The syce brought out his horse, as soon as he saw Dick approaching.
"You need not wait up for us, after nine o'clock," Dick said, as he
mounted. "It is possible that we may be detained, and shall not return
until tomorrow evening. If we come, we shall certainly be back by nine
at the latest, and we shall not be back before seven, at any rate, so
that until then you are free to do as you like."
He rode quietly off, and did not quicken his pace until he had got
beyond the fort. Then he touched the horse with his heel, and cantered
down to the ford. Surajah was halfway across the river, when he
reached it. The other two figures were just ascending the road up the
other bank.
Surajah checked his horse, when he got across, and waited till Dick
joined him.
"Shall we go on with them to the farmhouse?" he asked.
"We may as well do so as halt in the road. Besides, there are the
things Ibrahim took over yesterday, to put into our saddlebags. There
is another thing that I never thought of. Of course, the girl has
never been on a horse, and that may give us a good deal of trouble. I
wonder I did not think of it, though if I had, I don't see that
anything else could have been done. We must see how she gets on, and
if she cannot manage I must take her before me, whenever we see that
the road is clear for a good distance ahead. Of course, it does not
matter about country people, but if we see a body of troops coming in
the distance, she must mount her own horse again, and follow us at a
walk. If we find that things don't go well, we must halt in a wood
somewhere, and ride only by night."
They cantered on now, and overtook the others just as they reached the
farmhouse. The farmer was at his door, and looked a little surprised
at seeing two of the officers of the Palace come up. He salaamed
deeply.
"We have not come to requisition anything," Dick said, with a smile,
as he saw that the farmer looked alarmed as well as surprised. "We
have only come for the two horses that we have bought, for our
servants, as we are going on a journey."
"Can I assist you in any way, my lords?"
"No, our men will saddle the horses," Dick said, and, dismounting,
went into the stable with Ibrahim and Annie.
"You are not afraid of riding, I hope, Annie?" he said.
"I am not afraid of anything, Dick, so that I can but get away."
"We will go quietly at first, anyhow. Mind, as you mount, put your
left foot in the stirrup. When you are seated, carry yourself as
easily as you can. The pony looks quiet enough, but if, when we get
fairly off, you find that you cannot sit comfortably, you must get up
before me, and Ibrahim must lead your pony. When we are fairly on the
road, I will fasten a bit of rope to your bridle to act as a leading
rein, and you can ride by my side, unless we see people coming along;
then you must drop behind, with Ibrahim."
"I won't give more trouble than I can help," she said.
Ibrahim had taken some rugs over with him, on the previous afternoon,
which had been bought in case they should sleep out at night. When the
horses were saddled, Dick rolled two of these up, strapped one on the
high peak, and the other on the cantle of the saddle upon which the
girl was to ride.
"That will wedge you in pretty tightly," he said.
"Now, Ibrahim, put the things into the saddlebag, and then we shall be
ready."
When this was done, the two horses were led outside. The farmer had
gone back into the house, and Dick, helping the girl into her seat,
arranged the stirrups the right length for her.
"Now," he said, "you must keep your knees pressed against the roll of
blankets in front, and hold on as well as you can with them; but the
principal thing is for you to balance yourself with your body. Don't
sit up stiffly, but as if you were in a chair.
"Now, we will start at a walk. Ibrahim will keep quite close to you,
so as to be able to catch hold of your rein, should there be any
occasion for him to do so."
Then, mounting, he and Surajah rode off at a walk, the others
following a length or two behind them. Dick looked round, from time to
time, and saw that Annie exhibited no signs of nervousness.
"I am quite comfortable," she said, in reply to one of his glances.
When they got into the road again, Dick said:
"We will go at an easy canter now, Annie. If you feel as if you could
not keep on, call out, and we will stop directly; but first come up
between Surajah and myself, and we will take the leading reins, so
that you will have nothing to attend to but holding on."
Two cords had been attached to the bridle, before setting out, and
Surajah and Dick each taking one, they started again, the horses
instinctively breaking into a canter, which was their usual pace.
