Chapter 21: Home.
It was early in December, 1792, that Dick Holland joined his regiment,which was stationed at Madras. There were but five other officers, andDick found, to his satisfaction, that the junior of them had had fouryears' service. Consequently, he did not step over any one's head,owing to his commission being dated nearly three years previously. Asthere were, in the garrison, many officers who had served on thegeneral staff in the last war, Dick soon found some of his formeracquaintances, and the story of his long search for his father, andits successful termination, soon spread, and gained for him a place incivil as well as military society.
The next year passed peacefully, and was an unusually quiet time inIndia. That Tippoo intended to renew the war, as soon as he was able,was well known to the government, and one of its chief objects ofsolicitude was the endeavour to counteract the secret negotiationsthat were constantly going on between him, the Nizam, and theMahrattis.
Tippoo was known to have sent confidential messengers to all the greatprinces of India--even to the ruler of Afghanistan--inviting them tojoin the confederacy of the Mahrattis, the Nizam, and himself, todrive the English out of India altogether. Still greater cause foruneasiness was the alliance that Tippoo had endeavoured to make withthe French, who, as he had learned, had gained great successes inEurope; and, believing from their account that their country was muchstronger than England, he had sent envoys to the Mauritius, to proposean offensive and defensive alliance against England. The envoys hadbeen politely received, and some of them had proceeded to France,where Tippoo's proposal had been accepted. They committed France,indeed, to nothing, as she was already at war with England; but theFrench were extremely glad to embrace the proposal of Tippoo, as theyoverrated his power, and believed that he would prove a formidableopponent to the English, and would necessitate the employment ofadditional troops and ships there, and so weaken England's power athome. To confirm the alliance, some sixty or seventy Frenchmen, mostlyadventurers, were sent from the Mauritius as civil and militaryofficers.
Tippoo's council had been strongly opposed to this step on his part.They had pointed out to him that their alliance, with a power at warwith the English, would render war between the English and himinevitable; and that France was not in a position to aid them in anyway. The only benefit, indeed, that he could gain, was the possibilitythat the fourteen thousand French troops, in the service of the Nizam,might revolt and come over to him; but even this was doubtful, asthese were not troops belonging to the French government, but anindependent body, raised and officered by adventurers, who might notbe willing to imperil their own position, and interests, by embarkingon a hazardous war at the orders of a far-distant government.
These events happened soon after Dick's return, but nothing wasgenerally known of what was passing, although reports of Tippoo'sproceedings had reached the government of India. The party ofFrenchmen arrived at Seringapatam and were, at first, well received byTippoo. But they had soon disgusted him by their assumption ofdictatorial powers; while they, on their part, were disappointed atnot receiving the emoluments and salaries they had expected. Most ofthem very speedily left his service. Some of the military men wereemployed at Bangalore, and other towns, in drilling the troops, and afew remained at Seringapatam, neglected by Tippoo, whose eyes were nowopen to the character of these adventurers. But this in no way shookhis belief that he would obtain great aid from France, as he hadreceived letters from official personages there, encouraging him tocombine with other native powers, to drive the English out of India,and promising large aid in troops and ships.
When the Earl of Mornington--afterwards the Marquis ofWellesley--arrived at Calcutta as Governor General of India, in May1798, the situation had become so critical that, although war had notbeen absolutely declared on either side, Tippoo's open alliance withthe French rendered it certain that hostilities must commence erelong; and Lord Mornington lost no time in proceeding to makepreparations for war. As Lord Cornwallis had done, he found thegreatest difficulty in inducing the supine government of Madras totake any steps. They protested that, were they to make any show ofactivity, Tippoo would descend the ghauts, and at once ravage thewhole country; and they declared that they had no force whatever thatcould withstand him. They continued in their cowardly inactivity untilthe governor general was forced to override their authorityaltogether, and take the matter into his own hands.
The first step was to curb the Nizam's power, for everything pointedto the probability that he intended to join Mysore, being inclined soto do by Tippoo's promises, and by the influence of the officers ofthe strong body of French troops in his service. Negotiations weretherefore opened by Lord Mornington, who offered to guarantee theNizam's dominions if he would join the English against Tippoo, andpromised that after the war he should obtain a large share of theterritory taken from Mysore.
