Chapter 6: Unfair Play.
Five or six of the officers were married men, and had their wiveswith them. These, when they learned that the young subaltern haddisguised himself, and enlisted in the Pioneers in order to go upwith them to the front, took a lively interest in him, and madequite a pet of him. Two other regiments were at the station at thetime and, consequently, there was a good deal of gaiety in the wayof lawn tennis and croquet parties, small dinners and dances and,after mess, billiards and whist. Lisle soon became an expert in theformer games, but he never touched either a billiard cue or a card,though he was an interested spectator when others were playing.
Baccarat was very popular with the faster set. At this game playsometimes ran high, and there was a captain in one of the otherregiments who scarcely ever sat down without winning. At thebeginning of the evening, when play was low, he generally lost; butwas certain to get back his losings, and sometimes a considerablesum over, as the stakes rose higher. One of the lieutenants who wasa chum of Lisle's was particularly unlucky. He was of an excitabledisposition, and played high as the evening went on. Lisle noticedthat he often paid in chits, instead of money. This was not anunusual custom, as officers are often short of cash, and settle upwhen they receive their month's pay. Lisle frequently remonstratedwith his friend on the folly of his proceedings, and the youngfellow declared that he would retire from the table, if luck wentagainst him. But the mania was too strong for him.
"It is extraordinary what bad luck I have," he said, one day. "Ialmost always win at the beginning of the evening; and then, when Iget thoroughly set, my winnings are swept away."
"Why don't you get up when you are a winner?"
"That would be very bad form, Bullen; a fellow who did that wouldbe considered a cad."
"I should strongly advise you to give it up, altogether."
Lisle observed with regret that his friend's spirits fell, and thathe became moody and irritable. One day, when he went into hisquarters, he found him sitting with a look of misery upon his face.
"What is it, Gordon?" he asked. "I hope I am not in the way?"
"Well, it has come to this," the young officer said. "I am at theend of my tether. I shall have to leave the regiment."
"Nonsense!" Lisle replied.
"It is true. I owe a lot of money to that fellow Sanders. He hasbought up all my chits, and this is a note from him, saying that hehas waited two or three months, but must now request me to pay upwithout further delay. Besides my pay, I have only eighteen hundredpounds, that was left me by an old aunt; but that will barely coverwhat I owe. Of course I can hold on on my pay; but the loss of somuch money will make a lot of difference, and I fear I shall haveto transfer. It is hard lines, because I am now pretty high on thelist of lieutenants; and shall, of course, have to go to the bottomof the list.
"The only alternative would be to enlist in some white regimentthat has lately come out. There are plenty of gentlemen in theranks. I certainly see no other way."
"I had no idea it was so bad as that, Gordon. Surely there must besome other way out of the difficulty. I could lend you a couple ofhundred pounds."
"Thank you, old fellow! But I am so deeply in debt that that wouldmake no difference."
"I am not sure that there is not something else to be done," saidLisle. "While I sit watching the play, I can see more than theplayers can; and since I have noticed that Sanders persistentlywins, directly the stakes get high, I have watched him veryclosely, and am convinced that he does not play fair. It has struckme that he withdraws the money on his cards when he sees that thedealer has a strong hand, and adds to his stake when he considersthat the dealer is weak.
"Now my testimony as a youngster would go a very little way, ifunsupported against his; but if you will give me a solemn promisethat you will never play baccarat again, I will get two or threefellows to watch him. Then, if we can prove that he plays unfairly,of course you will be able to repudiate payment of the money he haswon of you."
"Good heaven! It would be the saving of me, and I will willinglygive you the promise you want. But you must surely be mistaken!Sanders certainly has had wonderful luck, but I have never heard asuggestion that he does not play fair. I only know that there is agood deal of shyness about playing with him. You see, it is afrightful thing to accuse a man of cheating."
"I admit that it is not pleasant; but if a man cheats, and is foundout, it is the duty of every honest man to denounce him, if theydetect him.
"Well, if you don't mind, I will take Lindsay, Holmes, and Trittoninto my confidence. They all play occasionally, and you must let memention that you are altogether in his power; and that, unless heis detected, you will have to leave the regiment. Mind, don't youwatch him yourself. Play even more recklessly than usual; that willmake him a bit careless."
