by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XXI.
While Bathurst was busying himself completing his preparations for theattempt, Rabda came in with her father.
"My lord," she said, "I tremble at the thought of your venturing yourlife. My life is of no importance, and it belongs to you. What I wouldpropose is this. My father will go to Bithoor, and will obtain an orderfrom one of the Nana's officers for a lady of the zenana to visit theprisoners. I will go in veiled, as I was on the day I went there. I willchange garments with the lady, and she can come out veiled, and meet yououtside."
"I would not dream of such a thing, Rabda. You would be killed to acertainty when they discovered the trick. Even if I would consent to thesacrifice, Miss Hannay would not do so. I am deeply grateful to you forproposing it, but it is impossible. You will see that, with the aid ofyour father, I shall succeed."
"I told her that would be your answer, sahib," Rujub said, "but sheinsisted on making the offer."
It was arranged that they were to start at nine o'clock, as it was saferto make the attempt before everything became quiet. Before starting,Rabda was again placed in a trance. In reply to her father's questionsshe said that Mary Hunter was dead, and that Isobel was lying down. Shewas told to tell her that in an hour she was to be at the window next tothe door.
Rujub had found that the men inside the prison were those who had beenemployed as warders at the jail before the troubles began, and he hadprocured for Bathurst a dress similar to that which they wore, whichwas a sort of uniform. He had offered, if the attempt was successful,to conceal Isobel in his house until the troops reached Cawnpore, butBathurst preferred to take her down the country, upon the ground thatevery house might be searched, and that possibly before the Britishentered the town there might be a general sack of the place by the mob,and even if this did not take place there might be desperate house tohouse fighting when the troops arrived. Rujub acknowledged the danger,and said that he and his daughter would accompany them on their way downcountry, as it would greatly lessen their risk if two of the party werereally natives. Bathurst gratefully accepted the offer, as it would makethe journey far more tolerable for Isobel if she had Rabda with her.
She was to wait a short distance from the prison while Bathurst made theattempt, and was left in a clump of bushes two or three hundred yardsaway from the prison. Rujub accompanied Bathurst. They went alongquietly until within fifty yards of the sentry in the rear of thehouse, and then stopped. The man was walking briskly up and down.Rujub stretched out his arms in front of him with the fingers extended.Bathurst, who had taken his place behind him, saw his muscles stiffen,while there was a tremulous motion of his fingers. In a minute or twothe sentry's walk became slower. In a little time it ceased altogether,and he leaned against the wall as if drowsy; then he slid down in asitting position, his musket falling to the ground.
"You can come along now," Rujub said; "he is fast asleep, and there isno fear of his waking. He will sleep till I bid him wake."
They at once moved forward to the wall of the house. Bathurst threw upa knotted rope, to which was attached a large hook, carefully wrapped inflannel to prevent noise. After three or four attempts it caught on theparapet. Bathurst at once climbed up. As soon as he had gained the flatterrace, Rujub followed him; they then pulled up the rope, to the lowerend of which a rope ladder was attached, and fastened this securely;then they went to the inner side of the terrace and looked down ontothe courtyard. Two men were standing at one of the grated windows of theprison room, apparently looking in; six others were seated round a firein the center of the court.
Bathurst was about to turn away when Rujub touched him and pointed tothe two men at the window, and then stretched out his arms towards them.Presently they turned and left the window, and in a leisurely way walkedacross the court and entered a room where a light was burning close tothe grate. For two or three minutes Rujub stood in the same position,then his arms dropped.
"They have gone into the guard room to sleep," he said; "there are twoless to trouble you."
Then he turned towards the group of men by the fire and fixed his gazeupon them. In a short time one of them wrapped himself in his cloth andlay down. In five minutes two others had followed his example. Anotherten minutes passed, and then Rujub turned to Bathurst and said, "Icannot affect the other three; we cannot influence everyone."
"That will do, Rujub, it is my turn now."
After a short search they found stairs leading down from the terrace,and after passing through some empty rooms reached a door opening intothe courtyard.
