During our long stay at Bersiah, we frequently went out on parties of
pleasure; and, as I had at this place nothing to do in my official
situation, I generally accompanied these little excursions. About
Bersiah the country was more fertile and beautiful than any part we had
passed through, and we had excellent shooting, from the royal tiger to
the royal snipe, without going a mile from camp. Thus we passed our
time, living pleasantly enough. At length we found that the Pindarees
had ascended another range of ghauts, and concentrated their forces at a
place called Beechy Taull. Towards this place we bent our course, the
extent of our daily marches being entirely regulated by the information
brought in by our spies. Our wild enemy were, for a time, stationary;
our marches were more regular; and they actually permitted us to
approach them, without moving their quarters; taking care, however, to
keep a wide and deep river between them and us, and an almost
inaccessible ghaut, from whence they could see such a distance round,
that our approach could be observed ten or fifteen miles off. When we
were within forty miles of this place, we made a forced march in the
morning, some twenty-two miles, through a thick woody country. Having
completed this distance, we halted for our cattle and followers; but we
started again when the moon rose, intending to surprise them by the
following morning's dawn. Our road, however, lay through a dense thick
wood, with a deep ditch or ravine every hundred paces, which we had so
much difficulty in getting our guns over, that, when the morning dawned,
we had not proceeded more than one-half of the distance, though we were
in sight of the ghaut, which was about eight miles ahead. In an hour and
a half after this, we reached and crossed the river Scend, about two
miles from the top of the ghaut.
Our spies, who had just left the camp of the enemy, informed us that
they were not encamped on the top of the ghaut, there being no water
there, but that they were lying near a large lake of water, about two
miles from the ghaut, apparently unconscious of our approach. The
general immediately dispatched the 4th regiment of Native Cavalry, under
Brigadier-General Newberry, who commanded the whole of the cavalry, with
this division, also Cunningham's corps of Local Horse, under the command
of Lieutenant W.W. Turner, with two six-pounders, called gallopers, as
they would proceed as fast as the regiment could charge. I asked the
general's permission to go, and I obtained his consent to act on the
staff with Brigadier-General Newberry. The ghaut was high and difficult,
being nothing more than a mass of loose stones, by which many of the
poor horses broke their knees in getting up. As soon as we were up, we
formed an extended line, and moved on slowly, as our horses had then
been ten hours saddled, and without food. At the camp described we found
a large body drawn up, and we gave them several long shots, and brought
some of their spirited steeds and men a pitch lower. We then went off at
a good smart gallop; but our long-jaded and hungry horses had but little
chance. We soon emerged from the thick wood which surrounded their
enormous encampment, and came up with some of them, and cut them up.
About a mile to our left, and in our front, we could see tremendous
volumes of dust; and, about a mile further on, we began to fall in with
the enemy in considerable numbers. Some of them fought well and bravely:
indeed, the greatest coward, when his life is at stake, will fight
desperately, and this was the case with these marauders; but their
struggle was ineffectual. We could see women riding across the country
at speed, with one child on their backs, and one before them. Their
horses flew along the plain with extraordinary rapidity.
