On the Irrawaddy: A Story of the First Burmese War

  Chapter 7: On The Staff.

  Captain Cooke had done his best, previous to the beginning of theauction, to disarm opposition; by going about among the officerswho dropped in, with the intention of bidding, telling themsomething of Stanley's capture, adventures, and escape; and sayingthat the general had, himself, advised him to obtain an outfit bybuying a considerable portion of the young officer's kit.

  "I have no doubt that he will put him on his staff," he said. "Fromhis knowledge of the country, and the fact that he speaks thelanguage well, he would be very useful and, as he has gone throughall this from serving as a volunteer, without pay, I hope youfellows won't run up the prices, except for things that you reallywant."

  His story had the desired effect; and when Captain Cooke metStanley, he was able to tell him that he had bought for him thegreater portion of the kit, including everything that wasabsolutely necessary.

  "Are there any plain clothes?" Stanley asked, after thanking himwarmly for the trouble he had taken.

  "No. Of course, he left everything of that sort at Calcutta. No onein his senses would think of bringing mufti out with him,especially to such a country as this."

  "Then I shall have to go in uniform to the general's," Stanleysaid, in a tone of consternation. "It seems to me that it would bean awfully impudent thing, to go in staff uniform to dine with thegeneral, when I have no right whatever to wear it."

  "Well, as the general advised you himself to buy the things, hecannot blame you for wearing them; and I have not the least doubtthat he is going to offer you a staff appointment of some sort."

  "I should like it very much, as long as the war lasted, CaptainCooke; but I don't think that I should care about staying in thearmy, permanently. You see, my uncle is working up a very goodbusiness. He has been at it, now, seven or eight years; and he wassaying the last time that I was with him that, as soon as thesetroubles were over, and trade began again, he should give me afourth share of it; and make it a third share, when I got totwenty-one."

  "Then you would be a great fool to give it up," Captain Cooke said,heartily. "A man who has got a good business, out here, would havean income as much as all the officers of a regiment, together. Heis his own master, and can retire when he likes, and enjoy hismoney in England.

  "Still, as trade is at a standstill at present, I think that itwould be wise of you to accept any offer that the general mightmake to you. It might even be to your advantage, afterwards. Tohave served on Campbell's staff will be an introduction to everyofficers' mess in the country; and you may be sure that, not onlyshall we hold Rangoon in future, but there will be a good many moreBritish stations between Assam and here than there now are; and itwould be a pull for you, even in the way of trade, to stand on agood footing everywhere."

  "I quite see that," Stanley agreed, "and if the general is goodenough to offer me an appointment, I shall certainly take it."

  "You have almost a right to one, Brooke. In the Peninsula lots ofmen got their commissions by serving for a time as volunteers; andhaving been wounded at Ramoo, and being one of the few survivors ofthat fight; and having gone through a captivity, at no small riskof being put to death the first time that the king was out oftemper, your claim is a very strong one, indeed. Besides, there ishardly a man here who speaks Burmese, and your services will bevery valuable.

  "Here are fifty rupees," he went on, handing the money to Stanley."It is not much change out of five hundred; but I can assure youthat you have got the things at a bargain, for you would have hadto pay more than that for them, in England; and I fancy most of thethings are in very good condition, for Hitchcock only came outabout four months ago. Of course the clothes are nothing like newbut, at any rate, they are in a very much better state than thoseof anyone who came here three months ago.

  "I have ordered them all to be sent to my quarters where, ofcourse, you will take up your abode till something is settled aboutyou; which will probably be this evening. In that case, you willhave quarters allotted to you, tomorrow."

  "Thank you very much. I shall devote the best portion of thisafternoon to trying to get rid of as much of this stain as I can,at least off my face and hands. The rest does not matter, one wayor the other, and will wear off gradually; but I should like to getmy face decent."

