With The Connaught Rangersin Quarters Camp And On Leave Edward Herbert Maxwell by Edward Herbert Maxwell 9781230390345, 1230390340 instant download after payment.

CHAPTER XVI. OUR FINAL JOURNEY. INDIAN HOSPITALITY--REMINISCENCES OF HINDOSTAN--MY BEARER--A SPINSTER IN A DILEMMA--DEOLLALEE--OUR FINAL JOURNEY--BOMBAY--VOYAGE IN THE JUMNA--ESCAPE OF A MINAR--LOSS OF A PARROT--RETURN TO ENGLAND--ESCAPADE OF A YOUNG OFFICER--ANECDOTE. CHAPTER XVI. /N the 6th of November, 1870, the head- quarters of the Connaught Rangers left Agra by train for Bombay. It was our last journey in India. I had passed many pleasant years in the country, and I had received great kindness from friends, many of whom I most probably would never see again. Indian hospitality has not been over-rated. I have been told that now-a-days there are so many railways that hotels take the place of dak bungalows; but in my time it was different, and at the various halting-places the burra-sahib of the place generally came himself to welcome any wanderer to his own house, and to show him all the attention he possibly could think of. When I look back at the days passed in Hindostan, the names of Lind, the Commissioner, and Judge Spankie, of the High Court, stand out among a crowd of others, and recall to my memory very happy days. So it was with mingled feelings that I bid adieu to the burning plains. At Allahabad I had to part with my bearer. I am certain it was with mutual regret we went our different ways. 1 see now his erect figure marching away out of the railway-station, laden, as usual, with his beloved copper cooking-pots. He was a Hindoo, but more attentive to his devotions than many an enlightened Christian. An honest, good man like him, although a heathen, must surely have his reward. We were five nights in the train before we reached Deollalee, from whence the final departure for home is made. The train pulled up during the heat.