Annie Mansfield was not long before she mastered her emotions. She had
learned to do so in a bitter school. Beaten for the slightest fault,
or at the mere caprice of one of her many mistresses, she had learned
to suffer pain without a tear; to assume a submissive attitude under
the greatest provocation; to receive, without attempting to defend
herself, punishment for faults she had not committed; and to preserve
an appearance of cheerfulness, when her heart seemed breaking at the
hopelessness of any deliverance from her fate. For the last six months
she had been specially unhappy, for when Seringapatam had been
besieged she had hoped that, when it was captured, her countrymen
would search the Palace and see that, this time, no English captive
remained behind. Her disappointment, then, when she heard that peace
had been made, and that the English army was to march away, without
even an attempt to see that the condition for the release of captives
was faithfully carried out, had for a time completely crushed her, and
all hope had forsaken her.
Thus, then, while she had been, for a moment, overwhelmed at finding
that her preserver from the tiger was a countryman in disguise, and
that he was willing to make an attempt to rescue her; yet in a few
minutes she stifled her sobs, hastily thrust back the hair that had
fallen over her face, uncoiled herself from her crouching position in
the angle of the divan, and rose to her feet.
"I can hardly believe it to be true," she said, in a low voice. "Oh,
Sahib, do you really mean what you say? And are you willing to run the
risk of taking me away with you?"
"Of course I am," Dick said heartily. "You don't suppose that an
Englishman would be so base as to leave a young countrywoman in the
hands of these wretches? I do not think that there is much risk in it.
Of course, you will have to disguise yourself, and there may be some
hardships to go through, but once away from here we are not likely to
be interfered with. You see, my friend and I are officers of the
Palace, and no one would venture to question us, as we should be
supposed to be travelling upon the sultan's business. There is peace
at present, and although Tippoo may intend, some day or other, to
fight again, everything is settling down quietly. Traders go about the
country unquestioned. There is plenty of traffic on the roads from one
town to another; and so long as your disguise is good enough to
prevent your being recognised as a white, there is no greater danger
in travelling, in Mysore, than there would be down in the Carnatic."
Annie stood before him, with her fingers playing nervously with each
other. Long trained in habits of implicit obedience, and to stand in
an attitude of deep respect before her numerous mistresses, she was in
ignorance whether she ought to speak or not. She had been but a child
of six, when she had been carried off. Her remembrance of English
manners had quite died out, and the habit of silent submission had
become habitual to her. Dick was puzzled by her silence.
"Of course, Annie," he said, at last, "I don't want you to go with me,
if you would rather stay here, or if you are afraid of the risk of
travelling."
She looked up with frightened eyes.
"Oh, Sahib, it is not that; I would go, even if I felt sure I should
be found out and cut to pieces. Anything would be better than this. I
am not afraid at all.
"But forgive me, Sahib. I don't know how to thank you. I don't know
what is proper to say. It is all so strange and so wonderful."
"Oh, that is all right, Annie," Dick said cheerfully. "Of course, you
will feel it a little strange, just at starting.
"Well, in the first place, you must call me Dick, instead of calling
me sahib; and in the next place, you must talk to me freely, as a
friend, and not stand as if I were your master. While we are on this
journey together, consider me as a sort of big brother. When we get
down the ghauts I shall hand you over to the care of my mother, who is
living at present at Tripataly with her brother, the Rajah.
"Now sit down again, and let us make our arrangements. When we have
done that we can talk, if there is time. Now, how am I to let you know
if I have to go away suddenly? Do you always get out at this time of a
morning?"
"Not always, but very often. I always go down at twelve o'clock, with
some of the other slave girls, to fetch the food and sweetmeats for
the ladies of the harem."
"Well, you must always manage, even if you are not sent out, to look
out through that doorway where you met me, at eight o'clock in the
morning. If we have anything particular to say to you, Surajah--that
is my friend, you know--will be there. Which way do you go out from
the harem to fetch the food?"
