Athelstane Ford Part 23

"Sir," I answered, "I am obliged by your kind expressions, but I am an Englishman, and in my country there is no man who can put me to death unless I commit some crime against the laws; nor do I choose to live in any place where I hold my life by the favour of a prince."

A murmur ran through the throng of courtiers at this reply, some of the high officers whom I knew to be concerned in the plot pretending to be especially shocked.

Surajah Dowlah raised his head and looked at me in some surprise.

"I should not care to be king of your country if I could not put a man to death when I wished to. Allah has created kings, and has put men's lives into our hands. It is destiny. Those who fall by my hands would perish instead by pestilence or famine or wild beasts if I forbore to slay them. They die because it is the will of Allah."

I listened in consternation to this frightful profession of fatalism by which Surajah Dowlah sought to decline the responsibility of his wicked acts. In the meantime he read the letter which I had brought from Colonel Clive.

"Why does Sabat Jung so earnestly desire me to disband my troops?" he asked presently.

"Your Highness's own conscience must tell you that," I returned. "So long as you keep your army in the field, threatening Calcutta, it is impossible to believe that you are in earnest in your professions of friends.h.i.+p towards the English. The present state of things keeps the minds of the merchants unsettled and prevents the resumption of trade, without which our factories cannot subsist in Bengal."

"No, no," the Nabob broke out, speaking very earnestly, "I design nothing against you. But I am in fear of the Morattoes, who meditate another invasion."

"Have no fear of that, sir. Colonel Clive will protect you, if necessary, against the Morattoes. But you may depend upon it he will never believe in your friends.h.i.+p till your troops are withdrawn from Pla.s.sy."

The Nabob seemed to meditate upon these words for a few minutes, during which n.o.body ventured to speak to him. Then he looked at me again, seeming as if he would search my heart.

"And suppose I comply with this demand, what security have I that the Colonel will not advance against this city? How do I know that he is not deceiving me? There are plots--yes, there are plots in the air!"

I felt a touch of contempt for him as I answered--

"That is a matter which I must take leave not to discuss. It is for your Highness to consider whether your conduct has been such as to conciliate the affections of your subjects, or whether it has not rather been calculated to make every man your secret enemy."

Surajah Dowlah started, and sank back on his seat, terrified by this unexpected plainness, which caused little less alarm among his suite.

But I soon saw that my words had been rightly judged. Being an Oriental, the Nabob could not believe that I should have spoken like that if I had really been privy to any intrigues against him. He therefore dismissed his fears, and finally promised to issue orders for his whole army to retire to Moorshedabad.

Satisfied with this success, I took my leave of him, his last words to me as I withdrew being--

"Tell the Colonel I trust him; I look upon him as my friend."

Moved by these words more than I cared to admit even to myself, I returned to Mr. Watts, and, all being now in train, we pushed forward the affair of the signatures as rapidly as we dared.

During these few eventful days I neglected no means of inquiring after the fate of those whom I had left in the Nabob's hands on my former flight from Moorshedabad. But though I questioned not merely the great officers of the Court, but also many of the eunuchs and inferior servants about the palace, I could learn nothing definite either of Marian or of Rupert. That they had not succeeded in recovering their freedom I was pretty well a.s.sured, but what had become of them, and whether they were alive or dead, was more than I could learn. The shadow and the secrecy of the East had closed like a curtain over their fates, and I was left to torment myself with miserable guesses in the darkness.

The business of signing the treaty went on as rapidly as it could be pushed. But the greed of the Gentoos at every step of the transaction was most disgusting, and the cowardice and treachery of the Moors scarcely less so. The Dewan, Roy Dullub, at first objected that all the Nabob's treasure was not enough to satisfy the gratuities provided for in the treaty, but no sooner did Mr. Watts offer to make him agent for the distribution, with a commission of five in the hundred on all sums pa.s.sing through his hands, than his scruples instantly vanished.

But at last everything was settled except the swearing of the treaty by Meer Jaffier, on which the whole affair turned. The Meer was just now arrived in Moorshedabad from Pla.s.sy, where he had been in command of one division of the Nabob's army, the remainder having before been taken from him and given to Roy Dullub. It was reported that Surajah Dowlah had received his uncle very scurvily, and spoken to him with so much harshness that Meer Jaffier had at once retired to his palace, at the other end of the city, and surrounded himself with his guards.

This palace resembled a fortress, having regular walls and towers, and being provided with cannons and other munitions for a siege.

