Read Ebook: Through the Sikh War: A Tale of the Conquest of the Punjaub by Henty G A George Alfred Hurst Hal Illustrator

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Ebook has 1612 lines and 135664 words, and 33 pages

"I am sure to find it comfortable," Percy said confidently. "I have come fresh from school, you know, and am not accustomed to luxuries; I should find it miserable among all those grown-up people. I only wish I was going out as a midshipman instead of a passenger, so as to have something to do."

"Ah, well, you can talk to the skipper about that. Perhaps he will put you on a watch if you ask him. I don't say the work is very lively, for it isn't; but I know that I should be very sorry to have to make the voyage with nothing to do but walk about with my hands in my pockets. However, I must go on deck now. We had our breakfast long ago; we dine at two bells, that is one o'clock. If you can't hold on until then I will get our steward to bring you a biscuit."

"I can hold on very well. I had a cup of tea and something to eat before I left."

Percy followed Harcourt on deck again, and feeling now more settled as to his position, was able to look on with interest and pleasure at what was being done around him. The passengers had settled themselves a little; some had got out their chairs, and were seated chatting in groups, but the ladies for the most part were below arranging their cabins. Men in couples walked up and down the waist smoking, or leaned against the bulwarks discussing the voyage and their mutual acquaintances. Most of the sails had now been set, for the wind was favourable, and the great ship was running fast down the river and was just passing Woolwich. A sailor, bare-footed and with his trousers turned up to his knees, was sluicing the decks with water. Others were coiling up ropes. Others again, dressed more in accordance with Percy's ideas as to the neatness of a sailor's costume, were standing at the sheets and braces in readiness to trim the sails to port or starboard, as the sharp turns of the river brought the wind on one quarter or the other.

Percy was surprised at the silence that reigned among so many men, but he understood the reason when the sharp orders were shouted from the quarter-deck where the first officer was standing by the side of the pilot. Then there was a hauling of ropes and a creaking of blocks, and the towering pile of yards and sails swung over. Now and then the ship's course was suddenly changed to avoid some barge or smaller craft that got in her way, sometimes missing by the smallest margin running them down. On one or two of these occasions a mate shouted angrily down at those in charge of these craft, and these shouted as angrily back again. Once past Erith the river widened and the dangers of collision ceased, for the craft were all proceeding in the same direction; for the stream was now running too strongly for the barges to attempt to make their way against it, even by hugging the shore and keeping in back-waters. At twelve o'clock the luncheon bell rang, and the passengers disappeared from deck. But Percy was so absorbed in watching the shore that he was quite surprised when Harcourt touched him on the shoulder and said:

"There are two bells, youngster. You must keep your ears open or you will be missing your meals; for they do not ring for us, and anyone who does not turn up to his grub goes without it."

The voyage was a very pleasant one to Percy Groves. The captain did not allow him to act as a volunteer midshipman; but it was not long before he ceased to regret this decision, for he found among the four or five native servants returning to India with their masters one from the Punjaub. The man's duties on board occupied but a very small portion of his time, as he had little to do except wait on his master at meals; and he was very glad to arrange, for what seemed to Percy a ridiculously small sum, to spend five or six hours a day in conversation with him. Accordingly, after breakfast and dinner the two took seats up in the bow, Percy on a low stool, the native squatted beside him, and there spent hours, at first in learning the Punjaubi equivalents for Hindustani words, and then, as time went on, in conversation.

The native knew a little Hindustani, and could get on fairly in English, so that they were able from the first to comprehend each other; and as Percy's former studies helped him materially, he picked up Punjaubi quickly, and by the end of the voyage was able to express himself in it with considerable freedom. He was always up early in the morning, and until breakfast-time chatted with any officers or midshipmen off duty, and sometimes with the early risers among the passengers--two or three of whom, when they found that the lad was a first-class passenger on his way out to India to join an uncle, became very friendly with him, being struck with the steady way in which he passed the greater portion of the day in preparing himself, as far as possible, for the life he was about to lead.

