streets and roadways, and set a thousand traps in a thousand unexpected corners wherein to catch the unsuspicious infidel.

Alas, for Pandy, he had quite overlooked one thing: the side of the city along which the little river Goomtee runs (a side against which no hostile demonstrations had been made on former occasions, a fact which, according to Pandy's reasoning, inferred that none ever would be made) was left bare, naked, and comparatively unguarded. True, there was the river, and was not that a defence in itself? Nous verrons. And, in the mean time, my black friends with the black hearts, child-killers and murderers of women, lie calm and happy within your fortified palaces; set your sly traps, and blaze away with matchlock and booming gun, and heap fresh insults upon those two English ladies whom you hold captive within your walls; and be merry, my friends, over the coming fall of the "Feringhees," for have not your fakirs and gooroos told you that the sun of the infidels is set, and that they shall be confounded and put to shame? And is not Allah great, and Brahma good and powerful? It was a pity, to be sure, for your sakes, that Sir Colin should have had a head upon his shoulders at all, or that any of our generals should have been capable of putting this and that together, in logical conjunction, and that it should have occurred to us to make a demonstration on that particular side of the city where the Goomtee is the sole defence; it was likewise somewhat unfortunate that there should have been a general of Sir James Outram's experience and ability to conduct these trans-Goomtee operations. But so it was; and now, reader, perhaps you begin to comprehend why bridges were built, and why the troops crossed over the river as I have above described. It was not, however, with the intention of actually effecting the capture of the city in this direction, but in order to assist it very materially by, in the first place, diverting the enemy's attention, and in the second, by establishing batteries, which should enfilade and take in reverse their line of defences (which were chiefly erected at right angles to the river), and thereby render them untenable. This movement had also another important effect-viz. that of keeping the enemy in a state of chronic alarm lest all outlets to the rear should be closed, and all means of escape cut off. Doubtless the bloody scene which had been enacted in the "Secunderabagh," at Sir Colin's relief of Lucknow, where two thousand Sepoys were caught like rats in a cage, and whence, I believe, not one escaped, thanks to the keen bayonets of the Highlanders and Sikhs-doubtless this bloody scene, and the recollection of the two thousand corpses, as they were taken out on the following morning, was ever dancing and flitting a horrible vision before their eyes, and fostered an unconquerable dread that, did they stand their ground on this occasion, a similar fate might befal them, and that as Sir Colin advanced against them on the one side, Sir James Outram, forcing the passage of one of the two regular bridges across the Goomtee, would take them in flank and rear, and that thus the tragedy of the 16th November* would be re-enacted; and to this dread, very probably, do we owe, in a great measure, their rapid desertion of their elaborate defences, and our comparatively easy capture of the city.

It will thus be evident that the army was now divided into two great * The day on which the Secunderabagh fell.

VOL. XLV.

2 N

divisions, the one under General Outram on the left bank, the other under Sir Colin Campbell on the right, both moving in the same direction, and parallel to one another, but the former always so far in advance of the latter as was requisite for the establishing of the batteries which were to drive away Pandy from his fortifications, by a deadly enfilade fire of shot and a dense shower of shell which night and day they poured incessantly into them, after they had accomplished which Sir Colin would push forward his troops, capturing position after position in regular succession, General Outram the while moving forward, repeating the operation, bombarding and enfilading further defences until they in their turns became untenable, and were captured.

And now, having as best I can, without plans or drawings, made clear the principles of attack adopted, let me return to the force which I have kept waiting all this time in a very hot sun, impatient to advance.

