ON GUARD.
A haunting, half-superstitious dread beset Gerrard as he dressed the
next morning, the presentiment that he would hear that Partab Singh had
died in the night. After the determination the old man had shown in
laying his plans, and the earnestness with which he had impressed them
upon the Englishman, it would be eminently suitable dramatically, if
absolutely fatal practically, that he should die before the steps could
be taken to carry them out. But the foreboding proved to be baseless,
and during the next few days Gerrard spent a good deal of time in close
converse with the Rajah. The first step to be taken was undoubtedly to
secure the approval of Colonel Antony, without whose active sympathy
the great scheme would not have a chance of success. In his anxiety to
assure the succession to his favourite child, Partab Singh had
seriously compromised the jealously guarded independence of his state
by his advances to the English as represented by Gerrard, and there
could be no doubt that Granthis and Mohammedans would unite in
resenting this betrayal. Hence, when the day of reckoning came, it was
all-important to have not only the moral, but the physical support of
the British secured, and it would be all the better if the agreement
could be announced as an accomplished fact before the need arose to put
it in practice. The Rajah had indeed confided his wishes to his most
trusted councillors, but it was highly probable that in case of a
popular rising these worthy gentlemen would find it more convenient, as
it would certainly be safer, to forget the exact nature of the charge
committed to them.
Adhering to his opinion that a personal interview between the Rajah and
the Resident would be the surest way of enlisting Colonel Antony's
sympathy for Kharrak Singh and his future, Gerrard now bent his efforts
towards bringing this about. The disputed boundary between Agpur and
Darwan afforded an excellent excuse for the Rajah to journey to his
frontier and meet Charteris, who would hold the brief for Darwan, and
if it could be so arranged that Colonel Antony should accidentally be
in the neighbourhood, the thing would be done. Gerrard wrote urging
his chief's presence with all the earnestness he could command,
suggesting that if he could not come himself, he should depute his
brother James to represent him. He then turned to the task of inducing
Partab Singh to undertake the journey--a difficult endeavour, since he
could not promise the desired interview at the end of it. A change had
come over the Rajah since the evening when he had bestowed his
confidence, and there was no doubt that he was failing. It seemed as
though his vigour of body and mind had given way when he had once
entrusted the care of his son to other hands, for Gerrard could
distinctly trace the progress of decay in the short time he had known
him, and the exertion of planning a move on such a large scale appeared
to be too much for his strength. Since it was not to be supposed that
this was a mere flying visit to the frontier, undertaken for a purpose,
it must have all the characteristics of a royal progress, court,
zenana, troops, elephants and guns, all accompanying their lord. The
trusted councillors looked unutterable things at all Gerrard's
suggestions, and military and civil officials combined to defeat all
his arrangements by means of the dead weight of their inertia. The
Rajah was willing to go, provided he had not to take any trouble, but
he criticised freely all the points submitted to him, indicating how
much simpler and less laborious it would have been if Gerrard had
accepted his offers without insisting on referring things to his
superiors. However, by dint of patience and resolution, the long train
of men and baggage-animals was got under way at last, and with
thankfulness Gerrard left the minarets of Agpur behind him. It was
arranged that during the first day's journey, which was a very short
one, he and his men should march with the Rajah's cavalcade, that he
might notice anything neglected or forgotten and set it right, but that
afterwards he should press on by forced marches, so as to meet Colonel
Antony's returning couriers on the Darwan frontier, and if the tenor of
the letters they bore should be disappointing, make a flying journey to
Ranjitgarh itself, and urge his views upon the Resident. That this
might be necessary he gathered from the latest instructions he had
received--written, as he guessed, just before the arrival of his
detailed report, and containing stringent warnings against committing
the British Government on his own responsibility to any particular plan
in dealing with Agpur.
The evening of the first day's march Gerrard spent with Partab Singh in
his private audience-tent, laying plans which were to provide against
the occurrence of all possible contingencies during his absence. At
the close of the interview he took leave of the Rajah, whom he would
only see from a distance as he rode away on the morrow, and received
his urgent injunctions to let nothing delay his return, whether his
mission was successful or not.
