The trooper handed him a paper: "Fifty-three of the enemy killed,
the rest escaped into the jungle. On our side two wounded; one
seriously, one slightly."
"That is as well as we could expect, Marshall. Of course, most of
them got over the wall at the back. You see, all our plans were
disarranged by finding them in such unexpected strength. Had we
been able to thrash them by ourselves, the Punjaubies would have
cut off the retreat in that direction. As it was, that part of the
business is a failure."
The Sergeant presently returned.
"There are 340 in the streets, sir," he reported; "and I reckon
there are another 20 or 30 killed in the houses, but I have not
searched them yet."
"That is sufficiently close; upwards of 400 is good enough.
"Now, Mr. Marshall, set the men to work making stretchers to carry
the wounded.
"Mr. Herbert, will you tell off a party of your men to dig a large
grave outside the village for the killed, and a small one apart for
Mr. Anstruther? Poor fellow, I am sorry indeed at his loss; he
would have made a fine officer.
"Sergeant Hugging, take a party and search the village for
provisions. We have got bread, but lay hands on any fowls or goats
that you can find, and there may be some sheep."
While this party was away, another tore down the woodwork of an
empty house, and fires were soon burning, an abundance of fowl and
goats having been obtained. The cavalry had by this time come in.
While the meal was being cooked the British and Punjaub dead were
carried out to the spot where the grave had been dug. The troops
had a hearty meal, and then marched out from the village. They were
drawn up round the graves, and the bodies were laid reverently in
them. Captain Mallett said a few words over them; the earth was
then shovelled in and levelled, and the troops marched to a wood a
mile distant, where they halted until the heat of the day was over.
They returned by the direct road to the camp, which they reached at
midnight.
All concerned gained great credit for the heavy blow that had been
inflicted on the mutineers, and the affair was highly spoken of in
the Brigadier's report to the Commander in Chief. Shortly
afterwards Mallett's name appeared in general orders as promoted to
a brevet Majority, pending a confirmation by the home authorities.
Two days after the return of the little column, the brigade marched
and joined the force collected at Cawnpore for the final operation
against Lucknow, and on the 3rd of March reached the Commander in
Chief at the Dil Koosha, which had been captured with the same ease
as on the occasion of the former advance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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