CHAPTER II
THE OUTBREAK
The almost complete conquest of India had
been chiefly carried out through troops raised
among its own natives, drilled and led by
European officers. Here and there, in the
course of a century, their commanders had
been forced to repress attempts at mutiny,
such as might take place in any army; but
on the whole this Sepoy force had proved
remarkably faithful to the Company in whose
service haughty Rajpoot and warlike Moslem
were proud to enlist, and counted for wealth
its hire of a few pence a day. So great was
the trust put in our native army, and so unexpected
the outbreak of 1857, that we had
then no more than about forty thousand
English soldiers scattered over India, among
six times their number of troops, who looked
upon us chiefly as formidable masters.
Strict officers of the old school judged that
