That day passed slowly away, with the heat increasing till the
afternoon, and then slowly declining again towards evening. The
greatest care was taken of the sepoy prisoners, and the men had the most
stringent orders not to go anywhere near the edge of the wood, lest they
should be seen by any of the natives at the rajah's camp, and nothing
could have been better than their conduct--all, to a man, busying
themselves in polishing up their accoutrements and waiting patiently
until their services were wanted, for the discipline of our troop was
perfection.
Quite early in the day I went to Sergeant Craig, but the doctor was by
him.
"A little irritable this morning," said the latter. "Wounds going on
all right; but they pain him, and I've given him something to make him
sleep. Don't disturb him, poor fellow."
"Is he worse?" I whispered.
"Worse? No; better. I'm making a splendid job of him. He'll be about
again before long."
I had to come away disappointed, but I soon had something else to take
up my attention; for, as I was wondering what sort of a plan Craig's
would be for seizing the guns, Dost came up to me.
"Going to the captain, sahib," he said. "He will give me rupees, and I
can go, and buy food."
"But you'll be careful not to betray our hiding-place, Dost."
"The sahib may trust me," he said, proudly. "They will only think me
one who buys to sell again."
I walked with him to where Brace was standing, watching the changing
guard over our prisoners, and he turned to us sharply.
"Ready to start, Dost?"
"Yes, sahib," replied the man, holding out his hand for the rupees. "I
will try all I can to get plenty, but it will be poor food for the
sahib."
"Never mind. Now, be careful."
"Yes, sahib," said Dost, taking the rupees given to him, hiding them in
a fold of his turban, and then salaaming and going off amongst the
trees, while after satisfying himself about the safety of his prisoners,
Brace laid his hand upon my shoulder, and led me toward the edge of the
deep forest, which we approached carefully, going down on our hands and
knees before peering out, and seeing a long line of men, with their
laden donkeys, each bearing a heavy yellowish-green pile.
"The grass-cutters," I whispered, as the men led their animals up toward
the little flat, which looked bright and cheerful in the morning
sunshine.
"I'm glad to see that, Gil, my lad," said the captain. "It shows that
they are taking good care of the poor horses." As we watched, the line
of grass-cutters disappeared in a hollow, and we could then see the
sentries, with their drawn swords, slowly marching up and down, while a
couple more at a distance gave a hint of the care Ny Deen was taking to
guard against surprise.
As we had half expected, quite early in the morning the troop rode
slowly out, the men in white, looking fairly soldierly, and the horses,
as far as we could judge at that distance, in excellent condition, and
carefully groomed.
"Gil," said Brace, suddenly, "go back and send three men with the horses
a good half-mile further into the forest. Let them stay there till I
send for them back. If they are within hearing here, one of them is
sure to hear the jingle of the accoutrements, and neigh out a
challenge."
"Of course; it would be ruinous," I said, "unless we use it as a lure to
bring them near to us, and then made a sudden dash."
"It would not bring them near, Gil," said Brace, smiling, "but send them
farther away. Ny Deen did not plot and plan and suffer, as he has
suffered, to get those guns, and make himself master of a dashing troop
of horse artillery, to run any risk of losing it again."
"No," I said, thoughtfully; and I hurried away, feeling how right he
was.
The task did not take me many minutes; I only stopped to see three men
leading off our three beautiful chargers, and gratified myself with a
few pats on their glossy necks, before hurrying back and creeping down
by Brace's side, where I watched with him the drilling and training of
the native gunners, who, under the orders of Ny Deen, whose clothes
glittered in the sun, went slowly and fairly through the gun-drill,
making believe to carry cartridges to the gun muzzle, ram them home,
fire, and then sponge out the bores, and all in a way which went to
prove that, after a few months, they would be clever enough gunners to
do a great deal of mischief to a foe.
The proceedings were very similar to those we had seen on the previous
day, only that the troop marched by us much more closely, and I had a
better view of Ny Deen, unmistakably our syce at the barracks, but now
transformed into a gorgeously dressed, princely looking chief, mounted
on his graceful-looking Arab, whose hoofs hardly seemed to touch the
ground, so beautifully elastic was every bound as it cantered by.
I was admiring the group before me, and had turned to whisper something
to Brace, but I saw such a fixed look of misery and despair in his face
that I was silent, and felt for him, knowing, too, that I ought to have
been as much hurt at the loss of our horses and guns as he.
We crouched there, watching and listening to the dull trample of the
horses over the plain, the jingle of the swords, and the peculiar
unmistakable rattle of gun-carriage and limber. Now they halted, and
pretended to fire; now they limbered up, and advanced and retreated, and
finally, in capital order, marched down to their quarters, the guns
being parked, as before; and not till then did Brace give any sign of
his presence by giving vent to a low, deep sigh.
"If I could only think of some scheme!" I kept on saying to myself, as
I walked back with him to our little camp; but the more I tried to
invent some plan, the more hopeless it all seemed. The only idea I had
was to gather our men together in two bodies, to be hidden among the
trees, half on one side of the plain, half on the other, and one of
those parties to attack and try to surprise the troop when they came
near, when, if they took alarm and galloped off to the other side, they
would be running into the arms of another little ambuscade, whom we
could go over to help.