John Bolt, Indian Civil Servant. A tale of Old Haileybury and India

Front matter

IE IR, _R, _A_ T ___. VOL, I. Page 54, 55, for Hurra read Hurrah. „ 95 „ Bete non read Bete noir. „ gg „ Busses „ Buses. „ 102 for Omnibusses read Omnibuses. „ 109 „ Do. „ Do. „ 117 „ Distabille read Dishabille. „ 222 „ Vanish read Banish. JOHN BOLT. JOHN B 0 LT, Indian Civil Servant 5 A Tale of Old Haileybury and India By R. W. LODWICK, (Late Bombay Civil Service). IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. London : DIGBY AND LONG, PUBLISHERS, 1 8, Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, E.C. IMPORTANT WORK ON AUTHORSHIP. THE AUTHORS' MANUAL. Being a Complete Practical Guide to all Departments of Journalism, Literary Work generally, and Book-producing, with special advice in regard to Imaginative Literature. By Percy Russell. Author of " King Alfred," "After this Life," "A Journey to Lake Taupo," "Australian Tales and Sketches," Sec.

Crown 8vo. , cloth gilt, price 5s. Postage 4jd. *„* This Manual has been specially planned to afford real help to all desirous of entering any branch of the Literary Profession. The information given is in all cases derived from actual personal experience, extending over twenty years of uninterrupted work in all depart ments of working Literature. LONDON : DIGBY & LONG, Publishers, iS, Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, E.C. A complete Catalogue of Noi'els, Travels, Biographies, Poems, &c. , free by post on application. CONTE NTS. CHAPTER. PAGE. I. — Haileybury in Old days - i II. — John Bolt ------- 6 III. — Bolt's Fate - - - - - - n IV. — Gertrude - - - - - - - 18 V. — Cupid's Captive ------ 25 VI. — Bolt Pops the Question - - - - 33 VII. — A Changed Man 40 VIII. — A College Wine ----- 47 IX. — Bolt has Visitors - - - - - 57 X. — Eastward Ho !------ 74 XI. — Bolt sees beauty unadorned - - - 91 XII. — A Night Ride to the Pyramids - - 102 XIII. — Boys will be boys - - - - - no XIV. — Danger Ahead - - - - - - 120 XV. — A Night Adventure - - - - 133 XVI. — A Shot from Horseback and its Consequences - - - - - - 142 XVII. — The Man-Eater - - - - 157 XVIIL — A Hurricane - - - - - - 173 XIX. — A Rival appears on the scene - - 189 XX. — Mrs. Bolt is Wide Awake - - - 201 XXI. — The Confession - - - - - 213 XXII. — Miss Armstrong to the Rescue - - 222 XXIII. — An Indian Inundation - 233 XXIV. — Bolt makes the Acquaintance of a Bear 246 XXV. — Douglas makes a discovery and takes a resolution - - - - - -257 XXVI. — A Parting and a Meeting - 265 XXVII. — Douglas recommends a Novel and makes himself useful - - - - - 272 XXVIII. — Douglas Plays His Last Card - - 284 XXIX. — The Tempter Prevails - - -

Chapter I

haileybury in old days. 'THE antecedents of few places have been more *■ remarkably forgotten than those of Haileybury- The present generation knows it as a school for boys, and nine persons out of ten have no idea that it has ever been anything else, like the worthy old country clergyman, who took a gentleman to task for saying "when I was at College," because it turned out that he had been " only at Haileybury ! " Yet it must have struck some people who have seen it of late years, that it could not have been originally intended for a mere boys' school, for in the days when it was erected, none but the greatest boys' school, such as Eton, were on a similar scale. Its fine quadrangle, its chapel, large hall and library, all seem, unmistakably to say, this was intended to be a place for men, not boys.

Alas ! yes, how are the mighty fallen ! How soon does time obliterate the past ! The place which was the alma mater of such men as Lord Laurence, Frere, and many others, whose names are historical, may indeed claim to have ranked in its day with any of our University Colleges, and deserves to be remembered for all time, as the final training place of great men. Our story opens in its precincts, commencing about 45 years ago. The East India Company, not the Crown, was then the ruler of India. Competitive examinations for the Indian civil appointments — writerships, as they were called — were then un known. The Board of Directors of the great Com pany, which had then its abode in Leadenhall Street, shared among them all the patronage of the East, and gave to their relations and friends those coveted appointments which are now obtainable only by dint of the hardest possible work, followed by an intellectual struggle of the severest possible kind, That under such a system there should have been some "Company's hard bargains," was inevitable.

