Athelstane Ford Part 13

Mr. Holwell presently returned with the news that Surajah Dowlah was very much incensed against him, on account of the small sum found in the treasury of the fort, which amounted only to 54,000 Rs. The prince was firmly persuaded that the Company had somewhere concealed a vast treasure, which had been his princ.i.p.al motive to push the attack of the place. He had threatened Mr. Holwell very severely unless this treasure were found, and dismissed him to consult with his fellow-prisoners. This was bad news, for it was evidently impossible to persuade Surajah Dowlah that there was no such treasure, and he would therefore be inclined to look upon Mr. Holwell's failure to discover it as mere obstinacy.

We were discussing our prospects very gloomily when a party of Moors arrived, bringing two fresh prisoners. I felt a sudden sickness when I recognised that these were none other than Marian herself with her father. Old Mr. Rising seemed to be dazed, and unconscious of what was happening to him, but Marian was suffering from visible terror. I hastened to her side, exclaiming--

"Marian, what do you do here? Why are you not gone with the other women?"--for all the Englishwomen and children had been put aboard the ships as soon as the Moors arrived outside the town.

Marian looked surprised and a little comforted to meet me in the same situation as herself.

"So you are a prisoner too!" she cried. "I confess I do not understand what has happened to my father and me, for Rupert especially enjoined and urged us to remain in our house, a.s.suring us that his credit with the Nabob would serve not merely to protect us, but to secure high places and rewards for himself, which he intended I should share."

She said this with a certain shame, but I was too anxious for her safety to retain my feelings of jealousy at such a moment.

"I will send for Gurney to come here," I said. "I have just seen him go into the Nabob's presence."

I called one of the men who kept guard over us, and bade him go instantly and fetch my cousin. The Moor showed some disinclination to obey me, but I repeated my command in a tone so firm that he gave way, and sullenly complied.

In a minute or two Rupert came out, looking bewildered, and, I thought, somewhat alarmed. As soon as he saw who it was that had sent for him, however, his a.s.surance returned, and he came to us with a jaunty air.

"Ha! Marian," he said, taking no notice of me, "so you have found your way here, have you? I am pleased to greet you; but if you have sent for me to ask me to procure the release of your other admirer, whom I took prisoner yesterday, I must tell you fairly that I am not the least inclined to do it."

"Nay, Rupert," she answered, "I am ashamed to say that I had not thought of asking you anything on your cousin Athelstane's behalf.

'Tis I and my father who are now prisoners, in spite of your pledges to us. Surely you will not suffer this!"

Thus she spoke to him, but, ah! not in the old self-confident strain, but with a certain mournful submission which wrung my very heartstrings.

"What do you say? You amaze me, Marian! This is a gross breach of the Serdar's own promise to me, but I doubt not that it will at once be righted. As for your father, I do not say; it may be that the old man would be better off in captivity. But I take it on myself that you shall be released without delay. I will go straight and speak about it."

He said all this so readily that I could not feel sure he was not sincere. Marian, poor girl, gladly believed him, and gave me a look which was plainly meant to protest against my entertaining evil thoughts of Rupert. He hurried away, as he had said, and at the same time Mr. Holwell was sent for again to the Nabob.

By this time it was getting to be near evening. The sun was dropping down on the other side of the river, and the long shadows of the palm trees rocked on the water. From where we stood we could see the soldiers going to and fro getting ready their evening meal, and hear an occasional shot in the town, where some Indian was letting off his musket by way of triumph for the victory. It was still hot, but a little breeze began to move up the river and flutter some pieces of linen that hung out drying in the lower courtyard, yesterday having been washing day in the fort.

Mr. Holwell and Rupert returned together, the former more cheerful, but Gurney very sulky, and making a show of being much annoyed.

"I have spoken to the Serdar, Marian, and could do nothing for to-night. He says that you are to remain with the other English till he can take the Nabob's pleasure, who is now getting drunk, and difficult to deal with."

Mr. Holwell confirmed the story, adding--

"Surajah Dowlah may scarce be spoken to. His looks are dreadful. Yet he has sworn to me on the faith of a soldier that no hair of any of our heads shall be injured."

"That is right," quoth Rupert. "So you see, Marian, it is but staying here with your other friends"--he gave me a jeering smile as he said this--"till to-morrow morning, when I will speak to the Nabob myself, at all hazards, and have you released."

Poor Marian glanced at him in despair.

"Rupert, you won't desert me!" she cried. "You don't mean to leave me as you did in Gheriah in that horrid cell, from which I scarcely escaped alive?"

"Pooh, pooh, girl! No," he answered lightly, "I shall be at hand. It is nothing. What is one night's captivity? The soldiers will have orders to find you some comfortable room in the fort. I will see about your accommodation myself."

