It had been built up by him and on him, and with him it collapsed. As
the news reached the armed thousands encamped about the ruined
Station, consternation fell upon them. There was no attempt at
organization or resistance. They believed simply that Heaven had
turned against them and Vishnu joined hands with the Englishman, and
they waited to hear no more. What had seemed an overwhelming force
melted away as though it had been a shadow, and in the jungle,
slinking along the lightless highways, or huddling in the lonely
hovels outside Marut, the remnant of Behar Singh's great army hid from
the hand of the destroyer. They had followed their god, and their god
had deserted them. All hope was lost, and with the fatalism of their
race they flung their weapons from them as they fled.
Pending the decision of the Government, Nehal Singh, now Steven
Caruthers, was held prisoner in the club-house he had built two years
before. Part of the returned regiment was encamped about the
surrounding gardens, in order to prevent all attempt at rescue, but
the precaution was a mere formality. Visitors came constantly. There
was not a man in all the Station who was not anxious to help bury the
past and to hold out the hand of friendship to one whom at the bottom
of their hearts they had once wronged and slighted. Among them
Carmichael and Nicholson were the chief. They passed many hours of
each day with him, and worked steadily and enthusiastically for his
pardon and release.
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