No one will deny that, under the present system, the intellectual superiority ot Indian Civilians, as a body, over their predecessors is undoubted, and that there are fewer men in the service worth nothing than there used to be, but whether everything has been gained and nothing lost by the change of system may be questioned. The old body of civilians were, with very few exceptions, gentlemen by birth and bringing up, several of them sons and relations of men who had served their country as soldiers or statesmen in India, many of them connected with the best families in England. Idle and wild many of them were at College, no doubt; very few of them would have stood a chance of taking a competitive appointment now-a days; but there was the true English grit in their compo sition, and in after years many a man of them who had managed to scrape through College with the greatest possible difficulty, owing to a dislike for work, proved himself to be an invaluable servant of the State.

How many of those men stood undaunted in the time of danger, and either aided in saving our Empire in India, or died gloriously as heroes at their posts, let the annals of the Indian Mutiny bear witness. Whether the new race of civilians are equally worthy of their position, it will require another crisis like the Mutiny of 1857 t0 prove. But to our story — Haileybury College, in the year of grace 1846, was tenanted by about 100 young men between the ages of 19 and 22, most of whom had come up direct from public and private schools, but some few of whom had previously been in residence at Oxford or Cambridge. The large entrance, adorned with lofty pillars, led directly into the quadrangle, the whole centre of which was grass with the exception of broad paths down and across the centre and along the sides.

The side of the quadrangle as you entered consisted of Lecture Rooms and the Dean's house ; that to the left, of Student's Rooms, in two floors, with a house in the centre occupied by the Professor of Political Economy, old Jones, one of the cleverest men and greatest characters of his day, and one at each end where lived the Mathe matical and the Sanscrit Professors. The side facing the College entrance consisted of student's rooms also, with the Hindustani Professor's house in the centre, while the fourth side contained, first, the Great Hall, in which. students and professors dined, then, the Library, where those terrible ordeals for the idle yclept term examina tions were held, then, the Chapel, and lastly the Principal's House : thus it will be seen that the students' rooms occupied less than a half of the whole building, and were in four divisions, separated from each other by Professors' houses.

Those divisions were called severally A, B, C, and D. Each student had but one room which served for bedroom and sitting-room, the bed being in a small recess at one side, which, being supplied with curtains, could be shut off from view if thought necessary. It is in one of these rooms on the upper floor in division A, that we must ask the reader to suppose himself able to see all that goes on one fine morning in the month of May, 1S46. The room is evidently tenanted by a young man who likes comfort and has peculiar fancies. The walls are literally covered with pictures, which are for the most part of women and dogs, from which it may be inferred that the owner's taste lies chiefly in the direction of the fair sex, and man's best friend. The pictures of women are not such as find favour with most young men, no ballet dancers balancing themselves on one leg and displaying the other at an acute angle, no decolletee maidens, Venuses devoid of drapery, or works of art of a similar description, adorn these walls.

The ladies are real ladies, well executed paintings of Shakespeare's heroines, with here and there a water colour of somebeauty of the day, with hair worn as was then the rage, either in huge rolls, or in long ringlets, on each side of the face. The dogs, however, are not as aristocratic as the ladies by any means ; bull-dogs and terriers stare at you on every side, forming a ludicrous contrast to the pictures beside them, A small but prettily shaped pier glass surmounts the mantlepiece, the curtains of the recess and window correspond, and are of handsome material, matching well with the paper of the room and the carpet, which is evidently an expensive one. Numerous arm chairs and a lounge in the window looking out on the Professor's garden, where also hang two hirds in cages, show that the young fellow thoroughly understands what it is to be comfortable, as is further attested by the remains of a dessert of fruit on the table with decanters of port and sherry, which had evidently t>een done full justice to over night, after the dinner at Hall.

In the recess reclines the occupant of the room, and since he is to be the leading character in our tale it will be well to take a good look at him as he lies asleep. He is evidently a slightly built young man of about 21, fairly good looking, with rich brown hair and a dark complexion. The face is thin, and the features pronounced, but it is the lower part of the countenance •which at once attracts attention, for there is a vast amount of decision about the chin, and firmly set lips which speak volumes. The young fellow is one of those men who you say at once will take his own path in life whether for good or evil, think and act for himself, and not be turned from a determination either by threats or persuasion ; one of those men in short who either make or mar their fortunes by their fixity of purpose.

