not a day passed now without messengers coming in with warnings of approaching danger, and one morning early the officer on guard reported that a large number of persons could be seen approaching by the road from the south.
"do they look like troops?" the colonel asked.
"no, sahib; they are on horseback and on foot, and there are many carts among them."
"i have no doubt then, kur aloof, that they are merchants of the towns coming in here for refuge. the enemy cannot be far off, and they know how the soldiers would squeeze them if they had a chance."
"will you let all those people in here, uncle? they will eat up our provisions and drink up our water."
"as i told you, percy, we have sufficient of both for a number double that at present within the walls. did four times the total now here arrive the supplies would still hold out six months, and two months is the utmost that the siege is likely to last. one need never be afraid of a long siege by men commanded by leaders having no authority over them. a powerful prince might send troops on a siege and order them to maintain it until they captured the place, even if it took them ten years to do so, but at present the punjaub is without a master, and the troops have only been induced to come here by the prospect of plunder. but as soon as they find that they make but little impression upon us, and that the siege, with its labours, and hardships, and dangers, may continue for many months, they will soon get tired of it, and in the absence of a controlling power will march away.
"they have a good many deserters from our service among them, and little as they love europeans they will utilize their services, and i anticipate that for a while at least it will be made very hot for us. there are a score of points on that hillside half a mile away where guns can be posted to play on us, while we could make but a feeble return, and there is nothing like a plunging fire kept up night and day to weaken the spirits and lower the confidence of a garrison. that will be the time when the traitors, if there are any, will be busy among the men, and it will need unceasing care and vigilance to prevent trouble."
in a short time the people seen in the valley below began to enter the fortress. they were, as the colonel had anticipated, merchants and other people having something to lose, from the various towns in the district. most of them brought with them carts laden with their choicest merchandise, and all had their portable valuables and money with them. they reported that news had come in the evening before, that a very large force had arrived at a point within fifteen miles of the frontier of the province, and that the soldiers had been promised the sack of all the towns and villages as an inducement for them to undertake the siege of the fortress.
"but how am i to feed so many mouths?" the colonel asked one of the leading merchants, with a smile.
"we know that our lord has great stores laid up in his magazines," the merchant answered, "and we are, of course, ready to pay for all that he will let us have."
"i have no doubt that the magazines will hold out as long as it is necessary," the colonel replied, "and as i regard all who enter here as my guests, each man, woman, and child shall draw rations of what food we have as long as it lasts. it has been bought out of the revenues of the province, and as each of you contributed, so shall you now share. but you know you will fare worse if the place is taken and you are found here than you would have done had you remained quietly at home."
the merchant shook his head. "there could be no worse, sahib. the soldiers plunder, kill, burn, and destroy as they did in cashmere; they can do no more if they find us here. but we are not afraid of their taking the fortress. it is strong, and everyone knows my lord's valour and experience. the army will never be able to win their way in here."
"i hope not, my friends; i will certainly do my best to prevent them from doing so. and now about yourselves. the stream of fugitives grows broader and thicker every hour, and if it goes on like this, by nightfall we shall have over five thousand persons here in addition to the strength of the garrison. against that i say nothing, a thousand at least will be able-bodied men capable of bearing arms, and i shall expect each to do his best; but where am i to stow so great a number? the barracks are already full, and but few indeed will be able to find lodging in the houses of the traders. i have tents and straw for two thousand people, but how can they be pitched? the ground is solid rock. there is no way of driving tent-pegs, and i see not how they can be erected."
"we might spread them over the carts, and so obtain a protection from the night air and a shelter for the women and children, and they might even erect poles in the carts themselves and stay them by ropes to the sides."
"that is a very good idea, and i will order the officer in charge of the stores to issue a tent to each owner of a cart, the others must manage as best they can. i daresay five hundred can be stowed away in the lofts of the stables and in other places not in use, while some with poles leaned against a wall and canvas spread over them can make shelters good enough on a pinch. the oxen must be given over to one of my officers, who will see that they are fed from the granaries and will kill them for food."
the colonel had not over-estimated the number of those likely to arrive, and before nightfall over five thousand had entered the fortress. stringent orders were laid down that none save the regular troops should be allowed to approach the walls, and each party as it arrived was conducted to the spot allotted to it. every open space was covered with shelters of one kind or another, the larger constructed of tents, the smaller of shawls and blankets. the principal street was left clear of such erections in order to admit of a free passage for the troops, but it was ordered that all cooking operations should be performed there, as fires would be dangerous in the extreme among the crowded tents. when night came, strong guards were placed on the walls, especially on that facing the shoulder of the hill, upon which any open attack must fall. percy's idea was carried out, and a body-guard composed of six men from each of the two infantry regiments, and an equal number from the cavalry, marched into the governor's house under the command of nand chund. their instructions were that no one was to be allowed to enter the house, whatever he might allege to be the nature of his business, unless furnished with a written order to do so from the governor.
percy had been busy all day seeing that the new-comers fell into their places, and in aiding them to shake down in some sort of comfort, and he was thoroughly tired out when he joined the colonel and his wife in their room that evening.
