after his long immersion. He was helped in and on to the thatched roof, where he crept into a wet mattress-there had been rain after the storm-and fell sound asleep rolled up in its folds. The next morning he woke whilst it was still dark, and discovered that the boat had floated off with the rise of the river, and was drifting down without guidance. He at once took charge of the nairjahim, and rigged up a sail with a blanket. Having repaired the rudder, he steered down with a fresh wind behind. He was thus able to put a good distance between him and the pursuing sepoys. When nearing the dreaded village of Kusumkhor, he was urged to keep off the main channel and follow the sota on the Oudh side-much against his will and judgment, after the experience of the previous day. But the disastrous attack off Singhirampur was a warning not to be neglected. This time certainly the guns of the sepoys from the high banks of Kusumkhor would not have failed to sink the boat. He had therefore to choose the lesser evil.

The rising river had quickened the current, and with the help of the improvised sail the boat sped along the sota, and hope rose uppermost that the danger would be safely overpassed in another hour. Unhappily, seeing a large body of Oudh villagers apparently awaiting their approach, Jones was ordered to keep off the bank as far as possible; and just as they came abreast of the village the boat drifted

into a by-channel and took the ground, from which they were unable to extricate themselves. The crowd of armed villagers, who could have produced death and consternation within the overcrowded boat if they had desired, remained passive spectators, presently warning them that the Kusumkhor men were landing to attack them, and that if they wished for help they would pull them off the bank and set the boat free. Seeing the men so unexpectedly friendly, they accepted the offer, and some of the Thakurs swam out to their help, and, pulling them into the channel, moored the boat on their side of the river, confirming their friendly protestations by supplying them with much-needed food. The colonel, taking advantage of this unexpected good fortune, offered the chief a

handsome reward if he would provide a guard and boatmen to take them down to Cawnpore.

Whilst negotiations were proceeding, Jones bethought himself of obtaining some food and rest in the village for the night, it having been arranged that they should sail next morning. He invited Swettenham of the 10th and James of the opium agency to join him, but both refused, Swettenham being badly wounded; so he went off alone with a Thakur, who gave him some dal and chapattis, and an old charpoy to sleep on. Like myself, he too was badly blistered by the sun, and the wound on his shoulder had festered and become very sore. From sheer exhaustion he slept

soundly till awakened at midnight by the noise of jingling ramrods of matchlocks which the men were loading. It proved that some of the people from the surrounding villages had collected to loot the boat, and the Terah men were arm

ing to defend it. Just about the same time a messenger arrived from Colonel Colonel Smith ordering Jones to rejoin, as they were about to leave. Jones made an effort to rise, but found himself too stiff and exhausted to move, and gave up the attempt in despair. A second and third messenger followed, but with no better success; and the boat went off, leaving Jones behind. Next day, when he was partially refreshed, the reality of his position dawned upon him, and he was seized with deep remorse, believing that he had thrown away his only chance of life; whereas, under Providence, he was to be the sole survivor of that party, who numbered over seventy souls. He lived to march up with the avenging army under Sir Colin Campbell and to see Fatehgarh reoccupied.

The chief of Terah, a benevolently-disposed Brahmin, treated Jones well, and when the news of the reoccupation of Cawnpore was confirmed, Hardeo Buksh had Jones removed to Khasowrah, where Probyn was staying. The two eventually escaped together to Cawnpore, where Major Robertson and I were unable to join them, owing to circumstances already narrated. The safety of the party was very cleverly managed by

Hardeo Buksh, as the voyage down the river was hazardous in the extreme, and it is doubtful if it would have been accomplished without aid. To carry out his plan, Hardeo Buksh enlisted the co-operation of a brother Thakur who had acquired an evil reputation for looting and bloodshed during the reign of terror, and had grown powerful from his daring successes, his renown extending for many miles around his stronghold up and down the river. The unexpected return of the British and the dispersal of the Nana's forces had disconcerted the freebooting propensities of Dhama Singh, and his position became extremely unsafe, for he was hated by all the villagers on whom he had committed his depredations. Under the circumstances his life and property were forfeit, and he had nothing to look forward to but an ignominious death the moment he was captured. When, therefore, Hardeo Buksh proposed to him that he should escort the sahebs into Cawnpore, he saw at once that by that act he would not only save his neck and property but gain a handsome reward. He accepted the charge at once, and did his duty right well, taking the boat safely through every danger under the very guns of the rebel camp at Bithur. The rebels, to whom he was well known by reputation, were completely deceived by him. As he pulled past the banks where they crowded in thousands, he was given the friendly warning to keep well off Cawnpore and to beware

of the goras! It was intensely exciting moment for the occupants of the boat. The steeple of the station was in sight and safety within reach; the army of the Nana within a couple of hundred yards; and Dhama Singh carrying on a friendly greeting with his acquaintances in the enemy's camp. To hear the warning to beware of the goras was indeed a welcome parting, and a few hours later they were safely moored under the guns of Havelock's intrenchments.

