The War Chest Read Online Free Page A

with a crisp military salute.
    Horne returned the salute. ‘Excuse us for disturbing your class, Kiro.’
    Kiro looked quickly at the other two men and his tawny face broke into a smile. ‘Sir, you come about a voyage?’ he said.
    Horne nodded. ‘We embark as soon as we find the others.’
    ‘Sir, I see Bapu every day.’ Kiro pointed to the street. ‘He still works at the elephant stables two streets away. And Babcock came here only this morning, to say that he, Groot, and Mustafa are going to hide in a little house they found until the Navy’s press gang leaves Bombay.’
    The European features of Babcock, Groot and Mustafa could easily attract the attention of a recruiting squad, Horne knew, much more easily than those of his other four men. Pleased to hear that they were taking steps to remain out of sight, he asked, ‘And you, Kiro? Are you safe here?’
    Kiro smiled. ‘My students’ fathers are rich shipbuilders, Captain Horne. They do not want their sons becoming common sailors. They have stationed spies around the city to warn me when a press gang is near. Look—‘Kiro nodded to a shadowy corner. ‘There’s Shashi, one of my little spies, over there.’
    Horne looked across to a far pillar and saw a young Indian peering out bashfully at them. It was the same boy whom he had seen following them in the bazaar.
    Kiro explained, ‘I knew you were approaching before you arrived, sir. But because Shashi told me there was only one man in uniform, I did not become alarmed. I thought it—’
    At that moment, one of the double doors burst open and a turbaned man rushed in from the street.
    ‘Bapu!’
    Bapu, an Indian from the northern district of Rajasthan, was taller than Jingee, broader chested, with a brawny body like the fabled warriors of the ancient caste to which he had been born, the Kshatriya.
    Quickly saluting Horne, he gasped out, ‘We mustn’t waste time, sir … Our friends … they’re in trouble, sir… Somebody’s betrayed them and … and the press gang’s got them trapped in a house … hurry …’
    Bapu disappeared out into the street.
    * * *
    With Jud and Jingee close behind, Horne and Bapu led the way down a sloping street, while Bapu continued his story. A neighbour had come to the elephant barn and told him that a spy had betrayed the whereabouts of his three friends to the Navy’s press gang.
    The afternoon heat had emptied the streets; only a few brown faces peered from behind closed shutters; the report of pistol shots sounded in the distance, and Bapu confirmed that they were approaching the location of the hideout. The echoing pop, pop, pop of weapons told Horne that the press gang had found Babcock, Mustafa and Groot, but the three Marines were obviously resisting them.
    As they approached the intersection of two streets, Horne raised his hand and edged to the corner of a clay building. Removing his cocked hat, he peered down the adjoining street.
    He was looking into a cul-de-sac. A cart had been overturned three-quarters of the way down, to act as a barricade, and six men knelt behind it: two Royal Marines, a Royal Navy Lieutenant, two men whom Horne guessed to be British seamen, and a slim Asian wearing a turban and long robe. The Marines and the Lieutenant were peering round the cart, their muskets pointing down the street, while the two seamen were behind the barricade, reloading their flintlocks with ball and powder. Beyond them, Horne saw a small house at the end of the street; it had no windows, only a squat door and reed walls which immediately impressed him as being highly inflammable.
    Surveying the rest of the street, he pulled back his head and levelled the hat over his forehead. ‘There are six ofthem’, he reported. ‘They’ve barricaded the house with a cart. But they aren’t too concerned about covering themselves from the rear.’
    Anxiously, Bapu asked, ‘Any sign of activity in the house, sir?’
    ‘None I can see.’
    Jingee whispered, ‘Can we