Part 18

They filled the cracks with water, drew the rug over the place, and then returned to their seats. Presently Akram said:

"We might try wedges, sahib."

"So we might, I did not think of that; and there are the beds, of course."

"Yes; I could cut away some pieces from the under part of the framework of one of the beds."

"That will do capitally."

It was slow work cutting out a piece of bamboo sufficiently large to make a couple of dozen of wedges, and it was dark long before Akram had finished. It took another three hours to split it up and make it into wedges. As soon as these were completed, they drove them in close to each other along one side of the stone, pressing them in with the haft of a knife with their united weight. When all were wedged in Akram tried the stone.

"It is as firm as ever, sahib."

"Yes; I did not expect that we should be able to move it, especially as we have not hammered in the wedges. If it does not move by morning we must tap them in, giving a tap every four or five minutes; that would not be noticed; but I hope we shall find it is loose then. You see the crack is full of water, and so the wedges will swell and exercise a tremendous pressure. In some places they split stone like that."

They threw themselves down on the beds and slept till morning broke. Percy was the first to open his eyes, and at once leapt up, ran across the room, moved the rug, and examined the stone.

"It has moved, Akram. The side opposite the wedges is jammed hard up against the next stone."

"It is as firm as ever, sahib," Akram said, trying it with his knife.

"Yes, because it is held by the pressure of the wedges. When we get them out we shall find that it is loose from the cement."

They found, however, that there was no possibility of getting out the strips of wood.

"We have only to wait," Percy said. "As soon as they are dry they will be loose." It was, however, two days before the moisture had evaporated sufficiently for them to be able to draw out the wedges.

"Now let us both put our knives in on this side and try and lift it."

Repeated trials showed them that this could not be done. In the evening, however, when the lamp was brought them, they heated the point of one of the knives in the flame until it had so far lost its temper that they were able to bend the point over by pressing it on one of the flags. Again heating it they dipped it in water to harden. They then ground the point down on one of the stones until they were able to pass it down the joint that the action of the wedges had widened. The bent point caught under the stone, and they had no difficulty in raising it.

"There is the first step done," Percy exclaimed in delight. "You had better warm the knife and straighten the point again."

They experienced no great difficulty in getting up the next stone, which they had loosened in a similar way to the first while waiting for the wedges to dry. As soon as this was up they began cutting into the cement. The surface was hard, and the knives at first did little more than scratch it; but below they found it much softer and got on more rapidly. As they removed the cement they placed the powder a handful at a time on the window-sill, and blew it gradually out through the grating. After three nights of continuous work they had made a hole a foot deep and come down upon wooden planking.

"This is doubtless the ceiling of the room underneath," Percy said. "There can be no one sleeping there or they would have heard the scratching overhead." By lifting up the stones, which they always replaced at daybreak, they could hear voices, and did not recommence their work at night till they were well assured that no one was stirring below. As the stones they had taken out were next to the wall, they now commenced operations on the brickwork. This they found much easier, as the mortar was nothing like so hard as the cement, and on cutting it out between the bricks they had no great difficulty in moving these. After two nights' work they had taken them all out with the exception of the outside layer, as they were able to calculate by the thickness of the wall at the window. During the daytime the bricks that had been removed were stowed away in the hole.

"We shall be out to-night," Percy said exultantly, as they replaced the flags for the last time. "This last layer will be easy work, for as soon as we have cut round one brick we shall be able to pull it in, and can then get a hand through the hole, and the others will come quite easily as soon as we cut away the mortar a bit. There will be no occasion to tear up the rugs to make a rope. We are not more than eighteen or twenty feet from the ground, and two or three of them knotted together will be enough. We will set one of the beds over the hole and tie the end to that."

Percy felt nervous all day, being in fear every time he heard a footstep in the passage that something might occur which would upset all their plans. They had now been ten days in their prison, so there was time for a messenger to have gone to Jummoo, and thence to the fortress and back. Still he hoped that his uncle would at any rate refuse to accept Ghoolab Singh's first offer, whatever it might be, and that lengthy negotiations would go on. Nothing out of the ordinary routine happened; their guard came three times a day as usual with their food; and after his last visit Percy sprang from the couch.

"Hurrah! Next time he comes he will find the place empty, Akram. Now let us set to work at once."

