Chapter 14: A Surprise.
Dick was much pleased with the governor. He was evidently an outspokenold soldier and, though rough, his bearded face had an honest andkindly expression, and he thought to himself, "If my father fell intohis hands, I don't think he would be treated with any unnecessaryhardship, though no doubt the sultan's orders would be obeyed."
When a soldier came in, to say that the horses were at the door, theywent out. An officer was standing beside them, and the governorpresented him as his chief artillery officer.
"You have not brought your horse," he said.
"No, your Excellency. The distance is not great, and we should need todismount so many times, to get a view from the walls, that it wouldnot be worthwhile to ride."
"In that case, we may as well walk, also," Dick said.
"I would rather do so, too," the governor said. "I proposed riding,because I thought you might be tired. As Bakir Meeram says, thedistance is not great. The walls themselves, with the exception ofthose of the two forts, are not more than half a mile in extent; forin most places the rocks go sheer down, and there defences are, ofcourse, unnecessary. We will inspect this fort, first."
They went the round of the walls, Dick and his companion listening tothe suggestions of the two officers. The principal one was that a wallshould be raised, inside the gate.
"The English, last time, got in here by rushing in at the tail of thefugitives from below. They were in before the gates could be closed,and took our men so completely by surprise that they were seized witha panic. Were we to raise a semicircular wall behind the gateway, sucha thing could not occur again," the governor said. "Of course, therewould be a gate in the inner wall, but not immediately behind theouter gateway as, if so placed, it might be destroyed by the cannonshots that battered the outer gate in. I should, therefore, put it atone end of the inner wall. This gate would be generally open, but incase of a siege I should have it blocked up with stones piled behindit, placing a number of ladders by which men, running in, could get onto the walls, and, however closely they were pursued, could make astand there until the ladders were pulled up."
"That would be an excellent idea," Surajah said gravely, "and I willcertainly lay it before the sultan. I suppose you would propose thesame for the other fort?"
"Just the same."
"The only thing that I would observe," Dick said, "is that, if anenemy once got a footing on the top here, you could not hope to make along defence of these forts."
"That is so," the governor agreed. "The strength of the defence is nothere, but on the upward road, and if the English once gained the topthe forts must fall; but at least it shall not be said, as long as Iam governor, that Savandroog fell almost bloodlessly. In these fortswe can at least die bravely, and sell our lives to the last. It is forthat reason I desire that they shall be so defended that they cannotbe carried, as they were before, by a sudden rush."
The other fort was then visited, and a tour made round the walls. Thesuggestions offered by the governor and the officers were all noteddown and approved.
Then they made what was, to Dick, the most important part of theinspection; namely, an examination of the undefended portion of therock. The result showed him that the builders of the defences had notacted unwisely in trusting solely to nature. At many points the rockfell away in precipices, hundreds of feet deep. At other points,although the descent was less steep, it was, as far as he could seefrom above, altogether unclimbable; but this he thought he would beable to judge better, from below.
"Do you have sentries round here at night?" he asked the governor.
"No. It would not be necessary, even if an enemy were encamped below.If you will ride round the foot of the hill when you leave, you willsee for yourself that, save from the side you came up, the place isabsolutely inaccessible."
The view from the top of the hill was superb. Away to the northeast,the governor pointed out the pagodas of Bangalore, twenty-two milesaway; the distance, in the clear air, seeming comparatively trifling.
"Are there many troops there?" Dick asked.
"There are about five battalions of the regular troops, and threeChelah battalions. These can hardly be counted as troops. They havenever been of the slightest use. In the last war they ran like sheep.It is a fancy of the sultan's. But, indeed, he can hardly expect mento fight who have been forced into the ranks, and made to acceptMohammedanism against their will. Naturally they regard an invader,not as an enemy, but as a deliverer.
