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diff --git a/16808.txt b/16808.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8bf3ab --- /dev/null +++ b/16808.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6317 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Guides, by G. J. Younghusband + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Story of the Guides + +Author: G. J. Younghusband + +Release Date: October 7, 2005 [EBook #16808] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE GUIDES *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, Bruce Thomas and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + THE STORY OF THE GUIDES + + BY + + COL. G.J. YOUNGHUSBAND, C.B. + + QUEEN'S OWN CORPS OF GUIDES + AUTHOR OF "EIGHTEEN HUNDRED MILES ON A BURMESE TAT" + "INDIAN FRONTIER WARFARE," "THE RELIEF OF CHITRAL" + "THE PHILIPPINES AND ROUND ABOUT," ETC., ETC. + + _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + + MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON + 1908 + + Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, + BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND + BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. + + + _First Edition, March 1908._ + _Reprinted April 1908._ + + DEDICATED + + BY SPECIAL PERMISSION + + TO + + HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII + + COLONEL-IN-CHIEF + + QUEEN'S OWN CORPS OF GUIDES + + + + +The Author's grateful thanks are due to the many past and present +officers of the Guides who have helped him in this little book. And +especially to General Sir Peter Lumsden and G.R. Elsmie, Esq., authors +of _Lumsden of the Guides_; and to the _Memoirs of General Sir Henry +Dermot Daly_, written by his son, Major H. Daly. + +G.J.Y. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FIRST STEPS IN WAR. + +Sir Henry Lawrence's idea--Stocks and tunics--A new departure--Selection +of title--Duties--Harry Lumsden--His methods of training--Baptism of +fire--A gallant exploit--Working for the Sikhs--Capture of +Babuzai--Death of Duffadar Fatteh Khan--The spring of 1848--Guides +unravel a plot--General Khan Singh hanged--The Maharani deported 1 + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE FIGHTING AROUND MOOLTAN AND AFTER. + +The Insurrection at Mooltan--Murder of Agnew and Anderson--Herbert +Edwardes's great achievement--A guide or two with nerves of steel--Siege +of Mooltan--Guides capture twelve guns--Ressaldar Fatteh Khan, +Khuttuk--His historic charge--With seventy men routs a brigade--Arrival +of Bombay troops--Mooltan stormed and taken--Lumsden attacks and +annihilates Ganda Singh's force--Battle of Gujrat--Pursuit of the +Sikhs--End of Second Sikh War 18 + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE CAPTURE OF THE FORT OF GORINDGHAR. + +The fort described--Seventy-two guns and a battalion of +infantry--British determine to capture it--Rasul Khan and Guides' +infantry sent in advance--The strategy of the Subadar--Effects an +entry--A day of anxiety--Plans for the night--The sudden +onslaught--Capture of the fort--The Union Jack--Rasul Khan's +reward 31 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ON THE FRONTIER IN THE 'FIFTIES. + +Guides increased--Fatteh Khan, Khuttuk, again--The night +attack--Staunchly repulsed--Thirty against two hundred--With Sir +Colin Campbell--Nawadand--The enemy attack in force--A cavalry +picquet--Lieutenant Hardinge to the front--His splendid charge with +twenty men--Hodson of Hodson's Horse--Attack on Bori--Lieutenant +Turner's predicament--Gallantry of Dr. Lyell--Hodson's +charge--Celebrated spectators 39 + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE STORY OF DILAWUR KHAN. + +Men accustomed to look after themselves--Shooting for a vacancy in +the Guides--No fiddlers and washermen--Rudyard Kipling's _Bhisti_--The +brave Juma decorated--Enter Dilawur Khan--A noted outlaw--Lumsden +pursues him--They "talk things over"--The outlaw enlists--The +goose-step--Dilawur the doctrinarian--The sinking boat--Nearly killed +as a Kafir--Becomes a Christian--His last duty--A brave but pathetic +end 51 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE GREAT MARCH TO DELHI. + +The Mutiny of the 55th Native Infantry--Their tragic fate--The Guides +start for Delhi--Daly's diary--A fight by the way--An average of +twenty-seven miles a day--Arrival at Delhi--Every officer killed or +wounded first day--The summer of '57--Return to the Frontier--A warm +welcome--Three hundred and fifty out of six hundred left +behind--Complement of officers four times over killed or +wounded 65 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TWENTY YEARS OF MINOR WARS. + +With Sir Sidney Cotton against the Hindustani fanatics--Fierce hand to +hand fighting--Dressed to meet their Lord--Against the Waziris in 1860 +under Sir Neville Chamberlain--Fierce attack on the Guides' +camp--Lumsden stands the shock--The charge of the five hundred--The +Guides clear the camp with the bayonet--Heavy casualties--Lumsden's last +fight--A story or two--Lord William Beresford--The Crag picquet--Colonel +Dighton Probyn--A boat expedition--Cavignari's methods--Surprise of +Sappri 76 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE MASSACRE OF THE GUIDES AT KABUL. + +The Cavignari mission--Escort of the Guides--Cordial reception--The +clouds gather--Insubordination of Herati regiments--The storm +bursts--Seventy men against thousands--Defence of the Residency--The +fight begins--Cavignari's bravery and death--Messages to the Amir--The +attempt of Shahzada Taimus--The enemy's guns arrive--The distant +witness--The three officers lead a charge--Kelly's death--Another charge +by Hamilton and Jenkyns--Jenkyns killed--Hamilton's last charge and +heroic death--The last bright flash--Retribution 97 + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE AFGHAN WAR, 1878-80. + +The Guides under Sir Frederick Roberts--Their devotion to him--Under Sir +Sam Browne at Ali-Musjid--Jenkins enlists an enemy--"No riding school +for me"--Battle of Fattehabad--Wigram Battye's death--Hamilton's fine +leading--He wins the V.C.--The Guides' march to Sherpur--They pass +through the investing army--Assaults on the Takht-i-Shah and Asmai +heights--Captain Hammond receives the V.C.--The final assault of the +enemy on Sherpur--Defeat and pursuit--The second battle of Charasiab--A +fine fight--Roberts marches to Kandahar 117 + + +CHAPTER X. + +WAR STORIES. + +Fighting against his own people--The temptation--The sentry +succumbs--Seventeen sent in pursuit--Their return after two +years--Duffadar Faiz Talab's adventure--An unwilling General--His +unhappy position--A narrow escape--Saved by a British officer 135 + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE ADVENTURES OF SHAH SOWAR AND ABDUL MAJID. + +Shah Sowar meets "Smith"--They depart together--Sheikh Abdul Qadir, late +Smith--A travelling Prince--The first pitfall--Escape--Tea and +diplomacy--The Evil Spirit--The Chief with a thousand spears--The +Englishman's disguise fails--Death in the morning--A hairbreadth +escape--Abdul Majid--The fatal shoes--The compass down the well--A night +with his jailer--A stroke for freedom--A later meeting--Peace and +jollification 144 + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE RELIEF OF CHITRAL. + +The beleaguered garrison--Two hundred miles from anywhere--Rapid +mobilisation--Kelly's fine feat--Storming the Malakand--The Guides' +charge in the Swat Valley--Roddy Owen--The Panjkora--Position of the +Guides--The bridge breaks--The fight in retreat--Seven thousand held at +bay--A battle on the stage--Colonel Fred. Battye mortally wounded--A +night of suspense--Defeated by star-shells--Death of Capt. +Peebles--Action of Mundah--Relief of Chitral 160 + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE MALAKAND, 1897. + +A sudden call on the Guides--Prompt departure and fine march--Days +and nights of constant hand-to-hand fighting--Story of the +trouble--Great bravery of the enemy--Repulsed again and again with +slaughter--Reinforcements arrive--Sir Bindon Blood--Relief of +Chakdara--Its splendid defence--A word for the British subaltern--The +fight at Landaki--MacLean's heroic death--Three V.C.s in one +day 172 + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE HOME OF THE GUIDES. + +A camp to start with--The Five Star Fort--On the borders of +Yaghistan--After the mutiny--The bastions--Godby cut down--The +mess--The garden--The old graveyard--The Kabul memorial--Ommanney's +assassination--The names of roads--Old leaders--The +farm--Polo-grounds--Church--Daily life--Sport--Hawking--Climate--A +happy home 185 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Sir Harry Lumsden, who raised the Guides, +from a portrait made when he was +commanding the corps _Front_. + +Afridis on the war-path _To face page_ 8 + +Ressaldar Fatteh Khan, Khuttuk, who at +the head of seventy men of the Guides' +Cavalry defeated and drove into +Mooltan a Brigade of Sikh Cavalry, +from a picture by W. Carpenter. By +kind permission of General Sir Peter +Lumsden, G.C.B. " 24 + +A Picquet of the Guides' Infantry +bivouacking " 40 + +A Scout of the Guides' Cavalry warning +his Infantry Comrades. The small man +on the right is a Gurkha " 70 + +A non-commissioned officer of the Guides' +Infantry " 80 + +An Afridi of the Guides' Infantry " 92 + +The Memorial Arch and Tank to the memory +of Sir Louis Cavignari and the officers +and non-commissioned officers and men +of the Guides killed in the defence of +the Kabul Residency, September 3, 1879. +In the foreground is a brass cannon +captured during the Relief of Chitral " 104 + +Statue of Lieutenant Walter Hamilton, +erected in Dublin Museum " 107 + +A Trooper of the Guides' Cavalry +Types of men in the Guides' Infantry " 136 + +Types of men in the Guides' Cavalry, both +in uniform and mufti " 144 + +Non-commissioned Officer and Trooper of +the Guides' Cavalry " 162 + +Thirty-four wearers of the Star "For +Valour," all serving at one time in +the Corps of Guides. This is the +highest distinction open to an Indian +soldier for gallantry in action. The +group illustrates the variety of tribes +enlisted in the Guides--Afridis, +Yusafzai Pathans, Khuttuks, Sikhs, +Punjabi Mahomedans, Punjabi Hindus, +Farsiwans (Persians), Dogras, Gurkhas, +Kabulis, Turcomans, &c., &c., most of +whom are here represented " 172 + +The old Graveyard at Mardan " 190 + +The Church at Mardan " 194 + + + + + +THE STORY OF THE GUIDES + +CHAPTER I + +FIRST STEPS IN WAR + + +It is given to some regiments to spread their achievements over the +quiet centuries, while to the lot of others it falls to live, for a +generation or two, in an atmosphere of warlike strife and ever present +danger. The Guides have been, from a soldier's point of view, somewhat +fortunate in seeing much service during the past sixty years; and thus +their history lends itself readily to a narrative which is full of +adventure and stirring deeds. The story of those deeds may, perchance, +be found of interest to those at home, who like to read the gallant +record of the men who fight their battles in remote and unfamiliar +corners of the Empire across the seas. + +To Sir Henry Lawrence, the _preux chevalier_, who died a soldier's death +in the hallowed precincts of Lucknow, the Guides owe their name and +origin. At a time when soldiers fought, and marched, and lived in tight +scarlet tunics, high stocks, trousers tightly strapped over Wellington +boots, and shakos which would now be looked on as certain death, Sir +Henry evolved the startling heresy that to get the best work out of +troops, and to enable them to undertake great exertions, it was +necessary that the soldier should be loosely, comfortably, and suitably +clad, that something more substantial than a pill-box with a +pocket-handkerchief wrapped round it was required as a protection from a +tropical sun, and that footgear must be made for marching, and not for +parading round a band-stand. + +Martinets of the old school gravely shook their heads, and trembled for +the discipline of men without stocks and overalls. Men of the Irregular +Cavalry, almost as much trussed and padded as their Regular comrades +(who were often so tightly clad as to be unable to mount without +assistance), looked with good-natured tolerance on a foredoomed failure. +But Sir Henry Lawrence had the courage of his opinions, and determined +to put his theories to practice, though at first on a small scale. + +Not only were the Guides to be sensibly clothed, but professionally also +they were to mark a new departure. In 1846 the Punjab was still a Sikh +province, and the administration was only thinly strengthened by a +sprinkling of British officers. Men, half soldiers, half civilians, and +known in India under the curious misnomer of Political Officers,--a +class to whom the British Empire owes an overwhelming debt--were +scattered here and there, hundreds of miles apart, and in the name of +the Sikh Durbar practically ruled and administered provinces as large as +Ireland or Scotland. The only British troops in the country were a few +of the Company's regiments, quartered at Lahore to support the authority +of the Resident,--a mere coral island in the wide expanse. What Sir +Henry Lawrence felt was the want of a thoroughly mobile body of troops, +both horse and foot, untrammelled by tradition, ready to move at a +moment's notice, and composed of men of undoubted loyalty and devotion, +troops who would not only be of value in the rough and tumble of a +soldier's trade, but would grow used to the finer arts of providing +skilled intelligence. + +The title selected for the corps was in itself a new departure in the +British Army, and history is not clear as to whether its pre-ordained +duties suggested the designation to Sir Henry Lawrence, or whether, in +some back memory, its distinguished predecessor in the French army stood +sponsor for the idea. Readers of the Napoleonic wars will remember that, +after the battle of Borghetto, the Great Captain raised a _Corps des +Guides_, and that this was the first inception of the _Corps d'Elite_, +which later grew into the Consular Guard, and later still expanded into +the world-famed Imperial Guard ten thousand strong. + +But whatever the history of the inception of its title, the duties of +the Corps of Guides were clearly and concisely defined in accordance +with Sir Henry's precepts. It was to contain trustworthy men, who +could, at a moment's notice, act as guides to troops in the field; men +capable, too, of collecting trustworthy intelligence beyond, as well as +within, our borders; and, in addition to all this, men, ready to give +and take hard blows, whether on the frontier or in a wider field. A +special rate of pay was accorded to all ranks. And finally, fortunate as +Sir Henry Lawrence had been in the inspiration that led him to advocate +this new departure, he was no less fortunate in his selection of the +officer who was destined to inaugurate a new feature in the fighting +forces of the Empire. + +Even from among officers of proved experience and ability it is by no +means easy to select the right man to inaugurate and carry through +successfully an experimental measure; much more difficult is it to do so +when the selection lies among young officers who have still to win their +spurs. Yet from among old or young, experienced or inexperienced, it +would have been impossible to have selected an officer with higher +qualifications for the work in hand than the young man on whom the +choice fell. + +Born of a soldier stock, and already experienced in war, Harry Lumsden +possessed all the finest attributes of the young British officer. He was +a man of strong character, athletic, brave, resolute, cool and +resourceful in emergency; a man of rare ability and natural aptitude for +war, and possessed, moreover, of that magnetic influence which +communicates the highest confidence and devotion to those who follow. +In addition he was a genial comrade, a keen sportsman, and a rare friend +to all who knew him. Such, then, was the young officer selected by Sir +Henry Lawrence to raise the Corps of Guides. + +That the commencement should be not too ambitious, it was ruled that the +first nucleus should consist only of one troop of cavalry and two +companies of infantry, with only one British officer. But as this story +will show, as time and success hallowed its standards, this modest squad +expanded into the corps which now, with twenty-seven British officers +and fourteen hundred men, holds an honoured place in the ranks of the +Indian Army. + +Following out the principle that the corps was to be for service and not +for show, the time-honoured scarlet of the British Army was laid aside +for the dust-coloured uniform which half a century later, under the now +well-known name of _khaki_, became the fighting dress of the whole of +the land forces of the Empire. + +The spot chosen for raising the new corps was Peshawur, then the extreme +outpost of the British position in India, situated in the land of men +born and bred to the fighting trade, free-lances ready to take service +wherever the rewards and spoils of war were to be secured. While fully +appreciating the benefits of accurate drill, and the minute attention to +technical detail, bequeathed as a legacy by the school of Wellington, +Lumsden upheld the principle that the greatest and best school for war +is war itself. He believed in the elasticity which begets individual +self-confidence, and preferred a body of men taught to act and fight +with personal intelligence to the highly-trained impersonality which +requires a sergeant's order before performing the smallest duty, and an +officer's fostering care to forestall its every need. + +Holding such views, it is with no surprise we read that, while his men +were still under the elementary training of drill instructors borrowed +from other regiments, Lumsden led them forth to learn the art of war +under the blunt and rugged conditions of the Indian frontier. To march, +not through peaceful lanes, but with all the care and precautions which +a semi-hostile region necessitated; to encamp, not on the quiet village +green where sentry-go might appear an unmeaning farce, but in close +contact with a vigilant and active race of hard fighters, especially +skilled in the arts of surprises and night-attacks; to be ready, always +ready, with the readiness of those who meet difficulties half way,--such +were the precepts which the hardy recruits of the Guides imbibed +simultaneously with the automatic instruction of the drill-sergeant. + +Nor was it long before Lumsden had an opportunity of practically +demonstrating to the young idea his methods of making war. The corps, +barely seven months old, was encamped at Kalu Khan in the plain of +Yusafzai, when sudden orders came, directing it to make a night-march, +with the object of surprising and capturing the village of Mughdara in +the Panjtar Hills. In support of the small band of Guides was sent a +troop of Sikh cavalry, seasoned warriors, to stiffen the young endeavour +and hearten the infant warrior. Marching all night, half an hour before +daylight the force arrived at the mouth of a narrow defile, +three-fourths of a mile long, leading to the village, and along which +only one horseman could advance at a time. Nothing dismayed, and led by +the intrepid Lumsden, in single file the Guides dashed at full gallop +through the defile, fell with fury on the awakening village, captured +and disarmed it, and brought away, as trophies of war, its chief and +three hundred head of cattle. To add to the modest pride taken in this +bright initial feat of arms, it was achieved single-handed, for the +supporting troop of Sikhs failed to face the dark terrors of the defile +and remained behind. This opening skirmish was the keynote to many an +after success. It helped to foster a spirit of alert preparedness, +readiness to seize the fleeting opportunity, and courage and +determination when once committed to action. These seeds thus planted +grew to be some of the acknowledged attributes of the force as it +blossomed into maturity under its gallant leader. + +During the first year of its existence the young corps was engaged in +several more of the same class of enterprise, and in all acquitted +itself with quiet distinction. As, however, the history of one is in +most particulars that of another, it will not be necessary to enter into +a detailed account of each. + +The British in the Peshawur Valley, as elsewhere in the Punjab, were in +a somewhat peculiar position. They were not administering, or policing, +the country on behalf of the British Government, but in the name of the +Sikh Durbar. In the Peshawur Valley, in which broad term may be included +the plains of Yusafzai, the Sikh rule was but feebly maintained amidst a +warlike race of an antagonistic faith. In the matter of the collection +of revenue, therefore, the ordinary machinery of government was not +sufficiently strong to effect regular and punctual payment; and +consequently, when any village or district was much in arrears, it +became customary to send a body of troops to collect the revenue. If the +case was merely one of dilatoriness, unaccompanied by hostile intent, +the case was sufficiently met by the payment of the arrears due, and by +bearing the cost of feeding the troops while the money was being +collected. But more often, dealing as they were with a weak and +discredited government, the hardy warriors of the frontier, sending +their wives and cattle to some safe glen in the distant hills, openly +defied both the tax-collector and the troops that followed him. It then +became a case either of coercion or of leaving it alone. An effete +administration, like that of the Sikhs, if thus roughly faced, as often +as not let the matter rest. But with the infusion of British blood a +new era commenced; and the principle was insisted on that, where revenue +was due, the villagers must pay or fight. And further, if they chose the +latter alternative, a heavy extra penalty would fall on them, such as +the confiscation of their cattle, the destruction of their strongholds, +and the losses inevitable when the appeal is made to warlike +arbitration. + +It was on such an expedition that one of the Guides had a curious and +fatal adventure. Colonel George Lawrence, who was the British +Representative in Peshawur, was out in Yusafzai with a brigade of Sikh +troops, collecting revenue and generally asserting the rights of +government. Co-operating with him was Lumsden with the Guides. Among the +recalcitrants was the village of Babuzai, situated in a strong position +in the Lundkwar Valley, and Lawrence determined promptly to coerce it. +His plan of operation was to send the Guides' infantry by night to work +along the hills, so that before daylight they would be occupying the +commanding heights behind the village, and thus cut off escape into the +mountains. He himself, at dawn, would be in position with the Sikh +brigade to attack from the open plain; while the Guides' cavalry were +disposed so as to cut off the retreat to the right up the valley. + +In pursuance of their portion of the plan of operations, as the Guides' +infantry were cautiously moving along the hills towards their allotted +position, in the growing light they suddenly came upon a picquet of the +enemy placed to guard against this very contingency. To fire was to give +the alarm, so with exceeding promptness the picquet was charged with the +bayonet, and overpowered. At the head of the small storming party +charged a _duffadar_[1] of the Guides' cavalry, by name Fatteh Khan. +Fatteh Khan was one of those men to whom it was as the breath of life to +be in every brawl and fight within a reasonable ride. On this occasion +he was of opinion that the cavalry would see little or no fighting, +whereas the infantry might well be in for a pretty piece of hand-to-hand +work. "To what purpose therefore, Sahib, should I waste my day?" he said +to Lumsden. "With your Honour's permission I will accompany my infantry +comrades on foot. Are we not all of one corps?" And so he went, keeping +well forward, and handy for the first encounter. + + [1] _Duffadar_, a native non-commissioned officer of cavalry, + answering to the _naik_ (corporal) of infantry. + +As the gallant duffadar, sword in hand, dashed at the picquet, he was +from a side position shot through both arms; but not a whit dismayed or +hindered he hurled himself with splendid courage at the most brawny +opponent he could single out. A short sharp conflict ensued, Fatteh Khan +with his disabled arm using his sword, while his opponent, with an +Affghan knife in one hand, was busy trying to induce the glow on his +matchlock to brighten up, that the gun might definitely settle the +issue. In the course of the skirmishing between the two men a curious +accident, however, occurred. The tribesman, as was usual in those days, +was carrying under his arm a goat-skin bag full of powder for future +use. In aiming a blow at him, Fatteh Khan missed his man, but cut a hole +in the bag; the powder began to run out, and, as ill chance would have +it, some fell on the glowing ember of the matchlock. This weapon, +pointed anywhere and anyhow at the moment, went off with a terrific +report, which was followed instantaneously by a still greater explosion. +The flame had caught the bag of powder, and both the gallant duffadar +and his staunch opponent were blown to pieces. + +So died a brave soldier. But lest the noise should have betrayed them, +his comrades hurried on with increased eagerness, and as good fortune +would have it arrived in position at the very nick of time. The +operation was completely successful. In due course the Sikhs attacked in +front, and when the enemy tried to escape up the hills behind their +village, they found retreat cut off by the Guides' infantry. Turning +back, they essayed to break away to the right; but the intention being +signalled to the Guides' cavalry, who were placed so as to intercept the +fugitives, these fell with great vigour on the tribesmen and gave them a +much needed lesson. It was now no longer an effete Sikh administration +that breakers of the law had to deal with, but the strong right arm and +warlike guile of the British officer, backed up by men who meant +fighting. + + * * * * * + +It was now the spring of 1848, and great events were brewing in the +Punjab. It was the lull between the two stormy gusts of the First and +Second Sikh Wars. To us at this date it does not seem to require the +omniscience of a prophet, prophesying after the event, to discover that +the settlement arrived at after the First Sikh War contained most of the +possible elements of an unpermanent nature. The Punjab was to remain a +Sikh province, with the infant son of the Lion of the Punjab as its +Sovereign; but the real ruler of the kingdom of the Sikhs was a British +officer, Henry Lawrence, at the head of a council of regency. To support +his authority British bayonets overawed the capital of the Punjab, and +assumed the mien of those who hold their place by right of conquest. +Attached to, but really at the head of, the minor centres of +administration, were men like Herbert Edwardes, Abbott, Taylor, George +Lawrence, Nicholson, and Agnew; the stamp of high-souled pioneer who +though alone, unguarded, and hundreds of miles from succour, by sheer +force of character makes felt the weight of British influence in favour +of just and cleanly government. And acting thus honourably they were +naturally detested by the lower class of venal rulers, whose idea of +government was, and is at all times and on all occasions, by persuasion, +force, or oppression, to squeeze dry the people committed to their +charge. Ready to the hand of a discontented satrap, sighing for the +illicit gains of a less austere rule, were the bands of discharged +soldiers, their occupation gone, who crowded every village. It was easy +to show, as was indeed the case, that these discontented warriors owed +their present plight to the hated English. For while one of the +conditions of peace, after the First Sikh War, insisted on the +disbandment of the greater portion of the formidable Sikh army, the +enlightened expedient of enlisting our late enemies into our own army +had not yet been acted upon to any great extent. To add to the danger, +every town and hamlet harboured the chiefs and people of only a +half-lost cause. + +Thus the train of revolt was laid with an almost fatal precision +throughout the province, and only required the smallest spark to set it +alight. At the head of the incendiary movement was the Maharani, the +wife of the late and mother of the present infant king. Some inkling of +the plot, as could hardly fail, came to the British Resident's ears, the +primary step contemplated being to seduce from their allegiance the +Company's troops quartered at Lahore. + +It was at this stage that a summons reached Lumsden to march with all +despatch to Lahore, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles. Here was +an opportunity of testing the value of a corps whose loyalty was above +question, and which from its composition could have no sympathy with the +movement. Consequently to Lumsden and his men was assigned the difficult +and unaccustomed duty of unravelling the plot and bringing the +conspirators to justice. Setting to work with his accustomed readiness, +and aided by one of his _ressaldars_,[2] Fatteh Khan, Khuttuk, of whose +prowess on many a bloody field the story will in due course be told, +Lumsden with characteristic alacrity undertook this intricate and +dangerous duty. His tracks covered, so to speak, by the unsuspicious +bearing of a blunt soldier in command of a corps of rugged trans-border +warriors, the unaccustomed role of a skilled detective was carried out +with promptness and success. In the course of a very few days some of +the Guides had obtained conclusive proof regarding three matters: that +the Maharani was at the head of the movement, that her chief agent was +the Sikh general Khan Singh, and that the Company's troops had already +been tampered with. + + [2] _Ressaldar_, a native commissioned officer of cavalry. + +As the plot thickened it was discovered that a meeting of the +conspirators, including fifty or sixty men of various regiments, was to +take place on a certain night at a certain place. Lumsden patiently +awaited the event, intending with the Guides to surround and capture the +conspirators red-handed. But, on the night fixed for the meeting, a +retainer of General Khan Singh came to visit one of the Guides, with +whom he was on friendly terms, and in the course of conversation made it +evident that his master was not easy in his mind, why not no one could +say, and that he had half determined on flight. The man of the Guides, +leaving his friend in charge of a comrade, with commendable acumen +hastened to Lumsden and told him the story. That officer at once saw +that the moment had come to strike, lest the prey escape. He therefore +immediately clapped the Sikh general's retainer into the quarterguard, +much to that individual's astonishment, and promptly parading the +Guides, hurried down to the city and surrounded Khan Singh's house. + +It was now past eleven o'clock, the house was in darkness and strongly +barricaded all round; the city was that of a foreign power, and no +police, or other, warrant did Lumsden hold. But he was no man to stand +on ceremony, or shirk responsibility, nor was he one for a moment to +count on the personal risks he ran. Finding the doors stouter than they +expected, his men burst in a window, and headed by their intrepid +officer dashed into the building. There, overcoming promptly any show of +resistance, they seized General Khan Singh, his _munshi_[3] and a +confidential agent, together with a box of papers, and under close guard +carried them back to the Guides' camp. In due course the prisoners were +tried and conclusive evidence being furnished, and confirmed by the +incriminating documents found in the box, General Khan Singh and his +munshi were sentenced to be hanged. This prompt dealing served at once +to check rebellion in the vicinity of Lahore, and placed the Company's +troops beyond the schemes of conspirators. + + [3] _Munshi_, a secretary or clerk. + +Amongst other papers found in Khan Singh's box were some which clearly +inculpated the Maharani, and it was at once decided to deport her beyond +the region of effective intrigue. The lady was, under arrangements made +for her by the Government, at this time residing in one of the late +Maharaja's palaces at Sheikapura about twenty-three miles from Lahore. +To Lumsden and his men was entrusted the duty of arresting and deporting +the firebrand princess. As taking part in this mission, first appears in +the annals of the Guides the name of Lieutenant W.S.R. Hodson, +afterwards famous for his many deeds of daring, and whose name still +lives as the intrepid and dashing leader of Hodson's Horse. Appointed as +adjutant and second-in-command to a born exponent of sound, yet daring, +methods of warfare, his early training in the Guides stood him in good +stead in his brief, stirring, and glorious career. + +In the execution of their orders Lumsden and Hodson with the Guides' +cavalry set off quietly after dark for their twenty-three miles ride. +The service was of some difficulty and of no little danger, for not +only might the Maharani's numerous partisans make an armed resistance, +but failing this they might organise a formidable rescue party to cut +off the enterprise between Sheikapura and the Ravi. Against any such +attempt, made with resources well within hail, the slender troop of the +Guides would naturally come in for some rough buffeting. Much, however, +to the surprise, and possibly the relief, of the British officers, they +were received not only without any signs of hostility, but with smiles +of well-assumed welcome. The explanation of this was that somehow news +of the fate of General Khan Singh had already reached the Maharani, and +with Eastern diplomacy she was preparing to trim her bark on the other +tack. Even to the suggestion that she should prepare to make a journey +she raised no objection; and it was only when she found herself on the +road to Ferozepore, and learnt that her destination was Benares, that +the courtesy and dignity of a queen gave place to torrents of scurrilous +abuse and invective such as the dialects of India are pre-eminently +capable of supplying. