It was this vivid picture that came back to the author upon that bleak November day of 1914, when the Indian soldiers, under the grey English heaven, went winding through the rain-driven streets of London. From far away sounded the deep salutation of the guns, the tolling of a bell, the wailing of the pipes. Thirty-four years had passed, and once again “Riflemen and Goorkhas, Highlanders and Sikhs, guns and horses” passed like the ghosts of long ago, or a dream of past achievement and work well done before the falling of the night.
BATTLE HONOURS OF THE SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS (ROSS-SHIRE BUFFS, THE DUKE OF ALBANY’S).
Carnatic, Mysore, Hindoostan; Cape of Good Hope, 1806; Maida, Java; South Africa, 1835; Sevastopol, Persia, Koosh-ab, Lucknow, Central India, Peiwar Kotal, Charasiah; Kabul, 1879; Kandahar, 1880; Afghanistan, 1878-1880; Egypt, 1882; Tel-el-Kebir, Chitral, Atbara, Khartoum; South Africa, 1899-1902; Paardeberg.
CHAPTER XX
MAJUBA HILL
(1881)
Up beyond the Inyati, where the frontier ranges rise,
Dark and lonely looms the mountain evil-starred;
Staring southward for the column, keeping vigil ’gainst surprise,
Standing grimly like a sentinel on guard.
But at night strange sounds re-echo, and dim phantoms rise from rest,