to Agra, where were the nearest troops. Mr. Abel White was an
obstinate man. He had it in his head that the affair had been
exaggerated, and that it would blow over as suddenly as it had
sprung up. There he sat on his veranda, drinking whisky-pegs and
smoking cheroots, while the country was in a blaze about him. Of
course we stuck by him, I and Dawson, who, with his wife, used to do
the book-work and the managing. Well, one fine day the crash came. I
had been away on a distant plantation and was riding slowly home in
the evening, when my eye fell upon something all huddled together at
the bottom of a steep nullah. I rode down to see what it was, and
the cold struck through my heart when I found it was Dawson's wife,
all cut into ribbons, and half eaten by jackals and native dogs. A
little further up the road Dawson himself was lying on his face, quite
dead, with an empty revolver in his hand, and four sepoys lying across
each other in front of him. I reined up my horse, wondering which
way I should turn; but at that moment I saw thick smoke curling up
from Abel White's bungalow and the flames beginning to burst through
the roof. I knew then that I could do my employer no good, but would
only throw my own life away if I meddled in the matter. From where I
stood I could see hundreds of the black fiends, with their red coats
still on their backs, dancing and howling round the burning house.
Some of them pointed at me, and a couple of bullets sang past my head:
so I broke away across the paddy-fields, and found myself late at
night safe within the walls at Agra.
"As it proved, however, there was no great safety there, either. The
whole country was up like a swarm of bees. Wherever the English
could collect in little bands they held just the ground that their
guns commanded. Everywhere else they were helpless fugitives. It was a
fight of the millions against the hundreds; and the cruellest part
of it was that these men that we fought against, foot, horse, and
gunners, were our own picked troops, whom we had taught and trained,
handling our own weapons and blowing our own bugle-calls. At Agra
there were the Third Bengal Fusiliers, some Sikhs, two troops of
horse, and a battery of artillery. A volunteer corps of clerks and
merchants had been formed, and this I joined, wooden leg and all. We
went out to meet the rebels at Shahgunge early in July, and we beat
them back for a time, but our powder gave out, and we had to fall back
upon the city.
Nothing but the worst news came to us from every side- which is
not to be wondered at, for if you look at the map you will see that we
were right in the heart of it. Lucknow is rather better than a hundred
miles to the east, and Cawnpore about as far to the south. From
every point on the compass there was nothing but torture and murder
and outrage.
"The city of Agra is a great place, swarming with fanatics and
fierce devil worshippers of all sorts. Our handful of men were lost
among the narrow, winding streets. Our leader moved across the
river, therefore, and took up his position in the old fort of Agra.
I don't know if any of you gentlemen have ever read or heard
anything of that old fort. It is a very queer place- the queerest that
ever I was in, and I have been in some rum corners, too. First of
all it is enormous in size. I should think that the enclosure must
be acres and acres. There is a modern part, which took all our
garrison, women, children, stores, and everything else, with plenty of
room over. But the modern part is nothing like the size of the old
quarter, where nobody goes, and which is given over to the scorpions
and the centipedes. It is all full of great deserted halls, and
winding passages, and long corridors twisting in and out, so that it
is easy enough for folk to get lost in it. For this reason it was
seldom that anyone went into it, though now and again a party with
torches might go exploring.
"The river washes along the front of the old fort, and so protects
it, but on the sides and behind there are many doors, and these had to
be guarded, of course, in the old quarter as well as in that which was
actually held by our troops. We were short-handed, with hardly men
enough to man the angles of the building and to serve the guns. It was
impossible for us, therefore, to station a strong guard at every one
of the innumerable gates. What we did was to organize a central
guardhouse in the middle of the fort, and to leave each gate under the
charge of one white man and two or three natives. I was selected to
take charge during certain hours of the night of a small isolated door
upon the south-west side of the building. Two Sikh troopers were
placed under my command, and I was instructed if anything went wrong
to fire my musket, when I might rely upon help coming at once from the
central guard. As the guard was a good two hundred paces away,
however, and as the space between was cut up into a labyrinth of
passages and corridors, I had great doubts as to whether they could
arrive in time to be of any use in case of an actual attack.
"Well, I was pretty proud at having this small command given me,
since I was a raw recruit, and a game-legged one at that. For two
nights I kept the watch with my Punjabees. They were tall,
fierce-looking chaps, Mahomet Singh and Abdullah Khan by name, both
old fighting men, who had borne arms against us at Chilian Wallah.
They could talk English pretty well, but I could get little out of
them. They preferred to stand together, and jabber all night in
their queer Sikh lingo. For myself, I used to stand outside the
gateway, looking down on the broad, winding river and on the twinkling
lights of the great city. The beating of drums, the rattle of tomtoms,
and the yells and howls of the rebels, drunk with opium and with bang,
were enough to remind us all night of our dangerous neighbours
across the stream. Every two hours the officer of the night used to
come round to all the posts to make sure that all was well.
"The third night of my watch was dark and dirty, with a small
driving rain. It was dreary work standing in the gateway hour after
hour in such weather. I tried again and again to make my Sikhs talk,
but without much success. At two in the morning the rounds passed
and broke for a moment the weariness of the night. Finding that my
companions would not be led into conversation, I took out my pipe
and laid down my musket to strike the match. In an instant the two
Sikhs were upon me. One of them snatched my firelock up and levelled
it at my head, while the other held a great knife to my throat and
swore between his teeth that he would plunge it into me if I moved a
step.
"My first thought was that these fellows were in league with the
rebels, and that this was the beginning of an assault. If our door
were in the hands of the sepoys the place must fall, and the women and
children be treated as they were in Cawnpore. Maybe you gentlemen
think that I am just making out a case for myself, but I give you my
word that when I thought of that, though I felt the point of the knife
at my throat, I opened my mouth with the intention of giving a scream,
if it was my last one, which might alarm the main guard. The man who
held me seemed to know my thoughts; for, even as I braced myself to
it, he whispered: `Don't make a noise. The fort is safe enough.
