and my feet were torn and blistered. Two
peasants came in sight, and we were frightened
and rode off. The sergeant held our horse, and
M—— put me up and mounted.
I think he must have got suddenly faint, for
I fell and he over me, on the road, when the horse
started off. Some time before he said, and
Barber, too, that he could not live many hours.
I felt he was dying before we came to the ravine.
He told me his wishes about his children and
myself, and took leave. My brain seemed
burnt up. No tears came. As soon as we
fell, the sergeant let go the horse, and it went
off; so that escape was cut off. We sat
down on the ground waiting for death. Poor fellow!
he was very weak; his thirst was frightful, and
I went to get him water. Some villagers
came, and took my rupees and watch. I took off
my wedding-ring, and twisted it in my hair, and replaced
the guard. I tore off the skirt of my dress
to bring water in, but was no use, for when I
returned my beloved’s eyes were fixed, and,
though I called and tried to restore him, and
poured water into his mouth, it only rattled
in his throat. He never spoke to me again.
I held him in my arms till he sank gradually down.
I felt frantic, but could not cry. I was
alone. I bound his head and face in my dress,
for there was no earth to buy him. The pain in
my hands and feet was dreadful. I went
down to the ravine, and sat in the water on a
stone, hoping to get off at night and look for Lottie.
When I came back from the water, I saw that
they had not taken her little watch, chain, and
seals, so I tied them under my petticoat. In
an hour, about thirty villagers came, they dragged
me out of the ravine, and took off my jacket,
and found the little chain. They then dragged
me to a village, mocking me all the way, and disputing
as to whom I was to belong to. The whole
population came to look at me. I asked
for a bedstead, and lay down outside the door of a
hut. They had a dozen of cows, and yet refused
me milk. When night came, and the village
was quiet, some old woman brought me a leafful of
rice. I was too parched to eat, and they
gave me water. The morning after a neighboring
Rajah sent a palanquin and a horseman to fetch
me, who told me that a little child and three Sahibs
had come to his master’s house. And
so the poor mother found her lost one, ‘greatly
blistered,’ poor little creature. It is
not for Europeans in India to pray that their
flight be not in the winter.”
In the first days of June the aged general, Sir Hugh Wheeler commanding the forces at Cawnpore, was deserted by his native troops; then he moved out of the fort and into an exposed patch of open flat ground and built a four-foot mud wall around it. He had with him a few hundred white soldiers and officers, and apparently more women and children than soldiers. He was short of provisions, short of arms, short of ammunition, short of military wisdom, short of everything but courage and devotion to duty. The defense