In Times of Peril: A Tale of India

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XVII.

  OUT OF LUCKNOW.

  One hundred yards or so after starting the disguised fakir and his bearentered a locality teeming with troops, quartered there in order to beclose at hand to the batteries, to assist to repel sorties, or to joinin attacks. Fortunately the night was very dark, and the exceedinglyawkward and unnatural walk of the bear passed unseen. Over and overagain they were challenged and shouted to, but the hoarse "Hoo-Hac,"which is the cry of the fakirs, and the ring of the iron-bound staffwith its clanking rings on the ground, were a sufficient pass.

  Ned guessed, from the fact of their having been met with so close tothe fort, that the fakir and his bear would be well known to themutineers; and this proved to be the case.

  Several of the men addressed him, but he waved his arm, shook his headangrily, and strode on; and as fakirs frequently pretend to be absorbedin thought, and unwilling to converse, the soldiers fell back. Beyondthis, the streets were deserted. The most populous native quarter layfar away, and few of the inhabitants, save of the lowest classes, caredto be about the streets after nightfall.

  The instant that they were in a quiet quarter Dick rose on to his feet.

  "My goodness," he whispered to Ned, "that all-fours' work is enough tobreak one's back, Ned."

  They now struck sharply to the left, presently crossed the wide streetleading from the Cawnpore Bridge, and kept on through quiet lanes untilthey came to the canal. This would be the guide they wanted, and theyfollowed it along, taking nearly the route which General Havelockafterward followed in his advance, until they came to a bridge acrossthe canal. Once over, they were, they knew, fairly safe. They kept onat a rapid walk until well in the country, and then sat down by theroadside for a consultation as to their best course of proceeding. Thelads were both of opinion that the dangers which would lie in the wayof their reaching Cawnpore would be very great. This road was nowoccupied by great numbers of troops, determined to bar the way toLucknow against General Havelock. They had advanced without question,because it was natural that Sepoys should be making their way fromCawnpore to Lucknow; but it would not be at all natural that a fakirshould at this time be going in the opposite direction. Moreover--andthis weighed very strongly with them--they knew that General Havelockwould advance with a force wholly inadequate to the task before him;and they thought that even should he succeed in getting into Lucknow,he would be wholly unable to get out again, hampered, as he would be,with sick, wounded, women, and children. In that case he would have tocontinue to hold Lucknow until a fresh relieving force arrived, and thelads had already had more than enough of the confinement and horrors ofa siege such as that of Cawnpore.

  Animated by these considerations, they determined to push to Delhi,where they hoped that they might arrive in time to see the end of thesiege, at whose commencement they had been present.

  No suspicion would be likely to be excited by their passage throughthat line of country, which, indeed, would be found altogether denudedof the enemy's troops, for all the regiments that had mutinied alongthis line had marched off, either to Delhi or Lucknow, and the countrywas in the hands of the zemindars, who would neither suspect nor molesta wandering fakir. It certainly was unusual for a fakir to beaccompanied by a bear, but as the fakir they had killed had a bear withhim, it was clearly by no means impossible. Dick protested that it wasabsolutely essential that they should walk at night, for that he wouldbe detected at once in the day.

  "I vote that we walk all night, Ned, and make our thirty-five or fortymiles, then turn in, hide up all day. In the evening when it gets quitedusk, we can go into the outskirts of a village. Then you will begin toshout, and I will lie down, as if tired, by you. They will bring youlots of grub, under the idea that you will give them charms, and so on,next day. When the village is asleep, we will go on. You can easily askfor cloth--I am sure your rags are wretched enough--and then I candress at night, after setting out from each village, in native dress,for it would be awful to walk far in this skin; besides, my feet are asuncomfortable as possible."

  This plan was agreed upon, and they struck across country for the mainDelhi road, Dick slipping out of his bear's skin, and simply wearing itwrapped loosely round him.

  The Warreners had been accustomed to such incessant labor at Lucknowthat they had no difficulty in keeping going all night. As day wasbreaking they retired into a tope of trees and threw themselves down,Dick first taking the precaution to get into the bear's skin and laceit up, in case of surprise. It was of course hot, but at least it keptoff flies and other insects; and as it was quite loose for him, it wasnot so hot as it would have been had it fitted more tightly. The ladswere both utterly fatigued, and in a very few minutes were fast asleep.

  It was late in the afternoon before they awoke, and although extremelyhungry, they were forced to wait until it became dusk before proceedingon their way.

