"Constable of the palace--eh, Percy?"
"Well, you might call him what you like, uncle, but surely he would be
able to pick out a dozen men of whose fidelity he was assured. The duty
would not be severe, they would only have to furnish the two sentries at
the door, instead of these being sent from one or other of the
regiments."
"I will think of it, Percy. Just at present there is less ground for
fear than usual, for if an expedition is on foot to attack us openly,
such a plot as this would most certainly be delayed until there was a
force outside where the conspirators could betake themselves after
carrying their designs into execution. The fact that, even were they
successful, they would certainly be pursued, and for the most part
hunted down and slaughtered by the cavalry, has, no doubt, been one of
the reasons why no such attempt as that we are talking of has been made
long ago."
"Well, I do hope that when an army approaches you do what Percy
suggests," Mahtab, who had been listening silently to the conversation,
said to her husband. "You have escaped so many times, Roland, that you
have come to think that no attempt against your life will ever succeed,
and certainly it is likely that Ghoolab, while organizing an open
assault upon you, will take measures to secure his aim being carried out
in other ways if possible."
"Very well, wife; you may consider it settled that on the day when an
attacking force crosses the boundary of the province, Nand Chund shall
be installed as chief of a special bodyguard here."
*CHAPTER VI.*
*A SIEGE.*
Not a day passed now without messengers coming in with warnings of
approaching danger, and one morning early the officer on guard reported
that a large number of persons could be seen approaching by the road
from the south.
"Do they look like troops?" the colonel asked.
"No, sahib; they are on horseback and on foot, and there are many carts
among them."
"I have no doubt then, Kur Aloof, that they are merchants of the towns
coming in here for refuge. The enemy cannot be far off, and they know
how the soldiers would squeeze them if they had a chance."
"Will you let all those people in here, uncle? They will eat up our
provisions and drink up our water."
"As I told you, Percy, we have sufficient of both for a number double
that at present within the walls. Did four times the total now here
arrive the supplies would still hold out six months, and two months is
the utmost that the siege is likely to last. One need never be afraid
of a long siege by men commanded by leaders having no authority over
them. A powerful prince might send troops on a siege and order them to
maintain it until they captured the place, even if it took them ten
years to do so, but at present the Punjaub is without a master, and the
troops have only been induced to come here by the prospect of plunder.
But as soon as they find that they make but little impression upon us,
and that the siege, with its labours, and hardships, and dangers, may
continue for many months, they will soon get tired of it, and in the
absence of a controlling power will march away.
"They have a good many deserters from our service among them, and little
as they love Europeans they will utilize their services, and I
anticipate that for a while at least it will be made very hot for us.
There are a score of points on that hillside half a mile away where guns
can be posted to play on us, while we could make but a feeble return,
and there is nothing like a plunging fire kept up night and day to
weaken the spirits and lower the confidence of a garrison. That will be
the time when the traitors, if there are any, will be busy among the
men, and it will need unceasing care and vigilance to prevent trouble."
In a short time the people seen in the valley below began to enter the
fortress. They were, as the colonel had anticipated, merchants and
other people having something to lose, from the various towns in the
district. Most of them brought with them carts laden with their
choicest merchandise, and all had their portable valuables and money
with them. They reported that news had come in the evening before, that
a very large force had arrived at a point within fifteen miles of the
frontier of the province, and that the soldiers had been promised the
sack of all the towns and villages as an inducement for them to
undertake the siege of the fortress.
"But how am I to feed so many mouths?" the colonel asked one of the
leading merchants, with a smile.
"We know that our lord has great stores laid up in his magazines," the
merchant answered, "and we are, of course, ready to pay for all that he
will let us have."
"I have no doubt that the magazines will hold out as long as it is
necessary," the colonel replied, "and as I regard all who enter here as
my guests, each man, woman, and child shall draw rations of what food we
have as long as it lasts. It has been bought out of the revenues of the
province, and as each of you contributed, so shall you now share. But
you know you will fare worse if the place is taken and you are found
here than you would have done had you remained quietly at home."
The merchant shook his head. "There could be no worse, sahib. The
soldiers plunder, kill, burn, and destroy as they did in Cashmere; they
can do no more if they find us here. But we are not afraid of their
taking the fortress. It is strong, and everyone knows my lord's valour
and experience. The army will never be able to win their way in here."
"I hope not, my friends; I will certainly do my best to prevent them
from doing so. And now about yourselves. The stream of fugitives grows
broader and thicker every hour, and if it goes on like this, by
nightfall we shall have over five thousand persons here in addition to
the strength of the garrison. Against that I say nothing, a thousand at
least will be able-bodied men capable of bearing arms, and I shall
expect each to do his best; but where am I to stow so great a number?
The barracks are already full, and but few indeed will be able to find
lodging in the houses of the traders. I have tents and straw for two
thousand people, but how can they be pitched? The ground is solid rock.
