The March of the Guide Corps
Four days after Jim and Ted Russell and Alec Paterson had set out from
Aurungpore with the detachment of the Guides, they overtook the
head-quarters of their regiment. The rapid rate of marching, the
excitement of recent events, and the prospect of taking part in the
assault on the capital of Hindustan and in the crushing of the mutiny,
had proved sufficiently exhilarating to keep up the spirits and health
of the boys in spite of the great heat.
Both Ted and Alec had been provided with horses before leaving
Aurungpore, "Tommy Dodd" having been stolen by some budmashes; and they
found the march enjoyable at times, especially in the cool of the
morning before the sun had mounted high, and on moonlight evenings. Of
course their detachment was lightly equipped, and had little impedimenta
to carry, whereas the rest of the corps had to drag along and guard
their tents, commissariat, baggage, and ammunition, otherwise they would
never have been overtaken.
Right across the vast Punjab swept the famous corps of Guides, through
shady groves of peach and apricot trees, and over dusty plains destitute
of shelter; across the five rivers to which the land owes its name,[10]
each day bringing the stalwart frontiersmen nearer to the goal of their
desire. Every man in that band was eager for the fray.
[10] Punjab means "the country of the five rivers".
Afridis, Afghans, and the various Pathan tribesmen of the corps looked
forward to the sacking of the wealthy city. For centuries past their
forefathers had marched down at frequent intervals to plunder the rich
plains of Hindustan, and, as children, they had listened to glowing
accounts of the vast wealth of the Mogul capital. The Sikhs of the corps
were equally ready to loot, for the Sikh is nearly as rapacious as the
Pathan, and much more miserly. They remembered also the bitter enmity
between their ancestors and the Mohammedan rulers of Delhi, and their
persecution at the hands of the Moslems. The single company of little
Gurkhas, though by no means grasping like their comrades, were no less
eager to come in contact with the mutinous hordes. The "Irishmen of
Asia" these short-legged warriors might be called, from their readiness
for battle and love of a fight at all times and seasons.
The Guide Corps consisted of three troops of cavalry and six companies
of infantry, about eight hundred men in all, under the command of
Captain Daly. The greater part of both infantry and cavalry were
Pathans, and they were the best irregular horsemen in the world. The
troopers supplied their own horses, and were men of some wealth and
standing in their own country. As the fierce borderers rode and marched
along, laughing as they spoke of the fun they would have at Delhi,
Bahram Khan grimly told of the punishment meted out to the rebels of
Aurungpore, and boasted of having played the most important rôle in the
hoax.
"Truly it was all my idea, not Russell Sahib's," he repeated. "But for
me all the Sahib-Logue would have been dead ere this."
"Tell us, how did it all happen, cousin?" enquired a duffadar, a
relation of the ressaidar's, Nawab Khan by name.
"When Ishar Das brought the news that another rebel regiment had marched
into Aurungpore," began the quondam bandit, gratified by the
opportunity thus afforded of displaying his triumph, "assuredly we knew
not what to do. Russell Sahib called a halt, and there we consulted
together. Truly brothers, for a moment even I thought we must give up
the attempt. But what is impossible to the true believer? and the idea
came into my mind, placed there doubtless by the Prophet. Thereupon I
advised our officer to call the men together, that we might instruct
them secretly to prepare for mutiny. Then with many oaths we slew
Russell Sahib and threw his body into the ditch"--(here the Pathan
chieftain chuckled gleefully and his comrades laughed out loudly)--"then
we dressed him up as a sepoy, and darkened his face, whilst I robbed him
of his watch and his sword and took the command, and we marched along
swiftly in great disorder, proclaiming that Bahadur Shah was king in
Delhi, and that not a Feringhi should escape our swords. Truly, my
brothers, we were fiercer and more bloodthirsty than any of the real
rebels. The mutinous dogs, as they heard of our approach, sent out men
to meet us, and we rejoiced with them, though we should have greatly
loved to slay them. As we entered the courtyard at Aurungpore they
greeted us with cheers and great praise, and I spoke scornfully of their
methods of fighting. Yea, I laughed in the face of their commandant, for
he had no authority, and told him, so that all might hear, that he would
never exterminate the infidels. Therefore they placed me in command, as
I intended they should, and because I treated them as little better than
curs, they became my dogs, and allowed me--the fools!--to place my men,
with Sultan Jan and Dayal Singh the Sikh in command, in charge of the
guns.
