The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-07-19

winding passages, and long corridors
twisting in and out, so that it Is easy
for folks to get lost in it. For this rea-
son it was seldom that anyone went
into it, though now and again party
with torches might go exploring.
1.-THE river washes along the front OF
the old fort, and SO protects it, but on
the sides and behind there are many
doors, and these had to 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.
1t was impossible for us, therefore, to
station a strong guard at everyone OF
the innumerable gates. What we did
was to organize a central guardhouse
in the middle of the fort, and to leave
each gate under the charge of one
white man and two or three natives. L
was selected to take charge during GER
tain hours of the night of small $50
lated door upon the southwest side of
the building. Two Sikh troopers were
placed under my command, and 1 was
instructed if anything went wrong to
fire my musl1et, when might rely upon
help coming at once from the central
guard. AS the guard was a good two
hundred PAGES away, however, and as
the space between was cut up into a
labyrinth of passages and corridors, 1
had great doubts as to whether they
could arrive in time to be of any use in
case of an actual attack.
"Well, was pretty proud at having
this small command given me, since 1
was a raw recruit, and a game-legged
one at that. For two nights kept the
watch with my Punjaubees. They
were tall. fierce-looking chaps, Ma
homet Singh and Abdullah Khan by
name, both old fighting men who had
borne arms against us at Chilianwai-
lah. They could talk English pretty
well, but could get little out of them.
They preferred to stand together and
iabber all night in their queer Sikh
lingo. For myself, l used to stand
outside the gateway, looking down on
the broad, winding river and on the
twinkling lights of the great city. The
beating of drums, the rattle of tom
toms, and the yells and bowls of the
rebels. drunk with opium and with
bang, were enough to remind us all
night of our dangerous neighbors across
the stream. Every two hours the Off
GERS of the night used to come round
to all the posts, to make sure that all
was well.
1.-The third night of my watch was
dark and dirty, with small, driving
rain. 1t was dreary work standing in
the gateway hour after hour in such
weather | tried again and again to
make my Sikhs talk, but without much
success. At two in the morning the
rounds passed, and broke for moment
the .wearinessof the night. Finding that
my companions would not be led into
conversation, l took out my pipe, and
laid down my musllet to strike a
match. In an instant the two SilShs
were upon me. One of them snatched
my firelock up and leveled it at my
head, while the other held a great knife
to my throat and swore between his
teeth that he would plunge it into me
if moved a step.
My first thought was that these fell
lows were in league with the rebels,
and that this was the beginning of an
assault. If our door were in the hands
of the Sepoys the place must fall, and
ah,11ra,, la ArnntAI C
they were in CawnpOre. Maybe you
gentlemen think that am just making
out case for myself, but | give you
my word that when thought of that,
though 1 felt the point of the knife at
my throat, opened my mouth with
the intention of giving scream, if it
was my last one, which might alarm
the main guard. The man who held
me seemed to know my thoughts; for,
even as braced myself to it, he whis-
pered: Don't make a noise. The fort
is safe enough. There are no rebel
dogs on this side of the river There
was the ring of truth in what he said,
and knew that if 1 raised my voice l
was dead man. could read it in the
fellows brown eyes. / waited, there
fore, in silence, to see what it was that
they wanted from me.
Listen to me, sahib, said the taller
and fiercer of the pair, the one whom
they called Abdullah Khan. You
must either be with us now or you
must be silenced forever. The thing
is too great a one for us to hesitate.
Either you are heart and soul with US