CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH
*In which an officer of the Nawab disappears; and Bulger reappears.*
"This will be my last trip, sahib, for my present master. He says Iwaste too much time on the river. He also complains that I go to placeswithout leave and without reason. He heard we were at Mayapur, andwanted to know why. I made excuses, sahib; I said whatever came into myhead; but he was not satisfied, and I leave his service in a week."
"That is a pity, Hossain. Unless we are in the service of somewell-known banya we cannot go up and down the river without excitingsuspicion. However, let us hope that before the week is out the fleetwill be here."
Desmond looked a little anxious. The success of his project forpreventing the fouling of the passage at Tanna Fort was more than eyerdoubtful. The petala was moored opposite the Crane ghat at Calcutta,taking in a cargo of jawar[#] for Chandernagore. The work of loadinghad been protracted to the utmost by the serang; for Desmond did notwish to leave the neighbourhood of Calcutta at the present juncture,when everything turned upon their being on the spot at the criticalmoment.
[#] Millet.
While they were talking, a man who had every appearance of a respectablebanya approached the plank over which the coolies were carrying thejawar on board. He stood idly watching the work, then moved away, andsquatted on a low pile of bags which had been emptied of their contents.For a time the serang paid no apparent heed to him; but presently, whilethe coolies were still busy, he sauntered across the plank, andstrolling to the onlooker, exchanged a salaam and squatted beside him.Passers-by might have caught a word or two about the grain-market; thehigh prices; the difficulties of transit; the deplorable slackness oftrade; the infamous duplicity of the Greek merchants. At last the banyarose, salaamed, and walked away.
As he did so the serang carelessly lifted the bag upon which the banyahad been sitting, and, making sure that he was not observed, picked up atiny ball of paper scarcely bigger than a pea. Waiting a few moments,he rose and sauntered back on board. A minute or two later the lascarin the after part of the boat was unobtrusively examining the scrap ofpaper. It contained three words and an initial:
_To-morrow about ten.--C._
A change had been made in the composition of Hossain's crew since theincident at Sinfray's house. One day Desmond had found one of theBengalis rummaging in the corner of the cabin where he was accustomed tokeep his few personal belongings. Hossain had dismissed the man on thespot. The man saved from the river had been kept on the boat and proveda good worker, eager, and willing to be of use. He was an excellentboatman, a handy man generally, and, for a Bengali, possessed ofexceptional physical strength. At Desmond's suggestion Hossain offeredhim the vacant place, and he at once accepted it.
Since his rescue he had shown much gratitude to Desmond. He wasquick-witted, and had not been long on board before he felt that thekhalasi was not quite what he appeared to be. His suspicion wasstrengthened by the deference, slight but unmistakable, paid by theserang to the lascar; for though Desmond had warned Hossain to be on hisguard, the man had been unable to preserve thoroughly the attitude of asuperior to an inferior.
On receiving the short message from Clive, Desmond had a consultationwith Hossain. The coolies had finished their work and received theirpay, and there was nothing unusual in the sight of the boatmen squattingon deck before loosing their craft from its moorings.
"If we are to do what we wish to do, Hossain," said Desmond, "we shallrequire a third man to help us. Shall we take Karim into ourconfidence?"
"That is as you please, sahib. He is a good man, and will, I think, befaithful."
"Well, send the other fellow on shore; I will speak to the man."
The serang gave the second of the two Bengalis who had formed hisoriginal crew an errand on shore. Desmond beckoned up the new man.
"Are you willing to undertake a service of risk, for a big reward,Karim?" he asked.
The man hesitated.
"It will be worth a hundred rupees to you."
Karim's eyes sparkled; a hundred rupees represented a fortune to a manof his class; but he still hesitated.
"Am I to be alone?" he asked at length.
"No," said Desmond; "we shall be with you."
"Ji! Han! If the sahib"--the word slipped out unawares--"is to bethere it is fixed. He is my father and mother: did he not save me fromthe river? I would serve him without reward."
"That is very well. All the same the reward shall be yours--to be paidto you if we succeed, to your family if we fail. For if we fail it willbe our last day: they will certainly shoot us. There is time to drawback."
"If the sahib is to be there I am not afraid."
"Good. You can go aft. We will tell you later what is to be done.And, remember, on this boat I am no sahib. I am a khalasi from Gujarat."
"I will remember--sahib."
Desmond told the serang that the help of the man was assured, anddiscussed with him the enterprise upon which he was bent. He had givenhis word to Clive that the blocking of the river should be prevented,and though the task bade fair to be difficult he was resolved not tofail. The vessels that were to be sunk in the fairway were mooredopposite the fort at a distance of about a ship's length from oneanother. The subahdar was on the sloop farthest down the river, Hubboon the next. With the subahdar there were three men. The signal forthe scuttling of the vessels was to be the waving of a green flag by thesubahdar; this was to be repeated by Hubbo, then by the serang on thesloop above him, and so on to the end. The vessels were in echelon, theone highest up the river lying well over to the left bank and nearest tothe fort, the rest studding the fairway so that if they sank at theirmoorings it would be impossible for a ship of any size to thread its waybetween them. It did not appear that anything had been done to ensuretheir sinking broadside to the current, the reason being probably that,whatever might be attempted with this design, the river would have itswill with the vessels as soon as they sank.
"Our only chance," said Desmond, "is to get hold of the subahdar. If wecan only capture him the rest should be easy--especially as Hubbo is onthe next sloop, which screens the subahdar's from the rest. It is outof speaking distance from the fort, too--another piece of luck for us.I will think things over in the night, Hossain; be sure to wake me, if Iam not awake, at least a gharri[#] before dawn."
[#] A 60th part of a day: _i.e._ 24 minutes.