nd a spot where there was enough water for the
barge to get alongside the bank. The horses were led ashore; and
Stanley, the two troopers, and Meinik mounted.

The Burmese are poor riders but, during the wet season, Stanley had
often taken Meinik, on his spare horse, when riding about in the
camp; partly because he could trust him to look after the horses
carefully, and in the second place to accustom him to ride on
horseback so as to act, if required, as an orderly. Meinik was
quite of opinion that there would be no risk, whatever, in passing
through villages; but thought it probable that they might fall in
with disbanded troops, as it was known that the land column had,
soon after starting, captured the fort of Mophi; and that its
garrison, between two and three thousand strong, had taken to the
jungle and dispersed.

"Still, master," he said, "I don't think it likely that they will
attack us. They will be expecting no one, and we shall come upon
them by surprise; then they will run into the bushes, thinking that
you must have many more troops behind you. No, it is not likely
that they will have many guns; they would throw them away when they
fled, partly to run faster through the forest, partly because most
of them will be making off to the villages, hoping to lie concealed
until the war is over; while if they had guns in their hands, it
would be known that they were deserters, and they might be seized
and sent across the river to Bandoola, or up to Prome."

They rode some fifteen miles before dark, and then took up their
quarters in a village. The few old men, women, and children
inhabiting it fled, at their approach; but when Meinik went to the
edge of the jungle, and shouted out loudly that they need not fear,
for that no harm would be done to any of them, and good prices
would be given for food, two or three returned and, finding the
statements to be true, one of them went into the jungle again, and
brought the others back. Fowls and eggs were brought into the hut
that Stanley occupied, and a good supply of grain for the horses
was also purchased. Thus, Stanley was able to avoid breaking into
the small stock of provisions they had brought with them.

The inhabitants of this part of Burma were a tribe known as
Carians. They were the tillers of the soil, and were an industrious
and hardy race. The country was so rich that they not only raised
sufficient for their own wants, but sent large supplies of grain
an