It was at the close of the monsoon, in the year 1825, that a small force, of which the 11th formed a part, assembled at Meerut, under General Ochterloney, and began its march towards the Jumna. Our immediate chief was an old and infirm man, as most of the Company's generals are. Nevertheless, we felt perfect confidence in ourselves, and our own regimental officers; so we pursued our journey, nothing doubting that it would terminate in results altogether satisfactory. A few days carried us to the brink of the river, on the opposite side of which stands Multoa; a town of considerable size and great note, inasmuch as it is the residence of some of the most distinguished of the Mahomedan families which claim India as their native country. There we halted, while the infantry bridging the Jumna, by means of boats, passed over, and took up their quarters in the town. It was to no purpose, however, that the General opened a communication with the Rajah of Bhurtpore, the towers and bastions of whose lordly residence were from this point distinctly visible. Either because he credited the declarations of his priests, who assured him that his nest was unassailable, or that he was aware of the inconsiderable amount of the force by which at that moment he was threatened, the Rajah turned to every proposal a deaf ear; and we being by far too weak to enter upon more active operations, were forced to maintain for some time an attitude of extreme watchfulness, while from other quarters troops were drawn together, and moved up to support us.

While we lay here an event befel of which I make mention, because of the deep interest which it created, not in the 11th Dragoons alone, but in every other corps attached to the expedition. There was in my troop a man named John Feathers, a native of London, and an extremely good soldier; between whom and myself, indeed, a close intimacy had long subsisted, and who was universally respected in the regiment. He was followed in the march by a little dog of the terrier breed, to which he became very much attached, and which seldom failed of showing itself at his heels, let him be where he might. One day, I think it was the second after our departure from Meerut, he and I had been drinking in the canteen, not so as to intoxicate, or even to inflame, but merely to refresh ourselves after the work of the morning, and the dog, as his custom was, lay down at his master's feet, where he either slept or seemed to sleep. By and by we rose to go out. We paid no heed to the dog, taking it for granted that he would observe our proceedings and follow, and had approached close to the tents of the regiment, when John discovered that he was not near us. He whistled, the animal came not; whereupon he went back, and I for company's sake went with him. We found the dog lying where we had left him; John called him, but he took no notice of the call, upon which his master being somewhat provoked, seized him by the neck and gave him a beating. The brute being frightened struggled, and at last bit his master slightly in the wrist; but the scar was so trifling, bringing scarcely any blood at all, that neither he nor I took much notice of it. As a measure of precaution I washed it for him with arrack, and after getting it tied up he went to sleep.

The dog was certainly not rabid, for he attended John's footsteps ever after, and during the weeks that we lay in the Jumna, exhibited no signs of hydrophobia. The case was different with his master. He came to me on a certain evening, and complained that he felt excessive pain in the wrist where the dog had bit him. Being alarmed--I could scarce tell why--I advised him to consult the surgeon, but this he refused to do, and went to bed at his usual hour. Next morning the pain had ascended as high as the shoulder, and when he entered my tent, I saw that the expression of his face was terribly altered. He complained also of great thirst, and when milk was given him, though he managed to swallow a little, he rejected the rest with every symptom of disgust. There was no disguising the sad truth from ourselves any longer. He was evidently suffering under a paroxysm of hydrophobia, and the surgeon being made acquainted with the circumstance, he was conveyed to the hospital tent. The utmost care was taken of him; but it availed nothing. He died that night at twelve o'clock, in a state of raving madness.

