CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
HOW I SAVED MY MASTER'S LIFE, AND RETIRED FROM ACTIVE SERVICE.
I may with truth say, I reached that night the happiest moment in mylife.
Indeed, as the young officer walked on, with me held tight in his hand,it would be hard to say which of us two was the happier.
Charlie's soldier life had not turned out as happily as, long ago, hehad pictured it to himself. Away from home, and with comparatively fewfriends, he had felt himself losing somewhat of his freshness and boyishenthusiasm, and settling down rather to habits of a humdrum commonplaceofficial. Books he had very few, and congenial society still less.Quartered as he had been during the first two years in dull countrystations, he had grown weary of the routine of everyday life, and longedfor the sight of fresh faces, fresh scenes, fresh occupation.
After a while this desire was gratified in his removal to Calcutta. Butif he had suffered from dulness and weariness before, he was now indanger of going to another extreme. In his first joy at getting backinto lively society he rushed with ardour into all the attractions andgaieties of the capital. Not that Charlie was a fellow ever to make thesame mistakes as Tom Drift. He never associated with companions he knewto be bad, or allowed himself to be led into scenes which were in theslightest degree discreditable. But he did enter rather too readilyinto the frivolities of his new quarters, at the expense of his peace ofmind. His popularity was his greatest snare. Everywhere he went hebecame a favourite. People were eager to get him to join their parties,and he was often enough too good-natured to refuse. And thus Charliewasted much of his time, and in the end found himself far moredissatisfied with himself than in the quiet monotony of his up-countryduties.
Do not let me do him injustice, reader, in my account of him duringthose few weeks at Calcutta.
He was gay but not fast, frivolous though not dissipated. His errorswere errors of unprofitableness, but never of viciousness. Even in hismost frivolous moments he had never been anything but a gentleman and agood fellow. Still, it had been unsatisfactory, and he knew it to be soin his inmost soul.
In the midst of this life came the mutiny, and, like hundreds of others,Charlie leapt at the call of duty, and flung to the winds all thoseattractions which had held him captive during the weeks of his idleness.Like hundreds of others his blood boiled at the tragedies of that awfultime, and now, of all the rescuing host, there was not one who loved hisown life less, or his country's glory more, than Charlie Newcome.
And thus it was with him when I found him.
But to-night, whatever may have been the memories, and hopes, andregrets which secretly animated his breast in finding himself againpossessed of his boyish treasure and the companion of so many of hishappiest days, Charlie Newcome had no leisure to sit down and spend histime in passive contemplation. He had a report to make to his colonel,and an important despatch to carry to the commander-in-chief. Thenthere was the ammunition to be served out among his men, and he had tosuperintend the process. And there were the plans for next day'sassault to be talked over with his brother officers, and the variousdetachments for that duty to be selected. So that Charlie was a busyman that night. But with what a light heart he laboured! Among hisoccupations he did not forget the gold watch, but had the satisfactionof making Paddy the happiest man (but one) in the camp.
Thus, first with one thing, then another, the night wore on; and, whentowards morning he lay down on his camp bed for a hurried rest, he fellasleep like a child, whistling one of the old Randlebury songs, and withme, as of old, under his pillow.
At the first note of the bugle he sprang from his couch, and putting mein my old abode, next his heart, sallied out to see the preparations forthe advance. It was generally known we were to make a dash for theapproaches to Lucknow this day; and at the prospect of the attack thetroops hailed the signal to get under arms with enthusiasm. It wasplain to see, by the alacrity with which the men worked, that my masterwas a prime favourite in his own company; indeed, such was theirpromptitude that we stood ready and waiting long before the order tomarch arrived.
During this interval, if Charlie was seized with a desire to know thetime once, he was seized twenty times; and each time a mere glance wasnot enough to satisfy him. How natural it all seemed, and how like oldtimes!
Then came the longed-for signal, and with a cheer the men set theirfaces towards Lucknow.
Now, the reader must not expect I am going to describe militaryoperations for his edification. I know nothing about columns andcountermarches, and echelons and skirmishing; how could a watch, hidunder a scarlet jacket, be expected to do so?
True, I had eyes that could penetrate any number of scarlet jackets, butwhat good was that when I knew about as much of the art of war as I didof candle-making!
But there are some things in the events of that memorable day which Ishall remember as long as I live.
After about an hour's march we were suddenly halted, and almost at thesame moment there came the sullen boom of a gun ahead. I could feelCharlie's heart leap at the sound. It was the enemy at last; and nowthe fate of Lucknow was to be decided.
A horseman dashed up to the head of our column and called out to ourcolonel, in a voice loud enough for us all to hear, "Bring up yourbattalion." Next moment we were advancing in double quick time througha lane of troops to the front. There two other regiments stood waiting,and almost the instant we arrived the whole body moved forward at a run.
