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In Times of Peril

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Dick and Ned Warrener were in one of the boats which were still ashore
when the treacherous Sepoys burst from their hiding-place. "The
scoundrels!" burst from Ned indignantly; while Dick, seeing at a glance
the hopelessness of their position, grasped his brother's arm.

"We must swim for it, Ned, Take a long dive, and go under again the moment
you have got breath."

Without an instant's delay the brothers leaped into the water, as dozens
of others were doing; and although each time their heads came up for an
instant the bullets splashed around them, they kept on untouched until
they reached the center of the stream. They were still within musket
range, but the distance was sufficient to render them pretty safe except
against an accidental shot. They looked back and saw the Sepoys had many
of them entered the river up to their shoulders, to shoot the swimmers:
others on horseback had ridden far out, and were cutting down those who,
unable to swim far, made again toward shallow water; while cannon and
muskets still poured in their fire against the helpless crowds in the
boats.

"Look, Ned, it is of no use making for the other shore," Dick said; "there
is another body of the wretches there; we must simply float down the
stream in the middle. If we keep on our backs, and sink as low as we can,
so as to show only our noses and mouths above water, they may fire for a
week without hitting us. There, give me your hand, so that we may float
together; I will look up from time to time to see that we are floating
pretty fairly in the middle, I will do it quickly, so as not to be seen,
for if we lie still on our backs they won't watch us after a time, but
will take us for two drifting dead bodies. Now, old boy!" So saying, the
lads turned on their backs, and occasionally giving a quiet stroke with
their legs, or paddling with their hands, drifted down stream, showing so
little of their faces above water that they could scarcely have been seen
from the shore.

Both the lads were good swimmers, but Dick was perfectly at home in the
water; and Ned, knowing his own inferiority in this respect, left himself
entirely in his brother's hands. Soon Dick, in his quick glances to note
their position, perceived that three boats alone of all the number had got
fairly away down stream--that their occupants had got out oars and were
quickly coming up to the swimmers; but he saw, too, that on both banks the
Sepoy guns kept abreast of them, and that a fire of artillery and musketry
was maintained. For a moment he thought of being taken on board; but their
chance of escaping the fire centered upon them seemed hopeless, and he
judged it was better to keep on in the water. He accordingly paddled
himself out of the center of the stream, so as to give the boats a wide
berth, trusting that the attention of the enemy would be so much directed
at the boats that the floating bodies would be unnoticed. As to keeping
afloat for any time, he had no fear whatever. The water of Indian rivers
in the heat of summer is so warm that swimmers can remain in them for many
hours without any feeling of chill or discomfort.

An hour later Dick lifted his head and looked forward. The firing was two
miles ahead now. But one boat of the three still floated, and Dick
congratulated himself that he had decided not to join his fate to that of
those on board. Hour after hour passed, and still the boys floated on,
until at last the sun went down, dusk came and went, and when all was dark
they turned on their faces and swam quietly down the stream. For many
hours, alternately swimming and floating, they kept their course down the
river, until toward morning they gently paddled ashore, crept into the
thick jungle of the bank, and fell asleep almost instantly.

It was dusk again before they awoke. They were desperately hungry, but
they agreed to spend one more night in the river before searching for
food, so as to put as much distance as possible between themselves and
Cawnpore. They had been twenty hours in the water before, and allowing two
miles an hour for the current, and something for their swimming, they
calculated that Cawnpore must be forty-six or forty-seven miles behind.
Eight hours' more steady swimming added twenty to this, and they landed
again with a hope that Nana Sahib's ferocious bands must have been left
behind, and that they had now only the ordinary danger of travel in such
times, through a hostile country, to face.

It yet wanted an hour or so of daybreak, and they struck off at right
angles to the river, and walked till it became light, when they entered a
small wood near to which was a hut. Watching this closely, they saw only
an old man come out, and at once made to it, and asked him for food and
shelter. Recovered from his first surprise, he received them kindly, and
gave them the best which his hut, in which he lived alone with his wife,
afforded. A meal of cakes and parched grain greatly revived them, and,
after a long sleep, they started again at nightfall, with enough food for
the next two days' supply. That they were not ahead of all their foes was
certain, from the fact that the peasant said that he had heard firing on
the river bank on the previous day. They knew by this also that the one
boat ahead of them had at any rate escaped its perils of the first day.