  At the first village at which they arrived they sat down near the firsthouse, and Ned began to strike his staff to the ground and to shout"Hoo-Hac" with great vehemence. Although the population were for themost part Mussulmen, there were many Hindoos everywhere scatteredabout, and these at once came out and formed a ring round the holy man.Some bore torches, and Dick played his part by sitting up and rockinguneasily, in the manner of a bear, and then lying down andhalf-covering his face with his paw, went apparently to sleep.

  "The servant of Siva is hungry," Ned said, "and would eat. He wantscloth;" and he pointed to the rags which scarce held together over hisshoulder. Supplies of parched grain and of baked cakes were broughthim, and a woman carried up a sick child and a length of cloth. Nedpassed his hand over the child's face, and by that and the heat of herhand judged that she had fever. First, after the manner of a truefakir, he mumbled some sentence which no one could understand. Then insilence he breathed a sincere prayer that the child might be restoredto health. After this he bade the mother give her cooling drinks madeof rice water and acid fruit, to keep her cool, and to damp her handsand face from time to time; and then he signified by a wave of his handthat he would be alone.

  The villagers all retired, and the lads made a hearty meal; then takingwhat remained of the food, they started on their night's journey,pausing in a short time for Dick to get out of his skin, and to wraphimself from head to foot in the dark blue cotton cloth that the womanhad given.

  "I felt like an impostor, getting that cloth under false pretenses,Dick."

  "Oh, nonsense," Dick said. "The woman gave it for what the fakir coulddo, and I am sure your advice was better than the fakir would havegiven, so she is no loser. If ever we come on one of these sort oftrips again we will bring some quinine and some strong pills, and thenwe really may do some good."

  Dick took no pains about coloring his face or hands, for both wereburned so brown with exposure to the sun that he had no fear that acasual glance at them at night, even in torchlight, would detect thathe was not a native.

  "Now, Ned, I promised to stop for twenty-four hours, if you liked, tosoak that head of hair in a pond; what do you say?"

  "No," Ned said; "it is terribly filthy, but we will waste no time.To-morrow, when we halt, we will try and make an oven and bake it. Iwill try to-morrow to get a fresh cloth for myself, and throw thesehorrible rags away. Even a fakir must have a new cloth sometimes."

  They made a very long march that night; and had the next evening asuccess equal to that of the night before. Another long night-trampfollowed, and on getting up at the end of the day's sleep Ned collectedsome dry sticks and lit a fire. Then he made a hole in the ground, andfilled it with glowing embers. When the embers were just extinct hecleared them out, took off his wig, rolled it up, and put it into thehot oven he had thus prepared, and covered the top in with a sod. Thencarefully looking to see that no natives were in sight, he threw awayhis old rags, and Dick and he enjoyed a dip in a small irrigation tankclose to the wood. After this Ned again smeared himself over with mud,and sat down in the sun to dry. Then he dressed himself in the cloththat
had been given him the night before, opened his oven, took out thewig, gave it a good shake, and put it on, saying, "Thank God, I feelclean again; I have had the horrors for the last three days, Dick."

  In the three nights' journey the boys had traveled a hundred and elevenmiles, and were now close to Ferruckabad, a town of considerable size.They pursued their usual tactics--entered it after dusk, and sat downnear the outskirts. The signal calls were answered as before, and anumber of the faithful gathered round with their simple offerings offood.

  As they began stating their grievances, Ned as usual warned them offwith a brief "to-morrow" when he saw outside the group of Hindoos twoor three Mussulman troopers.

  These moved closely up, and contemplated the wild-looking fakir, withhis tangled hair and his eyes peering out through the tangle. One ofthem looked at the bear for some time attentively, and then said:

  "That is no bear; it is a man in a bear's skin."

  Ned had feared that the discovery might be made, and had from the firsthad his answer ready.

  "Fool," he said in a loud, harsh voice, "who with his eyes in his headsupposed that it was a bear? It is one who has sinned and is under avow. Dogs like you know naught of these things, but the followers ofSiva know."

  "Do you call me a dog?" said the Mussulman angrily, and strode forwardas if to strike; but Ned leaped to his feet, and twirling his staffround his head, brought it down with such force on the soldier's wristthat it nearly broke the arm. The Hindoos began to shout "Sacrilege!"as the Mussulman drew his pistol. Before he could fire, however, hiscomrades threw themselves upon him. At this time it was the policy ofHindoos and Mussulmans alike to drop all religious differences, and thetroopers knew that any assault upon a holy fakir would excite tomadness the Hindoo population.

