He was the senior officer with
the force, and had authority from the Durbar to call upon all local,
civil, and military authorities to co-operate in the work; but he did
not take upon himself the command, or write in official form. He
inspired all with harmony and energy, and brought the whole strength
of the little force to bear upon the right points at the right time.
The head of Prethee Put of Paska was cut off by Captain Magness's
sipahees after his death, to be sent to the King as a trophy, but
Captain Weston would not let it come in. The body was offered to his
family and friends for interment, but none of the family or tribe
(Kolhun's Rajpoots) would have anything to do with the funeral
ceremonies of a man who had murdered his eldest brother and the head
of his tribe. The body was, with the head, put into a sheet, taken to
the river Ghagra, and committed to the stream, to flow to the Ganges,
as the best interment for a Hindoo. These sipahees knew nothing of
the man's history; but the people who saw the affair from the Dhundee
Fort mentioned that the body was thrown into the river at the precise
place where he had thrown in that of his eldest brother, after
murdering him in the boat with his own hands, as stated in the
extract from my Diary; and all believe that this retribution arises
from an interposition from above. The eldest son of the murdered
brother will, I hope, be put into possession of the estate.
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