Novelist.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2677, 7 September 1889, Page 5 (Supplement)

Novelist.

BY JAMES GRANT. Author of "Tlio Il miancp of War," " The Black " Watch," " Fairer than a Fairy," &c., &c.

[all rights kkskrved.] Love's Labour Won: AN EVENTFUL STORY.

CHAPTER XXXIV.— Why ave West to Buumah. Dire perplexity at the non-arrival of letters from Melanic Talbot was the prevail ing sentiment of Lonsdale. Doubt of her, or dread of the elderly baronet's influence never occurred to him, and he knew not, to the full extent, the cruel pressure which her guardian, Mr. Grimshaw, could put upon her with reference to that invalid brother, on whom she doted. Neither had Lonsdale any dread of illness, as in that case he knew that Reginald Talbot, even young Dick, or Amy Brendon, would have written to him ; and the suspicion that his correspondence was tampered with, or intercepted, had not till of late occurred to his honourable mind.

Meanwhile, his friend Monfcrcssor was, as yet, a man of but one thought —repentance for the act of folly and simplicity of his earlier years—which unwitting, but terrible error had wrought so much sorrow and mischief to one he loved hotter than himself. They were together on board the headquarter ship, in which were also Charlie Danvers and Cccil Travers, on the staff; but aware of what had transpired, these young fellows had relinquished their tone of banter, and sooth to tell, they rather, when they could, just then avoided the grave and taciturn Montressor. The latter and Lonsdale, like other company officers, during the first few hours they were on board,

had not much time given them for " mooning" or reflection, as they were kept busy enough by the Queen's regulations. In fulfilling the latter, they had to see their men " told-off" to their berths, divided into messes and < ' watches, instructed in the proper method of slinging their hammocks and rolling up their bedding, that their knapsacks or valises, arms, ammunition and accoutrements were all stowed in their proper places, necessaries served out, hammocks and bedding numbered, the guard or special-duty men, the cooking arrangements seen to, notices issued and a hundred other details at-1 tended to, even to ventilation and washing places, details of which the gentlemen in England " who live at home in ease," have not the slightest idea. All this was imperative, and served to kill time, as the greaA trooper leading the whole expedition, steamed on and on into the JBay of Bengal. There the north-eaa t monsoo:° or periodical wind, commences about the middle of October, and from that time till the beginning of

December, the navigation of the mighty gulf is dangerous. More than once, when Lonsdale looked afc the flying scud aloft, that boded coming rain, and the green rolling sea bolow, there came to his mind some of the yarns of the poor, stricken lad, Melanie's brother, and with them a recollection of his pale and worn, yet handsome features, that so closely resembled her own. On the second night after the sandheads of the Hooghley had been left astern, Lonsdale was " military officer of the watch," and had to visit hourly the sentries— who were armed with bayonets only J —and to see that no smoking or lights were apparent, when there was a cry from the look-out ahead that " something was in sight" on the portbow. The ship was steaming with the wind aft, but slowly, thus she rolled heavily. He ordered the " Watch-call to be sounded, to call all to their stations for orders, with the " halt" for silence ; and the mysterious " something" came slowly in sight, abeam. At sea, every object that breaks the monotony of the vast expanse of sea or sky attracts deep attention. The sky was murky and stormy in aspect ; not a star was visible. A long bank of black clouds obscurcd the moon, but a narrow strip of her silver light poured from behind it on the tumbling ocean, and against the light the waves rose and fell in somb re, opaque and comical outlines, while upon these was visible that which was at first like a sea-monster, some ninety feet long, but from which rose what was too evidently the stump of a mast, about eight feet high, with its gear a-wash, " A wreck — derelict !" passed from lip to lip, as the sombre outline of a half-submerged hull, lifting slowly with the swell, wet and shining in the weird half light of the veiled moon, became distinctly visible—a source of danger to the craft that came upon it unseen. All regarded it with mournful interest, and marvelled what was its story, from wherever it had come, whither bound, and what was the fate of its crew—the once lithe and active fellows who had manned the riven deck, hung out aloft on the square-yards, while the bright sunshine or the pale moon had filled the swelliug hollows of the sails—whose voices had responded to each other cheerily, in the hope

