Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 January 1881 — jUST IN TIME. [ARTICLE]

jUST IN TIME.

Dinner was over at last, and Mr. Walter Currie, English Commissioner at the np-country station, at Huttee-Bagli,-in Northern India, had gone, upon the verand i with his wife and his two guests, tlie Colonel and Major of the -th light infantry, to enjoy the cool of the evening. On three sides the house was surrounded by its compound, a large inclosed space serving the purpose of a courtyard, but the fourth was only separated by a small patch of garden from the road, along which a number of native women were passing with their little pitchers on their heads. The sight of them naturally turned the conversation upon a favorite subject with all Anglo-Indians, viz., the character of the natives and the best mode of dealing with them. "There s only one way,” said the Colonel, emphatically. "Tell ’em what they are to do, make ’em do it, and thrash ’em well if they don’t. That’s my way.” " Well, I venture to differ from you there, Colonel,” said Mr. Currie, quietly. " I had to do some thrashing once or twice, I own, but most of my native servants get along very well without it, a:id they seem to serve me excellently, I assure you.” “I wish you had been in my place, then,” retorted the Colonel; “you’d have changed your opinion,’ I warrant. Why, the year before last, when I had chirge.of two battalions of the rascals down at Suttepoor, because there wasn’t another Queen’s offic r within reach—just like my confounded luck !—there was no getting anything done unless I did P myself. By Jove, sir ! I had to bo t v rything at once—my own Quartermaster, my owh Sergeant Major, my own caterer, ami—” "Amt your own trumpeter, C >l. Annesley ? ” allied Mrs. Currie, with an arch smile. The Colon J’s broad face reddened ominously, and an ex, loaion seemed imminent, when a sud 1 n clamor ol angry voices from the road below drew th m all to the front veranda. The cause of the disturbance was visible at a glance. Two half-drunken English soldiers, swaggering along the ro: d, bad come into violent contact with a native who was ruunuig past; and one of them, enraged at the collision, had felled the poor lad to the ground, and was unclasping his own belt with the evident intention of beating him unmercifully. "Served the young whelp right,” shouted the Colonel, rubbing hishands ; "that’s just what thev a’l want.” The other officer, Maj. Armstrong—popularly called Maj. Strongarm—was a huge, brawny, silent man, whose forte lay in acting rather than talking. During the wh< le discussion he had sat like a great bronze statue, never uttering a word ; but, at sight of this man ill-using this child, he woke up rather startlingly. To leap to the ground twelve feet below, to dart across the garden, to vault over the high stockade beyond, was the work of a moment for the athletic Major, and in another instant he had raised the boy tenderly from the ground, while saying to the foremost soldier, in the low, compressed tone of a man who means what he says I "Be off with you." " And who the deuce are you, shovin’ yer nose in where you ain’t wanted?” roared the infuriated ruffian, to whose eyes the Major’s plain evening dress bore no token of his being an officer. " Jist you—” The sentence was never finished. At the sound of that insolent defiance Armstrong’s sorely-tried patience gave way altogether, and the powerful right hand which had hewed its way through a whole squadron of Shiv cavalry fell like a sledge-hammer upon his 'opponent’s face, dashing him to the ground as if he had been blown from the mouth of a gun. " Weil done, Maj. Armstrong,” shouted Mr. Currie from above. " You deserve your name, and no mistake.” At that formidable name the soldier took to his heels at once, and Armstrong, without even looking at his prostrate antagonist, proceeded to look at the hurts of the boy.” The latter was sorely bruised in many J daces, and the blood was trickling freey over his swarthy face ; but the little hero still did his best to stand erect, and to keep down every sign of the pain which he was endur ng. " You’re a brave lad, and you'll make a soldier some day,” said the Major to him in Hindoostanee. " Come with me, and I’ll see that no one molests you again.” The lad seized the huge brown hand which had defended him so bravely, and kissed it with the deepest reverence; and the two walked away together. Six months have coma and gone, and Mr. Currie’s hospitable home presents a very different sp ctacle. The pretty garden is tram ph d into dust and mire, and the laxlies of men and horses are lying thick among the fragments of tho» half-destroyed stockade. All the windows of the house are blocked up, and through the loop-holed walls peer the muzzles of ready rifles, showing how steadily the Iresieged garrison stands at bay against the countless enemies, whose dark, fierce faces and glittering weapons are visible amid the half-ruined building and matted thickets all around. The Sepoy mutiny of 1857 is blazing sky-high over Northern India, and Col. Annes’ey is blockaded in HutteeBagh, with a certainty of a hideous death for himself and every man of the few who are still true to him, unless help comes speedily. Day was just breaking when two men held a whispered council in one of the upper rooms. "No fi ar of the water running short,” said Maj. Armstrong, "but, even upon half rations, the food will be out in four days m -re. ” "And then well just go right at them, and cut our way through or die for it 1” growled the old Colonel, with a grim smile on his iron face, for, with all hi* harshness and injustice, Col. Annesley was "grit” to the backbone. "We mustn’t sav anything to them about it, though,” added he, with a side glance at Mr. Currie, who, standing in the further corner, was anxiously watcliing the thin worn face of Ids sleeping wife.

