Produced by Al Haines.
[Illustration: Cover art]
[Illustration: PERCY THREATENS TO SHOOT THE FERRYMEN]
*Through the Sikh War*
A Tale of the Conquest of the Punjaub
BY
G. A. HENTY
Author of "Beric the Briton" "The Dash for Khartoum"
"Held Fast for England" "With Clive in India" &c.
_WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS BY HAL HURST
AND MAP OF THE PUNJAUB_
LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED
COPP CLARK CO. LTD., TORONTO
WILLIAM BRIGGS, TORONTO
*PREFACE.*
Among the many wars by which, province by province, the Empire of India
was won, few, if any, were more brilliant and hard fought than those
which terminated in the annexation of the Punjaub. It is satisfactory
to know that the conquest of the Sikhs--a brave and independent
race--was not brought about by any of the intrigues which marred the
brilliancy of some of our early conquests, or by greed for additional
territory, but was the result of a wanton invasion of the states under
our protection by the turbulent soldiery of the Punjaub, who believed
themselves invincible, and embarked upon the conflict with a confident
belief that they would make themselves masters of Delhi, if not drive us
completely out of India. It was fortunate for Britain that the struggle
was not delayed for a few years, and that there was time for the Punjaub
to become well contented with our rule before the outbreak of the
Mutiny; for had the Punjaub declared against us at that critical period
it would assuredly have turned the scale, and the work of conquering
India must needs have been undertaken anew. I have endeavoured, while
keeping my hero well in the foreground, to relate the whole of the
leading incidents in the two Sikh wars.
G. A. HENTY.
*CONTENTS*
CHAP.
I. Eastward Ho!
II. The Shadow of War
III. At the Castle
IV. A Raid from the Hills
V. Retribution
VI. A Siege
VII. Startling News
VIII. In the Service
IX. Moodkee and Ferozeshah
X. Aliwal and Sobraon
XI. An Ambush
XII. A Prisoner
XIII. Escape
XIV. Treachery
XV. The News of the Massacre
XVI. Seven Hours of Suspense
XVII. With Sher Singh
XVIII. Rejoining
XIX. Chillianwalla
XX. Gujerat
XXI. Retired
*ILLUSTRATIONS*
Percy threatens to shoot the Ferrymen _Frontispiece_
Percy learns the Punjaubi Language
Percy shoots the Assassin during the attack on the Fortress
The Commander-in-chief thanks Percy for his Report
Percy awakes, to find that the Guards are Vigilant
"Is he dead?" Percy asked as he reined up his Horse
Percy takes part in the Battle of Chillianwalla
Percy has an Interview with Sher Singh
Map of the Punjaub
[Illustration: THE PUNJAUB TO ILLUSTRATE "THROUGH THE SIKH WAR"]
*THROUGH THE SIKH WAR:*
*A STORY OF THE CONQUEST OF INDIA.*
*CHAPTER I.*
*EASTWARD HO!*
"Groves, here is a letter for you," Dr. Bubear, the head-master of a
large school at Dulwich, said, as the boys rose from their places to
leave the school-room at the conclusion of their work. The lad
addressed, a boy of about fifteen, went up to the desk.
"It is from your father's lawyers, Messrs. Sims & Hammond. I have
received one from them myself, I think you will find it satisfactory,"
and he nodded kindly. "You had better stop in here to read it, for it
looks somewhat bulky, and I fancy contains an inclosure."
Percy Groves returned to his seat, and did not open the letter until he
was alone in the school-room. It was a long time since he had received
one. Fifteen months before he had lost his father. Major Groves had
returned on half-pay a year before his death, being obliged to quit the
service from the effects of a severe wound which he received at the
storming of Ghuznee. His regiment had been absent several years from
England, and after he had left the service and taken a house at Dulwich,
he had made but few acquaintances, spending most of his time at the
military club to which he belonged.
Percy, who was an only child, had been born in India--his mother dying
when he was five years old. His father had kept him three years longer
with him, and had then sent him home to England to the care of his
grandfather, who had, however, died a year later; and from that time
Percy had known no home but Dr. Bubear's, until his father returned and
took up his residence near the school. A few days before his death
Major Groves had a long talk with his son.
"I am troubled about you, Percy," he said. "Besides my half-pay I have
but three thousand pounds--a sum sufficient indeed to finish your
education, pay your expenses at the University if you decide to go into
one of the learned professions, and to help you a bit until you make
your way. I have written to three or four of my old friends, who will,
when the time comes, do their best to procure you a commission in the
army, in case you have a fancy then, as I know you have now, for
soldiering. Lastly, there is my brother. We have never kept up much
correspondence, but we have always been good friends; he was in the army
himself, but sold out after only serving a year, as he saw that there
was very little chance of active service in Europe. He knocked about the
world for some years and then went out to India, and the next I heard of
him was that he had entered the service of Runjeet Singh, the leader of
the Sikhs, who had great respect for European troops, and employed a
number of foreign officers--Italian, German, and a few English--to train
his troops on our method.
