PATNA DURING THE MUTINY. 163 



Fifty-eight years had passed since my maternal grand- 

 father, then Judge of Benares, armed only with a spear,* 1 

 standing at the top of a winding staircase, defended I 

 himself and family against two hundred armed men, 

 headed by Vizier Ali, the deposed King of Oude, and for 

 many years after, in the Sacred City, it became a proverb 

 that no one should despair; since the Judge Sahib, single 

 handed, kept a host of armed men, headed by a Prince, at 

 bay. 



So my thoughts naturally turned to him, and I selected 

 a spear of similar shape from the Commissioner's museum, 

 and put it handy in case it should be needed. We had 

 sent out scouts, and as they would give us ample warning, 

 we collected the assembled Europeans, male and female, 

 and chosing sides, passed that lovely moon-lit night, 

 playing the suitable game of Hi-spy-hi — for most Euro- 

 peans in India are at the proper age for games — among 

 the orange, pomegranate, and fragrant citron trees which 

 thronged the garden. Indeed, we spent a very happy 

 time, full of joy and mirth. "For they laugh at scars who 

 never felt a wound." 



Towards morning, as we were thinking the Sepoys would 

 have arrived had they intended coming, and that ours 

 had perhaps been merely idle fears, some one suddenly 

 cried out, " Hark ! I hear the Sepoys coming," and sure 

 enough, we listened to a steady tramp, tramp, tramp. 

 We rushed towards the house, and I nearly fell into the 

 arms of Colonel Rattray at the head of five hundred 

 friendly Sikhs, who had been marching day and night to 

 our assistance. I thought I had never seen such a gallant 



* For further particulars of this extraordinary defence, see " Elphinston's History of India." " The Massacre 

 of Benares," " The Story of a Spear" in Frazer. The Spear, of which a representation is given above is about six 

 feet long with three sharp edges. It is preserved as an heir-loom at Hollywood Tower, Gloucestershire. 

 When I was at Benares, I paid a visit to the house, which I believe is still standing, and is, more or less a 

 show place. My Patna Spear is now in the South Kensington Museum, with the rest of Mr. TayJer's 

 collection, 



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