CHAPTER THE THIRTIETH
*In which Coja Solomon reappears; and gives our hero valuableinformation.*
Before Major Coote reached Daudpur he was overtaken by a horsemanbearing a message from Clive.
"A job for you, Burke," said the major, after reading the note. "Mr.Clive is annoyed at the Nawab's escape, and thinks he may give ustrouble yet if he can join hands with Law and his Frenchmen. I am tosend you ahead to reconnoitre. You've been to Murshidabad, I think?"
"No, only to Cossimbazar; but that is not far off."
"Well, you know best part of the road, at any rate. The colonel wantsyou to go with a small party to Murshidabad and find out whether theFrenchmen have come within reach. You'll have to go on foot; take careyou don't get into trouble. Pick your own men, of course. You must havea rest first."
"Two or three hours will be enough for me. If we start soon, we shallreach Murshidabad before dawn, and with little risk. I'm to come backand report, sir?"
"Of course. No doubt you will meet us on the way."
On reaching Daudpur Desmond selected twenty sepoys who knew the country,and ordered them to be ready to start with him at midnight. Bulger andMr. Toley he had already informed of his mission, and he found them morethan eager to share in it. Just after midnight the little party setout. A march of some four hours brought them to the outskirts ofMurshidabad. Desmond called a halt, encamped for the remainder of thenight in a grove of palmyras, and at dawn sent forward one of thesepoys, disguised as a ryot, to make inquiries as to what was happeningin the town.
It was near midday when the man returned. He reported that the Nawabhad gone to his palace, while the chiefs who had accompanied or followedhim from the field of battle had shown their recognition that his causewas lost by deserting him and going to their own houses. He had heardnothing of the French. The Nawab, in order to ingratiate himself withthe people, had thrown open his Treasury, from which all and sundry werecarrying off what they pleased. The city was in such a disturbed statethat it would be exceedingly unsafe for any stranger to enter.
Desmond decided to remain where he was until nightfall, and then toskirt the city and move northwards, in the hope of learning somethingdefinite of the movements of the French. Meanwhile he sent the man backto learn if anything happened during the day.
In the evening the man returned again. This time he reported that MirJafar had arrived with a large force and taken possession of the Nawab'spalace of Mansurganj. Immediately after the traitor's arrivalSiraj-uddaula had collected all the gold and jewels on which he couldlay hands and fled with his women. Suspecting that the luckless Nawabwas making for Rajmahal in the hope of meeting Law there, Desmond madeup his mind to follow. He struck his camp, marched all night, and soonafter daybreak reached a village near the river some miles south ofRajmahal.
He was surprised to find the village deserted. But passing a smallhouse, he heard cries of distress, and going in he found the place fullof smoke from some straw that had been kindled, and a man tied by histhumbs to a staple in the wall. He recognized the man in a moment. Itwas Coja Solomon, Mr. Merriman's rascally agent of Cossimbazar. He washalf dead with pain and fright. Desmond cut him loose and hurried himout of the stifling room into the open, where Bulger revived him withcopious douches of water until he was sufficiently recovered to explainhis unhappy plight.
"God be praised!" exclaimed the Armenian fervently. "You were in time,sir. I was seeking safety. The Faujdar of Murshidabad villainouslyill-used me. He owes me much, but there is no gratitude in him. I sawthat neither my life nor my goods were safe, so I packed up whatvaluables I could and left with my servants, intending to go to Patna,where I have a house. I had just reached this village when I saw a bandof some fifty horsemen approaching from the other end, and fearing thatI might be set upon and plundered, I hastily concealed my goods at theedge of the tank hard by. Alas! it availed me nothing. My servantswere dispersed, and the risaldar of the horsemen, a European, seized meand thrust me into this house, abandoned like all the rest, for thepeople fled before his approach, fearing he would burn and destroy. ThenI was tied up as you saw, until I confessed where my valuables werehidden: one of my servants must have betrayed me. The risaldar promisedto release me as soon as I should confess; but instead of that he setfire to the straw out of pure villainy, for what could I do to him? Ihave been a good friend to the English. Sir, pursue that man: he mustbe a Frenchman. I will give you a quarter, nay, a third of my goods, ifyou recover them."