Thither, on the following day, Mr. Watts went to visit him, but returned in much alarm to say that the Meer had received him in public, in the hall of audience, surrounded by his officers, and had given him no chance to refer to the subject of the treaty.

While we were discussing what this could mean an Indian arrived, who proved to be a private messenger from Meer Jaffier himself.

This man informed us that Meer Jaffier had been obliged to receive Mr.

Watts as he had done to deceive Lal Moon's spies, the Nabob's suspicions causing him to watch very strictly all intercourse between his great men and the English agents. What he now proposed was that Mr. Watts should come to his palace in the evening in a curtained litter, by which means he might be introduced unsuspected into the women's apartments, and there have a private conference with the Meer.

I could see that Mr. Watts regarded this invitation with very little confidence, his experiences in the Nabob's Court having rendered him cautious to an extreme. I therefore undertook to go in his place, an offer which he gladly accepted.

As there was nothing to detain either of us in Moorshedabad after the treaty had been confirmed, and every hour that pa.s.sed rendered our situation more precarious, it was further arranged that Mr. Watts should take his departure at once, leaving me to follow during the night. Accordingly he gave out that he was going on a visit to Cossimbuzar on business connected with the Company's investment, and set out the same afternoon.

I waited till it was quite dark before I got into the litter, which had been prepared for me by two Indian servants on whose fidelity I depended. They bore me through the streets on their shoulders at a great pace, and, thanks to the respect which these people have for their women, I pa.s.sed undiscovered. Once, indeed, we were stopped for a moment, and there was a short discussion, in which I heard the voices of my attendants, though I could not distinguish what was said.

It terminated in a laugh, and they were suffered to proceed without the curtains having been withdrawn. But it may be imagined how my heart came into my mouth during the brief halt, and what relief I experienced when the palanquin was set down within the gates of Meer Jaffier's palace and I was able to step out.

The Meer received me in the presence of his son Meeram, a youth of sixteen, who bore a strong resemblance to his cousin the Nabob, a resemblance, as I was afterwards to learn, not confined to mere looks.

He sat apart, staring at me with a sullen air of dislike, while his father perused the treaty.

Its terms appeared to give Meer Jaffier perfect satisfaction. As soon as he had read it, he asked--

"How soon will Colonel Clive be ready to take the field?"

"He is ready now," I answered. "All he is waiting for is information from you as to the steps which you propose to take to support him."

Meer Jaffier looked a little uneasy.

"You are my friend, I know," he said. "You must speak good words on my behalf to Sabat Jung. Everything depends on him. Let him strike the first blow, and he will find every one prepared to join him."

I shook my head.

"I am your friend, it is true," I responded, "but I am still more the friend of Sabat Jung, and I must know the grounds on which he is to proceed. What force have you ready to bring to his a.s.sistance?"

"Do you mean what is the number of my division?"

"I mean the number on whom you can rely."

"Three thousand hors.e.m.e.n."

He glanced at me in some doubt as he spoke. I heard this number with dismay.

"Only three thousand! What succour is that?"

"But those are only my own men. There are several commanders who have been affronted by Surajah Dowlah, and are ready to turn their swords against him at the first opportunity. On the day of battle these will come over to us with their troops."

"What a.s.surance have you of that?" I asked.

"I know my countrymen. They judge a man by his deeds, and there is nothing that commands their respect like daring and success. Already they fear the Colonel; let them see him boldly attacking the Nabob, with me by his side, and they will quickly join us. Tell Sabat Jung my words."

"And when do you intend to join the Colonel?" I inquired, beginning to fear that Meer Jaffier was likely to prove a broken reed to lean upon.

"I will join him as soon as the English troops come in sight of the city. Or if the Nabob keeps his army at Pla.s.sy, then I will join you as soon as the signal for battle is given. I will march over to you with a great part of the army, as many as I can persuade to join me, and the others will then take to flight. If I see an opportunity I will seize my nephew in his tent."

With these promises he beguiled me into some confidence in him. Then placing a copy of the Alcoran upon his head, and resting one hand upon the head of his son Meeram, he solemnly swore to perform all that he had undertaken. He also signed the treaty, writing these words upon it in Persian--"In the name of Allah, and of the Prophet of Allah, I swear to abide by the terms of this treaty while I have life."

As soon as this business was completed, the Meer said to me--

"And now, before you go, tell me what reward I may give you for your services in this affair?"