There is no way of driving tent-pegs, and I see not how they can be
erected."
"We might spread them over the carts, and so obtain a protection from
the night air and a shelter for the women and children, and they might
even erect poles in the carts themselves and stay them by ropes to the
sides."
"That is a very good idea, and I will order the officer in charge of the
stores to issue a tent to each owner of a cart, the others must manage
as best they can. I daresay five hundred can be stowed away in the
lofts of the stables and in other places not in use, while some with
poles leaned against a wall and canvas spread over them can make
shelters good enough on a pinch. The oxen must be given over to one of
my officers, who will see that they are fed from the granaries and will
kill them for food."
The colonel had not over-estimated the number of those likely to arrive,
and before nightfall over five thousand had entered the fortress.
Stringent orders were laid down that none save the regular troops should
be allowed to approach the walls, and each party as it arrived was
conducted to the spot allotted to it. Every open space was covered with
shelters of one kind or another, the larger constructed of tents, the
smaller of shawls and blankets. The principal street was left clear of
such erections in order to admit of a free passage for the troops, but
it was ordered that all cooking operations should be performed there, as
fires would be dangerous in the extreme among the crowded tents. When
night came, strong guards were placed on the walls, especially on that
facing the shoulder of the hill, upon which any open attack must fall.
Percy's idea was carried out, and a body-guard composed of six men from
each of the two infantry regiments, and an equal number from the
cavalry, marched into the governor's house under the command of Nand
Chund. Their instructions were that no one was to be allowed to enter
the house, whatever he might allege to be the nature of his business,
unless furnished with a written order to do so from the governor.
Percy had been busy all day seeing that the new-comers fell into their
places, and in aiding them to shake down in some sort of comfort, and he
was thoroughly tired out when he joined the colonel and his wife in
their room that evening.
"Well, uncle, I am glad it is coming at last. It is much better to know
the worst than to go on wondering when it was going to begin."
"I don't know, Percy. I have been in so many troubles and frays and
battles since I came out here, that the thought that we might have to
stand a siege was no very great trouble to me; besides, there was always
the possibility that something might occur to postpone it altogether.
The soldiers and most of the sirdars seem bent upon having a fight with
the English, and I greatly hoped that it would begin before Ghoolab's
intrigues against me had come to a head. However, now it has come we
must make the best of it, and I have no great fear of the result. While
you have been busy with these people this afternoon I have been
superintending the mounting of two heavy howitzers as mortars, and if
they erect batteries on the hill, as I expect they will, we will see if
we cannot drop a few shell among them. Nothing unsteadies artillery-men
more than finding that the earthworks in front of them do not as they
expect protect them, and that by no ingenuity can they defend themselves
from missiles that seem to drop down from the sky upon them."
"But how do you do that, uncle?"
"Simply by the amount of powder you put in. A mortar is always fixed at
a certain angle, and of course you fix a howitzer the same way when you
use it for that purpose. With a mortar the amount of powder of a given
strength required to send a shell to a given distance is known to every
artillery-man, but with a howitzer one must get it by experiment. You
first put in the amount of powder you think sufficient. The ball is
fired up into the air, and you watch where it drops. If it is short you
add an ounce or two of powder, as the case may be. If it is too far you
decrease the charge until you find that the shell drops just behind the
enemy's earthworks among the artillerymen serving a gun. Having once
got the exact charge of course you stick to it. This sort of thing
annoys the Sikhs, who are not much accustomed to shell. A few of them
were sent up to Lahore, and I managed to get hold of one and had several
hundred cast here to fit those two howitzers, and had a large number of
fuses made and stored away for future use. If they try to climb the
rocks, a few shells rolled down from the walls are likely to be very
effective."
"What are to be my duties principally, uncle?"
"Your chief duty will be to watch, Percy, especially at night. The
officers will, of course, go their rounds frequently, but as there may
be a traitor among them, I can place no absolute reliance on their
vigilance. I shall myself be about as much as possible, but as I shall
have to look after everything in the daytime I must take some rest at
night; one cannot do two or three months without sleep. I shall release
you from all duty during the day, although in case of a serious attack
you will take your place on the wall; otherwise I wish you to sleep in
the day and to keep a sharp look-out on everything at night, being
constantly upon the walls seeing that the sentries are vigilant, and
listening intently for anything that might indicate a movement from
below. I shall tell off four of Nand Chund's party to accompany you,
for if treachery is intended there would be no hesitation in planting a
dagger in your heart and then getting rid of your body over the wall.
You are nearly sixteen now, and strong and active, but on a dark night
that would avail nothing against a lurking assassin."
"Shall I begin to-night, uncle?"
"There is no occasion for that. The enemy have not arrived yet, and
indeed no one would dream of attempting to ascend the craig unaided. I
fancy they will try an open assault to begin with. When they find that
fails they may try surprise."
