Rujub, the Juggler

“I wish we could work at something,” Isobel said. “Now that we have finished with the bags and bandages, the time seems very long; the only thing there is to do is to play with the children and try to keep them good; it is fortunate there is a bit of garden for them to play in.”

“It is not much of a garden, Miss Hannay. We had something like a garden when I was a boy at home; the governor’s is a jolly old rectory, with a splendid garden. What fun we used to have there when I was a young one! I wonder what the dear old governor and mater would say if they knew the fix we were in here. You know, sometimes I think that Forster’s plan was the best, and that it would be better to try and make a dash through them.”

“We are in your way, Mr. Wilson; you wouldn’t be able to do much fighting if you had one of us clinging to you.”

“I don’t know, Miss Hannay,” Wilson said quietly, “what my fighting powers are, but I fancy if you were clinging to me I could cut my way through a good deal.”

“I am sure you would do anything that anyone could do,” the girl said kindly; “but whatever you might feel, having another person behind you could not but hamper you awfully. I would infinitely rather try to escape on foot, for then I should be relying on myself, while if I was riding behind anyone, and we were pursued or attacked, I should feel all the time I was destroying his chances, and that if it were not for me he would get away. That would be terrible. I don’t know whether we were wise to stay here instead of trying to escape at once; but as uncle and Mr. Hunter and the others all thought it wiser to stay, I have no doubt it was; but I am quite sure that it could not have been a good plan to go off like that on horseback.”

Another day passed quietly, and then during the night the watch heard the sounds of blows with axes, and of falling trees.

“They are clearing the ground in front of their battery,” the Major, who was on the watch with his party, said; “it will begin in earnest tomorrow morning. The sound came from just where we expected. It is about in the same line as where they made their first attempt, but a hundred yards or so further back.”

At daylight they saw that the trees and bushes had been leveled, and a battery, with embrazures for six guns, erected at a distance of about four hundred yards from the house. More sandbags were at once brought up from below, and the parapet, on the side facing the battery, raised two feet and doubled in thickness. The garrison were not disturbed while so engaged.

“Why the deuce don’t the fellows begin?” Captain Forster said impatiently, as he stood looking over the parapet when the work was finished.

“I expect they are waiting for the Rajah and some of the principal Zemindars to come down,” replied the Major; “the guns are theirs, you see, and will most likely be worked by their own followers. No doubt they think they will knock the place to pieces in a few minutes.

“Listen! there is music; they are coming in grand state. Rintoul, will you tell the workers in the mine to come up. By the way, who are at work now?”

“Bathurst and Wilson, sir.”

“Then tell Wilson to come up, and request Bathurst to go on with the gallery. Tell him I want that pushed forward as fast as possible, and that one gun will not make much difference here. Request the ladies and children to go down into the storeroom for the present. I don’t think the balls will go through the wall, but it is as well to be on the safe side.”

Captain Rintoul delivered his message to the ladies. They had already heard that the battery had been unmasked and was ready to open fire, and lamps had been placed in the storeroom in readiness for them. There were pale faces among them, but their thoughts were of those on the roof rather than of themselves.

Mrs. Hunter took up the Bible she had been reading, and said, “Tell them, Captain Rintoul, we shall be praying for them.” The ladies went into the room that served as a nursery, and with the ayahs and other female servants carried the children down into the storeroom.

“I would much rather be up there,” Isobel said to Mrs. Doolan; “we could load the muskets for them, and I don’t think it would be anything like so bad if we could see what was going on as being cooped up below fancying the worst all the time.”

“I quite agree with you, but men never will get to understand women. Perhaps before we are done they will recognize the fact that we are no more afraid than they are.”

The music was heard approaching along the road where the bungalows had stood. Presently a number of flags were raised in the battery amid a great beating of drums. On the previous day a flagstaff had been erected on the roof, and a Union Jack was run up in answer to the enemy’s demonstration.

“A cheer for the old flag, lads,” the Major said; and a hearty cheer broke from the little party on the roof, where, with the exception of Bathurst, all the garrison were assembled. The cheer was answered by a yell from the natives not only in the battery, but from the gardens and inclosures round the house.

“Pay no attention to the fellows in the gardens,” the Major said; “fire at their guns—they must expose themselves to load.”

The men were kneeling behind the parapet, where the sandbags had been so arranged that they could see through between those on the upper line, and thus fire without raising their heads above it.

“Shall we wait for them or fire first, Major?” the Doctor asked.

“I expect the guns are loaded and laid, Doctor; but if you see a head looking along them, by all means take a shot at it. I wish we could see down into the battery itself, but it is too high for that.”

The Doctor lay looking along his rifle. Presently he fired, and as if it had been the signal five cannon boomed out almost at the same moment, the other being fired a quarter of a minute later. Three of the shot struck the house below the parapet, the others went overhead.

