Sher Singh had at once acceded to the proposal of Major Edwardes that Percy Groves should establish himself in his camp. "Let him come," he said; "he will see that all I say to you is true, and that I am a faithful servant of the maharajah. There is nothing I wish to hide from him or from you. I have sworn to you over and over again, that I am faithful; and did he live in my tent, he would see how true I am to my oath."

The rajah, indeed, was sore that his fidelity should be suspected, and in his conversations with Percy, after the latter had established himself in a tent close to him, he frequently complained that after having so long withstood the entreaties of his father and the wishes of his troops, he should be suspected. Percy did his best to assure him that personally Major Edwardes had no doubt of his loyalty, and that he feared only that he might not be able to control the troops.

"But I have so far controlled them," Sher Singh said; "have I not brought them here instead of allowing them to march into Mooltan? Why, then, should I be doubted now? If I had wished to go, would it not have been better that I should have done so before these white troops arrived? You had hard work in beating Moolraj alone; if I had joined him before, Edwardes and the Bhawulpoor troops would have been destroyed."

"Had you joined Moolraj, rajah, we should never have crossed the Indus, nor would the troops of the nawab have been here. Major Edwardes knows well that you have done your best, and believes that did your troops revolt you would ride into our camp. It is not your good-will that he doubts, but your power over your soldiers. We know that they are in hourly communication with the enemy, that they go freely in and out of the town, that messengers pass between them and their countrymen who have gone over; and it is easy to understand that, placed as we are here, and carrying on a siege with but scant forces for such an operation, he cannot but be most anxious regarding a force like yours lying so close to him. But he has still strong hopes that you will be able to keep them firm. Were it otherwise, he would not have sent me here. It is anxiety, and not suspicion, that causes him so earnestly to beg you to stand firm."

Bhop Lal and Akram Chunder were both charged to learn as much as they could from the soldiers as to their intentions. Their reports were favourable to the rajah.

"The soldiers are all for Moolraj," Bhop Lal said. "They speak of the rajah by the nickname of 'the Mahomedan.' It is he alone who keeps them here, for though Uttur Singh and Shumsher both support him, they are almost alone among his officers. Sher Singh is a powerful rajah, and his family one of the first among the sirdars of the Punjaub. That is the reason why he has been able to keep them from going over, for they fear that if they did so in the face of his opposition, they would afterwards suffer at the hands of himself and his family, even if their cause were victorious. All seem agreed that there is no chance of the rajah's throwing in his lot with his father, and they curse him as one who is false to his family, his country, and his religion."

It was then a complete surprise to Percy when, after retiring to bed on the night of the 13th of September, he was suddenly aroused by the entrance of a body of armed men into his tent. They belonged, as he saw at once, to the rajah's own bodyguard, and were commanded by one of his most trusted officers.

"No harm is intended," the latter said; "the rajah's orders are that you are to be honourably treated, but I must beg you to rise and dress at once, as we are going to move our camp."

Seeing that resistance would be altogether useless, Percy at once rose. After putting on his clothes he saw that his arms had been taken possession of by the soldiers, and that he was in fact a prisoner. Without making a remark, he passed out of the tent, and saw his two men standing there with very crestfallen faces, holding his horse, and surrounded by a body of Sikhs. He mounted, and the Sikh cavalry at once closed in round them. The tents had been struck already, the baggage packed, and the troops formed up. Uttur and Shumsher Singh had, as he afterwards learned, done their utmost to carry off the men under their command to the British lines, but they had been surrounded by officers entreating, abusing, and threatening them and stirring up their soldiers till they were forced to abstain from opposing the popular demand.

Uttur Singh had then mounted his horse, and with great difficulty made his way through the crowd, riding off to carry the intelligence to Major Edwardes, followed by two other officers. Shumsher Singh had been carried off as a prisoner, and was confined in his tent; but the next night he managed to crawl out under the bottom of the tent, and made his way in common clothes and bare-footed several miles to the British camp, killing on the road one of Sher Singh's vedettes, who tried to arrest him. Two, therefore, out of the three Sikh leaders justified Major Edwardes' belief in their fidelity.

On arriving at the new place of encampment under the walls of the fort, Percy remained for an hour in the centre of his guard, and was then conducted to his tent, which had again been pitched. Half an hour later his two servants came in; both were deeply humiliated that they should have given their master no warning of what was coming, and poured out their apologies and expressions of regret.

