ur food; our plates of rice would be perfectly black with
flies, and it was surprising how we kept such good health, for we had
little or no sickness during the siege of Lucknow.

During the few days we remained in camp at the Dilkoosha the army was
broken up into movable columns, to take the field after the different
parties of rebels and to restore order throughout Oude; for although
Lucknow had fallen, the rebellion was not by any means over; the whole
of Oude was still against us, and had to be reconquered. The
Forty-Second, Seventy-Ninth, and Ninety-Third (the regiments which
composed the famous old Highland Brigade of the Crimea) were once more
formed into one brigade, and with a regiment of Punjab Infantry and a
strong force of engineers, the Ninth Lancers, a regiment of native
cavalry, a strong force of artillery, both light and heavy,--in brief,
as fine a little army as ever took the field, under the command of
General Walpole, with Adrian Hope as brigadier,--was detailed for the
advance into Rohilcund for the recapture of Bareilly, where a large army
still held together under Khan Bahadoor Khan. Every one in the camp
expressed surprise that Sir Colin should entrust his favourite
Highlanders to Walpole.

On the morning of the 7th of April, 1858, the time had at last arrived
when we were to leave Lucknow, and the change was hailed by us with
delight. We were glad to get away from the captured city, with its
horrible smells and still more horrible sights, and looked forward with
positive pleasure to a hot-weather campaign in Rohilcund. We were to
advance on Bareilly by a route parallel with the course of the Ganges,
so striking our tents at 2 A.M. we marched through the city
along the right bank of the Goomtee, past the Moosabagh, where our first
halt was made, about five miles out of Lucknow, in the midst of fresh
fields, away from all the offensive odours and the myriads of flies. One
instance will suffice to give my readers some idea of the torment we
suffered from these pests. When we struck tents all the flies were
roosting in the roofs; when the tents were rolled up the flies got
crushed and killed by bushels, and no one who has not seen such a sight
would credit the state of the inside of our tents when opened out to be
repitched on the new ground. After the tents were pitched and the roofs
swept down, the sweepers of each company were called to collect the dead
flies and carry them out of the camp. I not