Consequently to Lumsden and his men was assigned the difficult
and unaccustomed duty of unravelling the plot and bringing the
conspirators to justice. Setting to work with his accustomed readiness,
and aided by one of his _ressaldars_,[2] Fatteh Khan, Khuttuk, of whose
prowess on many a bloody field the story will in due course be told,
Lumsden with characteristic alacrity undertook this intricate and
dangerous duty. His tracks covered, so to speak, by the unsuspicious
bearing of a blunt soldier in command of a corps of rugged trans-border
warriors, the unaccustomed role of a skilled detective was carried out
with promptness and success. In the course of a very few days some of
the Guides had obtained conclusive proof regarding three matters: that
the Maharani was at the head of the movement, that her chief agent was
the Sikh general Khan Singh, and that the Company's troops had already
been tampered with.
[2] _Ressaldar_, a native commissioned officer of cavalry.
As the plot thickened it was discovered that a meeting of the
conspirators, including fifty or sixty men of various regiments, was to
take place on a certain night at a certain place. Lumsden patiently
awaited the event, intending with the Guides to surround and capture the
conspirators red-handed. But, on the night fixed for the meeting, a
retainer of General Khan Singh came to visit one of the Guides, with
whom he was on friendly terms, and in the course of conversation made it
evident that his master was not easy in his mind, why not no one could
say, and that he had half determined on flight.
Pages:
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32