He is in so sound a sleep that it requires the " Gip's " knock at the door to be twice repeated before he wakes up with a "hallo, what's the matter." " Time to get up if you want to be at chapel, Sir," is the reply. " Oh, hang chapel, I can't turn out yet; let's have curried soles and hot rolls for breakfast, and see that the rice is well cooked, and the rolls hot." Away goes the "' Gip " to the next room and the young fellow to the land of nod without more ado, where we will leave him for the present to introduce him more fully to the reader.

Chapter II. John Bolt

JOHN BOLT is the only son of an officer in the Indian U Army, of high standing, and was born in India, which he did not leave till he was nearly eight years old, long after he should have done so in fact, for the Indian climate tells severely on the very young. Owing to this he had always been a weakly boy, so that when sent to school almost immediately after reaching England, he found himself no match in strength for his school mates, and in consequence came in for a vast amount of bullying, which, as his was a peculiarly sensitive nature, told injuriously upon him. He retired within himself, made few friends, amused himself for the most part alone, came to be looked upon as a kill-joy, and was avoided by his companions. As he grew in years this feeling of dislike for the society of his fellows increased upon him.

Gifted with a great talent for drawing, and passionately fond of pets, he could always while away the hours happily by himself, which to other youngsters would have been tedious in the extreme without society. Devoted to sport of all kinds, he was quite happy with a fishing-rod in his hands, spending the day alone by the water-side, or, in company with his dog, rabbiting or ratting. Never having had a brother he had no natural companion to share these sports with him, nor did he wish for any. Thus he grew up to the age when we now find him, not indeed a misanthrope, for he could be jovial enough in company, and sing as good a song as any one at a wine party, but one who did not seek or care for the society of men — one who thought a good deal, indulged in day-dreams of the future, and enjoyed life in a manner altogether different to others of his own age.

His ambition having always been to enter the army, he detested the very idea of an office life, but his father, who had a writer ship given him for his son, well knowing from experience the immense advantage a civilian has over a military man in India, resisted all his son's entreaties to be made a soldier, insisting on his going to India as a writer. Though by no means deficient in brains, young Bolt lacked application and hated study ; when, however it was absolutely necessary to buckle to for any particular object, he could take to his books for a time with a will. Thus, when threatened by his father that if he did not get into Haileybury he would be cut off with a shilling and turned adrift in the world, he, knowing what stern stuff that father was made of, and that the old soldier would be as good as his word, put his shoulder reluctantly to the wheel at a private tutor's and managed to pass the preliminary examination, in those days considered a very difficult one, at the first attempt ; but when once at College his natural indolence and hatred of work displayed itself in full force.

Obliged to attend a certain number of lectures, in order to avoid being rusticated, he was to be seen occasionally in a back row of one or other of the lecture rooms, busily engaged in caricaturing the Pro fessor or taking the likeness of some fellow student. His " Note Books," (Heaven save the mark) were indeed curiosities, consisting as they did, of disjointed sentences, written down here and there at random and filled with pen and ink sketches of men, dogs, and horses. These valuable volumes, it need hardly be said, were not well calculated to do much good when the end of the term having arrived, the examination which gave or lost a term had to be undergone. Our hero had then to borrow notes from a friend, and to sit up night after night, with a wet towel round his head and hot coffee by his side, in order to make up for lost time.

Thus he managed to scrape through the three first terms, and we now find him in his fourth term, with India, as it were, actually in sight. Now, it will no doubt, be said, how could men of this description be of any earthly use hereafter; what a shame that prizes like civil appointments should have been given to such idle, good-for-nothing fellows, when there were hundreds of steady, hard-working young men, dying to be em ployed in the public service ! Good reader, we have changed all that now, for none but the hard-working youth can hope to be in the Indian Civil Service in these days, but know that many of these idle, harum scarum young men at Haileybury turned out the best men of their day in after life. Had all such been eliminated from the number of students at Haileybury, India would have lost many a Governor of a Province, Member of Council, and revenue or judicial officer, who has made a name for himself, and raised the credit of his country to the highest pinnacle among the natives of India.

Moreover, it could easily be shown, that a very great number of those who were, what was called " highly distinguished," and took prizes when at College, made no figure whatever when they were launched in life, many of the language-prize-men especially, being plucked over and over again when they went up for their examinations in India in the very languages for proficiency in which they had been loaded with grandly bound volumes at the term examinations. The truth is that application and success in youth, are no certain tests of what a man will be in public life. No doubt, many plodding, industrious men, possessed of a fair share of ability, do come to the front, and when industry is combined with rare talents the man is certain to be in the van, but great talent and aptitude for official work frequently lie latent during early life, being called forth only when the man has been fairly started in his career.

