On the Irrawaddy: A Story of the First Burmese War

by G. A. Henty

  Chapter 16: Rejoining.

  Every day, since the siege had begun, the defenders had fired anoccasional shot at the stockade; not with any idea of doing anydamage, but in order that the assailants should know that they werestill in the cavern. That evening, when the hole had got to theproper depth, Stanley, having prepared his fuse, went up withtwenty cartridges in his pocket, accompanied by Meinik. The holewas charged and tamped, and the fuse inserted. This took aconsiderable time. The fuse had been cut so that an inch of itprojected outside the hole. The other eight cartridges were thenbroken up, and the powder moistened; and a train some two feet longlaid, from the fuse towards the entrance of the hole. Then a pieceof rag was wrapped round one end of the ramrod; and this, again,was tied to a long rod that had, the night before, been cut by oneof the boys, who had slipped out noiselessly from the entrance. Therag had been moistened, and rubbed with gunpowder.

  "Now, Meinik," Stanley said, "everything is ready. This rod issixteen feet long, so that, lying down, my feet will be just at theedge of the hole; and I shall be able to drop down, as soon as Ihave lighted the train, and bolt. I shall fix a torch, a foot or sofrom the train; then I shall only have to lift the rod to it, lightthe rag, set fire to the train, and then slide down and bolt.

  "Now, you must go down first."

  "No, master," Meinik said firmly; "I will light the train. I do notthink that there is any danger but, whether there is or not, Ishall undertake it. If I am killed, it does not matter; while ifyou were killed all would be lost for, if the explosion did notburst the stone, I am sure that we should never be able to getthrough it, without you to direct us. No, master, if you stay, Istay; and that would only lessen our chances of running down thesteps in time."

  Stanley argued, and even ordered, but Meinik was obstinate and,seeing that the faithful Burman was not to be moved, he reluctantlyleft the matter in his hands, and went downstairs. He moved a shortdistance along the ledge, and waited. The time seemed an age tohim, so that he gave an exclamation of delight when Meinik suddenlycame into sight, and took his place beside him.

  "I have lit the train, master. The powder fizzed up, but did notseem to burn very fast."

  It was, indeed, another two minutes before a deep muffled roar washeard. There was no further noise, but they heard shouts from theBurmans, behind the stockades.

  "They will be wondering what the sound is," Stanley said, "but theywill not be able to tell from what direction it came; for I expectthey were pretty nearly all sound asleep. Now, let us go up and seethe result."

  They made their way up the steps, which were now in entiredarkness. The curtain still hung in its place, some ten feet belowthe obstacle. They lit a torch, from the embers in the pan; andthen Stanley climbed up into the passage, and hastily crawledalong.

  He gave a cry of satisfaction, as he approached the end. Theexplosion had been completely successful--the end of the block layon the ground. Whether the whole of it had been blown off, or not,he could not see; but he felt sure that the greater portion musthave split off. It was evident that it would take a considerableamount of time, and would require the strength of several men, toget the block out. They therefore descended, at once, to gladdenthe hearts of those below; with the news that the way out was nowavailable to them, whenever they chose to leave.

  Harry manifested no surprise, whatever, at the news.

  "I made sure that you would succeed, Stanley. After getting me off,as you did; and making your own escape, before, it seems to me thatyou have got hold of the 'open sesame' of Ali Baba, and have onlyto use the cabalistic words to walk in and out, wherever you wantto go."

  "I don't feel, by any means, so certain of my own powers as youseem to be, Harry; and I can assure you I was very doubtful whetherthat shot would succeed. I hoped, at any rate, that it would blow agood bit of the stone out and, in that case, we could have got thechisels to work again. It was the slanting position of the blockthat beat us. However, thank goodness, the work is done now; andyou have only to get a bit stronger, and we will be off."

