o the
buildings. His action saved us, for the whole of us might have been shot
like rats in the ditch if they had attacked Mr. Wood, instead of flying
when they saw the tall grenadier claymore in hand. As soon as he saw the
coast clear the lieutenant lay down on the top of the ditch, and was
thus able to reach down and catch hold of the men's rifles by the bends
of the bayonets; and with the aid of the men below pushing up behind, we
were all soon pulled out of the ditch. When all were up, one of the men
turned to Mr. Wood and said: "If any officer in the regiment deserves to
get the Victoria Cross, sir, you do; for besides the risk you have run
from the bullets of the enemy, it's more than a miracle that you're not
shot by our own rifles; they're all on full-cock." And so it was!
Seizing loaded rifles on full-cock by the muzzles, and pulling more than
a score of men out of a deep ditch, was a dangerous thing to do; but no
one thought of the danger, nor did anyone think of even easing the
spring to half-cock, much less of firing his rifle off before being
pulled up. However, Mr. Wood escaped, and after getting his captaincy he
left the regiment and became Conservator of Forests in Oude. I may
mention that Mr. Wood was a younger brother of Mr. H. W. I. Wood, for
many years the well-known secretary to the Bengal Chamber of Commerce.
He has just lately retired on his pension; I wonder if he ever recalls
the danger he incurred from pulling his men out of the ditch of the
Begum's palace by the muzzles of their loaded rifles on full-cock!

By the time we got out of the ditch we found every door and window of
the palace buildings barricaded, and every loophole defended by an
invisible enemy. But one barrier after another was forced, and men in
small parties, headed by the officers, got possession of the inner
square, where the enemy in large numbers stood ready for the struggle.
But no thought of unequal numbers held us back. The command was given:
"Keep well together, men, and use the bayonet; give them the
Secundrabagh and the sixteenth of November over again." I need not
describe the fight. It raged for about two hours from court to court,
and from room to room; the pipe-major, John M'Leod, playing the pipes
inside as calmly as if he had been walking round the officers' mess-tent
at a regimental festival. When all was over, General Sir Edward Lugard,
who commanded the division, complimented the pipe-major on his coolness
an