[Footnote 3:  A name applied by the Hindus to any Rajput who has, or whose ancestors have, been converted to Islam.  There were several Rangars in the 1st Irregulars.  One day in June, Shaidad Khan, a Resaidar of this class, came to Chamberlain, and said:  ’There was a rumour that he (Chamberlain) had not as much confidence in Rangars as in other classes of the regiment, and he came to be comforted’!  Chamberlain asked him to sit down, and sent to the banker of the regiment for a very valuable sword which he had given him for safe custody.  It had belonged to one of the Amirs of Sindh, was taken in battle, and given to Chamberlain by Major Fitzgerald, of the Sindh Horse.  On the sword being brought, Chamberlain handed it over to Shaidad Khan and his sect for safety, to be returned when the Mutiny was over.  The tears rose to the Native officer’s eyes, he touched Chamberlain’s knees, and swore that death alone would sever the bond of fidelity of which the sword was the token.  He took his leave, thoroughly satisfied.]

[Footnote 4:  Throne.]

[Footnote 5:  A station since abandoned for Rajanpur.]

[Footnote 6:  Now General Sir W. T. Hughes, K.C.B.]

[Footnote 7:  The two disarmed regiments remained quietly at Multan for more than a year, when, with unaccountable inconsistency, a sudden spirit of revolt seized them, and in August, 1858, they broke out, tried to get possession of the guns, murdered the Adjutant of the Bombay Fusiliers, and then fled from the station.  But order by that time had been quite restored, our position in the Punjab was secure, and nearly all the sepoys were killed or captured by the country people.]

[Footnote 8:  No Native, in Native dress, keeps his shoes on when he enters a room, unless he intends disrespect.]

[Footnote 9:  The late Field Marshal Lord Strathnairn, G.C.B., G.C.S.I.]

[Footnote 10:  A kind of light cart.]

[Footnote 11:  A four-walled enclosure for the accommodation of travellers.]

[Footnote 12:  It will be remembered that this was the regiment in which two men had been found with loaded muskets, and blown away from guns at Lahore.]

* * * * *

CHAPTER XII. 1857

George Ricketts at Ludhiana—­Pushing on to Delhi —­In the camp before Delhi

The mail-cart rattled across the bridge of boats, and in less than an hour I found myself at Ludhiana, at the house of George Ricketts,[1] the Deputy Commissioner.  Ricketts’s bungalow was a resting-place for everyone passing through en route to Delhi.  In one room I found Lieutenant Williams of the 4th Sikhs, who had been dangerously wounded three weeks before, while assisting Ricketts to prevent the Jullundur mutineers from crossing the Sutlej.