"Why don't you come aft, Groves?" one of them asked him.

"I should feel altogether strange, sir. The two officers and the midshipmen are all very kind and friendly, and we live very well there, and I feel much more at home than I should do with the ladies. I have not been accustomed to ladies. I do not remember my mother, and for years I lived altogether at school. After my father came back, and I lived at home with him, only gentlemen came to the house. I like it all very much, and should not like to change. Besides, if I got to know a good many passengers, I might not be able to spend so much time in work; and I do so want when I join my uncle to be able to be useful to him, which I could not be if I did not know anything of the language."

"Well, I am sure, Groves, your uncle ought to be pleased when you join him to know how hard you have worked. It would be a very good thing if every young cadet and writer who went out would do as you do, and prepare himself for his work out there, instead of wasting six months in lounging about, trying to make himself agreeable to the women on board. He would not only find it very useful out there, but he would find it very profitable. For a young fellow who, on arrival, was able to speak one of the languages pretty fluently, would be certain to attract the notice of the authorities, and would find himself in a responsible and well-paid berth, while the others were kept at desks in Calcutta or Bombay, or sent out as assistants to unimportant posts.

"It is my servant who is teaching you, and he tells me that you are making wonderful progress, and that you already know as much of the language as many officers who have been in India for years. I can tell you, too, that you could not have taken up a more useful dialect than Punjaubi. At present, of course, the Punjaub is independent, and the consequence is there are very few officials who have taken the trouble to learn the language; but no one doubts that the time is not very far distant when we shall have to interfere there, and in a few years we may have to take it over altogether. In that case I need hardly say that there will be a great demand for officials able to speak the language; and should you enter the Company's service, you would have every chance of obtaining a post there of greater importance and profit than you could hope to reach after years of service under ordinary conditions.

"I myself am stationed in the province south of the Sutlej, which the Sikhs at any rate consider to be a part of the Punjaub, and am pretty well acquainted with what is going on at Lahore. I don't know your uncle personally, although of course I know him well by reputation. He was one of the best of the European officers in the Sikh service; and although, like all the others, he was dismissed at the bidding of the mutinous soldiery, I have always heard him spoken well of. He was popular among the men of the two regiments that he commanded, and bore an excellent reputation among the natives generally, abstaining from the high-handed exactions by which some of the foreign officers amassed large sums of money. He is said to have been prompt in action, to have maintained excellent order amongst his men, to have protected the natives against any acts of plundering or misconduct, and the districts where he was stationed were contented and prosperous.

"Like most of the other foreign officers, he held himself altogether aloof from court intrigues. Doubtless they were perfectly right in doing so; but for all that, as matters have turned out, it might have been better for the Punjaub had these officers gone beyond their duties and thrown their whole weight into the scale in favour of some strong man who would have put a stop to the dissensions that if they continue will certainly bring ruin upon the country.

"However, their position was a very difficult one. The Sikh chieftains were always adverse to Runjeet Singh's policy of Europeanizing his army, and were extremely jealous of the favour he extended to the Europeans in his service; consequently the position of these officers was, from the moment of his death, an extremely delicate one. Moreover, it is probable that the Indian authorities would have viewed with considerable disfavour the passing of the affairs of the Punjaub into the hands of European adventurers, of whom only two or three were English. The foreigners, of course, would have had no sympathy whatever with our aims, and would indeed have been formidable opponents in case of trouble, their interests lying entirely in the maintenance of the present state of things in the Punjaub.

"You are going out to the most troubled portion of India, youngster; and I almost wonder at your uncle allowing you to come, for there will be a great convulsion there before matters finally settle down."

"So he told me when he wrote, sir. I am only going out to him till I get old enough to either go into the army or to enter the Company's service, if my father's friends can obtain a commission or a writership for me."

