MILITARY AD VENTURES. 109 



appearance they presented to our as- 

 tonished eyes. They gathered round us 

 at once in a menacing attitude, and I saw in 

 an instant that we were prisoners ; we were 

 hustled at once into the presence of the 

 kotwal, or head man of the village, and, 

 as he had not time to question us then, he 

 directed that we should be " taken care of 

 till the morning," which meant that we 

 were to be shut up in a strong room and 

 guarded by a sentinel, who would pace 

 round the hut all night. I was filled with 

 astonishment and dismay at the dreadful 

 fix we were in, and my Bengal friend 

 quite shook with agitation when we 

 talked over our new position ; he, how- 

 ever, told me a bit of cheering news, 

 and this was that he had observed a 

 man among the crowd whom he had 

 known formerly, and that this man had 



