*HECTOR GRAEME*
*BOOK I*
*Hector Graeme*
*CHAPTER I*
The dull November afternoon was fast drawing to a close. Patches of
white mist lay in the hollows of the elm-dotted park; the outlines of
stately tree and russet copse were rapidly merging into the surrounding
grey.
Already a flicker of light was beginning to appear in the windows of
Radford Hall, the home of Sir Thomas Caldwell, Baronet, a house--like
its owner--solid, sturdy, and unimaginative-looking. Nearly a mile
away, standing well back from a high ragged hedge of blackthorn, a line
of sportsmen could be seen waiting for the last drive of the day to
commence; behind each stood the waiting figure of a loader, ready with
the second gun. Listless and inactive as were now these figures, they
would shortly become possessed of a feverish energy; for in the
turnip-field beyond the blackthorn hedge were many partridges, and,
struggle later as they might with obstinate cartridges, their movements
would be far too slow for their impatient masters, who with gun
discharged would view, in helpless wrath, the easiest of shots pass
unscathed overhead.
At one end of the line, comfortably seated on a grouse-stick, a young
man was waiting with the rest. He was a young man whose face wore a
look of great conceit, this appearance being enhanced by a somewhat
pronounced eccentricity of attire. There was something about this youth
that struck the observer as unusual; he was in some indescribable manner
different from his fellows, though to the majority of mankind it must be
owned the difference was not of a pleasing kind. This gentleman was
Lieutenant Hector Graeme, senior subaltern of Her Majesty's 1st Regiment
of Lancers, now on foreign service in India. In accordance with his
usual habit of evading his duties--or so said his enemies, among whom
might be included the greater part of his brother officers--Graeme had
been successful in dodging the troopship; and, having been left behind
with the depot at Canterbury, was on leave from that place and staying
as a guest at Radford Hall, Sir Thomas being an old friend of his
father's.
Standing behind him--for the idea of yielding up his seat had somehow
not occurred to him--was Lucy Caldwell, Sir Thomas' only daughter and
the mistress of his household, he having been a widower for many years.
In her hand she was holding Hector's second gun, her obvious intention
being to act as loader to the fortunate subaltern. This, it may be
remarked, was a task Lucy was thoroughly capable of performing, the
young lady having been born and bred amongst sportsmen; indeed, there
was little concerning beasts and birds of the field with which she was
not thoroughly familiar.
At the present moment, however, there was a somewhat annoyed expression
on her usually good-tempered face, and her brow was knit as she stood
listening to the shrill "tirwit, tirwit," rising from the turnip-field.
"Most provoking you should have the worst place for this drive, Mr.
Graeme," she said at length; "it will be the best of the day, I know,
and the birds always fly over the centre and right."
"Don't you worry about that, Miss Caldwell," answered Hector; "it's the
luck of the draw; and anyway the birds will come to me all right, you
see if they don't."
"Indeed they will not; they'll make for that field of roots over there,
they always do."
"Not this time, I think. Birds are curious things; they like coming to
the best shot; and that I am, here anyway. Gad, I don't believe I could
miss to-day. Confess, Miss Caldwell, you don't often see such shooting
as mine, now do you?"
Lucy frowned. She had been taught to look upon bragging of any sort as
an impossible thing, and the remark jarred.
"Of course you're a good shot, Mr. Graeme," she said rather coldly; "but
it's hardly necessary to proclaim the fact, is it? As for the birds
coming to you, you may know better than I do. I've lived here
twenty-one years, it's true, but----"
A sudden whir of wings cut her short, and away past Graeme sped an old
French partridge, which was out of sight in the dusk behind before he
had time to raise his gun.
"Damn!" said Hector, "what did I tell you? Beg pardon, Miss Caldwell,
but that's rather annoying, an old Frenchman too; probably played that
game many times before. Clean defeat, and I don't like it. Hullo,
they've started," as through a gap in the hedge before them a distant
line of white flags could be seen advancing. "Now, be quiet, like a
good girl, and I promise you some fancy shooting."
"Over," "over," came faintly from the advancing flags, followed some
seconds later by a humming sound, rapidly growing louder, till with a
roar a large covey of birds topped the blackthorn hedge, and then,
seeing Graeme, broke up and scattered in all directions. A breathless
moment followed, the air resounding with the crack of guns and whirring
of wings, and then silence.
"How many down, Mr. Graeme?" gasped Lucy, struggling with a stuck
cartridge.
"Three, for goodness' sake keep count or we shan't know where we are.
Notice that last shot of mine, by the way? Sixty yards at least, and
stone dead. No. Pity. Look out, there are more coming, straight to me
as usual." Another right and left. "Oh, please be quicker. Damn, my
guns are getting red hot. See these four coming? I'll have 'em all,
hanged if I don't." Two double shots followed, and then a cry of
exultation. "Done it, by the Lord! What price De Grey now? I told you
I couldn't miss. Only hope the others are looking, particularly old
Persian War. Wish he was next me; I'd give a fiver to wipe his eye.
How many down? Thirty I make it."
"Twenty-seven, Mr. Graeme, one a runner."
"Runner, not it. I'm not dealing in runners to-day. All dead as stones.
There are two more for you," as a brace came swinging over and were
promptly crumpled up dead in the air. "That makes twenty-nine by your
counting, thirty-two by mine. Hang! here are the beaters, and the day's
over. How many down, Fox?" to a keeper who had now come up.
"Thirty-two all dead."
"Gum, but that's good shooting," answered Fox, while a murmur of
approbation arose from a cluster of smock-frocked beaters. "Thought I
saw someone a-cutting of 'em down, sir, and I said as 'ow I thought it
must be the Captain. Only 'ope the other gentlemen 'ave done as well.
Hi, Rover, seek lost, good dawg, good dawg. Ah, drop it, now, would
you? Oh, thankye, sir, thankye very much," and the tactful Fox's hand
closed on a five-pound note, a golden sovereign being likewise bestowed
on the cluster of approving smock-frocks.
The courtiers thus rewarded, Graeme turned to Lucy. "And now we'll walk
home across the park," he said; "no use waiting for the waggonette, what
do you say, Miss Caldwell?"
"I don't think I will, Mr. Graeme. You go if you like. I must get back
to make the tea. You know what my uncle is, if he's kept waiting."
"Do him good; he's a great deal too autocratic that old uncle of yours;
thinks he's still commanding troops in Bugglaboo, or whatever his
infernal Indian station was."
"Mr. Graeme!"
"Beg pardon, Miss Caldwell, but never mind him. Come along, we'll be
home as soon as they are if we start now."
Lucy hesitated. She wanted to go, and for that very reason, being a
woman, pretended she did not. The idea, moreover, though pleasing, was
nevertheless in some unaccountable way rather alarming; for though
ordinarily a walk home with one of her father's guests, however late the
hour, would have caused her no qualms, with Graeme, it was different.
She had known him but three weeks, and yet in that short time he had
come to occupy a place in her thoughts, and, what was worse, to control
her actions in a manner most disquieting to a girl as independent and
freedom-loving as Lucy Caldwell. This too in spite of the fact that
both her father and uncle, the General, had little liking for Mr.
Graeme, and were, she knew, secretly rejoicing in the knowledge that he
was leaving Radford Hall next day. Hector also was aware of this, and
of the feelings of the rest of the house-party; but, having been
accustomed to unpopularity since his childhood, their hostility
disturbed him not at all.
"Better come, Miss Caldwell," he urged. "See, they'll be ages before
they start. It's my last evening here too; I think you might."
Upon which Lucy decided that her reluctance was both prudish and absurd.
"Very well, Mr. Graeme," she answered; "just wait a minute, though, and
I'll ask Mr. Robson to let my father know." This done, the two started
on their walk, Lucy setting the pace, which was that of a good four
miles an hour.
"Where's Lucy, Tom?" said the General, some ten minutes later, as, the
bag having been inspected, the two moved off towards the waiting
waggonette.
"She'll be here in a minute; she was down at the other end of the line.
The last I saw of her she was helping Graeme to collect his birds. Gad,
that fellow can shoot, Charles, quite like one of those fellows you read
about in the _Badminton Library_."
"Yes, and we shall hear all about it to-night too--every blessed shot he
made, and why he missed. Conceited, bumptious jackanapes."
"Curious thing old Jack Graeme having a son like that, one of the best,
old Jack. Must take after his mother, I suppose, she was a queer wild
sort--wrong too."
"He's not Jack's son at all; you know that well enough, Tom. Crawford
was this fellow's father."
"Surely, you don't believe that old scandal, Charles?"
"Of course I do, this fellow's the dead spit of Crawford. The only
difference between them is that he was a devilish good soldier, one of
the best we had in the army. I didn't like the fellow, but I'll say
that for him. This chap, though, is a waster, so his regiment say.
They can't stand him there, and that, as you know, Tom, is a bad sign, a
damn bad sign."
"I hope Lucy hasn't taken a fancy to him. It's worrying me a lot,
Charles."
"Not she, she's far too sensible. If she did, we'd have to stop it,
that's all. I tell you, Tom, I'd sooner see the girl in a convent,
or--yes, I would--dead, begad, than see her married to that fellow."
"Oh come, Charles."
"Yes, I would. There's something wrong about the chap; he sets me all
on edge; he---- Hullo, Robson, seen my niece?"
"She's walking home with Graeme, General, asked me to let you know. She
said she'd be at the house before the waggonette."
"Oh!" said Sir Thomas.
"Damn!" muttered the General.
* * * * *
Meantime the pair under discussion were making their way homewards
across the park, Lucy rather silent, Hector discoursing on Hector and
that person's recent achievements. He was feeling particularly pleased
with himself this evening, and, as a result, more than a little kindly
towards his companion. At length, even the topic of self was exhausted,
and a sudden rather awkward pause ensued, whereupon Lucy managed to find
her voice.
"When do you expect to join your regiment in India, Mr. Graeme," she
said, "soon, I suppose, now? How you must be looking forward to it."
Graeme's face clouded. "Next September, I believe, that is, if I do go
out. Don't think I shall, though, I've more than half a mind to send in
my papers and cut the whole show."
"Surely not, Mr. Graeme, at your age. What on earth would you do with
yourself? You couldn't idle for the rest of your life."
