INTO THE TERRIBLE LAND.
It was not long before Ferrers’ request for an accession of force
reached Major Keeling, but it came at an unfortunate moment, for the
Commandant was just setting out in the opposite direction, taking with
him every man he could muster except those needed to guard the town.
News had arrived that a band of Nalapuri raiders had crossed the
frontier to the westward two days before, and as nothing more had been
heard of them, it was evident they were hiding in the hills and
waiting for an opportunity to swoop down and attack the labourers
engaged upon the new canal works. The various raids of the kind which
had occurred hitherto had been dealt with by the native police, but
having received timely warning of this organised and more formidable
incursion, Major Keeling meant to make an example of its promoters.
They should not cut up his coolies in future, however tempting and
defenceless the prey might appear. The matter was urgent, for delay
would enable the raiders either to accomplish their object, or, on
learning his intention, to make good their retreat over the frontier.
Once in their own country they need only separate and mingle among
their fellow-countrymen, who were all as villainous in looks and
character as themselves, and there would be no hope of tracking them.
Hence Major Keeling’s face was perturbed when he sent for Colin to his
office shortly before the hour fixed for starting.
“I have just had a _chit_ from Ferrers, asking for a small
reinforcement in order to effect the capture of Shir Hussein, and
suggesting that you should be sent in charge of it,” he said. “Had you
any idea that he had found out where he was?”
“He mentioned to me that he had reason to believe Shir Hussein had
taken refuge in a fort which he knew very well, sir.”
“And that was when he was here the other day? Most extraordinary of
him not to have said anything to me.”
“I think he meant to reconnoitre the place, sir, and see how large a
force would be needed, before he said anything about it.”
“Lest I should rush in and carry off the honour, I suppose? And he
promised to ask for you--and you are wild to go? It won’t do, Ross. He
can’t have reconnoitred the place to much purpose, I fear, from his
letter. He talks about Shir Hussein’s ‘sheltering in a ruined fort,’
and ‘hopes to turn him out of it.’ Curiously enough, independent
information on the subject reached me only this morning, from which it
appears that Shir Hussein has between two and three hundred men with
him, and that he has repaired his ‘ruined fort’ in a very workmanlike
way.”
“Perhaps his strength is exaggerated, sir?” pleaded Colin, seeing
Ferrers’ chance of distinction fading away; but Major Keeling shook
his head.
“The information comes from one of my most trusted spies. No; I should
certainly have dealt with Shir Hussein myself if I had not been
starting on this business. How he can have managed to support such a
following in that district is most mysterious, and argues a good deal
of slackness on Ferrers’ part.”
“I--I think perhaps he was outwitted, sir. I mean that he seems to
have looked for the man everywhere except comparatively near at hand.”
“Possibly; but he ought not to have been outwitted. Well, Ross, you
see that it’s out of the question for you to go. Shir Hussein and his
fort won’t fly away, and I’ll take them in hand when this
raiding-party is disposed of, Ferrers co-operating from Shah Nawaz.
No; it’s his discovery, after all, and he shall have the credit of it
and be in command. If I go, it will be as a spectator.”
“But they might escape first, sir--when they know they are discovered,
and that messengers are going backwards and forwards between here and
Shah Nawaz, I mean--and Ferrers will lose his chance.”
“I can’t sacrifice my coolies that Ferrers may distinguish himself.
But look here. I will call out the doctor and his Hospital Fencibles
to guard the town again, and you shall take the detachment I was
intending to leave here, and join Ferrers. Then he will be strong
enough to keep the fellows from breaking away as you suggest. It’s
really important that they should not vanish and give us all the
trouble of looking for them over again. But mind, there is to be no
fighting. The troops--your detachment and Ferrers’ own--are to be used
purely for keeping guard over the approaches to Shir Hussein’s fort
and preventing his escape. My orders are stringent--I will send them
in writing as well as by word of mouth--that no attack is to be made
on the fort until I come up with the reinforcements. I know Ferrers
would be perfectly ready to run his head against a stone wall,
expecting to batter it down. Perhaps he might, but I distrust his
prudence, and I won’t have the town left open to an attack from Shir
Hussein. You understand?”
