Across India; Or, Live Boys in the Far East, Oliver Optic [read along books TXT] 📗

going among elephants, Flix, and don't know what a pachyderm is?" demanded Scott.

"Oi see, it's the elephant, and ye's call him so bekase he carries his pack on his bachk; and 'pon me worrud that's the roight place to carry it."

"I wonder if we are to have any hunting out here where we are going," suggested Scott. "How is it, Louis? You are in the ring with the Grand Moguls."

"Sir Modava told me that the Maharajah whom we shall visit at Baroda is a great sportsman, and always treats his guests to a hunt," answered Louis.

"Is it after schnakes?"

"No; but after tigers."

"But I want to hunt some schnakes; I'd loike to bring down a good-soized cobry," said Felix, rising from his reclining posture.

"No, you wouldn't, Flix," sneered Scott. "If you saw a cobry, you would run till you got back to Ireland."

"Is'ht me! Wud I roon from a cobry? Not mooch! Ain't I a lineal dayscindant of St. Patrick?--long life to him! And didn't he dhrive all the schnakes and toads out of the ould counthree! Jisht show me a cobry, and thin see me roon!"

Before the Milesian could tell how he intended to kill the cobra if he saw one, the train stopped; and a moment later Sir Modava, the commander, and Mrs. Belgrade appeared at the door.

"We have come to make things a little more social," said the Hindu gentleman as they entered the compartment; and the servants brought stools from the toilet-room, so that all were seated, making quite a family group.

"Are there any snakes where we are going, Sir Modava?" asked Felix, before any one else had a chance to speak. "I am spoiling for a fight with a cobra;" and he came back to plain English, which he could use as well as any one.

"Plenty of them, Mr. McGavonty," replied the East Indian. "You will not get badly spoiled before you fall in with all you will wish to see."

"Then I will bag some of them," added Felix.

"No, you won't, Flix; they will be more likely to bag you," rallied Scott.

"But I am in earnest," persisted the Milesian. "I have seen plenty of them in Bombay; and upon my word and honor, I don't feel at all afraid of them. One of them might hit me when I was not looking, for they don't play fair; but I shall be on the watch for them, and I'll take my chance."

"But, Sir Modava, do you really dare to go out where there are cobras?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, looking at her son.

"Certainly we do; we don't think anything at all about them."

"But you are in danger all the time."

"Of course it is possible that one may be bitten when a snake comes upon him unawares. The deaths from snakes and wild animals in all India averages annually twenty-two thousand. About a thousand are killed by tigers. Of a hundred and fifty kinds of snakes, only about twenty are poisonous. The deaths from snakes is one in 13,070; and the chance of being bitten is very small."

"I am afraid your figures lie, Sir Modava," said Captain Ringgold, with a pleasant laugh. "Millions of the people live in cities and large towns where there isn't a snake of any kind."

"Quite true, and, to some extent, the figures do lie; but there are plenty of cobras and other snakes in parts of Bombay, and the figures are not so false as you think, Captain," replied Sir Modava. "But I forget that I was sent here for a purpose by Lord Tremlyn. I am to tell you something about the Mahrattas, which is the name of the people who inhabited the region north of us. They have a long history which I have not time to review, but they have been prominent in the earlier affairs of India. They have always been a warlike people, and wrested the country from the Mogul emperor, sometimes called the Grand Mogul, and made themselves a powerful people.

"The present maharajah rules over the most extensive kingdom of any native prince. He is a Rajput, which is the aristocracy of the Mahrattas. He is the most powerful of the Indian rulers, and one of the most hospitable. I was formerly in his service, and he considers himself under some slight obligations to me. He is an independent prince in the same sense that other rulers are in this country. There is always a British representative at his court, who advises him in some matters of government, and his realm is called a protected state.

"He is a great sportsman; and I have no doubt you will be invited to hunt with him, as well as to witness some exhibitions which may not be agreeable to the ladies."

"Don't we stop at any stations on the road?" asked Louis.

"There is no town of any great consequence between Surat and Baroda, and this is a special express train," replied Sir Modava.

Some of the party looked out the windows, and the intelligent guide explained what was to be seen along the way. Some handsome temples attracted their attention, but they were insignificant compared with what they had been taught to expect in the future. The train crossed a bridge, which brought them into the suburbs of Baroda.

"The outskirts of the town contain a hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, far more than the city itself," said the Hindu gentleman. "The streets are very narrow here, and the houses are nearly all of wood; but they are different from any you have seen before, for they are peculiar to Goojerat, the state of which Baroda is the capital. You see at about all the crossings pagodas and idols, with banners flying over them. It is an unhealthy region, the ground is so low; and yonder you see a stately hospital, built by the Guicowar, as the maharajah is called."

