r Captain Middleton, started by rail for Raneegunge _en route_ for
Lucknow, and a company followed daily in regular rotation till the light
company left Chinsurah on the 7th of October. From Raneegunge to Benares
the old bullock-train was arranged with relays of bullocks from eight to
ten miles apart, according to the nature of the road, and six men were
told off to each cart to ride and march by relief. Thus we proceeded,
making an average advance of from twenty-five to thirty miles daily,
halting every day about ten o'clock for cooking, resuming our march
about four o'clock, and so on through the night for coolness; the
bullocks did not average more than two and a half miles per hour, and
there was always considerable delay at the different stations, changing
teams. In this way my company reached Benares on the 17th of October.
From Benares we proceeded by detachments of two or three companies to
Allahabad; the country between Benares and Allahabad, being overrun by
different bands of mutineers, was too dangerous for small detachments of
one company. My company reached Allahabad on the 19th of October. There
we were supplied with the usual Indian field equipment of tents, etc. By
this time the railway had been pushed on in the direction of Cawnpore to
a place called Lohunga, about forty-eight miles from Allahabad, but no
stations were built. On the 22nd of October my company, with three
others, left Allahabad, packed into open trucks or waggons used by the
railway contractors for the construction of the line. From Lohunga we
commenced our daily marches on foot, with our tents on elephants, _en
route_ for Cawnpore.

By this time a considerable force had assembled at Allahabad, consisting
of artillery from the Cape, Peel's Naval Brigade, detachments of the
Fifth Fusiliers, the Fifty-Third, and Ninetieth Light Infantry. But the
only complete regiment was the Ninety-Third Highlanders, over a thousand
men, in splendid condition, armed with the Enfield rifle, and, what was
of more importance, well drilled to the use of it.

After leaving Lohunga, the first place of note which we reached was
Futtehpore, seventy-two miles from Allahabad. At Futtehpore I met some
native Christians whom I had first seen in Allahabad, and who were, or
had been, connected with mission work, and could speak English. They had
returned from Allahabad to look after property which they had been
obliged to abandon when they fled from Futtehpore on the