I was sitting listlessly in the shop of a Tumbolee, almost the only one in the street, when Himmat Khan came up to me. I saw by his face that he had news, and descended from the chubootra, upon which the man exposed his goods, and turned round a dark corner. "They come," said he, panting for breath from anxiety; "I have been watching one end of the street, and Khoseal Sing the other: they are coming by my end, and will be now about half-way up."
"Oh," said he, "a parcel of Line-wallas--about twenty soldiers with old muskets; we could cut through a hundred of them."
"Have they their bayonets fixed?" I inquired.
"They have; but what of that? they are cowardly rascals, and, you will see, will run away."
"Then," said I, "run and tell Bhudrinath, who is yonder; tell him to walk down that side, I will go down this; when we are near them I will give the jhirnee."
My four men had now joined me, as I told them to do if they saw me speak to any one; Bhudrinath was joined by his, and by Khoseal Sing, who had given up his watch at the other end, and arrived at the critical moment. Our parties proceeded down the street exactly opposite to each other. I thought not of danger, though it was the first time I had ever drawn a sword in anger against a fellow-creature, and I was about to precipitate myself into what might be a sudden and desperate combat. Our shields apparently hung loosely and easily on our arms, but they were tightly grasped, and our swords were free in their scabbards. I saw the party approach--they marched carelessly; and had not the arms of my companions been tightly bound, and the whole tied together by a rope, which the leader of the party held in his hand, they might have easily escaped.
Our men joined together in the middle of the street, and when we were close to the coming party, I cried, in a loud tone, "Bahee Pan lao!" It was the signal--our swords flashed from their scabbards, and we threw ourselves on the sepoys. I cut right and left, and two men fell; the others were as successful: I rushed to the prisoners, and a few strokes of my sword, and of those who were nearest, cut their bonds, and they were free. As Himmat Khan had said, the whole of the sepoys fled on the instant of the attack.