combustible matter, fell on my pouch, in which were about fifty rounds of ball cartridges. The whole exploded; my pouch I never saw more, and I was precipitated from the top to the bottom of the bastion. How I got there in safety I know not; but, when I came to myself, I found I was lying under the breach, with my legs in the water. I was much hurt from the fall, my face was severely scorched, my clothes much burnt, and all the hair on the back of my head burnt off. I for a time could not tell where I was. I crawled to the opposite side of the bank, and seated myself by a soldier of the same company, who did not know me. I sat here, quite unable to move, for some little time, till a cannon-ball struck in the ditch, which knocked the mud all over me. This added greatly to the elegance of my appearance; and in this state I contrived, somehow or other, to crawl out of the ditch. At this moment the retreat was sounded, after every mortal effort had been made in vain."

Of the twelve men who composed this third forlorn hope led by our hero, not one came back with him to claim his reward. More than three thousand men having been lost against Bhurtpore, Lord Lake reluctantly had to confess that it was too strong for him. The prime cause of this failure, as Shipp says, had been no doubt the want of adequate means for such a siege. There were not nearly enough breaching-guns, and these had more than once been rendered unserviceable by the constant firing. The art of mining was hardly known in India at that period, yet this was the only way by which Bhurtpore could have fallen, and the way by which it did fall before our troops in another siege twenty years later.

VII.

THOUGH the repeated attacks on Bhurtpore had failed, the courage of our soldiers proved not to have been thrown away. It so much impressed the Rajah, that after tedious negotiations, during which a blockade was kept up round the city, he made peace with the British, and remained in friendship with them for a good many years to come; so the object of the siege was gained without the crowning horrors that must have attended a successful storm.

This good understanding, however, came near to being destroyed at the outset. On the ratification of the treaty the Rajah's troops were allowed to visit the English camp. Then many of them had the folly and impudence to appear there with the very coats, sashes, and weapons they had taken from the dead bodies of the assailants, flaunting these trophies before the eyes of their indignant comrades. It was more than the English soldier could bear, sore as he was from the sense of recent defeat. At once the whole camp was up in fury; and had it not been for the prompt interference of the officers and Lord Lake in person, these boasting Mussulmen would have paid dear for their ill-timed display.

The disheartened troops were duly soothed and flattered into better spirits by the compliments of the commander-in-chief, who recognised in his orders that they had done all that could be expected of them. Our young hero, as had been promised, received a more tangible reward. Being now just twenty years old, he was gazetted as ensign of his Majesty's 65th regiment.

"On the day of my appointment I was metamorphosed into a gentleman: hair cut and curled, new coat, etc., etc.; had an invitation to dine with the commander-in-chief, but of course kept myself in the background. The gentleman did not seem to sit easy upon me, for you must know I was then a modest, blushing youth." Lord Lake, however, was not slow in giving him a lesson in gentlemanliness; he welcomed the young ensign with friendly courtesy, trying to put him at his ease, and promising to befriend him. John Shipp, bound the day before to do reverence to the rawest subaltern, now found himself seated at dinner next the commander-in-chief, the greatest man of his little world, who, when the cloth was taken away, made him tell the whole story of the forlorn hopes, a subject on which he needed be at no loss for conversation. Nor did his lordship's interest end in mere courtesy. He insisted on advancing the new-made ensign what money he might require for his equipment, and sent him a tent, a horse, and two camels, as presents. His generous captain, Lindsay, did the rest for

him.

His brother officers in the new regiment received him no less with open arms. There seems here to have been none of that snobbish spirit sometimes shown to men risen from the ranks.

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Shipp speaks of them as having been on excellent terms with him during the short time he remained in this regiment. For the ensigncy proved to be only an instalment of Lord Lake's favour in three weeks or so he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the 76th, and a few days after was appointed extra aide-de-camp to his colonel, who as brigadier-general was proceeding on a strong foraging party in the face of Holkar.

It had been one of the articles of the treaty with the Rajah, that this formidable Mahratta leader should be driven from under the walls of Bhurtpore. This had been done, but he still hovered about the English camp, annoying and threatening their detached parties. So now Shipp was to have another brush with the old enemy.

"We had not proceeded many miles from camp, when we saw Holkar's troops in immense force, posted on an eminence. They showed symptoms of fight. We collected our elephants, camels, and bullocks, and left them in charge of the five hundred irregular horse; then, placing two of the six-pounders behind the regiment of Native cavalry, we moved slowly on till within two or three hundred yards of the enemy, when we gave them about twenty rounds of grape, killing great numbers. We then charged them, and cut up a great number more. I had a narrow escape; my horse was killed by a spear-wound in the chest, which entered his heart, and I fell under him. The horseman was about to give me a few inches of the same spear, when the honourable brigadier cut him down, and thus I escaped, taking the liberty of riding my well-meaning adversary's horse to camp. I was a good deal hurt by the fall, but this, with one or two men wounded, and some few horses killed, were the only casualties of the day."

