full of ball cartridges and caps, greatly to my wife's surprise, who met me at the door and declared there must be some mistake: she had “married a Methodist preacher, and not a soldier.” But I took that gun as a religious duty, and intended to use it, too, if I had a chance; for surely these were circumstances in which a Christian could pray God to “teach his hands to war and his fingers to fight.” Before one of those bloody men below should burst our bounds, or lay a finger on one of the ladies who relied upon our protection, as, under God, their only hope, I should certainly have fired my last charge, and then laid around me with the butt-end, and, having done all, have “died at my post.” So would every man of our number.
But the rascals below were not very anxious to give us a chance to show how valiant we were, so we rested on our arms and awaited their pleasure.
The twenty-five faithful Sowars who had stood firm and come up with their officers were quite a help to us; but in spite of what the brave fellows had risked for their fidelity, (for word had reached them that their fellow-Sepoys would kill their children, whom they had to leave behind in Bareilly, if they did not forsake us,) yet we secretly dreaded to trust them fully, so they were placed down the hill a mile or two to guard that pass, and our “munition of rocks” was defended by our own right arms alone. The hill men, called Paharees, being probably aborigines, hate the plains' men, and the dislike is returned with equal cordiality. We made no effort to heal this breach, but rather fomented it. The Commandant hired and trained as many of these Paharees as he could. We had thus done all we could for our own preservation—placed a small force at the bottom of the hill, then posts every mile or two, which could fall back on each other if overpowered. Half-way we had a small cannon planted, the grape of which would mow down any advancing party; then on convenient turns and narrow places great heaps of stone and trees, denuded of their branches, were ready to be rolled down upon any foe that would venture to come up these passes; then the road had been cut so narrow in places that