"Couldn't I? I could idle very well, Miss Caldwell, besides, I should
always find plenty to do with shooting, hunting, and golf. Those are my
interests, and pretty good ones too, I think."
"But surely a mere life of sport wouldn't content you. Don't you want to
get on in your profession? Really, Mr. Graeme, I cannot understand a
man holding such views."
"Perhaps not, but it's a fact all the same. I've no wish to get on, as
you call it, indeed I loathe soldiering. What's the good of it after
all, what can it lead to? I've no doubt if I chose I could be as good a
soldier as any of them, but I don't choose. It's a life of slavery, the
army, it's being at the beck and call of every silly fool who happens to
have more gold lace on his hat than you have; and then the end--to
become a general, a snuffy, purple-faced old ass, like----"
"Like whom, Mr. Graeme?"
"Oh, like Grampus, my present lord at Canterbury, who, when he gives a
luncheon party, has the lot of us strutting past him on foot parade to
show his importance and amuse his lady friends."
"But all generals are not like that, Mr. Graeme."
"All I've met. It's a natural consequence too, I suppose. When a man's
young and in full possession of his faculties he's only a humble captain
or major, but as he approaches imbecility he rises in rank, till in the
height of senile decay he becomes a general."
"Mr. Graeme, you forget, I think, that my uncle's a----"
"He, of course, is one of the exceptions you just mentioned," said
Hector with a rather nasty chuckle.
"Mr. Graeme, you're horrid; I don't wonder people dislike you."
"More do I, though perhaps if you'd been brought up as I have you'd be
horrid too."
"What do you mean?"
Graeme hesitated for a moment, frowning, and then burst out, with a ring
of passion in his voice:
"You've had a happy life. Miss Caldwell, parents who have been parents,
I've not. My father, for some reason, would never look at me, while my
mother alternately petted and neglected me. She was a queer being, my
mother, mad on spiritualism and such like, and what's more used to drag
me into her experiments. She said I was clairvoyant."
"Good heavens, Mr. Graeme, what an awful thing for a woman to do. I beg
your pardon; I forget it's your mother I'm speaking of."
"Say what you like; I don't care. I hated her when she was alive, and
do now she's dead. It's played the devil with me, Miss Caldwell. I
used to lie awake at night often and shriek with terror, and I'm not
much better now at times. That's the way I was brought up, nobody to
care twopence about me; and gradually I got not to care too, till now I
think I hate everybody just as they do me."
"Oh, surely, not everybody," began Lucy, and then stopped suddenly. At
something in her voice, Graeme turned and looked at her, a queer thrill
of excitement running through him. He tried to see her face, but it was
turned from him; the feeling of excitement grew, and his heart began to
beat fast.
For some time he too had been conscious of a growing feeling of
attraction towards this girl; more, he felt himself to be in love with
her--a not unusual experience, by the way, for Hector, to whom all
feminine creatures were as magnets to his iron. This feeling, however,
though materially contributing to the enjoyment of the past three weeks,
had hitherto not been regarded by him as serious, indeed, the idea of
proposing to Lucy Caldwell had never once presented itself to him. Now
the charms of such a proceeding suddenly occurred to him. The
isolation, in which he had hitherto gloried, seemed no longer desirable
but hateful, and with this came a sudden longing for sympathy and the
love denied him in his childhood. It would be glorious, he thought, to
have someone to care for him; to be interested in what he did, to have a
home of his own instead of the Mess, which he hated; and straightway
Hector made up his mind to do it, and, flinging prudence to the winds,
spoke.
"Miss Caldwell, Lucy, is there anyone who cares?"
"I--I shouldn't think so. I--I don't know."
"Do you care?--because I do. I--I love you most--damnably."
"Most damnably?"
"Yes, and if you'll marry me--I've meant to ask you for a long time, but
I've funked it before. I'm not much of a catch, I know. I'll try and
be different. I could be, I think, if you took me in hand. For God's
sake say you will, Lucy."
"But are you sure, Hector? Do you really mean it? Oh, I never said you
might, and look, there's an owl flown by; he saw us, I know he did. You
might have waited till he'd gone. He has gone now, Hector."
* * * * *
The four miles an hour dwindled down to a bare half. The darkness
deepened, owing to which possibly they lost their way, turning east
instead of west. Away from the Hall they wandered, oblivious of a
purple-faced gentleman who was awaiting them there, and whose wrath was
rapidly rising as he viewed the still mistressless tea-table.
*CHAPTER II*
The fair valley of Kashmir lay drowsing in the August sunshine--a strip
of green and gold nestling amid a waste of rocky mountains. All around
rose the great hills, bare and sun-scorched for the most part towards
the west and south--at which point enters the main road from India--but
to the east draped with heavy mantles of fir and towering pine; far
away, a glittering rampart of eternal snow and ice, the great mass of
the Himalayas barred the way to the north, its jagged peaks and saw-like
ridges fretting the deep cloudless blue of the sky.
Over the valley itself, now a riotous waste of colour, hung a shimmering
vale of heat; through the warm heavy air, drowsy with the perfume of a
thousand blossoms, gaudy dragon-flies darted to and fro, or hung poised
with tremulous vibration of gauzy wings; while here and there orange and
purple butterflies drifted lazily from flower to flower. Tiny rivulets
murmured sleepily, as they threaded their way through woods of chestnut,
apple and pear, interspersed with patches of golden millet and Indian
corn, the sole worldly wealth of some Kashmiri husbandman, the roof of
whose hut might be seen peering through the surrounding clump of trees.
Born in the snowy mountains to the north, the river Jhelum winds its way
southwards through the centre of the valley, passing through the great
lake of Kashmir, a vast sheet of burnished silver, on the still surface
of which lie masses of coral-pink lotus. Onward the river crawls,
lapping in sleepy caress the wooden piles and temple-steps of Srinagar,
the country's capital, a ramshackle cluster of wooden, chalet-like
houses, built on both sides of the river. Still half-asleep, it creeps
on for some hundred miles through a land golden with crops and bright
with flowers and fruit, on past Baramoula, the terminus of the tonga
service from Rawal Pindi, and out by a gorge in the mountains, through
which lies the road to India and the south. Then it awakes, and hemmed
in by jutting crag and precipice, its course vexed by boulder and
quicksand, becomes henceforth a wild torrent, roaring its way onward to
Mother Indus and the sea.
Following a rough track leading eastward from Baramoula, and steadily
rising as he goes, the traveller passes through some fifteen miles of
thinly-wooded country, broken by fields of scanty millet and maize, till
at length a large wooden temple is reached, situated in a clearing at
the foot of a steep fir-clad ridge. Leaving this behind, he plunges
into dense forest, and after an hour's stiff climb reaches the summit,
where suddenly and unexpectedly he comes upon a native bazaar of rough
wooden huts overlooking an expanse of grassy plain. Roughly circular in
shape, this plain is girt on all sides with a thick belt of sombre firs,
beyond which again tower the mountains. All around, either just inside
the girdle of trees or at its edge, are dotted small wooden houses and
clusters of white tents, while in the centre of the plain rises a large
and more pretentious-looking edifice, around which one August afternoon
a numerous and gaily-dressed crowd was to be seen assembled.
This is Shiraz, the hill-station of Kashmir, and here, when the valley
below has become impossible owing to the heat and mosquitoes, flock the
English visitors and officials of the country--both black and white.
The houses and tents surrounding the plain, or Murg as it is called, are
their temporary homes, while the building in the centre is the focus of
Shiraz social life, serving indiscriminately as club, library, cricket
or polo pavilion.
No ordinary event, however, was responsible for to-day's gathering of
notabilities, no pagal gymkhana or crumpet snatch, but something much
more serious, namely, the finals of the Shiraz Polo championship, and
hence the brightest and best of frocks and frills were here on view,
while hats and parasols were positively dazzling in their splendour.
Moreover, an additional incentive had been given to good fellowship, for
was not Lady Wilford, the wife of Sir Reginald Wilford, K.C.S.I.,
K.C.I.E. etc, etc., and present Resident of Kashmir, At Home this August
afternoon? And no experienced Anglo-Indian lady will, as is well known,
forego the delights of a free tea, nor for that matter, of any
entertainment, for which someone else pays. Indeed, even one modest
rupee gate money has been known in that country to frighten away the
fair sex altogether from race-meetings, gymkhana or polo match. To-day,
however, there was no such vexatious bar to pleasure, and hence it came
about that all was light-hearted enjoyment and hilarity.
Mrs. Twiddell, wife of Major Twiddell of the Supply and Transport Corps,
now absent in the plains, looked radiant as she chattered away to her
best friend, Mrs. Passy Snorter. True, she had a grievance, though you
might not have thought it, the said grievance being the reason that
necessitated the wearing of her present attire of pink, instead of one
of the ravishing confections of which she had so often made mention.
"Looks charming?" she said prettily, "sweet of you to try and comfort
me, dear; it's Paris I know, but such a rag now, poor old pink. So
annoying of my husband not to send my boxes up in time;" and her friend,
as she sympathetically agreed, wondered how dear Mrs. T. could be such a
liar, for had not she--and for that matter all Shiraz--observed the
lady's dhirzi[#] stitching away at the despised pink for the last three
days in the Twiddell verandah? She could even have told to an anna what
the said garment had cost, and the wrangle there had been over the
price. She further wondered, incidentally, whether Jack Twiddell had yet
paid his club bill at Riwala, for Mrs. Snorter's husband was the
secretary of that institution, and told his wife many valuable secrets
anent mutual friends.
[#] Native tailor.
Lieutenant Crawler of the 1st Kala Jugas was evidently in his element
as, blade of grass in mouth, he discoursed on the merits of the rival
teams. Crawler, it is true, bestrode a pony for the first time in his
life six months ago on joining his regiment, but he had a good deal to
say on the subject of horsemanship, and was expressing his doubts as to
the "hands" of most of the competitors. He went on to compare polo with
hunting, and indulged in personal reminiscences of the Quorn and
Pytchley, of which packs he had read in the papers. Important-looking
officials for the nonce laid aside cares of State, and turned
condescending ear to the trivial discourse of military acquaintances, or
beamed seductively on feminine admirers. The Maharajah Sahib, his
retinue of sable followers grouped around him, looked calmly on the
scene, now and again bending courteously to some female flatterer, the
expression in his dark eyes contrasting strangely with his respectful,
almost humble, salutations.
