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In the shadows a boat was waiting, with one man in it, leaning on a long pole, and when the Rajah and Gerrard had stepped in, this man punted them out into the starlight in perfect silence, and across the lake into a kind of backwater, covered thick with the flat leaves of the lotus, in an opposite corner.
The Christmas fire was not cold upon the hearth of the Little Red Chimney before Miss Bentley was whisked away to other scenes, into an atmosphere so different that of necessity things took on another aspect. Mrs. Gerrard Pennington found intense satisfaction in her niece's social success.
"Then you are under the yoke again, Bob?" said Gerrard. "Rayther, just a very few! The Brigadier has determined in his own mind that I am dead set upon presuming, so, to make it impossible, he snaps my head off every time he sees me, and at once." "Hard luck, old boy!" "Oh, I share it with my betters. By the bye, is it true that the Governor-General has been powdering Sir Edmund's wig?"
In the course of the ride, Gerrard learned that he was immediately to visit the Rajah at the city of Agpur, that the inestimable service he had rendered the state might be properly acknowledged and proclaimed, and that if he desired the life or property of any man in the province, he had only to ask for it.
Well, we had better appear amongst them by way of the lions' cage and explain matters, I suppose. What d'ye think of taking the prisoners with us, and leaving everything else as it is, Hal?" "I don't see that it matters. Wouldn't it be better to make them carry out Sher Singh's body?" said Gerrard. "My dear fellow, it does matter, very much. I should say leave things exactly as they are.
Their mutual opposition, he thought, was becoming rather formal than actual, and might even die down in time. But Gerrard was no more omniscient in estimating the future yield of his poultry-yard than other people, and it took little to set the two protagonists, whom he had looked upon as reformed characters, thirsting for each other's blood again.
They all accompanied the youths to the boat, and entreated the father and sons to take two of their people along with them to their habitations, in order the sooner to procure them assistance from thence. For this purpose they chose one Gerrard of Lyons, who had been purser of the ship, and one Cola a mariner of Otranto, as these men could speak French and a little German.
Therefore I trust that when we get our orders for retreat, we shall be so far into Agpur that it is impossible to obey. Even James Antony would allow a man a little discretion when to go forward is safety, and to go back would mean destruction." "You old fox!" cried Gerrard. "I'll back you up, don't be afraid. We'll put the telescope to the blind eye, and our careers may go hang!"
The Governor-General would be just, even delicate, in his treatment of the vanquished; Sir Edmund would not be shelved, but transferred to some other post where his tenderness for native susceptibilities would be an advantage instead of a drawback. Thither Gerrard would accompany him.
"Old boy," said Charteris with emphasis, after reading the letter once more, "we are made men." "If we succeed," Gerrard reminded him. "If not, we drag down James Antony as well as ourselves." "The Colonel won't be in a forgiving mood," agreed Charteris. "Strikes me, Hal, that but for this latest illness of his we should find ourselves in the wrong box even now."
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