"mr. fullarton had accompanied the army to lahore, his knowledge of the country and people being so valuable that the governor-general sent over on the evening after the sikh intrenchments at sobraon had been stormed, to request him to join the army at once, as loodiana had for the present ceased to be a station of importance. he had, as soon as he joined the camp, claimed percy groves' services, and in the negotiations that followed, and as interpreter between the british and sikh authorities, he was found of great use, especially after they reached lahore, where many of the sikh sirdars, especially those whose possessions lay in the jalindar doab, considered it prudent to come in and to assume an appearance of friendship with the british.

"now, groves, what are your wishes as to entering the service?" mr. fullarton said to him one day, when the various court ceremonials were over, and preparations were beginning for the withdrawal of the main body of the army. "the governor-general mentioned your name to me to-day, and said that you had rendered very valuable services during the campaign. mr. broadfoot had reported most favourably of you; you had acted as aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief at ferozeshah and to sir harry smith at sobraon; the latter had mentioned you in his report, as sir hugh gough and himself had both observed your coolness and readiness to carry messages under the heaviest fire at ferozeshah; and that since then your services as interpreter had been very valuable.

"he said that you had earned an appointment, and that he should be glad to write to the board of directors to request one for you, but that he feared the board would consider you too young. he said, however, if you strongly desired to enter the service at once, he would put the matter in such a light that they could hardly refuse; for as you had been doing man's work throughout this campaign, you could do it during peace time. i think his own opinion was that it would be better for you to wait for another two or three years, for that, if you received an appointment now, you might be sent down to an office in calcutta. you see that at your age you could hardly occupy a post that would not only place you in communication with native chiefs, as the british representative, but might place you in a position where, as political officer, you might have to requisition the assistance of troops and of officers old enough to be your father."

"i quite think so," percy said, "and would much rather not enter the service for another three years, sir; even then i shall only be nineteen."

"that is about the right age to enter," mr. fullarton said, "and you will have great advantages over other young fellows just out. there would be your record in your favour, and your knowledge of the language and people, and you would be certain to obtain an appointment in this province such as a man direct from england could hardly hope for until after at least ten years' service. i think if i were you, i should turn my attention for the next two years to acquiring as thorough a knowledge of the pathan language as you now have of punjaubi. when we have annexed the punjaub, which is a question of a few years, we shall be in direct contact with the hill tribes, who are nominally subject to afghanistan, but are practically independent, and if you happened to be stationed in any of the northern districts you would find the knowledge of that language invaluable. you have evidently a knack of picking up languages, and your knowledge of punjaubi will, of course, help you considerably in learning pathan."

as percy was anxious, now that everything was settled, to return as speedily as possible to his uncle's, he at once wrote a formal request that his services as a volunteer might be dispensed with.

the next day mr. fullarton said to him: "i informed sir henry hardinge yesterday evening that you had sent in your resignation, and he requests me to bring you to him this morning that he might say good-bye to you, and thank you for your services."

the commander-in-chief was with the governor-general when mr. fullarton called at the palace, where he had taken up his quarters, but on his name being taken in he was requested to enter at once, which he did with percy.

"i should have been sorry had you gone without saying good-bye to me, mr. groves," sir henry said. "both the commander-in-chief and myself have noted your conduct very favourably, and reports to the same effect have been made by mr. broadfoot and sir harry smith. i think you are wise to decide to wait another three years before entering the service. i shall write to the board of directors requesting them to appoint you to their civil service at once. but i shall ask them to date the appointment three years on, and at the same time to send instructions to the officer who will remain as resident here to the effect that should there be any signs of fresh trouble before that time, he can at once ante-date the appointment and employ you in any way in which your knowledge of the country and language, and your zeal and activity, can be utilized. should i still be in india, i shall make it a point to see that you have an appointment in this province; and should i return to england before that time, your name will be placed in the list i leave behind for my successor of promising and intelligent officers. sir hugh gough will also, he tells me, keep an eye on your interests, and doubtless you will receive a notification from the court in due time as to your appointment. you will do well, after you receive it, to write to the resident here, telling him that although you do not wish for employment until the date of your appointment, your services are at his disposal should they be required. i have no doubt mr. fullarton will, before leaving, speak to him personally on the matter."

the commander-in-chief added a few words, and percy on returning to the house began preparations for his departure.