There was a stir--and sudden commotion amongst the crowd. Polo was
about to begin, and away surged the chattering throng, making hurriedly
for the rows of chairs lining one side of the ground.
The game to be played this afternoon promised to be an exciting one, the
rival players being a scratch quartette, calling themselves the Dragon
Flies, and four of the 1st Lancers who happened to be in Shiraz on
leave. The Lancers were in no sense representative of their corps, one
of their number only, Ferrers, the captain, being a member of the
regular regimental team, but, as they were better mounted than their
opponents, and having had a fair amount of practice together while in
Shiraz, they were quite confident of success. The other three were
Kinley, Carruthers, and Graeme. The Dragon Flies, however, were
opponents not to be despised. True, their ponies were slow in
comparison with those of the Lancers, but against this they were handy
and well trained, and knew the game as well as their owners. The men
also, though hailing from different regiments, and being at the
disadvantage of not knowing each other's idiosyncrasies, were with one
exception individually far better players than their adversaries, Major
Rocket, the captain, being generally considered one of the best Number
Twos, if not the best, in India.
The above-mentioned exception was the "One"--Lieutenant Gubbins of the
105th Native Foot, who, though extremely keen, was a far from expert
performer, and had a rooted aversion to keeping in his proper place. He
had promised, however, on this afternoon to amend his ways, to leave the
tempting ball to Number Two, and devote his energies solely to hampering
the back--and these promises Gubbins, before starting, had every
intention of keeping.
Some distance away from the chattering crowd, watching the saddling of a
fine grey Arab pony, stood Graeme and his wife Lucy, for despite the
scoffing incredulity of those who knew, or thought they knew, Hector the
proposal made that November evening--nearly two years ago--had been duly
ratified, and after an engagement of six months the two had been quietly
married in Radford church.
There had been opposition, bitter opposition too. Sir Thomas, the
General, indeed, the whole of Lucy's relations, having resolutely
opposed the match. In vain, however, their efforts had merely succeeded
in turning Hector's somewhat indefinite intentions into a fixed resolve.
Even Lucy was surprised at the strength of purpose shown by her lover,
and, warmly seconding him, between them they finally overcame her
father's opposition, though never that of her uncle. The latter for a
long time refused to meet Hector, and, but for the reluctance to cause
pain to his niece, would undoubtedly have refused to appear at the
wedding. So far, the general anticipation of disaster had been
singularly at fault; the marriage had turned out a happy one, Hector
proving himself a good and considerate husband, while, far from sliding
back into former ways, he had flown to the other extreme and become a
Puritan, bitterly intolerant of even the mildest lapse from conjugal
duty. This, as might be imagined, had not served to increase his
popularity, and it was almost universally agreed that, though
objectionable enough before his marriage, since that event he had become
altogether impossible, and great was the commiseration bestowed on that
dear pretty little woman who had the misfortune to be tied to such an
ill-conditioned prig.
"The dear pretty little woman," however, stood in no need of their
sympathy, being, on the contrary, perfectly and entirely happy. She
adored Hector, admired him for his principles, so different from those
of other men, and, generally speaking, thought him the most wonderful
person in the world. At the present moment she was listening with
interest, her arm through his, as he discoursed on polo, more
particularly on the part he was likely to take in the forthcoming
contest.
Hector's love for this game, though of somewhat recent growth, had
become the temporary master-passion of his existence, and to the
acquirement of proficiency in it he had flung himself with the violence
and concentration of purpose that were usual with him on taking up a new
hobby. At home, it is true, he had shown no interest in the subject; it
was a feeble game, he had been wont to declare, and one much too easy to
play to be worth the learning. Since his arrival in India, however, he
had come to regard the matter in a different light. Here everybody
played polo; indeed, it was looked upon as the one serious business of
life, bar love-making, and straightway it had become Hector's business
too. Never would he admit that there could be anything in the way of
sports or games at which he could not excel if he chose, and he set to
work to provide himself with ponies, first-class tournament ponies too;
he would look at nothing else. He had now six, bought at a price far
beyond his means, the purchase of which had necessitated the assistance
of Ram Lai, the native banker of Riwala, and this done, and all other
pursuits abandoned for the nonce, he laid himself out to learn the game.
Henceforth his conversation, his thoughts, his very dreams were of polo,
while his contempt for and intolerance of those who had no liking for
the pursuit were unbounded. Morning and evening he could be seen
assiduously practising shots on the disused drill-ground at the back of
his Riwala bungalow, while in odd moments he would employ the saises,
khitmagars, and on one occasion--though Lucy had immediately
intervened--the cook, in throwing him balls from every direction, while
he, astride on a wooden horse, drove the said balls all over the
compound. The result of all this was on the whole gratifying, the
progress he made being generally conceded to be remarkable, though this
verdict was usually qualified by the remark that his proficiency was
mainly due to the excellence of his ponies. "Anyone could play who was
so well mounted as that bounder Graeme," men were wont to observe, for
in India, even more than elsewhere, possessions in excess of one's
neighbours are wont to evoke caustic remarks.
Whether this were true or not, Graeme was now able to hold his own in
most companies, and was anticipating a veritable triumph this afternoon,
when he intended to show the spectators how polo should be played, even
though by a novice. His conversation was brought to an end by the loud
ringing of a bell, followed by the appearance of Ferrers, fussy and
important, summoning his men to the fray. With a hasty farewell to
Lucy, and final examination of his stirrup-leathers, Hector mounted the
grey pony and cantered into the field, where the rival teams were drawn
up in two lines facing each other.
After some delay, owing to young Gubbins' endeavours to secure a flying
start, the ball was at length thrown in between the lines by the umpire,
and the battle for the Cup had begun.
Straightway arose a confused _melee_ of sticks and ponies, followed by
much wild hitting, much missing, and considerable dangerous riding,
Graeme being neatly bowled over by Gubbins before three minutes had
elapsed. All were anxious to hit the ball, no matter where, so long as
they hit it, though the general tendency indubitably lay in the
direction of the gallery, where the various divinities sat enthroned,
watching the doings of their own particular twin souls.
For the first two chukkers there was no score, though this, it must be
owned, was chiefly due to the mistaken zeal of the Dragon Flies' Number
One, who, forgetful of his good intentions, persisted in trying to hit
goals of which he was incapable, instead of devoting his energies to the
opposing back and leaving the job to Major Rocket. Had it not been for
this, the score would by this time have been very heavy against the
Lancers. In the third chukker the disaster so long impending occurred.
Rocket, who in the interval had spoken very seriously to Gubbins, at
length secured the ball, and with a resounding smack lifted it well over
the opposing back's head, when it rolled to within twenty-five yards of
the Lancers' goal. Ferrers--the back in question--turned, and slipping
the enemy's Number One, made for the ball and ... missed it, leaving
Gubbins the chance of his life.
Exultantly the youth raised his stick, and was about to add one more to
his already lengthy list of failures, when his arm was paralysed by a
roar from behind of "Leave it, you infernal young idiot, leave it, out
of the way, confound you!" Though hurt at being thus addressed, the
more so as the opprobrious epithet must have reached the owner of a
certain pink parasol in the gallery yonder, Gubbins this time managed to
restrain his ardour, and obediently sheering off to one side was
rewarded by hearing a good clean crack behind him, as the skilful Rocket
sent the ball whizzing through the Lancers' goal-post. Instantly arose
loud and prolonged applause from the excited gallery, and thus
encouraged the Dragon Flies set to work with a will, and by the end of
the chukker had scored again twice.
Three to love, two more chukkers to go, and their opponents flushed with
success--truly, a bad business for the cavalry team; and faces were
troubled and brows gloomy, as they rode slowly away to change their
ponies. So far Hector had not distinguished himself. His early upset
at the hands of Gubbins had ruffled him badly, and, this disaster having
been followed by frequent defeats at the hands of the tricky Rocket, he
had finally lost his temper in earnest, with consequent evil results to
his play. The recent reverses, however, had affected him very
differently from his companions. They were disheartened; he, on the
contrary, was thirsting for revenge, and more than ever determined to
win the contest, even if it meant the riding down of each individual
member of the enemy in turn--indeed, his tactics in the last chukker had
evoked more than one indignant cry of "Foul!"
He was now gloomily debating in his mind on whom to commence operations
when he came upon the other three standing together, and at sight of the
despondency on their faces wrath boiled up in Hector's breast.
"What the devil are you looking so sick for, all of you?" he said
angrily. "What if they have got three goals, we can beat them all
right. Damme, I'll give you this pony, if we don't!"
They stared at him, and, as they looked, something in his face caused
theirs to brighten, and hope once more to dawn in their hearts. In the
hour of adversity man will cling to the rottenest straw, but here was a
rock, solid and unmoved by the seas in which they were drowning.
"What do you suggest then, Graeme?" said Ferrers, after a pause,
oblivious of the fact that he, the hero of many contests, was now asking
advice of a novice, of one, moreover, whom he had been wont to consider
a fool, so true it is that mere skill and experience must ever bow to
strength of personality.
"Do?" said Graeme, seizing the reins of government thus abandoned.
"Why, go for them, attack all we know, not merely try to prevent them
scoring, as we've been doing up till now. Look here, Ferrers, I'll take
charge: you go up 'Two,' I'll take your place at 'Three.' Now, come on,
and remember what I say. Force the game for all you're worth. Knock
'em over, doesn't matter, but win we will."
Thus saying, and without a word of protest from his erstwhile captain,
Hector led the way into the field, and once more the game started; but
this time a very different state of affairs was manifest. The Dragon
Flies, so far from attacking now, were soon solely occupied in the
endeavour to save their goal from the furious and repeated attacks of
the Lancers. For some time they were successful, but the latter would
not be denied, and quite outclassing their opponents at length triumphed
over the defence, the goal being followed by a second, scored just as
the bell rang. Two goals to three, one more chukker to go, and the
excitement in the gallery rising, which excitement increased to frenzy
when Carruthers in the next few minutes scored one more goal for the
Lancers.