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FIGHTING ROUND MOOLTAN AND AFTER + + +These prompt measures, however, served only a local and temporary +purpose, effective but little beyond striking distance of the troops +stationed at Lahore. The flame of unrest damped down here had burst +forth under a different banner at Mooltan, where the Diwan Mulraj farmed +the province under treaty with the Sikhs. The Diwan himself was a +miserable personality, but carried away by the tide of popular feeling, +he became inextricably involved in antagonism to the British cause by +the cold-blooded murder of Agnew and Anderson. These two British +officers, with the full consent and support of the Sikh Durbar, had been +sent to Mooltan on special duty in connection with the voluntary +abdication of Mulraj, which had been accepted by his suzeraine. The +escort sent with the British officers was a strong one, and, if loyal, +perfectly competent to deal with any disorders. It consisted of fourteen +hundred Sikhs, a regiment of Gurkhas, seven hundred cavalry, and six +guns. + +This seemingly formidable and carefully composed body of troops proved, +however, to be entirely unreliable. Agnew and Anderson were, within a +few hours of their arrival at Mooltan, attacked and severely wounded by +fanatics, and no one raised a hand to help them. Lying helpless and +sorely wounded in the temporary asylum which their quarters afforded, +they heard with dismay that practically the whole of the escort on whom +their safety depended had gone over to the faction of Mulraj, a faction +which insisted on his remaining in power, and which was strongly +antagonistic to the claims of British political influence. Alone amid +thousands, it remained only for these brave young officers to offer up +their lives on the altar of British dominion. + +Thus strongly committed to a line of action which was far from according +with his weak and vacillating nature, Mulraj raised the standard of +revolt, and sending the fiery cross through the country, called on all +to join in expelling the hated foreigner, and common enemy, from the +Land of the Five Rivers. The prospects of the cause looked bright +indeed. No organised body of British troops lay nearer than Lahore, +hundreds of miles distant; the hot season had commenced, when the +movement of regular troops encounters almost insuperable difficulties; +the whole country was smarting under the sense of recent severe but +hardly conclusive defeat; while hundreds of petty chiefs, and thousands +of soldiers, were chafing under the thinly disguised veil of foreign +sovereignty. + +Yet out of the unlooked for West arose a star which in a few brief weeks +eclipsed the rising moon of national aspiration, and, shining bright and +true, helped to guide the frail bark of British supremacy through +victory to the haven of a permanent peace. That star was an unknown +British subaltern named Herbert Edwardes. Edwardes was one of the young +officers deputed to assist the Sikhs in the work of systemising and +purifying their administration, and was at this time engaged in the +revenue settlement of the Dera-Ismail-Khan district. One day in June as +he sat in court settling disputes, there came to him a runner, covered +with dust and sweat, who brought to him a last message from Agnew, as he +lay wounded on his bed in Mooltan. The message asked urgently for help, +and appealed, as the writer knew, to one who would spare no risk or +pains to furnish it. To succour the wounded British officers was a +matter which had passed beyond the region of possibility, for the ink +had hardly dried on their message before they were murdered; but to +re-establish the prestige of the British name, to reassert its dignity +and influence, and to bring to punishment the perpetrators of a hideous +and treacherous crime,--these tasks Herbert Edwardes at once set before +himself. + +Alone, save for the presence of one other Englishman, the young British +subaltern, with the sage intrepidity of ripest experience, hastily +summoned the chiefs of the Derajat and Bannu districts to his aid, and +assembled their motley followings under his banner. He sent messengers +to the friendly chief of Bhawulpore, and called on him to join in the +crusade against Mooltan. Then after much feinting and fencing, and +greatly assisted by the stout Van Cortlandt, Edwardes threw his army +across the Indus, at this season a roaring torrent three miles wide, and +sought out his enemy. Coming up with him he defeated Mulraj and his army +of ten thousand men in two pitched battles, and drove him to take refuge +behind the walls of Mooltan. + +Accompanying Herbert Edwardes was a detachment of the Guides, lent by +Lumsden, and before the war bent on learning their way about this +portion of the frontier, in accordance with the role assigned their +corps. This detachment not only joined with natural zest in the hard +fighting that fell to the share of all, but proved of great service to +the commander as scouts and intelligence men. So far did intrepidity and +love of adventure carry them, that four _sowars_,[4] under Duffadar +Khanan Khan, rode through the enemy's outposts, and with admirable +coolness picketed their horses, probably without excessive ostentation, +amidst the enemy's cavalry. They then separated, and went about to see +and remember that which might be useful to their own commander and their +own comrades in the war. It is perhaps needless to say that discovery +meant instant death, yet, with the happy insolence of the born +free-lance, superb indifference carried them through where the slightest +slip would have been fatal. Indeed, one of them, by name Mohaindin, with +nerves of steel, actually succeeded in being taken on as an orderly by +Diwan Mulraj himself, and while acting as such was severely wounded by a +round shot from one of our own guns at the battle of Sadusam. + + [4] _Sowar_, a native trooper. + +Meanwhile the headquarters of the Guides, under Lumsden, were hastening +down from Lahore to give Edwardes that invaluable support which, however +meagre in numbers, stout hearts, whose loyalty is above suspicion, +afford to a harassed commander. Joyfully were they welcomed, as one +sweltering day in June the Guides joined the little force which was +besieging an army of equal or perhaps greater strength lying behind the +growing ramparts of Mooltan. + +Nor were the new arrivals long in showing their mettle. The camp was +then pitched on the right of the _nullah_ at Suraj Kund, and in this +position was much annoyed by twelve pieces of ordnance, placed in +position round the Bibi Pakdaman mosque. These Lumsden offered to +capture and silence and, if possible, bring away. The service was +carried out with much dash and gallantry, and the guns were captured and +rendered useless, though it was found impossible, in face of the heavy +odds, to bring them off. + +But the siege of Mooltan, in so far as the Guides were concerned, was +chiefly memorable for bringing prominently to notice the gallant and +romantic figure of Fatteh Khan, Khuttuk. This noble fellow was one of +those Bayards of the East who know no fear, and as soldiers are without +reproach. Born of a fighting stock and fighting tribe, cradled amidst +wars and alarms, he developed the highest qualities of a brave, +resolute, and resourceful partisan leader. Always ready, always alert, +nothing could upset his equanimity, nothing take him by surprise, while +no odds were too great for him to face. With the true instinct of the +cavalry leader he struck hard and promptly, and upheld in person the +doctrine that boldness, even unto recklessness, should be the watchword +of the light cavalryman. Yet this paladin of the fight could barely +write his name. It is not every soldier who has the opportunity +nowadays, as in the days of champions, to perform a historic deed in the +open with both armies as spectators. Yet so it happened to Ressaldar +Fatteh Khan one hot day in August, 1848, before the walls of Mooltan. + +Lumsden was absent on some duty; indeed, there were only three British +officers, and these took turn and turn about in the trenches, when a +messenger galloped into the Guides' camp to report that a marauding +party of the enemy's cavalry, some twenty strong, had driven off a herd +of General Whish's camels which were grazing near his camp. Fatteh Khan, +as ressaldar, was the senior officer in camp, and at once gave the order +for every man to boot and saddle and get to horse at once. The little +party, numbering barely seventy, led by Fatteh Khan, followed the +messenger at a gallop for three miles to the scene of the raid. Arrived +there they suddenly found themselves confronted, not by a marauding +troop of horsemen hastily driving off a herd of camels, but by the whole +force of the enemy's cavalry, some twelve hundred strong. These veteran +swordsmen and lancers, of whose skill and bravery in battle we had had +ample proof during this and previous wars, had been sent out to +intercept a convoy of treasure expected in the British camp. Having, +however, failed in their mission, they were leisurely returning to +Mooltan, when a little cloud appeared on their fighting horizon. Some +returning patrol, no doubt, they thought, some frightened stragglers +driven in perhaps, some stampeding mules or ponies. But no! the little +cloud now discloses a little line of horsemen, tearing along as if the +devil drove. The whole mass of cavalry, like startled deer, halted and +stared at this reckless onslaught; and while thus standing, transfixed +with astonishment, Fatteh Khan and his gallant troop of Guides were on +them. + +Yelling fiercely, with lance and sword the Guides clove their way +through the huddling mass of the enemy. Then clearing, they wheeled +about, and with unabated fury fell again upon the benumbed and paralysed +foe. Not yet content, the heroic Khuttuk again called on his men for +another effort, and, rallying and wheeling about, the weary troopers +and still wearier horses once more rode down into the stricken mass. But +"God preserve us from these fiends," muttered the demoralised Sikhs, +and, assisting their deity to answer the pious prayer, the whole mass +broke and fled, pursued up to the very walls of Mooltan by "that thrice +accursed son of perdition, Fatteh Khan, Khuttuk," and the remnants of +his seventy Guides. + +Through the intense heat of the summer of 1848 the little cluster of +English officers who stood for British dominion kept heart and energy in +the siege of Mooltan. As Edwardes described the position, it was only a +terrier watching a tiger; but it was at any rate a good stout-hearted +English terrier, and the tiger was afraid to face it. Yet even this +stout terrier had to give way a little, when no reinforcements arrived, +and when, in September, Sher Sing, with three thousand four hundred +cavalry and nine hundred infantry, deserted and went over to the enemy. + +The siege, however, was only temporarily raised, and was at once resumed +on the arrival of a column of Bombay troops. This reinforcement +consisted of two British infantry regiments, five Native infantry +regiments, and three regiments of Native cavalry. With his force thus +strengthened General Whish immediately resumed the offensive, and not +only renewed the siege, but determined to take the place by assault. In +the furtherance of this project he first stormed and captured the city, +many of the buildings in which completely dominated the fort at short +effective ranges. From the coigns of vantage thus gained the British +artillery and infantry poured a hail of shot and shell into the doomed +defences, while the cavalry hovered outside ready to pounce on those who +broke cover. Placed in these desperate straits, and without hope of +succour, Diwan Mulraj and the whole of his force surrendered +unconditionally on the 22nd of January, 1849, after a siege which had +lasted nearly seven months. + +This timely success released at a critical moment, for service +elsewhere, the British forces engaged in the siege. For meanwhile great +events had been happening in the upper Punjab, and great were yet to +come. On January 13th had been fought the bloody battle of +Chillianwalla, where the casualties on both sides were very severe, and +where the gallant 24th Foot had thirteen officers and the sergeant-major +laid out dead on their mess-table. Lord Gough required nearly three +thousand men to fill the gaps in his ranks before again closing with the +redoubtable Sikhs. On every count, therefore, the news of the fall of +Mooltan was received with considerable satisfaction, and the troops +recently engaged in it with keen alacrity turned their faces northwards +to Lord Gough's assistance, in the hope of arriving in time to throw +their weight into the balance in the closing scenes of a campaign +destined to add a kingdom to the British Empire. + +Ahead of the troops from Mooltan went Lumsden and the Guides' cavalry, +followed by Hodson with the Guides' infantry. The corps when re-united, +before it joined Lord Gough, was deflected for the performance of a +detached duty which brought it no little honour. It was reported that +considerable numbers of Sikh troops, under Ganda Singh and Ram Singh, +having crossed the Chenab, were moving south-east heavily laden with +spoil, which having disposed of, they would be free to fall on the +British lines of communication. + +Starting in hot haste, Lumsden and Hodson took up the trail, and by +dogged and relentless pursuit, after three days and nights of incessant +marching, came up with their quarry. They found Ganda Singh and his +following at Nuroat on the Beas River, while Ram Singh was some miles +further on. + +The position taken up by Ganda Singh was in a clump of mango trees, +surrounded by a square ditch and bank in place of a hedge, as is often +the case in the East. This formed a good natural defence, and piling +their spoil up amongst the trees, Ganda Singh prepared to fight +desperately to hold what they had won with so much toil. The right of +the Sikh position rested on a deep and tortuous nullah, or dry +watercourse, whose precipitous sides, if properly watched, formed an +excellent flank defence; but if unwatched they formed an equally +admirable covered approach whereby an opponent might penetrate or turn +the position. The manifest precaution of setting a watch was, however, +neglected, an error not likely to slip the attention of so skilled a +campaigner as Lumsden. Occupying, therefore, the attention of the enemy +in front by preparations for the infantry attack under Hodson, Lumsden +himself, with the cavalry, slipped into the nullah, and working quietly +past the enemy's flank emerged on to his rear at a spot where a friendly +clump of sugar-cane afforded further concealment till the appointed +moment. A signal was now made for Hodson to attack vigorously in front, +which he accordingly did, and after severe fighting drove the enemy into +the open. Seizing the auspicious moment, Lumsden issued from his +shelter, and falling like a whirlwind on the retiring enemy, literally +swept them from the face of the earth; one man only escaped to tell the +tale. Amongst the recovered loot were found the silver kettle-drums of +the 2nd Irregular Cavalry lost in the recent fighting, and amongst the +slain was Ganda Singh. General Wheler coming up on the following day, +the combined force crossed the Beas, attacked, and utterly routed Ram +Singh, who was occupying a strong position behind that river. + +These services performed the Guides turned back, and hastening +northwards arrived in the camp of the Grand Army in time to take part in +the crowning and decisive victory of Gujrat. The battle, according to +history, was chiefly an artillery duel, the preponderance and accuracy +of our fire paving the way for a practically unchecked advance of the +infantry. The Guides, therefore, did not see much fighting during the +battle; but their turn came that night, when, attached to Gilbert's +cavalry division, they joined in the strenuous pursuit of the Sikhs,--a +pursuit which began on the battle-field and ended at the rocky gates of +the Khyber two hundred miles away. The first burst carried the pursuing +squadrons past the battle-field of Chillianwalla, across the Jhelum +river, capturing on the way all the Sikh guns that had escaped from the +battle-field. Snatching a few hours' rest, Gilbert's fine horsemen were +again in the saddle, and with relentless fury hunted the demoralised +enemy, allowing him not a moment's respite, not an hour to steady his +flight or turn to bay. Right through the bright winter days, through a +country of rocks and ravines, pressed on the avenging squadrons; till, +utterly worn out, starving, with ammunition failing, a dejected and +exhausted majority laid down their arms and surrendered unconditionally +at Rawul Pindi. But the Affghan Horse in the service of the Sikhs fled +still further north, hoping to escape to their own country, and in hot +pursuit of these went the Guides, a stern stiff ride of close on a +hundred miles; and running them staunchly to the end, they drove the +sorry remnants across the Affghan border. + +Thus brilliantly concluded the second Sikh War, which, after many +anxious moments and much hard fighting, resulted in adding to the +Queen's domains a kingdom larger than France or Germany and more +populous than Italy or Spain; and herein is recorded the modest share +taken by the Guides in these great events. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CAPTURE OF THE FORT OF GORINDGHAR + + +A Traveller who at this day passes Amritsar by train will, if he looks +to the south, see hard by the formidable fortress of Gorindghar. Over +its battlements now floats the Union Jack, and on its drawbridge may be +seen the familiar red coat of the British sentry. Should he ever pass +that fort again, he may perhaps regard it with greater interest after +reading the stirring tale of how it was captured from the Sikhs by a +handful of resolute men of the Guides. To tell this story we must be +forgiven for forsaking strict chronology; for the incident here narrated +took place while part of the corps was still engaged at the siege of +Mooltan. + +Against modern artillery the fort of Gorindghar would be of little +avail, however gallantly held; but by the standard of 1848 it was a very +powerful work. Its armament consisted of no less than eighteen guns, +while fifty-two lay stored in reserve, and its garrison consisted of +such veteran fighters as a regiment of Sikh infantry. As may readily be +understood, without touching on strategical details, it was a matter of +considerable importance that this fort, lying as it did on the main line +of the British communications between Umballa and Lahore, should not +remain in hostile hands. It was therefore resolved to send back from +Lahore a force to capture if possible, but at any rate to mask, this +formidable work. To accomplish this, a considerable force was despatched +from Lahore, and in advance of it was sent a party to reconnoitre and +gain intelligence. This party consisted of _Subadar_[5] Rasul Khan, and +one hundred and forty of all ranks of the Guides' infantry, with orders +to get along as fast as they could. At noon, therefore, on a hot +September day the little party set off on their forty mile march along +the dusty, treeless road to Amritsar. + + [5] _Subadar_, a native commissioned officer commanding a company + of infantry. + +Marching all that day, and the greater part of the following night, +Rasul Khan arrived in the vicinity of the fort just as day was breaking. +His orders were to reconnoitre and find out in what state of +preparedness the garrison stood, what was its strength in men and guns, +the best means of attack, and the most vulnerable quarter. To gain all +this useful information the most obviously complete method was to get +inside the fort itself, and this the resourceful subadar determined to +do. + +It must be remembered that at this time the second Sikh war was in full +swing, and that various bands of troops who had espoused the Sikh cause +were roaming the country. The British forces, on the other hand, +consisted chiefly of drilled and organised regiments, armed, equipped, +and clothed on a regular basis, and recognisable as such. The Guides, +however, newly raised, and living a rough and ready adventurous life in +their ragged and war-worn khaki, bore little resemblance to these, and +might to a casual observer come from anywhere, and belong to either +side. + +Rasul Khan was quick to perceive this point in his favour, and take full +advantage of it; for during the long and weary night march, he had +thought out his plan. Taking three of his own men, stripping off what +uniform they had, and concealing their arms, he had them securely bound +and placed under a heavy guard of their own comrades. As soon as it was +broad daylight, closely guarding his prisoners, Rasul Khan marched +boldly up to the main gate of the fort, and was hailed by the Sikh +sentry: "Halt there! who are you and what is your business?" + +"After an exceedingly arduous pursuit, as you may judge from our dusty +and exhausted condition," replied Rasul Khan, "we have managed to +capture three most important prisoners, on whose heads a high price has +been placed by the Sikh Durbar. They are the most desperate ruffians, +full of the wiles of Satan, and we greatly fear lest they should escape +us. I and my troops are weary, and to guard them in the open requires +so many men. Of your kindness ask your Commandant if, in the Maharaja's +name, I may place them in your guard-room cells until we march on +again." + +The Sikh sentry called the _havildar_[6] of the guard, who in turn +called the Commandant, and after much palavering and cross questioning, +the drawbridge was let down and the party admitted. The remainder of the +Guides bivouacked here and there under the shade of the fort walls, +cooked their food, and lay about at seeming rest, but all the while as +alert and wide-awake as their extremely hazardous position required. + + [6] _Havildar_, a native non-commissioned officer of infantry, + corresponding to a sergeant. + +The guard-room cells were pointed out to Rasul Khan, the prisoners +thrust into them, and the escort quietly but firmly invited to rejoin +their comrades outside the walls; for in time of war, as the Commandant +explained, it behoves every man, especially when the safety of a great +fort is concerned, to walk warily, and treat the stranger with +circumspection. So far, beyond seeing the main entrance and the +guard-room cells, Rasul Khan had not done much towards securing that +full information about the fort, its garrison, and its defences, which +it was of such vital importance to gain. He had, however, secured a +footing, and, while with apparent readiness he prepared to rejoin his +men outside, he politely insisted that he must leave his own sentry to +guard the prisoners; "for," as he jocularly remarked to the Commandant, +"if I don't, you will be saying that you captured these villains, and, +sending them off to Lahore, will secure the reward my men have earned!" +The Commandant laughed heartily at this blunt pleasantry, and partly out +of good nature, and partly to avoid all blame should the prisoners +escape, agreed to the proposal of the diplomatic subadar. During the +course of the day the utmost cordiality was maintained, the Sikhs coming +out and freely fraternising with the Guides, who, in their casual +wanderings round, had at any rate got hold of a fairly shrewd notion of +what the outside of the fort was like. But this was not enough for Rasul +Khan, and he laid his further plans accordingly. + +The cordial interchange of rough soldierly amenities had borne its +fruit, and the suspicions of the Sikhs were completely lulled. To an +alert and resourceful soldier like Rasul Khan, a man whom nothing in +warlike strategy escaped, it occurred amongst other things that only a +single sentry with his reliefs, under a non-commissioned officer, +guarded the main entrance. As night fell, with engaging candour he +pointed out the weakness of this arrangement to the Commandant, and, to +avoid imposing additional guard duties on the Sikh garrison, offered, +now that his men were well rested, to place a double sentry on the cells +of the prisoners. Further, he made the obvious suggestion that it would +be unsound, when once the drawbridge was up, to let it down each time +that a relief of sentries was required, and that therefore it would +probably be more convenient for all parties, as well as safer, if the +reliefs for the double sentry also slept in the fort. With a whole +regiment in garrison there seemed to be no particular objection to this +proposal, and it was therefore accepted. Rasul Khan thus had at the main +gate six men and a non-commissioned officer, not to mention three +soldiers disguised as prisoners, as against three Sikhs and a +non-commissioned officer. Be assured that he chose the bravest of the +brave for that night's work, for, when the drawbridge was drawn slowly +up that evening, it was ten men, and three of them unarmed, against a +regiment; and short and terrible would have been the shrift accorded to +them had an inkling of suspicion arisen, or had the slightest blunder, +or precipitation, exposed the true position. + +Meanwhile the force of cavalry and infantry sent by the British Resident +was hastening down from Lahore, and Rasul Khan calculated that it would +arrive at streak of dawn next morning. He despatched therefore two or +three of his men to meet the column, to apprise the commanding officer +of the state of affairs, urging him to make all haste and giving him as +full information as possible should he on his arrival find that during +the night disaster had fallen on the staunch little band of Guides. "On +the other hand," the message concluded, "if by the Grace of God my plans +prevail, I shall be ready to welcome your Honour at the fort gates at +dawn." + +To the party inside the fort the subadar's orders were to keep a very +desultory watch over the prisoners, thus by example discouraging any +undue vigilance on the part of the Sikh sentry; and for the rest to +await quietly their opportunity till near dawn of day. This they did, +and when the appointed hour had arrived the double sentry of the Guides +fell like the upper millstone on that heedless Sikh sentry, and hewed +him to the ground; at the same moment the rest of the guard was silently +overpowered, gagged, and bound. Then, arming the three prisoners with +the captured weapons, the Guides' sentries quickly and quietly lowered +the drawbridge and let in the whole company of their comrades. Thus +collected inside, with fixed bayonets, the cavalier, which commanded the +whole of the interior of the work, was captured; the rest was easy, and +the Sikhs, out-manoeuvred and placed at great disadvantage, +surrendered at discretion. It is not always that the best laid plans +succeed without a hitch, but the fortune of war was on this occasion +entirely kind to the British cause, and the bold game played by subadar +Rasul Khan and his men reaped a splendid reward; the capture of a +formidable fortress, seventy guns, and a regiment of infantry, with +little or no loss. + +When, as dawn grew stronger, the British commander strained his anxious +eyes towards the fort, to his immense relief friendly signals welcomed +him, and as the sun rose the gentle breeze flung to the dusty haze the +Union Jack, which ever since that day has floated from the ramparts of +the fort of Gorindghar at Amritsar. + +It may not be without interest, as illustrating the liberality with +which soldiers in those days were treated, to mention that, besides the +official thanks of the British Government, Rasul Khan received a robe of +honour, a gun, a brace of pistols, and five hundred rupees, each +havildar and naik fifty rupees, and each sepoy, including the +"prisoners," eleven rupees. Nor may it be inappropriate to mention that +Rasul Khan was a brother of that same ressaldar Fatteh Khan, who only +the month before with a handful of the Guides' cavalry had scattered as +chaff before the wind the flower of Diwan Mulraj's horsemen, and chased +them into the gates of Mooltan. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ON THE FRONTIER IN THE 'FIFTIES. + + +The Guides were now two years old, and, as an outward and visible sign +that they had won their spurs, they were by the orders of the Government +considerably augmented. Hitherto with one troop and two companies they +had established an honoured record; they were now raised to three troops +of cavalry and six companies of infantry. + +To the general historian, who can of necessity deal only with great +events, peace reigned in India from the conclusion of the Sikh Wars to +the outbreak of the Mutiny; but there was no peace for the Guides during +those eight years. Their history is full of hardy adventure, of forced +marches, and night attacks; of the wiles of the border free-lance, met +and overcome with equal strategy and greater skill; of brave deeds and +splendid devotion. The conscientious scribe is tempted to enlarge on +each and all of these; but perhaps our purpose in giving the story of +the Guides will be well enough served if we content ourselves with +taking only two or three of these exploits, thus hoping to throw some +light on the life led by a regiment on the Indian frontier in those +rough days. + +Dipping haphazard into the ancient records, we chance again on our old +and gallant friend Fatteh Khan, Khuttuk; and once again we find him a +man not easily taken aback in a sudden emergency. It was towards the end +of 1851 that the British Government, having undertaken the surveying and +mapping out of the Peshawur Valley and Yusafzai, deputed Mr. James, of +the Survey Department, to superintend a portion of the work. For his +protection during this duty, amongst a people fanatically opposed to +anything in the shape of a map or a survey, a party of thirty of the +Guides' cavalry was detailed under Ressaldar Fatteh Khan. This +detachment was ordered to meet Mr. James at a small village named Gujar +Garhi, about two miles from Mardan. Here, therefore, Fatteh Khan +encamped to await the Sahib's arrival; but the day passed, the night +fell, and still there were no signs of him. Thinking that there must +have been some mistake in the dates, all turned in, and the camp was +soon wrapped in slumber, the silence disturbed only by the stamping and +roaring of the stallions at their standings, and by the crisp alert call +of the sentries as they challenged. + +It was past midnight, when a sharp-eyed Pathan sentry espied mistily +through the darkness what looked like a large body of mounted men +approaching. Instantly a sharp peremptory challenge rang out: "Halt! Who +goes there?" Equally promptly floated back the answering watchword, +"Friend." "What friend?" the sentry shouted, suspicious still. "Sahib," +came back the disarming reply. Whereupon the sentry, coming to the not +unnatural conclusion that the long-expected Sahib had at last arrived, +and that he saw before him Mr. James with a large escort, sloped his +sword, and gave the usual right of way: "Pass friend,--all's well." + +At this moment Fatteh Khan awoke, and hearing the word _sahib_, jumped +up, ran out of his tent, and hastened down to the end of the camp to +meet the Sahib. He had, however, no sooner arrived there, than he at +once noticed that the advancing horsemen were armed with matchlocks. Now +our own cavalry in those days carried swords and lances, but not +firearms, therefore these midnight visitors could not belong to any +regiments in our service. To a man like Fatteh Khan, born to wars and +alarms, who takes little for granted in daylight and nothing at night, +this was sufficient to place him on his guard. With instant presence of +mind he shouted, in a voice to be heard throughout the camp: "Rouse up +everyone! Draw swords! The enemy are upon us!" + +Scarcely had he ceased speaking when the enemy, throwing off further +disguise, gave a yell and dashed at the camp, firing heavily as they +rode. But though taken at a great disadvantage, and with odds of seven +to one against them, the Guides made shift to be ready for the +onslaught. There was naturally no time to get to horse, or into any +regular formation, and therefore the attack had to be met on foot with +sword and lance, in some hasty serviceable formation. Fatteh Khan +therefore shouted to all the non-commissioned officers, who carried +lances, to dash to the front and hold the outskirts of the camp, while +the rank and file who were armed with swords should fall into knots of +five or six, and prepare to defend themselves. + +Against this hardy improvised defence the fierce attacks spent +themselves like stormy waves against outstanding rocks; yet as a proof +of the heavy fire, no tent escaped with less than ten or twelve +bullet-holes. When once, however, the first fusillade was over, matters +were on a somewhat more equal basis, for a matchlock cannot be reloaded +on horseback; yet the odds were still great, and it took the Guides all +their time to hold their own. But the surprise, as a surprise, having +failed, the Swati cavalry, finding so stout a resistance, began to +weaken in their endeavour. Catching the tide on the turn, the Guides +dashed forth, and became themselves the attackers, hamstringing the +horses, and so hewing, cutting, and thrusting, that, finding this no +pigeons' nest, but rather a swarm of angry hornets, the whole two +hundred horsemen scattered and fled. + +The loss of the Guides in this staunch little affair proved, when all +was over, to have been altogether insignificant; while the enemy on +their part, besides leaving many dead men and horses in camp, carried +off also, as was afterwards ascertained, a goodly number who would never +throw a leg over a horse again. The leader of the attack was the +redoubtable Mukaram Khan, one of the most daring and notable free-lances +on the border. + +In consequence of this and other raids it was determined to take +measures, on a considerable scale, to discourage further efforts on the +part of the border tribes. Consequently a brigade of all arms, under Sir +Colin Campbell, moved out from Peshawur, to punish the lawless, and to +exact retribution from those who had erred from the strict path of +peace. + +Amongst the various strongholds that were on the black list, and which, +unless they surrendered at discretion, were destined to be attacked, +captured, and sacked, was the Utmankheyl fortified village of Nawadand. +Opposite this the British force sat down with the studied deliberation +of old-time warfare, when contending armies might encamp for weeks and +months within a stone's throw of each other. During this dignified +pause, while doubtless supplies were being collected, and negotiations +proceeding with the enemy, the British outpost line lay in full view of, +and only "one shout's distance," as the Pathans expressively call it, +from the enemy. And outside the line of infantry outposts lay a cavalry +picket of twenty men of the Guides. + +Thus it happened that one fine morning, in the month of May, 1852, the +enemy, whether with intent to surprise, or merely fired with the nervous +irritation of one who can no longer stand the strain of awaiting an +impending blow, determined to hasten the issue by taking the offensive. +So collecting his rough and ragged legions, stout of heart and stout of +arm, carrying weapons not meanly to be compared with our own, the outlaw +chief, Ajun Khan, marched out to attack the British, and to take them +unawares in their tents. + +The movement was at once reported by the British outposts, but troops +take some few minutes to arm, equip, and form up in line of battle; +while the Affghan border warrior moves with a swiftness that may well +cause panic and dismay. A young subaltern of the Guides, Lieutenant G.N. +Hardinge, seeing how matters were trending, rode out to the outlying +picket of the Guides' cavalry, and there took his stand. It was an +anxious moment. Behind him was the hastily arming camp, humming with the +bustle of preparation; and before him, advancing across the stony plain, +moved a line of skirmishers backed up by closed supports, and followed +by great hordes of shouting warriors. + +The motionless troop of the Guides stood foremost to meet the shock. On +came the hardy tribesmen swiftly and relentlessly; but still, as he +looked anxiously back, it was plain to the British subaltern that his +comrades were not yet armed to meet the coming storm. "We can only give +them one minute more," he said, and stout and steady came the answer: +"Yes, your Honour, one minute more." And as they spoke each stalwart +trooper gripped his sword still tighter and, shortening his reins, laid +the flat of his thigh hard on his wiry neighing stallion; for as of old, +so now, the war-horse scented the battle from afar. + +The time passed very slowly, a minute seeming an eternity to the +impatient soldiers. Fifteen seconds--twenty seconds--thirty +seconds--for--ty-five seconds--six--ty! + +"Carry swords," in a serene and conversational voice remarked the young +subaltern; equally smoothly and quietly came the order, "Walk, march." +Then, as the troop moved forward, followed the slightly more animated +command, "Trot"; and as the excitement of coming conflict coursed with +the wild exuberance of youth through the boy's veins, "Gallop! Charge!" +he yelled, and back came an answering shout, "Fear not, Sahib, we are +with you!" And thus was launched on the flood of death a little band of +heroes, that they might save an army. + +But ever since the day when David slew Goliath, the God of Battles has +not always sided with the big battalions. A few staunch hearts hurled +fearlessly at the foe may still, like the ancient slinger's stone, lay +low the giant. So on this occasion the effect of the bold attack was +magical. Through the thin line of skirmishers, heedless of the +spluttering fire, went the troop, like a round shot through a paper +screen, and fell like yelling furies on the clumps of swordsmen, +pikemen, and any-weapon-men, who formed the supports. These they killed +and wounded and scattered like chaff to the wind. And then,--their +mission was accomplished! The enemy's advancing masses wavered, halted, +hesitation and dismay replacing the confident sling-trot of a few +minutes before. The surprise had failed, the camp was saved. Then +Hardinge, his work accomplished, himself sore wounded, the enemy's +standard in his hands, rallied his pursuing troop, and clearing to a +flank left displayed the British force drawn up and ready to receive all +comers. + +To see the right moment and to seize it, to balance the profit and loss, +counting one's own life as a feather in the scales, to strike hard and +bold whatever the odds,--such are a few simple soldier lessons, learnt +not from the scribes, but from a gallant British subaltern. + + * * * * * + +While Lieutenant Lumsden was in England in 1853 the command of the +Guides was given to Lieutenant W.S.R. Hodson. This book would not be +complete without relating the story of at any rate one of the many +occasions on which this gallant officer, afterwards so famous, showed +his fine metal. The fight about to be described was one, too, in which +the many brave and devoted officers who have been surgeons to the corps +have displayed the greatest gallantry. + +For high crimes and misdemeanours it was decided to punish the large and +important cluster of villages named Bori, in the land of the Jowaki +Afridis, not far from the present military station of Cherat. A brigade +of all arms, consisting of the 22nd Foot, 20th Punjab Infantry, 66th +Gurkhas (now the 1st Gurkha Rifles), the Corps of Guides, a squadron of +Irregular Cavalry, some 9-pounder guns on elephants, and a company of +Sappers, the whole under Colonel S.B. Boileau, was detailed for the +undertaking. The Bori villages lay in the valley of the same name +enclosed by high and rugged mountains, making both ingress and egress in +face of practised mountaineers a most difficult operation. + +The advance was led by the Guides, who, themselves active as panthers in +the hills, drove the Afridis before them through the Bori villages and +up the precipitous mountains behind. The main body then set to work to +burn and destroy the villages with all the food and fodder therein, and +to drive off the cattle. So far, as is often the case in fighting these +mountaineers, all had gone well; but now came the crucial time. Afridis +may be driven all day like mountain sheep, but when the night begins to +fall, and their tired pursuers commence of necessity to draw back to +lower levels for food and rest, then this redoubtable foe rises in all +his strength, and with sword and gun and huge boulder hurls himself like +a demon on his retiring enemy. + +At one of the furthest points ahead was Lieutenant F. McC. Turner, who +with about thirty men of the Guides had driven a very much superior +force of the enemy into a stone breastwork at the top of a high peak. +Here the British officer was held; not an inch could he advance; and now +he was called upon to conform with the general movement for retirement. +To retire, placed as he was, meant practical annihilation, so sticking +to the rocks like a limpet he blew a bugle calling for reinforcement. +Hodson, who himself was faced by great odds, seeing the serious position +of his friend, sent across all the men he could afford to extricate him, +but these were not strong enough to effect their purpose. Then it was +that Dr. R. Lyell, the surgeon of the Guides, took on himself to carry +forward the much needed succour. In reserve lying near him was the +Gurkha company of the Guides, and also a company of the 66th Gurkhas +under a native officer. Taking these troops, with great dash and +personal gallantry he led them to the attack, drove back the already +exulting enemy, stormed their position, and extricated Lieutenant Turner +and his party from their perilous position. It was a noble deed, nobly +and gallantly carried out; and when it had been achieved, the brave +fighter returned to the tender care of the wounded, and to alleviate +the pains of the dying. + +And now Hodson had got together the threads of his retirement, and using +one to help the other, gradually and slowly drew back, covering the +brigade with a net of safety. Thus quietly falling back, and meeting +wild charges with ball and bayonet, he kept the open valley till all the +force had safely passed the defile of exit. Then, while the last of his +infantry got safely to commanding posts on the lower slopes, he himself, +with the ready resource of the born fighter, changed his game, and from +the patient role of the steady infantry commander, became a cavalry +leader. Mounting his horse and calling on the Guides' cavalry to follow +him, he suddenly charged the astonished enemy, and hurling them back +with slaughter secured for the rest of his men a peaceful retirement. +But before they laid themselves on the hard ground, this paladin of the +fight and his staunch warriors had spent eighteen hours in desperate +warfare with little food and no water. + +So far as the records show this was the first occasion on which Hodson +had led a cavalry charge, and was an auspicious opening to a cavalry +career of remarkable brilliancy,--a career which was brought to a brave, +but untimely end, only four years later before the walls of Lucknow. + +Amongst other historic figures who watched this fight, and who added +their generous meed of praise, were John Lawrence, the saviour of the +Punjab, who later, as Lord Lawrence, was Viceroy of India, Major Herbert +Edwardes, now Commissioner of Peshawur, who as a subaltern had won two +pitched battles before Mooltan, and Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Napier, +afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala and Commander-in-Chief of the Army in +India. