by G. A. Henty
“Well, my lad, you have done wonders,” his father said, when he had finished; “and if I had as much enterprise and go as you have, I should have been out of this place years ago. But in the first place, I was very slow in picking up their lingo. You see, until within the last three or four years, there have always been other Englishmen with me. Of course we talked together, and as most of them were able to speak a little of the lingo, there was no occasion for me to learn it. Then I was always, from the first, when they saw that I was handy at all sorts of things, kept at odd jobs, and so got less chance of picking up the language than those who were employed in drilling, or who had nothing to do but talk to their guards. But most of all, I did not try to escape because I found that, if I did so, it would certainly cost my companions their lives. That was the way that scoundrel Tippoo kept us from making attempts to get off.
“Well, soon after the last of the other captives was murdered, we moved away to Kistnagherry, which was a very difficult place to escape from; and besides, very soon after we got there, I heard of the war with our people, and hoped that they would take the place. It was, as you may suppose, a terrible disappointment to me when they failed in their attack on it. Still, I hoped that they would finally thrash Tippoo, and that, somehow, I might get handed over to them. However, as you know, when peace was made, and Kistnagherry had to be given over, the governor got orders to evacuate it, without waiting for the English to come up to take possession.
“Well, since I have been at Savandroog, I have thought often of trying to get away. By the time I got there, I had learned to speak the language fairly enough to make my way across the country, and I have been living in hopes that, somehow or other, I might get possession of a rope long enough to let myself down the rocks. But, as I told you, I have never so much as seen one up there twenty feet long.
“I did think of gradually buying enough cotton cloth to twist up and make a rope of; but you see, when one has been years in captivity, one loses a lot of one’s energy. If I had been worse off, I should have set about the thing in earnest; but you see, I was not badly treated at all. I was always doing odd carpentering jobs for the colonel and officers, and armourer’s work at the guns. Any odd time I had over, I did jobs for the soldiers and their wives. I got a good many little presents, enough to keep me in decent clothes and decent food—if you can call the food you have up there decent—and to provide me with tobacco; so that, except that I was a prisoner, and for the thought of my wife and you, I had really nothing to grumble about, and was indeed better off than anyone in the fortress, except the officers. So you see, I just existed, always making up my mind that some day I should see a good chance of making my escape, but not really making any preparations towards casting off my moorings.
“Now, Dick, it must be past twelve o’clock, and I am dog tired. How far have we to ride tomorrow?”
“It is thirty-five miles from Oussoor to Kistnagherry, which will be far enough for us to go tomorrow, and then another five-and-twenty will take us down to Tripataly. As the horses have gone about forty miles, it would be a long journey for them to go right through tomorrow.”
“I don’t think I could do it, Dick, if they could. I expect I shall be stiffer tomorrow than I am now. Eager as I am to see your dear mother, I don’t want to have to be lifted off my horse when I arrive there, almost speechless with fatigue.”
The next day they rode on to Kistnagherry, passing a small frontier fort without question. They slept at the post house there, Dick and Surajah having removed their scarves and emblems of rank, as soon as they passed the frontier, in order to escape all inquiries. They started next morning at daybreak, and arrived within sight of Tripataly at ten o’clock.
“Now, Father, I will gallop on,” Dick said. “I must break the news to Mother, before you arrive.”
“Certainly, Dick,” his father, who had scarcely spoken since they started, replied. “I have been feeling very anxious about it, all the morning; for though, as you tell me, she has never lost faith in my being alive, my return cannot but be a great shock to her.”
Dick rode on, and on arriving at the palace was met in the courtyard by the Rajah, who was on the point of going out on horseback. He dismounted at once.
“I am truly glad to see you back, Dick, for your mother has been in a sad state of anxiety about you. Eight days ago, she started up from a nap she was taking, in the middle of the day, and burst out crying, saying that she was certain you were in some terrible danger, though whether you were killed or not she could not say. Since then she has been in a bad state. She has scarcely closed an eye, and has spent her whole time in walking restlessly up and down.”
