This noble fellow was one of
those Bayards of the East who know no fear, and as soldiers are without
reproach. Born of a fighting stock and fighting tribe, cradled amidst
wars and alarms, he developed the highest qualities of a brave,
resolute, and resourceful partisan leader. Always ready, always alert,
nothing could upset his equanimity, nothing take him by surprise, while
no odds were too great for him to face. With the true instinct of the
cavalry leader he struck hard and promptly, and upheld in person the
doctrine that boldness, even unto recklessness, should be the watchword
of the light cavalryman. Yet this paladin of the fight could barely
write his name. It is not every soldier who has the opportunity
nowadays, as in the days of champions, to perform a historic deed in the
open with both armies as spectators. Yet so it happened to Ressaldar
Fatteh Khan one hot day in August, 1848, before the walls of Mooltan.
Lumsden was absent on some duty; indeed, there were only three British
officers, and these took turn and turn about in the trenches, when a
messenger galloped into the Guides' camp to report that a marauding
party of the enemy's cavalry, some twenty strong, had driven off a herd
of General Whish's camels which were grazing near his camp. Fatteh Khan,
as ressaldar, was the senior officer in camp, and at once gave the order
for every man to boot and saddle and get to horse at once.
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