The Path to Honour

by Sydney C. Grier

  CHAPTER XVI.

  THE MILD CONCERNS OF ORDINARY LIFE.

  All too soon came the hour when Gerrard stood on the dilapidatedlanding-stage at Naoghat, and waved farewell to his travellingcompanions, after receiving Nisbet's urgent directions to send on atonce any despatches that might arrive while he remained there, andCowper's parting request to give his compliments to the old Habshi.This disrespectful term applied to Nawab Sadiq Ali, who traced hisdescent to a famous naval commander, a Habshi or Abyssinian, in theservice of one of the Mogul Emperors. So much did the Badshahappreciate the society of his admiral that he grudged him to the sea,but compromised matters by bestowing on him a _jaghir_ with a riverfrontage, which the Habshi's descendants, in the break-up of theempire, contrived to erect into the independent state of Habshiabad.Sadiq Ali was proud to reckon himself an old ally of the British, hisfather having stood fast by them during the Mahratta troubles of theearly years of the nineteenth century, and a hostility equally ancientexisted between him and his Granthi neighbours across the Bari, moreespecially those in Agpur. Partab Singh and he had enjoyed many asharp tussle before they relapsed into reluctant peace, owing to thefact that their forces were so nearly matched as to render it uselessfor either to attack the other, and to the absence of border fightingduring late years the Kawab attributed the deterioration observable inthe spirit of his subjects. A kind of dry-rot appeared to have set in,under the influence of which the state was suffering, not only inmilitary, but also in civil matters, and this had culminated in aregrettable incident which had only recently occurred.

  When the Granthi War broke out, Sadiq Ali, equally unexpected andundesired, hastened to join the banners of the Commander-in-Chief withhis horde of undisciplined followers, never doubting that he would bereceived with the delight such an accession of strength would havecaused forty years before. But the military affairs of British Indiawere differently organised nowadays, and native princes as allies wereregarded with disappointing indifference, so that the bad condition ofthe Nawab's troops, rather than the good feeling he had displayed,attracted attention. When at a critical moment the advance of aBritish brigade was delayed by the Habshiabadis' plundering in itsfront, the Commander-in-Chief, who had learnt his soldiering in thePeninsula, lost his temper and swore at Sadiq Ali--who understood hismeaning, if not his words--and threatened to clear his men out of theway with grape. The insulted Nawab withdrew his troops at once, andwas making the best of his way with them to the enemy's camp, when hewas overtaken by Major Edmund Antony, who, foreseeing the danger thatwould be caused by his defection, took upon himself the responsibilityof speaking him fair and persuading him to delay. No other man inIndia could have induced Sadiq Ali to consent to spoil the effect ofhis dramatic reprisals by encamping for one night instead of carryinghis indignation and his army over immediately to his hereditaryenemies. Even the political officer whom all natives revered wasobliged to take his stand alone before the advancing cavalry, and towarn the Nawab that if he joined the Granthi headquarters that night,it must be over his body, but he succeeded in his mission. The tentswere pitched, and all night Major Antony rode backwards and forwardsbetween the two peppery veterans, each of whom began by vowing that hewas well pleased to see the last of the other, and would never exchangea word with him again. Since they both assured Major Antony that hewas the sole human being they would have permitted to address aremonstrance to them on the subject, it was clear that they were agreedon one point, and the emissary laboured, not without success, to extendthe area of agreement. With what every one in the British camp averredwas superhuman ingenuity, he induced the Commander-in-Chief toapologise for his language, and to soothe the Nawab's wounded feelingsby a reference in general orders, while Sadiq Ali voluntarily placed abody of picked troops under British command, and withdrew with the restto his state. In the moment of his success Major Antony held out hopesthat an officer might eventually be spared to reorganise and train theHabshiabad army, and since he had been at Ranjitgarh Sadiq Ali hadreminded him of his promise at least five times before he had any oneto send. Now at last Gerrard was available, and a deputation of highofficials received him at Naoghat to express the Nawab's delight in hisarrival.

