happy young lady, accepted a cheroot from his host, and the
conversation became general. Like most Americans, when at home or
travelling, Jack Everson kept his eyes and ears open. He heard at
Calcutta, his starting point, at Benares, Allahabad, Cawnpore and other
places, the whisperings of the uprising that was soon to come, and his
alarm increased as he penetrated the country.

"Worse than all," he said gravely, speaking of his trip, "one of my
bearers spoke English well, and quite an intimacy sprang up between us.
Since his companions could not utter a word in our language, we
conversed freely without being understood. He was reticent at first
concerning the impending danger and professed to know nothing of it,
but this forenoon be gave me to understand, in words that could not be
mistaken, that the whole country would soon be aflame with
insurrection."

"Did he offer any advice?" asked Dr. Marlowe, less impressed with the
news than was his visitor or his daughter.

"He did; he said that the escape of myself and of your family could be
secured only by leaving this place at the earliest moment possible."

"But whither can we go? We are hundreds of miles from the seacoast and
should have to journey for weeks through a country swarming with
enemies."

"I asked him that question, and his answer was that we should make for
Nepaul."

"That is the province to the east of us. It is a mountainous country,