Henty G. A. Henty: 70 Historical Novels

1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4553-9315-2
Verlag: Seltzer Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 16009 Seiten

This file includes: Among Malay Pirates: a Tales of Adventure and Peril; At Aboukir and Acre: a Story of Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt; At Agincourt; At the Point of the Bayonet: a Tale of the Mahratta War; Beric the Briton: a Story of the Roman Invasion; Bonnie Prince Charlie: a Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden; Both Sides of the Border: a Tale of Hotspur and Glendower; Boy Knight: a Tale of the Crusades; Bravest of the Brave, or With Peterborough in Spain; By Conduct and Courage; By England's Aid or The Freeing of the Netherlands (1585-1604); By Pike and Dyke: a Tale of the Rise of the Dutch Republic; By Right of Conquest or With Cortez in Mexico; By Sheer Pluck: a Tale of the Ashanti War; Captain Bayley's Heir: a Tale of the Gold Fields of California; Colonel Thorndyke's Secret; Condemned as a Nihilist: a Story of Escape from Siberia; The Cornet of the Horse: a Tale of Marlborough's Wars; Dash for Khartoum: a Tale of the Nile Expedition; The Dragon and the Raven or the Days of King Alfred; A Final Reckoning: a Tale of Bush Life in Australia; For Name and Fame or Through Afghan Passes; For the Temple: a Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem; Forest and Frontiers or Adventures Among the Indians; Friends Though Divided: a Tale of the Civil War; Girl of the Commune; The Golden Canyon; Held Fast for England: a Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1798-1783); In Freedom's Cause; In the Heart of the Rockies: a Story of Adventure in Colorado; In the Irish Brigade: a Tale of War in Flanders and Spain; In the Reign of Terror: the Adventures of a Westminster Boy; In Times of Peril: a Tale of India; Jack Archer: a Tale of the Crimea; Jacobite Exile: Being the Adventures of a Young Englishman in the Service to King Charles XII of Sweden; The Knight of the White Cross; The Lion of St. Mark: a Story of Venice in the Fourteenth; Century; The Lion of the North: a Tale of the Times of Gustavus Adolphus; A March on London: Being a Story of Wat Tyler's Insurrection; No Surrender! a Tale of the Rising in Vendee; On the Irrawaddy: a Story of the First Burmese War; On the Pampas or the Young Settlers; One of the 28th: a Tale of Waterloo; The Orange and the Green: a Tale of Boyne and Limerick; The Queen's Cup; Rujub the Juggler; Saint Batholemew's Eve: a Tale of the Huguenot Wars; Saint George for England; Tales of Daring and Danger; Through the Fray: a Tale of the Luddite Riots; Through Three Campaigns: a Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti; The Tiger of Mysore: a Story of the War with Tippoo Saib; The Treasure of the Incas: a Story of Adventure in Peru; True to the Old Flag: a Tale of the American War of Independence; Under Drake's Flag: a Tale of the Spanish Main; Under Wellington's Command: a Tale of the Peninsular War; When London Burned; Winning His Spurs With Buller in Natal or a Born Leader; With Clive in India or the Beginnings of an Empire; With Frederick the Great: a Story of the Seven Years' War; With Kitchener in the Soudan: a Story of Atbara and Omdurman; With Lee in Virginia: a Story of the American Civil War; and With Moore at Corunna.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Henty, G. A.