  Sadiq Ali's impatience to behold his new adviser could scarcely brookthe delay caused by waiting for the escort to come up, and Gerrardbecame accustomed to the sight of exhausted messengers clattering in inclouds of dust to demand that he should start at once. But his dignityas Sir Edmund Antony's representative forbade this, and when he rodeinto Habshiabad at last it was in the midst of his picked troop ofGranthis, who were obviously scornful of the military display withwhich the Nawab was prepared to welcome them. In his anxiety toimprove his army, poor old Sadiq Ali had handed it over of late to adrunken European adventurer, who asserted that he had been in AjitSingh's service, but whom Gerrard suspected, from certain peculiaritiesof equipment that he had introduced, of being a deserter from someScottish regiment. This suspicion was deepened when it appeared thatGeneral Desdichado, as he called himself, had recently been seized withillness of such a severe character that it confined him entirely to hishouse, and even to his zenana--whither, of course, no intrusive visitorcould follow him. After vain attempts to obtain an interview, Gerrardthought it well to leave his predecessor in peace with hisarrack-bottle, and take the army in hand from the beginning. He hadnot expected, when he heard they had a European instructor, to findthem ignorant even of the rudiments of drill as he understood it, andhe was confronted with the difficulty that he could not possibly drillthem all himself, and nothing would induce them to take orders from anyof his Granthis. He thought of asking for a few Mohammedannon-commissioned officers from the force at Ranjitgarh, but before hecould do so, Sadiq Ali, who followed him about in a state of admiringwonder and affection, learned his difficulty and promised to meet it.

  Gerrard had no very high hopes in this direction when he appeared atthe grand review arranged in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday, andattended by all the Nawab's subsidiary chiefs and their followers aswell as by his own army, but his eye was quickly caught by a large bodyof mounted men whose ordered movements contrasted strongly with thefree and easy methods of the Habshiabadis. There was somethingfamiliar in the aspect of the leader, and when he rode past thesaluting-point Gerrard recognised him at once. It was Rukn-ud-din, andof the two companies which he led one was composed of Rajputs, and theother of the faithful remnant of the Agpur bodyguard. Sadiq Ali smiledto behold his ally's surprise, but declined mysteriously to say whatRukn-ud-din and his men were doing on his parade-ground. Jirad Sahibwould doubtless wish to make inquiries for himself, he said, andKomadan Rukn-ud-din had already asked leave to pay his respects to him.In the interval between the review and the banquet which was to wind upthe day, therefore, a gorgeous band of horsemen thronged the approachto Gerrard's quarters, and Rukn-ud-din presented his officers, thechief of whom was the Rajput Amrodh Chand, who was a cousin of theRani's. Gerrard touched the sword-hilts they held forth, entertainedthem with coffee and conversation of a strictly non-committalcharacter, and then withdrew from the verandah into his office for afew moments' confidential talk with their leader.

  "You are surely not one of the Nawab's Komadans, Rukn-ud-din?" he askedhim eagerly.

  "Nay, sahib. I still eat the salt of the widow of my master."

  "Then it is the Rani Sahiba who is entertaining these troops of yours?But is she not far away?"

  "So far away as to be between this place and the river that parts itfrom Agpur, sahib."

  "This is very serious." It was quite certain that Mr James Antonywould not approve of the Rani's taking up her residence so close to herformer capital, when she was supposed to be at Benares. "You know thatI must report it to the Resident Sahib at Ranjitgarh?"

  "Your honour will do as it is decreed you should do," said theMohammedan tranquilly.

  "But what is her Highness's object?"

  "To avenge the blood of her house, sahib. She devotes
herself whollyto the practice of austerities, after the manner of the idolaters. Thewomen say that to behold her is to behold the corpse of one that hasdied in famine-time."

  "You cannot mean that she is wholly destitute? Yet what is she livingupon? Her allowance has not been paid to her, because she has notsubscribed to the conditions upon which it was granted."

  "Her Highness will never subscribe to those conditions, sahib. Shewill neither receive money at the hand of the murderer, nor covenant tobequeath him a single anna that she possesses. For her maintenance,she received from Antni Sahib's brother at Ranjitgarh the ten thousandrupees your honour carried with you to Adamkot from the treasury, andof his grace he added to them, by way of an advance, a sum sufficientto enable her to perform her pilgrimage to Kashi." Gerrard suppresseda smile when he realised that James Antony's eagerness to avertpolitical complications by getting the Rani safely out of Granthistanhad thus over-reached itself by giving her the means of remaining onits borders. "The sum was not a great one, to maintain the warriorsfrom her father's state who have vowed their swords to her vengeance,as well as those who have remained faithful to their lord's memory, butit will suffice for a month or two longer," added Rukn-ud-din; "and itis the word of her Highness that this will be long enough. The time isnear at hand."