The Nizam's position was a difficult one. On one side of him lay thedominions of his warlike and powerful neighbour, Tippoo. On the otherhe was exposed to the incursions of the Mahrattis, whose rising powerwas a constant threat to his safety. He had, moreover, to cope with aserious rebellion by his son, Ali Jah.
He was willing enough to obtain the guarantee of the English againstaggressions by the Mahrattis, but he hesitated in complying with thepreliminary demand that he should dispense with the French. Thefighting powers of this body rendered them valuable auxiliaries, buthe secretly feared them, and resented their pretensions; which pointedto the fact that, ere long, instead of being his servants, they mightbecome his masters. When, therefore, the British government offeredhim a subsidiary force of six battalions, and to guarantee him againstany further aggression by the Mahrattis, he accepted the proposal; butin a half-hearted way, that showed he could not be relied upon for anyefficient assistance in disarming his French auxiliaries.
No time was lost, by the government, in marching the promised force toHyderabad. The French, 14,000 strong, refused to disband, and werejoined by the Nizam's household force, which was in the Frenchinterest. The Nizam, terrified at the prospect of a contest, thesuccess of which was doubtful, abandoned the capital and took refugein a fortress, there to await the issue of events; but positivelyrefused to issue orders to the French to disband. Two of the Englishbattalions, which were on the other side of the river to that on whichthe French were encamped, opened a destructive fire upon them, andwith red-hot shot set fire to their magazines and storehouses, whilethe other four battalions moved into position to make a direct attack.
The Nizam now saw that he had no alternative but to declare openly forthe French, or to dismiss them. He preferred the latter alternative.Peron, who commanded the French, saw that unless he surrendered, theposition of his force was desperate. Accordingly, on receipt of theorder, he and his officers expressed their readiness to accept theirdismissal. Their men were, however, in a state of mutiny, and theofficers were compelled to make their escape from the camp under coverof night. The next morning the camp was surrounded by the English andthe troops of the Nizam, and the French then surrendered without ashot being fired.
While the Nizam was thus rendered powerless, negotiations had beengoing on with the Mahrattis; but owing to the quarrels and jealousiesof their chiefs, nothing could be done with them. It was, however,apparent that, for the same reason, Tippoo would equally fail in hisattempt to obtain their alliance against us, and that therefore it waswith Mysore alone that we should have to deal.
In the meantime, though preparing for war, Lord Mornington was mostanxious to avoid it. When Tippoo wrote to complain that some villagesof his had been occupied by people from Coorg, the governor generalordered their immediate restoration to him. In November he sent theSultan a friendly letter, pointing out that he could look for noefficient aid from France, and that any auxiliaries who might possiblyjoin him would only introduce the principles of anarchy, and thehatred of all religion, that animated the whole French nation; thathis alliance with them was really equivalent to a declaration of waragainst Eng
land; and, as he was unwilling to believe that Tippoo wasactuated by unfriendly feelings, or desired to break the engagementsof the treaty entered into with him, he offered to send an officer toMysore to discuss any points upon which variance might have arisen,and to arrange a scheme that would be satisfactory to them both.
To this letter no answer was received for five weeks, by which timeLord Mornington had arrived at Madras. He then received a lettercontaining a tissue of the most palpable lies concerning Tippoo'sdealings with the French. Two or three more letters passed, but asTippoo's answers were all vague and evasive, the governor generalissued a manifesto, on the 22nd of February, 1799, recapitulating allthe grievances against Mysore, and declaring that, though the allieswere prepared to repel any attack, they were equally anxious to effectan arrangement with him.
But Tippoo still believed that a large French army would speedilyarrive. He had received letters from Buonaparte in person, writtenfrom Egypt, and saying that he had arrived on the borders of the RedSea, "with an innumerable and invincible army, full of the desire todeliver you from the iron yoke of England." Tippoo well knew, also,that although the governor general spoke for himself and his allies,the Nizam was powerless to render any assistance to the English, andthat the Mahrattis were far more likely to join him than they were toassist his foes.
The manifesto of Lord Mornington was speedily followed by action, forat the end of January an army of nearly 37,000 men had been assembledat Vellore. Of these some 20,000 were the Madras force. With them werethe Nizam's army, nominally commanded by Meer Alum, but really byColonel Wellesley--afterwards Duke of Wellington--who had with him hisown regiment, the 33rd; 6,500 men under Colonel Dalrymple; 3,621infantry, for the most part French troops who had re-enlisted underus; and 6000 regular and irregular horse.