"well, uncle, i am glad it is coming at last. it is much better to know the worst than to go on wondering when it was going to begin."
"i don't know, percy. i have been in so many troubles and frays and battles since i came out here, that the thought that we might have to stand a siege was no very great trouble to me; besides, there was always the possibility that something might occur to postpone it altogether. the soldiers and most of the sirdars seem bent upon having a fight with the english, and i greatly hoped that it would begin before ghoolab's intrigues against me had come to a head. however, now it has come we must make the best of it, and i have no great fear of the result. while you have been busy with these people this afternoon i have been superintending the mounting of two heavy howitzers as mortars, and if they erect batteries on the hill, as i expect they will, we will see if we cannot drop a few shell among them. nothing unsteadies artillery-men more than finding that the earthworks in front of them do not as they expect protect them, and that by no ingenuity can they defend themselves from missiles that seem to drop down from the sky upon them."
"but how do you do that, uncle?"
"simply by the amount of powder you put in. a mortar is always fixed at a certain angle, and of course you fix a howitzer the same way when you use it for that purpose. with a mortar the amount of powder of a given strength required to send a shell to a given distance is known to every artillery-man, but with a howitzer one must get it by experiment. you first put in the amount of powder you think sufficient. the ball is fired up into the air, and you watch where it drops. if it is short you add an ounce or two of powder, as the case may be. if it is too far you decrease the charge until you find that the shell drops just behind the enemy's earthworks among the artillerymen serving a gun. having once got the exact charge of course you stick to it. this sort of thing annoys the sikhs, who are not much accustomed to shell. a few of them were sent up to lahore, and i managed to get hold of one and had several hundred cast here to fit those two howitzers, and had a large number of fuses made and stored away for future use. if they try to climb the rocks, a few shells rolled down from the walls are likely to be very effective."
"what are to be my duties principally, uncle?"
"your chief duty will be to watch, percy, especially at night. the officers will, of course, go their rounds frequently, but as there may be a traitor among them, i can place no absolute reliance on their vigilance. i shall myself be about as much as possible, but as i shall have to look after everything in the daytime i must take some rest at night; one cannot do two or three months without sleep. i shall release you from all duty during the day, although in case of a serious attack you will take your place on the wall; otherwise i wish you to sleep in the day and to keep a sharp look-out on everything at night, being constantly upon the walls seeing that the sentries are vigilant, and listening intently for anything that might indicate a movement from below. i shall tell off four of nand chund's party to accompany you, for if treachery is intended there would be no hesitation in planting a dagger in your heart and then getting rid of your body over the wall. you are nearly sixteen now, and strong and active, but on a dark night that would avail nothing against a lurking assassin."
"shall i begin to-night, uncle?"
"there is no occasion for that. the enemy have not arrived yet, and indeed no one would dream of attempting to ascend the craig unaided. i fancy they will try an open assault to begin with. when they find that fails they may try surprise."
about midnight an officer reported that a dull confused sound could be heard down the valley. the colonel took a couple of signal rockets, with which one of the boxes brought by percy from england was filled, and proceeded, accompanied by his nephew, nand chund, and four of his guard, to the wall at the lower end of the rock. lanterns placed on the ground were burning here, and a party of artillery-men were standing by the four guns looking down the valley.
"how far do you think they are away?" the colonel asked the officer in command there.
"a party of them have just crossed the wooden bridge over the stream, sahib. i heard the trampling of their horses upon it distinctly."
"that is fourteen hundred and thirteen yards from the foot of the rock. drive those wedges a little farther. that is right. i cut those nicks upon them the other day when we had got the exact depression required to lay the guns on the bridge. now let us wait until another body of them are crossing."
three or four minutes later the sound in the distance became suddenly louder.
"now, nand chund, fire that rocket. i think you have got it about the right angle."
the rocket flew up in the air, and burst some distance away throwing out a dozen fire-balls. their light enabled the governor to see right down the valley. some slight alteration in the direction of the guns was made, and then one after another they were fired. another rocket was now thrown up, and by its light the dark mass of men on or behind the bridge could be seen to be broken up and retreating. almost at the same moment four guns were fired from an upper bastion.