that one day " the girls at home" | would have hold of the tow- | rope. ! In her death throes the stormriven ship surged slowly, solemnly, . eerily past, groaning in the heave ] of the back-wash, while the hollow and ghastly sob of the water could , be heard as it rose and fell in her hold. .She had evidently drifted j about for many months, for to the black fragments of rigging that ] hung down from her dead-eyes and chainplates, sea-weed and barnacles were already clinging and glittering with a thousand phosphorescent sparkles in the water along-side. And so the unknown derelict, an object of mystery, like a nameless and unknown corpse, with all the human joys and interests, hopes and passions of which she had been the centre, passed on, or rather was passed by the towering white trooper fading out of sight a sense of busy and sombre speculation to all for a time. To Lonsdale's memory came back the words of one who wrote of a similar episode —" Where is the crew 1 their struggle has long been over—they have gone down amid the roar of the tempest—their bones lie whitening in the caverns of the deep. Silence and oblivion, like the waves, have closed over them and 110 one can tell the story of their end. What sighs have been wafted after that ship, what prayers offered up at deserted firesides of home. All that shall ever be

known is that she sailed from her port and was never heard of more." The bugle now peeled out on the night the " Retire," warning everyone off the upper deck except the watch ■, and the episode was over. It was not anticipated that this third Burmese war of ours, which was expected to be a species of military promenade, would end in a series of bloody and disastrous Dacoitie conflicts and skirmishes, and would eventually cost us the life of the gallant MacPherson, one of our most splendid officers, With the actual cause of the war our narrative has little more to do than our soldiers had, as they had but to obey their orders. Suffice it to say that since the accession of King Theebaw in October, 1878, he had continued a series of insults and dangerous intrigues against us, that could not fail to justify the Government in annexing a country that had become a source of peril and annoyance to our Indian Empire, and whose outrages began with the ill-usage of our people in Mandalay, some of whom were tortured—drawn neck and heels together and hung head downwards— for purposes of extortion. His swordsmen boarded our steamers, carried off the passengers of both sexes and all ages. Then came the ■ general slaughter of the entire royal , family, without provocation, on E many successive nights, in prison ; - and the bodies were heaped up in 3 holes. Touching tales were told of I women and children pleading for life f I in vain, till their cries ceased undei

3 the bludgeons or strangling fingers of their drunken executioners. On ? Sunday, the 16th of February, 1879 t according to the Blue book—"eight i cart loads of bodies of Princes of ; the Blood were conveyed out of the , city by the funeral gate and thrown I into the river." One of the Queen's s maids of honour, a handsome girl, was put to death on a false accusa- • tion, by means of unparalleled atrocity, yet she received only seven blows, and died though she was young and strong. Ambassadors were put to the swords; and bands of men, whom Theebaw's oppression ruined, raided all the villages on our frontiers. In Oc'.ober, 18S4, there occurred the slaughter of Mandalay, in which 300 persons, many of them British subjects perished; and the event is thus described by an eye-wit-ness :— " The sequel to the massacre was as horrible as that ghastly incident itself. Some of the heads of the victims were stuck upon bamboos in the cemetery, where the scene, when I visited it, was appalling. The king gave orders that the dead men were not to be buried for three days, so that people might see what a terrible thing it was to incur his displeasure ; and there were mutilated bodies lying in ghastly and festering heaps, riddled with shot and hacked to pieces past all recognition, while a number of fiends in human shape were actually chopping off arms and legs to save the manacles and shackles. Not only that; but the dead and the dying had been carted off together, and in some eases tlie quivering of a limb told that the death agony was not yet over. When I visited the cemetery the work of interment had bogun, and tho dead men were being huddled, four or five together, into shallow graves, with only a foot of earth to cover them. The pigs and pariah dogs had already been feasting on tho slain, and their banquet will bo continued after tho sextons have withdrawn. In striking contrast to this horrible picturo, I saw little children playing about, all unconscious of tlieir terrible surroundings. Meanwhile, tlie ruffian king and his court liave been holding high festival. He rewarded all those who took part in the slaughter, tho butcher who could boast of tho most victims receiving tho richest reward." (The Burmcso Blue Book.) Other butcheries followed, and meanwhile the king hurried on his 1 alliance with France, which proposed