Having gone about four or five miles, some few of the Pindarees formed,
and seemed inclined to come to the scratch; but, before we could reach
them, their hearts failed them, and they rode off, passing upon the
gentlemen with the white faces some unpleasant epithets, which decency
forbids me to mention. The declining sun had already dipped his golden
beams in the distant lake, and bid us speed while yet he tarried. We had
some hours of day remaining, and by the close of the evening we cut up
numbers of them. At this time Lieutenant Turner's corps of Local Horse
had separated themselves from the 4th Cavalry; and, before it was dark,
the brigadier wished them to rejoin him, for the whole of the enemy's
baggage was in sight. I was dispatched for the purpose of delivering the
general's communications and wishes. When about half way on my road on
this duty, I found that a number of straggling Pindarees were prowling
about, some of them wounded; and, in riding over the ground again, it
was evident to me that we had not been idle. Lieutenant Turner and his
corps of Local Horse had also done the state good service. I was riding
at speed to deliver my orders, when, from behind a large tree, a
Pindaree had the impudence to discharge his matchlock in my very teeth;
but the ball missed me. I had before this bent my faithful friend, the
24th Dragoon sabre, nearly double, by striking at the thick
cotton-stuffed coats of the Pindarees; but, in the course of the battle,
I had seized a large spear of one of the enemy, of which weapon I well
knew the use, having been taught by one of the first spearsmen in the
country--the zemindar of the elephants during the sieges of Bhurtpore
and other places. In the moment of forgetfulness and irritation I threw
away my sabre, and was resolved to chastise the Pin for firing at me, in
his own way; so I ran at him with the spear laid across the first joint
of my left arm, with the butt under my right arm. For a time he parried
it, but at last I ran it into his neck, and I rode round him something
like a brickmaker's horse going round, and twisted him completely off
his horse. He soon fell, and, as I could see some of his comrades coming
towards me, I rode off. I then began to regret having parted with my old
friend, the twenty-fourther, which had so often stood my friend in the
hour of peril; but this is man's ingratitude for services rendered.
I was some time before I could find Lieutenant Turner, the whole of
whose troops were engaged when I came up. When I had communicated the
brigadier-general's orders, they were reluctantly but promptly obeyed,
and we soon joined the 4th Cavalry, agreeably to the general's desire.
Having come up with the enemy's baggage, the night beginning to close
in, and our poor steeds being completely done up, we called a halt, to
refresh ourselves, and more especially our poor goaded horses, who were
so completely exhausted that we could not have proceeded another mile.
The baggage of the enemy consisted of horses, ponies, cows, bullocks,
goats, sheep, women, old men, and children, with their little all; and
that all was nothing more than their wearing-apparel, cooking-things,
&c. These people were only followers. None of their families were here,
except about a hundred of their wives, mounted on ponies. Round these
poor frightened creatures our gallant brigadier, more for their
protection from the villagers than for his own gain or security, placed
a considerable guard. I was immediately dispatched, with four horsemen,
back to the main division of the army, who had encamped on the top of
the ghaut, to communicate the purport of our little skirmishes. It was
no very pleasant thing to ride over a field of battle, groping my way
through the dark with only four men; but, as there was no remedy, it was
as well to do it cheerfully. I found the division had taken up the
enemy's position above the ghauts, where I arrived in safety, but
completely exhausted, as was also my thoroughbred mare. From the time I
mounted on the preceding night, it was twenty-four hours, in which time
I could not have gone less than eighty miles. From the violent
perspiration I was in, and the dust and powder with which I was covered,
when General Marshall saw me, he burst into a loud fit of laughter. No
poor dustman or sweep in London could have cut a more ridiculous figure;
which may account for the impudence of the man who fired at me from
behind the tree, who certainly must have taken me for some menial
servant who had stolen his master's clothes.
Having communicated my orders, my next object was the care of my
faithful horse. She looked the picture of woe, with her head almost down
to the ground, and she had lost one of her shoes. I had a groom who
prided himself on being a bit of a horse-doctor. My mare was a great
favourite with him, and he begged, as a most particular favour, that I
would leave the care of her entirely to him. Knowing his skill, I
consented, when, to my astonishment, he told my bearer to bring him some
warm water and half a bottle of brandy, with a little bran. He mixed the
whole together, milk warm, and gave it to the animal, who drank every
drop and neighed for more. This dose threw the mare into a violent
perspiration, and the groom then set to, with three other men, and
rubbed her well down with straw. She had not drank the warm mash long
before she lay down on some clean straw, which had been prepared for
her. The groom then commenced thumping her with his clenched fists all
over, and shampooing her, which she submitted to with apparent pleasure.
He then had her shoes removed and her feet pared and washed in warm
water, and wisped dry. After this he made her get up, and rubbed her
well over with his hands, and in one hour she looked as well as ever. He
then gave her another mash, and clothed her for the night, and she slept
well. On the following morning she was quite fresh. Having other
horses, I gave her a rest; but she was so frisky that I was obliged to
mount her before half the march was over.