"It is not your fault in any way," Percy said; "it was but yesterday afternoon that the rajah was even warmer than usual in his protestations of loyalty, and yet at that time he must have fully made up his mind as to his course. Had the troops known it yesterday you would certainly have noticed a difference in their bearing. He cannot have issued any orders until late in the evening, and you see he took measures for my protection by sending his own bodyguard to protect me; and has probably carried me off partly as a hostage and partly perhaps with the thought that I may be useful should circumstances make it necessary for him again to enter into negotiations with our people. How is it we have not entered the fort?"

"The Sikhs intended to go in, sahib, but Moolraj kept the gates closed, and sent orders that they were to encamp here under the guns of the fort. I suppose that he is afraid of treachery. The Sikhs are very angry."

"I suppose they have taken your arms?" Percy said.

"Yes, sahib; we were sleeping at the door of your tent, they pounced upon us suddenly, twisting scarfs round our mouths to prevent our calling out. They carried us a short distance away, and then released us. They ordered us to saddle our horses and yours, and warned us that if we made the least outcry it would be the signal for your death as well as our own."

In the morning Sher Singh came into the tent. "I am sorry that I have been compelled to make you prisoner, Sahib Groves, but I had no choice. Had I not done so, the stir among the troops would have awoke you, and you might have carried the news to your camp in time for horsemen and guns to interfere with our movements. I did it, too, as much for your protection as my own, for some of the troops might have rushed in and killed you had you not been in the hands of my own guard."

"I thank you for that, rajah," Percy said quietly; "but my life is of little consequence in comparison to other matters. Until now it has only been a question of the overthrow of a dewan who refused to render obedience to his government, and whom you and your army were despatched to conquer. Instead of this, your army has gone over and joined his. You know, even better than I do, what that means: that all the Punjaub will be up, and that tens of thousands of lives will be lost. I can only hope that you, like myself, are here against your will."

"No," the rajah said passionately. "I was faithful, and I was doubted. I withstood the entreaties of my father, the adjurations of the chief men of my religion, and the wishes of my army; but when I found that in spite of all this, I was suspected, it was useless for me to strive longer. I am no longer a general of the durbar of Lahore, but a Sikh prince."

"I am truly sorry to hear it," Percy said gravely, "for your own sake, and for that of the Punjaub. There can be but one end to it. If, when the whole Khalsa army was intact, the Sikhs could not withstand the advance of a weak British force to Lahore, what chance have they against such an army as will be collected now? The last time England astonished the Sikhs by her clemency, and by taking so little when all was in her power. She thought that her strength and her clemency would alike have made such an impression that the Sikhs would henceforth be content and remain in peace. This time she will assuredly make no such mistake, and I consider that your highness' defection will lead to the destruction of the independence of the Punjaub."

"That we shall see," the rajah said, "Last time but a small portion of our sirdars took up arms. You had but to fight against troops who had long lost their discipline; now you will have the whole of the Sikh nation against you."

"Were the Sikh nation ten times as numerous as they are," Percy said quietly, "the end would be the same. However, as your highness has now taken your course, it is useless for me to endeavour to dissuade you. I have to thank you for having taken means to secure my safety, but I should have thanked you still more had you ordered your bodyguard to conduct me to our camp instead of bringing me here."

"That I could not do," Sher Singh replied; "it would have caused my own men to suspect me; but, be assured that you be well and honourably treated. I told you I regarded you as a guest in my camp, and as a guest you will always be treated; save in the matter of your liberty, every wish you may express will be granted; and if at any time you have any complaint to make, send me a message and I will come and see you and set matters right."

In the morning, when Sher Singh's men were about to march against the British camp, Bhop Lal said to Percy: "There will be no fighting, sahib. The Sikhs are very angry at the refusal of Moolraj to admit them into the town, and they say they have not revolted in order to fight for Moolraj, but for their country. They may advance, because the guns of Mooltan look down into their camp, and they dare not therefore refuse; but they will soon be back here again. They are eager to march away, and will do so ere long. Mooltan is nothing to them, and they know well enough that Moolraj is fighting for himself alone, and that were the British expelled, there would be another war to decide whether Moolraj or the Sikhs were to be masters of the Punjaub."

Until the Sikhs marched away on the 9th of October Percy did not again see Sher Singh. The rajah, indeed, sent him a message that contained the most bitter complaints against Major Edwardes for having, by the letter that was intercepted, increased the doubts of Moolraj as to his loyalty. Percy replied that he, of course, knew nothing of the letter; but that a general like Sher Singh must know well that in war it was always a matter of policy on the part of a leader to cause disunion, if possible, between allies opposed to him, and that doubtless he himself would, under similar circumstances, have acted in precisely the same manner.

There was no actual prohibition against Percy leaving his tent, but the officer in command of the guard, who kept a vigilant watch round it, strongly advised him not to do so.

