Chapter 31: The Pledge.

Without giving the words of Luchman and the numerous questions and answers that passed, his intentions may thus be described:

The native had racked his brain for some feasible means of getting the fugitives out of the temple and on the road to Kurnal again. But there was no such means. They were surrounded by the Ghoojurs, and as helpless as were the wives and daughters whom Nana Sahib some time afterward shut up and massacred in Cawnpore. Nothing, therefore, remained but to buy off the ruffians.

The ladies learned for the first time that Luchman had in his possession the famous diamond, the Star of India, with which he proposed to ransom them; but they asked how it was possible to do that when dealing with such a conscienceless miscreant as the Ghoojur chieftain.

The guide’s recklessness as to his own fate gave him an advantage that he would not have had otherwise. He intended to walk directly out on the plain, and ask an audience with the chieftain, who would be eager enough to grant it. The offer of Luchman would be the surrender of the wonderful gem, on condition that the whole force of Ghoojurs should withdraw, and allow the Feringhees a long start on the way to Kurnal.

When pressed to explain in what manner he would guard against the perfidy of Wana Affghar, the guide said the plan was clear in his mind, but it was not necessary that he should explain it at that time.

“You carry a watch, sahib,” said he addressing the surgeon; “when it shows the hour of eight this evening, you and the rest will walk out of the entrance way, turn toward the north, and approach the river, about one fourth of a mile from here. You will keep walking all night, and pay no thought to me. I will join you before morning, if I can, but do not tarry for me. If I fail to appear, press your strength to the utmost. You will not be very far from Kurnal, and by sunrise you ought to be almost safe.”

Both the surgeon and the missionary believed that the faithful guide would sacrifice his own life for the rest. How bitterly they reproached themselves that they had ever doubted him! They were inclined to protest, but he would not listen. He went over the instructions again, and, without so much as saying good by, he strode out on the parched plain, until he had crossed the ditch where the assassins concealed themselves the day before.

Luchman was not in fear of trickery at this stage of the proceedings, for Wana Affghar knew better than thus to defeat the realization of his cherished dream: the double dealing would come afterward.