you not done so we might have run our heads into a trap, and instead of
surprising them been surprised ourselves, and that by greatly superior
numbers. I shall abandon the idea now and prepare to resist a serious
assault to-night, and we will have every man capable of bearing arms in
readiness. We will keep only a few men on the walls, and let the rest
lie down at once with orders that they are to sleep if they can, as
there will be no sleep for them to-night. Nand Chund, do you post half
a dozen of your men at different points on the walls; let them keep a
vigilant watch down upon the town itself, and see that no flag or other
signal is waved from a roof or window. It may well be that there has
been some arrangement made with a traitor here to give notice by signal
of any intended sortie on our part."
Following his uncle's advice, Percy lay down for some hours; but he
could not sleep, being too excited at the thought of the conflict that
would probably take place during the night. When he went in to dinner
the colonel was absent, being engaged in mustering and assigning to
their various posts the able-bodied men among the fugitives. These were
posted round the circuit of the walls, which were all, with the
exception of the northern face, entrusted to their charge.
"It is probable," he told them, "that the enemy will make a diversion on
this side when they attack on the other. It will not, however, be
serious, for they can do nothing unless with the assistance of friends
on the wall."
Among the servants of the traders were a good many who had served in the
army. These were stationed at the guns, and enjoined to open fire upon
the enemy's camp if they brought the heavy artillery they had there into
play. To each battery and section of the wall a number of blue lights
and fire-balls were served out--one or more of the former was to be
lighted every few minutes, and the fire-balls occasionally thrown into
the valley, so that no considerable body of the enemy could escape
observation. The traders were appointed as commanders at the various
points. Of the garrison a thousand men were placed on the north wall;
the rest were stationed close at hand in readiness to support them, or
to move to any point threatened.
"Percy," the Ranee--as she was usually called in the fortress--said, as
they sat waiting the colonel's return, "I want you to devote yourself to
the protection of my husband to-night. I have no fear of the wall being
carried by assault, it is too strong and will be too well defended for
that, but I do fear for his life. That we have one or more traitors
here we are sure, and an occasion like this with its confusion and
excitement will afford them just the opportunity they desire. When all
are engaged in repulsing the attack of an enemy it would be easy for an
assassin to use knife or pistol without fear of the action being
noticed, and the colonel will be thinking of nothing but directing his
men and repulsing the attack. Therefore, I pray you station yourself
near him. Leave the fighting to others, and keep your eye closely upon
those about him, and your pistol in your hand in readiness for action."
"I will do so, aunt. If there is anyone here who wants to assassinate
him, it is just the time he would choose for the attempt. I think it
would be as well to ask Nand Chund to pick me out four of his best men,
and to hand them over to my orders. However sharply I might look out in
the darkness and confusion, someone might spring suddenly forward upon
uncle from the side opposite that on which I was standing; but with five
of us on the watch, we ought to be able to prevent anyone getting near
him. I will tell no one the purpose for which I require the men, and
will bid Nand Chund be equally silent. There is no saying who the
traitor may be, perhaps someone we have never thought of suspecting; and
if he knew we were on the watch he might drop it altogether. I only
hope he will try it, it would be the best thing that could happen, as it
would relieve us from the uncertainty we have been feeling. Nand Chund
himself with the rest of his men will, I know, be on duty here; for I
heard uncle give him his orders, which were that he was to suffer
nothing, not even the entry of the enemy into the town, to induce him to
leave the house, as traitors would be very likely to take advantage of
the confusion to rush in and perhaps to kill you, and plunder and fire
the place. There will be one advantage of my having these men with me.
Uncle might send me round with a message to some other part of the wall,
and I should be obliged for a time to be absent; but with them round
him, I could leave him for a few minutes without fear."
"Do not do it if you can help it, Percy; the night will be dark, and if
you keep well behind him he may not notice you, for he will have other
things to think about. Should he send you on a message, take it
yourself if it is of great importance; if not, send one of the men in
your place. I rely upon you more than on anyone else. Ah, here is
Roland at last."