"I have not heard of him for some three or four years, but when I did he
was still in the Sikh service, and held the rank of colonel, and was, I
heard, high in favour with Runjeet Singh, and there I have no doubt he
is still, that is if he is alive. No doubt he is married to some dusky
princess, and has probably accumulated a fortune. These adventurers, as
Europeans in the service of native princes are generally called, either
get murdered soon after they get out there, or else accumulate large
fortunes. I have no doubt that if he is alive he will take charge of
you.
"The life is an adventurous one, and I do not say that I should advise
you to adopt it; but in that respect you must decide for yourself, when
you reach the age to do so. If your uncle is able to push your fortune
out there you might do worse than stay with him; if, on the other hand,
when you get to the age of seventeen or eighteen, you do not care to
remain in India, you must come home and get the officers to whom I have
written to use their influence to obtain a commission for you, which
they will, I have no doubt, be able to do, as the son of an officer
forced to retire from the service in consequence of wounds is always
considered to have a claim.
"In that case the knowledge that you will obtain of Indian methods and
languages would be a very great assistance to you. But mind, if you do
go out to your uncle it will not be possible for you afterwards to
choose one of the learned professions, for however much you may try to
educate yourself out there, you will not be up to the mark of lads who
have gone through the regular course of schooling here."
"I don't care for that, father; I have always made up my mind to be a
soldier, as you were. I should like very much to go out to my uncle if
he will have me."
The major was silent for a few minutes.
"I don't know that it is a wise step," he murmured to himself; "but the
boy has no friends here--my old comrades will do what they can for him
when the time comes, but until then he will have but a lonely life.
"Very well, Percy," he went on, turning to his son, "I will write to
your uncle. It may be eighteen months before you get an answer from
him--that is all the better. Work hard at school, lad, and learn as
much as you can, for you will get but little learning out there. If
your uncle does not care to have you, or thinks that things are too
disturbed and unsettled out there for him to undertake the
responsibility, you must fall back on the other plan and remain at Dr.
Bubear's until you are seventeen. I have written letters to the friends
who promised to see after your commission; you will find them in my
desk. Keep them by you until you are leaving school, and then post
them, that is if your wish to go into the army is unchanged. If it
should be changed, Messrs. Sims & Hammond, my lawyers, will put you in
the way of carrying out your wishes in whatever direction they may lie."
There had been several such talks between father and son, and Percy knew
that he should not have his father long with him. He listened,
therefore, gravely to his words, but without showing emotion; for
although when alone he often gave way to tears, he knew that the major,
himself a quiet and self-restrained man, was adverse to any display of
feeling. The boy did not think the end was so near, and though prepared
in some way for the blow, it was a terrible shock to him when his
father, five days later, expired. He had again become a boarder at Dr.
Bubear's, remaining there during the holidays as well as in school-time.
Two or three times old friends of his father had come to see him, and
had taken him out for the day. This was the only change he had had, but
he had worked hard and risen considerably in his place in the school.
In accordance with instructions from Messrs. Sims & Hammond he had gone
regularly to a riding-school, as the major, knowing the Sikhs to be a
nation of horsemen, had thought it desirable that he should learn to
have a good seat on a horse. The lawyers had also arranged that he
should twice a week have lessons in Hindustani, and he was allowed to
work at this instead of Greek. His progress was comparatively rapid, as
after a time the language he had heard spoken for the first eight years
of his life came back to him rapidly. He had hardly begun to look for a
reply from his uncle when Dr. Bubear handed him the letter, which he
doubted not contained the answer. He had hardly hoped that it would be
favourable, for during the intervening time he had learned something of
what was going on in the Punjaub, and knew that since Runjeet Singh's
death there had been many troubles there, and that things were in a very
unsettled state.
This information he had received from one of the boys whose father was a
director of the East India Company. The doctor's words, however, gave
him some hope, and when alone he opened the letter with less trepidation
than he would otherwise have felt. Messrs. Sims & Hammond wrote as
follows:--
"We have pleasure in forwarding to you a communication from Colonel
Roland Groves, which was inclosed in one sent to us. In the latter he
expressed his readiness to receive you, while pointing out that the
position of affairs in the Punjaub was unsettled in the extreme. He
doubtless speaks further of this in his letter to you. As our late
client, your father, instructed us that we were to be guided entirely by
your decision in the matter, we leave it in your hands, observing,
however, that in the face of your uncle's statements with regard to the
country, it appears to us that to go out to him at present would be an
exceedingly ill-advised and rash step. Should you, however, decide upon
doing so, we will, upon hearing from you, take the necessary steps for
obtaining your outfit and securing your berth. A client of ours in
Calcutta will, we doubt not, arrange on your arrival there for
forwarding you up the country to your uncle."
Having read this, Percy broke the seal of the inclosure and read as
follows:--
"MY DEAR NEPHEW,--I am filled with grief to learn from a letter,
forwarded to me after his death, that your father is no more. It is
many years since I saw him; but we were always capital friends, though
as unlike in disposition as two brothers could be. He tells me that he
has no friends in England in whose charge he could place you, and asks
if I will have you out with me until you are of an age to enter the army
at home, if, indeed, you do not decide to follow my example and take
service with one of the native princes.
