Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-08-27

''o "Sh1 ouN 10 meet the re bells at
Shahgunge early in July, and we
beat them back for a time, but our
powder gave out and we had to fall
back upon the city. Nothing but the
worst news came 70 US from every side
which Is not TO be wondered at, for il
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.
1.-The city of Agra is a great place,
swarming with fanutics and fierce
devil-worShipers of all sorts. Our hand
ful 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 gem
tlemen have ever read or heard anv-
thing of that old fort. 1t is a very
queer place-the queerest that ever I
was In, and ] have been in some rum
corners, too. First of all, il is enormous
in size. ! should think that the inclos-
ure must be acres and acres. There is
modern part, which took all our gar
rlson, 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 centfpedes. 1t is
all full of great deserted halls, and
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 1t, though now and again party
with torches might go exploring.
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 bv 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 strong guard at everyone of
the innumerable gates. What we did
was TO organize a central guardhouse
In the middle of the fort, aud to leave
each gate under the charge of one
white man and two or three natives. I
was selected to take charge during GER
| tain hours of the night of a small iso-
lated door upon the southwest side of
| the building. Two Sikh troopers were
| placed under my command, and was
| instructed if anything went wrong to
| lire my musket, 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 n
| labyrinth of passages and corridors. I
had great doubts as to whether they
| could arrive in time TO be of any use in
case of an actual attack.
We'll, was pretty proud at having
this small command given me, since
was raw recruit, and a game-lerped
one at that. For two nights kept the
watch with my Punjaubees. They
were tall, ferce-loolSing 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 10 stand together and
Jabber all night in their queer Sikh
lingo. For myself. used to stand
outside the gateway, looking down on
the broad, winding river and on the
twinlillng 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 10 remind us all
night of our dangerous neighbors across
the stream. Every two hours the oni-
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. II was drcary work standing in
the gateway hour after hour in such
weather. | tried again and again to
make my SilShs talk, but without much
success AT two in the morning the
rounds passed. and broke for n moment
the wearinesSof the night. Finding that
my companions would not be led into
conversation, took out my pipe. and
laid down my musket 10 strike n
match In an instant the two Sillhs
were upon me. One of them snatched
my irelock up and leveled il at INV
head, while the other held a great knife
TO my throat and Swore between his
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
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
nay word that when thought of that.
though felt the point of the knife at
my throat, opened my mouth with
the intention of giving a scream, if it
was my last one, which might alarm
the main guard. The man who held
me seemed to know my thong hts; for,
even as braced myself to it, he whis-
pered: 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.