"Do you stay here, Rujub," Bathurst said. "They will take me for one ofthemselves. If I succeed without noise, I shall come this way; if not,we will go out through the gate, and you had best leave by the way wecame."
The door was standing open, and Bathurst, grasping a heavy tulwar, wentout into the courtyard. Keeping close to the house, he sauntered alonguntil he reached the grated windows of the prison room. Three lamps wereburning within, to enable the guard outside to watch the prisoners. Hepassed the two first windows; at the third a figure was standing. Sheshrank back as Bathurst stopped before it.
"It is I, Miss Hannay--Bathurst. Danger threatens you, and you mustescape at once. Rabda is waiting for you outside. Please go to the doorand stand there until I open it. I have no doubt that I shall succeed,but if anything should go wrong, go and lie down again at once."
Without waiting for an answer, he moved towards the fire.
"Is that you, Ahmed?" one of the warders said. "We all seem sleepy thisevening, there is something in the air; I felt half inclined to go offmyself."
"It is very hot tonight," Bathurst replied.
There was something in his voice unfamiliar to the man, and with anexclamation, "Who is it?" he sprang to his feet. But Bathurst was nowbut three paces away, and with a bound was upon him, bringing the tulwardown with such force upon his head that the man fell lifeless without agroan. The other two leaped up with shouts of "Treachery!" but Bathurstwas upon them, and, aided by the surprise, cut both down after a sharpfight of half a minute. Then he ran to the prison door, turned the keyin the lock, and opened it.
"Come!" he exclaimed, "there is no time to be lost, the guards outsidehave taken the alarm," for, by this time, there was a furious knockingat the gate. "Wrap yourself up in this native robe."
"But the others, Mr. Bathurst, can't you save them too?"
"Impossible," he said. "Even if they got out, they would be overtakenand killed at once. Come!" And taking her hand, he led her to the gate.
"Stand back here so that the gate will open on you," he said. Then heundid the bar, shouting, "Treachery; the prisoners are escaping!"
As he undid the last bolt the gate opened and the soldiers rushed in,firing at random as they did so. Bathurst had stepped behind the gateas it opened, and as the soldiers ran up the yard he took Isobel's hand,and, passing through the gate, ran with her round the building until hereached the spot where Rabda was awaiting them. Half a minute later herfather joined them.
"Let us go at once, there is no time for talking," he said. "We must becautious, the firing will wake the whole quarter;" for by this timeloud shouts were being raised, and men, hearing the muskets fired,were running towards the gate. Taking advantage of the shelter of theshrubbery as much as they could, they hurried on until they issued intothe open country.
"Do you feel strong enough to walk far?" Bathurst asked, speaking forthe first time since they left the gate.
"I think so," she said; "I am not sure whether I am awake or dreaming."
"You are awake, Miss Hannay; you are safe out of that terrible prison."
"I am not sure," the girl said, speaking slowly; "I have been strangesince I went there. I have seemed to hear voices speaking to me, thoughno one was there, and no one else heard them; and I am not sure whetherall this is not fancy now."
"It is reality, Miss Hannay. Take my hand and you will see that itis solid. The voices you heard were similar to those I heard atDee
nnugghur; they were messages I sent you by means of Rujub and hisdaughter."
"I did think of what you told me and about the juggler, but it seemedso strange. I thought that my brain was turning with trouble; it wasbad enough at Deennugghur, but nothing to what it has been since thatdreadful day at Bithoor. There did not seem much hope at Deennugghur.But somehow we all kept up, and, desperate as it seemed, I don't thinkwe ever quite despaired. You see, we all knew each other; besides, noone could give way while the men were fighting and working so hard forus; but at Cawnpore there seemed no hope. There was not one woman therebut had lost husband or father. Most of them were indifferent to life,scarcely ever speaking, and seeming to move in a dream, while otherswith children sat holding them close to them as if they dreaded aseparation at any moment. There were a few who were different, who movedabout and nursed the children and sick, and tried to comfort the others,just as Mrs. Hunter did at Deennugghur. There was no crying and nolamenting. It would have been a relief if anyone had cried, it was thestillness that was so trying; when people talked to each other they didit in a whisper, as they do in a room where someone is lying dead.