Then an unlooked-for misfortune befell them, for Gubbins, by some happy
accident, managed to fluke a subsidiary, and for a moment demoralisation
again hovered over the cavalry team. Graeme, however, rallied his men
in time, and for a while the game surged equally backwards and forwards
up the ground; but a few minutes only remained, and hope was rapidly
dying in the hearts of the Lancers' supporters when the last chance
arrived. Graeme slipped the opposing Number Three, and securing the
ball drove it clean and hard up the ground; galloping on, he followed
this up by another not quite so straight, the ball rising in the air and
settling within thirty yards of the Dragon Flies' goal. There it lay, a
fair white sphere, right in front of Ferrers; a possible near-side shot,
but most unlikely.
With passionate, strained attention Hector watched Ferrers' approach,
his whole will-power concentrated on the striker, till the surrounding
world, the roar of the crowd, the thud of galloping hoofs had passed
from sight and hearing, and nothing remained save that flying figure
before him. "You shall not miss it," he breathed, "you shall not." He
saw the uplifted arm descend, he heard a great shouting, mingled with
the clang of the time-bell, and then for a moment all was darkness,
till, the mists slowly lifting from his brain, he found himself alone,
some fifty yards away from the ground, his pony heaving and gasping
beneath him. For a moment he sat, gazing vacantly around, and then,
dismounting, slipped his arm through the reins, and led the sweating
beast back to the waiting sais.
No one noticed his movements, every one being too excited by the recent
sensational finish, and engaged in the laudation of Ferrers, who was the
hero of the hour. Justly too, for such a shot at such a crisis had
never before been witnessed on the Shiraz ground. Even Crawler was
mollified and expressed satisfaction with the play on the whole, though
he was of opinion that the Lancers, being better mounted, ought to have
won by more, and would probably have done so but for Graeme, who, he
noticed, had hardly once struck the ball. He was inclined to think that
Ferrers' shot was a fluke, and this remark having given rise to some
difference of opinion, the hero himself was approached and asked to give
an account of the circumstance. This proved somewhat vague and
unsatisfactory.
"Truth is, you fellows," he said, "I really don't remember much about
it. I recollect seeing the ball sittin' there, and thinking how bally
awful it'd be to miss the beastly thing, and then, well, then I found
I'd scored a goal. Rather extraordinary feelin' it was, couldn't do it
again, I know."
"Rot, old boy," said Kinley, known in his regiment as "Porky," on
account of his appearance and appetite, "of course you could do it
again. Tell you what, give you a dozen tries now, and back you for a
quid a time. Who'll take?"
A chorus of assent arose, for the wise always took up Porky's bets. A
move was made back to the polo ground, and the ball placed in its former
position, the succeeding events resulting in the speculator's return to
his quarters an hour later a poorer man by twelve golden sovereigns.
"Silly fool I was," he mused as he went, "but then I always am a silly
fool over the bets I make."
Graeme also came in for a share of the general applause, it being agreed
that he had played well; quite wonderfully for a beginner, though of
course he wanted experience and knowledge of the game. Still, he had
not been the weakness they expected. Ferrers went even further,
declaring that Graeme had been the stay of their side, and though, when
the first feelings of gratitude had worn off, he recanted somewhat, he
now proclaimed the fact aloud and announced his intention of proceeding
forthwith to Mrs. Graeme to inform her of his opinion. Lucy, however,
was not to be found, for she had seen that to which the others were
blind, and had flown forthwith across the ground to where Hector was
standing slowly donning his coat and sweater.
"What is it, Hector, what's the matter?" she said, looking anxiously at
the drawn haggard face and tired eyes.
"Nothing's the matter, Lucy. What should there be? I'm a bit done,
that's all."
"But I saw you reel; it was just after Mr. Ferrers scored that last
goal, I thought for a moment you were going to fall. Oh, this polo's
too much for you, Hector."
"Fit of giddiness, that's all, I used to be subject to them, you know.
I'm all right now; let's go home. What did you think of the game?"
"You played splendidly, all of you did."
"What about Ferrers' play?"
"He was wonderful, Hector, but then of course he's an old hand. When
you've played as long as he has you'll be quite as good, much better, I
think. But here we are at the house, I'll just ask for a brandy and
soda, and then we'll go up to dress. There's a big dinner on to-night,
you know. I wish there was not, I should like you to go to bed, oh, why
not, Hector? I can easily arrange it with Lady Wilford."
Graeme, however, though anathematising the dinner-party, refused to
retire, and an hour afterwards was seated at Sir Reginald's hospitable
board, where a large and festive company was assembled, all chattering
of polo and the great contest of the afternoon. Hector took little part
in the conversation, but sat silent and moody, the efforts of his
partner, a light-hearted grass-widow, being wholly powerless to rouse
him to the smallest semblance of interest. Even Lucy, watching him in
the intervals of lively play with Mr. Carruthers, at length grew
indignant, as she noted his air of deep abstraction. She felt sorry for
Mrs. Loveall, whose face by this time wore a look of boredom and
chagrin, though it is true she would equally have hated that flirtatious
lady, had Hector responded in the slightest degree to her overtures.
If he was tired, why had he not gone to bed, as she suggested? That
would have been infinitely better than putting in an appearance with the
sole object, it seemed, of acting as damper on the general enjoyment.
The other men were no doubt tired also, but they had the manners to
disguise the fact; why could not Hector be like the rest, and make an
effort as they were doing? There, he was yawning; she would like to
have shaken him. Graeme, however, persisted in his offence, and if he
had succeeded in boring his partner, she in return had well-nigh
maddened him. In fact, an almost irresistible impulse to flee was
rapidly coming over him; a wild longing to escape from the lights and
chattering crowd and calm his shattered nerves in the cool night air. A
few minutes more, and he would have done so, but fortunately for his own
and Lucy's credit the signal for release came at length; whereupon
Hector sprang up, and, leaving Mrs. Loveall to find her handkerchief and
other fallen trifles as best she might, made for the open window and
fled out into the night, where he stood breathing deep sighs of relief.
At his feet slept the now deserted Murg, glistening like some great lake
in the light of the full moon. At its edge the huts and tents looked
white against the background of shadowy forest and gloomy pine-clad
hill, while far away a vision of unearthly beauty glittered faintly, the
white splendour of the snows, a spirit city of minarets and spires in a
setting of blue. Over all lay the spell of a dead world, that strange
haunting influence breathed by the moon wherein two elements are
commingled, seemingly apart yet inextricably interfused, the one death
and the other love. For, though from a perished universe it comes, it
is not gloom but passion it stirs in most human hearts, and in this
alliance of Azrael and Eros can be read the great secret of the
world--that death is but the passing to another birth, and, without
love, birth cannot be.
It was not of the latter that Hector was thinking now, but of that
something within him, revealed that afternoon--though but in a paltry
game. He knew now, ignore it though he might, that he was not quite as
others were, that his was that strange gift of nature--will-power,
personal magnetism, call it what you please--the possession of which
marks the difference between those who lead and the herd which follows.
And as he stood there, with the majesty of sleeping mountain and plumed
forest around him, their greatness spoke to that something within him,
reproaching it, and at its voice the curious restlessness and discontent
born of the afternoon's awakening swelled to a flood of bitter
self-contempt. How great was all this, and how very small he and his
present aims. Vague longings came over him, a desire for the
unattainable, for that it surely was. He, a married man, whose course
of life was chosen--a life devoted to games and sport.
For a moment the idea of studying his profession came to him, but at the
thought his mind instantly revolted. The _role_ of smart soldier had no
charms for Graeme; that he knew required a different nature from his, an
unimaginative, methodical character, one content to follow the path
dictated, not to proceed to the goal by short cuts, as he had done, and
always would do, to the annoyance of his military superiors. No, he
would leave that to such as Ferrers and Rocket, both reckoned promising
candidates for advancement, the former being Adjutant of his regiment,
the latter Brigade-Major to the Inspector-General of Cavalry. They were
and always would be followers; as for him, he would be leader or
nothing.
Well, perhaps his chance would be given him; it always was. Even now
there were rumours of trouble on the frontier, and he might be sent. He
would be, he would move heaven and earth, and then... "Damn, why the
devil can't they leave me alone? Who is it? Oh, you. Lucy, do you want
me?"
"Yes; what an unsociable person you are to rush away like this,
everybody's gone home. Oh, what a lovely night; look at that moon; it
reminds me of board ship. Do you remember?"
"Ship, what ship? Oh yes, of course, exactly like. The crowd too about
the same in intelligence as that lot in there."
"Why do you sneer at them, Hector, what's the matter with you this
evening?"
"Oh, nothing, only I'm sick to death of this chatter of polo. Hang it,
to hear them talk one would think Ferrers had won the V.C. instead of
scoring a miserable goal in a match."
"Surely, Hector, it's a little small to be jealous."
"I'm not jealous, Lucy, and what seems to me small is this raving about
a mere game. Hang it, there are other things in life besides polo."
Lucy was silent. Accustomed as she was to her husband's frequent
changes, this was a little too sudden and unaccountable. She
endeavoured to fall in with his mood, however.
"Perhaps you're right, Hector, though I don't think you're quite fair.
You know, I've often wished you to take a more serious view of things,
your profession, for instance, but you've always snubbed me when I
began."
"Bah, my profession."
"Well, why not, surely it's a good enough one for any man? And I
believe, Hector, I really do, that you could be as good a soldier as any
of them if you worked, perhaps even be adjutant after Mr. Ferrers, and
in time command the regiment. Oh, I should love you to command the
regiment."
"And after that, Lucy?"
"Oh well, that's as high as I go. I think I should then like you to
retire, and perhaps go into Parliament."
"Colonel Graeme, M.P., Lord, what dizzy heights, Lucy."
"Don't sneer, Hector, I mean it, but you'll have to work. I'll take you
in hand myself when we return to Riwala. Till then you may play as much
as you like. And now I've got some news for you. How would you like to
shoot a bear?"
"Bear, where is he?"
"About twelve miles from here, I believe. A native's just come in to
tell Sir Reginald, I don't think he much believes in the story, though;
he says these Kashmiris are such liars it would be only waste of time
going. Still, I think we might persuade him if you'd care for it."
