BEGUMBAGH, AN EPISODE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 14, Issue 114, 12 April 1870, Page 3

BEGUMBAGH, AN EPISODE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY.

(From Christmas number of " Chambers' Journal*' j~ : ' ; 'CHAPTER XVII. " ■'■-'■'< I don't know how^ime passed t&en; Wf the next thing I remembW is listening t<L the firing for a while, a>d then; leaning on Lizzy, being to the women's, quarters, wherej in spite of all they could , do, those children would keep escaping from their Mother to get to Harry I/ant* \ who lay close to me, podr fellow, smiling and looking happy, whenever they came near him ; and I smiled, too, and felt as/ happy when Lizzy, after, tending me with Mrs. Bantem as long as it was necessary,; got bathing Harry's forehead with wiuer and moistening his lips. " Poor fellow," I thought, /'it will do. him good ;" and I lay watching Lizzy moving about afterwards, and then I think I ikust have goEte .to sleep, or have . fallen into a dull numb state, from which : I was. wakened by a Voicii I knew ; and, opening my "eyes, I saw that Miss Jt6ss,\: pale and scared-looking, was on her knee's . by the side of Harry Laittt, and that Captain: Dyer 'was there. '•'.,'■ . "Not one word of welcome," he said, with a strange drawn look on his face, which deepened, as Miss Boss rose and i went close to him. .>'•.. " Yes," she said ; " thank God you have jeturned safe.— No, no ; don't touch me," she cried hoarsely. " Here, take me away — -lead meout of this!" she said, for at that moment Lieutenant Leigh came quietly in, and she put her hands in his. : "Take me out," she said again hoarsely ; and then like some one muttering in a dream : " Take me away — take me away." I said that drawn strange look on Captain Dyer's face seemed to deepen as he stood watching whilst those two went out together; then lie passed his hand overhis eyes, as if to ask himself whether it was a dream ; and then, with a groan, he. leaned one hand against the wall, feeling his way out of the room, and something seemed to hinder me from calling out to; him, and telling him what I knew. For I was reasoning with myself, what ought I to do P and then, sick and faint, I seemed to sleep again. But this time I was waked up by a loud shrieking, and a rush of feet, and, confused as I was, I knew what it meant : the hole where the blacks escaped — Chunder and his party — had not been properly guarded, and the mutineers had climbed up and made an entrance. : The alarm spread fast enough, but not quick enough to save life; for, with a howl, half-a-dozen sepoys, with their scarlet and white coatees open, dashed in with fixed bayonets, and two women Were borne to the ground in an instant, while a couple of; wretches made a dash at those two children — Little Cock Robin and Jenny Wren, as we called them— standing there, wondering like, by' Harry Lant's bed on the floor, whilst the golden light of the setting sun filled the room, and lit up their little angel faces. But with a howl, such as I never heard "... woman give, JMrs. Ban teni rushed between, them aud the children, caught a bayonet in each hand, and held them together, letting them pass under one arm, then . with a spring forward she threw those . great arms of hers round the black fellows' necks as they hung together, and held them in such a hug as they never suffered from before. . , • . - The next moment they were all rolling together on the floor ; but that incident Bavod-"the.Jiv.es_o£ tloose poor oliildren, Sot-- \. there came a cheer now, and Measles and a dozen more were led in, by Lieut. Leigh, . and . There, I am telling you too many horrors. They beat them back step by step, at the point of the bayonet ; and a fierce struggle it was, a long fight kept up from room to room, for' our men were fierce now as the mutineers, and it was a genuine death-struggle ; and the broken window being guarded, not a man of about a dozen mutineers who gained entrance lived to ■ go back and relate their want of success. And can you wonder, when two of those who fought had found their wives bayoneted : Grainger was one of them ; and when the fight was over, during which, raging like a demon, he had bayoneted four men, the poor fellow sat down by his dead wife, took her head first in his lap, then to his breast, and rocked himself to and fro, crying like a child, till there was a bugle-call iv the court-yard, when he laid her gently in a corner, carrying her like as if she had been a child, kneeled down, and said " Our Father " right through by her side, kissed her lips two or three times, and then -„ covered her face with a bit of an old red handkerchief; and him all the while covered with blood and dust and black of powder. Then, poor fellow, he got up and took his gun, and went out on the tips of his toes, lest he should wake her who would wake no more in this world. Perhaps it was weakness, I don't know, but my eyes were very wet just then, and a soft little hand was laid on my breast, and Lizzy's head leant over me, and her tears, too, fell very fast on my hot and fevered face. I felt that I should die, not then, perhaps, but before very long, for I knew that my arm was so shattered that it ought to be amputated just below the elbow, while for want of surgical assistance it would mortify ; but somehow I felt very happy just then, and my state did not give me much pain, only that I wanted to have been up and doing ; and at last, Lizzy helping me, I got up, my arm beiug, bandaged and in a sling, to find- ■; that I could walk about a little; and I i made my way down into the court-yard, where I got near to Captain Dyer, who, better now, and able to limp about, was > talking with Lieutenant Leigh, both officers now, and forgetful apparently of all but the present crisis. " What wounded are there ?" said Capt. Dyer, as I walked slowly up. " Nearly every man to some extent," said Lieut. Leigh ; " but this man and Lant are the worst." ?'The place ought to be evacuated," saitl Captain Dyer ; "it is impossible to hold it another day." "We might hold out another clay," said Lieut. Leigh, " but not longer. Why not retreat under cover of the night ?" "It seems the only thing left," said Capt. Dyer. "We might perhaps get.to some hiding-place or other before our absence was discovered ; but the gate and that back window will be watched of course : how are we to get away with two severely wounded men, the women, and children ?" " That must be planned," said Lieut. Leigh ; and then the watch was set for the night, as far as could be done, and another time of darkness set in. . ■"; It was that which puzzled me, why a good 'bold attack was not made by night ; •- : .< why, the place must have been carried '; : again and again ; but no, we were left each night entirely at rest, and the at- -. tacks by day were clumsy and bad. There ; . was no support; every man fought for/; himself, and after his own fashion, andpt^jy suppose that every man did, look uponfKf ;j himself as an officer, and resented all dis- 1 ;; cipline. At all events, it was our saM- ; ;i tion, though at this time it seemed to mo that the end must be coming" on the next

