"They're Hindus, right enough, but they are soldiers first. They don't worship either Siva or Vishnu one-half so fervently as they adore their rifles and kukris. So they simply said that they would believe whatever Major Reid told them, and when he assured them that the cartridges and the cartridge-papers were free from offence, they replied, without a moment's hesitation: "'Then serve them out to us! We'll use them, and everyone may see!'" CHAPTER XVII With the Gurkha Picket On the morning of the 12th of June our friends on the Ridge were out soon after dawn, visiting their respective pickets and receiving reports. All was quiet. They gazed with admiration on the wonderful panorama, at the stately mosques, minarets, and towers of the royal city, at the huge mass of walls bulking in threatening manner before them, at the king's palace--a town in itself--that stood to the far side of the city, and at the blue waters of the Jumna glittering and sparkling in the sun, washing the opposite walls to those whose heavy guns had poured shot and shell at our men but a few hours ago. To the south of the Ridge lay the picturesque suburbs of the Kishengang and the Sabzi-mandi, with their magnificent buildings, walled gardens, and shady groves. The peaceful scene was not of long duration. The guns of the Mori and Kashmir bastions presently belched forth a shower of shot and shell, and, under cover of the heavy fire, two large bodies of mutineers poured out to the attack, one charging the Gurkha picket, the other pushing its way through the gardens, sheltered by trees and walls. Those sepoy regiments attacking Hindu Rao's mansion saw only dark faces between them and their desire. "Come over to us!" the Brahmans shouted to the Gurkhas. "Come over, and we'll reward you; you shall have treasure and honour. You are of our religion. Siva, the Destroyer, is fighting on our side. Join us in driving away the white men. Come!" "Yes, we are coming! Wait for us!" shouted back the Nepalese. And they went, with bayonets fixed and kukris bared; but the rebels waited not. Terrified by the determined faces and gleaming steel, they turned and fled, pursued for some distance by the fierce little mountaineers. Thenceforward the Gurkhas were hated with a hatred as bitter as that accorded to the British. "Those monkeys of Gurkhas are renegades to their faith!" declared the Brahman priests to those mutineers in Delhi who were of their persuasion. "They prefer to receive the Englishman's pay rather than follow the dictates of their holy men. Let them be outcasts! Spare them not! When we have destroyed the white men, then shall we deal with them, if any have escaped by that time!"