With Clive in India;

Preface

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My Dear^Lads: In the following pages I have endeavored to give you a vivid picture of the wonderful events of the ten years, which at their commencement saw Madras in the hands of the French — Calcutta at the mercy of the Nabob of Bengal — and the English influence apparently at the point of extinction in India — and which ended in the final triumph of the English both in Bengal and Madras. There were yet great battles to be fought, great efforts to be made before the vast Empire of India fell altogether into British hands; but these were but the sequence of the events I have described.

The historical details are, throughout the story, strictly accurate, and for them I am indebted to the history of these events written by Mr. Orme, who lived at that time, to the “ Life of Lord Clive,” recently published by Lieutenant-Colonel Malleson, and to other standard authorities. In this book’ I have devoted a somewhat smaller space to the personal adventures of my hero than in my other historical tales, but the events themselves were of such a thrilling and exciting nature that no deeds of fiction could surpass them. I hope and believe then that you will follow the career of my hero, Charlie Marryat, with as much interest as you have manifested in the adventures of the many characters to whom I have hitherto introduced you.

A word as to the orthography of the names and places. An entirely new method of spelling Indian words has lately been invented by the Indian authorities. This is no doubt more correct than the rough and ready orthography of the early traders, and I have therefore adopted

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PREFACE.

it for all little-known words. But there are Indian names which have become household words in England, and should never be changed, and as it would be considered a gross piece of pedantry and affectation on the part of a tourist on the Continent, who should, on his return, say he had been to Genova, Firenz, and Wien, instead of Genoa, Florence, and Vienna, it is, I consider, an even worse offense to transform Arcot, Cawnpoor, and Lucknow, into Arkat, Kahnpur, and Laknao. I have tried, therefore, so far as possible, to give the names of well-known personages and places in 'the spelling familiar to Englishmen, while the new orthography has been elsewhere adopted.

Yours very sincerely,

G. A. Henty.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Leaving Home i

II. The Young Writer, 12

Chapter I. Leaving Home

A lady in deep mourning was sitting crying bitterly by a fire in small lodgings in the town of Yarmouth. Beside her stood a tall lad of sixteen. He was slight in build, but his schoolfellows knew that Charlie Marryat’s muscles were as firm and hard as those of any boy in the school. In all sports requiring activity and endurance rather than weight and strength he was always conspicuous. Not one in the school could compete with him in long-distance running, and when he was one of the hares there was but little chance for the hounds. He was a capital swimmer and one of the best boxers in the school. He had a reputation for being a leader in every mischievous prank; but he was honorable and manly, would scorn to shelter himself under the semblance of a lie, and was a prime favorite with his masters as well as his schoolfellows. His mother bewailed the frequency with which he returned home with blackened eyes and bruised face; for between Dr. Willet’s school and the fisher lads of Yarmouth there was a standing feud, whose origin dated so far back that none of those now at school could trace it. Consequently fierce fights often took place in the narrow rows, and sometimes the fisher boys would be driven back on to the broad quay shaded by trees, by the river, and there being reinforced from the craft along the side would reassume the offensive and drive their opponents back into the main street.

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It was but six months since Charlie had lost his father, who was the officer in command at the coast-guard station, and his scanty pension was now all that remained for the support of his widow and children. His mother had talked his future prospects over many times with Charlie. The latter was willing to do anything, but could suggest nothing. His father had but little naval interest, and had for years been employed on coast-guard service. Charlie agreed that although he should have liked of all things to go to sea, it was useless to think of it now, for he was past the age at which he could have entered as a midshipman. The matter had been talked over four years before with his father; but the latter had pointed out that a life in the navy without interest is in most cases a very hard one. If a chance of distinguishing himself happened promotion would follow; but if not, he might be for years on shore, starving on half-pay and waiting in vain for an appointment, while officers with more luck and better interest went over his head.

Other professions had been discussed but nothing determined upon, when Lieutenant Marryat suddenly died. Charlie, although an only son, was not an only child, as he had two sisters both younger than himself. After a few months of effort Mrs. Marryat found that the utmost she could hope to do with her scanty income was to maintain herself and daughters and to educate them until they should reach an age when they could earn their own living as governesses, but that Charlie’s keep and education were beyond her resources. She had, therefore, very reluctantly written to an uncle whom she had not seen for many years; her family having objected very strongly to her marriage with a penniless lieutenant in the navy. She informed him of the loss of her husband, and that although her income was sufficient to maintain herself and her daughters, she was most anxious to start her son, who was now sixteen, in life, and therefore begged him to use his influence to obtain for him a situation of some sort. The letter which she now held in her hand was the answer to the appeal.

