by their officers, fell upon them.
The effect was decisive. The Sepoys scattered at once, and fled in
all directions, pursued by the furious soldiers and the Punjaubies.
Reaching the walls, the fugitives leapt recklessly down. Forty or
fifty of them were cut down by the cavalry, but the greater portion
reached the broken ground in safety. Here the cavalry could not
follow them, for the ground was covered with rocks and boulders
concealed by the bushes. In the village itself three hundred and
fifty lay dead.
"Thanks, Marshall," Frank Mallett said, when the fight in the
village was over. "You arrived just in time, for it was going very
hard with us. Altogether it was more than we bargained for, for
they were certainly over a thousand strong. They must have been
joined by a very strong party yesterday."
"I ought not to have gone so far," Marshall replied, "but I had no
idea that all the Punjaubies had come to our side of the fight. The
men were so eager that I had the greatest difficulty in getting
them off the pursuit. Fortunately I met Herbert, and learned that
all his men were with us. Then I gathered a dozen of our fellows,
and rushed off, telling him to follow as soon as he could get some
of his men together.
"You can imagine what agony I felt when, as I entered the open
space, I saw a surging mass of Sepoys, and no sign of any of you;
and how I cursed my own folly, and what delight I felt, as on
cutting our way through we found that you were still on your feet."
"Yes, it was a close shave, Marshall; another two or three minutes
and it would have been all over. The men fought like lions, as you
can see by the piled-up dead there. Half of them were down, and
twenty men cannot hold out long against four or five hundred.
"We owe our lives to you beyond all question. I don't see that you
were in the least to blame in the matter, for naturally you would
suppose that some of the Punjaubies would have joined us. Besides,
it was of course essential that you should not give the Sepoys time
to rally, but should follow them up hotly.
"Where is Anstruther?"
"I don't know. I have not seen him since we entered the square."
"Have any of you seen Mr. Anstruther?" Captain Mallett asked,
turning to some soldiers standing near.
"He is lying over there, sir," one of the men said. "He was just in
front of me when the Pandies fired that volley at us as we came out
of the streets, and he pitched forward and fell like
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