HOW I WON MY VICTORIA CROSS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1075, 25 April 1867, Page 6

HOW I WON MY VICTORIA CROSS.

[ From O/icc a Tf cct. j You want to liear how I mr.uajcel to get the A C., do you, old fellow? well sciicl over to tlic J3uttei'y' for another tankard of beer, and I will tell you all about it; it's dry work tahung ; ancl your Brasenose malt is perfection. Now for my story : . , It was near the close of a glorious summer daj iu the plains of India, you know what tlud means: the sun had just gone down blood red in a cloudless sky, the thermometer stood at l-LU degrees in my tent, and not a breath ot air was sti'rriiitr. I had onlv just returned to camp altera prettv hard day's work, and had fallen asleep on my cot booted and spurred as I came in. Jat tliat time, as you may remember the command of a body of Sikh lior.se which I had raised myself, and was. moreover. - Vc,l "K Quarter Master General, and Ho ad ot the Intelligence Department to the v. eruudda Moveable Column under Major-Oeucnu oil' George Percy, K.C.8., so liad v.'ork enough on jay hands. On this day I had been in the saddle from daybreak till late in the afternoon scouring the country for miles in advance of the column, and had wound up by a hard gallop ot halt a dozen miles with a troop of mutineer Sowars at my heels. Imagine my disgust at being roused up by a big black-bearded Sikh orderly, with, " Sahib, the general sahib wishes to see you immediately in his tent." .T. jumped up, soused my head m the big brass basin which, we Indians carry with US everywhere, pulled on my blue JSleersai, (a loose tunic much worn by Indian officers on service, and rushed oil to the General s tent, not in the best of humors. As soon as I cnterd. however, I saw there was something serious tne matter, and I had not been roused "for nothing. The General was seated at his camp-table looking very grave, and with an open letter iu his hand. .By his side were Colonel A—, second in command to j—his Adjutant-General. Sir George handed mo the letter as I came in. "Head this, Llautine ; it has just been brought iu by a disguised Sepoy from Sliahranpore." It was from Major , Tvlio had-long been beleaguered iu that place with the ollieers.' women, and children ofhis own regiment, and a few fugitives from neighboring stations. It was written in Greek eharact ers, and ran as follows : " Only 20 men lit for duty, provisions very short ; we cannot possibly hold out more than five days longer." Few words and simple, but full of awful meaning. ''The difficulty is this, said the General, turning to Colonel A—, " Sliahranpore is, you k now, oiily some 30 miles to the eastward, and we might reach it in time to save them, but then we must leave tUiaraghur to itself for at least a week and I don't know in what state they are there, or how long they can hold out: the number of Kuropeans there is three times as great as at Sliahranpore, and they have a large treasury and magazine in the fort. Llautine has sent six spies at dillerent times with letters to Bharaghur; the two first came back with their ears and noses strung around their necks, and the others never came back at all, all our information goes to show that the enemy arein great force round the place. I dare not "divide our small force ; if we march to relieve Sliahranpore, we risk losing Bharaghur, and as this letter shows, if we attempt to relieve Bharaghur, Sliahranpore must fail into the enemy's hands, aud there will be Cawnpore over again. What do you advise, A—'' • The Colonel's face worked strangely, aud when at last he answered, it was in a thick husky voice. "JYIy wife and children are at Sliahranpore. General, but the safety of Bharaghur must not be risked. " There was a silence forsomcminutes, and as we looked at each other, our faces gathered blackness.

•'By God!" exclaimed Sir George, " this is a fearful position to be in. I'd give a year's pay to know how things reallj- are at Bharaghur." By this time my mind was made up. "All right, General, write a cheque, and give ine till noou to-morrow, and if I'm in luck you shall have the information you require. " " What do-you mean, Llautinc ? You won't get any one to go to Bharaghur after the way your poor devils of spies were treated." " I dou't want anyone to trj-, General ; if the tliiug is to be done at all, I must do it myself It's only 20 miles from here to Bharaghur as the crow flies, and I know every inch of the country . as I had charge of this district for two years before the row began." " Nonsense, Llantiue, you'll get cut to pieces as sure as fate, and do no good either. "We must think of some other plan." " He either fears his fate too much, General —you know the rest. If the niggers are tohave my scalp, they may as well take it now as a year lience. Anyhow, I'll risk it." There was a little more discussion, but as no better plan could be hit on, 1 carried my point and left the tent, to make my arrangements. Colonel A followed me out. " God bless you, Llantine, and bring you safe back," said he wringing mj'hand; and as I looked at him I saw the tears standing in his eyes. It took me rather aback, for the old fellow Was no great friend of mine, and was a regular Tartar, to boot.

