. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -With a low salaam to Ackbar, after all turning -their faces in the direction of Mecca, they now -separated, and in a few minutes, the sound of their -horses' hoofs died away, some in the direction of the -city, and others on the Candahar road. -</p> - -<p> -"Sahib," said Mohammed Khan, greatly disturbed, -"you have heard?" -</p> - -<p> -"More than I quite understand," replied Denzil; -"however, I shall report the affair to the General -in the morning; those fellows are evidently up to -something more than either he or the Envoy quite -calculate upon. I only wish that I were nearer my -quarters." -</p> - -<p> -"I have promised to guide you." -</p> - -<p> -"Thanks, Khan; you are most kind." -</p> - -<p> -All around the tomb and mosque of Baber was -still and silent again; the cooing of the pigeons and -the gurgle of the sacred fountain alone were heard. -The quiet stars, and their queen, the vast round -silver moon, were shining now in peace and calmness -over Cabul; over city, plain, and flowing river; -and in floods of liquid light, the picturesque towers -and masses of the Bala Hissar stood forth pale and -grey, while the curtain walls between, were sunk in -shadow or obscurity. -</p> - -<p> -Glad to befriend in any way an English officer, the -Wuzeer guided Denzil between the Armenian and the -Mussulman burying-grounds, where the shadows of -the tall and ghost-like cypresses fell on the white -headstones and the little square chambers or cupolas -that covered the graves of those of rank. -</p> - -<p> -"Listen," said Denzil, pausing, as he suspected -the Arab Hadji might still be following; "surely I -hear a sound." -</p> - -<p> -"You hear only the night wind sighing through -yonder cypresses," replied Taj Mohammed, solemnly; -"sadly it goes past us bearing some weary -soul, perhaps, to the bridge of Al-sirat—some soul -whose earthly tabernacle may yet lie there, where -five of my children are laid, each with its fair face -turned towards Mecca." -</p> - -<p> -Paler and sad grew the face of the Wuzeer as he -spoke, for the Afghans greatly reverence all burial-places, -which, in their own language, they term "the -cities of the silent;" and in fancy they love to -people with the ghosts of the departed, sitting each -unseen at the head of his or her own grave, enjoying -the fragrance of the wreaths and garlands hung -there by sorrowing relatives. -</p> - -<p> -Almost in the centre of the plain, midway between -where the burial-grounds lie and where the -cantonments were, flowed the Cabul river; and a mile or -two brought Denzil and his guide within hail of an -advanced picquet of the 54th Native Infantry, now -posted at the bridge. There the former was safe, -and with many expressions of thanks and gratitude, -he parted from the Wuzeer. -</p> - -<p> -He was informed by the officer in command of -the post, that spies had told the General of Ackbar -Khan being in the vicinity of the city; and that in -consequence, all European residents had been -ordered to repair for safety, within the shelter of -the cantonments. -</p> - -<p> -White in the moonbeams he could see the walls -of General Trecarrel's villa, which, being under the -guns of our fortified Camp was, as yet pretty safe; -and he looked towards it with such emotion as a -lover who is young and ardent, alone can feel; for -Rose he knew was there; and after all he had heard -at the Mosque of Baber, his heart swelled with -anxiety, and a longing desire that she and Mabel, -and all their friends, were elsewhere, in some place -of greater peace and security. -</p> - -<p> -"To-morrow I shall tell her of my narrow escape," -thought he; "my darling—my darling—how I love -you! and how nearly you were losing me!" -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap11"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XI. -<br /><br /> -"ONLY AN ENSIGN." -</h3> - -<p> -Providentially for us, none in this world know -what a day, or even an hour may bring forth; so -Denzil, when next morning he dressed and accoutred -himself, could little foresee the many stirring -events that were to crowd the next twelve hours, -and in which he was to bear a part; as little could -he foresee the sorrows that were in store for him, -ere for the last time, as the event proved, he laid -his head on the pillow in the Afghan fort; for next -day was to see the whole forces concentrated in -the cantonments. Polwhele was absent on patrol -duty, and Bob Waller had gone abroad unusually -early. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil's intense longing to see Rose Trecarrel -and to revive the memories of yesterday was mingled -with a conviction of the necessity to see her father, -that he might take him to General Elphinstone or -the envoy, to whom he was most anxious to report -all that he had heard and seen overnight in the -Mosque of Baber; but Trecarrel was absent (as a -sepoy on duty at the gate of the villa informed -him), having gone to the Bala Hissar with a strong -cavalry escort, as the turbulence of the people -rendered all the roads and streets unsafe—a state of -affairs sufficiently proved to Denzil already. -</p> - -<p> -He recalled the threat, or proposal he had overheard, -to sell the European ladies as slaves in -Toorkistan, or to exchange them for horses;—Rose -Trecarrel sent to Toorkistan! He felt that he -could cheerfully shed his heart's blood in defence -of her—of Mabel and the old General too; that he -could die for them—for her more than all; and all -that a young, loving and enthusiastic spirit could -suggest were in his head and heart, with a hope that -his narrow escape overnight would invest him with -additional interest in her estimation. -</p> - -<p> -He entered the house with somewhat of the -confidence felt only by a privileged dangler, and by -chance on this occasion his arrival was not -proclaimed by a stroke on the gong. He gave his -name to a native servant of the Trecarrels, who -ushered him into the drawing-room, announcing -his presence as "Deveroo Sahib," but in a tone so -low that it seemed to be unheard by those who were -there, and for a full minute Denzil stood irresolute -and did not advance. -</p> - -<p> -The apartment was spacious, and at a remote end -of it, almost out on the verandah, in fact, were Bob -Waller and Mabel Trecarrel, very much occupied -with each other. She was seated in an easy chair -looking up at him, with an arch yet confident -expression. They were conversing in whispers, while -Waller leaned over her, stooping his tall and -handsome figure so much that his face was close to -hers—so close indeed that his long curly whisker, the -left one, was caught by her right-ear earing, from -which it was with difficulty extricated. -</p> - -<p> -"Do you know what I've been thinking, Mabel?" -asked Waller, at that juncture. -</p> - -<p> -"How should I guess?" -</p> - -<p> -"Try." -</p> - -<p> -"What is it?" -</p> - -<p> -"How have I ever been able to get on for those -seven-and-twenty years—I am just -twenty-seven—without you!" -</p> - -<p> -Denzil might have laughed at all this but for the -other two who made up a quartette. -</p> - -<p> -Nearer him in the foreground sat Rose, the glory -of the morning sun streaming full upon her, and -imparting fresh radiance to her beauty. Her rich -auburn hair glittered in the sheen, half like gold -and half like dusky bronze, while her smiling eyes -were full of liquid light as she looked upward from -a book of coloured prints which lay open on her -knee, to the face of a staff officer who hung -somewhat familiarly over her. His face was fine, well -browned by the sun, and closely shaven, all save a -smart black mustache; his eyes were soft in expression, -and his whole air was decidedly distinguished. -</p> - -<p> -"Now, who the deuce is this fellow? who seems -such an <i>ami de la maison</i>—in staff uniform, too—never -saw his face before," were the surmises that -flashed on Denzil's mind. -</p> - -<p> -"And what is all this Miss Trecarrel has told -me?" asked the stranger, in a low voice. -</p> - -<p> -"A foolish flirtation with a boy," replied Rose, -laughing. "It was all a joke. Be assured that he -never asked me to favour him with my agreeable -society for the term of his natural life." -</p> - -<p> -"By Jove! I should think not," was the rather -dubious response of the visitor. -</p> - -<p> -"And some bread-and-butter Miss now a-bed, -perhaps, in England will console him in the future, -if the memory of me survive so long." -</p> - -<p> -"Mabel says you are over head and ears in love -with him." -</p> - -<p> -"Psha! how can <i>you</i> talk so? I am out of my -teens, and the time has gone by for me falling over -head and ears for anybody. Come, don't be foolish, -friend Audley," she continued, gazing into the same -eyes which looked so softly into those of Sybil by -the lonely moorland tarn. "Do you think," she -added, laughing, "I have been writing 'Mrs. <i>and</i> -Ensign Devereaux' in my blotting-pad, just to see -how the conjunction looked; for Denzil, you know, -poor fellow, is very young and only an ensign." -</p> - -<p> -Denzil felt as if petrified; and but last night he -had risked his life to procure a bauble for her! -</p> - -<p> -"But you certainly have been letting him make -love to you," resumed the stranger, in a tone of -combined reproval and banter. -</p> - -<p> -"Well, it is rather pleasant to have a nice foolish -boy to make love to one, to tease and to laugh at." -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, indeed!" His tone was almost contemptuous; -but in her vanity Rose failed to perceive this. -</p> - -<p> -It was not eavesdropping, hearing all this, which -passed rapidly, for the Hindoo had formally -announced Denzil; but so absorbed were the -quartette in themselves that they neither saw nor heard -him. Then as he paused irresolutely with cap and -pipe-clayed gloves in hand, he heard more than -certainly even Rose, in her most rantipole mood, -ever meant he should hear. To say truth, she -had been grievously piqued that Audley had come -out overland, instead of with her and Mabel in the -Indiaman; and hence she was disposed to exert the -full power of her charms, and use all her arts to -lure him into flirting with—if not of absolutely -loving—her; and for the time poor Denzil seemed -to be already forgotten or only remembered as a -subject for merriment. -</p> - -<p> -But as yet, at least, Audley Trevelyan was proof -against all her wiles and smiles. He thought only -of the little girl at home now—she whose brother -he was certain might abhor and shun him for his -somewhat selfish treatment of her; for he knew not -that Denzil had heard nothing of the little love -scenes that had passed at Porthellick. -</p> - -<p> -Suddenly Denzil caught the eye of Rose as he -drew nearer, and starting and growing rather pale -in the fear of what he might have heard, she -exclaimed, nervously, -</p> - -<p> -"Oh! Mr. Devereaux, welcome! Allow me to -introduce you—Mr. Devereaux, Cornish Light -Infantry,—Mr. Trevelyan, one of yours, just -arrived—papa's new aide-de-camp, you know." -</p> - -<p> -Denzil bowed with anything but a satisfied air to -"papa's new aide-de-camp," who presented his hand -with more than polite cordiality, and muttered -something about "the sincere pleasure" it gave -him, et cetera. -</p> - -<p> -"Hallo, Denzil, my boy! what was that shindy -we hear you got into in Cabul last night?" asked -Waller, looking up. "Hope you were not poking -your nose under the veil of some bride of the -Faithful, eh? Here is Trevelyan of ours, has had a -narrow escape, too. He and his escort were -pursued by the Ghilzies as he came up country; but -he sabred one, shot five or six and got clear off. -Then I suppose you know all about this devilish -business of Sale and the 13th Light Infantry in the -pass?" -</p> - -<p> -Waller running on this, caused a diversion, and -saved both Rose and Denzil some pain by giving -them breathing time. -</p> - -<p> -So this was Audley Trevelyan, his cousin, the -Audley to whom Sybil owed her life in the Pixies' -Hole, was the first thought of Denzil, and his heart -seemed to harden. He had come thinking to -create an interest in a very tender bosom by an -account of "the shindy," as Waller styled it, in the -great bazaar; and here was a fellow bronzed and -mustachioed already in possession of the -situation—master of the position—an intensely -good-looking beast, who had actually crossed swords and -exchanged shots with the wild and untamable -Ghilzies! -</p> - -<p> -To Denzil it was bitter mortification, all—yet he -was compelled to dissemble. Could it be possible -that he found himself <i>de trop</i>? That words of -mockery had fallen on his ear? That Mabel and -this man, too, knew alike of that delightful drive by -the lake? -</p> - -<p> -There was a nervous flutter and laughing air of -confusion about Rose that were neither flattering -nor assuring; but the confirmed tidings of the -attack, by the insurrectionary tribes upon Sir -Robert Sale's regiment in its downward march to -Jellalabad, luckily afforded a ready topic—a neutral -ground—on which all could talk with ease; for now -they were aware that Sir Robert Sale's little brigade, -including the Queen's 13th Light Infantry and 35th -Native Infantry, armed with flint muskets, though -the stores were full of percussion fire-arms, had -been attacked by the mountain tribes, and that after -clearing the stupendous Khoord Cabul Pass and -enduring eighteen days of incessant fighting as far as -a place called Gundamuck, had succeeded in reaching -Jellalabad on the 12th of November; and that -now on Sir Robert's retention of that city depended -all the hope of General Elphinstone's slender army -having a place of refuge—a point on which to fall -back—if compelled to retire from Cabul (leaving the -unpopular Shah to the mercy of his own subjects), -even with the knowledge that a great amount of -fighting awaited them in the savage mountain -passes (through which their homeward route must -lie,) amid the land of the Ghilzies, a race of -hereditary robbers. -</p> - -<p> -Many officers and men had been killed and -wounded; among the latter were Sir Robert Sale, -who received a ball in his left leg, and Lieutenant -O'Brien, of the 13th, whose skull was fractured -by a shot as he attempted to storm the rocks at the -head of his company. Such was the story of that -protracted fight as it reached Cabul, and reference -to it now shed somewhat of gravity over even the -lively Rose Trecarrel; for among the officers of the -two regiments attacked—especially of the dashing -13th, Prince Albert's Own Light Infantry—many -were known to her, and had deemed her the chief -attraction of the band-stand and the daily promenade. -</p> - -<p> -But regrets were short, for something of the -off-hand recklessness to danger and even death, -incident to military society in such a place as Cabul, -pervaded even the tenor of female life there; and -the subject was soon dismissed. -</p> - -<p> -"A mounted <i>tchopper</i> accompanied Mr. Audley," -said Mabel to Denzil, whose saddened face -interested her; "and so we have had quite a bale of -newspapers from England." -</p> - -<p> -"A bale?" repeated Denzil, mechanically, his -eyes seeking those of Rose. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, positively. Three months' newspapers at -least, though not one letter; and thus the obituaries -and marriages in the <i>Times</i> become so perplexing -to us here." -</p> - -<p> -"I brought some letters for the army up with me -from Bombay," said Audley Trevelyan, "and among -them, Devereaux, I observed one for you—the name -had, somehow, an attraction for me." -</p> - -<p> -"From home!" exclaimed Denzil, starting, for -only those who are so far from Europe as he was -then can know how much is concentrated in that -single word, "home." -</p> - -<p> -"I trust so." -</p> - -<p> -"Then I must go to my quarters at once." -</p> - -<p> -"Nay, Devereaux," said Waller, "moderate your -impatience, if the letter is from some fair one——" -</p> - -<p> -"I have no correspondent but my—my sister -Sybil," said Denzil, with a flash in his eyes and a -quiver of the lip. -</p> - -<p> -"But you must wait, my good fellow," said Waller, -patting him kindly on the shoulder; "you -remember that we promised to ride on the Staff of -the Envoy, to make up a gallant show, and to -impress, if possible, the Sirdir." -</p> - -<p> -"My horse is not here." -</p> - -<p> -"But mine is, and is quite at your service," said -Audley, bowing to Denzil, who was in an agony of -impatience to peruse his long-wished-for letter. -</p> - -<p> -"All right," added Waller, looking at his watch; -"and now we must be off—must tear ourselves away." -</p> - -<p> -He glanced smilingly to Mabel as he spoke. -</p> - -<p> -A strange footing the two kinsmen were on. -Something in their hearts kept each from talking of -their being such to each other. It was indignant -disdain on the part of Denzil, with somewhat of -jealousy, too. In Audley it was a well-bred nervous -doubt of how much or how little Denzil knew of the -love affair—the broken engagement, in fact, with -his sister; or the misconstruction of the last visit -at night—the visit which ended, as neither yet -knew, by an effect so fatal. Denzil thanked him -briefly and emphatically for saving his sister's life -(the Trecarrels had fully detailed all that), and then -all reference to Porthellick, and even to Cornwall, -was dropped; but they had soon other things to -think of. -</p> - -<p> -The father of Audley had left nothing unsaid or -undone to impress upon him that the mysterious -story of Constance's marriage was a fabrication—one -calculated to injure the prospects, and imperil -the honour, and so forth of the Trevelyan family; -but when Audley remembered Sybil, and sought to -trace a likeness to her in Denzil's face, he could not -help feeling kindly and well-disposed to his younger -brother officer. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil having no such tender reminiscences to -soften him, was disposed to be politely cool or grim -as Ajax. -</p> - -<p> -"We must get our bonnets and shawls if we are -to see this Conference," said Rose; "and we must -look sharp—<i>temps-militaire</i>, you know." -</p> - -<p> -"Don't be slangy," said Mabel. -</p> - -<p> -"Do you call French so, Mab?" Rose asked, as -they hastened in high spirits to attire themselves -for walking, and little anticipating the scene that -was before them. -</p> - -<p> -"What are you thinking of Waller?" asked -Audley, smiling. -</p> - -<p> -"That a thousand girls may be beautiful; but -only one among them have an air of refinement." -</p> - -<p> -"Like Miss Trecarrel?" -</p> - -<p> -"Exactly." -</p> - -<p> -All Europeans had now been ordered to keep -within the shelter of the cantonments, and as -it was feared that the General's house might -not be sufficiently protected by the guns on the -bastions overlooking the Residency, he had -arranged for the removal of his whole family and -effects into the regimental bungalows; and already -a fatigue party under Sergeant Treherne was -at work on the premises, pulling down and packing -up, as only soldiers can pack and prepare in -haste. -</p> - -<p> -With something of a stunned emotion Denzil -rode by the side of Waller on the horse of Audley, -as the latter preferred to accompany the ladies -who were to witness the Conference through their -lorgnettes from the cantonment walls. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh! he preferred remaining behind," thought -Denzil viciously; "preferred remaining with her, of -course; what cares he about the Envoy, the Sirdir, -or the Conference, d—n him!' -</p> - -<p> -"Full uniform is the order, you see," said Waller, -as three other officers joined them; "we are to meet -Ackbar in our war-paint—in all the pomp and -glorious circumstance——" -</p> - -<p> -"Oh! Waller," urged Denzil; "how can you -chaff so?" -</p> - -<p> -"Why not; it is a poor heart that never rejoices. -You are down in your luck with Rose, but you will -laugh at that by-and-by." -</p> - -<p> -Denzil coloured, but made no reply. Oh, had -his ears deceived him? Had he heard aright? -Had he been bantered by the tongue that spoke so -alluringly yesterday, mocked by the lips that had -been pressed to his so passionately? Were the clear, -bright hazel eyes that but lately looked so earnest, -now smiling, as they alone could smile, into those -of another? -</p> - -<p> -Might he not have been mistaken? he tormentingly -asked himself again and again, and she -be true after all—yes, after the sweet impassioned -hours of joy by the Lake of Istaliff it must be so! -He actually began to flatter himself that this was -the case; that all was as he wished it to be; so true -it is "that a man freshly in love is more blind -than the bats at noonday." -</p> - -<p> -So far as change of scene, of circumstance, of -society, and some kinds of experience went, Denzil -was beginning to learn the truth of Southey's -maxim, "Live as long as you may, the first twenty -years are the longest of your life." -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap12"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XII. -<br /><br /> -ASSASSINATION. -</h3> - -<p> -No special correspondent had ever, or has ever, -penetrated beyond the Indus and into the wilds of -Kohistan, to saturate the English papers with -narratives of the terrible scenes which we are about -to describe in some of these pages. -</p> - -<p> -Leaving the cantonments by the centre gate -which faced the hills of Siah Sung, Denzil, Waller, -and the officers who had joined them, Captains -Mackenzie, Lawrence, and Trevor, now rode to -where a group of others surrounded one on horseback, -who proved to be the Envoy, who had with -him a Hindoo syce, or groom, leading a marvellously -beautiful Arab horse, which he meant to present in -our Queen's name to the Sirdir. With all his -avowed confidence in the latter, he had requested -that, in case of any unforeseen emergency arising, -the 51th Native Infantry, the Shah's 6th regiment -and two field pieces should be in readiness for -instant service; but so greatly was General -Elphinstone debilitated, alike in mind and body, that -no order to this effect was issued; so the men -remained idle in their bungalows, though it was -known that the cowardly Shah Sujah, who had -eight hundred ladies, the flower of all his country, -shut up with him in the Bala Hissar, was so apprehensive -of the result of the meeting, that he coolly -sent orders through his Kadun Kahia (or Mother -of the Maids) placed in authority over them, that -they should, if the rebels under Ackbar got into the -city, be each and all prepared to take a deadly -poison within an hour. -</p> - -<p> -"Look alive, Denzil—waken up; here is the -representative of Her Britannic Majesty in this -pleasant part of the world," said Waller to his -abstracted friend, while laughing and saluting, he -approached Sir William Macnaghten, Baronet, who, -for his great political services, had just been -appointed Governor of Bombay, and who was in full -diplomatic uniform, elaborately laced with silver -embroidery, and had several jewelled orders -glittering on his breast. -</p> - -<p> -Like many men whom a perilous adventure or a -sudden fate menaces, he was in excellent spirits -this morning, and was by no means disposed to -listen to the warnings of the solemn-visaged Wuzeer, -who was relating all that he and Denzil had -overheard in the Mosque of Baber. Captain Mackenzie -also stated that there was certainly a plot laid by -Ackbar for his destruction; but Macnaghten would -listen to neither advice nor remonstrance. -</p> - -<p> -"I must meet him," said he, "and already he -and the chiefs are on the ground to consult about -whether we shall remain here in peace or retire -beyond the Indus; and you will see how I shall -snub even such a fellow as Ackbar Khan," he added, -lifting his cocked hat and bowing gracefully to the -ladies who were gathering in numbers above the -rampart of the Siah Sung gate, and all were busy -with their opera-glasses, looking towards the east -bank of the Cabul river, where, about a quarter of a -mile distant, were clustered a group of Afghan -horsemen, their brightly coloured flowing dresses -and burnished weapons making a brilliant show in -the sunshine. -</p> - -<p> -In common with Captain Lawrence and Captain -Trevor of the 3rd Light Cavalry, Waller begged -the Envoy to consider well these repeated warnings, -but the latter only laughed and said, -</p> - -<p> -"Bold as he is—and even in this wild country -there is none perhaps bolder—Ackbar dare not -molest me." -</p> - -<p> -"Be not over confident, Sir William: remember -his remorseless character, and the homicides he has -committed." -</p> - -<p> -"I have my pistols." -</p> - -<p> -"So have we all; but consider your wife—consider -Lady Macnaghten, if you perish as Sir -Alexander Burnes perished!" -</p> - -<p> -Macnaghten's lip quivered slightly, and he -glanced to where the row of fair English faces, -the flutter of ribbons, veils, and gay bonnets, -were all visible above the dark slope of the -cantonment wall; but he concealed his rising emotion or -anxiety by an angry outburst. -</p> - -<p> -"I do not ask <i>you</i>, Captain Waller, to accompany -me; Mackenzie, Lawrence, and Trevor are enough -to be in front of the lines, if you think the risk so -great." -</p> - -<p> -Waller's open and ruddy countenance lowered -and grew pale. -</p> - -<p> -"Risk, Sir William!" said he, greatly ruffled, "of -course there is risk, otherwise I should not be here -as a volunteer." -</p> - -<p> -"Nor I," added Denzil, glancing towards a certain -blue crape bonnet, and detecting Audley's cocked -hat very close thereby. -</p> - -<p> -"Nor I," exclaimed the black-whiskered Polwhele, -who had hitherto been intent on the points of the -Arab courser. -</p> - -<p> -"Come on then, gentlemen—the more the merrier, -and a little time must solve all." -</p> - -<p> -The Wuzeer sadly shook his head, and saying, -</p> - -<p> -"As Darrah said of the hypocrite Aurungzebe, -'Of all my brothers most do I fear the teller of -beads,' so say I of Ackbar;" and almost rending -his beard as he went, this loyal minister of a most -unpopular king retired into one of the forts to -wait the event, while the Envoy laughingly spurred -his horse and with his companions rode towards -the group of Afghan Chiefs, around and in the rear -of whom their armed followers were every moment -increasing in number and excitement, as fresh -horsemen accoutred with spear and shield, matchlock -and sabre, came galloping from the gates of -the city, uttering menacing and tumultuous cries, -which could not fail to make the hearts of the ladies -in the fortified camp to throb with apprehension. -</p> - -<p> -The Envoy, with his little Staff, after crossing the -canal by the bridge near an old and abandoned fort, -advanced more leisurely towards where Mohammed -Ackbar Khan, and many other great Chiefs, among -whom were Shireen Khan of the Kussilbashes, on -his towering camel, and Ameen Oollah Khan, were -posted a little way in front of an armed, -dark-visaged, and stormy-looking throng. -</p> - -<p> -The last-named individual, Chief of Loghur, -perhaps equalled Ackbar in cruelty; and it may be -sufficient to illustrate his character to state, that in -order to get rid of an elder brother who stood -between him and the inheritance, he caused him to -be seized and buried up to the chin in densely -packed earth. Around his neck was then looped a -rope, the end of which was haltered to a wild horse, -which was driven round him in a circle, until the -unhappy victim's head was torn from his shoulders, -as a testimony of how Ameen Oollah Khan protested -against the law of primogeniture.* -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* Lieutenant Eyre's Narrative. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Conspicuous among all by his stature and -deportment, the Prince Ackbar was magnificently -attired in a camise of shawl pattern, all scarlet and -gold; his plumed cap was of blue and gold brocade, -with a fall and fringe that drooped on his right -shoulder. He was armed only with his sabre, a -poniard, and a pair of magnificent pistols, which Sir -William Macnaghten had presented to him on a -former occasion; but Ameen Oollah Khan, Shireen, -the Kussilbash, the other chiefs, and all their -followers, especially the Ghilzies, were accoutred to -the teeth, with the arms usually borne by Afghan -horsemen—a heavy matchlock with a long bayonet, -a sabre, a blunderbuss, three long pistols, a dagger, -four or five knives, a shield on the back, and a -comical complication of bullet-bags, powder-flasks, -priming-horns, and other things dangling at their -girdles; and warlike, ferocious, and formidable-looking -fellows they were, save their firearms, unchanged -in aspect and in nature as their forefathers -who dwelt on the mountains of Ghore, in the days -when the Scots and English were breaking each -other's heads on the field of Northallerton. -</p> - -<p> -It was a strange scene, and picturesque in all its -details. -</p> - -<p> -On one side a few fair-faced English officers -in full uniform, with glass in eye and cigarette in -mouth, cool, quiet, and secretly rather disposed to -"chaff the niggers"—men of that type of whom -Bob Waller might be taken as the representative, -frank, fearless, and light-hearted, with his honest -blue eyes and those long, fair whiskers which Mabel -Trecarrel thought so adorable—quite as much so as -he deemed her tresses of ruddy, golden auburn; on -the other, a horde of those hardy warriors from the -hills of Kohistan—men whose ideas were beyond -the middle ages of the world's history, with their -hearts full of proud disdain, rancorous hate, and all -the malignant treachery that adversity of race, -religious fanaticism, and profound ignorance can -inspire, and yet suavely dissembling for the time. -</p> - -<p> -"Permit me, Khan, to present you with this -horse, in the name of Her Majesty the Queen of -England, with her wishes that you may long be -spared to ride him," said Sir William Macnaghten, -with a profound salaam, after he and his companions -drew close to the carpet on which Ackbar awaited -them. He then alighted from his horse and seated -himself, together with Captains Trevor, Lawrence, -and Mackenzie, upon a piece of carpet, among the -chiefs and sirdars; but, luckily for themselves, -Waller, Denzil, and the rest remained in their -saddles, at a little distance. The Sirdir coldly and -haughtily thanked the Envoy for his new gift, the -points of which he praised with all a horseman's -perception. It cost Sir William 3000 rupees, and -had belonged to Captain Grant, the Assistant -Adjutant-General. Then with an eye to any confusion -that might ensue during the Conference, he ordered -the Hindoo syce to lead it off at once towards the -city, and a sly, cruel gleam came into his black -eyes, as this was done. After a few solemn salutations -in oriental fashion and phraseology, Ackbar -Khan said— -</p> - -<p> -"Bismillah! let us talk." -</p> - -<p> -All the chapters in the Koran, except nine, commence -with this word, which signifies, "In the name -of the merciful God;" thus it is incessantly used in -conversation by the Arabs, and still more by the -somewhat canting Afghans. -</p> - -<p> -He then proceeded to business at once, by asking -the Envoy if he was prepared to effect a proposition -that had before been made, to the effect that we -should deliver up the Shah Sujah, with all his -household and family, male and female, to his—the -Sirdir's—mercy; that we should lay down our arms -and colours, yielding also cannon and horses, -together with those two obnoxious sahibs, Sir Robert -Sale and Brigadier Shelton, as hostages—in fact, an -unconditional surrender—in virtue of which he -should graciously pardon our appearance in Afghanistan, -our interference with its affairs, and permit -our whole force to retire with their lives, on the -further condition of swearing to return no more! -</p> - -<p> -"Such proposals," said Sir William, endeavouring -to preserve his temper, "are too dishonourable for -British troops to entertain. You know not, Sirdir, -the men you speak to, and if you persist——" -</p> - -<p> -"Ah, if we persist, what then?" -</p> - -<p> -"We shall simply appeal to arms." -</p> - -<p> -"You Feringhees are proud," said Ackbar, scoffingly; -"but Allah punishes the proud and humbles -them." -</p> - -<p> -He breathed hard as he spoke, and the splendid -jewels on his breast heaved with each excited respiration -as he strove to restrain his fiery temper; but -his dark eyes sparkled, and his teeth glistened like -those of a wild animal. -</p> - -<p> -"I have to lament, Khan," resumed Sir William, -"that relations of friendship which have hitherto -existed between your people and us have been -clouded; and I am ignorant wherefore it should -be so. Good-will towards the people of Afghanistan -caused my mistress, the Queen of England, to lend -her aid——" -</p> - -<p> -"In dethroning my father, Dost Mohammed -Khan," interrupted Ackbar, with sombre fury. -</p> - -<p> -"In restoring Shah Sujah to the throne of his -ancestors," continued Macnaghten, heedless of the -pointed interruption; "and now, Khan, I beseech -you to remember that I received your royal father's -sword at yonder gate of Cabul, when he rode in, -a hunted fugitive, after his escape from the Emir -of Bokhara, and I saved his life, sending him with -all honour to Calcutta, when I might have slain -him." -</p> - -<p> -"I have not forgotten it, Kaffir, and would rather -you had cut him to pieces, than made him a dependent -on your bounty." -</p> - -<p> -Sir William took no heed either of the injurious -epithet or the prince's somewhat unfilial wish. -</p> - -<p> -"The paths of the just are rugged like yonder -hills of Kohistan; yet the snowy peaks are nearer -Allah than the plain around us," said Ackbar, in -true Afghan phraseology. -</p> - -<p> -"I know that, Khan; but——" -</p> - -<p> -"Peace! You Kaffirs pretend to know all things, -whereas ye know nothing. How can it be else, -when ye know not the blessed Koran? You can -be grasping and cruel, however, and well know how -to be so. Was it not your secret intention to send -Ameen Oollah Khan, Skireen Khan, and even me, -chained, as slaves to your Queen, a Kaffir woman, in -her little island, which, Abdallah the Hadji tells us, -is a mere spot of mud amid a misty sea?" -</p> - -<p> -"It was a lie of the Ghilzie chiefs," replied Sir -William, becoming uneasy at the decidedly offensive -tone so rapidly assumed by the Khan. -</p> - -<p> -"There is but one God, and before Him none -other did exist," resumed the royal hypocrite; "He -formed seven heavens, seven worlds, and eighteen -creations, and He sent his friend Mohammed as -the Prophet to mankind; and by every hair in that -Prophet's beard I swear to see you brought -low—very low, and to exult over you." -</p> - -<p> -"Perhaps so, Khan—you are younger than I," -replied the other, affecting to misunderstand the -ominous threat. -</p> - -<p> -"You will not accept our terms?" -</p> - -<p> -"It is impossible; as I have said, they are too -dishonourable." -</p> - -<p> -"Then, while the Khyberees guard the passes, we -shall starve you in yonder cantonments, till the -horses gnaw each other's tails, and the tent-pegs too, -for very hunger; till the babe shall suck in vain for -milk at its dying mother's breast, and the jackals -and pariah dogs shall gorge themselves with the -flesh of camels, of horses, and those who are lower -yet than even the beasts of the field—the accursed -of the Prophet!" -</p> - -<p> -Ere Macnaghten could reply to this remarkable -outburst, an officer (Captain Lawrence) drew near, -and called his attention to the great number of -armed men who had been gradually stealing in -between them and the gate of the cantonments, -and suggested that they "should be ordered to -withdraw." -</p> - -<p> -"No," exclaimed Ackbar, starting to his feet; -"they are all in the secret; <i>begeer! begeer!