Night after night sepoys, disguised beyond all recognition, attempted to tamper with the Irregular Cavalry.  The Wurdi-Major,[2] a particularly fine, handsome Ranagar,[3] begged Chamberlain to hide himself in his house, that he might hear for himself the open proposals to mutiny, massacre, and rebellion that were made to him; and the promises that, if they succeeded in their designs, he (the Wurdi-Major) should be placed upon the gaddi[4] of Multan for his reward.  Chamberlain declined to put himself in such a position, fearing he might not be able to restrain himself.

Matters now came to a climax.  A Mahomedan Subadar of one of the Native Infantry regiments laid a plot to murder Chamberlain and his family.  The plot was discovered and frustrated by Chamberlain’s own men, but it became apparent that the only remedy for the fast increasing evil was to disarm the two Native Infantry regiments.  How was this to be accomplished with no Europeans save a few gunners anywhere near?  Sir John Lawrence was most pressing that the step should be taken at once; he knew the danger of delay; at the same time, he thoroughly appreciated the difficulty of the task which he was urging Chamberlain to undertake, and he readily responded to the latter’s request for a regiment of Punjab Infantry to be sent to him.  The 2nd Punjab Infantry was, therefore, despatched from Dera Ghazi Khan, and at the same time the 1st Punjab Cavalry arrived from Asni,[5] under Major Hughes,[6] who, hearing of Chamberlain’s troubles, had marched to Multan without waiting for orders from superior authority.  The evening of the day on which these troops reached Multan, the British officers of the several regiments were directed to assemble at the Deputy-Commissioner’s house, when Chamberlain told them of the communication he had received from Sir John Lawrence, adding that, having reliable information that the Native Infantry were about to mutiny, he had settled to disarm them the next morning.

It was midnight before the meeting broke up.  At 4 a.m. the Horse Artillery troop and the two Native Infantry regiments were ordered to march as if to an ordinary parade.  When they had gone about a quarter of a mile they were halted, and the Punjab troops moved quietly between them and their lines, thus cutting them off from their spare ammunition; at the same time the European Artillerymen took their places with the guns of the Horse Artillery troop, and a carefully selected body of Sikhs belonging to the 1st Punjab Cavalry, under Lieutenant John Watson, was told off to advance on the troop and cut down the gunners if they refused to assist the Europeans to work the guns.

Chamberlain then rode up to the Native Infantry regiments, and after explaining to them the reason for their being disarmed, he gave the word of command, ‘Pile arms!’ Thereupon a sepoy of the 62nd shouted:  ‘Don’t give up your arms; fight for them!’ Lieutenant Thomson, the Adjutant of the regiment, instantly seized him by the throat and threw him to the ground.  The order was repeated, and, wonderful to relate, obeyed.  The Native Infantry regiments were then marched back to their lines, while the Punjab troops and Chamberlain’s Irregulars remained on the ground until the arms had been carted off to the fort.