le and
bridle and tramped to the nearest village, where he hoped to be
able to buy or hire an animal of some kind on which to continue his
journey. No one, however, would help him, and he was forced to seize
a donkey which he found grazing in a field hard by. About sunset he
reached Kosi, thirty-seven miles from Muttra. The _tehsildar_[2]
received him courteously, and gave him some bread and milk, but would
not hear of his staying for the night. He told him that his appearance
in the town was causing considerable excitement, and that he could not
be responsible for his safety. Stewart was much exhausted after his
hot ride, but as the _tehsildar_ stood firm there was nothing for him
to do but to continue his journey, and he consented to start if he
were provided with a horse. The _tehsildar_ promptly offered his own
pony, and as soon as it was dark Stewart set out for the Jaipur camp.
His progress during the night was slow, and it was not until eight
o'clock the next morning that he reached his destination, where he was
hospitably received by the Political Agent, Major Eden, who introduced
him to the Maharaja's Wazir. This official at first promised to give
Stewart a small escort as far as Delhi, but on various pretexts he put
him off from day to day. At the end of a week Stewart saw that the
Wazir either could not or would not give him an escort, and thinking
it useless to delay any longer, he made up his mind to start without
one.

There were several refugees in the camp, and one of them, Mr. Ford,
collector and magistrate of Gurgaon, offered to join Stewart in his
venture.

Stewart and his companion left the Jaipur camp on the afternoon of
the 27th June, and reached Palwal soon after dark. Ford sent for the
_kotwal_,[3] who was one of his own district officials, and asked him
for food. This was produced, but the _kotwal_ besought the _sahibs_ to
move on without delay, telling them that their lives were in imminent
danger, as there was a rebel regiment in the town, and he was quite
unable to protect them. So they continued their journey, and, escaping
from one or two threatened attacks by robbers, reached Badshahpur in
the morning. Here they rested during the heat of the day, being kindly
treated by the villagers, who were mostly Hindus.

The travellers were now not far from Delhi, but could hardly proceed
further without a guide, and the people of Badshahpur declined to
provide one. They pleaded that they were men