"Not from that door, but from the one nearest to the kitchen. You go
right down that corridor, and then take the first turning to the
right. There is a flight of stairs at its end. We come out at the door
just at its head. At the foot of the stairs there is a long passage,
and at the end of that is a large room, with tables, on which the
dishes are placed in readiness for us to bring back."
"Well, if it is necessary to speak to you at once, one of us will meet
you in the passage between the bottom of the stairs and the room where
the food is. If you see one of us, you will know that the matter is
urgent, and as soon as you can possibly slip away, you must come here.
In the evening you had better again look out from the door where you
first met me.
"Now, as to the disguise, it will be better for you to go as a boy. It
would be strange to see a girl riding behind two of the officers of
the Palace. You won't mind that, will you?"
"Not at all, Sahib."
"Not at all, Dick," he corrected. "Well, I will have a dress ready for
you here. You will find it in that corner, and there will be a bottle
of stain on the table. It will be only necessary for you to colour
your neck, hands, and feet, but you must cut off your hair, behind, to
a level with your ears, so that none of it will show below the turban.
You must do that, of course, before you stain your neck, and must
stain the skin where you have cut off your hair, also. I am giving you
these instructions now, because when the time comes there may not be a
minute to spare, though, of course, I hope there will be no desperate
hurry."
"I understand," she said, "and will look out for you, three times a
day."
"Of course," he went on, "if you are suddenly told that you are to be
given to any one, you must slip out at once, and come here. You will
find everything ready for you to disguise yourself, and you must do
that at once, and wait here till one of us comes. Even if you are
missed, it will be some time before any search is made, and it would
be thought much more likely that you had gone down into the town, than
that you were hiding in the Palace, so there would be no chance of
their looking for you here before we return. Anyhow, we shall be able
to have another talk before Tippoo comes back. We shall be here every
morning until nine, and if you are able to get away again, come and
see us.
"It will be better, perhaps, for you not to wait any longer, now. I
suppose you have been charged with some message or other, and it would
not do for you to be too long gone."
The girl stood up at once.
"I have to go down to the Pettah, to get some sewing silk to match
this;" and she drew out a small fragment of yellow silk.
"Very well, then. You had better go and do it, or they may think that
you are too long away.
"Goodbye, Annie. I hope that in another week, or ten days at the
latest, I shall have you out of this;" and he held out his hand to
her.
She took it timidly, and would have raised it to her forehead, but
Dick said, laughing:
"That is not the way, Annie. English girls don't treat their friends
as if they were lords and masters. They just shake hands with them, as
if it were two men, or two girls."
"I shall know better, in time," she said, with a faint smile, though
her eyes were full of tears. "I want to do something, though I don't
know what. You saved my life from the tiger, and now you are going to
save me again. I should like to throw myself down, and kiss your
feet."
"You would make me horribly uncomfortable, if you did anything of the
sort, Annie. I can understand that you feel strange and out of your
element, at present, but you will soon get over that, when you come to
know me better.
"There, goodbye, lassie. I hope to see you again, tomorrow or next
day, and then you will be able to tell me more about yourself.
"Is the coast clear, Surajah?"
Surajah looked out through the curtains.
"There is no one in sight," he said, a moment later.
The girl passed silently out, and went down the corridor. Surajah
returned from his post by the door.
"The poor girl is shy and awkward, as yet," Dick said, "but I think
she will be plucky enough, when the time comes. You heard what we
said. The first thing will be to get her disguise ready for her. What
do you think? Had we better take Ibrahim with us? I think he is to be
trusted."
"I am sure he is," Surajah agreed. "He is a Hindoo of Coorg, and was
carried away as a slave, six years ago. In the first place, he will be
delighted at the prospect of getting away; and in the next, I am sure
that he is very fond of you. But there is no occasion to tell him that
you are English."
"No, it will be time enough to do that when we get over the ghauts. It
will be better that he should get the disguise. In the first place, he
will know exactly what is wanted; and in the next, it would look rum
for either of us to be buying such a thing. Of course, we could ask
Pertaub to get it for us, but if we take Ibrahim with us he may as
well buy it.
"We shall want a couple more horses. These, of course, we can buy
ourselves, and saddles and things. When we have got them, we had
better leave them at some place on the other side of the river.