" All right, Colonel, never say die. I shall live to plague you yet I hope." I sent at once for my J-tissaldar, (a Native officer of Irregular Cavalry,) and in live minutes lie was in my tent. I am going for a ride to-night, Sliere Singh, let your sou with Bulwunt Singh, Burry Singh, and four other good men be ready in an hour, and look 3 r ou, sec that they are well mounted, and their arms in good order." " Tliey ore always ready for work, sahib," said the old tjikh, as he saluted and went out. I slept like a top for nearly an hour, and awoke feeling game for anything. Tattoo was beating as I rode off with my small party, and the moon did not rise till nearly midnight, so we had good three hours of darkness before us. For the first ten miles we rode hard along the high road which crossed a large barren plain, destitute alike of villages and trees, and here I knew we were not likely to come across any of the enemy ; but after that the country became cultivated and thickly peopled, and wc wore obliged to make our way as best we could, skirting villages, feeling our way through large topes, (clumps of forest-trees,) in many of which we saw fires burning, and not a few horses picketed. It was evident enough that the rebels were strong in cavalry, and had scattered them ■well over the country between us and their camp. At last wc arrived, -without any adventures, ■within half a mile of Bharaghur. The enemy were apparently in very strong force all round the Fort, and their watch-fires wore blazing in every direction. It was manifestly unsafe for us to go on any further, so I halted my men in a dense patch of jungle, with strict orders not, more on any account unless, indeed I were absent more than thrco hours, in which case they were to make their way back to camp. I left my horse, of course, with them, and stripped myself keeping on only a waistcoat, in which I stuck my revolver, and stole off sabre in hand towards the north face of the fort opposite to -which -wo -were, as I knew that the only entrance was on that side. Favoured by the darkness I crept along under cover of mounds and bushes, ■until I gained the northeast angle of the ditch ; the entrance to the Fort was nearly at the other end of this face, but I could not get opposite to it, as the oopoys had a stong picket there, and their sentries were pacing up and down to within a few yards of where I was. Ilere, then, it became necessary for me to take to the water. Crouching beneath a bush, I took off my sword and left it there, but kept my Colt on, as I new from experience, that it would stand any amount of wet. Now I was all ready,'and had nothing to do but to get into the moat; out somehow I was rather backward in going forward ; the water looked horribly black and ugly, and by no means inviting. I knew that

crocodiles were as thick as thieves there, and it now occurred to me for the first time how extremely it was probable that one of them might take a fancy to mo. .Never bel or eh rul Hu 11 yap - pvccialed the deep wisdom of old LalstatL srellections on honor—honor pricked mo 011, sure enough, but would it pull me tiiroughit one ol the scaly genj.leuien clown below sliould la} hold o my le" ? The idea was by no means ph-asant. ami I must admit that I funked horribly. But it. was now too late to draw bad:, and the more Hooked at the water the less I liked it, so at last, \wtli something between a curse and a prayer. L dropped quietly in. Ugh ! how feariully cold it. felt, though the night was warm enough. .L am a tolerably good swimmer, and struckoutnismiully, | but I seemed to be crawling through _thc water. " Cenc.ct one /c pri'inicr j>os i/ni cuiitc was uyuo means true in niv case; 1 had some 300 varus to swim, and Ivy the time Igot halt-way 1« as, it possible, ill a greater funk than when I started, i swam with 1113' beard over my shoulder, expecting every moment to hear the rush ot some huge mugger, (a crocodile,) or to see its horrid jaws rising above the water. Every ripple startled me, and I could hear my heat thumping against my ribs. At last I reached the other bank safe and sound, scrambled up it sharp, and being lucky eitougn to itiul the kuropeau sent.l 3 a little less ready' tliau most of them with his rille, succeeded in persuading him that. I was not a " nigger," in time to escape lead or steel. In a couple of minutes I was surrounded by half the garrison, and had lohl my s:orv. i t was received with a wild hurrah, which startled the gentlemen 011 the opposition benches not a little, and brought down on us a shower ot bullets, which luckily did 110 damage.