"Of course the sultan's idea was, that since the native troops,drilled and led by Englishmen, fought so well; the Chelahs, who werealso drilled and led by Englishmen, would do the same. But theCompany's troops are willing soldiers, and it is the English leading,more than the English drill, that makes them fight. If the Chelahswere divided among the hill fortresses they might do good service; andI could, as far as fighting goes, do with a battalion of them here;for, mixed up with my men, they would have to do their duty. But, ofcourse, they will never be placed in the hill forts, for one wouldnever be safe from treachery. Even if all the lower walls were in thehands of my own men, some of the Chelahs would be sure to manage todesert, and give information as to all the defences."
A considerable portion of the upper plateau of the rock was occupiedby the huts of the troops, for the forts were much too small tocontain them and their families. On their way back, they passedthrough these. Dick looked anxiously about for white faces, but couldsee none, nor any building that seemed to him likely to be used as aprison.
When they returned to the governor's quarters, they found that a roomhad been placed at their disposal, and they presently sat down todinner with him.
"I suppose you have no English prisoners here?" Dick said carelessly,when the meal was over.
The governor paused a moment, before he replied.
"I don't want any of them here," he said shortly. "Batches are sentup, sometimes, from Bangalore; but it is only for execution. I am aloyal subject of the sultan, but I would that this work could be doneelsewhere. Almost all the executions take place in the hill forts; inorder, I suppose, that they may be done secretly. I obey orders, but Inever see them carried out. I never even see the captives. They havedone no harm, or, at most, one of their number has tried to escape,for which they are not to be blamed. I always have them shot, whetherthat is the mode of execution ordered or not. It is a soldier's death,and the one I should choose myself, and so that they are dead it canmatter little to the sultan how they die. If they were all shot, assoon as they were taken, I should not think so much of it; but afterbeing held captive for years, and compelled to work, it seems to methat their lives should be spared. As far as giving up my own life isconcerned, I would willingly do it at the orders of the sultan, butthese executions make me ill. I lose my appetite for weeks afterwards.Let us talk of something else."
And the governor puffed furiously away at the hookah he had justlighted. Then the conversation turned to the forts again.
"No, I do not find the life dull," he said, in answer to a remark ofDick's. "I did so at first, but one soon becomes accustomed to it. Ihave my wife and two daughters, and there are ten officers, so that Ican have company when I choose. All the officers are married, and thatgives society. Up here, we do not observe strictly the rules of theplains, and although the ladies, of course, wear veils when they gobeyond the house, they put them aside indoors, and the families mixfreely with each other, so that we get on very well. You see, thereare very few changes ever made, and as many of the ladies are, like mywife, no longer young, we treat them as comrades."
In the morning Dick and Surajah mounted their horses, took a heartyfarewell of the governor, and rode down to the gate. A soldier hadbeen sent down, half an hour before, and they found their escort inreadiness to move. They had decided that, before going to the nextfort, they would ride round the foot of the hill of Savandroog. Thisthey did, going at a foot pace, and scanning the cliffs and slopes asthey passed. Sometimes they reined up their hors
es and rode a littlefarther back, so as to have a view to the very summit.
When they completed the round, they agreed that there were but twospots where it seemed to them that an ascent was barely possible, andthey were very doubtful whether the difficulties, when examined moreclosely, would not prove to be absolutely insurmountable.
"That is not a satisfactory outlook," Dick said, "but fortunatelythere is, now, no motive for climbing the precipice. Certainly thoseplaces would be of no use to a party wanting to make an attack. In thefirst place, though you and I might get up, with soft shoes on, I amsure that English soldiers, with muskets and ammunition pouches, couldnever do it, especially at night; and in the daytime, even if a bodyof troops strong enough to be of any use could get up, those who firstarrived at the top would be killed before the others could come totheir assistance, and a few stones rolled down would sweep all behindthem to the bottom.
"I don't like turning my back on the place," he went on, as theyturned their horses' heads to the south; for Savandroog was thefarthest north of the forts they were to visit. "It seems to me that,even now, my father may be there."
"How can that be, Dick?" Surajah said in surprise. "Nothing could bemore straightforward than the governor seemed to be. I thought that hewas even rash, in speaking as frankly as he did to us."