For two more nights they walked, passing one day in a thick wood, the
other in a ruined temple, their hopes rising; for, as they knew, the
further they got from Cawnpore the loss likely the country people were to
be hostile.

The third morning they again entered a hut to ask for food.

"I will give you food," the peasant said, "but you had better go to the
rajah's, his house is over there, half an hour's walk. He has four
Englishmen there who came from the river, and he is the friend of the
Feringhees."

Delighted at the news, the boys went forward. As they entered the
courtyard of the house they were greeted with a hearty salutation in
English, and their hands were clasped a moment afterward by Lieutenant
Delafosse, an officer who had greatly distinguished himself in the defense
of Cawnpore, and was one of the few survivors. He took them in to the
rajah, who received them most kindly, and after they had been fed
Lieutenant Delafosse told them how he and his three comrades had escaped.

The boat had, although many on board had been hit by rifle balls, escaped
the first day. She was crowded, and very low in the water, having on board
most of those who had been in the two boats sunk by the enemy. The next
day they were again fired at without effect by artillery, infantry
accompanying the boat all day, and keeping up an incessant fire. On the
third day the boat was no longer serviceable, and grounded on a sand-bank.
Then the enemy's infantry fired so heavily that those still able to carry
arms, fourteen in number, made for the shore and attacked their foes.
These fell back, and the handful of Englishmen followed them. Great
numbers of the enemy now came up, and the English took refuge in a little
temple; here they defended themselves till the enemy piled bushes at the
entrance, and set them on fire. Then the English burst through the flames,
and made again for the river. Seven out of the twelve who got through the
fire reached the river, but of these two were shot before they had swum
far. Three miles lower down, one of the survivors, an artilleryman,
swimming on his back, went too near the bank and was killed. Six miles
lower down the firing ceased, and soon afterward the four survivors were
hailed by natives, who shouted to them to come ashore, as their master,
the rajah, was friendly to the English. They did so, and were most kindly
received by him.

An abundant meal and another good sleep did wonders for the young
Warreners, and the next morning they determined to set out to join their
countrymen at Allahabad, where they expected to find their father and his
troops. The rajah and their fellow-countrymen endeavored in vain to
dissuade them, but the former, finding that they were determined, gave
them dresses as native women, furnished them with a guide, and sent them
across the river in a boat--for they were on the Oude side--with a message
to a zemindar there to help them forward.




CHAPTER XI

RETRIBUTION BEGINS.


The zemindar to whom the Warreners' guide conducted them, after crossing
the Ganges, received them kindly, and told them that the safest way would
be for them to go on in a hackery, or native cart, and placed one at once
at their disposal, with a trusty man as a driver, and another to accompany
them in the hackery. He told them that British troops were, it was said,
arriving fast at Allahabad, and that it was even reported that an advance
had already taken place. Nana Sahib would, it was said, meet them at
Futtehpore, a place forty-eight miles from Cawnpore, and seventy-five from
Allahabad. As yet, however, none of his troops had reached Futtehpore,
which was fortunate, for the main road ran through that place, which was
but twenty miles from the point where they had crossed the Ganges; and
although they would keep by a road near the river, and so avoid the town,
the Nana's troops would be sure to be scouring the country. This news
decided them not to accept the zemindar's invitation to stay the night and
start the next morning early. It was still but little past noon, and they
might do many miles before darkness.

Before they halted the party had made fifteen miles, and in passing
through a village learned the welcome news that a small English force had
advanced to Synee, some ten miles only beyond Futtehpore. This force had,
it was said, met with little resistance as yet, and the country people
were full of stories of the manner in which the Sepoys and others who had
been engaged with them were, as soon as captured, hung up in numbers.
Already, in the minds of the peasantry, the idea that the British would be
the final conquerors in the strife was gaining ground; and as the whole
country had suffered from the exactions and insolence of the triumphant
Sepoys, and life and property were no longer safe for a moment, the secret
sympathy of all those who had anything to lose was with the advancing
British force.

