Gil the Gunner Part 27

"His ruse to save us," said the doctor. "We got poor Lacey safe into comfortable quarters at the house of two of the women who washed for the men, and they are to be trusted, I think. I can do no more for him, but see to his wounds to-morrow. As soon as I had seen him right, we were coming back, when, as luck had it, we got into a narrow lane, and half-way along it, heard a noisy party coming shouting along from some festivity. Retreat was impossible, and I gave the orders to the men to draw and cut our way through, but Dost here stopped us by proposing to get in the dhooly."

"Why?" said Brace, angrily.

"I'll tell you. It was a last resource; and though the men grumbled, they lifted the dhooly, and I marched by the side. The next minute we were stopped."

"Well?"

"Hang him!" cried the doctor; "he began to curse them in Hindustani for stopping his gharry, ordered them to let his servants go by, and the idiots took it that a complete change had come over the state of affairs; that Dost must have turned rajah, and was using the English as his slaves. So they all shouted with delight, let us pa.s.s, and here we are, thanks to Rajah Dost."

"Then, now for our start," said Brace, "unless it would be wiser to stay here till morning, Dost must go out and try and obtain news of the women."

"No, no, sahib," cried the Hindu, excitedly. "By daylight all the budmashes of the city will be up here to plunder and burn."

"Do you hear, Haynes?" said Brace, bitterly. "They may bring the punishment upon themselves."

"I have thought of the mem sahib, master," continued Dost, "and one of the women will try and learn news for us. She will find it better than I could."

"You are right," said Brace; and giving orders for the horses to be led in the rear, he placed himself at the head of our little column, gave the word march, and we filed out of the gate, Dost leading through the silent lanes of the city, and then round below its walls to the bridge of boats, which was pa.s.sed without our having encountered a soul.

In our helpless state it was felt that we could do no better than to go by Dost's advice, for he knew the country round, and suggested that we should go on as rapidly as possible, so as to reach one of the patches of forest which clothed the slopes of the valley side opposite the city before daybreak.

"And when we are there?" asked Brace.

"We shall be within reach of the major sahib, and I can take the doctor sahib over to him when it is night again."

"Very well," said Brace, thoughtfully.

Then, as if remembering the great aim he had in view--

"Did the scoundrels go up the valley toward the rajah's?"

"No, sahib; they brought the guns over the bridge, and some say they have gone to Ramul."

"That is only a few miles away," said Brace, quickly, "and beyond the hills. Forward, my lads. No speaking in the ranks."

We tramped on silently for a couple of hours with the night growing darker as we went onward, the men literally reeling at times from weariness and exhaustion after the terrible day.

All at once, one man fell out, and dropped upon the road side.

"Halt!" cried Brace, in a low voice.

"No, no, captain; keep on," said the man. "I'm dead beat. Never mind me."

"We have no dhooly, my lad, to carry you, so we must wait till you can walk, for we must hold together now to the last. Who is it?"

"Sergeant Craig, sir," said one of the men; and Brace hurried to his side.

"Why, Craig, my poor fellow, this will not do."

As he spoke, the man who had thrown himself on the ground struggled to his knees.

"Some one give me a drink of water," he cried hoa.r.s.ely; and a canteen having been handed to him, he drank deeply, and then tried to rise, but failed.

"You'll have to go on, captain," he said hoa.r.s.ely. "I've got a bit of a hurt. I did not think it was so much as it is. Makes me a bit faint.

If some one took my arm perhaps I could struggle on."

"We are close to the jungle, sahib," whispered Dost.

"Two of you support the sergeant," cried the captain; and a couple of men being detailed for the duty, the sergeant struggled on again for about a couple of hundred yards, the last hundred being in the deep shadows of the trees; and none too soon, for a few bird notes were heard announcing the coming day. Ten minutes later sentries were posted, the horses picketed, and the men were lying down to drop asleep directly, while the doctor busily examined the sergeant's wound.

"A big and ugly one," he said, "but nothing to mind. Made you faint, of course. There, it isn't your sword arm."

"'Tisn't your sword arm" rung in my ears again and again, mingled with the whistling and singing of birds; and to me the bird song had something to do with the dressing of the wound; and then all was blank, and I was plunged in a deep sleep which after some time grew disturbed, and I seemed to be back at the college, drilling, and studying under General Crucie. Then I was getting into difficulties with my fellow cadets and being sent to Coventry, as the most ill-humoured fellow they knew; and then I was awake, gazing up at the trees whose boughs shaded us from the sun, bathed in perspiration, and smelling tobacco smoke.

Note 1. Dhoolies are light ambulances.

Note 2. Purdahs, curtains or hangings.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

"Awake, Gil?" said a voice by me, and I started up to see that Brace was seated close by me, with his elbow upon his knee and his chin resting in his hand.

"Yes," I said. "Have I been asleep long?"

"About seven or eight hours, my lad."

"Oh, why didn't you rouse me?" I cried.

"Because there was no work for you to do, and it was better for you to have a good long rest ready for when I want you. Come and have some breakfast--such as it is."

"Can't I wash first?" I asked.

He laughed.

"No, my lad. There is the river below us yonder, and you can see the barracks, what is left of them."

"Left of them?"

"Yes. They were set on fire about nine o'clock, and the smoke is rising thickly still."

I uttered an angry e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n.

"Bah! never mind them. We can soon have better ones built."