PROLOGUE THE STORMING OF SERINGAPATAM ( 1799 ) Extracted from a Family Paper I address these lines -- written in India -- to my relatives in England .
My object is to explain the motive which has induced me to refuse the right hand of friendship to my cousin , John Herncastle .
The reserve which I have hitherto maintained in this matter has been misinterpreted by members of my family whose good opinion I can not consent to forfeit .
I request them to suspend their decision until they have read my narrative .
And I declare , on my word of honour , that what I am now about to write is , strictly and literally , the truth .
The private difference between my cousin and me took its rise in a great public event in which we were both concerned -- the storming of Seringapatam , under General Baird , on the 4th of May , 1799 .
In order that the circumstances may be clearly understood , I must revert for a moment to the period before the assault , and to the stories current in our camp of the treasure in jewels and gold stored up in the Palace of Seringapatam .
II One of the wildest of these stories related to a Yellow Diamond -- a famous gem in the native annals of India .
The earliest known traditions describe the stone as having been set in the forehead of the four-handed Indian god who typifies the Moon .
Partly from its peculiar colour , partly from a superstition which represented it as feeling the influence of the deity whom it adorned , and growing and lessening in lustre with the waxing and waning of the moon , it first gained the name by which it continues to be known in India to this day -- the name of THE MOONSTONE .
A similar superstition was once prevalent , as I have heard , in ancient Greece and Rome ; not applying , however ( as in India ) , to a diamond devoted to the service of a god , but to a semi-transparent stone of the inferior order of gems , supposed to be affected by the lunar influences -- the moon , in this latter case also , giving the name by which the stone is still known to collectors in our own time .
The adventures of the Yellow Diamond begin with the eleventh century of the Christian era .
At that date , the Mohammedan conqueror , Mahmoud of Ghizni , crossed India ; seized on the holy city of Somnauth ; and stripped of its treasures the famous temple , which had stood for centuries -- the shrine of Hindoo pilgrimage , and the wonder of the Eastern world .
Of all the deities worshipped in the temple , the moon-god alone escaped the rapacity of the conquering Mohammedans .
Preserved by three Brahmins , the inviolate deity , bearing the Yellow Diamond in its forehead , was removed by night , and was transported to the second of the sacred cities of India -- the city of Benares .
Here , in a new shrine -- in a hall inlaid with precious stones , under a roof supported by pillars of gold -- the moon-god was set up and worshipped .
Here , on the night when the shrine was completed , Vishnu the Preserver appeared to the three Brahmins in a dream .
The deity breathed the breath of his divinity on the Diamond in the forehead of the god .
And the Brahmins knelt and hid their faces in their robes .
The deity commanded that the Moonstone should be watched , from that time forth , by three priests in turn , night and day , to the end of the generations of men .
And the Brahmins heard , and bowed before his will .
The deity predicted certain disaster to the presumptuous mortal who laid hands on the sacred gem , and to all of his house and name who received it after him .
And the Brahmins caused the prophecy to be written over the gates of the shrine in letters of gold .
One age followed another -- and still , generation after generation , the successors of the three Brahmins watched their priceless Moonstone , night and day .
One age followed another until the first years of the eighteenth Christian century saw the reign of Aurungzebe , Emperor of the Moguls .
At his command havoc and rapine were let loose once more among the temples of the worship of Brahmah .
The shrine of the four-handed god was polluted by the slaughter of sacred animals ; the images of the deities were broken in pieces ; and the Moonstone was seized by an officer of rank in the army of Aurungzebe .
Powerless to recover their lost treasure by open force , the three guardian priests followed and watched it in disguise .
The generations succeeded each other ; the warrior who had committed the sacrilege perished miserably ; the Moonstone passed ( carrying its curse with it ) from one lawless Mohammedan hand to another ; and still , through all chances and changes , the successors of the three guardian priests kept their watch , waiting the day when the will of Vishnu the Preserver should restore to them their sacred gem .
Time rolled on from the first to the last years of the eighteenth Christian century .
The Diamond fell into the possession of Tippoo , Sultan of Seringapatam , who caused it to be placed as an ornament in the handle of a dagger , and who commanded it to be kept among the choicest treasures of his armoury .