Four hours of hard work sufficed to make a hole large enough for them to crawl through. The _charpoy_ was brought over the hole, the money stowed away in their clothes, and the rugs knotted. Then, feet foremost, Percy wriggled out through the hole, holding the rope tightly, and slid down to the ground, while two minutes later Akram stood beside him. They had already taken off their turbans and rewound them much more loosely, so as to resemble closely those worn in Cashmere. They started at once up the hill, and continued their course until they reached a wood high up on the mountain side. They had already determined upon their course. It was of the greatest importance that they should obtain dresses of the country, for though they might have made their way along the hills they would have difficulty in buying food, and might find horsemen already posted at the various passes by which the mountain ranges were traversed. At daybreak Akram took off his long coat, arranged his clothes in the fashion of Cashmere peasants, and started boldly for the town.

"The shops will soon be open," he said, "and unless anyone happens to go round to the back of our prison, which is not likely, they will not find out that we are gone until the man enters at nine o'clock with our food, and long before that I shall be here again. You need not be uneasy about me, sahib. Being really a native of the valley, no one can suspect me of being anything else."

Soon after eight o'clock he returned with two complete suits, in which they were soon attired. As the natives of Cashmere are fairer than those of the plains of India, it needed but a slight wash of some dye Akram had brought up with him to convert Percy's bronzed face to the proper tint, and as soon as this was done they descended the hill and came upon the main road below the city. Soon afterwards some horsemen passed them, galloping at a furious rate. These did not even glance at the supposed peasants, but continued their course down the valley. Other and much larger bodies of horsemen afterwards passed them, but, like the first, without asking a question.

"Doubtless they think we have at least twenty miles start," Akram said. "I expect the first party were going right down to the mouth of the valley, warning all the towns and villages to be on the look-out for us. The others, when they think they must have passed us, will scatter and occupy all the roads and passes. Some of them will push on until almost within sight of the fortress, so as to catch us there if we manage to get through the woods and pass the lines of watchers."

At a leisurely pace they proceeded down the valley, Akram sometimes entering into conversation with peasants they met, and going into shops and buying provisions; he learnt in the villages that strict orders had been given to watch for a Sikh with a young Englishman who had escaped from a prison at Serinagur. Akram joined in their expressions of wonder as to how an Englishman could have got there, and how the escape had been managed, and mentioned that he was on his way to visit some relations at Jummoo.

When near the mouth of the valley he purchased some cotton cloths, such as peasants working in the fields would wear, and presently they put on these and left those behind them that had proved so useful, Percy's skin being stained brown wherever exposed by this more scanty costume. Thus attired they issued out from the mouth of the valley and went forward into Ghoolab Singh's country, as they agreed that this was the place where they were the least likely to be looked for. They had been four days on their way down from Serinagur, and decided to travel still farther west, so as to return to the fortress from the side opposite to that where a watch was likely to be kept up for them.

Three days' more walking, and, having made the detour, they approached the fortress on the west. They met with no suspicious party on their way, and as they ascended the zigzag road from the valley felt with delight that they were now perfectly safe. As usual the drawbridge was down and the gates open, and they passed in without question from the men on guard there. As they went down the street they saw a figure they recognized, and Percy ran forward and exclaimed:

"Bhop Lal, I am indeed glad to see you! So those rascally dacoits did not kill you after all?"

"Blessed be the day, sahib!" Bhop Lal exclaimed with delight. "There has been sore grief over you. The colonel has been in a terrible state since I was carried in here and told him how you had been seized by dacoits, and still more has he been troubled since, ten days ago, he learned from a messenger of Ghoolab Singh that you had fallen into the clutches of that notorious scamp Goolam Tej. The Ranee is ill and keeps her bed.

"Ah, Akram Chunder! truly I am rejoiced to see you also. I was glad indeed that you were with the young sahib, for I knew you to be a man of resources."

"It was the young sahib himself who devised the plan by which we escaped, Bhop Lal; and how are your wounds?"

"They are very sore yet, and the hakim says that it will be many weeks before I am fit to sit in the saddle again; but now that our sahib is back safely I shall have no more to fret about, and shall mend rapidly."

By this time they had arrived at the door of the colonel's residence, and Percy ran in.

"You cannot enter here, fellow," a servant said, as he was about to push aside the hangings of the entrance to the private apartments.

Percy laughed, and without waiting to explain pushed the man aside and ran in.

"Well, uncle, here I am," he exclaimed, as he entered the room where his uncle was sitting writing. The latter leapt to his feet with a cry of joy.

"Why, Percy, is it you in this disguise? Welcome back, my boy, a thousand times! But before you tell me anything, come in to see Mahtab, who has been downright ill from grief since Bhop Lal brought in the news of your being carried off by dacoits."