"we shall have to be careful as we ride back, sahib," bhop lal said. "things are quiet enough about here, but from what i learn the country is overrun with disbanded soldiers. they have gone back for the most part to their own villages; but what will they do there? they have lived an idle life for years, and quite considered themselves masters of the country. they will never set to at steady work to plough the fields, they will soon tire out their friends, and then they will wander away and gather in bands, and become dacoits. i hear in the bazaar that the country is everywhere unsafe for travel; that merchants dare not send their goods except in strong parties guarded by a force of disbanded soldiers they pay to act as guards. the peasants are robbed and plundered, and things are even worse than they were before the war began. after getting through the battles without so much as a scratch, it would be unfortunate, indeed, should ill befall us now that the war is all over."

"there is one thing, bhop lal. we shall have no dangers except from an accidental encounter with robbers. now that ghoolab singh is ruler of cashmere, he will have too many other matters to think of to trouble further about my uncle and his little district."

"nothing is too small, as nothing is too large, sahib," akram chunder said, "for the greed of ghoolab singh. he may now have a kingdom, but that will not prevent him from fleecing a trader if he has an opportunity. see how he has filled his coffers at the expense of the people. has he not paid half a crore of rupees to your people for cashmere, and i doubt not he would have paid three times as much if it had been needed. there are many other sirdars could have paid the half crore, but they say that ghoolab could buy up any four of them. it is true there is no fear that he will now try to seize the colonel sahib's government by force, at least until fresh troubles begin; but if he can have him quietly removed you may be sure he will do so, as he could then easily enough get the maharanee and the lahore durbar to confirm the former appointment of his son as governor.

"the colonel need no longer fear force, but he must be more than ever on his guard against treachery. still, sahib, i agree with you that just at present ghoolab must have too many things to think of to be giving attention to your matter, and that we can travel without fear of him. as for the budmashes, we shall have to be careful of them, as my comrade says; and we must mind that no one suspects for a moment that you are english; for although the people here are respectful enough, you may be sure that outside the range of your guns there is not a sikh, save perhaps the humblest cultivators, who is not full of rage and hatred against the english. have you not defeated them in four battles, humbled their national pride, and taken their richest province? to be suspected of being an englishman would be your death-warrant in the smallest village of the punjaub. the sahib would do well to-morrow not to wear his dress of a sirdar, but to dress as he did when we visited the camp of tej singh. then, if we are questioned, it is we who will do the talking; while, if you are dressed as a chief, it is to you the questions will be put. besides, most of the sirdars are known by name, at least to the bulk of the people, and it would be difficult for you to reply to close questioning; whereas, passing as disbanded soldiers, who are tired of doing nothing in our native village, and are going north to take service with ghoolab singh, our story is simple and natural enough."

"but ghoolab himself cannot be popular in the country at present," percy said; "they must all see now that he has been playing a double part; and that he has, moreover, wrenched from the punjaub a territory as valuable as that which we took after such hard fighting."

"that is so, but ghoolab is everywhere feared; no man offends him or his without paying for it; and besides, they may hope that if there is again trouble, ghoolab may join them against the british. they may not like him, but there must be many disbanded soldiers who have been going to take service under him, and the people will bear us no ill-will for that: it is the most likely story for us to tell, and the one that will be least questioned."

"i think you are right, akram chunder; at any rate i will ride to-morrow dressed as you are."

the next morning they started from lahore at daybreak, and rode north. they had agreed to travel by the main road, as they would there attract no attention; whereas passing through villages on unfrequented roads, their passage would excite comment. after riding for fifteen miles they came upon a party of ten men, evidently disbanded soldiers, seated in the shade of a clump of trees by the roadside, cooking their breakfast.