"For there is no one I can trust save you, O my friend," said the old
man. "All these men, who flew to do my bidding when my eye was clear
and my sword keen, are beginning to make plans for their own advantage,
thinking that I cannot detect their guile. In your hands I can leave
my son in confidence, but as for them, they would follow the banner of
that other to-morrow if he offered them larger bribes."
Gerrard assured him that he would return as soon as he was allowed, and
went back to his own tents, wondering whether he was doing well in
leaving things to take care of themselves, even for so important an
errand. Orders for an early start had already been issued, and when he
wished to note down one or two things that had occurred during the day,
his canteen served for a seat and a camel-trunk set on end for a table,
Munshi Somwar Mal lending ink and a reed pen. Sleep seemed inclined to
forsake the young man that night when at length he lay on his bed
before the tent-door, the quarrelling round the camp-fires and the
fidgeting of the horses waking him whenever he dropped into a doze. At
last he succeeded in falling asleep, only to wake in a cold
perspiration, and to find himself standing up and hastily girding on
sword and revolver. What had awakened him he could not imagine, but he
had a vague impression of a cry or wail of some sort. It was not
repeated, and he unbuckled his belts and lay down again, mentally
anathematizing the perfume mingled with the Rajah's tobacco, which must
have given him nightmare. But when he woke again, in the grey light of
early dawn, the air was full of the sound of wailing, and his Granthi
officers and chief servants were gathered round his bed, respectfully
waiting for his eyes to open.
"Hillo, I must have overslept!" he cried. "Get the men into order of
march, Badan Hazari. I shall be dressed in no time."
"Do the orders of the Presence for the early start hold good?" asked
the Granthi officer significantly.
"Why not? What in the world is that noise?"
"It is the wailing of the women in the Rajah's camp, sahib. His
Highness was found dead by his attendants in the night."
"What! murdered?"
"They say there are no marks of violence, sahib. Hearing no sound from
the tent of audience after your honour had left, the servants ventured
to peep in, and found his Highness stretched upon the cushions, dead."
"The Protector of the Poor is earnestly entreated to shed the light of
his countenance upon the all-prevailing darkness in the camp," said a
white-bearded old man, whom Gerrard knew to be the Rani's scribe. He
rose hastily.
"I will be there immediately. The start is postponed for the present,
Badan Hazari, but strike the tents ready for marching, and get ready a
messenger at once to go to Darwan."
In the intervals of dressing he scribbled a hasty note to Charteris,
telling him what had happened, and that he should probably return to
the city at once, urging him also to forward the news immediately to
Ranjitgarh, and ask for definite instructions. Having seen this
despatched, he mounted and rode over to the Rajah's camp, which was in
a state of the wildest confusion. The bodyguard, the only portion of
the troops that could be trusted, were mounting guard round the zenana
enclosure, into which the corpse of the Rajah had been carried, the
Rani having, as Gerrard learned, at once sent out her jewellery to be
divided among them, and thus secured their fidelity for the time. The
rest of the soldiers, with the servants and transport-drivers, had
evidently been holding high carnival outside the ring of steel. In the
few hours which had elapsed since the ghastly discovery, the brocades
and kincob of the audience-tents had been torn down and distributed,
the cushions deprived of their rich covers, and the very _gaddi_ on
which the Rajah's body had been found stripped of its damask. Even the
carpets were gone from the floors, and the cotton ground-cloths torn in
every direction. Gerrard's first task was the restoration of some
measure of order. His boldness in taking command of the situation
attracted the soldiers towards him, and he made a definite bid for
their allegiance by the promise of large rewards to be distributed by
Rajah Kharrak Singh at Agpur. Strict orders were issued against
further plundering, and every man who had obtained nothing, or less
than he expected, became a detective ready to hunt down his more
fortunate comrade and secure the return of the spoils. Partab Singh's
councillors and courtiers began to appear out of various hiding-places,
and all expressed a most touching anxiety to be honoured with any
commands from Gerrard. But before he had time to listen to them, the
circle of soldiers round the zenana tents opened, and a little
procession came out. Between the Rani's scribe and her spiritual
adviser, a large Brahmin, came Kharrak Singh, with the royal umbrella
held over his head, and a guard of the Rani's own Rajput servants
following him. Marching up to Gerrard as he stood among the crowd of
eager suitors in the devastated audience-tent, the boy took off his
turban and laid it at his feet.
