Some minutes later a message came to say that the regent wished to see Mr. Quinton and talk over matters with him; and this message was followed by a letter written in Bengali, which contained an acknowledgment of the Chief’s letter, and a proposal to the effect that we should surrender our arms if the Manipuris agreed to cease firing. There was some discussion about the translation of part of this letter, and Mr. Quinton proposed that the Jubraj should be called upon to explain the meaning of the passage in question, and asked whether it would be possible to see him.
Meanwhile the Chief Commissioner’s party, consisting of himself, Colonel Skene, Mr. Cossins, Lieutenant Simpson, and my husband, had gone down to the office at our entrance gate, and waited there while the regent’s letter was being translated. Mr. Simpson had gone of his own accord, as he wished to accompany my husband, and I had begged to be allowed to go with him too; but he said I was safer where I was, and bade me good-bye, telling me to keep a brave heart, that the firing was at an end, and peace about to be restored; and he told me to try and get some rest, as I looked so tired. I never saw him again.
CHAPTER XV.
Mr. Brackenbury—Scenes in the little cellar—Destruction of our home—Another moonlight night with a difference—Reopening of the attack on the Residency—Death of Mr. Brackenbury—Preparations to escape.
I remained where he had left me, alone for some minutes, though some of the officers were standing just outside the door of the cellar where I was sitting. It seemed so hard that I could not go with my husband. I feared being left alone without him, and felt very lonely and broken-hearted among so many men, mostly strangers to me. I knew, too, that they would look upon me as an extra burden, and wish me very far away.
I was roused to action by the doctor, who had taken advantage of the truce to get his wounded brought up from the hospital to the house, and had come up first to see what kind of a place could be got ready. I showed him the cellars, for there were several, which all communicated with each other, and formed the entire basement of the house.
Shortly afterwards the Kahars[16] arrived, carrying poor Mr. Brackenbury on a mattress, and the others followed fast, so that the small cellar was very soon quite full of men lying side by side on the stone floor. The blankets and sheets that we had already collected were very useful, and I made several journeys up to the house, and gathered up every kind of covering from every direction, and all the pillows I could find. A little cooking-stove proved of great service. I fixed it securely upon a table in one corner which I reserved for cooking operations.
The soup we had made on the previous day was in great request. Fortunately there was a large quantity of it, to which I added the contents of five or six tins which I found in the store-room. Milk was the difficulty. All the cows were out in the grounds, and many of them had strayed away altogether and we could not get any milk from them, so were obliged to fall back on condensed milk, of which we also had several tins.