- Toll Sir George," said the old brigadier, iliiit we have lots'of food and amunition can hold out for a fortnight it necessary ; but stop, I will give von a note to bim." After taking it mid a peg of rum. I was ready to slavt again. As L was saying " good-bye, one of the rifles sang out: " By the Bye, Llantine, if you should get konclcell over going back, the General will be in as bi ,r a lix as ever ; you bad better let one of vis Eju wTtli you, two fellows were better than one, and I am your man." -Inst then a sepoy stepped out of the crowd. - Let me go with the sahib, a black man may get through'\vlierca white one cannot." lie was an Oiide man, a " rand}',' and a Brahmin, but had stood by his oiheers like a ma 11 and looked like one who might be trusted ; so I accepted bis offer at once, and be stuck a copy of the brigadier's letter into'his turban. A shake ol the hand all round, a chorus otGod bless \*ou, and ** Good-bye, old tellow, and we "were both in the water, swimming like fishes, strangely enough, I did not mind it going back : the danger seemed to be all over, and I was as jolly as possible. -Just as we were Hearing the other bank I beard a sudden exclamation from my companion, " Deko, sahib, deko ! (Look, sir, look !'") and turning my head, caught sight of something black above the water. J. lie next moment u shrill sharp cry of agony vail through the still night air. To 1113- dying day J shall never forget the wild despairing face and outstretched arms which arose for a moment- high above the water, and then slowly disappeared as my poor comrade was dragged down. I could j do nothing to help bim ; bis death-shriek roused the Sepoys, and in another moment a shower of bullets splashed in every direction round me. I pulled myself out of the ditch faint and sick at heart, aud scrambled up the bank, but by this time the mutineers were fully aroused, aud torches glared on every side. Suddenly the Fort batteries opened fire briskly, and were at once answered by the guns on the oppo-ite bank; rifle, musket, and matchlock joined in the chorus; drums beat to arms throughout the rebel camp, and all was confusion. Hoping to escape unperceived in the row, I ran towards the trees where my horse was tied up, but was intercepted lialf-way by a lot of Sepoys. My revolver was handy, and I fired into them right and left:, but- the next minute a bullet bit me in the leg, and I shared the fate of the Black Mousquetaire, who, the legend tells us, "Vent down with a groa<i a:n! a frown, And a hale in liia small clothes the ?izo of a crown, the only difference in my favor being that my small clothes escaped damage, having parted company with me a couple of hours before. X managed to stagger on mv legs, but only to be sent to grass again with a sabre cut over the head. Of what followed I have but a vague idea. I remember as I went down a trampling of horses, aud hearing the war-cry of my Sikhs, Ah gooroo, Jce, All gooro Govmd," a clash of sabres, pistol-shots, a whirl of horses' hoofs all round me, aud then the blackness of darkness.

When I came to myself we were riding along full speed over the open plain, and old Shcre Singh and another were supporting me on either side. At daybreak wc halted for a few minutes on the banks of a tank while the horses got breathed a bit, and I had my wounds washed and bound up. By the time that was done I felt pretty well again, and looking about me missed young liun jeet Singh, and asked Ins father where he was.

" He is with liis fathers, sahib, said the old Sikh, calmly ; "he died like a brave man, flghtiug for you aud.thc great Company whose salt he had eaten."

I was sorry for the youngster, for he was one of the best men in my corps, and old Shore Singh's only son. On we rode again, keeping our horses up to their speed, for we were being followed pretty close by a troop of Irregulars, aud it was quite a toss up whether they ran us down or not. Just as the sun rose, and when we were only some three or four miles from camp, they all but overtook us, and two or three bullets came whizzing about our ears, the Sowars were gaining 011 us at every stride, and tilings looked very fishy, when suddenly a turn of the road brought us face to face with another strong party of cavalry. I thought for a moment that it was all over with us; the next instant a ringing cheer told me that we had met friends, and I found myself in the midst of a squadron of my own Sikhs ; hard behind us came the ene.ny, yelling like fiends, aud as they turned the corner, pulled up, and crowded together, undecided whether to advance or turn back. Small time had they to make up their minds ; our fellows charged down 011 them furiously ; tired men and horses had little chance against fresh ones, and tlie shock was irresistible. Being myself hor.s'de coaihat, I looked on quietly, aud never in my life did I sec men so cut to pieces ; our fellows rode through and through them, and had they been allowed to follow the fugitives, scarcely a man would have escaped. But I wanted to keep them in hand, so sounded the recall vigorously. Back they came; old Shore Singh growling savagely, Lis sabre covered with blood.

if the sahib lind only let us go on, we would have followed the scoundrels to the very gates of Bharagliur, aud sent all the Mussulman dogs to hell."

In half an hour more, we were safe in camp, and I went straight to the General's tent. He had evidently been up all night, andlookcd worn and haggard. Colonel A. and the Adjutant-Gen-eral were with him. Sly story was soon told, and the Brigadier's note delivered. The General was in ectasies.

" Not a bad night's work, Llantine," he said ; " but it's precious lucky the mugger did not swallow you, instead of that poor devil of a pandy." " JXo mugger in his senses would attempt to ' take iu ' the Head of the Intelligence Department," said Colonel A., with a spasmodic attempt at a joke, and I left the tent.

" Your name shall go in for the V.C.," sung out Sir George as I was leaving. " and it shan't be my fault if you don't get it." He was as good, as his word, and in duo time, red tape permitting, I got my Cross.

Within a week Shahranpore Lad been relieved and the mutineers who had been rasli enough to sliew fight in front of Bharaglmr got such a thrashing as they did not forget in a hurry. I was not engaged in either affair, as the cut on my head gave the doctors lots of trouble, and at last sent me home on sick certificate.