his horse
watching the rising flames. Before he saw me I was on him, and ran him
through. I leapt on his horse and galloped down to Gardiner's compound.
I saw lots of Sepoys in and around the bungalow, all engaged in looting.
I dashed into the compound.

"'May! May!' I shouted. 'Where are you?'

"I had scarcely spoken before a dark figure rushed out of a clump of
bushes close by with a scream of delight.

"In an instant she was on the horse before me, and shooting down a
couple of fellows who made a rush at my reins, I dashed out again.
Stray shots were fired after us. But fortunately the Sepoys were all
busy looting, most of them had laid down their muskets, and no one
really took up the pursuit. I turned off from the parade-ground, dashed
down between the hedges of two compounds, and in another minute we were
in the open country.

"Fortunately, the cavalry were all down looting their own lines, or we
must have been overtaken at once. May happily had fainted as I lifted
her on to my horse--happily, because the fearful screams that we heard
from the various bungalows almost drove me mad, and would probably have
killed her, for the poor ladies were all her intimate friends.

"I rode on for some hours, till I felt quite safe from any immediate
pursuit, and then we halted in the shelter of a clump of trees.

"By this time I had heard May's story. She had felt uneasy at being
alone, but had laughed at herself for being so, until upon her speaking
to one of the servants he had answered in a tone of gross insolence,
which had astonished her. She at once guessed that there was danger, and
the moment that she was alone caught up a large, dark carriage rug,
wrapped it round her so as to conceal her white dress, and stole out
into the verandah. The night was dark, and scarcely had she left the
house than she heard a burst of firing across at the mess-house. She at
once ran in among the bushes and crouched there, as she heard the rush
of men into the room she had just left. She heard them searching for
her, but they were looking for a white dress, and her dark rug saved
her. What she must have suffered in the five minutes between the firing
of the first shots and my arrival, she only knows. May had spoken but
very little since we started. I believe that she was certain that her
father was dead, although I had given an evasive answer when she asked
me; and her terrible sense of loss, added to the horror of that time of
suspe