"I think he saw there was no fear of our repeating what he said,Surajah. He is a frank, outspoken old soldier, and has evidently beenso disgusted at the treatment of the prisoners that he could not mincehis words; and yet, you know, he did not absolutely say that he had noprisoners."
"No; I noticed that he did not reply directly to your question."
"On the contrary, he distinctly hesitated before he spoke. Now, whyshould he have done that? He might just as well have said, 'No, I haveno prisoners. They are only sent up here for execution.' That wouldhave been his natural answer. Instead of that he hesitated, and thenbegan, 'I don't want any of them here; batches are sent up sometimesfrom Bangalore.' Now, why did he shirk the question? If it had beenany other subject, I might not have noticed that he had not reallyanswered it, but of course, as it was so important a one, I waslistening most anxiously for his reply, and noticed his hesitation atonce, and that he gave no direct answer at all.
"Now, think it over, Surajah. Why should he have hesitated, and whyshould he have turned the question off without answering it, unlessthere had been some reason? And if so, what could the reason be?"
Surajah had no suggestion to make, and they rode on for some distancein silence.
"It is quite evident," Dick went on, after a long pause, "that he is akind-hearted man, and that he objects altogether to Tippoo's crueltyto the prisoners. Therefore, if he had any captives, his reason fornot answering was most likely a kindly one."
"Yes, I should think so."
"You see, he would consider that we should report, to the sultan, allparticulars we had gathered about the fortress. His remarks about theexecution of the prisoners, and the worthlessness of the Chelahbattalions, and so on, was a private conversation, and was only amatter of opinion. But, supposing he had had some prisoners, and hadsaid so, we might, for anything he knew, have had orders to inspectthem, and to report about them, as well as about the garrisons anddefences."
"Yes, he might have thought that," Surajah agreed; "but after all, whyshould he mind that?"
Dick did not answer for some time. He was trying to think it out.Presently, he reined in his horse suddenly.
"This might be the reason," he said, excitedly. This governor may bethe very one who we heard had taken my father with him, when he wasmoved from that fort up in the north. He was in command atKistnagherry before he came here, after the war, and he may have goneto Kistnagherry from that fort in the north. You see there have beenexecutions, but they have been those of fresh batches sent up, and thegovernor would not include the captive he had brought with him. Intime, his very existence may have been forgotten, and he may still beliving there. That would account for the governor's objection toanswering the question, as he would be sure that, did Tippoo hearthere was a prisoner there, he would send orders for him to beexecuted at once.
"This may be all fancy, Surajah, but I cannot think of any otherreason why he should have shirked my question."
He took up the reins again, and the horse at once started forward.They rode for some little time in silence, Dick thinking the matterover, again and again, and becoming more and more convinced he wasright; except that, as he admitted to himself, the prisoner whom thegovernor wished to shield might not be his father.
He was roused, at last, by Surajah asking the question, "Is thereanything that you would like us to do?"
"Not now," Dick replied. "We could not go back again. We must visitthe other forts on our list, and see what we can find out there. Whenwe have quite assured ourselves that my father is not in any of them,we can think this over again; but at present we must put it aside.However, I sha'n't rest until I get to the bottom of it."
During the next ten days, they inspected the forts of Navandroog,Sundradroog, Outradroog, and Chitteldroog. Few of these were asextensive, and none so strong, as Savandroog. They did the officialpart of their business, and assured themselves that no Englishcaptives were contained in any of them. The governors all said thatprisoners were never kept there many days, and that it was only whenTippoo wished to get rid of them that they were sent there. None ofthe governors made any objection to answering Dick's questions on thesubject, generally adding an expression of satisfaction that prisonerswere never left long under their charge.
"It entails a lot of trouble," the governor of Outradroog said. "Theyhave to be watched incessantly, and one never feels certain they maynot slip away. Look at this place. You would think that no one couldmake his escape; and yet, some ten years ago, fourteen of them gotaway from here. They slid down a precipice, where no one would havethought a human being could have got down alive. They were all of themretaken, except one, and executed the following day; but the sultanwas so furious that, although it was no fault of the governor, who hadsentries placed everywhere, he sent for him to Seringapatam, and threwhim to the tigers, declaring that there must have been treachery atwork. You may be sure that I have no desire to hold English prisoners,after that; and when they have been sent here have been glad, indeed,when orders came for their execution.