The main body of the army was not able to reach the cavalry the next
day, the distance was so great; nor did they till a late hour on the
following day, when the property taken, such as cattle, &c., were sold
in the bazaar. On the succeeding day we moved on, but learned that the
hunted parties of the Pindarees had fallen into the hands of General
Donkin's division, with another portion of their baggage. Thus they were
handed from division to division. Such was the judicious plan of the
most noble the Marquis of Hastings, that, whichever way these marauders
turned, they were sure to fall into the hands of their enemies. Thus
harassed, they dispersed, in tens and twenties, all over the country,
when the country people took courage and made head against them, and
attacked them wherever they could find them; so that, at last, they
sought refuge in any little fort that would give them admittance.
Things being in this state, we were directed to proceed against the fort
of Dhamoony, a fort belonging to the Nagpore rajah, who had violated his
treaty with the company. The keeledar of this fort would not submit to
the proposals of the Company, but had received instructions from his
refractory master to fight the English while he had a man left. Before
we reached the fort, we understood that many of the Pindarees had
accepted the offers of the government; numbers had been cut up, and
others had flown to their homes, many of them in our provinces. Nothing
but small parties could be heard of, and these sought refuge in the
woods by day, and travelled towards their homes under cover of the
night. Passing over numberless little skirmishes, marches, and
countermarches, that would be tedious to detail, I shall leave the other
divisions of the army to pursue the Pindarees, and proceed to relate the
operations of that division with which my personal services stand
connected; previous to which, however, a brief sketch of the character
and mode of life of a Pindaree may not be unacceptable.
This predatory wanderer of the East, from the moment of his birth is
nursed in the lap of depravity, and is nurtured and fondled in a bosom
inured to cruelties and barbarities that would disgrace the wild savage
of the interior of benighted Africa. His sire, perhaps, a short moment
ere his birth, has imbrued his hands in the blood of innocence, or
buried his spear in the bosom of some infant virgin who would not
passively submit to his sensual embraces; and, peradventure, bears in
his hand some gold or silver ornament torn from her before unpolluted
bosom, with which he decks the body of his new-born babe. Should the
little urchin be permitted to live, he is schooled in the camp of
heartless assassins, mounted on horseback, and well instructed in the
system of plunder. Scarcely can the boy lisp his parent's name, ere he
is bedizened with his father's spoils. It often happens, however, that
these children are not permitted to trouble their parents long,
especially should they prove sickly or cross, in which case the father
makes little scruple of dispatching them outright. Indeed, by less cruel
parents these poor babes are thought but incumbrances to a flying and
marauding force, whose motto is rapine, where the arm of resistance dare
be put forth. When the boy attains five or six years of age, he bears
the blood-stained weapons of his calling, and is schooled in all the
intricacy and minutiae of their predatory line of life. At the age of
from ten to fourteen, he will be found a proficient in all the cruelties
which are considered requisite qualities for his profession; and,
perhaps, ere he has completed his sixteenth year, rapine and murder mark
his youthful career, and he wanders through vast tracts of country
unmolested and uncontrolled. The greatest blessing ever bestowed on this
great nation, was the annihilation of those immense hordes of Pindarees,
in the years 1817 and 1818, under the auspices of the Marquis of
Hastings. They generally form themselves into small bodies, some six or
seven hundred in number, putting themselves under the direction of the
most daring and despotic of their sect, but one who is generally well
acquainted with the localities of the country where plunder is to be
had. The court paid to this fiend is disgusting beyond description. He
is a little king, reigning on the throne of cruelty and bloodshed. These
people take up their quarters in towns and in their vicinity, committing
every kind of imposition on the poor unprotected inhabitants, against
whom, should they prove refractory, in refusing them even the carrying
off of their daughters or wives, the most coercive measures are
unhesitatingly resorted to. On these occasions murder is not an uncommon
event. From the unrepressed excesses of these marauders previous to the
Pindaree war, their annual visitations were looked for and expected as a
matter of course, but were esteemed by the poor plundered sufferers as a
kind of pestilential visitation, which they had no power to avert,
though, no doubt, they one and all had the inclination. They never
remained long at a place; but, during their short sojourn, they would
commit acts that disgrace the name of man, and would deservedly attach
to them the designation of brutes and monsters. They are generally well
mounted, and equipped in all the tawdry habiliments of the East. They
are most debauched and profligate characters, and some of them have four
and five women each as followers of their fortunes. These women are
excellent horse-women, and can handle the matchlock or sabre with the
best of them. They drink, riot, and smoke, the whole night, and bask in
the sun during the day. Their weapons generally consist of a long
seventeen-feet spear, a matchlock, sabre, and pistols. Their horses,
also, are well trained and manageable; but, from a formidable foe they
will run like cowards, and hide themselves till the danger is over.