  "Will her Highness receive me?" asked Gerrard hastily, planning strongremonstrances in his mind. "You say she has returned to _pardah_?"

  "She broke _pardah_ once, sahib, designing to expiate her shame whenshe had seen justice done, but death and justice were alike denied her.She will break it again when she leads her troops in the field againstthe murderer, and that day she will rejoin her lord."

  "Now look here, Rukn-ud-din; you are a sensible man and a follower ofIslam. I want you to do your best to induce her Highness to allow meto pay my respects through the curtain, so that I may try to get her tolay aside these intentions."

  "How could she do other than as she plans, sahib? It is well for eachto observe the customs of his own people. But I have a word for youfrom her Highness's mouth. 'Entreat Jirad Sahib not to give me thepain of shutting my gates against him, for I have no mind to be teasedwith formulas of ceremony. But when he takes the field against himthat may not be named, then let him send for me without apology, and Iwill come at the head of my troops. Until then let him use them as hewill in fitting the Nawab's army for the fight.'"

  "And right glad I should be to have you," said Gerrard heartily. "ButI cannot keep the Rani's residence a secret from Antony Sahib and hisbrother. At any moment Sher Singh may discover it, and accuse them,though guiltless, of playing him false."

  "I think he will not discover it, sahib. We have a short way withspies in Habshiabad. But your honour will do as you think best, andthe men of my company are at your disposal to do with as you will."

  The question was a perplexing one, and after dismissing Rukn-ud-din,Gerrard considered it carefully. He decided at last to write to JamesAntony that it had come to his knowledge that the Rani was residing inthe Habshiabad state, and that he could if necessary convey to her thedocuments awaiting her signature, though she refused to admit him toher presence. Having thus transferred the burden of responsibility toother and eminently capable shoulders, he turned with an easierconscience to take advantage of the help offered him in his task. Onthe very day after the review, Sadiq Ali's regiments, some swollen tounwieldy size, others depleted to mere skeletons, were thoroughlyoverhauled, and the ten smartest men picked out of each hundred. Thesewere turned over to Rukn-ud-din's Mohammedans to be drilled, and aftera preliminary course set to drill their fellows. The higher educationof the picked men proceeded side by side with the elementary trainingof the rank and file, while Gerrard's Granthis and the Rani's Rajputs,debarred from serving as instructors, proved most useful inrepresenting alternately hostile armies and better disciplined allies,when something resembling manoeuvres was attempted. The work was hardand incessant, especially as the hot weather was now running itscourse, but Gerrard welcomed it as tending to divert his mind from theunsatisfactory state of his personal affairs. The Nawab was overjoyedto see his army really being licked into shape, and took to attendingthe training in disguise--invariably discovering himself by franticabuse and promises of horrible punishment when anything went wrong.Even General Desdichado, still officially confined to his bed andunable to receive even a visit of condolence, mounted a telescope onhis roof, so it was whispered to Gerrard, and watched the proceedingswith breathless interest. This war-fever could hardly last, andGerrard wondered when it would begin to die down. The expectedoutbreak at Agpur had not occurred, and in a short time Cowper's leavewould be up and another man would take his place as commander of theescort. Both James Antony's political forebodings and the Rani'sprophecies were proving unfounded.

  Now came a messenger with a letter from Charteris, written in thatextreme south-western corner of his dominions where Darwan andHabshiabad faced one another across the Tindar.

