Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) THE RED YEAR A STORY OF THE INDIAN MUTINY BY LOUIS TRACY AUTHOR OF "THE WINGS OF THE MORNING," "THE PILLAR OF LIGHT," "THE CAPTAIN OF THE KANSAS," ETC., ETC. NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1907 BY EDWARD J. CLODE _Entered at Stationers' Hall_ CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE THE MESHES OF THE NET 1 CHAPTER II A NIGHT IN MAY 19 CHAPTER III HOW BAHADUR SHAH PROCLAIMED HIS EMPIRE 39 CHAPTER IV ON THE WAY TO CAWNPORE 54 CHAPTER V A WOMAN INTERVENES 72 CHAPTER VI THE WELL 91 CHAPTER VII TO LUCKNOW 110 CHAPTER VIII WHEREIN A MOHAMMEDAN FRATERNIZES WITH A BRAHMIN 131 CHAPTER IX A LONG CHASE 151 CHAPTER X WHEREIN FATE PLAYS TRICKS WITH MALCOLM 169 CHAPTER XI A DAY'S ADVENTURES 190 CHAPTER XII THE SWING OF THE PENDULUM 210 CHAPTER XIII THE MEN WHO WORE SKIRTS 227 CHAPTER XIV WHY MALCOLM DID NOT WRITE 247 CHAPTER XV AT THE KING'S COURT 268 CHAPTER XVI IN THE VORTEX 290 CHAPTER XVII THE EXPIATION 309 _The Red Year_ CHAPTER I THE MESHES OF THE NET On a day in January, 1857, a sepoy was sitting by a well in the cantonment of Dum-Dum, near Calcutta. Though he wore the uniform of John Company, and his rank was the lowest in the native army, he carried on his forehead the caste-marks of the Brahmin. In a word, he was more than noble, being of sacred birth, and the Hindu officers of his regiment, if they were not heaven-born Brahmins, would grovel before him in secret, though he must obey their slightest order on parade or in the field. To him approached a Lascar. "Brother," said the newcomer, "lend me your brass pot, so that I may drink, for I have walked far in the sun." The sepoy started as though a snake had stung him. Lascars, the sailor-men of India, were notoriously free-and-easy in their manners. Yet how came it that even a low-caste mongrel of a Lascar should offer such an overt insult to a Brahmin! "Do you not know, swine-begotten, that your hog's lips would contaminate my lotah?" asked he, putting the scorn of centuries into the words.