</i>" -(seize—seize). -</p> - -<p> -At these words, as if they had been a given signal, -the Envoy, Captains Trevor, Lawrence, and Mackenzie -were seized by a crowd of Afghans, and were -so completely taken by surprise, that their swords, -pistols, and epaulets were torn from them before -they could strike a blow in their own defence. -</p> - -<p> -With an expression of indescribable ferocity in -his dark face, Ackbar grasped Sir William with his -own hand, and proceeded to drag him violently and -by main strength down a bank towards the Cabul -river. -</p> - -<p> -"Ah! Kaffir," said he, tauntingly, "you think to -take my country, do you?" -</p> - -<p> -"For God's sake, beware!" exclaimed the unfortunate -man, making all the resistance that rage, -just indignation, and fear of a sudden death, such as -that endured by his friend Burnes, would inspire; -so finding it impossible to carry him off, Ackbar -shot him dead with one of the beautiful pistols, a -present from his victim; and ere the corpse touched -the ground it was impaled by a hundred swords and -bayonets. The head was then hewn off and upheld -by the hair. -</p> - -<p> -Captain Trevor, of the 3rd Bengal Cavalry, also -fell, the victim of innumerable wounds. Mackenzie -and Lawrence were borne off towards the city -by one horde of fanatics, while another, led by -Ameen Oollah Khan, with juzails cocked and -swords drawn, and with flashing eyes and -infuriated faces and gestures, uttering screams of -"Kaffirs—Feringhees—Sugs!" (infidels—Europeans—dogs), -rushed upon Waller, Denzil, Polwhele, -and two other officers, who could hear the -shrill cries of dismay uttered by the ladies on the -wall of the cantonments, where now, when it was -too late, old Elphinstone had ordered the drums to -beat to arms, and General Trecarrel brought the -cavalry, half-saddled, from their stables. -</p> - -<p> -"Stick close to me, Devereaux," cried Waller, -shortening his reins and raising himself in his -stirrups. He escaped two juzail balls, and parried a -most vicious poke of a lance made at him by Shireen -Khan; and then by one tremendous blow, which, -however, fell harmlessly on the thick folds of -the loonghee or scarlet cap of that personage, he -tumbled him from his perch on the camel's hump. -The next blow he gave rid Denzil of Abdallah, the -Arab Hadji, who, shouting "Mohammed resoul -Allah!" had actually sprung, with all the fierce -activity of a tree-tiger, upon his horse's crupper, -and was about to plunge an Afghan dagger—a formidable -weapon, as it is twenty-four inches in length, -broader than a sword-blade, and sharp as a razor—into -his back or throat; it only grazed his neck, however, -when Waller's sword, with all the impetus that -strength of arm and speed of horse could give it, was -through and through the body of the savage fanatic. -</p> - -<p> -"There is another nigger sent to the other end -of nowhere," cried Waller. "Dash right through -them, gentlemen; we must cut for our lives!" -</p> - -<p> -Riding close together and abreast, the five -officers, making a charge right through the mob -(who were chiefly Ghilzees, and who, in their blind -fury, wrath, and confusion, wounded and shot each -other), succeeded by hard riding in reaching the -cantonments, the gates of which were instantly -closed and barricaded. -</p> - -<p> -Polwhele left his sword in one man's body, so -firmly was it wedged in the spinal column. Waller's -sword was only one of the rubbishy regulation -blades of Sheffield, a poor weapon when opposed to -the keenly tempered sabres of those Afghan warriors, -yet towering over them all, his bulk, strength, -and stature had availed him greatly; he had shot -two, and cut down three. Denzil, though half -stunned by confusion at the suddenness of the -whole affair, and by the explosion of a matchlock -close to his face, struck about manfully, and must -have sent at least one Mussulman on his way to -the dark-eyed girls of paradise; for when he -dismounted, breathless and excited, within the gates, -he found his sword and right hand both covered -with blood. -</p> - -<p> -In the exasperation of his mind at Rose Trecarrel, -the tumult of the time was a relief to Denzil's mind; -and he was not sorry that she, through her -lorgnette, had seen him, sword in hand, among the -Afghans. -</p> - -<p> -On this conflict the poor ladies had gazed, with -faces paled by terror, and lips that were mute, save -when a shriek escaped them involuntarily as blood -spirted upward in the air, as a man or horse went -down, yet they gazed with the strange fascination -that the ferocity of a conflict between men—more -than all armed men—will sometimes have for the -gentlest woman, for it seemed a species of wild -phantasmagoria. But they wrung their hands and -wept piteously; for they saw the terrible butchery of -Sir William Macnaughten and of Captain Trevor, -and could only tremble for the too-probable -fate of Captain Lawrence and Captain Mackenzie, -who, in sight of the entire troops in the cantonment, -and in sight of all their friends, were borne -off captives amid a yelling horde, whose weapons, -spear-heads, crooked sabres, and polished -horseshoes, flashed out brightly from amid a cloud of -dust that rolled away towards the Lahore Gate of -the now-hostile city of Cabul. -</p> - -<p> -"Well, this is a shindy that will suffice to scare -our blue devils for awhile," said Polwhele, with a -grim smile on his dark face. -</p> - -<p> -"Denzil, my boy," said Waller, "you had a -narrow squeak for your life; that Arab wasp's -dagger was pretty close." -</p> - -<p> -"I have no words to thank you," replied Denzil, -breathlessly, and turning away somewhat bluntly -from Audley Trevelyan, who frankly came to shake -his hand in token of congratulation; for their escape -was almost miraculous—without wounds, too. -</p> - -<p> -Lady Sale was thanking Heaven that her husband -was safe in Jellalabad, and Mabel Trecarrel made -a pretty plain <i>exposé</i> of what her emotions were on -beholding Waller safe. -</p> - -<p> -"Mr. Devereaux," said a voice that made his -heart thrill—"Denzil, thank God you have escaped! -But, Heavens! your hands are all over blood; it is -horrible!" -</p> - -<p> -There was infinite tenderness in the tone of Rose. -It is the slavery of great love to be ever very -humble. The lad blessed her in his heart; yet -her honeyed accents, though they recalled the joy -of yesterday, could not remove the sting of that -morning's mockery which still was sore and -rankling. -</p> - -<p> -"Poor Trevor, and all the rest, God help them!" -exclaimed General Trecarrel, and many others, who -had no hope now save in vengeance; but, ere -nightfall, Taj Mohammed stole into the cantonments -with some final tidings. -</p> - -<p> -The body of Sir William, who was a brave, good, -and highly accomplished gentleman, had been -ignominiously stripped and hung, with all its gaping -wounds, in the Char Chouk, or Great Bazaar, -where Denzil had so nearly lost his life; and the -head was taken by a khan, named Nawab Zuman, -and, together with one of the hands, exhibited with -ferocious triumph to Captain Conolly, an officer -who had unfortunately fallen into their power, and -whose brother, with Major Stoddart, afterwards -perished miserably under torture in the dungeons -of the Emir of Bokhara. -</p> - -<p> -The other two officers were detained as prisoners -by Ackbar Khan. General Trecarrel, who had just -come in from the Bala Hissar with an escort of the -5th Cavalry, was furious, and wished the cantonment -to open with round shot, grape, and canister, -on everything and everybody within their range; -but grave consideration was necessary now—our -little force was so isolated in that hostile land. -At the time these events were occurring, the -remains of Sir Alexander Barnes's body, cut in -pieces, were still hanging on the trees of his garden -as food for the vultures, and Ackbar Khan was -driving in the Char Chouk, in the carriage of Sir -William Macnaughten, whose head he hung there -in a <i>bhoosa</i> bag (or forage-net) till it could be -transmitted by a <i>tchopper</i>, or mounted messenger, -to the Emir of Bokhara; and the poor ladies in the -cantonments looked at each other with blanched -faces, as they heard of those terrible things. -</p> - -<p> -So closed the night of the 23rd December over -our troops in far-away Cabul. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap13"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XIII. -<br /><br /> -HOME IN THE SPIRIT. -</h3> - -<p> -"And now for my letter!" exclaimed Denzil, as -he hurried eagerly from the excited throng about -the cantonment gate to his new quarters, a bungalow -of somewhat humble construction, as its low -roof was thatched, and its walls built of the unburnt -brick peculiar to Cabul. Save his bed and table, a -chair, some bullock trunks, and accoutrements, -furniture or ornament it had none. -</p> - -<p> -The letter lay on the table, and, as he entered, -its black-edged envelope gave him a shock. Audley -had not mentioned this circumstance, for he -humanely knew that until the fatal conference was -over, and Denzil could get it perused, his anxiety -would be torture, as "the dim shadow of an -unknown evil is worse than the presence of a calamity -whose worst is told." -</p> - -<p> -It proved to be from Sybil, and, curiously enough, -had been brought from Bombay by Audley Trevelyan! -In India, people when "up country" are -thankful to get their home letters, even though six -months old, and, in the joy of receiving one, the -longing to learn all it contained—tidings of those -he loved, and who were so far away—Denzil forgot -the terrible double catastrophe he had so recently -witnessed—the cruel butchery of two gallant gentlemen; -he forgot even about Rose Trecarrel, and cast -himself into his chair, to enjoy the full luxury of -perusing it; but for a time an envious film spread -over his eyes when he attempted to read—a film -that was soon to turn to tears. -</p> - -<p> -"Ah! England and Sybil," he murmured, "how -far, far, I am away from you!" -</p> - -<p> -The letter was dated some months back; and the -first few words gave the young military exile a dreadful -shock, for they told him of his mother's death:— -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, Denzil, my brother, how my heart yearns -for you now more than ever! You know how much -she loved us, Denzil, and how much our lives were -bound up in each other; thus I cannot convince -myself that I am quite alone, that she has gone -from this world for ever, and that we shall never -see her more—never see that sweet smile which her -beautiful dark eyes always wore for us. Our darling -mamma! I send you a lock of her hair (you will -see that grey had begun to mingle with it); and I -send you also a wild violet that grew near the grave -where I buried her." -</p> - -<p> -Sybil's writing here became tremulous, almost -illegible, and falling tears had evidently blotted the -ink. The poor young subaltern seemed to forget -his present surroundings; he felt himself a boy -again, and, covering his bowed-down face with his -hands, wept bitterly. -</p> - -<p> -"Time will soften what we suffer, Denzil; but -shall I ever be the same again? I never had any -plan or future unconnected with poor mamma, after -you left us, and our papa was lost. I fear she -wore her life out with thinking of what would -become of us—of me, perhaps, more especially—when -she was, as she now is, dead and gone. There -cannot be two beings more isolated than you and I -are now, dear Denzil, and your letters are my only -comfort. I am so thankful to find from them that -you are a favourite with so many, that General -Trecarrel is so kind; and that honest fellow, Bob -Waller, too, I feel that I quite love him. How do -you like the Misses Trecarrel? Rather giddy, are -they not? Has Mr. Audley Trevelyan joined yet?" -</p> - -<p> -Then, as if with the mention of Audley's name -other thoughts that were unknown to Denzil -occurred to her, Sybil added— -</p> - -<p> -"My music and my sketching days are ended -now, Denzil; as some one has it, 'I may put away -all the bright colours out of my paint-box, for they -have gone out of my life.' Vainly has our rubicund -Rector, fresh from his pretty parsonage, his happy -family circle, as yet unbroken and unclouded -by sorrow, fresh, perhaps, from his sumptuous -luncheon and glass of full-bodied old port, besought -me to take comfort—that grieving for the dead was -useless—and told me that there is One above 'who -turneth the shadow of death into mourning,' for I -can only weep as one who would not be comforted. -The old man is very kind to me, however—bless him! -though we have suffered much through that horrid -Lamorna peerage story—much at the hands and -tongues even of those to whom mamma was ever open-hearted, -and all charity and benevolence; but you will -remember what Lady Fanshawe says of our common -Cornish folks in her time, that 'they are of a crafty and -censorious nature, <i>as most are so far from London</i>.' -</p> - -<p> -"My next letter will tell you more certainly of -my future intentions, and all that immediately -concerns myself. Our faithful nurse, Winny Braddon, -whose brother perished with papa, has gone to -spend—to end, I should say—her days with old -Mike Treherne and his wife, who, as you know, is -her sister; and the Rector, who takes care of -me—for I am all but penniless now—is to give me an -introduction to a lady of high rank, who is about -to go abroad; to where I know not—to India itself -perhaps. Would to Heaven it were! for then we -might meet again." -</p> - -<p> -"My sister a companion—compelled, for bread, -to submit to whim, caprice, neglect, and -mortification! Oh, my father, has it come to this!" -groaned Denzil in agony of spirit. -</p> - -<p> -"The sunlight is setting redly on the rough -summits of the Row Tor and Bron Welli. All is -quiet—quiet as death around me; I can hear but -the beating of my own heart, the most earnest -prayers and blessings of which go with these lines -across the seas to you, dear Denzil." -</p> - -<p> -So ended this letter, which he read many, many -times, heedless of the unwonted bustle which reigned -in the cantonments, where the gunners were getting -additional cannon mounted, the miners forming -barricades and traverses, and other vigorous -preparations being made for defence in case of a -too-probable attack. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil had learned that within every shadow, -however deep, there may be a darker shade; and -now that shade within the shadow that had fallen -on him was the death of his mother. -</p> - -<p> -His mother dead! Another beloved face gone as -his father's had gone—a sweet and winning face -he saw in fancy still, yet never should look on -again. How much there were of past care and -years of love and tenderness to remember now! -Then there were his only sister's utter loneliness -and helplessness to appal him. How trivial a -calamity seemed the coquetry of Rose Trecarrel -when compared to sorrows such as these! And she -had died the tenant of a humble cottage on the -moors—the property of Mike Treherne, the miner, -whose son was now a sergeant in his company! -</p> - -<p> -And could it be that for months past, while he -had been happy, thoughtless, heedless, and full of -merriment among his comrades, that she who loved -him beyond her own life, purely and unselfishly as -only a mother can love an only son, had been in -her dark cold grave, and he knew it not? No -thought by day, no vision by night, no intuition -or thrill of magnetic affinity (such as that of which -we read in the Corsican twins and their mother), -had told him of this; and yet it was so. -</p> - -<p> -Far away from where the embattled Bala Hissar -looked down on the flowing Cabul, on the Mosque -of Baber and the Obelisk of Alexander the -Macedonian, from the English cantonments and all -their associations, even from thoughts of Rose -Trecarrel's auburn hair and tender brown eyes, -Denzil's mind, swifter than the electric telegraph, -flashed home to the land from whence that letter -came—to Cornwall with its mines below the rolling -sea; to its granite quarries where the thunder-blast, -loud as a salvo from the Bala Hissar, told -of the riven rock; to its stone avenues solemn and -hoary, and the great rock-pillars of the Fire -Worshippers of old; to the dark brown moors of -Bodmin, where in summer the drowsy bee hummed -over the heath-bells and wild honeysuckle; to the -towering bluffs on which the empurpled waves were -rolling in the light of the sun as he set beyond -Scilly, "the isles of the god of day;" to tarns -where the water-lily floated, and to pools where -the speckled trout was darting to and fro; to his -rugged home, we say, went all his thoughts—to the -Land's End with all its masses of splintered rocks, -worn and bleached by the seas of ages, split and -rent like columns of basalt amid the brine—rocks -where the fresh-smelling seaweed and the scarlet -sea-anemone clung, and on whose summit the -weary miner sometimes sat and rested after his -toil to watch the passing ships, or to ponder when -next his pickaxe would discover "a lode of tin -or a goodly bunch of copper ore" in those burrows -beneath the sea over which the keels were gliding, -their crews little wotting that human beings were -in those lighted mines fathoms deep below;—over -all these familiar scenes the mind of Denzil -wandered, to settle again in fancy on his dead mother's -face; to think of his sister's loneliness—of the vast -distance by sea and land that separated them,—of -his own now-narrow means; and his heart seemed -to wither up within him. -</p> - -<p> -So the long night wore away, and the day began -to break. Its advent was heralded by the boom of -a 24-pounder from the Bala Hissar, by the merry -drums and fifes giving the <i>reveillez</i>, and by strokes -on the flat metal ghurries that hung in front of -the guard-houses; but Denzil sat heedless, very -pale, and absorbed in thought. -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -* * * * * * -</p> - -<p> -"Come, my dear fellow, don't mope, and don't -give way thus—it is no earthly use doing so," said -the cheerful voice of Bob Waller on the evening -of the second day that Denzil had been permitted -to absent himself from parade. "I know what -I felt when my own mother died—God rest her! -We were on the march to Ferozepore, under General -Duncan, when the letter reached me—thought I -should die too—wanted sick leave to go home, and -all that sort of thing. Come to my bungalow and -have a weed, with some brandy-pawnee; or shall I -stay with you? By the way, here is Trevelyan's card -of condolence. Good style of fellow, Trevelyan: -he and the Trecarrels give you their kindest -wishes." (This conjunction made Denzil wince.) "Will -you come with me to Mabel—Miss Trecarrel, -I mean?" added the good-hearted, well-meaning -Waller. "She is so sensible, sympathetic, -and kind." -</p> - -<p> -"I should prefer being alone," replied Denzil -moodily. -</p> - -<p> -"But you can't be alone." -</p> - -<p> -"Why?" -</p> - -<p> -"The whole 37th have come in, and the Shah's -6th Foot from the Bala Hissar. These Afghan -beggars have some movement in contemplation to -cut us off, and the cantonments are quite crowded." -</p> - -<p> -But for a time Denzil would seek no relief, save -in military duty. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap14"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XIV. -<br /><br /> -IN THE FORTIFIED CAMP. -</h3> - -<p> -The place of Sir William Macnaghten as Envoy -of the Queen was supplied by Major Pottinger, C.B., -who, together with Brigadier Shelton, renewed -negotiations with Ackbar Khan, and strove to effect a -peaceful retreat of our troops from Cabul. After -the recent assassinations and many other outrages,—after -the reoccupation by the natives of the eleven -square Afghan forts that stood around the cantonments, -thus almost entirely enclosing and secluding -our slender European force,—after all hope of Sir -Robert Sale's gallant brigade returning from -Jellalabad to their aid, and other hope of succour from -our troops in Candahar passed away, matters began -to look gloomy indeed; but none could foresee, -though many feared, the end. -</p> - -<p> -No attempt was made by General Elphinstone, -who, though once a gallant officer, was aged and -ailing now, to avenge the deaths of Macnaghten, -Trevor, Burnes, and others; to uphold the Shah, -then all but besieged in his citadel by rebels under -Ackbar; or to assert the dignity of Britain in that -remote quarter of the world. Many officers -murmured and remonstrated on the necessity for -immediate action; but such is the force of discipline -and of military etiquette, that not one had the -moral courage to assume the serious responsibility -of appealing to the troops and usurping the -command. Councils of war were held; but it is well -known that such councils seldom urge fighting; -and all these ended in mere vacillation, indecision, -and inanity. -</p> - -<p> -The greatest force of the insurgent Afghans was -in Mahommed Khan's fort, which stood nine hundred -yards distant from the cantonment guns; but these, -being only nine-pounders, were useless for breaching -purposes; and as this fort commands the road -that leads to the city and the Bala Hissar, supplies -from that quarter were completely cut off; and so -were they from every other point save the village -of Beymaru, where they were procured at vast -cost; and when that source failed—our troops, who -with their camp-followers, the necessity and the -curse of every Indo-British army, made up six and -twenty thousand souls penned within the cantonments—the -threat of Ackbar, that our horses would -yet gnaw each other's tails and the tent-pegs, would -become terribly true, unless a successful retreat -through the passes were achieved; but for that -movement, who now could trust to the promises, -the honour, or the humanity of the hostile and -exulting Afghans? -</p> - -<p> -Though formed into innumerable petty septs, like -the clans of the Scottish Highlands, these people are -attached more to the community than the chief of it; -and though divided by many bitter quarrels among -themselves, they were united enough in their hatred -of all Kaffirs and Feringhees, and in the hope of -getting all their women and property as spoil. -Like a Scottish clan of old, an Afghan tribe never -refuses the rights of hospitality to a native -suppliant. The fugitive who flies from his clan, even -though stained with blood, is protected by the tribe -upon whose mercy he casts himself, and war to the -death would ensue rather than surrender him. All -these little republics were now amalgamated for -two purposes—the destruction of Shah Sujah and -his family, and the expulsion or destruction of our -little army that had enthroned him. -</p> - -<p> -No one ever ventured beyond the secure walls of -the cantonment now, and every other day shots -were exchanged between the sentinels and -scouting-parties of Afghan horsemen who rode between -the forts, brandishing their sabres or matchlocks -in angry bravado; and now and then the artillery -tried a little practice with their nine-pounders on -Mahommed Khan's fort. Nor were the Shah's -Gholandazees, under his Topshee Bashee, or General -of the Ordnance, in the Bala Hissar quite idle; -thus almost nightly there floated above the city a -red light, that brought forth tower and dome in -dark relief, as the gleam of musketry and cannon -fell on the atmosphere; the smoke of gunpowder -at night is always somewhat of a red tint. -</p> - -<p> -The ladies had got over much of their squeamishness -about the discharge of firearms. Poor -things, they were learning fast to look, almost -without shrinking, on the fall of friend and foe, nor to -wink at the flash of a musket, even those who had -once shared the old dame's idea with regard to such -implements, that, "whether loaded or unloaded, -they were apt to go off." -</p> - -<p> -The music of the bands was heard no more, -promenades, rides, and drives were at an end now, -and General Trecarrel's handsome London-made -carriage, with its crimson-lined tiger-skin, the spoil -of a splendid animal potted by Waller in the Siah -Sung, had become, by the simple law of appropriation, -the property of Ameen Oollah Khan for the -use of his four wives. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil and Audley Trevelyan did not meet much -on duty, as the latter was on the Staff, had little to -do with parades, and nothing whatever with guards, -pickets, or working parties. Puzzled by the -Lamorna peerage story (as Sybil called it), a story -so strange and unsupported by proper evidence, -Denzil deemed that as yet perfect silence in the -matter was his proper plan; thus he was coolly -courteous to Audley, whose advances, made in -consequence of the secret interest felt in Sybil, he -rather repelled. -</p> - -<p> -Audley was sometimes in the mess-bungalow -of the battalion to which the company of Denzil -was attached; but his staff duties kept him much -about the quarters of General Trecarrel, and -consequently more in the society of Rose than Denzil -quite relished. Since the day of the conference he -had never once visited her, and thus he felt with -intense bitterness that he had been quietly -supplanted there by the son of one who had supplanted -him at home in rank and title, and hence more than -ever did he loathe the obligation—the debt of -gratitude he owed to Audley for the service he had done -to Sybil; and under all the circumstances in which -he was placed, he felt the sense of it most -oppressive. -</p> - -<p> -"And where is Sybil now?" thought Denzil, -despondingly; "in what country, and with whom?" -</p> - -<p> -Who was the lady of rank she had referred -to? No more letters could reach Cabul now, and -months must elapse ere he heard from her again -or learned her fate. -</p> - -<p> -No confidences passed between him and Audley; -yet the latter, had he known of it, would have -risked much to have perused her last epistle, with -the single mention of his own name therein, and -the current of thoughts it seemed to open -up—thoughts to which he alone had the key. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil had a longing desire to do something -brilliant, that he might shine in the estimation of -Rose Trecarrel. With the combined vanity and -diffidence natural to a young man, he sometimes -flattered himself that his handsome uniform might -regain him favour in her eyes, if no other merit, -mental or physical, did so; but in that he reckoned -without his host, for Rose was too much accustomed -to see regimentals about her—the scarlet of -the Queen's troops, the silver grey of the Indian -cavalry, the blue and gold of the artillery, and the -quaint, half-oriental splendour of the irregular -horse. As a flirt she preferred the scarlet, and, -perhaps, as one with an eye to a good marriage, the -sombre black swallow-tail of the C.S. -</p> - -<p> -With all her constitutional coquetry, she was not -without a certain emotion, of compunction at times -for the part she had played with Denzil. Of all -the admirers she possessed, he had seemed the -most earnest, the most bewildered by her beauty, -and the most true; but then, as she said to Mabel, -"he was so young, and, poor fellow, only a -subaltern, so what did it matter in the long run, a little -trifling with him, when it amused her, and Cabul -had been so dull." -</p> - -<p> -"Going to India to be married," said Mabel, "of -course means going there to be married well. -Trevelyan is only a subaltern, too." -</p> - -<p> -"But the son and heir of Lord Lamorna; so -one may cast one's hawks at him." -</p> - -<p> -"And Polwhele is only a subaltern." -</p> - -<p> -"But with a place that spreads from Cornwall -into Devonshire. I shall not make a fool of myself, -Mab—yet I shall marry for love, and love only, if -I marry at all," said Rose, as her white fingers -wreathed up the shining ripples of her hair before -retiring for the night. -</p> - -<p> -"Going out" was then one of the matrimonial -institutions of Anglo-Indian society; but the -P. and O. liners, with the Overland Route, have -knocked that institution on the head, or nearly so. -</p> - -<p> -"I told you how it would be, old fellow," said -Polwhele to Denzil, who was sad and sombre; "she -affects Trevelyan now, and we are all at a discount -now, even the cavalry men." -</p> - -<p> -"But Trevelyan has come back to India a lord's -son, and is on papa's staff. A deuced fine thing it -must be to wake up some morning and find oneself -famous in that fashion," said Burgoyne of the 37th, -ignorant of how galling his remarks were to Denzil. -</p> - -<p> -And so several days of constant excitement were -passed in the cantonments, yet no definite plan as -to the future was formed, whether to risk a retreat -through Khyber Pass, or throw the whole force into -the Bala Hissar, and defend it to the last gasp, as -more than once General Trecarrel had urged at the -council of war, but urged in vain. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap15"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XV. -<br /><br /> -CHRISTMAS AT CABUL. -</h3> - -<p> -The state of suspense endured by our whole force -in Cabul, especially those men who had wives and -families, was fully shared by Waller, whose chief -anxiety was Mabel Trecarrel; yet it could not -repress his great flow of animal spirits, and thus -his bungalow was always the resort of a few happy -heedless fellows, who had no particular care but to -kill time when not killing the Afghans, a resource -that was yet to come. -</p> - -<p> -Somehow the world reproduces itself everywhere, -and though provisions were scant and short, and -shot and shell were in plenty and to spare, in the -crowded cantonments of Cabul, there were yet -space and leisure for fun and flirtation—even -scandal and gossip. -</p> - -<p> -It was Christmas-time there too, but, save the -blasts of snow that came from the hills of Kohistan, -how unlike our Christmas-time at home! -</p> - -<p> -There was no Christmas cheer, to begin with: -plum-pudding and roast goose were thought of and -remembered, certainly; but no such things were to -be found in that fortified camp between the Black -Rocks and the Hills of Beymaru; neither were -there dark green holly with scarlet berries and -mistletoe to dance under, nor Christmas bells to -usher in the morn, for even our humble mission-house -had been fired by the Afghans; no Christmas -gifts, or boxes, or trees full of shining toys to make -happy the hearts of those little ones whose parents -looked forward with intense dread to the future, -and thought regretfully of Christmas in happy -England—the merry meetings of parents and -home-returning boys. Christmas, we say, was -remembered with all its happy and hearty associations of -yule, festivity, and wassail, the pledge old as the -days when Hengist's Saxon daughter drank <i>Waes -Hael</i> to Vortigern; but now, on the anniversary of -that day when the star shone over Bethlehem, and -a Babe was born to die for all mankind, our -half-starved troops were giving shot and shell, grape -and canister, with right good will, and the sombre -night closed down upon red flames in the towering -city, and its silence was broken, not by music, or -carols, or chimes, but the voice of many a jackal -and hyæna as they preyed on the corpses that lay -unburied by the Cabul river. -</p> - -<p> -Waller's bungalow had several visitors on the -following evening; among others, Jack Polwhele -and Denzil, who had returned from the village of -Beymaru, where they had partly purchased and -partly looted, and most successfully brought into -camp at the point of the bayonet, a vast quantity of -ground wheat and dhal or split peas, from the -stores of a bunneah or corn-contractor. With -these they also brought in several head of cattle for -the use of the troops. -</p> - -<p> -"Supplies but for which," as Waller said, "the -morrow might have found us starving, or having -only the resort of the Polar bears, who, in time of -scarcity, find a pleasure in licking their paws. -You'll come to my bungalow," he added, as the -foraging party came in double quick through the -Kohistan gate. "Trevelyan's coming—he and -Polwhele; Trevelyan is one of ours now, so we four -Cornishmen shall make a night of it. I have a -round of beef that is getting small by degrees and -beautifully less, a gallant jar of Cabul wine that I -looted in the house of a kussilbash, and no end of -cheroots. Deuce! I'll take no excuse," said -Waller, on seeing how flushed and sombre Denzil -became on hearing Audley's name. -</p> - -<p> -"I shall take care to bring him, Waller," said -Polwhele, as he went off to his quarters, full of -excitement with his recent success, and singing the -refrain of the old song,— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "And will Trelawney die?