Sharpe's Fortress Part 33

"We shall," Bappoo said.

"I shall send silladars, Colonel, and reward them for every weapon they bring back to the fort. But you will stay here, and help prepare the de fences He spoke firmly, showing that the subject was beyond discussion, then offered Dodd a gap-toothed smile and gestured towards the palace at the centre of the Inner Fort.

"Come, Colonel, I want to show you something."

The two men walked through the small houses that surrounded the palace, past an Arab sentry who protected the palace precincts, then through some flowering trees where monkeys crouched. Dodd could hear the tinkle of the bells where Beny Singh was playing with his women, but that sound faded as the path twisted deeper into the trees.

The path ended at a rock face that was pierced by an arched wooden door. Dodd looked up while Bappoo unlocked the door and saw that the great rock slab formed the palace foundations and, when Bappoo thrust back the creaking door, he understood that it led into the palace cellars.

A lantern stood on a shelf just inside the door and there was a pause while Bappoo lit its wick.

"Come," Bappoo said, and led Dodd into the marvelous coolness of the huge low cellar.

"It is rumoured," Bappoo said, 'that we store the treasures of Berar in here, and in one sense it is true, but they are not the treasures that men usually dream of." He stopped by a row of barrels and casually knocked off their lids, revealing that the tubs were filled with copper coins.

"No gold or silver," Bappoo said, 'but money all the same. Money to hire new mercenaries, to buy new weapons and to make a new army." Bappoo trickled a stream of the newly minted coins through his fingers.

"We have been lax in paying our men," he confessed.

"My brother, for all his virtues, is not generous with his treasury."

Dodd grunted. He was not sure what virtues the Rajah of Berar did possess. Certainly not valour, nor generosity, but the Rajah was fortunate in his brother, for Bappoo was loyal and evidently determined to make up for the Rajah's shortcomings.

"Gold and silver," Dodd said, 'would buy better arms and more men."

"My brother will not give me gold or silver, only copper. And we must work with what we have, not with what we dream of." Bappoo put the lids back onto the barrels, then edged between them to where rack after rack of muskets stood.

"These, Colonel," he said, 'are the weapons for that new army."

There were thousands of muskets, all brand new, and all equipped with bayonets and cartridge boxes. Some of the guns were locally made copies of French muskets, but several hundred looked to Dodd to be of British make. He lifted one from the racks and saw the Tower mark on its lock.

"How did you get these?" he asked, surprised.

Bappoo shrugged.

"We have agents in the British camp. They arrange it. We meet some of their supply convoys well to the south and pay for their contents. It seems there are traitors in the British army who would rather make money than seek victory."

"You buy guns with copper?" Dodd asked scathingly. He could not imagine any man selling a Tower musket for a handful of copper.

"No," Bappoo confessed.

"To buy the weapons and the cartridges we need gold, so I use my own. My brother, I trust, will repay me one day."

Dodd frowned at the hawk-faced Bappoo.

"You're using your money to keep your brother on the throne?" he asked and, though he waited for an answer, none came. Dodd shook his head, implying that "5

Bappoo's n.o.bility was beyond understanding, then he c.o.c.ked and fired the unloaded musket. The spark of the flint flashed a sparkle of red light against the stone ceiling.

"A musket in its rack kills no one," he said.

"True. But as yet we don't have the men to carry these muskets. But we will, Colonel. Once we have defeated the British the other kingdoms will join us." That, Dodd reflected, was true enough. Scindia, Dodd's erstwhile employer, was suing for peace, while Holkar, the most formidable of the Mahratta monarchs, was staying aloof from the contest, but if Bappoo did win his victory, those chieftains would be eager to share future spoils.

"And not just the other kingdoms," Bappoo went on, 'but warriors from all India will come to our banner. I intend to raise a compoo armed with the best weapons and trained to the very highest standard. Many, I suspect, will be sepoys from Wellesley's defeated army and they will need a new master when he is dead. I thought perhaps you would lead them?"

Dodd returned the musket to its rack.

"You'll not pay me with copper, Bappoo."

Bappoo smiled.

"You will pay me with victory, Colonel, and I shall reward you with gold."

Dodd saw some unfamiliar weapons farther down the rack. He lifted one and saw it was a hunting rifle. The lock was British, but the filigree decoration on the stock and barrel was Indian.

"You're buying rifles?" he asked.

"No better weapon for skirmis.h.i.+ng," Bappoo said.

"Maybe," Dodd allowed grudgingly. The rifle was accurate, but slow to load.

"A small group of men with rifles," Bappoo said, 'backed up by muskets, could be formidable."

"Maybe," Dodd said again, then, instead of putting the rifle back onto the rack, he slung it on his shoulder.

"I'd like to try it," he explained.

"You have ammunition?"

Bappoo gestured across the cellar, and Dodd went and scooped up some cartridges.

"If you've got the cash," he called back, 'why not raise your new army now. Bring it to Gawilghur."

"There's no time," Bappoo said, 'and besides, no one will join us now. They think the British are beating us. So if we are to make our new army, Colonel, then we must first win a victory that will ring through India, and that is what we shall do here at Gawilghur." He spoke very confidently, for Bappoo, like Dodd, believed Gawilghur to be una.s.sailable. He led the Englishman back to the entrance, blew out the lantern and carefully locked the armoury door.

The two men climbed the slope beside the palace, pa.s.sing a line of servants who carried drinks and sweetmeats to where Beny Singh whiled away the afternoon. As ever, when Dodd thought of the Killa-dar, he felt a surge of anger. Beny Singh should have been organizing the fortress's de fences but instead he frittered away his days with women and liquor. Bappoo must have divined Dodd's thoughts, for he grimaced.

"My brother likes Beny Singh. They amuse each other."

"Do they amuse you?" Dodd asked.

Bappoo paused at the northern side of the palace and there he gazed across the ravine to the Outer Fort which was garrisoned by his Lions of Allah.

"I swore an oath to my brother," he answered, 'and I am a man who keeps my oaths."

"There must be those," Dodd said carefully, 'who would rather see you as Rajah?"

"Of course," Bappoo answered equably, 'but such men are my brother's enemies, and my oath was to defend my brother against all his enemies." He shrugged.