Dick, who had now attained the rank of captain, had been introduced byone of Lord Cornwallis's old staff officers to General Harris, who, asgeneral of the Madras army, was in command of the whole. On hearing ofthe services Dick had rendered in the last war, and that his perfectacquaintance with the language, and with the ground over which thearmy would pass, would enable him to be equally efficient on thepresent occasion, General Harris at once detached him from servicewith the regiment, and appointed him to a post on his own staff.
Had it not been that Dick had seen, for the last two years, thathostilities must ere long be commenced with Tippoo; he would, beforethis, have left the army and returned home. He was heartily tired ofthe long inaction. When the regiment was stationed at Madras, life wasvery pleasant; but a considerable portion of his time was spent at outstations, where the duties were very light, and there was nothing tobreak the monotony of camp life. He received letters regularly fromhis mother, who gave him full details of their home life.
The first that he received merely announced their safe arrival inEngland. The second was longer and more interesting. They had had nodifficulty in discovering the address of Annie's father, and onwriting to him, he had immediately come up to town. He had lost hiswife, on his voyage home from India, and was overjoyed at thediscovery of his daughter, and at her return to England.
"He is," Dick's mother wrote, "very much broken in health. Anniebehaved very nicely. Poor child, it was only natural that, after whatyou did for her, and our being all that time with her, the thought ofleaving us for her parent, of whom she had no recollection, was agreat grief. However, I talked it over with her, many times, andpointed out to her that her first duty was to the father who had beenso many years deprived of her, and that, although there was no reasonwhy she should not manifest affection for us, she must not allow himto think, for a moment, that she was not as pleased to see him as hewas to welcome her. She behaved beautifully when her father arrived,and when he had been in the house five minutes, and spoke of the deathof his wife, his bitter regret that she had not lived to see Annierestored to them, the loneliness of his life and how it would bebrightened now that she was again with him, his words so touched herthat she threw herself into his arms, and sobbed out that she would doall she could to make his life happy. He had, of course, received theletter we had written to him from Tripataly, and quite pained me bythe gratitude he showed for what he called my kindness to hisdaughter.
"He said that, by this post, he should write to endeavour to expresssome of his feelings to you. Annie went away with him the next day, toa place he has bought near Plymouth. He has promised to let us haveher for a month, every year, and we have promised to go down for thesame time, every summer, to stay with her. He asks numberlessquestions about you, which neither I nor Annie are ever tired ofanswering. Even with a mother's natural partiality, I must own thather descriptions are almost too flattering, and he must think that youare one of the most admirable of men.
"Next as to the jewels. Your father took them to be valued by severaldiamond merchants, and accepted the highest offer, which was16,000 pounds, of which he has already invested twelve, in your name,in shares in six ships. Four of these are Indiamen. The other two areprivateers. He said that he did not think you would object to aquarter of the money being put into a speculative venture, and thatthey were both good craft, well armed and well commanded, with strongcrews; and would, if successful, earn as much in a year as amerchantman would in ten."
Since then the letters had been of a uniform character. The shares inthe Indiamen were giving a good and steady return. The privateers hadbeen very fortunate, and had captured some rich prizes. Annie had beenup, or they had been down at Plymouth. The letters during the lastthree years had reported her as having grown into a young woman, and,as his mother declared, a very pretty one. After that the allusions toher were less frequent, but it was mentioned that she was as fond ofthem as ever, and that she was still unmarried.
"She always asks when you are coming home, Dick," Mrs. Holland said,in the last letter he had received before accompanying General Harristo Vellore. "I told her, of course, that your last letter said thatwar was certain with Tippoo; that you hoped, this time, to seeSeringapatam taken and the tyrant's power broken; and that after itwas over you would come home on leave and, perhaps, would not go outagain."
During the six years that he had been in the army, Dick had veryfrequently been at Tripataly, as there was little difficulty ingetting leave for a fortnight. His cousins had now grown up into youngmen, Surajah commanded the troop, and his stays there were alwaysextremely pleasant. The troop now numbered two hundred, for with quiettimes the population of the territory had largely increased, and theRajah's income grown in proportion. The troop was now dressed inuniform, and in arms and discipline resembled the irregular cavalry inthe Company's service, and when Dick arrived at Vellore he found hisuncle and cousins there with their cavalry.
