At the Point of the Bayonet | Page 6

but feeling sure of a welcome, if I found you."
"And you were not mistaken," he said heartily.
"Anundee, you will, I am sure, join me in the welcome; and willingly
give my sister and her child a place in our home?"
"Assuredly. It will be pleasant for me, when you are in the fields, to
have some one to talk to, and perhaps to help me about the house."
Soyera saw that she was speaking sincerely.
"Thank you, Anundee; you may be sure that I shall not be idle. I have
been accustomed to work, and can take much off your hands; and will
look after your two children;" for two boys, three or four years old,
were standing before her, staring at the newcomer.
"That will be pleasant, Soyera; indeed, sometimes they hinder me much
in my work."
"I am accustomed to children, Anundee, as I was for years nurse to
English children, and know their ways."
"Well, now let us to dinner," Ramdass broke in. "I am hungry, and
want to be off again. There is much to do in the fields."
The woman took a pot off the embers of a wood fire, and poured its
contents into a dish. The meal consisted of a species of pulse boiled
with ghee, with peppers and other condiments added.
"And how did you like being among the English, Soyera?"

"I liked it very well," the woman said. "They are very kind and
considerate to nurses and, although they get angry when the
gorrawallah or other men neglect their duty, they do not punish them as
a Mahratta master would do. They are not double faced; when they say
a thing they mean it, and their word can always be trusted. As a people,
no doubt they are anxious to extend their dominion; but they do not
wish to do so for personal gain. They are not like the princes here, who
go to war to gain territory and revenue. It was reasonable that they
should wish to increase their lands; for they are almost shut up in
Bombay, with Salsette and the other islands occupied by us, who may,
any day, be their enemies."
Her brother laughed.
"It seems to me, Soyera, that you have come to prefer these English
people to your own countrymen."
"I say not that, Ramdass. You asked me how I liked them, and I have
told you. You yourself know how the tax collectors grind down the
people; how Scindia and Holkar and the Peishwa are always fighting
each other. Do you know that, in Bombay, the meanest man could not
be put to death, unless fairly tried; while among the Mahrattas men are
executed on the merest excuse or, if not executed, are murdered?"
"That is true enough," Ramdass said; "none of the three princes would
hesitate to put to death anyone who stood in his way, and it seems
strange to me that even the Brahmins, who would not take the life even
of a troublesome insect, yet support the men who have killed scores of
other people. But it is no use grumbling; the thing has always been, and
I suppose always will be. It is not only so in the Deccan, but in the
Nizam's dominions, in Mysore and, so far as I know, in Oude and Delhi.
It seems so natural to us that the powerful should oppress the weak, and
that one prince should go to war with another, that we hardly give the
matter a thought; but though, as you say, the English in Bombay may
rule wisely, and dislike taking life, they are doing now just as our
princes do--they are making war with us."
"That is true but, from what I have heard when the English sahibs were

speaking together, it is everything to them that a prince favourable to
them should rule at Poonah for, were Holkar and Scindia to become all
powerful, and place one of their people on the seat of the Peishwa, the
next step might be that a great Mahratta force would descend the
Ghauts, capture Bombay, and slay every white man in it."
"But they are a mere handful," Ramdass said. "How can they think of
invading a nation like ours?"
"Because they know, at least they believe, that Scindia, Holkar, and the
Peishwa are all so jealous of each other that they will never act together.
Then you see what they have done round Madras and Bengal and, few
as they are, they have won battles against the great princes; and lastly,
my mistress has told me that, although there are but few here, there are
many at home; and they could, if they chose, send out twenty soldiers
for every one there is here.
"Besides, it is not