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Gil the Gunner; or, The Youngest Officer in the East, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 51 |
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_ CHAPTER FIFTY ONE. The strange silence that reigned in the palace, the dying out of the fierce glare of the fire, and utter exhaustion, at last weighed down my eyelids, and I dropped into an uneasy sleep, but only to dream about escaping over the roofs with Dost, being captured, and then watching the terrible assault and carrying of the rajah's house. From that I wandered into the meeting with my father, and fancied that I was going with him to Nussoor, where my mother and sister would not recognise me because Brace had been there first and told them I was a miserable renegade who had gone over to the rebels, and slain women and children with a tulwar whose hilt and sheath were covered with jewels. Oh dear, what nonsense one does dream when one's brain gets into a fevered state. I was calling Ny Deen to witness to my perfect innocence, for he was somehow there at Nussoor, when my father suddenly said-- "It is of no use, Gil. You may as well get up." I started awake to see that his grey, worn face was bent down over me, and found that he was holding my hand. "You had better rouse up, and have a bath, lad," he said kindly. "Your sleep is doing you no good." "Oh, what a horrible muddle of a dream," I exclaimed, as I sprang to my feet. "You should have undressed, my lad. You are bathed in perspiration." Dost came in just then with coffee borne by Salaman, and I turned to him directly. "How did you escape?" I cried. "I was beaten down, sahib, and I managed to crawl away. I was not much hurt," he added, with a smile. "I am glad," I cried; and ten minutes later I was out in the court with my father, listening to the arrangements being made; and soon after I was audience to a little council of war in the rajah's principal room, where it was arranged that two strong companies of the other foot regiment should garrison the palace, and hold it while a troop of lancers stayed back to help preserve order in the town. An hour later, they were forming a marching column to go out and give battle to the rajah and his force, which lay, according to spies, ten miles away, holding a patch of forest beyond the swift river which ran from there to this town. "Which will you do, Gil?" said my father; "come with me, or stay with the major who is in command here?" "I want to go back to my troop," I said sharply; and as I spoke, Brace, who had before met me that morning, came in looking very careworn, and with his uniform almost in rags. "Ah, well," said my father; "here is your captain." I hesitated for a moment, and then walked across to Brace, who moved away to one of the windows. "You wish to speak to me, sir?" he said coldly. "Of course I do," I cried passionately; "why are you so ready to condemn me unheard?" "Say what you wish to say; we march in five minutes," he replied. I could not speak, for the hot sensation of indignation which burned within me. "You are silent," he said, with a contemptuous shrug of his shoulders. "Well, I am not surprised. I was making every effort possible, as soon as I heard through spies that you were alive, to rescue you; but when--" "Well, when what?" I said indignantly. "Since you take that tone, sir," he retorted, "when I had the news brought to me that you were perfectly unhurt, and had accepted service with the rajah as his chief officer of artillery, why then of course I gave you up." "Who told you that?" I said hotly. "One of the spies I sent in," he replied coldly. "It was not true." "Not true?" said Brace, bitterly. "Your appearance belies your words, sir. Why, were you not occupying rooms in the rajah's palace?" "Yes; as a prisoner," I said angrily. Brace laughed mockingly. "A prisoner in a newly designed artillery uniform, and wearing a magnificent sword and belts, evidently presented by the rajah, I did not know Ny Deen treated his prisoners so well; I thought he murdered them at once." I tried to speak, but for some moments no words would come, and it was he who spoke first. "Well," he said, "have you anything to say?" "Yes," I said; "I want to come back into the troop. Can I have a horse?" "I have no means of looking after prisoners, sir," he said. "You can only join your troop as a captured rebel against your queen." I turned away, and found myself directly after face to face with Haynes and Doctor Danby; but as I went up, the former turned his back and walked away, while the doctor blew out his cheeks and looked very fierce at me. "Doctor," I said, holding out my hand, but he did not take it. I laughed bitterly, thinking that they would all apologise to me some day. "Brace thinks I have not been wounded," I said, signing to him to accompany me into another room. His whole manner changed in the instant, and he was looking at me with interest. "Eh? wounded?" he cried. "Let's