  "I am quite ready to start now, Stanley. I think it is absurdwaiting any longer, for there is never any saying what might takeplace. That Burmese general, who seems to be an obstinate beggar,might take it into his head to place a guard on the top of thehill; and then all your labour will have been thrown away."

  "That is true enough, Harry; and as I really don't think thattravelling now would be likely to do you any serious harm, I willdecide on tomorrow. At any rate, I will take some men up, at once,and get that stone out."

  The task was a difficult one. The block of stone was so nearly thesize of the passage that they could not get a rope round behind itand, after trying for two hours, in vain, they determined that theonly course was to push it before them. They soon found, however,that this was impossible; and that a part, at least, of the stonewas remaining in its place. Finally, they succeeded in pushing aloop in the rope over the top of the block; and then, by mainforce, eight of them pulled it out of the hole, and lowered it onto the top step.

  By the time that they had done this, dawn was approaching; and theytherefore returned, at once, to the chambers below.

  The men were all much pleased, when Stanley told them that theywould leave that night. Confident as they felt that the Burmesecould not force their way in, a new feeling of nervousness seizedthem, now that the way was open, lest some unforeseen circumstancesmight occur to prevent their going. The rice that remained was madeup into three or four packages. The meat had long before beenfinished.

  Stanley had a discussion, with Meinik, as to how Harry had best betaken through the passage. He could, they agreed, walk along theledge, with one before and one behind to steady him; and could thenbe carried up the steps, in a blanket, by four men. He must, ofcourse, be lifted into the passage, and dragged through it to theend; after that, it would be easy enough. Six men could carry him,in a blanket, until far enough away for them to chop poles, withoutthe sound of the axes being heard by the Burmese.

  From the time they began their work, every pains had been taken todeaden sounds. The blanket hung across the passage had acted as amuffler, to some extent; but a piece of cloth had always been tiedover the hammer heads of the axes, to prevent the sharp clinkingsounds of the blows on the chisels, or stone, being heard.

  As soon as it was dark enough for them to pass along the ledge,Meinik went with Stanley to examine the ground. Fortunately, theportion of stone that remained above the level, and prevented therock from being rolled back, was but small; and they were able tobreak it up in half an hour, with the axes. Then, making their wayalong without difficulty for another four feet, they foundthemselves standing upright in the depression in the centre of theruin. Mounting six more steps, they were among the bushes thatcovered the site of the temple.

  They now carefully cleared away every fragment of stone from thefloor of the passage and, returning, Stanley gave orders for thestart to be made. Two or three shots were fired, from the lowerentrance, to show the enemy that they were there and on the watch;and then all went up to Harry's room. He had been dressed, for thefirst time, and was ready for the start. Two of the strongest ofthe Burmans went on first.

  "Now, Harry, you are to put your hands on my shoulders. Meinik willfollow close behind you, and will keep his arms round you, in caseyou need help. Of course, we shall go along very slowly."

  "I don't think that all these precautions are necessary," Harrysaid. "I am sure that I can walk that distance, easily enough. Why,you say the stair is only about forty feet."

  "I dare say you could, Harry; but we don't want to run any risks.Your head is not very strong, at present; and you might turn giddy,or you might stumble. So, at present, you will have just to do asyou are told.

  "Let us start."

  Harry did not find it as easy as he had expected, getting outthrough the lower opening; and he was by no means sorry to have thesupport of Stanley and Meinik, as he proceeded along the ledge.They moved very carefully, and slowly
; and all were greatlyrelieved when he sat down, on a blanket laid on the steps.

  "Now lie back, Harry. We shall have no difficulty in getting you uphere."

  Two Burmans took the upper end of the blanket, Stanley and Meinikthe lower, and they were soon at the top of the steps.

  "You are not very heavy now, Harry; but you are a good deal heavierthan you were, when we brought you in below.

  "Now, the next is the most difficult part of the work--once we getyou through this passage, it will be plain sailing. You see, youwill have to be dragged. The place is only two feet high, so thatit would be impossible to lift you at all. We have made the flooras smooth as we can, but I am afraid that there are a good manyprojecting corners, that will try you a good deal."

