I reached Cawnpore in twelve days, after a very harassing journey, the
fatigues of which laid me on a bed of sickness; but the affectionate
nursing of the fair object of my love, and the kind attentions of her
excellent family, soon restored me to health, and I was married on the
4th of April, 1816.
I was received by my old regiment in the most cordial manner; and their
continued marks of kindness to me and my young wife, kept pace with the
liberality of their mess. No stranger was permitted to pass through the
station without a liberal invitation from the 24th Light Dragoons. Soon
after this, my own regiment arrived, when every hand was extended to bid
me welcome; and the next eighteen months were spent by me in domestic
felicity. At the expiration of that time, we were called upon again to
put our limbs in marching order, on an expedition against the strong
forts of Hattrass, Cummoun, and some other refractory dependencies of
the Hattrass rajah.
The former of these forts is situate about thirty miles from Agra, and
twelve from Muttra. It is a mud fort, standing in the middle of the most
fertile country in Bengal, and is a place of immense strength, in
consequence of its enormous ditch, eighty feet wide, by seventy and
seventy-five feet deep, with but two small bridges, extremely narrow,
and which the occupants of the fort could destroy in an instant.
On our arrival before this place, a negotiation was entered into with
the political agent and a messenger from the fort; but still our
operations went on in the most active manner. We could not expect
success but by a regular and progressive siege, as, independently of the
fort, there was also a walled town, which it would be necessary to take
and occupy, before we could get near enough to the former to mine and
breach it. For the taking of the town our first batteries were erecting
during the parley, as convincing proofs that we were in earnest. This
siege was under the command of Major-General Sir Dyson Marshall, K.C.B.
Mid-day was finally to determine peace or war. The embassy had been in
camp all the morning, begging for time to consider of the proffered
terms, or, more probably, to endeavour to meet the foe. This stratagem
had often been resorted to on similar occasions, to gain the same end;
and I have known instances when those creatures would swear by all their
heathen gods and goddesses, that their great wish was to be reconciled,
when, in reality, they were only plotting a more formidable resistance.
I have often heard them swear by their most sacred Ganges, what was well
known, both to us and them, to be the most palpable falsehood. I have
seen these sycophants kiss the earth, and call everything dear to them
to witness their asseverations, when they have been uttering the most
abominable falsehoods to gain some end. I have also seen them beat their
breasts and tear their hair, in indication of their love and friendship,
when all the while the canker-worm was busy in their hearts. If you
permit them, they will put off the evil day from week to week, and from
month to month, having always something new to start. This day the
vakeel had brought to camp the most positive assurance that his master,
the rajah, would be in camp to sign and ratify a treaty on the proffered
terms. On receiving this intelligence, our good general directed that
our batteries should not open till the hour of twelve that day.
Ten o'clock arrived, but no rajah; eleven o'clock and half-past eleven
passed away, but still no appearance of the great man from the fort.
About a quarter before the awful hour, the vakeel was seen emerging from
the political agent's tent, and mounting his rut; but his contracted
brow betrayed the agitation of his mind. He set off at speed. I rode
beside him as far as our grand battery, and he told me on the way that
all was settled, and that the rajah was coming into camp. Scarcely had
he uttered this lie, when the awful bell struck twelve, and our
batteries opened at the same instant. In a moment the whole town was
enveloped in one dense cloud of smoke. The instant the vakeel heard the
guns, he leapt out of his carriage, and ran as fast as he could towards
the fort, screaming in notes something like the angry tiger. This being
the case, I took the liberty of taking the rut and horse to camp as
prize property. Whether he reached the fort in safety I know not, for we
never saw nor heard anything more of his fat ambassadorship; so I
suppose he suffered with many hundreds of others during the siege. The
moment our batteries opened, their guns also opened a heavy cannonade,
evidencing the truth of what the vakeel had been holding forth. Our
siege went on progressively and systematically, keeping in view the
grand point in all sieges, preservation of men's lives, and going to
work with our eyes open. Our breaching-distance from the wall of the
town was only about four hundred yards; and therefore, if we were
inclined to take a peep at things, we were obliged to do it on the sly,
for we were within half musket-shot; so near, indeed, that we were
obliged to have screens for our embrasures, to protect the men when
loading and laying the guns. The parts breached were the two extreme
corners. When we commenced, the town was full of men; but we sent them a
few shrapnells and a few rockets, which played beautifully along the
tops of the houses, and up the narrow streets; and, in one hour,
scarcely a man was to be seen on the ramparts; but we could hear them
busily at work digging something, which we afterwards found to be holes,
to hide from the shells, over which they covered themselves with old
doors and pieces of plank. Some of our shells, however, found them,
even in those dreary hiding-places. Many of their houses were on fire.
