We know what Heaven or Hell may bring, "His sire was leaky of tongue and pen, The favour of kings at the Kabul court; To the line where the gray-coat squadrons are. Saw naught, said naught, and-did not die! "Hot-foot southward, forgotten of God, The King held talk with his Chief in War. "Then Gholam Hyder, the Red Chief, smiled, As a mother might on a babbling child; But those who would laugh restrained their breath, To cry to a ruler of gathering war! That grew by a cleft of the city wall. And he said to the boy: 'They shall praise thy zeal So long as the red spurt follows the steel. And the Russ is upon us even now? Great is thy prudence-await them, thou. Watch from the tree. Thou art young and strong, The Russ is upon us, thy clamour ran? "Friend of my heart, is it meet or wise A guard was set that he might not flee- By the power of God, who alone is great, And he fell, and was caught on the points and died. "Heart of my heart, is it meet or wise We know what Heaven or Hell may bring, WITH SCINDIA TO DELHI More than a hundred years ago, in a great battle fought near Delhi, an Indian Prince rode fifty miles after the day was lost with a beggar-girl, who had loved him and followed him in all his camps, on his saddle-bow. He lost the girl when almost within sight of safety. A Maratta trooper tells the story:— THE wreath of banquet overnight lay withered on the neck, Our hands and scarfs were saffron-dyed for signal of despair, When we went forth to Paniput to battle with the Ere we came back from Paniput and left a kingdom there. Thrice thirty thousand men were we to force the The hawk-winged horse of Damajee, mailed squadrons of the Bhao, Stark levies of the southern hills, the Deccan's sharp est swords, And he the harlot's traitor son the goatherd Mulhar Rao! Thrice thirty thousand men were we before the mists had cleared, The low white mists of morning heard the war-conch scream and bray; We called upon Bhowani and we gripped them by the beard, We rolled upon them like a flood and washed their ranks away. The children of the hills of Khost before our lances ran, We drove the black Rohillas back as cattle to the pen; 'Twas then we needed Mulhar Rao to end what we began, A thousand men had saved the charge; he fled the field with ten! There was no room to clear a sword-no power to strike a blow, For foot to foot, ay, breast to breast, the battle held us fast Save where the naked hill-men ran, and stabbing from below Brought down the horse and rider and we trampled them and passed. To left the roar of musketry rang like a falling floodTo right the sunshine rippled red from redder lance and blade |