"Rather, of course I would," said Hector, and perchance at the sudden
return to mundane interests the great mountains and forests laughed,
quietly derisive, for well they knew the resistless force of which they,
like him, were but the phenomena, and how--make what plans and
resolutions he may--man must dance when the master-hand chooses to pull
the strings and call the tune, though till then he is seemingly free to
act as he pleases. And so Hector was allowed to become his own
confident self once more, and, feeling rather ashamed of his recent
lapse from common sense, hurried off with Lucy to the coercion of his
unwilling host.
"Oh, Sir Reginald," he said, entering the drawing-room, "my wife tells
me there are bears about. Why not have a go at them to-morrow?"
"I hardly think it worth while, Graeme," said the Resident, "I don't
suppose there's a bear near the place."
"Surely, the fellow wouldn't dare bring you false khubber?"[#] said
Hector. "Why, I'd fine his village a hundred rupees if he did, were I
the Resident."
[#] Information.
"Oh, please let's go, Sir Reginald," said Lucy. "It would be a day out
whether we shot anything or not. Lady Wilford will come too, and we'll
have a ripping time. I should love it."
The Resident hesitated. He knew perfectly well that what Graeme had
said was true, and that no Kashmiri would have dared to bring him false
information, but he had secret and most important reasons for not
wishing to leave his post at the time. That morning's mail had brought
in news of serious trouble on the North West Frontier, hinting,
moreover, at the possibility of its being necessary to recall to their
regiments all officers now on leave in Shiraz. This information, being
confidential, could not be given as a reason for refusing Graeme and his
wife. The latter continued to press the attack.
"I have never seen a bear except in the Zoo," she pleaded, "and I
promise to be very good and quiet, and not get in the way. Oh, do go."
"I have never had a chance with that new .303 of mine," said Hector,
"and I badly want to give that lazy devil of a shikari of mine something
to do, and see if he's the wonder he makes himself out to be, simply
eating and smoking his head off in idleness, the brute."
"My dear fellow, I should like it as much as you do, but we're rather
busy in the office just now, and..."
"Why not go, Reginald?" said Lady Wilford. "It would be a day out, as
Mrs. Graeme says, and anything urgent could be sent after you by a
peon;[#] it's only twelve miles."
[#] Native Messenger.
The Resident capitulated straightway, as was his habit with his wife.
After all, she was right, he thought, and most likely no letter of
importance would come. If it did, well, his secretary could give out
the necessary orders to the officers. He would chance it and go.
"Very well, my dear," he said, "if you're set upon it; only don't blame
me if the bears fail to appear, that's all. I'll go now, and start off
the servants with the tents, etc. You'd better go to bed at once, young
lady," turning to Lucy; "we'll have to leave here by five at latest, you
too, Graeme, you must be tired after your exertions to-day. By the way,
Latimer," to his secretary, "you might give me a few minutes in my
study, there are one or two things I want to see you about," and Sir
Reginald went off to make his preparations for the morrow.
Graeme, having first inspected the aforementioned .303, proceeded to
interview his shikari, to whom he imparted the unwelcome news of the
forthcoming expedition. This done, he acted upon his host's advice,
and, making his way to his room, was soon in bed and asleep.
*CHAPTER III*
Shortly after five the next morning, the party, mounted on ponies, left
the lamp-lit Residency and started on their way to the village of Karin,
in the vicinity of which the aforesaid bears were supposed to be
awaiting them. The sun was not yet risen; the air was chill; and the
sahibs sleepy and disinclined for conversation.
Close at their heels trudged the four saises, bearing their charges'
blankets, while some distance in the rear stalked two dignified-looking
natives, Gokal Singh, Sir Reginald's dogra orderly, and Ahmed Khan,
Graeme's shikari. The latter, a man of gigantic stature and imposing
appearance, was a typical specimen of the Kashmiri race.
On Graeme's arrival at Baramoula three weeks before, this worthy,
recognising at a glance the green and inexperienced new-comer, had at
once attached himself to Hector's retinue, and, heedless of rebuffs, had
seized upon the sahib's gun-cases and started off with them in triumph
to Shiraz. In vain did Graeme order him to put the guns down and be
off; Ahmed Khan merely smiled and stuck sturdily to his booty.
Who did the sahib propose was to clean these weapons? he asked, marching
on. Not the saises assuredly, nor the bhisti,[#] and certainly not the
Presence's bearer. He appealed to the latter, who at once--satisfactory
terms having been previously arranged--supported him. The Kashmiri's
questions were reasonable, he declared, a shikari was a necessity to a
sahib of importance; but first, why not see the man's chits,[#] for if
an honest man he would doubtless have such on him, and thereupon he
commanded Ahmed to produce what documents of the kind he had, and to
beware of showing false ones, for, he assured his master, such things
were done in Kashmir, and it behoved one to be wary.
[#] "Water-carrier.
[#] Written characters, mostly forged, from former employers.
A bundle of dirty papers was thereupon dragged to light, an examination
of which proved to Hector that he had secured a treasure, for they one
and all declared that, of all shikaris now in Kashmir, this one, for
honesty, skill, and lion-hearted bravery, was incomparably the first.
Graeme, impatient to be off, and by this time bored with the discussion,
then gave in, and Ahmed secured a place, which suited him exactly. He
smoked and slept all day, spent his nights in the bazaar, and left the
cleaning of the guns to the sais, his sole self-imposed duty being to
stand up and salute the sahib whenever he saw him, a performance which
he religiously observed, and which irritated Graeme exceedingly. The
present expedition, involving a departure from the daily routine, was by
no means to his liking, and on receiving his orders the previous night
he had at once raised objections. Right well he knew Karin, he
declared, and its inhabitants, the headman especially, a liar, a very
prince of liars, he was too, always deceiving sahibs by false tales of
bears.
Afraid, did the Presence say, he, Ahmed Khan, afraid of a bear? How
could that be, for was he not known throughout the country as a
lion-hearted one, and the terror of all wild beasts? Let the Presence
but deign to look at his chits once more, and forthwith his hand sought
the folds of his dirty garments. The frequent production of these
documents had by this time got on Graeme's nerves, and, advancing on the
lion-hearted one with uplifted arm and dangerous eyes, he was about to
make his meaning clearer, when Ahmed, recognising the inevitable,
salaamed humbly, and with a meek "Taiyar, sahib, taiyar hojaega,"[#]
proceeded, with wrath in his heart, to make preparations for the morrow.
He was now morosely trudging along by the side of Gokal Singh, with whom
as a Hindu dog he had nothing in common, but to whom as a soldier and
man of violence he was invariably respectful.
[#] "I will be ready, sir."
For the first six or seven miles the journey lay through the dense fir
and pine forest, the track winding its way along the mountain-side.
Here and there the path was broken by noisy rivulets rushing down from
above, nasty chasms being thus formed, bridged in the usual slack
Kashmiri way by a few poles covered over with sods and brushwood.
Dangerous places these for the rider, as when the brushwood rots holes
are left, through which the crossing pony may chance to drop a leg.
Soon, however, these and the gloomy forest were left behind and the
party emerged on to an open plateau, where the full glory of a Kashmiri
morning suddenly burst upon them.
Far below lay the valley, its green and gold gleaming through a veil of
silver mist, which glittered and flashed like a diamond cobweb in the
rays of the morning sun. To their right stretched an endless succession
of mountains, the summits rising like islands through the vapour billows
which swirled around them--a restless, tossing sea, now fast breaking up
and melting into floating patches of white beneath the growing splendour
of the sun. Far across the valley gleamed the great snow-wall of the
Himalayas, now no longer spirit-haunted and visionary, but pink-flushed
and radiant with the kisses of the dawn.
At the sight Lucy gave a cry of pleasure, and, moving instinctively
closer to her husband, began to point out to him the various beauties
thus unfolded. He was unresponsive, for once more there had stolen over
him the faint melancholy of the previous night, and with it the desire
for solitude and silence. He therefore assisted her to dismount--Sir
Reginald had here called a halt--and muttering an excuse went to some
distance, where he stood gazing towards the north.
Lucy, much hurt at his behaviour, remained for a moment looking after
him, and then, with a sigh, walked slowly away to join Sir Reginald and
his wife, whom she found tucked away behind a rock, whither they had
betaken themselves for shelter from the breeze that blew cold and clear
from the distant snows.
The Resident had not yet regained his wonted _bonhomie_, and was full of
gloomy forebodings. He ought not to have left Shiraz, he declared;
something would be certain to happen in his absence, and Latimer, though
a good enough fellow in his way, was not the man to cope with unforeseen
emergencies. The present expedition too was more likely than not to
turn out a failure; a bear-shoot so often did. Possibly they might get a
shot, but he doubted it, he very much doubted it. He only hoped there
would be no mistake about breakfast. Samuel--his Madrasi butler--was
not given to make a hash of things, but natives were so unreliable, and
to-day somehow he had a presentiment he would. But they must be getting
on, not waste time on this infernal hill, where he was rapidly freezing.
"Where's Graeme? Oh, looking at the snows, is he?--very fine, very fine
indeed. Where's my sais? Abdul, you rascal, leave that stinking
hubble-bubble at once, and bring my pony, the lady sahib's too. Why
don't you roll karo[#] and keep them warm, instead of letting them stand
in the cold while you're squatting on the ground like a damned fool?
They'll get a chill now and die, and you'll be in jail khana. Serve you
right. Hold his head, will you, how the devil can I get up with the
brute twisting about like a top? My foot, curse it, right on my foot,
you clumsy lout, and now I shan't be able to shoot. Oh, come on, come
on, Sarah, you too, Mrs. Graeme, never mind about that husband of yours,
he'll turn up at breakfast all right."
[#] "Walk them about."
Thus encouraged by the leader, the party, joined shortly after by
Graeme, once more resumed their journey, and, the wind-swept plateau
left far above and behind them, were soon winding their way through the
crops and woodlands of the valley below. Gradually, as the warmth
increased, Sir Reginald grew more amiable, till by the time the mud huts
of Karin appeared in sight he had become his own genial self again, and
was the first to point out the camp, a collection of large tents hard by
the village, their white sides looking cool and inviting through the
dark green of the trees.
