Part 33 (1/2)
John Carruthers looked up.
”He means electric and thermos,” said Horace Alexander, with an odd sort of cackle in his voice; something seemed to have risen in his throat and prevented his speaking clearly.
”We carried the _chota sahib_ by turns, seeing there might have been serpents in the way,” continued the old man, ”and made for the railway, since that was all the direction _Jullunder Baba_ would give. Then Iman, remembering the old tomb--the Huzoor will remember it also, since there was a case about it in his court----”
”And the Huzoor,” broke in Iman, ”decided virtuously, that being the tomb of a saint, it should stand, and the railway move----”
”Remembering it,” went on old Bisvas, ”he said, 'It would give shelter to the child.' So thither we went, and there the _chota sahib_, having remembered he had not said his prayers as he had promised the Huzoor, said them. He knelt, Huzoor, on that slab, lest the floor should be damp----”
”Yes,” a.s.sented the child's father as the old man paused. Once again there was that lump in his throat. He saw, as in a vision, the old Mahomedan tomb rearing its half-ruined dome so close to the railway--the white-faced child praying G.o.d to bless everyone he loved, those dark faces standing round reverently.
”Lo!” continued old Bisvas gently, ”I think the saint down below must have heard--Iman says he did--for what followed was of no man's making.
We were all drowsing in the tomb--'tis a good five miles from the Huzoor's bungalow to the railway, for all it goes so near to the city--when _Baba-jee_--he hath the ears of a mouse still--said 'Hist!'
”So I looked out, and there were men--five or six of them, on the line.
Then it came to me what the ill-begotten hounds had been doing in Bengal, and a sort of fury seized on me. So I crept back. _Jullunder Baba_ was asleep among the blankets on the tomb slab, but I whispered the others, and they unbuckled their swords and made ready.”
The faces of the four old warriors who, standing two on one side two on the other of the speaker, had watched his every word, were a study.
Exultation, pride, absolute satisfaction showed in every line of them, and the lean old fingers gripped their sword-hilts once more.
”Then _Baba-jee_ gave the word--he was '_senior-orfficer_,'
and--and--Huzoor, they ran away!!!”
Even John Carruthers' chuckle had a suspicion of a sob in it.
”And then! Oh! hero!” he said, ”what then?”
”Huzoor! I looked out over the desert and far, far away on the straight line I saw light. And there was a faint rumble in the air. It was a train. Mayhap the _chota sahib_ had been right, mayhap it was the Train-of-Majesty! So I turned on the 'trick lamp,' and there it was on the line--that thing--it had a string to it that lay on the rail.
And--and--Huzoor! my memory fails me--There was the child, and there was the train!--I had to decide----
”Then I cried to Iman, 'Quick! the _chota sahib_! Run far with him--far!--far!' So when that was done I up with my sword and I smote the string that lay on the rail!----” he paused, then went on--
”So that was done also; and Iman brought the child back, and the train sped past, and we all stood in a row and did _durshan_; though I know not if it was _durshan_ or not, since, mayhap, it was not the Royal train after all.”
The old eyes looked almost wistfully at those two men in office, but the child's were on his father's confidently:
”But it _was_ the Royal train, wasn't it, daddy?” said the child's voice, and Horace Alexander's answered huskily:
”Perhaps it was, _Rex_; anyhow, you and the others did _durshan_. Of that I am sure.”
Content settled to those two faces, the old and the young, and the ancient warrior went on--
”Then there was nothing to do, Huzoor, save to come home and bring the poisonous thing with us. I was for sending the _chota sahib_ on in Iman's care and carrying the thing myself; but _Jullunder Baba_ would not go without it. So Bhim and the Father took the devil's box apart lest it should kill everyone, and with Bhim's _kukri_ they prized it open”--a faint sigh came from the Europeans--”and spilt the witches'
brew in the sand. That is all, Huzoor! Your slaves did what they could.
The men ran away so fast, it was not possible for us, aged ones, to pursue them.”
”But,” broke in the most aged, ”they were dressed like the Huzoors--in trousers, and my sword was b.l.o.o.d.y, so I must have hit someone.”
”And so was mine,” said each of the ancient warriors in turn.