The Congreve rocket is a most destructive instrument of death; its
enormous shaking tail carries everything before it; and, when it
explodes, it kills some yards round, and fires houses right and left.
Our little whistling shrapnells quite discomposed the gravity of their
hoary-headed priests, and drove them into the fort to seek refuge, and
call in the aid of their heathen gods; but not one could be prevailed
upon to interpose, even so far as to stop a single rocket or shell. Some
long shots were then thrown from some of the large guns in the town,
near and into camp; but these caused no other inconvenience than to put
some ladies, who had come from Agra to be spectators of the scene, to
the double-quick, who never thought themselves safe till in their own
dear homes, some thirty miles off. One lady only remained; but she kept
at a much more respectful distance than before.
A reward was given for all description of balls brought into camp,
varying in amount according to size. Such is the avarice of the natives
who hover about camps, that they will risk anything for money. Near the
right of the line, balls used frequently to be thrown, and some of them
rolled as far as the piquet. I was riding in that direction one morning
when balls were flying pretty thick. A native saw one lob, and ran to
stop it. In this attempt, one of his legs was so badly broken, that I
believe it was afterwards amputated. If he had carried the ball to camp,
he would have got about fourpence for it!
In two days the breaches began to wear a stormable appearance; and, on
the third day, the storming parties were ordered to be in readiness
about two o'clock in the afternoon. The day was calm, and the sky serene
and cloudless. By three o'clock every soldier was at his post, ready and
willing to perform the service of his country, and add new laurels to
its crown. The left column was to be led by the 87th, or Prince's Own
regiment, who were as merry as crickets; and the right column by the
14th regiment, a beautiful corps. About half-past three we moved off
towards the town, in silence. Under cover of the village we halted, and
an unaccountable delay ensued. Here we sat down and talked over the work
before us. While thus engaged, the eye of an inquisitive officer was
fixed on another officer of the same regiment, who had taken his
epaulette from his shoulder, and his plate and feather off his cap, so
that he looked for all the world like some discharged pensioner. This
strange metamorphosis drew upon him the ridicule of his brother
officers, and the scoffing of the soldiers. Whatever might be his motive
for such an alteration in his dress, to say the least of it, it was
extremely imprudent and improper; for, by such conduct, he incurred the
animadversion of the soldiers of his own regiment, who would, in all
probability, put the most illiberal construction on it. The officers did
not fail to have their jokes and draw their conclusions from such a
strange circumstance; and, when the question was put to him, why he did
such a thing, his answer confirmed the ill-natured surmises that had
gone abroad, his avowed object being that the enemy should not know him
from a private soldier of the regiment. How far such an expedient may
have deserved censure, I leave the public to judge. I merely introduce
the instance to warn other young officers against doing anything that
may justify the animadversions of the soldiers, or bring them under the
lash and ridicule of their brother officers. Whatever might have been
the feelings of this young officer--and I should be sorry to impute his
conduct to anything but thoughtlessness--I can venture to assert that he
never re-established his former character; in consequence of which, he
some time after left the regiment. Therefore, young soldier, never be
ashamed to let your foe know that you hold his majesty's commission. I
would sooner cram it down their throats than have my honour or courage
doubted. Be tenacious of your character, more especially in the point
of courage. If you trifle with this, the sooner you cut and run the
better.