  "Well, you are rather an object, Stanley," he said. "It would notmatter so much about the colour, but all those tattoo marks are, tosay the least of it, singular. Of course they don't look so rum,now, in that native undress; but when you get your uniform on, theeffect will be startling.

  "We will have a chat with the doctor. He may have something in hismedicine chest that will at least soften them down a bit. Ofcourse, if they were real tattoo marks there would be nothing forit; but as they are only dye, or paint of some sort, they must wearthemselves out before very long."

  "I will try anything that he will give me. I don't care if it takesthe skin off."

  On returning to the quarters of Captain Cooke, Stanley wasintroduced to the other officers of the regiment; among them thedoctor, to whom he at once applied for some means of taking off thedye.

  "Have you asked the man you brought down with you?" the surgeonsaid. "You say that he put it on, and he may know of something thatwill take it off again."

  "No; I have asked him, and he knows of nothing. He used some of thedye stuffs of the country, but he said he never heard of anyonewanting to take the dye out of things that had been coloured."

  "If it were only cotton or cloth," the doctor said, "I have nodoubt a very strong solution of soda would take out the greaterportion of the dye; but the human skin won't stand boiling water.However, I should say that if you have water as hot as you can bearit, with plenty of soda and soap, it will do something for you. Nodoubt, if you were to take a handful or two of very fine sand, itwould help a great deal; but if you use that, I should not put anysoda with the water, or you will practically take all the skin off,and leave your face like a raw beef steak; which will be worse thanthe stain and, indeed, in so hot a sun as we have, might bedangerous, and bring on erysipelas. So you must be very careful;and it will be far better for you to put up with being somewhatsingular in your appearance, for a bit, than to lay yourself up bytaking any strong measures to get rid of it."

  After an hour spent in vigorous washing, and aided by several rubswith very fine sand, Stanley succeeded, to his great satisfaction,in almost getting rid of the tattoo marks on his face. The generaldye had faded a little, though not much; but that with which themarks had been made was evidently of a less stable character, andyielded to soap and friction.

  Before he had concluded the work two trunks arrived and, findingthat his face was now beginning to smart a good deal, he abstainedfor the time from further efforts; and turned to inspect hispurchases, with a good deal of interest. The uniforms consisted oftwo undress suits; one with trousers, the other with breeches andhigh boots, for riding. There was also a suit of mess jacket,waistcoat, and trousers; three suits of white drill; half a dozenwhite shirts for mess, and as many of thin flannel; and a goodstock of general underclothes, a pair of thick boots, and a lightpair for mess. There was also the sword, belt, and otherequipments; in fact, all the necessaries he would require for acampaign.

  Before beginning to dress, he began to free his hair from the waxwith which it had been plastered up. He had obtained from thedoctor some spirits of turpentine and, with the aid of this, hefound the task a less difficult one than he had expected and, theregimental barber being sent for by Captain Cooke, his hair wassoon shortened to the ordinary length.

  "You will do very well, now," the major said, as he went down intothe general room. "You have certainly succeeded a great deal betterthan I thought you would. Of course you look very brown, but thereare a good many others nearly as dark as you are; for between therain showers the sun has tremendous power, and some of the men'sfaces are almost skinned, while others have browned wonderfully. Iam sure that many of them are quite as dark as yours. So you willpass muster very
well."

  Before beginning to wash and change, Stanley had given Meinik theclothes he had carried down with him; and when he went out to takea short look round before tiffin--for which the servants werealready laying the cloth--he found the man, now looking like arespectable Burman, standing near the door. He walked slowly pasthim, but the man did not move--not recognizing him, in theslightest degree, in his present attire.

  Then Stanley turned and faced him.

  "So you don't know me, Meinik."

  The Burman gave a start of surprise.

  "Certainly I did not know you, my lord," he said. "Who could haveknown you? Before you were a poor Burmese peasant, now you are anEnglish lord."

  "Not a lord at all, Meinik. I am simply an English officer, anddressed very much the same as I was when your people knocked me onthe head, at Ramoo."

