Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti

"Certainly not, Lisle; you well deserve it. I am sorry to say that you will have to leave us; for you are gazetted to the 103rd Punjabi Regiment, who are stationed at Rawalpindi."

"I am sorry indeed to hear that, sir; though of course, I could hardly have expected to remain with you. I shall be awfully sorry to leave. You have all been so kind to me, and I have known you all so long. Still, it is splendid that I have got my commission. I might have waited three or four years, in England; and then been spun at the examination."

Lisle marched down with the regiment to Peshawar. Here he had his uniforms made, laid in a stock of requisites, and then, after a hearty farewell from his friends, proceeded to join his regiment, which was lying at Rawalpindi. He took with him Robah, whom the major relinquished in his favour.

On his arrival at the station, he at once reported himself to the colonel.

"Ah! I saw your name in the gazette, a short time since. You must have lost no time in coming out from England."

"I was in India when I was gazetted, sir."

"Well, I am glad that you have joined so speedily; for I am short of officers, at present. There is a spare tent, which my orderly will show you. We shall have tiffin in half an hour, when I can introduce you to the other officers."

When Lisle entered the mess tent, he was introduced to the other officers, one of whom asked him when he had arrived from England.

"I have never been to England. I was born out here. My father was a captain in the 32nd Punjabis, and was killed in an attack on a hill fort. That was some months ago, and I remained with the regiment, whose quarters had always been my home, until there should be an opportunity for my being sent down to Calcutta."

"Well, it is very decent of the War Office to give you a commission; though, of course, it is the right thing to do–but it is not often that they do the right thing. Your regiment did some sharp fighting on their way up to Chitral, but of course you saw nothing of that."

"Yes; I accompanied the regiment."

"The deuce you did!" the colonel said. "I wonder you managed to get up with it, or that Colonel Kelly gave you leave. I certainly should not, myself, have dreamed of taking a civilian with me on such an expedition."

Lisle nodded.

"The colonel did not give me leave, sir. With the aid of one of the native officers, with whom my father was a favourite, I obtained a native uniform; and went through the campaign as a private."

The officers all looked upon him with astonishment.

"Do you mean to say that you cooked with them, fought with them, and lived with them, as one of themselves?"

"That was so, sir; and it was only at the last fight that the truth came out, for then one of the officers heard me make a remark to myself, in English. Fortunately, the native officers gave a very good account of my conduct. I was one of a small party that descended a cliff with ropes, and did a good deal towards driving the Chitralis out of their position."

"But how was it that you were not recognized by the soldiers?"

"I speak the language as well as I speak my own," Lisle said quietly. "Having lived with the regiment all my life, I learned to speak it like a native."

"Well," the colonel said, "it was a plucky thing for you to do. The idea of disguising yourself in that way was a very happy one; but not many officers would like to go through such a campaign as a private in the Pioneers, or any other Indian regiment.

"Well, I congratulate myself in having acquired an officer who must, at any rate, understand a great deal of his work, and who can talk to the men in their own language; instead of, as I expected, a raw lad.

"How old are you, Mr. Bullen? You look very young."

"I am only a little past sixteen," Lisle said, with a laugh; "but I don't suppose the War Office knew that. Colonel Kelly was kind enough to send in a strong recommendation on my behalf; stating, I believe, the fact, that I had disguised myself as a private in order to go to Chitral with the regiment, and that, as he was pleased to say, I distinguished myself. He at once appointed me, temporarily, as an officer; and as such I remained with the corps, until their return to Peshawar. He also, of course, mentioned the fact that I am the son of Captain Bullen, who lost his life in bravely attacking a hill fort. I don't think he thought it necessary to mention my age."

"Well, you have certainly managed very cleverly, Mr. Bullen. I am sure you will be an acquisition to the regiment. I think we can say safely that you are the youngest officer in the service.

"Gentlemen, will you drink to the health of our new comrade, who has already shown that he is of the right sort, and of whom we may be proud?"