see. Ah, head. Humph! Only a bad crack. Healing all right. Put on your iron pot again, and don't let it fret the place." "Oh yes; that's all right," I said; "but my arm: shall I ever get the full use of it again?" "Arm? Let's see." I removed the loose tunic, and he turned up the delicate silk shirt I wore, to become wrapt at once in the interest of his profession, as he examined the wound carefully. "Brace says you have not been hurt, does he?" cried the doctor. "Tell him to mind his guns, and not talk about what he does not understand. Why, it's a beautiful wound, my dear boy--a splendid cut. A little more draw in the cut, and the budmash who did it would have lopped it clean off. Here, who was your surgeon?" I told him. "Then he is a precious clever fellow, Vincent, and I should like to know him. By George, sir, he has saved your limb. Get back it's use? Oh yes, with care. Why, my dear fellow, I should have been proud of saving an arm like that. Here, let me help you on with your dandy jacket. So you would be Ny Deen's artillery general, eh?" I only gave him a look. "Not right, boy; but I suppose you could not help yourself. There, I must go." We went back into the other room, where Brace, and nearly all the officers, had left. "Father," I said, "Captain Brace will not have me back. Can I come with you as a sort of aide-de-camp?" "Of course. Yes, my boy; but try and keep out of danger." The next minute we were following the column out over the bridge, the head wing already raising a long cloud of dust, the horse artillery rattling away in front, and the lancers off scouting in front, and sending out flankers, to take care that no approach was made on either side of the flying column. By my father's orders, a magnificent horse had been brought from the rajah's stables, and, mounted upon this, though I felt very sore about the treatment I had received, I was getting into excellent spirits; and as I was not to be a gunner, I was quite content to ride on in my dashing uniform, though I saw the cavalry and infantry officers exchange smiles. It was very early yet, and the plain was quite deserted, while the hot sun formed a haze that the eyes could only penetrate to a certain distance. Every one was on the look-out for the shimmering river and the patch of forest beyond, where we knew, from our spies, that the rajah had halted to gather his men together in as strong a position as he could find; and here my father expected that he would hold out while efforts were made to dislodge him from a place where our cavalry would be of no service. They would have to wait until the ranks were driven from among the trees, when the sharp charges of the lancers would scatter them in all directions. At last, river and green woods were in view, both welcome sights, with their promises of shade and bathing, to men parched by the torrid sunshine, and half choked by the dust turned up by elephant, camel, horse, and men's trampling feet. I watched my father's actions with all the interest of a young soldier, and saw how he divided his little force of cavalry, sending them forward, where they would be out of musket shot, but ready to slip like greyhounds on their swift Arab troopers, as soon as the mutineers broke out and tried to flee. Then he sent forward the horse artillery--and how I longed to be with them--and company after company of foot, to act as supports to save the guns from capture; and as soon as the troop had taken up position, we waited for the order to fire to be sent. But it was not despatched, for scores of the lancers came riding in, after galloping by the edge of the forest, to announce that the enemy was not there. The rajah seemed to have shrunk from fighting; and I wondered, as we advanced once more, and saw how strong the position had been, and how easily he could have beaten a force not a fourth of his number. We were not long in finding out the direction he had taken. A miserable-looking peasant announcing the way; and there it was plainly enough. There could be no doubt of it, for the dust was trampled, and plenty of traces lay about, showing that the little army must have been in rather a demoralised state. "Well, we must give him no rest," said my father; and, in spite of the heat, the march was resumed, with halts wherever a village promised water. But, fortunately, a great part of our way was near the river, whose bends offered refreshment to the thirsty horses, camels, and elephants. Then on again till evening, when a halt was called at a good-sized village, once evidently a place of some importance, but now utterly desolate; the lands and gardens around trampled, and the traces of a large body of men having passed quite plain. Here there was nothing for it but to bivouac, and after the customary precautions had been taken, the men were ordered to eat their food quickly, and then lie down and get all the rest they could. The officers off duty followed their example, and I was asleep, too, when the