such buildings as lay in the
direction of our advance. From the mess-house we could see the British
flag flying on the top of the engine-house, only a short distance
beyond the Moti Mahal, which satisfactory piece of intelligence Norman
went down to report to Sir Colin, who, with his Chief of the Staff,
had just arrived. I followed Norman, and we two made our way to the
western wall of the Pearl Palace enclosure, outside which Outram and
Havelock were standing together. They had run the gauntlet of the
enemy's fire in coming from the engine house; Colonel Robert Napier
and two other officers who accompanied them, having been wounded, had
to be carried back. Some of Lennox's Sappers set to work, and soon
made a hole in the wall[8] large enough for these two distinguished
men to pass through.

I had never before met either of them. In Afghanistan Outram had been
a friend of my father, who had often spoken to me about him in terms
of the warmest admiration, and his courage and chivalry were known and
appreciated throughout India. It was therefore with feelings of the
most lively interest that I beheld this man, whose character I so
greatly admired. He was then fifty-four years of age, strong and
broad-shouldered, in no way broken down by the heavy load of
responsibility and anxiety he had had to bear, or the hardships he had
gone through. Havelock, the hero of a hundred fights, on the contrary,
looked ill, worn and depressed, but brightened up a little when Norman
told him he had been made a K.C.B.

Sir Colin waited to receive these two heroes on the ground sloping
down from the mess-house, and it was there that the meeting between
the three veterans took place. A most impressive and memorable scene
was that meeting, which has been well depicted in the historical
picture by Barker.

As if to show the rage and disappointment of the enemy at this
evidence of the success of our operations, every gun in the Kaisarbagh
was turned upon us, and it was under a shower of shot and shell that
the interview was held; it did not last long, for it was neither the
time nor the place to discuss plans for the future. All Sir Colin
could then say was that the troops should be removed outside Lucknow
as soon as the women and children had been brought away, and he
expressed his 'thankfulness that the relief of the garrison had been
accomplished.'

[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL SIR JAMES OUTRAM, G.C.B.
_From a painting by Thomas Brigstoc