<br /> - And will Trelawney die?<br /> - Then thirty thousand Cornishmen<br /> - Shall know the reason why?"<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"I wish we had but the third of those thirty -thousand here to help us out of this beastly place -where it has pleased her Majesty we should set up our -tent-poles," said Waller. "I expect Burgoyne also -to-night, and he will be sure to bring us the last -news from the city, as he has accompanied Brigadier -Shelton to another conference with those children -of the prophet." -</p> - -<p> -"Another conference?" said Denzil. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, by Jove! risky and plucky, is it not?" -</p> - -<p> -"Awfully so, after what has happened to poor -Burnes, Macnaghten, and the rest." -</p> - -<p> -"But needs must, for we cannot choose now." -</p> - -<p> -For on this evening fresh and, as the event -proved, nearly final negotiations had been opened -between the General and Ackbar Khan, to whom he -had sent Brigadier Shelton, Major Pottinger, and -Burgoyne. Thus the ladies in camp and all the -white women, whose persons had been demanded as -<i>hostages</i>, were in no ordinary state of anxiety to -learn the result. -</p> - -<p> -Polwhele and Denzil were betimes in Waller's -quarters, where two officers of the 37th and two of -the 54th had dropped in. Trevelyan had not -arrived, and Denzil in fancy saw him hanging over -the chair of Rose, as he had seen him last. He -was nervously jealous, somewhat afraid of his own -temper, and hoped the night should pass without -an unseemly quarrel. He was in wretched spirits, -for Sybil's letter and her future weighed upon his -mind. This air of gloom was unheeded by his -companions. What was the demise, so far away, -too, of one whose face they never saw, to them, who -were daily and hourly front to front with death -himself? Yet he strove to join in their conversation, -while cigars were lit and Waller's jar of wine -passed briskly to and fro, and the cold round, with -flour chupatties, was in great request. -</p> - -<p> -"As things go now," said the host, who lounged -on a couple of bullock-trunks, "we are thankful to -get even the leg of a wild sheep—a regular Persian -doomba, with a tail a foot broad, and can only think -regretfully of choice entrées, of pâtés de foie gras from -beautiful Strasburg, of boned larks and truffled -turkeys of Paris—croquettes, côtelettes, and kidneys -stewed in Madeira, caviare from the Don, and -ortolans from Lombardy, and a thousand other nice -little things we shall never see, till the cold white -cliffs of the South Foreland are rising on our lee -bow. Oh! soul of Lucullus and of the noble science -of gastronomy!" -</p> - -<p> -"Waller, you are irrepressible," said Polwhele. -"Devereaux, how is the General? have you -heard?" -</p> - -<p> -"Trecarrel?" asked Denzil, colouring. -</p> - -<p> -"No. You think, perhaps, there is no other -General in the world. I mean poor Elphinstone." -</p> - -<p> -"The old man is going fast." -</p> - -<p> -"And the evening of his life is full of dark clouds, -without a single star," added Waller. -</p> - -<p> -"You grow quite poetic, Bob." -</p> - -<p> -"Then it is amid the veriest prose of life." -</p> - -<p> -"I had a narrow escape from a juzail ball," said -Denzil, rather pensively. "It passed through my -forage-cap, and I have no wish to be killed as a -subaltern." -</p> - -<p> -"A bullet won't feel a bit the more pleasant if it -hits you as a captain," said a 37th man, laughing. -</p> - -<p> -Would Rose regret him? had been Denzil's secret -thought; and now amid the gay clatter of tongues -around him, the speculations as to the treaty on the -tapis, the chances of a peaceful retreat, the pros and -cons of why Sale did not cut his way back from -Jellalabad, and some of that banter about women -which seems inseparable from the conversation of -young men—more than all, of military men—he was -startled by some of the things that were said of -Rose Trecarrel, and which, though bitter to hear, -served to divert his grief. His self-esteem—his -<i>amour propre</i> had been severely wounded, and he -had to conceal these emotions from Waller and -Polwhele; yet they suspected that "something was -up," by his ceasing to go near the Trecarrels, at -whose villa near the Residency he had been almost -a daily visitor. -</p> - -<p> -Could the young man have foreseen it, in his -bitterness he might have rejoiced that the Afghan -sabre was ere long to cut the Gordian knot of all -his difficulties. -</p> - -<p> -Jack Polwhele, who had been eyeing him silently -with a comical twinkle in his black eyes, said, in a -low voice— -</p> - -<p> -"So, Devereaux, the mistress of your destiny has -proved slippery after all! Laugh at the whole -affair, and you'll soon forget all about it. Were I -in your place, she might—as the song has it—go to -Hong Kong for me." -</p> - -<p> -Denzil knit his brow and reddened with irritation; -but, tipping the ashes of his cigar and watching -the smoke thereof as it ascended to the straw-roof -of the bungalow, Jack resumed, in a voice so -low as to be unheard by Waller— -</p> - -<p> -"With a vast amount of <i>espièglerie</i>, Rose, I must -admit, has many physical attractions; and, Denzil, -you were her pet flirtation for the nonce—every -fellow saw that—nothing more. It is a fine thing -to talk to a handsome girl about 'elective affinities -and the union of souls,' that 'marriages are made in -heaven, and not in the money-market' or the shop -of some sharping lawyer; but it often grows perilous -work for a griff, with a girl like Rose, who cannot -care very much for any one." -</p> - -<p> -Denzil still sat smoking in silence, and felt -somewhat perplexed by the extreme candour of his -brother-officer. In short, he knew not quite how to -take it. -</p> - -<p> -"Could she only have been flirting with me?" -thought he, and we fear Rose would have answered -in the affirmative. "No two persons, I have heard, -have exactly the same or correct idea of what flirting -is (he had not): talking a deal to a pretty girl, -or laughing much with her, are called so; but surely -there may be deeper flirting, at times, in silence. -Oh! we were not flirting: I loved her—I love her -yet—and thought she loved me, when glance met -glance, and eye answered to eye the unasked -question!" -</p> - -<p> -"I know her style perfectly," resumed Polwhele, -oddly enough proceeding to crush the unuttered -thought; "so does Burgoyne; so do Grahame and -Ravelstoke, of the 37th, and ever so many more. -She asked you tenderly about animal magnetism—showed -you the whiteness of her ungloved hand, -and asked you, no doubt, about the trimming of her -dress; but you were to be friends—the dearest -friends only, and all that sort of thing." -</p> - -<p> -Poor Denzil was petrified; but these words were -partly effecting a cure, and he strove to laugh. -</p> - -<p> -"Don't quiz me, Jack," said he; "but, upon my -soul, I could be guilty of any folly for that girl—yet -it would be madness, you know. What would the -General say, and the mess think and say, too?" -</p> - -<p> -"I don't precisely catch your meaning,—folly and -madness are pretty synonymous in a matrimonial -sense; but what did you think of committing -yourself to? a proposal—eh?" -</p> - -<p> -Denzil did not reply; he could only sigh and -smoke viciously. -</p> - -<p> -"Take your wine, old fellow, and don't bother -about it," said Waller, who had just begun to listen. -"I nearly went mad for love myself in my first red -coat; but the Colonel saved me by detachment -duty; and when last I saw my inamorata, after -seven years of matrimony, her figure quite spoiled -for waltzing, and a squad of little squalling infantry -about her, I laughed at my escape." -</p> - -<p> -Denzil remembered the bantering remarks of the -cavalry officer at the band-stand; and their estimate -of Rose seemed to tally unpleasantly with that of -Polwhele. -</p> - -<p> -"Fool that I have been!—yet could I help it?" -he thought. "Could I help doing so again—though -she is one that makes of love a jest and a scoff?" -</p> - -<p> -He felt that she had lured him into a passionate -declaration merely to cast him off wantonly and -laugh at him, perhaps, with Audley Trevelyan. She -might not care for him, and yet dislike to see him, -care for <i>another</i>. Hence rage prompted him one -moment to try and fall in love with some other girl -(there was not much choice in the cantonment, -certainly), and the next he felt cynically disposed to -hate her and all womankind. Anon that emotion -would pass away, and he felt himself still her very -slave, who would plead for a word, a glance, or -smile. -</p> - -<p> -To abstain from visiting as before would soon -excite remark; and yet to resume his visits would -be to see, with bitterness and humiliation, another -too palpably preferred, where he had deemed -himself the chosen favourite. -</p> - -<p> -"And is it actually true that Waller is booked at -last?" said Polwhele. -</p> - -<p> -"Deuce! how can I tell?" replied Denzil, curtly, -blowing away a ring of smoke. -</p> - -<p> -"It may be all gossip—for he is one whom -hitherto the female world have found impossible to -entrap; but here comes Trevelyan," he added, as -the Hindoo servant placed lighted wax candles on -the table, and Audley entered, looking, as Denzil -thought, provokingly handsome, cool, self-possessed, -and fashionable in bearing. -</p> - -<p> -The first questions asked were, whether any -tidings had come from the city, for after late events, -the risk of death and decapitation run by those who -ventured to confer with Ackbar and the insurgent -Khans was indeed a painful and terrible one. -Neither Brigadier Shelton, Major Pottinger, nor -Burgoyne had returned as yet; so the conversation -speedily fell back into its channel of light-heartedness. -</p> - -<p> -"So, Trevelyan," said Waller, quite forgetting -the presence of Denzil, and blundering on a most -unlucky topic, "I heard that you have been flirting -furiously all day with Rose Trecarrel; but then, -as the aide-de-camp, you are quite a friend of the -family." -</p> - -<p> -"Oh! ours is an old affair," replied Audley, -laughing heartily, as he selected a cheroot; "like -the 'Belle of the Ball,'" he added, profoundly -ignorant of Denzil's regard for her, "Miss Rose -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - 'Has smiled on many, just for fun—<br /> - I knew that there was nothing in it;<br /> - I was the FIRST, the ONLY one,<br /> - Her heart had thought of for a minute;<br /> - I knew it, for she told me so,<br /> - In phrase that was divinely moulded;<br /> - She wrote a charming hand, and oh!<br /> - How sweetly all her notes were folded!'<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -We were old friends at home in Cornwall; -besides, she is so lady-like and pretty—almost -beautiful." -</p> - -<p> -"That I grant you," said Polwhele, who saw—that -which Denzil did not—that Audley's tone and -manner had nothing of the lover in them; "but Rose -has always more strings than one to her bow." -</p> - -<p> -"Or, more beaux than one to her string," said -Waller, laughing. -</p> - -<p> -"Never puts all her money on one horse anyway. -Bagging a sub. is to her like snipe-shooting in an -Irish bog; poor sport after all; but a power sight -better than none," said Ravelstoke, of the 37th -Native Infantry, at whose freedom of speech Waller -frowned. -</p> - -<p> -And this was the consolation to which Denzil -was treated. -</p> - -<p> -How little he knew that at that very time, Audley -Trevelyan, in his heart, was contrasting Sybil's pure -and loving prattle, her genuine enthusiasm in poetry, -art, and all that was beautiful in nature, with the -occasional rantipole of this garrison belle. -</p> - -<p> -"What is that?" said Waller, suddenly, as a -drum was beaten hurriedly outside. -</p> - -<p> -"The guard of ours, at the Kohistan gate, -getting under arms," replied Ravelstoke; "Brigadier -Shelton has come with tidings, and his head -on his shoulders—we shall soon know our fate -now!" -</p> - -<p> -The sound of hoofs trotting fast through the -Cantonments was heard, as the gate was closed and -secured; and in a minute or less, Burgoyne, of the -37th, came in with his sword under his arm, and a -brace of loaded pistols in his waistbelt. -</p> - -<p> -He looked pale, excited, and weary indeed! -</p> - -<p> -"Now, Burgoyne, for your news?" said Waller; -"but take a pull at that wine-jar first." -</p> - -<p> -Burgoyne did so, with an air of thirst and -lassitude, though the atmosphere was intensely -cold. -</p> - -<p> -"Is the Brigadier safe?" said Polwhele. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes." -</p> - -<p> -"And Pottinger, too?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; we have come back unharmed." -</p> - -<p> -"And no attempt was made to assassinate or -detain you?" -</p> - -<p> -"None; but what think you is the proposal now—nearly -the same as before—for we are checkmated -here, and these insurgent scoundrels know it. -Lawrence, Mackenzie, Conolly, and some other -Europeans are still alive in their hands, and kept as -hostages. These they offer to exchange, if the -General will leave in their place all our married -officers and their families; the entire treasure in -the military chest; all our cannon, except six; -and that we depart at once; our rear to be -covered by four hundred armed Kohistanees, who, -if handsomely paid, will march with us so far as -Jellalabad, where, according to the news brought -by a cossid, Sir Robert Sale is so closely besieged -that those among us who survive to reach the -plains, will have to cut their way in with the cold -steel." -</p> - -<p> -Mingled expressions of rage and indignation were -uttered by all save Waller, who looked singularly -pale and calm. -</p> - -<p> -"And what was the reply to these degrading -proposals?" he asked, while quietly selecting and -lighting a cigar. -</p> - -<p> -"It was answered that a British General might, -if he chose, leave or give certain officers as hostages, -but that he had no power over their wives and -families. That without the full consent of husbands -and parents, the ladies and children would not be -left behind." -</p> - -<p> -"I should think not—left, d—n it, to certain -destruction!" exclaimed Polwhele, his dark eyes -flashing fire. Burgoyne resumed: -</p> - -<p> -"It was then that Ackbar said to us, mockingly, -'If you save your lives, what do the lives or honour, -as you call it, of your wives or sisters matter? They -are only women, and, as women, are spoil, like your -horses and camels, yaboos, shawls, pipes, and -gunpowder. Allah! you Kaffirs are strange dogs.' And -there, for to-night, the matter rests. News -came, however, that the Queen's 16th Lancers, the -9th, and 31st Regiments have come up country, -as far as Peshawur; but that is fully two hundred -miles distant; the defiles are full of snow, and -they cannot be here in time either to assist or -save us." -</p> - -<p> -These details, which are matters of history, now -filled all in that isolated camp with extreme dismay. -Every hour provisions were growing more scarce; -every hour the snow was falling more heavily, and -thus the tremendous mountain gorges through which -the route lies to Jellalabad or Peshawur, were hourly -becoming more and more impassable. -</p> - -<p> -To move or quit the fortified Cantonments -without the solemn promise of safe conduct from the -vast hordes in arms, was perilous in the extreme. -To remain was but to die by slow starvation or the -sword. So the question asked by the Khan of -Khelat, was likely to have a terrible answer. -</p> - -<p> -"Major Thain," writes Lady Sale, "was now sent -round to ask all the married officers if they would -consent to their wives staying, offering those who -did so a salary of 2000 rupees a month! Lieutenant -Eyre said, that if it was to be productive of good, -he would stay with his wife and child. The others -all refused to risk the safety of their families. -Captain Anderson said that he would rather put a -pistol to his wife's head and shoot her; and Sturt -declared that his wife and mother should only be -taken from him at the point of the bayonet; for -himself, he was ready to perform any duty imposed -upon him."* -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* "Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan." Major Thain -belonged to H.M. 21st Foot, but was then on the Staff. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Sturdy old General Trecarrel swore that he -would take his Company of the Cornish Light -Infantry, put Mabel and Rose in the centre, and -force a way through the Passes at all hazards, rather -than leave them to a fate which none could foresee. -At the worst, they could all die there together, and -there could be little doubt of the event if we marched -without terms, for tidings came from Taj Mahommed, -the Wuzeer, that Aziz Khan, with 10,000 Kohistanees, -had beset the road at Tezeen; and that the -warriors of the Ghilzie tribe (which numbers -600,000 souls) were in possession of all the heights -overlooking it. -</p> - -<p> -Tears and distress were visible on all hands now; -sickness and suffering increased rapidly, while every -night the bugles sounded to arms, and cannon and -musketry were discharged at the armed bands of -horse and foot which menaced the front and rear -gates, or sought plunder in the now abandoned -Residency, and the villas previously occupied by -General Trecarrel, Captain Trevor, and others. -</p> - -<p> -Pale women clasped their children to their breasts, -and men their wives, as if the parting hour of all -was already come. The eyes of the soldiers filled -and flashed with honest pity and manly indignation -at the idea of yielding up civilized women, tender -English ladies and helpless little children, to such -barbarians as these; while the sick and wounded in -hospital were full of horror and dismay at their own -helplessness. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap16"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XVI. -<br /><br /> -THE MORNING OF THE RETREAT. -</h3> - -<p> -War, dread war, is one of the greatest games in -life! "It is a passion even in the lower ranks of -the soldiery; while for those in command it is the -most intoxicating, the most imperious of passions. -Where shall we find a wider field for energy of -character, for the calculations of intellect and the -flashes of genius? In him who is inflamed by -glory, hunger, thirst, wounds, incessantly impending -death itself, produce a sort of intoxication; the -sudden combination of intermediate causes with -foreseen chances, throw into this exalted game a -never ceasing interest, equal to the emotion excited -at long intervals by the most terrible situations of -life!" -</p> - -<p> -In the movement we are about to narrate, there -was no room for the display of generalship, though -more than enough for endurance and the most -heroic courage; but some such enthusiastic reflections -as these were floating in the mind of Denzil, -when, by the prolonged notes of the trumpet, and -the long roll on the drum, the entire troops in the -Cantonments, horse, foot, and artillery, began to get -under arms on the morning of the 6th of January, -to commence that which eventually proved to be one -of the most disastrous retreats on record. -</p> - -<p> -How often had the unfortunate Trevor, Waller, -Burgoyne, and others, exclaimed, in their weariness -of heart— -</p> - -<p> -"Let us fight our way down, destroying everything -ere we leave the Cantonments, and at least -one-third of us shall reach Jellalabad!" And now -the time had come. -</p> - -<p> -It had been finally arranged by the Staff at -Headquarters, to pay more than fourteen lacs* of rupees -to Ackbar Khan, Ameen Oolah Khan, Shireen Khan -of the Kussilbashes, the Ghilzie Chiefs, and other -treacherous villains, that our troops might march -unmolested; Osman Khan undertaking, with his -tribe, to escort them so far as Peshawur, the gate of -British India, towards Central India. The money -was negotiated on the spot by a Cashmere merchant -and some Hindoo schroffs or bankers in Cabul. -In vain did Major Pottinger and many other officers -raise their voices indignantly against this measure -of the feeble and aged Elphinstone. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* A lac is one hundred thousand. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"Never before," they exclaimed, "were British -soldiers compelled to <i>buy</i> a way out of an enemy's -country; to repay with gold the debt contracted by -steel!" -</p> - -<p> -But the bargain was struck; Ackbar Khan and -his allies were avariciously resolute that it should -be adhered to by us, at least. -</p> - -<p> -Silently and quickly the troops, 4,500 strong, were -formed by Regiments and Brigades; but the -confusion around them, in the streets of bungalows or -huts, was great, from the number and terror of the -camp-followers, now diminished by death, sickness, -or desertion, to somewhere about 12,000. -Hammocks had been prepared wherein to carry the sick -and wounded through the passes; but as the -snowfall was deep, this was thought to be impracticable; -so in virtue of the species of armistice, nearly the -whole of these unfortunate creatures, officers, -soldiers, and camp followers had been conveyed into -the city, where they were to be left to the care—to -the mercy, of the Afghans, certain medical officers -casting lots for the perilous duty of remaining -behind to attend them, and these devoted Samaritans -proved to be Drs. Berwick and Campbell of the 54th -Infantry. -</p> - -<p> -As a foretaste of what was soon to happen, the -bearers, returning from the city with the litters, -were fired upon, and all shot down by the Afghans; -and on this very morning, as the grey dawn began -to steal down the mountains from their reddened -summits to the plain, the dark corpses of the Hindoo -dhooley-wallahs could be seen dotting all the -expanse of snow between the Cantonments and Cabul; -while, to still the growing clamour, three pieces of -cannon, and the greater portion of our treasure, -were made over to the rabble. -</p> - -<p> -In rear of his company, awaiting the order to -march, Denzil stood leaning on his sword and -muffled in a furred poshteen which he wore above -his uniform, as the thermometer was below zero -and all the troops were in those blue great-coats -usually worn by our soldiers in India. The Europeans -looked pale, thin, and haggard, and the dark -Bengal sepoys seemed of a livid or pea-green tint, -as the cold daylight stole in. -</p> - -<p> -How often Denzil had watched the great sun of -the Eastern world rise red and fiery above those -eternally snow clad peaks of Kohistan; and now he -was, he hoped, looking on its rising for the last time -there. -</p> - -<p> -Alas! many more were looking on it, that were -never to see it set. -</p> - -<p> -Notwithstanding the desperation of their affairs, -many were in excellent spirits at the prospect of a -change of quarters; and he heard the voice of Rose -Trecarrel, talking gaily to one or two officers, as -she, Mabel and some other ladies came forth -mounted, to ride for surer protection among the -cavalry. With them were Lady Sale and the -widowed Lady Macnaghten, who had vainly offered -princely bribes for her husband's mutilated body, -and had now to depart with the harrowing knowledge -that it was still exposed in the public marketplace. -Some of the ladies were on camels, others -in dhooleys with their children nestling beside them -for warmth; but the Trecarrels were mounted on -fine Arab horses, and wore sheep-skin spencers -called <i>neemches</i> over their riding habits, for comfort -and also for disguise, which they had further to aid -by having turbans twisted round their heads, so Rose -could not help laughing heartily at the oddity of her -attire. -</p> - -<p> -"Good-morning," said she, in her sweetest tone, -to Denzil, who had been watching her wistfully. -</p> - -<p> -He was as a very slave in her presence, he loved -her so, and now when she held out her hand, chill -though the air, ungloved (for a moment of course) -the presence of others alone prevented him from, -perhaps, kissing it. -</p> - -<p> -"You have a cold journey before you," said he. -</p> - -<p> -"And you a most toilsome march afoot. Heaven -tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, we are told; -I wish it would temper the wind to me," said Rose, -with her teeth, short, beautiful and white, -chattering as she spoke. -</p> - -<p> -"What have you been doing for all these days -past? In what part of the Cantonments have -you hidden yourself?" she asked in a low and -soft voice. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh—you speak to me kindly—almost tenderly, -do you?" said Denzil, with bitterness in his tone; -"have you obtained leave from your friend on the -Staff to address me!" -</p> - -<p> -He looked at her with eyes in whose expression -anger and sorrow mingled, while she looked at him -smiling and deprecatory, more than half flattered by -his jealous outburst amid the terrors that menaced -them all. -</p> - -<p> -"You are surely in a frightful humour this morning," -said she; "I shall certainly pity the Afghans -if you fall foul of any of them." -</p> - -<p> -"Cold-hearted Rose," replied Denzil, who was -in no humour for jesting; "I would not have your -ungenerous nature, to hold that title of which, as -yet, fate deprives me, though that might make -you love me again—even if you ever loved me -at all." -</p> - -<p> -"Is this a comedy, Denzil?" said she, smiling -more than ever. -</p> - -<p> -"I would to God we had never met," said Denzil -in a low voice, while his lip quivered, for he -conceived that the secret story of his family had -affected her towards him; "you have been but -amusing yourself with me; passing the hours that -would have been dull here, in playing with my -heart—my feelings." -</p> - -<p> -"Why, Denzil Devereaux—you talk like a girl; -who ever heard of a man's heart or feelings being -trifled with?" said she, with a little silvery laugh -as she moved her horse, to speak with some one -else. -</p> - -<p> -"Dear Mabel," said Waller in a tender and -earnest voice, as his <i>fiancée</i> checked her Arab for a -moment by his side, and gave him her hand with -a bright confiding smile; "to-day begins, I hope, -the first stage of our long homeward journey." -</p> - -<p> -"'England, with all thy faults, I love thee still,'" -said she, laughing as she rejoined her sister, and -her lover, who was somewhat of a critic, thought -she was the handsomest girl he had ever seen on -horseback. -</p> - -<p> -Bob and Mabel had already begun to fashion -mental pictures of a home-life in England, a happy -home, a dream life; a pretty house in some -sequestered spot, where the old Cornish elm trees -might echo to merry children's voices, while the -days went by in peace and happiness; but here -the troops were called to "attention," and General -Trecarrel, who was "mounted," led his daughters -to where the advanced guard was posted, and where -all the ladies were placed among the cavalry, to -the great delight of a couple of cornets who -complacently stroked the fair fluff that would in time -become moustaches, and begged them not to be -in the least alarmed, as they had a most efficient -escort. -</p> - -<p> -"Rose," urged Mabel, who had more power of -character than her sister and less of folly in her -disposition, "it is cruel of you to make such a -victim of that poor lad, Devereaux—he is so -handsome too." -</p> - -<p> -"That is the reason; but do I ask him to love me?" -</p> - -<p> -"No; you only lure him into doing so; you are -incorrigible, and laugh at being so." -</p> - -<p> -"There is no need to think of marrying—the idea -is absurd; though one may get up a liking." -</p> - -<p> -"Oh fie!" said Mabel, smiling in spite of herself. -</p> - -<p> -"How sensible and solid we have become since -Waller came to the point, and made it all square -with papa." -</p> - -<p> -"He has certainly asked me to become his," -replied Mabel, with a bright, soft smile. -</p> - -<p> -"I would rather be my <i>own</i>," said the laughing -coquette. -</p> - -<p> -This whispered conversation was now interrupted -by a terrific yell outside the Cantonment walls; it -rent the air, and the ladies grew pale as they looked -inquiringly in each other's faces. General Trecarrel -grew very white, and instinctively drew his sword. -On that morning, when he knelt in prayer beside -his daughters, ere they left their abode to mount, he -had been thinking that in such a place and under -such circumstances as theirs, how happy was the -man who was alone in the world; how to be envied -the soldier, who had only his firelock and knapsack -to care for; who had only himself to think of, and -had no dread for the sighs, the tears, and the danger -of those he loved best on earth! -</p> - -<p> -Thousands of Afghans and fanatical Ghazees -were now crowding close to the walls, impatient for -plunder and rapine, hissing like serpents, spitting -like tiger-cats, and brandishing their bare weapons -with an air of ferocity and grimace peculiar to -Orientals only; but as yet contenting themselves -with throwing stones, which the Afghans do with a -strength and precision exclusively their own. By -one of these Sergeant Treherne was struck nearly -senseless to the earth, when in the act of receiving -some order from Waller, who became, for him, -unusually excited. -</p> - -<p> -"D—n it!" he exclaimed, "why don't we slew -round a bastion gun, and by one dose of grape send -a few of these turbaned warriors by the short cut -to Paradise, or elsewhere!" -</p> - -<p> -"I should like to see a few of them tied to the -lips of six-pounders—for matters are looking -decidedly serious," added Polwhele, as the red glare -of flames, with columns of lurid and murky smoke, -now shot high into the snowy air from the houses -of the Envoy, Captain Trevor, General Trecarrel, -and others, which had been fired by the predatory -horsemen who covered all the plain. -</p> - -<p> -An order was now given to fix bayonets and load -with ball-cartridge—the artillery with round shot -and grape! -</p> - -<p> -"The troops are to move off from the right of -regiments, in open column of sections," cried Audley -Trevelyan, repeating the feeble voice of the old -General, as he rode from one slender column to -another. -</p> - -<p> -"The front to be diminished, if necessary, when -we enter the pass," added Major Thain; "Her -Majesty's 44th Foot, one squadron of Irregular -Horse and three mountain-guns, under Brigadier -Anquetil, to form the advance guard. The 54th, -the Shah's 6th, the 5th Light Cavalry, and four -Horse Artillery guns, will cover the rear." -</p> - -<p> -These corps, already reduced to skeletons, were -speedily formed in front and rear of the main column, -with which went the baggage, the remaining treasure, -the rest of the artillery, and some sick and -wounded in litters, and on yaboos or Cabul ponies. -</p> - -<p> -At eight o'clock precisely, the order was given to -march, and fresh yells, as if all the fiends of -Pandemonium had broken loose, resounded from the -plain, as the rear-gates of the Cantonment were -thrown open; the bands struck up the "British -Grenadiers," and the advanced guard began to defile -out upon the road that was to lead them, as they -hoped, to Peshawur. -</p> - -<p> -A half-stifled shriek burst from all the ladies, and -they implored the troopers of the Irregular Horse to -close about them for protection, for the scene around -was one replete with terror, a confused and mighty -mass of dark, ferocious visages, black, gleaming -eyes, white, grinning teeth, and flashing weapons; -so that even the usually irrepressible Rose Trecarrel -was completely silent, subdued, and so awed, that -she could scarcely breathe. -</p> - -<p> -From the hills of Beymaru the odious Ackbar -Khan and others, his adherents, were looking down -on our toil worn soldiers as they issued forth with -all the honours of war, the colours flying on the -wind, with all their brilliant silk and gold -embroidery; the bright bayonets pouring onwards like a -stream of rippling steel above the dark columns, for, -as already stated, the troops were in their greatcoats; -the neighing of the horses, the dull rumble -of the artillery wheels, the clatter of sponge and -rammer, and of round-shot in the caissons; and -over all, the varied music of the bands, the shrill yet -sweet notes of the fifes and the regularly measured -resonance of the drums, came upward to his listening -ear, with the yells of the Afghans, and the -report of the occasional firearms which they began -to discharge among the helpless camp followers in -the very wantonness of mischief, or Asiatic lust of -cruelty. -</p> - -<p> -"Let them go," hissed Ackbar, through his -clenched teeth; "the hungry vultures and the wild -Khyberees are alike in waiting; the dark wings and -the avenging sword of Azrael will soon be above -them in the air, and the jackals and the Ghoule -Babian will batten on their bones!" -</p> - -<p> -And some there were with him, whose eyes seemed -chiefly attracted by the group of white ladies who -rode on horses or camels, amid the brilliant ranks -of the Irregular Cavalry. -</p> - -<p> -"<i>Dare</i> they meddle with us, who are British -troops, and all in order for battle?" was the confident -thought of many a brave officer, yet of all those -16,500 human beings who issued on that eventful -morning from the fortified camp at Cabul, only TWO -were fated to reach Jellalabad alive, and that city -is only ninety miles distant.