In an instant the whole line was in motion, advancing slowly, with the heavy dull trampling of the horses, loudly heard by me above the tumultuous beating of my heart.
I glanced to the right, and then at the rajah and his two officers glittering with gold and gems, motionless, and as if astounded. It must have struck him and his men that we were volunteers, renegades come to join them, and drill the little force. But as we came abreast of them, with the sowars all steadily in their places, and taking everything as a matter of course, Brace’s voice rose again—
“Trot!”
Again Dobbs’s trumpet rang out, and the splendid horses, all trained to the notes of that bugle, broke at once into a steady trot. The gun wheels and limbers rattled, and an exciting yell ran along the line, men beginning to drag frantically at their reins as the rajah and his officers now awoke to the position of affairs, and roared out orders. But, above the noise
and the confusion in the line, Brace’s voice rose clear and loud—“Gallop!”
Then, clear ringing, and given with all his might, Dobbs blew forth a triumphant charge, and the sowars might as well have pulled at rocks as against the bits of the excited horses, as they broke into the swift race to which they had been trained, gathering excitement from the rattle of the wheels as, in a quarter of a minute, we were thundering away down the plain, our speed increasing, the guns leaping and bounding over the uneven ground; and as I gave one glance back, I saw the white-robed gunners leaping off the limbers, their men frantically trying to check their horses, and ending by throwing themselves off—one or two, then half a dozen, then more, till the track in our rear was dotted with white spots, till fully half the sowars had dropped off, and the horses dashed on in the wild exciting gallop that was almost terrific in its speed.
I saw, too, the rajah and his officers shouting and striving hard on our right, and trying to cut in before us, to stop the movement. Again, they might as well have tried to check the wind, and all they could do was to fall in the line, galloping with us, and striking at their men with their glittering tulwars, as gunners and riders sat watching for opportunities to throw themselves from their horses without being trampled to death.
It was all a matter of minutes; and by the time we had galloped a mile, half the men had dropped off and were left behind, while on we tore with a rush like a whirlwind; till all at once from the wood some hundreds of yards to the front and left, there was a rush, the flash of helmets; and, led by Haynes, our men dashed out at the double, as if to take up ground right on our front.
The effect was magical.