With Clive in India Part 27

"Now, about getting back into the town?"

"I have thought of that," Hossein said. "I have bought a quant.i.ty of plantains, and two large baskets. After the gates are opened, you will go boldly in with the baskets on your heads. No questions are asked of the country people who go in and out. I have some stain here, which will darken your skins.

"I will go in first in my merchant's dress, which I have here. I will stop a little way inside the gate, and when I see you coming, will walk on. Do you follow me, a little behind. My house is in a quiet street. When I reach the door, do you come up and offer to sell me plantains. If there are people about, I shall bargain with you until I see that no one is noticing us. Then you can enter. If none are about, you can follow me straight in."

Hossein now set about the disguises. A light was struck, and both Tim and Charlie were shaved, up to the line which the turban would cover. Charlie's whiskers, which were somewhat faint, as he was still under twenty-one years old, gave but little trouble. Tim, however, grumbled at parting with his much more bushy appendages. The shaven part of the heads, necks, and faces were then rubbed with a dark fluid, as were the arms and legs.

They were next wrapped in dark blue clothes, in peasant fashion, and turbans wound round their heads. Hossein then, examining them critically, announced that they would pa.s.s muster anywhere.

"I feel mighty quare," Tim exclaimed; "and it seems to me downright ondacent, to be walking about with my naked legs."

Charlie laughed.

"Why, Tim, you are accustomed to see thousands of men, every day, with nothing on but a loincloth."

"Yes, yer honor, but then they're hathens, and it seems natural for them to do so; but for a dacent boy to go walking about in the streets, with a thing on which covers no more than his shirt, is onnatural altogether. Mother of Moses, what a shindy there would be, in the streets of Cork, if I were to show myself in such a state!"

Charlie now lay down for a sleep till morning; while Tim, who had had three hours' repose, settled himself for a comfortable chat with Hossein, to whom sleep appeared altogether unnecessary.

Between Hossein and Tim there was a sort of brotherly attachment, arising from their mutual love of their master. During the two years which Tim had spent apart from all Europeans, save Charlie, he had contrived to pick up enough of the language to make himself fairly intelligible; and, since the day when Hossein had saved Charlie's life at Ambur, the warmest friendship had sprung up between the good-humoured and warm-hearted Irishman, and the silent and devoted Mohammedan.

Tim's friendship even extended so far as to induce a toleration of Hossein's religion. He had come to the conclusion that a man who, at stated times in the day, would leave his employment, whatever it might be, spread his carpet, and be for some minutes lost in prayer, could not be altogether a hathen; especially when he learned, from Charlie, that the Mohammedans, like ourselves, worship one G.o.d. For the sake of his friend, then, he now generally excluded the Mohammedans from the general designation of heathen, which he still applied to the Hindoos.

He learned from Hossein that the latter, having observed from a distance the Europeans driven into the cell at Calcutta, perceived at once how fatal the consequences would be. He had, an hour or two after they were confined there, approached with some water, but the officer on guard had refused to let him give it. He had then gone into the native town, but being unable to find any fruit there, had walked out to the gardens, and had picked a large basketful. This he had brought as an offering to the officer, and the latter had then consented to his giving one bowl of water to the prisoners, among whom, as he had told him, was his master. For bringing a second bowl, contrary to his orders, Hossein had, as Tim saw, been struck down; but had the satisfaction of believing that his master, and Tim, had derived some benefit from his effort.

On the following morning, to his delight, he saw them issue among the few survivors from the dungeon; and had, when they were taken up the country, followed close behind them, arriving at the town on the same day as themselves. He had, ever since, been wandering round the prison. He had taken a house, so close to it that he could keep a watch on all the windows facing the town; and had, day after day, kept his eyes fixed upon these without success. He had, at last, found out from one of the soldiers that the white prisoners were confined on the other side of the prison; but until he saw Charlie's cap, he had been unable to discover the room in which they were confined.

In the morning, they started for the town. Groups of peasants were already making their way towards the gate, with fruit and grain; and, keeping near one of these parties, while sufficiently distant to prevent the chance of their being addressed, Charlie and Tim made their way to the gate; the latter suffering acutely, in his mind, from the impropriety of his attire.

No questions were asked, as they pa.s.sed the guard. They at once perceived Hossein, standing a little way off, and followed him through the busy streets. They soon turned off into a quieter quarter, and stopped at a house, in a street in which scarcely anyone was stirring. Hossein glanced round, as he opened the door, and beckoned to them to enter at once. This they did, and were glad, indeed, to set down the heavy baskets of plantains.