  The furious Mohammedan was therefore dragged away by his fellows, andNed calmly resumed his seat. The Hindoos brought a fresh supply of foodfor the holy man expiating his sin in so strange a way, and then leftthe fakir to his meditation and his rest.

  Half an hour later the Warreners were on their way, and before morningcongratulated themselves upon having done more than half of the twohundred and eighty miles which separate Lucknow from Delhi. Theremaining distance took them, however, much longer than the first parthad done, for Dick cut his foot badly against a stone the next night,and was so lamed that the night journeys had to be greatly shortened.Instead, therefore, of arriving in eight days, as they had hoped, itwas the 3d of September--that is, thirteen days from theirstart--before they saw in the distance the British flag flying on thewatch tower on the Ridge. They had made a long detour, and came in atthe rear of the British position. On this side the country wasperfectly open, and the villagers brought in eggs and other produce tothe camp.

  Upon the 25th of August the enemy had sent a force of six thousand mento intercept the heavy siege train which was on its way to the Britishcamp from the Punjaub. Brigadier-General Nicholson, one of the mostgallant and promising officers of the British army, was sent outagainst them with a force of two thousand men, of which only one-fourthwere British. He met them at Nujufghur and routed them, capturing alltheir guns, thirteen in number. A curious instance here occurred of themanner in which the least courageous men will fight when driven to bay.The army of six thousand men had made so poor a fight that the Britishloss in killed and wounded amounted to only thirty-three men. After itwas over it was found that a party of some twenty rebels had takenshelter in a house in a village in the British rear. The Punjaubinfantry was sent to drive them out, but its commanding officer andmany of its men were killed by the desperate handful of mutineers. TheSixty-first Queen's was then ordered up, but the enemy was notoverpowered until another officer was dangerously wounded and many hadfallen. Altogether the victory over this little band of men cost ussixteen killed and forty-six wounded--that is to say, double the losswhich had been incurred in defeating six thousand of them in the open.The result of this engagement was that the road in the rear of theBritish camp was perfectly open, and the Warreners experienced nohindrance whatever in approaching the camp.

  Dick had, after crossing the Oude frontier, left his bear's skin behindhim, and adopted the simple costume of a native peasant, the blue clothand a white turban, Ned having begged a piece of white cotton for thepurpose. Traveling only at night, when the natives wrap themselves upvery much, there was little fear of Dick's color being detected; and ashe kept himself well in the background during the short time of anevening when Ned appeared in public, he had passed without attractingany attention whatever.

  The Warreners' hearts leaped within them on beholding, on the afternoonof the 3d of September, a party of British cavalry trotting along theroad, two miles from camp.

  "It is the Guides," Ned said. "We know the officer, Dick. Keep on yourdisguise a minute longer; we shall have some fun."

  Ned accordingly stood in the middle of the road and shouted his"Hoo-Hac!" at the top of his voice.

  "Get out of the way, you old fool," the officer riding at its headsaid, as he drew up his horse on seeing the wild figure, covered withshaggy hair to the waist, twirling his formidable staff.

  Ned stopped a moment. "Not a bit more of an old fool than you areyourself, Tomkins," he said.

  The officer reined his horse back in his astonishment. He had spoken inEnglish unconsciously, and being answered in the same language, andfrom such a figure as this, naturally petrified him.

  "Who on earth are you?" he asked.

  "Ned Warrener; and this is my brother Dick;" and Ned pulled off his wig.

  "By Jove!" the officer said, leaping from his horse; "I am glad to seeyou. Where on earth have you come from? Some one who came up here fromAllahabad had seen some fellow there who had come down from Cawnpore,and he reported that you had gone on into Lucknow in disguise, and thatnews had come you had got safely in."

  "So we did," Ned said; "and as you see, we have got safely out again.We left there on the night of the 20th."

  "And what was the state of things then?" Lieutenant Tomkins asked. "Howlong could they hold out? We know that it will be another three weeksbefore Havelock can hope to get there."

  "Another three weeks!" Ned said. "That is terrible. They were hardpushed indeed when we left; the enemy were driving mines in alldirections; the garrison were getting weaker and weaker every day, andthe men fit for duty were worked to death. It seems next to impossiblethat they could hold out for another four or five weeks from the timewe left them; but if it can be done, they will do it. Do you happen tohave heard of our father?"

  "The man that brought the news about you said he was all right andhearty, and the troop was doing good work in scouring the country roundCawnpore. Now will you ride back and report yourself to GeneralWilson?" So saying, he ordered two of the troopers to dismount and walkback to camp.