  "It cannot be helped, Stanley. Fire away, as soon as you like."

  The rest of the party were now all gathered, on the steps below;and Meinik and Stanley, getting up first into the hole, receivedHarry as the others lifted him and, with the aid of two of theBurmans, laid him on his blanket in the passage.

  "Now," Stanley said, to the two men who took the other end of theblanket, "keep it as tight as you can and, when I say 'lift,' wewill all lift together, and move him forward a few inches. Do nothurry over it--we have plenty of time before us."

  They were packed so closely that they had each but one armavailable. Little by little they moved him along, gaining some sixinches, each time; then all had to move, so as to place themselvesfor the next effort. However, in five or six minutes they had himthrough, and carried him up into the open air. The rest of theparty at once joined them and, with three of the natives on eachside of the blanket, they were soon beyond the circle of ruins, andmaking at a brisk pace through the forest. After going for aquarter of a mile they stopped, cut some poles for the hammock and,in a short time, were on their way again; having placed in it oneof the bags of rice, as a pillow for Harry.

  They travelled for some hours, and then halted to cook some rice.All had slept a good deal during the day so that, after resting foran hour, they proceeded on their way again. They had no fear,whatever, of pursuit; and the only danger that they could incur wasfrom meeting with a band, similar to that which had carried Harryoff. When they rigged up the hammock, they had cut wood fortorches, to protect themselves from tigers. These were thrown away,as soon as daylight broke.

  At midday they halted again, for another hour; and then, continuingtheir journey, arrived at the village before nightfall. They werereceived with great joy, the villagers setting up a shout ofwelcome--the friends of the men and boys being especially exuberantin their joy, for they had become extremely anxious at their longabsence. The two troopers were still there; and these salutedStanley, with less than the usual stiff formality of the Mohammedansoldier.

  He himself laughed.

  "I don't look much like a British officer, at present," he said, intheir language. "Well, has everything been quiet here?"

  "Yes, sahib. A sowar brought us orders, from the general, to remainhere; and to send at once, if we heard any news of you. We sent offone of the villagers, when the man came back to fetch the others,and said that you had good hopes of getting Lieutenant Brooke sahibout of the hands of the Burmese."

  "I will write a note," Stanley said. "Get your horse saddled, atonce. Directly we have made Mr. Brooke comfortable, I will give youthe letter."

  During the time that Stanley had been absent, the houses had beenre-erected, and the village had assumed its general appearance. Ahut was at once handed over to them, and Harry laid on a bamboopallet. He had not slept, most of the way down.

  "You see I was quite right, Stanley. I told you that the journeywould be nothing."

  "Fortunately, it has turned out so. Meinik has already killed achicken, and will make it into broth for you. It will be a change,for you, after your diet of rice. The cooking was excellent, forthe first three or four days; but it fell off sadly. That was oneof the reasons why I gave way to your wish to start at once. Youhave done wonderfully well, but a constant diet of rice is notquite the thing for building up a sick man.

  "Now, I am going to write a few lines to the general to say thatyou have got safely down, but will need at least another weekbefore you are able to sit on a horse. Of course, you can becarried on; but I think that the air here is a great deal morehealthy, and bracing, than it is at Prome and, the longer you stayhere, the better."

  Stanley's note was a short one. It merely said that he hadsucceeded in getting his cousin, and the trooper who was carriedoff at the same time, from the hands of the Burmese, but that Harrywas still very weak; and that, if he himself could be spared, hewould stay with him at the village for another week or ten days, atthe end of which time he would ride, by easy stages, to Prome.

  Three days later, the trooper returned with a note from thegeneral.

  "I congratulate you most heartily on having rescued your cousin,"he wrote. "By all means, stay where you are until he is quitestrong again. This place is not at all healthy, at present. Weshall not be moving forward for another three weeks."

