"So you are from Seatown!" he suddenly exclaimed.
The rifle literally dropped from the astonished sentry"s hand.
"Who told ye that?" he almost shrieked.
"Never mind," said Charlie, following up the advantage, and softly stepping out of his corner. "It"s two years since you left, isn"t it?"
Patrick was "dumfoundered." This man must be in league, surely, with the powers of darkness!
"_Now_ do you know why I want that watch?" said Charlie sternly, at the same time quietly picking up the dropped rifle. The tables were fairly turned now. The wretched Patrick, whose conscience had more than once smitten him about the way in which he had become possessed of me, looked the picture of terror--not at the bayonet, but at the man who held it.
He drew me from his pocket with trembling hands, and holding me out at arm"s length, cried,--
"Arrah, arrah! take him, gineral, take him. How was I to know you was the gentleman dropped him there? Who"d have--"
By this time Charlie had seized me and taken me to the light. In an instant he stripped me of my coat, and there, with bounding heart, read his own initials, scratched years ago with his own boyish hand, in the dormitory of Randlebury.
"It _is_ it!" he shouted; "my old watch! Who would have thought it possible!"
Then turning to the trembling Paddy, he said, in a voice almost unsteady in its eagerness,--
"My man, what will you sell me this watch for?"
Paddy looked more astonished than ever.
"Sure it"s your honour"s own."
"It was once, but it"s yours now. But I"ll give you a ten-pound note for him and a gold watch besides if you"ll let me have him back."
Imagine Paddy"s astonishment.
"Sure Duck Downie says it"s not worth thirty shillings--"
"Who cares for Duck Downie?" shouted Charlie, pulling out his purse.
"Here"s the money, and if you come to Lieutenant Newcome"s tent when you are off duty you shall have the watch."
And so saying, and not waiting for another word, he darted off, with me still in his hands, leaving Paddy fairly stupefied with amazement, and with only presence of mind enough left to pick up his rifle and make a royal salute to the retreating form of my first and last and dearest master.
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 my life.
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, he had pictured it to himself. Away from home, and with comparatively few friends, he had felt himself losing somewhat of his freshness and boyish enthusiasm, and settling down rather to habits of a humdrum commonplace official. Books he had very few, and congenial society still less.
Quartered as he had been during the first two years in dull country stations, he had grown weary of the routine of everyday life, and longed for the sight of fresh faces, fresh scenes, fresh occupation.
After a while this desire was gratified in his removal to Calcutta. But if he had suffered from dulness and weariness before, he was now in danger of going to another extreme. In his first joy at getting back into lively society he rushed with ardour into all the attractions and gaieties of the capital. Not that Charlie was a fellow ever to make the same mistakes as Tom Drift. He never a.s.sociated with companions he knew to be bad, or allowed himself to be led into scenes which were in the slightest degree discreditable. But he did enter rather too readily into the frivolities of his new quarters, at the expense of his peace of mind. His popularity was his greatest snare. Everywhere he went he became a favourite. People were eager to get him to join their parties, and he was often enough too good-natured to refuse. And thus Charlie wasted much of his time, and in the end found himself far more dissatisfied with himself than in the quiet monotony of his up-country duties.
Do not let me do him injustice, reader, in my account of him during those few weeks at Calcutta.
He was gay but not fast, frivolous though not dissipated. His errors were errors of unprofitableness, but never of viciousness. Even in his most frivolous moments he had never been anything but a gentleman and a good fellow. Still, it had been unsatisfactory, and he knew it to be so in 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 those attractions which had held him captive during the weeks of his idleness.
Like hundreds of others his blood boiled at the tragedies of that awful time, and now, of all the rescuing host, there was not one who loved his own 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, and regrets which secretly animated his breast in finding himself again possessed of his boyish treasure and the companion of so many of his happiest days, Charlie Newcome had no leisure to sit down and spend his time in pa.s.sive contemplation. He had a report to make to his colonel, and an important despatch to carry to the commander-in-chief. Then there was the ammunition to be served out among his men, and he had to superintend the process. And there were the plans for next day"s a.s.sault to be talked over with his brother officers, and the various detachments for that duty to be selected. So that Charlie was a busy man that night. But with what a light heart he laboured! Among his occupations he did not forget the gold watch, but had the satisfaction of making Paddy the happiest man (but one) in the camp.
Thus, first with one thing, then another, the night wore on; and, when towards morning he lay down on his camp bed for a hurried rest, he fell asleep like a child, whistling one of the old Randlebury songs, and with me, as of old, under his pillow.
At the first note of the bugle he sprang from his couch, and putting me in my old abode, next his heart, sallied out to see the preparations for the advance. It was generally known we were to make a dash for the approaches to Lucknow this day; and at the prospect of the attack the troops hailed the signal to get under arms with enthusiasm. It was plain to see, by the alacrity with which the men worked, that my master was a prime favourite in his own company; indeed, such was their prompt.i.tude that we stood ready and waiting long before the order to march arrived.
During this interval, if Charlie was seized with a desire to know the time once, he was seized twenty times; and each time a mere glance was not enough to satisfy him. How natural it all seemed, and how like old times!
Then came the longed-for signal, and with a cheer the men set their faces towards Lucknow.
Now, the reader must not expect I am going to describe military operations for his edification. I know nothing about columns and countermarches, and echelons and skirmishing; how could a watch, hid under a scarlet jacket, be expected to do so?
True, I had eyes that could penetrate any number of scarlet jackets, but what good was that when I knew about as much of the art of war as I did of candle-making!
But there are some things in the events of that memorable day which I shall remember as long as I live.
After about an hour"s march we were suddenly halted, and almost at the same moment there came the sullen boom of a gun ahead. I could feel Charlie"s heart leap at the sound. It was the enemy at last; and now the fate of Lucknow was to be decided.
A horseman dashed up to the head of our column and called out to our colonel, in a voice loud enough for us all to hear, "Bring up your battalion." Next moment we were advancing in double quick time through a 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 more frequent ahead, and dropping shot at either side announced that our danger was not all in front. The pace was kept up for a hundred yards or so, until we reached a cl.u.s.ter of trees, in whose shelter the column was halted to get breath. The fire in front still kept up, and through the smoke I thought I could discern the dim outline of a low building, not five hundred yards distant. At this moment Charlie and the other officers were summoned to the front for orders. They were brief and to the point.
"Straight for the fort, there!" said the commanding officer, "the shortest way you can take your men!"
It was an order that meant certain death to scores of those brave fellows; yet when they had heard it they cheered as schoolboys cheer for a holiday.
Again we stood waiting. The officers with their swords drawn stepped in front. The men quickly loaded and fixed bayonets, and then came the shout,--
"Forward!"
As we cleared the trees we burst full in the face of the enemy"s fire.
For a moment the b.a.l.l.s whizzed harmlessly over our heads, then there was a crash on the ground before us, and, as we rushed on, the men parted on either side to avoid stepping over a dying man. It was awful; and every step we took grew more and more fatal. Under that withering fire men went down by the dozen; yet still the column rushed on. The front rank broke into gaps, which the rear rank men dashed forward to fill, till they themselves fell. And still on we rushed. Officers, too, everywhere to the front, dropped one by one; but still we never checked our pace. The sullen walls of the fort stood clear before us and poured upon us an unceasing shower of bullet and ball. In a minute our foremost men would be at the walls.
"Forward now! follow me!" I heard Charlie cry; and looking round noticed 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 as they 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 his feet were in the place, and he was waving to his men to come up when--