  Ned had thrown down the wig when he took it off; but before mountingDick picked it up, rolled it up into a little parcel, and said:

  "It is my first effort in wig-making, and as it has saved our livesI'll keep it as long as I live, as a memento; besides, who knows? itmay be useful again yet."

  Quite an excitement was created in the camp behind the Ridge by thearrival of the Guide cavalry with two Englishmen in native dress, andthe news that they were officers from Lucknow quickly spread.

  The cavalry drew up at their own lines, and then dismounting,Lieutenant Tomkins at once sent an orderly to the general with thenews, while the boys were taken inside a tent, and enjoyed the luxuryof a bath, and a message was sent round to the officers of theregiment, which rapidly resulted in sufficient clothes beingcontributed to allow the boys to make their appearance in the garb ofBritish officers.

  A curry and a cup of coffee were ready for them by the time they weredressed, and these were enjoyed indeed after a fortnight's feeding uponuncooked grain, varied only by an occasional piece of native bread orcake. The hasty meal concluded, they accompanied Lieutenant Tomkins tothe general's tent.

  They were most cordially r
eceived by General Wilson; and omitting alldetails, they gave him an account of their having been cut off during asuccessful sortie from Lucknow, and having made their way to Delhi indisguise. Then they proceeded to describe fully the state of affairs atLucknow, a recital which was at once interesting and important,inasmuch as though several native messengers had got through fromLucknow to General Havelock, as none of them carried letters--for thesewould have insured their death if searched--they had brought simplymessages from General Inglis asking for speedy help, and their storiesas to the existent state of things in the garrison were necessarilyvague and untrustworthy.

  The most satisfactory portion of the boys' statement was, that althoughthe garrison were now on short rations, and that all the comforts, andmany of what are regarded as almost the necessaries of life, wereexhausted, yet that there was plenty of grain in the place to enablethe besieged to exist for some weeks longer.

  "The great fear is that some essential part of the defense may bedestroyed by mines," Ned concluded. "Against open attacks I think thatthe garrison is safe; but the enemy are now devoting themselves so muchto driving mines that however great the care and vigilance of thegarrison, they may not be always able to detect them, or, even if theydo so, to run counter-mines, owing to the numerical weakness of ourforce."

  "Thanks for your description, gentlemen; it throws a great light uponthe state of affairs, and is very valuable. I will at once telegraph a_resume_ of it to the central government and to General Havelock. Thepressing need of aid will no doubt impress the Calcutta authoritieswith the urgent necessity to place General Havelock in a position tomake an advance at the earliest possible moment. He will, of course,communicate to Colonel Warrener the news of your safe arrival here. Youhave gone through a great deal indeed since you left here, while wehave been doing little more than hold our own. However, the tide hasturned now. We have received large reinforcements and our siege train;and I hope that in the course of a fortnight the British flag will onceagain wave over Delhi. In the meantime you will, at any rate for a fewdays, need rest. I will leave you for a day with your friends of theGuides, and will then attach you to one of the divisional staffs. Ihope that you will both dine with me to-day."

  That evening at dinner the Warreners met at the general's table GeneralNicholson, whose chivalrous bravery placed him on a par with Outram,who was called the Bayard of the British army. He was short of staffofficers, and did not wish to weaken the fighting powers of theregiments of his division by drawing officers from them. He thereforeasked General Wilson to attach the Warreners to his personal staff.This request was at once complied with. Their new chief assured themthat for the present he had no occasion for their services, and thatthey were at liberty to do as they pleased until the siege operationsbegan in earnest. The next few days were accordingly spent, as Dicksaid, in eating and talking.

  Every regiment in camp was anxious to hear the tale of the siege ofLucknow, and of the Warreners' personal experience in entering andleaving the besieged Residency; and accordingly they dined, lunched, orbreakfasted by turns with every mess in camp. They were indeed theheroes of the day; and the officers were much pleased at the simplicitywith which these gallant lads told their adventures, and at the entireabsence of any consciousness that they had done anything out of theway. In fact, they rather regarded the whole business as two schoolboysmight regard some adventure in which they had been engaged, Dick, inparticular, regarding all their adventures, with the exception only ofthe sufferings of the garrison of Lucknow, in the light of an "immenselark."

  In the meantime, the troops were working day and night in the trenchesand batteries, under the directions of the engineer officers; and everyheart beat high with satisfaction that, after standing for months onthe defensive, repelling continual attacks of enormously superiornumbers, at last their turn had arrived, and that the day was at handwhen the long-deferred vengeance was to fall upon the bloodstained city.