As the plot thickened it was discovered that a meeting of the
conspirators, including fifty or sixty men of various regiments, was to
take place on a certain night at a certain place. Lumsden patiently
awaited the event, intending with the Guides to surround and capture the
conspirators red-handed. But, on the night fixed for the meeting, a
retainer of General Khan Singh came to visit one of the Guides, with
whom he was on friendly terms, and in the course of conversation made it
evident that his master was not easy in his mind, why not no one could
say, and that he had half determined on flight. The man of the Guides,
leaving his friend in charge of a comrade, with commendable acumen
hastened to Lumsden and told him the story. That officer at once saw
that the moment had come to strike, lest the prey escape. He therefore
immediately clapped the Sikh general's retainer into the quarterguard,
much to that individual's astonishment, and promptly parading the
Guides, hurried down to the city and surrounded Khan Singh's house.

It was now past eleven o'clock, the house was in darkness and strongly
barricaded all round; the city was that of a foreign power, and no
police, or other, warrant did Lumsden hold. But he was no man to stand
on ceremony, or shirk responsibility, nor was he one for a moment to
count on the personal risks he ran. Finding the doors stouter than they
expected, his men burst in a window, and headed by their intrepid
officer dashed into the building. There, overcoming promptly any show of
resistance, they seized General Khan Singh, his _munshi_[3] and a
confidential agent, together with a box of papers, and under close guard
carried them back to the Guides' camp. In due course the prisoners were
tried and conclusive evidence being furnished, and confirmed by the
incriminating documents found in the box, General Khan Singh and his
munshi were sentenced to be hanged. This prompt dealing served at once