"Well, there is a possibility that you are right, Bullen, and ifyou can but detect him, you will save me from frightful disgrace."
"I will try, anyhow."
Bullen sent a note to the officers he had mentioned, asking them tocome to his quarters, as he particularly wished to speak to them.In a quarter of an hour they joined him.
"Well, what is up, Bullen?" Tritton said. "What do you want withus?"
"It is a serious business, Tritton. That fellow Sanders owns chitsof Gordon's to the amount of fifteen hundred pounds."
An exclamation of dismay broke from his hearers.
"Good heavens!" Tritton exclaimed, "how could he possibly have lostso much as that? I know that the play has been high; but still,even with the worst luck, a man could hardly lose so much as that."
"I fancy that, after the party in the mess room has broken up,several of them used to adjourn to Sanders' quarters; and it wasthere that the great bulk of the money was lost."
"What a fool Gordon has been!" Lindsay said. "What a madman! Such agood fellow, too!
"Well, of course, nothing can be done. If it were only a hundred ortwo, the money would be subscribed at once; but fifteen hundred isutterly beyond us. What is he thinking of doing?"
"Well, he has eighteen hundred pounds, and he talked of drawing outthe amount and paying up, and then exchanging into some otherregiment. The question, however, is, whether he ought to pay."
The others looked up at him in surprise.
"Why, of course he must pay," Tritton said; "at least he must pay,or quit the service, a disgraced man."
"I think there is an alternative," Lisle said, "and that is why Ihave sent for you."
"What alternative can there be?"
"Well, you know I don't play; but I like sitting watching the game,and I am quite convinced that Sanders doesn't play fair."
"You don't say so!" Tritton said. "That is a very seriousaccusation to make, you know, Bullen!"
"I am perfectly aware of that, and I feel that it would be mad forme to make an unsupported accusation against Sanders. But I wantyou three fellows to join me in watching Sanders play. My word,unsupported, would be of no avail; but if four of us swore that wesaw him cheating, there could be no doubt about the result.
"For one thing, Sanders would have to leave the army. That would beno loss to the service, for he is an overbearing brute; to saynothing of the fact that several young officers have had to leavethe service, owing to their losses at play with him."
"I know of two cases," Lindsay said. "There was a very strongfeeling against him, but no one suspected him of unfair play. Itwas he who introduced baccarat here, when his regiment first cameup. It had never been played here before, and you may notice thatvery few of his fellow officers ever take a hand.
"Well, there will be no harm in our watching. It is a thing thatone doesn't like doing but, when it comes to a fellow officer beingswindled, it is clearly our duty to expose the man who is doingit."
"Very well, then, this evening two of us will take our stand behindGordon, and the other two behind Sanders."
"But how did he cheat? It seems a fair game enough."
"He does it in this way.
He puts five sovereigns under his hand.That is the limit, you know. Then he looks at his card, and pushesit out. With his hand still touching it, he watches the dealer and,if he can see by his face that his card is a good one--and you cangenerally tell that--he withdraws his hand with four of thesovereigns, leaving only one on the card. If, on the other hand, hethinks it is a bad one, he leaves the whole five there. He does thetrick cleverly enough; but I am certain that I have, four or fivetimes, seen him do it.
"Keep your eyes on his hand. You will see that he takes up fivesovereigns from the heap before him, and that he has them in hishand when he pushes the card out. You will notice how he fixes hiseye upon the dealer, and that he leaves either one or five, as Ihave said. He does it, at times, all through the evening,especially when Gordon is dealing; for I can tell, myself, byGordon's face whether he has a good or a bad card. Of course, hecan see it, too.
"I want you all to nod to me, when you see it done. We shall lethim do it two or three times, so that we can all swear to it."
All agreed to do so, and Lisle then went to Gordon's quarter's.
"Tritton, Lindsay, and Holmes are going to watch with me tonight. Ithink the best thing will be for you to answer Sanders' note, andtell him that you will require time to draw your money from Englandto pay him; but that you will play again tonight, to see if luckturns."
