Gil the Gunner Part 77

"The doctor says that you do, and I say that you do," he continued, smiling; but there was no mistaking his tone. "So you shall go out. We will go out together. You are a great hunter, I know."

"Oh no," I said hastily.

"Well, you are fond of hunting."

"I liked shooting," I said, as I thought of the end of my last expedition.

"I know you do," he continued, with a meaning smile. "There is a tiger at the village a little way toward the hills, and he has been taking the poor people's cows. Yesterday he struck down a woman, and carried her off into the forest. I have had him tracked by the s.h.i.+karis, and ordered the elephants and beaters to be ready. You shall take me with you, Gil, and give me a lesson in shooting tiger."

"Then he has not a suspicion," I thought. And then I asked myself whether I should go or refuse.

"If I go," I thought, "I shall be serving Brace, for the attack may be made in our absence, and, without their leader, the troops will give way. But if I go with him, knowing what I do, I shall be acting treacherously to the man who saved my life."

It was a difficult point to decide, and I said hastily--

"I would rather not go."

"Why?" he asked, with a quick, suspicious look.

"Because I am not strong yet, and the sun is hot."

"It will give you strength," he said quietly. "You have stayed in till you are fretful, and dislike going out. As soon as we are started, you will be glad."

I felt that it was useless to oppose him, and said no more. In fact, I had no time, for he turned to me with a smile.

"I meant it quite as a surprise for you," he said; "and I have given all the men a rest from duty to-day, so that I am free. There, get your puggaree; the elephants are waiting, and the guns are in the howdahs."

I obeyed him with beating heart, and stood ready before him the next minute, wondering whether an attack would be made in our absence, and if there was, what Ny Deen would do. If he fled, I felt that he would take me with him, and that there would be another weary time before Dost could find me out.

"But no," I said; "he will not go. He will hurry back to lead his people. He has too much at stake to flee."

"Well," he said, "are you counting the tigers?"

I started back into the present, and followed him out through chamber after chamber, and along pa.s.sages till we descended into a court something like the one upon which I looked down, but larger; and here I found three elephants, a strong party of hors.e.m.e.n, and two little bullock-waggons, in which were a couple of hunting leopards, each carefully chained, and with its attendant.

In spite of my excitement, I looked with some little curiosity on the two long-legged graceful-looking spotted creatures, each with a peculiar far-off look in its eyes, as if it were trying to pierce the walls and catch sight of the antelopes it was to chase.

Ny Deen saw my look, and smiled.

"The tiger may have gone," he said. "If he has, we'll hunt for the deer."

He pointed to his elephant, and signed to me to mount the great kneeling creature, which was fitted with quite a plain howdah, open, and suitable for the purpose in hand. As I took my place, I found that there were two double rifles on either side, and as soon as the rajah had mounted, a quick-looking beater climbed up behind us, to kneel behind our seats.

The other elephants were made to kneel as we moved onward a few paces, and four of the rajah's followers climbed into the howdahs. Then the word was given, six hors.e.m.e.n rode to the gate as advance-guard, and we were following toward the entrance, when the rajah turned to me with a grave smile.

"You _are_ better," he said reproachfully. "Come, we will not even think of military matters to-day, but make it all pleasure."

He had hardly finished the words when I saw him give a quick look and seize one of the guns, for the six hors.e.m.e.n had suddenly ridden back, to make for the rajah's elephant, followed by a mounted sowar, who pa.s.sed between them as they opened out, and came close up to the side of the elephant.

"Well?" cried the rajah, fiercely, and speaking in Hindustani. "News?"

My heart gave a bound as the sowar announced the approach of the enemy, and I glanced at Ny Deen, in whose face I saw astonishment and disbelief for the moment. But it was only for the moment. Directly after, he gave several orders in a quick, decisive manner, and the officer to whom he spoke dashed off to obey his instructions.

Then he turned to me. "You heard?" he said.

I bowed.

"Will you help me--will you take charge of the guns at once?"

I looked full in the fierce, questioning face, and in those anxious moments I could not help feeling the danger of my position; but I had to speak. To refuse, now that he was driven to bay, might mean an order for immediate execution, and, cowardly or no, I could not speak. I suppose that I ought to have been brave, and exclaimed boldly, "Kill me, if you like; I will not fight against my countrymen." But I was very young; I had been badly wounded, and was just recovering and beginning to feel how beautiful, in spite of all my sufferings, life was, so I remained silent.