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE STORY OF DILAWUR KHAN. + + +The story of Dilawur Khan, subadar of the Guides, is one which +kindles many a kindly memory of the rough brave fellows who, under a +sprinkling of English officers, upheld British supremacy on the +North-West Frontier of India in the early 'fifties. + +When Lumsden was raising the Guides he looked about for men who, as he +expressed it, were "accustomed to look after themselves and not easily +taken aback by any sudden emergency,"--men born and bred to the sword, +who had faced death a hundred times from childhood upwards, and who had +thus instinctively learnt to be alert, brave, and self-reliant. To these +hardy warriors Lumsden explained the simple doctrine that they were +enlisted for three years, had to do what they were bid, and would +receive a certain fixed salary every month for their trouble. + +Soldiers of fortune and dashing young bloods from all the countryside +flocked to his standard, and so popular was the corps that there were +sometimes as many as thirty of these receiving no pay, and maintaining +themselves and their horses, while awaiting a vacancy. And great indeed +was the excitement when Lumsden, in his bluff breezy way, would say: +"Well, here's a vacancy, and I don't for the life of me know which of +you to give it to. Come along down to the rifle-range, and shoot it off +amongst yourselves; the best shot gets the vacancy." And off they would +go to the range, with all their friends and relations to the fifth +generation, and all the partisans in the corps of each competitor: +shooting for the King's Prize at Bisley is a flat and tame proceeding in +comparison with this. And as each shot was fired the friends of the +competitor would yell: "_Shahbash_! Bravo! Well shot! Another bull's +eye! You will win for certain." While rival interests would with equal +emphasis discredit the performance: "This bull's eye was certainly an +accident. God willing he will miss next time. Bravo! let us not lose +heart!" + +The demeanour of the winner on such occasions would make a Master in +Lunacy look grave. The happy young fellow would jump into the air, +yelling and pirouetting, brandishing a sword, and at frequent intervals +letting off a gun, nominally into the air, while most of his friends did +likewise, embracing and congratulating him in the intervals. Without +taking a seat amongst the Scribes and Pharisees, it is perhaps +permissible to notice that such a scene as this is in curious contrast +to that to be seen in any French or German country town when lots are +being drawn for conscription. There the youth, who by drawing a lucky +number escapes serving his country, is congratulated, feted, and led in +procession round the streets. + +One hard and fast rule, however, Lumsden made. He would take no low +caste men; he would have naught to say to the washermen, sweepers, and +fiddlers[7] of the village; he would take only the highest, which in +this land is the fighting caste. His argument was one which still holds +good. It is not in reason to expect the classes which for hundreds of +years have been hewers of wood and drawers of water, and for hundreds of +years have been accustomed to receive the cuffs and kicks of their +village superiors, to face readily the fighting classes in the day of +battle. The prestige of the soldier would be wanting to them, and +prestige counts for as much in the East as elsewhere. + + [7] A musician in India is a low caste person. + +Yet holding these views, a brave man was a brave man to Lumsden, be his +birth or caste what it might be. Most English-speaking people have read +Mr. Rudyard Kipling's poem about Gunga Din the _bhisti_, or +water-carrier, who by the unanimous verdict of the soldiers was voted +the bravest man in the battle. Whether Mr. Kipling got that incident +from the Guides or not his poem does not show, but there it actually +occurred. The name of the bhisti was Juma, and so gallantly did he +behave in action at Delhi, calmly carrying water to the wounded and +dying under the most tremendous fire, that the soldiers themselves said: +"This man is the bravest of the brave, for without arms or protection of +any sort he is in the foremost line; if any one deserves the star for +valour this man does." And so the highest distinction open to an Indian +soldier was bestowed on Juma the bhisti; and further, the soldiers +petitioned that he should be enlisted and serve in the ranks as a +soldier, and no longer be menially employed. Nor was this all: in spite +of his low birth, in a country where birth is everything, he rose step +by step to be a native officer; and then to crown his glory, in the +Afghan War he again won the star for valour, and the clasp which that +great distinction carries. But this story is not about Juma, and so we +must reluctantly leave him and get to our theme. + +At this time it so happened that the most notorious highwayman and +outlaw in the whole of Yusafzai was one Dilawur Khan, a Khuttuk of +good family belonging to the village of Jehangira, on the Kabul River +near its junction with the Indus. Brought up to the priesthood, his wild +and impetuous nature and love of adventure could not brook a life of +sedentary ease, and therefore, like many a spirited young blood, both +before and since, he "took to the road." In his case the step was taken, +if not actually with the sanction and blessing of his Church, at any +rate with its unofficial consent. In those days the Sikhs held by force +the country of the Faithful, and Hindus fattened on its trade. It was no +great sin therefore, indeed, an active merit, that the sons of the +Prophet, sword in hand, should spoil the Egyptian, by night or by day, +as provided for by Allah. + +To recount all the adventures of Dilawur would fill a book, and +require a Munchausen to write it; but there was about them all a touch +of humour, and sometimes of almost boyish fun, accompanied often by the +rough courtesies of the gentlemen of the road, which reminds one of Dick +Turpin and other famous exponents of the profession on the highways of +England. + +Now it so happened that it was at this time one of Lumsden's duties to +hunt down and capture Dilawur, who for just and sufficient cause was +now an outlaw, with a price on his head of no less than two thousand +rupees. Many a time and oft did Lumsden and his men plan and strive, and +ride and hide, but no nearer could they get to the capture of +Dilawur. + +Sitting one evening outside his tent, after yet another unsuccessful +attempt, it suddenly occurred to Lumsden that Dilawur must have an +astonishingly intimate knowledge of every path, nullah, and pass in the +district to thus evade capture, as well as a remarkably efficient +intelligence department, to give him timely warning. "Just the man for +the Guides," exclaimed Lumsden. "I'll send for him." A polite note was +accordingly written inviting Dilawur Khan to come into the Guides' +camp, at any time and place that fitted in with his other, and doubtless +more important, engagements, "to talk matters over." At the same time a +free passport was sent which would allow of his reaching the camp +unmolested. It speaks volumes for the high estimate which British +integrity had already earned amongst these rough borderland people, that +a man with two thousand rupees on his head could accept such an +invitation. For the same man to have accepted a similar invitation from +the Sikhs, or even from his own countrymen, would have been an act of +culpable and aimless suicide. + +One fine day, therefore, Dilawur strolled into camp, and he and +Lumsden began "to talk matters over." After compliments, as the Eastern +saying is, Lumsden with much heartiness, and in that free and easy +manner which was his own, took Dilawur with the utmost candour into +his confidence. + +"Look here, Dilawur," said he; "you are a fine fellow, and are living +a fine free life of adventure, and I daresay are making a fairly good +thing out of it. So far, although I have done my best, I have failed to +catch you, but catch you I assuredly shall some day. And what do you +suppose I shall do with you when I do catch you? Why, hang you as high +as Haman,--a gentleman whose history appears in our Good Book. Now, +that's a poor ending for a fine soldier like you, and I'll make you an +offer, take it or leave it. I'll enlist you, and as many of your men as +come up to my standard, in the Guides, and with decent luck you will +soon be a native officer, with good fixed pay, and a pension for your +old age, and, meanwhile, as much fighting as the greatest glutton can +wish for. Well, what do you say?" + +Dilawur Khan first stared, thunderstruck at the novelty and +unexpectedness of the offer; and then, tickled with the comical side of +it, burst into a roar of laughter. It was one of the very best jokes he +had ever heard. He, an outlaw, with a price on his head, his sins +forgiven, enlisted in the Guides, with the prospect of becoming a native +officer! "No, no," he exclaimed, "that won't do"; and, still shaking +with laughter, rose to take his leave. And as he walked away he was +followed by the hearty and genial voice of Lumsden roaring after him: +"Mind, I'll catch you some day, Dilawur, and then I'll hang you, as +sure as my name's Lumsden!" + +Lumsden, having many other matters on hand, thought nothing more about +the matter, till, much to his surprise, one day six weeks later, who +should walk calmly into his camp, without passport or safe conduct, or +anything save serene confidence in the British officer, but Dilawur +Khan. + +"I've been thinking of what you said," he began, "and I have come to +enlist, and as many of my band as you care to take." + +"That's right," said Lumsden, with great affability. "I thought you +were a sensible fellow, as well as a brave one. I'll take you on." + +"I have, however, one condition to make," solemnly continued the outlaw. + +"Well, what's that?" asked Lumsden, thinking that he was going to drive +some desperate bargain. + +"I'll enlist on one condition," replied Dilawur, "and that is, I must +be let off doing the goose-step. I really can't stand about on one leg, +a laughing-stock amongst a lot of recruits." + +"Oh, nonsense," laughed Lumsden; "you'll have to begin at the beginning, +like everyone else. The goose-step is one of the foundations of the +British Empire. If a king came into the army he'd have to do it. Why, I +had to do goose-step myself! Of course you'll have to do it." + +So with much good-humoured laughing and chaffing Dilawur Khan +enlisted; and for weeks after one of the sights of Yusafzai, which +notable chiefs rode many a mile to see, was the dreaded Dilawur, the +terror of the Border, peacefully balancing himself on one leg, under the +careful tuition of a drill-sergeant of the Guides. + +Long years afterwards, when he had reached the highest rank open to him, +in one of his friendly talks with Lumsden, he said: "Yes, Sahib, when I +enlisted I thought you were one of the most unsophisticated persons I +had ever come across. All I took on for was to learn your tricks and +strategy, and how British troops were trained, and how they made their +_bandobust_[8] for war. Directly I had learnt these things I had +intended walking off whence I came, to use my knowledge against my +enemies. But by the kindness of God I soon learnt what clean and +straight people the sahibs are, dealing fairly by all, and devoid of +intrigue and underhand dealing. So I stopped on, and here I am, my beard +growing white in the service of the Queen of England." + + [8] _Bandobust_, lit., a tying or binding; any system or mode of + regulation discipline; arrangements. + +His early religious education had given Dilawur more than the average +insight into the intricacies of Mahomedan doctrine, and being possessed +of ready wit, and considerable ability in debate, he was ever anxious to +enter into doctrinarian discussions with the _mullahs_. Their +superstitions especially came in for his lively ridicule, and a good +story is told by old native officers illustrating his views. One day, +Dilawur with a crowd of other passengers was crossing the Indus, +which there was very deep and rapid, in the ferry-boat. Being +over-heavily loaded, the boat, when it felt the strong current, appeared +in great danger of filling and sinking. Then the Mahomedans on board +with one accord set up loud lamentations, and began to call upon their +saints to succour them. "Oh Ali! Oh Hosein! Oh Kaka Sahib! save us," +they cried. Whereupon Dilawur, not to be outdone, in his turn +commenced yelling and shouting vociferously: "Lumsden Sahib! Oh Lumsden +Sahib, save me!" "What are you doing, you accursed infidel?" exclaimed +the scandalised passengers, furiously. "Why do you supplicate Lumsden +Sahib? It is enough to sink the boat straight away." "That is easily +explained," calmly replied Dilawur. "You are calling on saints who +have been dead for ages, while Lumsden Sahib is alive and lives close +by. Personally I consider it more sensible to call on a living man than +on a dead saint." + +On another occasion his enthusiasm in the cause of religious +enlightenment nearly cost him his life. When the Amir Dost Mahomed Khan +came to Peshawur in 1856, he was accompanied by Hafiz Ji, a leading +mullah of Afghanistan and a great doctrinarian; to whom came the learned +amongst the Faithful, to discuss the tenets of their religion and to +listen to the wisdom of the wise. With them came also Dilawur, full +of zeal and thirsting for knowledge, who artlessly introduced so +debatable a subject, that the assembly was thrown into an uproar; and +lest worse things might happen unto him, the worthy, but too enquiring, +subadar was hustled hastily forth, and requested in future to stick to +soldiering, and to avoid bringing his infernal questions to cause +discord amongst the chosen of the Prophet. As Dilawur afterwards +pathetically remarked, he "didn't think much of a religion which instead +of meeting argument with argument only threw stones at the head of the +seeker after knowledge." Indeed the occasion seems to have thoroughly +unsettled him in the convictions of his youth, for shortly afterwards he +finally shook off all connection with the Mahomedan religion, and +turning Christian was baptised at Peshawur in 1858. + +During the Mutiny he did excellent service, making the famous march to +Delhi with the Guides, and serving with them throughout the siege and +storming of that place. He served also in the many skirmishes which +occurred on the frontier during the next twelve years, getting what he +had bargained for on joining, plenty of fighting. And then came that +call of duty which asked of the staunch old warrior to lay down his life +for the foreign Queen whose good servant he was. + +In 1869 the British Government wanted a man to go on a special and +important mission, a man of infinite resource, well educated, hardy and +brave, for he would need to carry his life in his hands for many a long +day and many a weary mile. The man selected was Dilawur Khan, and +joyfully he undertook the risks and excitement of the service. With him +went a comrade, Ahmed Jan, also of the Guides. The two set forth +together, and after many hardships and adventures had reached the +territory of the Mehtar of Chitral, and were nearing the completion of +their task. Seated one day under a tree, making their midday halt and +chatting with some fellow travellers, they were suddenly surrounded by +the soldiers of the Mehtar and hurried back under close guard to +Chitral. Seeing danger ahead, Dilawur, before he was searched, +managed to drop into the river certain documents and reports of a secret +nature, which it was important should not fall into strange hands. + +On arrival at Chitral he and his companions were thrown into prison, +there to await the Mehtar's pleasure. When eventually they were brought +before him, that chieftain, addressing Dilawur, asked, "Who are you +and whence come you?" "I am the Mullah Dilawur," replied the +prisoner, "on my way from Bokhara on a religious mission." + +"No, you are not," replied the Mehtar; "you are Subadar Dilawur of +the Guides, a heretic and an infidel." + +"Quite true," answered Dilawur readily; "I was at one time a subadar +of the Guides, but I have been many things in my time, and now I am a +mullah." + +"I have reliable information," said the Mehtar, "that you are in the +secret employment of the British Government." + +"Go to," laughed Dilawur, "what next? I have a proposal to make. If +you doubt that I am a mullah, and not an ignorant one, be pleased to +call together all your most learned priests and I will discuss doctrine +with them, till all are convinced." + +"If you will confess and tell me the secrets of the Government," +replied the Mehtar, "I will give you a handsome present and take you +into my service." + +"I have no secrets," said Dilawur, "and I beg of your Highness to +allow me to proceed on my way. On my arrival at the _ziarat_[9] of the +Kaka Sahib near Nowshera I will make a special offering on behalf of +your Highness, and extol your generosity." + + [9] _Ziarat_, cemetery. + +But the Mehtar evidently had very straight information regarding +Dilawur, and it was the custom of the land to kill all strangers who +could not account for themselves, and more especially those who had any +connection with the dreaded Feringhis. For the Pathan saying is: "First +comes one Englishman, as a traveller or for _shikar_;[10] then come two +and make a map; then comes an army and takes the country. It is better +therefore to kill the first Englishman." Dilawur was consequently +sent back to prison, and a meeting of the mullahs decided that he should +be stoned to death as an apostate. "It must be the will of God," said +this brave man when the news was brought him, and prepared to meet his +fate. + + [10] _Shikar_, sport. + +But not yet was his time fulfilled. For two months he and his travelling +companions were kept in prison, probably to enable the Mehtar to +correspond with his agents in Peshawur. The reply received was evidently +not in favour of extreme measures for the strong arm of the British was +notoriously far-reaching, and serious trouble might ensue if the subadar +were killed. The Mehtar therefore decided to release the prisoners, and +to give them such assistance as they needed in getting away. + +On their way towards India the little party got as far as the great +range of mountains, some twenty-four thousand feet in height, which +divide Chitral from Bajaur, and attempted to cross it by the Nuksan +Pass, the Pass of Death. For four days and nights they struggled on, +through the ever deepening snow and ever increasing cold. Dilawur +Khan's comrade, Ahmed Jan, was the first to die; and then, on the fourth +night, the brave old soldier himself gave out, and as he was dying he +called to him one of the survivors, and said: "Should any of you reach +India alive, go to the Commissioner of Peshawur and say 'Dilawur Khan +of the Guides is dead'; and say also that he died faithful to his salt, +and happy to give up his life in the service of the Great Queen." + +So he died, and the eternal snows cover as with a soft and kindly sheet +the rugged soldier who knew no fear. The serene and majestic silence of +the mountain is given to him whose life in the plain below had been one +great and joyous fight from the cradle to the grave. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE GREAT MARCH TO DELHI + + +For the Guides the great tragedy of 1857 opened with the mutiny of the +55th Native Infantry. When this regiment first showed signs of +insubordination it was quartered at the neighbouring cantonment of +Nowshera, then slenderly garrisoned by British troops, but with many +European women and children. For safety's sake it was therefore thought +better to isolate the regiment by sending it over to Mardan. With the +news of the outbreak at Meerut the demeanour of the regiment became more +sullen and menacing, and it was accordingly decided at once to disarm +the sepoys. For this purpose a column was sent from Peshawur, consisting +of a wing of the 70th Foot, a portion of the 5th Punjab Infantry under +Vaughan, two hundred and fifty sabres of the 10th Irregular Cavalry, and +some Mounted Police; the whole under Colonel Chute of the 70th Foot, +with John Nicholson as political officer. + +The 55th Native Infantry had been warned that the column was coming, and +when, from the walls of the fort, they saw it approaching, they broke +and fled, taking the Katlung road, thus hoping to escape across the +border into Swat and Buner. Nicholson with the cavalry and mounted +police immediately started in pursuit. The cavalry, themselves +disaffected, did no execution whatever; but the police behaved with +great dash and gallantry, killing one hundred and twenty, and capturing +one hundred and fifty of the mutineers. The remainder escaped across the +border, but their fate was only postponed. Some were murdered by the +tribesmen, some driven back into British territory, captured and hanged, +and some were blown from guns before the eyes of the garrison of +Peshawur. Of the whole regiment all were destroyed except a few scores +who escaped the gallows and the guns to suffer transportation for life. +Such was the terrible ending of the 55th Native Infantry; a signal and, +as it proved, a most effective warning, the results of which were felt +over the whole of the north-west corner of India. + +A distressing and pathetic tragedy resulted from the mutiny of this +regiment. Colonel Henry Spottiswoode who commanded it, like so many +other officers, absolutely refused to believe in the disloyalty of his +men. He was one of those who held the view that distrust bred +disaffection, which with confidence would never appear. So deeply +distressed was this chivalrous officer when his regiment rebelled, that +he refused to outlive what to him was an indelible disgrace, and so, +going apart, shot himself dead. According to an old soldier, then in +the Guides, he fell and was buried under a great mulberry tree at the +cross-roads near the fort. + +Meanwhile, the Guides, at six hours' notice, fully equipped, horse and +foot, had started on their historic march to Delhi. They left Mardan at +six in the evening of May 13th, and joined the British force at the +siege of Delhi early on June 9th. The distance is five hundred and +eighty miles, and the time taken was twenty-six days and fourteen hours; +but from this must be deducted five days and nine hours made up as +follows: detained forty-two hours at Attock, holding the fort pending +the arrival of a reliable garrison; detained forty-one hours at Rawul +Pindi, pending the question as to whether the Guides were to be employed +to disarm the native artillery; detained forty-six hours at Karnal by +the magistrate, in order to attack, capture, and burn a hostile village +lying twelve miles off the road. If, therefore, these halts "by order" +are deducted, it will be found that the Guides took actually twenty-one +days and five hours to march five hundred and eighty miles. This works +out to an average of over twenty-seven miles a day. As a contemporary +historian remarks, such a feat would be highly creditable to mounted +troops, and was doubly so to the infantry portion of the corps. To add +to the credit of this high achievement, it may be added that the march +took place at the hottest season of the year through the hottest region +on earth. + +The record of a march along the Grand Trunk Road of India does not lend +itself to much picturesque description, but perhaps it may be in this +case of some interest to follow the stern resolve and steady endurance +which carried the stout-hearted regiment through those never-ending +miles along the straight and scorching road to Delhi. And in this +endeavour we are singularly fortunate in having for reference a diary +written from day to day by Henry Daly, who, in the absence of Lumsden on +a special mission, commanded the corps.[11] + + [11] _Memoirs of General Sir Henry Dermot Daly, G.C.B., C.I.E.;_ by + Major H. Daly. London, 1905. + +The first night's march took the Guides sixteen miles to Nowshera, where +after barely two hours' rest came orders to push on to Attock, another +eighteen miles. To add to the hardships of this march, it so chanced +that the Mahomedan fast of Ramzan was in observance, during which no +follower of the Prophet may eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. +Parched, hungry, and weary, the thirty-four mile march was completed, +and the Indus crossed at ten in the morning of the 14th of May. + +Halting by order forty-two hours at Attock, to allow of the arrival of a +relief garrison, the Guides pushed on thirty-two miles to Burhan, on the +night of the 15th--16th, in the midst of a violent dust storm. Many of +the men were very footsore from their long march of the previous day, +but all were cheerful and light-hearted, making naught of their +hardships. + +Another thirty-two mile march brought the corps to Jani-ki-Sang, and +took them the next morning fifteen miles in to Rawul Pindi. On the road +Herbert Edwardes passed the corps, and drove Daly on into Rawul Pindi, +there to meet the great hearts of the Punjab, John Lawrence, Neville +Chamberlain, and John Nicholson. + +A day was spent here in consultation on the broad aspect of affairs, and +locally as to the advisability, or otherwise, of using the Guides to +disarm the native artillery in garrison. Finally it was decided not to +do so, and thus with the gruff but kindly farewells of John Lawrence, +and the light-hearted chaff and high spirits of Herbert Edwardes, Daly +and his men again set forth, and on the night of the 19th--20th made a +twenty mile march to Mandra. There was no falling off in the cheerful +endeavour, nor was any man so tired or footsore that he would be content +to be left behind. + +The next march brought the corps to Sohawa, twenty-four miles, made +trying by hot scorching winds and the deep and intricate nullahs which +had to be crossed. Then followed twenty-eight miles, and in delightful +contrast the vicinity of great rushing waters made a little heaven of +the camp on the banks of the Jhelum. But it was not for long; at dusk +trumpets and bugles again sound the advance, and amidst a great storm of +dust and rain the second of the great rivers of the Punjab is crossed, +and in addition to the great difficulty and delay of a night passage, +yet another twenty-one miles are added to the marching score before +daylight. The 24th being a cooler day, Daly resolved to push on another +fifteen miles to the Chenab, and to cross that river during the course +of the night. This was safely accomplished, and by early morning on the +24th all were on the eastern bank at Wazirabad. That night the men were +called upon for another thirty-two mile march, and daylight saw them at +Kamoke. Resting all day nightfall again found them on the road +completing another thirty miles into Lahore, the capital of the Punjab. +The hour was six in the morning, and the date the 26th of May, from +which it will be seen that the Guides had so far covered two hundred and +sixty-seven miles in ten and a half marching-days. + +At Lahore Daly picked up some recruits to replace casualties, as well as +to have a few in hand to meet future vacancies. Marching on, the banks +of the Sutlej, close to the battlefield of Sobraon, forty-three miles +from Lahore, were reached early on the 29th, and the passage of this, +the fifth great river of the Punjab, was at once commenced. Then on +again at dusk thirty-two more miles to Mihna; a more than usually trying +march this, for a cross-country road caused many to lose their way, and +it was twenty-four hours before all the baggage was in. This +necessitated making the next a short march, in order that all might get +into trim again; so at midnight, at the fourteenth milestone, Daly +called a halt, and all slept the sleep of those who have endured much. +June 1st saw the corps march into Ludhiana at three in the morning, +after covering twenty-four miles. Here all was silence, and the +officers, using the lowest step of the court-house as a pillow, slept +soundly till dawn. + +A pleasant restful day in the great cool house of the Deputy +Commissioner, Mr. Ricketts, with such unheard of luxuries as cold water +and iced ginger-beer to drink, and cool sheets to lie on, put fresh +vigour into the little band of British officers, and off they went at +half-past seven in the evening for a twenty-eight mile march to +Alawi-ke-Serai. Another march, next night, of the same distance brought +the corps to Rajpoora. They were now close to Umballa, and another night +march brought them, at one in the morning of June 4th, to the deserted +cantonment. + +Here they were received in friendly fashion by the troopers of the +Maharaja of Patiala, who had been left in charge, and were conducted to +a grove of great trees near a tank, probably in the vicinity of the +present racecourse. After a good day's rest under the trees the march +was continued to Pipli, twenty-six miles, where a letter was received +from Mr. Barnes, the Commissioner, giving news of the force at Meerut, +and inferring that they were not much more than holding their own. + +At Karnal, twenty-four miles onward, and now nearing their goal, two +causes of delay crossed their path. Cholera, that ancient scourge of +the East which finds its easiest prey when men are physically +impoverished with great exertions, now attacked the dusty road-worn +corps, three Gurkhas being the first victims, while seven or eight more +men were down the same evening. At the same time came a call from Mr. Le +Bas, the magistrate, strongly backed by Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, to turn +aside in order to burn a mutinous village. Greatly demurring at any +delay in reaching his main objective, the demand was so urgent that Daly +felt bound to comply with it. His compliance cost him small loss, but +the delay cost the British cause the help of the Guides at the battle of +Budlika-Serai. Though too late for that fight, however, they were in +time for many another before the walls of Delhi. + +The moral effect of the arrival of the Guides in Delhi was perhaps in +some measure greater even than the actual fighting strength thus brought +into line. The fame of the march from the far distant frontier, the fine +physique and martial bearing of soldiers drawn from warlike tribes new +to the eyes of their British comrades, the encouraging and enheartening +effect of the arrival of reinforcements however small, all tended to +give the approach of the travel-stained Guides a high significance. Some +such thought perhaps intuitively occurred to all; and every soldier who +could claim to be off duty rushed to the dusty road-side, and hoarsely +cheered the gallant fellows who had overcome so much to reach the side +of their British comrades, hard set to uphold the great Empire of Clive +and Warren Hastings. It is interesting, at this distance of time, to +find recorded the impression of an eye-witness who was amongst those who +watched and cheered as the Guides, after a last thirty mile march, +strode manfully into the camp at Delhi, on this, the morning of the 9th +of June, 1857. "Their stately height and martial bearing," says this +onlooker, "made all who saw them proud to have such aid. They came in as +firm and light as if they had marched but a single mile." + +At the end of this great march rest and peace for a day or two had +assuredly been earned. But no; as the Guides approach the historic +Ridge, a staff officer, sent out to meet them, gallops up, and after +giving friendly greeting, with the General's compliments, asks, "How +soon will you be ready to go into action?" "In half an hour," is the +gallant Daly's cheery reply. And thus it came about that history added +one more touch of glory to a great achievement. A little space of time +there was for partial rest and hard-earned food, and then the trumpet +calls to seize their arms and face the foe they had come so far to +fight. And in that fight both horse and foot showed great and glorious +valour; but when evening came, and beaten back the rebels hid behind the +walls of Delhi, the roll-call told its sad undying story. Full many a +Guide had made that strenuous march but to lay down his life e'er yet he +had pitched his tent. And brightest lights, as was meet, amidst these +heroes, were the little band of British officers, for of those, in that +one first fight, all were killed or wounded. Amongst the latter was the +lion-hearted, ever-cheerful Daly; and amongst the former the first of +the great soldier-name of Battye to die a soldier's death. And as he +died in that great agony his face lit up, and calm and smooth came the +grand old Roman verse: + + Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. + +The story of the Guides before Delhi is the story of all that gallant +band who through the blazing heat, 'midst sickness and disease, fought +the good fight right through the summer of 1857, and with them shared in +the crowning glory of the final assault and capture of the capital of +the Great Mogul. Hence after a few months' harrying and chasing of rebel +bands, with sadly diminished numbers, but still stout of heart, the +order came for the Guides to return to their home on the distant +frontier. + +In the midst of so much treachery, such dastardly deeds of murder and +rapine, the bright light of unwavering fidelity, sealed and confirmed by +surpassing gallantry in the field, so appealed to the hearts of the +storm-pressed Englishmen, that the Guides received little short of an +ovation when they returned to Peshawur. By order of Major-General Sir +Sidney Cotton the whole of the garrison was paraded to receive the +shattered remnants of that war-worn corps. On their approach a royal +salute was fired by the artillery, and cavalry and infantry came to the +salute while the massed bands played. The General then made a most +eloquent and affecting address, welcoming the corps back to the +frontier, and expressing the pride and honour felt by all in being +associated with men whose deeds of daring had earned for themselves and +their noble profession undying fame. They had taken six hundred men to +Delhi and their casualties had reached three hundred and fifty. During +the siege the whole strength in British officers had been renewed four +times, and all these had been killed or wounded. One officer indeed had +been wounded six times and yet survived, another four times, and others +at least twice. + +After his stirring speech, the General called for three cheers for the +little band of ragged and war-worn heroes, who stood before them. A _feu +de joie_ accompanied by a salute of twenty-one guns was then fired, and +after this the Guides, taking the place of honour at the head of the +line, marched past the flag. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TWENTY YEARS OF MINOR WARS + + +Short breathing space, and little of the rest of peace awaited the +Guides on their return from Delhi. Within two months they were again +taking the field, under Sir Sidney Cotton, against the Hindustani +fanatics of Sittana. + +These fanatics, as they were called, were really refugees from British +territory, for the most part deserters from corps that had mutinied, or +outlaws who had participated in some unforgivable outrage; some, +however, were clean-handed patriots, who, on principle, refused to bow +to the decree of destiny, or to become peaceful subjects of the Queen. +If the latter had remained quiet and inoffensive members of tribes or +communities beyond our borders, the British Government, never +vindictive, would probably, as the heat and passions of a desperate war +died down, have left them to their solitude. But instead of thus living +peaceably in the asylum they had found, they set about inciting their +hot-blooded neighbours to join them in disturbing the peace of the +border. They harried villages, drove off cattle, killed and wounded +British subjects, and thus became an additional disturbing feature on a +frontier always ready enough for the pleasure of a good fight. The +opportunity was therefore taken of the presence of Sir Sidney Cotton's +column to make them feel that the strong hand of the British Government +could reach them even in their mountain fastnesses. + +With the co-operation of a force from the Hazara district Sittana, the +stronghold of the Hindustanis, was skilfully surrounded, and a fierce +hand-to-hand conflict ensued. Their Pathan allies, whose hearts were +evidently not in the business, showed but lukewarm enthusiasm, and +escaped as best they could; but the Hindustanis stood to a man. They +fought like fanatics, coming boldly and doggedly on, and going through +all the preliminary attitudes and posturing of the Indian prize-ring. +Their advance was made steadily and in perfect silence, without a shout +or a word of any kind, unlike the yelling charge of the Afghan _ghazi_. +All were dressed in their bravest and best for the occasion, as is meet +for him who goes to meet his Lord, most of them in pure white, but some +of the leaders in richly embroidered velvet coats. The fight was short, +desperate, and decisive; and in the end every one of these brave, if +misguided, warriors was killed or captured. The brunt of the charge fell +on the 18th Punjab Infantry, who lost one officer and sixteen men in the +encounter. + +Many another fight too did the Guides have during the next few years +with unvarying success, but we may perhaps pass the less important by, +and come to the stiff encounter that faced them during the expedition +against the Mahsud Waziri tribe in 1860. + +The British force operating in that country had in the course of the +campaign been split up into two columns; one under Sir Neville +Chamberlain[12] had gone forward, lightly equipped, into the Waziri +fastnesses; while a weaker column, some one thousand five hundred strong +under Lumsden and including the Guides, was left at Pallosin to guard +camp, equipage, and stores. Knowing the enemy he had to deal with, and +his predilection for, and skill in executing the unexpected in war, +Lumsden drew in his camp, so as to make it as snug and defensible as +possible, and putting out strong picquets with their supports all round, +he awaited the few days' absence of the main column. During the interval +no signs of the enemy could be seen, nor could any news of him be +obtained by means of spies. To all intents and purposes he seemed to +have disappeared, and the little column lay, apparently unnoticed and +unheeded, amidst the great mountains. Yet suddenly, from anywhere, from +nowhere, from the very bowels of the earth, the Waziris rose in their +thousands, and hurled themselves at the British camp. + + [12] Afterwards Field-Marshal Sir Neville Chamberlain, G.C.B., &c. + +_Reveille_ was just sounding in the grey dawn of April 23rd, when three +thousand Waziris armed with swords and guns, and fired with fierce +fanaticism, boldly charged that side of the camp which was held by the +Guides. The storm first fell on the outlying picquets, who fired a +volley, and then received the great rush of white-robed swordsmen on +their bayonets. They fought with the utmost gallantry, but the weight of +numbers was against them, and in a few minutes, standing bravely at +their posts, they were practically annihilated. Yet the strife was not +in vain, for it was strong enough to cause all but the bravest of the +brave to pause before proceeding to attack the kernel of the nut, whose +shell had been so hard to crack. And thus it came about that only five +hundred of the three thousand swordsmen faced the death beyond. These, +with scarce a pause, and calling loudly on Allah to give them victory, +swept swiftly on to the camp of the Guides. In that war-seasoned corps, +half an hour before dawn, wet or dry, in freezing cold or tropical heat, +the inlying picquet, a hundred strong, falls in, and stands silent, +fully equipped, armed, and ready for all emergencies, till broad +daylight shows all clear and safe. At the first sound of the firing +Lumsden jumped to his feet, and taking this inlying picquet, rushed out +of camp at its head, and so posted it as to enfilade and hold in check +the great body of Waziris who now darkened the skyline. Then, hastening +back to camp, he reached it almost abreast of the five hundred, who were +not to be denied. + +Now commenced the very babel of conflict; horses and mules neighing and +screaming and straining at their ropes, dogs barking, men yelling, the +clash of swords, the rattle and crash of musketry, the screams of the +wounded and the groans of the dying. Was ever such a pandemonium? The +Guides in small knots, though hard stricken, fought with determined +courage; but they were gradually driven back, inch by inch, till they +were almost on to the guns parked in the rear. Then came to the rescue +the keen resource and ready courage of the British subaltern. Borne back +in the rush were Lieutenants Bond and Lewis of the Guides; but in the +awful din and confusion they could at first do little else but defend +themselves. Gradually, however, they formed the few men near them into a +rough line, and by dint of shouting and passing the word along, +succeeded in getting more men to catch the notion; till in a few minutes +they had the best part of two hundred men in line right across the camp. +Then came the order passed along with a roar, "Fix bayonets!" This order +was in fact superfluous, for every man was already busy holding his own +with his bayonet; but there is a certain sequence in military orders, +which in times of confusion tend to steady the nerves with the cool +touch of drill and discipline. The sequence of the order "Fix +bayonets!" is "Charge!" When that sequence came a wild cheer echoed +down the line of the Guides; as one man they leaped forward, and with +thrust and staggering blow cleared the camp of the enemy. As they +retreated the 4th Sikhs and 5th Gurkhas took them in flank, and in a few +minutes turned a repulse into a headlong flight. The enemy left one +hundred and thirty-two dead on the ground, ninety-two of whom were in +the Guides' camp, and carried off immense numbers of wounded and dying. +The Guides lost thirty-three killed and seventy-four wounded. + +This was Lumsden's last fight at the head of the Guides. Now a +Lieutenant-Colonel and a Companion of the Bath, his promotion was +assured, and it came with his transfer to the command of the Hyderabad +contingent, with the rank of Brigadier-General. This fine soldier from +the raising of the corps in 1846 had held command of it for sixteen +years; the brightest example of what a brave, chivalrous, and +resourceful leader should be. Commanders of regiments come and go, and +few leave their mark; but over the Guides the influence of Lumsden still +burns bright and clear. To be alert and ready; to rise equal to the +occasion, be the call small or great; to be not easily taken aback in a +sudden emergency; to be a genial comrade and a good sportsman,--such are +the simple soldier maxims left to his comrades by one of the best +soldiers who ever drew sword. + +The extraordinary devotion felt for Lumsden by the rude warriors whom he +had enlisted and trained to war was somewhat pathetically, if quaintly, +illustrated by an incident that occurred not long before he left. Sir +John Lawrence, then Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, had been round to +inspect the Guides, for in those days they were not under the orders of +the Commander-in-Chief, but directly under the Civil Government. +Something in the course of the day had occurred to put Sir John Lawrence +out of humour, and he was at all times a man of blunt speech. Whatever +it was, it temporarily annoyed Lumsden, and quite unwittingly this +became evident to the faithful fellows who were ready to charge into +hell-fire at his order. It was a mere passing cloud, for the cheery +bright-hearted Lumsden was no man to brood over small matters of this +sort. As, however, he sat out under the stars smoking his last pipe, he +became aware of a figure in the background, and turning round saw one of +his orderlies respectfully standing at attention. + +"Hullo! What's up?" asked Lumsden. + +"It is only this," replied the orderly, one of the rough warriors who +took orders only from his own sahibs, and cared not a jot for any other +man, black or white. "It is only this, Sahib: I and my comrades noticed +that the Lord Sahib spoke to-day words that were not pleasing to your +Excellency, and that you were angry and displeased when you heard them. +So we have consulted together as to how best we may serve the proper +end; for it is not right and proper that we should allow our Colonel +Sahib to be harshly spoken to by anyone. There is, therefore, this +alternative: the Lord Sahib has arranged to leave by the straight road +to-morrow morning for Peshawur, but with your honour's kind permission, +and by the Grace of God, there is no reason whatever why he should ever +reach it." That man thoroughly meant what he said, and to this day the +same touching devotion of the men to their officers, though perhaps less +bluntly expressed, is still one of the characteristics of the Guides. + +Many years afterwards Lord William Beresford, when Military Secretary to +the Viceroy, was fond of telling a story not only illustrative of the +personal equation which would cause one of the rough and ready old +soldiers to refuse obedience to any but his own officers, but also +giving a somewhat embarrassing illustration of a sentry adhering too +literally to his orders. Lord William was somewhat annoyed at the time; +but when cooler, he saw the sound military spirit underlying the +incident, and hence always mentioned it with commendation. + +It appears that as the Guides' cavalry were marching in to Rawul Pindi +for a concentration of troops, just before they reached their +camping-ground they passed a pond by the roadside. The officer +commanding turning round, called one of the men to him and said: "Go, +stand sentry on that pond, and don't let anyone water there, till we +have watered our horses." + +"Very good, your Honour," replied the trooper, and went and posted +himself. + +What the commanding officer really meant was, not to allow cattle and +transport animals to dirty the water before the horses came down to +drink; but he did not express himself very clearly. + +Shortly after the sentry had taken up his beat a string of horses, +headed by a gorgeous being in a scarlet uniform, appeared, making for +the pond. + +"Hullo! you there, where are you going?" shouted the sentry. + +"Going?" repeated the gorgeous being, superciliously. "Why, to water my +horses, you stupid fool." + +"No you don't," said the sentry; "no one waters here till the Guides +have finished with it." + +The gorgeous person nearly fell off his horse with astonishment, and +when he found speech he replied: "Cease prattling, son of an impure +mother! These are the Great Lord's horses, and can of course water where +and when they choose." + +"I don't care a quarter of an anna whose horses they are, but they don't +water here. So, out of this, you mis-begotten son of a red-coated ape, +or I'll give you something to help you along." And the sentry quietly +pulled out a cartridge, and began leisurely fitting it into the breech +of his carbine. + +This was not at all to the red-coated gentleman's liking. To trot behind +his Lord, richly caparisoned and splendidly mounted, was one thing; but +to meet an infernal fellow who deliberately fitted a cartridge into his +carbine to defend his post, was a matter not lightly to be undertaken. +Accordingly he galloped off to fetch his native officer. When this +officer arrived he was much enraged, and roundly abused the sentry, +calling him every name under the sun, and casting the gravest +reflections on the whole of his ancestors, especially on the female +side. + +But the sentry stood like a block of wood, and when the other had +finished answered: "I don't know who you are, and don't care; and for +the present you may talk as much as you like, though when I am at +liberty I also shall have a few words to say. But I am sentry here on +this pond, and my orders are such and such, and I mean to obey them. The +first man who tries to force me I hit with a bullet." + +"Was there ever such a person?" said the native officer. "He must be +mad! And the Great Lord's horses too! God preserve him; he will +certainly be hanged, or sent across the Black Water for life." + +So he too rode off to fetch his sahib; and shortly a trail of dust on +the road showed that he was returning, and not leisurely. The officer +was hot, indignant, and vexed, and said to the sentry: "By my order you +will allow the Viceroy's horses to water at this pond." + +"With every respect," replied the sentry, "my own Sahib has given me +other orders, and I mean to obey him." + +And nothing the officer could say, and he said a good deal, could move +the sentry one hair'sbreadth from that resolve. So he, in his turn, rode +off to fetch the last court of appeal, the Military Secretary, Lord +William Beresford. + +As all who knew him will remember, his Lordship was very short and sharp +when anything occurred that in the least infringed the dignity of the +Viceroy, or of anything belonging to that exalted personage; and +probably few would have cared to be in the shoes of that sentry during +the next few minutes. But the sentry was sublimely oblivious of the +existence of so high an official as a Military Secretary, and only dimly +aware of the existence of a Great Lord. On the other hand his own +Colonel Sahib and his own sahibs, with whom he had fought and bled, were +real live people, whom he knew quite well and whose word was law unto +him. The Military Secretary, therefore, being evidently an older and +more worthy sahib than the last, was received with even more respect; +but as to allowing the horses to water, the sentry was adamant on that +point. "I obey my Colonel's orders," said he, "and no one else's." Lord +William, though greatly vexed, as perhaps was only natural, was too good +a soldier to force a sentry, and rode off therefore to the Guides' camp +to lay the matter before the commanding officer. The rest was naturally +all cordiality and good feeling, and an invitation to lunch; while the +Guides' subaltern galloped off and cut the Gordian knot. + +Scarcely had Lumsden parted from his beloved corps, when they again +took the field, in the small but bloody Umbeyla campaign of 1863. The +opening incident was in what was coming to be honourably looked upon as +thoroughly Guides' fashion. Two troops of the cavalry and two companies +of the infantry of this corps, under Jenkins,[13] were encamped at Topi, +blockading the Gaduns and Hindustani fanatics preparatory to the advance +of the field-force. One night a patrol of three men, under Duffadar +Fakira, suddenly encountered a body of about three hundred of the enemy, +on their way to surprise and capture the camp of the Guides. Without a +moment's hesitation, and with highly commendable presence of mind, the +duffadar began shouting "Fall in! fall in!" as if addressing countless +legions; and then wheeling his three men into line, and each man yelling +like a dozen fiends, fell with fury on the advancing enemy. The effect +was magical, the enemy thinking that they had been betrayed, or +forestalled, or had perchance fallen into an ambush, and that opposed to +them was the whole strength of the Guides. In the darkness a panic set +in, and the whole force broke and fled, their redoubted and sainted +leader, the Mullah Abdullah, showing the way. + + [13] Afterwards Colonel Sir Francis Jenkins, K.C.B. + +In the fierce and frequent fighting which week after week, raged round +the celebrated Crag picquet, the Guides took their part. This picquet +stood at the top of an abrupt and precipitous rock, accessible from our +side only by a narrow rocky path, while towards the enemy the ground +sloped away to further hills. The weakness of the picquet, therefore, +lay not only in its openness to determined attack, in days of +short-range weapons and hand-to-hand fighting, but also in the +difficulty experienced in quickly reinforcing it. Once taken, not only +the neighbouring post, known as the Monastery picquet, but the whole +camp lay under its commanding fire. + +The first occasion on which the Crag was seriously attacked was before +dawn on the 30th of October, when the picquet was rushed, and the twelve +men of the 1st Punjab Infantry who held it were swept from the crest, +but like limpets bravely clung to the near slopes. In support, close +below, lay Major Keyes[14] with the remainder of the 1st Punjab Infantry +and a company of the Guides. Owing to the rocky and difficult ascent it +was impossible to do much till daylight, but with the first streak of +dawn, valuably aided by the flank fire of Major Brownlow[15] and the 20th +Punjab Infantry, Keyes himself at the head of the storming party most +gallantly recaptured the Crag picquet at the point of the bayonet. As +illustrating the severity of this hand-to-hand fighting, it may be +mentioned that the enemy left sixty dead or dying, mostly Hindustani +fanatics, in and round the picquet, while our own losses amounted to +fifty-five. + + [14] Afterwards Commandant of the Guides and later General Sir Charles + Keyes, K.C.B., etc. + + [15] Afterwards General Sir Charles Brownlow, G.C.B., etc. + +In this gallant assault the company of the Guides bore their share, and +four of them are mentioned as having been amongst the first into the +recaptured position. The next serious assault took place on November the +12th, but after severe fighting was beaten off by Major Brownlow and the +20th Punjab Infantry, again supported by two companies of the Guides. A +native officer of the Guides was specially mentioned on this occasion +for carrying ammunition at great personal risk up to the besieged +picquet. It was estimated that two thousand of the enemy took part in +this assault. + +The third assault on this historic picquet was made by the undaunted +tribesmen on November the 13th, when it was held by the 1st Punjab +Infantry; and so determined and strongly supported was the attack that +not only was the picquet, now one hundred and twenty strong, driven off +the hill, but something like a panic spread amongst the followers in +camp, much disturbing the dispositions made for recapturing the Crag. +The first attempt to stem the tide was made by detachments of the Guides +and 1st Punjab Infantry, but these were not strong enough to retake the +picquet, and could barely hold their own. Then came to the rescue Major +C.C.G. Ross with detachments of the Guides, 1st Punjab Infantry, and +14th Native Infantry, which, charging up, got close to the crest, but +were not strong enough to drive out the swarms of determined warriors +grimly holding the vantage ground. + +The matter had now reached a serious point, at once apparent to Sir +Neville Chamberlain; for the possession of the Crag picquet by the enemy +made untenable the whole British position. He therefore immediately +ordered to the assault the 101st Royal Bengal Fusiliers.[16] This gallant +regiment aided by three companies of the Guides, and the line swelled by +Major Ross's mixed detachments, without a check stormed and captured the +position with the bayonet. The enemy lost two hundred and thirty men in +this gallant attempt, while our own casualties reached one hundred and +fifty-eight. + + [16] Now the Royal Munster Fusiliers. + +The final attempt came on the afternoon of November the 20th. The post +was then garrisoned by one hundred bayonets of the 101st Royal Bengal +Fusiliers and one hundred bayonets of the 20th Punjab Infantry. Again so +determined was the attack, and made in such strength, that the British +garrison was swept from the hill with considerable loss. The position of +affairs was now so critical that Sir Neville Chamberlain himself +determined to lead the columns detailed to assault and retake the +picquet. In this fine advance the 71st Highland Light Infantry, +supported by the Guides, made the frontal attack, and so impetuous was +their charge that the summit was reached and the enemy driven from it +with little loss. Our total casualties in the affair, however, reached +one hundred and fifty-three, while the estimated loss of the enemy was +three hundred and twenty. + +Such was the history of the Crag picquet, four times fiercely attacked +with overwhelming numbers by a brave and fanatical foe, thrice captured, +and thrice by sterling grit and stout endeavour bravely recaptured. Of a +surety this bloody site has earned the title given it by all the +countryside. It is called the _Kutlgar_, or the Place of Slaughter, for +of friend and foe well nigh a thousand warriors had shed their blood to +keep or take that barren rock. + +Eight of the Guides received the Indian soldiers' highest reward for +conspicuous gallantry in the field during these strenuous assaults and +counter assaults. + +Though this was no cavalry country, as may readily be judged, several +troops of the Guides' cavalry, together with the 11th Bengal Cavalry, +did useful service on more than one occasion, under the gallant +leadership of Colonel Dighton Probyn,[17] one of the brilliant band of +cavalry soldiers who had earned undying fame in the great Mutiny. It is +perhaps the memory of those old days of dangers and troubles passed +through together, that keeps alive the kindly feeling which leads Sir +Dighton Probyn to write a few words of brave encouragement when his old +comrades of the Guides take their share of such fighting as still, from +time to time, falls to their lot. On their side the Guides look on him, +along with Lumsden and Jenkins and other old heroes, as one of their own +sahibs. + + [17] Later the Right Honourable Sir Dighton Probyn, V.C., G.C.B., + G.C.S.I., G.C.V.O., P.C., etc. etc., Keeper of the Privy Purse. + +The element of secrecy is absolutely essential to a successful surprise. +This is a military truism all the world over, but applies with special +force amongst the Pathan tribes on the North-West Frontier of India, as +indeed it did amongst the Boers, and for probably a very similar reason. +They were not always professional spies whom the Boers employed; nor is +it always a Pathan spy who is on the spot. But both peoples without +having any highly organised system have been exceedingly fortunate in +the manner in which information of impending movements has somehow got +reported in the nick of time in the most interesting quarter. + +Due south from Mardan, and distant, as the crow flies, some thirty-five +to forty miles, lies the village of Paia, which for high crimes and +misdemeanours, including murder, rapine, and arson, it was considered +necessary to punish. Now punishment in the days of Cavignari not +unusually meant waking up some fine morning to find that before +breakfast it was either necessary to meet the Guides in a pitched +battle, or to submit quietly to the demands of Government, and expiate +the crimes committed. The difficulty, from our point of view, was to +place the troops in the desired position, at the desired moment, without +previously informing the enemy of the proposal. Failing this, either an +ambush would be prepared into which the troops might fall, thus +reversing the tables; or the whole village, men, women, and children, +flocks and herds, and all the chickens that could be caught on short +notice, would migrate bodily for a few days, till the storm was +overpast. Then they would quietly return and cheerfully resume the +uneven tenor of their ways. + +Now Paia was inhabited by Jowaki Afridis, and he that findeth an Afridi +asleep, when he ought to be awake, is either a very astute or a very +fortunate person. Cavignari was a very astute person and a match for the +most wakeful Afridi. For instance, the British troops that lay nearest +to Paia were those in garrison at Nowshera, and these, therefore, were +the most obvious ones to use. Being the most obvious, it was at once +decided that they were not the troops to use. Therefore Cavignari +refrained from touching the Nowshera garrison, and called on the Guides, +who were sixteen miles further away, and watching quite another +frontier, to undertake the business. + +But here again a difficulty arose; the Guides on their way would have to +pass through Nowshera, and as that place was doubtless full of spies, no +better result could be hoped for than by using a Nowshera regiment +direct. And there was yet another difficulty: it was the middle of the +hot weather and a great many of the British officers of the Guides, +including the Commanding Officer, were away on leave; to recall them +was to make the ears prick up of every person, with a guilty conscience, +within a fifty mile radius. + +But after all, military difficulties are possibly only introduced by a +beneficent Providence lest warlike operations should become too easy; at +any rate these were in due course overcome, though it required +considerable ingenuity to do so. In the first place the Guides were +marched off, without a notion what they were required for, or whither +they were going. All they knew was that they were plodding along the +Nowshera road on a very hot evening in August. When well on their way, +like a man-of-war at sea they opened their sealed orders, and learnt +that in the vicinity of Nowshera they would find a fleet of boats on the +Kabul River. Embarking on these they were to drop down that river, now +in flood, to its confluence with the Indus at Attock. Here the flotilla +was to be concealed while one or two intelligent men were sent ashore to +a place of tryst, whither Major R.B. Campbell, the Commanding Officer, +and the other officers on leave, had been ordered to arrive by a certain +hour. Then, complete in officers, the flotilla was to slip anchor again +and drop down the roaring flood of the Indus for another twenty-eight +miles to Shadipore, the local Gretna Green, to judge from its name. It +speaks highly for the skill with which the operation was planned, and +the exactitude with which it was executed, to record that it was carried +out without a hitch. The Guides by a seventy-eight mile circuit now +found themselves south-east, instead of north, of the objective, and the +enemy were consequently taken from a totally unexpected quarter. + +Another of Cavignari's _coups_ may perhaps be given as illustrating not +only his policy of smiting hard, instead of palavering, but also the +necessity for strict secrecy. In 1878 when the Swat River Canal, which +has turned the desert plain of Yusufzai into one great wheat-field, was +under construction, the more pestilential class of mullah, always on the +look-out for a cause to inflame Mahomedan fanaticism against the English +unbeliever, stirred up the tribesmen to interfere with the work. A raid +was consequently made by them, and a lot of harmless coolies murdered. +The village of Sapri, just across the border, was chiefly implicated in +this outrage, and Cavignari immediately demanded the surrender of the +murderers, as well as a heavy fine in money wherewith to pension the +families of the victims. Secure in their fastness the men of Sapri sent +replies, varying from the evasive to the impertinent. + +Cavignari said nothing more, but secretly warned the Guides, who lay +forty-three miles away, to be ready to act. So carefully was the news +kept that a movement was on foot, that some of the officers were playing +racquets up to the last moment, and were called from the court to march +at once. Captain Wigram Battye was in command, and took with him the +Guides' cavalry and a detachment of Guides' infantry mounted on mules. +Marching all night, the force arrived three miles beyond Abazai and +within eight miles of its objective, when it was found impossible, owing +to the difficult nature of the country, to proceed further on horseback. +All the horses were consequently sent back to Fort Abazai, and the +dismounted cavalry and infantry went on in the darkness over a most +stony precipitous country. By strenuous effort the village of Sapri was +reached and surrounded by daybreak. The villagers immediately rushed to +arms and prepared for a desperate resistance, but the Guides were not to +be denied; they carried the place, killing many and capturing the +ringleaders, and nine others of those implicated in the murders. Our own +losses were eight men wounded; while two received the Order of Merit for +conspicuous bravery in action. + +Such were a few of the adventures of the Guides during the twenty years +which elapsed between the Mutiny and the Afghan War. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MASSACRE OF THE GUIDES AT KABUL, 1879 + + + The annals of no army and no regiment can show a brighter record of + devoted bravery than has been achieved by this small band of + Guides. By their deeds they have conferred undying honour, not only + on the regiment to which they belong, but on the whole British + Army.... The conduct of the escort of the Queen's Own Corps of + Guides does not form part of the enquiry entrusted to the + Commission, but they have in the course of their enquiries had the + extreme gallantry of the bearing of these men so forcibly brought + to their notice that they cannot refrain from placing on record + their humble tribute of admiration. + +So wrote the brave, bluff soldier, Sir Charles Macgregor, as president +of the Committee appointed to enquire into the causes of the dreadful +tragedy which in a few hours ended in the massacre of Sir Louis +Cavignari and the whole of his escort. + +When Cavignari, as minister and plenipotentiary on behalf of the British +Government, signed the treaty of Gundamuk, one of the provisions of +which was that a British Embassy with a suitable escort should be +established at Kabul, there were many who, unable to forget the +long-drawn history of Afghan treachery, looked with grave apprehension +on the proposal. The Amir Yakub Khan, himself but lately and unsecurely +seated on the throne, was not strong enough, it was urged, to uphold +this new departure, even were he honestly anxious to do so. But against +all opposition Cavignari placed his commanding personality and strong +prevailing will; and by degrees he calmed not only any doubts the Amir +on the one hand may have expressed, but on the other removed by +convincing argument the objections raised by the prophets of evil in our +own camp. Finally, to prove his unwavering confidence in the +practicability of establishing a British Embassy at Kabul, he asked to +be allowed in his own person to prove the soundness and safety of the +policy he advocated. + +The treaty of Gundamuk was signed in June 1879; but the Amir asked for a +short respite, that he might return to his capital to prepare quarters +for the Embassy and also accustom the minds of his people to its +proposed arrival. It was not therefore till July 24th that Sir Louis +Cavignari and his escort arrived at Kabul. + +This escort consisted of twenty-five, of all ranks, of the Guides' +cavalry, and fifty-two, of all ranks, of the Guides' infantry under the +command of Lieutenant Walter Hamilton, who a few weeks before had won +the Victoria Cross at the action of Fattehabad The other Englishmen +with the Embassy were Surgeon A.H. Kelly of the Guides, as medical +officer, and Mr. W. Jenkins, as political assistant to Sir Louis +Cavignari. + +The reception of the Embassy at Kabul was to all seeming perfectly +friendly, and even cordial. Every honour was paid to it, and the +assembled crowds, though preserving the impassive mien of Asiatics on +such occasions, respectfully saluted the British officers as they passed +along. It had been arranged that the members of the Embassy and escort +should take up their abode in quarters prepared for them in the Bala +Hissar, the celebrated fortress which is indelibly connected with the +name of Kabul, and which completely dominates the city. Here also were +the Amir's palace and the houses of many of his highest nobles. + +For a month all went well. Cavignari paid frequent visits to the Amir, +and entered into long and friendly converse with him. The Amir's nobles +and officials paid frequent return visits of ceremony or friendship. The +officers of the Embassy rode out daily, morning and evening, to see the +country and surrounding places of interest, accompanied always, however, +by escorts of Afghan cavalry as well as of the Guides. To encourage +friendly intercourse, they used to practise tent-pegging and +lime-cutting, and invited the Afghan horsemen to join them. But, as +showing how curious are the workings of the Asiatic mind, it afterwards +transpired that this apparently unexceptional proceeding was looked on +by many with grave offence. The Afghan officers muttered that this was +mere braggadocio on the part of the sahibs; that the sport was only to +show how they would spit and cut down the sons of the Prophet, if they +had the chance! To fathom such depths of bigotry as this incident +reveals is one of the many difficulties which face Englishmen in Asia. + +Towards the end of August Sir Louis Cavignari received one or two direct +warnings that all was not well. It appears that in the ordinary course +of the relief of various garrisons several of the Amir's Herati +regiments were ordered from Herat to Kabul, and Kabul regiments took +their place. These Herati regiments had seen nothing of the late war: +they had never crossed swords with the British; and they were filled +with the insensate pride and confidence in their own prowess which +abysmal ignorance could alone account for. As they marched through the +streets of Kabul they set up, at the instigation of their officers it is +said, loud cries of insult and abuse of Cavignari by name, of the +British Embassy, and of the whole detested race of Feringhis. When this +was told to Cavignari he merely laughed and replied: "Curs only bark, +they do not bite." In a broad sense he was right, for if British +officers had always lain down wherever stray curs were moved to yelp, +the British Empire's outer frontier of to-day would be the cliffs of +Dover. But a much more weighty warning came from an undoubted +well-wisher, an old retired native officer of our Indian army, and a +firm friend of the envoy. His warning said that a plot was afoot; that +the cupidity of some had been appealed to by stories of large treasure +in the Residency, while the fanatical hatred of others had been secretly +fanned; that it was well therefore to be on guard. A warning coming from +such a friendly quarter was doubtless duly weighed and duly allowed for; +but after all, what could a peaceful Embassy do but trust to the honour +and integrity of the friendly Power whose guest it was? To show the +smallest sign of distrust by attempting, for instance, to place a merely +residential set of buildings, completely commanded all round, into a +state of defence, was only to court disaster. What could the British +Ambassador in Paris do against a brigade of troops unrestrained by the +French Government? What could an escort of seventy-five men, however +brave, do against thousands, and tens of thousands, of armed men? +Cavignari therefore took the bold course, which British officers, before +and since, have taken. He sat quietly, and with good and brave heart +faced the coming storm, if come it must; but greatly confident that it +might split and roll by on either side. + +In the end, by sad mischance, a small matter, and one quite