THE BLUE DRAGOONS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 475, 19 June 1912, Page 2

THE BLUE DRAGOONS.

All Rights Reserved.

AN INDIAN SOLOSER STORY. BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN. PART 8. Nevertheless, the position was on( of extreme danger. The slightesl show of courage on the part of th< mutineers must have resulted in th( extermination of the handful of men If but one sowar had boldly dashed at them, his example would have told, and the hrave fellows would have hcen hacked to pieces in a few minutes. But no ; the old feeling ol reverence for the " lords of the earth " was too strong, and no one dared to make the first attack. " Hadn't we better leave him, 01 else carry him on with us to the magazine, sir ?" asked the sergeant, quietly, as his captain knelt fry the prostrate Hindoo. " Jones, we must not go back without those two ladies," said Melton, quietly ; " and this poor fellow can tell us "what we wish to learn." " All right, sir," answered the sergeant, grimly.

"What would• England say of the men who left them to such a fate without an effort to save them ?" " I said all right, sir," said the sergeant ; " and I was only thinking how many of those black scoundrels we could polish off before they weretoo much for us —for we shall never cut our way through," he muttered.

At this moment the Hindoo bearer, began to revive, and the dragoon gave him another draught from the canteen.

" Can you show us where the ladies were carried off, my man ?" said Melton, quietly/ "•Yes, sahib," said the man, mak ing an effort, and rising, when Melton and the dragoon both mounted their horses, the Hindoo twisted his hand in the mane of the captain's charger, and pointing forward, th? little detachment was put in motion straight back for the magazine. A yeU now arose, and three 01 four shots were fired ;i but on the sergeant and the men spurring forward in skirmishing order, the crowd melted before them—the other ten following, with the crowd behind closing in once more, the look of hungry wolves in their eyes. Half the distance back to the magazine was soon passed ; and the street being now straight right up to the gates, the way was commanded by the gun, wlitose charge of grape would have hurtled through the seething crowd. "There, sahib, there !" exclaimed the man ; " that's where I lay till 3 saw you come by just now, and. thei I struggled after you. A papty o: the enemy was crowded in that narrow place, and as the sla-ves ol your highness came up with the mem sahibs in the palkee, they surrounded us, and made us carry it into this place. . They cut at us with theii tulwars, and pricked us with theii knives to make us go faster, and when I stumbled and fell they cut at me again. I ■ saw another bearei cut down, my lord, and I know nc more."

" Creep into one of the houses and lie down," said Melton, in a husky voice, and the poor fellow loosed his hold of the horse's mane and glided through an open doorway. *' Now, my lads, forward !" sai<? Melton, quickly. " Jones, bring up the rear."

Then taking the lead, Melton dashed along the tortuous way indicated by the Hindoo, his men following in single file, while the wolfish sepoys followed—tho sowars preferring noi to urge their horsed along the narnow, roughly-paved court.

At the end of a couple of hundred yards, Melton reined up ; for there, in the opening, lay an overturned palkee, its sides bearing the marks of sword cuts, while beneath and around it lay the bodies of four Hindoos who had evidently been the bearers.

For a few minutes Melton hesitatec to open the curtains of the litter —as he almost expected to see some horrible sight, knowing how ready the mutineers were to be guilty of ans atrocity. But at last he summoned up courage enough to look in, and £ feeling of thankfulness came over him on finding the palkee empty. There was a veil there, though, and a knot of ribbon, with a comb' ir which were two or three threads ol long brown hair and these taughl him he was on the right * track sc far. But where next ? It was evident that the ladies had been forced to leave the litter foi some reason or other, and the ques tion was, which road had been taken?

There were two before him —c broadish street and a continuatior of the tortuous footway, with its houses nearly meeting on either side. Not a soul was there to ask, for tin houses were apparently deserted. 13uf the sepoys were crowding still in thi rear, and it was time to act. So, coming to the conclusion thai those who had borne off Sir Graham's daughters would choose the narrow way, as being the least likely to he followed by any one in pursuit, Captain Melton led on ones more, and at the end of ten minutes had the satisfaction of feeling thai he was right in bis choice, for i lady's handkerchief was seen lyin.c where it had evidently been dropped and upon examining it, plainly wen the letters " E.L." —Ella Leslie. "Forward, my men !" exclaimcc Melton ; and the horses' hoofs clat

tered again over the uneven way a; they pressed on. There was other work in store fo

