Part 22 (1/2)
”What do you want?” asked Ranjoor Singh. ”Of what were you whispering?” But Gooja Singh did not answer.
”No need to tell me!” said Ranjoor Singh. ”I know! Ye all seek leave to loot! As sons of THALUKDARS [Footnote: Land holder]-as trusted soldiers of the raj-as brave men-honorable men-ye seek to prove yourselves!”
They gasped at him-all of them, Tugendheim included. I tell you he was a brave man to stand and throw that charge in the teeth of such a regiment, not one man of whom reckoned himself less than gentleman. I looked to my pistol and made ready to go and die beside him, for I saw that he had chosen his own ground and intended there and then to overcome or fail.
”Lately but one thought has burned in all your hearts,” he told them. ”Loot! Loot! Loot! Me ye have misnamed friend of Germany-friend of Turkey-enemy of Britain! Yourselves ye call honorable men!”
”Why not?” asked Gooja Singh, greatly daring because the men were looking to him to answer for them. ”Hitherto we have done no shameful thing!”
”No shameful thing?” said Ranjoor Singh. ”Ye have called me traitor behind my back, yet to my face ye have obeyed me these weeks past. Ye have used me while it served your purpose, planning to toss me aside at the first excuse. Is that not shameful? Now we reach the place where ye must do instead of talk. Below is the plunder ye have yearned for, and here stand I, between it and you!”
”We have yearned for no such plunder as that!” said Gooja Singh, for the men would have answered unless he did, and he, too, was minded to make his bid for the ascendency.
”No?” said Ranjoor Singh. ”'No carrion for me!' said the jackal. 'I only eat what a tiger killed!'”
He folded his arms and stood quite patiently. None could mistake his meaning. There was to be, one way or the other, a decision reached on that spot as to who sought honor and who sought shame. He himself submitted to no judgment. It was the regiment that stood on trial! A weak man would have stood and explained himself.
Presently Ramnarain Singh, seeing that Gooja Singh was likely to get too much credit with the men, took up the cudgels and stood forward.
”Tell us truly, sahib,” he piped up. ”Are you truly for the raj, or is this some hunt of your own on which you lead us?”
”Ye might have asked me that before!” said Ranjoor Singh. ”Now ye shall answer me my question first! When I have your answer, I will give you mine swiftly enough, in deeds not words! What is the outcome of all your talk? Below there is the loot, and, as I said, here stand I between it and you! Now decide, what will ye!”
He turned his back, and that was bravery again; for under his eye the men were used to showing him respect, whereas behind his back they had grown used to maligning him. Yet he had thrown their shame in their very teeth because he knew their hearts were men's hearts. Turning his back on jackals would have stung them to worse dishonor. He would not have turned his back on jackals, he would have driven them before him.
It began to occur to the men that they once made me go-between, and that it was my business to speak up for them now. Many of them looked toward me. They began to urge me. Yet I feared to speak up lest I say the wrong thing. Once it had not been difficult to pretend I took the men's part against Ranjoor Singh, but that was no longer so easy.
”What is your will?” said I at last, for Ranjoor Singh continued to keep his back turned, and Gooja Singh and Rarnnarain were seeking to forestall each other. Anim Singh and Chatar Singh both strode up to me.
”Tell him we will have none of such plunder as that!” they both said.
”Is that your will?” I asked the nearest men, and they said ”Aye!” So I went along the line quickly, repeating the question, and they all agreed. I even asked Tugendheim, and he was more emphatic than the rest.
”Sahib!” I called to Ranjoor Singh. ”We are one in this matter. We will have none of such plunder as that below!”
He turned himself about, not quickly, but as one who is far from satisfied.
”So-ho! None of SUCH plunder!” said he. ”What kind of plunder, then? What is the difference between the sorts of plunder in a stricken land?”
Gooja Singh answered him, and I was content that he should, for not only did I not know the answer myself but I was sure that the question was a trap for the unwary.
”We will plunder Turks, not wretches such as these!” said Gooja Singh.
”Aha!” said Ranjoor Singh, unfolding his arms and folding them again, beginning to stand truculently, as if his patience were wearing thin. ”Ye will let the Turks rob the weak ones, in order that ye may rob the Turks! That is a fine point of honor! Ye poor lost fools! Have ye no better wisdom than that? Can ye draw no finer hairs? And yet ye dare offer to dictate to me, and to tell me whether I am true or not! The raj is well served if ye are its best soldiers!”
He spat once, and turned his back again.
”Ye have said we will have no such plunder!” shouted Gooja Singh, but he did not so much as acknowledge the words even by a movement of the head. Then Gooja Singh went whispering with certain of the men, those who from the first had been most partial to him, and presently I saw they were agreed on a course. He stood forward with a new question.