“ My Dear Niece [it began] : Since you, by your own foolish conduct and opposition to all our wishes, separated yourself from your family and went your own way in life, I have heard little of you, as the death of your parents so shortly afterward deprived me of all sources of information. I regret to hear of the loss which you have suffered. I have already taken the necessary steps to carry out your wishes. I yesterday dined with a friend who is one of the directors of the Hon. East India Company, and at my request he has kindly placed a writership in the Company at your son’s service. He will have to come up to London to see the board next week, and will probably have to embark for India a fortnight later. I shall be glad if he will take up his abode with me during the intervening time. I shall be glad also if you will favor me with a statement of your income and expenses, with such details as you may think necessary. I inclose four five-pound banknotes, in order that your son may obtain such garments as may be immediately needful for his appearance before the board of directors and for his journey to London. I remain, my dear niece, yours sincerely,

“Joshua Tufton.”

“ It is cruel,” Mrs. Marryat sobbed — “ cruel to take you away from us and send you to India, where you will most likely die of fever, or be killed by a tiger, or stabbed by one of those horrid natives, in a fortnight.”

“ Not so bad as that, mother, I hope,” Charlie said sympathizingly, although he could not repress a smile; “ other people have managed to live out there and have come back safe.”

“ Yes,” Mrs. Marryat said sobbing; “ I know how you will come back. A little, yellow, shriveled-up old man with no liver, and a dreadful temper, and a black servant. I know what it will be.”

WITH CLIVE IN INDIA.

This time Charlie could not help laughing. “ That’s looking too far ahead altogether, mother. You take the two extremes. If I don’t die in a fortnight I am to live to be a shriveled old man. I’d rather take a happy medium, and look forward to coming back before my liver is all gone, or my temper all destroyed, with lots of money to make you and the girls comfortable. There is only one thing, I wish it had been a cadetship instead of a writership.”

“ That is my only comfort,” Mrs. Marryat said. “ If it had been a cadetship I should have written to say that I would not let you go. It is bad enough as it is; but if you had had to fight, I could not have borne it.”

Charlie did his best to console his mother by telling her how everyone who went to India made fortunes, and how he should be sure to come back with plenty of money, and that when the girls grew up he should be able to find rich husbands for them; and at last he succeeded in getting her to look at matters in a less gloomy light. “ And I’m sure, mother,” he said, “ uncle means most kindly. He sends twenty pounds, you see, and says that that is for immediate necessities; so I have no doubt he means to help to get my outfit, or at any rate to advance money which I can repay him out of my salary. The letter is rather stiff and business-like, of course, but I suppose that’s his way; and you see he asks about your income, so perhaps he means to help for the girls’ education. I should go away very happy if I knew that you would be able to get on comfortably. Of course it’s a long way off, mother, and I should have liked to stay at home to be a help to you and the girls; but one can’t have all one wishes. As far as I am concerned myself, I would rather go out as a writer there, where I shall see strange sights and a strange country, than be stuck all my life at a desk in London. What is uncle like? ”

“ He is a short man, my dear, rather stiff and pompous, with a very stiff cravat. He used to give me his finger to shake when I was a child, and I was always leaving home.

afraid of him. He married a most disagreeable woman only a year or two before I married myself. But I heard she died not very long afterward;” and so Mrs. Marryat got talking of her early days and relations, and was quite in good spirits again by the time her daughters returned from school, and she told them what she was now coming to regard as the good fortune which had befallen their brother. The girls were greatly affected. They adored their brother, and the thought that he was going away for years was terrible to them. Nothing that could be said pacified them in the slightest degree, and they did nothing but cry until they retired to bed. Charlie was much affected by their sorrow; but when they had retired he took his hat and went out to tell the news of his approaching departure to some of his chums.

The next day Mrs. Marryat wrote thanking her uncle for his kindness, and saying that Charlie would go around to London by the packet which sailed on the following Monday, and would, if the wind were fair and all went well, reach London on the Wednesday. School was, of course, at once given up, and the girls also had a holiday till their brother’s departure. When the necessary clothes were ordered there was little more to do, and Charlie spent the time when his boy friends were in school, in walking with the girls along the shore, talking to them of the future, of the presents he would send them home, and of the life he should lead in India; while at other times he went out with his favorite schoolfellows, and joined in one last grand battle with the smack boys.

