and
naval authorities, for the expedition was to be a mixed one.
Transports were daily arriving with troops and stores; innumerable
matters connected with the organization, both of the land and water
transport, required to be arranged; and the general himself was
indefatigable in superintending every detail of the work. It had
been settled that the advance could not take place until the second
week in February, as the roads would be impassable until that time,
and the 11th was fixed for the commencement of operations.

Upon the day after his arrival at Rangoon, Stanley had written a
letter to his uncle; giving him a brief account of his adventures,
and stating that he had been appointed one of the general's
aides-de-camp. He said that he should, of course, be guided by his
uncle's wishes; but that now that he had entered on the campaign as
an officer, he should certainly like to remain till the end, when
he would at once resign his commission and rejoin him.

He sent this to his uncle's agent at Calcutta, but received no
answer until the end of December. After expressing his delight at
hearing that Stanley had not, as he had supposed, been killed at
Ramoo, but was now safe and well in the British camp, he went on:

"I only received your letter this morning, for I have been moving
about from point to point and, owing to the falling off of trade,
had no occasion to go to Calcutta, until now; and was, indeed,
astounded at finding your letter lying for me here, as they had not
forwarded it, having no idea where I was, and knowing that the
chance of any letter sent on reaching me was extremely small.

"By all means, lad, stop where you are. Trade is improving again
for, now that Bandoola's army has marched away from Ramoo, the
scare among the natives has pretty well subsided. Still, I can
manage very well without you, and it will certainly be a great
advantage to you to serve for a year in the army; and to have been
one of Campbell's aides-de-camp will be a feather in your cap, and
will give you a good position at all the military stations.

"I am very glad, now, that I abstained from writing to your mother
after the battle at Ramoo. I thought it over and over, and
concluded that it was just as well to leave the matter alone for a
time; not that I had the slightest idea, or even a hope, that you
were alive, but because I thought that the cessation of letters
from you would, to some extent, prepare her mind for the blow