  "Here I am, old boy, gazing hungrily across to you, while Tindar rollsbetween. Come and pay me a flying visit, I adjure you. You shallsleep each night on your own bank of the river if your scrupulousconscience won't let you quit your own state without leave, but takepity on an unfortunate chum doomed to go crusading--castle-destroying,that is--in the hot weather. I promised you one of Vixen's pups--asnice little beggars all of them as you could wish to behold--and who amI to presume to choose for you? I am entertaining so many dogsnowadays that I expect to be eaten out of house and home, so it'sserious, you see. Happy thought--start a pack of hounds! That'sanother reason why you should come. I can't offer to show you at thepresent season 'the sport of kings, the image of war without its guilt,and only five-and-twenty per cent. of its danger,' but at least we candraw up an uncommon fine constitution for the hunt. I know you'llobject that the conjunction of two such stars of chivalry as yourselfand yours truly in the same firmament has hitherto boded war, red war,but was that our fault? Surely it was merely a proof of our innateforeknowledge of events that we managed to be in each other'sneighbourhood just when united action was needed. Besides, there's nocombustible material in these parts. That's waiting for the week afternext, when the Agpur frontier business comes up for settlement, and Ihave to be back in the Adamkot direction. Come and see me, Hal, ifit's only for a talk and a smoke. Upon my word, I am des-s-s-peratelylonely! Bring a tail as long as MacTavish's if you like, and we'llindoctrinate them with the science of fox-hunting. Your old Hubsheewould be something of a Jorrocks figure if we stuck him into a huntuniform, I'll be bound,--Yours,

  ROBERT.

  "_P.S._--Admire my self-restraint in keeping back so far theall-important information that mine will of course be a _Bobbery_ pack."

  Neither his friend's pathetic loneliness, nor the inducements he solavishly offered, would have tempted Gerrard to leave the capital hadit not been that he had ascertained from the Nawab that the _jaghir_which he had granted to Rukn-ud-din as the Rani's representative lay inthe direction in which Charteris was now to be found. James Antony hadreplied with considerable asperity to the letter giving news of herwhereabouts, as was only natural, since his agents had for a month beensearching for her vainly in the neighbourhood of Benares. He sent thedocument which had been prepared for her signature, and directedGerrard to use all possible means to obtain a personal interview, inwhich he was to assure her that no further steps would be taken tosecure the payment of her jointure until she disbanded her troops andwithdrew into British territory, where a suitable residence would beprovided for her. This, as the natives would have phrased it, was anorder, and Gerrard prepared to carry it out immediately, though withoutmuch hope of success. The Nawab acquiesced reluctantly in his leavingthe city for a week, but was consoled by the prospect of his finding anoticeable improvement in the army on his return, and he calculatedthat by travelling chiefly at night he could do the journeycomfortably, and secure a day or more with Charteris.

  The Rani's
reception of Mr Antony's messenger was much what he hadexpected. She had taken up her abode in a half-ruined fort, which hadbeen repaired sufficiently for the purposes of defence, and wasgarrisoned by a second company of Rajputs, and Gerrard was refusedadmission at the closed gates. His urgent messages brought the oldscribe down to parley with him, but the reproaches he addressed to theRani for neglecting the monitions of her husband's chosen councillorwere met by counter-upbraidings on the score of his neglect of theRani's own expressed wish to be left unmolested. She would not receivehim, she would not disband her troops nor retire into Britishterritory, and least of all would she sign the document which was toobtain from Sher Singh the payment of her jointure in return for herpromise to leave to him any savings of which she might die possessed.In these circumstances, all that Gerrard could do was to leave thepaper for her consideration, with the most persuasive letter that heand Munshi Somwar Mal could frame in collaboration, and announce thathe hoped to find her Highness in a better mind when he returned inthree or four days' time.

  If his reception here was disappointing, there was nothing lacking inthe warmth of Charteris's welcome when he landed at his camp from theundignified conveyance of a charpoy supported on _mashaks_[1]--a smallfleet of these vessels being in readiness to carry him and his trainacross the river. The puppies were duly exhibited after supper, andGerrard made his choice, and then, though it was still early, for thecrossing had to be made by daylight, Charteris dismissed him to sleepoff his fatigues, promising that he should be called well in the middleof the night.

  "To-morrow is a blank day as far as the administration of justice isconcerned," he said. "I have threatened all my petitioners withatrocious pains and penalties if they so much as show their noses incamp, and you and I will go for a picnic. I know a bank where the wildthyme don't grow, but where one of my reformed robbers has a garden anda spring of sweet water, and will make us welcome to enjoy _kaf_[2] fora while."

  Gerrard had his doubts as to the feasibility of this programme when hewas dressing the next morning by the light of a candle-end stuck intothe neck of a bottle. A whisper outside the tent reached his ears.

  "Brother, is the Sahib awake?"

  "Which Sahib, O foolish one?"

  "Our Sahib, the red Sahib, the mad Sahib."

  "Aye, he is awake, but he rides forth before dawn."

