The Captive
It was high time, indeed, that I should make my appearance. Waving my
sword with one hand and seizing my telescope with the other, I at once
frightened and examined the enemy. Well they knew when they saw that
flamingo-plume floating in the breeze—that awful figure standing in the
breach—that waving war-sword sparkling in the sky—well, I say, they
knew the name of the humble individual who owned the sword, the plume,
and the figure. The ruffians were mustered in front, the cavalry
behind. The flags were flying, the drums, gongs, tambourines,
violoncellos, and other instruments of Eastern music, raised in the air
a strange barbaric melody; the officers (yatabals), mounted on white
dromedaries, were seen galloping to and fro, carrying to the advancing
hosts the orders of Holkar.
You see that two sides of the fort of Futtyghur (rising as it does on a
rock that is almost perpendicular) are defended by the Burrumpooter
river, two hundred feet deep at this point, and a thousand yards wide,
so that I had no fear about them attacking me in _that_ quarter. My
guns, therefore (with their six-and-thirty miserable charges of shot),
were dragged round to the point at which I conceived Holkar would be
most likely to attack me. I was in a situation that I did not dare to
fire, except at such times as I could kill a hundred men by a single
discharge of a cannon; so the attacking party marched and marched, very
strongly, about a mile and a half off, the elephants marching without
receiving the slightest damage from us, until they had come to within
four hundred yards of our walls (the rogues knew all the secrets of our
weakness, through the betrayal of the dastardly Ghorumsaug, or they
never would have ventured so near). At that distance—it was about the
spot where the Futtyghur hill began gradually to rise—the invading
force stopped; the elephants drew up in a line, at right angles with
our wall (the fools! they thought they should expose themselves too
much by taking a position parallel to it); the cavalry halted too,
and—after the deuce’s own flourish of trumpets and banging of gongs, to
be sure,—somebody, in a flame-coloured satin dress, with an immense
jewel blazing in his pugree (that looked through my telescope like a
small but very bright planet), got up from the back of one of the very
biggest elephants, and began a speech.
The elephants were, as I said, in a line formed with admirable
precision, about three hundred of them. The following little diagram
will explain matters:-
....... G |
E |
| F
_E_ is the line of elephants. _F_ is the wall of the fort. _G_ a gun in
the fort. _Now_ the reader will see what I did.
The elephants were standing, their trunks waggling to and fro
gracefully before them; and I, with superhuman skill and activity,
brought the gun _G_ (a devilish long brass gun) to bear upon them. I
pointed it myself; bang! it went, and what was the consequence? Why,
this:-
x
....... G |
E |
| F
_F_ is the fort, as before. _G_ is the gun, as before. _E_, the
elephants, as we have previously seen them. What then is x? x _is the
line taken by the ball fired from_ G, which took off _one hundred and
thirty-four elephants’_ trunks, and only spent itself in the tusk of a
very old animal, that stood the hundred and thirty-fifth!
I say that such a shot was never fired before or since; that a gun was
never pointed in such a way. Suppose I had been a common man, and
contented myself with firing bang at the head of the first animal? An
ass would have done it, prided himself had he hit his mark, and what
would have been the consequence? Why, that the ball might have killed
two elephants and wounded a third; but here, probably, it would have
stopped, and done no further mischief. The _trunk_ was the place at
which to aim; there are no bones there; and away, consequently, went
the bullet, shearing, as I have said, through one hundred and
thirty-five probosces. Heavens! what a howl there was when the shot
took effect! What a sudden stoppage of Holkar’s speech! What a hideous
snorting of elephants! What a rush backwards was made by the whole
army, as if some demon was pursuing them!