"As far as taking charge of you goes, I am perfectly ready to do
so--indeed more than ready; for it will give me great pleasure to have
poor Hugo's son with me and to treat him as my own, for I am childless.
But the sort of career I have chosen is pretty nearly closed. The
Company have most of India under their thumb, and allow no English
except their own officials to take service with the protected princes.
At present the Punjaub is independent, but I don't think it can remain
so much longer. Since the death of the Old Lion, as Runjeet Singh was
called, things have gone from bad to worse. One ruler after another has
been set up, and either dethroned or assassinated. The army is
practically master of the country; and one of its first steps was to
demand the dismissal of all foreign officers, and the greater part of us
were accordingly discharged.
"Some of them left the country; others, like myself, are living on the
estates granted us by Runjeet Singh, and on the pickings, which were
considerable, that had come to us during our term of service, and we are
waiting to see what may be the next turn of the wheel. Life here is
something like that of a baron of old in England. My house is, in fact,
a fortress perched on a rock. I have a garrison of several hundred
picked men, and as I am a much easier master than most of these Sikhs,
who wring the last farthing from the cultivators, I could raise a
thousand more at a couple of days' notice. Still the place is not
impregnable; and in the present disturbed state of the land, where there
is practically no law save that of might, I might be besieged by some
powerful Rajah, and in the event of the place being taken there is no
doubt what my fate would be.
"However, at present the great men are too intent upon quarrelling with
each other to trouble about me, especially as they know that the place
is not to be taken without hard knocks. Moreover, although we who take
service with foreign princes have no claim whatever for protection from
our own countrymen, the fact of my being an Englishman is to some extent
a safeguard. However, I want to put the case fairly before you; and if
you come out here I will do my best for you--I will try to fill, as far
as I can, your father's place. At the same time I warn you that the
position here is a perilous one, and that there is no predicting how
matters may turn out. My own opinion is, however, that our people can
never permit the state of things that prevails here to go on, and will
be forced to interfere before long. The Sikhs think that they are fully
a match for us. I know better. They are brave, but so impatient of
discipline, that although they look well enough on parade they would
become a mere mob when fighting began.
"I need not say that the annexation of the Punjaub by the English would
suit me admirably, but there will be a time of great trouble and danger
before that can be accomplished. I daresay you wonder that I do not
come home, having made, as you may suppose, a fortune amply sufficient
to live upon there. But I do not think I shall ever do that; I have
lived too long in India to settle down to English ways. Now that your
poor father has gone I have not a single friend in England, and the
humdrum life would kill me in no time, after having for four-and-twenty
years lived in an atmosphere of intrigue, excitement, and danger.
"Now you know all about it, Percy, and can judge for yourself. By the
time you get this letter you will be almost fifteen, and, as your father
tells me that he has talked the matter over with you, capable of forming
some sort of an opinion. As far as money goes, do not let that
influence you one way or the other. The Old Lion was one of the most
liberal of paymasters; and although one spends money freely out here, I
took care to transmit a considerable portion of the presents I received
and the money I earned to a firm who act as my agents in Calcutta, so as
to be in safety if at any time I had to make a bolt of it. That money
will some day be yours whether you come out to me or not, for I have no
one else to leave it to; and I am, by the same messenger who carries
this letter to the British agent at Loodiana, sending instructions to my
agents that in case of anything happening to me, the money is to be
transferred to your name, and they are to communicate with the firm who
are, as your father tells me, his lawyers in London.
"I don't know whether I am acting altogether wisely in agreeing to your
coming out; and I certainly should not have done so if it had not been
that your father, who must have been perfectly aware of the disturbed
state of this country, evidently wished that it should be so. Well, if
the life has its dangers, it has its advantages. In our army at home an
officer is but one bit of a great machine; his life is a routine, and in
peace time as dull as ditch-water. Here a man has, every day and every
hour, need of his brains, his courage, quickness, and spirit. In
war-time we fight the enemies of the Maharajah; in peace we have to
combat the intrigues of our enemies and rivals, to guard against the
dangers of assassination, to countermine the approaches of the enemy, to
be ready for instant flight, or sudden favour and promotion.
"It is a man's life, Percy, and to a man of spirit worth a hundred
existences at home. If I knew you personally I could form a better idea
as to whether I ought to say to you, stay where you are, or, come here.
Your father says that he thinks you have a fair share of pluck and
determination, and that he considers you to be as sharp and shrewd as
most boys of your age. As he was the last man in the world to speak one
word beyond what he considered due, I take it that his estimate of your
character is in no way too flattering.