"better stop and talk with them," bhop lal said; "it will look strange if we ride on."

they reined in their horses, and bhop lal gave the usual salutation. after the customary return of greetings, one of the men said, "will you not dismount and share our breakfast?"

"we took food before we started from lahore," bhop lal replied.

"ah, you came from lahore: what is the last news there?"

"there is nothing new, everything is quiet, and they say that most of the english will soon march away."

"we will make short work of the maharanee and her son as soon as they go," the man said savagely. "they are but puppets now in the hands of the english, and have signed away the best doab in the punjaub so as to buy protection for dhuleep singh. he is no longer a sikh prince, and we will speedily place one of our own sirdars on the throne."

"that is what we all mean to do," bhop lal agreed; "we want no boy as our ruler now, but a sirdar who can lead us to battle. it will be different next time; last time we despised the english, and so they beat us; next time it will be they who will make too sure, and we shall beat them."

"where are you going?"

"we are thinking of taking service under ghoolab singh."

"the old fox is a traitor," the man said angrily, while a general murmur broke from his comrades.

"there is no doubt that he played us false," bhop lal agreed; "but now that he is master of cashmere he may think it his interest to go with us next time; and besides, at present his gold is as good as another's, and none of the other sirdars will increase their forces until the english have retired; so there is just the choice of taking service with ghoolab or of starving."

"there is no occasion to starve for those who have got arms," the man said; "and we find it easier to help ourselves and to be our own masters than to serve anyone else. you had better join us, comrades."

"thank you; we have thought it over, you may be sure; but we have had enough of marching about and sleeping in the air for the present, and we are likely at any rate to sleep and eat our meals in peace with ghoolab. there is little chance of any rising for a long time yet, and till then, at any rate, there will be peace in cashmere. when fighting begins again here, we have made up our minds to come back, if we find that ghoolab has forgotten that he is a sikh. and now, with your permission, we will be riding on," and bhop lal turned his horse, and with his companions trotted off.

"we got through that well enough," percy remarked.

"they did not think we were worth robbing, sahib; and as we are well armed, it would not have been worth their while to meddle with us. besides, you see their horses are on the other side of the grove, and they must have noticed that we were well mounted, and could have got a long start before they were off. it is as likely as not that they did not believe my story, but thought we were on our way to join some other band we knew of. i have no fear of these fellows if we meet them openly in the daytime. the danger will be if we come upon them suddenly, and they attack us before they see what we are."

in the course of the day they passed several parties of threes and fours, sometimes mounted and sometimes on foot; but they did not draw rein, and contented themselves with the exchange of passing salutations. only once they came upon a large party. it consisted of twenty carts laden with merchandise, and escorted by some thirty men armed to the teeth.

"you see they get employment both ways, sahib," akram chunder remarked; "some of them make money by turning robbers, others make money by selling their services to merchants to protect their goods from robbers. no doubt those carts are on their way down from serinagur and jummoo, and are laden with shawls and embroidery, and such other goods as the merchants think the english officers at lahore will be glad to buy to send home to their friends."

"i should think they will make a good venture," percy said, "for the bazaars at lahore are very poorly stocked. trade has been bad there for a long time, owing to the troubles and disturbances, and i hear that many of the traders who had remained fled when the news came of the defeat at sobraon, fearing that the english army would act as the sikhs would have done under the circumstances, and would march straight to lahore and plunder the city. what part of cashmere do you come from, akram?"

"from the hills fifty miles north of serinagur. cashmere has no authority there, and the hill tribes have their wars with each other without interference. i was fifteen when our village was attacked and destroyed by a tribe we had raided a few months before. most of the people were killed, but i was fleet-footed and got away. i worked for a time at serinagur, but got tired of carrying burdens from morning till night, so i went on to jummoo, and stopped there for three or four years; and then, when i was about one-and-twenty, went down to lahore, and finding it hard work to get a living in any other way, i took service in runjeet singh's army, and had the good luck to enlist in the regiment of my lord your uncle, and there i have remained ever since. it was a lucky day when i chose his regiment, and i did so because i heard two soldiers in the street speak well of him. had i been in one of the others, i should most likely have fallen at ferozeshah or sobraon, even if i hadn't been killed before."

that night they slept at a khan in the town. there were but few other guests, and the keeper of the place bitterly bemoaned the change of times.