* -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* There quitted the cantonments, Europeans, 690; cavalry, 970; -native infantry, 2840; camp-followers, 12,000. The Queen's 44th -mustered 600 of all ranks. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap17"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XVII. -<br /><br /> -THE HALT BY THE LOGHUR RIVER. -</h3> - -<p> -Quickly marched our retreating forces, so menacing -was the aspect and daring the conduct of the -Afghans, that all felt as if something was to be got -over, and that the sooner it was faced boldly and -gone over, the better. -</p> - -<p> -Prior to leaving the Cantonments, Rose had -thought of dropping her whip <i>en route</i>, so that one -of the handsome young cornets might have to -dismount and pick it up; and thus, that by the -consequent delay, they should be enabled to ride a little -apart from the ladies and the escort; now—all such -coquettish schemes and follies were forgotten. -</p> - -<p> -Her Arab had been sidling along, coquetting with -its own shadow, and rendering an officer's hand on -the reins requisite now and then. Even of that -attention Rose was oblivious now; laughter and fun -had passed away, and a cold shiver passed down the -poor girl's spine as she looked around her. -</p> - -<p> -Hemmed in and crowded on by the invading -rabble, the march of the columns became speedily -disordered, and the music of the bands ceased. The -moment our troops were clear of the Cantonments, -a vast tide of Afghans, some eight thousand at -least, rushed in to pillage the bungalows and other -buildings, and then gave all to the flames; thus an -indescribable tumult took place. Elsewhere, parties -of armed horsemen made cruel and reckless -dashes—literal charges—through the long and straggling -procession of helpless camp-followers, and even -through the column which had the baggage, cutting -men down on all sides, and carrying off whatever -they could lay hands on, in some instances tearing -white children from the arms of their shrieking -ayahs and bearing them off at the saddle-bow, to -future slavery or death. Corpses soon encumbered -all the route, and the snow became reddened with -blood. -</p> - -<p> -The air seemed to become laden with a Babel of -tumultuous sounds; the fierce yells of the Afghans -encouraging each other to rapine and slaughter; the -more maniac-like cries of the fanatical Ghazees; the -wild wailing of the Hindostani servants, as they, -their wives or children perished, under the sabre -or the occasional pistol-shot; the roaring of the -frightened camels; the bellowing of the artillery -bullocks; the voices of the European officers, seeking -for a time to control the fury of their men, but -succeeding for a time only, for the last file of the -rear guard was barely out of the Cantonments, -when from the whole line of the western wall, volleys -of red flashing musketry were opened upon us by the -Afghans, with their juzails, matchlocks, and even -those percussion muskets which Sir Robert Sale -was not permitted to take to Jellalabad. Lieutenant -Hardyman, of the 5th Cavalry, fell from his horse, -shot through the heart, and fifty more were killed -or wounded at the same time; but though the 54th, -to which corps Waller's company was attached, -commenced an independent file-firing, facing about from -time to time as they retreated, the Afghans still -pressed upon the columns, discharging their long -rifles with sure and deadly aim; thus, ere long the -retreat became a flight, leaving on all sides Hindoos, -men, women, and children, expiring of cold, -starvation, exhaustion, or wounds. -</p> - -<p> -Imitating the example of Polwhele, Denzil sheathed -his sword, and arming himself with a dead man's -musket, fired till his hands and elbows ached with -the exertion of loading. -</p> - -<p> -Tents and baggage of every kind, even a piece of -cannon, were speedily abandoned to the Afghans, -for the native servants and drivers fled on all sides, -thinking to save their lives, but only to be eventually -slaughtered in detail; while slowly and laboriously -through the snow the troops moved towards a gorge -in the hills of Siah Sung, in hope to get through the -Khoord Cabul Pass before nightfall. -</p> - -<p> -The forms of our half-starved soldiers who had -been long on scanty rations of dhal, wild radishes, -rice and ghee, were wasted and thin; their faces -were hollow and wan; their whiskers were matted -by mud and blood, the powder of bitten cartridges, -and, in many instances, icicles hung from them as -the breath froze on their moustaches. -</p> - -<p> -With the baggage, all the remaining treasure -became the spoil of the enemy; many a handsome -Hindoo girl was borne off by the horsemen, who, -though they galloped in bold defiance along the -flanks of the retreating force, did not, as yet, -attempt to molest the solid array of the Queen's -44th Foot. It was as in the song of <i>Pindara</i>:— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Deeply with saree, doputta, and shawl,<br /> - Jewels and gold the lootera is laden;<br /> - Silks and brocades, and what's better than all,<br /> - We have the choice of the matron and maiden!<br /> - Zenana and harem<br /> - Ring forth the alarm—<br /> - Vainly their riches and beauties are hoarded!<br /> - Hoora! hoora!<br /> - Quick with the damsels,<br /> - For hills must be clambered and rivers be forded!"<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -From the rocks of Siah Sung, as the gorge was -entered, more than one juzail ball found its way -into the ranks of the advanced guard. The two -fair-haired Cornets of the Irregular Cavalry, mere -boys, in most brilliantly elaborate uniforms, fell; both -were shot down to perish miserably amid the snow -and mud. They sank in succession under the hoofs -of the horses ridden by Mabel and Rose, and were -left to the Afghans, whose knives would soon end -their miseries. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh what a sight for English ladies to look -upon!" exclaimed Audley Trevelyan, feeling acutely -the horror of all they were subjected to, while the -tears they were forced to shed became frozen on -their pale cheeks by the icy mountain wind. -</p> - -<p> -Mabel had her riding switch shot away by a -casual bullet; Lady Sale had one of her arms -wounded by another, and several balls passed -through the skirt of her riding habit. -</p> - -<p> -Down below the hills into which they were -advancing, and far away in the rear, a sheet of fire -still enveloped the whole oblong area of the -Cantonments, and the plain through which the Cabul -flows was enveloped in rolling smoke, amid which -the square masses of the Afghan forts loomed -darkly forth; but few cared to give a backward -glance as the troops toiled doggedly into the -mountain gorges, where darkness, the winter-storm, and -the treacherous foe went with them. -</p> - -<p> -Snow, snow everywhere; the chill atmosphere -was full of it; aslant the white flakes were falling -to join others on the leafless planes and poplars, on -the upturned faces and stiffening bodies of the dead. -There was no horizon; all trace of it had -disappeared; the Afghan horsemen hovering on the -flanks were like shadows or spectres in the gloom—but -shadows from whence a red flash came forth at -times, and then a bullet whistled past on its errand -of death. After a time these wild cavaliers rode -into the ravines, and nothing was seen in the grey -obscurity but the white flakes falling silently athwart -it; and there were thawing and freezing—freezing -and thawing at one and the same time. -</p> - -<p> -It was misery, intense misery, all, and Denzil had -but one thought, that on the ruddy, shiny, auburn -billows of Rose's hair, and of her sister's too, these -flakes were falling now. -</p> - -<p> -With nightfall the firing had ceased; the soldiers -marched sternly and silently on in the dark, and -even the least callous among them had ceased to -shudder now when treading softly on the limbs or -breasts of the dead who encumbered the way. And -to those in the rear, it seemed as if all in front -were perishing. -</p> - -<p> -"Meanwhile, amid all this horror, where is she?" -thought Denzil; "with my precious cousin no -doubt—yet, I pray God, that he may be able to -protect her." -</p> - -<p> -More than once on that disastrous march, however, -had Audley ridden back to the rear guard to -see if Denzil was safe, and to kindly proffer the use -of his brandy flask. And now, by a miserable -destiny, instead of advancing that night straight -through the Khoord Cabul Pass, the inane old -General allowed the Afghans to take possession of -it, while he, most fatally, ordered his forces to -encamp on the right of the Loghur river, if encamping -it could be called, when the tents and baggage had -alike been lost, the troops were without fuel and -had only the snow to lie upon, and the falling snow -to cover them. -</p> - -<p> -"The bugles of the advanced guard are sounding -a halt," said Waller; "it may be unwise, but I -thank Heaven, as I am ready to drop, and shall have -to snooze like the rest amid the snow and our glory. -Glory—pah! I would rather have a glass of brandy-pawnee -hot, than all the glory to be got in British -India. Polwhele, make the company pile arms -when we come to the halting-place—and now to -look after the Trecarrels—God help them!" -</p> - -<p> -As corps after corps came up and halted, friends -and comrades could enquire as to who had been -killed or lost on the march; wounded there could -be none, as all who sank behind were certain to -perish by cold or the long trenchant knives of the -Afghans, who had a particular fancy for decapitating -all the victims that fell into their hands. -</p> - -<p> -Officers and soldiers were alike maddened with -fury against the infamous treachery of those who -had been paid in such terms to let them and their -families depart in peace; and on all sides were -heard the bitterest execrations of Ackbar Khan and -his adherents. These became mingled with loud -lamentations and cries of despair, when husbands -found that their wives, wives that their husbands, -or parents that their children, had been lost—hopelessly -lost—on that long and terrible path of death -and suffering, which led down the mountains to the -rear, a path where none might dare to return or -search for those they loved. -</p> - -<p> -In cold and starvation those who had succeeded -in bringing their little ones thus far on the way, -could only pray, and weep the dire necessities of war, -and marvel in their hearts if the time would ever -come when swords should be beaten into ploughshares -and spears into pruning-hooks, and "when -nation shall not lift up the sword against nation, -neither shall they learn war any more." As yet, -that piping time of peace seemed a long way off. -</p> - -<p> -A few sentinels were posted in the direction of -the enemy, and their posts some of them never -quitted alive, being found frozen and dead when the -relief went round an hour after. A little fire was -made for the ladies by burning Audley's pistol-case -and an ammunition keg; and full of pity, compassion, -and horror, that women delicately and tenderly -nurtured as they had been, should be subjected to -miseries such as these, Waller, Denzil, Ravelstoke, -and a few others procured by great exertion a sepoy -pall, or tent, from the back of a baggage pony that -lay shot in the pass; and then, scraping away the -snow, pitched it for their use. -</p> - -<p> -Therein, Mabel, Rose, and seven other ladies -passed the night, nestling close together on a -<i>xummul</i>, or coarse native blanket, with the skirts of -their riding habits wrapped about their feet for -warmth. -</p> - -<p> -Audley Trevelyan, General Trecarrel, and other -mounted officers kept beside their horses for the -same purpose; and muffled in their poshteens and -blankets, Waller and Denzil lay to leeward of the -ladies' tent as a shelter from the biting wind. -</p> - -<p> -So passed the remainder of the morning. -</p> - -<p> -When day began to dawn and the cold light stole -down the mountains upon that melancholy bivouac, -it was found that the Shah's 6th Regiment, six -hundred strong, had gone off in the dark, deserting -to the enemy with all their arms; but there was -another circumstance which created greater alarm -still among the Europeans. -</p> - -<p> -<i>Rose Trecarrel was missing</i>, and no trace of her -could be found. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap18"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XVIII. -<br /><br /> -SPIRITED AWAY! -</h3> - -<p> -All unaware of the evil tidings that were awaiting -him, Denzil, stiff and well-nigh frozen, aching -in every limb, staggered like a tipsy man to his -feet, so sore and cramped were every joint and limb. -As the dawn came slowly in, he gazed around -him. Waller was already awake, and had been to -look after his men. He proffered his cigar-case, -saying: -</p> - -<p> -"Have a weed, Devereaux—it's all the breakfast -you are likely to get. We are as ill off here as -Mother Hubbard's ill-used cur." -</p> - -<p> -"Are the ladies stirring yet?" asked Denzil with -chattering teeth. -</p> - -<p> -"No—and Lady Sale has not had the bullet -extracted from her arm yet." -</p> - -<p> -Once or twice during the dark hours that were -passed, a little hand cased in lavender kid and -drawn from a warm fur-lined riding gauntlet, had -come out from under the wall of the tent, and -Waller's lips had touched it, for it was Mabel's, -and gloved though it was, the touch of that little -hand, especially under circumstances so terrible, -made big Bob Waller's honest heart to vibrate with -emotion. Once Rose, in her old spirit of waggery, -had put out her hand in the same way and laughed -when Waller, who was just dosing off to sleep in -the wretched cold without, kissed it with great -<i>empressement</i>, for she too wore pale lavender kids -under her riding gloves. -</p> - -<p> -"Look round, Waller," said Denzil, as he lit the -cigar; "did you ever behold such a scene?" -</p> - -<p> -"Never—and hope never to see such again!" -</p> - -<p> -The lofty mountains and impending rocks that -overhung the Pass, and that fatal route back to -the hills of Siah Sung, being covered with snow, -looked singularly close and nigh. The sky was -clear now; and far as the eye could reach the way -was studded by the dead bodies of human beings, -camels, horses, baggage yaboos, artillery bullocks, -cannon and waggons, drums, weapons and abandoned -dhoolies, the inmates of which might be -either living or dead; the latter most probably, for -everything there lay half buried in the white -winding-sheet of winter, with the black vultures -settling in flights over them. -</p> - -<p> -In the immediate vicinity of where Denzil stood, -many men who in the night had perished of cold and -exhaustion lay frozen hard and firmly to the earth, -with their muskets beside them. The corpses of -the Hindoos and dusky Bengal sepoys seemed like -pale Venetian bronze in the frosty air. In the eyes -of the survivors, by over tension of the nerves, and -the fierce wild excitement they had undergone for -some time past, but more particularly during the -preceding day and night, a keen and unearthly -glare or glitter was visible. Each was aware of -this hunted-expression as he looked in the worn -face of his comrade. General Trecarrel seemed to -be sorely changed by the sharp anxiety he suffered -for his daughters' safety. Thus the usually bluff -and florid looking old soldier had become pale, wan -and haggard in face, and wild and defiant in eye, -like the rest. -</p> - -<p> -Sergeant Treherne, a powerful and hardy -Cornishman, had tumbled a dead Hindoo out of -a wooden litter, and breaking it to pieces, made -with them a fire near the tent of the ladies, for -whom, with all a campaigner's readiness, he was -quickly preparing some hot coffee in a camp-kettle, -while the old General, his countryman, sought to -warm himself by the blaze, when the voice of -Mabel startled all who were near, as she hurried -from the tent, exclaiming, -</p> - -<p> -"Papa—papa—where is Rose—is not she with you?" -</p> - -<p> -Denzil started forward, but paused, for at the -same instant Audley Trevelyan, who had been -fraternally sharing some <i>dhal</i> (or split-peas) with -his horse, and of whose interference he felt -nervously jealous, sprang towards Mabel enquiringly. -General Trecarrel stared at her with an air of -utter bewilderment, as he had not seen Rose since -the tent was pitched for the use of her and others -on the troops halting, when she came as usual to -be kissed by him before retiring, just as she had -been wont to do, ever since childhood. -Then he said hoarsely: -</p> - -<p> -"Speak at once, Mabel—what has happened—speak?" -</p> - -<p> -But Mabel could only clasp her hands. She -thought Rose had been with him, and terror now -tied her tongue; she dared not speak or question -him, for "any suspense is better than some -certainties;" and one fact was here certain and -palpable; that Rose had left the tent unseen, and -none knew why, wherefore or with whom! -</p> - -<p> -When so many were perishing hourly by the -most terrible deaths, we are shocked to admit that, -such is the selfishness of human nature, the fate -of one girl, even though a pure European, did not -create much excitement for any length of time, -save among those more immediately interested in -it; and as the retreat was to recommence in an -hour, there was not much time for the unrefreshed -and starving troops investigating it. Moreover, -the rear-guard of yesterday was to be the advanced -one of to-day, as the army, if that disorganised -multitude could so be called, was to move off in -inverted order—the left in front. -</p> - -<p> -Generosity, chivalry, and humanity, inspired -Audley Trevelyan like many other officers to be up -and doing something; they scarcely knew what. -Denzil felt heart-wrung and stupefied, while Waller, -in addition to his own emotions, was alarmed for the -effect this calamitous event might have on Mabel; -but General Trecarrel, together with the horror -inspired by great anxiety and love, felt an ardour of -intense hatred against the Afghans who had reft -from him his youngest born; she, who from childhood -had been his pet, and his stricken heart seemed -full of unuttered prayers for her. -</p> - -<p> -The entire camp was speedily searched; not a -trace could be found of the lost one. She could -neither have gone nor been taken to the front, as -the snow lay there pure as it had fallen, untrodden -and unsullied by footsteps. To the rear then only -could she be looked for. Such was the hasty report -made to the unhappy father by brigadier Shelton, -Audley, and other officers who crowded about him. -</p> - -<p> -The ladies were full of compassion and a terror -that was not quite unselfish. What had happened? -If she had vanished thus mysteriously, whose fate -might be next? They trembled in the frosty -morning wind as they gazed at each other; but -Mabel's beautiful face, by the terrible and haggard -misery of its expression, inspired them all with -sympathy, and they grouped about her like a covey -of frightened doves. -</p> - -<p> -Like Denzil, she felt as if half her life—half -herself, had suddenly passed away. A looker-on -might have thought that the death-warrant of all -had been written in an instant, for Denzil, Waller, -Audley, Mabel, and poor General Trecarrel stared -at each other in blank horror and amazement. -</p> - -<p> -Death by the sword, the lance, and bullet; death -by cold, starvation, fire, sack, slaughter, and every -horror incident to such a retreat, had been, and -were even now, close around them; but what -unthought-of personal calamity was this? Breathlessly, -and almost void of all power of volition, -father and child gazed at each other. Their eyes -seemed to say "Where is my daughter?" "Where -is my sister?" But who was to explain this terrible -mystery? -</p> - -<p> -Nine ladies, we have said, had crowded together -in that small tent, sleeping closely side by side for -warmth; and the eight remaining admitted that -they had slept soundly in the heavy slumber that -comes of intense weariness and keen anxiety. -Denzil, in his half-dreamy doze outside the tent, -had been conscious of soldiers hovering near it, -but thought they were simply seeking for food or -fuel. -</p> - -<p> -Happy, thoughtless, heedless Rose, with all her -flirting and pretty coquettish ways—where was she -now? Dead, butchered, or dying in misery amid -the snow, or a captive; and, if so, in whose hands? -A captive kept for worse than death, too probably! -It was an episode that was maddening to her sister; -to her old father, who loved her so tenderly; to -Denzil, who doted on her shadow, and whose heart -was full of the memory of that happy day by the -Lake of Istaliff; to Waller; and all who had known -and liked her, or laughed and danced with her in the -happy time that was past. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, God!" murmured the poor General, half -audibly, as he raised his eyes and tremulous hands -upwards; "give my child back to me, or take me to -her! Lord, Lord, let me not go mad!" he added -piteously. "To find her lying dead would be better -than to be thus ignorant of her fate—of her -sufferings—of her <i>end</i>!" -</p> - -<p> -Life seemed to die out of his heart; yet he -breathed and lived, and had speech and hearing -left. -</p> - -<p> -"Those scoundrels who levanted in the dark, the -Shah's Sixth, have something to do with this," said -Burgoyne; "they furnished the chain of sentinels -towards the rear." -</p> - -<p> -"Right," exclaimed the General hoarsely, "and -in the rear must she be sought." -</p> - -<p> -"The enemy are already in motion and in sight," -said Brigadier Shelton, who was examining the -distant portion of the Pass through his field-glass. -</p> - -<p> -"I care not if all Afghanistan was there," said -Trecarrel, mounting; "come with me, Trevelyan! -Ladies, I entreat you to look to Mabel while I go in -search of my lost one." -</p> - -<p> -"Papa, papa," implored Mabel, "don't leave me." -</p> - -<p> -"You are safe for the time," he replied, checking -his horse for an instant; "but I must go in search -of my lost darling—to find her, or to die." -</p> - -<p> -And now the old man rode wildly to the rear, -followed by Audley, who had to ride with caution -among the frozen dead and other <i>debris</i>, as the -horses were ill-roughed, the <i>Nalbunds</i>, or native -farriers, having all deserted. -</p> - -<p> -"Captain Waller," cried Brigadier Shelton, "this -is mere madness; Trecarrel and Trevelyan are -throwing their lives away, for the Afghan -skirmishers will soon be close at hand! Take your -Company to the rear in extended order, and keep -the rascals in check if you can. A Ressallah of the -5th Cavalry will support you if necessary." -</p> - -<p> -"Very good, sir," replied Waller, mechanically -and coolly, as if on parade, lowering his drawn sword -in salute, and obeying with alacrity, in the desire -and hope to overtake and protect the father of his -Mabel. "Company, forward, double quick;" and -forward his men went briskly, with their arms at -the trail, and in line, till clear of the bivouac, when -he extended them from the centre, and they loaded -while advancing. -</p> - -<p> -In active and dangerous military duty like this, -there is always some relief from mental torture. A -man in grief may sit at his desk, toil with the spade, -the shuttle, or the hammer, enduring a sickness of -the heart that nothing can allay, and time alone -may cure; but in the fierce excitement of mortal -strife, the ills of life seem lessened, and a great -sorrow may be half forgotten. Hence, to grapple -with the enemy, and especially such an enemy as -those Afghans, was as a balm to the excited hearts -of Denzil and Waller, and forth they went with a -will over ground that was singularly repulsive and -horrible in aspect. In his keen sense of the terrible -event of last night, the former forgot even his -jealousy of Audley; they could have but one -common cause now—vengeance on the abductors. -</p> - -<p> -Corpses lay thick everywhere, and half covered -by the snow. -</p> - -<p> -How terrible seemed the last rest of all those -dead people, who, since only yesterday, had learned -the great secret of Time and Eternity, and more -that mere mortal can never know; their jaws -relaxed; their eyes, unclosed by friendly or loving -hands, were staring stonily and sightlessly to -Heaven, as they slept the sleep from which the -thunder of all the cannon in the world would never -waken them. The ashes of the Christian would -receive no Christian burial; and those of the -Hindoo would never mingle with the waters of the -Jumna, or his holier river, the Ganges. For the -remains of all would ere long become the prey of -the wolf and hyæna, and already the vultures were -there in sable flights, settling over all the fallen. -</p> - -<p> -In some places under the soldiers' feet, the snow -was crimsoned by large patches of frozen blood. -</p> - -<p> -A long line of abandoned dhooleys, full of women, -children, and wounded men, were passed. All the -occupants of these were dead; and to their ghastly -banquet thereon, the scared vultures returned with -angry croak and flapping wings, when Waller's men -went further from them. -</p> - -<p> -On a little knoll the General and Audley Trevelyan -were overtaken. They had reined up their -horses, and were looking about them sadly and -hopelessly, for no trace of the lost one could be -discerned; but the shouts of some exulting Afghans -were borne towards them on the morning wind. -</p> - -<p> -A body of cavalry, divided into two parties, were -coming along the steep rocks of the Pass on both -sides, for the mountain horses of that wild region -can climb like cats or goats. A green silk banner -floated from a glittering lance, announcing that they -formed the Resallah, or troop of Amen Oollah Khan; -and each horseman had a juzailchee, or rifleman, -mounted, <i>en croupe</i>, behind him, after the fashion of -the French Voltigeurs. -</p> - -<p> -These they dropped fresh, unwearied, and ready -for action; and the firing began at once from behind -the rocks or stones, over which they discharged -their long barrelled rifles in perfect security. -</p> - -<p> -The Afghans are excellent skirmishers, and their -native juzails carry much farther than our regulation -muskets; thus, before Waller's men could return -their fire, one of his corporals uttered a yell of -agony, bounded a yard from the ground, and then -fell flat on his face, dead. A bullet had pierced a -mortal part. -</p> - -<p> -"Close up—close up, forward," cried Waller, -leading them on, sword in hand; "those devils -have got our range exactly now." -</p> - -<p> -While he spoke the bullets were sowing thick the -snow about General Trecarrel and Audley, who, -being mounted men, were prominent figures. -Meanwhile the horsemen had disappeared; but the wily -Amen Oollah was merely making a <i>detour</i> to turn -the flank of a group of pines that grew upon the -steep slope, intending thereby to get into the rear -of Waller's skirmishers and cut them off. -</p> - -<p> -"Get under cover, lads, as best you may!" cried -he, as his bugler sounded to "commence firing;" and -with a dark, stern, and desperate expression in their -hungry faces, his soldiers knelt behind rocks and -stones, dead horses and camels, dhooleys and -abandoned baggage-boxes, and proceeded to return the -fire of the Afghans (about a hundred in number), -who were taking quiet pot-shots at any head that -appeared above the snow-clad rocks, behind which -they were lurking. -</p> - -<p> -Now and then a fiend-like yell, and pair of brown -booted feet, or swarthy dark hands appearing wildly -in the air, announced when an English bullet found -its billet in a Mussulman body; and then the -soldiers smiled grimly to each other, as they thought -"there is one the less in the world, at all events." -</p> - -<p> -This serious musketry practice, and the wailing -of women and children, were the only morning -<i>reveillé</i> in that melancholy halting place on the -bank of the Loghur. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap19"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XIX. -<br /><br /> -THE SKIRMISH. -</h3> - -<p> -Gratitude to General Trecarrel, who had been -kind to his dead mother, to Sybil, and ever so to -himself, with a natural regard for the old soldier as -the father of Rose, made Denzil linger near him, -and beseech him to retire and not to expose his -life needlessly. Absorbed in his great grief the -General made no reply; with his face pale, his eyes -bloodshot, and his teeth set, he sat on horseback -and watched the turns of the skirmish. -</p> - -<p> -The juzailchees fired with deadly aim as they -levelled their long weapons over rests, or the rocks -behind which they were crouching; thus some ten or -twelve of Waller's skirmishers had fallen; of these -five were dead, and others were creeping wounded -to the halting-place, which some of them were not -destined to reach, as they died of exhaustion, loss -of blood, or another bullet by the way. -</p> - -<p> -His company continued to advance steadily by -front and rear-rank files alternately, each man -darting forward and getting under the cover of -some rock or <i>bedana</i> (as the wild mulberry bushes -are named), till they were all within half musket -shot of the foe. The reports of the firing were -reverberated among the snow-clad cliffs, tossed from -peak to peak, and so often repeated, that it seemed -as if four times the number of men were engaged; -but though each soldier had forty rounds of -ammunition when leaving the Cantonments, cartridges -were failing already, for their stiffened and -frost-bitten fingers dropped more than they discharged, -so that the living had soon to supply themselves -from the pouches of the dead. -</p> - -<p> -Suddenly a cry of pain escaped General Trecarrel, -and he fell heavily from his horse, which -swerved madly round, and fled into the Pass, with -saddle reversed and bridle trailing. An exclamation -of mingled rage and commiseration left the -lips of Waller, who glanced back hastily in the -humane hope that Mabel did not see this calamity, -of which, however, she was so soon to hear. -</p> - -<p> -A ball had pierced her father's body, going fairly -through the chest and back, and he was dying in -mortal agony, with the blood welling from his -mouth and nostrils. -</p> - -<p> -"Rose—Rose and—Mabel!" he muttered, as he -slowly lifted his empty arms upward in the air, -and then turning fairly round with his face to -the snow, amid which his white hair mingled, he -expired. -</p> - -<p> -The whole catastrophe occurred in less time than -is taken to write of it. -</p> - -<p> -"How shall I break this fresh sorrow to poor -Mabel!" said Waller, in a low voice, through his -clenched teeth; but he had little time for reflection -now, as a shout on the right flank announced the -approaching Horse of Amen Oollah Khan, as they -swept tumultuously round the pine wood, and came -on at a hand-gallop, down ground that was -frightfully steep. -</p> - -<p> -"Rally—close to the centre—form company -square!" cried Waller, holding his sword aloft. -He looked to the rear; the promised support from -the 5th Cavalry was not to be seen; but he heard a -bugle in the camp sounding the "retire;" thus -recalling his skirmishers, a most necessary measure, -as a body of more than six hundred Horse, led, as it -eventually proved, by Ackbar Khan in person, were -now advancing through the Pass. -</p> - -<p> -Waller's company formed a rallying square, and -began to retire, still firing, however, while Denzil, -assisted by Sergeant Treherne, endeavoured to -bring off the body of General Trecarrel, by placing -it across the horse of Audley, who had dismounted -for that purpose. This caused a delay which -proved fatal, as it separated them from their party. -Twice the poor corpse slipped from the saddle, and -they were in the act of replacing it for a third, -time when, with a yell of, -</p> - -<p> -"<i>Shookr-Joor vestie!</i>" (Praise be to God) four -Afghan horsemen, riding far in advance of their -comrades, were down upon them. -</p> - -<p> -One of these, a gigantic fellow, wearing a flaming -yellow head-dress, and a scarlet <i>chogah</i> or cloak, -struck off Audley's cocked hat, and grasping him -viciously by the hair, dragged his head close to -the saddle-lap, intending to cut it off by a slash of -his long knife. Audley ran his sword into the -bowels of this barbarian's horse. It reared furiously, -and threw the rider, whose hold never relaxed, for -he and Audley rolled over each other in close and -deadly grapple, till Denzil passed his sword -through the quivering body of the Afghan—a task -which he had to repeat twice, as such fellows are -hard to kill, ere he could release and save his -kinsman. -</p> - -<p> -Sergeant Treherne shot the second and bayoneted -the third, a thrust from whose lance he -narrowly escaped; but the fourth, whom a stray -shot from the still retiring square had dismounted -and wounded in the sword-arm, cried imploringly -on his knees, -</p> - -<p> -"<i>Aman! aman!