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One day, some soldiers passed that way, tired men on tired horses. Sukhram listened. The
shuffling of the horses and the sweaty smell of men told him all that he needed to know.

‘Have you seen my father or my brother?’ he asked.

‘Who are you?’
‘I am Sukhram Lodhi,’ he said.
‘I am blind. My father is with

Tantia Tope’s army.’

‘We are joining Tantia Tope. We
will tell him we have seen you.’
Shortly, he heard more horses

coming. But these were not the
horses of his people. They were
heavier and were not being
ridden loose reined.

He could hear the jingling of
chains, the strike of metal on metal. These were the English. They must be in pursuit of
the tired men who had passed him earlier.

‘Have you seen some soldiers pass, boy?’ It was the man on the nearest horse, no doubt
the officer in command.

‘I have been out all day,’ Sukhram replied. ‘I have seen nothing.’

‘You’ll get nothing out of that boy,’ another man said, ‘but they came this way all right
and have gone towards the hills. They can’t be far away. Their horses are tired.’

Yes, their horses were tired Sukhram thought, but it was strange that these men could
not see where the soldiers had gone. He could feel the spoor of the horses with his feet
where the dung of the horses was still warm and dustless.

‘Come on then,’ the officer said, ‘they can’t be far.’

The soldiers swirled past Sukhram. There were, as far as he could make out, some thirty
of them. But if there was one troop of English cavalry, there would be more. He strained
his ears, waiting. It would come soon.

It came, a single shot. Three more, singly—those were his people. The English did not
shoot like that. They did not fight like his folk, in small
bodies. Their shots were faster now. They were fighting loose reined: guiding a horse using

a running action towards the mountain. He began to be the leather straps loosely
pursuit: act of following
afraid for Rajbir and his father. spoor: the track for the scent of an
animal
He made his way back slowly. swirled: move in a twisting pattern
bodies: groups
‘Did you see the English?’ his mother asked.

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