sitting-room, we worked and watched the process of congelation.

Presently a quick step was heard in the hall, the door was thrown open,
and the Major, rushing in, sank breathless into a chair. The Adjutant
and I jumped up, and in our haste upset the utensils, spilling on the
floor the contents we had taken so much trouble to prepare. A minute or
two passed, and still no word from our friend, who, portly in shape, and
of a plethoric temperament, seemed overcome by some terrible excitement,
and fairly gasped for breath.

"What on earth is the matter?" we asked.

Slowly, and as though uttered with considerable difficulty, the answer
came:

"All the Europeans in India have been murdered!"

Now this was rather a startling announcement, and somewhat premature,
considering that we three, at any rate, were in the land of the living,
with no immediate prospect of coming dissolution. We looked at each
other, at first serious and alarmed, as became the gravity of the
situation, and utterly unable to comprehend what it all meant. This
phase of the affair, however, did not last long, and soon changed from
grave to gay. A merry twinkle appeared in Vicars' eyes, to which my own
responded, and at last, fully alive to the absurdity of the gallant
officer's remark, our pent-up sense of the ridiculous was fairly
awakened, and we roared with laughter again and again.

This unlooked-for result of his dismal communication roused the Major,
who first rebuked us for our levity, and, after an interval occupied in
the recovery of his scattered senses, proceeded to acquaint us with the
true facts of what had happened at the Brigadier's quarters.

A despatch by telegraph had arrived that morning from Meerut, the
largest cantonment in Upper India, stating that the regiment of native
light cavalry at that place had mutinied in a body on the 10th instant,
and marched for Delhi. This had been followed by a revolt of all the
sepoy infantry and artillery, a rising of the natives in the city, the
bazaars and the surrounding country, who, almost unchecked, had murdered
the European men and women on whom they could lay their hands, and
besides, had set fire to and "looted" many houses in the station.
Fortunately for the safety of the English in India, the miscreants
failed to cut the telegraph-wires at Meerut till too late, and the news
of the mutiny and outrage was as quickly as possible flashed to every
cantonment in the country.

The Brigadier