A THRILLING TALE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3066, 25 April 1881, Page 4

A THRILLING TALE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY.

Dinner was over at last, and Walter Currie, English Commissioner at the up-country station at Huttoe-Bagh, in Northern India, had gone upon the verandah with, his wife and his two guests, the colonel and the major-of the —th light infantry, to. enjoy the cool of tho evening. On three sides the house was surrounded by its compound, a large enclosed space, serving the purpose of a court-yard, but the fourth was only separated by a small patch of garden from the public road, along which a number of native women were passing with their little pitchers on their head. The sight of them naturally turned the conversation upon a favorite subject with all Anglo-Indians —viz. the character of the natives and the best method of dealing with them. " There is only one way," said the Colonel, emphatically. " Tell 'em what they are to do, and make 'em do it, and thrash 'em well if they don't. That's my way. " Well I ventnre to differ with you there, Colonel," said Mr Currie, quietly. " I've had to do some thrashing once or twice, I own j but most of my native servants seem to get along very well without it, and they serve me excellently, I assure you." " I wish you'd been in my place, then, " repined the Colonel; " you'd have very soon changed your opinion, I warrant. Why, the year before last, when I had charge of two battalions of tho rascals down at Sutteepoor because there wasn't another Queen's officer within reach—just like my confounded luck. —there was no getting anything done unless I did it myself. By Jove, sir! I had to be everything at once—my own quartermaster, my own sergeant-major, my own caterer, and "

" And your own trumpeter, Colonel Annesley ?" asked Mrs Currie, with an arch smile.

The Colonel's broad face reddened ominously, and an explosion seemed imminent, when a sudden clamor of angry voices from the road below drew them to the front of the verandah. The cause of the disturbance was visible at a glancs. Two half-drunk English soldiers, s.vaggering along the road, had come into violent contract with a native boy who was running past, and one of them, enraged at the collision, had felled the poor lad to the ground, and was unclasping his belt with the evident intent of beating"him unmercifully.

"•Served the young whelp right!" shouted the Colonel, rubbing his'hands j "that's just what they all want." The other officer, Major Armstrong— popularly called Major Strongarm—was a huge brawny, silent man, whose forte lay in acting rather than talking. During the whole discussion he bad sat like a great bronze statue, never uttering a word ; but at the sight of this man ill using this child he woke up to'her startingly. To leap to the ground twelve feet below, to vault over the high stockade behind, was the work of a moment for the athletic Major; and in another instant he hud raised the fallen boy tenderly from the groxind, while saying to the foremost soldier, in the low, compressed tone of a man who means what he cays:

"Be off with you!"

" And who in the deuce are you, shoving yer nose in where you ain't wanted?" roared the infuriated ruffian, to whose eyes the Major's plain evening dress bore no token of his bsing an officer; " jist. you—"

The sentence was never finished. At the sound of that indolent defiance Armstrong's sorely tried patience gave way altogether, and the powerful right hand which had hewed its way through a whole squadron of Sikh cavalry fell like a sledge hammer upon hn opponent'? face.

"' Well done. Major Armstrong!" Mr Currie shouted from above. " You deserve your name, and no mistake." At that formidable name the other soldier took to his heels at once ; and Armstrong, without even looking at his prostrrte antagonist, proceeded to examine the hurts of the boy.

" You're a brave lad, and you'll make a soldier 3ome day," said the Major to him in Hindoostanee. " Come with me, and I'll see that no one molests you again." The lad seized the huge brown hand which had defended him so bravely, and kissed it with the deepest reverence, and the two walked away together.

Six months have come and gone, and Mr Curries hospitable house presents a different spectacle The pretty garden is trampled into dust and mire, and the bodies of men and horses are lying thick among the fragments of the half-destroyed stockade. All the windows of the house are blocked up, and through the loop-holed walls peer the muzzles of ready infles, showing how steadily the besieged garrison stands at bay against the countless enemies whose dark, fierce faces and glittering weapons are visible amid the half-ruined buildings and matted thickets all around. Tho Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 is blazing sky-high over Northern India, and Colonel Annesley is blockaded in HutteeBagh, with a certainty of a hideous death for himself and every man of the few who are still true to him, unless help comes speedily.