By ten o'clock everyone was at his appointed post. The colonel took
Percy with him on a circuit round the walls, where he exhorted everyone
to be watchful and vigilant and to preserve absolute silence until they
could hear the enemy in motion down the valley.
"I have no fear there whatever," he said, as he returned to the northern
wall. "Even were there a score of men among our troops who have been
bought over to play a treacherous part, they could do nothing where
there are so many around them on the watch. Treachery strikes when
least expected. It is powerless among a multitude, and all the traders
and others from the towns know that their lives are at stake, and are
just as well aware as I am that the place on that side is all but
impregnable unless the assailants were aided from within. They can be
trusted, therefore, to keep their eyes well open. I shall not assign you
any special duty, Percy. I have told Ram Bund, your commander, that I
shall keep you near myself, but there is no occasion for you to stay
close to me. If you see any point specially threatened you can go there
and encourage the men by your voice and presence, but I have no fear
whatever that they will gain a footing on the wall.
"I shall take my post over the gateway, that is where I fancy the brunt
of the attack will fall. They will either try to fill up the cut there
with faggots or bundles of grass, or throw planks over and then blow in
the gate. At least that is how we should act under the same
circumstances, and as, if they make the attack, they must have some
fellow of uncommon enterprise in command, it is likely he will proceed
in the same course. As for the wall, it is fifty feet from the parapet
to the bottom of the cut, and there are no native Indian troops who
would try to scale such a wall on ladders in the face of a strong and
determined garrison. Of course, if they could have brought their heavy
guns up here, made a breach in the wall, and half filled up the cut with
its ruins, it would have been a different affair altogether, though even
then I feel sure that we could beat them off. As it is they can only
reckon on finding us quite unprepared for an attack, and on carrying the
place by a sudden rush. I believe myself that a quarter of an hour will
see the end of it, and that as soon as they understand we are fully
prepared they will give up the idea as hopeless. Now we have nothing to
do but to wait. I expect the attack about an hour before daybreak,
which is the hour at which they will think they are most likely to find
the sentinels drowsy."
*CHAPTER VII.*
*STARTLING NEWS.*
The hours passed slowly as the garrison awaited the attack of the enemy.
The men had been told that they could all lie down where they stood,
leaving only the officers and sentries on watch; and the top of the wall
and the yard behind were crowded with sleeping figures wrapt in their
mantles. About two o'clock those on watch were sensible of a low
confused sound in the air.
"They are moving," the colonel said to Percy, who was sitting on the
parapet, against which he was leaning. "It is probable that they have
been ordered to leave their shoes behind them; and in any case the walk
of a Sikh in his soft leather shoes is almost noiseless, besides they
are as yet a long distance away. They are coming down the hill," he
continued a quarter of an hour later; "the noise is certainly more
distinct. But I give them credit for the manner of their approach. We
should scarce notice the noise if we were not prepared for it, and a
drowsy sentry would take it for the wind rising among the hills. One
can hardly imagine that ten thousand men are moving down towards us."
Two or three of the officers came up to report that they were sure the
enemy were stirring, and the colonel ordered them to get all the men
quietly under arms. Another half-hour passed.
"They are a long time in coming, uncle," Percy said in a low voice.
"They are; they might have been here long before this. If I did not want
to give them a lesson I would send up a rocket in order to find out what
they are doing. I believe they are only a short distance away now, but
we will wait for them to begin."
In a short time they were convinced that the enemy were within a hundred
yards at most from the wall. Quiet as their movements were, a low hum
as of orders being given in suppressed tones could be heard. On the
walls all were in readiness. At a distance of a few yards apart men
stood with portfires in one hand and matches in the other, while between
them lines of muskets rested on the parapet. Several times the watchers
thought they could make out dim figures on the opposite side of the deep
cut at the foot of the wall. Suddenly a bright light burst out exactly
opposite the gate, and a moment later twenty guns opened, sending their
balls crashing through the drawbridge and gate. At the same instant a
rocket soared into the air from over the gateway, and a moment later a
line of blue lights flashed out along the wall. A mass of men were
rushing forward towards the gate, all carrying great bundles on their
heads, while a tremendous yell burst from thousands of throats. It was
answered by one of defiance from the wall.
