The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-04-07 00:00:00

A LOOTING ADVENTURE.

OV Tin MGR 01 cicxxow, DT G. FL

(imactimerze).
It is difficult to state exactly the date on which
Lucknow fell in March, 186 but it has been generally
fixed as having occurred on the 72nd. though firing,
a desultory nature, was carried on for days after
the so-called fall of the city. During those days
numerous bands of armed rebels [waded the out.
skirts, and in very many cases penetrated towards
the heart I ,f the city, keeping wide, of course, I ,f the
various poets at which British troopsi were quartered.
Woe betide the unhappy soldier caught wandering
away from his 'set by tiesse marauders—a ',bort shrift
would be his doom. There were fmitient CaSt.ll of
men being found dead in the streets, headless, or so
fearfully mutilated that it was found imposaible to
recognise them, or to nay to what corp.. they belonged,
AA the "khakis," dress in use at the tune, and bought
in the bazaar, bore no regimental device, and it was,
therefore, found necessary to have "check" rolls
called to ascertain from what corps men were miming.
All this did not deter small lands of soldiers from
venturing out in search of loot, of which there was
an abundance, but not being gunerally of a profitable
nature, waa, of course, of little mei to Tommy Atkins ;
yet the amount of money, and the quantity of
jewellery, &c. found by the, who were adventurouc
enough to pn"meed in quest of it, was something sur-
prising. It is a well•known fact—and mentioned in
Dr. Russell's "My Diary in India —that soldiers
have parted with hundreds of pounds worth of
jewellery for a bottle of brandy ! The writer 114 this
reminiscence was I.n one occasion induced to join
titre, tif his minrseles in one if these excursions, and,
has ing &toile eurselves with a rifle and
some cartridges each, lamed out into the city.
We had not proceeded far when we met two Sikhs
of the Ferieepire Regiment, which had accompanied
and ft eight with 11,1 U 1) country. 'They accosted us in
their bniken Pugon, calling on " broddens," &c., and
molested us to accommuty them to the " Chandnee
Chowk " er silver bazaar, where they averred plenty
of lint was "limitable, and we contented. They were
in 1...0.t0n of • " Brownbiss" each, which made a
1114)61111C addition to our anus. Our " bssldens" of the
l'unjanb having assumed the duty of guides, we
turned in the direction of the " Chowk,', and soon
came 1111011 a party of seven or eight of our men who
had preceded tin. They had no firearms, but each and
all were in lesxiet.oiinf eome defensive weapon ;
some had old bayonets fixed on loug. bamboo sticks,
spear-like, and a few had " khookeries," huge long
ehopper-like knives with the use ef which the little
Dhoti-kw. have made themselves so famous in battle.
It was decided we should all proceed together, and
we soon began to treheli slnrs daufler‘ttis ground ; we
were in fact getting far from our leeste, and come-
qnently front any assistance, that we might find it
extremely difficult to retreat should we be attacked.
However, any reflections on this score were quickly
disis•lled by the appearance of it well-dressed and
respectable•lookitig native, who approached 1/11 from a
curve in the street, and so suddenly as to leave him
no chance of retreat. (It must be understood that
the city was totally deserted except by rebels in
arms.) Although, with the habitual coolness of all
Orientals, ht akp.taged utterly indifferent in the matter
of so tinexpectrd a rec mtre, it wits easy enough to see
that he was fully aware of Lis ',tribes position.
With the average Sikh parleying is mere waste of
time, so one of them deliberately seized the stranger
by the throat and demanded him to hand over
quickly anything valuable in his possession. We
perimaded our friend to be more temperate, and
the stranger quickly gave us a satisfactory proof that
he had nothing of any value about him. On being
asked if he knew where money, jewellery, &c., were
likely to be found, he replied, without hesitation,
that he could guide us to where there were thousands
of rupees concealed.. The Sikhs gave him clearly to
understand that any attempt at treachery or foul
play on his part would be met with instant
death. He then led us through some tortuous,
narrow street* and byeways„ until we could
hardly tell in what direction we were pro-
ceeding ; when presently our further ;troves* was
barred by one of those large brass-knobbcd, iron-lx.und
gates which are frequently met with in our Indian
cities., and in the old native forts and fortreeses. Our
guide knocked loudly, and was responded to from the
inside, and after communicating with the janitor, a
wicket in the gate was thrown open, and we all passed
through. I don't know how my comrades felt just
then, lAA I know I had serious misgivings as to the
reckless course we were pursuing. We new found
ourselves in a very narrow street, with houses so
lofty that on looking nit they appcareg to aimed
touch at the top, and left only a narrow streak of sky
visible. The pace had a dime', sombre, funereal Its*
about it that, under tLu circumstances, almost made
one shudder. We follioved eur guide up this dark,
deszrted street, seine fifty yards or .°) ad passed
land'v a still darker arch, up some step:, an presently
emerged again, ax it were, into the broad light id
day, and found ourselves in • spaei•nla Naar*, will a
great intsque on one side: and • number of small dor•
mitorie o
s n the opposite side, and the usual raised plat-
form for devotions in the centre. Into one of the little
habitation', our guide led the two Sikhs, myself
amid one or two others fellinving. The guide pointed
to a spot on the floor, and gave 11/1 to understand that
dirortly beneath there were bags containing thmniands
of mete and other valuable., secreted. There was
no indication that tl.e floor had ever been touched
since its original format t0.,-, end it was but too
evident the fellow was' fitonng' us. The Sikhs began
beating the flow with Ste butts of thsir noiskets tc as-
certain if the place gave any indication of bilifr
billow. Leering the Sikhs to 1..4 after this past of
the Imeinees, I came out on the square. and, to my
utter astonishment, beheld on the balcony of the
Nlisque, in front of tne, one of our men, named Neely,
fighting. for dear life with a llvngalee, • MAU Of large
proportems, very fair for a native, of gold personal
appearance, .I,lc7ble and dressed. Before I had time to
think. I band okit with I.v terlamation—" By--,
that's Nana Sahib," that dominant rubel keine, nrier-
most in men's minds just then, in frightful rediem.
brance of the late atmcitios at Cawnpore. In a
moment or so—with the exception of the two Sikhs,
the man engaged on the balcony, and • man named
Hackesy—We were ali e,,•gregated upon the small
platform in the centre. of the equate hosting calmly at
the desperate conflict. It was now but too evident
mot gie had led us into a trap, but no one could
tell what We next moment might bring forth.
Nealeys ialy weapon was cne of those large knives
to which I have text lonely nkrzed, but his opponent
warn armed with a tulwar, or nativy sword, and when
I first Saw them Nealey bad his adversary firmly
gripped round the waist, holding on like grim death,
to prevent him using his mord, while with his long
knife he Was vainly endeavouring to stab him
' behind, and in his frantic endeavours to accomplish
his object, chopped tiff one of his own fingers.
All this occurred within three or four minutes,
ef our entry, and with the exception of the tramp,
Damp, ti times men struggling on the balcony all
'as qt-ht iai t! E grave, silence being an
absolute neceiitty recu)tai circurtstzeces in
wi,ich we were acting. The oatlvemade desperaie
effort, to eck4sit Ipiuself from Nealy's grasp to
enable him to use tie reread, gyf iq their rind surging
to and fro both came to the gscsswd, They were
both up in • second, but in the fall one or the odies
of them must have fallen upon the native's sword,
which stapled like 'awes, only about eighteen inches
of it remaining in its owner hand when he arose.
The men were now somewhat more on equal terms;
they :Sued back a few paces msd glared at eac

