small rooms, through the roof of which one of our shells had fallen
the day before, making a convenient chimney for the egress of the smoke.
They had found a large copper pot which had been left by the sepoys, and
had it on the fire filled with a stew of about a score or more of
pigeons which had been left shut up in a dovecot in a corner of the
compound. There were also plenty of pumpkins and other vegetables in the
rooms, and piles of _chupatties_ which had been cooked by the sepoys for
their evening meal before they fled. Everything in fact was there for
making a good breakfast for hungry men except salt, and there was no
salt to be found in any of the rooms; but as luck favoured us, I had one
of the old-fashioned round cylinder-shaped wooden match-boxes full of
salt in my haversack, which was more than sufficient to season the stew.
I had carried this salt from Cawnpore, and I did so by the advice of an
old veteran who had served in the Ninety-Second Gordon Highlanders all
through the Peninsular war, and finally at Waterloo. When as a boy I had
often listened to his stories and told him that I would also enlist for
a soldier, he had given me this piece of practical advice, which I in my
turn present to every young soldier and volunteer. It is this: "Always
carry a box of salt in your haversack when on active service; because
the commissariat department is usually in the rear, and as a rule when
an army is pressed for food the men have often the chance of getting
hold of a bullock or a sheep, or of fowls, etc., but it is more
difficult to find salt, and even good food without salt is very
unpalatable." I remembered the advice, and it proved of great service to
myself and comrades in many instances during the Mutiny. As it was,
thanks to my foresight the hungry men in the Shah Nujeef made a good
breakfast on the morning of the 17th of November, 1857. I may here say
that my experience is that the soldiers who could best look after their
stomachs were also those who could make the best use of the bayonet, and
who were the least likely to fall behind in a forced march. If I had the
command of an army in the field my rule would be: "Cut the grog, and
give double grub when hard work has to be done!"

After making a good breakfast the men were told off in sections, and we
discharged our rifles at the enemy across the Goomtee,[25] and then
spunged them out, which they sorely needed, because they had not been
cleaned from the