er pieces called pice, of
which there were many thousands; the bags, however, were taken to the
prize agents, but I need scarcely say our hands on that day at least
were not soiled by appropriating a portion of the plunder.

On several occasions we succeeded in finding large stores of money,
chiefly sicca or native rupees, while in the houses of Hindoos, in
portions of the walls which sounded hollow under the blow of the hammer,
we, after making a hole sufficiently large for the passage of a hand,
constantly brought to light large stores of silver ornaments, consisting
of chains, bracelets, etc., amounting in the aggregate to a barrowful.
Few houses there were that did not furnish, after a diligent search
either in the floors or walls, some articles of value; but on only one
occasion after the successful ventures in the two first cases was the
amount of loot in any way comparable to that which we obtained on those
days.

In a very secluded part of the city, in a large house, surrounded by
wretched tenements inhabited by the lowest class, we opened a door, and
to our amazement entered a room furnished in the European fashion. This
also had not escaped the marauding and destructive hands of parties of
plunderers; the furniture was smashed, and the contents of the room
strewn about the floor. There were English chairs, curtains, ottomans
covered with antimacassars, sofas and broken mirrors, and in the corner
a small piano, ruined and destroyed. The house had evidently belonged
to some rich native, but who had been the occupant of this boudoir? for
such it was--a miniature drawing-room filled with European luxuries, not
excepting books and copies of music. Articles of a lady's apparel also
lay about, torn in shreds, vases were on the mantelpiece, as well as
a small box filled with English fancy needlework. We came to the
conclusion that the mistress of this abode must have been a Eurasian
lady, probably one of the zenana of the master of the house, who during
the exodus from the city had fled with, or been forcibly carried away
by, her protector.

A dismal mishap occurred to me in this room. Choosing a
comfortable-looking ottoman, I sat down, little dreaming that I had
fallen into a trap which would occasion much laughter among my friends
for days to come. Feeling a strange moist sensation in a certain portion
of my body, I jumped up from the seat, to find, to my horror, that I had
plumped down on a quantity of ghee, or