"The widow of Rajah Partab Singh kisses the footprints of Jirad Sahib,
and entreats that she and her son may sit down under his shadow," he
said perfunctorily, evidently repeating what had been taught him.
"Jirad Sahib knows that I am Rajah now? He will make them give me a
real sword, will he not?"
"Presently. At Agpur," said Gerrard hastily. Stooping, he took the
child into his arms, and a gasp of satisfaction broke from the
onlookers. Kharrak Singh's cause was to have the support of the
English, as represented by this agent of Colonel Antony's.
Still holding the boy by the hand, Gerrard gave orders for an immediate
return to Agpur, where the body of the Rajah might be burnt with due
solemnity. Colonel Antony's warning against involving the British
Government in responsibility came back to him with a touch of irony.
This responsibility had thrust itself upon him, and the return to Agpur
would involve further responsibility, in that he must proceed to secure
the allegiance of the troops by the means prescribed by Partab Singh,
and they would place themselves at the command of the man who paid
them. Whether he was allowed to continue in the position or not, he
was undoubtedly acting as Regent of Agpur for the present.
One man after another was dismissed to his duties, and retired with
salaams, until practically only the old councillors were left. There
was a guilty and subdued air of expectancy about some of them, a
tendency to start at any sudden sound and look round suspiciously,
which made Gerrard wonder what they were waiting for. But when the
last soldier had stridden clanking out of the tent, a distant thudding
became audible, like the approach of a body of horse. Significant
glances passed between the men Gerrard had noticed, to be succeeded by
an expression of utter guilelessness when they saw that they were
observed, while those who were not in the secret began to show signs of
fear. In the general disorder no guards had been posted on the
outskirts of the camp, and the approaching cavalcade swept gorgeously
up the broad avenue leading to the Rajah's tent, riding down the few
who sought to challenge their passage. Gerrard turned hastily to the
scribe and the Brahmin.
"Take the boy back to the zenana at once, and see that no one passes
the guards, either going in or coming out, save by orders from me. Who
is this that comes?" he demanded, facing round upon the councillors, as
Kharrak Singh was hurried away.
"Who should it be but the eldest son of our lord, sahib?" was the
answer, and as the old men spoke, Sher Singh flung himself from his
reeking horse at the door of the tent and entered.
"Where is my lord and father?" he cried. "Bring me to him, that I may
embrace his feet, and receive the forgiveness and the favour he has
graciously promised me."
"Alas, Kunwar-ji!" chorused the councillors, all trying to push one
another forward to tell the news. Sher Singh glanced at them
contemptuously.
"Fools, will you try to keep me from my father now that he has sent for
me? Because he has not made his beneficent intentions known to you,
will you deny them? Let him be told that I am here, and you will learn
what is his will."
"Prince, your venerable father passed away in the night," said Gerrard
laconically. The exact bearing of this new arrival upon the situation
he could not determine, but he was very certain that it behoved him to
walk warily. Sher Singh turned upon him a magnificent glance of anger
and disdain.
"This is well done--very well done!" he exclaimed, while the
councillors cowered before the meaning accents like reeds before a
blast. "My lord and father proclaims his gracious willingness to lay
the hand of forgiveness upon the brow of penitence, and in the few
short hours before the feet of haste can carry me to the spot, he dies,
and his intentions are unfulfilled."
"Were his intentions known to any besides yourself, Prince?" asked
Gerrard, and noted that the eyes of the councillors sought Sher Singh's
face, as though to inquire what he wished them to say. But he
disregarded them.
"I understand that Jirad Sahib has enjoyed the honour of the Rajah's
confidence of late, to the neglect of his tried and trusted
councillors. Is it possible that nothing was said to him of my
father's wishes?"
"They were communicated to me in great detail, but you, Prince, bore no
part in them whatever." Gerrard weighed his words carefully, feeling
that the time had come to throw down the gauntlet.
