The Church at Mardan " 194





THE STORY OF THE GUIDES

CHAPTER I

FIRST STEPS IN WAR


It is given to some regiments to spread their achievements over the
quiet centuries, while to the lot of others it falls to live, for a
generation or two, in an atmosphere of warlike strife and ever present
danger. The Guides have been, from a soldier's point of view, somewhat
fortunate in seeing much service during the past sixty years; and thus
their history lends itself readily to a narrative which is full of
adventure and stirring deeds. The story of those deeds may, perchance,
be found of interest to those at home, who like to read the gallant
record of the men who fight their battles in remote and unfamiliar
corners of the Empire across the seas.

To Sir Henry Lawrence, the _preux chevalier_, who died a soldier's death
in the hallowed precincts of Lucknow, the Guides owe their name and
origin. At a time when soldiers fought, and marched, and lived in tight
scarlet tunics, high stocks, trousers tightly strapped over Wellington
boots, and shakos which would now be looked on as certain death, Sir