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 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR, 
 
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 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR, 
 
 AND A 
 
 ifo* Mo % pfrgtar 
 
 L. R. TREVELYAN. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 1880.
 
 LONDON I 
 
 R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, 
 BREAD STREET HILL.
 
 gtbkatrir 
 
 TO 
 
 MY HUSBAND. 
 
 1416004
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THIS story is written by one who has lived in the 
 country in which the scene is laid, and is intended 
 to give some idea of the life led by officers and their 
 families in a station like Peshawur. To enliven the 
 scenes, it has been necessary to people them ; but 
 it has been the writer's studious care that her fictitious 
 characters shall be typical, and in no case to risk 
 offence by drawing from life. During the interval 
 between the composition and the publication of 
 this work, many changes have taken place in 
 Afghanistan, but they do not in any way affect 
 "A YEAR IN PESHAWUR."
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 INTRODUCTORY . I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A PAPER CHASE 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY 26 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A COURT MARTIAL 44 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PESHAWUR FEVER 56 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CHRISTMAS DAY IN PESHAWUR AND IN THE DISTRICT ... 69
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 STILL IN THE DISTRICT. REPARATION AND SUCCESS ... 88 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE AND THE RESULTS 104 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE REGIMENTAL BALL 119 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES , . 134 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MORNING VISITS 151 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE DOG FIGHT , 165 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 LOVE'S TOILS 183 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A FEARFUL TRAGEDY 196
 
 CONTENTS. xi 
 
 . CHAPTER xv. 
 
 PAGE 
 CONSTERNATION AT PESHAWUR . 211 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MORE HORRORS 22 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A MEMORABLE RIDE 235 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. ' 
 
 CONCLUSION 252
 
 A 
 
 YEAR IN PESHAWUR, 
 
 AND A 
 
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 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 THE cold season was just breaking up, and the 
 much dreaded hot weather coming slowly but surely. 
 Each day we could feel a perceptible change, and 
 the grumblers would soon have reason to grumble 
 in earnest, for in a tew weeks the summer would 
 be upon us in all its fury, and punkahs, tatties, iced 
 beverages, and all other hot-weather appendages 
 in full swing. No one who has not been in India can 
 imagine what the feeling of an Indian spring is; so 
 different to the English one, which is a time of 
 rejoicing, one may say, especially to the old and poor, 
 to whom winter is only another name for rheumatics 
 
 B
 
 2 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 and misery. In India, on the contrary, the period 
 between the two seasons of hot and cold weather we 
 scarcely ought to call spring, for there is nothing 
 spring-like in it except perhaps in the extreme 
 north of India, where the trees do bud and blossom 
 and the leaves are green and remain so for a month 
 or two. But in the north, March and April are 
 pleasant months, indeed it is very cold there in 
 January and February, and one may see snow on 
 the near ranges and enjoy a fire in the house all 
 day long. There are many drawbacks though 
 to the north-country spring ; for during the day the 
 sun is very warm, and the temperature like an English 
 summer, while the nights are very cold ; and this 
 great contrast between day and night induces 
 fever, to which the poor natives, who are generally 
 so thinly clad, fall victims in numbers. However, 
 fever and ague are not usually so prevalent in the 
 spring of the year as in the autumn ; the latter is 
 very trying, particularly to the European portion of 
 the population, who are so reduced by the summer 
 campaign as not to have the same strength to with- 
 stand it as they have after being braced a little by 
 the cold weather. Summer in India is of itself a 
 campaign, for is it not a continual warfare with every 
 kind of plague, from heat to insects ? From morning 
 to night the best intentioned and least selfish people 
 can think of nothing but the heat, and how to bear it, 
 and the most sensible means to reduce its effect. It is
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 3 
 
 needless to say that individuals differ as to the 
 best mode of getting through the days ; for where do 
 they ever agree ? and India is the last place in 
 which they are likely to do so. Some will say keep 
 your doors open and let in the fresh air ; but these 
 are usually of the " Griffin " stamp, for the air is far 
 from fresh, and at some seasons hot enough to scorch 
 the skin off your face. Indeed, when you go out for 
 a drive in the evening, the effect is exactly as if you 
 were sitting before a blazing kitchen fire ; but this is 
 not the worst, for at times, just before the rains, 
 when you cannot breathe at all, the clouds gather, 
 the atmosphere becomes the colour of pea-soup, 
 and breathing is really a difficulty. English people 
 who have not visited the country cannot under- 
 stand Indian weather. They imagine it is equally 
 hot all the year round ; that the same seasons prevail, 
 north, south, east and west, forgetting the difference 
 there must be in the latitude and longitude of the 
 different parts. Even, if in conversation with an 
 ordinarily intelligent Englishman, you should allude 
 to the cold, he looks at you in surprise and thinks 
 you must make a mistake. " Cold in India ! dear 
 me ! I thought it never could be cold there," is 
 usually his answer. 
 
 Now I have had my say about the weather, I am 
 going to begin my story, which opens at Peshawur, 
 a military and civil station situated in a valley sur- 
 rounded by hills. I need hardly say that Peshawur 
 
 L 2
 
 4 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 is our last military station in the north of India, the 
 nearest one to the Afghan frontier and the celebrated 
 Khyber pass, of which almost all must have heard 
 some time or other. Every reader of history must 
 be well acquainted with the awful circumstances of 
 that ever memorable Afghan war. Now Afghanistan 
 has lately been so much talked of, written and read 
 about, 1 that few, except those most intensely and 
 wilfully ignorant, can fail to know something about 
 it, although they may be ignorant of the causes of 
 our present difficulties with Afghanistan and the 
 Ameer of Cabul, who, after all, is but a puppet in the 
 hands of a powerful nation. The whole business 
 is but a repetition of the old story of the monkey 
 and the chestnuts, and like it has its moral. No one 
 who has been in that part of India, and lived among 
 the people, or has even the smallest acquaintance with 
 their ways and habits, can for a moment imagine 
 that the nominal ruler of Afghanistan is a free 
 agent, or that he would dare to insult the English 
 government or the English people, (for whom some 
 years back he professed to entertain a great regard,) 
 if he were not made to do so, or at least strongly 
 supported by another nation. 
 
 Shere Ali paid a visit to India and knows what 
 English regiments and English arms are. Surely he 
 would never dare to fight them by the sole aid of his 
 own semi-trained troops and home-made weapons he 
 
 1 Written in November, 1878.
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 5 
 
 must have more sense than to do so. I must beg the 
 reader's pardon for this digression, as it has nothing to 
 do with the present story, the events of which 
 occurred some years ago. 
 
 Peshawur is, as I said before, a military and civil 
 station, which in other words means a place containing 
 barracks and troops, as well as the civil courts of law 
 and civil functionaries as Commissioner, Assistant- 
 Commissioner, and their subordinates. Peshawur has 
 also a very strongly-armed fort, and there are always 
 two European infantry regiments, a detachment of 
 artillery, two Bengal cavalry and two native infantry 
 regiments quartered there, so that it has a large gar- 
 rison. It is surrounded by a road called the "Circular 
 Road," on which are posted sentries and guards at 
 short distances. The " Circular Road " and " Mall " 
 are almost the only drives ; the former is the 
 prettiest, for from every part of it there is a view of 
 the lovely hills, though military men hate riding on it 
 on account of the perpetual salutes from the guards 
 just mentioned. 
 
 There is a very strict rule forbidding all subjects of 
 the English government to go beyond the frontier 
 forts without an armed escort, and after dusk no one 
 is allowed even to go outside the Circular Road. 
 The fact is, our neighbours, the Afghans, are not 
 very peaceably inclined ; they have a way of play- 
 ing at soldiers, trying shots at you as they would 
 at game. It is their mode of being civil and
 
 6 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 friendly I suppose, but we do not relish it much. I 
 cannot say that it is very pleasant, when you are 
 out for a quiet ride across country of an evening, to 
 hear a bullet whiz past you within a few inches of 
 your head ; it at least startles your horse, if no more 
 harm is done. 
 
 Afghan children are taught to shoot at each other 
 as soon as they can stand ; thus when they grow older 
 they look upon shooting at stray Englishmen as an 
 amusing pastime. They are also taught the use of 
 the knife, which the Afghans always carry as soon as 
 they can hold one. It is a dangerous weapon in 
 their hands, and they are greater adepts at stabbing 
 than shooting one another. They have such an ex- 
 traordinary "nonchalance" about life, they do not 
 much care whether they live or die they are fatalists, 
 as indeed are all the natives of India, though the 
 Indians are not so murderously inclined a race as the 
 mountain tribes of whom I am speaking. There is 
 not a family known in a tribe that has not a "blood 
 feud " with another family which lasts from genera- 
 tion to generation. The first principle the Afghan 
 parent instils into his son is, that he is not to die 
 until he has killed one of the family of the enemy ; 
 often in revenge for an insult that we should think 
 amply absolved when pardon was asked. 
 
 In regard to their quarrels, one can truly say, 
 manet alta mente repostum, is the feeling they en- 
 courage. The remembrance of their quarrels is
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 7 
 
 deeply rooted in their minds. Pardon is not a word 
 in their vocabulary; they know not what it is to 
 forgive one another, nor are they softened by Chris- 
 tian principles or Christian morals. Theirs is the 
 religion of the false prophet who enforced his tenets 
 with fire and sword, so different from the real and 
 true " Prophet, Priest, and King," whose life and 
 maxims taught peace and forgiveness. 
 
 At all events as a result of this, to our way of think- 
 ing extraordinary amusement, the rule before referred 
 to was very necessary. Promises, they say, are made 
 to be broken, and I think the same maxim applies to 
 rules ; for as soon as anything becomes a rule or law, 
 the instinctive opposition that exists in human nature 
 excites people to break it, especially hot-headed young 
 soldiers who always think they know better than their 
 commanding officers, and that no harm can come to 
 them. There are always one or two of this sort in 
 every regiment ; and at Peshawur there was a small 
 band whose delight it was to venture beyond the 
 bounds on the plea of sport, to find some rare game 
 they could find nowhere else. I think these few 
 sport-loving young men must have been bound 
 together by an agreement amongst themselves to 
 break this rule against going beyond bounds whenever 
 they felt inclined, to judge by their rashness and the 
 scrapes they got into. I must say they were manly 
 fellows and the right stuff for soldiers. I do not 
 believe in a milk-and-water man who never got into
 
 8 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 a scrape in his life. They are not the material for 
 soldiers and life's real battle ; they may be valuable 
 in a drawing-room, shine at a kettledrum, or an 
 evening party forsooth, have plenty of small talk to 
 entertain the ladies ; or, at their best, talk of the 
 current topics of the day with their favourite news- 
 paper's view of it. They may make good domestic 
 men, attentive husbands and kind fathers. We 
 must not cry them down though too much, for we 
 do not want every one to be a soldier or all men to 
 be alike. 
 
 In these days of competitive examinations I think 
 there might almost be an examination, or inquiry I 
 should say, into the scrapes each candidate has got 
 into at school or college. If they are right manly 
 scrapes on the side of sport and honesty, let him pass 
 for the army before the learned student to whom 
 classics will avail little in his career as a soldier. As 
 we shall have much to say about those young sports- 
 men who were very brave but rash and reckless, I 
 must describe them. 
 
 The moving spirit, I may call him the leader, was 
 a fine, tall young man of about six-and-twenty, with 
 fair hair and a long moustache ; he was a great athlete 
 and sportsman, always to the fore in a long run with 
 the hounds, no matter how steep the country or how 
 wide the ravines. He did not know what fear is; the 
 horse he usually rode for an evening airing knew better 
 how to gallop on his fore-legs than on all four, and yet
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 9 
 
 he was never thrown. I think he would have ridden a 
 wild elephant without fear, could he have once got 
 within reach of his tail (the method by which the 
 natives mount elephants). 
 
 Charles Gordon was a fine officer, and much liked 
 by all the men of his regiment ; they admired and 
 respected him although some of the older ones would 
 shake their heads and prophesy that he would come 
 to grief some day. 
 
 Well, we shall see. 
 
 Some of these harum-scarum young men do 
 come to sad grief, whilst others have the most 
 wqnderful escapes, getting out of a thousand diffi- 
 culties, out of one of which it would take the lifetime 
 of any steady-going individual to get clear. If I were 
 to try to relate even one-half of the escapades of 
 which Charles Gordon had been the hero before he 
 had entered the army, I should have to write a 
 volume about him only. But I do not wish to 
 write his biography ; my intention is to record events 
 concerning the lives of many during a year's resi- 
 dence in Peshawur, therefore I cannot say much 
 more about him now. 
 
 His great friend in the regiment was very unlike 
 him, as far as appearance went. Robert Hale 
 was four years Charles Gordon's junior, but having 
 no hair on his face at all, as a natural consequence 
 looked younger. He was short, and had fair curly 
 hair, and might have been taken for a boy of any age
 
 io A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 not beyond his teens. He had many of Charles' 
 tastes, and was quite as fond of sport and manly 
 exercises as he was. On account of his size and 
 light weight he was a better hand at " Polo," and 
 was devoted to that game ; for the same reason, 
 added to his being a thoroughly good rider, he was 
 in great request at all the races, and was engaged to 
 ride his friends' horses months beforehand. Lucky 
 the owner of the race-horse thought himself if he 
 could get Robert Hale to ride for him. He was a 
 first-rate amateur jockey and a lucky rider, and was 
 always the favourite jockey with the ladies. Many 
 a pair of gloves did the unfortunate men lose over 
 him to the fair sex, who were not only permitted to 
 have the best of the bargain, but might be trusted to 
 make a good one for themselves. After every suc- 
 cessful race Robert Hale was dragged up to the 
 grand stand to receive the congratulations of the ladies. 
 
 Yet if he was much more what we may call a 
 " ladies' man " than Charles Gordon, he was not a 
 bit foppish ; he was a man every inch of him. There 
 was something scornful in the way in which Charles 
 Gordon talked to ladies in general as if it were a 
 trouble to him. In fact he was out of his element. 
 
 A man at all inclined to extremely bachelor habits, 
 has everything in India to encourage him. Ladies 
 are so comparatively scarce, that it is more trouble 
 to cultivate their acquaintance there than in England. 
 
 Robert Hale in the intervals of sport always liked
 
 INTRODUCTORY. i i 
 
 to spend his time among his lady friends, and it 
 was a good thing for him that he had some very 
 good, kind friends whom he could see at any time ; 
 Major and Mrs. Munro were his chief ones. The 
 Major was in his regiment, and so, of course, unless he 
 took pains to get out of their way, in the ordinary 
 course of events he would see them pretty often. He 
 was drawn more to them than to many others from the 
 beginning, partly because his mother was an old 
 friend in their school-days of Mrs. Munro's, and had 
 asked her to look after her son. Major and Mrs. 
 Munro therefore, from the time Robert Hale joined 
 the regiment at Peshawur, had treated him almost as 
 their own son. 
 
 A few months after reaching Peshawur, Robert 
 Hale was down with fever, and a pretty sharp attack 
 he had too and the Munros took him into their 
 house and nursed him through it and kept to him 
 until he was quite well and strong. This attack was 
 a good lesson for him, and made him more careful in 
 future. He had brought the fever entirely upon him- 
 self by his great rashness. He would go out in the 
 middle of the day shooting, in a tiny cap. Mrs. 
 Munro gave him many a lecture, with some good 
 result ; she told him he was fortunate to have 
 escaped so easily this time, for many a man had to 
 go home on sick leave after Peshawur fever. This 
 lever is of a very peculiar kind, and the after-effects 
 sometimes last a lifetime.
 
 12 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Many a young man's life in India might have been 
 saved had they had such kind friends as the Munros 
 were to Robert Hale in his illness. A young bachelor 
 with no comforts in his bungalow, his furniture usually 
 consisting of a bed, a table and a few chairs, has no 
 one to give him food, and take care of him. He 
 always, when well, dines at mess, and from the 
 mess-table his food must come. The climate is 
 against him too ; so that many an English mother 
 is left to mourn the loss of a son who might have 
 been spared that grief had her boy only had as kind 
 a friend as Mrs. Munro was to Robert Hale.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A PAPER CHASE. 
 
 THE 39th regiment was commanded by Colonel 
 Lindsay, and he and Major Munro, who was second 
 in command, were great friends ; a friendship 
 to which Robert Hale owed something, for the 
 Major had spoken a good word for him on 
 several occasions when some mad freak had reached 
 the Colonel's ears. 
 
 The Colonel was a kind man ; the youngsters called 
 him a " regular brick," as he invariably outside 
 duty shut his ears whenever he could to their 
 escapades. On duty he was their commanding 
 officer, and they knew well no one had a sharper 
 eye for any careless or wilful neglect than he had. 
 On parade no one could be more particular than 
 he was, for he expected every man to act as if he 
 were preparing for immediate service. The conse- 
 quence of this was that he obtained no end of 
 " Kudos" from inspecting officers, and his regiment 
 was always ready for inspection. Colonel Lindsay
 
 14 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 was not only a strict parade officer, but he loved his 
 regiment next to his wife, and took the greatest 
 trouble and interest in the whole working of its 
 machinery. He knew, too, that the curse of the 
 British soldier in India, viz., " idleness," was the root 
 of most of the evils which befall him. The soldiers 
 who were idly inclined, were sure to be those who 
 were most easily tempted by boon companions to 
 waste both time and money in drink. I suppose I 
 ought almost to say that drinking is the root of 
 all the evil, and so no doubt it is, for it leads to 
 ill-health and entire bodily and moral demoralisation 
 everywhere. In a hot country like India, a man 
 whose whole frame is shattered by excess in drink is 
 surely not likely to be able to withstand the ravages 
 of fever and disease, so common there, so well as one 
 who is abstemious, and consequently possessed of 
 all his faculties of mind and body. 
 
 Colonel Lindsay, in order to extirpate this evil at 
 its root, used his whole energy to give occupation to 
 the men, and encourage them to work for their 
 own amusement and profit, and so occupy their 
 spare time. The Indian days are long and weary to 
 soldiers, as they are to others ; and to be cooped 
 up in barracks all day with nothing to do, as they 
 usually are the greater part of the year, is so 
 trying that it is no wonder they drink to kill 
 the time that hangs so heavily on their hands. 
 
 The men of the 39th had no excuse for being
 
 A PAPER CHASE. 15 
 
 idle, for they had every incentive to work according 
 to their tastes. Colonel Lindsay did not undertake 
 all that he did for the soldiers single-handed. 
 Major Munro took an equal interest in it, and 
 their example inspired the younger officers also to 
 help and give some of their time to the soldiers. 
 Each of these officers had one department to super- 
 intend, of which he was the referee on all occa- 
 sions. The workshop was the most crowded, and 
 the largest room of all. There, all kinds of car- 
 pentering were done, from fancy chairs and tables 
 to packing cases. The sergeant who was in charge 
 of it had learned the trade, and was of the great- 
 est use to many a young man who came in to try 
 his hand at work with a very small knowledge 
 of plane or saw. 
 
 Then there were the gardens, where they worked 
 night and morning, the produce of which they were 
 allowed to sell. There was a little vegetable market 
 in the early morning, twice a week, where many a 
 lady's " khansamah " l would be seen, even daring 
 to beat the soldiers down in the prices they asked. 
 A native cannot understand that any one should 
 mean what he says, especially in money matters. 
 For instance, if the soldier seller or his wife perhaps 
 may keep the market-stall should say when asked 
 " This cabbage is two annas," the audacious native 
 servant would be certain to take it up and say, 
 1 Butler.
 
 1 6 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 " Hum turn ko ek anna dega, bus hai," l and march 
 off triumphantly with it at his price. Their ways 
 used to provoke amusement among the soldiers, more 
 than anger, as they were so accustomed to them ; 
 but occasionally a little bad language ensued, as the 
 natives were sometimes too aggravating to permit 
 the straightforward Englishman to keep his temper. 
 This little vegetable-market was a great boon 
 to the English residents, as they were enabled 
 by it to get nice English vegetables easily ; and it 
 especially benefited the soldiers' families who had no 
 gardens. Another incentive to good gardening was 
 the annual flower show, at which prizes were given 
 for the finest flowers and vegetables. 
 
 There was a library and reading-room in the regi- 
 ment for the soldiers, as well as a gymnasium, a band 
 room, and a department for those who worked in 
 leather, and even a room devoted to the tailoring and 
 needlework branch. There was also a class-room, 
 where a class was held by one of the officers for the 
 younger men, in which both the Colonel and Major 
 often had readings of an evening. They also used to 
 get up " Penny Readings " about once a month in 
 the sergeant's mess, which were looked forward to 
 and enjoyed by all, and some of the ladies of the 
 regiment used to attend them. The unfortunate 
 soldiers' wives, who are more to be pitied in India 
 than the soldiers themselves, were not forgotten. 
 1 I will give you one anna, that is quite enough.
 
 A PAPER CHASE. 17 
 
 They had a work-room to themselves which was large 
 and comfortable, in which they could do any kind 
 of needlework. Some of the women were dress- 
 makers, and others washerwomen, and full employ- 
 ment they found, notwithstanding the " Dirzees " and 
 " Dhobees " that Anglo-Indians swear by. 
 
 We have now seen that Colonel Lindsay's regiment 
 was quite a model to all others, and he and his 
 officers were as thoroughly popular as they deserved 
 to be with the men. Really, the lines of the 39th 
 were worth inspection, and all agreed in saying 
 " They were a lucky lot." 
 
 Colonel Lindsay was a married man, but his wife 
 was in England at this time ; she was to join him 
 at Peshawur at the beginning of the next cold season 
 with their eldest daughter. There were four ladies 
 now with the regiment, including the Quartermaster's 
 wife and daughter. The Quartermaster's wife in 
 a European regiment, is rarely a lady by birth, 
 although considered to be in society when her hus- 
 band has attained the rank of a commissioned 
 officer and been made Quartermaster. For he then 
 dines at mess, and associates with the officers, and 
 his wife must naturally be on visiting terms with 
 the ladies in the regiment at least ; although unless 
 she be superior to the ordinary stamp, few outside it 
 recognise her. 
 
 Mrs. O'Dowd, the Quartermaster's wife of the 
 39th, was a worthy woman who had struggled hard 
 
 c
 
 1 8 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 to bring up a large family on small means ; more- 
 over they were all in India, no small test of her 
 discretion and good sense. No country can be more 
 trying to bring up children in, both bodily and 
 morally, than India. The O'Dowds had eight, and 
 all were with them. Their eldest daughter was 
 seventeen, and she had been home for a short period 
 and had just returned. Miss O'Dowd was the only 
 unmarried girl in the regiment. 
 
 The Adjutant, Captain Chaplin, was married ; he 
 had a charming and very pretty little wife ; they had 
 been married only a few months. He met her in the 
 hills at Murree the year before, and became en- 
 gaged. She was the daughter of what they call a 
 " faltoo Colonel," who was spending six months with 
 his family in the hills. What an easy-going life these 
 faltoo Colonels do lead out there ! They can always 
 get six months' leave to the hills or Cashmere, and 
 when they are in the plains in the winter have little 
 to do except attend occasional " courts of inquiry," 
 and " courts martial." Mrs. Chaplin was eighteen 
 when she married, only a few months older than 
 Miss O'Dowd. This young lady had little fasci- 
 nation of manner to compensate for her somewhat 
 angular figure and hard-featured face, for pre- 
 viously to a short stay at a second-rate school at 
 home, she had passed all her time in the barracks. 
 Still Miss O'Dowd had come out with the impression 
 that she was to be the attraction in the regiment, and
 
 A PAPER CHASE. 19 
 
 would monopolise the attentions of the stern sex. 
 Great was her mortification, when Mrs. Chaplin 
 appeared on the scene a few weeks after her own 
 arrival from England, to find that the adjutant's wife 
 was a greater favourite than herself. It would be 
 useless to give way to fits of jealousy, for no one 
 would pay attention to them ; indeed she was hardly 
 noticed when taking no pains to conceal her mortifi- 
 cation ; she would make spiteful little speeches about 
 Mrs. Chaplin, equally unheeded. Mrs. Chaplin would 
 have befriended the girl, who would have been far 
 wiser had she accepted the offers of friendship in- 
 stead of scorning them. The secret of Miss O'Dowd's 
 extreme jealousy of Mrs. Chaplin was, the fact that 
 almost immediately after her arrival she imagined 
 herself to be violently in love with a certain young 
 Lieutenant. This gentleman, however, it should be 
 said, had not returned her affection, for one very 
 certain reason he was not aware of it. 
 
 It would no doubt have been very much better 
 for Miss O'Dowd had she remained with her mother 
 instead of going to the school ; for her head must 
 have been crammed full of nonsense there or she 
 would not have thought that the first young man who 
 showed her any civility was in love with her. Mr. 
 O'Dowd was himself rather popular with the young 
 officers, and always did them a good turn when he 
 could ; and so Robert Hale, like any other good- 
 natured man, offered to lend his daughter a pony 
 
 C 2
 
 2o A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 and take her for a ride, soon after her arrival. He 
 was a good-looking youth, and an immense favourite 
 with the galaxy of rank and beauty of Peshawur, so 
 the fault was not his if Miss O'Dowd should instantly 
 fall in love with him. Robert Hale had never said or 
 done anything to encourage such an idea ; he had 
 only shown her the ordinary gallantry which every 
 true gentleman shows to a gentlewoman. Thus she 
 had only herself to blame. Robert Hale was the last 
 man in the world to flirt with a girl when as in this 
 case nothing serious could be his intention. 
 
 The connexion of all this with Mrs. Chaplin is 
 this : Robert Hale from the time the Adjutant 
 brought his wife to the regiment was constantly with 
 them. The Chaplins liked him, and used constantly 
 to ask him to join their rides, and dine with them. 
 Miss O'Dowd, therefore, put all her imaginary blighted 
 hopes down to Mrs. Chaplin's influence, and so was 
 madly jealous of her. I must say her jealousy did 
 that lady little harm. It was really too absurd. 
 Robert Hale was not the only man at Peshawur, 
 and as has been said had never led the young 
 lady to suppose that he admired her at all. Another 
 sore point with Miss O'Dowd was Mrs. Chaplin's 
 good riding, and the praise she heard of it from all 
 quarters. Mrs. Chaplin was a perfect horsewoman, 
 and rode like a bird across country, and on anything 
 but the quietest of steeds too. She was quite reckless 
 on horseback, consequently though her riding was the
 
 A PAPER CHASE. 21 
 
 admiration of all beholders, her husband had many a 
 fright during a run with the hounds or even in a 
 paper chase, which the young men, especially t the 
 " roystering band," were very fond of getting up. 
 
 A few weeks after the respective arrivals of the 
 two ladies, a paper chase was organised by Gordon 
 and Hale, and the latter asked Mrs. Chaplin and 
 three or four other ladies belonging to the regiment 
 to join it. 
 
 They were all to meet at a certain "ghaut;" 
 Gordon was to be the fox, and was to have a 
 start of an hour. Miss O'Dowd asked Mrs. Chaplin 
 to chaperon her, which she gladly did. 
 
 This was before Miss O'Dowd's resentment passed 
 ordinary bounds ; now they were friends, that is to all 
 outward seeming. 
 
 Miss O'Dowd was riding her father's horse, a 
 very quiet, steady old Arab, " warranted sound and 
 with no vice." 
 
 The two ladies, Captain Chaplin and Robert Hale, 
 were the last to arrive at the ghaut, and no sooner 
 were they espied than the word was given to start, 
 and away they all went, harum-skarum, helter-skelter, 
 like so many mad creatures, over a compound wall, 
 which proved more of a jump than was bargained 
 for, as the wall though low on the road side, had a 
 drop on the other. Mrs. Chaplin's horse was over 
 like the wind ; but poor Miss O'Dowd, when her 
 horse rose for the wall and then descended to the
 
 22 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 ground, was thrown over his head in the most igno- 
 minious fashion. Fortunately for her, she fell right 
 on to the top of a "charpoy," only that moment 
 vacated by the " Chowkedar," who would have been 
 rather astonished had Miss O'Dowd fallen on to 
 him. It takes a good deal to rouse a sleepy native, 
 but in this case the shock would have been sufficient. 
 
 Poor Miss O'Dowd was picked up from the 
 charpoy, and her horse captured by a young officer 
 of one of the native infantry regiments, a Mr. Brown. 
 He happened to be just behind her when she fell, 
 and apparently was the only one to witness the 
 accident, for in the course of a few minutes all the 
 other riders were almost out of sight, having during 
 that time flown over two more compound walls. 
 
 The Chaplins at all events did not know anything 
 about Miss O'Dowd's fall, not discovering her absence 
 for a good half hour. Mr. Brown, after escorting 
 the young lady home, rejoined the riding party by 
 a short cut, reaching them in time to set Mrs. 
 Chaplin's mind at ease, by telling her that her friend 
 was unhurt, and already resting in her own home. 
 
 The fox they were pursuing sustained his wily 
 character well, for his dodges to put them on the 
 wrong track were most artful. He would scatter 
 paper here and there in a manner to make them 
 imagine he had taken quite an opposite route to the 
 one he had really followed, and in consequence there 
 was many a false start and unnecessary gallop.
 
 A PAPER CHASE. 23 
 
 They had been out a full hour, during which the 
 grass had not grown under their feet. They were 
 now a good eight miles from Peshawur, having been 
 dodged backwards and forwards, and in and out, 
 when they came to a large " nullah " with water at 
 the bottom of it, and far too wide for a comfort- 
 able jump. It was very evident the fox had crossed 
 it, for there were his marks plainly visible, also on 
 the opposite side. They all came to a halt to discuss 
 the next move. Mrs. Chaplin was for trying the 
 jump; her husband begged her not to do so. The 
 two other ladies of the party said they would not 
 attempt it, and turned away, followed by four or 
 five young men who declared their horses could not 
 take such a flying leap, and so of necessity they 
 must try to find another crossing. Not so Mrs. 
 Chaplin ; her spirit was roused, and nothing would 
 keep her back. She spurred her little horse, and 
 with a cheery word over he went. Was she safe ? 
 Oh ! what was that ? His off hind foot had slipped, 
 and he was sliding backwards into the stream, 
 struggling with all his might to regain his footing, 
 but unable of himself to recover it, so slippery was 
 the bank. In less than a moment Robert Hale 
 recognized her peril, flew over, was off his horse 
 and had clutched her rein just in time to save her. 
 
 What might have happened in another half second 
 no one dared say. Had the horse fallen back, its 
 rider must have fallen under it, and with a lady's
 
 24 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 saddle the consequences would have been too dreadful 
 to contemplate, to say nothing of the wetting she 
 would have had. Captain Chaplin did not see his 
 wife's danger until it was over, so sudden and un- 
 expected had been her jump. He had been at the 
 time a little in the rear talking to another man, and 
 was only attracted by Hale's exclamation as he 
 spurred his horse for the jump. Captain Chaplin 
 followed him. He could not speak, his heart was too 
 full of thankfulness for his dear wife's escape, and 
 of gratitude to the gallant youth who had saved 
 her. Mrs. Chaplin was a plucky little woman, for it 
 must be allowed she had had a fright of no mean 
 sort. But nothing would make her give in, she 
 would go on ; and in a minute she and the few who 
 were left were again galloping, making their way 
 to a small enclosure which was straight ahead, a 
 right hiding-place for a real fox, and a capital 
 one for this wily "Mr. Reynard." They spied him 
 at last, and he, allowing the only lady now of their 
 party to get within a few yards of him, gave them 
 a chase, not allowing himself to be captured until 
 he had reached the racecourse, by which time the 
 sun was pretty hot, a pretty clear hint that it was 
 time to go home to breakfast. 
 
 Miss O'Dowd never forgave Mrs. Chaplin for that 
 ride, and did not willingly speak to her again for 
 a long time. 
 
 This was littleness of mind no doubt. But perhaps
 
 A PAPER CHASE. 23 
 
 we should consider the circumstances. At least it 
 was trying that the man whom she imagined she 
 loved passionately, should be the one to save her 
 rival's life. 
 
 It is said that jealousy is love, but I deny it, for 
 though jealousy be produced by love, as ashes are by 
 fire, yet jealousy extinguishes the loye, as ashes, 
 smother the flame,
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 
 
 IT was now May, and each day saw gharree-loads 
 of ladies and children taking their departure for the 
 hills. The furlough season all over India opens on the 
 I5th of April, and closes on the I5th of October, when 
 all military men are expected to be again at their 
 posts. The 1 5th of April is almost too early to care 
 to go away on leave from Peshawur, as the weather 
 there is far from unpleasant, being quite bearable for 
 at least another month. However, as every officer in 
 native regiments at least is entitled to two months' 
 privilege leave, some must go on the I5th of April if 
 they are to go away at all. That day generally sees 
 the first flight, and dak gharrees have to be engaged for 
 it some time before. Those fortunate ones, too, who 
 are going for six months to Cashmere or the hills, are 
 also of the first flight. The ladies and children whose 
 husbands are not able to accompany them, but hope 
 perhaps to join them a month or so later, generally 
 go from Peshawur to their summer home about the 
 beginning of May.
 
 AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 27 
 
 The hills are indeed in all their beauty then. The 
 beautiful rhododendron-trees and the tree geraniums 
 are in full blossom. There is such a grandeur about 
 everything in the hills ; all is on such a large 
 scale. The only insignificant things are the works 
 of men ; their habitations are as dots on a majestic 
 picture. Indeed one may everywhere, and in all 
 parts of this wonderful earth, worship nature, and 
 so feel the hand of nature's God. Wherever one 
 turns, there is something to admire and reverence in 
 the unseen Hand who made all things ; but nowhere 
 can one be more inspired with that intense feeling of 
 awe and wonder at the supreme majesty of one's God 
 than in these mighty and glorious mountains, 
 
 " Nature ! Great Parent ! whose unceasing hand 
 Rolls round the seasons of the changeful year, 
 How mighty, how majestic are thy works ! 
 With what a pleasing dread they swell the spul ! 
 That sees, astonish'd ! and astonish'd, sings ! " 
 
 Oh ! if I only could find words to describe the 
 feeling that comes over one when first visiting these 
 glorious mountains. One seems really to realise 
 truly what an insignificant creature is man ! what a 
 minute particle of God's handiwork one huma nbeing 
 is. One's spirit is raised from earth to heaven. 
 Every lover of nature must feel what my poor words 
 are inadequate to express, that ennobling, raising 
 sensation, when one's eyes first view those, to human 
 eyes, interminable mountains, each with a structure
 
 2 8 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 peculiarly its own ; the distant ones with their snow- 
 capped pointed peaks, all so blended together, as to 
 form one mighty panorama of glorious beauty. 
 
 I must now return to Peshawur and life there, as 
 the story has nothing to do with the hills, and the 
 reader would like to know something about the 
 journey and the mode of travelling. 
 
 The mighty monster which is as though an infant 
 in the power of man, has not as yet invaded the 
 valley of Peshawur ; so all travellers are obliged to 
 travel by dak gharree, a very pleasant mode of 
 conveyance when it is a good one and the horses 
 are tractable. It is a long night's journey from Pesha- 
 wur to Rawul Pindee, a large military station forty 
 miles from Murree. About half way between Pesha- 
 wur and Pindee there is a river to cross at Attock, 
 where there is a fort. In the winter the river is 
 crossed by a bridge of boats ; but after the snows 
 have melted in the near hills, it becomes fuller and 
 larger, and the bridge of boats has to be replaced 
 by a ferry. This is very troublesome, as it necessi" 
 tates your turning out in the middle of the night, 
 when it is pitch dark, and bundling all your things 
 out of the dak gharree and giving them to coolies, 
 who are waiting to take them into the large boat, or 
 properly speaking, barge. Your energies are pretty 
 well taxed, and your temper thoroughly tried in the 
 effort to keep your eyes on these officious coolies, 
 who swarm like bees, and eagerly seize your things
 
 AN EVENTFUL JQURNEV. 291 
 
 before you know what you are about, and of course 
 invariably the wrong ones. 
 
 The chances are, you are sound asleep when you 
 get to the river, and are only awoke by the shrill 
 cries of the native coachmen, hallooing to the boat- 
 men that passengers have arrived. Well, if asleep, 
 you naturally want a few minutes to wake up and 
 dress yourself, at least to put on your boots, for you 
 must take these off to sleep comfortably. You feel 
 sure you have stowed them away on the shelf at the 
 end of the gharree, and cannot find them in the 
 dark. Only one boot is there ! Oh dear ! oh dear ! 
 what has happened to the other ? You cry, " Coolie, 
 coolie, buttee lao juldi hum jutee nai milsekta, 1 * l and 
 you get one of the flaming torches held at the door 
 to enable you to look for the missing boot. No, it 
 is not to be found. Surely that coolie has not 
 taken it with the basket of soda-water to the boat 
 it was close to it. " Jou dekko," 2 you frantically 
 cry, and in a few minutes he brings it back tri- 
 umphantly. Then your coat and hat are missing. 
 Well, you can do without those, or you must ; and 
 so turn out in shirt-sleeves, and order the coolies 
 to bring bedding and pillows. In a few minutes 
 you are in the boat, all your things in a tangled 
 mass at the bottom, and a shrill yell announces 
 its start. 
 
 1 " Coolie, bring a light quickly ! I cannot find my boot." 
 
 2 " Go and see."
 
 3O A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Natives never can do anything without a great 
 noise ; they seem to be born with the idea that every- 
 body is deaf. If they are not themselves hard of 
 hearing they certainly are of comprehension, which 
 perhaps accounts for the idea. Well, you have just 
 settled in the boat and are fairly off, the Attock 
 fort looming dark over the black waters, and are 
 perhaps wishing yourself in a comfortable English 
 train crossing the river on a bridge, instead of in this 
 barbarous fashion, when a rude shock and a terrific 
 yell rouse you, and you are sent flying to the other 
 end of the boat, vainly asking, " What is the 
 matter ? " but no attention is paid ; the native boat- 
 men are too much taken up. With quarrelling ? No, 
 not that. It is their mode of talking. They are 
 gesticulating as fast as they can ; you can do nothing 
 hut listen, and at last you hear, " Qua kurro lahassu 
 toot gea," 1 and you now know what has happened. The 
 current is very strong in these rivers ; it is dangerous 
 navigation too, and at certain places a rope has to be 
 thrown ashore to be held by somebody there to keep 
 the boat from drifting away. At last you make them 
 listen to you, and when they find you have a rope 
 at the bottom of the boat tied round your bedding, 
 and can let them have it, they immediately invoke 
 "Allah," fall at your feet and call you their preserver. 
 The rope is mended by the help of yours, and the 
 landing-place is at length reached. 
 
 1 " What is to be done? the rope is broken."
 
 AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 31 
 
 Out you jump, and the same scene takes place as 
 before, only you are too wide awake to have your 
 boots carried off, or anything else. The coolies too 
 have no chance of succeeding in cheating. All your 
 things have to be bundled on to the gharree that is 
 in waiting, and with a shout to the horses and a blow 
 of the horn you are off until the next stage, 
 where you may be delayed for half an hour by a 
 horse refusing to start. 
 
 To a looker-on for the first time the scene is 
 amusing. The variety of tempers the dak horses 
 display is great. There are the "jibbers." Besides 
 these are the ones that refuse to move at all, as stolid 
 as the monument itself, allowing every kind of tor- 
 ture to be inflicted on them ; lashed with a whip 
 of knotted cord by the infuriated driver from the 
 box ; pulled by a long rope tied to the fore-leg by a 
 man in front ; pushed from behind by the wheels of 
 the gharree which alone must cause pain. But these 
 horses when they do deign to start, are the best 
 goers ; they go off with a bound, which the coach- 
 man insists on keeping up. Then there are the 
 " kickers," and the one that often whirls round and 
 round. One moment he will put his head in at one 
 door, and the next his heels are banging at the other. 
 All you can do is to sit still and wait patiently 
 until they make up their minds to start, and be 
 thankful when they are off. These incidents are of 
 very frequent occurrence in a dak gharree journey.
 
 3 2 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR, 
 
 If it was not for them a long dak journey would be 
 pleasanter than a railway one, as you can make 
 yourself very comfortable with pillows, rezaies (a kind 
 of quilt), and almost imagine yourself in bed. Of 
 course there are drawbacks ; the dust for one thing 
 being at times suffocating It penetrates everywhere, 
 and whatever colour your hair may be naturally, it is 
 pretty grey at the end of your journey. However a 
 plunge into a big bath, and a bottle of iced soda-water 
 at the Dak Bungalow, or hotel, in Pindee, soon restore 
 your equanimity. The ordinary male traveller is 
 generally " booked through," and so has no time for 
 this, as he is landed at the post-office, and then has 
 to start off again in the hill-cart for Murree. The 
 hill-cart is a little light, low, open conveyance, with 
 a canvas hood, and supposed to hold four people 
 back to back. It is so light that the horses gallop 
 the forty miles in about four or five hours, the 
 vehicles being made expressly for galloping up and 
 down hill. 
 
 Now I have described an ordinary dak gharree 
 journey, I am going to relate a most adventurous 
 one, in which Miss O'Dowd and another lady were 
 the chief actors. The O'Dowd family, had determined 
 to start for the hills on the 8th of May, and had 
 engaged three dak gharrees for that day, into 
 which they were going to pack themselves ; and 
 a friend, a Mrs. Vivian, who was to share a 
 gharree with Miss O'Dowd. Into the other two were
 
 AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 33 
 
 to go " pater " and " materfamilias " and the younger 
 ones, the four boys and three girls, who were to 
 distribute themselves as best they could with their 
 parents. 
 
 They had arranged to start about five o'clock, so 
 as to reach Pindee before it became unpleasantly 
 hot the following morning. The hot winds which 
 had set in prevailed in the daytime, but the nights 
 were not very oppressive. The two gharrees con- 
 taining the heavy loads just described started first. 
 Miss O'Dowd had to wait for Mrs. Vivian to call for 
 her, the gharree having gone round to her house first ; 
 so the two were a good half-hour behind the others in 
 starting ; but as they were comparatively lightly laden 
 having with them only a dog and cat, a few bottles 
 of soda-water, and a bag or so they overtook the 
 others about the third stage. 
 
 All went smoothly until they reached Attock ; 
 they only met with a few contretemps at the changing- 
 places from kicking and obstinate horses ; but those 
 accustomed to Indian travelling think nothing of 
 this ; in fact, they become callous to everything 
 almost, and wonder how people get on who 
 travel in comfort, thinking what a curious sen- 
 sation it must be. They crossed the river together, 
 and had not even the excitement of a bump, and 
 were congratulating themselves how well they were 
 getting on, and how quickly too. They found their 
 three gharrees waiting for them. The parents and 
 
 D
 
 34 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 children packed themselves in first, as that was the 
 chief business, for it required no small ingenuity to 
 cram in so many of the small fry. So tightly were 
 they packed when they did start, that they might not 
 unfairly be compared to sardines in a tin. Then Mrs. 
 Vivian and Miss O'Dowd placed themselves side by 
 side ; the most comfortable arrangement when two 
 people are in a dak gharree, otherwise you are apt 
 to find the heel of somebody's boot or foot, if 
 it is bootless in your face, which is not always 
 pleasant ! 
 
