cond
extract from the memoirs of Chevalier Burke, interesting in itself, and
highly necessary for my purpose. It is our only sight of the Master on
his Indian travels; and the first word in these pages of Secundra Dass.
One fact, it is to observe, appears here very clearly, which if we had
known some twenty years ago, how many calamities and sorrows had been
spared!--that Secundra Dass spoke English.

CHAPTER VII

ADVENTURE OF CHEVALIER BURKE IN INDIA

_Extracted from his Memoirs_

... Here was I, therefore, on the streets of that city, the name of
which I cannot call to mind, while even then I was so ill acquainted
with its situation that I knew not whether to go south or north. The
alert being sudden, I had run forth without shoes or stockings; my hat
had been struck from my head in the mellay; my kit was in the hands of
the English; I had no companion but the cipaye, no weapon but my sword,
and the devil a coin in my pocket. In short, I was for all the world
like one of those calendars with whom Mr. Galland has made us acquainted
in his elegant tales. These gentlemen, you will remember, were for ever
falling in with extraordinary incidents; and I was myself upon the brink
of one so astonishing that I protest I cannot explain it to this day.

The cipaye was a very honest man; he had served many years with the
French colours, and would have let himself be cut to pieces for any of
the brave countrymen of Mr. Lally. It is the same fellow (his name has
quite escaped me) of whom I have narrated already a surprising instance
of generosity of mind--when he found Mr. de Fessac and myself upon the
ramparts, entirely overcome with liquor, and covered us with straw while
the commandant was passing by. I consulted him, therefore, with perfect
freedom. It was a fine question what to do; but we decided at last to
escalade a garden wall, where we could certainly sleep in the shadow of
the trees, and might perhaps find an occasion to get hold of a pair of
slippers and a turban. In that part of the city we had only the
difficulty of the choice, for it was a quarter consisting entirely of
walled gardens, and the lanes which divided them were at that hour of
the night deserted. I gave the cipaye a back, and we had soon dropped
into a large enclosure full of trees. The place was soaking with the
dew, which, in that country, is exceedingly unwholesome, above all to
whites; yet my fatigue was so extreme that I was already half