The head engineer, conceiving the breaches not practicable, from his not
knowing the depth and width of the ditch, had the storming postponed
till the following day, with the view that an opportunity might be
afforded him, under cover of the night, to obtain the necessary
information. At night this officer stole down to the ditch unobserved,
and, on his return, he seemed delighted beyond bounds that the storm did
not take place, as the ditch was so wide and deep that an entrance was
impossible. It appeared that what had been knocked off the bastion, had
not actually filled up any part of the trench, but only hung to the
sides of it.
On the following morning, we found that the enemy, having seen us march
down the evening before, had fled when the night closed in, supposing we
were going to storm in the night. On this being ascertained, a strong
party was instantly dispatched to occupy the town. We found some
difficulty in obtaining an entrance, as they had barricaded the two
gates with stone and large bales of cotton. At last, we were obliged to
scale the walls with ladders. With the exception of a few poor old
people, not a living soul was to be seen in the town; but the number of
the dead was considerable. Two elephants had been slain, and camels,
horses, bullocks, goats, &c., lay killed in all directions. After
sauntering about the town, and taking a peep on the other side, we found
that the fort was quite close. The moment the enemy saw us, they
commenced a heavy cannonade; and the tremendous peals of musketry which
followed informed us that they had not run far. The prize agents now
turned us all out, supposing, with a good deal of reason, that we were
not to be trusted with gold mohurs and rupees, of which a few were found
in some of the banking-houses.
On the following day, after reconnoitring the fort and the ground in its
vicinity, spots were fixed upon for new breaching and shelling
batteries; and, in twenty-four hours afterwards, we commenced our work
of death on the fort and its obdurate inmates. Long ere the hour of the
sun's decline, it grew as dark as midnight. About ten o'clock, the
terrific shelling commenced, every whistling shell bearing on its
lighted wings messengers of death and desolation. I never saw these
implements of destruction so accurately thrown--some of them scarcely
five inches above the walls of the fort. In five minutes the screams of
the women in the fort were dreadful. In a place so confined, where
numberless houses were crowded together, every shell must have found its
way to some poor wretch's dwelling, and, perhaps, torn from mothers'
bosoms their clinging babes. No person can estimate the dreadful carnage
committed by shells, but those whose fate it has been to witness the
effects of these messengers of death. On this occasion our shells were
very numerous, and of enormous size, many of them thirteen and a half
inches in calibre. The system of shelling had been so improved in the
twelve years which had elapsed since the siege of Bhurtpore, that,
instead of about one shell in five minutes from a single battery, it was
by no means extraordinary to see twenty in one minute, from the numerous
batteries which were brought to bear upon this place. It was, at times,
truly awful to see ten of these soaring in the air together, seemingly
riding on the midnight breeze, and disturbing the slumbering clouds on
their pillows of rest--all transporting to a destined spot the
implements of havoc and desolation contained within their iron sides.
The moon hid herself, in seeming pensiveness, behind a dense black
cloud, as though reluctant to look on such a scene; and the feathered
tribe, that were wont, in those warm nights of summer, to melodize the
breeze, retired far into the distant woods, there to tune their notes of
sorrow. Mortal language cannot array such a scene in its garb of
blackest woe. Some carcasses were also thrown. These, when in the air,
are not unlike a fiery man soaring above. They are sent to burn houses,
or blow up magazines. Far and wide they stretch forth their claws of
death; and well might the poor natives call them devils of the night, or
fiends of the clouds. To complete this dreadful scene, the roaring
Congreves ran along the bastion's top, breaking legs and arms with their
shaking tails. Nothing could be more grand to the eye, or more affecting
to the sympathizing heart, than this horrid spectacle. Still, the
superstitious foe were stimulated by some hoary priest with hopes of
victory, thus imbruing their hands in the blood of their children, their
parents, and their friends. Our shells found their way to their very
cells, tearing babes from their mothers' bosoms, and dealing death and
destruction around. Oh! what must be the anguish of a fond mother, to
see nothing but the head of her fondling hanging to her bosom! I will
relate one melancholy case of this kind, out of numbers that came within
my observation, and actually happened at this place.