It was an exciting moment. The enemy's guns sounded louder and morefrequent ahead, and dropping shot at either side announced that ourdanger was not all in front. The pace was kept up for a hundred yardsor so, until we reached a cluster of trees, in whose shelter the columnwas halted to get breath. The fire in front still kept up, and throughthe smoke I thought I could discern the dim outline of a low building,not five hundred yards distant. At this moment Charlie and the otherofficers were summoned to the front for orders. They were brief and tothe point.
"Straight for the fort, there!" said the commanding officer, "theshortest way you can take your men!"
It was an order that meant certain death to scores of those bravefellows; yet when they had heard it they cheered as schoolboys cheer fora holiday.
Again we stood waiting. The officers with their swords drawn stepped infront. The men quickly loaded and fixed bayonets, and then came theshout,--
"Forward!"
As we cleared the trees we burst full in the face of the enemy's fire.For a moment the balls whizzed harmlessly over our heads, then there wasa crash on the ground before us, and, as we rushed on, the men parted oneither side to avoid stepping over a dying man. It was awful; and everystep we took grew more and more fatal. Under that withering fire menwent down by the dozen; yet still the column rushed on. The front rankbroke into gaps, which the rear rank men dashed forward to fill, tillthey themselves fell. And still on we rushed. Officers, too,everywhere to the front, dropped one by one; but still we never checkedour pace. The sullen walls of the fort stood clear before us and pouredupon us an unceasing shower of bullet and ball. In a minute ourforemost men would be at the walls.
"Forward now! follow me!" I heard Charlie cry; and looking roundnoticed for the first time that the captain of his company was missing.The men cheered by way of answer, and their run broke into a rush asthey followed him under the guns. Others were at the fort before us,and the storm had already begun. Heedless of wounds, heedless of peril,the men swept towards the breach, and called on those behind to come on.Charlie was one of the earliest of our battalion there, and already hisfeet were in the place, and he was waving to his men to come up when--
I felt a dull crushing sensation. My nerves collapsed; my senses leftme. Speech, sight, hearing, all failed me in an instant; a strangedarkness came over me, and then I was conscious of nothing.
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When my senses slowly and wearily recovered I wa
s still lying in mymaster's pocket in the place where he had fallen at the storming of thebreach. Firing was still going on all around, but the shouts of our menrose now from inside the fort instead of outside. And what shouting itwas! The enemy's guns ceased as if by magic, and the distant sounds offiring showed plainly enough that the main body, now that we hadsilenced the fort, was resuming its march on Lucknow.
All this flashed through me as my senses gradually returned, and beforeeven I had time to contemplate my own condition. What a wreck I was! Ahelpless cripple past all healing, of no use to any one, and utterlyincapable of resuming the ordinary duties of life. But almost before Icould realise this, another care flashed through my mind and drove outevery other.
My master! What of him? There he lay, motionless and pale, with hisblue eyes closed, and a little stream of blood trickling down his chest.Could he be dead?
Anxiously I listened if his heart still beat. At first all seemedsilent as death. Then there seemed a slight quiver, and as I listenedstill, a faint throb. He lived still! How I longed for help to come!
And before long it came. Two soldiers of Charlie's regiment came out ofthe fort and walked straight towards us.
"It was close to the breach he dropped," said one.
"Come on, then," said the other, "and we may be in time."
They were not long in finding the object of their search, and leanteagerly over him.
"He's dead, poor fellow!" said the first; "shot right through theheart!"
"So he is," said the other. "It must have--wait a bit!" cried he, insudden excitement. "Feel here, Tom, quick! he's alive yet! Oh, if wecould only get hold of a doctor!"
"Is there one about at all?"
"Not that I know of, unless the Major knows what to do."
Just then there came up a gaunt man, in an undress uniform, who, seeingthat they knelt over a wounded man, said,--
"Is he alive?"
"It's all he is, sir," replied one of the men; "and we're wondering howto get a doctor to him."
"Let me see," said the stranger, approaching the body.
He knelt beside it and gently removed the coat from the wound.
"It looks as if he must be shot through the heart. Stay a bit, though,here's a watch!" and he pulled me softly out of the pocket. As he didso I looked up at him. Surely I knew his face! Surely somewhere I hadseen that troubled frightened face before! Then I remembered SeatownGaol! Could this be Tom Drift here in India, and kneeling beside hisold schoolfellow's body?
It was indeed Tom Drift! But he neither recognised me nor the woundedman before him; indeed he was too busy examining the latter's wound tolook very closely at his face. As he removed the waistcoat he utteredan exclamation of astonishment.