The next day the colonel received a letter from Colonel Kelly. It ought to have arrived before Lisle himself, but had been delayed by the post. It spoke in very high terms of his conduct, and then said that he was a general favourite in the regiment, and that he was sure that he would do credit to the corps he had joined.

The next year and a half passed quietly. Lisle was soon as much liked, in his new regiment, as he had been by the Pioneers. The men would have done anything for him, for he was always ready to chat with them, to enter into their little grievances, and to do many a kind action.

Chapter 6: Unfair Play

Five or six of the officers were married men, and had their wives with them. These, when they learned that the young subaltern had disguised himself, and enlisted in the Pioneers in order to go up with them to the front, took a lively interest in him, and made quite a pet of him. Two other regiments were at the station at the time and, consequently, there was a good deal of gaiety in the way of lawn tennis and croquet parties, small dinners and dances and, after mess, billiards and whist. Lisle soon became an expert in the former games, but he never touched either a billiard cue or a card, though he was an interested spectator when others were playing.

Baccarat was very popular with the faster set. At this game play sometimes ran high, and there was a captain in one of the other regiments who scarcely ever sat down without winning. At the beginning of the evening, when play was low, he generally lost; but was certain to get back his losings, and sometimes a considerable sum over, as the stakes rose higher. One of the lieutenants who was a chum of Lisle's was particularly unlucky. He was of an excitable disposition, and played high as the evening went on. Lisle noticed that he often paid in chits, instead of money. This was not an unusual custom, as officers are often short of cash, and settle up when they receive their month's pay. Lisle frequently remonstrated with his friend on the folly of his proceedings, and the young fellow declared that he would retire from the table, if luck went against him. But the mania was too strong for him.

"It is extraordinary what bad luck I have," he said, one day. "I almost always win at the beginning of the evening; and then, when I get thoroughly set, my winnings are swept away."

"Why don't you get up when you are a winner?"

"That would be very bad form, Bullen; a fellow who did that would be considered a cad."

"I should strongly advise you to give it up, altogether."

Lisle observed with regret that his friend's spirits fell, and that he became moody and irritable. One day, when he went into his quarters, he found him sitting with a look of misery upon his face.

"What is it, Gordon?" he asked. "I hope I am not in the way?"

"Well, it has come to this," the young officer said. "I am at the end of my tether. I shall have to leave the regiment."

"Nonsense!" Lisle replied.

"It is true. I owe a lot of money to that fellow Sanders. He has bought up all my chits, and this is a note from him, saying that he has waited two or three months, but must now request me to pay up without further delay. Besides my pay, I have only eighteen hundred pounds, that was left me by an old aunt; but that will barely cover what I owe. Of course I can hold on on my pay; but the loss of so much money will make a lot of difference, and I fear I shall have to transfer. It is hard lines, because I am now pretty high on the list of lieutenants; and shall, of course, have to go to the bottom of the list.

"The only alternative would be to enlist in some white regiment that has lately come out. There are plenty of gentlemen in the ranks. I certainly see no other way."

"I had no idea it was so bad as that, Gordon. Surely there must be some other way out of the difficulty. I could lend you a couple of hundred pounds."

"Thank you, old fellow! But I am so deeply in debt that that would make no difference."

"I am not sure that there is not something else to be done," said Lisle. "While I sit watching the play, I can see more than the players can; and since I have noticed that Sanders persistently wins, directly the stakes get high, I have watched him very closely, and am convinced that he does not play fair. It has struck me that he withdraws the money on his cards when he sees that the dealer has a strong hand, and adds to his stake when he considers that the dealer is weak.

"Now my testimony as a youngster would go a very little way, if unsupported against his; but if you will give me a solemn promise that you will never play baccarat again, I will get two or three fellows to watch him. Then, if we can prove that he plays unfairly, of course you will be able to repudiate payment of the money he has won of you."

"Good heaven! It would be the saving of me, and I will willingly give you the promise you want. But you must surely be mistaken! Sanders certainly has had wonderful luck, but I have never heard a suggestion that he does not play fair. I only know that there is a good deal of shyness about playing with him. You see, it is a frightful thing to accuse a man of cheating."

