Far to Seek Part 64

He put his arms round her, as if to shield her from the memory of it all.

"I'll see you to-morrow?" she asked.

"Of course. If I can square it. But we shall be snowed under with emergency orders. I'll send a note in any case."

"Take care of yourself--on my account," she commanded softly; and they kissed.

But--whether fancy or fact--Roy had an under sense of mutual constraint.

It was not the same thing at all as that last kiss at Shadara.

There they had come closer, in spirit, than ever yet. Now--not two hours later--the thin end of an unseen wedge seemed to be stealthily pressing them apart.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 29: House.]

[Footnote 30: Alas, alas!]

[Footnote 31: First a blow, then a word.]

[Footnote 32: True talk. Shameful talk.]

[Footnote 33: Caste.]

CHAPTER IX.

"It has long been a grave question whether any Government not too strong for the liberties of the people, can be strong enough to maintain its existence in great emergencies."--ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Back in Cantonments, Roy found strong detachments being rushed to all vital points, and Brigade Headquarters moving into Lah.o.r.e.

It was late before Lance returned, tired and monosyllabic. He admitted they had mopped things up a bit--outside; and left a detachment, in support of the police, guarding the Mall. But--the city was in open rebellion. No white man could safely show his face there. The anti-British poison, instilled without let or hindrance, was taking violent effect. He'd seen enough of it for one day. He wanted things to eat and drink--especially drink. 'Things' were produced; and afterwards--alone with Roy in their bungalow--he talked more freely, in no optimistic vein, sworn foe of pessimism though he was.

"Sporadic trouble? Not a bit of it! Look at the way they're going for lines of communication. And look at these choice fragments from one of their posters I pinched off a police inspector. 'The English are the worst lot and are like monkeys, whose deceit and cunning are obvious to high and low.... Do not lose courage, but try your utmost to turn these men away from your holy country.' Pretty sentiments--eh? Fact is, we're up against organised rebellion."

Roy nodded. "I had that from Dyan, long ago. Paralysis of movement and Government is their game. We may have a job to regain control of the city."

"Not if we declare Martial Law," said the son of Theo Desmond with a kindling eye. "Of course, I'm only a soldier--and proud of it! But I've more than a nodding acquaintance with the Punjabi. He's no word-monger; handier with his _lathi_ than his tongue. If you stir him up, he hits out. And I don't blame him. The voluble gentlemen from the South don't realise the inflammable stuff they're playing with----"

"Perhaps they do," hazarded Roy.

"M-yes--perhaps. But the one on the electric standard this evening didn't exactly achieve a star turn!--You saw him, eh?" He looked very straight at Roy. "I noticed you--hanging round on the edge of things.

You ought to have gone straight on."

Roy winced. "We'd heard wild rumours. She was anxious about the D.C."

Lance nodded, staring at the bowl of his pipe. "When does--Mrs Elton make a move?"

"The first possible instant I should say, from the look of her."

"Good. She's on the right tack, for once! The D.C. deserves a first-cla.s.s Birthday Honour--and may possibly w.a.n.gle an O.B.E.! I'm told that he and the D.I.G., with a handful of police, pretty well saved the station before we came on the scene. It's been a nearer shave than one cares to think about. And it's not over."

They sat up till after midnight discussing the general situation, that looked blacker every hour. And, till long after midnight, an uproarious mob raged through the city and Anarkalli, only kept from breaking all bounds by the tact and good-humour of a handful of cavalry and police; men of their own race, unshaken by open or covert attempts to suborn their loyalty--a minor detail worth putting on record.

Friday was a day of rumours. While the city continued furiously to rage, reports of fresh trouble flowed in from all sides: further terrible details from Amritsar; rumours that the Army and the police were being tampered with and expected to join the mob; serious trouble at Ahmedabad and Lyallpur, where seventy British women and children were herded, in one bungalow, till they could safely be removed. Everywhere the same tale: stations burned, railways wrecked, wires cut. Fresh stories constantly to hand; some true, some wildly exaggerated; anger in the blood of the men; terror in the hearts of the women, longing to get away, yet suddenly afraid of trains packed with natives, manned by natives, who might be perfectly harmless; but, on the other hand, might not....

It was as Rose had said; to realise the significance of these things, one needed to have spent half a lifetime in that other India, in the good days when peaceful loyal ma.s.ses had not been galvanised into disaffection; when an Englishwoman, of average nerve, thought nothing of travelling alone up and down the country, or spending a week alone in camp--if needs must--secure in the knowledge that--even in a disturbed Frontier district--no woman would ever be touched or treated with other than unfailing respect.

