The Dilemma/Chapter XXV
CHAPTER XXV.
The different parties were now at their posts watching through their loopholes the fire of the enemy, which as yet had not been returned, for all that could be seen was the head and shoulders of an occasional sepoy, rising up for a moment from behind the wall to deliver his fire, and then crouching down again.
Meanwhile the ladies remained in the dining-room, where also was the brigadier on a sofa, in a state of expectancy. None of them felt as if the state of tension could last, or as if it were worth while moving from their places for the present. Thus they waited for the sound of the assault, which every moment they thought must be made. And here, surrounded by outer walls and the blockaded veranda, the firing made but little noise.
Presently there was a crash of glass from a picture-frame hanging against the wall. A bullet, aimed too high, passing over the sandbag rampart in the veranda, had come through the outer room and lodged in the dining-room wall, piercing the head of one of Landseer's stags on the way.
The ladies started up, all but Olivia, who kept her seat, though pale, and some one gave a little scream.
Just then Falkland looked into the room. "Ha," said he, "we forgot the pictures; we must have them down, or the place will be covered with broken glass. You are not frightened, my love, are you?" he said, taking the hand of Olivia, who had gone to meet him, between his own, and stroking it fondly, while he looked down on her with a gentle smile. "You see, as long as the bullets go up here, you are in no danger."
"Not afraid, except for you," she replied, laying her disengaged hand on his arm, while the large eyes looked up wistfully from the pale face. "Oh, Robert dear! pray be careful of yourself; Mr. Yorke has been telling me of the risk you ran just now. I don't want to be selfish, but think how much to all of us depends on you."
"Don't be alarmed, my child," said her husband, smiling again, and patting her on the shoulder; "it was necessary to show these scoundrels that we were not afraid of them; but now that we are all safe inside, I am going to set an example of caution to everybody."
"But cannot we women be of some use? It is dreadful being made to sit here doing nothing. Cannot we help to load your rifles, or something of that sort?"
"Better keep here awhile. I am in hopes the rogues will take themselves off in an hour or two, when they see there is nothing to be got by stopping."
"Hark! what is that?" cried Olivia, starting, as a sharp crack was heard outside.
"Our fellows opening fire," said her husband. "You will soon get accustomed to the noise. I have told them only to fire, sir," he continued, addressing the brigadier, "when they see a chance of doing execution; that is in accordance with your wishes, I believe:" and so saying, he hastened away.
Strict orders had been given to the garrison to be careful of their ammunition, which was limited, and not to fire unless with a chance of doing execution, and, so far, not a shot had been returned to the continued but harmless fusilade directed at the building. Some of the mutineers, emboldened at this, had jumped over the wall and taken shelter behind the trees, thus getting a few yards nearer to the building, from which position they could aim more leisurely.
"Here is a case within the colonel's orders," said Passey, who commanded the bath-house picket, as from a loophole in that building a sepoy could be seen distinctly reloading his musket, hidden by the trunk of the tree from the main building, but exposed to view from this projecting angle. "Now, M'Intyre, you are a dead hand at an antelope running, I know; see if you can't hit a pandy standing. Here's one of old Cunningham's Westley Richards; you shall have the first shot."
The subaltern, who was standing on an empty beer-chest placed against the wall, took the rifle which Passey handed to him, and aimed through a loophole, the others watching the result through other loopholes.
M'Intyre fired; the sepoy staggered and fell.
"Well done!" cried Passey, getting on the box to look out; "you have drawn first blood. The beggars will be a little more cautious about showing themselves now, I expect."
"That rifle shoots the least thing too high," said M'Intyre, returning the weapon, and resuming his own. "I aimed at the fellow's stomach, but I think I hit him through the heart. I'll try my own, next time, major, if you please."
"Here they come on our side," said Egan to Yorke, as the two, also mounted on empty boxes, stood looking through the loopholes of the west veranda.
"I see the bushes moving, but I can't see any fellows."
"You can hear them, at any rate," said the other, as the bullets lodged in the sandbags with a thud, or, passing over their heads, rattled against the back wall of the veranda.
Indeed, the garden seemed to be now full of men, who kept up a continuous but ill-directed fire against the building.
"The fellows fight more like red Indians than respectable sepoys," observed Mr. Egan; "however, they are sure to give us a chance before long."
Presently he fired. "Look here, Yorke!" he cried; "come here if you want to see one of the noble enemy. Do you see a pair of legs just by that plantain-tree? That's all I could see; but I aimed where I thought the body must be, and the legs haven't moved since. See, they are dragging the body away. I must have another go at them," and he fired again, and the shot appeared to take effect, for the dragging operation ceased.
