The fire of the batteries increased, and by the 13th of January the
enemy's fire was completely silenced. The provisions in the town were
wholly exhausted, and on the 16th the town surrendered, and the next
morning the English took possession. Three days afterwards Lally was
embarked on board ship, to be taken a prisoner to Madras; and so much
was he hated that the French officers and civilians assembled, and
hissed and hooted him; and, had he not been protected by his guard,
would have torn him to pieces. After his return to France he was tried
for having, by his conduct, caused the loss of the French possessions
in India, and being found guilty of the offence, was beheaded.
At Pondicherry two thousand and seventy-two military prisoners were
taken, and three hundred and eighty-one civilians. Five hundred cannon
and a hundred mortars, fit for service; and immense quantities of
ammunition, arms, and military stores fell into the hands of the
captors.
Pondicherry was handed over to the Company; who, a short time
afterwards, entirely demolished both the fortress and town. This hard
measure was the consequence of a letter which had been intercepted,
from the French government to Lally, ordering him to raze Madras to
the ground, when it fell into his hands.
Charlie, after the siege, in which he had rendered great services,
received from the Company, at Colonel Coote's earnest recommendation,
his promotion to the step of lieutenant colonel; while Peters was
raised to that of major. A fortnight after the fall of Pondicherry,
they returned to Madras, and thence took the first ship for England.
It was now just ten years since they had sailed, and in that time they
had seen Madras and Calcutta rise, from the rank of two trading
stations, in constant danger of destruction by their powerful
neighbours, to that of virtual capitals of great provinces. Not as
yet, indeed, had they openly assumed the sovereignty of these
territories; but Madras was, in fact, the absolute master of the broad
tract of land extending from the foot of the mountains to the sea,
from Cape Comorin to Bengal; while Calcutta was master of Bengal and
Oressa, and her power already threatened to extend itself as far as
Delhi. The conquest of these vast tracts of country had been achieved
by mere handfuls of men, and by a display of heroic valour and
constancy scarce to be rivalled in the history of the world.
The voyage was a pleasant one, and was, for the times, quick,
occupying only five months. But to the young men, longing for home
after so long an absence, it seemed tedious in the extreme.
Tim and Hossein were well content with their quiet, easy life, after
their long toils. They had nothing whatever to do, except that they
insisted upon waiting upon Charlie and Peters, at meals. The ship
carried a large number of sick and wounded officers and men, and as
these gained health and strength, the life on board ship became
livelier, and more jovial. Singing and cards occupied the evenings,
while in the daytime they played quoits, rings of rope being used for
that purpose, and other games with which passengers usually wile away
the monotony of long voyages.
It was late in June when the Madras sailed up the Thames; and, as soon
as she came to anchor, the two officers and their followers landed.
The din and bustle of the streets seemed almost as strange, to
Charlie, as they had done when he came up a boy, from Yarmouth.
Hossein was astonished at the multitude of white people, and inquired
of Charlie why, when there were so many men, England had sent so few
soldiers to fight for her in India; and for once, Charlie was unable
to give a satisfactory reply.
"It does seem strange," he said to Peters, "that when such mighty
interests were at stake, a body of even ten thousand troops could not
have been raised, and sent out. Such a force would have decided the
struggle at once; and in three months the great possessions, which
have cost the Company twelve years' war, would have been at their
feet. It would not have cost them more; indeed, nothing like as much
as it now has done, nor one tithe of the loss in life. Somehow,
England always seems to make war in driblets."
Charlie knew that his mother and Kate had, for some years, been
residing at a house which their uncle had taken, in the fashionable
quarter of Chelsea. They looked in at the office, however, to see if
Charlie's uncle was there; but found that he was not in the city, and,
indeed, had now almost retired from the business. They therefore took
a coach, placed the small articles of luggage which they had brought
with them, from the ship, on the front seats; and then, Hossein and
Tim taking their places on the broad seat beside the driver, they
entered the coach and drove to Chelsea.
Charlie had invited Peters, who had no home of his own, to stay with
him, at least for a while. Both were now rich men, from their shares
of the prize money of the various forts and towns, in whose capture
they had taken part; although Charlie possessed some twenty thousand
pounds more than his friend, this being the amount of the presents he
had received, from the Rajah of Ambur.
Alighting from the carriage, Charlie ran up to the door and knocked.
Inquiring for Mrs. Marryat, he was shown into a room in which a lady,
somewhat past middle age, and three younger ones were sitting. They
looked up, in surprise, as the young man entered. Ten years had
changed him almost beyond recognition, but one of the younger ones at
once leaped to her feet, and exclaimed, "Charlie!"
His mother rose with a cry of joy, and threw herself into his arms.
After rapturously kissing her, he turned to the others. Their faces
were changed, yet all seemed equally familiar to him, and in his
delight he equally embraced them all.
"Hullo!" he exclaimed, when he freed himself from their arms. "Why,
there are three of you! What on earth am I doing? I have somebody's
pardon to beg; and yet, although your faces are changed, they seem
equally familiar to me. Which is it?
"But I need not ask," he said, as a cloud of colour flowed over the
face of one of the girls, while the others smiled mischievously.
"You are Katie," he said, "and you are Lizzie, certainly, and this
is--why, it is Ada!
