Hope Grant did not think the ground we were on well adapted for a prolonged halt; that afternoon, therefore, I went off with Mayne to reconnoitre the country for a more suitable place.  We fixed upon an open plain at the village of Bhantira, about three miles nearer Lucknow.  We met with no opposition that day, but the country people in the neighbourhood had shown marked hostility by killing one or two soldiers and every camp-follower who had strayed from the main road; so we were careful to examine Bhantira and all the neighbouring villages, but were unable to discover the slightest sign of an enemy.

As the next day’s march was such a very short one, we did not start until 7 a.m., instead of before daybreak as usual.  Mayne and I rode on ahead with a couple of sowars, and reached the site we had chosen for the camp without meeting a single suspicious-looking individual.  We then sent back the escort to bring up the camp colour-men, and while waiting for them, we entered into conversation with some passing pilgrims, who told us they were on their way to Benares to procure holy water from the Ganges.  Suddenly a bullet whizzed over our heads, fired from the direction from which we had just come.  Looking back, to our amazement we saw a crowd of armed men at a distance of between three and four hundred yards, completely cutting us off from the column.  The whole plain was alive with them.  When they saw they were observed, they advanced towards us, shouting and firing.  Fortunately for us, we had made ourselves perfectly acquainted with the country the previous day, and instantly realized that escape by our right (as we faced Lucknow) was impossible, because of a huge impassable jhil.  There was another jhil to our left front, but at some little distance off, and our only chance seemed to be in riding hard enough to get round the enemy’s flank before they could get close enough to this jhil to stop us.

Accordingly, we put spurs to our horses and galloped as fast as they could carry us to our left; the enemy turned in the same direction, and made for a village we must pass, and which we could see was already occupied.  The firing got hotter and more uncomfortable as we neared this village, the walls of which we skirted at our best possible pace.  We cleared the village, and hoped we had distanced the rebels, when suddenly we came upon a deep nulla.  Mayne got safely to the other side, but my horse stumbled and rolled over with me into the water at the bottom.  In the fall my hand was slightly cut by my sword, which I had drawn, thinking we might have to fight for our lives; the blood flowed freely, and made the reins so slippery when I tried to remount, that it was with considerable difficulty I got into the saddle.  The enemy were already at the edge of the nulla, and preparing to fire, so there was no time to be lost.  I struggled through the water and up the opposite bank, and ducking my head to avoid the shots,