"The rajah has given you into my charge," he said, "and holds me responsible for your safety. But how can I guarantee that, if you go about in the camp? I might surround you with a guard, and yet a musket or pistol ball fired by a fanatic might hit you. It is far better that you should remain in your tent, where you are out of sight of all, and out of their thoughts. If they once see you about, the fanatics might stir up the men to demand your life, and to insist that Sher Singh should give us some stronger proof of his hostility to the English, as Moolraj did when he permitted the murder of the two English officers; and although the rajah wishes you well, he may be unable to resist the demands of the troops, who are rather his masters than he theirs."

Percy felt the justice of the argument, and remained quietly in his tent, where he learned from his two followers all that was passing, as these in their native costume were able to move about freely among the Sikhs, of whom indeed but few were aware that the servants of the British officer, who had been carried off with them, had also been taken. Both the men, being Mahomedans, burned with indignation at the atrocities committed by the Sikhs upon the Mussulman villages on the line of march, where they burned the houses, robbed the people, defiled the mosques, and murdered the priests.

"Is that the way to fight for the independence of their country, sahib? Are there not great numbers of Mahomedans in the Punjaub, and is it not enough to have to fight the English without making every Mahomedan hostile to them? It was not so before. Mahomedans and Sikhs were of one mind as to the independence of the Punjaub. Now the Mahomedans will be as one man in their hopes that the British will win. They know that under the British masters every man can worship in his own way without interference; and they must see now that if the Sikhs conquer, they will root out the Mahomedans from among them. Akram and I followed you, sahib, and stood the fire of the Sikh guns because our lord had bidden us guard you, but except for that our hearts were rather with the Sikhs than with your countrymen, for have we not taken Sikh pay and fought under Sikh standards? Henceforth it is different. The Sikhs have showed themselves our bitter enemies, and all our hopes must now be with the English."

"You see no chance of my escape?"

"None at all at present; four guards watch day and night near your tent. We are forced to picket our horses in the lines of the Sikh troopers, and your horse is placed among those of the rajah, whence we have to fetch it every morning for the march. A party of sowars always ride with us to fetch it, and accompany us back. Of course we both have knives, which we have stolen at night from sleeping men; and we could get other arms, but we do not see that at present we could do anything with them."

"No, there is no possibility of escaping in the daytime," Percy agreed. "The men who ride beside me always have chains between their horses' bits and mine, so there is no possibility of my making a sudden dash for it, as I otherwise would have done. If I once got beyond the range of their pistols I should have little fear of being overtaken, for there can be few horses in the camp that are a match for Sheik."

Day after day passed; the officer in charge of Percy in no way relaxed his vigilance; the orders of Sher Singh being most emphatic as to the care to be exercised in guarding his prisoner. He learned from his followers the rumours current in the camp that the Sikh troops at Bunnoo and Rhotas had also mutinied, and were upon the point of effecting a junction with Sher Singh's force. They were considered the flower of the Sikh army, being composed entirely of old soldiers with trained cavalry and artillery. Sher Singh was marching to Lahore, and although the people there were for the time powerless in face of the force that had been hurried up to hold the city as soon as the defection of Sher Singh was known, they were reported as ready to rise at the first appearance of the army before their walls.

Some of the Sikh cavalry had been pushed on ahead of the army, with orders to destroy the bridge of boats across the Ravee, a mile and a half from Lahore. They succeeded in burning some of the boats, but were then driven off by the 14th Light Dragoons under Colonel Havelock. So far no large force of the British had arrived. A brigade with one English regiment had been pushed forward, and one of cavalry had assembled at Ferozepore, and native reports stated that large reinforcements were going forward to General Whish and others advancing towards Ferozepore. Sher Singh's army moved but slowly, and it was still the opinion of many British officers that, although constrained to desert us at Mooltan, he would be glad to make his peace as soon as a strong British army approached him.

At the end of the first week in November the first British division under General Thackwell crossed the Sutlej and advanced towards Lahore, and two days later the Commander-in-chief, with General Gilbert's division, followed it. The heavy guns had not yet come up, but were only a short distance behind, and the general was anxious to interpose his force between Lahore and the Sikh army, which might any day advance to its attack. He remained for two days at Lahore, Thackwell's division having already advanced.

"They will be here in two or three days, sahib," Akram Chunder said one morning to Percy. "We have a strong position here on the right bank of the Chenab, and how the English are going to cross I don't know; still they will do it somehow, that is quite certain. Now, sahib, is the time. You must look to yourself; so long as the Sikhs are confident of victory no doubt you will b............