Annie at first grasped the strap of the rug in front of her, but as
soon as she became accustomed to the motion, she let go. A small rug
had been strapped over the saddle, before she mounted, and this
afforded her a much better hold than she would have had of the
leather; and as the pace of the horse was a gentle one, she found it
much more easy to keep her seat than she had expected. Moreover, the
fact that Dick and Surajah rode close by her side, and would be able
to catch her, at once, if she swayed in the saddle, gave her
confidence.
"It is much better than I thought it would be," she said. "It is quite
a pleasant motion. I will go faster, if you like."
"No, there is no occasion for that," Dick replied. "This is the pace
the horses are most accustomed to, and they will go on longer, at it,
than at any other. There is no fear of pursuit, and we have all day
before us."
After a quarter of a mile's riding, they came to a wood.
"We must turn in here," Dick said. "We are going treasure hunting. We
hid those caskets, that were given us by the ladies, directly after we
got them; and we are going to dig them up now, and take them with us."
They rode at a walk, now, till they came to a very large baobab tree,
growing by the path they were following.
"Here we turn off."
"There is a man there," Surajah exclaimed, when they had ridden a few
yards farther.
Dick checked his horse.
"It is Pertaub," he said, a moment later, and in a minute they were
beside the Hindoo.
"I could not sleep, thinking of you, Sahib," the latter said, as they
came up. "So I came across here, partly to help you dig up the
caskets, and partly that I might see you, and assure myself that, so
far, all had gone well."
"Thank you, Pertaub. You have, I see, brought a pickaxe. It will save
us half an hour's work; and besides, I am glad to say goodbye again.
"All has gone well. This is the young lady."
"She is well disguised," Pertaub said, bowing his head to Annie. "She
looks so like a boy that, even now you tell me, I can scarce believe
she is a white girl. Truly you can go on without fear that anyone will
suspect her."
Leading the way to the spot where the caskets had been buried, Dick
looked on while Surajah and Ibrahim dug them up. They were then
wrapped up in rugs, and strapped securely behind their owners'
saddles. Then, after a warm adieu to the kind old man, they turned
their horses' heads, and rode back out of the woods.
After riding for three hours at a canter, Dick saw that, although
Annie still spoke cheerfully, her strength was failing her, and on
arriving at a wood, he said:
"We will wait here till the heat of the sun has abated. We have done
very well, and the horses, as well as ourselves, will be glad of a few
hours' rest."
He alighted from the saddle, gave his horse to Ibrahim, and then
lifted Annie from her seat. As he set her down on her feet, and loosed
his hold of her, she slipped down on to the ground. Dick and Surajah
at once raised her, and placed her so that, as she sat, she could lean
against a tree.
Here Dick supported her, while Surajah ran and fetched his water
bottle. Annie drank a little, and then said, with a nervous laugh:
"It is very silly of me. But I feel better now. My legs seemed to give
way, altogether."
"It was not silly at all," Dick said. "You have held on most bravely.
I can tell you there are not many girls who would have ridden four or
five and twenty miles, the first time they sat on a horse. Why, I can
tell you the first time I mounted, I did not do a quarter as much, and
I was so stiff I could hardly walk, when I got down. I should have
stopped before, but you kept talking so cheerfully that, it seemed to
me, you could not be anything like as tired as I was, then. I was a
brute not to have known that you must be thoroughly done up, although
you did not say so.
"We have got some food with us. Do you think you could eat, a little?"
She shook her head.
"Not just yet."
"All right. I have brought a couple of bottles of wine I got at one of
the traders' stores, yesterday. You must take a sip of that, and then
we will leave you to yourself for a bit, and you must lie down and
have a good nap."
Dick took a bottle from his holster, opened it, and gave her some in a
tin cup. Then one of the rugs was spread on the ground, with another
one rolled up as a pillow, and then they led the horses farther into
the wood, leaving Annie to herself.
"She won't be able to ride again, tonight," Surajah said, as they sat
down, while Ibrahim took out the provisions that he had, on the
previous day, carried across to the farm.
"No, I must carry her before me. We will shift my saddle a little
farther back, and strap a couple of rugs in front of it, so as to make
a comfortable seat for her. There is no doubt she will not be able to
ride again, by herself. I am sure that, after my first day's riding, I
could not have gone on again for anything.