Thus the affair went on, a scrambling fusilade kept up by the assailants, the garrison only returning the fire when there was a fair chance of doing execution. A man climbing over the wall too deliberately, fell headlong from the top under M'Intyre's unerring aim; and the same marksman had sent a shot into a group of men standing in the direction of the court-house, a distance of nearly four hundred yards, laying one low and dispersing the rest. Two or three of the party which now occupied Sparrow's house had been seen to fall; Braddon, from the main picket, had shot two. Yorke, also, had made his first hit: a man moving from one bush to another, musket in hand, stooping as he went, but still exposing himself, fell prone at Yorke's fire, and crawled away slowly, and the young man felt half savage and half sick at the result of his shot. His ideal of war had been associated with taking life in the abstract only, and the first actual taste of blood, albeit of a would-be murderer's, caused a sickening sensation, which, however, soon yielded to excitement, and the love of killing inherent in mankind. And now a couple of good shots sent up to the roof did some damage before the assailants in the garden, thus laid open to view, had time to withdraw more under cover. Altogether, when Falkland went the rounds, fifteen or sixteen of the enemy had been distinctly accounted for, but no one of the garrison had been touched.
These losses made the rebels more wary. The party which had occupied the garden retired to a safe distance, and the fire on all sides sensibly abated.
"I begin to feel like grub," said Mr. Egan to his comrades, after a time. "This is an exciting if not a very dangerous occupation, and makes one peckish, not to say thirsty. I feel as if I could dispose of any quantity of pegs if they were to be had. I wonder what time it is. By Jove!" he continued, pulling out his watch — "fancy, it's only eight o'clock!" And in truth, although the garrison seemed to have been undergoing an interminable siege, the day had scarcely begun.
Shortly after this, breakfast was served — tea, hot cakes of unleavened bread (the Indian chupattees), and stew with rice. The pantry by the portico served as the kitchen, and for occupation by the servants, while that opposite it was appropriated to the sepoys, who cooked for themselves. The flour and grain had been stored in the north-east spare room, while the commissioner's stock of sheep and poultry had been penned in a part of the platform of the bath-house. The ladies and the reserve took their meal in the dining-room; the different guards each furnished a detail of one of their number to receive their portion, except that stationed in the bath-house, which had been supplied with a day's provisions and a native servant to cook; for the trench leading to it afforded but imperfect cover, and Falkland would allow no one, except to convey orders, to go to and fro.
Various weak points in the sand-bag parapet had been discovered, especially where it joined the round pillars of the veranda, at which points two or three bullets had found entrance. These were made good, with eager zeal, and then the garrison awaited patiently the next movement of the enemy, one member of each picket, mounted on a box, keeping a lookout through a loophole, while the others sat, arms in hand, below.
As the sun mounted into the sky, the heat became fiercer than ever. The rainy season was approaching, and the high winds of the Indian summer had ceased, but not much air could find its way through the barrier, alhough many of the doors were open. In ordinary times it would have been declared impossible for Europeans to support such heat without punkahs, but now it was unnoticed. The ladies fanned themselves, the gentlemen wiped their faces. All were composed, but no one discussed the future.
The heat had the good effect of quieting the enemy. Towards noon the firing ceased entirely, and the first excitement of the defenders having passed over, they began to think about rest. A fourth part of each picket were allowed to leave their post at a time, to wash and dress; of the rest, a part were allowed to sleep in turn, which they did on cots brought into the verandas, or on blankets stretched on the pavement, while the remainder kept a look-out. But none of the enemy could be seen stirring. At one o'clock dinner was supplied, flour-cakes, and stew and rice as before, with a bottle of beer between every two persons. The sepoys, going off duty by turns, cooked their single meal of coarse wheat cakes, which they devoured in silence, sitting gravely on their hams and stripped to their waist, taking afterwards a long draught of water from the separate store they had previously themselves drawn from the well, for to drink water obtained in any other way would have been pollution; and then passing round the "hubble-bubble" or simple hookah for each to take a whiff.
Then Colonel Falkland, who had hardly had a minute's rest since the outbreak, fell asleep on a couch in the drawing-room, and slept till evening, his wife sitting by him and keeping the flies off his face with a brush of peacock's feathers; while Miss Peart took the children into a side-room to prevent their disturbing him, and made them some little rag dolls to play with — for poor Mrs. O'Halloran seemed bewildered with the situation, and sat, for the most part, fanning herself silently.
Towards evening the firing was suddenly resumed, waking Falkland and other sleepers. One of the bath-house guard had incautiously exposed himself in passing through the covered way, by standing on the edge of the trench to take a look at the situation, with the parapet scarcely covering his knees, and had drawn a fire which showed that the assailants were still in force; but it slackened after a few minutes, and then stopped.
At sunset another meal was served out.
"We have come out to see if we can get a little cool air," said Olivia, appearing with Miss Peart in the western veranda after the hasty meal was ended; for by this time the restrictions on the movements of the ladies had been tacitly abandoned, and they went about the building at pleasure: "these centre rooms are getting to be almost unbearable, and I think they are worse now than during the day, because one expects to be a little cooler in the evening."