  Stanley remained at the village for another fortnight and, at theend of that time, Harry had so far recovered that he was quitecapable of making a short day's journey on horseback. Two of themen who had aided in the rescue had gone to Prome, with an orderfrom Stanley on the staff paymaster, for the rewards that had beenpromised to the villagers and the two Burmese soldiers. Theyreturned with the money, and the men were all highly delighted atthe result of the expedition.

  Stanley retained the services of the two soldiers, as long as heremained in the village. He had no fear, whatever, of the same bandreturning that had, before, visited the village; and he learnedthat no others had been heard of in the neighbourhood but, at thesame time, he thought it as well that a man should be on guard,night and day, at each end of the village. The peasants agreed towatch at one end, while the two Burmese soldiers and the trooperstook charge of the other end. The bulk of the villagers wereengaged in forming a strong stockade round, it to defend themselvesin case of further attack; and Stanley promised to send them downtwenty muskets, and a supply of ammunition, as soon as he got toProme.

  There was real regret, on the part of the Burmese, when the timecame for the party to start. It had been something altogether newto them to have officials among them who paid for everything. TheseEnglishmen had treated them kindly, and were pleased and contentedwith everything. The money that the five men and two boys hadearned had enriched the village, and had enabled them to more thanreplace their losses by the recent raid and, if Stanley hadaccepted all the presents of fruit, fowls, and eggs they would havegiven him, he would have needed a couple of extra horses to conveythem. A strong pony had been purchased for Meinik and, after takinga hearty leave of the villagers, the party rode off.

  "I wish we had such a good cook as your man is, Stanley," Harrysaid, as they journeyed along at a walk. "I never tasted bettersoup than he serves up. I must really get him to teach our messcook how to make it."

  "Do you know what it is, Harry?"

  "I have not the least idea; it might be anything. I think that ittasted, to me, more like stewed eels than anything else."

  "You are not very far out. It is made of the creatures you turnedup your nose at--snakes."

  "Nonsense, Stanley!"

  "It is, I can assure you. I would not tell you before, because itmight have set you against it. That soup you had in the cave wasmade from snake flesh. The recesses in parts of the caves swarmedwith them, and the men laid in quite a store of them, before wewere besieged. Unfortunately they would not keep well, even inthese cool chambers, so we had to fall back on rice. You liked itso much that, though there was no occasion to have gone on withsnake soup, after we got to the village, I continued to give it toyou; for it is very nourishing."

  "Well, I am glad you did not tell me, at the time; but I must ownthat it was excellent, and I think that, in future, I shall have noobjection to snake in that form."

  "They are jus
t as good, in other ways," Stanley replied. "TheBurmans are no fools, and I consider that snake and lizards arevery much better eating than their mutton; which is tastelessstuff, at the best."

  "We shall have to have a big settlement, when we get back, Stanley.Of course, all those men you paid, and the guards you bribed, areentirely my account; to say nothing of my share of the generalexpenditure."

  "The general expenses are practically nothing, Harry. I invited youto come with me and, of course, you were my guest. As to the othermatter, that also is my business. I would not say so, if I had notplenty of funds, but what with my pay as interpreter, and the yearof back pay that I got when the Gazette came out, I have plenty outof my income to pay for it, without breaking in upon the amount Itold you I had got for those rubies."

  "I should pay you, Stanley, if you were rolling in money. Not thatI should mind taking money from you, if I wanted it, but myexpenses since I landed here have not been anything approaching mypay and allowances; and I have besides, as I told you, an income of500 pounds a year of my own. You have risked your life for me, andI am not going to let you pay the piper, as well."

  "All right, if it pleases you, Harry. I am delighted at having beenable to save you and, just at present, money does not seem animportant matter one way or the other; so if it really would be asatisfaction to you to pay, I will certainly not deprive you ofit."

