Part 7 (1/2)
”The information he has to give will not allow of an instant's delay, he says,” added the officer.
The rajah ordered that the man should be immediately admitted to his presence.
”What news do you bring? Speak at once,” exclaimed the rajah.
”Unhappy I am to bring it, for it is bad news,” answered the man. ”The whole city is in a tumult. Mukund Bhim has been proclaimed rajah, and already more than half the people have sided with him; still there are some who remain faithful, and if your highness were to appear among them at once, the rebellion might be quelled, and your power restored. Your servant ventures to advise that you should gallop on during the night, so as to enter the city by daybreak--though the distance is great, your steeds may get over the ground in time--and by taking the rebels by surprise you may overcome them before they can offer resistance; when the loyal people will gather around you, and you may once more find yourself the undisputed ruler of Allahapoor.”
”Your advice sounds full of wisdom,” answered the rajah. ”To horse, my friends! And we will not pull rein till the walls of my rebellious city appear in sight.”
The whole camp was immediately astir. The horses, unfortunately, in consequence of the rapid march of the two previous days, were ill able to gallop on for thirty miles without stopping, with the prospect of some hot fighting at the end of it. Still, march they must at all hazards.
Each horseman, before mounting, tightened up the girths of his saddle; and all having fallen into their ranks, the order to move forward was given. A strong advance-guard led the way, with their arms ready for instant use, as they knew that at any moment they might be attacked by the rebels,--who, should they by any means get tidings of their approach, would a.s.suredly send out a numerous force against them. The rajah, attended by Reginald and Burnett, rode with the main body. There was no time for conversation, and Reginald had still to wait for the important information he was so anxious to obtain. A few words only could be occasionally exchanged. On they rode, keeping a tight rein, to prevent their horses from stumbling. Now and then a poor beast came down; and the rider, if he escaped a broken limb, had to make his way on foot, with the risk of either being set upon by a tiger, or murdered by the villagers whose property he and his comrades had plundered. The rajah hoped that he should either be able to force the gates, or that the guards would open them at his summons, and that he might thus be able to catch Mukund Bhim and the rest of the rebel chiefs while they were still locked in slumber.
They were now rapidly approaching the city. Already, in the far distance, the outlines of the domes and minarets of the temples and mosques could be seen defined against the clear sky. No rebels had appeared to dispute their progress, and the rajah began to hope that the rebellion had not yet fully broken out, and that he might still have time to crush it. He and the main body moving on, came up with the advance-guard, which had halted. The rajah inquired the cause. The officer in command answered that they had met a person who had brought tidings from the city. ”Let me hear his report,” said the rajah; and a man, looking more like a wild beast than a human being, advanced from among the hors.e.m.e.n. He was a byraghee, or religious mendicant. His body was naked, with the exception of a narrow piece of cloth pa.s.sed between the legs, and fastened before and behind to a string tied round the waist. His hair was long and matted, its bulk increased by plaits of other hair mixed with it. His body was smeared with the ashes of cowdung, giving it a most unearthly hue; while his inflamed and bleared eyes could scarcely be perceived amidst the ma.s.s of dirt which clung around them. Anything less human could scarcely be imagined than the appearance of the miserable being.
”What tidings do you bring from the city?” asked the rajah anxiously.
”Bad--very bad, O Refuge of the World,” answered the mendicant. ”Last night, ere I pa.s.sed through the gates, I saw your foes shouting forth the name of Mukund Bhim, their new rajah. It was reported that you had perished, and all your followers had been slain amid the mountains; and no one I met discredited the tale. Thus your friends are disheartened; but if you were to appear among them, to show that you are still alive, they would regain their courage and fight bravely in your cause.”
”But how to get among them, is the difficulty,” observed the rajah.
”Tell me, byraghee, are the gates closed?”
”Not only closed, but strongly guarded,” answered the mendicant. ”It would be vain to attempt to force them; your only way of entering will be in disguise. I pa.s.sed, encamped at a short distance from the gates, a caravan of merchants with their camels, who had arrived too late to find admittance last night. If your highness would condescend to disguise yourself as one of them, they would consent to your entering among them,--trusting to your generosity for the reward you would bestow should you succeed.”
The rajah, after considering the matter, agreed to the proposal of the byraghee. He then invited Reginald to accompany him, while he begged Burnett to take the command of the hors.e.m.e.n, and to remain concealed in the wood in which they were drawn up till he could send word to them that a favourable opportunity had arrived for making a dash into the city. ”The risk, I know, is great,” he added; ”but I am ready to hazard my own life for the sake of recovering what I have lost.”
”The commands of your highness shall be obeyed,” said Burnett; ”and may you and my young friend be preserved in your undertaking! Unless treachery is at work,--as no one will suspect that you are among the merchants,--the hazard is not so great as it may appear.”