"We won't start until it begins to get dusk. Of course, she ought to
have a good twenty-four hours' rest, before she goes on, but we dare
not risk that. I don't think there is any chance of pursuit for days;
or, indeed, of any pursuit at all, for by the time they begin to
suspect that we have really deserted, they will know that we have had
time to get to the frontier. Still, I don't want to run the slightest
risk, and at any rate, if we have to halt, it would be better to do so
fifty miles farther on than here.
"When we mount again, we will put the saddlebags from my horse on to
hers, and Ibrahim must lead it. Her weight won't make much difference
to my horse, and if I find it tiring, I will change with you. You may
as well put your saddlebags on to her horse, also."
"It would be better, would it not," Surajah said, "if you change to
her horse, which will have carried nothing?"
"Yes, of course that would be best, so you had better not shift your
saddlebags."
After they had had their meal, they stretched themselves out for a
sleep, and when they woke it was already becoming dusk. The horses had
had a good feed, and were now given a drink of water, from the skin.
They were then saddled again, the blankets carefully arranged for
Annie's use, and then they went back to the place where she was lying,
still asleep.
"Put the provisions into the wallet again, Ibrahim. We will see if we
can get her up without waking her. She is so dead beat that, perhaps,
we may do so. I don't suppose she would be able to eat anything, if we
woke her.
"I had better mount first. Then you, Surajah, can lift her up to me. I
can stoop down, and take her from your arms, and put her in front of
me. She is no weight to speak of."
Very gently, Surajah put his arms under the sleeping girl, and lifted
her.
"That is right," Dick said, as he placed her on the blankets before
him, and held her with his right arm, with her head against his
shoulder. "She is dead asleep."
The blankets were strapped on to the horses again, the others mounted,
and they started, at a walk, out of the wood. As soon as they were on
the road, the horses broke into a canter again. Annie moaned uneasily,
but did not open her eyes. Dick drew her still more closely to him.
"She will do now, Surajah," he said, in a low voice. "I hope that she
will sleep till morning."
Half an hour later, they rode through Sultanpetta. It was quite dark
now, and although there were people in the streets, Dick knew that at
the rate they were riding, in the darkness, the fact that he was
carrying a lad in front of him would scarce be noticed. Nor would it
be of any consequence if it were, as, even if they met any officer who
should stop and question them, it would suffice to say that the lad
had been taken ill; and that, their business being urgent, they were
taking him on with them.
Four hours later they passed through Conkanelly, and crossed the
bridge over a branch of the Cauvery. Here Dick felt that his horse was
flagging. Halting, he dismounted, and lifted Annie down. This time the
movement woke her; she gave a little cry.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"You are quite safe, child," Dick said cheerfully. "Just lie quiet in
my arms. We have come five hours' journey, and as my horse is getting
tired, I am changing to yours. Ibrahim is shifting the rugs that you
have been sitting on."
"I can go on by myself," she said, making a little struggle to get
down.
"You must be good, and do what you are told," he said, with a laugh.
"Remember that you are a slave, and I am your master, at present."
She said nothing more until they were seated afresh, and had got into
motion.
"Oh, you are good, Dick!" she sighed softly. "Only to think of your
carrying me like this, for five hours, without waking me!"
"Well, it was much better for us both that you should sleep," he said,
"and it is the horse that is carrying you, not I. I have been very
comfortable, I can assure you.
"We shall go on for another four hours. After that we shall hide up in
a wood, and sleep till the afternoon. Then it will depend upon you. If
you can sit your horse, we shall ride on through Anicull. If not, we
must wait till it gets dark again, and then go on as we are now. Are
you comfortable, child?"
"Very comfortable, Dick."
They were talking in English now, for the first time since they
started.
"I have almost forgotten how to talk English," she said. "We white
girls always used to talk it, when we were together, so as not to
forget it; and since the last one went, three years ago, I have always
talked it to myself, for a bit, before going to sleep, so as to keep
it up; but it does not come anything like so easy as the other. Still,
I like talking it to you. It almost seems as if I were at home again.
You see, I have never heard a man talk English, since I was carried
away. Even now, I can hardly believe this is not a happy dream, and
that I shall not wake up, presently, and find myself a slave girl in
the harem."