“It is quite true that I was in great danger, Uncle, and I am sorry indeed that she is in this state, for my coming home will be a shock to her; and she has an even greater one to bear. Surajah and I have rescued my father, and he will be here in a few minutes.”
“I congratulate you,” the Rajah said warmly. “That is news, indeed—news that I, for one, never expected to hear. It is simply marvellous, Dick. However, I am sure that your mother is not fit to bear it, at present. I will go up now, and tell Gholla to break your return gradually to her. I will say nothing about your father to your aunt. As soon as the news that you are here is broken, you must go to your mother. Tell her as little as possible. Pretend that you are hungry, and have a meal sent up, and persuade her to take some nourishment; then declare, positively, that you won’t tell her anything about your adventures, until she has had a long sleep. Gholla will prepare a sleeping draught for her.
“In the meantime, I will ride off, directly I have seen my wife, to meet Surajah and your father, and bring him on here. I sha’n’t tell anyone who he is, in case a chance word should come to your mother’s ears. If she wakes up again this evening, and asks for you, you must judge for yourself whether to tell her anything, or to wait until morning. You might, perhaps, if she seems calm, gladden her with the news that, from what you have heard, you have very strong hopes that a prisoner in keeping at one of the hill forts is your father. Then, tomorrow morning, you can tell her the whole truth. Now I will run up to Gholla. There is no time to be lost.”
“I shall be in the dining room, Uncle, when I am wanted.”
A few minutes later, Gholla came in hastily.
“Your mother has fainted, Dick. I broke the news to her very gently, but it was too much for her, in her weak state. When she comes round again, and is able to talk, I will fetch you. In the meantime, I will send Annie in to you.”
Two minutes later the girl ran in with a flushed face, threw herself into Dick’s arms, and kissed him.
“I can’t help it, Dick,” she said, “so it is of no use your scolding me. This is a surprise. Who would have thought of your coming back so soon? But it is lucky you did. Your mother has been in a sad way, and she was so sure that you had been in some terrible danger, that I have been almost as anxious as she has. And now, it seems that I need not have frightened myself at all.”
“I was in great danger, Annie. Just at the time my mother dreamt about me, Surajah, Ibrahim, and I were attacked by a party of Stranglers, disguised as merchants; and if it had not been that I had some strange suspicion of them, we should all have been murdered. As it was, we shot the whole gang, who, fortunately for us, had no firearms.”
“It must have been your mother who warned you,” Annie said gravely. “She told us that she dreamt you were in some terrible danger, though she could not remember what it was, and she tried with all her might to warn you.”
“Perhaps it was that, Annie. I don’t know why I suspected them so strongly—Surajah quite laughed at the idea. Anyhow, it saved our lives.
“And how are you getting on, Annie? Are you happy?”
“Oh, so happy!” she exclaimed. “At least, I was until your mother got ill, and I was working very hard at my lessons; but of course that has all been stopped, as far as taking them from her is concerned. But I have gone on worki
ng, and the Rajah’s sons have been very good, and helped me sometimes, and I begin to read words of two letters. And what has brought you back so soon?”
“That I can’t tell you yet, Annie. I will only tell you that it is not bad news; and no one but my uncle will know more than that, till I have told my mother—even my aunt won’t hear it.”
“Has Surajah come back too, Dick?”
“Yes; I heard horses in the courtyard just now, and I have no doubt it was him. I rode on first, being anxious to see my mother.”
They chatted for a few minutes. Then the Rajah came to the door, and called Dick into the next room.
“I have settled your father in the room at the other end of the gallery, Dick. He agreed with me that it was better for him to keep there, by himself, until you have told your mother that he is here. I have just ordered a meal to be sent, and after that will send my barber in to shave him. He says your mother will never recognise him, with all that hair on his face. I am going to see if something cannot be done to take the stain off his face, and shall then set half a dozen tailors to work on some dark blue cloth, to turn him out a suit before tomorrow morning, in what he calls sailor fashion, so that he may appear before your mother in something like the style in which she remembers him.”