to occupy Ara, and join hands with this wretch who was half madman and whole demon. In short, save Thoebaw, no such awful moloch had called himself J l , king since the days of Henry VIII. Our troops, oflicers and men alike, were full of hearty good-will to punish—in the common cause of humanity—this dreadful Theebaw ; and this was why we went to Burniah, so for the time gossip, pigsticking and tiger-hunting stories g gave place to new interests in the land of the white elephant. CHAPTER XXXV.—Ox the Ira- J WADDY. j The expedition for this purpose 1 consisted of fully 11,000 men— ' ultimately, by July, increased to 1 24,184 men—led by Major-General 1 Dalrymple Prendergast, a veteran ( officer, who sen ed in the Persian 1 campaign with Outram, in the wars of Central India with Lord Strath- ' nairn, was severely wounded in the < battles of Mundesore and Betwa, * won the coveted V.C., had his 1 horse shot under him at Ratghur, and was Field Engineer at the Conquest of Abyssinia. Among the troops proceeding to ' Burmah in this expedition were the Liverpool Regiment (old Bth Foot) and the Royal Welsh Fulsiliers, commanded respectively by Colonels Andrew Le Messurier, a Crimean veteran, and John Tilly, who had served with the 23rd Fusiliers in

the Indian Mutiny, and been one of the captors of Lucknow. These battalions were the backbone of the Bengal contingent, while from Madras and elsewhere came the 2nd Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers, Bedfordshire, Welsh Boderers, Middlesex and Hants, all Queen's regiments. Except the Blue Jackets of the Indian squadron, all the rest were native troops, and all had orders to concentrate at Rangoon, where armed steamers and flat-bottomed barges were to be ready for transport service on the Irawaddy, and 40-pounder guns — to batter the river ports—were to be placed in cargo-boats. Meanwhile, we heard that the Burmese were busy constructing earthworks, and had a gunboat laying down torpedos at Minhla, and placing (ire-rafts, hulks and chains across the river to bar our passage, The time given for the Burmese answer to the British ultimatum was to expire on the stli of November (Guy Fawkes' Day), and hostilities were to commence on the 11th. After the concentration at Rangoon, the expedition was at onee to 1 ascend the Irawaddy and strike a vigorous blow at the forces of the [ inhuman Theebaw in the vicinity of 2 Minhla, which was expectad to bo 1 the scene of the first conflict, i Theebaw's reply was a long, un- ; satisfactory and hostile document, n and he called upon all the loyal if Burmese to fight for the white elee phant, their country and religion, :r I offering to lead them in person;

while the slaughter of the invaders was not to begin until they crossed his frontiers. In British Burmah were already the 2nd Battalion of Lonsdale's regiment, the 13th, or Somersetshire Light Infantry, and the Royal Scots Fusiliers. " I made this voyage once before, with our 2nd Battalion," said Montressor, as he and Lonsdale trod the poop together, cigar in mouth ; " and know we shall see the uninviting shores of Burmah to-morrow. The run from Calcutta to Rangoon is about seven hundred and eighty miles, and the first point we sight is the Aguada Lighthouse. What strange things have happened to me since I saw it last !" he added. That evening the muddy state of the water, through which the tall white trooper cleft a way, portended her approach to the shores of Burmah. This dark fluid proceeds from the chief mouth of the Irawaddy, which has fourteen in all—not one too many for a river a thousand miles in length—the Nile of theland of the white elephant.

At that season it flows so rapidly that its current would be too powerful for boats to stem, were it not for the aid of the south-west monsoon, which sets in the opposite direction. Assisted by the wind, and constantly keeping within the eddies of the banks, the Burmese craft use their sails, and frequently achieve ft more speedy passage at this period—i.e. from June to September—than at any other. But it was naturally supposed that the Irawaddy Flotilla Company, with its great fleet of fifty double-decked river steamers, each towing a couple or more rafts, would render us independent of all local contingencies.

The rays of the rising sun next morning tipped with a golden gleam the first point of land visible 011 the port bow, the Aguada Lighthouse, perched on a granite reef and marking the locality of a dangerous cluster of rocks.

It rises near the mouth of the Irawaddy, to the height of one hun-

dred and sixty feet, and has eight alternative broad and deeply-painted streaks or circular bands of black and white; at the summit it is all of the latter hue, and for a time the effects of the sunshine on the water wore beautiful. Seaward, the way our ships had come, the waves were blue, but tipped with fire as they rose and foil; around the Aguada Reef they boiled like molten silver,

and far away towards Elephanta Point—so named from two fatuous trees which grew there, and in form together resembled an elephant — they rolled upon the yellow shore

like liquid gold, mingled with snowwhite foam ; and there it is usual to throw overboard a bottle, with par-

ticulars of the voyage; but in a Queen's ship 110 one thought of doing that.

From the brilliantly-green and wonderfully-luxuriant jungle there starts up, near the Point, the bright scarlet cone of a ruined pagoda.