"That is impossible, Khwaja. I've only twenty men on foot: what is theuse of pursuing fifty on horseback? Your friendship for the British hascome, I fear, a little too late."
The Armenian wrung his hands in despair, whining that he was a ruinedman. Then his tone changed; was there not still a chance? He explainedthat, some hours before his capture, he had met a man who recognized himas the agent of Mr. Merriman. The man said that he was a servant ofSurendra Nath Chuckerbutti, and was on his way to meet Clive Sahib,carrying a letter to him from his master. But he was worn out, havingcome many miles through the heat without rest. Coja Solomonunblushingly confessed that, while the man slept at midday, he had takenthe letter from him and read it.
"Why did you do that?"
"I thought it would be safer with me, for every one knows----"
"Yes, that'll do, Khwaja; go on with your story."
"The letter was written at Manda, a village on the other side of theriver, and the writer, Surendra Nath, informed Mr. Clive that the wifeand daughter of Mr. Merriman were in his house there, and asked him tosend a party to bring them away. Naturally, sir, I was pleased tofind----"
"Go on with your story," cried Desmond impatiently, all excitement atcoming upon the track of the ladies at last.
"It was while I was reading the letter that the horsemen came up. Therisaldar took it from me, read it, and questioned me. His face changed;he smiled evilly, and from the questions he asked me, and from what Iheard him say to his followers, he has gone to Manda, with a design totake these ladies."
"Stay, Khwaja; what was he like?"
"He was a tall man, with scars on his face, and on his right hand hewore a black glove."
"The scoundrel!" exclaimed Desmond. His look of trouble and anxiety didnot escape the Armenian.
"It is but a little since he left me," he said. "If you make your wayto the village--it is three coss on the other side of the river--you maycapture him, sir, as well as regain my property, a third of which isyours."
"But how--how, man?" cried Desmond impatiently. "How can we overtake himon foot?"
"He will have to ride near to Rajmahal to find a ford, sir. He willcross there, and ride back down the river some five coss before he comesto Manda."
"But could he not swim the river?"
"He could, sir, but it is a feat he is not likely to attempt, seeingthat there is no need for haste. I implore you, sir, start at once.Otherwise I am a ruined man; my old age will be spent in poverty anddistress."
"If he cannot cross, how can I?" said Desmond.
"There is sure to be a boat on the bank, sir, unless they have all beenseized by the Nawab, who, rumour says, is coming from Bhagwangola byriver to Rajmahal."
Desmond felt uneasy and perplexed. He doubted whether his duty to Clivedid not forbid him to go in search of the ladies, and there was nopossibility of communicating in time with either Clive or Coote. Thenit suddenly occurred to him that pursuit of Diggle might well comewithin his duty. Diggle was in the service of the Nawab; it waspossible that he was even leading an advance guard of Law's Frenchmen.
"Were there any other Europeans besides the risaldar among thehorsemen?" he asked.
"Two, sahib, and they were French. I suspect they were from the forceof Law Sahib; he was, I know, at Patna a few days ago."
Desmond hesitated no longer. His affection for Mr. Merriman prompted anattempt to save the ladies: his mission from Clive was to discover the
movements of the French. If he set off on Diggle's track he mightsucceed in both. It was a risky adventure--to pursue fifty men undersuch a leader as Diggle, with only a score. But twice before he hadtried conclusions with Diggle and come off best: why should fortune failhim the third time?
Hurriedly explaining the situation to Mr. Toley and Bulger, he hastenedwith his men down to the river. There was no boat at the village ghat.He looked anxiously up and down. On the opposite side he saw a longriver-boat moored in a narrow backwater. He could only get it byswimming, and here the current ran so swiftly that to swim would bedangerous. Yet, on the spur of the moment, he was preparing to take tothe water himself when one of his men, a slim and active sepoy,volunteered to go.
"Good! I will give you ten rupees if you bring the boat across. Youare a good swimmer?"