</i>" (quarter—quarter), so Denzil -arrested the charged bayonet of Treherne, which -in another moment would have pinned him to the -earth. -</p> - -<p> -"Retire—retire, I command you both," cried -Waller, whose voice was distant now. -</p> - -<p> -"Thank heaven, Audley Trevelyan, I have repaid -Sybil's debt to you—we are quits at last," was -Denzil's thought, and he was turning away to hasten -after the Company, for not a moment could be lost -now, if he wished to save his own life, when -suddenly he received a dreadful blow on the back part -of the head—he heard the explosion of a pistol—the -light went out of his eyes, or a darkness seemed to -descend upon him; he fell forward on the snow with -outspread hands, and remembered no more. -</p> - -<p> -The wretch whose life he had just spared, had -felled him to the earth by a stroke from a ponderous -iron-butted pistol, and then discharged it at -Audley, without effect, however, as the ball missed -its object. -</p> - -<p> -Treherne, who by this time had reloaded, shot the -Afghan through the head, and then he and Audley -Trevelyan had to run for their lives, as by this time -the six Ressallahs of advancing Horse were close -at hand, and cries of "<i>Ullah ul Alla</i>" loaded the -frosty air. -</p> - -<p> -"Poor Devereaux—gone with the rest!" -exclaimed Polwhele. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes," said Waller, "how many a poor fellow, -gayer and happier than he apparently was, goes -into action, confidently believing the bullet is not -yet cast that shall floor him, and is shot for all -that." -</p> - -<p> -"Well—it may be our turn next, sir," said -Sergeant Treherne, philosophically. -</p> - -<p> -Fain would Waller and the rest have made a rally -to bring him off dead or alive, at the bayonet's -point, together with the body of Trecarrel; but the -bugles of the rear-guard—first two, then four at -once—were sounding, as if angrily, the order to -<i>retire</i> so, to "retire" he was compelled, or sacrifice -perhaps his whole Company; and with tears in his -eyes, where tears had not been since he was a child, -in a white pinafore, at school, he drew off the -survivors of the futile skirmish, and rejoined his -brigade. -</p> - -<p> -"Where is Papa?" asked an agitated voice. It -was Mabel who addressed him, her face whiter, if -possible, than ever. -</p> - -<p> -Waller pointed with his sword towards the Pass -and mournfully shook his head. -</p> - -<p> -"Wounded?" -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, my darling—killed, and poor young -Devereaux, too, I greatly fear." -</p> - -<p> -Mabel heard him as if turned to stone. Rose -gone, and now her father too! Poor Denzil she -never thought of, for great grief is selfish at times. -</p> - -<p> -"Dearest Mabel," said Waller, "I do not ask -you 'to compose yourself,' as people always say in -such cases; I am a bad comforter perhaps—can't -quote Scripture and all that sort of thing. The poor -old man had not many years before him any way, -and I can only implore you to submit to the will of -God." -</p> - -<p> -But she could only weep upon his breast, heedless -of those around them. -</p> - -<p> -"Where was he struck?" she asked, in a choking -voice. -</p> - -<p> -"I don't know," replied Waller, looking down. -</p> - -<p> -"Did he die easily?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes." -</p> - -<p> -Neither of these answers was true: but he knew -that details would only harrow her feelings the -more. -</p> - -<p> -So the old General was left unburied in the Pass, -and Mabel was smoothing caressingly with her -fingers and then treasuring in her bosom, a thin -lock of his silver hair, which Audley had cut for her, -and which recalled the dead so powerfully in -presence, as it were, that her heart seemed to brim -with tears. There was no relic left of him now save -this; unless we add a pair of his pipeclayed gloves, -which he had given her to draw over her own for -warmth, and somehow, they too seemed to embody -his presence, and to bring before her by their very -shape, the kind old hands that never tired of -caressing her and Rose from infancy—the hands of him -who was left without a grave in yonder fatal place, -for the army was again in full retreat, and leaving, -even as it left all yesterday, its dead and dying on -every hand. -</p> - -<p> -Audley thought with intense compassion of Sybil, -whose previous bereavement he had learned from -Waller; and all unused to grief, he rode among the -Staff in a state of utter bewilderment, considering -whether he should write her, and if so, in what -terms he was to tell her of her loss. -</p> - -<p> -For a time Mabel clung to Waller's neck, in her -great despair of mind, like one in dreadful bodily -agony. She cared not for onlookers; for the men -of the 44th, or the sepoys, with their black glossy -wondering eyes. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, Waller; I have no friend in the world -now—no friend but you!" said she, in a strange and -weak voice, as she laid her face, thinned and paled -by grief and suffering, on his breast. -</p> - -<p> -Waller's bright blue eyes were dry now; but in -their expression tenderness alternated with something -akin to ferocity, for all this suffering, and all -those deaths that were occurring hourly, were the -result of Afghan treachery; and his fair English -face seemed to darken as he looked back to where -Denzil, the General, and so many more were lying, -and the interment of whom was impossible. The -enemy was coming on, the bugles were sounding for -the advance—if a retrograde movement can be called -so—and already the whole force was <i>en route</i> -towards Khoord Cabul. -</p> - -<p> -Mabel was soon once more on horseback, and -rode with the rest of the ladies, many of whom were -widows now, and could share their grief with her. -</p> - -<p> -Her heart had -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Fallen too low for special fear;"<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -to her acute mental misery a kind of apathetic -stupor followed, and she was in that state as the -Retreat again began. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap20"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XX. -<br /><br /> -IN THE KHYBER PASS. -</h3> - -<p> -We almost shrink from the task of telling the -story of that awful retreat, in which the Rider on the -Pale Horse followed the steps of our troops, so -closely, so terribly, and in such ghastly triumph! -</p> - -<p> -All the plans of Ackbar Khan had been long -prearranged, and among those, as an intercepted -despatch from him to a Ghilzie chief announced, -was nothing less than a Holy War, for he adjured all, -in the name of the Prophet, "to rise against the -infidels, whose chief," he adds, "I have slain with -my own hand at Cabul, even, as I trust, in like -manner to slay the chief of the Feringhees, Sale, in -Jellalabad." -</p> - -<p> -The six hundred Horse that had been seen -advancing, were met by two of our officers, Captain -Skinner, of the 61st Native Infantry, and Lieutenant -Burgoyne, who bore a flag of truce. They demanded -what their intentions were; and the fierce Ackbar -who rode at their head, muffled in a robe of the -costliest furs, played with the lock of a pistol, and -seemed with difficulty to restrain himself from using -it. However, he replied, -</p> - -<p> -"I have come on the part of the great chiefs of -Afghanistan, to escort you as far as Jellalabad; but -we demand hostages that you shall march no further -on the way than Tezeen, ere Sale Sahib evacuates -the city, wherein he has no right to be." -</p> - -<p> -"Wherefore hostages, Khan?" asked Captain -Skinner. -</p> - -<p> -"Lest when you effect a junction, you may all -come back to Cabul. The lives of the hostages -should answer for this, and I take <i>yours</i> in the -meantime, as an earnest thereof!" -</p> - -<p> -And as he spoke, he drew his pistol, and -deliberately shot poor Skinner through the head; so -Burgoyne, full of rage and pity, returned with the -message alone. -</p> - -<p> -Notwithstanding this new crime, other interviews -took place, and ultimately Major Pottinger and two -other officers were given up as hostages; but all this -pretended diplomacy was merely a trick on the part -of Ackbar to cause delay, until he got the lower -portion of the Khyber Pass manned completely by -the armed tribes, and even barricaded by felled trees -against our retreat, for the force was too slender -now to admit of having skirmishes or scouting -parties moving along the summits of the cliffs, -collaterally with the retiring column. -</p> - -<p> -"Yield who may," was the cry of Waller and many -others, "we at least, as Englishmen, as British -soldiers, shall fight our way through the passes with -courage, discipline, and the fury of despair. All -cannot perish; come on, lads—forward!" -</p> - -<p> -"Forward—steady, Jack Sepoy!" the Queen's -troops would call to those of the East India -Company. -</p> - -<p> -But it was now urged by the Sirdir, that the wild -hordes in possession of the passes, and over whom -he pretended to have no control, would destroy all -the women and children; and, fearing that such a -calamity could only be escaped by some diplomacy -and an affectation of trust in Ackbar, General -Elphinstone, then at the point of death, and -therefore heedless what fate was in store for him, gave -himself up as a hostage, together with most of the -principal officers, the <i>whole</i> of the ladies, children, -and wounded, who were immediately conveyed back -to Cabul; and the doomed army once more resumed -its march, while famine and disease added to the -horror of the occasion; "but when men destroy each -other without pity, why should not Death come and -lend them a hand?" -</p> - -<p> -The reader may imagine the emotions of Waller, -of the officers, and other Europeans, when they saw -their wives and daughters, or those they loved as -well, separated from them, to become the hostages -for a certain military movement, the guests, the -captives—it might too probably be the victims—of -a barbarian prince. Many may yet remember the -fear, shame, and compassion this event, the sequel -to a series of blunders, excited at home, when -tidings came of their abandonment, and the fate of -our troops, whose terrible career we have scarcely -the heart to follow. -</p> - -<p> -The parting of Mabel and Waller was bitter, -though in her soul the bitterness of death itself -seemed past, and her tears were such as seem to -come from the heart; but others as well as she were -parting from their dearest, and there is a strange -communion in grief. -</p> - -<p> -Ackbar conveyed his prizes back to the city, -treating them with apparent kindness, for he considered -white women nearly as valuable as the horses -of the Usbec Tartars; but by that time nearly all -the babes at the breast and the little toddling things -that made many a father proud and mother happy, -had perished, even as the strong man perished, for -in some places the snow was so deep, that soldiers -disappeared bodily into it, and were never, never -seen again. -</p> - -<p> -Ackbar probably meant to keep them all till -richly ransomed, for he was overheard to say to -Amen Oollah Khan, in his hypocritical way,— -</p> - -<p> -"What saith the Koran? 'Unto such of your -slaves as desire a written instrument, allowing -them to redeem themselves, on paying a certain -sum, write one, if ye know good in them, and give -them of the riches of God, which he hath given -you.'" -</p> - -<p> -"But, by the soul of him who wrote these words," -replied Amen Oollah, "I would not give up that -damsel with the red, golden hair for less than a -crore of rupees." -</p> - -<p> -As a crore is ten lacs of rupees, a high value -seemed to be set on poor Mabel Trecarrel, who was -here indicated. -</p> - -<p> -In the deep shadowy gorges of those winding -passes, through which the route of the troops lay -for miles, the impending cliffs were covered by -clouds of yellow-turbaned Khyberees and Ghilzies, -who poured down upon them a remorseless and -incessant fire of musketry, and in some places from -caverns which were full of juzailchees. In others -they daringly rushed in bands into the ranks of the -weary and half-famished soldiers, whose ammunition -was nearly expended, and made there a terrible use -of their swords and long daggers; and thus, at a -place called the Jungle Tarechee, or Dark Pass, the -whole of the 54th Native Infantry were destroyed. -There, too, fell Graham and Ravelstoke. -</p> - -<p> -The dead were always stripped, and then -mutilated, or terribly gashed with wounds. -</p> - -<p> -"Death to the infidel dogs—death! death!" were -the incessant cries by which these fanatics inspired -each other. -</p> - -<p> -"What says the Koran?" cried one whose -camise was literally steeped in blood; "'it is -unlawful to plunder the living,' but there is no -prohibition about the dead; so death to them all!" -</p> - -<p> -The fugitives were so wedged <i>en masse</i> in the -narrow way, that every shot told fearfully. All along -that route, many a wounded soldier, as he fell -behind, gave to some favourite comrade the last -words that he, poor Bob, or Bill, or Jack, was never -fated to carry home; many a dying officer gave his -papers, ring, or locket to the friend who, in a few -minutes later, was also stretched on the ensanguined -snow. -</p> - -<p> -At one brief halt a few ponies were killed and -devoured raw! -</p> - -<p> -All hope was dead now in every heart, yet on -they struggled—on, and on—till a place called -Jugdulluck was reached, and then in all the -sullenness of fury and despair, the wretched survivors, -Horse, Foot, and Artillerymen, resolved to make a -resolute stand. Cheering wildly, as if to welcome -death and the foe together, the poor fellows stood -shoulder to shoulder, many bleeding with undressed -wounds, all breathless and flushed, their eyes -gleaming, their once comely English faces distorted -by hate and bitterness. -</p> - -<p> -In sheets of lead the heavy juzail balls tore -through them on every hand, and they fell faster -than ever. Her Majesty's 44th Regiment was now -reduced to two hundred men, and every man of the -two hundred perished where he stood. But this -bravery enabled some of the other corps to proceed -farther, and the last final stand was made by those -unhappy men on the morning of the 13th January, -on the knoll of Gundamuck, when twenty officers, -sixty soldiers, and three hundred camp-followers -alone survived. -</p> - -<p> -Polwhele was the first who fell here; two balls -pierced his chest; and there, too, perished all that -remained of Waller's Company. If the fire slackened -a moment, the clash of knife and bayonet was heard, -with many a yell and groan. -</p> - -<p> -"Dear Bob," cried Polwhele to Waller, as he lay -choking in blood, "if you cannot carry me out of -the field, take my sword and this ring for my—my -poor mother." -</p> - -<p> -But Waller could do neither, for over Polwhele's -body there thickly fell a heap of killed and -wounded. -</p> - -<p> -After his ammunition was expended, Sergeant -Treherne, whom rage and desperation inspired with -a fury resembling madness, laid wildly about him, -and with the heel of his musket dashed out the -brains of more than one tall Afghan. This -stalwart son of the Mines had come of a race that in -their time had been greater men than miners in -Cornwall—<i>Huelwers</i>, who were rulers then in the -land before, perhaps, a stone of Windsor or -Westminster had been laid; and now he stood like a -hero on that fatal knoll of Gundamuck, beating -down the foe with the butt-end of his clubbed -weapon, till he fell, riddled with bullets, upon the -corpses of his comrades. -</p> - -<p> -Seeing all lost, Waller, his heart swollen almost -to bursting, had now to seek his own safety. -Concealed by the smoke and some wild pistachio trees, -he found shelter in a cavern, though fearing that -traces of his footsteps in the snow might lead to his -discovery, and there he lay on the cold rocky floor, -more dead than alive with excess of emotion and all -he had undergone, panting, feeble, and well nigh -breathless. -</p> - -<p> -He had only his sword now, and even if he -escaped the Afghans, wolves, bears, or hyænas—the -mountains teemed with all of them—might -come upon him in the night. -</p> - -<p> -Being well mounted, Audley Trevelyan and two -medical officers effected their escape, but were -closely pursued by Amen Oollah Khan, and -compelled to separate. One was overtaken and -slain within four miles of Jellalabad. Audley's -horse was shot under him, and he concealed -himself till nightfall in a nullah or ravine.* -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* At Gundamuck "the enemy rushed in with drawn knives, and -with the exception of <i>two</i> officers and <i>four</i> men, the whole of this -doomed band fell victims to the sanguinary mob."—<i>Memorials of -Afghanistan</i>, Calcutta, 1843. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -Long prior to this event, Colonel Dennie, of the 13th, made a -curiously prophetic speech. "His words were, 'you'll see that not -a soul will escape from Cabul except <i>one</i> man, and he will come to -tell us that the rest are destroyed."—<i>Sale's Brigade</i>. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -Ackbar Khan is said to have uttered a similar prediction. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The despatches record that of all the sixteen -thousand five hundred who marched from the -Cantonments of Cabul, ninety miles distant, -Dr. Brydone, a Scottish medical officer of the Shah's -service, bleeding, faint, covered with wounds, and -carrying a broken sword in his hand, <i>alone</i> reached -the city of Sir Robert Sale's garrison; but -Trevelyan came in four hours after, to confirm his -terrible tidings of the total destruction of our army -and all its followers, for all who were not slain were -made slaves by the captors. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap21"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XXI. -<br /><br /> -WALLER'S ADVENTURES. -</h3> - -<p> -"Run to earth at last!" groaned Bob Waller, -whose subsequent perils were so varied and remarkable -that they alone, if fully detailed, might fill a volume. -</p> - -<p> -In that cavern or fissure, one of the many which -abound in the rocks there, he lay the whole day, -untraced and undiscovered, for the Afghans, after -having stripped and mutilated in their usual fashion, -the dead on the snow-covered knoll, had retired. -He knew that he was only sixteen miles from that -bourne they had all hoped to reach—Sale's little -garrison in Jellalabad, and that if he ever attained it -at all, the attempt must be made in the night. He -was without a guide; he knew not the way, and his -dress and complexion would render him to every -shepherd, wayfarer, and marauding horseman, -apparent, as a Feringhee and an enemy. -</p> - -<p> -The whole affair, the retreat, and the result of it, -seems to be what a French writer describes as "one -of those especial visitations of Fate, which draw on -the devoted to their ruin, and which it is impossible -for virtue to resist, or human wisdom to foresee." -</p> - -<p> -After seven days and nights of incessant fighting; -after the perpetual ringing of musketry, the yells of -the Afghans, the varied cries of those who perished -in agony under their hands; after all the truly -infernal uproar and mad excitement in those dark -and narrow Passes, the unbroken silence around -him now, seemed intense and oppressive. He -could almost imagine that he heard it; stirred -though it was only by the low hum of insect life -among the withered leaves and <i>coss</i>, or wild -mountain grass, that lay drifted by the wind in -heaps within the cave, and on which he lay so -sad and weary. -</p> - -<p> -"Now," thought he, after some hours had passed, -"now that this horrible row is all over, I'll have a -quiet weed—smoke a peaceful calumet of Cavendish;" -and he drew the materials therefor from the -pocket of his poshteen. -</p> - -<p> -Waller had always been solicitous about the -colouring of that same calumet, as he styled his -meerschaum pipe, which, by the bye, had been a gift -from his friend Polwhele—poor Jack Polwhele—who -was lying under that ghastly pile of dead on the -knoll, where his jovial soul had ebbed through his -death-wound, and where in his kind heart, and on -his pallid lips, as he breathed his last, his mother's -name had mingled with that of his God;—and so, as -Waller smoked amid the silence and gloom of the -wintry eve, tears rolled over his cheek—the bitter -tears of a brave man's rage and grief. -</p> - -<p> -This was not war but carnage! -</p> - -<p> -To Waller it seemed as if a gory curtain had -fallen between him and all his past life. Where -were now his companions of the parade, the mess, -and the race-course? Where the brave rank and -file, that had stood by him shoulder to shoulder, -and every man of whom deemed Captain Waller a -friend, as much as an officer? Where were the -faces and voices of all he had known and loved? -As he lay there alone in cold and darkness, his -emotions were somewhat akin to those described as -being felt by the <i>last man</i>, when the whitening -skeletons of nations were around him, and when all -the human world had—himself excepted—passed -away. -</p> - -<p> -"Mabel and Rose—my own Mabel, where is she?" -he muttered again and again. -</p> - -<p> -Love left his heart with her; she was, like others, -a hostage—a thing unheard of in modern wars;—a -prisoner—too probably a victim! In such terrible -hands, what worse fate could she have? She had -been diplomatically torn from him, by a treaty that -proved futile, and which cast dishonour on our -arms. Duty had compelled him to march with his -men; for the stern duty of the soldier had to -rise superior to the soft affection of the lover, and -now he was there alone, with the memory of her last -tearful kiss lingering on his lips. -</p> - -<p> -"My beautiful darling—my loved, my lost -Mabel!" murmured the usually matter-of-fact -Waller; "oh, why were you reft from me? God," -he added, looking up imploringly in the gathering -gloom, "shall we ever meet again?" -</p> - -<p> -He knew that no fear of future vengeance would -deter the Afghans from committing any outrage -on their captives. In their utter ignorance of the -locality, the nature, and vast resources of Britain, -they can form no correct idea of her power by sea -or land. They vaguely know all Europe by the -general term of Feringhistan, or the Country of -the Franks; and that ships from there come to -Bombay and Bassora (the Bassora of Sindbad the -Sailor), to Madras, and Calcutta; and that a Queen -rules one portion of it—a dreary island somewhere -in the sea; and their learned <i>Moollahs</i> were wont to -assert, that her red soldiers, by their close -resemblance to each other, the extreme similarity of -their uniform and motions, must all be the sons of -one mother. -</p> - -<p> -An intense thirst, which successive handfuls of -snow failed to allay, hunger, and extreme cold from -lying so long in that dark den in such a season, -made Waller hail the descending night, and with -sombre satisfaction he quitted his lurking place, to -seek on foot the road to Jellalabad. -</p> - -<p> -"In England," thought he, "the Poor Law guardians -have studied at times to discover upon how -little mankind can be kept alive; and there have -been learned philosophers who declared it possible -for people to exist without food at all! By Jove, I -wish they had been on this retreat from Cabul, and -all their problems would soon have been solved." -</p> - -<p> -He heard now the voices of the jackals revelling -over their ghastly meal on the hill of Gundamuck, -and shudderingly he turned away in the opposite -direction. Snow covered all the country; but the -footsteps and horse tracks of those who had pursued -Doctor Brydone were, for a time, a sufficient -indication of the route he was to follow. He had lost -his shako in the late conflict, but the loonghee of a -dead Afghan supplied its place. -</p> - -<p> -The night was clear; the deep blue sky was full -of brilliant stars; around him the stupendous -mountains of the Khyber range towered on either side of -the way in silence and solemnity, that proved -something awful to the then oppressed mind of the poor -fugitive, who wished from his soul that he had been -as dark in complexion and as black of eye as his -friend Polwhele; for Waller's face and hair were of -the thorough Saxon type, and hence any attempt to -pass himself off as a fair-visaged Oriental was -impossible, for swarthy indeed is the fairest of -them. He had never possessed such a hand-book -as "Afghani before breakfast," or "without a -master," if such a thing ever existed; but he had -contrived to pick up enough of the strange -polyglot medley forming the language of the -natives, to have aided any disguise, could he -have found one. -</p> - -<p> -Voices and the clatter of hoofs, the latter partially -deadened by the snow, fell on his ear, before -he had proceeded a mile; and, on the whiteness that -stretched in distance far away before him, appeared -the dark figures of a group of mounted men -approaching rapidly. -</p> - -<p> -Near the roadside there stood, and doubtless still -stands, a little musjid, or temple, and over its tiny -dome one giant poplar towered skyward, like a dark -gothic spire. The strangers might halt and pray -there, profuse piety being an element in the Afghan -character; but it was equally probable they might -not; so, as it was his only hope of concealment, he -hastened to avail himself of it—but too late; he was -already observed, and a series of wild shouts made -his heart sicken, as the horsemen came galloping -up, unslinging from their backs their long juzails -as they advanced. -</p> - -<p> -These people proved to be Amen Oollah Khan, a -warrior known as Zohrab Zubberdust (<i>i.e.</i>, the -overbearing), and others, who had that forenoon -pursued Doctor Brydone almost to the gates of -Jellalabad, and, on the way, murdered his hapless -companion, Doctor Harper, whose horse had failed -him within four miles of the city. They were richly -accoutred; each had a gilded shield slung on his -back, and wore a round steel cap, furnished with a -flap of chain-mail covering the neck, and two upright -points, like spear heads, that glittered in the -starlight. -</p> - -<p> -"Death to the Kaffir! death to the Feringhee!" -they cried with one accord. -</p> - -<p> -"I am no Kaffir," replied Walter (standing on -the steps of the musjid, and ready to sell his life -dearly), "but a Mussulman, like yourselves." -</p> - -<p> -"Liar, and son of a liar! I see the dress of a red -Feringhee under your poshsteen," said Amen Oollah, -and in succession he, Zohrab, and two others, -snapped their matchlocks at him; but they had -become so foul by recent and incessant use, that the -balls had been forced down with difficulty, the -powder and matches were alike damp, and -fortunately not one would explode. -</p> - -<p> -"Hah!" said Waller, with great presence of -mind, though fearing he might be recognised by -Amen Oollah, who had frequently seen him in the -streets of Cabul, "you see that the hand of the -Prophet interposes, and does not permit you to kill -me." -</p> - -<p> -"We shall soon prove that," replied the Khan, -unsheathing his sabre; but impressed, nevertheless, -by what seemed the genuine belief in fatalism, which -is a peculiarity of the Mohammedan faith; so he -deliberately placed the edge on Waller's throat, and -said— -</p> - -<p> -"To the proof of what you assert. If you are a -Mussulman, repeat the <i>Kulma</i>; if in one word, -however small, you fail, your head and heels shall -lie together on the snow." -</p> - -<p> -Waller had his own sword drawn, and was -prepared to run it through the heart of Amen Oollah -if he felt himself failing. It was a critical moment; -he knew that the edge of an Afghan sabre was sharp -as a razor; he felt that he was never born to be a -religious martyr; so thinking in his heart—as, -perhaps, the great Galileo thought, when in the bonds -of the Inquisition—"May God forgive me!" by a -little stretch of memory he repeated the entire -Kulma, or creed of Mohammed, on which Amen -Oollah seemed satisfied, and sheathed his sword. -But now Zohrab Zubberdust, a handsome and -dashing Afghan gentleman, one of those soldiers -of fortune who possessed only his sword and his -horse, and thus served Ackbar Khan for three -rupees per diem, said,— -</p> - -<p> -"Khan Sahib, how comes a true believer to have -a face and beard so fair?" -</p> - -<p> -"A Persian taught me to dye my beard yellow; -and as for my face, I am a Turk of Stamboul," -replied Waller, boldly. -</p> - -<p> -As not one of them had ever seen a Turk of -Feringhistan, these answers seemed to perplex -them. -</p> - -<p> -"Then why here?" asked Zohrab, suspiciously. -</p> - -<p> -"I served Shah Sujah, and have left him, for fate -is against him, and he shall never reign in -Afghanistan," said Waller, thinking in his heart, "How -many falsehoods must I tell to deceive these artful -savages?" -</p> - -<p> -"You are right," said Amen Oollah, grimly; -"but as we deem that in serving the Shah you -have been guilty of a crime, I give you as a slave to -Nouradeen Lai. You shall help him to plough the -land." -</p> - -<p> -"Salaam and thanks, Khan Sahib—I have need -of a sturdy servant, as I shot one in a fit of passion -lately," said a horseman, a powerfully built and -venerable looking Afghan, to whose horse-girth -Waller speedily found himself attached by a rope -which was passed round his waist. To resist, would -be simply to court death; and he was thus conducted, -a prisoner, into a valley of the mountains. -In fact, his captors were probably too glutted with -slaughter to kill him, and so spared him for the -time. But he felt that his existence would be at -the caprice of his owner, Nouradeen Lai, whose first -act of power was to take away his regimental sword -and belt, after another acquisitive Afghan had -possessed himself of his gold repeater, his purse and -rings. -</p> - -<p> -"What fools, and sons of burnt fathers, you -Feringhees were to come among us here in Afghanistan, -to put upon our throne a king we loathed, in -lieu of Dost Mohammed," said Nouradeen, as they -proceeded; "you will now know how true it is, that -though two Dervishes may sleep on one carpet, two -kings cannot reign in one kingdom. But the will of -God be cdone! The whole world depends upon fate -and fortune. It is one man's destiny to be -depressed—the other's to be exalted." -</p> - -<p> -"Canting old humbug!" thought Waller, who -learned ere long that his agricultural owner -was especially a man of proverbs, like Sancho -Panza. -</p> - -<p> -The farmer, and two other horsemen, with much -ceremony bade adieu to Amen Oollah Khan; but -the latter only waved his hand and said— -</p> - -<p> -"Adieu till we meet again—most likely before -Jellalabad," and, with his armed followers, galloped -into that terrible pass, where an entire army, with -all its debris, strewed the way for miles upon miles, -back even into the gates of the burned cantonments. -</p> - -<p> -"So those rascals think of beating up Sale's garrison," -thought Waller, with reference to the parting -words of the Khan. -</p> - -<p> -As Nouradeen entered the hedgerows which -bordered the compounds of his farm-house and yard, -he unslung his juzail, which seemed in somewhat -better order than those of his companions, and, -wheeling half round in his saddle, fired a shot -rearward, Parthian-wise, and brought down a large -eagle that was soaring high in mid air. -</p> - -<p> -"Steel commands everything, and now in addition -to the steel—the swords and lances of our -forefathers—we have bullets, praised be God!" he exclaimed, -flourishing his clumsy old matchlock, exactly such -a weapon as might have figured at Marston Moor, -or the field of Kilsythe. -</p> - -<p> -Perceiving that the shot excited Waller's admiration, -he drew a long brass pistol from his girdle, -urged his horse to full speed, and a picturesque -figure he seemed, with his flowing robes and -magnificent beard floating on the wind. He then threw -a lemon over his head, and, twisting his body -completely round to the left, fired at it from the off -flank of his horse, and pierced it as it was in the act -of falling. -</p> - -<p> -"Now," said he, with a grim smile, "should you -attempt to escape without ransom, my ball will follow -you thus surely—yea, did go far as the arrow of -Arish, which was shot at sunrise, and did not fall -till sunset. A soldier, you should remember, that -even were you to conquer all the world, death at last -will conquer you." -</p> - -<p> -"It is unlawful to make a slave of a true -believer," said Waller. -</p> - -<p> -"One may repeat the Kulma, and not be a very -true believer after all," replied the shrewd old -Afghan, with a gleam of intense cunning in his -glittering eyes; "nay, nor even a Turk of Roum," he -added, meaning Constantinople; and hence Waller -knew that he was suspected. -</p> - -<p> -The farmer's wife—Nouradeen Lai had but one -helpmate—saw how pale and wan their prisoner -looked, and speedily set some food before him; a -pillau of rice, dhye (or sour curds), odious stuff, -which he ate with his fingers in the fashion of the -country. One or two of "Malcolm's plums" (as -the Persians and Afghans call the potato), with a -little ghee or clarified butter, completed his simple -repast. As he ate, falling to without uttering -"Bismillah!" an omission which his captors did -not fail to remark, he thought that cookery must be -a sublime science at home—a veritable branch of -the fine arts; but hunger is ever an excellent -seasoning to any meal. -</p> - -<p> -The snow had now begun to melt fast, and for -four days Waller was kept a close prisoner, without -a chance of escape, though he brooded over it -incessantly, and writhed in spirit to be thus detained -from his duty in Jellalabad, where doubtless the -task of vengeance—it might be the deliverance of -the unhappy hostages—had already begun. Besides, -he was intensely bored by the hypocrisy of -having to enact the part of Mussulman, by the -pretended prayers and genuflexions, upon a piece -of coarse felt, for the old man Nouradeen watched -him closely. In all this Waller salved his -conscience by the conviction that one is scarcely -answerable for an act committed under a power one -cannot resist. -</p> - -<p> -On the morning of the fifth day the hills appeared -in all their greenery; the sunshine was bright, and -the atmosphere was clear and calm. -</p> - -<p> -"The snow is gone," said Nouradeen; "when -spring comes, the bones of your people will be -whitening like ivory among the long green grass in -the passes of the Khyber and Khoord Cabul." -</p> - -<p> -These words came fearfully and literally true, as -the Afghans never interred one of the slain. -</p> - -<p> -"But sit not there so moodily," he added to -Waller; "grieve not over that which is broken, lost -or burnt; after prayer we go to plough; come with me." -</p> - -<p> -"Willingly," replied Waller, and his breast filled -with a hope that was soon extinguished; for when -he found himself between the stilts of the Afghan -plough, which was of the most primitive construction, -and drawn by two oxen—a machine of the -mode of working which he was utterly ignorant—he -perceived a little old humpbacked fellow, armed -with a loaded juzail, watching all his movements, -and with an expression of face which showed -how much he longed for some sign of an -attempt to escape, and Waller, remembering the -skill of the farmer with <i>his</i> firearms, resolved -not to risk it. -</p> - -<p> -He managed to direct the team, and for a few -hours it occupied his mind. Waller ploughing!