The next day the party followed the road near the river all day, as they
feared to fall either into the hands of Sepoys retiring before the
English, or of those coming down from Cawnpore. They halted for the night
at a village whence a road ran direct to Synee, which was about eight
miles distant. The villagers repeated that the Sepoys had all fallen back,
and that there would be a great fight at Futtehpore. The English force was
small, but a large body were on their way up from Allahabad.

The boys started at daybreak, and had proceeded about three miles when a
body of cavalry were seen rapidly approaching.

The driver of the hackery put his head inside the leather curtain of the
vehicle.

"English," he said. The boys looked out, and gave a shout of joy as they
saw the well-known uniforms; and, regardless of their women's robes. they
leaped out and ran to meet them. The advanced guard of the cavalry stopped
in surprise.

"Halloo! what is up? who are you?"

"Why, Dunlop, don't you know us?" the boys shouted.

"The Warreners!" exclaimed Captain Dunlop, leaping from his horse and
seizing them by the hand. "My dear boys, this is joy."

The men set up a cheer, which was caught up by the main body as they came
up, and in another minute the boys were in their father's arms.

The young Warreners had been mourned as dead, for no one doubted that they
had been carried to Cawnpore, and had shared the fate of the garrison of
that place; and the joy of their father therefore was intense, while the
whole corps, with whom the boys were general favorites, were delighted.

After the first rapturous greeting Major Warrener took off his cap
reverently, and said a few words of deep gratitude to God, the men all
baring their heads as he did so. Then Captain Kent said:

"Shall I push on to the Ganges, major, with my troop? or perhaps your sons
can tell us what we are ordered to find out?"

"What is it?" Ned asked.

"Whether there are any bodies of troops pushing down by the river. It
would not do for them to get behind us, and threaten our communications."

The boys were able to affirm that there was no body of mutineers near the
Ganges below Futtehpore, as they had just come down that way.

"Then we can ride back at once," Major Warrener said. "Major Renaud was on
the point of marching when we started, and he will be glad to have us back
again. First, though, what have these natives done for you?"

Ned in a few words explained that they came by the instruction of their
master, and had been with them for three days.

The major made them a handsome present, and sent a message to the
zemindar, to the effect that his kindness would be reported to government;
and Dick scribbled a few words to Lieutenant Delafosse, with the news of
the British advance, and a kind message to the rajah.

"Now, Dick, you jump up behind me," his father said. "Dunlop can take you,
Ned; and you can give us a short account of what has befallen you as we
ride back. We must get you a couple of horses of some kind or another at
Synee. Can't you cast off these women's clothes?"

"We have got nothing to speak of underneath," Dick laughed; "we got rid of
our uniforms in the Ganges, and want a rig out from top to toe."

"Well, we must see what we can do for you tonight. And now," he asked, as
they trotted along at the head of the column, amid the smiles of the men
at the appearance of their commanding officer carrying, as it seemed, a
native woman _en croupe_, "how did you escape, boys? We did not miss you
until we halted for half an hour at midnight. Then six of us rode back ten
miles, but could find no trace of you, and we gave you up as lost; so we
rode on till we met Major Renaud's force coming up, when we sent our
rescued friends on to Allahabad, and turned back with just a shadow of
hope that we might yet find you alive somewhere or other."

Dick then told the story of the intervention of the tiger in their behalf,
and said that afterward an Indian lady had succored them, hinting that at
the end of the war it was probable that Ned would present his father with
a daughter-in-law.

"That's all very well," Ned laughed. "If Dick had understood the language,
I should have been nowhere. You should have seen him kiss her hand."

"Well, anyhow," Dick said, "she was a brick, father, and no mistake."

By this time Synee was reached. In spite of Major Warrener's liberal
offers, no horses or even ponies were forthcoming, so completely had the
Sepoys stripped the country, most of the villages having been burned as
well as plundered by them. From the valises of the troop various articles
of clothing were contributed, which enabled the lads again to take their
places in the ranks, but riding as before _en croupe_. In two hours after
their arrival at Synee they were moving forward again at a trot, and in
four hours came up with Major Renaud's force, encamped for the day.