bugle-call roused us in the middle of the cool moonlit night, and about half an hour after, we were all on the march again, a couple of natives having undertaken to act as guides as far as following the trail of the rajah's army was concerned. The consequence was, that by the time the sun began to make its presence felt, we were many miles on our road. "How far shall you follow them?" I heard Brace ask the colonel. "Till I overtake them," said my father, rather coldly. And I could see a determined look in his eyes which made me think of Ny Deen, and something like a hope that he might escape would come into my mind. On again, after a brief halt for refreshment, and about an hour before midday advantage was taken of a great mango tope for another halt; but as soon as the sun began to decline we were off again, with the track plain before us. Ah, it is slow work marching under a hot Indian sun; but no one complained, tramping steadily on with scouts well out in front, till it was dark, when there was another rest till midnight; and on again in the cool moonlight, with the men on the gun-limbers asleep, and those mounted nodding and swaying in their saddles, as if ready to come down. But no one fell, and the march seemed to me part of some strange dream, till the stars paled, and the orange sun came up, growing hotter and hotter, till we were all anxiously looking out for our next halting-place, and wondering how many more days must elapse before we should overtake Ny Deen. It was sooner than we expected, for somewhere about nine o'clock there was a little excitement on in front. There was a cloud of dust, and another, and a few minutes after we could see a native horseman, sword in hand, and with his round shield banging against his shoulders, where it was hung from his neck. He was splendidly mounted, and appeared to be galloping for his life to escape from half a dozen of our lancers, the scouts, who had evidently cut him off and turned him in our direction. He came straight for us, turning neither to the right nor the left, though there was plenty of room; and as he came nearer, we could see that his horse was sadly blown, so that it appeared as if the rider would be overtaken, and run through by the men in chase. "The fools! They must make him a prisoner. You, Gil, you are well-mounted, gallop out, and call to him to surrender. We may gain valuable information. Take care, and--" So spoke my father, and before he had finished, I was off at a gallop, glad of the excitement. I was only just in time, for one too-enthusiastic lancer was closing up, and would have given point had I not struck his lance aside and seized the sowar's rein. "Surrender!" I shouted in Hindustani, and I pointed my sword at the blackened, dust-grimed fellow's throat. "Surrender! Yes, of course," he panted. "Take me to an English officer. I am an Englishman." "Don't you believe the treacherous dog, sir," cried the foremost lancer. "He tried that on with us." "Yes, you thick-headed idiot," panted my prisoner angrily. "This is only a disguise. I know where the niggers are, if you want to kill some one." I looked at him in wonder. "Why are you like this?" I said. "I have brought a message from Nussoor." "Where?" I cried excitedly. "Nussoor. Who is in command here?" "Colonel Vincent," I said. "Thank Heaven!" he cried; and he reeled in his saddle, but recovered directly. "I'm beaten," he said. "A terrible long round to avoid the enemy. I had to go out the other side. It was a forlorn hope." By this time my father and several officers had ridden up, and I exclaimed excitedly-- "This is a messenger from Nussoor." "Yes," said my prisoner. "I was obliged to assume this disguise. Colonel Vincent, don't you know me?" "Brooke! Ah, my dear fellow, what news?" "Bad; terrible. We were at the end nearly of our ammunition. Closely invested for many days past. People fighting like heroes; but they can hold out no longer. And, to make matters worse, that fiend, Ny Deen, is advancing on the place with a powerful force. I was nearly taken by his men." "How far is Nussoor from here?" said my father hoarsely. "About fourteen miles, I should say." "Then that is where he has been making for," muttered my father. "And I not to know that it was so near." It was all plain enough now. Knowing from spies that Nussoor was weakly guarded, and having lost his own city, Ny Deen was hurrying on to seize and entrench himself in another; one which would form a centre where his adherents might flee. Just then I caught my father's eyes, and saw in them a terrible look of agony, which made me think of the horrors which had been perpetrated at these places where the mutineers had gained the upper hand. It had been horrible enough in the past; but now the rajah's men were smarting from a sharp defeat. And I felt that they would make fierce reprisals on the hard-pressed garrison, all of whom would certainly be put to the sword. _ |
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