"in the days of runjeet," he said, "there were seldom less than a hundred travellers stopping here nightly; after his death the number fell to about twenty, for who would go to lahore if he could help it, when, for aught he knew, he might find fighting going on in the streets, or the city being sacked when he arrived there? now it is rare for more than three or four to pass the night here; no one will travel for trade or for pleasure; no one will go to lahore as long as the english are there. sometimes, it is true, a caravan comes down, such as that which stayed here last night; but there are few of these, and were it not for the passage of those who, like yourselves, are on their way to their homes, or to take service in cashmere, i might as well close and lock the gates, and go away to earn my bread at some other business. the country is being ruined fast. there are even those who say that it would be better the english should come and be our masters; there would be peace then, and they would soon put a stop to robbery and dacoitism, as they have done wherever they have established their rule, and the peasants would be able to plough their fields, and the traders to carry on their business without fear of any man so long as they paid their taxes and kept the law. i do not say that those are my opinions," he added hastily, "but i know that such is the talk among the peasants, who have had, it must be owned, a rough time since runjeet singh died. heavily taxed they were in his time, but beyond that they had nought to complain of; but of late, what with one trouble and another, their lot has been hard."

"there is no doubt about that," bhop lal agreed heartily. "i have been a soldier, but i have been a peasant too, and know where the shoe pinches. perhaps things will be better now."

the man shrugged his shoulders. "i see not how this is to be," he said; "the lahore durbar is under the protection of foreigners, and no one heeds it, as it has no power save in the city. better a thousand times a prince who can make himself obeyed, even were it ghoolab singh, or else a strong foreign rule. i would rather have a native prince; but far better than the nominal rule of a boy, protected by foreign bayonets, would be the rule of the foreigners themselves, for they, at least, can make the law respected, punish ill-doers, and preserve peace and order."

"i fancy there are a great many who think as you do," bhop lal said; "but these for the most part keep their thoughts to themselves. well, we shall see what we shall see. things will never go on long as they are at present; and, as you say, the punjaub will either be ruled by a strong native prince, or it will, like scinde, become a possession of the english. i have had enough of fighting, and mean to remain quiet until one or other of these things comes about."

"there are many like you; but some of the soldiers who come through say they would like to fight the english again."

"then take my word for it," a soldier sitting by said, "the men who said that were not among those who fought on the sutlej. there were brave men there, and plenty of them, but i do not believe one of those that fought there will ever wish to fight the white troops again. there was no withstanding them. they came on as if they minded the rain of iron and lead no more than if it had been a thunder-shower. it was that which beat us; we were told by our chiefs that it was impossible, absolutely impossible, for men to force their way into our lines, and when we saw them do it, we said to ourselves it is hopeless to fight against such men; and we who, under runjeet, have won victory after victory, and that against stout fighters like the afghans, lost heart for the first time in our lives, when we felt that we, though two to one, were no match for these terrible soldiers."

"is it true," the keeper of the khan asked, "as all have told me, that they neither plunder nor rob; and though really masters of lahore, the english go about quietly, ill-treating none?"

"it is quite true; they have discipline; brave as these men are, they are quiet and orderly, as our troops never were even in the days when runjeet was strong and firm. not a man has been robbed, nor a woman insulted, since they crossed the sutlej. they are our enemies, but they are a great people."

"if you have aught to lose, gentlemen," the other said, "be careful how you ride to-morrow; scarce one has arrived from the north for the last week who does not complain bitterly of being robbed on the way. some were wounded sorely, having ventured on resistance. they say there are as many as two hundred disbanded soldiers lurking among the woods and bushes between this and the next town. the sirdar lal mizrah, moved by the complaints of the country people, cleared the road of them a few days since, breaking up their parties, and killing many; therefore, at present they are more cautious. that is how the convoy got through safely yesterday. i should advise you, therefore, to travel by country roads, though even these are not safe, for the robbers, finding that people have deserted the main road and have taken to these paths, have beset them also."

