Both Ted and Alec had been provided with horses before leaving Aurungpore, "Tommy Dodd" having been stolen by some budmashes; and they found the march enjoyable at times, especially in the cool of the morning before the sun had mounted high, and on moonlight evenings. Of course their detachment was lightly equipped, and had little impedimenta to carry, whereas the rest of the corps had to drag along and guard their tents, commissariat, baggage, and ammunition, otherwise they would never have been overtaken. Right across the vast Punjab swept the famous corps of Guides, through shady groves of peach and apricot trees, and over dusty plains destitute of shelter; across the five rivers to which the land owes its name,[10] each day bringing the stalwart frontiersmen nearer to the goal of their desire. Every man in that band was eager for the fray. [10] Punjab means "the country of the five rivers". Afridis, Afghans, and the various Pathan tribesmen of the corps looked forward to the sacking of the wealthy city. For centuries past their forefathers had marched down at frequent intervals to plunder the rich plains of Hindustan, and, as children, they had listened to glowing accounts of the vast wealth of the Mogul capital. The Sikhs of the corps were equally ready to loot, for the Sikh is nearly as rapacious as the Pathan, and much more miserly. They remembered also the bitter enmity between their ancestors and the Mohammedan rulers of Delhi, and their persecution at the hands of the Moslems. The single company of little Gurkhas, though by no means grasping like their comrades, were no less eager to come in contact with the mutinous hordes. The "Irishmen of Asia" these short-legged warriors might be called, from their readiness for battle and love of a fight at all times and seasons. The Guide Corps consisted of three troops of cavalry and six companies of infantry, about eight hundred men in all, under the command of Captain Daly. The greater part of both infantry and cavalry were Pathans, and they were the best irregular horsemen in the world. The troopers supplied their own horses, and were men of some wealth and standing in their own country. As the fierce borderers rode and marched along, laughing as they spoke of the fun they would have at Delhi, Bahram Khan grimly told of the punishment meted out to the rebels of Aurungpore, and boasted of having played the most important rôle in the hoax. "Truly it was all my idea, not Russell Sahib's," he repeated. "But for me all the Sahib-Logue would have been dead ere this." "Tell us, how did it all happen, cousin?" enquired a duffadar, a relation of the ressaidar's, Nawab Khan by name.