Pertaub would help us, there. He is sure to know someone who will look
after them for a few days. Then Ibrahim and the girl can start
together, go over there and saddle them, so as to be in readiness to
mount, directly we come along. We will stop at the wood and dig up the
caskets. There is nothing like taking them away with us, when there is
a chance, and it is not likely that we shall come back to Seringapatam
again--it would be like putting our heads into a tiger's den."
When Ibrahim brought in the dishes for their meal, Dick said:
"Go down and get your own food, Ibrahim, and when you have done come
back here again. I want to have a talk with you."
They had just finished their meal, when Ibrahim returned.
"Ibrahim, would you be glad of a chance of getting away from here, and
returning to your own country?"
"I would have given anything to do so, my lord," Ibrahim said, "before
I was ordered to attend upon you. But I am happy now. You are kind to
me, and I should not like to leave your service."
"But if I were going too, Ibrahim?"
"Then, my lord, I would go with you anywhere, if you would take me."
"Well, Ibrahim, we feel sure that we can trust you, and so I may tell
you that I think it likely we shall, very shortly, go away. You know
what the sultan is. One day he gives you honours and rewards, the next
he disgraces you, and perhaps sends you into the ranks of the army,
perhaps has you thrown to the tigers. We do not care to live under
such conditions, and we mean, in a few days, to slip away and go to
our friends down the ghauts. You can come with us, if you like."
"I would go with you to the end of the world, my lord," Ibrahim
exclaimed earnestly. "To go with you and be a free man, and not a
slave, would be almost too great happiness."
"Very well, then, that is settled. Now, Ibrahim, we are not going
alone. We are going to take with us a young white slave in the harem,
and restore her to her friends. I want you to get a disguise for her.
Let it be a dress like your own--long white trousers to the ankle, a
shirt and tunic with waist belt, also the stuff for a turban. That you
must wind in proper folds, as she would not be able to do it herself.
I also want a bottle of stain for the skin."
"I will get them, my lord. How tall is she?"
"About half a head shorter than you are. She is about the size of an
average Hindoo woman."
"Shall I get the things at once, my lord?"
"Yes, you had better get them today. We may leave at any time, and it
is as well to have them in readiness. We shall buy two horses, one for
each of you, and have them taken across the river. You can ride, I
suppose?"
"Yes; I used to ride when I was a boy, before Tippoo came down and
killed my father and mother, and brought me up here. Will my lord want
me to take the horses across?"
"I will tell you that in the morning, Ibrahim. We are going down into
the town, now, to inquire about them, but we shall not buy any until
tomorrow, as we shall have to make arrangements for them to be kept
for us, until we want them."
They did not go out until it was dark, and then took their way to
Pertaub's house. The old Hindoo was in.
"I am glad to see you, Sahibs," he said to Dick, as they entered. "I
have always fears that ill may, in some way, befall you."
"We are going to leave, Pertaub. Surajah had, two days ago, to go up
to see four English prisoners put to death at one of the hill forts.
Next time I may be ordered on such a duty. I could not carry it out,
and you know that refusal would probably mean death. Moreover, we are
convinced that we have no means, here, of finding out what captives
may still be in Tippoo's hands, and have therefore determined to
leave. We are going to take with us our servant, Ibrahim, who is a
slave from Coorg; and will, we know, be faithful to us; and also a
young English girl who has, for eight years, been a slave in Tippoo's
harem. She will go with us in the disguise of a boy. This Ibrahim is
getting for us. We are going to buy a couple of horses for them, and
shall make straight down the ghauts, where I shall leave the girl in
my mother's care."
"It is a good action," the Hindoo said gravely.
"Now, in the first place, Pertaub, would you like to go with us?
Riding as we shall do, as two of the officers of the Palace, it is not
likely that any questions whatever will be asked, and certainly we
shall have no difficulty until it comes to crossing the frontier."
"No, Sahib. I thank you, but I am too old, now, for any fresh change.
