At the Point of the Bayonet

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"Now that you have told me your story, I think you are right to go
down and join your own people. Everything is disturbed, and nothing
is certain from day to day here. I was a fugitive but a short time
ago and, ere long, I may again be an exile.

"Moreover, no one can tell what may happen to him. Your people are
quarrelling with Tippoo, as they quarrelled with his father, Hyder;
and I think that, before long, it is possible they will overthrow
him, and take possession of his territory.

"Were the various powers of India united, this could not be so; but
the English will always find some ready to enter into an alliance
with them, and will so enlarge their dominions. The Mahrattas may
laugh at the idea of their being overthrown, by such small armies
as those the English generals command; but our constant
dissensions, and the mutual jealousy between Holkar, Scindia, the
Peishwa, the Rajah of Berar, and others, will prevent our ever
acting together. It may be that we shall be conquered piecemeal.

"I have watched, very closely, all that has taken place in southern
India and in Bengal. I have seen a handful of traders gradually
swallowing up the native powers, and it seems to me that it may
well be that, in time, they may become the masters of all India.
Were I to say as much to any of our princes, they would scoff at my
prediction; but it has been my business to learn what was passing
elsewhere, and I have agents at Madras and Calcutta, and their
reports are ever that the power of the English is increasing. A few
years ago, it seemed that the French were going to carry all before
them; but they, like our native princes, have gone down before the
English; who seem, moreover, to get on better than the French with
the natives, and to win their respect and liking.

"Well, young sir, I shall be sorry to lose you; because while I, and
with good reason, was seldom able to trust, and to give my absolute
confidence to any of those around me, I have always felt that I could
wholly rely on you. During the past year I have seen much of you, and
have freely told my plans to you, as I have done to no others; and
have chosen you for missions that I could not, with safety, have
entrusted to any of my own followers, knowing that Scindia or Holkar
would be ready to pay great sums for these secrets. None except Bajee,
to whom I sent you with particulars, were aware of the extent of my
plans, or that I was in communication with more than one of the rajahs.

"You have played your part marvellously well, for I should not have
deemed it possible that one of your race could live so long among
us, without exciting any suspicion. While you remain in Bombay, I
hope that you will act as my confidential agent. I do not ask you
to divulge any secrets you may learn, relating to projects
connected with the Deccan; but I should like to be informed as to
the course of affairs, generally. Of course, my dealings with the
Council there must be carried on through the English Resident; but
there is much information respecting the views of the Council with
regard to Tippoo, the Nizam, and Bengal, that will be valuable for
me to know."

"I could not so act, your excellency, without permission from the
Council; but I should imagine that they would not be averse to such
an arrangement, especially as, perhaps, you would give me private
information as to the state of parties, here, such as you would not
care to tell their Resident."

"Certainly I would do so. They change their Residents so frequently
that it would be impossible for new men to really understand the
situation; which you, with your intimate knowledge of Poona, could
readily grasp. Of course the arrangement could only be temporary,
as my own position is so uncertain and, in any case, my life cannot
now be a long one.

"I should propose that your salary, as my private agent, be a
thousand rupees a month."

"I thank you much, sir; and if I stay at Bombay, and obtain the
permission of the Council to correspond with you, I will readily
undertake the part. They can have little objection to the
arrangement, as doubtless you have agents in Bombay, already."

"Certainly I have, but these are natives, and necessarily can only
send me the rumours current in the bazaars, or known generally to
the public; and their news is, for the most part, worthless."

"I have another favour to request," Harry said; "namely, that you
will give leave of absence to Sufder, in order that he may
accompany me to Bombay. He and my old nurse could, alone,
substantiate my birth and identity; and it would be necessary for
them to give their evidence before some legal authority."

"That I will readily do. Sufder is honest and faithful, and I can
rely upon him, absolutely, for anything in his sphere of duty; and
have, only today, appointed him to the command of two hundred men;
but although he has a hand ready to strike, he has no brain capable
of planning. Had it not been so, I should before this have raised
him to a higher position. When he returns from Bombay, I will grant
him the revenues of a village, of which he shall be the patal [a
mayor]; so that, in his old age, he will be able to live in
comfort."