 Mrs. Vivian, as she got into the gharree said to her 
 companion, " How impatient the horses seem, they 
 are actually pawing the ground. The eyes of one 
 roll so too the one on my side ; such an awfully 
 vicious look it has, like a wild creature more than 
 a tame horse. I suppose they are safe enough, 
 though ? " 
 
 Dak gharree horses are not given to running away ; 
 such an event I should say was almost unheard of 
 in the annals of the history of a dak horse. Poor 
 creatures ! they hardly get corn enough to have 
 strength to run at all. Their lives must be short, 
 with spare food and hard work ; the necessity to 
 go six miles at full gallop with a load behind 
 them, is enough to kill most horses at the end of a 
 couple of years. 
 
 Neither Mrs. Vivian nor Miss O'Dowd were in the 
 least nervous, so they thought no more of the fierce-
 
 AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 35 
 
 eyed horse and the stamping and snorting. Nor 
 had they heard the remark the "syce" (groom) 
 made to the coachman, which, translated into exact 
 English was " Take care of this devil, he has a 
 temper, and has not been broken in." Any other 
 coachman would have remonstrated at being given 
 such a horse to drive, especially for the coming stage, 
 which was the most dangerous of the whole journey. 
 But this Jehu cared nought for pulling or ill-tempered 
 horses ; he had been in Government employ, and had 
 driven on this road for the last ten years, and he was 
 not now going to be mastered by an obstreperous horse, 
 he had driven too many of them. He was supposed 
 to be the safest coachman on the road ; not only a 
 careful driver, and one who managed horses best, but 
 also one who did not exasperate them by unnecessary 
 flogging as so many of them will do, imagining, I 
 suppose, that they are pleasing the impatient English- 
 man inside. Why are Englishmen so impatient in 
 India ? Perhaps it is the contrast to the ever-patient 
 Hindoo, or is that patient Hindoo himself the one 
 everlasting cause of the Englishman's impatience ? 
 the perpetual irritant in his daily life and intercourse 
 with the people ? 
 
 Well, they were off, starting with a plunge and 
 a bound, and were well out of sight of Attock, and 
 the two ladies were preparing themselves for sleep, 
 when they felt a bumping and a most unusual 
 shaking. First the gharree went to one side and 
 
 D 2
 
 36 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR 
 
 then to the other ; then they apparently drove over 
 a hillock, next into a ditch, and then on the side 
 of a bank ; and all the time they were going at a 
 furious pace. They were afraid to open the sliding 
 doors and look out, as every instant they expected to 
 be upset, and they had to thank their good sense in 
 so doing, that they were unhurt. Had they opened 
 the door and looked out, that very action might 
 have been sufficient to turn over the gharree, and 
 one or other would probably have had a broken 
 arm or leg, or even worse. A poor woman a 
 sergeant's wife had been killed only a short time 
 before by leaning out of the door ; for the gharree 
 upset right on to her head a most fearful accident, 
 but perfectly true. This was a warning to them. 
 They remained perfectly still and held on to the 
 sides, though greatly frightened, as they both knew 
 the danger they were in, for there was a precipice 
 not far off, and if the horses made for it in the 
 dark, they would all go over into the river and be 
 dashed to pieces. 
 
 After they had been galloping over hill and dale 
 across country, they were brought to a sudden halt ; 
 so sudden that the shock was tremendous. After a 
 while, feeling no movement, they quietly slid back the 
 door and looked out. 
 
 Mrs. Vivian asked the coachman what was the 
 matter. He told her the horses had broken away, 
 carrying poles, shafts, and reins with them, and left
 
 AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 37 
 
 him sitting on the box. An elevated seat certainly, 
 but it was rather a humiliating position for the man. 
 He, the oldest driver on the road to be served 
 thus ; he who had so long driven the " Sahiblogue " 
 to and from Rawul Pindee, and had been the 
 chosen coachman for the gharrees when chartered 
 for the Lord Sahibs who occasionally visited 
 Peshawur these were Ahmed Khan's indignant 
 thoughts. 
 
 In truth Ahmed Khan's pride had had a fall ; 
 he could now no longer boast that he had met with no 
 serious accident. This was indeed a serious one, 
 but might have been far worse. They were left on a 
 sloping bank, and to look at the position of the gharree 
 it would seem as though a touch could upset 
 it ; and a touch would have been sufficient to do 
 so, had the weight been at the top ; but fortunately 
 there were no boxes on the top, only in the bottom 
 of the gharree, called the well, under their bed, 
 and that helped to steady it. They had had a 
 narrow escape of a very dangerous accident; the 
 horses only stopped short by a few yards of the 
 precipice ; and had they not broken away when they 
 did, in all human probability death must have ensued. 
 What cause they had for thankfulness they alone 
 could tell. The coachman in his Pathan dialect kept 
 on repeating, " Allah be praised that we are not all 
 dead men." 
 - Now. what was to be done? They could not stay
 
 38 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 where they were, eight miles from Attock and twenty 
 from the nearest place where gharrees were pro- 
 curable, " Hassan Abdul." If the coachman went 
 to the next stage for horses, they would not be of 
 any use without poles, shafts, and traces. For the 
 whole of the front part of the coach-box had been 
 carried away by the horses, and it was truly a 
 mercy that all about the gharree was so rotten 
 as to have enabled them to do it, and so have saved 
 the inmates. 
 
 This was the means used by an All Powerful Hand 
 to save them, for had the horses not freed themselves 
 they must all have been destroyed. Ahmed Khan 
 was humbled ; but most people who have to suffer 
 from their pride, always punish themselves in the end, 
 and he, in this instance, was no exception to the rule, 
 as we shall see presently. 
 
 He, "Ahmed Khan the great," he would have 
 dubbed himself, so high was his estimation of him- 
 self he, the oldest Gharreewan on the road, who had 
 driven the Burra-burra Lord Sahib and several other 
 Lord Sahibs too, to be beaten by two vicious horses ! 
 Oh ! he thought, how he wished he could catch 
 them, that he could give them his opinion in real 
 earnest a forcible opinion, too ! no via media for 
 these poor horses. If we read these tones and looks 
 aright of the formerly great Ahmed Khan, the 
 wretched animals would have fared badly indeed ! 
 Let us hope that they may escape being again
 
 AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 39 
 
 harnessed to his dak gharree until he has forgotten 
 his threats. 
 
 Well, the hero of the broken coach-box sat for a 
 few minutes cogitating with himself as to his next 
 proceeding, and did not vouchsafe to reply im- 
 mediately to the demands of the inmates of the 
 disabled gharree to "jou " and get a "doosera" 
 gharree as "juldi" as possible. All he said was, 
 in the intervals of a puff at his hookah " Ha-me 
 Sahib hum jata " (Yes, I am going). Many an appeal 
 did the helpless ladies make to him without any 
 better response. 
 
 At last he arose, having made up his mind he 
 quietly told them, that he would be obliged to 
 go twenty miles before he could bring them another 
 gharree, and they must not expect him until seven 
 o'clock in the morning it now being between twelve 
 and one o'clock. He intended to ride to Hassan 
 from the next changing place, where he should find a 
 horse. The poor ladies found it useless trying to 
 persuade him to return to Attock, which was but 
 eight miles off he had told them so himself where 
 he was sure to find one. 
 
 With the natives' habit of lying they know 
 not what truth means, it lies at the bottom of a well 
 with them truly he had plenty of reasons ready for 
 not adopting this sensible course. " All the gharrees 
 were out, he knew ; and those that were there, were 
 of no use," was one of fifty equally lame excuses.
 
 40 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Mrs. Vivian, who was an experienced traveller, 
 could not make his real reasons out. But the two 
 helpless ladies were in his hands ; there was no man 
 at hand to compel him to retrace his steps to 
 Attock. Ahmed's real reason, which of course he 
 never gave, was that he did not wish it to be known 
 at Attock (where he lived) that he had come to 
 grief. Thus, pride caused him to undertake the 
 longer ride ; moreover, he knew that at Attock 
 questions would be asked by the post-office 
 authorities (in whose hands the Government daks 
 are), as to why he had allowed the particular horses 
 to be harnessed to the gharree ; he ought at least to 
 have tried to get others, which he had not done. 
 
 No, he in his pride thought he could manage those 
 horses, but his pride had had a great fall. He 
 knew, too, that they were the same horses which had 
 run away a little while before and caused the death 
 of the poor woman. At the time he had said it was 
 the coachman's fault. I am afraid our friend Ahmed 
 Khan the great " Gharreewan," will not now be 
 able to hold his head very high when he meets the 
 coachman he had condemned. 
 
 There was nothing for the unfortunate ladies 
 to do but resign themselves to their fate and calmly 
 bear the hot night wind, and the prospect of a suf- 
 focating drive in the heat the next day. They could 
 not now possibly expect to reach Pindee until twelve 
 or one o'clock, by which time the heat would be
 
 AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 41 
 
 unbearable out of a cool bungalow ; but this was little 
 to the prospect of passing the night by the road side. 
 
 They had never been exposed to the heat before ; 
 and now they found even the night air hot and un- 
 pleasant, no longer driving quickly through it but at a 
 stand still, and without a punkah, and so tired as they 
 were too. Miss O'Dowd determined to lie down in- 
 side and go to sleep ; but Mrs. Vivian said she could 
 not do that, as some of the wild people might come and 
 rob them, and might carry them off if they found them 
 asleep. Attock is close by a country inhabited by a 
 number of the wild mountain tribes, who are con- 
 stantly giving us some sort of trouble. They found 
 they were not very far from the high road, indeed 
 they were within sight of it. They had apparently 
 taken a good gallop across country, and no doubt a 
 short cut, which had induced the horses to career over 
 it to reach the road again, which here winds very 
 much. 
 
 Mrs. Vivian had been sitting on the bank about an 
 hour, feeling very weary and very thirsty, when she de- 
 scried a gharree coming from the Peshawur direction 
 at full gallop. She immediately began waving her 
 handkerchief and ran towards the road, so as to bring 
 the gharree to a standstill. This she succeeded in 
 doing after a minute or two, for the servant on the 
 box seeing her, told the coachman to stop. She ran 
 up to them and asked the man if he would leave 
 word at the Dak Bungalow at Pindee that she and
 
 42 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Miss O'Dowd were all safe, and only waiting for 
 another gharree to arrive. She knew Mrs. O'Dowd 
 would be anxious about their non-appearance. 
 
 The explanation took some time, and just as she 
 had finished it a head appeared outside the door using 
 anything but the mildest of language to the coach- 
 man, requesting to know why he did not proceed. 
 When the head on the further side was withdrawn, 
 a door slid back on the side where Mrs. Vivian was 
 standing, and another appeared ; when, fortunately for 
 the lady, there was in an instant mutual recognition. 
 
 " Dear me, Mrs. Vivian ! how you did startle me ! 
 What are you doing in this wild place, and all alone 
 too?" 
 
 She told him her story, which the reader already 
 knows, and Mr. Brown for it was no other than 
 the lieutenant, who had escorted Miss O'Dowd 
 home from the paper chase immediately spoke 
 to his companion, who seemed to agree to what he 
 said. Mr. Brown then turned to Mrs. Vivian and 
 said " You must accept our place in this gharree and 
 go at once in it. We will wait until yours arrives 
 from Hassan Abdul; we men are accustomed to 
 exposure more than you ladies are, and it will never 
 do to leave you both here alone. We could not 
 possibly proceed at all under the circumstances. 
 You shall have our servant also with you." 
 
 Mrs. Vivian was too pleased at this prospect to 
 do anything but willingly accept the offer; she
 
 AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 43 
 
 carried Mr. Brown off with her to her gharree, 
 leaving his friend Mr. Jones, and the bearer, to take 
 out their things, and their boxes off the top. Then 
 they all helped to carry the ladies' baggage, and 
 arrange it in the gharree the gentlemen had vacated. 
 Miss O'Dowd was sound asleep, when Mrs. Vivian 
 awoke her with the news of their good luck. It 
 was indeed good fortune, and poor Mrs. Vivian 
 felt thankful to be emancipated from her watch 
 by the road-side. Mr. Brown was a very gallant 
 young man, and this was the second time he had 
 come to Miss O'Dowd's rescue very strange, and 
 certainly accidental. He was a very unselfish man 
 in both instances he instantly gave up his own com- 
 fort to help another. 
 
 They were off in about half an hour, and as they 
 did not pass the empty gharree coming for them 
 until within a few miles from Hassan Abdul, it is 
 clear they would indeed have had ages to wait for 
 it but for the lieutenant's opportune arrival.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A COURT MARTIAL. 
 
 THE weather was now so hot as to make galloping 
 at racing-speed across country, even at the early hour 
 of five or six o'clock, anything but pleasant; the 
 hunting paper-chases and riding parties had to be 
 abandoned, and those unfortunate ones whose doom 
 it was to spend the hot season at Peshawur, began 
 to think of settling down to hot-weather ways, and 
 resigning themselves to fate. 
 
 A month in the hot season seems like an inter- 
 minable day ; so monotonous are the hours, to-morrow 
 so completely the counterpart of yesterday, that it is 
 difficult even to remember the days of the week. Yet 
 the twenty-four hours seem like a month in length ; in 
 the morning we say how thankful we shall be when 
 evening comes ; in the evening how grateful for the 
 next morning. It is sad to contemplate how much 
 precious time is wasted by Anglo-Indians in India, 
 and the trying part is, that it is in most cases un- 
 avoidable, as far as the hot weather is concerned ; for
 
 A COURT MARTIAL. 45 
 
 during the greater part of the day the most ener- 
 getic are prostrated with the heat, whilst many 
 have no power to do anything but lie down and 
 groan. 
 
 Every officer is entitled to two months' leave if he 
 can get it ; and to arrange it, is always a matter of 
 interest and excitement before the leave season opens. 
 The commanding officer takes his choice of the two 
 months he wishes reserved for his own holiday, and 
 the rest of the officers take it in turn and try to 
 arrange it amicably among themselves. The last 
 two months are the most coveted, as not only are 
 they the pleasantest in the hills, but the hot weather 
 ceases with them; so that there is no sudden jump 
 from cold to heat such as falls to the lot of those 
 obliged to return in the middle of the hot weather. 
 It is a curious sensation and the reverse of pleasant 
 that of going down hill and feeling yourself getting 
 hotter and hotter every minute. 
 
 The Chaplins and Munros were going away for 
 the last two months, and the two ladies intended 
 to remain with their husbands. They had no children 
 to compel them to go, were in good health them- 
 * selves, and did not wish for an excuse. If this 
 remark were more generally applicable to Indian 
 ladies than it is, it would be well ; for many are 
 only too anxious for an excuse to get away to 
 their gaieties. Out of the sixty ladies in Peshawur, 
 only three or four were left to adorn the evening
 
 46 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 band-stand with their presence, and so break the 
 monotonous look that assembly would have had, 
 with only stiff, white-coated men on horseback or in 
 their " turn-turns." 
 
 The Chaplins gave up their evening rides, but on 
 the mornings when Captain Chaplin had no parade, 
 they used to go for a quiet canter through the peach 
 gardens, to try and get a little fresh air before her- 
 metically sealing themselves for the day. The paper- 
 chase in which Mrs. Chaplin so wonderfully escaped 
 was the last she had joined. She suffered a good 
 deal, for the shock had been very severe, although 
 she had only realised her great danger when it was 
 over. She did not forget to thank Him who guided 
 the human hand which was the instrument to save 
 her. 
 
 The Chaplins and Munros were great friends in 
 every sense of the word ; for disparity in age did not 
 lessen the friendship. Edith Chaplin looked up to 
 Mrs. Munro and respected her, a feeling that had 
 much of sympathy as well, for she felt the older 
 lady was a friend she could turn to in sorrow or joy, 
 for comfort and sympathy, and for good, sound advice 
 in every difficulty. Mrs. Munro was one of the 
 ladies to be met in India but unfortunately very 
 rarely; she was a thoroughly homely person, kind 
 to all around her, yet she was no stiff, starched prude, 
 but a genial and pleasant companion. The young 
 men in the regiment liked her because she entered
 
 A COURT MARTIAL. 47 
 
 into all their home-sick feelings could talk about 
 the mother in England who was longing to see her 
 son, or the sister who was going to marry " some 
 horrid fellow." Why do brothers always affect to 
 talk of their future brothers-in-law as horrid fellows ? 
 Why should they think their sisters are either not 
 to marry, or else to consult them in their choice ? 
 
 Mrs. Munro saw Edith Chaplin every day ; they 
 nearly always met at " chota hazree " that inde- 
 scribably pleasant meal so essentially peculiar to 
 Anglo-Indians in India, and one which we cannot 
 make the true-born Briton in England understand. 
 
 "Chota hazree," or little breakfast, is really the 
 event in the day during the long hot-weather months. 
 The time at which it takes place is according to the 
 season ; but in the hot weather it must be very early. 
 The usual hour is between six and eight o'clock, after 
 the morning ride or parade, as the charm of chota 
 hazree is the being able to partake of it out of 
 doors, either under the shade of a large tree, or in 
 a nice verandah. Though even in such a spot, and 
 at such an hour, a punkah is indispensable. It 
 certainly is a sociable meal, and the Munros tried to 
 make it as much so as possible by allowing any of 
 the officers in the regiment who liked to come in on 
 certain days. Twice a week they had quite a large 
 gathering ; days looked forward to, for these morning 
 meetings and the sociable conversation were a pleasant 
 break in the everyday monotony. The gentlemen felt
 
 48 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 it a relief to get away from men's society and be in 
 Mrs. Munro's presence. " Her voice was ever soft, 
 gentle, and low ; an excellent thing in woman." 
 
 Men do, however imperceptibly to themselves, 
 feel the subtle influence and refreshment that com- 
 panionship with such a woman affords. Oh ! if 
 women only knew how much influence they have 
 over men, would they not try more than they do 
 to use that influence aright? surely those with 
 one single spark of right feeling would. If there 
 were more ladies like Mrs. Munro in India than 
 there are, I may safely say the tone of society 
 would be raised to a higher standard than it 
 now has. But it would seem that most ladies who 
 go to India entirely change when they get there. 
 The climate and the idle life which is forced 
 upon them are trying, and it is very difficult to 
 fight against everything, to try and be different 
 to their giddy neighbours. Of course the India of 
 to-day is not the India of fifty years ago. The cha- 
 racter it then bore for loose ways and looser morals 
 is not applicable to the present time ; but even now 
 there is a sufficient difference in the proportion of 
 gentlemen and ladies to admit of each lady having 
 if she chooses a few admirers, perhaps all more or 
 less aspirants to her favour. Still it is all the better 
 for her that such should be the case, than that she 
 should allow only one constant attendant to be 
 everlastingly with her the husband, an unconsidered
 
 A COURT MARTIAL. 49 
 
 trifle. In the former case, no jealous enemy can say 
 a word ; in the latter, tongues will wag and eyes will 
 imply more than the tongues, for a look will kill, 
 where a tongue will heal. 
 
 I am sorry to say Mrs. Chaplin did not escape 
 these evil tongues ; her name was coupled more 
 with Robert Rale's than her husband would have 
 cared for, had he heard it oftener than any well- 
 wishing friend would desire. Ever since the eventful 
 paper-chase in which Robert Hale saved the lady's 
 life by that instantaneous action, the two had been 
 more together than ever. He was with the Chaplins 
 every day, and often escorted Mrs. Chaplin in her 
 morning rides when her husband was engaged. 
 Neither Edith Chaplin nor her husband gave it a 
 thought ; indeed Captain Chaplin was very fond of 
 the young man, he was so straightforward, and he 
 encouraged him to ride with his wife, and be with 
 them as much as he liked. He did not take into 
 consideration how pretty Mrs. Chaplin was, and that 
 consequently jealous tongues were only too ready 
 to say spiteful things of her. 
 
 Mrs. Chaplin had another enemy in Peshawur 
 besides Miss O'Dowd ; a Mrs. Jones, a flighty woman, 
 willing to flirt, it might almost be said, with the 
 first comer, in the worst Indian style. She was 
 jealous of Mrs. Chaplin on account of her popu- 
 larity, and the good looks which put her in the 
 shade. For Mrs. Jones had no great charms in 
 
 E
 
 50 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 spite of the eternal simper with which she tried 
 to appear young and giddy. Yet she always had 
 some admirers in her train. There was some sort 
 of fascination in the woman no doubt ; she was 
 amusing to talk to and amusing talk in the safe 
 companionship of a married woman, has a value of 
 its own with certain men in the monotonous life of 
 India. 
 
 Captain Chaplin being ordered away to another 
 station on Court-Martial duty, his wife was left 
 alone. Robert Hale came to the house as usual, 
 and escorted her out riding in the morning : he 
 neither went to see her oftener, nor less often, than 
 when her husband was at home. The only difference 
 was, that sometimes she went out riding in the 
 evening instead of driving ; as she had only a 
 buggy, and did not care to be driven in it by Hale 
 but preferred riding with him. On band nights she 
 drove with Mrs. Munro, whilst she dined with the 
 Munros every night. 
 
 Captain Chaplin had been gone four or five days 
 when Major Munro came in one morning from mess 
 evidently disturbed in mind. Mrs. Munro saw her 
 husband had been put out about something, and 
 immediately asked him what it was. He answered 
 "Yes, dear, I heard something said I did not 
 like." 
 
 "What do you mean, Edward ?" she inquired. 
 
 "Oh ! nothing to do with ourselves, dear; but they
 
 A COURT MARTIAL. 51 
 
 are talking at mess about pretty Edith Chaplin and 
 Hale ; they are too much together." 
 
 " Why, they are no more together than they were 
 when Captain Chaplin was at home." 
 
 " That does not matter. These amiable detractors 
 do not take that into their consideration ; they are 
 only too glad to find an opportunity of saying any- 
 thing against Edith. That Mrs. Jones is at the 
 bottom of it I am quite sure, as the remark I heard 
 came from one of her set a young fellow whom 
 I fancy Edith snubbed, and who doubtless is as 
 small-minded as Mrs. Jones must be." 
 
 "But what can they have to say about poor 
 Edith, who never speaks unkindly of any one ? 
 They would do well to be as good as she is." 
 
 " It seems that he met Edith and Hale round by 
 the race-course on the new road after dark, and 
 he says they were conversing very earnestly, and 
 insinuates that he overheard some of the conver- 
 sation, and makes much of it. We must do something 
 for her, she is far too pretty to escape malice. " 
 
 " Shall we ask her here, dear ? The spare room 
 can soon be got ready. It has not been wanted all 
 the hot weather, so the punkah fringe is not on, nor 
 the ' baine ' or ropes, but that is soon done ; I will 
 write at once." 
 
 "just like you, Mary," said the fond husband, 
 " you are always ready to do a kindness ; write 
 to her at once, and ask her to come and pay us 
 
 E 2
 
 52 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 a visit, and she can remain with us until Chaplin 
 returns." 
 
 " He will be back the day after to-morrow, will he 
 not ? " asked the wife. 
 
 "I am afraid he will be detained longer than he 
 expected, as there was some flaw in the evidence, 
 and the Court had to be adjourned for a day or 
 so ; and then, the chances are it will re-assemble 
 after that. Pindee is too far off to come back on 
 the chance of having to return at his own expense, 
 and the journey is not inviting this hot weather." 
 
 Mrs. Munro wrote to Edith, who gladly accepted 
 her invitation ; and when the cool of the evening 
 came, she prepared to go over to the Munros' bun- 
 galow, and was with them in time to join their evening 
 drive. That night was band night, and they drove to 
 the band stand, where Mrs. Munro saw Mrs. Jones 
 and the young man who had so maligned her friend 
 Edith Chaplin. She gave Mrs. Jones a steady and 
 straight look meaning much when she acknow- 
 ledged her bow. The look was effective ; Mrs. Jones 
 quivered under it. Mrs. Munro treated the young 
 man with supreme indifference, taking no notice of 
 him at all. 
 
 Robert Hale was there, and she purposely asked 
 him before Mrs. Jones to come and dine with them 
 that evening, saying to him at the same time, " Mrs. 
 Chaplin is paying us a visit, and you will only 
 meet her no strangers, only friends so don't get
 
 A COURT MARTIAL. 53 
 
 yourself up this stifling evening regardless of 
 expense." 
 
 Mrs. Munro said all this loud enough for Mrs. 
 Jones to hear, and yet naturally and simply. Mrs. 
 Jones looked conscience-stricken ; she knew she 
 was the one and she knew now Mrs. Munro knew 
 it as well as herself who had tried to take away 
 Edith's fair fame. " What's Fame ? " 
 
 " All that we feel of it, begins and ends 
 In the small circle of our foes and friends." 
 
 Captain Chaplin returned at the end of another 
 week, to Edith's great joy ; no one who witnessed 
 her intense delight could doubt its truth, or that 
 she had done anything but look forward to her 
 husband's return. A pity Mrs. Jones was not behind 
 the " purdah," when he arrived ! 
 
 How much they had to talk about to be sure, and 
 tell each other. They had never been separated 
 before, and although they had written to each other 
 every other day quite long letters, yet they fancied 
 each could not know what the other had been about. 
 She told her husband how good the Munros had 
 been to her, and how comparatively quickly the last 
 week had passed, with Mrs. Munro to talk to during 
 the day ; whereas, the first week, she had had nobody 
 but her ayah when Robert Hale left her in the 
 morning after he had taken her for a ride, when 
 not on parade.
 
 54 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 The men of the 39th had, as we have seen, a kind 
 and considerate commanding officer who did not 
 grind them on parade, and being so thoroughly well 
 drilled in the winter they could rest in the summer. 
 They had a commanding officer's parade and also 
 an adjutant's, once a week, but no more. Of course 
 an orderly-room was an absolute necessity, no Euro- 
 pean regiment can do without it. Young soldiers 
 will disobey their superiors, soldiers will be absent 
 at " roll call " occasionally, or call one another bad 
 names, or be " cheeky " to their sergeant. 
 
 There was one very bad case that summer, which 
 ended in a Court Martial. One soldier insulted an- 
 other, calling him some opprobrious name ; the other, 
 a hot-headed young Irishman, drew his bayonet, 
 and went at the man, when his hand was stayed 
 by a looker-on. They were both put under arrest, 
 and the case reported at the orderly-room. When 
 Colonel Lindsay inquired into it, he found there 
 was, as usual, a woman at the bottom of it. 
 
 The case was this : a private, Smith, had died in 
 the early spring, of Peshawur fever, and left a widow 
 to whom Private Thompson proposed the day after 
 her husband's funeral, and only two days after his 
 death for he was buried the day after he died. She 
 accepted him. But a few days afterwards Corporal 
 Green proposed to her, and to him she also said 
 " Yes." Now as she could not mean " Yes " to both, 
 she was naturally in a difficulty of no small dimensions.
 
 A COURT MARTIAL. 55 
 
 However, she managed to explain to Private Thomp- 
 son, that she had changed her mind. He was not 
 by any means desperately in love with Mrs. Smith. 
 He simply thought he had better not lose the chance 
 of getting her for his wife if he could, as she was 
 a comparatively young woman, and very comely, and 
 likely to be sought after. Thus, so far as the widow 
 was concerned he did not take the refusal much to 
 heart ; he could wait for the chance of another ; but 
 he hated Corporal Green and swore to be revenged 
 on him they had never been friends as he thought 
 he had only proposed to Mrs. Smith to spite him. 
 So in a fit of sudden anger, after being called a 
 bad name by Corporal Green, he drew his bayonet, 
 not thinking of the consequences. They were tried 
 by Court Martial. Corporal Green escaped with 
 the loss of his stripes ; he was reduced to a private, 
 which was a great disgrace ; whilst Private Thompson 
 had six months' cells. The whole matter was a 
 source of great sorrow to Colonel Lindsay ; he felt 
 for a soldier's misconduct almost as though he had 
 been his own child.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PESHAWUR FEVER. 
 
 THE much looked forward to rainy season had 
 begun in Peshawur ; the poor thirsty earth drank in 
 the welcome draught as copiously and greedily as 
 any great monster might do. Everything was as 
 parched and dried up as it well could be ; the roads 
 were hard and cracked ; the gardens, flowers, and 
 vegetation of all kinds, had been burnt up long be- 
 fore ; the wells were drying, for the rains were late 
 this year. 
 
 A drought was threatened, and the Cavalry regi- 
 ments would have been obliged to march out into 
 camp had not the welcome thunder-storm (which as 
 surely ushers in rain as the drum announces the 
 approach of a regiment) burst upon the cantonment. 
 One might indeed say with Byron 
 
 " Till taught by pain, 
 
 Men really know not what good water's worth, 
 If you had been in Turkey or in Spain, 
 
 Or with a famish'd boat's crew had your berth, 
 Or in the desert heard the camel's bell, 
 
 You'd wish yourself where truth is in a well."
 
 PESHAWUR FEVER. 57 
 
 Good water in Peshawur was scarce at all times ; 
 there was plenty of water to be seen, but little to 
 drink. There are running streams of water that 
 come originally from the hills, but pass through 
 many a dirty village ere they reach Peshawur. 
 These streams run on each side of the road, and 
 are convenient for watering the garden, as they 
 can be turned on to it without any difficulty. The 
 necessary watering constitutes the trouble of an 
 Indian garden. It is useful, too, for washing pur- 
 poses, but highly dangerous g,s a beverage. Indeed 
 the bad water in this part of India is one of the 
 principal causes of the great sickness which at 
 times prevails at Peshawur. When one thinks of 
 this poisonous water, and how many drink it, 
 both natives and Europeans, who can wonder that 
 every sort of fever and disease prevail, and are rife 
 there ? Nor is this the only evil that accrues from 
 the running streams that pervade the place. These 
 do harm, and even more certain harm in another 
 way ; the damp rises from them in a sort of mist, 
 and this mist is the fever poison. Doctors may 
 quarrel over their pet theories upon the origin of 
 different diseases, but as Shakespeare hath it 
 
 " Diseases desperate grown, 
 By desperate appliance are relieved, 
 Or not at all. " 
 
 They (the doctors) have put their heads together 
 often enough over that everlasting puzzle, the Peshawur
 
 58 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 fever, and all the other sicknesses with which the 
 place abounds ; for it is not fever alone that carries 
 off human beings at times like rotten sheep ; pneu- 
 monia or lung disease is particularly peculiar to this 
 station of Northern India ; and the natives who are 
 attacked by it die in numbers, especially in the 
 winter. I think if a treatise were written on the 
 unhealthiness of Peshawur, which is rightly de- 
 signated " the graveyard of India," it might embrace 
 a disease peculiar to every month of the year. 
 The situation of Pesh,awur, to begin with, is most 
 unhealthy, as it lies low, and in the vicinity of 
 swampy marsh-lands. 
 
 The rains had " set in " some time, and it was a 
 fortnight before the Munros and Chaplins were to leave 
 for the Hills. They had taken a house at Murree 
 together, and were going to spend two months in 
 that pretty Hill Station. They had been looking 
 forward to it all the long hot-weather days. No 
 school-boy more eagerly longs for the coming of 
 his holidays than they longed for the i$th of August 
 that was to see them en route for Murree. 
 
 They did not exactly mark off the days in an 
 almanack, or make notches on a stick as the school- 
 boy does to make the holidays seem nearer; fal- 
 laciously, for time thus counted always appears longer 
 in bringing full fruition of our hopes. 
 
 One evening Mrs. Chaplin came home from her 
 drive feeling very ill ; she had not been bright all
 
 PESHAWUR FEVER. 59 
 
 day, but had fought against the feeling, trusting the 
 outer air would revive and restore her. She had 
 said to herself, " I shall be all right after the drive ;" 
 but feeling no better, and the languor increasing, she 
 sent for the doctor, who, when he came, said she was 
 sickening for a regular attack of Indian fever and 
 ague. The next morning she was no better ; and by 
 the evening the fever had flown to her head, making 
 her delirious. Her poor husband was very anxious 
 about her, and did his best to nurse her and to do all 
 that the doctor prescribed. But men are sadly out of 
 their element in the sick-room ; and, good husband 
 as he was, he greatly felt his incapacity to tend her 
 as he would wish and though he moved quietly 
 about the room and had almost the gentle hand 
 and quiet tone of a woman in his new ministry of 
 love, yet his very anxiety destroyed his efficiency 
 as a nurse. Yet if love and tenderness alone were 
 required, he would have been the best of nurses. He 
 could not bear to hear his dearly-loved wife tossing 
 and moaning in all the wild delirium of fever. 
 
 The next day Mrs. Munro took up her abode in 
 the sick-room, having insisted on doing so. She 
 saw at once how it was with the husband, and that 
 if he were left to nurse his wife any longer he would 
 himself fall ill from sheer nervousness and anxiety. 
 She therefore remained in the house, and slept in 
 
 the patient's room, as she could thus administer all 
 
 * 
 
 medicines herself at the regular hours, and attend
 
 60 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 to all her wants. She would not hear of a European 
 nurse being called in from the barracks, and would 
 not allow that she could be ever tired. Good, kind 
 creature ! She was a true nurse, and knew how to 
 husband her strength, and to make the best of her 
 time for repose and sleep. She did not fidget about 
 the room unnecessarily, but just did all that was 
 required for Edith's comfort, and then lay down 
 beside her. She did not torment her with questions 
 as to how she was ? whether she liked this or that ? 
 For there is nothing more tormenting to one who is 
 ill than to be plied with questions, and consulted 
 although done by many in ignorant kindness as to 
 what they will take, and other matters. The sick like 
 to feel confidence in their nurse, and simply to be cared 
 for by her, knowing all will be well ordered for their 
 convenience and comfort ; and this is ever the case 
 when a nurse not only knows her duty, but does it. 
 What is the use in relieving your patient bodily, if 
 you tax her mentally ? The nurse, too, seems by her 
 instinct sharpened by experience to know how the 
 patient is, better by her observation oftimes, than by 
 the patient's reply to her inquiries ; for the invalid 
 will often fancy herself better than she really is ; 
 so true is it " the wish is father to the thought." 
 
 Edith Chaplin had been ill for a week, and was 
 now getting better gradually but surely ; so much so, 
 that the doctor thought she would be able to travel 
 in another week's time ; and added that if she were
 
 PESHAWUR FEVER. 61 
 
 able to bear the journey, the change of air would 
 be the best medicine for her. Mrs. Munro dear 
 good soul took all the trouble of the arrangements 
 required for the journey upon herself; she would not 
 let Mrs. Chaplin think about anything ; she only 
 wanted her to get well and strong again. 
 
 It requires some skill and management to arrange 
 for a move to the Hills, even for a two months' visit, 
 as you must eat all the time, and have something 
 to eat out of as well. You must have your servants 
 with you also. The consequence is, you have to de- 
 spatch your heavy baggage quite ten days before you 
 start yourself, so as to give it time to arrive. The 
 heavy baggage is usually sent on a hackri (country 
 cart on heavy wheels, minus springs !), which is drawn 
 by two or four bullocks, according to its size and 
 weight ; and these poor patient beasts plod on, albeit 
 slowly, yet surely. You have to manage for these 
 ten days with half your staff of servants, as a 
 certain number must be there when you reach your 
 destination to wait on you, and have all in readi- 
 ness for your arrival; while those who served you 
 in the plains, follow and join your household as 
 quickly as possible. Travelling thus is easy and com- 
 fortable too. Dak gharree (post carriage) travelling is 
 very expensive ; so except the two taken on the top 
 of the gharree usually the bearer and ayah the 
 servants have to travel in a slower fashion, i.e. they 
 either walk the journey or proceed by bullock-train.
 
 62 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 The difference of procedure between the bullock-train 
 and your baggage hackri, also drawn by bullocks, is 
 that the bullock-train continues to move along by 
 night as well as day, and has relays of bullocks to 
 meet it at the different stages on the road ; whereas 
 a hackri engaged for your own goods and chattels 
 alone, for any stated journey, goes by " marches," 
 with the same cattle the whole way. 
 
 The government bullock-train answers to our 
 luggage-train where there is no railway in India. 
 It transports all boxes from one place to another; 
 and natives can also travel by it in a van reserved for 
 the purpose. I think one's servants prefer the slow 
 march to going by the bullock-train, because when 
 they have done their ten or more miles " march " 
 they need do nothing more for the rest of the day 
 but eat, sleep, and snioke, which just suits the native 
 taste. The Indian indeed would not agree with 
 Cowper 
 
 " Absence of occupation is not rest, 
 A mind quite vacant is a rniud distress'd." 
 
 The ordinary natives of India are really more like 
 animals : they never seem to have a thought on 
 their minds, so these lines hardly apply to them. I 
 mean, of course, the class of native belonging to 
 the lower order of their kind ; although they all, from 
 the highest to the lowest, have the same tendency to 
 apathy and indolence. No doubt the climate causes
 
 PESHAWUR FEVER. 63 
 
 this ; yet there are many bright exceptions, and many 
 intelligent natives. 
 
 The races indigenous to Northern India are far 
 more intelligent and clear-headed than those further 
 south; and although naturally semi-barbarous for 
 want of civilisation, yet they are more of the Euro- 
 pean stamp. The country being so much colder, I 
 suppose their brain has so much larger growth than 
 that of those who are exposed to perpetual heat. 
 Europeans themselves who have been many years 
 in India must be more or less affected by the climate : 
 and their intellects, as a rule, become less keen. 
 
 Mrs. Munro had made all the arrangements for the 
 move, having sent nearly all her own servants on 
 ahead to the house at Murree ; and as the Munros 
 and Chaplins dined together, one cook did for both 
 families. 
 
 I am sorry to say poor Mrs. Chaplin was not 
 destined to leave on the appointed day. She again 
 felt very weak, and told her husband she must go and 
 lie down while they were at breakfast. He saw in a 
 moment that she was ill, and sent for the doctor, 
 who only shook his head, and said he "was afraid 
 she was going to have another attack of fever, and 
 if so, she must not go on the I5th." 
 
 Captain Chaplin went over to the Munros to tell 
 them the sad news, and to ask what was to be done. 
 Mrs. Munro immediately said she would remain with 
 Mrs. Chaplin, and her husband could go on if he
 
 64 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 liked ; but neither of the gentlemen would hear of such 
 a thing ; they were both determined Mrs. Munro should 
 go on the settled day. The last nursing had tried her 
 strength ; and though she would not allow it, her hus- 
 band knew it, and could see she was flagging. Captain 
 Chaplin said, " Surely a nurse could be found who 
 could take care of his wife she so disliked the ayahs 
 feeding her and tending her, and he felt himself to be 
 but a poor nurse." 
 
 Mrs. Munro promised to start off to the barracks 
 that evening in search of a nurse, and did so as 
 soon as the heat allowed her to go out. 
 
 One comfort of the rainy season is that you can go 
 out earlier than during the hot winds. The heat of 
 the two seasons is different ; the latter scorches 
 your face, while the former makes you feel as if 
 in a Turkish bath. 
 
 Mrs. Munro found hunting for a nurse no easy task. 
 She first went to the hospital of her husband's own 
 regiment, and asked the matron there if she knew of 
 any. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," she replied ; " I know several who 
 call themselves such, but they are not much good : 
 reg'lar old Mother Gamps ! " 
 
 " Oh ! save Edith from a Gamp !" mentally ejaculated 
 Mrs. Munro. 
 
 The matron then consulted her books, and came 
 back with more hope in her face, saying, " I quite 
 forgot two nurses whom I can recommend, ma'am,
 
 PESHAWUR FEVER. 65 
 
 Mrs. Tucker and Mrs. Foley. Mrs. Foley is a 
 young woman, twenty-five years old, and attended 
 
 Mrs. D with her first baby. Mrs. D told 
 
 me she liked her immensely," she added. " Mrs. 
 Tucker, poor thing, has lately become a widow, and 
 might not feel equal to going out to nurse yet." 
 
 Mrs. Munro drove off to the artillery lines, which 
 were at the other end of the station, and inquired for 
 Mrs. Foley, and found her after a length of time in 
 the married quarters, or I should rather say heard 
 of her there ; for she was " absent," Private Foley 
 said, and " attending a confinement case in the Hills." 
 Then Mrs. Munro inquired for Mrs. Tucker, whom 
 she found only two doors off. Mrs. Tucker was " at 
 home," and in answer to Mrs. Munro's kind questions 
 full of sympathy, for she scarcely liked to ask her 
 to come out to nurse so soon after her bereavement 
 answered 
 
 " Oh, ma'am, I'm that accustomed to sorrow, I 
 hardly care what becomes of me now. I have 
 buried my husband and five children in this place : 
 they all died in one year : he died of consumption, 
 poor fellow ! aggravated by the fever, and the 
 children of fever and cholera. You know, ma'am, 
 we had the cholera here last year, and the children 
 dropped off like mulberries." 
 
 Mrs. Tucker added, " she would like to go out and 
 nurse the sick lady ; it would give her something to 
 do and think about. Here in these dreadful barracks," 
 
 F
 
 66 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 she said, " she did nothing but cry over her lost 
 ones ; what was the good of that ? I can't bring 
 them back by it, ma'am ! " 
 
 How unevenly misery seems to fall in this world ! 
 
 Mrs. Tucker was installed that night, and a kind 
 nurse she proved to be. Her powers and energies 
 were not so much taxed as Mrs. Munro's had been ; 
 for Edith's present attack was not nearly so severe 
 as the last one, and she did not become in the least 
 delirious. The only great cause of anxiety was her 
 extreme prostration; the first illness had left her 
 weak, and the second attack had come before she 
 had had time to recover her strength ; then, also, 
 it is almost impossible to regain strength in hot 
 weather. 
 
 The Munros had started, and Edith had had a 
 letter from her friend telling her of their safe arrival. 
 They accomplished the journey without any mishap, 
 although Mrs. Munro had acknowledged being rather 
 frightened crossing the river, which was so swollen. 
 She had crossed it before by the bridge of boats, so 
 this was her first experience of the ferry. 
 
 Edith was not able to move for a fortnight ; but 
 at the end of that time she was pronounced fit to 
 travel, but only by easy stages. So they decided 
 upon staying at Attock for a day, and so breaking 
 the journey, and again at Rawul Pindee ; from which 
 place she was to go in a dhoolie up the hill. They 
 spent the day with a friend at Attock, a Colonel
 
 PESHAWUR FEVER. 67 
 
 B , whose wife was in the Hills ; but his house 
 
 afforded far more comforts than the dak bungalow 
 (or staging-house.) For these are miserable places 
 to stay in, especially for a sick lady. The beds are 
 usually hard and dirty, if not alive ! and nothing 
 to eat but a skin-and-bone fowl, which is hunted in 
 front of you, and perhaps caught under your nose 
 by a half-naked man, knife in hand, a process that 
 does not improve your appetite. 
 
 Dak bungalows, like everything else, differ ; some 
 are good, and some bad : and I suppose in a few 
 years' time they will all die a natural death, as 
 hotels have sprung up in every Indian station, not 
 only one, but two or three ; and as they vie with 
 each other for custom, their prices are kept down. 
 
 The dak bungalow khansamah (butler) is the most 
 aggravating man to talk to. When you wish to 
 order dinner, and ask him what he has, he invariably 
 answers, " Sub kuch hai " meaning, everything that 
 you want I have. But when you question him fur- 
 ther, the " sub kuch hai " invariably dwindles down to 
 the skeleton fowl I have described. 
 
