MILITARY AD VENTURES. 301 



should arrange with the natives yourself, 

 or you will find, when you are ready to 

 start in the morning, that the hackery for 

 your boxes has not come; or, perhaps, 

 the bearers for your palanquin have not 

 arrived, and you may lose half the day in 

 running after them ; or, perhaps you fine 1 

 matters worse than that, somebody else 

 has boned them ! 



My forethought and good arrangements 

 were rewarded by seeing the hackery 

 slowly creak itself out of the compound of 

 the hotel at the intended hour ; and then, 

 after taking a cup of coffee, and taking 

 leave of my friend, Smith, and of the 

 obliging landlord, I stepped, or rather 

 scrambled, into my palanquin, which was 

 lifted up on to the shoulders of the 

 bearers, and off we went at a quick shuffle 

 of about four miles an hour. 