On leaving the minister, Harry went to Sufder's camp.

"'So you are back again, Puntojee?"

"Yes, and have brought Soyera down with me."

"I have great news to tell you," the soldier went on.

"It will not be news to me, Sufder. I know that your command has
been doubled, and that you will now be the captain of two hundred
men; but I can tell you much more than that. You are to accompany
me down to Bombay, the day after tomorrow, so as to give evidence
about my birth; and furthermore, Nana will, on your return, bestow
upon you the jagheer [revenue] of a village district; so that, as
he says, when you grow too old for service, you will be able to
live comfortably."

"That is good news indeed--better even than that I am to have the
command of two hundred men, for in truth I am beginning to be weary
of service. I am now nearly fifty, and I feel myself growing stiff.
Nothing would please me more than to be the patal of a village
community, of which I hold the jagheer. However, so long as Nana
lives and retains power I shall remain a soldier; but at his death
I shall serve no other master, and shall take to country life
again.

"Does Nana know that you are English?"

"Yes, I have told him my story. I was obliged to give my reasons
for resigning and, as Nana has the support of the Government of
Bombay, there was no risk in my doing so.

"How long will it be before I get quite rid of this colour,
Sufder?"

"That I cannot say. I should think that in a fortnight the greater
part of it will have faded out, but maybe Soyera knows of something
that will remove it more rapidly."

Soyera, when asked, said that she knew of nothing that would remove
the dye at once; but that if he washed his hands and face, two or
three times a day, with a strong lye made from the ashes of a plant
that grows everywhere on the plain, it would help to get rid of it.

"I will go out, tomorrow morning, and fetch some in."

When she had made the lye, and mixed it with oil, it made a very
strong soap.

"How do you mean to dress, to go down, Harry?"

"I have no choice; but even if I had, I should ride out of here in
my best court suit, and change it for English clothes when we got
down the Ghauts. I may have to come up here again, for aught I
know; and it is better, therefore, that no one should know that I
am English."

Mr. Malet, however, solved the difficulty; for when, in the
evening, Harry went to enquire about the time that they would
start, he said:

"I had been thinking of offering you a suit to ride down in but,
unfortunately, my clothes would be a great deal too small for you.
However, I think that, after all, it is best you should go down as
you are. In the first place, you would not show to advantage in
English clothes, in which you would feel tight and uncomfortable,
at first; and in the second place, I think that it is perhaps as
well that the Council should see you as you are, then they would
the better understand how you have been able to pass as a Mahratta,
all these years.

"I will introduce you, now, to Colonel Palmer. It is important that
he should know you, for possibly you may be sent up here on some
mission or other--for which, having the favour of Nana, you would
be specially fitted."

Accordingly, the next morning they started early. Soyera had
prepared the liquid soap, but as it was decided that he should go
in native dress, Harry thought it as well not to use it, especially
as the dye was gradually wearing off. The party consisted of Mr.
Malet, Sufder, and Harry; with an escort of ten cavalrymen,
belonging to one of the native regiments. The mission clerk had
been transferred to Colonel Palmer, as his knowledge of affairs
would be useful to the newcomer. Soyera was carried in a dhoolie,
and followed close behind the troopers.

That evening they descended the Ghauts into the Concan and encamped
there and, on the following day, rode into Bombay; where Mr. Malet
took them to an hotel, principally used by natives of rank visiting
Bombay.

"You had best stay here, till I send for you," he said, to Harry.
"I shall see some of the Council tonight. No doubt there will be a
formal meeting, tomorrow, to ask my opinion about the probability
of the present state of things continuing at Poona. I shall, of
course, tell them your story; and they will likely request you to
go, at once, to see them; therefore, do not leave the hotel until
you hear from me."

Sufder had not previously visited Bombay, and the next morning
early he went out, with Soyera as his guide, to inspect the
European part of the town. He was much struck with the appearance
of neatness and order in the fort, and the solidity of the
buildings.

