expedient, for a stray spark might have blown up the vast stores of
munitions of war, without which it would have been impossible to carry
on future operations against the enemy. No fires for any purpose were
permitted in the fort, and, greatest deprivation of all, the men were
not allowed to smoke during the twenty-four hours they were on guard.

Three or four days after the outbreak, and when everything seemed quiet
in and around the cantonment, two officers and myself, taking with us
some native labourers carrying spades and shovels, proceeded, under
orders from our Colonel, to search for the silver plate buried under
the ruins of our mess-house. We found the brick walls standing; but all
inside the building was one mass of ashes and still-smouldering embers.

We knew the locality of the plate chest, and, setting the coolies to
work, after infinite labour, which lasted some hours, we succeeded in
removing a vast heap of cinders, and found portions of the silver. A
little lower down we came on more; and here were seen spoons melted
almost out of shape by fire. The large silver dishes, plates and
cups--many of the latter of priceless value, for they had been acquired
by the regiment during the Peninsular War--were lying one on top of the
other just as they had been placed in the chest, but all ruined and
disfigured, half melted and blackened from the intense heat.

Close by, where they had fallen off a table, were the four massive
silver candelabra, the gift of distinguished officers who had formerly
served in the corps. These were twisted out of all shape, and beyond
hope of repair, of no value but for the bullion. Other articles there
were, such as snuff-boxes, drinking-horns, and table ornaments; not one
single piece of silver had escaped the action of the fire.