"Think it over yourself, Percy. Can you thrash most fellows your own
age? Can you run as far and as fast as most of them? Can you take a
caning without whimpering over it? Do you feel, in fact, that you are
able to go through fully as much as any of your companions? Are you
good at planning a piece of mischief, and ready to take the lead in
carrying it out? For though such gifts as these do not recommend a boy
to the favour of his schoolmaster, they are worth more out here than a
knowledge of all the dead languages. It is pluck and endurance, and a
downright love of adventure and danger, that have made us the masters of
the greater part of India, and will ere long make us rulers of the whole
of it; and it is of no use anyone coming out here, especially to take
service with one of the native princes, unless he is disposed to love
danger for its own sake, and to feel that he is willing and ready to
meet it from whatever quarter it may come. However, there is no
occasion for you to make up your mind at present upon more than the
point whether you will come out to me for three or four years; when it
will be time enough to make your final decision. In any case you may
always consider me your affectionate uncle, ROLAND."
Percy read the letter through very carefully. It was something like
what he had expected, for his father had in his last days spoken much to
him of his brother.
"He was cut out for the life he has led, Percy," he had said to him.
"He was the leader in all mischief at school; he had any amount of
energy and life. He would not have made a good officer in the king's
service; for he was impatient of authority, and would have been at
loggerheads with the adjutant, and perhaps with the colonel, in no time.
Once he set his mind to do a thing he would do it, whatever it was; and
his straight-forwardness and loyal nature would certainly win for him
the confidence of any of these Indian princes, accustomed as they are to
being surrounded with intriguers ready at all times to take sides with
the most powerful, and to sell themselves to the highest bidder. He
will tell you frankly whether he thinks you had better come out to him
or stay at home. But mind, if you do go out he will expect a good deal
of you, and if you don't do credit to him as well as to yourself, he
will have no hesitation in packing you off home again at an hour's
notice."
Percy was pleased to see that, although he warned him of the
difficulties and dangers of the position, his uncle clearly did wish him
to come out to him, and he had no hesitation whatever in making his
decision. After reading the letter for the third time, he placed it in
his pocket and went across to the doctor's.
"I expected you, Groves," the latter said, when he was shown into his
study. "So your uncle is willing to receive you, but leaves the choice
entirely to yourself. That is what Messrs. Sims & Hammond said in their
letter to me. Evidently they think it a very foolish business, but say
that as they are bound by their instructions they have only to carry
them out if you decide to go, but they hope that I shall use my
influence to induce you to decide upon remaining here. I have no
intention of doing so. It was for your father to make his choice, and he
made it. He knows the country and he knows your uncle's character, and
as he thought the opening a good one for you, I do not feel that it lies
within my province to influence your decision any way. I need hardly ask
what the decision is. I know that you have been looking forward to the
receipt of this letter, and the ardour with which you have worked at
Hindustani, as your master tells me, shows that your wishes lay in that
direction. So you have made up your mind to go?"
"Yes, sir. My uncle does not try to persuade me to come, but he says
that he will be very glad to have me with him. He lives in a fortified
castle with a lot of retainers, like a feudal baron, he says."
"Then I am quite sure no more need be said," the doctor replied smiling;
"I don't think any boy could withstand the prospect of living in a
fortified castle. And now I suppose you want to go and see the
solicitors?"
"If you please, sir."
"Very well. I will give you leave off school this afternoon. If you
find that there is a ship sailing shortly you will have many
preparations to make, and as I am quite sure your thoughts will be too
occupied to think of lessons you may consider them at an end. If,
however, you find it will be some little time before you are able to
sail, I shall expect you to put the matter altogether out of your head
until the time approaches, and to work as hard as you can; though we
will give up Latin, and you can devote yourself entirely to Hindustani.
Let me see you when you return from the lawyer's. You know the way to
London Bridge. You cross that, and anyone you meet will then direct you
to Fenchurch Street. You had better have your dinner before you start."
Messrs. Sims & Hammond did not conceal from Percy their opinion that his
decision to go out to join his uncle savoured of lunacy. "We are
willing to carry out your father's instructions," the senior partner
said, shrugging his shoulders. "We considered it our duty to express our
opinion frankly on the subject to him. Having done that without avail,
our duty in the matter is at an end. We find it a not unusual thing for
our clients to prefer their own opinions to ours, not unfrequently to
their own cost. Since we have received your uncle's communication
yesterday, we have made inquiries as to the vessels loading for
Calcutta, and find that the Indiaman the _Deccan_ will sail in ten days'
time. That will, I take it, be sufficient time for you to make your
preparations. One of our clerks will at once go with you to take your
berth, and then accompany you to some outfitter's to get all that is
requisite. Your father left with us a list of the clothing and other
matters he considered would be required in the event of your going."
Five minutes later Percy set out in charge of an elderly clerk, and by
the close of the afternoon the passage was taken and the whole of the
outfit ordered, and Percy walked back to Dulwich quite overwhelmed at
the extent of the wardrobe that his father had deemed necessary for him
for the voyage. Several suits of clothes had, in accordance with the
instructions on the list, been ordered, of a size considerably too large
for him at present. Major Groves had appended a note to the list,
saying that he did not consider it necessary that a large stock of such
clothes should be provided, as there would be no difficulty in having
them made in India, and that, moreover, Percy would probably, to some
extent, wear native attire.