"Get a writership, my boy, if you have the chance. The civil service is vastly better paid than the military. Well, it may be that we shall be thrown together again out there. It is nearly time for our commissioner at Loodiana to go home for his furlough, and I think it very probable that I shall be appointed to his post during his absence, in which case I am pretty certain to be in communication with your uncle; and it may be that when the time comes I shall be able to lend you a helping hand to enter the service. If you stick to work as you are doing now, I shall certainly feel justified in recommending you as one who would prove a valuable young officer in the Punjaub if we become its masters, or on the frontier if the country still maintains its independence. In the meantime, if there be trouble in the Punjaub and you have to fly for your life, remember you will find a hearty welcome at Loodiana."

Most of the passengers were delighted when she dropped anchor at last in the Hooghly, but much as Percy longed to see the wonders of India, he was almost sorry when the voyage came to an end, for the time had passed very pleasantly to him. This had been especially the case towards the latter portion; for his studies had increased in interest as he acquired a knowledge of the language, and by the end of the voyage he had come to know a good many of the passengers. His first friend, Mr. Fullarton, had spoken warmly to others in favour of the quiet lad, of whom they caught sight when they happened to stroll forward to smoke a cigar, occupied so intently upon his conversations with the native beside him.

"I hate book-worms," one of them had said when Mr. Fullarton had first spoken to him on the subject. "Give me a lad with pluck and spirit, and I don't care a snap of the finger whether he can construe Euripides or solve a problem in high mathematics. What we want for India are men who can ride and shoot, who are ready at any moment to start on a hundred-mile journey on horseback, who will scale a hill fort with a handful of men, or with half a dozen Sowars tackle a dacoit and his band. What do the natives care for our learning? It is our pluck and fighting powers that have made us their masters."

"That is all very true, Lyndhurst, and I thoroughly agree with you that of all ways of choosing officials for India examinations would be the very worst; but this lad is not a bookworm at all in your sense of the word. He knows that it will be of great advantage to him when he arrives in India to be able to speak the language, and he has accordingly set himself to do it with a dogged perseverance that would do credit to a man. Look how he has utilized the voyage, while the cadets and ensigns and young civilians have thrown away six months of their lives in absolute idleness. Besides, I am sure the boy does not lack either pluck or spirit. I am up a good deal earlier than you are in the morning, and I see him going about the rigging like a monkey. He is quite as much at home up there as are any of the midshipmen, some of whom have been four or five years at sea. I saw him sky-larking the other evening with two or three of them, and I can tell you he quite held his own. He is certainly a favourite with all the officers. I should be ready to wager that when the time comes he will turn out well, whatever circumstances he may fall upon. He is a merry fellow too, and has one of the most infectious laughs I ever heard; he is no more like your ideal book-worm than I am."

The only time that Percy came aft and mixed with the other passengers was when they practised rifle or pistol shooting, sometimes at empty bottles thrown into the sea, sometimes at bottles swinging from one or other of the yardarms. This amusement was practised three or four times a week, for it was a matter of importance to every man, military or civilian, to be a good shot. It was useful in the hunting of tigers and other big game. Life might depend upon proficiency with a pistol if attacked by a fanatic or in a brush with dacoits, while for men likely to be engaged with the fierce tribesmen of the hills, or in conflict with Sikh, Beloochee, Pathan, or Afghan, a quick eye and a steady hand were essential.

Encouraged by Mr. Fullarton, Percy got out his pistols on the first day when the practice began, and never missed an opportunity afterwards. "Never mind the rifle," his friend said; "you are not likely to do tiger-hunting at present, and you will have plenty of time and opportunities for that later on. Stick to your pistol practice; you are going among a wild set of people, where the knife is readily drawn in a quarrel, and where men do not hesitate to rid themselves of a foe or a rival by assassination. Practise with your pistols steadily on every occasion here, and keep it up afterwards; it may be of more use to you than everything you have learnt at school from the day when you first went there. You know I approve of your sticking to your Punjaubi, but you can well spare an hour three or four times a week; and although it may do you more good in your future career to be a good linguist than to be a good pistol-shot, the last may be the means of saving your life, and unless you can do that, your study of languages will be so much time thrown away."