Should they be surprised by any British force, they will run, and on the
road plunder one another; which sometimes is attended with bloodshed.
These people seldom marry, but live together as long as they like one
another, and no longer. From the debauched habits of both sexes, they
are not long-lived. They make use of opium in large quantities. It is
generally used by them as a stimulus to rouse their languid spirits to a
state of hilarity. I have seen some of the women in a most piteous
state, from having taken this drug too freely; so stupefied that they
could not articulate a word.
These were the people that the government of India wisely annihilated,
in the years 1817 and 1818. "In the destruction," says Sir John Malcolm,
"of this predatory system, which was converting the finest provinces
into a wilderness, the British government has performed a splendid act
of justice, policy, and humanity, which fairly entitles it to be
regarded as a conservative and beneficent power, whose supremacy has
been the deliverance of the people. That system was the baleful dregs of
the exhausted military establishment of the Mohammedan dynasties; and it
succeeded to the wars of Aurungzebe, like pestilence after famine,
rioting in the exhaustion of the country."
After a long and tedious march, we reached the fort of Dhamoony. The
rightful and proper owner of this extraordinary fort was the rajah of
Nagpore. He had, but a short period before, been placed on the
throne--so termed by the Indians--that is, in possession of his
inheritance, and acknowledged by the British government as the rightful
possessor, and their ally, and protected and guarded in quiet dominion,
when he suddenly entered into a league with the peishwah of Poonah, to
destroy the English, in violation of good faith, and to the disregard of
a most solemn treaty. When the Company were guarding and protecting this
treacherous rajah, he was harbouring in his bosom a plot of the most
base ingratitude. Such had been the secrecy with which he carried on his
intrigues with the peishwah, that a little band of British troops was
completely surrounded by fifty or sixty thousand horse, before the
Company were aware of his diabolical treachery. Our troops, in this
desperate situation, consisted of one regiment of native infantry, and a
few troops of the 5th regiment of Bengal native cavalry, in all not
seven hundred men, with, I believe, two six-pounders, against fifty or
sixty thousand! What was to be done? To stand and be shot at would have
been the height of folly and madness; nor could they, under such heavy
fire and force, hope to reach any other place of safety. Captain
Fitzgerald, commanding, or second in command of the 6th cavalry,
proposed charging the enemy, and selling their lives as dearly as
possible, declaring that, if he could gain a small eminence on which
they had a few guns, he should not despair of keeping them off and
saving their lives. In this proposal he was seconded by Mr. Jenkins, the
British resident at the court of Nagpore. The brave soldiers one and all
consented, and, sword in hand, on they galloped, and actually cut their
way through that immense mass of horsemen; in time gained the hill; took
their guns, and turned them upon the enemy; and there maintained their
post till reinforcements arrived. This piece of gallantry saved the
lives of all the party, and places on the brows of that brave corps
laurels that never can fade--honours of which the iron hand of time
cannot rob them. I have frequently met the officer who commanded on this
occasion (Captain Fitzgerald) in company, and it is difficult to offend
him more than by mentioning this Nagpore affair, or attaching to him any
peculiar praise or merit. I once heard him say, very angrily, "D--n the
place--I wish I had never seen it; it's more plague to me, and oftener
sounded in my ears, than if I had turned coward and run away. If I am to
be pestered thus for having merely done my duty, the devil may fight
next time, for I won't." It is true that a soldier cannot do more than
his duty; every effort that he can make is due to his country, and
every nerve should be exerted to promote its glory. From my own career,
I am convinced that, where the danger is most imminent, the soul rises
in proportion in energy and courage to meet it. I have invariably found
it so myself, and I dare say that my feelings on these occasions are
similar to those of most other soldiers.
