Category: Historical Novels

One of Clive's Heroes: A Story of the Fight for India

I have not attempted in this story to give a full account of the career of Lord Clive. That has been done by my old friend Mr. Henty in _With Clive in India_. It has always seemed to me that a single book provides too narrow a canvas for the display of a life so full and varie...

Chapters

24. Part 24

He was as good as his word. He snatched a long lathi from one of the Bengalis and rushed up the slope to the hacked nearest the nullah. Finding a purchase for one end of his clu...

7. Part 7

"Humph!" he said when Desmond was presented to him. "You're him, are you? Well, let me tell you this, my lad: the ship's boy on board this 'ere ship have got to do what he's bid...

14. Part 14

There was not a moment to be wasted. The instant the men were aboard Desmond rapidly gave his orders. Fuzl Khan and one of the Mysoreans he sent to carry the barrel to Angria's...

15. Part 15

"No," said Desmond decisively, "I will not drown the men. We will take on board the grab three or four, who must be sailors; let us ask who will volunteer. We will promise them...

28. Part 28

Desmond with Karim dived down into the hold. It was filled with earth, except where a gangway shored up with balks of timber had been left to give access to the holes that had b...

3. Part 3

"Briefly, at any rate. I only went up to the Hall to see if the Squire was returned; it is near rent-day, and he is not usually so late in returning."

19. Part 19

"I dare say, Mr. Diggle," interrupted Desmond, "but I have no time to construe Latin." Covering Diggle with his pistol, Desmond stooped over Fuzl Khan's prostrate body and disco...

16. Part 16

"Wah! We know what these Firangi are like--at least the Angrezi.[#] They have the heads of pigs; there is no moving them. It would be vain to ask the young sahib to join us; his...

4. Part 4

"I binna afeard o' ghosts, not I. True, 'tis odd I be goin' to see Squire. I feel it so. Squire be a high man, and I ha' never dared lift up my voice to him oothout axen. But 't...

32. Part 32

Desmond was turning away when three of his men came into the compound, two grasping a Frenchman by the arms, the third a black boy. The former Desmond recognized as the man whom...

11. Part 11

Desmond was impatient of the man's lack of spirit. But he suffered no sign of his feeling to escape him. He had grown to have a liking for the Babu.

12. Part 12

He scarcely argued the matter explicitly with himself: it was settled in Angria's presence by his instinctive repulsion. But it was not in a boy like Desmond, young, strong, hig...

27. Part 27

The khansaman, limp and damp after his unwonted exercise, had squatted on the floor and was fanning himself, groaning deeply. Desmond went to the window of the room and looked o...

20. Part 20

"Everything is wrong. Alivirdi died a fortnight ago; Siraj-uddaula has stepped into his shoes; and Drake has made a mess of everything, with Manningham's and Frankland's assista...

18. Part 18

Early next day Admiral Watson himself rode down to the harbour to inspect the grab. He was so much pleased with her that he offered to buy her for the service. Before the day wa...

6. Part 6

It was four o'clock, and Tuesday afternoon--the day before the _Good Intent_ was to sail from the Pool. Desmond was kicking his heels in his inn, longing for the morrow. Even no...

13. Part 13

Suddenly the leader stopped. They had reached the foot of the narrow flight of steps leading up into the bastion. Just above them was a sentinel. The pause was but for a moment....

25. Part 25

"For myself," added Merriman, "I shall remain. My wounds are not severe; I am accustomed to the climate; and though India is now odious to me, I shall not leave Indian soil unti...

2. Part 2

As Desmond drew nearer to the inn, there came to him along the silent road the sound of singing. This was somewhat unusual at such an hour, for folk went early to bed, and the i...

9. Part 9

When the _Good Intent_ had been thus warped a mile from her position at nightfall, Captain Barker ordered the operation to be stopped. To avoid noise the boat was not hoisted in...

31. Part 31

He took a kedgeree pot, an earthen vessel used for cooking, and firmly tied to it a stout bamboo some six feet long, so that the thicker end of the pole was even with the mouth...

17. Part 17

Desmond liked the look of the little man. He was short and stout, with a very large red face, a broad turn-up nose, and childlike blue eyes that bespoke confidence at once.

22. Part 22

He did not take long to decide upon a plan. Calling the native who had attended him in the fort, he sent him out to Surendra Nath with instructions to prepare his peons for inst...

8. Part 8

When the strangers had dried themselves, Diggle inquired of Hybati how he came to be in his present predicament. The Maratha explained that he had been in command of Angria's fo...

30. Part 30

"Burke, my boy," he said, "'tis a mighty odd thing. Mr. Clive is not partial to Councils; has had enough of 'em at Madras first, and lately at Calcutta. D'you know, I don't unde...

10. Part 10

"That, sahib, is a moving tale. While on a visit of condolence to my respectable uncle and aunt at Chittagong, I was kidnapped by Sanderband piratical dogs. Presto!--at that ser...

26. Part 26

"Like you, sir, I have come to believe that you owe this terrible sorrow to Diggle--I must always call him that. Don't give up heart, sir. What his motive is, if he has indeed c...

23. Part 23

Hitherto Desmond had kept himself in the background. But now he had an idea inspired by confidence in his costume. Introducing himself to the gumashta, he asked him to give out...

1. Part 1

I have not attempted in this story to give a full account of the career of Lord Clive. That has been done by my old friend Mr. Henty in _With Clive in India_. It has always seem...

21. Part 21

He was clad in nothing but shirt and breeches, with his coat strapped to his back, and a hat apparently improvised out of cabbage leaves. The natives were all in white, with the...

29. Part 29

"Well, I don't see what we can do," said Clive, when Desmond repeated the news to him. "Mr. Watson no doubt suspected her when it was too late. Nothing but a regular chase could...

5. Part 5

The singer was in the middle of the stave when Desmond, rounding a privet hedge, came upon the scene. A patch of greensward, sloping up from a slipway on the riverside; a low, c...

33. Part 33

A particular interest attaches to "Tom Burnaby," for it was the first romance of adventure written by Mr. Herbert Strang, and it secured for him the place in the forefront of wr...