The Star of India
Copyright© 2026 by Edward S. Ellis
Chapter 14: Toward Kurnal.
The evening was well advanced, when General Graves approached the group.
“It is all over,” he said with a sigh and shake of the head.
Luchman continued gazing toward Delhi. He glanced at the officer, but said nothing. Evidently he felt little respect for the leader who had shown such inefficiency, and therefore did not deign to notice his remark.
Dr. Avery, now that all military rule was at an end, was tempted to reproach the general for his blindness to the peril until it was too late, but he checked such feeling, conscious of the cruelty of giving it expression.
“What do you mean, general, by its being all over?”
“I doubt whether there is a living European in Delhi at this moment; or if there is, he will not escape an hour longer.”
“But what about the sepoys around you?”
“They are on the verge of revolt.”
“And are we left alone?” asked Marian with a gasp of dismay.
“It amounts to that, since even if those that are left should stand by us, they cannot resist the force that will soon attack them. They have opened the jails and turned the convicts loose. The Mussulmans are hunting everywhere for victims; and, friends,” added the commandant with great impressiveness, “it becomes my duty to say that I have no longer any power to help you. Each one must look out for himself.”
These were dreadful words coming from the head of the soldiery, but the little group had felt their truth before.
Luchman stood a minute longer in silence, and then wheeling abruptly said:
“Sahib, let us go!”
The heart of the missionary was lead. His distrust of the native came with overpowering force, and he was almost certain he meant to betray them into the hands of their enemies.
Dr. Avery stepped beside the good man and whispered:
“Don’t let him see that you distrust him! We will go with him; at the first sign of treachery I will put a bullet through his skull.”
Mr. Hildreth felt the wisdom of the suggestion, and acted upon it at once. Calling his wife to him, he said:
“Follow close behind me; we must make a start. Marian will follow the doctor. Luchman, we are ready. Under Heaven everything now depends upon you; lead the way.”
The younger man was more distrustful of Luchman than was the elder. He had studied him closely, and he believed his sympathies were with the wretches of the torch and knife.
Furthermore, the doctor was confirmed in his suspicion by the course of Luchman respecting the wonderful diamond, the Star of India. When he showed it to him near Lucknow he declared that it was a present for Miss Hildreth, but the latter was in ignorance of such purpose, as her lover learned from several guarded questions during his first night in Delhi.
True, it might be that Luchman thought it best under the circumstances to wait until they were free from the peril by which they were environed; but, admitting such to be the case, the query naturally presented itself as to why he had given no intimation of his intention to the young lady.
The only answer that Dr. Avery could form was that he had changed his mind. Such a recantation must signify a withdrawal of his loyalty to the missionary and his family. Actuated by friendship, he had still clung to them, in a measure, but where one wavers in such a situation, it may be certain he will soon become the bitterest enemy. In fact, all that Luchman was doing, and all that he had proposed to do, the surgeon set down as part of a plan to deliver the whole party over to the mutineers.
Yet there was a possibility of mistake, and so Avery determined to affect a belief in him, but at the first manifestation of treachery he would shoot the native as if he were a cobra drawn back to strike.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.