258 REMINISCENCES OF SONEPORE. 



him who have not sincerely liked him. For the last few 

 years he had been a martyr to gout, to which eventually he 

 succumbed at the comparatively early age of 45. Right 

 up to his death he was just as big a boy as when under 

 the keen eyes of his masters at Marlborough ; witness the 

 madcap pranks he was going to play the globe-trotting 

 boy young Morningstar scarcely a month ago. The many 

 amusing tricks he has played bailiffs and their myrmi- 

 dons would fill a big volume. Always a good cricketer and 

 billiard player, just as in riding, the loss of his hand affect- 

 ed him but little, he invented a ring which he slipped over 

 the handle of the bat and seldom was put out without scoring 

 double figures ; with the cue his hook and an Indian rubber 

 ring he could beat most amateurs, and he would have been a 

 bold man who would have offered him points. A good all round 

 sportsman has gone from amongst us, and one and all who 

 know him have heard of his death with sincere regret. R. L P." 

 Even still more appalling was the news of the death 

 of Mr. W. F. McDonell, C. S., V.C. The Indian Planters' 

 Gazette said: " The hand of death has latterly been 

 very busy among the ranks of distinguished old Indians, 

 but his merciless scythe has not mown down a braver or 

 better than the gallant civilian whose obituary notice it is 

 our sad task to write. By none will the death of Mr. 

 William Fraser McDonell be more acutely felt than the 

 older members of the Behar planting community for in him 

 they lose a staunch and valued friend, and it was among 

 them he spent the majority of his Mofussil career. Arriving 

 in India during Jaunary 1850, he was posted to Chupra in 

 March and then transferred for a short time to Motihari, 

 where he remained till the Mutiny broke out. From the very 

 commencement ' Little Mac' endeared himself to all who 

 came in contact with him ; plucky, though unassuming, full of 

 life and fun, he was just the man for a planting district ; one 



