On the 30th of April a sharp engagement at Dewangiri, down in the south-east corner of the little hill-state, resulted in the Bhotias being driven out of their position; but a remnant of them, some two hundred in all, obstinately barricaded themselves in a strongly-built, loopholed blockhouse. This little fortress, standing at the summit of a rocky path, was the key to the position, and it was essential that it should not be held to serve as a rallying-point for the routed enemy.
Turning to his Sikhs, General Tombs asked them to make a dash for the walls and carry the place by storm, but, courageous fighters though they were, they looked at the rows of deadly loopholes and stood still. They only waited for a leader, however. With an “officer sahib” at their head, the big, black-bearded Punjabis were ready for the most forlorn of hopes. And they followed with alacrity when, at Tombs’ call, Captain Trevor and Lieutenant Dundas showed them the way.
Taking the path at a rush, the two officers gained the wall of the blockhouse unscathed, and though from every loophole came the crackle of a rifle they began to scramble up the wall. The latter was fourteen feet high, no mean obstacle to surmount; but they got up at last, the captain leading, and found themselves on a level with the roof of the blockhouse. Between the top of the wall and the roof was an opening not more than two feet wide. Through this was their only chance of getting inside, and they took it.
Head foremost they wriggled in through the narrow hole, one after the other, and dropped like snakes from the thatch into the midst of the surprised garrison. At the first discharge of muskets both of the intrepid officers were wounded, but the Sikhs thronging in behind them quickly finished the business. Within a few minutes the blockhouse was swept clear.
The following year, 1866, saw us involved in trouble with a West African tribe in the Gambia district. A punitive expedition having been organised under the command of Colonel D’Arcy, the Governor of Gambia, the kingdom of Barra, in which the turbulent tribe resided, was invaded. One of the first actions in this campaign was the assault on the stockaded town of Tubabecolong, and here Private Samuel Hodge, of the 4th West India Regiment, behaved with such gallantry that he became the second man of colour to receive the V.C.
When the little force reached the town, Colonel D’Arcy called for volunteers to break down the stockade with axes. Hodge and another pioneer, who was afterwards killed, answered the call, and plied their axes bravely in the face of the negroes’ fire until a breach had been made. Through this the regiment struggled, but the negroes had been reinforced, and so strongly that they were able to beat the besiegers off for a time.
Colonel D’Arcy relates that he found himself left alone in the breach with only Hodge by him. Here he kept firing at the negroes, while the big West Indian, standing coolly at his side, conspicuous in his scarlet uniform with white facings, supplied him with loaded muskets. After a little time the rest of the men re-formed and came once more to the attack, whereupon Hodge went ahead again, breaking a way for them through the bush-work defences.
To give his comrades a better chance of storming the place, he at last ran round to the principal entrance, drove off such of the negroes as thrust themselves in his path, and forced open the two great gates which had been barricaded from within. Through these the West Indian Regiment charged with their bayonets, and when they emerged at the other side of the smoke-enveloped village they left some hundreds of negroes dead and dying in their wake.
Colonel D’Arcy had done great deeds of valour that day, deeds which were suitably recognised later by the merchants of Bathurst, who presented him with a sword of honour, but he modestly disclaimed the praise due to him. To Private Hodge, he said, belonged the chief honours of the attack, and at the close of the action, before the whole regiment, he saluted the proud pioneer as “the bravest man in the corps.”