"The sahib will see," replied the man, with a salaam and a smile.
He took a kedgeree pot, an earthen vessel used for cooking, and firmlytied to it a stout bamboo some six feet long, so that the thicker end ofthe pole was even with the mouth of the vessel. The boat was slightlydown the stream. The man ran a little way up stream to a point where aspit of land jutted out into the river, his companions following quicklywith the pot. This they placed mouth downwards in the water. Then thesepoy mounted on top, launched himself on this novel buoy, and, holdingon to the pole, floated breast high in the water down with the current,dexterously steering himself with his legs to the point where the boatwas moored. He clambered into it, and with rapid movements of the sternoar brought it to the other side, receiving with beaming face thepromised reward.
While this was going on the sky had been darkening. A north-wester wascoming up, and after his experience on the eve of Plassey, Desmond knewwhat that meant. He hastily embarked his men, and the boat started; butit had scarcely covered a third of the distance across the river whenthe wind struck it. Fortunately the sail was not up: as it was, theflat-bottomed boat was nearly swamped. Drenching rain began to fall.The river was lashed to fury: for three crowded minutes it seemed toDesmond a miracle that the boat was still afloat. The waves dashed overits sides; the men, blinded by the rain, were too much cowed to attemptto bale out. Desmond was at the helm; Bulger and Toley had an oar each;although only a few yards distant, Desmond could scarcely see themthrough the pelting rain. Then the wind moderated somewhat: heperemptorily ordered the men to use their brass lotis[#] to bale out theboat, and determined to turn the storm to account.
[#] Drinking vessels.
With great difficulty he got the sail hoisted, and their the vessel randown the river at racing speed. The distance to Manda, as the Armenianhad told him, was six miles--four by river, two by land. By Diggle'sroute it was ten miles. The horsemen had had such a start of him thathe feared he could not overtake them in time. Still the storm that nowhelped him would hinder them. If he survived the perils of the riverpassage, he might even yet succeed. He was alive to the risks he ran.More than once, as the wind changed a point, it seemed that the crankycraft must turn turtle. But she escaped again and again, plunging onher headlong course. The sepoys were sturdy enough fellows, but beingunused to the water they cowered in the bottom of the boat, except whenDesmond's stern command set them frantically baling. Almost before itseemed possible they came in sight of a bend in the river, which one ofthe men, who knew the district, had described to Desmond as the nearestpoint to the village he sought. So rapid had the passage been thatDesmond felt that, if they could only land in safety, they might havegained considerably on Diggle's horsemen. The latter must have felt thefull effect of the gale: it was likely that for a time they had takenshelter. Desmond and his men were wet to the skin, but, profiting bythe recollection of what had happened at Plassey, they had kept theirammunition dry.
At the bend the river presented a shelving beach, being at least twiceas wide at this point during the rainy season as at other periods.Without hesitation Desmond ran the nose of the boat straight at thebeach: she came to with a violent bump; the men tumbled out waist-deepinto the water, and with shrill cries of relief scrambled ashore.
No time was lost. Waiting only to inspect their muskets, Desmond atonce began the march, the band being led by the man who knew thecountry. Another man, a noted runner, formerly a kasid in theemployment of the Nawab of the Dekkan, was sent in advance to findSurendra Nath's house, give him warning of Desmond's coming, andinstruct him to have some one on the look-out for the approach of theenemy, if Diggle was not indeed already in possession of the village.The rest pushed on with all speed. The storm had cleared the air: therain had ceased; and though it was unpleasant walking over the soppyground, the march was much cooler than it had been earlier in the day.
Desmond longed for a hill from which to get a view of the country; but,as almost everywhere in the valley of the Ganges, it was dead flat. Theparty was within a quarter-mile of the village when the kasid camerunning back. He had found the Babu's house. From its flat roof a bodyof horse had been seen in the distance, nearly a coss away. Desmond atonce ordered his men to double, and as they dashed into the villageamong the wondering people the kasid pointed out Surendra Nath's houseat the far end--a small two-storied building, surrounded by a wall andapproached through a rickety iron gateway. It was the first house towhich the approaching horsemen would come.
