Rujub, the Juggler Part 56

"I am keeping near the river, sahib. I know the country well. We cannot follow the road, for there the Rajah's troops and the Sepoys and the Oude men are gathered to oppose your people. They will fight tomorrow at Dong, as I told you, but the main body is not far from here. We must keep far away from them, and if your people take Dong we can then join them if we like. This road keeps near the river all the way, and we are not likely to meet Sepoys here, as it is by the other road the white troops are coming up."

After four hours' walking, Rujub said, "There is a large wood just ahead. We will go in there. We are far enough off Cawnpore to be safe from any parties they may send out to search. If your people take Dong tomorrow, they will have enough to think of in Cawnpore without troubling about an escaped prisoner. Besides," he added, "if the Rajah's orders are carried out, at daybreak they will not know that a prisoner has escaped; they will not trouble to count."

"I cannot believe it possible they will carry out such a butchery, Rujub."

"We shall see, sahib. I did not tell you all I knew lest we should fail to carry off the lady, but I know the orders that have been given. Word has been sent round to the butchers of the town, and tomorrow morning soon after daybreak it will be done."

Bathurst gave an exclamation of horror, for until now he had hardly believed it was possible that even Nana Sahib could perpetrate so atrocious a ma.s.sacre. Not another word was spoken until they entered the wood.

"Where is the river, Rujub?"

"A few hundred yards to the left, sahib; the road is half a mile to the right. We shall be quite safe here."

They made their way for some little distance into the wood, and then laid down their burden.

They had taken to the spot where Rabda remained when the others went forward towards the prison a basket containing food and three bottles of wine, and this Rujub had carried since they started together. As soon as the hammock was lowered to the ground, Isobel moved and sat up.

"I am rested now. Oh, how good you have all been! I was just going to tell you that I could walk again. I am quite ready to go on now."

"We are going to halt here till tomorrow evening, Miss Hannay; Rujub thinks we are quite beyond any risk of pursuit now. You must first eat and drink something, and then sleep as long as you can. Rabda has brought a native dress for you and dye for staining your skin, but there is no occasion for doing that till tomorrow; the river is only a short distance away, and in the morning you will be able to enjoy a wash."

The neck was knocked off a bottle. Rabda had brought in the basket a small silver cup, and Isobel, after drinking some wine and eating a few mouthfuls of food, lay down by her and was soon fast asleep. Bathurst ate a much more hearty meal. Rujub and his daughter said that they did not want anything before morning.

The sun was high before Bathurst woke. Rujub had lighted a fire, and was boiling some rice in a lota.

"Where is Miss Hannay?" Bathurst asked, as he sat up.

"She has gone down to the river with Rabda. The trees hang down well over the water, and they can wash without fear of being seen on the opposite sh.o.r.e. I was going to wake you when the lady got up, but she made signs that you were to be allowed to sleep on."

In half an hour the two girls returned. Isobel was attired in a native dress, and her face, neck, arms, feet, and ankles had been stained to the same color as Rabda's. She came forward a little timidly, for she felt strange and uncomfortable in her scanty attire. Bathurst gave an exclamation of pain as he saw her face.

"How dreadfully, you have burnt yourself, Miss Hannay; surely you cannot have followed the instructions I gave you."

"No; it is not your fault at all, Mr. Bathurst; I put a great deal more on than you said, but I was so anxious to disfigure myself that I was determined to do it thoroughly; but it is nothing to what it was. As you see, my lips are getting all right again, and the sores are a good deal better than they were; I suppose they will leave scars, but that won't trouble me."

"It is the pain you must have suffered that I am thinking of," he replied. "As to the scars, I hope they will wear out in time; you must indeed have suffered horribly."

"They burnt dreadfully for a time," the girl answered; "but for the last two or three days I have hardly felt it, though, of course, it is very sore still."

"Do you feel ready for breakfast, Miss Hannay?"

"Quite ready, and for a walk as long as you like afterwards. I feel quite another creature after my dip. That was one of the worst things in the prison. We had scarcely water enough to drink, and none to wash with, and, of course, no combs nor anything."

They sat down together and ate the cold food they had brought, while Rabda and her father made their breakfast of rice.

"What has become of Mr. Wilson?" Isobel asked suddenly. "I wondered about him as I was being carried along last night, but I was too tired to talk afterwards."

"I hope he is either safe at Allahabad by this time, or is with the troops marching up. The Zemindar's son, who came down with us as an escort, and one of his men got safely to sh.o.r.e also, and they went on with Wilson. When he found I was going to stay at Cawnpore to try and rescue you, he pleaded very hard that I should keep him with me in order that he might share in the attempt, but his ignorance of the language might have been fatal, and his being with me would have greatly added to the difficulty, so I was obliged to refuse him. It was only because I told him that instead of adding to, he would lessen your chance of escape, that he consented to go, for I am sure he would willingly have laid down his life to save yours."