  "I know your voice," Meinik said; "but even now that I know it isyou, I hardly recognize your face. Of course, the tattoo marks madea great difference, but that is not all."

  "I think it is the hair that has made most difference, Meinik. Yousee, it was all pulled off the brow and neck, before; and it willbe some time before it will grow naturally again. I had greattrouble to get it to lie down, even when it was wet; and it willcertainly have a tendency to stick up, for a long time.

  "The dress has made a good deal of alteration in you, too."

  "They are very good clothes," Meinik said. "I have never had suchgood ones on before. I have had money enough to buy them; butpeople would have asked where I got it from, and it never does tomake a show of being better off than one's neighbour. A man is sureto be fleeced, if he does.

  "What can I do for my lord?"

  "Nothing, at present, Meinik. I am going to lunch with the officershere, and to dine with the general, and sleep here. Tomorrow Idaresay I shall move into quarters of my own.

  "You had better buy what you want, for today, in the market. Idon't know whether it is well supplied but, as we saw some of yourpeople about, there must be food to be obtained."

  "They gave me plenty to eat when I came in," he said, "but I willbuy something for supper.

  "No, I do not want money, I have plenty of lead left."

  "You had better take a couple of rupees, anyhow. There are sure tobe some traders from India who have opened shops here, and theywon't care to take lead in payment. You must get some fresh muslinfor your turban; and you had better close it up at the top, thistime. It will go better with your clothes."

  Meinik grinned.

  "I shall look quite like a person of importance. I shall be takenfor, at least, the headman of a large village."

  He took the two rupees and walked off towards the town, whileStanley went in to luncheon. There were a good many remarks as tohis altered appearance.

  "Do you know, Brooke," one of the young lieutenants said, "I didnot feel at all sure that Cooke was not humbugging us, when heintroduced you to us, and that you were not really a Burman who hadtravelled, and had somehow learned to speak English extraordinarilywell."

  "Clothes and soap and water make a wonderful difference," Stanleylaughed, "but I shall be a good many shades lighter, when the restof the dye wears off. At any rate, I can go about, now, withoutanyone staring at me."

  After tiffin, Stanley had to tell his story again, at a very muchgreater length than before.

  "You certainly have gone through some queer adventures," the majorsaid, when he had finished his relation; "and there is no doubtthat you have had wonderful luck. In the first place, if thatbullet had gone half an inch lower, you would not have been one ofthe four white survivors of that ugly business at Ramoo; then youwere lucky that they did not chop off your head, either when theyfirst took you, or when they got you to Ava. Then again, it waslucky that Bandoola sent a special message that he wanted you keptas an interpreter for himself, and that the official in charge ofyou turned out a decent fellow, and aided you to make your escape.

  "As to your obtaining the services of the man you brought down withyou, I do not regard that as a question of luck. You saved theman's life, by an act of the greatest bravery--one that not one manin ten would perform, or try to perform, for the life of a totalstranger. I hope that I should have made the effort, had I been inyour place; but I say frankly that I am by no means sure that Ishould have done so.

  "The betting was a good twenty to one against its being donesuccessfully. If the brute had heard your footstep, it would havebeen certain death and, even when you reached him, the chances werestrongly against your being able to strike a blow at the animalthat would, for a moment, disable him; and so give you time tosnatch up one of the guns--which might not, after all, have beenloaded.

  "It was a wonderfully gallant action, lad. You did not tell us verymuch about it yourself but, while you were getting the dye off, Igot hold of one of the traders here, who happened to be passing,and who understood their language; and with his assistance Iquestioned your fellow, and got all the particulars from him. I sayagain, it was as plucky a thing as I have ever heard of."

  A few minutes later an orderly came in with a note from thegeneral, asking the major and Captain Cooke also to dine with himthat evening. Stanley was very pleased that the two officers weregoing with him, as it took away the feeling of shyness he felt, atthe thought of presenting himself in staff uniform at thegeneral's.

