"'Gentlemen,' said I, 'I see it--you are cowards--none of you dare
encounter the chance even of death. It is an encouraging prospect:
know you not that the ruffian Holkar, if it be he, will with to-
morrow's dawn beleaguer our little fort, and throw thousands of men
against our walls? know you not that, if we are taken, there is no
quarter, no hope; death for us--and worse than death for these
lovely ones assembled here?' Here the ladies shrieked and raised a
howl as I have heard the jackals on a summer's evening. Belinda,
my dear Belinda! flung both her arms round me, and sobbed on my
shoulder (or in my waistcoat-pocket rather, for the little witch
could reach no higher).

"'Captain Gahagan,' sobbed she, 'Go-Go-Goggle-iah!'

"'My soul's adored!' replied I.

"'Swear to me one thing.'

"'I swear.'

"'That if--that if--the nasty, horrid, odious black Mah-ra-a-a-
attahs take the fort, you will put me out of their power.'

"I clasped the dear girl to my heart, and swore upon my sword that,
rather than she should incur the risk of dishonour, she should
perish by my own hand. This comforted her; and her mother, Mrs.
Major-General Bulcher, and her elder sister, who had not until now
known a word of our attachment, (indeed, but for these
extraordinary circumstances, it is probable that we ourselves