  Although they only travelled ten miles the first day, Harryacknowledged that he was as tired as a dog when he dismounted; andwas so stiff, the next morning, that he had to be helped on to hishorse. However, this gradually wore off and, on the evening of thefourth day, they arrived at Prome. Leaving Harry at his regimentalcamp, Stanley rode to the headquarters, and there dismounted.Meinik had led the second horse, after Harry dismounted; and nowtook them both across to the lines, with the air of a man who hasonly been away a few hours. Stanley at once went up to the general.

  "Welcome back, lad!" Sir Archibald said. "You have been longer awaythan we expected, when you started. I am glad, indeed, that yousucceeded in rescuing your cousin; and we are all burning to hearabout it. I wrote that note to you in a hurry, for I was on thepoint of going on a round of inspection of the camp, when yoursowar arrived. I intended to question him concerning you, on myreturn; for I had no idea that, after making such a long journey,he would start back at once, but I found that he had riddenstraight off, directly the note was handed to him. You must dinewith me, today, and tell me all the story. I see, from the colourof your skin, that you have been in disguise again."

  "Yes, sir. There were materials for dyeing the skin in the village,but nothing that availed to take it off. It is gradually going and,as I shall be now able to get some strong alkali, from the doctor,I hope I shall be presentable by tomorrow."

  "They are honourable marks," the general said, with a smile. "Idon't think any of us would mind being so coloured, for a bit, ifwe had done such good work as you have; but I won't detain you now,for dinner will be ready in half an hour."

  Stanley hurried to his room, took a bath, donned his mess uniform,and was ready by the time the bugle sounded. Three or four of thestaff were, as usual, members of the party. After the meal wasover, he was requested to narrate his adventures, at full length.The story was necessarily a long one and, when he concluded, alljoined the general in hearty commendation for the manner in whichhe had carried out the adventure.

  "Your last story was a stirring one, Mr. Brooke," the general said;"but this is even more so. When I received your first note, Ithought it next door to madness for you to try to get your cousin,badly wounded as you knew him to be, from the hands of the Burmese.It is not an easy thing to get any man out of prison but, when theman was unable to help himself, it seemed well-nigh impossible; andI was greatly afraid that, instead of saving his life, you wouldlose your own. Of course, the fact that you had successfullytraversed the country before was strongly in your favour; but thenyou were unencumbered, and the two things were, therefore, not tobe compared with each other. I shall, of course, put you in orderstomorrow as having performed a singularly gallant action, inrescuing Lieutenant Brooke of the 47th and a sowar from theircaptivity, by the Burmese, in a prison at Toungoo.

  "You have arrived just in time for, after endeavouring to fool usfor the past three months, by negotiations never meant to come toanything, the enemy are now advancing in great force, and arewithin a few miles of the town. So we are likely to have hot workof it for from all accounts, they have got nearly as large an armytogether as Bandoola had. I don't know whether they have learnedanything from his misfortunes, but I am bound to say that the courtdoes not seem to have taken the lesson, in the slightest degree, toheart; and their arrogance is just as insufferable as it was beforea shot was fired."

  Stanley learnt that there had already been one fight. The enemy wereadvancing in three columns. Their right--consisting of 15,000 men,commanded by Sudda Woon--had crossed the Irrawaddy, and was marchingdown the other bank; with the apparent object of recrossing, belowProme, and cutting the British line of communication. The centre--from25,000 to 30,000 strong, commanded by the Kee Wongee--was coming downthe left bank of the river, accompanied by a great fleet of war boats.The left division--15,000 strong, led by an old and experienced general,Maha Nemiow--was moving parallel with the others, about ten miles distantfrom the centre, but separated from it by a thick and impenetrableforest. A reserve of 10,000 men, commanded by the king's half-brother,occupied a strongly fortified post at Melloon. In addition to these, alarge force was gathered near Pegu, and threatened an attack upon Rangoon.