  Sir Archibald Campbell put him at ease, at once, by the kindnesswith which he received him. Stanley began to apologize for hisdress, but the general stopped him, at once.

  "I intended, of course, that you should wear it, Mr. Brooke. I amsure that you would not find a dress suit in the camp. However, wewill make matters all right, tomorrow. Judging from what you saidthat, as you cannot join your uncle at present, you would bewilling to remain here, your name will appear in orders, tomorrowmorning, as being granted a commission in the 89th, pending thearrival of confirmation from home; which of course, in such a case,is a mere form. You will also appear in the orders as beingappointed my aide-de-camp, in place of Mr. Hitchcock, with extrapay as interpreter.

  "No, do not thank me. Having served as a volunteer, taken part in asevere action, and having been wounded and imprisoned, you hadalmost a right to a commission. After dinner, I hope that you willgive us all a full account of your adventures; it was but a veryslight sketch that I heard from you, this morning."

  The general then introduced Stanley to the other members of hisstaff.

  "If you had seen him as I saw him, this morning," he said, with asmile, "you certainly would not recognize him now. He was naked tothe waist, and had nothing on but the usual peasant attire of apiece of black cloth, reaching to his knees. I knew, of course,that the question of costume would soon be got over; but I own thatI did not think that I should be able to employ him, for somelittle time. Not only was his stain a great deal darker than it isnow, but he was thickly tattooed up to the eyes, and one couldhardly be sending messages by an aide-de-camp so singular inappearance; but I see that, somehow, he has entirely got rid of thetattoo marks; and his skin is now very little, if at all, darkerthan that of many of us, so that I shall be able to put him inharness at once."

  After dinner was over and cigars lighted, Stanley told his story asbefore, passing over lightly the manner in which he had gained thefriendship of the Burman. When he had finished, however, MajorPemberton said:

  "With your permission, general, I will supplement the story alittle. Mr. Brooke has told me somewhat more than he has told you,but I gained the whole facts from his guide's own lips."

  "No, major, please," Stanley said colouring, even under his dye."The matter is not worth telling."

  "You must permit us to be a judge of that, Mr. Brooke," the generalsaid, with a smile at the young fellow's interruption of hissuperior officer.

  "I beg your pardon, Major Pemberton," Stanley stammered in someconfusion. "Only--"

  "Only you would rather that I did not tell about your struggle withthe leopard. I think it ought to be told, and I am pretty sure Sir
Archibald Campbell will agree with me," and Major Pemberton thengave a full account of the adventure in the forest.

  "Thank you, major. You were certainly quite right in telling thestory, for it is one that ought to be told and, if Mr. Brooke willforgive my saying so, is one of those cases in which it is amistake for a man to try to hide his light under a bushel.

  "You see, it cannot but make a difference in the estimation inwhich we hold you. Most young fellows would, as you did, havejoined their countrymen when threatened by a greatly superior enemyand, again, most would, if prisoners, have taken any opportunitythat offered to effect their escape. Therefore, in the briefaccount that you gave me, this morning, it appeared to me that youhad behaved pluckily and shrewdly, and had well earned acommission, especially as you have a knowledge of the language. Yousimply told me that you had been able to render some service to theBurman who travelled down with you, but such service might havebeen merely that you assisted him when he was in want, bound up awound, or any other small matter.

  "Now we find that you performed an act of singular courage, an actthat even the oldest shikaree would have reason to be proud of.Such an act--performed, too, for a stranger, and that stranger anenemy--would, of itself, give any man a title to the esteem andregard of any among whom he might be thrown, and would lead them toregard him in an entirely different light to that in which theywould otherwise have held him.

  "I think that you will all agree with me, gentlemen."

  "Certainly."