"It is a strong place, assuredly," he said to Harry, on his return.
"In the first place, it would be necessary for a force attacking it
to cross over the narrow isthmus, and causeway, uniting the island
with the land; and that would be impossible, in face of a force
provided with artillery guarding it. Then, if they succeeded in
winning that, they would have to make their way through the native
town to get on to the maidan; and this would be defended by the
guns from all the batteries and, in addition to the artillery on
land, it might be swept by guns on board ship. Truly, those who
talked about driving the English into the sea cannot have known
anything of the strength of the position.

"As to carrying it by assault, it could not be done; nor could the
garrison be starved out, since they could always obtain supplies of
all sorts by sea. And yet, except at the causeway, the place has no
natural strength. The Mahrattas acted unwisely, indeed, when they
allowed the English to settle here."

"They could not foresee the future, Sufder. Now, doubtless, they
are sorry; but if in the future the British become masters of
India, the Mahrattas will have no reason to regret having given
them a foothold. Wherever their powers extend, the natives are far
better off than they were under the rule of their own princes. Were
the British masters, there would be no more wars, no more
jealousies, and no more intrigues; the peasants would till their
fields in peace, and the men who now take to soldiering would find
more peaceful modes of earning a living."

"But you do not think, surely, Harry,"--for after leaving Poona, he
had been told to call him so--"that the English can ever become
masters of India? They conquered the Carnatic, but even there they
were not safe from the forays of Hyder Ali. Mysore bars their way
farther north. Then there is the Nizam to be dealt with, and then
Berar and the Mahrattas; then comes Rajputana, and beyond are the
Sikhs, and the fierce chiefs of Scinde. It is true that the English
have beaten the peoples of lower Bengal, but these have always been
looked down upon, and despised as cowardly and effeminate, by the
fighting men of all India.

"Besides, how few are the white soldiers! They say, too, that the
French have promised Tippoo to send a big army, to help to drive
the English into the sea."

"The French have quite work enough, at home," Harry said. "It is
true that they have got into Egypt, but they are shut up there by
our fleets. Moreover, even were they to cross over into Arabia, how
could they march across a dry and almost waterless country, for a
thousand or two of miles? When they arrived in Scinde they would
find all the fighting men of the province, and the Sikhs, opposed
to them; and they would never be able to fight their way down to
Mysore. The thing is absurd."

The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a messenger,
from the Government House, with a request that Mr. Lindsay should
at once attend there. Harry's horse, which had been saddled in
readiness, was brought round; for it would have seemed strange for
a Mahratta, whose dress showed that he held a good position, to go
on foot. Sufder rode by his side, Soyera following on foot.

Dismounting at the Government House, he threw the reins to one of
the lads, who were waiting in readiness to hold the horses of
officers coming to see the Governor. On Harry mentioning his name,
the native doorkeeper said:

"I have orders for you to be taken, at once, to the Council
chamber, sahib, on your arrival here."

The Governor, with four members of the Council and Mr. Malet, were
seated at a long table. Mr. Malet rose and said:

"This is Mr. Lindsay, gentlemen."

"Truly, sir, it would be difficult to recognize you as a fellow
countryman, in that garb," the Governor said; "though your colour
is somewhat less dark than that of a Mahratta."

"Since I left Poona I have ceased to dye, sir; as to my dress, this
will be the last time I shall wear it, unless I should be called
upon to go to Poona again."

"Your story is a most singular one," the Governor said, "but Mr.
Malet assures us that you are the son of Major Lindsay, and has
been telling us how you escaped the massacre at the camp, and how
your ayah has brought you up."

"She has come down with me, sir. I thought that her testimony would
be necessary; and I have also brought down her cousin, who was
present at the foray in which my father and mother were killed. My
account will be confirmed by their statements."

"You do credit to Mahratta food and training, Mr. Lindsay; but Mr.
Malet has mentioned to me that, at one time, you were employed as a
shikaree, to keep down the tigers which were doing havoc among the
villagers near the top of the Ghauts. He has also informed us of
the very valuable service you rendered, by informing him of Nana
Furnuwees' measures for regaining power, and replacing Bajee Rao on
the musnud--intelligence which saved us a great expenditure of
money in preparing to support him; with the certainty that, by
doing so, we might excite the enmity of Scindia. He tells us, also,
why you continued so long in the Deccan, instead of coming down
here; and I think you acted very wisely.

