Chapter 15 Chapter Fifteen

We must now leave Colonel Moreau and his companions, Engineer Bonkers, Captain Ord, and Frenchman Mockley for a moment, and shall not continue in the following pages about our journey from Calcutta to The first leg of our trip to the border between India and China came to an end when we reached the bottom of the Tibetan plateau. I remember that there was such a thing when the steam house passed by Allahabad.Colonel Moreau learned of Nana Saib's death from the local newspapers on May 25.But is this widely circulated and most authoritative news true or false?Would Mr. Edward Moreau, after knowing so many details, still refuse to believe it?Shouldn't he give up his obstinate idea of ​​seeking justice from the rioters of 1857?

The truth will eventually come to light. It was on the night of May 7th and 8th that Nana Saib and his brother Balau Lo left Adhun with their most loyal armed team and the Indian Karagani. What happened after the tower's cave. Sixty hours had passed since Nana had crossed the Tapi River, which empties into the sea near Surat on the west coast of the Indian peninsula.They came to the narrow valley of the Sotpura Mountains.This remote place, a hundred miles away from Adjunta, was his present resting place. Nana Saib did not choose the wrong place. The Sotpura Mountains are flat and bordered on the south by the Naybida Basin, which is bordered by the Vindhya Mountains on the north.These two mountains run almost parallel, and their criss-cross branches provide many extremely secluded hiding places in this eventful region.Located at 23° north latitude, the Vindhya Mountains almost traverse India from east to west, forming one side of the large triangle of the Indian peninsula.But the Sotpura Mountains have no such grandeur. It merges into the Caligong Mountains at less than 75 degrees east longitude.

At this time, Nana was lurking in the residential area of ​​the Gunde people.They belonged to an ancient barbaric tribe and had not completely surrendered to the British rule, so Nana prepared to mobilize them to participate in the uprising. There are more than three million residents, what Mr. Rusley calls the locals, living in the land of two hundred square miles. This is the Gurdwana area.Here, the flames of riots are ignited.And the British rule in this vast land of the Indian peninsula was only in name.The railway from Mumbai to Allahabad passes through this area from southwest to northeast, and even branched out here to the central city of Nagpur, but the tribes here still maintain their primitive and barbaric style. True color, resist the invasion of any civilization and the domination of Europeans.In short, it is very difficult and difficult to subdue these stubborn mountain people-Nana Saib is well aware of these situations.

That's why he decided to come here first to avoid the limelight, to escape the pursuit of the British and Indian police, and at the same time wait for a good opportunity to prepare for another uprising. If Datouren's plan hadn't failed, and all the Guende people followed his lead, the riot would immediately become huge. In fact, to the north of Gudwana is Buderkhand, which includes the large mountainous region between the Vindhya range and the great Yamuna River.It is covered, or rather stands, with the most beautiful virgin forest on the Indian peninsula, and inhabited by the cunning and cruel Buendeiras, to whom almost all criminals, political or otherwise, are willing to live. where it is easy to find hiding places; two and a half million inhabitants live in that twenty-eight thousand square kilometers, and they are still in a state of primitive society; The guerrillas who fought against the invaders during Bo Saib's reign; it is also the home of the famous strangler expert Sag. The horror is that these superstitious and murderous murderers never see a single drop no matter how many people they kill. blood; where the Pandari committed heinous massacres with impunity and impunity; Ibrahimovic got rid of the British army's pursuit of him after occupying the Kingdom of Jhansi and the British and Indian police's extensive search. He also came to this place and found a place on the border between India and China that no one could notice. .

To the east of Gudwana is Kundistan, where the Kuenzi are followers of the god of earth Tado Penor and the god of war Monk Solo, and they are the most primitive tribes growing on the Polynesian islands. As savage and cruel as ever.These bloody believers who often use living people to sacrifice to the gods made the British complain.From 1840 to 1854, John Campbell, Chief of the General Staff, and Captains Mark Faison, Mark Vicars, and Foley fought long and hard - but these fanatics once To be incited under the guise of religion will do everything and dare not do anything. In the west of Gudwana, there are 1.5 to 2 million Bir people. They were once powerful in the Malwa and Laputina areas, but now they are divided into small tribes and scattered in Wendy. Every corner of Yashan Mountain.The Bills, though drunken and nearly always drunk, were upright, brave, strong, and quick-witted, always on the alert for the signs of war and plunder.

