Coppy"s brow wrinkled. He and Miss Allardyce had with great craft managed to keep their engagement secret for a fortnight. There were urgent and imperative reasons why Major Allardyce should not know how matters stood for at least another month, and this small marplot had discovered a great deal too much.
"I saw you," said Wee Willie Winkle calmly. "But ve groom did n"t see.
I said, "Hut jao.""
"Oh, you had that much sense, you young Rip," groaned poor Coppy, half amused and half angry. "And how many people may you have told about it?"
"Only me myself. You did n"t tell when I twied to wide ve buffalo ven my pony was lame; and I fought you would n"t like."
"Winkie," said Coppy enthusiastically, shaking the small hand, "you"re the best of good fellows. Look here, you can"t understand all these things. One of these days--hang it, how can I make you see it!--I"m going to marry Miss Allardyce, and then she"ll be Mrs. Coppy, as you say. If your young mind is so scandalized at the idea of kissing big girls, go and tell your father."
"What will happen?" said Wee Willie Winkie, who firmly believed that his father was omnipotent.
"I shall get into trouble," said Coppy, playing his trump card with an appealing look at the holder of the ace.
"Ven I won"t," said Wee Willie Winkie briefly. "But my faver says it"s un-man-ly to be always kissing, and I did n"t fink you"d do vat, Coppy."
"I"m not always kissing, old chap. It"s only now and then, and when you"re bigger you"ll do it too. Your father meant it"s not good for little boys."
"Ah!" said Wee Willie Winkle, now fully enlightened. "It"s like ve sputter-brush?"
"Exactly," said Coppy gravely.
"But I don"t fink I"ll ever want to kiss big girls, nor no one, "cept my muvver. And I must vat, you know."
There was a long pause, broken by Wee Willie Winkie.
"Are you fond of vis big girl, Coppy?"
"Awfully!" said Coppy.
"Fonder van you are of Bell or ve Butcha--or me?"
"It"s in a different way," said Coppy. "You see, one of these days Miss Allardyce will belong to me, but you"ll grow up and command the Regiment and--all sorts of things. It"s quite different, you see."
"Very well," said Wee Willie Winkie, rising. "If you"re fond of ve big girl, I won"t tell anyone. I must go now."
Coppy rose and escorted his small guest to the door, adding: "You"re the best of little fellows, Winkie. I tell you what. In thirty days from now you can tell if you like--tell anyone you like."
Thus the secret of the Brandis-Allardyce engagement was dependent on a little child"s word. Coppy, who knew Wee Willie Winkie"s idea of truth, was at ease, for he felt that he would not break promises. Wee Willie Winkie betrayed a special and unusual interest in Miss Allardyce, and, slowly revolving round that embarra.s.sed young lady, was used to regard her gravely with unwinking eye. He was trying to discover why Coppy should have kissed her. She was not half so nice as his own mother. On the other hand she was Coppy"s property, and would in time belong to him. Therefore it behooved him to treat her with as much respect as Coppy"s big sword or shiny pistol.
The idea that he shared a great secret in common with Coppy kept Wee Willie Winkie unusually virtuous for three weeks. Then the Old Adam broke out, and he made what he called a "camp-fire" at the bottom of the garden. How could he have foreseen that the flying sparks would have lighted the Colonel"s little hay-rick and consumed a week"s store for the horses? Sudden and swift was the punishment--deprivation of the good-conduct badge and, most sorrowful of all, two days"
confinement to barracks--the house and veranda--coupled with the withdrawal of the light of his father"s countenance.
He took the sentence like the man he strove to be, drew himself up with a quivering under-lip, saluted, and, once clear of the room, ran to weep bitterly in his nursery--called by him "my quarters." Coppy came in the afternoon and attempted to console the culprit.
"I"m under awwest," said Wee Willie Winkie mournfully, "and I did n"t ought to speak to you."
Very early the next morning he climbed on to the roof of the house--that was not forbidden--and beheld Miss Allardyce going for a ride.
"Where are you going?" cried Wee Willie Winkie.
"Across the river," she answered, and trotted forward.
Now the cantonment in which the 195th lay was bounded on the north by a river--dry in the winter. From his earliest years, Wee Willie Winkie had been forbidden to go across the river, and had noted that even Coppy--the almost almighty Coppy--had never set foot beyond it. Wee Willie Winkie had once been read to, out of a big blue book, the history of the Princess and the Goblins--a most wonderful tale of a land where the Goblins were always warring with the children of men until they were defeated by one Curdie. Ever since that date it seemed to him that the bare black and purple hills across the river were inhabited by Goblins, and, in truth, everyone had said that there lived the Bad Men. Even in his own house the lower halves of the windows were covered with green paper on account of the Bad Men who might, if allowed clear view, fire into peaceful drawing-rooms and comfortable bedrooms. Certainly, beyond the river, which was the end of all the Earth, lived the Bad Men. And here was Major Allardyce"s big girl, Coppy"s property, preparing to venture into their borders!
