'Take care, lads,' he said, as they put him into the dooli, 'and don't shake my head, or else it will come off.'
Writing of the action of Kúnch, three days afterwards, Sir Hugh Rose said: 'We should have destroyed the enemy, had not the dreadful heat paralysed the men. Eleven poor fellows were killed outright by the sun, and many more were struck down. I was obliged four times to get off my horse by excessive debility. The doctor poured cold water over me, and gave restoratives, which enabled me to go on again. I do not think I shall stay in India to pass such another torment as 110° in the shade. I have succeeded militarily better than I could have expected, and that is all I wanted.' He also wrote to a relative: 'I took Kúnch from the rebels in a heat which cannot be told — 110° in the shade. Owing to God's great mercy to me, I have had thirteen fights, and always won the day — never one check. Your old regiment, the 71st Highlanders, had twelve men struck down in the ranks. Afterwards, near Kálpi, it was 119° in the shade, and 200 men out of less than 400 of the 25th Native Infantry fell out of the ranks, stricken by the sun. I delight in the 71st,' he added, 'and I have such a splendid regiment in the 86th. They go at anything.'
afterwards learnt that the man was a son of Mr. Conker, the postmaster of Dundalk. When the General was in command in Ireland the parents came to thank him for his kindness to their son, who was then in New South Wales.
