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

by G. A. Henty

"Ah! that is your European notion, Percy. No doubt to an English eye, accustomed to our cavalry, they do look rather a scratch lot, but dress makes no difference when it comes to fighting. From the first the Maharajah's European officers had to abandon the idea of introducing anything like uniformity in dress. The men clothe themselves; and in addition to the expense it would be to them to get new clothes on joining, their feeling of independence would revolt against any dictation on such a subject. It has all along been very difficult to get them to submit to anything like European discipline, but to attempt to introduce uniformity of garb would produce a revolution among them. There is no such thing as uniformity even in the attire of the most highly-favoured troops of the native princes, and the appearance of their escort and retinue is varied in the extreme.

"Richly-dressed nobles ride side by side with men whose armour and trappings have come down to them from many generations. Some carry lances, some matchlocks, some only swords; some are pretty nearly naked to the waist, others are swathed up to the eyes in gaudy-coloured robes. So that a man's arms are serviceable, and he is willing to learn his drill, is obedient to discipline and of good behaviour, I care nothing for his clothes; though as far as I can I discourage any from dressing more showily than the rest, and of course insist that all are fairly dressed in accordance with their notions. You must remember that until the days of Marlborough there were nothing like uniforms in European armies, especially among the cavalry. And even in his time there was very considerable latitude in the matter of dress."

"I suppose I shall have to dress in Sikh fashion, uncle?"

"It will be certainly better, lad. Indoors their dress is easy and flowing, and you will find it comfortable. Your European dress will at once mark you out, and should there be troubles your chances of escape would be vastly greater in Sikh costume, than in anything which would at once point you out as a European. In the course of a year you will speak the language like a native, for, as you may suppose, you will hear nothing else, except when we are alone together. And indeed to me Punjaubi now comes much more naturally than English. If it were not that I have always made a point of getting a box of European books sent up from Calcutta whenever an opportunity offers, I should almost have forgotten my native tongue. There, that is the fortress. It looks fairly strong, does it not?"

They had just ascended a brow, and as they did so the stronghold came suddenly into view. It stood on a rocky spur, running out from the hills behind it. This broke suddenly away at the foot of the walls, and seemed to Percy to be almost perpendicular on three sides.

"It looks tremendously strong, uncle. Surely nobody could scale those rocks?"

"No; except by treachery it is impregnable on the sides you see, or at any rate on two of them. On the side facing us it is very steep, indeed almost inaccessible. There is a footpath cut for the most part in the rock. It zigzags up the face, and there is a small gateway, though you can't see it from here, by which the fortress is entered from this side. There are three places that can only be climbed by ladders, and when these are removed nothing, unless provided with wings, could get up. The weakest side is, of course, that which we don't see, where the spur runs up to the hills behind. I have taken every pains to strengthen it there, and have blasted a cut thirty feet deep and as many wide, at the foot of the wall across the shoulder. I have, indeed, very largely added to the strength of the whole place since I was first appointed governor ten years ago. At that time I only resided here occasionally, sometimes moving about in the towns and villages, at others absent, often for months, with my three regiments, on some military expedition. But I foresaw that there would be troubles at Runjeet Singh's death, and quietly and steadily prepared for them.

"I knew the weak points of the place. For when I was first appointed, my predecessor, as is often the case, declined to hand over the fortress to me, and I had to capture it. It was no easy matter then, but I managed one night with a hundred picked men to scale the rock unnoticed, when a storm was raging. Then we threw up a rope with a grapnel to the top of the wall, drew up a rope-ladder, and so got a footing; we crept along the walls with scarcely any opposition, for the sentries were cowering under shelter of the parapet, and we reached the gate before the garrison had taken the alarm. The rest was easy; we threw open the gates, fired a couple of guns as a signal, and the main body of my troops, who had moved unperceived to a point a quarter of a mile away, hurried up, and we were speedily masters of the place. I at once resolved that I would do my best to avoid being turned out in so summary a manner. So far I have succeeded. There have been two or three attempts to take the place, but none of them were serious, for I take care that my sentries don't sleep at their posts, and it would need a regular siege by a large force to take it; I mean, of course, by Sikhs. The British have proved over and over again that rock fortresses considered impregnable can be taken without serious difficulty by determined men."

"How large is it, uncle?"

"It is about a quarter of a mile from end to end, and at the widest point it is about two hundred and fifty yards from wall to wall. So there is plenty of room not only for my troops but for a large number of fugitives from the country round. I have grain stored away sufficient for a year, even if the strength of the garrison was doubled. Water was of course the principal difficulty. There were some large tanks when I took possession, but I have greatly added to them. Of course all the water that falls on the roofs in the rainy season is carefully collected and stored; and in addition, I have constructed troughs to a streamlet six miles away in the hills. This brings me down sufficient water for our daily needs without touching the supply in the tanks, which is stringently preserved in case of a siege, for, of course, an enemy would as a first step intercept my supply from the hills.