With this promise on his lips he disappeared, and returned no more.

CHAPTER XI

_THE BLACK HOLE_

I have now to tell how we pa.s.sed through that night, the memory of which to this day moves me to tremble and sicken like a man in strong fear.

At sunset the Moorish soldiers who had charge of the prisoners marched us all together into a covered gallery or verandah that ran along one side of the courtyard, from which it was screened off by a row of arches. While we waited here a part of the soldiers ran to and fro, as if looking for accommodation for us. Surajah Dowlah's promises, reported to us by Mr. Holwell, had so far raised our spirits that some of the prisoners made merry at the difficulty the guard seemed to be in. One man asked if we were to pa.s.s the night in that gallery.

Another, who stood near me, observed in jest--

"They don't seem to know of the Black Hole."

"I'm afraid we shouldn't all go into that," replied another, laughing.

"What place do you mean?" I asked out of curiosity.

"It is the cell where they confine the soldiers of the garrison,"

explained the person next me. "It won't hold more than one or two persons."

Hardly had he given me this information before the officer in charge of our guard came hurrying up. He gave some directions to his men, who commenced pushing and urging us along the gallery to a small door in the wall at our back. This they threw open, and beckoned to the prisoners to enter.

"By heaven, it is the Black Hole!" exclaimed some one in the throng.

There was a murmur of disbelief, followed by one of indignation, as those who were in front looked in. The room was barely seven paces across each way, and very low. The only openings it contained, beside the doorway, were two small windows giving, not on to the open air, but merely on to the covered pa.s.sage in which we had been standing.

"But this is absurd!" cried Mr. Holwell, remonstrating with the soldiers. "There is not even standing-room for a hundred and fifty persons in there."

"They cannot intend that we are all to go in. We should be suffocated," said another.

The soldiers beginning to show anger, some of the company walked in to demonstrate how restricted the s.p.a.ce was. Nevertheless the Moors continued to press us towards the doorway, and seeing that they were in earnest, I whispered to Marian to give me her arm, and went in with the first. By this means I was just in time to secure Marian a place at the corner of one of the windows, where she would have a chance to breathe. I took up my position next to her, and we were quickly surrounded and closely pressed on by those who followed. Before we had well realised what was happening to us, the whole of the prisoners had been thrust into the cell, and the door, which opened inwards, pulled to with a slam and locked.

The moment this happened I found myself bursting out into a most prodigious sweat--the water running out of my skin as though squeezed from a sponge--by the mere press of people in that confined s.p.a.ce; and near as I stood to the window I soon began to experience a difficulty in breathing, so foul did the air immediately become. The sufferings of those further back in the apartment must of course have been much worse. The door was no sooner closed than those next to it began to make frantic efforts to open it again; but we were so closely packed that, even if the door had not been locked, it would have been scarcely possible to open it wide enough to allow of any persons going through. Every mind seemed to become at once possessed with a sense of our desperate situation, and the groans and cries for mercy became heartrending.

Mr. Holwell, having been the first to enter, had been fortunate enough to secure a place at the other window. He now exerted himself, as the leader of the party, to calm the tumult.

"Gentlemen," he said earnestly, "let me urge you to keep still. The only hope for us in this emergency is to behave quietly, and do what we can to relieve each other's sufferings. I will use my endeavours with the guard to procure our release, and in the meantime do you refrain from giving way to despair."

It was now dark within the room, but outside some of the guards had lit torches, by whose light I distinguished one old man, a Jemautdar, who appeared a little touched with pity for our distress. To this man Mr. Holwell appealed, through the window, offering him large rewards if he would have us transferred to some more tolerable prison. At first the old Moor merely shook his head, but finally, when Mr.

Holwell offered him a thousand rupees if he would remove even half the prisoners to another room, he shrugged his shoulders, muttered that he would see what could be done, and walked off.

During the few minutes which had already elapsed since our coming into the cell, the heat had increased to that degree as to be no longer tolerable. My skin and throat felt as though scorched by fire, and the atmosphere was so noxious that it became painful to breathe. I looked at Marian. She was very white, and stood moving her lips silently as though praying. Being the only female among us, those immediately round the window showed some desire to respect her weakness, but the pressure from behind was such that they were driven against her, in spite of themselves, and I had hard work to defend her from being crushed against the wall.

But when I glanced back into the room the sights revealed by the flickering torchlight convinced me that our sufferings were almost light in comparison with those of others. I saw one man, a few paces behind me, turn purple in the face, as if some one were strangling him. Two or three others had already fainted from the heat, and I heard some one whisper that they had fallen to the ground.

The Jemautdar presently returned, shaking his head, and said to Mr.

Holwell--