A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & IISleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
History
A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II
Sleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
Oudh (India) -- Description and travel
About eleven o'clock the whole quadrangle was filled by a gang of
about sixty dacoits, who set their torches in a blaze, and began to
attack Mr. Ravenscroft with their spears. He sprang up, and called
loudly for his sword and shield, but there was no one to bring them.
He received several spears through his body as he made for the door
of Mrs. Ravenscroft's apartment, calling out to her in English to fly
and save herself and child, and defending himself as well as he could
with his naked arms. Mosahib, a servant who slept by his cot, got to
Mrs. Ravenscroft's room and assisted her to escape, with her child
and two female attendants, through the bathing-room to the outside. A
party had been placed to stab Ensign Platt with their long spears
through the sides of his small tent; but they passed through and
through the block-tin boxes, and roused without hurting him. He
rushed out and attempted to defend himself by seizing the spears of
his assailants; but he received several of them through his arms. He
made for the entrance to the quadrangle, and there, by the blaze of
the torches, saw Mr. Ravenscroft still endeavouring to defend
himself, but covered with blood, which was streaming from his wounds
and mouth.
On seeing Ensign Platt at the entrance, he staggered towards him, but
the dacoits made a rush at Ensign Platt with their spears at the same
time. He saved himself by springing over a thick and thorny hedge on
one side of the quadrangle, and ran round behind to the small door
leading into the bathing-room, which he reached in time to assist
Mrs. Ravenscroft to escape, as the dacoits were forcing their way
through the screen into her bed-room from the sitting-room. As soon
as he saw her under the shade of the trees, beyond the blaze of the
torches, he left her and her child, and the two female attendants, to
the care of Mosahib, and went round to the entrance in search of her
husband. He had got to a tree, outside the entrance, into which
Deena, Ensign Platt's servant, had climbed to save himself as soon as
he saw his master attacked, and was leaning against it; but, on
seeing Ensign Platt, he again staggered towards him, saying faintly
_bus, bus_--enough, enough. These were the last words he was heard to
utter, and must have referred to the escape of his wife and child, of
which he had become conscious. By this time the gang had made off
with the little booty they found. On attacking Mr. Ravenscroft at
first, some of them were heard to say, "You have run from Cawnpoor to
come and seize upon the estate of Bhinga, but we will settle you."
Mrs. Ravenscroft, her infant, and female attendants, remained
concealed under the shade of the trees, and her husband was now taken
to her with eighteen spear wounds through his body. The Rajah and his
two young sons soon after made their appearance, and in the evening
the survivors were all taken by the old man to a spacious building,
close outside the fort, where they received every possible attention;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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