r. Orme, who lived at that time, to the "Life of Lord Clive,"
recently published by Lieutenant Colonel Malleson, and to other
standard authorities. In this book I have devoted a somewhat smaller
space to the personal adventures of my hero than in my other
historical tales, but the events themselves were of such a thrilling
and exciting nature that no fiction could surpass them.

A word as to the orthography of the names and places. An entirely new
method of spelling Indian words has lately been invented by the Indian
authorities. This is no doubt more correct than the rough-and-ready
orthography of the early traders, and I have therefore adopted it for
all little-known places. But there are Indian names which have become
household words in England, and should never be changed; and as it
would be considered a gross piece of pedantry and affectation on the
part of a tourist on the Continent, who should, on his return, say he
had been to Genova, Firenze, and Wien, instead of Genoa, Florence, and
Vienna; it is, I consider, an even worse offence to transform Arcot,
Cawnpoor, and Lucknow, into Arkat, Kahnpur, and Laknao. I have tried,
therefore, so far as possible, to give the names of well-known
personages and places in the spelling familiar to Englishmen, while
the new orthography has been elsewhere adopted.

G. A. Henty.

Chapter 1: Leaving Home.

A lady in deep mourning was sitting, crying bitterly, by a fire in
small lodgings in the town of Yarmouth. Beside her stood a tall lad of
sixteen. He was slight in build, but his schoolfellows knew that
Charlie Marryat's muscles were as firm and hard as those of any boy in
the school. In all sports requiring activity and endurance, rather
than weight and strength, he was always conspicuous. Not one in the
school could compete with him in long-distance running, and when he
was one of the hares there was but little chance for the hounds. He
was a capital swimmer, and one of the best boxers in the school. He
had a reputation for being a leader in every mischievous prank; but he
was honorable and manly, would scorn to shelter himself under the
semblance of a lie, and was a prime favourite with his masters, as
well as his schoolfellows. His mother bewailed the frequency with
which he returned home with blackened eyes and bruised face; for
between Dr. Willet's school and the fisher lads of Yarmouth there was
a standing feud, whose origin dated so far back that none of those n