[Illustration: PERCY SHOOTS THE ASSASSIN DURING THE ATTACK ON THE
FORTRESS]
The assailants paused for a moment in astonishment at the line of
lights, and the proof that the garrison were prepared; but the pause was
momentary, and they rushed forward again. The leaders were but a few
yards from the edge of the cut when the colonel shouted "Fire!" A flash
of flame ran along the wall, and twenty guns loaded to the muzzle with
grape poured their contents among the enemy. Like a field of wheat
levelled by the blast of a tornado the mob of men were swept to the
earth, the few that remained erect throwing down their bundles and
flying for their lives. Percy, mindful of his special work, had, the
moment the light flashed out opposite the gate, summoned the four men,
who were standing a short distance away, and stood on the watch near his
uncle.
For a few minutes there was a duel between the guns of the fortress and
the Sikh cannon, which had been drawn down by hand, the wheels thickly
wrapped with cotton cloths to prevent the slightest sound being made.
The infantry kept up a storm of fire, which was replied to by volleys of
musketry from the defenders. The din was tremendous, and presently
another body of men carrying long beams and planks again rushed forward.
Many of them reached the edge of the moat and tried to push the poles
across, but the destruction was so great from the musketry fire from the
walls, and from six guns which had been kept in reserve loaded with
grape, that the survivors again fell back followed by the exultant
shouts of the garrison.
At the moment that they had advanced the two port-fires over the gate
went out simultaneously, and before others could be lighted Percy saw a
figure that had been crouching under the parapet a short distance off
spring forward. The guard nearest to him also observed the movement,
and threw himself in the man's way. A knife flashed in the air and he
fell. His assailant then sprung towards the colonel, whose back was
turned to him, when a ball from Percy's pistol struck him in the head
and he fell dead in his tracks. The pistol-shot attracted no attention
amid the roar of firearms, and Percy, without paying further attention
to the fallen man, ordered the remaining three guards to redouble their
vigilance.
"The scoundrel may not be alone," he said. "The attempt may be
repeated."
With the retirement of the second body of men charged to bridge the
fosse the enemy lost heart. It was evident even to the most determined
that success was impossible, now that the garrison were prepared. The
guns, too, suffered so terribly from the heavier metal of those on the
wall, that half of them lay dismounted, and the gunners would no longer
work the others in the face of the heavy fire that mowed them down. The
yells subsided and the fire ceased, and as noiselessly as they had come
the assailants glided away into the darkness, pursued, however, for some
time by the bullets and shot of the defenders. Convinced that there was
no fear of a repetition of the assault, the colonel ordered the greater
part of the troops back to their quarters.
Now that the din near at hand had ceased, the rattle of musketry and the
boom of guns could be heard from the other walls. The colonel hurried
away to see what was going on there. He found that the moment the
firing began on the north face of the fortress it broke out from the
valleys on either side, where large numbers of men had stolen up in the
darkness, while at the same time the heavy guns in the camp had also
opened fire. The defenders had at once replied, and the fire had been
continued on both sides, but it had begun to die away on the side of the
assailants as soon as it ceased on the northern face. The colonel sent
for a party of artillery-men to aid the men working the guns, and
ordered a steady fire to be kept up on the camp, and then dismissed his
allies to their tents and returned himself to his house, to which Percy
had gone as soon as the fighting was over to tell his aunt that the
attack had been repulsed and that all was well.
"Then my fears were groundless, Percy?"
"No, aunt, they were the means of saving my uncle's life," and he then
related the attempt at assassination and its result.
"Heaven be praised!" she said, bursting into tears. "I had a
presentiment of evil, as I have more than once had before when his life
has been threatened. Thank God the danger has come and gone and that he
is still unharmed. Did you know who the man was?"
"I did not notice, aunt, or think of looking at him after he had fallen.
