Percy was not kept waiting long, for in twenty minutes Mr. Fullarton joined him in the verandah.

"Now about yourself, Groves. I have no doubt that you will be able to make yourself very useful, and I at once accept your services as a volunteer in the civil service. I do not know yet whether I myself shall accompany the troops if they march from here. If I do I will take you with me, if not I will introduce you to General Wheeler, and transfer your services to him. There is a great dearth of men who speak Punjaubi, and I am quite sure he will be very glad to have someone with him so well acquainted with the language as you are. I expect him here shortly; he is sure to come across to talk matters over with me as soon as he receives my note. I will introduce you to him then. Before he comes you had better change and get into English dress. He is a soldier of the old school, and might regard your present attire as a sort of masquerading, and receive an unpleasant impression of you."

Half an hour later General Wheeler and three or four officers of his staff rode up to the door and had a long interview with the Resident. At its conclusion a servant brought a message to Percy that Mr. Fullarton desired to see him. He had by this time changed his clothes.

"This is the young gentleman of whom I have been speaking to you, general," the Resident said as Percy entered. "He is the nephew of the Colonel Groves who has been many years in the Sikh service. His father was an officer in our own army. He speaks Punjaubi like a native. He has volunteered, and will, I am sure, be very useful to us. I came out with him in the same ship from England, and formed a high idea of his intelligence. It is, I believe, his wish to enter the service of the Company later on. He is not without some little experience in war, for but a week ago he took part in the defence of his uncle's fortress when attacked by fifteen thousand Sikhs, whom they beat off handsomely. I have been telling General Wheeler, Groves, that you might be very useful in obtaining information or in communications with the natives, and that the fact that there might be some little peril in the work would not be any obstacle to your undertaking it. I said that I was going to keep you by me as a sort of civilian aide-de-camp, but the general has been good enough to say that he will attach you to his staff nominally as interpreter, but in fact as an extra aide-de-camp; and as my assistant and myself both speak the language well, while the general is short of officers who know it, I feel that you will be of more service to him than to me. But I consider you as lent only, and I shall be glad at any time if General Wheeler no longer requires your services to take you on in the capacity of an extra assistant."

"Can you ride?" General Wheeler asked. "But I suppose I need hardly ask that, as you have been living among the Sikhs."

"Yes, I can ride, sir, in the Sikh fashion or the English."

"Mr. Fullarton tells me that you could pass as a native."

"In anything like an ordinary conversation I could, sir; and as I have worn the native dress for the last ten months I am perfectly at home in it."

"Very well, then, you can consider yourself as from the present time attached to my staff. Major Clissold, will you see after him? I should think that you, as adjutant-general of the division, will find him even more useful than I should do as an aide-de-camp."

"You can leave us now, Groves," Mr. Fullarton said, "but wait outside and Major Clissold will speak to you presently."

Percy bowed and withdrew. The conversation still continued to turn upon him.

"I should think one might put him in general orders, Clissold, either as an extra aide-de-camp or as attached to your department. I don't know what the rules of the service are with regard to the uniform of volunteers attached to the army. It is so seldom done now that I really do not know, but in the old days they were dressed, I believe, as officers."

"No, that won't do," Mr. Fullarton laughed. "I am going to make a civilian of him. If he does well in the campaign he might perhaps get gazetted as an ensign, but it would be very much better for him to have a claim on the civil side. Therefore, I shall take upon myself to appoint him as my deputy-assistant. I shall write to Sir Henry Hardinge asking that the temporary appointment may be confirmed, seeing the urgent necessity for more officers up in the language and with a knowledge of the country. So we may consider the appointment made. Now I lend him to you, and you can put it in general orders that the temporary services of Deputy-assistant Groves have been placed by me at your disposal as interpreter, and that he is henceforth attached to the head-quarter staff of the division. That will give him an established position, and he can wear his civilian clothes, a white helmet, and so on.

"I think that will be a very good plan," the general said.

"He has two servants with him. They are Pathans, both first-rate fellows, whom he will employ when necessary to obtain information. I would suggest that they be put on rations as a matter of convenience to Groves, and they could be entered either as civilian servants or guides. It is no question of money, for although the lad's uncle has a reputation for moderation, very rare among the adventurers who served Runjeet Singh, he must be a rich man."