"You know Mary Hunter died yesterday? Well, Mrs. Hunter quite put asideher own grief and tried to cheer others. I told her the last message Ireceived, and asked her to go with me if it should be true. She said,'No, Isobel; I don't know whether this message is a dream, or whetherGod has opened a way of escape for you--if so, may He be thanked; butyou must go alone--one might escape where two could not. As for me, Ishall wait here for whatever fate God may send me. My husband andmy children have gone before me. I may do some good among these poorcreatures, and here I shall stay. You are young and full of life, andhave many happy days in store for you. My race is nearly run--even didI wish for life, I would not cumber you and your friends; there will beperils to encounter and fatigues to be undergone. Had not Mary left us Iwould have sent her with you, but God did not will it so. Go, therefore,to the window, dear, as you were told by this message you think you havereceived, but do not be disappointed if no one comes. If it turns outtrue, and there is a chance of escape, take it, dear, and may God bewith you.' As I stood at the window, I could not go at once, as you toldme, to the door; I had to stand there; I saw it all till you turned andran to the door, and then I came to meet you."
"It was a pity you saw it," he said gently.
"Why? Do you think that, after what I have gone through, I was shockedat seeing you kill three of those wretches? Two months ago I suppose Ishould have thought it dreadful, but those two months have changed usaltogether. Think of what we were then and what we are now. There remainonly you, Mrs. Hunter, myself, and your letter said, Mr. Wilson. Is hethe only one?"
"Yes, so far as we know."
"Only we four, and all the others gone--Uncle and Mary and Amy and theDoolans and the dear Doctor, all the children. Why, if the door had beenopen, and I had had a weapon, I would have rushed out to help you kill.I shudder at myself sometimes."
After a pause she went on. "Then none of those in the other boat came toshore, Mr. Bathurst, except Mr. Wilson?"
"I fear not. The other boat sank directly. Wilson told me it was sinkingas he sprang over. You had better not talk any more, Miss Hannay, foryou are out of breath now, and will need all your strength."
"Yes, but tell me why you have taken me away; you said there was greatdanger?"
"Our troops are coming up," he said, "and I had reason to fear that whenthe rebels are defeated the mob may break open the prison."
"They surely could not murder women and children who have done them noharm!"
"There is no saying what they might do, Miss Hannay, but that was thereason why I dared not leave you where you were. I will tell you moreabout it afterwards. Now, please take my arm, we must be miles away fromhere before morning. They will find out then that you have escaped, andwill no doubt scour the country."
They had left the road and were passing through the fields. Isobel'sstrength failed rapidly, as soon as the excitement that had at firstkept her up subsided. Rujub several times urged Bathurst to go faster,but the girl hung more and more heavily on his arm.
"I can't go any farther," she said at last; "it is so long since Iwalked, and I suppose I have got weak. I have tried very hard, but I canscarcely drag my feet along. You had better leave me; you have done allyou could to save me. I thank you so much. Only please leave a pistolwith me. I am not at all afraid of dying, but I will not fall into theirhands again."
"We must carry her, Rujub," Bathurst said; "she is utterly exhausted andworn out, and no wonder. If we could make a sort of stretcher, it wouldbe easy enough."
Rujub took the cloth from his shoulders, and laid it on the ground bythe side of Isobel, who had now sunk down and was lying helpless.
"Lift her onto this, sahib, then we will take the four corners and carryher; it will be no weight."
Bathurst lifted Isobel, in spite of her feeble protest, and laid her onthe cloth.
"I will take the two corners by her head," Bathurst said, "if you willeach take one of the others."
"No, sahib, the weight is all at the head; you take one corner, and Iwill take the other. Rabda can take the two corners at the feet. We canchange about when we like."
Isobel had lost greatly in weight since the siege of Deennugghur began,and she was but a light burden for her three bearers, who started withher at a speed considerably greater than that at which she had walked.