"They watched over them all night, and when morning came--ho! ho!--I
made the madmen--surely the Prophet had smitten them all with madness--I
made them, I say, empty all their firearms in the air, pretending that
we must trust in the bayonet as soon as the cannon had done their work.
"'Aye,' said I, 'if your muskets are still loaded ye will lie down and
fire as they escape. Ye must surround them with a ring of steel,' I
said. So the madmen delivered themselves into my hands! Then I gave the
order, and Sultan Jan of Kohat and Dayal Singh the Sikh cried out, and
we let fly into their midst, first destroying the Sikhs, for they are
true soldiers, though unbelieving dogs, and the others were but
children. Yea, by the beard of the Prophet we destroyed them! Aye, we
swept them away, mown down like the yellow corn in the Tirah before the
strokes of the sickle.
"So they ran, and we followed; through the streets they ran screaming
and throwing down their weapons, and we slew them by scores and by
hundreds. But 'twas I, Bahram Khan, who saved Aurungpore. By the
Prophet's beard, 'twas I!"
Loudly the Afghan horsemen applauded the strategy of the ressaidar. They
laughed and shouted with glee as they listened, and greatly they
regretted that they had not been present to participate therein.
Bahram Khan also told his countrymen how the boy-officer riding beside
them--younger than any of their own officers, for the Guides required
strong men to handle them--had blown up the magazine and miraculously
escaped death; and the stern warriors looked approvingly at our hero,
and one remarked in English, "Truly, we shall make a Guide of you,
sahib!" Officers as well as men treated him as an equal, because of the
experience he had gained, and the way in which he had looked death in
the face.
For Captain Daly, Ted soon felt an ardent admiration. Said this gallant
soldier to the lad on the day that the main body of the regiment was
rejoined, "Well, youngster, do you know that you're taking part in what
is going to be the best march in Indian history?"
"I'm glad I'm here, sir," replied Ted; and indeed he looked content.
"Yes," continued the commanding officer; "seven hundred and fifty miles
is the distance from Murdan to Delhi, and I'll do it in thirty days. We
shall probably be the only native regiment that can be trusted to take
part in the siege."
Ted had looked in vain for his brother's friend Spencer, until Jim
explained that this unlucky officer had been shooting in Kashmir when
the outbreak occurred, and so had not yet been able to rejoin his
regiment. Ted admired Spencer greatly, and was very sorry to miss him.
He was soon attracted, however, by a new acquaintance, Quintin Battye,
the noble and well-loved lieutenant of the Guides, whose name was soon
to gain such tragic fame.
Through Attock and Rawal Pindi along the frontier, through the large
Sikh capitals of Ludhiana, Amballa, and Kurnaul, had marched the famous
corps, and wherever they went the Sikh and Punjabi inhabitants looked on
in wonderment. As the great troopers in khaki (for the Guides were the
first to wear that uniform), sitting their horses as though born in the
saddle, rode haughtily past the gaping countrymen, at whom they hardly
deigned to look, or as with firm step the six hundred infantry marched
easily through the villages, the knots of men gathered under the shade
of the banyan-tree discussing the fall of the English raj,[11] would
quickly disperse to their houses, and from that shelter watch the
regiment swing past.
[11] Government or dominion.
"Ah! did I not tell thee, Maun Singh, that the English had not all been
swept away?" one would say.
"True, brother. Let us mind our own business and look after our fields,
it is not safe to meddle with the Feringhis," would be the reply.
"Who were they, Father?" a youngster would ask. "Were not our countrymen
amongst them? But many were Afghan dogs!"
"Those are the Guides, my son. They have told us lies who said the
English had lost their power. Consider, my brothers. How could the
Guides be spared from the frontier unless the Sikhs and the Pathans, the
Afghans and the Afridis, were on the side of our white rulers? Let our
village have no part in this rebellion, else shall we all suffer."
So province after province was passed, and the people, noticing how
proud and confident the Guides looked, thought, "Surely the English are
still masters of India."
And old Sikh and Jat soldiers of "John Company",[12] men who had been
hesitating, who had been offered bribes to fight against the Feringhi,
and who had been told that the whites were all being swept into the sea,
hesitated no longer. They cleaned their swords, harnessed their horses,
and veterans brought their sons, requesting permission to enlist in the
new Punjab regiments which John Lawrence, the mighty commissioner of the
Punjab, was raising for the reinforcement of the army before Delhi.
[12] The Honourable East India Company, also called "Koompanie
Bahadur", or "The Great Lord Company".