About midnight an officer reported that a dull confused sound could be
heard down the valley. The colonel took a couple of signal rockets,
with which one of the boxes brought by Percy from England was filled,
and proceeded, accompanied by his nephew, Nand Chund, and four of his
guard, to the wall at the lower end of the rock. Lanterns placed on the
ground were burning here, and a party of artillery-men were standing by
the four guns looking down the valley.
"How far do you think they are away?" the colonel asked the officer in
command there.
"A party of them have just crossed the wooden bridge over the stream,
sahib. I heard the trampling of their horses upon it distinctly."
"That is fourteen hundred and thirteen yards from the foot of the rock.
Drive those wedges a little farther. That is right. I cut those nicks
upon them the other day when we had got the exact depression required to
lay the guns on the bridge. Now let us wait until another body of them
are crossing."
Three or four minutes later the sound in the distance became suddenly
louder.
"Now, Nand Chund, fire that rocket. I think you have got it about the
right angle."
The rocket flew up in the air, and burst some distance away throwing out
a dozen fire-balls. Their light enabled the governor to see right down
the valley. Some slight alteration in the direction of the guns was
made, and then one after another they were fired. Another rocket was
now thrown up, and by its light the dark mass of men on or behind the
bridge could be seen to be broken up and retreating. Almost at the same
moment four guns were fired from an upper bastion.
"That is grape, Percy," the colonel said. The officer there was told to
wait till the men could see a body of troops advancing up the valley.
"Listen, there go the cavalry scampering back as hard as the horses can
lay their feet to the ground. I doubt whether we shall hear anything
more of them to-night."
"They could hardly hope to have passed without our noticing them. They
must have been sure that we should have warning of their coming."
"No doubt, lad, but they may not have calculated on our opening fire
upon them in the dark. They will not have reckoned upon the rockets,
and hoped, I have no doubt, to push a part of their force past the place
and up on to the brow before morning, for they would know well enough
that they could not pass under the fire of our guns when the sun was
once up."
"But how will they get there, uncle? now we have shown them that it is
almost as dangerous by night as by day."
"Probably they will march round among the hills, and come down upon us.
There will be no difficulty in infantry doing it, and they may manage to
drag a few light guns with them, but they can't get anything like heavy
artillery up there except by bringing them along below, and taking them
up the regular road. That is the first of the difficulties they have to
encounter, and as I have a large stock of blue lights I don't see how
they are going to get up the hill, which is commanded by a dozen of our
guns. They will be safe enough from our fire as they pass along under
the craig, for there is not a gun that can be depressed sufficiently to
bear upon them there, though we can annoy them by pitching shell and
hand-grenades down upon them. Still, determined men might manage that,
and might even make their way up the hill in face of our fire, but they
could never drag heavy guns up a road which we can sweep with grape. So
you see they have got a stiff problem to solve before they can get a
battering-gun to play on our northern wall."
For another hour they kept watch. There was still a confused sound from
the lower end of the valley, but nothing to indicate any renewed
advance. They therefore returned to the house.
Percy was aroused at daybreak, and at once made his way to the battery,
where they had been the night before. The colonel and several of his
officers were already there. The lower end of the valley was occupied
by a great mass of men, horses, and waggons. Tents had been erected
here and there, and the banners of their occupants were flying before
them.
"How strong do you think they are, uncle?" Percy asked.
"It is difficult to say, mixed up as all arms are in such confusion just
as they reached the ground last night, but we guess them at about
fifteen thousand. They have four batteries of field guns. There they
are away to the right. They evidently came up together, and have kept
something like order. We can make out several heavy guns mixed up with
the waggons, but whether there are ten or twenty of them I could give no
opinion. Do you see that large tent with the red and white flag? Those
are the colours of Ghoolab Singh, and the tent no doubt is occupied by
his son, the gentleman who was named my successor a week after the death
of the Old Lion. He has been waiting some time, and is likely to wait
longer. He is no doubt the nominal leader of the expedition; but I
believe that he has none of the talent of his father or uncles, and
matters will be directed really by the chiefs of the army. I have no
doubt a council has been going on all night as to what the next move
shall be, and the decision they have probably arrived at is to wait
until they can get a better idea of the fortress and its surroundings."
A considerable movement was now going on in the enemy's camp, and the
wind bore the sound of trumpets to the fortress.
"They are trying to get into something like order," Nand Chund remarked.
"The waggons are drawing out of the mass to take up their positions in
the rear, and the assembly calls of the different regiments are
sounding. Ah! there is a party going out to reconnoitre."
As he spoke a party of horsemen rode out to the left of the camp.