other like tigers, with hands clenched, and lips white
as ashes. Just at this moment ILakesy, who had
also ascended the stairs to the mosque, but who had
entered a small room on the left, and had been busy
examining a number of fancy tulwars heaped there,
hearing the noise on the balcony. rushed out, and
I being in poseeeiion of a rifle, we all cried out "Shoot
him, shoot him," &c., and Makesy advancing inter.
I =his rifle between the combatants and shot the
ee dead. Up to this moment there had been
comparative quietness, but the report of the rifle
reverberating through the spacious, and apparently
deserted, buildings appeared to have • magical effect.
Before the echo had scarcely died away, from nook
and corner, from every hole and crevice of the sue(
rounding building there rushed forth a rebel. A.
they ran out they turned their terroustricken gaze
upon us for a moment, and probably believing the
whole British army were in possession of the place,
they Bed, scene over the walls, and others by any
means by which escape was and vanished
as quickly as they Caine, whilst we stood grouped in
the centre (if the platform, gazing in mute astonish.
ment at the result of the Beieralee's death knell.
This nest of rebels had evidently been enjoying their
siesta in happy unconsciousness of the proximity of
the hated "keringhee," just now perienitied by a
dozen Looters. None of them appeared to be armed,
but no doubt their arms were easily obtainable. We
stared at each other in niute perplexity for • moment,
as if waiting for sonic one to offer a suggestion as to
our next move. The guide we had FO mysteriously
picked up (if course fl,sl with his compatriots, and we
found some difficulty in persuading the Sikhs to fore.
go their fruitless search for loot, the pursuit of which
in wartime is to them a second nature. We quickly
decided on running for the gate ; that our. closed
against us retreat was impossible, and we should be
killed like rats in a trap. Fortunately they had wit
had time to chi.. the wicket (their first rush probably
living to obtain their arms), and eight or nine (if our
fellows had paesed through when whiz ! • bullet
from behind 11.1 in the gate ; thud ! another over our
heads, whiz ! a thin' as the last man joinlied through
the wicket. Those of us who Wer.,1111.,1 the
gate for a few seconds ret tinted the fin. thin (ugh the
wicket, then longed the Litter to, an.l r•turned to ,air
quarters quicker than we came, wiser, if not richer,
men.