"A good many were ordered to be starved to death. But I never waitedfor that. It took too long. Do what I could, the guards would smugglein pieces of bread, and they lingered on for weeks; so that it wasmore merciful to finish with them at once, besides making me feelcomfortable at the knowledge that there was no chance of their makingtheir escape. There were sentries at their doors, as well as on thewalls, when the fourteen I have told you about escaped; but they dug apassage out at the back of their hut, chose a very dark night, and itwas only when the sound of some stones, that they dislodged as theyscrambled down the precipice, gave the alarm to the sentries, thattheir escape was discovered.
"No, I do not want any prisoners up here, and when they do come, thereis no sleep for me until I get the order to execute them. But they donot often come now. Most of the prisoners who were not given up havebeen killed since, and there are not many of them left."
Upon finishing their round, they returned to Seringapatam, where Dickdrew up a full report of the result of their investigations. Thesultan himself went through it with them, questioned them closely, cutoff a good many of the items, and gave orders that the other demandsshould be complied with, and the guns and ammunition sent off at onceto the various forts, from the great arsenal at the capital.
Dick was depressed at the result of their journey. His hopes hadfallen lower and lower, as, at each fort they visited, he heard thesame story--that all prisoners sent up to the mountain fortresses had,in a short time, been put to death. It was possible, of course, thathis father might still be at one of the towns where new levies hadbeen drilled; but he had not, from the first, thought it likely that amerchant s
ailor would be put to this work; and had it not been that heclung to the belief that there was a prisoner at Savandroog, and thatthat prisoner was his father, he would have begun to despair.
It was true that there were still many hill forts scattered about thecountry, unvisited, but there seemed no reason why any of theprisoners should have been allowed to survive in these forts, whenthey had all been put to death in those they had visited, among whichwere the places that had been most used as prisons.
"I would give it up," he said to Surajah, "were it not that, in thefirst place, it would almost break my mother's heart. Her convictionthat my father is still alive has never been shaken. It has supportedher all these years, and I believe that, were I to return and tell herthat it was no longer possible to hope, her faith would still beunshaken. She would still think of him as pining in some dungeon, andwould consider that I had given up the search from faint heartedness.That is my chief reason. But I own that I am almost as much influencedby my own conviction that he is in Savandroog. I quite admit that Ican give no reason whatever why, if there is a prisoner there, itshould be my father, and yet I cannot get it out of my mind that it ishe. I suppose it is because I have the conviction that I believe init. Why should I have that impression so strongly, if it were not atrue one? I tell myself that it is absurd, that I have no real groundsto go upon, and yet that does not shake my faith in the slightest. Itis perhaps because we have been so fortunate. Altogether everythinghas turned out so favourably, that I can't help thinking he is alive,and that I shall find him.
"What do you think, Surajah? Ought we to give it up?"
"Why should we?" Surajah replied stoutly. "I think you are right, andthat we are destined to find your father. There is no hurry. We havenot been anything like so long a time as we expected to be, andFortune has, as you say, befriended us wonderfully. We are well offhere. We have positions of honour. For myself, I could wish fornothing better."
"Well, at any rate we will wait for a time," Dick said. "We may besent to Savandroog again, and if so, I will not leave the place untilI find out from the governor whether he has still a prisoner; and ifso, manage to obtain a sight of him."
The next day, Dick was informed by the chamberlain that the officerwho was in charge of the wild beasts had fallen into disgrace, andthat the sultan had appointed him to the charge. Dick was wellpleased, in some respects. The work would suit him much better thanexamining stores, and seeing that the servants of the Palace did theirduty; but, on the other hand, it lessened his chance of being sent toSavandroog again. However, there was no choice in the matter, andSurajah cheered him by saying:
"You must not mind, Dick. Has not everything turned out for the best?And you may be sure that this will turn out so, also."