At a respectable distance a crowd of natives were squatting, anxious for
a sight of the great man and his guests. At their approach they stood up
together, and a chorus arose of "Salaam, sahib, salaam," while turbaned
heads bowed low in reverence. The headman came forward, and with many
protestations of unworthiness proceeded to welcome the Protector of the
Poor and the other Presences. Sir Reginald cut him short. Afterwards,
he said, he would be pleased to see him, but not now, and thereupon he
dismounted, and, followed by the others, entered the large marquee,
where he stood, a smile appearing on his face as he viewed the result of
Madrasi Samuel's efforts.
It was a cheering sight on which his eyes rested. On the snowy
tablecloth, glittering with glass and silver and tastefully decked with
flowers, stood crystal dishes piled high with peaches, nectarines, and
pears, while on a trestle sideboard were displayed cold baked meats of
many kinds, from the tiny but succulent quail, nestling in his bed of
quivering jelly, to the lordly turkey, carefully browned and portly with
chestnut stuffing. From buckets of ice, hock and soda-water bottles
reared inquiring heads, while from the kitchen outside came the
inspiring sizzle of bacon and chop, their fragrance mingling with that
of the roasting coffee-berry.
The faces of the Resident and his wife beamed with pleasure at the
sight. "Let come what might" now, the main object to them of the
expedition was assured, and, no matter whether the bears were found or
not, there was at any rate eating and drinking to fall back upon.
Promptly vetoing Hector's suggestion that before falling to they should
make arrangements for the first drive in order to waste no time. Sir
Reginald summoned the servants and the business of breakfast commenced,
during which Graeme and Lucy mentally beheld the quarry, bored with
waiting, stalk disgustedly away to their mountain fastnesses. At length
the apparently interminable meal was ended, but not their trials, for
Sir Reginald, drowsy with repletion, called for cheroots, and, having
carefully selected a long and black weed from the box, notched the end
neatly with a knife, and, lighting it, lay back in his chair and
proceeded to abandon himself to dreamy reflection. This was too much for
the now indignant pair, and goaded at length into action by their
fidgeting Sir Reginald, with a sigh of regret, rose and accompanied them
outside, where the headman and his retinue were still patiently
squatting.
The story, as told by this worthy, was sufficiently thrilling. The
country, it appeared, for miles round was alive with bears, black in
hue, and of incredible size and ferocity, and though the number of those
actually seen dwindled down to three under the close cross-questioning
of the Resident, still three, one a man-slayer, was news enough to
inspire any man, or woman either, and it was with a heart beating with
excitement, not unmixed with fear, that Lucy accompanied her husband to
the scene of the coming drama.
Hector was confident, as usual. His experience of big-game shooting was
nil, but what of that? He was a crack performer with a shot-gun, and no
doubt, should the occasion present itself, he would prove himself
equally proficient with the rifle. His vanity also was stirred, for had
not the headman besought him to deliver the village from the tyranny of
these beasts, and, though he was addressing Sir Reginald at the time,
his eyes had turned to him more than once; and naturally, for it was
hardly likely that anyone so old and fat as the Resident could be relied
on in an emergency like the present. No, it was to him they looked,
and, by Jove! they should find their confidence was not misplaced.
Ahmed Khan well knew how to foster these sentiments, for in them he saw
lay profit to himself. Like most natives, he was an unconscious student
of human nature; it is their stock-in-trade for the extracting of
rupees, and, as he was aware from experience, the lordlier the sahib's
frame of mind, the more noble the bakshish, as is befitting.
Edging up to his master, therefore, who on this occasion did not repulse
him, he proceeded to launch forth into a panegyric of Graeme's virtues,
expressing his conviction, that, of all the sahibs he had hitherto
served, his sahib was incomparably the bravest and most expert with gun
and rifle. And for this, he ejaculated fervently, Allah be praised,
since no one less gifted could hope to emerge victorious from a contest
with bears so ferocious as these undoubtedly were. Thereupon followed a
stream of gruesome and imaginary anecdote illustrative of these animals'
incredible daring and savagery; but, with a pleased glance at Lucy's
white face, let not the memsahib be frightened, for he, Ahmed Khan,
would be there to see that no harm came to her or the sahib. Only over
his dead body should that happen, for he had no fear of the beasts,
ferocious as they were. Let her but look, and here again his hand
sought out the bundle of papers, till, suddenly catching the sahib's
eye, he changed his mind, and lifting up a fold of his dingy garments
blew his nose hastily with it.
At length, after an hour's walk, the scene of action was reached, this
being a deeply-wooded ravine roughly triangular in shape and about half
a mile in length. Lining the base could be seen the beaters awaiting
the signal to advance, the guns being placed in position near the apex,
one on either side.
Perched on a tree, overhanging the edge of the ravine and halfway
between the beaters and guns, sat, in dignified eminence, the patriarch
of the village. His duty it was to stimulate the exertions of his
friends by much laudation of their efforts, and at the same time to
excite their hatred of the quarry by bitter cursing and vituperation of
the same. His further mission was to act as sentinel, and to give
notice of the bear's approach to his lords and patrons at the other end.
Suddenly a long loud whistle broke the silence, and at the sound
pandemonium broke loose in the ravine, each villager howled his loudest,
while through the din was heard the dull monotonous throbbing of a
tom-tom, lustily beaten by the village priest. The line of beaters
crept on, but so far there was no sign of the enemy; the uproar
gradually abated, and even the tom-tom had ceased to beat, when suddenly
the figure in the tree began to show signs of agitation. He craned
forward, his neck was thrust out like that of a vulture, and then with a
wild shriek of "Balu! balu!"[#] he commenced to wave his arms and
gesticulate with a frenzied energy, which threatened every minute to
precipitate him from his perch into the abyss below.
[#] "The bear! the bear!"
Instantly the clamour was renewed, the thrumming of the tom-tom rose to
a roar, while, faintly heard through the din, the thin screams of the
patriarch in the tree smote upon the ear. He exhorted his brothers to
advance and fear not, in the same breath cursing the bear and reviling
its female ancestors with an intensity and bitter hatred, which that
harmless mulberry-eater would hardly seem to have merited.
At the sportsmen's end of the ravine a tense silence reigned, all eyes
being fixed on the undergrowth below, whence a faint rustling and
clatter of loose stones were now coming, betokening something's
approach. Lucy's face whitened, and she clutched her husband by the
arm. Shaking her off, he grasped his rifle tighter; but, alas! the
quarry was not for him, for suddenly the "old and fat" Sir Reginald was
seen to raise his weapon, a dull boom echoed through the ravine,
followed by a "Woof, woof," a commotion in the bushes, and then the
silence of death. The bear was slain.
"Damn!" muttered Graeme, and was turning sharply away when a gasp from
Lucy stopped him, and looking round he beheld another bear, which,
having emerged unseen from below, was now hastily shuffling off. Graeme
fired, but the bear paid no heed; again he fired, and still the target
refused to stop, but to the accompaniment of a wail from Lucy and a
curse from Ahmed Khan lumbered on to the shelter of some bushes and was
lost to view.
A dreadful moment followed; not only had he, Hector Graeme, missed an
easy shot in the eyes of the whole village, but, worse still, he had
failed where another had succeeded, an altogether impossible situation,
and one by no way improved by the well-meant, though perhaps tactless,
condolences of his host, who now joined them. The thing was done,
however, and the bear in safety miles away, so assuming what nonchalance
he might, and avoiding the reproachful eyes of Lucy, who declined to
look at Sir Reginald's bear, and the glum face of Ahmed Khan, whose
hopes of bakshish had disappeared with the bear, he turned to his host,
and jauntily inquired what the next move was to be. Sir Reginald
without hesitation answered that that must undoubtedly be lunch, it
being now past one, and the next beat more than a mile distant,
whereupon, guided by a white-clad khitmagar, sent forward for the
purpose by the thoughtful Samuel, the party returned to the marquee,
where once more they found a repast awaiting them, more suggestive of
Prince's or the Savoy than a picnic in the wilds of Kashmir.
At first Graeme's mood was not conversational, but gradually, under the
influence of good cheer and much hock and soda, his mortification
subsided, till at cigarette time he had recovered his wonted serenity,
and even permitted himself to discuss the recent disaster.
"Curious thing," he observed, "my missing like that, wonder what
happened. Don't often do it, rather good shot as a rule, ain't I,
Lucy?"
"Indeed you are, Hector," answered the latter, looking indignantly at
her host and refusing to respond to a wink. "My husband is considered
one of the best shots in Hertfordshire, Sir Reginald, and how he came to
miss the bear I can't imagine. I think there must be something wrong
with that rifle, Hector, I really do."
"Wrong with the powder, I should say, Mrs. Graeme," said the Resident,
in high good-humour, "wants straightening. Have to do better than that
when you go to Tirah, why ... Try that Grand Marnier, Graeme, I can
recommend it."
"Thanks, I will," said Graeme, filling his glass, "and about
Tirah--going up, are we, when?"
"Surely, Sir Reginald, there's no chance of that?" said Lucy, with
startled eyes.
"No chance whatever, Mrs. Graeme, no chance at all, I should say;
foolish of me to have mentioned it, must have been dreaming. A native
regiment or two may have to go, that is, if the Afridis really mean
trouble, which I doubt, but hardly British cavalry. No, no, set your
mind at rest."
"Native troops again," muttered Graeme discontentedly; "it's always the
same story. They have all the fun, while we fool about in cantonments.
Wish to Heaven I was in a black corps."
"You'd very soon wish yourself out again, my friend," said his host. "I
know I'd give something to be back in the old 12th," his thoughts
reverting as he spoke to the days when he was a subaltern in a
fashionable Hussar regiment. "Gad, what times we used to have, and what
an infernal young fool I was to come the mucker I did. Real life that
was, not this tin-pot grandeur and importance."
Lady Wilford at once intervened. To her, a former Mussoori belle and
daughter of a police official in that place, Sir Reginald's London
reminiscences were always distasteful. India, not England, was her
native country, and she was not going to hear the former or its dignity
derided, certainly not in the presence of a mere soldier officer, who,
as everyone knows, is in no way the equal of an Indian civilian.
"Of course, you don't mean that, Reginald," she observed with some
asperity, "and I confess I'm rather surprised that you, in your
position, should have made such a remark. You'll be giving our guests
an altogether wrong impression, but," turning to Hector, "you mustn't
take what my husband says seriously, Captain Graeme; he often jokes in
this way."