"This veranda is hardly any better, I am afraid," said Yorke, rising from the empty beer-chest on which he had been sitting, and which did duty for a banquette, "for it has had all the afternoon sun upon it. Why not go on the top of the house for a bit, as soon as it is dark, and get some fresh air? You will be perfectly safe there, if you keep to the centre, and don't go near the edge."
"That would be nice, indeed; I will go and see if Colonel Falkland will allow it." And the ladies withdrew presently from Yorke's post, not to be seen again that evening, for the roof was found to be so cool by comparison, that Falkland had shawls and bedding taken up, and the ladies passed the night there, quite unnoticed by the enemy.
With many the coming darkness was looked forward to with dread, as the enemy might be expected to take advantage of it for a real attack; and the sense of security afforded by the strength of the position, and its easy defence during the day, was succeeded, as the shades of evening advanced, by a fear of danger from some unseen quarter. And Falkland, refreshed by sleep, went round the building at frequent intervals to see that the guards were all at their posts. When night came on, too, a supply of water had to be drawn for the next day, and carried in jars to the main building. The platform-well having been surrounded with sandbags, and thus, in fact, included in the bath-house defences, the garrison of that post could draw water unseen by the enemy at pleasure, but it could not be taken along the covered way in the daytime. The task of conveying the jars devolved on the reserve, Falkland standing the while outside the covered way, to note if any sounds could be heard indicating a night attack. But although a movement of men could be heard about Sparrow's house, both then and throughout the night, the enemy did not fire a shot, or attempt to disturb them, and hopes began to arise in the breasts of many, that the rebels meant to take themselves away.
"The fellows will be off to-morrow even if they don't go to-night," said the brigadier from his couch to every one who came near him, still bathing his eyes with a wet rag dipped in the basin of water beside him; "Falkland says they are sure to do so; and in any case, he says that relief is sure to arrive by morning. The cowardly fellows will sheer off when they see the gallant Sikhs marching down on them, I'll be bound." And indeed, in all hearts the hope was strong that the attack had ended with the first discomfiture of the mutineers; and as night wore on, those who were at liberty to take rest lay down to sleep off their anxiety, while those who were on duty remained calm and silent at their posts. No lights were allowed in the verandas; some lamps threw a dim illumination during the night over the large centre rooms.
"We are so much indebted to you, Mr. Yorke, for your happy suggestion," said Olivia, as the party were drinking tea next morning in the dining-room — a recreation in which Yorke, being off duty, was able to join; "I can't tell you what a comfortable night we passed on the roof; it was quite cool, and has completely invigorated me; and then whenever one awoke there were the stars shining overhead, and everything so peaceful, it was difficult sometimes to realize where we were. But it seemed very selfish to be lying there so comfortably, while all of you gentlemen were on the watch in the dreadful heat below."
"I am sure I could hardly sleep a wink for the hardness of the roof," said Mrs. Polwheedle; "and we pay for having been cool up there, by coming down into this dreadful close room. You people who have been here all night have no notion how awfully stuffy it feels after the fresh air."
As Mrs. Polwheedle had slept soundly during the greater part of the afternoon, it was not surprising that her night should have been wakeful; while it did also occur to Yorke that she of all the party should have had least cause to complain of the hardness of the pavement, in respect that nature had furnished her with an ample cushion; but he did not commit this repartee to words.
The party thus assembled, sitting in a circle at one end of the drawing-room round a small table on which the tea was placed, formed a curious contrast to the surroundings; for except that the room had not been dusted, that the picture-frames were piled on the piano, and various bundles lying about, it presented the ordinary aspect of a handsomely-furnished apartment; but the occupants were a strangely-assorted group. By general consent, coats and collars had been dispensed with by the men; and with several of the community a light under-waistcoat did duty for a shirt — the supply of the latter article of dress being very limited in the garrison — and with a pair of white or flannel trousers gave the wearer the appearance of a dirty racquet-player, while incipient beards added to the general seediness of aspect. All the men had their firearms beside them, or between their knees. The ladies generally did not look to much better advantage, although Olivia had somehow managed to make herself neat before descending; and her beautiful hair, coiled in neat folds round her stately head, was in contrast to the general slovenliness of the rest. Miss Peart, indeed, had washed her face before joining the party, and was clad in a clean muslin robe of her hostess; but as she sat in a low lounging-seat drinking her tea it was evident to the company that she had given up wearing stockings for the time; while Mrs. Polwheedle had apparently discarded stays and under-garments generally, as conducive to heat and supererogatory during siege-life, and sat fanning herself in a rocking-chair, clad in a crumpled wrapper which yielded to each impress of her ample figure.