  There was a chorus of assent from the circle of officers. Hisnarrative had, as the general said, shown that the young fellow waspossessed of coolness, steadiness, and pluck; but this feat wasaltogether out of the common and, as performed by a mere lad,seemed little short of marvellous.

  "You will, of course, have Hitchcock's quarters," the quartermastergeneral said to Stanley, as the party broke up. "It is a smallroom, but it has the advantage of being water tight, which is morethan one can say of most of our quarters. It is a room in the upperstorey of the next house. I fancy the poor fellow's card is on thedoor still. The commissariat offices are in the lower part of thehouse, and they occupy all the other rooms upstairs; but we keptthis for one of the aides-de-camp, so that the general could send amessage at once, night or day."

  "Of course I shall want a horse, sir."

  "Yes, you must have a horse. I will think over what we can do foryou, in that way. There is no buying one here, unless a fieldofficer is killed, or dies.

  "By the way, Hitchcock's horses are not sold, yet. They were notput up, yesterday. I have no doubt that some arrangement can bemade about them, and the saddlery."

  "That would be excellent, sir. As I told the general this morning,I have some rubies and other stones. I have no idea what they areworth. They were given me by those men I was with, in the forest.They said that they were very difficult to dispose of, as the minesare monopolies of government so, when my man Meinik proposed it,they acceded at once to his request, and handed a number of themover to me.

  "I have not even looked at them. There may be someone, here, whocould tell me what they are worth."

  "Yes, I have no doubt some of those Parsee merchants, who havelately set up stores, could tell you. I should only take down twoor three stones to them, if I were you. If they are reallyvaluable, you might be robbed of them; but I am rather afraid thatyou will not find that they are so. Brigand fellows will hardlyhave been likely to give you anything very valuable."

  "I don't think that they looked at them, themselves; they were theproceeds of one day's attack on a number of merchants. They foundthem concealed on them, and they were so well satisfied with theloot they got, in merchandise that they could dispose of, that Idoubt whether they even opened the little packages of what theyconsidered the most dangerous goods to keep; for if they werecaptured, and gems found upon them, it would be sufficient tocondemn them, at once."

  "Do you speak Hindustani? If not, I will send one of the clerkswith you."

  "Yes, sir; and three or four other of the Indian languages."

  "Ah! Then you can manage for yourself.

  "When you have seen one of these Parsees, come round to my office.I shall have seen the paymaster by that time, and have talked overwith him how we can arrange about the horses. I should think thatthe best way would be to have a committee of three officers tovalue them, and the saddlery; and then you might authorize him toreceive your extra pay as interpreter, and to place it toHitchcock's account. You will find your own staff pay more thanample, here; as there are no expenses, whatever, except your shareof the mess."

  "Thank you very much, indeed, Colonel."

  In the morning, Stanley took one of the little parcels from the bagand opened it. It contained thirty stones, of which twenty wererubies, six sapphires, and four emeralds. They seemed to him of agood size but, as they were in the rough state, he had no idea whatsize they would be, when cut.

  There were three of the Parsee merchants. The first he went tosaid, at once, that he did not deal in gems. The next he called onexamined the stones carefully.

  "It is impossible to say, for certain," he said, "how much they areworth until they are cut, for there may be flaws in them thatcannot be detected. Now, if I were to buy them like this, I couldnot give more than a hundred rupees each. If they are all flawless,they would be worth much more; but it would be a pure speculation,and I will not go beyond that sum."

  Stanley then visited the third store. The trader here inspectedthem a little more carefully than the last had done, examined themwith a magnifying glass, held them up to the light; then he weighedeach stone and jotted down some figures. At last, he said:

  "The stones are worth five thousand rupees. If they are flawless,they would be worth double that. I will give you five thousandmyself or, if you like, I will send them to a friend of mine, atMadras. He is one of the best judges of gems in India. He shall saywhat he will give for them, and you shall pay me five percentcommission. He is an honest trader; you can ask any of the officersfrom Madras."