I have friends here, and have none below the ghauts. Nothing save the
rescue of my daughter from the harem would induce me to move now, and
of that there is little chance. She will, by this time, have become
reconciled to her fate, and would probably not care to escape, were an
opportunity offered to her. Besides, with only me to protect her, what
would she do elsewhere? A few months, and she might be left alone in
the world."
"As to that," Dick said, "I could promise her the protection of my
aunt, the wife of the Rajah of Tripataly. After the kindness that you
have shown to us she would, I am sure, gladly take her into her
service. And there would be no difficulty about a dowry for her. I
would see to that."
The old man shook his head.
"There could be no question of marriage," he said; "but should I ever
hear from her that she is unhappy, and I can arrange to fly with her,
I will assuredly avail myself of your offer, and take her to
Tripataly; rejoiced indeed that, at my death, there will be a shelter
open to her.
"And now, can I aid you in any way, Sahib? One of my friends, a
merchant, could get the horses for you without difficulty. He has
often occasion to buy them, for the purposes of his trade."
"Thank you, Pertaub. I had intended to buy them myself, but doubtless
it will be safer for somebody else to do so. What I was going to ask
you was to let me know of some place, on the other side of the river,
where the horses could be kept until I want them."
"That I can do, Sahib. I have a friend, a cultivator. His house stands
by itself on this side of the first village--the one half a mile
beyond the ford. It is the only house this side of the village, so you
cannot mistake it. It lies about a hundred yards back from the road. I
will go over and arrange with him that, when two horses arrive, they
shall be placed in his stalls, and remain there until one arrives who
will say to him, after greeting, the word 'Madras'. To him he is to
deliver the horses at once, whether he comes by night or day."
"That would do admirably, Pertaub. Of course, I shall also want
saddles and bridles. How much do you think it will come to,
altogether? I do not want showy horses, but they must be animals
capable of performing a long journey, and of travelling at a fair rate
of speed--the faster the better. We are likely to get seven or eight
hours start, at least; but must, of course, travel fast. As long as
all goes well, I shall keep the main roads, but if there is a
breakdown, or an unforeseen accident occurs, I may have to leave the
road and take to bypaths."
"The cost of such horses would be about eighty rupees each; the
saddles and bridles another fifteen or twenty."
"Then here are two hundred rupees, Pertaub."
"Have you given up all hope of finding your father, Sahib? I have felt
so sure that you would be successful. It seemed to me that such brave
efforts could not go unrewarded."
"No, Pertaub, I have not given it up, at all. I intend to stay at
Tripataly for a fortnight, with my mother, and shall then come up the
ghauts again.
"That is another matter I want to speak to you about. Of course, we
should not dare to return to Seringapatam, and I think that we had
better settle to go to Bangalore. Could you forward our packs, with
the merchandise, to someone in that town?"
"There will be no difficulty in that, Sahib. There are many Hindoo
merchants there, who have been forced to change their religion, and
who have frequent dealings with traders here. One of my friends will,
I am sure, forward your goods with the next consignment that he sends
to Bangalore. That, also, I will arrange tomorrow, and when you come
in the evening will give you the name of the trader there, together
with a letter from the one here, telling him that you are the person
to whom the goods are to be given up."
"Thank you, Pertaub. I don't know what we should have done, without
your assistance."
"It has been a pleasure, to me, to be of use to you, Sahib. I had
thought my time of usefulness was over, and it has given a real
pleasure to my life to have been able to aid you. You will let me
know, Sahib, if ever you find your father?"
"Certainly, Pertaub. I will, in any case, send word to you, either
that I have found him, or that I have given up all hope and have
abandoned my efforts."
The next morning a lad brought Dick a message, from Pertaub, that he
had fulfilled all his commissions; and on the following morning, Annie
Mansfield again came to Dick's room.
"Everything is going on well, Annie," Dick said, as he shook hands
with her. "The horses have been bought. There is your disguise in that
corner, and we can start any moment, at a quarter of an hour's notice.
"Now, I want you to tell me how you came to be brought up here."
"I have not much to tell," she said. "You see, I was only six years
old. I can remember there was a great deal of firing of guns, and that
lasted for a long time. Then the firing stopped. I suppose the place
surrendered."
