lds of sugar-cane, now
mostly tied in huge sheaves upright, through boundless stretches of
richly-cultivated soil, intersected with the regularity of a chess-board
by the rivulets and channels of a laborious irrigation. Here and there
stood the high frames made by planting four bamboos in a square and
wickering the top, whereon the ryots sit when the crops are ripening, to
watch against thieves and cattle, and to drive away the birds of the
air. On we spun, past Meerut and Mozuffernugger, past Umballa and
Loodhiana, till we reached our station of Julinder at dawn. Descending
from the train, I was about to begin making inquiries about my next
move, when I was accosted by a tall and well-dressed Mussulman, in a
plain cloth _caftan_ and a white turban, but exquisitely clean and fresh
looking, as it seemed to me, for my eyes were smarting with dust and
wearied with the perpetual shaking of the train.

The courteous native soon explained that he was Isaacs' agent in
Julinder, and that a _tar ki khaber_, a telegram in short, had warned
him to be on the lookout for me. I was greatly relieved, for it was
evident that every arrangement had been made for my comfort, so far as
comfort was possible. Isaacs had asked my assistance, but he had taken
every precaution against all superfluous bodily inconvenience to me, and
I felt sure that from this point I should move quickly and easily
through every difficulty. And so it proved. The Mussulman took me to his
house, where there was a spacious apartment, occupied by Isaacs when he
passed that way. Every luxury was prepared for the enjoyment of the
bath, and a breakfast of no mean taste was served me in my own room.
Then my host entered and explained that he had been directed to make
certain arrangements for my journey. He had laid a _dak_ nearly a
hundred miles ahead, and had been ordered to tell me that similar steps
had been taken beyond that point as far as my ultimate destination, of
which, however, he was ignorant. My servant, he said, must stay with him
and return to Simla with my traps.

So an hour later I mounted for my long ride, provided with a revolver
and some rupees in a bag, in case of need. The country, my entertainer
informed me, was considered perfectly safe, unless I feared the _tap_,
the bad kind of fever which infests all the country at the base of the
hills. I was not afraid of this. My experience is that some people are
predisposed to fever, and will generally be