trooper, and not a war correspondent — who always sees more of the fighting than those engaged in it — I have written merely the facts and incidents that came under my own observation. Besides, during those long mortal hours of slaughter, the battle-field at intervals was so shrouded and wrapped up in its own smoke, that a detailed description of it was obviously impossible to note.
Before closing this chapter, however, I am tempted to remark — in no spirit of boasting, but as a mere record of fact — that after the above-recorded tough tussle (when we were deservedly thanked by the Brigadier on the field) the rebels were flattering enough to dub the Corps by the impolite name of Shitāne Pultun, which may be freely rendered in plain English as regiment of devils. And as this unique information was conveyed to us by our faithful spy Mohun, to whom I have already alluded in these pages, it was implicitly believed; and that “satanic appellation,” needless to say, stuck to the Corps until the end of the campaign.