"Do you know what place it was, Annie?"
She shook her head.
"I do not know at all. I suppose I did know, then, but I do not
remember ever to have heard the name. I remember quite well that there
were soldiers, and Father and Mother, and servants, and many other
people, and everyone was very miserable, and we all went together out
of a gate, and on each side there were a great many natives with guns
and swords, some on horse and some on foot; and there were elephants.
I don't think I had ever seen one before, for I noticed them
particularly. We went on and on, and I know one of the soldiers
carried me.
"At night we stopped somewhere. I think it was in a wood, and there
were fires, and we lay down to sleep on the ground. Then I woke up
suddenly, and there was a great noise and firing of guns, and someone
caught me up and threw something over my head, and I don't remember
anything more, for a long time. I know that presently I was on
horseback, before a fierce-looking man. There were a good many of
them, and when I cried for my father and mother, they said they would
cut off my head if I were not quiet.
"I do not know how long we were travelling, but after the first day
there was only the man who carried me, and another. I was brought
here, and there were many people, and I was very much frightened. Then
I found myself only among women, and they took off my clothes and
dressed me in their fashion. I think I was very happy, when I once got
accustomed to it. The ladies made a sort of pet of me, and I was
taught to dance and to sing little native songs. There were other
white girls here, and they were all very kind to me, though they
always seemed very sad, and I could not make out why they cried so
often, especially when they were beaten for crying.
"As I grew bigger, I was not so happy. I had ceased to be a plaything,
and little by little I was set to work to sweep and dust, and then to
sew, and then to do all sorts of work, like the other slave girls. The
other white girls gradually went away, the oldest first. The last two,
who were two or three years older than I was, went about three years
ago.
"At first, I used to wonder why they cried so when they went, and why
the others all cried, too; but by the time the last two left, I had
come to know all about it, and knew that they had been given by the
sultan to his favourite officers.
"There were many white men here, when I first came. When I went out
with one of the slaves, into the town, I saw them often. Sometimes
they would burst into tears when they saw me. Then I used to wonder
why, but I know now that I must have reminded them of girls of their
own, whom they would never see again. Then, till three years ago,
there were about twenty white boys who had been taught to dance and
sing, and who used to come sometimes, dressed up like women, to amuse
the ladies of the harem; but I heard that they were all killed, when
the sultan first thought that the English might come here. One of the
slave girls told me that it was done because the sultan had often
sworn, to the English, that there were no white captives here, and so
he did not wish that any should be found, if they came.
"I don't think that I have anything else to tell you."
"Well, I hope that what you have told me will be enough to enable us,
some day, to find out who you belong to. Evidently you were in some
place that was besieged, eight years ago, and had to surrender. The
garrison were promised their lives and liberty to depart. They were
attacked at night by an armed party, who may have been Hyder's
horsemen, but who were perhaps merely a party of mounted robbers, who
thought that they might be able to take some loot. Most likely they
were defeated, especially as you saw no other captives in the party,
but in the confusion of the night attack, one of them probably came
upon you, and carried you off, thinking you would be an acceptable
present here, and that he would get a reward for you from the sultan.
"Are you not noticed, when you go into the streets on errands?"
"No; I always go veiled. Except the slaves who are old and ugly, all
the others wear veils when they go outside the Palace, and we all wear
a red scarf, which shows we are servants in the harem; and so, even
when the town is full of rough soldiers, no one ventures to speak to
us.
"Now tell me, Dick--you see I have not forgotten--all about how you
came to be here."
Dick told her, briefly, how he had come out with his mother; and how,
finding war had broken out, he had joined the army; and how, at the
end of the war, having been able to learn nothing about his father, he
had come up with Surajah to search for him.