The tourists had all they could do to see the strange things that were pointed out to them, and while thus employed the train stopped at the station. Looking out the windows again, they saw several elephants, all handsomely caparisoned, and with howdahs on their backs. A band of native musicians was playing near them, and the party wondered what this display could mean; but Sir Modava was unable to inform them. They got out of the carriages, and found themselves in a handsome square.

A company of cavalry was drawn up near the elephants, at the head of which, surrounded by a numerous staff of officers, sat on a prancing horse, caparisoned with exceeding richness, a person who could be no other than the maharajah. He was dressed in the most magnificent robes of India, covered with jewels in ornamental profusion.

"That is the Guicowar," said the Hindu guide.

"He is doing us great honor in coming out in this manner to welcome us."

As soon as he discovered the party, the ruler dismounted nimbly from his noble steed, and, attended by some high officers, advanced to meet them. A sort of procession was hastily formed with Lord Tremlyn at the head of it; for he was the most distinguished person, and in some sense the representative of the British home government. The Italian band of the general, as soon as the native band ceased, struck up "Hail, to the chief!"

The party encountered the king, who rushed up to the viscount, and seized him by the hand, as not all kings are in the habit of doing. They talked together for a few moments, when his Highness happened to see Sir Modava, and rushed to him, seizing him in a semi-embrace, clasping the Hindu with his right hand while the left encircled his shoulder. The potentate was profuse in his congratulations to the two gentlemen on their escape from death in the shipwreck, and this afforded Lord Tremlyn an opportunity to present Captain Ringgold as the commander of the steamer that had saved them.

"He is my friend, then," said the Maharajah, as he gave him no equivocal shake of the hand.

Then Louis and his mother were presented and described, and received an equally warm welcome. But the prince decided to receive the rest of the party at the palace, and they were requested to mount the elephants. The ladies were timid about it; but Louis told his mother that she must get up into the howdah as though she had been riding elephants all her life, and she did so, the others following her example. Louis assisted his mother first, and then Miss Blanche.

They were all seated on the huge beasts, and the procession started, the Italian band following the native, and playing when they ceased to do so.

CHAPTER XXV FELIX MCGAVONTY BRINGS DOWN SOME SNAKES

"Well, what do you think of this?" asked Captain Ringgold, turning to Mrs. Belgrave, as the elephant moved off.

"I don't feel quite at home up here," she replied, holding on with both hands at the side of the howdah.

"I think it is nice," added Miss Blanche. "It seems very much like riding on a camel, only there is more motion."

"It is a good place to see everything there is to be seen," suggested Louis, as he looked about him. "The king is taking us to his palace in high style. If he meant to astonish us, he has hit the nail on the head."

"But where are Lord Tremlyn and Sir Modava?" asked Miss Blanche.

"They are mounted on a couple of as handsome horses as I ever saw in my life," replied the commander. "One of them is on each side of the Guicowar, at the head of the cavalry troop. In England and America the escort goes ahead of the persons thus honored; but here, as a rule, the king cannot ride behind anybody. You remember that when we saw the Sultan going to the mosque in Constantinople he rode at the head of the procession, and all the great officers of state went behind him; and that seems to be the fashion here."

"But is he much of a king?" Mrs. Belgrave inquired.

"They all call him a king, and I suppose he is one. He is a Maharajah, a word written with a capital, and composed of two words, maha, which means great, and rajah, a king. The definition is 'a Hindu sovereign prince,' and that makes a king of him. He rules over a large territory, and Lord Tremlyn says he is the most powerful of all the native princes. He is certainly treating us very handsomely."

"I think I could get along without quite so much style," said Mrs. Belgrave, laughing; and she seemed to feel as though she was taking a part in a farce.

"All the style is in honor of the distinguished gentlemen we picked up in the Arabian Sea. But excuse me, Mrs. Belgrave, if I suggest that it is not wise and prudent to laugh in the midst of such a spectacle as this. The Hindus are very exclusive until you get acquainted with them, and have a great many prejudices which we cannot comprehend. They are very sensitive, and are very likely to misinterpret the expression and the actions of a stranger; your laugh might be offensive, leading them to believe you were sneering, or making fun of them, as we should call it."

"Then I will be very circumspect," replied the lady. "But is the Guicowar really a king, when all this country belongs to the English? Victoria is the Empress of India."

"He rules over a protected state; but his powers seem to be almost unlimited. A British officer is always at his court, and is called a 'resident,' who is the representative of the government. But he does not meddle with the affairs of the state unless occasion requires."

The houses the tourists passed were all of Indian style, and there were always towers and pagodas in sight. The region as they passed out of the city was rural; and finally they came to the great gates of the palace, which they entered. The grounds were covered with great trees and gardens, in the midst of which was a palace, where they found the cavalry drawn up and presenting arms. The elephants were made to kneel down as when the party mounted them, and they descended by means of ladders.

A host of servants ushered them into the palace, which Lord Tremlyn said had been appropriated to their use. Their luggage had already been sent to their apartments; and an hour later the company