“Finally, after a thousand adventures, which he never wrote out, he arrived at the court of Oude, where, by some means, he obtained a captaincy in the royal army, and, what was better, the favor of the king.  In 1780 he was commander-in-chief of the native army.  But his enterprise did not end here; for he was the king’s trusted favorite, and of course he became a millionaire, even though there were no railroad shares in being at that period.

“He brought with him some crude notions of architecture, and he set about reforming that of India.  He was not a success in this capacity; and, as my lord says, his work is ridiculed by men of taste.  But this appears to have been his only sin; for he used the money he had accumulated in establishing schools, now known under the name of La Martiniere, in which thousands of children are educated.  As a Frenchman I do not feel at all ashamed of Claude Martine.”

“You need not, Professor,” added the viscount.  “But here we are at the Lucknow station.”

As usual, by the kindness of Lord Tremlyn, everything had been provided for the arrival of the company of tourists.  There were carriages and servants, and officers as guides, in attendance.  Captain Ringgold was very economical of his time; and, as it was still early in the afternoon, he proposed that the party should visit some of the objects of interest before dinner.  The baggage was sent to the hotel, and the carriage proceeded to the Residency, which had been occupied by the official of the British government when the province was under the native ruler.  It was in ruins, for it was so left as a memorial of the events of the past.

The city was attacked by the rebels; and the little garrison, with the English people of the town, took refuge in this building.  It was a three-story brick house, not at all fit to be used as a fort.  The cannon-shot of the besiegers wrecked the building, and many of its defenders, including Sir Henry Lawrence, the commander, perished in the fight.

The visitors looked over the house and its surroundings, and then went to the hotel.

CHAPTER XXXII

MORE OF LUCKNOW AND SOMETHING OF BENARES

“I suppose you recall the events of the Mutiny well enough to understand the situation here in 1857,” said Lord Tremlyn the next morning when the company had gathered in the parlor of the hotel.  “But there was no massacre here, as in Cawnpore, to impress the facts upon your memory, though many brave men lost their lives in the defence of the place.  There were only seven hundred and fifty troops in the town; but Sir Henry Lawrence had done the best he could to fortify the Residency, ill adapted as it was for defensive works.