The joy of regaining his liberty, and of being once more in the society of his fellowcountrymen, was sadly marred for Jones when he learnt the terrible fate of Colonel Smith and his party, whom, up to now, he had supposed to have escaped in safety. The boat, alas! like that of the first party, had fallen into the hands of the Nana under Bithur. Colonel Smith was overpowered and forced to surrender, under the solemn assurance that the lives of all his companions would be spared. It is said that immediately their arms were given up, the treacherous ruffian ordered all the men, excepting Colonel Smith, Mr Thornhill the judge, and General Goldie, to be shot in the presence of the ladies and children. The rest were conveyed as prisoners to the well-known "slaughterhouse" at Cawnpore, where they were all brutally massacred the night before Havelock entered the station.

Jones saw the awful charnelhouse at Cawnpore, and recognised many of the articles of

Whilst there Jones had the misfortune to undergo a second siege, when General Windham was outnumbered and driven into the intrenchments by the Gwalior rebels, the enemy numbering over 12,000 of all arms, equipped with numerous fieldand a battery of powerful siegeguns. Jones was a compulsory spectator of some most exciting artillery fire and the splendid practice of the 18-pounders and mortars from the intrenchments.

This investment was a most serious matter. The station had been denuded of troops for the relief of Lucknow, and reinforcements were arriving in small numbers by bullockwaggons from Allahabad. It was feared that Sir Colin Campbell's retreat from Lucknow with the garrison he had relieved would be cut off. Fortunately, there was no means for the enemy to cross the river, and a few days later Sir Colin marched in and raised the siege. The Lucknow garrison were safely conveyed to Allahabad, and Sir Colin then attacked the rebels and completely shattered their forces, capturing all their guns, and in fact broke

BUT yesterday the great British public proudly pointed to our railways as the finest in the world. To-day, since we cannot boast, we grumble, this appearing to us to be the next best way of emphasising our national characteristics. Each of us groans out a separate complaint, and each is prepared with a special and complete panacea, which, but for the stupidity or worse-of directors, would have been long since adopted. The shareholder, for instance, complains that dividends are steadily dropping, despite the boom; and, in the classical parlance of the day, he ventures to inquire where he may expect to come in. The trader, by this time grown careless as to his vocabulary, freely curses the scarcity of waggons, and protests that rates are proportioned to delay in delivery-the longer you are kept waiting the more you pay. The social reformer cries out against the monopolies which, even after receiving commands direct from the Fabian Society, refuse occasionally to carry well-to-do workmen more than twenty miles each way for the obviously ample return fare of two pennies. The railway enthusiast, who is often a commercial traveller and sometimes a journalist, laments in strident tones the departed glories of the racing days, so exhilarating while they lasted, but now gone the way of much other British enterprise. Finally, the labour

VOL. CLXVII.-NO. MXV,

party cries out for automatio couplings and other things, abominable to directors, even compelling a war-fevered House of Commons to stir from the legislative lethargy of the first session, 1900. Seldom has a great and erstwhile prosperous industry been assailed from so many quarters at once, nor is it unlikely that the tightening pressure on every side will precipitate a crisis in the not very remote future.

The causes of the present distress for such it really amounts to-originated before most living railway directors had left school. The reason why Great Britain lags to-day is that she led yesterday. It is a pure and simple case of the first turning out to be last. We have been proud pioneers in all railway enterprise, and now we are paying the penalty. Our lines were laid long before any line had had time to prove what its value would turn out to be. Our original schemes were cramped by opposition which subsequent experience has shown to be beneath contempt. The opposition has passed away, but its effects remain, apparently irremediable, whatever be our efforts. to shake off the incubus which

oppresses us. Foreign nations watched our experiments, learnt the lessons, and leisurely bestirred themselves to build lines. as we should like to rebuild ours, had we the chance. The fact is, that to-day we are

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