The Ranee's delight at seeing Percy was unbounded, and it was some time before she and her husband could sit down quietly and listen to his story.

"All is well that ends well," the colonel said when he had brought it to a conclusion. "You have had a bad time of it, Percy; but I doubt if your aunt and I have not had a worse. Of course, I was a good deal troubled when I heard that you were carried off; but as to that Bhop Lal could tell us nothing, having been shot down at once, and so hacked that he knew nothing of what took place until he was revived by water being poured down his throat. Three traders coming along the road on their way here had found him, and as soon as they learned from him who he was and what had occurred, they bandaged his wounds and had him carried here in a dhoolie. They reported that they had seen nothing of you, and one of them at once rode back with me with a troop of horse to the spot where they had found your man, and as, after a most careful search, we could find no trace of blood, we concluded that you had been carried off.

"We followed the traces of the band for some distance, but then lost them just as it was becoming dark. As they had had some eight hours' start of us, and were making for the mountains, we gave up the pursuit and returned here. I made sure that in the morning I should receive a message from the rascal demanding a ransom for you, but as the day went on I became more uneasy, as the idea struck me that they might not be dacoits, but fellows in the pay of Ghoolab. It certainly did not seem likely that he could have heard that you would be on your way back; but his men might have been there for weeks, for he would guess that when the war was over you would be making your way back here again.

"For the next six days I sent out parties of horsemen all over the country, but could obtain no news whatever, and was getting in a terrible state of mind when a man rode in with a letter from Ghoolab Singh. He stated that he had learned that you were in the power of dacoits somewhere among the mountains. He said that it would be a long and difficult task to find them, but that he would use every effort to do so, and would either by force or bribery obtain you and restore you if I, on my part, would undertake to resign the government that I held in defiance of the orders of the durbar. As a rebel, he felt that he should not be justified in exerting himself on my behalf, but if I would submit to the orders of the durbar he would guarantee that my past conduct should be overlooked and that you should be restored to me. I had very little doubt that you were already in the scoundrel's hands when he sent the message, but in any case I saw that he had me on the hip. I don't suppose he expected a direct answer to his proposal, and he did not get one. I sent an answer back that I was ready to pay any reasonable sum for your ransom; but as for resigning my governorship and handing over the fortress, I wished to know what guarantee he could offer that I should be permitted to retire from the Punjaub in safety with my family and treasures. To that I received an answer that he was ready to take the most solemn pledge for my safety, and that he was sending off to Lahore to obtain a free pardon for me from the durbar, and a permission for me to retire with all my family and as many of my followers as might wish to accompany me across the Sutlej. I then wrote back that this would be perfectly satisfactory, but that, naturally, I should require that you should be handed over to me prior to my evacuating the fortress. To this I received no answer. I thought perhaps he was waiting for a reply from Lahore, but I now understand that before the messenger returned with my second letter you had already slipped through his fingers. I should have liked to have seen him when he received the news of your escape. Now, Percy, tell us all about your adventures since you left us. There was no believing any of the reports that reached us about the various battles. I know, of course, that the Sikhs must have been thoroughly thrashed, or we should never have had a British occupation of Lahore. Beyond that I really know nothing for certain."

It took some time for Percy to describe all the military operations.

"I knew that it would be so," the colonel said gleefully when he concluded. "I told them over and over again that if they thought, because they had won victories over the Afghans and other tribes, that they were a match for the English they were completely mistaken.

"They scoffed at the idea of defeat; but now they find that I was right, and so was old Runjeet Singh. These fellows have plenty of courage and plenty of dash, but though a good many thousand have been drilled in our fashion they cannot be called soldiers. They have no generals and no officers to speak of, and when it came to fighting they would be nothing better than a mob. Still our fellows must have fought well to turn them out of their strong intrenchments. In the open field I had no doubt whatever as to the result, but behind earthworks discipline does not go for much, and a brave fellow who is a good shot counts for nearly as much as a trained soldier. Now you may as well get yourself into decent clothes again, Percy, and while you are doing that I will go out and see your man, and tell him that I am well pleased with his conduct, and that he and his comrade shall both be well rewarded for the dangers they have passed through."

In the evening Percy went more into details, and the colonel was highly pleased to hear that he had attracted the attention of the heads of the army, and that the governor-general himself had promised to apply at once for a civil appointment for him.

"What are you thinking of doing, uncle?"

