as the custom in the
English army that the officers should _buy_ their promotion, unless a
vacancy occurred by death. Havelock was a poor man, and like many
well-known Indian soldiers had to depend for luck on his 'steps,' or
advancement. If, like Havelock, officers exchanged into other regiments,
they were put back to the bottom of the list, and had to work their way
up all over again.

Besides this there were _two_ armies in India, one belonging to the
English sovereign, and the other to the East India Company's Service,
under which near a hundred years before Clive had won his battles. It
was the officers serving under 'John Company,' as it was called, who had
all the 'plums' of the profession; who governed large provinces, made
treaties with the native princes, and gave orders even to the general
himself. Outram, who afterwards entered Lucknow side by side with
Havelock; sir Henry Lawrence, who died defending the city before Outram
and Havelock fought their way in; John Nicholson, who was killed in the
siege of Delhi, and hundreds of other well-known men, all wore the
Company's colours and received rewards. For the officers of the royal
army it was no uncommon thing for a man to wait fifty years before being
made a general, as lord Roberts's father waited; so, although it was
very disheartening for Havelock to see young men, with not half his
brains but with ten times his income, become captains and majors and
colonels over his head, he knew well what he had to expect, and also
that he possessed thousands of companions in misfortune.

By-and-by the Company's army was done away with, and India is now ruled
in an entirely different way.

It was in the autumn of 1836 that Havelock sent up his wife and little
children for a change to a hill station called Landour. The cool air and
quiet were very restful after the heat of the summer, and at last they
were all able to sleep, instead of tossing to and fro through the dark
hours, longing for the dawn.

One night the moon was shining brightly, and Mrs. Havelock had stepped
out on her verandah before she went to bed, and thought how beautiful
and peaceful everything looked. A few hours later she was awakened by a
dense smoke, and jumping up found that the house was on fire all round
her. She snatched up her baby and opened the door to get to the room
where the two little boys were sleeping with their ayah, or nurse, but
such a rush of flames met her that she staggered ba