"All the property subject to my control is resting in this chair. When Luchman told me that the palanquin bearers meant to kill me, of course I was careful of my movements. I did not give him any hint of my intention, but tried to mislead him, for he was strongly set against any effort on my part to join you. After he had gone, I went out of the bungalow with the intention of taking the most valuable things from the palanquin. I looked for the khansaman, but he was invisible. While trying to find him, I came upon two of the natives lurking near the corner of the bungalow, and no doubt on the watch for a chance to bury their knives in me. When I saw them, the cowardly scamps broke and ran in such terror that they were off before I could get any kind of aim."
"Did you have trouble on the road?" asked the missionary.
"None at all, though I think it was due to the pains I took not to attract attention. There is no molestation at present of foreigners, and until there is, a little care will take you through many places where in a few days it will be certain death to show your face. I called on General Graves at the cantonment and told him that a revolt of the sepoys was sure to come before the first of next month."
"How did he receive your information?"
"He thanked me like the gentleman he is, but I saw that he thought very little of what I said. He remarked that the same thing had been told him again and again within the past few weeks, and added with a laugh that the dog that barks the most bites the least. I tell you," added the surgeon, rising to an upright sitting posture and speaking with great emphasis, "one of two things is certain—this impending mutiny is the most prodigious hoax of the nineteenth century, or it will be the most appalling massacre of modern times: I am inclined to believe it will prove the latter."
"So am I," added the missionary impressively. "We are standing on the threshold of judgment, and naught but the hand of God can save us from a terrible fate."
"But He will save only those who try to save themselves," ventured Marian, both she and her mother awed by the dreadful shadow that darkened their hearthstone.
"We will do all that lies within our power, but we are worms encircled by a ring of fire. Where the revolt is so widespread there is no safety this side of Calcutta, almost a thousand miles away."
"Delhi will be the headquarters of the sepoys," said Dr. Avery, "and the very hour they occupy the city the massacre of the Europeans will begin. They will assail them like tigers. Can you not hide yourselves in the house of some faithful native where no one will think of looking for you? There you can stay until the flurry is over and our soldiers retake the city as they will soon do."
"Your proposal has been in my mind ever since Luchman told us of our danger; but I have misgivings that many of the converts will find themselves unable to stem the whirlwind of fanatical excitement. If so, they will be the fiercest of our enemies. Even if faithful, they will be suspected and are likely to be destroyed by the Mohammedans."