A few minutes later Gholla came in, and said that Mrs. Holland was ready for Dick to go in to her. Dick found his mother looking pale and weak; but the joy of his coming had already brightened her eyes, and given a faint flush to her cheeks.
“I have been so dreadfully anxious, Dick,” she said, after the first embrace. “I was certain you had been in some terrible danger.”
“I have been, but thank God I escaped; owing, I think, to the warning Annie says you tried to give me. But we must not talk about that now. I will tell you all the story tomorrow. You are not fit to talk. You must take some broth, and some wine, and a sleeping draught; and I hope you will go off, and not wake up till tomorrow morning.
“Now, you do as I tell you. While you are drinking your broth, I will go in and take something to eat, for I have had nothing today, and am as hungry as a hunter. Then I will come back, and sit by you till you go off to sleep.”
He was not long away, but he was met at the door by his aunt, who said:
“She has gone off already, Dick. I have no doubt that she will sleep many hours, but if she wakes, I will let you know at once.”
“If that is the case, Gholla,” the Rajah, who had come in at the same moment, said, “I can let you into a secret, which no one but myself knows yet, but which, now that Margaret is asleep, can be told.”
Gholla was very pleased when she heard the news, and Dick went off at once to his father. It was a great relief, to the latter, to know that his wife had gone off to sleep, and would probably be well enough to have the news broken to her in the morning.
“I hear that you are preparing for the meeting, Father, by getting yourself shaved, and having a blue cloth suit made?”
“Yes, Dick. I should like to be as much like my old self as possible.”
“I don’t think Mother will care much what you look like, Father. Still, it is very natural that you should want to get rid of all that hair.”
“What bothers me, lad,” Captain Holland went on, putting his hand to the back of his neck, “is this shaved spot here. Of course, with the turban on and the native rig, it was all right, but it will look a rum affair in English clothes.”
Dick could not help laughing at his father’s look of perplexity.
“Well, Father, it is just the same with myself. I have not changed yet, but when I do, the hair above, which is now tucked up under the turban, will be quite long enough to come down to the nape of the neck, and hide that bare place till the hair grows again.”
“Yes; I did not think of that. My hair is long enough to come down over my shoulders. I was going to tell the barber to cut it short all over, but I will see now that he allows for that.”
“Now, Father, do you mind my bringing in Annie Mansfield? I know she will be wanting to keep close to me all day, and I should never be able to get rid of her, without telling her about you.”
“Bring her in by all means, Dick. She must be a plucky young girl, by what you said about her.”
“Where have you been, Dick?” Annie inquired, when Dick went out a few minutes later. “I have been looking for you everywhere. Nobody had seen you, unless it was the Rajah. I asked him, and he said that little girls must not ask questions, and then laughed.
“You have not brought home another white girl?” she exclaimed suddenly.
“Would it not be very nice for you to have a companion, Annie?”
“No,” she said sharply; “I should not like it at all.”
“Well, I will take you in to see her, and I think you will like her.
“No; I am only joking,” he broke off, as he saw tears start into her eyes. “It is not another girl. But you shall see for yourself.”
He took her hand, and led her to his father’s room.
“There, Annie, this is the gentleman who has come back with me this time.”
Annie looked at Captain Holland in surprise, and then turned her eyes to Dick for an explanation.
“He is a respectable-looking old native, isn’t he, Annie?”
“Yes, he looks respectable,” Annie said gravely; “but he doesn’t look very old. Why has he come down with you, Dick? He can’t have been a slave.”
“But I have, lass,” the captain said, in English, to Annie’s intense astonishment. “I have been in their hands a year or so longer than you were.”
Annie turned impulsively to Dick, and grasped his arm.
“Oh, Dick,” she said, in an excited whisper. “Is it—is it your father, after all?”