"that is grape, percy," the colonel said. the officer there was told to wait till the men could see a body of troops advancing up the valley. "listen, there go the cavalry scampering back as hard as the horses can lay their feet to the ground. i doubt whether we shall hear anything more of them to-night."
"they could hardly hope to have passed without our noticing them. they must have been sure that we should have warning of their coming."
"no doubt, lad, but they may not have calculated on our opening fire upon them in the dark. they will not have reckoned upon the rockets, and hoped, i have no doubt, to push a part of their force past the place and up on to the brow before morning, for they would know well enough that they could not pass under the fire of our guns when the sun was once up."
"but how will they get there, uncle? now we have shown them that it is almost as dangerous by night as by day."
"probably they will march round among the hills, and come down upon us. there will be no difficulty in infantry doing it, and they may manage to drag a few light guns with them, but they can't get anything like heavy artillery up there except by bringing them along below, and taking them up the regular road. that is the first of the difficulties they have to encounter, and as i have a large stock of blue lights i don't see how they are going to get up the hill, which is commanded by a dozen of our guns. they will be safe enough from our fire as they pass along under the craig, for there is not a gun that can be depressed sufficiently to bear upon them there, though we can annoy them by pitching shell and hand-grenades down upon them. still, determined men might manage that, and might even make their way up the hill in face of our fire, but they could never drag heavy guns up a road which we can sweep with grape. so you see they have got a stiff problem to solve before they can get a battering-gun to play on our northern wall."
for another hour they kept watch. there was still a confused sound from the lower end of the valley, but nothing to indicate any renewed advance. they therefore returned to the house.
percy was aroused at daybreak, and at once made his way to the battery, where they had been the night before. the colonel and several of his officers were already there. the lower end of the valley was occupied by a great mass of men, horses, and waggons. tents had been erected here and there, and the banners of their occupants were flying before them.
"how strong do you think they are, uncle?" percy asked.
"it is difficult to say, mixed up as all arms are in such confusion just as they reached the ground last night, but we guess them at about fifteen thousand. they have four batteries of field guns. there they are away to the right. they evidently came up together, and have kept something like order. we can make out several heavy guns mixed up with the waggons, but whether there are ten or twenty of them i could give no opinion. do you see that large tent with the red and white flag? those are the colours of ghoolab singh, and the tent no doubt is occupied by his son, the gentleman who was named my successor a week after the death of the old lion. he has been waiting some time, and is likely to wait longer. he is no doubt the nominal leader of the expedition; but i believe that he has none of the talent of his father or uncles, and matters will be directed really by the chiefs of the army. i have no doubt a council has been going on all night as to what the next move shall be, and the decision they have probably arrived at is to wait until they can get a better idea of the fortress and its surroundings."
a considerable movement was now going on in the enemy's camp, and the wind bore the sound of trumpets to the fortress.
"they are trying to get into something like order," nand chund remarked. "the waggons are drawing out of the mass to take up their positions in the rear, and the assembly calls of the different regiments are sounding. ah! there is a party going out to reconnoitre."
as he spoke a party of horsemen rode out to the left of the camp. several bright banners streamed in the air, and an escort of some fifty cavalry followed them. they mounted the hill on the opposite side of the valley until they reached a spot two or three hundred feet higher than the summit of the fortress, and just opposite to it. as soon as their object had been made out the colonel had sent word to the gunners at the batteries along that face ordering them not to fire.
"i do not wish to make any more bitter enemies," he said to his officers in reply to their look of surprise when he issued the order. "at present they are only fighting against me as instruments of ghoolab singh, and except on the ground that i am a foreigner, the soldiers have no animosity against me. if we were now to kill two or three of their favourite leaders, and perhaps some of the sirdars who have been bribed into entering upon this business, it would create an active animosity against me. of course, when fighting begins they must all take their chance, but i don't wish to slay anyone before a single shot has been fired on their side."
the group of officers, who were but half a mile away, remained for ten minutes closely examining the fortress. they then slowly returned to camp.
"our guns would carry easily enough into the midst of the camp, sahib," one of the officers remarked.
"i know they would, but i won't begin, for the same reason that i would not fire at the group of officers. we will let them open the ball."
an hour later a body of men which they estimated at five thousand marched away with two of the batteries of field guns, and soon were lost to sight as they wound round the hills skirting the valley.