Sher Singh turned slowly to the councillors, and Gerrard noticed for
the first time that the armed men who had accompanied him were crowding
at the entrance of the tent. "I call you all to witness," said the
Prince deliberately, "that this stranger, this encroaching Feringhee,
who has supplanted my father's natural councillors in his confidence,
desires now to supplant me also in my rights. Brothers, friends, when
he thought he had attained the height of his evil desires, and learned
too late that he had only opened the path for me, what did he do? My
father made his final decision last night, when he despatched to me
with a gracious message of favour the runner who had carried my humble
petition. Before I can arrive, before he can announce his
determination to the world, he dies. Who stands to profit by his
death?"
Before the last words were out of Sher Singh's mouth, the tent was
filled with the clash of weapons. The armed men in the entrance sprang
forward at Gerrard, who believed that his last moment had come. But to
his amazement a ring of bucklers encompassed him. The six Rajputs had
remained when Kharrak Singh was taken away, and they stepped before him
with ready swords. Baulked of the easy prey they had expected, Sher
Singh's men hesitated, and the councillors flung themselves into the
breach, weeping, clutching at the Prince's coat, urging in tremulous
voices the impolicy of slaying a British envoy and thus bringing
destruction upon Agpur. Sher Singh allowed himself to be turned from
his immediate purpose.
"Let the Feringhee live for the present," he said, waving his followers
back. "Speak, O Jirad Sahib, you who hide behind the servants of a
woman, and tell me who stood to profit by my father's death?"
"You!" returned Gerrard promptly. "You, who have trumped up this story
of a reconciliation, and come here to assert it now that he cannot
contradict you. You, of whom your father spoke to me with aversion and
absolute lack of forgiveness only last night. Tell me," he turned to
the councillors, "when did this messenger of Kunwar Sher Singh's
arrive--before my visit to his Highness, or after I had left him? You,
O Sarfaraz Khan, as keeper of his Highness's head, must know all who
entered or left his presence. When was it?"
The old Mohammedan captain of the guard gazed miserably from Gerrard to
Sher Singh and back again, and finally faltered out that to the best of
his recollection it was before the Sahib's visit.
"Then the petition had been rejected before I arrived, and the
messenger despatched bearing the Rajah's refusal to see his son's
face," said Gerrard.
"The man lies. It was after," burst forth Sher Singh. "Here is Sada
Sukhi, the king's friend, who can testify it."
"Then," said Gerrard calmly, "the messenger murdered the Rajah, since
both my guards and his own can testify that he bade me farewell in good
health at the door of this very tent, and did me the honour to admire
my horse."
"Fool! does a man murder the one who has just promised to give him all
he desires?" cried Sher Singh.
"No, but he does sometimes murder the one who has refused it. And so
Prince Sher Singh was his own messenger?"
"It is a lie--I swear it!" He appealed frantically to the bystanders.
"I was at Adamkot, the fortress of my father-in-law, and rode forth on
the very heels of my messenger, so eager was I to receive my father's
answer. Then when the gracious response arrived--the messenger meeting
me on the way--as I could set no bounds to my joy, even so was it with
my speed, and I rode hither at a pace that was like to kill my horse
and the horses of those that were with me."
Gerrard dismissed the explanation with a wave of the hand, but old Sada
Sukhi, who had succeeded Dwarika Nath as Diwan, and was by common
consent the wiliest man in Agpur, cringed humbly forward.
"I will take it upon me to speak, worthless as I am, in the presence of
these great ones," he murmured. "Surely there is wrong in speaking of
murder, since no sign of any such horror has been found. But if our
lord Partab Singh Rajah died in the course of nature, then Kunwar Sher
Singh has been unjustly accused by Jirad Sahib, and Jirad Sahib by Sher
Singh. Is this a moment to bandy accusations that cannot be
maintained, when our lord's body lies unburnt, and all our minds should
be devoted to mourning him and paying fitting reverence to his
obsequies?"
"Truly do they call thee wise, old man!" said Sher Singh heartily. "My
sorrow comes upon me as a flood at thy words, and I desire only to
mourn my beloved father."
"But wait," said Gerrard. "The Prince knows as well as I do, and you
also, Diwan-ji, how much depends upon the funeral ceremony. It was the
will of Partab Singh Rajah that his son Kharrak Singh should set light
to the pyre as chief mourner, and as his successor on the _gaddi_."
