s spare time in studying all that belonged to his
profession. For hours he would pore over books on fortification and
tactics, and try to find for himself why this or that plan, which seemed
so good, turned out when tried a hopeless failure. He had always a pile
of memoirs of celebrated soldiers round him, and often bored his
brother-officers by persisting in talking of the campaigns of
Marlborough or Frederick the Great, instead of discussing the balls or
races that filled their minds. Still, though he made the best of the
circumstances in which he found himself, he looked forward to the
prospect of going to India, where William and Charles already were.

* * * * *

But to get to India it was needful to exchange into another regiment,
and Henry was gazetted to the 13th Light Infantry. The process took some
time, but as usual he found some work for himself, and prepared for his
future life by taking lessons in Persian and Hindostanee.

Now there is no better way of learning a language than to teach it to
somebody else, and on the voyage out to Calcutta, which then took four
months, some of the officers on board ship begged him to form a class in
these two languages. Havelock had passed in London the examination
necessary for the degree of a qualified Moonshee, or native tutor, and
his Persian was so good that regularly throughout his life, when his
superior officers wished to mark their appreciation of his services,
they recommended him for an interpretership! Therefore during those
tedious four months, when land was seldom seen, and the ship sailed on
from St. Helena, whose great captive had not been two years dead, to the
Cape of Good Hope and the island of Ceylon, the little band of students
met and struggled with the strange letters of the two tongues, and by
the time the ship _General Kyd_ arrived at Calcutta in May 1823,
Havelock's pupils could all talk a little, and read tolerably.

* * * * *

At first it seemed as if life in India was going to be as quiet as life
in England, but in 1824 the king of Ava, a Burmese city, demanded that
Eastern Bengal should be given up to him, or war would be instantly
declared. The answer sent to the 'Lord of the Great White Elephant' was
a declaration of war on the part of our viceroy in India. Sir Archibald
Campbell was given the command of the invading force, and he appointed
Havelock to be his deputy-assistant a