"We have mentioned your services, in that matter, in our reports to
the Board of Directors; and have said that, partly as a recognition
of this, and partly because you are the son of an English officer,
who was killed in their service, we should at once give you an
appointment, subject to their approval.

"Now, sir, which would you prefer, the civil or military branch?"

"I should much prefer the military," Harry answered, without
hesitation; "unless indeed, sir, you think my services would be
more useful in the civil."

"If we were at Calcutta or Madras, there would be more scope for
you in the civil service; but as we hold, at present, little
territory beyond this island, there are therefore but few
appointments affording an opportunity for the display of the
intelligence which you certainly possess; but, should circumstances
alter, you might, owing to your knowledge of the country and its
language, be told off for civil work, in which the emoluments are
very much higher than in the military branch of the service.

"You will at once be gazetted to the 3rd Native Cavalry, and do
duty with the regiment, until your services are required elsewhere.
Fresh disturbances may break out at Poona and, in that case, you
might be attached as assistant to Colonel Palmer.

"Do you think you would be known again?"

"I think it would be very unlikely, sir. When my skin has recovered
its proper colour, and I am dressed in uniform, I feel sure no one
would recognize me as having been an officer in the Peishwa's
court."

"Very well, sir. Then you will see your name in the gazette,
tomorrow. You will, within a day or so, report yourself to the
officer commanding the regiment.

"I may say that it would be well if your nurse, and the man who
came down with you, were to draw up statements concerning your
birth, and swear to them at the High Court. These might be valuable
to you, in the future."

After expressing his thanks to the Governor and Council, Harry went
out, and rode back to the hotel with Sufder.

Chapter 6: In The Company's Service.

There was no conversation between Harry and Sufder on the way back
to the hotel; Harry saying that he would tell the news when Soyera
joined them, otherwise he would have to go through it twice. They
rode slowly through the streets, and Soyera arrived a few minutes
after them.

"Now," Harry said, "we will go up to my room and talk the matter
over.

"Mr. Malet has been kind enough to give such a favourable report of
me that I am appointed lieutenant to the 3rd Regiment of Native
Cavalry, and shall be employed as assistant to the resident at
Poona, should there be fresh disturbances there."

"That is good fortune, indeed," Sufder said.

"Wonderfully good fortune! and I owe it all, in the first place to
Soyera, and in the next to yourself. You see, I have gained greatly
by taking your advice, and remaining in the Deccan until fit for
military service. Had she declared who I was when she took me down
to Bombay, before, there is no saying what might have become of me.

"And now, the first thing to do is for me to go out and order a
uniform. When I return I will draw up, in Mahratti and English, a
full account of the manner in which I was saved, by Soyera and you,
from being murdered; and how I have been brought up."

Harry had learned, at the Governor's, the name and address of an
official at the Judge's Court who would get his statements copied
out, in proper form and writing; and when he had taken them down
from the lips of Sufder and Soyera, he saw this gentleman, who
promised that the documents should be ready by the next day.

Having thus put his business in train, Harry went to call upon Mrs.
Sankey. She did not recognize him at once but, as soon as he made
himself known, she received him most warmly.

"You looked as if you would grow into a big fellow, but I hardly
expected that you would have done it so soon."

"It is more than four years since I left you. I don't think that I
am likely to grow any taller than I am; though of course, I shall
get broader."

He then told her what had happened since he left her, and how he
had just been appointed an officer in a native cavalry regiment.

"I am very glad you have come now. My daughters have both married,
and I am going to sail for England in a few days. Whether I shall
stay there permanently, or come back, I cannot say but, at any
rate, I shall be away at least two years."

"I should have been very sorry to have missed you, Mrs. Sankey. I
have always looked back, with the greatest pleasure, at the time I
spent here."

"You have kept up your English well," she said.

"I have followed your advice, and hardly ever missed reading aloud
for an hour, so as to keep my tongue accustomed to it; and I know
many of Shakespeare's plays by heart, and could recite a great many
passages from the writings of Dean Swift, Mr. Addison, Mr. Savage,
and others."