At that moment a loud cheer from below startled them both, and the next moment Ismail (the “Major’s boy,” ae every one now called him) burst into the room with a glow of unwonted excitement on his dark face. "Sahib,” cried he, “there is hope for us yet! A detachment of Ingleez (English) are coming up the other bank of the river; if we can send word to them as they pass we are saved. ” “How do you know?" asked the Major eagerly. "I heard the Sepoys say so, while I was lying hid among the bushes yonder,” answered the lad. “Among the bushes yonder?” roared the Colonel, facing around. "Have you really been in- the midst of those cutthroat villains listening to what they said. Whatever did you do that for?” "I did it for Sahib Armstrong’s sake,” replied the boy, proudly; "because he was good to me.” The Colonel turned hastily away to hide the flush of not unmanly shame that overspread his hard face; and Armstrong smiled slightly as he heard him mutter: / "By Jove! these chaps aren’t so black ns they’re painted, after all.” "But if the troops are beyond the river how can we communicate with them?" asked Mrs. Currie, who, awakened by the shouting, had arisen the group. "They may not pass neai, enough to hear the firing, and we hawno means of sending them word.” "Fear nothing for that, mem-sahib” (madam), answered the Hindoo boy, quietly. "I will carry them word myself.” - ’ "But how can you possibly do it?” cried Mrs. Currie, thunderstruck by the confident tone in which this mere child tqxike of a task from which the hardiest veteran might well have shrunk. "Listen, Sahib,.” answerer! Ismail. " I will slip out of the house and make a dash into the enemy’s lines, as if J were deserting from you to them, and you can tell your people to fire a shot 01 two after me with blank cartridge as 1 go. Then the Sepoys will receive me kindly, and I’ll tell them that you’re all dying of thirst, and that they must only wait one day more to make sure of you, so that they won’t care to mike another attack. Then, when they have no suspicion, and think I'm quite one of themselves, I’ll steal away and slip across the river.”

" But are you quite sure the Sepoys will believe you?” asked Maj. Armstrong, doubtfully. "They’ll believe this, anyhow,” replied the boy, deliberately making a deep gash in his bare shoulder and staining his white frock with the blood ns he glided from the room, followed by Armstrong. The plan was soon explained to the men below, and a moment later Ismail’s dark figure was seen darting like an arrow' across the open space in front of the building, followed by a quick discharge of blank cartridges from marksmen al the loopholes. The sound of the firing drew the attention of the Sepoys, several of whom ran forward to meet him. In another instant he was in the midst of them. " I can scarcely see for those bushes,” said Col. Annesley, “but he seems to be showing them the wound on his shoulder, and telling them it was our doing.” At that moment an exulting yell from the enemy came pealing through the air. ‘ ‘ That’s the story of our being short of water, for a guinea !” said the Major; “it was a very good thought of his. If it only delays their attack two days longer, there may be time for help to arrive yet” Slowly and wearily the long hours of that fearful day wore on. The heat was so terrible that even the native soldiers of the garrison could barely hold their >wn against it, and the handful of Englishmen were also helpless. Had the Sepoys attacked them, all would have been over at one blow ; But hour passed hour, and there was no sign of an assault. At length, as afternoon gave place to evening, a movement began to show itself in the enemy’s lines. Thpn curls of smoke rising above the trees showed that the evening’s meal was in preparation ; then several figures with pitchers in their hands were seen going toward the river, among whom the Colonel’s keen eyes detected Ismail. " By George 1” cried the old soldier, slapping his knee exultingly, "that lad's worth his weight in gold ! There’s his way down to the river right open to him without the least chance of suspicion. Whv, he’s a born gentleman—nothing less!” Every eye within the walls was now turned anxiously upon the distant group, fearing to see at any moment some movement which would show that the trick was detected. How did Ismail mean to accomplish his purpose? Would he plunge boldly into the river, without any disguise, or had he some further stratagem in preparation? No one could say.’ Suddenly, as Ismail stooped to plunge his light wooden dipper into the water, it slipped from his hands and went floating away down the stn am. A cry oi dismay, a loud laugh from the Sepoys, and then the boy was seen running frantically along the bank and trying in vain to catch the vessel as it floated past. • ‘ What on earth’s he up to ? ” grunted the Colonel, completely mystified. " I see ! ” cried Maj. Armstrong, triumphantly; "there’s a boat yonder among the reeds, and he’s making for it. Well done, my brave boy ! ”

