ents than he himself did. I have no detailed
statement of the Mutiny at Bareilly, and the short account which I
possess merely says that, "As soon as the artillery fired the signal gun
in their lines, Brigadier Sibbald mounted his horse and galloped off to
the cavalry lines, but was met on the way by a party of infantry, who
fired on him. He received a bullet in his chest, and then turned his
horse and galloped to the appointed rendezvous for the Europeans, and,
on arriving there, dropped dead from his horse." The account then goes
on to say: "The European sergeant-major had remained in the lines, and
Adjutant Tucker perished while endeavouring to save the life of the
sergeant-major." The question arises--Is it possible that this
sergeant-major can have been the same man whom Doorga Sing afterwards
met in command of the rebel ranks in Delhi, and who was said to have
killed his adjutant?

FOOTNOTES:

[57] Two of his sons joined Hodson's Horse, and one of them, Ataoollah
Khan, was our representative at Caubul after the last Afghan war.

[58] Doorkeepers.

[59] Head-man.

[60] Satan.

[61] "The Black Water," _i.e._ the sea, which no orthodox Hindoo can
cross without loss of caste.

APPENDIX C

A FEW WORDS ON SWORD-BLADES

A short time back I read an article on sword-blades, reprinted I believe
from some English paper. Now, in a war like the Mutiny sword-blades are
of the utmost importance to men who depend on them either for taking or
preserving life; I will therefore state my own experience, and give
opinions on the swords which came under my observation, and I may at
once say that I think there is great room for improvement in our blades
of Birmingham manufacture. I consider that the swords supplied to our
officers, cavalry and artillery, are far inferior as weapons of offence
to a really good Oriental _tulwar_. Although an infantry man I saw a
good deal of sword-practice, because all the men who held the
Secundrabagh and the Begum's Kothee were armed with native _tulwars_
from the King of Oude's armoury, in addition to their muskets and
bayonets, and a large proportion of our men were killed and wounded by
sword-cuts.

In the first place, then, for cutting our English regulation swords are
too straight; the Eastern curved blade is far more effective as a
cutting weapon. Secondly, our English swords are far too blunt, whereas
the native swords are as keen in edge as a well-stropped razor. Our
steel