“Yes, sir,” said Colin dolefully. He knew by intuition that not even
Major Keeling’s chivalrous offer of self-suppression would make his
orders palatable to Ferrers, and his foresight was justified when he
arrived at Shah Nawaz with his small detachment, and found the whole
place in a turmoil of preparation. Ferrers was first incredulous, then
wrathful.
“Didn’t I tell you how it would be?” he cried furiously. “Keeling is
determined that I shan’t leave the frontier with flying colours. It’s
nothing but mean, miserable jealousy on his part--and you side with
him. I expected it of the others, but you----!”
“But your force is not large enough. Major Keeling believes that Shir
Hussein has over two hundred men with him.”
“As if I didn’t know that! A surprise would make it all right.”
“But he has repaired his fort, so the Chief says.”
“He has made a new gate, which I am going to blow in, and piled up a
few of the stones which had fallen down. Do you think I don’t know
more about it than Keeling, when I reconnoitred up to the very gate
two nights ago, and not a soul stirred?”
“If you had only said so in your letter! He thought you underrated the
difficulties.”
“You fool! If I had told him all I knew about the strength of the
place, would he ever have sanctioned my attacking it? I thought I had
made that right, at any rate, and then this cursed spy of his turns
up! What business has he sending spies into my district?--to spy upon
me, I suppose, and make sure I get no chance of distinguishing
myself.”
“You are unjust, George. He will let you have all the credit when he
brings up the reinforcements. You are to be in command, and he will
only be a spectator.”
“You are too green. Don’t you know his dodge of getting these chaps to
surrender by the magic of his name? Where should I be then? If they
surrender, he gets the credit; if they don’t, he’ll get the fighting.
You don’t catch him sitting still and looking on, or joining as a
volunteer under me.”
“I really think that was what he meant, and you couldn’t expect it of
any one else,” said Colin thoughtfully.
“And I don’t expect it of him, you may be sure. I am going to carry
out my original plan, and surprise the fort to-night.”
“But that would be disobeying orders!”
“What do I care for orders? It’s a plot to rob me of my last chance of
distinction while I’m here. Dare you look me in the face and say it
isn’t? Porter and Haigh and the rest hate me like poison, and all
toady the Chief, so it’s no wonder that he tries to push them on, and
not me. But I won’t stand it.”
“Then you must attack with only your own men--not mine.”
“What! are you afraid?” There was an unpleasant smile on Ferrers’
face. “Then you shall stay in command here, and I’ll take over your
men for the occasion.”
“No, you won’t. They are under my orders, not yours.”
Ferrers flung an ugly word at him, but could not alter his
determination, and all might have been well if Colin had not felt
moved to improve the occasion. “Don’t think I don’t sympathise with
you,” he said. “I know how hard it must be, but I can assure you
Keeling means well by you. After all, it is only keeping our men on
outpost duty for a day or two, and having the fight then.”
“No,” said Ferrers earnestly--his mood seemed to have changed--“that’s
not all. I know the place too well to think we can guard all its
outlets. Shir Hussein and his men will simply make themselves scarce,
and we shall lose them. Colin, I’m going to put the glass to my blind
eye.” Colin moved uneasily. “Isn’t it Keeling’s boast that he commands
men, not machines--that he can trust his officers to disobey an order
if circumstances make it desirable?” Colin gave a doubtful assent, and
Ferrers went on, “I call upon you to second me. If you are afraid of
the responsibility, stay behind here; but unless you are bent upon my
death, you will let me have your men. We shall never have such an
opportunity again. By to-morrow morning Shir Hussein will have heard
you are here, and the chance of a surprise will be over. To-night he
knows nothing; there is no watch kept. I have the powder and the fuse
all ready for blowing in the gate, and once inside, we shall have them
at our mercy. Dare you risk the responsibility and come?”
