CHAPTER IV.
Although at this period disaffection lurked in almost every corner of the Bengal Presidency, and the greater part of Northern India was in open rebellion, and in Oudh (except the ground at the Ahlum Bagh, in the suburbs of Luknow, on which a British force stood), not a vestige of the Government authority had yet been re-established, arid albeit we were daily nearing a body of revolted troops, there were no signs of anarchy, nor any manifest feelings of hostility discernible among the people of these districts.
It is true there could be no confidence, and there was none; but the friendly disposition of the inhabitants may be considered sufficiently apparent, when the fact is stated that the rustic food and fodder supplied by them at every halt, amply provided for the pressing wants of the Corps.
It were tedious, however, to relate the untoward difficulties we encountered in these flying marches, and to recount the rough-and-ready way in which we were compelled to meet the troubles of our position — to hint at each volunteer personally attending to his horse; to tell of our “sleeping accommodation” for weeks together being the bare ground, screened some-