"Which way are you taking us, Rujub?" Bathurst asked presently; "I havelost my bearings altogether."
"I am keeping near the river, sahib. I know the country well. We cannotfollow the road, for there the Rajah's troops and the Sepoys and theOude men are gathered to oppose your people. They will fight tomorrowat Dong, as I told you, but the main body is not far from here. We mustkeep far away from them, and if your people take Dong we can then jointhem if we like. This road keeps near the river all the way, and we arenot likely to meet Sepoys here, as it is by the other road the whitetroops are coming up."
After four hours' walking, Rujub said, "There is a large wood justahead. We will go in there. We are far enough off Cawnpore to be safefrom any parties they may send out to search. If your people takeDong tomorrow, they will have enough to think of in Cawnpore withouttroubling about an escaped prisoner. Besides," he added, "if the Rajah'sorders are carried out, at daybreak they will not know that a prisonerhas escaped; they will not trouble to count."
"I cannot believe it possible they will carry out such a butchery,Rujub."
"We shall see, sahib. I did not tell you all I knew lest we should failto carry off the lady, but I know the orders that have been given. Wordhas been sent round to the butchers of the town, and tomorrow morningsoon after daybreak it will be done."
Bathurst gave an exclamation of horror, for until now he had hardlybelieved it was possible that even Nana Sahib could perpetrate soatrocious a massacre. Not another word was spoken until they entered thewood.
"Where is the river, Rujub?"
"A few hundred yards to the left, sahib; the road is half a mile to theright. We shall be quite safe here."
They made their way for some little distance into the wood, and thenlaid down their burden.
They had taken to the spot where Rabda remained when the others wentforward towards the prison a basket containing food and three bottles ofwine, and this Rujub had carried since they started together. As soon asthe hammock was lowered to the ground, Isobel moved and sat up.
"I am rested now. Oh, how good you have all been! I was just going totell you that I could walk again. I am quite ready to go on now."
"We are going to halt here till tomorrow evening, Miss Hannay; Rujubthinks we are quite beyond any risk of pursuit now. You must firsteat and drink something, and then sleep as long as you can. Rabda hasbrought a native dress for you and dye for staining your skin, but thereis no occasion for doing that till tomorrow; the river is only a shortdistance away, and in the morning you will be able to
enjoy a wash."
The neck was knocked off a bottle. Rabda had brought in the basket asmall silver cup, and Isobel, after drinking some wine and eating a fewmouthfuls of food, lay down by her and was soon fast asleep. Bathurstate a much more hearty meal. Rujub and his daughter said that they didnot want anything before morning.
The sun was high before Bathurst woke. Rujub had lighted a fire, and wasboiling some rice in a lota.
"Where is Miss Hannay?" Bathurst asked, as he sat up.
"She has gone down to the river with Rabda. The trees hang down wellover the water, and they can wash without fear of being seen on theopposite shore. I was going to wake you when the lady got up, but shemade signs that you were to be allowed to sleep on."
In half an hour the two girls returned. Isobel was attired in a nativedress, and her face, neck, arms, feet, and ankles had been stained tothe same color as Rabda's. She came forward a little timidly, for shefelt strange and uncomfortable in her scanty attire. Bathurst gave anexclamation of pain as he saw her face.
"How dreadfully, you have burnt yourself, Miss Hannay; surely you cannothave followed the instructions I gave you."
"No; it is not your fault at all, Mr. Bathurst; I put a great deal moreon than you said, but I was so anxious to disfigure myself that I wasdetermined to do it thoroughly; but it is nothing to what it was. As yousee, my lips are getting all right again, and the sores are a good dealbetter than they were; I suppose they will leave scars, but that won'ttrouble me."
"It is the pain you must have suffered that I am thinking of," hereplied. "As to the scars, I hope they will wear out in time; you mustindeed have suffered horribly."
"They burnt dreadfully for a time," the girl answered; "but for the lasttwo or three days I have hardly felt it, though, of course, it is verysore still."