It was, indeed, but two days later that Dick congratulated himselfupon the change, for Surajah was sent by Tippoo with an order for theexecution of four English prisoners. Dick knew nothing of the matteruntil Surajah, on his return, told him that he had been obliged tostop and see the orders carried out, by poison being forced down theunfortunate officers' throats.
"It was horrible," he said, with tears in his eyes.
"Horrible!" Dick repeated. "Thank God I have been put to other work,for I feel that I could not have done it. And yet, to have refused tocarry out the tyrant's orders would have meant death to us both, whileit would not have saved the lives of these poor fellows. Anyhow, Iwould not have done it. As soon as I had received the order I wouldhave come to you, and we would have mounted and ridden off together,and taken our chance."
"Let us talk of something else," Surajah said. "Are the beasts all ingood health?"
"As well as they can be, when they are fed so badly, and so miserablycooped up. I made a great row this morning, and have kept the men atwork all day in cleaning out the places. They were all in a horriblestate, and before I could get the work done, I had to threaten toreport the whole of them to Tippoo, and they knew what would come ofthat. I told Fazli, last night, that the beasts must have more flesh,and got an order from him that all the bones from the kitchens shouldbe given to them."
That evening when Dick, on his way to the apartments of one of theofficers, was going along a corridor that skirted the portion of thePalace occupied by the zenana; a figure came out suddenly from behindthe drapery of a door, dropped on her knees beside him, and, seizinghis hand, pressed it to her forehead. It was, to all appearance, anIndian girl in the dress of one of the attendants of the zenana.
"What is it, child?" he said. "You must have mistaken me for someoneelse."
"No, Bahador," she said, "it is yourself I wanted to thank. One of theother attendants saw you go along this corridor, some time ago, andever since I have watched here of an evening, whenever I could getaway unobserved, in hopes of seeing you. It was I, my lord, whom thetiger was standing over when you came to our rescue. I was not greatlyhurt, for I was pushed down when the tiger burst in, and, save that itseized me with one of its paws, and tore my shoulder, I was unhurt.Ever since I have been hoping that the time would come when I couldthank you for saving my life."
"I am glad to have done so, child. But you had best retire into thezenana. It would not be good for you, or me, were I found talking toyou."
The girl rose to her feet submissively, and he now saw her face,which, in the dim light that burnt in the corridor, he had nothitherto noticed.
"Why," he exclaimed, with a start, "you are English!"
"Yes, Sahib. I was brought here eight years ago. I am fourteen now.There were other English girls here then, but they were all older thanme, and have been given away to officers of the sultan. I am afraid Ishall be, too, ere long. I have dreaded it so much! But oh, Sahib, youare a favourite of the sultan. If he would but give me to you, Ishould not mind so much."
Dick was about to reply, when he heard a distant footfall.
"Go in," he exclaimed. "Someone is coming. I will speak to you again,in a day or two."
When he returned to his room, he told Surajah what had happened.
"It will, at any rate, give me a fresh interest here," he said. "It isterrible to think that a young English girl should be in Tippoo'spower, and that he can give her, whenever he likes, to one of hiscreatures. Of course, according to our English notions, she is stillbut a young girl, but as your people out here marry when the girls arebut of the age of this child, it is different altogether."
"She does not suspect that you are English?"
"No. As I told you, I had only just discovered that she was so, when Iheard a footstep in the distance. But I shall see her again, tomorrowor next day."
"You will be running a great risk," Surajah said gravely.
"Not much risk, I think," Dick replied. "She is only a little slavegirl, and as the tiger was standing over her when I fired, no doubt Idid save her life, and it would be natural enough that she would, onmeeting me, speak to me and express her thanks."
"That would be a good excuse," Surajah agreed. "But a suspicioustyrant, like Tippoo, might well insist that this was only a pretence,and that the girl was really giving you a letter or message from oneof the inmates of the zenana."
Dick was silent for a time.