"I will make a note of it," Major Clissold said, and the conversation then turned to other matters.

Half an hour later the officers came out and rode away. Mr. Fullarton said as they did so, "I will myself ride over with Groves later on," and he then came into the verandah, where Percy was waiting. "I think I have done a good stroke of business for you, Groves."

"You have indeed, sir. I am awfully obliged to you, although I would rather have stayed with you."

"And I should have been glad to have had you, but it is better as we have arranged it. You will have much greater opportunities for seeing service with the brigadier, and a report in your favour would come much better from him than it would from me, as I appointed you. It is probable that I shall remain at my post, and in that case there would be little for you to do here. While acting as an interpreter on the staff you will have abundant work, making bargains for the quarter-master's department, for waggons and transport, finding out about roads and fords for Major Clissold, and in general interpreting work. You must change your head-gear. That pith topee you have got is really better, but we generally wear either the helmet or a cap like a forage cap, with a pugaree wrapt round it, and the ends falling down behind to keep the sun off the back of the neck and spine. I should advise you to adopt that, for there is no getting a helmet here. When you ride about always take one or both of your mounted servants behind you. They are soldierly-looking fellows, and it will give you weight with the natives. I need not tell you that now you will hardly be free to go about quite as you like, and that even when there is nothing for you to do you will be expected to be at hand if required. Major Clissold is a capital fellow to serve under. He may work you hard, for there will be an immense deal of work to be done, but he is always pleasant and agreeable to his subordinates, and is very much liked in the force. I have some writing to finish, but in about an hour I shall be ready to start with you, so you may as well warn your two fellows to be ready. I have a forage cap that I have only worn once or twice, for it is too small for me. I will tell Ram Singh to put a pugaree on, and if necessary put some folded cotton inside the lining to make it fit you."

An hour later they rode into the head-quarter camp.

"I have brought you your interpreter, Clissold," Mr. Fullarton said as he entered that officer's tent, followed by Percy, their horses being held by the latter's men. "Where are you going to stow him? As there is no getting tent furniture here, I have told my man to send over what is necessary; but as I did not know whether Groves would have a tent to himself or not I told him to wait till I returned before he started."

"No, I have put him in a tent with Hunt. We can't afford a tent each for subalterns, so they are doubled up two together. But Hunt happens to be an odd man, which is lucky. Orderly," he called out, and as the soldier entered, "tell Mr. Hunt I shall be glad if he will step here."

A minute later a young officer entered. "Hunt, here is the young gentleman who, as I told you, will have to share your tent. He is a volunteer in the civil service. Mr. Fullarton has kindly lent him to us for a time as interpreter, which I am sure we want badly enough on the staff, for none of you young fellows are of the slightest use with the natives. He is the son of an officer late of our service, and has been for the last six months with his uncle, who was one of Runjeet Singh's colonels, and still holds the fortress he was appointed to some time ago, although ordered by the Sikhs to leave. I am sure you will get on well together, and I hope that you will make him as comfortable as you can, and introduce him to the other aides. He will mess with you for the present."

The young officer shook hands with Percy. "If you will come with me I will show you our tent."

"If you don't mind, Hunt, I will come with you," Mr. Fullarton said; "then I can see what is wanted in the way of furniture."

The tent was a square one with double canvas, the two walls being four feet apart, thus making a passage round it, one side being utilized as a bath-room and receptacle for luggage, the other being used by the servants as their living and sleeping apartment. There was a carpet spread over the floor, a native camp-bed, two folding chairs, a table, and a portable bath.

"All you want, as far as I can see," Mr. Fullarton said, "is another charpoy and a couple more chairs."

"That is all," Hunt agreed; "this is all the furniture one is allowed, which we think rather hard. Do you think the Sikhs are going to cross the Sutlej, sir?"

"Of course, they may do so, but the general impression is that it will not be in force; they may begin by making raids, but probably the real fighting will take place when we get across. Well, now, I shall leave you, Groves; I think you will get on very well, and I daresay we shall meet pretty nearly every day."