Even then -- in the palace of the Sultan himself -- the three guardian priests still kept their watch in secret .
There were three officers of Tippoo ’s household , strangers to the rest , who had won their master ’s confidence by conforming , or appearing to conform , to the Mussulman faith ; and to those three men report pointed as the three priests in disguise .
III So , as told in our camp , ran the fanciful story of the Moonstone .
It made no serious impression on any of us except my cousin -- whose love of the marvellous induced him to believe it .
On the night before the assault on Seringapatam , he was absurdly angry with me , and with others , for treating the whole thing as a fable .
A foolish wrangle followed ; and Herncastle ’s unlucky temper got the better of him .
He declared , in his boastful way , that we should see the Diamond on his finger , if the English army took Seringapatam .
The sally was saluted by a roar of laughter , and there , as we all thought that night , the thing ended .
Let me now take you on to the day of the assault .
My cousin and I were separated at the outset .
I never saw him when we forded the river ; when we planted the English flag in the first breach ; when we crossed the ditch beyond ; and , fighting every inch of our way , entered the town .
It was only at dusk , when the place was ours , and after General Baird himself had found the dead body of Tippoo under a heap of the slain , that Herncastle and I met .
We were each attached to a party sent out by the general ’s orders to prevent the plunder and confusion which followed our conquest .
The camp-followers committed deplorable excesses ; and , worse still , the soldiers found their way , by a guarded door , into the treasury of the Palace , and loaded themselves with gold and jewels .
It was in the court outside the treasury that my cousin and I met , to enforce the laws of discipline on our own soldiers .
Herncastle ’s fiery temper had been , as I could plainly see , exasperated to a kind of frenzy by the terrible slaughter through which we had passed .
He was very unfit , in my opinion , to perform the duty that had been entrusted to him .
There was riot and confusion enough in the treasury , but no violence that I saw .
The men ( if I may use such an expression ) disgraced themselves good-humouredly .
All sorts of rough jests and catchwords were bandied about among them ; and the story of the Diamond turned up again unexpectedly , in the form of a mischievous joke .
“ Who ’s got the Moonstone ? ” was the rallying cry which perpetually caused the plundering , as soon as it was stopped in one place , to break out in another .
While I was still vainly trying to establish order , I heard a frightful yelling on the other side of the courtyard , and at once ran towards the cries , in dread of finding some new outbreak of the pillage in that direction .
I got to an open door , and saw the bodies of two Indians ( by their dress , as I guessed , officers of the palace ) lying across the entrance , dead .
A cry inside hurried me into a room , which appeared to serve as an armoury .
A third Indian , mortally wounded , was sinking at the feet of a man whose back was towards me .
The man turned at the instant when I came in , and I saw John Herncastle , with a torch in one hand , and a dagger dripping with blood in the other .
A stone , set like a pommel , in the end of the dagger ’s handle , flashed in the torchlight , as he turned on me , like a gleam of fire .
The dying Indian sank to his knees , pointed to the dagger in Herncastle ’s hand , and said , in his native language -- “ The Moonstone will have its vengeance yet on you and yours ! ”
He spoke those words , and fell dead on the floor .
Before I could stir in the matter , the men who had followed me across the courtyard crowded in .
My cousin rushed to meet them , like a madman .
“ Clear the room ! ” he shouted to me , “ and set a guard on the door ! ”
The men fell back as he threw himself on them with his torch and his dagger .
I put two sentinels of my own company , on whom I could rely , to keep the door .
Through the remainder of the night , I saw no more of my cousin .
Early in the morning , the plunder still going on , General Baird announced publicly by beat of drum , that any thief detected in the fact , be he whom he might , should be hung .
The provost-marshal was in attendance , to prove that the General was in earnest ; and in the throng that followed the proclamation , Herncastle and I met again .
He held out his hand , as usual , and said , “ Good morning . ”
I waited before I gave him my hand in return .
“ Tell me first , ” I said , “ how the Indian in the armoury met his death , and what those last words meant , when he pointed to the dagger in your hand . ”
“ The Indian met his death , as I suppose , by a mortal wound , ” said Herncastle .
“ What his last words meant I know no more than you do . ”