dff3itl Ff ©meiniief ' thinldnljjrthat if it did come to the, end, lr should like to keep one cartridge left in my pouch. - v Then -my v mind "went off; wandering in a misty way upon a plan to get away by night, and I tried to make one, taking in? to consideration, that the quarters on the north side of u&apw> and: only separated by tea feet of at|ey," were, in the hands of the [^fi^ii^,%ho "camped in them, the same being: the .csse : iathe^ quarters on the sptitfe 'side,^sep£ratecf again: by the ten feet 'bf } alley tnrough which we returned "when Captain, Dyer. 'and Harry Lant were taken. Wiileon the eas fc was the market plato prsqji^eVand on the west a wilderness 'of j?pen cbuntry tirith huts and sheds. I .'felt',, do ; you know, that a good plan of esoapeat this time was just what I ought t6;Mt§] e^ery^one else being busy w^th dtfl^ ahc|"'me "not able to either fight or stand 'sentry,' so I'worked on hardat it that -night, , trying to be useful in some way ;*t : ancl after, a; fashion,. l worked one ottfc.' f :;. ; r I ; i^. Vl " .'.'.:' '„' . ' 'Bttt;'l h^'noijtold ypii what I meant to, dci with that last cartridge in my pouch; I-'ineant't^iifto be pressed to my lips once before, i cqntriyea with one hand to load my rifle, and' then if the/worst came to the very worst, and when I had waited to tile last to #cc if Jiejp would come, then, when it seemed, that there was no hope, I meant .to do what I told myself it would beiiiy dkhy^Mp irian atid a soldier, to do, If I loved Tit^zy Green~-do what more than one man. did, during the mutiny, by the' "Woman; '"for 'whom lie had been shedV ding ll Ms ' heart's ' best blood ; and in the de'acL of ifc&b night T did load that gun, a^er/Mssmg tne biUet; and a deal of painthat 1 me, mental as well as bodily, but 1 d<)nt ! 'thinTt that I need to tell you what that'lastr^tridge was for.