"Do you feel ready for breakfast, Miss Hannay?"
"Quite ready, and for a walk as long as you like afterwards. I feelquite another creature after my dip. That was one of the worst thingsin the prison. We had scarcely water enough to drink, and none to washwith, and, of course, no combs nor anything."
They sat down together and ate the cold food they had brought, whileRabda and her father made their breakfast of rice.
"What has become of Mr. Wilson?" Isobel asked suddenly. "I wonderedabout him as I was being carried along last night, but I was too tiredto talk afterwards."
"I hope he is either safe at Allahabad by this time, or is with thetroops marching up. The Zemindar's son, who came down with us as anescort, and one of his men got safely to shore also, and they went onwith Wilson. When he found I was going to stay at Cawnpore to try andrescue you, he pleaded very hard that I should keep him with me in orderthat he might share in the attempt, but his ignorance of the languagemight have been fatal, and his being with me would have greatly addedto the difficulty, so I was obliged to refuse him. It was only becauseI told him that instead of adding to, he would lessen your chance ofescape, that he consented to go, for I am sure he would willingly havelaid down his life to save yours."
"I am very glad he is safe; he is very kind hearted and nice, Mr.Bathurst, and a thoroughly natural, unaffected young fellow, very loyaland stanch. I am quite sure he would have done anything he could, evenat the risk of his life."
"I like him very much, too, Miss Hannay. Before the siege I thought hima careless, happy go lucky lad, but as I got to know him well, I foundhe was much more than that, and he will make a good man and an excellentofficer one of these days if he is spared. He is thoroughly bravewithout the slightest brag--an excellent specimen of the best class ofpublic school boy."
"And who are the troops coming up, Mr. Bathurst? How strong are they? Ihave heard nothing about them."
"About twelve hundred white troops and four or five hundred Sikhs; atleast that is what the natives put them at."
"But surely they will never be able to fight their way to Cawnpore,where there are the mutineers and Nana Sahib's troops and the Oude menand the people of the town. Why, there must be ten to one against them."
"Not far short of that, I think, but I feel sure our men will do it.They know of the treachery of the Nana, they know of the massacre by theriver, and they know that the women and children are prisoners in hishands, and do you think that men who know these things can be beaten?The Sepoys met them in superior force and in a strong position atFuttehpore, and they drove them before them like chaff. They will haveharder work next time, but I have no shadow of fear of the result."
Then their talk went back to Deennugghur and of their friends there--theDoolans, the Hunters, the Rintouls, and others--and Isobel wept freelyover their fate.
"Next to my uncle I shall miss the Doctor," she said.
"He was an awfully good fellow," Bathurst said, "and was the only realfriend I have had since I came to India, I would have done anything forhim."
"When shall we start?" Isobel asked presently.
"Directly the sun goes down a little. You would find it terribly hotnow. I have been talking it over with Rujub, and he says it is betternot to make a long journey today. We are not more than twenty miles fromDong, and it would not do to move in that direction until we know howthings have gone; therefore, if we start at three o'clock and walk tillseven or eight, it will be quite far enough."
"He seems a wonderful man," said Isobel. "You remember that talk we hadat dinner, before we went to see him at the Hunters!"
"Yes," he said. "As you know, I was a believer then, and so was theDoctor. I need not say that I believe still more now that these men dowholly unaccountable feats. He put the sentry outside the walls of yourprison and five out of your eight warders so sound asleep that they didnot wake during the struggle I had with the others. That, of course,was mesmerism. His messages to you were actually sent by means of hisdaughter. She was put in a sort of trance, in which she saw you and toldus what you were doing, and communicated the message her father gave herto you. He could not send you a message nor tell me about you when youwere first at Bithoor, because he said Rabda was not in sympathy withyou, but after she had seen you and touched you and you had kissed her,she was able to do so. There does not appear to me to be anything beyondthe powers of nature in that, though doubtless powers were called intoplay of which at present we know nothing. But we do know that minds actupon each other. Possibly certain persons in sympathy with each othermay be able to act upon each other from a distance, especially whenthrown into the sort of trance which is known as the clairvoyant state.I always used to look upon that as humbug, but I need hardly say I shallin future be ready to believe almost anything. He professes to haveother and even greater powers than what we have seen. At any rate, hecan have no motive in deceiving me when he has risked his life to helpme. Do you know, Rabda offered to go into the prison--her father couldhave got her an order to pass in--and then to let you go out in herdress while she remained in your stead. I could not accept the sacrificeeven to save you, and I was sure had I done so you yourself would haverefused to leave."