—Waller, -the crack man, the pattern officer, the best -round-dancer in the Cornish Light Infantry—he -felt the situation to be intensely ludicrous, and -he could have laughed but for the circumstances -the situation represented—and the dreadful doubt -that hung over the fate of Mabel, of Rose, and -others; and frequently he paused and looked wistfully -towards the hills, as he thought that, but for -yonder old Mohammedan beast, with his cocked -matchlock, he should make a clean pair of heels and -be off. Anyway, through his ignorance of the task -in hand, and the pre-occupation of his thoughts, -Bob's furrows had all the curved line of beauty, and -would have made a Scottish ploughman, so vain of -his straight lines, faint on the spot. -</p> - -<p> -So the fifth day passed and he had but one -thought, the yearning to see Mabel, with the -haunting terror of all she might be enduring, and -that he might never see her more! -</p> - -<p> -Learning by chance that he was to be secured to -the plough by an iron chain the next day, he -determined that, come what might, he should escape in -the night. Unarmed, he had but his courage and -strategy to rely upon, in a country where all men's -hands were against the European, where the laws -have little force, and where whatever morality there -is among the people, it depends entirely upon their -religious sentiments and their attachment to their -khans or chiefs. Two hundred years ago, an -Englishman might have found himself in pretty much -the same predicament in some parts of the Scottish -Highlands. -</p> - -<p> -On examining the chimney of the apartment in -which he was confined, he found that although the -barred windows defied egress and ingress alike, he -might achieve a passage to the external air by -removing the bricks of unburnt clay, of which the wall -was composed. He proceeded to pick out the lime -with a nail softly, after darkness had set in, and -after removing one, the cold night breeze from the -Khyber hills blew gratefully upon his flushed face. -</p> - -<p> -Another and another were speedily removed now, -and in less than half an hour—during which he -frequently paused with a palpitating heart, lest he might -make some unlucky sound or be discovered by old Lai—he -had achieved an aperture wide enough by which -to creep out. He did so, and drew a long breath, -as if he respired more freely now. All was still, -and the darkness was profound as the silence, and -a prayer of thankfulness rose to the lips of Waller, -as he quitted the compound around the farmer's -establishment and hastened towards the hills, with -the full knowledge that in whatever direction he -went, some hours must elapse before his flight could -be discovered, and there was no snow by which to -track his footsteps. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap22"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XXII. -<br /><br /> -CHANCE BETTER THAN DESIGN. -</h3> - -<p> -He was unarmed, but he never thought of the -wild animals which abound on the hills and in the -forests of Afghanistan. Lions are rare; but tigers, -hyænas, bears, and wolves are plentiful enough, and -the terrible passes of the Khyber mountains had -peculiar attractions for the latter now. Yet Waller's -sole anxiety was to avoid, not these, but their rivals -in cruelty, the natives. -</p> - -<p> -He had no guide; but he knew, by the way -the range of mountains rose between him and the -sky, that the great plain or vale, wherein Jellalabad -is situated, and which has an average breadth of ten -miles, must, when he quitted the farm-gate, lie on -his right hand and not on his left. Other indication -he had none, and he set out in the hope of being -within sight of its walls by daybreak, or at least -soon after. -</p> - -<p> -The improved appearance of the highway as he -proceeded, afforded proof that it led to some large -city, and he pressed on with a confident and hopeful -heart, sometimes between orchards containing a -profusion of apple, plum, quince, and pomegranate -trees, which the coming summer should see in full -bloom and bearing. Now and then, softly, almost -breathlessly, he would pass the skirts, but never -through the straggling street, of a village, such -being usually closed at each end by gates; and -occasionally he crossed a little brawling stream, a -tributary of the Cabul, spanned by pretty bridges of -stone, ornamented with tiny towers at each end. -</p> - -<p> -Anon some pariah dog, prowling out of doors—for -the poor dog is in great disrepute among -Mohammedans—would bay out upon the night breeze, -causing him to pause and shrink for concealment -close to the nearest tree or hedgerow. And now, -with growing hope and heartiness, he had proceeded -from the mountain-farm fully five coss, or ten English -miles, on the Jellalabad road when day began to -dawn on the mighty peaks of the Khyber range, -and the ruddy sunlight stole gradually down their -slopes into the gloomy passes and rocky ravines -which intersect and separate them. -</p> - -<p> -When day was fairly in, Waller began to think of -seeking a place of concealment till night again fell, -when he felt certain that a few miles more along -that open highway must eventually bring him to -some gate of Jellalabad; but an abrupt turn of the -road brought him suddenly upon a village, the gates -of which stood open. There in the little street some -armed horsemen were grouped around a well, and -many people were astir previous to departing to -their work in the fields; for all the country there is -beautifully cultivated, and ever covered by a -profusion of the richest vegetation. -</p> - -<p> -He was seen; there was a shout—spurs were -applied to the horses, flight was impossible, and in -half a minute he was again a prisoner, the lances -levelled at his throat menacing him with death. -</p> - -<p> -"A Kaffir—a Feringhee! kill him, kill him!" -cried the villagers, male and female, as they crowded -in wild tumult around him; even the tawny children -raised their little hands against the weary wanderer, -for the place was the abode of Ghazees, the wildest -of Mohammedan fanatics. -</p> - -<p> -"Bismillah! there is one yet alive!" exclaimed a -horseman. -</p> - -<p> -"But what said Ackbar Khan?—may the sun be -his star, the new moon his stirrup-iron—one was to -be left to tell the tale," exclaimed another, -mercifully interposing his lance between Waller and the -others; "and this is he." -</p> - -<p> -"Nay, one Kaffir has already got into Jellalabad—it -is enough; let us have this one's head," was the -general cry which rose to a mingled yell, and dark -eyes flashed, and white teeth were ground around -him. So poor Waller began to fear that he was the -'last man' after all, and worse off than when -ploughing for old Nouradeen Lai. However, he kept -close to the young chief who seemed disposed to -protect him, and who was accoutred with a steel cap -and shield. -</p> - -<p> -"The Prophet wrote at birth on each man's brow -the day he was to die, and your time is to-day, O -Kaffir!" exclaimed one, making a vicious thrust -with his gaily tasselled lance, which, had it not -been struck up by his protector's hand, had ended -Waller's career there and then. -</p> - -<p> -"What business has a dog of a Feringhee with -such a beard as that?" cried a woman; "it is -unendurable." -</p> - -<p> -"I didn't make it," said Waller, simply. -</p> - -<p> -"Oho. This is the Toorkoman of Roum!" said -the young horseman with the steel cap, in whom -Waller now recognised Zohrab Zubberdust; "he has -escaped from old Nouradeen Lai; well—he shall not -escape from me. These Feringhees are excellent -grooms, and I want one. Bismillah! it is -written—let us go—I shall protect you." -</p> - -<p> -Like many a Christian, Zubberdust the Mussulman -had the spirit of avarice and treachery in his -heart; but as an Afghan mountaineer it was -tempered with something of honour; for, strange to -say, honour may exist among Mohammedans, as well -as among Christians, without an atom of morality. -</p> - -<p> -So Waller found himself marched off in a direction -precisely opposite to that which he had been -pursuing; and he had the additional tantalisation of -seeing, about six miles distant, the picturesque Bala -Hissar, or citadel of Jellalabad, which he could -recognise from an engraving he had once seen; and -ere midday he was conveyed by Zubberdust and his -people to one of the numerous little castles or -fortlets called <i>kotes</i>, that stud all the country in the -neighbourhood of the city, which has always been -the winter residence of the kings of Cabul; and -there he was set at once to groom the horses, with a -distinct notice that if he attempted to quit the fort, -which was a square edifice furnished with a round -loopholed tower at each angle, and surrounded by a -wet ditch, wherein innumerable pink and white water -lilies floated, he would be shot without mercy. -</p> - -<p> -Before the gate were two brass six-pounder guns, -taken from Elphinstone's unfortunate army. -</p> - -<p> -Waller acquiesced with a groan in his breast. -Well, thought he, working as a groom and rubbing -down Zubberdust's beautiful horse, which had come -from the land of the Usbec Tartars, was more -congenial than ploughing; and hope suggested that the -very animal he tended might gain him liberty; but -his new master seemed to be merely a visitor at the -fort, which belonged to an old Hazir Bashi of the -King's Guards, and after remaining there for ten -days, he departed to rejoin Amen Oollali Khan. -Prior to doing so, with great liberality he presented -Waller, as an excellent groom, to a wealthy grazier -of camels, named Jubar Khan, who was passing that -way with several of these solemn-looking quadrupeds -and some yaboos or Cabul ponies, which he meant -to dispose of in Bhokara. -</p> - -<p> -Seeing that Waller appeared crushed by the -prospect before him, Zohrab said, ere he went, -</p> - -<p> -"Think yourself happy, for if Ackbar Khan were -to get you, he might do as he has done to others, -chain you to a stone in a vault, dark and cheerless -as the tomb of a miser. Dogs!" he added, true to -his overbearing nature: "you came hither thinking -to make us crumb-eaters of Shah Sujah! Bah! the -cup of the covetous, saith the proverb, is filled -with the dust of the grave. And where lie the -covetous now? in the passes of Khoord Cabul!" -</p> - -<p> -With something of despair gathering in his heart, -Waller set forth in company with the grazier and -others whom the latter employed as syces, and who -were all well armed. -</p> - -<p> -To dissemble he felt was his best plan, and he -affected such perfect cheerfulness, made himself so -useful in tending, watering, and grooming the camels -and ponies, that he quickly won the entire goodwill -and confidence of Jubar Khan, so much so that, -after journeying for three days towards the hills of -Hindoo Kush, on a valuable camel falling quite -lame, he actually left Waller in care of it, at a -species of camp formed by some Afghan shepherds -and their families, whose tents of coarse black -camlet were pitched in a sheltered spot by the -bank of a beautiful stream. -</p> - -<p> -Jubar Khan passed on his way, desiring Waller, -in whose skill he trusted much, to rejoin him with -the camel on a certain day at a khan or caravanserai -among the mountains,—one of those one-storied, -quadrangular edifices, full of bare rooms, built by -the wayside for the accommodation of travellers, -and the erection of which is considered one of the -most meritorious acts that a Hindoo or Mussulman -can perform. -</p> - -<p> -Waller gladly saw the dark figures of Jubar Khan, -his people and property, vanish into a pass of the -mountains, where they seemed to go right into the -setting sun, which shed through it a blaze of crimson -light; and then he set himself zealously to tend the -ailing camel, in the hope that when well he should -depart therewith on a journey of his own. In three -days the camel was quite restored; but on the -morning of the fourth, when Waller went as usual -to groom it, the animal was gone! -</p> - -<p> -It had been stolen in the night, by whom, all -pretended ignorance; and Waller, who immediately -affected great anxiety to rejoin his master the grazier, -was told that he must remain where he was, "as a -hostage for the missing camel, and that as so excellent -a groom could not be an indifferent shepherd, he -would be useful in tending the sheep." -</p> - -<p> -A crook was put in his hand, a brass lotah for -drinking, a few chupatties for food were given him, -and he was set to watch a flock of dhoombas, or -those Persian sheep that have tails nearly a foot -broad, are almost entirely composed of fat, and form -the most valuable stock of those nomadic dwellers -in tents among whom he now found himself. By -the poor agriculturists he was however treated with -great kindness. -</p> - -<p> -Farther than ever from Jellalabad now, without -money, arms, or a horse, his clothes in rags, his -boots almost worn away, Bob Waller sat like one in -a stupor by the side of a rivulet that trickled through -the pasture where the sheep were grazing; and as he -looked from the green mountains to the black tents -that dotted their slope, he asked of himself, whether -his present existence or his past was the dream. -</p> - -<p> -"So here have fate and the fortune of war cast -me! a Turk, a ploughman, a groom, a shepherd," he -sighed; "by Jove! what the deuce shall I be next? -The ancient sceptics doubted the reality of -everything—and I begin to think they were right." -</p> - -<p> -All was still, save when a stork or crow alighted -on the granite rocks that overhung the mountain -rivulet, or a fleet antelope shot like a spirit across -the valley; and so would pass the weary day, Bob -Waller not watching the sheep, but the mountain -shadows, changing from the eastward to the -westward, while he sighed for a glass of Madeira and a -biscuit, a glass of pale ale and a "quiet weed," and -thought of the old time of tiffin in the jolly -mess-bungalow, and the faces of those he should never -see there again. -</p> - -<p> -At night, crouching on a piece of xummal (or -coarse blanket) and covered with sheepskins, Waller -would dream at times of Mabel's bright face and -merry laugh; but more often, perhaps, of those -terrible seven days and seven nights of the retreat -through the snowy passes, where the living trod -sullenly, doggedly, on over the dead, till they too -fell, to be trod on in turn. Horrid phantoms -haunted him. Had he outlived, out-trodden all? -Alas, it almost seemed so. Shots would seem to -ring in his drowsy ear, and he fancied it was the -Afghan juzailchees again; anon he would think -himself at home in pleasant Cornwall; that he was -after the brown pheasants within sight of the -sounding sea, or among the quails on wild and rugged -Lundy Isle; and then he would start to wakefulness -and lie for hours, revolving in his mind the means, -the chances of reaching Jellalabad; but, alas! so -much time had elapsed, that he might only reach it -to find that the garrison had abandoned it to save -the hostages from death, or that the city was -besieged by the victorious Afghans! -</p> - -<p> -But now he was to have a proof of how often -chance was better than the deepest laid design. -</p> - -<p> -Joharah, the wife of the shepherd with whom -Jubar Khan had left him, and whose name when -translated signifies "a jewel," was a woman of -singular kindness of heart, sweetness of disposition, -and not without moderate pretensions to beauty. -She was unusually kind to Waller, and did all in -her power to alleviate the wretched condition to -which fate had reduced him. Her husband was -wont to boast that "she knew the language of the -birds," and hence that they would inform <i>her</i> if -Waller attempted to escape, for to understand the -language of the feathered tribe was peculiarly one of -the boasted sciences of the Arabians. The art is -frequently referred to in the "Thousand and One -Nights," and tradition records that Balkis, Queen of -Sheba, had a lapwing which conveyed all her -messages verbally to King Solomon. Waller could have -smiled on being told all this; and he wished in his -soul he had no other informants to dread than the -birds that twittered about the valley. -</p> - -<p> -Joharah, the Afghan woman, had remarked the -growing depression that seemed to prey upon the -spirit of Waller, and she was not without some -interest in him, for the fairness of the European -complexion contrasted in her eye pleasantly and -favourably with the extreme darkness of the people -around her. She had more than once detected him -with a lock of Mahel Trecarrel's bright brown hair -in his fingers, and with a woman's acuteness she -speedily divined that thereby hung "a tale." One -day she surprised him thus occupied when he was -seated moodily and alone under a pistachio tree that -grew near where their tents were pitched. Approaching -softly, she laid a hand timidly on his -shoulder, and after glancing hastily about to see if -they were observed, she bent her dark bright eyes -on his, and said— -</p> - -<p> -"I dreamt of you last night." -</p> - -<p> -"Of me?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; even by the side of my husband," she -added, with a smile, that was not without a dash of -coquetry in it. -</p> - -<p> -"Indeed!" replied Waller, perplexed, and fearing -that if this was the prelude to a flirtation, his -troubles would be thereby seriously increased. -</p> - -<p> -"I saw you clad in <i>green</i>, our holy colour, and -accept that as a sign that I must befriend you, and -send you to her you love." -</p> - -<p> -"I thank you; 'to her I love,' repeated Waller -tremulously, while a flush suffused his cheek. -</p> - -<p> -"You are very sad and gentle," said Joharah. -</p> - -<p> -"The thoughts of <i>her</i> make me so," said Waller. -</p> - -<p> -"Ah! the perfume of her presence is about you -still," said the Afghan woman in her figurative -language; "she has been unto you what the rose -was to the piece of clay in the little story of Sadee." -</p> - -<p> -"I do not understand you." -</p> - -<p> -"'One day,' says Sadee, 'when I was in the bath, -a friend of mine put into my hand a piece of -sweetly scented clay. I took it between my fingers, -and said, -</p> - -<p> -"'Art thou musk or ambergris, for thy perfume -charms me?' -</p> - -<p> -"'I was but a humble piece of clay,' it replied; -'but I was some time in the society of a rose; the -sweet quality of my companion was communicated -to me, otherwise I should be only a bit of clay, as I -appear to be.' So has it been with you." -</p> - -<p> -"Perhaps so," replied Waller, smiling at this -strange anecdote. -</p> - -<p> -"It is Jellalabad you would reach?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; how far are we from it?" -</p> - -<p> -"Fifty cosses." -</p> - -<p> -"A hundred of our miles!" thought Waller, and -his spirit sank. -</p> - -<p> -"Undisguised, you can never escape my husband's -people, or hope to reach it safely; but I shall -provide for all that." -</p> - -<p> -"You will not deceive me?" said Waller anxiously, -as he feared some snared -</p> - -<p> -"No, I swear it; be of good courage and you -shall soon be safe." -</p> - -<p> -The following day, when most of the shepherds -had gone to prayer at a musjid among the -mountains, leaving the women and female children -behind, as the sexes never pray together in the -mosques, she conducted Waller into the inner -portion of their tent—her own apartment—where -discovery would have ensured him instant death. With -scissors she clipped off closely his long fair beard -and mustaches; she stained his face, ears, and neck -with walnut juice and wood ashes; his hair she -disguised by smearing it with more ashes and <i>ghee</i>—a -process under which Waller, usually so dainty in his -toilet, rather winced. She took away and buried his -poshteen and tattered uniform, and made him, in its -place, put on the red dress of a Hindoo Fakir. She -slung a brass drinking lotah to his girdle of cord, -gave him some chupatties and other food, and, -placing a staff in his hand, showed him the route to -pursue, a narrow path among the mountains, by -which he could avoid a rencontre with the returning -shepherds, and strike on the direct road for -Jellalabad. -</p> - -<p> -Waller's heart was filled with genuine gratitude; -but he had only his earnest thanks to bestow on this -good woman, who hastened his departure; and in -less than two hours after she had thus transformed -him, he had left the black tents of the shepherds -several miles behind him. -</p> - -<p> -In no other disguise than this could he have been -so safe from discovery. In the character of a Fakir -he might beg with impunity, revile and anathematise -with a vociferation that inspired terror, or he might -remain obstinately silent, according to the pretended -humour or real emergency of the moment. Thus, -as none might dare to question his motives, his -supposed sacred calling rendered him safe alike from -interruption, inquiry, or suspicion, and he went on -his way rejoicing. -</p> - -<p> -He had many strange and quaint adventures, but -encountered no more perils by the way he had to -pursue on foot. His great stature and sturdy figure -won him the special favour of the women, particularly -of those with whom he conversed at the wayside -wells; and in many instances he discovered that -pleasant little perquisites must often fall to the -share of Fakirs and Dervishes; for ladies contended -for the honour of feeding him, and pressed upon -him tillas, and even mohurs of gold, to have refused -which would have been totally untrue to his clerical -character. Once he had a narrow escape from -encountering Osman Abdallah the Arab Hadji, the -same fanatic whom he had run through the body on -the day the Envoy was assassinated, and whom he -saw asleep, too probably intoxicated with bhang, on -a piece of mat, at the door of a village khan. On -another occasion he had to endure for several miles -the society of a rival Fakir—a Pandarom enthusiast, -who wore an iron garden-gate, of considerable weight -and size, riveted round his neck as a penance, which -excited the charity and fear of all who beheld him; -but on the fortieth day after the retreat from -Cabul began, Waller, to his joy, saw once more -before him the vast and fertile plain of Jellalabad, -the stately city with all its white wails and round -towers, and its green background of magnificent -mountains, many of them being wooded to the summit; -but, to his eye, the most pleasing features in -the scene were the scarlet coats of the sentinels on -the ramparts of the Bala Hissar, on which the -union-jack was waving in the morning wind. -</p> - -<p> -Waller was, perhaps, not much given to prayer, -but his emotions of gratitude to Heaven were great -and keen when at last he found himself passing -between the Piper's Hill and the old Mosque that -stands south of the city, round the walls of which -he had to proceed between the Shah's garden and -the great citadel to reach the Peshawur Gate, where -a guard of Her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry -(Prince Albert's own) was posted; and the astonishment -of the soldiers, when they heard themselves -accosted in pure English by a Hindoo Fakir, was -intense; but the officer in command, Lieutenant -Sinclair—the same ingenious fellow who had built -the pleasure boat during the previous and happier -winter at Cabul—now came hastily forward. -</p> - -<p> -"Waller—Bob Waller, by all that's wonderful!" -he exclaimed, recognising an old friend in spite of -his filthy disguise; "so you, too, have escaped, after -all?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, I—but poor Jack Polwhele, Devereaux, -Burgoyne, and all the rest, have perished—all—all!" -replied Waller, with deep emotion, as the men of -the 13th crowded about him. "The bravest and -the best are always cut off first; but, save me, all -who came through the Khyber passes have gone to -God!" -</p> - -<p> -"Trevelyan of yours, and Dr. Brydone, of the -Shah's army, are safe with us; so three have escaped -that terrible carnage." -</p> - -<p> -"And what of the hostages?" -</p> - -<p> -The face of Sinclair—a Scot from the banks of -the Thurso, and, like all his surname, tall, -grey-eyed, and fair-haired—grew dark as he replied, -</p> - -<p> -"Elphinstone, the general, is dead—he expired -in the hands of the enemy, who insulted his body, -and beat the head with stones. The tribes are all -in arms now—a regular 'gathering of the clans,' we -should call it in Scotland. Ackbar Khan has -fulfilled his threat, we are told, by sending the ladies -for sale to the chiefs in Toorkistan; but nothing is -certain save that, by a combined movement on -Cabul, we are about to take a terrible vengeance." -</p> - -<p> -Waller groaned, and ground his teeth in silence, -for he was too much of an Englishman to make a -scene, or give vent to the emotions that maddened -him as he thought of Mabel, of her helpless -companions, and the awful mystery that overhung the -fate of Rose. -</p> - -<p> -The hostages, to the number of eighty-eight -officers and soldiers, with thirty-three females (three -being wives of soldiers) and children, were at the -mercy of barbarians, and what might have happened -to them by that period? How many of them, husband -and wife, parent and child, must have caressed -and embraced each other despairingly from time to -time, with only one idea in their minds,—that the -lips they touched, the eyes they looked into with -tenderness and love, the form they held, that was -warm and living, might all belong to a dead and -mangled corpse ere the dawn opened or the night -closed! -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap23"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XXIII. -<br /><br /> -DENZIL A NAWAB. -</h3> - -<p> -When consciousness came back to Denzil he -found himself alone—alone with the dead. He -knew not what time had elapsed since he had been -struck down by the treacherous wretch whose life -he had sought to save; and no vestige of the -retreating troops remained, save those whose bodies -dotted all the wintry waste. Angrily and sadly the -rising wind howled from the mountain pass, blowing -before it over the frozen snow the long leaves of the -coss, or dead grass, the fir cones and pistachio nuts -from the thickets close by; and some of these cones, -that fall from the jelgoozeh, or mountain pine, are -larger than artichokes. The dark and tortuous pass -had apparently swallowed all his comrades; yet -through it now his way must lie, and, staggering up, -he strove to follow the blood-stained track; but the -landscape, the mountains, the abandoned cannon, -dead horses, camels, and bodies of soldiers, of the -Hindoo dhooley-wallahs, and of many women, -seemed all to whirl round him, and he nearly fell on -the snow once more. Benumbed as he was, stiff -and cold in every limb, with a dull crushing sense -of pain in the back region of his head, from which -the blood, now crusted and frozen, had flowed freely, -he felt that he could only remain there and wait for -death or succour, the former too surely, for already -the gloom of evening seemed to be setting over the -mountains, and he looked about him wildly and -despairingly. -</p> - -<p> -He had been in love, and had lost hope; but he -was in love yet, and had lost his mistress, which -was sadder still, and was now likely to lose his life. -</p> - -<p> -The bodies of several men of his company lay -near, all mostly in attitudes expressive of the agony -in which they had expired, with their wan and -ghastly faces turned to the winter sky; but the body -of General Trecarrel was gone; at least, he could -nowhere see it. Had Polwhele and Sergeant Treherne -succeeded in removing it? If so, why was he -left to his wretched fate? Or had a wolf—but that -idea was too repugnant, and he shrunk from it. -</p> - -<p> -An European woman, young and pretty, in her -night-dress (as many ladies were who left the -cantonments in litters), lay half in and half out of a -dhooley, from the bed within which she had -apparently been escaping when overtaken, and the snow -was falling alike on her white bare breast and the -pale face of the little babe she had been in the act of -nourishing when the bullet of some relentless -Ghilzie had slain her; so her child must have soon -followed. It was a piteous sight; and let those -who have seen death amid all the hushed solemnity -of a sick chamber in a land of peace imagine such -a scene as this, and death under auspices so horrible -and revolting. -</p> - -<p> -Though sick and feeble, Denzil contrived to draw -the dhooley a little way from the body of its late -occupant, and crept within it for warmth. Prior to -doing so, on seeing near him the Queen's colour of -the 44th, or East Essex Regiment, lying in the -hands of a dead ensign, he tore it from the staff and -wrapped it over his poshteen, as an additional garment, -and with a soldier's natural desire to save so -important a trophy from the enemy. To this trifling -circumstance, as it eventually proved, he owed his -life; and there he lay in a species of stupor, neither -quite asleep nor quite awake. -</p> - -<p> -Ere long the hungry vultures began to alight -upon the bodies in the snow, and one, after flapping -its dusky wings on the roof of the dhooley, actually -perched upon his breast; but on receiving a blow -from his hand, it fled with an angry croak. Denzil -was now thoroughly aroused, and his action would -seem to have been observed, for twelve Afghan -horsemen who had been scouting near, each with a -juzailchee riding <i>en croupe</i> behind him, came cantering -up, accompanied by, or rather escorting, Shireen -Khan of the Kuzzilbashes, who was mounted, as -usual, on a great solemn-looking camel, and armed, -among many other weapons, with a formidable -lance. -</p> - -<p> -Seeing that Denzil was alive, one of the Kuzzilbashes -(a pale-faced and black-bearded fellow, who -wore a prodigious red cap, and had dangling at his -neck the watch presented to General Trecarrel by -Sir John Keane, after Ghuzni) made a thrust with -his lance that must have killed him on the spot had -not the Khan interposed, and commanded all to -spare his life. Instinctively Denzil had drawn his -sword, but Shireen said, with a grim smile, -</p> - -<p> -"Sheath your weapon, Kaffir; I, too, wear a -sword, but I am an old man now, old by more than -thrice your years, and I have learned to know that -the sword is but the sickle of death—it destroys -much and reaps little." -</p> - -<p> -Denzil thought this moral reflection came -somewhat late, but the Khan added— -</p> - -<p> -"Your life shall be spared—<i>pesh</i>" (<i>i.e.