A female was lying on a bed of green silk; under her head was a pillow
of the same material; her right arm had, no doubt, cradled her babe; and
her left was extended as though for the purpose of keeping her child
close to her. A large shell had perforated the tiled roof, and, having
made its way through three floors, had gone through the foot of the bed,
and penetrated some depth into the fourth floor. A piece of this shell
had gone through the woman's forehead, carrying away a great part of the
head; so that her death, according to the opinion of a medical man who
saw her, must have been instantaneous. The lower part of the child's
body, from the hips downward, was entirely gone; but, strange to say,
its mother's nipple still hung in the left corner of its mouth, and its
little right hand still held by its mother's clothes, which probably it
had grasped at the first noise of the shell. We understood that this
woman was the wife of a most respectable officer in the fort, who had
also met his death some hours before her, and was, therefore, in pity
spared the afflicting sight. Such, reader, are the scenes of war! Such
are the sights which soldiers, in the course of service, are called upon
to witness! The poor woman and her babe were committed to the
grave--probably the first of her generation that ever returned to the
earth as her last home; for she was a Hindoo woman.
The garrison of this fort had been solicited, in the warmest manner, to
send their families to their homes, with a promise that they should be
guarded to any part of the country, and their property guaranteed to
them. To these proposals, dictated by the feelings of humanity, which
our good general possessed in a most eminent degree, we received nothing
but contemptuous answers. Be the blood of their slaughtered relatives,
therefore, on their shoulders, not on ours! Wherever the troops of the
Company have been employed, humanity has always marked their steps; yet
I have only known one instance in my long service, in which the natives
consented to avail themselves of the kind offer made to them, that their
families should be protected. I shall have the pleasure of mentioning
this in its proper place.
It was currently reported, and there seemed to be some foundation for
such a report, that there were immense treasures in the fort. This was a
more shining prospect than we had contemplated. Nothing could be more
congenial to our minds than the chance of touching the coin. These
anticipations gladdened our very hearts, and kept us watchful and
vigilant. To say the truth, I do not know any class of people more
deserving of money, or who can spend it in a more gentlemanlike manner,
than soldiers. From our late gaieties at Cawnpore, and having danced my
marriage rounds through the whole station, my purse, at this critical
juncture, was in deep decline. It had undergone a most severe draining,
and its contents had dwindled away to a single silver piece. My account
with the paymaster had also made an oblique evolution, and settled on
the wrong side, leaving me no credit by the position it had taken. Since
this untoward account had taken that whim into its head, the paymaster
was never at home. A confounded bore this--always to find people out,
whom you particularly want to see, and have a little sterling confab
with. Thus stood the case, or rather, thus stood my purse, yawning for
lack of coin; and this was the case with many others. Was it a wonder,
then, that we so readily gave credit to the reports which were in
circulation touching the probability of our reaping a golden harvest by
this siege?
With these prospects in view, the siege went on with all possible
energy. Having viewed the gaping ditch, and assured ourselves of the
impossibility of both descent and ascent, we had pushed our mining
operations within thirty yards of the top of the glacis, and began to
descend into the bowels of the earth. I was this day on a working-party,
with one hundred men, and had just arrived in the tool-yard, about three
hundred yards from the left of the trenches, when I was thrown flat on
my face by some violent shock of the earth. Before the general shock,
the earth seemed in dreadful convulsions. The walls surrounding the
tool-yard were propelled forward from the fort, and fell to the ground.