 The Chaplins arrived in three or four days. Edith 
 was very tired, and very thankful to find herself once 
 more in a comfortable bed-room, with a nice wood 
 fire and a door that opened and shut with an English 
 handle. 
 
 There was a blazing fire in the 1 drawing-room ; for 
 it was evening when they arrived, and quite chilly 
 
 F 2
 
 68 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 and Mrs. Munro knew Edith would feel the change 
 in her weak state. 
 
 We must leave them in the Hills ; nearly all our 
 friends are there now. Robert Hale went with the 
 Munros, and he was going to spend two months 
 with them and the Chaplins. A happy two months 
 it was for him with his friends ; lucky young man ! 
 He was so different with them to what he was with 
 the rollicking companions, with whom he was the 
 wildest of the wild ; no freak too mad for him to 
 join in. 
 
 They had a large house belonging to one of the 
 Governor-General's staff, who had gone to Simla 
 that year. The house was a little away from any 
 others, and was surrounded by trees inhabited by 
 monkeys. These monkeys were rather troublesome ; 
 they were such thieves, and some of them were so 
 tame that they did not scruple to walk into the 
 larder, if the door were left open, and carry off 
 anything they could lay hands upon.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CHRISTMAS DAY IN PESHAWUR AND IN THE 
 DISTRICT. 
 
 THE fifteenth of October had come and gone, 
 and all the military men were back at Peshawur, 
 except a few stray ones, who by hook or crook had 
 managed to get a few days' extra leave. The drill 
 season had commenced, and commanding officers and 
 their adjutants were busy arranging the daily parades 
 and other duties. The brigadier-general and his 
 brigade major were also cogitating together over the 
 brigade parades which were to take place, and the 
 inspections they were obliged to go through. 
 
 Each regiment has to be inspected once during the 
 cold weather by the general officer commanding the 
 division. The one who was commanding at Pesha- 
 wur, General Wood, was a very gallant officer, and 
 deservedly popular with all the troops. He was a 
 comparatively young man, and had received very 
 quick promotion, owing in the first instance to his 
 gallantry ; he had' lost an arm in the service.
 
 7o A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Although General Wood had only one arm, he 
 seemed to do more with it than many men can do with 
 two. He was a good shot, a splendid rider, and even 
 used to hunt. He was also a good croquet player, 
 far better than most men. Every lady player who 
 loved the game and played for the game's sake, liked 
 " the general " for a partner, and thought herself lucky 
 if she secured him for the game, either as her partner 
 or her adversary in the one case he was sure to be a 
 valuable ally, in the other he was a foe worth beating. 
 But the ladies who only cared to flirt with their 
 balls or their partners, were never to be seen in the 
 general's set. 
 
 In Peshawur, in the cold weather, there is plenty 
 of occupation and amusement for everybody. As 
 soon as winter sets in in India, the people break 
 out into life, like butterflies emancipated from their 
 chrysalis shells. The cold weather begins about the 
 middle of October, although punkahs are not 
 generally used after the middle of September. The 
 ladies and children, however, do not return from the 
 hills before October ; an earlier change from the hill 
 climate would be too sudden, but by this time the 
 weather has become quite cold and wintry. 
 
 October and November are the most unhealthy 
 months of the whole year ; at Peshawur very many 
 are ill with fever at this time. This year, fever was 
 very prevalent ; there was somebody ill in almost 
 every house, and there had been great mortality
 
 A CHRISTMAS DAY IN PESHAWUR. 71 
 
 among the soldiers. By Christmas, I am glad to say, 
 the fever had much diminished ; there were only 
 a few patients left in hospital, and everybody was 
 feeling brighter, and ready for any fun. When there 
 is much fever in Peshawur it is terribly depressing. 
 The place is never at any time normally healthy, 
 and the chilly, damp feeling it always has, espe- 
 cially after sunset, seems to pierce through to the 
 bores, as it were, and pervades everything. There is 
 usually a week's holiday at Christmas, and all the 
 officers who are fond of sport generally try and get a 
 few days' district leave for shooting ; but there is not 
 much choice of shooting-ground round Peshawur, 
 it being a station that sporting men would call slow. 
 No deer to stalk ; and those beautiful black buck and 
 ravine deer that afford so much amusement and sport 
 down country are not to be seen near Peshawur. 
 The black buck is excellent food, and makes very 
 goad venison, not at all to be despised, though not 
 of course equal to English venison bred in a park. 
 No Indian game can be compared to English of the 
 same kind, the country is too sterile to afford rich 
 pasture land. Nothing grows in India to the same 
 perfection as it does in England. The English fruits 
 which grow there are of a very inferior quality and 
 taste. The peaches from Cabul, and the grapes, 
 are more like what are grown in England than any 
 other fruit. But one must remember that the fruits 
 there are almost, if not entirely, uncultivated, and
 
 72 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 grown on common soil ; whereas at home they are 
 tended as in a well-cared-for nursery. 
 
 There was no pig-sticking either ; the sportsmen 
 used to go out for a day's shooting, and bring in 
 game such as hares, and birds of all sorts. They 
 found plenty of different kinds of partridges, sand- 
 grouse, rock pigeons, and the " oobhara," a kind 
 of francolin, the " chaha " or snipe. There are plenty 
 of quails too, which are to be found principally in 
 the spring. The natives are fond of catching them 
 with large nets, and the Europeans buy them, and 
 shut them up in a dark place underground where 
 they thrive and fatten, and are quite a reserve for 
 a nice dish when from the want of variety in the 
 provisions, the poor lady of the house finds it so 
 difficult to order any meal that will tempt her guests 
 to eat anything at all in the hot weather. 
 
 There were many plans made for the Christmas week 
 according to the different tastes of individuals. 
 
 Three or four ladies went with their husbands to 
 visit friends at Rawul- Pindee ; others had their 
 friends to visit them ; and many were the Christ- 
 mas day dinner-parties, and long the invitations for 
 them. 
 
 Every commanding officer asked all the ladies in 
 the regiment to dinner, of course their husbands too, 
 and as many bachelors as room could be made for. 
 No one minded a squeeze or wanted elbow-room on 
 Christmas day, and indeed they had to do without
 
 A CHRISTMAS DAY IN PESHAWUR. 73 
 
 the de rigueur arm-chairs, which take up so much 
 room and are so uncomfortable. 
 
 The general and his wife entertained the officers 
 of the staff, and their wives ; and as many odd ones 
 as their table would hold. By " odd ones," must be 
 understood officers holding independent appoint- 
 ments on the staff and attached to the regiment, 
 such as the executive engineer, and others. Possibly 
 a few stray " do nothing " colonels were invited out 
 of sheer compassion. 
 
 I must allow there were some in Peshawur, though 
 I am bound to add sorrowfully that they were in 
 the minority, who thought of Christmas, not only as 
 a day of festivity and good dinners, but as one of 
 the greatest and most joyous festivals that the Church 
 throughout the world celebrates. I do not say that 
 the inhabitants of Peshawur neglected to go to 
 church on Christmas day far from it. The church 
 was always fuller on Christmas day than on any 
 other ; many go on Christmas day who never think 
 of going on a Sunday during the year, perhaps from 
 old association. Possibly it quiets their conscience 
 to feel that they have worshipped, or joined in the 
 worship, in the House of God once during the year, 
 and thus at least do not seem to be quite outside the 
 pale. But this is a matter of feeling and conscience, 
 with which at least my story has nothing to do. It 
 was at least a day of hearty and general good-will. 
 
 The church at Peshawur is a fine building ; a real
 
 74 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 church, no makeshift place of worship ; its tower can 
 be seen for many miles, and looks like a picturesque 
 beacon in the distance with its background of 
 mountains. 
 
 The building itself was not only good, but there 
 was a good clergyman, who earnestly tried to do 
 his duty and teach the congregation aright, and to 
 bring them to see the value of Church privileges ; 
 no easy matter with a congregation composed of all 
 denominations. He had daily service all the year 
 round. In the winter, the hours for Sunday services 
 were the same as in England ; but in the hot weather 
 they have to be in the early morning, and in the 
 height of summer, six o'clock was the hour. The 
 troops march to church, and so must be in barracks 
 again before the sun becomes dangerously hot. Very 
 gay a Sunday morning in India is, with all the mili- 
 tary bands playing and marching in front of their 
 respective regiments, to and from the church ; whilst 
 during the service there is always a guard outside ; 
 a custom invariably observed ever since the mutiny. 
 
 The church at Peshawur was decorated, and. it 
 looked very gay too, this Christmas morning, with 
 all the officers and men in full dress. The European 
 infantry in their scarlet and gold lace, then the 
 artillery contrasting with their dark blue ^and gold 
 lace, and the officers of the native regiments in various 
 colours, some " kharkee" (drab), and others red. Last 
 but certainly not least for I think it was the
 
 A CHRISTMAS DAY IN PESHAWUR. 75 
 
 handsomest uniform of all came the Bengal cavalry, 
 dark green and red facings, and such a quantity of 
 gold lace on sleeves and coat, with gold pouch-belts 
 too ; and very uncomfortable they looked in their 
 finery, and I will give them their due and admit 
 that most of them hated their full dress, and all its 
 irksome adjuncts. Some of the officers looked as we 
 should expect them to do had they chain armour 
 on. Some few, too, gave one the idea that they 
 had grown a little stouter since last Christmas, and 
 would be very glad to be out of theirs. I am afraid 
 this told a tale of its own ; for full dress is obligatory 
 when the troops go to church on Sunday mornings, 
 and those of our friends whose coats were too tight 
 for them could not have been to church on a Sunday 
 morning very often if they had, they must have 
 suffered much. The fact of being obliged to wear 
 it keeps many officers of native regiments away 
 from church ; they would go could they do so in 
 their comfortable braided coats, which always look 
 well too. Officers of European regiments invariably 
 go .to church with their men; they have no choice 
 but to attend what is called " church parade." 
 
 Charles Gordon, Robert Hale, and two native 
 infantry officers, Lieuts. Fuller and Peters, applied 
 for a week's leave to go to the frontier forts together, 
 Abazaie was the one they chose as they thought 
 they would be able by going there to get some sport, 
 without much risk of being shot, as at every fort
 
 76 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 there is a small garrison. Each native regiment at 
 Peshawur supplies a certain number of men to 
 garrison the frontier forts, who are relieved every 
 month in the cold weather, and every two months in 
 the summer. An officer has always to accompany 
 the men "on command." 
 
 Our four friends were all great lovers of sport, and 
 had been looking forward to this week's leave for a 
 long time ; they were determined to make the most of 
 it, and not be frightened by anything they had heard. 
 Several old croakers at Peshawur shook their heads, 
 and said the general was very rash to let them go 
 out together, as they would surely be up to some mad 
 freak, and bring the authorities into trouble. They 
 were certainly the four wildest men in Peshawur, 
 though none the worse for it, for their fun was all 
 honest and above board. 
 
 Off they went on Christmas eve, with two bell-tents 
 between them. There was an empty room in the fort 
 which they could use for their meals. 
 
 Before I proceed to relate these adventures, the 
 result of their mapcap spirits, I must say something 
 about the situation and purposes of the Frontier forts. 
 There are three about twelve miles from Peshawur, 
 separated from each other by a few miles. Shubkuddur 
 is in the centre, Michenee about seven miles off on one 
 hand, and Abazaie on the other, distant from Shub- 
 kuddur about four or five miles, with the river running 
 between the two forts, close by Abazaie. These forts
 
 A CHRISTMAS DAY IN PESHAWUR. 77 
 
 are supposed to protect the frontier, and are really 
 outposts belonging to Peshawur itself. They each have 
 a commanding officer, who lives in them all the year 
 round. Colonel Sealy at Abazaie, Colonel Carter at 
 Shubkuddur, and Colonel McMullin at Michenee. 
 Those poor wretched colonels were to be pitied ; no 
 places could be more dreary and dull than these 
 frontier forts. "A dull man is so near a dead man 
 that he is hardly to be ranked in the list of the 
 living " this was their case, they were indeed buried 
 alive. 
 
 The country where these forts are situated is most 
 deserted, looking nothing but a dreary waste of sand 
 and uncultivated land covered with stubbly looking 
 bushes with no pasture of any sort. This is the 
 character of the whole country between the forts and 
 Peshawur. The officers who command the forts were 
 all unattached, and it may be supposed that it was 
 only the extra pay which induced them to take the 
 appointment. Few could care for such a life as they 
 must have led there. 
 
 The colonel at Abazaie had been there for years ; 
 he was a married man with wife and children, who 
 had lived with him there a long time, but were now 
 at home for the education of the young people. The 
 resident at the Abazaie Fort was the best off, for 
 with the river so near, boating was easy, and he had 
 besides cultivated some land and amused himself 
 with superintending the farming of it.
 
 78 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Shubkuddur is a round fort, with a kind of court- 
 yard in the centre, and the officers' quarters one side 
 of it, raised some distance above the level ground. 
 These quarters are very circumscribed, consisting of 
 only one room for each person. There were four 
 rooms altogether, but all built separately, just like 
 separate bungalows ; that is, bungalows consisting 
 of only one room, verandah, and bath-room : rather 
 close quarters for a married couple. A lady would 
 occasionally accompany her husband on his tour of 
 duty at the "outpost forts." Then all they could 
 do was to hide away the beds in the verandah in 
 the daytime, and turn the room into a sitting-room 
 by day, and a bed-room by night. Such were the 
 makeshifts English ladies put up with during a few 
 days' visit to the frontier forts. How this sort of 
 thing would astonish a fine English lady who had 
 possibly never been out of England ! However, I 
 do not wish any one to run away with the idea that 
 it is the custom in India for visitors to walk into 
 your bed-room ; I am only describing what ladies 
 have to do if they visit these outlandish places, and 
 the frontier forts may be termed outlandish in every 
 sense of the word. 
 
 At Shubkuddur there was a young lady and no 
 one will doubt she was to be pitied, for she must 
 have had a terribly dull time of it living there with 
 her father all the year round. Colonel Carter was a 
 widower, Flora was his only daughter, the comfort
 
 A CHRISTMAS DAY IN PESHAWUR. 79 
 
 and sunshine of his life. There was plenty of out- 
 side sunshine at Shubkuddur, but the internal life 
 there truly needed a sunny and bright companion. 
 Flora used to ride every morning with her father, and 
 would pay an occasional visit to friends in Peshawur ; 
 this was all she had to enliven her. 
 
 The four friends decided to go to Abazaie, as 
 the proximity of the river promised well for the 
 chance of more variety of sport. This was their first 
 shooting expedition in the neighbourhood. They 
 determined to lose no time, and made their plans 
 for every day. 
 
 The morning after their arrival they all started 
 off with their guns, their flasks and some dry biscuits 
 in their pockets, and intended invading the enemy's 
 territory. It was against all orders, and they knew 
 they did it at their own peril. They were not in 
 ignorance of the risk they ran by going beyond the 
 prescribed limits of safety ; but they were so deter- 
 mined to amuse themselves to the utmost that they 
 did not care what they did. 
 
 They had gone about twelve miles, walking very 
 steadily and quietly, all of them some distance apart* 
 as experienced shikarees do; but their patience 
 was sorely tried, for they had literally seen nothing 
 in the way of game, and they had hardly seen any- 
 thing living either in the shape of human or animal 
 life. Except when they passed a village, where a few 
 men came out and stared at them, they saw nothing
 
 80 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 alive ; and these men were next to inanimate, for they 
 only stared with their mouths open as if they wished 
 to encompass the strangers well with both eyes and 
 mouth. But if no word escaped them, this silence 
 was made up by the numbers of squalling children. 
 Why are Indian children always screaming ? scream- 
 and crying, I should say, more than any other 
 children in the world. The babies certainly do; 
 it may be perhaps because " Stedman's teething 
 powders" are not yet known in these benighted 
 regions. 
 
 A few women could also be seen outside the 
 villages, who tried to imitate their lords and masters 
 and stare at the " sahibs," though half afraid to do 
 so openly. They could only take a sly glance through 
 a hole in their " chuddahs" (sheets), whilst pretending 
 to cover their faces and hide their beauty from the 
 gaze of man. 
 
 Hale was getting rather tired of the dull walk, and 
 suggested to Gordon that they should return and 
 try their luck elsewhere. It would have been well for 
 them had they done so. Gordon would not hear of 
 it. He said, " Surely you do not want to go back yet 
 after only a twelve-mile walk, and we have the whole 
 day before us. We had better try and push on to 
 that small hill in front of us with a village at its foot ; 
 it looks only about three miles off. " 
 
 " Yes," said Fuller, " we ought to find something 
 there, as it has an appearance of growth and
 
 A CHRISTMAS DAY IN PESHAWUR. 81 
 
 vegetation, and so there will be a possibility of 
 finding something alive." 
 
 " The country we have traversed so far," returned 
 Hale, " could not afford food or shelter for beast or 
 bird perhaps we shall be able to get some milk 
 in the village." 
 
 Poor Hale ! there was nothing for him to do but 
 submit to Charles Gordon's decree ; for Gordon was 
 the leader, and, unfortunately for the bodily comfort 
 of the others, never seemed to get tired. 
 
 Robert Hale and the others agreed that they 
 would never venture to start again for a long day's 
 shooting without taking their " tattoos " (ponies) 
 with them ; twelve miles across that rough, stony, 
 rugged country was equal to many more on flat, 
 ground. 
 
 The sun was pretty strong by the time they 
 reached the village of " Pumree." When they were 
 within a few yards of it, they saw a string of natives 
 coming towards them in true native style, " Indian 
 file." It is a rare thing to see two natives walk- 
 ing side by side. The front man, a fine-looking 
 fellow, with a long black beard, appeared to be of 
 some importance, for he was riding a horse, whilst 
 all the others were on ponies or on foot, and his dress 
 also betokened a higher rank than the rest. They all 
 carried arms of some sort, but of various kinds ; even 
 a club-stick and hatchet were not despised by those 
 who had nothing better. There were some young 
 
 G
 
 82 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 boys of ten or twelve years old amongst them, and 
 even these carried sticks. 
 
 They all wore the winter dress of the country 
 sheepskin coats over their loose cotton jackets, and 
 loose flowing garments. Almost all the commonest 
 and poorest people in that part of the country, wear 
 these sheepskin coats ; the skins are dyed a kind 
 of yellowish brown, and the woolly part is worn 
 inside. 
 
 The leader of this string of people had on a real 
 astrachan, which is an expensive skin even in that 
 part, for though so near the country it comes from, 
 there is a heavy duty on it. 
 
 When Charles Gordon and his companions descried 
 this large concourse of natives advancing towards 
 them, they began to wonder what it could mean, and 
 supposed they were making an expedition to another 
 village. Still they did not quite like the appearance 
 of so many armed men they could see their arms 
 glittering in the sunlight. They closed up and 
 walked together, shouldering their guns, and sin- 
 cerely wished they were on horseback, instead of on 
 foot ; for if they were attacked they would be very 
 helpless against such a number. 
 
 There were quite fifty, including the boys, but 
 looked more, for they rode and walked in a straggling 
 way one behind the other. 
 
 As they approached each other, the leader, who 
 looked like a Jewish rabbi, with his flowing beard and
 
 A CHRISTMAS DAY IN PESHAWUR. 83 
 
 white turban stopped, and the others did likewise. 
 Charles Gordon stepped forward, making a sign of 
 friendship, and speaking his best Hindustanee, which, 
 however, the leader either did not understand, or 
 feigned ignorance of. 
 
 Neither Charles Gordon nor his friends were at first 
 sight impressed favourably with the man's looks. He 
 looked at the young men too as if he did not approve 
 of them or perhaps it was their guns he did not like 
 he certainly eyed them well, and he seemed to them 
 to be trying to make up his mind as if in doubt what 
 to do next. 
 
 After looking at them searchingly from top to toe 
 for the space of two minutes, which seemed to them 
 four times as long, he called up another man with 
 whom he conversed in the Pushto dialect, but not a 
 word of their conversation could either of the Eng- 
 lishmen understand, except " sahib," and that was 
 sufficient to let them know they themselves were 
 the subject of it. 
 
 At last they stopped, and then the second man 
 stepped forward and addressed them in a kind of Hin- 
 dustanee not the Hindustanee talked in the lower 
 parts of India, but more of the mixture of Pushto 
 and Hindustanee that is talked in the north of the 
 Punjab, and round about Peshawur. He asked them 
 what they were doing. Gordon did not understand his 
 pronunciation, but Fuller did, as he had been learning 
 the language a little while with a " moonshee," and 
 
 G 2
 
 84 A YEAR IN ' PESHAWUR. 
 
 knew more of it than his companions. Fuller there- 
 fore, at Gordon's request, became their spokesman. 
 
 The man who was talking to them spoke quite as 
 if he was an equal, not in the usual deferential 
 indeed cringing way natives usually talk to the 
 " sahiblogue " (gentlemen). 
 
 However, that is probably because we English are 
 the conquerors and their rulers in India ; whereas the 
 man who was now talking to the Englishmen was in 
 his own country, and they the Englishmen were 
 trespassers in it ; this no doubt made the difference. 
 The mutiny was a telling instance of how the natives 
 could in one day turn from humble, respectful servants 
 to become insolent, cruel, tyrannical rulers. 
 
 Ahmed Alii, the man who was talking to Mr. Fuller, 
 was the son of the chief or leader. He asked one ques- 
 tion after another, "What they were doing ?" " Where 
 they were going ? " " Why they had those guns ? " He 
 even asked what kind of guns they were : and took 
 them in his hands and inspected them. To all of 
 these questions Mr. Fuller answered shortly and 
 politely, giving him to understand that they were 
 peaceably inclined, and were no spies. But natives 
 are very suspicious ; and they seemed now to doubt 
 the young men's statement that they had only come 
 out on a shooting expedition, for the man immediately 
 said, " Where is your game ? " Mr. Fuller could only 
 answer that they had seen none. 
 
 It is not surprising, perhaps, that under these
 
 A CHRISTMAS DAY IN PESHAWUR. 85 
 
 circumstances the sportsmen were looked upon with 
 some sort of suspicion, for they were perfectly alone. 
 Few Englishmen go out shooting to such a distance 
 without a " shikaree " to guide them ; for without one 
 to show them the country they could hardly expect 
 much success. 
 
 When Ahmed Alii had finished questioning Mr. 
 Fuller he turned round to his father and began 
 talking to him in his native dialect ; which is a most 
 harsh one, and wants the soft, easy, gliding sound 
 of Hindustanee. All this took a long time, and 
 Gordon was beginning to fume, and said to Fuller, " I 
 cannot stand these beggarly rascals talking to us in 
 this fashion ; let us go on." Fuller advised him to be 
 still, as he saw they were already looked upon with 
 suspicion, and would probably be surrounded and 
 shot, if they did try to make a move. They could not 
 but feel that they were in an uncommonly ticklish 
 position ; knowing, too, as they did, how little these 
 people think of taking life, and what thorough born 
 and bred murderers they are. 
 
 Charles Gordon, however, looked upon Fuller as too 
 timid, and without really making up his mind to 
 move, he made a step forward as if to appear to go 
 on to try the effect as it were. The man, Moha- 
 med Alii, at once walked up and said something which 
 they did not understand until his son stepped forward 
 and interpreted it. It was this : 
 
 " My father, who is the chief of our tribe, the
 
 86 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 ' Swatees ' does not wish either of you ' English 
 sahibs ' to move on until we have had a conference 
 as to what is to be done about you. Neither he nor 
 ourselves believe for one moment that you have 
 simply come here to shoot birds, as there are none to 
 speak of none, that is, worth the trouble of shooting 
 round about here ; and you only try to make us 
 believe it to hide your real purpose." Fuller tried 
 here to interrupt him, but he would not be stopped, 
 and went on to say " We are not fools ; we know 
 that you English people are hostile to us, and that 
 you are forbidden to come into our country ; therefore 
 why do you break your own laws, and come so far 
 into it too ? You as subjects would not dare to do it, 
 and by it defy your government. You must have 
 been sent here for some purpose. We wish you to 
 return with us to the village, and we will there hold 
 a conference about it. You are our prisoners." 
 
 This was a pleasant finish to a morning's shooting, 
 and our friends, one and all, wished now they had 
 not defied the rules. But they were none of them 
 chicken-hearted men, and were not to be overawed, 
 even in appearance, by double the number of those 
 now present. They saw they had not to deal with 
 puny Hindoos. Indeed the tribes on the borders of 
 Afghanistan realise one's conception of what border 
 tribes should be, stalwart men, equal in size and 
 physique to the ordinary Englishman, whilst their 
 features, which are of a Jewish type, are not in
 
 A CHRISTMAS DAY IN PESHAWUR. 87 
 
 the least like the Hindoos or Mohammedans of 
 Hindoostan. 
 
 Charles Gordon was for making an instant resist- 
 ance ; but the others, who were no cowards, but less 
 impetuous, begged him not to; and as they were 
 completely outnumbered he had the sense to suc- 
 cumb. Probably for this good advice he stood 
 indebted to them for much, if not for his life.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 STILL IN THE DISTRICT. REPARATION AND SUCCESS. 
 
 THE village into which Gordon, Hale, Fuller, and 
 Peters were taken, was not unlike other Indian 
 villages in those parts, except that it had a more well- 
 to-do air about it. To begin with, it was much 
 larger, and was more like a little town surrounded by 
 a wall. The entrance was under a large high arch- 
 way, under which was a door, and leading from it a 
 comparatively broad road, with small native huts on 
 each side. There was an attempt at grandeur, and 
 one could not but notice it, small as it was. In 
 all Indian cities, palaces and hovels are jumbled 
 up together in a confused mass, as if they, that is, the 
 dirty huts and hovels, had dropped there by accident. 
 " The city of palaces " is no exception to this rule, 
 although one might imagine that in it things would 
 be differently arranged, but the contrast there strikes 
 one more than elsewhere.
 
 STILL IN THE DISTRICT. 89 
 
 Our friends entered this little town, or large vil- 
 lage, feeling very much like prisoners ; for although 
 their guns had not been taken from them, and they 
 were not of course handcuffed, still they were pri- 
 soners to all intents and purposes. Indeed they would 
 have found it difficult to escape, surrounded as they 
 were by armed men; and after they had passed 
 through the gate they could not, it is to be supposed, 
 have felt very much at their ease. I doubt whether 
 the heart of the " lion-hearted " himself would not 
 have quailed a little had he been in their shoes, 
 that is if he had known as well as they did, the 
 character of the people in whose complete power 
 they had fallen. Their position was hardly more en- 
 viable, and their lives hardly more safe, than that of 
 a political enemy in the streets of Rome in former 
 days. They well might sincerely wish that they were 
 out of the predicament. 
 
 When the procession arrived at the gate of this 
 little town it halted, and went through a ceremony 
 before the chief himself attempted to enter. Ther 
 was delay, too, possibly owing to his unexpected 
 appearance. 
 
 He had left with all his followers on an expedition 
 to a neighbouring village, and had not intended 
 returning until the next morning. According to 
 custom he delegated the command in his absence to 
 his next of kin. It happened to be his brother 
 " Dost Alii " in this instance, his son Ahmed Alii
 
 9<D A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 being with him as we know. The great man would 
 not re-enter his town until he was received by his 
 brother at the gate, and the rightful forms and 
 ceremony gone through. 
 
 The brother Dost Alii after a little waiting 
 arrived, having been informed by some loiterers of the 
 return of the party. He came forward, riding a pony, 
 and with a number of followers at his back, in much 
 the same order as the procession before described. 
 They came up the centre road and stopped on reach- 
 ing the gate. Dost Alii then dismounted, made a 
 sort of half salaam, half salute, went up to his elder 
 brother's pony, held one of the stirrups, whilst he 
 in his turn dismounted, then embraced his brother, 
 and the two walked hand in hand into the town and 
 again embraced ; after which Mohamed Alii mounted 
 his horse which was being led behind and again 
 assumed his place at the head of the whole proces- 
 sion, his brother Dost Alii walking just behind the 
 son Ahmed. They proceeded to a large square 
 plot of ground all dusty and "kutcher," with, in 
 the centre, a raised place, on which was a bit of 
 old matting and a cane chair very rude and rough 
 in workmanship. Mohamed Alii on arriving at this 
 spot, dismounted, and immediately seated himself on 
 the chair; all his followers arranged themselves in 
 circles round him, his son and brother on his right and 
 left, and the others at distances according to their 
 rank, the servants and camp-followers forming an
 
 STILL IN THE DISTRICT. 91 
 
 outside ring. All these squatted on the ground except 
 our four friends, who, not being accustomed to sit 
 tailor fashion, stood and how well they looked too, 
 and what a contrast they were to their surroundings ! 
 
 There is something unmistakably aristocratic in the 
 bearing of an English gentleman. Charles Gordon 
 looked almost bigger, and more indifferently scornful 
 than ever ; but a close observer of his handsome face 
 could see how tired he was, and how he inwardly 
 fumed over the whole proceeding, though no one of 
 them looked in the least afraid. 
 
 Before they proceeded to business, the preliminary 
 smoke took place. Mohamed Alli's pipe was brought 
 to him by his servants, who carried it in his train ; 
 then when he had fairly begun his " hubble bubble," 
 all soon became engaged in the same way. " Follow 
 my leader" is the game these people play always, 
 and on all occasions. A full quarter of an hour elapsed 
 before he put his pipe down, and began addressing 
 his brother and son. Just as he was about to speak 
 he looked towards the four Englishmen as if to make 
 sure that they were there. He said something to 
 a man near him, who disappeared, returning in two 
 minutes bringing on his head a " charpoy " (bed), 
 which he placed in front of the Englishmen and 
 made a sign to them to sit on. They availed them- 
 selves of the permission with inward reluctance, not 
 liking the prospect ; but as they knew civility was 
 intended by it, they did their best to appear to
 
 92 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 appreciate it. They were obliged to sit on the 
 extreme edge on the frame work ; for had one of 
 them attempted to sit on the bed itself he would 
 have fallen backwards most ignominiously, if not 
 completely through to the ground, so thoroughly 
 rotten and broken was the netting. 
 
 A great deal of talking and gesticulating took 
 place, but they could not understand a word. They 
 knew of course they were the subject of the conversa- 
 tion, and supposed their fate was being decided. To 
 all appearances their captors, or whatever their 
 rightful title is could not agree, and a good hour 
 elapsed before a word was addressed to them. At 
 last the man who had spoken to them before, 
 Ahmed Alii, proceeded to go through the same 
 string of questions, and received the same replies 
 from Fuller. These were again translated to the chief 
 and those near him. All the others did not try to 
 conceal their perfect apathy. 
 
 Again they talked and gesticulated ; and when they 
 had apparently come to some decision, the young man 
 began a regular harangue, and in very questionable 
 Hindustanee more " Pushto " dialect interlarded than 
 anything else he told our party once more that they 
 could not believe they were innocent of coming into 
 their country without some design, and in fact the 
 Lord Chief Mohamed Alii must simply look upon 
 them as spies. Their statement that they had come 
 so far, and into that part too, in search of game was
 
 STILL IN THE DISTRICT. 93 
 
 too absurd for belief, for they had walked twelve or 
 fourteen miles and had none to show; and besides, 
 that was not the part of the country that sahibs 
 would be likely to visit on such an expedition. 
 " Pumree " was a well-known and important village, 
 and no Europeans ever went near it. It was far more 
 likely, in his opinion, that they were trying to make 
 their way into Cabul as spies, or with some secret 
 message to the " Ameer " from the English govern- 
 ment, or with some designs to release Yakoob Khan 
 or help the disaffected. He informed them, too, that 
 they must submit to be searched, and if nothing was 
 found upon them, then they were to accompany 
 the chief on the expedition on which the cavalcade 
 was bound when first met. One was to be left as 
 a kind of hostage in the village. " It all depends," he 
 went on to say, " on the conduct of the three who 
 went with them whether the life of the one who was 
 to be left would be spared. If they did not obey 
 orders, and behave themselves, they would not 
 answer for what they would do to him." He paused 
 for a minute, and Fuller suggested that they would 
 like to know what expedition they were to go upon. 
 
 " We will not tell you now," he answered, " but 
 you must help us, you shall know to-night. Now 
 take off your coats and give them to us." 
 
 This was indignity indeed ! but they were too 
 helpless to do anything but submit. It was useless 
 to assure their captors there was nothing in their
 
 94 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 pockets. A race of people given to lying from the 
 time they can speak, are not likely to believe the 
 words of others, although the others have been 
 brought up in very different habits. 
 
 " Falsehood and fraud grow up in every soil, 
 The product of all climes." 
 
 They are fruitful trees in that one ! 
 
 The coats were well overhauled, the pockets turned 
 inside out, without anything being discovered beyond 
 the ordinary contents pocket books, knives, hand- 
 kerchiefs, and a few rupees, and in one a letter, 
 apparently an English one. The things found were 
 well handled and inspected, and passed from one 
 person to the other for re-inspection, as if they in their 
 turn were capable of holding something contraband. 
 The letter was opened and minutely scrutinised, and 
 seemed to be looked upon with suspicion, as all else 
 was returned to the pockets, but not with any regard 
 to the rightful ownership. The letter was retained. 
 It was in vain that Mr. Peters, to whom it belonged, 
 told them it was an English one, from one of his own 
 family they would not return it. 
 
 When the search was over the young men were 
 told to prepare for the expedition and to draw lots, 
 to decide who was to remain behind in the village 
 a method of decision common to Eastern countries. 
 The lot fell on Fuller, who would fain have gone with 
 the others, but there was no help for it. Hale, on 
 the contrary, would rather have remained, as he was
 
 STILL IN THE DISTRICT. 95 
 
 the least strong of the party, and did not care to 
 be dragged by these wild people, whither he knew 
 not. He was also very tired. 
 
 Fuller explained to "Ahmed Alii" that they 
 were very hungry, and he hoped they would give them 
 something to eat before requiring them to proceed on 
 the expedition. He answered, that " Of course they 
 would not prevent their eating, but they did not 
 see how they were to provide them with food, as 
 no one would eat out of dishes that had been used 
 by a Christian." 
 
 However, after a little more parleying, some 
 " chupatees " were brought to them in an earthen 
 dish and some milk in another, with which they 
 had to be content. A nice Christmas day dinner 
 to be sure rather a contrast to the one their friends 
 at Peshawur were enjoying. 
 
 Although the lot had fallen upon Fuller, it was 
 settled by Mohamed Alii himself that he had better 
 accompany them, as the only sahib of the party 
 whom they could understand, or who understood 
 them. 
 
 In truth, Mohamed Alii was beginning to think 
 from their outward docility and civil behaviour that 
 his captives could be no spies. Thus it fell out 
 that Hale remained, as he had desired. 
 
 All these arrangements and the long preliminary 
 confabulation had taken some hours, and by the time 
 the expedition was again ready to start it was
 
 96 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 quite three o'clock in the afternoon. The members of 
 the party seemed at first to be undecided as to 
 whether they had better start at all that day; but 
 the chief was determined and the others had to obey. 
 They went through much the same ceremony at 
 the gate that they had done at their entrance, and 
 then proceeded, the Englishmen walking with Ahmed 
 Alii. 
 
 Fuller tried to enter into conversation with him 
 as to the object of their journey, but without elicit- 
 ing anything beyond the fact that their chief was 
 bound on a visit to a neighbouring chief. He 
 finished up by saying that " it would be time 
 enough to see when they got there what would 
 happen. 'Allah' knew, but he did not" 
 
 The party did not follow the road the three had 
 traversed that morning, but branched off just a little 
 way beyond the place where they had been met. 
 "Oh! if they had only been a few minutes later," 
 they thought ; and each one cursed his luck, I fear, 
 and thought " what an unlucky Christmas it was, 
 for free-born Britons to be dragged at the tail of 
 these beggarly ruffians like slaves ! " And it is easy 
 to imagine how great was the trial of temper to 
 Gordon, and how he swore to himself that "they 
 should smart for it one day. " 
 
 By the time they reached the outskirts of the 
 village to which they were bound, it was very nearly 
 dusk. This village was much the same as the one
 
 STILL IN THE DISTRICT. 97 
 
 they had left, but with not quite such a " well-to-do '' 
 air about it. The only difference in the ceremony 
 on their arrival at the gate was, that neither chief 
 dismounted ; they met, saluted, and rode in together, 
 the head of the village leading the visitor. 
 
 The Englishmen could not help observing that they 
 did not appear to be very welcome guests ; the demean- 
 our of their hosts seemed of a covert hostility, whilst 
 apparently trying to keep up an outward appearance 
 of friendship. They were all escorted to a large 
 building very rough and ungainly to look at, but 
 still with a roof; had it been without one it would 
 have exactly resembled the open square described 
 in the other town. This building seemed intended 
 for a kind of public reception-room, or hall of 
 justice. It had become so dark that they could 
 not see anything inside the room. The little oil 
 lights were brought in earthen saucers, a very primi- 
 tive kind of illumination. The two chiefs went out 
 together to the private house of Fudjoo Khan, 
 the chief of this village, leaving all the others in 
 the big room. In half an hour food was brought 
 in in earthen dishes and set before them all, and 
 our three friends were not sorry to partake of it, 
 uninviting as it looked, swimming in "ghee" and 
 fat ; for hunger is a good sauce. 
 
 After the Afghans had finished their supper, they 
 began smoking, and by degrees lay down, and very 
 shortly half of them were asleep. This was a bright 
 
 H
 
 98 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 prospect for our unfortunate friends, certainly ! they 
 did not know what to do. As soon as they saw all 
 the men were asleep, they began talking to each 
 other in whispers. Charles Gordon suggested that 
 they should slip out quietly one by one, whilst the 
 natives were sleeping. " I kept my eyes open," he 
 said, " whilst we were entering this dirty place, and 
 I saw a regular hole in the wall, about a yard from 
 the gate, to the right of it as we came in, and 
 there was also a deep ditch where one could lie 
 down if in danger of being observed." 
 
 " Lucky the rascals left us our guns," said Peters. 
 
 " We must not all go together," continued Gordon, 
 " that would excite suspicion ; but if we wait until 
 they are all sound asleep, we might slip out one by 
 one. I will go first, and wait on the other side of 
 the wall until you two are over." 
 
 They all agreed to follow out this plan as soon 
 as possible, and then lay down and pretended to 
 be fast asleep, keeping their " weather eye " open 
 nevertheless, so as to detect in a moment any 
 movement among their neighbours. 
 
 They were all pretty close to each other, Ahmed 
 Alii happening to lie next to Fuller, which was 
 unfortunate. However, they could not help it, and 
 they were near the door, so in one way theirs was 
 the best position. As it turned out, it was lucky 
 Ahmed was so near, and especially that Fuller was 
 next to him.
 
 STILL IN THE DISTRICT. 99 
 
 It was now about midnight ; Charles Gordon was 
 just going to try and move, having first taken 
 a good survey of his neighbours, who all appeared 
 to be asleep. He crept to the door and looked out, 
 but just as he did so, he heard very stealthy footsteps 
 coming slowly towards the door. He immediately 
 crept back again, and by the time they had reached 
 the door, Gordon was lying down again on the dusty 
 ground, without any sign of having left it. 
 
 The man who entered was Mohamed Alii himself, 
 now quite disguised ; instead of his white turban, he 
 had on a grey one, and a long grey " choga " over 
 his other clothes, a kind of red shade on his beard 
 and hair, which quite altered his appearance. 
 
 Charles Gordon did not recognise him at first, 
 but his son Ahmed did instantly, and he apparently 
 had not been asleep after all ; he had only been pre- 
 tending to be so, and had really not taken his eyes 
 off Gordon when he had moved towards the door. 
 
 Mohamed Alii went up to his son and began 
 talking to him very earnestly in a whisper, but loud 
 enough for Fuller to hear. His entry was indeed 
 a blow to all the hopes of escape which they had 
 so lately entertained. 
 
 Fuller listened most attentively to the whispered 
 conversation, of which he could only understand a 
 word here and there ; but he was sufficiently sharp 
 to be able to put these words together, and made 
 out enough to give him an idea of what they were 
 
 H 2
 
 ioo A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 going to do. It was not only alarming but strange j 
 some deep-laid plot it seemed to him was about to 
 reveal itself. 
 
 The whole party were aroused by Ahmed Alii, 
 one by one ; after a whispered instruction to each, 
 he went on to the next one. 
 
 The deed they were now about to perpetrate was 
 to carry off the daughter of the chief, Fudjoo Khan, 
 by fair means or foul. 
 
 For a long time past Mohamed Alii had demanded 
 the daughter of Fudjoo Khan in marriage without 
 any satisfactory result. Mohamed Alii was very 
 imperious, and treated Fudjoo Khan more as an 
 inferior than an equal, although he could not really 
 have thought him one, or he would not have wished 
 to marry his daughter. 
 
 Fudjoo Khan on the other hand treated Mahomed 
 Alii with hauteur, and thought himself superior, 
 because the tribe to which he belonged, the " Adam 
 Khels," had formerly been a more powerful one than 
 the " Swatees " that of Mohamed Alii ; but the 
 latter was now the stronger, as he could muster 
 the greater number of men, and the tribe having 
 increased in strength and numbers of late years, was 
 far the more wealthy of the two. 
 
 Mohamed Alii had become very impatient at all 
 the "shilly-shallying," and so had made up his mind 
 to visit Fudjoo Khan in person and see what a 
 peaceful interview would do, and if that did not
 
 STILL IN THE DISTRICT. 101 
 
 answer he was determined to gain his point by one 
 method or the other. 
 
 Mohamed Alii did not even demand a dowry, 
 which was quite contrary to the usual laws of their 
 country, where the marriage dowry of a daughter 
 is a matter of extreme anxiety to the parents if 
 they are poor. Fudjoo Khan was very much in 
 debt, and wanted to sell his daughter literally, for 
 he would not consent to the marriage unless Moha- 
 med Alii gave him a piece of land between their 
 territories, which he had long coveted. 
 
 This Mohamed Alii would not consent to, so 
 nothing satisfactory was arranged. 
 
 Mohamed Alii had for some time foreseen that 
 Fudjoo Khan would not give in, and so had laid a 
 plot, and had put other irons into the fire to be 
 used if necessary. He had a spy in the " harem " 
 of Fudjoo Khan, and he had bribed the old nurse 
 in whose charge Fudjoo Khan's daughter was to 
 give her up to him and do his bidding. The old 
 woman was perfectly prepared to give the girl up 
 that is, assist in any plan Mohamed Alii chose to 
 make for removing her to his own house, and of 
 course accompany her, as she would not have dared 
 to remain behind without her charge. 
 
 It was settled between the spy and herself that at 
 a given signal, she and her charge should come to 
 the door of the house, well muffled up and shrouded 
 in large sheets, where they would find two dhoolies
 
 iO2 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 waiting for them carried by some of the armed men, 
 and well surrounded by others. This was to take 
 place in the dead of night, and at a given signal 
 from the spy. 
 
 In case of any treachery, or any of the enemy 
 being on the alert, Mohamed Alii had brought these 
 armed men to surround the house ; and then when 
 the girl and her nurse were well outside, they were 
 to be instantly surrounded by the men and taken 
 quickly to the gate. This plan though could not 
 have been matured without a considerable sum being 
 spent in bribes; and we may be sure money was 
 lavishly expended on all about the abode of the 
 girl. Fuller communicated as much of this design 
 as he could make out to his companions, and they 
 agreed to make their escape through the hole in the 
 wall whilst the men were occupied in carrying out 
 the instructions they received, and lie down in the 
 ditch .until the whole of the party were well away. 
 They trusted to the darkness to aid them. 
 