</i>, forward), -and stroked his beard, which is the silent form of -an oath with the Afghans. -</p> - -<p> -The singularity of his costume, the regimental -colour of bright yellow silk with its massive gold -embroidery, amid which the sphynx was conspicuous, -with the mottoes "Badajoz, Salamanca, -Bladensburg, Waterloo," and so forth, appeared so -remarkable, that the old Kuzzilbash chief conceived, -in his simplicity, that he had captured at least a -great Nawab or Bahadur of Feringhistan, whose -ransom or value as a hostage could not fail to be of -importance. Hence, resolving to say nothing of his -prize to Mohammed Ackbar Khan, of whose power -he had already become jealous, Shireen ordered four -juzailchees to alight, sling their rifles, and carry the -dhooley with its inmate to the rear, naming some -place to which the prisoner was to be conveyed, and -they obeyed, but grumbling under their beards that -they were only "carrying that which ought to be -killed." Moreover, they were not without serious fears -that, instead of being a Nawab or lord, Denzil might -be a sorcerer, for these sphynxes and gold letters -looked necromantic in their sight, and he might -possess the power by a word to turn his bearers into -yaboos or four black stones. -</p> - -<p> -He remained perfectly passive and, perhaps, -indifferent in their hands. His wound had bled -profusely, and he was now in that state of extreme -prostration which usually succeeds a great loss of -blood, when the senses wander, and wild dreams, -tangled and incoherent visions, disturb the brain of -the sufferer. He felt very heedless of life; but -there are times when death seems to avoid those -who are so, and who fear him not. In all the -misery of his condition he had but one consolation—that -Sybil knew nothing of it. As his bearers -trod on, he heard them, when occasionally they -stumbled against a dead body, burst out into -anathemas against the Feringhees, whom they -stigmatised as "dogs, devils, sons of Shytan, sons of -burnt fathers, and base-born Kaffirs," all of which -gave him little hope for his ultimate safety. -</p> - -<p> -The dusk of the January eve was closing in, -when, after passing for some miles through a -sheltered and well-wooded valley, the sides of which -were studded by several castles or bourges, the -strongholds of Nawabs and Khans of military -tribes, the dhooley-bearers arrived at the arched -gateway of the great country residence of the chief -of the Kuzzilbashes. -</p> - -<p> -It was, as usual with the Afghans, whose state of -society is pretty much what it was among the Scots -in the feudal days, a square fort, measuring about a -hundred yards each way, with solid wa;ls twenty-five -feet in height, and flanked at each corner by a strong -half-circular bastion. A fausse-bray and deep ditch -surrounded it, the latter being filled by a canal cut -from the Cabul river. -</p> - -<p> -The zunah-khaneh, or private dwelling of Shireen -and his family, occupied the centre of the great -square, and was surrounded by an inner wall or -barbican, all loopholed for musketry, while traverses -mounted with cannon, guarded the entrances. The -devan-kaneh, or hall of audience, through which -Denzil was borne, was literally crammed with the -plunder gleaned up from the retreating army—bullock -trunks filled with wearing apparel, barrack -furniture, tents, arm-chests, musical instruments, -and utensils of all kinds. It was decorated with -much of barbaric splendour, and had its wall on one -side composed of carved and gilded wood, wherein -were six great panels inscribed with passages from -the Koran, amid green and gold arabesques. These -opened into apartments beyond, and could be slid up -and down at pleasure (like windows in Britain) for -the free circulation of air in summer. -</p> - -<p> -Into one of these apartments Denzil was borne, -placed on a couch made up chiefly from the bedding -that was in the dhooley, and then a hakim came to -examine his wound. -</p> - -<p> -Amid all his deep grief, and mortification for past -events, he felt himself thankful for a cup of golden -coloured mellow Derehnur wine, which the hakim -gave to restore his wasted strength; "for it is the -law of human nature, that the claims of the living -must become a counterpoise to the memory of the -dead." -</p> - -<p> -As loss of blood was the chief ailment of Denzil, -on his wound being dressed he recovered rapidly, -and in three days was able to sit on a kind of -divan—for chairs were unknown in that part of the -world—at a window, which overlooked a garden and the -long wooded valley, at the extreme end of which, -and in the dim distance, rose a high, green, conical -hill which he recognised, and knew to look down on -the plain and city of Cabul. His hakim was -experienced enough in the art of dressing bullet holes -and sword cuts; but his ideas of physic, beyond a -charm written on paper, and washed into a draught, -were somewhat perplexing and peculiar; thus he -prescribed and proffered various kinds of pills, -powders, and potions, from the medicine chests of -Doctor Brydone and other medical officers, in the -belief that if one thing failed to insure perfect -recovery, another might do so. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil knew that he had been spared in the -belief that he was a Nawab, and he feared to -undeceive his captors as to that circumstance, lest -they might kill him after all; while he feared also -that if he left them in error, they might detain him -for years, or seek to extort some enormous ransom. -He knew nothing of the total destruction of the army, -or of the existence and retention of other European -hostages for the evacuation of Jellalabad. Thus -he resolved, as he had no resort but patience, to -await the pleasure of Shireen Khan, who was still -absent, and hoped that he might find a more powerful, -and less avaricious protector in the person of the -Shah, of whom our Queen was the friend and ally. -Moreover, through his wuzeer Taj Mohammed, some -light might yet be thrown upon the fate of the lost Rose Trecarrel. -</p> - -<p> -The Kuzzilbashes, in whose hands he was a -prisoner, are a powerful military tribe, who formed -exclusively the Royal Guard of Dost Mohammed, -and can always, with ease, muster five thousand -fighting men. Distinguished by their scarlet caps, they -are of Persian descent and form a peculiarly Persian -party in Afghanistan, where as being Sheeahs, they -remain apart from the other Afghan people (who are -bigoted Soonees), and are so exclusive that they have -their own quarter of Cabul fortified against all the -rest. Hence, though their chief was outwardly, and -when it suited his own interest, actually an adherent -of Ackbar Khan, he had been secretly and deeply -implicated in political intrigues with the late Envoy, -whose remains yet hung in the market place. -</p> - -<p> -From the hakim, Denzil learned that one of our -officers, named Colonel Palmer,* had been cruelly -tortured in the city by having a rope tied round his -bare leg, after which it was twisted tight by a -tent-peg (like the old French boot), and this made him -more than ever anxious to reach the presence of the -Shah, who still held the Bala Hissar with a few -adherents; the remnant of the Native army we had -organised for him under British officers, all of whom, -of course, had left him now. From his strange -medical attendant he learned also of the old General's -surrender, and subsequent death. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* Of the 27th Bengal Infantry. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"Bosh!" added the hakim; "your General Elphinstone, -sahib, blew his trumpets and beat his drums -before Cabul, like a hen that cackles when she has -laid an egg. It was with him, as it is too often with -the hen—premature exultation; for as little may -become of the egg as has become of his army—for -the former, instead of being in time a crowing cock, -may become sauce, pillau, or pudding!" -</p> - -<p> -The snow passed rapidly away; the weather -became pleasant and warm, and though Denzil saw -nothing of the Khan, from his window he could see -the ladies of his household in the garden below, -where as usual with the upper class of Afghans, they -spent much of their time in chatting among the -bowers, talking scandal and listening to the songs of -an occasional wandering musician, who played the -<i>saringa</i>, or native guitar. It was once, while -sitting listlessly looking into this garden, that -Denzil had his hopes of succour from the Shah, -crushed for ever. -</p> - -<p> -No ladies appeared that day, but he perceived -Shireen Khan, to whom another Kuzzilbash was -speaking, gesticulating violently, and as they drew -nearer his window, which was on the third, or upper -story of the zuna-khaneb, he could overhear their -conversation. -</p> - -<p> -The stranger, Zohrab Zubberdust, now a Hazirbash, -in the Body Guard of Ackbar Khan, was a handsome -but fierce looking young man, with a high aquiline -nose, heavy black moustache, and a face of almost -European fairness. He had a tall plume in his -scarlet cap, which was braided with gold; but, as the -hilt of his sword, and the right sleeve of his yellow -camise of quilted silk, were thickly spotted with -blood, it was evident that he had been concerned in -some recent outrage. There was sternness on his -brow, a sneering expression on his lips, and a wild -glitter in his eyes, as he said in a mocking tone, -</p> - -<p> -"Khan, what mean you by this indignation? -Solomon had seven hundred wives, and old Shah -Sujah, whom the queen of Feringhistan sought to -befriend, had one hundred more, because he deemed -himself wiser than Solomon; but with all his wisdom, -where is he now?" -</p> - -<p> -"In Cabul." -</p> - -<p> -"No—on the road near Shah Shakeed—dead." -</p> - -<p> -"Dead, say you?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; dead as that Solomon of whom I -spoke—dead as a dog!" he added savagely. -</p> - -<p> -"What new horror is this?" asked Shireen, -starting back. -</p> - -<p> -"Bah," replied the other, adding in the true style -of Afghan cant, "there has been nothing new since -God put the sun in the firmament, and touched the -stars with his fingers to send them through the -sky. Everything that is now, has been before, and -shall be again." -</p> - -<p> -"Did not the Shah, according to agreement, -leave the Bala Hissar to go to Jellalabad?" -</p> - -<p> -"This morning he did so; but it chanced that last -night, the son of Zamon Khan placed in ambush -fifty of his juzailchees secretly among some wild -tamarind trees, and when about the hour of morning -prayer, the king's retinue reached the spot, a cry -like that of a jackal was heard. It might have been -a signal. I do not say it <i>was</i>; but oddly enough, -the juzailchees rose as one man, and fired a volley. -One ball, pierced the Shah's brain, and three his -breast, while seven of his soldiers fell dead. Then -we rushed on him, and took from his litter the -crown, the royal girdle, his sword and dagger, his -jewelled robe, and as they could be of no use to -him now, we rode off, and laid them at the feet of -Ackbar Khan." -</p> - -<p> -"May he who planned this deed be stung by a -scorpion of Cashan!" exclaimed Shireen, with great -emotion, as he wreathed both hands in his venerable -beard; "in all these affairs I ever meant that the -life of the Shah should be sacred!" -</p> - -<p> -"Whatever you meant, Khan," replied the other -with a mocking smile, "the King of kings ordained -otherwise, and Azrael, the angel of death, must be -obeyed." -</p> - -<p> -And significantly touching the hilt of his sword, -the speaker made a low salaam, quitted the garden, -and Denzil saw him no more. Shireen remained -for some time sunk in thought. -</p> - -<p> -"And this has been your morning's work, son of -Zamon Khan, when I thought that you and your -fifty juzailchees were on a pilgrimage to the tomb -of Lamech, in the vale of Lughmannee!" he -muttered, as he walked slowly away, referring to a -white temple which covers what is alleged to be the -grave of Noah's father, and is a favourite place of -pilgrimage among the Afghans. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil felt alike saddened and depressed on -hearing of this unforeseen event; but to it, in some -respects, he owed his future safety, and the -circumstance that Shireen Khan retained him in his own -hands, and did not deliver him to the terrible Ackbar, -as from the day of the unfortunate Shah's assassination, -the Afghan chiefs were split into two factions—the -Kuzzilbashes taking part with one, and the -tribes of Cabul and the Kohistanees with another. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap24"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XXIV. -<br /><br /> -A MEETING. -</h3> - -<p> -Day after day had gone past in utter monotony -till Denzil's heart began to ache in the great weariness -of the life he led; it was so calm and seemed so -still after the fierce and keen excitement he had -undergone. Had he entered upon a new state of -existence? he asked of himself; if so, it was an -intensely stupid one. -</p> - -<p> -One evening when seated as usual on the divan at -his window, looking dreamily out upon the long vista -of the green valley, and the conical hill that terminated -it, dim and blue in distance, he was feeling the -balmy breath of the spring breeze with pleasure, and -with all an invalid's relish was watching the young -buds expanding, and the first flowers of the season -beginning to peep from the teeming soil, when the -Nazir, or steward of the household, a tall man of -venerable aspect, whose beard flowed to his girdle, -and the middle of whose head was shaved, came with -an invitation from the Khan, to join him and his -family at their evening meal. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil bowed his acceptance, and in his sorely -worn uniform, made what toilette he hastily could, -for a Khan like the head of the Kuzzilbashes, who -could bring into the field five thousand well-armed -men, chiefly splendidly mounted cavalry, was -assuredly a man of considerable note and power in the -land, and his favour or protection were of some -value in that far-away corner of the world. -</p> - -<p> -In an apartment, the walls of which were prettily -decorated by painted and gilded arabesques, with -passages from the Koran around it, in lieu of a -cornice, he found the Khan sitting on a musnud, or -species of cushioned seat, that is usually reserved -for persons of distinction. A lady was seated by his -side, and both were so intent upon a game of chess, -that neither looked up when Denzil entered. -</p> - -<p> -Seated on the floor, but on rich carpets, were the -wife of the Khan, a woman of some forty years old, -very sallow and <i>passée</i>, her long camise of green. -Cabul silk, ornamented with golden crescents sewn -on; her hair, as yet untinged with grey, arranged -in countless plaits, her hands odiously reddened to -the hue of coral, and her two daughters, passably -pretty women, with their hair loose and their -trousers white, in token of being unmarried, and all -three wearing many chains of gold and strings of Venetian sequins. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil bowed low, and paused irresolutely, waiting -to be greeted by the Khan; but that personage was -bending over the board deeply intent on the game, -his long white beard floating above the ivory -chessmen, his bushy brows and wrinkled forehead full of -thought, his brown and thick-veined hands contrasting -strongly with the slender snow-white fingers of -his opponent, whose hand was indeed a delicate and -lovely one; her face, however, was concealed by her -position, and the mode in which she wore her veil; -and Denzil knew the peril of seeming too curious. -</p> - -<p> -Like those of the other three ladies, her dress was -of the finest Cabul silk, but of a rose colour, and -covered her whole figure, as a night-robe would have -done; like the Khan's daughters, her trousers were -also white, her slippers high-heeled and shod with -iron. Crescents of silver were sewn over all her -loose hanging sleeves, and the breast of her dress -was literally a mass of them, so that it shone in the -sunlight like a cuirass. -</p> - -<p> -The wife of the Khan clapped her hands, the -ordinary mode of summoning attendants in the East, -as she wished the trays with refreshments -introduced. This caused Shireen and his companion to -look round, and an exclamation of profound astonishment, -in which joy and something of deep anxiety -mingled, echoed through the apartment, when -Denzil and Rose—Rose Trecarrel—recognised each -other! -</p> - -<p> -On this, one of the Khan's daughters hastily -assumed, but for a few minutes only, her <i>bourkha</i> or -veil of white muslin, which had a space of open -network for the eyes; and the other whispered to her -mother some indignant remark concerning "the -effrontery of a Kaffir coming into their presence with -his jorabs (<i>i.e.</i>, shoes) on." -</p> - -<p> -If it be true that "among a crowd of total -strangers an acquaintance ranks as a friend," how -great must have been the emotions of the volatile -Rose, on meeting her avowed lover among those -odious and horrible Afghans! -</p> - -<p> -"Rose!" -</p> - -<p> -"Denzil!" -</p> - -<p> -After all they had mutually undergone, the sound -of their own names and their own language, had in -them so much of home and the past, that both were -deeply moved; and heedless of those who were present, -forgetting all about them in fact, the impulsive -girl flung herself into his arms, and he pressed her -to his breast. So, to the undemonstrative Orientals, -they formed a very unexpected tableau. She had -undergone so much and her agitations were so -complicated, that for some time she was quite incapable -of speech and could only sob hysterically. She was -very pale and worn, but he was so too. -</p> - -<p> -"So you also are a prisoner—do you forgive me -now, Denzil?" she asked in a low voice. -</p> - -<p> -"Forgive you—oh Rose, I could die for you!" he -responded, passionately. -</p> - -<p> -How often in the visions of the night and in the -reveries of the day—those trances of thought to -which all at times abandon themselves—had Denzil -pictured to himself Rose Trecarrel reclining in his -arms, even as on that day by the lake, Rose so -bright, so fair and beautiful, and now he held her in -reality! -</p> - -<p> -But though she had deceived him once and might -do so again, no such fear occurred to him then, and -forgotten too were all the bantering remarks of -Polwhele and Burgoyne (now, alas, no more) which -had excited so much pique, jealousy, and fury in his -heart. She was, he knew, so lonely in the world, and -she looked so lovely and so helpless. After a time, -she said, anxiously, -</p> - -<p> -"There has been great slaughter, I have heard; -poor Papa, he has escaped I am sure, and dear Mab -and Waller are safe, and all the rest?" -</p> - -<p> -"<i>All</i> cannot have escaped!" was Denzil's vague -response; "yet you have done so, and that is -enough for me, darling." -</p> - -<p> -She now poured upon him questions, some of -which he dreaded to answer. When and where was -he taken prisoner? Whom of those she loved had -he seen last? Of her father, of Mabel and Waller -Denzil professed total ignorance. He only knew -that the body of the poor General had disappeared, -and of subsequent events he knew nothing save that -many ladies and officers of rank were retained in -Cabul, held there by Ackbar Khan, as hostages for -the future evacuation of Jellalabad; so hope and -lightness of heart began to dawn on Rose, for neither -she nor Denzil were aware of the exact state of -matters, or of all the calamities that had befallen -their friends. -</p> - -<p> -"And Mabel—dear, dear, Mabel," she exclaimed -in a touching voice, "how often do I dream of her, -and fancy at times that I feel her cheek, wet with -tears, against mine; for though but a little older than -I, she has ever been as a mother to me, and these -visions are passages of intense emotion, Denzil. -Our mamma, who died so long ago, comes to me in -my sleep and poor papa too, looking just as when I -kissed him last, ere we went to rest, in that wretched -tent in the snowy Pass; so my heart is wrung with -suffering and I shed tears, Denzil—hot salt tears in -my sleep—I, who used to be so merry and -thoughtless!" -</p> - -<p> -The Khan and his family were, for the time, -utterly forgotten; so was his game of chess, and he -gazed alternately from the rooks, pawns, and castles, -to the lovers, in great and grave bewilderment, for -in the <i>empressement</i> of their meeting, there seemed -something more than the mere joy of two friends, or -natives of the same country recognising each other. -Were they brother and sister, or husband and wife, -or what? -</p> - -<p> -"But how came you to be here—what happened?" -asked Denzil. -</p> - -<p> -Her story, with all its apparent mystery, was both -short and simple. She had heard shots in the night, -and was peeping from the door of the tent, while -her weary companions slept. A crowd of Afghans -were passing,—the Shah's 6th Regiment were -deserting <i>en masse</i>. A <i>loonghee</i>, or turban-cloth, was -cast over her face by one of them, who twisted it -across her mouth in such a manner as to stifle her -cries completely; a havildar, mounted on a stolen -horse, dragged her up beside him, and thus she was -borne off, unseen in the dark, as they evidently -believed that a white woman would be deemed the most -valuable species of loot by some wealthy Khan or -Nawab. When day broke they found themselves -among the Black Rocks, near Cabul, and then a -vehement dispute ensued between the havildar and -her first captor as to to whom she should belong—whether -they should keep, sell, or cast lots for her. -Knives were promptly drawn; but some Kuzzilbash -Horse came up and solved the difficulty by sabreing -them both. They then carried her off to the fort of -Shireen Khan, who had treated her with marked -kindness and hospitality; and now she and Denzil -turned towards him, and the latter expressed -his extreme gratitude for all he had done for -them both, adding, that he hoped they would be -mercifully permitted to rejoin their friends and -people. -</p> - -<p> -But Khan Shireen shook his head, and replied, -"Sahib, you know not what you ask, or how your -friends are situated. Your army has been destroyed -on its downward march to Jellalabad, and the hope -of Ackbar is, that if the Sirdir Sale quits that city -for Peshawur, the wild Khyberees and Ghilzies will -soon annihilate his army too." -</p> - -<p> -And such was indeed the hope of those in power -at Cabul. -</p> - -<p> -"Then our forces suffered severely, Khan?" -said Denzil. -</p> - -<p> -"So severely, that but one remained alive to tell -the tale." -</p> - -<p> -Denzil smiled at this, believing it to be mere -Oriental hyperbole. -</p> - -<p> -The entrance of servants with trays, on which -were plums, peaches, and other fruit preserved in -sugar, sweet chupatties, and a flask or two of yellow -Derehnur wine (though forbidden by the Prophet), -enabled Denzil to address some apologies to the -ladies of the house, who invited him to seat himself -on the edge of their carpet, an unwonted honour; -and then the simple collation proceeded without the -use of spoons or forks, which are alike unknown in -that region. -</p> - -<p> -Fresh southern-wood was thrown on the fire, and -its fragrance filled all the apartment with a powerful -perfume. -</p> - -<p> -Rose felt herself constrained, but most unwillingly, -to resume her part of chess-player, which she did -in silence, as she scarcely knew a word of the Khan's -language, but he had been delighted with her on -first learning that she could play the knightly game, -and play it well too, as chess is peculiarly an -Oriental pastime, and was brought into Europe -originally by the returned Crusaders. -</p> - -<p> -"Shabash!" (Bravo) he exclaimed, and patted -her kindly on the shoulder, as she again took her -place near him; but her eyes ever wandered from -the chess-board to the face of Denzil, whom the -Kuzzilbash lady and her daughters overwhelmed -with questions, many of which they had long since -asked Rose. Among these were the three invariable -queries, whether the East India Company was a -man or a woman; if it was true that our ruler in -Feringhistan was a Queen, and if the men in that -region wore trousers, while the women did not. -They conversed with him freely, and without -constraint, for among the Afghans, unlike other races -which profess the Moslem faith, intercourse between -the sexes is somewhat on an European footing, and -the home of the Afghan husband is one which -deserves to be accounted such, as all his leisure hours -are spent with his wife and children; and he leads -his guest without fear or scruple into the family -circle. Hence, with all their ferocity, the passion of -love is neither unknown nor unhonoured among them. -</p> - -<p> -Two or three days elapsed after their meeting -before Denzil and Rose Trecarrel became aware that -so many hostages were retained in the hands of -Ackbar as pledges, to answer with their lives, or -at least with their liberties, for the final withdrawal -of all our troops from Afghanistan, including Sir -Robert Sale's Brigade in Jellalabad and General -Nott's division, 9000 strong, in Candahar; and now -they found that, owing to a split in the enemy's -camp, and a coolness between the Sirdir and the -Khan Shireen, the latter was detaining them <i>in -secret</i> as hostages on his own account. -</p> - -<p> -"Set me free!" she had frequently implored of him. -</p> - -<p> -"Not if you gave me all the lost riches of -Khosroo," he replied, referring to the supposed -buried treasure of Cyrus. -</p> - -<p> -She had next besought aid of his wife, who shook -her head, and said laughingly— -</p> - -<p> -"Ere long, you will too probably be sold to a -chief in Toorkistan, and live in a castle, or perhaps -a tent, as his wife; if he chooses to make you such -before the Cadi," added the Kuzzilbash lady, gazing -with her great black eyes into the clear hazel orbs -of the shocked and perplexed English girl, and -feeling herself the while as much embarrassed in -their difference of ideas as if her guest had come -from Jupiter, Saturn, or any other of those planets -which to her were but as lamps set in the sky by -God or the Prophet, she knew not which, as the -moollahs were somewhat uncertain on the subject. -</p> - -<p> -But now the great event of having the society of -Denzil made Rose, who had previously felt herself -so friendless and forlorn, so desolate and lost, much -more hopeful and contented; and something of her -old coquetry came to the surface again, when daily -he walked with her in the garden of the fort, as they -were never permitted to go beyond its walls. They -had both undergone much, and witnessed some -frightful scenes; but it was with them there, as -with those who dwell "in the countries where -earthquakes are frequent, and where in almost every -century some terrible convulsion has laid a whole -city in ruins—the inhabitants acquire a strange -indifference to peril till the very instant of its presence, -and learn to forget calamities when once they have -passed." -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap25"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XXV. -<br /><br /> -MARRIED OR NOT? -</h3> - -<p> -Under the magic influence of Rose's presence, -Denzil felt almost content for the time, and his -heart swelled with mingled love and joy; then -obstacles would seem to give way, fears to fade, and -he felt his heart endued with a new strength. The -hope of rescue or the chances of escape together, -formed a fertile and endless source of conversation -and surmise for these two isolated beings; but Rose -had to humour the Khan by playing chess with him -whenever he requested her to do so, while his wife -and daughters quite as frequently compelled Denzil, -who knew Hindostanee, to read for them an Oriental -poem of which they never seemed to grow weary. It -was a handsome volume of exquisite Eastern penmanship; -all the pages were perfumed, and no two of -them were alike, all the vignettes of birds, of gilded -mosques, of black-bearded emirs and bayaderes, the -elaborate borders and chapter heads being radiant -in colours and gold. It described the petrifaction -of the City of Ishmonie, a place alleged to be in -Upper Egypt, where all that were once animated -beings were by an enchanter changed in an instant -to stone, and where they may still be seen, in all -the various positions of sitting, or standing, eating, -sleeping or caressing each other—a legend which -obviously arose from the circumstance of the vast -number of statues of men, women, and children that -are, or were, in the place; but this poem so palled -upon Denzil that he shivered with weariness -whenever the subject was named to him. -</p> - -<p> -And now as a certain assurance of safety came -into the mind of Rose Trecarrel, she began to -resume some of her old coquettish ways with him; -thus one day as they were promenading in the -garden of the Khan's fort, where the early flowers -of Spring were maturing under the genial shelter -of the high embattled walls, when he familiarly -addressed her as "Rose," she said, with an assumed -pout on her ruddy lips, -</p> - -<p> -"I must really forbid you to call me Rose—even -here." -</p> - -<p> -"I called you so once, unchecked—by the lake, -on that day which you must remember," he urged -gently. -</p> - -<p> -"That day is past." -</p> - -<p> -"But its memory remains. What then am I to -call you? To say, 'Miss Rose', or 'Miss Trecarrel,' -after the events of that day would seem both strange -and distant. You are always 'Rose' to me—in my -heart, I mean." -</p> - -<p> -"Fiddlestick! do be sensible. Call me—well, -you need not call me anything that may -compromise either the past, the present, or the -future." -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, how unkind of you," said he, eyeing her -with a somewhat dubious expression. -</p> - -<p> -"Poor Denzil," she replied, looking down; "I -would to Heaven you were not so fond of me." -</p> - -<p> -"Fond, is not the word, Rose—but why?" -</p> - -<p> -"Because I was only flirting with you, as I have -done with others," replied the laughing girl, with a -cruelty that was perhaps unintentional, as she was -indeed older than her years, for there are some -women who in mind and body are more rapidly -developed than others. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil was only somewhat past twenty, and his -love for her was fresh as the flowers that were -springing up around them. It had been wasted on -none yet, and Rose was the first who seemed to fill -up all the soft illusions of the mind, as being the -only one he could love, and the touch of whose -hand or arm would send a thrill of ecstasy to his -heart. -</p> - -<p> -Could hers really be so elastic? he now asked -of himself; did one passion really efface another in -her breast, even as the waves efface the footmarks -on the sandy shore? Could she love more than -one, and perhaps more than one at a time? -</p> - -<p> -She sat on a garden seat with her handsome -white hands folded before her. A jet cross which -had escaped the pillagers was on her snow-white -neck, when it rose and fell with the undulations of -her breathing. Her long lashes and delicate lids -were drooped over the clear brown eyes, that could -be so waggish, droll or cold and calm, as fun, or -passion, or prudence, swayed her. The whole pose, -her aspect, the contour of her head, the exquisite -turn of the white and stately throat, so like that of -Mabel, were not lost on Denzil as he gazed, and in -gazing, worshipped her. -</p> - -<p> -"A penny for your thoughts, friend Denzil," said -she, looking up with a laughing face and breaking -a silence of some minutes' duration. -</p> - -<p> -"They are priceless, Rose, because they are of you." -</p> - -<p> -"Well, like Paul, you may be most tender and -full of truth—the latter a rare virtue in men; but I -can never play the part of Virginia." -</p> - -<p> -"Why?" -</p> - -<p> -"Because I am too giddy, perhaps," replied Rose; -yet with all her coquetry she was not without an -emotion of genuine pride at the conviction of having -inspired so handsome and earnest a young man -with an attachment so devoted and pure. -</p> - -<p> -But what was to be the sequel to all this? -</p> - -<p> -As Artemus Ward says, "one is always inclined -to give aid and comfort to the enemy, if he cums in -the shape of a nice young gal;" and doubtless the -old Khan of the Kuzzilbashes seemed to think so -too; for to Rose he was unusually kind, and -somewhat unwisely was wont at times to praise her to -his wife. Once he said, -</p> - -<p> -"The girl is beautiful as a bird of paradise." -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; but quite as dumb and useless—there is -nothing in her," replied the lady. -</p> - -<p> -"She knows her own language, not ours. -She has splendid eyes, at all events; they -might get me six good horses among the Usbec -Tartars." -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, lovely eyes certainly; yet they seem out -of place anywhere, save in a seraglio," was the -sharp response of the Khanum, who evidently -disapproved of the praise and the chess-playing; -"send her to Ackbar Khan." -</p> - -<p> -"Nay; that suits not my purpose, either for her -or her friend," replied the Khan, on whose mind -some remarks made from time to time by his wife -were beginning to have an effect. -</p> - -<p> -He had seen the open and free intercourse of the -Feringhee sahibs, male and female, at the -bandstand, at the race-course, in the Cantonments, in -the gardens, and other places in and about Cabul, -during the previous winter; he had also seen them -together in Sinclair sahib's wonderful boat; but -there was something in the footing of Rose and -Denzil that sorely puzzled him. They were too -familiar to be mere friends, and she was not tender -enough apparently to be a lover; so, after closely -observing them for some days, he came to the -conclusion that they were married, and if not, that -they ought to be. -</p> - -<p> -Thus with the native suspicion of an Oriental, he -began to think that they must be married, and -concealed the fact from him for some reason or -purpose of their own. He even spoke pretty -pointedly on the subject to Denzil, and hinted that -if she were his wife, it might prevent her from -being sold to the Toorkomans; but the circumstance -of her being married to an infidel would not have -made much difference to those sons of the desert. -</p> - -<p> -Denzil was alarmed and knew not what to think -of this new feature in their affairs. Rose would not -have much fortune in England; Denzil had less, -and to marry on his subaltern's pay and allowances, -even in India, might prove ruinous to both; but -here they were isolated from all in the outer -world—in Afghanistan; in a land where steam and printing -were unheard of; and where forks and spoons, -clocks, and even toothbrushes were as much -unknown as they were to Father Adam and Mother Eve. -</p> - -<p> -Shireen Khan might solve all their difficulties by -slicing off Denzil's head and selling Rose to the -highest bidder in Toorkistan, if the whim to do -either occurred. In his alarm Denzil admitted -that they were affianced to each other, a state of -matters beyond the comprehension of the old -Kuzzilbash, as a Mussulman in choosing a wife usually -relies on his mother, or a female friend who does -this office for him. -</p> - -<p> -"Did your mother select her for you?" asked -the Khanum, who was present. -</p> - -<p> -"No," replied Denzil. -</p> - -<p> -"She treats you ill, I fear; a little beating would -do her good," suggested the lady. -</p> - -<p> -"A beating!" exclaimed Denzil, with astonishment. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes," said Shireen; "among us men are allowed -by the Koran to beat their wives, so long as they do -not bruise the skin; for the Prophet has ordained -that women shall not be treated as intellectual -beings." -</p> - -<p> -"Why?" -</p> - -<p> -"Lest they aspire to equality with men." -</p> - -<p> -Denzil translated all this to Rose, who had been -listening and turning from one speaker's face to the -other; she burst into a saucy little laugh, and said, -</p> - -<p> -"Tell them that their Prophet was a precious -old——" -</p> - -<p> -What she was about to designate him of Mecca, -we know not, for Denzil placed his hand on her lips. -The sharp black eyes of the Khan detected something -in this action. They sparkled, while his face -grew red as his cap with sudden anger, and with -hands clenched and uplifted, he exclaimed, -</p> - -<p> -"Now by the seven heavens and the veil of unity, -through which the Prophet passed in his vision, but -this is too much! You are either married or not? -Do you laugh at my beard, Kaffirs? If she is your -wife, I shall respect her, nor send her, as I intended, -to Bhokara or Toorkistan for sale; if she is not, -then so much the worse for her!" -</p> - -<p> -And, as he spoke, the softness of his Persian -dialect turned, in his anger, hoarse and guttural as -that of an Afghan. -</p> - -<p> -"Your wife, Denzil," exclaimed Rose, blushing -with mingled amazement and annoyance, when the -first part of this speech was told her; "I do care -more for you than for any one else—but—but—" -</p> - -<p> -"What, dearest Rose?" -</p> - -<p> -"This is a little too much." -</p> - -<p> -"Consider—the danger—the alternative." -</p> - -<p> -"Must I pass myself off as such?" -</p> - -<p> -"It would appear so, dear Rose, for your own -sake dissemble." -</p> - -<p> -"Assume a virtue if I have it not!" said she, -with some asperity. -</p> - -<p> -"It is unavoidable, what are we to do?" -</p> - -<p> -"Why—is this a conspiracy between you, for it -looks very like it?" -</p> - -<p> -"On my honour it is not," replied Denzil, earnestly -and tenderly; "but Toorkistan—think of that." -</p> - -<p> -"Yes—Toorkistan!" repeated the Khan, detecting -the word, resentment still gleaming in his eyes that -a Kaffir girl should dare to laugh at or mock him. -</p> - -<p> -And in this pleasant dilemma we must leave them -for a time. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap26"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XXVI. -<br /><br /> -THE WANDERER. -</h3> - -<p> -We must now ask the reader to traverse with -greater speed than even the electric wire possesses, -both sea and land, and, annihilating time and space, -accompany us once more to the opening scenes of -our story—even to the grey, sea-beaten cliffs, and -broad brown moors of Cornwall. -</p> - -<p> -In an early chapter we referred to a certain -hostelry named the Trevanion Tavern, as a place -where sundry beverages were procurable, and to -which General Trecarrel (whose poor old bones -were whitening now with others in the Khyber -Pass) sent Mike Treherne and his comrades on -that exciting evening when Audley Trevelyan rescued -Sybil Devereaux from the terrors of the gloomy -Pixies' Hole. -</p> - -<p> -It was the sweet season of spring, and the flowers -of balmy April were in all their bloom; the young -and fragrant buds were bursting in the woods of -Rhoscadzhel, and the willows that gave a name to -the long narrow glen, forming the avenue to -Porthellick, were as green, as leafy, and as graceful in -their droop, as when Constance, dark-eyed and pale-faced, -sat at the windows of the pretty white villa, -watching for her husband, Richard, cantering his -horse to the little portico, where Derrick Braddon -awaited him; Denzil going forth to whip the -trouting-stream, or Sybil sitting, sketch-book in hand, -under a tree, to shade her from the sunshine. -</p> - -<p> -The Trevanion Arms, over which creaked and -swung a signboard decorated with the arms of that -old surname, a fesse between two chevrons, with -three escallops (for old Jack, like every Cornishman, -had a pedigree), is a picturesque little old-fashioned -house, partly built of granite and partly -of straw and mud beaten into a consistency that is -pretty enduring. Four boulders that had lain for -ages on the promontory where it stands, had been -improvised as corner-stones by the first builders -of the edifice, and then the erection proved easy -enough. It is square, with a trellised porch, which -is always a mass of flowers and leaves; two windows -are on each side of this, and five above, while there -are other little quaint dormers that abut from the -roof, which is conical, or pavilion-shaped, to write -more correctly: and the edifice was then, from its -foundation to its apex, chimneys included, literally a -mass of clematis, dark green ivy, jasmine and sweet -briar, so matted and interwoven as completely to -conceal where the wall ended and the roof began; -and in the pairing season the snug recesses of this -leafy covering were all alive with teeming nests and -twittering birds, whose gaping bills and glittering -eyes peeped forth at times when a frocked waggoner -or dusky-visaged miner drew up at the door for a -pot of creamy ale, or a quart of sharp, foaming -Devonshire cider. -</p> - -<p> -Though April, the night on which we visit this -place is bleak; the rain is swooping in torrents on -the drenched land, and tossing sea; black clouds -envelop all the Bristol Channel, the wild waves of -which were rolling in snowy foam against the bluffs -of Tintagel, along Trebarreth Strand, and all that -iron shore from thence, perhaps, to Cape Cornwall, -for it was just such a night of storm as the old -Cornish wreckers would have loved, and hung their -lanterns on the cliffs to mislead doomed ships at -sea. -</p> - -<p> -Seated alone, gazing intently into the sea-coal -fire that burned low in the grate of the humble -tavern parlour, smoking a short pipe, and taking -occasional sips from a tankard of ale, was a -somewhat tattered, but well-bearded, grizzled, and -weather-beaten man, about sixty years of age. His -features were rather Cornish or Celtic in type; the -nose and cheek bones high, the eyes keen and -glittering, when the firelight shone on them; his sturdy -figure and well-embrowned hands showed that his -life had been one of hard work, and, by the peculiar -mode in which he carried his head, it was easy to -see that he had been drilled as a soldier in the -ranks. -</p> - -<p> -Intently thinking, he sighed deeply once or twice, -and, looking round the room as a gust of the storm -without roused him from reverie, he said aloud,— -</p> - -<p> -"So here you are at last, after all that has come -and gone—here at last, and for what, Derrick -Braddon?" -</p> - -<p> -For Derrick Braddon he was—Derrick, the faithful -attendant and follower of the late Richard -Pencarrow Trevelyan—Lord Lamorna! His fate and -adventures had been strange; for since the steamer -<i>Admiral</i>, of Montreal, had perished at sea, Braddon -had seen more of the world than he ever expected -to behold again, and been so circumstanced, that he -could never communicate with England, even in -this age of ease and appliances; or his letters had -miscarried; and now when he found himself once -more at home—but, as it eventually proved, a home -filled with strangers—his heart grew soft, and -his eyes suffused, albeit that he was somewhat -unused to the melting mood. -</p> - -<p> -The purple moorlands, the great grey standing -stones, the mines teeming with men and lights, and -strange sounds, their giant works and grimy -gearing; the granite carns and the dark oak woodlands -had all spoken of home and his boyhood to the -returned wanderer, the faithful old soldier, and -caused him to be doubly sad; nature was the same, -but many a voice was hushed, and many a familiar -face was gone for ever. -</p> - -<p> -The Trevanion tavern was unchanged even to the -leafy tendrils that clambered over it, shrouding every -inch of wall and roof, and hiding more than the -half of each window; but his old comrade, Jack -Trevanion, whilom drum-major of the Cornish -Light Infantry, who had left a leg in the Punjaub, -and with whom he had smoked many a pipe, by that -same hearth (where he now sat alone), talking of old -times, and of the old regiment, where even their -names were forgotten, was gone to his last home by -Lanteglos church (the burial place of the Trecarrels, -too), and another host occupied Jack's place in the -bar-parlour. -</p> - -<p> -Old Mike Treherne and Winny Braddon had -quitted their native place, and gone to Plymouth, -from whence Derrick had travelled thus far on a -pilgrimage to Rhoscadzhel, when his heart began -utterly to fail him. -</p> - -<p> -From his sister Winny, the old nurse of Sybil, he -had heard, with honest indignation, the details of -that futile and remarkable visit paid to Rhoscadzhel, -and how Downie Trevelyan had treated their now -dead mistress. He was told, too, of her hapless -lawsuit, marred, as it was believed, by the low -practitioner, who, to gain some notoriety, had thrust -himself unasked into the case. But he could only -further learn "that Master Denzil was somewhere -far away in the Ingies," and that Miss Sybil, the -sweet-voiced and gentle-eyed Sybil, who had slept -in her bosom in infancy, and whom she had seen -develope into a lovely young woman, had, after -seeking in vain to sell her drawings, gone penniless -to London, after which she could hear of her no -more. -</p> - -<p> -"Gone to London?" repeated Braddon, with a -groan; "and penniless, too!" -</p> - -<p> -He knew that amid the human tide of that mighty -Babylon she might be lost as surely as if she were -among the waves of the ocean; and then, as the old -soldier thought of his proud dead master, and how -he had loved that little daughter, he sighed again -bitterly. -</p> - -<p> -From the breast-pocket of his well-worn pea-jacket -(Derrick was attired somewhat like a sailor) -he drew forth a rusted and battered tin case. It -was thin and flat in form, and he surveyed it long -and silently. Then he opened the lid, as if he -was often in the habit of doing so, mechanically and -as if to assure himself that the contents were safe; -and he was, perhaps, about to draw them forth -for inspection, when a sound startled him, and he -hastily consigned the case to its keeping-place, just -as the landlord ushered in a man, who was dripping -with rain, and whose personal appearance, the -soaking of his somewhat seedy habiliments had by -no means improved. -</p> - -<p> -Derrick courteously made way for the stranger, -who ordered some "gin and water hot," and after -desiring the landlord to let him know when the -"first return fly," by which he meant a brougham, -passed for some town that he named, he proceeded -to drink Braddon's health, and to dry his shabby -black garments by the rotary process of turning, as -if in a roasting-jack before the fire, raising the limp -tails of his coat from time to time over his long and -awkward-looking arms and lean bony hands. -</p> - -<p> -"A wet night, sir," said he. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; but I have seen a wetter," replied -Braddon. -</p> - -<p> -"The dooce you have!" -</p> - -<p> -"Aye, at sea; on a night when I was precious -near having a cold water cure for all my sufferings." -</p> - -<p> -"How?" -</p> - -<p> -"By being drowned." -</p> - -<p> -"Your fate is perhaps a drier one. You are, I -suppose, a seafaring man?" -</p> - -<p> -"I am an old soldier, and have served in the -Cornish Light Infantry, as boy and man, for -one-and-twenty years, and have earned my shilling a -day from the Queen, God bless her! so don't crack -your stale joke on me," said Derrick grimly and -emphatically, as he surveyed the new-comer, whose -face, somehow, seemed not unfamiliar to him. -</p> - -<p> -He was attired in clothes a world too wide for -him; the collar of his coat rested on the nape of -his neck, and its sleeve cuffs fell well nigh over his -fingers; the legs of his trousers flapped loosely -over his broken boots, and the tall shiny hat which -he had deposited on the deal table, after carefully -wiping it with a coloured handkerchief, had evidently -seen better days upon another and perhaps honester -head. His brow was low and narrow; the frontal -bones projecting over keen eyes of a nondescript -colour, and a mean turned-up nose. Mistrust, -acuteness, suspicion and avarice, were the leading -expressions of his face, which would have horrified -a disciple of Lavater; yet, in the tone of his voice, -and in his manner, there was an affectation of -deferential suavity, as if he sought to win rather -than to repel a confidence that few, unless very -simple indeed, would accord to one with lips so thin -and cruel, and whose ears, like those of a cat, were -nearly on the line of his pericranium, which was -covered by a few wisps of thin, grey, and -dead-looking hair. Yet this ugly personage has been -described to the reader before. -</p> - -<p> -Perceiving that his jest had not been appreciated -by the veteran, he resumed the conversation in a -different style. -</p> - -<p> -"Know these parts?" said he, drinking his -gin-and-water, and fixing his eyes furtively on -Derrick. -</p> - -<p> -"Think I should," was the curt response. -</p> - -<p> -"Ah"— -</p> - -<p> -There was a pause; then the other said,— -</p> - -<p> -"Many hereabout will be surprised to hear of old -Derrick Braddon coming to earth again." -</p> - -<p> -The shabby stranger started, and the iris of his -cunning eyes dilated and shrunk again in a -somewhat feline fashion, as he asked eagerly,— -</p> - -<p> -"What! were you the groom to Captain Devereaux -who—well, occasionally—lived at Porthellick?" -</p> - -<p> -"To the Right Honorable Lord Lamorna, if it is -all the same to you," replied Derrick, stiffly. -</p> - -<p> -"It is quite the same. What on earth is up! -Is the sky about to rain larks, eh?" -</p> - -<p> -"It is pouring a torrent anyhow, at this -moment," was the dry response, as a fresh gust -without clashed the leaves against the -window-panes, and the cry of the red-legged Cornish -chough, driven from his eyrie in the cliffs, was -heard on the passing tempest. -</p> - -<p> -"Where have you been all this time—nearly nine -months, now?" -</p> - -<p> -"That is too long a story to tell a stranger." -</p> - -<p> -"And where is your master?" -</p> - -<p> -"In his grave, God rest him!—in his grave, if the -great sea can be called so." -</p> - -<p> -"How long have you been in England?" -</p> - -<p> -"Three weeks." -</p> - -<p> -"And in Cornwall?" -</p> - -<p> -"I have just arrived." -</p> - -<p> -"Then you may not have heard of me, William -Schotten Sharkley, solicitor, who acted as your -mistress's agent in her case which failed for want -of legal or documentary proofs. I did all that I -could to befriend her—" -</p> - -<p> -"And pocketed her last shilling, as I have heard." -</p> - -<p> -"Law is an expensive amusement, and lawyers -must be paid. I did my best." -</p> - -<p> -"For that I thank you, Lawyer Sharkley," replied -Braddon, taking in his hard honest hand the damp, -unwholesome fingers of the solicitor, adding -somewhat awkwardly, "if you have a bad name, perhaps -you can't help it." -</p> - -<p> -Mr. William S. Sharkley's face darkened, and his -eyes dilated and shrunk, but he was too craven in -spirit to manifest the least annoyance. -</p> - -<p> -"And it was through the lack of certain papers," -resumed Braddon, "that my lady's case was lost, -and her heart broken?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; the doubtful letter she produced referred -to a certificate of marriage and a will in favour of -her and her two children; but these documents, if -they ever existed, no doubt perished with the -captain, your master." -</p> - -<p> -"They did not, as they are here—<i>here</i>—in the -pocket of my old coat, Master Sharkley; so it is of -more value than it looks, for it contains a peerage -and an estate," replied Braddon, with gleaming -eyes, as he slapped his breast emphatically. -</p> - -<p> -For a moment Sharkley sat silent and bewildered, -for the energy and perfect confidence of the -speaker could not fail to impress him. Then -he said,— -</p> - -<p> -"You of course mean to turn them to account -somehow?" -</p> - -<p> -"When the right time comes." -</p> - -<p> -"And to show them—" -</p> - -<p> -"To the right man when <i>he</i> comes." -</p> - -<p> -"And who, and where is he?" -</p> - -<p> -"Young Denzil Trevelyan—Lord Lamorna—now -in India, with the old Regiment. Could I but get -there—there to the young master—" continued -old Derrick with fervour; "but I might as well wish -myself in the moon; for I am a poor friendless old -fellow. One thing, Master Sharkley, I sha'n't trust -the papers with you." -</p> - -<p> -Sharkley was silent again; Braddon's mistrust of -him was open and unconcealed, and he saw but one -way of obtaining a sight of papers so important, -and that was by exciting his indignation by a -sneer. -</p> - -<p> -"Ah—the lady at the villa was very much -attached to your master—very handsome, and I -doubt not—" -</p> - -<p> -"What more?" -</p> - -<p> -"Very expensive, as these kind of folks usually are." -</p> - -<p> -"What do you mean, sir?" asked Braddon, sternly. -</p> - -<p> -"I mean what my words imply; she could not -prove herself a wedded wife, so her case had -not a leg to stand on; yet I was her friend and -adviser." -</p> - -<p> -"You think thus ill of her, and yet thrust -yourself into her case." -</p> - -<p> -"My dear sir, I am a lawyer, and lawyers must -feed." -</p> - -<p> -"Which is too often feeding what ought to be -hung," replied Braddon, with all a soldier's contempt -for the other's cloth. -</p> - -<p> -"I repeat that I was her friend," urged Sharkley. -</p> - -<p> -"God keep us from such friends, if all I have -been told is true." -</p> - -<p> -"But giving a mere sight of those papers can do -you no harm." -</p> - -<p> -"And you small good; however, see them you -shall," replied Braddon, with something of grim -triumph, as he drew them from the before-mentioned -tin case. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap27"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER XXVII. -<br /><br /> -THE LOST STEAMER. -</h3> - -<p> -The first document which Derrick produced and -spread upon the table was the Père Latour's certificate -of the marriage; the second was an undoubted -will, duly stamped and signed, wherein the testator, -Richard Pencarrow Trevelyan, Lord Lamorna, of -Rhoscadzhel, in the Duchy of Cornwall, left all he -possessed to Constance Devereaux, his wife, for the -term of her life, and after her death to their two -children absolutely. -</p> - -<p> -The cunning and avaricious eyes of Sharkley -seemed to devour the documents, and his trembling -fingers indicated the eagerness of his heart to possess -them, as he saw that beyond all uncertainty they were -genuine, authentic, and of vast legal value to the -son and daughter of his late unhappy client; nor -were they of less worth to their opponent, if their -existence could be terminated, <i>ere it was known</i>. -Here was a means of triumph over the Messrs. Gorbelly -and Culverhole—the solicitors of Downie -Trevelyan, the present titular lord—who, as more -respectable practitioners than Sharkley, had ever -treated him with undisguised contempt. -</p> - -<p> -Frequently his long lean fingers approached the -papers, which were faded and yellow in aspect, -having been stained by saltwater in the shipwreck; -but Derrick Braddon, aware of the man he had to -deal with, had taken from his pocket a large clasp -knife, with which he usually cut his tobacco, and -which had been of much and varied service to him -in his recent wanderings; and with the point of this -suggestive instrument he indicated the dates and so -forth, while its production seemed to hint that any -attempt to appropriate either the certificate or the -will might be attended by an unpleasant sequel; for -old as he was, Braddon would have given a stronger -antagonist than the village lawyer "a Cornish hug," -that might have been little to his taste. -</p> - -<p> -When Sharkley had perused the papers which he -was not permitted to touch, Braddon deliberately -replaced them in their case and carefully stowed the -latter in his inner pocket, the cat-like eyes of the -attorney watching all his motions, while a kind of -sigh seemed to escape him. He drained his gin and -water to the last drop and then said,— -</p> - -<p> -"No doubt, Mr. Braddon, these papers are of -great value; but what do you mean to do with them?" -</p> - -<p> -"Keep them for young Denzil. Once they are -safe in his hands, he'll march in and take possession -with colours flying." -</p> - -<p> -Sharkley smiled at the old soldier's idea of the -mode of succeeding to a title and heritage; but, as -the storm had not yet passed away, and no "return -fly" had yet been announced, he resolved to improve -the occasion, by worming himself into Derrick's -confidence, and drawing all the information from him -that he could win. -</p> - -<p> -"But if your master was drowned, as you say he -was, how came these important documents into your -possession?" -</p> - -<p> -"Drowned as <i>I say</i> he was! Do you doubt me?" -</p> - -<p> -"Nay, nay; you misunderstand." -</p> - -<p> -"Well, you shall hear all about it. Have another -drain of gin and I shall have one more pot of ale; I -have not tasted such good old English tipple for -many a day." -</p> - -<p> -Then, after a little pause, Derrick began his -narrative, which we shall give in our own words rather -than his. The accounts of the wreck which Constance -had read in the public prints, were scarcely a -correct version of the catastrophe in all its details. -</p> - -<p> -The ocean steamer <i>Admiral</i> had not been more -than four days' sail from the mouth of the River -St. Lawrence, when her engines broke down; thus she -was forced to continue the voyage under canvas, -and being but ill calculated for sailing purposes, -while endeavouring to beat against a continual head -wind, she was driven so far south out of her direct -course, as to be somewhere within seventy miles of -Corvo, the most northern isle of the Azores, when -she should have been breasting the waves of the -British Channel. -</p> - -<p> -When she had been three weeks at sea, the wind -one night became a gale, and from a gale it freshened -to a regular tempest; and most of her crew, not -being seamen, but such as are usually bred in -coasting steamers, handled her extremely ill. Much -of her canvas was split, rent to ribbons, or blown -out of the bolt ropes; and thus, by the time three -bells in the middle watch were struck, the wind was -howling through her bare rigging, for there was -nothing left upon her save a staysail and trysail, by -the aid of which four men at the wheel strove to -steer her under direction of the quarter-master. -</p> - -<p> -Apprehending no danger, Richard Trevelyan was -quietly seated in the cabin, endeavouring to write -up his diary, by the light of a single lamp, which -swung madly to and fro from a beam overhead; his -desk was open, but was secured to the table, for -every loose thing in the cabin was flying from port -to starboard and back again, as the vessel lurched -and rolled. Derrick was standing, rather swaying -to and fro behind his master's chair, as they -conferred together concerning the exact date of some -incident which he wished to record, and while -conversing they heard a crash on deck, as the staysail -sheet snapped in the fierce gust; and as the ship -broached to, that is, was taken aback on the weather -side, the seas flew in wild foam, and in fierce -succession over her, from stem to stern. Then was -heard the voice of the mate in charge of the watch, -shouting to, "haul down the staysail, and bend on -the sheet anew." -</p> - -<p> -Ere this could be done, a wave some twenty feet -in height took the crippled steamer right on her -broadside, and tore away the boats, the entire -bulwark, four signal guns, and half the crew, washing -by a mighty volume of water, and at one fell sweep, -all and everything overboard into the black and -seething sea! -</p> - -<p> -With an astounding crash, the funnel and mizenmast -went next by the board; but the lower portion -of the mainmast remained, with all its top-hamper -hanging about it. The last lamp in the cabin went -out; but not before Richard Trevelyan, who never -lost his presence of mind, had secured the two -documents in question, placed them in an inner -breast-pocket of his coat, and calling on Derrick to -follow him, went on deck, where a terrible and -unexpected scene presented itself, in the aspect of the -ship, changed now to a total wreck. -</p> - -<p> -They had barely staggered along the slippery -main-deck, so far as where the stump of the -mainmast yet held on, when another wave, its mighty -head cresting and curling with foam, that seemed all -the whiter amid the blackness of the night, burst over -the doomed ship. -</p> - -<p> -"Hold on, my lord," cried Derrick, "for the love -of Heaven, hold on!" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes—and for the love of my poor wife," added -Richard, as they simultaneously grasped some of the -belaying pins at the base of the mast, and as soon as -the mountain of bitter water passed away to leeward -leaving them drenched and half-blinded, a more fearful -sight was visible by the pale light of the stars. -</p> - -<p> -The entire poop, from which they had just issued, -had been torn away from the ship; the wheel, with -its four men, the skylights, the upper deck, and all -that was in the cabin below, were gone, and all was -ruin, and all was silence there save the seething of the -angry sea. Some twenty of the passengers and crew -were still clustered on the forecastle, seeking shelter -between the bunks and windlass; but water was -pouring fast into the ship, and as a portion of her -deck was beginning to break up, Richard, who was -powerful and brave as most men, grasped his -faithful servant by the arm, and was assisting him -towards this temporary and comfortless bourne, -when some of the planking parted below him, and -he was suddenly enclosed nearly to the waist, in the -jarring woodwork. Then a double shriek escaped -him, for both his thighs were broken, and he was -so peculiarly jammed among the wreckage, that at -that particular time no human power could either -aid or save him. -</p> - -<p> -Derrick could only remain near him, helpless, -bewildered, and uttering exclamations of commiseration, -which mingled with Richard's groans, the -hiss of the sea, the roaring of the wind, and the -piteous ejaculations of the passengers. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, Derrick, what a wretched thing I am now," -said he, through his clenched teeth, "and what a -proud, hale man I was some five minutes ago! Well, -well, a six pound shot might have done as much for -me elsewhere; but Derrick, God and myself alone -know the agony—the awful agony I am enduring. -Would to Heaven it were all over—even though I -shall never see <i>them</i> more—Constance—Constance, -and the children!" he added, while nearly gnawing -through his nether lip, in the intensity of his pain -and despair. -</p> - -<p> -He made more than one frantic effort to wrench -his crushed limbs, and torn and bleeding flesh out of -the sudden and terrible trap into which he had fallen; -but all such attempts were hopeless and futile, and -he would pause exhausted and as pale as a corpse, -with the perspiration wrung by agony, mingling with -the spray on his temples. That he must soon be -drowned, or die in an ecstasy of suffering was but too -evident. -</p> - -<p> -"I have often thought to die, Derrick," said he, in -a husky voice, "and knew that the day and hour must -come to me as they come to all; but I never thought -to die thus. Blessed be God, that she knows -nothing of it! Do you hear me, Braddon, my old -comrade?" -</p> - -<p> -And the servant wept as his master wrung his -hand, and in weaker accents urged him to take -possession of the two documents which were of such -value to the family, and to preserve them even as he -would his own life; and with tears in his -eyes—tears that mingled with the wind-swept -foam—Derrick promised to do so; and every minute -Richard Trevelyan's once powerful and athletic -frame grew weaker and weaker. Some of the arteries -of his limbs had been torn as well as the ligaments, -and he was evidently bleeding to death in his -half-crushed situation. -</p> - -<p> -Amid their own sufferings and danger, his dying -words and prayers were unheeded by the pale and -drenched wretches who clung close by to the windlass -and forecastle ring-bolts; but terribly his sinking -accents fell on the tympanum of Derrick's listening -ear. His whole soul seemed as if filled by the idea -of those he should never see again. -</p> - -<p> -His last utterances were all about Sybil, Denzil, -and their mother; he imagined himself to see them, -to be speaking to them, to hear their voices, and to -feel their kisses on his sodden face, over which the -sea washed ever and anon; and thus, happy it -might be in his delirium, he passed away, and when -more of the wreck broke up, the body dropped -quietly into the sea, and was swept away in the -trough to leeward, just as the grey dawn began to -steal in, and the wind and waves to go down -together, as if their object had been accomplished in -the destruction of the ill-fated ship. -</p> - -<p> -A boat that was not stove in, but was still dragged -alongside by the fall-tackle, was now properly -lowered. Ten men who survived got on board of -her and shoved off from the wreck. But Derrick, -who, in grief and weakness, had dropped asleep in -the forecastle bunks, was unseen or forgotten by -them in the hurry and selfishness of the moment; -thus when he awoke, the sun was nearly setting, -and he was alone upon the sea, for the boat had -been picked up by one of Her Majesty's steam -vessels, the captain of which duly reported the -circumstance, with the loss of the <i>Admiral</i>, to Lloyds -and the owners in London. -</p> - -<p> -Derrick's reflections on finding himself alone in -the sinking ship were far from soothing. He had -death before him, in its most terrible form, by slow -starvation; and all the horrors he had read or heard -of in shipwrecked men occurred to him with vivid -minutiæ most painful to endure. But he prayed -quite as much that he might be spared to fulfil the -wishes of his master as for the prolongation of his -own humble life, and the honest fellow's supplications -were not uttered in vain, for ere the twilight -came, a vessel bound for Tasmania took him off the -wreck; and now, after long, perilous, and penniless -wanderings, he found himself once more safe in old -England. -</p> - -<p> -Sharkley, who had listened to all this narrative -with deep interest—not that he cared a jot about -the escapes, the sufferings, or the perseverance of -the narrator, but because it formed a necessary -sequence to the other portions of his story, which -related to Montreal—now said,— -</p> - -<p> -"After all you have undergone, you will, -I hope, be careful to whom you show, and -with whom you trust, papers, upon the production -of which, in a proper and legal manner, so -much depends." -</p> - -<p> -"Make yourself perfectly easy on that head," -replied Braddon, winking knowingly, as he refilled -his pipe. -</p> - -<p> -"Lord Lamorna would give a good round sum, I -doubt not—a good round sum, my dear sir, to -possess them." -</p> - -<p> -"I am neither a dear sir, nor a cheap one," -growled Derrick; "if you mean by Lord Lamorna -Master Denzil, the papers are his already by right; -if you mean Downie Trevelyan, they sha'n't be his, -even if he piled up money as high as Bron -Welli. Ah—he had ever an eye to the main -chance." -</p> - -<p> -"And haven't we all?" -</p> - -<p> -"In some ways, perhaps, more or less; but -harkee, comrade, no more hints like that you gave -just now. I had a kind, good master, and was his -faithful servant. I am an old soldier, and know -what honour is, though my coat be a tattered -one." -</p> - -<p> -"Yet, if I have heard aright, you were not -always a soldier," sneered Sharkley, who despised -monetary scruples that were beyond his -comprehension. -</p> - -<p> -"No," replied Braddon, his wrinkled cheek -flushing with anger as he spoke; "I was in my -youth a smuggler, and here in Cornwall ain't -ashamed to say so. I know well the Isles of -Scilly, and every creek and cranny in those whose -inhabitants are only gulls and rabbits; for in -them, as in the Piper's Hole at Tresco, and in -many a place hereby known only to myself now, -have I at the risk of my life by steel and lead, -and storm, run the kegs of Cognac and the -negrohead, that never paid duty to the Crown. -But what of that; I am not a smuggler now, though -I had to bolt for being one! I suppose few will -dispute that you have been a lawyer in heart since -you first saw the light, or learned to steal your -school-mates' apples and nuts, till able to aim at -bigger prizes—eh?" -</p> - -<p> -"Come, don't let us quarrel after so pleasant an -evening, Mr. Braddon," urged Sharkley, deprecatingly. -</p> - -<p> -"I ain't <i>Mister</i> Braddon," said the old soldier, -doggedly; "I am only plain Derrick Braddon, once -full private, and No. 2006 in Captain Trevelyan's -company of the Old Cornish; and now, I think, I -shall turn in." -</p> - -<p> -Sharkley succeeded in talking the veteran into -a better humour again, to throw him off his guard; -but his eyes never wandered from that left breast -pocket where the outline of the tin case was -distinctly visible, impressed on the worn-out, faded -cloth. -</p> - -<p> -As the storm continued, he remained all night at -the Trevanion Arms; and, after assuring himself -that Derrick Braddon had no intention of leaving -the neighbourhood in a hurry, an early hour next -morning saw him spinning along the Cornwall and -Devon Railway, in a corner of a third-class carriage, -<i>en route</i> to Rhoscadzhel. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -END OF VOL. II. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t4"> -BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ONLY AN ENSIGN, VOLUME 2 (OF 3) ***</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. 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