"My lord's room is upstairs," Hossein said, and led the way to a comfortably furnished apartment. "I think that you might stay here, for months, unsuspected. A sweeper comes, every day, to do my rooms downstairs. He believes the rest of the house to be untenanted, and you must remain perfectly quiet, during the half hour he is here. Otherwise, no one enters the house but myself."

Hossein soon set to work, and prepared an excellent breakfast. Then he left them, saying that he would now devote himself to finding out whether the young white lady was in the town palace of the rajah. He returned in the afternoon.

"She is here, Sahib," he said. "I got into conversation with one of the retainers of the rajah; and by giving him some wonderful bargains, in Delhi jewelry, succeeded in opening his lips. I dare not question him too closely, but I am to meet him tomorrow, to show him some more silver bracelets."

"It is fortunate, Hossein, that you have some money, for neither Tim nor I have a rupee."

"Thanks to the generosity of my lord," Hossein said, "I am well supplied."

The next day, Hossein discovered that the windows of the zenana were at the back of the palace, looking into the large garden.

"I hear, however," he said, "that the ladies of the zenana are, next week, going to the rajah's other palace. The ladies will, of course, travel in palanquins; but upon the road I might get to talk with one of the waiting women, and might bribe her to pa.s.s a note into the hands of the white lady."

"I suppose they will have a guard with them, Hossein?"

"Surely, a strong guard," Hossein answered.

The time pa.s.sed, until the day came for the departure of the rajah's zenana. Charlie wrote a note, as follows:

"My dear Ada,

"I am free, and am on the lookout for an opportunity to rescue you. Contrive to put a little bit of your handkerchief through the latticework of the window of your room, as a signal to us which it is. On the second night after your arrival, we will be under it with a ladder. If others, as is probable, sleep in your room, lie down without undressing more than you can help. When they are asleep, get up and go to the window, and open the lattice. If any of them wake, say you are hot and cannot sleep, and wait quietly till they are off again. Then stretch out your arm, and we shall know you are ready. Then we will put up the ladder, and you must get out, and come to us as quickly as possible. Once with us, you will be safe."

This note was wrapped up very small, and put into a quill. As soon as the gates were open, Hossein and his companions left the town, and proceeded as far as a grove, halfway between the town and the rajah's country palace.

"They are sure to stop here, for a rest," Hossein said. "I will remain here, and try to enter into conversation with one of them. It will be better for you to go on, for some distance, and then turn aside from the road. When they have all pa.s.sed, come back into the road again, and I will join you."

After waiting two hours, Hossein saw two carts full of women approaching, and had no doubt that these were the servants of the zenana. As he had expected, the drivers halted their cattle in the shade of the trees; and the women, delighted to enjoy their liberty, alighted from the carts and scattered in the grove. Presently one of them, a middle-aged woman, approached the spot where Hossein had seated himself.

Hossein drew out a large and beautiful silver bracelet, of Delhi workmanship.

"Would you like to buy this?" he asked.

"How should I buy it?" she said. "I am only a servant.

"It is very beautiful;" and she looked at it, with longing eyes.

"I have two of them," he said, "and they will both be yours, if you will do me a service."

"What is it?" she asked.

"They will be yours, if you will give this quill to the little white girl, who is in the zenana."

The woman hesitated.

"It is dangerous," she said.

"Not at all," Hossein replied. "It only gives her news of a friend, whom she thought was dead. It will cheer her heart, and will be a kind action. None can ever know it."

"Give them to me," the woman said, holding out her hand. "I will do it."

"No," Hossein replied. "I will give you one now, the other when I know that the note is delivered. I shall be watching, tomorrow. If she places her handkerchief in her lattice, I shall know that she has got it. When she does this, I will bury the other bracelet, a few inches in the ground, just under that window. You can dig it up when you will."

"I understand," the woman said. "You can trust me. We all like the white girl. She is very gentle, but very sad. I would gladly give her pleasure."

Hossein handed to her the bracelet, and the quill. She hid them in her dress, and sauntered away.

Hossein lay back, as if taking a sleep, and so remained until, half an hour later, he heard the shouts of the drivers to the women, to take their places in the carts. Then the sound of retreating wheels was heard.

Hossein was about to rise, when he heard the clatter of horses' hoofs. Looking round he saw eight elephants, each carrying a closed pavilion, moving along the road, escorted by a troop of hors.e.m.e.n. In the pavilions, as he knew, were the ladies of the rajah's zenana.

Chapter 20: The Rescue Of The White Captive.

After the cavalcade had pa.s.sed, Hossein rose to his feet and followed them, allowing them to go some distance ahead. Presently he was joined by Charlie and Tim, and the three walked quietly along the road, until within sight of the rajah's palace.