praise.

I have chosen, as an illustration of this, three campaigns; namely,
the relief of Chitral, the Tirah campaign, and the relief of
Coomassie. The first two were conducted in a mountainous country,
affording every advantage to the enemy; where passes had to be
scaled, torrents to be forded, and deep snow to be crossed. In the
other, the country was a combination of morass and thick forest,
frequently intersected by wide and deep rivers. The work, moreover,
had to be done in a tropical climate, during the rainy season. The
conditions, therefore, were much more trying than in the case of
former expeditions which had crossed the same ground and, in
addition, the enemy were vastly more numerous and more determined;
and had, in recent years, mastered the art of building extremely
formidable stockades.

The country has a right to be proud, indeed, of the prowess both of
our own troops and of our native regiments. Boys who wish to obtain
fuller details of these campaigns I would refer to Sir George
Robertson's Chitral; H. C. Thomson's Chitral Campaign; Lieutenant
Beynon's With Kelly to Chitral; Colonel Hutchison's Campaign in
Tirah; Viscount Fincastle and P. C. Eliott Lockhart's A Frontier
Campaign; and Captain Harold C. J. Biss's The Relief of Kumasi,
from which I have principally drawn the historical portion of my
story.

G. A. Henty.

Chapter 1: An Expedition.

"Well, Lisle, my boy, the time is drawing very near when you will
have to go home. My brother John will look after you, and choose
some good crammer to push you on. You are nearly sixteen, now, and
it is high time you buckled to."

"But you have always taught me, father!"

"Yes, that is all very well, but I could not devote three hours a
day to you. I think I may say that you are thoroughly well
grounded--I hope as well as most public-school boys of your own
age--but I can go no further with you. You have no idea what
cramming is necessary, now, for a young fellow to pass into the
army. Still I think that, by hard work with some man who prepares
students for the army, you may be able to rub through. I have
always saved up money for this, for my brother is by no means a
rich man, and crammers are very expensive; so the next time I see a
chance of sending you down to Calcutta, down you go. My agents
there will see you on board a ship, and do everything that is
necessary."

"Of course, father, if I must go, I must; but it will be beastly,
after