That evening the four young officers took their places, asarranged. Now that their attention had been directed to it, theysaw that several times Sanders, although he took up five pounds,only left one on the card; and that he kept his hand upon it, up tothe last moment. Each in turn nodded to Lisle.
All noticed how intently Sanders watched the dealer. Generally heleft two sovereigns on the card, apparently when the dealer had amoderate card; but when he had a very low or a very high one, thetrick was played. After fully satisfying himself that he had goodproofs, just as Sanders was again withdrawing his hand with foursovereigns in it, Lisle threw himself forward, jerked the handupwards, and showed the four sovereigns lying under it.
"I accuse Captain Sanders of cheating. I have seen him do thistrick half a dozen times."
Sanders shook himself free, and aimed a heavy blow at Lisle; who,however, stepped aside and, before he could repeat it, he wasseized by the officers standing round. A tremendous hubbub arose,in the midst of which the colonel entered the room.
"What is all this about?" he enquired.
The din subsided at once, and two or three officers said:
"Bullen accused Captain Sanders of cheating."
"This is a very serious accusation, Bullen," the colonel saidsternly, "and unless you can substantiate it, may be of veryserious consequences to yourself. Will you tell me what you saw?"
Lisle related the circumstances, and how the fraud wasaccomplished.
"You mean to say that, by watching the dealer's eye, CaptainSanders leaves one pound or five on his card?"
"That is what I said, sir. I have seen him do it on several nights.Tonight I determined to expose him, and Tritton, Lindsay, andHolmes have been watching him with me. I was induced to do so bythe fact that the man has rooked Lieutenant Gordon of somethinglike fifteen hundred pounds, for which he holds his chits."
"Mr. Tritton, you hear what Mr. Bullen says. Have you also observedthe act of cheating of which he accuses Captain Sanders?"
"Yes, sir; I have seen him do it several times this evening. Ibelieve he has done it more, but I am prepared to swear to seventimes."
The colonel looked at Lindsay, who said:
"I have seen suspicious movements eleven times, but I should notlike to swear to more than four."
"And you, Mr. Holmes?"
"I can swear to five times, but I believe he did it much oftenerthan that."
"What have you to say, Captain Sanders?"
"I say it is a conspiracy on the part of these four young officersto ruin me. It is a lie from beginning to end."
"I am afraid, Captain Sanders, that you will find it very difficultto persuade anyone that four officers, who as far as I know have noill feeling against you, should conspire to bring such a charge.However, I shall report the matter to your colonel, tomorrow, witha written statement from these four officers of what they saw. Hewill, of course, take such steps in the matter as he thinks fit."
Without a word, Sanders turned on his heel and left the room,followed by the angry glances of all who were present.
"Mr. Bullen, you have behaved with great discretion," the colonelsaid, "in not making a charge on your first impression, but gettingthree other officers to watch that man's behaviour. Tomorrow Ishall hold a court of enquiry, at which the major, the adjutant,and two other officers will sit with me. You will all, of course,be called, and will have to repeat your story in full.
"Lieutenant Gordon, I am shocked to hear that an officer of myregiment should gamble to such an extent as you have done. Youwill, of course, be called tomorrow. I think that, at the best, youwill be advised to change into another regiment. I need not saythat, after this exposure, the chits that you have given to CaptainSanders become null and void.
"This room will be closed for the rest of the evening."
The officers, however, gathered in the room below, and talked thematter over. There was not a whisper of regret at the disgrace thathad fallen upon Sanders. His reputation was a bad one. Since hisregiment had been in India one young officer had shot himself, andthree had been obliged to leave the army, and in all cases it wasknown that these had lost large sums to him; but the matter hadbeen hushed up, as such scandals generally are in the army. Still,the truth had been whispered about, and it was because none of theofficers in his regiment would play with him that he had comehabitually to the mess of the Pioneers; by which, his own regimenthaving been quartered in southern India until six monthspreviously, nothing was known of his antecedents.