What would Coppy say if anything happened to her? If the Goblins ran off with her as they did with Curdie"s Princess? She must at all hazards be turned back.
The house was still. Wee Willie Winkie reflected for a moment on the very terrible wrath of his father; and then--broke his arrest! It was a crime unspeakable. The low sun threw his shadow, very large and very black, on the trim garden-paths, as he went down to the stables and ordered his pony. It seemed to him in the hush of the dawn that all the big world had been bidden to stand still and look at Wee Willie Winkie guilty of mutiny. The drowsy groom handed him his mount, and since the one great sin made all others insignificant, Wee Willie Winkie said that he was going to ride over to Coppy Sahib, and went out at a foot-pace, stepping on the soft mould of the flower-borders.
The devastating track of the pony"s feet was the last misdeed that cut him off from all sympathy of Humanity. He turned into the road, leaned forward, and rode as fast as the pony could put foot to the ground in the direction of the river.
But the liveliest of twelve-two ponies can do little against the long canter of a Waler. Miss Allardyce was far ahead, had pa.s.sed through the crops, beyond the Police-post, when all the guards were asleep, and her mount was scattering the pebbles of the river bed as Wee Willie Winkie left the cantonment and British India behind him. Bowed, forward and still flogging, Wee Willie Winkie shot into Afghan territory, and could just see Miss Allardyce a black speck, flickering across the stony plain. The reason of her wandering was simple enough.
Coppy, in a tone of too-hastily-a.s.sumed authority, had told her over night that she must not ride out by the river. And she had gone to prove her own spirit and teach Coppy a lesson.
Almost at the foot of the inhospitable hills Wee Willie Winkie saw the Waler blunder and come down heavily. Miss Allardyce struggled clear, but her ankle had been severely twisted, and she could not stand.
Having thus demonstrated her spirit, she wept copiously, and was surprised by the apparition of a white, wide-eyed child in khaki, on a nearly spent pony.
"Are you badly, badly hurted?" shouted Wee Willie Winkie, as soon as he was within range. "You did n"t ought to be here."
"I don"t know," said Miss Allardyce ruefully ignoring the reproof.
"Good gracious, child, what are you doing here?"
"You said you was going acwoss ve wiver," panted Wee Willie Winkie, throwing himself off his pony. "And n.o.body--not even Coppy--must go acwoss ve wiver, and I came after you ever so hard, but you would n"t stop, and now you "ve hurted yourself, and Coppy will be angry wiv me, and--I"ve bwoken my awwest! I"ve bwoken my awwest!"
The future Colonel of the 195th sat down and sobbed. In spite of the pain in her ankle the girl was moved.
"Have you ridden all the way from cantonments, little man? What for?"
"You belonged to Coppy. Coppy told me so!" wailed Wee Willie Winkie disconsolately. "I saw him kissing you, and he said he was fonder of you van Bell or ve Butcha or me. And so I came. You must get up and come back. You did n"t ought to be here. Vis is a bad place, and I "ve bwoken my awwest."
"I can"t move, Winkie," said Miss Allardyce, with a groan. "I"ve hurt my foot. What shall I do?"
She showed a readiness to weep afresh which steadied Wee Willie Winkie, who had been brought up to believe that tears were the depth of unmanliness. Still, when one is as great a sinner as Wee Willie Winkie, even a man may be permitted to break down.
"Winkie," said Miss Allardyce, "when you"ve rested a little, ride back and tell them to send out something to carry me back in. It hurts fearfully."
The child sat still for a little time and Miss Allardyce closed her eyes; the pain was nearly making her faint. She was roused by Wee Willie Winkie tying up the reins on his pony"s neck and setting it free with a vicious cut of his whip that made it whicker. The little animal headed toward the cantonments.
"Oh, Winkie! What are you doing?"
"Hush!" said Wee Willie Winkie. "Vere"s a man coming--one of ve Bad Men. I must stay wiv you. My faver says a man must always look after a girl. Jack will go home, and ven vey "ll come and look for us. Vat "s why I let him go."
Not one man, but two or three, had appeared from behind the rocks of the hills, and the heart of Wee Willie Winkie sank within him, for just in this manner were the Goblins wont to steal out and vex Curdie"s soul. Thus had they played in Curdie"s garden, he had seen the picture, and thus had they frightened the Princess"s nurse. He heard them talking to each other, and recognized with joy the b.a.s.t.a.r.d Pushto that he had picked up from one of his father"s grooms lately dismissed. People who spoke that tongue could not be the Bad Men. They were only natives, after all.
They came up to the boulders on which Miss Allardyce"s horse had blundered.
Then rose from the rock Wee Willie Winkie, child of the Dominant Race, aged six and three-quarters, and said briefly and emphatically "Jao!"
The pony had crossed the river-bed.