It seems that Nana Saib has indeed chosen a good place.This time, at this place in the center of the peninsula, he hopes to instigate a national movement involving all walks of life in India, rather than a simple uprising of soldiers. But before taking any action, he felt that he should first take root somewhere, so that when the time was right, he could raise his arms and gather people to respond.So it is necessary to find a safe hiding place first, even if you have to abandon it immediately after being discovered, at least you can temporarily avoid the limelight. This was Nana Saib's first step.Those Indians who had followed him from Adjunta were now free to come and go.Balau Low, who was not wanted by the government, would have enjoyed the same freedom if he hadn't looked exactly like his brother.Since he fled to the Nepal border, everyone thought he was dead, so no one paid any attention to him.But if Nana Saib was mistaken for himself, he would have been arrested immediately - something that should definitely be avoided.

Therefore, two brothers who work together towards the same goal must hide together.And in the narrow valleys of the Sotpura Mountains, it doesn't take much time or effort to find one. An Indian soldier in the team first pointed out a place. He was a Guende who knew the hidden places in the depths of the narrow valley like the back of his hand. On the right bank of a small tributary of the Nebida, there is a small abandoned village called Donte. The scale of this small village is not as large as that of the village, at most it is just a small village with a few thatched houses, and it is often located in remote and remote places.Dondy's owner is a large family living a nomadic life, and they only regard this place as a temporary residence.After the Guende family burned down a few big trees nearby, they built a few thatched huts here as their village.Because of the eventful nature of the area, the burlap looks more like a small fort.With a fence around the perimeter, the occupants of the house are protected from outside raids.Moreover, this thatched hut is completely hidden in the dense bushes, buried deep in a cradle made of cacti and shrubs, it is not easy to find it.

In most cases, this kind of small village is built on a hill at the back of the narrow valley, with steep mountains on both sides and desolate virgin forest on all sides. It seems that no one can find a foothold in such a place, usually There is no road to the village at all; not even a narrow path can be seen.Sometimes to get to the village, you have to go up a river that flows down quickly, and the river washes away all traces.Therefore, those who cross the river will not leave any footprints for future generations to find.In the hot season, the water is just below the instep, and in the cold season, it is knee-deep. There is no sign that anyone has walked in the river.In addition, the village was so full of rocks that a child could push them down the hill and kill those who tried to enter the village without the owner's permission.

Although these villages are located in remote, desolate and inaccessible deep mountains and old forests, the Guende people living in each village can quickly transmit information to each other.Signals from the jagged peaks of the Sotpura ranged in a few minutes for a radius of twenty miles.These signals are either a flame on a ledge, a tree that burns like a torch, or a column of smoke curling from a mountaintop.Everyone knows what that means.That was their enemy, that is to say a detachment of Royal British soldiers or police from the Anglo-Indian police had entered the valley in pursuit of a key criminal hiding there, searching every suspicious place along the banks of the Nabida.At the same time a strange siren is heard, so familiar to the mountain folk that outsiders might mistake it for the hooting of an owl or the hissing of a reptile.But the Gunnds were never mistaken about these alarms.The alarm tells them to stay alert, they stay alert; tell them to flee, they flee.Those villages that have been suspected by the British side will be abandoned or even burned to the ground immediately.And these wandering people ran to hide elsewhere and came back again. As long as the British army or police tracked them again, they would continue to abandon these places.Often, the troops who have scrambled to their feet see only ruins or ashes.

It was in one such village—Tontee—that Nana Saib and his disciples planned to hide from the limelight for a while.After the loyal Guende led them to this village, they settled down there on March 12th. The first thing the two brothers did after they settled down in Tangdi Village was to carefully understand the surrounding conditions.They searched in all directions with their eyes, asked where the nearest settlement was and who lived there, and then carefully inspected the lonely hill surrounded by dense forest where the village of Dondy was located. After a while, the two finally realized that the Nador River was the only way to the village, which is how they climbed up just now.

