"The scoundrels! If we could only surprise them. We are so weak in
numbers, I hardly dare leave my guns; otherwise, with a troop of our
lads to act as cavalry, I could pretty well cut them up, and scatter the
rest, so that they would not do much more mischief for months to come."
"Hush!" I whispered, as I caught his arm. "What's that?"
"The first gun bumping over bad ground and rattling."
"No; it's firing," I whispered, though the sound must have been a mile
away.
"Yes; you are right. What is going on now? some fresh outrage?"
Our pace was increased, and orders given to the advance-guard to
increase their distance ahead.
The firing grew fiercer, and a halt was called, the guns took up
position, and we waited full of anxiety for news from the scouts sent
out.
We had not long to wait in our uncertainty, for one of our men galloped
back with the information that the firing was on this side of the town,
and, directly after, a second man dashed up with the news that a
regiment of cavalry in white coats was in full retreat toward us.
"Then they are being driven out by the foot regiment, which must have
returned. Stand fast, my lads, if they charge us; but I doubt whether
they will come right up to the guns."
A few exciting minutes passed, and then, as the running, trampling noise
of a large body of horse came nearer, Brace rode from gun to gun, giving
his order that no shot should be fired till he was certain these were
not friends, and then the fire was to be concentrated on the advancing
column.
The sun had gone down, and night was coming on fast, but as the head of
the regiment came into sight, the firing having ceased beyond them,
Brace's glass satisfied him as to whom these were.
"The sowar regiment!" he cried. "Fire!"
One after the other rapidly the six guns thundered forth a terrible
reception, just as, in fairly good order, the regiment in full retreat
came on at a gallop, and in perfect ignorance of our proximity.
It was the work of a moment; I saw the white column galloping toward us
looking dim and strange, like some strange body rushing along beneath a
cloud of dust; then it was rent and torn and thrown into confusion, as
round shot and canister hurtled through the rank; and at the sixth
report the road was littered with struggling horses, and then the fields
on either side dotted with galloping fugitives, and the sowar regiment
that had been tearing across the road towards us was non-existent.
Six shots; no more. By the time another one had reloaded, there were
only flying individuals to aim at as they galloped over the plain, and
Brace looked in vain for a rallying point, and the gathering together of
a troop at which a round shot could be aimed.
"_Sauve qui peut_!" cried Brace, as orders were given for a fresh
advance. "We cannot pursue them. Now forward for the town."
"Some one coming," I said, as the galloping of a horse was heard.
"Their last man," said Brace. "Open out, my lads, and capture him."
The horseman came on at a swinging gallop, and made straight for us,
checking his charger as he drew near, and we saw that the face of the
rider was white.
"Where's your officer?" he cried hoarsely, as he reined up, with his
sword hanging by the knot from his wrist.
"Here," replied Brace.
"Thank God!" cried the new-comer. "I'm Mason--Captain Mason, 04th
Highlanders. You fired on those bloodthirsty scoundrels."
"And scattered the regiment. I could do no more."
"Ah, if you could have shot them to a man! We were called away to help
at Miapore, where a sepoy regiment mutinied. It was a long march, and
as soon as we had gone--the European officers of that cursed regiment
answering for their men's fidelity--they rose and murdered the poor
fellows who trusted them, and then--"
He stopped there and groaned.
"My wife--her sister--two of my little children--the whole of the
English residents, and--Oh, why don't you pursue? Hah!"
"Take care!" I roared, as I snatched sword from sheath, pistol from
holster, and fired, for, from out of the gathering darkness, a dozen of
the sowars, men who had recovered their horses, or those of slain men,
dashed down upon us like a whirlwind right for where Brace stood talking
to the Highland officer.
As I fired into the thick of them, I saw one man throw up his sword, but
I also saw a fierce-looking savage charge right at Brace, who was
unprepared; the sowar's sword was raised, and he made a tremendous cut
at our captain, one which must have ended his career; but, quick with
the quickness begotten by practice and peril, our new friend caught and
raised the point of his sword; and in the act of delivering his cut, the
man was literally transfixed. He fell back over the cantrel of his
saddle, and as his horse dashed on, he was dragged out of the saddle by
Captain Mason's jerk to withdraw his sword.
I saw all this, and almost at the same moment was conscious of a
crushing blow on the head, accompanied by a terrible shock, and then I
was looking stupidly at the doctor, who was kneeling by me in the road.
"Here, what is it?" I cried angrily. "Who was it rode me down? Is my
horse hurt?"
"Never mind your horse, Gil. Speak, lad. Doctor. His head?"
"Oh, his head's right enough," said the doctor, as I struggled into a
sitting position, and felt very sick and giddy. "I say, Vincent, my
lad, you will have to send the accoutrement-maker a testimonial. Here's
a tremendous dint in your helmet, but it has saved your life."
"Then he isn't killed, sir?" cried a familiar voice.
"No, my lad; only a bit stunned," said the doctor.
"Hooray!" rose in a tremendous cheer, in which every man in the troop
seemed to join.
"Nice to be a favourite," I heard Haynes say.
"But, look here," I cried in an irritated way, "I don't quite understand
it. My head's all--I--Why, some one must have knocked me down. Did I
pitch on to my helmet, then?"
"My dear boy, you were struck down by a sowar, and your helmet saved
your life."
"The savage brute!" I cried pettishly. "It couldn't have been the one
who rode at you, because--Yes, I remember. Then the man who rode at me
got off free."
"Humph!" ejaculated the doctor, turning round and looking off to our
right.
I followed his eyes, and saw a white figure lying face downward among
some green corn.
"Yes," said the doctor, "that is he; and you may thank Haynes for saving
your life."
"Oh, nonsense!" cried my brother-officer hastily. "We can't be talking
about that sort of thing; it's nonsense. I only did what any one else
would have done. Steady there, my lads. Silence in the ranks."
The word was given to advance directly after, and in a few minutes there
was a burst of cheers from on in front, where a skirmishing party of
Captain Mason's regiment had come upon our advance-guard.
This was answered by our troop, and directly after the officers were
eagerly talking together as we marched into the outskirts of the little
town, and soon after were congratulating ourselves on the excellent
quarters we had found, the foot regiment being most eager in showing us
where we could obtain provisions, and the necessaries for a restful
night.
About an hour after, when the sentinels and outposts had been visited,
and the round made of the horses, I was one of a party in one of the
ruined rooms of the residency, where the officers were debating what
steps should be taken at daylight the next morning, and matters were
still in doubt as to whether we should march east or west when a
prisoner was brought in. This was a shivering non-combatant, who
eagerly gave every information he knew about the movements of the
rebels, and was able to inform us, by way of buying his own life, as he
thought, that the sowars were going to join the rajah, Ny Deen, the next
morning, when their arrangements were suddenly upset by the return of
the foot regiment which, on finding out that it had been deluded, came
back by a forced march, but too late to save those at the station.
"Then the relics of the regiment will still seek to join this revolted
rajah," said the colonel of the foot regiment. "But his power has been
broken up," said Brace. "We put him to flight."
"They'll try to join him, all the same," cried the colonel.
"The only hope of these men," he continued, "is in co-operation. Depend
upon it, the scoundrels will move west, and I say we ought to follow.
Our march must be on Badhpore, and from thence in the direction of
Nussoor. What do you say?"
"I say," cried Brace, "that we are weak without infantry, and you are
feeble without guns. It is a question of expediency, sir, and our force
may prove to be the nucleus of a little army strong enough to sweep the
mutineers from the land."