 This bold plan was successful until Mohamed's 
 party reached the gate, when they were pursued and 
 told to give up the girl. When they refused to do 
 this, they were fired upon, and a skirmish ensued, 
 during which the three friends managed to escape 
 to the wall, though they did not lie down in the 
 ditch. 
 
 The dhoolies had been set down close to them 
 when the fight began, and the poor girl was so
 
 STILL IN THE DISTRICT. 103 
 
 frightened that she began crying and calling out for 
 somebody to save her. The Englishmen heard her, 
 and immediately prevailed on the bearers to take 
 the dhoolies, outside the gate, which they did ; and 
 they then insisted on their going to Pumree at once, 
 and they themselves escorted them there. On 
 arriving at the gate they demanded admittance, 
 and also an immediate interview with the brother, 
 Dost Alii, who had been left in charge. They ex- 
 plained to him how they had rescued the girl, and 
 brought her to this village. 
 
 The tables were completely turned. Instead of 
 being prisoners, they were now looked upon as 
 heroes, and nothing could exceed the attentions they 
 received. 
 
 Mohamed Alii came off victorious, and returned, 
 with only two of his followers even wounded. His 
 gratitude to the Englishmen when he heard the 
 great service they had done him was unbounded. 
 He did everything in his power to make them com- 
 fortable, sent for clean beds, and turned out of his 
 own private apartment. They were all so tired that 
 they were thankful to lie anywhere, and went off to 
 sleep at once, and did not awake until very late the 
 next morning, wondering where they could be, and 
 if all that had happened were a dream.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE AND THE RESULTS. 
 
 As soon as Charles Gordon and his three com- 
 panions were well awake and fully realised their 
 present fortunate position, they felt they could not 
 be thankful enough for the unexpected piece of 
 good luck, and had need to be grateful to the young 
 lady who had so unwittingly been the means of 
 their changed prospects. How dark and gloomy 
 these had seemed, to be sure, but a few short hours 
 before ! The girl, in her turn, had cause to thank 
 her preservers. It is certainly a very uncommon 
 occurrence for two parties to be at the same time 
 grateful to each other for the same act, and for both 
 to be equally benefited by it. Indeed when such a 
 thing does take place even the proverb of "the ill 
 wind " and its consequences is not applicable. 
 
 They were indeed the girl's preservers, and they 
 little knew from what they had saved her if not from 
 actual death, from something nearly as bad, if not 
 worse : a life-long misery. For had she remained
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE AND THE RESULTS. 105 
 
 with her father, her fate would have been more 
 wretched than that of the fearful lot of the Hi'ndoo 
 widow. 
 
 Had this poor girl failed to escape after having left 
 the harem, she would have been looked upon by her 
 family as disgraced for ever. As it was, she was not 
 so, as no one had seen her face, and that the chief knew. 
 Mohamed Alli's gratitude to the officers knew no 
 bounds ; he told them he would be their friend for life, 
 and if at any time they were in difficulties with any 
 of the mountain tribes, I suppose he meant that 
 if they were again rash enough to trust themselves 
 in his country, and were again taken prisoners, the 
 mention of his name would go far to release them. 
 He also promised them that at any future time, no 
 matter how distant, if he were alive and they required 
 his services, they were to apply to him, and if it were 
 necessary, he would command all the tribe under him. 
 to fight for them. He took a most solemn oath to 
 show them he fully meant all he said. He then 
 ordered the best refreshments that could be procured 
 to be placed before them, not now in common 
 earthen dishes, but in silver ones, which he begged 
 them to accept when they had finished their repast. 
 They accepted the gifts, but not for a very dignified 
 reason because they knew that otherwise the dishes 
 would be thrown away ; and one does not usually 
 care to accept presents simply because they are 
 of no further use to the donors. However, in a
 
 io6 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 country where the manners and customs are so 
 different to our own, you have to look at things 
 from a native point of view, and behave differently 
 to what you would among your own countrymen. 
 Wherever one is even in barbarous lands it is 
 always well to remember that where no offence is 
 intended none should be taken. 
 
 The silver dishes were the least valuable of the 
 presents offered. The Englishmen assured the chief 
 that they did not want any reward, and they had 
 only performed a common act of kindness in saving 
 the girl after her heartrending appeal to them for help 
 and protection. Every Englishman is proud to be a 
 deliverer and defender of the helpless. This was not 
 very intelligible to the chief and his friends. The 
 natives do not understand an English gentleman's 
 inborn gallantry ; it is a complete puzzle to them. 
 Their ideas of women and their way of treating 
 them are so opposed to our customs, that our notions 
 are quite incomprehensible. Let us hope as civilisa- 
 tion advances, that they will understand the rightful 
 place their women ought to take as wives and 
 mothers in their own families and households. 
 
 Mohamed Alii gave each of his guests a pony and 
 saddle. To Charles Gordon whom he looked upon 
 as the leader he gave a curiously-made silver orna- 
 ment, like a badge, rectangular; with an inscription. 
 He told him to wear it round his neck whenever 
 he was in those parts, and if in any real trouble
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE AND THE RESULTS. '107 
 
 or difficulty to show it and use his name. This 
 man had no small idea of his own power and 
 influence. 
 
 Our friends accepted the ponies and the dishes, 
 and Charles Gordon the charm, but firmly refused 
 all other presents, beyond a common sheepskin coat 
 of the country, which was put upon each of their 
 ponies and would come in for their syces. All 
 sorts of things, including jewellery and uncut stones, 
 were pressed upon them, but they would not take 
 anything more. They considered that they had 
 earned the ponies, as they had done the chief a 
 good service, and they deserved some compensation 
 for the discomfort and bad treatment they had at 
 first been subjected to. 
 
 They took their departure with quite as much 
 ceremony and parade as the Governor-General and 
 staff might expect to have, and he could not well 
 have received much more attention than they did. 
 A man to lead each pony was sent with them, with 
 instructions to take the ponies on to Peshawur along 
 with their own servants. A small number of armed 
 men were sent to escort them to Abazaie, so as to 
 ensure their safe arrival there. They were glad of 
 this escort, as the road would certainly be very unsafe 
 after the fight of the night before. The infuriated 
 Fudjoo Khan was no doubt preparing for a regular 
 battle with his late friend, but now bitter enemy, 
 Mohamed Alii.
 
 io8 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 It is dreadful to contemplate the consequences of 
 the expedition in which our three friends were 
 unwilling participators ; it is scarcely possible to cal- 
 culate the amount of bloodshed and misery that is 
 likely to ensue from it ; and in all such cases it 
 is on the descendants, and consequently on the 
 innocent, that the punishment falls. 
 
 Gordon and his companions were very thankful 
 to be outside the gate, and have done with all 
 the to them unmeaning and wearying forms and 
 ceremonies which were gone through ; ceremonies 
 meaningless to the impatient e Englishman, but as 
 natural as their dinner to the inhabitants of the 
 East. They rode the ponies, followed by the armed 
 men, some on horseback, and about twenty on foot 
 quite a small cavalcade ; and their arrival with such 
 pomp at Abazaie rather astonished Colonel Sealy. 
 The Colonel had been very anxious about them, 
 knowing what daring, fearless men they all were; 
 and as they had not returned that evening he 
 naturally thought something had gone wrong. In 
 fact, had they not made their appearance that day, 
 he intended ordering out some sowars to scour the 
 country for them. 
 
 They arranged to go back to Peshawur on the 
 3Oth, and spend the intervening days in duck-shooting 
 on the river and shooting any game in the vicinity 
 of the fort that they could. They had received 
 a good lesson for their rashness, and had passed
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE AND THE RESULTS. 109 
 
 the most memorable Christmas day in all their lives ; 
 one they would never forget. 
 
 When they returned to Abazaie it was the evening 
 of the 26th. The next day, Saturday, they spent in 
 loitering about, and routing out a renowned boatman 
 who was famous for making rafts of pigskins. They 
 wanted one made so as to be able to go up and down 
 the river comfortably, and to stop anywhere they 
 liked for shooting, or from which they could shoot 
 ducks. They had great difficulty in finding the man 
 they wanted, as the names of these people resemble 
 each other so much that is to untutored English 
 ears. What with Ahmed Khan, Ahmed Alii, and 
 a whole string of Khans and Allis with other pre- 
 fixes to them, they could never remember which 
 was which, and possibly the final name made all the 
 difference. 
 
 They all went off in different directions to find the 
 boatman. Hale went to Shubkuddur to ask Colonel 
 Carter there if he knew where this hero of pigskin 
 rafts was to be found. Colonel Carter had heard 
 of the man; and his daughter, who possessed the 
 memory of the family, knew all about him, and told 
 Mr. Hale that he was living just outside the fort, and 
 she would show him where he was to be found, if 
 he would wait for her. He told her he would only 
 be too glad to wait any time ; he was bon cavalier 
 enough to prefer a young lady companion to a 
 solitary walk, a great advantage too in his search
 
 no A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 because she could speak the language, and he could 
 not. Flora Carter was equipped for the walk ; her 
 toilette did not engage much of her time or at- 
 tention, it would have been unnecessary indeed in 
 that wild region. She wore nothing but a plain, 
 short, stuff walking dress, and jacket, and in it she 
 looked like what she was a simple, straightforward 
 English girl. 
 
 They found the man's house with little difficulty, 
 and he promised to make them a raft by the next 
 day, of eight or ten pigskins " which would be large 
 enough," the man said, " to carry the four sahibs and 
 the miss sahib too, if she was going to accompany 
 them down the river." 
 
 Hale noticed that the girl brightened up when 
 the boatman alluded to her, and that her face fell, 
 as she said almost sadly, " I shall not be there ; " 
 so it struck him that she would like to go too. 
 Hale arranged with the boatman to have the raft 
 at the fort of Abazaie by noon the next day. 
 
 Before taking leave of Miss Carter, he asked her 
 if she would like to accompany him and his friends 
 on the raft the next day, and if she would honour 
 them with her presence they would, he knew, be glad 
 to see her. It will not perhaps do to inquire as to 
 the young gentleman's thoughts as he said so much. 
 As regards the exigencies of polite society possibly 
 the outer barbarians are better than we are, at least 
 they tell their falsehoods without disguise of any
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE AND THE RESULTS. 1 1 1 
 
 kind; whilst civilisation requires "polite lies" or 
 " fibs " a distinction without a difference. 
 
 Flora said she should like it above all things, but 
 did not know whether her father would allow her to 
 go. " Do you mind asking him ? " she said. Robert 
 Hale could do nothing now but accede, his mind 
 misgiving him all the time as to the wisdom of 
 taking the girl with them, and picturing to himself 
 Charles Gordon's face of horror when he should hear 
 they were to have a young lady companion ; the other 
 two might vote her a " bore " but say little more. 
 Hale accompanied Miss Flora up to the fort again 
 to find her father, who at last, after some persuasion 
 from her, agreed to his daughter's going on the raft, 
 provided Hale promised to bring her home by five 
 o'clock. 
 
 The old Colonel was very fond of his only daughter, 
 and did not like to deny her anything, but his con- 
 science told him her mother would not have 
 permitted her to join such a trip, had she been 
 alive. However, he tried to make excuses for 
 himself. " Poor girl," he said, " she has a dull time 
 of it here in this old mud fort, and if she were not 
 a good, steady, dutiful daughter she would not endure 
 her life cooped up as she is here ; but she always 
 finds some occupation, and never confesses to being 
 dull." He thought, too, he could trust that young 
 Mr. Hale when he promised so faithfully to take 
 care of her.
 
 ii2 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Robert Hale was congratulated by his unsuccessful 
 companions, on his return when they found how his 
 search had succeeded ; but when he told the sequel 
 the advent of the young lady as well as the raft 
 Gordon made a very wry face, saying, " You are 
 a fellow, to be sure, to bring a girl on a shooting 
 expedition, and on such a one too, and of all days 
 on a Sunday ! I am ashamed of you." 
 
 Gordon's bark was worse than his bite ; he did not 
 really mind half so much as he made out, and 
 Robert knew his friend's ways. 
 
 The raft was ready and at the fort before the time ; 
 so the four started on a trial trip for an hour accom- 
 panied by Boon Alii, the celebrated boatman. When 
 they returned they found Miss Carter waiting for 
 them, and, after being duly introduced to them all 
 by her friend Robert Hale, she was given a piece 
 of carpet to sit upon in the centre of the raft, and 
 the four gentlemen seated themselves at the sides. 
 Doon Alii and his son at the corners, standing and 
 guiding the raft, away they went slowly up the 
 stream. 
 
 lam afraid most English mothers will think this Miss 
 Carter "very fast," after this proceeding, but she was 
 far from being so, and I have already described her. 
 She could have no chaperone, and it was hard she 
 could not have some fun occasionally to enliven 
 her dreary life ; no one either could expect the 
 colonel to torture himself by sitting cramped up,
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE AND THE RESULTS. 1 1 3 
 
 tailor-fashion, at his age, on a pigskin raft ! There 
 was little room for him either. 
 
 Flora was enjoying it immensely ; the sort of boat- 
 ing was a novel sensation to her. Robert and Fuller 
 talked to her, and Fuller was particularly struck by 
 her conversation with Doon Alii, who seemed to be 
 an old ally of hers, for she chaffed him, and talked 
 in a most animated way to the old grey-bearded 
 Pathan. She would scarcely have ventured to talk 
 so freely had she known she was understood ; she 
 would have been far too shy to have done so, and 
 was much more at home with him than with her 
 countrymen. 
 
 They had been a good two hours and a half going 
 up the river, when Hale, remembering his promise 
 to take Miss Carter home by five o'clock, suggested 
 their return ; they would, he knew, take half the 
 time going back, as they would be with the current, 
 and so would soon float down stream ; but they had a 
 ride of some miles after landing at Abazaie. The 
 raft had only just been turned when Flora be- 
 came very excited, and after a short parley with 
 the boatman she turned to Robert, and asked him if 
 he and the other gentlemen would be frightened if 
 they went down the rapids. 
 
 " We are not likely to be so frightened as you 
 will be, Miss Carter," said Hale; "it will be a 
 very rash proceeding to go down those rapids on this 
 gimcrack thing ; why the strings that bind the skins 
 
 I
 
 ii4 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 together might give way in the middle, and where 
 should we be then ? dashed to pieces against the 
 rocks." 
 
 Nothing would convince Miss Carter that it was 
 extremely dangerous ; of course Hale and his com- 
 panions declared, for their credit sake, that they were 
 not afraid on their own account. Charles Gordon 
 especially did his best to dissuade her, for he had a 
 great horror of fainting ladies ; and when he looked 
 at the falls down which she wanted to go, he felt 
 sure that the very bravest lady must faint, so great 
 would be the shock of the rapid descent through that 
 hissing foaming water to the river below, with such 
 dangerous rocks on either side. He remonstrated 
 with the boatman and the young lady in vain ; in 
 spite of himself he could not help admiring her for 
 her bravery. 
 
 Doon Alii was determined to please Miss Carter, 
 and took no notice of the appeals of the gentle- 
 men to him ; he simply told them to " hold on 
 tight," and had no sooner done so than he gave 
 a terrific yell, answered by his son, and they felt 
 themselves whirling round and round, water dashing 
 over their heads, and the boatman, in the cleverest 
 way keeping them from the rocks by a stroke that 
 to the others seemed magical, of his long oar. The 
 two men kept up a prolonged yell, which seemed to 
 aid the rapid movement of their oars, and guided 
 the frail raft wonderfully to keep it from being dashed
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE AND THE RESULTS. 115 
 
 against the rocks. Had one of the oars missed its 
 aim, they were a doomed crew, for they would cer- 
 tainly have been drowned and dashed to pieces by 
 the angry foaming waters against the rocks. 
 
 It was all over in two minutes, but the sensation of 
 those two minutes was curious enough to be impressed 
 on them for life. They clutched the sticks attached 
 to the pigskins with all their might, and could hardly 
 have held on any longer. 
 
 Charles Gordon could not keep his opinion of Miss 
 Carter to himself; he burst out with " You are a 
 brave girl ! " and looked at her with genuine admi- 
 ration, for not a sound escaped her. He felt he had 
 indeed maligned her when he thought she was going 
 to faint. 
 
 They soon reached Abazaie, when Miss Carter 
 mounted her pony and Hale walked beside her. 
 Fuller also accompanied them. They were at the 
 fort as the gong was beaten five times, indicating 
 five o'clock. When the young men told Colonel 
 Carter what they had done, his face beamed' with 
 satisfaction and pride ; but he told them he was very 
 glad he did not know of the mad freak until it was 
 over, and did not think he would have allowed his 
 daughter to go had he known. 
 
 " Blame me, papa, it was all my fault," she ex- 
 claimed ; but he did not look as if he were going to 
 blame anybody, so proud did he seem of his brave 
 daughter. 
 
 I 2
 
 n 6 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 The colonel Invited the young men to come, as 
 soon as they could get leave again, and stay at Shub- 
 kuddur with him, and he promised to show them 
 some sport. "He had a shikaree of his own," he 
 said, " who would go out with them." They gladly 
 accepted his invitation, and said they would try and 
 get a week's leave the following month, before the 
 inspections came off. 
 
 The whole way home Fuller could talk of nothing 
 but of Flora Carter her " cleverness " and " her 
 pluck ; " and added, " he should try and pay Shub- 
 kuddur a visit very soon." 
 
 When they returned to Abazaie they found Miss 
 Carter had left her parasol behind, and Fuller, of 
 course, volunteered to take it to her the next day. 
 He was glad of the excuse to see her again. That 
 was occupation enough for him, and the others pot- 
 tered about on the raft and bagged some wild fowl 
 and ducks, and Gordon was lucky enough to shoot an 
 oobhara. 
 
 They reached Peshawur on the evening of the 3Oth, 
 in time for mess, having passed as eventful a week 
 as they could well have expected, and had much to 
 talk about. They were quite heroes, now, in the eyes 
 of the ladies at Peshawur. 
 
 Mrs. Munro and Mrs. Chaplin were immensely 
 amused with Robert Hale's stories, and he confided to 
 them what he felt sure would be the result of the raft 
 escapade, but they were not to say a word about it, as
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE AND THE RESULTS. 117 
 
 it might get to Colonel Thompson's ears, who might 
 not approve of one of his lieutenants having a love 
 affair, and so might spoil Fuller's fun by stopping 
 his leave. 
 
 " In love and war all is fair, you know," he said ; 
 " and Colonel Thompson is just the man to refuse 
 Fuller leave ; and think he has a right grand excuse 
 for it. He is not fond of granting leave at any 
 time, I believe. Besides," he added, "the girl will 
 suit Fuller admirably." 
 
 " I did not know you were a match-making young 
 man before," replied Edith Chaplin, laughing. " Do 
 the lovers know the protector they have in you ? " 
 
 " You need not call them lovers, Mrs. Chaplin; it 
 has not come to that yet. " 
 
 Mrs. Chaplin told Hale that their ball was fixed for 
 the 4th, and as she had undertaken to superintend 
 the floral decorations she expected him to help her ; 
 and he was to hunt in the bazaar among the stores of 
 the " kupra wallahs " (cloth-merchants), for coloured 
 muslin, and among the " box wallah " curiosities 
 for tinsel paper, as she wanted to make the old dingy 
 mess-room as bright as possible; and she wished it to be 
 so entirely metamorphosed, that no one should recog- 
 nise it again. Hale's hands were full during the few 
 days that elapsed before the ball was to come off. He 
 turned the bazaar nearly upside down, obeying Mrs. 
 Chaplin's behests. Mrs. Munro had undertaken to 
 superintend the arrangement of the supper, which
 
 n8 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 is always better if not left entirely to the native ser- 
 vants, who have always such a fancy for making 
 cream of smoked milk, and putting rancid butter into 
 the cakes. In these matters they are not to be trusted, 
 especially mess khansamahs, who are not generally 
 so well drilled as those in the service of an English 
 lady; the officers being more in the habit, than a 
 lady is, of leaving their dinner to chance and the 
 khansamah, and letting him have his own way 
 entirely. 
 
 Colonel Lindsay expected his wife and daughter 
 to arrive the day before the ball ; they had been very 
 unexpectedly delayed, first at starting, then at Bom- 
 bay, so they were a month after the original time they 
 fixed for reaching Peshawur. There was great excite- 
 ment among the young officers of the 39th on the 
 subject of Miss Lindsay's prospective arrival, as they 
 were so afraid of some other delay, and were most 
 anxious that she should make her first appearance in 
 public at the ball of the regiment. 
 
 Mrs. and Miss Lindsay did arrive just in time, 
 as they reached Peshawur the day before the ball, 
 and only managed so much by coming straight 
 through from Lahore without halting anywhere 
 a long and tiring journey.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE REGIMENTAL BALL. 
 
 " WHAT a funny child you are, Alice ; you seem 
 as indifferent about the ball as if you had been to 
 them all your life, and were tired of them. I can 
 well remember my first ball. I thought of nothing 
 else for weeks before, and days after; and you go 
 about the house in the most collected way, unpacking 
 and arranging your things, and seem to forget all 
 about the ball to-night." 
 
 "No, mother, I have not forgotten it, but I do 
 not think I shall care much about it. I would so 
 much rather go to bed." 
 
 " Don't talk stuff, go to bed indeed ! after our 
 tearing up here at the sacrifice of comfort and rest 
 to be in time for the ball, and now you wish to go to 
 bed instead ! Really, you are aggravating. I am the 
 one, and not you, who might wish to go to bed ; and 
 I do too for that dak gharree journey has tired and 
 shaken me dreadfully."
 
 120 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 " I am very sorry, mother dear, but I am sure I 
 wish you had travelled more quietly, and not hurried 
 on this account ; but I suppose father would have 
 been disappointed had we not been in time." 
 
 " Yes, that he would, and all the others in the 
 regiment too, you may be sure ; of course they 
 wished their colonel's daughter to be at their ball, 
 and fresh from England too. You will enjoy it well 
 enough when you get there ; but do go and see about 
 your dress," her mother added. " If you leave it to 
 the ayah, she will be putting all kinds of wrong bows 
 and flowers out to wear with it. These creatures are 
 colour-blind, I think ; they certainly do not know the 
 colours by their right names, and will call everything 
 blue and red that comes as near it as brown and 
 purple." 
 
 " I will go soon and unpack the box with the 
 evening dresses ; but which dress do you wish me to 
 wear ? " inquired Alice. 
 
 "Your white silk of course for your first ball 
 with the pink moss-rosebuds and lilies ; and do try 
 and wake up a little before you go. I know that 
 horrid journey must have tired you ; and I must say I 
 wish the ball had not been fixed for to-night. How- 
 ever, I would rather it had been last night even, than 
 have missed it altogether." 
 
 " I am sure I wouldn't," Alice answered sotto voce, 
 as she saw her mother would be really annoyed if she 
 showed any more dislike to going. " It is ungratefu,
 
 THE REGIMENTAL BALL. 121 
 
 of me too," she thought to herself ; for after all, her 
 mother was only thinking of her pleasure, and it was 
 for this she made the long journey ; and she then and 
 there resolved to do her best at least to appear to 
 enjoy the prospect of the ball. Alice's resolve 
 was a good one ; for young people are very apt to 
 forget, or not notice how often their parents put 
 their own pleasures and conveniences aside for 
 theirs. 
 
 Alice was a strange girl in some ways, indeed, com- 
 pared to the ordinary run of young ladies she was quite 
 peculiar ; for her caring so little about the ball was no 
 affectation ; she never had had any fancy for them. 
 Most girls look forward so to the time when they are to 
 come out, as it is called, and think everything is to be 
 delightful then, and quite couleur de rose. No more 
 horrid school-room and lessons, these can all go to the 
 winds. Now they can go to balls and parties, and 
 picnics and dances, and be courted and admired. 
 This is every girl's dream who goes to India, at 
 least, I am quite sure. 
 
 But such thoughts had never entered Alice's 
 head ; she never looked forward to the day when her 
 lessons would end, and wished it could be post- 
 poned for a little while longer. 
 
 Seventeen years is a very short time for a woman's 
 education, when one thinks of the mission she has to 
 fulfil in life. Alice was no dull bookworm either ; 
 she was a bright, merry girl, full of life and fun, all in
 
 122 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 a natural way, and she seemed to run in her own 
 groove, which was not so regularly carved as those of 
 most young ladies. She spoke her mind freely, and 
 usually said what she meant not quite the way to 
 get on in the world always ; yet it is refreshing to 
 see a girl sometimes different to the cut and dried 
 type of modern society. Alice Lindsay was shy too 
 but no affected shyness it was real feminine modesty 
 and was the secret of the charm about her, which all 
 felt who came in contact with her. 
 
 Shyness in these days is refreshing, not unlike 
 a bank of ferns and cool rippling water to the 
 eye when on a hot summer's day, it turns from the 
 dust and glare of the road. Alice Lindsay was a 
 handsome girl, tall and fair, and there was something 
 very striking in her appearance ; she had an air of 
 unconscious hatiteur too. 
 
 The long-expected evening of the 4th had come, 
 and at the prescribed and fashionable hour of ten 
 o'clock all the lady guests had arrived. The officers j 
 and senior ladies of the 39th were of course there 
 early, in order to receive their guests. 
 
 Balls in India begin as a rule even later than they 
 do in England, which is a pity, as it is far into the 
 small hours before they break up ; three or four 
 o'clock for returning home is not thought at all late. 
 Officers have been known to go straight from the ball- 
 room to parade. The officers of the 39th wished 
 their ball to begin early, and so the invitations were
 
 THE REGIMENTAL BALL. 123 
 
 issued for nine o'clock, and they had also asked their 
 lady guests to be punctual ; some did respond, and 
 came soon after nine o'clock, but at half-past there 
 were only enough to form one quadrille. The 
 colonel opened the ball with the general's wife, and 
 the general himself danced with Miss Lindsay. This 
 ball was to be quite the event of the winter, so far as the 
 gaieties were concerned, it had been looked forward 
 to and prepared for, for so long by all the fair sex. 
 
 The ladies who had been some time in India, and 
 had not been fortunate enough to receive boxes from 
 home, had to put their wits to work to renovate and 
 modernise their dresses, or make new ones, as the case 
 might be ; and their construction was an occupation 
 which monopolised a considerable portion of their 
 time, and was even welcomed by the idle ones as fur- 
 nishing means of frittering away the hours, which in 
 India it is so hard to kill. 
 
 I think if any one had cared to know what some of 
 these ladies were going to wear at the ball, they could 
 easily have found out by paying a few morning calls, 
 as their dirzees had been hard at work on the frills 
 and flounces for some time. The dirzees (native tailors) 
 sit in the verandah, which must be passed through to 
 enter any of the rooms of the bungalow ; and as 
 their ordinary place for working "is generally just 
 outside the drawing-room door, the work they are 
 employed upon is necessarily seen by visitors. The 
 usual front entrance is one of the drawing-room doors.
 
 124 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Anything in the shape of a front door, leading into an 
 entrance-hall, is seldom to be found in an up-country 
 bungalow ; and as all the rooms lead into each other, 
 and nearly every one has doors leading into the 
 verandah, which circumvents the house, it is some- 
 times difficult unless you know a house, to discover 
 unaided the right door to drive up to. It certainly was 
 so at Peshawur, where the bungalows are very badly 
 built, and not nearly so large and comfortable as 
 many down country. They give the idea of having 
 been run up in a great hurry, and intended origin- 
 ally for bachelors, each one apparently having been 
 added to in its turn as the lady inhabitants increased. 
 Nearly all have gardens of some sort, laid out 
 according to the taste of the inmates of the house. 
 Everything grows quickly in India, and with so little 
 trouble little or no cultivation is required that 
 seed is no sooner sown than it springs up, and a 
 newly-made garden is quickly full of flowers and 
 vegetables. You seem to see the actual growth of 
 each plant, not so rapidly perhaps as the beanstalk 
 grows in the pantomime under your eye, but wonder- 
 fully quickly, for the difference of a single night is 
 plainly visible. 
 
 The recollection of these verandah-made ball- 
 dresses makes one realise a little how public is the 
 life of a private individual in India. Let us try and 
 imagine what our feelings would be if, before a ball in 
 England, all our lady and gentleman friends were to
 
 THE REGIMENTAL BALL. 125 
 
 see the dresses we were going to wear, half made, and 
 in the hands of a man too. Yet strange though the 
 notion, that which appears odd in one country is often 
 so natural in another. Certainly Indian life breaks 
 through the ice, and knocks down the barriers of many 
 of our island prejudices. Old Indians as a rule are 
 so much more genial, and less stiff than the un- 
 travelled and home-staying Briton. A reason why, 
 I suppose, they get on so much better with foreigners 
 than do other Englishmen. 
 
 Notwithstanding this advantage, life in India would 
 suit many people better, and be far pleasanter to 
 refined Englishwomen than it is, if they could shut their 
 doors and live more to themselves than they are able 
 to do. It is very trying to have prying eyes always 
 upon you ; to have no privacy of any sort. All your 
 private rooms seem before you accustom yourself to 
 them like entrance halls. They have doors all round 
 which are kept open, with merely a curtain hung 
 on a pole across the open door about half-way up; 
 a necessity in the hot weather to afford free ventila- 
 tion. Conversation in one room can be heard 
 throughout the house. Hence the vagrant ways of 
 Anglo-Indian children ; they roam all over the house, 
 and spend most of their time in the verandah. 
 
 But this is a long digression ; we must return to 
 the ball, which was in nowise different to any other 
 military ball in an up-country station in India. 
 There was the usual display of arms and trophies
 
 126 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 on the walls, the usual long mess-room, on the floor 
 a stretched canvas, and the walls covered half-way up 
 with coloured muslin decorated and festooned with 
 flowers. There was a great deal of spirit about 
 this particular ball, owing to the large number of 
 the ladies who danced, for several had come in 
 from Nowshera, and even one or two from Rawul 
 Pindee. There were quite forty ladies dancing as 
 many as were wanted to keep the ball afoot, and 
 even to allow them to rest occasionally. The floor 
 of an Indian ball-room is very different to an English 
 6ne ; the former is stone and consequently very 
 tiring to the feet, there being no spring in it at 
 all ; thus it is no joke to dance the whole night 
 without sitting down. The effect to be feared on 
 the following day is less exhaustion than foot 
 weariness. 
 
 Quite the excitement of the evening was the 
 appearance of Miss Lindsay, the colonel's daughter ; 
 her first appearance and her first ball. The colonel 
 was so great a favourite that all the officers vied with 
 each other in trying to make it in her honour 
 the best ball that had ever been given in the regi- 
 ment. They did not seem to have failed in their 
 endeavours, to judge by the satisfaction depicted on 
 the faces of the dancers, and the remarks you heard 
 as you threaded your way through them. 
 
 " Gordon, what a fellow you are, to be sure! You 
 have been standing in this corner all the evening
 
 THE REGIMENTAL BALL. 127 
 
 and not attempted to dance. Why do you not 
 go and ask Miss Lindsay for a dance ? " said Hale. 
 
 " I leave that to you, and would willingly resign 
 my turn in your favour had I one. Besides, I 
 should not have much chance of a dance with her 
 now. I expect her card was full five minutes after 
 she arrived." 
 
 " You are right there. I was five minutes late 
 and could only get number eighteen. Rather a 
 bore for her, I should think, being obliged to dance 
 with such a heap of strangers." 
 
 " Yes, she could not have seen one of her partners 
 before. I have been watching Miss Lindsay for 
 some time, and from the observations I have made 
 I have come to the conclusion that balls are not 
 in her line at all. She looks though as if she danced 
 well. What an air of refinement she has ! There 
 is such a distingufe air about her, an unconscious 
 liautcur, so different to all the other women in the 
 room." 
 
 " What has come to you to-night ? Gordon, you 
 do astonish me ! Fancy your taking notes and making 
 observations of a lady, you, the professed woman- 
 avoider, if not hater. You, who always keep out of 
 the way of ladies of all sorts except at balls, 
 when you do sometimes condescend to dance to 
 employ yourself in judging Miss Lindsay's character." 
 
 " Hush, Robert ; don't, for goodness' sake, talk any 
 more rubbish ; half the fun of a ball is when one is
 
 128 A YEAR IN PESIIAWUR. 
 
 not dancing oneself r to criticise those who are, and 
 to think what fools they are for their pains. No 
 wonder that the natives gaze at us in amazement 
 and cannot make out why we men should take so 
 much trouble, and go through so much exercise in 
 such a silly way." 
 
 "Yes, all they do is to lounge in comfortable 
 attitudes whilst others dance for their amusement ; 
 rather different to our mode, certainly." 
 
 " Here comes Miss Lindsay on Chaplin's arm ; 
 what a handsome pair they make, and what a con- 
 trast she is to his own wife pretty as she is too. 
 Now do you not see what I mean ? she is not a bit 
 like a girl at her first ball, she seems so much above 
 it, and not part of it. Yet with all her grandc 
 dame air she looks shy too." 
 
 " Well, Gordon, I must leave you to your own reflec- 
 tions now, as this is my dance with Mrs. Chaplin ; and 
 I hope I shall take Miss Lindsay in to supper, which 
 ought to be ready after number eighteen. By-by." 
 
 " Robert ! come back, I want to speak to you for 
 a minute." Hale came back very unwillingly, as he 
 saw Mrs. Chaplin looking out for him. 
 
 " If supper does not come off after the eighteenth 
 dance and you do not take in Miss Lindsay yourself, 
 do introduce me to her for supper ? " 
 
 " Really, Gordon, your conceit beats everything," 
 said Hale, very much amused. " Do you suppose she 
 will give up rfer partner at the time to go in with
 
 THE REGIMENTAL BALL. 129 
 
 you ? but to oblige you I will see what I can do." 
 After saying this away he flew, and received a scold- 
 ing from his friend Mrs. Chaplin for keeping her 
 waiting so long. " I had very nearly danced with 
 
 Captain G ," she said, "and it would have served 
 
 you right had I done so." However, they soon made 
 peace, and in token of forgiveness she promised 
 him another dance after supper. 
 
 Not the least energetic dancer was the general 
 himself, and he looked as if he danced well too, 
 nor was he in the least awkward either in spite of 
 his one arm. Miss O'Dowd enjoyed herself very 
 much ; she danced several times with her friend Mr. 
 Brown of the 2Oth N.I. the young man who had 
 arrived on the scene in such an a propos manner 
 after the gharree break-down, and prevented Mrs. 
 Vivian and herself from spending a night by the 
 road-side. 
 
 Miss O'Dowd was less expectant since her visit to 
 the hills ; for there I imagine she did not receive 
 exclusive attention from the male sex, and so came 
 to appreciate what was offered to her. Lieutenants 
 Jones and Brown were more attentive to her than 
 any one else ; but unfortunately they had only their 
 pay to live upon, and therefore were not of much 
 account in the matrimonial market. Still, young 
 men with only their pay are not always to be de- 
 spised ; for if steady and careful, they can manage 
 on their pay well enough in the native regiments, 
 
 K
 
 130 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 and when they get an appointment in the regiment 
 can marry on it too. 
 
 This change in Miss O'Dowd's expectations or 
 pretensions since we first knew her, had improved 
 her. And though her partners at this ball did not 
 include any above the rank of lieutenant, being 
 mostly junior lieutenants or ensigns, she was far 
 from unlucky to get them as partners in a crowded 
 ball like this, where there were so many pretty 
 married ladies. 
 
 The young married ladies in India are often more 
 sought after for partners than the unmarried girls ; 
 they have more to say for themselves, for one thing. 
 It was very unusual though, even at Peshawur, to 
 have only two girls at a ball where there were 
 between forty and fifty ladies, and with the excep- 
 tion of three or four, all dancers. 
 
 Charles Gordon was still standing in the corner 
 where he had talked to Robert Hale, and appeared 
 to be intent on watching the dancers, when he 
 heard his name, and felt his arm touched. He 
 turned round ; Hale then and there introduced Miss 
 Lindsay to him, and left her with him. Gordon 
 offered his arm, saying, " May I take you in to 
 supper ? " 
 
 The door of the supper-room was open. It was 
 rather an informal and off-hand way, certainly, of 
 introducing a young lady to a gentleman walking 
 her up to him in that fashion, just as if she had
 
 THE REGIMENTAL BALL. 131 
 
 wished and asked for the introduction and not 
 he. Hale had explained to her that his friend 
 Gordon wished to take her into supper, and asked 
 her to allow him to introduce him, to which she 
 agreed ; then they had walked past Gordon, and on 
 a sudden impulse the introduction was made. 
 
 Gordon at the moment was rather astonished to 
 find himself with Miss Lindsay on his arm. They 
 neither of them spoke until they reached the supper- 
 room, but after Gordon had procured for her the 
 refreshment she wanted, the ice seemed broken, and 
 they found their tongues. 
 
 I think Englishmen generally, unless they are very 
 hungry and greedy, do find it easier to talk to a 
 stranger in the intervals of eating. What they said to 
 each other that evening is not worth recording. They 
 did not get beyond the merest commonplaces; and yet 
 Charles Gordon left Alice Lindsay when her next 
 partner claimed her, with his first impression of her 
 more fully confirmed, viz., that she was unlike most 
 other girls, that she did not seem to care very much 
 for balls, and that she was shy. 
 
 He could not help saying to himself in his cynical 
 way, " I wonder how long she will remain as she 
 is in this infernal country. I hope she will not get 
 like most of them out here a flirting, gadding- 
 about, frivolous lot." 
 
 When proud, scornful Charles Gordon gives way 
 
 K 2
 
 132 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 to such thoughts as these he shows the worst side 
 of his character the hard, bitter, cynical side 
 which hides so much that is good, as the foul earth 
 does the hidden ore. Still, this outburst showing 
 that he is touched marks a change. He the 
 woman despiser, to trouble himself about a girl 
 of seventeen ! But surely all ladies in India are 
 not such as he describes in his sweeping condemna- 
 tion. Is it not that some fair lady has played him 
 false, and so caused . the bitter speeches that ooze 
 out sometimes ? 
 
 This was the case. Charles Gordon had loved, and 
 very deeply too, a pretty little simple girl when he 
 was but twenty, and she only " sweet seventeen." 
 She appeared devoted to him, but after they had 
 been engaged six months she threw him over 
 for another man. This man was far richer than 
 Gordon, but a great contrast to him. A miserable, 
 insignificant creature, twenty years older than the 
 girl she had been made to marry him by her 
 mother. This is what some mothers have to 
 answer for yet the girl took all the blame herself. 
 Gordon had never forgiven or forgotten her, or 
 the happy sunshine in which he basked during the 
 six months' engagement, which was like April 
 sunshine, so fitful yet cheering whilst it lasted. 
 This had soured and hardened him and shaken 
 his faith in women ; he had so loved her and
 
 THE REGIMENTAL BALL. 133 
 
 believed implicitly in her love. He would have pitied 
 her though could he have seen her now, and known 
 the unhappy, miserable life she led. 
 But matrimony is indeed, a lottery-r- 
 
 " Of earthly goods, the best is a good wife ; 
 A bad, the bitterest curse of human life."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES. 
 
 THERE was hardly a creature to be seen on the 
 malle the morning after the ball, except perhaps 
 a doctor or so going his hospital rounds and the 
 officers on duty going to inspect the commis- 
 sariat rations or the soldiers' breakfasts. The first 
 week of the new year was to be a very gay one 
 at Peshawur; there was something going on every 
 day. The day after the ball a grand polo match 
 was to take place against the players from Pindee. 
 It was fixed for that day as they had come in for 
 the ball and some of the players were obliged to 
 return that evening. Since polo has been played 
 in England, we know more about it in these parts 
 than we did. It is a game that was introduced into 
 India from the hills, and it has been played for 
 centuries by some of the hill tribes, and is particularly 
 suited to small men. Light weights only ought to 
 play it ; otherwise it is a cruelty to animals, as the 
 ponies must necessarily be very small, and therefore
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES. 135 
 
 it is seldom heavy men find ponies up to their 
 weight Gordon never attempted to play polo 
 good horseman as he was for he was such a strongly- 
 built, big man, that he always said " he could screw 
 a pony a game, and that would neither suit his pocket 
 nor his feelings ; in fact, he should feel himself to be 
 an utter brute if he attempted it." Cruelty to the 
 lower orders of creation could not be attributed 
 to him. 
 
 Gordon's amusements were hunting, cricket and 
 shooting. Robert Hale was one of the best players 
 of his side, the Valley Team, which was a good 
 match for the Northern Team, and many a goal 
 did either side gain. 
 
 The match was to be the best out of five games, 
 and each game consisted in the best out of five 
 goals. Each side had won two games, and they 
 were playing the conqueror when Hale's pony bolted 
 with him and went right away home. The pony 
 had the temper of a little devil and a mouth of 
 iron, and when roused, no power on earth could 
 stop him, when he had his head turned towards his 
 stable. In spite of Hale's horsemanship, just as he 
 was turning the corner of the road leading into his 
 bungalow, the pony gave a sudden shy which threw 
 the rider, with his head against the stone parapet 
 of the bridge leading to the gate of the com- 
 pound. He was stunned for a short time. His 
 bearer seeing the pony run in without a rider, went
 
 136 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 to the gate to look for his master, whom he found 
 lying, as he at first thought, dead. He knelt down 
 to listen if there were any signs of breathing, and 
 finding that there were, called another servant, and 
 the two carried their master, put him down on his 
 bed, and bathed his head with water. 
 
 In a few minutes the Munros arrived ; they were 
 in their carriage watching the game when the 
 pony ran away with Hale, and as there was no sign 
 of Robert's return they thought they would drive 
 and see what had become of him. Major Munro 
 went into the young man's room and found him in 
 a swoon, but he was more life-like than when the 
 bearer first saw him. Major Munro sent the man 
 off for one of the doctors, and told him to bring 
 any doctor he could find at home, and then took 
 his wife in to see him, saying, " You are almost as 
 good as a doctor, dear, so you had better come 
 and see what you can do for Robert until the 
 ' professional ' arrives." 
 
 " I am sure you know, dear, as much as I do 
 about doctoring, only you do not like taking- the 
 sole responsibility on your own shoulders; that is 
 it, isn't it, old fellow ? you always like me to share 
 your difficulties and so get half the blame." 
 
 " You always have a full share of the glory and 
 pleasures too, so you ought not to complain." 
 
 "Yes, I know I do, and I think more than my 
 share of those, and a very full portion of love and
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES. 137 
 
 kindness," said Mrs. Munro, looking fondly at her 
 husband. 
 
 Hale was as white as the sheet on which he was 
 lying. When Mrs. Munro went into his room she gave 
 quite a start, he looked so ghastly. However, she 
 controlled herself and immediately told the bearer 
 to be quick and bring some brandy, and poured 
 some very strong brandy and water down the sick 
 man's throat, telling the bearer to rub his feet while 
 her husband chafed his hands. The brandy had 
 the desired effect ; Robert opened his eyes, and 
 consciousness seemed to be coming back slowly but 
 surely. 
 