"The Punjab," said the leader of the Guide Corps, "is paying back India
all she has cost her, by sending troops stout and firm to her aid."
While still more than a hundred miles from Delhi, the Guides were
required to quell a disturbance in a neighbouring district. Captain
Daly, impatient at the delay, desired to forward despatches to General
Anson, whose army lay some miles to the north of the great city. He
consulted Captain Russell.
"Your brother is a plucky youngster," he remarked, "but what is his
friend like? He hasn't much to say for himself, but I think he's to be
trusted."
"Paterson seems one of the quiet sort you can depend on," Jim replied.
"If you are thinking of sending them on to the commander-in-chief, I
think they'd enjoy the job and would carry it through. I suppose you
would give them an escort?"
Daly beckoned the two ensigns, and handing the papers to Paterson, he
explained the mission, and advised them to ride as much as possible at
night.
"You shall have half a dozen troopers as escort," he concluded. "The
country will be quiet until you get near Delhi. No monkey tricks, mind,
youngsters, and don't stop to blow up any arsenals on the road!"
The boys and their six Pathan troopers hastily provisioned themselves,
and, pricking their steeds, dashed joyously away. A ride of a hundred
miles with no one to give them orders! They commanded the party, and the
general himself was not half so proud of his command as our ensigns of
foot were of their half-dozen huge, wild, black-bearded troopers. For a
day and two nights they rode without incident, but on the morning of the
third, as they drew near to Alipore, and saw the towers and minarets of
Delhi glittering in the sun a dozen miles to the south-east, they heard
the sound of firing. Proceeding cautiously, they presently perceived a
number of rebel horsemen flying before a body of English dragoons, as
the eight topped the crest of the slight incline which had hidden them
from view. The Carabineers had already given up the pursuit, and were
sending a few shots after the galloping rebels, who, seeing the
dark-faced, turbaned horsemen, took them for men of the mutinous
irregular cavalry, and raised a cheer.
Ted looked hopefully at Alec, who hesitated for an instant. He was as
keen as Ted, but ought he to risk his men and the safety of the
despatch?
"Now, sahibs!" whispered Nawab Khan, the Pathan duffadar (corporal).
That decided the young commandant.
"Charge, men!" Alec cried, and waved his sword. "Charge!"
Eight blades flashed in the sunlight, as with a wild yell the little
band hurled themselves like a thunderbolt into the midst of the
bewildered sepoys. Ted, Nawab Khan, and a trooper, their chargers
straining to the utmost, rode side by side, the other five close behind,
and the rebel rank broke at once. A dozen men of the 3rd Native
Cavalry--the regiment that commenced the great mutiny--fell before that
charge, the leader being unhorsed and severely wounded by Ted himself,
and before they could recover from their confusion the Carabineers were
on their heels. Without waiting to take revenge on the insolent handful,
the rebel cavalry scattered and galloped away, the ensigns and the
Pathans following hard. At Paterson's command five men ceased their
pursuit, but the duffadar, engaged in a running fight with two pandies
at once, would not turn back. At length one sowar[13] dropped with
cloven skull, and the other--a rebel captain--was being disposed of,
when a dozen sepoys turned their horses round to help their officer.
Quick as thought the Pathan seized the wounded subadar by the collar and
jerked him out of the saddle; then, leaping from his own horse on to the
rebel's, he laughed at the sepoys, and quickly rejoined his comrades.
"He had wounded my horse, sahib, and his was the finest steed I've
seen, so I prevailed on the dog to exchange, ho! ho!" and Nawab Khan
laughed. And well he might; the beast, a beautiful dark chestnut, was
indeed a grand charger.
[13] A native trooper or horse-soldier.
"Well, of all the cool cheek!" exclaimed the officer of the 6th Dragoons
(known as the "Carabineers"), laughing as he came up. "Anyone hurt?"
"None of us, sir," replied Ted with a grin; "but I fancy some of the
rebels are."
"And who on earth are you?" was the next question.
"Guides, sir," was Paterson's laconic but very proud answer.
"Guides! Is this all the regiment?"
"I should think not!" exclaimed Ted indignantly, and Paterson proceeded
to explain his errand.
"Well, are the rest like these?" asked the astonished captain, who was
but newly from England.
"Quite as good. You'll soon see, sir," Ted confidently assured him,
whilst the Pathans slowly looked the Carabineers over from head to foot,
and evidently approved of the inspection--a compliment returned by the
British troopers. Together they entered the camp.