Sher Singh covered his face. "Dust is on my head, that an evil chance
has come between me and my desire!" he said in a broken voice. "What
is the _gaddi_ to me, if I am deprived of my father's forgiveness? The
right of deciding upon his successor was his, and he has exercised it
in favour of Kharrak Singh. The child's mother is of royal blood, mine
was not, and I bow to the decree. But I will not consent to be robbed
of my right to walk beside my brother in the procession, and to guide
his hand when he fires the pile. The pyre of Partab Singh Rajah and
his Rani shall not be left to the care of a Feringhee and a Christian."
"There will be no suttee," said Gerrard decisively.
"The matter is not in your hands, Jirad Sahib," said Sher Singh, as a
murmur broke from the councillors. "When the meanest of the Ranjitgarh
Maharajas died, two Ranis and eleven women-slaves bore him company to
the tomb, and shall Partab Singh lack the tribute of respect? I think
more highly of the dwellers behind the curtain than you do, if you
dream that they will permit themselves to be prevented from performing
this glorious duty."
"Not the meanest slave-girl shall ascend the pyre," repeated Gerrard.
"The Rani Gulab Kur is bound by an oath imposed upon her by your father
to live and watch over her son, and I shall prevent the sacrifice of
any other woman."
"You! and by what authority?"
"By the authority of the Rani, who is regent of Agpur by the will of
Rajah Partab Singh."
Sher Singh turned to the rest, his face convulsed with fury. "You hear
this low-born one, how he denies me my natural rights, and would
deprive my father of the customary honours? Am not I rightfully regent
during my brother's minority? If I advance no claim to the _gaddi_, do
you think that I am to be set aside altogether? Let this man Jirad
know that I have the promise of Antni Sahib's support."
"When Colonel Antony's instructions reach me, I will hasten to
acknowledge you as co-regent," said Gerrard. "Until then, I take my
orders from the Rani alone, and exercise the powers she has conferred
upon me."
"Come aside with me and let us speak together," said Sher Singh
imperiously. "See, I am unarmed," casting sword and dagger on the
ground. Gerrard laid aside his sword and revolver, and walked with him
to the back of the tent.
"I do not desire your death, sahib," said Sher Singh eagerly. "You can
see for yourself that it would prejudice me with Antni Sahib, whose
favour I desire to retain. But the army is with me, and will acclaim
me as regent, and that place I will not give up. It might be very
greatly to your advantage if you could make it convenient to recollect
my father's desiring you to admit me to a third share of power with
yourself and the Rani Gulab Kur."
"It is impossible for me to recollect what did not happen," said
Gerrard, turning away coldly. Sher Singh's voice pursued him.
"Then until we start the way will be open for you to return to Darwan
with your own troops if you desire it. After that, if you still insist
on accompanying me to the city--by the Guru, you shall see more of it
than you care for!"
Gerrard beckoned to his Granthi orderly, who came up quickly. "Bid
Badan Hazari parade the troop in mourning order, ready to ride to Agpur
at the appointed time," he said.
"In an evil day for yourself were you born, O youth of little wisdom!"
said Sher Singh, and withdrew. The Rajputs followed Gerrard closely as
he also left the tent, and approached the zenana enclosure, where the
less important tents were already being struck in preparation for the
return march. The scribe was looking out for him, and the guards
allowed the old man to pass.
"Sahib," he whispered fearfully, "it was murder. Our lord Partab Singh
was stabbed with a needle dagger above the heart, so that he would not
bleed, and the weapon was broken in the wound. Only a scratch is
visible, and her Highness has bound all who saw it to silence, that
that other may not learn that his wickedness has been discovered. But
she desires me to say to your honour that evil is certainly determined,
and to bid you depart in safety while you may, that you share not the
fate of her son and herself."
"I go to Agpur to set Kharrak Singh on the _gaddi_," said Gerrard
doggedly. "Bid the Rani beware of poison, and eat and drink nothing
that has not been prepared by one she trusts."
"The Cherisher of the Poor forgets that her Highness is fasting," said
the scribe, scandalized.
"So much the better. But look after the boy, and see that he accepts
food from no one outside. And tell the Rani to permit no one,
freewoman or slave, to quit the zenana without an order from me. There
is to be no suttee."