“I do. We will come,” said Colin, carried away by his friend’s unusual
earnestness, and Ferrers went out well pleased. His preparations were
in such a forward state that they had not suffered from his temporary
withdrawal, and at the appointed time all was ready for the
night-march. It was his intention to reach the fort about an hour
before dawn, and this part of his plans was carried out admirably.
After posting Colin and the larger portion of his force in readiness
to rush forward as soon as the smoke cleared away, Ferrers himself
went forward with one of the native officers to place the powder-bag
against the gate. It was impossible to follow their movements with the
eye, but as Colin gazed into the darkness, there came a crash, a
glare, a blinding explosion, shouts of dismay. He gave the word to the
eager men behind him, and they rushed forward with a cheer. But before
they were half-way across the space which separated them from the fort
gate, Colin became aware that bullets were whistling round him, that
men behind him were falling. Could it be that the men left in reserve
with their carbines loaded to keep down any fire that might be opened
from the wall were firing too low? No, the bullets came from before,
not from behind. As Colin realised this, he tripped over something and
fell into a hole, and was followed by several of his men. Before they
could extricate themselves, there was a tremendous rush from in front,
and a band of swordsmen, cutting and slashing with their heavy
tulwars, threw themselves upon the disordered force. The men behind
durst not fire, for fear of hitting their comrades; Colin, struggling
vehemently to his feet at last, was cut down and trampled upon; and if
a wild figure, with face streaming with blood, and hair partially
burnt off, had not burst into the fray, scarcely one of the
storming-party would have escaped. But Ferrers, who had been flung
senseless to a distance when the burst of firing from the wall--which
proved that it was he and not Shir Hussein who was surprised--had
exploded the gunpowder he was carrying and killed his companion, was
able to rally his force, and even press the enemy’s swordsmen back to
the gate. There was no prospect now of pushing in after them; all he
could do was to send orders to the men held in reserve to fire at any
flash of a matchlock from the wall, while he extricated Colin’s body
from the hole torn in the ground by the explosion, and his men carried
off their wounded comrades. The dead must be left behind--disgrace
unprecedented in the history of the Khemistan Horse. To retire on the
reserve, then to retreat slowly, with frequent halts to drive back the
pursuers, to the spot where the horses had been left, and to return
with sorely diminished numbers to Shah Nawaz, was all that could be
done. Had Shir Hussein chosen to follow up his advantage there would
have been little hope of defending the place successfully; but the
tradition of the invincibility of the regiment stood it in good stead
in this dark hour, and Ferrers was able to despatch a messenger to
Alibad, and then turn to and help the native hospital assistant who
was doing his best for Colin’s ghastly wounds.
The news of the repulse created great excitement at Alibad; and as
soon as Dr Tarleton had sent off another messenger to Major Keeling,
he summoned Lady Haigh and Penelope and as many other non-combatants
as could be accommodated there to take refuge in the gaol, while he
armed his volunteers and appointed them their stations. But all fear
of an attack was at an end on the following morning, when Major
Keeling and his force swept like a tornado through the town, flushed
with victory over the Nalapuri invaders, and burning to avenge the
most serious check which the Khemistan Horse had met with since its
first formation. Kīlin Sahib had roared like a bull, the messenger
said, when he heard the news, and his face was black towards the
officers who sought to dissuade him from setting out at once for Shah
Nawaz. The men had had a severe fight and a long march, they reminded
him; to which he replied that the Khemistan Horse had often met with
hard knocks before, but had never retired. He was prevailed upon at
last to allow the force a night’s rest; but before daylight he was
parading the men, and selecting the freshest and best mounted to
accompany him, while the others were to escort the prisoners and spoil
to Alibad, and remain to guard the town. Sir Dugald was sent on ahead
to pick up two of his field-pieces, and he rejoined the force with
them as it passed through Alibad, bound first for Shah Nawaz, and then
for Shir Hussein’s stronghold.
