For Fortune and Glory | Page 4

Besides, he was half a Forsyth, and the Forsyths were probably
all English. For all he knew, some old Forsyth might have had a hand
in burning up the Burkes. He did not offer any such suggestion,
however, but sat somewhat awe-stricken, wondering what this strange
uncle would say or do next.
He relapsed into thought, and for some time the silence was only
broken by the bubbling of the water in the narghile. When at last he
spoke again, it was in a calmer tone of voice, and with eyes withdrawn
from his nephew's face.
"Serve not the English Government, civil or military," he said. "Or, if

you do, confine yourself to your allotted task. That which is exactly due
for the pay you receive, do for honour and honesty's sake. But do no
more; show no zeal: above all, trust not to any sense of justice for
reward of any work done in excess of the bargain. Incur no
responsibility, or you will be made a cat's-paw of.
"Listen. At the time of the Crimean War a young man in the Indian
service had a severe illness which obliged him to return to England on
furlough. At one of the stations where his ship touched a number of
women and children and invalids belonging to a regiment which had
gone on to the seat of war were taken on board, and he, according to
previous arrangement, was placed in charge of them.
"It came on to blow hard in the Gulf of Lyons, and the old transport
strained so that she sprang a leak, which put her fires out. Later on her
masts went, and after beating about for several wretched days, she went
ashore on a desolate part of the coast of Spain. The officers and crew of
the ship behaved well enough, and though many of them, including the
captain and chief mate, were lost, nearly all the passengers were safely
landed. But though rescued from the sea, there seemed to be every
prospect of their perishing from exposure and famine. With great
difficulty the officer in charge managed to find some rude shelter and
insufficient food for immediate succour, and then, making his way to
the nearest town, he applied to the authorities, and being a linguist who
included something of the language in which Don Quixote was written
amongst his acquisitions, he obtained clothes, food, and a sum of
money for present necessities, with the promise of a vessel to transfer
the unfortunates to Gibraltar.
"Of course he had lost everything when the ship went to pieces, and he
could only get this aid by signing bills and making himself personally
responsible. True, he was engaging himself for more than he could
perform, but he could neither desert these people who were entrusted to
his care, nor stand idly by to see them perish. And he never doubted but
that the authorities at home would take the responsibility off his hands.
They refused to do so, or rather, worse than that, they drove him about
from pillar to post, one official directing him to a second, the second to

a third, the third to the first again. And they made him fill up forms,
and returned them as incorrect, and broke his heart with subterfuges.
"In the meantime he had to meet the claims, and was impoverished.
Then, excited by this infamous treatment, he forced his way into a great
man's presence, and was violent, and the consequence of his violence
was that he lost his Indian appointment. It was well for him that he did
so; but his story will none the less show you what a country England is
to serve."
Again there was a long period of stillness, broken only by the hubble-
bubble. Gradually the smoker raised his eyes in the direction of his
nephew, but Harry saw that he was looking beyond him, not at him.
And this gaze became so steadfast and eager that he turned his head to
see what attracted it, almost expecting to see a face on the other side of
the window.
There was nothing, but still the intense look remained, and it made
Harry feel as if cold water was running down his back. His uncle spoke
at length, low and slowly at first, more energetically as he went on.
"I see it; the crescent rises; the sordid hordes of the West fall in ruin
around. The squalid denizens of cities find the fiendish devices of
destruction to which they trust for putting the weak over the strong fail
them. Man to man they have to stand, and they fall like corn before the
scythe."
He dropped his pipe tube, and slowly rose to his feet, still gazing
fixedly at nothing in particular in the