Through Three Campaigns | Page 6

all, your secret would be kept."
"It is a grand idea, and I certainly don't see why it should not work out
properly."
"I have no doubt that the risaldar major will do all he can for you."
"Do you think so, Robah?"

"I am sure he will. He was very much attached to your father, and felt
his loss as much as anyone. Indeed, I think that every one of the native
officers will do all he can for you."
"That would make it very easy for me," Lisle said. "Till you suggested
it, the idea of going as a soldier never occurred to me but, with their
assistance, it will not be difficult."
"Shall I go and fetch the risaldar here, sahib?"
"Do so. I shall be on thorns until I see him."
In a few minutes the officer, a tall and stately Punjabi, entered.
"Risaldar," Lisle said, "I know you were very much attached to my
father."
"I was, sahib."
"Well, I want you to do something for me."
"It would be a pleasure for me to do so, and you have only to ask for
me to grant it, if it is in my power."
"I think it is in your power," Lisle said. "I will tell you what I want. I
have made up my mind to go with this expedition. I thought of
disguising myself, and going as a baggage coolie; but in that case I
should be always in the rear and see none of the fighting, and I have
made up my mind to go as a private in the ranks."
"As a private, sahib?" the officer exclaimed, in astonishment. "Surely
that would be impossible. You would be detected at the first halt.
Besides, how could the son of our dear captain go as a private?"
"I do not object to go as a private, risaldar. Of course I should stain
myself and, in uniform, it is not likely that any of the white officers
would notice a strange face."
"But you would have to eat with the others, to mix with them as one of

themselves, to suffer all sorts of hardships."
"All that is nothing," Lisle said. "I have been with the regiment so long
that I know all the ways of the men, and I don't think that I should be
likely to make any mistake that would attract their attention. As to the
language, I know it perfectly."
"I hardly dare do such a thing, sahib. If you were discovered on the
march, the colonel and officers would be very angry with me."
"Even if I were discovered, it need not be known that you had assisted
me, risaldar. You may be sure that I should never tell. If you were
questioned, you could declare that you had taken me for an ordinary
recruit. If I deceived everyone else, I might very well deceive you."
The risaldar stood thoughtful for some time.
"It might possibly be managed," he said at last. "I would do much for
Captain Bullen's son, even risk the anger of the colonel."
"I understand that a sepoy died yesterday. He was quite a young recruit,
and the white officers had not come to know his face. I might say that I
am a relation of his, and am very anxious to take his place."
"You could take his place in the ranks under his name."
"That would certainly be a good plan, if it could be carried out. I should
only be asked a few questions by the sepoys of my company. It would
seem to them natural that I should take my cousin's place; and that, as
the regiment was moving, and there was no time to teach me drill, I
should be expected to pick up what I could on the way. But indeed, I
have watched the regiment so often that I think I know all the
commands and movements, and could go through them without
hesitation. Besides, there won't be much drilling on the march. There
will probably be a good deal of skirmishing, and perhaps some rough
fighting."
"But if you were to be killed, sahib, what then?"

"I don't mean to be killed if I can help it," Lisle said; "but if I am, I
shall be buried as one of the sepoys. The officers will all believe that I
have gone home and, though they may wonder a little that I never write
to them, they will think it is because I am too busy. It will be a long
time, indeed, before any of my friends write to ask about me; and then
it will be supposed that I have been accidentally killed or drowned.
"At any rate, I should have the satisfaction of being killed in the
Queen's