"Mayfield's your cousin, ain't he, Sir Reginald?" said Hector,
unheeding. "He and Lady Edith were staying with my governor last covert
shooting."
"No; she is. Rockingham was my father's brother. Good old Uncle Jack,
wonder when I'll see him again. Gad, I remember...."
"Won't you tell us about the frontier, Reginald?" said Lady Wilford.
"You know, Captain Graeme, my husband's one of the great authorities on
the subject; indeed, his Excellency, a great friend of ours, once told
me he considered him the greatest. I'm sure you would like to hear
about it, both of you."
"Very much," said Hector, lying back in his chair and lighting another
cigarette.
"It's hardly the subject for a picnic lunch, my dear," said the
Resident, rather annoyed at being shown off in this manner, "and I'm
sure it wouldn't interest our guests."
"Indeed, Sir Reginald, it would," answered Lucy, dealing a surreptitious
kick at her husband's foot, at which with a low growl he opened his
closing eyes.
"Some mullah fellow been stirring 'em up, hasn't he, Sir Reginald?" he
observed sleepily.
"The Hadda Mullah," said the Resident briefly, "trying to proclaim a
religious war. Jehad, they call it. Don't think he will, all the same,
for the Afridis have no religion to speak of. They'll be a hard nut to
crack, if they do rise; but let's be off, it's time we were at those
bears again. Wait a minute, though," he added, suddenly rising and
hurrying out of the tent; "there's a man I want to see before we start.
You stay here," looking hard at his wife, "amuse our guests till I
return, Sarah. I won't be a minute."
"Now then, what is it?" he said sharply to a blue-clad native, with a
leather belt round his waist, whose approach he had observed through the
open door of the tent. "Letter for me? Hum, I was afraid of it, a wire
too for Graeme sahib. Damn, but it's bad luck on her. All right,
here's the sahib coming out now. You can give him the wire--not now,
you fool, wait for three minutes."
"Oh, Mrs. Graeme, come over here and have a look at my bear, fine chap,
isn't he? I'll have him skinned for you if you like; he'll make rather
a good carriage-rug."
"It's awfully kind of you, Sir Reginald, but I couldn't think ... Why,
what on earth's the matter with my husband? He seems very angry.
Good--good heavens, what's that in his hand? It's, heavens, it's a
telegram. Oh, Hector, what is it?"
"Only a recall, Lucy, that's all, an order to return, from that old fool
Schofield. But I won't go. I'll see him damned first, by the Lord I
will! I'm here on leave, and here I'll stay. You see now what comes of
being in the Service, always at the beck and call of some jumpy idiot of
a C.O."
"But--but why, Hector, what for?"
"I don't know; all it says is 'Return at once.' Some silly inspection,
I suppose. But I ain't going. I'll wire to say 'Regret impossible.'
Here, you fool with the belt, give me a form."
"I'm afraid you can't do that, Graeme," said his host gravely.
"Can't I? I'll soon show you I can. Why ... what do you mean, do you
know anything of this, Sir Reginald?"
"The 1st Lancers leave Riwala for the frontier to-night. The Afridis
have risen, after all, and seized the Khyber forts. I'm very sorry,
Mrs. Graeme, but I was afraid of it all along. That's why I didn't want
to come to-day."
Lucy said nothing.
"What's all this?" said Lady Wilford, coming up. "Oh," on hearing the
news, "I _do_ call that a shame, my dear, I am so sorry."
Lucy again made no answer, but, turning, left the group and walked
slowly away to her tent.
"Oh, but, Reginald," continued his wife, really distressed, "surely
something can be done, these two poor creatures, why not send a wire to
say Captain Graeme's sick and can't move? They'd believe you, though of
course they wouldn't him."
"My dear, what you suggest is impossible."
"I should just think it is," said Graeme, the anger on whose face had
now turned to joy. "What! me skulk up here while my regiment's fighting
on the frontier, not much. Here, I must get back to Shiraz at once.
Ahmed Khan, put my things together, ek dum.[#] And you," to the peon,
"order me a tonga when you get back. Gad, but this is good business,
Lucy. Now where's my wife got to?"
[#] Immediately.
The Resident looked at him curiously. He didn't much like his guest at
that moment.
"I think," he said rather coldly, "she has gone away to her tent. It's
a bit rough on her, Graeme, you know."
"By Jove, yes, of course it is. I must go and find her at once. When
do you think we can start, Sir Reginald?"
"Time enough if you leave Baramoula to-morrow. You can't do it to-night;
besides, if you're thinking of your brother officers, they'll have gone
by now."
"I sincerely trust they have. I don't want their company, Porky in a
tonga would be just about the limit, and I must go to-night. I
shouldn't sleep a wink if I didn't. Oh, let's be off. You can give me
a permit, I suppose, for the road?"[#]
[#] A permit from the Resident of Kashmir is required by those wishing
to make the Tonga journey to the plains by night. This is on account of
the dangerous nature of the road.
"Oh, as far as that goes, there'd be no difficulty, but..."
"That's settled then. I'll go and tell Lucy."
"Very well, if you insist, we'll be ready in half an hour from now. You
can manage it, I suppose, Sarah?" to his wife, who was looking at Graeme
with indignant eyes.
"Oh yes, but I really think..."
"So do I, but it seems our friend here has made up his mind. Rather a
sad ending to our picnic, Graeme;" but the latter was already on his way
to the tent, where he found Lucy lying face downwards on her bed,
quietly sobbing.
At the sight, a sudden spasm of remorse seized Hector; tears were a rare
occurrence with Lucy. He knelt down beside her and tried to take her
hand.
"I'm awfully sorry, dear," he began, "and I'm afraid I've been beastly
selfish, but I'm afraid in the excitement I never thought of that. I
can see now it's devilish hard on you, and I wish, I do indeed, I hadn't
to go; but I must; you see that, don't you, dear?"
No answer but sobs.
Hector was nonplussed. He could make love as well as most men--perhaps
even better--but in the capacity to feel the sorrows of others his
nature was altogether lacking, and he knew no other way to dry a woman's
tears save with kisses. Such grief merely bored and annoyed him, and,
as he looked at the stricken figure before him, in spite of himself a
faint feeling of grievance began to take possession of him.
"Come, Lucy," he said, trying to make his voice as gentle as he could.
"Pull yourself together, dear; after all, you are more to blame for this
than me."
"I, Hector, oh, how?"
"For not letting me cut the Service when I wanted to. You see now what
has come of it."
"Oh, how I wish I had, but I only did it for your sake, Hector."
"And that being so," continued Graeme, feeling his advantage, "it's
hardly logical to complain. After all, fighting is what we're for, not
loafing about barracks. Why, it was only last night that you were at me
to take my profession seriously, and now, when I've got a chance at
last, you grumble. It isn't fair, Lucy, it isn't really; makes the
going ten times worse for me."
"I--I'm not grumbling, only--crying a little. I--I shouldn't be human
if I didn't. Oh, Hector, are you made of stone?"
"Of course I'm not, only I've got more self-control. I feel it every
bit as much as you do; it's the same for me, you know."
"It isn't, it isn't!" sobbed Lucy. "You've got the excitement, your
brother officers and--and the rest. You're not left alone with nothing
to do but think, as I shall be after to-morrow, for you must go then, I
suppose. Oh, dearest, couldn't you wait for just one more day, for my
sake, Hector?"
"I--I'm afraid I must go to-night, Lucy," stammered Hector.
The girl sat up, her eyes rather wild.
"To-night? Oh no, no, you can't; you mustn't go to-night. I--I
couldn't bear it, Hector."
"I must, dear; if I didn't, they might put me under arrest for
disobedience to orders. Think what might be said too, that brute
O'Hagan, for instance."
"What does it matter about him? I come first. And you can't go
to-night. The road's not safe. Those awful precipices."
"There's no danger, Lucy, and, believe me, I must." Hector's jaw set
and his eyes hardened.
A long pause. Graeme looked at his watch. Quarter of an hour had
already passed.
"Lucy, dear," he began again, "I don't wish to hurry you, but Sir
Reginald told me to say that he would start in half an hour;" and Lucy
at once rose, except for her pale face and red eyes, to all appearances
calm once more.
"Very well, Hector," she said in a level voice, "I will be ready. Tell
Sir Reginald I won't keep him waiting. I--I should like an hour or two
at Shiraz, though, if you can wait so long. I want to see about your
things."
"Oh, of course, dear, and, Lucy, you know, don't you, that it's not want
of feeling on my part? I hate it as much as you do, probably more,
only..."
"Yes, yes, but please leave me now, Hector, or I shan't--shan't. Oh,
go--go."
She half pushed him out of the tent and closed the flap behind him.
* * * * *
"That fellow was right," muttered Hector, as some hours later he rode
down the hill on his way to Baramoula, "who said soldiers ought not to
be married. I wish to heaven I'd sent in my papers before I left
England, as I wanted to; but she wouldn't have it, said she wanted me to
make a name for myself, and now the time's come, it seems she doesn't
want it at all. No more do I, much rather stay behind with her. God,
how cursedly miserable I feel, so much for love for a woman stirring a
man's ambition and making him keen to do things. It don't, it takes all
the heart out of him. Hullo, there's Baramoula, now I wonder whether
that fool ordered my tonga?" and shaking up his pony he rode on at a
canter.
*CHAPTER IV*
Early morning on the Khyber Hills. Not the autumn morning known to
dwellers in rural England, where eyes rest on a landscape of still
loveliness, on stubble-fields of pale yellow, on copses of russet and
gold, and on meadows sheeted in silver dew, but something far different
from that. Here is no green of grass, no vitalising chill of morning
air, but instead a dull burning heat, clothing a land of flat stony
plain and glowing mountain, towering up into a sky of hard cloudless
blue.
In the centre of the plain, apparently alone, a British soldier stood
watching, a white-faced soldier, his khaki uniform creased and tumbled,
and, though his _role_ of sentry was no laborious one, already stained
with dark patches of sweat. Around him for miles stretched the brown
monotony of sun-baked stony flat, seamed here and there by ragged-edged
nullahs and dry watercourses, in the sandy beds of which a few withered
shrubs and tussocks of grass clung hard to a miserable existence.