We were all grieved and sobered for a brief space by the fate of poor Feathers; but the grief of soldiers, like that of children, seldom lasts long; and in a day or two our attention was altogether devoted to the events and accidents of each day as it came round. As may be imagined, we did not fail to pay frequent visits to Multoa, which we found singularly clean and neat, especially in the region which lay nearest to the stream; for there each particular house had its flight of highly ornamented steps that led down to the water's edge, and conducted the bathers to the place appropriated for their ablutions, whether they might be male or female, upgrown persons or young children. Neither was this the whole, nor the most striking feature which arrested our attention in this place. I never shall forget the first day on which, with five of my comrades, I crossed the bridge of boats, and entered the town. There was no crowd of carriages or palanquins in the street, neither were the pedestrians numerous; but a multitude of baboons constantly gathered round us, and made as if they would oppose our further progress. The fact is that the Indians of this part of the country are singularly superstitious, and hold many kinds of creatures sacred. On shore we have the baboon, in the river there is the turtle, of which countless throngs come as regularly to be fed from the hands of their devotees as if they were indeed gods, though dependent on their votaries for nutriment. There was something well nigh ludicrous in the menacing attitudes which the baboons of Multoa assumed, so soon as they ascertained, which they were not slow in doing, that we were foreigners. But they did not show much fight, for when, after a moment's hesitation, a cry was raised "six dragoons must not be stopped by a crowd of monkeys," and we dashed among them with our bamboos, and began to lay about us, they took to their heels in all directions. They retreated, however, still retaining an attitude of hostility. For no sooner had they gained the tops of the houses than they began to chatter and show their teeth, and even to pelt us with the bits of mortar and stone, which they managed to break off for the purpose.

The people looked very grave at us when they beheld the sort of bearing which we put on towards their much venerated baboons. If they had been aware of the sort of treatment which we occasionally awarded to the turtles, they would have been a thousand times more indignant. The turtle, as I have just stated, is accounted sacred here; and to refuse food to one of the genus who might apply for it by lifting his head above the water, would involve the delinquent in a degree of guilt far more heavy than is incurred by the utmost extent of cruelty to a human being. Nevertheless, I acknowledge to having more than once baited my hook for these very same gods, and not without prodigious efforts brought more than one of them to the shore. The brutes weighed from seventy to one hundred pounds. They differed from the sea turtle chiefly in their extreme whiteness and in the delicacy of their flesh, but they were not to be despised as an article of food, and when dressed, with abundance of cayenne pepper and other spices, the epicures among us accounted them great delicacies.

At the further extremity of Multoa stood a ruined temple, by ascending one of the towers in which, at least two hundred feet high, we succeeded in obtaining an extensive and striking view over the whole face of the surrounding country. From this point I could distinctly perceive Bhurtpore and its gigantic fortifications, as well as the very inconsiderable camp, within the limits of which the whole of the force as yet brought up to reduce Bhurtpore was assembled; and it was impossible not to feel, while looking upon the relative strength of the hostile parties, that if this were all which England could bring against the Rajah, her game was desperate. The lapse of a little time, however, sufficed to show that these surmises and speculations were wholly groundless; but as it is not yet time to enter upon the serious business of the siege, I may as well disburden myself at once of the petty anecdotes and narratives which stand between me and that which constitutes after all, the main incident in my Indian adventures.

While we lay in the vicinity of Multoa a camp follower died who belonged to that caste or class of the native population, which always burn their dead. His body of course was set apart that it might be consumed; and being curious to behold a spectacle of the kind, I took care to attend. In the sloping bank of the Jumna the friends of the deceased dug out a convenient resting place for the pile. It was a sort of terrace, which measured perhaps six feet in length by four in breadth, and there, upon a couch, composed of a double row of very dry billets, the body of the wretched camp-follower was stretched. They covered him thickly with a coat of gie, that is of melted butter made of the milk of the buffalo, upon which they piled a quantity of dry grass with fagots, and light wood over all. As soon as the preparations were completed, several of the near relatives of the deceased approached to ascertain that all was in order, and immediately on their retiring the torches were applied, and the flame sprang upwards with amazing rapidity; I never looked upon a more disgusting sight. The pile burned furiously, so much so indeed, that several persons with long poles, were obliged from time to time to keep the half-consumed flesh from rolling out of the flames; and what was more horrible still, the hawks, of which I have elsewhere spoken, as infesting this hemisphere, succeeded more than once in setting both flames and poles at defiance. I saw several of these birds pounce down, seize a morsel of flesh while it was broiling and fly away with it. At last I grew perfectly sick; and returning to my tent, thanked God that I had been born in a land where such horrors were unknown.