"I admit that it is not pleasant; but if a man cheats, and is found out, it is the duty of every honest man to denounce him, if they detect him.

"Well, if you don't mind, I will take Lindsay, Holmes, and Tritton into my confidence. They all play occasionally, and you must let me mention that you are altogether in his power; and that, unless he is detected, you will have to leave the regiment. Mind, don't you watch him yourself. Play even more recklessly than usual; that will make him a bit careless."

"Well, there is a possibility that you are right, Bullen, and if you can but detect him, you will save me from frightful disgrace."

"I will try, anyhow."

Bullen sent a note to the officers he had mentioned, asking them to come to his quarters, as he particularly wished to speak to them. In a quarter of an hour they joined him.

"Well, what is up, Bullen?" Tritton said. "What do you want with us?"

"It is a serious business, Tritton. That fellow Sanders owns chits of Gordon's to the amount of fifteen hundred pounds."

An exclamation of dismay broke from his hearers.

"Good heavens!" Tritton exclaimed, "how could he possibly have lost so much as that? I know that the play has been high; but still, even with the worst luck, a man could hardly lose so much as that."

"I fancy that, after the party in the mess room has broken up, several of them used to adjourn to Sanders' quarters; and it was there that the great bulk of the money was lost."

"What a fool Gordon has been!" Lindsay said. "What a madman! Such a good fellow, too!

"Well, of course, nothing can be done. If it were only a hundred or two, the money would be subscribed at once; but fifteen hundred is utterly beyond us. What is he thinking of doing?"

"Well, he has eighteen hundred pounds, and he talked of drawing out the amount and paying up, and then exchanging into some other regiment. The question, however, is, whether he ought to pay."

The others looked up at him in surprise.

"Why, of course he must pay," Tritton said; "at least he must pay, or quit the service, a disgraced man."

"I think there is an alternative," Lisle said, "and that is why I have sent for you."

"What alternative can there be?"

"Well, you know I don't play; but I like sitting watching the game, and I am quite convinced that Sanders doesn't play fair."

"You don't say so!" Tritton said. "That is a very serious accusation to make, you know, Bullen!"

"I am perfectly aware of that, and I feel that it would be mad for me to make an unsupported accusation against Sanders. But I want you three fellows to join me in watching Sanders play. My word, unsupported, would be of no avail; but if four of us swore that we saw him cheating, there could be no doubt about the result.

"For one thing, Sanders would have to leave the army. That would be no loss to the service, for he is an overbearing brute; to say nothing of the fact that several young officers have had to leave the service, owing to their losses at play with him."

"I know of two cases," Lindsay said. "There was a very strong feeling against him, but no one suspected him of unfair play. It was he who introduced baccarat here, when his regiment first came up. It had never been played here before, and you may notice that very few of his fellow officers ever take a hand.

"Well, there will be no harm in our watching. It is a thing that one doesn't like doing but, when it comes to a fellow officer being swindled, it is clearly our duty to expose the man who is doing it."

"Very well, then, this evening two of us will take our stand behind Gordon, and the other two behind Sanders."

"But how did he cheat? It seems a fair game enough."

"He does it in this way. He puts five sovereigns under his hand. That is the limit, you know. Then he looks at his card, and pushes it out. With his hand still touching it, he watches the dealer and, if he can see by his face that his card is a good one–and you can generally tell that–he withdraws his hand with four of the sovereigns, leaving only one on the card. If, on the other hand, he thinks it is a bad one, he leaves the whole five there. He does the trick cleverly enough; but I am certain that I have, four or five times, seen him do it.

"Keep your eyes on his hand. You will see that he takes up five sovereigns from the heap before him, and that he has them in his hand when he pushes the card out. You will notice how he fixes his eye upon the dealer, and that he leaves either one or five, as I have said. He does it, at times, all through the evening, especially when Gordon is dealing; for I can tell, myself, by Gordon's face whether he has a good or a bad card. Of course, he can see it, too.

