On the Irrawaddy Part 23

"I shall be ready. I will be round here, with my servant, by that hour. By the way, what shall I bring with me?"

"Nothing at all. I shall take a couple of chickens, and some bread and coffee and sugar, and a bottle of brandy for emergencies; but we shall have no difficulty in getting food in the villages. The troopers will only carry their day's rations with them. After that I always act as mess caterer, and charge expenses when I get back here."

Accordingly, the next morning they started at four o'clock. Stanley insisted that Harry should ride his second horse, for the present; as his own, having been six weeks without exercise, and fed very much better than it had been accustomed to, was in much too high spirits to be pleasant for an invalid. Meinik, therefore, took Harry's; and the latter rode beside his cousin, whose horse had had abundant exercise, and was well content to canter quietly along by the side of his companion.

By the end of ten days, Harry had picked up some of his strength.

They now reached a village which Stanley decided to use as his headquarters, for a few days, while he made excursions to other places within a day's ride. It was a good place for a halt; standing as it did at some height on the hills, where the air was much cooler at night than in the flat country. It was surrounded by a clearing of about a hundred acres in extent; planted with cacao trees, pepper, and many kinds of vegetables.

"This is delightful!" Harry said, as they sat in front of the hut that had been cleared for them, and looked over the plain. "It must be twenty degrees cooler, here, than it was at Prome. I think I shall do nothing tomorrow, Stanley, but just sit here and enjoy myself. I know it is very lazy, for I am feeling quite myself again; still, after ten days' riding, I do think that it will be pleasant to have a day's rest."

"Do, by all means," Stanley said. "I think you had better stay here for the three days that we shall remain. Your man is a very good cook, and there is no lack of food. Those chickens we had just now were excellent, and the people have promised to bring in some game, tomorrow. There are plenty of snakes, too; and you lose a good deal, I can a.s.sure you, by turning up your nose at them. They are just as good as eels, as Meinik cooks them--stewed with a blade of cinnamon, and some hot peppers. I cannot see that they can be a bit more objectionable to eat than eels; indeed, for anything one knows, the eel may have been feasting on a drowned man, the day before he was caught; while the snakes only take a meal once a week or so, and then only a small bird of some kind."

"I dare say that you are quite right, Stanley, and I own that the dishes your man turns out look tempting; but I cannot bring myself to try, at any rate as long as I can get anything else to eat. If I knew that it was a case of snake, or nothing, I would try it; but till then, I prefer sticking to birds and beasts."

The next morning Stanley rode off, with two of his escort and Meinik, who declined altogether to be left behind.

"No, master," he said, "there is never any saying when you may want me; and what should I ever say to myself if misfortune were to come to you, and I were not to be there?"

Stanley had a long day's work. As a rule, the villagers had few complaints to make but, at the place he went to on this occasion, the headman had been behaving as in the old times; and Stanley had to listen to a long series of complaints on behalf of the villagers. The case was fully proved, both as to extortion and ill treatment. Stanley at once deprived the man of his office, and called upon the villagers to a.s.semble and elect another in his place.

"If you are not satisfied," he said to the fellow, "you can go to Prome, and appeal to the general there; but I warn you that, if you do, you must give notice to the villagers of your intention so that they may, if they choose, send two or three of their number to repeat the evidence that they have given me. I have noted this fully down, and I can tell you that the general, when he reads it, will be much more likely to order you a sound flogging, than to reinstate you in your office."

It was dusk when Stanley arrived within two miles of the village where he had left Harry. Meinik, who was riding just behind him, brought his horse up alongside.

"Do you see that, sir? There is a light in the sky. It is just over where the village is. I am afraid there is a fire there."

"You are right, Meinik. I hope nothing has gone wrong."

He touched his horse with his heel, and rode on at a gallop. He became more and more anxious, as he approached the village. No flames could be seen leaping up, but there was a dull glow in the sky. As he rode into the clearing, he reined up his horse in dismay. A number of glowing embers, alone, marked the place where the village had stood; and no figures were to be seen moving about.

"There has been foul play, Meinik.

"Get ready for action, men," he said to the two troopers, and they dashed forward at a gallop.

Two or three little groups of people were sitting, in an att.i.tude of deep dejection, by the remains of their houses.