The fort of Dhamoony is built of stone, and is situated in a most
extraordinary place, and, as the people relate, was built on account of
the following remarkable circumstance. Some rajah was hunting in its
vicinity, when a hare got up and afforded excellent sport for a
considerable time, and ultimately attacked and killed one of the rajah's
bloodhounds. This singular circumstance induced him to erect the present
fort of Dhamoony. It literally stands in a hole, surrounded by a wild
and inaccessible jungle, and two of its sides resting on the steep
banks, or rocky heads, of a tremendous ditch or ravine, in some places a
hundred feet deep. Upon this stands the wall, some thirty or forty feet
high; and, to view one of the bastions from this excavation is really
terrific. On the front and other side there is scarcely any ditch; but
the entrance is through five gateways, each of these commanded by small
guns, and having small loop-holes for matchlocks.
The occupants of this fort actually fired at our advance, when nearly
three miles off; I suppose to let us know that they were resolved to
fight. We encamped about two miles from the small ridge of hills on
which we afterwards erected our breaching-battery. In three days
everything was ready, when the usual offer was made to them, as we did
not wish wantonly to spill human blood. They spurned the proffered
mercy; so to show them that we were in earnest, we commenced by giving
them a salvo from our twenty-four pounders, accompanied with three
cheers. They manfully returned both; and, from the show of heads upon
the wall, we imagined we should have a tough job, and began to think the
rajah's boast, that his fort was impregnable, not unfounded, for our
shots rebounded some hundred feet; at which the garrison laughed and
cheered most heartily. They little imagined what was in preparation for
them, and was soon to follow. In about an hour, we effectually disturbed
their merriment, and their turbans were seen flying in all directions
from our little whistling shrapnells. In five minutes not a soul could
be seen; but the screaming of women and children was dreadful. The first
day our balls seemed to have made little or no impression upon the wall;
but, on the following day, some large stones in the centre of the
bastion seemed tired of being battered, and began to shake, and in the
course of the morning two of them tumbled out, when an Irish sergeant of
the Company's Bengal Foot Artillery exclaimed to a corporal, "Corporal
Hogan! come here, joy; sure, we have knocked two of her teeth out at
last, and we'll soon bother her wig for her." The corporal replied, "Ah,
Paddy, that bastion comes down like sin."--"How is that, Hogan?" asked
the sergeant. "By degrees, to be sure," replied the corporal; "for, when
that once begins to come, faith! it tumbles on one by the hundreds."
