flashed upon my memory that the house had been chosen as a rallying-post for European women and children in the event of trouble. My suspicions were quickly confirmed when I came into a drawingroom full of people I had never seen before, who paid no attention whatever to my entry. Fresh arrivals poured in every minute, and from one or two acquaintances among them I elicited the little that they knew of what had happened. A few minutes earlier a wild orowd had burst over the Hall bridge (which connects the city with the Civil Lines), driving back and stoning the small picket which was posted there. No shots had then been fired, but the howl of the mob could be heard a quarter of a mile away, and the residents in the main thoroughfare were rapidly warned to leave their bungalows for the rallyingposts. The crowd was close at hand, and a moment's delay might prove fatal; but at this somnolent hour it was ne small task to persuade the women to move, and one of them persistently refused to quit her house because her baby was asleep. As people left their bungalows a few shots were heard from the direction of the bridge, but nothing was known then of the course of events. From men passing on horseback we gradually learned a few details, and before long we saw smoke smoke and flames rising from the city and heard that Europeans were being murdered, After a time it was known that the banks and Government buildings were on fire, and that the murdered men included three of the bank officials. The old Sikh cashier of the National Bank had seen his master beaten down and had fled to procure help, but before he could return kerosene oil was poured on the still living bedy, and only one boot was left for identification of the remains. A few of the Europeans employed in the banks had succeeded in escaping to the "Kotwali" or city police station, and were still hemmed in there. The afternoon passed slowly, with rumours and alarms which increased the suspense of the many women who did not know where their husbands were. Those of us who had anything to do were too busy to think, and three of the women and three of the babies were ill; but human nature is always the same, and I was amused to see on returning to my room that my dressing - table had been depleted of everything that could be used as a cosmetic, as if a horde of locusts had settled on it, and we had to make peace between one two who "could not sit under a punkah" and the majority who were prepared to faint if it was turned off. or About half an hour before sunset, news came that the Fort was ready to receive us. Every possible conveyance had been secured, and we packed ourselves in, making a picture like Epsom read on the Derby Day. Very few had brought thing that could be used as anything with them, so we bedding during the coming stripped the house of every- night. II. THE FORT. The Fort of Gobindgarh, which we were now to know se well, was built over a hundred years ago by the great Maharaja Ranjit Singh, to protect the treasure which he kept with the bankers of Amritsar, prosperous then as now. It is said that he employed an Italian engineer, and traces of its exotic origin linger in the names of the different blocks and passages. To reach the Fort, we had to cross the railway line, which our handful of troops had held all day against the hordes from the city, by the Rege bridge. We set forth with some trepidation; but the arrival of some Gurkha troops about this time enabled the road to be pioketed, and the way was safe. Men from the Central Followers' Depôt, armed with staves, accompanied us, and it was not long before we were driving through the winding entrances to the Fort. Dusk was now falling, and we had to make haste to prepare for the night. We found places where we could, and most of us packed into the upper storey of the "Cavalier Blook," which rises in the centre of the great quadrangle. The heat, however, was stifling. There were not half a dozen fans in the whole Fort, including those in the hospital and the canteen hall, and many people found it the lesser of two evils to spend that night on the ground outside. One or two had managed to get their bedding brought in by their servants, but the rest were illequipped for the conditions they had to face. We distributed the heavy clothing, blankets, and rugs which we had brought from the bungalow, but there would not have been enough to go round if the garrison had not given up some of their blankets. Our next thought was to find a meal for the many women and children who had eaten nothing since early morning. We had only the scraps which we had brought away from the bungalow, but once again the soldiers came to our rescue and gave up half their bread ration. All these things were being done at once, amid indescribable turmoil. A roll-call revealed 130 women and children, besides babies; the civilian men who were not too old or sick had already been posted to defence duties round the Fort and made up another fifty. A number of servants also had come down before the gates of the Fort closed at sundown, and presented another problem, as they required native food. While they were being given their handfuls of grain to last them till the morning, a greybearded old Sikh orderly, Sher Singh, proudly refused to take his share, saying he had often gone without food for two or three days on the field of battle. This man set 8 splendid example throughout, and indeed all the servants behaved well under very trying circumstances. It had long been dark, and we were still working hard to get things straight and settle people down for the night, when I was suddenly drawn away by an officer, who whispered a request for a lantern in order to bring in what was left of Mr Thomson's body from one of the banks. Desperately afraid lest this news should spread, I secured the only lantern in the Fort for him, and he went away. We