inquired if he had any family. He
replied, "Not now; she had one, a little girl, but that the Gunga had
got the day before." I then asked him how long his wife had been dead,
when he informed me that she died the moment before I came up. The
father and mother of the unfortunate girl were both there, but seemed as
indifferent as the rock on which they had perched themselves to watch
her progress down the rippling stream--the cold grave of millions.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XI.

Having now a respectable home, and an easy income, I began to look
around me for a wife, to share my fortune, and to drink with me of the
salubrious cup of contentment. I had been for some time intimately
acquainted with a most respectable family, the father of which was a
conductor to the commissariat department. He had three daughters, whom
he took great pains to bring up in a respectable manner, and they all
did credit to his fatherly care, and lived together in great affection
and domestic comfort. To the eldest of these I became most sincerely
attached. I asked her hand in marriage, and it was granted; but the
father stipulated, that, in consideration of his daughter's tender
years, the marriage was not to take place for the space of two years. In
the meantime, every preparation was to be made for our mutual happiness.

Thus things went on till the latter end of the year 1815, when my good
friend the colonel was promoted to the rank of major-general, and
consequently bade farewell to his old corps, the 24th Dragoons, in which
he was respected and loved. Scarcely had he departed, when I drew up a
short memorial to the Marquis of Hastings, then Governor-General of
India, and my new commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Philpot,
immediately dispatched it to head-quarters, Calcutta, accompanied with a
handsome recommendatory letter from himself. When I presented this
memorial to my commanding officer, he replied, "Shipp, I am glad you
have done so. I was yesterday speaking to your friend, Major Covell,
about you. I will forward it with pleasure, and I hope it may succeed."
Some twenty days after this, I was sent for in a great hurry to the
riding-school, where the colonel was looking at some young stud horses.
I immediately attended the summons. He was standing with his back
towards the riding-school door when I entered, so I waited at some
distance, when the adjutant said, "Here is the sergeant-major." The
colonel