Stones, bricks, pieces of wood, and, nearer the fort, bodies and limbs,
were to be seen soaring in the air in all directions. For the moment,
consternation and dismay were depicted on every face. When I arose, I
felt much alarmed; the earth seemed still to move under me; and at first
I thought something had happened to me alone; but, on looking around, I
found my men, some in the attitude of prayer, and others lying down,
hiding their faces with fear. Having recovered my senses, I looked
towards the fort, and saw it enveloped in one dense cloud of smoke or
dust, and, now and then, streaks of fire issuing from its battlements.
In the midst of this momentary alarm, there was an indistinct buzzing
that the grand magazine of the enemy had been blown up. This report
having reached my ears, I ran, or rather rolled, along the trenches, and
was informed that their grand magazine had really been blown up by one
of our shells. Again looking towards the tomb of destruction, what a
sight met the eye! The smoke which arose from the ruins seemed to be a
solid and substantial structure, gradually and majestically ascending to
the skies, bearing on its top variegated volumes of vapour, that seemed
to ride upon its summit. From this ascending mountain were ever and anon
vomited forth sheets of vivid fire; and glittering sand fell in showers
around the spot. Through this dense, but really unsubstantial mass, was
to be seen the setting sun, spreading his luminous beams through the
gigantic phenomenon; and the beauty of the sight was beyond human fancy
to imagine. This tremendous volume of smoke seemed almost to rise
perpendicularly, verging off a little with the wind, which scarcely
breathed. When it had ascended so that the sun was visible under it, the
mass above changed colour, and you might trace on it the most brilliant
rays of the rainbow. This continued ascending in various forms, until,
at last, it was lost in distance: after which, every eye was directed
towards the destruction below; and the sight was frightful indeed.
Heads, bodies, legs, arms, hands, spears, guns, muskets, planks, and
colours, lay indiscriminately among the pile of ruin. Four thousand
maunds, or three hundred and twenty thousand pounds of gunpowder, an
accumulation of years, were contained in this magazine. This was buried
in stone magazines, some hundreds of feet under the earth; and it was
supposed that the major part of the garrison had sought refuge in those
excavated vaults, from the destruction of our shells, and were there
entombed in this pile of ruin and desolation. The cries of men, women,
and children, and the groans of wounded horses, could be distinctly
heard, and drew from every eye the tear of pity. Our guns had ceased
firing, no one knew why. There were no shoutings of exultation; but, on
the contrary, loud were the expressions of commiseration and sorrow.
Amidst the convulsion, it was a most extraordinary fact, that the new
and scarcely finished temple of the inmates of the fort still reared its
superstitious head, and, on the very margin of their once boasted and
inexhaustible mine of powder and ball, stood uninjured amidst the
general wreck, divested only of its scaffolding. This coincidence, which
they, no doubt, attributed to supernatural agency, still fed their
deluded hopes, and they would not bend the stubborn knee and ask for
mercy, but still persisted in their resistance, led on by some
hoary-headed priest, who would not tear himself away from his ill-gotten
stores. The night closed in as cold as the hearts of these obdurate
creatures; the sky was serene and clear; and the moon rose in her most
effulgent brightness.
The moon had now risen high above the tops of Rumnah (a place where they
keep preserved game), when our guns re-opened, and more messengers of
destruction were sent to complete the work of death. Every hand employed
against the fort would willingly have carried these poor creatures the
cup of peace and the balm of comfort, rather than send them more woe;
but, notwithstanding these sympathetic feelings, there is a duty we owe
ourselves and our country. We were in honour bound to push the siege;
but this was our duty, not our inclination: nor is it true that
soldiers, inured to scenes of war, do not possess the nicer feelings of
the heart. The shelling again roared through their narrow streets, and
tore up their little dwellings by the roots, each hurling additional
victims into the gaping pile. About the hour of midnight, there seemed a
bustle and clashing of arms amongst the people in the fort, and I began
to think that they intended to give us leg; so I kept a good look-out. I
crept close to the edge of the ditch, and listened. I could hear voices,
but not distinctly what they said. I was observed from the fort, and
nearly paid dear for my peeping. Several shots were fired, one of which
struck close to my head. I moved my quarters to a more safe place; and,
from the neighing of horses, it was pretty evident to me that they were
on the bit: but, as I was no reservoir of news, I took good care to keep
my opinion to myself, until the thing became more certain. Five minutes
after, I saw some of them outside of the fort, on horseback, waiting to
assemble in force, before they attempted to break through our mounted
cavalry, which formed a chain of sentinels round this side. It was
imagined impossible that they could make their escape. I communicated
what I had seen to the commanding officer of the protecting party, who
had a hundred native men under his command, which would, in all
probability, have been sufficient to have stopped them; for, no doubt,
they did not intend to go empty-handed away, but laden with gold mohurs.