“Ay, lass,” the captain answered for him. “I am the boy’s father, and a happy father, too, as you may guess, at finding I have such a son. And I hear he has been a good friend to you, too.”
“Oh, he has, he has indeed!” Annie cried, running forward and seizing his hands in both of hers. “I don’t think there ever was anyone so kind and good.”
“What bosh, Annie!” Dick exclaimed, almost crossly.
“Never mind what he says, my dear. You and I know all about it. Now we can do very well without him, for a time. He can go and tell his uncle and cousins all about his adventures, which, I have no doubt, they are dying to hear; and you and I can sit here, and exchange confidences until my barber comes. I don’t look much like an Englishman now, but I hope that they will be able to get me something that will take this stain off my face.”
Mrs. Holland did not wake till evening. She seemed very much better, and had a short chat with Dick. She would have got up, had he not told her that he should be going to bed himself, in a short time, and that all his story would keep very well until the morning, when he hoped to find her quite herself again.
By dint of the application of various unguents, and a vast amount of hard scrubbing, Captain Holland restored his face to its original hue.
“I look a bit sunburnt,” he said, “but I have often come back, browner than this, from some of my voyages.”
“You look quite like yourself, in your portrait at home, Father,” Dick said. “It is the shaving and cutting your hair, even more than getting off the dye, that has made the difference. I don’t think you look much older than you did then, except that there are a few grey hairs.”
“I shall look better tomorrow, Dick, when I get these outlandish things off. I have been trying on my new suit, and I think it will do, first rate. Those clothes that you wore on board ship, and handed to them as a model, gave them the idea of what I wanted.”
And indeed, the next morning, when Captain Holland appeared in his new suit, Dick declared that he looked just as if he had walked down from his picture. The ranee had agreed to break the news to Mrs. Holland, as soon as she was dressed. She came into the room where the others were waiting for breakfast, and said to Captain Holland:
“Come. She knows all, and has borne it well.”
She led him to the door of Mrs. Holland’s room, and opened it. As he entered there was a cry of:
“Oh Jack! My Jack!”
Then she closed it behind him, and left husband and wife together.
A few days afterwards, there was a family consultation.
“Now, Dick,” his father said, “we must settle about your plans. You know we have decided upon going home, by the next ship, and taking Annie with us, without waiting for her father’s letter. Of course I shall have no difficulty in finding out, when I get there, what his address is. I have promised your mother to give up the sea, and settle down again at Shadwell, where I can meet old friends and shall feel at home. We have had a long talk over what you said the other night, about your insisting that we should take the money those jewels of yours fetch. Well, we won’t do that.”
“Then I will sell them, Father,” Dick said positively, “and give the money to a hospital!”
“I have not finished yet, Dick. We won’t take all the money, but we have agreed that we will take a quarter of it. Of course, we could manage on my savings, as your mother did when I was away. We shall lose the little allowance the Company made her, but I shall buy a share in a ship with my money, which will bring in a good deal better rate of interest than she got for it in the funds, so we could still manage very well. Still, as we feel that it would please you, we agree to take a quarter of the money the jewels fetch; and that, with what I have, will give us an income well beyond our wants. So that is settled.
“Now, about yourself. I really don’t think that you can do better than what you proposed, when we were talking of it yesterday. You would be like a fish out of water, in England, if you had nothing to occupy your time; and therefore can’t do better than enter the Service here, and remain, at any rate, for a few years.
“As your commission was dated from the time you joined Lord Cornwallis, two and a half years ago, you won’t be at the bottom of the tree, and while you are serving you will want no money here, and the interest of your capital will be accumulating. If I invest it in shipping for you, you will get eight or ten percent for it; and as I shall pick good ships, commanded by men I know, and will divide the money up in small shares, among half a dozen of them, there will be practically no risk—and of course the vessels will be insured. So that, at the end of ten years, by reinvesting the profits, your money will be more than doubled, and you will have a nice fortune when you choose to come home, even if the jewels do not fetch anything like what you expect.”