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Life in Cantonments
The Outbreak
The Flight
Broken Down
Back Under the Flag
A Dashing Expedition
Delhi
A Desperate Defense
Saved by a Tiger
Treachery
Retribution Begins
Dangerous Service
Lucknow
The Besieged Residency
Spiking the Guns
A Sortie and its Consequences
Out of Lucknow
The Storming of Delhi
A Riot at Cawnpore
The Relief of Lucknow
A Sad Parting
The Last Capture of Lucknow
A Desperate Defense
Rest after Labor
Very bright and pretty, in the early springtime of the year 1857, werethe British cantonments of Sandynugghur. As in all other Britishgarrisons in India, they stood quite apart from the town, forming asuburb of their own. They consisted of the barracks, and of a maidan,or, as in England it would be called, "a common," on which the troopsdrilled and exercised, and round which stood the bungalows of themilitary and civil officers of the station, of the chaplain, and of theone or two merchants who completed the white population of the place.
Very pretty were these bungalows, built entirely upon the ground floor,in rustic fashion, wood entering largely into their composition. Somewere thatched; others covered with slabs of wood or stone. All had wideverandas running around them, with tatties, or blinds, made of reeds orstrips of wood, to let down, and give shade and coolness to the roomstherein. In some of them the visitor walked from the compound, orgarden, directly into the dining-room; large, airy, with neithercurtains, nor carpeting, nor matting, but with polished boards asflooring. The furniture here was generally plain and almost scanty,for, except at meal-times, the rooms were but little used.
Outside, in the veranda, is the real sitting-room of the bungalow. Hereare placed a number of easy-chairs of all shapes, constructed of caneor bamboo—light, cool, and comfortable; these are moved, as the sunadvances, to the shady side of the veranda, and in t