"It is pleasant to me to talk English, too," Dick said, "though it is
only a few months since I last spoke it. Now, the best thing you can
do is to try and get off to sleep again. When we stop you shall have
breakfast. I am sure you must want something. You have had nothing
since you ate a mouthful or two, in my room, before starting."
"Oh, I have slept hours and hours!" she said. "I shall not want to
sleep any more."
However, before long the easy motion lulled her off again, and she did
not wake until, at about four o'clock in the morning, they entered a
wood that was, as Dick supposed, some three or four miles from
Anicull.
"Well, how do you feel now?" Dick asked, as he set her on her feet.
"I feel stiff," she said; "but that will soon wear off, when I have
run about a little. Oh, how tired you must be, after carrying me all
these hours!"
"There has not been much to hold," Dick said with a laugh, "especially
since we started the last time. Before that, you were so dead asleep
that I did have to hold you; but, you see, you nestled up more
comfortably when we changed horses, and needed very little support
since then."
"Now, what can I do?" she asked, with a little laugh. "Please order me
to do something. I am your slave, you know, and I want to be helping
you."
"Well, then, I command you to aid me to gather some sticks for a fire.
We have nothing to cook, but it will be cheerful, and the air is
cool."
They picked up sticks, while Surajah and Ibrahim loosened the girths
of the horses, took off their bridles, and poured out another feed
from the bag of grain they had brought with them. In a few minutes a
fire was blazing, and the wallet of provisions brought out.
"I wish I had a cup of coffee to offer you, Annie," Dick said, as he
poured her out some wine and water, "but we must wait, for that, until
we get down to Tripataly."
"I have forgotten all about coffee, Dick, and what it tastes like. The
white girls used to talk about it, and say how they longed for a cup.
It seems, to me, funny to drink anything hot. I have never tasted
anything but water, that I can remember, until you gave me that wine
yesterday."
"It is very nice, and very refreshing. There is another drink that is
coming into fashion. It is called tea. I have tasted it a few times,
but I don't like it as well as coffee, and it is much more expensive."
"The sultan says that all the English get drunk, and there used to be
pictures of them on the walls. They used to make me so angry."
"I don't say that no English get drunk, Annie, because there is no
doubt that some do. But it is very far from being true of the great
proportion of them. Tippoo only says it to excite the people against
us, because, now that he has made them all Mohammedans, they cannot
drink wine--at any rate, openly. When I bought these two bottles, the
trader made a great mystery over it, and if I had not given him a sign
he understood, and which made him believe that I was a Hindoo and not
a Mussulman, he would not have admitted that he kept it at all. He did
say so, at first, for I have no doubt he thought that, as I was an
officer of the Palace, it was a snare, and that if he had admitted he
had wine I should have reported him, and it would have served as an
excuse for his being fined, and perhaps having all his goods
confiscated. When I made the sign that an old Hindoo had taught me,
his manner changed directly, and he took me to the back of his little
shop, and produced the wine. I told him I wanted it for medicine, and
that was quite true, for I thought it was a drug you were very likely
to need, on your journey."
"How much farther have we to ride?" she asked, after a pause.
"Only about thirty-five miles--that is to say, it is only that
distance to the frontier. There is a road that is rather more direct,
but it passes through Oussoor, a large town, which we had better
avoid. It is not more than fifty miles from the frontier to Tripataly,
but once across the line we can take matters easily, and stop whenever
you get tired."
"It will be all very strange to me, Dick. I sha'n't mind it, as long
as you are with me, but it will be dreadful when you go. I am afraid
your mother won't like me. You see, I know nothing of English ways,
and I am oh! so ignorant. I cannot even read--at least, very little.
One of the girls used to teach me, from a book she had when she was
carried off. It was a Bible--she used to tell me stories out of it.
But one day they found it, and she was beaten, very much, for
venturing to have it. I am afraid I have quite forgotten even my
letters; but she and the other girls used to teach me about religion,
and told me I must never forget that I was a Christian, whatever they
might do to me, and I was to say my prayers every night after I lay
down, and every morning before I got up. Of course, I have always done
it."
