Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-10-02
TALE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY
By JUNGUL wALLAH

\ members or my corps, was deputed by Sir James Outram to go from the
 Alum-Bagh to Bunee Bridge, g distance of 16 miles, for the purpose of ascer- taining how the garrison at that place
 was getting on. Bunee was the only position held by us on the main road between Cawnpore and the Alum
 Bagh, which were AS miles apart
 We got along very we'll until within two miles of Bunee when horde of
 mutinous cavalry suddenly appeared
 out of tope (clump) of mango trees
 about a quarter of mile off The off,
 cer commanding the party decided at once that our only chance of escape
 was to make the most of the distance
 between us and the enemy's cavalry,
 and scuttle. So off we went at hard gallop, making for Bunee. followed up by the enemy in full pursuit. But, to cut this part of thesstory short, we out ] paced them, got in Ssfe and sound, and were entertained to our hearts content
 by the garrison.
 While we were enjoying our excellent supper the officer commanding at Bunee sent an aide-de-camp to say that
 he had most urgent information for Sir John Inglis, commanding at CawnpOre, which he was anxious should be car-
 ried to him at once The commanding
 officer said he was we'll aware it would
 never do to weaken Sir James Outram's
 force by detaching number of men, | and they would not get through the
 numerous vedetbes the rebels had on
 the road; but he thought two of our
 men would probably succeed in sneak ing past any Instructions they might
 encounter. Of course he was fully
 aware that the undertaking was dan-
 gerous one; still, the risk must be
 taken So it was settled that two of
 us were to go to Cawnpore. The task the officer commanding our party had to tackle was to select those two, as
 every man was anxious for the duty: but, being long-headed fellow, he got
 over the difficulty by deciding that we. should draw lots. This was done, and
 Sergt Butler and were what we con- sidered the prize-drawers. Poor Butt
 Ter! he had been recommended for the Victoria Cross; he never lived to ob- tain it, having died at the Alum Bagh
 in 1858 from the effects of blow he re- ceived in the chest from a rebounding round shot.
 At ten D. m. we left Bunee, both of 1 us having duplicate of the dispatches, which were in cipher, rolled into small tin tubes. We got along all right for about eight miles. When we neared l the town of Busseerutgunge we saw by the glow of numerous fires that large parties of rebels were encamped on both Hanks, and that the town was occupied l by some of them, so we halted to con- l sider what was to be done The cOnclu- I sion we arrived at was that there would be no use in trying to get round either 1 flank, as we did not know the country, 1 and the town was surrounded by l swampy ground. So we decided that l we must make choice of two courses 1 either return to Bunee, dejected and dis appointed, and probably to be chaffed | off our heads by the garrison, or make a dash for it and gallop through Bus seerutgunge, which we knew was only 1 half mile long The latter course be- 1 ing adopted, we dismounted, hauled our canvas horse clothing from under our | saddles, cut it up and tied our horses 1 hoofs in four folds of canvas, so that l the batter, batter of their feet on the 1 hard road might be muf1ed. Having 1 done this, off we went, creeping up to within 400 yards of the town without being observed, and then we rode at | gallop. No sooner had we entered than l we heard the challenge: tWho comes 1 there?" but, taking no notice of this, 1 we pressed our spurs into the horses Hanks, flying for life. Within two min
 utes after we passed the sentry who 1 challenged us, hundreds of rebels turned out and began to fire from all sides; l but the darkness of the night favored us, and we got through scot-free After proceeding about half mile we drew rein and dismounted to remove the bags from our horses hoofs and to give the l nags breather. This halt was neces- sary, for we had 16 miles farther to go before we could reach Cawnpore, and | the odds were we would have to make l another dash for it through Onoa, a l village about eight miles off. It was | lucky for us in more ways than one l that we did decide on this halt, as l within quarter of an hour we heard i the enemy's cavalry coming down the | road, evidently following us up Off the road we went, and hid behind some I high bushes, relying for safety on the 1 darkness of the night and on the horses not neighing. The sensible creatures l remained perfectly mute, and we had ] the satisfaction of hearing the enemy l we could not see tiem-gallop on to- wards Caw1pore, shouting to each l other: We have them! They are not ] far ahead!" Fortunately we were not | discovered, so again we had to decide
 what was to be done, knowing our awk- l ward position between the rebels at
 Busseerutgunge and those on the road l to Cawnpore.
 But we were bound to face the mu-