 At this juncture the doctor rushed in. It was 
 perhaps fortunate for Robert that he had had Mrs. 
 Munro as a doctor before this gentleman arrived. 
 
 Dr. Magee, a good-humoured if somewhat brusque 
 Irishman attached to one of the native regiments 
 in the absence of their own doctor on furlough, had a 
 strange mania for thinking that all his patients must 
 have something the matter with their eyes. No 
 matter what their complaint was, he always first 
 asked them after their eyes ; just in the same way 
 as many medicos have a trick of telling their 
 patients to put out their tongues, even if they 
 have nothing much more than a finger-ache the 
 matter with them. 
 
 Dr. Magee's was very negative treatment too; 
 he always tried to make out that the patient who
 
 138 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 sent for him was not ill at all, or at least had only 
 an eye-ache. And when the matter could no longer 
 be disputed on any grounds, he would prescribe 
 handsomely a dose of no trifling proportions, of a 
 mixture of quinine, sarsaparilla and rhubarb, each 
 intended to cure different complaints, and so quite 
 antagonistic to each other. By doing this he 
 thought he was certain to be on the right side, 
 and be sure to hit the right nail on the head in 
 some fashion. For instance, if the patient was 
 suffering from neuralgia or great weakness there 
 was the quinine ; if from other complaints there was 
 due provision in the other two medicines. This at 
 all events was the gossip or more probably the chaff 
 of the messroom ; and it may be taken for granted 
 was largely exaggerated from the actual facts either 
 of his negative treatment or his generous doses. 
 
 Fortunately for Hale he was treated under the 
 system of negation, which consisted in an order to 
 be still until he was better, and he would soon be 
 well that way, an Irish order truly ! The doctor 
 wished him good-by, apparently quite satisfied with 
 himself, and was gone like the whirlwind, as though 
 he had to visit every one in the station. 
 
 Mrs. Munro, as soon as the doctor was out of 
 the room, could not help exclaiming ! " What a 
 mercy Robert was better when he came, and 
 had us with him. That gentleman evidently 
 thought he was shamming. Have you met him
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES. 139 
 
 before, dear ? Are there many as hasty as he 
 seems to be ? " 
 
 " No, to both your questions, my dear," the major 
 answered. " Make your mind easy," he added with 
 a laugh ; "gentlemen such as he do little harm, 
 although it is perhaps fortunate he has no regular 
 appointment. The fact is, he is one of a few who 
 are behind their age and past their work ; and it is 
 only through the good-natured connivance of the 
 inspector-general of hospitals that one of them gets 
 a temporary charge, such as our friend now has, to 
 allow him to dawdle out his time for his pension. " 
 
 " Is it not a great shame ? " inquired the wife, with 
 the indignation natural to a woman, on hearing of 
 such an arrangement. 
 
 "Well it is, and it is not," was the husband's 
 answer. " His stay is short, and his bark worse 
 than his bite. He gets his step, and the arrange- 
 ment permits a hardworked man to get a spell of 
 rest. But come, dear, attend to your patient, he 
 may want you." 
 
 The Munros did not leave Robert until he was 
 much better, and then they told the bearer to put 
 up his things, and himself to come over to their 
 bungalow, for that night in any case. They knew 
 the poor youth would otherwise be all alone, as he 
 was not fit for mess, and his head might get bad; 
 and the good, kind people always thought of every- 
 thing that could do good to others.
 
 140 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 The Blue Scarves or Valley Team lost the match. 
 They were winning before Hale's pony ran away 
 with him. They either had no more luck or else 
 their hearts failed them and they lost their spirit 
 when their best player was gone, for after that time 
 they did not make another goal ; so the Red Scarves 
 or Northern Team were victorious. Their victory, 
 though, was hardly won some little satisfaction to 
 the vanquished. There is more credit in being 
 hardly beaten than in winning an unequal victory. 
 So soon as the game was over, the players rode 
 up to the dressing tent, put on their coats and 
 comforters, had the blankets put on their panting 
 and hot ponies, and then strolled up to where the 
 ladies were sitting, and the band was playing. The 
 artillery band was doing duty on this day, and a gay 
 sight the polo ground was, in the middle of the 
 afternoon, with the bright red and blue scarves flying 
 about on ponies of various hues, swinging their sticks 
 and shouting to their companions. There were twelve 
 playing' on each side. Then there was a number of 
 carriages of all sorts, from the general's barouche 
 and the Munros 1 Victoria phaeton to the various tea- 
 carts, turn-turns and buggies, as well as several fair 
 equestrians. 
 
 Mrs. Chaplin was riding with her husband, and 
 Gordon was with them that afternoon rather unusual 
 for him to be seen riding with a lady. He had 
 taken off his hat to Miss Lindsay and asked her how
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES. 141 
 
 she was after the ball, and passed on, as the colonel's 
 carriage was beset by a whole heap of youngsters, "and 
 he was not going to talk to a lady in a crowd like 
 that," he said to himself. The colonel was walking 
 about, but after the game was over, he came up with 
 the general to the carriage, and took his wife and 
 daughter to the refreshment tent, to have tea or 
 coffee, which had been prepared for the lady spec- 
 tators. This was the polo club entertainment, in 
 honour of their match against the team from Rawul 
 Pindee. 
 
 Mrs. Chaplin asked Gordon if he had seen Robert 
 Hale's pony running away with him, and he answered 
 that he had turned to follow him, when he found 
 the Munros were going to look after him. Then he 
 added, very bitterly, " What a lucky fellow he is to 
 have some one to care for him, and people like the 
 Munros too ; for they could hardly be kinder were 
 they his parents." 
 
 " Yes, they are very good to him, but so they are 
 to all," said Mrs. Chaplin. " I can never forget 
 what Mrs. Munro did for me when I was ill in the 
 hot weather." 
 
 Here their conversation was interrupted by one 
 of the players, an officer of the 4th Bengal cavalry, 
 bringing Mrs. Chaplin a cup of coffee. The players 
 in the match all belonged to the artillery and cavalry 
 with the exception of Hale and Brown, who repre- 
 sented the European and native infantry. There
 
 142 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 were other players in the infantry, but the best 
 players only were chosen for the match. 
 
 It was dusk when the game was over, and after 
 the tea and coffee, or soda-water and lemonade 
 had been partaken of, both players and spectators 
 dispersed. There was to be a large dinner that night 
 at the artillery mess. 
 
 The next day, the other European regiment, the 
 58th, gave a large ladies' dinner party out of com- 
 pliment to Mrs. and Miss Lindsay, who were the 
 honoured guests. After dinner an impromptu dance 
 was got up, so far impromptu, that although there 
 was a canvas stretched in one of the rooms in readi- 
 ness, it was unexpected by the guests, who had only 
 been asked to the dinner to which very few bachelors 
 outside the regiment had been asked though many 
 came in the evening for the dance. For as many 
 ladies as possible, including the general's wife, the 
 commissioner's wife, and all the other civilians had 
 been invited. 
 
 There had been a cricket match in the afternoon 
 which presented as gay a scene as the polo match 
 of the day before, and with the same attraction. The 
 next day there was a large garden party at the 
 general's, to which all the station was asked bad- 
 minton and croquet being the diversions. The 
 general's party was the closing dissipation of the 
 week, and being Saturday, there was no evening 
 entertainment. This had been a remarkably gay
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES. 143 
 
 time for Peshawur. The artillery talked of giving 
 a ball, but that was in the horizon at present ; so 
 the gay butterflies would have time to go through 
 the chrysalis stage again before bursting forth into 
 gorgeous attire. 
 
 The soldiers' sports were to come off the next 
 week ; they were to have a regular performance, 
 and prizes were to be given, for which subscriptions 
 had been raised some time before. The competitors 
 on these days were to be taken from every regiment 
 in the place. The usual sports of the foot-soldiers 
 were gone through on the first day, and were very 
 tedious to witness. They were much the same kind 
 only not so good as may be seen in a public school 
 at home. The sports of the mounted branch were 
 fixed for the second day, when there was a goodly 
 assembly of ladies to witness them. 
 
 The principal performers were the men of the two 
 Bengal cavalry regiments, and a sprinkling of artil- 
 lerymen. These sports consisted of " naza bazi," 
 or tent-pegging, lime-cutting, tilting at the ring and 
 " gud ka bazi," or single-stick, on horseback. They 
 were held on the parade ground of the 4th Bengal 
 Cavalry, as it afforded the largest space of any. The 
 men of the 4th were great experts at tent-pegging, 
 and rode at the peg in a wild dashing way, 
 giving a kind of prolonged yell which exploded into 
 a shout if they were victorious in carrying off the 
 peg at the end of the spear, which they whirled
 
 144 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 triumphantly until it rested on a shoulder. The 
 horses seemed to enjoy the sport as much as their 
 riders, although they received many a blow poor 
 beasts, on their heads from an inexpert rider, who 
 would constantly turn the spear sharp round on 
 to the horse but from such riders only. 
 
 Each man had three trials, and those who did not 
 lift a peg at all, were out of it altogether; those 
 who did do so, had to go on against each other until 
 the best was left in. If one man in his first three 
 trials took a peg out each time, he was the victorious 
 one, unless another did the same, when they would 
 of course be ties, and would be obliged to play 
 them off. 
 
 After the tent-pegging came the lime-cutting. For 
 this, limes or oranges were stuck on to sticks 
 planted in the ground, and these the sowars had 
 to cut with their swords as they passed at full gallop. 
 Then came tilting at the ring, which all did well. 
 The sowars belonging to the 4th Bengal Cavalry 
 carried off every prize for " naza bazi," they were 
 out and out the best at it. " Gud ka bazi " is a sort 
 of single stick ; very good practice, but very worry- 
 ing to the horses, and is the cause of many disputes, 
 as there are so many rules requiring on the umpire's 
 part a very keen eye to detect which man has been hit, 
 for they are apt to declare simultaneously that each 
 has hit the other. In " gud ka bazi " the players are 
 obliged to wear wire masks to protect their faces from
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES. 145 
 
 the blows of the sticks. There was the same sort 
 of tent there is a great similarity in all regimental 
 entertainments with chairs arranged outside for the 
 ladies to sit upon, as has been before described ; 
 likewise tea and coffee supplied by the mess of the 
 4th, but no band, as native cavalry regiments do not 
 boast one. 
 
 Miss Lindsay came with her father to see these 
 sports; they did not dismount, but rode up and down 
 and watched the games from their saddles. The 
 colonel wanted his daughter to dismount and sit 
 with the other ladies ; but she preferred, she said, her 
 horse as her companion ; he at least would not require 
 her to talk, and she was so tired of talking to the 
 same people. The two ladies she would have to sit 
 next to, Mrs. Green and Mrs. Lowther, " had " she 
 declared " nothing to say for themselves," or at least 
 can only talk of the ball, and think I can never tire of 
 hearing what a good one they thought it, and how 
 much they enjoyed it, and how popular the officers 
 of the 39th were, and how they would be missed 
 when they left, and all the rest of it." 
 
 The colonel laughed at his daughter's vehemence 
 but he humoured her, saying, " You must have your 
 own way I suppose, though you should get accus- 
 tomed to vapid conversation, as no one in this 
 country has much to talk about beyond passing 
 events in the station. I fancy the babies form a fund 
 for conversation among the married ladies ; but they 
 
 L
 
 146 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 would not think you would be interested to know 
 how many more teeth Mrs. Green's baby has than 
 Mrs. Lowther's." 
 
 " Well, papa, I think the babies would interest me 
 as much as the everlasting ball, and ' how pretty 
 Mrs. D.'s dress was.' I hate balls, and I do not 
 wish to go to any more." 
 
 They had no opportunity of pursuing the con- 
 versation, for as Colonel Lindsay was about to 
 reply, Gordon rode up to where they were, and re- 
 mained with them. The colonel presently moved 
 away to talk to a lady who had ridden up, the wife 
 of one of the officers in the 4th cavalry, who pre- 
 tended to know as much about the sowars and their 
 horses, as if she were the adjutant himself. The 
 lady amused Colonel Lindsay immensely, for she 
 talked to him as if he could not possibly know 
 anything about horses. I suppose she thought no 
 one in an infantry regiment could be supposed to be 
 conversant on the topic. To draw her out, the 
 colonel, in his funny way, encouraged her in the 
 belief, and feigned ignorance. Mrs. Townley was 
 very matter-of-fact over it all, and did not see he was 
 laughing at her. She told him the pedigree of the 
 horse she was riding, and then questioned him about 
 his own. At last she said, " Are you not afraid to 
 ride that horse out hunting ? " 
 
 " Why ? " said the amused and good-natured 
 colonel.
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES. 147 
 
 " Because he seems to be rather weak in his fore 
 legs, and his knees look puffy and swollen." 
 
 This was too much for Colonel Lindsay's gravity. 
 He could not restrain a laugh, but Mrs. Townley 
 did not even then see he was laughing at her. He 
 answered at last dryly and quietly, " Denmark is a 
 weight carrier, Mrs. Townley, and up to fifteen 
 stone, and I only weigh twelve stone, saddle and 
 all. What you take for puffy knees are sinews and 
 strength." 
 
 But Mrs. Townley was well known in the regiment 
 for her affected though superficial knowledge of 
 horses, and the colonel like the other gentlemen was 
 careful not to undeceive her too abruptly so he 
 turned the conversation. The lady also thought her- 
 self a splendid rider, and far the best in the station. 
 She asked Colonel Lindsay if his daughter was fond 
 of riding, and when he told her " Alice had ridden 
 all her life," suggested that they should meet on 
 the parade ground one morning, and have a try at 
 the ring together. 
 
 " What time do you ride in the morning, Mrs. 
 Townley ? " 
 
 " Oh, about eight o'clock these cold mornings, one's 
 hands get so numb if one starts earlier." 
 
 " That is the hour I am always on parade, or 
 on some duty, I go out every morning at eight; 
 but of course any Thursday the station holiday 
 I am at liberty, and if my daughter feels 
 
 L 2
 
 148 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 inclined I will bring her next Thursday, will that 
 suit you ? " 
 
 " Oh ! yes, any morning will do for me, Thursday- 
 is the best day, as we have the parade-ground to 
 ourselves then." 
 
 " What a boon it was to us all when Lord F. 
 instituted the Thursday holiday the, soldier's Sunday 
 I enjoy that morning as much as the youngest 
 private, perhaps more. Alice is going to be my 
 commanding officer on those days, so I shall not be 
 so well off as the soldiers now." 
 
 Here Captain Townley rode up and carried off his 
 wife; and when Colonel Lindsay looked round for 
 his daughter, he could not see her at first, as she 
 was not where he had left her, and a few minutes 
 elapsed before he discovered her, in the dusk, riding 
 up and down with Gordon. He cantered up to 
 them saying, " Alice, Mrs. Townley has been 
 amusing me so much that I almost forgot your 
 existence ! " 
 
 " You are a nice sort of a father," said Alice, laugh- 
 ing, " you certainly looked as if you were very much 
 taken up with Mrs. Townley. Is not she the lady of 
 the 4th who can talk of nothing but horses and the 
 regiment ? I heard Mrs. Munro speaking of her the 
 other day, and she was pointed out to me at the 
 ball." 
 
 " Yes, she is a little too much in that style, but she 
 is rather fun all the same; by the by, I told her I
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES. 149 
 
 would take you on Thursday morning to have a try 
 with her at the ring, if you felt inclined." 
 
 " I should like to try and gallop at the ring one 
 morning, but I cannot go next Thursday." 
 
 " Why not, dear ? " 
 
 " Because I have just promised Mr. Gordon that 
 you and I would go to the race-course and see his 
 horse taken round." 
 
 " Do you not think you are a presumptuous young 
 lady to make plans for your father as if he were 
 nothing more animate than ' Psycho ? ' What horse 
 did you want me to see, Gordon ?" 
 
 Charles Gordon had only heard a portion of the 
 conversation between the colonel and his daughter, 
 but enough to see there was some difficulty 
 about his plan ; he immediately said, " Oh ! I hope 
 it will not inconvenience you, sir, to come to 
 the course on Thursday morning. Miss Lindsay 
 said she was mistress of the ceremonies that morn- 
 ing, and could do with you as she pleased ; so I 
 ventured to ask if she would entice you to the 
 race-course to see ' Plutarch ' go round. I want to 
 enter him for the Waler's handicap, at the spring 
 meeting." 
 
 " You will ruin your horse if you race him." 
 
 " Do you think so, sir ? Hale is going to ride him 
 round for me ; I am too heavy to train him." 
 
 " I would come in a moment, only I made a sort 
 of engagement with Mrs. Townley, but I suppose we
 
 150 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 can put it off. Alice, can't we manage to ask her to 
 come with us too ? " and turning to Gordon, he 
 added, "She is a grand judge of a horse, and would 
 help you better than I can. At all events I feel 
 dumbfounded before her. She has informed me that 
 my horse is not up to my weight, and has made me 
 quite nervous ! " 
 
 " After that," replied Gordon, laughing, " we will 
 dispense with her opinion, if not with her company ; 
 the latter, Miss Lindsay must decide." 
 
 " I do not think we need ask her, father. She would 
 be rather in our way perhaps. I can ride with her 
 any other morning as you made no actual promise." 
 
 It was decided that they should accede to 
 Gordon's wish and meet on the course. Gordon had 
 got over his shyness with Miss Lindsay, and in truth 
 was astonished at himself when he found how little 
 effort it required to speak to her as compared with 
 other ladies.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 MORNING VISITS. 
 
 THE balls and parties, and the sports and pastimes 
 being over, the English in Peshawur subsided into 
 the usual routine of their daily life. The days were 
 passed, as far as the time was concerned, much as 
 they are at home. Day is not turned into night, 
 nor night into day, as in the hot weather. It was 
 possible to play badminton and croquet all the after- 
 noon without fear of sunstroke, and the games usually 
 began between three and four o'clock, or as soon after 
 tiffin as possible. The ordinary hour for the meal 
 in the winter is two o'clock, as up to that time you 
 are liable to be invaded by visitors. From twelve 
 until two are the visiting hours for visits of cere- 
 mony ; only your intimate friends call in the after- 
 noon. They come to see you, and do not heartily 
 wish as they drive up to your door, that the answer 
 will be " Mem sahib bhar gea " (the lady is out), as 
 most callers do, if only to save them the trouble of 
 getting out of the carriage.
 
 152 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 The Indian rules, too, about visiting are exactly 
 opposite to the English ones. In England it is only 
 your most intimate friends who invade your house at 
 twelve noon, not ordinary acquaintances. At home 
 it is the custom for the residents in the place to call 
 on the new comers, and then only after some kind of 
 introduction. Perfect strangers do not knock at your 
 door and ask to be let in, because desirous of making 
 your acquaintance ! The fact that there are no doors 
 to be knocked at in India is perhaps partly the origin 
 of the custom of new arrivals " going the round of 
 the station," as it is called, which is literally driving 
 from house to house where there is a lady and sending 
 your cards into her by the bearer, who brings back a 
 " salaam " and you enter. Cards have always to 
 precede you whenever you pay a visit, as the native 
 servants make such " hashes " of European names, 
 that the lady of the house would not otherwise 
 know who her visitors were. The real origin of the 
 custom may be that in former days many, many 
 years ago, of course a new comer used actually to 
 drive up to a house, the inmates of whom he only 
 perhaps knew by name, and ask to be taken in. 
 Every man's house, so far from being his castle, 
 seems in those days to have been everybody 
 else's, and at any one's disposal ; something 
 like the baronial castles of old in England, where 
 travellers and pilgrims were admitted, and food 
 and shelter given them for the night.
 
 MORNING VISITS. 153 
 
 The old Indian days that our fathers talk of with 
 such pleasure were the halcyon days of Anglo-Indian 
 life, never to come again. English ways and English 
 formalities are daily gaining ground, although no one 
 can ever become as rigid and ceremonious in that 
 country, under the influence of the melting sun and 
 open door life, as in foggy, depressing old England ; 
 which yet with all her fogs and all her much-abused 
 weather, is undoubtedly the best country in the world 
 for English people. 
 
 Out of the old custom of literally walking into a 
 stranger's house with bag and bedding has no doubt 
 grown the rigid rule of new arrivals calling on the 
 residents instead of waiting to be called on. It is a 
 very trying ordeal to go through, and lately it has 
 become very much the habit for the husband to go 
 round alone and call on all the married people, as well 
 as on the bachelors, and regimental messes. The draw- 
 back to this is that it gives the husbands a double 
 round, and many become mutinous on that score. 
 For example, after the husband has called on all the 
 ladies, they call on his wife with their husbands if 
 they can catch them at the visiting hour. Then the 
 new arrival has to return these visits, dragging her 
 poor husband after her, he silently, if not loudly, 
 vowing the whole time that this shall be his last visit- 
 ing tour as long as he is in the place. The officers of 
 a Queen's regiment here and there sometimes try 
 to reverse this rule, and wait for the residents to call ;
 
 154 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 but they have to wait in vain, and they end in know- 
 ing only half the people, and are called exclusive, 
 and stuck-up. 
 
 Mrs. Lindsay and her daughter were of course 
 called upon by all the ladies in the station, as the 
 colonel knew them all, and had done his duty in 
 visiting when he first arrived. Every day almost, 
 as it struck twelve, visitors began pouring in, and 
 the ladies had quite a levfe every morning for a 
 week, by which time nearly all in the place had paid 
 their respects. 
 
 When Miss Lindsay became accustomed to the 
 early hour at which she was obliged to sit in state 
 and help her mother receive visitors, she found it 
 rather amusing on the whole, but very bewilder- 
 ing, as neither she nor her mother could always tell 
 who was who a number of cards being occasionally 
 brought in together, with the natural result of 
 mistakes and explanations. One lady, whose hus- 
 band was in the Bengal cavalry, was really quite 
 indignant, and did not try to conceal it either, 
 merely because Mrs. Lindsay took her for some- 
 body else, whose husband was in the native infantry. 
 The way she drew herself together, tossed her head, 
 and turned up her nose, was amusing in the extreme, 
 and, as Mrs. Lindsay remarked to her husband 
 afterwards, " She looked as if Mrs. Button, for whom 
 I took her, was as far removed from her as the low 
 caste Hindoo is from the high caste Brahmin ; and
 
 MORNING VISITS. 155 
 
 poor Mrs. Dutton, too, was so near, talking to Alice, I 
 was afraid she would notice Mrs. Townley's manner, 
 or the tone in which she spoke." 
 
 " Mrs. Dutton had not an idea of it, mother, I am 
 quite sure ; she was talking to me the whole time about 
 Lyme ; she knows the place well, and knows our old 
 friends the Blacks and Deans, and had heard from 
 Fanny Dean by the last mail. I liked her far better 
 than Mrs. Townley at least so far as I could judge 
 by her appearance." 
 
 " I do not wonder, my dear," the mother replied, 
 " that you should be little taken with the appearance 
 of Mrs. Townley" (for it was no other than our friend 
 of the 4th B.C). " There are tastes and tastes ; but 
 neither you nor I care for conversation that is nearly 
 always about horses." 
 
 "Townley is a great man for horses," said the 
 general. " He turns an honest penny that way when 
 he can. I believe he buys these Cabullee horses and 
 breaks them in himself, and sells them for double 
 what he gave for them. The natives here call him 
 the 'saudagur sahib'" (merchant). After a pause, he 
 added, "Tell me, Mary, how it happened that you 
 mistook the two ladies ? It was unfortunate, for 
 the cavalry ladies especially Mrs. Townley would 
 hate to be taken for a native infantry officer's wife, 
 on whom some of the silly ones affect to look down." 
 "Very foolish and small-minded certainly, and 
 what the difference is I cannot make out."
 
 156 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 " There is no real difference in the class of officers, 
 and they are all now in th'e staff corps. There is 
 something more aristocratic in the cavalry service 
 than in the infantry, that is all; and as the Bengal 
 cavalry is very poorly paid, and more costly, it 
 can only be for the love of the service that officers 
 choose it." 
 
 Thus they went on discussing their tiffin and their 
 visitors, when presently the colonel inquired, 
 
 " Has Gordon called yet ? " 
 
 " No, I do not think so, but there were a number 
 of men who called yesterday, and came in one 
 after the other. I think there were six gentlemen 
 at one time in the room ; he might have been one 
 of them." 
 
 " No, he was not," replied Alice, " Mr. Gordon is 
 not a bit like any of the officers who called yesterday ; 
 he is so very tall, and they were all short at least, 
 in comparison with him." 
 
 " He is not a calling man or a lady's man ; however, 
 as he is in my regiment he is sure to pay his respects 
 one day," observed the colonel. 
 
 " That young Mr. Brown who was here to-day I 
 hear is in love with Miss O'Dowd," said Mrs. Lindsay. 
 
 "What, the fair girl who called with that very 
 motherly-looking lady ? " inquired Alice. 
 
 " Yes, the same." 
 
 " She will be a fortunate girl, I think," remarked 
 the colonel ; " for the man is a gentleman. And there
 
 MORNING VISITS. 157 
 
 is something on foot in that quarter. Mrs. O'Dowd 
 has an eye to her young ones, and she wants to 
 marry her daughter to an officer and a gentleman." 
 
 " Mr. Brown is a gentlemanly man, but there does 
 not seem to be much in him." 
 
 " No, but he is a good, straightforward young 
 officer, and steady going as time itself I should 
 say. There is some story about his saving Miss 
 O'Dowd and Mrs. Vivian from a dak gharree 
 accident ; and he often met her in the hills afterwards 
 and became intimate. The father gets on very well 
 with all the youngsters he is so cheery and good- 
 natured." 
 
 " From what I have seen of the ladies as yet, I am 
 sure I shall like Mrs. Munro and Mrs. Chaplin the 
 best ; Mrs. Munro is charming, she has such a sweet, 
 gentle manner." 
 
 " Yes, Alice, Mrs. Munro is a thoroughly good, kind 
 person, and a real and staunch friend ; no superficial 
 nonsense about her." 
 
 " What Hale's mother has to thank her for, 
 is beyond description," said Colonel Lindsay. 
 " Humanly speaking, that boy would not have been 
 here now, if it had not been for her nursing ; and she 
 will do the same for any one who is ill." 
 
 "Mrs. Munro is a 'ministering angel' in very 
 truth ; and hers is not a solemn puritanical religion 
 either, she sheds cheerfulness and brightness wherever 
 she goes."
 
 158 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 " And her against sweet cheerfulness was placed, 
 Whose eyes like twinkling stars in evening cleare, 
 Were deckt with smyles, and all sad humours chased, 
 And darted forth delights, the which her goodly grac'd." 
 
 " Dear me ! it is half-past three," exclaimed the 
 colonel, starting up, "and I promised to meet the 
 general at four ; he wants to have a private look at 
 my workshop, and the plans of working the other 
 departments." 
 
 " Oh, papa, you said you would take me one 
 day." 
 
 " Yes, and so I will ; but to-day will not do for you, 
 as the general wants to poke about, and look into all 
 the nooks and corners, and it would tire you ; so you 
 had better go for a drive with your mother to-day." 
 
 " Yes ; I must go and see Mrs. Munro and ask how 
 Mr. Hale is, poor young man ! I heard he had a terri- 
 ble fall and was taken to the Munros' house. After 
 that we might go to the band, it plays on the malle 
 to-night, and it is the day for the 58th." 
 
 " Very well, mother ; I am glad we have no party 
 for to-day ; what a whirl we have been in since we 
 arrived." 
 
 " Yes, we have not had much time to ourselves as 
 yet, but the gaiety will soon be all over." 
 
 " I wish we could have our mornings to ourselves. I 
 do not like these morning visitors ; one does not feel 
 inclined to talk to strangers at that hour, and it 
 seems such waste of ime, too, for afterwards comes
 
 MORNING VISITS. 159 
 
 tiffin, and then we have to go out, and the day is 
 gone." 
 
 " Keep to that feeling, Alice, and you will not find 
 time a dead weight as so many do in this country. 
 Instead of regretting wasted time they generally 
 wish to waste it faster." 
 
 The next morning being the Thursday on which 
 Alice and her father had promised to meet Gordon on 
 the race-course, they wended their way there about 
 half-past eight and found a large gathering of people 
 collected to watch the horses go round. There were 
 so many to be tried, and their owners with their friends 
 were all there. Nearly all the polo players and their 
 ponies were present, as there was to be a special race 
 for bonafide polo ponies. 
 
 Gordon's horse, " Plutarch," was ready to be taken 
 round when the Lindsays rode up. Hale was not 
 well enough to ride, so a soldier took him round. 
 Colonel Lindsay told Gordon he thought he would 
 have a good chance for " the race for Walers' for 
 stakes only," but for the "Valley Cup race" his 
 chance he thought very doubtful, as he would be too 
 heavily weighted, the handicaps being according to 
 height and breed, and the Walers were to carry the 
 heaviest weights. 
 
 Miss Lindsay was immediately besieged by re- 
 quests to enter her horse for the " Bracelet Race.'' 
 She did not at all wish to race her mare " Finella," 
 and did her best to get out of it, but had to give in
 
 160 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 at last as she could not resist all the importunities 
 of those who were arranging the meeting. They 
 kept on saying that the race would fall through al- 
 together if there were not sufficient entries for it ; 
 and it was to be exclusively for ladies' horses no 
 bachelor was to be allowed to ask a lady to ride his 
 horse, and then enter it as a lady's horse, as had 
 been done before. 
 
 Her father told her on the way home, that he was 
 glad she had agreed to let Finella try for the 
 bracelet as he thought she had a fair chance ; and 
 being only a half mile race, training for it could not 
 possibly hurt her " I think Finella will beat Mrs. 
 Townley's horse, in any case ; did you see her 
 galloping round ? " 
 
 "Yes, and wondered how she had the courage to 
 do so all alone, there being so many lookers-on." 
 
 Alice knew very little about " half mile " and 
 " mile races," it was all Greek to her. Really, in the 
 course of the few days she had been in Peshawur, what 
 a whirl of novelty she had already passed through ! 
 " Everything so strange and new " she thought to 
 herself ; " I wonder if I ever shall get accustomed to 
 it all. The days even seem turned upside down. As 
 soon as you are up you are in society, and before 
 breakfast you meet the world and his wife ; then at an 
 hour that you would think your own at least free 
 from ceremony you have to be prepared for receiv- 
 ing visitors, the larger proportion being gentlemen in
 
 MORNING VISITS. 161 
 
 gay uniforms. One seems to be all day long at the 
 beck and call of others. I must say I wish I had 
 a little more time to myself." These, and such like 
 thoughts engaged her whilst they were riding home, 
 until her father broke the silence by asking what was 
 the subject of her meditation ? He attributed her 
 silence and abstraction to another reason, which will 
 be seen by his next words, for he had only elicited 
 from her a monosyllabic reply. 
 
 " He is a fine fellow, Gordon : there is not an 
 officer in the regiment I like better ; but he has 
 the character of being a silent, reserved man, and 
 ladies are not fond of him ; although he is popular 
 enough with his brother officers, and a splendid 
 soldier to boot. " 
 
 " Mr. Gordon has more to say for himself than any 
 one I have met yet. They all seem to think one 
 incapable of conversing on any subject but the 
 weather and the journey out. I. have hardly heard 
 any of them make a sensible remark except Mr. 
 Gordon." 
 
 "You have not had many opportunities of judging 
 yet, Alice : you have only met him three or four 
 times. However, he certainly has appeared to me to 
 be more gracious to you than to most ladies, for he 
 professes to despise the sex. I think he must have 
 a history, I have often thought so from the bitter 
 tones he uses sometimes." 
 
 " Does he, father ? Poor man ! " 
 
 M
 
 1 62 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 " Dear me ! talking of Gordon reminds me that 
 he and the other madcaps asked me for ten 
 days' leave to visit the district again where they 
 got into such difficulties before. I must forward the 
 application to the general to-day. It is very foolish 
 of them to go there, they will be having their heads 
 cut off next." 
 
 " What ever do you mean, father ? I have heard 
 nothing about it ! "' 
 
 " Oh, has not Gordon told you ? Why he and Hale, 
 Mr. Fuller and Mr. Peters, of the 2Oth N.I., were 
 taken prisoners by some of the wild people ; they 
 rescued a bride elect from the murderous clutches 
 of her father, and so came off with glory. " 
 
 " Dear me, how interesting ! do tell me more about 
 it." 
 
 " No, you had better ask Mr. Gordon to tell you the 
 whole story : he will do it better than I can ; and we 
 must hurry home now or your mother will think we 
 have forgotten all about breakfast. Why, it is ten 
 o'clock ! " 
 
 So the days sped on, and February and inspections 
 drew nigh ; after that, the spring race meeting was 
 to come off, and then again the season for going 
 to the hills would soon come round : this was the 
 programme to outward view, but much was to happen 
 to that little community, at least before they 
 separated for the summer. 
 
 Alice and Mrs. Townley had their ride at the ring,
 
 MORNING VISITS. 163 
 
 and to Mrs. Townley's amazement Alice rode at the 
 ring with the long spear in her hand as if she had 
 often done it before, instead of only for the first time. 
 There was so much natural ease and grace about 
 Alice Lindsay's riding, for she was perfectly at home 
 on horseback. 
 
 It was only natural that Mrs. Townley should not 
 like to be outshone by another. Nevertheless in this 
 particular instance she showed herself to be possessed 
 of a certain generosity of mind. She was willing to 
 admit that Miss Lindsay would beat her after a little 
 practice, as her first effort had been so successful. 
 Mrs. Townley rode well, but thought she rode better 
 than she did, forgetting that good horsemanship does 
 does not consist in simply a quiet canter down a 
 straight road on a quiet horse. If she attempted to 
 go across country she would often discover that the 
 ground was bad for her horse's legs. 
 
 Up to this time Mrs. Chaplin had been undoubt- 
 edly the best lady rider in Peshawur, though it now 
 seemed possible that, with experience, Miss Lindsay 
 might prove a friendly rival. But the latter was as 
 yet little accustomed to ride untrained horses ; for in 
 England horses are broken in properly before a lady 
 mounts them, whereas in India she has to ride all 
 sorts, and seldom troubles herself about the matter. 
 
 Mrs. Chaplin and Miss Lindsay became great 
 friends, and were constantly together, and as Robert 
 Hale was nearly always with them too, a few busy 
 
 M 2
 
 164 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 bodies or " idle bodies " rather tried to make out 
 he was falling in love with Miss Lindsay. Not a 
 difficult thing to do by any means ; all who knew her 
 did fall in love with her in some degree. Her ex- 
 tremely natural ways were 'perfectly bewitching, and 
 both men and women admired her. She was a 
 favourite with all. 
 
 " Women will love her, that she is a woman 
 More worth than any man ; men, that she is 
 The rarest of all women." 
 
 Hale was falling in love with her, but he had 
 not discovered it. And there was danger in being so 
 much in each other's company; a danger which all 
 saw except those most nearly concerned, who are 
 often the blindest to what concerns them most. 
 The Lindsays never gave Hale a thought ; it was so 
 natural to see him with the Chaplins and Munros, and 
 when Alice Lindsay became one of their set as one 
 may say the constant association of the two, did not 
 astonish them, or raise any suspicion of a growing 
 attachment on his part.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE DOG FIGHT. 
 
 GORDON had asked the colonel for ten days' dis- 
 trict leave for himself before the extra week's drills 
 previous to the February inspection. As we have 
 seen, the 39th was always ready for inspection, and 
 was as near perfection as any body of human beings 
 could be in their organised regimental form. Yet 
 they were never fagged with over drilling, nor did they 
 know what bullying was. Colonel Lindsay ought 
 to have imparted his secret to some other command- 
 ing officers who, as the inspection time drew near, 
 put themselves into such a fever of worry and flurry, 
 that their unfortunate adjutants, poor fellows, did 
 not know what it was to have a meal in peace. No 
 sooner would the adjutant return from the colonel's 
 bungalow, than half a dozen " chits " came flying in 
 about the most trivial and childish things : such 
 as " Jemader Kali Khan's coat does not fit properly 
 higher on one shoulder than the other ; " or, " Mozuff
 
 166 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Deen's pugree is pulled down too much over one 
 ear;" or, "I noticed a spot of rust on Mohamed 
 Khan's saddle mountings." The commanding officer 
 who can waste his time on such foolish nonsense 
 and yet nothing is too trivial for such to worry 
 about ought to be deprived of the command of 
 his regiment and made to work under a command- 
 ing officer ; for men of this kind are not fit for real 
 service, they can play at soldiers, and are at home 
 on parade. Such an officer is sure to lose his 
 head on service, and think more of the regiment 
 advancing for a charge in exact line, the horses' noses 
 not an inch in front of each other ; or, if it be infan- 
 try his men's thoughts must be taken up with the 
 mode of shouldering their bayonets. 
 
 The general at Peshawur was a thorough born 
 soldier, just the man to command an army on 
 service. He must have seen through these fidgety 
 commanding officers, and laughed in his sleeve at 
 them. He would have done well to have given them 
 some good advice on the subject, and officers and men 
 would have been everlastingly grateful. A man who 
 bullies his subordinates never improves his regiment, 
 but only demoralises it. However, the 39th was 
 an uncommonly fortunate corps in every way. The 
 colonel and officers were all more or less popular, 
 so the regiment contrasted more strongly with others 
 than it would have done even had they not been 
 so nearly perfect. Their perfection was almost their
 
 THE DOG FIGHT. 167 
 
 fault, for the soldiers were, if possible, too well cared 
 for. 
 
 Gordon obtained his leave as well as the others, 
 but they all cried off except himself; he could not 
 even persuade Hale to come with him, who said he 
 had had enough of the Afghans the last time he was 
 out, and he was not going to put himself into their 
 clutches again. Gordon tried to quiz him, and told 
 him that as they had got off with such flying colours 
 when everything had been against them he ought to 
 try again. Hale was impervious to persuasion ; he 
 said he would wait until they marched down country, 
 when they would be out of the way of these murder- 
 ous fellows. He had shuddered too often the night 
 he was alone in the Afghan village to forget his 
 feelings in a hurry, and especially when he saw their 
 lethal-looking knives, and how easily and readily they 
 handled them. It was all very well to fight them in 
 open battle, but a stab in the dark was more than he 
 cared for. 
 
 Hale was not far wrong in his judgment. He was 
 no coward, but a plucky little man, and fond of 
 sport ; but he was wise not to invade the districts 
 where the people were so addicted to murder and 
 revenge. Although Mohamed Alii was friendly to 
 them, yet the man whose daughter they had assisted 
 in carrying off could not be so. The deed was'natur- 
 ally in his eyes one demanding the direst revenge, and 
 he was not likely to lose any opportunity that might
 
 1 68 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 offer. Colonel Lindsay remonstrated with all those 
 who had asked for leave' about going to this part 
 again after the trouble they had got into before, and 
 its consequence the unfriendly feelings of all the fol- 
 lowers of the vanquished chief towards them. The 
 others listened, and Hale had given the project up 
 of his own accord Gordon was not the man to be 
 remonstrated with ; if he had made up his mind to 
 do anything, no one could turn him from it. In this 
 instance, as he was going quite alone, he considered 
 that he had only himself to consult, and was not 
 afraid of the consequences. He told the colonel that 
 he was not going to rush into the enemy's arms ; he 
 was going to Shubkuddur, and would shoot in a 
 different neighbourhood. The colonel suggested 
 Attock ; but finding that the young man only turned 
 a deaf ear, implored him not to go out of bounds, 
 as the government would not rescue him if he got 
 into trouble by so doing. 
 
 Charles Gordon did not know it ; but the father of 
 the girl had sworn to be revenged for the part the 
 Englishmen took in the abduction of his daughter. 
 He had sworn the most solemn oaths that he would 
 with his own hand, if possible, murder the big 
 Englishman meaning Gordon for he had noticed 
 him and had been much impressed by his height 
 and military bearing. He had made his eldest son 
 take the oath, so common to them, of perpetuating 
 the revenge should his father not accomplish it in his
 
 THE DOG FIGHT. 169 
 
 own lifetime. Moreover, to make that revenge more 
 wicked and certain, they swore that if Charles Gordon 
 himself escaped them during the space of five years, 
 they were then to murder any Englishman they could 
 lay hands upon, in order to wipe out the insult, 
 which could only be washed away by blood. This 
 oath had been taken in the most solemn way in the 
 presence of as many of the heads of the families 
 belonging to the tribe as could be assembled ; and 
 moreover they swore in addition, that they were 
 ever afterwards to consider all Englishmen as their 
 foes, and to be prompt to join in every war against 
 them. Gordon little knew the danger he incurred if 
 he crossed their path alone. Yet had he known it at 
 the time, I doubt if the knowledge would have 
 deterred him from his second visit to the forts. 
 
 He started for Shubkuddur the last week in 
 January, galloping over the evening before his 
 leave began, and found his dinner all ready for 
 him. It consisted of mutton and a curried fowl, 
 brought over from Peshawur. Nothing could be got 
 nearer in the shape of food, except the proverbial 
 skin-and-bone " moorghee." 
 
 The next morning early, he was starting with his 
 gun and pouch-bag, which, besides cartridges, con- 
 tained biscuits and a brandy-flask, intending to have 
 a long day's sport, when he saw two men going out 
 of the fort a little way before him ; and on nearing 
 them, he found they were his friends Fuller and
 
 1 70 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Peters. The meeting was one of mutual surprise, as 
 Gordon had not an idea the two were coming out 
 shooting. He was under the impression that they 
 were hard at work preparing for the inspection, and 
 so wondered to see them ; and in answer to his 
 queries as to how their commanding officer had been 
 induced to give them leave at this time, was told : 
 
 " Well, you see, he had promised to give us leave 
 again, and he did not like to break his promise." 
 
 " But we have to be back in two days' time," said 
 Peters, "when our troubles will begin. I would not 
 so much mind our colonel's everlasting worry if he 
 would only stop it sometimes." 
 
 " Yes," said Fuller, " his nerves are strung to con- 
 cert pitch before the inspection, and then he takes 
 such a precious long time unstringing them again. 
 He works us all up, and then keeps us to the mark 
 until the hot weather fairly obliges him to relax." 
 
 " I would not mind his regimental worries half so 
 much if he would only allow us to enjoy ourselves 
 when we can. He has such a wonderful liking for 
 keeping us away from every amusement. If he does 
 give one leave, he does it with such a bad grace and 
 with so many restrictions, that it takes away half the 
 good of it." 
 
 " I am thankful our colonel is not like that ; he is 
 strict on duty, and his maxim is, ' No work, no play,' 
 but also adds, ' All work and no play makes Jack a 
 dull boy.' "
 
 THE DOG FIGHT. 171 
 
 " I am sure I wish I could stick that on to our 
 colonel's back. I have a good mind to, one day, when 
 he is haggling at orderly room ; but I should get 
 into boiling water, I suppose, that would boil to the 
 end of my service." 
 
 " No ; we subalterns," said Peters, " must suffer 
 without a murmur everything that a commanding 
 officer imposes upon us, and look forward to the 
 day when we shall be commanding officers our- 
 selves. I hope we shall not be disliked as he is, eh, 
 Fuller?" 
 
