| caption: |
A false alarm of attack in the night in camp due to panic among Naga coolies |
| text: |
Halted again. The two more THACHUMI Gaonburas came in but without the first two or the fifth, so none of the little matters waiting discussion could be settled. The night was again made hideous by what proved to be a false, but most sensational, alarm about 11.15 when the camp was all asleep. My Naga dog suddenly barked and woke me. This was immediately followed by the sound of the rushing towards and into the camp of a large number of men coming at a tremendous pace. I dashed out of bed to the Commandant's tent and found him just out of bed himself. The alarm was blown but there were 30 Nagas already in camp and many others running hard along the perimeter as though to surround it. Fortunately no one shot at them, and they proved to be our coolies and other Nagas who were stampeded and poured panic stricken into the camp, as well as flying into the surrounding jungle in all directions (there were about 200 of them altogether). They were camped in the jungle near the camp and had been started off by a Naga on the far side who had a nightmare and jumped up and ran yelling with fright. The whole mass of them, men of various tribes and villages, were wakened and panic struck with the most extraordinary unanimity and most of them rushed towards the camp unanimously. It was extremely fortunate that none were shot. They well might have been for we all thought the camp was being rushed by THACHUMI. |