There was such a tremendous roar going on that I felt quite confused,
and thought of nothing but that the attack might be repeated. I will go
and see who it is as soon as it is light."
By this time some hot coffee had been prepared, and Percy had already
partaken of it when the colonel returned. As he entered his wife threw
herself into his arms.
"Thank God you have returned safe, Roland, and have once more escaped
the dangers that threatened you."
"The dangers were not great this time, love, being only from a stray
bullet; for the artillery confined their fire to the gate, in hopes no
doubt that a lucky shot might bring the drawbridge down. Not that this
was likely, for I had it fastened up by half a dozen chains, any one of
which would have held it."
"It was not the bullets of the enemy, but the knife of an assassin that
I feared," she said.
"Pooh, pooh, my love! you are always dreaming of assassins."
"And not without reason, Roland; had it not been for Percy's pistol you
would not be alive now."
The colonel looked surprised at Percy. "What does this mean, lad? I
did not hear you fire, and, indeed, did not notice you from the time
when the attack began to the time when it was over. Do you mean to say
that my life was attempted, and that you saved me?"
"It was aunt's doing, not mine, uncle." Percy then related the
injunctions his aunt had given him and the results.
"You have saved my life again, Mahtab," he said embracing his wife
tenderly. "At least this time you and Percy have done it between you.
And who is the traitor?"
"That Percy does not know; he did not think of examining the body."
"Then we will do so at once," the colonel said, putting on his cap
again. "Daylight will soon be breaking, and as soon as it does the
soldiers will be at work removing from the wall the bodies of those who
fell in the fight. I heard just now that there were twenty-five men
killed by the enemy's musket-fire, and another twenty or thirty hit in
the hand or arm as they fired over the wall. Come along, Percy, you
will know exactly where the man fell."
Calling a couple of his guards and bidding one bring a lantern with him,
the colonel, accompanied by Percy, went to the wall, where the latter at
once pointed out the body of the man he had shot, lying close to that of
the guard who had fallen by his knife.
"Throw the light on his face," the colonel said, and as the soldier did
so he uttered an exclamation of surprise and disgust.
"It is Azim Bund--the scoundrel! He was the last man I should have
suspected. He was penniless when I picked him up years ago. He
professed the greatest attachment for me, and being clever and shrewd I
raised him step by step until at last he became my confidential steward.
He was bound to me by every tie of gratitude, and I certainly thought
him absolutely devoted to my interests. Ever since the attempt to seize
you on your way here showed that there was a traitor in the fortress, he
has appeared most earnest in his attempts to discover him; and to think
that all this time it was the scoundrel himself! Mahtab has never liked
the man, though she never suspected his fidelity. I suppose he had been
heavily bribed, and had the promise of some good place from Ghoolab
Singh. Well, he richly deserved the fate that has befallen him. I am
glad that it was not a soldier, for I like to think that all my men are
faithful to me to the last.
"That was a good shot of yours, Percy, your ball struck him just in the
centre of the forehead. Well, there is one thing, there need be no fear
at present of another attempt of this kind. This fellow would never
have dared to make a confidant. An officer might enlist some of his men
in such a plot, but a man in Azim's position would not venture to do so.
A steward is not often popular with the men he looks after, and I don't
think this fellow was any exception to the rule. Do you two men remain
with the body until the morning, and see that no one touches it. You
can search his pockets now, but it is not likely that such a cunning
knave would be carrying any documents that would incriminate him, about
on his person."
"There is nothing in his pockets, sahib," one of the soldiers said, "but
I can feel he has a heavy belt round his body."
"Take it off and examine it."
It was found that a hundred gold mohurs were sewn up in the belt. "The
first instalment of the price of my life," the colonel said. "Here is
one apiece for you, men; the rest shall be laid out in charity. There
must be scores of people who have been made homeless in the last day or
two.
"In the morning make a thorough search of the fellow's clothes, he may
have some paper sewn up in them. Now, Percy, we will go back to the
house."
The Ranee was greatly agitated when she heard who was the author of the
attack upon the colonel's life.