"We shall all have to be very careful, when you are looking on atour play, Bullen," one said, laughing. "I hadn't given you creditfor having such sharp eyes; and certainly Sanders did not, either,or he would never have tried his games on, while you were standingwatching him."
"I was not playing, you see," Lisle said, "and the players do nottrouble about onlookers, but keep their attention directed to thedealer. Standing there evening after evening, it was really easy tosee what he was doing; for he, too, kept his attention fixed on thedealer, and paid no heed to us who were looking on. He occasionallydid look up at us, but evidently he concluded that we were onlyinnocent spectators. When my suspicions were aroused, there wasreally no difficulty in detecting him."
"How was it that you did not interfere before?"
"Because it was only my word against that of Sanders, and it wasonly after Gordon told me how much he was in debt to the man; andthat the latter had, that morning, written to him calling upon himto pay up, that I saw that something must be done. So I askedTritton, Lindsay, and Holmes to watch him closely this evening,along with me."
"Well, I hope Gordon won't have to go," the other said. "He is anawfully good fellow, though he has made an abject ass of himself."
"Don't you think, Prosser, that if we were all to sign a petitionto the colonel, to ask him to overlook the matter, as Gordon hasreceived a lesson that will certainly last his lifetime, he mightdo so."
"It depends upon how much the matter becomes public. Of course,there must be a court of enquiry in the other regiment; and if, asis certain, a report is sent to the commander-in-chief, Sanderswill be cashiered; and I should fancy that Gordon would be calledupon to resign. Of course, you four and Gordon will have to giveevidence before the commission. It depends, of course, how hiscolonel takes it; but it is certain that Sanders will have to go,and I fear Gordon will, too. I expect our colonel will get awigging for allowing high play; though, as you say, the greaterpart of the money was lost in private play, in Sanders' room.
"Anyhow, it will be a somewhat ugly thing for the regiment ingeneral, and we shall get the nickname of 'the gamblers' throughoutthe army."<
br />
The next morning, at eight o'clock, the little committee met. Thefour young officers gave their evidence, which was put on paper induplicate and signed by them, a copy being sent to the colonel ofSanders' regiment. In a short time that officer was seen to go intothe colonel's tent and, half an hour later, he came out again andwent away. A few minutes after he had left, the four officers weresummoned.
"I hope," the colonel said, "that we have heard the last of thismost unpleasant business. His colonel tells me that this morning,as soon as he turned out, Sanders called upon him and said that hehad to go to England, on urgent family business; and that, on hisarrival there, he should send in his papers and retire. He gave himleave to go at once, and Sanders disposed of his horse and traps,and started by the eight o'clock train for Calcutta. In thesecircumstances we have decided, for the credit of both regiments,that the matter shall be held over. If, as is morally certain, heleaves the army, nothing more need be said about it. Of course, ifhe should return, it will be brought up.
"I should say, however, that there is no chance whatever of that. Ibeg of you to impress upon the officers of the regiment; which,indeed, I shall myself do at mess, to make no allusion whatever,outside the regiment, to what has occurred. The less said about it,the better. If it were at all known, and got to the ears of thecommander-in-chief--and you know how gossip of this kindspreads--both his colonel and myself would get a severe wigging,for not sending in a report of it. In that case a committee wouldbe appointed to go into the whole matter and, as a result, theregiment would probably be sent to the worst possible cantonmentthey could find for us, and Gordon would be called upon to retire.I will therefore ask you to give me your word that the matter shallnot be alluded to, outside the regiment. There is no fear of any ofSanders' regiment hearing anything about it, as none of them werepresent last night.
"Upon further consideration, I think that it would be better tosummon all the officers of the regiment, at once, and to impressupon them the necessity for keeping silence on the matter."
Five minutes later the officers' call sounded and, when all wereassembled in the anteroom, the colonel repeated to them what he hadsaid to Lisle and his companions; and obtained an undertaking fromthem, individually, that they would maintain an absolute silence onthe matter.
The affair greatly added to the estimation in which Lisle was heldin the regiment. His quickness in detecting the swindle, and thesteps he had taken to obtain proof of his suspicions, showed thathe possessed other qualities besides pluck and determination.
