PATNA DURING THE MUTINY. 189 



in India, a huge crocodile basking on a Ganges sandbank. So, in 

 the presence of a cloud of witnesses, he carefully sighted his rifle to 

 nine hundred yards, and taking a more than usually steady aim, 

 pulled the trigger. 



Locksley, in his celebrated shot at the willow wand, had to make 

 allowance for the wind ; but my neighbour was spared any exasper- 

 ating calculations in this particular, for the air was very calm ; and 

 feeling confidence, as every sportsman should, in his rifle and 

 himself, he set sail up the Ganges, and after a somewhat tedious 

 voyage, found, on his arrival at the sandbank, the crocodile dead, 

 with a bullet through his eye and brain — the only vital part. 



But, returning briefly to Patna. As no one had better oppor- 

 tunities than I, of forming an opinion regarding the affairs there, 

 during Mr. Tayler's reign, no one was in a more favourable position 

 for viewing the internecine war — which followed after the Relief of 

 Arrah — between the late Commissioner, backed up by the public 

 voice, on the one hand, and the new Commissioner, Mr. Justice 

 Samuels, on the other; for I was intimate with both parties. I 

 almost lived at Mr. Tayler's house, and I dined frequently with Mr. 

 Samuels, who; so far as I could judge, was an upright English 

 gentleman. He apparently shared the views of the Government at 

 Calcutta, that his predecessor's policy regarding the Wahabees, was 

 wrong, and that the recall of the out-lying stations, was either the 

 result of panic, or culpable want of foresight in not anticipating 

 Eyre's victory. 



Although I, for reasons already stated, had no doubt whatever 

 that injustice had been done to Mr. Tayler, I quite failed to see that 

 the orders which emanated from Calcutta were given otherwise than 

 in good faith. Treachery and panic are ugly words, and those 

 accused of such things must expect little sympathy from English 

 statesmen until it can be demonstrated, clearly as a proposition in 

 Euclid, that the accusations are totally devoid of foundation. 



We were down on our luck certainly for the present ; and I felt 

 we were on all-fours with Mr. Pickwick, when his lawyer addressed 