"I will be very careful," he said. "I must certainly see her again,and it seems to me, at present, that whatever risk there may be, Imust try to save this poor girl from the fate that awaits her. Icannot conceal from myself that, however much I may refuse to admitit, the hopes of my finding and saving my father are faint indeed; andalthough this girl is nothing to me, I should feel that my mission hadnot been an entire failure, if we could take her home with us andrestore her to her friends.
"No, I don't think," he went on, in answer to a grave shake ofSurajah's head, "that it would add to our danger in getting away. Weknow that, if we try to escape and are caught, our lives will beforfeited in any case; and if she were disguised as a boy, we couldtravel with her without attracting any more observation than we shouldalone. She would not be missed for hours after she had left, an
d therewould be no reason, whatever, for connecting her departure with ours.I don't say, Surajah, that I have made up my mind about it--of courseit has all come fresh to me, and I have not had time to think it overin any way. Still, it does seem to me that when the time for ourleaving comes, whether we ride off openly as Tippoo's officers, orwhether we go off in disguise, there ought to be no very greatdifficulty in taking her away with us. You see that yourself, don'tyou?"
"I can't give any opinion about it, at present," Surajah replied. "Ido think that it will add to our difficulties, however we may go, butI don't say it cannot be managed."
"I should think not, Surajah, and it would be worth doing, howevergreat the difficulties might be. Just think of the grief that herparents must feel, at her loss, and the joy when she is restored tothem. You see, it would be no great loss of time, if we were obligedto take her down to Tripataly first, and then come back again to renewour search. It would take but a week, going and returning, and nowthat the passes are all open to us, the difficulties would be nothingto what they were when we went back after our scouting expedition.Besides, at that time they were more vigilant, all along the frontier,than they will be now, because there was war between the twocountries, and Tippoo was anxious that no news of his movements shouldbe taken down. There is no talk of war now, for though Tippoo makes nodisguise of his fury at his losses, especially at Coorg being takenfrom him, and is evidently bent upon fighting again, it will take avery long time to get his army into an efficient state, to repair hisfortresses, to complete all the new works of defence he is getting uphere, and to restore the confidence of his soldiers.
"I should think it will be fully four or five years before he is readyto fight again. At any rate, if we once get well away from here withthe girl, we ought to have no difficulty in getting across thefrontier. It would mean but a fortnight lost in the search for myfather, and, anyhow, we are not making any progress that way as longas we stop here. The only drawback would be, so far as I can see, thatwe should lose the benefit of our official positions, but unless wehappen to be sent off with orders to other hill forts, that positionwill only hamper our movements. Besides, we should still have ourbadges of office, and Tippoo's official orders to the governors.Possibly, the news that we had disappeared might reach the governorsof some of the forts in this neighbourhood, but it would not be likelyto travel very far. His officers so frequently fall into disgrace, andare either killed or thrown to the tigers, that the fact of our beingmissing would scarce excite a remark, and those who heard of it wouldsuppose that we had either been secretly made away with, or that,having learned that Tippoo was displeased with us, we had fled."
Surajah nodded. His confidence in his leader was complete, and he wasalways ready to follow unquestioningly.
"There is one thing, Surajah," Dick concluded. "This state of thingscannot last much longer, anyhow, for next time it might be me heordered to see to the execution of an English prisoner, and that wouldmean that I should, as soon as I received the command, make a bolt forit. So you see our stay here, in any case, may not last many days. Iwould rather run any risks than carry out such an order."
Two evenings later, Dick went down the corridor at the same hour asthat on which he had before met the English girl. She came out frombehind the hangings at once, when he passed.
"I knew you would come, Bahador!" she said joyfully. "I could see thatyou were as kind as you were brave, and would have pity upon a poorlittle white slave!"
"I have much that I want to say to you, child. This is not a goodplace for speaking. Someone might come along at any moment. How longcan you be away, without fear of your absence being noticed?"
"Not long now," she said. "In the morning I am sent out on messages,and could meet you anywhere."
"Very well. I will remain in my room all the morning, tomorrow, and ifyou do not come then, I will stay in next day."
