The sound of a step outside made Peter Pegg throw himself quickly down
in a pile of the crushed leaves, burying his face in his hands, while
Archie began to walk slowly up and down, conscious the while, through
the shutting out of the morning light, that their guard had come up to
the side of their prison and looked in, before going back to the
sheltering tree, where he squatted down, to watch carelessly the coming
of the elephants, one of which made for the hole, and was in the act of
thrusting its trunk through, when it was charged by its big companion,
the Rajah, who uttered a fierce squeal and drove the intruder away,
before inserting his own trunk as usual, making no scruple about taking
his customary refreshment from Archie's hand, having during the past few
days grown accustomed to the subaltern's presence, and ending by giving
the lad a few of the friendly touches that he was in the habit of
bestowing upon Peter Pegg.
As soon as the elephant had gone, and after giving a glance at their
guard, Archie, who was burning to listen to what his fellow-prisoner had
to say, lay down beside him, under the impression that weariness had
kept him from rising to attend to the elephant's visit.
He found him so soundly asleep that he did not even respond to a sharp
shake of the arm which Archie gave him on receiving no reply to his
whispers; and then he had to contain himself till evening, when their
usual visitors came; and it was not till long after, when they were once
more alone, that the young private suddenly started up.
"Have I been asleep?" he said half-wonderingly.
"Asleep! Yes; and I want to know what you have found out."
"Let's have a drink and something to eat first. I feel half-starved."
"Yes, of course--of course. Go on."
"Now," said Peter, after a ravenous attack upon the bread and fruit.
"Oh, here, this is good! Only I think it's time we got some meat. I'd
give anything for a bit of commissariat bacon. You want to hear what I
did, sir. Well, it was next to nothing but crawl like a slug in and out
amongst trees, scratting one's self with that long, twining, climbing
palm, and not once daring to stand up and walk."
"Well, but what did you find out?"
"Nothing at all, sir, except that there's a bit of a lodge here which
seems as if it might belong to the Rajah, and be where he lived and
slept."
"And was he there?"
"Oh no, sir; there's nobody there, only about a dozen Malay chaps,
besides them as come to see us; and then there's a very big
helephant-shelter, like this, only quite new and good, at the end of
that there left path; and right away beyond that, in a sort of clearing
where the jungle has been cut down--if I didn't tell you before--there's
some big trees and a sort of scaffold of bamboos that looks like a
shelter such as any one would climb up to shoot tigers, and under it
some bones, just as if a buffalo had been tied up for a bait."
"Yes, I see," said Archie. "Well, go on."
"What about?"
"About what you found next."
"I didn't find nothing next, only paths--helephant-paths that go right
away somewhere."
"Yes. Go on."
"Well, I did go on as far as I dared, sir; but it was all dark, and I
couldn't do anything so long as the Malay chaps were talking, and when
they were quiet I was afraid to stir for fear of waking them up."
"But didn't you find out where the paths led to?"
"No, sir. I did try."
"Well, but didn't you strike out into the jungle?"
Peter chuckled.
"Strike out, sir! Why, you're shut in everywhere, and it's like trying
to break through a sort of natural cane basket."
"Then you really have done nothing?"
"No, sir; only found that this seems to be the place in the forest where
somebody comes to shoot tigers. And talk about them chickens--that's
why I did not go so far as I might. Every now and then I could hear one
of them calling to its mate; and the first time it scared me so that I
swarmed up a tree into the shelter or scaffold sort of place, where you
could sit down."
"Well, what then?" said Archie impatiently.
"Well, sir, I sat down."
"Naturally," said Archie.
"And then, when I thought it safe, and I was going to climb down in the
dark to have another look, _mi-a-o-u_! There was that there great pussy
again--and he was a whopper!"
"But you couldn't see him?"
"No, sir; it was too dark. I knew he was a whopper, though, by the size
of his squeak. But I am pretty sure that he could see me, for he seemed
to come and sit upright in the middle of the clearing, and began to
purr. Blessed if he didn't sound just like a threshing-machine out in
the fields at home after harvest-time."
Archie was silent for a few moments, and Peter Pegg went on quietly and
thoughtfully:
"Yes, sir; it sounded just like that."
"Then you stopped up in that shelter for long enough?"
"I just did, sir--for hours."
"Did you go to sleep?"
"Did I go to sleep, sir? No! Never felt so full of wide-awake in my
life. Why, if you had heard that there thing roar--"
"I did hear it roar," said Archie quietly; "and it kept me awake all
night."
"Hark at that now, sir," said Peter. "My word, Mister Archie, sir!
wouldn't one of them be a fine thing to train young recruities with, and
teach them how to keep awake on sentry?"