"we have nothing to lose but our lives," bhop lal said, "but as these are somewhat precious to us, we will take all the care we can to avoid these gentry you speak of."

after a consultation with percy, it was agreed that, as time was no particular object, they would strike off at once to the west, travel for a day in that direction, and then make north, thereby getting well out of the line followed by travellers from lahore.

"after having been through three battles," percy said, "it would be folly to risk getting our throats cut merely for the sake of saving a day's journey."

accordingly the next morning they took this route. they passed several villages in the course of the day; as they were seen approaching, men and women ran into their houses and closed the doors, and not a soul was to be seen in the streets as they passed through.

"we need not have been afraid of being questioned," percy said; "it is evident that the whole population of the country is scared by the exactions of these disbanded soldiers, and that they are only too glad to see us pass by without interfering with them. it would have been well for the country if the sutlej had risen another foot on the day of the storming of sobraon, it would have relieved the country of some thousands more of these plunderers."

they met with no adventure whatever until they arrived within a few miles of the fortress. then, as they were riding along through a wood, a party of men on foot suddenly sprang out from among the trees. before they had time to draw their swords akram chunder and percy were struck from their horses. bhop lal, who happened to be a horse's length behind his comrades, snatched his pistol from his belt, and shot two of the assailants; then a ball from a matchlock struck him, and he fell from his horse. as he lay he was gashed with a dozen severe wounds, and was speedily stripped of his arms and clothes; the party then gathered round the two prisoners.

"i know this man," one of them said, stooping over akram chunder; "he is one of the men at the white colonel's fortress. i know him because he was servant to one of the officers, and when i went in there with ghee, he bought some of me and came back accusing me of having sold him false weight. he fetched his master, who examined my scales, and found that somehow a bit of lead had got stuck under one of them, and the villain had me flogged, and told me if ever i entered the place again he would cut off my ears. i swore i would pay this fellow out some day, and having changed my appearance somewhat went back some time ago to find him and pay him with a knife stab if i got a chance, but i heard from a friend i had there that he had gone away; he had ridden off with a party that went with the colonel's nephew. the rest had returned all but this fellow and another; and as it was just when the war broke out, it was supposed they had gone with the young sahib to act as his servants, for both were accustomed to that sort of work."

"well, there are three of them here," the other said; "maybe it is a lucky day for us, and that the third of them is the white lad."

"sure enough it's the governor's nephew," one of the men exclaimed as he walked across to percy, who was lying a little apart. "i have seen him a dozen times at the fortress."

"then this is a fortunate day for us indeed," the leader of the party exclaimed; "put them both on their horses again and mount without delay; we will settle what to do with them afterwards. we have two strings to our bow: it is certain that we can get a handsome ransom from the colonel, but i fancy ghoolab singh would give us still more. you remember the talk there was of a party of his men lying in ambush here to capture this lad as he came up two years ago; and everyone knows it was his doing that the place was besieged three months since."

"would it not be as well to give this fellow a stab and leave him here?" the man who had recognized akram chunder asked.

"not at all," the leader said harshly; "at any rate not at present. we may find him useful if we want to send a messenger in to the white colonel. besides, if we ransom the boy to his uncle it is no use setting him against us by killing his servant. even if the colonel agreed to leave us unmolested, some of his men might take the matter up and make the country too hot for us. i am always against killing unless there is something to be gained by it, and i see nothing to be gained by this fellow's death."