The ten days passed rapidly. Percy, although nominally free from the
school-room, nevertheless worked with ardour at his Hindustani.
"You have made great progress, Groves," his teacher said on the last
day. "I should advise you strongly to work several hours a day at it
during the voyage. Some of the passengers who are returning to India
are sure to have with them native servants and ayahs, and you had best
take every opportunity of speaking with them. You must remember that
there are a large number of dialects, and even of distinct languages, in
India; and it is probable that you will find your Hindustani of little
use to you in Northern India. Still, it will greatly facilitate your
learning the other languages, and most of the educated natives
understand it, as, like French on the Continent, it is the general
medium of communication between the natives of different parts of the
country. Possibly you may find among the servants on board a native of
Northern India, and may be able to commence your study of Punjaubi with
him."
Two days before the vessel sailed Percy went by appointment to the
lawyer's office, and Mr. Hammond took him to the shipping office and
introduced him to the captain of the _Deccan_.
"I will give an eye to the lad as far as I can, Mr. Hammond," Captain
Grierson said; "though, to tell you the truth, I would almost as lief
have a monkey as a boy to look after. Still I don't feel the
responsibility as great as that of my young lady passengers. Do what I
may, they will indulge in flirtation, and I have to bear the brunt of
the anger of the relatives to whom they are consigned in India, when
they discover that my charges have already disposed of themselves on the
voyage."
During those last days Percy was the object of the greatest envy and
admiration of his school-fellows. To be going all the way out to India
by himself was in itself splendid; but the idea that he was to live in a
castle with armed retainers, and the possibility of a siege and all
other sorts of unknown dangers, seemed almost too great a stroke of good
fortune to fall to the lot of anybody. Most of his effects had been
sent direct on board the _Deccan_, but he had obtained from the store
where they had been deposited, the cases containing his father's rifles,
double-barrelled gun and pistols, and the fact that he was the possessor
of such arms greatly heightened the admiration of his companions.
But even the knowledge that the pistols were in his cabin, and the other
arms stowed below with the greater portion of his belongings, scarcely
sufficed to keep up his spirits as he stood, a solitary and rather
forlorn boy, on the deck of the great ship as she warped out through the
dock-gates.
The doctor had come down early to see him on board, but had been obliged
to return at once to his duties at the school, and everyone but himself
seemed to have friends to see them off. The entrance to the docks was
crowded with people waving their handkerchiefs and shouting _adieux_ to
those on board, while many who were to land at Gravesend were on deck
chatting with their friends. The captain stopped good-naturedly by his
side for a moment as he passed along.
"All alone, Groves, eh? You will soon make friends, and I think you are
really better off than those who haven't got over saying their last
good-byes yet. I always think it is much better to finish all that sort
of thing at home, instead of prolonging the pain. Here, Harcourt," he
called to a young fellow about sixteen, in a midshipman's dress, "you
haven't anything to do just at present. Give an eye to this youngster;
he is going out to join an uncle in India, and is all alone on board.
Introduce him to the other midshipmen when you get an opportunity. I
have told the steward to mess him with you; he will be much more
comfortable there than he would be with the people in the cabin aft.
You will like that arrangement, won't you, Groves?"
"Very much indeed, sir," Percy said, feeling as if a great load had been
lifted off his mind. Harcourt led him down between decks to the
ward-room, as they called it, where the third and fourth officers and
the four midshipmen messed.
"This is our palace, Groves. A bit of a hole in comparison with the
saloon, but a snug little den, too, when everything is going on well and
everyone is in good temper. I will tell the others that the skipper has
made you free of it. The third and fourth officers are both good
fellows, and I think you will find it comfortable. If you don't, you
have got the saloon to fall back upon."
"I am sure to find it comfortable," Percy said confidently. "I have come
fresh from school, you know, and am not accustomed to luxuries; I should
find it miserable among all those grown-up people. I only wish I was
going out as a midshipman instead of a passenger, so as to have
something to do."
"Ah, well, you can talk to the skipper about that. Perhaps he will put
you on a watch if you ask him. I don't say the work is very lively, for
it isn't; but I know that I should be very sorry to have to make the
voyage with nothing to do but walk about with my hands in my pockets.
However, I must go on deck now. We had our breakfast long ago; we dine
at two bells, that is one o'clock. If you can't hold on until then I
will get our steward to bring you a biscuit."
"I can hold on very well. I had a cup of tea and something to eat
before I left."
Percy followed Harcourt on deck again, and feeling now more settled as
to his position, was able to look on with interest and pleasure at what
was being done around him. The passengers had settled themselves a
little; some had got out their chairs, and were seated chatting in
groups, but the ladies for the most part were below arranging their
cabins. Men in couples walked up and down the waist smoking, or leaned
against the bulwarks discussing the voyage and their mutual
acquaintances. Most of the sails had now been set, for the wind was
favourable, and the great ship was running fast down the river and was
just passing Woolwich. A sailor, bare-footed and with his trousers
turned up to his knees, was sluicing the decks with water. Others were
coiling up ropes. Others again, dressed more in accordance with Percy's
ideas as to the neatness of a sailor's costume, were standing at the
sheets and braces in readiness to trim the sails to port or starboard,
as the sharp turns of the river brought the wind on one quarter or the
other.
