CHAPTER XVIII.

The Musjid-En avant!-A Large "Bag"-Capture of the Stone Bridge-Loot-Capture of the Iron Bridge-Should Officers be Executioners?

AFTER going some distance through the wood, we came to a large and handsome Musjid, with an extensive walled garden attached, and altogether presenting a formidable appearance. Here, surely, we thought, the enemy must make a stand; but no, ere the gate was blown open, the bird had flown, and, without a struggle, it fell into our hands. It was a place which might certainly have been held for some time, and which, if they had defended it with any amount of resolution, we might have had some trouble in taking; but Pandy, ever true to the maxim that "he who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day," had, as I have before said, made his exit directly we approached.

The 1st Bengal Fusiliers were left to guard this important post-situated at the meeting of four cross roads-and to complete the clearance and capture of the surrounding houses; while the rest of the force continued its route, still moving through jungle and wood, and in many places through burning sand; still firing at flying

foes, and occasionally being fired at in return; still carrying all before them, though momentarily expecting to meet with opposition, and still finding none. We marched on, somewhat after the fashion of a party of sportsmen, who, having come out equipped with completest sporting paraphernalia, in all the pride of Joe Mantons and Westley Richardses, and with powder and shot sufficient to blow all the game in the universe to perdition; burning with ardour, and pregnant with a laudable desire to wipe (in sporting parlance) each the other's eye; find, to their disgust, the birds unapproachably wild and wary, and by no means inclined to give them an opportunity of testing the force and penetration of an Eley's cartridge. So it was with us, until suddenly a wild cheer rings through the wood-much the sort of cheer you may hear any hunting morning by woodsides and pleasant copses in merry England, but, alas! mingled now with cries, and shrieks, and fast-falling shots-the hounds have found, true enough, the chase is up, and the work of death has commenced!

We had, in fact, taken by surprise a large mass of the enemy, who were engaged in cooking their dinners under the trees, and who, panic-stricken at our unexpected appearance, fled precipitately. But few of them escaped; the toils of the net were round them ere they were aware, and many a body lay there long afterwards, stark and ghastly, under the pleasant trees (which cast a fitful trellis-work of light and shade upon it), to mark the spot of battle, and to tell how truly the Enfield and the bayonet had done their work.

A FEARFUL CHASE!

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An order to push on quickly was given, while companies were detached from the main body to assist the skirmishers, who were unable to kill fast enough, so numerous were the foe!

How vividly do I remember this moment, perhaps the most exciting in my life!—how clearly do I see the regiments running forward to join in the work of slaughter-how clearly hear the deafening din, the shouts now of terror, now of triumph— how clearly see the Sepoys, as they fled in wild affright, throwing away arms, clothing, cookingpots, and all or aught soever that might tend to hamper their movements; while, ever high above the tumult rose the cheers of our men, as they drove the enemy before them like so many hares, and shot them down by dozens as they went. Following them up, we at last emerged from the wood into an apparently boundless plain, over which a multitude of men were flying for their lives, at a frantic pace.

We had now captured two guns, several colours, and a quantity of arms, while the slaughter of the enemy must have been really immense, to judge from the way in which their bodies strewed our path, so thickly that the gun wheels at times passed over them; but this "bag," successful as it was, was not yet complete; our bloody offering at Bellona's shrine did not yet suffice. "Kill! kill! kill!" was still the burden of the cry; "bring forward the guns!" and away we roll in hot pursuit after the scattered fugitives away, jolting and bumping, at a mad gallop, leaving infantry and supports far behindaway, over a country which, though level to look

at, bore upon its smooth-seeming face more lumps and pimply inequalities than there are plums in a Christmas pudding, as we found out by bitter experience-away, over some two miles of ground, strewn with clothes, brass pots, matchlocks, tulwars, rags, powder-horns, and other emblems of a flight-away, over drains, and mounds, and dried-up water-courses, rugged bits, half-broken walls, and the like, till the wretched gunners, seated on the limbers, must have cursed the day they were born, and yet more bitterly the day on which they enlisted. At last, to the great relief of "pumped" horses and bumped gunners, we were ordered to "Halt-action front!" We then let fly shell among the fugitives, apparently with some success, judging by the way in which our foes disappeared, and by the hurried manner in which certain little knots of these gentlemen dispersed, radiating off like the spokes of a wheel, on our making them the objects of our particular attention, and favouring them with a notice to move on, couched in the form of a shrapnel shell.

We had now gone to the extreme end of the city, and the stone bridge was in our possession (as also the iron bridge, which had been captured by the left column), with a great extent of country; but General Outram decided, very wisely, that the smallness of his force did not justify him in attempting to hold so extended a position, and that it would therefore be good policy to retire from the stone bridge, and rest satisfied with the iron bridge and the approaches leading thereto, with the ground on the bank of the Goomtee, up to, and on a line with this point.

We were therefore ordered to retrace our steps, upon which the enemy, with much boldness and spirit, seasoned with bluster, bringing out a gun or two, treated us to some long shots immediately they found our backs were turned ! But they did no damage, and we marched on, taking a slightly different route from the one by which we came, and going direct towards the Musjid, instead of making a détour as before. On our way, we passed through a large village (where we destroyed immense stores of powder and half-finished guncarriages, and other munitions of war), which, in its then deserted state, "afforded an eligible opportunity for parties" fond of looting to indulge this propensity. I am bound to admit that the British soldier proved himself equal to the occasion, and fully appreciated his position, to judge from the way in which he burdened himself with articles of every conceivable nature, and of no conceivable value. If I recollect right, fowls were great favourites, likewise pigeons and green parrots; some men positively smothering themselves with these feathered captives, presenting, I fancied, somewhat of the appearance of Æsacus, the son of Priam, Cygnus, Dædalion, and other mythological heroes, (who, according to Ovid, underwent an ornithological transformation,) when in the intermediate stage, and while the metamorphosis was as yet incomplete. Others, again, bore along in triumph a chaotic mass of tobacco, glass, lamp-shades, books, bits of silk, scent bottles, plates, brass pots, and utensils of all descriptions; of which, if the quality was inferior, the quantity amply compensated, there being, on a rough calculation,