d his wife and his children
once more, and the two men turned to leave. The dull foreboding that it
was a parting for ever lay heavily upon all of them.

XIII

THE BATTLE

As Heideck returned to the camp, the road was lit up by the red glare
of innumerable fires. On the wide plain, stretching between the town and
river, work was going on in feverish haste. Rations and ammunition were
being dealt out, and long lines of beasts of burden were in motion.
Thousands of hands were busily employed in trying to facilitate the
passage of the troops across the shallow tributary of the Ravi. The
boggy places were made firm by a covering of palm branches and leaves;
and logs of wood were got ready in hot haste for the artillery.
Heideck could not help wondering why it was that the army had not been
concentrated from the first at the point the battle was to take place.
The approach through the difficult tract of land, in connexion with the
contemplated movement to the left, made calls upon the endurance of
the troops that could not but have the most detrimental effect upon the
issue of the battle.

He met his Indian boy, evidently in great excitement, in front of his
tent.

"When we start to-morrow we shall leave the tent with everything in it,"
said Heideck. "You will ride my horse and I shall take yours."

Morar Gopal was a Hindu from the south, almost as black as a nigger, a
small, agile little man, weighing scarcely eight stone. It was in order
to save his own horse for the later exertions of the day that Heideck
wanted his boy to ride him at first.

Only now he perceived that his servant, contrary to his usual habit, was
armed. He carried a sword buckled round his waist, and when asked the
reason, the Indian answered, with a certain amount of pathos--

"All Hindus will die to-morrow, but I at least will defend myself
bravely."

"What makes you believe that all Hindus must die to-morrow?"

"Oh, sahib! me know it well. The Mohammedans hate the Hindus, and they
will kill all of us tomorrow."

"But this is nonsense. Mohammedans and Hindus will unite as one man to
fight the Russians to-morrow."

The Indian shook his head.

"No, sahib! The Russians also are Mohammedans."

"Whoever told you so lied. The Russians are Christians, like the
English."

But however great his confidence in his master might be in general, this
time Morar Gopal evidently did not believe him.

"If they are Christians, why, then, sho