Gil the Gunner; or, The Youngest Officer in the East, by George Manville
Fenn.
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This is a very long book from this author. Gilbert Vincent, very young
at the time, joins the army to serve in India. Various battles and
engagements take place, as a result of which Gil gets injuries, and
spends a lot of time unconscious or recovering. At one stage he is
captured by the local Rajah, who is extremely wealthy, and who takes a
shine to our hero, making sure that he is treated extremely well by his
domestic servants. Gil is offered any jewels he likes, but declines the
gift, saying that his freedom to go back to his father in his regiment
was worth more than any amount of opulent jewels.
The object of all this fighting is nominally to oust the British from
their position as peace-keepers in India. It ought to have made it much
more clear to young readers what devastation would result if the British
were removed. I do not think it was clear to many of us in the last
years of the British Raj how much hatred various kinds of Indians had
for each other, until the days immediately following the hand-over of
power on 17th August 1947, when they really got going on one another.
NH
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GIL THE GUNNER; OR, THE YOUNGEST OFFICER IN THE EAST, BY GEORGE MANVILLE
FENN.
Or, The Youngest Officer in the East.