 " No, indeed ; I wish I could like him and feel sure 
 of him ; it is an awful bore to have to think for a 
 week before one can make up one's mind to ask for 
 a day's leave. Even of an afternoon he is always in- 
 stituting something to worry us. On the days he knows 
 we play polo, or cricket, as likely as not a chit will 
 come as we are starting for either, to tell us to go to 
 the lines and inquire into some rubbishing nonsense 
 that would be far better done if left till next 
 morning." 
 
 "Yes," said Peters; "and he ought to know that 
 the afternoon is the worst time to get anything out 
 of a native he is too sleepy and stupid after his 
 dinner and his 'hookah ' to say ' bo ' to a goose." 
 
 " To be ordered on real service would do your 
 commanding officer good, I should say. I do not 
 expect many years will elapse before we are clashing 
 swords with some of these mountain barbarians, and 
 bombarding these hills."
 
 172 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 " Things seem tending towards it even now," replied 
 Fuller. 
 
 " Yes, the Ameer is not quite satisfied with our 
 government ; something seems to have rubbed him 
 the wrong way. Our siding with Yakoob Khan ruffled 
 him a little ; such a proper sort of father he must 
 be, calling his son that ' ill-starred wretch ; ' still he 
 professes friendship with us. An Afghan chief does 
 not put much reliance on his own or other people's 
 professions of friendship, I should say ; lying is so 
 natural to them from their cradle that they can do 
 nothing else all their lives. What a strange household 
 that of an Afghan must be, to be sure. I wonder 
 the children do not take to killing each other by way 
 of amusement." 
 
 " What an escape we had, Gordon ; I do not relish 
 trying another expedition of the sort." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said Gordon. " Anything short of 
 ' fair Rosamond ' might have cost us our lives. But 
 what have you been about since you came here ; 
 have you done much shooting ? " 
 
 " You had better ask Fuller," laughed Peters ; " he 
 enticed me out here for sport, and turned his atten- 
 tion immediately to other game, and left me in the 
 lurch ; very mean, was it not ? " 
 
 " How can you say so, Peters ! why you and 
 Colonel Carter have been getting on famously, and 
 arguing to your heart's content about the wrongs of 
 the service, and the years that must elapse before
 
 THE DOG FIGHT. 173 
 
 they can be righted. I expect you have composed 
 some articles for the Times in readiness for the next 
 mail ; and feel sure, in consequence, that Parliament 
 will immediately put everything else aside until the 
 grievances of Indian officers are righted." 
 
 " You are an ' artful dodger,' Mr. Fuller, to turn 
 it off in that way ; what could a fellow do but amuse 
 himself as best he may whilst you are spooning Miss 
 Carter ? It only requires two to play that game a 
 third hand would make a mull." 
 
 " You are incorrigible ! What would Colonel Carter 
 say if he were to hear you ? " 
 
 " That is just what I was wondering myself. I 
 mean, what does he say to you ? I fully expect, if 
 you do not declare yourself soon, he will inquire into 
 your intentions and your fortune." 
 
 " My answer would be easy ' my fortune nil, and 
 my intentions honourable.'" 
 
 " Come, Peters, stop your chaff; Fuller might do 
 worse than marry Miss Carter. 1 am sure she would 
 make a capital soldier's wife. I shall never forget 
 her coolness and her pluck going down those rapids 
 as she did ; and she seems to keep everything in the 
 small rooms they have so tidy and neat." 
 
 " Thank you, Gordon ; I only wish I had enough 
 to marry on, and I would propose to-morrow. It is 
 a shame to try and engage oneself to a girl with only 
 one's pay, and no prospect of promotion." 
 
 " Why no ' prospect ? you have a better chance
 
 174 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 than any one of the adjutantcy. Captain A will 
 
 not stay long ; he is going to try for the cavalry, 
 and you are next for it, unless the Chief puts in an 
 outsider ; and he is riot likely to do that, it is not his 
 way. " 
 
 At this Fuller become wonderfully excited, and 
 said, " If I thought that, I would go back now and 
 ask her. What makes you think so ? " 
 
 " I am sure of it, for I heard A say so the 
 
 day before we came here. He said the colonel was 
 too much for him, and he was using his interest to 
 get into a cavalry corps, which he was sure would 
 suit him better ; and that he had an uncle in command 
 of one of them, so he was determined to go soon." 
 
 " What luck for me ! I wish I had known it 
 yesterday." 
 
 " Why not go back now," said Gordon ; who, al- 
 though not an advocate for matrimony, yet thought 
 Miss Carter was the right girl for Fuller, and so 
 encouraged the notion. 
 
 " Oh, no ! I am out shooting now." 
 
 Just as he spoke a flock of sand grouse got up ; 
 all three fired. Gordon and Peters brought down 
 two birds, but Fuller's shot went in another direc- 
 tion : the others noticed it, but said nothing, 
 until when they had each had another turn at 
 single birds and it came to Fuller's , turn, and his 
 shot was again very wide of the mark, Gordon 
 chaffingly said :
 
 THE DOG FIGHT. 175 
 
 " You will be shooting one of us if you go on 
 like that. Your hand seems very unsteady to-day. 
 The last was such an easy shot." 
 
 " I think I will go back, I am only hindering 
 you. I cannot steady my gun somehow ; and as 
 you have Peters for a companion I shall not be 
 deserting you," and he turned and went back. 
 
 "I'll bet they are engaged by the time we get 
 back," said Peters ; " they were carrying on yester- 
 day under the father's nose, and he took no notice. 
 I am sure the girl is in love with him." 
 
 " Then I hope he will marry her : she is not 
 perhaps a catch, in the sense in which fine ladies 
 are ; but she is a real lady for all that, and loves him." 
 
 After Fuller left them they walked on much faster, 
 and were at Michnee by "tiffin" time. It is only 
 seven miles from Shubkuddur, but the sportsmen 
 had made a long detour. They were both very 
 hungry, and hoped to find Major McMullin at home, 
 who could, of course, they said, "give them some 
 grub of some sort." They had had nothing but dry 
 biscuits since they started. When they reached the 
 fort they found Major McMullin was out with his 
 dogs, and his bearer told them the sentry at the gate 
 would be able to tell them which way he had gone. 
 
 The sentry could only show them the direction 
 the missing major had taken, so they set out in 
 search of him. They had been walking away from 
 the fort in the direction of the hills for about ten
 
 176 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 minutes when they saw, a short distance in front of 
 them, quite a concourse of people; and heard a 
 a great barking of dogs. At first after their late 
 experiences of the manners and customs of these 
 people they hesitated about going on ; but on con- 
 sidering how near they were to the fort, they did not 
 think there could be any danger. They little knew 
 that what they were about to see trivial as it ap- 
 peared to them was simply the first act in a great 
 tragedy. " The world is a stage all the men and 
 women actors." Indeed in that part of the world it 
 is a stage, in truth ; but the actors played with 
 human lives these were their toys. All they saw on 
 this morning on reaching the crowd were two dogs 
 fighting a regular stand-up battle it seemed and 
 Major McMullin with his short thick stick, without 
 which he never moved. He would have been wiser 
 had he carried a gun. With this stick he was keeping 
 off the pariah dogs, and was encouraging his own dog 
 with words, which but for his master's encouragement 
 would have several times left off. The countenances 
 of the lookers-on were not pleasant to see. There 
 was anger and revenge depicted on more than 
 one face, but against whom it was impossible for 
 cursory and unenlightened observers like the new- 
 comers to tell. 
 
 So very ordinary an occurrence as a dog-fight 
 would not surely cause such looks. Dogs will fight, 
 therefore why these spectators ; and why all this
 
 THE DOG FIGHT. 1 7 7 
 
 murmuring, boding no good to some one ? One 
 man in particular made himself remarkable by 
 his excited looks and smothered oaths. He never 
 took his eyes off the dogs, and was no doubt 
 the owner of the dog which was fighting Major 
 McMullin's. 
 
 Gordon and Peters watched from a little distance 
 for some time, until they saw the fight was over and 
 Major McMullin preparing to leave. His dog had 
 apparently been victorious, as the other was bleeding 
 and his had only a few scratches ; the other was 
 the smaller but more savage-looking of the two. 
 They went to meet Major McMullin, who was very 
 much surprised to see them. 
 
 On Gordon asking him "what all the crowd was 
 about, and if they had been having a fighting match ? '' 
 he laughingly said, " No, not exactly ; that old brute 
 Dalli Khan is always setting his dog at mine when- 
 ever he has an opportunity. He boasts so much of his 
 wretched 'pariah,' and pretends it belongs to some 
 wonderful and very rare species ; in fact, he affirms 
 its mother was presented to his family by the Ameer 
 himself in return for some assistance he gave him 
 when fighting against his son. I believe, entre nous, 
 the assistance was some act of treachery. These 
 people think nothing of betraying their dearest friends 
 for a bribe." 
 
 " That man looks equal to any dark deed," observed 
 Peters. 
 
 N
 
 178 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 " What man ? Do you know him ? " asked the 
 major. 
 
 " We noticed one man who looked very eager and 
 very angry, and was apparently swearing to himself 
 at the result of the fight." 
 
 " Oh, you noticed him, did you ? He is a dis- 
 agreeable-looking man, and I hope he is satisfied 
 now, that his dog is not equal to mine. Ever since 
 Loo came out here he has been jealous of him ; for 
 before his arrival his dog was supposed to be the 
 king of all the dogs in these parts, as it were." 
 
 " I think I should have preferred his dog being 
 victorious at the cost of my pride, and kept friends 
 with a man of his sort," said Gordon. 
 
 " It may have been wiser. He and I used to be 
 good friends ; he is a Jemadar, and consequently is 
 of some importance in his village, and so could 
 procure me things which I had otherwise difficulty 
 in getting. You have no idea of the inconveniences 
 one has to put up with living in these outlandish 
 places they are innumerable ; even those whose 
 duty it is to provide me with eggs and fowls will never 
 bring them unless they are obliged, and I have always 
 to be applying to the heads of the villages for help." 
 
 " I do not envy you, I am sure. I would not live 
 
 here for rfny money. The life of a London shoeblack 
 
 would be almost more amusing, and his life is safe, 
 
 and yours can never be so, whilst surrounded by 
 
 t these treacherous ' Affreedees,'" said Gordon.
 
 THE DOG FIGHT. 179 
 
 " I do not agree with you there : my life is safe 
 enough. I fear nothing at their hands, only it affects 
 my comfort not to have to Dalli Khan for my friend. 
 He not only saw that provisions were brought to me, 
 but he used to get me skins from Cabul for much 
 less than I could get them from the regular mer- 
 chants, who are such thieves, and they not only try 
 to make you pay double, but pass off old rotten skins 
 for new ones if they can." 
 
 "As I said before, I would much rather have your 
 late friend, ' Dalli Khan ' as you call him they are 
 all ' Allis ' or ' Khans ' in this part on my side 
 than against me. If I were you, I would try and 
 make up the quarrel with him as soon as possible. 
 I should feel uncommonly uncomfortable with him 
 for my enemy, living so near him as you do." 
 
 " Yes," said the major ; " but these men are not 
 so easy to turn round ; they are not like the servile 
 Hindoo, who will crouch down at your feet and kiss 
 them in his show of attachment. These Afghan 
 tribes are a proud race, and they care nothing for the 
 opinion of the English ; they are vindictive to a 
 degree, and their creed is never to forgive an injury, 
 so they would not say with Shakespeare 
 
 " ' Kneel not to me : 
 
 The power that I have on you, is to spare you ; 
 The malice towards you, to forgive you : live, 
 And deal with others better.' " 
 
 " Surely there is nothing much to forgive in your 
 
 N 2
 
 180 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 dog being better than his ! all the more reason you 
 should try and make peace with him." 
 
 " You would not talk so if you knew them well ; 
 for my own interest I wish we were friends, as I 
 have no end of petty worries now with him for my 
 enemy." 
 
 By this time they had all reached the Michnee 
 fort, and Major McMullin insisted on the two 
 coming in and having some tiffin ; they would be 
 certain of something to eat, if it were only some tinned 
 provisions, as he had lately had a fresh supply from 
 Calcutta, he said. 
 
 " Talking of ' tinned provisions/ " said Gordon, 
 " reminds me of a capital story ; but I daresay you 
 have heard it. " 
 
 " Do tell us what it is," said the major. " I never 
 come across anything so lively as a good story in this 
 end of the earth." 
 
 " A lady I believe I know who it was, but 
 I shall not say set a great store on tinned 
 provisions, and having passed all her days in 
 India, thought nothing better could be had. In 
 a most matter-of-fact way she remarked to a 
 friend and was overheard too by many others 
 that she supposed the Queen lived upon tinned 
 provisions ! " 
 
 " That is a good story. Poor Queen ! " said the 
 major. " I suppose the lady did not understand that 
 the luxuries that come out from England hermetically
 
 THE DOG FIGHT. 181 
 
 sealed are to be had in abundance in their native 
 country." 
 
 " I heard of a lady," observed Peters, "who thought 
 she would have to call upon everybody in London 
 when she arrived there ! Of course she could never 
 have been in England in her life. I wonder if it was 
 your friend of the tinned provisions." 
 
 " I pity her if she tried it," replied the major ; 
 " and how the Londoners would stare at her when she 
 knocked at their doors ; but your stories do not beat 
 one I heard the other day, and the man who said it 
 was out here shooting a short time ago. He only 
 went home last year for a few months, and, never 
 having seen the sea, said he supposed the steamers 
 that went to England were ' dereao kinare luga hua' 
 (fastened to the bank) at night." 
 
 " That is too good to be true," said Gordon. " I 
 wonder if the man thought that the Bay of Bengal 
 is a small river studded with sand-banks. Perhaps 
 he thought that the colour of the Red Sea was actually 
 red. How one could have ' greened ' that man, and 
 what fun it would have been, too." 
 
 A nice hot tiffin quite enough for dinner was served 
 within half an hour of their arrival, and they finished 
 up with " curry bhat," which the " bowachee " l had 
 prepared on his own responsibility, having been told 
 by the bearer that two " sahibs " 2 who " shikarkelta " 3 
 had been to the fort and gone in search of the 
 1 Cook. 2 Gentlemen. 3 Were out shooting.
 
 1 82 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 " major sahib." The wise cook knew from former 
 experiences that when unexpected "sahibs," espe- 
 cially " shikari wallahs " who are ever as hungry 
 as hawks came, he was always to prepare as good 
 a tiffin as possible ; and never considered it to be 
 complete without the standing dish " moorghee " 
 curry.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LOVE'S TOILS. 
 
 AFTER tiffin the friends returned to Shubkuddur as 
 it was getting late and they did not care about being 
 out on these roads after dark. There were two 
 villages which they were obliged to pass which did 
 not bear a very good name, and kept up a kind of 
 guerrilla warfare with each other. Quarrelling and 
 fighting among themselves seem to be the chief 
 amusement of the AfFreedees. They were a great 
 contrast both bodily and morally to the natives of 
 Hindoostan, who are too indolent in the first place 
 to be perpetually fighting, and besides are of a 
 more forgiving nature. They will quarrel violently 
 one day, and be the best of friends the next, and call 
 each other dear brothers. With them every one of 
 the same caste is a " bhaie " or brother. They also 
 have a very convenient supply of fathers and mothers, 
 too. If they have stayed away from their work, or 
 want to get a day's leave perhaps to go to some 
 entertainment in reality they will tell you they have 
 been attending their mother's funeral, and perhaps
 
 184 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 forget the next time when they want the same thing 
 that they have already invented this excuse. How 
 they must secretly talk over and laugh at the unsus- 
 pecting Englishman who is not up to their dodges ; 
 and the tender-hearted " mem sahib " will probably 
 say, " I am sorry you have lost your mother ; why did 
 you not tell me she was ill and you could have gone 
 to see her." They with their ready answers will 
 probably say, " I was afraid to ask for fear you would 
 be angry ; " always a very ready reason and excuse 
 for anything they do. Lies fall from their tongues 
 like quicksilver. 
 
 Before Gordon and Peters left Michnee they pro- 
 mised McMullin to go back either the next day 
 or the following one, and go out shooting with him 
 and his dogs. He asked them, to bring Fuller with 
 them, but they would not promise for him as he had 
 found occupation at Shubkuddur, and did not care 
 for sport just now ! 
 
 When they reached the fort they found Fuller in 
 his tent looking out eagerly for them. His face was 
 beaming with pleasure, and they guessed the moment 
 they saw him that their predictions were fulfilled. 
 But there had been no wager on the subject, both 
 feeling it was not one for a bet. 
 
 " I thought you were never coming home ; what a 
 day's shooting you must have had. Colonel Carter 
 wants us all to dine with him this evening of course 
 camp fashion. He dines at seven."
 
 LOVE'S TOILS. 185 
 
 " We had better give him some of our spoil, only 
 they will be rather fresh for to-night. " 
 
 " You can give him some of the little birds for to- 
 night, and I will take them to Miss Carter," said 
 Fuller ; " what a bag you have." 
 
 " And have you shot straight since you left us," 
 asked Gordon, laughing, "we should both have been 
 dead men by now had you remained with us." 
 
 " What a fellow you are, Gordon, to chaff, I have 
 not been shooting at all." 
 
 " Oh ! really, I am sorry for you." 
 
 Fuller had fully intended telling him of his success 
 that day, but would not open his mouth on the subject 
 to him after his chaff. However, he confided to Peters 
 who shared his tent, that he had proposed and been 
 accepted by Miss Carter, and also had gained the 
 consent of the father. 
 
 " He objected at first," he said, " on the score of 
 money, as, of course, it was his duty to do ; but he 
 consented when I told him that I had prospects in the 
 regiment and expected soon to hear of my appointment 
 to the adjutancy. He will not allow us to marry 
 though, until I have actually been adjutant six months, 
 as he says I must try and save a little money before 
 we start housekeeping. Flora is braver even than I 
 thought her, for she is willing to marry me on my 
 present pay, and declares she could manage on it for 
 both of us, as well as I do for one." 
 
 " She is a sanguine young lady apparently, but I
 
 1 86 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 should fancy she is a good manager, judging by the 
 way she contrives things here." 
 
 I wonder what these young men knew of good 
 management ; I do not think either was capable of 
 writing an article on the subject, and explaining 
 its true meaning. The one who was in love of course 
 saw everything couleur de rose, and he must be ex- 
 cused for thinking his fiancde anything less than an 
 angel, as this is the way without exception. There 
 is a rosy hue over everything connected with love, 
 and a joy that no man who has not tasted true love 
 can know. 
 
 " Oh love, requited love, how fine thy thrills, 
 That shake the trembling frame with ecstasy ; 
 Ev'n every vein celestial pleasure fills, 
 And inexpressive bliss is in each sigh." 
 
 They had a very merry dinner that night ; the 
 friends all agreed that Miss Carter must be a perfect 
 manager to have everything so well ordered and 
 comfortable in a place so wild as to be enough to 
 drive a housewife to despair. It had not had this 
 effect upon her, as the dinner proved, for it was so 
 well and quietly served, no fuss, none of the scold- 
 ing of servants which is common in India. The 
 colonel drank his daughter's and Mr. Fuller's healths 
 together, so Gordon and Peters offered their con- 
 gratulations ; and at the first opportunity Gordon 
 told Peters " that now it was all up with poor Fuller 
 he pitied the poor wretch, for he was really in for 
 a hanging."
 
 LOVE'S TOILS. 187 
 
 Charles Gordon, don't affect to pity Fuller ; you do 
 not know how soon you may be caught in love's toils ! 
 His conscience did give him a twinge when he tried 
 to feel scornful. He remembered a certain young 
 lady at Peshawur who had been oftener in his thoughts 
 of late than anybody or anything. To do him justice, 
 I must say he unconsciously admitted the thought, he 
 had now so long looked upon himself in the light of a 
 fortress impregnable so far as the tender passion 
 was concerned. It could not have been a well armed 
 fortress after all ; there must have been an assailable 
 corner on its ramparts or such thoughts could not 
 have found entrance. As the broken and damaged 
 wall in a fortress is always made doubly strong when 
 repaired, and is the last to succumb to the enemy's 
 shot ; so love built upon ruined love is often stronger 
 than the original passion or first love. With a 
 man who has once been desperately in love, and has 
 met with a grievous disappointment, the reaction 
 will be great, but not insurmountable ; and though 
 in all probability he will not easily fall in love again, 
 should he do so, his love will be of a maturer and 
 more lasting kind. Gordon was young, no doubt, 
 to be an instance in point, yet he had loved very 
 deeply, and he was a man who although young in 
 years was old of his age, and suited to be the com- 
 panion of older men. 
 
 The next day Gordon and Peters only loitered 
 about, and employed a great part of it in refilling their
 
 1 88 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR 
 
 cartridges ; they had not brought a sufficient number 
 with them, and it was a good day to devote to it, as it 
 rained all the morning. Fuller, of course, spent his 
 day with Miss Carter. They had arranged to go out 
 on the raft in the afternoon if the- rain stopped, and 
 the boatman, Doon Alii, was delighted at the pros- 
 pect of taking the " miss sahib " and the sahibs out 
 again. Gordon and Peters thought they would be de 
 trop, so refused all their invitations, telling them they 
 could manage very well alone now. Love-making is 
 such an every day occurrence, and always the same 
 thing over and over again ; promises and plans made, 
 only to be broken soon after the Gordian knot is tied 
 fast. The two beings that before marriage seem 
 perfect in each other's eyes, do not take long to find 
 out that they are human, and full of faults. Those 
 who are sensible make up their minds at once to re- 
 member that no one is perfect. They reflect that 
 though the halo surrounding the loved one has hidden 
 failings from view, yet they must be there. There- 
 fore they are not astonished to discover some fault 
 unnoticed before ; a discovery that will but make the 
 wise resolve to love the more. 
 
 Gordon in his heart of hearts did envy Fuller a 
 little. I do not mean for a moment to infer that he 
 was in love with Miss Carter ; he only thought of him 
 as a lucky man to be so appreciated, and wondered 
 to himself whether any one would ever care for 
 him so much. Then Alice Lindsay as he had last
 
 LOVE'S TOILS. 189 
 
 seen her came into his mind. " How well she looked," 
 he thought, " on horseback, so feminine and so gentle, 
 yet full of life and spirit. She will never look at me 
 though, I suppose, the colonel will want her to marry 
 some civilian a judge with a good hoard at home. 
 But no, I must not malign him, I am sure he is not 
 the man to sell his daughter for any money. Mrs. 
 Lindsay, I should say, would be the more likely of 
 the two to make a fuss about settlements. However, 
 it is but natural they should wish their daughter to 
 marry well." 
 
 Such was the tenor of Gordon's thoughts ; they 
 wandered back to his first love and he wondered if 
 he would have been happy had -he married her ; no, 
 perhaps not, they were no doubt saved some evil, it 
 was perhaps all for the best. The fact that he enter- 
 tained such thoughts, showed that he had recovered 
 from the pain that used to come with the remem- 
 brance of how he had lost, and been deceived by, the 
 girl he had so dearly loved. Gordon was not a religious 
 man, and not one who would see or readily acknow- 
 ledge the hand of God in everything, watching over 
 each human life as if that soul was dear to Him and 
 none other. So it ought to appear to us, did we really 
 feel and watch for the Invisible Guardian, the loving, 
 merciful Hand that tends and spares us from evil we 
 know not of. 
 
 Gordon was suddenly roused from his reverie by 
 Peters telling him he had finished all the cartridges he
 
 190 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 intended filling, and was going out to try and find 
 some wild duck, as this was a good hour for them, 
 especially after rain, and that he hoped to make his 
 way to the snipe " geal " too. Gordon offered to go 
 with him, as it was dull work staying alone with 
 nothing to fall back upon but his pipe ; in truth he 
 had had enough of his own thoughts. 
 
 They all dined again that evening with the hospit- 
 able Colonel Carter, and the next day was the last 
 the two young men of the 2Oth N. I. could possibly 
 stay ; they were obliged to be at Peshawur late that 
 evening, so as to be in time for parade the morning 
 after. 
 
 The engaged pair came in, having had no end of 
 adventures on the raft. They had not attempted the 
 rapids. Fuller now thought Miss Carter's life too 
 precious to risk in that mad way ; but one of the 
 inflated skins leaked and so they were nearly all upset 
 one minute, and another running up against a rock ; 
 for the boatman's attention was entirely fixed on 
 the misbehaving hide of the " ever cursed pig." Miss 
 Carter had nearly slipped off the unsteady raft, and 
 only just been saved by Fuller. They enjoyed these 
 mishaps for they created a diversion ; the expedition 
 might otherwise have proved monotonous as the 
 novelty had worn off. Fuller had shot some ducks, 
 and being without a dog, had had to tramp through 
 marshy ground to pick them up. 
 
 The next morning Gordon and Peters started for
 
 LOVE'S TOILS. 191 
 
 the promised day's shooting with Major McMullin. 
 It was a cloudy day and therefore could not have 
 been better for the expedition, as these days are the 
 pleasantest for shooting a relief after the perpe- 
 tual sun. Gordon intended returning to Shubkuddur 
 the same evening, and Peters was to ride straight 
 from Michnee to Peshawur, as he would not other- 
 wise have time to return before dark. He did not 
 like the idea of riding this dangerous road after 
 dusk alone, as hardly any one had ever been known 
 to pass along it at that time, either walking or riding, 
 without his life being attempted. He had heard 
 one of his own brother officers tell how when he 
 was walking from Peshawur to Shubkuddur on duty, 
 he had been shot at from behind a tree, the bullet 
 startling him considerably as it whizzed by within 
 a few inches of him. On looking in the direction 
 whence it came, he could see no one, but he felt 
 sure afterwards that had he then lost his presence 
 of mind or turned to fly his life would have been 
 lost. But instead of doing either, he instantly 
 levelled his gun and aimed in the direction from 
 which the shot came, waiting to fire, either if should 
 another attempt be made on his own life, or so soon 
 as he could see his enemy. He deliberately and 
 slowly walked towards the tree with his revolver 
 aimed at it ; and just as he neared it, a figure darted 
 away in the opposite direction. Of course he did not 
 fire then ; but had he been the one to fly instead of
 
 192 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 the enemy, had their positions been reversed, his 
 chance of safety would have been small. These 
 men find out very easily whether you are a coward 
 or not, and woe betide you if you are. 
 
 This story is one among many of the same sort, 
 varying only in detail. Almost every officer who has 
 been in the district has a story to tell of his own. 
 All the colonels commanding at the forts had had 
 a few escapes. Indeed they are obliged to be always 
 on their guard, but this they get accustomed to, and 
 think no more of it than we do of eating our dinner at 
 the proper time. The wretches have even robbed the 
 coolies sent by the officers to Peshawur for pro- 
 visions, and then murdered them solely because they 
 had previously robbed them their lives having been 
 thus taken for the value of a leg of mutton and a 
 few stores. For such a trifle do these people com- 
 mit murder. They deal with each others' lives 
 as we should with a pack of cards; and as chance 
 gives fortune or ill-luck to the players, so it is 
 in their shuffling and dealing according to chance, 
 that they play with human lives with as little 
 thought as we give to a round game. How thank- 
 ful all this should make us free-born Britons for 
 our privileges ; how grateful that our lot is not cast 
 in such countries, our training not such as I am 
 describing. When we feel inclined to be discontented 
 with o.ur own laws or government, or anything else 
 belonging to us, let us only think of the many
 
 LOVE'S TOILS. 193 
 
 barbarous nations in the world who live without 
 either laws or justice, and with whom murder and 
 robbery are so rife as to pass unpunished, almost 
 unnoticed. 
 
 Gordon and Peters arrived at Michnee in time for 
 breakfast, and the three started off together and went 
 towards the hills away from all the forts, and quite in 
 an opposite direction to the scene of their troubles. 
 It was one of those glorious Punjaub winter days, 
 when the sun is clouded, and there is no glare. It 
 was the perfection of a day for shooting for the 
 previous rain had served to lay the dust. Nature 
 was calm and hushed, no signs of a coming storm 
 in heaven or earth ; yet there was an imperceptible 
 awe, a kind of foreboding of something, reflected 
 perhaps from the unusual quiet of all surrounding 
 nature. 
 
 " There's music in the sighing of a reed ; 
 There's music in the gushing of a rill ; 
 There's music in all things if men had ears ; 
 Their earth is but an echo of the spheres." 
 
 Instead of music on this morning there seemed to 
 our friends to be sorrow and sighing in all things 
 around. They were themselves depressed. All the 
 country seemed barren and deserted, not a human 
 habitation to be 'seen anywhere ; they only met a few 
 stray men, and two or three children who stared at 
 them open-mouthed, as though they were curiosities. 
 
 o
 
 194 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 After they had been shooting three or four hours 
 they all sat down to munch some biscuits and over- 
 haul their spoil, and enjoy a quiet smoke and talk. 
 They had been very silent the whole morning. They all 
 agreed they would give anything for a " peg ; " but as 
 no one had encumbered himself with a bottle of soda 
 water, they had to be content with what their flasks 
 contained probably brandy and water. Their con- 
 versation again turned on the dog fight which had 
 been a subject of almost hourly discussion between 
 them. Gordon could not shake off his first impression 
 of the evil intention of the owner of the dog, Dalli 
 Khan, and thought Major McMullin too indifferent 
 on the subject. At last, after asking him if he were 
 not afraid of going about now among them alone, 
 and being only laughed at in reply, he rejoined, " I 
 am sure you will come to grief among these people 
 some day, if you go on in this careless hap-hazard 
 way. You ought to be careful not to offend them in 
 the smallest matters. Remember the character they 
 bear for vengeance for the merest trifles ; and what 
 you think a trifle, they think much of." 
 
 " Well, they cannot kill me because my dog fought 
 that pariah brute of theirs and came off victorious." 
 
 " I should not think my life safe after it, I can tell 
 you ; you forget the dog is valuable to them." 
 
 Little did the three know how soon Gordon's pro- 
 phecy would come true, or anticipate the foul deed
 
 LOVE'S TOILS. 195 
 
 that was to exact a fearful reparation truly for so 
 small and unintentional an offence. Poor Major 
 McMullin could only think of a dog fight as a pass- 
 ing amusement ; he could not view it in the same 
 light as Gordon did. 
 
 o 2
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A FEARFUL TRAGEDY. 
 
 THE spot where the three men were sitting was in 
 the middle of a large plain, with mounds or hillocks 
 dotted about, covered with short grass and stunted 
 bushes. Gordon had hardly finished speaking when 
 Peters, looking up, saw, as he thought, figures crouch- 
 ing behind some bushes on one of these numerous 
 hillocks. He felt sure he saw something move, and 
 what he saw was of a dusky colour, much the same 
 as the ground. He told the others, who looked up, 
 but saw nothing, and Major McMullin laughed, and 
 quizzed him, and told him " Gordon had infected 
 him with his nervousness." 
 
 " You may laugh," he said, " but I am quite sure 
 I saw a man's face and head leaning on his hand, 
 the elbow on the ground. It was drawn back 
 quickly as I looked up ; it was almost level with the
 
 A FEARFUL TRAGEDY. 197 
 
 ground too, just to the left of that bush yonder. 
 Now you watch." 
 
 They watched, but did so in vain, as they could 
 see nothing. " Besides," said Major McMullin, " we 
 only passed those bushes just now, and there was no 
 one there then ; that was the way we came, if you 
 remember." 
 
 "Yes, but these men might have been behind us 
 without our knowing it. We hardly ever turned 
 round ; we were looking straight ahead after our 
 game the whole time. If we had looked round we 
 should not have remarked anything wonderful in 
 seeing one or two men walking behind us." 
 
 " Now I come to think of it," said Gordon, " I did 
 see three or four men behind us at one time, just 
 before we agreed to sit down ; and then, when we 
 turned round and sat down where we are now, they 
 had disappeared, and I never thought of them till 
 this minute. If I had, I should have imagined that 
 they had turned back, but it is strange they should 
 hide behind bushes." 
 
 " You all make a great fuss about a man behind 
 a bush," said Major McMullin. " I do not believe 
 there is any one there. You have frightened 
 yourselves into imagining some horrors, and now 
 your eyes are deceiving you, and helping on 
 imagination. To satisfy you we had better go 
 and see." And he jumped up and ran towards the 
 bush, leaving his gun behind him. Gordon called
 
 198 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 out after him, "Take your gun, McMullin," but he 
 either did not hear or did not heed ; he went straight 
 on towards the bushes behind which Peters had de- 
 clared he had seen the moving figure. As Gordon 
 and Peters were getting up to go after him they 
 had only just taken up their guns they heard a 
 shout, and what met their view? Four men had 
 rushed at the poor major, and surrounded him ; one 
 had dealt him a fearful blow on his head, and felled 
 him to the ground. It was all the work of an in- 
 stant. Both Gordon and Peters rushed to the spot 
 and fired, but in the scare and hurry it is not to 
 be wondered at that both missed their aim. It 
 was too late to save their friend ; one brutal man 
 had actually cut off his head before they reached 
 the spot where he lay. They recognised the man 
 in a moment it was Dalli Khan, the owner of the 
 dog. The expression on his face 'at the moment 
 of the completion of the evil deed was more that 
 of a fiend than of a human being the triumph of 
 vengeance, such as one might picture would be on 
 the face of one of Satan's crew when a dark and evil 
 deed had been done, and thereby a soul wrested by 
 them, and a very triumph gained over the angels in 
 heaven. The man's face was indeed a reflection o 
 an imp of hell who had truly won his soul by the 
 foul deed just perpetrated. Would he not have to 
 answer for that other man's soul also whom he had 
 hurried, perhaps in unrepented sin, to eternity ?
 
 A FEARFUL TRAGEDY. 199 
 
 ' ' Then God forgive the sin of all those souls, 
 That to their everlasting residence, 
 Before the dew of evening fall, shall flee." 
 
 It was all so sudden that scarcely a minute had 
 elapsed by the time the friends had reached the 
 spot. They fired a second time before any notice 
 was taken. Their victim was slain, and so the in- 
 sult repaired ; and to the other two Englishmen the 
 murderers as yet bore no malice. But when the shots 
 took effect, and two of their comrades fell, the other 
 two turned on the Englishmen with their fearful 
 weapons ; and they saw their only chance was to fly 
 for their lives. Peters was on the Michnee side of 
 them, and he turned his face towards the fort, and 
 flew there pursued by one man ; but he was a quick 
 runner, and gained on the man. The latter, however, 
 did not give up the chase until they were in sight of 
 Michnee, where he turned away, as he was afraid of 
 going too near the fort where the Englishman would get 
 immediate assistance, and he himself be taken prisoner. 
 
 Peters at once reported to the native officer in charge 
 what had happened, and told him to take some men 
 out at once, and try to rescue Gordon if possible. 
 " He would himself," he said, " gallop into Peshawur 
 and report the murder of the poor major to the 
 authorities there." His escape had indeed been a 
 narrow one, as he must have been caught and perhaps 
 killed had he not been so fleet of foot. His pursuer 
 was a more powerful man than himself. These
 
 2OO A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 murderous ruffians carried a thick club-stick, a blow 
 of which on the head was enough to kill any one, and 
 they also had a long sharp knife in their " kummur 
 bunds," which was able to complete the deadly work 
 if needful. 
 
 Gordon also flew, but he mistook the direction 
 altogether. It was very puzzling on the open plain, 
 and he happened to be on the mountain side of the 
 men, when he had to turn and run for his life, so he 
 unwittingly ran into their country, instead of running 
 away from it. The remaining man who was the 
 murderer pursued him for some distance, but gave 
 up the chase, as he could not keep up with him. 
 The weapon with which he had cut off poor Major 
 MacMullin's head was so cumbrous and heavy a 
 clumsy sort of hatchet that it impeded his pro- 
 gress, and he did not dare throw it away, for without 
 it he would have been entirely in the Englishman's 
 power, and he knew, from what he had seen of him, 
 that he was no mean antagonist. Gordon hardly 
 dared look round ; he felt he was being pursued, and 
 a look might hinder him, so he went steadily on, not 
 knowing whither he was going, and little thinking 
 that every step was taking him farther and farther 
 away from a place of safety. 
 
 This knowledge, as well as the weighty weapon, 
 made the murderer give up the chase. He said to 
 himself, " I shall be able to catch him later on, for he 
 is making for my village, and he cannot well get back
 
 A FEARFUL TRAGEDY. 201 
 
 without meeting me, if he does discover he is going 
 wrong. His fate is sealed if he gets into the village 
 of Bori, and he is making straight for it." 
 
 What the man said to himself was perfectly true ; 
 poor Gordon was flying into danger, and night was 
 coming on, and when the darkness did set in what 
 was he to do ? After he had been running a good 
 half-hour, he felt sure no one was pursuing him, as he 
 could not hear a sound, so he looked round, and 
 seeing no one he stopped to take breath, and consider 
 what was to be done next. He now discovered his 
 mistake, and did not dare turn back again so late in 
 the day, and ignorant of the way. He made up his 
 mind to go towards the hill, as he thought he saw 
 something in that direction which looked as if it 
 might be a village. There were lights dotted about, 
 of course dim and uncertain in the dusk, but enough 
 to betoken the presence of human habitations. 
 
 No one must imagine that the lights were at all 
 like those of an English city, or even an English 
 village. Gas has not penetrated to these regions, 
 but who knows but that this convenient invention 
 may a century hence hardly sooner reach even the 
 outskirts of Afghanistan ; or possibly its child, the 
 electric light, may with the electricity worthy of its 
 name, permeate and penetrate the dark regions of the 
 earth before its solemn ancestor has even discovered 
 they are dark. It will require a light materially 
 and morally ten thousand times brighter than the
 
 2O2 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 electric light of to-day to illuminate these lands, and 
 bring them out of the darkness of their condition. 
 The softening influence of the " Light of the World " 
 is but too terribly required there to bring the people 
 out of their woeful darkness. 
 
 " Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heav'n first-born, 
 Or of the eternal co-eternal beam, 
 May I express thee unblam'd ? since God is light, 
 And never but in unapproached light, 
 Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee, 
 Bright effluence of bright essence uncreate. " 
 
 Poor Gordon ! he was in a sorry plight, tired and 
 hungry, making for a strange village where he was 
 more likely to meet with treachery than kindness. 
 The village, so far he could judge, was still about 
 three or four miles distant ; he could not discern its 
 size by the dim light shed by the wood fires and 
 the small oil lights in the houses. They were only 
 sufficient to show that there were human habitations 
 and human beings. Even when he should reach 
 the village, he had not as yet made up his mind 
 at all as to what he would do. His was not a 
 pleasant prospect. To have to pass a night, under 
 any circumstances, in an Indian village, was not an 
 enviable position. An English gentleman, who might 
 be making a walking tour in England, and had lost 
 his way, and was doomed to pass a night in a cottage, 
 even if his bed were the stone floor, might consider 
 himself in a palace as compared with Gordon under 
 present circumstances.
 
 A FEARFUL TRAGEDY. 203 
 
 The closed-in huts and hovels inside a village in Af- 
 ghanistan are almost more wretched than an English 
 pig-sty, and of the two, the latter is much to be pre- 
 ferred for many reasons. The village itself is like a 
 labyrinth ; when you find yourself in one of its alleys 
 streets you cannot call them it is very difficult to 
 find the way out again. Turn to the right or left and 
 you will only get deeper into the maze ; one of these 
 narrow roads leads to another, and you turn and 
 twist in and out in the most perplexing way. When 
 a stranger once gets inside the village walls, he 
 requires a guide to show him the way out again. 
 The little huts are built close to each other on each 
 side of these narrow passages ; they are crammed 
 with human beings lying about" the floor, smoking, 
 eating, or drinking, as the case may be. The more 
 wealthy of the inhabitants have larger houses built in 
 the centre of the villages, and they "have separate 
 rooms for the women and children of the family. In 
 India, the sons are married, as a matter of course, 
 for it is a disgrace not to be. All live with their 
 fathers, their wives with them ; thus the way the dif- 
 ferent families are all crowded together is wonderful, 
 and most distracting, I should say, for themselves. 
 But people can get accustomed to anything almost, 
 and we with our strong ideas of every man's house 
 being his castle do not understand any people 
 tolerating such a packing of families. It is not 
 uncommon for three generations of the same family
 
 2O4 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 to live always together under one roof. Custom is 
 their master from their birth ; they never think of 
 reform. 
 
 " Custom forms us all ; 
 
 Our thoughts, our morals, our most fixed belief, 
 Are consequences of our place of birth." 
 
 I think our English labourer would object to 
 having all his brothers and their wives living in the 
 same cottage with him, even if the cottage were a 
 large one. Now these poor villagers lived in tene- 
 ments worse than any Irish cabin. 
 
 The stoutest heart might quail in Gordon's plight ; 
 he had a brave heart, and never gave in to any 
 circumstances. 
 
 " A heart unspotted is not easily daunted." 
 
 The awful scene he had witnessed in the morning 
 was enough to shock the nerves of the bravest man. 
 To see a comrade killed in battle must be a terrible 
 sight. But even more awful was this ; here had been 
 no battle ; a few minutes before it happened, they had 
 all been sitting talking to each other, as any of us 
 might be doing, not dreaming that danger was so 
 nigh. 
 
 This deed had nothing to do with boundary lines 
 except that its not having happened in our territory 
 our government would have more difficulty in bringing 
 the murderer to justice. This was truly an unpre- 
 cedented act, a simple deed of dire vengeance for an 
 unintentional offence. Gordon's own words came
 
 A FEARFUL TRAGEDY. 205 
 
 back to him, and Jhe warning he had given poor 
 Major McMullin was almost the last speech before 
 the awful work was done. How strange it seemed 
 now, and how true his foreboding of danger had 
 been. The man's face had haunted him ever since 
 he had seen it on the day of the dog-fight. He had 
 hoped he would never see him again, he was not 
 pleasant to look at ; such a diabolical expression 
 he had never before witnessed. 
 
 It would have been well for poor Gordon had he 
 escaped with Peters ; but he reached the village at 
 last, very weary and footsore, and was refused ad- 
 mittance. Not understanding the language, he could 
 not make out the reason. The reason was that the 
 head man was out, and the others did not like to take 
 the responsibility of sheltering an Englishman. He 
 begged and entreated them to take him in, but no 
 they were stolidly impassive to all his entreaties. He 
 little knew at the time how fortune favoured him in 
 this respect, for had they taken him into the village 
 he would have been a dead man ere the break of day. 
 They were gracious enough to point out another 
 village quite among the hills, where they told him he 
 would probably be taken in. The man was very 
 civilly inclined, otherwise he would have allowed him 
 to lie in the ditch outside before taking the trouble to 
 point out another village. The village first reached 
 was " Bori," and in it the murderer had made sure 
 of finding him.
 
 2o6 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Dalli Khan's disappointment was great when he 
 found on his arrival that his victim had escaped, and 
 so angry was he, he terrified the man who had re- 
 fused to let him in by threatening the most horrible 
 tortures. What added fuel to the flame was the 
 fact that Gordon had gone to the village of " Kaura," 
 which was not friendly to him. This village was 
 right among the hills, on the north side of the 
 Khyber, on the hill called Maidanak, which is a spur 
 of " Tartara. " Here Gordon not only obtained ad- 
 mittance, but was very well treated by the villagers. 
 They gave him an empty hut, and some milk and 
 chupattees, made of the coarsest brown flour, for 
 which he was very thankful, not having tasted food 
 for very many hours. He was soon sound asleep ; not 
 having forgotten first to reload his gun and put it 
 close to his side. He lay across the doorway door 
 there was none only a piece of old matting hung up 
 to keep out the wind and cold. Sound as he slept he 
 fancied once he had heard the sound of muffled 
 voices close to the door, and had felt something touch 
 him, but he thought it might only have been a 
 dream. 
 
