The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1895-12-07


round the burning house. Some Of
them pointed At me. and couple OF
bullets sang past my head; 20
broke AWAY across the paddy-felds, and
found myself late IT night safe within
the walls ut Agra.
.As II proved, however, there was no |
great safety there, either. The whole
country was up like swarm OF bees
Wherever the English could collect In
little bands they held just the ground |
that their guns commanded. Every
where else they were helpless fugi-
tives. IL was n fight Of the millions !
against the hundreds; and the cruelest
mart Of Il was that these men that we |
fought against. foot. horse and gun
ners. were our own picked troops,
whom we had taught and trained,
handling our own weapons, and blow
| inc our own buglc calls At Agra there
were the Third Bengal Fusilicrs, some
Silxhs. two troops of horse aud battery
Of artillery. A volunteer corps of
clerks and merchants had been formed,
ana this | joined, wooden leg and al.
! We went out TO meet the rebels NJ
Shahgunge early In July, and we
beat them back for time, but our
powder gave out and we had TO fall
back upon the city. Nothing but the
worst news came TO us from every side
which Is not 70 be wondered at. for II
| Won look nj the map you will see that
we were right In the heart Of IL. Luck
now Is rather better than hundred
miles to the east, and Cawnpore about
ms far to the south. From every point
| on the compass there was nothing but
torture and murder and outrage.
"Thc city Of Agra Is a great place,
swnrminp with fanatics and fierce
dcyil-worshipers of all sorts Our hand
full OF men were lost among the mar
row, winding streets. Our leader
moved across the river, therefore, and
took up his position in the old fort OF
Agra. / don't know IL any of you gem
tlemcn have ever read or heard any
thing OF that old fort. 1t Is very
queer placc--the queerest that ever l
was In. and have been in some rum
corners. too. First Of all, il Is enormous
In size. / should think that the inclos-
ure mast be acres and acres. There Is
a modern part, which took all our gar
rison. women, children, stores and
everything else. with plenty OF room
over. But the modern part Is nothing
like the size of the old quarter, where
nobody goes, and which is given over to
the scorpions and the centipedcs. 1t is
All full of great deserted halls, and
winding passages, and long corridors
twisting in and ont, so that ~ Is easy
for folks 10 get lost In IL. For this rea-
son IL was seldom that anyone went
into II, though now and again party
with torches might go exploring
1.-THE river washes along tho front of
the old fort, and 80 protects 1t, but on
the sidos and behind there arc many
doors, and these had 10 be guarded, OF
course, in the old quarter as well as in
that which was actually held by our
troops. We were short-handed, with
hardly men enough to man the angles
, of the building and TO serve the guns.
IL was impossible for us, therefore, 70
station n strong guard at everyone OF
the innuInerable gates. What we did
}. was TO organize central guardhouse
In the middle of the fort, and TO leave
2 each gate undor the charge OF one
white man and two or three natives.
y was selected TO take charge during GER
! tain hours of the night Of n small iso-
!, lated door upon tho southwest side OF
u the building. Two Sikh troopers were
placed under my command, and wa;
instructed II anything went wrong &c
fire my muslxet when mightrely upor
\ help coming at once from the ccntra
| guard. AS the guard was good two
. hundred PAGES away, however, sssss =;
the space between was cut up into
labyrinth of passages and corridors,
had great doubts as to whether they
could arrive la time 10 be of any use In
case OF an actual attack.
"Wcll, was pretty proud at having
this small command given me, since
, was a raw recruit, and a game-legges
one nc that For two nights kept th'
watch with my Prnjaubees. The,
were tall. fierce-loolking chaps, Ma
homet Singh and Abdullah Khan b.
name, both old fighting men who hns
borne arms against us at Chilinnwal
lah. They could talk English prctt,
well, but could get little out OF them
They preferred TO stand together ans
= jabber all night in their queer sikh
: lingo. For myself, l used 10 stan'
+ outside the gateway. looking down o.
~ the broad, winding river and on tn
- twinkling lights Of the great city. Tn
81 beating OF drums, the rattle OF ton
~ toms, and the yells and howls Of th
- rebels, drunk with opium and viii
g. bang. were enough to remind rs al
- nighto OF our dangerous noighbors acros
n the stream. Every two hours the of
10 GERS Of the night used TO como roun
9 TO all tho posts, 70 make surc that o.
!, was well.
ir THE third night of my watch wa
la dark and dirty, with small. drivin
M rain. twas droary work standing !
n. the gateway hour after hour la sue
~ weather. tried again and again
n make my Silths talk, but without muc