Away they went. No sooner did I see them in full retreat, than, rushing
forward myself, I shouted to my men, “My friends, yonder lies your
dinner!” We flung open the gates—we tore down to the spot where the
elephants had fallen: seven of them were killed; and of those that
escaped to die of their hideous wounds elsewhere, most had left their
trunks behind them. A great quantity of them we seized; and I myself,
cutting up with my scimitar a couple of the fallen animals, as a
butcher would a calf, motioned to the men to take the pieces back to
the fort, where barbecued elephant was served round for dinner, instead
of the miserable allowance of an olive and a glass of wine, which I had
promised to my female friends, in my speech to them. The animal
reserved for the ladies was a young white one—the fattest and tenderest
I ever ate in my life: they are very fair eating, but the flesh has an
India-rubber flavour, which, until one is accustomed to it, is
unpalatable.
It was well that I had obtained this supply, for, during my absence on
the works, Mrs. Vandegobbleschroy and one or two others had forced
their way into the supper-room, and devoured every morsel of the
garrison larder, with the exception of the cheeses, the olives, and the
wine, which were locked up in my own apartment, before which stood a
sentinel. Disgusting Mrs. Van! When I heard of her gluttony, I had
almost a mind to eat _her_. However, we made a very comfortable dinner
off the barbecued steaks, and when everybody had done, had the comfort
of knowing that there was enough for one meal more.
The next day, as I expected, the enemy attacked us in great force,
attempting to escalade the fort; but by the help of my guns, and my
good sword, by the distinguished bravery of Lieutenant Macgillicuddy
and the rest of the garrison, we beat this attack off completely, the
enemy sustaining a loss of seven hundred men. We were victorious; but
when another attack was made, what were we to do? We had still a little
powder left, but had fired off all the shot, stones, iron-bars, &c. in
the garrison! On this day, too, we devoured the last morsel of our
food: I shall never forget Mrs. Vandegobbleschroy’s despairing look, as
I saw her sitting alone, attempting to make some impression on the
little white elephant’s roasted tail.
The third day the attack was repeated. The resources of genius are
never at an end. Yesterday I had no ammunition; to-day, I discovered
charges sufficient for two guns, and two swivels, which were much
longer, but had bores of about blunderbuss size.
This time my friend Loll Mahommed, who had received, as the reader may
remember, such a bastinadoing for my sake, headed the attack. The poor
wretch could not walk, but he was carried in an open palanquin, and
came on waving his sword, and cursing horribly in his Hindustan jargon.
Behind him came troops of matchlock-men, who picked off every one of
our men who showed their noses above the ramparts; and a great host of
blackamoors with scaling-ladders, bundles to fill the ditch, fascines,
gabions, culverins, demilunes, counterscarps, and all the other
appurtenances of offensive war.
On they came; my guns and men were ready for them. You will ask how my
pieces were loaded? I answer, that though my garrison were without
food, I knew my duty as an officer, and _had put the two Dutch cheeses
into the two guns, and had crammed the contents of a bottle of olives
into each swivel_.
They advanced,—whish! went one of the Dutch cheeses,—bang! went the
other. Alas! they did little execution. In their first contact with an
opposing body, they certainly floored it; but they became at once like
so much Welsh-rabbit, and did no execution beyond the man whom they
struck down.
“Hogree, pogree, wongree-fum (praise to Allah and the forty-nine
Imaums!)” shouted out the ferocious Loll Mahommed when he saw the
failure of my shot. “Onward, sons of the Prophet! the infidel has no
more ammunition. A hundred thousand lakhs of rupees to the man who
brings me Gahagan’s head!”
His men set up a shout, and rushed forward—he, to do him justice, was
at the very head, urging on his own palanquin-bearers, and poking them
with the tip of his scimitar. They came panting up the hill: I was
black with rage, but it was the cold concentrated rage of despair.
“Macgillicuddy,” said I, calling that faithful officer, “you know where
the barrels of powder are?” He did. “You know the use to make of them?”
He did. He grasped my hand. “Goliah,” said he, “farewell! I swear that
the fort shall be in atoms, as soon as yonder unbelievers have carried
it. Oh, my poor mother!” added the gallant youth, as sighing, yet
fearless, he retired to his post.
I gave one thought to my blessed, my beautiful Belinda, and then,
stepping into the front, took down one of the swivels;—a shower of
matchlock balls came whizzing round my head. I did not heed them.