"What has happened?" Stanley shouted, as he rode up.

"The robbers have been here, and have slain many, and burned the village."

"Where is my friend?"

"They have carried him off, my lord; or at least, we cannot find his body. His servant and one of the soldiers are lying dead; but of the other soldier, and the officer, there are no signs."

"This is terrible!" Stanley exclaimed. "Tell me exactly how it happened."

"It was four hours ago, my lord. The robbers came suddenly out from the plantation, and fell upon the people. Many they killed at once; but many also have escaped as we did, by running in among the plantations, and so into the forest. We heard the firing of guns, for a little time; then everything was silent, and we knew that the robbers were searching the houses. Half an hour later, smoke rose in many places, and then flames; then after a time, all was quiet.

A boy crept up among the bushes, and came back with the news that they had all gone.

"Then we came out again. Twenty-three of our people had been killed, and eight carried off; at least, we cannot find the bodies.

The white officer and one of his soldiers have gone, also."

"Which way did they go?"

"The tracks show that they went up the hill. Most likely they will have gone to Toungoo, if they have gone to any town at all; but indeed, we think they have taken the prisoners to get a reward for them."

Stanley had thrown himself off his horse, as he rode up; and he stood for some time, silently leaning against it. Then he said to Meinik:

"Picket the horses, and then come and have a talk with me."

Then he turned to the two troopers:

"There is nothing to be done now," he said. "You had better look about, and see what you can find in the way of food; and then get a grave dug for your comrade, and another for Mr. Brooke's servant."

The two Mahommedan troopers saluted, and led their horses away.

Meinik, after picketing the animals, returned to Stanley but, seeing that the latter was pacing up and down, and evidently not disposed to speak, he went away.

There were a good many fowls walking about, in a bewildered way, near the huts. They had been away, as usual, searching for food in the plantations and fields when the robber band arrived and, on their return home at dusk, had found everything changed. A boy at once caught and killed two of these, plucked them and brought them to Meinik who, getting some embers from the fires, cut the fowls in two and put them on to roast. A few minutes sufficed to cook them.

As soon as they were ready, Meinik took them to Stanley.

"You must eat, master," he said. "You have had nothing since we started, this morning; and sorrow, alone, makes a poor supper. You will want to do something, I know; and will need all your strength."

"You are right, Meinik. Yes, give me one of them, and take the other one yourself and, while we eat, we can talk. Of course, I must make an effort to rescue my cousin from the hands of this band."

"Yes, master, I knew that you would do that."

"Did you ask how many there were of them, Meinik?"

"Some say forty, some say sixty."

"If we knew where they are now, and could come up to them, we might manage to get them off while the robbers were asleep."

Meinik shook his head.

"They are sure to keep a strict guard, over a white officer," he said; "but if we rushed in and shouted, and fired pistols, they might all run away."

"I am afraid not, Meinik. There might be a scare for a minute but, directly they saw that there were only two of us, they would turn and kill us. Your people are brave enough. They may feel that they cannot stand against our troops, owing to our discipline; but they fight bravely hand-to-hand. However, we don't know exactly which way they have gone; and it would be hopeless to search for them in the forest, during the darkness.

"What should they go to Toungoo for?"

"I have been thinking it over, master; and it seems to me that many of them may belong there, or to the villages near. They may not dare return to their homes, because they are afraid that they would be punished for having left the army, and would certainly be sent off again to it. Now they may think that, if they go back with a white officer and soldier, and tell some story of having beaten a great many English, they will be rewarded; and may even be able to remain some time in their homes, before they are sent off; or they may be ordered to march with their prisoners to Ava, where they would get still more reward. I can see no other reason for their carrying off the officer."

"I think very likely that is so, Meinik. Anyhow, we are more likely to rescue my cousin, at Toungoo, than we should be while on the road. It would be next to impossible to find them among all the hills and trees and, even if we did come upon them at night, and could creep into the midst of them, we might find that my cousin is too severely wounded to travel for, as there was a fight, it is almost certain he must have been wounded before he was captured.

Therefore, I think it is best to make straight for Toungoo.

"How many miles is it from here, do you think?"

Meinik went over to the natives and asked the question. "About forty-five miles, they say; very bad travelling; all mountains, but ten miles to the north is a road that runs straight there."