"You need not be afraid of my mother, Annie. She is very kind, and I
am sure she will take to you very much, and will be very glad that I
have brought you to Tripataly; for, you see, she has no girls of her
own. She will teach you to read and write, and if we go back to
England, I dare say you will go to school for a time, so as to learn
things like other girls."
"I can work very nicely," she said. "The ladies of the harem all used
to say that."
"Well, you will find that very useful, no doubt."
"And what else is there to learn?" she asked.
"No end of things, Annie--at least, there are no end of things for
boys to learn. I do not know anything about girls. But, of course, you
will have to get to know something of history and geography."
"What is geography, Dick?"
"Well, geography is where countries and places are. For instance, you
know something of the geography of India, without ever having learnt
it. You know that Madras and the Carnatic lie to the east, and
Travancore to the southwest, and Malabar to the west, and the Mahratta
country and the Nizam's dominions to the north. Well, that is the
geography of this part of the country--that and the names of the towns
and rivers. In the same way, there are a lot of nations in Europe, and
you want to know all about them, and where they lie with respect to
each other, and the names of their principal towns. Then there are
America, and Africa, and Asia, and all the countries in them. If you
don't know about these things, you can't follow what people are
talking about."
"And did you like learning geography, Dick?" she asked, a little
anxiously.
"Well no, I can't say that I did, Annie. I think I used to hate
geography. It was very hard to remember where all the places were, and
what rivers they stood on. I know very little about it now, except the
principal towns and places. But then, I never was very fond of
learning anything. I was a very stupid boy, at school."
"Oh, I am sure you could not have been that, Dick," she said
confidently.
"I was indeed, Annie. I think the only thing I could do well was
fighting. I was a beggar to fight--not because I used to quarrel with
fellows, but because it made me hard and tough, and my mother thought
that it would make me more fit to carry out this search for my
father."
"What did you fight with--swords?" Annie asked.
Dick laughed.
"No, no, Annie, when we quarrel in England we fight with our fists."
"What is a fist? I never heard of that weapon."
"That is a fist, Annie. You see, it is hard enough to knock a fellow
down, though it does not very often do that; but it hurts him a bit,
without doing him any harm, except that it may black his eyes or puff
up his face for a day or two--and no boy minds that. It accustoms one
to bear pain, and is a splendid thing for teaching a boy to keep his
temper, and I believe it is one reason why the English make such good
soldiers. It is a sort of science, you see, and one learns it just as
people here learn to be good swordsmen. I had lessons, when I was
twelve years old, from a little man who used to be a champion
lightweight--that is, a man of not more than a certain weight."
Annie looked doubtful for a minute, and then exclaimed:
"Ah, yes, I understand now. That is how it is you came to our help so
quickly and bravely, when the tiger burst in."
"I daresay it had something to do with it," Dick said, with a smile.
"There is no doubt that boxing, as we call it, does make you quick.
There is not much time to waste in thinking how you are to stop a
blow, and to return it at the same moment. One gets into the habit of
deciding at once what is the best thing to be done; and I have no
doubt that I should not have seen, at once, that one must cut through
the netting, run to the window, jump on to Surajah's shoulders, and
fire at the tiger, unless I had been sharpened up by boxing. I only
say I suppose that, because there were, no doubt, hundreds of men
looking on who had pluck enough to face the tiger, and who would have
gladly done the thing that we did, if the idea had occurred to them.
The idea did not occur to them, you see, and I have no doubt that it
was just owing to that boxing that I thought of it. So you see, Annie,
it was, in a way, the fights I had with boys at Shadwell--which is the
part of London where I lived--that saved you, and perhaps half a dozen
ladies of the sultan's harem, from being killed by that tiger.
"Now, I should advise you to walk about the wood for at least an hour,
to get rid of your stiffness. The longer you walk, the better. When
you have tired yourself, come back here. By that time, I daresay you
will be ready for another sleep. We will start about three o'clock,
and shall cross the frontier before it gets quite dark. Once across,
we can camp comfortably where we like, or put up at a village, if we
should light upon one.