"we shall see them at daylight to-morrow established on the hillside above us," the colonel said. "i have thought several times of establishing a fort near the crest there; but i should not be able to give it much support by my guns, and its garrison would not make any prolonged resistance when they once found themselves cut off altogether from us. with troops one could rely upon thoroughly, such a fort would immensely hinder the operations, and indeed they could do nothing until it was captured.
"it is a standard rule with us out here, percy," he said afterwards, "never to count upon the natives unless you are with them yourself. the sikhs are brave, but they want good leaders, and are not to be relied upon unless under the eye of an officer they respect. they may hate us as europeans, but in the wars of runjeet singh they fought like lions under our command. you will see that that will be their weak point if they come to blows with the british. they will fight, and fight pluckily, but without europeans to lead them they will fall into disorder, and there will be no one to rally and control them, to take advantage of any temporary success, or to retrieve a temporary failure. they don't know it themselves, but they will speedily learn it. given english officers, the natives of india fight as well as our own men. the sepoy regiments in clive's days, and ever since, have shown themselves worthy of fighting by the side of their white comrades; but they would be worth very little if deprived of their european officers. another thing against them is the slowness with which they work their guns. a battery of british artillery would fire five shots while they fire one, and their infantry are proportionately slow in their movements. we have all tried, but tried in vain, to get them to work with smartness. it does not seem, however, to be in them."
that night a vigilant watch was kept along the northern wall, but nothing was heard; and it was not till an hour after sunrise that a column was seen coming along the side of the hill above them. the guns were all manned and ready for action, but the colonel delayed giving the order until the enemy reached a sort of terrace on the face of the hill half a mile away, and three hundred feet higher than the level of the fortress. "now," he said, "we will give them a hint to come no further. we could not prevent their establishing themselves on that terrace, but they must learn that they can come no nearer. two or three shots will be a sufficient hint."
the guns opened fire, and the enemy, who were just commencing a further descent, retired hastily, and a few minutes later their field guns opened fire. they were no match, however, for the much heavier pieces on the walls; and after half an hour's exchange of shots they drew back their guns, two of which had been dismounted by well-aimed shots from the wall. some of the party established themselves well back on the terrace, where they were out of sight of the fortress, but the main body ascended the hill again and encamped on the crest. occasionally a gun was run forward, discharged, and withdrawn; and to this fire the garrison made no reply, the guns being very badly aimed, some of the shot flying right over the fortress, while others struck the ground outside the wall.
"now we shall have quiet for a time, sahib," nand chund said to percy, who was standing next to him. "they have done so much, and will want to settle what the next movement is to be."
"i think it will be our turn to move next, nand chund," the colonel, who had overheard his remark, observed. "to-night when it gets dark we will sally out, and see if we cannot take those gentlemen with the guns by surprise."
"it may be, colonel, that they will expect a sally, and will move their whole force down again on to the terrace after nightfall."
"it all depends who their leader is. if he is an enterprising fellow, that is what he would do."
"do you know, uncle, i have been thinking that their camp down in the valley is smaller to-day than it was yesterday."
"do you think so, percy? i will go to the battery at the other end and have a look at it. it is possible that they may have sent off another party to join those fellows up there. if they have done that, they intend to try the effect of a coup de main, and to attack us in earnest some time before morning."
after a close examination of the enemy's camp, the colonel and his officers were all of opinion that although it occupied as much space as before, there were fewer men moving about than upon the preceding day.
"you have sharp eyes, percy, and it is well that you noticed it. had you not done so we might have run our heads into a trap, and instead of surprising them been surprised ourselves, and that by greatly superior numbers. i shall abandon the idea now and prepare to resist a serious assault to-night, and we will have every man capable of bearing arms in readiness. we will keep only a few men on the walls, and let the rest lie down at once with orders that they are to sleep if they can, as there will be no sleep for them to-night. nand chund, do you post half a dozen of your men at different points on the walls; let them keep a vigilant watch down upon the town itself, and see that no flag or other signal is waved from a roof or window. it may well be that there has been some arrangement made with a traitor here to give notice by signal of any intended sortie on our part."
following his uncle's advice, percy lay down for some hours; but he could not sleep, being too excited at the thought of the conflict that would probably take place during the night. when he went in to dinner the colonel was absent, being engaged in mustering and assigning to their various posts the able-bodied men among the fugitives. these were posted round the circuit of the walls, which were all, with the exception of the northern face, entrusted to their charge.