Holkar now retired from the contest, and the English went into quarters. Next year, all looking peaceful, the 76th was sent back to Calcutta. It was indeed time for them to have some rest; the gallant corps had been literally cut to pieces. Twenty-five years it had served in India, and Shipp believes that only two of the original force now remained, while there was hardly a sound man left in the whole regiment.

Our young lieutenant went on before the main body, in charge of invalids, many of whom died on the way. His own injuries continued to do well, though from time to time he was troubled by excruciating headaches and dizziness, from the wound in his

head, while the terrific spectacle of the last scene at Bhurtpore had been so stamped upon his mind, that scarcely a night passed, he tells us, in which he did not dream of "hairbreadth 'scapes in the imminent deadly breach," and fancy he was fighting his dreadful battles over again. The report of a gun would startle him, and his sight, as well as his appearance, was affected by that hurt in the forehead, which proved long in healing, and might not have healed even so well if he had not taken care of himself, especially by avoiding drink. When he wrote his narrative, twenty-four years later, his wounds were still a sure weather-glass, giving him speedy notice of any change in the atmosphere.

At Calcutta the soldiers were received as they deserved, and Shipp, with his blushing honours thick upon him, had his full share of the famous hospitality of East Indian society. Wherever he went he had to tell his story, and no doubt found some fair Desdemonas who thought none the worse of him for having so well fought his way from the ranks. But his thoughts were now bent on home, though his fortune seemed to lie in India, where he might have remained, making an advantageous exchange, with every prospect of getting on through his own qualities and the patronage of Lord Lake. He had reason to

believe that his father, after a long absence on service, had returned to Suffolk; and naturally he was anxious to present himself before the old man, especially now that he could do so in the character of an officer and a gentleman.

He embarked with a detachment of invalids, commanded by his old friend, Captain Lindsay. The voyage was likely to be long, but might not be so monotonous as at the present day, for there was always the chance of meeting French cruisers on the way. Thirteen Indiamen sailed in company, convoyed by two men-of-war. The men were drilled and practised at the guns once a week, and a good look-out was kept for the enemy, who did not fail to put in an appearance.

"Off the coast of Madagascar a ship was discovered, early in the morning, standing right down upon us. Seeing her a single vessel, we conceived her to be one of our cruisers from off the Cape of Good Hope; but when she was within one mile and a half from us, she could not answer our signals, and consequently ran towards the land, which was to windward of us. The Tremendous, being a fast sailer, went in chase of her. The

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Frenchman soon found that he was mistaken. He, no doubt, at first took us for a French fleet that was then out in these seas, and relied upon his fast and superior sailing to enable him to get away, should he prove mistaken; but our commodore overhauled him hand over hand. The Frenchman tacked, turned, and twisted, but he found it was of no use. He therefore resorted to his natural cunning, shortened sail, and at last backed maintopsail, and waited till the English vessel came within pistol-shot. The commodore, conceiving that the Frenchman was about to strike, did not wish to injure her, and therefore would not fire. The French captain availed himself of this interval, and gave the Tremendous a whole broadside, by which she was so disabled as to become an immovable log on the water. The Frenchman up-helm, and off he started. The commodore at last got his ship's broadside to bear, and nearly tore her out of the water. However, she was a faster sailer than any ship in our fleet, and finally made her escape, to the mortification of the whole fleet, except one Captain Brusée, a French prisoner of war, a passenger on board our ship, who danced with ineffable delight-natural enough; but not very pleasant to the sight of an Englishman."

Then the fleet had to face the more serious danger of a tropical hurricane, in which one vessel was nearly lost, and three were for a time separated from the rest, so that it began to be feared that they had fallen into the hands of the French. By the way, this French man-of-war which attacked them is stated to have had a narrow escape, putting in to repair her damages at the Cape of Good Hope, not aware that this Colony had once more become an English possession. She found out her mistake just in time to cut and run for it. The three missing Indiamen turned up all right at St. Helena, and the fleet reached England safely in October, 1807.

Lieutenant Shipp's first duty was to take his invalids to Chelsea Hospital. Then he rejoined his regiment at Dartford ; but on its being ordered to Nottingham a few days later, he got leave of absence to visit home. Eager to relate his adventures to his father and to all his old acquaintances, he started for Saxmundham. But at the very outset of his journey something happened which he thinks necessary to assure us is the truth, though it may look like fiction.

"On the coach, next to me, sat a pilot from Aldborough, in