Gil the Gunner Part 78

But then I felt that it could not have been imagination about the message, for there were the forces approaching. Still, that heavy-looking man's sole aim in life seemed to be to make the rings of water on the pavement perfectly exact, and I was wondering at myself for being so ready to jump at conclusions as I watched him come slowly nearer and nearer, his back bent, his head and neck forward, and his shadow cast by the sun on the white pavement--exactly that of a laden camel.

On he came, nearer and nearer, but so well-drilled in his work that he seemed to see nothing but the pavement, which glistened in the bright suns.h.i.+ne, as he spread the water in ring after ring, splas.h.i.+ng his brown feet and legs at every turn.

At last he was right beneath me without there appearing to be the most remote possibility of his being Dost; and in spite of the cleverness of his disguise as the fakir, I gave up my idea, when a voice in a whisper said--

"Be of good cheer, master; there is help coming."

"Dost!" I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed aloud, and as the man started violently, I stepped back from the window, feeling sure that my voice would bring some one into the room.

I was quite right, for I had hardly left the window when the curtain was drawn aside, and Salaman entered.

"Yes. Quick; bring me something to eat."

He salaamed, and pa.s.sed behind the curtain, while I followed, and saw him draw aside the purdah at the next doorway, the momentary glimpse I had showing me a group of armed men on guard, so that, if I had any doubts before, there was room for none now.

I went back and glanced through the window again, just in time to see the two bheesties join again, and slowly march out with their empty skins to fetch more water.

I was in the act of turning away wondering whether by any possibility Dost would be able to make his way to me when it was dark, and with my heart beating fast, hoping that he would have designed some way of escape, when my heart gave another bound, and I ran to the window to thrust out my head and listen, for unmistakably, although at some distance off, came the quick dull thud of a cannon.

"Hah!" I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, as I saw in my imagination the men serving the guns, and in my own mind making certain that it was one of Brace's six-pounders.

"How glorious!" I cried; "one of the pieces he carried off turned upon him now."

"My lord is glad there is fighting?" said a voice behind me; and I saw that Salaman had come quickly up behind, and he now pointed to where the meal I had asked for had been placed upon the matting.

I frowned, but made no answer, as I walked to the spot where the repast was spread, and I had hardly seated myself, with the two attendants who had brought in the food standing before me, when I heard another report, and then, slowly and steadily the whole of the guns were brought into action, keeping up a regular steady fire, one which told me that an advance was being made by infantry, which the firing was to cover.

I began to eat, trying to be perfectly calm, but at the first mouthful I broke down. It was impossible, and, jumping, up I went and sat down by the window, to listen to the firing, and try to picture to myself what was going on.

It was weary work. All imagination, and I knew it; but still I could not keep from picturing the scene, especially when the firing suddenly ceased. My cheeks grew flushed then, and I seemed to hear the order, see the men trot up with the limbers, the gunners hook on the trail of the gun-carriage, and then spring to their seats on horse or limber, and go off at a gallop.

"No," I muttered, "come on at a gallop," to take up a fresh position.

I could have sworn that the next minute I should hear them open again, and I seemed to see the swift horses going along at full speed to come to a sudden halt, the men spring down, unhook, and bring the guns into action again. But that minute pa.s.sed, then another, and another--long, weary minutes--till quite ten must have gone by before I heard the familiar dull report again, and now, to my misery, I acknowledged to myself that it must be from fully a mile further away.

Four guns were fired, or two twice over, I could not, of course, tell which. Then the firing ceased, and a dull feeling of misery came over me, for it meant retiring. They must be driven back by the superior force of the rajah's army.

I turned away from the window with a feeling of depression that was terrible, and, try how I would, to keep from thinking, I kept on seeing the fierce-looking lancers of Ny Deen making furious charges at perhaps a mere skeleton of a regiment of foot, which grew gradually less and less, till the men scattered, and were ridden down.

Oh how vivid that all seemed, till I saw that which was real, and not imaginary. Salaman and the two attendants patiently watching me, as I began once more to walk up and down.

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN.

I pa.s.sed the whole of the day in misery, thirsting for news with a very great thirst, but none came. The servants about the palace evidently knew nothing though, if they had, they would not have dared to speak.

It was quite plain, from the noise, that the town was crowded, and in a state of excitement, but the sounds were at a distance, and they kept on. Had the noise gradually died out, I should have been hopeful, for I should have thought that they were leaving the place because the English were advancing. But though I sat at the window and strained my ears, there was no distant sound of firing, and I was getting into a very despairing mood, when my spirits revived again just before sunset, for all at once there was the sound of a gun; faint, distant, but unmistakably the report of a field-piece; and as I held my breath and listened, there was another and then another.