It is to be feared that some, at least, of the married officerseither did not regard the promise of silence as affecting theirwives, or had told them what had taken place before they wererequested to abstain from alluding to it; for three or four of theladies made sly allusions, when talking to Lisle, which showed thatthey were cognizant of what had taken place.
"Well, Mr. Bullen," one of them said, "I have up till now regardedyou as little more than a boy, in spite of your pluck in going upas a native soldier to Chitral. Now I shall hold you in much higherrespect, and shall regard you as a young man with an exceptionallysharp eye, and exceptionally keen discernment."
"I don't think I quite understand you, Mrs. Merritt," Lisle saidinnocently.
"It is all very well for you to put on that air of ignorance. Youdon't suppose that married men can keep matters like this fromtheir wives? I can tell you we all admire, very much, the manner inwhich you saved Lieutenant Gordon from having to leave the service.He is a favourite with us all and, though he seems to have made agreat fool of himself, we should all be sorry if he had had toleave us."
"Well, you see, Mrs. Merritt, I am not a married man--"
"I should think not," the lady laughed.
"And do not know how much married men feel themselves bound to keepsecrets from their wives; and I can therefore neither confess nordeny that I took any part in the incident to which you arereferring."
"You silly boy! Don't you see that I know all about it, and that itis ridiculous for you to pretend to misunderstand me?"
"I do not pretend, Mrs. Merritt. I only know that I have given mypromise that I will keep absolute silence on the matter, and thatno exception was made as to the ladies of the regiment. That, ofcourse, lies between them and their husbands."
"Well, whether that is so or not, Mr. Bullen, I can tell you thatthe affair has very greatly raised you in our esteem. We all likedyou before; but we really did regard you only as a young officerwho had proved that he possessed an uncommon amount of pluck anddetermination. In future, we shall regard you as a gentleman whowas ready to take no inconsiderable risk on behalf of a fellowofficer."
"Thank you, Mrs. Merritt! I can assure you that I do not feel a bitmore of a man than I did before; but I feel happy in having gainedthe good opinion of the ladies of the regiment."
After this, Lisle came to be regarded as the special pet of theladies of the regiment. Among the officers he became a very generalfavourite, and his popularity was increased by the fact that he wasnot only one of the best shots, but one of their best cricketers;and several times did efficient service, by his bowling, in thematches between the regiment and the others cantoned with them.
Then came the news that the tribes had risen, that the Malakand hadbeen attacked, that Chakdara, the fortified post on the Swat river,was invested, and that the tribes on this side of the Panjkora werein revolt. This, however, was soon followed by a report that thepost had been relieved, that heavy losses had been inflicted uponthe tribesmen, and that the trouble was over.
For some time the frontier had been in a state of tension. TheMullahs, or priests, had been inciting the tribesmen toinsurrection; and one especially, who was called the Mad Mullah,had gone about from tribe to tribe, stirring the people up. Heprofessed to be a successor of the great Akhund of Swat, and tohave inherited his powers. He claimed to be able to work miracles.The Heavenly host were, he said, on his side.
His excited appeals, to the fanaticism which exists in everyPathan, were responded to in a marvellous manner. The villagersflew to arms. Still, it was thought and hoped that, when the firstexcitement caused by his appeals had died away, matters would calmdown again. The hope, however, was short lived for, before long,the startling news came that the Mohmunds, a tribe whose territorylay near Peshawar, were in revolt; and that Shabkadr, a villagewithin our frontier, had been raided and destroyed.
Within the next few days the Samana was invested, and the KhyberPass was in the hands of the Afridis. The Peshawar movable column,of four guns, two squadrons of native horse, and the 20th Punjabiregiment, with a few companies of the Somersets, were sent out toShabkadr. On arriving there they found that the bazaar had beenburnt, and that the enemy had taken up a position facing the fort,about a mile and a half distant.
The cavalry skirted the cultivated ground between the force and theplateau, and pushed the enemy backward, with severe loss, into thelow hills that skirt the border. Next morning the enemy were seenin possession of the lower hill, and the force moved out to attackthem. They were found to be in great strength, numbering nearlyseven thousand. Leaving a strong force to face the column, flankingparties came down concealed by the low hills.
