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.