They were glad to get in, for the rain, since they left Synee, had been
falling in sheets. The force was fortunately moving now along the grand
trunk road, a splendid piece of road-making, extending from Calcutta to
Peshawur, for already the country roads would have been almost impassable.

"Do we halt here for the day?" Ned asked his father, as they drew rein in
the camp.

"Yes, Dick, the enemy are in force at Futtehpore, which is only some
fourteen miles away. Havelock is coming up by double marches. He halted
last night fifteen miles the other side of Synee. To-day he will reach
Synee; will bivouac there for a few hours, and will march on here in the
night. We are to be under arms by the time he will arrive, and the whole
of us will push forward to Khaga, five miles this side of Futtehpore. So
Havelock's men will have marched twenty-four miles straight off, to say
nothing of the fifteen to-day. The troops could not do it, were it not
that every one is burning to get to Cawnpore, to avenge the murder of our
comrades and to rescue the women and children, if it be yet time."

The boys were at once taken by their father to Major Renaud, who welcomed
them warmly. This officer had under his command a force of four hundred
British, and four hundred and twenty native troops, with two pieces of
cannon.

After being introduced to Major Renaud the boys went to the tents allotted
to their corps, which were already pitched, and Major Warrener asked the
officers, and as many of the volunteers as his tent would hold, to listen
to the account of the massacre of Cawnpore, which was now for the first
time authentically told; for hitherto only native reports had come down
from the city. Great was the indignation and fury with which the tale of
black treachery and foul murder was heard; and when the story was told it
had to be repeated to the officers of the other corps in camp.

The terrible tale soon spread through the camp; and men gnashed their
teeth in rage, and swore bitter oaths--which were terribly kept--to avenge
the deeds that had been committed. Uppermost of all, however, was the
anxiety about the women and children; for the boys had heard, when staying
at the friendly rajah's, that near one hundred and twenty of these
unfortunates--the survivors of the siege, and of the river attack--had
been shut up in a room in the Cawnpore lines.

At three o'clock next morning--the 11th of July--the troops were under
arms, the tents struck, and all in readiness for an advance. Presently a
dull sound was heard; it grew louder, and the head of General Havelock's
column came up.

There was a short halt while Major Renaud reported to the general the
state of affairs in front, as far as he knew them. He mentioned, too, that
two survivors of the Cawnpore massacre had that day come in, and that four
others were in shelter with a native rajah on the Oude side of the Ganges.
The general at once requested that the Warreners should be brought up to
him; and the lads were accordingly presented to the man whose name,
hitherto unknown outside military circles, was--in consequence of the
wonderful succession of battles and of victories, of which that date, the
12th of July, was to mark the first--to become a household word in
England.

"The column had better move forward, Major Renaud; your division will
lead. If you will ride by me, gentlemen, you can tell me of this dreadful
business as we go."

Fortunately there were several horses in Major Renaud's camp, which had
been taken from men of the enemy's cavalry who had been surprised in the
upward march, and two of them had been assigned to the boys, so that they
were able to feel once more as soldiers.

On arriving at Khaga, an insignificant village, General Havelock said to
the lads:

"Thank you very much for your information. You have behaved with great
coolness and courage, and Major Warrener, your father, has every reason to
be proud of you. I am short of aids-de-camp, and shall be glad if you will
act as my gallopers"--an honor which, it need hardly be said, the boys
joyfully accepted.

The following was the total force under General Havelock's command when he
commenced the series of battles which were finally to lead him to Lucknow:
Seventy-six men of the Royal Artillery, three hundred and seventy-six of
the Madras Fusiliers, four hundred and thirty-five of the Sixty-fourth
Regiment, two hundred and eighty-four of the Seventy-eighth Highlanders
one hundred and ninety men of the Eighty-fourth Regiment, twenty-two men
of the Bengal Artillery. Total of British regular troops, thirteen hundred
and eighty-three, with eight guns. Besides these he had Warrener's Horse.
Of natives he had the Ferozepore Regiment (Sikhs), four hundred and forty-
eight strong, ninety-five men of the native irregular cavalry, who were
worse than useless, and eighteen mounted native police.

