“Then what I have done once I may be able to do again.”
Gordon’s heart quickened its beating. Haidee’s word opened out new prospects that he had not before thought of. At any rate, however slender might be the reed, he clutched at it with desperate energy. What might not a determined woman and a man actuated by love accomplish? Still, whatever her scheme might be, it was as yet to him misty and undefined.
“My plan is this,” she continued, after a pause. “We must conceal ourselves somewhere about the entrenchments until night falls again. The disguise which has served you in such good stead so far will serve you still further, if you are discreet, and do not use your voice. Under cover of the darkness we can escape from this place, and retrace our steps to Delhi. I do not think we shall experience any difficulty in gaining entrance to the city. Once there, I have plenty of friends who will give us aid and shelter so long as they do not penetrate your disguise. We shall soon be able to learn news of Miss Meredith and Zeemit Mehal, and if we cannot render them assistance at once, we can wait near them, until an opportunity occurs.”
“I like your plan,” Gordon answered, thoughtfully. “It seems to me to be full of promise. At any rate, if the scheme appeared more chimerical than it really does, I should be inclined to follow it out, so long as there was even a shadowy chance of succeeding in my mission. I owe my presence here to a strange chance. Once released, and I am free to follow her who has been so cruelly separated from me. In your hands, then, I place myself, Haidee. And I am sure, for the sake of our mutual friend, whether he be living or dead, that you will do all that a brave and noble woman can do.”
“Living or dead,” she sighed, as if his words had sunk deep into her soul. “Yes, living or dead, I devote my life to serving him, or those belonging to him.”
“Our faiths may differ, Haidee,” Gordon answered; “but rest assured there is an Almighty Power that will bless your efforts and reward your devotion.”
She turned her large, truthful eyes full upon the speaker, and replied in a low tone—
“Yes, the Christian’s God is good, and some day I will seek to know more about Him.”
It soon spread through the little garrison that Gordon and Haidee had determined to remain behind. No opposition was offered to this determination. They both were free agents, and at liberty to act upon their own responsibility; but not a few of the people looked upon it as a foolhardy step, and thought that they were running unnecessary risk.
As the sun sprang up in the heavens—for in the Indian climate it may truly be said to spring up—the sounds of a bugle broke upon the morning air; it was the signal for the sentries to come in, and for the garrison to arouse. The sounds of that bugle revivified the hopes that had all but died in the poor crushed hearts. As the weary people gathered themselves together, those notes were like the kindly voice of a friend calling them to rest, and telling them that their trials were over. Alas! they little dreamt that it sounded their death-knell. If some pitying angel had but whispered to them never to stir beyond the mud walls of their defences, what soul-wrung anguish they might have been spared; but it is written that man shall suffer. The doom of those poor creatures was not yet fulfilled, and they must go forth. Again the bugle sounded; this time for the march. Then the barriers were withdrawn, and forth from the defences they had so heroically held went the people. A tattered and torn British ensign, nailed to a bamboo staff, was carried at the head of the procession. The black demons, who swarmed around in thousands, might insult that flag, they might spit upon it, trample it into the dust, but they could never quell the dauntless courage of the lion hearts who owned its sway. The ragged flag flaunted proudly in the breeze, and the ragged crew, each of their pouches filled with sixty rounds of ammunition, and bearing on their shoulders their guns with fixed bayonets that flashed in the sunlight, straggled on. Haidee and Gordon had concealed themselves in an outbuilding—it was simply a heap of ruined brickwork, for it had been battered to pieces with the enemy’s grape; but the fact of its being in ruins was in their favour, as they were less likely to be discovered by intruders. In about half an hour the last of the garrison had departed, and the entrenchments were left to silence and the dead.