Before him, some three miles away, a wall of mountains barred the view,
a rampart of earth and stone glaring red in the sunlight; sheer from the
plain it rose, a forbidding barrier between India and Afghanistan, a
barrier too with but few gateways, one of which, however--a dark rift in
the hills--lay directly in front of the soldier as he stood.
Here and there, huddled against the foot of the mountains, could be seen
the mud walls and strong square towers of a Pathan village, apparently
deserted save for the occasional appearance of a white-clad figure and a
few herds of miserable-looking sheep and goats browsing on the hillside
hard by. Far away behind him, the solid walls and ramparts of Fort
Hussein rose from the plain, a former Sikh stronghold, and now the
temporary abode of her Majesty's 1st Regiment of Lancers.
Screening its mass, arose a thick haze of dust and smoke, through which
now and again could be seen the faint twinkle of lance-point and
sword-scabbard, and, the dust at times clearing, strings of mules and
horses moving to and from a pond of muddy water. Over all was a
pitiless brazen sky, in which glared the yellow disc of the sun, its
rays smiting down on sweating man and beast, and turning Fort Hussein
into an inferno of flies, fever, and burning walls.
Sentry Bates, clutching his carbine, now well-nigh too hot to hold,
viewed all these things with aching eyes, and spat on the ground and
swore. "An' this is bein' on active service," he muttered, "this doin'
of guards and pickets more than wot a man 'as in barriks, no fightin',
no enemy, no nuthink, only patrollin,' an' stinkin' rations and 'ot beer
when you git 'ome. Wot are we 'ere for, I'd like to know, wot for did
they send the ridgmint up 'ere? Fed up, that's wot I am, fair fed up."
He paused, took off his helmet and wiped his brow. He then replaced the
headpiece, front to back, as is customary with Tommy Atkins when out of
sight of authority, and, taking from his breast-pocket a packet of
"Swell" cigarettes, lit one and resumed his soliloquy.
"Wonder what 'Ooky's doin' over there?" he murmured, gazing towards a
hillock some two miles away to the front of him, where a small group of
horses could be seen standing. "Fancy the bloke a-sendin' 'im on
detached post, ruddy foolishness, I call it, not like the bloke at all.
'Ullo, they're movin', strike me, they're gone, now what the 'ell does
that mean?" He remained staring vacantly.
Private Bates, though apparently solitary and unsupported, was
nevertheless not so, for close at hand, hidden from view in the depths
of a great nullah, a troop of the 1st Lancers were lying; to which force
he was now acting as look-out man.
Here, standing in a row, their heads fastened together by the process
known in the Service as "linking," were the horses, black with sweat and
restlessly kicking at the buzzing flies, while their riders, except the
luckless Bates and a few men told off to watch the animals, were sitting
in a circle smoking and indulging in that desultory conversation to
which the British soldier is addicted. Some yards away Hector Graeme
was lying on his back, his head resting on his helmet and a handkerchief
spread over his face. For an hour he had so lain, trying to sleep; but,
the flies and heat forbidding, he had now abandoned the attempt, and was
listening to the conversation of the men.
The detachment of which he was this morning in command, or rather one
similar to it--for the duty devolved on each troop of the regiment in
turn--was sent out daily from Fort Hussein to its present position, its
mission being to watch for and report on any movement of tribesmen from
the direction of the Pass. For the better fulfilment of the task
allotted, and to avoid unnecessary wear and tear of horseflesh, it was
customary to push forward from the troop itself a detached post of six
men under a non-commissioned officer. These were stationed on a small
hillock about a mile distant from the mouth of the Pass, their orders
being to watch it, but on no account to enter it.
To-day the command of this post had been entrusted to a certain Sergeant
Walker, familiarly known as "Hooky," for, as every soldier is aware, in
the Army all Walkers are "Hookies," just as all Clarkes are "Nobbies."
It was the sudden disappearance of this party from its hillock that had
so excited the interest of Private Bates, and, curiously enough, at the
same time, the conversation in the nullah had also turned on the subject
of this particular non-commissioned officer.
"Think 'Ooky's caught the 'Addy Mullah yet, Jim?" said a voice.
"Shouldn't wonder at all, Spider," was the answer, "got 'im tied by a
neck-rope to 'is 'orse and a-bringin' of 'im up before the orfcer. Now
then, 'Addy, quick march, 'alt, saloot. Stand up straight, can't yer?
and stop fiddlin' with yer 'ands. This 'ere 'Addy, sir, 'as been givin'
a lot of trouble lately, creatin' of disturbances in the Khyber Parse.
Most troublesome man, sir, can't do nothin' with 'im. Sivin days to
barriks? Very good, sir. Right turn, dismiss. Come back, d'ye 'ear,
and saloot the orfcer properly.'"
"'Ooky's a bloke like a lot more we 'ave in the Army," said another,
Wilde by name, "always a-gettin' of a man 'set' and naggin' at 'im. 'E
makes crime, does Sergeant Walker."
"That's a fact, Oscar, and 'e 'imself ain't no perticler class, neither.
'E don't know 'is 'orses and 'e don't know 'is drill, but 'e's got a
kind o' soapy way with 'im wot goes down with Rawson. Don't get round
'im, though," jerking his head towards Graeme and lowering his voice to
a cautious whisper.
"'Oo, 'im? Why, Taylor, 'im as is waiter in the orfcer's Mess, says as
'ow the other orfcers..." The rest of the sentence was inaudible.
"Orfcers, wot do they know? Why..." Mumble, mumble, and then, in the
heat of controversy, a voice raised:
"'E ain't a fool, I tell you, Ginger, the 'ole squadron knows that.
Ferrers, 'oo's Ferrers? Give me 'Ector, and you can 'ave the rest, ole
man and all."
"Now then, stop that language," came sharply from a recumbent figure
with three gold stripes on his arm, surmounted by a crown.
Sergeant-Major Stocks had suddenly become alive to the enormity of the
present discussion, and hastened to intervene. At his voice a hush fell
on the group till, authority once more slumbering, the conversation was
resumed.
"Wot for then 'as 'e gone and put 'Ooky on detached post, that's what I
want to know?" said a voice, echoing the same doubt that had arisen in
Private Bates's mind.
"Better arsk 'im, cully, not me. 'E knows 'Ooky same as 'e knows every
man in the squadron, and if so be as 'e's put 'Ooky to watch the Parse,
'e's got 'is reasons for it, same like 'e always 'as."
A somewhat curious smile played over Hector's face as he listened, for
the speaker was right in what he said. He _did_ know his men. More, he
had an intimate knowledge of their natures and capabilities, such as no
other officer of the regiment could have hoped to acquire even had he
tried. However, the other officers had not tried, the study of character
in no way being regarded as part of the training of an officer in the
British Army. With Hector such knowledge was a natural gift, as well as
a hobby, and possibly it was owing to this that he possessed his curious
popularity and influence over the men, at which Major Rawson, his
squadron leader and constant foe, had so often wondered.
And yet, knowing them as he did, he had deliberately selected a
non-commissioned officer, whom he knew to be one of the most incompetent
in the regiment, for the responsible position he now held. But again,
as Private Thomas had observed, he had his reasons, though these would
probably have much astonished that person, as well as anyone else to
whom they had been divulged.
Briefly they were as follows. The present was the fourth occasion on
which Graeme had been entrusted with this particular mission, and so far
as had also happened to his brother officers, the proceedings had been
of a singular tameness--no sign of an enemy having been seen and no shot
fired. While they were content to grumble, Hector had determined to act
and at all costs to have some little fighting to his credit, even if
this should involve an attack on the Pass with his one troop.
On the way out this morning, his mind occupied with the problem of how
his object was to be attained, he had by chance overheard a conversation
between the redoubtable Sergeant Walker and a corporal; the former, as
was his wont, vaunting his bravery and informing his incredulous
companion that "give me but arf a chance, and I will show them I am
afraid of no Pathan blokes; up the bloody Pass I mean to go sooner or
later, orders or no orders."
Graeme, at first bored, soon became attentive, and finally, to the
astonishment of the troop, called the hero up, and told him he would be
in command of the detached post that day. This information he
supplemented with a few remarks on the necessity of daring and
enterprise on the part of subordinates, concluding by a short anecdote
dealing with the subject of a certain sergeant who, though acting in
defiance of orders, had yet achieved great renown. Having thus fired an
already sufficiently vainglorious spirit, he despatched the man on his
mission, observing with secret gratification his victim surreptitiously
borrow the trumpeter's revolver, and with this tucked away in his
holster depart, rating his followers as he went, even more than was his
wont.
Having then watched the party's arrival at their destination, Graeme,
well pleased, descended into the nullah, occasionally climbing out,
glasses in hand, while a frown gradually overspread his face as time
went on and nothing happened. By now he had abandoned hope, and was
apathetically listening to his soldiers' talk when there was a sudden
general cry of "'Ullo!" and removing the handkerchief from his face, he
looked up to meet a pair of bulging eyes staring at him from above. It
was Bates the sentry, an agitated Bates, bursting with momentous
tidings.
"Beggy pardon, sir," he gasped, '"Ook ... Sergeant Walker, sir, 'as left
'is 'ill, and there's 'eavy firin' goin' on in the Parse, you can 'ear
it quite plain from 'ere."
A chorus of "Gawds," a scuffle, a rush, and all were up the nullah's
side and standing on the level, with eyes fixed on the dark rift in the
mountain wall. Yes, there it was, the dull intermittent thudding of
shots, plainly audible in the still morning air, and, as Graeme
listened, a queer cold thrill ran through him--that strange sensation,
half awe, half exultation, which every soldier has felt on whose ears
the sound beats for the first time.
In those red mountains yonder a drama was now being enacted, a drama all
the more terrible because unseen and only imagined; one in which he too
must shortly play his part. He, now warm and palpitating with life,
would a few minutes hence be standing in Death's presence, nay, might
have passed into his keeping and become deaf and insensible as the
stones on which he lay.
Fascinated, he stood gazing, and still the firing continued, but, strain
his eyes as he might, no sign of enemy could he see on those bare brown
slopes; nor yet of the sergeant and his party was there a trace. They
were gone, apparently swallowed up in the mountains.