N. Francis Xavier, Part VIII (Continued from last week)
The bugler sounded the reveille under the bedroom window of Colonel Cadell in Government House on Ross Island. It was the morning of 14th July, five days after the escape.
But Cadell was already awake. The ever-present orderly brought his morning tea and laid it on the table.
The sound of the bugle brought to his mind memories of that fateful day in 1857, 12 June to be exact, twenty three years almost to the day, when, under very heavy fire he rescued the bugler of his regiment, and again went back to bring another severely wounded man.
They were natives, but men of his own regiment, the Bengal Fusiliers. It was that act of conspicuous bravery that won for him the coveted Victoria Cross.
But, while he risked his life to save those of natives he felt no hesitation in hanging them. He detested them for their colour and their cunning. Perhaps he was jealous of their wisdom also. They were just “niggers”, a term he like to use while writing back home about his experiences in India.
Suddenly Cadell felt tired. The more than twenty years of life in India had not been as promising as he expected it to be. Wining the VC so early in his career gave him expectations of quick promotions. But that was not to be. He was posted as a political agent to a princely state, and then here, to these desolate islands, full of convicted murders. He was just a Major when he reached Port Blair. Only a few days later he received orders of his promotion as Lt. Colonel. His predecessor had been a Lt. General.
His lower rank resulted in many acts of insubordination by the officers in the settlement. The garrison commander made it a point to insult him by not saluting him properly. The captain of the ship thought he was of a higher rank. It was not an easy job, being Chief Commissioner at Port Blair.
Cadell vented his anger on the hapless convicts. There was a sudden spurt in hangings.
Cadell’s eye fell on the black file on the table in front of him.
It was stenciled “Death Penalty” on the flap. It contained the case histories of convicts who committed heinous offences after coming to the islands and were hanged. It showed he would soon overtake his predecessor General Barwell in the number of hangings. It was not even seven months after he assumed charge and he had already hanged nine. Another three are in the death row, awaiting confirmation from the government.
He saw a fresh warrant of death, marked with a flag kept in the file for his signature.
Picking up a pen and dipping it in ink Cadell signed the warrant with a flourish.
‘I will add eleven more now,’ he thought, ‘to be hanged once they’re recaptured and brought back.’
Cadell read his own letter to the Home Secretary written in March. He had hanged two convicts, Mahesh Gurrain and NabuBepari for the attempt to murder of ToolsheGoalla.
The motive, it appeared, was ‘unnatural offence’. He was asked to submit a report on the reasons for the prevalence of this practice among the convicts. He had constituted a committee consisting of Maj. Wimberley and Maj. Birch to report on the matter. A copy of their report was also in the file. They reported how the many measure to control the offence failed.
‘The main reason is the absence of women,’ Cadell said to himself.
The case of Jagan, who killed Shah Alum, the petty officer in Barrack No. 7 three years ago was a classic example.
Jagan never opened his mouth, even on the gallows. But everyone in the barrack knew the reason for the murder.Jagan smashed the skull of Shah Alum with an axe in full view of the other convicts. No convict tried to stop him.
Looking out of the window Cadell saw the streaks of dawn towards the east. After blowing incessantly for four days and nights the storm had abated. Government House, though palatial, was damp and leaking. The shingled roof could not stop the heavy downpours of the monsoon.
The shrill blast of a ship’s bullhorn shattered the silence.
It was the SS Satara entering the harbor.
Cadell quickly changed and walked down to the jetty. The cutter stood ready, oars upheld. As soon as he got in the boat pulled away and drew up alongside the SS Satara.
Convicts in chains were already being disembarked from the port side gangway of the ship.
On the other side supplies were being offloaded on to pontoons — steel bars, barrels of Portland Cement, cartridges for the newly acquired Schneider rifles, lengths of chain, explosives and fuses, boilers and sundry stores.
Cadell rushed up the companion way to the captain’s cabin. Without ceremony he explained what had happened and ordered the captain to set sail immediately, after the last convict disembarks from the vessel.
He gave a sealed envelope addressed to the Governor General and asked the captain to deliver it personally at the Government House on arrival at Calcutta.
‘Sir, there was a cargo of a hundred tons of coal, meant for your steamers,’ the Captain protested.
‘That can wait till the next visit,’Cadell told the captain.
Going to the chart room both men poured over the admiralty charts for the sea between Andamans and Burma. Cadell circled some broad areas with a pencil and asked the captain to search those places minutely, before heading for Calcutta.
‘The men are desperate and possess one fire arm,’ he warned the captain.
The stokers on the Satara were planning to take the last boat to Ross to see the Andamanese Home. The sight of the naked women excited them. They could also trade some goods with the convict shopkeepers. Just as they reached the gangway the ship’s bells rang, summoning them to the stoke holes.
‘Get the steam up to sail immediately,’ the Captain ordered. Cursing, the men quickly stripped off the shore clothes and rushed below. The engineer officer was there already. ‘Come on boys, start shoveling,’ he ordered as he opened the furnace doors.
The anchor chain started coming up even as Col. Cadell’sboat pulled away from the ship. With a loud blast of her hooter the SS Satara steamed off in search of the fugitives. (To be continued in next week)
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