A Soldier's Daughter, and Other Stories Page 5

  CHAPTER V

  ESCAPED

  As Nita picked up the language she heard to her delight that Carter wasrecovering from his wounds, and that he was held a prisoner by a chiefwho lived fifteen miles away among the mountains. She learned thathis captivity was much more severe than hers, and that while she wasallowed, when not engaged indoors, to wander about the village, he washeld a close prisoner in the house of the chief. As soon as she foundthis out she became restless. It would be an easy thing for her toescape alone, but the idea possessed her that she ought to do somethingto free Carter, and this seemed almost an impossibility. One thing wasevident--she must, in the first place, get an Afridi dress. This wouldnot be difficult. Much more serious was the question how she was tosubsist. She saw that it might be the work of a week, or possibly of afortnight, after she got away before she could communicate with Carterand arrange for his escape. She would then need a considerable quantityof food, and also a long rope, and a disguise of some sort would berequired for Carter.

  Nita began by taking flour and meal from the storehouse downstairs.These she put in a sack, which she hid in some bushes a short distancefrom the house. Every day she added to the store, and as it swelled shetook two or three goat-milk cheeses. She hesitated a good deal whethershe should adopt a male or female dress, but finally decided upon man'sattire. She did not intend to show herself by daylight, but the casualglimpse of a female on the hillside would almost assuredly exciteobservation and suspicion; moreover, she intended to carry a rifle ifshe could obtain one, which would be altogether out of character withthe dress of a woman. Three weeks were spent in her preparation, by theend of which time the sack was as heavy as she could lift. She had fromthe first made up her mind that it would be necessary to carry off adonkey or mountain pony, and intended to sling the sack on one side ofhim, with a skin of water on the other.

  The sack was about a third full of grain, another third of meal, andthe remainder was made up of cheeses, some rough clothes, and the rope.She had also cut a pliant stick some four feet in length, with notchesat each end to carry a string; for it would clearly be necessary toshoot a note, to begin with, into the window of the prisoner's room.She made three or four rough arrows, which she tied to the bow. She wasnow ready, but the first thing was to get hold of a pony. In orderto do this she once or twice a day took a handful or two of grain tothe pony belonging to one of the Afridis, and in a short time it wouldcome eagerly to her when she called. At last all her preparations wereended, and one evening, as soon as the house was asleep, she took arifle and a bag of cartridges from the corner where they stood, thensome of the chief's robes down from the wall, and very cautiouslyunbarred the door, and, carrying the water-skin with her, closed itbehind her and started for the hiding-place of the sack. Then shewent to the little enclosure where the pony was standing, and callingsoftly to it, it came at once to the gate, which she opened, gave ita mouthful of grain, and taking hold of its mane led it to where hergoods were hidden. She placed two or three of the cloths folded acrossits back, then, with some difficulty, fastened the sack and water-skinon to it. She followed the path leading to the south for four or fivemiles, and then struck off in the direction of the village in whichCarter was confined. She had chosen a moonlight night, and made her waysome miles without encountering any great difficulty. Then she cameto a piece of country so rough that she was compelled to halt. At thefirst break of dawn she was off again, and succeeded in crossing thecrest of the line of hills separating the valley she had left from thenext. Down this she went for some distance, along places so precipitousthat even the sure-footed pony had difficulty in making its way. Atlast she came upon a small ravine which she could see broadened outlower down. Here she lay down and slept, after giving the pony two orthree handfuls of corn and fastening it up to a bush.

  After a time she continued her journey. From the description she hadheard of the village she knew that it stood in a strong position onthe hillside. When she got down to the bottom of the ravine she againfastened the pony up and went out into the valley. She was glad to seethat water ran down it. This was a great relief to her, for althoughthe water-skin would last her for many days, it would not suffice verylong for the pony's needs. She walked on five or six miles, and thencaught sight of a village three miles ahead, which exactly answeredthe description she had gathered of that in which Carter was confined.Keeping along the sides of the valley, and taking advantage of everyspur of the hill, she got to within a mile of it, and then ascended theslope till she reached a spot a quarter of a mile behind the village,and here she lay down and reconnoitred it. It differed but little fromthe one she had left, and consisted of five or six fortified houses.

  Its position was a strong one, as the hill in front of it slopedsteeply down. She selected a clump of scrub a mile away, and, wrappingherself up in a blanket, lay down to sleep, as it was already becomingdusk. In the morning she started at daybreak, spent the day with thepony, and late in the afternoon returned again with it, and by midnightwas safe in the spot she had chosen. The scrub was high enough for thepony to stand unseen, and after giving it a good feed, and eating someof the grain and a piece of cheese, she lay down till the morning.Looking round she saw another clump of rather larger trees in a diphalf a mile behind her, and at once moved to it, for there she thoughtthat she would be able to light a fire without fear of being seen. Shethen again started for the village, and found that, by keeping to asmall ravine that came down behind it, she could approach within threehundred yards of it without running the risk of being seen. This shedid, taking advantage of every rock.

