The Opelousas courier., 1901-11-09
AN ADVENTURE
NORTHERN INDIA.
BY DAVID KER.

were playing hide and seek among
broken pillars and heaps of fallen
stones down In the dark cellars of q
ruined house in the Hindu fort OF
Fati-Ghur, in northern India.
1t was a gloomy ~place-black, lone
some, dreary-and just the spot where
you might expect a wildcat or a poi
sonous snake to pop out upon you at
any moment; but Harry and Nellie
did not seem to mind 1t a bit, and
went scampering and laughing
through the dim archways and dark
ghostly vaults as merrily as if they
had been in a kindergarten.
1t was certainly a very strange
place to choose for a playground, and
it was stranger still that they should
be playing and laughing at all, with
the shadow of death deepening day
by day owe themselves. their fathers
and the whole garrison Of the fort.
War was raging throughout the en-
tire district, and all around Fati-Ghur
lay encamped a great host of fierce
Hindu warriors, vowing never to
leave the place until the had taken
the place and killed every living thing
within its walls.
Three times had the besiegers made
a furious attack IN the fort, but each
time they had been beaten off with
heavy loss, and did not seem inclined
to try 1t again.
But all day long-and sometimes at
night-they kept banging away at
the walls with their cannon and mus
kets, till no n could look over the
battlements for fear of being shot
dead, and the sick and wounded men
of the garrison were quite worn out
with this ceaseless din.
Worse, still, food was beginning to
run short, and they would soon be
forced to surrender or starve to death
unless some n came to the rescue;
and there seemed to be little hope for
that, for 1t would have taken a large
army, as well as a brave one, to cut
through the forest Of white turbans
and colored robes and dark, fierce
faces and ~glittering weapons that
hemmed in the doomed fortress on
every side.
And we've helped to defend the
fort, too" said Harry to Nellie as they
paused to rest, after running them
selves quite out Of breath, Il heard
Capt. Markham say so myself, while l
was helping a woman to scrape lint
for those soldiers that were wounded
last night"
And I've torn up a whole lot of
rags for bandages." replied Nellie !
proudly; land I'm going to tear up a !
lot more this afternoon. I do wish,
though, they'd give over fighting. I'm
SO tired Of those gums banging away
all night long, and it's so horrid see
ing the poor soldiers brought in all
cut and bleeding. There's poor Ser |
geant Bennett, who made all those |
pretty toys for me, has got such q
terrible hurt all along one side of his
head, where a bullet hit him the
other day; and it's so sore that he
can't sleep a bit"
Never mind" answered Harry, as
Stunning quite a fatherly air, In vir-
tue of his being six months the older
Of the two; Just you wait two or
three days more, and then you'll see
General Rose and his men come up
from the other side of the river and
send all these black fellows flying"
But I heard papa say yesterday"
said Nellie, with a rather grave look
on her round, rosy little face, that
General Rose has only a few hundred
men with him just now; and surely
they can't fight a Whole army at
Cant they?" cried Harry, dlsdain-
fully. Didn't Lord Give thrash Co.
200 Of them at Plassey, with only 5000
men Of his own? And didn't the Duke
of Wellington send the rajah's whole
army scampering with only two regi-
nents? Just you wait and see, that's
Ill. / say. let's have another game.
You go and hide. and I'll hunt for
rou."
Away went Nellie instantly right
INTO the gloomiest and ~ioneliest part
# the ruins. bent upon discovering
'ome place where ven Harry himself
would not be able to find her.
Fearlessly she picked her way in
Utmost total darkness through one
and dismal vault after another
for the toughest soldier in the gar
ison was not Drawer than our little
,olden-haired Nellie-and at length
he came to a spot where two great
masses of masonry had fallen In such
way as to lean against each other,
a kind Of low arch very much
Ike the mouth OF a cavern.
Harry will never find me here, said
he to herself, triumphantly, as she
rept into the hole; and finding 1t !,
lot large enough to let her stand up
light, she lay down upon the ground /,
nd remained as quiet as a mouse.
huckling inwardly to think how puz- !.
led Harry would be when he. came !,
0 look for her.
But scarcely had her ear touched :
be earth when she became aware OF :
strange, dull sound deep down be- !
'w her, like the measured beat OF I
ars or the noise which would be made !
y some one humping hard against a 9
added door. .
What could It be? It was certainly y
OF Harry. and there was no one else 9
own there except herself; but the :
could not be merely her fancy t
she was quite sur that she did hear +
and what wal more 1t seemed to Il
y RrewinR louder and coming nearer. b