unconnected, +directly or indirectly, with the attitude of the British Embassy, caused +the storm to burst with sudden and uncontrollable fierceness. The +already half-mutinous Herati regiments were, as was not unusual in those +days, very much in arrears as regards their pay. For months they had +received none, and were, perhaps naturally, in an angry and sullen mood. +The finances of the State were in a chaotic condition, the treasury at +low ebb, and credit had receded to a vanishing point. After staving off +the day of reckoning as long as possible, the welcome news reached the +Herati troops that they were to receive their pay in full next morning, +September 3rd, at the treasury in the Bala Hissar. + +Assembling there early, they soon learnt to their disgust and +indignation that they were only to receive one month's pay, a miserable +pittance to men long in want. On the smouldering embers of mutiny +someone wilfully, or from mere expediency, threw the spark: "Go to the +British Embassy and demand pay; there is lots of money there." The idea +caught like wildfire, and the whole mass of soldiery dashed off to the +Embassy, situated only a few hundred yards away. + +Here the ordinary routine of the day was going on. It was eight o'clock, +and Cavignari, just returned from his morning ride, had not yet bathed +or changed for breakfast. Hamilton and Kelly had been out to see that +the grass-cutters were at their work on waste land, and not interfering +with private rights, and were now probably strolling down the line of +troop-horses seeing to their feeding and grooming. Jenkyns was doubtless +within, reading or writing, and waiting for breakfast. The cavalrymen +were about amongst their horses, and the infantry either on guard or +taking their ease. On this peaceful scene suddenly burst a torrent of +infuriated, half-savage soldiery, yelling for Cavignari, yelling for +money, shouting curses and threats. At first they acted like mere +Yahoos; they hustled and mobbed the Guides, shouting with rough humour, +"Well, if we can't get money we'll get something," and then began +untying horses to lead them away, stealing saddlery, swords, or anything +that lay about. Then came a shot and silence; then another and another, +five or six in all, by whom fired no one knows; and then the battle +began,--four British officers and some seventy of the Guides, against +countless thousands! + +Nor was the vantage of position with the British, for they could not +possibly have been more unfavourably situated for defence. The Residency +consisted of a collection of mud and plaster buildings, of which the +principal was the abode of the British officers. The others included the +rows of huts that formed the barracks of the escort, servants' houses, +and stables; outside, and enclosed by mud walls, were spaces in which +were picketed the horses of the cavalry, and which formed courtyards to +the Residency and men's barracks. Residential quarters of this +description, given time to loop-hole and barricade them, would form +fairly good defensive cover, except against artillery; but unprepared +for defence they are mere death-traps. To add to the untenable nature +of the position the Residency was completely commanded from several +directions, and especially from a high flat-roofed house only eighty +yards distant. The roofs of the Residency buildings were also flat, but +made untenable by these commanding positions, except in one small +portion where a low parapet, such as is often found on Eastern roofs, +gave some slight protection. + +After those first few shots there seems to have been a pause, while the +mutinous troops rushed off to their camp to fetch arms and ammunition. +During this brief respite Cavignari sent a message to the Amir, who was +in his palace only a few hundred yards distant, informing him of the +unprovoked attack, and claiming the protection due to a guest of the +nation; while Hamilton hastily collected his men, and made such +dispositions for defence as were possible. Then above the dust and din +and rush of hurrying feet outside rose, clearer and stronger as hundreds +of throats joined the swelling sound, _Yar Charyar_, the war-cry +of the great Sunni sect of Mahomedans. They were coming in their +thousands frenzied with fanaticism, and thirsting deep for Christian +blood. On the other side, in calm and steadfast readiness, stood three +score and ten of the Guides, men of an alien race, and some even +brethren of the besiegers, but all filled with high resolve and stern +determination to stand by their British officers even unto death. + +Sir Louis Cavignari, soldier when diplomacy ceased, was the first to +seize a rifle, and, lying prone on the flat exposed roof, with quick +precision, one after the other, shot dead four leaders of the assault. +But raked as he was from the higher positions, a splintered bullet hit +him in the forehead, and he had to be taken below to have his wound +dressed. Yet undaunted, when the first shock passed, he must have risen +again, for an eye-witness from a neighbouring house declares he saw four +sahibs charge out at the head of their men, and one of these must have +been Cavignari. And that was the last of the fight for that brave soul, +for the only further glimpse was that of a hurrying soldier, who saw him +laid on a bed, with his feet drawn up, his hand to his head, and the +doctor at his side. + +This was all early in the day, perhaps before ten o'clock, and from this +time forth the whole burden of defence lay on a young subaltern of the +Guides, Walter Hamilton. Yet he was not alone, for sharing his glorious +toil, and rising to the heights of heroism, was Jenkyns, a man of peace, +bred not to war or the sword, and Kelly, physician and healer, but no +fighting man. + +And now in addition to the heavy fire from the house-tops the mutineers +bored loop-holes through the compound walls, and through these, +themselves protected, poured a murderous fire into the devoted building. +Covered by this fire, escalading ladders were run forward at a dead +angle, and in a moment the roof was reached, and the small remnant of +Guides, six or seven in all, still manning the little parapet were +driven below. After them, gallantly enough, the besiegers rushed down +the steps; but there they met their fate, for, turning fiercely on them, +the Guides killed many, and drove the survivors back to the roof. It was +at this time that the first signs of fire were noticed, whether +intentionally ignited by the storming party, or accidental, is not +clear, though later conflagrations were undoubtedly intentional. + +But though the fight had now waxed stronger and stronger for five hours, +and though nearly one-half of the garrison were killed or wounded, +though the British Envoy lay dead or dying, no thought of surrender +occurred to the stout hearts within. Only, for the third time that +morning, was an attempt made by letter to remind the Amir of his sacred +obligations as a host and sovereign of a friendly Power. On this +occasion the bearer selected was Shahzada Taimus, a Prince of the +Sadozai dynasty, but a plain trooper in the ranks of the Guides' +cavalry. The two preceding letters had been sent, one by the hand of an +old pensioner of the Guides, slipped through an unguarded postern, but +not seen again and supposed to be killed; and the second by a Hindu, who +was indeed killed before the eyes of the garrison in his brave attempt +to get through. + +The third letter was written by Mr. Jenkyns, and handed by Hamilton to +the Shahzada, a quiet unassuming man, to take to the Amir. A forlorn +hope indeed faced the brave fellow, as he looked forth through a crevice +at the yelling, shooting, cursing crowd, surging round on all sides. To +open a door was instant death to himself and others, for a shower of +bullets would have greeted his exit. The postern was now surrounded, and +gave no hope of escape. There remained only the roof, and this means of +escape Taimus decided to attempt. Crawling cautiously up, he found this +bullet-swept area temporarily deserted, and creeping along it peered +over the end. There he saw, only some ten feet beneath him, a furious +crowd, many hundreds strong, and those nearest the wall busy digging a +hole through it into the building. + +Well, if he had to die, it was the will of God; he would fight his way +through, or fall sword in hand. Standing up in full view, for a second +the observed of all observers, armed to the teeth, he calmly jumped into +the jaws of those baying wolves. The shock of the fall was unwillingly +broken by the astonished forms of those on whom he fell, and before they +could grapple with him he was pushing boldly through the crowd. But the +odds and press were too great for him, and after a brief close scuffle +he was for want of elbow-room overpowered and disarmed. Many shouted +"Kill him! Kill him! he is a Cavignari-ite!" But above the uproar, +holding his hands above his head, Taimus made himself heard. "Peace! +peace!" he cried. "I undoubtedly eat the salt of the Sirkar, but I am +alone and disarmed, a Mahomedan amongst Mahomedans, and the bearer of a +letter to the Amir. Kill me if you like, but yours be the shame and +disgrace." As he spoke, amidst the crowd of angry, scowling faces he saw +a friend, a man of influence and standing; at his word the crowd gave +way, and battered, bleeding, and closely guarded, Taimus was taken +before the Chief. But help was now out of the Amir's power, as he sat +bemoaning his fate in the women's apartments. He could give no succour +he said, but he gave orders for Taimus to be detained in a place of +safety. To finish the story of Shahzada Taimus: while confined there a +havildar of the mutineers was brought in with a bullet in his back, and +in his agony he besought Taimus to extract it. This the Shahzada, though +no surgeon, succeeded in doing with a pocket-knife, and so grateful was +the mutineer that when night fell he gave him his uniform and helped him +to escape; and eventually, after many adventures and by the use of many +disguises, the brave fellow reached India in safety. + +But to return to the Residency. _Jemadar_[18] Mehtab Sing, one of the two +native officers of the Guides, was now dead, and Kelly's whole time was +occupied in attending as best he could to the wounded, of whom there +were now twenty or thirty. There remained in the fighting line only +Hamilton, Jenkyns, Jemadar Jewand Sing, and some thirty of the Guides. +The whole interior of the building was full of dead and dying, enemies +and friends, the atmosphere made still more oppressive by the smoke of +powder, and by the more deadly peril of creeping incendiarism. + + [18] _Jemadar_, a native commissioned officer, next in rank to the + _subadar_. + +At this juncture, loud and exulting shouts proclaimed that fresh heart +had been given to the besiegers by the arrival of some new +reinforcement. The cause was self-apparent; two guns were being run by +hand into position at the gateway barely one hundred yards away. Two +guns, neither then nor now, could face the open within a hundred yards +of armed infantry who could freely use their weapons. But here was a +different case. Driven by the storm of fire all round into rooms without +loopholes, and incapable of affording either offensive or defensive +fire, the Guides could only get snapshots here and there as occasion +offered. + +By a curious coincidence the story of those newly-arrived guns was told +with almost faithful accuracy, in the brief testimony of a witness who +was nearly three miles away. He said: "We heard the big guns fire twice, +and then there was silence for some time; then they fired once or twice +more; and then, after a long interval, one or two more shots. Perchance, +seven or eight shots altogether were fired." What to the distant hearer +were impressive, unaccountable pauses, were on the scene of action +filled with the bravest incidents. Cooped up as they were with a +murderous artillery firing point blank into them at one hundred yards +range, and spreading not only death and destruction amongst wounded and +unwounded alike, but still further aiding the conflagration, which had +by now taken well hold of the buildings, yet still stout of heart the +Guides girded up their loins to meet the new encounter. + +Dr. Kelly left his wounded, and Jenkyns, the young civilian, took again +a sword and pistol, and with the boy Hamilton as their leader, and with +twelve staunch and true men of the Guides behind them, they opened the +door. Then charging forth, they quickly crossed the bullet-swept +courtyard, and fell with fury on the amazed gunners and the crowd behind +the wall. Shooting, thrusting, and slashing, they killed or routed every +man about the guns, and seizing them tried to drag them back. But here +their strength was too small, though great their heart, and though they +swung the guns round, and pulled them a few yards, they could not get +them away. The little band was falling fast, right out in the open as it +was; and at last the overwhelming tide returned and drove them back with +the loss of half their numbers. Dr. Kelly, too, must in the sortie have +received his mortal wound, for though he struggled back with the rest, +he was never again seen alive. _Requiescat in pace_: physician and +soldier, he died a hero's death. + +Again the furious crowd surged up to the guns, recaptured them, slewed +them round, and laid them on the door. Then came the second salvo heard +by the distant listener; and again, scarce taking breath, Hamilton made +preparations for his new attempt. "Do you stand here and here; and you +two, there and there; and all of you shoot for all you're worth at the +gunners, while I and the rest again charge out and capture the guns," he +said. "And I come too," said Jenkyns. + +Then a second time they threw open the door, and a second time those two +young Englishmen at the head of the faithful few charged out on the +guns. But for Jenkyns the glorious end had come, and sword in hand he +fell, some seventy paces out, a lasting honour to the great Civil +Service of India. Yet on went Hamilton and his dwindling band, and +taking no denial, stayed not by bullet nor sword nor bayonet, again +captured the guns. And then began again the dreadful heart-straining +struggle of desperate men set to a task too great. Again with splendid +effort they dragged the guns a few yards, and again the great returning +wave engulfed them, and fighting foot by foot the Guides were again +driven back. + +And now the flames had got strong hold of the buildings, and here and +there the roofs fell in, and dead and dying were entombed together. So +the few survivors driven from end to end found last refuge in the +_hamam_, or bath, which, being below the surface of the ground and built +of solid brick, gave welcome shelter. But even so death was but a +question of hours or minutes, and neither Hamilton nor his men were of +the sort to sit tamely down to wait for it. Taking rest for awhile from +the exhaustion of seven hours of this Homeric struggle, the undefeated +Hamilton again laid his plans. "Now two or three," said he, "will fire +from here, so as to try to keep down the fire on our assaulting party, +while the rest dash out again. Arrived at the guns, I alone will face +the enemy, while all of you, paying no heed to the fighting, will +harness yourselves to one gun and bring it in. We shall then, at least, +have one gun less against us, and may perhaps be able to use the +captured one in defence. Then, in the same way, we will again charge +out, and get the other gun." "Your Honour speaks well, we are ready," +said his men. + +This was the fourth sortie Hamilton had led that day; the first with all +four Englishmen in a line, the second with three, the third with two, +and now alone. Over six feet in height, splendidly made, lithe and +strong, with all the activity of youth, expert with sword and pistol, he +was a noble specimen of the British officer, and none more fit than he +to stand in the deadly breach. Out then they went and acted on the plan +arranged. For a third time those fateful guns were captured, and then +alone to stem the fierce assault stood Hamilton, while his men laboured +at the gun; but the odds were too great, and the gallant subaltern, +after killing three men with his pistol and cutting down two more with +his sword, was himself borne down. And so fighting died as brave a young +heart as ever did honour to the uniform he wore. Swarming over his body, +the mutineers recaptured the gun and again drove back the remnants of +the forlorn hope. Hamilton lay where he fell close to the gun, till +darkening night settled down on the dreadful scene. But when, next +morning, a witness passed that way, he mentions that the brave young +fellow's body was laid across the gun. Perchance it was the kindly act +of a friend, or perchance the rough chivalry of one who had watched his +heroic deeds. + +It might be thought that a day so full of great deeds, of patient +courage, and unshaken loyalty could, as the sun sank slowly down, +produce no further spark from those exhausted, starving few. But it +remained for the evening hour to produce, perhaps, the brightest flash +of all. + +It was apparent to all the besiegers, fighters or spectators, that one +by one all the sahibs had been killed or sore wounded, and that now none +remained to lead their men. At intervals during the day loud voices, as +of those in command, had shouted to the garrison of Guides: "We have no +quarrel with you. Deliver over the sahibs, and you shall all go free, +with what loot you can take. Be not foolish thus to fight for the cursed +Feringhis against your own kith and kin." But for answer all they got +was fierce showers of bullets, and fiercer still the staunch defenders +cried: "Dogs and sons of dogs, is this the way you treat your nation's +guests? To hell with you! we parley not with base-born churls!" + +And now, again, when all the Englishmen were dead, the voices cried: +"Why fight any longer? Your sahibs are killed. Save yourselves, and +surrender, before you are all killed. We will give you quarter." Left in +command was Jemadar Jewand Singh, a splendid Sikh officer of the Guides' +cavalry, and not one whit behind his British officers in brave resolve. +He deigned no word of answer to the howling crowd without, but to the +few brave survivors within, perhaps a dozen or so, he said: "The Sahibs +gave us this duty to perform, to defend this Residency to the last. +Shall we then disgrace the cloth we wear by disobeying their orders now +they are dead? Shall we hand over the property of the Sirkar, and the +dead bodies of our officers, to these sons of perdition? I for one +prefer to die fighting for duty and the fame of the Guides, and they +that will do likewise follow me." Then, as the evening closed, went +forth unhurried the last slender forlorn hope. The light of the setting +sun fell kindly on those grim and rugged faces, out of which all anger +and excitement and passion had passed away: they were marching out to +die, and they knew it. One last glimpse we have of their gallant end. +From a window hard by an old soldier pensioner, himself a prisoner, saw, +and bore witness, that the leader of those pathetic few, fighting with +stern and steadfast courage, killed eight assailants before he himself, +the last to fall, was overborne. + +And so staunchly fighting they died to a man, that gallant group,--died +to live for ever. But round them lay heaped six hundred dead, as silent +witnesses of twelve hours' heroic fight. The night fell, and darkness +and the silence of death succeeded the strife of a livelong summer's +day. + +With that wise statesmanship for which the British Government may claim +its share, a national memorial was raised at Mardan to these deathless +heroes, and on it is written: _The annals of no army and no regiment can +show a brighter record of devoted bravery than has been achieved by this +small band of Guides_. + +Yet another scene in the tragedy remains to be told. It is a cold bleak +day in early winter. On one side stand the blackened, bullet-riddled +ruins of the Residency, much as we saw them last. To the left, drawn up +as a guard, is a long double line of British soldiers with, bayonets +fixed. Behind them, covering every coign of vantage, every roof and +wall, are crowds of Afghans, silent, subdued, and expectant. In the +centre, in an open space, stands a little group of British officers, one +of whom holds a paper from which he reads. Facing the ruined Residency +is a long grim row of gallows; below these, bound hand and foot and +closely guarded is a row of prisoners. A signal is given, and from +every gibbet swings what lately was a man. These are the ringleaders in +the insensate tragedy, who, brought to justice by the strong resistless +power of British bayonets, hang facing the scene of their infamy, for a +sign throughout the length and breadth of Asia of the righteous fate +that overtakes those who disgrace the law of nations. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE AFGHAN WAR, 1878-80 + + +The Afghan War of 1878-80 lives chiefly in the memory of all as +connected with the rise to fame of one who has since earned a place in +English history with Marlborough and Wellington. And coupled with his +name remains indelibly engraved the great historic march from Kabul to +Kandahar. + +Though they took no part in that celebrated march, being so reduced in +numbers by the stress of war after two years' arduous campaigning that +fresh regiments took their place, yet the Guides look back with the +greatest pride to having once served under Lord Roberts, and to having +earned the kindly praise of this great Captain. To this day grey-bearded +old warriors speak with quiet pride and affection of their fighting days +with "Roberts Sahib" at Kabul; and many an old eye kindles and bent back +straightens as they salute his picture in the mess. Some, too, will +remember the exact place and date on which he shook hands with them, and +congratulated them on some brave deed, as he pinned the star for valour +on their breasts. + +It is given to few men to gain the affection and soldierly respect of +all, but Roberts possessed the two great merits in the eyes of the +simple Indian soldier. He was always kind and considerate, though firm +as a rock, and always brave: kind with the kindness which is never weary +of watching over the welfare of all, never forgetting a friend however +humble, and always remembering those little soldier courtesies which +count for so much; brave not only with the bravery that wins the +Victoria Cross, but which, stout of heart, looks clear and undaunted +through the dark storm of a winter like that of 1879 at Kabul; and still +burns bright when at seventy years of age he goes forth at his Queen's +behest to turn back the dark tide of defeat in 1899, and bring back +victory to her standards. + +To give an instance of this magnetic influence,--one day long after the +Afghan War, Lord Roberts, then Commander-in-Chief in India, was passing +the camp of the Guides, riding quietly along, when the sentry on the +quarter-guard, an old soldier, recognised him in the distance, and +shouting as in duty bound, "Guard, turn out!" added unofficially, but +louder still, "Roberts Sahib is coming." The words spread like lightning +down the long lines of horses and rows of tents; and with one accord +each man dropped his work at the magic name and dashed to the head of +the camp to see their old leader and friend: it was no question of +Commander-in-Chief, it was only their old comrade Roberts Sahib. Need +it be recorded that when his old soldiers heard that in the day of +trouble Lord Roberts had gone to South Africa, they remarked with quiet +confidence, "Ah! now all will be well." + +For the Guides, serving as part of the force under the command of the +brave and chivalrous leader of light horse, Lt.-General Sir Sam Browne, +K.C.B., V.C., the Afghan War opened with the operations resulting in the +capture of the formidable fort of Ali Musjid, which bars the entrance to +the far-famed Khyber Pass. Sir Sam Browne was an old Colonel of the +Guides, and to meet again in the field was the meeting of old comrades +and friends. Like Roberts, he knew how to use them, and how to get the +best out of them; and the glowing words of his despatches show they +served him well. + +In the plan of operations for the capture of Ali Musjid one brigade was +to attack in front, one in flank, and one by a wide _detour_ through the +mountains was to cut off the retreat. In this operation it fell to the +Guides to accompany General Tytler's column, which was the one destined, +after a long night march through the mountains, to drop down in rear of +the fort. The column was greatly delayed owing to the difficulty of the +country, great mountains of eight thousand feet high intervening; but +Jenkins with the Guides and 1st Sikhs pushed on, and by their timely +arrival broke the back of the desperate resistance met by the frontal +attack. No Afghan or Pathan can stand the strain of being taken in +rear; a _sauve qui peut_ becomes at once the order of the day. Most of +the enemy fled through the mountains, but a regiment of regular infantry +took the road through the pass and was captured by Jenkins and his men. +Next came a squadron of cavalry, and these bold fellows determined to +make a dash for liberty. Scattering therefore and riding at a break-neck +gallop many got through, though many lay dead and wounded on the ground; +and then, out of the cloud of dust and smoke might be seen, calmly +riding at a foot's pace, a solitary trooper. A perfect hailstorm of +bullets was falling about him, not the tiny bullets we now use, but +great one ounce Snyder bullets, such as would knock over an elephant; +but though nearly eight hundred rifles were in action, the serene +horseman appeared not the least discomposed, and except for a defiant +wave of his sword he rode quietly on. + +Then Jenkins, struck with the admiration of one brave man for another, +sounded the _cease fire_; and in the dead stillness that followed the +Colonel's orderly shouted down to the horseman to ask him who he was, +and why he thus courted death. "Oh, brother," shouted the orderly, "who +art thou and whence comest and whither goest?" "I am Bahaud-din Khan," +replied the horseman, "and I come from Ali Musjid, which the Feringhis +have taken, and I follow those sons of pigs, the Kasilbash Horse, who +you saw pass in such a hurry just now." + +"The Sahib says," shouted the orderly, "that surely you must be mad +thus to walk your horse through a heavy fire like that." + +"Not mad, tell the Sahib," replied the Afghan, "but fearing no man; and +I shook my sword at you, and your hundreds of rifles, to show that I +cared not that much for you." + +"By Jove, he's a brave fellow!" said Jenkins; "tell him to come up and +have a talk with me." + +"By all means," was the cheery reply; and dismounting quietly, the man +tied his horse to a bush, slipped his sword into its scabbard, and +strolled up the hill. + +"Well, now tell me all about yourself," was Jenkins's greeting. + +"There is nothing much to tell. I live in Kabul and belong to the +Kasilbash Horse, and my father was a soldier before me. But he was a +brave fellow like myself; we are no mis-begotten apes, like those sons +of perdition who fled just now. They are all cowards and runaways, and +no fit company for a warrior." + +Jenkins liked the look of the man, and his courage was beyond doubt, so +he said cordially: "You're a fine fellow and I like you. Will you take +on with the Guides?" + +"Yes, I will," said the free-lance without a moment's hesitation. + +So there and then, on the field of battle, Bahaud-din Khan, late of the +Kasilbash Horse, joined the Guides, and was made a non-commissioned +officer on the spot. For two long years, through the many ups and downs +of the campaign, through much severe fighting and many a hardship, he +did good and valiant service. It was only when the war was over, and the +corps was nearing India on its downward march, that Bahaud-din Khan +began to lose his reckless devil-may-care bearing; he seemed sad, and +dispirited, and out of sorts altogether. + +"Why, what ails you, my man?" said Jenkins one day as he chanced across +him on the march. + +"Nothing, Sahib; I am very happy in the service of the Queen, and I feel +it an honour to serve in the Guides." + +"Well, then, why look so doleful? One would think you had lost your best +horse, or broken the sword of your ancestors on the head of a buffalo," +laughed Jenkins. + +"The truth cannot be hidden from you, Sahib, so I will tell it," +ingenuously replied Bahaud-din Khan. "My comrades tell me that down at +Mardan they have to do riding-school and drill, and all that sort of +thing. Well, I don't think, Sahib, that is quite in my line. Give me as +much fighting as you like, but I'm too old a soldier to go bumping round +a riding-school. Therefore, with your Honour's kind permission I think I +will take my leave, and return to Yaghistan, the land of never-ending +conflict." + +"By all means," said Jenkins; "no man stays in the Guides against his +will. You are a free man from this moment." + +And so, very near the same spot where he had taken service on the field +of battle, Bahaud-din Khan quietly took his discharge, and rode off, +like a knight of old, to place his sword at the service of any who +wanted it. "But riding-school, God forbid!" he muttered as he went. + +It is not intended to follow the Guides through all the phases of the +Afghan War, but only to tell the story of some of their gallant +adventures. One of the earliest of these was at the little battle of +Fattehabad, where Wigram Battye was killed, and Walter Hamilton earned +the Victoria Cross.[19] A small force consisting of portions of the 10th +Hussars, Guides' cavalry, 17th Foot, forty-five Sikhs, together with a +battery of horse-artillery, were sent on from Jellalabad, as an advance +force to clear the road to Kabul. About twelve miles out, at the village +of Fattehabad, General Gough[20] was suddenly threatened in flank by a +great gathering of Afghan tribesmen. + + [19] Here again I have had to depart from strict chronology. + + [20] Afterwards General Sir Charles Gough, V.C., G.C.B., etc. + +Acting on the principle that in dealing with Asiatics it is always wise, +whatever the odds, to attack, instead of waiting the onslaught, the +General moved out rapidly with the cavalry and horse-artillery, and +ordered the infantry to follow as quickly as possible. Getting in touch +with the enemy, the horse-artillery came into action, but their fire, +good and accurate as it might be, was not sufficient to stay the +determined advance of large bodies of bloodthirsty and fanatical +ghazis. The General, therefore, ordered the cavalry to charge, the +two regiments acting independently under their own commanders. + +Major Wigram Battye was commanding the squadron of the Guides' cavalry +launched to the attack, but ere he had proceeded a few hundred yards a +bullet hit him in the left hip, and the squadron, under Hamilton, swept +on, leaving him still in the saddle, though in great pain and supported +by his orderly. + +Then happened one of those strange fatalities which brings the Kismet of +the Mahomedan into close touch with the Providence of the Christian. +Hamilton and the whole squadron galloping every second into more +imminent danger remain unscathed. The solitary sore wounded horseman, +walking his horse behind them, had that day come to the end of God's +allotted span; and as he walked yet another chance bullet pierced his +chest, and he fell to rise no more; the second of the Battyes to die on +the field of honour, in the ranks of the Guides. + +A touching proof of the affection and respect which his men had for him +was most affectingly illustrated after the battle. There were, as in all +armies, ambulance-bearers, whose duty it is to carry in litters the dead +and wounded. For fear of desecration it was decided to send back the +dead for burial to Jellalabad and beyond, and a litter was sent for +Wigram Battye's mortal remains. But the rough warriors whose soldierly +hearts he had won would allow of no such _cortege_. "Ambulance-bearers +may be right and proper for anyone else," they said; "but our Sahib +shall be carried by us soldiers, and by no one else." And so reverently +they lifted the body of their dead comrade, and through the hot spring +night carried it on the first stage towards the sweet spot in Mardan +where the brothers Battye lie at rest. + +But the silver lining to this dark cloud of loss was the prowess of the +young subaltern and the squadron that had fallen to his charge. "Take +'em on, Walter, my boy," were his leader's last words; and right +manfully did he obey them. + +The plain over which they were advancing was somewhat undulating, +covered with loose stones, and intersected here and there by more or +less formidable nullahs. Across this not very promising cavalry country, +Hamilton made good way, and was now close enough to the enemy to give +the orders, "Gallop, Charge!" With the wild yell which so often, before +and since, has struck chill to the heart of an enemy, the Guides dashed +forward, the ground scouts checking back for the squadron to come up to +them; but just as contact was imminent, a warning signal came from one +of these that there was impassable ground in front. Here was a dilemma! +Large masses of the enemy firing heavily close in front, an obstacle +impassable for cavalry between, the guns uncomfortably threatened close +by, and the infantry still some way off! Happily, however, it takes a +good deal to stop a brave young Irishman with such men behind him. A +second or two brought them to the obstacle, and sure enough it was no +cold-blooded chance; a sheer nine foot drop into the dry bed of a +stream, and opposite, with only a few yards interval, another sheer +cliff, and on top of that an exulting and frenzied enemy! Without a +moment's hesitation Hamilton jumped into the gulf, and after him, +scrambling, sliding, jumping, anyhow and nohow, like a pack of hounds, +streamed his fierce following. Like hounds, too, hot on the trail, they +tarried not a moment there, but scattering up and down the nullah +singly, or in clumps of two or three, found egress somehow. And then +came death, and the Prophet's Paradise, to many a brave soul. From here +and there, from front and right and left, by ones and twos, by threes +and fours, charged home the gallant horsemen; and at their head, alone +with his trumpeter, rode Hamilton. So rough and determined an onslaught +would shake the nerves of even disciplined troops; but undrilled and +undisciplined levies, however brave individually, cannot hope to stand +the fiery blast of determined cavalry charging home. And so the great +crowd broke, and for four long miles the pursuit continued, till man and +horse alike were worn and tired, and arms became too stiff to strike or +parry, and steeds yet willing staggered to a standstill. + +In this brilliant charge the enemy lost four hundred men, while the +squadron of the Guides lost twenty of all ranks and thirty-seven horses. +To Walter Hamilton was awarded the Victoria Cross, and to six of his men +the Order of Merit, for conspicuous gallantry where all were gallant. + + * * * * * + +Leaving many months of intervening history, we come to a notable feat of +endurance, which threw a much needed reinforcement into Sherpur during +the siege in December, 1879. The Guides were then strung along the lines +of communication towards Jellalabad, but, on receipt of the serious news +from Kabul, were at once concentrated forward towards the Jugdullak +Pass, the scene of the massacre of our army in the old Afghan War. +Hastening forward to the summit of the Lataband Pass, Jenkins got into +communication by heliograph with Sir Frederick Roberts (as he then was), +and learnt that reinforcements were urgently required. This was quite +enough for the Commander of the Guides; he at once decided to make an +effort to cross the thirty-six miles of mountainous country that +intervened, and to fight his way single-handed through the great hordes +of Afghans who were encircling Sherpur. Leaving the whole of their +baggage, no mean sacrifice during an Afghan winter, and loading the +mules with all the ammunition that could be carried, the Guides set +cheerfully forth on their venture. + +It is wonderful how often sheer boldness succeeds in warfare; here was +a small body of troops marching forty miles _en l'air_ through the +enemy's fastnesses, and at the weary end unknown thousands blocking the +way. With scarce a halt, horse and foot plodded on and on, till evening +came and darkness fell, and still they marched along the dimly marked +track. Near midnight the lights of Kabul and Sherpur became closely +visible, and the crucial moment had arrived. But "by the kindness of +God," as the ressaldar-major piously remarked, the night was very cold, +Kabul lies six thousand feet above the sea, and a warm hut is better +than an open field; and in fact, to make a long story short, the Afghans +were keeping no watch on the road by which the Guides came, and thus the +whole corps marched swiftly through the enemy's lines without firing a +shot or losing a man. In Sherpur they were warmly welcomed by Sir +Frederick Roberts and many old comrades, for, as at the siege of Delhi, +the boldness, swiftness, and assuredness of their arrival added +heartening and encouraging effect quite out of proportion to the +numerical addition to the strength of the garrison. + +During the next two days the Guides' infantry took part in the great +assaults on the Takht-i-Shah, and the Asmai heights, with the 72nd and +92nd Highlanders; and in these Captain Fred Battye was dangerously +wounded, and Captain A.G. Hammond[21] was awarded the Victoria Cross. In +Sir Frederick Roberts's despatch the latter incident is thus recorded: + + Another officer who greatly distinguished himself on this + occasion was Captain A.G. Hammond, Corps of Guides. He had + been very forward during the storming of the Asmai heights, + and now when the enemy were crowding up the western slopes, + he remained with a few men on the ridge until the Afghans + were within thirty yards of them. During the retirement one + of the men of the Guides was shot; Captain Hammond stopped + and assisted in carrying him away, though the enemy were at + the time close by and firing heavily. + + [21] Now Colonel Sir Arthur Hammond, V.C., D.S.O., K.C.B. + +No less than twelve men of the Guides also received the Order of Merit +for conspicuous gallantry on this occasion. + +As no result sufficient to counterbalance the serious losses incurred by +making these repeated attacks on the enemy's position appeared to be +obtained, Sir Frederick Roberts determined to alter his tactics, and to +allow the enemy in their turn to hurl themselves against our defence. +For a whole week, though in immensely superior numbers, the enemy could +not steel their hearts to attack the fortified enclosure of Sherpur, +where Roberts's small force lay entrenched. But on the evening of +December 22nd certain information was received that a grand attack would +take place at dawn, and that the signal for the advance would be a +beacon which would be kindled on the Asmai heights, just above the +village of Deh-i-Afghan. + +Strict watch was kept that night in the British lines, and after the +keen anxiety of the long vigil a feeling almost of relief passed through +the staunch defenders when, about half-an-hour before daylight, the +beacon shone forth that waved to the attack the followers of the +Prophet, to wipe the hated infidel from the face of God's earth. + +In the intense stillness of the frosty winter's night the swift +shuffling tramp of thousands of sandalled feet could be heard coming +across the open. The attack was evidently aimed at the eastern face of +Sherpur, rightly considered the weakest point structurally, but stoutly +and steadfastly held by the Guides. Where such immensely superior +numbers are concerned it is not safe to allow them to get too close, or +by sheer weight they may beat down a thin line of rifle-fire. The Guides +consequently opened a heavy fire into the darkness in the direction of +the advancing masses, thereby making known to all and sundry that the +surprise, as a surprise, had failed. This with undisciplined troops was +alone enough to disconcert the whole operation; the enemy, instead of +advancing, halted, and, taking refuge in the villages, awaited the break +of day. + +So soon as it was light they opened a heavy but badly aimed fire on the +Guides, but showed no disposition to assault. At last, after some delay +and evidently under the urgent haranguing of their priests and leaders, +a mass of warriors some five thousand strong was collected under the +shelter of the villages to make another effort. But so steady and +accurate was the fire of the Guides, that even these brave fanatics +feared to face the open, and the attack melted away. Sir Frederick +Roberts, with the eye of the born general seizing the right moment, +launched his cavalry and artillery in counterstroke and pursuit, till +when the sun set that night fifty thousand of the chivalry of the Afghan +nation had been swept from sight and hearing, and nothing but a vast +solitude remained where teeming thousands stood lately. + +Thus collect, and thus disappear, the great yeomen armies of +Afghanistan. To-day they are not; to-morrow they are assembling in their +thousands from the four quarters of the compass; a few days, and they +have melted away like snow. The explanation is simple enough. The fiery +crescent goes forth, summoning the faithful, every man with his arms and +ammunition and carrying in his goatskin bag food enough to last him for +a week. Commissariat or Ordnance Departments there are none; thus as +each soldier finishes his food or his ammunition, or both, he hies him +home again for a fresh supply; perhaps he returns, and perhaps he has +had enough fighting for the present, and does not. And so is it with all +the fifty thousand. + +The Guides did not see any more serious fighting till April, when, +together with a wing of the 92nd Highlanders under Major White,[22] and +two guns of F.