"I should not go far away from here," he went on, as the girl at once
rose and prepared to start. "Very likely the wood may get thicker,
farther in, and you might lose your way, or come across a snake; so I
should not go far out of sight. The great thing is to keep moving. It
is getting broad daylight, now."
As soon as Annie had started, Dick lay down.
"I feel dog tired, Surajah. This right arm of mine is so stiff that I
can hardly lift it. I did not feel it at the time, and her weight was
nothing, but I certainly feel it now."
"You have a good sleep, Dick. Ibrahim and I will keep watch, by
turns."
"I don't think there is any occasion for that," Dick said. "No one is
likely to come into the wood."
"Not very likely," Surajah agreed; "but a body of travellers might
turn in here, for a halt in the middle of the day, and it would look
strange were they to find two of the Palace officers, and their
attendants, all fast asleep."
"They would only think we came in for a rest, a short time before they
did," Dick said drowsily. "Still, if you don't mind, perhaps it would
be best."
In two minutes, Dick was sound asleep.
"'Now, Ibrahim, you lie down," Surajah said. "I will call you in three
hours."
In half an hour Annie returned. She looked pitifully at Dick, and then
seated herself by Surajah.
"He must be tired," she said. "It was too bad of me, letting him carry
me like that all night. I thought so, over and over again, when he
believed I was fast asleep, but I knew that it was of no use asking
him to let me ride for a bit.
"You don't mind my sitting here for a little, do you? I am going away
again, presently. I only came back, so soon, because I thought he
might wonder what had become of me, if I did not. I could have gone on
walking for a long time. It was very hard work at first, for my back
ached dreadfully, and every step hurt me so, it was as much as I could
do to keep on walking; but gradually it got better, and at last I had
a long run, and after that I scarcely felt it.
"How long have you known him, Surajah?" and she nodded towards Dick.
"It is about two years and a half since he came to Tripataly, and I
have seen a great deal of him, ever since. I love him very much. He is
always the same. He never seems to get angry, and is kind to
everyone."
"Did he fight when he was with the army?"
"Not much. He was one of the general's own officers, and used to ride
with the others behind him. He fought in the battle before
Seringapatam, for the general and every one else had to fight, then."
"How is it you come to be always with him?" she asked.
"It first began when we went out on a scouting expedition together,
before the English army went up the ghauts. We volunteered to find
out, if we could, which way the sultan's army was going. We went
through a good deal of danger together, and some hard fighting, and
the Sahib was pleased with me; and since then we have always been
together."
"Tell me about that, Surajah?"
Surajah related the story of their capture and escape, of their making
their way through the fort, and the subsequent pursuit, and their
defence of the ruined hut. Annie listened almost breathlessly.
"How I should like to have been with you," she said, when he finished.
"At least, I think I should have liked it. I should have been
dreadfully in the way, but I could have sat down in the hut and loaded
the guns, while you were both fighting. You could have shown me how to
do it. How brave of you both to have fought fifty or sixty men!"
"It was not so very brave," Surajah said. "We knew we should be
killed, if they took us. There is nothing brave in doing your best,
when you know that. But it was not so much the fighting as arranging
things, and he did all that, and I only carried out his orders. He
always seemed to know exactly what was best to be done, and it was
entirely his doing, our getting through the fort, and taking to the
hut, and making the loopholes, and blocking up the windows; just as it
was his doing, entirely, that we killed that tiger. Whatever he says
is sure to be right, and when he tells me to do a thing I do it
directly, for I trust him entirely, and there is no need for me to
think at all. If he had told me to go up to the sultan and shoot him,
in the middle of his officers, I should have done it, though they
would have cut me in pieces a minute afterwards."
"I will go away again, now," Annie said, getting up. "He told me to
keep on walking about, and he would not like it if he were to wake up
and find me sitting here."
And she got up and strolled away again. By the time she returned,
Surajah had lain down to sleep, and Ibrahim was on watch. Annie was,
by this time, tired enough to be ready for sleep again, and, wrapping
herself in a rug, she lay down at a short distance from the others.
It was two o'clock when she awoke, and she sprang to her feet as she
saw Dick and Surajah standing by the fire, talking.
"I was going to wake you soon," Dick said, as she joined them, "for we
must have another meal before we start. I hope you feel all the
better, after your walk and sleep?"