  On the 10th of November, a fortnight before Stanley's return, twobrigades of native infantry--under Colonel M'Dowall--had marchedout to dislodge Maha Nemiow; whose division threatened to turn theBritish right, and to move round to its rear. The force was dividedinto three columns; one moving directly towards the enemy'sposition, the others--marching by circuitous routes, so arranged asto arrive at the point of attack at the same time--were to attackin flank and rear, while the main body assailed the enemy in front.The Burmese had, however, obtained information from spies of theintended movement and, advancing boldly, met the British columnshalf way; skirmishing with them hotly in the woods, and threateningan attack by large bodies of horse.

  The centre drove the Burmese before them, and reached theirstockaded position. Colonel M'Dowall, while reconnoitring it, waskilled by a ball from a musket and, as the two flanking columns didnot arrive as expected, the force was compelled to fall back. Theretreat was conducted in good order, but the loss was heavy, as theBurmese pressed hotly upon them for several miles.

  Since this unfortunate affair, the enemy had steadily advanced.Maha Nemiow had moved directly upon Prome; advancing slowly, andconstantly stockading himself. The centre had also advanced; andwas now fortifying some heights above the river five miles away,within sight of Prome. Sudda Woon was intrenching himself on theopposite bank. All these divisions were working, day and night;advancing steadily but slowly, and erecting formidable lines ofintrenchments as they went; and it seemed to be the intention ofthe Burmese general to proceed in that manner, until the whole ofhis troops were gathered within a very short distance of the town,and then to rush upon it from all sides.

  In the morning, Stanley went to the lines of the 47th. Harry had,of course, told his story on his arrival; and the tale hadcirculated generally through the regiment and, as he rode in, themen ran out from their huts and cheered him heartily. No less warma greeting did he receive from the officers, in spite of hisprotest that there had really been no great difficulty or danger inthe affair.

  "What I specially admire," one of the officers said, laughing, "isthat any man should have run all this risk, on purpose, to preventhimself from coming into an earldom. You had only to leave thematter alone, and there you were--heir to title and estates."

  "I should have been haunted by Harry's ghost," Stanley laughed. "Itwould have been as bad as Banquo and Macbeth; he would have sat atmy table, and stood at the h
ead of my bed. No, no; that would havebeen a much more serious affair, to face, than a party of Burmese.The title and estates would have been too dear, at the price."

  "Well, you behaved like a brick, anyhow," the colonel said, "andthere is not a man in the regiment who would not have been proud,indeed, if he had accomplished such a feat. Half my subalterns weretalking, at dinner last night, of learning the language so that, ifthe chance fell in their way, they might emulate your doings."

  "It is rather a tough language to master," Stanley replied. "Itgave me more trouble than the four or five Indian languages Ispeak. I am afraid the campaign will be over, a long time, beforeany of your officers learn to talk Burmese well enough to pass asnatives."

  After the failure of the expedition of the 10th, no further efforthad been made against the enemy. Indeed, the troops had beenwithdrawn from their outlying positions; and there had even been afeint made of embarking stores, as if with the intention ofretiring down the river, in hopes of tempting the Burmese to makean attack.

  The season had now come when operations could again be carried on,and the general was anxious to strike a decisive blow at the enemy,and then to set forward on the march towards Ava. As to the resultof the fight, no one entertained the slightest doubt; although thedisparity in numbers was very great for, while the Burmesecommander had nearly 70,000 men at his disposal, Sir ArchibaldCampbell had no more than 6,000, of whom about one half wereBritish.

  It was determined that the main attack should be made on thedivision of Maha Nemiow. This was now some six or seven miles awayand, beyond the fact that it was very strongly intrenched in thejungle, no information whatever could be gained; for the mostvigilant watch was kept up by them, and all efforts to pass nativespies into their lines failed. But it was known that among hisdivision were 8,000 Shans, from Upper Burma and, as these men hadnot hitherto come in contact with us, it was expected that theywould fight with more courage and resolution than those who hadbecome acquainted with our power.