To proceed, however — John Bolt we have shown was no book-worm, but if he were not energetic in study, this could not be said of him in his pursuit of pleasure. His was one of those natures which never do anything by halves for which they have acquired a taste. John Bolt was a born sportsman and lover of dogs, and though both sport and keeping of dogs were things strictly prohibited by College rules, he managed to in dulge in these tastes, though at the imminent risk of losing his appointment. More than once had he been sent for by the Principal and solemnly warned that he would be requested to indulge in the charms of rustica tion if again reported as seen with a number of dogs at his heels, but still he continued the owner of many canine favourites, bearing a startling family likeness to the pictures in his room.

With these in the Winter term he beat many a hedge row and cover, and in the Sum mer took many a long expedition, housing them at a distance from the College, and avoiding as much as possible highways and places were he was likely to fall foul of a College Don. It was in one of these expeditions that an event occurred which had the most important influence on his future life, and which we must therefore give a full account of in a separate chapter.

Chapter III

bolt's fate. n BOUT three weeks before the date, when John Bolt **■ is introduced to the reader in the preceding chapters, he had gone off immediately after lecture with the intention of remaining absent all da)', on a visit to a village some distance from Hertford, which town is itself some miles from Haileybury. Having hastily divested himself of his cap and gown after the lecture was over, and caught up a dog whip and whistle, he ran down the steps which led from his room into the quadrangle, and across to the exit at the further end, that being his nearest way to the place where his dogs were kept. Having let loose his favourites, he proceeded on his way rejoicing. The day was lovely, the term had not long commenced, so that there was no necessity to think of that hateful time when classics, law, political economy, mathematics and languages, must each be pored over, and the work which ought to have been systematically done in some ten weeks, somehow or other mastered in twice as many days.

His duns, of whom, like most young men with tastes for pictures and creature comforts, he had not a few, had been quieted for the time by small payments together with promises of settlement in full before he left College. He was in good health and fine spirits, so that there was nothing to mar enjoyment. Carelessly humming" a tune he proceeded therefore on his way as happy as possible. Little did he think that in a few minutes more he would be face to face with his fate, and would have reason to recollect this day to the end of his life. He was proceeding along a narrow path-way by the side of a field when he saw before him a female form, evidently that of a young, and, judging by appearances, taking girl. There could be no doubt that she was a lady, for her dress, though simple, was exquisitely made, ■while her walk was perfect.

It was clear too, that she had some very good points, for as, utterly unconscious that there was any one behind her, she tripped lightly over a stile which divided the field they were in from the next, she displayed a lovely foot and ancle. Before her a fine black-and-tan terrier had bounded over the stile, and Bolt saw the animal jump up at an exceedingly small well-gloved hand when its mistress reached the ground on the other side. Our friend, like many men who do not care much for their own sex, was a great admirer of women. At twenty everything which wears a petticoat if not hump-backed is attractive when seen at a distance ; how much more so a form which in its lithe, elegant shape gives certain indications of belonging to beauty! Bolt, calling in his dogs therefore, hastened forward, determined to get a glimpse of the fair un known's face before she reached a house which he saw at a little distance, and which he made sure she was bound for.

Vaulting over the stile, followed by his dogs, he got within a short distance of the lady who, now evidently ■aware of the approach of a man, moved to one side to let him pass; as she did so, the terrier coming behind her at once stood with ears and tail erect, gazing defiantly at the approaching dogs. Bolt's dogs were game animals, but perfectly under command. At their master's order therefore to keep to heel they all crowded together behind him, and would no doubt have passed by the terrier, though with suppressed growls, had they not been interfered with. Bolt, who had made a step past the young lady, had just had time in the hurried glance he cast at her face to see that she was exceedingly pretty, when the terrier, mistaking probably the crowding of Bolt's dogs behind him for cowardice, sprang upon the one nearest to him, which happened to be a bull-terrier of his own size, and undoubted pluck.

The animal thus attacked, nothing loth, turning upon his adversary, and seizing him by the throat, a death grapple commenced. This was more temptation than the other three dogs, all more or less of fighting cast, could resist; seeing their comrade therefore so happily engaged, they at once joined in the fray, so that in a moment the terrier being attacked on all sides, a confused mass of writhing bodies enveloped in dust filled the pathway. " Oh, save him — for Heaven's sake — my darling Prince," ejaculated the young lady, at the same time clasping her hands and bursting into tears. Horrified at what had happened, Bolt thus adjured, rushed to the rescue of the terrier, using his heavy dog whip freely on the bodies of his dogs, while he shouted at them by name to leave go. In this way, he drove off three of the combatants, who, retiring sulkily to a little distance, sat looking on.