Percy was surprised at the silence that reigned among so many men, but
he understood the reason when the sharp orders were shouted from the
quarter-deck where the first officer was standing by the side of the
pilot. Then there was a hauling of ropes and a creaking of blocks, and
the towering pile of yards and sails swung over. Now and then the
ship's course was suddenly changed to avoid some barge or smaller craft
that got in her way, sometimes missing by the smallest margin running
them down. On one or two of these occasions a mate shouted angrily down
at those in charge of these craft, and these shouted as angrily back
again. Once past Erith the river widened and the dangers of collision
ceased, for the craft were all proceeding in the same direction; for the
stream was now running too strongly for the barges to attempt to make
their way against it, even by hugging the shore and keeping in
back-waters. At twelve o'clock the luncheon bell rang, and the
passengers disappeared from deck. But Percy was so absorbed in watching
the shore that he was quite surprised when Harcourt touched him on the
shoulder and said:
"There are two bells, youngster. You must keep your ears open or you
will be missing your meals; for they do not ring for us, and anyone who
does not turn up to his grub goes without it."
The voyage was a very pleasant one to Percy Groves. The captain did not
allow him to act as a volunteer midshipman; but it was not long before
he ceased to regret this decision, for he found among the four or five
native servants returning to India with their masters one from the
Punjaub. The man's duties on board occupied but a very small portion of
his time, as he had little to do except wait on his master at meals; and
he was very glad to arrange, for what seemed to Percy a ridiculously
small sum, to spend five or six hours a day in conversation with him.
Accordingly, after breakfast and dinner the two took seats up in the
bow, Percy on a low stool, the native squatted beside him, and there
spent hours, at first in learning the Punjaubi equivalents for
Hindustani words, and then, as time went on, in conversation.
[Illustration: PERCY LEARNS THE PUNJAUBI LANGUAGE]
The native knew a little Hindustani, and could get on fairly in English,
so that they were able from the first to comprehend each other; and as
Percy's former studies helped him materially, he picked up Punjaubi
quickly, and by the end of the voyage was able to express himself in it
with considerable freedom. He was always up early in the morning, and
until breakfast-time chatted with any officers or midshipmen off duty,
and sometimes with the early risers among the passengers--two or three
of whom, when they found that the lad was a first-class passenger on his
way out to India to join an uncle, became very friendly with him, being
struck with the steady way in which he passed the greater portion of the
day in preparing himself, as far as possible, for the life he was about
to lead.
"Why don't you come aft, Groves?" one of them asked him.
"I should feel altogether strange, sir. The two officers and the
midshipmen are all very kind and friendly, and we live very well there,
and I feel much more at home than I should do with the ladies. I have
not been accustomed to ladies. I do not remember my mother, and for
years I lived altogether at school. After my father came back, and I
lived at home with him, only gentlemen came to the house. I like it all
very much, and should not like to change. Besides, if I got to know a
good many passengers, I might not be able to spend so much time in work;
and I do so want when I join my uncle to be able to be useful to him,
which I could not be if I did not know anything of the language."
"Well, I am sure, Groves, your uncle ought to be pleased when you join
him to know how hard you have worked. It would be a very good thing if
every young cadet and writer who went out would do as you do, and
prepare himself for his work out there, instead of wasting six months in
lounging about, trying to make himself agreeable to the women on board.
He would not only find it very useful out there, but he would find it
very profitable. For a young fellow who, on arrival, was able to speak
one of the languages pretty fluently, would be certain to attract the
notice of the authorities, and would find himself in a responsible and
well-paid berth, while the others were kept at desks in Calcutta or
Bombay, or sent out as assistants to unimportant posts.
"It is my servant who is teaching you, and he tells me that you are
making wonderful progress, and that you already know as much of the
language as many officers who have been in India for years. I can tell
you, too, that you could not have taken up a more useful dialect than
Punjaubi. At present, of course, the Punjaub is independent, and the
consequence is there are very few officials who have taken the trouble
to learn the language; but no one doubts that the time is not very far
distant when we shall have to interfere there, and in a few years we may
have to take it over altogether. In that case I need hardly say that
there will be a great demand for officials able to speak the language;
and should you enter the Company's service, you would have every chance
of obtaining a post there of greater importance and profit than you
could hope to reach after years of service under ordinary conditions.