"it is probable," he told them, "that the enemy will make a diversion on this side when they attack on the other. it will not, however, be serious, for they can do nothing unless with the assistance of friends on the wall."
among the servants of the traders were a good many who had served in the army. these were stationed at the guns, and enjoined to open fire upon the enemy's camp if they brought the heavy artillery they had there into play. to each battery and section of the wall a number of blue lights and fire-balls were served out—one or more of the former was to be lighted every few minutes, and the fire-balls occasionally thrown into the valley, so that no considerable body of the enemy could escape observation. the traders were appointed as commanders at the various points. of the garrison a thousand men were placed on the north wall; the rest were stationed close at hand in readiness to support them, or to move to any point threatened.
"percy," the ranee—as she was usually called in the fortress—said, as they sat waiting the colonel's return, "i want you to devote yourself to the protection of my husband to-night. i have no fear of the wall being carried by assault, it is too strong and will be too well defended for that, but i do fear for his life. that we have one or more traitors here we are sure, and an occasion like this with its confusion and excitement will afford them just the opportunity they desire. when all are engaged in repulsing the attack of an enemy it would be easy for an assassin to use knife or pistol without fear of the action being noticed, and the colonel will be thinking of nothing but directing his men and repulsing the attack. therefore, i pray you station yourself near him. leave the fighting to others, and keep your eye closely upon those about him, and your pistol in your hand in readiness for action."
"i will do so, aunt. if there is anyone here who wants to assassinate him, it is just the time he would choose for the attempt. i think it would be as well to ask nand chund to pick me out four of his best men, and to hand them over to my orders. however sharply i might look out in the darkness and confusion, someone might spring suddenly forward upon uncle from the side opposite that on which i was standing; but with five of us on the watch, we ought to be able to prevent anyone getting near him. i will tell no one the purpose for which i require the men, and will bid nand chund be equally silent. there is no saying who the traitor may be, perhaps someone we have never thought of suspecting; and if he knew we were on the watch he might drop it altogether. i only hope he will try it, it would be the best thing that could happen, as it would relieve us from the uncertainty we have been feeling. nand chund himself with the rest of his men will, i know, be on duty here; for i heard uncle give him his orders, which were that he was to suffer nothing, not even the entry of the enemy into the town, to induce him to leave the house, as traitors would be very likely to take advantage of the confusion to rush in and perhaps to kill you, and plunder and fire the place. there will be one advantage of my having these men with me. uncle might send me round with a message to some other part of the wall, and i should be obliged for a time to be absent; but with them round him, i could leave him for a few minutes without fear."
"do not do it if you can help it, percy; the night will be dark, and if you keep well behind him he may not notice you, for he will have other things to think about. should he send you on a message, take it yourself if it is of great importance; if not, send one of the men in your place. i rely upon you more than on anyone else. ah, here is roland at last."
by ten o'clock everyone was at his appointed post. the colonel took percy with him on a circuit round the walls, where he exhorted everyone to be watchful and vigilant and to preserve absolute silence until they could hear the enemy in motion down the valley.
"i have no fear there whatever," he said, as he returned to the northern wall. "even were there a score of men among our troops who have been bought over to play a treacherous part, they could do nothing where there are so many around them on the watch. treachery strikes when least expected. it is powerless among a multitude, and all the traders and others from the towns know that their lives are at stake, and are just as well aware as i am that the place on that side is all but impregnable unless the assailants were aided from within. they can be trusted, therefore, to keep their eyes well open. i shall not assign you any special duty, percy. i have told ram bund, your commander, that i shall keep you near myself, but there is no occasion for you to stay close to me. if you see any point specially threatened you can go there and encourage the men by your voice and presence, but i have no fear whatever that they will gain a footing on the wall.
"i shall take my post over the gateway, that is where i fancy the brunt of the attack will fall. they will either try to fill up the cut there with faggots or bundles of grass, or throw planks over and then blow in the gate. at least that is how we should act under the same circumstances, and as, if they make the attack, they must have some fellow of uncommon enterprise in command, it is likely he will proceed in the same course. as for the wall, it is fifty feet from the parapet to the bottom of the cut, and there are no native indian troops who would try to scale such a wall on ladders in the face of a strong and determined garrison. of course, if they could have brought their heavy guns up here, made a breach in the wall, and half filled up the cut with its ruins, it would have been a different affair altogether, though even then i feel sure that we could beat them off. as it is they can only reckon on finding us quite unprepared for an attack, and on carrying the place by a sudden rush. i believe myself that a quarter of an hour will see the end of it, and that as soon as they understand we are fully prepared they will give up the idea as hopeless. now we have nothing to do but to wait. i expect the attack about an hour before daybreak, which is the hour at which they will think they are most likely to find the sentinels drowsy."