  "I will accept that offer, if you will make me an advance offifteen hundred rupees upon them; and will pay you, at the rate often percent per annum, interest till you receive the money forthem."

  The Parsee again took the gems, and examined them carefully.

  "Do you agree to take the jeweller's offer, whatever it is?"

  "Yes; that is to say, if it is over the five thousand. If it isunder the five thousand, I will sell them to you at that sum."

  "I agree to that," the man said. "But do not fear; if the twolargest stones are without a flaw, they alone are worth fivethousand."

  "Let us draw up the agreement, at once," Stanley said.

  And, accordingly, the terms were drawn up, in Hindustani, and weresigned by both parties. The Parsee then went to a safe, unlockedit, and counted out the rupees, to the value of 150 pounds. Thesehe placed in a bag, and handed them to Stanley who, delighted atthe sum that he had obtained for but a small portion of the gems,went to the quartermaster general's office.

  "We have just finished your business," Colonel Adair said, as heentered. "Major Moultrie, the paymaster, Colonel Watt, and myselfhave examined the horses. I know that Hitchcock paid sixty poundsapiece for them, at Calcutta. They are both Arabs, and good ones,and were not dear at the money. Our opinion is that, if they wereput up to auction here, they would fetch 40 pounds apiece; and thatthe saddle and bridle, holsters, and accoutrements would fetchanother 20 pounds. There are also a pair of well-finished pistolsin the holsters. They were overlooked, or they would have been putup in the sale yesterday. They value them at 8 pounds the brace; inall, 108 pounds.

  "Will that suit you? The major will, as I proposed, stop the moneyfrom your pay as a first-class interpreter--that is, two hundredand fifty rupees a month--so that, in four months and a half, youwill have cleared it off."

  "I am very much obliged to you, Colonel; but I have just receivedan advance of fifteen hundred rupees, on some of my gems which theParsee is
going to send to a jeweller, of the name of Burragee, atMadras."

  "I congratulate you, for I hardly hoped that they would turn out tobe worth so much. Burragee is a first-rate man, and you can relyupon getting a fair price from him. Well, that obviates alldifficulty.

  "By the way, I should recommend you to get a light bedstead andbed, and a couple of blankets, at one of the Parsee stores. Ofcourse, you did not think of it, yesterday, or you might havebought Hitchcock's. However, I noticed in one of the Parsees' shopsa number of light bamboo bedsteads; which are the coolest and bestin a climate like this. If you lay a couple of blankets on thebamboos, you will find that you don't want a mattress."

  "I don't know what my duties are, sir, or whether the general willbe wanting me."

  "He will not want you, today. Anyhow, he will know that you will bemaking your arrangements, and moving into your quarters.

  "By the way, Hitchcock brought a syce with him. You must have a manfor your horses, and I have no doubt he will be glad to stay onwith you."

  Two hours later Stanley was installed in his quarters--a room sometwelve feet long by eight wide. A bed stood in one corner. Therewas a table for writing on, two light bamboo chairs, and an Indianlounging chair. In the corner was a small bamboo table, on whichwas a large brass basin; while a great earthenware jar for waterstood beside it, and a piece of Indian matting covered the floor.

  He learned that the staff messed together, in a large room in thenext house; and that he would there get a cup of coffee and abiscuit, at six in the morning, breakfast at half-past eight, lunchand dinner; so that he would not have to do any cooking, whatever,for himself. He had given Meinik a small sum to lay out in cookingpots and necessaries for his own use.

  The syce had gladly entered his employ. Stanley had inspected thehorses which, although light to the eye, would be well capable ofbearing his weight through a long day's work. They were picketed,with those of the general and staff, in a line behind the housedevoted to the headquarters. After lunch he went into thegeneral's, and reported himself as ready for duty.