And so by the end of the voyage Percy became a very fair shot with the pistol, and indeed there were few of the passengers who could break a swinging bottle more frequently than he. He was surprised, when the anchor dropped, at the eagerness evinced by the majority of the passengers to get on shore. He himself looked on quietly, for the captain had said to him early that morning, "There is no use in your hurrying ashore, Groves; you know no one there, and an hour earlier or later will make no difference to you. I shall be going off this afternoon and will take you with me, and after I have been to the shipping office I will go with you to the people you have letters for. I know them personally, and an introduction from me will probably interest them more in you than will the formal letter those lawyer fellows are likely to have written."

This was indeed, as he afterwards learnt, the reason why Calcutta had been chosen instead of Bombay. There had, about the time his uncle wrote, been a number of robberies, sometimes accompanied by murder, of persons travelling up the Indus in boat, and it was for this reason the longer and safer route up the Jumna had been chosen. He left the boat at Sultanpoor, and had about a hundred miles of travel thence through Umballah and Sirhind to Loodiana, a station in what was known as the protected district. Here on the frontier of the Punjaub were stationed some British troops with a Resident, whose special duty was to keep the government informed of what was going on upon the other side of the Sutlej.

The agent had advised him on his arrival at Loodiana to go straight to the Residency.

"It is probable that your uncle will have written to the Resident about your coming, and that instructions as to the best course for pursuing your journey may be awaiting you there. It is a long way from Loodiana to his place, which lies quite in the north of the Punjaub, and but a short distance from the Afghan frontier. He will know about what time you will arrive, and may even have sent down one of his officers to accompany you on the way. He could not, of course, guess that you would know any of the languages, and it would be impossible for you, speaking nothing but English, to make your way alone through the Punjaub. Even as it is, I should advise you, should you on arriving at Loodiana find no one there from your uncle, to send up word that you have arrived, and to wait quietly, even if it be a month, till you hear from him."

Leaving the cart with his luggage a short distance away, Percy entered the office of the Residency, and giving his name to a clerk said that he was desirous of speaking to the Resident.

"You did not expect to see me here, Groves?" he said as he shook him cordially by the hand.

"No indeed, sir, I had not the slightest idea that you had left Calcutta. I am glad indeed to see you."

"Good afternoon, Nand Chund; I have brought the colonel's nephew over to see you. He has just arrived, and will be ready to start with you to-morrow, but even before eating he wished to see the officer whom his uncle had chosen as his escort."

The Sikh raised his hand to his cap in salute to Percy, and said in his native tongue: "All happiness to the nephew of my good lord!"

"Thank you, Nand Chund," Percy replied in the same tongue, "I am sure that you must be an officer in whom my uncle has great trust and confidence or he would not have chosen you for such a mission."

The Sikh looked greatly surprised at being thus answered in his own language.

"I did not know," he said, "that the young sahib had acquired our tongue. My lord told me you would not understand me, and that I should have to explain to you by signs anything that it was necessary for you to know."

"I speak your language but poorly at present, but I hope to do so well before I have been long with you," Percy answered. "My uncle was well, I hope, when you left him?"

"He was well, sahib; though much troubled by the machinations of powerful ones who are his enemies; but his heart was light at the news that you would soon be with him."

After a little further conversation Percy drove off with Mr. Fullarton, after having, at a hint from the latter, handed to the officer twenty rupees, to be laid out in providing a feast for the troopers.