"I will come," the girl said unhesitatingly.
He then gave her full instructions how to find his room, and made herrepeat them to him, in order to be sure that she had them correctly.
"Do you know my companion by sight?" he asked.
"Oh, yes. I have seen him often."
"Well, either he or I will be standing at my door. It is as well thatyou should look carefully round, before you enter, so as to be surethere is no one in the corridor, and that you can slip in unobserved.You may be sure that I am asking you to come for no idle freak, butbecause I have something very important to say to you.
"I fancy I hear footsteps. Good night."
Dick was sure that he and Surajah would both be at liberty next day,for Tippoo had that morning started for Bangalore, where a largenumber of men were at work, repairing the fortifications and removingall signs of the British occupation from the fort and palace. He waslikely to be away for at least a fortnight. As soon as Ibrahim hadswept the room, after their early breakfast, Dick gave him a number ofsmall commissions to be executed in the town, and told him that heshould not require him again until it was time to bring up their mealfrom the kitchen. Then he and Surajah, by turns, watched at the door.
An hour later Surajah, who was upon the watch, said:
"The girl is coming."
There was no one else in sight, and when Surajah beckoned to her, shehurried on, and, passing through the curtains at the door, entered theroom. It had been arranged that Surajah should remain on watch, sothat should, by any chance, one of the officials of their acquaintancecome along, he might go out and talk with him in the corridor, and, onsome excuse or other, prevent his entering the room, if he showed anyintention of doing so.
"Now, in the first place," Dick said, as he led the girl to the divanand seated her there, "what is your name?"
"My name is Goorla."
"No; I mean your proper name?"
"My name used to be Annie--Annie Mansfield, Bahador."
"And my name is Dick Holland," he said, in English.
She gave a start of surprise.
"Yes, Annie, I am a countryman of yours."
She looked at him almost incredulously, and then an expression ofaversion succeeded that of confidence in her face. She sprang from thedivan, and drew herself up indignantly.
"Please let me go," she said haughtily. "You have saved my life, butif you had saved it twenty times, I could not like a man who is adeserter!"
Dick had at first been speechless with astonishment at the girl'schange of manner, and at her reception of the news he had thoughtwould have been very pleasant to her. As her last words threw a lightupon the matter, he burst into a merry laugh.
"I am no deserter, Annie. Save my friend at the door and yourself,there is no one here who knows that I am English. Sit down again, andI will tell you how I come to be here.
"My father was the captain of an English ship. She was wrecked on thewest coast, and he was seized and brought up here a prisoner, eightyears ago. My mother, who is a daughter of the late Rajah ofTripataly, who married an English lady, taught me to speak Hindustani,so that when I got old enough I could come out here and try to findout if my father was still alive, and if so, to help him to escape. Ihad only just come up here, with my friend, who is an officer of theRajah's, when that affair with the tiger took place. Then, as youknow, Tippoo made us both officers in the Palace. Of course, while weare here we can do nothing towards finding out about my father, and weshould not have remained here much longer anyway, and may have toleave at any moment. Since you met me, and I found that there was anEnglish girl captive here, it has of course changed my plans, and Ifeel that I could not go away and leave you to the fate you told meof, and that if possible, I must take you away with me. That is, ofcourse, if you are willing to go with us, and prepared to run acertain amount of risk.
"Do not take on so," he continued, as the girl threw herself on herknees, and, clinging to him, burst into a passion of tears. "Do notcry like that;" and, stooping down, he lifted her, and placed her in acorner of the divan. "There," he said, patting her on the sh
oulder, asshe sobbed almost convulsively; "try and compose yourself. We may bedisturbed at any moment, and may not have an opportunity of talkingagain, so we must make our arrangements, in readiness to leavesuddenly. I may find it necessary to go at an hour's notice. You may,as you said, be given by Tippoo to one of his favourites at any time.Fortunately he has gone away for a fortnight, so we have, at any rate,that time before us to make our plans. Still, it is better that weshould arrange, now, as much as we can."