" Guodoma certainly showed some wisdom in selecting such a position for a shrine," says a writer ; "as if

lie had once showered down commercial prosperity on the empire, and placed a sentinel over it at the mouth of one of his rivers ; which prosperity, on account of the misconduct of his devotees, was, like the temple, hastening to decay."

Taking advantage of the interest caused by tho land view, in a quiet corner a ship's steward, with one or two more, was busy " bulking " a a cask —which had once held spirits —with a gallon or so of fresh water " For what is this V asked Lonsdale, en passant. "To splice the mainstay, your honour," he replied, saluting with one hand and wiping his mouth with the back, of the other as the produce of the cask—pretty fair grog now—was quickly disposed of, ere tho eyes of authority detected it!

In due time, the entrance to the

Rangoon river was reached —an estuary having low banks, but a picturesque aspect, with mangroves over-arching and drooping into the

water, palmyras, and many groves of other noble trees extending farmland. The Rangoon flows into the Irawaddy, of which it is the eastern branch. As the prospect of active service, of war, adventure, achievement,

drew nearer now every hour, the

eyes of our soldiers lighted up, and their faces tanned or sallowed by the Indian sun, flushed; while,

thick as bees, they crowded along

the ship sides, gazing on the strange and —to them —new land, as it rose

from the shining morning sea—the land whore too many of them, poor fellows ! were doomed to perish, amid pestilence or under the weapons of treacherous and savage Dacoits.

The trooper was now heading up the i'angoon river and the land was rising a little to starboard.

" Is it true," lisped Charlie Dangers, with tho inevitable glass scrowcd iuto his right eye, " that tho general has ordered the artillery to open on tho stockades and other works with red-hot shells ? Travers says so."

" That is very like Travers," replied an artillery officer, quite gravely ; " but the bursting' powder must be in, of course, before our shells are lieated." " Aw—aw —of course," said Danvers.

It was now well-lcnown on board tlie squadron tliat the blood-steepoc Theebaw intended to show us thai

lie was no degenerate successor of that Alomfrea, who defeated the Peguan conqueror of his country, and founded its dynasty; or of that other king of Burmah, who, when a missionary asked his permission to make converts from Buddhism, replied: " Convert as many as you can; but off go tlieir heads tho moment after." So the said missionary found little trouble in wanting the caputs of the converted. Theebaw proclaimed that he was to unfurl the Peacock Flag at the head of his troops, and notwithstanding his awful massacres and mad despotism, he seemed to be certainly popular with one small section of his people, and vowed he would treat them to the slaughter of certain British subjects whom he had in his hands—detained officers of the Irawaddy Flotilla —whose heads he would hang upon trees — like so many cocoa-nuts.

He would arm about 30,000 men with rifles of various kinds, some being venerable flint-locks, warranted, perhaps, not to go off at all, or like some of those with which our English. Government arm the British troops, as perilous to those who handle them as to the enemy.

By this time he had cut the telegraph wires between Rangoon and Mandalaj\ at Minlila. All the troops for the expedition were to concentrate at the first-named place and to advance boldly up the Irawaddy, striking the initiative blow at Minhla. CHAPTER XXXVl.—Cantoned at Rangoon. The second battalion of Lonsdale's regiment —Prince Albert's Somersetshire Light Infantry—had, as stated, been stationed for some time previous at Rangoon, then in a part of British Burmah ; thus ho and Montressor soon found themselves warmly welcomed l>y a circle of old frisnds and comrades. Lonsdale, proud of his corps—as what true soldier is not —had often looked with ardour at its colours as they floated out on the wind, covered with honours won in other wars, and not, as Ossian has it, against " the sons of feeble men." like the wretched Burmese of Theebaw ; and when the embroidered silk, with the Sphinx and Mural Crown, was of the old days; when, on going into action, the first orders were : "Gentlemen! Uncase the colours, Examine your flints and priming !" "Do not the old colours of a regiment," asks a writer, " riddled with shot, tattered and stained out of all their early beauty, bring to us a sigh of loving tribute to the glories so present to the spirit—so little discernible now?"

And colours they were, still of the old days, of long service and veteran soldiers —not of the weedy boys, that die like Hies when hardships come—days of the " *> Id Red Rag," that tells of Britain's glory, and when the vile khokhi, that suggests only the gaxb of a convict, was unknown.