There are no rebel dogs on this side of the river.' There was the ring
of truth in what he said, and I knew that if I raised my voice I was a
dead man. I could read it in the fellow's brown eyes. I waited,
therefore, in silence, to see what it was that they wanted from me.
"`Listen to me, sahib,' said the taller and fiercer of the pair, the
one whom they called Abdullah Khan. `You must either be with us now,
or you must be silenced forever. The thing is too great a one for us
to hesitate. Either you are heart and soul with us on your oath on the
cross of the Christians, or your body this night shall be thrown
into the ditch, and we shall pass over to our brothers in the rebel
army. There is no middle way. Which is it to be- death or life? We can
only give you three minutes to decide, for the time is passing, and
all must be done before the rounds come again.'
"`How can I decide?' said I. `You have not told me what you want
of me. But I tell you now that if it is anything against the safety of
the fort I will have no truck with it, so you can drive home your
knife and welcome.'
"`It is nothing against the fort,' said he. `We only ask you to do
that which your countrymen come to this land for. We ask you to be
rich. If you will be one of us this night, we will swear to you upon
the naked knife, and by the threefold oath which no Sikh was ever
known to break, that you shall have your fair share of the loot. A
quarter of the treasure shall be yours. We can say no fairer.'
"`But what is the treasure then?' I asked. `I am as ready to be rich
as you can be if you will but show me how it can be done.'
"`You will swear, then,' said he, `by the bones of your father, by
the honour of your mother, by the cross of your faith, to raise no
hand and speak no word against us, either now or afterwards?'
"`I will swear it,' I answered, `Provided that the fort is not
endangered.'
"`Then my comrade and I will swear that you shall have a quarter
of the treasure which shall be equally divided among the four of us.'
"`There are but three,' said I.
"`No; Dost Akbar must have his share. We can tell the tale to you
while we wait them. Do you stand at the gate, Mahomet Singh, and
give notice of their coming. The thing stands thus, sahib, and I
tell it to you because I know that an oath is binding upon a
Feringhee, and that we may trust you. Had you been a lying Hindoo,
though you had sworn by all the gods in their false temples, your
blood would have been upon the knife and your body in the water. But
the Sikh knows the Englishman, and the Englishman knows the Sikh.
Hearken, then, to what I have to say.
"`There is a rajah in the northern provinces who has much wealth,
though his lands are small. Much has come to him from his father,
and more still he has set by himself, for he is of a low nature and
hoards his gold rather than spend it. When the troubles broke out he
would be friends both with the lion and the tiger- with the sepoy
and with the Company's raj. Soon, however, it seemed to him that the
white men's day was come, for through all the land he could hear of
nothing but of their death and their overthrow. Yet, being a careful
man, he made such plans that, come what might, half at least of his
treasure should be left to him. That which was in gold and silver he
kept by him in the vaults of his palace, but the most precious
stones and the choicest pearls that he had he put in an iron box and
sent it by a trusty servant, who, under the guise of a merchant,
should take it to the fort at Agra, there to lie until the land is
at peace. Thus, if the rebels won he would have his money, but if
the Company conquered, his jewels would be saved to him. Having thus
divided his hoard, he threw himself into the cause of the sepoys,
since they were strong upon his borders. By his doing this, mark
you, sahib, his property becomes the due of those who have been true
to their salt.
"`This pretended merchant, who travels under the name of Achmet,
is now in the city of Agra and desires to gain his way into the
fort. He has with him as travelling-companion my foster-brother Dost
Akbar, who knows his secret. Dost Akbar has promised this night to
lead him to a side-postern of the fort, and has chosen this one for
his purpose. Here he will come presently, and here he will find
Mahomet Singh and myself awaiting him. The place is lonely, and none
shall know of his coming. The world shall know the merchant Achmet
no more, but the great treasure of the rajah shall be divided among
us. What say you to it, sahib?'
"In Worcestershire the life of a man seems a great and a sacred
thing; but it is very different when there is fire and blood all round
you, and you have been used to meeting death at every turn. Whether
Achmet the merchant lived or died was a thing as light as air to me,
but at the talk about the treasure my heart turned to it, and I
thought of what I might do in the old country with it, and how my folk
would stare when they saw their ne'er-do-weel coming back with his
pockets full of gold moidores. I had, therefore, already made up my
mind. Abdullah Khan, however, thinking that I hesitated, pressed the
matter more closely.
"`Consider, sahib,' said he, `that if this man is taken by the
commandant he will be hung or shot, and his jewels taken by the
government, so that no man will be a rupee the better for them. Now,
since we do the taking of him, why should we not do the rest as
well? The jewels will be as well with us as in the Company's
coffers. There will be enough to make every one of us rich men and
great chiefs. No one can know about the matter, for here we are cut
off from all men. What could be better for the purpose? Say again,
then, sahib, whether you are with us, or if we must look upon you as
an enemy.'
"`I am with you heart and soul,' said I.
"`It is well,' he answered, handing me back my firelock. `You see
that we trust you, for your word, like ours, is not to be broken. We
have now only to wait for my brother and the merchant.'
"`Does your brother know, then, of what you will do?' I asked.
"`The plan is his. He has devised it. We will go to the gate and
share the watch with Mahomet Singh.'
"The rain was still falling steadily, for it was just the
beginning of the wet season. Brown, heavy clouds were drifting
across the sky, and it was hard to see more than a stonecast. A deep
moat lay in front of our door, but the water was in places nearly