"I thought, Dick, of only sending the boys," the Rajah said, "but whenthe time came for them to start, I felt that I must go myself. We havesuffered enough at the hands of Mysore, and I do hope to see Tippoo'scapital taken, and his power of mischief put an end to, for good andall."
"I am glad, indeed, that you are coming, Uncle. You may be sure that,whenever I can get away from my duties with the general, I shall spendmost of my time in your camp, though I must occasionally drop in on myown regiment."
The Rajah had already been down to Madras a month before, and with hissons had been introduced to General Harris, by the latter's chief ofthe staff, as having been always, like his father before him, afaithful ally of the English, and as having accompanied LordCornwallis on the occasion of the last campaign in Mysore. The generalhad thanked him, heartily, for his offer to place his two hundredcavalry at the disposal of the government, and had expressed a hopethat he, as well as his sons, would accompany it in the field.
On the 11th of February, 1799, the army moved from Vellore, butinstead of ascending by the pass of Amboor, as had been expected, itmoved southwest, ascended the pass of Paliode, and on the 9th of Marchwas established, without opposition, in Tippoo's territory, at adistance of eighty miles east of his capital. They then marc
hed north,until they reached a village ten miles south of Bangalore. This route,although circuitous, was chosen, as the roads were better, the countrymore level, and cultivation much more general, affording far greaterfacilities for the collection of forage for the baggage animals.
Hitherto, nothing had been seen of the Mysorean army. It had beenconfidently expected that Tippoo would fight at least one greatbattle, to oppose their advance against his capital, but so far nosigns had been seen of an enemy, and even the Mysore horse, which hadplayed so conspicuous a part in the last campaign, in no wayinterfered with the advance of the army, or even with the foragingparties.
A despatch that reached them, by a circuitous route, explained whyTippoo had suffered them to advance so far unmolested. While theMadras army had advanced from the southeast, a Bombay force, 6,500strong, was ascending the Western Ghauts. As the advance brigade,consisting of three native battalions, under Colonel Montresor,reached Sedaseer; Tippoo, with 12,000 of his best troops, fell upon itsuddenly. His force had moved through the jungle, and attacked thebrigade in front and rear.
Although thus surprised, by an enemy nearly six times their superiorin force, the Sepoys behaved with a calmness and bravery that couldnot have been surpassed by veteran troops. Maintaining a steady front,they repulsed every attack, until a brigade, encamped eight miles intheir rear, came up to their assistance; and Tippoo was then forced toretreat, having suffered a loss of 1,500 men, including many of hisbest officers.
This proof of the inferiority of his troops, even when enormouslyoutnumbering the English, and fighting with all the advantages ofsurprise, profoundly impressed Tippoo, and from this time he appearedto regard the struggle as hopeless, and displayed no signs whatever ofthe dash and energy that had distinguished him, when leading one ofthe divisions of his father's army. He marched with his troopsstraight to Seringapatam, and then moved out with his whole force, togive battle to the main body of the invaders. The antagonists camewithin sight of each other at the village of Malavilly, thirty mileseast of the capital. For some time an artillery fire on both sides waskept up. Gradually the infantry became engaged, and the Mysoreansshowed both courage and steadiness, until a column of two thousand menmoved forward to attack the 33rd Regiment.
The British troops reserved their fire, until the column was withinfifty yards of them. Then they poured in a withering volley, andcharged. The column fell back in disorder. General Floyd at oncecharged them, with five regiments of cavalry, sabred great numbers ofthem, and drove the remainder back in headlong rout. The whole Britishline then advanced, cheering loudly. The first line of Tippoo's armyfell back upon its second, and the whole then marched away, at a speedthat soon left the British infantry far behind them.
Instead of continuing his march straight upon the capital, GeneralHarris, learning from spies that Tippoo had wasted the whole countryalong that line, moved southwest; collecting, as he went, greatquantities of cattle, sheep, and goats, and an abundance of grain andforage; crossed the Cauvery at a ford at Sosilay; and, on the 5th ofApril, took up his position at a distance of two miles from thewestern face of the fort of Seringapatam.