"But you said something to me, Peter, about having to make our escape by
daylight. Why?"
"Why, sir? Because as soon as you try and travel out in that there
jungle, it's so dark that you can't tell which way to steer."
"But we should have to trust to the elephant--if we could get him."
"Oh, that wouldn't do, sir. We should have trouble enough with it all
clear daylight. I've thought it all over till my head won't think, and
it's all as clear as crystial. We must wait for morning, when the
helephant comes for his titbits before one of these chaps mounts guard,
and then slip out and chance it. I believe in chance, sir--chance and
cheek. You can often do things by risking it when you makes all sorts
of plans and fails."
"Well, Peter," said Archie wearily, "I can propose nothing better."
"I wish you could, sir."
"So do I," said Archie. "Well, we must try; and if they catch us, why,
they can but bring us back. I don't think they dare use their spears,
for fear of what might follow when our people come to rescue us."
"Oh, they won't dare to savage us, sir. I believe these are Rajah
Suleiman's men, and he wants to keep friendly with the Major."
"There I think you are wrong, Pete. If he wanted to keep friendly, he
would not have set his men to attack our boat."
"I don't know, sir," said Peter solemnly, "for there's a deal of cunning
and dodgery amongst these krisy chaps, and you never knows what games
they may be at; and as to waiting for our Bri'ish Grenadiers to march up
and find us, I'm thinking that we may wait till all's blue. My old
woman used to say--my granny, you know, as brought me up--`Peter,' she
used to say, `I am going to give you a moral lesson, boy: don't you wait
for people to help you, my lad; you help yourself.'"
"That was very good advice, Pete," said Archie, smiling, and uttering a
deep yawn.
"Yes, sir; and that's what I used to do."
"Help yourself?"
"I didn't mean that, sir. I used to hear it so often that I used to do
as you did just now."
"What do you mean?"
"Yawn at it, sir."
"Oh!" said Archie. "Well, but, Pete, that tiger you talked about kept
me awake all night."
"So he did me, sir."
"Yes," said Archie, laughing; "but you've slept all day since."
"Right, sir. That's one to you, Mister Archie. Well, sir, that's our
game, just as I say. We'll lay up a good stock of rations--I mean save
the fresh and keep on eating the stale, and be all ready for the right
morning, and when it comes, nip outside, mount the helephant, and away
we will go--I mean, that is, if you think that you can creep up same as
I do, and lower yourself down from the roof."
"I think I could now, Pete."
The lad grunted.
"What do you mean by that?"
"It means I don't, sir. I know you'd _try_, but _try_ ain't enough.
You must _do_. Still, it don't mean that we are going to start
to-morrow morning; and a good job, too, because there's grub, and our
sleep-chests is pretty well empty. We must both be as fit as fiddles,
sir, and then we can play a tune that will make the niggers stare."
"Yes," said Archie, after lying in silence for a few minutes, with the
darkness rapidly approaching. "We will worry our brains no more. This
plan is simple. We will be prepared, and then good luck go with us. We
will make our start."
"Bray-vo!" cried Peter. "That's talking like our own old Mister Archie.
I say, sir, you are picking up!"
"Am I, Pete?" said the lad sadly. "Feel my arm."
Pete ran his hand down his companion's limb from shoulder to wrist.
"Well, sir, that's all right."
"All right! Why, I feel like a skeleton."
"Well, but the bones is all right, sir. You went for ever so long
without eating anything at all but water, and there ain't no chew in
that; and when you did begin to peck, what's it been? Soaked bread, and
'nanas and pumpkins. You couldn't expect to get fat on them. Just wait
till we get back to camp, and you are put on British beef and chicken,
and them pheasants as you officers shoot. My," said the lad, with a
smack of his lips, "couldn't I tackle one now--stuffed with bread-crumbs
and roasted! I should be sorry for the poor dog as had to live on the
bones. A bit of fish, too, fried, sir--even if it was only them ikon
Sammy Langs. Here, stow it! I only wanted you not to fidget about
being a bit fine. You get your pluck, Mister Archie; and you are doing
that fast. Never mind about the fat and lean so long as you feel that
you can hit out with your fist or tackle a kris chap with one of our
spears. Doing a thing, sir, is saying you will do it and then doing it
in real earnest. I say, how soon it has got dark! Now, what do you say
to a bit of supper, and then finishing up our sleep?"
"Agreed, Pete. But what about keeping watch for the tiger if it comes?"
"Ah, I didn't think about that, sir; but we've got to chance getting the
elephant here and riding away before the sentry comes."
"Yes; we've settled that we must chance that."
"Yes, sir; and we must chance the tiger if he comes, which maybe he
won't, for we haven't heard much of them chaps before."