than once since daylight this
morning." He replied, "Pardon me, I did not mean that; but calm yourself
and explain what it is that has frightened you." I then told him that I
had gone into the mosque with a naked lamp burning, and had found it
half full of loose gunpowder piled in a great heap on the floor and a
large number of loaded shells. "Are you sure you're not dreaming from
the excitement of this terrible day?" said the captain. With that I
looked down to my feet and my gaiters, which were still covered with
blood from the slaughter in the Secundrabagh; the wet grass had softened
it again, and on this the powder was sticking nearly an inch thick. I
scraped some of it off, throwing it into the fire, and said, "There is
positive proof for you that I'm not dreaming, nor my vision a shadow!"
On that the captain became almost as alarmed as I was, and a sentry was
posted near the door of the mosque to prevent any one from entering it.
The sleeping men were aroused, and the fire smothered out with as great
care as possible, using for the purpose several earthen _ghurrahs_, or
jars of water, which the enemy had left under the trees near where we
were lying.

When all was over, Colour-Sergeant Morton coolly proposed to the captain
to place me under arrest for having left the pile of arms after he, the
colour-sergeant, had refused to give me leave. To this proposal Captain
Dawson replied: "If any one deserves to be put under arrest it is you
yourself, Sergeant Morton, for not having explored the mosque and
discovered the gunpowder while Corporal Mitchell and I were posting the
sentries; and if this neglect comes to the notice of either Colonel Hay
or the Commander-in-Chief, both you and I are likely to hear more about
it; so the less you say about the matter the better!" This ended the
discussion and my adventure, and at the time I was glad to hear nothing
more about it, but I have sometimes since thought that if the part I
acted in this crisis had come to the knowledge of either Colonel Hay or
Sir Colin Campbell, my burnt hand would have brought me something more
than a proposal to place me under arrest, and take my corporal's stripes
from me! Be that as it may, I got a fright that I have never forgotten,
and, as already mentioned, even to this day I often dream of it, and
wake up with a sudden start, the cold perspiration in great beads on my
face, as I think I see again the huge black heap of powder in front of
me.