roperly on his feet. It was the wire frame of his feather bonnet that
saved him; the _sowar_ got a straight cut at his head, but the sword
glanced off the feather bonnet and nearly cut off his right ear.
However, Burroughs soon gathered himself together (there was so little
of him!) and showed his tall opponent that he had for once met his match
in the art of fencing; before many seconds Burroughs' sword had passed
through his opponent's throat and out at the back of his neck.
Notwithstanding his severe wound, Burroughs fought throughout the
capture of the Secundrabagh, with his right ear nearly severed from his
head, and the blood running down over his shoulder to his gaiters; nor
did he go to have his wound dressed till after he had mustered his
company, and reported to the colonel how many of No. 6 had fallen that
morning. Although his men disliked many of his ways, they were proud of
their little captain for his pluck and good heart. I will relate two
instances of this:--When promoted, Captain Burroughs had the misfortune
to succeed the most popular officer in the regiment in the command of
his company, namely, Captain Ewart (now Lieutenant-General Sir John
Alexander Ewart, K.C.B., etc.), and, among other innovations, Burroughs
tried to introduce certain _Polytechnique_ ideas new to the
Ninety-Third. At the first morning parade after assuming command of the
company, he wished to satisfy himself that the ears of the men were
clean inside, but being so short, he could not, even on tiptoe, raise
himself high enough to see; he therefore made them come to the kneeling
position, and went along the front rank from left to right, minutely
inspecting the inside of every man's ears! The Ninety-Third were all
tall men in those days, none being under five feet six inches even in
the centre of the rear rank of the battalion companies; and the right
hand man of Burroughs' company was a stalwart Highlander named Donald
MacLean, who could scarcely speak English and stood about six feet three
inches. When Burroughs examined Donald's ears he considered them dirty,
and told the colour-sergeant to put Donald down for three days' extra
drill. Donald, hearing this, at once sprang to his feet from the
kneeling position and, looking down on the little captain with a look of
withering scorn, deliberately said, "She will take three days' drill
from a man, but not from a monkey!" Of course Donald was at once marched
to the rear-guard a prisoner