We are in the middle of a plain. On our left lies Lucknow. We do not, however, continue parallel to the river, but make a wide sweep to the right, which occupies us for some time, and then again turning to the left, advance in our former direction at a rapid pace. It was now about eleven o'clock; the cavalry and horse artillery were far ahead, having trotted on, and we were, therefore, unable to see what they were doing, but reports began to be circulated that they were engaged, nor did these reports long want confirmation, for the sound of brisk firing became audible, and we shortly came upon some of their handiwork, and a sickening sight it was. A knot of women were sitting weeping bitterly over some half-dozen gashed and mangled corpses, the bodies of a small picket of the enemy whom our cavalry had surprised. The poor women looked up at us imploringly, with tearful eyes and clasped hands, as we passed, and sadly down at the wretched, mutilated remains of perhaps all that was dear to them in this world. Some of them had covered the still warm bodies over with a cloth, as well they might, for many of the cuts were the most trenchant and ghastly I had ever seen, while others gazed, mute and horrified, on the disfigured features and severed skulls, and on the great red-gaping wounds, as idiots look upon a sight which fascinates while it terrifies them, and as though they sought in vain to realise the terrible and awful truth. And, in the mean time, where are the cavalry? They have swept onward, away past weeping women and dead men, away in hot pursuit of a flying rabble! A portion of the "Bays" and 9th Lancers are called upon to charge, and headlong they ride, dealing death around them with their long flashing swords, and cutting up a large number of the enemy; though, unfortunately, the "Bays," who were the leading regiment, advancing with that wild and reckless courage which the taste of blood stirs up, galloped on on their work of destruction further than necessity demanded or prudence prompted, till, in scattered groups of twos and threes, their ranks broken by the rugged nature of the ground, they reached the "race-course," where the gallant Major Percy Smith, with one or two privates (I believe) fell victims to their temerity. Sir Hope Grant, seeing the disorderly nature of the charge, and fearing the results might be disastrous, had halted the 9th Lancers, and at last the "Bays" were checked in their mad career; but, spite of the courageous self-devotion and strenuous

efforts of Ensign Sneyd and Corporal Goad, they were unable to bring away Major Smith's body, which had to be left on the field to the mercy of a merciless enemy-a circumstance which added greatly to the grief we all felt for this officer's loss; and sad were the faces of his regiment as they rode back exhausted and with breathless horses to join the rest of the column.

you

Ah! it is a sad moment that, when the excitement which hurried you on, and bore you unshrinking through the heat of battle has died away, and you have nothing left but to count over the friends who are gone, and to familiarise yourself with the cruel thought that never again will that hand grasp yours, and that the dear eyes are closed for ever. A wretched waking it is on the morn which succeeds an action-a blank and joyless day that follows. It is hard to seek in the glory you have won for the companions you have lost, and poorly does the success of yesterday fill up the gaps which shot and steel have made; the "old familiar faces" that you miss; the well-known footsteps that hear no more; the kind voice, with its cheering accents of friendship and brotherhood, where are they now? Oh! who among us, my friends, has not in the course of a lifetime had to ask this pitiful question? How few among us are there who, in the course of this wretched rebellion and its attendant war, have not felt that dreary blank and vacuum in their hearts as they mourned over some dear and well-loved comrade? It is not when the blow first strikes upon the heart that it is felt most keenly, but it is the bruise which it leaves behind, and which refuses to be healed, that is the hardest to be borne. How cruelly in those days of sorrowing do we apply nature's probes-truth and affection-to the gaping wound, and search into it, and feel its depth, and measure its extent, and realise for ourselves the greatness and the fulness of our grief! Ah, then it is, when, as day follows day, and the void remains still unfilled, and the slow cure seems still to stand aloof, that we suffer most; then, while the world rolls on as it did before, and folks around us pass to and fro upon their several paths, careless and gay as ever, and heedless of our loss, that the anguish gnaws fiercest at our souls. War is but poor work after all; a little glory, a little glitter, to season much sorrow, grief, and woe!

In the above skirmish the main body of the force had taken no part, but as we arrived on some rising ground we saw the horse artillery densely enveloped in self-created smoke, and firing away very fast in the direction of a large yellow bungalow (the "Chucker-wallah Khotee," which I shall have occasion to mention again more than once in the course of this narrative), situated on the "race-course," and from which some guns were replying, and making the most unsatisfactory practice. I use the word "unsatisfactory" here in a selfish sense, for the shot which were, or ought to have been, intended for the Horse Artillery, would occasionally insist on plumping in among poor innocent us, in by no means an agreeable manner. We were halted, and had the supreme satisfaction of standing, or sitting quite still to be shot at for some few minutes a period not wholly devoid of excitement, as thus: there was a cloud of smoke, then a distant report, then a few moments of comparative