Shir Hussein was a man who knew when he was beaten. His first
overwhelming success was entirely unexpected, for, once run to earth,
he had only hoped to make his fortress a hard nut to crack, and keep
the Shah Nawaz detachment occupied with it for some time, while he
stood out for better terms. When he found all his approaches commanded
by marksmen posted among the rocks, and learned that it was the height
of folly for a man to show so much as his head above the parapet, he
congratulated himself on having made such an impression upon the foe
that they had decided upon a blockade rather than an assault, and made
up his mind that he could hold out for weeks. But when a small group
of men and two disagreeable-looking objects made their appearance at
the top of a precipitous cliff, the steepness of which seemed to
suggest that wings would be needed to get guns up there, and a far
from charming variety of round-shot, shell, and grape began to fall
inside his enclosure, Shir Hussein followed the example of the
historic coon, and intimated that he would surrender without further
persuasion. The resistance had been much too brief to satisfy the
outraged feelings of the regiment and its Commandant, but it afforded
these some relief to blow up the fort, and tumble the shattered
fragments down into the valley. Major Keeling ordered a halt at Shah
Nawaz on the way back, that he might install Lieutenant Jones there a
second time in place of Ferrers, whom he had already suspended; but
found to his disgust that there was no punishment involved in this,
since Ferrers had just received his appointment as envoy to Gamara.
The only thing to be done was to cold-shoulder him out of the province
as quickly as possible.
“Envoy or no envoy,” said Major Keeling savagely to Lady Haigh in a
rare moment of confidence, “I’d have court-martialled him if it hadn’t
been for the private grudge between us. You can’t go persecuting the
man who’s cut you out.”
Ferrers’ departure from Alibad, hurried and almost ignominious as it
was, was not wholly without its compensations, for Penelope and he
were drawn nearer together than ever before by their common anxiety
about Colin. Ferrers was so genuinely anxious and distressed for his
friend that he could think of nothing else, and his farewells to
Penelope consisted almost entirely of charges to take care of Colin,
and to let him know exactly how he was getting on. Penelope was not
likely to resent this preoccupation--indeed, she caught herself
reflecting what a sympathising friend she might have been to Ferrers
if he had not insisted upon being regarded as a lover,--and she parted
from him with kinder feelings than she would have thought possible
before. Thus he started on his journey to the river, whence he was to
cross the desert to the eastward and to travel to Calcutta, so as to
receive his orders and credentials from the Government before he
betook himself beyond the bounds of civilisation. Major Keeling saw
him depart with unconcealed pleasure, and promptly ordered up from the
river to replace him a young officer on whom he had had his eye for
some time, sowing the seeds of future trouble by seconding him from
his regiment and appointing him to the Khemistan Horse on his own
authority.
As for Ferrers, he discovered very soon that his mission was not
likely to be either an easy or a particularly glorious one. When the
unfortunate Lieutenant Whybrow had disappeared, the Government
expressed its official regret at his probable fate, and seemed to
think it had done all that could be expected of it. But Whybrow had
possessed relations and many friends, and these were so unreasonable
as to hold the opinion that the Government was responsible for the
lives of its accredited agents. They induced a section of the home
press to take up the subject, and there was something like an
agitation about it in London. Finding that it was not to be left
alone, the Government decided on a compromise. Nothing but
overwhelming physical force could bring the fanatics of Gamara to
their knees, and this could only have been applied by an army, under
the command of Sir Henry Lennox or an officer of his calibre, whose
calculated rashness might, like Faith, “laugh at impossibilities, and
say, It shall be done.” But no one would have ventured to propose such
an expedition at this time, and it was therefore determined to try
moral suasion once more. Ferrers was supplied with the means of
obtaining abundance of money (which was to be rigorously accounted
for), but denied an escort; instructed to obtain the release of
Whybrow, if he was still alive, by all possible means, but strictly
forbidden to indulge in threats which might seem to pledge the
Government to take action. To most people the affair seemed hopeless
from the first; but Ferrers’ failing was not a lack of
self-confidence, and he felt that he had it in him to secure success
where other men would only suffer signal defeat.
