१८५७ का स्वातन्त्र्य समर (वीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर - अंग्रेजों द्वारा छपने से पूर्व प्रतिबन्धित महाग्रन्थ)

THE CONFLAGRATION
raging battle, but you have only seen the cleverness of
the retreat of the Revolutionaries. Go, then ; do not stay
any longer to be disappointed ; draw the curtain of night
over this universe and retire to your resting place ! But,
though the moon went away, you, Dunbar ! do not return!
Here now comes the mango-grove and there is no more
chance of encountering the Pandays. But, oh ! What is
this sound ? May it not be the leaves of the mango-tree
shaking in the wind ? Whiz ! Whiz !! Beware, English-
men ! Beware ! A deluge of bullets from all sides !
Every tree of the mango-grove had as if guns in its
branches, smiting the foreign Feringhis ! Kumar Singh
is come ? The English army is prepared to fight ; but,
with whom ? Not one man on the enemy's side could be
seen ! In the thick mango-grove, in the weird darkness of
the night, in the high and low places, Kumar Singh's
soldiers were hidden and not one could be seen ! Nothing
was visible except the stars in the sky and the trees on
the earth ! And it was not possible to fire at both these
and gain victory ! The wind-god was enraged and sent
red-hot shots from somewhere foaming, into the English
army ! Fire from the left, fire from the right, and fire
in front ! The clothes of the English army were white and
easily distinguishable but Kumar Singh's men were dark,
their clothes were dark, and the night was dark ! If all
the dark circumstances conspired together, how could the
English hold to their feet ? The white Englishmen and the
dark Sikhs, both ran away from the field ! Their com-
mander, Dunbar, was one of the first to be killed. Run-
ning for life, the English army came into a ditch near by.
There they tried to hold on for some time, but, about
early morning, they left behind not only their dead but
their wounded comrades on the field and commenced the
flight to the Shon river, being thirsty, hungry, full of blood,
and black with shame. But it was no easy matter to run
away from Kumar Singh. At every step, blood began to
flow. As a wild boar pierced by lances, dropping on this
side and that through weakness, runs shedding streams of
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