"They will all be as drunk as hogs to-night," Mr. Fullarton said; "the Sikhs are one of the few races in India who drink to excess. They do so from the highest to the lowest. The Old Lion himself used to be drunk every night. However, as they will have a good meal before setting-to at the liquor, you will see that they will all be as fresh and bright in the morning as if they had touched nothing stronger than tea. They have wonderful constitutions, and after a few hours' sleep shake off the effects of a carouse that would make an Englishman ill for three or four days."

After an hour's drive they returned to the Residency. As they entered the house Percy was greeted by his former instructor, who had been out when he first arrived, and who now conducted him to his room.

"It is far better here than on board the ship, sahib," he said. "There Ram Singh was of no account, even the common sailors pushed and jostled him; here he is Fullarton Sahib's butler, and gives orders to all the servants."

"No doubt you feel it in that way," Percy laughed. "I feel it is better because here is a great cool room and quiet, and a bath ready for me without having to wait for an hour for my turn. It is certainly very much more comfortable, but there are drawbacks too. There was no dust on board ship, no occasion for an armed guard, no fear of disturbance or troubles."

"That is so, sahib; but what would life be worth if sometimes we did not have a change and adventure. As I have told you, I have had my share of it, and now I am well content to be the head servant of the Burra-sahib. But my lord is young, and it is well for him that he should learn to bear himself as a man, and to face danger."

"Well, it may be so, Ram Singh, but just at present it seems to me that I should prefer a peaceful life for a few years."

"The sooner a cockerel learns to use his spurs, the better fighting bird he will turn out," the man said sententiously.

"Yes, that is all very well," Percy replied. "But if he gets badly mauled when he is a cockerel he is likely to shirk fighting afterwards."

After taking his bath and dressing himself in a suit of white linen Percy went down to dinner. He was pleased to find himself alone with Mr. Fullarton, who in the course of the evening told him much more than he had hitherto known of the state of affairs in the Punjaub.

"Things look very bad," he said. "But it is possible that they may go on for months and even years before the crisis comes. As to this, however, your uncle will be able to tell you more than I can. Mine is, of course, the official view of matters, gleaned from the reports of men in our pay at Lahore and other places in the Punjaub. The reports of such men, however, are always open to grave suspicion. As they take bribes from us they may take bribes from others, or may be are in some way interested in deceiving us. Your uncle will doubtless be much better informed. Although he has taken no active part in the plots and conspiracies that have been continually going on ever since the death of Runjeet Singh, he must have been more or less behind the scenes throughout, and will certainly have tried and trusted agents at Lahore.

"At present you are only interested in these matters as far as they concern the safety of your uncle and yourself. Still it is always useful in a country like this to have an insight into what is going on around you. Should there be trouble, remember that the Sikhs value courage, quickness, and decision above all things. I am not supposing for a moment that you are likely to show the white-feather, still you may be involved in danger that would shake the nerves of hardened men. The thing to remember is always to assume an air of courage and coolness. To show weakness would forfeit the respect of your own people, and would in no way alter the fate that would befall you if you fell into the hands of your foes. You know the old saying--'Assume a virtue if you have it not.' That you should be alarmed in such a position would be only natural, but you must if possible conceal the fact, and must nerve yourself to put on as great an air of coolness and indifference as you can muster. Remember there are very few men who do not feel horribly uncomfortable when exposed to great dangers, and that bravery exists not so much in having no feeling of fear as of concealing all expression of it.

"When you hear a man boasting that he has never felt fear, and that he enjoys being under fire, take my word for it he is a liar. In the heat of battle, and especially in the excitement of a cavalry charge, the sensation of fear is lost; but in the preliminary stage I never knew a man yet who, speaking honestly, would not confess that he felt horribly nervous. I will not keep you up any longer, you have had a long journey to-day and must be early in bed. You will be called before daybreak, for you may be sure your men will be here before the sun is up, and they will be gratified to find that you are prepared to be off. I need not repeat now what I told you on board the ship, that should you have to fly for your life you will meet with a warm welcome here."

It was still dark when Percy was aroused by Ram Singh.

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