This movement completely disconcerted Tippoo. He had imagined that theattack would, as on the previous occasion, take place on the northernside of the river, and had covered the approaches there with a seriesof additional fortifications, while on the other side he had done butlittle. So despondent was he, that he called together his principalofficers, and said to them:
"We have arrived at our last stage. What is your determination?"
His advisers took no brighter view of the prospect than he didhimself. They had unanimously opposed the war, had warned Tippooagainst trusting to the French, and had been adverse to measures thatcould but result in a fresh trial of strength with the English. TheSultan, however, while not attempting to combat their opinion, hadgone on his own way, and his officers now saw their worst fearsjustified. They replied to his question:
"Our determination is to die with you."
On the day after arriving before Seringapatam, the British attackedthe villages and rocky eminences held by the enemy on the south sideof the river, and drove them back under the shelter of their guns.General Floyd was sent, with the cavalry, to meet the Bombay force andescort it to Seringapatam. This was accomplished, and although thewhole of the Mysore cavalry, and a strong force of infantry hoveredround the column, they did not venture to engage it, and on the 14ththe whole arrived at the camp before Seringapatam.
The Bombay force, which was commanded by General Stuart, crossed tothe north bank of the river, and took up a position, there, whichenabled them to take in flank the outlying works and trenches, withwhich Tippoo had hoped to prevent any attack upon the western angle ofthe fort, where the river was so shallow that it could be easilyforded.
Tippoo now endeavoured to negotiate, and asked for a conference.General Harris returned an answer, enclosing the draft of apreliminary treaty, with which he had been supplied before starting.It demanded one half of Tippoo's territories, a payment of twomillions sterling, and the delivery of four of his sons as hostages.Tippoo returned no reply, and on the 22nd the garrison made a vigoroussortie, and were only repulsed after several hours' fighting.
For the next five days, the batteries of the besiegers kept up a heavyfire, silenced every gun in the outlying works, and compelled theirdefenders to retire across the river into the fort. Tippoo now sankinto such a state of despondency that he would listen to none of theproposals of his officers for strengthening the position, and wouldnot even agree to the construction of a retrenchment, which would cutoff the western angle of the fort, against which it was evident thatthe attack would be directed.
He knew that, if captured, there was little chance of his beingpermitted to continue to reign; and had, indeed, made that prospectmore hopeless, by massacring all the English prisoners who had, by hisorder, been brought in from the hill forts throughout the country onhis return to Seringapatam, after the repulse he had suffered in hisattack on the Bombay force.
On the 2nd of May, the batteries opened on the wall of the fort, nearits northwest angle; and so heavy was their fire that, by the eveningof the 3rd, a breach of sixty yards long was effected. General Harrisdetermined to assault on the following day. General Baird, who had,for four years, been a prisoner in Seringapatam, volunteered to leadthe assault; and before daybreak 4,376 men took their places in theadvance trenches, where they lay down.
It was determined that the assault should not be made until oneo'clock, at which time Tippoo's troops, anticipating no attack, wouldbe taking their food, and resting during the heat of the day. Thetroops who were to make the assault were divided into two columnswhich, after mounting the breach, were to turn right and left,fighting their way along the ramparts until they met at the other end.A powerful reserve, under Colonel Wellesley, was to support them afterthey had entered.
When the signal was given, the troops leapt from the trenches and,covered by the fire of the artillery, which at the same moment openedon the ramparts, dashed across the river, scaled the breach, and, insix minutes from the firing of the signal gun, planted the Britishflag on its crest.
Then the heads of the two columns at once started to fight their wayalong the ramparts. At first the resistance was slight. Surprised andpanic stricken, the defenders of the strong works at this pointoffered but a feeble resistance. Some fled along the walls. Some randown into the fort. Many threw themselves over the wall into the rockybed of the river. The right column, in less than an hour, had won itsway along the rampart to the eastern face of the fort; but the leftcolumn met with a desperate resistance, for as each point was carried,the enemy, constantly reinforced, made a fresh stand. Most of theofficers who led the column were shot down, and so heavy was the firethat, several times, the advance was brought to a standstill.