"Ever so much better. I scarcely feel stiff at all, and shall be ready
to ride, as soon as you like. How do you feel, Dick?"
"Oh, I am all right, Annie. I was all right before, though I did feel
I wanted a sleep badly; and you see I have been having a long one, for
I only woke up ten minutes ago. I own, though, that I should like a
good wash. I don't suppose I can look dirty through this stain, but I
certainly feel so."
"There is a pool," she said, "a few hundred yards away there, on the
right. I found it the second time I went away, and I did enjoy a
wash."
"I thought you were looking wonderfully tidy," Dick said, smiling.
"Well, I will go there at once. I shall feel a new man, after a bath."
"I will come with you," Surajah said--for he had learned to speak a
good deal of English, during his companionship with Dick.
They returned in half an hour. Ibrahim had warmed up some of the
chupatties, over the ashes, and they all thoroughly enjoyed their
meal. The horses were saddled, and were taken to the pool for a good
drink.
Then Annie was helped into her saddle, and they started again. They
rode at a canter to Anicull, their badges of office securing them from
any questioning from the soldiers at the guard houses, when they
entered and left the town.
"I don't know whether there is any post established at the frontier,"
Dick said, as Annie, who had ridden behind with Ibrahim as they passed
through the town, took her place again between him and Surajah. "I
have no fear that they will be erecting a fort, for after our
capturing Bangalore and the hill fortresses, they will know very well
that nothing they could build on the flat would be of the slightest
use in stopping an army advancing by this line. Still, there may be a
guard placed there.
"How do you think we had better get past, Surajah? We have still got
the order to the governors of forts, and it is likely enough that the
officer in charge may not be able to read. Very few of those we met
before were able to do so. The sight of the sultan's seal at the
bottom was quite enough for them, and I should think it would suffice
to pass us here. Still, it would look suspicious, our leaving the the
country altogether, and we must give some explanation if they ask us."
"I might say that we are charged with a mission to the English
commander at Kistnagherry."
"That might do, Surajah. The fort is only eight or ten miles on the
other side of the frontier, and we might very well be sent on some
message. A complaint of some of the villagers, that their rights have
not been respected as agreed by the treaty, or that they have been
robbed by men from this side of the frontier--there are plenty of
things about which Tippoo might be sending a message to Kistnagherry.
The worst of it is that Tippoo has not given us a mission, and I do
hate your having to say what is not true."
Surajah was not so particular, and he replied:
"Well, he has given us a mission to visit the hill forts, and as
Kistnagherry is a hill fort, it is not a very great stretch to include
it."
Dick laughed.
"That is ingenious, Surajah. Anyhow, I don't see any better excuse for
crossing the frontier, and so we must make the best of it; but I hope
we sha'n't be asked at all."
"I think, if I say we are going to Kistnagherry, and then show
Tippoo's order and seal, that will be sufficient; and the story will
be quite true, for we shall go by Kistnagherry, as the road passes
close to the fortress."
"Yes, that will be quite true, Surajah, and the officers are not
likely to ask any further questions.
"How are you getting on, Annie?"
"Oh, much better than I did yesterday," she said. "I would much rather
not halt, until we are across the frontier. I am getting accustomed to
the motion now, and am not at all afraid of falling off. I dare say I
shall be rather stiff, when we halt, but that will not matter, then."
The sun was just setting when they arrived at a newly-erected house,
round which ten or twelve tents were arranged. An officer came out of
the house as they approached. He salaamed on seeing two officials of
the Palace, wearing the emblems of the rank of colonels. Surajah
returned the usual Moslem salutation.
"We are going to Kistnagherry," he said. "Here is the sultan's order."
The officer glanced at the seal, placed it to his forehead, and then
stood aside.
"Will you return tonight, my lord? I ask that I may give orders to the
sentries."
"No; there is no chance of our being able to be back before morning."
He touched his horse, and then trotted on again. Not a word was
spoken, until they had gone a few hundred yards, and then Dick checked
his horse, and, as Annie came alongside, held out his hand and said:
"Thank God, Annie, that we have got you safely back onto English
territory."