THE STORY OF DILAWUR KHAN.


The story of Dilawur Khan, subadar of the Guides, is one which
kindles many a kindly memory of the rough brave fellows who, under a
sprinkling of English officers, upheld British supremacy on the
North-West Frontier of India in the early 'fifties.

When Lumsden was raising the Guides he looked about for men who, as he
expressed it, were "accustomed to look after themselves and not easily
taken aback by any sudden emergency,"--men born and bred to the sword,
who had faced death a hundred times from childhood upwards, and who had
thus instinctively learnt to be alert, brave, and self-reliant. To these
hardy warriors Lumsden explained the simple doctrine that they were
enlisted for three years, had to do what they were bid, and would
receive a certain fixed salary every month for their trouble.

Soldiers of fortune and dashing young bloods from all the countryside
flocked to his standard, and so popular was the corps that there were
sometimes as many as thirty of these receiving no pay, and maintaining
themselves and their horses, while awaiting a vacancy. And great indeed
was the excitement when Lumsden, in his bluff breezy way, would say:
"Well, here's a vacancy, and I don't for the life of me know which of
you to give it to. Come along down to the rifle-range, and shoot it off
amongst yourselves; the best shot gets the vacancy." And off they would
go to the range, with all their friends and relations to the fifth
generation, and all the partisans in the corps of each competitor:
shooting for the King's Prize at Bisley is a flat and tame proceeding in
comparison with this. And as each shot was fired the friends of the