PATNA DURING THE MUTINY. 177 



to examine. ** I must have a coat of that ! " one of us was pretty 

 sure to cry. " And I ! " " and I ! " added the others standing by ; 

 " and cap and trousers too." The native tailor, who always forms 

 one of the numerous attending suite of slaveys in the East, was 

 then called in, and next morning we appeared in all the colours of 

 the rainbow, much to our own delight and the admiration of the 

 natives. Colonel Mundy, in command of the 19th Regiment 

 at Dinapoor, and who spent a good deal of his time with us, 

 appeared one day in a crimson flannel suit, which made him appear 

 on fire in the distance. 



I passed a good deal of my time in company with Colonel 

 Mundy, who in those days had an almost world-wide reputation for 

 his skill at billiards and as a teller of queer stories ; but whether 

 these stories were strictly true or not I don't pretend to say. If 

 I remember right, the following was one of them : — 



He was shipwrecked. How or where ? I quite forget ; but he 

 managed to get on a plank or raft, and there for several days was 

 tossed about upon the sea which was running mountains high. 

 A ship approached and hailed him, but in consequence of the 

 tremendous waves it was quite impossible to save him, so the ship 

 flew on and left him to his fate. 



Ultimately he must have got to land somehow, though I quite 

 forget the tale just there, for subsequently I saw him alive and well, 

 and he was also able to be present at a fashionable house in 

 London, where, after dinner, a naval captain was telling a terrible 

 story of the sea, which had come under his own experience. 

 During a dreadful storm he had passed a shipwrecked wretch sitting 

 on a plank, the sport of wind and waves. 



His hearers, who had held their breath in horror at the tale, gave 

 a deep sigh in unison of sorrow when it ended, and we may judge 

 of their astonishment when one of the party expressed a longing 

 wish to know who the poor man could possibly have been, Colonel 

 Mundy, with much sang froid exclaimed, as he tapped his chest, 



*' Here you see him ; I am the very man ! " and turning to the 



N 