On Monday morning, after a sad farewell to his family, Charlie embarked on board the Yarmouth Belle , a packet which performed the journey to and from London once a fortnight. She was a roomy lugger built for stowage rather than speed, and her hold was crammed and her deck piled with packages of salted fish. There were five or six other persons also bound for London, the journey to which was in those days regarded as an ardu-

WITH CLIVE IN INDIA.

ous undertaking. As soon as the Yarmouth Belle issued from the mouth of the river she began to pitch heavily, and Charlie, who, from frequently going out with his father in the revenue cutter, was a good sailor, busied himself in doing his best for his afflicted fellow-passengers.

Toward evening the wind got up, and shifting ahead the captain dropped anchor off Lowestoft. The next morning was finer, and the Yarmouth Belle continued her way. It was not, however, till Thursday afternoon that she dropped anchor in the Pool. Charlie was soon on shore, and giving his trunk to a porter desired him to lead the way to Bread Street, in which his uncle resided, for in the last century such things as country villas were almost unknown, and the merchants of London for the most part resided in the houses where they carried on their business. Keeping close to the porter to see that he did not make off with his trunk, for Charlie had received many warnings as to the extreme wickedness of London, he followed him through the busy streets, and arrived safely at his uncle’s door. It was now dusk, and Charlie on giving his name was shown upstairs to a large room which was lighted by a fire blazing in the hearth. Standing with his back to this was a gentleman whom he at once recognized from his mother’s description as her uncle, although he was a good deal more portly than when she had seen him last.

“ So you are my grand-nephew,” he said, holding out what Charlie considered to be a very limp and flabby hand toward him.

“Yes, uncle,” Charlie said cheerfully; “and we are very much obliged to you, mamma and I, for your kindness.”

“Humph!” the old gentleman grunted. “And how is it,” he asked severely, “ that you were not here yesterday? My niece’s letter led me to expect that you would arrive yesterday.”

“ We came as fast as we could, uncle,” Charlie laughed; “but of course the time depends upon the wind. The captain tells me that he has been as much as three weeks coming round.”

Mr. Tufton grunted again as if to signify that such unpunctuality was altogether displeasing to him. “ You are tall,” he said, looking up at Charlie, who stood half a head above him, “ and thin, very thin. You have a loose way of standing which I don’t approve of.”

“ I’m sorry I’m loose, sir,” Charlie said gravely, “ if you do not approve of it; but you see running about and playing games makes one lissom. I suppose, now that’s all over and I am going to spend my time in writing, I shall get stiffen”

“ I hope so, I hope so,” Mr. Tufton said encouragingly, and as if stiffness were one of the most desirable things in life. “ I like to see young men with a sedate bearing. And you left my niece and grand-nieces well, I hope?”

“Quite well, thank you, sir,” Charlie said; “but, of course, a good deal upset with parting from me.”

“ Yes,” Mr. Tufton said; “ I suppose so. Women are so emotional. Now there’s nothing I object to more than emotion.”

As Charlie thought that this was probably the case, he was silent, although the idea vaguely occurred to him that he should like to excite a little emotion in his uncle by the sudden insertion of a pin, or some other such means. The silence continued for some little time, and then Mr. Tufton said, “I always dine at two o’clock; but as probably you are hungry — I have observed that boys always are hungry — some food will be served you in the next room. I had already given my housekeeper orders. No doubt you will find it prepared. After that you may like to take a walk in the streets. I have supper at nine, by which hour you will, of course, have returned.”

Charlie, as he ate his meal, thought to himself that his uncle was a pompous old gentleman, and that it would be very hard work getting on with him for the next three weeks. However, he consoled himself by the thought

WITH CLIVE IN INDIA.

“ ‘ Kind is as kind does,’ after all, and I expect the old gentleman is not as crusty as he looks.” Charlie had handed to Mr. Tufton a letter which his mother had given him, and when he returned from a ramble through the streets he found that gentleman sitting by the fire with lights upon a small table beside him. Upon this Mrs. Marryat’s letter lay open.

“ So you have soon become tired of the streets of London, grand-nephew? ” he said.

“ There is not much to see, sir. The lamps do not burn very brightly, and the fog is coming on. I thought that if it grew thicker I might lose my way, and in that case I might not have been in at the hour you named for supper.”