the dragoons than that they were ii search of, for before they had riddei

homeless quest, the; bepnn to hear p

scattered £rc above the clattering o: the h-.TSos' hoofs. Then came a ratffni volley of so unmistakable a character that Melton knew instantly that it, must have been the platoon firing of a body of infantry, and it told him as plainly as if he hat! been present, that the infantry was en raged with the enc-my. There was another and another volley and then began the regular scattering Ore of the men replying to an attacs. Melton pushed his men forward, an:l to his surprise found that the tortuous lane led into the same square that we have before noticed, and here it was directly evident to him that the 9th Foot, cn their way to the magazine, were held in check by the mutineers. His course was marked out plainly enough. There were the infantry men being harassed by an enormously preponderating force ; so, forming his little half-troop into line as they debouched from the mouth of the narrow alley, he placed himself at their head, and was about to charge when something caught his eye that made him change his direction just as he had got his men well under way.

There at one end of the square, previously concealed from him by> the crowd of natives and a projecting building, was a small body of mounted men, glittering with steel and gold,' surrounding a couple of elephants. An Indian, who by his dress seemed to be a chief, was directing thfcir movements ; and from a glance he had obtained of the howdah of one of the elephants he knew tliat it contained those for whom he was in search.

Eren had he been in doubt, that doubt would have been removed the next moment ; for the occupants of the howdah evidently recognised the British uniform, and were making, waving handkerchiefs as if asking for aid.

"Forward, my men !" cried Melton. " Charge !" and away raced th2 dragoons across the squam Two or three hundred sepoys, who were between them and the elephants, broke and scattered in all directions —but not in time, for full twenty ol them were ridden down, or fell to the strokes of the thin-edged sabres. The race was not long, fot on seeing the coming attack about thirty horsemen rode out to meet them, shouting and waving their tulwars and spears, evidently with the idea of intimidating the dragoons and making them draw rein.

The mutineers and native chieftains got .to kmow the mettle of the British cavalry better before "the revolt was crushed out. They had been in the habit of looking on them as feeble, enervated creatures, too idle to do more than mount the horses that had been groomed for them, after donning the burnished trappings that native servants had cleaned. They learned now that a hostile demonstration in front of a body of British horse when charging only adds to their ardour ; for the officers' difficulty with their men is not to get them to leap al theii enemies throats but to keep them well in hand, and prevent them from going too far. » It was so here, for as the horsemen rode out, gay with trappings and shawls, the dragoons gave a tremendous " Hooray every man sat down in his saddle, gripped his horse more tightly with his knees, brought his sword to the attack, and singling out his enemy, rode straight at him. '

The shock was tremendous, most of the Indians being taken on the flank just as they were wheeling to turn and flee.

There movement was too late, for the next instant horses and' men were rolling on the ground, ridden over, cut down, and scattered like so much dust by the dragoons, who did not draw rein till they had surrounded the two elephants, whos'e mahouts they compelled, by pointed swords to take the direction of the magazine.

At the same moment, almost, there was a tremendous volley from the infantry, now drawn up in line, and directly, after the 9th Foot began to move forward, shoulder to shoulder with,their bayonets at the charge sweeping all before them as thej spread from side to side of the square. The mutineers broke and fieri, a large portion of them coming towards the elephants ; but as they caught sight of the dragoons forming for another charge, they broke off to the left, and a minute lr«t Captain Melton was whispering reassuring words to the sisters as he rode beside their elephant, the othei being 'heavily laden with ammunition.

The colonel of the Foot rode up directly after to shake hands, and on learning who had been rescued by Captain Melton he formed up a .sturdy guard of his men to assist tlu cavalry escort in protecting so pre cious a burden as the Governor's daughters. It seemed that the foot regiment had been attacked and harassed from the time of starting, and this had retarded them —fortunately, as it happened ; for the handful of dragoon.would never have been aide to master the large body of men that wouir have been at hand had not their at tention been taken up by the infan try.

