Читать книгу A Desert Bride - Hume Nisbet - Страница 8
ОглавлениеTHE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY.
Ronald MacIvor did not get the chance of asking his father's permission to go on that adventurous journey, because death, as the old fakir had predicted, passed in before him, and claimed the gallant captain for his own with that suddenness which this grim autocrat so often displays in India.
While the boys were within the fakir's den, Captain MacIvor had been seized in the street with cholera, and, before they reached his bungalow, poor Ronald was an orphan, with few to take interest enough in him to question his intentions or actions, for his father, as so many of us have, had many acquaintances, but few friends.
The captain had no means apart from his pay, and he had lived up to that; therefore, when his effects came to be summed up, after the funeral expenses, Ronald found himself penniless, and in the possession of two friends only, and these were Jack Bangles and his mother, the very occasionally employed concert singer.
Of course the brother-officers of the late lamented MacIvor sent round the hat during mess, and raised about twenty-five pounds, like the good-hearted but desperately hard-up fellows they always are, while the colonel proposed either to send the lad home to his friends in Scotland, or else get him into the regiment as a drummer-boy.
But Ronald had no friends in Scotland; at least his Scotch friends had not impressed him with any desire to test the strength of their relationship from the recollections he had of them, and, as he told the colonel, he had other views at present, which that gentleman was very glad to hear, for he held the opinion that the pauper sons of gentlemen don't make good drummer-boys; therefore Ronald took the twenty-five sovereigns subscribed, and the other five which came to him from the sale of his father's effects, and, handing his stock of thirty pounds to Mrs Bangles, she adopted him straight away, and, as long as the money lasted, treated him to the best that the city of Benares could yield, as is the way with professional people when they have a little money in hand.
For the six weeks following the burial of his adored and revered father, mundane matters were regarded by poor Ronald MacIvor with perfect indifference. He was of too manly a temperament to go mooning and moping about, making a parade of the grief, that was gnawing at his heart, to the outside world. Like all manly boys, he was mightily ashamed to be caught shedding tears; yet, although he bore up bravely during the daytime, he often longed for the friendly cover of night, when, sure of his companion Jack being asleep, he could give way to the sweet, if selfish, luxury of grief. There, in the darkness, he could weep out his overcharged heart, and at length fall asleep, feeling that he was being rocked within four clasped arms, the embraces of his dead father and mother.
Mrs Bangles was one of those people who have learnt to be philosophic by experience and the hard rubbing of a phlegmatic world. When, therefore, Ronald came to her in his hour of trouble, and brought with him his tiny fortune, her most natural instinct was to expend that sum of money, and make it go as far as possible in the shape of comforts—bodily comforts, for, as the past had proved to her, sorrow seems doubly hard to stand out against when the body is starving as well as the soul. As she sagely remarked, in the language of Shakespeare,—
"'Things without all remedy should be without regard. What's done is done.' I shall do my best to be a mother to you, Ronald, and try my hardest to comfort your mind; but while this money lasts you shall not go to bed supperless, and this is the best way I can sympathise with you, for I have had my losses also."
There was no rouge on the little woman's cheeks at this time; therefore Ronald, as he looked at her, felt that what she said was true.
"Yes, Jack has told me a little of your troubles, Mrs Bangles."
Mrs Bangles took two or three vicious puffs at her cheroot, and then she answered,—
"Troubles! I should think that I have had them—kicked and cuffed about all my girlhood by a drunken father and a harassed mother, who had to dance for us all to keep us in bread and cheese. Then came my own time, when I had to work for the whole gang, until Jack's father met me, and married me offhand on the beggarly pay of a subaltern, bringing me out to India, and filling my arms with children without thinking how they were to be kept."
"You had more than Jack, then, Mrs Bangles?"
