Through the Sikh War: A Tale of the Conquest of the Punjaub

by G. A. Henty

SEVEN HOURS OF SUSPENSE.

Lieutenant Edwardes pressed forward with all speed, in hopes of effecting a junction with the Bhawulpoor force before the Mooltan army could fall upon them. Unfortunately the River Jelum intervened between the allies, and had the rebel army used expedition they could have annihilated the Bhawulpoor contingent before Edwardes joined them. The latter had already made every preparation for his advance, having sent on messengers ahead to collect boats at Koreyshee, with instructions that his ally should avoid battle if possible and retire before the enemy until joined by him.

On reaching the Jelum late in the evening he heard that the Mooltan force had just arrived at a point three miles from the camp of his ally, but had established themselves and evidently did not intend to attack until the next morning. "You had better start at once across the river, Groves, and see that the nawab's force is in a position to defend itself if the enemy attack before I can get across. Its commander is an old man, and, as I hear from our agent, Peer Ibraheem Khan, hopelessly muddle-headed and inefficient. You will find Ibraheem himself a thoroughly good and reliable officer, and he will aid you in every way. It is he who has got all these boats collected in readiness for us. Two or three of the nawab's regiments are commanded by Englishmen. If you find that the general will do nothing, I authorize you to take the command out of his hands, and to make the best dispositions you can under the advice of Ibraheem. The boats are coming up fast, and I shall begin to cross at daylight with the infantry to aid the Bhawulpoor men in keeping the enemy at bay until Cortlandt can get the guns across. Until we have them to help us we shall be at a terrible disadvantage, for the enemy have at least twelve pieces. Remember to-morrow is the 18th of June, the anniversary of Waterloo; it is a good omen for us."

As Percy was about to ride down to the river bank a boat came across, and he stood chatting with Lieutenant Edwardes until it arrived. It contained a messenger from Peer Ibraheem, saying that the force would march down to a point opposite the ferry during the night and so cover the crossing.

"Could you guide this officer," Lieutenant Edwardes said, "so that he can meet the army on the march?"

The messenger said that he could do so, and Percy with his two men and horses took his place in the boat. After two hours' ride from the other side of the river they met the head of the approaching column, and Percy, hearing that Peer Ibraheem was with the regiment that followed, waited till he came along and then handed him a pencil note that Edwardes had given him, repeating to Peer Ibraheem the instructions he had already given Percy.

"I am very glad that you have come, sahib," the officer said. "Futteh Muhommud pays no attention to what is going on, and is in fact no better than an idiot. I received authority from Edwardes sahib yesterday to supersede him if it were absolutely necessary, but it might possibly cause discontent among the troops, and it were better to leave him in nominal command."

The morning was breaking when they approached the river. When half a mile distant they met three thousand of the Pathans, who with fifty mounted chiefs had effected their passage during the night under the command of Foujdar Khan, a capable and energetic native officer who acted as Edwardes' adjutant-general. A halt was ordered, and Percy and Peer Ibraheem tried to get the men into line and to remedy the tremendous confusion that prevailed, baggage animals, waggons, elephants, and guns being all mixed up in the column. There was the more occasion for haste, as the rising sun showed the enemy marching towards them. Their object had evidently been to take possession of the ferry and thus separate the two allied forces; but the night march of the Bhawulpoor men and the passage of the Pathans had forestalled them, and they at once took up their position on the salt hills of the village of Noonar and their guns in a few minutes opened.

Two or three of the nawab's guns were with the greatest difficulty extricated from the confused mass and returned the fire of the enemy, and the Bhawulpoor men, uttering, as was their custom before fighting, the name of the rajah in a sonorous shout, rushed headlong without order or regularity against the enemy. In vain Percy and Peer Ibraheem and their own officers shouted to them to stand their ground. They went forward at a run until they were checked by volleys of musketry from the traitorous Sikh troops, while the guns swept them with grape. Though accustomed to irregular warfare, the nawab's troops were new to fighting disciplined soldiers, and, confounded at the storm of lead and shot to which they were exposed, they fell back in disorder.

At this time Lieutenant Edwardes, who had crossed the river in a small boat, arrived upon the spot. He found the most utter confusion prevailing; the excitement had apparently dissipated the remains of sense in Futteh Muhommud's brain, and the old man was sitting under a tree counting his beads apathetically, while a group of officers were standing round vainly endeavouring to recall his shattered senses and to get him to issue orders. Lieutenant Edwardes at once took the command. He saw at once that after the severe check the Bhawulpoor men had received, and amid the confusion that prevailed, the battle was lost if the enemy at once advanced. Turning to Peer Ibraheem, who had just arrived, and the chief officers, he pointed out that the enemy had taken up a strong position and evidently expected to be attacked, and that therefore they had time to get the men in order and to retrieve the day.