Leseproben

CHAPTER I
   A merry party were sitting in the veranda of one of the largest and handsomest bungalows of Poonah. It belonged to Colonel Hastings, colonel of a native regiment stationed there, and at present, in virtue of seniority, commanding a brigade. Tiffin was on, and three or four officers and four ladies had taken their seats in the comfortable cane lounging chairs which form the invariable furniture of the veranda of a well ordered bungalow. Permission had been duly asked, and granted by Mrs. Hastings, and the cheroots had just begun to draw, when Miss Hastings, a niece of the colonel, who had only arrived the previous week from England, said: "Uncle, I am quite disappointed. Mrs. Lyons showed me the bear she has got tied up in their compound, and it is the most wretched little thing, not bigger than Rover, papa's retriever, and it's full grown. I thought bears were great fierce creatures, and this poor little thing seemed so restless and unhappy that I thought it quite a shame not to let it go."   Colonel Hastings smiled rather grimly.   "And yet, small and insignificant as that bear is, my dear, it is a question whether he is not as dangerous an animal to meddle with as a man eating tiger."   "What, that wretched little bear, uncle?"   "Yes, that wretched little bear. Any experienced sportsman will tell you that hunting those little bears is as dangerous a sport as tiger hunting on foot, to say nothing of tiger hunting from an elephant's back, in which there is scarcely any danger whatever. I can speak feelingly about it, for my career was pretty nearly brought to an end by a bear, just after I entered the army, some thirty years ago, at a spot within a few miles from here. I have got the scars on my shoulder and arm still."   "Oh, do tell me all about it," Miss Hastings said; and the request being seconded by the rest of the party, none of whom, with the exception of Mrs. Hastings, had ever heard the story before--for the colonel was somewhat chary of relating this special experience --he waited till they had all drawn up their chairs as close as possible, and then giving two or three vigorous puffs at his cheroot, began as follows:   "Thirty years ago, in 1855, things were not so settled in the Deccan as they are now. There was no idea of insurrection on a large scale, but we were going through one of those outbreaks of Dacoity which have several times proved so troublesome. Bands of marauders kept the country in confusion, pouring down on a village, now carrying off three or four of the Bombay money lenders, who were then, as now, the curse of the country; sometimes making an onslaught upon a body of traders; and occasionally venturing to attack small detachments of troops or isolated parties of police. They were not very formidable, but they were very troublesome, and most difficult to catch, for the peasantry regarded them as patriots, and aided and shielded them in every way. The headquarters of these gangs of Dacoits were the Ghauts. In the thick bush and deep valleys and gorges there they could always take refuge, while sometimes the more daring chiefs converted these detached peaks and masses of rock, numbers of which you can see as you come up the Ghaut by railway, into almost impregnable fortresses. Many of these masses of rock rise as sheer up from the hillside as walls of masonry, and look at a short distance like ruined castles. Some are absolutely inaccessible; others can only be scaled by experienced climbers; and, although possible for the natives with their bare feet, are impracticable to European troops. Many of these rock fortresses were at various times the headquarters of famous Dacoit leaders, and unless the summits happened to be commanded from some higher ground within gunshot range they were all but impregnable, except by starvation. When driven to bay, these fellows would fight well.   "Well, about the time I joined, the Dacoits were unusually troublesome; the police had a hard time of it, and almost lived in the saddle, and the cavalry were constantly called up to help them, while detachments of infantry from the station were under canvas at several places along the top of the Ghauts to cut the bands off from their strongholds, and to aid, if necessary, in turning them out of their rock fortresses. The natives in the valleys at the foot of the Ghauts, who have always been a semi-independent race, ready to rob whenever they saw a chance, were great friends with the Dacoits and supplied them with provisions whenever the hunt on the Deccan was too hot to make raids in that direction.   "This is a long introduction, you will say, and does not seem to have much to do with bears; but it is really necessary, as you will see. I had joined about six months when three companies of the regiment were ordered to relieve a wing of the 15th, who had been under canvas at a village some four miles to the north of the point where the line crosses the top of the Ghauts. There were three white officers, and little enough to do, except when a party was sent off to assist the police. We had one or two brushes with the Dacoits, but I was not out on either occasion. However, there was plenty of shooting, and a good many pigs about, so we had very good fun. Of course, as a raw hand, I was very hot for it, and as the others had both passed the enthusiastic age, except for pig sticking and big game, I could always get away. I was supposed not to go far from camp, because in the first place, I might be wanted; and, in the second, because of the Dacoits; and Norworthy, who was in command, used to impress upon me that I ought not to go beyond the sound of a bugle. Of course we both knew that if I intended to get any sport I must go further afoot than this; but I merely used to say 'All right, sir, I will keep an ear to the camp,' and he on his part never considered it necessary to ask where the game which appeared on the table came from. But in point of fact, I never went very far, and my servant always had instructions which way to send for me if I was wanted; while, as to the Dacoits, I did not believe in their having the impudence to come in broad daylight within a mile or two of our camp. I did not often go down the face of the Ghauts. The shooting was good, and there were plenty of bears in those days, but it needed a long day for such an expedition, and in view of the Dacoits who might be scattered about, was not the sort of thing to be undertaken except with a strong party. Norworthy had not given any precise orders about it, but I must admit that he said one day:   "'Of course you won't be fool enough to think of going down the Ghauts, Hastings?' But I did not look at that as equivalent to a direct order--whatever I should do now," the colonel put in, on seeing a furtive smile on the faces of his male listeners.   "However, I never meant to go down, though I used to stand on the edge and look longingly down into the bush and fancy I saw bears moving about in scores. But I don't think I should have gone into their country if they had not come into mine. One day the fellow who always carried my spare gun or flask, and who was a sort of shikaree in a small way, told me he had heard that a farmer whose house stood near the edge of the Ghauts, some two miles away, had been seriously annoyed by his fruit and corn being stolen by bears.   "' I'll go and have a look at the place tomorrow,' I said; 'there is no parade, and I can start early. You may as well tell the mess cook to put up a basket with some tiffin and a bottle of claret, and get a boy to carry it over.'   "'The bears not come in day,' Rahman said.  "'Of course not,' I replied; 'still I may like to find out which way they come. Just do as you are told.'   "The next morning, at seven o'clock, I was at the farmer's spoken of, and there was no mistake as to the bears. A patch of Indian corn had been ruined by them, and two dogs had been killed. The native was in a terrible state of rage and alarm. He said that on moonlight nights he had seen eight of them, and they came and sniffed around the door of the cottage.   "'Why don't you fire through the window at them?' I asked scornfully, for I had seen a score of tame bears in captivity, and, like you, Mary, was inclined to despise them, though there was far less excuse for me; for I had heard stories which should have convinced me that, small as he is, the Indian bear is not a beast to be attacked with impunity. Upon walking to the edge of the Ghauts there was no difficulty in discovering the route by which the bears came up to the farm. For a mile to the right and left the ground fell away as if cut with a knife, leaving a precipice of over a hundred feet sheer down; but close by where I was standing was the head of a water course, which in time had gradually worn a sort of cleft in the wall, up or down which it was not difficult to make one's way. Further down this little gorge widened out and became a deep ravine, and further still a wide valley, where it opened upon the flats far below us. About half a mile down, where the ravine was deepest and darkest, was a thick clump of trees and jungle.   "'That's where the bears are?' I asked Rahman. He nodded. It seemed no distance. I could get down and back in time for tiffin, and perhaps bag a couple of bears. For a young sportsman the temptation was great. 'How long would it take us to go down and have a shot or two at them?'   "'No good go down. Master come here at night, shoot bears when...