"And then you saw that tiger break in," the girl said, eagerly. "That
was dreadful. I will tell you how it was the tiger came to seize me. I
was standing behind a lady, and could not see anything. Suddenly they
all began screaming, and ran, some to one side, some to the other, of
the window; and I, who could not think what was the matter, remained
where I was, when there was a great cry, and before I had time to
move, or even to wonder, some great thing knocked me down. It was only
from the screams of the ladies, and their cries of 'Tiger!' that I
knew what had happened. I felt something heavy standing on me--so
heavy that I could hardly breathe; and indeed, I did not try to
breathe, for I knew many stories of tigers, and had heard that
sometimes, when a man shams being dead, the tiger will walk away and
kill someone else.
"The tiger was keeping up an angry growl, and I felt that, unless it
took its paw off me, I should soon die, when I heard a shot, and a
fierce growl from the tiger, and then the weight was gone, and I think
I fainted. When I came round, I was lying where I fell, for many of
the ladies were insensible, and everyone was too busy with them to
think anything of me.
"When I got up, one of the other slave girls, who had been brave
enough to look out of the window, told me that it had been killed by
two young men, one of whom must have been the one who had fired the
shot in at the window. I went and looked out, and saw it lying there.
After that every one talked, and laughed, and cried, and then the
sultan's chief wife said that everyone must make a present to the
young men who had saved us, and that each one ought to give one of her
best jewels. Of course, everyone did. I had nothing to give, except a
little cross of gold filigree work, that hung round my neck when I was
carried off. It had been hidden by my dress. The men had not noticed
it, and they had not taken it away when I was brought here. It was
such a poor little gift, but it was all I had."
"I noticed it, Annie," Dick said; "there was a little flat plate
behind it, with the letters 'A. M.' and I thought, then, that it must
be some little ornament taken from one of the Englishwomen Hyder's
troops killed. It is fortunate you kept it, for it may be useful,
someday, in proving that you are Annie Mansfield."
"Now I must be going," she said. "I was slapped and pinched, last
time, for being so long, but I have several things to get today, so
that if I hurry I can be back again as soon as they expect me. You
have not settled when you are going, yet?"
"No; but we rather think of going the day after tomorrow. It will be
better to do so before Tippoo comes back, for we might be ordered away
so quickly as to have no time to make arrangements. Besides, there
will be ten times as many people about, in the Palace, and more guards
at the entrances when he returns. So, altogether, it will be better to
go before he does so. If we settle it so, I will come along past your
door, tomorrow evening; and if I say, 'Tomorrow morning,' get here as
soon as you can in the morning, and directly you have stained your
skin and put on your disguise, we will start. My servant, who is going
with us, will act as your guide, and will take you to the place where
the horses are, and where we shall join you, almost as soon as you get
there."
At the appointed time, next evening, Dick told Annie that they should
start in the morning. He and Surajah then went down and said goodbye
to Pertaub, and Dick gave him a letter to his aunt, to give to her
should he ever go to Tripataly with his daughter.
"It may be," he said, "that neither Surajah nor I may be there, but I
shall speak to her about you, and of course tell her how much you have
done for us; so you may be sure of the heartiest welcome from her."
"And you will also find a hearty friend in my father, Rajbullub,"
Surajah said. "He is principal officer in the Rajah's household, and
will treat you as a brother, and your daughter as if she were my
sister."
Then they returned to the Palace, where they had a final talk over the
route that it would be best to pursue. The nearest point to the new
frontier was the territory ceded to the English on the Malabar coast.
But this would entail a long sea voyage, and they therefore determined
to make for Caveripatam, going by the road that led through Anicull,
and then through Ryacotta, which stood just outside the line of
territory ceded to England, and from whence a road led direct down the
passes. Anicull lay nearly due south of Bangalore, but the road they
would follow would not be the one by which Tippoo would return, as he
would come by the main road, which ran in a direct line between the
two cities.
Ibrahim was informed of their plans, and was told to warn the syce to
get their horses saddled and in readiness at eight o'clock, and that,
as they were going for a long day's ride, he would not be required to
accompany them--as he always did when they rode only into the town,
for then he might be wanted to hold the horses, if they dismounted and
went into a shop.
He was also to give notice, in the kitchen, that they would not return
to the midday meal, and that dishes for them would therefore not be
required. Thus it would be unlikely that any suspicion would be
aroused by their absence until they had been gone twenty-four hours,
by which time they would be more than halfway to the frontier.