We lingered on in this situation for a good many months, during the hottest of which, including March and April, we managed to render the tents habitable only by fitting to the doors on the weather side a sort of screen of grass, which was kept perpetually moist with water. By-and-by, however, the division broke up, and returned for the monsoon to Meerut, where poor old General Ochterlony died--respected, yet scarcely regretted, by the troops that served under him. We returned, moreover, just in time to witness the consecration by the bishop of a handsome church, dedicated to St. John, which had been built by private subscription. Let me not omit to give the credit which is his due, to the pious and excellent pastor of that church, the Rev. K. Fisher. If ever man lived to discharge the duties of his station, Mr. Fisher was that man; and the consequence was that he won over many a profligate to repentance, besides securing the affections of the whole garrison, and making numerous converts from Heathenism to Christianity. I shall never, as long as I live, forget the tenor of the admonitions which I received from him, and some, I doubt not, out of the multitudes who then held the same language with myself, still survive to repeat it.

While we occupied our old cantonments at Meerut, a fire broke out in the stables, which was supposed, I cannot tell how truly, to have been occasioned by the wilful negligence of some of the natives. It cost us several valuable horses, besides many more so injured, that not till the expiration of many weeks were they fit to be ridden. And not the least provoking part of the business was, that the perpetrators of the crime played their cards so skilfully, that beyond a suspicion, nothing was ever brought home to them.

Thus passed several months, at the termination of which, the order reached us to advance once more into the immediate vicinity of the hostile city. We set out, as our custom was, at an early hour in the morning;--yet even then, on passing the gate of Mr. Fisher's country-house, we saw the good man waiting to greet us; and fervent were the prayers which he put up for our wellbeing, whether we should ever behold him again or not. I assure my reader, that I am neither a hypocrite in matters of faith, nor a sickly sentimentalist; but I declare to him in all soberness and honesty, that I never was more deeply affected myself--nor saw a regiment of soldiers more deeply affected, than we all were by the prayers and the blessings of one whom we so sincerely loved and respected. Neither let me fail to observe, that not in my poor judgment only, but in that of all the most intelligent of the members of the British army--is there any thing which so much stands in need of reformation, as what I may venture to call the Chaplain's department in the service. Our superiors may think as they please,--but we, who fill up the ranks of the British army, know that we have souls to be saved, and very grateful should we be were there always at hand those who could tell us how to proceed, in order to ensure their salvation; and I can attest--in proof of this--that there was not a man in the 11th Dragoons, nor indeed in the European garrison of Meerut, who would not have laid down his life for the Rev. Mr. Fisher, more cheerfully than for any officer under whom he immediately served.

Onwards we moved, not easily forgetting our kind friend, or his generous benedictions, till by-and-by we took up our old ground, on this side the Jumna, and opposite to the city of Multoa. I cannot tell why we should have expected to remain there, but we did not remain, for the very next morning we crossed the river; and pushing on to a range of heights, which in some sort, command the plain on which Bhurtpore is built, we there pitched our camp, waiting till the army should assemble, and the siege, of which nobody any longer doubted, should begin in real earnest.

From day to day, after our establishment in this camp, troops, stores, and cannon came up. The heavy guns which had been collected at Agra, were transported to the place of assembly by water, and the new commander-in-chief, Lord Combermere, making his appearance about the same time, the whole army was reviewed, and next day put in motion. It was the duty of the 11th, supported by some native cavalry to cover the advance, and many a formidable piece of ground we passed over. Not an enemy however showed himself, and about noon on the third day, the towers and bastions of Bhurtpore uprose in the centre of a huge plain, immediately before us. Nothing could exceed the carelessness, or the misplaced confidence of its ruler and his troops. Though they must have been long aware of our hostile designs, they took no precautions whatever to defeat or even to retard their accomplishment; indeed, we found that the very trenches which Lord Lake's people had dug were not filled in. Lord Combermere, as may well be imagined, made haste to prevent their remedying an error so gross and so palpable. The trenches were immediately occupied by the king's 34th regiment of foot, and much time, as well as a large amount of fatigue saved to the besieging army in consequence.