  "Bad for Bob!" thought Gerrard, as a rustle denoted the withdrawal ofthe questioner, but he had not the heart to tell his friend of hisfears when they met for _choti haziri_, and he saw his high spirits.

  "We'll take the dogs with us a little way--do the beggars no end ofgood--and send 'em back to camp before the sun's up," said Charteris,as they mounted. "'Give the hounds a trot out by way of exercise'--eh?"

  "Well, I hope it won't end in 'Dinner lost! 'ounds lost! self lost--alllost together!' What d'ye think of calling the hunt, old boy?"

  "The Cut-'em-downs, if you're going to ride over my hounds," saidCharteris, as a heedless puppy blundered in front of Gerrard's horse."And call you Crasher."

  "All right, Brusher!" laughed Gerrard, as they rode out into the cooldarkness, an anxious dog-boy having extricated his charge. But beforethey reached the outskirts of the camp, the way was barred by a row ofsilent natives, some of them holding out papers, others extending emptyhands.

  "What's this?" demanded Charteris ferociously.

  "_Dohai_, sahib, _dohai_[3]!" was the general cry.

  "Well, I'll do you justice to-morrow, as I told you. Didn't I forbidyou to come to me to-day?"

  "Alas, sahib, a day is but as a moment to the great, but to the poor itis even as eternity," said an old man, who seemed to be regarded asspokesman.

  "It would be a different tale if I wanted you to do anything for me ina hurry," growled Charteris. "What do you say, Hal?"

  "Oh, you have spoilt your subjects by dealing out justice too easily,"said Gerrard, "so you can't in conscience refuse it them now. Let ushave our ride, and go back at your usual hour. The picnic must go.You can accommodate me with a seat on the bench, and I'll pick holes inyour law."

  "That you may well do." Charteris paused to give the necessarydirections to the suppliants and his Munshis, and resumed as they rodeon. "My law has too much common-sense about it to recommend itself toyour conventional mind. Why, t'other day I had to decide the ownershipof a disputed piece of ground--as hard swearing as ever I heard, andtrains of mounted adherents and sympathisers riding with us to view theplot, and perjuring themselves for their respective sides. I saw itwas six of one and half-a-dozen of t'other, so when we were returning,precious slow and stately, I gave a sudden view-halloa! and startedoff. They were bound to come too, and I should have died of laughingto see those old liars bumping along and running foul of one another ifI hadn't been too busy. I had the claimants one on each side of me,and by judiciously boring either quad. when it seemed inclined to drawahead, I kept 'em fairly level. When they had had as much as I thoughtgood for them, I pulled up, and several old codgers went over theirnags' heads, of course. But all I said was that as the claimants hadcome in level, it was clear the land was to be divided between them,and we went back and did it there and then. They had a shawl apiece tosweeten the bargain, and I made a feast for the hangers-on, soeverybody was pleased."

  "That's the sort of thing that makes them call you the mad sahib," saidGerrard. "Wonder they care to depend on you."

  "That's only because you forget that 'mad' don't mean the same to themas to us. All Sahibs are mad, of course--and say that I am a littlemadder than most. But all mad people are directly inspired by Heaven.Therefore the madder I am, the more surely am I inspired. Twig?"

  "It's a pretty deduction. I wonder if Sadiq Ali would set me down asinspired if I stood on my head before him when I go back?"

  "No, because you couldn't do it!" said Charteris wickedly. "Takes somepractice even to be effectively mad, my boy."

  Whereupon Gerrard rode at him with upraised whip, and sensibleconversation was at a discount until they returned to camp. Then thelong hot morning was devoted to hearing petitions and trying cases.Charteris and Gerrard sat in one of the tents, with the complainantsunder the awning before them, and the Munshis on the ground at theside, while the witnesses perjured themselves and contradicted eachother with equal gusto. In the course of the proceedings a pantingmessenger pushed his way through the throng carrying a red officialbag, the colour showing that the letter it contained was urgent.Charteris opened it, and it seemed to Gerrard that his tanned facepaled ever so little as he read. Then he looked up sharply at themessenger, whose eyes were fixed eagerly upon him.

  "Sit down in the corner there, and wait until this case is finished,"he said. "Hal, I daresay you will like to look at this." He passedthe letter lightly to Gerrard, but gave his fingers a warning gripunder cover of the paper.

  [1] Inflated skins.

  [2] Perfect leisure.

  [3] Justice!