He took leave of Prince Tchajawadse with a heartiness corresponding to their previous relations.The Prince embraced him several times, and his eyes were moist as he again wished his comrade a prosperous journey and the laurels of a victorious warrior.Nor was Heideck ashamed of his emotion, when he clasped the Prince's hand for the last time.
"If you see your page again, please give him my own and Mrs.
Irwin's farewell greeting."
The Prince's face clouded over.
"I would do it with all my heart, my friend, but I shall never see my page again.Let us speak of him no more.There are wounds of which a man cannot feel proud."With this they parted.
Heideck, who had resumed his civilian attire, slept at the hotel, and then took the place Mr.Kennedy offered him in his carriage.
He had found out that the railway between Lahore and Mooltan from Montgomery Station was still available for travelling.
The English, with their peculiar tenacity, still continued the regular service in the parts of India that were not affected by the war.The enormous extent of the country confined the struggle between the two armies in some degree to a strictly limited area.
In the west, the east, and the interior of India there were few traces of the conflict.Only the troop trains between Bombay and Calcutta revealed a state of war.
Since the retirement of the English army from Lahore, no more troops were to be seen on the western railway, and this section was again perfectly free for ordinary traffic.
Even the Indian population of this district showed no particular signs of excitement.Only the actual presence of the Russian troops had disturbed the patient and peaceful people.The travellers even passed through Chanidigot without any interruption of their occupations or meeting with any unexpected delay.
The weather was not too hot; the stormy season had begun, and travelling in the roomy, comfortable railway carriages would have been in other circumstances a real pleasure.
The travellers safely reached Karachi, the seaport town on the mouths of the Indus with its numerous tributaries, where Mr.
Kennedy's high position procured them admission to the select Sind Club, where the attendance and lodging were all that could be desired.The club was almost entirely deserted by its regular visitors, since, in addition to the officers, all officials who could be dispensed with had joined the army.But neither the Kennedys nor Edith and Heideck had any taste for interesting society.Their only wish was to leave the country as soon as possible, and to see the end of the present painful condition of affairs.As the result of inquiries at the shipping agency, they had decided to travel to Bombay by one of the steamers of the British India Company, and to proceed thence to Europe by the Caledonia, the best vessel belonging to the P.and O.line.
In the afternoon, before going on board, Heideck hired a comfortable little one-horsed carriage and drove to Napier mole, where an elegant sailing-boat, manned by four lascars, was placed at their disposal at the Sind Club boathouse.They sailed through the harbour protected by three powerful forts, past Manora Point, the furthest extremity of the fortified mole, into the Arabian Sea.
"Really, it is hard to leave this wonderful land," said Heideck seriously."It is hard to take leave for ever of this brilliant sun, this glittering sea, and these mighty works of men's hands, which have introduced luxury and the comforts of a refined civilisation into a natural paradise.I have never understood Mr.
Kennedy's sorrow better than at this moment.And I can sympathise with the feeling of bitterness which makes him shut himself up in his room, to avoid the further sight of all this enchanting and splendid magnificence."Edith, clinging to his arm and looking up fondly into his face only answered, "I only see the world as it is reflected in your eyes.
And there its beauty is always the same to me."
