was discovered. None, however, looked more thunderstruck than the sepoy
himself. He clenched his teeth in bitter agony, but spoke not a single
word. The colonel told him, that though circumstances were fearfully
against him, he would not yet pronounce him guilty, as it was not
impossible he might be the victim of some malignant design. He therefore
dismissed him from his presence until the result of further inquiries
should produce a full conviction of his guilt or innocence. In a few
hours the sepoy was observed to leave his little hut, and walk with
hurried steps to a neighbouring field. He was soon concealed from sight
by a thick cluster of bamboos, beneath which he had often sheltered
himself from the noontide sun. Suspecting the purpose of his present
visit to so retired a spot, a comrade followed him, but was
unfortunately too late to arrest the hand of the determined suicide. The
poor fellow lay stretched on the ground, with his head hanging back, and
the blood gushing from his open throat. He had effected his purpose with
a sharp knife, which he still grasped, as if with the intention of
inflicting another wound. He was carried to the hospital, and carefully
attended, but the surgeon immediately pronounced his recovery
impossible. A pen and ink were brought to him, and he wrote with some
difficulty on a slip of paper, that he firmly hoped he had not failed in
his attempt to destroy himself, for life was of no value without honour.
He stated, too, that though it might now be almost useless to affirm his
innocence, he hoped that a time might come when his memory should be
freed from its present stain. He lingered no less than fifteen days in
this dreadful state, and died, at last, apparently of mere starvation.
It was my painful duty, as "officer of the day," to visit the hospital
very frequently, and he invariably made signs of a desire for food. This
it was, of course, impossible to give him, and any nourishment would
merely have prolonged his misery. Two days before he died, it was
discovered that a Bengallee servant of low caste, who had taken offence