It was not until the right column, making their way along the wall tothe assistance of their comrades, took them in the rear, that theMysoreans entirely lost he
art. Taken between two fires, they speedilybecame a disorganised mass. Many hundreds were shot down, either inthe fort or as, pouring out through the river gate, they endeavouredto cross the ford and escape to the north.
As soon as the whole rampart was captured, General Baird sent anofficer with a flag of truce to the Palace, to offer protection toTippoo and all its inmates, on condition of immediate surrender. Twoof Tippoo's younger sons assured the officer that the Sultan was notin the Palace. The assurance was disbelieved, and, the princes beingsent to the camp under a strong escort, the Palace was searched. Theofficer in command, on being strictly questioned, declared thatTippoo, who had in person commanded the defence made against the leftcolumn, had been wounded, and that he had heard he was lying in agateway on the north side of the fort.
A search was immediately made, and the information proved correct.Tippoo was found lying there, not only wounded, but dead. He hadindeed received several wounds, and was endeavouring to escape in hispalanquin, when this had been upset by the rush of fugitives strivingto make their way through the gate.
The gateway was, indeed, almost choked up with the bodies of those whohad been either suffocated in the crush, or killed by their pursuers.On his palanquin being overturned, Tippoo had evidently risen to hisfeet, and had at the same moment been shot through the head by anEnglish soldier, ignorant of his rank. In the evening he was buriedwith much state, by the side of his father, in the mausoleum of LalBang, at the eastern extremity of the island.
It was with great difficulty that, when the British soldiers becameaware of the massacre of their countrymen, a few days before, theywere restrained from taking vengeance upon his sons and the inmates ofthe Palace. In the assault, 8000 of the defenders were killed; whilethe loss of the British, during the siege and in the assault, amountedto 825 Europeans and 639 native troops. An enormous quantity ofcannon, arms, and ammunition was captured, and the value of thetreasure and jewels amounted to considerably over a million pounds,besides the doubtless large amount of jewels that had, in the firstconfusion, fallen into the hands of the soldiers.
As Dick, after the fighting had ceased, went, by order of the General,to examine the prisoners and ascertain their rank, his eye fell uponan old officer, whose arm hung useless by his side, broken by a musketball. He went up to him, and held out his hand.
"Mirzah Mahomed Buckshy!" he exclaimed. "I am glad to meet you again,although sorry to see that you are wounded."
The officer looked at him, in surprise.
"You have spoken my name," he said, "but I do not know that we haveever met before."
"We have met twice. The first time I was, with a friend, dressed asone of Tippoo's officers, and came to examine the state of Savandroog.The second time we were dressed as merchants, and I succeeded ineffecting the liberation of my father. Both times I received muchkindness at your hands. But far more grateful am I to you for yourgoodness to my father, whose life you preserved.
"I see you still carry the pistols I left for you, and doubtless youalso received the letter I placed with them."
"Thanks be to Allah," the old colonel said, "that we have thus metagain! Truly I rejoiced, when my first anger that I had been fooledpassed away, that your father had escaped, and that without my beingable to blame myself for carelessness. Your letter to me completed mysatisfaction, for I felt that Heaven had rightly rewarded the effortsof a son who had done so much, and risked his life for a father.
"Is he alive? Is he here? I should be glad to see him again; andindeed, I missed him sorely. I have been here for two years, havingbeen appointed to a command among the troops here."
"My father is well, and is in England. He will, I know, be glad indeedto hear that I have met you, for he will ever retain a gratefulremembrance of your kindness. Now I must finish my work here, and willthen go to the general, and beg him to give me an order for yourrelease."
An hour later Dick returned with the order, and carried MahomedBuckshy off to the Rajah's camp. Here his arm was set by one of thesurgeons, and he was so well cared for by the Rajah, Dick, andSurajah, that a fortnight later he was convalescent, and was able tojoin his wife in the town.
"I am thankful," he said, on leaving, "that my life as a soldier isover, and that I shall never more have to fight against the English.Tippoo was my master, but it is he who, by his cruelty and ambition,has brought ruin upon Mysore. I have saved enough to live in comfortfor the rest of my life, and to its end I shall rejoice that I haveagain met the son of my friend Jack."