“Humph!” the old gentleman grunted. “So your mother has taught you to be punctual to meals. But, no; boys’ appetites teach them to be punctual then if never at any other time. And why, sir,” he asked severely, “ did my niece not write to me before? ”

“ I don’t know, sir,” Charlie said. “ I suppose she

did not like — that is, she didn’t think — that is ”

“Think, sir! like, sir!” said his uncle. “What right had she either to think or to like? Her duty clearly was to have made me acquainted at once with all the circumstances. I suppose I had a right to say whether I approved of my grand-nieces going tramping about the world as governesses or not. It isn’t because a woman chooses by her folly to separate herself from her family that they are to be deprived of their rights in a matter \)f this kind. Eh, sir, what do you say to that? ” and Mr. Tufton looked very angry indeed.

“ I don’t know, sir,” Charlie said. “ I have never thought the matter over.”

“ Why, sir, suppose she had made you a tinker, sir, and you turned out a thief, as likely as not you would have done, and you’d been hung, sir, what then? Am I to have such discredit as this brought upon me without my having any option in the matter? ”

“ I suppose not, sir,” Charlie said. “ I hope I

LEAVING HOME.

shouldn’t have turned out a thief even if I’d been a tinker; but perhaps it was because my mother feared that this might be the case that she did give you the option.”

His uncle looked at him keenly; but Charlie, though with some difficulty, maintained the gravest face. “ It is well she did so,” Mr. Tufton said; “very well. If she had not done so, I should have known the reason why. And you, sir, do you like the thought of going to India?”

“ Yes, uncle, I like the thought very much, though I would rather, if I may say so, have gone as a cadet.”

“ I thought so,” Mr. Tufton said sarcastically; “ I was sure of it. You wanted to wear a red coat and a sword, and to swagger about the streets of Calcutta, instead of making an honorable living and acquiring a fortune.”

“ I don’t think, sir,” Charlie said, “ that the idea of the red coat and sword entered into my mind; but it seemed to me the choice of a life of activity and adventure against one as a mere clerk.”

“ Had you entered the military service of the coni' pany, even if you didn’t get shot, you could only hope to rise to the command of a regiment, ranking with a civilian very low down on the list. The stupidity of boys is unaccountable. It’s a splendid career, sir, that I have opened to you; but if I’d known that you had no ambition I would have put you into my own counting-house, though there, that wouldn’t have done either, for I know you would have blotted the ledger and turned all the accounts topsy-turvy. And now, sir, supper is ready ”; and the old gentleman led the way into the next room.

Upon the following day Charlie was introduced by his uncle to the director who had given him his nomination, and was told by him that the board would sit upon the following day, and that he must call at the India House at eleven o’clock. The ordeal was not a formidable one. He was shown into a room where eight *or ten elderly gentlemen were sitting around a large table. Among

WITH CLIVE IN INDIA.

these was his friend of the day before. He was asked a question or two about his age, his father’s profession, and his place of education. Then the gentleman at the head of the table nodded to him, and said he could go, and instructions would be sent to him, and that he was to prepare to sail in the Lizzie Anderson , which would leave the docks in ten days’ time, and that he would be for the present stationed at Madras. Much delighted at having got through the ordeal so easily, Charlie returned to his uncle’s. He did not venture to penetrate into the latter’s counting-house, but awaited his coming upstairs to dinner, to tell him the news.

“Humph!” said his uncle; “it is lucky they did not find out what a fool you were at once. I was rather afraid that even the two minutes would do it. After dinner I will send my clerk round with you to get the few things which are necessary for your voyage. I suppose you will want to, what you call amuse yourself, to see the beasts at Exeter Change, and the playhouses. Here are two sovereigns; don’t get into loose company, and don’t get drinking, sir, or out of the house you go.”

Charlie attempted to express his thanks, but his uncle stopped him abruptly. “ Hold your tongue, sir; I am doing what is right; a thing, sir, Joshua Tufton always has done, and doesn’t expect to be thanked for it. All I ask you is, that if you rob the company’s till and are hung, don’t mention that you are related to me.”

After dinner was over, Charlie went out under the charge of an old clerk and visited tailors’ and outfitters’ shops, and found that his uncle’s idea of the few necessaries for a voyage differed very widely from his own. The clerk in each case inquired from the tradesmen what was the outfit which gentlemen going to India generally took with them, and Charlie was absolutely appalled at the magnitude of the orders. Four dozen shirts, ten dozen pairs of stockings, two dozen suits of white cotton cloth, and everything else in proportion. Charlie in vain remonstrated, and even implored the clerk to abstain from ordering what appeared to him such a fabulous

LEAVING HOME.