Day was just breaking when two men held a whi?;:.---c) counsel in one of the upper rooms.

"No fear of the watpr running short," said Major Armstrong ; " but, even upon half rations, the food will be out in four days more."

"And then we'll just go right at them, and cut our way through or die for it," growled the old Colonel, with a grim smile on his iron face, for, with all his harahness an! injustice, Colonel Annesley was "gritt" to the backbone. "We mustn't say anything to them about it, though," added he, with a side glance at Mr Currie, who, standing in the farther corner, was axiously watching the thin, worn face of his sleeping wife.

At that instant a loud cheer from below startled them both, and the next moment Ismail (the " Major's boy," as everyone now called him) burst in the room with "a glow of unwonted excitement on his dark face.

" Sahib," cried he, " there is hope for us yet! A detachment of Ingleez (English) are coming up the other bank of the river. If we can send word to them as they pass we are saved ! "

" How do you know ? " asked the Major eagerly.

' I heard the Sepoys saying so while I was lying hid among the bushes yonder! " answered the lad.

"Among the bushos yonder! " roared the Colonel, facing round " Have you really been in the midst of those cut-throat villains, listening to what they said ? What did you do that for? "

"Idid it for J-'ahib Armstrong's sake," replied the boy, proudly, " because he was good to me." The Colonel turned hastily away to hide the flush of not unmanly shame that overspread his hard face, and Armstrong smiled slightly as he heard him mutter:

"By Jove ! these chaps aren't so black as they're painted after all."

" But if the troops are beyond the river, how can we communicate with them P" asked Mrs Currio, who, awakened by the shouting, had risen and joined the group. " They may not pass near enough to hear the firing, and we have no means of sending them word."

"Fear nothing for that, mem-sahib" (madam), answered the boy, quietly. "I will carry them word myself."

" But how can you possibly do it?" cried Mrs Currio, thunderstruck by tho confident tone in which this mere child spoke of a task from which the hardiest veteran might Well have shrunk.

" Listen, Sahib," answered Ismail, " I will slip out of the house and make a dash into the enemy's lines as if I were deserting from you to them, and you can tell your people to fire a shot or two after me with a blank cartridge as I go. Then the Sepoys

will receive me kindly, and I'll tell them that you're all dying of thirst, and tbaH they need only wait ouu clay more to bo sure of you, so that they won't care to make another attack. Then, when they have no suspicion, and think I'm quite one of themselves, I'll steal away and slip across the river."

' But you are quite sure the Sopoys will believe you ?' asked Major Armstrong, doubtfully. ' They'll believe this, anyhow,' replied the boy, deliberately making a deep gash in his bare shoulder, and staining his white frock with the blood as he glided from the room, followed by Armstrong.

The plan was soon explained to the men below, and a moment later Ismail's dark figure was seen darting like an arrow across the open space in front of the building, followed by a quick discharge of blank cartridges from the marksmen at the loop-holes. Tho sound of the firing drew the attention of the Sepoys several of whom ran forward to meet him, In another instant he was in the midst of them.

' I can scarcely see for those bushes,' said Colonel Annesley; ' but he seems to be showing them the wound on his shoulder, and telling them it was our doing.' At that moment an exulting yell from the enemy came pealing through the air. ' That's the story of our being short of water, for a guinea !' said the Major ;' it was a very good thought of his. If it only delays their attack two days longer, there may be'time for help to arrive yet.' Slowly and wearily the long hours of the fearful day wore on. The heat was so terrific that even the native soldiers of the garrison could barely hold their own against it, and the handful of Englishmen were almost helpless. Had tho Sepoys attacked them, all would have been over at one blow ; but hour passed after hour, and there was no sign or an assault, At length, as afternoon gave place to evening, a movement began to Bhow itsolf in the enemy's lines. Thin curls of smoke rising above the trees showed that the evening's meal was in preparation, and several figures with pith pitchers in their hands were seen going towards the river, among whom the Colonel's keen eye soon detected Ismail.

