uld an
attack be made on our position. After the great heat of the day the
nights by contrast felt bitterly cold. There was a stack of dry wood in
the centre of the grounds from which the men kindled a large fire near
the piled arms, and arranged themselves around it, rolled in their
greatcoats but fully accoutred, ready to stand to arms at the least
alarm.

In writing these reminiscences it is far from my wish to make them an
autobiography. My intention is rather to relate the actions of others
than recount what I did myself; but an adventure happened to me in the
Shah Nujeef which gave me such a nervous fright that to this day I often
dream of it. I have forgotten to state that when the force advanced
from the Alumbagh each man carried his greatcoat rolled into what was
then known in our regiment as the "Crimean roll," with ends strapped
together across the right shoulder just over the ammunition pouch-belt,
so that it did not interfere with the free use of the rifle, but rather
formed a protection across the chest. As it turned out many men owed
their lives to the fact that bullets became spent in passing through the
rolled greatcoats before reaching a vital part. Now it happened that in
the heat of the fight in the Secundrabagh my greatcoat was cut right
through where the two ends were fastened together, by the stroke of a
keen-edged _tulwar_ which was intended to cut me across the shoulder,
and as it was very warm at the time from the heat of the mid-day sun
combined with the excitement of the fight, I was rather glad than
otherwise to be rid of the greatcoat; and when the fight was over, it
did not occur to me to appropriate another one in its place from one of
my dead comrades. But by ten o'clock at night there was a considerable
difference in the temperature from ten in the morning, and when it came
to my turn to be relieved from patrol duty and to lie down for a sleep,
I felt the cold wet grass anything but comfortable, and missed my
greatcoat to wrap round my knees; for the kilt is not the most suitable
dress imaginable for a bivouac, without greatcoat or plaid, on a cold,
dewy November night in Upper India; with a raw north wind the climate of
Lucknow feels uncommonly cold at night in November, especially when
contrasted with the heat of the day. I have already mentioned that the
sun had set before we entered the Shah Nujeef, the surrounding enclosure
of which contained a number of small rooms round the insid