When I first communicated this intelligence to the officer on duty, he
politely said it was only fancy--they were no flinchers. I told him that
I could see them coming out; but he replied, sarcastically, "Then why
don't you go and stop them? I will tell you what, Shipp--you are never
easy unless your head is in the cannon's mouth." At the first part of
this reproof I got terribly nettled, and warmly replied, "Had I your
means, Captain Brewer (alluding to the men under his command), I would
stop them; but, as my men have only their pickaxes and shovels, it would
be an act of pure madness to attempt such a thing; though it is by no
means clear to me that I could not even stay their flight with these
poor means." At this he instantly flew into a rage, and said, "Pray,
Sir, what do you mean to insinuate by what you have this moment given
utterance to?"--"My dear Brewer," said I, "you know I am as poor as the
inside of a sentry-box, and it is really a pity to see these fellows
under our very noses, walking off with the coin." He smilingly replied,
"That's true; and I will prevent it if possible." So on we marched at
double-quick; and, all I could do and say, I could not prevent my men,
armed, as they were, with pickaxes and shovels, from following me. I
threatened to cut the first man down who dared attempt to leave his
post; but no sooner was I gone than my men were close at my heels; and
one fellow came running up to me, and said, pointing to a small village,
close by the entrance of the bridge, "By the powers, your honour, but
there is a whole generation of cavalry, all mounted on horses. See, your
honour, some of them that are halted are coming this way." I replied,
"What the devil has brought you here?"--"Does your honour think I would
lave you in this blusteration?" said Paddy. On getting pretty close to
these "cavalry on horseback," my attention was drawn off from the
soldier, who, on turning round, I found was close at my elbow, with a
pickaxe on his shoulder. Here the enemy, observing us, rode off to the
left at full speed. One I endeavoured to stop, and he rode at me. I
gathered myself up in an attitude of defence, resolved, if possible, to
dismount him; but, unfortunately, his horse's foot struck the inside of
my thigh, and down I went, and he had the politeness to fire his
matchlock at me, but it did not touch me. He rode on, and I jumped up,
and again recovered my station at the head of the party. We now arrived
at the end of the bridge, where there was a kind of half-moon battery or
breastwork--at least there had been, but now nothing but the parapet and
embrasures remained. Behind these my men, many of whom had followed me,
took refuge, till we had again driven the enemy into the fort. We pushed
on, and on the bridge the struggle was dreadful. The enemy wanted to
come out, and we wanted to go in. They would not permit us to go in; and
we, equally unaccommodating, would not let them out. This was the
dispute; and, after a good deal of fighting, we not only stopped their
intended journey, but put an end to many of their lives. They, for a
time, disputed every inch of ground with us; but Jack Sepoy was not to
be done; and we, after a hard struggle, gained possession not only of
the bridge, but of the inner gate. Here they had the advantage for a
time, for they had fastened the inner gate, which, however, yielded to
force. At this moment I received a tremendous blow from a large piece of
wood that was thrown from the ramparts, and hit me on the head; I fell
to the ground, stunned for a moment, but soon got up again. When I was
knocked down by the log of wood, a sergeant halloed out, "By the powers,
but he is kilt at last outright!"--"Not quite, sergeant," said I; "but
it was a devil of a blow."--"Och! never mind that, your honour," said
the sergeant, "it's all in the army." "No, sergeant," I replied, "it is
all on my head." A few seconds after this, the same sergeant received a
similar salute, which made him hug the ground, when a soldier who was
near him sang out, "Are you kilt, sergeant, dear?"--"Upon my
conscience," groaned the sergeant, "I don't know; but I feel mighty
queer, so I do."