-A. Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, they fought a gallant +little action with about five thousand of the enemy at Charasiab near +Kabul. Jenkins, who was in command, heard shortly after midnight that +about two thousand of the enemy were bivouacked within five miles of the +camp, but that they had no immediate intention of attacking. An old +soldier like the Commander of the Guides, however, takes nothing for +granted, and orders were at once issued for the Guides' infantry to +stand to their arms an hour before daylight, while the Guides' cavalry +sent out patrols to feel for the enemy at crack of dawn. And well was it +that these timely precautions were taken, for as day broke the enemy's +masses were seen advancing to the attack. To give elbow-room, and also +as a preparation for all eventualities, Jenkins struck his camp, and +ordered the baggage to be stacked behind a convenient mound; then +sending back word of how matters stood to Sir Frederick Roberts, he with +his little force prepared to face the onslaught. + + [22] Afterwards Field-Marshal Sir George White, V.C., G.C.B., &c., &c. + +Seizing such knolls and points of vantage as existed, his battle-line +took the form of a semicircle, with one company of the 92nd Highlanders +and two companies of the Guides in reserve. The enemy, now increased to +three thousand warriors, steadily advanced, and with great bravery +planted their standards in some places within one hundred yards of the +British line; but that last one hundred yards they could not, by all the +eloquence of their leaders or the promises of Paradise from their +priests, be induced to cross. Nor was it only the Afghans who felt the +tightening strain; it was an anxious moment for the British, too, for +given one slight slip, one weakhearted corner, and the whole thin line +might have been swept away by the onslaught of those fierce masses. + +It was then that Jenkins used a curious and expensive, but, as it +proved, effective expedient. He ordered the Guides' cavalry to mount, +and, exposed at close range to the enemy's fire, to patrol quietly from +one end of the line to the other, as a sort of moving reserve; a +demonstration, in fact, that even if the enemy managed to break through +the thin line of the infantry at any point, it would only be to fall on +the dreaded swords of the cavalry. The behaviour of the men during this +trying ordeal was above all praise; and indeed it requires high +qualities of nerve and courage to walk one's horse up and down for a +couple of hours under a hail of bullets, without being able to return +the compliment in any way. + +The enemy's numbers had increased to five thousand, and still Jenkins's +little force held on with dogged courage, and though it could not make +an inch of way, it refused to concede one. It was now past one o'clock, +and the strain lay heavy on our men after seven hours of this bull-dog +business; when the twinkle of the cheerful heliograph from Kabul gave +fresh heart to all, and almost immediately afterwards the advance +skirmishers of General Macpherson's column came into view, and the +situation was saved. Then, borne on the flood of the reinforcements, +Highlanders and Guides sprang to their feet and dashed at the now flying +enemy. The cavalry and artillery, too, at last relieved of their long +and dangerous vigil, dashed off in pursuit, and for four long miles they +fell with relentless fury on the scattered and demoralised foe. + +This was the last fight which the Guides had in the Afghan War. When +Roberts and his gallant ten thousand marched to Kandahar, they were sent +back to their hard-earned rest, after two years of incessant warfare, +with a casualty roll of two hundred and forty-eight of all ranks and one +hundred and forty-two horses; and with five hundred recruits to redress +the balance. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +WAR STORIES + + +Several months before the Afghan War began the Guides were placed on +guard at the mouth of the Khyber Pass, and there occurred an incident +which illustrates the extremely delicate problem accompanying the +employment of Indian troops in certain situations. In the ranks of the +Guides are men belonging to a great number of tribes and nationalities, +many of them enlisted from amongst peoples whose territories lie outside +the British borders. It may so happen therefore, and indeed does happen, +that in the kaleidoscope of events a man who has taken service and sworn +to fight the battles of the King finds himself called upon to attack his +own village, and possibly to raise his rifle against his own kith and +kin. Such a situation naturally requires very careful handling. It is of +course absolutely necessary to maintain the great principle, that a +soldier is bound hand and foot and in all honour to the service of his +Sovereign, and that no family or private ties must stand between him +and any duty that service may call on him to perform. On the other hand, +without relinquishing this principle, it is often possible, by a little +tactful and unostentatious redistribution of troops, to avoid placing a +soldier in so unenviable a position as taking part in an attack on his +own home. Sometimes, however, this is impossible, as in the story here +related. + +The Guides were daily expecting orders to advance into the Khyber Pass +at the head of an army, and would thus at the very outset be fighting +against some of the men's own relations and friends. Amongst these men +was a young Afridi soldier, who was sore puzzled what to do. His own +village lay right in the path of the army, and only a few miles distant; +his relations and friends came daily to visit him, urging him to take +his discharge and return to his own people before the war began. Was +anyone ever in a more awkward position? + +On the very eve of the advance he made his decision to stand by the +colours, and gave a final refusal to his relations. Yet even then +opportunity, combined with the ties of kinship, was too much for him. It +was his turn for sentry-go that night, all double sentries, and, as is +the custom, no two men of the same class together. With our young Afridi +on his beat there happened to be a Gurkha, and that Gurkha did a thing +which not only hurled his comrade to perdition, but brought himself to a +court-martial. His tent was close by and he said to the young Afridi: +"Hold my rifle a minute, while I fetch something from my tent." In one +second the whole of that young Afridi's good resolutions failed him; the +struggle of weeks had been in vain. Two rifles in his hand, not a soul +near, the black night in front, and beyond--his own village, and +friends, and a warm welcome! He stalked off into the darkness and was +lost for ever. Then came the sequel. + +The British officers were at dinner in their mess tent, when the +havildar of the guard came running up to make his report, and brought as +witness the erring Gurkha. The Colonel of the Corps at this time was +Colonel F.H. Jenkins, a man who had learnt much from Lumsden, and had +caught in many ways the genius for dealing with wild warriors. "How many +men of that man's tribe are there in the regiment?" sternly demanded +Jenkins. After reference to the company, it was found that there were +seventeen of them all told. "Parade them all here," said the Colonel; +and they were duly summoned, and paraded in line. "Now take off every +scrap of uniform or equipment that belongs to the Sirkar." Each man did +as he was bid, and placed the little pile in front of him, on the +ground. "You can now go, and don't let me see your faces again till you +bring back those two rifles." + +The Colonel perhaps hoped that they might overtake the fugitive, +overpower and secure him before he had gone far; but if so he was +disappointed, for as day followed day, and week succeeded week, no news +came of pursued or pursuers. The matter had been forgotten; the +vacancies had long since been filled; indeed, two whole years had +passed, when one day there walked into Mardan Cantonment a ragged, +rough-bearded, hard-bitten gang of seventeen men, carrying two rifles. +It was the lost legion! + +Of those two years' toil and struggle, wounds received and given, a +stark unburied corpse here and there on the mountain-side, days in +ambush and bitter nights of silent anxious watch, they spoke but little. +But their faces beamed with honest pride as their spokesmen simply said: +"The Sahib told us never to show our faces again until we found the +rifles, and here they are. Now, by your Honour's kindness, we will again +enlist and serve the Queen." + + * * * * * + +On another occasion, during the Afghan War, it was a matter of +considerable importance to ascertain the temper of an important tribe, +whose position and territory threatened the left flank of the lines of +communication not far short of Jellalabad. For this difficult and +dangerous duty Duffadar Faiz Talab of the Guides offered his services, +well knowing the great risks he was likely to incur, though, as the +event proved, he materially underrated them. + +Dressed as an ordinary Pathan, with great flowing white garments, a +slatey blue puggery, and with a dagger or two stuck in his cummerband, +he sallied forth one dark night, and laid up not far from camp. This +precaution was taken so that not one of the hundreds of pairs of sharp +eyes in our own camp should see him depart. + +Next day he strolled on leisurely, and in the course of the afternoon +arrived at the chief village of the tribe in question. In every Afghan +village there is a rest-house, or _serai_, for strangers, and thither as +a rule towards evening the village gossips also find their way; the +hospitable _hookah_ is passed from mouth to mouth, and in grave Oriental +fashion they set about picking each other's gossip-pockets. "And you, +brave stranger, who are you?" asked a grey-bearded, sharp-eyed old man +of Duffadar Faiz Talab. + +"I?" he answered readily; "why, I have just left those dogs of Feringhis +(may God burn them in hell!), where I took service for a short time, so +as to learn their ways, and their tricks of fighting." + +"_Shahbash_ (bravo)!" exclaimed the company; "and what are you +going to do now?" + +"What am I going to do now? Why, fight the accursed infidels, of +course!" replied the duffadar. + +"That is indeed fortunate," said the headman of the village, "for our +spies tell us that the Feringhis intend attacking us. We shall now be +able to make you the general of our forces, and since you have been so +wise as to learn the cunning strategy of the infidels we shall of a +surety kill them all, and send their souls to hell." + +"Oh yes, certainly, if I am here," hastily murmured Faiz Talab, adding +as he regained his composure and the Oriental art of fluently telling +the thing that is not true, "but unfortunately I have urgent business +over the Khost, and cannot delay. To-morrow at crack of dawn I must be +on my way." + +"Our kismet is indeed bad, but let the will of God be done!" was the +pious rejoinder of the most villainous-looking of the surrounding +cut-throats. + +Night having now fallen, and the lighting arrangements of an Afghan +village being limited to a wood fire, travellers and villagers began one +by one to roll themselves up in their wadded quilts, and each man, +hugging his sword, dropped off to sleep. + +Just before dawn Faiz Talab was awakened by someone rudely shaking him. +"Get up, oh indolent one, the English are upon us, and we look to you to +help us to defeat them. Here, take this rifle and these twenty rounds of +ammunition, and come and show us how best we may arrange our battle +line." + +Up jumped the duffadar, and hastily shook together his sleeping wits. +Here was a pretty dilemma! Evidently something had occurred to +precipitate action on the part of the British, and it had been found +inexpedient, or perhaps impossible, to wait for the receipt of his +report. Meanwhile the duffadar was in the exceedingly uncomfortable +position of him who finds himself between the devil and the deep sea. As +the chosen leader, thus miraculously fallen from heaven on the eve of +battle, he had become so important a figure that it was impossible for +him to take up a modest position in the rear; indeed, a bullet through +the head would have been the immediate rejoinder to any such suggestion +on his part. Forced thus by circumstance into the forefront of the +battle, he turned his back to the devil and stood forth to face the deep +sea, and the great waves of British soldiers which surged across it to +the attack. + +"The first thing to do," he shouted authoritatively, "is to take good +cover, so that the bullets and cannon-balls of the English cannot hit +us; and then, when they have expended their ammunition, we will shout +Allah! and charge them with the sword." + +"Well spoken!" was the cry, and the order passed up and down the line. + +Be assured that duffadar Faiz Talab did not fail to appropriate the +thickest and strongest wall in support of his tactical scheme. + +"The next thing to do," yelled the unwilling general, "is to fire as +rapidly as possible, so as to frighten the English thoroughly, before we +sally forth and kill them." And suiting action to words Faiz Talab fired +off his twenty rounds with great rapidity in the safest possible +direction, and prayed God that he had not hit one of his own comrades. +At the same time he added a perhaps equally potent supplication, to the +effect that his comrades might not be so careless or inconsiderate in +their turn as to shoot him. + +Having no more ammunition, Faiz Talab hugged his wall closer than a +limpet, and noticed with growing satisfaction that ammunition was +running out all along the line. On the other hand, as an inquisitive +neighbour, with two bullets in his puggery, pointed out, the English +were advancing very quickly, apparently with plenty of ammunition, and +were just at that moment fixing bayonets. + +"Fixing bayonets!" exclaimed one and all; "then it is indeed necessary +that we should depart, so that, by the grace of God, we may be ready to +fight with renewed vigour on another day." + +"That is well spoken, brethren," said Faiz Talab, and added with +considerable pathos, "but as for me, I shall remain and die at my post." + +"Oh, say not so!" remarked one or two with polite, but not very +insistent interest. + +"Nothing will persuade me to move," stubbornly reiterated the duffadar, +devoutly praying that no one else would insist on sharing his bed of +glory. + +The English soldiers could now be heard talking plainly, and one, +speaking louder than the rest, said, "Cease firing, fix bayonets, +charge!" A loud _hurrah_! sounded, and then Faiz Talab found himself +alone on his side of the wall. That was all very well, but it was not of +much avail to have escaped so far, to end his days with eighteen inches +of a British bayonet through his best embroidered waistcoat. If it had +been any Indian regiment, or, better still, his own regiment, the +Guides, he could at once have secured safety by declaring who he was. +But with British soldiers, none of whom would probably understand a word +he said, and all heated with the excitement of battle, he might get the +bayonet first and enquiry afterwards. However, something had to be done; +so up he jumped and, holding up his hands, yelled, "Stop! stop! I am a +friend of the British." + +"'Ullo, 'ere's another bloomin' ghazi! 'ave at 'im, Bill!" was the brisk +rejoinder, in the familiar tongue of a British soldier of the 17th Foot. + +And "'ave at 'im" they most assuredly would, had not a British officer +arrived in the very nick of time. "He says he is a friend of the +British," the officer shouted; "give him quarter till we find out +whether he speaks the truth or not." + +So reluctantly they made Faiz Talab a prisoner, temporarily postponing +the pleasure of sending him to join his numerous friends in the ghazis' +Paradise. + +But Faiz Talab said to the officer: "May I see you alone? I have +something important to tell you." + +"Yes, certainly," said the officer; "but mind, one of my men covers you +all the time." + +And when they drew apart, Faiz Talab took off his shoe; under the lining +was a little piece of paper, which he handed to the officer, and on it +was written in English: _The bearer of this is Duffadar Faiz Talab of +the Guides: please give him every assistance.--F.H. Jenkins, +Lt.-Col_. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ADVENTURES OF SHAH SOWAR AND ABDUL MUJID + + +Many strange adventures have befallen individual men of the Guides, and +many a hairbreadth escape have they had. It was only a few years ago +that the following adventures occurred. + +An order reached regimental headquarters to detail a cavalry soldier who +could speak Persian, and one stout of heart and limb, to accompany a +British officer on a mission of considerable danger and uncertainty. He +was to call at a certain house, on a certain day, in Karachi, and to ask +for the name of Smith. Shah Sowar was the trooper selected, and when he +arrived at the place of tryst he was ushered into the presence of Smith. +Smith, however, was not Smith at all, but somebody quite different; not +that it mattered much, for Smith was only his Karachi name. + +Next day, on board ship, he became the Sheikh Abdul Qadir, on his way to +Mecca or where not; and from that moment commenced the troubles of the +redoubtable Shah Sowar. To anyone who has the least knowledge of Asia +the extraordinary difficulty which any European must experience in +disguising himself as a man of an Eastern race will be apparent. By dint +of living for years as Asiatics, exceptional linguists like Vambery and +Burton have undoubtedly been able to pass unchallenged, but anyone +possessing qualities short of theirs must inevitably be discovered a +dozen times a day. The way we eat and drink, the way we walk and sit, +the way we wear our clothes and boots, the way we wash,--every little +thing is absolutely different from the methods and manners of the East. + +These things Shah Sowar pointed out with much politeness, and great +persistency, to Sheikh Abdul Qadir, late Smith. "Be it spoken with the +greatest respect, but there would be less liability to the unmannerly +curiosity of strangers if the Cherisher of the Poor wore his own +clothes. Beautifully as your Highness speaks Persian and Hindustani [his +Highness really spoke both indifferently] it would be difficult for one +of such commanding presence to pass himself for any but an Englishman. +English officers are a race of princes; how then can they disguise +themselves as inferior folk?" + +"Don't fret," replied Smith, _alias_ Sheikh Abdul Qadir; "I am going to +remain a prince all right; for I propose passing myself off as a near +relation of the Amir, a refugee from Kabul." + +"As your Honour wishes," was the resigned reply; but Shah Sowar saw big +rollers ahead. + +Arrived on the coasts of Persia (it matters not where), Sheikh Abdul +Qadir, Shah Sowar, and a cook-boy landed as refugees from Kabul, on +their way to place their swords and services at the disposal of the Shah +of Persia. + +In these days an officer with a Government permit might probably travel, +with a moderate escort, in perfect safety throughout Persia; but at that +time a Government permit, and a small escort, would merely have served +to draw the unwelcome attention of the hordes of robbers who infested +the country. For good and sufficient reasons our friend Smith was +required to pass through a certain tract of very unsettled country on +his journey, ways and means being left to his own ingenuity. + +As Shah Sowar had foretold, the first serious pitfall was the question +of language. When persons of some rank are travelling it is customary +for the headman, or chief, to come and pay his respects to them, when +they are encamped near his village or domain. It was after one such +visit that the chief, as he came out, called Shah Sowar to him and said: +"Who did you say that your master is?" + +"Commander of the Faithful, his name is Sheikh Abdul Qadir, a relative +of the Amir of Kabul and a refugee," glibly replied Shah Sowar, but +inwardly considerably perturbed. + +"Well, with all respect," replied the chief, "I never heard anyone talk +such bad Persian; he talks just like an Englishman"; and with that he +departed. + +Shah Sowar at once grasped what a narrow escape they had had, for an +Englishman found in that region in disguise was a dead man. So soon +therefore as it was dark he persuaded his master to saddle and move on a +few miles, lest further reflection might shed a light on the dim +suspicions of the chief. One bargain Shah Sowar made during that night +march, and that was that Sheikh Abdul Qadir was henceforth to remain +speechless, and leave the rest to his own ingenuity and knowledge of his +countrymen. + +A few days afterwards an occasion offered for testing the new +arrangement. Arrived at a somewhat important town, a servant of the +local chief came to make enquiries about the new arrivals, in order that +the etiquette of visiting might be observed, this etiquette ruling that +the inferior should pay the first visit. Here Shah Sowar at once took a +high hand, insisting that his master, from his princely connections, +held the higher rank and must be visited first. "But," he added in a +confidential whisper, "my master is an extraordinary man; some days he +is as lively as a bulbul and laughs and talks with everyone; on others +he sits silent and morose and will not utter a word. Be it spoken in +confidence, but I think he must be mad. At any rate, prepare your +master. If to-day happen to be one of his bad days, then that is kismet +and your master must excuse." Having thus prepared one side, he placed a +bed across the end of the tent and asked Sheikh Abdul Qadir, late +Smith, to sit cross-legged on it, to glare fixedly and furiously into +vacancy, and to grunt at intervals, but on no account to utter a +syllable. + +In due course the chief and his retinue arrived, and were met with great +politeness and many salaams by Shah Sowar; but that worthy managed to +whisper in the chief's ear the sad intelligence that this was one of his +master's bad days, and that the Evil Spirit was upon him. "Nevertheless +be pleased to enter," he added aloud; "His Highness will be glad to see +you." + +The exceedingly restricted area of the tent prevented a large assembly, +but the chief, his brother, and Shah Sowar managed to squeeze in and +squat down. After exchanging salutations the chief gravely stroked his +beard, and gave vent to a few polite expressions of welcome. To these +Sheikh Abdul Qadir vouchsafed no reply beyond a grunt. The chief glanced +at Shah Sowar, and that excellent comedian, assuming the ashamed look of +one disgraced by his master's rudeness, at once made a long-winded and +complimentary reply in the most fluent and high-flown Persian. Then, +before the effect should be lost, he ordered in tea, and commenced an +animated conversation with the two strangers, all parties absolutely +ignoring, out of politeness, Sheikh Abdul Qadir and his Evil Spirit. +Thus anxiously skating over the thin ice, Shah Sowar at last, with a +feeling of infinite relief, bowed out the visitors, charmed with his +excellent manners and quite unsuspecting that they had sat for +half-an-hour within two feet of a British officer. When the time for the +return visit came, Shah Sowar went alone to make the readily accepted +excuse that his master was not in a fit state that day to fulfil social +obligations. + +Thus the ready wit and resource of Shah Sowar piloted the party through +many dangerous waters, till one day they chanced across a nomad tribe +under a venerable white-bearded chief, who could count a thousand spears +at his beck and call. The usual visits of ceremony had been paid and +tided over somehow, and the travellers were resting during the heat of +the afternoon, when a confidential servant of the White Beard came to +Shah Sowar and said that his master had sent for him. A peremptory call +like this boded no good, but by way of getting a further puff to show +which way the wind blew, Shah Sowar assumed a haughty air. "Peace be +unto you," he said; "there is no hurry. I will come when I am +sufficiently rested, and have received permission from my own master." +"Be advised by me, who wish you no harm, to come at once, as the matter +is of importance," replied the messenger. "Oh, very well," grumbled Shah +Sowar, feeling that trouble was in the air; "I will come." + +When he arrived at the camp of the White Beard he was immediately +ushered into his tent, and there found the old warrior seated +cross-legged on a rich carpet, and gravely stroking his beard. "Look +here, Shah Sowar," said he with soldierly directness, "it is no good +lying to me. That is a sahib you have with you. I have been to Bushire, +and I know an Englishman when I see him." + +Shah Sowar was prepared for this, but, by way of gaining time, he +answered: "Your Excellency's cleverness is extraordinary; to lie to your +Highness would be the work only of a fool. Perchance my master may be a +sahib, but there are many nations of sahibs, and why should this one be +English?" "Peace, prattler!" sternly replied the old autocrat; "there is +only one nation of real sahibs, and they are English." + +Shah Sowar, driven into a corner, stroked his beard for some time under +the rebuke, and then said: "I perceive there is no good trying to +deceive so great a diviner as you. I will speak the truth. My master is +an English officer travelling on business. What then?" + +"What then?" slowly replied the White Beard. "Why, I have sworn on the +Koran, and before all my tribe, to kill every Englishman I come across. +I fear no nation on earth but the English, and lest they swallow me up, +I have sworn to swallow them, one by one, whenever I meet them." + +"If your Honour has thus sworn there is nothing else to be said," +answered Shah Sowar. "But I have one petition to make, and that is to +give us till the morning before we die." + +"Your petition is granted; but why say 'we'? I shall not kill you, for +you are a Mahomedan, and a Persian, and shall join my horsemen," said +the White Beard. + +"When the Sahib dies, I die also," was the brave reply. And with that +Shah Sowar hurried back to tell the bad news to his master. Arrived at +their little camp, his worst forebodings were confirmed, for a strong +detachment of the White Beard's men guarded it on every side. + +All that afternoon the prisoners racked their brains to find a way of +escape, and hope seemed to die with the setting sun. Then Shah Sowar +arose and said, "I will have one more try to see what can be done"; and +gaining permission, he went over again to the chief's camp, and asked +for another audience. The old man was at his prayers, and Shah Sowar +devoutly and humbly joined in. When they had finished he asked for a +private audience, as he had something of importance to say. + +"Well, what is it?" said the White Beard when they were alone. + +"It is this," gravely replied the Guides' trooper, "and be pleased to +listen attentively. When you bade me speak the truth this afternoon, I +spoke fearlessly and at once. I acknowledged that my Sahib is an English +officer. Hear now also the truth, and on the Koran I am prepared to +swear it. This English officer whom you propose to kill is the bearer of +an important letter to the Shah of Persia, and I swear to you by Allah +and all his prophets that, should harm befall him, for every hair of his +head the Shah will kill one of your horsemen. Make calculation, oh +venerable one; has not the Sahib more than a thousand hairs on his head? +I have spoken. Now do your worst, but blame not me afterwards." + +"This is very unfortunate," said the much perturbed chieftain. "Have I +not sworn before all my people? How then can I now spare this +Englishman? My kismet is indeed bad; I can see no road of escape." + +"That I can show you," said Shah Sowar, "and for that am I come again." + +"Say on, I am listening." + +"You have sworn before your people that you will kill the Englishman at +dawn; but there is no reason why the Englishman should not escape during +the night. To save your face I will heavily bribe one of the sentries, +and we will escape on foot leaving everything behind. Thus you will get +all our horses, and mules, and tents, and all that we have. And in the +morning you can say 'It was the will of God,' and march away in the +opposite direction." + +"You have spoken well," said the chief after deep thought. "I will do as +you wish; it is the will of God." Then he added aloud, and with anger so +that all might hear: "I have spoken; at dawn the accursed Englishman +shall die, and I will shoot him with mine own hand. Praise be to Allah, +and Mahomed the prophet of Allah." + +So Shah Sowar went back to his Sahib and explained the plan of escape. +And as soon as all was still the three slipped noiselessly out of the +camp, past the bribed sentry, and, setting their faces to the south, +toiled on, hiding at intervals, till they had placed well-nigh forty +miles between themselves and the camp of the White Bearded Chief. + +Then his heart broke through the stiff reserve of the Englishman, and he +embraced his gallant comrade, and said: "You and I are no longer master +and servant, sahib and trooper; you have saved my life and henceforth we +are brothers. What can I do for you to show my gratitude?" + +"Nothing, Sahib, except to tell my Colonel that I have done good service +and upheld the name of the Guides." And the only other thing that Shah +Sowar would accept was a watch to replace that which he had lost in the +flight; and on it is inscribed, _To my faithful friend Shah Sowar in +memory of_--(and here follows the date of their flight). + + * * * * * + +Amongst the explorers who have gone forth from the Guides, taking their +lives in their hands and barely escaping, was one Abdul Mujid. This fine +specimen of the trained adventurer was working through a hitherto +unmapped and little known country, when one evening he came to a small +village, and made his way as usual to the travellers' serai. There +also, as is not unusual, he found assembled, besides wayfarers like +himself, the headman of the village and two or three other residents, +smoking and chatting. They made room for Abdul Mujid, and with the +outwardly polite insistence of the Oriental asked his business, whence +he came, and whither he was going. + +While our good friend the Guide was spinning such romances as seemed +good unto him, to account for his presence in this secluded valley, a +small boy came and squatted down at his feet, to lose not a word of the +story. And sitting there, like a boy, or a magpie, he picked up one of +the shoes which Abdul Mujid had slipped off as he took his seat and +began to examine it curiously. This perfectly childish act by chance +caught the wandering glance of the headman, and as he looked at the +shoes, and then up at the fine strapping fellow who owned them, a sudden +thought occurred to him. "Those are very like soldiers' shoes," he said +in a hard, suspicious voice; "I have seen them wearing the like in +Peshawur." + +Abdul Mujid was considerably taken aback, for it had never occurred to +him that in these wild parts he might chance across anyone who had +travelled far enough to know the difference between a soldier's and any +other shoe. However, his ready wit came to his service, and with scarce +a pause he replied quietly: "Yes, I bought them in one of the border +villages from a sepoy on leave," and then turned the conversation on to +less dangerous ground. But he saw he was suspected, and any moment +might find him seized and searched. It was too late to move on to +another village; indeed to attempt to do so would only serve to confirm +suspicion, and the moment he had passed the sacred portals of +hospitality he would have been instantly followed and cut down. + +Shoes in themselves are not enough to hang a man, but a prismatic +compass assuredly is. In a Pathan country murder, rapine, and +cattle-lifting are comparatively venial offences, little more indeed +than instances of lightheartedness; but to draw a map of the country is +worse than the seven deadly sins rolled into one, and short will be the +shrift of him who is caught in the act. It therefore seemed to Abdul +Mujid only a wise precaution to get rid of his prismatic compass as +speedily as possible. + +With this end in view he walked over to the well, as if to get a drink +of water, and, as skilfully as he could, dropped the compass down the +well. But fate was against him that day; sharp ears heard the hollow +splash, and sharp voices immediately demanded what he had thrown down +the well. + +"Only a stone off the coping," replied Abdul Mujid. + +"You lie!" yelled the headman. "You are a spy of the accursed British +Government, and out of your own mouth will I condemn you. Here, Yusuf, +get a stout rope and let the boy down the well; there isn't more than +half a yard of water in it, and we will soon see whether the stranger +lies or not." + +Here was a nice predicament! But Abdul Mujid faced the peril like a man, +and held to the faint hope that no one would recognise the instrument +even if they found it. It was a false hope. In a few minutes up came the +boy, gleefully flourishing the damning evidence, and there was not one +who doubted what it was. Probably in the circumstances, whatever the +article it would have had the same effect, for the case was already +prejudiced. + +"Now then, thou son of a burnt father, what sayest thou?" screamed the +headman. "Thou art a spy as I said, and shalt surely die. _Hein!