The order to " March " was give-i at once, for, in spite of the demon strations of the cavalry, the. enemj kept crowding back into the square and it soon became plain thnt the\ were determined to prevent the pri:-:< from being carried off ; and, to mak matters worse, the mahouts no>

made a daring effort to escape wit! their ponderous beasts. But a pis tol-shot whistling by the ear of on< from the pistol of Captain Meltoi brought both to their senses, an; tliev quietly drove the elephants oi in the midst of the line.

nrmincrst, tl*e mutineers clustering Uiiekly in ihe way, so Hint, from :imc to time Melton was compelled, mwiilinudy er.-e;::li. to resign the laIks to the c' a e of the young inry captain, and head his men. in 'ash after dash, to clear the way, .vhile the infantry dealt with them in :urn with their bayonets. They had about half a mile to go :o the magazine gates, and Melton irdently longed tor that distance to )c passed,'especially as the fire was low growing particularly warm, and :he ladies on the elephant were in a terribly exposed position. It was plain enough, too, now, :hat matters were assuming a serious aspect at the magazine, for the ninepounder suddenly began firing at regular, steady, shiort intervals ; and faintlj heard came the sharp, short rolleys of muskets and carbines. " Push on, my lads," said the iniantry colonel. Let's get within the walls ; and then, all joined together, we shall be able to read these, felows a lesson that they will never forget. Ca,ptain Melton," he said, pointing with his sword to the wiler street where the natives were evilently making a stronger stand, "we will give them as heavy a volley as we can, and if you will follow it up with a good charge, my lads shall deal with the windows, and roofs, and give the scoundrels that flock Diit, a prick or two with the cold steel." Melton bowed, and then, 'giving one glance at the howdah in which Laura Graham sat clasping her sister's land, sat ready, > The infantry were to the front, and forming in three lines across the street as the. matchlock balls began to fly sent such a tremendous volley into the enemy as made them stagger. Then before the smoke had cleared away the infantry allowed the dragoons to pass through and go down the street at a rattling pace, sweeping all before them, while tho infantry followed and fired a t the enemy whb clustered on the roofs, only to fly, tumbling one over the other in their efforts- to escape. This bold succession of manoeuvres gave" the retreating English so great a space of ground that a few minutes after found them close to the straight street leading to the magazine gates. A discharge of grape cleared this for the time, and with bayonets bristling the infantry held it and its outlets till their baggage and impedimenta were safely filing in >at the gates—Captain Melton proudly riding in beside the first elephant, with his men escort now to his fair charge amidst the cheers of their own regiment, dismounted now and acting as infantry at the wall inside. Still showing a bristling line of bayonets, from beneath which poured a hail of bullets on the mutineers, who pressed them as they retreated slowly behind their steel fence extending across the street, the infantry retired within the gates, which they then banged-to and secured, when, with a howl of rage as the last man disappeared, the mutineers once more filled the long street. There was a severe lesson in store for them, for the infantry sergeant was ready with his men at their well-served 'gun at its embrasure, and juet as the street was thickest with its howling, bloodthirsty mob the word "Fire !" was given, the lanyard pulled, > the percussion tube flashed, and the nine-pounder belched forth its contents, tearing a lane through the enemy, who once more fled, leaving the street strewn with the woun'ded, the dying, and the dead.

There were hearty congratulations between the two colonels as soon as the gates were closed, and they met face to face ; but there was no time to be lost, and after a few words they immediately set out on n tour of inspection of the place, giving orders as they did so, and leaving their various officers to see them fulfilled.

For the first thing to be done was to put the magazine in as good a state of defence as possible ; and here within the feeble mud wall the advantages of discipline and a governing will began to show themselves. Before many minutes had elapsed, parties of men were having spades and picks served out to them, with which they were throwing up earth, works to strengthen their position. The walls were banked up, loopholes were cut for musketry, and as fast as they were ready other officers planted their men there, waiting to show their skill as marksmen. Then under the guidance of Colonel Bruce, the magazine stores were opened ; arms of a serviceable nature, with ammunition were served out to the civilians of the party, and several nine-pounders were brought out and planted at different points where it was possible, from the situation of "the si reels. 1 hoy might be attacked. Strong earthworks were thrown up in front of these guns, and protection was ailordrd to the artillerymen by the means of planking and the effort's of a earpenter. Meantime other parties had boon idle. ft" had fallen to th 1 lot of Captain Molt on —who hail boon warmly thanked i,y the enlom-! for his brave and successful attempt to see tn the preparation of the magazine for iho nccomo.iat ion ol the ladies and. children, while oilier portions were given up io the. men oh duty. The great diuxulty was io deal with a large body of horses, but a series of worUslioUs and slopes were quickly turned into very responsible stables, were (he patieni i-.iasts were soon calmly munching their corn, quite indiriovent to the sounds of war without, and presenting themselves as enviable objects to the trembling l women and children Who were huddled in the long rooms. (To be Continued.)