"Of course. But how good of her. Please tell her that you have told me,and how grateful I am for her offer."
Bathurst called Rabda, who was sitting a short distance away.
She took the hand that Isobel held out to her and placed it against herforehead.
"My life is yours, sahib," she said simply to Bathurst. "It was rightthat I should give it for this lady you love."
"What does she say?" Isobel asked.
"She says that she owed me her life for that tiger business, you know,and was ready to give it for you because I had set my mind on savingyou."
"Is that what she really said, Mr. Bathurst?" Isobel asked quietly, forhe had hesitated a little in changing its wording.
"That was the sense of it, I can assure you. Not only was she readyto make the sacrifice, but her father consented to her doing so. TheseHindoos are capable of gratitude, you see. There are not many Englishwho would be ready thus to sacrifice themselves for a man who hadaccidentally, as I may say, save
d their lives."
"Not accidentally, Mr. Bathurst. Why do you always try to run yourselfdown? I suppose you will say next you saved my life by an accident."
"The saving of your life is due chiefly to these natives."
"But they were only your instruments, Mr. Bathurst; they had no interestin saving me. You had bought their services at the risk of your life,and in saving me they were paying that debt to you."
At three o'clock they prepared for the start. Bathurst had exchanged thewarder's dress for one of a peasant, which they had brought with them.The woods were of no great width, and Rujub said they had better followthe road now.
"No one will suspect us of being anything but what we seem," he said."Should we meet any peasants, their talk will be with you and me. Theywill ask no questions about the women; but if there is a woman amongthem, and she speaks, Rabda will answer her."
For hours they had heard dull sounds in the air, which Bathurst hadrecognized at once as distant artillery, showing that the fight wasgoing on near Dong.
"The Sepoys are making a stout resistance, or the firing would not lastso long," he said to Rujub, as they walked through the wood towards theroad.
"They have two positions to defend, sahib. The Nana's men will fightfirst at a strong village two miles beyond Dong; if they are beatenthere, they will fight again at the bridge I told you of."
"That would partly account for it; but the Sepoys must be fighting muchbetter than they did at Futtehpore, for there, as you said, the whitetroops swept the Sepoys before them."
When they reached the edge of the wood Bathurst said, "I will see thatthe road is clear before we go out. If anyone saw us issuing out of thewood they might wonder what we had been after."
He went to the edge of the bushes and looked down the long straightroad. There was only a solitary figure in sight. It seemed to be an oldman walking lame with a stick. Bathurst was about to turn and tell theothers to come out, when he saw the man stop suddenly, turn round tolook back along the road, stand with his head bent as if listening, thenrun across the road with much more agility than he had before seemed topossess, and plunge in among the trees.
"Wait," he said to those behind him, "something is going on. A peasant Isaw in the road has suddenly dived into the wood as if he was afraid ofbeing pursued. Ah!" he exclaimed a minute later, "there is a party ofhorsemen coming along at a gallop--get farther back into the wood."
Presently they heard the rapid trampling of horses, and looking throughthe bushes they saw some twenty sowars of one of the native cavalryregiments dash past.
Bathurst went to the edge of the wood again, and looked out. Then heturned suddenly to Isobel.
"You remember those pictures on the smoke?" he said excitedly.
"No, I do not remember them," she said, in surprise. "I have oftenwondered at it, but I have never been able to recollect what they weresince that evening. I have often thought they were just like dreams,where one sees everything just as plainly as if it were a reality, andthen go out of your mind altogether as soon as you are awake."