"A most wonderful thing," he said; "the bullet, which must have been aspent one, has struck his watch and turned aside. A most wonderfulescape!"
And then he produced a box of instruments, with one of which he probedthe wound, and after some trouble extracted the bullet. Then, bandagingup the place, he said,--
"He may do now, but he has lost a lot of blood. Let him lie here a bit,and presently, if he seems better, move him into the fort. I will seehim again this evening."
And so saying, he passed on to the next prostrate figure.
Towards evening the two men tenderly lifted their officer in their armsand carried him inside the fort, where a rude hospital had been fittedup. Here Charlie, who, after the extraction of the bullet andstaunching of blood, had shown symptoms of recovery, opened his eyes,and found himself able to say a few words to those round him. And whenthey told him how I had probably saved his life his face lit up with amost triumphant smile, and he asked that I might be put into his hand.
As he lay there, scarcely strong enough to speak, and fondling me in hisfingers, the doctor entered the hospital.
He came straight to Charlie's bed. My master's eyes were closed whenTom first reached his side; and I could see by the face of the latterthat he was still as far from recognising his old schoolfellow as ever.But directly Tom softly lifted the clothes in order to examine hiswound, the patient woke and opened his eyes. They rested for a momenton the doctor's face, and then, with a sudden flush and start, he halfraised himself in his bed, and exclaimed,--
"Tom Drift, is it you?"
The doctor thus unexpectedly hearing his own name pronounced, turnedpale, and started back as if he had been shot. The scared, terrifiedlook returned to his face, and for an instant he seemed as if he wouldrush from the place. But only for an instant.
As he looked again on the face of his patient a strange expression cameover his own. Wonder, doubt, joy, succeeded each other in rapidsuccession, and then all of a sudden it flashed upon him who this was.
"Charlie!" he exclaimed, trembling with astonishment; and next momentthe poor prodigal was on his knees beside his friend's bed, sobbing,with his head buried in his hands.
Don't laugh at him, reader, for thus forgetting himself. Tom Drift hadbeen through many trials you know nothing about, and out of those trialshe had come broken in spirit and as humble as a child. _You_ might havehad more regard for appearances, perhaps, and controlled your emotiongenteelly; but, as I have said before, Tom Drift was not anything likeso strong-minded as you. So he knelt there and sobbed; and Charlie, ashe lay, took his hand into his own, and held it.
Presently he said, softly, "Tom!"
Tom looked up and rose to his feet.
"What, old fellow?"
"Look here, Tom!" said Charlie, showing me.
At the sight of me, bruised and battered as I was, Tom's feelingsovercame him again. He seized me eagerly, and looked long and tenderlyinto my face; then his tears came again, and once more he sunk on hisknees at Charlie's side and buried his face in his hands.
The place was getting dark. The noise of voices outside and the distantroar of guns slowly died away; the guards for the night were called out,and one by one soldier and invalid fell asleep after their hard day'stoil. But Tom Drift never moved from Charlie's bedside, nor didCharlie, by word or movement, disturb him. In the silence of that nightI seemed to be back in the past--when, years ago, I first knew thesetwo. The dreary hospital changed, in my imagination, into the oldRandlebury dormitory.
These beds all round were occupied not by wounded soldiers, but bysoundly-sleeping boys, worn out with sports or study. And the twobetween whom I lay were no longer suffering men, but the light-heartedlads of long ago. I could almost fancy myself ticking through thesilent watches; and when now and then the fingers that held me closedover me, or fondled me tenderly, I could almost have believed I heardthe low sweet whistling of an innocent boy as he furtively turned in hiswaking moments to his father's precious gift.
It all seemed so strangely natural that as I woke from my dream itrequired an effort to remember where I really was. All was silentaround me. I peered first at my master, then at Tom Drift; they wereboth asleep--sleeping, perhaps, as simply as ever they did in thosebygone days--Tom kneeling still by the bedside with his head upon hisarms, and Charlie turned towards him with one hand upon his friend's,and I--I lay between them.
Thus the sultry Indian night passed, and then at the little windowopposite there came a faint gleam of light.
Charlie woke first, and, laying his hand gently on Tom's arm, said, "TomDrift, old fellow!"
With a start and a bound Tom was awake and on his feet, staring in abewildered way round him.
At last his eyes fell on Charlie, and he remembered where he was. "Iwas asleep and dreaming," he said.
"So was I," said Charlie--and _I_ could almost guess what their dreamshad been.
"Now, Tom," said Charlie, "you must look to my wound."
"My poor boy!" exclaimed Tom; "to think I have forgotten it all thistime!"
"It's not worth bothering about, after all," said my master, "But see,Tom, the day is breaking."
"Ay!" said Tom, looking down with a new light in his weary eyes
, "theday _is_ breaking!"