"I myself am stationed in the province south of the Sutlej, which the
Sikhs at any rate consider to be a part of the Punjaub, and am pretty
well acquainted with what is going on at Lahore. I don't know your
uncle personally, although of course I know him well by reputation. He
was one of the best of the European officers in the Sikh service; and
although, like all the others, he was dismissed at the bidding of the
mutinous soldiery, I have always heard him spoken well of. He was
popular among the men of the two regiments that he commanded, and bore
an excellent reputation among the natives generally, abstaining from the
high-handed exactions by which some of the foreign officers amassed
large sums of money. He is said to have been prompt in action, to have
maintained excellent order amongst his men, to have protected the
natives against any acts of plundering or misconduct, and the districts
where he was stationed were contented and prosperous.
"Like most of the other foreign officers, he held himself altogether
aloof from court intrigues. Doubtless they were perfectly right in
doing so; but for all that, as matters have turned out, it might have
been better for the Punjaub had these officers gone beyond their duties
and thrown their whole weight into the scale in favour of some strong
man who would have put a stop to the dissensions that if they continue
will certainly bring ruin upon the country.
"However, their position was a very difficult one. The Sikh chieftains
were always adverse to Runjeet Singh's policy of Europeanizing his army,
and were extremely jealous of the favour he extended to the Europeans in
his service; consequently the position of these officers was, from the
moment of his death, an extremely delicate one. Moreover, it is
probable that the Indian authorities would have viewed with considerable
disfavour the passing of the affairs of the Punjaub into the hands of
European adventurers, of whom only two or three were English. The
foreigners, of course, would have had no sympathy whatever with our
aims, and would indeed have been formidable opponents in case of
trouble, their interests lying entirely in the maintenance of the
present state of things in the Punjaub.
"You are going out to the most troubled portion of India, youngster; and
I almost wonder at your uncle allowing you to come, for there will be a
great convulsion there before matters finally settle down."
"So he told me when he wrote, sir. I am only going out to him till I
get old enough to either go into the army or to enter the Company's
service, if my father's friends can obtain a commission or a writership
for me."
"Get a writership, my boy, if you have the chance. The civil service is
vastly better paid than the military. Well, it may be that we shall be
thrown together again out there. It is nearly time for our commissioner
at Loodiana to go home for his furlough, and I think it very probable
that I shall be appointed to his post during his absence, in which case
I am pretty certain to be in communication with your uncle; and it may
be that when the time comes I shall be able to lend you a helping hand
to enter the service. If you stick to work as you are doing now, I
shall certainly feel justified in recommending you as one who would
prove a valuable young officer in the Punjaub if we become its masters,
or on the frontier if the country still maintains its independence. In
the meantime, if there be trouble in the Punjaub and you have to fly for
your life, remember you will find a hearty welcome at Loodiana."
The voyage was free from any incidents of importance. The _Deccan_
rounded the Cape without experiencing any unusually bad weather, and
except for one or two minor gales the weather was fine throughout the
voyage.
Most of the passengers were delighted when she dropped anchor at last in
the Hooghly, but much as Percy longed to see the wonders of India, he
was almost sorry when the voyage came to an end, for the time had passed
very pleasantly to him. This had been especially the case towards the
latter portion; for his studies had increased in interest as he acquired
a knowledge of the language, and by the end of the voyage he had come to
know a good many of the passengers. His first friend, Mr. Fullarton,
had spoken warmly to others in favour of the quiet lad, of whom they
caught sight when they happened to stroll forward to smoke a cigar,
occupied so intently upon his conversations with the native beside him.
"I hate book-worms," one of them had said when Mr. Fullarton had first
spoken to him on the subject. "Give me a lad with pluck and spirit, and
I don't care a snap of the finger whether he can construe Euripides or
solve a problem in high mathematics. What we want for India are men who
can ride and shoot, who are ready at any moment to start on a
hundred-mile journey on horseback, who will scale a hill fort with a
handful of men, or with half a dozen Sowars tackle a dacoit and his
band. What do the natives care for our learning? It is our pluck and
fighting powers that have made us their masters."
"That is all very true, Lyndhurst, and I thoroughly agree with you that
of all ways of choosing officials for India examinations would be the
very worst; but this lad is not a bookworm at all in your sense of the
word. He knows that it will be of great advantage to him when he
arrives in India to be able to speak the language, and he has
accordingly set himself to do it with a dogged perseverance that would
do credit to a man. Look how he has utilized the voyage, while the
cadets and ensigns and young civilians have thrown away six months of
their lives in absolute idleness. Besides, I am sure the boy does not
lack either pluck or spirit. I am up a good deal earlier than you are
in the morning, and I see him going about the rigging like a monkey. He
is quite as much at home up there as are any of the midshipmen, some of
whom have been four or five years at sea. I saw him sky-larking the
other evening with two or three of them, and I can tell you he quite
held his own. He is certainly a favourite with all the officers. I
should be ready to wager that when the time comes he will turn out well,
whatever circumstances he may fall upon. He is a merry fellow too, and
has one of the most infectious laughs I ever heard; he is no more like
your ideal book-worm than I am."