 It was no fancy of Gordon's ; the matting had been 
 raised and a light turned on him by two men, and 
 after their inspection two sentinels were placed at the 
 door. So Gordon, when he awoke in the morning 
 at first wondering where he was found himself 
 virtually a prisoner in this hut, for the sentinels would
 
 A FEARFUL TRAGEDY. 207 
 
 not let him pass out A few months ago Gordon 
 would not have stood this ; he would probably have 
 knocked both men down and rushed away, gun in 
 hand. But he had bought experience of these people ; 
 and knew this was not the way to treat them ; that 
 they were not easily cowed by an angry English- 
 man. He even reflected that the numbers were 
 against him, and they had a perfect right to take him 
 prisoner if they wished to, as he was trespassing in their 
 country and consequently at their mercy. Gordon too 
 had been very much awed by the scene of the morning ; 
 and he trembled to think of what his own fate might 
 yet be. This was the second time he had been in 
 their power, and now he had really done something in 
 their eyes to deserve punishment. He was humane 
 enough to hope that the man he had shot was not 
 dead, as he had no wish to take life unnecessarily ; 
 besides the murderer was unhurt, and the other men 
 were probably bound by oath to assist him in what- 
 ever he undertook. 
 
 Gordon was not left long in solitude, or even 
 in suspense as to what was to become of him. A 
 body of armed men, about a dozen, marched up to 
 the door of the hut and handcuffed him after their 
 fashion, which was simply tying a rope round his 
 arms and binding it again round his body ; his gun 
 was taken from him, and he was dragged, pushed, and 
 hustled along between them. They vouchsafed to 
 give him some chupattees and milk before they tied
 
 208 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 his arms up. He did not understand a word they 
 said to him, and he found talking to them useless. 
 They carried him off to another village about five 
 miles distant, right away, more among the Khyber 
 hills. The village was buried in a sequestered valley, 
 although up in the hills, the ascent being very rugged, 
 and quite hidden from view of the road ; but it was 
 on the spur of Tartara called " Rohtas," which is held 
 by Momund levies, reported to have been raised by 
 the Ameer to aid his regular troops in keeping the 
 Khyber against the British. 
 
 Gordon did not know why he was taken there, and 
 could only now feel thankful for every day that he 
 was allowed to live ; and he hoped from the method 
 of his removal that he was not going to be murdered, 
 as this could have been done without all this trouble. 
 They could not surely have intended to bring him to 
 this village to be slain as they would lead an ox to 
 the slaughter-house. The thought was too appalling : 
 and they could not have any reason for doing so, as 
 the village of Kaura, which they had just left, was 
 not on English territory, therefore they could commit 
 the deed there as well as anywhere else. But they 
 had a very strong reason of their own for not 
 putting him to death. Gordon's fate hung on a 
 thread ; he little knew the wheels within wheels 
 that caused the preservation of his life. 
 
 Indeed a saving hand was guarding him from 
 danger, watching over him, and turning the very
 
 A FEARFUL TRAGEDY. 209 
 
 deeds that, to his short-sighted view, appeared to 
 be the ones which caused his danger, into the means 
 of his preservation. His fate had been decided on 
 during the night in this way. The reason of his 
 being kept a prisoner was because the murderer, 
 Dalli Khan, was an enemy of the people of the 
 village of Kaura where he had obtained shelter. 
 Dalli Khan, on finding his victim was not at Bori, 
 came on to Kaura at once, and demanded that the 
 Englishman should be given up to him. His request 
 being refused, and having no means at hand to enable 
 him to enforce it, he was obliged to return unsatisfied, 
 but vowing that they should be made to comply, and 
 on the very next day. So the authorities at Kaura 
 decided to send their captive or guest off under a 
 strong guard and hide him in the village of " Popal," 
 in the Khyber hills, where he was not likely to be 
 discovered. Moreover this village was more like a 
 small fortress ; it was well armed, and partly built 
 on the sides of the hills, where there were natural 
 caves, mounted with guns and garrisoned by armed 
 men. They invented a very plausible story to tell 
 Dalli Khan when he came the next morning, which 
 they knew he would do. They told him that " when 
 they were all asleep the Englishman had escaped, 
 and gone back, of course, to Peshawur." He would 
 not believe them at first ; but they took him to 
 the hut where Gordon had slept, and again he heard 
 the same story confirmed by the sentinels. They 
 
 P
 
 2io A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 added that the fugitive was such a monster, that he 
 had knocked them both down too stunned to raise 
 a cry ; and as all the villagers were asleep, he had 
 got out. Dalli Khan was convinced at last. 
 
 The village of Kaura where Gordon had slept 
 belonged to the same people as the one whose chief 
 had taken such solemn oaths of vengeance on him 
 and his friends, on account of their assisting his 
 daughter to escape. One of the men who had in- 
 spected him in the night had recognised him, and 
 told the others how their chief, Fudjoo Khan, wished 
 to catch him. They would certainly have then and 
 there put him to death, and taken his head as a 
 trophy to Fudjoo, and have been rewarded for thus 
 having wiped out the insult ; but as they hated Dalli 
 Khan, the murderer, and he wished Gordon to be 
 slain, they thought to keep him alive to spite him. 
 If the chief heard of his being there, and ordered 
 them to kill him, they might do so at some future 
 time, but not now. He would be well punished, 
 they thought, by being kept a prisoner in their village. 
 
 So Gordon's life was spared for the present, he 
 little dreaming of the reason, and of how fortunate 
 it was that he had not been admitted into the village 
 of Bori, although at the time his disappointment 
 had been great
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CONSTERNATION AT PESHAWUR. 
 
 A GREAT many of the ladies and gentlemen at 
 Peshawur were driving on the malle on the evening 
 of the day on which the events recorded in our last 
 chapter took place, and were much startled to see 
 Peters gallop madly past them all, without stopping 
 to speak to any one. He looked so wild, was covered 
 with mud, and had his gun at his side ; but the 
 expression on his face was so strange that all the 
 people he passed turned round to look at him. 
 
 Mrs. Chaplin and Miss Lindsay were driving slowly 
 along, with Hale riding on one side of them and 
 young Jones on the other. When Peters flew by 
 startling Hale's horse considerably the latter ex- 
 claimed, " I am sure something must be wrong ; I 
 hope Gordon has not got into another scrape." 
 
 At Gordon's name Miss Lindsay started, and 
 murmured to herself, " Oh ! I hope not." Then 
 she turned to Hale and said "Do go and find out 
 what is the matter." 
 
 P 2
 
 212 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 " I do not know why Mr. Peters has passed his 
 own bungalow. I wonder where he can be off to at 
 that mad pace." 
 
 He had evidently just arrived, for he had all his 
 shooting gear on, and was covered with dust, his 
 horse too looking as though he had not drawn rein. 
 
 Hale turned round to do Miss Lindsay's bidding. 
 He was himself very anxious to know ; but the start 
 she gave and her change of colour when he mentioned 
 Gordon's name, raised a jealous feeling. "Why 
 should she take such an interest in Gordon," he asked 
 himself. Are you Robert Hale falling in love too ? 
 beware before it is too late. Miss Lindsay will 
 never be yours ; you have no sympathies in 
 common and would both be miserable ! 
 
 Hale rode up the malle, and was stopped very often 
 by different people all asking what had happened, 
 for they felt sure something had gone wrong. 
 
 Peters went first to the brigade office, and rinding 
 it shut and the brigade-major not at home, went 
 straight to the general, and caught him starting for a 
 ride. He told him all the circumstances, not forgetting 
 poor Gordon and the danger he must be in. The 
 general immediately sent off a mounted orderly with 
 a telegram to the Commander-in-Chief, and another 
 
 orderly to find Captain V , the brigade-major, and 
 
 Major H , the assistant adjutant-general to con- 
 fer with him as to what immediate steps should be 
 taken. The general told Peters he had done well in
 
 CONSTERNATION AT PESHAWUR. 213 
 
 coming so quickly with the news, and he had better 
 go back to his bungalow and rest after all he had 
 gone through. Peters could hardly realise all that 
 had happened. He seemed dreaming, and to have 
 had no power to think ; as though a month had 
 passed since the morning, so much had occurred in 
 the interim. 
 
 Peters was quite an hour in reaching his bungalow, 
 for he was stopped by everybody in turn asking 
 him what had happened, and at one time was quite 
 surrounded by a host of people all trying to get as 
 near him as they could to hear his story. He did 
 not like to gallop past them, for the poor horse 
 had done its duty. The horse he was riding was 
 one of Major McMullin's that he found at Michnee 
 his own pony not having arrived ; but in any 
 case he must have taken the major's horse, as his 
 pony could not have galloped the distance at the pace 
 the fiery little Arab did. The animal was a great pet 
 of his master's, and he must have thought horses do 
 think and reason I am quite sure that he had sud- 
 denly fallen into bad hands. He changed his mind, 
 no doubt, when he reached his stable, as there he had 
 every care and comfort. His legs were bandaged, 
 and he was well rubbed down and groomed. Then 
 he had a bran-mash given to him for his supper, and 
 well he deserved and relished it. He was very thirsty, 
 poor horse, but in his state cold water would have 
 hurt him.
 
 214 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 In one short hour the dreadful news was known 
 from end to end. News of any sort travels fast, 
 but when it is bad news how doubly quick it 
 speeds ! 
 
 Like all news that is handed from mouth to mouth, 
 the story became altered and exaggerated, and Gor- 
 don's name was so mixed up with the poor major's 
 that one person said Gordon had been murdered, 
 and another, Major McMullin. 
 
 An officious young civilian rode up to the Lindsays' 
 carriage and told Mrs. Chaplin that Mr. Gordon 
 had been murdered. Miss Lindsay fell back in 
 a swoon, when she heard this, without uttering a 
 word. Mrs. Chaplin instantly told the coachman to 
 drive home as quickly as possible. Hale met them 
 and tried to stop them ; but the coachman would not 
 stop, and Mrs Chaplin shook her head and pointed to 
 Miss Lindsay. Hale did not take in what was the 
 matter ; he did not know of the report of Gordon's 
 death, or he would have guessed. As it was it did 
 not dawn upon him that Miss Lindsay had heard 
 an untrue version of the terrible tragedy. 
 
 Tragedy it was, too truly, and the excitement it 
 caused in Peshawur was very great. Every one 
 talked excitably to every one else ; some want- 
 ing to make an expedition at once with troops, 
 and demand instant reparation for the murder, and 
 the immediate restoration of Gordon should he be a 
 prisoner in their hands. These foolish ones did not
 
 CONSTERNATION AT PESHAWUR. 215 
 
 consider for a minute the consequences of such a rash 
 and unconsidered move as they were proposing. 
 
 Some men are very short-sighted, and Englishmen 
 in India are proverbially so. They live in a conquered 
 country, and so they fancy very often without rhyme 
 or reason that all the adjoining countries ought 
 to be subject to them too, and obey and bow down 
 to them, in the same abject fashion. They do not 
 weigh in the scale the severe penalty they would 
 have to pay should such a course as they advised, be 
 taken. To begin with, an enemy would be made 
 where we had now a friend and ally. Even a barbarous 
 chief which the Ameer Shere Ali is not would not 
 be able to overlook an affront so great as it would be, 
 if we were to enter his dominions with armed men 
 before asking him to do justice to all parties, punish 
 the offenders, and release the Englishman. No doubt it 
 would have been an amusing sport to these people 
 to take the law into their own hands in the way 
 they were proposing ; but they would not have 
 found the amusement to last long. And they would 
 certainly have ensured Gordon's death by such a 
 proceeding. 
 
 The general fortunately had a cool and clear head, 
 and had no wish to endanger the lives of hundreds 
 to rescue that of a single individual, who had partly 
 brought the trouble upon himself, for he had broken 
 the boundary rule, We may pity him in any case, 
 for he, unfortunate man, was destined to pay a severe
 
 216 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 penalty for his rashness this time, and to be thankful 
 should he escape with his life. 
 
 Time went on, and nothing was heard of Gordon. 
 He could not be found ; men had been sent out to 
 make inquiries, in the different villages in the country 
 round about the forts, but always returned without 
 any news of him. 
 
 A letter was sent to the Ameer of Cabul requesting 
 him to give up the murderer, and order the Englishman 
 to be released ; but the poor man could not enforce 
 either mandate, much as he might wish to do so. 
 He did order an investigation of the matter to be 
 made, and said the Englishman was to be released, 
 and the murderer handed over to the English govern- 
 ment. He was not obeyed ; his subjects were very 
 lawless, and a large portion rebellious these people 
 too, sided with his son Yakoob Khan so they would 
 not obey him, and he had no means of enforcing sub- 
 mission and obedience to his laws. For whilst most 
 of these lawless mountain tribes are subjects of the 
 Ameer of Cabul some are independent and owe no 
 allegiance to him ; and others, who are his subjects 
 in name, never think of obeying him, if obedience 
 be contrary to their own will. The latter is their 
 acknowledged lord and master. 
 
 Days were growing into weeks, and weeks into 
 months, and the people at Peshawur were beginning 
 to give up all hope of ever hearing of poor Gordon 
 again. " Poor Gordon" they always called him now.
 
 CONSTERNATION AT PESHAWUR. 217 
 
 Neither Colonel Lindsay nor any other officers of his 
 regiment believed him dead. The English, as a race, 
 I think, always cling to the smallest hope ; unless 
 they hear a missing man is dead, they like to believe 
 he is alive. They were always talking of Gordon at 
 mess, and recounting the daring deeds he had done ; 
 there were some there who had known him from a 
 boy, and always told how he got out of every scrape 
 in some way, when perhaps another man would have 
 gone to the wall. They always when talking about 
 Gordon came to one conclusion, that he would fall on 
 his legs somewhere, sooner or later, and in some guise 
 or other would reappear, and be one of them again. 
 Let us, also, hope that he will ; but the appearances 
 at present we must own are very much against such 
 an event. 
 
 Mr. Fuller, when he heard the news, felt very grate- 
 ful to Flora Carter for being the means of preventing 
 his being of the party. The Lindsays had a dinner 
 party the evening of the day Mr. Peters rode so 
 hurriedly into the station. Miss Lindsay did not 
 want to appear at dinner, not feeling well ; but her 
 mother insisted on her doing so, and told her she was 
 very silly to give way to her feelings as she had done 
 on the malle. 
 
 "You, an officer's daughter," said she, perhaps 
 not improperly indignant, " because you hear a 
 gentleman has been killed, to go off into a faint 
 like a school girl ! I thought, my love, you prided
 
 218 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 yourself on being above such things, and on being 
 your father's daughter. What your father will say 
 when he hears I do not know." 
 
 So the indignant mother went on : she was so 
 very proud herself of being an officer's wife, and 
 especially of being the wife of such an officer as 
 Colonel Lindsay. And well she might be, for he 
 was a husband to be proud of ; he was always kind 
 and considerate and honourable in all his dealings. 
 
 Miss Lindsay, after her mother's scolding, did 
 reason with herself about giving way to her feel- 
 ings : it was a bitter struggle, but no one knew it 
 but herself. The guests at her father's that evening 
 when they looked at her calm, beautiful face, every 
 now and then brightening into animation when any 
 subject of the conversation particularly interested 
 her little knew the bitter load at her heart, and 
 how difficult even the semblance of gaiety was. 
 The party was not a gay one, as few could talk of 
 anything but the one absorbing topic of the day, 
 although the host and hostess did their best to turn 
 the current of the conversation. Yet it was but 
 natural that after so dark and terrible a deed as the 
 event of the hour, a gloom should hang over the place 
 and affect the thoughts of all in it. 
 
 During dinner Miss Lindsay did not exert herself 
 to talk, because she was between two friends Major 
 Munro and Mr. Hale both of whom she knew too 
 well to care to appear to them different to what
 
 CONSTERNATION AT PESHAWUR. 219 
 
 she really felt. Hale could see how much she 
 suffered, by her subdued manner and the sad look 
 which came into her eyes when he talked to her. Major 
 Munro left her alone out of sheer kindness, knowing 
 she would be obliged to exert herself after dinner. 
 
 Mrs. Chaplin had told him of the scene on the 
 malle, and of the unfortunate mistake the young 
 man made about poor Major McMullin taking 
 one man for the other. The Chaplins knew Alice 
 Lindsay far too well, and had seen too much of her 
 lately, to be deceived. They were thoroughly aware 
 it had not been simply the shock of the news of 
 the dreadful deed which had caused her to lose 
 control over herself; but because she had thought it 
 was Gordon who had been killed. 
 
 Captain Chaplin and his wife often talked it over, 
 and he used to say "he hoped they would marry, 
 as he thought they were suited to each other. 
 Gordon had so many fine qualities ; he was so 
 thoroughly a bold, honest, honourable man, and if 
 he married happily would give up his wild ways, 
 and settle down into a good husband, and make 
 all the better one no doubt for his former penchant 
 for scrapes." 
 
 Mrs. Chaplin did not quite agree with her husband 
 m this matter : she did not much like Gordon, and 
 no wonder ; for he had never given her a chance of 
 liking him, as in his habitual indifference to ladies, 
 Mrs. Chaplin had not been an exception.
 
 22O A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Alice Lindsay was the one exception ; he had 
 sought her out himself, and on every possible oc- 
 casion had been in her society. Mrs. Chaplin, too, 
 felt sure Hale was in love with Alice, and would much 
 rather have furthered his suit than Gordon's if she had 
 helped any. Mr. Hale was Mrs. Chaplin's favourite, 
 and she did not think Alice Lindsay would be thrown 
 away upon him, as her husband did. But he was right, 
 they would not have been matched had they been 
 mated. 
 
 Men are generally far the truest judges of other 
 men. Women judge men according to their own 
 standard, and so they are invariably deceived. They 
 have too much faith, they believe easily, and not 
 being logical, cannot reason as men do. If in doubt 
 about a man's true character, it would be far wiser 
 to ask another man's opinion than trust to that of 
 even a bosom friend. For women are so easily biased, 
 and so blind to their own interests, even whilst they 
 vainly and fondly imagine that they are the best 
 judges. 
 
 However, there was not much use in speculating on a 
 marriage between two people, one of whom was pro- 
 bably in the hands of the " Affreedees," and entirely at 
 their mercy, even if he were alive.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MORE HORRORS. 
 
 MORE than a month had now elapsed since 
 Gordon's disappearance, and all his friends were 
 feeling very anxious about his safety. Those who 
 knew Alice Lindsay slightly would not have re- 
 marked any change in her ; but to her dearest friends 
 she was changed. She had lost much of the elasticity 
 of her brightness, and these saw how sad and silent 
 she was at times when she was alone and at her ease, 
 and not under the restraints of society then she was 
 obliged to pretend to be lively. 
 
 " Unhappy Psyche ! soon the latent wound, 
 
 The fading roses of her cheek confess, 
 Her eyes, bright beams, in swimming sorrows drowned, 
 
 Sparkle no more with life and happiness, 
 Her parent's fond heart to bless ; 
 
 She shuns adoring, and seeks to hide, 
 The pining sorrows which her soul oppress, 
 
 Till to her mother's tears no more denied, 
 The secret grief she owns for which she lingering sighed."
 
 222 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 She never talked of him, he was far too dear to talk 
 about. What poor Alice went through at this time 
 in her attempts' to command herself nay, even 
 to feign a gaiety she did not possess she alone knew. 
 
 The saying " It never rains but it pours " is old and 
 common-place, but it is nevertheless uncommonly 
 true, and it was proving its truth at Peshawur now. 
 Hardly had the inhabitants recovered from the 
 shock of poor Major McMullin's murder, when the 
 news of another awful tragedy, and one which con- 
 vulsed the whole country, came to horrify and distress 
 them, and make them almost wonder if they were 
 living in a peaceful country and in a peaceful time. 
 This was the news of the murder of the Governor- 
 General in the Andaman Islands ; and although it 
 may seem outside my story to allude to it here, as it 
 happened so many hundred. miles away, yet the circum- 
 stances connected with it have to do with the " Year 
 in Peshawur," for the murderer of Lord Mayo in the 
 Andaman Islands was an orderly at Peshawur in the 
 service of the government ; in fact, he was the Com- 
 missioner's orderly ; his home was in a village in 
 the territory of Mohamed Alii, but he had taken 
 service with our government. 
 
 Be that as it may, his family had a blood feud 
 with another family of the same tribe, and he, when 
 at home on a month's leave, murdered a man be- 
 longing to the other family. He was brought to 
 Peshawur, tried by the civil court, and sentenced
 
 MORE HORRORS. 223 
 
 to be hanged. The Governor-General in his just 
 and humane dealings with all the people whom he 
 governed taking into consideration the manners, 
 customs and habits of these tribes, commuted the 
 sentence to transportation for life. He considered 
 that the murderer was only obeying his own creed, 
 and the laws he had imbibed from infancy. Instead 
 of the man accepting the gift of his life, he was 
 angry, and considered that he was insulted by the 
 alteration of the sentence. Very strange, for one 
 would naturally expect him to be thankful to Lord 
 Mayo. Instead of feeling grateful to him he swore 
 that he would be revenged for the alteration of the 
 sentence by murdering an Englishman ; he would 
 only be too thankful to murder the Governor-General 
 himself, but that he could never expect to do, as he 
 was not likely to visit the Andaman Islands. The 
 sad sequel we all know. 
 
 When this terrible news reached Peshawur no one 
 could think or talk of anything else ; and Major 
 McMullin's murder and poor Gordon's disappear- 
 ance were well-nigh forgotten, for the time being. 
 But there was one there who never forgot poor 
 Gordon for a moment ; he was ever in her thoughts. 
 Poor Alice Lindsay felt desperate at times ; she 
 longed to go in search of him herself; she felt so sure 
 that she would find him if she did. Why did they 
 not hunt for him properly and make them give him 
 up if he were a prisoner ? These thoughts came so
 
 224 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 naturally to her she had given her love without 
 realising it. She never asked herself the question 
 whether he loved her in return, and what ground she 
 had for supposing he did. Her love was unreasoning 
 and spontaneous, not to be reduced to fractions or 
 sordid calculations of any sort. 
 
 Now Alice Lindsay was not the only one at this 
 time who was suffering and being torn by the agonies 
 of love. 
 
 " Love is not to be reason'd down, or lost 
 In high ambition or a thirst of greatness ; 
 It's second life, it grows into the soul, 
 Warms ev'ry vein, and beats in ev'ry pulse ; 
 I feel it here : my resolution melts." 
 
 Poor Mr. Hale was suffering for the love of her ; 
 and his was unrequited love that bitterest of all. 
 Alice was quite unconscious of it, and never viewed 
 him in the light of a lover. She was so in the habit of 
 seeing him every day, and took all the little attentions 
 he paid her she as a matter of course without attaching 
 any meaning to them. He would have declared 
 himself to her long before, only he could not get her to 
 see that he cared for her ; and he did most truly, poor 
 fellow ! It was partly because he did not like to leave 
 Peshawur whilst she was in it that he did not ac- 
 company Gordon on his shooting expedition. He 
 now felt that Alice cared for Gordon, his greatest 
 friend in the regiment, the more trying to him, 
 because he looked upon him in the light of an elder
 
 MORE HORRORS. 225 
 
 brother. He made up his mind on seeing how things 
 stood with Alice, that he would not stand in Gordon's 
 way, or try to win her affections, until it was proved 
 beyond all doubt, that Gordon could never return. 
 With his notion of honour he felt that it was not 
 fair to steal, as it were, a march on his friend. He 
 could not help thinking it very strange and un- 
 fortunate that he and Gordon should both care for 
 the same girl. Gordon had never been a ladies' man, 
 so it was very odd that he, of all others, should 
 be the one to stand in his way. 
 
 This was no doubt all the more reason for his carry- 
 ing all before him when he did try and storm a fortress. 
 He had not laid siege to Miss Lindsay by any visible 
 process ; but she had exercised some charm over him 
 that made him unconsciously seek her whenever he 
 could do so. This alone was enough in the eyes of 
 those who knew him well, to express more than the 
 most marked attentions of ordinary men. 
 
 A week after the news of the poor Governor- 
 General's murder reached Peshawur, an event oc- 
 curred there which created a great sensation. This 
 time it was in the civil lines ; but before narrating it I 
 must first say something about the chowkedars, or 
 night watchmen, as I do not think they have as yet 
 figured in this story. 
 
 In every station in India, it is necessary, to ensure 
 your house not being invaded by robbers, to keep 
 a man to guard it at night. He puts his bed in 
 
 Q
 
 226 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 the verandah and sleeps in it until all in the house 
 are in bed, and then begins his watch. It is his 
 business to perambulate the house ; and every now 
 and then he will give a fearful howl, or yell, or 
 whatever you like to call it. It startles the sleepers 
 inside if they are not accustomed to it. The object 
 of the shouting of the chowkedar is, I suppose, to 
 let intending thieves know that he is awake, or to 
 communicate the fact to his brother chowkedars in 
 the other bungalows. This custom of keeping chow- 
 kedars is absolutely black mail ; for it is paying a 
 thief to keep off a thief, for all the chowkedars are 
 thieves by trade, and belong to the thief families ; 
 indeed there are villages entirely populated by these 
 professed thieves. You may say they are a caste of 
 themselves. It is very dangerous to turn off a chow- 
 kedar. If you do, the chances are your house is 
 robbed without loss of time. In most Indian stations 
 ( they are kept, but in some there is not so much need 
 of them as in others. In Peshawur they were indis- 
 pensable, and were obliged to have arms ; in fact so 
 dangerous was the neighbourhood, that in most of 
 the large houses two were kept. 
 
 One night a civilian, a Mr. Ford, had been dining 
 at one of the messes in cantonment, and had walked 
 back to his bungalow. He did not enter the com- 
 pound by the gate, but climbed over the low wall, as 
 it would be a short cut. One of his chowkedars saw 
 him and fired at him. This naturally made him so
 
 MORE HORRORS. 227 
 
 angry that he rushed at the man and knocked him 
 down, his head receiving a fearful blow as he fell from 
 the corner of the base of one of the verandah pillars, 
 being cut open just above the temple. Before Mr. 
 Ford had time to do anything for the fallen man, he 
 was attacked by the other chowkedar, and a struggle 
 ensued which would have ended probably fatally to 
 the poor master had not the servants been roused by 
 the noise, and called a gentleman who lived next door 
 to help him. The latter only arrived on the scene 
 just in time to save Mr. Ford, who had received 
 some very severe blows. The chowkedar ran away 
 when overpowered by numbers, vowing vengeance 
 and declaring that if the man died whom Mr. Ford 
 had thrown down, the family would be revenged 
 upon him, and neither he, his wife, or his children 
 should escape them. 
 
 It was a most unfortunate occurrence ; for the 
 chowkedar no doubt had fired, as he thought, in the 
 exercise of his duty, having taken his master for a 
 thief. That he should not have recognised him in the 
 darkness was not extraordinary, as he had come just 
 as a thief might, over the wall. The chowkedar died 
 the next day. Poor Mr. Ford was confined to his bed 
 for some time, and it was a very sad and unfortunate 
 occurrence for him, as he could not after this ever feel 
 safe at Peshawur ; and having only lately come there 
 with his wife and children it would be a serious matter 
 for him to be obliged to leave the place. 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 It was now about six weeks since Gordon had been 
 lost, and was the end of March ; the spring had again 
 come round. Peshawur was looking very pretty ; the 
 trees were covered with blossoms of many colours 
 and hues, and the gardens were putting on their 
 best attire. A new-comer would have thought it then 
 the prettiest station in India ; for it does look lovely 
 when all the trees and flowers are in full bloom for 
 gardens abound in it and with the picturesque 
 hills in the distance it is truly beautiful. But the 
 outside fairness hides the deathly sickness within, as 
 the sound shell hides the rotten kernel. 
 
 The Chaplins and Munros were dining with the 
 Lindsays one evening en famille, which they often 
 did. After discussing the weather, the houses in the 
 Hills that were available for the coming season, the 
 months they hoped to take for their holiday, and many 
 other topics common to social life in India (and ab- 
 sorbingly interesting to the inhabitants of an Indian 
 station, where the leave is the one great event of the 
 year the fixed planet ; all the other excitements 
 being as the lesser stars revolving round it) the 
 colonel suddenly said 
 
 " I suppose you have all heard that Mr. Gorman 
 has lost his horse again ; and all through his own 
 stupidity ? " 
 
 " No ; I did not even know he had recovered it," 
 replied Major Munro ; " if he has, it is the first horse 
 I have ever heard of being brought back after
 
 MORE HORRORS. 229 
 
 having been once stolen by those Affreedee horse 
 stealers. " 
 
 " He offered such a very high reward, you see, and 
 so they thought it worth while, I suppose, as no one 
 in their country would give them five hundred rupees 
 for a horse, although Gorman's horse was fully worth 
 a thousand to him." 
 
 " Do you mean to say he offered five hundred for 
 that Arab of his ? " said Chaplin ; " I should not 
 have considered him worth more." 
 
 " Yes, and now he has lost the five hundred and 
 the horse into the bargain." 
 
 " What ever do you mean ? How could he have 
 lost the horse again and the reward too ? " 
 
 " That is the absurd part of it, and I cannot help 
 being amused when I think about it ; but it is 
 anything but a joke to poor Mr. Gorman, who is 
 never likely to see his horse again. But I must tell 
 you how it happened. This morning one of these 
 Affreedee fellows came to Mr. Gorman's bungalow 
 riding his horse, and said he would immediately hand 
 it over to him on receipt of the five hundred rupees, 
 but not before this sum was paid. Mr. Gorman 
 paid the man, and as he was going away said to 
 him, ' I wish you would show me how you managed 
 to steal my horse ? ' He never could make out how 
 the thief had managed to extract the animal from 
 the stable, as he said he was very securely fastened, 
 and the syce asleep in the place. Mr. Gorman had
 
 230 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 his horse taken to the stable and fastened up, and 
 the man went through the whole performance, finish- 
 ing it as he had done before, by mounting the horse, 
 when he rode away on it like a flash of lightning, 
 before any one had time to move. This is the story 
 
 as it was told to me by D , who was with Mr. 
 
 Gorman at the time." 
 
 " I should hardly have believed such a story had 
 you not told it to us as a fact. It is a good one. 
 Poor Mr. Gorman ; I am sorry for him:" 
 
 " I wonder we did not hear it before," said Major 
 Munro." 
 
 "It only happened this morning," replied the colonel, 
 
 " and I met D as I rode down to the civil lines. 
 
 News from there takes a little time to travel up to 
 cantonments." 
 
 They could talk of nothing but this wonderful 
 story for a long time ; but the colonel changed the 
 conversation by asking Major Munro whether he had 
 heard of the Commander-in-Chief s intended visit to 
 Peshawur, and when he answered "No," went on 
 to say that he had heard on very good authority that 
 morning, that his lordship was coming to Peshawur 
 to inspect the troops. 
 
 " How very odd ! " said Major Munro. "I understood 
 he was not coming higher than Umballa, and was going 
 to inspect all the way up the line en route to Simla ; 
 but there is no dependence to be placed on the pro- 
 jected movements of any one in authority out here."
 
 MORE HORRORS. 231 
 
 " I am quite sure he is coming, as I received a semi- 
 official letter in reference to it, as there are arrange- 
 ments to be made by me, and some orders were given 
 for work to be done in our workshops. The letter not 
 being 'official ' cannot appear in orders, but I fancy 
 it will be in the brigade orders, and circulated in the 
 order books in a day or two." 
 
 " I wish the Chief would keep away, I must say," 
 said Chaplin. 
 
 He spoke feelingly, being adjutant ; but we have 
 already seen that his position as adjutant was a very- 
 en viable one. 
 
 " I do not understand why he should come straight 
 up here, with only an inspection or so in prospect ; 
 it is most unusual, and contrary to all precedent. 
 There must be some other reason, and a very good 
 one too, I should think," remarked Munro. 
 
 " There is a reason," said the colonel, " but it was 
 told to me in confidence, and so I cannot make it 
 public ; and if I tell you it must be under a promise 
 of secrecy. But it will only be a secret for a day 
 or two I fancy, as it must be known soon. One of 
 
 Lord D 's staff, who is a friend of mine, wrote 
 
 and told me privately that a ride into the Khyber 
 Pass was meditated, and although not given out pub- 
 licly as yet, it would soon be, and I had better not 
 say anything about it until it was known." 
 
 At the sound of the word " Khyber " Alice looked 
 up, and not a word of what her father had just said
 
 232 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 escaped her. It made her so long to go too. She 
 kept on thinking to herself oh, if she could but once 
 get into the " Khyber," she felt sure she should be 
 able to find Mr. Gordon. She did not know what 
 the " Khyber " was like, or anything about it ; but 
 she longed to see it, and be in it, as he was some- 
 where there, and she had an indefinable feeling that 
 she should feel happier if she had once been there. 
 
 She felt happier, poor girl, already. It was some 
 comfort to think that somebody was going there ; 
 she felt that nothing had been done to search for 
 and save the missing officer. 
 
 When the Munros and Chaplins left that evening 
 they both remarked how much brighter Alice had 
 become ; she was much more herself than they had 
 seen her for ages. But the change had only taken 
 place after the conversation about the Khyber Pass. 
 
 After the guests had left Alice went up to her 
 father, and began of her own accord asking him 
 about the Khyber Pass, and why the Commander- 
 in-Chief was going to visit it. 
 
 " That is more than I can tell you, my child," he 
 said, "but what makes you so interested in it, 
 dear?" 
 
 " I should so very much like to ride there too ; 
 shall you go ? " 
 
 " Yes, I hope to go, and I fancy every one will try 
 and go who possibly can." 
 
 " Will you take me with you ? Now, you must
 
 MORE HORRORS. 233 
 
 promise to, there's a dear good father," said poor 
 Alice, persuasively. " I would give anything to go. " 
 
 He could not help looking at her in astonishment ; 
 for he had never seen her so eager or animated before, 
 and lately he had remarked how strangely quiet and 
 silent she had been. 
 
 Mrs. Lindsay was more than astonished at Alice's 
 request and her great desire to go into the wild 
 country. 
 
 " Really, Alice, what will you want to do next ? 
 Go to the moon in a balloon I should think ; and it 
 would be as safe and wise an expedition for you as 
 the one you wish to undertake. I am sure too many 
 poor people have been murdered in that dreadful 
 Pass without your being added to the number. You 
 cannot carry a gun, my child, and I am sure no one 
 will go there without one to run the risk of being 
 shot at by people hiding in caves. I have heard all 
 about them." 
 
 The colonel was as much amused at his wife's 
 anxiety as he was astonished at his daughter's 
 request. 
 
 "Why, Mary, you do not suppose," he said, "we 
 are going to fight our way in. We shall go as 
 visitors. The Commander-in-Chief would never go 
 to a place like that if there were any danger attached 
 to it. It would not do, if only for political reasons. 
 He will be properly escorted, too, you may be 
 sure." Then turning to Alice, he added, " I will not
 
 234 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 forget you, dear, and if it is possible you shall go with 
 us, only you had better try and get another lady to 
 accompany you, if you are allowed to go. Perhaps 
 Mrs. Chaplin would like the ride." 
 
 Poor Alice went to bed happier that night than 
 she had done for many a day ; and we may be sure 
 she had pleasant dreams.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A MEMORABLE RIDE. 
 
 ABOUT ten days after the evening when the Khyber 
 expedition was first mentioned by Colonel Lindsay, 
 Alice was putting on her riding habit at four o'clock 
 in the morning, and it was a very cold morning, 
 too. Where could she have been going at that 
 early hour ? She was so brisk and lively too more 
 like the Alice of old days ! 
 
 Well ! she was really going that morning into the 
 Khyber Pass. She could hardly believe it, it must be 
 too good to be true ; she could not help pausing, and 
 every now and then thinking and wondering if she 
 were dreaming, or really awake. The ayah certainly 
 thought her mistress was dreaming, and wondered 
 v r hen the " miss sahib "would be ready, and she could 
 go off to her bed again. 
 
 Alice was roused by her father calling to her to 
 be quick, or they would miss the party whom they 
 had engaged to meet at a spot two miles out, at
 
 236 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Hurra Singh Ka Burg. On this, she hurried, and 
 soon released the sleepy ayah ; she swallowed her tea 
 and buttered toast, and then mounted Finella who was 
 very frisky, not understanding I suppose why she was 
 being taken out of her warm stable into the cold 
 air. She was not accustomed to go out before seven ; 
 of that the wise horse was quite sure. She warmed 
 herself by frisking and kicking, and doing her best 
 to go off into a gallop. They went at a pretty 
 good pace to Hurra Singh Ka Burg, the place 
 where they were to meet the Chiefs party. They 
 found a great many gentlemen already assembled 
 there, but no sign of Lord D ; but after wait- 
 ing about ten minutes the general's carriage drove 
 up with him in it. 
 
 By the time Lord D and his staff had mounted 
 
 their horses, the party had all arrived, and a large 
 number they were too about seventy or eighty 
 gentlemen, military men and civilians together. The 
 Commissioner and Assistant - Commissioner, the 
 general and all his staff, half a squadron of one 
 of the Bengal cavalry regiments, and nearly all 
 the officers from every regiment. 
 
 Miss Lindsay was the only lady of the party. 
 Mrs. Chaplin had sent a message the last thing the 
 night before to say she really could not manage 
 the ride. Alice and her father rode in the front 
 row ; she was between him and the Commander- 
 in-Chief, who was a very gallant old gentleman,
 
 A MEMORABLE RIDE. 237 
 
 and did honour to her pluck in coming with them. 
 He seemed very pleased to have a lady in the 
 expedition. 
 
 Expedition it was, but whether there were any 
 political reasons in the background which I doubt 
 never transpired. When the order was given to 
 gallop, the road was very hard and stony, and there 
 was such a clattering behind with all the horses, that 
 it was too much for Finella's nerves, not having been 
 accustomed to a tramping of horses at her back. 
 She therefore thought she had better put some 
 distance between them and herself, and ran away ; 
 it took Alice by surprise, as her little mare had 
 
 never done anything so audacious before ; she had 
 
 K 
 
 often been very frisky, but had never even attempted 
 to bolt. Alice's fingers too were cold, and so numb 
 that she could hardly feel the reins at all, and Finella 
 took advantage of this ; but it was underhand be- 
 haviour, to say the least of it, and a mean advantage 
 to take of her rider. The Chief, seeing Miss Lindsay 
 could not pull up her horse, gave the order to halt. 
 They halted for a minute, which had the desired 
 effect on Finella, who, when she found the clatter- 
 ing had ceased, also condescended to allow herself 
 to be pulled up. It had been enough to frighten 
 her certainly. 
 
 After this they galloped and walked alternately, 
 and nothing happened until they reached Jamrood, 
 the fortress about three miles from the entrance of
 
 238 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 the Khyber Pass. Here they found a body of armed 
 men soldiers belonging to the Ameer of Cabul's 
 army. The Ameer had sent them to escort Lord 
 D - and the party with him into the Pass, to 
 ensure their safety. His mandate alone would not 
 have sufficed for the purpose. The wild inhabitants 
 of the Khyber hills were not sufficiently under 
 their sovereign's control, to ensure any of his orders 
 being obeyed. The country in which the Khyber 
 Pass is situated is, as we have already seen, inhabited 
 by people who obey no law but their own wild will 
 in truth many of them did not hesitate to show 
 their hostility to their nominal chief, and would 
 willingly side against him in any disturbance, and 
 would harm the English for no other reason than 
 to spite him. So no wonder the Ameer was anxious 
 about the safety of the party of English who had 
 asked his permission to enter the Pass, knowing 
 well that after their having done so with his per- 
 mission, he would be answerable for their safety. 
 Should any evil befall them, he would get into 
 trouble with the English government, which was not 
 his desire in the least. 
 
 At present, at any rate, it was his interest to keep 
 friendly with them. 
 
 Miss Lindsay was very much amused with the 
 appearance of the Ameer's soldiers. She had ample 
 time to inspect them, as they all rested for half-an- 
 hour at the Jamrood Fort. She remarked to her
 
 A MEMORABLE RIDE. 239 
 
 father " what a very odd sort of army the Ameer 
 must have, for there were hardly two men dressed 
 alike." 
 
 She was right ; and as far as could be seen, 
 they all carried different sorts of weapons. Some 
 had guns and they were of all kinds, carbines, 
 rifles, breech-loaders and many sorts that had been 
 out of date for the last twenty years. Others had 
 swords, whilst some again had rapiers, and others 
 daggers ; in fact every kind of imaginable weapon 
 that had ever been used at all since the time of 
 Noah I should think. Their uniforms were not 
 worthy of the name, as they were only uniform in 
 their persistent variety no two men having exactly 
 similar things on. Some were dressed in the dress 
 of their country, sheep-skin coats, pugrees, and 
 kummurbunds, but with pouch belts, to show they 
 were in fighting trim. Some had old English uni- 
 forms. One man wore a cavalry frock coat covered 
 with black braid ; the next perhaps had on a scarlet 
 infantry parade coat ; another, a full dress infantry ; 
 another, undress blue cavalry coat ; and another, 
 artillery. Some even had native infantry uniforms, 
 " karkee " and red. It would take pages to describe 
 the great variety in their uniforms, but it was amusing 
 to see the way they had mixed them up : with a 
 native infantry karkee coat there would be European 
 infantry trousers, and vice versa, and all sorts of 
 mixtures of the sort. When the half hour was up,
 
 240 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 they all remounted and formed into lines, some of 
 the Ameer's soldiers going forward and others falling 
 quite to the rear. 
 
 Whilst they were halting, Colonel Lindsay had 
 
 been talking to his friend on Lord D 's staff. 
 
 He had left Alice with Major Munro, telling him 
 to take care of her until he came back. Hale was 
 standing not far off, holding his horse and smok- 
 ing. He had been in the rear all the ride, whilst 
 Miss Lindsay was in front with the Commander- 
 in-Chief, and all the swells, as he called them. He was 
 determined though now, to try and ride with her if 
 possible ; so he kept close to her when the remount- 
 ing and moving on began.' 
 
 Colonel Lindsay was so much interested in his 
 conversation with his friend, that his daughter 
 seemed to slip out of his head. If he did think of 
 her, he knew that she was safe among so many 
 friends, so did not think it necessary to go back 
 and look for her. He was well to the front, and 
 they began moving before he was aware of it. 
 There was such a crowd, too, with their own party 
 now that they had the addition of the Ameer's, that 
 he perforce drifted on with the stream. Major Munro 
 rode beside Alice, with Hale behind them. "When 
 Alice and Major Munro started together she asked 
 him if he had noticed a soldier among the Ameer's 
 troops who looked different to the rest ; she kept 
 on fancying, she said, that she had seen his face
 
 A MEMORABLE RIDE. 241 
 
 before, but, of course, she knew that was impossible, 
 as she had never before, seen any Afghans except a 
 few stray skin merchants. Major Munro answered 
 that he had not noticed any man in particular among 
 the Ameer's soldiers : " They all look to me so much 
 alike in face, although their costumes are peculiar, 
 and have variety at least to recommend them." 
 