The capture of Seringapatam was followed, at once, by the entiresubmission of the whole country. A descendant of the old Rajah ofMysore was placed upon the throne. His rule was, however, but anominal one. A very large amount of territory was annexed. The islandof Seringapatam was permanently occupied as a British possession. Thenew rajah was bound to receive, and pay, a large military force forthe defence of his territories; not to admit any European foreignersinto his dominions; to allow the Company to garrison any fort inMysore that might seem advisable to them; and to pay, at all times,attention to such advice as might be given him as to theadministration of his affairs. He was, in fact, to be but a puppet,the British becoming the absolute rulers of Mysore.
The family of Tippoo, and the ladies of the harem, were removed toVellore, where they were to receive a palace suitable to their formerrank and expectations, and allowances amounting to 160,000 pounds ayear.
Thus Mysore, one of the most ancient and powerful of the kingdoms ofIndia, fell into the hands of the English, owing to the ambition,bigotry, and besotted cruelty of the son of a usurper.
Dick's part in all these operations had been a busy, although not avery dangerous one. The only share he had taken in the active fightinghad been in the battle at Malavilly, where, having been sent with amessage to Colonel Floyd, just before he led the cavalry to theassault of the column that had attacked the 33rd, he took his place bythe side of the Rajah and his cousins, whose troop formed part ofFloyd's command, and joined in the charge on the enemy. He had,however, rendered great services in the quartermasters' department,was very highly spoken of in the despatches of General Harris, and hisname appeared, as promoted to the rank of major, in the list ofhonours promulgated by Lord Mornington, at the termination of thecampaign.
His regiment was among those selected for the occupation of Mysore,and, a month after the capture of the city, he obtained leave toreturn to England. He stayed for a week at Tripataly, and then took anaffectionate farewell of his uncle, the ranee, his cousins, andSurajah, and sailed from Madras a fortnight later. The ship in whichhe was a passenger was accompanied by two other Indiamen; and when, afortnight out they encountered a French frigate; which, however, theybeat off, and arrived in England without further adventure.
As soon as he landed, Dick drove to the house where his father andmother had taken up their residence, on their arrival in England; buthe found to his surprise that, eight months before, they had moved toanother, in the village of Hackney. He proceeded there, and found itto be a considerably larger one than that they had left, and standingin its own grounds, which were of some extent. He had written to themafter the fall of Seringapatam, and told them that he should probablysail for England about six weeks later. As the vehicle drove to thedoor, his father and mother ran out. His father grasped his hand, andhis mother threw her aims round his neck, with tears of joy.
As soon as the first greeting was over, Dick saw a young lady, in deepmourning, standing on the steps. He looked at her for a moment insurprise, and then exclaimed:
"It is Annie Mansfield!"
Annie held out her hand, and laughed.
"We are both changed almost beyond recognition, Dick."
Then she added, demurely, "The last time, I had to ask you--"
"You sha'n't have to ask me again, Annie," he said, giving her ahearty kiss. "My first impulse was to do it, but I did not knowwhether your sentiments on the subject had changed."
"I am not given to change," she said.
/> "Am I, Mrs. Holland?"
"I don't think you are, my dear. I think there is a little spice ofobstinacy in your composition.
"But come in, Dick. Don't let us stand talking here at the door, whenwe have so much to say to each other."
He went into the sitting room with his father and mother, where Anniepresently left them to themselves.
"Why, Father, the privateers must have done well, indeed!" Dick said,looking round the handsome room.
"I have nothing to grumble at, on that score, Dick, though they havenot been so lucky the last two years. But it is not their profits thatinduced us to move here. You saw Annie was in mourning. Her fatherdied, nearly a year ago, and at her earnest request, as he said in hiswill, appointed us her guardians until she came of age, which will bein a few months now. As he had no near relations, he left the whole ofhis property to her; and having been in India in the days when, underWarren Hastings, there were good pickings to be obtained, it amountedto a handsome fortune. She said that she should come and live with us,at any rate until she became of age; and as that house of ours, thougha comfortable place, was hardly the sort of house for an heiress, sheherself proposed that we should take a larger house between us.
"And so, here we are. We shall stay here through the winter, and thenwe are going down to her place at Plymouth for the summer. What weshall do, afterwards, is not settled. That must depend upon a varietyof things."
