Madras on my way back.

"I suppose it makes no great difference to you."

"No, indeed," Charlie said. "And I am by no means sorry of the
opportunity of getting a glimpse of Calcutta, which I might never
otherwise have done. I believe things are pretty quiet at Madras, at
present; and I have been so long away, now, that a month or two sooner
or later will make but little difference."

A few hours later, Charlie noticed a change in the colour of the sea,
the mud-stained waters of the Hoogly discolouring the Bay of Bengal,
far out from its mouth. The voyage up was a tedious one. At times the
wind fell altogether and, unable to stem the stream, the ship lay for
days at anchor, the yellow tide running swiftly by it.

"The saints presarve us, Mr. Charles! Did you ever see the like?" Tim
Kelly exclaimed. "There's another dead body, floating down towards us,
and that is the eighth I've seen this morning. Are the poor hathen
craturs all committing suicide together?"

"Not at all, Tim," Charlie said, "the Hoogly is one of the sacred
rivers of India, and the people on its banks, instead of burying their
dead, put them into the river and let them drift away."

"I calls it a bastly custom, yer honor, and I wonder it is allowed.
One got athwart the cable this morning, and it frightened me nigh out
of my sinses, when I happened to look over the bow, and saw the thing
bobbing up and down in the water.

"This is tedious work, yer honor, and I'll be glad when we're at the
end of the voyage."

"I shall be glad, too, Tim. We have been a fortnight in the river
already. But I think there is a breeze getting up, and there is the
captain on deck, giving orders."

In a few minutes, the ship was under way again, and the same night
dropped her anchor in the stream, abreast of Calcutta. Charlie shortly
after landed, and, proceeding to the Company's offices, reported his
arrival, and that of the four Sepoy officers. Hossein, who was not in
the Company's service, was with him merely in the character of a
servant.

As the news of the share Charlie had had in the capture of Suwarndrug
had reached Calcutta, he was well received; and one of the leading
merchants of the town, Mr. Haines, who happened to be present when
Charlie called upon the governor, at once invited him warmly to take
up his residence with him, during his stay. Hospitality in India was
profuse, and general. Hotels were unknown, and a stranger was always
treated as an honor