And now for a bit of unknown history. This Somersetshire regiment, about which we may have something to write, was raised by Theophilus, seventh Earl of Huntingdon!, in

the troublesome year 1685, for King James—the same peer whose house, as a noted royalist, was searched by the AYilliamites in 1692, for papers which he had burned; but in whose stables were found enough horses to mount a squadron of cavalry, and who had been succeeded in the memorable year of the Revolution V>y his son Ferdinand. Then came the Earl of Banymon, as Col onel in the truce of the Union ; Stanhope Cotton in the year of Sheriffmair ; Harry Pulteney, in the days of Dettingen and Culloden; and to these old memories it added more recent glories won in every quarter of the globe; and it was perhaps the last corps in Her Majesty's service to use the old flintlock musket, with which it soldiers, under the gallant Sir Robert Sale, the veteran of Mallovelly, fought their way through the Khyber Passes down to Iclallabad in 1841

—Sale, tho same splendid soldier, who, in the first Burmese war, had aided the storming of the great bellshaped Dagon Pagoda at Rangoon. To Montague Lonsdale, the latter round edifice was an object of wonderful interest, when he saw it

towering skyward to the height of three hundred and fifty feet, and

flittering in the sun—the largest " relic shrine," as its name imparts,

in all Indo-China, ancl from its site, on the last spur of the Pegu Yoma range, visible for a vast distance around, whither the clang of its mighty bell, fourteen feet in height, can be sent. From its summit he could sec, as in a mass at his feet, groves of banyan and cocoa-nut trees, largo open buildings, containing monstrous images of Guadama, some in in sitting, some in sleeping positions, surrounded by others of priests and attendants in the act of worship ; others of elephants, lions, angels, and demons, and of objects altogether indescribable ; elsewhere, swamps, rice flats, low bushes , and away to the north, dense jungle, with the river flowing between, ei«ht hundred yards in breadth and deep enough for laden ships of twelve hundred tons. Such was the now and strange locality in which Lonsdale now found himself, with his comrades of the old Somersetshire, and elaborate descriptions o£ which ho sent in more than one long letter to j\lelanie.

More than once during the brief period of inaction at Rangoon, he had tormenting dreams of her, born, doubtless, of his waking thoughts— at least, he could but infer so ; dreams of Melanio at their old trysting place, under the great trees beside the shining river on which tho water-lilies floated. She was not there with himself, he thought, but with old Sir Brisco ; and once— he never forgot that dream—he seemed to see Stokencross Church in the background, old, and half hidden among the foliage ; while amidst a group, the faces of which were vague, changing and indistinct, under the aged lychgate, figures of these two stood distinctly forth, Melanie pale as a lily, with her once brilliant violet eyes clouded and dull, Sir Brisco looking bright and triumphant, his arm round her and his lips on her cheek, as he drew back her veil—a bridal one, apparently. Then Lonsrlale seemed to see tho old, gloomy and damp vestry of the church, where a clergman, whose placid face looked strangely like that of old Dr. Brendon, was surveying a marriage register, which bore the signatures of " Brisco Braj'brooke and Melanie Talbot" —Talbot for tlie last time !

Lonsdale started and awoke. Then lie heard the bugles, in the dark hour ol the early morning, sounding tho "Turn out" and " Assembly,"astheadvancewas now to begin up the Irawaddy. With Montressor, he was now attached for special service to the column detailed to initiate the war at Minhla.

Montressor was quite a changed man now ; his recent reunion with Clairo had recalled into existence all that was best within him, and filled his life with enthusiasm and hope for their mutual future. "After a year of poignant misery, X have had a few hours of perfect happiness before we sailed," said he more than once to Lonsdale. " I will carve out a name for myself that will make Claire admire me as much as I know she loves me." "My poor Montressor," said Lonsdale, laughing at the visions in which his friend indulged, "these Burmese fellows in gilt paper helmets have certainly not the mettle of the Mahdi's warriors; but their bullecs may be quite as perilous as if fired by actual heroes." "Is it not strange, Travers," lisped Danvers, as these two made their way to the parade through the streets of bungalows ; "strange to think that there should have been such a list of wounded —badly hit fellows —at Chowringher ; and that the seductive little widow should be his wife after all T'

" A devil of a fiasco," commented Travers, as they passed Montressor, who was all unconscious that he was the cause of either envy or speculation.

" We shall have seen some sharp work, I hope, before to-morrow-night," said ho to Lonsdale, as they threw aside their cigars and joined the parade in the dark; " ' tomorrow and to-morrow creep in our pettv space from day to day " True. And who can tell what it may bring forth for some of us 1' interrupted Lonsdale, whose recent dream haunted him uncomfortably.

(To be continued.)