A man in native dress was standing at the gate. At first Desmond didnot recognize him, but as he drew nearer he saw that it was SurendraNath himself, looking years older--weak, thin, sunken-eyed, little likethe sleek well-fed Babu Desmond had last seen in Calcutta.
"Are the ladies safe?" asked Desmond, yards ahead of his men.
"Yes, sir, quite safe," replied Surendra Nath, trembling.
"Thank God for that! Go in, Babu; tell them we are here to protectthem."
While speaking he had eagerly scanned the surroundings. On each side ofthe sodden track that did duty for a road there was a mango grove.Desmond directed Toley to take four men to one side, and Bulger four mento the other, and place themselves among the trees. When the firstthree files of the horsemen should have passed through, the seamen wereto give the word to fire; then, taking advantage of the inevitableconfusion, to rush with their men to the house. Desmond himselfmeanwhile, with the remaining twelve, set to work to strengthen thedefences. These proceedings were watched with amazement by thevillagers, who, men, women, and children, stood in groups, discussing inshrill tones the movements of these energetic strangers.
There was a small veranda to the house. This was wrenched away by mainforce. The posts and other parts of the woodwork were carried to thegateway and piled up as rapidly as possible to form a rough barricade.Scarcely was this task half accomplished when the clanking of weaponswas heard in the distance, soon accompanied by the swashing of horses'hoofs on the drenched soil. Desmond coolly ordered his men to proceedwith the work. A minute later there was a sharp discharge of musketry,followed by cries, shouts, and the sound of galloping horses. Thevillagers scuttled away shrieking. Immediately afterwards Bulger andToley with their eight men sprang from cover and made a dash for thewall.
"Muskets first!" shouted Desmond.
The muskets were pitched over: then the men scrambled up, Desmond andhis sepoys assisting them to get across. Almost the first to drop downinto the compound was Bulger, whose hook had proved, not for the firsttime, of more service than a sound left arm. Once over himself, he usedhis hook to haul the sepoys after him, with many a vigorous "Yo heaveho!"
"All aboard, sir," he cried, when the last of the men was within thewall. "I may be wrong, but I lay my button-hook 'tis now all hands torepel boarders; and only two cutlasses among us--mine and Mr. Toley's.Howsomdever, notwithstandin', and which is all the same!"
Desmond ordered four of his men to post themselves at the barricadedgateway: the rest he divided into two parties, and stationed behind thewall at each side. The wall was six feet high--too high to fireover--but as it was in a somewhat dilapidated condition there
was nodifficulty in knocking away several loose bricks at intervals, so as tomake a rough-and-ready battlement. Desmond instructed the men to firealternately through the embrasures thus made. As soon as one had firedhe was to fall back and reload as fast as possible while another mantook his place. By this device, Desmond hoped to deceive the enemy fora time as to the numbers of the defenders in the compound.
But it was not to be expected that the enemy could long be kept out, andin the last resort it would be necessary to retreat to the house. Inview of the presence of the ladies this was a step to be avoided ifpossible. It might indeed be the wiser course to surrender for theirsakes. As the thought struck Desmond he called to the Babu, who waskeeping watch on the roof.
"Babu," he said, "ask the ladies to occupy the least-exposed room. Tellthem that if the enemy get over the wall I will try to make anarrangement with them, rather than provoke an attack on the house."
The Babu disappeared. But a few moments later Phyllis Merriman, wearingthe costume of a native lady came running out.
"Mother bids me say, Mr. Burke," she said, "on no account let suchconsiderations weigh with you. She says fight to the last. We willrisk anything rather than go back to captivity. You will beat them, Mr.Burke, won't you?"
"I will do my best, Miss Merriman," replied Desmond. "But pray go back;they may be here at any moment. I need not say how glad I am to findyou well. Pray tell Mrs. Merriman that we will all do our best for herand you."
"I know you will. And my father?"
"He is distressed, of course, but clings to hope. Do, Miss Merriman,retire at once. I see the enemy coming from the grove."