But at that moment a yell of rage from the Sepoys told that the trick was discovered. Luckily those on the bank had left their pieces behind, or poor Ismail would soon have been disposed of; but the alarm instantly brought up a crowd of their armed comrades, whose bullets fell like hail around the boat and its gallant little pilot. “Let us fire a volley and make a show of sal yin g out,” said the Colonel; “ it’ll take their attention from him.” But in this he was mistaken. The first rattle of musketry from behind the house did indeed recall most of Ismail’s assailants, but at least a dozen were left, who kept up an incessant firing, striking the boat again and again. All at once the Colonel dashed his glass to the floor with a frightful oath. Between the two gusts of smoke he had seen the l>oat turn suddenly over, and go whirling down the river, keel upward. “ There’s an end of the poor lad,” muttered the veteran brokenly.- “ God bless him for a brave little fellow. And now, old friend, we must just die hard, for there’s no hope left.” The first few hours of the night passed quietly, and the exhausted defenders, utterly worn out, slept as if drugged with opium. But a little after midnight the quick ears of the two veteran officers —the only watchers in the whole garrison except the sentries themselves—caught a faint stirring in the surrounding thickets, which seemed to argue some movement on the part of the enemy. Listening intently for a few moments, they felt certain that they were right, and lost no time in arousing their men. The scanty stores of food were opened once more, and, crouched together in the darkness, the doomed men took what they fully believed to be their last meal on earth. “ They’re coming 1” said Maj. Armstrong, straining his eyes into the gloom through a loop-hole. “ I hear them creeping forward, though I can’t see them.” “What the deuce was that?” exclaimed the Colonel, suddenly. “It looked like a fiery arrow flying past. ” “ It’s than that,” said the Jla-

jor, in a low voice. “ The rascals are shooting lighted chips of bamboo out on to the roof to set it on fire. Send the women up with buckets to the thatch; there’s not a moment to lose. ” “ I’ll go and see to it myself I” cried Mrs. Currie, hastening out of the room. But the power of this new weapon had already become fatally manifest. The house” was an old one, and dry as tinder from the prolonged heat, and as fast as the flames were quenched in one place they broke out in another. When the day dawned the fire had already got a firm hold of one corner of the building, and a crushing discharge was poured upon all who attempted to extinguish it, while the triumphant yell of the human tigers below told them that they felt sure of their prey. " It’s all over with us, old fellow,’’said the Colonel, grasping the old comrade’s hand ; “ but, at least, we shall have done our duty.” " Give me one of your pistols,” whispcred Mrs. Currie to her husband, in a voice that was not her own. “ I must not fall into their hands alive.” At this moment Maj. Armstrong was seen to start and bend forward, as if listening intently; for he thought—al‘.hough he could scarcely believe his ears—that he had suddenly caught a faint sound of distant firing. In another instant he heard it again, and this time there could be no doubt, for several of the othe~s had caught it likewise, and a gleam of hope once more lighted up their haggard faces and bloodshot eyes.. Louder and nearer came the w’elcome sound, while the sudden terror and confusion visible among the enemy showed that they, too, were at no loss to guess the meaning. Then high above the din arose the well-known “ hurrah ! ” and through the sm< ik-e-clouds broke a charging line of glittering bayonets and ruddy English faces, sweeping away the cowardly murderers as the sun chases the morning mist, " That boy’s worth his weight in gold,” said Col. Annesley, as, a few hours later, he listened to Ismail’s account of how he had dived under the boat and kept it between him and the Sepoys, that they might think him drowned. "He’s the pluckiest little fellow I’ve seen, and, although he belongs to the Major, I’m going to take my share of helping him on, by Jove ! ”