eet them.

When we reached the Mint we heard the rumour that Cawnpore had fallen.
The report was not generally believed, but it was true. We were only two
hundred miles from Cawnpore, and yet nine days had passed before our
hearing of its fall, and we then heard of it only as a rumour.

The feeling of panic soon subsided, and as some in their haste had taken
something with them, it soon looked as if we were a large improvised
picnic party. For a few hours all was quiet; but in the afternoon the
rattle of the musketry and the boom of the cannon told us the battle had
commenced. Soon the news reached us that the rebels were in flight, and
that we were again safe. Till the news reached there was anxiety, but
there was little manifestation of it, except by the wives of some of the
soldiers, who were wringing their hands and weeping bitterly. The night
was spent by us in the greatest discomfort, huddled together, lying in
our day clothes on the floor, in an atmosphere so close that I wonder
we were not stifled. That 6th of July, 1857, at Benares can never be
obliterated from the memory of any one who was there. It makes us
understand, as nothing else could do, how much more dreadful a panic is
than the most furious combat.

[Sidenote: THE ADVENTURES OF A MARRIAGE DAY.]

I must recall my readers for a little to the couple whom I had married
on the morning of that memorable day. We had not been above a few
minutes in the Mint, when whom did I see rushing in at the gate, out of
breath, but my friends whom I had united in wedlock a few hours
previously, the bridegroom a few steps in advance of the bride, who was
doing her best, with little success, to save her bridal dress from being
soiled by the muddy road. Grave though our position was, I could not but
smile when I saw them. I went to meet them, and looking sternly at the
bridegroom I said, "Chhotkan, did I not tell you this was no time to
marry?" He looked at me sheepishly, and said, "Well, sir, it is now
over, and I cannot help it." I had better add that the marriage has been
a happy one. The husband has maintained a Christian character, and has
had a prosperous career, and they both survive to the present time.

THE DAYS SUCCEEDING THE DAY OF PANIC.

On the day after the panic we all returned to our respective homes. The
immediate danger was past, but the country around was in a very
disturbed state. The officer commanding the station sent round a
circular strongly