CHAPTER V.
COMPANIONS IN FLIGHT.
Everything needed having been gathered, the lamps were extinguished,and with the physician in the lead, the three passed out of the frontdoor to the veranda. The doctor decided to leave the door unfastened,since it was useless to secure it.
Suddenly, when the doctor was about to give the word to move, he saw ashadowy figure in the direction of the river.
"Sh!" he whispered; "it looks as if we had waited too long; some one isapproaching. Be ready to use your gun or to retreat into the house ifnecessary to fight it out there."
"It is a white man," said the daughter in an undertone; "he may be apatient."
It was clear by this time that the stranger was not a native, for hewas dressed in civilized costume and his gait was that of a European.He did not perceive the silent figures until within a few paces of theveranda, when he paused abruptly, as if startled.
"Good evening," he said in English. "Is this Dr. Marlowe?"
"It is; who are you?"
"My name is Anderson; I was looking for you."
"In what way can I serve you?"
"You have heard the news, I suppose," said the man, keeping hisposition, and looking up to the three, who were now all on the edge ofthe veranda; "the native soldiers at Meerut mutinied yesterday, killedmost of their officers, plundered the city, slaying every white personthey could find, after which most of them hurried to Delhi."
"You bring dreadful tidings; I had heard nothing definite, butsuspected all that you have told me. Are you alone and why do you cometo me?"
"I fled with my wife and two other families, Turner and Wharton, fromthe outskirts of Meerut as soon as there seemed a chance for us. Wemade our way to the river, found a boat and paddled to this place, forwe had no sail and there was scarcely any wind."
"Where are your friends?"
"I left them by the edge of the river in the boat, promising to rejointhem in a few minutes."
"Have you no companions, but those you named?"
"None; my wife and I buried two children last Summer; Mr. Turner hasnone, and Mr. Wharton and his young wife were but recently married."
"You have not told me why you come to me?"
"Chiefly to warn you of your peril and to beseech you to fly before itis too late."
"I thank you very much for your solicitude; it was kind on the part ofyou and your friends, but it strikes me that one place is about as safeas another."
"We are so far from the large cities and the coast that it is uselessto attempt to reach any of them. Our first aim was to get as far fromMeerut as possible; then as we found ourselves approaching your home,it seemed to us there was a chance for our lives by pushing to thenorthward, into the wilder and less settled country, where the flamesof the insurrection may not reach."
"Your sentiments are our own; you have been wonderfully fortunate ingetting this far; my friends and I have seen enough to warn us to loseno time, and we were on the point of starting when I saw you."
"May I ask what course you intend to take?"
"I have lived here for twenty years, so that I am acquainted with thesection. My intention was to follow a slightly travelled road, which,in fact, is little more than a bridle path, until several miles beyondAkwar, when we should come back to the main highway and keep to thatfor fifty or perhaps a hundred miles. By that time, we should be safe,if such a thing as safety is possible."
"Your plan is a good one, but is not mine better?"
"What is that?"
"I, too, am familiar with this part of the country; a stream emptiesinto the Ganges just eastward of your house, hardly a half miledistant; it must have its source somewhere among the foothills of theHimalayas. At any rate, it is navigable for all of a hundred miles.It seems to me that when paddling up that stream at night, between thewooded banks, there will be less chance of being discovered by enemiesthan when travelling overland, as you contemplate."
"I am favorably impressed with your plan; do I understand you to inviteus to join your party?"
"You are more than welcome; our boat will accommodate us all withoutcrowding, but I regret to say we have but a single gun among us. Thatis mine, which I left with my friends against my return."
"We are well supplied in that respect; we accept your invitation withmany thanks."
As the doctor spoke he stepped down from the veranda, followed by theothers, and Mr. Anderson led the way across the lawn to the river,where his friends were awaiting his coming with many misgivings. Ageneral introduction followed. A common danger makes friends ofstrangers, and in a few minutes all were as well acquainted as if theyhad known one another for days and weeks. Anderson and Turner were menin middle life, while Wharton was of about the same age as JackEverson. They had lived for several years on the outskirts of Meerut,but it was young Wharton who discovered the impending peril, and it wasdue to him that the three families escaped the fate of hundreds ofothers on that woful night. The young wife and Mary Marlowe becameintimate friends at once, while, as has been said, there was a hearty,genuine comradeship immediately established among all.
The boat was larger than Dr. Marlowe and his companions suspected. Itwas more than twenty feet in length, with a cabin at the stern, a placefor a mast, though there was neither mast nor sail on board. Andersonhad spoken of paddling to this point, when, had he spoken correctly, hewould have said that no paddles were used, but that the craft waspropelled by means of poles.