"I had eight, besides Jack, at one time," replied the poor mother softly, "six fine boys and three pretty girls; and then my noble husband got into disgrace somehow, and bolted, leaving me with his children to do what I could for them in India. That's how I came back to the miserable profession which I thought I had left for ever. Ah! that was the time, Ronald, my lad, for a woman either to break down completely, or else get her heart changed to stone. I didn't break down, so I became what I am, able to face life in all its phases, able to crush down memories, and bear with courage the evil hour, or enjoy the pleasant moment while it lasts. One after one my children left me to go to God, who could take more care of them. The first wee bairn I lost nearly killed me also, though; but, after that, I learnt to look at them before they were carried out of my sight, and say: 'Thank God for His goodness in taking another spirit away from this wicked and miserable world.' And then once more, like King David, I could rise up and feast, with the words: 'I shall go to them, but they cannot return to me.'"
Ronald felt she was wise, and that her advice was the best for his troubles. Therefore he let her lay out in her own reckless way his money. She was a first-rate cook, and, as we have said, spent her time with the boys, cooking, feasting, and driving about. Then, when the funds became low, they sat down to consider matters, and plan out their future.
Mrs Bangles' life had been one of adventure and excitement, so she entered with eagerness into the Peacock Throne jewel hunt. Yet, being an actress, nothing but a stagey way of going to work would please her, and this suited the boys exactly.
She would go along with them, for she wasn't going to be parted from Jack. At first they would work their way up country in a legitimate fashion by stages, resting at such places as Allahabad, Cawnpore, Agra, Delhi, and the other towns where the British were quartered, where they would give performances to provide themselves with travelling expenses; and after that they would dress themselves up like natives, for both mother and son could speak the language perfectly; and plunge into the wilds, and trust to luck for the rest. They would be three boys while they were natives.
The idea was romantic enough to drive all thoughts of moping out of Ronald's mind. Therefore, while they were feasting, Mrs Bangles set to work and prepared their wardrobes, besides planning out a little entertainment in which they could all take a part. It was after the variety order, and did not require much rehearsing, for the English residents in India were at this date easily pleased in the way of public performances.
Jack could play the banjo, and Ronald soon mastered the bones, while Mrs Bangles managed the castanets and dances; and with a few outrageous print dresses, paints, wigs, topical songs and comic patter, they were ready for the tour as far as the towns were concerned.
For the jungle portion of the way, powder and shot were about the whole thing required, for Ronald had a good stock of guns and other weapons which his father had left him, and Mrs Bangles had her brass pots and pans, without which no one travels in India.
The three of them had visited the holy magician Mahadev, and got their fortunes read; and, what was better to Jack, had had revealed in a series of mirage pictures several of the most eventful episodes in their future, and from which he trusted to be able to pilot them to that Persian cave, at the entrance to which sat the pointing fakir; for, now that he had seen his likeness, he thought that he would be able to recognise him again in the flesh, only the worst of it was, as they afterwards found out, these mirage pictures had not been the least like the reality.
According to this holy magician, the dangers in this journey would be numerous and terrible; yet in each of the visions he had seen three figures going forward unhurt, and that was very consoling and pluck-inspiring, for really, after all, it doesn't take much courage to go into danger if one is perfectly convinced that one will get out of it all right. Such a knowledge as this is equivalent to shot and steel-proof armour, and makes one feel very much as the dauntless knights of old must have felt when, cap-a-pie, they boldly and singly charged down upon an army of naked savages. It was only a matter of time and exertion how soon the enemy were despatched, and the champion could ride back to his lady's bower triumphant and unhurt.
With the last few pounds of Ronald's legacy they began their journey from Benares to Allahabad by boat, starting at early morning, before daybreak, on the 1st of June 1857, and reaching Allahabad on the 3d, by easy stages.
Here Mrs Bangles made her arrangements to begin her entertainment on the following night at the fortress, where the officers had provided them with quarters. She was to have a week's run here in the little theatre which was set aside for strolling companies and private performances.
It was here that they heard, for the first time, about the revolt of the natives at Delhi, but, as yet, the mutiny had not assumed the alarming proportions which it was presently to take; therefore, at Allahabad the garrison were not too greatly alarmed, although discipline was a little stricter than usual. Still, the first night they had a good house, and when they counted up the proceeds, they considered that the agent had every cause to congratulate himself upon the success of his little company. Mrs Bangles had a champagne supper after the performance with some of the officers who had known her husband at Benares, after the boys had gone to bed, and felt that things were once more beginning to look coloured.