"I want you all to nod to me, when you see it done. We shall let him do it two or three times, so that we can all swear to it."

All agreed to do so, and Lisle then went to Gordon's quarter's.

"Tritton, Lindsay, and Holmes are going to watch with me tonight. I think the best thing will be for you to answer Sanders' note, and tell him that you will require time to draw your money from England to pay him; but that you will play again tonight, to see if luck turns."

That evening the four young officers took their places, as arranged. Now that their attention had been directed to it, they saw that several times Sanders, although he took up five pounds, only left one on the card; and that he kept his hand upon it, up to the last moment. Each in turn nodded to Lisle.

All noticed how intently Sanders watched the dealer. Generally he left two sovereigns on the card, apparently when the dealer had a moderate card; but when he had a very low or a very high one, the trick was played. After fully satisfying himself that he had good proofs, just as Sanders was again withdrawing his hand with four sovereigns in it, Lisle threw himself forward, jerked the hand upwards, and showed the four sovereigns lying under it.

"I accuse Captain Sanders of cheating. I have seen him do this trick half a dozen times."

Sanders shook himself free, and aimed a heavy blow at Lisle; who, however, stepped aside and, before he could repeat it, he was seized by the officers standing round. A tremendous hubbub arose, in the midst of which the colonel entered the room.

"What is all this about?" he enquired.

The din subsided at once, and two or three officers said:

"Bullen accused Captain Sanders of cheating."

"This is a very serious accusation, Bullen," the colonel said sternly, "and unless you can substantiate it, may be of very serious consequences to yourself. Will you tell me what you saw?"

Lisle related the circumstances, and how the fraud was accomplished.

"You mean to say that, by watching the dealer's eye, Captain Sanders leaves one pound or five on his card?"

"That is what I said, sir. I have seen him do it on several nights. Tonight I determined to expose him, and Tritton, Lindsay, and Holmes have been watching him with me. I was induced to do so by the fact that the man has rooked Lieutenant Gordon of something like fifteen hundred pounds, for which he holds his chits."

"Mr. Tritton, you hear what Mr. Bullen says. Have you also observed the act of cheating of which he accuses Captain Sanders?"

"Yes, sir; I have seen him do it several times this evening. I believe he has done it more, but I am prepared to swear to seven times."

The colonel looked at Lindsay, who said:

"I have seen suspicious movements eleven times, but I should not like to swear to more than four."

"And you, Mr. Holmes?"

"I can swear to five times, but I believe he did it much oftener than that."

"What have you to say, Captain Sanders?"

"I say it is a conspiracy on the part of these four young officers to ruin me. It is a lie from beginning to end."

"I am afraid, Captain Sanders, that you will find it very difficult to persuade anyone that four officers, who as far as I know have no ill feeling against you, should conspire to bring such a charge. However, I shall report the matter to your colonel, tomorrow, with a written statement from these four officers of what they saw. He will, of course, take such steps in the matter as he thinks fit."

Without a word, Sanders turned on his heel and left the room, followed by the angry glances of all who were present.

"Mr. Bullen, you have behaved with great discretion," the colonel said, "in not making a charge on your first impression, but getting three other officers to watch that man's behaviour. Tomorrow I shall hold a court of enquiry, at which the major, the adjutant, and two other officers will sit with me. You will all, of course, be called, and will have to repeat your story in full.

"Lieutenant Gordon, I am shocked to hear that an officer of my regiment should gamble to such an extent as you have done. You will, of course, be called tomorrow. I think that, at the best, you will be advised to change into another regiment. I need not say that, after this exposure, the chits that you have given to Captain Sanders become null and void.

"This room will be closed for the rest of the evening."

The officers, however, gathered in the room below, and talked the matter over. There was not a whisper of regret at the disgrace that had fallen upon Sanders. His reputation was a bad one. Since his regiment had been in India one young officer had shot himself, and three had been obliged to leave the army, and in all cases it was known that these had lost large sums to him; but the matter had been hushed up, as such scandals generally are in the army. Still, the truth had been whispered about, and it was because none of the officers in his regiment would play with him that he had come habitually to the mess of the Pioneers; by which, his own regiment having been quartered in southern India until six months previously, nothing was known of his antecedents.