  "I shall not want you this afternoon, Mr. Brooke. Here is a planshowing the position of the different corps. You had better get itby heart. When it gets cooler, this afternoon, I should advise youto ride out and examine the position and the roads; so that even atnight you can, if necessary, carry a message to any of theregiments. The Burmese are constantly creeping up and stabbing oursentries, and sometimes they attack in considerable force. Whenanything like heavy firing begins, it will be your duty to find outat once what is going on; and bring me word, as it may be necessaryto send up reinforcements.

  "In the morning it will be your duty to examine any prisoners whohave been taken during the night, and also natives who have madetheir way into the town; in order to ascertain whether any date hasbeen fixed for their next attack, and what forces are likely totake part in it. You can make your man useful at this work.

  "By the way, I will tell Colonel Adair to put him down on the listof the quartermaster's native followers. He need not do anythingelse but this. But it is likely that the natives will speak morefreely to him than they would to a white officer, and he may aswell be earning thirty rupees a month, and drawing rations, ashanging about all day, doing nothing."

  Thanking the general, Stanley took the plan and, going back to hisquarters, studied it attentively. He told Meinik of the arrangementthat had been made for him, with which the Burman was much pleased.Thirty rupees a month seemed a large sum to him, and he was gladthat he should not be costing Stanley money for his food.

  Three hours later one of his horses was brought round, and hestarted on his ride through the camp. There were two roads leadingthrough the town to the great pagoda. Both were thickly bordered byreligious houses and pagodas--the latter, for the most part, beingin a state of dilapidation. Houses and pagodas alike had beenturned into quarters for the troops, and had been invaluable duringthe wet season.

  The terrace of the great pagoda was occupied by the 89th Regimentand the Madras Artillery. This was the most advanced position, andwas the key of the defence. Leaving his horse in charge of hissyce, at the foot of the pagoda hill, Stanley went up to theterrace and soon entered into conversation with some of the Britishofficers; who at once recognized him as having been, that morning,put in orders as the general's aide-de-camp. As he was unknown toeveryone, and no ship had come in for some days, there wasnaturally much curiosity felt as to who the stranger was who hadbeen appointed to a commission, and to the coveted post ofaide-de-camp, in one day.

  After chatting for two or three minutes, they conducted Stanley tothe colonel's quarters, a small building at the foot of the pagoda.

  "This is Mr. Brooke, Colonel, the gentleman who was gazetted to us,this morning."

  "I am glad to see you, Mr. Brooke; but I should be more glad,still, if you had been coming to join, for we have lost severalofficers from sickness, and there are others unfit for duty. Whendid you arrive?"

  "I arrived only yesterday morning, sir. I came here in disguise,having made my way down from Ava."

  "Oh, indeed! We heard a report that a white man had arrived, indisguise, at the lines of the 45th Native Infantry; but we have hadno particulars, beyond that."

  "I was captured at Ramoo, sir, while I was acting as an officer ofthe native levy. Fortunately I was stunned by the graze of a musketball and, being supposed dead, was not killed; as were all theother officers who fell into the hands of the Burmese. Their furyhad abated by the time I came to myself, and I was carried up toAva with some twenty sepoy prisoners. After a time I made my escapefrom prison, and took to the forest; where I remained some weeks,till the search for me had abated somewhat. Then I made my way downthe country, for the most part in a fishing boat, journeying onlyat night, and so succeeded in getting in here. Fortunately I speakthe Mug dialect, which is very closely akin to the Burmese."

  "Well," the colonel said, "I hope that you will consider theregiment your home; though I suppose that, until the campaign is atan end, you will only be able to pay us an occasional visit. Youare lucky in getting the staff appointment. No doubt your beingable to talk Burmese has a great deal to do with it."

  "Everything, I think, sir. The general had no one on his staff whocould speak the language and, unless he happened to have with himone of the very few men here who can do so, often had to wait sometime before a prisoner could be questioned."

  He remained chatting for half an hour, and then rode back to thetown; taking the other road to that which he had before traversed.