Some of the enemy having heard the noise of the stones falling, a few of
them peeped their noses out to see what was the matter, and soon retired
again, impressed with a conviction that the prophecies of the
superstitious builder, as well as his boasted fort, would soon be
without a foundation. These fears were rational enough, for the bastion
began to give way in all directions. About one o'clock we expected our
grand shelling-battery to open, which must certainly have completed the
demolition of the fort, for our shells were of enormous calibre. About
this time we generally broke off firing, for the purpose of the men
getting their dinners; and this was the only time that the inmates of
the fort dared to show their noses. Many were now gazing on the falling
and dilapidated tower. Its top had giving warning of its being tired of
the contest, having found out that iron is harder than stone. I thought
I should like to take a nearer peep; so I asked Captain Cruikshank if
he would accompany me to take a nearer view of the fort, that we might
know what kind of ground we had to go over. I would advise all young
soldiers to ascertain this grand point, whenever they can do so without
risk of discovery or personal danger, that, when storming on dark
nights, they may know where to run, and where to walk. I need not say
that Captain Cruikshank, who was a most gallant officer, readily
assented to my proposal. We crept down within a hundred yards of the
bastion, and were so close, that we were observed peeping by those upon
the wall. One of them said, "Come on; do not be afraid; we will not fire
on you." This was repeated by several others, who stood on the walls. We
asked them what they wanted by inviting us to go nearer; and they told
us that, if we would cease firing, they would give up the fort. We
replied that, if they were really inclined to do so, we would come
nearer, and listen to their proposals and wishes. They swore most
positively it was the wish of the keeledar and garrison. For myself, I
scarcely thought that their oaths were to be trusted; but Captain
Cruikshank said, if I would go, he would; so I had no alternative left,
as, of course, after such an invitation, I could not say no. We
accordingly approached close to the bastion, and they faithfully
promised to surrender the fort, if we would cease firing. As we now felt
assured that they were in earnest, their wishes were promptly
communicated to the commander; and Brigadier-General Watson came down to
where we had been standing, when it was settled, that all the occupants
of the fort should be permitted to march out, with their families and
private property, but that they should lay down their arms. This they
readily assented to, and, as a pledge of their good faith, they
undertook to send out the keeledar immediately. Our occupying-party was
in readiness in the trenches. We, therefore, with the general,
quarter-master-general, and several others, with about twenty soldiers,
waited at the outer gate for the keeledar, who at last arrived, a poor
hoary-headed old man, who had been bound for proposing to give up the
fort before we commenced the siege. For having given utterance to such a
proposal, his mutinous troops had kept him confined till that moment.
When he was liberated, he looked the picture of misery and despair. His
white beard was clotted together from weeping, and he seemed almost
starved. We had given the garrison to understand that, if any treachery
was attempted, the governor's life should be the forfeit. At this
juncture, a most untoward circumstance occurred. An eight-mortar battery
erected in the village, being uninformed of this parley, opened their
new shelling fortification, to try the distance. The first shell fell
within five yards of General Watson's feet, and exploded; but, strange
to say, we all escaped. Another fell on the tree under which we were
standing, and another burst over our heads; but it miraculously happened
that no one was hurt. All was consternation. The poor old keeledar cried
out "Treachery!" and some few shots were fired from the garrison. I was
immediately dispatched towards our mortar-battery to stop their
proceedings; but I had not gone ten yards before a shell fell within
five paces of me. I immediately threw myself on my face, and hugged the
ground, and thus escaped. I am persuaded that, when the shell bursts, it
ascends a little, for I could hear the pieces buzzing over my head. The
danger being over, I again made the best use of my legs, when I met the
artillery-officer coming to see the effect of the shots which had been
fired, to judge of the distance for the next eight, which were all
ready. I was so completely out of breath that I could only say, "For
God's sake, stop your firing!"
The officer, alarmed at my appearance and manner, said, "What the devil
is the matter with you, Shipp?"--"Matter! my dear fellow," I replied;
"why, you have, I suppose, by this time killed the general,
quartermaster-general, and half the officers in camp." Hearing this he
set off at a gallop towards the fort, to see the extent of the mischief
he had done from his ignorance of the parley. I followed at a slow
trot, and was delighted to find that none of the shells, although eight
had been thrown, had done any other injury than frightening those whom
they came near. I can speak for myself, at all events; and I protest I
did not at all relish the idea of being shot by the shells of our own
batteries. There was something unnatural in this mode of making one's
exit; and, to tell the candid truth, I was terribly scared, and the
captain of the battery and I never got on such terms of intimacy again
as to be within shelling distance, as I was not fond of such combustible
acquaintances.
After I had stopped the shelling from our battery, and was thinking of
my miraculous escape, I was interrupted by an inquisitive sergeant; and,
as I always made it a point of attending civilly to every man who spoke
to me, I permitted him to go on. He addressed me as follows:--"Pray, was
your honour there when the first shell fell, for I was after laying that
self-same mortar?"
"Yes," said I, "and you nearly laid me in the grave."
"By the powers, but I should have been mighty sorry for that, your
honour."
I thanked him for his sorrow, but he continued following me towards the
scene of action, and at last again broke silence.