"You refuse, then?" he cried fiercely.

I was still silent, and he turned from me in a rage, making a fierce motion for me to descend from the elephant, which I obeyed, while Ny Deen gave a short, sharp order in an angry tone, whose result was that one of his men seized me on either side, and I was more a prisoner than ever, with six men in front and six behind, fresh summoned from the guard-house, to march me away.

It was to my death, so it seemed in those terrible moments; while I had but to raise my voice and give my promise to the rajah, to be at once his honoured and trusted friend, commissioned with great power.

But I could not say the necessary words, any more than I could speak a minute before, and in the silence of despair I walked as firmly as I could in the direction taken by the men, feeling giddy with excitement, and as if all this were not real, but part of some terrible trouble befallen another.

I did not see what was about to happen, and was so wrapped up in my position, that I did not hear the huge elephant from which I had just descended shuffling after me, till the rajah's voice called to my guard to halt. Then, leaning down from the howdah, he said to me--

"This is blind obstinacy. Come, say you will be my friend, and help me now that I want your services."

"I cannot," I said huskily.

Ny Deen uttered a fierce command to the mahout, the elephant swung round, and I set my teeth hard to keep from shouting to him to stop and take me with him. But I mastered my cowardly feeling, and marched on to what I felt was my execution, giving Ny Deen the credit of treating me as a soldier, though all the while it was in a curious, half-stupefied way, as if the shock had terrorised me, though after the first sensation of horror, I do not recall feeling any great amount of dread.

It was then with something approaching wonder that I saw the leading men of the guard wheel to the left through the entrance, and up the broad staircase, and along the pa.s.sages, at the end of which were my rooms.

Here they drew back for me to enter, and the door was closed, the rattle of the men's muskets announcing that they remained on guard.

I felt so faint on being left alone that I was glad to fly to the great cool vessel of water always standing in one of the rooms, after which I sank down on one of the piles of cus.h.i.+ons, and wiped the cold perspiration from my forehead.

I was still half-stunned, and wondering whether this was only a respite; but Hope soon began to be busy, and I felt that, after all, the being led off to instant death was the work of my own imagination, and that Ny Deen had probably never even had such a thought beyond holding it up as a threat.

As I recovered myself, I rose and walked to the farther door, where, there could be no doubt, the twelve men were stationed, and from thence I hurried to one of the open windows, and looked out to see that there was a guard still at the gateway, and beyond it I could hear a dull, hoa.r.s.e murmur, and the heavy tramp, tramp of marching men, which was followed by the rush of a body of horse going by at a gallop.

This last revived me more than the water, for it sent a thrill through me, suggesting as it did preparations to meet our forces, which must be pretty close at hand, but whether in sufficient strength to attack this great town I would have given anything to know.

The beating of the horses' hoofs pa.s.sed away, but the steady tramp of infantry went on for some time before it had died out, and the dull, distant roar as of many people in a crowd, did not cease. I fancied that it was on the increase, while below me in the court, the fountain played and sparkled in the suns.h.i.+ne, the great goldfish sailed about in the tank, and the green leaves trembled and glistened in the bright light. For whatever might be going on in the town, here everything was perfectly peaceful and still.

I was just wis.h.i.+ng that I could have been at liberty to mount a horse, and, only as a spectator, go about the town and see what arrangements were being made for its defence, wondering whether it was strongly walled, my recollections on the night of our entry only extending to the great gate through which we had pa.s.sed, and thinking that if the force advancing were only small, Ny Deen might decide to go out and attack it, when I saw a couple of dark figures in the gateway, which were not those of the guard, and directly after, bending low beneath the weight of their loads, my old friends, the two bheesties, walked slowly across to the other side of the court, where they separated as before, one going round by the far side of the tank, the other coming in my direction.

"It cannot be a very serious alarm," I thought, "or matters would not be going on so calmly here."

Then I stopped short to watch the actions of the nearest man, wondering whether my ideas were right, or it was only fancy.

"It can't be Dost," I said to myself, as the man diligently directed the thin tube of leather formed by the leg of the animal from which it had been stripped, sending the water round and round to form chains of circles on the marble paving.

"No. It can't be Dost," I thought, with the feeling of sadness of one who was suffering terribly from his solitary position. "It was all imagination."