Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 128.djvu/180

Rh Kirke at first made light of the matter; it was a mere conspiracy of a scoundrel, who of course, after the manner of his race, was ready to swear to anything — a scoundrel whom he should have got rid of long before, and would get rid of now. For although no witnesses were present in the room where the ressaldar had been received by his commandant, the orderlies in the verandah heard the voices in altercation, and on their evidence the court-martial held upon the native officer found him guilty of insubordination, and he was dismissed the service — those not being times, just after the mutiny had been suppressed, for passing over breaches of discipline in the native army. Meanwhile the protracted sitting of the court of inquiry created great excitement among the European community, extending far beyond the station of Mustaphabad. The proceedings of the court were kept secret officially, but tolerably authentic rumours as to their nature leaked out; and while the general sentiment was one of dismay and regret that so distinguished a soldier should be subject to the indignity of inquiry into his conduct, there were not wanting others to remind the public that Colonel Kirke had already once before been in trouble for irregularities of the same sort; and while some people argued that the fact of his having suffered already in this way would naturally make him particularly careful not to commit himself again by a similar error, other critics explained the coincidence of events by the assumed natural propensities of the man. As for Yorke, although he shrank from suspecting his commanding officer of anything like dishonesty, he could not divest himself of an uneasy feeling regarding the regimental accounts, calling to mind the evident disinclination of the former to let them go out of his own hands, and also certain points in them which had come under observation during his examination of the regimental books, and which, although he did not perfectly understand them at the time, seemed now, seen by the light thrown upon them by these accusations, to suggest at least a mystification of facts. But the allegations made were of a kind which it would be almost impossible to prove. The regimental accounts had no doubt been irregularly kept, and there was a want of agreement between the sums charged for troopers' pay at the time of first embodiment, and the corresponding vouchers in the way of muster-rolls; but as Kirke fairly urged, how was it to be expected that they should have been properly kept, by a man who was spending day and night in the saddle, and had so many other things to attend to — among others, to help in saving the empire — besides keeping muster-rolls and cash-accounts? and was it fair to turn round on an officer whose services had been such as his, and call him to account for these matters, and this at the instance of a worthless native who had been dismissed the service? The court evidently thought so too; and although not altogether satisfied with his mode of explaining the transactions under inquiry, which had not tended to make a complicated business clearer, they were disposed on the whole to regard Kirke as an ill-used man, who had been at worst careless under great excuse; and they would have reported to this effect, when another communication was received from army headquarters — a letter from the ex-ressaldar, accusing his late commanding officer of having appropriated jewels captured during the war, instead of making them over to the prize-agents, — which accusation also the court was directed to inquire into.

The members of the court did not attach much importance to this complaint, it being generally supposed that such appropriations and stray plunder had been not infrequent during the war, few persons believing at the time that there would be any formal distribution of prize-money; and the prosecutor's statements on this head would have met with but little serious attention, but for a turn unexpectedly given to the inquiry. Yorke was under examination one day on a matter connected with the regimental accounts, when the president of the court asked him to state what he knew about certain jewels, supposed to have been seized by Colonel Kirke, as it was understood that he also was present at the capture.

Yorke, who did not know precisely with what object the question was put — for the fact of the charge having been made was still kept secret — did not immediately understand what was referred to; but on the matter coming to his recollection, he stated what he knew about it: how the colonel had let the ressaldar take the jewelled dagger found on the prisoner in the palkee, and the trooper the bag of money; while he himself took possession of the little case of jewels. Then, in reply to a question put by a member of the court, Yorke added that, so far as he could judge, the jewels were of some value; but, he continued, "all this, I submit, has nothing to do with the matter; because,