“I hit my man,” the Doctor said, as he thrust another rifle through the loophole. “Now, we will see if we can keep them from loading.”

Simultaneously with the roar of the cannon a rattle of musketry broke out on three sides of the house, and a hail of bullets whistled over the heads of the defenders, who opened a steady fire at the embrasures of the guns. These had been run in, and the natives could be seen loading them. The Major examined the work through a pair of field glasses.

“You are doing well,” he said presently; “I have seen several of them fall, and there is a lot of confusion among them; they will soon get tired of that game.”

Slowly and irregularly the guns were run out again, and the fire of the defenders was redoubled to prevent them from taking aim. Only one shot hit the house this time, the others all going overhead. The fire of the enemy became slower and more irregular, and at the end of an hour ceased almost entirely.

“Doctor,” the Major said, “I will get you and Farquharson to turn your attention to some fellows there are in that high tree over there. They command us completely, and many of their bullets have struck on the terrace behind us. It would not be safe to move across to the stairs now. I think we have pretty well silenced the battery for the present. Here are my glasses. With them you can easily make out the fellows among the leaves.”

“I see them,” the Doctor said, handing the glasses to Farquharson; “we will soon get them out of that. Now, Farquharson, you take that fellow out on the lower branch to the right; I will take the one close to the trunk on the same branch.”

Laying their rifles on the upper row of sandbags, the two men took a steady aim. They fired almost together, and two bodies were seen to fall from the tree.

“Well shot!” the Major exclaimed. “There are something like a dozen of them up there; but they will soon clear out if you keep that up.”

“They are not more than two hundred yards away,” the Doctor said, “and firing from a rest we certainly ought not to miss them at that distance. Give me the glasses again.”

A similar success attended the next two shots, and then a number of figures were seen hastily climbing down.

“Give them a volley, gentlemen,” the Major said.

A dozen guns were fired, and three more men dropped, and an angry yell from the natives answered the shout of triumph from the garrison.

“Will you go down, Mr. Hunter, and tell the ladies that we have silenced the guns for the present, and that no one has received a scratch? Now, let us see what damage their balls have effected.”

This was found to be trifling. The stonework of the house was strong, and the guns were light. The stonework of one of the windows was broken, and two or three stones in the wall cracked. One ball had entered a window, torn its way through two inner walls, and lay against the back wall.

“It is a four pound ball,” the Major said, taking it up. “I fancy the guns are seven pounders. They have evidently no balls to fit, which accounts for the badness of their firing and the little damage they did; with so much windage the balls can have had but small velocity. Well, that is a satisfactory beginning, gentlemen; they will take a long time to knock the place about our ears at this rate. Now we will see if we cannot clear them out of the gardens. Captain Doolan, will you take the glasses and watch the battery; if you see any movement about the guns, the fire will be reopened at once; until then all will devote their attention to those fellows among the bushes; it is important to teach them that they are not safe there, for a chance ball might come in between the sandbags. Each of you pick out a particular bush, and watch it till you see the exact position in which anyone firing from it must be in, and then try to silence him. Don’t throw away a shot if you can help it. We have a good stock of ammunition, but it is as well not to waste it. I will leave you in command at present, Doolan.”

Major Hannay then went down to the storeroom.

“I have come to relieve you from your confinement, ladies,” he said. “I am glad to say that we find their balls will not penetrate the walls of the house alone, and there is therefore no fear whatever of their passing through them and the garden wall together; therefore, as long as the wall is intact, there is no reason whatever why you should not remain on the floor above.”

There was a general exclamation of pleasure.

“That will be vastly better, uncle,” Isobel said; “it is hateful being hidden away down here when we have nothing to do but to listen to the firing; we don’t see why some of us should not go up on the terrace to load the rifles for you.”

“Not at present, Isobel; we are not pressed yet. When it comes to a real attack it will be time to consider about that. I don’t think any of us would shoot straighter if there were women right up among us in danger.”

“I don’t at all see why it should be worse our being in danger than for you men, Major,” Mrs. Doolan said; “we have just as much at stake, and more; and I warn you I shall organize a female mutiny if we are not allowed to help.”

The Major laughed.

“Well, Mrs. Doolan, I shall have to convert this storeroom into a prison, and all who defy my authority will be immured here, so now you know the consequence of disobedience.”

“And has no one been hurt with all that firing, Major Hannay?” Mary Hunter asked.

“A good many people have been hurt, Miss Hunter, but no one on our side. I fancy we must have made it very hot for those at the guns, and the Doctor and Mr. Farquharson have been teaching them not to climb trees. At present that firing you hear is against those who are hiding in the gardens.”

An hour later the firing ceased altogether, the natives finding the fire of the defenders so deadly that they no longer dared, by discharging a rifle, to show where they were hiding. They had drawn off from the more distant clumps and bushes, but dared not try and crawl from those nearer the house until after nightfall.