With a scream of joy she rushed forward, and with a cry of, "Mamma, Mamma!" threw herself into her mother's arms.
It was a moment or two before Mrs. Haines could realize that this dark-skinned Hindoo girl was her child, and then her joy equalled that of her daughter. It was some time before any coherent conversation could take place; and then Ada, running back to Charlie, drew him forward to her mother; and presented him to her as her preserver, the Captain Marryat who had stayed with them at Calcutta.
Mrs. Haines' gratitude was extreme, and Charlie was soon surrounded, and congratulated, by the officers on board, to many of whom, belonging as they did to the Madras army, he was well known. Foremost among them, and loudest in his expressions of delight, was his friend Peters.
"You know, Charlie, I suppose," he said presently, "that you are a major now?"
"No, indeed," Charlie said. "How is that?"
"When the directors at home received the report of Commodore James, that the fort of Suwarndrug had been captured entirely through you, they at once sent out your appointment as major.
"You are lucky, old fellow. Here are you a major, while I'm a lieutenant, still. However, don't think I'm jealous, for I'm not a bit, and you thoroughly deserve all, and more than you've got."
"And this is Tim," Charlie said. "He has shared all my adventures with me."
Tim was standing disconsolately by the bulwark, shifting uneasily from foot to foot, with the feeling of the extreme shortness of his garments stronger upon him than ever.
Peters seized him heartily by the hand.