"Phyllis! Phyllis!" cried Mrs. Merriman from the house; "come in atonce! Mr. Burke, send her in. Have no mercy on the wretches, I imploreyou."
The girl walked back reluctantly. Unknown to Desmond, she went nofurther than the doorway, where, just hidden from sight, she watched allthat followed.
The enemy had clearly been nonplussed by their sudden check. There wereno British troops, so far as they knew, for many miles round, andconcerted resistance from the natives was unlikely. But they were nowemerging from the mango grove, a hundred yards away. They came on foot,leaving their horses out of musket range. Desmond's heart sank as hecounted them. There were even more than he had supposed. They numberedfifty-four, and several had no doubt been left in charge of the horses.Still he felt that he had two advantages. The first was his positionbehind a wall; the second, the fact that the enemy, unless they hadobtained information from the villagers, could not know what force theyhad to deal with. Their ignorance of course must be only temporary; ifone of them should succeed in mounting the wall the weakness of thedefence must immediately be seen.
As the enemy, tall men in the costume of native cavalry, assembled bytwos and threes at the edge of the grove Desmond noticed three Europeansleave the main body and advance some way into the open. It was with aflush of indignation and a fierce resolve to bring him at last to bookthat Desmond recognized one of them as Diggle. With his companions hewalked at a safe distance completely round the building. For some timethey halted at the back, carefully scanning the position. Here the wallapproached the house much more closely than in the front, and no onecould mount it without being fully exposed to fire from the upperwindows. After his examination, Diggle returned with the two men, whomfrom their appearance Desmond judged to be Frenchmen, to the main body,and sent off half a dozen men towards the other end of the village.While they were gone one of the Frenchmen seemed to Desmond to beexpostulating with Diggle; but the latter only laughed and waved hisgloved hand in the direction of the house.
The messengers soon returned, dragging with them three of the villagers.These Diggle took aside separately and questioned: it was clear toDesmond that he was ascertaining the strength of the garrison.Apparently satisfied, he divided his force into three parts; thelargest, consisting of some forty men, remained at the edge of thegrove; the two smaller proceeded to the right and left of the back ofthe house. One was in command of a Frenchman, but the Frenchman who hadexpostulated with Diggle had apparently refused to have anything to dowith the affair: he held himself aloof, and by and by disappeared intothe grove. Diggle's evident intention was to weaken the garrison byforcing Desmond to divide his already too small force. He had to detacheight of his men--three to the windows and five to the wall; leavingonly fourteen, including Bulger and Toley, to meet the rush in front.
It was not long in coming. Diggle did not wait to parley. Taking amusket from one of his men he raised it to his shoulder and fired at asepoy whose head just showed above the gate. The man raised his hand tohis brow and fell back with a sharp cry--a bullet had ploughed a furrowthrough his scalp. Desmond checked his men as they were about to firein reply; but when, in the rush that followed, the enemy came withinthirty yards, he gave the word, and seven muskets flashed forth acrossthe barricade. The attacking party were coming forward in close order,and five of the men fell. But the rest sprang forward with shrillyells, Diggle, who was untouched, urging them on. Even the fire ofDesmond's second rank failed to check them. Two or three dropped;others were soon swarming up the wall, and though the defenders withclubbed muskets struck savagely at their heads and hands as theyappeared above the coping, if one drew back, another took his place; andthe wall was so long that at several points there were gaps betweenDesmond's sepoys where the enemy could mount unmolested.
Desmond, having discharged his two pistols, disposing of one of theassailants with each shot, was in the act of reloading when Diggle leaptinto the compound, followed by two of his men. Shouting to Bulger,Desmond threw the pistols and rammer on the ground behind him, and,drawing his sword, dashed at the three intruders, who were slightlywinded by the charge and their exertions in scaling the wall.
Desmond could never afterwards remember the details of the crowdedmoments that followed. There were cries all around him: behind, thestrident voice of Mr. Toley was cheering his men to repel the assault atthe back of the house; at his side Bulger was bellowing like a bull ofBashan. But all this was confused noise to him, for his attention waswholly occupied with his old enemy. His first lunge at Diggle wasneatly parried, and the two, oblivious of all that was happening aroundthem, looked and into each other's eyes, read grim determination there,and fought with a cold fury that meant death to the first that gave anopening to his opponent's sword.