"It is terrible, Roland, to think that we can trust no one, and that for
months your life has been endangered by that man. I cannot think why he
waited so long."
"He was waiting for a safe opportunity, as he thought," the colonel
replied. "Our private apartments are always locked at night, and during
the day the opportunities for putting a knife into me without suspicion
falling upon him were not frequent. No doubt he knew that Ghoolab was
going to send an army here, and it was probably arranged that the affair
should not take place until it arrived, as with me out of the way the
garrison would probably surrender, and Ghoolab's son would only have to
enter and take possession; and would, moreover, gain a certain amount of
credit for what would be regarded as his capture of the place. He
might, perhaps, have done it at night, but your idea of putting Nand
Chund and the guard here would altogether upset that plan, and drive him
to choose some other opportunity. At any rate we can sleep in peace
now. It is morally certain that Azim would not run the risk of having
an accomplice, especially as he would regard it as certain that he would
be able to carry out his design without aid."
The morning light showed how terrible had been the effect of the fire of
the besieged upon the assailants. The ground for two hundred yards back
from the fosse was thickly strewn with dead, and around the spot where
the cannon stood the men who had served them lay in heaps. After
sending out a party to make sure that the enemy had all retired right, a
force was sent out to collect and bring in the deserted guns and the
wounded. There were over three hundred of the latter, and eight hundred
dead were counted. Shortly afterwards two men with a white flag were
seen coming down the hill.
The colonel and an officer went out to meet them, and it was found that
they were the bearers of a request to be permitted to carry away the
dead. This the colonel readily granted, being well pleased indeed at
being saved the trouble of burying them, which would have been a work of
great trouble and labour, owing to the shallowness of the soil. A large
body of men came down for the purpose, but it was nightfall before the
last of the bodies were carried away. The enemy's camp in the valley
had, at daybreak, been removed out on to the plain, a mile and a half
farther away, so as to be beyond the range of the guns.
Late in the afternoon a large force was seen to march in there, and the
garrison had no doubt that this was the main body of the troops who had
attacked them in the night.
A week passed without any further movement, and then it was noticed one
morning that the tents had been struck, and shortly afterwards the whole
army was seen to march away to the south. Some of the merchants at once
sent off messengers to gather news, and by nightfall the colonel learnt
that it was reported that the mother of the maharajah had consented to
the demands of the army to make war against the British. An officer who
had passed through the nearest town had stated that he was the bearer of
despatches, ordering the force who were besieging the fortress to return
at once to Lahore.
"That must have been very welcome news for every man in camp," the
colonel said. "The soldiers must be already sick of the business, which
must have cost them at least a thousand men, counting those that died
after the fight from their wounds; and they must have seen well enough
that this was nothing to what the loss would be before the place was
captured. The leaders must be even more glad; the fact that no movement
has been made since the repulse shows that they are at their wits' end
as to what their next move should be. They must have known that another
repulse might cause a mutiny among the troops, and might even cost them
their lives. They must have been glad indeed at the news of their
recall.
"And now, Percy, we must lose no time in warning our friends of what is
intended. They may have got news already from Lahore; but we cannot
risk that--their agents there may be imprisoned or killed, therefore you
had better prepare to start for Loodiana in an hour's time. Nand Chund
shall go with you again with fifty men. There will no doubt be many
sirdars moving with their followers towards Lahore, and you will
therefore excite little attention; and if questioned, Nand Chund will
say that he is on his way to join the army. No, it will not be quite
true; but that is a matter that will not rest at all heavily on his
conscience. Lying is not considered a great moral offence at any time
by the Sikhs, or indeed by any natives of India; and to deceive an enemy
in time of war, is considered absolutely meritorious. There will be no
occasion for you to say anything one way or another; he will appear as
the head of the expedition, and you will pass unnoticed and
unquestioned. Nand Chund is perfectly capable of talking for himself
and half a dozen others. Fondness for using his tongue at all times is
one of his principal failings."
"Am I to come straight back again, uncle?"