His next visit was to Jeemajee, who received him with real
pleasure, when he told him who he was. Harry had not learned--nor
did he ever learn--that the kindly Parsee had contributed a hundred
pounds towards the expenses of his education; but he did know that
he had presented him with his outfit of clothes, and had been the
means of his being placed with Mrs. Sankey; and during the months
he remained at Bombay, he paid frequent visits to the man who had
so befriended him.

The next day he went with Sufder and Soyera, who swore to their
statements before the judge of the High Court.

As soon as his uniform was ready, Harry went to his regiment--which
was encamped on the maidan, between the fort and the native
town--and was introduced to the colonel.

"I have come to report myself, sir," he said to the colonel. "My
name is Lindsay."

"I was expecting you," the colonel said, "for Mr. Malet came in
this morning and told me about you; saying that you would most
likely come either today or tomorrow. I will have a tent pitched
for you, this afternoon; and a soldier told off as your servant. Of
course, at first you will have to go through the somewhat
unpleasant task of learning your drill.

"From what Mr. Malet told me, I think you are not likely to be much
with us as, from your perfect knowledge of Mahratti, and of the
country, you can do better service in a staff appointment than with
the regiment.

"You are much fairer than they had given me to expect."

"I have been hard at work, for the last two days, in getting rid of
the dyes with which I have been coloured, ever since I was an
infant."

"Ah! You are not very noticeably darker, now, than other officers
in the regiment.

"Now, I will hand you over to the adjutant. You will, of course,
mess with us today; and I can then introduce you to your brother
officers."

The adjutant was sent for, and soon entered.

"Mr. Lewis," the colonel said, "this is Mr. Lindsay, who was
gazetted to us two days ago. He will be very useful to us, if we go
up to Poona again--of which there is always a possibility--for he
speaks Mahratti like a native, having lived among the people since
he was an infant. He is the son of Major Lindsay, who was killed
here at the time of the advance on Poona."

"You will be a great acquisition to us," the adjutant said, as he
left the tent with Harry. "Most of us speak a little Mahratti; but
it will be very useful to have one of us who is perfect, in that
way. Of course, you have not got your full kit yet; but you will
want a mess jacket and waistcoat. These I can lend you, till you
get your own made."

"They are ordered already, and I am to get them in a couple of
days. It was so much more important that I should get the undress
uniform, to enable me to begin work, that I did not press the
tailor quite so much as to the other clothes."

"Are you ready to begin work, at once?"

"The sooner the better," Harry replied.

"Then I shall hand you over to the native officer, who has charge
of the drilling of recruits. There is a small yard, behind the
barracks, where Europeans are instructed in the first stages. To
see them doing the goose step would not add to the respect the
soldiers have for their white officers. They are therefore taught
such matters in private so that, when they come out for company
drill, they are not quite at sea."

Half an hour later, Harry was at work under the instructions of a
native officer. By the time he had finished, a tent had been
erected for him; and he was glad to find a bath ready, for it was
much warmer down in Bombay than above the Ghauts, and it had been
hot work drilling. The adjutant had chosen a Mahratta servant, and
the man's surprise, when the newly-joined officer addressed him in
his own language, was great.

As Mr. Malet had told him that, except when on duty, the officers
generally wore civilian clothes, he had purchased several white
suits, consisting of jacket and trousers, as these were kept in
stock by a Parsee tailor; and he put on one of these, with a white
shirt, after he had finished his bath. He had scarcely done so when
a bugle sounded.

"That is the call for tiffin, sahib," Abdool said.

"Do the officers go in uniform?"

"No, sahib, not to this meal."

Just at this moment, the adjutant came in.

"Come along, Lindsay," he said. "I thought I would come round for
you. It is rather trying going into a room full of strangers."

There were some twelve officers gathered in the mess tent, and the
adjutant introduced Harry to them, singly. They were all curious to
see him, having heard from the colonel--who had summoned them to
the tent, a quarter of an hour before the bugle sounded--some
particulars of his life; and how he had been at once appointed to
be lieutenant, without going through the usual term as a cadet, as
a reward for important services.

Their first impression of him was a favourable one. He was now nearly
six feet in height, with a powerful and well-knit frame. His face was
pleasant and good tempered and, although the features were still boyish,
there was an expression of restraint and determination that had been
acquired from the circumstances in which he had been placed.

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