oung subaltern and the squadron that had fallen to his charge. "Take
'em on, Walter, my boy," were his leader's last words; and right
manfully did he obey them.

The plain over which they were advancing was somewhat undulating,
covered with loose stones, and intersected here and there by more or
less formidable nullahs. Across this not very promising cavalry country,
Hamilton made good way, and was now close enough to the enemy to give
the orders, "Gallop, Charge!" With the wild yell which so often, before
and since, has struck chill to the heart of an enemy, the Guides dashed
forward, the ground scouts checking back for the squadron to come up to
them; but just as contact was imminent, a warning signal came from one
of these that there was impassable ground in front. Here was a dilemma!
Large masses of the enemy firing heavily close in front, an obstacle
impassable for cavalry between, the guns uncomfortably threatened close
by, and the infantry still some way off! Happily, however, it takes a
good deal to stop a brave young Irishman with such men behind him. A
second or two brought them to the obstacle, and sure enough it was no
cold-blooded chance; a sheer nine foot drop into the dry bed of a
stream, and opposite, with only a few yards interval, another sheer
cliff, and on top of that an exulting and frenzied enemy! Without a
moment's hesitation Hamilton jumped into the gulf, and after him,
scrambling, sliding, jumping, anyhow and nohow, like a pack of hounds,
streamed his fierce following. Like hounds, too, hot on the trail, they
tarried not a moment there, but scattering up and down the nullah
singly, or in clumps of two or three, found egress somehow. And then
came death, and the Prophet's Paradise, to many a brave soul. From here
and there, from front and right and left, by ones and twos, by threes
and fours, charged home the gallant horsemen; and at their head, alone
with his trumpeter, rode Hamilton. So rough and determined an onslaught
would shake the nerves of even disciplined troops; but undrilled and
undisciplined levies, however brave individually, cannot hope to stand
the fiery blast of determined cavalry charging home. And so the great
crowd broke, and for four long miles the pursuit continued, till man and
horse alike were worn and tired, and arms became too stiff to strike or
parry, and steeds yet willing staggered to a standstill.

In this brilliant charge the enemy lost four hundred men, while the
s