Several bright banners streamed in the air, and an escort of some fifty
cavalry followed them. They mounted the hill on the opposite side of
the valley until they reached a spot two or three hundred feet higher
than the summit of the fortress, and just opposite to it. As soon as
their object had been made out the colonel had sent word to the gunners
at the batteries along that face ordering them not to fire.
"I do not wish to make any more bitter enemies," he said to his officers
in reply to their look of surprise when he issued the order. "At
present they are only fighting against me as instruments of Ghoolab
Singh, and except on the ground that I am a foreigner, the soldiers have
no animosity against me. If we were now to kill two or three of their
favourite leaders, and perhaps some of the sirdars who have been bribed
into entering upon this business, it would create an active animosity
against me. Of course, when fighting begins they must all take their
chance, but I don't wish to slay anyone before a single shot has been
fired on their side."
The group of officers, who were but half a mile away, remained for ten
minutes closely examining the fortress. They then slowly returned to
camp.
"Our guns would carry easily enough into the midst of the camp, sahib,"
one of the officers remarked.
"I know they would, but I won't begin, for the same reason that I would
not fire at the group of officers. We will let them open the ball."
An hour later a body of men which they estimated at five thousand
marched away with two of the batteries of field guns, and soon were lost
to sight as they wound round the hills skirting the valley.
"We shall see them at daylight to-morrow established on the hillside
above us," the colonel said. "I have thought several times of
establishing a fort near the crest there; but I should not be able to
give it much support by my guns, and its garrison would not make any
prolonged resistance when they once found themselves cut off altogether
from us. With troops one could rely upon thoroughly, such a fort would
immensely hinder the operations, and indeed they could do nothing until
it was captured.
"It is a standard rule with us out here, Percy," he said afterwards,
"never to count upon the natives unless you are with them yourself. The
Sikhs are brave, but they want good leaders, and are not to be relied
upon unless under the eye of an officer they respect. They may hate us
as Europeans, but in the wars of Runjeet Singh they fought like lions
under our command. You will see that that will be their weak point if
they come to blows with the British. They will fight, and fight
pluckily, but without Europeans to lead them they will fall into
disorder, and there will be no one to rally and control them, to take
advantage of any temporary success, or to retrieve a temporary failure.
They don't know it themselves, but they will speedily learn it. Given
English officers, the natives of India fight as well as our own men.
The Sepoy regiments in Clive's days, and ever since, have shown
themselves worthy of fighting by the side of their white comrades; but
they would be worth very little if deprived of their European officers.
Another thing against them is the slowness with which they work their
guns. A battery of British artillery would fire five shots while they
fire one, and their infantry are proportionately slow in their
movements. We have all tried, but tried in vain, to get them to work
with smartness. It does not seem, however, to be in them."
That night a vigilant watch was kept along the northern wall, but
nothing was heard; and it was not till an hour after sunrise that a
column was seen coming along the side of the hill above them. The guns
were all manned and ready for action, but the colonel delayed giving the
order until the enemy reached a sort of terrace on the face of the hill
half a mile away, and three hundred feet higher than the level of the
fortress. "Now," he said, "we will give them a hint to come no further.
We could not prevent their establishing themselves on that terrace, but
they must learn that they can come no nearer. Two or three shots will
be a sufficient hint."
The guns opened fire, and the enemy, who were just commencing a further
descent, retired hastily, and a few minutes later their field guns
opened fire. They were no match, however, for the much heavier pieces
on the walls; and after half an hour's exchange of shots they drew back
their guns, two of which had been dismounted by well-aimed shots from
the wall. Some of the party established themselves well back on the
terrace, where they were out of sight of the fortress, but the main body
ascended the hill again and encamped on the crest. Occasionally a gun
was run forward, discharged, and withdrawn; and to this fire the
garrison made no reply, the guns being very badly aimed, some of the
shot flying right over the fortress, while others struck the ground
outside the wall.
"Now we shall have quiet for a time, sahib," Nand Chund said to Percy,
who was standing next to him. "They have done so much, and will want to
settle what the next movement is to be."
"I think it will be our turn to move next, Nand Chund," the colonel, who
had overheard his remark, observed. "To-night when it gets dark we will
sally out, and see if we cannot take those gentlemen with the guns by
surprise."
"It may be, colonel, that they will expect a sally, and will move their
whole force down again on to the terrace after nightfall."
"It all depends who their leader is. If he is an enterprising fellow,
that is what he would do."
"Do you know, uncle, I have been thinking that their camp down in the
valley is smaller to-day than it was yesterday."
"Do you think so, Percy? I will go to the battery at the other end and
have a look at it. It is possible that they may have sent off another
party to join those fellows up there. If they have done that, they
intend to try the effect of a _coup de main_, and to attack us in
earnest some time before morning."
After a close examination of the enemy's camp, the colonel and his
officers were all of opinion that although it occupied as much space as
before, there were fewer men moving about than upon the preceding day.