The only time that Percy came aft and mixed with the other passengers
was when they practised rifle or pistol shooting, sometimes at empty
bottles thrown into the sea, sometimes at bottles swinging from one or
other of the yardarms. This amusement was practised three or four times
a week, for it was a matter of importance to every man, military or
civilian, to be a good shot. It was useful in the hunting of tigers and
other big game. Life might depend upon proficiency with a pistol if
attacked by a fanatic or in a brush with dacoits, while for men likely
to be engaged with the fierce tribesmen of the hills, or in conflict
with Sikh, Beloochee, Pathan, or Afghan, a quick eye and a steady hand
were essential.
Encouraged by Mr. Fullarton, Percy got out his pistols on the first day
when the practice began, and never missed an opportunity afterwards.
"Never mind the rifle," his friend said; "you are not likely to do
tiger-hunting at present, and you will have plenty of time and
opportunities for that later on. Stick to your pistol practice; you are
going among a wild set of people, where the knife is readily drawn in a
quarrel, and where men do not hesitate to rid themselves of a foe or a
rival by assassination. Practise with your pistols steadily on every
occasion here, and keep it up afterwards; it may be of more use to you
than everything you have learnt at school from the day when you first
went there. You know I approve of your sticking to your Punjaubi, but
you can well spare an hour three or four times a week; and although it
may do you more good in your future career to be a good linguist than to
be a good pistol-shot, the last may be the means of saving your life,
and unless you can do that, your study of languages will be so much time
thrown away."
And so by the end of the voyage Percy became a very fair shot with the
pistol, and indeed there were few of the passengers who could break a
swinging bottle more frequently than he. He was surprised, when the
anchor dropped, at the eagerness evinced by the majority of the
passengers to get on shore. He himself looked on quietly, for the
captain had said to him early that morning, "There is no use in your
hurrying ashore, Groves; you know no one there, and an hour earlier or
later will make no difference to you. I shall be going off this
afternoon and will take you with me, and after I have been to the
shipping office I will go with you to the people you have letters for.
I know them personally, and an introduction from me will probably
interest them more in you than will the formal letter those lawyer
fellows are likely to have written."
The captain's introduction was of great benefit to Percy. The agent
took an interest in him, and put him up at his house for a fortnight.
At the end of that time he arranged for him to take a passage up country
in a native craft that two or three officers had chartered to convey
them to Delhi, beyond which town there would be no difficulty in hiring
a boat to the point at which he would disembark, and thence travel up by
road. He enjoyed his journey much, although it occupied a considerable
time. He could have gone very much faster by road; but time was no
particular object, and the agent thought that he would be cheated right
and left in his bargains for vehicles, and might not improbably have
some of his baggage stolen. Percy greatly preferred the passage by
river, and when finally he had to take to a close vehicle, he
congratulated himself that he had accomplished the greater part of the
journey free from the dust, heat, and inconveniences of land travel. He
learned that he would have done much better had he taken his passage
from England to the other side of India and ascended the Indus, but he
supposed that his uncle had directed him to come _via_ Calcutta because
his own agent was there and could make the arrangements for him, and he
perhaps considered that the passage thence by water would be much safer
than one through the recently-conquered province of Scinde.
This was indeed, as he afterwards learnt, the reason why Calcutta had
been chosen instead of Bombay. There had, about the time his uncle
wrote, been a number of robberies, sometimes accompanied by murder, of
persons travelling up the Indus in boat, and it was for this reason the
longer and safer route up the Jumna had been chosen. He left the boat
at Sultanpoor, and had about a hundred miles of travel thence through
Umballah and Sirhind to Loodiana, a station in what was known as the
protected district. Here on the frontier of the Punjaub were stationed
some British troops with a Resident, whose special duty was to keep the
government informed of what was going on upon the other side of the
Sutlej.
The agent had advised him on his arrival at Loodiana to go straight to
the Residency.
"It is probable that your uncle will have written to the Resident about
your coming, and that instructions as to the best course for pursuing
your journey may be awaiting you there. It is a long way from Loodiana
to his place, which lies quite in the north of the Punjaub, and but a
short distance from the Afghan frontier. He will know about what time
you will arrive, and may even have sent down one of his officers to
accompany you on the way. He could not, of course, guess that you would
know any of the languages, and it would be impossible for you, speaking
nothing but English, to make your way alone through the Punjaub. Even
as it is, I should advise you, should you on arriving at Loodiana find
no one there from your uncle, to send up word that you have arrived, and
to wait quietly, even if it be a month, till you hear from him."
*CHAPTER II.*
*THE SHADOW OF WAR.*
Leaving the cart with his luggage a short distance away, Percy entered
the office of the Residency, and giving his name to a clerk said that he
was desirous of speaking to the Resident.
The clerk on his return from the inner room requested Percy to follow
him. An officer was sitting at a desk. He looked up with a smile as
the lad entered, and Percy was astonished to see Mr. Fullarton, to whom
he had said good-bye on board the _Deccan_.
"You did not expect to see me here, Groves?" he said as he shook him
cordially by the hand.
"No indeed, sir, I had not the slightest idea that you had left
Calcutta. I am glad indeed to see you."