"I am very glad he is safe; he is very kind hearted and nice, Mr.

Bathurst, and a thoroughly natural, unaffected young fellow, very loyal and stanch. I am quite sure he would have done anything he could, even at the risk of his life."

"I like him very much, too, Miss Hannay. Before the siege I thought him a careless, happy go lucky lad, but as I got to know him well, I found he was much more than that, and he will make a good man and an excellent officer one of these days if he is spared. He is thoroughly brave without the slightest brag--an excellent specimen of the best cla.s.s of public school boy."

"And who are the troops coming up, Mr. Bathurst? How strong are they? I have heard nothing about them."

"About twelve hundred white troops and four or five hundred Sikhs; at least that is what the natives put them at."

"But surely they will never be able to fight their way to Cawnpore, where there are the mutineers and Nana Sahib's troops and the Oude men and the people of the town. Why, there must be ten to one against them."

"Not far short of that, I think, but I feel sure our men will do it.

They know of the treachery of the Nana, they know of the ma.s.sacre by the river, and they know that the women and children are prisoners in his hands, and do you think that men who know these things can be beaten?

The Sepoys met them in superior force and in a strong position at Futtehpore, and they drove them before them like chaff. They will have harder work next time, but I have no shadow of fear of the result."

Then their talk went back to Deennugghur and of their friends there--the Doolans, the Hunters, the Rintouls, and others--and Isobel wept freely over their fate.

"Next to my uncle I shall miss the Doctor," she said.

"He was an awfully good fellow," Bathurst said, "and was the only real friend I have had since I came to India, I would have done anything for him."

"When shall we start?" Isobel asked presently.

"Directly the sun goes down a little. You would find it terribly hot now. I have been talking it over with Rujub, and he says it is better not to make a long journey today. We are not more than twenty miles from Dong, and it would not do to move in that direction until we know how things have gone; therefore, if we start at three o'clock and walk till seven or eight, it will be quite far enough."

"He seems a wonderful man," said Isobel. "You remember that talk we had at dinner, before we went to see him at the Hunters!"

"Yes," he said. "As you know, I was a believer then, and so was the Doctor. I need not say that I believe still more now that these men do wholly unaccountable feats. He put the sentry outside the walls of your prison and five out of your eight warders so sound asleep that they did not wake during the struggle I had with the others. That, of course, was mesmerism. His messages to you were actually sent by means of his daughter. She was put in a sort of trance, in which she saw you and told us what you were doing, and communicated the message her father gave her to you. He could not send you a message nor tell me about you when you were first at Bithoor, because he said Rabda was not in sympathy with you, but after she had seen you and touched you and you had kissed her, she was able to do so. There does not appear to me to be anything beyond the powers of nature in that, though doubtless powers were called into play of which at present we know nothing. But we do know that minds act upon each other. Possibly certain persons in sympathy with each other may be able to act upon each other from a distance, especially when thrown into the sort of trance which is known as the clairvoyant state.

I always used to look upon that as humbug, but I need hardly say I shall in future be ready to believe almost anything. He professes to have other and even greater powers than what we have seen. At any rate, he can have no motive in deceiving me when he has risked his life to help me. Do you know, Rabda offered to go into the prison--her father could have got her an order to pa.s.s in--and then to let you go out in her dress while she remained in your stead. I could not accept the sacrifice even to save you, and I was sure had I done so you yourself would have refused to leave."

"Of course. But how good of her. Please tell her that you have told me, and how grateful I am for her offer."

Bathurst called Rabda, who was sitting a short distance away.

She took the hand that Isobel held out to her and placed it against her forehead.

"My life is yours, sahib," she said simply to Bathurst. "It was right that I should give it for this lady you love."

"What does she say?" Isobel asked.

"She says that she owed me her life for that tiger business, you know, and was ready to give it for you because I had set my mind on saving you."

"Is that what she really said, Mr. Bathurst?" Isobel asked quietly, for he had hesitated a little in changing its wording.

"That was the sense of it, I can a.s.sure you. Not only was she ready to make the sacrifice, but her father consented to her doing so. These Hindoos are capable of grat.i.tude, you see. There are not many English who would be ready thus to sacrifice themselves for a man who had accidentally, as I may say, saved their lives."

"Not accidentally, Mr. Bathurst. Why do you always try to run yourself down? I suppose you will say next you saved my life by an accident."

"The saving of your life is due chiefly to these natives."