I had not been on my legs again above a second, and had scarcely time to
scratch my head, when there was a dreadful explosion of powder. The
shock caused by this explosion nearly threw me down again. On looking
behind, I found it necessary to give some orders, and I pointed to the
object of my instructions. Some ill-natured fellow from the ramparts
thought I was pointing the finger of derision at him, so he let fly his
matchlock at me, and shot me through the very finger I was pointing
with--the forefinger of the left hand. The shot passed through the
finger, and, carrying away nearly the whole of the bone of the two first
joints, grazed the palm of my hand, and passed through the lapel of my
coat. At last the inner gate yielded to force, and we rushed into the
body of the fort. On our first entrance, we could see women and children
flying across the narrow streets; some mothers bearing their offspring
in their bleeding arms; some dropping them in their flight; and others
meeting death from the balls of our men, who were firing at random. Many
poor childless mothers threw themselves on the points of our men's
bayonets, and some begged for mercy. Putrid bodies, both of men and
beasts, lay about in all directions--some of them three or four deep;
and the smell was absolutely suffocating. The fighting soon ceased; and,
though many attempted to escape by another bridge, they were taken
prisoners.
The fort being now completely in our possession, as soon as the
prisoners had been secured, I examined my wound. An hour having elapsed
since I received it, my whole arm had begun to ache most dreadfully.
Finding, therefore, that I could do no further good to the service, I
was resolved I would do no harm to myself, so I bent my way towards
camp, to get my wound dressed. To be candid, I may as well confess that
I did not walk home, but rode one of the finest Persian horses I ever
beheld. I found him loose, running about the fort. I caught him, and
rode him with a piece of rope in his mouth. The good-natured
prize-agents did not request me to give him up; nor, perhaps, were they
aware that I had such an animal in my possession. Be that as it may,
however, I sold him at Lucknow, to the king of Oude, for two thousand
rupees--about two hundred pounds sterling. Having reported the capture
of the fort to the major-general, who was, of course, much pleased with
the information, and immediately made his arrangements accordingly, I
got my wound dressed. My good-natured doctor was pleased to announce to
me, that if I escaped with the loss of my finger, I might consider
myself fortunate; but he feared that the dreadful manner in which the
finger had been torn, would render amputation of the hand necessary. The
wound was evidently from an iron and rugged ball. Iron ball-wounds
immediately turn a rusty, or more of a yellow colour, and are bad
healing wounds. In the morning my wound was again dressed by another
medical friend; and it was so much better in the forenoon of the
following day, that I got into my palanquin and rode down to the fort. I
must beg to be excused from entering into a minute narration of the
scene inside. Let it suffice, that it far exceeded anything that man
could write, were he to sit down to draw a picture of the most abject
misery and woe. The most depraved wretch could not have looked on the
work of death which presented itself to our eyes, without being melted
into sorrow. I soon turned from such a sight, and stood towards home.
Near a small village, a beautiful young woman, about sixteen years of
age, had been seen, and ultimately seized. Her husband, to whom she had
only been wedded about three months, was one of those who were entombed
when the magazine blew up. From that period nothing could soothe her or
appease her grief; no power could restrain her; and at last she escaped
into the adjoining wood, or rumnah. When I saw her, she was running
wildly; but, at times, she would pause, hold up her finger, and tell you
to listen; when she would exclaim, with the most heart-rending shriek,
"That was him! It was he that did speak! Yet, now he is gone." Then the
poor bewildered maniac would tear her sloe-black hair, which was hanging
in ringlets down her back and bosom, and, at length, sink exhausted to
the ground. She was taken to camp, and committed to the care of some of
her relations, who had been taken prisoners.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]