'By G-eorge !' cried the old soldier, slapping his knee exultingly, lad's worth his weight in gold ; There's his way down to the river open to him without the least chance of suspicion. Why, he's a born gentleman—nothing less.' Every eye within the walls was now turned anxiously upon the distant group, fearing to see at any moment some movement which would show that the trick was detected. How did Ismail mean to accomplish his purpose ? Would he plung boldly into the river, without any disguise, or had lie some further stratagem in preparation ? No one could say. Suddenly, as Ismail stooped to plunge his light little wooden dipper into the water, ifc slipped from his hands and went floating away down stream. A cry of dismay, a loud laugh from the Sepoys, and then the boy was seen running frantically along the bank, and trying in vain to catch the vessel as it floated past.

'What on earth is he up to?' grunted the Colonel, completely mystified.

' I see !' cried Major Armstrong, triumphantly ; ' there's a boat yonder among the reeds, and he's making right for it. Well done, my brave boy !'

But at that moment a yell of rage from the Sepoys told that the trick was discovered, luckily those on the bank left their pieces behind, or poor Ismail would soon have been disposed of; but the alarm instantly brought up a crowd of their armed comrades, whose bullets fell like hail around the boat and its gallant little pilot. ' Let us fire a volley and make a show of sullying out,' said the Colonel; 'it'll take their attention from him.' But in this he was mistaken. The first rattle of musketry from behind the house did indeed recall some of Ismail's assailants, but at least a dozen were left, who kept up an incessant firing, striking the boat again and again. All at once the Colonel dashed his glass to the floor with a frightful oath. Ret ween two gusts of smoke he had seen the boat turn suddenly over, and go whirling down the river keel upward.

' There's an end of the poor lad,' muttered the veteran, brokenly. ' God bless him for a brave little fellow. And now, old friend, we must just die hard, for there's no hope left.'

The first few hours of the night passed quickly, and the exhaused defenders, utterly worn out, slept as if drugged with opium. But a little after midnight the quick ears of the two veteran officers — the only watchers in the whole garrison, except the sentries themselves—caught a faint stirring in the surroUNding thickets which seemed to argue some movement on the part of the enemy. Listening intently for a few moments, they felt certain that they were right, and lost no time in arousing their men. The scanty stores of food were opened once more, and, crouching together in the darkness, the doomed men took what they fully believed to be their last meal on earth.

' They're coming!' said Major Armstrong, straining his eyes into the gloom through a loophole. ' I hear them creeping forward, though I can't see them.'

' What in the deuce was that ?' exclaimed the Colonel, suddenly. 'It looked like a fiery arrow flying past.'

' It was worse than that,' said the Major, in a low voice. ' The rascals are shooting lighted chips of bamboo on to the roof to set it on fire. Pend the women up with buckets to flood tho thatch ; there's not a moment to lose.'

' 111 go and see to it myself!' cried Mrs Currie, hastening out of the room.

But the power of this new weapon had already beome fatally manifest. The house was an old one, and dry as tinder from the prolonged heat, and as fast as the flames were quenched in one place they broke out in another. When day dawned the fire had already got a firm hold of one corner of the building, and a crushing discharge was poured upon all who attempted to extinguish it, while tho triumphant yell of the human tigers below told them that they felt sure of their prey.

' It's all over with us, old fellow !' said the Colonel, grasping his old comrade's hand ; ' but at least we shall have done our duty.'

' Give me one of your pistols,' whispered Mrs Currie to her husband, in a voice that was not her own. ' I must not fall into their hands alive.'

At that moment Major Armstrong was seen to start and bend forward, as if listening intently ; for he thought —although he could scarcely believe his ears—that he had suddenly caught a faint sound of distant firing. In another instant he heard it again, and this time there could be no doubt, for several of the others had caught it likewise, and a gleam of hope once more lit up the haggard faces and bloodshot eyes. Louder and nearer came the welcome sound, while the sudden terror and confusion visible among the enemy showed that they, too, were at no loss to guess its meaning. Then high above the din rose the well-known ' Hurrah !' und through the smoke-cloud broke a charging line of glittering bayonets and ruddy English faces, sweeping' away the cowardly murderers as the sun chases the morning mist.

_' That boy's worth his weight in gold,' said Colonel Annesley, as, a few hours later, he listened to Ismail's account of how he had dived under the boat and kept it between himself and tho Sepoys, that they might think him drowned. 'He's tho pluckiest little fellow I've seen; and although he belongs to the Major, I'm going to take my share of helping him on by Jove!' ' J