"I shall hold on, Percy. You say there is to be a British Resident at Lahore, and that probably troops will remain there permanently, in which I agree with you, for it is morally certain that if the maharanee and her son are making peace with us and surrendering the Jalindar Doab, they would be turned out and probably massacred the moment the troops retired. Well, with an English Resident there, and being to a great extent under British protection, and having besides no regular army, Lahore will be glad enough to let me alone. So there is only Ghoolab. He is not very certain of his position yet, and I have no doubt he knows as well as we do that before long there will be another war, which will end in our people annexing the whole of the Punjaub. I think, therefore, that there is no chance of his trying again to take this place by force. He may, of course, and I daresay he will, try assassination again, but I shall be on my guard."

"I think, uncle, there ought to be more care at the gate. We came in without being questioned, and we might, for aught the guard knew, have been two men sent by Ghoolab to assassinate you. I think that every man coming into the place ought to be questioned as to his business."

"But they would lie, my boy. What is the use of questioning?"

"Ah! but I would not let them in, uncle, unless they could prove that they had business with some person living in the fort. You are not recruiting now, and if you were you could get plenty of men well known in the district. I don't say that you could keep assassins out, whatever the means you adopt; but I do think that if it were known in the district that no one is admitted within the walls until after he has given a satisfactory account of himself, Ghoolab would find it more difficult to get men to undertake so hazardous a business."

As the Ranee thoroughly agreed with Percy the colonel consented to make more rigid rules, although still maintaining his opinion that no precautions of the sort would be of the slightest avail in keeping a determined man from entering the place.

The next morning another horseman came in from Ghoolab.

The colonel laughed as he read the letter he had brought.

"The old fox still hopes to catch you again, Percy; he simply continues negotiations, and asks what guarantee I can offer on my part that I will retire from the fortress if you are, as I demand, given up to me before I surrender. I will put him out of his agony."

So the colonel wrote a short note to the effect that his nephew had returned, and having informed him who was the brigand into whose hands he had fallen, there was no longer any need for any further negotiations on the subject.

"You must be doubly careful now, Roland," the Ranee said when her husband told her what lie had written to Ghoolab. "He has always been your bitter enemy, but he will be more so than ever now. I do beg that you will again have that guard you had during the siege, and that you will have the two men who have proved so faithful to Percy to sleep always at the entrance to our apartments."

"I hate being guarded," the colonel said; "still, if it will make you more comfortable, of course it shall be as you wish."

When the officers of the garrison understood that Ghoolab had again been foiled, there was a general opinion that too great precautions for the colonel's safety could hardly be taken.

The watch at the gate was carried out most vigilantly, for the colonel was so much beloved by his men that each considered himself personally responsible for his safety, and whatever might be the story told by strangers arriving at the gate, they were not allowed to pass until the trader or other person they wished to see was brought down to the gate to vouch for the truth of the statement.

During the next three months seven or eight men whose story proved to be false were seized and imprisoned. The officers were all in favour of applying torture to them to extract the truth, but the colonel would not hear of it.

"I will have no one tortured in my district. Such a thing has never been done to my knowledge since I was appointed governor ten years ago, and I won't have it begun now. In the second place, you cannot depend in the slightest upon anything that may be told under torture. And lastly, if I knew it for certain, as I think it probable, that they were agents of Ghoolab, I should really be none the wiser. They came here with a false story, and, therefore, for no good purpose. Consequently they should be punished. Therefore, let each man who is convicted of lying be kept for a week in the cells; then give him a sound flogging, shave off his hair, moustache, and beard, and turn him out. That will be quite enough to deter other people from following his example."

This decision met with general approval, and was in each case carried into effect, the shaven men being turned out from the gates amid the gibes and jeers of the soldiers, with many threats of what would happen if they were again found in the neighbourhood.

Six months after his return to the fortress Percy received a letter (forwarded to him by Mr. Henry Lawrence, the Resident at Lahore, from the Court of Directors), saying that in accordance with the very strong recommendation of the governor-general he had been appointed to the Civil Service of the Company on the date of his attaining his nineteenth birthday, that a note had also been made of his willingness to serve at an earlier period if required, and that instructions had been given to that effect to the Resident at Lahore, who was authorized to employ him if required, in which case his appointment would date from the day of his commencing service.

The time passed pleasantly to Percy. He rode, practised shooting and sword exercise, and worked for several hours a day at the Pathan language, in which, by the end of eighteen months, he had become almost as efficient as in Punjaubi, for, there being several Afghans among the officers, he was enabled to learn it colloquially. At the end of that time he wrote to the Resident at Lahore saying that he was now well up in Pathan, and thought it right to inform him of this in case any occasion should arise for the use of his services on the northern frontier.