The bull terrier, how ever, would not release his grasp, for his jaws having -once met, nothing short of strangulation sufficed to make them give up their hold. Seeing, therefore, that blows were of no avail and that the terrier was almost in extremis, Bolt grasped his dog's throat with both hands and compressing the windpipe, at length obliged the brute to release his grasp. This done, he seized him, foaming and raging, by the collar, and dragged him to where the other dogs sat. The lady, who, meantime, had been almost distracted with terror, now bent over her dog, which lay in the pathway utterly exhausted, bleeding freely, and apparently dying. •' Aly darling Prince," she exclaimed. " My dear doggie, who would have thought when you bounded over the stile before me, a few minutes ago, that I should see you thus.

Oh ! what shall I do, what shall I do ? " And placing her hands before her eyes, Bolt could see that she was weeping bitterly. Meanwhile, our hero had had enough to do with the infuriated brute he held by the collar, and the other three animals, all of which, seeming to consider that a fair stand-up fight had been most unjustly put a stop to, were very much inclined to renew the combat. Roaring at them to come off, and lashing right and left at them with his whip, he dragged the bull terrier (still glaring fiercely back at his prostrate adversary) to a distant spot, where, having to a certain extent pacified him, he managed to get a muzzle (which he luckily had in his pocket) on the brute's jaws, thus rendering him powerless. A sound flogging and rating all round, having restored discipline, Bolt, ordering his dogs to lie down, now proceeded to the spot, where he had left the terrier.

He there found the lady, still bending over the animal, and endeavouring, with a dainty pocket handkerchief, of about six inches square, to staunch the blood. The dog, he was glad to see, was not dead, for it acknowledged its Mistress's kindness by trying to lick her hand. Seeing Bolt approach, she raised her tear stained face to his, beseeching him not to let his dogs again attack " poor Prince." A lovely woman in tears had never before appealed to him, and Bolt felt that he could have at that moment gone through fire and water at her bidding. He hastened to apologize for what had occurred, assuring her that he would kill the first of his dogs which dared to move a step from where he had left them, and that he would do all he could to help her. At the same time, drawing out his handkerchief, and tearing off the scarf from his neck, he used both to bind up the poor dog's wounds.

" If I could only get poor Prince home/' the girl murmured. " If I could only get him as far as that house you see yonder, and place him in a warm bed, I think he might recover." " Of course you shall get him that far," replied Bolt, " I will carry him for you myself." " Oh, thank you," she said, "how can I thank you sufficiently." It is by no means a pleasant thing to carry a good sized dog, in a dying condition, dripping with blood and covered with dirt, a couple of hundred yards, when you are well dressed and have a great dislike to spoiling your clothes. At any other time, therefore, Bolt would have as soon thought of flying as of acting in this way. But those blue eyes filled with tears had done their work, they had pierced him through and through, and he would have carried a donkey, let alone a dog, if he could have done so, at the fair one's bidding.

Accordingly, raising the terrier in his arms, he proceeded with his burden behind the lady till they reached the door of the house she had pointed out, a pretty cottage covered with creepers standing in a garden gay with flowers of every colour. Here, with trembling hand, she rang a bell, in answer to which the door was opened by an exceedingly nice looking damsel, who on seeing the strange group before her, threw up her hands, exclaiming " Lauk a mercy, Miss Gertrude, did I ever, whatever can be the matter ! " This exclamation, pronounced in a loud and startled tone of voice, brought to the door a white-haired gentle man and lady from a neighbouring room, both of whom were lost in amazement at the sight before them. " My dear Gertrude," said the gentleman, " What means all this, you in tears, and your dog ap parently dead in the arms of this " man, he was going to say, for seeing Bolt to be without a necktie and covered with dust, he at first took him for a common man, but immediately perceiving his mistake, corrected himself — " this gentleman, what in the world has occurred ?

" The old lady pressed forward at the same time and taking the agitated girl in her arms, begged her to state what had happened. For a minute or two the young lady could not speak, being almost hysterical, so Bolt, who wished very heartily to be rid of his burden, proceeded to explain what had occurred, and having expressed his profound grief at having been the unfortunate cause of the accident, he asked where he should place the wounded dog. " Oh ! to be sure, to be sure," said the old gentleman, " God bless me, we've been quite forgetting all this time that you have this weight in your arms, pray bring the poor beast in, and relieve yourself of the burden, by placing him on this mat," pointing to a red woollen mat in the entrance hall before the staircase. Bolt, having done as he was directed, turned to see what had become of the young lady.