Yet a good many were preparing to flit: and to the men their departure would spell relief; not least, to Roy--the new-made lover. Parting would be a wrench; but at this critical moment--for England and India--the tug two ways was distinctly a strain; and the less she saw of it all, the better for their future chance of happiness. He felt by no means sure it had not been imperilled already.

But the exigencies of the hour left no room for vague forebodings.

Emergency orders, that morning, detailed Lance with a detachment for the Railway Workshops, where pa.s.sive resisters were actively on the war-path. Roy, after early stables, was dispatched with another party, to strengthen a cavalry picket near the Badshahi Mosque, on the outskirts of the city, where things might be lively in the course of the day.

Pa.s.sing through Lah.o.r.e, he sent his _sais_ with a note to Rose; and, on reaching the Mosque, he found things lively enough already. The iron railings, round the main gate of the Fort, were besieged by a hooting, roaring mob, belabouring the air with _lathis_ and axes on bamboo poles; rending it with shouts of abuse and one reiterate cry, "Kill the white pigs, brothers! Kill! Kill!"

Again and again they stormed the railings, frantically trying to bear them down by sheer weight of numbers--yelling ceaselessly the while.

"How the devil can they keep it up?" thought Roy; and sickened to think how few of his own kind there were to stand between the English women and children in Lah.o.r.e and those hostile thousands. Thank G.o.d, there remained loyal Indians, hundreds of them--as in Mutiny days; but surely a few rounds from the Fort just then would have heartened them and been distinctly comforting into the bargain.

The walls were manned with rifles and Lewis guns, and at times things looked distinctly alarming; but not a shot was fired. The mob was left to exhaust itself with its own fury. Part melted away, and part was drawn away by the attraction of a ma.s.s meeting in the Mosque, where thirty-five thousand citizens were gathered to hear Hindu agitators preaching open rebellion from Mahommedan pulpits; and a handful of British police officers--present on duty--were being hissed and hooted, amid shouts of "_Hindu-Mussalman ki jai!_"

From the city all police pickets had been withdrawn, since their presence would only provoke disturbance and bloodshed. And the bazaar people were parading the streets, headed by an impromptu army of young hotheads, carrying _lathis_, crying their eternal '_Hai!_' and '_Jai!_'

with extra special '_Jai's_' for the 'King of Germany' and the Afghan Amir.

Portraits of Their Majesties were battered down and trampled in the mud; and over the fragments the crowd swept on, shouting: '_Hai! hai! Jarge Margya!_'[34] And the air was full of the craziest rumours, pa.s.sed on, with embellishments, from mouth to mouth....

Roy, on reaching Cantonments, was relieved to find that the decision had already been taken to regain control of the city by a military demonstration in force; eight hundred troops and police, under the officer commanding Lah.o.r.e civil area. Desmond's squadron was included; and, sitting down straightway, Roy dashed off a note to Rose.

"MY DARLING,--

"I'm sorry, but it looks like 'no go' to-morrow. You'll hear all from the Pater. I might look in for tiffin, if things go smoothly, and if _you_'ll put up with me all dusty and dishevelled from the fray! From what I saw and heard to-day, we're not likely to be greeted with marigold wreaths and benedictions! Of course hundreds will be thankful to see us. But I doubt if they'll dare betray the fact. I needn't tell you to keep cool. You're simply splendid.

"Your loving and admiring, ROY."

It was after ten next morning, the heat already intense, when that mixed force, British and Indian, and the four aeroplanes acting in concert with them, halted outside the Delhi Gate of Lah.o.r.e City, while an order was read out to the a.s.sembled leaders that, if shots were fired or bombs flung, those aeroplanes would make things unpleasant. Then--at last they were on the move; through the Gate, inside the City, aeroplanes flying low, cavalry bringing up the rear.

Here normal life and activity were completely suspended--hence more than half the trouble. Groups of idlers, sauntering about, stared, spat, or shook clenched fists, shouting, "Give us Ghandi--and we will open!"

"Repeal Rowlatt Bill and we will open."

And, at every turn, posters exhorted true patriots--in terms often as ludicrous as they were hostile--to leave off all dealings with the 'English monkeys,' to 'kill and be killed.'

And as they advanced, leaving pickets at stated points--pausing that Mr Elton might exhort the people to resume work--mere groups swelled to crowds, increasing in number and virulence; their cries and contortions more savage than anything Roy had yet seen.