"But you must on no account venture to trot or canter yet," said the surgeon, as he lifted a warning finger. "Get your limb used to the exercise by gentle degrees, so that by the time the march is ended you will be fit for anything."
The weeks as they went by brought abundant interest to the two friends, for Jack and Owen were close companions now, and the Major had taken a great fancy to both of them. As to our hero's affairs, they had settled themselves very nicely. Mr. Halbut, with his usual consideration and thought, had taken steps to see that his protégé lacked nothing, and though generous, did not spoil his friend. In accordance with his promise the Governor called, and congratulated Owen.
"My great friend, Mr. Halbut, has written me about you," he said, as he sat down beside our hero, "and I am[Pg 146] very pleased to think that I am able to send him such an excellent report. But let me tell you of the arrangements made for your service. You will be gazetted in the course of a few days to the 7th native cavalry, and will join that regiment up country. The appointment will be antedated, so that you will draw pay and allowances from the day on which you sailed from England. I have also made arrangements with one of our English banking firms to pay you a hundred rupees per month. This will continue during Mr. Halbut's pleasure, and until you are promoted. There is also a sum set aside for your uniforms, and for horses. My young friend, you have found a generous benefactor, and from what I can hear he has at length discovered a subject of absorbing interest. He has his own views on the ways of educating our young men, and you are the test which will prove or disprove his views. You have the right stuff in you. You have come to the front already by your own efforts. That is a good beginning. I shall not favour you. You must rely upon yourself and your own exertions. Still, your commanding officers will always be fair and just. A report will go forward that you have seen service, and have behaved well. Also that you are fitted for the post of interpreter, as you speak Hindustani and Mahratti fluently. That reminds me, I must have an example of your powers. I speak a little Mahratti, and Hindustani well enough to get along. Call some one who is good at both."
Owen was delighted, and flushed to the roots of his hair. His pleasure at his appointment was very great,[Pg 147] and deep down in his generous young heart was a full sense of gratitude to his good friend in England. In his silent and quiet way he then and there, not for the first time by any means, registered a vow to prosper, to push on, to face all risks and hazards if by doing so he could rise. He would push on up the ladder, rung by rung, for his own sake, but more than all so that he might do credit to Mr. Halbut and the sergeant.
When six weeks had passed there was an evident stir in Calcutta; sepoys and white troops patrolled the thoroughfares, and cannon rumbled over the roughly paved streets. Officers cantered here and there, dressed in the most elegant and becoming uniform, and one which has never been surpassed since. And amongst these officers were occasionally to be seen two young men, Owen and Jack, the latter an ensign in a sepoy regiment. Both were bronzed by the sun, while our hero, if he happened to dismount, limped ever so slightly. They were filled to the very brim with high spirits and good temper, and as they came and went were for ever saluting the friends they had made. For their adventures in Sumatra had brought them to prominence.
"To-morrow we start," said the Major with a sigh of satisfaction. "The tents have gone ahead, and when we come up to the end of the day's march we shall find all in readiness. That is luxury, and is the way to travel in this country. But it will not last for ever. We shall soon have to have flanking guards, and a strong force in advance, with a rear-guard to cover us[Pg 148] in that direction. There will be a dozen of us going up to join our regiments, and we have arranged to stick together."
Before the dawn broke on the following morning the movement was commenced, and thereafter, for many a day, the white troops and the sepoy regiments continued to march, often during the hours of night, to avoid the midday heat. Their faces were set towards Poonah, some thousand miles across India, where they were to fall in with other troops. They lived well, and spent the time merrily, for the thought of war was pleasant to all. And in time they arrived within three hundred miles of Poonah, in a country where Mahratta horse had already ravaged the villages, and had gone, leaving nothing but death and starvation behind them. It was here, one early morning, that Owen met with another adventure. Their commissariat was low, and he and Mulha had ridden out to see what could be found.
"We have seen none but villagers, and they have been half-starved, poor people!" said Owen, as he and the native trotted along, the latter looking a very fine specimen of humanity, for now that he was dressed in Mahratta costume, his lithe figure was seen to advantage, while he sat his horse as only a Mahratta can, with that easy seat seen amongst the Boers in South Africa, and yet with the grip a British cavalryman adopts. But the Mahratta carries himself so gracefully erect that the difference between all three, though so small and so subtle, is easy to detect.
"And the sahib will find it difficult to get food,[Pg 149]" observed Mulha. "But there is a castle yonder on the hill, and there we might gather provisions."
"I had my eye upon it," answered Owen. "Who would live there?"