Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/305

 When we went forth to Paniput to battle with the Mlech,— Ere we came back from Paniput and left a kingdom there.

Thrice thirty thousand men were we to force the Jumna fords— The hawk-winged horse of Damajee, mailed squadrons of the Bhao, Stark levies of the southern hills, the Deccan's sharpest swords, And he, the harlot's traitor-son, the goatherd Mulhar Rao!

Thrice thirty thousand men were we before the mists had cleared. The low white mists of morning heard the war-conch scream and bray. We called upon Bhowani and we gripped them by the beard, We rolled upon them like a flood and washed their ranks away.

The children of the hills of Khost before our lances ran, We drove the black Rohillas back as cattle to the pen; 'T was then we needed Mulhar Rao to end what we began, A thousand men had saved the charge; he fled the field with ten!

There was no room to clear a sword no power to strike a blow, For foot to foot, ay, breast to breast, the battle held us fast— Save where the naked hill-men ran, and stabbing from below Brought down the horse and rider and we trampled them and passed.