DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11285#0068
12
DER NEUENHEIMER
XXI
60 yards from the loopholes. The further side of the
polo ground had no cover, so Mahomed Isa was asked
to order all his followers over there. A charpoy with
Yad Gar Beg was set in the gap, Mahomed Isa playing
polo. Tea and some biscuits were offered and accepted,
and after the polo a dance was proposed, and the per-
mission of the English officers asked, the custom being
for the losing team to dance. The request was complied
with. Under the excurse of a wet place in front of the
charpoy, the charpoy, while Edwardes and Fowler were
standing up, was shifted just under cover of the end of
the wall. It was difficult to object to this. Even then
all men sitting on the further side were exposed to
fire, and it seemed impossible that any attempt to
treachery could be unattended with heavy loss to them.
The dance proceeded. It was the usual country dance,
and the men pressed up closer, a number moving over
to the defenders' side of the wall. Fowler and Edwardes
then stood up and said they would go in. Mahomed
Isa immediately threw himself on them, and a rush of
men got them down under the wall. Firing began at
once from the fort, and was replied to. Fowler and
Edwardes were firmly bound and dragged along the
ground by men, stooping down, so they could se nothing
of what was going on. The firing, which at first was
heavy, gradually dwindled to single shots. Then men
came out from the direction of the post carrying dead,
wounded, and loot. The pockets of the two captured
officers had been torn open, their buttons and badges
torn off, and even their braces and buckles did not
escape. Fowler's boots and stockings were taken off
by a jemadar of Pathans, but the rascal was promptly
shot in the head and hand by some of the sepoys.
Fowler recovered his boots thoroug Majid Khan in
Chitral, and the jemadar died later, in sight of the officers
he had insulted, in crossing the Lowari Pass.
Fowler and Edwardes were then taken to Mahomed
Isa's house, given a little food, and passed the night
bound and strongly guarded. They were subsequently
sent to Chitral, being taken over by an escort of Umra
Khan's Pathans on the way.
Reaching Chitral on the t9 th( they saw Jemadar
Lai Khan and 11 other captured sepoys, who had
DER NEUENHEIMER
XXI
60 yards from the loopholes. The further side of the
polo ground had no cover, so Mahomed Isa was asked
to order all his followers over there. A charpoy with
Yad Gar Beg was set in the gap, Mahomed Isa playing
polo. Tea and some biscuits were offered and accepted,
and after the polo a dance was proposed, and the per-
mission of the English officers asked, the custom being
for the losing team to dance. The request was complied
with. Under the excurse of a wet place in front of the
charpoy, the charpoy, while Edwardes and Fowler were
standing up, was shifted just under cover of the end of
the wall. It was difficult to object to this. Even then
all men sitting on the further side were exposed to
fire, and it seemed impossible that any attempt to
treachery could be unattended with heavy loss to them.
The dance proceeded. It was the usual country dance,
and the men pressed up closer, a number moving over
to the defenders' side of the wall. Fowler and Edwardes
then stood up and said they would go in. Mahomed
Isa immediately threw himself on them, and a rush of
men got them down under the wall. Firing began at
once from the fort, and was replied to. Fowler and
Edwardes were firmly bound and dragged along the
ground by men, stooping down, so they could se nothing
of what was going on. The firing, which at first was
heavy, gradually dwindled to single shots. Then men
came out from the direction of the post carrying dead,
wounded, and loot. The pockets of the two captured
officers had been torn open, their buttons and badges
torn off, and even their braces and buckles did not
escape. Fowler's boots and stockings were taken off
by a jemadar of Pathans, but the rascal was promptly
shot in the head and hand by some of the sepoys.
Fowler recovered his boots thoroug Majid Khan in
Chitral, and the jemadar died later, in sight of the officers
he had insulted, in crossing the Lowari Pass.
Fowler and Edwardes were then taken to Mahomed
Isa's house, given a little food, and passed the night
bound and strongly guarded. They were subsequently
sent to Chitral, being taken over by an escort of Umra
Khan's Pathans on the way.
Reaching Chitral on the t9 th( they saw Jemadar
Lai Khan and 11 other captured sepoys, who had