also exerted
himself. A family is a family even [if it be] scattered to the ends of
the earth, Mother. My father's brother's name is still remembered in
the Regiment on account of his long service and his great deeds of old.
Tell him, my Mother, that the men talk of him daily as though he had
only resigned yesterday. If he rides out among the villages with his
medals he will certainly fetch in many of our class. If it were fifty
it would mean much more influence for me with my Colonel. He is very
greedy for our class of Mahommedans.

Mother, our Pir Murshid too, is a very holy man. If he preached to them
after harvest he would fetch in many and I should be promoted, and the
pensions go with the promotion. In a short time by God's assistance, I
might command a troop if sufficient recruits were attained by the
exertions of my friends and well-wishers. The honour of one is the
honour of all. Lay all this before the Murshid and my uncle.

None of the Cavalry have yet done anything to compare with our
Regiment. This may be because of fate or that their nature is not equal
to ours. There is great honour to be got out of a lance before long.
The war has become loosened and cavalry patrols are being sent forward.
We have driven Mama Lumra [a nickname for the enemy] several miles
across country. He has planted his feet again but it is not the same
Mama Lumra. His arrogance is gone. Our guns turn the earth upside down
upon him. He has made himself houses underground which are in all
respects fortresses with beds, chairs and lights. Our guns break these
in. There is little to see because Mama Lumra is buried underneath.
These days are altogether different from the days when all our Army was
here and Mama Lumra's guns overwhelmed us by day and by night. Now Mama
Lumra eats his own stick. Fighting goes on in the sky, on earth and
under earth. Such a fighting is rarely vouchsafed any one to behold.
Yet if one reflects upon God it is no more than rain on a roof. Mother,
once I was reported "missing, killed or believed taken prisoner." I
went with a patrol to a certain place beyond which we went forward to a
place which had recently been taken by the English infantry. Suddenly
the enemy's fire fell upon us and behind us like water. Seeing we could
not go back, we lay down in the holes made by the shells. The enemy
exerted himself to the utmost, but our guns having found him bombarded
him and he ceased. In the evening we retired out of