*This man has, I believe, received the Victoria Cross for the gallantry he displayed on this occasion. Captain (now Colonel) Seymour brought away Major Smith's helmet, medals, and watch.

silence, then half a dozen cries of "Here comes another!" a small dark speck visible against the blue sky, a rapid hurtling through the air of the approaching missile, a whish-sh-sh-sh which became every moment louder-louder-louder, till it passes you with a sort of scream, and lodges in the ground behind. Hardly has it passed when another puff of smoke, and another distant report, announces the arrival of a fresh iron messenger. It was curious to hear the various speculations while the ball was still in flight, as to where it would fall. "Here it comes, straight at us." "No, it'll go over us." "It's into the Highlanders." Whish-sh-sh-sh-sн-sh-sh. "Just cleared them, by Jove!" And a deep breath of relief is drawn as it falls harmless, tearing up turf, and stones, and dust, and ricocheting away in the distance, carrying dismay and causing confusion among the stragglers and spare horses. However, our chief object, viz. that of making a reconnaisance of this portion of the enemy's position, and of establishing ourselves upon this side of the river, was effected; and General Outram ordered the troops to retire about two miles, and there to await the arrival of the baggage, which had been directed not to cross the Goomtee until we had sufficiently cleared the neighbourhood of the enemy to ensure its safety. The position to which we retired was on the Chinhut road, and not far from the village of Chinhut itself-consequently on the site, or very nearly so, of the fight of the 30th June, 1857, the disastrous consequences of which (attributable mainly to the treachery of a portion of the hitherto seemingloyal native troops) had probably hastened in a great measure the complete investment of the residency of Lucknow.

Here, after watering our wearied nags, we sought shelter from the fierce rays of the sun in some friendly topes; and about one P.M., protected from Sepoy intrusion by the pickets which had been thrown out, thoroughly tired and exhausted, we lay down to take a "nap," after being some eleven hours in the saddle, six or seven of which, it must be remembered, were passed in the full glare and heat of an Indian sun. Hungry though one may be, and hungry as we were, eating becomes but a secondary consideration on these occasions-every other feeling yields to the all-absorbing one of intense fatigue. But, alas! to return tenfold when one awakens, as I did in about two or three hours' time, only to find-like Dame Hubbard-that "the cupboard was bare," or comparatively so, for our united contributions amounted to a few potatoes, with a modicum of grease! which we fried, and contented ourselves withal. Such is campaigning.

When the heat of the day had in some degree subsided we issued from our tope, and amused ourselves by "laying out" our camp, and grooming the poor horses (who were thoroughly "done," all of them having been in harness for two whole days, and some of them for three!) for the baggage had not yet arrived, nor, indeed, did it all come up that night, so we e'en bivouacked, and made what beds we could in the soft, sandy soil, at the imminent risk of being stepped upon by a camel or an elephant, which animals bearing baggage, together with some horses who were wandering about all night in a state of semi-somnambulismı, kept strolling through the camp from "dewy eve" till morn. How any one ever found their own baggage, or the baggage its owners, it is hard to say, but the noise and confusion which continued all night was some

thing past belief; long strings of camels with great piles of tables, portmanteaus, tents, and chairs, which looked in the gloom like houses, on their backs, and elephants bearing, apparently, whole cities, kept on passing continually, and treading alarmingly near one's face. Camp followers and others shouted without intermission, and it seemed without ever drawing breath, for their "bhaies" (friends or brothers) the long night through; and there was an individual called "Mattadeen," who seemed to be in the bonds of friendship and brotherhood with all the world, and to be "bhaie" in ordinary to humanity at large, judging from the constant cries of "Ho, Mattadeen! Mattadeen, h-o-0-0-0-0-0 !" which echoed through the darkness; these, and various other little noises, tended to sour one's temper and disturb one's rest. But at last, spite of baggage-animals, camp-followers, and Mattadeens, and of an under-current of snoring which was going on, I fell into a sound and delightful sleep. V. D. M.