Illustration: They charged the attacking force from end to end.
The infantry retired in two sections, but the artillery came intoaction. The cavalry made their way up one of the ravines and, whenthey got within charging distance, they went at the enemy at agallop. Taking the entire length of the plateau, about a mile and ahalf, they charged the attacking force from end to end; and drovethem, demoralized, into the hills. The severity of the morning'sfighting may be judged from the fact that sixty percent of theforce engaged suffered casualties.
From that time, until it was determined to send an expedition intothe Mohmund country, the force remained as a corps of observation.A force drawn chiefly from the Peshawar garrison was speedily gottogether and, on 11th September, had concentrated at or aboutShabkadr fort; a general advan
ce having been arranged for, on the15th of the month.
In the meantime, more serious troubles had arisen with theZakka-Khels. This tribe was the most powerful of the Pathans. Theywere at all times troublesome, and frequently made raids across thefrontier, carrying off large quantities of cattle; and living,indeed, entirely upon plunder. The Zakhels and the Kukukbels hadjoined them, as well as several other smaller tribes. They believedthat they could do this with impunity, for no Englishman had evervisited their wild country, with its tremendous gorges and passes.A large proportion of them were furnished with Martini andLee-Metford rifles, and many of the others carried Sniders.
To operate against such formidable enemies, possessing almostimpregnable positions, a large force was needed; and time wasrequired to collect the troops. Still more, an enormous train ofbaggage animals would be required, and a vast amount of stores ofall kinds.
It was clear that the time that would be occupied in thepreparations of the campaign would be very considerable; but, whilethese were being made, it was determined that the expedition fromPeshawar should move, at once, into the Mohmund country, and finishwith that tribe before the main operation began; and that theMalakand division, and the Mohmund field force should carry out thework of punishment, in the stretch of country lying between Lalpuraand the Swat River.
It was known that Chakdara was holding out, but that it was hardlypressed, and the first step was to relieve the garrison. ColonelMeiklejohn pushed forward, with a comparatively small force, andarrived at the Malakand on the 1st of August. The reinforcement thathad reached that garrison had enabled them to take the offensive,and orders were issued for a strong cavalry reconnaissance to theAmandara valley, five miles away. They found the enemy in such forcethat the cavalry were obliged to retire, and they effected theirretreat with great difficulty, under a very heavy fire. As the pathwas narrow, cavalry could only proceed in single file, exposed thewhile to the fire of the enemy.
Sir Bindon Blood arrived, that evening, to take the command. Themain body were to move down the road; while a force under ColonelGoldney advanced up the hill to the right, and turned the enemy'sflank. Colonel Goldney's attack was perfectly successful. The enemywere taken completely unawares, and entirely routed. The march ofthe main column, therefore, met with no opposition for somedistance; then the enemy opened fire, from among the rocks on thehills.
A party of the Guides and the 45th Sikhs were ordered to take theposition, at the point of the bayonet. The enemy, however, stuck totheir position until they were bayoneted, or driven over the rocks.The 34th and 55th Sikhs stormed some sangars on the left and,pushing their way pluckily up the steep slopes, slowly gained theheights, step by step and, in spite of the hot fire and the showersof rocks and stones, drove the enemy out of their strongholds. Onthis the tribesmen lost heart and fled, hotly pursued by thecavalry, who cut them up in great numbers.
During the fighting at the Malakand, previous to the arrival of therelief, our casualties were one hundred and seventy-three killedand wounded, including thirteen British officers and seven natives.The siege of the small fort of Chakdara had been a severe one. Thegarrison consisted of two companies of the 45th Sikhs, withcavalry. On the evening of the 26th they were attacked, butrepulsed their assailants with loss. Next morning Captain Wright,with a company of forty troopers, arrived from the Malakand, havingrun the gauntlet of large parties of the enemy. The whole of theday was spent in repelling rushes of the enemy and, for the nextfew days, Wright's garrison were unable to leave their posts.
On the 29th the enemy attacked the tower and endeavoured to burn itdown; but were again repulsed, with heavy loss.