His journey to Gamara seemed to justify him in this opinion, for it
was a triumph of what a later age has learnt to call bluff. Taking
with him only his personal servants, he attached himself, for the
greater part of the way, to a trading caravan, and speedily made
himself the chief person in it. It could only be some very important
man, with unlimited power behind him, who would dare to adopt such an
insolent demeanour, and bully his travelling companions so
unconcernedly, thought the merchants. Somewhat sulkily they accepted
him at his own valuation, and the marches and halting-places came to
be settled by reference to him. He it was also who rebuked the guides
when it was necessary, bringing those haughty mountaineers to reason
by displaying a proficiency in many-tongued abuse which astonished
them, and who forced the headmen of inhospitable villages to turn out
of their own houses for his accommodation. True, the merchants
sometimes looked forward with misgiving to the next time they would
traverse these regions, when there would be no champion to help them;
but such a splendid opportunity of paying off old grudges was not to
be let slip, and the caravan led by the overbearing Farangi was long a
proverb on the route.
When the mountains had been crossed, and the irrigated plains of
Gamara were in view, the caravan broke up into several portions, and
Ferrers pursued his way to the city in company with one of these. His
heart was high, for his reputation had preceded him, and the villagers
received him with marked respect. It was clear, he thought, that the
men who went before him had failed by going to work too gently, and
truckling to the prejudices of the people. The right thing was to go
on one’s way regardless of opposition, to browbeat the haughty and
meet the insolent with an insolence greater than their own, and in
general to act as no sane man, alone and without support in a hostile
country, could be expected to act. The natives, like his
fellow-travellers, would conclude that he had some mysterious reserve
of strength, or he could never be so bold. Thus he saw without
misgiving the distant masses of green which marked the neighbourhood
of the city, and rode calmly along the narrow dikes, which were the
only roads between the sunken fields, without a thought of turning
back while there was time. Dimly seen through their screen of trees,
the brick towers and earthen ramparts of Gamara had nothing very
terrible about them, and was not Ferrers entering the place as an
accredited envoy, with permission from the Khan to reside there until
the business on which he came was done? Even the contemptible little
dispute into which he was forced by the action of the officials at the
gate, who wished to make him dismount from his horse, did not trouble
him. What did it signify that the law of Gamara forbade a Christian to
ride in her streets? He, at least, was going to ride where he liked,
and ride he did. It was when he had passed triumphantly through the
gate that he was first conscious of a sense of uneasiness, of a
feeling that a net was closing round him. The city boasted flourishing
bazaars, and streets bordered by canals of clear water and shaded by
trees, but his way did not lie through them. Possibly by reason of his
self-assertion at the gate, or merely in order to avoid the crowds
which thronged the business part of the town, he was led through the
dullest bylanes of the residential quarter. The narrow alleys through
which he passed looked absolutely blank, the houses on either side
presenting nothing but high bare walls to the public eye. Their roofs
were flat, and such windows as there were looked into the inner
courtyards. It was like passing a never-ending succession of
prison-walls with occasional doors. Where the line was broken by a
mosque, which generally served also as a college, there was some
little relief in the shape of stately dome and lofty minaret, and
occasional dashes of colour produced by the use of enamelled tiles;
but it gave forth a throng of young fanatics clad in black, who made
outrageous remarks about the Kafir, which were as audible to their
object as they were intended to be. For convenience’ sake, and to
avoid attracting a crowd round him by his mere presence, Ferrers had
made the journey in native dress; but he had not attempted to alter
his appearance in any other respect, and his fair colouring rendered
him distinguishable at once.
Having presented his credentials to the favourite who occupied the
position of the Khan’s foreign minister for the nonce, he was received
with suitable compliments, and assured that his arrival had been
expected, and a house and servants prepared for him. He was half
afraid that this house might prove to be within the circuit of the
inner wall enclosing the hill on which the Khan’s palace and the
public offices stood, in which case he would have anticipated the
possibility of foul play, but it turned out to be one of the ordinary
houses of the town. It was furnished sufficiently, according to
oriental ideas, with carpets and cushions; the servants in it accepted
with remarkably little friction the direction of those he had brought
with him; and when he had seen to the securing of the door opening
into the street, he felt that what looked like a prison from without
might be a fortress from within.