"England need not waste another wish for vengeance," Gascoyne said, "I have taken it. Listen. I was amongst those who, wearied out with famine, fatigue, and wounds, trusted to Nana's oath, and embarked on the boats only to be treacherously fired on and brought back, such of us as survived, to face death, with no chance of showing fight, and after our suffering to die, shot down like dogs. I had been wounded in the neck, and, though the wound was slight, it bled profusely and I was covered with the crimson stain. You, Campbell, knew Miss Lindsay?" His voice broke, and the Colonel nodded with bright eyes, but in silence. "She had been among the unhappy ladies brought back, and all my fears and agony of mind on her account utterly outbalanced any consideration for myself.
"NERVED WITH HATE AND PASSION, I STRUCK HIM UNDER THE EAR."
"Had all gone well, in a few short weeks we should have been married, but she was basely murdered in my very arms.
"After the fusillade which killed a number of people, our boat was the first to be brought back. As Miss Lindsay was stepping over the side she slipped and fell into the water. I sprang after to help her, when a ruffianly Sepoy seized her by the hair, which had become unfastened, and dragged her to her feet, and with a brutal laugh kissed her on the cheek. The laugh died on his lips, for, maddened by all that had occurred, and by this last outrage, I sprang upon him, and, nerved with hate and passion, struck him with all my force under the ear.
"He fell as if shot, face downward into the shallow water, and lay there dead. Miss Lindsay turned, threw her arms around me, and with a sob buried her face on my shoulder. But though I had avenged her momentarily, my triumph was short, for a fellow named Survur Khan, whose brother it was that I had killed, with a cry of rage struck Miss Lindsay on the head with a club he carried, smashing her skull and covering me with her blood and brains. It was horrible, horrible, and with the horror of it I must have lost consciousness, for I remember no more until I found myself seated on the ground with others. You know what happened. By Nana's orders, after a momentary respite, we were shot by the cowardly miscreants, who would have fled in terror from us, had we been unbound with weapons in our hands. But during that moment's pause I had been thinking, thinking, my heart seemed bursting in my body, my brain throbbed and reeled, my whole being was inflamed with the rage of anger and hatred that consumed me. Oh! if I were but free for a few moments to wreak a vengeance on these cowardly hounds, and die killing, killing.
"I resolved, if I could, to save my life, even at this moment, to live for vengeance. I watched every movement of our destroyers. I knew every dialect of the Indian language, and listened to every syllable they said. You know the story how, there and in cold blood, close to the well they shot us. At the instant the word of command was given, while the finger pressed the trigger, I sprang round and fell on my face unhurt. I feebly beat the ground with my feet, and then lay still.
"I heard groans, a few more shots, and then stillness. They came to me; one fellow turned me over and felt in my pockets. I had nothing; they tore open my shirt and took from my neck a light gold chain, with a locket containing Miss Lindsay's miniature. I would have given worlds to have jumped up, snatched the locket from him, and served him as I had served the butcher's brother; but I wanted a wider vengeance, and I restrained myself. To them I was dead. The fellow who had taken the locket kicked me disdainfully, and made a scurrilous remark about the Mem Sahib whose face he saw in it; but, even under that provocation, I was able to control myself.
"I knew, I felt, I should be able to take vengeance; how, I did not try to think, but I was certain of it; and I lay calm—calm as one who knows that nothing will stand between him and the desire of his heart. At length they went away and left us as we lay.
"That night, when all was still, and I only heard the howlings of the jackals without the walls, I began to think it time to make a move. I had lain for hours in the terrible sun—my limbs were racked by an agonising cramp, a maddening thirst parched my throat and vitals, my lips and tongue were baked and cracked, and my first movement gave me pain unspeakable; then as I moved again I heard a stealthy step, and a voice said very softly—