II amount of things, and begged him at any rate to wait until he had spoken to his uncle. The clerk, however, replied that he had received instructions that the full usual outfit was to be obtained, and that Mr. Tufton never permitted his orders to be questioned. Charlie was forced to submit, but he was absolutely oppressed with the magnitude of his outfit, to carry which six huge trunks were required.

“ It is awful,” Charlie said to himself, “ positively awful. How much it will all come to, goodness only knows; three or four hundred pounds at least.”

In those days before steam was thought of, and the journey to India was often of six months’ duration, men never came home more than once in seven years, and often remained in India from the day of their arrival until they finally retired, without once revisiting England. The outfits taken out were therefore necessarily much larger than at the present time, when a run home to England can be accomplished in three weeks, and there are plenty of shops in every town in India where all European articles of necessity or luxury can be purchased. After separating from the clerk Charlie felt altogether unable to start out in search of amusement. He wandered about vaguely till supper time, and then attempted to address his uncle on the subject. “ My dear uncle,” he began, “ you’ve been so awfully kind to me that I really do not like to trespass upon you. I am positively frightened at the outfit your clerk has ordered; it is enormous. I’m sure I can’t want so many things possibly, and I would really rather take a much smaller outfit, and then, as I want them I can have more things out from England and pay for them myself.”

“You don’t suppose,” Mr. Tufton said sternly, “that I’m going to have my nephew go out to India with the outfit of a cabin boy? I ordered that you were to have the proper outfit of a gentleman, and I requested my clerk to order a considerable portion of the things to be made of a size which will allow for your growing, for you look to me as if you were likely enough to run up

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into a lanky giant of six feet high. I suppose he has done as I ordered him. Don’t let me hear another word on the subject.”

Chapter II. The Young Writer

For the next four days Charlie followed his uncle’s instructions and amused himself. He visited Exeter Change, took a boat and rowed down the river to Greenwich, and a coach and visited the palace of Hampton Court. He went to see the coaches make their start in the morning for all places in England, and marveled at the perfection of the turn-outs. He went to the playhouses twice, in the evening, and saw Mr. Garrick in his performance as Richard the Third. On the fifth day a great surprise awaited him. His uncle at breakfast had told him briefly that he did not wish him to go out before dinner, as someone might want to see him, and Charlie, supposing that a messenger might be coming down from the India House, waited indoors, and an hour later he was astonished when the door of the room opened and his mother and sisters entered. With a shout of gladness and surprise Charlie rushed into their arms.

“ My dear mother, my dear girls, this is an unexpected pleasure indeed! Why, what has brought you here? ”

“ Didn’t you know we were coming, Charlie? didn’t uncle tell you? ” they exclaimed.

“ Not a word,” Charlie said. “ I never dreamt of such a thing. What, has he called you up here to stay till I go?”

“ Oh, my dear, he has been so kind,” his mother said, “ and so funny ! He wrote me such a scolding letter, just as if I had been a very naughty little girl. He said he wasn’t going to allow me to bring disgrace upon him by living in wretched lodgings at Yarmouth, nor by his grand-nieces being sent out as governesses. So he

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ordered me at once, ordered me, Charlie, as if I had no will of my own, to give up the lodgings and to take out places in the coach yesterday morning. He said we were not to shame him by appearing here in rags, and he sent me a hundred pounds, every penny of which, he said, was to be laid out in clothes. As to the future, he said it would be his duty to see that I brought no further disgrace upon the family.”

“ Yes, and he’s been just as kind to me, mother. As I told you when I wrote, he had ordered an enormous outfit, which will, I am sure, cost hundreds of pounds. He makes me go to the playhouses and all sorts of amusements, and all the time he has been so kind he scolds, and grumbles, and predicts that I shall be hanged.”

“ I’m sure you won’t,” Kate, his youngest sister, said indignantly. “ How can he say such a thing! ”

“ He doesn’t mean it,” Charlie laughed; “ it’s only his way. He will go on just the same way with you, I have no doubt; but you mustn’t mind, you know, and mustn’t laugh, but must look quite grave and serious. Ah ! here he is. Oh, uncle, this is kind of you! ”