  From here Nita could see all that was going on in the village. The menhad already driven out their cattle and other animals to the valley,the women moved about gossiping. One of the houses was larger than theothers. This she guessed to be the abode of the chief. For hours shelay watching its upper windows, and at last, to her delight, saw akhaki-clad figure come to one of them and stand for a time looking out.His air was listless, and as the window was at the back of the houseand looked up the hill, there was but little to interest him. Now thatshe had ascertained his room she strolled away again and remained forthe rest of the day in the wood, practising with her bow and arrows.Then she wrote on a sheet of her pocket-book, of which she had not beendeprived:

  "Look out for me at eleven o'clock to-morrow night. I will shoot up astring, there will be a rope attached to it, strong enough to hold you,and you can slide down it.--Yours, Nita."

  At ten o'clock she started from her hiding-place, and at eleven reachedthe village. The house was surrounded by a wall, but, as she hoped, thegate was unbarred. It opened quietly, and, going round to the back, shetook post as far away from the house as she could, and shot the arrow,on which she had fastened her little note, at the window-opening. Atthe third essay she was successful, and the arrow went right into theroom; then she quietly withdrew. He was, she thought, certain to see itwhen he awoke, as the rooms were generally very small, and he would,she hoped, be certain to wake before any of the people of the villageentered his room. Carefully closing the gate again behind her, she madeher way back to the wood, and lay down and slept till morning. Shepassed the day in a state of feverish anxiety. Now that success seemedalmost certain she was far more apprehensive of being discovered thanshe had been before, and she spent the day at the edge of the wood onthe look-out for any approaching figure. But the day passed as quietlyas the others had done, and as soon as it was dark she strolled down toher look-out near the village, carrying with her her bow and arrows,and the rope.

  It seemed to her that the village would never go to sleep that evening,but finally all became quiet and the last light was extinguished. Shewaited half an hour to allow the occupants of the village to settledown. Then she ventured to move, and in five minutes stood opposite toCarter's window. It was, of course, without glass, being closed only incold weather by a blanket hanging before it. The moonlight permittedher to see
a figure standing there. Four times she missed before shesucceeded in shooting an arrow into the room. In a minute the stringattached to it was pulled. She then fastened the end of the rope to it.This was drawn up by Carter, and a minute later he slid down. As hecame up to her she whispered "Hush!", led the way out through the gate,and ascended the ravine.

  Not until she was two or three hundred yards away from the tower didshe stop.

  "My dear Miss Nita," he said, "by what miracle have you managed this?"

  "There is no miracle in it," she answered; "I got away, and naturallyI was not going to leave without you. I hope that you have quiterecovered from your wounds."

  "Quite," he said, "though just at present I seem hardly able to usemy legs, for I have had no exercise except what I could get in a roomeight feet square. However, I dare say that I shall recover their useagain before long. Where are you taking me?"

  "To a wood a mile and a half away, where there is a pony andprovisions. When we get there we must discuss which way we should go.It seems to me that it would be better to cross the river and go overthe opposite hills. As far as I can make out that leads away from thefrontier, which is the direction in which they will no doubt look foryou, as I am sure they are looking for me. They would be certain tosuppose that I should go that way. But I think you will know best, foryou have travelled about the country a good deal more than I have."

  "I really don't know what to say in the way of thanks," he began aftera pause.

  "You will make me very angry if you thank me at all; you may admit,however, that girls can be of some good sometimes, and are not meantonly to be looked at."

  "I will never say anything against their courage again," the youngofficer said. "Now tell me how you have fared, and how you succeeded ingetting away."

  "I got on fairly well. The chief's wife was a harridan, but her husbandrather took me under his protection, and insisted on my having fairtreatment. I think he was rather uneasy as to the consequences of hisattack on the fort, and wished to keep in well with me. So I was fairlyfed and allowed a certain amount of liberty in the village during theday. They did not seem to have any suspicion that I was likely to tryto escape. They were confident, I think, that I should not be ableto cross the mountains alone. Therefore I was able to collect storeslittle by little. The chief's magazines were generally open during theday, and I own that I robbed them shamelessly. Then I had but to slipaway after the house was asleep. I had collected a sackful of flourand meal, some grain, and a few cheeses, for I knew that I might haveto live a long time before I could discover the place where you wereconfined, and even if I were lucky enough to do so without much wasteof time, we might have to exist a considerable period among the hillsbefore we got to the frontier."

  "But how on earth could you carry such a weight?"