"It has been just the same with me," replied Bathurst, "except that onceor twice they have come back for a moment quite vividly. One of themI have not thought of for some days, but now I see it again. Don't youremember there was a wood, and a Hindoo man and woman stepped out of it,and a third native came up to them?"
"Yes, I remember now," she said eagerly; "it was just as we are here;but what of that, Mr. Bathurst?"
"Did you recognize any of them?"
"Yes, yes, it all comes back to me now. It was you and the Doctor,certainly, and I thought the woman was myself. I spoke to the Doctornext day about it, but he laughed at it all, and I have never thought ofit since."
"The Doctor and I agreed, when we talked it over that evening, that theHindoo who stepped out of the wood was myself, and thought that you werethe Hindoo girl, but of that we were not so sure, for your face seemednot only darkened, but blotched and altered--it was just as you arenow--and the third native was the Doctor himself; we both felt certainof that. It has come true, and I feel absolutely certain that the nativeI saw along the road will turn out to be the Doctor."
"Oh, I hope so, I hope so!" the girl cried, and pressed forward withBathurst to the edge of the wood.
The old native was coming along on the road again. As he approached, hiseye fell on the two figures, and with a Hindoo salutation he was passingon, when Isobel cried, "It is the Doctor!" and rushing forward she threwher arms round his neck.
"Isobel Hannay!" he cried in delight and amazement; "my dear littlegirl, my dear little girl, thank God you are saved; but what have youbeen doing with yourself, and who is this with you?"
"You knew me when you saw me in the picture on the smoke, Doctor,"Bathurst said, grasping his hand, "though you do not know me in life."
"You, too, Bathurst!" the Doctor exclaimed, as he wrung his hand; "thankGod for that, my dear boy; to think that both of you should have beensaved--it seems a miracle. The picture on the smoke? Yes, we werespeaking of it that last night at Deennugghur, and I never have thoughtof it since. Is there anyone else?"
"My friend the juggler and his daughter are with us, Doctor."
"Then I can understand the miracle," the Doctor said, "for I believethat fellow could take you through the air and carry you through stonewalls with a wave of his hand."
"Well, he has not exactly done that, but he and his daughter haverendered us immense service. I could have done nothing without them."
The two natives, seeing through the bushes the recognition that hadtaken place, had now stepped forward and salaamed as the Doctor spoke afew hearty words to them.
"But where have you sprung from, Doctor? How were you saved?"
"I jumped overboard when those scoundrels opened fire," the Doctor said."I kept my wits about me, and said to myself that if I were to swim forthe opposite shore the chances were that I should get shot down, so Imade a long dive, came up for air, and then went down again, and came upthe next time under some bushes by the bank; there I remained all night.The villains were only a few yards away, and I could hear every wordthey said. I heard the boat come ashore, and although I could have doneno good by rushing out, I think I should have done so if I had had anyweapon about me, and have tried to kill one or two of them before I wentdown. As it was, I waited until morning. Then I heard the rumble of theguns and the wagons, and knew that they were off. I waited for anotherhour to make sure, and then stepped ashore. I went to the boat lyingby the bank. When I saw that Isobel and the other two ladies were notthere, I knew that they must have been carried off into Cawnpore. Iwaited there until night, and then made my way to a peasant's housea mile out of the town. I had operated upon him for elephantiasis twoyears ago, and the man had shown himself grateful, and had occasionallysent me in little presents of fowls and so on. He received me well, gaveme food, which I wanted horribly, stained my skin, and rigged me out inthis disguise. The next morning I went into the town, and for the lastfour or five days have wandered about there. There was nothing I coulddo, and yet I felt that I could not go away, but must stay within sightof the prison where you were all confined till our column arrived.But this morning I determined to come down to join our people who arefighting their way up, little thinking that I should light upon you bythe way."
"We were just going to push on, Doctor; but as you have had a good longtramp already, we will stop here until tomorrow morning, if you like."
"No, no, let us go on, Bathurst. I would rather be on the move, and youcan tell me your story as we go."