the table was a vase of flowers, and from the cross-pole hung some cages full of birds.

A great mass of letters and documents were found in this tent, and among them, it was said, a copy of what is termed 'the present state' of the garrison in the fort; that is, the report daily submitted to the commandant, showing the number of soldiers, how many are fit for duty, and where posted. It was supposed that the other papers and letters would contain some valuable information as to the proceedings and designs of the mutineers. If they did contain any such information it was not made public.

The man who escaped from the palanquin was supposed to be one of the Delhi princes. Whether he was or not was never ascertained, nor what became of him. It was discovered, however, that the original army of the mutineers as it was when it reached the Khara Nuddeé had been largely increased by fugitives from the rebel troops who fought against us at Delhi. It was conjectured that they had come on from Muttra, when the army there broke up and dispersed, as I have already related.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

AFTER THE BATTLE.

THE column remained some days at Agra, then it recrossed the bridge and marched away to the relief of Lucknow. It left behind the sick and wounded, and also a detachment of soldiers and artillery for the protection of Agra. We witnessed the departure of the column with much regret; the inhabitants of the city saw it leave with equal satisfaction. A report had been spread that the Sikhs, as a reward for the victory, were to be allowed one day's plunder, and the report was believed in. The terror inspired by the Sikhs was something extreme. It was not altogether ill-founded, for they were ferocious to a degree, and their habits of plundering inveterate.

Of their ferocity, just after the battle, we had an example. I was returning one afternoon from a ride when I found a pool of blood on the top of the incline. Two Sikhs had been escorting in two prisoners. Having ascended the incline the prisoners refused to proceed further. The Sikhs wasted no time in argument; they drew their swords, and then and there cut the men down.

The march of the column had cleared the Doab of rebel bands, and reopened the communications between Agra and Delhi and Meerut. As the column passed the districts had been reoccupied, and the English authority restored. The result was that Agra became again, in

fact as well as in name, the seat of government, and Colonel Fraser's position was changed from that of a commandant of a fortress to that of the governor of a province. The increase of power brought with it more than the ordinary increase of anxiety. Colonel Fraser was very much hampered by instructions from Calcutta. He was further restricted by an unfortunate order, directing him to guide himself by the advice of the heads of the departments. In the multitude of counsellors there may be safety, but there is also apt to be dissension. In the then confusion the jurisdictions of the various departments were not easily definable, nor were their heads always harmonious. The scenes that occasionally resulted were very amusing, but to Colonel Fraser sufficiently perplexing.

The arrangement, planned in Calcutta with the best intentions, did not either prove very conducive to the public interests. There was so much difficulty in doing anything that very little was done; not even were the houses of the station re-roofed and repaired, nor the surrounding districts reoccupied. Colonel Fraser chiefly employed himself in providing transport for the armies now collecting at Cawnpore-the other authorities less usefully in a renewal of the old contentions regarding the guilt of the Agra native officials.

In the collection of the transport I was a good deal concerned, as most of it came from the Muttra district. The facility with which, at such a time, it was obtained impressed me greatly with the wealth and the vast resources of India. Day by day, week by week, carts, bullocks, camels, ponies, came in by scores, by hundreds. The end of the great parade was soon nearly filled with them. They were continually sent off to the east, and yet the supply never diminished, nor, what was more

surprising, did the country show the slightest indication. of the drain thus made on it.

Horses were less plentiful, and the want of them occasioned the Government a good deal of inconvenience ; for they were required for the new cavalry, and were with difficulty procured. Learning this, it occurred to me that the horsemen I had obtained from the various landholders might now be made useful. I mentioned the matter to my brother; he approved, and interested Colonel Fraser. The men were paraded, inspected, and an officer, Lieutenant De Kantzow, appointed to drill them into order. This was the origin of that body of cavalry whose services, as 'De Kantzow's horse,' were frequently mentioned in the dispatches of the ensuing campaigns, and have even, I believe, found a place in the histories of the mutiny.

It sometimes happens on a voyage that the passengers are prevented from landing when the port is reached; something such was now our situation. The danger had passed, we might have left with perfect security; but we were not permitted to do so. The detention was felt as very irksome. The fort, which we had regarded as a refuge, we now began to look on as a prison.

The desire to leave it was increased by an incident, an account of which may, perhaps, even after this lapse of time, amuse the reader. The communications with Calcutta had again been interrupted; when reopened, the contents of the first mail made many regret that they had not continued closed. This mail brought a dispatch from Lord Canning, directing that all officers away from their districts should receive only a percentage of their pay till they returned to them. Those whose salaries were thus reduced loudly denounced the injustice of the order. The heads of departments, whom it did

not affect, defended it as a necessary, though to some painful, economy, to which a sentiment of public devotion should cause all to cheerfully submit. The next day their opinions were modified.

Colonel Fraser was very conscientious. It appeared to him that the spirit of the order demanded its more extended application; and he set about elaborating a scheme by which all those whose functions had ceased should lose pay in proportion, whether their headquarters were at Agra or elsewhere. When the news of this scheme got abroad the consternation of the higher officials was very amusing, as also were the efforts of some of them to escape its operation.

The judges of the chief court at once hired a house in the city, and there repaired with such of their native clerks and pleaders as were not in prison or gone to the rebels. There being no real business to transact they employed themselves in devising rules as to how they would dispose of it when any came before them.

The alarm proved unnecessary-the difficulties in the scheme were so many that Colonel Fraser presently abandoned it.

Colonel Fraser's chief reason at first for remaining in the fort was, I believe, the apprehension that the Gwalior contingent might even now pay us a visit. But this danger soon removed itself. The contingent had remained quiet when it might have injured us; now that the opportunity was past it moved off to its own destruction. It proceeded to Cawnpore, and there, after gaining some successes over General Windham, it was broken to pieces and dispersed by Lord Clyde.

Nevertheless, it was still some time before the districts were reoccupied. Muttra was the first. But its being so was less due to a conviction on the part of the autho