Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-09-05

| winding passa yes, scd iccg >crri.lc-
twisting in and out, so that It is cas-
Tor folks to get lost IN Il For Ills rea
so1 It was seldom that a-yo-s wen
into it, though now and again part,
with torches might go exploring.
The river washes along the front O
the old fort. and SO protects it, but CT
TIE sides and behind there are NAM
/ doc ma, these had to be guarded, o.
course. IN the OLE, quarter as wen as IL
that which vas actna..iy held By on,
troops We were sborthas-ded, with
hardly men enough to man the angles
of the building and to serve the guns
1t was impossible for us. therefore, &c
station a strong guard at evTyone %
the innumerable gates. What we did
was to organize a central guardh. 1use
IN the middle of the fort, and TO leavs
each gate under the charge of one
white man ana. two or three natives
was selected to take charge during GER
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 I was
instructed If anything went wrong to
fire my muslzet, whenI might rely upon
help coming at once from the central
guard As the guard was good two
hundred PAGES away, however. and as
the space between was cut up into
labyrinth of passages and corridors. j
had great doubts as to whether they
could arrive In time to be Of any use IL
case of an actual attack.
Well, I was pretty proud at having
this small command given me- since
was raw recruit, and a game-legged
one at that. For two nights / kept the
watch with my Pucjaubees- They
were tail, ferce-looking chaps, Ma
houet Singh and Abdullah Khan by
name, both old fighting men who had
borne arms against us ut Chilianwal-
eh- They could talk English pretty
well. but I could get little out OF them.
They preferred to stand together and
jabber all night in their queer Sikh
lingo. For myself. I 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 yefls and howIs of the
rebels. drunk with opium and with
bang. were enough to remind us all
nightof our dangerous neigh 1ors 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 a small, driving
rain. 1t was dreary work standing in
the gateway hour after hour in such
weather. I tried again and again to
make nay 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, 1 took out my pipe and
laid down my muslet to strike
match. In an instant the two Sikhs
were upon me. One of them snatched
my frelock up and Ieveled it at my
head. while the other held great knife
to my throat and ssvore between his
teeth that he would plunge it into me
if I 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
the women and children be treated as
they were In Cawnpore. Maybe you
gentlemen think that am just making
out case for myself, but give you
my word that when I thought of that.
though 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 nan who held
me seemed TO know my thong hts: for.
even as I braced myself to it. he wfis-
pere1: Don't make 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 I raised my voice /
was dead man. 1 could read It in the
fellows brown eyes I waited, there
fore. in silence. to see what it was that
they wanted from me.
Listen 20 me, sahib, said the taller
and fereer OF the pair, the oae whom
they called Abduliah Khan. You
must either be with rs now or you
must be silenced forever. The thing
is too great a one for rs to hesitate.
Either you are heart and soul with d.