I knew the sound at once as coming from a troop of horse artillery, for the firing was regular; and I was so sanguine that I immediately set it down to Brace's troop.

"Oh, if I could only escape!" I thought; and my ideas went at once to the disguise and the hangings to be used as a rope. If I could only get down into the court, I trusted to my good fortune to find a way through some other window, and thence to an unwatched opening.

How to manage it? I was so conspicuous a figure in the uniform I wore that I felt that I dared not go like that, while to obtain the dress of one of the servants was impossible.

"I shall have to escape as I am," I thought, and I went down into the sleeping-room, and laid the sword ready. It was the magnificent tulwar the rajah had given me, and as I looked at the flas.h.i.+ng jewels upon the hilt, I felt some compunction in taking it; but making up my mind to return it after I had escaped, feeling, as I did, the necessity for possessing a weapon, I laid it behind a purdah, where I could quickly catch it up.

The next thing was to select one of the silken curtains, which I could divide longwise, and tie the ends together. They would be quite enough to enable me to reach the ground; and there was a ring on one side of the window strong enough to bear my weight, I felt.

It was nearly dark by the time I had made those plans, which were interrupted by pauses, to listen to the distant firing away toward where the sun set. That was to be my direction, if I could get out of the town, and I was calculating my chances of escape when a happy thought struck me--to drape myself in a light curtain, and loosen the pugaree about my helmet.

But the next minute I felt that there was no need, for my uniform would be sufficient to command respect among the rajah's troops, if I backed it up with plenty of coolness and decision. The people, as a rule, knew that I was the rajah's friend, and expected that I should take some command. They could not all know, I argued, that I had refused to turn renegade; and gathering confidence now, as the darkness increased, I felt that if once I could get out of the palace, all I had to do was to be haughty and overbearing with the people; to a.s.sume for the time the position the rajah had offered, and trust to my confidence to carry all before me.

I had reached this point, and was still listening to the firing, when it occurred to me that I had better try and throw Salaman off his guard.

To do this I went into the room where I partook of my meals, and summoned him.

He entered so quickly that I knew he must have been close to the curtain, and I looked at him curiously to try and make out whether his face displayed any alarm or anxiety respecting the advance of the English force, but he looked perfectly calm.

"Bring a light, and some more fruit," I said; and as soon as I had spoken I thought of how foolish my last request was, for I was not in the habit of eating much fruit.

He bowed, and was leaving, when I stopped him.

"Is there any news of the fight going on?" I said, as carelessly as I could.

"Yes, my lord; messengers have come in. His highness is driving the English sahibs right away into the far country."

I should have liked to say I did not believe it, but I could not, for the gradual dying away of the firing agreed with his words. Then, as I said no more, he left the room, to return directly with a lamp, and some fruit was borne in by one of the attendants.

I waited till they had gone, and then slowly went to the curtain-covered opening, and looked through to see that Salaman was sitting down talking to the officer of the guard; and satisfied that now was my time, I walked quickly back and secured the curtain which I bore into my sleeping-room, where it was all dark, having determined to descend from there if I could find a place to secure the end of the curtain-rope.

But previous to twisting it up, I cautiously looked out of the window, and drew back in despair; for there, just beneath me, were the men of the guard slowly pacing the place, each bearing a lanthorn, as if to take special care that I did not escape that way, and I saw at a glance that, even if I could descend the rope, it would be impossible to cross the court, and in my despair I seated myself upon my couch to think.

This way was impossible. It was just as impossible to try and get out by the door, for it was strongly guarded.

"There is only one way," I said to myself, angrily. "I must get the dress of one of the men. But how?"

I could see no way, for I had no money to offer a bribe, and the possibility of escaping grew more and more hopeless.

"It is of no use to try," I said, half aloud. "I may just as well accept my fate. Ny Deen will never let me go."

But the idea of giving way irritated me to such an extent, and was so bitterly contemptible that I leaped up, seized and buckled on the sword, and for the minute had some wild idea of getting down into the court, and cutting my way through the guards.

I could take them by surprise, I thought; but the next minute I was forced to grant the fact that directly after they would recover and take me by surprise in a way that might quite put an end to further ventures on my part. As soon as I had reached this point of reasoning, I went once more to the window, and looked down to see if the guards were still there.

I had full evidence directly, for there they all were, and as fully on the alert as men would be who knew that their heads would answer for a prisoner's escape.

"I must wait my opportunity," I said bitterly, as I turned away, after seeing one of the guards go by beneath my window, when there was a faint, rustling noise, which made me turn in time to see something dark at the window, whose feet rested for a moment lightly on the window-sill before it sprang into the room, and darted behind one of the curtains.