t knew its allotted place in case of a sortie,
and the officers on picket had to furnish reports during their term of
duty, thereby making them more attentive to the discipline and care of
their men. In the matter of uniform, also, a great and desirable change
was made. Many corps had become quite regardless of appearance, entirely
discarding all pretensions to uniformity, and adopting the most
nondescript dress. One in particular, a most gallant regiment of
Europeans which had served almost from the beginning of the siege,
was known by the sobriquet of the "Dirty Shirts," from their habit of
fighting in their shirts with sleeves turned up, without jacket or coat,
and their nether extremities clad in soiled blue dungaree trousers.

The army in general wore a cotton dress, dyed with _khaki rang_, or dust
colour, which at a distance could with difficulty be seen, and was far
preferable to white or to the scarlet of the British uniform. The enemy,
on the contrary, appeared entirely in white, having soon discarded the
dress of their former masters; and it was a pretty sight to see them
turning out of the gates on the occasion of a sortie, their arms
glittering, pennons flying, and their whole appearance presenting a gay
contrast to the dull, dingy dress of their foes.

_August 5_.--On August 5 an attempt was made by our Engineers to blow up
the bridge of boats across the Jumna, and some of us went to the top of
the Flagstaff Tower to see the result.

Two rafts filled with barrels of powder and with a slow match in each
were sent down the river, starting from a point nearly a mile up the
stream. We saw them descending, carried down slowly by the flood, one
blowing up half a mile from the bridge. The other continued its course,
and was descried by some mutineers on the opposite bank, who sent off
men to the raft on _massaks_ (inflated sheep-skins). It was a perilous
deed for the men, but without any delay they made their way to the raft,
put out the fuse, and towed the engine of destruction to shore. A most
ignominious failure, and the attempt was never repeated, the bridge
remaining intact to the last.

_August 6_.--At 7 a. m. on August 6 the alarm again sounded, and we
remained accoutred in camp for some hours, but were not called to the
front on that day. A large party of the enemy's cavalry--more, it must
be supposed, in a spirit of bravado than anything else--charged up the
road towards the Flagstaff Tower, waving the