"Are those two fellows yours?" Hunt asked, as, going out of the tent with Mr. Fullarton, he saw the two natives sitting like statues on their horses in front of the tent, while one of them held the bridle of Percy's horse.

"Yes, they are my two servants; they are two of my uncle's soldiers. Both have been officers' servants, they are extremely useful fellows, and I can trust them thoroughly. One is a Pathan from the hill frontier of Afghanistan, the other is from Cashmere, therefore neither of them have any special leanings towards the Sikhs."

"That is a capital horse of yours?"

"Yes, he is very fast, and has much more endurance than the horses of the plains. My uncle bred him. He has a European sire, and his dam is considered as having some of the best blood in the Punjaub. What shall I tell my men to do with the horses?"

"They can picket yours over there; that line of horses all belong to the staff. Their own they can put with that line behind, those are the horses of the orderlies. I will go across with you and see about it, or some of the soldiers will be interfering."

The horses were soon picketed, and the men brought Percy's saddle and valises to his tent. By night he felt quite at home. The aides-de-camp were pleasant young men, and having already been spoken to by Major Clissold, received the new-comer cordially. Percy had inquired of Hunt as to the messing arrangements. "I am well supplied with money," he said, "and wish, of course, to pay my share of all expenses."

"That can easily be managed," Hunt replied. "The way it is arranged is this. There were five of us, Long and myself, are the general's aides-de-camps; Humphreys and Lascelles, who are deputy-assistant-quartermaster-generals; and Egerton, who is an assistant-adjutant-general. They are all lieutenants. We brought up with us a certain amount of mess stores, principally liquor, which are all common property. I will see to-morrow what stock is left, and you can hand me over a sixth of the value, which will go to the fund for general expenses. However, these are not heavy, for being under canvas we draw rations—meat and bread—and I buy what I can get in the way of vegetables, game, and so on, from the country people. Of course, if you leave us before our store of liquor is exhausted, I shall, as it were, buy your share back again."

Percy found the society very agreeable. His experience of the junior officers' mess on board a ship had prepared him for the tone of light chaff and fun that prevailed. Although by some four years the youngest of the party, the fact that he was acquainted with the country they expected shortly to invade gave him a certain weight with the others, none of whom had been in that part of India before. He was asked innumerable questions as to the Sikhs, and what he thought of their fighting powers; and had to recount in full detail the story of the attempt to storm the fortress.

"That uncle of yours must be an uncommonly plucky fellow to hold on there in the face of the whole of the Sikhs, and he must be amazingly liked by his troops for them to stick to him against their own countrymen."

"That is not so wonderful," Percy said, "for the Sikhs are constantly fighting against each other. Most of his men have served under him for eight or ten years. The rest were recruited in his district, which was only conquered by the Sikhs in Runjeet's time, so they are still considered as interlopers by the natives. Still, of course, there is always the fear of treachery; and my uncle nearly lost his life while the attack was going on; the man who attempted it was one of those he trusted most thoroughly, being his steward and the head of his household."

"You did not tell us about that," Hunt said. "How was it?" and Percy had to tell the story.

"And you shot him? Well, I have never shot a man yet, and I don't know how I should feel. Were you very uncomfortable afterwards?"

"Not in the slightest. He was going to kill my uncle, and I fired and he went down, and I thought nothing more about it till I mentioned it to my uncle after it was all over."

"I suppose you are a good shot?"

"I am a fair shot," Percy said. "I have practised nearly every day since I left England, except when I was travelling up country. Mr. Fullarton advised me to do so on board ship, and my uncle kept me regularly at that and riding and sword exercise every day, partly because he said these things would be most useful to me, and partly because the Sikhs look up to anyone who can do things better than they can."

"It must be awfully jolly to be able to speak the language, Groves?" Lieutenant Egerton said, "and I hear you speak it like a native. You must have a wonderful knack of picking up languages to have learnt it so completely in six months."

"It was not exactly in six months. I had studied Hindustani before I left England; and luckily Mr. Fullarton had a Punjaubi servant with him, and I worked with him regularly five or six hours a day throughout the voyage, so that I was able to get on pretty fairly with the language by the time I got out here."

"I wish I had spent my voyage as well," Egerton laughed, "instead of spending it spooning with a young woman who was on her way out to be married, and w............