All necessary arrangements being made, the rajah, accompanied by Reginald, proceeded on foot to the merchants' camp; while Faithful, whose appearance might have betrayed them, remained behind in the care of d.i.c.k Thuddichum.
To the rajah's satisfaction, he found that the merchant to whom the caravan belonged was a Pa.r.s.ee with whom he had formerly had satisfactory dealings, and who might be thoroughly trusted. The required dress was produced--the rajah's rich costume being packed up among the bales--and he appeared in the guise of one of the merchant's clerks; while Reginald a.s.sumed the costume and arms of a common sowar employed in guarding the merchandise.
CHAPTER FIVE.
THE CARAVAN ENTERS THE CITY--REGINALD MEETS THE BYRAGHEE--SENDS A MESSAGE TO BURNETT--THE RAJAH AND REGINALD FIND THE GUARDS MURDERED AT THE PALACE, AND NUNA CARRIED OFF--REGINALD PRESERVES THE LIFE OF A WOUNDED SEPOY--HE AND THE RAJAH TAKE REFUGE IN THE HOUSE OF A CHRISTIAN NATIVE--ESCAPE FROM THE CITY--PURSUED--VICTORY--THE RAJAH ENTERS THE CITY IN TRIUMPH--NO TIDINGS OF NUNA--REGINALD MAKES AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.
Immediately on the appearance of the first streaks of daylight in the sky, the merchant, Hurdeo Buksh, aroused the caravan, which, as soon as the camels were loaded, moved forward to the gate of the city. As he was well known, he had no difficulty in gaining admittance, and they were soon threading the narrow lanes which led to the chief bazaar. The rajah, seated on a camel, with a hood over his head which completely concealed his features, rode next to the merchant; while Reginald, a.s.suming a jaunty air, and armed with a spear and s.h.i.+eld, marched by his side. They soon reached the bazaar, where they saw a crowd a.s.sembled, reading a huge placard announcing that Mukund Bhim, in consequence of the death of the old rajah, had a.s.sumed the reins of government, and ordering all the people, under pain of death and confiscation of their property, to obey his edicts. The crowd impeding the progress of the caravan, the rajah as well as Reginald had time to read the whole of the placard, which also went on to announce the various persons who had been appointed to offices under the new rajah. Among others appeared that of Khan Cochut, as also of several of the chiefs who had deserted Meer Ali Singh among the mountains. ”The villains,” muttered the rajah, ”I will punish their treachery; as for that rascally Cochut, his head shall part company from his body before many days are over.”
But people continued eagerly to press forward to read the placard,-- traders in long coats and turbans, sowars with s.h.i.+elds and spears, women and children,--people in every costume, and people in no costume at all except the dirty cloths around their loins or over their shoulders, and the ever-present turban on their heads. Reginald, knowing the agitation into which the announcement would throw the rajah, was afraid that he would betray himself, so, swaggering on according to the character he had a.s.sumed, he forced the crowd to make way for the caravan; which at length got clear, and was able to proceed onward to the house which the merchant was wont to occupy during his stay in Allahapoor.
So far the adventure had been successful, and the rajah took up his lodgings in a room where he was not likely to be discovered. The difficulty, however, was to gain information. The next morning Hurdeo Buksh was obliged to appear in public to make arrangements for the sale of his goods, and was afraid of exciting suspicion should he be seen visiting the rajah's hiding-place. Reginald was willing enough to try and pick up information, but the rajah charged him on no account to do so: his manners and mode of speaking would be sure to betray him. The rajah had ordered his own dress to be brought to him, and he now put it on, telling Reginald that he had come to the resolution of visiting his palace as soon as darkness would allow of his pa.s.sing through the streets un.o.bserved, and appealing to the loyalty of his guards,--who would, he supposed, be found at their old quarters, the usurper, Mukund Bhim, he had learned from the byraghee, still residing at his own palace.
Reginald thought the attempt a hazardous one, but yet, as it was the only scheme likely to succeed, he consented. After the rajah had told him this, he was sauntering about in the gateway of the house, imitating the manners of a sowar, when he caught sight of the mendicant slowly approaching, asking alms of all he met. The man's little bleared eyes twinkled as he came up to Reginald, whom he appeared at once to recognise.
”You can be trusted, I see,” said Reginald. ”You will receive a handsome reward if you faithfully perform the service I require of you.”
”Say what it is, sahib, and you shall be obeyed,” responded the byraghee.
”To hasten forthwith to the spot where our friends lie concealed, and to direct them, as soon as the shades of evening appear, to push forward at hot speed towards the northern gate, which they may reach before they are challenged. Should they succeed in pa.s.sing through, they are to gallop on to the palace, where they will find the rajah and such friends as he may be able to rally round him. If they fail in the attempt, they are to retire till they hear from his highness or me.” Reginald, as he spoke, put a piece of money into the mendicant's hand, to deceive any who might have observed them speaking together.