PART IV.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1944, 20 December 1884, Page 3 (Supplement)

PART IV.

A CAPTAIN OF IRREGULARS. While Waris Ali Khan, the Bohilla, and his worthy friend and ally Nain Singh, the Brahmin Subahdar of the 79th Native Infantry, had been plotting,%Ein abler brain than either had been counter-plotting in turn. James Sutton, captain and commandant of the regiment of the Irregulars which bore his name, was no ordinary man. A. gallant gentleman and brave soldier, he also possessed a thorough knowledge of the native character. He had watched the chain of events as it was so quickly unravelled during the spring of 1857, and was convinced that the various risings in isolated cantonments weve bat parts of & well digested plan for a rising all over the country. He mistrusted the seeming quietness and fidelity of the 79th, and had somewhat of contempt for the ideas of their colonel, whose prejudices, the growth of years had, so the captain considered, warped his judgment. He looked upon Mr. Colvin, the resident, as a nonentity, and on his assistant as even worse, while he had a most profound mistrust of the Nawab Waris Ali Khan. His own regiment he knew he could thoroughly depend upon at a crisis. They numbered barely 300 sabies, but they were staunch to the core, thoroughly well drilled, their sabres sharpened in the leather scabbards, and ready at his word to follow him, as he said, to the devil. He had held frequent consultations of late with two of the most trustworthy of his native officers, Kissaldar Major Juvun Singh, a stalwart Seikh of Euzofzai, and Rissaldar Tahour Khan, a Pathan from the neighborhood of Bajanpore, on the trans Indus border. The opinions of these native officers entirely coincided with his own. They utterly mistrusted the men of the 79th, and fully believed they were merely biding their time. Trusting to luck in getting a message through, Sutton had telegraphed to headquarters, announcing in no measured terms the Vacillation of the authorities, civil and military, stating the precautions he had seen fit to adopt individually, and

asking for authority to act should the emergency ho anticipated arise. Jack Dalton, puuofcual to time, rode up to the captain's bungalow at five o'clock on the evening of this eventful day, handing his hprse oyer to the syce, walked into the verandah, whence h© was ushered by a servant into an mn,er room.. There he found assembled, hjs. host, together with the adjutant of, tfop irregulars, some half dozen officers of, his own regiment, and the two native officers I have alluded to above. " Sit down, Dalton," said the captain, as he entered ; " you are just in time. And now, gentlemen," he continued. "I will at once inform you of my requesting your precise, here this evening." He then lucidly e^lamed. the position of 'affairs, dwelling on, tb,e incapacity of those" in power, and, stating jt behoved them for their own safety and the safety of all the European ladies a.nd children in the station, that they should secure themselves as far as lay in their power against any surprise from the men of the 79th, or from Waris Ali Khan and his followers. "My firm conviction is, gentleman," he said, " that the rising will take place on Thursday night. Contrary to my advice and that of several officers in the station, Mr, Colvin is dotermined to adhere to this mad idea 0$ giving a ball at the Residency. To my mjnd, i,t is in bad taste in every way, but tfte thing is determined on, and there is an en,d! olj it. It only remains, to ha,ve some f^xed plan by which w,e cap secure our ; iaf,e'ty if., as I firmly believe, the na,tiv.et, «eige their opportunity fpr a rising." He then, proceeded to. detail his plan of operations. B^eflj seated, it was as, fallows ;— 1 AJW" fl 7e hundred yards the left of the residency, and close to the ba.njk.«, of the River Goomtee, wa,s a. th^ick tojp& or grove of mango trees. In this grave Sutton proposed to station 100 trusty troopers, under the command of Ressaldar Tahair Khan, who would communicate with the residency by means of vedettes, who cpuld ride up to and converse with the Sowars, gome half-doaen of whom would be in attendance a.t the ball. Should anything happen, the troop, could gallop to the spot in two minutei. In addition to this, strong p.atrojs w.anld be sent along all the principal streets and roads, round Aligunge, while a body of fifty troopers would rem.W armed and with their chargers saddled and bridled in the enclosure of button's bungalow. In the event of a rising it would be easy to cut * way out of the residency, and escort the ladies to Button's quarters, which consisted of a couple of ipacious bungalows enclosed within a compound, surrounded by high mud walls, formerly the residence of some military adventurer who had taken service under the Oude Rajahs. Both bungalqwi had been amply provisioned, in case of, necessity by theft owner, but Sutton considered any pb,anc# of having to stand a, itfege *s of; the yery a^aUeit §uttom<* plan was highly approred of by all present, and the meeting broke up, Sutkm impressing on all pretenj the necessity for secrecy, and the desirability qt taking to the ball those somewhat unfestire adjuncts, a six-ohamber revolver and plenty of loose cartridges, in addition to their •words, which the; would wear as a matterof couwe. Jqatas the company diipersed a telegraph peon; entered the compound, and, ad-' yanoing to the, verandah placed .* yellow, envelope in Suttons handi, .with a low salaam. Sutton -tore open the'enyelop'ejand inspected the contfent's. ' "'Better', n'nd' |letter," he muttered .to hlmielf. ",TKli is all I wafifea. ''%sfs 'Oolrin or; Oldbbj tarifrusty; I*c»n?».?t under the 'high«t authority. • • Wh!t'|l«&aa^