"She has grown much prettier than I ever thought she would do," Dicksaid. "Of course, I knew she would have grown into a woman, butsomehow I never realised it, until I saw her, and I believe I havealways thought of her as being still the girl I carried off fromSeringapatam."
In a few minutes Annie joined them, and the talk then turned uponIndia, and many questions were asked as to their friends at Tripataly.
"I suppose by this time, Annie--at least, I hope I may still call youAnnie?"
"If you call me anything else, I shall not answer," she saidindignantly.
"Well, I was going to say, I suppose you have got a good deal beyondwords of two letters, now?"
"I regard the question as an impertinent one. I have even masteredgeography; the meaning of which word you may remember, you explainedto me; and I have a partial knowledge of history."
The next day Dick met an old friend, Ben Birket. Dick had kept hispromise, and had written to him as soon as he returned to Tripatalywith his father, and a few weeks after Captain Holland's return, hisold shipmate came to see him and his wife. Ben had for some timethought of retiring, and he now left the sea, and settled down in alittle cottage near. Captain Holland insisted upon settling a smallpension upon him, and he was always a welcome guest at the house. Hisdelight at Dick's return was extreme.
"I never thought you would do it, Master Dick, never for a moment, andwhen on coming home I got your letter, and found that the Captain andyour mother were in England, it just knocked me foolish for a bit."
Three weeks later, Dick told Annie that he loved her. He spoke withoutany circumlocution, merely taking her hand one evening, when theyhappened to be alone together, and telling her so in plain words.
"I know nothing of women, Annie," he said, "or their ways. I have beenbothering myself how to set about it, but though I don't know how toput it, I do know that I love you dearly. All these years I have beenthinking about you--not like this, you know, but as the dear, pluckylittle girl of the old days."
"The little girl of old days, Dick," she said quietly, "is in no waychanged. I think you know what I thought of you, then. I have neverfor a moment wavered. I gave you all the love of my heart, and youhave had it ever since.
"Why, you silly boy," she said, with a laugh, a few minutes later, "Ihad begun to think that, just as I had to ask you for a kiss in theold times, and again when you met me, I should have to take thismatter in hand. Why, I never thought of anything else. Directly I gotold enough to look upon myself as a woman, and young men began to cometo the house, I said to my dear father:
"'It is of no use their coming here, Father. My mind has been made upfor years, and I shall never change.'
"He knew at once what I meant.
"'I don't blame you, my dear,' he said. 'Of course, you are young atpresent, but he has won you fairly; and if he is at all like what youmake him out to be, I could not leave you in better hands. He will behome in another three or four years, and I shall have the comfort ofhaving you with me, until then. But you must not make too sure of it.He may fall in love out there. You know that there is plenty ofsociety at Madras.'
"I laughed at the idea.
"'All the pretty ones either come out to be married, or get engaged onthe voyage, or before they have been there a fortnight. I have nofear, Father, of his falling in love out there, though I don't say hemight not when he gets home, for of course he thinks of me only as alittle girl.'
"'Well, my dear,' he said, 'we will get him, and his father andmother, to come down as soon as he gets home. As you have made up yourmind about it, it is only right that you should have the firstchance.'
"It was not to be as he planned, Dick, but you see I have had thefirst chance, and it is well it was so, for no one can say how matterswould have turned out, if I had not been on the spot. Do you know,Dick, I felt that when you rescued me from slavery, you became somehowstraightway my lord and master. As you carried me that night beforeyou, I said to myself I should always be your little slave; and yousee, it has come quite true."
"I don't know about that, Annie. We are in England now, and there areno slaves. You will be the mistress now, and I your devoted servant."
"It will be as I say, Dick," she said tenderly. "I feel that, to theend of my life, I shall remain your willing slave."
There was nothing to prevent an early marriage. It was settled thatCaptain and Mrs. Holland should retain the house, which indeed theycould well afford to do, and that Dick and Annie should reside therewhenever they were in town, but that, as a rule, they would live atthe estate her father had purchased, near Plymouth. Their means wereample, for during the eight years he was in the Service, Dick's 12,000pounds had, as his father had predicted, doubled itself; and Annie'sfortune was at least as large as his own.
Dick had good reason to bless, to the end of his life, his mother'splan; that had resulted in the double satisfaction of restoring hisfather to her, and in winning for himself the woman whom he everregarded as the dearest and best wife in the world.
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