_ what +sayest thou?" + +"You speak truth, father," replied the sepoy. "I am making a map for the +British Government; but this is only a little portion of it, and if you +object I will leave out this part altogether, and then there can be no +cause of offence." + +"Go to," sneered the headman, "I shall take a much more effective way of +closing the matter by killing you at once. Here, Yusuf, bring my gun, +and you, young men, see that this misbegotten Kafir does not escape." + +So Yusuf went off for the gun, and Abdul Mujid turned his face towards +Mecca, and said the evening prayer. Then hope came to him from above and +he said to the headman: "Be not hasty; I am a follower of the Prophet as +also are ye. Give me till the morning that I may make my peace with +Allah." + +"It is well said," interposed a bystander; "he is alone and has no +chance of escape. Let us therefore not kill him like a dog or an +infidel; but let him make his peace with Allah, and then in the morning +he shall die." + +And so it was settled, and Abdul Mujid was bound hand and foot, and laid +upon a _charpoy_[23]; and beside him, with a drawn sword at his side, lay +down the man who was to guard him, the two on the same bed. + + [23] _Charpoy_, the common bed of the country. + +All night long Abdul Mujid lay racking his brains for a means of escape, +and found none; and then just before dawn came Allah to his help. +Nudging his bedfellow hard, the sepoy said: "Awake, sluggard, I wish to +go and pray." + +"Well, go and pray," grumbled the guard. + +"Go and pray!" replied Abdul Mujid; "how can I go and pray with my arms +and feet tied? Can I make the salutations and genuflections ordered in +the Koran while thus strapped up?" + +"No, I suppose you can't," answered the guard. "But you also don't +suppose I am going to leave my warm quilt on this bitterly cold morning +to guard you while you pray?" + +"That is not the least necessary," said Abdul Mujid; "if you will free +one hand I will spread my own carpet by the bed, and you can thus guard +me without getting up, for my legs are tied, and therefore I cannot +escape. Assuredly Allah hath spread the cloak of stupidity and sloth +over this fellow," he said to himself, as his janitor rolled over, and +lazily muttering "Oh very well, anything for a little peace," to the +sepoy's intense delight fumblingly untied one of his hands. + +What followed was like a streak of lightning from heaven. In one flash +Abdul Mujid had seized the naked sword, and the slothful sentry, before +he could draw another breath, lay dead to all below; in another flash he +had severed his bonds, and was making the best of his way across the +fields. Nor did he halt, night or day, till weary and exhausted he fell +down and slept by the first milestone that proclaimed that he was again +in British territory. + +Nearly a year afterwards a motley band of ruffians might have been seen +walking up the main road at Mardan towards the Court-House. It was a +deputation from a far-away country come to discuss matters with the +political officer. At their head on a sorry steed rode the chief person: +at the roadside by the post-office, idly watching the party file past, +was a man of the Guides; and when the eyes of those two, the Guide and +the man on the pony, met, they both remembered the village well, and one +recollected how nearly it was his last night on earth. + +"May you never grow weary," said the Guide in the polite formula of the +road. + +"May your riches ever increase," came the stock reply. + +"And how about that man on the charpoy?" bawled Abdul Mujid. + +"Oh, he's all right, having by the mercy of God a thick skull," came the +reply. + +"Shahbash! come and feast with me when your business is finished. +I will make preparations at the cook-shop at the head of the bazaar." + +And so ended in peace and jollification an adventure which at one time +looked much more like cold-blooded murder and a string of vendettas. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE RELIEF OF CHITRAL + + +The anxiety of great events in South Africa has somewhat dimmed the +recollection of our smaller troubles in previous years; but perhaps +there are some who can recall the feeling of tense suspense that +enthralled the nation during the spring of 1895. + +Two hundred miles from our borders in an inaccessible, and hitherto +almost unheard of, valley lay besieged a little force of Indian +soldiers, under the command of a sprinkling of British officers. Between +the beleaguered garrison and the nearest support lay great chains of the +highest mountains in the world, still covered thick in snow, rivers deep +and strong and of incredible treachery, roads that were mere goat-tracks +carried along the face of precipices, or following a shingly bed between +stupendous walls of rock, many made doubly perilous by craftily prepared +stone-shoots. To add to the difficulties of the task climatic variations +of extraordinary diversity had to be overcome, for troops might one day +be freezing on a pass twenty thousand feet above the sea, and on +another sweltering under the tropical heat of the valley below; days +passed under the scorching rays of an Eastern sun might be succeeded by +nights without shelter under storms of cold and pitiless rain. Finally +one of the two relief columns had to pass through two hundred miles of +unmapped and unexplored country, inhabited by armed fanatical tribes +fiercely opposed to the passage of the troops while the other, weak in +numbers, and marching _en l'air_ hundreds of miles from any support, was +a veritable forlorn hope. + +It speaks highly for the mobilisation arrangements of the Indian Army +that within eleven days a corps of all arms, twenty-five thousand +strong, had derailed at a little roadside station, and under Sir Robert +Low had marched forty-two miles to the frontier, fought a decisive +action, and forced the first barrier of mountains on its road to +Chitral. Unhappily it does not lie within the region of this story to +relate how the gallant forlorn hope under Colonel Kelly, overcoming +stupendous difficulties, made its way to the succour of the sore beset +garrison, but history has already done justice to that gallant +achievement. Here, in a regimental narrative we are naturally restricted +to the column to which the Guides belonged. + +On the opening day of the campaign it fell to the Guides' infantry to +turn the right flank of the enemy, having, supported by the 4th Sikhs, +captured after five hours' hard fighting a commanding mountain, to this +day called the Guides' Hill, which completely dominated and turned the +Malakand position. It was next day, however, that a weak squadron of the +Guides' cavalry had the opportunity of performing a notable service. +After the passage of the Malakand the road runs down between gently +sloping spurs into the Swat Valley. At the end of one of these spurs was +a rocky outcrop, which would now be called a _kopje_, and holding this +was a regiment of Dogras, while in support, under cover, lay the best +part of a brigade of infantry. Just under the tail end of the kopje +stood dismounted a squadron, fifty strong, of the Guides, under Captain +Adams and Lieutenant Baldwin. The neighbouring hills were covered with +dense masses of the enemy, firing heavily, and severely pressing the +Dogras. Evening was drawing on and the day too far advanced for the +British force to commit itself to any very forward or extended +operations. + +At this moment a temporary non-combatant, the well-known Roddy Owen, +then acting as a newspaper correspondent, in the course of doing a +little scouting on his own account discovered a large force of the +enemy, estimated at two thousand men, committed to the open with the +evident intention of enveloping the left flank of the Dogras. This news +he at once communicated to Captain Adams, and that officer rode back a +short distance to take the General's orders. Just as he was returning, +Lieutenant Baldwin, seeing that the moment to strike had arrived, +boldly took the initiative and set off on his gallant venture. The +effect was little short of magical, and established irrevocably the +_moral_ of cavalry and the _arme blanche_ for the rest of the campaign. +The moment the little squadron of the Guides appeared round the corner, +yelling the well-known war-whoop of the Indian soldier, the whole of the +forward movement of the enemy's masses ceased. There was a moment of +hesitation, another of delay, and then the whole body broke and fled, +fiercely pursued by the cavalry. The execution done was considerable, +but greater still was the moral effect. From that day forth a mounted +man was a power in the land. + +The Relief Force now pushed across the Swat River, and over the Saram +range of mountains, and came in due course to the formidable Panjkora +River, formidable not so much from its size, or breadth, but from its +great rapidity and uncertainty. In a single night, fed by melting snow +from the higher levels, it would rise from twelve to fourteen feet. And +this is exactly what happened at a critical moment, when it fell to the +honour of the Guides to avert a serious disaster. + +Before the Relief Force could cross it was necessary to bridge the +river, and this was done at a narrow part. Directly it was completed the +Guides were ordered across to hold the bridge-head, and thus cover the +passage of the main body next morning. That the defence might not be a +passive one only, Lieutenant-Colonel Fred Battye, who was commanding, +was ordered at dawn to push out, destroy all the neighbouring villages, +and turn the enemy out of all positions from which they had been +operating during the construction of the bridge, and from which they +could harass the passage of the force. During the night a freshet came +down, the river rose fourteen feet, and the newly finished bridge was +swept away. The Guides were thus isolated on the far bank, but getting +no orders to the contrary, and very possibly thinking that to remain +inactive was to invite unwelcome attention to their condition, Colonel +Battye decided to adhere to the original programme. Therefore leaving +two companies at the site of the broken bridge, he at six in the morning +moved out to drive back the enemy's outposts, and destroy such villages +as were troublesome. + +Up to nine o'clock there was no opposition to speak of. Colonel Battye +then formed the five companies of the Guides, which constituted his +force, into three small columns, and was proceeding to carry out more +extended operations, when, from the high ground now occupied, dense +masses of the enemy, afterwards officially estimated at from seven to +ten thousand, were seen rapidly approaching his right flank. It had +evidently become known to the enemy that the bridge was broken, and that +the Guides were cut off by an impassable river from all support. The +matter was immediately reported by heliograph to Sir Robert Low, and +orders as promptly sent for the Guides to retire on the bridge-head. + +It is on an occasion like this that the true fighting value of a +regiment shows itself. Great as is the glory of those who, surrounded by +comrades, are borne on the tide of great events to victory, still +greener are the laurels that adorn the standards of those who, amidst +great tribulation and fighting against overwhelming odds, keep +untarnished their ancient fame. + +Before the anxious eyes of an army, so near yet so powerless to help, +the Guides commenced their retirement. With the great mountains as an +amphitheatre the drama began to unfold itself before the gaze of waiting +thousands. At first so far away were they, so few, so scattered, and +clad to match the colour of the hills, that only the strongest glasses +could make out the position of the Guides; but apparent to the naked eye +of all was the great straggling mass which was falling with relentless +swiftness, guillotine-like, on the narrow neck of the communications +with the bridge. With cool intrepid courage, with a deliberation which +appeared almost exasperating to the onlookers, Colonel Battye and his +men took up the challenge. Little parties of soldiers could be descried +slowly sauntering back, a few yards only, then disappearing amongst the +rocks with a rattle of rifle-fire. Then back came more little parties of +soldiers, all seemingly sauntering, all with the long sunny day before +them. And after them bounded great waves of men in blue, and men in +white, only to break and stagger back before those little clumps of rock +in which the rearmost soldiers lay. "Get back, get back! Damn you, why +don't you get back?" shouted the spectators on the eastern bank in +impotent excitement. But no word of this reached the Guides on the +slopes of the still far-off mountain-side; nor would they have heeded +had they heard, for they had been born and bred to the two simple +maxims, "Be fiery quick in attack, but deadly slow in retirement." And +so slowly back they came, and in their wake lay strewn the white and +blue figures, all huddled up, or stark and flat. + +The retirement now brought the regiment down the spur of a lofty hill +which forms the angle where the Jandul River flows into the Panjkora. +This hill is to the south of the Jandul, while the bridge-head was to +the north. Thus to reach their entrenchment the Guides had to retire +down the spur they were now on, and to cross the Jandul. + +It was now noon, and at about this time the enemy's masses were seen to +divide in two; one-half keeping to the right, so as to support the +attack on the Guides, while the other column continued down the Jandul, +so as to cut the regiment off from its bridge-head. Foot by foot (to the +spectators it seemed inch by inch) the different companies retired +alternatively, fiercely assailed on all hands, yet coolly firing volley +after volley, relinquishing quietly and almost imperceptibly one strong +position, only to take up another a few yards back. + +At last the impatient spectators on the left bank of the Panjkora had a +chance of helping, for the enemy were now within range of the +mountain-guns, and the steady and accurate fire of these greatly +relieved the pressure. At the same time the two companies of the Guides +in the entrenchment, seeing that the enemy's left column was closing +down, moved out to check their advance, and to stretch out to the rest +of the regiment a helping hand. The whole of the 2nd Brigade also lined +their bank of the Panjkora, and prepared with flank fire to help the +Guides, when they reached the foot of the spur. Here it would have to +cross several hundred yards of level ground, on which the green barley +was standing waist-high, ford the Jandul, about three feet deep, and +then across more open fields to the friendly bridge-head. This naturally +was the most difficult part of the operation, and in executing it +Colonel Fred Battye, the fourth of the heroic brothers to be killed in +action, fell mortally wounded. He was, as might be expected from one of +his race, always at the point of danger throughout the retirement, and +as he crossed the open zone among the last, a sharp-shooter at close +range, from behind a withered tree, fired the fatal shot. + +It was on this open ground that the extraordinary bravery of the enemy +was most brilliantly shown. Standard-bearers with reckless gallantry +could be seen rushing to certain destruction, falling perhaps within +ten yards of the line of the Guides; men, who had used up all their +ammunition, would rush forward with large rocks and hurl them at the +soldiers, courting instant death. Nothing could damp their ardour, or +check the fury of their assaults. Even after the Guides had crossed the +river, and the enemy were under a severe flank fire from the Gordon +Highlanders and King's Own Scottish Borderers, they dashed into the +stream, where each man stood out as clear as a bullseye on a target, and +attempted to close again. But not a man got across, so steady and well +directed was the flank fire of the British regiments. This welcome +diversion enabled the Guides to complete the retirement into their +entrenchment at the bridge-head, and there make rapid preparation for +the attack that must follow; for though the enemy had lost six hundred +men, their spirit was by no means broken. + +Reinforcements consisting of two companies of the 4th Sikhs, and the +Devonshire Regiment Maxim gun, were sent across after much labour by +means of a little skin raft that only held two at a time. The near bank +was also _sungared_ and held by the 2nd Brigade and the Derajat mountain +battery, which at eight hundred yards' range could fire over the heads +of those at the bridge-head. Several officers of the Guides' cavalry +also volunteered to cross over and help their comrades, for in a night +attack it was a matter of holding their own, covering fire from the +near bank being too dangerous an expedient. + +The Guides, who were now under that good and cheery soldier Fred. +Campbell, put out no picquets, so as to keep clear the field of fire, +and every man slept, or sat awake, at his fighting station with his +rifle in his hand. The enemy could be heard close by in large numbers, +hidden by a fold in the ground, and directly darkness set in they began +yelling and tom-tomming in the most approved fashion. This was to work +up any flagging spirits that there might be, and to exalt the courage of +all, for two thousand chosen warriors, sword in hand, lay ready in the +standing corn, to make a desperate dash at the given signal, which was +to be the first peep of the crescent moon over the mountains, calculated +for about midnight. There was some warlike cunning in this, for when a +moon is about to rise every weary watcher is looking for it during the +last moments, and then looking down again would find everything dark as +the pit's mouth by comparison. In those few seconds the assailants meant +to bound across the short intervening space, and come to close grips +with the enemy who had staved them off all day and half the night. + +It was then that the use of one of the resources of science stood the +British in good stead, and probably saved the lives of many hundreds. +The officer commanding the Derajat battery, peering anxiously through +the darkness, and perplexed to know what was happening, bethought him to +throw a star shell over the Guides' entrenchment, so as to light up the +ground beyond. The effect was magical. "What new devilment is this?" +exclaimed the brave but ignorant tribesmen. And when another, and yet +another, came, they said: "This is an invention of the Evil One; it is +magic, and will cast a spell over us. We cannot fight against devils +such as these." + +And so those few harmless fireworks effected the same purpose as a storm +of shot and shell. All that vast throng melted away, and only a few of +the braver sort held post till morning. But before going they inflicted +one great loss, mortally wounding the gifted Captain Peebles, the only +officer who knew the working of a Maxim gun, then new to the army. + +The remainder of the campaign was a matter of a few days. How Kelly, +with his gallant regiment, the 32nd Pioneers, pushed on from the north, +overcoming stupendous difficulties; how a strong force of levies under +the Khan of Dir was thrust on from the south; how Aylmer, the brave and +resourceful Sapper, working night and day threw a suspension bridge of +telegraph wire across the Panjkora; how Sir Robert Low, crossing with +his whole force, fought a decisive and conclusive battle at Mundah; and +how thus, by a fine strategic combination, worked from widely divergent +bases, Sir George White effected in the course of seventeen days the +relief of the sore beset garrison of Chitral, are recorded amongst the +many and sterling achievements of the army of India. + +Amongst the trophies and standards brought down by the Guides was a +solid brass cannon of tremendous weight captured at Mundah. In a +mountainous country where there are no roads, and for a weight far +beyond the carrying capacity of a pack animal, there appeared to be no +alternative to leaving the gun behind. But rather than do this the men +volunteered to carry it themselves, and thus twenty men at a time +carried the gun while their comrades carried a double load of arms and +ammunition. The gun now stands at Mardan near the memorial to the +officers and men who fell in defence of the Kabul Embassy, and on it is +engraved in Persian the curious and bombastic inscription:-- + + It's mouth is open wide to eat. + What shall I call it? A gun or a serpent? + This gun is most heavy, and makes victory certain. + There is none like it in India or Kabul. + Made by Ghulam Rasul. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE MALAKAND, 1897 + + +As the officers of the Guides were sitting at dinner on the night of +July 26th, 1897, a telegram was handed to Colonel Adams informing him +that the Malakand position had been attacked by overwhelming numbers, +that the garrison was with difficulty holding its own, and asking him to +bring up his corps as speedily as possible to its succour. + +Accustomed for decades to these sudden appeals, the Guides' cavalry, bag +and baggage, supplies, transport, and all complete, were off in three +hours, and the Guides' infantry followed them. The march was twenty-nine +miles along the flat to Dargai, and then seven miles rise and two +thousand feet climb to the summit of the Malakand Pass. For cavalry, +considering the time of year, it was by no means a mean undertaking; for +infantry it was one of the highest achievement. To march thirty-six +miles under service conditions, in the most favourable circumstances of +weather, temperature, and training, is a high test of endurance; but to +do so when the muscles are enervated with heat, along a treeless, +waterless road, during the fiercest term of the summer solstice, was a +feat to secure the admiration of every soldier. The march was +accomplished in sixteen hours, the first twenty-nine miles being covered +without any regular halt, and the last seven miles up a mountain on +which the blazing afternoon sun was beating its fiercest. Yet not a man +fell out, and it is recorded by an eye-witness[24] that as the regiment +passed the quarter-guards, the men came to attention, and answered the +salute as smartly as if just returning from a parade march. The Guides +of 1897 had borne themselves no wit less worthily than the Guides of +1857 or the Guides of 1879. To Lieutenant P. Eliott-Lockhart belongs the +honour of commanding the Guides' infantry in this fine soldierly +performance, and the Distinguished Service Order worthily decorated him +for this and other gallant service. To arrive as a reinforcement is to +be welcome enough; to arrive by exertions beyond the compass of +calculation, in time to afford assistance at the critical moment, is the +fortune of few. Yet thrice has this good fortune smiled on the efforts +of the Guides, at Delhi, at Kabul, and at the Malakand. + + [24] _The Story of the Malakand Field Force_; by Winston Spencer + Churchill, Lieut. 4th Hussars. London, 1898. + +Arrived, and without a moment to rest or ease their belts, these weary, +but stout-hearted fellows went straight on outpost duty, that 27th of +July, 1897, and spent the livelong night, not in sleep, or even a quiet +turn of sentry-go, but in a desperate hand to hand fight with swarms of +brave and persistent warriors. + +Piece by piece the officers heard the strange story of the sudden +rising. It appears that while the officers of the Malakand garrison, in +days of profound peace, were playing polo down at Khar, a village three +miles away, the villagers came to them with a warning. They said that a +very holy mullah from Upper Swat was coming down the valley with a large +following to attack the Malakand, and advised the officers to get back +to their defences as soon as possible; they even assisted back the +grooms with the spare ponies. Yet these very same friendly villagers a +few hours later were caught in the frenzied flame of fanaticism, and +were charging with the most devoted bravery breastworks held by troops +commanded by the very officers whom they had just helped to save. + +Amongst the officers playing polo were Lieutenants Rattray and Minchin, +who belonged to the garrison of Chakdara some seven or eight miles up +the Swat Valley. To return to their posts they had therefore to pass +right through the tide of armed men flowing down the valley in great +numbers. Yet as illustrating the chivalrous nature of the wild hillmen, +a trait somewhat unusual amongst the more fanatical Pathans, the +officers were allowed to pass unmolested, and indeed here and there a +friendly voice bade them make good speed home. The British officer's +custom of being out and about doing something, instead of sitting +permanently at home studying or playing chess, stood him in good stead +on this occasion, giving, as it proved, a good four hours' warning in +advance. + +It was not till after ten o'clock at night that the carefully planned +attacks on the Malakand and Chakdara were delivered simultaneously by +great swarms of tribesmen, with a resolution and bravery worthy of the +highest admiration. At the Malakand there were many anxious moments, for +the position was an extended one, and, by the nature of the ground, +difficult for a small garrison to preserve from penetration. It was a +night of individual heroism, a soldier's battle, where little knots of +men under their officers fought independently, and with undiminished +courage, though often cut off from all communication. No less brave was +the enemy, and it was not until dawn that he reluctantly withdrew. This +was the first of five nights and days through which the British garrison +had to stand this stern ordeal. + +The first thing to be done when daylight made concerted movements +possible, was to contract the perimeter of defence, so as to make it +more tenable by the number of troops available. The original garrison +was now augmented by the arrival of the Guides, horse and foot. It was +with considerable reluctance that Colonel Meiklejohn, who had himself +been wounded by a sword-cut, decided on abandoning what was known as +the North Camp, a position some distance below and isolated from the +Malakand. This camp had been established both to allow the cavalry and +pack-animals to be near water, of which there was scarcity on the +Malakand itself; and also for sanitary reasons, so as to keep so large a +number of animals out of a restricted area. The abandonment of this +camp, necessary though it was, undoubtedly had an extraordinarily +heartening effect on the enemy. All night they had fought desperately, +and lost heavily, without apparently gaining any result; but the +retirement of the troops from the North Camp, besides leaving in their +hands the large tents and heavy baggage of all sorts, impossible to move +at short notice, showed that the garrison also had felt the stress of +battle. + +Strongly reinforced, and with new heart, so soon as night fell the +tribesmen renewed their attack. As illustrating the desperate nature of +the fighting, out of one picquet of twenty-five men of the 31st Punjab +Infantry, the native officer and eighteen men were killed or wounded; +while out of another picquet, consisting of the Guides and forty-five +Sikhs, twenty-one were killed or wounded; and all this was done in close +hand to hand fighting. Lieutenant Lockhart thus describes the scene: + + It was a veritable pandemonium that would seem to have been + let loose around us. Bands of _ghazis_, worked up by their + religious enthusiasm into a frenzy of fanatical excitement, + would charge our breastworks again and again, leaving their + dead in scores after each repulse, while those of their + comrades who were unarmed would encourage their efforts by + shouting, with much beating of tom-toms, and other musical + instruments. Amidst the discordant din which raged around, we + could even distinguish bugle calls, evidently sounded by some + _soi-disant_ bugler of our native army. As he suddenly + collapsed in the middle of the "officers' mess call" we + concluded that a bullet had brought him to an untimely end.[25] + + [25] _A Frontier Campaign_; by the Viscount Fincastle, V.C., + Lieutenant 16th Lancers, and P.C. Eliott-Lockhart, D.S.O., + Lieutenant Queen's Own Corps of Guides. London, 1898. + +The fighting went on all night, and at daybreak the garrison, to show +that they were none the worse for it, made a spirited counter attack, +the 24th Punjab Infantry under Lieutenant Climo, the senior surviving +officer, doing great execution. A desultory fire was kept up by the +enemy during the day, while the British force improved their defences. + +As darkness fell on the third night, the enemy, undaunted and heavily +reinforced from countries as far afield as Buner, again advanced to the +attack, the brunt of which fell on the 31st Punjab Infantry, a regiment +so depleted by losses that Lieutenant H. Maclean, of the Guides' +cavalry, was requisitioned to give a helping hand. This officer, +together with Lieutenants Ford and Swinley, were severely wounded. +Towards morning the attack again died away, and the indomitable garrison +still held its own. + +On the fourth night, in addition to bonfires placed out in front of the +defences, to make the enemy's movements clear, it was decided to try the +effect of mines, and portions of a serai, lately occupied by the Sappers +and now abandoned, were accordingly undermined. At nightfall the enemy +immediately seized this serai as an advance post to further their +attack, and when it was crowded the mine was fired with fatal results. +For a time a death-like silence reigned, the enemy being apparently +thunderstruck at the awful disaster. Minor attacks, however, were still +persisted in, and the tribesmen did not draw off till three in the +morning. + +A fifth night had barely settled down on the garrison when, undeterred +by four unsuccessful and costly attacks, or by the terrors of unseen +mines, the enemy again swarmed down on the weary but undismayed +defenders. To add to their difficulties, a severe dust storm, followed +by torrents of rain, fell on the camp, and at the height of the storm a +most determined attack was made on the 45th Sikhs, but was repulsed with +great loss. Sitting drenched to the skin the garrison patiently awaited +the dawn. + +That day, the 31st of July, brought welcome reinforcements, consisting +of the 35th Sikhs and the 38th Dogras, under Colonel Reid. Thus +strengthened, Colonel Meiklejohn determined to take the offensive, and +attempt to force his way to the assistance of the isolated garrison of +Chakdara. The cavalry, consisting of the Guides and 11th Bengal +Lancers, were to lead the way, but these regiments before they could get +into the open were so strongly attacked in the rocky defiles from which +they tried to issue, that they could make no headway and had to return +to camp. + +Meanwhile Sir Bindon Blood had arrived to take over the command, and +decided to postpone further endeavours to relieve Chakdara till the next +day. The intervening night seems to have been a quiet one, and before +dawn the British force commenced to move. The attack was unexpected at +so early an hour: the enemy were surprised and driven out from the +heights to the east of the Malakand position; and the command of ground +thus gained enabled this successful column to clear the flank of the +exit from the Malakand, and to ensure the unopposed initial advance of +the main body. Before reaching the open valley, however, strong parties +of the enemy were found holding the rocky spurs and kopjes intervening. +These after sharp fighting were carried with the bayonet by the Guides, +35th and 45th Sikhs, and the way was opened, the cavalry doing great +execution amongst the flying enemy. + +Meanwhile the small garrison of Chakdara had, for the space of six days +and nights, been undergoing no mean adventures. It will be remembered +that Lieutenants Rattray and Minchin (the Political Officer) were, on +the afternoon of July 26th, playing polo at Khar, some seven or eight +miles away down the Swat Valley. Warned there of impending trouble they +rode back through the gathering storm to their post, the little fort of +Chakdara situated on the north bank of the Swat River. Soon after ten +o'clock that night a beacon, lighted by a friendly hand across the +valley, gave timely notice that an attack was imminent. The garrison, +two companies of the 45th Sikhs and twenty men of the 11th Bengal +Lancers, hurried to their posts, and after a short delay the assault +began, and never ceased for the best part of a week! + +The fort was badly situated for defence, being indeed more a bridge-head +guard than a fort. The rock on which it stood was commanded by a great +spur running down to it from the west; and the only obstacle that +prevented that spur being occupied in full by the enemy was a small +tower, used for signalling purposes and occupied by a few Sikhs. The +story of that little post is an epic in itself; surrounded on all sides, +isolated from all help, with scanty food, and at the end no water, for +six days and nights it gallantly held its own. + +As for the fort itself, it was so completely commanded by the fire from +the spurs that to move about in it was to court death. Yet thus glued to +the walls, and assailed night and day by brave warriors whose numbers +rose rapidly from fifteen hundred to over ten thousand, a few young +British officers with a couple of hundred Sikhs again and again rolled +back the tide of war. The history of that week was as the history of the +Malakand, continuous attacks by night and day; but the execution done +on the enemy, considering the smallness of the garrison, was +comparatively higher; statistics are difficult to gather, but a fairly +accurate estimate puts their loss at two thousand. And, to illustrate +the indomitable courage and unflagging spirit with which the defence was +maintained to the end, when on the last day the thrice welcome sight of +the Guides' cavalry and the 11th Bengal Lancers, coming over the +Amandara Pass, met the view of that weary little band, they in their +turn became the attackers, and, led by the undaunted Rattray, sallied +forth and stormed the enemy's positions. To Hedley Wright who commanded, +and to Rattray and Wheatley who were the soul of the defence, as well as +to the gallant Sikhs, is due the admiration of every soldier who loves +to hear of a good fight fought out to the end as British officers and +men led by them know how to fight it. + +As at the Malakand, so at Chakdara, and so times without number, it is +the gallant British subaltern, in spite of silly chatter, who again and +again has shown the highest attributes of an officer and a soldier. It +is the foolish custom of a certain class of Englishman to decry all that +is their own; and amongst the latest of these victims of a dyspeptic +imagination is the British officer. Men call him stupid, who would +themselves have no chance of passing the intellectual test which every +young officer has to go through. Sitting safe and smug at home they +libel the courage and devotion of the gallant gentleman who is giving +his life for them. Perhaps against these may be placed the word of an +old soldier, who for thirty years has seen the British officer, as +fighter, diplomatist, and administrator, in all parts of the world, and +who has not lightly come to the conclusion that he has not his better in +the army of any country, and is only equalled by his brother of the +British Navy. + + * * * * * + +Marshalling and redistributing his forces, Sir Bindon Blood, after the +relief of Chakdara, proceeded systematically to punish the tribes +involved in the late fanatical upheaval. Amongst the first to be so +dealt with were the tribesmen of the Upper Swat, and the action of +Landaki was the result. + +The tribesmen held a position on a big spur running down from the +mountains, and meeting an unfordable river with a steep cliff. Round the +face of this cliff a narrow causeway led to a fairly open valley beyond. +It was the business of the infantry to clear this spur, or ridge, and +this they accomplished after some severe climbing and hard fighting. As +the defeated enemy were seen streaming across the valley, making for a +further ridge two or three miles in the rear, the Guides' cavalry were +let loose in pursuit; but before debouching into the valley they had to +pass along the causeway, some three-quarters of a mile in length, in +single file. As everyone knows, who has experience of single file work, +even a moderate pace in front means inevitable straggling behind. The +officer leading, in his eagerness to get at the enemy, lost sight of +this fact, and so soon as he made the valley, with the first few men set +off at a round pace after the enemy. At the head of the pursuit was also +Lieutenant R.T. Greaves, of the Lancashire Fusiliers, who was acting as +war-correspondent to a newspaper. After traversing a mile, and leaving +the men further and further behind, the two officers saw the enemy +passing through a wooded graveyard and on to a spur some eighty yards in +the rear. + +Colonel Adams, who was coming up fast with the main body, shouted to the +two officers to stop, but owing to the noise of firing could not make +himself heard. He at once saw that the place to seize was the graveyard, +cavalry pursuit up a rocky hill being naturally impracticable, and from +there to open fire on the retreating enemy. He therefore at once seized +the graveyard with dismounted men. To describe the events of the next +few minutes it had best be done in the words of an officer who was an +eye-witness and whose account appears in _A Frontier Campaign_: + + On Palmer and Greaves approaching the hill, they were subject to a + heavy fire from the enemy. Palmer's horse was at once killed, + whilst Greaves, having been shot at close quarters, fell, some + twenty yards further on, among the Pathans, who at once proceeded + to hack at him with their swords. Seeing this, Adams and Fincastle + went out to his assistance followed by two sowars, who galloped + towards Palmer, at that moment engaged in hand-to-hand conflict + with a standard-bearer. Palmer had been shot through the right + wrist and was only saved by the opportune appearance of these two + men, who enabled him to get back to the shelter of the ziarat in + safety. Meanwhile Fincastle, who had had his horse killed while + galloping up to where Greaves lay, tried to lift Greaves on to + Adams's horse, in the process of which Greaves was again shot + through the body, and Adams's horse wounded. They were soon joined + by the two sowars who had been to Palmer's assistance, and almost + immediately after by Maclean, who having first dismounted his + squadron in the ziarat, had very pluckily ridden out with four + of his men to the assistance of this small party, who otherwise + would have been rushed by the enemy. With his assistance Greaves + was successfully brought in, but unfortunately Maclean, who had + dismounted in order to help in lifting the body on to his horse, + was shot through both thighs and died almost immediately. + +Of the survivors Colonel Adams and Lord Fincastle received the Victoria +Cross for their valour on this occasion; while ten years after, as a +graceful tribute to the heroism of the dead, the Victoria Cross was also +bestowed on Hector Maclean, and sent to his family. As Lord Fincastle +was attached to the Guides during the campaign the probably unique +historic record was established of three officers in one regiment +earning the Victoria Cross on the same day. Nor were the men forgotten, +all those who had shown conspicuous gallantry being decorated with the +Order of Merit. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE HOME OF THE GUIDES + + +When the Guides about the middle of the last century first pitched their +wandering tents in the plains of Yusafzai they were only birds of +passage, in hot pursuit of some band of marauders, or swiftly marching +to surprise a distant stronghold. But as the border became more settled, +and sudden movements were less seldom called for, a position was chosen +within striking distance of all the centres of disturbance. And thus +came to be selected the site of the little cantonment, which since has +sent forth generations of steel-bred warriors to keep bright the ancient +flame; a small oasis, rescued by rough but kindly hands from the dry and +desolate desert, and which the leisure of sixty years has served to turn +into the beautiful and cherished home of the Guides. + +The camp in due course shed its white wings and became a dust-hued fort. +As seen by an eagle soaring overhead, its shape is that of a +five-pointed star, and on four of the points stood the officers' +quarters, while on the fifth were the magazine and _place d'armes_. All +round the inside of the star, tucked away under the parapets, were the +rude shelters of the infantry, while a hornwork held the troops of +cavalry. For a few hundred yards round the jungle and scrub were cleared +away, a Union Jack run up to the modest mast-head on the keep, and +Hoti-Mardan Fort became not only the home of the Guides, but also the +symbol of British power on the wild borders of Yaghistan, the land of +everlasting conflict and of unending vendettas. + +It was the pride of a far-distant generation to name the bastions of the +old fort after famous leaders who had gone before: Lumsden, the genial +dashing soldier, who stamped his type on the small beginnings; Hodson, +the far-famed leader of light horse; Daly, whose steadfast resolve +carried through the great march to Delhi; Sam Browne, the one-armed hero +of a hundred fights. + +Soon after the Mutiny the fort began to overflow, for the country was +now getting more settled, and British officers could venture to build +houses outside the walls of fortified enclosures. Thus the +Assistant-Commissioner migrated eight hundred yards to the south-east, +while an officers' mess was built on the river bank two hundred yards to +the north-west. A quarter of a century passed before more houses were +added, and then at intervals of a few years came the church and more +houses, while extensions of the soldiers' lines took place to +accommodate the increasing numbers. + +And thus it stands to-day, the little five-bastioned fort, round which +are loosely thrown half a dozen houses and a church. And yet there is a +difference, for the picture is now set, not in dull desert tints, but in +soft shades of green. Everywhere are avenues and clumps of great trees, +hedges of roses, of limes, and deronta encircle every garden, the green +of the polo grounds is as that of the Emerald Isle. Even the old fort +has lost its grimness, and the mud walls have given place to beautiful +terraces bright with every flower; while the once formidable moat is +spanned by peaceful rustic bridges, clustered thick with climbing roses, +and giving access to the gardens and orchards which spread along the +_glacis_. + +On the Hodson bastion stands the old mess, now an officers' quarter, +where in bygone stormy days they used to sit at dinner with revolvers +handy, and swords stacked in the corner, alert and ready for sudden +alarm or excursion. A strange imprint of those old times remained for +many years, a bullet-mark high up in one corner of the dining-room; and +this bullet, according to tradition, was fired at dinner by Sir Sam +Browne, who was a deadly shot, and nailed to the wall the tail of a +cobra which was disappearing into a crevice. + +Passing near the Hodson bastion and running to the present mess is +Godby-road, named after General C.J. Godby, who after nearly losing his +head from a sabre stroke in the Sikh War, again well-nigh lost it near +this spot at the hands of a ghazi. The incident affords an early +instance of the ready resource which has always been one of the typical +characteristics of the Guides. When Godby was cut down by a treacherous +blow there happened to be two or three men within hail, and these at +once dashed to the rescue; but they were disarmed, while the fanatic +brandished a razor-edged Afghan blade, and was prepared to sell his life +dearly. Sharp eyes and ready wit, however, came to aid. Close by was a +tent pitched, the guy ropes tied to long heavy wooden pegs such as are +used in India. As quick as thought the tent was struck, the pegs +wrenched from the ground, and the ghazi surrounded, overpowered, +secured, and incidentally in due course hanged. + +The present mess is full not only of historical mementoes, as is only +natural, but also of archaeological treasures of great value and +antiquity. On the walls captured banners, swords and daggers, guns and +pistols, share the honours with portraits of old commanders and of the +mighty dead with their swords beneath them. Over the anteroom +mantelpiece is a very gracious picture of Queen Victoria, presented by +her Majesty in 1876; and this is flanked by pictures of King Edward the +Seventh, who is Colonel-in-Chief of the corps, and Queen Alexandra, both +presented by their Majesties when they were Prince and Princess of +Wales. Over the mantelpiece in the dining-room is an excellent oil +painting of Sir Harry Lumsden, who raised the corps. + +One of the most interesting relics is one leaf of a mahogany table, +captured at the siege of Delhi and used in camp on the Ridge; the other +two leaves were taken by the 60th Rifles and the 2nd Gurkhas, who lay +alongside the Guides at Hindu Rao's house. On the leaves are roughly +carved symbolic crests and mottoes for the three regiments: A Maltese +Cross and _Celer et Audax_ for the 60th Rifles; crossed swords and +_Stout and Steady_ for the Gurkhas; and crossed Afghan knives with +_Rough and Ready_ for the Guides. On this latter leaf may be seen +standing a cigar-lighter made out of grapeshot picked up in camp during +the siege. + +High up on the walls all round are endless trophies of the chase, +probably the finest collection in Asia--Ovis poli, Ovis Ammon, Ibex, +markhor, bara sing, and bison; besides specimens from other continents +whither officers have gone in pursuit of sport or war. A splendid +collection of plate testifies to success in many a field of sport, polo, +tent-pegging, and shooting. + +The archaeological treasures consist of sculptures and friezes of +Greco-Buddhist origin, illustrating incidents in the life of Buddha, +while the statues represent the great Gautama and some of his disciples. +Most of these are still in perfect preservation, though varying from +fifteen hundred to two thousand years in antiquity. They were all +discovered, many years ago, within a few miles of the mess, and are +naturally preserved with the greatest care. Savants from even so far +afield as France, Germany, and America have journeyed to see them. + +The mess stands in a five-acre garden, which has been the joy of many +generations; for, apart from its abundant fertility, amidst its shades +are to be found a swimming-bath and racquet-court, as well as tennis, +badminton, and croquet lawns. Oranges, strawberries, peaches, plums, +apricots, grapes, loquats and other fruits flourish and abound, while +nearly every species of English flower and vegetable grows strong and +well. Great trees give shade and peace to the place. But perhaps the +greatest attraction to the hot and weary officer, and which leaves the +most grateful memory with the dusky warriors who march through in war +and peace, is the deep cool swimming-bath alongside which under the +trees is spread a breakfast that suits the hour and climate. There are +perhaps few more grateful feelings than on a summer's morning to come +out of the fierce heat and dust and glare of field-exercises, or a march +from the Malakand or Nowshera, and to find oneself in these cool and +comforting surroundings. + +Just outside the garden is the old graveyard, where rest in God the +brave hearts who have fought the good fight, and now with sword in +sheath watch with kindly pride the keen young blades who follow in their +steps. Side by side lie two of the heroic Battyes, Wigram and Fred, two +of the four brothers who died for their Queen and Country. As has been +related elsewhere, Wigram was killed in 1879 while charging at the head +of his squadron at Futtehabad in Afghanistan, and Fred fell mortally +wounded just as he had completed a most brilliant operation at the +Panjkora river, on the march to the relief of Chitral in 1895. Close to +them lies that kindly, upright gentleman, beloved of all, Bob +Hutchinson, who fell at the head of the Guides during a night attack on +the border village of Malandrai in 1886. A few yards in another +direction may be seen a stone to the memory of A.M. Ommanney, a young +officer who was assassinated by a fanatic in mistake for his brother. +Besides these, and many other single graves, there are large inclusive +monuments to the memory of the officers and men of various regiments who +have fought on these borders. Amongst them may be seen those erected to +the memory of the officers and men of the 71st Highland Light Infantry, +93rd Sutherland Highlanders, and 101st Royal Bengal Fusiliers, all +killed in the Umbeyla campaign of 1863. + +Outside the old graveyard, standing at the meeting of three roads, is a +very fine mulberry tree, planted at the spot where, according to old +soldiers, Colonel Spottiswoode, of the 55th Native Infantry, in deep +distress at the mutiny of his regiment, determined to take his own life +rather than live to see it disgraced, and under which, according to +tradition, he lies buried. + +Passing through the bazaar, we come to the Memorial arch and tank, +erected by Government to Major Sir Louis Cavignari, Mr. W. Jenkyns, +Lieutenant Walter Hamilton, V.C., Surgeon Kelly and the native officers, +non-commissioned-officers, and men of the Guides who fell in the defence +of the Kabul Residency, September, 3rd, 1879. Just outside the memorial +garden is the spot where Lieutenant A.M. Ommanney was assassinated, now +known as the Ommanney cross-roads. + +Every road in the cantonment has a name, and each name in itself is an +honoured memory. Some bear the names of old officers of the corps, while +others keep green the memory of those fallen in war. Amongst the former +will be found Sir Alfred Wilde, Sir Charles Keyes, Sir Frances Jenkins, +and Sir John McQueen. Sir Alfred Wilde commanded the corps with great +distinction during the Umbeyla campaign of 1863, and afterwards went on +to command the Punjab Frontier Force, as did also Sir Charles Keyes. Of +Sir Frances Jenkins a book might be written, for his connection with the +Guides extended over nearly twenty-four years. He was one of the most +accomplished soldiers who have ever served in the Indian Army and +carried with him much of the breezy skill in war of Sir Harry Lumsden. +Sir John McQueen also was a soldier of great renown, who afterwards +commanded the Punjab Frontier Force. Other roads bear the names of Bob +Hutchinson, who, as above recorded, was killed in the night attack on +Malandrai; Walter Hamilton, killed in defence of the Kabul Residency; +Hector MacLean, who earned the Victoria Cross and died to save a comrade +at Landaki, in Swat; Quentin Battye, who, mortally wounded, passed +peacefully away at Delhi with the words _Dulce et decorum est pro patria +mori_ on his lips; Wigram Battye, killed bravely charging in +Afghanistan, and Fred Battye, killed at the Panjkora. Great names these +all, and spreading still their soldier influence, perhaps insensibly, +over the spirit of their old home and regiment. + +Out beyond the cavalry parade-ground is the Home Farm, and on each side +of it run the cavalry and infantry rifle-ranges, skirted by fine avenues +of trees. Between the infantry range and the church are two of the best +polo-grounds in India,--grounds which have produced many famous players +and many famous teams. The church was erected by public subscription to +the memory of Colonel Hutchinson, and claims the great attraction to +sojourners in a foreign land of being like a little English church. On +the walls are tablets to the memory of Sir Harry Lumsden; Major F.H. +Barton, the cheery, gallant sportsman who was killed at polo in 1902; +Major Gaikskill; A.W. Wilde, son of Sir Alfred; Hector MacLean; Quentin +and Fred Battye; Major G.H. Bretherton, who was drowned on the way to +Lhassa; Charlie Keyes, son of Sir Charles, treacherously killed in West +Africa, and many others. The churchyard is beautifully laid out with +many rare plants, flowers, and trees. There remains only, to finish up +with, the old cricket-ground, now used entirely for lawn-tennis, +badminton, and croquet; for cricket flourishes not in India at this day, +though doubtless a revival may come before many years, as is so often +the case with games. + +The daily life at Mardan is much the same as in any other Indian +cantonment. In the early morning comes parade or manoeuvre, growing +painfully early as the brief hot weather creeps on. Stables follow for +the cavalry, and work in the lines for the infantry. Next comes +orderly-room for the adjutants and others; and twice a week _durbar_. +The durbar in an Indian regiment takes the place of the formal +orderly-room of a British regiment. It is held in the open, under the +trees, or at any convenient spot; and the underlying principle is that +any man in the regiment may be present to hear, and, when called upon, +to speak. It is a sort of open court, whereat not only are delinquents +brought up for judgment, but all matters connected with the welfare of +the men, and especially such as in any way touch their pockets or +privileges, are openly discussed. To add to the semi-informal and +friendly nature of the assembly, all the men are allowed to wear plain +clothes. + +In the afternoon both officers and men are, as a rule, free to amuse +themselves with such sport and games as may seem good to them. Round and +about Mardan there is fairly good small-game shooting, the game-book in +a good year showing over three thousand head shot by the officers. +Amongst these are wild duck of many varieties, wild geese, snipe, +partridges, hare, and quail. + +The ancient and royal sport of falconry, which long flourished, has of +late years become much restricted owing to the increase of cultivation. +One of the highest forms of falconry, and one little known in other +countries, was the pursuit of the ravine deer. Only falcons reared from +the nest could be trained to this sport, and they had to be obtained +from far off Central Asia. The falcon used was the Cherug, or Saker as +she is known in Europe, and the method of training is interesting. From +the nest upwards the bird was taught that the only possible place to +obtain food was from between a pair of antlers. At first fed sitting +between them, as she learnt to flutter she was encouraged to bridge a +short gap to her dinner. Then, as she grew stronger, she flew short +distances to get her food as before. The next step was the use of a +stuffed deer on wheels, which, when the hawk was loosed, was run along, +and thus accustomed her to the idea of movement in getting her food. At +the same time she was accustomed to the presence of greyhounds, for +without the aid of these she would never be able to bring down her +quarry. For the Pathan saying is: "The first day a ravine deer is born a +fleet man may catch it; the second day a dog; and the third day no one!" + +The hawks, which were flown in pairs, were now taken into the field, +keen set, to use a term in falconry; that is very hungry, but not +weakened or disheartened by hunger. Directly a herd of deer was sighted +the hawks were cast loose, and, soaring up, soon descried a seemingly +familiar object with a pair of antlers, between which there was +doubtless a delicious meal. Off, therefore, they went straight for the +quarry, and, stooping, struck for the deer's antlers. Naturally, +however, no bird of that size could bring a deer to earth, or even stop +him unaided; but the hawks had done their initial work, and the riders, +with a couple of greyhounds leashed to the stirrup, rode hard for the +spot where the hawks were striking, and let slip the hounds. + +The rattle of hoofs at once stampeded the deer, and then the chase +began. The hawks, in turn towering and stooping, showed the line to +take, for the deer was invisible to the dogs, and generally to the +riders. But the dogs had learnt to work by the hawks, and cutting a +corner here, or favoured by a jink there, gradually closed up, the part +of the hawks being, by constant striking, to delay and confuse the deer. +It was a hard ride and a fine combination which secured the quarry, and, +as with all sport worth the name, it was even chances on the deer. When +the combination failed and the deer got away, it was a bit of human +nature to see the meeting between the hawks and the dogs. The hawks +would be sitting on the ground or on a bush, evidently and unmistakably +using language of the most sulphurous nature; while the dogs came up, +their tongues out, their tails between their legs, and with a general +air of exhaustion, dejection, and apology. As they slunk up the muttered +curses broke forth: "You! you lazy hound! Call yourself a greyhound! +You're a fat-tailed sheep, that's what you are, nothing more!" And up +would get friend hawk and cuff and strike and harry that poor dog, till +he fairly yelped and fled to his master for protection. + +Duck and bustard still afford sport to the falconer, but he has to work +further afield, and gets less in return than in the olden times. The +bustard gives good sport, and often a good run of three or four miles; +indeed there is on record a case of an eleven mile point. + +On the mountain range which lies close to Mardan markhor are to be +found, and some good heads have been shot; while in the lower slopes +good bags of chikore, black and grey partridge, and rock-pigeons may be +obtained. There are two of the best polo-grounds in India, and the +Guides can generally put up a good team or two to compete in the various +tournaments, and generally one or more challenge-cups are to be seen on +their mess table. Racquets, tennis, and hockey, lime-cutting, +tent-pegging and other mounted sports are also part of the weekly life; +while friendly visits, given and taken, keep touch with the neighbouring +stations. + +The climate of these parts is on the whole eminently healthy and +bracing. True, there are four months of very hot weather, but they get +lost sight of in the keen delight of the other eight. Red cheeks with +buoyant activity and spirits carry their own advertisement. + +Thus, briefly described, has been the home of the Guides for upwards of +sixty years; a little kingdom barely a mile square, but full of happy +associations for all who have lived there. It is a quiet, unassuming +spot, which year by year has bred, and sent forth to fight, many a +gallant officer and brave soldier; and which in future years hopes to +keep bright the shining record of great deeds that have gone before. + + + + +INDEX + +A + + +Abazai, 96 + +Abbott, 12 + +Abdul Mujid, 153-9 + +Adams, Capt., 162 + +Adams, Col., 183-4 + +Afghan War, the, 1878-80, 117-134 + +Afghanistan, the yeoman armies of, 131 + +Afridis, the, 47 + The Jowaki, 47, 93 + +Agnew, murder of, 18, 19 + general references to, 12 + +Ahmed Jan, 61 + +Ajun Khan, 44 + +Alawi-ke-Serai, 71 + +Alexandra, Queen, 188 + +Ali Musjid captured by Guides, 119 + +Amandara Pass, 181 + +Amir Dost Mahomed Khan, 60 + +Amritsar, 31 + +Anderson, murder of, 19 + +Archaeological treasures of the Guides, 189 + +Asmai heights, assaults on, 128 + +Attock, 67, 68, 94 + + + + +B + + +Babuzai, village of, 9-12 + +Bahaud-din Khan, 120-2 + +Bajaur, 64 + +Baldwin, Lt., 162 + +Bandobust, 59 + +Bannu, 21 + +Barnes, Mr., (Commissioner) 71 + +Barton, F.H., Major, 193 + +Battye, Capt. Fred., 128, 164-5-7, 191, 193 + +Battye, Quentin, his death at Delhi, 74 + References to, 124, 193 + +Battye, Capt. Wigram, 95, 123, 124, 125, 191, 193 + +Bengal Cavalry, 11th, 91 + +Bengal Fusiliers, 101st Royal, 90 + +Bengal Lancers, 11th, 178, 180-1 + +Beresford, Lord William, 83-6 + +Bhawulpore, 21 + +Bibi Pakdaman mosque, the, 22 + +Blood, Sir Bindon, 179, 182 + +Boileau, Col. S.B., 47 + +Bond, Lt., 80 + +Bori, attack on, 47-50 + +Bretherton, Major G.H., 193 + +Browne, Sir Sam., 119, 187 + +Brownlow, Sir Charles, 88-9 + +Budlika-Serai, battle of, 72 + +Buner, 177 + +Burhan, 68 + + + + +C + + +Campbell, Sir Colin, 43 + +Campbell, Fred., 169 + +Campbell, Major R.B., 94 + +Cavignari, Sir Louis, and the attack on Paia, 93-4 + And the attack on Sapri, 95-6 + His work and death at Kabul, 97-116 + References to, 92, 192 + +Chakdara, 174-5, 178-182 + +Chamberlain, Neville, Sir, 69, 78, 90 + +Charasiab, battle at, 132-4 + +Charpoy, 157 + +Chenab, the, 27, 70 + +Cherat, 47 + +Chillianwalla, battle of, 26 + +Chitral, the Mehtar of, 61-2 + The relief of, 160-171 + +Chute, Col., 65 + +Climo, Lt., 177 + +Cotton, Sir Sidney, 75-6 + +Crag picquet, the, 87 + + + + +D + + +Daly, Henry, in command of Guides, 68 + His report of march to Delhi, 68-73 + His death, 74 + Reference to, 186 + +Dargai, 172 + +Deh-i-Afghan, 129 + +Delhi, Guides march to, 67 + Captured, 74 + +Dera-Ismail-Khan district, 20 + +Derajat, 21 + +Derajat Battery, the, 170 + +Devonshire regiment, 168 + +Dilawur Khan, Subadar of Guides, the story of, 51-64 + +Dir, Khan of, 170 + +Discipline, value of sequence of orders of command in action, 80 + +Dogras, 162 + +Dogras, the 38th, 178 + +Drill, dislike of free-lances to, 58 + +Duffadar, the, 10 + + + + +E + + +Edward VII., King, 188 + +Edwardes, Herbert, general references to, 12, 50, 69 + Marches against Mooltan, 20-1 + Reports on position, 25 + +Eliott-Lockhart, Lt. P., 173 + +English, the, Pathan saying concerning, 63 + + + + +F + + +Faiz Talab, Duffadar, spies upon a doubtful tribe, 138-43 + +Fakira, Duffadar, 87 + +Fattehabad, battle of, 123 + +Fatteh Khan, of Guides' cavalry, heroism of, 10-11 + +Fatteh Khan, Khuttuk, heroism of at Mooltan, 23-25, 38 + At Gujar Garhi, 40-3 + +Feringhis, the (_see_ English) + +Fincastle, Viscount, 177, 184 + +Foot, 17th, 123 + +Foot, the 22nd, 47 + +Foot, 24th, 26 + +Foot, the 70th, 65 + +Ford, Lt., 177 + + + + +G + + +Gaduns, the, 87 + +Gaikskill, 193 + +Ganda Singh: Defeated by Guides, 27-8 + +Ghazis, the, 124 + +Grand Trunk Road, 68 + +Godby, Gen. C.J., 187 + +Godby-road, 187 + +Gordon Highlanders, 168 + +Gorindghar, fortress of, captured by Guides, 31-8 + +Gough, Lord, 26 + +Gough, Sir Charles, 123 + +Greaves, Lt. R.T., 183 + +Guides, the Corps of: + Founded by Sir Henry-Lawrence, 1-5 + Lumsden, Harry, raises, 4 + Its training and personnel, 5-6 + Its first fight, 7 + Adventure at Babuzai, 9-12 + In Second Sikh War, 13-38 + March to Lahore, 13-14 + With Edwardes at Mooltan, 21 + With Lumsden at Mooltan, 22-26 + Defeat Ganda Singh at Nuroat, 27-8 + At Gujrat, 28-30 + Capture of Gorindghar by, 31-8 + On the Frontier in the 'Fifties, 39-50 + Defeat Mukaram Khan, 41-3 + Charge at Nawadand, 43-6 + At Bori, 47-50 + The Story of Dilawur Khan, subadar of, 51-64 + In the Mutiny, 65-75 + Daly, Henry, in command of, 68 + March to Delhi, 67 + The effect of arrival, 73 + The return to Peshawur, 74 + In minor wars, 76-96 + In expedition against: Mahsud Waziri tribe, 78 + In Umbeyla campaign, 87 + In attack on Crag Picquet, 88-91 + In attack on Paia, 93-94 + At the Embassy at Kabul, 98 + Massacre of, 102-116 + In the Afghan War, 1878-80, 117-134 + Attack Ali Musjid, 119 + How Bahaud-din Khan joined the, 120-2 + At Fattehabad, 123-27 + March to Sherpur, 127-8 + In assaults on Takht-i-Shah and Asmai Heights, 128-31 + In battle at Charasiab, 132-4 + War stories of, 135-143 + Remarkable obedience to orders, 137 + The adventure of Faiz Talab, 138-143 + The adventures of Shah Sowar and Abdul Majid, 144-159 + The Relief of Chitral, 160-171 + Action at the Panjkora, 163-7 + At the Malakand, 1897, 172-184 + The Home of the Guides, 185-198 + Leaders of Guides (_see_ under Lumsden, Daly, Hodson, + Keyes, Jenkins, Campbell Lockhart, &c.). + +Gundamuk, the Treaty of, 97, 98 + +Gurkhas, the, 47-8 + +Gurkhas, 2nd, 189 + +Gurkhas, 5th, 81 + +Gurkhas, 66th, 47 + + + + +H + + +Hafiz Ji, 60 + +Hammond, Sir Arthur, 128 + +Hamilton, Lt. Walter: + Heroism and Death at Kabul, 98-116 + At Battle of Fattehabad, 123-126 + References to, 192-3 + +Hardinge, Lt. G.M. + At Nawadand, 44-46 + +Havildar, the, 34 + +Hazara, 77 + +Highlanders, 72nd, 128 + +Highlanders, 92nd, 128, 131-2 + +Highland Light Infantry, 71st., 90, 191 + +Hindustanis, the, 77, 87, 89 + +Hodson, Lt. W.S.R.: + With Lumsden at Lahore, 16 + At Nuroat, 27-8 + Commands Guides, 46 + At Bori, 47-50 + General References to, 186 + +Hodson bastion, 187 + +Home Farm, 193 + +Horse-artillery, 123 + +Hoti-Mardan Fort, 186 + +Hussars, 10th, 123 + +Hutchinson, Bob, 191 + + + + +I + + +Indus, the, 94 + +Irregular cavalry, 2nd, 28 + +Irregular cavalry, 10th, 65 + + + + +J + + +James, Mr., of Survey Department, 40 + +Jandul River, 166 + +Jehangira, Village of, 54 + +Jellalabad, 123, 124, 127 + +Jemadar, 108 + +Jenkins, Col. Sir Francis, 87, 119-122, 127, 132-3, 137, 143 + +Jenkins, Mr. W., at Kabul, 99-116, 192 + +Jewand Sing, 109 + +Jhelum, 69 + +Jugdullak Pass, 127 + +Juma of the bhisti, 54 + + + + +K + + +Kabul, British Embassy at, 98 + Massacre of Embassy Guard, 102-116 + Memorial to Embassy Guard, 171 + +Kalu Khan, 6 + +Kamoke, 70 + +Kandahar, 117 + +Karachi, 144 + +Karnal, 67, 71 + +Kelly, Col., 161 + +Kelly, Surgeon A.H., at Kabul, 99-116, 192 + +Keyes, Charlie, 194 + +Keyes, Sir Charles, in command of Guides, 88, 192 + +Khanan Khan, 21 + +Khan Singh, General of Sikhs, 14-16 + +Khar, 174, 179 + +Khyber Pass, 119, 135 + +King's Own Scottish Borderers, 168 + +Kipling, Rudyard, his poem on Gunga Din, 53 + +Kutlgar, the, 91 + + + + +L + + +Lahore, 3, 32, 70 + +Landaki, action of, 182 + +Lataband Pass, 127 + +Lawrence, Lord, 50, 69, 82 + +Lawrence, Col. George, in Peshawur, 9, 12 + +Lawrence, Sir Henry, founds the Guides, 1-5 + Ruler of the Punjab, 12 + +Le Bas, Mr., 72 + +Lewis, Lt., 80 + +Lhassa, 194 + +Lockhart, Lt., 176 + +Low, Robert, Sir, 161, 165, 170 + +Ludhiana, 71 + +Lumsden, Harry, General, raises the Corps of Guides, 4 + Captures Mughdara, 7 + At Lahore, 14-17 + At Mooltan, 22-26 + At Nuroat, 27-8 + His choice of men, 51-3 + And Dilawur Khan, 55-9 + And Waziris, 78-9 + Transferred from Guides, 81 + Tribute to his qualities, 81-3 + References to, 10, 21, 87, 186, 189, 193 + +Lundkwar Valley, the, 9 + +Lyell, Dr. R., of the Guides, 48 + + + + +M + + +Macgregor, Sir Charles, his tribute to the Guides, 97 + +Maclean, H. Lt., 177, 184, 193 + +Macpherson, Gen., 134 + +McQueen, Sir John, 192 + +Maharani (the) of the Punjab, revolt of, 13-17 + +Malakand, the, 162, 172-184 + +Malandrai, 191 + +Mandra, 69 + +Maps, the objections of the natives to surveying, 40, 155 + +Mardan, 40, 65, 67, 115, 125, 171 + Daily life at, 194-5 + +Meerut, 65, 71 + +Mehtab Sing, 108 + +Meiklejohn, Col., 175-8 + +Metcalfe, Sir Theophilus, 72 + +Mihna, 70 + +Minchin, Lt., 174, 179 + +Mohaindin, 22 + +Monastery picquet, the, 88 + +Mooltan, fighting round, 19-30 + +Mounted Police, 65 + +Mughdara, village of, captured by Guides, 7 + +Mullah Abdullah, 87 + +Mulraj, the Diwan revolts, 18-19 + Defeated by Herbert Edwardes, 21 + Surrenders, 26 + +Mundah, 171 + +Mutiny, the Guides in the, 65-75 + + + + +N + + +Naik, the, 10 + +Napier of Magdala, Lord, 50 + +Native Infantry, 14th, 89 + +Native Infantry, 55th, 65, 191 + +Native soldiers, their devotion to our English Officers, 82-6, + 114, 125, 149 + Awkwardness of using them against their own people, 136 + +Nawadand (Utmankheyl village of) captured, 43-46 + +Nicholson, John, pursues mutineers, 66 + General reference to, 12, 65, 69 + +North camp (Malakand), 176 + +North-west frontier, 51 + +Nowshera, cantonment of, 65, 68, 93, 94 + +Nuksan Pass, 64 + + + + +O + + +Ommanney, A.M., 191, 192 + +Order of, Merit, the twelve Guides awarded, 129 + After the Malakand Campaign, 184 + +Owen, Roddy, 162 + + + + +P + + +Paia, Cavignaris' attack on, 93-4 + +Panjkora, the, 166 + +Panjtar Hills, the, 7 + +Patiala, the Maharaja of, 71 + +Peebles, Captain, 170 + +Peshawur, 8, 40, 43, 61,65, 66, 74, 83 + +Pioneers, 32nd, 170 + +Pipli, 71 + +Political Officers in the Punjab, 2 + +Probyn, Sir Dighton, 91 + +Punjab, the, position of British in 1846, 2, 8; in 1848, 12-17 + +Punjab Frontier Force, 192 + +Punjab Infantry, 1st, 88-9 + +Punjab Infantry, 5th, 65 + +Punjab Infantry, 20th, 47, 88, 89, 90 + +Punjab Infantry, 24th, 177 + +Punjab Infantry, 31st, 176-7 + + + + +R + + +Rajpoora, 71 + +Ram Singh, 27-8 + +Rasul Khan, his stratagem at Gorindghar, 32-8 + +Rattray, Lieut., 174, 179, 181 + +Ravi, the, 17 + +Rawul Pindi, 67, 83 + +Reid, Col., 178 + +Ressaldar, the, 14 + +Ricketts, Mr. Deputy Commissioner at Ludhiana, 71 + +Rifles, 60th, 189 + +Roberts, Lord, and the Guides, 117-19, 129 + References to, 127, 128, 129, 131-133 + +Ross, Major, C.C.G., 89, 90 + +Royal Bengal Fusiliers, 101st, 191 + +Royal Horse Artillery, F.-A Battery, 132 + + + + +S + + +Sadusam, battle of, 22 + +Sapri, attack on, 95-6 + +Secrecy, its value in frontier warfare, 92 + +Shadipore, 94 + +Shah Sowar, 144-53 + +Shahzada Taimus, 106 + +Sheikapura, 16, 17 + +Sheikh Abdul Quadir ("Smith" of Karachi), 144-153 + +Shikar, 63 + +Sikh cavalry, 7 + +Sikh Durbar, the, 3, 8, 18 + +Sikh war, the first, position at close of, 12 + the second, 12-30 + +Sikhs, the, their rule in 1846, 8 + +Sikhs, 4th, 81, 161, 168 + +Sikhs, the 35th, 178 + +Sikhs, the 45th, 178, 180 + +Sing, Sher, deserts at Mooltan, 25 + +Sittana, 76-7 + +Sobraon, 70 + +Sohawa, 69 + +Sowars, 21 + +Sport at Mardan, 195-8 + +Spottiswode, Col. Henry, his grief and suicide during mutiny, 66 + Reference to, 191 + +Subadar, 32 + +Subaltern, the British, tribute to, 46, 181 + +Suraj Kund, 22 + +Surveying (_see_ under "Maps".) + +Sutherland Highlanders, 93rd, 191 + +Sutlej, 70 + +Swat River Canal, 95 + +Swat Valley, 162, 174, 179, 182 + +Swinley, Lt., 177 + + + + +T + + +Takht-i-Shah, assaults on, 128 + +Taylor, 12 + +Topi, 87 + +Turner, Lt. F. McC., 48 + +Tytler, General, 119 + + + + +U + + +Umballa, 32, 71 + +Umbeyla campaign, 87, 191 + + + + +V + + +Van Cortlandt, 21 + +Vaughan, 65 + +Victoria, Queen, 188 + +Victoria Cross, the, awarded: + Lt. Walter Hamilton, 127 + Capt. A.G. Hammond, 128 + Lord Fincastle, 184 + Colonel Adams, 184 + Hector Maclean, 184 + + + + +W + + +Wazirabad, 70 + +Waziris, the, 78 + +Wheatley, 181 + +Wheler, General, 28 + +Whish, General, 23, 25 + +White, Sir George, 131 + +Wilde, A.W., 193 + +Wilde, Sir Alfred, 192 + +Wright, Hedley, 181 + + + + +Y + + +Yakub Khan, the Amir and the Embassy at Kabul, 98 + And the massacre of Embassy, 108 + +Yusafzai, the plain of, 6, 9, 40, 54, 95, 185 + + + + +Z + + +Ziarat, the, 63 + + + + +THE END + + + + +R. CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, BREAD ST. HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. + + + + +[Transcriber's Notes: + +On numerous occasions throughout the book the term Dilawur appears with +a macron (straight line), over the 'a'. For this text version the word +has been represented as simply 'Dilawur' for readability rather than as +'Dilawur' as presented durring proofreading. + +In the Table of Contents section for Ch. XIII and on pages 182 & 193 the +word Landaki appears with a macron (straight line), over the second 'a' +and has been formatted for this version as without the macron. In the +Index it appears as Landaki, which has also been regularised. + +In the Table of Contents section for Ch. XIV the word Yaghistan appears +with a macron (straight line), over the first 'a' and has been formatted +for this version without the macron. + +In the List of Illustrations the one at 'page 162' was corrected as it was +shown as 'page 16'. + +On page 23 near the bottom the word 'diposed' appears and has been +corrected to read 'disposed'. + +On page 36, the double 'of' in the phrase "on the right of of the +_nullah_" has been corrected. + +On page 37 the word 'out-manoeuvred' appears, but in the original text +the 'oe' is actually an 'oe ligature' which is replaced in this version +with just 'oe'. + +On page 62 the word Bokhara appears with a macron (straight line), +over the first 'a' and has been formatted for this version without the +macron. + +On page 66 the word Katlung appears with a macron (straight line), +over the 'a' and has been formated for this version without the macron. + +On page 69 the word Jani-ki-Sang appears with a macron (straight line), +over the first 'a' and has been formated for this version without the +macron. + +On page 104 the words Yar Charyar appears with a macron (straight line), +over the first and third 'a' and has been formated for this version +without the macron. + +On pages 122 and 186 the word Yaghistan appears with a macron (straight +line), over the first 'a' and has been formated for this version without +the macron. + +On page 124 the word ghazis appears with a macron (straight line), +over the 'a' and has been formated for this version without the macron. + +On page 129 the village name 'Deh-i-Affghan' was changed to +'Deh-i-Afghan' to match the index using the much more common version. + +On page 133 in the next to last line, the letter 'l' was dropped from +the word 'General' and now added back. + +On page 139 and 159 the word Shahbash appears with a macron (straight +line), overboth instances of the letter 'a' and has been formated for +this version without the macron. + +On page 159 near the bottom an 'f' was left of off the word 'of' and now +added back. + +On page 170, at the bottom of the first paragraph, the word 'cannnot' +was corrected to read 'cannot'. + +On page 184 the word ziarat appears twice with a macron (straight line), +over the 'a' and has been formated for this version without the macron. + +On page 194 the word 'manoeuvre' appears, but in the original text the +'oe' is actually an 'oe ligature' which is replaced in this version +with just 'oe'. + +End of Transcriber's Notes] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of the Guides, by G. 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