afterwards heard that this was the body of Sergeant Rawlings, which had just been found, beaten to death, beneath the walls of the Fort, and not Mr Thomson's, which had not then been recovered. When nothing more was left to be done, some of us went on to the ramparts for a few minutes' quiet, and from the top of the western wall we saw the native city ablaze with electric light-a contrast to the darkness behind us. At midnight we turned in, but daylight seemed to come before we had closed our eyes. The outlook was not pleasant for women who had never known a day's real hardship before they found themselves suddenly stripped of all the decencies and comforts they had come to look upon as necessities, and surrounded by beds, no proper bedding, no mosquito nets, no fans, and hardly any lighting. No one had any small personal possessions or any change of clothing. The place was infested with sandflies, and the stagnant water of the moat bred a virulent kind of mosquito. We did not know when we should get supplies of fresh food or milk, and as there were only twelve oups and about twenty plates, distribution of what food we had was difficult. One could summon up courage to face these conditions oneself, but the presence of so many babies and children made the situation really serious. baby had developed typhoid fever that morning, and they all had requirements which could not be met. One Our numbers were swelling, for not everybody had managed to get to the rallying-posts. During the first night three survivors who had escaped into the police station were brought out of the city in Indian clothes. They told us of the infuriated crowds that had swept through the city on that terrible afternoon, drunk with their victory over unarmed men, and calling for "white blood." A Datoh merchant Lahore, of murders at Kasur, had hidden all day, and had of trains derailed and lines come out at nightfall, disguised torn up, of telegraph wires out in a "burka," the all-envelop- and Government buildings and ing white eloth used by purdah railway stations burnt; and women. An English lady we were very anxious about doctor had managed to con- Europeans in the neighbourceal herself in her hospital hood. The news was often while the crowd tried to find vague, but with the breakher, and she also had escaped down in communications and in the evening. Two Indian our own experiences we were ladies, sohool-teachers, who had left to imagine the worst, and driven out of the oity in a the native population had closed carriage, told us of the some excuse for their belief Sikh peasants who were pour- that the British raj was over. ing into the city with their The situation was so precarious, iron-bound sticks. The booty and troops for defensive purfrom the National Bank had poses so scarce, that it was been carried out into the dis- decided to evacuate the Alextriot as proof that the British andra School, just inside the rule was over, and all the riff- Civil Lines, in which the Indian raff for miles round hurried in Christian school children had to be early on the spot if loot- been collected until now. It ing began again. The residents might be supposed by English of the railway quarters came readers that these children on to us from the railway would have been safe from station, in which they had their own countrymen, but on taken refuge. They brought the day of the riots the crowd news of how the orowd had set fire to one school, with the swept through the station, girls inside, and it was only leaving behind them burning the timely arrival of a small trucks and the hardly recog- band of police that saved them. nisable body of Guard Robin- We were told now to prepare son. Everything was done to to receive them, and when they stop false reports: under the arrived they brought our numconditions I have described, bers up to about 400-a heavy moral was of paramount im- strain on our resources, but portance. But the real truth they were grateful and worked was so often worse than any- splendidly. thing rumour could invent that one realised the uses of censorship. It is not surprising that there was a certain amount of hysteria, but our people as a whole showed both courage and good sense. During the first three days every hour brought in some news from outside: of firing at An office was established in the canteen hall, and all the oivilian inhabitants of the Fort and their servants were registered. After a few days passes were issued for going out of the Fort, but this was not allowed without an armed escort, and everybody had to be back before sunset. The time at which the pass-holder was due to return was registered, so that if he or she failed to report at the office at the hour named a search-party could be sent out immediately. The days were monotonous, and we had to keep very quiet for the sake of Miss Sherwood, who was lying between life and death. Seizing her as she was bicycling from house to house in the city, the crowd had beaten her down with iron-bound sticks and left her for dead in the gutter, and for many days her life was in danger. After about a week it was considered safe for us to travel, and arrangements were made to remove all the women and children to the hills. Special trains were run, packed with refugees from Lahore and Amritsar. It was considered better by the authorities that no women should be left behind, and they decided that Eurasians as well as Europeans should reside in hill stations for a time. The sight of these trains must have given residents in unaffected districts some idea of what the riots meant. And yet it has been stated that there was no real insecurity and no more trouble than the police could have dealt with. No European who was Amritsar er Lahore doubts that for some days there was a very real danger of the entire European population being massacred, and that General Dyer's action alone saved them. |