percy had been stunned by the blow from the heavy cudgel that struck him off his horse, but he heard the latter part of the conversation. he knew that resistance would be fatal, and submitted quietly to be placed on his horse. his hands were first bound in front of him, the reins were then cut, and two horsemen, one on either side of him, took the ends. akram chunder was similarly treated, and, surrounded by the whole party, numbering about twenty, they rode off. by their dress and attire he judged the men into whose hands they had fallen were not discharged soldiers but regular dacoits, and when he heard one of them address the leader by the name of goolam tej, he recognized it as that of a dacoit who had for years been a scourge to that part of the country, although he had seldom ventured to molest the villages in the colonel's district, knowing how speedy and relentless would be the pursuit. he had heard numberless stories of the atrocities committed by this band; how they had tortured men and women to force them to reveal the hiding-places of their money; how they had slaughtered not only those who ventured to offer resistance, but their wives and families. however, he had no fear as to his own safety; there was nothing to be made by killing him, while there might be a large sum to be obtained as a ransom from his uncle or by his sale to ghoolab singh.

the band were all mounted on wiry little ponies, and for some hours they rode at a rapid pace. they halted in a wood at the foot of the hills. here the leader, upon asking the question whether any of them had ascertained beyond the possibility of doubt that the man they had left behind was dead, was furious at finding that none of them had done so. the men who had stripped him declared they felt quite certain of it: "he had half a dozen wounds any one of which must have killed him," one of them said; "and that being so, i did not think of putting my hand on his heart to feel if it beat. make yourself easy, goolam tej, the fellow is dead beyond all doubt."

"there is never any saying," his leader replied; "some men are so tough that they get over wounds which should have been sufficient to kill them a dozen times. it is always well to make sure, either by a stroke with a dagger through the heart, or by cutting off the head. there is no great trouble about either job, and it prevents mistakes occurring. if i determine on sending to ghoolab singh first, i don't want the colonel to know what has happened till we are at the other end of the country. if that fellow should be found on the road, and his wounds bound up, he may recover so far as to tell them what has happened, and then we shall have the colonel scouring the whole country with his force. besides, he may send to lahore and lay a complaint before the durbar, and as he and the boy are english they would get up a hue and cry after us through the whole of the punjaub. i daresay the man is dead, still there ought not to be a possibility of a doubt about it, and i blame myself as much as i do you for not having given a thought to the matter."

on dismounting, percy's legs were firmly bound, and he was laid down on the ground at a short distance from his follower, a dacoit with a gun and sword taking his seat by each of them, so that even conversation was impossible. the next morning they started up the hills, and after some hours' riding crossed the crest, and then, leaving the bridle-path by which they had travelled, dismounted and led their horses along the steep face of the hill until they reached a perpendicular crag standing out from it, upon the summit of which stood a castellated building. a long shed had been erected upon a comparatively flat piece of ground among the trees at its foot; into this the dacoits led their ponies, and then mounted, a path a few inches wide cut in the rock, and leading up to a strong door which gave access to the building. a watchman on the wall had seen them coming, and as they entered they were greeted with cries of joy by a number of women.

percy saw at once that the building was ancient, but that it had recently been roughly repaired, and doubted not that it was a deserted fortalice that the band had occupied and made their head-quarters. during that day's ride the dacoits had taken the precaution of bandaging the eyes of their prisoners, and only unloosened the wraps when, on nearing the place, the ground had become so steep and difficult that it was necessary for them to have the use of their eyes. the prisoners were taken to a small room in a little tower at one of the angles of the building, their cords were then unloosened, and they were left alone together.

"this is a nice fix that we are in, akram chunder," percy said.

"it is, indeed, sahib. i care not so much for myself, but to think that you, after going through those battles, should be seized by these robbers within a few miles of home, cuts me to the heart."

"i am awfully sorry for bhop lal," percy said. "do you think he was killed?"

"that i cannot say, not having seen his wounds, but if they were not in a vital place he may live through them, for he is as hard as a piece of iron, and was not given to drink. men who drink have but little chance of making a good recovery. he would have the sense, i know, to lie still and sham dead; but i hope ere this he may have carried the news to your uncle. he would obtain help and assistance from the first passer-by when he told his story, for there is not a peasant in the district who does not love the colonel."