I took the swivel, and aimed coolly. Loll Mahommed, his palanquin, and
his men, were now not above two hundred yards from the fort. Loll was
straight before me, gesticulating and shouting to his men. I
fired—bang!!!
I aimed so true, that _one hundred and seventeen best Spanish olives
were lodged in a lump in the face of the unhappy Loll Mahommed_. The
wretch, uttering a yell the most hideous and unearthly I ever heard,
fell back dead; the frightened bearers flung down the palanquin and
ran—the whole host ran as one man: their screams might be heard for
leagues. “Tomasha, tomasha,” they cried, “it is enchantment!” Away they
fled, and the victory a third time was ours. Soon as the fight was
done, I flew back to my Belinda. We had eaten nothing for twenty-four
hours, but I forgot hunger in the thought of once more beholding _her!_
The sweet soul turned towards me with a sickly smile as I entered, and
almost fainted in my arms; but alas! it was not love which caused in
her bosom an emotion so strong—it was hunger! “Oh! my Goliah,”
whispered she, “for three days I have not tasted food—I could not eat
that horrid elephant yesterday; but now—oh! Heaven!—” She could say no
more, but sank almost lifeless on my shoulder. I administered to her a
trifling dram of rum, which revived her for a moment, and then rushed
downstairs, determined that if it were a piece of my own leg, she
should still have something to satisfy her hunger. Luckily I remembered
that three or four elephants were still lying in the field, having been
killed by us in the first action, two days before. Necessity, thought
I, has no law; my adorable girl must eat elephant, until she can get
something better.
I rushed into the court where the men were, for the most part,
assembled. “Men,” said I, “our larder is empty; we must fill it as we
did the day before yesterday. Who will follow Gahagan on a foraging
party?” I expected that, as on former occasions, every man would offer
to accompany me.
To my astonishment, not a soul moved—a murmur arose among the troops;
and at last one of the oldest and bravest came forward.
“Captain,” he said, “it is of no use; we cannot feed upon elephants for
ever; we have not a grain of powder left, and must give up the fort
when the attack is made to-morrow. We may as well be prisoners now as
then, and we won’t go elephant-hunting any more.”
“Ruffian!” I said, “he who first talks of surrender, dies!” and I cut
him down. “Is there anyone else who wishes to speak?”
No one stirred.
“Cowards! miserable cowards!” shouted I; “what, you dare not move for
fear of death at the hands of those wretches who even now fled before
your arms—what, do I say _your_ arms?—before _mine!_—alone I did it;
and as alone I routed the foe, alone I will victual the fortress! Ho!
open the gate!”
I rushed out; not a single man would follow. The bodies of the
elephants that we had killed still lay on the ground where they had
fallen, about four hundred yards from the fort. I descended calmly the
hill, a very steep one, and coming to the spot, took my pick of the
animals, choosing a tolerably small and plump one, of about thirteen
feet high, which the vultures had respected. I threw this animal over
my shoulders, and made for the fort.
As I marched up the acclivity, whizz—piff—whirr! came the balls over my
head; and pitter-patter, pitter-patter! they fell on the body of the
elephant like drops of rain. The enemy were behind me; I knew it, and
quickened my pace. I heard the gallop of their horse: they came nearer,
nearer; I was within a hundred yards of the fort—seventy—fifty! I
strained every nerve; I panted with the superhuman exertion—I ran—could
a man run very fast with such a tremendous weight on his shoulders?
Up came the enemy; fifty horsemen were shouting and screaming at my
tail. O Heaven! five yards more—one moment—and I am saved. It is done—I
strain the last strain—I make the last step—I fling forward my precious
burden into the gate opened wide to receive me and it, and—I fall! The
gate thunders to, and I am left _on the outside!_ Fifty knives are
gleaming before my bloodshot eyes—fifty black hands are at my throat,
when a voice exclaims, “Stop!—kill him not, it is Gujputi!” A film came
over my eyes—exhausted nature would bear no more.