and murder in the British town, and return with their spoils to their
own territory, where they were secure from British retaliation. The
English general, knowing the insecurity of the mission-house, had urged
Mr. B. to remove with his family to the protection of the fort; but his
object was to benefit the _Burmans_, and to do that, he must live among
them.

In their little bamboo hut, therefore, so frail that it could be cut
open, as Mrs. Boardman says, with a pair of scissors, they prosecuted
their study of the language under a native teacher, and even ventured to
talk a little with the half-wild natives around them, and for a few
weeks were unmolested. Their courage and confidence had revived, and
with Mrs. B., restored health brought happiness. June 20th she writes,
"We are in excellent health, and as happy as it is possible for human
beings to be upon earth. It is our earnest desire to live, labor and die
among this people." With such feelings, they had probably retired to
rest on the night of the 24th of June, but awaking towards morning, and
perceiving that the lamp which they always kept burning through the
night was extinguished, they suspected mischief; and on relighting it,
they found to their consternation that their house had been entered by
the lawless plunderers mentioned above, and robbed of nearly every
valuable article it contained; but how was their horror increased, by
finding two large cuts in the moscheto curtains about their bed, through
which the murderers had watched their slumbers, ready to stab them to
the heart had they offered the slightest resistance, or even had they
waked to consciousness. But He who "giveth his beloved sleep," had
kindly steeped their senses in slumbers so profound and peaceful, that
not even the infant stirred, or opened its eyes which would have
instantly been sealed again,--in death.--Every trunk, box and bureau was
rifled, looking-glass, watch, spoons, keys, were gone; and yet as the
parents gazed at those rent curtains, and thought how the death-angel
had grazed them with his wing as he passed by, their hearts rose in
gratitude and praise to their Heavenly deliverer. But Mrs. Boardman's
feelings are best told in her own expressive words. She says, "After the
first amazement had a little subsided, I raised my eyes to the curtains
surrounding our bed, and to my indescribable emotion saw two large holes
cut, the one at the head, and the other at the foot of the place w