The town and fort of Bhurtpore are planted in the very heart of an enormous wood, of which the outskirts approach within five or six hundred yards of the defences of the place. The wood is intersected in all directions by roads or passes; and while the infantry worked in the trenches and pushed their saps, we, that is the cavalry, had it in charge, to guard these passes so as to prevent both ingress and egress to the garrison. We were not always permitted to effect this, or to do the ordinary duty of outline picket, without molestation, as well from the enemy's guns, as from attacks by their very active and vigilant cavalry. The former of these modes of annoyance cost us several lives, among which I must mention that of Colonel Faithful, chief engineer to the army. The latter did not often pass off without wounds both to men and horses on either side. One day in particular I well recollect that the arm of Mr. Gruer, who commanded our picket, was severely hurt by a thrust from a lance; while the charger of one of his men had his tail cut off close to the stump, as clean as if the operation had been performed by a surgeon.

The wood which surrounded Bhurtpore was so dense, that in spite of constant service at the outposts, a good while elapsed ere I succeeded in obtaining of the place such a view as could be said to allay my very natural curiosity. It was only, indeed, by riding to the far extremity of one of the avenues, that you could hope to see a yard beyond your own ground; and this, for some reason which was never explained to us, we were particularly cautioned from hazarding. But there is no repressing the laudable disposition which urges men in general to increase their knowledge. My comrade and I being on patrol one morning, determined to indulge the desire under which we had both for some time laboured; and finding all clear to the extent which we had been directed to reconnoitre, we pushed gallantly beyond it. Suddenly we found ourselves on the edge of the open country; and the formidable appearance of the place against which our operations were directed I shall not soon forget. There seemed to be no limits to the succession of redoubts and batteries which covered it on every side. Abbattis, too, had been felled and laid with consummate care, so as to obstruct the approaches, and expose columns in advance to the fire both of cannon and musketry; while, that a sharp look-out was kept by the garrison, and the parties detached from it, we had soon the best reason for knowing. Though there were but two of us, we scarce showed ourselves on the open plain, ere four or five guns were directed against us; and the precision with which the artillerists threw their shot, soon warned us to withdraw. We did so, well pleased to have seen so much; neither did we return empty-handed. The wood was full of animals of the chase--of deer, buffaloes, hares, antelopes, and even of wild boars--to the pursuit of which, when not engaged on duty, we were accustomed to devote many an hour; and this day my comrade having killed a wild hog by a pistol-shot, we gathered him up, and carried him triumphantly into camp.

It was, not, however, exclusively by reason of the stock of game which abounded there, that the woods around Bhurtpore proved fruitful to us of interesting occurrences. Numbers of Bhurtporeans--by what motive instigated I cannot tell--used to penetrate these thickets; and to pursue and make prisoners of these afforded us almost as much sport, as to chase the antelope, or run down the wild hog. Yet we never succeeded in extracting from them any valuable information. They would even deny that they belonged to the fort, or had any connexion with its inmates; nor could either promises or threatenings prevail upon them to alter their tone.

Meanwhile the besieging force set to work in good earnest, and pushing forward their approaches, threw up batteries, from which, in due time, a heavy fire was opened. Of the solidity of the walls, however, against which this cannonade was directed, it would be difficult for those who never looked upon them to form a conception. Though faced with common masonry, they were constructed within the shell out of huge trunks and limbs of trees, which, being arranged longitudinally, and having the intervals between them filled up with solid and well rammed clay, offered to the shot such resistance, as could have come from no other kind of fortification whatever. I have seen scores of balls strike and splinter the stone work close to the line of breach, without causing the slightest inclination of the rampart itself; indeed several days elapsed ere the feeblest commencement was made in the work, which breaching batteries are expected to accomplish in half that interval. Neither were our gunners permitted to have all the amusement to themselves. The enemy kept up a heavy fire from a large number of cannon--not without some loss, and more annoyance to the besiegers; indeed the crashing among the branches, as often as the Bhurtporeans warmed to their work, was awful; and not a few of our people received wounds from the splinters which were thus scattered about.

In the labours of the siege we mounted men took no part. Our duties consisted in guarding against sorties, and hindering supplies from being thrown into the place; and in the execution of these services we came, as I have elsewhere related, more than once into collision with the enemy. But as I cannot recall to my remembrance any affair of which the details put in especial claim upon the reader's attention, I will not weary him by forced descriptions where there is, in truth, little or nothing to describe.