"This is a surprise, indeed; but I sha'n't beg your pardon, Ada, for I
kissed you at parting, and quite intended to do so when I met again,
at least if you had offered no violent objection.
"How you are all grown and changed, while you, Mother, look scarcely
older than when I left you.
"But there, I have quite forgotten Peters. He has come home with me,
and will stay till he has formed his own plans."
He hurried out and brought in Peters; who, not wishing to be present
at the family meeting, had been paying the coachman, and seeing to the
things being brought into the house. He was warmly received, by the
ladies, as the friend and companion of Charlie in his adventures;
scarcely a letter having been received, from the latter, without
mention having been made of his comrade.
In a minute or two Mr. Tufton, who had been in the large garden behind
the house, hurried in. He was now quite an old man; and under the
influence of age, and the cheerful society of Mrs. Marryat and her
daughters, he had lost much of the pomposity which had before
distinguished him.
"Ah! Nephew," he said, when the happy party had sat down to dinner,
their number increased by the arrival of Mrs. Haines, who had a house
close by; "wilful lads will go their own way. I wanted to make a rich
merchant of you, and you have made of yourself a famous soldier. But
you've not done badly for yourself after all; for you have, in your
letters, often talked about prize money."
"Yes, Uncle. I have earned, in my way, close upon a hundred thousand
pounds; and I certainly shouldn't have made that if I had stuck to the
office at Madras, even with the aid of the capital you offered to lend
me, to trade with on my own account."
There was a general exclamation of surprise and pleasure, at the
mention of the sum; although this amount was small, in comparison to
that which many acquired, in those days, in India.
"And you're not thinking of going back again, Charlie?" his mother
said, anxiously. "There can be no longer any reason for your exposing
yourself to that horrible climate, and that constant fighting."
"The climate is not so bad, Mother, and the danger and excitement of a
soldier's life there, at present, render it very fascinating. But I
have done with it. Peters and I intend, on the expiration of our
leave, to resign our commissions in the Company's service, and to
settle down under our own vines and fig trees. Tim has already elected
himself to the post of my butler, and Hossein intends to be my valet
and body servant."
Immediately after their arrival, Charlie had brought in his faithful
followers and introduced them to the ladies; who, having often heard
of their devotion and faithful services, had received them with a
kindness and cordiality which had delighted them.
Lizzie, whose appearance at home had been unexpected by Charlie, for
her husband was a landed gentleman at Seven Oaks, in Kent, was, it
appeared, paying a visit of a week to her mother; and her three
children, two boys and a little girl, were duly brought down to be
shown to, and admired by, their Uncle Charles.
"And how is it you haven't married, Katie? With such a pretty face as
yours, it is scandalous that the men have allowed you to reach the
mature age of twenty-two, unmarried."
"It is the fault of the hussy herself," Mr. Tufton said. "It is not
from want of offers, for she has had a dozen, and among them some of
the nobility at court; for it is well known that John Tufton's niece
will have a dowry such as many of the nobles could not give, to their
daughters."
"This is too bad, Kate," Charlie said, laughing. "What excuse have you
to make for yourself for remaining single, with all these advantages
of face and fortune?"
"Simply that I didn't like any of them," Katie said. "The beaux of the
present day are contemptible. I would as soon think of marrying a wax
doll. When I do marry; that is, if ever I do, it shall be a man, and
not a mere tailor's dummy."
"You are pert, miss," her uncle said.
"Do what I will, Charlie, I cannot teach the hussy to order her
tongue."
"Katie's quite right, Uncle," Charlie laughed. "And I must make it my
duty to find a man who will suit her taste; though, according to your
account of her, he will find it a hard task to keep such a Xanthippe
in order."
Katie tossed her head.
"He'd better not try," she said saucily, "or it will be worse for
him."
Two days later, Charlie's elder sister returned with her family to her
house at Sevenoaks; where Charlie promised, before long, to pay her a
visit. After she had gone, Charlie and Peters, with Katie, made a
series of excursions to all the points of interest, round London; and
on these occasions Ada usually accompanied them.
The natural consequences followed. Charlie had, for years, been the
hero of Ada's thoughts; while Katie had heard so frequently of Peters
that she was, from the first, disposed to regard him in the most
favourable light. Before the end of two months, both couples were
engaged; and as both the young officers possessed ample means, and the
ladies were heiresses, there was no obstacle to an early union.
The weddings took place a month later; and Tim was, in the exuberance
of his delight, hilariously drunk for the first and only time during
his service with Charlie. Both gentlemen bought estates in the
country, and later took their seats in Parliament, where they
vigorously defended their former commander, Lord Clive, in the
assaults which were made upon him.
Tim married, seven or eight years after his master, and settled down
in a nice little house upon the estate. Although, henceforth, he did
no work whatever; he insisted, to the end of his life, that he was
still in Colonel Marryat's service.
Hossein, to the great amusement of his master and mistress, followed
Tim's example. The pretty cook of Charlie's establishment made no
objection to his swarthy hue. Charlie built a snug cottage for them,
close to the house, where they took up their residence; but Hossein,
though the happy father of a large family, continued, to the end of a
long life, to discharge the duties of valet to his master.
Both he and Tim were immense favourites with the children of Charlie
and Peters, who were never tired of listening to their tales of the
exploits of their fathers, when with Clive in India.