  "I made friends with a pony by treating him to handfuls of grain, andhad no difficulty in getting him to follow me; and a large skin full ofwater very fairly balanced the sack of provisions. I annexed two of thechief's robes and turbans and four or five blankets. So we start undergood auspices. Of course I brought that rope that you came down by, anda rifle and ammunition which were in a corner of the chief's room. Iwish I could have brought a rifle for you, but there was not one handy,and I was sorry that I could not get my revolver; but that fell to theshare of someone else when all our goods were taken after the fight."

  "Splendid, splendid! But how did you find the place where I wasconfined?"

  "I picked up a little of the language, and learned that the chief inwhose hands you were, lived about fifteen miles away, nearly due west;that the village stood on the hillside, and was strongly fortified. AndI was fortunate enough in lighting upon it without much difficulty,and, lying hidden a short distance away, was not long in making you outat the window. The rest was, of course, easy. Now I put the commandinto your hands."

  "No, you followed my orders when I was in command of the fort, and nowyou have escaped yourself and freed me, you have shown such a capacitythat I certainly do not wish to interfere with your plans. I think thatwhat you proposed, namely, that we should cross the river and strikeinto the mountains away from the frontier, is the best, and we shouldhold on in the same direction as long as we are able before tryingto strike down. I have no doubt the search for us both will be veryhot for the next week or ten days, but it is certain to be pursued onthe downward track, as they will make sure that we have made off inthat direction. The news that I have also got away will not be longcrossing the hills to your village, and they will have no difficultyin connecting the two events, and will think that when they catch one,that they are sure to catch the other. Is this wood the place whereyour pony is hidden?"

  "Yes, I have given him a good meal, and he will be ready to start assoon as we have loaded him up. It is fortunate, indeed, that we havethe moon, and shall therefore have no trouble in keeping the rightdirection."

  In five minutes they were moving, and made their way down to the river.At Nita's suggestion they kept up the stream for about a mile and thenstruck across for the hills. By morning they were fifteen miles awayin extremely rocky and precipitous country. Here they halted for somehours, and then made their way downhill. They found that they were infact travelling along near the edge of a precipice, at whose foot astream ran between lofty cliffs. So steeply did the hills slope downto the edge of the precipice, that they could only travel with extremecaution; and even the pony, sure-footed as it was, had difficulty inkeeping its feet. At length, however, the slope became more gradual,and the ravine widened out into a valley, apparently about half a milewide and a mile long. They chose a dip in the descent, and found whenthey arrived at the bottom that they were completely sheltered fromthe view of anyone passing along the valley. But that the ravine wasto some extent used was evident from the fact that a few cattle werescattered about.

  "I think that we shall be obliged to confiscate one of these animalsfor our own use," Carter said; "a diet of flour and grain would be aptto pall a little even when varied by cheese, and our eventual successdepends on our keeping up our strength."

  "I quite agree with you," Nita said; "one thing is certain, however,that meat will be of no use to us until we can light a fire to cookit."

  "I think that we shall be able to manage that," he said. "You see thisdepression, which looks as if it had once been a water-hole, is eightor ten feet below the level of the hillside; that's the very place wewant for cooking. They will not see the fire itself, but only its lightreflected on the ground above us; but I think if we collect stones,and build a circular wall, say four feet in diameter and a few feethigh, with a small opening at the foot for feeding the fire and puttingon the meat, there will be no fear of any reflection falling on thehillside."

  "No, I should think that that would do very well," Nita agreed. "Wehave another two hours of daylight, and as the hill is everywherescattered with rocks and boulders we ought to make considerableprogress with our oven in that time."

  "Well, will you please sit down, then, and I will collect stones. Thisdepression is scattered pretty thickly with them."

  "Oh, but you must let me do my share of the work," Nita said; "I amjust as keen to have a piece of roast beef as you are. At any rate Iwill gather up the smaller stones, and as soon as it becomes dark, willgo out and cut some brushwood with the sword-bayonet."

  "But I have no matches," Carter said, in a tone of dismay.

  "I have some," Nita said; "not many, but a dozen or so. I put someloose into the pocket of the tunic, so that I could at once get a lightin case of a sudden attack; I had no time even to think of them whenthe Afridis broke into the fort, but I did think of them when I got tothe village, for I saw that if I could make my escape they would be ofgreat use."

  "They certainly will be invaluable," Carter said. "We will get thewall up as high as we can and then spread brushwood over the top. Thiswill help to deaden the reflection, but will allow the smoke to escapefreely."

  They worked very hard till it became
dark, by which time the rough wallwas some three feet high.

  "Now," he said, "if you will lend me the sword-bayonet I will go outmeat-hunting, while you collect fuel for the cooking and for coveringover the top of the oven."