Considering all aspects, Tangdi Village is a safe refuge, especially with the help of the tunnel that secretly opens on the other side of the hillside, they can escape smoothly if necessary. Nana Saib and his brother could not have found a more satisfying hiding place. But Balau Lowe was not satisfied with only knowing the current situation of Tongdi Village, he also wanted to know its past, so when the big head man went into the small fort to check, he continued to ask the Gunnd man about its various situations . "I have a few more questions," he said. "How long has this village been abandoned?" "Over a year," replied the Gunnd. "Who lives there?" "It's a family of nomads who have only lived here for a few months before leaving." "Why did you leave here?" "Because the land they're living on is gone." "Do you know if anyone has lived here since they left?" "No." "Haven't the Royal Army and the police ever been here?" "there has never been." "Is there no outsider here?" "No..." Guende replied, "but a woman came." "A woman?" Barlow Low asked immediately. "Yes, a woman. For three years she has been wandering about in the Nebida Valley." "Who is this woman?" "Who is she, I don't know," replied the Grund, "and where she comes from, I don't know, and the whole valley knows as little about her as I do! She is a foreigner, Still an Indian, no one ever knew!" Barou Lomer thought for a while, and then returned to the topic just now: "What does this woman do all day?" he asked. "She just floats around," replied the Guende, "mainly by begging. But the inhabitants of the whole valley have a superstitious worship of her. I have entertained her in the village many times myself. She. She never spoke, and one might even think she was dumb, but if she were, it wouldn't be surprising." "At night, she always walks around like a drift with a burning resinous branch in her hand. Therefore, everyone only knows her name as 'Wandering Flame'." "However," Balau Lowe said, "since this woman knows about Tongdi Village, will she come again in the future? She won't bring us any danger, will she?" "No," replied the Guende, "this woman has completely lost the reason of a normal person. Her head can no longer be used, her eyes can't see, her ears can't hear, and her tongue can't speak a word! Everything about her is exactly the same as a blind, deaf, and dumb person. She is a lunatic, and the lunatic is actually a living dead!" The Guendes used the language of the Indian mountain people to describe the "wandering flame" of Nebida, a well-known eccentric in the valley area. The woman was pale and still beautiful, but neither her race nor her age could be seen from the expressionless face.A pair of terrified eyes seemed to have closed the door of reason because of some horrible scene they witnessed, but they still seemed to be awake to themselves. This crazy woman who never hurt anyone has been warmly cared for by the mountain people.Like all primitive tribal residents, the Guend people worship madmen superstitiously. In their eyes, madmen are sacred and inviolable.Therefore, no matter where the "wandering flame" drifts, it can be hospitable and entertained.All villages are open to her.When she is hungry, someone will give her food, and when she is tired, someone will cover her with a quilt, but no one expects to get a word of thanks from her mouth, because everyone knows that she has lost the ability to speak. ability. How long has this kind of life been maintained?Where did this woman come from?Since when did she appear in Gudwana?These questions are difficult to articulate.And why is she floating around with a torch in her hand?Is it for lighting?Or is it to keep the brown-haired beast from approaching her?No one knows either.Sometimes, she would suddenly disappear for months.Where has she gone?Is it to leave the valleys of the Sotpura Mountains for the Vindhya Mountains?Or lost in Malwa or Buderkhand beyond the Nay Pedida?Still no one can tell.Several times it was thought that her miserable life was over because she had not been seen for so long.but no!She was seen again returning to the valley unchanged.Frail as she looked, her vitality was undiminished by fatigue, disease, and wandering life with nothing. After listening to the Indians' narration very carefully, Balao Luo kept wondering whether the crazy woman who knew the village of Tongdi would bring them any danger, and since she had been to Tangdi before, would she come again. He pondered the question over and over, and then asked the Gunnd whether he or anyone he knew knew where the mad woman was at the moment. "I don't know," replied the Guende, "she hasn't been seen in the valley for more than six months. Perhaps, she is dead. But whether she will appear again, even if she comes to the village of Dondy, Nothing to be afraid of. She's just dead. She can't see or hear you, so she has no way of knowing who you are. She'll just come in and sit inside for a day or two , and then relight the resinous branch, leave you, and continue to wander from house to house. Such is her life. Besides, she has been missing for too long this time, and she may never return. This soul has long been The dead woman may be dead now!" Balau Low did not think it necessary to tell Nana Saib about it, and he himself quickly forgot about it. In the month since they came to Donte Village, the "wandering flame" still has not drifted back to the Nebida Valley.