"Is all the fight over, your honour?"
I said, I hoped so.
"I hope not," replied he.
I told him I was pretty confident of it, as the enemy were willing to
give up the fort.
Hearing this, he coolly replied, "Then bad luck to them, after all the
trouble we have had in building and completing that sweet eight-gun
battery forenent yonder."
"Well, but my good fellow," I replied, "you cannot expect with reason
more than they have to give."
"I don't mane that, your honour; it's only so much time thrown away for
nothing, without getting any satisfaction for it; besides, your honour,
it is quite tantalizing to one's feelings; and a great big fight would
have been some kind of compensation."
"Supposing that, in that great big fight, you or I should have been
killed, sergeant?"
"By my conscience," said he, laughing loudly, "but that would have been
rather unpleasant, certainly."
"That would have been but a poor compensation for your trouble. What do
you think, sergeant?"
"Faith! your honour, I like short reckonings, and I do not like to work
for nothing."
Here we rejoined the party; he mixed in the general bustle, and I lost
sight of him. I afterwards saw the same man in the fort, and I pointed
out to him a poor woman whose legs had been shot off, but who still
carried her babe in her arms, saying, "Well, sergeant, I hope you are
now compensated for your trouble in the erection of your battery." He
turned his head to where I pointed, and said (I shall never forget his
pathetic manner), "By my conscience, your honour, if I had thought I
should ever have seen such a murderous sight, I would not have come near
the place." I saw him wipe the tear of sympathy from his eye with the
back of his hand, and he continued, "Shall I take the poor creature to
the hospital?"--"No, sergeant," replied I, "you would only increase her
pain." Almost immediately after this, the poor woman breathed her last
sigh. In her last struggle she grasped her child, and, even after death,
her cold eye rested on the features of her unconscious babe. We induced
another woman, whose child had been killed, to take charge of this. She
cheerfully consented; but whether the poor child really found in her a
second mother, I had no means of knowing.
All the outer gates of the fort were barricaded with huge piles of
stones, which we were obliged to remove before we could enter, and which
took up a considerable time. We had prepared everything, in case of
treachery, and we therefore marched in as if proceeding to storm.
As we entered, they threw open the gates; but there was a degree of
expressive fear on the face of every man in the fort, for they were
strangers to the principles of Europeans, and they judged them by their
own. Every man was ready, with his match lighted, resolved, as we were
afterwards given to understand, to sell their lives dearly, should we
prove treacherous. No sooner did we enter, than the eye instinctively
closed, on beholding the appalling scene before us. Terrified and
decrepit old men and women were in great numbers; and agonized mothers
were seen hugging their lifeless babes to their bosoms. Far and wide lay
strewed bodies and parts of bodies. Some young women bared their bosoms
to the pointed bayonets, calling upon our men either to kill them or
return their murdered babes and husbands. One young maiden screamed
bitterly for her father, who had been killed; and her last breath died
upon the breeze, for she fell, and expired in the arms of her aged
mother.
Having observed that we acted on the defensive only, and seemed rather
to sympathize with them in their griefs, the enemy gained confidence,
and left their elevated posts with apparent faith. They moved gradually
and slowly out, taking with them their little property unmolested. They
were pictures of the most abject misery and want. They had not received
any pay from their master, the rajah of Nagpore, for the long period of
two years, during which they had lived upon the produce of their
exactions from the villagers of the surrounding country. I would venture
to say that, out of fifteen hundred people, they had not a hundred
rupees amongst them; but, had they millions, it was guaranteed to them
by the word of faith which Britons had never broken in India. They
quietly grounded their arms as they came out one by one, accompanied by
their families. Some of them cast a last fond look at their sabres,
probably some family relic, and heaved a parting sigh. The surrounding
country being in a state of commotion, created by small parties of the
Pindarees flying towards their long-forsaken homes, and purloining
everything they came near on the road, our humane general permitted
every tenth man to keep his matchlock and sword, for self-preservation.
Under the dusk of the evening they moved towards their homes, and we
took possession of the fort, having lost but very few men during the
whole siege.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]