Tales of Destiny | Page 5

and got them ready for instant rolling down. To this last task
four of our number were deputed. The others abided with me. Our plan
was to block the narrow passage by ranging the elephants abreast of
each other, and, so that the animals themselves might not be stampeded
by the unexpected din of battle, we chained their forelegs, first each

animal separately, and then the middle one to his comrades on either
side.
"At last all our preparations were completed, the huge beasts in line,
my companions mounted into the howdahs. I alone remained on foot, I
and the little woodcutters' daughter, standing by my side, holding
trustfully to my hand, and no longer weeping.
"'You must come with me, my almond-sweet,' I said, as I raised the
child in my arms, and passed her up into the howdah of my own
elephant, the central one. Then I myself clambered aloft. The tiger's
corpse had been flung to the ground, and our three mahouts sat in their
proper places, iron goads in hand, ready to perform their task of
keeping the elephants under control.
"At last, after a tense period of waiting, the welcome report of the
matchlock reverberated from among the hills.
"The fight does not really concern my story," said the Rajput, grimly.
"It is sufficient to say that Gunesh Tanti and all his band perished to a
man--some slain by the swords of my horsemen charging down the
pass, some crushed by the falling rocks, some of the last survivors, who
flung themselves desperately against our living barrier, dying on our
handpikes or being trampled under foot by the elephants. Not one of
more than five score men lived to carry back the tale of death to the
robber haunts whence they had come.
"On our side some lives were lost, seven in all; but this is the penalty
that brave men have to pay in the doing of righteous deeds. Their
memory is honoured.
"As for the little maid, I had nested her in the best-protected corner of
the howdah, and in the thick of the fray, when a shower of arrows had
fallen upon us, I had covered her tiny form with my shield. But during
the final hand-to-hand fight, when all was din and turmoil with the
shouting of the men and the angry trumpeting of the elephants, I had
not paid her any special heed. From her lips came no sound to attract
my attention--no cry of fear, nor wailing murmur.

"But at the end I looked for the little child, lifting the shield that had
partly guarded her. She met my gaze with a smile. But straightway I
noticed that an arrow, descending almost perpendicularly, had pierced
her soft little arm, and transfixed it to her side. Yet had she not cried
out, nor even now, when I was tending her, did she whimper.
"I drew forth the arrow, breaking it in twain, so as to let the shaft pass
through the arm. Although blood flowed freely, I saw at a glance that
the wound in the body was a mere puncture, and also that on the limb
only a piercing of the flesh. Therefore was her hurt not serious,
although of a certainty painful, and terrifying too for a child so young.
But even now not one word of complaining did she utter. She kept her
sweet smile on me. Brave little maid!
"Tearing a length of cambric from my turban, I had bound both arm
and tender breast, and readjusted the sari of yellow-dyed cotton that
formed her simple garment. And now she reposed, happy and contented,
in my arms. I remained in the howdah, while my companions cut off
the heads of the robbers, and loaded these trophies of victory on one of
the other elephants, so that a triumphal pile might be made in the
courtyard of the citadel. Then, with the tiger replaced on the neck of my
own elephant, we moved for home, a group of fifty horsemen now
forming our escort. The headless bodies of our enemies were left as
fitting spoil for the jackals and the vultures, the latter of whom,
scenting the carrion, were already beginning to drop down, it might
seem, from the blue vault of heaven.
"By the time we gained the fortress the dusk was gathering. Across the
drawbridge, promptly lowered at the sound of our joyful shouting, I
saw my wife standing beside the big carronade that commanded the
roadway up the hill. The smoking match was in her hand, but at sight of
me she stooped and smothered in the dust the spark that would have
dealt out death to the robbers had they ever gained a near approach.
Descending from my elephant, I greeted her and thanked her