The order for a halt was welcome indeed to the troops. Havelock's column
had marched twenty-four miles without resting or eating, and fires were
speedily lighted, and preparation made for breakfast. Major Tytler,
quartermaster-general to the force, had, on arriving at the halting-place,
taken twenty of Warrener's Horse, and had gone forward to reconnoiter. The
water was growing hot, and the tired soldiers as they lay on the ground,
pipes in mouths, were thinking that breakfast would soon be ready, when
there was an exclamation:

"Here come the Horse! Something's up!"

The reconnoitering party were seen galloping back at full speed, and a
minute or two later a large body of the enemy's cavalry in rapid pursuit
emerged from a tope on the edge of the plain. The bugles sounded to arms,
and the men grasped their fire-arms and fell in, but not without many a
muttered exclamation of disgust.

"Confound them! they might have given us time for breakfast!"

"They need not be in such a hurry; the day's long enough."

"I thought I hated them fellows as bad as a chap could do; but I owe them
another now."

A laugh was raised by a young officer saying cheerily to his men,
"Nevermind, lads, we'll return good for evil. They won't let us have
enough to eat, and we are going to give them more than they can digest."

In a very short time a considerable force of the enemy's infantry
appeared, following the cavalry, and with them were some guns, which at
once opened on the British force.

Hitherto General Havelock had made no move. He knew that his men urgently
needed rest and food. The sun had come out, and was blazing fiercely; and
it was of great importance that the troops should eat before undertaking
what could not but be a heavy morning's work; but the enemy, who believed
that they had only Major Renaud's weak force before them, pressed forward
so boldly that there was no refusing the challenge so offered. The order
was given to advance, and the men, with a hearty cheer, moved forward
against the enemy, whose force consisted of fifteen hundred Sepoys,
fifteen hundred Oude tribesmen, and five hundred rebel cavalry, with
twelve guns. Their position was a strong one, for on each side of the road
the plain was a swamp, and in many places was two and even more feet under
water. In front, on a rising ground, were some villages with gardens and
mango-groves, and behind this Futtehpore itself, with gardens with high
walls, and many houses of solid masonry.

It may, however, be said that the fight was decided as soon as begun. The
British artillery silenced that of the enemy; the British rifles drove
their infantry before them. Warrener's Horse and the irregular cavalry
moved on the flank, the infantry marched straight the swamps, and while
some of the guns kept on the solid road, others had to be dragged and
pushed with immense labor through the morass. As the British advanced the
enemy fell back, abandoning gun after gun. The general of the Sepoy force
was on an elephant, on rising ground in the rear of his troops, and
Captain Maude, who commanded the artillery, by a well-aimed shot knocked
the elephant over, to the great delight of the gunners. After that the
rebels attempted no further resistance, and fled to Futtehpore. There they
prepared to make a stand in the houses and gardens; but our men, whose
blood was now thoroughly up, and who were disgusted at their failure to
get at their foe, went forward with a rush, and the enemy fled without
hesitation.

The streets of Futtehpore were absolutely choked with the baggage train of
the defeated rebels, and the discovery of many articles of attire of
English ladies and children raised the fury of the troops to the highest
point. Pursuit of the enemy was, however, impossible. The troops were
utterly exhausted, and officers and men threw themselves down where-ever a
little shade could be found. At three o'clock the baggage came up, and by
the forethought of the commissariat officer in charge some camels laden
with rum and biscuit came up with it, so that the men were able to have a
biscuit and a little spirits and water, which revived them; for whatever
be the demerits of spirits upon ordinary occasions, on an emergency of
this kind it is a restorative of a very valuable kind.

Singularly enough, in this battle, in which thirty-five hundred men were
defeated and twelve guns captured, not a single British soldier was
killed, the enemy never waiting until fairly within shot. Twelve soldiers,
however, fell and died from sunstroke during the fight.

On the 13th the troops halted to rest. The guns taken from the enemy were
brought in, and the great baggage train captured in the town organized for
our own service.

On the 14th the force again advanced along a road literally strewn with
arms, cartridges, chests of ammunition, shot, clothing, and tents,
abandoned in their flight by the insurgents. The most welcome find to the
army were forty barrels of English porter, part of the Sepoys' loot at one
of the scenes of mutiny. That night the force encamped at Kulleanpore,
twenty-seven miles from Cawnpore.

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