The Irish standard., 1895-06-01

Sepoys lying across each other In front
of him. refined up my horse, wonder
ing which way should turn, but at
that moment l saw thick smoke curl
ing up from Abelwhite's bungalow and
the flames beginning to burst through
the roof. knew then that I could do
/ my employer no good, but would only
throw my own life away If I meddled
in the matter. From where I stood
| I could see hundreds of the black
fiends, with their red coats still on
their backs. dancing and bowling
round the burning house. Some Of
them pointed at me, and a couple OF
bullets sang past my head; so
broke away across the paddy-helds, and
found myself late at night safe within
the walls at Agra.
"As it 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
TINT their guns commanded. Every
where else they were helpless fugi-
tives. 1t was fight Of the millions
against the hundreds; and the cruelest
part of it 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
ing our own bugle calls. At Agra there
were the Third Bengal Fusiliers, some
Sikhs, two troops of horse and a battery
of artillery. A volunteer corps Of
clerks and merchants had been formed,
and this I joined, wooden leg and all.
We went out to meet the rebels at
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 to be wondered at, for If
you look at the map you will see that
we were right in the heart Of it. Luck
now is rather better than a hundred
miles to the east, and Cawnpore about
as far to the south. From every point
on the compass there was nothing but
torture and murder and outrage.
ssThe city Of Agra is a great place,
swarming with fanatics and fierce
devil-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 if any of you gen
tlemen have ever read or heard any
thing of that old fort. It is very
queer piace-the queerest that ever
| was In, and I have been in some rum
corners, too. First of all, it is enormous
in size. I should think that the inclos-
ure must 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 centipedes. It is
all full of great deserted halls, and
winding passages, and long corridors
twisting in and out, 50 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.
'sThe 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. I
| was selected to take charge during cer-
tain hours of the night of small iso-
lated door upon the southwest side OF
the building. Two Sikh troopers were
|. placed under my command, and was
instructed il anything went wrong to
| fire my muslzet. 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 q
labyrinth of passages and corridors, |
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
| was raw recruit, and q game-legged
one at that. For two nights kept the
| watch with my Punjaubees. They
| were tall. ferce-looking chaps, Ma
homet Singh and Abdullah Khan by
name, both old fighting men who had
borne arms against US at:Chilianwal-
lah, They could talk English pretty
| well, but could get little out of them.
They preferred to stand together and
jabber 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 howls of the
rebels, drunk with opium and with
bang, were, enough to remind us all
nightof 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.
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. l tried again and again to
make my Sikhs talk, but without much
success. At two in the morning the
rounds passed. and broke for a moment
the wearinessof the night. Finding that
nv companions would not be led into