 " You look at the man I mean when you have an 
 opportunity. I think he is behind us. I did not 
 see him go with those who went in front of Lord 
 D ." 
 
 Major Munro looked round and then laughed, and 
 said : 
 
 " Hale is behind us, riding beside one of the soldiers. 
 Is that he ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! He is dressed more like a native, but 
 has a very peculiar kind of cap, which comes down 
 under his pugree and covers all the sides of his face, 
 only leaving his mouth, eyes, and nose visible. He 
 has a jet black moustache, and his skin is rather 
 fairer than the others. " 
 
 "You have taken good count of him, certainly, 
 Miss Lindsay," remarked the amused major. 
 
 " I could not help it ; he was standing in front of 
 me between two of his comrades, and he seemed to 
 look at me every time I looked at him. His face 
 haunts me now." 
 
 " I must try and inspect your friend before we part 
 company," was his reply. 
 
 R
 
 242 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 They had gone the three miles and mor^and were 
 well inside the Khyber now, the steep perpendi- 
 cular hills rising straight up on each side like a great 
 high wall. These mountains with their almost in- 
 visible caves are indeed natural fortresses ; and not 
 one who now saw them, could help recalling the fate 
 of their fellow-countrymen in that terrible massacre 
 of 1841 how they were caught like mice in a trap. 
 
 The ground they were now treading was teeming 
 with interest to every English heart among them; 
 and the military men especially could not help wish- 
 ing for the good of the country that the Khyber Pass 
 was on English territory. In the hands of English 
 engineers what could it not be made ? 
 
 " What a pity it does seem," one said to the other, 
 " that this great Pass is not our own frontier which 
 is now so weak. It would then be secure, and we 
 should have nothing to fear from any enemy, be he 
 Turk, infidel, or Jew," These were the thoughts, if 
 not the words, of most who were riding quietly 
 through this memorable Pass. 
 
 It is not intended that this tale should enter into 
 the history or the political blunders which have been 
 made with regard to our dealings with Afghanistan 
 such an attempt of necessity may be left to another 
 and a wiser pen ; but in the humble opinion of the 
 writer of this story the policy in many instances has 
 been weak and vacillating, and bewildering to the 
 Afghan ruler. A semi-barbarous prince is influenced
 
 A MEMORABLE RIDE. 243 
 
 by deeds rather than words; and a stern, straight- 
 forward policy is the best manner of dealing with 
 him. To adhere to the very last letter to what has 
 been said no matter what the cost at the time is 
 the only safe way, and the way to save lives, trouble, 
 and money in the end. 
 
 They all now came to rather a sudden turn in the 
 road, which was at this point cut in the side of the 
 hill and very narrow ; so they were obliged to stop 
 and go on in a narrow column. At this juncture, 
 Major Munro became separated from Miss Lindsay, 
 who had fallen quite to the extreme rear. Her mare 
 was inclined to be skittish, and went better behind 
 the others ; so she kept back and did not go in be- 
 tween any horses, if she could help it. Finella had a 
 trick of kicking every now and then, and her rider 
 did not want to be the means of any one having a 
 broken leg. 
 
 Just as they were turning the corner somebody in 
 front called out something to Major Munro, which he 
 not hearing, pushed on to ask what was said. 
 
 Miss Lindsay was now riding next to Hale, and all 
 except the Ameer's soldiers were in front of her. 
 They were both waiting to let all go round the corner 
 before she moved on, as it was a nasty place should her 
 horse kick out. They were talking to each other and 
 were just going to move on, when a huge stone came 
 rolling down the hill side, and, fell within a yard of 
 her horse. Had either she or her companion been 
 
 R 2
 
 244 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 this short distance further on, he or she must have 
 been crushed to death. It was a piece of rock that 
 had got loose and fell, bringing down a shower of 
 stones with it a very common occurrence in the 
 hills. It startled Finella dreadfully. She shied badly, 
 and jumped down the side of the hill leaving Miss 
 Lindsay on the path above. She had fallen off 
 sideways, as the horse jumped down the khud. 
 
 Alice, beyond being very much frightened, and a 
 little bruised, was not seriously hurt. Hale was 
 terribly alarmed when he saw what had happened. 
 He instantly jumped off his horse, slipping the bridle 
 round his arm, and helped Miss Lindsay up, and 
 was indeed thankful that the fall had been no worse. 
 They both shuddered when they thought of what it 
 might have been, for had she not fallen from the horse 
 on to the path she might have been crushed against 
 the side of the hill and killed. Finella had fallen 
 on her legs, and luckily the bridle caught on a bush, 
 so she could not run away, had she wished to do so. 
 
 All this took some time, and these two were ap- 
 parently left quite alone. The soldiers of the Ameer 
 had passed them and gone on ; they did not even 
 vouchsafe to offer any aid. The expression on their 
 faces was stolidity and solemnity itself ; just as though 
 they had been set to a disagreeable duty and meant 
 to fulfil it to the letter only, and show all the English 
 people they came across, how irksome they felt it 
 to be.
 
 A MEMORABLE RIDE. 245 
 
 By the time Hale had brought Miss Lindsay's 
 horse up the khud and mounted her on it, their 
 companions were not only well out of sight but a 
 good distance off, for he had had difficulty in leading 
 the horse up the steep and rugged bank His own 
 horse was quiet and would stand and look sleepy 
 even through a thunderstorm. He left Miss Lindsay 
 sitting on a stone when he went down the khud. It 
 was a pleasant position to be in and contemplate after- 
 wards seated on a stone, in the middle of the terrible 
 Khyber ; and how could she feel sure whether the 
 rocks in front of which she was sitting, did not hide 
 some armed men, and that she might not receive 
 a chance shot in her back ? 
 
 At last they were ready to start, and they turned 
 corner after corner of -the road, which wound in and 
 out in a most serpen-tlike fashion. They were neither 
 of them very easy in their own minds; it was not 
 pleasant to be so far from their friends, and they did 
 not know exactly what to do. If they turned back, 
 they thought, it would only perhaps cause a sudden 
 return of the party, as they might be missed; and 
 would cause inconvenience to them all. Whereas if 
 they followed on, they would soon be met should 
 any turn back to look for them. They could not 
 help wondering that no one did come back ; but no 
 doubt the others were all too much engaged in 
 inspecting their own road to look round ; and if 
 they had, they could scarcely have discovered a
 
 246 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 missing member in that large concourse, all moving 
 by twos and threes. 
 
 " Look, Mr. Hale," said Alice Lindsay, at last ; 
 neither had spoken for some time, " do you see the 
 path over that hill, I am sure it is a short cut and 
 would take us more quickly to the party in front, than 
 going round this winding road." They had come to 
 rather a low grassy hill which sloped down to the 
 road on which they were riding, and there was a 
 trodden path up the side of it. 
 
 " I dare say it is a short cut, it looks like one, 
 as the road turns so suddenly round that hill ; but I 
 do not think it would be safe to try it." 
 
 " Safe ! in what way do you mean, Mr. Hale ? Are 
 we more likely to be shot up there than here ? " 
 
 " No, I did not mean dangerous in that way. I 
 suppose we run as good a chance here as there. 
 The caves up there do not look inviting, but they 
 would hardly dare shoot at us, I should think, with 
 so many soldiers near. I was thinking Finella might 
 not like the steep hill, and begin her tricks." 
 
 They had come to the bottom of the path as Hale 
 said this, and without a word Miss Lindsay turned 
 her horse's head towards it, and with a touch of the 
 whip she bounded up as if spurred to do it by 
 his reference to her horse. Hale was of course 
 obliged to follow ; but he felt she had done a very 
 rash thing in many ways but it could not be 
 helped now. The hill was steeper than it looked and
 
 A MEMORABLE RIDE. 247 
 
 the horses could only struggle up quietly. Finella 
 had not time to think of kicking, all her energies 
 being giving to climbing. Hale's horse was more of 
 the hill pony stamp, and beat Finella up the hill; 
 although in a race on the flat he would have had 
 no chance with her. 
 
 When they reached the top and rode across the hill 
 to the point where they hoped to find a means of 
 descent, they were disappointed. For here it was 
 rocky and steep, and there was no possibility of 
 getting down, unless they had gone on their hands 
 and knees, with a cat's facility in climbing. They 
 rode round the hill but could not even spy their com- 
 panions in the distance. These hills rise up one 
 inside the other, as it were, and they found it very 
 difficult to know where they were. They thought 
 they knew their right road, but were quite mistaken, 
 and were going in another direction altogether to the 
 route they ought to have followed. 
 
 They rode on and on, hoping still to find the way. 
 They were very foolish not to have turned back 
 immediately they saw they could not rejoin the road. 
 Miss Lindsay did nothing but beg Hale to forgive 
 her for her rashness ; she knew it was her fault going 
 up there. Poor Hale did his best to keep up appear- 
 ances, but he was getting very anxious on her account. 
 Their mistake was becoming a serious matter ; they 
 had gone so for and now could not feel sure of the way 
 back even : there was such a labyrinth of hills just at
 
 248 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 this spot. They at last saw what looked like some 
 huts in front of them ; but they felt that was poor con- 
 solation, as they did not know what sort of people 
 they were who inhabited them. Hale had heard of 
 the " Wuzeerees," the robber tribes who inhabited 
 some of the hills round the Khyber, and they would 
 fare ill should they fall into the clutches of these men. 
 
 This thought had scarcely entered his head when 
 five men rushed out at them, frightening Miss 
 Lindsay's horse, but she did not fall ; before they had 
 time to speak both their bridles were seized. Hale 
 had no weapon, and was as defenceless against these 
 men as Miss Lindsay herself. Just as the man who 
 had hold of Miss Lindsay's bridle was leading it away, 
 with her on it, he received a blow on his head which 
 stunned him for the moment, and her bridle was 
 seized by another hand a very fair one and when 
 Miss Lindsay looked at the face, she saw it was the 
 man whose face had haunted her. 
 
 This blow paralysed all the men for a moment, as 
 none of them had seen whence it came ; it appeared 
 to them all as though this man had sprung out of 
 the ground. But no such thing ; he had followed 
 Hale and Miss Lindsay, but at a long distance, 
 and so stealthily that they never saw him. When 
 they seemed to him inclined to turn round, he 
 lay on the ground or hid behind a bush or hillock ; 
 he had left the horse he was riding at the bottom 
 of the hill. He had followed them unseen along the
 
 A MEMORABLE RIDE. 249 
 
 valley easily enough, as there the angles were so 
 numerous that there were many facilities for keeping 
 out of the way. 
 
 The ^soldier who had come to their rescue in this 
 remarkable way, appeared to be dumb, for he did not 
 utter a word, he only made signs. He kept fast hold 
 of Miss Lindsay's bridle, who was fairly frightened 
 now, but she tried hard not to appear so as Hale had 
 said to her : " Look brave don't give way; it is our 
 only chance." She did her utmost to obey him, 
 poor girl ! 
 
 She recounted to Hale what she had said to Major 
 Munro about this very man, and remarked how strange 
 it was his appearing in this way, and trying to rescue 
 her. 
 
 " I did not know he was behind me ; did you ? " 
 asked he. 
 
 " No. I thought all the soldiers had gone on." 
 
 The men, having recovered from their surprise, 
 surrounded them again, and tried to wrest Miss 
 Lindsay's bridle from the soldier's hand ; but he was 
 apparently of a most determined character, and his 
 decisive manner conquered, for he was allowed to 
 walk beside her horse holding her bridle. 
 
 They had turned towards the village, talking to 
 each other and to the soldier, who did not answer. 
 He only shook his head, or nodded, and pointed to 
 his mouth. They reached the huts they had seen, 
 which proved to be a village, and were led up the
 
 250 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 centre road to the ! house of the head man, as was 
 always the custom. A great deal of talking and 
 vociferating took place, which the dumb soldier lis- 
 tened to very intently. Hale and Alice Lindsay 
 watched him very narrowly, as he seemed bent on 
 saving them if possible, by his previous action, so 
 they could not but regard him in the light of a 
 would-be preserver. 
 
 After a great deal of shouting and talking had 
 taken place, the soldier seemed suddenly to get very 
 excited, as if he had heard something he did not like, 
 and then looked as if a bright thought had struck 
 him. He suddenly opened his sheepskin jacket, and 
 began feeling for something inside his clothes, and 
 having apparently found what he had searched for, 
 kept it tight clutched in his hand, pushed his way 
 through the crowd up to the man who seemed to be 
 the one to whom all the others were talking. As 
 soon as he reached him he made a military salute, 
 shewed him what was in his hand. The other took it 
 into his own hand, and looked at it closely. He had 
 no sooner done so than his face changed, and he again 
 addressed the people, and appeared to give some 
 other order ; and then turned to the soldier, who had 
 now found his tongue, much to every one's astonish- 
 ment. When this conversation was over, the soldier 
 returned to where Miss Lindsay and Hale were, and 
 said in their own tongue : 
 
 " The man has consented to let you go free."
 
 A MEMORABLE RIDE. 251 
 
 He had not spoken two words before Miss Lindsay 
 said : 
 
 " Mr. Gordon ! it is you ! " 
 
 " Miss Lindsay, please do not show any pleasure 
 at seeing me ; keep quiet, and appear not to care 
 about anything. The man may change his mind 
 again ; there is no dependence to be placed on these 
 people. He has allowed us all to go. I will tell 
 you everything as soon as we are well away. I know 
 the way and can guide you to a spot where we ought 
 to meet the party." 
 
 They were only too anxious to get away not to 
 make all the haste they could ; and yet they did not 
 dare appear to hurry, for Gordon told them they 
 must not do so, so long as they were under the eyes 
 of these people. They followed him and did as 
 he did.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 As soon as they were safely out of the village, Hale 
 exclaimed, " Well, Gordon, you are an extraordinary 
 fellow, to go dropping from the skies on to our 
 heads, and frighten us out of our wits as you did and 
 in the guise of a soldier of his majesty, the Ameer of 
 Cabul ! and then turn into a lost friend, and procure 
 our release from a band of robbers, in the most 
 magical fashion. I hardly know to whom I can com- 
 pare you, as I have never heard the like before out 
 of fairy land. A prince in a fairy tale could not 
 have done more." 
 
 " We none of us can be too thankful that we have 
 escaped, I can tell you. The people we have just left 
 belong to the great ' Wuzeeree ' tribe, and they are a 
 desperate lot. They live by robbery, and their great 
 aim is to try and rob the merchants as they come 
 in from Cabul with their merchandise for India. 
 Since I have been in these hills, I have seen a
 
 CONCLUSION. 253 
 
 few fights, but they only attack them openly if they 
 are in small numbers." 
 
 "The regular merchants, I suppose, do travel in 
 large numbers, and they are the ones that bring in 
 those strings of camels I mean all strung together 
 through the nose that one meets occasionally ? " 
 
 " The Wuzeerees are such unscrupulous people; they 
 murder a man after they have robbed him, and would 
 have thought nothing of murdering Miss Lindsay for 
 her earrings or brooch, had she either on." 
 
 "How fortunate that I had none on; and 'what 
 should we have done had you not saved us!" exclaimed 
 Miss Lindsay. " But how did you manage it ? And 
 why did you pretend to be dumb ? And how did you 
 come among the soldiers of the Ameer of Cabul as 
 our escort ? " 
 
 " One question at a time, please, Miss Lindsay. 
 I think I had better tell my story from the beginning, 
 only I will answer your first question. The charm, 
 or whatever it was, that Mohamed Alii gave me 
 saved us all." 
 
 " What charm do you mean ? I am none the wiser 
 now." 
 
 " I know," said Hale ; " when you saved that girl 
 and brought her to the other village, where I was, the 
 old fellow was so grateful that, in addition to all the 
 presents he wanted to load us with, he gave Mr. 
 Gordon a queer little silver thing, and told him to 
 show it and use his name whenever he was in a
 
 254 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 difficulty. But how is it you have not made use of 
 it before, Gordon, to save yourself ? " 
 
 " It was no use to me among the people I have 
 been with. They were friends of the old wretch, 
 Fudjoo Khan the father of the girl, I mean who had 
 vowed vengeance on us that day, and they allowed 
 me to live to spite the murderer, whom they hate." 
 
 " What a confusion," said Alice. " I am sure I 
 cannot understand it. It is more like a riddle than 
 anything else. I suppose by the murderer you mean 
 the man who murdered Major McMullin ? " 
 
 " Yes. What a day that was ! What I have 
 endured since ! " 
 
 Hale looked at Alice, furtively, and thought to 
 himself that she would never forget it. Neither 
 would she forget this day you may be sure ; it was a 
 happy moment for her the one in which she again 
 met Gordon. No words could express the delight 
 she felt that she had come with the expedition. 
 
 They rode on in silence now, as they were anxious 
 not to miss the party, and it was getting very late. 
 Gordon led, threading his way in and out of the hills, 
 and took them back into the road below, only a little 
 further into the Pass than where they had ascended 
 the hill. They had not long to wait before they saw 
 the riders coming towards them. 
 
 Before they descended the hill Gordon took off his 
 native clothes and appeared in his own the ones he 
 had worn the day of his capture only keeping his
 
 CONCLUSION. 255 
 
 turban on. He had all his own things on underneath 
 the others, and the close-fitting cap he had only worn 
 to hide his fair hair and keep up the disguise. When 
 the party rode up he passed among the soldiers as a 
 European ; they did not recognise him in his present 
 costume. When Colonel Lindsay and Major Munro 
 reached the little group, Alice called out, " Here 
 is my soldier, Major Munro ; what do you think 
 of him ? " 
 
 " Why, it is Gordon ! " exclaimed the colonel and 
 and major, together ; " only with a black moustache. 
 But that is easily accounted for. Where did you 
 spring from, Gordon ? " 
 
 The news of Gordon's reappearance flew quickly 
 down the line, and great was the excitement that pre- 
 vailed. The Chief told Colonel Lindsay that he 
 should like Mr, Gordon to ride with him and tell him 
 his story as soon as they got out of the Pass, which 
 he did. Alice and her father rode on the other 
 side of him, and heard it all with the deepest interest 
 we may be sure ; as indeed we may that her cup of 
 happiness was nearly full. 
 
 The great joy of this day made up to her for all 
 the intense misery of the other, and for the time that 
 had passed since. 
 
 Gordon's story is told in a few words, as we already 
 know that he was taken to a village among the 
 Khyber hills ; he was kept a prisoner there, and made 
 to work like any coolie might. He ever watched
 
 256 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 for a chance of escape, but none presented itself, 
 until one day an order came to the head man of the 
 village in which he was, to send some armed men to 
 join others from neighbouring villages to form the 
 
 escort for Lord D and the party of English who 
 
 were coming into the Khyber Pass. Gordon had 
 picked up enough Pushto to understand the order, 
 and he was determined now to escape in some way or 
 other ; but how to do so he knew not, and lay awake 
 half the night thinking of it and forming all kinds of 
 plans, only to be discarded. With the morning light a 
 really feasible way struck him ; which was, to disguise 
 himself as a soldier and go with the others, for when 
 he was once safely with the English, he could declare 
 himself. He hardly dared then, he said, to think this 
 plan would succeed, as he was watched so narrowly. 
 One of the men who had been chosen to go was a 
 friend of his at least he had been kinder to him than 
 any one else, and he had himself done him many good 
 turns since he had been in the village^ He was a car- 
 penter by trade, and Gordon, knowing something about 
 it, had often helped him to finish a piece of work. 
 
 He made up his mind to try and get this man to let 
 him take his place ; he was about his own height and 
 size, and in that way would do very well, and if he 
 dyed his moustache no one would discover him. 
 They were to start in the dusk of the evening 
 that was fortunate for him and were to sleep at 
 Jamrood, so as to be ready and waiting for the
 
 CONCLUSION. 257 
 
 English people when they arrived the next morning. 
 He had to proceed very cautiously in this scheme, 
 not to excite the suspicion of the others. He had a 
 little difficulty in making the man understand what 
 he wanted ; he demurred too, at first, but when 
 Gordon promised to give him his ring, watch-chain, 
 and a sovereign, he consented. It was a large bribe 
 for a poor man, but nothing to Gordon as compared 
 with his freedom. As he had always worn his watch 
 inside, no one knew he had one ; otherwise he 
 would not have possessed it now. The chain and 
 money were too large a bribe for the man to resist, so 
 he consented to help him, and he kept his word. He 
 gave him a gun very rusty and old, certainly and 
 a fur cap to hide his fair hair. Up to the time of 
 his escape Gordon was in a great fright for fear of 
 detection, but when the time came, the darkness 
 and his pretending to be dumb enabled him to 
 escape detection. The rest of the story we know. 
 
 Great was the rejoicing in the regiment when the 
 party returned, bringing back the long-lost Gordon. 
 He was quite a hero for a long time, and much was 
 made of him. 
 
 The Commander-in-Chief gave a dinner-party the 
 next night in honour of the mutual escape of the 
 three ; for Alice Lindsay and Mr. Hale had been 
 in great danger, although, not known at the time 
 to the others of the expedition. They had only just 
 been missed when they were met. This was accounted 
 
 S
 
 258 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 for by the narrow winding road they were traversing, 
 which thus happily prevented anxiety and confusion 
 being caused on their account. The consternation of 
 all the party would have been great had it happened 
 differently. As it was, they were all thoroughly sur- 
 prised to find that two of their party had been in 
 such imminent peril all the time they had been riding 
 peaceably and quietly up the Khyber Pass; and 
 added to this feeling was that of astonishment at 
 the reappearance of the long-lost Gordon. It was 
 quite a romance that Gordon should be found in 
 this way; and at the same time be the means of 
 saving Miss Lindsay and Hale. 
 
 Lord D sent for Colonel Lindsay the next day 
 
 and told him privately that he would do anything he 
 could for Mr. Gordon, and if he would pass into the 
 staff corps he would give him an appointment in a 
 Bengal cavalry regiment if he would like to join that 
 service. 
 
 The colonel had a long talk with Gordon, and it 
 ended in his following his advice, which was to accept 
 the Chief's offer. Gordon had no small struggle with 
 himself before he could make up his mind to do so, 
 as he dearly loved his regiment and did not wish to 
 leave it. But as the colonel wisely pointed out to 
 him, that service without private means in a queen's 
 regiment was but a poor means of living, and in the 
 staff corps he would get good pay if in a regiment, 
 he agreed to accept the offer.
 
 CONCLUSION. 259 
 
 When this talk was over, he turned and said, 
 " Colonel, I have something to say to you." 
 
 The colonel, of course thought it had something to 
 do with his previous conversation ; but no ! the young 
 man actually told him he was in love with his 
 daughter, and asked his consent to their marriage 
 should the young lady herself accept him. Colonel 
 Lindsay was amazed, for he had never thought of 
 Gordon as a marrying man ; but now he came to 
 reflect on the matter, he remembered many little 
 things which he had not taken much notice of at the 
 time. He did exclaim " A small request truly ; to 
 ask me to give you my only daughter ; but I will say 
 there is not a man I know to whom I would rather 
 give her than to you. But are you sure the young 
 lady herself will agree to become .the wife of a poor 
 soldier ? " 
 
 This he said with a merry twinkle in his eye ; 
 for in his own mind he knew there would be no 
 difficulty on that score. For he loved his daughter too 
 well not to have seen that she had felt Gordon's 
 disappearance, although she had, as she thought, 
 hidden all her feelings in the depths of her own 
 true and loving heart. Colonel Lindsay also told 
 Gordon that he could not so easily have agreed to 
 their marriage if he had not promised to go into the 
 staff corps ; as on his present pay it would be impos- 
 sible for them to live comfortably. Gordon acknow- 
 ledged that had it not been for the hope of winning
 
 260 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Miss Lindsay for his wife, he would not have agreed 
 to leave his beloved regiment ; and even now dreaded 
 the thought of doing so. 
 
 Mrs. Lindsay's maternal anxiety inclined her to 
 disapprove. Indeed she might well have looked that 
 her daughter should make a more brilliant match ; 
 but she was too fond a mother to say a word against 
 it, when she saw her daughter's happiness would be 
 very deeply affected by a refusal. 
 
 We all know, without being told, what Alice said ; and 
 we need not here sing the song of a love story, which 
 is too well known and too common to be gone through 
 now. It is an old, old song and one that will be sung 
 until the end of the world. Charles Gordon and Alice 
 Lindsay were supremely happy ; the dark cloud which 
 had hung over her for so long, had at last discovered to 
 her its silver lining, all the brighter for the preceding 
 darkness. 
 
 General satisfaction was expressed by all at the 
 turn affairs had taken, and the story was romantic 
 enough to afford food for conversation in Peshawur 
 during the whole of the coming hot season, and 
 would possibly help to banish the unceasing "weather 
 topic." The only thing that caused discontent was 
 the idea of losing Gordon from the regiment. This 
 he felt himself, poor fellow, terribly ; but nevertheless 
 he studied hard at the languages, as the " goal " for 
 which he was striving could not be gained until he 
 had passed and received an appointment in accord-
 
 CONCLUSION. 261 
 
 ance with the Chiefs promise. He was not to be 
 married till then. 
 Just after he had passed and was put in orders for 
 
 the second squadron subalternship of the 
 
 cavalry a rich uncle died and left him enough to live 
 upon in his own regiment. Gordon could from his 
 heart echo : 
 
 " Sweet is a legacy and passing sweet 
 The unexpected death of some old lady 
 Or gentleman of seventy years complete." 
 
 This old uncle had heard of the Khyber adventure ; 
 and in consequence becoming uncommonly proud of 
 his nephew, had immediately remembered him in his 
 will, but he only put him in just in time, as he died 
 immediately after. 
 
 No allusion has been made to the race meeting, 
 which did come off just before the " memorable ride ;" 
 but there was a great want of spirit about it, owing 
 partly, perhaps, to poor Gordon's at that time 
 unknown fate. He had always been a steward, and 
 an active one, at previous race meetings. Many 
 horrors too had at the time been so recently 
 enacted, that there was a kind of gloom over the 
 place, and people did not feel in sufficient spirits 
 to enjoy the races ; and many kept away from them. 
 Charles Gordon's Waler t " Plutarch," was entered for 
 the " race for Walers for stakes only," and won easily. 
 The horse was trained and entered for the race by
 
 262 A YEAR IN PESHAWUR. 
 
 Robert Hale, who thought that if Gordon did turn 
 up at some future time, he would like to know 
 that his horse had been entered, and that some 
 trouble had been taken for him in his absence. The 
 " bracelet race " fell through owing to a want of 
 sufficient entries for it. Miss Lindsay at the time 
 did not feel inclined to go to the races. Poor girl ! 
 can any one wonder, with so much secret sorrow 
 gnawing at her heart ? She did not, therefore, allow 
 " Finella " to be entered. Mrs. Townley was griev- 
 ously disappointed at the failure of this race, as she 
 was so eager for it, and had determined apparently 
 to win, by the pains she took with her horse, and the 
 regularity with which she gave him his daily gallop 
 round the course. It is doubtful however if her horse 
 would have won, for " Finella " appeared to have the 
 better chance. 
 
 Everything now promised well for Charles Gordon's 
 and Alice Lindsay's future happiness. They were 
 married in the hills at Murree, and paid a visit to 
 Cashmere for their wedding tour. They did not 
 again return to Peshawur as the iSQth regiment 
 marched down country the next cold weather. 
 
 It was, I need hardly say, a very great happiness 
 to the Lindsays to keep their daughter always near 
 them, and to feel that when they returned with their 
 regiment to dear old England, she and her husband 
 would not be left behind. 
 
 Mr. Fuller was married to Miss Carter when he
 
 CONCLUSION. 263 
 
 was made adjutant of the i2oth N. I., and they re- 
 mained in Peshawur two years. Colonel Carter gave 
 up the command of the Shubkuddur Fort after his 
 daughter's marriage, as he said, " He could not exist 
 in that hole alone." He was added to the list 
 of the " faltoo " colonels at Peshawur, and was 
 very happy and comfortable as such. Miss 
 O'Dowdand Mr. Brown too, were eventually married, 
 and very happily as it proved. 
 
 Poor Mr. and Mrs. Ford were obliged to leave 
 Peshawur, as they were shot at more than once in the 
 dusk of the evening, as they were returning home 
 from their drive. Their friends persuaded them not 
 to remain, as it was clear their lives would never be 
 safe again in Peshawur. 
 
 Mr. Hale bore Alice's marriage to Gordon as 
 bravely as we should expect him to do, and always 
 remained their staunch and true friend. 
 
 And thus having reached the spring once more, 
 the season in which our story began ; our " Year in 
 Peshawur " may fitly end, with the wish that all 
 our friends there may be happy and prosperous. 
 
 THE END.
 
 LONDON I 
 
 R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, 
 BREAD STREET HILL.
 
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 BARNABY RUDGE and HARD TIMES. 2 vols. With Illustrations by Cattermole, &c. 
 
 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Phiz. 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES and PICTURES FROM ITALY, i vol. With 8 Illustrations 
 
 DOM BEY AND SON. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Phiz. 
 
 DAVID COPPERFIELD. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Phiz. 
 
 BLEAK HOUSE. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Phiz. 
 
 LITTLE DORRIT. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Phiz. 
 
 A TALE OF TWO CITIES. With 16 Illustrations by Phiz. 
 
 THE UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. With 8 Illustrations by Marcus Stone. 
 
 GREAT EXPECTATIONS. With 8 Illustrations by Marcus Stone. 
 
 OUR MUTUAL FRIEND. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Marcus Stone. 
 
 CHRISTMAS BOOKS. With 17 Illustrations by Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A., Maclise, 
 R.A., &c. &c. 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. With 8 Illustrations by Marcus Stone. 
 
 CHRISTMAS STORIES. (From " Household Words " and " All the Year Round.") With 
 14 Illustrations. 
 
 EDWIN DROOD AND OTHER STORIES. With 12 Illustrations by S. L. Fildes.
 
 22 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 DICKENS'S (CHARLES) WORKS Continued 
 
 HOUSEHOLD EDITION. 
 
 In Crown 4to vols. 
 21 Volumes completed. 
 
 OLIVER TWIST, with 28 Illustrations, cloth, 25. 6d. ; paper, is. gd. 
 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT, with 59 Illustrations, cloth, 45. ; paper, 35. 
 DAVID COPPERFIELD, with 60 Illustrations and a Portrait, cloth, 45. ; paper, 35. 
 BLEAK HOUSE, with 61 Illustrations, cloth, 43. ; paper, 35. 
 LITTLE DORRIT, with 58 Illustrations, cloth, 45. ; paper, 33. 
 PICKWICK PAPERS, with 56 Illustrations, cloth, 45. ; paper, 35. 
 BARNABY RUDGE, with 46 Illustrations, cloth, 45. ; paper, 35. 
 A TALE OF TWO CITIES, with 25 Illustrations, cloth, as. 6d. ; paper, is. get. 
 OUR MUTUAL FRIEND, with 58 Illustrations, cloth, 45. ; paper, 35. 
 NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, with 59 Illustrations, cloth, 45. ; paper, 35. 
 GREAT EXPECTATIONS, with 26 Illustrations, cloth, 23. 6d. ; paper, is. gd. 
 OLD CURIOSITY SHOP, with 39 Illustrations, cloth, 45. ; paper, 35. 
 SKETCHES BY " BOZ," with 36 Illustrations, cloth, as. 6d. ; paper, is. gd. 
 HARD TIMES, with 20 Illustrations, cloth, as. ; paper, is. 6d. . . 
 
 DOM BEY AND SON, with 61 Illustrations, cloth, 45. ; paper, 33. 
 
 UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER, with 26 Illustrations, cloth, as. 6d.; paper, is. gd. 
 CHRISTMAS BOOKS, with 28 Illustrations, cloth, as. 6d.; sewed, is. gd. 
 THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, with 15 Illustrations, cloth, 25. 6d. ; paper, is. gd. 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES and PICTURES FROM ITALY, with 18 New Illustrations, cloth, 
 as. 6d. ; paper, is. gd. 
 
 EDWIN DROOD ; REPRINTED PIECES ; and other STORIES, with 30 Illustrations, 
 cloth, 45. ; paper, 35. 
 
 CHRISTMAS STORIES, with 23 Illustrations, cloth, 45. ; paper 35. 
 THE LIFE OF DICKENS. By JOHN FORSTER. In November. 
 
 Messrs. CHAPMAN & HALL trust that by this Edition they will be enabled 
 to place the works of the most popular British Author of the present day in 
 the hands of all English readers. 
 
 PEOPLE'S EDITION. 
 
 PICKWICK PAPERS. In Boards. Illustrated. 25. 
 SKETCHES BY BOZ. In Boards. Illustrated, as. 
 OLIVER TWIST. In Boards. Illustrated, as. 
 NICHOLAS NICKLEBY. In Boards. Illustrated, as. 
 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. In Boards. Illustrated, as. 
 DOMBEY AND SON. In Boards. Illustrated, as. 
 
 MR. DICKENS'S READINGS. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo, sewed. 
 
 CHRISTMAS CAROL IN PROSE. 
 CRICKET ON THE HEARTH, is 
 CHIMES : A GOBLIN STORY, is 
 
 STORY OF LITTLE DOMBEY. is. 
 POOR TRAVELLER, BOOTS AT THE 
 
 HOLLY-TREE INN, and MRS. 
 
 GAMP. is. 
 
 A CHRISTMAS CAROL, with the Original Coloured Plates ; 
 
 being a reprint of the Original Edition. Small 8vo, red cloth, gilt edges, 55.
 
 CHAPMAN &> HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 23 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE. 
 
 Some degree of truth has been admitted in the charge not unfrequently 
 brought against the English, that they are assiduous rather than solid readers. 
 They give themselves too much to the lighter forms of literature. Technical 
 Science is almost exclusively restricted to its professed votaries, and, but for 
 some of the Quarterlies and Monthlies, very little solid matter would come 
 within the reach of the general public. 
 
 But the circulation enjoyed by many of these very periodicals, and the 
 increase of the scientific journals, may be taken for sufficient proof that a taste 
 for more serious subjects of study is now growing. Indeed there is good reason 
 to believe that if strictly scientific subjects ar? not more universally cultivated, 
 it is mainly because they are not rendered more accessible to the people. Such 
 themes are treated either too elaborately, or in too forbidding a style, or else 
 brought out in too costly a form to be easily available to all classes. 
 
 With the view of remedying this manifold and increasing inconvenience, 
 we are glad to be able to take advantage of a comprehensive project recently 
 set on foot in France, emphatically the land of Popular Science. The well- 
 known publishers MM. Reinwald and Co., have made satisfactory arrange- 
 ments with some of the leading savants of that country to supply an exhaustive 
 series of works on each and all of the sciences of the day, treated in a style at 
 once lucid, popular, and strictly methodic. 
 
 The names of MM. P. Broca, Secretary of the Societe d'Anthropologie ; 
 Ch. Martins, Montpellier University ; C. Vogt, University of Geneva ; G. de 
 Mortillet, Museum of Saint Germain; A. Guillemin, author of " Ciel " and 
 "Phenomenes de la Physique;" A. Hovelacque, editor of the "Revue de 
 Linguistique ; " Dr. Dally, Dr. Letourneau, and many others, whose co- 
 operation has already been secured, are a guarantee that their respective 
 subjects will receive thorough treatment, and will in all cases be written up to 
 the very latest discoveries, and kept in every respect fully abreast of the times. 
 
 We have, on our part, been fortunate in making such further arrangements 
 with some of the best writers and recognised authorities here, as will enable us 
 to present the series in a thoroughly English dress to the reading public of this 
 country. In so doing we feel convinced that we are taking the best means of 
 
 supplying a want that has long been deeply felt. 
 
 [OVER.
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE Continued 
 
 The volumes in actual course of execution, or contemplated, will embrace 
 such subjects as : 
 
 SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE. \_Published. PHYSICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 BIOLOGY. 
 
 ANTHROPOLOGY. 
 
 AESTHETICS. 
 
 PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ASTRONOMY. 
 
 PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY. 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 GEOLOGY. 
 
 HYGIENE. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 PHYSICAL AND 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 CHEMISTRY. 
 EDUCATION. 
 GENERAL ANATOMY. 
 ZOOLOGY. 
 BOTANY. 
 METEOROLOGY. 
 HISTORY. 
 FINANCE. 
 MECHANICS. 
 STATISTICS, &c. &c. 
 
 All the volumes, while complete and so far independent in themselves, will 
 be of uniform appearance, slightly varying, according to the nature of the 
 subject, in bulk and in price. 
 
 When finished they will form a Complete Collection of Standard Works of 
 Reference on all the physical and mental sciences, thus fully justifying the 
 general title chosen for the series "LIBRARY OF CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE." 
 
 LEVER'S (CHARLES) WORKS. 
 
 THE ORIGINAL EDITION with THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 In 1 7 vols. Demy %vo. Cloth, 6s. each. 
 
 CHEAP EDITION. 
 
 Fancy boards, 2s. 6d. 
 
 CHARLES O'MALLEY. 
 TOM BURKE. 
 
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 DODD FAMILY. 
 
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 ONE OF THEM. 
 A DAY'S RIDE. 
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 TONY BUTLER. 
 MAURICE TIERNAY. 
 SIR BROOKE FOSBROOKE. 
 BRAMLEIGHS OF BISHOP'S 
 FOLLY. 
 
 LORD KILGOBBIN. 
 
 LUTTRELL OF ARRAN. 
 
 RENT IN THE CLOUD and ST. 
 
 PATRICK'S EVE. 
 CON CREGAN. 
 ARTHUR O'LEARY. 
 THAT BOY OF NORCOTT'S. 
 CORNELIUS O'DOWD. 
 SIR JASPER CAREW. 
 NUTS AND NUT-CRACKERS. 
 
 Also in sets, 27 vols., cloth, for ^4
 
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 TROLLOPE'S (ANTHONY) WORKS. 
 
 CHEAP EDITION. 
 
 Boards, 2s. 6d. ; cloth, y. dd. 
 
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 PHINEAS FINN. 
 ORLEY FARM. 
 CAN YOU FORGIVE HER? 
 
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 KELLYS AND O'KELLYS. 
 McDERMOT OF BALLYCLORAN. 
 CASTLE RICHMOND. 
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 HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT. 
 
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 IS HE POPENJOY? 
 
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 Crown 8vo, fancy boards, 2s. each, or 2s. 6if. in cloth. 
 
 UNCLE JOHN. 
 
 THE WHITE ROSE. 
 
 CERISE. A Tale of the Last Century. 
 
 BROOKES OF BRIDLEMERE. 
 
 "BONES AND I;" or, The Skeleton at Home. 
 
 "M., OR N." Similia Similibus Curantur. 
 
 CONTRABAND; or, A Losing Hazard. 
 
 MARKET HARBOROUGH; or, How Mr. Sawyer went to 
 
 the Shires. 
 
 SARCHEDON. A Legend of the Great Queen. 
 
 SONGS AND VERSES. 
 
 SATANELLA. A Story of Punchestown. 
 
 THE TRUE CROSS. A Legend of the Church. 
 
 KATERFELTO. A Story of Exmoor. 
 
 SISTER LOUISE ; or, A Story of a Woman's Repentance. 
 
 ROSINE.
 
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 INCLUDING 
 
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 PRINCIPLES OF THE SCIENCE OF COLOUR. 
 
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 DEFINITIONS OF GEOMETRY.' Third Edition. 241, 
 
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 CHAPMAN & HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 27 
 
 DYCE 
 
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 INTRODUCTION TO DITTO. Fcap. 8vo, 6d. 
 
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 PRACTICAL LESSONS ON BOTANY. Prepared for South Kensington 
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 JACOBSTHAL (.) 
 
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 KENNEDY (JOHN} 
 
 FIRST GRADE PRACTICAL GEOMETRY. 121110, 6d. 
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 folio, sewed, 8s. 
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 28 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
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 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF STYLES: An Intro- 
 
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 Book I. Letters, 8d. 
 II. Ditto, 8d. 
 
 ,, III. Geometrical and Ornamental 
 Forms, 8d. 
 
 Book IV. Objects, 8d. 
 
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 VI. Birds, Animals, &c., 8d. 
 
 ,, VII. Leaves, Flowers, and Sprays, 8d. 
 
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 ENGINEER AND MACHINIST DRAWING-BOOK, 16 Parts, 
 
 71 Plates. Folio, ji 125. ; mounted, 3 45. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF DECORATIVE ART. Folio, sewed, is. 
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 9 at 35. each. 2 gs. 
 
 RENAISSANCE ROSETTE, mounted, gd. 
 SHADED ORNAMENT, mounted, is. 2d. 
 PART OF A PILASTER FROM THE ALTAR OF ST. BIAGIO AT PISA, 
 
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 GOTHIC PATERA, mounted, is. 
 
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 MOULDING OF SCULPTURED FOLIAGE, decorated, mounted, is. 4 d. 
 ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES. By J. B. TRIPON. 10 Plates, i.
 
 CHAPMAN & HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 29 
 
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 Celadon Jar, V i8s. 6d. 
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 Square Block. 
 
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 description 
 ...nl 20 inches 
 lolith (forming
 
 30 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 SOLID MODELS, &c. Continued 
 
 the body of the obelisk), 3 feet high ; i Pyramid, 6 inches base ; the complete 
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 the semi-sphere, when placed on the cylinder, gives the form and principles of 
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 diamete^. 22% inches side : Square Pyramid, 14 inches side, 22% inches side ; 
 Cone, 13 inches diameter, 22% inches side ; Skeleton Cube, 19 inches solid wood 
 i^i inch square ; Intersecting Circles, 19 inches solid wood 2% by i} inches. 
 Wire Models : Triangular Prism, 17 inches side, 22 inches high ; Square Prism, 
 14^ inches side, 20 inches high ; Hexagonal Prism, 16 inches diameter, 21 inches 
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 diameter, 24 inches high ; Square Pyramid, 17 inches side, 24 inches high ; Cone, 
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 CLASS. DIVISION. SECTION. DIAGRAM. 
 
 ( /"Thalamifloral .. .. i 
 
 Dicotyledon .. . . ) Angiospermous .. gjdtad . .. 2 ft 3 
 
 / \ Incomplete . . . . 5 
 
 V^Gymnospermous .. .. .. .. .. 6 
 
 I Petaloid . . . . f Superior . . . . 7 
 
 Monocotyledons ..< (Inferior.. .. .. 8 
 
 (.Glumaceous. . .. .. .. .. .. g 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL NATURAL ORDERS OF THE 
 VEGETABLE KINGDOM. By Professor OLIVER, F.R.S., F.L.S. 70 Imperial 
 sheets, containing examples of dried Plants, representing the different Orders. 
 z 53. the set. 
 
 Catalogue and Index, is. 
 
 * Models, &c., entered as sets, cannot be supplied singly.
 
 CHAPMAN & HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 31 
 
 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION: 
 
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 In sets, 1 is. 
 
 LAXTON'S EXAMPLES OF BUILDING CONSTRUCTION IN TWO 
 
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 GEOLOGICAL : 
 
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