"They have; but what of that? they are cowardly rascals, and, you will see, will run away." "Then," said I, "run and tell Bhudrinath, who is yonder; tell him to walk down that side, I will go down this; when we are near them I will give the jhirnee." My four men had now joined me, as I told them to do if they saw me speak to any one; Bhudrinath was joined by his, and by Khoseal Sing, who had given up his watch at the other end, and arrived at the critical moment. Our parties proceeded down the street exactly opposite to each other. I thought not of danger, though it was the first time I had ever drawn a sword in anger against a fellow-creature, and I was about to precipitate myself into what might be a sudden and desperate combat. Our shields apparently hung loosely and easily on our arms, but they were tightly grasped, and our swords were free in their scabbards. I saw the party approach--they marched carelessly; and had not the arms of my companions been tightly bound, and the whole tied together by a rope, which the leader of the party held in his hand, they might have easily escaped. Our men joined together in the middle of the street, and when we were close to the coming party, I cried, in a loud tone, "Bahee Pan lao!" It was the signal--our swords flashed from their scabbards, and we threw ourselves on the sepoys. I cut right and left, and two men fell; the others were as successful: I rushed to the prisoners, and a few strokes of my sword, and of those who were nearest, cut their bonds, and they were free. As Himmat Khan had said, the whole of the sepoys fled on the instant of the attack. "Fly to the gates, my brothers, or they will be shut!" I cried; "fly through these narrow, dark streets; no one will know who you are, nor trouble themselves about you." We all dispersed in an instant. I cast a hurried look around me as I returned my bloody sword into its scabbard, and saw five poor wretches lying on the ground and groaning. It was enough: I, too, fled down the nearest street which offered, reached the gate I had entered by, and when I got on the embankment of the Meer Joomla tank, I plunged among the gardens and inclosures which are below it, and by the various lanes which led through them soon reached my father's house. The attack on the escort of the prisoners, Sahib, was so sudden, and over so quickly, that I can give you but a faint idea how soon it was made and finished: it occupied less time than I have taken to tell it; and I have often wondered since, that the noise and confusion, not only caused by us, but by a few passengers who witnessed the fray, did not alarm the whole street, and cause the inhabitants to rise on us.