"We shall all have to be very careful, when you are looking on at our play, Bullen," one said, laughing. "I hadn't given you credit for having such sharp eyes; and certainly Sanders did not, either, or he would never have tried his games on, while you were standing watching him."

"I was not playing, you see," Lisle said, "and the players do not trouble about onlookers, but keep their attention directed to the dealer. Standing there evening after evening, it was really easy to see what he was doing; for he, too, kept his attention fixed on the dealer, and paid no heed to us who were looking on. He occasionally did look up at us, but evidently he concluded that we were only innocent spectators. When my suspicions were aroused, there was really no difficulty in detecting him."

"How was it that you did not interfere before?"

"Because it was only my word against that of Sanders, and it was only after Gordon told me how much he was in debt to the man; and that the latter had, that morning, written to him calling upon him to pay up, that I saw that something must be done. So I asked Tritton, Lindsay, and Holmes to watch him closely this evening, along with me."

"Well, I hope Gordon won't have to go," the other said. "He is an awfully good fellow, though he has made an abject ass of himself."

"Don't you think, Prosser, that if we were all to sign a petition to the colonel, to ask him to overlook the matter, as Gordon has received a lesson that will certainly last his lifetime, he might do so."

"It depends upon how much the matter becomes public. Of course, there must be a court of enquiry in the other regiment; and if, as is certain, a report is sent to the commander-in-chief, Sanders will be cashiered; and I should fancy that Gordon would be called upon to resign. Of course, you four and Gordon will have to give evidence before the commission. It depends, of course, how his colonel takes it; but it is certain that Sanders will have to go, and I fear Gordon will, too. I expect our colonel will get a wigging for allowing high play; though, as you say, the greater part of the money was lost in private play, in Sanders' room.

"Anyhow, it will be a somewhat ugly thing for the regiment in general, and we shall get the nickname of 'the gamblers' throughout the army."

The next morning, at eight o'clock, the little committee met. The four young officers gave their evidence, which was put on paper in duplicate and signed by them, a copy being sent to the colonel of Sanders' regiment. In a short time that officer was seen to go into the colonel's tent and, half an hour later, he came out again and went away. A few minutes after he had left, the four officers were summoned.

"I hope," the colonel said, "that we have heard the last of this most unpleasant business. His colonel tells me that this morning, as soon as he turned out, Sanders called upon him and said that he had to go to England, on urgent family business; and that, on his arrival there, he should send in his papers and retire. He gave him leave to go at once, and Sanders disposed of his horse and traps, and started by the eight o'clock train for Calcutta. In these circumstances we have decided, for the credit of both regiments, that the matter shall be held over. If, as is morally certain, he leaves the army, nothing more need be said about it. Of course, if he should return, it will be brought up.

"I should say, however, that there is no chance whatever of that. I beg of you to impress upon the officers of the regiment; which, indeed, I shall myself do at mess, to make no allusion whatever, outside the regiment, to what has occurred. The less said about it, the better. If it were at all known, and got to the ears of the commander-in-chief–and you know how gossip of this kind spreads–both his colonel and myself would get a severe wigging, for not sending in a report of it. In that case a committee would be appointed to go into the whole matter and, as a result, the regiment would probably be sent to the worst possible cantonment they could find for us, and Gordon would be called upon to retire. I will therefore ask you to give me your word that the matter shall not be alluded to, outside the regiment. There is no fear of any of Sanders' regiment hearing anything about it, as none of them were present last night.

"Upon further consideration, I think that it would be better to summon all the officers of the regiment, at once, and to impress upon them the necessity for keeping silence on the matter."

Five minutes later the officers' call sounded and, when all were assembled in the anteroom, the colonel repeated to them what he had said to Lisle and his companions; and obtained an undertaking from them, individually, that they would maintain an absolute silence on the matter.