If motive counted, if the right cause could always win, the issueadmitted of no doubt. Desmond had a heavy score to pay off. From thetime when he had met Diggle in the street at Market Drayton to his lastencounter with him at the Battle of the Carts, he had been the mark ofhis enmity, malice, spite, trickery. But Desmond thought less of hisown wrongs than of the sorrow of his friend Mr. Merriman, and theharrowing wretchedness which must have been the lot of the ladies whilethey were in Diggle's power. The man had brought misery into so manylives that it would be a good deed if, in the fortune of war, Desmond'ssword could rid the world of him.
And Diggle, on his side, was nerved by the power of hate. Baseless aswere his suspicions of Desmond's friendship with Sir Willoughby Stokes,he felt that this boy was an obstacle. Ever since their paths hadcrossed he had been conscious that he had to do with a finer, noblernature than his own; and Desmond's courage and skill had again and againfrustrated him. As he faced him now, it was with the feeling that, ifthis boy were killed, a most dangerous barrier to the realisation of hisnefarious schemes would be removed. Thus, on either side, it was war tothe death. What Desmond lacked in skill and experience he made up forby youth and strength. The two combatants were thus equally matched: agrain in the scale might decide the issue. But the longer the fightlasted the better were Desmond's chances. He had youth in his favour.Thanks in large measure to Diggle himself, Desmond had led a hard life:his muscles were like iron. The older man by and by began to flag: morethan once his guard was nearly beaten down: nothing but his great skillin swordsmanship and the coolness that n
ever deserted him saved him fromthe sharp edge of Desmond's blade.
But when he seemed almost at the end of his strength, fortune suddenlybefriended him. Bulger, with his clubbed musket and terrible iron hook,had disposed of the two men who leapt with Diggle into the compound; butthere were others behind them: three men dropped to the ground close by,and, making a simultaneous rush, bore Bulger back against Desmond,hampering his sword arm. One of Desmond's sepoys sprang to the rescue,but he was too late to stem the tide. A blow from a musket stockdisabled Bulger's right arm; he lost his footing. As he fell, his hook,still active, caught Diggle's leg and brought him to the ground, justas, taking advantage of the diversion, he was making exultantly what heintended for a final lunge at Desmond. He fell headlong, rolling overBulger, who was already on the ground.
How the end came Desmond did not clearly see. He knew that he was besetby three of Diggle's men, and, falling back before them, he heard thevoice of Phyllis Merriman close by, and felt a pistol thrust into hishand. She had slipped out of the doorway, picked up the weapons as theylay where Desmond had flung them, completed the loading, and advancedfearlessly into the thick of the fray. At one and the same momentDesmond fired upon his enemies and implored the brave girl to go back.Then suddenly there was a lull in the uproar. Bulger was upon his feet,Diggle's men paused in their fighting and gazed in consternation attheir prostrate leader. It seemed but a moment; then every man of themwas scrambling pell-mell over the wall, yelling as the stocks of thesepoys' muskets sped them on their flight.
"What is it?" asked Desmond.
Bulger pointed to the form of Diggle, lying huddled among the fallen.
"He've gone to his account, sir, which I may be wrong, but the Almightyhave got a long black score agen him."
"How did it happen?"
Bulger lifted his hook.
"'Twas that there Diggle as was the why and wherefore o' this littleornament, sir, and 'twas only right he should be paid for what he done.We fell down, him and me; I was under. He hoisted himself on his handsto get free, and I lifted my hook, sir, and caught him a blow under thechin. If it didn't break his neck, sir, my name en't Bill Bulger, whichI'm sorry for his poor wicked soul all the same."
Phyllis had her hands clasped about Desmond's arm.
"Is he dead?" she asked in a voice of awe.
"Come away," said Desmond quietly, leading her towards the house. "Letus find your mother."