The National tribune., 1900-07-19
FANE'S HORSE.
An Incident of the Last Chinese War.
Pail MaU Gazette.

The storming once more of the Taku
| forts and the death of Lord Loeb, who
was such a prominent figure in the last
Chinese war, have brought back to me
those long-past scenes in which my regl-
ment, Fane's Horse, took part. One OF
/ the officers. Lieut.. Anderson, achieved n
very mournful notoriety, us he was taken
prisoner and tortured to death by the Chi
nose. He Joined Fane's Horse with a
great character. He had been chosen on
the death of Hodson, of HOdsOn's Horse,
to put his accounts into order, and had
I succeeded in doing so, ere he Joined our
corps. He turned his talents to use for
the benefit of Fane's Horse, and in rec
oGnition of his services our commanding
officer, Capt. Fame. gave him command of
4 detachment of the regiment that was to
go to the Chinese headquarters.
| The strength of the detachment was
about 20 troopers of Fanes Horse and
six or eight men of the Kings Dragon
Guards. The troopers that formed the
detachment were not Spccially-picked men,
| class, the majority being Sikhs, though
some were Hindostanee Mussulmans, and
few fathans and Afghans.
The non-cOmmisSiOned officer of the de-
| tGchment deserves mention. | will call
him Habeeboola Khan. He was a Pun
jaubi MussuIman, about 10 years old and
i'll hight about five feet one inch, with Il
strong, squat figure. He had been a SOL
der from his boyhood, and in those trou-
bled times had seen much service, and al
though he was PaySergeant he could
| neither read nor write. He had rela-
ton who did the needful for him. but the
actual management Habeeboola did in a
very first-rate way for himself.
He commanded respect, rs he was
known to be a first-class swordsman. a
good shot, and man of very great deter
minatiOn, who would stand no nonsense
Ag nronf nf his rnlIn tn no
| will tell the following story: | was
Quartermaster of the regiment, so all ar
rangementS as to food, water, etc, for
men and horses had to be made by me.
Habeeboola first came to my notice by
pointing ont to me that the saltwater
creek--on the banks of which we were en-
camped, having been just landed in China
for some unknown reason ran fresh
water for about half an hour at the last
of the ebb and the first of the flood tide.
This information was worth q great
deal to us, as we depended on the ships
for the water for our horses. AS ours
Fane's Horse-was the junior regiment
we We're watered last, after the artillery
the Kings Dragon Guards, Probyn's
Horse, and the ponies attached to those
regiments had had their turn. COnse-
quently, our allowance of water was not
nearly equal to what we required. BY
Habeeboola' advice, we dug out the mud
in the creek for n frontage of about 20
feet for each troop, and filled up the hol-
low thus made with straw and reeds for
the horses to stand on. So at the next
low tide all our horses got well watered
This happened to be in the middle of the
night, and was not moment too soon.
as many of our horses from want of
water could do little more than walk
I':Obyn's Horse soon heard of what we
had done. and followed our example SO
successfully that at the fight at Sinko,
which took place two or three days later,
both reg giments Of irregular cavalry were
quite fit for work.
But to return to the story of Lieut.. An
derson. When his detachment, which was
the escort of certain officers detailed to
visit the Chinese Commander-in-C Chief
among whom was the late Lord Loch-
reached the Chinese army they were fol-
lowed by number of French sayants,
and such like seekers after knowledge who
had come without any permission being
asked or obtained, taking it for granted
that they, too, would be protected by the
flag of truce under which the officers Wis
tied the Chinese. On arrival at the Chi
nese camp the men of the Kings Dragon
Guards We're taken to some other part of
the field, and the troopers of Fane's Horse
found themselves isolated with the French
snvants, with no one near them but the
enemy.
Habeeboola. being an Asiatic, and
knowing the ways of Asiatics, kept his
eyes open, and saw that the handful of