By Eastern windows by Gretta Curran Browne Read Free Book Online

and he endeavoured to speak sense. ‘Eh, wha' sir? What for, what way, what did ye say?’
    Lachlan repeated the news that the army was to receive a gratuity amounting to six months extra pay.
    ‘Six months extra pay!’ McKenzie exclaimed. ‘Even the men?’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Or just the officers?’
    The officers were getting an even larger gratuity, but Lachlan did not tell McKenzie that. ‘Every man in the army is to be rewarded. Even you, McKenzie, even you.’
    ‘Ye're no' jesting me now, sir?’ McKenzie expostulated. ‘Pay and allowances and six months extra batta on top for every man?’
    ‘And two week's extra pay for you, McKenzie, as a personal gratuity from myself to my head servant.’
    McKenzie looked around him in a searching motion, then again stared at his lieutenant uncomprehending. ‘Head servant? But I'm your one and only servant, Lieutenant Macquarie!’
    ‘That is true.’ Lachlan nodded agreeably. ‘And that is why I can afford to give you an extra two weeks pay, whereas poor Major Jones can only afford to give his eight servants a mere one weeks extra pay in return for being such good and faithful servants throughout this campaign.’
    ‘Thank ye, sir. It's verra kind o' you,’ McKenzie purred, his eyes dilating with exultation. ‘I'm grateful to ye. I'm beholden. I'm indebted. And losh – I'm rich!’ He could contain himself no longer. ‘Heck, sir, for the first time in ma life – I'll be rich! ’
    ‘Don't get carried away, McKenzie. A private's pay, even with six month's extra on top, can hardly be described as riches. And by the way, it’s no longer lieutenant, but Captain Macquarie.’
    ‘Wha’? Ye mean … ye’re getting’ pay an’ allowances an’ six months extra of a captain's batta?   Och! Sweet Jesus!   Ye’ll be richer than me, sir!   Rich as a rajah!’
    ‘Oh I doubt that,’ Lachlan smiled. ‘Now get your senses and head in order and go and give the good news to your comrades.’
    ‘Aye, I will, sir.’
    ‘And tell them the 77 th are shipping out first thing in the morning.’
     
    *
     
    At daybreak the 77th started out for home. Home being Bombay. All were relieved to breathe the sea air again as they set sail on board the Hercules .   All were older, all were somewhat richer, and six days later all were very glad to view once more the sight of Bombay harbour, its water shimmering under the saffron glow of a sunset, just as it had done on that first day of their arrival in the East.
    It seemed as if the entire British community had travelled out to greet the returning Army and welcome it home after its long absence in the field. A band played thumping military tunes and the harbour was all bustle with coming and goings from small boats.
    Lachlan stood by the ship's rail gazing at the crowd. A soldier's voice rose up from the back of the deck, declaring a wish that it was the people of Glasgow welcoming them home, not those of Bombay.
    For a moment Lachlan found himself thinking of the stark and eerie beauty of the western islands of Scotland: of green mountains and blue lochs and silent, tranquil glens. He saw again red deer on the crags, and an occasional golden eagle on sail above the hills. He heard the whistles of the shepherds as they brought the sheep home to pen, the calls of the drovers as they herded the longhaired Highland cattle.
    But it was just a moment, one of a thousand homesick moments all soldiers knew, and minutes later he was preparing to disembark and continue his life in India.

TWO
     
    The town of Bombay contained rows upon rows of high brown houses but few European residents, the houses being hot, closely built, with projecting upper stories over narrow streets.
    The British civilian population had established their own settlement in a garden suburb two miles away, a peaceful and tranquil place dotted with pretty bungalows and handsome houses built in the European style of architecture, with the addition of a veranda or