  A large number of princes and nobles were with the force; and greatreliance was placed, by the Burmese, upon three young ladies ofhigh rank; who were believed by them to be endowed withsupernatural gifts, and to have the power of rendering the missilesof the English innocuous. These young women, dressed in warlikecostume, constantly rode among the troops; animating them by theirpresence, and exhorting them to deeds of courage. The English hadreceived vague rumours of the doings of these Burmese Joans of Arc,and thought it probable that the enemy would fight better thanusual.

  On November 30th, arrangements were made for attacking the enemy onthe following morning. The flotilla were to open a furiouscannonade upon their works, on both sides of the river. A body ofnative infantry were to drive in the advance posts of the centre;while the main force was to attack their left in two columns, onemoving directly against it, while the other was to attack on theright flank--thus preventing the enemy from retreating in thedirection of the centre. Four regiments of native infantry wereleft in Prome.

  General Cotton commanded the main attack and, soon after the columnmoved out from the camp, a tremendous cannonade showed that theflotilla was engaged with the Burmese, on both sides of the river.The column, which was composed of the 41st and 89th Regiments, withtwo battalions of native infantry, proceeded some distance beforebecoming engaged with the enemy's outposts; as the Burmese had beendeceived by the cannonade, and believed that the attack wasentirely upon the centre. The troops therefore reached their mainposition, around two native villages, without serious opposition.

  Illustration: The old Burmese general was carried from point topoint in a litter.

  As they issued from the jungle into the cleared space in front ofthe stockade they rapidly formed up, under a tremendous fire, andrushed forward to the attack. The old Burmese general--who was tooinfirm to walk--could be seen, carried from point to point in alitter, cheering on his men, while the three Amazons exposedthemselves fearlessly to the fire. The ladder parties, however,rushed forward unchecked and, in spite of the opposition of theenemy, scaled the stockade at one point, and won a footing on therampart of earth behind it. Others pressed after them and, soon, adestructive fire was opened upon the crowded mass, pent up betweenthe outer stockade and the next. The Burmese method of formingstockade behind stockade was useful, against a foe of no greaterdash and energy than themselves; but was absolutely fatal whenopposed to English troops, who gave them no time to fall backthrough the narrow openings in the palings. These were soon blockedby the dying and dead.

  Some of the Shans, led by their chiefs, fought with desperatecourage; but were unable to stand the advance of the British, whosesteady volleys, poured in at distances of a few yards, swept themaway. Wounded horses, rushing wildly about in the throng, added tothe terrible confusion. Groups of men endeavoured to cut a waythrough the stockades behind, others strove to climb over. MahaNemiow was killed, while bravely exhorting his men to stand theirground, and one of the heroic Amazons was shot. As soon as thetroops reached the spot where she fell, and saw that she was awoman, she was carried into a cottage; and there died, a few hoursafterwards. Stockade after stockade was carried, until the wholeposition fell into our hands.

  In the meantime the other column, commanded by General Campbellhimself, and consisting of the 13th, 38th, 47th, and 87thRegiments, and the 38th Madras Infantry, had moved down on theother side of the Nawine river; and taken up a position to commandthe ford there, by which the fugitives from the stockade mustcross, on their way to join the centre. As the crowd of frightenedmen issued from the jungle, and poured across the ford, theartillery opened upon them with shrapnel, and completed theirdiscomfiture. All thought of joining the centre was abandoned and,re-entering the jungle, they scattered; and the greater portion ofthem started for their homes, intent only on avoiding anothercontest with their foes. Another of the Burmese heroines waskilled, at the ford.

  Three hundred men had been killed, at the storming of the stockade;but a far greater loss took place in the retreat--very few of theShans ever regaining their country; the greater portion perishingfrom starvation, in the great forests through which they travelledin order to escape the Burmese authorities, who would have forcedthem to rejoin the army.