that the _Mauritius_, with our headquarters, had just
proceeded up the river.

Early on the 20th, the anniversary of the Alma, we got tug steamers and
proceeded up the Hooghly, anchoring off the steps at Prinsep's _ghat_[1]
on the afternoon of the 21st of September. Our progress up the river was
all excitement. We had two tug steamers, the _Belleisle_ being
considered too large for a single tug of the horsepower of those days;
and the pilot and tug commanders all sent bundles of the latest Calcutta
papers on board, from which we learned the first news of the sieges of
Delhi and Lucknow, of the horrible massacre at Cawnpore, and of the
gallant advance of the small force under Generals Havelock, Neill, and
Outram for the relief of Lucknow. When passing Garden Reach, every
balcony, verandah, and housetop was crowded with ladies and gentlemen
waving their handkerchiefs and cheering us, all our men being in full
Highland dress and the pipers playing on the poop. In passing the
present No. 46 Garden Reach the flood-tide was still running up too
strong for the _Belleisle_ to come into harbour, and we anchored for
about an hour just opposite No. 46. The house and steps of the _ghat_
were crowded with ladies and gentlemen cheering us; and one of my
comrades, a young man named Frank Henderson, said to me, "Forbes
Mitchell, how would you like to be owner of a palace like that?" when I,
on the spur of the moment, without any thought, replied, "I'll be master
of that house and garden yet before I leave India." Poor Henderson
replied: "I firmly believe you will, if you make up your mind for it;
but as for myself, I feel that I shall either die or be killed in this
war. I am convinced I shall never see the end of it. I have dreamed of
my dead father every night since we sighted the pilot-brig, and I know
my days are numbered. But as for you,--I have also dreamed of you, and I
am sure you will go safely through the war, and live for many years,
and become a prosperous man in India. Mark my words; I am convinced of
it." We had a Church of England chaplain on the _Belleisle_, and service
every morning, and Henderson and myself, with many others, formed part
of the chaplain's Sunday and Wednesday evening prayer-meeting class.
"Since ever we sighted the pilot-brig," Henderson went on to say, "and
my dead father has commenced to appear to me in my dreams, I have felt
every day at morning prayers that the words, 'That we may return in
safety