They went to bed at their usual time, and slept soundly, for it seemed
to them both that there was practically no risk whatever to be run,
and that they would be across the frontier before any active search
was made for them. Even when it was discovered that they had left the
Palace, it would be thought that they had received some order from
Bangalore, either to join the sultan, or to go on some mission for him
that had occupied more time than they had anticipated on starting. The
idea that two officers, who were considered to stand high in Tippoo's
favour, should desert, would scarcely occur to anyone.
In the morning they were up early, completed their slight
preparations, and took their early breakfast, reserving a portion for
Annie, who, they thought, would not improbably have eaten nothing
before coming to them.
She was a quarter of an hour late in arriving, and looked somewhat
pale and flurried.
"They did not send me out this morning," she said, "and so I had to
stay, until I could slip out without being noticed; but they may miss
me at any moment."
"That will be all right," Dick said confidently. "They will search all
the rooms in the harem for you, first, and certainly won't look for
you outside, until there has been a lot of talk over your absence. But
even if they do search, you will be able, in a few minutes, to walk
through the middle of them without being suspected.
"However, we will lose no time; and to begin with, I will cut off what
hair is necessary. I shall do it a good deal quicker than you would.
Then we will leave you to yourself, to stain your skin and put on your
disguise. When you have finished, clap your hands. Ibrahim will come
in and see that your disguise is all right, and that your turban
covers your hair. Then he will go with you. We shall be waiting near
the gate. There is practically no chance of your being asked any
questions, but if you are, and there is any difficulty, we will pass
you through all right. Having seen you on your way, we shall mount and
follow you."
The operation of cutting off Annie's hair, to the line of her ears,
was speedily done; then, with a few reassuring words, Dick joined
Surajah in the corridor. As they walked down it he said:
"I don't like leaving them to themselves. Look here, Surajah, you go
down to the stable, and mount at once. Tell the syce I shall come for
my horse in a few minutes. Then ride out, and take your post where you
can see them come out of the gate, and then follow them closely. I
will stay here, and see them safely through the gate, and then mount
and follow you. I shall overtake you before you get to the ford."
"That will perhaps be safest," Surajah agreed, "though I should think
there is no chance of her being suspected, seeing that she will be
with Ibrahim. Even if they met one of the Palace officers, and he
asked Ibrahim who he had with him, he could say it was a lad who had
come to you respecting some horses you had bought."
"Yes, that would do very well."
Dick returned to Ibrahim, who was squatting down in the corridor near
the door.
"I am going to follow you, until you are through the gate, and shall
keep a short distance behind you. If you should meet any officer on
your way out, who may ask you who you have with you, say he has come
with a message to me from a trader in the town. By the time you have
told him that, I shall be up."
"There is no chance of being questioned, my lord. People come and go
all day."
"That is so, Ibrahim, but one cannot be too careful."
They stood, talking together, until they heard Annie clap her hands
within. Ibrahim entered at once, and in two or three minutes came out
again with the girl. Ibrahim carried a bundle.
"You will do very well," Dick said to Annie. "I should not know you,
in the least. You make a capital boy.
"What bundle is that, Ibrahim? I thought you took our other disguises
on, yesterday, to the stable where the horses are."
"Yes, my lord, I took them on. These are the things she has taken off.
I thought, perhaps, it would be better not to leave them here, as, if
they were found, it would be known that she had gone with you."
"I don't think it makes much difference, Ibrahim, but perhaps it is as
well to bring them away. We can leave the bundle in the wood.
"Now, go along. I will follow. Perhaps I had better go first. Keep a
few paces behind me."
They passed through the long passages of the Palace, without
attracting the slightest attention. Once or twice, Dick paused to
speak to some officials of his acquaintance, the others stopping
respectfully a few paces away. Then he went out into the courtyard,
and across to the gate, and as the sentries saluted he stopped, and
asked them a few questions as to the regiment they belonged to, until
Ibrahim and his companion, who had passed straight through, were well
away. He saw Surajah sitting upon his horse, a couple of hundred yards
away, and then went to the stables.